Jump to content

User talk:SMcCandlish/Archive 145

Page contents not supported in other languages.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Archive 140Archive 143Archive 144Archive 145Archive 146Archive 147Archive 150

December 2018

Elections, for or against?

I thought you made a good point about the for/against arbcom voting process. Even though I'm not wholly sure I agree the system should change, I was surprised that so few people got the point of your post: about how we set tone, about civility and community. Anyway, thanks for making the effort. -Darouet (talk) 02:08, 1 December 2018 (UTC)

I heard that one should "never waste an election". Also "clean out your eels". Not sure what to think. Dicklyon (talk) 02:47, 1 December 2018 (UTC)
@Darouet: It served its purpose, which was to point out the hole in the system and get people thinking about it. I also tested whether a somewhat emotive approach to it would work, and it did not (accused of hyperbole, and some reacted negatively enough to it that they became blind to the real point). This was an experiment on a page where it doesn't matter. The 2019 voting RfC page is where it will make a difference and where someone (probably not me, since I'm a former candidate, and thus may get accused of sour grapes) should re-propose fixing the "double voting" loophole, in different language and with a different tone. We have almost a year to get it right. (For my part, while it is true that in a normal election system I likely would have been elected, I'm actually glad that I was not – circumstances ended up necessitating a months-long wikibreak that would have been right in the middle of my term. So, it's not actually a sour grapes matter at all; I'm not going to run again. Discovering that a simple community RfC, taken as advisory by ArbCom, was enough to get action on the main thing I was running for an ArbCom seat to fix, I presently have no incentive to run again, and a strong disincentive to do so: why volunteer to do something the hardest way when an easier one presents itself?)  — SMcCandlish ¢ 😼  03:13, 1 December 2018 (UTC)

Precious anniversary

A year ago ...
four dimensions player
... you were recipient
no. 1786 of Precious,
a prize of QAI!

Also thank you for article quality improvement in November. I oppose (but won't comment there) your "oppose = hate" in the criticism of the voting system. I know the phrase puts it too simple, but that's how it comes across to me. I oppose your view, but I don't hate you. I oppose the view of some candidates, so didn't vote for them, no hate implied. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 08:14, 1 December 2018 (UTC)

As I said in the thread above, the "hate" bit was a public relations experiment, and produced negative results. The real issue is the skewed, double-voting effect (which actually works to the benefit of all stats manipulators, not just haters).  — SMcCandlish ¢ 😼  08:31, 1 December 2018 (UTC)
As I said, it's too simple but comes across to the superficial reader, which matters. I wouldn't mind a change of voting system, just without the label "hate" on the present. - The talk page of my friend was archived (which I dislike: no word by him on his talk) as not accessible, - how about yours? ;) --Gerda Arendt (talk) 09:12, 1 December 2018 (UTC)
Yeah, I've been meaning to get to it. It is getting to where it takes a long time to load this page.  — SMcCandlish ¢ 😼  09:14, 1 December 2018 (UTC)

Special delivery

Whack!

You've been whacked with a wet trout.

Did you really mean the WP:JERK stuff? Can't believe it.

Thinker78 (talk) 19:59, 1 December 2018 (UTC)

@Thinker78: I'm not sure I get your meaning. Your link suggests this is only in reference to what I said to the now-reblocked sockpuppeteer above. I did in fact mean what I indicated: that of the two editors involved in the dispute that eventually went to the noticeboard, only one of the two (the IP sock) was being uncivil and unreasonable. I'm also well aware that one is kind of being a jerk when citing JERK; this is a somewhat tautological canard we're all pretty familiar with. I.e., we only cite JERK when we're trying to get a point across really bluntly, at some expense to ourselves, because other more genteel approaches have failed. Every time someone suggests deleting JERK at WP:MFD or in an RfC, the community rejects the idea. We have that page because we occasionally need it. At any rate, socking is a form of being a jerk anyway. I also meant what I said elsewhere therein, that when you engage in ranty, demanding, attention-seeking, hostile antics (i.e., JERK without citing it directly again) that other editors' willingness to listen to you shuts down; it's a well-known effect, and HOTHEADS covers it in some detail for a reason. I also frequently make the point that I wrote the WP:HOTHEADS essay about my own "wiki-socialization" learning process, having arrived here from a decade and half of arguing strenuously to win with people on Usenet and arguing professionally to win as a civil-liberties activist and policy analyst. So, there is no lack of self-reflection in the material. Thanks for the fish, though. Fresh-caught trout pan-seared in bacon grease is one of the finest breakfasts you can cook up! I highly recommend it as an break from eggs and cereal. And, now I'm hungry. Damn.  — SMcCandlish ¢ 😼  20:24, 1 December 2018 (UTC)

Template:Year listed at Redirects for discussion

 Done
 – I improved the template, too.

An editor has asked for a discussion to address the redirect Template:Year. Since you had some involvement with the Template:Year redirect, you might want to participate in the redirect discussion if you have not already done so. Zackmann (Talk to me/What I been doing) 08:17, 2 December 2018 (UTC)

{{Year}}

Looks like this discussion is gonna close with an endorsement of your plan. Do you have a tool available to deprecate all existing uses of {{Year}} and move {{YEAR}} over the redirect? Deryck C. 12:04, 10 December 2018 (UTC)

@Deryck Chan: Sadly, no. I'm not on Windows any more, so I don't have AWB. I have JWB perms, but haven't got it working yet. Seems like a WP:BOTREQ task, though. All the current calls to {{Year}} could be replaced pretty quickly (with {{Year needed}}) that way, I would think.  — SMcCandlish ¢ 😼  12:33, 10 December 2018 (UTC)
@Primefac: ^ Your bot maybe? --Izno (talk) 16:35, 10 December 2018 (UTC)
@Izno: I have no bots, or bot approval. I think there's already one that TfD admins use for this sort of thing.  — SMcCandlish ¢ 😼  06:02, 11 December 2018 (UTC)
Yeah, my bot can take care of that once the discussion is closed. Primefac (talk) 14:57, 11 December 2018 (UTC)
Oh, right, I missed the fact that Izno was pinging you to ask.  — SMcCandlish ¢ 😼  00:35, 12 December 2018 (UTC)
 Done

The feedback request service is asking for participation in this request for comment on Talk:David Wolfe (entrepreneur). Legobot (talk) 04:23, 3 December 2018 (UTC)

