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Administrators' newsletter – January 2018

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News and updates for administrators from the past month (December 2017).

Administrator changes

added Muboshgu
readded Anetode • Laser brain • Worm That Turned
removed None

Bureaucrat changes

readded Worm That Turned

Guideline and policy news

  • A request for comment is in progress to determine whether the administrator policy should be amended to require disclosure of paid editing activity at WP:RFA and to prohibit the use of administrative tools as part of paid editing activity, with certain exceptions.

Technical news

Arbitration

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 02:37, 3 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Notice of noticeboard discussion

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Information icon There is currently a discussion at Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard regarding an issue with which you may have been involved. Thank you. — xaosflux Talk 04:55, 3 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Section: Wikipedia:Administrators'_noticeboard#Requesting_bulk_revision_undeletion_for_Richardson_family_murders. — xaosflux Talk 04:55, 3 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – February 2018

[edit]

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

Administrator changes

added None
removed Blurpeace • Dana boomer • Deltabeignet • Denelson83 • Grandiose • Salvidrim! • Ymblanter

Guideline and policy news

  • An RfC has closed with a consensus that candidates at WP:RFA must disclose whether they have ever edited for pay and that administrators may never use administrative tools as part of any paid editing activity, except when they are acting as a Wikipedian-in-Residence or when the payment is made by the Wikimedia Foundation or an affiliate of the WMF.
  • Editors responding to threats of harm can now contact the Wikimedia Foundation's emergency address by using Special:EmailUser/Emergency. If you don't have email enabled on Wikipedia, directly contacting the emergency address using your own email client remains an option.

Technical news

  • A tag will now be automatically applied to edits that blank a page, turn a page into a redirect, remove/replace almost all content in a page, undo an edit, or rollback an edit. These edits were previously denoted solely by automatic edit summaries.

Arbitration

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 00:51, 4 February 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – March 2018

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

Administrator changes

added Lourdes†
removed AngelOfSadness • Bhadani • Chris 73 • Coren • Friday • Midom • Mike V
† Lourdes has requested that her admin rights be temporarily removed, pending her return from travel.

Guideline and policy news

  • The autoconfirmed article creation trial (ACTRIAL) is scheduled to end on 14 March 2018. The results of the research collected can be read on Meta Wiki.
  • Community ban discussions must now stay open for at least 24 hours prior to being closed.
  • A change to the administrator inactivity policy has been proposed. Under the proposal, if an administrator has not used their admin tools for a period of five years and is subsequently desysopped for inactivity, the administrator would have to file a new RfA in order to regain the tools.
  • A change to the banning policy has been proposed which would specify conditions under which a repeat sockmaster may be considered de facto banned, reducing the need to start a community ban discussion for these users.

Technical news

  • CheckUsers are now able to view private data such as IP addresses from the edit filter log, e.g. when the filter prevents a user from creating an account. Previously, this information was unavailable to CheckUsers because access to it could not be logged.
  • The edit filter has a new feature contains_all that edit filter managers may use to check if one or more strings are all contained in another given string.

Miscellaneous

Obituaries

  • Bhadani (Gangadhar Bhadani) passed away on 8 February 2018. Bhadani joined Wikipedia in March 2005 and became an administrator in September 2005. While he was active, Bhadani was regarded as one of the most prolific Wikipedians from India.
Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 03:00, 2 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Lusi

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I know it’s odd but Lusi genuinely peaked with 10- minute wind speeds higher than the 1-minute. This is because for the SPAC, Wikipedia takes it’s winds from the US Joint Typhoon Warning Center for 1- minute and a mixture of Australian BoM, Fiji Met Service or New Zealand’s MetService depending on where the system peaked rather than assessing it ourselves.Jason Rees (talk) 07:29, 23 March 2018 (UTC) Jason Rees (talk) 07:29, 23 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Ok, thanks.-gadfium 07:29, 23 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

New article

[edit]

Please take a look at (and add to?) List of electoral firsts in New Zealand, partly based on List of electoral firsts in the United Kingdom but with wider coverage of MPs and ministers generally. Hugo999 (talk) 04:06, 27 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – April 2018

