User talk:Samwalton9/Archive 15

December 2015 - January 2016

Bad CSDs

Apologies there Sam, seems I didn't need to tag those sandboxes as CSDs -- samtar ^whisper 13:57, 3 December 2015 (UTC)

@Samtar: You mean because I moved one of them? No worries; the other two that I deleted were blank so no problem deleting those. Sam Walton (talk) 13:59, 3 December 2015 (UTC)

Edit filter informal consult request

Hey, IIRC, you're quite experienced with the Edit Filter. We've been having some minor problems with trolling over at the Ref Desks, and it seems that the specific nature of the trolling is something an edit filter could be set up for to shut down; which would allow us to keep the ref desks open from semiprotection, which we'd really like to do. If you could check in to the discussion at this discussion, maybe you could lend your expertise. I'd be happy to bring you up to speed on exactly what we'd need from an edit filter, and if it can be enacted, I can also put it in the form of a formal request at the Edit Filter request board. Thanks in advance for your time! --Jayron32 02:58, 4 December 2015 (UTC)

@Jayron32: Replying there. Sam Walton (talk) 09:09, 4 December 2015 (UTC)

The Signpost: 02 December 2015

• Op-ed: Whither Wikidata?

• News and notes: Online harassment consultation; High voter turnout at ArbCom elections

• In the media: Is Wikidata as transparent as it seems?; Wikimedia Fund-raising drive launches

• Traffic report: Jonesing for episodes

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Draft:Eyal ben-Moshe (Eyal B)

Hi there, can you please help me? they declined but I have 14 References and even a few External Links... Eyal is a big personality in Israel and its obivous thanks to having so much written about him as well as winning awards.. please help Clipfunu (talk) 11:38, 7 December 2015 (UTC)

Tech News: 2015-50

Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.

Recent changes

• Revision scoring will help to automatically identify bad-faith and good-faith edits. The point is to make it easier to block vandals and welcome newcomers. It currently supports Wikidata and 14 Wikipedias. [1]

Problems

• Meta was not given access to information from Wikidata last week. This will happen later. [2]

Changes this week

• You will be able to use wikilinks in Flow topic titles. [3]
• IP users will have a toolbar with links to the user talk page and user contributions. Some Wikipedias already have this feature. [4]
• You will be able to edit the graph size in the visual editor. You can either specify the size in the graph dialog or drag it to be the size you want it to be. [5]
• It will be easier to write math in the visual editor if you don't know LaTeX. You can use symbol buttons instead. [6]
• You will be able to use syntax highlighting when you write math with LaTeX in the visual editor. [7]
• UploadWizard will look a bit different. [8]
• The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from 8 December. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from 9 December. It will be on all Wikipedias from 10 December. (calendar).
• New MediaWiki versions will now be on Catalan and Hebrew Wikipedia on Wednesdays. Other Wikipedias get the new MediaWiki version on Thursdays. [9]

Meetings

• You can join the next meeting with the VisualEditor team. During the meeting, you can tell developers which bugs you think are the most important. The meeting will be on 8 December at 19:00 (UTC). See how to join.
• You can join the next meeting with the Architecture committee. The topics this week are "Graph/Graphoid/Kartographer – data storage architecture" and "Parametric JSON builder". The meeting will be on 9 December at 22:00 (UTC). See how to join.

Future changes

• A new beta feature will show users links to related articles at the bottom of an article. It will not be enabled by default. [10]

Tech news prepared by tech ambassadors and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe.

17:53, 7 December 2015 (UTC)

Books and Bytes - Issue 14

The Wikipedia Library

Books & Bytes
Issue 14, October-November 2015
by The Interior (talk · contribs), Ocaasi (talk · contribs), Sadads (talk · contribs), Nikkimaria (talk · contribs)

• New donations - Gale, Brill, plus Finnish and Farsi resources
• Open Access Week recap, and DOIs, Wikipedia, and scholarly citations
• Spotlight: 1Lib1Ref - a citation drive for librarians

Read the full newsletter

The Interior, via MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 19:13, 10 December 2015 (UTC)

Please comment on Talk:Christopher Monckton, 3rd Viscount Monckton of Brenchley

The feedback request service is asking for participation in this request for comment on Talk:Christopher Monckton, 3rd Viscount Monckton of Brenchley. Legobot (talk) 00:05, 11 December 2015 (UTC)

He's back

See the page history at WP:RDM for his latest attempt to breach the edit filter. Probably needs a bit more tweak. --Jayron32 12:40, 11 December 2015 (UTC)