The Industrial Barnstar

The Upward Spiral
For your excellent expansion work of the Girls Under Glass article following its AfD nom. Nice work! Lugnuts Fire Walk with Me 18:20, 3 December 2018 (UTC)
Thanks. I"m still sore from that one. Took hours and hours. There's still stuff that can be extracted from the interview, and I just found another source. Now someone needs to create a Deathline International page. It's been prodded or speedied twice and this will not do. I can't take that one on (CoI – I know people in the band).  — SMcCandlish ¢ 😼  23:06, 3 December 2018 (UTC)
PS: Regretfully, I had to replace the non-free image with the stock Industrial Barnstar one; we're not allowed to use a non-free image for stuff like this, only to illustrate the article to which it pertains, so some drive-by admin might have just reverted the whole post.  — SMcCandlish ¢ 😼  23:14, 3 December 2018 (UTC)

Odd category issue

Resolved

Any idea why Scientific name templates appears at the bottom of Template:Taxon italics, but the template isn't in the category when I look? It may be obvious, but I'm baffled! Peter coxhead (talk) 13:43, 10 December 2018 (UTC)

@Peter coxhead: It's some kind of server-side cacheing issue; this has been happening intermittently for about the last two years, so far as I've noticed. It appears to be harmless, other than it probably interferes with AWB runs and other stuff that can process a whole category. Anyway, it should right itself after a few days, and show up listed in the category.  — SMcCandlish ¢ 😼  06:04, 11 December 2018 (UTC)
I assumed it was probably a cache problem, but usually a null edit fixes that. So it's good to know that you've seen it before. Thanks. Peter coxhead (talk) 06:35, 11 December 2018 (UTC)
I don't recall seeing it take this long before, maybe a day or two at most.  — SMcCandlish ¢ 😼  00:40, 12 December 2018 (UTC)
PS: It's also affecting the template's other category.  — SMcCandlish ¢ 😼  09:21, 12 December 2018 (UTC)
PPS: Logging out and back in again did not fix it.  — SMcCandlish ¢ 😼  09:23, 12 December 2018 (UTC)
It's there now! Maybe the servers are very busy? Peter coxhead (talk) 15:31, 12 December 2018 (UTC)
@Peter coxhead: See Wikipedia:Village pump (technical)#Categorization that will not update. I'd thought you'd already tried this (so I tried everything but that).  — SMcCandlish ¢ 😼  19:16, 12 December 2018 (UTC)
I thought I had done that, but maybe not. I'm all too aware that you need null edits to update categories put on an article by templates (purges seem to work for categories placed directly on articles, but not template-placed ones), because I monitor the categories that track bad taxonomy templates, and articles are often there because editors fixed a template problem after saving the article. It then takes up to a week to clear at present, and only a null edit to the article fixes it. In this case I suspect I thought that a null edit to the doc page was all that would be needed. A lesson learnt! Peter coxhead (talk) 08:44, 13 December 2018 (UTC)
Maybe worth a Phabricator ticket. The categories should just work.  — SMcCandlish ¢ 😼  09:11, 13 December 2018 (UTC)
Well, if you think about it, a change to a template not accompanied by a change to a page that uses it can't immediately cause an update – otherwise when, e.g., {{Speciesbox}} is changed, 130,000 pages need immediate updates. So I accept that adding or changing a category inside a template can't immediately change the pages that transclude the template. What's annoying is that a purge of the page, which is easier to do than a null edit, doesn't cause a full update. This might be worth querying somewhere. Peter coxhead (talk) 10:18, 13 December 2018 (UTC)
Seems like the system could be smart enough to a) apply the change immediately when template A transcludes template B (the "zillion pages problem" is mostly a mainspace, talkspace, and Wikipediaspace issue), and b) apply it regardless of namespace when there are fewer than X transclusions. But there's probably some technical argument against that. [sigh].  — SMcCandlish ¢ 😼  20:49, 13 December 2018 (UTC)
It has a phabricator ticket though I don't know the number off the cuff. --Izno (talk) 15:16, 13 December 2018 (UTC)
Ah, good.  — SMcCandlish ¢ 😼  20:49, 13 December 2018 (UTC)

Please comment on Talk:Neil deGrasse Tyson

 Done

The feedback request service is asking for participation in this request for comment on Talk:Neil deGrasse Tyson. Legobot (talk) 04:23, 11 December 2018 (UTC)

Like clockwork, it comes around


Happy Holidays!
Wishing you much joy & happiness now and every year!!
Merry Christmas - Happy Hanukkah‼️

  • When does New Year’s Day come before Christmas Day?
Every year!
  • What do you call a bankrupt Santa?
Saint Nickel-less.

🔔🎁⛄️🎅🏻Atsme✍🏻📧 21:32, 13 December 2018 (UTC)

And you. :-)  — SMcCandlish ¢ 😼  07:46, 20 December 2018 (UTC)

Lindy Hop

I read your work from three years ago about the Lindy hop. OK, I didn't read all of it. But I did note your point about common sense being more important than bureaucracy. I work on the Wikiproject Jazz Cleanup Listing. These articles haven't been improved in a long time. I noticed people would rather debate than work. What do you think about merging Lindy hop with the others? So far I have found History of Lindy Hop, Hollywood-style Lindy Hop, Savoy-style Lindy Hop, Lindy hop today, and Lindy hop on a Full Stomach. I made up that last one. There is also List of lindy hop moves.
Vmavanti (talk) 19:11, 14 December 2018 (UTC)

@Vmavanti: Yeah, that's too much "fan cruft". Some merging and trivia-reduction is clearly in order. And a lot of de-capitalization (per MOS:GENRECAPS, and the WP:GAMECAPS RfC, which also covers similar activities, including sports and other competitions and activities). I cleaned up most of the waltz and tango articles in that regard.  — SMcCandlish ¢ 😼  13:00, 15 December 2018 (UTC)

NPR Newsletter No.16 15 December 2018

I wish all these wikiproject newsletter things arrived in a collapse-boxed state, like I'm doing to this one. —&8202;SMcCandlish

Hello SMcCandlish,

Reviewer of the Year

This year's award for the Reviewer of the Year goes to Onel5969. Around on Wikipedia since 2011, their staggering number of 26,554 reviews over the past twelve months makes them, together with an additional total of 275,285 edits, one of Wikipedia's most prolific users.