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

Administrator changes

added 331dot • Cordless Larry • ClueBot NG
removed Gogo Dodo • Pb30 • Sebastiankessel • Seicer • SoLando

Guideline and policy news

  • Administrators who have been desysopped due to inactivity are now required to have performed at least one (logged) administrative action in the past 5 years in order to qualify for a resysop without going through a new RfA.
  • Editors who have been found to have engaged in sockpuppetry on at least two occasions after an initial indefinite block, for whatever reason, are now automatically considered banned by the community without the need to start a ban discussion.
  • The notability guideline for organizations and companies has been substantially rewritten following the closure of this request for comment. Among the changes, the guideline more clearly defines the sourcing requirements needed for organizations and companies to be considered notable.
  • The six-month autoconfirmed article creation trial (ACTRIAL) ended on 14 March 2018. The post-trial research report has been published. A request for comment is now underway to determine whether the restrictions from ACTRIAL should be implemented permanently.

Technical news

Arbitration

  • The Arbitration Committee is considering a change to the discretionary sanctions procedures which would require an editor to appeal a sanction to the community at WP:AE or WP:AN prior to appealing directly to the Arbitration Committee at WP:ARCA.

Miscellaneous

  • A discussion has closed which concluded that administrators are not required to enable email, though many editors suggested doing so as a matter of best practice.
  • The Foundations' Anti-Harassment Tools team has released the Interaction Timeline. This shows a chronologic history for two users on pages where they have both made edits, which may be helpful in identifying sockpuppetry and investigating editing disputes.
Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 01:23, 2 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Maori Australian Historians

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Hello Gadfium,

We are a group of Maori Australian Scholars/Academics and Historians. For the past two days we have been trying to edit the appalling Maori Australian page, which has drawn much criticism from Koori and Maori here in Australia.

Our group are Maori who were born here and Maori who were brought up here. We research our own and as I previously said, we are Academics, Scholars and Historians, all published and/or researchers. We have been advised by Diannaa that my edit breached copywrite. I own my own copywrite and I also updated my research to reflect the latest research. This was disregarded, the information regarding Immigration was deleted and the information regarding the very first Maori Australian and her mother and grandfather was deleted. When I asked why I was told it 'too hard' to check.

Our latest edits were removed. As you are someone who is active on the Maori Wiki pages, and as you removed one of the edits, could you please advise us why?

Heoi ano Maarama Maarama (talk) 09:27, 2 April 2018 (UTC) Nga Puhi, Te Rarawa, Te Aupouri, Ngati Whakaue, Ngati Kanguru[reply]

I have replied to you at Talk:Māori Australians.-gadfium 19:51, 2 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Andre Ingram semi

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Hi there. Any chance of semi protection for Andre Ingram? Lots of traffic and vandalism at the moment. Cheers. DaHuzyBru (talk) 04:24, 11 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Semi-protected for 12 hours.-gadfium 04:27, 11 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you for protecting Andre Ingram however the vandalism has continued almost immediately after the protection wore off. Can you please extend it? HickoryOughtShirt?4 (talk) 21:01, 11 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Done, three days. You should make a request at WP:RFPP if you think it needs longer.-gadfium 21:04, 11 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Okay, thanks! HickoryOughtShirt?4 (talk) 21:05, 11 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Nomination of Portal:Oceania for deletion

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A proposal has been made to delete Portal:Oceania, which you have made significant contributions to, as well as all other portals on English Wikipedia. You are welcome to contribute to the discussion if you'd like, which is located at Wikipedia:Village pump (proposals)#RfC: Ending the system of portals. Thank you for your contributions to Wikipedia. North America1000 06:31, 12 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

User:DavidYork71

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From memory, you were one of the admins most involved with this editor and their sockpuppet accounts. They are requesting to be unbanned, and I've noted you as being the admin who might have most recently blocked one of these sockpuppets as part of the discussion at Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard#Community ban appeal by User:DavidYork71. Nick-D (talk) 09:31, 29 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – May 2018

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

Administrator changes

added None
removed Chochopk • Coffee • Gryffindor • Jimp • Knowledge Seeker • Lankiveil • Peridon • Rjd0060

Guideline and policy news

  • The ability to create articles directly in mainspace is now indefinitely restricted to autoconfirmed users.
  • A proposal is being discussed which would create a new "event coordinator" right that would allow users to temporarily add the "confirmed" flag to new user accounts and to create many new user accounts without being hindered by a rate limit.

