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Archive 1Archive 2

Hi. Thank you for your recent edits. Wikipedia appreciates your help. We noticed though that when you edited House of Tomorrow (Baltimore), you added a link pointing to the disambiguation page Carnegie Institutecheck to confirm] | fix with Dab solver). Such links are almost always unintended, since a disambiguation page is merely a list of "Did you mean..." article titles. Read the FAQ • Join us at the DPL WikiProject.

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Thanks, I fixed it. AfroThundr3007730 (talk) 18:48, 17 April 2015 (UTC)

IP Unblock Request

This user's unblock request has been reviewed by an administrator, who declined the request. Other administrators may also review this block, but should not override the decision without good reason (see the blocking policy).

AfroThundr3007730 (block logactive blocksglobal blockscontribsdeleted contribsfilter logcreation logchange block settingsunblockcheckuser (log))


Request reason:

Caught by an open proxy block but this host or IP is not an open proxy. This address is part of one of Comcast's dynamic IP ranges. I'm not sure why exactly it was blocked, although that doesn't concern me so much as the fact that I still cannot edit even while logged in. I can understand the prudence in blocking anonymous proxies, even if I don't fully agree with it. However, continuing to block legitimate users who are logged in should not be standard practice. Do we not consider logging in to a confirmed account to be authentication enough? If my credentials are not proof enough of my legitimacy then what is? Or maybe there is no mechanism in place to differentiate between anonymous and autoconfirmed users under a block? If not, I submit that we should look into developing one. /rant.
--AfroThundr3007730 (talk) 20:46, 11 April 2015 (UTC)

Decline reason:

The IP address has been the source of spam and other problems on many web sites over a long time. It is clear that it was recently either hosting a proxy or else a web host, and that whichever it was was used abusively, and the same may well still be true, so it is unlikely to be unblocked. I also see that you have made dozens of edits to other pages since posting this unblock request, so the unblock doesn't seem essential to your ability to edit. The editor who uses the pseudonym "JamesBWatson" (talk) 16:17, 14 April 2015 (UTC)


If you want to make any further unblock requests, please read the guide to appealing blocks first, then use the {{unblock}} template again. If you make too many unconvincing or disruptive unblock requests, you may be prevented from editing this page until your block has expired. Do not remove this unblock review while you are blocked.

Thanks. - AfroThundr3007730 (talk) 18:26, 13 April 2015 (UTC)
AfroThundr3007730, your account is not blocked directly. When you are not tethering, how do you normally get access to the internet? EdJohnston (talk) 17:00, 14 April 2015 (UTC)
I connect through my home router, which is the blocked IP listed above. While I'm connected I get the whole "You are currently unable to edit Wikipedia" spiel, which is why I had to resort to tethering in order to gain a different IP. So while I can circumvent the block, it's not an ideal solution. However, it'd be incredibly annoying to renew my router's DHCP lease, since I have other external services pointing to this IP (media server, file services, web server, etc.} AfroThundr3007730 (talk) 17:21, 14 April 2015 (UTC)
Is there any chance your router might have been compromised, or be configured with too many ports open? A Russian anti-spam site claims that your IP was used to originate Wordpress Viagra spa as recently as March 11, 2015. People might be connecting directly to your router and using it to send mail through an open port. Apparently Comcast wants you to originate any outgoing mail through their own server. EdJohnston (talk) 17:35, 14 April 2015 (UTC)
While I do have a mail server, it isn't accessible from the outside, so there shouldn't be any mail related traffic from this ip. This requires further investigation.
I ran a port scan to verivy against my port forwarding tables in my firewall and the results show the following:
Extended content
PORT      STATE    SERVICE
21/tcp    filtered ftp              // FTP services, not explicitly open, port triggering.
22/tcp    open     ssh              // SSH server, of course.
53/tcp    open     domain           // DNS service, used for Dyn-DNS.
80/tcp    open     http             // Nginx box, redirects external traffic to 443.
443/tcp   open     https            // Apache box, my main webserver.
500/tcp   filtered isakmp           // Extra ports for VPN.
548/tcp   open     afp              // Apple file services...
1723/tcp  filtered pptp             // PPTP VPN, also not listed: 1701 L2TP VPN.
3333/tcp  open     dec-notes        // Not sure, appears in most WNDR4300s.
3389/tcp  filtered ms-wbt-server    // RDP services.
5555/tcp  open     freeciv          // The freeciv game.
8080/tcp  open     http-proxy       // NOT a proxy, external management port for router.
9091/tcp  open     xmltec-xmlmail   // Transmission web interface.
10000/tcp filtered snet-sensor-mgmt // Webmin web interface.
20005/tcp open     btx              // A weird service netgear uses.
Several of these were not explicitly defined in my port forwarding table, but rather, are the result of port triggering for uPnP services.
UPDATE: Disregard the previous scan as it was conducted from the LAN side of the router, correct results below:
PORT STATE SERVICE
22/tcp open ssh                   // SSH server.
80/tcp open http                  // Nginx box, redirects external traffic to 443.
443/tcp open https                // Apache box, main webserver.
1723/tcp closed pptp              // PPTP VPN.
3389/tcp closed ms-wbt-server     // RDP Services.
8080/tcp open http-proxy          // External management port for router.
10000/tcp closed snet-sensor-mgmt // Webmin web console.
So as you can see, I'm having difficulty tracking down where, if any, the rogue traffic could be comming from. I can't really read Cyrillic and google refused to translate the site, but I wonder, does the site collect statistics on individual IPs or does it associate the traffic with the IP block as a whole? I'd suspect the latter case to be more likely, as any of my less computer savvy neighbors are more likely to be hosting malware of all sorts on their machines. AfroThundr3007730 (talk) 18:36, 14 April 2015 (UTC)
Also, as I highly doubt the vandals are bothering to login before causing mayhem, is there a way to allow authenticated users through the block? I just noticed that while I can edit my User and Talk pages, I cannot touch any of my Subpages. I wonder if that was an unintentional side-effect of the block restriction explicitly allowing only User:USER_NAME and User_talk:USER_NAME instead of all pages with PrefixIndex/User:USER_NAME. AfroThundr3007730 (talk) 19:13, 14 April 2015 (UTC)
Consider asking for advice at Wikipedia:WikiProject on open proxies#73.39.248.199. The people there are more likely to understand these technical details. If you can edit your user page you should also be able to edit subpages. EdJohnston (talk) 04:36, 15 April 2015 (UTC)
Posted a comment there, thanks for the tip. AfroThundr3007730 (talk) 05:17, 15 April 2015 (UTC)
  • The Russian site [1] mentioned above says this.
    Red message on top: 73.39.248.199 spammed 49 websites. Added to blacklists on Dec 31, 2014 07:07:44. Last activity on Mar 10, 2015 23:06:16 [though the table shows some more on Mar 11].
    Table, top row: Time, IP, email, nickname, antispam plugin.
    The rest of the page contains either self-evident data or irrelevant notes. I guess the spam activity in question is restricted to emails which are rooted through 73.39.248.199. Materialscientist (talk) 05:30, 15 April 2015 (UTC)
Thanks for the reply. As I've said before, I'm not sure exactly how any spam could be originating from my IP, as I don't have any ports open for use by mail servers, rogue or otherwise. I noticed it mentioned WordPress spam, but I haven't operated a live WordPress instance from this IP in a year. When I ran this IP through several other blacklist searches, the only thing it flagged on was for the Spamhaus Project's Policy Block List, which restricts unauthenticated SMTP traffic, per Comcast's policy. Other than that, I see nothing that would throw up a red flag for this IP. If you have any theories, or see anything weird in the above port tables, please let me know.
Also in regards to one of my previous questions, is there a way to modify the block to only apply to IP traffic, without impacting logged on users, or maybe add specific user exemptions? From what I understand, the reason for the block was to restrict anonymous IP editing from this address, yet the block is preventing ALL potential users from editing. It seems to me that it's purpose would be better served by blocking only the IP and not the logged in users, the rationale being that any vandal using an open proxy, or any other anonymizer, would not bother logging in to cause damage, as that would defeat the purpose of the proxy, allowing them to be tracked (and blocked) by the admins. Therefore, would it not be prudent, in this case, to soften the block? Obviously I have a vested interest in this happening, yet that does not detract from the points I made. Thanks for your assistance in this matter. AfroThundr3007730 (talk) 06:33, 15 April 2015 (UTC)
Regarding the block, ProcseeBot (talk · contribs) (a robot) blocked 73.39.248.199 on 12 March 2015 for two months because it detected an open proxy on port 80. This was a standard open-proxy block, which restricts both IPs and users. Human administrators can lift or modify the block when they understand what is going on. ProcseeBot is known for its accuracy, i.e. it blocks only after it connects through a proxy in some way (I don't think it actually edits Wikipedia through the examined proxy :-). Materialscientist (talk) 06:50, 15 April 2015 (UTC)
Hmm, I'm not sure why exactly it thinks I have an open proxy on port 80, as that is my nginx box. The only thing it does is redirect all external traffic to 443. Thinking back, 12 MAR 15 is around the time I was reconfiguring my web server to implement the aforementioned redirect. It took me a day or two to get it working properly. In the interim, port 80 may have been open until I had everything configured. In any case, there shouldn't be anything registering as an open proxy anymore. What would it take to have this block modified to allow users to edit? I'm not to worried about leaving the IP block in place since I edit while logged in. AfroThundr3007730 (talk) 07:36, 15 April 2015 (UTC)
Materialscientist, sorry to keep bugging you, but I still had a question. Namely what actions would need to be taken in order to allow my user account to edit past the block? Any info would be helpful, thanks. AfroThundr3007730 (talk) 05:19, 20 April 2015 (UTC)

