User talk:RoySmith/Archive 33
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Your close of Eastern Rail Services DRV
I'm not going to challenge your draftification, but your closing statement in the DRV that no one had a fundamental objection to that is incorrect. I had an objection and said so in the DRV, but perhaps not strongly enough. That would certainly not have been unclear to Djm-leighpark, I stated that with force on my talk page when the request was first made. SpinningSpark 17:30, 30 June 2020 (UTC)
- Spinningspark, Well, you did write,
I'm perfectly willing to put it in draft space if there is any kind of chance it can be brought to a passable standard
. That's what I was trying to make clear when I noted that, "better sourcing will be required to meet WP:NCORP before this can be moved back into mainspace." I think we're actually both on the same page here. -- RoySmith (talk) 18:01, 30 June 2020 (UTC)- No we're not on the same page. My position was that a new source had to be offered (or that an existing source had information that had been previously overlooked) before draftification took place. If I was on the same page as you I would have draftified it myself when requested to do so. In my opinion, it's likely that this will be tinkered with and chucked back into mainspace with no substantial improvement in sourcing. SpinningSpark 18:11, 30 June 2020 (UTC)
- Spinningspark, I don't think we can refuse to draftify or userfy a deleted page until the requestor supplies sources. If they don't add good sources, it won't (or at least, shouldn't) get accepted. If they bypass review and move it back to mainspace themselves without improved sources, it can be moved back to draft. If they persist, we can move onto salting the mainspace title, and after that we've got blocking available. -- RoySmith (talk) 18:20, 30 June 2020 (UTC)
- (Non-administrator comment) As I see it, if they move it from draft to mainspace and bypass AfD, then that's the chance blown: it becomes G4 material. All the best! ——Serial # 18:30, 30 June 2020 (UTC)
- Serial Number 54129, Yeah, that's certainly another possibility. -- RoySmith (talk) 19:08, 30 June 2020 (UTC)
- As I said at the beginning, I'm not arguing with your draftification. What's done is done. I'm taking exception to you not recognising that I opposed it. Telling me over and over that your decision was better than mine is not really relevant. It might be better, but that's not the point. The point is you stated in the close that there was no opposition to draftifying. That's not true and I haven't changed my mind. Your selective quote from me above is IDHT. The bit you seem not to have heard is I declined to userfy this when requested because no new sources were offered...just rehashing the already rejected material seems pointless. SpinningSpark 20:56, 30 June 2020 (UTC)
- Spinningspark, To be honest, I'm not getting what you're concerned about, which I guess is why I'm having trouble addressing it.
- I pointed out in my close that better sources would be required. That seemed to be your major concern. By "no fundamental objection" (note: "fundamental"), I thought I was covering that. I originally wrote it as "no objection", then realized that you had a qualified objection, and added the "fundamental" to cover that. As far as I can tell, you were not absolutely opposed to draftification. You were willing to consider it, but only under certain conditions, namely that sources were presented first. Yes, it's true that I didn't enforce the "sources must be presented before restoration to draft space", but I really don't think I mis-represented your position.
- Maybe I didn't make it clear in my closing statement how I differentiated "no objection" from "no fundamental objection" in my mind. If you would like to suggest some alternate wording, I'd be willing to consider amending my closing statement to more accurately present your stance. -- RoySmith (talk) 21:37, 30 June 2020 (UTC)
- Nah, I don't want to pointlessly beat anyone up any further. It wouldn't change anything. Anyway, thanks for explaining that you considered it. SpinningSpark 22:03, 30 June 2020 (UTC)
- As I said at the beginning, I'm not arguing with your draftification. What's done is done. I'm taking exception to you not recognising that I opposed it. Telling me over and over that your decision was better than mine is not really relevant. It might be better, but that's not the point. The point is you stated in the close that there was no opposition to draftifying. That's not true and I haven't changed my mind. Your selective quote from me above is IDHT. The bit you seem not to have heard is I declined to userfy this when requested because no new sources were offered...just rehashing the already rejected material seems pointless. SpinningSpark 20:56, 30 June 2020 (UTC)
- Serial Number 54129, Yeah, that's certainly another possibility. -- RoySmith (talk) 19:08, 30 June 2020 (UTC)
- (Non-administrator comment) As I see it, if they move it from draft to mainspace and bypass AfD, then that's the chance blown: it becomes G4 material. All the best! ——Serial # 18:30, 30 June 2020 (UTC)
- Spinningspark, I don't think we can refuse to draftify or userfy a deleted page until the requestor supplies sources. If they don't add good sources, it won't (or at least, shouldn't) get accepted. If they bypass review and move it back to mainspace themselves without improved sources, it can be moved back to draft. If they persist, we can move onto salting the mainspace title, and after that we've got blocking available. -- RoySmith (talk) 18:20, 30 June 2020 (UTC)