Thanks are also extended for their work to JTtheOG (15,059 reviews), Boleyn (12,760 reviews), Cwmhiraeth (9,001 reviews), Semmendinger (8,440 reviews), PRehse (8,092 reviews), Arthistorian1977 (5,306 reviews), Abishe (4,153 reviews), Barkeep49 (4,016 reviews), and Elmidae (3,615 reviews).
Cwmhiraeth, Semmendinger, Barkeep49, and Elmidae have been New Page Reviewers for less than a year — Barkeep49 for only seven months, while Boleyn, with an edit count of 250,000 since she joined Wikipedia in 2008, has been a bastion of New Page Patrol for many years.

See also the list of top 100 reviewers.

Less good news, and an appeal for some help The backlog is now approaching 5,000, and still rising. There are around 640 holders of the NPR flag, most of whom appear to be inactive. The 10% of the reviewers who do 90% of the work could do with some support especially as some of them are now taking a well deserved break.

Really good news - NPR wins the Community Wishlist Survey 2019 At #1 position, the Community Wishlist poll closed on 3 December with a resounding success for NPP, reminding the WMF and the volunteer communities just how critical NPP is to maintaining a clean encyclopedia and the need for improved tools to do it. A big 'thank you' to everyone who supported the NPP proposals. See the results.

Training video Due to a number of changes having been made to the feed since this three-minute video was created, we have been asked by the WMF for feedback on the video with a view to getting it brought up to date to reflect the new features of the system. Please leave your comments here, particularly mentioning how helpful you find it for new reviewers.


If you wish to opt-out of future mailings, go here.

MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 21:14, 14 December 2018 (UTC)

Template deprecation

Do you have some background information on why you have marked {{See above}} and {{See below}} as deprecated? I don't find anything in the template documentation, talk pages or edit history. ~Kvng (talk) 17:44, 16 December 2018 (UTC)

@Kvng: Because they're terrible, over-complicated messes. I've been meaning to replace them. It's much simpler to just use {{crossref-print|(see above)}}.  — SMcCandlish ¢ 😼  11:04, 20 December 2018 (UTC)
Your suggested replacement does not provide a wikilink. So yeah, {{See above}} and {{See below}} are more complicated but they are more functional. Has this deprecation been discussed anywhere? ~Kvng (talk) 14:33, 20 December 2018 (UTC)
It really isn't more functional, since {{crossref-print|See [[#foo|above]]}} works perfectly fine and is much simpler. There's a reason almost no one uses {{See above}}. I don't know what I was thinking when I made it.  — SMcCandlish ¢ 😼  17:10, 20 December 2018 (UTC)

Happy Saturnalia

Happy Saturnalia
Wishing you and yours a Happy Holiday Season, from the horse and bishop person. May the year ahead be productive and troll-free. Ealdgyth - Talk 17:07, 18 December 2018 (UTC)

Merry Christmas!

A very happy Christmas and New Year to you!


May 2019 bring you joy, happiness – and no trolls or vandals!

All the best

Gavin / SchroCat (talk) 21:28, 18 December 2018 (UTC)

You too. :-)  — SMcCandlish ¢ 😼  07:46, 20 December 2018 (UTC)

Please comment on Talk:Bekir Fikri

 Done

The feedback request service is asking for participation in this request for comment on Talk:Bekir Fikri. Legobot (talk) 04:23, 19 December 2018 (UTC)

Article rename discussion

 Done

This discussion seems right up your alley: Talk:$_(film)#Requested_move_11_December_2018. Betty Logan (talk) 14:44, 19 December 2018 (UTC)

Since this is already here (cough canvas cough) I second Betty's canvassing and think it'd be interesting to have your take on this. And Happy Holidays all around! Randy Kryn (talk) 22:04, 19 December 2018 (UTC)
It's not canvassing to recruit somebody who usually disagrees with you! I genuinely have no idea which way he will jump on this one... Betty Logan (talk) 23:05, 19 December 2018 (UTC)
Thanks, I didn't know that. Saying 'canvass' was in fun and not complaining about it, as I don't think the no-canvass policy/guideline is a good idea anyway (it would seem fair and logical to let editors know about a topic that they may have an interest in but may have missed, just as we are "allowed" to post notices on related WikiProject pages). Randy Kryn (talk) 02:24, 20 December 2018 (UTC)
I know where you were only joking. If you look at the discussion I wasn't even able to convince myself fully of any of the options on offer, so I am genuinely open to any option if someone can sell me on it. Betty Logan (talk) 02:46, 20 December 2018 (UTC)

Template:Seperate article listed at Redirects for discussion

 Done

An editor has asked for a discussion to address the redirect Template:Seperate article. Since you had some involvement with the Template:Seperate article redirect, you might want to participate in the redirect discussion if you have not already done so. UnitedStatesian (talk) 00:19, 21 December 2018 (UTC)

Sami article renames

Has this been discussed anywhere? If not, please move them back and find consensus for the move first. Rua (mew) 12:26, 21 December 2018 (UTC)

You're welcome to open an RM discussion. We were using "Sámi", "Sami", and "Saami", randomly from article to article without any rhyme or reason. "Saami" seems to be on its way out in reliable sources, and WP's default is to always include a diacritic which can be reliably sourced to belong there.  — SMcCandlish ¢ 😼  12:30, 21 December 2018 (UTC)
There should have been a move request before you moved them, so that people could voice their arguments for/against. Now the page is renamed based on only one person's argument. Please move them back and find consensus first. Remember WP:BRD. Rua (mew) 12:43, 21 December 2018 (UTC)
@Rua: WP:BRD is an essay. WP:EDITING and WP:NOT#BUREAUCRACY are policies. You have not provided any source- or policy-based objection. Meanwhile WP:MOS says to use a consistent spelling within an article and (when feasible) across articles. If you prefer a different spelling, then make a case for it. I'm in the process of opening an RM discussion. Please chill out; see WP:NODEADLINE.  — SMcCandlish ¢ 😼  13:03, 21 December 2018 (UTC)
Ok, I've left a notice on WP:AN. Rua (mew) 13:04, 21 December 2018 (UTC)
RM open at Talk:Kildin Sami orthography#Requested move 21 December 2018.  — SMcCandlish ¢ 😼  15:20, 21 December 2018 (UTC)

Books & Bytes, Issue 31

The Wikipedia Library

Books & Bytes
Issue 31, October – Novemeber 2018

  • OAWiki
  • Wikimedia and Libraries User Group update
  • Global branches update
  • Bytes in brief

French version of Books & Bytes is now available on meta!
Read the full newsletter

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery on behalf of The Wikipedia Library team --MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 14:34, 21 December 2018 (UTC)

Happy Holidays!

