User talk:Bilby/Archive 17
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Administrators' newsletter – March 2022
News and updates for administrators from the past month (February 2022).
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- A RfC is open to change the wording of revision deletion criterion 1 to remove the sentence relating to non-infringing contributions.
- A RfC is open to discuss prohibiting draftification of articles over 90 days old.
- The deployment of the reply tool as an opt-out feature, as announced in last month's newsletter, has been delayed to 7 March. Feedback and comments are being welcomed at Wikipedia talk:Talk pages project. (T296645)
- Special:Nuke will now allow the selection of standard deletion reasons to be used when mass-deleting pages. This was a Community Wishlist Survey request from 2022. (T25020)
- The ability to undelete the talk page when undeleting a page using Special:Undelete or the API will be added soon. This change was requested in the 2021 Community Wishlist Survey. (T295389)
- Several unused discretionary sanctions and article probation remedies have been rescinded. This follows the community feedback from the 2021 Discretionary Sanctions review.
- The 2022 appointees for the Ombuds commission are Érico, Faendalimas, Galahad, Infinite0694, Mykola7, Olugold, Udehb and Zabe as regular members and Ameisenigel and JJMC89 as advisory members.
- Following the 2022 Steward Elections, the following editors have been appointed as stewards: AntiCompositeNumber, BRPever, Hasley, TheresNoTime, and Vermont.
- The 2022 Community Wishlist Survey results have been published alongside the ranking of prioritized proposals.
An arbitration case regarding Skepticism and coordinated editing has now closed and the final decision is viewable at the link above. The following remedies have been enacted:
- Rp2006 (talk · contribs) is warned against a battleground mentality and further incivility.
- Rp2006 is indefinitely topic banned from edits related to living people associated with or of interest to scientific skepticism, broadly construed. This topic ban may be appealed after six months have elapsed and every six months thereafter.
- A. C. Santacruz (talk · contribs) is reminded to remain collegial in editing and interacting with others.
- Roxy the dog (talk · contribs) is warned to remain collegial in editing and interacting with others.
- GSoW is advised that a presence on English Wikipedia, perhaps as its own WikiProject or as a task force of WikiProject Skepticism, will create more transparency and lessen some of the kinds of suspicion and conflict that preceded this case. It could also provide a place for the GSoW to get community feedback about its training which would increase its effectiveness.
- Editors are reminded that discretionary sanctions for biographies of living people have been authorized since 2014. Editors named in this decision shall be considered aware of these discretionary sanctions under awareness criterion 1.
For the Arbitration Committee, –MJL ‐Talk‐☖ 05:04, 3 March 2022 (UTC)
- Discuss this at: Wikipedia talk:Arbitration Committee/Noticeboard § Wikipedia:Arbitration/Requests/Case/Skepticism and coordinated editing closed
John from Idegon block
Hi Bilby. I have seen the block you gave to User:John from Idegon. I read the diff and it made me cringe. I don't mean to start WP:Gravedancing, but I have to agree that the way he treats editors is unacceptable. I bet the reason why you blocked him was because of the sentence where he stated he was going to go to his house and practice his "non-existent skills at open cranium brain surgery" on him. I agree that it constitutes a personal attack because that could be considered a threat, and he may never know if the editor on the other side of that computer screen could take it the wrong way. I have also interacted with John before, and it amazes me how an experienced editor like him is allowed to make personal attacks like this and get away with it. I just wanted to say thank you for indefinitely blocking him, as I was blocked because of my interactions with him. Colman2000 (talk) 06:49, 3 March 2022 (UTC)
- I'm not happy that a bock was required. The best result would have been for him to realise that there was a problem with his behaviour before it came to that. Unfortunately, too often we see editors who either don't seem to recognise that they have an issue with their behaviour, or are supported by other editors who inform them that others are overreacting - until, of course, the editor goes too far - and because of this they don't change their behaviour before the better options run out. - Bilby (talk) 22:01, 5 March 2022 (UTC)
Category:Incinerators in Adelaide has been nominated for merging
![](http://up.wiki.x.io/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/5f/Ambox_warning_orange.svg/48px-Ambox_warning_orange.svg.png)
Category:Incinerators in Adelaide has been nominated for merging. A discussion is taking place to decide whether this proposal complies with the categorization guidelines. If you would like to participate in the discussion, you are invited to add your comments at the category's entry on the categories for discussion page. Thank you. –LaundryPizza03 (dc̄) 05:24, 14 March 2022 (UTC)
More heat than light
That's definitely how most of these discussions go, which is why I've been trying to just ignore most of the RSN thread. It seems to be hard to accept that reasonable people can disagree. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 22:23, 20 March 2022 (UTC)
- It happens a lot on these topics, as I noticed you've found. My problem is that I'm aware that I often add to it by continuing to engage - the only way things calm down is if one party walks away. I'd like to be better at doing that. :) - Bilby (talk) 02:29, 21 March 2022 (UTC)
- It was my plan to not engage after my survey statement, and that didn't work. I've caught myself a few other times when I was about to reply, too. Walking away is probably the hardest editor skill to develop. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 12:15, 21 March 2022 (UTC)
- I think I need to work harder on gaining that. :) At any rate, with the way any evidence would be treated, all we would end up with is a massive block of back-and-forth comments that would be virtually unreadable. I think I can trust the community to come to a valid conclusion without putting them through that. - Bilby (talk) 03:57, 22 March 2022 (UTC)
- It was my plan to not engage after my survey statement, and that didn't work. I've caught myself a few other times when I was about to reply, too. Walking away is probably the hardest editor skill to develop. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 12:15, 21 March 2022 (UTC)
This Month in Education: March 2022
This Month in Education
Volume 11 • Issue 3 • March 2022
Contents • Headlines • Subscribe
In This Issue
- Arte+Feminismo Pilipinas:Advocacy on Women Empowerment
- The edit-a-thon on Serbian Wikipedia on the occasion of Edu Wiki Week
- Call for Participation: Higher Education Survey
- Collection of Good Practices in Wikipedia Education
- Conversation: Open education in the Wikimedia Movement views from Latin America
- EduWiki Week 2022, celebrations and learnings
- EduWiki Week in Armenia
- Open Education Week at the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León
- Wikipedia + Education Talk With Leonard Hagan
- Wikimedia Israel cooperates with Yad Vashem in developing a training course for teachers
The Signpost: 27 March 2022
- From the Signpost team: How The Signpost is documenting the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
- News and notes: Of safety and anonymity
- Eyewitness Wikimedian, Kharkiv, Ukraine: Countering Russian aggression with a camera
- Eyewitness Wikimedian, Vinnytsia, Ukraine: War diary
- Eyewitness Wikimedian, Western Ukraine: Working with Wikipedia helps
- Disinformation report: The oligarchs' socks
- In the media: Ukraine, Russia, and even some other stuff
- Wikimedian perspective: My heroes from Russia, Ukraine & beyond
- Discussion report: Athletes are less notable now
- Technology report: 2022 Wikimedia Hackathon
- Arbitration report: Skeptics given heavenly judgement, whirlwind of Discord drama begins to spin for tropical cyclone editors
- Traffic report: War, what is it good for?
- Deletion report: Ukraine, werewolves, Ukraine, YouTube pundits, and Ukraine
- From the archives: Burn, baby burn
- Essay: Yes, the sky is blue
- Tips and tricks: Become a keyboard ninja
- On the bright side: The bright side of news
Happy first edit day!
![]() | Happy First Edit Day! Hi Bilby! On behalf of the Birthday Committee, I'd like to wish you a very happy anniversary of the day you made your first edit and became a Wikipedian! {{u|Sdkb}} talk 23:15, 27 March 2022 (UTC) | ![]() |
{{u|Sdkb}} talk 23:15, 27 March 2022 (UTC)
- Well, first surviving edit, anyway. :) It has been a while, it seems - thanks! - Bilby (talk) 23:28, 28 March 2022 (UTC)
gah
http://en.wiki.x.io/wiki/User:Lungstagangsta - user page edit leaves me sort of .... umm umm err... JarrahTree 08:08, 1 April 2022 (UTC)
- Yes, I know what you mean. I'll keep an eye on them and the article. Thanks! - Bilby (talk) 11:26, 1 April 2022 (UTC)
Administrators' newsletter – April 2022
News and updates for administrators from the past month (March 2022).
