User talk:Traveler100

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Talk to me...
Archive Add comment	My view of this talk page I will usually reply here, not on your talk page Comments will not be edited except to reformat them to a nice thread format if it looks untidy Obvious spam will be deleted

Typo fixing?[edit]

Not that it makes much difference, but what's the point of making ~~fixes~~ changes like this: [1]? I know either way works the same, but still. Ks0stm ^{(T•C•G•E)} 18:52, 25 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

It is just the first step in a number of runs through a list of orphaned article. First stage is to identify which articles do not currently belong to projects. Easiest way to do this is set all to syntax {{WikiProject foo}} so I can easily eliminate them from future runs. --Traveler100 (talk) 20:44, 25 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

These changes have many benefits, but have taken years to become accepted. Rich Farmbrough, 00:02, 2 November 2012 (UTC).[reply]

Your Adjustment to the CFB North Bay Page[edit]

I appreciate your creating a link to 21 Aerospace Control & Warning Squadron on the Canadian Forces Base North Bay page, but for your information you should not have changed the ampersand to "and" in the squadron's title. Even in its abbreviation, the squadron is 21 AC&W Sqn. I don't know (yet) who created the squadron's Wikipedia page, but the given military designation is wrong and should employ the ampersand.

Your adjustment to the Canadian Forces Base North Bay page has been amended, but the link retained. Thought you deserved to know the reason for the change to your contribution. I shall be amending the 21 Squadron page shortly to the correct designation.

Captain Doug Newman, Canadian Forces Base North Bay

22WHERO (talk) 13:39, 29 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Disambiguation link notification for October 31[edit]

Hi. Thank you for your recent edits. Wikipedia appreciates your help. We noticed though that when you edited Bali Aga, you added links pointing to the disambiguation pages Kintamani and Madurese (check to confirm | fix with Dab solver). Such links are almost always unintended, since a disambiguation page is merely a list of "Did you mean..." article titles. Read the FAQ • Join us at the DPL WikiProject.

It's OK to remove this message. Also, to stop receiving these messages, follow these opt-out instructions. Thanks, DPL bot (talk) 11:16, 31 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

done --Traveler100 (talk) 15:59, 31 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Non-existent talk pages[edit]

To find pages in a category with no talk page, fire up your illegal version of AWB, make the list of pages in the category, convert (rt click the list and select the option) to talk pages. Now run "preparse" mode with all changes turned off, logging off, and "skip if exists" turned on. You will end up with a list of non-existent talk pages. You can use this or convert back to subject pages. Rich Farmbrough, 23:56, 1 November 2012 (UTC).[reply]

I did work that method out after a while. Also could use for identifying pages not belonging to a WikiProject can be done in the same non-edit run of AWB. BTW - why do you say my AWB is an illegal version?

This method is fine if I am the only one working on this (which looks like I am at the moment) but it creates a static list that does not get updated unless someone proactivly does something. The best method would be an interactive tool that lists when someone asks like the Catscan or image existence tools. The second best would be to utilize an existing template. The second option was why I was asking about updating categories. I can get a template to check if a page exists, do you know if there is a template function to show the existence of a key word?--Traveler100 (talk) 07:51, 2 November 2012 (UTC)[reply]

It's a joke. I am "banned" from using AWB by my dear friends at ArbCom.

A key word on a page? No, though this will likley change with Lua.

I'd set something up but again I am not allowed to do anything useful. Rich Farmbrough, 03:39, 3 November 2012 (UTC).[reply]

Talkback[edit]

Hello, Traveler100. You have new messages at Eastlaw's talk page.
Message added 09:14, 2 November 2012 (UTC). You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.[reply]

Eastlaw ^talk ⁄ _contribs 09:14, 2 November 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you[edit]

Thank you for de-orphaning my articles. Wee Curry Monster talk 22:39, 2 November 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Hi, I undid a thing...[edit]

I think there may have been a confusion about Kettle Falls. It looks like the image you added is from Kettle Falls in Sturgeon River Provincial Park. The Kettle Falls on the linked page is(was) on the Columbia River in Washington state, USA. There really is no current image of the falls, as they were flooded behind Grand Coulee Dam in 1942.

Skip Sloan✡ 00:22, 3 November 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Talkback[edit]

Hello, Traveler100. You have new messages at Koavf's talk page.
Message added 17:38, 3 November 2012 (UTC). You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.[reply]

—Justin (koavf)❤T☮C☺M☯ 17:38, 3 November 2012 (UTC)[reply]

You are entirely confused[edit]

Regarding these edits, you are entirely confused. First of all, AnomieBOT's OrphanReferenceFixer task has absolutely nothing to do with {{orphan}}, it has to do with fixing big red errors caused when someone accidentally deletes a reference from an article that was being used in multiple places.

Second, AnomieBOT did not add {{orphan}} to those or to any other articles. If you look closely at the diffs you linked, you will see that AnomieBOT only added |date=November 2012 to the tags that were added in the previous edits [2] and [3] both by Boleyn (talk · contribs). This is AnomieBOT's TagDater task. Anomie ⚔ 19:44, 3 November 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry about that misunderstanding. There is always something new to learn on Wikipedia. Would it be possible for the bot to check if the tag is valid or not, rather than giving it more credibility? --Traveler100 (talk) 07:04, 4 November 2012 (UTC)[reply]

The date doesn't give the tag any more credibility, it just makes it categorize correctly. The problem with the bot trying to determine validity is that most tags don't have any machine-determinable objectivity criteria. Anomie ⚔ 13:26, 4 November 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Corrections of photo request templates[edit]

About most of the corrections, one of the problems is that the "Wikipedians in" categories and the actual "Photo requests in" categories aren't harmonized. I want both to display, but sometimes one of the former exists when the latter doesn't, or vice versa. If that is the case, I will create a "Photo requests in" to make up for the new one. If it isn't what I'm talking about, then please show me diffs.

Now, I'll take a look at the Occitania thing... WhisperToMe (talk) 13:01, 11 November 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I created that category because the Category:Wikipedians in Occitania category was created back in 2008 (by another person) and I wanted to harmonize it at that category. Even though there is no government administrative body that controls an "Occitania" today, there is a historic region where people speak Occitan WhisperToMe (talk) 13:03, 11 November 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Also, the category Category:Wikipedians_in_Curacao is without the cedilla and that's why I set the reqphoto without the cedilla. WhisperToMe (talk) 13:32, 11 November 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Now I understand your logic. Yes it would be useful if they matched but I think wikipedians in categories go down to a much finer detail than you would want the photo requests to go to. The point of the photo request categories is not to classify the request but to aid people in fulfilling them. One or two requests in each of a hundred locations per country does not really help. Requests can after all be mapped to Google. Does adding the Wikipedians in to the tag on the talk page help in any way? How often are these people contacted? There is unfortunately no link between Wikipedians in category to photo requests (interesting idea though), although I have started making links in the other direction (win= parameter in the {{howtoreqphoto}} template). --Traveler100 (talk) 15:05, 11 November 2012 (UTC)[reply]

It might be good to contact a reference desk on the issue. I'm presuming that one contacts the Wikipedian via talk page or Wiki-e-mail but there's no guarantee that the person is still active. In many major cities, honestly I think there aren't enough requests, and if I wanted to I could add more specific requests that I know would help an article - i.e. a location can have requests for welcome signs, town halls, fire departments, schools, police stations, parks, corporate offices, major thoroughfares, etc. For regions with multiple small towns one could tag the towns each until they all had applicable requests. The link idea would be nice also! WhisperToMe (talk) 15:10, 11 November 2012 (UTC)[reply]

That would be a good idea to request a category move. Thanks for reminding me WhisperToMe (talk) 13:32, 17 November 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Replaceable fair use File:Jellybabies.jpg[edit]

Thanks for uploading File:Jellybabies.jpg. I noticed the description page specifies that this media item is being used under a claim of fair use, but its use in Wikipedia articles fails the first non-free content criterion in that it illustrates a subject for which a freely licensed media item could be found or created that provides substantially the same information or which could be adequately covered with text alone. If you believe this media item is not replaceable, please:

Go to the file description page and edit it to add {{di-replaceable fair use disputed}}, without deleting the original replaceable fair use template.
On the file discussion page, write the reason why this media item is not replaceable at all.