Best wishes for this holiday season! Thank you for your Wiki contributions in 2018. May 2019 be prosperous and joyful. --K.e.coffman (talk) 23:17, 21 December 2018 (UTC)

Noël ~ καλά Χριστούγεννα ~ З Калядамі ~ חנוכה שמח ~ Gott nytt år!

Thanks, and you too. :-)  — SMcCandlish ¢ 😼  10:35, 22 December 2018 (UTC)

A personal observation

When you go to the kitchen to take your pizza out of the oven, and to feed the cat, and carefully scoop out a 1/4 can of cat food and put it on your pizza, it is definitely time for some coffee.  — SMcCandlish ¢ 😼  13:47, 22 December 2018 (UTC)

You mean I'm not the only person who does that? :-) Happy Holidays and all the best, Miniapolis 15:10, 23 December 2018 (UTC)
One might think I missed anchovies or something, but I never put fishy stuff on pizza! Happy holler-days to you too. :-)  — SMcCandlish ¢ 😼  18:46, 23 December 2018 (UTC)

Seasons Cheer!

Merry Christmas and a Prosperous 2019!

Hello SMcCandlish, 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,

Lee Vilenski (talkcontribs) 16:56, 22 December 2018 (UTC)

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

Lee Vilenski (talkcontribs) 16:56, 22 December 2018 (UTC)

Thanks; you too!  — SMcCandlish ¢ 😼  21:50, 22 December 2018 (UTC)

Nomination for merging of Template:Reduce trivia

 Done

Template:Reduce trivia has been nominated for merging with Template:Trivia. You are invited to comment on the discussion at the template's entry on the Templates for discussion page. Thank you. –LaundryPizza03 (d) 19:42, 22 December 2018 (UTC)

AfD you may be interested in

 Done

You may be interested in Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/American 14.1 Straight Pool Championship, due to your involvement with WP:CUE. Lee Vilenski (talkcontribs) 13:03, 24 December 2018 (UTC)

Seasonal Greetings

Merry Christmas and a Prosperous 2019!

Hello SMcCandlish, 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,

7&6=thirteen () 20:44, 24 December 2018 (UTC)

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

You too!  — SMcCandlish ¢ 😼  13:27, 25 December 2018 (UTC)

Season's Greetings!

And you!  — SMcCandlish ¢ 😼  13:27, 25 December 2018 (UTC)
Peace. North America1000 13:52, 25 December 2018 (UTC)

Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi

Better check me on of Style/Biography&diff=prev&oldid=875290091 this. If I'm wrong, I think we need a different clarification example. (Oh, and Happy Jesus Birthday btw). ―Mandruss  09:41, 25 December 2018 (UTC)

@Mandruss: You too, though this isn't actually Jesus's birthday (disputed since early Christianity); it's the Christian usurpation of Yule and other pagan winter-solstice celebrations. :-) The edit looks right to me; it's structurally identical to the Mao met with American president Richard Nixon in 1972. example at MOS:JOBTITLES. Here, it's not being used as a short title (as in "According to President Donald Trump's latest tweet"), but as a noun-phrase descriptive modifier, conveying "Donald Trump, who is the American president".  — SMcCandlish ¢ 😼  11:57, 25 December 2018 (UTC)
Not sure you read that diff correctly. I added said example and wanted your opinion of it. Of course the example and the editsum are structurally identical, my question is whether the example is a correct interpretation of the guideline. ―Mandruss  12:04, 25 December 2018 (UTC)
@Mandruss: Right! I read it about an hour ago, and misremembered it as being about Trump, then noticed that it "was in agreement" with the "existing" Nixon example. Need coffee. Anyway, I would stick by the reasoning I gave otherwise: it's not being used as a short title but as part of a noun-phrase descriptive modifier. In the discussions leaning up to the MOS:JOBTITLES overhaul, the gist was that putting "the", "a", or any other modifier onto the title (if it's not part of the title itself) converts it from a formal title an effectively part of the name to a descriptive construction, which is a common-noun-phrase construction. If it were permissible to re-parse this, in a desperate attempt to capitalize, as ([American] [President {Richard Nixon}]) – as a stand-alone adjective modifying a phrase consisting of a title attached to a personal name, then virtually every instance of "president", "king", etc., would always be capitalized. And we know this is linguistically wrong, and that it is ([American {president}] [Richard Nixon]) – a compound modifier consisting of the country and the title, modifying as a group the personal name – because "American" is directly modifying "president", not the phrase "President Richard Nixon". That is, the phrase means "Richard Nixon, who is the American president", not "President Richard Nixon, the American one, as opposed to President Richard Nixon of Elbonia".  — SMcCandlish ¢ 😼  12:52, 25 December 2018 (UTC)
Thanks, and Happy Christian Usurpation of Yule and Other Pagan Winter-Solstice Celebrations. ―Mandruss  13:51, 25 December 2018 (UTC)

WikiProject Genealogy - newsletter No.6

Newsletter Nr 6, 2018-12-25, for WikiProject Genealogy (and Wikimedia genealogy project on Meta)

Participation:

This is the sixth newsletter sent by mass mail to members in Wikipedia:WikiProject Genealogy, to everyone who voted a support for establishing a potential Wikimedia genealogy project on meta, and anyone who during the years showed an interest in genealogy on talk pages and likewise.

(To discontinue receiving Project Genealogy newsletters, please see below)

Now 100 supporters

At 3 December 2018, the genealogy project#Support list of users who support the potential Wikimedia genealogy project, reached 100!

A demo wiki is up and running!

You can already now try out the demo for a genealogy wiki at https://tools.wmflabs.org/genealogy/wiki/Main Page and try out the functions. You will find parts of the 18th Pharao dynasty and other records submitted by the 7 first users, and it would be great if you would add some records.

And with those great news we want to wish you a creative New Year 2019!


Don't want newsletters? If you wish to opt-out of future mailings, please remove yourself from the mailing list or alternatively to opt-out of all massmessage mailings, you may add Category:Opted-out of message delivery to your user talk page.

Merry Christmas and a Prosperous 2019!

Hello SMcCandlish, 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 heartfelt and warm greetings for Christmas and New Year 2019.
Happy editing,

MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 10:53, 25 December 2018 (UTC)

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

Cheers from your WikiProject Genealogy coordinator Dan Koehl.

