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MSU Interview

Dear Superm401,

My name is Jonathan Obar user:Jaobar, I'm a professor in the College of Communication Arts and Sciences at Michigan State University and a Teaching Fellow with the Wikimedia Foundation's Education Program. This semester I've been running a little experiment at MSU, a class where we teach students about becoming Wikipedia administrators. Not a lot is known about your community, and our students (who are fascinated by wiki-culture by the way!) want to learn how you do what you do, and why you do it. A while back I proposed this idea (the class) to the community HERE, where it was met mainly with positive feedback. Anyhow, I'd like my students to speak with a few administrators to get a sense of admin experiences, training, motivations, likes, dislikes, etc. We were wondering if you'd be interested in speaking with one of our students.


So a few things about the interviews:

  • Interviews will last between 15 and 30 minutes.
  • Interviews can be conducted over skype (preferred), IRC or email. (You choose the form of communication based upon your comfort level, time, etc.)
  • All interviews will be completely anonymous, meaning that you (real name and/or pseudonym) will never be identified in any of our materials, unless you give the interviewer permission to do so.
  • All interviews will be completely voluntary. You are under no obligation to say yes to an interview, and can say no and stop or leave the interview at any time.
  • The entire interview process is being overseen by MSU's institutional review board (ethics review). This means that all questions have been approved by the university and all students have been trained how to conduct interviews ethically and properly.


Bottom line is that we really need your help, and would really appreciate the opportunity to speak with you. If interested, please send me an email at obar@msu.edu (to maintain anonymity) and I will add your name to my offline contact list. If you feel comfortable doing so, you can post your name HERE instead.

If you have questions or concerns at any time, feel free to email me at obar@msu.edu. I will be more than happy to speak with you.

Thanks in advance for your help. We have a lot to learn from you.

Sincerely,

Jonathan Obar --Jaobar (talk) 07:26, 12 February 2012 (UTC)

Young June Sah --Yjune.sah (talk) 21:02, 15 February 2012 (UTC)

Copyright?

In 2007, you communicated with FreeDictionary.com, I believe about their use of enWP article Albania under free-use license. I saw your comments on specialpage Wp Mirrors and Forks. Maybe you can clarify something for me. I just looked at one of their encyclopedia articles, which they credited to Wp, stating "using under GNU free-use license..." but immediately adjacent, I found ©2012 Farlex, Inc." Is that kosher? It's my understanding of free-use and share-alike, that each "publisher," in turn, must allow free use also, or what is the point of the licensing. Can Farlex, whoever or whatever they are, claim copyright to info they obtained via GNU Copyleft or CC-by-SA? Just thought I'd ask. Ragityman69.171.187.83 (talk) 23:16, 18 February 2012 (UTC) [currently I can't log in, but you can respond here, or on my talk page. I raised the same point on the Mirror page, but thought you'd not still be watching that page, it's been so long.]

No, sites may not claim copyright for someone else's work. If they add to or modify the actual article, they own the changes, but the original author still owns their prior work. Further, you are correct that for copyleft licenses, any changes to the article (as far as I know, Farlex does not make any) must be licensed under the original license (GFDL in this case). They do own unrelated parts of the FreeDictionary site (logo, etc.), and possibly a compilation copyright. They should be careful to phrase the copyright statement, but not all sites are.
A separate issue (see Wikipedia:CC-BY-SA Compliance) is that some Wikipedia articles are only usable under CC-BY-SA. I don't know if that applies to what FreeDictionary is mirroring. There are also other compliance issues, like linking to an off-site GFDL. IANAL. TINLA. Superm401 - Talk 03:22, 19 February 2012 (UTC)

Advice needed

Hi Superm401. I need some advice about headers and sub-headers. I thought I had read and retained the general gist of the talk page guidelines, but I do not seem to be in step with my latest efforts. If we get that cleared up, the next useful topic might be transclusion and subst. Sorry if I take too long picking this up, but being without a computer for so long has put my learning curve a bit bent. Cheers, reply here or there, no matter to me. NewbyG ( talk) 12:12, 23 February 2012 (UTC)

