Wikipedia talk:Birthday Committee/Archive 5

Archive 1

←

Archive 3

Archive 4

Archive 5

my 7th!

Today is my 7th WikiBirthday. I needed to tell *someone*, so I thought I'd say it here. Happy Thanksgiving to those of you in the U.S. Kingturtle (talk) 16:41, 26 November 2009 (UTC)

Happy birthday to you. Cheers! Western Pines (talk) 04:38, 18 February 2010 (UTC)

Hrmph. Some committee...

And where were you all on MY birthday hmm???

I only got a b-day message after the fact, after I had to announce it on IRC...

Such a huge list of members, yet not even one of them bothers with a simple templated birthday message... -- œ^™ 02:58, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

I suspect it is inactive. Might be worth placing a tag as such on the project page.Casliber (talk · contribs) 01:43, 25 May 2010 (UTC)

Nah.. as long as users keep having birthdays this project will never be inactive. -- œ^™ 02:31, 2 September 2010 (UTC)

Date order

Names should be listed day wise. --Extra 999 (Contact ^me + _contribs) 05:07, 29 October 2010 (UTC)

You know the date column is sortable right? (Happy belated birthday btw) -- œ^™ 21:33, 31 October 2010 (UTC)

Again ...

As every year, I complain about the birthday messages. Please stop doing it, respect my privacy and personal details. Magister Mathematicae (talk) 01:52, 15 January 2011 (UTC)

Noone would be sending you birthday messages if your name wasn't already listed somewhere. Maybe, instead of complaining here, if you would've just asked the user where he got his information from that it was your birthday, you could have easily removed your name yourself. Then you wouldn't have to worry about getting any more cheerful birthday messages from good-faithed Wikipedians in the community. -- œ^™ 02:36, 15 January 2011 (UTC)

Nomination for deletion of Template:No BDC B-day

Template:No BDC B-day has been nominated for deletion. You are invited to comment on the discussion at the template's entry on the Templates for discussion page. Plastikspork _―Œ^(talk) 05:24, 17 January 2011 (UTC)

Cratship days

I think you need to review your messages protocol. I noticed that User_talk:Nichalp has two of your messages from last autumn. And that was a good year or so after he lost his bureaucrat flag. Are you running from an out of date database? --Dweller (talk) 12:12, 16 February 2011 (UTC)

Now removed. Ideally we hope that users who add their names to the calendar also remember to remove themselves if they leave or no longer wish to receive birthday messages, but I do wish that some of our members would also take the time to look through a user's contribs to see if they're still active before leaving them birthday greets. It's supposed to be a personal and neighborly thing, not just another menial task. -- œ^™ 16:29, 16 February 2011 (UTC)

Indecision

Wikipedia Birthday Committee it's really wished to all the members? Ramesh Ramaiah ^talk 17:16, 7 December 2011 (UTC)

Sending Gifts

Can I send the Birthday Committee templates to a user on his birthday? And can I create a template?--pratyya (talk) 15:34, 28 November 2012 (UTC)

Yes. It looks as if you've figured this out. But User:Pratyya Ghosh/Happy Birthday Mediran could probably have been susbtituted. Cheers. -- Trevj (talk) 13:07, 31 January 2013 (UTC)

Active members

OlEnglish, I was thinking of looking through the list of members and marking the inactive ones/removing the blocked ones? ~ Anastasia [Missionedit] (talk) 03:33, 25 March 2015 (UTC)

Please! Be bold :) -- œ^™ 07:16, 25 March 2015 (UTC)

@OlEnglish: Should I remove permanently blocked users or just comment them out? ~ Anastasia [Missionedit] (talk) 18:33, 25 March 2015 (UTC)

I would remove them. -- œ^™ 04:11, 26 March 2015 (UTC)

First edit but not birthday

Is it possible to get first edit anniversary messages without getting birthday messages? I don't want to disclose my birthday. Oiyarbepsy (talk) 13:12, 28 May 2015 (UTC)

@Oiyarbepsy: Yes. If you only want to receive first edit day messages, then only put put your first edit day in the calendar. You don't have to disclose your birthday unless you want to. ~ Anastasia [Missionedit] (talk) 16:58, 28 May 2015 (UTC)

Today's birthdays

Just did today's. One was an indef. blocked sock, one hasn't edited since 2011... should we clean up a little? All the best: Rich Farmbrough, 19:50, 31 May 2015 (UTC).