Tweaked. Sam Walton (talk) 12:50, 11 December 2015 (UTC)

@Jayron32: I've just had to protect, I'm on my phone and can't keep up. Sam Walton (talk) 13:11, 11 December 2015 (UTC)

I had already protected RDM. Whenever you get around to fixing the filter, is fine. The whole thing is trying to stop one person from locking down the reference desks. It's blindingly obvious his whole goal is to force us to semiprotect the ref desks long term, just to be disruptive. I'm trying to find ways to avoid that. --Jayron32 13:15, 11 December 2015 (UTC)

Heliodorus Trosidamas of Alexandria

Hi, Samwalton9,
Can you and Borsanova agree what you want to do with this article? Because Category:3rd-century Egyptian people is getting tagged for deletion, deleted and then recreated. I don't care whether or not the category exists (as long as it isn't empty) but it shouldn't be on this merry-go-round. Thanks. Liz ^{Read! Talk!} 19:48, 12 December 2015 (UTC)

Properly merged and cat deleted again. Sam Walton (talk) 23:23, 12 December 2015 (UTC)

And the category is recreated once more, Samwalton9. This is becoming a battle of wills. Liz ^{Read! Talk!} 01:29, 13 December 2015 (UTC)

@Liz: The newly created article Dionysius of Alexandria (athlete) isn't one of those merged/redirected through an AfD and I have little to no effort left for these articles so I guess the category stays now. Sam Walton (talk) 10:19, 13 December 2015 (UTC)

Okay, it is what it is. Thanks for checking on it. It's unusual to have repeat appearances of categories on Wikipedia:Database reports/Empty categories so that's what caught my eye. While categories get recreated as new articles are created and there is a new need for them, Category:3rd-century Egyptian people was listed twice in one week which was notable.

I think it is news to some editors that there is a CSD tag for empty categories. But considering how easy it is to create new categories and the fact that they don't pass through the NPP, there are always categories that seemed like a good idea at the time but then are never used. Liz ^{Read! Talk!} 22:47, 13 December 2015 (UTC)

The Signpost: 09 December 2015

• News and notes: ArbCom election results announced

• Op-ed: Wikidata: Knowledge from different points of view

• In the media: Political editing in the context of the US presidential primaries

• Gallery: Wiki Loves Monuments 2015 winners

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Gary Wales Actor

Hello Sam

I noticed that the article I created was deleted by yourself, can I ask you why please HeatherWalker1 (talk) 11:47, 13 December 2015 (UTC)

@HeatherWalker1: Hi, the article (GaryWalesActor) was deleted because it read like little more than a promotional piece for the subject, rather than the encyclopedic tone and content that we aim for on Wikipedia. In regards to the tone; terms like "Wales began to advance his love of acting and production involvement", "His facebook page which has been verified by facebook has a great audience of over 11,000 likes", "As a child, Wales's Favourite film was The Lion King" are not appropriate for a Wikipedia article, which should aim to be factual and neutral in tone. Additionally, articles should cite reliable sources of information to back up the statements in the article and prove that the subject is notable by Wikipedia standards. If you want to write a new article please do so at Draft:Gary Wales to work on it without fear of deletion for notability reasons until it's ready, if Gary is indeed notable. Sam Walton (talk) 19:06, 13 December 2015 (UTC)

Tech News: 2015-51

Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.

Changes this week

• Meta will be able to use information from Wikidata. [11]
• The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from 15 December. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from 16 December. It will be on all Wikipedias from 17 December. (calendar).

Meetings

• You can join the next meeting with the VisualEditor team. During the meeting, you can tell developers which bugs you think are the most important. The meeting will be on 15 December at 19:00 (UTC). See how to join.
• You can join the next meeting with the Architecture committee. The topic this week is talking about the agenda for the Wikimedia Developer Summit. The meeting will be on 16 December at 22:00 (UTC). See how to join. [12]

Future changes

• A new gadget manager will come next year. The new gadget system is called Gadgets 2.0. [13]

Tech news prepared by tech ambassadors and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe.