OK I will try to get a bit organized here, with specific questions:
  1. Mostly, do not put links in a header, they go underneath usually?
A good rule of thumb
  1. Except for certain exceptions, do not put user names in a header?
Correct
  1. Do not praise, or condemn in a header:comment on edits, not editors?
Yes. Specifically, focus on how to make consensus edits that improve the encyclopedia (including policies that help the encyclopedia run)
  1. Use headers that describe what the post is about?
Yes
  1. A header such as "This article is wrong"or "Big problem here" are unhelpful?
Both of those are vague, but they can be in good faith. In fact, sometimes people are vague on purpose to be tactful.
  1. Sub-headers can be added at any time, they do NOT "break up" conversations?
No. Generally, you should have a good reason to add a sub-header (e.g. the conversation veered in a totally different, but still appropriate, direction). If in doubt, seek consensus.

<newbyG further Question> Consensus, I love it. And if the state of the talk page is clearly unhelpful, and the correct solution is to follow our TPG, then consensus would seem to be fairly assured? So, be bold. It is a wiki here. Yes?

WP:BOLD is a good general rule, but when a particular activity has proven controversial in the past, is is worth being cautious and seeking consensus. Superm401 - Talk 21:27, 23 February 2012 (UTC)
  1. Sub-headers should generally be neutral, like "Arbitrary break"?
Sometimes people do that if the indenting gets excessive.
  1. Use a new header, or sub-header whenever a new topic is started?
Yes
  1. Do not just add your post at the bottom, if it's a new topic, put in a descriptive header?
Sometimes. It depends how new the topic is.
  1. If a header is changed, any links that have been established will be broken?
Yes
  1. etc.etc, my brain hurts
  2. what is the connection between transclusion and templates?
When you write {{Citation needed}}, you are transcluding Template:Citation needed.
  1. how and why do you use subst?
Usually a template will tell you to do so. You can check the template page (just "Template:" then the name of the template).
Questions, questions, my brain does hurt. Can you help me out, please if it's not too much trouble, and when you've time. I will watch your page or post to talk:NBG, whatever you wish. Sorry for the trouble, and thanks in advance. NewbyG ( talk) 14:43, 23 February 2012 (UTC)
I replied above inline (sorry for breaking the numbering). Everything I said has exceptions. I would be conservative on the talk page refactoring (including new or renamed sections). Seek consensus ahead of time if in doubt. Superm401 - Talk 17:37, 23 February 2012 (UTC)
Thank you. What does subst look like in the edit window? Too bad about the numbering. See above. Say, whatever happened to Liquid threads? NewbyG ( talk) 19:58, 23 February 2012 (UTC)
An example of a template that should be substituted is Template:welcome. When you first add it (before hitting save), it looks like {{subst:welcome}}. After the save, it contains the actual welcome text and formatting. I'm not sure what the current plan is for LiquidThreads. Superm401 - Talk 21:27, 23 February 2012 (UTC)
Thanks. So it all goes within one set of "curly brackets". Got it. NewbyG ( talk) 23:11, 23 February 2012 (UTC)

About archiving

What a coincidence. This is the next topic I would like some advice on. Now, I can do archiving, even with this ancient PC, and put in an a bot-archive bit at the top. But there's more to it than that isn't there. Also, sometimes the *Bots* run like clockwork, and sometimes they do not pick up the archiving at all or are erratic. What's up there? NewbyG ( talk) 23:46, 23 February 2012 (UTC)

