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December 2018

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

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

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)

Wikipedia:Redirects_for_discussion/Log/2018_December_2#Template: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)

Please comment on Talk:David Wolfe (entrepreneur)

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.

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

Moved to Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard § Move Sami language articles back

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 ^{(talk • contribs)} 16:56, 22 December 2018 (UTC)

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

Lee Vilenski ^{(talk • contribs)} 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 c̄) 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 ^{(talk • contribs)} 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!

Hello Saint McCandlish: Seasons greetings to you and yours this holiday season, and hope you have a Happy New Year. Rack 'em! North America¹⁰⁰⁰ 04:32, 25 December 2018 (UTC)

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

Hello SMcCandlish: Enjoy the holiday season, and thanks for your work to maintain, improve and expand Wikipedia. Cheers, DannyS712 (talk) 12:44, 25 December 2018 (UTC)

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:

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 ^{(talk • contribs)} 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 ^{(talk • contribs)} 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 ^{(talk • contribs)} 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 ^{(talk • contribs)} 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 ^{(talk • contribs)} 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 ^{(talk • contribs)} 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 ^{(talk • contribs)} 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: 545

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

Becomes this:

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:

The new portals need to be linked to from the encyclopedia.
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.
A Recognized content section needs to be added to each portal that has a corresponding WikiProject.
Addition of a category on those portals that lack a subject category.
Implement the portal category system, adding the appropriate categories to each portal.
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).
Find and fix the remaining bugs in the underlying lua modules.
Build portal tools (scripts) to assist in the creation, development, and maintenance of portals.
Build a script to help build navbox footer templates, via the harvesting of categories, amongst other methods.
Update the portal building instructions.
Update the portal guideline.
Refine the programming of the portals to reduce their load time.
Design and develop the next generation of portals and portal components.

And whatever else you can dream up.

But most of all, have a...

Happy New Year!

SMcCandlish, thank you for your contributions to the Portals Project, and have a prosperous, productive and enjoyable New Year.

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