User talk:RileyBugz

Hi, I am quite concerned by your comments here. Getting past the slippery use of the word "consensus" where there is merely a majority, your characterization of the proposal seems to indicate that you don't understand what the proposal actually was. You might want to reread the proposal and the discussion (particularly my comments that outline the confusion I'm sure a number of other contributors had as well) and revise your wording. — Ƶ§œš¹ _{[lɛts b̥iː pʰəˈlaɪˀt]} 00:07, 12 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]

I think that I accurately characterized the sentence "To accommodate this, should the key and template allow /ɜː/ to appear solely without /r/?", which is what the proposal is about. I'm assuming that you are talking about my characterization fo the opposes; I stand by that, because it seemed to me like two of the opposes were mainly focused on it, and the other one (besides your own) focusing both on its validity as a diaphoneme and on what I characterized as the viewpoint of the opposes. Your viewpoint, at least to me, seems to be very similar, but I can't find much justification to close it in your favour, because there have been example from dictionaries using the diaphoneme discussed. RileyBugz^{私に叫ぼう}_私の編集 00:26, 12 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]

While your explanation is enlightening, you're responding to a strawman. I'm not asking for a readjudication. I'm asking for a reword on what the proposal actually was. This is what I meant when I said, "don't understand what the proposal actually was" (you'll note there is nothing in what I said about your characterization of the opposition). This is important because, IMHO, the proposal was so poorly worded that I suspect (based on people's comments) there were varying interpretations from both sides. I'd at least like the closing admin to get it right.

If you oversimplify the matter to allowing /ɜː/ instead of /ɜːr/ in some cases, I could accept that. But you stated that the proposal was to do this "in words the /r/ should not be pronounced no matter if one uses a rhotic or non-rhotic dialect." That would mean that /ɜː/ would be used to represent pronunciations that include American pronunciations. That's not what was proposed. — Ƶ§œš¹ _{[lɛts b̥iː pʰəˈlaɪˀt]} 17:00, 12 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Would adding "/subdialect" be ok for you? RileyBugz^{私に叫ぼう}_私の編集 17:21, 12 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]

That would not address my concern. If you want my input on specific wording, I would be satisfied with "allow /ɜː/ to appear solely without /r/ for certain words." It's generic and doesn't cover the specific instances/words, but it wouldn't be wrong. — Ƶ§œš¹ _{[lɛts b̥iː pʰəˈlaɪˀt]} 18:55, 12 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Ok, I've changed it to this: "The consensus is to allow the use of /ɜː/ instead of /ɜːr/ in words where the /r/ should not be pronounced." RileyBugz^{私に叫ぼう}_私の編集 19:35, 12 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]

I think that works. Thank you. — Ƶ§œš¹ _{[lɛts b̥iː pʰəˈlaɪˀt]} 01:15, 13 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Hey,

Why did you revert my edit? It was neutral especially considering how the page before I got there was riped with uninformed propaganda on this issue of what this movement really is. My edits provided a legal neutral point of view which also kept in tact what was there before. For now, I reverted your edits. You're in violation of Wikipedia guidelines. Roman J. Lane, Esquire (talk) 22:54, 12 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]

I'd disagree. The sentence "It first spread virally in October 2017 as a hashtag on Twitter with truly unknown aims from unverifiable and non-political sources to bring awareness on a possible widespread prevalence of sexual assault and harassment in the workplace" isn't exactly neutral. I mean, we clearly know its aims: to bring awareness to sexual assault and harassment. And ""It was also a propagandist media campaign against American film producer, Harvey Weinstein, among others in the entertainment industry regarding anonymous and non-anonymous sexual misconduct allegations"?! C'est absurde! RileyBugz^{私に叫ぼう}_私の編集 23:00, 12 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Did you check the sources for which was next to that sentence? Okay, okay, okay. Maybe, you could say, "from diverse perspectives to bring awareness," instead. And it was also a media campaign against Weinstein. Read the New York Times. This is why it blew up the way it did to get him to step down from his company. Roman J. Lane, Esquire (talk) 23:11, 12 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Uhhh... I don't have to check the sources, because while you sorta tell the facts, you twist them. For example, "propagandist media campaign" is non-neutral no matter what the sources tell you. And "from diverse perspectives to bring awareness" also seems pretty twisted to me. Also, news stories can be full of bias (looking at you, Fox News and CNN), and you shouldn't let that bias spill in to the article. RileyBugz^{私に叫ぼう}_私の編集 23:27, 12 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Your revert edits are counter productive, pal. Roman J. Lane, Esquire (talk) 00:14, 13 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Welcome to the first issue of the Timeless newsletter! This issue is being sent or forwarded to everyone who has at some point expressed an interest in the project, give or take, as well as a couple of other potentially relevant pages, so if you would like to continue (or start) receiving this newsletter directly, please sign up for further updates on the meta page.