Technical news

  • AbuseFilter has received numerous improvements, including an OOUI overhaul, syntax highlighting, ability to search existing filters, and a few new functions. In particular, the search feature can be used to ensure there aren't existing filters for what you need, and the new equals_to_any function can be used when checking multiple namespaces. One major upcoming change is the ability to see which filters are the slowest. This information is currently only available to those with access to Logstash.
  • When blocking anonymous users, a cookie will be applied that reloads the block if the user changes their IP. This means in most cases, you may no longer need to do /64 range blocks on residential IPv6 addresses in order to effectively block the end user. It will also help combat abuse from IP hoppers in general. This currently only occurs when hard-blocking accounts.
  • The block notice shown on mobile will soon be more informative and point users to a help page on how to request an unblock, just as it currently does on desktop.
  • There will soon be a calendar widget at Special:Block, making it easier to set expiries for a specific date and time.

Arbitration

Obituaries

  • Lankiveil (Craig Franklin) passed away in mid-April. Lankiveil joined Wikipedia on 12 August 2004 and became an administrator on 31 August 2008. During his time with the Wikimedia community, Lankiveil served as an oversighter for the English Wikipedia and as president of Wikimedia Australia.
Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 07:05, 2 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Gloriavale Christian Community

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Hello User:Gadfium, I hope this message finds you doing well. The reason I added the Bruderhof and the Hutterites to the "see also" section is because they hold similar practices, such as keeping a community of goods, as well as the wearing of plain dress. I personally think that including these links would be helpful to the reader. If you feel otherwise, I do not wish to edit war and will leave it up to you. I hope this helps. With regards, AnupamTalk 08:19, 6 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

The Gloriavale article does not mention that they practice community of goods (or common ownership), or plain dress. If you would like to add these, with suitable sources, then the "see also" may not be necessary.-gadfium 09:18, 6 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Block

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Sorry about that, not sure happened with the restored vandalism, I was editing on my phone and didn't do it intentionally - fat fingers. Anyhow, I'll be more careful Heliotom (talk) 12:19, 9 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Ok, thanks for the explanation.-gadfium 19:18, 9 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry about that

[edit]

Can’t log in at work and therefore can’t fix it till I get home, not sure how it happened. I can wait till I get home or if you’re inclined you have permission to move it back to my user space as I was planning on using it today. Sabine’s Sunbird (not logged in) 115.189.82.138 (talk) 20:48, 13 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for fixing my foul up. Sabine's Sunbird talk 05:26, 14 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Not a problem.-gadfium 06:04, 14 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

The current discussion on macrons in place names: next step?

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I was wondering, since you've no doubt seen/been part of numerous debates like this, what you think should happen with the discussion on WP:NZ. It's generating a lot of text, from the same few people (including me), and we're seeing arguments rehashed and wandering away from the initial question. Any way we can move this towards a proposal to change the naming policy? —Giantflightlessbirds (talk) 20:49, 26 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

I think a Request for comment proposing a change to the Wikipedia:Naming conventions (New Zealand) would be the appropriate next step.-gadfium 20:55, 26 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – June 2018

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

Administrator changes

added None
removed Al Ameer son • AliveFreeHappy • Cenarium • Lupo • MichaelBillington

Guideline and policy news

Technical news

  • IP-based cookie blocks should be deployed to English Wikipedia in June. This will cause the block of a logged-out user to be reloaded if they change IPs. This means in most cases, you may no longer need to do /64 range blocks on residential IPv6 addresses in order to effectively block the end user. It will also help combat abuse from IP hoppers in general. For the time being, it only affects users of the desktop interface.
  • The Wikimedia Foundation's Anti-Harassment Tools team will build granular types of blocks in 2018 (e.g. a block from uploading or editing specific pages, categories, or namespaces, as opposed to a full-site block). Feedback on the concept may be left at the talk page.
  • There is now a checkbox on Special:ListUsers to let you see only users in temporary user groups.
  • It is now easier for blocked mobile users to see why they were blocked.