RfC: New helper policy

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IP Unblock Request (Round 2)

This user's unblock request has been reviewed by an administrator, who declined the request. Other administrators may also review this block, but should not override the decision without good reason (see the blocking policy).

AfroThundr3007730 (block logactive blocksglobal blockscontribsdeleted contribsfilter logcreation logchange block settingsunblockcheckuser (log))


Request reason:

Requesting an IP address block exemption because, once again, my current IP 73.129.7.140 is not hosting an open proxy. I'm still not sure why this keeps triggering shortly after I make a round of edits, nor why the block applies to logged in users, and not just IP users. My network does NOT host an open proxy, or any other means for anonymous users to hide their IP. Any and all services hosted on my networks, aside from the public side of my web server, require authentication. Last time I had to circumvent this issue by tethering my laptop to my phone to make edits. This was not an ideal solution and needlessly wasted my cellular data. Also, this block prevents me from editing anything other than my user talk page, meaning I can't touch my user pages and subpages, or even submit a request on WP:OP while it is in effect. AfroThundr3007730 (talk) 18:30, 23 March 2016 (UTC)

Decline reason:

No active blocks or autoblocks at this time. Please see the directions at WP:IPEC. SQLQuery me! 20:00, 16 April 2016 (UTC)


If you want to make any further unblock requests, please read the guide to appealing blocks first, then use the {{unblock}} template again. If you make too many unconvincing or disruptive unblock requests, you may be prevented from editing this page until your block has expired. Do not remove this unblock review while you are blocked.

Ok, so while it doesn't connect IPv4 to wikipedia, and does as you say above and redirects to https, when I access [2] I get that my IP is 2601:147:c000:ef5e:222:64ff:fe10:7fc9. That's why it's reading as an open proxy. -- Amanda (aka DQ) 13:29, 24 March 2016 (UTC)
Sorry, I didn't quite follow that, but it seems you were able to pick up an IPv6 address with one of my internal prefixes. If you could provide more details on how you tested this, that would be helpful. AfroThundr3007730 (talk) 05:01, 25 March 2016 (UTC)
I sent my data through port 80 on 73.129.7.140 and accessed the website I linked. -- Amanda (aka DQ) 15:38, 26 March 2016 (UTC)

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Task request

Dear Portals Project WikiGnome,

There are a number of portals missing from the main list at Portal:Contents/Portals.

The missing ones are on a list at Portal talk:Contents/Portals#These are not listed yet.

Please place one or as many as you have time for on the main list. Instructions are included with the list of missing entries.

Thank you.    — The Transhumanist   08:30, 15 May 2018 (UTC)

The Game

I can't believe I just lost 'the Game' while reading your userpage. I'd been winning for about 4 years. Cesdeva (talk) 15:00, 28 May 2018 (UTC)

Oh... I just lost it too. JLJ001 (talk) 15:05, 28 May 2018 (UTC)
Dammit, can't catch a break from this thing... Glad I finally caught someone. :D — AfroThundr (tc) 15:18, 28 May 2018 (UTC)

WikiGnome task...

See Wikipedia:WikiProject Portals#Add a missing Associated Wikimedia section

Even a single edit will help.

Thank you,    — The Transhumanist   21:25, 28 May 2018 (UTC)

@The Transhumanists: I think we knocked it out pretty solidly. — AfroThundr (tc) 04:08, 29 May 2018 (UTC)
Yes you did. And keep in mind that that was just the geography-related portals. There are more to come. :)    — The Transhumanist   20:03, 30 May 2018 (UTC)
Awesome. If the AWB/JWB admins ever got around to approving my request, these would be a lot easier. Meh, tedious repetitive editing builds character. — AfroThundr (tc) 21:08, 30 May 2018 (UTC)

You don't have to wait for approval to start using AWB

Don't take that statement out of context. :)

AWB has many features that you can use without being logged on or registered.

So, you should install it, and start familiarizing yourself with its interface.

Some of the features that work without being logged in include list maker, list comparer, and its database scanner. All very powerful, and worth having the program just for any one of those. The filter feature (built into all three of these features) is especially nice.

I very frequently copy/paste lists made in AWB to sandbox pages, then convert the lists to links for processing via search/replace, then process them using tabs, etc.