Much of the cleanup work has finally been done, both by myself and @Missionedit:. I am wondering now if I should go through the list of project members and remove those who are indeffed or have been inactive for a long time. Lepricavark (talk) 14:49, 28 September 2016 (UTC)

@Lepricavark: I've checked through the members from the top up though User:Wikigold96; if you want to give it a shot, go for it. I would remove blocked, retired, and long inactive users (eg. gone longer than 2 years). ~ Anastasia [Missionedit] (talk) 22:34, 28 September 2016 (UTC)

Okay, I'll try to get to that soon. Lepricavark (talk) 04:42, 29 September 2016 (UTC)

Process for creating new templates?

I just came across Template:First Edit Day 3, and I was going to add it to the list with all the others when I saw that it is apparently still awaiting approval. According to the edit history, the template has been awaiting approval for over 10 years now. What is the protocol for creating new templates and how do they become approved? Lepricavark (talk) 14:41, 28 September 2016 (UTC)

@Lepricavark: The Birthday Committee's leadership has been basically dead since 2007, when User:Steveo2 and User:Mr. Turcotte left. People pick up some work here and there, new editors join sometimes, but for the most part it's been every man for himself :) Since there really isn't any active membership to approve the template through consensus, and the template looks good to me, feel free to add the template to the main page. ~ Anastasia [Missionedit] (talk) 22:45, 28 September 2016 (UTC)

In that case, I will add it. Would it also be okay to create new templates and add them as well? Lepricavark (talk) 04:45, 29 September 2016 (UTC)

@Lepricavark: Since we seem to be the only active members of this project right now, that's fine. Just let me have a look at them before you put them on the page. Good luck! ~ Anastasia [Missionedit] (talk) 19:30, 30 September 2016 (UTC)

Ok, I'll do that. Lepricavark (talk) 21:37, 30 September 2016 (UTC)

My birthday is coming

Dear All, This is a awesome idea wishing a birthday in recognition of USers contribution on Wikipedia, My birthday is 25th December. add me into wish list for birthday wishes..Thanks..--Jogi 007 (talk) 11:25, 17 December 2016 (UTC)

 Done. Lepricavark (talk) 23:05, 17 December 2016 (UTC)

New template?

Per the advice in the above thread entitled "Process for Creating New Templates", I present the newly–created Template:First Edit Day 4. I'm specifically pinging @Missionedit:, @Chris troutman:, and @Mz7:, all of whom I have noticed as active in using the templates, but I'd like feedback from anyone regarding whether this template can be added to the list on the main project page. I created it because I prefer templates that automatically sign, but the only one that currently does so is rather bland. Lepricavark (talk) 02:53, 23 December 2016 (UTC)

@Lepricavark: I approve both templates 3 and 4. Thanks for being proactive on this. Chris Troutman (talk) 03:07, 23 December 2016 (UTC)

@Chris troutman: Great, I'll update the template list accordingly. Thanks for your help in using the templates! I'm hoping to increase participation here. One further question: what process do you think is ideal for approving templates? Should we continue to use this talk page or set up a separate thread for future template creations? There is a fair amount of variety for birthday templates, but not many First Edit Day templates. Lepricavark (talk) 03:13, 23 December 2016 (UTC)

@Lepricavark: For the WikiProject, I'd prefer you just post to the talk, give it a week, and then be bold if no one objects. You could just be bold and let someone revert you and then we'll discuss. (WP:BRD) I don't see why we need more templates. We've already got the birthday, first, edit, and adminship anniversary covered. There shouldn't be much need to innovate on behalf of the WikiProject. Chris Troutman (talk) 04:06, 23 December 2016 (UTC)

@Chris troutman: Fair enough. I like variety and I do think we could stand to have a few more templates for First Edit Day. But it's certainly not an immediate need or anything of that nature. If I do make more in the future, I'll follow the protocol you outlined above. Regards, and have a Merry Christmas! Lepricavark (talk) 04:15, 23 December 2016 (UTC)

