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Tech News: 2022-25

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

• The Wikipedia App for Android now has an option for editing the whole page at once, located in the overflow menu (three-dots menu ). [1]
• Some recent database changes may affect queries using the Quarry tool. Queries for site_stats at English Wikipedia, Commons, and Wikidata will need to be updated. Read more.
• A new user_global_editcount variable can be used in abuse filters to avoid affecting globally active users. [2]

Changes later this week

• The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from 21 June. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from 22 June. It will be on all wikis from 23 June (calendar).
• Users of non-responsive skins (e.g. MonoBook or Vector) on mobile devices may notice a slight change in the default zoom level. This is intended to optimize zooming and ensure all interface elements are present on the page (for example the table of contents on Vector 2022). In the unlikely event this causes any problems with how you use the site, we'd love to understand better, please ping Jon (WMF) to any on-wiki conversations. [3]

Future changes

• The Beta Feature for DiscussionTools will be updated throughout July. Discussions will look different. You can see some of the proposed changes.
• Parsoid's HTML output will soon stop annotating file links with different typeof attribute values, and instead use mw:File for all types. Tool authors should adjust any code that expects: mw:Image, mw:Audio, or mw:Video. [4]

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

20:17, 20 June 2022 (UTC)

me when

hotcat users when they meet colddog users 😊😊😊😃😃😃😃 account moved to viwiki 13:38, 21 June 2022 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by .polishcatsmybeloved (talk • contribs)

Invited

 Invited

Hello TheresNoTime: You are invited to take part in my new game show. Previously, you took part in my last YouTube-related event, so you may enjoy this one! If not, I still appreciate all you do.
Cheers, –MJL ‐Talk‐^☖

–MJL ‐Talk‐^☖ 04:36, 22 June 2022 (UTC)

New Page Patrol newsletter June 2022

New Page Review queue June 2022

Hello TheresNoTime,

Backlog status

At the time of the last newsletter (No.27, May 2022), the backlog was approaching 16,000, having shot up rapidly from 6,000 over the prior two months. The attention the newsletter brought to the backlog sparked a flurry of activity. There was new discussion on process improvements, efforts to invite new editors to participate in NPP increased and more editors requested the NPP user right so they could help, and most importantly, the number of reviews picked up and the backlog decreased, dipping below 14,000 at the end of May.

Since then, the news has not been so good. The backlog is basically flat, hovering around 14,200. I wish I could report the number of reviews done and the number of new articles added to the queue. But the available statistics we have are woefully inadequate. The only real number we have is the net queue size.

In the last 30 days, the top 100 reviewers have all made more than 16 patrols (up from 8 last month), and about 70 have averaged one review a day (up from 50 last month).

While there are more people doing more reviews, many of the ~730 with the NPP right are doing little. Most of the reviews are being done by the top 50 or 100 reviewers. They need your help. We appreciate every review done, but please aim to do one a day (on average, or 30 a month).

Backlog drive

A backlog reduction drive, coordinated by buidhe and Zippybonzo, will be held from July 1 to July 31. Sign up here. Barnstars will be awarded.

TIP – New school articles

Many new articles on schools are being created by new users in developing and/or non-English-speaking countries. The authors are probably not even aware of Wikipedia's projects and policy pages. WP:WPSCH/AG has some excellent advice and resources specifically written for these users. Reviewers could consider providing such first-time article creators with a link to it while also mentioning that not all schools pass the GNG and that elementary schools are almost certainly not notable.

Misc

There is a new template available, {{NPP backlog}}, to show the current backlog. You can place it on your user or talk page as a reminder:

Very high unreviewed pages backlog: 14600 articles, as of 12:00, 24 April 2024 (UTC), according to DatBot

There has been significant discussion at WP:VPP recently on NPP-related matters (Draftification, Deletion, Notability, Verifiability, Burden). Proposals that would somewhat ease the burden on NPP aren't gaining much traction, although there are suggestions that the role of NPP be fundamentally changed to focus only on major CSD-type issues.

Reminders

• Consider staying informed on project issues by putting the project discussion page on your watchlist.
• If you have noticed a user with a good understanding of Wikipedia notability and deletion, suggest they help the effort by placing {{subst:NPR invite}} on their talk page.
• If you are no longer very active on Wikipedia or you no longer wish to be part of the New Page Reviewer user group, please consider asking any admin to remove you from the list. This will enable NPP to have a better overview of its performance and what improvements need to be made to the process and its software.
• To opt-out of future mailings, please remove yourself here.