To discontinue receiving Project Genealogy newsletters, please remove your name from our mailing list.
Newsletter delivered by MediaWiki message delivery

Happy holidays

Spread the WikiLove; use {{subst:Season's Greetings1}} to send this message


Wikipedia:WikiProject Portals update #024, 26 Dec 2018

Last issue, I mentioned there would be a flood, and so, here it is...

Portals status

We now have 4,620 portals.

And the race to pass 5,000 by year's end is on...

Can we make it?

The New Year, and the 5,001st portal, await.

( New portals are created with {{subst:Basic portal start page}} or {{subst:bpsp}} )

Evad is back!

After disappearing in mid-thread, Evad37 has returned from a longer than expected wikibreak.

Be sure to welcome him back.

Improved cropping is coming to Portal image banner

User:FR30799386 is working on making {{Portal image banner}} even better by enabling it to chop the top off an image as well as the bottom.

Many pictures aren't suitable for banners because they are too tall. Therefor, User:FR30799386 added cropping to this template, so that an editor could specify part of a picture to be used rather than the whole thing.

Upgrade of flagship portals is underway

Work has begun on upgrading Wikipedia's flagship portals (those listed at the top of the Main page).

So far, Portal:Geography, Portal:History, and Portal:Technology have been revamped. Of course, you are welcome to improve them further.

Work continues on the other five. Feel free to join in on the fun.

Spotting missing portals that are redirects

In place of many missing portals, there is a redirect that leads to "the next best topic", such as a parent topic.

Most of these were created before we had the tools to easily create portals (they used to take 6 hours or more to create, because it was all done manually). Rather than leave a portal link red, some editors thought it was best that those titles led somewhere.

The subjects that have sufficient coverage should have their own portals rather than a redirect to some other subject.

Unfortunately, being blue like all other live links, redirects are harder to spot than redlinks.

To spot redirects easily, you can make them all appear green.

What's new in portal space?