- An RfC is open proposing a change to the minimum activity requirements for administrators.
- Access to Special:RevisionDelete has been expanded to include users who have the
deletelogentry
anddeletedhistory
rights. This means that those in the Researcher user group and Checkusers who are not administrators can now access Special:RevisionDelete. The users able to view the special page after this change are the 3 users in the Researcher group, as there are currently no checkusers who are not already administrators. (T301928) - When viewing deleted revisions or diffs on Special:Undelete a back link to the undelete page for the associated page is now present. (T284114)
- Wikipedia:Arbitration Committee/Procedures § Opening of proceedings has been updated to reflect current practice following a motion.
- A arbitration case regarding Skepticism and coordinated editing has been closed.
- A arbitration case regarding WikiProject Tropical Cyclones has been opened.
- Voting for the Universal Code of Conduct Enforcement guidelines has closed, and the results were that 56.98% of voters supported the guidelines. The results of this vote mean the Wikimedia Foundation Board will now review the guidelines.
New administrator activity requirement
The administrator policy has been updated with new activity requirements following a successful Request for Comment.
Beginning January 1, 2023, administrators who meet one or both of the following criteria may be desysopped for inactivity if they have:
- Made neither edits nor administrative actions for at least a 12-month period OR
- Made fewer than 100 edits over a 60-month period
Administrators at risk for being desysopped under these criteria will continue to be notified ahead of time. Thank you for your continued work.
22:52, 15 April 2022 (UTC)
This Month in Education: April 2022
This Month in Education
Volume 11 • Issue 4 • April 2022
Contents • Headlines • Subscribe
In This Issue
- Audio-Educational Seminar of Wikimedia Mexico
- Dagbani Wikimedians using digital TV broadcast to train Wikipedia contributors in Ghana
- Digital Education & The Open Space With Herbert Acheampong
- HerStory walks as a part of edit-a-thons
- Join us for Wiki Workshop 2022
- The youngest member of Tartu Wikiclub is 15-year-old student
The Signpost: 24 April 2022
- News and notes: Double trouble
- In the media: The battlegrounds outside and inside Wikipedia
- Special report: Ukrainian Wikimedians during the war
- Eyewitness Wikimedian, Vinnytsia, Ukraine: War diary (Part 2)
- Technology report: 8-year-old attribution issues in Media Viewer
- Featured content: Wikipedia's best content from March
- Interview: On a war and a map
- Serendipity: Wikipedia loves photographs, but hates photographers
- Traffic report: Justice Jackson, the Smiths, and an invasion
- News from the WMF: How Smart is the SMART Copyright Act?
- Humour: Really huge message boxes
- From the archives: Wales resigned WMF board chair in 2006 reorganization
This Month in Education: May 2022
This Month in Education
Volume 11 • Issue 5 • May 2022
Contents • Headlines • Subscribe
In This Issue
- Wiki Hackathon in Kwara State
- Introduction of the Wikimedia Fan Club to Kwara State University Malete
- Education in Kosovo
- Bringing the Wikiprojects to the Island of Catanduanes
- Tyap Wikipedia Goes Live
- Spring 1Lib1Ref edition in Poland
- Tyap Editors Host Maiden Wiktionary In-person Training Workshop
- Wikibooks project in teaching
- Africa Eduwiki Network Hosted Conversation about Wikimedian in Education with Nebojša Ratković
- My Journey In The Wiki-Space By Thomas Baah
Chaos Magic page numbers
This may aid you in your quest: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1GNyBPpkG9DTXGUxVPGjvEmC4PDp6Aeb7 DougCavendish (talk) 00:33, 7 May 2022 (UTC)
- Yes - that certainly will. Thanks! It is proving to be a fun exercise. - Bilby (talk) 00:35, 7 May 2022 (UTC)
Administrators' newsletter – May 2022
News and updates for administrators from the past month (April 2022).
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- Following an RfC, a change has been made to the administrators inactivity policy. Under the new policy, if an administrator has not made at least 100 edits over a period of 5 years they may be desysopped for inactivity.
- Following a discussion on the bureaucrat's noticeboard, a change has been made to the bureaucrats inactivity policy.
- The ability to undelete the associated talk page when undeleting a page has been added. This was the 11th wish of the 2021 Community Wishlist Survey.
- A public status system for WMF wikis has been created. It is located at http://www.wikimediastatus.net/ and is hosted separately to WMF wikis so in the case of an outage it will remain viewable.
- Remedy 2 of the St Christopher case has been rescinded following a motion. The remedy previously authorised administrators to place a ban on single-purpose accounts who were disruptively editing on the article St Christopher Iba Mar Diop College of Medicine or related pages from those pages.
Your edits are ableist
I sourced my claims on Peter singer. They were not unsourced claims any article does not sufficiently cover this aspect of his work. 2603:8080:1501:3816:9F4:D198:D4D9:3892 (talk) 21:43, 12 June 2022 (UTC)
June 2022 Good Article Nominations backlog drive
Good article nominations | June 2022 Backlog Drive | |
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The Signpost: 29 May 2022
- From the team: A changing of the guard
- News and notes: 2022 Wikimedia Board elections
- Community view: Have your say in the 2022 Wikimedia Foundation Board elections
- In the media: Putin, Jimbo, Musk and more
- Special report: Three stories of Ukrainian Wikimedians during the war
- Discussion report: Portals, April Fools, admin activity requirements and more
- WikiProject report: WikiProject COVID-19 revisited
- Technology report: A new video player for Wikimedia wikis
- Featured content: Featured content of April
- Interview: Wikipedia's pride
- Serendipity: Those thieving image farms
- Recent research: 35 million Twitter links analysed
- Tips and tricks: The reference desks of Wikipedia
- Traffic report: Strange highs and strange lows
- News from Diff: Winners of the Human rights and Environment special nomination by Wiki Loves Earth announced
- News from the WMF: The EU Digital Services Act: What’s the Deal with the Deal?
- From the archives: The Onion and Wikipedia
- Humour: A new crossword
Editing newsletter 2022 – #1
Read this in another language • Subscription list for the multilingual newsletter • Local subscription list
![](http://up.wiki.x.io/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a0/Junior_Contributor_New_Topic_Tool_Completion_Rate.png/220px-Junior_Contributor_New_Topic_Tool_Completion_Rate.png)
The New topic tool helps editors create new ==Sections== on discussion pages. New editors are more successful with this new tool. You can read the report. Soon, the Editing team will offer this to all editors at most WMF-hosted wikis. You can join the discussion about this tool for the English Wikipedia is at Wikipedia:Village pump (proposals)#Enabling the New Topic Tool by default. You will be able to turn it off in the tool or at Special:Preferences#mw-prefsection-editing-discussion.
The Editing team plans to change the appearance of talk pages. These are separate from the changes made by the mw:Desktop improvements project and will appear in both Vector 2010 and Vector 2022. The goal is to add some information and make discussions look visibly different from encyclopedia articles. You can see some ideas at Wikipedia talk:Talk pages project#Prototype Ready for Feedback.
23:14, 30 May 2022 (UTC)
This Month in Education: May 2022
This Month in Education
Volume 11 • Issue 5 • May 2022
Contents • Headlines • Subscribe
In This Issue
- Wiki Hackathon in Kwara State
- Introduction of the Wikimedia Fan Club to Kwara State University Malete
- Education in Kosovo
- Bringing the Wikiprojects to the Island of Catanduanes
- Tyap Wikipedia Goes Live
- Spring 1Lib1Ref edition in Poland
- Tyap Editors Host Maiden Wiktionary In-person Training Workshop
- Wikibooks project in teaching
- Africa Eduwiki Network Hosted Conversation about Wikimedian in Education with Nebojša Ratković
- My Journey In The Wiki-Space By Thomas Baah
Happy Adminship Day!