17:42, 14 December 2015 (UTC)

Could you block BlueSox

BlueSox (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · nuke contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) - personal attacks on my talk/user page and WP:ANI -- samtar ^whisper 13:50, 16 December 2015 (UTC)

Zzuuzz got to it before me! Sam Walton (talk) 13:54, 16 December 2015 (UTC)

Phewww, thank you though - you were the first admin in my watchlist :P -- samtar ^whisper 13:57, 16 December 2015 (UTC)

No worries, you were write in guessing I was available. Revdel'd the worst of the edits. Sam Walton (talk) 13:58, 16 December 2015 (UTC)

Ah thanks for that :) -- samtar ^whisper 14:05, 16 December 2015 (UTC)

The Signpost: 16 December 2015

• In focus: Drone photography: New possibilities and new challenges

• In the media: Wales in China; #Edit2015

• Arbitration report: GMO case decided

• Featured content: An unusually slow week

• WikiProject report: Women in Red—using teamwork and partnerships to elevate online and offline collaborations

• Traffic report: A feast of Spam

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• MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 19:57, 19 December 2015 (UTC)

Copyright

Dear Samwalton9, where did you see copyrighted material? We did not copy paste from anywhere. we did what our teacher said, read the sources and created the work without looking at the sources. Also, baegel is deleting some of my messages in his talk page, where I tried to speak with him. I asked several times to give us time, or cooperate with us. Nevertheless, he just delete our job and put his, without even looking at what we have done. Please, start a conversation with us, instead of just using the power and spoiling our work. You delete days of our work just with one click, and say that it is wikipedia policy. I thought wikipedia is created for informating people, and not fighting to own our article. From my viewpoint it just looks like Baegel wants to steal our article, and put his name on it.

Regards, Arman — Preceding unsigned comment added by Armanilogin (talk • contribs) 19:34, 20 December 2015 (UTC)

Wikiclaus' cheer !

		Wikiclaus greetings
		Michael Q. Schmidt talkback is wishing you the happiest of Wikiclaus' Wikipedian good cheer. This message is intended to celebrate the holiday season, promote WikiCheer, and to hopefully make your day just a little bit better, for Wikiclaus encourages us all to spread smiles, fellowship, and seasonal good cheer by wishing others a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, whether it be someone with whom you had disagreements in the past, a good friend, or just some random person. Share the good feelings and the happiest of holiday spirits from Wikiclaus !

Tech News: 2015-52

Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.

Tech News

• Because of the holidays, the next issue of Tech News will be sent out on 11 January 2016.
• The writers of the technical newsletter are asking for your opinion. Did you get the information you wanted this year? Did we miss important technical news in 2015? What kind of information was too late? Please tell us! You can write in your language. Thank you!

Recent changes

• CompletionSuggester is a new suggestions algorithm for Search. It is available as a Beta feature since 17 December. (more information)
• The Multimedia team is running an A/B test for the cross-wiki upload tool. They are testing four different interfaces. The test is running from 16-23 December. (more information)

Changes this week

• There is no deployment of MediaWiki scheduled until 12 January 2016 (calendar).

Meetings

• Should administrators and other users with advanced tools need stronger passwords? You can discuss about it in a Request for Comments.
• No meeting with the VisualEditor team on 22 and 29 December, and 5 January.

Tech news prepared by tech ambassadors and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe.

18:29, 21 December 2015 (UTC)

WikiCup 2016 is just around the corner...

Hello everyone, and we would like to wish you all a happy holiday season. As you will probably already know, the 2016 WikiCup begins in the new year; there is still time to sign up. There are some changes we'd like to announce before the competition begins.

After two years of serving as WikiCup judge, User:Miyagawa has stepped down as judge. He deserves great thanks and recognition for his dedication and hard work, and for providing necessary transition for a new group of judges in last year's Cup. Joining Christine (User:Figureskatingfan) and Jason (User:Sturmvogel 66) is Andrew (User:Godot13), a very successful WikiCup competitor and expert in Featured Pictures; he won the two previous competitions. This is a strong judging team, and we anticipate lots of enjoyment and good work coming from our 2016 competitors.

We would also like to announce one change in how this year's WikiCup will be run. In the spirit of sportsmanship, Godot13 and Cwmhiraeth have chosen to limit their participation. See here for the announcement and a complete explanation of why. They and the judges feel that it will make for a more exciting, enjoyable, and productive competition.

The discussions/polls concerning the next competition's rules will be closed soon, and rules changes will be made clear on Wikipedia:WikiCup/Scoring and talk pages. The judges are committed to not repeating the confusion that occurred last year and to ensuring that the new rules are both fair and in the best interests of the competition, which is, first and foremost, about improving Wikipedia.