Help:Archiving a talk page has all the information you need, and probably more. :) First, it's important to follow the note there, "Make sure to establish consensus before setting up MiszaBot or ClueBot III on a talk page other than your user talk page." I would extend that to say you should establish consensus before changing the archiving in any way, again unless it's your user talk page.
There are multiple ways you can archive. For my user talk page, I use what they call the permanent link method. This means I have full discretion on when to archive, and I don't have to create separate pages. You can follow that, or use another method. As you noted, it's also popular to use bots for automatic archiving. Generally this means MiszaBot or ClueBot III. There was an issue with MiszaBot recently because a toolserver went down. That may explain the reliability issue you saw. However, User:Misza13 (the botmaster) is addressing the issue by running them manually until the server goes back up. ClueBot III is another option, and runs from separate (ClueNet) servers. Superm401 - Talk 01:19, 24 February 2012 (UTC)
MiszaBot II is a saviour, and perhaps the most civil user I ever get to interact with (present company excepted). I will never criticize MiszaBot.
  1. I use same method as you to archive at talkNBG.
  2. When remarks are removed from an important talk page, if they are edited out, they don't go in the archives. For completeness, why don't we just comment out stale comments, which will then get archived, as a complete record. Not committed to this idea, I think maybe there are "big problems", just raising a discussion point. Thanks for your promptitude. NewbyG ( talk) 02:08, 24 February 2012 (UTC)
I'm quite sure I'm not the most civil user on Wikipedia. :) Remember to assume good faith. The commenting idea is interesting. The problem is that it would be hard to tell at a glance what's commented out, and would make the page longer. Superm401 - Talk 02:33, 24 February 2012 (UTC)
Thank you. You are. <smiley> Perhaps this idea is applicable at places of the utmost seriousness, such as Arb cases, but it would require a huge re-education program, as every user would have to be given new instructions. Anyway, page histories are a complete record, though difficult to search. I don't think this off-the-cuff idea would fly, nor am I in favour, unless convinced by a formed consensus. NewbyG ( talk) 03:08, 24 February 2012 (UTC)
Also the "rate this page" feature came in while I was off-line. Is it now operative, or deprecated or what is it about? NewbyG ( talk) 03:55, 24 February 2012 (UTC)
It's the Article Feedback Tool. I don't know much more than that page. Superm401 - Talk 04:25, 24 February 2012 (UTC)

Template:Commonscat show2 listed at Redirects for discussion

An editor has asked for a discussion to address the redirect Template:Commonscat show2. Since you had some involvement with the Template:Commonscat show2 redirect, you might want to participate in the redirect discussion (if you have not already done so). MGA73 (talk) 14:53, 26 February 2012 (UTC)

Redirected user page?

Hi! Superm401. Please see [1] Have I got this right, please? NewbyG ( talk) 17:06, 28 February 2012 (UTC)

I've replied there. Superm401 - Talk 18:20, 28 February 2012 (UTC)

Further thought Chart at WP:CON

Not that I wish to re-open the voluminous discussion which resulted in the simplified chart at Wikipedia:consensus, but I have had a further thought concerning an earlier prototype. Problem is, it's a Jpeg, not *svg*. Don't think I have a program for editing svg's either. Oh well, it will keep. NewbyG ( talk) 08:06, 1 March 2012 (UTC)

Inkscape is a good free (as in freedom) SVG editor. However, to be honest, the chart in the policy looks pretty good, while the one you just linked looks a bit long. Remember, it's trying to give the gist of the flow, not every variation. Superm401 - Talk 08:12, 1 March 2012 (UTC)
Thank you yes I quite concur. KISS NewbyG ( talk) 08:28, 1 March 2012 (UTC)

MOTDs (This space for rent)

You may have noticed over the past few days that the MOTD that you link to on your user page has simply displayed a red link. This is due to the fact that not enough people are reviewing pending MOTDs here. Please help us keep the MOTD template alive and simply go and review a few of the MOTDs in the list. That way we can have a real MOTD in the future rather than re-using (This space for rent). Any help would be appreciated! –pjoef (talkcontribs) 13:38, 7 March 2012 (UTC)

2012 shootings

I appreciate when people are bold but please unredirect and wait for discussion. I disagree with the move. Thanks --Shuki (talk) 14:53, 19 March 2012 (UTC)

Thanks for contributing to the Teahouse!