- No we're not on the same page. My position was that a new source had to be offered (or that an existing source had information that had been previously overlooked) before draftification took place. If I was on the same page as you I would have draftified it myself when requested to do so. In my opinion, it's likely that this will be tinkered with and chucked back into mainspace with no substantial improvement in sourcing. SpinningSpark 18:11, 30 June 2020 (UTC)
SPI request
Hello, I saw that you are an active SPI clerck. I have been included in a report at Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Theedardanian. I would want the report to proceed as quickly as possible, so do you maybe have the time to assess it and approve checkuser request? I have made the same request to another active SPI clerk, Sir Sputnik.--Maleschreiber (talk) 01:07, 1 July 2020 (UTC)
- Maleschreiber, Unfortunately, SPI cases get handled as people find time. It's impossible to predict exactly when somebody will take a look at your case. -- RoySmith (talk) 01:43, 1 July 2020 (UTC)
- I did hope for a quick CU process, but it's okay, I understand that there's more to it than approving the case of the next phase and that it requires some time to provide a wider assessment.--Maleschreiber (talk) 02:14, 1 July 2020 (UTC)
TC
User:RoySmith HamiltonProject is sabotaging the Teachers College page now after warring on the CU page... him and the shady admin he has befriended Yamla already tried to delete a message I sent to you btw... his convictions about TC are inaccurate and severely negatively biased by his obvious conflict of interest to objectively edit (ie doesn’t think TC has anything to do with CU, or that all TC grads don’t get CU degrees, even if it’s in the legal name of the college and they know what the Charters and Statutes say, and worse) can you please protect the page from more harm? He has already done shady edits trying to eliminate citations and has extensively debated and come to agreements which he disowns and then doesn’t edit the wiki to be more accurate... but instead creates straw men to win over administrators and get users blocked. HamiltonProject has proven they are not to be trusted to edit accurately and without bias... 2603:9000:6504:12BD:4D49:6E1A:227A:E7E6 (talk) 08:44, 1 July 2020 (UTC)
Administrators' newsletter – July 2020
News and updates for administrators from the past month (June 2020).
- A request for comment is in progress to remove the T2 (template that misrepresents established policy) speedy deletion criterion.
- Protection templates on mainspace pages are now automatically added by User:MusikBot II (BRFA).
- Following the banning of an editor by the WMF last year, the Arbitration Committee resolved to hold an
RfC regarding on-wiki harassment
. The RfC has been posted at Wikipedia:Arbitration Committee/Anti-harassment RfC and is open to comments from the community. - The Medicine case was closed, with a remedy authorizing standard discretionary sanctions for
all discussions about pharmaceutical drug prices and pricing and for edits adding, changing, or removing pharmaceutical drug prices or pricing from articles
.
- Following the banning of an editor by the WMF last year, the Arbitration Committee resolved to hold an
I agree
I agree with your suggestion. I made a typo when filing the report.VR talk 02:48, 2 July 2020 (UTC)
Brockhold?
Is Bethesda=Terrible another sock of Brockhold, llke Citadel2811? Beyond My Ken (talk) 13:22, 2 July 2020 (UTC)
- Beyond My Ken, Could you open a SPI, please? -- RoySmith (talk) 13:33, 2 July 2020 (UTC)
Done Beyond My Ken (talk) 13:52, 2 July 2020 (UTC)
- Beyond My Ken, Sorry to be a pest about this, but it really helps if you link to things so I can find them. Thanks. -- RoySmith (talk) 14:00, 2 July 2020 (UTC)
- I'm sorry, what is it you want linked? I hvgave you the contribs of both, pointed out the common articles, the commonality in their editing. It's basically the same information that Grayfell provided on the previous SPI. This is a pretty obvious DUCK sock. Should I take it directly to a CU? Beyond My Ken (talk) 21:42, 2 July 2020 (UTC)
- Beyond My Ken, I was referring to linking to the SPI you created, so I could find it. I ended up scanning your contribution history before I found Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Brockhold. -- RoySmith (talk) 21:56, 2 July 2020 (UTC)
- Sorry to misunderstand. The sock is currently editing to German Völkisch Freedom Party. Beyond My Ken (talk) 22:02, 2 July 2020 (UTC)
- Beyond My Ken, I was referring to linking to the SPI you created, so I could find it. I ended up scanning your contribution history before I found Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Brockhold. -- RoySmith (talk) 21:56, 2 July 2020 (UTC)
- I'm sorry, what is it you want linked? I hvgave you the contribs of both, pointed out the common articles, the commonality in their editing. It's basically the same information that Grayfell provided on the previous SPI. This is a pretty obvious DUCK sock. Should I take it directly to a CU? Beyond My Ken (talk) 21:42, 2 July 2020 (UTC)
- Beyond My Ken, Sorry to be a pest about this, but it really helps if you link to things so I can find them. Thanks. -- RoySmith (talk) 14:00, 2 July 2020 (UTC)
Editing news 2020 #3
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/75/50_million_desktop_visual_editor_edits.png/400px-50_million_desktop_visual_editor_edits.png)
Seven years ago this week, the Editing team made the visual editor available by default to all logged-in editors using the desktop site at the English Wikipedia. Here's what happened since its introduction:
- The 50 millionth edit using the visual editor on desktop was made this year. More than 10 million edits have been made here at the English Wikipedia.