Arbitration

  • A recent technical issue with the Arbitration Committee's spam filter inadvertently caused all messages sent to the committee through Wikipedia (i.e. Special:EmailUser/Arbitration Committee) to be discarded. If you attempted to send an email to the Arbitration Committee via Wikipedia between May 16 and May 31, your message was not received and you are encouraged to resend it. Messages sent outside of these dates or directly to the Arbitration Committee email address were not affected by this issue.

Miscellaneous

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 21:00, 1 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks

[edit]

Thanks for this. I went to the Wayback Machine to see if I could figure out when that Hindustan Times article was first published (rather than updated). Couldn't find any archive earlier than September 2017, so I'm glad you were able to find the earlier NZ paper ref. Also, thanks for fixing the template. I always confuse {{Age as of date}} template with {{birth based on age as of date}} and was juuuust about to fix it when you came by, so thanks for that as well. Regards, Cyphoidbomb (talk) 23:19, 16 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Talk:David Willey (cricketer)

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Hope you don't mind but I modified your post so as to link Bishop Auckland for those who might wonder why you would confuse a city with a bishop. Akld guy (talk) 22:19, 29 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

No problem-gadfium 22:28, 29 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]
OK. Akld guy (talk) 23:01, 29 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

FA for Fawad Khan

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Hi, I've recently listed Fawad Khan in FA candidates. I'll an honor for me if you consider reviewing it.Amirk94391 (talk) 04:06, 1 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – July 2018

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

Administrator changes

added Pbsouthwood • TheSandDoctor
readded Gogo Dodo
removed Andrevan • Doug • EVula • KaisaL • Tony Fox • WilyD

Bureaucrat changes

removed Andrevan • EVula

Guideline and policy news

  • An RfC about the deletion of drafts closed with a consensus to change the wording of WP:NMFD. Specifically, a draft that has been repeatedly resubmitted and declined at AfC without any substantial improvement may be deleted at MfD if consensus determines that it is unlikely to ever meet the requirements for mainspace and it otherwise meets one of the reasons for deletion outlined in the deletion policy.
  • A request for comment closed with a consensus that the {{promising draft}} template cannot be used to indefinitely prevent a WP:G13 speedy deletion nomination.

Technical news

  • Starting on July 9, the WMF Security team, Trust & Safety, and the broader technical community will be seeking input on an upcoming change that will restrict editing of site-wide JavaScript and CSS to a new technical administrators user group. Bureaucrats and stewards will be able to grant this right per a community-defined process. The intention is to reduce the number of accounts who can edit frontend code to those who actually need to, which in turn lessens the risk of malicious code being added that compromises the security and privacy of everyone who accesses Wikipedia. For more information, please review the FAQ.
  • Syntax highlighting has been graduated from a Beta feature on the English Wikipedia. To enable this feature, click the highlighter icon () in your editing toolbar (or under the hamburger menu in the 2017 wikitext editor). This feature can help prevent you from making mistakes when editing complex templates.
  • IP-based cookie blocks should be deployed to English Wikipedia in July (previously scheduled for June). This will cause the block of a logged-out user to be reloaded if they change IPs. This means in most cases, you may no longer need to do /64 range blocks on residential IPv6 addresses in order to effectively block the end user. It will also help combat abuse from IP hoppers in general. For the time being, it only affects users of the desktop interface.