![]() | Happy adminship anniversary! Hi Bilby! On behalf of the Birthday Committee, I'd like to wish you a very happy anniversary of your successful request for adminship. Enjoy this special day! Dinosaur TrexXX33 (chat?) 11:15, 1 June 2022 (UTC) | ![]() |
Dinosaur TrexXX33 (chat?) 11:15, 1 June 2022 (UTC)
![]() | Happy adminship anniversary! Hi Bilby! On behalf of the Birthday Committee, I'd like to wish you a very happy anniversary of your successful request for adminship. Enjoy this special day! Comr Melody Idoghor (talk) 12:09, 1 June 2022 (UTC) | ![]() |
![](http://up.wiki.x.io/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d1/Wikipedia_Administrator.svg/70px-Wikipedia_Administrator.svg.png)
![](http://up.wiki.x.io/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e4/Wikipedia_laurier_anime.gif/80px-Wikipedia_laurier_anime.gif)
Thanks for this! I'm currently stuck in quarantine trying to recover from COVID, so these come well timed and are very much appreciated. - Bilby (talk) 13:10, 2 June 2022 (UTC)
Administrators' newsletter – June 2022
News and updates for administrators from the past month (May 2022).
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- Several areas of improvement collated from community member votes have been identified in the Universal Code of Conduct Enforcement guidelines. The areas of improvement have been sent back for review and you are invited to provide input on these areas.
- Administrators using the mobile web interface can now access Special:Block directly from user pages. (T307341)
- The IP Info feature has been deployed to all wikis as a Beta Feature. Any autoconfirmed user may enable the feature using the "IP info" checkbox under Preferences → Beta features. Autoconfirmed users will be able to access basic information about an IP address that includes the country and connection method. Those with advanced privileges (admin, bureaucrat, checkuser) will have access to extra information that includes the Internet Service Provider and more specific location.
- Remedy 2 of the Rachel Marsden case has been rescinded following a motion. The remedy previously authorised administrators to delete or reduce to a stub, together with their talk pages, articles related to Rachel Marsden when they violate Wikipedia's biographies of living persons policy.
- An arbitration case regarding WikiProject Tropical Cyclones has been closed.
You've got mail
Sorry if I broke any rules! This is my problem; Tyson can write untruths about people in his books and be allowed to self-promote his work on the Wikipedia platform for free with no repercussions from Wikipedia. There is only one reason why Tyson a professor, Historian and Research Scholar would lie. Tyson, and his assistant, with sparsely written notes and a recorder that did not show any evidence that the [RT1] women changed her testimony. Tyson’s book prompted the FBI to investigate at Taxpayers’ expense to his clams. The Department of Justice report shows that Tyson was not trustworthy. I guest lying to the public while profiting from it is OK. Attention to detail: The Historian should have a strong attention to detail in almost every capacity. Whether researching verbal or written information. Tyson and his books have cast a lot of doubt on History, Historians and Research Scholars. [RT1] and no one will ever know. Thanks' Shakewalk (talk) 16:53, 18 May 2022 (UTC)
Is this edit acceptable? Published in 2017, The Blood of Emmett Till reexamines the lynching of Emmett Till in 1955. The book was a New York Times bestseller, won the 2018 Robert F. Kennedy Book Award and was longlisted for the National Book Award. The Big Question: Is Timothy B. Tyson miss leading the public that testimony was changed? You Must READ: The United States Department of Justice File - https://www.justice.gov/crt/case-document/emmett-till-notice-close-file-0 Shakewalk (talk) 14:42, 23 May 2022 (UTC) hope this email is getting to you?Shakewalk (talk) 15:53, 25 May 2022 (UTC).
- Sorry for not responding. No, the suggested text is not something that we can use. Anything which has phrases like "Is Timothy B. Tyson miss leading the public that testimony was changed?" is inappropriate. If this is to be covered we need two things: secondary sources covering the issue (not the report), and very neutral phrasing. I'll try and give it a go. - Bilby (talk) 13:13, 2 June 2022 (UTC)
- oh well, Thanks Shakewalk (talk) 23:09, 2 June 2022 (UTC)
The Signpost: 26 June 2022
- News and notes: WMF inks new rules on government-ordered takedowns, blasts Russian feds' censor demands, spends big bucks
- In the media: Editor given three-year sentence, big RfA makes news, Guy Standing takes it sitting down
- Special report: "Wikipedia's independence" or "Wikimedia's pile of dosh"?
- Featured content: Articles on Scots' clash, Yank's tux, Austrian's action flick deemed brilliant prose
- Recent research: Wikipedia versus academia (again), tables' "immortality" probed
- Serendipity: Was she really a Swiss lesbian automobile racer?
- News from the WMF: Wikimedia Enterprise signs first deals
- Gallery: Celebration of summer, winter
This Month in Education: June 2022
This Month in Education
Volume 11 • Issue 6 • June 2022
- Black Lunch Table: Black History Month with Igbo Wikimedians User Group
- Bolivian Teachers Welcomed Wikipedia in their Classroom
- Educational program & Wikivoyage in Ukrainian University
- The Great Learning and Connection: Experience from AFLIA
- New Mexico Students Join Wikimedia Movement Through WikiForHumanRights Campaign
- The school wiki-project run by a 15 year old student came to an end
- The students of Kadir Has University, Istanbul contribute Wikimedia projects in "Civic Responsibility Project" course
- Wiki Trip with Vasil Kamami Wikiclub to Berat, the town of one thousand windows
- Wikiclubs in Albania
- Wikidata in the classroom FGGC Bwari Experience
- Wikipedia and Secondary Schools in Aotearoa New Zealand
- А large-scale online course for teaching beginners to work in Wikipedia has been developed in Russia
Administrators' newsletter – July 2022
News and updates for administrators from the past month (June 2022).
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user_global_editcount
is a new variable that can be used in abuse filters to avoid affecting globally active users. (T130439)
- An arbitration case regarding conduct in deletion-related editing has been opened.
- The New Pages Patrol queue has around 10,000 articles to be reviewed. As all administrators have the patrol right, please consider helping out. The queue is here. For further information on the state of the project, see the latest NPP newsletter.
Orphaned non-free image File:Ballarat Roller Derby League logo.jpg
![⚠](http://up.wiki.x.io/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/34/Ambox_warning_blue.svg/35px-Ambox_warning_blue.svg.png)
Thanks for uploading File:Ballarat Roller Derby League logo.jpg. The image description page currently specifies that the image is non-free and may only be used on Wikipedia under a claim of fair use. However, the image is currently not used in any articles on Wikipedia. If the image was previously in an article, please go to the article and see why it was removed. You may add it back if you think that that will be useful. However, please note that images for which a replacement could be created are not acceptable for use on Wikipedia (see our policy for non-free media).
Note that any non-free images not used in any articles will be deleted after seven days, as described in section F5 of the criteria for speedy deletion. Thank you. --B-bot (talk) 17:05, 16 July 2022 (UTC)
You've got mail
![](http://up.wiki.x.io/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/49/Mail-message-new.svg/40px-Mail-message-new.svg.png)
It may take a few minutes from the time the email is sent for it to show up in your inbox. You can {{You've got mail}} or {{ygm}} template. at any time by removing the Psiĥedelisto (talk • contribs) please always ping! 16:19, 20 July 2022 (UTC)
The Signpost: 1 August 2022
- From the editors: Rise of the machines, or something
- News and notes: Information considered harmful
- In the media: Censorship, medieval hoaxes, "pathetic supervillains", FB-WMF AI TL bid, dirty duchess deeds done dirt cheap
- Op-Ed: The "recession" affair
- Eyewitness Wikimedian, Vinnytsia, Ukraine: War diary (part 3)
- Community view: Youth culture and notability
- Opinion: Criminals among us
- Arbitration report: Winds of change blow for cyclone editors, deletion dustup draws toward denouement
- Deletion report: This is Gonzo Country
- Discussion report: Notability for train stations, notices for mobile editors, noticeboards for the rest of us
- Featured content: A little list with surprisingly few lists
- Tips and tricks: Cleaning up awful citations with Citation bot
- On the bright side: Ukrainian Wikimedians during the war — three (more) stories
- Essay: How to research an image
- Recent research: A century of rulemaking on Wikipedia analyzed
- Serendipity: Don't cite Wikipedia
- Gallery: A backstage pass
- From the archives: 2012 Russian Wikipedia shutdown as it happened
This Month in Education: July 2022
This Month in Education
Volume 11 • Issue 7 • July 2022
Administrators' newsletter – August 2022
News and updates for administrators from the past month (July 2022).