- More than 2 million new articles have been created in the visual editor. More than 600,000 of these new articles were created during 2019.
- Almost 5 million edits on the mobile site have been made with the visual editor. Most of these edits have been made since the Editing team started improving the mobile visual editor in 2018.
- The proportion of all edits made using the visual editor has been increasing every year.
- Editors have made more than 7 million edits in the 2017 wikitext editor, including starting 600,000 new articles in it. The 2017 wikitext editor is VisualEditor's built-in wikitext mode. You can enable it in your preferences.
- On 17 November 2019, the first edit from outer space was made in the mobile visual editor.
- In 2019, 35% of the edits by newcomers, and half of their first edits, were made using the visual editor. This percentage has been increasing every year since the tool became available.
Whatamidoing (WMF) (talk) 02:06, 3 July 2020 (UTC)
201.17.77.83
Hello. Could you please block the IP address again? The previous block has expired and the user is editing the same articles and files again, in particular (re)adding images that are most likely copyright violations. Sorry for contacting you directly, but I'm sure you know that dealing with IP addresses at SPI is very problematic, and the comments on the SPI page confirm that (and requesting image deletion is even more hopeless, as Wikimedia Commons is gravely understaffed, virtually unmaintained—they don't even do routine, automatic tasks anymore). The user is obviously determined to do this forever, so I really think this IP address needs a long-term block (after all, it's a globally blocked user and a sock puppet with a history of chronic, incorrigible cross-wiki abuse, and the IP address is only used by this user, so there should be no collateral damage). Plus IP addresses can be blocked for months, years or even indefinitely when needed (it is not only allowed, but it does happen quite frequently). Thanks.—J. M. (talk) 12:53, 6 July 2020 (UTC)
- J. M., Could I ask that you record all that at SPI. That gets it into the record for future reference. Ping me when you've done that and I'll take a look. Thanks. -- RoySmith (talk) 12:55, 6 July 2020 (UTC)
- I took a look and re-blocked for a month. -- RoySmith (talk) 13:31, 6 July 2020 (UTC)
- Thanks! Again, I apologize for bypassing the SPI—I very rarely, if ever, contact admins directly. But after many years of experience with the standard practice at SPI, sometimes a reasonable person might despair. But if the disruptive editing resumes, I will take it to the SPI page.—J. M. (talk) 13:56, 6 July 2020 (UTC)
- J. M., Yeah, I hear you. No problem with asking me directly, especially if it's a case of ongoing and immediate damage like it was here. But, maintaining a long-term history of cases in SPI also has value for spotting trends and helping with future investigations. -- RoySmith (talk) 14:03, 6 July 2020 (UTC)
- Thanks! Again, I apologize for bypassing the SPI—I very rarely, if ever, contact admins directly. But after many years of experience with the standard practice at SPI, sometimes a reasonable person might despair. But if the disruptive editing resumes, I will take it to the SPI page.—J. M. (talk) 13:56, 6 July 2020 (UTC)
- I took a look and re-blocked for a month. -- RoySmith (talk) 13:31, 6 July 2020 (UTC)
Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.
Problems
- The Score extension has been disabled for now. This is because of a security issue. It will work again as soon as the security issue has been fixed. [1]
Changes later this week
The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from 7 July. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from 8 July. It will be on all wikis from 9 July (calendar).
Future changes
- Abstract Wikipedia is a new Wikimedia project. It will collect language-independent information that can be easily read in different languages. It builds on Wikidata. The name is preliminary. You can read more. [2]
- The iOS Wikipedia app developers are thinking about new experimental tools. If you use an iPhone you can help them by answering the survey.
- Some rules for user signatures will soon be enforced. Lint errors and invalid HTML will no longer be allowed in user signatures. Nested substitution will not be allowed. A link to your user page, user talk page or user contributions will be required. You can check if your signature works with the new rules. This is because the signatures can cause problems for tools or other text on the page.
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20:18, 6 July 2020 (UTC)
Your comments on the Z/OS Encryption Readiness Technology (zERT) article
Hi Roy,
Thanks for your reply at: https://wiki.riteme.site/wiki/Draft:Z/OS_Encryption_Readiness_Technology_(zERT)
I think the references provide signification coverage in secondary sources, especially in this downloadable whitepaper (https://www.intellimagic.com/resources/whitepaper/how-to-get-the-most-out-of-ibms-zert-for-tracking-mainframe-network-traffic/). The whitepaper (15-page PDF) addresses zERT directly (in the title and across the main topic). It is also the author's own evaluation and analysis of how to get the most out of zERT when tracking mainframe network traffic.