Notes

MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 10:02, 24 June 2022 (UTC)

LTA Knowledgebase

Hi, I was sent to you from Special:Diff/1095240991 and wanted to continue the conversation here so that Sam doesn't have to deal with a conversation on his talk page that he isn't involved in. PHANTOMTECH (talk) 07:14, 27 June 2022 (UTC)

Hey PhantomTech, yup that was me :) unfortunately there's not much more to add, as the whole discussion sort of died out as we couldn't figure out who should have access and if documenting this would just cause more harm than good. Have you seen Requests for comment/LTA database at meta? — TNT (talk • she/her) 11:11, 27 June 2022 (UTC)

I haven't see the meta RfC, but I just read it, thanks :) Unless I'm missing something it looks like the main opposition on meta is that the database shouldn't be public. Did phab:project/profile/2434 end because of the who should have access issue or something else? PHANTOMTECH (talk) 19:37, 27 June 2022 (UTC)

Tech News: 2022-26

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 Enterprise API service now has self-service accounts with free on-demand requests and monthly snapshots (API documentation). Community access via database dumps & Wikimedia Cloud Services continues.
• All Wikimedia wikis can now use Wikidata Lexemes in Lua after creating local modules and templates. Discussions are welcome on the project talk page.

Changes later this week

• The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from 28 June. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from 29 June. It will be on all wikis from 30 June (calendar).
• Some wikis will be in read-only for a few minutes because of a switch of their main database. It will be performed on 28 June at 06:00 UTC (targeted wikis). [5]
• Some global and cross-wiki services will be in read-only for a few minutes because of a switch of their main database. It will be performed on 30 June at 06:00 UTC. This will impact ContentTranslation, Echo, StructuredDiscussions, Growth experiments and a few more services. [6]
• Users will be able to sort columns within sortable tables in the mobile skin. [7]

Future meetings

• The next open meeting with the Web team about Vector (2022) will take place tomorrow (28 June). The following meetings will take place on 12 July and 26 July.

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

20:01, 27 June 2022 (UTC)

NPP July 2022 backlog drive is on!

New Page Patrol | July 2022 Backlog Drive
On 1 July, a one-month backlog drive for New Page Patrol will begin. Barnstars will be awarded based on the number of articles patrolled. Barnstars will also be granted for re-reviewing articles previously reviewed by other patrollers during the drive. Redirect patrolling is not part of the drive. Interested in taking part? Sign up here.
You're receiving this message because you are a new page patroller. To opt-out of future mailings, please remove yourself here.

(t · c) buidhe 20:26, 1 July 2022 (UTC)

Feedback request: Wikipedia policies and guidelines request for comment

Your feedback is requested at Wikipedia talk:Notability on a "Wikipedia policies and guidelines" request for comment. Thank you for helping out!
You were randomly selected to receive this invitation from the list of Feedback Request Service subscribers. If you'd like not to receive these messages any more, you can opt out at any time by removing your name.

Message delivered to you with love by Yapperbot :) | Is this wrong? Contact my bot operator. | Sent at 23:31, 2 July 2022 (UTC)

WikiCup 2022 July newsletter

The third round of the 2022 WikiCup has now come to an end. Each of the sixteen contestants who made it into the fourth round had at least 180 points, which is a lower figure than last year when 294 points were needed to progress to round 4. Our top scorers in round 3 were:

• BennyOnTheLoose, with 746 points, a tally built both on snooker and other sports topics, and on more general subjects.
• Bloom6132, with 683 points, garnered mostly from "In the news" items and related DYKs.
• Sammi Brie, with 527, from a variety of submissions related to radio and television stations.

Between them contestants achieved 5 featured articles, 4 featured lists, 51 good articles, 149 DYK entries, 68 ITN entries, and 109 good article reviews. As we enter the fourth round, remember that any content promoted after the end of round 3 but before the start of round 4 can be claimed in round 4. Please also remember that you must claim your points within 14 days of "earning" them. When doing GARs, please make sure that you check that all the GA criteria are fully met. Please also remember that all submissions must meet core Wikipedia policies, regardless of the review process.