![](http://up.wiki.x.io/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/62/ANEWSicon.png/150px-ANEWSicon.png)
- An RfC has been closed with consensus to add javascript that will show edit notices for editors editing via a mobile device. This only works for users using a mobile browser, so iOS app editors will still not be able to see edit notices.
- An RfC has been closed with the consensus that train stations are not inherently notable.
- The Wikimania 2022 Hackathon will take place virtually from 11 August to 14 August.
- Administrators will now see links on user pages for "Change block" and "Unblock user" instead of just "Block user" if the user is already blocked. (T308570)
- The arbitration case request Geschichte has been automatically closed after a 3 month suspension of the case.
- You can vote for candidates in the 2022 Board of Trustees elections from 16 August to 30 August. Two community elected seats are up for election.
- Wikimania 2022 is taking place virtually from 11 August to 14 August. The schedule for wikimania is listed here. There are also a number of in-person events associated with Wikimania around the world.
- Tech tip: When revision-deleting on desktop, hold ⇧ Shift between clicking two checkboxes to select every box in that range.
Editing news 2022 #2
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![Graph showing 90-minute response time without the new tool and 39-minute response time with the tool](http://up.wiki.x.io/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4b/Desktop_Topic_Subscriptions_median_response_time.png/220px-Desktop_Topic_Subscriptions_median_response_time.png)
The new [subscribe] button notifies people when someone replies to their comments. It helps newcomers get answers to their questions. People reply sooner. You can read the report. The Editing team is turning this tool on for everyone. You will be able to turn it off in your preferences.
–Whatamidoing (WMF) (talk) 00:35, 26 August 2022 (UTC)
The Signpost: 31 August 2022
- News and notes: Admins wanted on English Wikipedia, IP editors not wanted on Farsi Wiki, donations wanted everywhere
- Special report: Wikimania 2022: no show, no show up?
- In the media: Truth or consequences? A tough month for truth
- Discussion report: Boarding the Trustees
- News from Wiki Education: 18 years a Wikipedian: what it means to me
- In focus: Thinking inside the box
- Tips and tricks: The unexpected rabbit hole of typo fixing in citations...
- Technology report: Vector (2022) deployment discussions happening now
- Serendipity: Two photos of every library on earth
- Featured content: Our man drills are safe for work, but our Labia is Fausta.
- Recent research: The dollar value of "official" external links
- Traffic report: What dreams (and heavily trafficked articles) may come
- Essay: Delete the junk!
- Humour: CommonsComix No. 1
- From the archives: 5, 10, and 15 years ago
Administrators' newsletter – September 2022
News and updates for administrators from the past month (August 2022).
- A discussion is open to define a process by which Vector 2022 can be made the default for all users.
- An RfC is open to gain consensus on whether Fox News is reliable for science and politics.
- The impact report on the effects of disabling IP editing on the Persian (Farsi) Wikipedia has been released.
- The WMF is looking into making a Private Incident Reporting System (PIRS) system to improve the reporting of harmful incidents through easier and safer reporting. You can leave comments on the talk page by answering the questions provided. Users who have faced harmful situations are also invited to join a PIRS interview to share the experience. To sign up please email Madalina Ana.
- An arbitration case regarding Conduct in deletion-related editing has been closed. The Arbitration Committee passed a remedy as part of the final decision to create a request for comment (RfC) on how to handle mass nominations at Articles for Deletion (AfD).
- The arbitration case request Jonathunder has been automatically closed after a 6 month suspension of the case.
- The new pages patrol (NPP) team has prepared an appeal to the Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) for assistance with addressing Page Curation bugs and requested features. You are encouraged to read the open letter before it is sent, and if you support it, consider signing it. It is not a discussion, just a signature will suffice.
- Voting for candidates for the Wikimedia Board of Trustees is open until 6 September.
This Month in Education: August 2022
This Month in Education
Volume 11 • Issue 8 • August 2022
- The Making of a Certified Trainer of Reading Wikipedia in the Classroom
- Wikimania SDGs 2022: The Kwara Experience
- An adapted Module teacher’s guide in Yoruba and English about Reading Wikipedia in the Classroom in Nigeria is now available on Commons
- Reading Wikipedia in the Classroom Kwara, Nigeria: The Trainers Experience
- Edu Wiki Camp 2022 in Serbia: Together again
- Reading Wikipedia in the Classroom Program Nigeria: The Teacher experience
- Wiki For Senior Citizens
- WikiLoves SDGs Nigeria Tours Kwara State University Malete
- Wikiteka project in Poland - summertime
Hi Bilby, can I ask why you added the undisclosed paid tag to this article? ––FormalDude (talk) 02:40, 21 September 2022 (UTC)
- Hi! As is typical with the tag, because it appears to have been the subject of undisclosed paid editing. It needs some independent review - I doubt that there will be major issues, so if I get the chance I'll go over it. - Bilby (talk) 02:48, 21 September 2022 (UTC)
- Yes, I was just wondering because I reviewed the COI contributions for neutrality last year, and I don't think any have been made since then. So I wasn't sure if you tagged it because of that or because of other edits that I have not noticed. ––FormalDude (talk) 02:52, 21 September 2022 (UTC)
- I saw that you had reviewed the edits. Unfortunately, it still needs to be checked, so I flagged it to progress that. - Bilby (talk) 03:41, 21 September 2022 (UTC)
- What is the policy/guideline that says it needs to be checked after review from an independent editor? Not trying to be annoying, just want to know as I am becoming more involved in working COI edit requests. ––FormalDude (talk) 04:00, 21 September 2022 (UTC)
- Sorry, what I ment was that it has to be checked by an independent editor. - Bilby (talk) 04:05, 21 September 2022 (UTC)
- I guess my confusion is that I am an independent editor who reviewed the COI requests. ––FormalDude (talk) 04:13, 21 September 2022 (UTC)
- Ok, I don;t really want to play silly games, I just wanted to avoid drama. I've been informed that you may not have been independent when you reviewed the article. On those grounds it has been flagged just to make sure everything is ok. You would know whether you were or not, and based on that you can probably work out how best you would like to proceed, but I'm not intending to take things further. - Bilby (talk) 04:32, 21 September 2022 (UTC)
- Would've been easier if you just said that. For what it's worth, I am completely independent of Dick's Sporting Goods and I have never been paid to edit Wikipedia. ––FormalDude (talk) 04:46, 21 September 2022 (UTC)
- I wish I didn't need to say it at all. :( - Bilby (talk) 04:57, 21 September 2022 (UTC)
- Would've been easier if you just said that. For what it's worth, I am completely independent of Dick's Sporting Goods and I have never been paid to edit Wikipedia. ––FormalDude (talk) 04:46, 21 September 2022 (UTC)
- Ok, I don;t really want to play silly games, I just wanted to avoid drama. I've been informed that you may not have been independent when you reviewed the article. On those grounds it has been flagged just to make sure everything is ok. You would know whether you were or not, and based on that you can probably work out how best you would like to proceed, but I'm not intending to take things further. - Bilby (talk) 04:32, 21 September 2022 (UTC)
- I guess my confusion is that I am an independent editor who reviewed the COI requests. ––FormalDude (talk) 04:13, 21 September 2022 (UTC)
- Sorry, what I ment was that it has to be checked by an independent editor. - Bilby (talk) 04:05, 21 September 2022 (UTC)
- What is the policy/guideline that says it needs to be checked after review from an independent editor? Not trying to be annoying, just want to know as I am becoming more involved in working COI edit requests. ––FormalDude (talk) 04:00, 21 September 2022 (UTC)
- I saw that you had reviewed the edits. Unfortunately, it still needs to be checked, so I flagged it to progress that. - Bilby (talk) 03:41, 21 September 2022 (UTC)
- Yes, I was just wondering because I reviewed the COI contributions for neutrality last year, and I don't think any have been made since then. So I wasn't sure if you tagged it because of that or because of other edits that I have not noticed. ––FormalDude (talk) 02:52, 21 September 2022 (UTC)
The Signpost: 30 September 2022
- News and notes: Board vote results, bot's big GET, crat chat gives new mop, WMF seeks "sound logo" and "organizer lab"
- In the media: A few complaints and mild disagreements
- Special report: Decentralized Fundraising, Centralized Distribution
- Discussion report: Much ado about Fox News
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- From the archives: 5, 10, and 15 Years ago: September 2022
Administrators' newsletter – October 2022
News and updates for administrators from the past month (September 2022).