Noting here that I fully agree with Chris as to future updates. There's no longer any kind of coordination in this WikiProject, so the WP:BRD process strikes me as the best way to make improvements. Mz7 (talk) 03:47, 28 December 2016 (UTC)

Deceased Wikipedians

I was about to send First Edit Day greetings to Dravecky (talk · contribs), but I was saddened to see that he has died. My instinct is to remove his name from Wikipedia:Birthday Committee/Calendar/June/7, but I wondered whether others might want to keep it there in his memory, or whether we should continue to send first edit anniversary greetings in his memory as well. What do you all think? Mz7 (talk) 21:19, 7 June 2017 (UTC)

I think removing his name is the most logical step. Lepricavark (talk) 21:43, 7 June 2017 (UTC)

I agree. The purpose of the list is to send out annual birthday wishes. Dead editors aren't going to be receiving birthday wishes, hence no reason to keep them on the list. Chris Troutman (talk) 00:15, 8 June 2017 (UTC)

Alright, thanks for the sensible input. I've gone ahead and removed his name from the calendar. Mz7 (talk) 01:35, 14 June 2017 (UTC)

Removing retired users

Should I remove those users who are inactive? Examples: Miles Edgeworth Astros4477 A 10 fireplane (talk) 04:42, 25 November 2018 (UTC)

Removing Steveo2

I noticed Steveo2 has been inactive and I am proposing removing him from the Template:Birthday Welcome that way they can dirrect their concerns to an active user. A 10 fireplane ^{Imform me} 16:31, 8 January 2019 (UTC)

Good Grief

This project needs to review it's flaky postings. -Roxy, the dog. wooF 16:28, 16 January 2019 (UTC)

In case anyone is wondering...Roxy is referring to a recent Birthday Committee posting of "Happy First Edit Day!" on an indefinitely-blocked user's talkpage... It would seem that yes the parameters for posting HAPPY GREETINGS! on editors' talkpages should include checking to see beforehand if that editor is blocked or banned. Before posting said "HAPPY GREETING". Shearonink (talk) 16:46, 16 January 2019 (UTC)

He actually walked away before the detractors got to him. One of the very best -Roxy, the dog. wooF 16:50, 16 January 2019 (UTC)

@Roxy the dog:I guess I will remove all inactive/blocked users and fix templates A 10 fireplane ^{Imform me} 15:04, 23 January 2019 (UTC)

Belated birthday...

I was 8 minutes late to put my birthday on the schedule 😅... maybe I'm a bit selfish, but do you all work with belated birthdays in any way? Just curious, as I expected a message when I didn't even have my name on the schedule. I probably should have learned more about this WikiProject beforehand instead of obnoxiously asking for approval after-the-fact. (This truly is a low in my Wikipedia career...) Utopes (talk) 00:23, 25 September 2019 (UTC)

delete the members' list

I'd ask that we put the members' list birthdays into our calendar and delete the list. There's no reason in an adhocracy to maintain a list of members. Further, by keeping a list of birthdays here we unnecessarily duplicate the other places that hold that info. Chris Troutman (talk) 17:24, 5 November 2019 (UTC)

I got skipped?

So... my WikiBirthday was 5 January, but I didn't get a greeting? --awkwafaba (📥) 15:27, 19 February 2020 (UTC)

@Awkwafaba: Yes, and I'm sorry about that. We don't always get the job done 100% of the time. Little things like a birthday greeting mean a lot and we are believers in appreciating fellow editors. Please accept my apology. Chris Troutman (talk) 15:33, 19 February 2020 (UTC)

Anniversaries

Regarding this edit and this edit: can any editors posting anniversary messages please check if the potential recipient is still an administrator, or is in imminent danger of having administrative privileges removed? Being reminded of an anniversary may not be a happy occasion under certain circumstances. isaacl (talk) 01:09, 2 March 2020 (UTC)

Has any action been taken with regards to this matter? isaacl (talk) 17:29, 30 March 2020 (UTC)

It's probably been over a year since I last went through and removed individuals who were no longer admins. It may be time to do it again. LEPRICAVARK (talk) 18:19, 30 March 2020 (UTC)