If you are concerned that your nomination—whether it is a good article nomination, a featured process, or anything else—will not receive the necessary reviews, please list it on Wikipedia:WikiCup/Reviews Needed (remember to remove your listing when no longer required). Questions are welcome on Wikipedia talk:WikiCup, and the judges are reachable on their talk pages or by email. Good luck! If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove your name from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. WikiCup judges: Sturmvogel 66 (talk) and Cwmhiraeth (talk) MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 12:51, 3 July 2022 (UTC)

Tech News: 2022-27

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 later this week

• The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from 5 July. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from 6 July. It will be on all wikis from 7 July (calendar).
• Some wikis will be in read-only for a few minutes because of a switch of their main database. It will be performed on 5 July at 07:00 UTC (targeted wikis) and on 7 July at 7:00 UTC (targeted wikis).
• The Beta Feature for DiscussionTools will be updated throughout July. Discussions will look different. You can see some of the proposed changes.
• This change only affects pages in the main namespace in Wikisource. The Javascript config variable proofreadpage_source_href will be removed from mw.config and be replaced with the variable prpSourceIndexPage. [8]

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

19:31, 4 July 2022 (UTC)

Thanks for this

{{User:ClueBot III/ArchiveNow}} [9] I was already concerned. See User talk:Crossroads#c-Moneytrees-2022-07-07T19:39:00.000Z-Doug Weller-2022-07-07T16:36:00.000Z I was wondering about a possible pro pedophila agenda but I might be quite wrong. Doug Weller talk 20:32, 7 July 2022 (UTC)

No worries Doug — it's in the WMF's hands now. As a side note, I've only now realised that the referenced policy on Meta is still a "proposal", and has been for a very long time... — TNT (talk • she/her) 20:46, 7 July 2022 (UTC)

That's bad, anyway of doing anything about it? I could ask Maggie Dennis. Doug Weller talk 10:41, 8 July 2022 (UTC)

I'll see if I can poke some people.. it'd need a full RfC which you just know will attract some "odd" comments... — TNT (talk • she/her) 04:11, 11 July 2022 (UTC)

What do you mean by "in prose" and dubioulsy archived material" in Christopher pike page?

{{User:ClueBot III/ArchiveNow}} I don't understand what you are talking about.124.246.69.248 (talk) 06:11, 11 July 2022 (UTC)

Hey, apologies! We don't normally have external links (that is, links to pages not on Wikipedia) in the “main bit” of an article — the links you were adding appear, at a quick glance, to go to potentially copyrighted material (though I am no expert). Our help page on external links may be of some help to you — TNT (talk • she/her) 06:13, 11 July 2022 (UTC)

Archive.org is a legitimate website. It is not a pirate or illegal or dubious website. I see no violation of any wiki rule. 124.246.69.248 (talk) 06:15, 11 July 2022 (UTC)

You're quite right, it certainly is a legitmate website (I use it heavily!) — it still shouldn't be linked to in this way (see this section of our page on external links). Might I suggest adding a link to a search for the author in an external links section? — TNT (talk • she/her) 06:19, 11 July 2022 (UTC)

I've gone ahead and added that link anyway — I'll let someone else make a decision on the other links — TNT (talk • she/her) 06:23, 11 July 2022 (UTC)

The links that I added were to the bibliography section of the article. It is not the main body of the article. I don't see a violation.124.246.69.248 (talk) 06:25, 11 July 2022 (UTC)

Tech News: 2022-28

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

• In the Vector 2022 skin, the page title is now displayed above the tabs such as Discussion, Read, Edit, View history, or More. Learn more. [10]
• It is now possible to easily view most of the configuration settings that apply to just one wiki, and to compare settings between two wikis if those settings are different. For example: Japanese Wiktionary settings, or settings that are different between the Spanish and Esperanto Wikipedias. Local communities may want to discuss and propose changes to their local settings. Details about each of the named settings can be found by searching MediaWiki.org. [11]
• The Anti-Harassment Tools team recently deployed the IP Info Feature as a Beta Feature at all wikis. This feature allows abuse fighters to access information about IP addresses. Please check our update on how to find and use the tool. Please share your feedback using a link you will be given within the tool itself.

Changes later this week

• There is no new MediaWiki version this week.
• Some wikis will be in read-only for a few minutes because of a switch of their main database. It will be performed on 12 July at 07:00 UTC (targeted wikis).