Alternatively, you can also choose to replace this non-free media item by finding freely licensed media of the same subject, requesting that the copyright holder release this (or similar) media under a free license, or by creating new media yourself (for example, by taking your own photograph of the subject).

If you have uploaded other non-free media, consider checking that you have specified how these media fully satisfy our non-free content criteria. You can find a list of description pages you have edited by clicking on this link. Note that even if you follow steps 1 and 2 above, non-free media which could be replaced by freely licensed alternatives will be deleted 2 days after this notification (7 days if uploaded before 13 July 2006), per the non-free content policy. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you. — Crisco 1492 (talk) 23:03, 17 November 2012 (UTC)[reply]

The other image is not of Basset Jelly Babies. Traveler100 (talk) 06:51, 18 November 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Photo request structure[edit]

Yes, I understand that it's not a mere classification structure. However a lot of the reasons why these categories are underpopulated is because the vast majority of users are not aware that they can do it, not because the category can't naturally support it. In theory a Catalonia category can be full of photo requests; it is a major, influential region of Spain encompassing many areas. If one challenges me "make a list of photo requests for X" I can probably do it

So while I understand you don't want "empty" categories think hard about the scope of the category. If it was a category just for "Nowheresville, Kansas" I can understand why one would feel a concern for an empty category - But "Catalonia" should provide ample support for multiple photo requests.

Also the reason I made the category was to match the Wikipedian category "Wikipedians in Catalonia" WhisperToMe (talk) 05:39, 21 November 2012 (UTC)[reply]

replied on user's talk page where conversation started.--Traveler100 (talk) 05:51, 21 November 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Ohio[edit]

Please take a look at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Ohio, where I have made a suggestion about requests for photographs by county rather than the entire state. See also Category:Wikipedia requested photographs in Pennsylvania where I have carried out the suggestion of requesting photographs by county.

You seem to be very interested in this subject, so I would welcome your comments. --DThomsen8 (talk) 15:52, 25 November 2012 (UTC)[reply]

thanks for informing of this and giving me the chance to reply. --Traveler100 (talk) 16:56, 25 November 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Picture for Surp Agop[edit]

Hello! Thank you so much for your contributions to Surp Agop. I found a nice picture...http://www.istanbulermenivakiflari.org/uploads/resim80.jpg Im not to familiar with the copyright of this if you can upload it that will be great! Thank you! Proudbolsahye (talk) 07:49, 22 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]

It is not clear to me what is the copyright on this image, so sorry have to assume we cannot use it.

Bona fides[edit]

Have a prosperous and productive New Year, Alice! --Traveler100 (talk) 11:38, 24 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for that - and have a very Merry Christmas yourself!

(I'm sorry that I can't sign under my real name of Alice, but I was unjustly and erroneously blocked as a "Sockpuppet" {of whom I'm still not sure of} many years ago!) --118.93.73.30 (talk) alias User:Alice 11:47, 24 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Category:Wikipedia requested photographs of Organizations[edit]

Category:Wikipedia requested photographs of Organizations, which you created, has been nominated for possible deletion, merging, or renaming. If you would like to participate in the discussion, you are invited to add your comments at the category's entry on the Categories for discussion page. Thank you. Armbrust ^{The Homunculus} 10:40, 3 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Template:Req photo[edit]

your db-t3 tag requires a date for it to work. 198.102.153.2 (talk) 17:54, 7 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

since you didn't fix it, I am removing the tag. best of luck tagging in the future. 198.102.153.2 (talk) 18:23, 15 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

But there is nothing about date in the template documentation?--Traveler100 (talk) 18:28, 15 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

A barnstar for you![edit]

	The Photographer's Barnstar
	Many thanks for all your hard work on image requests. In ictu oculi (talk) 02:35, 12 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

your welcome. And thanks for the barnstar, always good to know that people find what I a doing useful. --Traveler100 (talk) 06:49, 12 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Tiền River[edit]

Will do, many thanks. In ictu oculi (talk) 18:20, 4 February 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Comment needed[edit]

Can you please read and comment at Wikipedia_talk:AutoWikiBrowser/Bugs#In_Template? -- Magioladitis (talk) 12:20, 10 February 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Done. --Traveler100 (talk) 12:52, 10 February 2013 (UTC)[reply]

reqphoto category suggestions[edit]

I noticed that Category:Wikipedia requested photographs of sports and games and Category:Wikipedia requested photographs of sportspeople both have subcategories for numerous sports, but neither has a subcategory for skateboarding. I think it could be populated.

I also noticed that Category:Wikipedia requested photographs of actors and filmmakers is unwieldy, with thousands of entries. Someone started making subcategories by country, but there's only a subcategory for India, not for any other countries. The one for India only had two articles in it, but I added a few more. It might be good to have subcategories for other countries, or to get rid of the by-country scheme if it won't get used.

The reasons I wrote to you are that

I'm new and don't know how to change these things
I suspect I may not be allowed to change them
I saw your name mentioned on the talk page for the reqphoto template.

--Rybec (talk) 02:50, 16 February 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I have create Category:Wikipedia requested photographs of skateboarders. As there is a WikiProject Skateboarding, seams reasonable to have a reqphoto category for the subject. The actors and filmmakers is a little more problematic. Have so far tried to classify notability subject and county of people as separate categories. Some of the Indian ones are ridiculously small and detailed, these categories are to help people find photographs not classify pages (subtle difference). On the other hand I see no other way of sub-dividing this large group, so maybe it is the right solution in this case. --Traveler100 (talk) 07:27, 16 February 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for making the category and for putting some pages in it. If you decide to reorganize the actors and filmmakers I'd be interested in knowing. —rybec 09:19, 16 February 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Replaceable fair use File:Drag and drop.gif[edit]

Thanks for uploading File:Drag and drop.gif. I noticed the description page specifies that this media item is being used under a claim of fair use, but its use in Wikipedia articles fails the first non-free content criterion in that it illustrates a subject for which a freely licensed media item could be found or created that provides substantially the same information or which could be adequately covered with text alone. If you believe this media item is not replaceable, please:

Go to the file description page and edit it to add {{di-replaceable fair use disputed}}, without deleting the original replaceable fair use template.
On the file discussion page, write the reason why this media item is not replaceable at all.

Alternatively, you can also choose to replace this non-free media item by finding freely licensed media of the same subject, requesting that the copyright holder release this (or similar) media under a free license, or by creating new media yourself (for example, by taking your own photograph of the subject).

