User talk:SSSB/Archive 7
 | This is an archive of past discussions with User:SSSB. Do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page. |
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Administrators' newsletter – October 2022
News and updates for administrators from the past month (September 2022).
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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- Remedy 8.1 of the Muhammad images case will be rescinded 1 November following a motion.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.
Singapore and Japanese Grands Prix
Is it better to add a table for points permutations similar as here rather than having those two long proses in the section? Island92 (talk) 11:16, 6 October 2022 (UTC)
- Tell me what you think about. I wanted to go on with it.--Island92 (talk) 13:12, 6 October 2022 (UTC)
- @Island92: It really depends on how many permutations there are. For Japan, the table is probably the way to go. For Singapore, I think the prose is fine, but table would be fine too (I'd say it's borderline). And for the 2016 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the bullet pointed list works best. But for Japan, the table is definitely the way to go (I intend to do it myself when I have the time). SSSB (talk) 17:00, 6 October 2022 (UTC)
Grammar
I changed that for a reason, as always. Has said is reported speech grammar with initial will form becoming would + if + past simple to make it second conditional. Island92 (talk) 13:40, 23 October 2022 (UTC)
- @Island92: I would argue that the first conditional applies, not the second (I'd have put that in my summary if I knew my grammar jargon). SSSB (talk) 17:26, 23 October 2022 (UTC)
- "Jost Capito says that Logan Sargeant will take this seat if he gets enough super license points". That's ok. "Jost Capito has said that Logan Sargeant would take this seat if he got enough super license points". "Has said" derives from reported speech.--Island92 (talk) 17:31, 23 October 2022 (UTC)
- Deep down, it isn't a big issue.--Island92 (talk) 17:43, 23 October 2022 (UTC)
- @Island92: So your happy to keep as it is, in the first conditional? SSSB (talk) 06:15, 24 October 2022 (UTC)
- As mentioned it is not a big grammar issue, thus yes.--Island92 (talk) 16:59, 24 October 2022 (UTC)
- @Island92: So your happy to keep as it is, in the first conditional? SSSB (talk) 06:15, 24 October 2022 (UTC)
The Signpost: 31 October 2022
- From the team: A new goose on the roost
Or maybe the spit -- only time will tell.
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.
Wading into several controversies.
- Disinformation report: From Russia with WikiLove
I can has Kremlin sockfarms?
And other new research publications.
The newest sysop speaks on the process that got them there.
- Featured content: Topics, lists, submarines and Gurl.com
Featured content from October.
- Serendipity: We all make mistakes – don’t we?
The strength of Wikipedia is the peer review afterwards.
- Traffic report: Mama, they're in love with a criminal
More serial killers than you can shake a stick at!
- From the archives: Paid advocacy, a lawsuit over spelling mistakes, deleting Jimbo's article, and the death of Toolserver
What tales echo in these hallowed halls.
Administrators' newsletter – November 2022
News and updates for administrators from the past month (October 2022).
Administrator changes
Interface administrator changes
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}}.
Happy First Edit Day!
 | Happy First Edit Day! Hi SSSB! On behalf of the Birthday Committee, I'd like to wish you a very happy anniversary of the day you made your first edit and became a Wikipedian! CAPTAIN RAJU(T) 20:08, 5 November 2022 (UTC) |  |
- @CAPTAIN RAJU: thanks! SSSB (talk) 22:18, 5 November 2022 (UTC)
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.
An interview with Wikimedia's Chief Advancement Officer.
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?
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.
A lost article from our deep annals
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.
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.
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Administrators' newsletter – December 2022
News and updates for administrators from the past month (November 2022).
Administrator changes
Interface administrator changes
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
/64to 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.