If you have any questions or concerns, the judges can be reached on Wikipedia talk:WikiCup, on their talk pages, or by email. We hope you will all join us in trying to make the 2015 WikiCup the most productive and enjoyable yet. You are receiving this message because you are listed on Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. Sturmvogel 66 (talk), Figureskatingfan (talk), and Godot13 (talk).--MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 06:47, 22 December 2015 (UTC)

History of Persia

Hello Samwalton9, you may remember User:Artin Mehraban = User:History of Persia, whom you blocked in June. I'm not turning to you because you blocked him, but because you are interested in Greek history, which overlaps with this user's edits. Now a natural problem we have is that this user created some information that is still being used. In particular, I am wondering about File:Provinces of the Achaemenid empire.png. How reliable is it? Do we need to go through more of this user's edits? — Sebastian 07:15, 22 December 2015 (UTC)

@SebastianHelm: Honestly, I know next to nothing about Greek history! You'd be better of finding the relevant Wikiproject if you think some of his content needs discussion. Sam Walton (talk) 09:20, 22 December 2015 (UTC)

Wishing you all the best . . .

Merry Christmas, Sam, and may your holidays be merry and bright . . . . Cheers. Dirtlawyer1 (talk) 16:47, 22 December 2015 (UTC)

@Dirtlawyer1: Thank you, merry christmas to you too :) Sam Walton (talk) 16:54, 22 December 2015 (UTC)

Newbie China Questions

Hello, I'm a new editor and your name was given to me by the teahouse. I see you have access to the university of Liverpool's library. Wondering if you could get some free electronic books or journal articles for me. I"m interested in the chinese black market, at least that's the articles I'm doing now, and want to see if there is any additional information out there that I could access. In particularly, I would be interested in books since I already have access to journal articles through Jstor, nellco.org, bepress.com, google scholar and another one. Is there any storage function on wikipedia where you could upload documents and I could download them from the site without giving out my email address? I'm interested in the following topics:

pirated online content such as music movies TV shows for downloading or online streaming, Pirated Dvds Cds Vcds, financial black market (shadow banking), Black market money exchange services, pirated Software, Cigarettes and tobacco, Fake local brands, Fake international brands for domestic and int markets, Luxury goods, Factories producing genuine products for foreign brands but sell the same ones in Chinese black or grey market after changing logo or not, Illegal Surrogate mothers, Child beggars industry (where kids are kidnapped by criminals and forced to work on the street), Aborting of females with illegal sex determination, Online and on ground copyright infringement Trademark, patent, Pharmaceuticals fake and for making illegal synthetic drugs overseas, Exotic animal parts, Black market banking (shadow banking), Black market money exchanges, Fake Western military parts/electronics,

There might be some more that I will add later but up to now this is all I could think of. Also is there any way to introduce me to other Wikipedians interested in China that like to collaborate and share workloads? Without help this article will probably take me six months and this is too bad because I feel it will be a fairly important addition to the China section of Wikipedia. A mix of native Chinese speakers with excellent English skills and native English speakers would be the best so as to have access to more sources, perhaps in Chinese books/journal articles. Thanks in advance for all your help :-) See you later.Notgoingtotellyou (talk) 16:53, 24 December 2015 (UTC)

@Notgoingtotellyou: Hi there. I'm not in Liverpool at the moment but I could definitely take a look into this for you, and can distribute without having to email you. Have you tried looking through Google Books and other similar online resources? It seems there are a number of available books on Google with information on the black market. As for Wikipedians interested in China, you should first take a look at WikiProject China; there are a number of resources there and the talk page should hopefully be a good place to post for discussion and questions. Hope that helps. Sam Walton (talk) 17:18, 24 December 2015 (UTC)

Wow you're quick, I just posted that 5 mintues ago! You must have mobile app notification or something. I will check out the china project section and look for partners to work on the project thanks for that advice and also for the google books idea, I totally forgot about that but from my past experience the only books offered are not the newest and best ones because they still want to make money on selling them to readers. I will search through there nevertheless to check for relevant books..Thanks againNotgoingtotellyou (talk) 17:23, 24 December 2015 (UTC)

Holidays

Merry Christmas and a Prosperous 2016!

Hello Samwalton9, may you be surrounded by peace, success and happiness on this seasonal occasion. Spread the WikiLove by wishing another user a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, whether it be someone you have had disagreements with in the past, a good friend, or just some random person. Sending you a heartfelt and warm greetings for Christmas and New Year 2016. Happy editing, Caballero/Historiador (talk) 09:17, 26 December 2015 (UTC) Spread the love by adding {{subst:Seasonal Greetings}} to other user talk pages.