The news:

The Timeless grant has been selected for funding, and the project is now underway!

While I've had a somewhat slow start working on the project for health reasons, I'm pleased to announce that everything described in the proposal is now either happening, or on its way to happening.

Current progress:

• The project now has a hub on Meta to serve as a directory for the various related pages, workboards, and local discussions and help pages. It's probably incomplete, especially with regards to specific language projects that might have local pages for Timeless, so if you know of others, please add them!
• Outreach: I've been talking to various people and groups directly about skinning, desktop/mobile interfaces, project management, specific component support, and other things, and have begun to compile a very shoddy list of skinning problems and random issues on mw.org based on this. Some of this may inform the direction of this project, or possibly this project will result in building a more proper list that can then be used for other things. We shall see.
• Some development - task triage, code review, bug fixing, and various rabbit holes involving ...overflows.

General plan for the future:

• Triage the rest of the workboard.
• Catch up with all the talkpages and other bug reports that have been left various other places that are not the project workboard
• Do all the bug fixes/features/other things!
• Some proposals aimed at Commons and Wikisource in particular (maybe, we'll see)

Essentially, the grant as written shall be carried out. This was the plan, and remains the plan. Timelines remain fuzzy, but while there have been some initial delays, I don't particularly expect the timeline for project as a whole to change a whole lot.

Also, for anyone at Wikimania right now: I am also at Wikimania. Come talk to me in person!

Thank you all for your interest and support thus far!

-— Isarra ༆ 12:23, 20 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]

This issue has been sent regardless of signup status. To receive future issues please add yourself on the massmessage list.

Hello, I see you have protected the me too movement article page with a revision based on the lack of a source. The casting couch is a pornographic genre and is battled in books such as this which actually is also a source. Please don’t tamper with that point because people need to know about sources like this one:

https://books.google.com/books?id=6cTtz5hWOUAC&pg=PA34&dq=Casting+couch+pornography&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiOqf6IwK7cAhUPB3wKHTtCBvAQ6AEINTAD#v=onepage&q=Casting%20couch%20pornography&f=false

Please fix it. Thanks. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2600:100E:B047:240E:AD12:37C7:8DD1:3001 (talk) 20:24, 20 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]

I'm not going to fix it, because I'm not very interested in the article. If you do cite that source, and demonstrate that it has a direct connection (supported by reliable sources) to the Me Too movement, then I will not revert the edit. But, since my area of interest is biology, I don't want to put significant effort into the Me Too article, unless I want to. RileyBugz^{私に叫ぼう}_私の編集 20:28, 20 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Oh, also, I can't protect things; I can only request it, since I'm not an admin. See this for how to cite your sources. I personally find this website useful for creating citations from google books urls. RileyBugz^{私に叫ぼう}_私の編集 20:30, 20 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]

I just realized it is semi-protected. I'll request that semi-protection to be lifted and replaced with pending changes protection, which is basically where new users and IPs can edit the page, but a pending changes reviewer (like me) must review them first. RileyBugz^{私に叫ぼう}_私の編集 20:44, 20 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Hello! Your submission of Neocalanus cristatus at the Did You Know nominations page has been reviewed, and some issues with it may need to be clarified. Please review the comment(s) underneath your nomination's entry and respond there as soon as possible. Thank you for contributing to Did You Know! Anarchyte (work | talk) 07:28, 27 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Cas Liber (talk · contribs) 00:03, 29 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Hello! Your submission of Neocalanus plumchrus at the Did You Know nominations page has been reviewed, and some issues with it may need to be clarified. Please review the comment(s) underneath your nomination's entry and respond there as soon as possible. Thank you for contributing to Did You Know! Narutolovehinata5 ^tccsdnew 00:45, 30 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]