 
Hi! Mattflaschen, thanks for visiting the Teahouse! As an experienced editor, your knowledge is very valuable to new editors. Teahouse Hosts help new editors at the Teahouse and beyond. If you'd like to get involved in assisting new editors at the Teahouse, please learn more here Sarah (talk) 18:10, 20 March 2012 (UTC)

AE case

Since you interjected into this dispute you may want to review this ongoing case. While technically started about someone else, several editors were quick to make it about me. As you are aware of at least part of the dispute, the warnings section, your input would be welcome.--The Devil's Advocate (talk) 20:24, 22 March 2012 (UTC)

Referrer move confusion

Thanks for restoring the moves, however there is one remaining problem. There are three articles, so including talk gives six pages moved. Five of those are now at the correct and consensus and established double-r spelling, but somehow Talk:HTTP referer got left at the single-r version. Please check. I put links to the articles at the bottom of that page. Johnuniq (talk) 03:51, 23 March 2012 (UTC)

Fixed. I think it was because I accidentally created a talk section on the redirect. Superm401 - Talk 18:45, 23 March 2012 (UTC)

Thank you

I just noted on your user page that you created Provelt which I have recently started using. One question: if you want to insert a ref name into a body of text that refers to a reference in a different section, how should you go about doing that?
Best Wishes Ankh.Morpork 18:06, 29 March 2012 (UTC)

Re: ProveIt localization (fawiki)

File:Googlecode-censorship.jpg
Google Code Censorship

Hello,

Thanks for contacting me, sorry for delay, I totally understand English! that's my pleasure if I can help any, first of all you should know that we have been boycotted from accessing google code and sourceforge so some users cannot load styles.css directly from google code, style file is also localized at Gadget-ProveIt.css, so it's not possible to access latest version if you are still using google code, afterward if you want to keep localizations on main version, it's heavy to load all translations for every wiki (if there are more translations), also you can get common translations from CLDR, Put directions and numbers of languages in terms, final I have to say that I'm not active in fawiki anymore, please write your message here in English Wikipedia, I'll answer here,

Regards, Mjbmr Talk 18:09, 31 March 2012 (UTC)

Invitation to events: bot, template, and Gadget makers wanted

I thought you might want to know about some upcoming events where you can learn more about MediaWiki customization and development, extending functionality with JavaScript, the future of ResourceLoader and Gadgets, the new Lua templating system, how to best use the web API for bots, and various upcoming features and changes. We'd love to have power users, bot maintainers and writers, and template makers at these events so we can all learn from each other and chat about what needs doing.

Check out the Chennai event in March, the Berlin hackathon in June, the developers' days preceding Wikimania in July in Washington, DC, or any other of our events.

Best wishes! - Sumana Harihareswara, Wikimedia Foundation's Volunteer Development Coordinator. Please reply on my talk page, here or at mediawiki.org. Sumanah (talk) 16:22, 16 February 2012 (UTC)

The Berlin hackathon in June is now open for registration! Sumana Harihareswara, Wikimedia Foundation Volunteer Development Coordinator 14:56, 2 April 2012 (UTC)

Orphaned non-free image File:Uis logo trans.png

 

Thanks for uploading File:Uis logo trans.png. 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 the criteria for speedy deletion. Thank you. Jackl (talk) 17:28, 7 May 2012 (UTC)

File:Uis logo trans.png listed for deletion

A file that you uploaded or altered, File:Uis logo trans.png, has been listed at Wikipedia:Files for deletion. Please see the discussion to see why this is (you may have to search for the title of the image to find its entry), if you are interested in it not being deleted. Thank you. Leyo 23:50, 7 May 2012 (UTC)

Please fill out our brief Teahouse survey

 
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Become administrator

Hey Matt: Long time no see. What do you think is needed to be an administrator? I am aspiring to be an admin, but I know that I am unqualified. What would you say are the prerequisites? Legolover26 (talk) 18:40, 29 May 2012 (UTC)

April fools day

Is this acceptable on April Fools day?