If you have uploaded other non-free media, consider checking that you have specified how these media fully satisfy our non-free content criteria. You can find a list of description pages you have edited by clicking on this link. Note that even if you follow steps 1 and 2 above, non-free media which could be replaced by freely licensed alternatives will be deleted 2 days after this notification (7 days if uploaded before 13 July 2006), per the non-free content policy. If you have any questions, please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you. ViperSnake151 Talk 23:56, 28 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Well yes I see it has been replaced but I do not think by a better image. But go ahead. This is just an example of the sort of thing he discourages people working on this site. --Traveler100 (talk) 06:25, 29 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Well, I did replace the image, and I know the image isn't high quality. I'm going to try one that looks better. //iXavier <talk/edits/logs> 07:14, 29 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Invitation to WikiProject Breakfast[edit]

Hello, Traveler100. You are invited to join WikiProject Breakfast, a WikiProject and resource dedicated to improving Wikipedia's coverage of breakfast-related topics. To join the project, just add your name to the member list. Northamerica1000^(talk) 18:12, 6 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Orphaned non-free image File:Handelsblatt-1.jpg[edit]

⚠

Thanks for uploading File:Handelsblatt-1.jpg. The image description page currently specifies that the image is non-free and may only be used on Wikipedia under a claim of fair use. However, the image is currently not used in any articles on Wikipedia. If the image was previously in an article, please go to the article and see why it was removed. You may add it back if you think that that will be useful. However, please note that images for which a replacement could be created are not acceptable for use on Wikipedia (see our policy for non-free media).

Note that any non-free images not used in any articles will be deleted after seven days, as described in the criteria for speedy deletion. Thank you. Sfan00 IMG (talk) 08:23, 1 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Requesting your opinion on a photo[edit]

Hi. We really need your opinion on which of these photos would make the best Infobox portrait for the Rick Remender article. Could you please offer your opinion in that discussion? The most recent subsection of that discussion is here, so you can just chime in there if you don't want to read the whole thread. I really appreciate it. Thanks. Nightscream (talk) 17:16, 7 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Notification of automated file description generation[edit]

Your upload of File:Angel glacier.jpg or contribution to its description is noted, and thanks (even if belatedly) for your contribution. In order to help make better use of the media, an attempt has been made by an automated process to identify and add certain information to the media's description page.

This notification is placed on your talk page because a bot has identified you either as the uploader of the file, or as a contributor to its metadata. It would be appreciated if you could carefully review the information the bot added. To opt out of these notifications, please follow the instructions here. Thanks! Message delivered by Theo's Little Bot (opt-out) 11:55, 27 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Another one of your uploads, File:Angel glacier mt edith cavell.jpg, has also had some information automatically added. If you get a moment, please review the bot's contributions there as well. Thanks! Message delivered by Theo's Little Bot (opt-out) 12:00, 28 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Request for comment[edit]

Hello Traveler100, I'm here onbehalf of WP:ORPHAN in which you are also a participant. So, we want your opinion to a WP:ORPHAN related matter. It is a proposal by Technical 13. Please have a look here. Your opinion (i.e support, oppose etc) are very much appreciated there. Thank you. By Jim Cartar through MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 03:02, 6 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Backlog drive[edit]

Hello Traveler100,

WikiProject Orphanage is holding a month long Backlog Elimination Drive to de-orphan articles which have orphan tags!
The goal is to eliminate the backlog of orphan articles. There are currently 59250 articles which have orphan tags. The drive is running from April 12, 2014 to May 12, 2014.

Awards will be given out for all editors participating in the drive in the form of barnstars at the end of the drive. To add your name in the participants list click here.
So start de-orphaning articles! Click here to see the list of articles need de-orphaning.
Visit Suggestions for how to de-orphan an article to know more!

Thanks. _{Opt-out Instructions} by Jim Cartar on behalf of WikiProject Orphanage through MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 15:21, 11 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Why did you delete my adding of that hammas ordered gazans to stay in combat zones during battles?it can give a different perspective of what happened.and here is the proof that hammas gave this order'taken from hammas TV channel:[4] — Preceding unsigned comment added by איש הצל (talk • contribs) 15:15, 28 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Nothing to do with me? --Traveler100 (talk) 11:09, 29 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Haven't seen you around much...[edit]

Hope you're okay.--Kintetsubuffalo (talk) 10:46, 26 September 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Yes was getting a little annoyed about some of the procedures starting to pop up and a few over enthusiastic admin. Moved over to working on Wikivoyage. I see no one else can be bothered to clean up the photo requests now that I am not doing it. --Traveler100 (talk) 12:46, 26 September 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Category:WikiProject Beauty Pageants[edit]

Category:WikiProject Beauty Pageants, which you created, has been nominated for possible deletion, merging, or renaming. If you would like to participate in the discussion, you are invited to add your comments at the category's entry on the Categories for discussion page. Thank you. Legacypac (talk) 10:38, 20 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]

deOrphaning script[edit]

Hello everyone! I was just working on responding to a couple bug reports for a script that I worked up as part of a request from this project, and I noticed that only a couple people (who weren't even on this mailing list) are actually using the script. A little history on the script: In March of 2014, Jim Cartar came to my user talk page and said he needed some help in acquiring a script for a backlog drive that he was working on that could keep track of and score deOrphanings for a scored backlog drive. I took that request to the project's talk page (BackLog Drive "DO" (De-Orphaning) script proposal) and there was near unanimous support for this. I thought about the proposal and decided the best way to do it was to build a new script (which is still no where near as comprehensive as Manishearth's OrphanTabs) and build into it a mechanism that will make BLD scoring easy.

What I'm wondering at this point is, since there appears to be only two people using the script, should I continue to develop this script with a goal of using it for scoring BLDs or just debug the existing script and leave it at that. Thanks for any replies or comments.

If you wish to opt-out of future mailings, please remove yourself from the mailing list or alternatively to opt-out of all massmessage mailings, you may add Category:Opted-out of message delivery to your user talk page.

This message was sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) on behalf of — {{U|Technical 13}} ^{(e • t • c)} 14:14, 4 May 2015 (UTC)[reply]

User:Traveler100/sandbox/orphanexamples[edit]

Hello, I'm wondering if you still need User:Traveler100/sandbox/orphanexamples? If not, would you be willing to tag it for CSD:U1 deletion since it is creating categories with no real orphans in them and disrupting my workflow trying to clear out the att and few orphan categories? Thank you very much! 3gg5amp1e (talk) 12:23, 15 June 2015 (UTC)[reply]

User:Image-req-proj-bot[edit]

Hi. Any reason why User:Image-req-proj-bot stopped working the last 3 years? -- Magioladitis (talk) 23:27, 2 August 2015 (UTC)[reply]

I just got a little fed up with some of the admin discussions here and move to helping with Wikivoyage instead. Have though about continuing again with sorting out the requests but woudl be a lot of work to clean it up again and when I was doing it there was little input from others. --Traveler100 (talk) 01:21, 3 August 2015 (UTC)[reply]

ArbCom elections are now open![edit]

Hi,
You appear to be eligible to vote in the current Arbitration Committee election. The Arbitration Committee is the panel of editors responsible for conducting the Wikipedia arbitration process. It has the authority to enact binding solutions for disputes between editors, primarily related to serious behavioural issues that the community has been unable to resolve. This includes the ability to impose site bans, topic bans, editing restrictions, and other measures needed to maintain our editing environment. The arbitration policy describes the Committee's roles and responsibilities in greater detail. If you wish to participate, you are welcome to review the candidates' statements and submit your choices on the voting page. For the Election committee, MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 17:36, 23 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Happy New Year, Traveler100![edit]

Happy New Year!