Las Vegas Grand Prix
It is not an edit war. User Hazim Fikri A. kept insisting on removing information I restored multiple times. I explained it into his talk page, but he continued. Island92 (talk) 11:26, 31 December 2022 (UTC)
- Your changing an image and adding/removing a wikilink. That sounds like an edit war to me. SSSB (talk) 11:36, 31 December 2022 (UTC)
- @Island92: in fact, what you just described is the definition of an edit war. SSSB (talk) 11:40, 31 December 2022 (UTC)
- But the template was mainly for Hazim's benefit, not yours. I can see from his talk page that you have attempted discussion. But I can't go to a noticeboard without informing both of you. You might also want to start a discussion at Talk:Las Vegas Grand Prix to determine consensus. SSSB (talk) 11:42, 31 December 2022 (UTC)
The history page says differently. Firstly, the current image was first added by user Apeiro94. This current image is better than the old ones, which featured more useful information of the track. User Apeiro94 summarizen it in his edit at the time he added it. The current image does not have any deletion nomination. User Hazim Fikri A. kept insisting on (prefering maybe?) the old ones. Secondy he kept insisting on removing the wikilink of the track in the box. I wondered why these two edits were made repedeately. Preferences? Maybe. I restored the current image and the wikilink multiple times. Then I explained it into his talk page. Island92 (talk) 11:56, 31 December 2022 (UTC)
- Those two issues are both preference, not vandalism (as your summaries claim), so that doesn't exempt you from edit warring when you continually revert his edits. The only thing between you and a block for edit warring is that you tried to engage in a discussion on his talk page and if this ever gets to a notice board I will make sure to point that out. SSSB (talk) 12:36, 31 December 2022 (UTC)
I reverted and explained. What can I do if he keeps insisting for days? It is an his preference, ok, but far from what I see. That image is much better and the wikilink is present in each Formula One circuit article on the encyclopedia. Does he know it? Island92 (talk) 12:42, 31 December 2022 (UTC)
- What you can do is follow the advice at Wikipedia:Edit warring#Handling of edit-warring behaviors. SSSB (talk) 12:50, 31 December 2022 (UTC)
Ok. Island92 (talk) 16:08, 31 December 2022 (UTC)
The Signpost: 1 January 2023
Plus admin update and cool tools for the new year.
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.
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".
Administrators' newsletter – January 2023
News and updates for administrators from the past month (December 2022).
Administrator changes
Interface administrator changes
CheckUser changes
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.
Top 50
I mentioned you by accident (forgot that it was YttriumShrew that had the one claimed yet to write), but thanks for completing the table. Now it's only RRR left before I can stop calling it a draft (even if there's a chance a new topic can emerge if someday the tool finally gives the annual list ). igordebraga ≠ 15:01, 9 January 2023 (UTC)
- Don't worry about it. I was going to do Mbappe anyway. SSSB (talk) 15:11, 9 January 2023 (UTC)
The Signpost: 16 January 2023
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.
When notability conflicts with what it might be used for.
7,000,000-year Landmasses for Subduction discussions considered "too long".
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.
Administrators' newsletter – February 2023
News and updates for administrators from the past month (January 2023).
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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.
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 before the Supreme Court in two cases, with broad implications for the web.
- Disinformation report: Wikipedia on Santos
Or Santos on Wikipedia?
WMF issues salvo in latest battles of the Posting Wars
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.
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?
The Signpost: 20 February 2023
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.
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.
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!
Yesterday's controversies, reported on today.
- Humour: The RfA Candidate's Song
A musical interlude.
Editing news 2023 #1
Read this in another language • Subscription list for this newsletter
This newsletter includes two key updates about the Editing team's work:
- The Editing team will finish adding new features to the Talk pages project and deploy it.
- They are beginning a new project, Edit check.
Talk pages project
The Editing team is nearly finished with this first phase of the Talk pages project. Nearly all new features are available now in the Beta Feature for Discussion tools.
It will show information about how active a discussion is, such as the date of the most recent comment. There will soon be a new "Add topic" button. You will be able to turn them off at Special:Preferences#mw-prefsection-editing-discussion. Please tell them what you think.
An A/B test for Discussion tools on the mobile site has finished. Editors were more successful with Discussion tools. The Editing team is enabling these features for all editors on the mobile site.
New Project: Edit Check
The Editing team is beginning a project to help new editors of Wikipedia. It will help people identify some problems before they click "Publish changes". The first tool will encourage people to add references when they add new content. Please watch that page for more information. You can join a conference call on 3 March 2023 to learn more.