  This is your only warning; if you create an inappropriate page again, you may be blocked from editing without further notice.

Legolover26 (talk) 23:33, 29 May 2012 (UTC)

Mitt Romney

Hi, Selectively quoting from a large quote like you did here on the Mitt Romney page is a huge no-no. You removed a great deal of context to Romney's statement. Also, just to let you know that these articles are under probation. Arzel (talk) 15:30, 20 September 2012 (UTC)

Adopt-a-user

 

Hi Superm401. I'm leaving you this message because you have previously been involved as an adopter with Wikipedia's Adopt-a-user program. A clean-up of this program is currently underway, and as part of the process I am trying to find out who is and isn't still interested in remaining an adopter.

If you would prefer not to be part of the adoption program anymore, you need do nothing; when the overhaul of the project is completed your name will be removed from the list of active adopters. However, if you have current adoptees, an active adoption school or an interest in adopting in the near future, then please let us know by signing here.

If you want to remain in the project and can currently take on more adoptees, there is a serious backlog at Category:Wikipedians seeking to be adopted in Adopt-a-user; it would be enormously helpful if you could take on one or two of the users there. Please do keep an eye on the project for upcoming changes, we could use your opinions and your help! Yunshui  09:22, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

Hi Mattflaschen. Thanks for agreeing to stay on at Adopt-a-user. I've recently updated the list of adopters and I have included you, per your original comments on that page and your comments at User:Yunshui/Overhaul/Adopters staying on. You can see your new profile at the list of adopters. Why not update your profile with an image and maybe have another look at your description? You can also include a list of any adoptees you currently have. If you are also willing to mentor problematic users, possibly as part of a conditional unblock, please include "mentorship=yes" in your profile. Thanks again for all your help. WormTT(talk) 13:38, 21 September 2012 (UTC)

Disambiguation link notification for October 16

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Your CreateFromSearch script

 

I overcame my fear of grease and monkeys and installed your CreateFromSearch script addressing the problem of article creation. I uploaded a screenshot, I think I got the attribution right. Very nice.

Someone could Be Bold and change MediaWiki:Searchmenu-new to add these buttons (I'm not speaking as an official WMF staff member in charge of anything here!). Cheers

-- S Page (WMF) (talk) 23:36, 9 November 2012 (UTC)

Update to injury figures

I do not wish to revert your recent update but it seems that this sourcesuggests further casualties. Thank you. Ankh.Morpork 22:59, 19 November 2012 (UTC)

Are you willing?

Heya. We have a fairly new editor who is energetic, but a bit cheesed off right now because their work has been deleted as non-notable. If you check out my talkpage you'll see they pulled a minor WP:DIVA-moment. Personally, I think that if this person was given tutelege and direction, they'd start to better understand, and their energy could be positively focused. They have not specifically requested mentoring, but your name came up as someone who might really be able to help guide them into being a great editor. Whaddya think? (✉→BWilkins←✎) 15:00, 20 November 2012 (UTC)

Your comments on my talk page

Thanks for your comments and corrections. I will keep this in mind for my future edits.

Smarter1 (talk) 22:16, 8 December 2012 (UTC)

Talkback

  Hello. You have a new message at Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/Newsroom/Suggestions's talk page.SMcCandlish   Talk⇒ ɖ∘¿¤þ   Contrib. 09:30, 28 December 2012 (UTC)

News Group News­papers listed at Redirects for discussion

 

An editor has asked for a discussion to address the redirect News Group News­papers. Since you had some involvement with the News Group News­papers redirect, you might want to participate in the redirect discussion (if you have not already done so). --Griot-de (talk) 01:54, 23 January 2013 (UTC)

Swizz Beatz

Please don't add unreferenced info to biographies

Please avoid adding unreferenced informations, particularly to biographies (see Wikipedia:Biographies of living persons). This edit does not have a source for either of the statements (paternity test and questioned marriage) you added. Superm401 - Talk 03:08, 15 January 2013 (UTC)