Please comment on Talk:CobraNet

The feedback request service is asking for participation in this request for comment on Talk:CobraNet. Legobot (talk) 00:03, 27 December 2015 (UTC)

The Signpost: 30 December 2015

• News and notes: WMF Board dismisses community-elected trustee

• Arbitration report: Second Arbitration Enforcement case concludes as another case is suspended

• Featured content: The post-Christmas edition

• Traffic report: The Force we expected

• Year in review: The top ten Wikipedia stories of 2015

• In the media: Wikipedia plagued by a "Basket of Deception"

• Gallery: It's that time of year again

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2016

	Happy New Year 2016!
	Did you know ... that back in 1885, Wikipedia editors wrote Good Articles with axes, hammers and chisels? Thank you for your contributions to this encyclopedia using 21st century technology. I hope you don't get any unneccessary blisters. Cullen328 Let's discuss it 23:03, 30 December 2015 (UTC)    –

UTRS Account Request

I confirm that I have requested an account on the UTRS tool. Sam Walton (talk)

• Approved and activated, sorry for the delay. You're good to go! Lemme know if you have any questions. :) ☺ · Salvidrim! · ✉ 19:58, 3 January 2016 (UTC)
  • @Salvidrim!: Thanks; can't guarantee that I'll be hugely active but I thought I should get signed up at any rate :) Sam Walton (talk) 20:08, 3 January 2016 (UTC)

Help if you're around

Hi Samwalton9, sorry to bother - not sure if you've dealt with Vote X before but this on my talk and this noticeboard could do with some looking at if you have a mo, thank you -- samtar ^whisper 15:08, 1 January 2016 (UTC)

@Samtar: Sorry, not familiar with this user at all, ANI is probably a better bet. Sam Walton (talk) 15:36, 1 January 2016 (UTC)

Happy New Year, Samwalton9!

Happy New Year!

Samwalton9,
Have a prosperous, productive and enjoyable New Year, and thanks for your contributions to Wikipedia. Liz ^{Read! Talk!} 21:51, 1 January 2016 (UTC)

Send New Year cheer by adding {{subst:Happy New Year fireworks}} to user talk pages.

I hate you, Samwalton9

Never forgive you Hallerworld (talk) 21:16, 4 January 2016 (UTC)

@Hallerworld: Why? Sam Walton (talk) 21:19, 4 January 2016 (UTC)

Draft:Video game gameplay

I hope you don't mind my edit on your draft, Draft:Video game gameplay. I got bored and added lots of stuff to it. Anarchyte 12:24, 6 January 2016 (UTC)

@Anarchyte: There's a reason it's in the draft namespace and not a sandbox! Looks great actually, I kept going back and forth on whether to include certain categories or articles and what to put where, but that looks pretty nice. I'll take a proper look at it later and see :) Sam Walton (talk) 12:37, 6 January 2016 (UTC)

Also pinging Maplestrip who's been trying to make something like this too. Sam Walton (talk) 12:38, 6 January 2016 (UTC)

I'm surprised of how good this navbox is looking, actually. Didn't expect it to work out very well, but I'm glad to see how it's coming along. Your additions to it are very good, Anerchyte, though I'm unsure if we should put any kind of "list of genres" in it. Player type and gameplay type are very important, in my opinion, but deciding which video game genres to use can be a pain. I also don't think we should list events (DreamHack, The Internation, etc). ~Mable (chat) 12:45, 6 January 2016 (UTC)

@Maplestrip and Anarchyte: Agreed; gameplay should be distinct from game genres I think. Sam Walton (talk) 12:47, 6 January 2016 (UTC)

(I've got this talk page watched for the duration of this discussion) Moreover, I think "stage of production" should probably be separate navbox. It could be titled something along the lines of "Stages of software production", since none of the articles listed in that row are unique to video game production. ~Mable (chat) 12:58, 6 January 2016 (UTC)

I made a template in May 2015 but I requested it was deleted, I'll see if I can get it undeleted and then I can move stuff from there to this one. Anarchyte 02:02, 7 January 2016 (UTC)

Request for feedback about a game article

Hi Samwalton9, Happy new year! I am trying to create an article about a "health game" and a medical App https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Chippadum/sandbox that has been featured/presented at leading medical conferences over the last couple of years. It relates to a field which I care about, as a new mom! I would greatly your feedback about it, if/when you have some time. Thank you! Chippadum (talk) 06:31, 7 January 2016 (UTC)

@Chippadum: At a glance it looks like the app might be notable, though I would address the tone of the article; "leading Silicon Valley based mHealth startup company", "leading academic conferences", and the long quote make it sound a little too advert-y, but it's not bad otherwise! Sam Walton (talk) 18:48, 10 January 2016 (UTC)

Thank you, Samwalton9! Will modify accordingly and pay closer attention to the tone. Chippadum (talk) 11:10, 11 January 2016 (UTC)

The Signpost: 06 January 2016

• News and notes: The WMF's age of discontent

• In the media: Impenetrable science; Jimmy Wales back in the UAE

• Arbitration report: Catflap08 and Hijiri88 case been decided

• Featured content: Featured menagerie

• Recent research: Teaching Wikipedia, Does advertising the gender gap help or hurt Wikipedia?