Miscellaneous

  • Currently around 20% of admins have enabled two-factor authentication, up from 17% a year ago. If you haven't already enabled it, please consider doing so. Regardless if you use 2FA, please practice appropriate account security by ensuring your password is secure and unique to Wikimedia.
Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 19:22, 3 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Gold Coast light rail failures

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This project began its construction even before the 2012 election when Labor (Bligh) was in power, although LNP and Newman vowed to scrap it and met with tons of popularity among Gold Coast residents, Newman government had no choice but to finish it once they took over, and then they booted off by Labor (Palaszczuk) in 2015 too. This was quite a controversial topic in QLD politics. According to statistics, the ridership number was very low compared to similar systems. Although riders mostly tourists (paying full fare) but they just don’t have enough number to balance with operating cost. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.102.48.90 (talk) 15:09, 6 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]

I warned you for adding unsourced material, and you re-added it still without a source. Another editor has since removed it.-gadfium 18:33, 6 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]

User talk:Lamaunpin

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You might want to revoke their talkpage access: [1]

Thanks. 73.240.4.160 (talk) 20:16, 11 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]

I will if they persist. The added message confirms that my action was correct.-gadfium 20:21, 11 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]


Addington

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Hi, in case it isn't obvious, my recent reversal and comments were about the new editor's posts, not your short grammar correction of those posts that got caught up in the reversal. Roger 8 Roger (talk) 08:51, 3 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Not a problem.-gadfium 09:27, 3 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – August 2018

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

Administrator changes

added Sro23
readded 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

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 01:31, 5 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Kate Sheppard

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Great work on this article, mate; I just noticed it had passed as Feature Article. I've been sadly slack in helping out, but am happy to publicise all the hard work you and others have put in. Anything I can do to help with the main-page nomination to coincide with the 125th anniversary? —Giantflightlessbirds (talk) 03:50, 30 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]

@Giantflightlessbirds: I am asking if it is still possible to make this the front page article on 19 September, even though another article has already been queued. The person who got the other article up to FA status has agreed that Kate Sheppard should be used on that date. Any arguments you could add might help. In particular, I said the anniversary on 19 September is being marked by a number of events around the country, but I gave no examples. Could you find a few such examples for me? The request for Kate Sheppard to usurp the queue position is at Wikipedia talk:Today's featured article/requests#Newly-promoted article.-gadfium 04:15, 30 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Sorted; I compiled some events and left a note of support for Sept 19th. —Giantflightlessbirds (talk) 08:21, 30 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Happy suffrage day. By the way, I've just been in touch with the Herald reporter behind this article, asking if they could possibly release one of their photos with a free license. I mentioned the upcoming homepage appearance and offered to put her in touch with those who have done the bulk of the work if they think it's newsworthy. If so, shall I email you her contact details? Schwede66 20:42, 18 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]
I'm not well placed to talk to reporters at the moment as I'm travelling, with only a phone to access the internet, and much of the time sufficiently remote that there's no cellphone signal.-gadfium 00:21, 19 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]
No trouble. Enjoy your holidays; I initially didn't spot the holiday notice. I've dealt with the reporter, answered a number of questions, and she's got her article nearly ready. Schwede66 03:31, 19 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – September 2018

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

Administrator changes

added None
removed Asterion • Crisco 1492 • KF • Kudpung • Liz • Randykitty • Spartaz
renamed Optimist on the run → Voice of Clam

Interface administrator changes

added 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.
Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 23:23, 2 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Precious

[edit]

Māori task force

Thank you for quality articles around New Zealand, such as Kate Sheppard, for hundreds of categories and their maintenance, for fighting vandalism with specific warnings, for work for the Māori task force, for janitary services from 2004, for "This entitles me to nod wisely when more qualified editors make changes to science-related articles." - you are an awesome Wikipedian!

--Gerda Arendt (talk) 07:33, 19 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you Gerda.-gadfium 08:10, 19 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Precious anniversary

[edit]
A year ago ...
Māori task force
... you were recipient
no. 2028 of Precious,
a prize of QAI!