... for improving article quality in July! --Gerda Arendt (talk) 07:41, 1 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]

@Gerda Arendt: Thanks for the thanks! The picture reminds me a bit of the Tour de France; they frequently go up beautiful mountains like that one. RileyBugz^{私に叫ぼう}_私の編集 21:42, 1 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]

... and for August! --Gerda Arendt (talk) 21:35, 1 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for today's Red-billed tropicbird! --Gerda Arendt (talk) 15:43, 23 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Welcome! And thank you so much for that message; it helped lift my spirits a lot. RileyBugz^{私に叫ぼう}_私の編集 15:53, 23 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]

... and for improvements in September! --Gerda Arendt (talk) 15:58, 1 October 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for today's tree swallow, "about an American swallow in the genus Tachycineta. There has been a lot of research done on it (at least compared to most of the other birds I have worked on), with some even considering it a model organism."! - I have a FAC open, DYK? --Gerda Arendt (talk) 05:57, 6 October 2018 (UTC)[reply]

... and for improvements in October! --Gerda Arendt (talk) 21:27, 1 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]

... and in November! - I hope I'll get to your FAC. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 08:55, 1 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

News and updates for administrators from the past month (July 2018).

Administrator changes

Sro23

KaisaL • Ymblanter

Guideline and policy news

• After a discussion at Meta, a new user group called "interface administrators" (formerly "technical administrator") has been created. Come the end of August, interface admins will be the only users able to edit site-wide JavaScript and CSS pages like MediaWiki:Common.js and MediaWiki:Common.css, or edit other user's personal JavaScript and CSS. The intention is to improve security and privacy by reducing the number of accounts which could be used to compromise the site or another user's account through malicious code. The new user group can be assigned and revoked by bureaucrats. Discussion is ongoing to establish details for implementing the group on the English Wikipedia.
• Following a request for comment, the WP:SISTER style guideline now states that in the mainspace, interwiki links to Wikinews should only be made as per the external links guideline. This generally means that within the body of an article, you should not link to Wikinews about a particular event that is only a part of the larger topic. Wikinews links in "external links" sections can be used where helpful, but not automatically if an equivalent article from a reliable news outlet could be linked in the same manner.

Technical news

• The WMF Anti-Harassment Tools team is seeking input on the second set of wireframes for the Special:Block redesign that will introduce partial blocks. The new functionality will allow you to block a user from editing a specific set of pages, pages in a category, a namespace, and for specific actions such as moving pages and uploading files.

---

Cas Liber (talk · contribs) 00:02, 7 August 2018 (UTC)[reply] Alex Shih (talk) 00:02, 9 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Hello! Your submission of Pseudocalanus newmani at the Did You Know nominations page has been reviewed, and some issues with it may need to be clarified. Please review the comment(s) underneath your nomination's entry and respond there as soon as possible. Thank you for contributing to Did You Know! Yoninah (talk) 20:27, 18 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Alex Shih (talk) 00:01, 24 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]

News and updates for administrators from the past month (August 2018).

Administrator changes

None

Asterion • Crisco 1492 • KF • Kudpung • Liz • Randykitty • Spartaz

Optimist on the run → Voice of Clam

Interface administrator changes

Amorymeltzer • Mr. Stradivarius • MusikAnimal • MSGJ • TheDJ • Xaosflux

Guideline and policy news

• Following a "stop-gap" discussion, six users have temporarily been made interface administrators while discussion is ongoing for a more permanent process for assigning the permission. Interface administrators are now the only editors allowed to edit sitewide CSS and JavaScript pages, as well as CSS/JS pages in another user's userspace. Previously, all administrators had this ability. The right can be granted and revoked by bureaucrats.

Technical news

• Because of a data centre test you will be able to read but not edit the wikis for up to an hour on 12 September and 10 October. This will start at 14:00 (UTC). You might lose edits if you try to save during this time. The time when you can't edit might be shorter than an hour.
• Some abuse filter variables have changed. They are now easier to understand for non-experts. The old variables will still work but filter editors are encouraged to replace them with the new ones. You can find the list of changed variables on mediawiki.org. They have a note which says Deprecated. Use ... instead. An example is article_text which is now page_title.
• Abuse filters can now use how old a page is. The variable is page_age.