It is easy to revert, gotta get that edit count up right? If you had done some research you would know that I said is true. Google Jahna Sebastian, Nicole's mother. Swizz did deny paternity of their daughter. Also google Keys/beatz marriage, and you see that they had a ceremony with pretty pics in Corsica, but there is no marraige license on record in NY. Furthermore, in the article, there are many sentences with cn] tags, yet you didnt revert those edits. for exmaple, the 'early life' section says he is off hungarian puerto rican and arab african descent with a CN tag, you are letting this stand. 108.56.237.111 (talk) 14:23, 27 January 2013 (UTC)


Wikipedia:Biographies of living people
In cases of living people, unsourced information can be removed immediately. This is to avoid libel and protect privacy. You should include a source at the same time you add it. Before removing those sentences, I checked the listed sources, and explained in the edit summary why they did not support the claim. In some cases, I do search to find other sources for the information, but in this case I chose to remove it.

I had no obligation to remove all unsourced information, though anyone could have. You are free to add the information back as long as you include a reliable source. Superm401 - Talk 00:23, 28 January 2013 (UTC)

I dont believe you. 108.56.237.111 (talk) 07:07, 28 January 2013 (UTC)

Orphaned non-free media (File:Screenshot of app.net Alpha interface.jpg)

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If you have uploaded other unlicensed media, please check whether they're used in any articles or not. You can find a list of 'file' pages you have edited by clicking on the "my contributions" link (it is located at the very top of any Wikipedia page when you are logged in), and then selecting "File" from the dropdown box. Note that all non-free media not used in any articles will be deleted after seven days, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. Thank you. Hazard-Bot (talk) 05:11, 2 March 2013 (UTC)

Kitniyot: The Great Debate

Hi Superm401, I notice that you have reversed my modest contribution to the Wikipedia page on Kiniyot, a very contentious in itself amongst my social circle, especially around this time of the year. I notice that you insist that קיטניות literally means "legumes" and I notice that translation sites such as Morfix (morfix.co.il) confirm this. However, may I point out the website http://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Kitniyot.html upholds my literal translation as "little things" and when you consider the root that the three-letter root is קטנ, it is probably more correct). I reckon that this fact should at least be acknowledged and I will leave it to you as an experienced Wikipedia editor to the necessary tidying up. Hag Sameach BarmispainBarmispain (talk) 15:15, 31 March 2013 (UTC)

Proposed deletion of Yard neighborhood

 

The article Yard neighborhood has been proposed for deletion because of the following concern:

Unreferenced, no evidence of notability.

While all constructive contributions to Wikipedia are appreciated, content or articles may be deleted for any of several reasons.

You may prevent the proposed deletion by removing the {{proposed deletion/dated}} notice, but please explain why in your edit summary or on the article's talk page.

Please consider improving the article to address the issues raised. Removing {{proposed deletion/dated}} will stop the proposed deletion process, but other deletion processes exist. In particular, the speedy deletion process can result in deletion without discussion, and articles for deletion allows discussion to reach consensus for deletion. PepperBeast (talk) 21:04, 31 March 2013 (UTC)

ProveIt

If it's possible, could you or anyone else add support for {{IUCN}}? Thanks, FrigidNinja 00:31, 24 April 2013 (UTC)

GSoC Prototyping Inline Comments

Hi Matt. I am interested in doing this for the GSoC. May I find out more about the scope and the things you foresee would be required? N3cq (talk) 04:17, 3 May 2013 (UTC)

Edit-a-thon Invitation

 
Please join the Chemical Heritage Foundation Edit-a-Thon, June 20, 2013.
Build content relating to women in science, chemistry and the history of science.
Use the hashtag #GlamCHF and write your favorite scientist or chemist into Wikipedian history!