Future changes

• The Beta Feature for DiscussionTools will be updated throughout July. Discussions will look different. You can see some of the proposed changes.

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

19:23, 11 July 2022 (UTC)

Phab question

Hello! You reviewed the patch for phab:T36928 about a week ago. I am very new to phab, so I just wanted to ask you a quick question. You rejected the patch because it had minor errors. I just checked, and Danny fixed the patch but did not do anything on the phab task itself. It still has a "patch for improvement" tag—is that normally left as-is, or is it removed once the patch has been improved? Thank you so much, both for being open to questions and for all you do for the Wikimedia movement! HouseBlaster^talk 02:21, 14 July 2022 (UTC)

Hey HouseBlaster, thanks for the question! If I recall correctly, the "patch for improvement" tag is manually added (unlike the "patch for review" tag, which is added and removed automatically) — it would normally be removed by the person who added it (once they consider the patch "improved"), but there's no hard and fast rule. As an aside, I've just +2'd that patch, so it'll be merged shortly once it passes CI. If you're a new dev you might find https://developer.wikimedia.org useful, but please do feel free to ask questions whenever! — TNT (talk • she/her) 05:14, 14 July 2022 (UTC)

Thank you for your response! I will let you know if I have any additional questions—from your editnotice, I can tell you also firmly believe that "dumb question" is an oxymoron! Happy editing, HouseBlaster^talk 00:43, 15 July 2022 (UTC)

That Meta "proposal"

I'm told "Everything mentioned in that so-called proposed policy is policy already." Doug Weller talk 16:02, 14 July 2022 (UTC)

I recall hearing similar things (and to be honest given the subject... it's hardly surprising!) — still feels a little odd to have the "proposed policy" header there, but not worth getting bogged down in bureaucracy! — TNT (talk • she/her) 17:22, 14 July 2022 (UTC)

True. Doug Weller talk 18:27, 14 July 2022 (UTC)

IP block

Hi, I saw you did a block here on an IPv6 range. There any way to upgrade it, given [12]? Or upgrade to global, considering [13]. Rschen7754 16:44, 23 July 2022 (UTC)

I'll defer to Praxidicae on any local upgrades of that block (you are welcome to make a request on Meta though irt. a global one) — thank you for letting me know though and for keeping an eye out for this sort of stuff 🙂 — TheresNoTime (talk • she/her) 16:54, 23 July 2022 (UTC)

Happy First Edit Day!

And what a truly inspiring edit that was 😌 I remain to this day pleasantly surprised that I wasn't blocked way back when as a daft vandal — something I likely owe to Cobaltbluetony, who I never did thank for their kind welcome — TheresNoTime (talk • she/her) 15:06, 25 July 2022 (UTC)

Tech News: 2022-30

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

• The www.wikibooks.org and www.wikiquote.org portal pages now use an automated update system. Other project portals will be updated over the next few months. [14]

Problems

• Last week, some wikis were in read-only mode for a few minutes because of an emergency switch of their main database (targeted wikis). [15]

Changes later this week

• The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from 26 July. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from 27 July. It will be on all wikis from 28 July (calendar).
• The external link icon will change slightly in the skins Vector legacy and Vector 2022. The new icon uses simpler shapes to be more recognizable on low-fidelity screens. [16]
• Administrators will now see buttons on user pages for "Change block" and "Unblock user" instead of just "Block user" if the user is already blocked. [17]

Future meetings

• The next open meeting with the Web team about Vector (2022) will take place tomorrow (26 July).

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

19:26, 25 July 2022 (UTC)

Even if the user may have deserved it, I don't think that was a WP:CIVIL thing to say

{{User:ClueBot III/ArchiveNow}}

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

---

I'm talking about what you said here. Since you're an administrator... ❤︎PrincessPandaWiki (talk | contribs) 17:46, 29 July 2022 (UTC)

I don't take kindly to threats to my safety — to insinuate that I need to protect myself because of a disagreement on a website is pathetic. — TheresNoTime (talk • she/her) 17:49, 29 July 2022 (UTC)

I'm also with you in this case. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 20:53, 29 July 2022 (UTC)

I'm ok with administrators calling users who make death threats "pathetic fucks". I am surprised to learn that's not a unanimous view. Firefangledfeathers (talk / contribs) 17:50, 29 July 2022 (UTC)

Endorsed No issue found here. -- ferret (talk) 17:57, 29 July 2022 (UTC)