- Following an RfC, consensus was found that if the rationale for a block depends on information that is not available to all administrators, that information should be sent to the Arbitration Committee, a checkuser or an oversighter for action (as applicable, per ArbCom's recent updated guidance) instead of the administrator making the block.
- Following an RfC, consensus has been found that, in the context of politics and science, the reliability of FoxNews.com is unclear and that additional considerations apply to its use.
- Community comment on the revised Universal Code of Conduct enforcement guidelines is requested until 8 October.
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- Remedy 8.1 of the Muhammad images case will be rescinded 1 November following a motion.
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- The second phase of the 2021-22 Discretionary Sanctions Review closes 3 October.
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This Month in Education: September 2022
This Month in Education
Volume 11 • Issue 9 • September 2022
- OpenEdu.ch: centralising training documents, a platform for the teachers' community in Switzerland
- Senior Citizens WikiTown 2022: Exploring Olomouc and its heritage
- Wikimedia Research Fund
- Wikimedia Youths Commemorate the International Youth Day 2022 in an exciting way across the globe
- Wikipedia, Education, and the Crisis of Information
Hello
Hi, Bilby!
Digging your name :) (if you get the reference haha)
Thanks for helping us! Arataki-awa (talk) 05:31, 21 October 2022 (UTC)
The Signpost: 31 October 2022
- From the team: A new goose on the roost
- News from the WMF: Governance updates from, and for, the Wikimedia Endowment
- Disinformation report: From Russia with WikiLove
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Administrators' newsletter – November 2022
News and updates for administrators from the past month (October 2022).
- The article creation at scale RfC opened on 3 October and will be open until at least 2 November.
- An RfC is open to discuss having open requests for adminship automatically placed on hold after the seven-day period has elapsed, pending closure or other action by a bureaucrat.
- Eligible editors are invited to self-nominate themselves from 13 November 2022 until 22 November 2022 to stand in the 2022 Arbitration Committee elections.
- The arbitration case request titled Athaenara has been resolved by motion.
- The arbitration case Reversal and reinstatement of Athaenara's block has entered the proposed decision stage.
- AmandaNP, Mz7 and Cyberpower678 have been appointed to the Electoral Commission for the 2022 Arbitration Committee Elections. Xaosflux and Dr vulpes are reserve commissioners.
- The 2022 CheckUser and Oversight appointments process has concluded with the appointment of two new CheckUsers.
- You can add yourself to the centralised page listing time zones of administrators.
- Tech tip: Wikimarkup in a block summary is parsed in the notice that the blockee sees. You can use templates with custom options to specify situations like
{{rangeblock|create=yes}}
or{{uw-ublock|contains profanity}}
.
Outing
Are you sure it's outing? The information is public from their own Upwork profile. Among Us for POTUS (talk) 20:55, 6 November 2022 (UTC)
- Oh, I am sorry, I just read the WP:OUTING policy (I read most of the policies, but not all of them, and I take full responsibility for this) and I didn't realize you can't re-post off-site information. I am very sorry about this. An admin can revdel my edits if they think I revealed too much personal information. Among Us for POTUS (talk) 21:10, 6 November 2022 (UTC)
December 2022
Hello, I'm 1keyhole. I noticed that you removed topically-relevant content from Wilderness therapy. However, Wikipedia is not censored. Please do not remove or censor information that directly relates to the subject of the article. If the content in question involves images, you have the option to configure Wikipedia to hide images that you may find offensive. Take a look at the welcome page to learn more about contributing to this encyclopedia. If you think I made a mistake, or if you have any questions, you may leave a message on my talk page. Thank you. 1keyhole (talk) 06:57, 22 December 2022 (UTC)
The Signpost: 28 November 2022
- News and notes: English Wikipedia editors: "We don't need no stinking banners"
- In the media: "The most beautiful story on the Internet"
- Disinformation report: Missed and Dissed
- Book review: Writing the Revolution
- Technology report: Galactic dreams, encyclopedic reality
- Essay: The Six Million FP Man
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- Recent research: Study deems COVID-19 editors smart and cool, questions of clarity and utility for WMF's proposed "Knowledge Integrity Risk Observatory"
- Featured content: A great month for featured articles
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ArbCom 2022 Elections voter message
Hello! Voting in the 2022 Arbitration Committee elections is now open until 23:59 (UTC) on Monday, 12 December 2022. All eligible users are allowed to vote. Users with alternate accounts may only vote once.
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Administrators' newsletter – December 2022
News and updates for administrators from the past month (November 2022).
- Consensus has been found in an RfC to automatically place RfAs on hold after one week.
- The article creation at scale RfC has been closed.
- An RfC on the banners for the December 2022 fundraising campaign has been closed.
- A new preference named "Enable limited width mode" has been added to the Vector 2022 skin. The preference is also shown as a toggle on every page if your monitor is 1600 pixels or wider. When disabled it removes the whitespace added by Vector 2022 on the left and right of the page content. Disabling this preference has the same effect as enabling the wide-vector-2022 gadget. (T319449)
- Eligible users are invited to vote on candidates for the Arbitration Committee until 23:59 December 12, 2022 (UTC). Candidate statements can be seen here.
- The proposed decision for the 2021-22 review of the discretionary sanctions system is open.
- The arbitration case Reversal and reinstatement of Athaenara's block has been closed.
- The arbitration case Stephen has been opened and the proposed decision is expected 1 December 2022.
- A motion has modified the procedures for contacting an admin facing Level 2 desysop.
- Tech tip: A single IPv6 connection usually has access to a "subnet" of 18 quintillion IPs. Add
/64
to the end of an IP in Special:Contributions to see all of a subnet's edits, and consider blocking the whole subnet rather than an IP that may change within a minute.
Standard Offer "Surge Of Reason"
Hello, I'm looking for a willing administrator or experienced editor to consider my standard offer, set to be eligible from 30/11/2022 onward. Please email me at Surge_Of_Reason@mail.com, rather than commenting on my talk page.
I've done my nine months, and ardently request to continue enhancing Wikipedia's, at the moment rather meager, knowledge on companies. Based on what I've seen, easily a decade of controversial incidents was never added or added in such a way that made it difficult for visitors to find.
I'm sorry things blew up on the pages of Moderna, Biogen, and Netflix. The antipathy, and block evasion, concerning Moderna's dubious tax practices and abrasive work culture, Netflix's Qwikster spinoff, and Biogen's failed Alzheimer's drug, were unwarranted.
https://www.politico.eu/article/moderna-vaccine-profits-tax-havens/ https://www.statnews.com/2016/09/13/moderna-therapeutics-biotech-mrna/ https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/netflixs-lost-year-the-inside-story-of-the-price-hike-train-wreck/ https://www.fiercepharma.com/pharma/biogen-s-aduhelm-could-be-linked-to-alzheimer-s-patient-s-death-analyst-says
I want to voice my sympathies regarding the toxic atmosphere on Wikipedia, that can't make things easy, and acknowledge the need for systematic enforcement in order to overpower that atmosphere.