–Whatamidoing (WMF) (talk) 18:19, 22 February 2023 (UTC)
Administrators' newsletter – March 2023
News and updates for administrators from the past month (February 2023).
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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.
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.
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).
Sprint race discussion
Hi! Has there ever been a discussion on how to present the sprint race results in F1 season articles (i.e. if additional column or just use superscripts)? If so, can you link it? MotoGP has now their own sprint format and I kinda adapted the format you use in F1 season articles because MotoGP's sprint concept is the same as F1's, but some editors have raised the issue of adding an additional column. I just wanna know how the format you're using now in F1 articles came to be. Thanks! Engr. Smitty Werben 14:03, 26 March 2023 (UTC)
- We have got this and this. This one is more about how the FIA did it, but may be helpful, as it emphasis how sprints aren't considered. SSSB (talk) 14:16, 26 March 2023 (UTC)
- @Engr. Smitty: forgot to ping you! SSSB (talk) 14:17, 26 March 2023 (UTC)
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.
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!
Administrators' newsletter – April 2023
News and updates for administrators from the past month (March 2023).
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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.
Recent revert
Is it possible this was related to a transclusion limit problem? A comment in the code says "Please do not update this template to use {{F1R2023}} - doing so breaks the [[2023 Formula One World Championship]] article due the template transclusion limit being exceeded" so it might at least be a good faith edit. -- Scjessey (talk) 11:53, 23 April 2023 (UTC)
- Possibly why it was done. But, looking at 2023 Formula One World Championship, the transclutions limit hasn't been reached. I can't see any obvious reason to remove this automation, so I reverted it. The transclution limit is reached when we add 460 additional instances of that template to the article (23 races x 20 drivers), not by having the points totals add up automatically. SSSB (talk) 12:02, 23 April 2023 (UTC)
- Okey dokey. This is not a part of the MediaWiki software I am familiar with. You might want to do a null edit to update your revert summary, since it appears the edit was done in good faith. -- Scjessey (talk) 13:07, 23 April 2023 (UTC)
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.
The problem we haven't solved.
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.
Administrators' newsletter – May 2023
News and updates for administrators from the past month (April 2023).
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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.
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.
First national-level conference in the Indian subcontinent in seven years.
The Signpost: 22 May 2023
... 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.
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.
ReferenceExpander
Just a friendly heads-up in case you weren't already aware, since it's installed on your common.js: Careless use of ReferenceExpander has caused serious problems. It's currently at MFD, and a large cleanup project is underway to repair the citations damaged by the script. I and several other users have !voted that the script be deleted or disabled, and I wouldn't recommend using it at all unless you thoroughly check every reference it modifies against the previous revision. If you're interested in a more detailed explanation of the script's issues, Folly Mox has provided an excellent summary at the MFD. — SamX [talk · contribs] 05:08, 1 June 2023 (UTC)
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.
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.
Administrators' newsletter – June 2023
News and updates for administrators from the past month (May 2023).
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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.
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.
... 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.
Administrators' newsletter – July 2023
News and updates for administrators from the past month (June 2023).
Administrator changes
Bureaucrat changes
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.
The Signpost: 3 July 2023
... 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.
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.
Mission to ensure stability in conflict-ridden area.
The Signpost: 17 July 2023
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.
Philadelphians and Tanzanians say goodbye.
The collaboration process for the 2023 English fundraising campaign is kicking off now, right from the start of the fiscal year.
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.
And various other research on large language models and Wikipedia.
Bold move intended to "get some variety" into Wikipedia arguments.
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.
August 2023 Good Article Nominations backlog drive
| Good article nominations | August 2023 Backlog Drive |  |
August 2023 Backlog Drive:
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| Other ways to participate: | |
| You're receiving this message because you have reviewed or nominated a good article in the last year. | |
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!
Three editors have departed.
- Tips and tricks: Citation tools for dummies!
You don't really want to do this stuff by yourself, do you?
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.
Administrators' newsletter – August 2023
News and updates for administrators from the past month (July 2023).
Administrator changes
Interface administrator changes
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.
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.
Harsh words from problematic fave Glenn Greenwald.
Rigorous Review of Content for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Wikipedia.
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.