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• MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 06:46, 7 January 2016 (UTC)

Red Granite Pictures

Can you add Joey McFarland on top of Riza Aziz on Red Granite Pictures? Hallerworld (talk) 08:42, 7 January 2016 (UTC)

The WikiProject Video Games Newsletter, Q4 2015

The WikiProject Video Games Newsletter
Volume 8, No. 4 — 4th Quarter, 2015
Previous issue | Index | Next issue

Project At a Glance
As of Q4 2015, the project has:

• 199 Featured Articles
• 71 Featured Lists
• 10 Featured Topics

• 28 Featured Pictures
• 969 Good Articles
• 18 Good Topics

---

Content

• Changes to Featured and Good content
• News items and announcements
• WP:VG Talk Page Digest

• Feature: Gender Declaration and the WP:VG Gender Gap
• Interview: Czar

---

Project Navigation

• VG Project Main pages

  • Main project – talk
  • Project category – talk
  • Portal – talk

  VG Project Departments

  • Assessment – talk
  • Cleanup – talk
  • Peer review – talk

   

  • Reference library – talk
  • Newsletter – talk
  • Video game images – talk

To receive future editions of this newsletter, click here to sign up on the distribution list.

MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 05:35, 9 January 2016 (UTC)

WT:ITNR#.5BRemoved.5D Removal proposal: Toronto International Film Festival

I reverted the closure, but I still retain your rationale. Typically, even when the listing is removed from WP:ITNR, the discussion is still open until someone else closes it. Do you mind the changes I made to the discussion? --George Ho (talk) 19:59, 9 January 2016 (UTC)

@George Ho: Ah, no worries! Not familiar with how things work there. Sam Walton (talk) 20:00, 9 January 2016 (UTC)

Well, I'll leave it as closed and removed then until another administrator reverts closure but then retains rationale. I won't do it to the discussion again. --George Ho (talk) 20:01, 9 January 2016 (UTC)

Oh wait, someone else reverted the un-closure. --George Ho (talk) 20:03, 9 January 2016 (UTC)

Tech News: 2016-02

Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.

Recent changes

• Wikimedia no longer uses visitor statistics from comScore. [14]
• You can make interactive graphs with the Graph extension. There is now a tutorial for how to do this. [15]

Problems

• Some pages do not turn in up in categories where they should be. This is because link tables are sometimes not populated. [16]

Changes this week

• The Nuke extension will work with Flow. This will make it easier to handle spam in Flow. [17]
• New file uploads will now be patrollable. [18]
• Internet Explorer 8 will no longer have JavaScript support. You will still be able to browse and edit Wikipedia if you use Internet Explorer 8, but will not be able to use some features. This can be solved by upgrading to a newer version or switching to a different browser. [19][20]

Meetings

• You can join the next meeting with the VisualEditor team. During the meeting, you can tell developers which bugs you think are the most important. The meeting will be on 12 January at 20:00 (UTC). See how to join.

Future changes

• URLs in the recent changes IRC feed will no longer be rewritten to unencrypted HTTP. This could be a breaking change for bots dependent on the IRC feed. [21]
• The edit tabs for the wikitext editor and the visual editor will be combined to one single edit tab. You will be able to choose which one you prefer. If you are not logged in, your choice will be saved as a cookie in your browser. You can test the single edit tab. [22][23]
• There is a beta feature that adds links to the subject on other Wikimedia projects. This works much like the links to for example Wikipedia articles in other languages. It will go out of beta testing and be enabled for everyone in January. Wikis that don't want this can decide to have it disabled. [24][25]
• The difference between "alerts" and "messages" notifications is unclear to some. The developers want feedback at the Phabricator task or on MediaWiki.org so they can make this better. You can give feedback in your language if you can't write in English.

Tech news prepared by tech ambassadors and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe.