Here are the new portals since the last issue:
  1. Portal:17th century
  2. Portal:18th century
  3. Portal:Absinthe
  4. Portal:Abuse
  5. Portal:Academic degrees
  6. Portal:Acari
  7. Portal:Acipenseriformes
  8. Portal:Actas
  9. Portal:Actinopterygii
  10. Portal:Activision
  11. Portal:Aerobatics
  12. Portal:Aeroflot
  13. Portal:Aesop
  14. Portal:Afrosoricida
  15. Portal:Aichi
  16. Portal:Airlines
  17. Portal:Air traffic control
  18. Portal:Akon
  19. Portal:Alan Turing
  20. Portal:Alfred Nobel
  21. Portal:Alice Paul
  22. Portal:Allahabad
  23. Portal:Allgemeine-SS
  24. Portal:Allium
  25. Portal:Aluminium
  26. Portal:Alvarezsauroidea
  27. Portal:Alveolata
  28. Portal:Amazon
  29. Portal:Amino acids
  30. Portal:Ancient Greek philosophy
  31. Portal:Andalusia
  32. Portal:Andes
  33. Portal:Animax
  34. Portal:Antennas
  35. Portal:Anthrax (American band)
  36. Portal:Antibiotics
  37. Portal:Antidotes
  38. Portal:Antifungals
  39. Portal:Antimony
  40. Portal:Antivirus software
  41. Portal:Aquifers
  42. Portal:Arachnids
  43. Portal:Armadillos
  44. Portal:Armour
  45. Portal:Art movements
  46. Portal:Arvicolinae
  47. Portal:Asanas
  48. Portal:Association of Southeast Asian Nations
  49. Portal:AstraZeneca
  50. Portal:Asturias
  51. Portal:Asus
  52. Portal:Atoms
  53. Portal:Automation
  54. Portal:Aylesbury
  55. Portal:Aztecs
  56. Portal:Bags
  57. Portal:Banks
  58. Portal:Basalt
  59. Portal:Batgirl
  60. Portal:Bats
  61. Portal:Bay Area Rapid Transit
  62. Portal:Beijing Subway
  63. Portal:Belo Horizonte
  64. Portal:Ben Affleck
  65. Portal:Binondo
  66. Portal:Biodiversity of Colombia
  67. Portal:Biomes
  68. Portal:Blue Origin
  69. Portal:Board games
  70. Portal:Boca Raton, Florida
  71. Portal:Bruno Mars
  72. Portal:Budapest Metro
  73. Portal:Buffalo, New York
  74. Portal:Bullying
  75. Portal:Busan Metro
  76. Portal:Buteoninae
  77. Portal:C++
  78. Portal:Cairo Metro
  79. Portal:Canadian art
  80. Portal:Character encoding
  81. Portal:Character encodings
  82. Portal:Charity
  83. Portal:Chemical engineering
  84. Portal:Chemical synthesis
  85. Portal:Chickenpox
  86. Portal:Chili peppers
  87. Portal:Chongqing Rail Transit
  88. Portal:Climate
  89. Portal:Communication
  90. Portal:Community of Madrid
  91. Portal:Computer files
  92. Portal:Concurrent computing
  93. Portal:Conservation biology
  94. Portal:Containers
  95. Portal:Contract bridge
  96. Portal:Convicts in Australia
  97. Portal:Copenhagen Metro
  98. Portal:Crochet
  99. Portal:Cucurbita
  100. Portal:Culture of Albania
  101. Portal:Culture of Argentina
  102. Portal:Culture of Armenia
  103. Portal:Culture of Assam
  104. Portal:Culture of Australia
  105. Portal:Culture of Austria
  106. Portal:Culture of Azerbaijan
  107. Portal:Culture of Bahrain
  108. Portal:Culture of Bangladesh
  109. Portal:Culture of Belarus
  110. Portal:Culture of Belgium
  111. Portal:Culture of Belize
  112. Portal:Culture of Bengal
  113. Portal:Culture of Cornwall
  114. Portal:Culture of Djibouti
  115. Portal:Culture of England
  116. Portal:Culture of Kerala
  117. Portal:Culture of Somalia
  118. Portal:Culture of West Bengal
  119. Portal:Curitiba
  120. Portal:Databases
  121. Portal:Data mining
  122. Portal:Data storage
  123. Portal:Deforestation and desertification
  124. Portal:Delta Air Lines
  125. Portal:Demi Lovato
  126. Portal:Demography
  127. Portal:Desalination
  128. Portal:Development of the human body
  129. Portal:Disease
  130. Portal:Disney Princess
  131. Portal:Dmitri Mendeleev
  132. Portal:Dublin
  133. Portal:DVD
  134. Portal:Eating
  135. Portal:Electronic components
  136. Portal:Elizabeth Cady Stanton
  137. Portal:Elizabeth I of England
  138. Portal:Ellie Goulding
  139. Portal:Embedded systems
  140. Portal:Embroidery
  141. Portal:Emmeline Pankhurst
  142. Portal:Emmy Awards
  143. Portal:Enugu
  144. Portal:Euro
  145. Portal:Eurostar
  146. Portal:Even-toed ungulates
  147. Portal:Executables
  148. Portal:Experimental aircraft
  149. Portal:Falkland Islands
  150. Portal:Fibers
  151. Portal:File sharing
  152. Portal:File systems
  153. Portal:Frankfurt
  154. Portal:Gaels
  155. Portal:Galicia (Spain)
  156. Portal:Gardens
  157. Portal:Gemstones
  158. Portal:Geotechnical engineering
  159. Portal:Geothermal power
  160. Portal:Glass
  161. Portal:Glass production
  162. Portal:GLONASS
  163. Portal:Guangzhou Metro
  164. Portal:Habitats
  165. Portal:Hall of Fame for Great Americans
  166. Portal:Helicopters
  167. Portal:Helmets
  168. Portal:Helsinki
  169. Portal:Hilary Duff
  170. Portal:Hiroshima
  171. Portal:History of computing
  172. Portal:Honey bees
  173. Portal:Honolulu County, Hawaii
  174. Portal:Hubble Space Telescope
  175. Portal:Hummingbirds
  176. Portal:HVAC
  177. Portal:Hymenoptera
  178. Portal:Intermodal containers
  179. Portal:International Council for Science
  180. Portal:International Space Station
  181. Portal:Interstate Highway System
  182. Portal:IOS
  183. Portal:IPv6
  184. Portal:Ithaca, New York
  185. Portal:James Webb Space Telescope
  186. Portal:Jammu and Kashmir
  187. Portal:JavaScript
  188. Portal:Jay-Z
  189. Portal:John Major
  190. Portal:Kabul
  191. Portal:KFC
  192. Portal:Khuzestan Province
  193. Portal:Launch vehicles
  194. Portal:Laundry
  195. Portal:Lenovo
  196. Portal:Leo Tolstoy
  197. Portal:Library classification systems
  198. Portal:Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II
  199. Portal:Longevity
  200. Portal:Los Angeles International Airport
  201. Portal:Love
  202. Portal:Lyra (constellation)
  203. Portal:MacOS
  204. Portal:Macroeconomics
  205. Portal:Madrid
  206. Portal:Mail
  207. Portal:Malaria
  208. Portal:Malware
  209. Portal:Manhattan Project
  210. Portal:Mao Zedong
  211. Portal:Marrakesh
  212. Portal:Mathematics and art
  213. Portal:Mattel
  214. Portal:Mayotte
  215. Portal:Media culture
  216. Portal:Media manipulation
  217. Portal:Medications
  218. Portal:Men
  219. Portal:Metalworking
  220. Portal:Metropolitan Transportation Authority
  221. Portal:Michael Faraday
  222. Portal:Microeconomics
  223. Portal:Milan Metro
  224. Portal:Military aircraft
  225. Portal:Military deception
  226. Portal:Mixed reality
  227. Portal:Modern history
  228. Portal:Mood disorders
  229. Portal:Morpeth, Northumberland
  230. Portal:Moscow Metro
  231. Portal:MPEG
  232. Portal:MTR
  233. Portal:Multihulls
  234. Portal:Museums
  235. Portal:Music of Scotland
  236. Portal:NASA
  237. Portal:National anthems
  238. Portal:Natural language processing
  239. Portal:Neoplasms
  240. Portal:New Delhi
  241. Portal:Northern Cyprus
  242. Portal:Nuclear weapons
  243. Portal:Nuts
  244. Portal:Odd-toed ungulates
  245. Portal:Ores
  246. Portal:Organ transplantation
  247. Portal:Orthoptera
  248. Portal:Oslo
  249. Portal:Palmyra
  250. Portal:Pan-Africanism
  251. Portal:Panasonic
  252. Portal:Parrots
  253. Portal:Parties
  254. Portal:Peanuts
  255. Portal:Peanuts (comic strip)
  256. Portal:Perl
  257. Portal:Permaculture
  258. Portal:Pesticides
  259. Portal:Physical fitness
  260. Portal:Physiology
  261. Portal:Plant nutrition
  262. Portal:Porcelain
  263. Portal:Ports and harbors
  264. Portal:Pre-Columbian era
  265. Portal:Prehistoric Scotland
  266. Portal:Private transport
  267. Portal:Programming languages
  268. Portal:Programming paradigms
  269. Portal:Prostitution
  270. Portal:Protests
  271. Portal:Psychological manipulation
  272. Portal:P. T. Barnum
  273. Portal:Public housing in the United Kingdom
  274. Portal:Public transport in Helsinki
  275. Portal:Public transport in Istanbul
  276. Portal:Pueblos
  277. Portal:Pune
  278. Portal:Quilting
  279. Portal:Racing
  280. Portal:Radiation
  281. Portal:RAID
  282. Portal:Rail transport in Argentina
  283. Portal:Rail transport in Finland
  284. Portal:Rail transport in Germany
  285. Portal:Rail transport in Israel
  286. Portal:Rail transport in Malaysia
  287. Portal:Rail transport in Norway
  288. Portal:Rail transport in Singapore
  289. Portal:Rail transport in Spain
  290. Portal:Rail transport in Sri Lanka
  291. Portal:Rail transport in Thailand
  292. Portal:Rail transport in the United Arab Emirates
  293. Portal:Realism (arts)
  294. Portal:Recycling
  295. Portal:Religion in China
  296. Portal:Religion in Egypt
  297. Portal:Religion in Iran
  298. Portal:Religion in Israel
  299. Portal:Religion in Mexico
  300. Portal:Religion in Mozambique
  301. Portal:Religion in Myanmar
  302. Portal:Religion in Norway
  303. Portal:Religion in Pakistan
  304. Portal:Religion in Poland
  305. Portal:Religion in Portugal
  306. Portal:Religion in Romania
  307. Portal:Religion in Scotland
  308. Portal:Religion in South Africa
  309. Portal:Religion in Sweden
  310. Portal:Religion in Thailand
  311. Portal:Religion in Turkey
  312. Portal:Religion in Zimbabwe
  313. Portal:Republic of Artsakh
  314. Portal:Revolutions
  315. Portal:Reykjavík
  316. Portal:Rhythm
  317. Portal:Rocket engines
  318. Portal:Rodenticides
  319. Portal:Roofs
  320. Portal:Roscosmos
  321. Portal:Roses
  322. Portal:Rowing
  323. Portal:RuPaul
  324. Portal:Saint Helena
  325. Portal:Sales
  326. Portal:San Juan, Puerto Rico
  327. Portal:San Marino
  328. Portal:São Paulo
  329. Portal:Scottish art
  330. Portal:Scottish clans
  331. Portal:Sex work
  332. Portal:Shinkansen
  333. Portal:Shipbuilding
  334. Portal:Silk
  335. Portal:Simple living
  336. Portal:SkyTrain (Vancouver)
  337. Portal:South Ossetia
  338. Portal:Space Shuttles
  339. Portal:SpaceX
  340. Portal:Spike Lee
  341. Portal:SQL
  342. Portal:Starbucks
  343. Portal:Statue of Liberty
  344. Portal:Stem cells
  345. Portal:Stonehenge
  346. Portal:Street newspapers
  347. Portal:Stuttgart
  348. Portal:Submarines
  349. Portal:Suffragettes
  350. Portal:Susan B. Anthony
  351. Portal:Systems
  352. Portal:Tallinn
  353. Portal:Tashkent
  354. Portal:Telephony
  355. Portal:Tents
  356. Portal:Tigers
  357. Portal:Tobacco
  358. Portal:Tomatoes
  359. Portal:Toronto Transit Commission
  360. Portal:Tortoises
  361. Portal:Transnistria
  362. Portal:Transport in Afghanistan
  363. Portal:Transport in Barcelona
  364. Portal:Transport in Belgium
  365. Portal:Transport in Bristol
  366. Portal:Transport in Bucharest
  367. Portal:Transport in Buckinghamshire
  368. Portal:Transport in Cardiff
  369. Portal:Transport in Chennai
  370. Portal:Transport in China
  371. Portal:Transport in Edinburgh
  372. Portal:Transport in Glasgow
  373. Portal:Transport in Guyana
  374. Portal:Transport in Hong Kong
  375. Portal:Transport in India
  376. Portal:Transport in Ireland
  377. Portal:Transport in Israel
  378. Portal:Transport in Kiev
  379. Portal:Transport in London
  380. Portal:Transport in Somerset
  381. Portal:Transport in Tamil Nadu
  382. Portal:Transport in Tiruchirappalli
  383. Portal:Transport in Vietnam
  384. Portal:Transport in Warsaw
  385. Portal:Tuberculosis
  386. Portal:Twitter
  387. Portal:Umayyad Caliphate
  388. Portal:United States Armed Forces
  389. Portal:United States Congress
  390. Portal:USB
  391. Portal:Valencian Community
  392. Portal:Vijayawada
  393. Portal:Voting
  394. Portal:Washington Metro
  395. Portal:Waterfalls
  396. Portal:Weapons
  397. Portal:Weaving
  398. Portal:Web browsers
  399. Portal:Websites
  400. Portal:Wendy's
  401. Portal:Women's prisons in the United States
  402. Portal:Woodworking
  403. Portal:World Chess Championships
  404. Portal:Yangtze