Working with lists is one of the two main skills needed for using AWB effectively. The other is regex, which is also supported in WP:wikEd.    — The Transhumanist   01:18, 2 June 2018 (UTC)

@The Transhumanist: slimming down the notifications is nice, but there's such a thing as too slim. A short description would probably be helpful in the future. Plus the empty section just looks weird. — AfroThundr (u · t · c) 01:03, 2 June 2018 (UTC)

LOL. I'll keep that in mind. In the meantime, let's get you started on AWB. Let me know when you have it installed. See below.    — The Transhumanist   01:18, 2 June 2018 (UTC)
P.S.: "(eom)" means "end of message".    — The Transhumanist   17:53, 3 June 2018 (UTC)

Hi Afro, I have 3 portal-related subpages, one of which is for my own housekeeping; the other two are English copies of German Wiki portal project pages which I translated because I felt they might be of use (albeit adapted) for our project. I've referred (and linked) to them a couple of times during discussions. But I wouldn't want to move them to mainspace without a consensus and appropriate tweaking. Their status is as follows:

  • User:Bermicourt/Portals - is for my own housekeeping. It lists the portals I maintain and their status. Also has a table showing the rough equivalence between English and German Wiki portal pages.
  • User:Bermicourt/Portal status - is a copy of how German Wiki evaluates portal status using a traffic light system and listing their assessment criteria. We could use something like this.
  • User:Bermicourt/Portal/Overview and Relevance - is a copy of how German Wiki decides whether portals are relevant - which ones can be created without consultation and which ones need discussion and support before being created. Again we could do something like this.

Hope that helps. Your thoughts would be welcome. Bermicourt (talk) 13:11, 4 June 2018 (UTC)

@Bermicourt: I'm moving this section to the WikiProject Portals talk page, for central discussion. — AfroThundr (u · t · c) 13:17, 4 June 2018 (UTC)

AWB task requests, from the Portals WikiProject

1) Replace the intro box sections on portals with an upgrade. See details at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Portals/Tasks#AWB task: converting/upgrading intro sections.

2) Replace categories box sections on portals with an upgrade. See details at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Portals/Tasks#AWB task: Converting category sections.

Enjoy.    — The Transhumanist   08:09, 13 June 2018 (UTC)

WikiGnome task requests, from the Portals WikiProject

Here are some incremental tasks for you to consider. Do one, or many, as time allows. Every little bit helps...

Task #1

We're getting close to having the main portals list up-to-date, but we aren't quite there yet. There are about 75 portals not yet listed there.

Therefore the first task, of course, is to add as many of these as you can. They can be found at Portal talk:Contents/Portals#These are not listed yet. Instructions are there.

Task #2

The second task on this wish list is to convert one selected picture section to a picture slideshow section. The template to use for this is {{Random slideshow}}. Here are some examples of portals with a picture slideshow section: Portal:Bangladesh, Portal:Sacramento, California, Portal:Algae, and Portal:Reference works.

Note that selected picture sections display pictures from subpages (one subpage per pic), and that each picture would need to be listed in the {{Random slideshow}} template.

Tip: Some portals have only a single picture covered in the selected picture section. Replacing their selected picture sections with a slideshow would be easiest. Eight or more pictures make a decent slide show. Search for pictures at Wikimedia Commons.

Have fun! Sincerely,    — The Transhumanist   09:52, 13 June 2018 (UTC)

Some AWB tips

@Cesdeva and TheGridExe:

Dear AfroThundr,

Congratulations on getting registered with AWB. Here are some tips. Please forgive me if these make your head spin. :)

Read the manual before you start. There are lots of caveats and no-nos that you must know before you begin.

Learn regex. The better you know regex, the more powerful you will be with AWB.

AWB can be multi-instance. That is, you can run it in more than one window on the same account. You can also run it on more than one computer at the same time on the same account.

AWB can also be logged in while you are logged in with a browser. Switch to the browser and use tabs to inspect the work. Try to avoid mass producing errors. "Look before you leap a thousand times" is a good motto.

When posting notices, newsletters, and the like, stop after the first one sent, and proofread the posting in another window or computer (I generally have two going). It doesn't matter how many times you've proofread it before going live. Once live, you don't want to have to go back over the whole batch with corrections. I generally look at the first one. Do some fixes. Look at the next one. Do more fixes, etc., for the first few.

When you get up to speed with AWB, you'll likely switch back and forth between tasks (some tasks may be huge, and therefore very time consuming, so finishing before you need to do something else might not be an option). That's what "Save settings as..." (in the File menu) is for: to save multiple configurations. It's faster to switch configs than checking a bunch of enabled boxes in search every time you switch tasks.

Preparse mode (in Options in the upper menu, top of screen) lets you do all the skipping at once, so you can go fix dinner, rather than have the skipping slow down your task while you are engaged in it.

Don't get hypnotized by preparse. :)

Some editors characterize AWB as a machine gun, because it can do a lot of damage quickly. But if you use it maliciously or negligently, you'll only get to do that once or twice before being blocked or having your AWB access revoked. A much better analogy is that each instance of AWB is like a radio or TV station (one-to-many mode of mass communication - you are communicating with lots of editors or lots of readers).

Anchors in regex are characters that specify a location in the document rather than a character. Anchors therefore can't be replaced. They are used for matching only. So, ^A means "an A at the beginning of the line" and A$ means "an A at the end of the line".

"\n" represents the newline character. Memorize it, because it will be one of your best friends.

In AWB search, MultiLine and SingleLine are often misunderstood. They are poorly named (industry standard), and do not refer to how many lines are included in your search string. They specify how to treat the document you are editing: as multiple lines, or as a single line. When the document is a single line, that line includes new line characters (returns, aka carriage returns/line feeds), and therefore you can search/replace those (using "\n"). The regex beginning-of-line and end-of-line anchors become beginning-of-file and end-of-file, respectively.

Search/replaces work on the output of previous search/replaces.

AWB has a prepend and append feature, for inserting prose at the beginning or end of a page. Annoyingly, search/replace cannot edit the output of these in the same pass. Multiple passes are not the best solution here. See below.

There is another way to prepend and/or append, using regex anchors. The SingleLine box must be checked for this to work. Then the subsequent search/replaces will work on the prepended/appended output. This is especially powerful if you use AWB keywords, like %%title%% (which represents the page title).

If you wish to process redirects, make sure "Follow redirects" (in the upper Options menu) is turned off.

Treat AWB as a multi-purpose tool, not just a search/replace stream editor. It is a powerful list processor as well.

The Database scanner (in Tools menu) is exceedingly powerful. It lets you do regex searches of Wikipedia, by page title, by page content, or both.

Well, that's all for now. I'll jot some more down as I remember them. Be sure to reread the above list again after you've learned the ropes some, as it will accelerate your learning curve.    — The Transhumanist   09:37, 3 June 2018 (UTC)

@The Transhumanist: thanks for the tips. I'm pretty decent with regex so this should be fairly quick to get used to. I kinda figured out some of these quirks when I did a batch run tagging the featured portals earlier. If I have more questions, I'll ask you later. — AfroThundr (u · t · c) 16:32, 3 June 2018 (UTC)
@The Transhumanist: Thank you for the information. I've been busy with real life work but have been attempting to get some AWB knowledge down. – TheGridExe (talk) 20:03, 13 June 2018 (UTC)

Pending changes reviewer granted

Hello. Your account has been granted the "pending changes reviewer" userright, allowing you to review other users' edits on pages protected by pending changes. The list of articles awaiting review is located at Special:PendingChanges, while the list of articles that have pending changes protection turned on is located at Special:StablePages.