To editors Bobherry and CAPTAIN RAJU: As you two were the editors involved, both User:Amorymeltzer/crathighlighter.js and User:Theopolisme/Scripts/adminhighlighter.js can let you know if an editor is still an admin. Wikipedia:Tools/Navigation popups lets you hover over a username and find out their current hats. Optionally, I look up the applicable editor's RfA so I can also mention how many years they've been an admin to show that we care about fellow editors by not making this a machine-process. We could have a bot do that. Unless you make these checks, sloppy work will embarrass some, especially the editor issuing sloppy greetings. Chris Troutman (talk) 18:41, 30 March 2020 (UTC)

Based on the edit summary, I'm assuming the script linked to from Wikipedia:Birthday Committee § User script was used. Are you modifying your process to ensure the list that the script uses is updated before it is used? Current administrator status could in theory be checked by the script, but I think checking for any relevant open arbitration cases, for example, would probably have to be done manually. isaacl (talk) 19:12, 30 March 2020 (UTC)

broken template

and I'm not talking about so much yellow but there is so much yellow... and that orchid border... (and as we all know, too much yellow is too much yellow... and that orchid border...)

This recently appeared on my talk page. I have enough stuff on my plate and don't particularly care about anniversary fluff, but someone might, so that someone might want to fix the template code so that it doesn't make broken links when usernames have spaces. (and of course, yellow... and that orchid border...)

—Trappist the monk (talk) 15:37, 17 September 2020 (UTC)

@Trappist the monk: Thanks for flagging this shortfall; we'll look into it. I imagine it's no fun to be greeted with a coding error on your seventh adminship anniversary. Chris Troutman (talk) 15:58, 17 September 2020 (UTC)

Chris troutman, I will request that request to be removed from BC script ​ as it is getting fixed. I’ll notify the template author as well Megan☺️ ^{Talk to the monster} 16:35, 17 September 2020 (UTC)

Trappist the monk, My bad, I liked using that template. I hope you still got the message you are now a seven year old admin. Megan☺️ ^{Talk to the monster} 16:27, 17 September 2020 (UTC)

Oh, I got the message. Thanks. But, how could I not? There is just so much yellow ... and that orchid border...

—Trappist the monk (talk) 16:52, 17 September 2020 (UTC)

Megan, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you on behalf of the Birthday Committee for your kindness and helping out with the b-day greetings.
Cordially, History DMZ ^{(talk)+(ping)} 21:55, 17 September 2020 (UTC)

History DMZ, Always a pleasure Megan☺️ ^{Talk to the monster} 06:25, 18 September 2020 (UTC)

Birthday...

Hi,

I had my birthday skipped on December 9. What do I do? Update it? Thanks. Severestorm28 (talk) 12:11, 9 December 2021 (UTC)

@Severestorm28: I wish you a belated happy birthday and I'm sorry we didn't get to you. Your birthday is listed on the December 9th as it should be, so it was no fault of yours, but one of the shortfalls we get as a volunteer project. We try to recognize birthdays and anniversaries as a matter of editor retention because we value the members of our editing community. Speaking only for myself, I've essentially quit editing; I cannot fault my fellow volunteers if they could not make the time on December 9th to send you the birthday wish you deserve. Chris Troutman (talk) 14:42, 9 December 2021 (UTC)

Bot to automatically purge inactive users

It would be nice to have a bot to automatically remove users that haven't edited in 6 months. 🐶 EpicPupper ^{(he/him | talk)} 03:23, 23 January 2022 (UTC)

Deprecate the Bulletin Board?

Hi, the current welcome template suggests users to go to the bulletin board for announcements. The page hasn't been used since 2008. Perhaps it could be marked as {{historical}} and members could be linked here? 🐶 EpicPupper ^{(he/him | talk)} 00:09, 25 January 2022 (UTC)

I've tagged it as {[tl|supersded}} per WP:SILENTCON. 🐶 EpicPupper ^{(he/him | talk)} 04:21, 22 February 2022 (UTC)

Personalizing templates with years

I think it would help the greetings feel a little more personal if they included in some instances the number of years since an editor joined/gained adminship/etc. Would there be a way to facilitate that automatically with the tools you use? {{u|Sdkb}} ^talk 22:15, 5 October 2021 (UTC)

I support this. A template parameter would be nice. 🐶 EpicPupper ^{(he/him | talk)} 03:23, 23 January 2022 (UTC)