Keep 'em coming!

And I'll see you next issue.

Sincerely,    — The Transhumanist   08:58, 26 December 2018 (UTC)

Please comment on Talk:Linda Sarsour

 Done

The feedback request service is asking for participation in this request for comment on Talk:Linda Sarsour. Legobot (talk) 04:23, 27 December 2018 (UTC)

WP:CUE tasks

Hi SMcCandlish - I'm currently working on a few pool BLP articles, and I saw that I could make a few changes to the WP:CUE project to clear a few things out. With your permission, I'd like to source up User:SMcCandlish/Incubator/American snooker, and work through WP:CUETODO. Would you have an issue with some of these articles being created as sourced stubs/start articles, rather than sit as drafts? Lee Vilenski (talkcontribs) 09:16, 27 December 2018 (UTC)

@Lee Vilenski: Have at it! I got side-tracked into other stuff for years. A big one that needs completion is User:SMcCandlish/Incubator/William Hoskins (inventor) – co-inventor of modern billiard chalk along with William A. Spinks, but more importantly also inventor of the electric heating coil, without which we wouldn't have toasters, electric stoves, or space-heaters. I made a sourced outline, and then ran out of sources, but haven't checked for new ones in years. PS: The cue "to do" lists (WP:CUEBIOS, etc.) probably need updating, and maybe some pruning – various people who were in the top 100 back when didn't progress further and won't be notable, but lots of new stars have risen. I don't subscribe to the pool mags any longer, so I've not been keeping track of this stuff. I think the last bio I worked on in the field was Lynette Horsburgh, and just to save it from an AfD attempt.  — SMcCandlish ¢ 😼  12:03, 27 December 2018 (UTC)
I feel I may have read your mind, as I've spent my morning pruning/updating this! Cool, so long as I have your blessing, I'll add sources and promote any articles I think are notable. Hope you had a good christmas. Lee Vilenski (talkcontribs) 12:11, 27 December 2018 (UTC)
Hi SMcCandlish; I did a bit of editing, and promoted articles that I thought would pass AfD; with the improved sourcing (At least they have a better chance of being improved in mainspace.) Would you like me to clean up your Incubator (remove articles in mainspace, such as Chinese eight-ball.
There's also User:SMcCandlish/Incubator/Pool TV, which I have tried hard, but I don't think is notable. I can barely find more than a source or two for it, and I'd be against promoting it to mainspace. Lee Vilenski (talkcontribs) 09:50, 2 January 2019 (UTC)
Also, happy new year! I hope I'm not going to deep into your work! I've added an automated list of new articles for cue sports as well to the project, as I always forget to update it. Lee Vilenski (talkcontribs) 09:54, 2 January 2019 (UTC)
@Lee Vilenski: Cleanup: Sure, though checking out merge potential first is a good idea; I might have sources and details the mainspace ones don't. I agree on Pool TV. It was a real article for a while, then got AfDed. I wanted to keep it as one of the only pool-specific TV shows ever, but couldn't find much more sourcing for it myself. Something might turn up eventually. Probably the best candidate for mainspacing is the Hoskins piece, which already has sources, but which is just in bullet-point outline form. I was holding out to find more sources, but forgot about it. More are probably available now. I'm in the middle of packing for a cross-country move, so I don't have time for that (or much of anything else here). Ground billiards really needs to be an article, too. Stein & Rubino are probably the best source for that. Good idea on that bot.  — SMcCandlish ¢ 😼  12:48, 2 January 2019 (UTC)
I assumed you were busy, hope the move goes well. The Hoskins piece I have already prose-ified and moved to mainspace (at William Hoskins (inventor)), I hope that's ok! I looked at the Ground Billiards piece, but it'll probably take me a little longer, as it's a little confusing to me, but I'll get there eventually! I'll go through whenever I can. Thanks for your help. :) Lee Vilenski (talkcontribs) 12:52, 2 January 2019 (UTC)
Great! The Hoskins one in particular is WP:DYK-worthy; not sure about the others. Something along the lines of "Did you know the co-inventor of modern billiard chalk was also the inventor of the electric heating coil, without which we would not have toasters, electric stoves, and space heaters?"  — SMcCandlish ¢ 😼  12:59, 2 January 2019 (UTC)