Arbitration

• The Arbitration Committee has resolved to perform a round of Checkuser and Oversight appointments. The usernames of all applicants will be shared with the Functionaries team, and they will be requested to assist in the vetting process. The deadline to submit an application is 23:59 UTC, 12 September, and the candidates that move forward will be published on-wiki for community comments on 18 September.

---

This is to let you know that the Tree swallow article has been scheduled as today's featured article for October 6, 2018. Please check the article needs no amendments. If you're interested in editing the main page text, you're welcome to do so at Wikipedia:Today's featured article/October 6, 2018, but note that a coordinator will trim the lead to around 1100 characters anyway, so you aren't obliged to do so. Thanks! Jimfbleak - talk to me? 06:07, 7 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]

@Jimfbleak: Thank you! I have edited the main page text, just to include a sentence of extra-pair paternity. RileyBugz^{私に叫ぼう}_私の編集 15:23, 9 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Looking forward to your development. You could always run through a few of my writing exercises. Tony (talk) 02:02, 24 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]

@Tony1: Thank you! I've started to look at them (I found them in your subpages). Hopefully that helps my writing improve. :) RileyBugz^{私に叫ぼう}_私の編集 10:43, 24 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Hi there, I'm pleased to inform you that I've begun reviewing the article Killdeer you nominated for GA-status according to the criteria. This process may take up to 7 days. Feel free to contact me with any questions or comments you might have during this period. Message delivered by Legobot, on behalf of Chiswick Chap -- Chiswick Chap (talk) 13:41, 27 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]

The article Killdeer you nominated as a good article has passed ; see Talk:Killdeer for comments about the article. Well done! If the article has not already been on the main page as an "In the news" or "Did you know" item, you can nominate it to appear in Did you know. Message delivered by Legobot, on behalf of Chiswick Chap -- Chiswick Chap (talk) 20:41, 28 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]

News and updates for administrators from the past month (September 2018).

Administrator changes

Justlettersandnumbers • L235

Bgwhite • HorsePunchKid • J Greb • KillerChihuahua • Rami R • Winhunter

Interface administrator changes

Cyberpower678 • Deryck Chan • Oshwah • Pharos • Ragesoss • Ritchie333

Oversight changes

Guerillero • NativeForeigner • Snowolf • Xeno

Guideline and policy news

• Following a request for comment, the process for appointing interface administrators has been established. Currently only existing admins can request these rights, while a new RfC has begun on whether it should be available to non-admins.
• There is an open request for comment on Meta regarding the creation a new user group for global edit filter management.

Technical news

• Partial blocks should be available for testing in October on the Test Wikipedia and the Beta-Cluster. This new feature allows admins to block users from editing specific pages and in the near-future, namespaces and uploading files. You can expect more updates and an invitation to help with testing once it is available.
• The Foundations' Anti-Harassment Tools team is currently looking for input on how to measure the effectiveness of blocks. This is in particular related to how they will measure the success of the aforementioned partial blocks.
• Because of a data centre test, you will be able to read but not edit the Wikimedia projects for up to an hour on 10 October. This will start at 14:00 (UTC). You might lose edits if you try to save during this time.

Arbitration

• The Arbitration Committee has, by motion, amended the procedure on functionary inactivity.
• The community consultation for 2018 CheckUser and Oversight appointments has concluded. Appointments will be made by October 11.
• Following a request for comment, the size of the Arbitration Committee will be decreased to 13 arbitrators, starting in 2019. Additionally, the minimum support percentage required to be appointed to a two-year term on ArbCom has been increased to 60%. ArbCom candidates who receive between 50% and 60% support will be appointed to one-year terms instead.
• Nominations for the 2018 Arbitration Committee Electoral Commission are being accepted until 12 October. These are the editors who help run the ArbCom election smoothly. If you are interested in volunteering for this role, please consider nominating yourself.

---

• Hi, I have a request. As my English is not my native language. I asked you to edit The Des Moines Register. The history section seems to have some bugs. Please check and use the resource[1] and rewrite.