@EpicPupper I added the year for {{Happy Adminship}}, and then got carried away and turned it into a full overhaul/modernization haha. Let me know what you think! I'd be happy to do similar revamps for the other templates if there's interest. Cheers, {{u|Sdkb}} ^talk 22:03, 24 January 2022 (UTC)

@Sdkb oh my goodness, I absolutely love that template! I love how it uses Tweemoji Please continue to revamp any of the templates! I'll try to help out as well. 🐶 EpicPupper ^{(he/him | talk)} 22:06, 24 January 2022 (UTC)

@Sdkb Wow, that's wonderful! I'll have to start using that one for admin anniversaries, I was just thinking it'd be nice if they were even just a tad more personal. --Isro! ^chatter 17:43, 24 March 2022 (UTC)

Inactive users

I was thinking about going though and purging some inactive users, as I've seen some that've been inactive for 2 years, possibly more. Any objections? --Isro! ^chatter 16:52, 19 April 2022 (UTC)

Yes, if you mean removing editors from the individual day pages who left Wikipedia, be sure to leave {{Birthday Committee/Inactive}} on their talk page so they know to re-add themselves should they return. Also, if they were a prolific editor you might list them at WP:MIA, as well. Chris Troutman (talk) 22:07, 19 April 2022 (UTC)

Thanks for those links, I'll get started then! --Isro! ^chatter 17:01, 20 April 2022 (UTC)

If someone's indef blocked, but has been active > 6 months ago, should I remove them or leave them? It was a voluntary block, otherwise, I would've just removed them. --Isro! ^chatter 18:54, 20 April 2022 (UTC)

Just to note, I'm also adding adminship years to admin birthdays, as it's listed as a rule, and will be helpful for the new admin b-day template. --Isro! ^chatter 20:01, 20 April 2022 (UTC)

January's done! Onto Feb. --Isro! ^chatter 18:59, 25 May 2022 (UTC)

Too many messages

Thank you for the adminship anniversary messages, but I don't need two on the day and another the day after. One message on behalf of the committee is plenty. Thryduulf (talk) 17:02, 3 June 2022 (UTC)

Thryduulf, Wow, three messages from what I can see. Congrats on the anniversary, btw. I think members are a bit exuberant about making sure messages make it to everyone, sort of like answering questions at the Teahouse. Hopefully it's taken into consideration and thank you for the kindly reminder and I, for one, appreciate your service to the encyclopedia and community. --ARoseWolf 17:15, 3 June 2022 (UTC)

If you would prefer not to be listed, Thryduulf, you won't receive any messages. We don't otherwise take individual preferences into account. Our current direction is "More than one person from the committee may send messages to the same person and belated greetings are ok too but we can revisit that since you're the only editor out of hundreds that seemed to have a problem of this nature. Chris Troutman (talk) 18:35, 3 June 2022 (UTC)

@Thryduulf: I understand your POV but I think what is worth celebrating is worth celebrating. I even imagine a situation where a celebrant can get up to 20 wishes. A similar situation happened a few days ago where an admin removed the wishes we sent from someone else's talk page which brought a little problem. I was very unimpressed that day because a part of this project says "More than one member can post on a talk page" and besides, no one is forcing anyone on this list. We post base on names we see here. For me, I don't check talk page if the person has received a message or not. Like you can see on my userpage, the names of those celebrating today are already there, I just click from there and post my message. In a nutshell, you received a message because your name is somewhere, if your no longer want to receive such messages, then you might maybe consider removing your name. Comr Melody Idoghor (talk) 18:46, 3 June 2022 (UTC)

I have noticed that this too-many-messages thing is currently happening at User talk:Redrose64 (permalink). That editor hasn't said anything about the repeating messages, but surely one is enough.

How can I unsubscribe so that the committee don't send me any of these kinds of messages?

—Trappist the monk (talk) 15:58, 5 May 2023 (UTC)

Trappist the monk, have you added your name to any of the categories? --ARoseWolf 14:58, 8 May 2023 (UTC)

Which categories? The project page lists Category:Current Wikipedia birthdays which is populated by a variety of userboxes; none of which I have. The category page suggests adding the text |wikibirthday=no inside your {{User Wikipedian for}} box but since I haven't got that box, that method won't work. I periodically get adminship anniversary messages apparently from the same committee that deliver the happy-first-edit-day messages.