Please let me know what you'd think. Thanks again! — Preceding unsigned comment added by Erin Zhang YiChen (talk • contribs) 06:05, 6 July 2020 (UTC)
- Erin Zhang YiChen, This is the third time you have posted this to my talk page over the past two months. I have already provided an answer in my comments on the draft. Please stop posting the same question repeatedly. -- RoySmith (talk) 12:46, 6 July 2020 (UTC)
My apologies. I am just re-posting the explanation to your previous reply left on 19 June. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Erin Zhang YiChen (talk • contribs) 03:50, 7 July 2020 (UTC)
Chris Dyson (architect)
Hi RoySmith
Thanks for reviewing this page I proposed on Chris Dyson Architect: https://wiki.riteme.site/wiki/Draft:Chris_Dyson_(architect)
I have made changes responding to your comments, changing syntax, editing info and adding /fixing refs to news items. Do you have any other advice before I formally resubmit the page? thank you Wordsandbuildings (talk) 20:56, 5 July 2020 (UTC)
- Wordsandbuildings, I am assuming you have some relationship to the subject. Is that correct? -- RoySmith (talk) 21:26, 5 July 2020 (UTC)
Thanks for responding - I have no relationship to Chris Dyson. I'm interested in architecture and architects and like the understatement of what he is doing. I am finding my way around Wikipedia and he seemed a worthy subject. Wordsandbuildings (talk) 20:30, 8 July 2020 (UTC)
- Wordsandbuildings, OK, well looking over the draft again, and my original comment, I said it was too promotional. That's a bit of a subjective call, but the way it's written, it sounds like a resume or autobiography.
- My personal opinion is that an article about a professional doesn't need to say anything about their family (married with two children...). To be fair, I'm sure you will find many reviewers who disagree with me on that.
- I'm also not a big fan of listing all the minor awards they've won. That's really what makes it sound like an advertisement, and why I assumed you had a relationship with the subject. What WP:ANYBIO says is,
The person has received a well-known and significant award or honor
. Of course, people argue about what qualifies as "well-known and significant". One typical (but not definitive) test is whether we have an article about the award. I don't know what a RIBA award is, but I'm assuming it's not "well-known and significant". -- RoySmith (talk) 21:03, 8 July 2020 (UTC)
New Brockhold sock
Duck sock of Brockhold, SPI is at [3]. Beyond My Ken (talk) 22:13, 9 July 2020 (UTC)
- Ponyo got him. Beyond My Ken (talk) 22:27, 9 July 2020 (UTC)
- Beyond My Ken, OK, thanks for the heads up. -- RoySmith (talk) 23:37, 9 July 2020 (UTC)
Review Clarification
Hi RoySmith - Thanks for your review. I made some changes to the page to address your suggestion that it reads like an advertisement, including removal of one external link and vetting that all of the citations listed point to primary literature publications. Would you mind taking another look? https://wiki.riteme.site/wiki/Draft:Cultrex_BME
FYI - my article is similarly formatted to another existing page for which I cross reference. https://wiki.riteme.site/wiki/Matrigel
Thanks - Scott
- @Sjschach78: Thanks for your note. Unfortunately, this still sounds like you're trying to sell the product, which I assume you are. Please read WP:COI and WP:UPE and make any appropriate disclosures. I also see you originally posted your query at The Teahouse and then changed your mind. That was actually a good place to get advice. My suggestion is that you restore your post there an see what people can tell you. -- RoySmith (talk) 16:35, 10 July 2020 (UTC)
Portable hole
Thanks for cleaning up Portable hole, is there anything like that you can do for Bag of holding? (Just don't put one inside of the other, though!) 2601:249:8B80:4050:D503:FB4F:B425:C6D (talk) 23:09, 10 July 2020 (UTC)
- Sigh. There's pretty much an endless supply of those kinds of articles, isn't there? At this point, I'm just happy Portable hole made its saving throw vs deletion, and I'll have to pass on working on Bag of holding for now. -- RoySmith (talk) 23:49, 10 July 2020 (UTC)
- Fair enough! There once was an endless supply of those kinds of articles, but there are far fewer now. I'm glad you were able to help save one, and I do appreciate that. 2601:240:10F:4F35:D503:FB4F:B425:C6D (talk) 04:13, 12 July 2020 (UTC)
Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.
Recent changes
- Users can thank others for their edits. Checkusers can now see user data related to that action. This can help identify sock puppets who harass others using thanks. [4]
Problems
- Everyone was logged out a couple of weeks ago to fix a security problem. The problem was not entirely fixed. Because of this everyone was logged out once again last week. [5][6]
Changes later this week
- Wikis that are not for one specific language can translate pages. Sometimes parts of translations are outdated or missing. Outdated translations are marked with a pink background. Missing translations will also be marked in the future. This markup can sometimes break things. It can soon be disabled by using
<translate nowrap></translate>
on the source page. [7] The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from 14 July. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from 15 July. It will be on all wikis from 16 July (calendar).
Future changes
Tech news prepared by Tech News writers and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe.
16:30, 13 July 2020 (UTC)
DYK nomination of Rattlesnake Creek (Bronx)
Hello! Your submission of Rattlesnake Creek (Bronx) at the Did You Know nominations page has been reviewed, and some issues with it may need to be clarified. Please review the comment(s) at your nomination's entry and respond there as soon as possible. Thank you for contributing to Did You Know! CMD (talk) 10:01, 14 July 2020 (UTC)
Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.
Recent changes
- A temporary fix helped wikis make their main pages more mobile friendly. This was in 2012. It has not been recommended since 2017. The mobile main page special casing stopped working 14 July. 60 wikis now have main pages that don't work well on mobile. You can see which ones, how to fix it and how to get help in Phabricator. This is the same problem that was reported in Tech News 2020/24 and 2020/26.