1. I can't find the newspaper called "the Iowa Citizen" in Iowa. I guess this is a bug and I deleted it not to make readers confused.
2. The Iowa Stateman seems a newspaper name from the Iowa star since 1854. But the Iowa State Register is unable to be found.
3. In 1857, The Statesman becomes the Iowa State Journal. Is Iowa State Journal a newspaper name or has it grew up as a state-scale publication?
4. In 1860, it shows The weekly Citizen. I can't find the newspaper, too. So I removed it.
5. In 1870, Iowa State Leader and Iowa Daily State Register are rival. I guess that's another newspaper who fight with each other in Iowa.
6. Des Moines Tribune, when was this newspaper created. Delete it or reader would get confused.

Also, I will rewrite a small part in the beginning history. If you see what I was doing. You go on to rewrite.

--Beta Lohman (talk) 23:42, 27 October 2018 (UTC)[reply]

News and updates for administrators from the past month (October 2018).

Guideline and policy news

• A request for comment determined that non-administrators will not be able to request interface admin access.
• A request for comment is in progress to determine whether the Mediation Committee should be closed and marked as historical.
• A village pump discussion has been ongoing about whether the proposed deletion policy (PROD) should be clarified or amended.
• A request for comment is in progress to determine whether pending changes protection should be applied automatically to today's featured article (TFA) in order to mitigate a recent trend of severe image vandalism.

Technical news

• Partial blocks is now available for testing on the Test Wikipedia. The new functionality allows you to block users from editing specific pages. Bugs may exist and can be reported on the local talk page or on Meta. A discussion regarding deployment to English Wikipedia will be started by community liaisons sometime in the near future.
• A user script is now available to quickly review unblock requests.
• The 2019 Community Wishlist Survey is now accepting new proposals until November 11, 2018. The results of this survey will determine what software the Wikimedia Foundation's Community Tech team will work on next year. Voting on the proposals will take place from November 16 to November 30, 2018. Specifically, there is a proposal category for admins and stewards that may be of interest.

Arbitration

• Eligible editors will be invited to nominate themselves as candidates in the 2018 Arbitration Committee Elections starting on November 4 until November 13. Voting will begin on November 19 and last until December 2.
• The Arbitration Committee's email address has changed to arbcom-enwikimedia.org. Other email lists, such as functionaries-en and clerks-l, remain unchanged.

---

• Hi, I was intending to create an article, considering the title as List of banned films in the Russian Federation. Is it correct? --Beta Lohman (talk) 10:24, 30 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]

@Beta Lohman: Hi! I'd say "List of films banned in the Russian Federation" would be better. RileyBugz^{私に叫ぼう}_私の編集 01:28, 1 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

News and updates for administrators from the past month (November 2018).

Administrator changes

Al Ameer son • Randykitty • Spartaz

Boson • Daniel J. Leivick • Efe • Esanchez7587 • Fred Bauder • Garzo • Martijn Hoekstra • Orangemike

Interface administrator changes

Deryck Chan

Guideline and policy news

• Following a request for comment, the Mediation Committee is now closed and will no longer be accepting case requests.
• A request for comment is in progress to determine whether members of the Bot Approvals Group should satisfy activity requirements in order to remain in that role.
• A request for comment is in progress regarding whether to change the administrator inactivity policy, such that administrators "who have made no logged administrative actions for at least 12 months may be desysopped". Currently, the policy states that administrators "who have made neither edits nor administrative actions for at least 12 months may be desysopped".
• A proposal has been made to temporarily restrict editing of the Main Page to interface administrators in order to mitigate the impact of compromised accounts.

Technical news

• Administrators and bureaucrats can no longer unblock themselves unless they placed the block initially. This change has been implemented globally. See also this ongoing village pump discussion (permalink).
• To complement the aforementioned change, blocked administrators will soon have the ability to block the administrator that placed their block to mitigate the possibility of a compromised administrator account blocking all other active administrators.
• Since deployment of Partial blocks on Test Wikipedia, several bugs were identified. Most of them are now fixed. Administrators are encouraged to test the new deployment and report new bugs on Phabricator or leave feedback on the Project's talk page. You can request administrator access on the Test Wiki here.

Arbitration

• Voting in the 2018 Arbitration Committee Elections is open to eligible editors until Monday 23:59, 3 December 2018. Please review the candidates and, if you wish to do so, submit your choices on the voting page.