--Gerda Arendt (talk) 13:36, 19 September 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – October 2018

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

Administrator changes

added Justlettersandnumbers • L235
removed Bgwhite • HorsePunchKid • J Greb • KillerChihuahua • Rami R • Winhunter

Interface administrator changes

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

Oversight changes

removed Guerillero • NativeForeigner • Snowolf • Xeno

Guideline and policy news

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.
Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 20:13, 5 October 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Can't edit or move page

[edit]

Hello Gadfium,

I am wondering if you can help with the following issue. The following TV show is due to air on Prime TV in early 2019. See User:MediaEditNZ/sandbox. I was unable to create the page 100 Day Renovation. If this could please be moved? I have added sources to this. The previous series is currently on NetFlix outside of NZ titled 100 Day Bach. Thanks! --MediaEditNZ (talk) 00:11, 25 October 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – November 2018

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

Guideline and policy news

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-en@wikimedia.org. Other email lists, such as functionaries-en and clerks-l, remain unchanged.
Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 07:18, 3 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]

ArbCom 2018 election voter message

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Hello, Gadfium. 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]

Administrators' newsletter – December 2018

[edit]

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

Administrator changes

readded Al Ameer son • Randykitty • Spartaz
removed Boson • Daniel J. Leivick • Efe • Esanchez7587 • Fred Bauder • Garzo • Martijn Hoekstra • Orangemike

Interface administrator changes

removedDeryck 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

Arbitration

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

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 03:36, 3 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Disruptive IP on Auckland article

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Hi there, I want to bring forward this IP user [2] who you initially reverted their first edit on the article Auckland. I want to bring this forward to admin for a recommended temporary block. Ajf773 (talk) 17:43, 6 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

It seems a strange issue for anyone to get so upset over. Clearly not someone trying to improve the encyclopedia.-gadfium 17:47, 6 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Merry Merry

[edit]
Happy Christmas!
Hello Gadfium,
Early in A Child's Christmas in Wales the young Dylan and his friend Jim Prothero witness smoke pouring from Jim's home. After the conflagration has been extinguished Dylan writes that

Nobody could have had a noisier Christmas Eve. And when the firemen turned off the hose and were standing in the wet, smoky room, Jim's Aunt, Miss. Prothero, came downstairs and peered in at them. Jim and I waited, very quietly, to hear what she would say to them. She said the right thing, always. She looked at the three tall firemen in their shining helmets, standing among the smoke and cinders and dissolving snowballs, and she said, "Would you like anything to read?"

My thanks to you for your efforts to keep the 'pedia readable in case the firemen chose one of our articles :-) Best wishes to you and yours and happy editing in 2019. MarnetteD|Talk 22:31, 18 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks @MarnetteD:! I'm looking forward to spending the next couple of weeks in nature reserves and on beaches. It's summer here.-gadfium 03:13, 19 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Very nice! Enjoy. MarnetteD|Talk 03:45, 19 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]
[edit]

Hi Gadfium

My name is Richard Aldridge and I am new to Wiki. I have two main areas of expertise being aboriginal art and Oceanic art. I recently got a week suspension from Wiki I think for linking to my own website. The links were relevant but I think the main issue is a conflict of interest.

From what I can gather I should not link to my site but just suggest the edit and then someone else make the link? Is that correct?

Although my sites do have a commercial aspect most of my pages are well-researched information pages. I do not understand why my site cannot be linked to but my competitor's site can.

For example under the entry Australian Aboriginal artifacts "Aboriginal Weapons". www.mbantua.com.au. Retrieved 2018-04-01. is allowed to link but I was removed. I am not sure why or how the decision process works — Preceding unsigned comment added by Tribal junkie (talk • contribs) 03:47, 27 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

My name is Richard Aldridge and I am new to Wiki. I have two main areas of expertise being aboriginal art and Oceanic art. I recently got a week suspension from Wiki I think for linking to my own website. The links were relevant but I think the main issue is a conflict of interest.

From what I can gather I should not link to my site but just suggest the edit and then someone else make the link? Is that correct? how long do these talks take to become decisions?

Although my sites do have a commercial aspect most of my pages are well-researched information pages. I do not understand why my site cannot be linked to but many different other commercial sites can?

For example under the entry Australian Aboriginal artifacts "Aboriginal Weapons". www.mbantua.com.au. Retrieved 2018-04-01. is allowed to link but I was removed. I am not sure why or how the decision process works

It appears that all my edits were removed on a wholesale basis and not looked at on individual merit?