Endorsed. Occasionally an admin must stomp shit out, a perverse and chilling threat especially. I consider TheresNoTime as acting in my (and others') behalf and I thank them for their service. BusterD (talk) 18:15, 29 July 2022 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Responding to threats of harm applies (it's not just about suicide threats, although that seems to make up the bulk of the page), se good block. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 20:57, 29 July 2022 (UTC)

Endorsed - absolutely. Not the kind of comment a special role model should make, but perfectly apt under the circumstances. The complaint by PrincessPandaWiki is an unnecessary observation. Kudpung กุดผึ้ง (talk) 22:50, 29 July 2022 (UTC)

Not an admin, but I fully endorse TheresNoTime's response - threatening someone's safety should not be acceptable, and I think her calling them a pathetic fuck is completely justified here. XtraJovial (talk • contribs) 23:27, 29 July 2022 (UTC)

Endorsed as a good block. Sorry that this happened to you, TNT. --TheSandDoctor ^Talk 23:28, 29 July 2022 (UTC)

(Non-administrator comment) This is probably IAR. A threat to your security will almost certainly invoke a natural indignant response. This is definitely a case of righteous indignation. While I do think PrincessPandaWiki means well, please know that administrators are no less than humans and their safety comes first. Endorse block for obvious reasons, and no action for the reasonable profanities, as this is a natural response. Hope you can safely recover from this disgusting traumatic event no-one should experience. — 3PPYB6 — TALK — CONTRIBS — 01:44, 30 July 2022 (UTC)

Endorsed I wouldn't have used obscene language myself, but the circumstances make it perfectly understandable. Scorpions13256 (talk) 01:59, 30 July 2022 (UTC)

Oppose turning this into an endorsement fest. this ain't a vote. GeneralNotability (talk) 12:27, 30 July 2022 (UTC)

(Non-administrator comment) The point of WP:CIVIL is to maintain a pleasant editing environment, even during heated content debates. Sending an obvious implied death threat to a Steward (or anybody else) will instantly get you indeffed if not SANFRAN banned. There's simply no way that TNT's response to the death threat aimed at her harmed Wikipedia's editing environment. I'm quite surprised that anybody would see TNT's response as disruptive to the encyclopedia when it is so obviously a non-issue. — Ⓜ️hawk10 (talk) 20:08, 30 July 2022 (UTC)

Okay, first of all, I had no idea that what Lifemoduleinterface said was a threat. I thought it was a silly message about "blocking" users in real life as administrators would do on Wikipedia, so I found the appearance of an administrator and steward being rude towards a user who got blocked for non-threat-related reasons wrong. Second, I was under the impression given by the "No personal attacks" policy that being rude to anyone is not allowed, no matter who they are and what they did. I wouldn't be rude and insult someone if they sent even a death threat to me here on Wikipedia. So the situation here is "An administrator and steward responded rudely to a user, and it's totally fine because it was about a threat the user gave and WP:IAR exists"? I wish somewhere in the Wikipedia namespace would talk about something like this situation. ❤︎PrincessPandaWiki (talk | contribs) 01:01, 1 August 2022 (UTC)

So someone made a death threat, and you're more concerned that an admin responded strongly to the person who made the death threat? I suggest you avoid sticking your nose in situations where you don't know what's going on, since that appears to be the case here. Trainsandotherthings (talk) 01:21, 1 August 2022 (UTC)

Everybody else has said it far better than I possibly could, but I personally see no problem with TNT's choice of wording here and see it as proportionate to the circumstances - it was a threat, I certainly read it as such. What PrincessPandaWiki has done here is roughly the equivalent of telling someone with a severe, profusely bleeding injury to stop shouting and swearing in pain. Patient Zero^talk 02:01, 1 August 2022 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

ZestyLemonz

Hey dude. I think I’ve spotted another sock puppet account belonging to ZestyLemonz. The user is Katie Richardsonn who possesses a very suspicious edit history. There’s a bunch of reality show edits, specifically Big Brother and dancing on ice at least once and somebody who’s associated with Eastenders. The person joined very recently too. Just thought I’d let you know because you dealt with one of his accounts named VeronicaBlue. I also set up a report on his investigations page. If I am wrong I apologise, but maybe you could have a look? LordBossMaster100 (talk) 20:15, 2 August 2022 (UTC)