Traveler100,
Have a prosperous, productive and enjoyable New Year, and thanks for your contributions to Wikipedia. Rubbish computer (Merry Christmas!: ...And a Happy New Year!) 20:01, 1 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

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

Europe 10,000 Challenge invite[edit]

Hi. The Wikipedia:WikiProject Europe/The 10,000 Challenge has recently started, based on the UK/Ireland Wikipedia:The 10,000 Challenge. The idea is not to record every minor edit, but to create a momentum to motivate editors to produce good content improvements and creations and inspire people to work on more countries than they might otherwise work on. There's also the possibility of establishing smaller country or regional challenges for places like Germany, Italy, the Benelux countries, Iberian Peninsula, Romania, Slovenia etc, much like Wikipedia:The 1000 Challenge (Nordic). For this to really work we need diversity and exciting content and editors from a broad range of countries regularly contributing. If you would like to see masses of articles being improved for Europe and your specialist country like Wikipedia:WikiProject Africa/The Africa Destubathon, sign up today and once the challenge starts a contest can be organized. This is a way we can target every country of Europe, and steadily vastly improve the encyclopedia. We need numbers to make this work so consider signing up as a participant and also sign under any country sub challenge on the page that you might contribute to! Thank you. --MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 21:10, 7 November 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia:WikiProject United States/The 50,000 Challenge[edit]

You are invited to participate in the 50,000 Challenge, aiming for 50,000 article improvements and creations for articles relating to the United States. This effort began on November 1, 2016 and to reach our goal, we will need editors like you to participate, expand, and create. See more here!

--MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 02:41, 8 November 2016 (UTC)[reply]

ArbCom Elections 2016: Voting now open![edit]

Hello, Traveler100. Voting in the 2016 Arbitration Committee elections is open from Monday, 00:00, 21 November through Sunday, 23:59, 4 December to all unblocked users who have registered an account before Wednesday, 00:00, 28 October 2016 and have made at least 150 mainspace edits before Sunday, 00:00, 1 November 2016.

The Arbitration Committee is the panel of editors responsible for conducting the Wikipedia arbitration process. It has the authority to impose binding solutions to disputes between editors, primarily for serious conduct disputes the community has been unable to resolve. This includes the authority to impose site bans, topic bans, editing restrictions, and other measures needed to maintain our editing environment. The arbitration policy describes the Committee's roles and responsibilities in greater detail.

If you wish to participate in the 2016 election, please review the candidates' statements and submit your choices on the voting page. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 22:08, 21 November 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Bots Newsletter, April 2017[edit]

Bots Newsletter, April 2017

Greetings!

The BAG Newsletter is now the Bots Newsletter, per discussion. As such, we've subscribed all bot operators to the newsletter. You can subscribe/unsubscribe from future newsletters by adding/removing your name from this list.

Highlights for this newsletter include:

Arbcom

Magioladitis ARBCOM case has closed. The remedies of the case include:

Community encouraged to review common fixes
Community encouraged to review policy on cosmetic edits
Developers encouraged to improve AWB interface
Bot approvals group encouraged to carefully review BRFA scope
Reminders/Restrictions specific to Magioladitis

BRFAs

We currently have 27 open bot requests at Wikipedia:Bots/Requests for approval, and could use your help processing!

Discussions

There are multiple ongoing discussions surrounding bot-related matters. In particular:

RFC on COSMETICBOT
Efforts at WP:CHECKWIKI to identify cosmetic fixes
Requested move for the Bot Owners' Noticeboard
A phabricator ticket T162685 has been made to have a "bots" tag, so issues related to bot frameworks can be tracked

New things

Several new things are around:

A BAG Guide has been created (WP:BAGG, discussion).
Users now have the option to hide AWB from their watchlists via a script (WP:HIDEAWB, discussion)
The guidance on how to deal with bot issues has been overhauled (WP:BOTISSUE, discussion)
The bot policy has been updated to clarify that bot operators are required to register accounts. (WP:BOTACCOUNT, discussion)

Wikimania

Wikimania 2017 is happening in Montreal, during 9–13 August. If you plan to attend, or give a talk, let us know!

Thank you! edited by:Headbomb 11:35, 12 April 2017 (UTC)[reply]

(You can unsubscribe from future newsletters by removing your name from this list.)

{Wikivoyage} wikidata anchor ??[edit]

Hail Traveler!

In Special:Permalink/747658087 and Special:Permalink/747808639 you added a {{#invoke:Wikidata|pageId}} to {{Wikivoyage}}.

This breaks links to subsections, both if a fragment added on Wikipedia page in template argument, or if the target is a redirect to a section.

For example, at Washington Slagbaai National Park in Special:Permalink/785354330 I tried to add a link to

https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Washington_Slagbaai_National_Park

...but the Wikidata anchor changes this to:

https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Washington_Slagbaai_National_Park#Q2474005

...which then goes to:

https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Bonaire#Q2474005

...and there is no matching anchor, so it doesn't go to the subsection.

I'm sure this is well-intentioned, but what's the goal? I don't see these Wikidata pageId anchors there, so this looks unnecessary and unhelpful.

(Thanks for your tireless work regardless, and I very much appreciate your weaving different wikis ever closer!)

—Nils von Barth (nbarth) (talk) 02:25, 13 June 2017 (UTC)[reply]

There were two things here, first the link was to a redirect and the entry on the Wikivoyage page was not a listing so no anchor available. I have updated the pages, but I see I need to improve the documentation on the topic. Will do that in the next week.--Traveler100 (talk) 05:11, 13 June 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks kindly! Looking forward to understanding how this works...

—Nils von Barth (nbarth) (talk) 02:06, 16 June 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Bots Newsletter, July 2017[edit]

Bots Newsletter, July 2017

Greetings!

Here is the 4th issue of the Bots Newsletter (formerly the BAG Newletter). You can subscribe/unsubscribe from future newsletters by adding/removing your name from this list.

Highlights for this newsletter include:

BAG

BU Rob13 and Cyberpower678 are now members of the BAG (see RfBAG/BU Rob13 and RfBAG/Cyberpower678 3). BU Rob13 and Cyberpower678 are both administrators; the former operates BU RoBOT which does a plethora of tasks, while the latter operates Cyberbot I (which replaces old bots), Cyberbot II (which does many different things), and InternetArchiveBot which combats link rot. Welcome to the BAG!

BRFAs

We currently have 12 open bot requests at Wikipedia:Bots/Requests for approval, and could use your help processing!

Discussions

Efforts at WP:CHECKWIKI to identify cosmetic fixes are still ongoing.
The RFC on COSMETICBOT has concluded with "a clear consensus exists to adopt the proposed language". The new wording is now live.
The venue for bot appeals and reexaminations has been changed from WP:BRFA to WP:BOTN (see discussion)
The Wikipedia:Bot owner's noticeboard is now the Wikipedia:Bots/Noticeboard (see discussion).

New things

A historical correction was made to WP:BOTPOL (see discussion).
WP:HIDEBOTS now mentions how to hide all bots from your watchlist, not only specific bots.
The phabricator ticket T162685 is now closed, and we now have "#Bots-Framework" tag, so issues related to bot frameworks can be tracked.
Wikibits.js has been removed (see discussion).
21 inactive bots have been deflagged (see discussion).
WP:BOTISSUE has been updated to mention that BAG members can act as neutral mediators in bot-related disputes.
WP:INTERWIKIBOT has been updated to reflect the post-February 2013 practice of putting interwiki links on Wikidata, rather than on Wikipedia (see discussion).

Upcoming

HTML Tidy will be phased out in June 2018, or possibly earlier. This may affect some bots (see FAQ).

Wikimania

Wikimania 2017 is happening in Montreal, during 9–13 August. If you plan to attend, or give a talk, let us know!

Thank you! edited by: Headbomb 17:12, 19 July 2017 (UTC)[reply]

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Bots Newsletter, March 2018[edit]

Bots Newsletter, March 2018

Greetings!

Here is the 5th issue of the Bots Newsletter (formerly the BAG Newletter). You can subscribe/unsubscribe from future newsletters by adding/removing your name from this list.

Highlights for this newsletter include:

ARBCOM

Magioladitis 2 happened, leading to further restrictions on Magioladitis (decision, summary).
Betacommand 3 was proposed to be amended to lift the indefinite ban on Δ, but was unsuccessful (decision).
A motion concerning Crosswiki issues (mostly concerning Wikidata) was passed (see discussion).