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.
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.
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
Administrators' newsletter – September 2023
News and updates for administrators from the past month (August 2023).
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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
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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 tonote when broader community discussion, or changes to policies and guidelines, would be helpful
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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.
The Signpost: 16 September 2023
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.
Non-flammable, BPA-free, and really whips the llama's ass.
- Featured content: Catching up
Covering all of August. Pretty much.
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!
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.
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
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.
Taylor Swift with an NFL tight end and Lauren Boebert with a Democrat?
Nomination of 2018–19 Electric Production Car Series for deletion
The article will be discussed at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/2018–19 Electric Production Car Series until a consensus is reached, and anyone, including you, is welcome to contribute to the discussion. The nomination will explain the policies and guidelines which are of concern. The discussion focuses on high-quality evidence and our policies and guidelines.
Users may edit the article during the discussion, including to improve the article to address concerns raised in the discussion. However, do not remove the article-for-deletion notice from the top of the article until the discussion has finished.
— Preceding unsigned comment added by Wild8oar (talk • contribs) 06:14, 5 October 2023 (UTC)
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
First Edit Day
| Happy First Edit Day! Hi SSSB! On behalf of the Birthday Committee, I'd like to wish you a very happy anniversary of the day you made your first edit and became a Wikipedian! Ezra Cricket (talk) 04:30, 5 November 2023 (UTC) | |
Ezra Cricket (talk) 04:30, 5 November 2023 (UTC)
- @Ezra Cricket: thanks. SSSB (talk) 11:51, 5 November 2023 (UTC)
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.
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.
A systematic approach.
- Traffic report: Cricket jumpscare
Plus Kollywood, Killers of the Flower Moon, and ongoing war.
Administrators' newsletter – November 2023
News and updates for administrators from the past month (October 2023).
Administrator changes
Interface administrator changes
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!
Assessing articles
When you assess an article, (e.g. [1]), please can you update the class in the banner shell template rather than adding to each individual project banner? Thanks — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 11:23, 10 November 2023 (UTC)
- Sure thing. Sorry about that. SSSB (talk) 11:40, 10 November 2023 (UTC)
- No worries at all — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 12:08, 10 November 2023 (UTC)
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!
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) 00:51, 28 November 2023 (UTC)
The Signpost: 4 December 2023
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.
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.
Administrators' newsletter – December 2023
News and updates for administrators from the past month (November 2023).
Administrator 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.
Sponsor
A sponsor has nothing to do with a name and surname driver, like Alexander Albon's case. The sponsor should not be included for the car, despite being the first ever case. We establish the common name also for cars after Grands Prix wikilinks. Island92 (talk) 09:20, 19 December 2023 (UTC)
- My response to each of those sentences is "says who?". Who says the commonname will not include Kick? Who says that the sponser should not be included in the article title? Who says that the sponser has nothing to do with the name? Actually, 2024 Formula One World Championship would disagree with this last point, as the constuctor column clearly includes the Kick (and the Aramco for Aston). And this is exactly like Albon, because we are (apparently) using official names in the entry table, not commonnames. SSSB (talk) 09:29, 19 December 2023 (UTC)
- Entrants and constructors have both their own sponsors but NOT in the Main wikilink. You read Aston Martin in Formula One that leads to Aston Martin, not Aston Martin Aramco in Formula One. The main wikilink never includes the sponsor name. Island92 (talk) 10:54, 19 December 2023 (UTC)