Sorry forgot to sign Tribal junkie (talk) 04:01, 27 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

I've replied on User talk:Tribal junkie.-gadfium 07:11, 27 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]
[edit]

hi Again

yes sorry, I didn't respond to the warnings, I did not even know the talk page existed so didn't check it. As I mentioned this is all new to me. I am not upset or anything about what has happened I am more interested in knowing how to proceed from here. As an experienced contributor, I am asking for guidance

For example under the section Gunbalanya (Oenpelli), I wrote a section on bark painting artists. These artists are represented in galleries and are important contributors to Australian art. If I now went in and added that section back and mentioned individual artists how do I proceed? Oenpelli bark paintings are an important part of indigenous art that wiki so far has overlooked completely.

If for example, I mention Spider Namirrki a painter from that area then I should cite my website because it not only give some information about the artist but more importantly has comprehensive images of his work. It is also the most authoritative source on the web for this artist. I now know due to conflict of interest that I can't cite my own website so what is the procedure? I am not going to cite poor quality websites surely?

Can I refer to my contributions in publications and articles in tribal art magazines or is that also inappropriate?

You asked in a former message why should my site be considered authoritative. I believe your expertise is in Maori art so here is an example of my article quality https://www.new-guinea-tribal-arts.com/maori-weapons/. It visually shows different weapons, the information is accurate and it is concise? I also have articles on Fijian war clubs Aboriginal clubs etc etc. Are all of them unworthy of being cited? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Tribal junkie (talk • contribs) 07:24, 27 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – January 2019

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

Guideline and policy news

  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}}.

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

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.
Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 21:38, 1 January 2019 (UTC)[reply]

A barnstar for you!

[edit]
The Editor's Barnstar
your work's great have a good day Acolossus | Talk | Contributions 00:20, 3 January 2019 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you!-gadfium 04:27, 3 January 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Peter Wilcox

[edit]

Hello, I'd like to first give you a tip of the hat for solving what "c.o." meant. I had searched "c.o coast guard" and couldn't find anything. I kept thinking it had to do with commanding officer or something. Also, sorry for the spelling error. I had not actually clicked through or read any sources when rewriting. I will be checking at least the history revisions from now on to make sure that I don't introduce any errors. hbdragon88 (talk) 23:37, 6 January 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – February 2019

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

Administrator changes

added Enterprisey • JJMC89
readded BorgQueen
removed Harro5 • Jenks24 • Graft • R. Baley

Interface administrator changes

removedEnterprisey

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.
Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 02:15, 4 February 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – March 2019

[edit]

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

Guideline and policy news

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-wp@wikipedia.org has been set up to receive private evidence related to abusive paid editing.
    • checkuser-en-wp@wikipedia.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

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 21:13, 4 March 2019 (UTC)[reply]

122.56.88.169

[edit]

Hi Gadfium, you might want to take a look at IP 122.56.88.169. I see that you blocked him for a year in March 2018. His block is now expired and he's already started vandalizing again. He's starting small this time, but it does look like old habits die hard. So far, all of the edits he has made have been reverted. Robman94 (talk) 21:37, 21 March 2019 (UTC)[reply]

No worries, another admin has blocked the IP. Robman94 (talk) 02:59, 25 March 2019 (UTC)[reply]

/* April 2019 */

[edit]

List of New Zealanders by net worth Changed content with purpose to cite sources, please let me continue. Thank you>Wikimannz 03:35, 4 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Find your sources first. A source from 2003 doesn't belong in a current list. If Cooper was no longer a billionaire, you could create a new section about "Historical billionaires", but I think he's still worth quite a lot.-gadfium 03:37, 4 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – April 2019

[edit]

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

Technical news

Arbitration

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.
Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 21:57, 7 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]

ArbCom 2019 special circular

[edit]
Icon of a white exclamation mark within a black triangle
 Administrators must secure their accounts

The Arbitration Committee may require a new RfA if your account is compromised.

View additional information

This message was sent to all administrators following a recent motion. Thank you for your attention. For the Arbitration Committee, Cameron11598 02:26, 4 May 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Administrator account security (Correction to Arbcom 2019 special circular)

[edit]

ArbCom would like to apologise and correct our previous mass message in light of the response from the community.