BAG

Hersfold was removed from the BAG due to long term inactivity.

BRFAs

We currently have 6 open bot requests at Wikipedia:Bots/Requests for approval, and could use your help processing!

Discussions

While there were no large-scale bot-related discussion in the past few months, you can check WP:BOTN and WT:BOTPOL (and their corresponding archives) for smaller issues that came up.

New things

WP:BOTDICT, a dictionary of common bot-related terms (see discussion).
6 inactive bots have been deflagged (see discussion).
The 2017 Community Wishlist Survey happened. Two bot-related proposal passed, #6 deploy Article Alerts to other languages and #10 Commons deletion notification bot, although other entries may affect bots as well.
Category:Wikipedia bots and its subcategories has had some cleanup. Bot-related pages that were historically important but are no longer of interests can be found in Category:Wikipedia bots (historical)
The edit summary limit has been increased to 1000 characters (see T6715). If a bot you operate relied on the old truncation limit (255 characters), please review/update your code, as overly long summaries can be disruptive/annoying. If you want to use extra characters to have more information in your edit summary, please do so intelligently.
You will soon be able to ping users from the edit summary (see T188469). If you wish to use this feature in your bot, please do so intelligently.

Upcoming

HTML Tidy will be phased out in June 2018, or possibly earlier. This may affect some bots (see FAQ).

Thank you! edited by: Headbomb 03:12, 3 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

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Question for administrator[edit]

This request for help from administrators has been answered. If you need more help or have additional questions, please reapply the {{admin help}} template, or contact the responding user(s) directly on their own user talk page.

would like to get some expert attention on the topic explained at Wikipedia_talk:Vandalism#Requesting_advice_and_help_at_Wikivoyage. I know a sister site but none of the bureaucrats or admins (like myself) appear to have the technical knowledge to deal with the issue. --Traveler100 (talk) 12:53, 22 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Moved the admin help to the discussion. Ronhjones ^(Talk) 14:43, 22 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Nomination for merging of Template:WikiProject History of photography[edit]

Template:WikiProject History of photography has been nominated for merging with Template:WikiProject Photography. You are invited to comment on the discussion at the template's entry on the Templates for discussion page. Thank you. Qono (talk) 01:10, 9 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Bots Newsletter, August 2018[edit]

Bots Newsletter, August 2018

Greetings!

Here is the 6th issue of the Bots Newsletter. You can subscribe/unsubscribe from future newsletters by adding/removing your name from this list.

Highlights for this newsletter include:

ARBCOM

Nothing particular important happened. Those who care already know, those who don't know wouldn't care. The curious can dig ARBCOM archives themselves.

BAG

There were no changes in BAG membership since the last Bots Newsletter. Headbomb went from semi-active to active.
In the last 3 months, only 3 BAG members have closed requests - help is needed with the backlog.

BOTREQs and BRFAs

As of writing, we have...

24 active BOTREQs, please help if you can!
5 open BRFAs and 3 BRFAs in need of BAG attention (see live status).
54 approved bot tasks since the start of 2018. Of note, Community Tech bot 5 (the #10 Wish on the 2017 Community Survey) was approved to notify users concerning problematic images and files from Wikimedia Commons.

Also

If you're a bot operator that can help with Tidy/Linter error cleanup (see discussion, discussion), please file a BRFA!
8 inactive bots have been deflagged (see discussion, discussion, discussion).

Discussions

These are some of the discussions that happened / are still happening since the last Bots Newsletter. Many are stale, but some are still active.

Use of tags by bots – Exploring the use of a new 'bot' tag.
Mass page moves – Bot policy question/clarification about mass moves.
Creation of redirects – Bot policy question/clarification about the creation of redirects.
Guidance on disruptive use of semi–automated tools? – Related to meatbots (see also MOS discussion, which resulted in small addition to MOS:VAR).
Discussion concerning WP:BOTFLAG/WP:RC – A reminder that bots should use the bot flag when it makes sense to use it (see also VPT discussion and CREATEBOT update).
Out of curiosity... (to all bot operators) – BotPasswords vs OAuth usage amongst bot operators.
Introducing Toolhub – Toolhub is looking for feedback.

New things

{{Automated tools}}, a new template linking to user-activated tools and scripts has been created. It can be used in articles previews, and can be placed on any non-mainspace page/template (e.g. {{Draft article}}) to provide convenient links to editors.
AWB 5.10.0.0 is out, after nearly 20 months without updates. If you run an old version, you will be prompted to install the new version automatically. See the changelog for what's new. Note that the next version will require .NET Framework 4.5. Many thanks to Reedy and the AWB team.
BotWatch, "a listing of editors that have made >2 edits per minute [without] a bot flag", is being developed by SQL (see discussion).
Massive updates and improvements have been made to Citation bot in the past few months (see discussions, discussions, discussions). You can activate the bot here, amongst other methods.
HTML Tidy has been phased out (see Tech News #28).
{{Newbot}} has been reorganized a bit (diff). In particular, it links to previously approved BRFAs (see discussion).
Wikipedia:Bots#See also has been reorganized a bit (diff).
The bot dictionary has two new entries, context bot and context-sensitive edit.
The bot request header has been updated to include better guidance (see discussion).
The subcategories of Category:Wikipedia bot requests for approval have been sorted in a consistent manner to make past BRFAs easier to find.

Thank you! edited by: Headbomb 15:04, 18 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]

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Why am I blocked?[edit]

You gotta help me! I'm blocked on Wikivoyage and I haven't even done anything wrong! Who the heck is LibMod, what is a doppelganger, and what does any of this have to do with me? American Ride (talk) 22:20, 8 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]

ArbCom 2018 election voter message[edit]

Hello, Traveler100. Voting in the 2018 Arbitration Committee elections is now open until 23.59 on Sunday, 3 December. All users who registered an account before Sunday, 28 October 2018, made at least 150 mainspace edits before Thursday, 1 November 2018 and are not currently blocked are eligible to vote. Users with alternate accounts may only vote once.

The Arbitration Committee is the panel of editors responsible for conducting the Wikipedia arbitration process. It has the authority to impose binding solutions to disputes between editors, primarily for serious conduct disputes the community has been unable to resolve. This includes the authority to impose site bans, topic bans, editing restrictions, and other measures needed to maintain our editing environment. The arbitration policy describes the Committee's roles and responsibilities in greater detail.

If you wish to participate in the 2018 election, please review the candidates and submit your choices on the voting page. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 18:42, 19 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Bots[edit]

Hi. I noticed that User:People-n-photo-bot and User:People-photo-bot had no edits for the last 6 years. I wonder if you think that it is OK to remove bot flag from these accounts for security reasons. -- Magioladitis (talk) 18:48, 2 July 2019 (UTC)[reply]

@Magioladitis:. I have not plans to use this bot account in the near future, using another one currently. Can remove the flag. --Traveler100 (talk) 17:24, 3 July 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Bots Newsletter, August 2019[edit]

Bots Newsletter, August 2019

Greetings!

Here is the 7th issue of the Bots Newsletter, a lot happened since last year's newsletter! You can subscribe/unsubscribe from future newsletters by adding/removing your name from this list.

Highlights for this newsletter include:

ARBCOM

Nothing of note happened. Just like we like it.

BAG

Several (1 + 12 = 13) users have been retired/resigned from the BAG due to inactivity, per our new activity requirements (discussion).

BAG members are expected to be active on Wikipedia to have their finger on the pulse of the community. After two years without any bot-related activity (such as posting on bot-related pages, posting on a bot's talk page, or operating a bot), BAG members will be retired from BAG following a one-week notice. Retired members can re-apply for BAG membership as normal if they wish to rejoin the BAG.