- And that's why for cars should be followed the same. Island92 (talk) 10:55, 19 December 2023 (UTC)
- The title sponsor is always split and not involved in the main wikilink. And where is the case, the sponsor has its own wikilink, hence [[Kick (service)|Kick]] [[Sauber Motorsport|Sauber]]-[[Scuderia Ferrari|Ferrari]] Island92 (talk) 11:51, 19 December 2023 (UTC)
- The reasonit is not Aston Martin Aramco in Formula One is a) because of the existance of an established commonname and b) because that article's scope extends beyond Aramco's involvement with Aston Martin. Neither of those apply to the car. Until it has been established that a commonname exists, the article should use the official name. In the absence of an established WP:COMMONNAME, the official name is the title that best fits the article title WP:CRITERIA (there is no evidence to say that one is more recognisable than the other and the official name is more precise. SSSB (talk) 11:57, 19 December 2023 (UTC)
- @Island92: I maintain that you are fowl of WP:OR by excluding the "kick" from the article title. However, I also cannot be bothered to argue it, it is a minor point. I am going to create a redirect, so that using the chassis name without or witout kick will get you to the car article. For now, I will set up the templates so that without "Kick" has the {{r with possibilites}} and with "kick" has {{r avoided double redirect}}. SSSB (talk) 12:07, 19 December 2023 (UTC)
- The reasonit is not Aston Martin Aramco in Formula One is a) because of the existance of an established commonname and b) because that article's scope extends beyond Aramco's involvement with Aston Martin. Neither of those apply to the car. Until it has been established that a commonname exists, the article should use the official name. In the absence of an established WP:COMMONNAME, the official name is the title that best fits the article title WP:CRITERIA (there is no evidence to say that one is more recognisable than the other and the official name is more precise. SSSB (talk) 11:57, 19 December 2023 (UTC)
- The title sponsor is always split and not involved in the main wikilink. And where is the case, the sponsor has its own wikilink, hence [[Kick (service)|Kick]] [[Sauber Motorsport|Sauber]]-[[Scuderia Ferrari|Ferrari]] Island92 (talk) 11:51, 19 December 2023 (UTC)
- And that's why for cars should be followed the same. Island92 (talk) 10:55, 19 December 2023 (UTC)
- Entrants and constructors have both their own sponsors but NOT in the Main wikilink. You read Aston Martin in Formula One that leads to Aston Martin, not Aston Martin Aramco in Formula One. The main wikilink never includes the sponsor name. Island92 (talk) 10:54, 19 December 2023 (UTC)
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.
Heartwarming — MUST READ — You Won't BELIEVE #4!!!!!
- Humour: Guess the joke contest
Winner receives a special prize!
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."
Scripts++ Newsletter – Issue 23
New year, new scripts. Welcome to the 23rd issue of the Wikipedia Scripts++ Newsletter, covering around 39% of our favorite new and updated user scripts since 24 December 2021. That’s right, we haven’t published in two years! Can you believe it? Did you miss us?
Got anything good? Tell us about your new, improved, old, or messed-up script here!
Featured script
- RefRenamer by Nardog is this issue's featured script. For whatever reason, the foundation will only give us better reference names in VisualEditor if we wish for it in the next survey. Nardog to the rescue! This script has a ton of options to satisfy almost anyone who wishes to use better refnames than ":0" and ":418".
Updated scripts
- Nardog: MoveHistory can now look up the move history of any page from anywhere on the site.
- User:Enterprisey/diff-permalink now has a version that copies the Special:Diff link with square brackets.
- User:GhostInTheMachine/WatchlistTidy now moves the Active Filters panel to the right so that the Show/Hide button doesn't constantly jump.
- User:Alexander Davronov/HistoryHelper has now become stable with some bugfixes and features such as automatically highlighting potentially uncivil edit summaries and automatically pinging all the users selected.
- Wikipedia:AutoEd/unicodehex.js will no longer replace legacy MediaWiki dot-entities (dot followed by two uppercase alphanumeric characters) in article links, which caused several links to become broken.
Improve a script
- Many of our favorite scripts such as User:Fred Gandt/userResourceManager, User:Guarapiranga/search-shortcuts and User:Bradv/Scripts/Superlinks haven't been updated for Vector 2022. You could be the one to change that!
- User:Elominius/gadget/media timer works, but its UI looks alien. Someone could improve it...
- To a lesser extent, the same goes for User:PrimeHunter/Search sort.js. I wish someone would integrate the sorts into the sort menu instead of adding 11 portlet links.
- We want...