@LordBossMaster100: Nice spot, looks very  Likely from a CU — I've just blocked them — TheresNoTime (talk • she/her) 20:28, 2 August 2022 (UTC)

Thank you dude. Much appreciated LordBossMaster100 (talk) 20:29, 2 August 2022 (UTC)

What should I do about the investigations page then? LordBossMaster100 (talk) 20:29, 2 August 2022 (UTC)

Never mind. Just saw you respond. LordBossMaster100 (talk) 20:30, 2 August 2022 (UTC)

Yup it'll get archived away by a clerk shortly. Thanks again! — TheresNoTime (talk • she/her) 20:32, 2 August 2022 (UTC)

I think you might want to revoke his access to talkpages. He’s just now threatened to harass me continuously. Another thing you should be aware of is that he throws a pantomime. He always has a temper tantrum like a 5 year old brat whenever I or someone else catches him out. I’m not afraid of what he does because it only shows how insecure one person is, but you should probably be aware of the matter right now because he could come after you too.LordBossMaster100 (talk) 21:08, 2 August 2022 (UTC)

Talk page access revoked — TheresNoTime (talk • she/her) 21:10, 2 August 2022 (UTC)

thanks for note

thanks for your positive response, and your helpful and considerate words! it is truly appreciated. a litttle positive sentiments like yours is what enables our whole community to function better. much appreciated! there, I'm smiling again, thanks to you!! Sm8900 (talk) 20:31, 3 August 2022 (UTC)

You're very welcome! It can be a tough topic to approach, but I certainly appreciate you doing so — TheresNoTime (talk • she/her) 10:37, 5 August 2022 (UTC)

A few more edit filters

Hiya! I know you're super busy with ultra-important steward and CommTech stuff, but if you have the time, I'd love if you can take a look at the following threads for edit filters:

• Offensive edit summaries
• Cuba political vandalism
• BLP vandals using special characters
• Meme vandalism trends
• Fake people

Cheers, and feel free to leave for others to do - these are quite a lot haha :) 🐶 EpicPupper ^{(he/him | talk)} 04:47, 5 August 2022 (UTC)

I'll try to take a look I was going to say it seems like WP:EFR is getting a bit neglected, but these are all fairly recent filter syntax suggestions — pinging Tamzin who is very well versed in abusefilter syntax and would likely be happy to help — TheresNoTime (talk • she/her) 10:39, 5 August 2022 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – August 2022

News and updates for administrators from the past month (July 2022).

Administrator changes

Valereee

Anthony Appleyard (deceased) • Capitalistroadster • Samsara

Guideline and policy news

• 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.

Technical news

• 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)

Arbitration

• The arbitration case request Geschichte has been automatically closed after a 3 month suspension of the case.

Miscellaneous

• 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.

---

• Discuss this newsletter
• Subscribe
• Archive

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 08:45, 5 August 2022 (UTC)

Revert on Portal: Current Events

Hi TheresNoTime,

Thank you for calling me out on the reverts I recently made. After hearing from the editor, and in retrospect, I realize it was a very hasty thing to do. I have made my apologies to the editor, and have offered to assist him if needed on EN WP.

Please let my know if you have any further concerns with my conduct. Carter00000 (talk) 19:59, 5 August 2022 (UTC)

Hey All good! Thank you for reaching out to the editor — TheresNoTime (talk • she/her) 20:07, 5 August 2022 (UTC)

User creation log non-Roman script

Hello, I see that you welcomed a new editor whose User name was in Cyrillic script. It turned out that this editor is responsible for at least three accounts where Cyrillic letters were used in names that translated to "N*****kunt", "Buttf*ker", and "Nick Anal C*nt". I found these names when patrolling the User creation log for promotional names and/or user pages. When I come across a user page that's not in English I copy/paste some random text into Google Translate. If it's clearly CSD U5 or G11 it's nominated as such. If it looks like the start of a legitimate user page or article draft then I leave a talk page warning about this being the English language Wikipedia. Blue Riband► 20:15, 5 August 2022 (UTC)

I should probably make a habit of translating usernames... oops! — TheresNoTime (talk • she/her) 20:19, 5 August 2022 (UTC)

New Page Patrol newsletter August 2022

New Page Review queue August 2022

Hello TheresNoTime,

Backlog status

After the last newsletter (No.28, June 2022), the backlog declined another 1,000 to 13,000 in the last week of June. Then the July backlog drive began, during which 9,900 articles were reviewed and the backlog fell by 4,500 to just under 8,500 (these numbers illustrate how many new articles regularly flow into the queue). Thanks go to the coordinators Buidhe and Zippybonzo, as well as all the nearly 100 participants. Congratulations to Dr vulpes who led with 880 points. See this page for further details.