Two BAG members retired
- Madman (talk · contribs) retired.
- BU Rob13 (talk · contribs) vanished and retired.
Three new BAG members have been voted in, welcome to the BAG!
- Primefac (talk · contribs) joined on 2018-12-12 (RfBAG). Primefac operates PrimeBOT (talk · contribs) which does a plethora of tasks.
- TheSandDoctor (talk · contribs) joined on 2019-01-21 (RfBAG). TheSandDoctor operates several bots including DeprecatedFixerBot (talk · contribs).
- Enterprisey (talk · contribs) joined on 2019-08-07 (RfBAG). Enterprisey operates EnterpriseyBot (talk · contribs), which does a plethora of tasks, RemindMeBot (talk · contribs) which posts reminders, and codes several scripts.

We thank former members for their service and wish Madman a happy retirement. We note that Madman and BU Rob13 were not inactive and could resume their BAG positions if they so wished, should their retirements happens to be temporary.

BOTDICT

Two new entries feature in the bots dictionary

Editor-hostile wikitext – describes wikitext structuring that is editor hostile, even if it renders correctly
Spectrum of usefulness – describes how tasks are deemed useful or not

BOTPOL

Activity requirements: BAG members now have an activity requirement. The requirements are very light, one only needs to be involved in a bot-related area at some point within the last two years. For purpose of meeting these requirements, discussing a bot-related matter anywhere on Wikipedia counts, as does operating a bot (RFC).
Copyvio flag: Bot accounts may be additionally marked by a bureaucrat upon BAG request as being in the "copyviobot" user group on Wikipedia. This flag allows using the API to add metadata to edits for use in the New pages feed (discussion). There is currently 1 bot using this functionality.
Mass creation: The restriction on mass-creation (semi-automated or automated) was extended from articles, to all content-pages. There are subtleties, but content here broadly means whatever a reader could land on when browsing the mainspace in normal circumstances (e.g. Mainspace, Books, most Categories, Portals, ...). There is also a warning that WP:MEATBOT still applies in other areas (e.g. Redirects, Wikipedia namespace, Help, maintenance categories, ...) not explicitely covered by WP:MASSCREATION.

BOTREQs and BRFAs

As of writing, we have...

20 active BOTREQs, please help if you can!
14 open BRFAs and 1 BRFA in need of BAG attention (see live status).
In 2018, 96 bot task were approved. An AWB search shows approximately 29 were withdrawn/expired, and 6 were denied.
Since the start of 2019, 97 bot task were approved. Logs show 15 were withdrawn/expired, and 15 were denied.
10 inactive bots have been deflagged (see discussion). 5 other bots have been deflagged per operator requests or similar (see discussion).

New things

All bot-related discussion pages now have a centralized and searchable archive box (see discussion). Discussions are searchable per noticeboard, or globally.
{{Bot}} now supports |status=expired (see discussion). This led to the deletion of Category:Indefinitely blocked Wikipedia bots as useless (see discussion).
WP:BOTREQ now mentions WP:SCRIPTREQ and WP:AWBTASKS as alternatives to bot requests.
The bot creation guide now mentions bot flags, and two new languages Awk and MATLAB. Other minor tweaks have been made.
AAlertBot has received major code updates. In particular, WP:AALERTS will now report splits, mergers, and AFC submissions.
Citation bot has received several updates (User talk:Citation bot/Archive 10/11/12/13/14/15/16/17). In particular, the bot stopped the automated removal of |publisher= from {{cite journal}}, and stopped the automated addition of CiteSeerX links, and now uses OAuth to authenticate those who make requests of the bot.

Other discussions

These are some of the discussions that happened / are still happening since the last Bots Newsletter. Many are stale, but some are still active.

See also the latest discussions at the bot noticeboard.

Thank you! edited by: Headbomb 17:24, 7 August 2019 (UTC)[reply]

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ArbCom 2020 Elections voter message[edit]

Hello! Voting in the 2020 Arbitration Committee elections is now open until 23:59 (UTC) on Monday, 7 December 2020. All eligible users are allowed to vote. Users with alternate accounts may only vote once.

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Your access to AWB may be temporarily removed[edit]

Hello Traveler100! This message is to inform you that due to editing inactivity, your access to AutoWikiBrowser may be temporarily removed. If you do not resume editing within the next week, your username will be removed from the CheckPage. This is purely for routine maintenance and is not indicative of wrongdoing on your part. You may regain access at any time by simply requesting it at WP:PERM/AWB. Thank you! — MusikBot II ^talk 17:11, 21 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Category:Monthly clean-up category (Low linked articles) counter has been nominated for deletion[edit]

Category:Monthly clean-up category (Low linked articles) counter has been nominated for deletion. A discussion is taking place to decide whether this proposal complies with the categorization guidelines. If you would like to participate in the discussion, you are invited to add your comments at the category's entry on the categories for discussion page. Thank you. Gonnym (talk) 08:22, 21 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Category:Low linked articles has been nominated for merging[edit]

Category:Low linked articles has been nominated for merging. A discussion is taking place to decide whether this proposal complies with the categorization guidelines. If you would like to participate in the discussion, you are invited to add your comments at the category's entry on the categories for discussion page. Thank you. Gonnym (talk) 08:36, 21 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Bots Newsletter, December 2021[edit]

Bots Newsletter, December 2021

BRFA activity by month

Welcome to the eighth issue of the English Wikipedia's Bots Newsletter, your source for all things bot. Maintainers disappeared to parts unknown... bots awakening from the slumber of æons... hundreds of thousands of short descriptions... these stories, and more, are brought to you by Wikipedia's most distinguished newsletter about bots.

Our last issue was in August 2019, so there's quite a bit of catching up to do. Due to the vast quantity of things that have happened, the next few issues will only cover a few months at a time. This month, we'll go from September 2019 through the end of the year. I won't bore you with further introductions — instead, I'll bore you with a newsletter about bots.

Overall

Between September and December 2019, there were 33 BRFAs. Of these, Y 25 were approved, and 8 were unsuccessful (N2 3 denied, ? 3 withdrawn, and 2 expired).

September 2019

Y Monkbot 16, DannyS712 bot 60, Ahechtbot 6, PearBOT 3, Qbugbot 3 · N2 DannyS712 bot 5, PkbwcgsBot 24 · ? DannyS712 bot 61, TheSandBot 4
TParis goes away, UTRSBot goes kaput: Beeblebrox noted that the bot for maintaining on-wiki records of UTRS appeals stopped working a while ago. TParis, the semi-retired user who had previously run it, said they were "unlikely to return to actively editing Wikipedia", and the bot had been vanquished by trolls submitting bogus UTRS requests on behalf of real blocked users. While OAuth was a potential fix, neither maintainer had time to implement it. TParis offered to access to the UTRS WMFLabs account to any admin identified with the WMF: "I miss you guys a whole lot [...] but I've also moved on with my life. Good luck, let me know how I can help". Ultimately, SQL ended up in charge. Some progress was made, and the bot continued to work another couple months — but as of press time, UTRSBot has not edited since November 2019.
Article-measuring contest resumed: The list of Wikipedians by article count, which had lain dead for several years, was triumphantly resurrected by GreenC following a bot request.

October 2019

Y OAbot 3, DannyS712 bot 47, Pathbot 2, PearBOT 2, DannyS712 bot 59, DannyS712 bot 62, HasteurBot 14, PearBOT 4, WOSlinkerBot 4, MilHistBot 5
Curb Safe Charmer adopts reFill: TAnthony pointed out that reFill 2's bug reports were going unanswered; creator Zhaofeng Li had retired from Wikipedia, and a maintainer was needed. As of June 2021, Curb Safe Charmer had taken up the mantle, saying: "Not that I have all the skills needed but better me than nobody! 'Maintainer' might be too strong a term though. Volunteers welcome!"