Miscellaneous

• In late November, an attacker compromised multiple accounts, including at least four administrator accounts, and used them to vandalize Wikipedia. If you have ever used your current password on any other website, you should change it immediately. Sharing the same password across multiple websites makes your account vulnerable, especially if your password was used on a website that suffered a data breach. As these incidents have shown, these concerns are not pure fantasies.
• Wikipedia policy requires administrators to have strong passwords. To further reinforce security, administrators should also consider enabling two-factor authentication. A committed identity can be used to verify that you are the true account owner in the event that your account is compromised and/or you are unable to log in.

Obituaries

• Shock Brigade Harvester Boris (Raymond Arritt) passed away on 14 November 2018. Boris joined Wikipedia as Raymond arritt on 8 May 2006 and was an administrator from 30 July 2007 to 2 June 2008.

---

MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 21:14, 14 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

	Austral season's greetings
	Tuck into this! We've made about three of these in the last few days for various festivities. Supermarkets are stuffed with cheap berries. Season's greetings! Cas Liber (talk · contribs) 22:41, 24 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

@Casliber: Thanks, and happy holidays to you! Hope you enjoyed all of the food. :) RileyBugz^{私に叫ぼう}_私の編集 23:54, 25 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for your project help last year! - When would you like Killdeer to go for TFA? --Gerda Arendt (talk) 16:49, 1 January 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Please check out "Happy" once more, for a smile, and sharing (a Nobel Peace Prize), and resolutions. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 15:33, 12 January 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Now I'm listening to the whole of Bach's Christmas Oratorio; thank you for the encouragement! As for the killdeer, I don't have much preference as to when it would go for TFA. RileyBugz^{私に叫ぼう}_私の編集 16:49, 12 January 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for article improvements in February! --Gerda Arendt (talk) 13:31, 28 February 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia:Today's featured article/requests/Killdeer --Gerda Arendt (talk) 10:36, 2 March 2019 (UTC)[reply]

March

... with thanks from QAI

... and for March! --Gerda Arendt (talk) 22:27, 24 March 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you! RileyBugz^{私に叫ぼう}_私の編集 00:43, 25 March 2019 (UTC)[reply]

News and updates for administrators from the past month (December 2018).

Guideline and policy news

• There are a number of new or changed speedy deletion criteria, each previously part of WP:CSD#G6:

1. G14 (new): Disambiguation pages that disambiguate only zero or one existing pages are now covered under the new G14 criterion (discussion). This is {{db-disambig}}; the text is unchanged and candidates may be found in Category:Candidates for speedy deletion as unnecessary disambiguation pages.
2. R4 (new): Redirects in the file namespace (and no file links) that have the same name as a file or redirect at Commons are now covered under the new R4 criterion (discussion). This is {{db-redircom}}; the text is unchanged.
3. G13 (expanded): Userspace drafts containing only the default Article Wizard text are now covered under G13 along with other drafts (discussion). Such blank drafts are now eligible after six months rather than one year, and taggers continue to use {{db-blankdraft}}.

• The Wikimedia Foundation now requires all interface administrators to enable two-factor authentication.
• Members of the Bot Approvals Group (BAG) are now subject to an activity requirement. After two years without any bot-related activity (e.g. operating a bot, posting on a bot-related talk page), BAG members will be retired from BAG following a one-week notice.

Technical news

• Starting on December 13, the Wikimedia Foundation security team implemented new password policy and requirements. Privileged accounts (administrators, bureaucrats, checkusers, oversighters, interface administrators, bots, edit filter managers/helpers, template editors, et al.) must have a password at least 10 characters in length. All accounts must have a password:

1. At least 8 characters in length
2. Not in the 100,000 most popular passwords (defined by the Password Blacklist library)
3. Different from their username

User accounts not meeting these requirements will be prompted to update their password accordingly. More information is available on MediaWiki.org.

• Blocked administrators may now block the administrator that blocked them. This was done to mitigate the possibility that a compromised administrator account would block all other active administrators, complementing the removal of the ability to unblock oneself outside of self-imposed blocks. A request for comment is currently in progress to determine whether the blocking policy should be updated regarding this change.
• {{Copyvio-revdel}} now has a link to open the history with the RevDel checkboxes already filled in.

Arbitration

• Following the 2018 Arbitration Committee elections, the following editors have been appointed to the Arbitration Committee: AGK, Courcelles, GorillaWarfare, Joe Roe, Mkdw, SilkTork.