Problems
- There is a problem with the interlanguage links. The interlanguage links are the links that help you find a specific page in a different language. The sorting is broken. The developers are working on a solution. [12]
- Some users keep getting the notifications for the same event. Some of these are old events. [13]
- Some users have trouble logging in. This is probably a browser cookie problem. The developers are working on understanding the problem. If you have trouble logging in you can see the details on Phabricator. [14]
Changes later this week
The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from 21 July. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from 22 July. It will be on all wikis from 23 July (calendar).
Future changes
- There is a
Printable version
link. This will disappear. That is because web browsers today can create a printable version or show how it will look in print anyway. [15]
Tech news prepared by Tech News writers and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe.
19:11, 20 July 2020 (UTC)
DYK nomination of Lynching of Wilbur Little
Hiya I made a review at Template:Did you know nominations/Lynching of Wilbur Little. There's just one issue about sourcing then it's good to go. Mujinga (talk) 22:11, 21 July 2020 (UTC)
DYK for Rattlesnake Creek (Bronx)
On 26 July 2020, Did you know was updated with a fact from the article Rattlesnake Creek (Bronx), which you recently created, substantially expanded, or brought to good article status. The fact was ... that New York City's Rattlesnake Creek was named after the rattlesnakes that once populated the Bronx? The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Rattlesnake Creek (Bronx). You are welcome to check how many page hits the article got while on the front page (here's how, Rattlesnake Creek (Bronx)), and it may be added to the statistics page if the total is over 5,000. Finally, if you know of an interesting fact from another recently created article, then please feel free to suggest it on the Did you know talk page.
— Amakuru (talk) 00:01, 26 July 2020 (UTC)
Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.
Recent changes
- The Starter kit is now available for wiki communities. This page lists technical resources, tools, and recommendations. These are essential to operate a wiki project. This is mostly useful for smaller wikis where the community has limited experience with this. [16]
- The first features of the Desktop Improvements project are available for logged-in users on all wikis. In order to use them, uncheck Use Legacy Vector in your local or global preferences in section Skin preferences. More improvements are planned. Feedback is welcome.
On multiple wikis, a UTCLiveClock gadget is available. For wikis that import the gadget directly from mediawiki.org, end users can now choose a different timezone to show instead of UTC.
Problems
The deployment train for MediaWiki has been blocked this week. [17][18]
- Translation Notification Bot was sending the same message multiple times to every translator. This has been fixed. [19]
- Some users were receiving the same notification multiple times. This has been fixed. [20]
Changes later this week
The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from July 28. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from July 29. It will be on all wikis from JUly 30 (calendar).
Tech news prepared by Tech News writers and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe.
13:53, 27 July 2020 (UTC)
DYK for Seton Falls Park
On 29 July 2020, Did you know was updated with a fact from the article Seton Falls Park, which you recently created, substantially expanded, or brought to good article status. The fact was ... that Seton Falls Park went from being one of New York City's best parks to one of its worst in the span of two years? You are welcome to check how many page hits the article got while on the front page (here's how, Seton Falls Park), and it may be added to the statistics page if the total is over 5,000. Finally, if you know of an interesting fact from another recently created article, then please feel free to suggest it on the Did you know talk page.
— Maile (talk) 12:03, 29 July 2020 (UTC)
Administrators' newsletter – August 2020
News and updates for administrators from the past month (July 2020).
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/62/ANEWSicon.png/150px-ANEWSicon.png)
- There is an open request for comment to decide whether to increase the minimum duration a sanction discussion has to remain open (currently 24 hours).
- Speedy deletion criterion T2 (template that misrepresents established policy) has been repealed following a request for comment.
- Speedy deletion criterion X2 (pages created by the content translation tool) has been repealed following a discussion.
- There is a proposal to restrict proposed deletion to confirmed users.
The Signpost: 2 August 2020
- Special report: Wikipedia and the End of Open Collaboration?
- COI and paid editing: Some strange people edit Wikipedia for money
- News and notes: Abstract Wikipedia, a hoax, sex symbols, and a new admin
- In the media: Dog days gone bad
- Discussion report: Fox News, a flight of RfAs, and banning policy
- Featured content: Remembering Art, Valor, and Freedom
- Traffic report: Now for something completely different
- News from the WMF: New Chinese national security law in Hong Kong could limit the privacy of Wikipedia users
- Obituaries: Hasteur and Brian McNeil
Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.