November 2019

Y BHGbot 4, YiFeiBot 2, DannyS712 bot III 64 · ? PearBOT
Old bots do new tricks: DannyS712 bot III 64 prowled redirects, YiFeiBot 2 archived GoCE requests, and BHGbot 4 removed links to portals deleted at MfD (until its authorization was revoked in January at operator BrownHairedGirl's request).

December 2019

Y DemonDays64 Bot, DannyS712 bot III 66, Bot1058 6, Monkbot 15, MilHistBot 6, PearBOT 5, DannyS712 bot IV 65 · N2 SportsStatsBot · Xinbenlv bot, SteveBot 8
Redirects to be autopatrolled: A RfC took place at WP:NPP, closing with unanimous consensus that new redirects should be automatically marked as patrolled by bot. DannyS712 wasted no time, and submitted DannyS712 bot III 66 the next day; it passed two days after that.
200,000 bios get short descs: Along a similar vein, Bot1058 6 was approved to remove disambiguation pages from Category:Monitored short pages and a new bot (DemonDays64 Bot) changed lots of http links to https using JavaScript Wiki Browser. One particularly neat task, PearBOT 5, automatically generated short descriptions for more than 200,000 biographies.

In the next issue of Bots Newsletter:
What's next for our intrepid band of coders, maintainers and approvers?

What happens when two bots want to clerk the same page?
What happens when an adminbot goes hog wild?
Will reFill ever get fixed?
What's up with ListeriaBot, anyway?
Python 3.4 deprecation? In my PyWikiBot? (It's more likely than you think!)

These questions will be answered — and new questions raised — by the January 2022 Bots Newsletter. Tune in, or miss out!

Signing off... jp×g 04:29, 10 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

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Bots Newsletter, January 2022[edit]

Bots Newsletter, January 2022

BRFA activity by month

Welcome to the ninth issue of the English Wikipedia's Bots Newsletter, your source for all things bot. Vicious bot-on-bot edit warring... superseded tasks... policy proposals... these stories, and more, are brought to you by Wikipedia's most distinguished newsletter about bots.

After a long hiatus between August 2019 and December 2021, there's quite a bit of ground to cover. Due to the vastness, I decided in December to split the coverage up into a few installments that covered six months each. Some people thought this was a good idea, since covering an entire year in a single issue would make it unmanageably large. Others thought this was stupid, since they were getting talk page messages about crap from almost three years ago. Ultimately, the question of whether each issue covers six months or a year is only relevant for a couple more of them, and then the problem will be behind us forever.

Of course, you can also look on the bright side – we are making progress, and this issue will only be about crap from almost two years ago. Today we will pick up where we left off in December, and go through the first half of 2020.

Overall
In the first half of 2020, there were 71 BRFAs. Of these, Y 59 were approved, and 12 were unsuccessful (with N2 8 denied, ? 2 withdrawn, and 2 expired).

January 2020

Yeah, you're not gonna be able to get away with this anymore.

Y ST47Bot, Seppi333Bot, Qbugbot 4 · N2 PkbwcgsBot 25, PkbwcgsBot 26
A new Pywikibot release dropped support for Python 3.4, and it was expected that support for Python 2.7 would be removed in coming updates. Toolforge itself planned to drop Python 2 support in 2022.
Two new bots dropped in January 2020: ST47Bot, the successor to STBot, and Seppi333Bot, whose task was to perform a weekly update of four "massive" wikitables for WikiProject Molecular Biology.
Cydebot, an adminbot operated by Cyde since 2006, was blocked after going berserk on categories that hadn't yet been CfD'd.

February 2020

Y AnomieBOT 78, Cewbot 2, DannyS712 bot 67, DannyS712 bot III 63, PearBOT 6, DemonDays64 Bot 2 · N2 PearBOT
On February 1, some concerns were raised about ListeriaBot performing "nonsense" edits. Semi-active operator Magnus Manske (who originally coded the Phase II software|precursor of MediaWiki) was pinged. Meanwhile, the bot was temporarily blocked for several hours until the issue was diagnosed and resolved.
On February 18, ST47Bot got into a tussle with Amalthea (bot), and had to be partially-blocked from Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Cases/Overview.

March 2020

Y MajavahBot, SDZeroBot, TheSandBot 6, TheSandBot 7, Bitbotje, FACBot 6, TheSandBot 8, Qbugbot 5, Cewbot 3, SDZeroBot 2, PrimeBOT 31, WikiCleanerBot 12 · AntiCompositeBot
In March, a long discussion was started at Wikipedia talk:Bot policy by Skdb about the troubling trend of bots "expiring" without explanation after their owners became inactive. This can happen for a variety of reasons -- API changes break code, hosting providers' software updates break code, hosting accounts lapse, software changes make bots' edits unnecessary, and policy changes make bots' edits unwanted. The most promising solution seemed to be Toolforge hosting (although it has some problems of its own, like the occasional necessity of refactoring code).
Some of the twelve bot tasks approved this month were TheSandBot 6 (removing blocked users from Category:Wikipedia usernames with possible policy issues), and TheSandBot 7 (removing unblocked users from Category:Wikipedians who are indefinitely blocked for promotional user names). SDZeroBot 2 was approved to refine geographic stub tags. New bots approved this month were MajavahBot (to patrol WP:EFFPR), SDZeroBot (to merge stub tags), and Bitbotje (fixing DISPLAYTITLE modifications, DEFAULTSORT errors and broken behavior switches in draftspace).

April 2020

Y TheSandBot 9, BHGbot 5, DannyS712 bot 69, SDZeroBot 3, ST47ProxyBot, WugBot 4, SDZeroBot 4, DatBot 10, WikiCleanerBot 11, WikiCleanerBot 13, WikiCleanerBot 14, AntiCompositeBot 2, Cewbot 4 · N2 DaedanBot 1 · Creffbot
A discussion on the bot noticeboard, "Re-examination of ListeriaBot", was started by Barkeep49, who pointed out repeated operation outside the scope of its BRFA (i.e. editing pages in mainspace, and adding non-free images to others). Some said it was doing good work, and others said it was operating beyond its remit. It was blocked on April 10; the next day it was unblocked, reblocked from article space, reblocked "for specified non-editing actions", unblocked, and indeffed. The next week, several safeguards were implemented in its code by Magnus; the bot was allowed to roam free once more on April 18.
ST47ProxyBot joined the stable in April, after a BRFA started in December was finally completed. As an adminbot, it was authorized to block IP addresses belonging to open proxies, public VPN services, and web hosts. New tasks approved for existing bots included BHGbot 5 (diffusing categories), TheSandBot 9 (taking over some tasks from the inactive RonBot), and WugBot 4 (updating data at {{Interactive COVID-19 maps}}). Also, DatBot 10 was approved to scale down non-free SVGs — I didn't even know that was a thing.
A discussion at Wikipedia talk:Bot policy was started by Thryduulf about whether WP:BOTCOMM should explicitly specify that bot operators must be responsive to concerns raised on English Wikipedia specifically (as opposed to Phabricator, SourceForge, Toolforge, et cetera). Eventually, the policy was amended to its current form:

Issues and enquiries are typically expected to be handled on the English Wikipedia. Pages reachable via unified login, like a talk page at Commons or at Italian Wikipedia could also be acceptable [...] External sites like Phabricator or GitHub (which require separate registration or do not allow for IP comments) and email (which can compromise anonymity) can supplement on-wiki communication, but do not replace it.