Miscellaneous

• Accounts continue to be compromised on a regular basis. Evidence shows this is entirely due to the accounts having the same password that was used on another website that suffered a data breach. If you have ever used your current password on any other website, you should change it immediately.
• Around 22% of admins have enabled two-factor authentication, up from 20% in June 2018. If you haven't already enabled it, please consider doing so. Regardless of whether you use 2FA, please practice appropriate account security by ensuring your password is secure and unique to Wikimedia.

---

Hey Riley,

Sorry about rolling back a reply on your talk page, I was going through my watchlist in multi-tab mode and clicked the wrong button.

Best,

SITH (talk) 23:05, 12 January 2019 (UTC)[reply]

It's fine. :) RileyBugz^{私に叫ぼう}_私の編集 23:25, 12 January 2019 (UTC)[reply]

News and updates for administrators from the past month (January 2019).

Administrator changes

Enterprisey • JJMC89

BorgQueen

Harro5 • Jenks24 • Graft • R. Baley

Interface administrator changes

Enterprisey

Guideline and policy news

• A request for comment is currently open to reevaluate the activity requirements for administrators.
• Administrators who are blocked have the technical ability to block the administrator who blocked their own account. A recent request for comment has amended the blocking policy to clarify that this ability should only be used in exceptional circumstances, such as account compromises, where there is a clear and immediate need.
• A request for comment closed with a consensus in favor of deprecating The Sun as a permissible reference, and creating an edit filter to warn users who attempt to cite it.

Technical news

• A discussion regarding an overhaul of the format and appearance of Wikipedia:Requests for page protection is in progress (permalink). The proposed changes will make it easier to create requests for those who are not using Twinkle. The workflow for administrators at this venue will largely be unchanged. Additionally, there are plans to archive requests similar to how it is done at WP:PERM, where historical records are kept so that prior requests can more easily be searched for.

Miscellaneous

• Voting in the 2019 Steward elections will begin on 08 February 2019, 14:00 (UTC) and end on 28 February 2019, 13:59 (UTC). The confirmation process of current stewards is being held in parallel. You can automatically check your eligibility to vote.
• A new IRC bot is available that allows you to subscribe to notifications when specific filters are tripped. This requires that your IRC handle be identified.

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News and updates for administrators from the past month (February 2019).

Guideline and policy news

• The RfC on administrator activity requirements failed to reach consensus for any proposal.
• Following discussions at the Bureaucrats' noticeboard and Wikipedia talk:Administrators, an earlier change to the restoration of adminship policy was reverted. If requested, bureaucrats will not restore administrator permissions removed due to inactivity if there have been five years without a logged administrator action; this "five year rule" does not apply to permissions removed voluntarily.

Technical news

• A new tool is available to help determine if a given IP is an open proxy/VPN/webhost/compromised host.

Arbitration

• The Arbitration Committee announced two new OTRS queues. Both are meant solely for cases involving private information; other cases will continue to be handled at the appropriate venues (e.g., WP:COIN or WP:SPI).
  • paid-en-wpwikipedia.org has been set up to receive private evidence related to abusive paid editing.
  • checkuser-en-wpwikipedia.org has been set up to receive private requests for CheckUser. For instance, requests for IP block exemption for anonymous proxy editing should now be sent to this address instead of the functionaries-en list.

Miscellaneous

• Following the 2019 Steward Elections, the following editors have been appointed as stewards: Base, Einsbor, Jon Kolbert, Schniggendiller, and Wim b.

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This is to let you know that the Killdeer article has been scheduled as today's featured article for April 3, 2019. Please check the article needs no amendments. If you're interested in editing the main page text, you're welcome to do so at Wikipedia:Today's featured article/April 3, 2019, but note that a coordinator will trim the lead to around 1000 characters anyway, so you aren't obliged to do so.

We also suggest that you watchlist Wikipedia:Main Page/Errors on the day before and the day of this TFA. Thanks! Jimfbleak - talk to me? 13:52, 5 March 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Precious

Two years!

--Gerda Arendt (talk) 13:24, 10 March 2019 (UTC)[reply]

@Jimfbleak and Gerda Arendt: Thank you both (Gerda Arendt especially, for nominating the article for TFA)!