Being granted reviewer rights neither grants you status nor changes how you can edit articles. If you do not want this user right, you may ask any administrator to remove it for you at any time.

See also:

TonyBallioni (talk) 22:34, 28 June 2018 (UTC)

Study more

Before than editing.79.19.186.41 (talk) 14:52, 29 June 2018 (UTC)

Request for moving files

Can you please move files from Wikipedia to commons File:Abhinaya-at-Kuttram-23-audio-launch.jpg File:Jr.Ntr.jpg Ashwini Gadade (talk) 12:06, 12 July 2018 (UTC)

Hello Ashwini Gadade, The files can now be found at File:Abhinaya-at-Kuttram-23-audio-launch.jpg and File:Jr.Ntr.jpg on commons. To move freely licensed images to commons in the future, the CommonsHelper tool can be used to make the process easier. You may wish to review the new uploads at commons and tweak any details not fixed automatically by the tool (see Commons:Moving to Commons for further instructions on this). If you have questions, feel free to ask. — AfroThundr (u · t · c) 14:24, 12 July 2018 (UTC)

Move

Please move File File:Brahmanandam-photo.jpg to commons Ashwini Gadade (talk) 14:50, 13 July 2018 (UTC) Well also Thanks 😊😊for your immediate action of moving files.

No problem. — AfroThundr (u · t · c) 15:49, 13 July 2018 (UTC)

Hii User:AfroThundr3007730 there are few more files to move. Hope U don't mind. Please move files File:Ravi-Teja-at-promotions.jpg File:Aadhi Pinisetty at CineMAA Awards.jpg to Commons User:Ashwini Gadade — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ashwini Gadade (talkcontribs) 11:19, 14 July 2018 (UTC)

Also move File:Sampath-raj.jpg Ashwini Gadade (talk) 12:43, 14 July 2018 (UTC)

Do move File:JBabu.jpg Ashwini Gadade (talk) 13:12, 14 July 2018 (UTC)

@Ashwini Gadade: The files have been moved, as requested. Please try to keep your talk page comments in order so that they're easier to folow. Also, you should disable an image link with a : in front of the name (ex. [[:File:Wikipedia-logo.png]]) like I have done to the ones above. — AfroThundr (u · t · c) 14:02, 14 July 2018 (UTC)

I got it.Thanks. Ashwini Gadade (talk) 15:17, 14 July 2018 (UTC)

Also, if you're signing your comments with ~~~~ you don't have to add your username at the end, since it's already in the signature. — AfroThundr (u · t · c) 15:30, 14 July 2018 (UTC)

WikiGnome task requests from the Portals WikiProject

Here are some relatively minor tasks that are fairly repetitive, just the way you like '7em...

Add missing completed portals to Portal:Contents/Portals

Here are some new portals:

Add panoramas

Here's a fun one, that really brightens up a page...

Add a panoramic pic to the top of geographic portals, such as cities, states, provinces, countries, regions, and continents.

Do one, here or there, as you feel like it. Do as many as you like. Every little bit helps.

Please do not add pics over 2 megabytes in size, as they can cause the portal scripts to time out, causing empty sections, or sections with error messages. Watch out, because some of those pictures are huge, like 12 megabytes or more. Less than one megabyte is best, if you can manage it.

Pictures can be found at commons:. Search strings that work well with the city name to find these are "skyline" or "panorama".

Geographic portals are listed in the Geography section of Portal:Contents/Portals. City portals are shown in parentheses.

Here is an example of the main template used to place panoramic pics:

{{wide image|Prague Panorama - Oct 2010.jpg|750px|border=no}}

Which looks like this:

Here are some examples of city portals with panoramas or panoramic skylines in their intro sections:

Have fun.    — The Transhumanist   02:17, 16 July 2018 (UTC)

New files move

Hii.Please move following files to commons File:Samantha Akkineni at Mahanati Audio Launch.jpg
File:Samantha Akkineni with husband Naga Chaitanya.jpg
File:Samantha Charity.jpg Ashwini Gadade (talk) 11:47, 16 July 2018 (UTC)

 Done — AfroThundr (u · t · c) 12:18, 16 July 2018 (UTC)

Move

Hii User:AfroThundr3007730 please move File:Samantha in film Mahanadi.jpg to Commons. Ashwini Gadade (talk) 06:55, 17 July 2018 (UTC)

Also  Done. — AfroThundr (u · t · c) 12:30, 17 July 2018 (UTC)

ACC tool access request approved

AfroThundr3007730, thank you for your interest in the account creation process. I have verified that you are identified to the Wikimedia Foundation and approved your request.

You may now access the interface here pending a tool root marking your account as identified in the tool database. Before you begin handling requests, please ensure you have read and understood the account creation guide and username policy to familiarise yourself with the process.

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@Stwalkerster: my IRC nick (one of them anyway) is AfroThundr. — AfroThundr (u · t · c) 21:26, 19 July 2018 (UTC)

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The big picture

Dear AfroThundr,

I haven't had time to take a tour of the entire portal system yet, and visually inspect each portal.

Though I have seen a lot of portals, while editing. An interesting thing I've run across are minor improvements that were made to one or a handful of portals that never got implemented on the rest. Everyone was pretty much doing their own thing back in the day, and some editors got pretty creative without communicating much with each other.

Like what? Panoramas, for example. And more informative news sections (with links to local news sources, as a supplement to make up for when the section is otherwise empty). There was one portal with the current date posted at the top of the news section, a nice little touch. Things like that.

Many such improvements are still sitting out there in portals, waiting to be discovered.

Some of them would no doubt make nice improvements to the standard, or may be a nice way to vary the set (like rounded borders for some portals). I've added a couple or so tweaks already to Template:Box portal skeleton, such as in the categories section.

I was wondering if you would keep your eyes open for cool features, no matter how small, and post them at the design talk page when you come across them. And if you find yourself with some spare time, please consider systematically viewing all of the portals, just to see what you might notice.

Who knows what observations you might make, or ideas that might come to mind.

Just some thoughts I thought you might be interested in.

Cheers.    — The Transhumanist   19:03, 30 July 2018 (UTC)

@The Transhumanist: If I notice anything cool or useful, I'll be sure to post it on the design page so we can use it. — AfroThundr (u · t · c) 22:13, 30 July 2018 (UTC)

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Recent changes to Template:Class mask/templatepage

Please either revert or fix these edits to Template:Class mask/templatepage. There is too much ancillary damage, see for example: Template:WikiProject Academic Journals/class; Template:WikiProject Amusement Parks/class; Template:WikiProject Anatomy/class; Template:WikiProject Apple Inc./class; etc. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 13:55, 27 August 2018 (UTC)

Oh snap. That wasn't supposed to happen. I'm looking into it. — AfroThundr (u · t · c) 18:26, 27 August 2018 (UTC)
@Redrose64: I think I fixed it. The problem was in the new {{{articles}}} parameter. I don't see any more issues on the pages you linked. Please let me know if something else is still broken. — AfroThundr (u · t · c) 19:15, 27 August 2018 (UTC)
Let's see if Category:WPBannerMeta templates with missing assessment categories depopulates. When trying out changes to a widely-used template (or any template, really) it's best to test your changes in the template's sandbox, see WP:TESTCASES. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 20:13, 27 August 2018 (UTC)

Attn: WikiGnomes

WikiProject Portals has a fun task for you...