If reinstated my work would cover histories like:
Ting river pollution (Zijin Mining)
In July 2010, two toxic copper mine waste spills contaminated the Ting River in Fujian Province, China. Zijin Mining was found guilty of negligence and fined close to $4.4M. People developed lesions from contact with the water as much as a year after the spills. The area displayed elevated cancer rates and high concentrations of toxic cadmium have been found in the drinking water.
https://www.sfgate.com/green/article/Toxic-leak-taints-mining-firm-with-global-plans-3179105.php
Tailings dam collapse (Zijin Mining)
On September 21 2010, a tailings dam collapsed, destroying 523 homes and killing 22 people near the city of Xinyi, Guangdong Province, China. Though the dam was hit by a typhoon, responsibility for its collapse was placed firmly on the shoulders of Xinyi Zijin, an arm of Zijin Mining, which had violated construction procedures. Zijin Mining has expressed "deep sorrow and regret" and donated $7.5M to Xinyi City. By 2011, Xinyi Zijin was up against 800 lawsuits related to the destruction.
https://www.reuters.com/article/china-mining-zijin-idUSTOE71G05L20110217
Pollution in Chad (Glencore)
In January 2021, the UK accepted a human rights complaint alleging that Glencore's toxic wastewater leaks had injured at least fifty villagers in 2018 in Chad. They had been afflicted with severe burns, skin lesions, and illness. Burns left by crude oil waste had prevented a boy from moving for a whole year.
Heavy Metals Poisoning Pueblo Viejo (Barrick Gold Corp)
Since 2013, the communities surrounding Barrick's Pueblo Viejo mine have petitioned the government of the Dominican Republic with relocation demands. Residents spoke of respiratory problems, heavy metal poisoning, livestock dying, as well as skin lesions caused by tainted water. Their cacao production has been reduced by 60% and their rates of cancer, asthma, other illnesses, and miscarriages exceed those of Dominicans living outside the Pueblo Viejo region.
https://nowtoronto.com/barrick-gold-rules-horror-stories-from-the-frontline
North Mara pollution (Acacia Mining)
In May 2019, Acacia Mining was fined $2.4 million for alleged pollution near its North Mara mine in Tanzania. Authorities issued an environmental protection order concerning pollution from the mine's tailings dam. Reports include skin lesions, high rates of cervical cancer, and inhabitants eating poisoned fish.
Natural gas blowout (Sempra Energy)
On September 27 2021, Southern California Gas Co. along with its parent company Sempra Energy, agreed to a $1.8B settlement affecting 35,000 people. Thousands of families had been exposed to carcinogens and toxic substances by the Alison Canyon, LA, natural gas blowout, which lasted from October 23 2015 to February 18 2015. Residents had to be relocated and reported headaches, nausea, and nosebleeds, as well as cancer, heart palpitations, and varied long-term health problems. Attorneys attributed the disaster to well case corrosion, a problem known to the company. An independent analysis firm commissioned by two state agencies concluded that SoCalGas did not exercise due diligence and failed to seal the leak several times by underestimating the flow of gas. The company had previously agreed to a $120M settlement with the state attorney and a $4M settlement with L.A. prosecutors after being convicted for not reporting the leak in a timely manner.
https://www.npr.org/2021/09/27/1041037624/gas-leak-los-angeles-aliso-canyon-settlement?
Sexual assault charges (Uber)
In 2021, Uber agreed to pay $9M to settle allegations that it had withheld information concerning sexual assault claims from California regulators.
On July 13 2022, a law firm representing five hundred and fifty women claimed that passengers were kidnapped, sexually assaulted, sexually battered, raped, falsely imprisoned, stalked, harassed, or otherwise attacked by Uber drivers. In a 2022 US Safety Report, the company claimed to have received 3,824 reports of five categories of sexual assault between 2019 and 2020.
Human rights violations in Papua New Guinea (Barrick Gold Corp)
For years, security forces under the employ of Barrick Gold Corp have been accused of killing, battering, torturing, raping locals, and burning homes in the area surrounding its Porgera gold mine. The men did so in the context of deterring illegal miners, a minority of which stages violent raids on the mine. Papa New Guinea is notorious for the rapes and abuses by its police forces. Nonetheless, the company has been accused of negligence and being responsible for attracting crime and gang warfare to the area through its business activities. Barrick Gold has since made attempts to improve officer conduct, but failed to stop it. In 2015, Barrick confessed to having settled eleven claims involving the rape, beating, and torture of women. Later that same year, one-hundred-nineteen other women announced that they had waived the right to sue the company for far worse terms. Two years later, another eighty victims came forward claiming to have never been offered compensation. In 2020, the government of Papua New Guinea refused to renew the mine's lease. In 2021, the government negotiated a 51% stake in Barrick Niugini, the arm controlling the mine.
https://www.hrw.org/report/2011/02/01/golds-costly-dividend/human-rights-impacts-papua-new-guineas-porgera-gold-minend/human-rights-impacts-papua-new-guineas-porgera-gold-mine Passionate Dynamo (talk) 12:01, 2 December 2022 (UTC)
Milk Fart
Hello, Bilby,
Please leave a redirect behind when you correct for a bad page move. If you check User:AnomieBOT III/Broken redirects, you'll see that there were 30 redirects that needed to be fixed manually to the correct redirect target. If you leave a redirect behind, then the Wikipedia's bots will handle the corrections automatically which saves some labor. I know that the impulse is to remove any trace of this vandalism but please first check to see if the displaced page has any redirects when you are deciding whether or not to leave a redirect behind. Thank you. Liz Read! Talk! 01:49, 6 December 2022 (UTC)
- That's interesting. No hassles. Will do so. - Bilby (talk) 01:50, 6 December 2022 (UTC)
This Month in Education: End of the 2022
This Month in Education
Volume 11 • Issue 10 • October–November 2022
- 2nd Latin American Regional Meeting on Education
- Adopting Wikipedia for Secondary School Students in Nigeria Classroom
- Celebrating 2022 Vibrance in Kwara State University Malete
- Celebrating the Wikipedia and Wikidata Birthday in school
- Report on school libraries in Poland for the Wikiteka project
- Wiki For Senior Citizens Network
- WikiEducation, Educational practices and experiences in Mexico with Wikipedia and other open resources
- Wikimedia & Education Workshops: a Wiki Movimento Brasil initiative
- An event at the National History Museum in Tirana
- Students 24-hour competition on Wikipedia article writing
- Wiki-Data a Giant at 10
- WikiGraphers: Visualizing Open Knowledge
- Wikimedia Israel’s Educational Innovation: “Students Write Wikipedia” as a Matriculation-Exam Alternative
- Wikimedia Morocco User Group Empowers Moroccan Teachers to Use Wikipedia in the Classroom
- Wikimedia Russia has released the "Introduction to Wikipedia" textbook
- “Wikipedia for School” contest was held in Ukraine for the third time
- Announcing the Wikipedia & Education User Group Election Results
Merry Christmas!
![](http://up.wiki.x.io/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/f9/Wikisanta.jpg/80px-Wikisanta.jpg)
BOZ (talk) is wishing you a Merry Christmas! This greeting (and season) promotes WikiLove and hopefully this note has made your day a little better. Spread the WikiLove by wishing another user a Merry Christmas, whether it be someone you have had disagreements with in the past, a good friend, or just some random person. Don't eat yellow snow!
Spread the holiday cheer by adding {{subst:User:Flaming/MC2008}} to their talk page with a friendly message.
I'm wishing you a Merry Christmas, because that is what I celebrate. Feel free to take a "Happy Holidays" or "Season's Greetings" if you prefer. :) BOZ (talk) 23:04, 22 December 2022 (UTC)
Happy Holidays!
![](http://up.wiki.x.io/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3a/Christmas_tree_sxc_hu.jpg/70px-Christmas_tree_sxc_hu.jpg)
Colman2000 (talk) is wishing you Happy Holidays! This greeting (and season) promotes WikiLove and hopefully this note has made your day a little better. Spread the WikiLove by wishing another user Happy Holidays, whether it be someone you have had disagreements with in the past, a good friend, or just some random person. Happy New Year!
Spread the cheer by adding {{subst:Happy holidays}} to their talk page with a friendly message.
Colman2000 (talk) 05:48, 23 December 2022 (UTC)
Happy Holidays!