Problems
- All queries to the Wikidata Query Service failed between 17:50 and 17:59 UTC on Thursday 23 July. Some queries failed during a longer period. [21]
- Interlanguage links were ordered incorrectly for the past few weeks. This problem was also mentioned in Tech News two weeks ago. The problem is now fixed. [22]
- There is a problem with the global preferences for the "Use Legacy Vector" option. Developers are working on fixing it. [23]
- A bug in the Wikibase extension had disabled the "move" and "create" types of protection in the main (Gallery) namespace on Wikimedia Commons. New protections could not be added, and existing protections were not enforced, allowing some page moves and page creations that should not have been possible. This has now been fixed. [24]
Changes later this week
- The video player will change to be simpler and more modern. This week, the current beta feature will become the video player for everyone on most non-Wikipedia wikis. The old player will be removed. [25]
- Users'
global.js
andglobal.css
pages will now also be loaded on the mobile site. You can read documentation for how to avoid applying styles to the mobile skin. [26] In the MonoBook skin, the
searchGoButton
identifier is nowsearchButton
. This may affect CSS and JS gadgets. Migration instructions can be found in T255953. This was previously mentioned in issue 27.Bot operators can use Pywikibot to regularly archive discussions. The behavior when the bot uses
counter
to prevent large archives was changed. [27]The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from August 4. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from August 5. It will be on all wikis from August 6 (calendar).
Tech news prepared by Tech News writers and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe.
15:43, 3 August 2020 (UTC)
I imagine you are watching the article about Mr Little's lynching carefully with a DYK pending, so you will have noted my reversion a few minutes ago and the discussion I have started on the talk page. What you are unlikely to have noticed is this discussion on my talk page.
I had not noticed until after I reverted the change that a DYK was imminent, and I have no horse in this race. I was simply the reviewer who approved the AFC draft. The reason I am showing this to you is because I imagine y9u ay wish to enter into the discussions (on the article talk page, my talk page seems like the wrong venue). I have no desire to take further part in them, having no horse in this race. I think the editor made the wrong edit for the right reasons. Fiddle Faddle 23:07, 26 July 2020 (UTC)
- Timtrent, Hmm, actually, no, I hadn't been watching it very closely. So, thanks for alerting me. Also, pinging BTV55 who deserves most of the credit as the original author. -- RoySmith (talk) 23:46, 26 July 2020 (UTC)
I have clipped three images of the April 5, 1919, edition of the Chicago Defender, showing the story and its placement on PG1. I do not own the copyright and cannot figure out how to present the images to satisfy the request of Gulbenk. BTV55 (talk) 09:47, 4 August 2020 (UTC) BTV55
Newest Brockhold sock
Ad Victoriam2077, SPI filed [28]. Beyond My Ken (talk) 20:40, 4 August 2020 (UTC)
"8232" listed at Redirects for discussion
A discussion is taking place to address the redirect 8232. The discussion will occur at Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Log/2020 August 5#8232 until a consensus is reached, and anyone, including you, is welcome to contribute to the discussion. Eumat114 (Message) 10:18, 5 August 2020 (UTC)
- @Deepfriedokra, Primefac, and Eumat114: Thanks for the alert, but by the time I logged in this morning, the XfD had already been speedy closed. I would have argued to keep. Given that I had already objected to the previous CSD, it might have been nice to have given me a chance to state my objection. Not going to make a big deal over it, but... -- RoySmith (talk) 14:53, 5 August 2020 (UTC)
- Out of curiosity, why are you opposed? I can self-refund and relist the discussion if there's a compelling reason to continue the discussion. Primefac (talk) 18:26, 5 August 2020 (UTC)
- Primefac, It just seemed like the kind of thing I might type into a search box, and WP:CHEAP. I'll leave it to you to decide if that's compelling or not. It's not a big deal either way. -- RoySmith (talk) 18:32, 5 August 2020 (UTC)
- Out of curiosity, why are you opposed? I can self-refund and relist the discussion if there's a compelling reason to continue the discussion. Primefac (talk) 18:26, 5 August 2020 (UTC)
She just won the Hugo Award for Best Fan Artist. Good "Keep" on that one! --Orange Mike | Talk 23:52, 7 August 2020 (UTC)
- Orangemike, I close 'em like I see 'em :-) -- RoySmith (talk) 00:45, 8 August 2020 (UTC)
Citation style
I am intrigued by your comment here at the discussion about Deprecate parenthetical citations.
I recently made my own proposal in that discussion. I contemplated incorporating support for your notion but I wanted to make my proposal as clean as possible. However, on the very low chance that the reason support for my proposal, if we do adopt a house style, I think that choice should incorporate your observation and more.
I accept that there are good reasons for wanting to sort the references by author, but there are equally good reasons for wanting to sort the references by the order in which they appear in the article. I think I'm summarizing your point to say that we don't have to choose — we can pick one option (in my opinion, order that they appear) and also make it easy to see a different option. I'll go a little further. I'm working on doing some referencing and occasionally I'd like to see the oldest reference in an article, so let me expand on your suggestion and say that our house style should also incorporate the ability to search on a number of key variables. Order in which it appears is one obvious choice, name of author is the one you talked about, dated of the reference is the one I just added, but others might make sense as well. What if someone wonders if a particular publishing house appears more often than another one? Sorting by publisher would help make it easy to see, at least in a particular article, which publisher is more common. I don't need to dream up rationales for all variables, but as soon as you implement a feature that allows you to sort on two variables, it is only a modest extension to allow the reader to sort on just about any variable.--S Philbrick(Talk) 18:33, 8 August 2020 (UTC)
- Sphilbrick, Thanks for your note. The real gist of my suggestion is that the data and the presentation are two different things. This is not a new concept. HTML vs. CSS. Wikitext vs. skins. Etc. By adopting a house style and requiring that people use that style, we're right back to conflating the two. What we want to do is capture the raw data, which means using the standard {{cite ...}} templates, and <ref> tags to make them machine identifiable.