There are lots of new portals.

Many.

Not a few.

Hundreds.

So, it's time for another round of "These are not listed yet".

Instructions and a list of the portals that have not been listed yet are included at that link.

List as many as you have time for, and pick away at the list at your leisure. Every single entry helps.

This is an especially fun task, because you get to browse the new portals while you are working on it.

Curious?

Dive right in. ;)

And of course...

...have fun!    — The Transhumanist   22:41, 29 August 2018 (UTC)

@The Transhumanist: Something that should probably be mentioned in the next newsletter: the new portal quality guidelines are now live. I would've mentioned that on the project talk, but the whole thread ended up archived. — AfroThundr (u · t · c) 22:47, 29 August 2018 (UTC)

Dear AWB'er

I noticed over at the Portals WikiProject that you have or use AWB (or JWB).

There are some tasks that have turned up that are perfect for AWB.

We have many new portals, and they need:

  1. To have a {{Portal}} template placed in the See also section on the corresponding root article, outline article, and index article.
  2. A {{Portal}} template placed on the corresponding category page.
  3. A link placed at the end (in the "bottom" section) on the corresponding navigation template. For an example, see Template:Birds.

The new portals can be found on Category:Single-page portals along with some revamped ones. You'll need to use the skip feature of AWB.

If you have any questions, please {{ping}} me, and ask them below.    — The Transhumanist   01:59, 30 August 2018 (UTC)

Turns out it had 4 subcategories ready and waiting.

Thank you for the heads up.    — The Transhumanist   21:44, 5 September 2018 (UTC)

Tracking down the red categories

I just remembered something really cool.

You have AWB installed.

Now we're cooking with oil.

Here's a way to use it to track down most, if not all, of the red cats on the new portals:

Use make list on Category:Single-page portals.

Then copy/paste that list into a sandbox, and search/replace "Portal:" to ":Category:", to convert the portal links to category links. And also using search/replace, using Regex on new lines (\n), to turn the entries into links. (Search/replace \n into "]]\n# [[")

(Search/replace is in WP:WikEd).

Then go back to AWB, clear the list, and use make list's "links on page (redlinks)" to pull in all the redlinks from the sandbox.

Then copy that list over the one in your sandbox and convert it using search/replace into a list of links. Don't forget to put ":" in front of "Category".

That will give us a list of red categories to check, for possible creation, and prevents the need to add these in notes= on all those portals. (Because we can work directly off of the list).

Thoughts?    — The Transhumanist   22:10, 5 September 2018 (UTC)

You have AWB installed. Using the loose definition of "install", since I run Debian and had AWB running under Wine (and recently broke it again). I mostly use JWB + some scripting for the majority of the times I need to mass-edit pages.
@The Transhumanist and Evad37: I'm thinking we could wrap that category section in an #ifexist: block and populate a category such as Category:Portals with missing or nonexistent categories when the link is red. Or perhaps we could teach {{Portal maintenance status}} to check for red links? Which do you guys think would be a better way to track issues like this? — AfroThundr (u · t · c) 04:32, 6 September 2018 (UTC)

Rollback granted

Hi AfroThundr3007730. After reviewing your request for "rollbacker", I have enabled rollback on your account. Keep in mind these things when going to use rollback:

  • Getting rollback is no more momentous than installing Twinkle.
  • Rollback should be used to revert clear cases of vandalism only, and not good faith edits.
  • Rollback should never be used to edit war.
  • If abused, rollback rights can be revoked.
  • Use common sense.

If you no longer want rollback, contact me and I'll remove it. Also, for some more information on how to use rollback, see Wikipedia:Administrators' guide/Rollback (even though you're not an admin). I'm sure you'll do great with rollback, but feel free to leave me a message on my talk page if you run into troubles or have any questions about appropriate/inappropriate use of rollback. Thank you for helping to reduce vandalism. Happy editing! – Juliancolton | Talk 14:07, 17 September 2018 (UTC)

AWB task request: please help with the backlog

Dear AfroThundr,

We have a growing backlog!

There are now 546 portals. Of those, 52 are of the new design.

Many of the new portals are orphaned or near orphaned, and need links pointing to them:

  1. A portal link at the bottom of corresponding navigation footer template. E.g., Template:Machines for Portal:Machines. See examples of a portals link at the bottom of Template:Robotics and Template:Forestry.
  2. A {{Portal}} box in the See also section of the corresponding root article for each portal. If there is no See also section, create one and place the portal template in that. (Rather than placing them in an external links section -- they're not external links).
  3. A {{Portal}} template placed at the top of the category page corresponding to each portal.

If you have AWB laying around, please dust it off and crank it up! ;)

To make a list of corresponding templates, you can use AWB's make list feature to make a list of the pages in Category:Single-page portals. Then you copy that list to a sandbox, and replace \nPortal: with ]]\n* [[Template:, using WP:wikEd. That will give you a list of templates to work on. Then you set skip in AWB to skip the ones that already have the portal link.

To make a list of corresponding root articles, make a list of portal links, and then remove "Portal:" from the links.

To make a list of category links to process, make sure you use a leading colon (:) in the category links, like this: [[:Category:Blue Öyster Cult]].

All new and revamped portals can be found at Category:Single-page portals.

Thank you.    — The Transhumanist   20:34, 17 September 2018 (UTC)

@The Transhumanist: Some commentary on this:

A {{Portal}} box in the See also section of the corresponding root article for each portal.

I'm assuming this is only for the root articles, since we never got around to getting a larger consensus on batch addition to all articles. See Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Portals/Design/Archive 3 § Template:Portal tag to be placed on all article talk pages.

A {{Portal}} template placed at the top of the category page corresponding to each portal.