![](http://up.wiki.x.io/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d3/Happy_Holidays_%282135831016%29.jpg/217px-Happy_Holidays_%282135831016%29.jpg)
![](http://up.wiki.x.io/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d9/Arbuckle_Bros._%283093003361%29.jpg/190px-Arbuckle_Bros._%283093003361%29.jpg)
![](http://up.wiki.x.io/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/28/Season%27s_Greetings%2C_Christmas_Card_from_320_Ranch.jpg/217px-Season%27s_Greetings%2C_Christmas_Card_from_320_Ranch.jpg)
Bilby Enjoy the holiday season and winter solstice if it's occurring in your area of the world, and thanks for your work to maintain, improve and expand Wikipedia. Cheers, RV (talk) 07:36, 24 December 2022 (UTC)
![](http://up.wiki.x.io/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c8/A_book_of_country_clouds_and_sunshine_%281897%29%2C_cropped.jpg/500px-A_book_of_country_clouds_and_sunshine_%281897%29%2C_cropped.jpg)
The Signpost: 1 January 2023
- Interview: ComplexRational's RfA debrief
- Technology report: Wikimedia Foundation's Abstract Wikipedia project "at substantial risk of failure"
- Essay: Mobile editing
- Arbitration report: Arbitration Committee Election 2022
- Recent research: Graham's Hierarchy of Disagreement in talk page disputes
- Featured content: Would you like to swing on a star?
- Traffic report: Football, football, football! Wikipedia Football Club!
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- From the archives: Five, ten, and fifteen years ago
Administrators' newsletter – January 2023
News and updates for administrators from the past month (December 2022).
- Speedy deletion criterion A5 (transwikied articles) has been repealed following an unopposed proposal.
- Following the 2022 Arbitration Committee elections, the following editors have been appointed to the Arbitration Committee: Barkeep49, CaptainEek, GeneralNotability, Guerillero, L235, Moneytrees, Primefac, SilkTork.
- The 2021-22 Discretionary Sanctions Review has concluded with many changes to the discretionary sanctions procedure including a change of the name to "contentious topics". The changes are being implemented over the coming month.
- The arbitration case Stephen has been closed.
- Voting for the Sound Logo has closed and the winner is expected to be announced February to April 2023.
- Tech tip: You can view information about IP addresses in a centralised location using bullseye which won the Newcomer award in the recent Coolest Tool Awards.
Notice
Hi @Bilby I noticed our edit histories intersected recent on a draft page I tagged for concerns over its notability. If this is what prompted your message, then I urge to look closely at that draft. If not I would like you to disclose what prompted you to address me, because I find the timing very suspicious, and I suspect sabotage. el.ziade (talkallam) 08:26, 10 January 2023 (UTC)
- Hi! Not to worry - I didn't even realise that you had tagged that page. - Bilby (talk) 08:46, 10 January 2023 (UTC)
You and I have been here a long time
It is likely that each of us detests UPE as much as the other. As you can see I think you have left it rather up in the air on the editor's page where we have coincided.
If we are fair, the ball is always in the court of the undeclared paid editor. However, leaving that truism on the editors talk page, is, in my view, on the wrong side of the borderline of snark. I'm mentioning this to you because you may be unaware how it has been interpreted certainly by me.
Obviously, you have admin goggles and I do not. This means you may be able to see that which I cannot. If you can I do not want to know what you can see, nor particularly that you can see anything. What I hope you will do if you can see something awry is take it, maybe via WP:VRT if that is a correct route, to those who specialise in UPE hunting. 🇺🇦 FiddleTimtrent FaddleTalk to me 🇺🇦 17:09, 10 January 2023 (UTC)
- That was all handled hours ago. We just wait until that process is finished, but I'm sorry that we had to take that route. - Bilby (talk) 17:54, 10 January 2023 (UTC)
- I'm afraid I find your comment here rather open ended. I can make assumptions from it. Ah well. 🇺🇦 FiddleTimtrent FaddleTalk to me 🇺🇦 18:37, 10 January 2023 (UTC)
- I'm confused, because I didn't think that was open ended at all. So let's try again. First off, I don't detest paid editors. I wish we didn't have them, and I have long feared that they will be one of the most damaging aspects of Wikipedia, but I also recognise that the community and the WMF have been completely powerless to prevent paid editing, and will continue to be. So rather than detest paid editing, the only alternative I see is to accept paid editing under the ToU and the community expectations, because at least those paid editors pull some of the demand from the paid editors who refuse to provide even a minimum level of transparency. There are a lot of reasons why this doesn't actually work, mostly because as a community we make it harder and harder for paid editors to be transparent, and more and more rewarding for them not to be, but unless the community and the WMF is able to find a better solution I can't see an alternative approach other than a free-for-all.
- Accordingly, the best outcome we have that meets the community's expectations when we find a paid editor who clearly does not mean ill for Wikipedia is to give them a chance to meet the ToU rather than just see them blocked and lose all of the good work that they might provide. Sadly, I cannot find a good way of doing this. I can contact paid-en, but that is so slow that the last time I tried it by the time they got back to me the editor had been through COIN and was blocked, including a week's delay to give them time to respond when they went with the ANI-flu approach. I've tried tagging articles to let them know quietly, but that fails in different ways. And if you go to the talk page and give an editor a chance to be open there they just deny it and you're stuck with the first option again.
- So in this case I tried the open comment on the user's talk, they denied it, I acknowledged that and did the only thing I could - which is to pass on what I have to paid-en. After that you and others got involved, but it was not my intent then, and it is not my intent now, to take this any further. The problem is that if what I sent was convincing the most likely outcome is a block, which means yet again we risk losing a good editor over paid editing, and so I wish this approach was unnecessary and it could have been handled another way. - Bilby (talk) 19:35, 10 January 2023 (UTC)
- Thank you for the clarity. 🇺🇦 FiddleTimtrent FaddleTalk to me 🇺🇦 19:46, 10 January 2023 (UTC)
- I'm afraid I find your comment here rather open ended. I can make assumptions from it. Ah well. 🇺🇦 FiddleTimtrent FaddleTalk to me 🇺🇦 18:37, 10 January 2023 (UTC)
The Signpost: 16 January 2023
- Special report: Coverage of 2022 bans reveals editors serving long sentences in Saudi Arabia since 2020
- News and notes: Revised Code of Conduct Enforcement Guidelines up for vote, WMF counsel departs, generative models under discussion
- In the media: Court orders user data in libel case, Saudi Wikipedia in the crosshairs, Larry Sanger at it again
- Technology report: View it! A new tool for image discovery
- In focus: Busting into Grand Central
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- From the archives: Five, ten, and fifteen years ago
Draftify
Hello Bilby, may I know the reason why you moved Haut Monde Mrs. India Worldwide to the draftspace even though it was reviewed by a reviewer, and I have declared my conflict of interest? Thank you. Hutah (talk) 13:01, 28 January 2023 (UTC)
- Paid articles should go through WP:AFC. - Bilby (talk) 13:05, 28 January 2023 (UTC)
- Can you please point out where it says "paid article must go through the AfC process"? Also, I have moved it back to the main namespace because it was reviewed by a reviewer hence it doesn't fall under the draftify policy that says "As part of the review of new pages, an unreviewed page may be moved to draft if..." so if you believe the subject is not notable please feel free to nominate it for deletion. Hutah (talk) 13:10, 28 January 2023 (UTC)
- Ok. I handle this the way I should have tackled it. - Bilby (talk) 13:11, 28 January 2023 (UTC)
- Also, you tagged the article with "Paid contribution" but you didn't explain why you tagged the article as mentioned in the template page itself that "if you place this tag, you should promptly start a discussion on the article's talk page to explain why you tagged the article." so please start a discussion on the article talk page. Hutah (talk) 13:14, 28 January 2023 (UTC)
- It's ok. As I said, I'll handle this the way I should have handled it. All good. - Bilby (talk) 13:16, 28 January 2023 (UTC)
- Also, you tagged the article with "Paid contribution" but you didn't explain why you tagged the article as mentioned in the template page itself that "if you place this tag, you should promptly start a discussion on the article's talk page to explain why you tagged the article." so please start a discussion on the article talk page. Hutah (talk) 13:14, 28 January 2023 (UTC)
- Ok. I handle this the way I should have tackled it. - Bilby (talk) 13:11, 28 January 2023 (UTC)
- Can you please point out where it says "paid article must go through the AfC process"? Also, I have moved it back to the main namespace because it was reviewed by a reviewer hence it doesn't fall under the draftify policy that says "As part of the review of new pages, an unreviewed page may be moved to draft if..." so if you believe the subject is not notable please feel free to nominate it for deletion. Hutah (talk) 13:10, 28 January 2023 (UTC)
Notice
Hi Bilby, I'm writing you because I came across an American politician page; Joseph Carraro and I saw that you recently reversed an edit by a user. When I checked the reversed edit, I could see that it is a more detailed, factual and updated version of the current form. I wonder why you reversed the edit, it actually looks and reads good can you do something to fix this?--Popxyl (talk) 12:37, 15 January 2023 (UTC)
- The edit was added by a user evading a block or ban, and therefore had to be reverted. There have been concerns raised about those edits, so I do not know if they can be kept, but I'd suggest starting by declaring any conflict of interest and then raising the issue on the talk page. - 02:22, 16 January 2023 (UTC)
- This user Popxyl is a sock- or meat-puppet and just made the same additions again, after waiting a month to get around the article's semi-protection. Fred Zepelin (talk) 19:24, 1 February 2023 (UTC)
Administrators' newsletter – February 2023
News and updates for administrators from the past month (January 2023).