- Some of the arguments people are making are logical. For example, some people have said that in some fields, it's very important who wrote something, and when you see (Smith 2020), that gives you immediate information without having to go look up the citation details. I imagine that's particularly important in highly specialized fields where most of the researchers know each other's work (i.e. "are familiar with the literature"). But that's a presentation issue. Once you've got the data in a machine-readable form, you can present it any way you want via software.
- Somebody also made the astute point that wikipedia is mostly read on-line (where "mostly" should be read as "virtually always"). We already have mouse-overs; hover over a numeric citation and it shows you the details. If you preferred to see those mouse-overs in a different style, just load some different CSS and/or javascript.
- I'm also sympathetic to the idea that we should be as inviting as possible to newcomers. We don't want the requirement to format your citations in any specific way to be blocker. If you want to enter your citations in some weird style, that shouldn't be a reason to decline a draft at AfC. Somebody (or some bot) can always reformat them after it's accepted. -- RoySmith (talk) 19:11, 8 August 2020 (UTC)
DYK for Lynching of Wilbur Little
On 10 August 2020, Did you know was updated with a fact from the article Lynching of Wilbur Little, which you recently created, substantially expanded, or brought to good article status. The fact was ... that Wilbur Little was lynched for wearing his World War I uniform after being discharged from the army? The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Lynching of Wilbur Little. You are welcome to check how many page hits the article got while on the front page (here's how, Lynching of Wilbur Little), and it may be added to the statistics page if the total is over 5,000. Finally, if you know of an interesting fact from another recently created article, then please feel free to suggest it on the Did you know talk page.
— Wug·a·po·des 01:20, 8 August 2020 (UTC) 00:01, 10 August 2020 (UTC)
Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.
Recent changes
- FileImporter and FileExporter became standard features on all Wikis during the first week of August. They help you transfer files from local wikis to Wikimedia Commons with the original file information and history intact. [29]
Problems
- The mobile skin displays a message at the bottom of the page about who edited last. This message showed raw wikitext. This has now been fixed. Some messages in Structured Discussions and content translation may still appear as raw wikitext. Developers are working on it. [30]
Changes later this week
The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from August 11. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from August 12. It will be on all wikis from August 13 (calendar).
Future changes
- All wikis will be read-only for a few minutes on September 1. This is planned between 13:30 and 15:30 UTC. More information will be published in Tech News and will also be posted on individual wikis in the coming weeks. [31][32]
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16:06, 10 August 2020 (UTC)
Could you please perform a CSD?
Hi, I've completed Draft:Hotel Australia and have CSD'd the redirect Hotel Australia - would you mind completing the CSD and moving the draft into mainspace? Thanks! SportingFlyer T·C 06:59, 11 August 2020 (UTC)
- SportingFlyer, Looks like it's gone already. -- RoySmith (talk) 11:38, 11 August 2020 (UTC)
Hi RoySmith,
Did I file this SPI correctly: Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Horacio Vara? It was my first. I was a little confused. Was I supposed to use {{uw-login}} before filing an SPI? Did I accidentally reveal the user's private information? Thanks, P,TO 19104 (talk) (contribs) 19:29, 11 August 2020 (UTC)
- P,TO 19104, Everything you did was fine. You had reasonable suspicions and reported what you knew. No problem there. There's no worry about revealing private information; you don't have access to anything that anybody else doesn't also have access to, if they wished to go digging. As for uw-login, you could have issued that warning yourself, but there's no reason you needed to. It's not unusual for an SPI report to result in just issuing a warning with action beyond that. In short: no worries. -- RoySmith (talk) 19:45, 11 August 2020 (UTC)
Thank you P,TO 19104 (talk) (contribs) 19:47, 11 August 2020 (UTC)
Sun Aug 16: Great American Wiknic NYC & Beyond
August 16, 3pm: Great American Wiknic | |
---|---|
![]() ![]() You are invited to join the Wikimedia NYC community for our annual summer Great American Wiknic, this year being held virtually. We look forward to seeing local Wikimedians, but would also like to invite folks from the greater New York metropolitan area (and beyond!) who might not typically be able to join us in person! Featuring artist-Wikimedian Sara Clugage's "Picnics: An Outside History" for a cultural exploration of picnicking, knowledge and society during the national panel in the first part. We encourage you to call in for the second part from a local park or natural site and share it on the video stream, as well as sharing your favorite picnic grub or other special foods with us. Is there a project you'd like to share? A question you'd like answered? A Wiki* skill you'd like to learn? Let us know by adding it to the agenda. The Wiknic is taking the place of "WikiWednesday" this month, so we will also include salon and knowledge-sharing workshop aspects.