If you have the time, we'd like to invite you to join in the Edit-a-thon. Mary Mark Ockerbloom (talk) 01:48, 16 June 2013 (UTC)

Compare link tool

Heya. I'm a huge fan of that little script but it seems to have stopped working for me. Don't suppose you know if anyone else has had any problems with it? I've tried switching browsers and double checking my java install but no joy. Millahnna (talk) 11:06, 1 June 2013 (UTC)

Hmm, I'm not sure what it might be. I just made some changes, though, so please retest. It actually uses JavaScript, not Java, so that shouldn't be an issue. Also, what skin are you currently using? I see you have a few different user script files (monobook.js, modern.js, and vector.js, plus your Twinkle config). If it doesn't work when you retest, you can try temporarily removing the other code. If compare link then works, you can put back the rest one by one until you've identified the problem. Let me know if that helps. Superm401 - Talk 02:40, 2 June 2013 (UTC)
Sorry I lag and thanks for getting back to me. I'm using my Vector skin at the moment. I a big derp to myself re: java and script. I know better, I swear. I removed all code but the one for your tool and it didn't seem to help. I'm still tinkering but if you think of anything, let me know. Vandal patrol is pretty much impossible for me without your little gadget. Millahnna (talk) 02:45, 8 July 2013 (UTC)
I've fixed it for you. It turns out that MediaWiki's JavaScript validator does not allow HTML-style comments like:
<!-- Comment -->
The above types of comments are also rare nowadays in JavaScript in the wild. Instead, you can use either:
// Comment
or:
/* Comment */
The second one also allows multi-line comments (you can put essentially whatever you want before the */, including line breaks). Superm401 - Talk 03:37, 8 July 2013 (UTC)

I lurve you so hard right now. Thank you so much. Have some of the biggest cyber hugs ever. I've been so off and on on wiki the last couple of years that I've missed tons of tech change announcements, I'm sure. After I added the code for reflinks a couple of years ago, I don't think I'd changed a thing in there. I bet that same comment issue is why my reflinks stuff looks a little odd right now too (although it still mostly functions, how odd). I poke around lightly on a few Wikias, too, and I've always wished for a version of your tool there. I don't edit on them nearly enough to actually try to teach myself how to do it, though. Just tossing the idea out there in case you ever get a wild hair. Millahnna (talk) 04:13, 8 July 2013 (UTC)

You're very welcome. It should be possible to get the script working on Wikia, though it would take some tweaks. They use a different version of MediaWiki, and a lot of custom code. Superm401 - Talk 04:40, 8 July 2013 (UTC)

Category:Companies that have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy

Category:Companies that have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which you created, has been nominated for possible deletion, merging, or renaming. 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. BDD (talk) 21:34, 10 July 2013 (UTC)

GuidedTour for wikiArS

Hi Matthew; yesterday I meet you on the presentation clinic. First I was speaking about the potential use of GuidedTour to facilitate the use of Commons to newbies from wikiArS initiative with Ocaasi in IdeaLab. Please have a look to meta:Grants:IdeaLab/facilitate some actions on Commons for wikiArS participants and give your ideas or comments. Thanks. --Dvdgmz (talk) 02:09, 9 August 2013 (UTC)

The edit visualization tool I'm building

A demo of the edit visualization tool I'm building. You could add your feedback or feature requests here--jeph (talk) 02:35, 20 August 2013 (UTC)

Article Feedback Tool update

Hey Superm401. I'm contacting you because you're involved in the Article Feedback Tool in some way, either as a previous newsletter recipient or as an active user of the system. As you might have heard, a user recently anonymously disabled the feedback tool on 2,000 pages. We were unable to track or prevent this due to the lack of logging feature in AFT5. We're deeply sorry for this, as we know that quite a few users found the software very useful, and were using it on their articles.

We've now re-released the software, with the addition of a logging feature and restrictions on the ability to disable. Obviously, we're not going to automatically re-enable it on each article—we don't want to create a situation where it was enabled by users who have now moved on, and feedback would sit there unattended—but if you're interested in enabling it for your articles, it's pretty simple to do. Just go to the article you want to enable it on, click the "request feedback" link in the toolbox in the sidebar, and AFT5 will be enabled for that article.