Unfortunately, most of the decline happened in the first half of the month, and the backlog has already risen to 9,600. Understandably, it seems many backlog drive participants are taking a break from reviewing and unfortunately, we are not even keeping up with the inflow let alone driving it lower. We need the other 600 reviewers to do more! Please try to do at least one a day.

Coordination

MB and Novem Linguae have taken on some of the coordination tasks. Please let them know if you are interested in helping out. MPGuy2824 will be handling recognition, and will be retroactively awarding the annual barnstars that have not been issued for a few years.

Open letter to the WMF

The Page Curation software needs urgent attention. There are dozens of bug fixes and enhancements that are stalled (listed at Suggested improvements). We have written a letter to be sent to the WMF and we encourage as many patrollers as possible to sign it here. We are also in negotiation with the Board of Trustees to press for assistance. Better software will make the active reviewers we have more productive.

TIP - Reviewing by subject

Reviewers who prefer to patrol new pages by their most familiar subjects can do so from the regularly updated sorted topic list.

New reviewers

The NPP School is being underused. The learning curve for NPP is quite steep, but a detailed and easy-to-read tutorial exists, and the Curation Tool's many features are fully described and illustrated on the updated page here.

Reminders

• Consider staying informed on project issues by putting the project discussion page on your watchlist.
• If you have noticed a user with a good understanding of Wikipedia notability and deletion, suggest they help the effort by placing {{subst:NPR invite}} on their talk page.
• If you are no longer very active on Wikipedia or you no longer wish to be part of the New Page Reviewer user group, please consider asking any admin to remove you from the list. This will enable NPP to have a better overview of its performance and what improvements need to be made to the process and its software.
• To opt-out of future mailings, please remove yourself here.

Delivered by: MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 21:25, 6 August 2022 (UTC)

Tech News: 2022-32

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

• GUS2Wiki copies the information from Special:GadgetUsage to an on-wiki page so you can review its history. If your project isn't already listed on the Wikidata entry for Project:GUS2Wiki you can either run GUS2Wiki yourself or make a request to receive updates. [18]

Changes later this week

• There is no new MediaWiki version this week.
• Some wikis will be in read-only for a few minutes because of a switch of their main database. It will be performed on 9 August at 07:00 UTC (targeted wikis) and on 11 August at 7:00 UTC (targeted wikis).

Future meetings

• The Wikimania Hackathon will take place online from August 12–14. Don't miss the pre-hacking showcase to learn about projects and find collaborators. Anyone can propose a project or host a session. Newcomers are welcome!

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

19:48, 8 August 2022 (UTC)

Recent block

Hello, TheresNoTime,

I was very surprised at your recent indefinite block of Bedford, an editor who has been on Wikipedia for 17 years. He/She only had one previous block, in 2008, for 31 hours. He made some really ill-advised statements in deletion discussions and had political views I fervently disagree with but after so many years, I can't believe a few recent bad comments in MFD discussions would wipe away his tens of thousands of contributions.

I understand a limited block if you view his deletion discussion comments as disruptive but an indefinite block after 17 years and years of recent inactivity make me think that any of us could be blocked should the folks at ANI want us to be gone! I can imagine myself making a blunder, having it brought to ANI and, boom! 24 hours later, I could also be indefinitely blocked. It all happened so fast, I don't understand the need for immediate action on this issue when he rarely edited. Some people at ANI got very upset and I think their reaction to some old and, yes, offensive, userboxes was out of proportion to the editor's overall contributions to Wikipedia over the years. And the reaction wasn't unanimous, there were editors who opposed an immediate indefinite block. I think we have made him a martyr to those who share his political beliefs which is sad.

I don't expect you to agree with me, I just had to say that I think your decision was made too quickly and could backfire on the project. But I even though I disagree with your action, I do appreciate you taking on the hard decisions like this which are bound to make some group of editors upset. Liz ^{Read! Talk!} 01:45, 13 August 2022 (UTC)

Tech News: 2022-33

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

• The Persian (Farsi) Wikipedia community decided to block IP editing from October 2021 to April 2022. The Wikimedia Foundation's Product Analytics team tracked the impact of this change. An impact report is now available.