- Following an RfC, the administrator policy now requires that prior written consent be gained from the Arbitration Committee to mark a block as only appealable to the committee.
- Following a community discussion, consensus has been found to impose the extended-confirmed restriction over the topic areas of Armenia and Azerbaijan and Kurds and Kurdistan.
- The Vector 2022 skin has become the default for desktop users of the English Wikipedia.
- The arbitration case Armenia-Azerbaijan 3 has been opened and the proposed decision is expected 24 February 2023.
- In December, the contentious topics procedure was adopted which replaces the former discretionary sanctions system. The contentious topics procedure is now in effect following an initial implementation period. There is a detailed summary of the changes and administrator instructions for the new procedure. The arbitration clerk team are taking suggestions, concerns, and unresolved questions about this new system at their noticeboard.
- Voting in the 2023 Steward elections will begin on 05 February 2023, 21:00 (UTC) and end on 26 February 2023, 21:00 (UTC). The confirmation process of current stewards is being held in parallel. You can automatically check your eligibility to vote.
- Voting in the 2023 Community Wishlist Survey will begin on 10 February 2023 and end on 24 February 2023. You can submit, discuss and revise proposals until 6 February 2023.
- Tech tip: Syntax highlighting is available in both the 2011 and 2017 Wikitext editors. It can help make editing paragraphs with many references or complicated templates easier.
The Signpost: 4 February 2023
- From the editor: New for the Signpost: Author pages, tag pages, and a decent article search function
- News and notes: Foundation update on fundraising, new page patrol, Tides, and Wikipedia blocked in Pakistan
- Disinformation report: Wikipedia on Santos
- Op-Ed: Estonian businessman and political donor brings lawsuit against head of national Wikimedia chapter
- Recent research: Wikipedia's "moderate yet systematic" liberal citation bias
- WikiProject report: WikiProject Organized Labour
- Tips and tricks: XTools: Data analytics for your list of created articles
- Featured content: 20,000 Featureds under the Sea
- Traffic report: Films, deaths and ChatGPT
Notice
Hi Bilby,
Re Lee Oser: I was unaware of any policy regarding editing. My goal for this last edit was strip things down in order to have the previous banners removed. I figured paying someone to do it was actually the right thing to do. Should I just go back to the previous version with the previous banners? As I say, I didn't start the page in the first place and many people other than myself have edited it. I am not skilled, however, at this kind of thing. Now I seem to have the worst case scenario, where I stand accused of buying my way onto Wikipedia - when all I wanted to do was get rid of those previous banners about link rot and lengthy quotations.
Please note, there were no changes in neutrality. I'd prefer for the page to be as neutral as possible. I'd appreciate any suggestions in that respect.
Thank you. Brian Osgood (talk) 20:11, 26 January 2023 (UTC)
- Sorry for not responding sooner - I'm in a quite different timezone, so my times tend not to line up with people in the US. There were two problems. One was that the person you hired failed to disclose that they were being paid, although we would generally flag the article anyway. The second is that they were banned from Wikipedia four years ago, and therefore we are obligated to revert anything they do on Wikipedia while evading that ban. The majority of people who do paid editing through Upwork have been banned - although I should note that not all are, and a small number do correctly follow the policies here - so it is a bit of a gamble as to whether or not you get someone that is allowed to edit. I'll have a look and see if I can remove the tags myself. They are a simple fix. - Bilby (talk) 01:57, 27 January 2023 (UTC)
- Thank you, Bilby. Brian Osgood (talk) 12:53, 5 February 2023 (UTC)
This Month in Education: January 2023
This Month in Education
Volume 12 • Issue 1 • January 2023
- Educational Projects 2023-1 in Mexico
- Integration of Wikipedia in Ukrainian universities – teacher-led and student-led
- Transitional Justice in Kosovo edit-a-thon and Partnership with Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering - University of Prishtina
- Wikidata Citation Hunt Program for secondary school students, Dubai
- Wikipedia edit-a-thon with students from Art Faculty - University of Prishtina
- Тeacher from Belgrade got a reward for using Wikibooks in teaching
Autopatrolled
Hi,
Can I get my autopatrolled right back? Now I am doing everything within the guidelines. Since then, I haven't done any UPE, in fact, have submitted my one and only paid draft through AfC. But I have to wait unnecessarily for my created articles to be approved by some NPPs. Sometimes, my obviously notable articles are annoyingly thrown into AfDs, for example Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Majid Jahangir. Therefore, It would be convenient for me if I have autopatrolled right. Insight 3 (talk) 06:54, 17 February 2023 (UTC)
- I tend to not be overly concerned about autopatrolled. But autopatrolled doesn't mean that you can't create an article - just that someone needs to look at it at some point. So I'm not seeing a huge problem there. I'm also concerned that you blatantly lied when asked about whether or not you were engaged in paid editing, and had to be blocked before you got around to admitting that you were being paid. I'm happy that you did admit it, but I'm not seeing a really strong case for autopatrolled. - Bilby (talk) 13:19, 19 February 2023 (UTC)
- Ok, fair enough. Insight 3 (talk) 04:14, 20 February 2023 (UTC)
The Signpost: 20 February 2023
- In the media: Arbitrators open case after article alleges Wikipedia "intentionally distorts" Holocaust coverage
- Disinformation report: The "largest con in corporate history"?
- Tips and tricks: All about writing at DYK
- Featured content: Eden, lost.
- Gallery: Love is in the air
- From the archives: 5, 10, and 15 years ago: Let's (not) delete the Main Page!
- Humour: The RfA Candidate's Song
Editing news 2023 #1
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This newsletter includes two key updates about the Editing team's work:
- The Editing team will finish adding new features to the Talk pages project and deploy it.
- They are beginning a new project, Edit check.
Talk pages project
![Screenshot showing the talk page design changes that are currently available as beta features at all Wikimedia wikis. These features include information about the number of people and comments within each discussion.](http://up.wiki.x.io/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/80/Page_Frame_Features_on_desktop.png/300px-Page_Frame_Features_on_desktop.png)
The Editing team is nearly finished with this first phase of the Talk pages project. Nearly all new features are available now in the Beta Feature for Discussion tools.
It will show information about how active a discussion is, such as the date of the most recent comment. There will soon be a new "Add topic" button. You will be able to turn them off at Special:Preferences#mw-prefsection-editing-discussion. Please tell them what you think.
![](http://up.wiki.x.io/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/20/Daily_edit_completion_rates_mobile_talk_pages.png/300px-Daily_edit_completion_rates_mobile_talk_pages.png)
An A/B test for Discussion tools on the mobile site has finished. Editors were more successful with Discussion tools. The Editing team is enabling these features for all editors on the mobile site.
New Project: Edit Check
The Editing team is beginning a project to help new editors of Wikipedia. It will help people identify some problems before they click "Publish changes". The first tool will encourage people to add references when they add new content. Please watch that page for more information. You can join a conference call on 3 March 2023 to learn more.