- ...a mark-as-read button for Watchlyst Greybar Unsin
- ...a tool to automatically fix CAT:BROKENREFs, preferably a fork/addition to User:TheJJJunk/ARA
- ...a fix/fork of User:DannyS712/SectionRemover.js to make it work
Requested scripts
- A WP:3O requesting and responding tool, similar to Terasil's classic edit request tool
- A "bytes removed"/"added" filter on the user contribs page
- A review tool for WP:proposed deletions
- Mass patrol new pages by a user for use in WP:RFP/A
- ...and many more, all available at Wikipedia:User scripts/Requests
New scripts
- Aaron Liu: Watchlyst Greybar Unsin is a rewrite of Ais's Watchlist Notifier with modern APIs and several new features such as not displaying watchlist items marked as seen (hence the name), not bolding diffs of unseen watchlist elements which doesn’t work properly anyways, displaying the rendered edit summary, proper display of log and creation actions and more links.
- Alexis Jazz: Factotum is a spiritual successor to reply-link with a host of extra features like section adding, link rewriting, regular expressions and more.
- User:Aveaoz/AutoMobileRedirect: This script will automatically redirect MobileFrontend (en.m.wikipedia) to normal Wikipedia. Unlike existing scripts, this one will actually check if your browser is mobile or not through its secret agent string, so you can stay logged in on mobile! Hooray screen estate!
- Chlod:
- Deputy is a first-of-its-kind copyright cleanup toolkit. It overrides the interface for Wikipedia:Contributor copyright investigations for easy case processing. It also includes the functionality of the following (also new) scripts:
- Attribution Notice Template Editor (ANTE) graphically modifies content attribution notices. It is the successor to User:Chlod/Scripts/CopiedTemplateEditor and supports more templates than {{copied}} ones.
- Infringement Assistant allows a user to hide sections of a page for suspected copyright violations and report the page to the appropriate Wikipedia:Copyright problems noticeboard.
- Deputy is a first-of-its-kind copyright cleanup toolkit. It overrides the interface for Wikipedia:Contributor copyright investigations for easy case processing. It also includes the functionality of the following (also new) scripts:
- User:Elominius/gadget/diff arrow keys allows navigation between diffs with the arrow keys. It also has a version that requires holding Ctrl with the arrow key.
- Enterprisey
- diff-permalink-2 allows quickly copying wikilinks to diff and permalink pages from those pages, a variation of existing script User:Enterprisey/diff-permalink
- archiver is a fork of Σ's Archiver with several bugfixes.
- /parent-cats highlights categories that are a subcategory of a category already included in a page's categories.
- User:Guarapiranga/accessKeysCheatSheet adds an access key shortcut to display all shortcuts based on code provided by Nardog and NguoiDungKhongDinhDanh.
- User:HungKhanh0106/ProperDisplay loads a bunch of fonts to add correct rendering supports for "esoteric" languages.
- User:Jeeputer/highlightPiped will make piped links irresistible (or else).
- User:Jerome Frank Disciple/curlyfixer.js adds an WP:AutoEd function that straightens curly quotes per MOS. That's right! Such a module was only made in the 14th year of AutoEd's existence! Configure away!
- Frequently link to Wikipedia on your websites yet find generating CC-BY credits to be such a hassle? Say no more! User:Luke10.27/attribute will automatically do it for ya and copy the credit to yer clipboard.
- User:MPGuy2824/MoveToDraft, a spiritual successor (i.e. fork) to Evad37's script, with a few bugs solved, and a host of extra features like check-boxes for choosing draftification reasons, multi-contributor notification, and appropriate warnings based on last edit time.
- Nardog
- /CopyCodeBlock: one of the most important operations for any scripter and script-user is to copy and paste. This script adds a copy button in the top right of every code block (not to be confused with <code>) that will, well, copy it to your clipboard!
- /RCMuter: Hide specific users, perhaps User:MediaWiki message delivery, from the Watchlist and Recent Changes.
- /VitalTopicon makes you see the vital article topicon on WP:vital articles.
- m:User:NguoiDungKhongDinhDanh/AceForLuaDebugConsole.js adds the Ace editor (a.k.a. the editor you see when editing JS, CSS and Lua on Wikimedia wikis) to the Lua debug console. "In my opinion, whoever designed it to be a plain <textarea> needs to seriously reconsider their decision."
- Novem Linguae
- DraftCleaner fixes formatting of new articles.
- GANReviewTool quickly and easily closes good article nominations.