Have we managed to agree on a convention for this yet? The discussion kind of slowed down like a week ago. See Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Portals/Design § Discussion on having links to portals, where the portal is about the topic the category is about.
Other than that, I'll add this to my to-do list when I have a few extra cycles. — AfroThundr (u · t · c) 21:27, 17 September 2018 (UTC)
We don't need to worry too much about placing the portal box on pages other than the root article and category page, because it will also be getting placed at the bottom of corresponding navbox templates too, which are already displayed at the bottom of many articles. By placing the portal links on navigation templates, the portals will be linked to from many thousands of articles. That's why I put that task at the top of the list. ;)    — The Transhumanist  
As for category pages, there is very strong precedent for posting portal boxes there (in the top right corner), and this has been established over many years. Check out this What links here list for {{Portal}} on category pages: https://wiki.riteme.site/w/index.php?title=Special:WhatLinksHere/Template:Portal&namespace=14&limit=5000    — The Transhumanist   22:19, 17 September 2018 (UTC)
On new portal creation, I've been picking off the "low hanging fruit", and have created over 2,000 portals since the beginning of August. Though there seems to be no end of low hanging fruit in sight. So, I have been continuously looking for ways to speed up this process, including script writing. When the project reboot started, portal creation took about 6 hours for a moderately stocked portal. Now, using specific techniques to pick the low hanging fruit, it is down to about 1 minute to create a massively stocked portal. But, I want it to take no more than 1 second of an editor's time, including high-hanging fruit. Basically, as much time as it takes to click a portal redlink or a menu item on the sidebar. So, we still have a long ways to go on the development of the portal components and tools. The prototype I've been working on hints that it is very much within the realm of possibility. Right now, the most time consuming thing in creation is inspection of the pages before saving. What we need are ways for the computer to inspect them. That's a little beyond my skill level at this time. Though, don't blink. ;)
In the meantime, we need to deorphanize the new portals as they are created.
I hope you can keep up. :)    — The Transhumanist   22:18, 17 September 2018 (UTC)

Thanks

Thanks for serving
Thanks for serving in the United States Marine Corps while being a Wikipedia editor. May this image of this In-n-Out Double Double fuel your hunger to continue to edit Wikipedia, and strive for a higher PFT score! RightCowLeftCoast (talk) 16:00, 22 September 2018 (UTC)

What was I suppose to do when the user edited my user page? https://wiki.riteme.site/w/index.php?title=User:Skyhighway&action=history you jumped into conclusion too soon without actually reading first.

I was referring to this edit of user Radom1967 https://wiki.riteme.site/w/index.php?title=User%3ASkyhighway&type=revision&diff=860531318&oldid=557818686 If he's allowed to do this...Skyhighway (talk) 17:12, 24 September 2018 (UTC)

@Skyhighway: Sorry, I suppose I should've clarified why I left the message. The warning templates are generally ranked by severity of the incident, and I'm not sure the edit (and subsequent self-revert) to your user page warranted a {{uw-vandalism3}}. These could plausibly have been test edits and not malicious, and we usually like to assume good faith unless proven otherwise. If he keeps doing it, or if the edit represented a particularly egregious case of vandalism, then a higher warning level would certainly be in order. WP:WARNVAND has more details on this. — AfroThundr (u · t · c) 17:33, 24 September 2018 (UTC)
I understand. Thank you. I just noticed how he has some problems with Romanians. Now he deletes valid text on Romania. He has no arguments so he tries to mock the others. I edit since 2013 and he's maybe a sock of another user, which I can identify. Skyhighway (talk) 17:35, 24 September 2018 (UTC)

Request for feedback...

Have you had a chance to look over the revised main project page?

Did I miss anything?    — The Transhumanist   07:44, 26 September 2018 (UTC)

@The Transhumanist: looks good to me. As a heads up, I'll be starting up a discussion on the project talk about portal creation criteria. You'll get a ping when it's ready. — AfroThundr (u · t · c) 08:03, 26 September 2018 (UTC)
Maybe we should hold off on that until after the current set of portals has been in use for awhile, so that we have some usage data and reader feedback. Most of them are orphans not linked in anywhere yet.    — The Transhumanist   08:32, 26 September 2018 (UTC)
De-orphaning them should be one of our main tasks then. I'm kickstarting the conversation because of the recurring issues being raised again in all those MfD discussions. We need a central place to hash this out, and we're kind of overdue for a discussion on this anyway. — AfroThundr (u · t · c) 16:27, 26 September 2018 (UTC)
Discussion now open at: Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Portals § Time for some portal creation criteria?. — AfroThundr (u · t · c) 17:05, 26 September 2018 (UTC)

Sorry for the trouble on Contributor Covenant wiki page.

Thanks for welcoming me to Wikipedia. Your editing work was really good and helpful as an example of better editing. I'm trying to remove a little of the bias on that page, but I'm getting pushback, in the form of others wiping out my work, maybe with copy/paste from older versions of the page (which is killing your work too). I'm going to take a break, and read up on the rules for editing pages for a while, so you won't get any trouble from me for a while; when I come back, I'll be a better contributor :) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Tnordloh (talkcontribs) 20:50, 26 September 2018 (UTC) Tnordloh (talk) 20:51, 26 September 2018 (UTC)

@Tnordloh: No worries. Your edits were the least problematic on that page. Generally speaking, one should not do a complete restoration to an old version (which has happened twice now) unless it's to revert significant policy violations or vandalism. If they do a complete rollback again, you would simply revert that edit. We must also keep in mind WP:3RR when doing this. It can be difficult to keep an article neutral and in-line with our guidelines, but that's what we're here for. Let me know if you have any questions. — AfroThundr (u · t · c) 21:00, 26 September 2018 (UTC)
Sorry to get in the middle of others' conversation, but considering you are talking about something i am editing too... Honestly, Tnordloh i think some of your edits were pretty unfaithfull of the sources, sometimes saying pretty much the opposite of what the sources said. However, i think that the page, as it is now in the version last touched by AfroThunder, is a good compromise between the different editors' versions. Have you both a good day. 93.36.190.141 (talk) 21:09, 26 September 2018 (UTC)
93.36.190.141 We do indeed want to ensure the material is faithful to the source, while adhering to our guidelines on maintaining a neutral point of view and encyclopedic tone. The disruptive behavior I was referring to was mostly exhibited by 73.209.47.193 reverting the entire page. Sometimes it can ease the editing process if people talk out specific issues they have with the article on the talk page. This would help prevent everyone from editing past each other. — AfroThundr (u · t · c) 21:17, 26 September 2018 (UTC)
Agree ;-) On 73.209.47.193, if he/she tries to revert again, let's rollback: what he/she is trying to write is already written and the only thing he/she changes is a worst way of writing/formatting it. 93.36.190.141 (talk) 21:27, 26 September 2018 (UTC)
@Tnordloh and 93.36.190.141: And now since the whole section was removed, I've started a discussion at Talk:Contributor Covenant. Everyone is welcome to participate. — AfroThundr (u · t · c) 22:12, 26 September 2018 (UTC)

One-time Passwords

Why have you made up an edit war on the pages HMAC-based One-time Password algorithm and Time-based One-time Password algorithm? 92.39.204.201 (talk) 19:18, 3 October 2018 (UTC)

Edit war would be the wrong term. This falls under disruptive editing instead. Not that all of the editors aren't trying to make those articles better in their own way, but the "Definition" sections of each of those articles has flipped between several versions now, with no edit summary or explanation from any of the involved editors as to why they believe their particular version should be used in place of the others.
The best way to solve this is to discuss the merits of the different versions on the talk page, then once we have a version everyone can agree on (or that everyone is equally upset with) we can implement it. Constantly rewriting the whole thing isn't really helping anyone, least of all the readers. — AfroThundr (u · t · c) 00:43, 4 October 2018 (UTC)
The referenced versions do not demonstrate any back and forth, reversion, or so-called flipping. Please be more specific, and demonstrate that content which has been reintroduced. 92.39.204.201 (talk) 12:42, 4 October 2018 (UTC)