16:59, 11 January 2016 (UTC)

Please comment on Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Astronomy

The feedback request service is asking for participation in this request for comment on Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Astronomy. Legobot (talk) 00:06, 14 January 2016 (UTC)

Alan Rickman

Sam, I thought you might like to keep this in your bookmarks for prosperity: regards.Twobells (talk) 18:45, 14 January 2016 (UTC)

@Twobells: Ha. When I reverted that edit, less than a minute after it was posted, I thought "I wonder how many people saw that". Quite a lot it seems :) Sam Walton (talk) 18:51, 14 January 2016 (UTC)

Eee, yes, shame the editor doesn't have an account. Twobells (talk) 18:56, 14 January 2016 (UTC)

References

The Signpost: 13 January 2016

• In the media: War and peace; WMF board changes; Arabic and Hebrew Wikipedias

• Community view: Battle for the soul of the WMF

• Editorial: We need a culture of verification

• In focus: The Crisis at New Montgomery Street

• Op-ed: Transparency

• Traffic report: Pattern recognition: Third annual Traffic Report

• Special report: Wikipedia community celebrates Public Domain Day 2016

• News and notes: Community objections to new Board trustee

• Blog: Inside the game of sports vandalism on Wikipedia

• Featured content: This Week's Featured Content

• Arbitration report: Interview: outgoing and incumbent arbitrators 2016

• Technology report: Tech news in brief

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• MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 16:16, 16 January 2016 (UTC)

Orphaned non-free image File:Liverpool Guild of Students Logo.png

⚠

Thanks for uploading File:Liverpool Guild of Students Logo.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. --B-bot (talk) 18:58, 16 January 2016 (UTC)

Tech News: 2016-03

Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.

Recent changes

• You will be able to find or mark bugs and suggestions in Phabricator that are specific for your language or wiki. [26]
• Notifications have been upgraded with more detailed and easier-to-access information. See the documentation. Cross-wiki notifications will be available soon on the two test wikis. [27]

Changes this week

• The visual editor uses the TemplateData extension to make editing templates easier. You will now get a warning when you edit a TemplateData form and leave it without saving. [28]
• MediaWiki will get a new authentication and authorization system called AuthManager. This is planned to happen in a month or two. Some bots will need to change how they log in. Two new and more stable authentication methods will be available now: Owner-only OAuth credentials and bot passwords. You can read more about the change. [29]
• The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from 19 January. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from 20 January. It will be on all Wikipedias from 21 January (calendar).

Meetings

• You can join the next meeting with the VisualEditor team. During the meeting, you can tell developers which bugs you think are the most important. The meeting will be on 19 January at 20:00 (UTC). See how to join.
• You can join the next meeting with the Architecture committee. The topic this week is governance model. The meeting will be on 20 January at 22:00 (UTC). See how to join.

Tech news prepared by tech ambassadors and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe.

17:56, 18 January 2016 (UTC)

Special:AbuseFilter/676

Hey, I'm going to on wikibreak 22 January through 30 January. Since you originally created this filter, I was hoping you'd be willing to keep an eye on it in my absence? If not no worries, we can just disable. People who deal with that LTA immediately know it's him and block. Many thanks — MusikAnimal ^talk 18:56, 21 January 2016 (UTC)

@MusikAnimal: No worries, can do. Have a nice break! Sam Walton (talk) 23:16, 21 January 2016 (UTC)

Edmond Leka

Why was this page deleted. It had enough information for it to be considered a viable information for the site. Furthermore, this person was mentioned in multiple arctiles written about him in the Financal Times. I think that justifies the fact that he can be in wikipedia. Wikihunter123 (talk) 05:06, 24 January 2016 (UTC)

@Wikihunter123: There was a deletion discussion at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Edmond Leka where the consensus was that there was no indication that this person was notable by Wikipedia standards. Notability is demonstrated through a subject's coverage in reliable third party sources of information like the new or books. While he has indeed been mentioned in the Financial Times, the voters in that discussion evidently didn't find any further coverage that would show he was definitely important enough for a Wikipedia article. Sam Walton (talk) 10:31, 24 January 2016 (UTC)

The Signpost: 20 January 2016

• News and notes: Vote of no confidence; WMF trustee speaks out

• Op-ed: Not a pretty picture: Thoughts on the "monkey selfie" debacle

• In the media: 15th anniversary news round-up

• Traffic report: Danse Macabre

• Featured content: This week's featured content

• Blog: Fifteen years ago, Wikipedia was a very different place

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• MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 19:21, 24 January 2016 (UTC)

Tech News: 2016-04

Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.

Recent changes

• You can now follow when pages are added or removed from a category on German Wikipedia. The plan is to add it to Wikimedia Commons and other Wikipedias this week. [30][31]
• Administrators can hide individual entries of a page with RevisionDelete. There is now a button to choose "all", "none" or "inverse" in Special:Log. The article history will get the same buttons soon. Wikis that have done this locally with JavaScript will be able to remove that code. [32]

Changes this week

• You will be able to see the references when you preview a section you are editing. This will happen even if there is no <references /> tag in that section. [33]
• The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from 26 January. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from 27 January. It will be on all wikis from 28 January (calendar).