We especially encourage folks to share your parks and foods on screen, and add your 3-minute lightning talks to our roster for the Zoom portion, and otherwise join in the "open space" experience! Newcomers are very welcome! Bring your friends and colleagues! |
(You can subscribe/unsubscribe from future notifications for NYC-area events by adding or removing your name from this list.)
--Wikimedia New York City Team 22:29, 13 August 2020 (UTC)
Redirect please
from IPhone 9 to IPhone naming per Wikipedia:Deletion review/Log/2020 August 3.—S Marshall T/C 12:42, 14 August 2020 (UTC)
- S Marshall, I've unsalted IPhone 9. -- RoySmith (talk) 17:41, 14 August 2020 (UTC)
Could you please userfy the deleted Miss Supranational article for me?
You closed Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Miss Supranational (2nd nomination) back in 2014 and presumably deleted the page. Meanwhile, the contest has gone on, and gotten more coverage, and I think the article about it would meet our standards with a bit of work after recreation. Would you be so good as to restore the article, with history, to my userspace, so I can prove it? --GRuban (talk) 14:33, 7 August 2020 (UTC)
- GRuban, Done. Now at User:GRuban/Miss Supranational. Note that the mainspace title is salted, so you'll need to get somebody to unprotect it for you. Given the history, you might want to go through WP:AfC to get some third-party review before moving it back to mainspace. -- RoySmith (talk) 15:12, 7 August 2020 (UTC)
Thank you! There's more there than I thought there would be, including twodifferent "final" versions. I'll massage them together, add more stuff, and will hopefully eventually have something worthy of mainspacing. I'm actually pretty experienced (see my user page) so would rather not do AfC because that sometimes takes a long time, but since you're so responsive, when I think it's ready, would you like me to ping you so you can give it a once-over? In any case, thank you again! --GRuban (talk) 15:33, 7 August 2020 (UTC)
- GRuban, There's no obligation to do AfC. I just routinely offer that as a suggestion anytime I see somebody looking to work on any article with a questionable history. I should warn you, I'm pretty much of a deletionist. If, given that, you would still like me to take a look, I'll be happy to respond to your ping. -- RoySmith (talk) 15:37, 7 August 2020 (UTC)
- Thanks for the offer, and the warning! I'll look upon it as a friendly challenge. I like "saving" articles with questionable histories, I've done it a few times before, they're listed on my user page. --GRuban (talk) 16:55, 7 August 2020 (UTC)
- @GRuban: This topic and all its progeny have been deemed not notable on more than one occasion at AFD. The SALT should stand and if it is ever removed and the article re-created, I will send it back to AFD again if not nominate it for speedy deletion. The page is on my watchlist and that is how I learned about discussion....William, is the complaint department really on the roof? 15:41, 7 August 2020 (UTC)
- WilliamJE, I'm aware of the history, having closed the most recent AfD. But, that was 6 years ago. If GRuban believes he can now find sufficient sources to meet WP:N, he has the right to try. It's premature to make proclamations about what he can find until he's had a chance to do the research. -- RoySmith (talk) 15:47, 7 August 2020 (UTC)
- @WilliamJE: Thanks for the caution! Would you be willing to make a friendly bet? When I'm ready to push this live (in a few days to a few weeks, I'm not the fastest writer, which is why I asked for it to go to my userspace), and you still believe it not notable, you may nominate it for AfD. If it's deleted, I will write, or noticeably improve, one article of your choice, on any subject. (Or, if you prefer, try to find three images; I do that too upon occasion.) If, instead you agree that it is notable, or it passes AfD, you will write or noticeably improve one article of my choice. The encyclopedia wins either way!
Do we have a bet? --GRuban (talk) 16:46, 7 August 2020 (UTC)
- GRuban, There's no obligation to do AfC. I just routinely offer that as a suggestion anytime I see somebody looking to work on any article with a questionable history. I should warn you, I'm pretty much of a deletionist. If, given that, you would still like me to take a look, I'll be happy to respond to your ping. -- RoySmith (talk) 15:37, 7 August 2020 (UTC)
Thanks for your help, Roy! I pinged William and a subject-knowledgeable user on my draft article talk, but they didn't say anything, and have both edited Wikipedia since that ping, and it's been several days, so it looks like they're not going to say anything. Since your comment didn't seem to object, other than the red links, which I drastically reduced, I moved the page to mainspace, at Miss and Mister Supranational. Would you be so good as to make Miss Supranational into a redirect there? There are many, many existing Wikipedia articles that already refer to it and will link there once that's done. --GRuban (talk) 13:57, 14 August 2020 (UTC)
- Also Miss supranational; looks like that one was salted separately, so probably will need to be unsalted separately. Thank you! --GRuban (talk) 14:36, 14 August 2020 (UTC)
- GRuban, I've unsalted Miss supranational. As far as I can see, Miss Supranational is not currently protected. -- RoySmith (talk) 17:40, 14 August 2020 (UTC)
Thank you! --GRuban (talk) 17:50, 14 August 2020 (UTC)
- GRuban, I've unsalted Miss supranational. As far as I can see, Miss Supranational is not currently protected. -- RoySmith (talk) 17:40, 14 August 2020 (UTC)
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