- ReviewStatus displays whether or not a mainspace page is marked as reviewed.
- SpeciesHelper tries to add the correct speciesbox, category, taxonbar, and stub template to species articles.
- User:Opencooper/svgReplace and Tol's fork replaces all rasterized SVGs with their original SVG codes for your loading pleasures. Tell us which one is better!
- User:Phlsph7/HighlightUnreferencedPassages adds a button to highlight all unreferenced paragraphs in reds, and can even do it automatically.
- Still hate Vector 2022's floating TOC? User:Phlsph7/UnfoldedNumberedTOC(Vector2022) might make you give it a try.
- Quite a bit of pages at Special:WantedCategories either exist now or got removed. User:Qwerfjkl/scripts/hideUnwantedCategories automatically hides those.
- User:SuperHamster's Wikipedia:Tools/View it! generates a gallery of images for a given subject on any Wikimedia project utilizing Structured Data on Commons. Images can then be added as needed.
- Terasail
- ArticleInfo displays page information at the top of the page, directly below the title.
- /HeaderIcons takes away the Vector 2022 user dropdown and replaces it with all of the icons within, top level, right next to the Watchlist. One less click away! There's also an alternate version that uses text links instead of icons.
- ...and any more, all available at WP:US/L.
Due to budget and procrastination limitations, we've only had time to review the first ~39% of the scripts since last issue. Help us out here! Aaron Liu (talk) 13:24, 29 December 2023 (UTC)
Administrators' newsletter – January 2024
News and updates for administrators from the past month (December 2023).
Administrator changes
CheckUser changes
Oversighter changes
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!
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!
The first of two installments, regarding a process of many installments.
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).
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.
extended-confirmed-protected edit request on Zamorin
Hello there is a extended-confirmed-protected edit request on Zamorin [2]] 207.96.13.213 (talk) 15:55, 18 January 2024 (UTC)
- I appreciate that you are keen to have your proposed edit implemented as soon as possible, but this is not really the appropriate venue to chase these requests, espically as this is not an area of Wikipedia I work in. There are tools that editors use to awnser edit requests and there are currently 44 requests in the queue. I will have a look at this request if I remember too and I have time (i.e. not now, maybe later), but in future please wait your turn. Thanks. SSSB (talk) 09:04, 19 January 2024 (UTC)
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!
Another wobble, more Ackman, our usual pathological optimist, and football in dirty pants!
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.
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!
Administrators' newsletter – February 2024
News and updates for administrators from the past month (January 2024).
Administrator changes
Bureaucrat 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!
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!
Finding the right bumblebee among all the bumblebees!
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!
Disambiguation link notification for February 13
An automated process has detected that you recently added links to disambiguation pages.
- 1978 Italian Grand Prix
- added links pointing to John Watson, Alan Jones, Ford and Alberto Colombo
(Opt-out instructions.) --DPL bot (talk) 06:10, 13 February 2024 (UTC)
Updating an article
Hi there, I came across Helmut Marko's biography(here), and in it, as no one has edited it yet, is written that 'he has also advised the Scuderia Toro Rosso, now Scuderia AlphaTauri Formula One team' so in this, I'm confused if I should
Either replace Alphatauri directly with VCARB, Or include Alphatauri as well(but I'm not able to frame the right sentence).
Can you please help me in deciding which is the right way, and how it should be written if it's the second choice?
AnalyserOP (talk) 21:14, 12 February 2024 (UTC)
- My advice is also to be WP:BOLD and the wording can be refined later. Personally, I think that going Toro Rosso, RB is misleading, because he also advised AlphaTauri, but listing all three as suggested feels clunky. I'll have to think about the best way to include all three. SSSB (talk) 20:57, 13 February 2024 (UTC)
- Thanks for the suggestion. I have tried and edited it by including all three. Pls review and improve it as you like. Here you go. AnalyserOP (talk) 05:09, 14 February 2024 (UTC)
March 2024 GAN backlog drive
| Good article nominations | March 2024 Backlog Drive | |
March 2024 Backlog Drive:
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| You're receiving this message because you have reviewed or nominated a good article in the last year. | |