May 2020

Y MajavahBot 3, DannyS712 bot 70, CitationCleanerBot 5, Dreamy Jazz Bot 4, QEDKbot, William Avery Bot 2, DannyS712 bot 68, PrimeBOT 32, TheSandBot 10, Bot1058 7, BHGbot 6, EaglesBot 2, Cewbot 5, WikiCleanerBot 17 · N2 MDanielsBot, PhuzBot 3, Gedimon · ? PearBOT 7
MajavahBot 3, an impressively meta bot task, was approved this month for maintaining a list of bots running on the English Wikipedia. The page, located at User:MajavahBot/Bot status report, is updated every 24 hours; it contains a list of all accounts with the bot flag, as well as their operator, edit count, last activity date, last edit date, last logged action date, user groups and block status.
Other approvals for this month were William Avery Bot 2 (processing redirects in {{R from scientific name}}), DannyS712 bot 68 (allowing users to schedule bot reminders for themselves), TheSandBot 10 (removing blocked/locked users from Category:User talk pages with conflict of interest notices), Bot1058 7 (updating Wikipedia:Requested moves/Technical requests/Permalink), Dreamy Jazz Bot 4 (adding {{WikiProject Biography|living=no}} to talk pages where their associated article is in a year of death category), and QEDKbot (deleting and nominating empty categories).
General syntax fixing tasks were approved for DannyS712 bot 70, CitationCleanerBot 5, PrimeBOT 32, BHGbot 6, Cewbot 5, and EaglesBot 2, as well as WikiCleanerBot 15, 16, and 17.
Seven bots who fell below activity requirements (with neither the bots nor their operators having any edits or logged actions in two years) had their bot flags removed. They were NekoBot, Robert SkyBot, DASHBotAV, VoxelBot, JackieBot, ReferenceBot, and CensusBot.
On May 12, EmausBot was blocked.

June 2020

Y QEDKbot 2, AnomieBOT 79, WOSlinkerBot 6, Yapperbot 2, Yapperbot, AnomieBOT 80, Dreamy Jazz Bot 5, WikiCleanerBot 18, HasteurBot 15, MusikBot II 4, NoSandboxesHere · N2 RedWarn · ? Seppi333Bot 2
In July 2017, Headbomb made a proposal that a section of the Wikipedia:Dashboard be devoted to bots and technical issues. In November 2019, Lua code was written superseding Legobot's tasks on that page, and operator Legoktm was asked to stop them so that the new code could be deployed. After no response to pings, a partial-block of Legobot for the dashboard was proposed. Some months later, on June 16, Headbomb said: "A full block serves nothing. A partial block solves all current issues [...] Just fucking do it. It's been 3 years now." The next day, however, Legoktm disabled the task, and the dashboard was successfully refactored.
On June 7, RexxS blocked Citation bot for disruptive editing, saying it was "still removing links after request to stop". A couple weeks later, a discussion on the bots noticeboard was opened, saying "it is a widely-used and useful bot, but it has one of the longest block logs for any recently-operating bot on Wikipedia". While its last BRFA approval was in 2011, its code and functionality had changed dramatically since then, and AntiCompositeNumber requested that BAG require a new BRFA. Maintainer AManWithNoPlan responded that most blocks were from years ago (when it lacked a proper test suite), and problems since then had mostly been one-off errors (like a June 2019 incident in which a LTA had "weaponized" the bot to harass editors).
David Tornheim opened a discussion about whether bots based on closed-source code should be permitted, and proposed that they not. He cited a recent case in which a maintainer had said "I can only suppose that the code that is available on GitHub is not the actual code that was running on [the bot]". Some disagreed: Naypta said that "I like free software as much as the next person, and I strongly believe that bot operators should make their bot code public, but I don't think it should be that they must do so".
Two new bots had their first BRFAs approved: Yapperbot, to replace Legobot for handling the Feedback Request Service, and NoSandboxesHere, to remove {{user sandbox}} from articles in draftspace using Category:Non-userspace pages using User sandbox.

Conclusion

What's next for our intrepid band of coders, maintainers and approvers?

Will Citation bot ever be set free to roam the project?
What's the deal with all those book links that InternetArchiveBot is adding to articles?
Should we keep using Gerrit for MediaWiki?
What if we had a day for bots to make cosmetic edits?

These questions will be answered — and new questions raised — by the February 2022 Bots Newsletter. Tune in, or miss out!

Signing off... jp×g 23:22, 31 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

(You can subscribe or unsubscribe from future newsletters by adding or removing your name from this list.)

Inactive bot notice[edit]

Hello, this is notice that you have one or more registered bot accounts that will be retired and deactivated. See Wikipedia:Bots/Noticeboard#Inactive_bots_-_February_2022. Should you wish to reactivate your bot please reply there within the week. Else, no action is needed. Should you wish to reactivate the bot in the future, please file a request at WP:BRFA. Best regards, — xaosflux ^Talk 10:46, 1 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Speedy deletion nomination of Category:Unassessed cricket articles of Unknown-importance[edit]

A tag has been placed on Category:Unassessed cricket articles of Unknown-importance indicating that it is currently empty, and is not a disambiguation category, a category redirect, a featured topics category, under discussion at Categories for discussion, or a project category that by its nature may become empty on occasion. If it remains empty for seven days or more, it may be deleted under section C1 of the criteria for speedy deletion.

If you think this page should not be deleted for this reason you may contest the nomination by visiting the page and clicking the button labelled "Contest this speedy deletion". This will give you the opportunity to explain why you believe the page should not be deleted. Please do not remove the speedy deletion tag from the page yourself. Liz ^{Read! Talk!} 23:20, 16 June 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Speedy deletion nomination of Category:Wikipedia requested photographs of roads in Georgia (U.S. state)[edit]

A tag has been placed on Category:Wikipedia requested photographs of roads in Georgia (U.S. state) indicating that it is currently empty, and is not a disambiguation category, a category redirect, a featured topics category, under discussion at Categories for discussion, or a project category that by its nature may become empty on occasion. If it remains empty for seven days or more, it may be deleted under section C1 of the criteria for speedy deletion.

If you think this page should not be deleted for this reason you may contest the nomination by visiting the page and clicking the button labelled "Contest this speedy deletion". This will give you the opportunity to explain why you believe the page should not be deleted. Please do not remove the speedy deletion tag from the page yourself. Liz ^{Read! Talk!} 01:25, 12 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Speedy deletion nomination of Category:Wikipedia requested photographs of roads in Nevada[edit]

A tag has been placed on Category:Wikipedia requested photographs of roads in Nevada indicating that it is currently empty, and is not a disambiguation category, a category redirect, a featured topics category, under discussion at Categories for discussion, or a project category that by its nature may become empty on occasion. If it remains empty for seven days or more, it may be deleted under section C1 of the criteria for speedy deletion.

If you think this page should not be deleted for this reason you may contest the nomination by visiting the page and clicking the button labelled "Contest this speedy deletion". This will give you the opportunity to explain why you believe the page should not be deleted. Please do not remove the speedy deletion tag from the page yourself. Liz ^{Read! Talk!} 01:49, 12 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Orphaned non-free image File:Jellybabies.jpg[edit]

⚠

Thanks for uploading File:Jellybabies.jpg. The image description page currently specifies that the image is non-free and may only be used on Wikipedia under a claim of fair use. However, the image is currently not used in any articles on Wikipedia. If the image was previously in an article, please go to the article and see why it was removed. You may add it back if you think that that will be useful. However, please note that images for which a replacement could be created are not acceptable for use on Wikipedia (see our policy for non-free media).

Note that any non-free images not used in any articles will be deleted after seven days, as described in section F5 of the criteria for speedy deletion. Thank you. --B-bot (talk) 17:24, 4 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]