Changes later this week

• The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from 16 August. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from 17 August. It will be on all wikis from 18 August (calendar).
• Some wikis will be in read-only for a few minutes because of a switch of their main database. It will be performed on 16 August at 07:00 UTC (targeted wikis) and on 18 August at 7:00 UTC (targeted wikis).
• The Realtime Preview will be available as a Beta Feature on wikis in Group 1. This feature was built in order to fulfill one of the Community Wishlist Survey proposals.

Future changes

• The Beta Feature for DiscussionTools will be updated throughout August. Discussions will look different. You can see some of the proposed changes. [19][20][21]

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

21:07, 15 August 2022 (UTC)

NPP message

Hi TheresNoTime,

Invitation

For those who may have missed it in our last newsletter, here's a quick reminder to see the letter we have drafted, and if you support it, do please go ahead and sign it. If you already signed, thanks. Also, if you haven't noticed, the backlog has been trending up lately; all reviews are greatly appreciated.

To opt-out of future mailings, please remove yourself here.

MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 23:11, 20 August 2022 (UTC)

Tech News: 2022-34

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

• Two problems with Kartographer maps have been fixed. Maps are no longer shown as empty when a geoline was created via VisualEditor. Geolines consisting of points with QIDs (e.g., subway lines) are no longer shown with pushpins. [22][23]

Changes later this week

• The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from 23 August. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from 24 August. It will be on all wikis from 25 August (calendar).
• Some wikis will be in read-only for a few minutes because of a switch of their main database. It will be performed on 25 August at 7:00 UTC (targeted wikis).
• The colours of links and visited links will change. This is to make the difference between links and other text more clear. [24]

Future changes

• The new [subscribe] button helps newcomers get answers. The Editing team is enabling this tool everywhere. You can turn it off in your preferences. [25]

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

00:10, 23 August 2022 (UTC)

Feedback request: Wikipedia policies and guidelines request for comment

Your feedback is requested at Wikipedia talk:Categorization on a "Wikipedia policies and guidelines" request for comment. Thank you for helping out!
You were randomly selected to receive this invitation from the list of Feedback Request Service subscribers. If you'd like not to receive these messages any more, you can opt out at any time by removing your name.

Message delivered to you with love by Yapperbot :) | Is this wrong? Contact my bot operator. | Sent at 21:30, 25 August 2022 (UTC)

discord question

Sorry to bother you, I think I (same username in both) was banned from the wikipedia discord? Can I ask why? Is there a more appropriate venue to ask? Can you tell me who/where to ask? Thanks. Tttmaker (talk) 23:54, 25 August 2022 (UTC)

Editing news 2022 #2

Read this in another language • Subscription list for this multilingual newsletter

The [subscribe] button shortens response times.

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) 00:36, 26 August 2022 (UTC)

Tech News: 2022-35

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

• The Realtime Preview is available as a Beta Feature on wikis in Group 2. This feature was built in order to fulfill one of the Community Wishlist Survey proposals. Please note that when this Beta feature is enabled, it may cause conflicts with some wiki-specific Gadgets.

Problems

• In recent months, there have been inaccurate numbers shown for various Special:Statistics at Commons, Wikidata, and English Wikipedia. This has now been fixed. [26]

Changes later this week

• The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from 30 August. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from 31 August. It will be on all wikis from 1 September (calendar).
• Some wikis will be in read-only for a few minutes because of a switch of their main database. It will be performed on 30 August at 07:00 UTC (targeted wikis) and on 1 September at 7:00 UTC (targeted wikis).

Future changes

• The Wikimedia Foundation wants to improve how Wikimedia communities report harmful incidents by building the Private Incident Reporting System (PIRS) to make it easy and safe for users to make reports. You can leave comments on the talk page, by answering the questions provided. If you have ever faced a harmful situation that you wanted to report/reported, join a PIRS interview to share your experience. To sign up please email Madalina Ana.

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

23:03, 29 August 2022 (UTC)

Happy First Edit Day!

Happy first edit day! If your first edit was a kid, it would be 14 years old today (and love talking about 700 errors) haha. TheSandDoctor ^Talk 23:35, 26 August 2022 (UTC)