@Lee Vilenski: Looking it over, I think the reason I was holding off on Hoskins was lack of detail on his more significant invention, which should be a section of its own there.  — SMcCandlish ¢ 😼  13:04, 2 January 2019 (UTC)

I know next to nothing about the WP:DYK process. I did try and create/update the 2018 WPA World Nine-ball Championship article to get to that point when the tournament was on, (As I see there's a reminder), but never got that far. Should I potentially contact someone to help me with this? I'll take a look at the inventions, and get it up to snuff (For clarity, did you mean the heating coil? I did see you had some refs for this, but they are now dead urls, so I'll have to do some digging with archives. Lee Vilenski (talkcontribs) 13:06, 2 January 2019 (UTC)
Yeah, the heating coil. DYK is easy; you just do a mini-writeup that sounds interesting, and make sure the article is properly sourced and doesn't have dispute tags in it, as I recall. I think WP:DYK has all the details. The Rambling Man can probably provide advice.  — SMcCandlish ¢ 😼  13:26, 2 January 2019 (UTC)
Nope, thanks to the latest Abrcom shitfest, I am not allowed to make any such comment. I can, however, review articles outside the scope of that project. I think. Mind you, some of those Arbs who voted for the restrictions weren't even sure about that. The Rambling Man (talk) 13:40, 2 January 2019 (UTC)
For the record: talk:The Rambling Man&type=revision&diff=876516728&oldid=876459148&diffmode=source.  — SMcCandlish ¢ 😼  20:21, 2 January 2019 (UTC)
Ok, I'll give it a shot anyway. I've found a few sources regarding the coil, but it's outside of my area of expertise (Historical things aren't my bag sadly), so it'll not likely be great work. But I'll get a section in the article about the coil. Lee Vilenski (talkcontribs) 14:18, 2 January 2019 (UTC)
@Lee Vilenski: That should be fine; DYK's purpose is to draw attention to new (or new-to-mainspace) pages that are post-stub and properly sourced thus far but which need work. DYK is to attract that work. :-)  — SMcCandlish ¢ 😼  20:18, 2 January 2019 (UTC)

RfC

 Done

You may wish to comment at Wikipedia:Village pump (policy)#RFC on capitalization of prepositions. Peter coxhead (talk) 16:15, 27 December 2018 (UTC)

We did it

Someone just created the 5,000th portal. (Not me).

Here's a counter to track the running total: 546

For a list of all the portals, install WP:SearchSuite, and click on this search: https://wiki.riteme.site/w/index.php?title=Special:Search&limit=5000&offset=0&ns100=1&search=incategory%3A%22All+portals%22&advancedSearch-current={%22namespaces%22:100}

Then reformat the search results as desired, using the SR menu items in the tools menu in the sidebar. To turn the search results into a list, there's a menu item to turn off the details, and another to sort the results alphabetically.

Enjoy,    — The Transhumanist   10:37, 29 December 2018 (UTC)

Wikipedia:WikiProject Portals update #025, 30 Dec 2018

Extended content

We can now crop the tops of pics to make banners

Before, we could only cut off the bottom of pics.

User:FR30799386 has pulled it off, and made the upgrade to {{Portal image banner}}...

So, this:

Niagara falls, from the Canadian side
Niagara falls, from the Canadian side

Becomes this:

Niagara falls, from the Canadian side
Niagara falls, from the Canadian side

Here's the code for the above banner:

{{Portal image banner|File:American Falls from Canadian side in winter.jpg | [[Niagara falls]], from the Canadian side |maxheight=175px |overflow=Hidden|croptop=10}}

To see it employed in a portal, check out Portal:Niagara Falls.

About that end of the year goal...

We were racing against time to create 5,000 portals by the end of the year (just for the heck of it).

We made it. We've passed the 5,000 portals mark, with time to spare!

And the 5,000th portal is Portal:Major League Baseball, by Happypillsjr.

Congratulations!

What's next?

The 10,000th portal mark. But...

...there is plenty else to do in addition to building new portals:

  1. The new portals need to be linked to from the encyclopedia.
  2. On those portals about subjects that are not typically capitalized, the search parameters need to be refined/expanded, to maximize the chances of Did you know and In the news items being found and displayed.
  3. A Recognized content section needs to be added to each portal that has a corresponding WikiProject.
  4. Addition of a category on those portals that lack a subject category.
  5. Implement the portal category system, adding the appropriate categories to each portal.
  6. Upgrade, and complete (as per the tasks enumerated above), the old-style portals that are not regularly maintained, which have not been converted yet (about 1,100 of them).
  7. Find and fix the remaining bugs in the underlying lua modules.
  8. Build portal tools (scripts) to assist in the creation, development, and maintenance of portals.
  9. Build a script to help build navbox footer templates, via the harvesting of categories, amongst other methods.
  10. Update the portal building instructions.
  11. Update the portal guideline.
  12. Refine the programming of the portals to reduce their load time.
  13. Design and develop the next generation of portals and portal components.

And whatever else you can dream up.

But most of all, have a...

Sincerely,    — The Transhumanist   11:31, 30 December 2018 (UTC)