Help me for protecting edits

A WikiUser:Juhachi tries to remove any contents I have added for page edits, Everything that I wrote are have it's own website links as "This is legit and not fake or vandalism". Mizukisousuke (talk) 07:07, 9 October 2018 (UTC)

@Mizukisousuke: The editor who reverted you probably didn't see the inclusion as notable or relevant for the article. There is a lot of information that is not included in an article because it fails to meet the criteria, even if it has a reference. In any case, it appears to have stayed in for now. You may wish to read the help links I've left on your talk page for more details on Wikipedia policies and guidelines. If you have more questions, feel free to ask. — AfroThundr (u · t · c) 10:57, 9 October 2018 (UTC)

Welcome

Thanks for link to welcome page and tips. Hope my suggestion receives some consideration by those responsible for the home page, since finding "Help:IPA/English" (or for other languages, I assume) through the "Help" link also requires digging. Wiki is like an ultra-dense iceberg. Gar*1746 (talk) 06:25, 15 October 2018 (UTC)

Portal creation templates

@The Transhumanist: Aren't {{Basic portal start page}} and {{Basic portal start page sans topics}} just forks of {{Box portal skeleton}}? What differences in capabilities are there between them? I'm thinking unless it's something major, they could probably just be folded into the main template, and exposed via parameters... — AfroThundr (u · t · c) 05:05, 12 October 2018 (UTC)

Not exactly. {{Box portal skeleton}} was an entirely different template, before it was replaced on the same page with the new design. I've rolled it back to the historical version, which was the version used to create portals with this hidden comment:
<!-- This portal was created using subst:box portal skeleton -->
It's the version based on subpages, that relies extensively upon {{Random portal component}}.
There are 1200 portals still based on that design, but the hidden comment about the template used to create them was no longer accurate, as it referred to the template before its contents were replaced.
The new design should have been created on a new page, rather than take the title of the old design.
So, I forked the revision, so that the original page could be restored to its historical version.
The hidden comment on the new portals created with the new design reads:
<!-- This portal was created using subst:Basic portal start page -->
This is so that the two designs can be differentiated while they exist side-by-side. And to preserve portal development history.
As mentioned above, I've gone ahead and restored the original Box skeleton portal template, and have placed the instructions for it on its doc subpage.    — The Transhumanist   07:25, 12 October 2018 (UTC)
That makes sense then. I've tagged {{box portal skeleton}} with {{deprecated}} (without the cats) so editors will know to use the modern version for new portals. On another note, I notice the only difference between those two new templates is basically the topics section. We could just add a parameter to not show the topic section if |topics=no or something. Not much need to have two versions for that. — AfroThundr (u · t · c) 11:29, 12 October 2018 (UTC)
Sure, but I don't know how to do that.    — The Transhumanist   17:17, 14 October 2018 (UTC)
@The Transhumanist: I got you bro. Check out this diff for what happens when you use |topic=no in the invocation. I wanted to make sure the topics section would still be on the page in case it was wanted later, instead of omitting it entirely (which would've been easier to do). It took me a while to figure out how to not trigger the HTML comment until it was needed. You can see that fiasco in the template sandbox. Any other sections you want to be able to disable on creation? — AfroThundr (u · t · c) 20:32, 14 October 2018 (UTC)
Damn, you're smart. I can hardly wait until you take the plunge into Javascript. You will, right? A little every day adds up fast. Say "yes", man. Come on, we need you.    — The Transhumanist   20:41, 14 October 2018 (UTC)
Ok |topic= is now an alias to |topics=, since I know that would probably come up eventually.
Yeah, it's on my todo list. My JavaScript knowledge is mostly driven by the times I need to modify some existing JS to fix something or do something different. I'm busy enough with Python, Bash, Powershell, and C as it is. Although with the web dev stuff I've been tinkering with, I may start using JS more, not to mention diving back into PHP.. If there was more time in the day, I could do more than just project-driven targeted learning and actually properly master this stuff. — AfroThundr (u · t · c) 21:05, 14 October 2018 (UTC)
Woohoo! Here are some script ideas to think about how to implement:
  • Build a navigation footer template using the current article's name. The new portal design works off of navigation footers. So, if we build a script to build nav footers, it could drive portal development.
  • Check for link to portal in the "below" section of the corresponding navigation footer, placing it there if it isn't there already, but first, creating a "below" section if there isn't one already
  • Check for link to portal on the corresponding category page, placing it there if it isn't there already
  • Check for link to portal in the See also section of the corresponding root article, placing it there if it isn't there already.
  • Check for link to portal in Portal:Contents/Portals. If this can also place the link, so much the better.
  • Add "Recognized content" section to portal, including the codes for JL-Bot to service the section
  • Extract desired links from tables
  • Extract links from category
  • Help find and place panoramas from commons into the intro section of portals
  • Check for missing sections, then help fill them
  • Check for and report errors (like red categories, empty sections, etc.), then help repair them
  • Portal resource analyzer – reports portal-supporting pages for subject X, such as "X" (root article), "Template:X" (navigation footer), "Category:X", how many non-stub articles are in the template, recognized content sourcepages, etc.
  • Error reporter - reports errors encountered on portals to a central location, like [WT:WPPORTD]]. If all project participants had this installed, their browsing of portals would automatically find and report errors so that our lua programmers could fix the underlying bugs
  • Support from other news sources
  • Servicing quote section
  • Set portal color(s)
  • Search editor – for changing a portal's search parameters (in ITN and DYK sections)
  • Subject finder – without a search term, goes out and finds subjects on Wikipedia that could support a portal, and provides them in the form of a list of portal redlinks
As creating portals is almost useless (because, until they are linked to, nobody knows they are there), the emphasis needs to change to creation of deorphanized portals. Right now, placing links to a new portal is more time-consuming than producing the portal itself. So the highest-priority script ideas are for checking for and placing links to portals. But any work on any portal ideas would be a step in the right direction.
Thoughts?    — The Transhumanist   23:03, 16 October 2018 (UTC)
P.S.: please ping me in your response. Thank you.

Account creator granted

After reviewing your request for the "accountcreator" permission, I have temporarily enabled the flag on your account until {{{expiry}}}. Keep in mind these things:

  • The account creator right removes the limit on the maximum number of new accounts that can be created in a 24-hour period.
  • The account creator right is not a status symbol. If it remains unused, it is likely to be removed. Abuse of the account creator right will result in its removal by an administrator.

If you no longer require the right, let me know, or ask any other administrator. Drop a note on my talk page if you run into troubles or have any questions about appropriate/inappropriate use of the account creator right. Happy editing! — xaosflux Talk 19:04, 13 November 2018 (UTC)

Portals wikignome task

We need Category:Portals with titles not starting with a proper noun added to the remaining portals it is applicable to.

Differentiating these from capitalized subjects will enable many types of tasks.

I've tried Hotcat to place the category on some of the portals. It is pretty fast.

Thank you.    — The Transhumanist   14:16, 14 November 2018 (UTC)

ArbCom 2018 election voter message

Hello, AfroThundr3007730. Voting in the 2018 Arbitration Committee elections is now open until 23.59 on Sunday, 2 December. All users who registered an account before Sunday, 28 October 2018, made at least 150 mainspace edits before Thursday, 1 November 2018 and are not currently blocked are eligible to vote. Users with alternate accounts may only vote once.