Since November 2018, six administrator accounts have been compromised and temporarily desysopped. In an effort to help improve account security, our intention was to remind administrators of existing policies on account security — that they are required to "have strong passwords and follow appropriate personal security practices." We have updated our procedures to ensure that we enforce these policies more strictly in the future. The policies themselves have not changed. In particular, two-factor authentication remains an optional means of adding extra security to your account. The choice not to enable 2FA will not be considered when deciding to restore sysop privileges to administrator accounts that were compromised.

We are sorry for the wording of our previous message, which did not accurately convey this, and deeply regret the tone in which it was delivered.

For the Arbitration Committee, -Cameron11598 21:03, 4 May 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – May 2019

[edit]

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

Guideline and policy news

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

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 00:37, 5 May 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Invitation to join the Fifteen Year Society

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Dear Gadfium/Archive 21,

I'd like to extend a cordial invitation to you to join the Fifteen Year Society, an informal group for editors who've been participating in the Wikipedia project for fifteen years or more. ​

Best regards, Urhixidur (talk) 20:37, 8 May 2019 (UTC)[reply]

P:O listed at Redirects for discussion

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An editor has asked for a discussion to address the redirect P:O. Since you had some involvement with the P:O redirect, you might want to participate in the redirect discussion if you wish to do so. UnitedStatesian (talk) 00:08, 11 May 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – June 2019

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

Administrator changes

removed Andonic • Consumed Crustacean • Enigmaman • Euryalus • EWS23 • HereToHelp • Nv8200pa • Peripitus • StringTheory11 • Vejvančický

CheckUser changes

removed Ivanvector

Guideline and policy news

  • An RfC seeks to clarify whether WP:OUTING should include information on just the English Wikipedia or any Wikimedia project.
  • An RfC on WT:RfA concluded that Requests for adminship and bureaucratship are discussions seeking to build consensus.
  • An RfC proposal to make the templates for discussion (TfD) process more like the requested moves (RM) process, i.e. "as a clearinghouse of template discussions", was closed as successful.

Technical news

  • The CSD feature of Twinkle now allows admins to notify page creators of deletion if the page had not been tagged. The default behavior matches that of tagging notifications, and replaces the ability to open the user talk page upon deletion. You can customize which criteria receive notifications in your Twinkle preferences: look for Notify page creator when deleting under these criteria.
  • Twinkle's d-batch (batch delete) feature now supports deleting subpages (and related redirects and talk pages) of each page. The pages will be listed first but use with caution! The und-batch (batch undelete) option can now also restore talk pages.

Miscellaneous

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 09:48, 8 June 2019 (UTC)[reply]

PKU

[edit]

Type of pKU taken from satayanarayan text book of biochemistry. Thanks you Prakagsh tripathi (talk) 09:35, 21 June 2019 (UTC)[reply]

You should add a reference at the time you add content to an article. Also, the lead section of an article is intended to be an introduction and summary of the body. See WP:LEAD. New information should therefore be added to the body, and only added to the lead as well if it belongs in a short summary.-gadfium 22:59, 21 June 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Discussion about edit

[edit]

EMU FAM here, sorry if this is the wrong place for discussion here but id just like to provide evidence for my changes to the Queenstown population and NZ Urban areas page.[1] refer to Page 6. And [2] refer to Wakatipu ward residents. Yes, I am aware of the difference between these two numbers however both demonstrate that the actual urban population of Queenstown is substantially larger than the official number on the Wikipedia page.— Preceding unsigned comment added by EMU FAM (talk • contribs)

The Wakatipu ward seems to cover a much larger area than just Queenstown, including Glenorchy, Kingston and Frankton. The priority is to show the actual Queenstown population in the article, but a population figure for a "greater Queenstown urban area" might also be appropriate. The ward population is not that figure.-gadfium 20:07, 23 June 2019 (UTC)[reply]
  1. ^ https://issuu.com/colliersotago/docs/market_review_and_outlook_2018_e-ve
  2. ^ https://www.qldc.govt.nz/assets/Uploads/Our-Community/Population-Projections/QLDC-Growth-Projections-2018-to-2048-summary-table.pdf
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