Meetings

• You can join the next meeting with the VisualEditor team. During the meeting, you can tell developers which bugs you think are the most important. The meeting will be on 26 January at 20:00 (UTC). See how to join.

Future changes

• There is now an extension called ArticlePlaceholder. It can automatically generate content on Wikipedia with data from Wikidata if there is no Wikipedia article. It will have a tag to remind the reader it is not an article and ask the reader to create one. The developer is now looking for smaller Wikipedias that want to try the extension. [34]
• The OTRS system will be upgraded. The plan is to do this on 3 February at 08:00 (UTC). It will probably take 6 to 8 hours. OTRS will be down during the upgrade. [35]
• Users will soon be automatically congratulated when they reach some edit count milestones. [36]

Tech news prepared by tech ambassadors and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe.

16:39, 25 January 2016 (UTC)

Assistance please

Hello, I'm a former long time user who hasn't made a significant edit since 2009, real life got super real and I faded away from being active on Wikipedia. Though I still utilize the wiki almost daily, my urge to contribute and edit is rather lacking. Now to my request, I have not signed in for roughly 5 years and I doubt I could recall the password even if I tried my best. I tried to archive old messages on my talk page and my edit was not allowed and I was given the option to report it as a false positive. As I noticed your user name at that page a few times, and I don't believe my edit applies to what that feature is for, I hoped to bypass the report and just ask you to archive the messages on my talk page and just dump them into archive26 for me. This is my former user talk page 2601:805:8101:3061:65EF:6A14:A031:6C97 (talk) 22:18, 26 January 2016 (UTC)

As a side note I'm rather impressed that I remembered to sign and how to insert the hyperlinks... Its like riding a bike I suppose. lol :-) 2601:805:8101:3061:65EF:6A14:A031:6C97 (talk) 22:18, 26 January 2016 (UTC)

Never mind, I didn't even think about it until after I made my request I went ahead and reset my password and will take care of this myself. Thank you anyhow, and sorry to waste the space on your talk page lol. KnowledgeOfSelf | talk 22:28, 26 January 2016 (UTC)

@KnowledgeOfSelf: Glad to see you got your account back :) Regarding the disallowing of the edit; that filter stops users who aren't logged in from blanking registered user's user or user talk pages to prevent vandalism. Since we had no way of knowing that was you logged out (i.e. not vandalism) it was disallowed as per normal. Sam Walton (talk) 23:50, 26 January 2016 (UTC)

The Signpost: 27 January 2016

• Op-ed: Lila Tretikov: the WMF needs your input in developing our strategy

• News and notes: Geshuri steps down from the Board

• In the media: Media coverage of the Arnnon Geshuri no-confidence vote

• Recent research: Bursty edits; how politics beat religion but then lost to sports; notability as a glass ceiling

• Traffic report: Death and taxes

• Featured content: This week's featured content

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• MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 05:24, 28 January 2016 (UTC)

Please comment on Talk:Human spaceflight

The feedback request service is asking for participation in this request for comment on Talk:Human spaceflight. Legobot (talk) 04:27, 29 January 2016 (UTC)

2nd report: DS/A edit filter not kicking in

Hi Sam, The edit filter did not kick in when I saved this DS/A. 2nd time this has happened. Cheers! {{u|Checkingfax}} {Talk} 16:47, 31 January 2016 (UTC)

• @Checkingfax: I've asked about the filter here, but I still don't understand what the filter is trying to do, it seems like it's either doing the opposite of what it should or it's trying to do two opposite things at once. I'm lost though... Sam Walton (talk) 16:50, 31 January 2016 (UTC)
  • Hi Sam. Sometimes it stops me when I hit save and there is a big stop sign with a warning that only one DS/A per topic can be set per year and to check two logs (links provided) to make sure that a similar alert has not been set in the past year. I am chided that if I set a premature alert then I will be the one in trouble so I don't go there. But at least twice now I have not gotten the stop sign giving me a chance to check the two user logs (one is a history log and one is an edit filter log). I hope this helps. Cheers! {{u|Checkingfax}} {Talk} 17:47, 31 January 2016 (UTC)
    • Yeah it seems to be a warn and tag should happen every time, regardless of an alert being present, but we'll see. The discussion is going somewhere useful now, I think. Sam Walton (talk) 17:48, 31 January 2016 (UTC)