So, my question remains unanswered. How can I unsubscribe so that the committee don't send me any of these kinds of messages?

—Trappist the monk (talk) 15:40, 8 May 2023 (UTC)

Hello Trappist the monk, try doing this, go to the template page of your anniversary date i.e Wikipedia:Birthday Committee/Calendar/May/18( For those whose anniversary day is 18 May) and remove your name. I think from there you ought not to receive the messages since you won't appear in the templates. Hope that helps. Cheers --Megan B.... ^{It’s all coming to me} till the end of time 15:57, 8 May 2023 (UTC)

Excellent, now unsubscribed. Thank you.

—Trappist the monk (talk) 16:18, 8 May 2023 (UTC)

We shouldn't be adding names for anyone but ourselves anyway, meaning only those that want to be notified should be notified by adding their own names to a category or the calendar listed on the project page. I am glad this got resolved for you, @Trappist the monk. --ARoseWolf 16:58, 8 May 2023 (UTC)

How to add event to calendar?

Several places tell me that I can add my WikiBirthday to the calendar ... but they give no indication of HOW to do that. Clicking on today on that calendar displays a list of today's events - but again, no clue how that gets generated or how to update it. How can an editor add their first edit date (or actual birthday) to the system? Gronk Oz (talk) 02:27, 20 March 2024 (UTC)

Gronk Oz, on the project page you see the calendar and under it a description of today's events. At the bottom of that box there are two links under "Other events". Choose the "this year" link. You will see the entire year in monthly calendars by scrolling down the page. Choose the month and day you want by clicking on it. You can edit the source like you would for any other article or page, add your name in the format as others have for the proper category and publish. :) --ARoseWolf 13:47, 20 March 2024 (UTC)

@ARoseWolf: Thanks for the reply. Done it now. I naïvely thought that these entries would be pulled from some kind of database query; it never occurred to me that it was just hard-coded text like this.--Gronk Oz (talk) 14:51, 20 March 2024 (UTC)

"Wrong birthday"

Hi there, thank you for the birthday wishes each year. It's a very kind gesture. I received the good wishes a few days ago and wanted to remove myself from your 3 October calendar as the date isn't right; I had a prior account that Arbcom agreed to courtesy-vanish when I ran for admin. Anyway, I can't find myself in your calendar and am thus puzzled why I received the message. My "true birthday" is 5 August 2007, by the way. I'd be happy to receive messages on that day. Schwede66 05:38, 9 October 2024 (UTC)

Hey, it was from Adr28382 as per the contribs page. I can't find the entry either. But I'll add yours to August 5th gladly. Thanks. The Herald (Benison) (talk) 07:27, 9 October 2024 (UTC)

@Schwede66, I wished you for your first edit day which is on 4th October. I am sorry for being one day late (I wished you on 5th October). I don't remember where I got your entry from. It seems that your entry has been removed or is missing. Anyways, thank you for pointing out your confusion.. Adr28382 (talk) 05:53, 11 October 2024 (UTC)

Happy Adminship upgrade

I've edited {{Happy Adminship}} so that it now automatically retrieves the year someone became an admin if it is listed on the Birthday Calendar (like this), and mentions the anniversary number if so (e.g. "happy fourth anniversary"). Many admins on the Birthday Calendar have not listed the year, so as we go through the calendar this year, I'd encourage adding them! (Courtesy pinging @The Herald as I know you're active in this area.) Cheers, Sdkb ^talk 15:46, 2 October 2024 (UTC)

Sdkb, Thanks a lot. Can something similar be done for first edit too, if possible? I'm not good with codes. Thanks. — The Herald (Benison) (talk) 16:13, 2 October 2024 (UTC)

@The Herald, done for that, and for {{Happy Bureaucratship}} and {{Happy Birthday}} as well!

There are many years to be added on the calendar, and despite my edit to the instructions, they won't happen naturally because people tend to just copy what's there already. So I hope that Birthday Committee members can add the years as we cycle through the calendar this year — once we've done that, we'll be good to go for the future! Cheers, Sdkb ^talk 05:42, 28 October 2024 (UTC)