@Jimfbleak and Gerda Arendt: Re-ping since I forgot to add my sig. RileyBugz^{私に叫ぼう}_私の編集 00:45, 25 March 2019 (UTC)[reply]

April

... with thanks from QAI

Thank you for the article "about a (primarily) North American shorebird. It is found both inland and on the coast."! - Nice to share the page, with Trois Chansons, DYK? --Gerda Arendt (talk) 04:29, 3 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Three years now! --Gerda Arendt (talk) 08:03, 10 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Hello

Our team at the Wikimedia Foundation is working on a project to improve the ease-of-use and productivity of wiki talk pages. As a Teahouse host, I can imagine you’ve run into challenges explaining talk pages to first-time participants.

We want all contributors to be able to talk to each other on the wikis – to ask questions, to resolve differences, to organize projects and to make decisions. Communication is essential for the depth and quality of our content, and the health of our communities. We're currently leading a global consultation on how to improve talk pages, and we're looking for people that can report on their experiences using (or helping other people to use) wiki talk pages. We'd like to invite you to participate in the consultation, and invite new users to join too.

We thank you in advance for your participation and your help.

Trizek (WMF), 08:37, 11 March 2019 (UTC)[reply]

The previous message about the talk pages consultation has a broken link.

The correct link has been misinterpreted by the MassMessage tool. Please use the following link: Wikipedia:Talk pages consultation 2019.

Sorry for the inconvenience, Trizek (WMF), 08:48, 11 March 2019 (UTC)[reply]

--MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 23:18, 15 March 2019 (UTC)[reply]

News and updates for administrators from the past month (March 2019).

Technical news

• In Special:Preferences under "Appearance" → "Advanced options", there is now an option to show a confirmation prompt when clicking on a rollback link.
• The Wikimedia Foundation's Community health initiative plans to design and build a new user reporting system to make it easier for people experiencing harassment and other forms of abuse to provide accurate information to the appropriate channel for action to be taken. Please see meta:Community health initiative/User reporting system consultation 2019 to provide your input on this idea.

Arbitration

• The Arbitration Committee clarified that the General 1RR prohibition for Palestine-Israel articles may only be enforced on pages with the {{ARBPIA 1RR editnotice}} edit notice.

Miscellaneous

• Two more administrator accounts were compromised. Evidence has shown that these attacks, like previous incidents, were due to reusing a password that was used on another website that suffered a data breach. If you have ever used your current password on any other website, you should change it immediately. All admins are strongly encouraged to enable two-factor authentication, please consider doing so. Please always practice appropriate account security by ensuring your password is secure and unique to Wikimedia.
• As a reminder, according to WP:NOQUORUM, administrators looking to close or relist an AfD should evaluate a nomination that has received few or no comments as if it were a proposed deletion (PROD) prior to determining whether it should be relisted.

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News and updates for administrators from the past month (April 2019).

Guideline and policy news

• A request for comment concluded that creating pages in the portal namespace should be restricted to autoconfirmed users.
• Following a request for comment, the subject-specific notability guideline for pornographic actors and models (WP:PORNBIO) was removed; in its place, editors should consult WP:ENT and WP:GNG.

Technical news

• XTools Admin Stats, a tool to list admins by administrative actions, has been revamped to support more types of log entries such as AbuseFilter changes. Two additional tools have been integrated into it as well: Steward Stats and Patroller Stats.

Arbitration

• In response to the continuing compromise of administrator accounts, the Arbitration Committee passed a motion amending the procedures for return of permissions (diff). In such cases, the committee will review all available information to determine whether the administrator followed "appropriate personal security practices" before restoring permissions; administrators found failing to have adequately done so will not be resysopped automatically. All current administrators have been notified of this change.
• Following a formal ratification process, the arbitration policy has been amended (diff). Specifically, the two-thirds majority required to remove or suspend an arbitrator now excludes (1) the arbitrator facing suspension or removal, and (2) any inactive arbitrator who does not respond within 30 days to attempts to solicit their feedback on the resolution through all known methods of communication.

Miscellaneous

• A request for comment is currently open to amend the community sanctions procedure to exclude non XfD or CSD deletions.
• A proposal to remove pre-2009 indefinite IP blocks is currently open for discussion.

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