The Arbitration Committee is the panel of editors responsible for conducting the Wikipedia arbitration process. It has the authority to impose binding solutions to disputes between editors, primarily for serious conduct disputes the community has been unable to resolve. This includes the authority to impose site bans, topic bans, editing restrictions, and other measures needed to maintain our editing environment. The arbitration policy describes the Committee's roles and responsibilities in greater detail.

If you wish to participate in the 2018 election, please review the candidates and submit your choices on the voting page. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 18:42, 19 November 2018 (UTC)

Chembox assistance

Howdy! Based on some of your recent edits and your interest in the Chemistry Project, I'm hoping you might be interested in helping me out with something. I'm working on building a {{Infobox}} based replacement for {{Chembox}}. I have a working proof of concept at {{Infobox chemical}}. Looking for some expert opinions and feedback. If you have any interest, please let me know. Feel free to disregard this message. :-) (P.S. Happy thanksgiving if you are in the USA!) --Zackmann (Talk to me/What I been doing) 19:26, 22 November 2018 (UTC)

Portal traffic analysis?

As we will be introducing the world to a set of brand new portals, of a new design which they may not be familiar with, it would be interesting to know the level of traffic they attract, and seeing if this increases traffic for portals in general.

I'm hoping that once readers discover the new portals, they'll start using them regularly. That would definitely cause an increase in traffic.

Please start thinking about how we could best go about monitoring traffic for the whole department, and each and every portal.

Thank you.    — The Transhumanist   23:04, 17 September 2018 (UTC)

@The Transhumanist: For posterity this is being tracked as phab:T205681. The product analytics team is still investigating, last I heard from them. — AfroThundr (u · t · c) 04:16, 27 November 2018 (UTC))
Thank you.    — The Transhumanist   17:54, 27 November 2018 (UTC)

A barnstar for you!

The Barnstar of Good Humor
Such a good joke Dreamy Jazz 🎷 talk to me | my contributions 21:17, 28 November 2018 (UTC)

Request for collaboration

I saw you're a member of WP:INTERNET, and I'm hoping you might have the time and interest in helping review a draft I'm working on for the Industrial Internet of Things. I have a paid COI regarding its creation, so I'm looking to people from WP:INTERNET and WP:COMPUTING to help check my work for both accuracy and its compliance with Wikipedia guidelines. Do you have a minute to take a look? I have a sandbox here which took some content from the existing Internet of Things article alongside what I could find in my research. Any feedback you have will be greatly appreciated!--FacultiesIntact (talk) 19:00, 20 November 2018 (UTC)

@FacultiesIntact: Sure, I'd be happy to help. I'm a bit busy at the moment, but later I can probably take a look at it. You might also consider submitting it for peer review for a more thorough check, though that may take a while. — AfroThundr (u · t · c) 20:54, 20 November 2018 (UTC)
@FacultiesIntact: Looks pretty good. I did some copyediting for formatting and layout, and to make some parts a bit more encyclopedic. I also tagged a few spots with maintenance templates that should be fixed. There are also some places that speak in the future tense (e.g. "will be"), which cannot be adequately sourced, by definition. Besides that, I'd say it's ready to be promoted as a start-class article.
Disclaimer: As a WikiGnome I don't often do a lot of significant content contributions like restructuring or copyediting unless it's on a topic I'm well versed in, so my drive-by review may not be everything you're looking for. I'd still suggest the peer review process if you still have concerns. — AfroThundr (u · t · c) 18:55, 23 November 2018 (UTC)
Thanks for taking the time to take a look! I looked at your changes and I think they're definitely for the best. I added a few more lines to give a little more context to the lead and history. I also retitled the risks section as "Security". (Here's a link to the diff.) At this point, my primary concern is that this draft is compliant with Wikipedia's guidelines. If you think these latest changes are fine, would you be comfortable moving the draft into mainspace? I'd like to get the information out there, and thanks to the tags you added, I think it'll be easier for people to find it and add/correct information as they see fit. Thanks again!--FacultiesIntact (talk) 02:43, 27 November 2018 (UTC)
@FacultiesIntact: At the moment, there is a redirect squatting on the new article title, so I G6'd it. Once it's gone, I can move the draft to mainspace. — AfroThundr (u · t · c) 04:04, 27 November 2018 (UTC)
 Done now that an admin squashed the redirect. — AfroThundr (u · t · c) 11:53, 27 November 2018 (UTC)
Thanks so much for all the help! I think there's still an existing redirect, but I suspect it has something to do with the capitalization of the article title. I'll see if I can have the admin take care of it.--FacultiesIntact (talk) 00:26, 30 November 2018 (UTC)
Also  Done. The target of a redirect can simply be edited to point to the article you want. — AfroThundr (u · t · c) 02:20, 30 November 2018 (UTC)
Thanks again!--FacultiesIntact (talk) 21:44, 30 November 2018 (UTC)

Happy holidays!

Merry Christmas and a Prosperous 2019!

Hello AfroThundr3007730, may you be surrounded by peace, success and happiness on this seasonal occasion. Spread the WikiLove by wishing another user a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, whether it be someone you have had disagreements with in the past, a good friend, or just some random person. Sending you a heartfelt and warm greetings for Christmas and New Year 2019.
Happy editing,

Dreamy Jazz 🎷 talk to me | my contributions 21:40, 23 December 2018 (UTC)

Spread the love by adding {{subst:Seasonal Greetings}} to other user talk pages.

Hello, I've nominated this category to be renamed to Category:Articles with short descriptions (plural). Since you've edited the category, would you please offer input at Wikipedia:Categories for discussion/Log/2018 December 31? Thank you. Nyttend (talk) 02:20, 31 December 2018 (UTC)

Update to scripts by AlexTheWhovian/Alex 21

Information icon Hello! This is a generic message created and copied to all editors using scripts that I have created. As I have recently changed my username from "User:AlexTheWhovian" to "User:Alex 21", any scripts that I have created that are listed at your common.js page may, at the moment, no longer be working. To fix this, simply update all occurrences of "User:AlexTheWhovian" to "User:Alex 21"; see here for an example. All the best! -- /Alex/21 11:02, 4 January 2019 (UTC)

Update of FP criteria to allow automated updating

Perhaps tell me more at Update of FP criteria to allow automated updating' section of Wikipedia talk:Featured portal criteria.--Dthomsen8 (talk) 22:19, 4 January 2019 (UTC)

Flooded with them hundreds' user scripts

Dear all. Recently, our community lost a dedicated user, Flooded with them hundreds (talk). Among their projects were a number of user scripts that were deleted when they left. I (DannyS712) have asked that they be undeleted, and have taken over maintaining them. You currently import Flooded's (deleted) script, and I thought that you might want to import a working version. Links to each script are provided below.

If you have any questions, please reach out and talk to me. --DannyS712 (talk) 21:31, 24 January 2019 (UTC)

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 05:50, 25 January 2019 (UTC)

Talk to us about talking

Trizek (WMF) 15:08, 21 February 2019 (UTC)