Again, we're very sorry about this issue; hopefully it'll be smooth sailing after this :). If you have any questions, just drop them at the talkpage. Thanks! Okeyes (WMF) 22:08, 1 September 2013 (UTC)

Article Resources

Thanks. I have been looking at the article on Peter Yarrow and when I checked on citations I wasn't able to find them in the article that was cited. It also seems like there are a number of areas that need to be sourced. Any thoughts?Norawashere (talk) 02:24, 19 September 2013 (UTC)

ThatCampPhilly Edit-a-thon Invitation

 
Please join the Wikipedia Edit-a-thon at THATCamp Philly, September 27, 2013, held at the Chemical Heritage Foundation. Bring your own content to work on, or get an early start on Ada Lovelace Day with our resources about women in science, chemistry and the history of science. Mary Mark Ockerbloom (talk) 19:38, 24 September 2013 (UTC)

Growth team

Hello, I am Gabriel Lee, 13 from Hong Kong. I would like to join the "Growth team" by doing researches. Is it able for me to join? Please response in zh.wikipedia of incubator.wikimedia, thanks!--Gabrielchihonglee (talk) 12:10, 25 September 2013 (UTC)

Hi Gabriel. If you're interested in the Growth team's work, you can learn more here. Steven Walling (WMF) • talk 21:37, 25 September 2013 (UTC)

Adopt-a-user

Hi Superm401, I'm currently a new user and would like to get help from you on how to edit Wikipedia's articles. Please visit my userpage for more info. adgane 12:08, 2 October 2013 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Aditimandavgane11 (talkcontribs)

BACKLOG OF THE WEEK Category:Pages with broken reference names

Hello - some editors fight off the vandal hordes, as I do repairing pages with citation errors. If I didn't - there would be a large backlog in Category:Pages with incorrect ref formatting and in Category:Pages with missing references list as in Category:Pages with broken reference names (more than 1500 yesterday). But it is impossible to work it alone. Do you know how to do a "Blitz" (excuse the comparision) to find willing editors to work on it. It is much more easier to repair references if you do it one hour, one day or one week ago after the errors were made instead of months and years after the error was done. Very, very difficult to find these errors.

Only with WikiBlame Search it is possible to find and repair such errors.

Best wishes & thanks --Frze > talk 09:08, 10 October 2013 (UTC)

Thanks for tipps. --Frze > talk 10:16, 10 October 2013 (UTC)

Thank you!

  Thank you for adopting me.

Here are some strawberries for you. adgane (talk) 07:48, 11 October 2013 (UTC)

Opting in to VisualEditor

As you may know, VisualEditor ("Edit beta") is currently available on the English Wikipedia only for registered editors who choose to enable it. Since you have made 50 or more edits with VisualEditor this year, I want to make sure that you know that you can enable VisualEditor (if you haven't already done so) by going to your preferences and choosing the item, "MediaWiki:Visualeditor-preference-enable". This will give you the option of using VisualEditor on articles and userpages when you want to, and give you the opportunity to spot changes in the interface and suggest improvements. We value your feedback, whether positive or negative, about using VisualEditor, at Wikipedia:VisualEditor/Feedback. Thank you, Whatamidoing (WMF) (talk) 20:17, 11 October 2013 (UTC)

Re-direct page

Hi, What is the use of a re-direct page? adgane (talk) 05:56, 13 October 2013 (UTC)

Citations

Hi, I was browsing through some articles and found a word call 'citation needed' above some words. What are citations? Thanks, adgane (talk) 12:16, 19 October 2013 (UTC)

Backlog template made by User:TheJJJunk

Backlog status (Purge)
Category Current status
Pages with incorrect ref formatting   Not done
Pages with missing references list   Done
Pages with broken reference names Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ",".

Best wishes --Frze > talk 03:57, 22 October 2013 (UTC)