User talk : PFHLai/Archive 14

There'sNoTime

Alex Shih • Brian • Mushroom • Nakon • Oscarthecat • PeruvianLlama • Ragib • Reaper Eternal • Rossami • Tom

Interface administrator changes

Evad37 • Galobtter

Ritchie333

CheckUser changes

There'sNoTime

Keegan • Ks0stm

Oversight changes

There'sNoTime

Ks0stm • Sphilbrick

Guideline and policy news

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

Technical news

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

Arbitration

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

Miscellaneous

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

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

Administrators' newsletter – April 2019[edit]

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

Administrator changes

Reaper Eternal • ThaddeusB

Bogdangiusca • Christopher Parham • Necrothesp • Schneelocke • Siroxo • Sarah

Mentifisto → Lofty abyss

Interface administrator changes

Mr. Stradivarius

Bureaucrat changes

Kingturtle

Technical news

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

Arbitration

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

Miscellaneous

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

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

ArbCom 2019 special circular[edit]

Administrators must secure their accounts

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

Use strong, unique passwords for your Wikipedia account and associated email
Change your password now if your Wikipedia account password or email password is reused on another website, exposed, or weak
Enable two-factor authentication now for improved security

View additional information

This message was sent to all administrators following a recent motion. Thank you for your attention. For the Arbitration Committee, Cameron11598 03:01, 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 21:04, 4 May 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – May 2019[edit]

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

Administrator changes

HickoryOughtShirt?4 • RexxS

Necrothesp

Bratsche • Kyle Barbour • Kzollman • Madman

Interface administrator changes

Pharos

Bureaucrat changes

Primefac

CheckUser changes

Reaper Eternal

Guideline and policy news

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

Technical news

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

Arbitration

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

Miscellaneous

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

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

Administrators' newsletter – June 2019[edit]

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

Administrator changes

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

CheckUser changes

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

The previously discussed unblocking of IP addresses indefinitely-blocked before 2009 was approved and has taken place.
The 2019 talk pages consultation produced a report for Phase 1 and has entered Phase 2.

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

Administrators' newsletter – July 2019[edit]

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

Administrator changes

28bytes • Ad Orientem • Ansh666 • Beeblebrox • Boing! said Zebedee • BU Rob13 • Dennis Brown • Deor • DoRD • Floquenbeam¹ • Flyguy649 • Fram² • Gadfium • GB fan • Jonathunder • Kusma • Lectonar • Moink • MSGJ • Nick • Od Mishehu • Rama • Spartaz • Syrthiss • TheDJ • WJBscribe

¹Floquenbeam's access was removed, then restored, then removed again.

²Fram's access was removed, then restored, then removed again.

Bureaucrat changes

28bytes • WJBscribe • Wizardman

Interface administrator changes

MSGJ • TheDJ

CheckUser changes

Beeblebrox • BU Rob13 • DoRD

Oversight changes

Beeblebrox • BU Rob13 • DoRD • GB fan

Guideline and policy news

A request for comment seeking to alleviate pressures on the request an account (ACC) process proposes either raising the account creation limit for extended confirmed editors or granting the account creator permission on request to new ACC tool users.

In a related matter, the account throttle has been restored to six creations per day as the mitigation activity completed.

The scope of CSD criterion G8 has been tightened such that the only redirects that it now applies to are those which target non-existent pages.
The scope of CSD criterion G14 has been expanded slightly to include orphan "Foo (disambiguation)" redirects that target pages that are not disambiguation pages or pages that perform a disambiguation-like function (such as set index articles or lists).
A request for comment seeks to determine whether Wikipedia:Office actions should be a policy page or an information page.

Technical news

The Wikimedia Foundation's Community health initiative plans to design and build a new user reporting system to make it easier for people experiencing harassment and other forms of abuse to provide accurate information to the appropriate channel for action to be taken. Community feedback is invited.

Miscellaneous

In February 2019, the Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) changed its office actions policy to include temporary and project-specific bans. The WMF exercised this new ability for the first time on the English Wikipedia on 10 June 2019 to temporarily ban and desysop Fram. This action has resulted in significant community discussion, a request for arbitration (permalink), and, either directly or indirectly, the resignations of numerous administrators and functionaries. The WMF Board of Trustees is aware of the situation, and discussions continue on a statement and a way forward. The Arbitration Committee has sent an open letter to the WMF Board.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 21:20, 1 July 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – August 2019[edit]

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

Administrator changes

Johnuniq • Kosack • Valereee

Ad Orientem • Ched • Gadfium • Jonathunder • Nick • Yelyos

Bald Zebra • Beetstra • Doug Bell • Journalist • Ruud Koot • Splash • Voice of Clam

Interface administrator changes

Dinoguy1000

CheckUser changes

RickinBaltimore

Oversight changes

Beeblebrox

RickinBaltimore

Guideline and policy news

Following a request for comment, the page Wikipedia:Office actions has been changed from a policy page to an information page.
A request for comment (permalink) is in progress regarding the administrator inactivity policy.

Arbitration

Editors may now use the template {{Ds/aware}} to indicate that they are aware that discretionary sanctions are in force for a topic area, so it is unnecessary to alert them.

Miscellaneous

Following a research project on masking IP addresses, the Foundation is starting a new project to improve the privacy of IP editors. The result of this project may significantly change administrative and counter-vandalism workflows. The project is in the very early stages of discussions and there is no concrete plan yet. Admins and the broader community are encouraged to leave feedback on the talk page.
The new page reviewer right is bundled with the admin tool set. Many admins regularly help out at Special:NewPagesFeed, but they may not be aware of improvements, changes, and new tools for the Curation system. Stay up to date by subscribing here to the NPP newsletter that appears every two months, and/or putting the reviewers' talk page on your watchlist.
Since the introduction of temporary user rights, it is becoming more usual to accord the New Page Reviewer right on a probationary period of 3 to 6 months in the first instance. This avoids rights removal for inactivity at a later stage and enables a review of their work before according the right on a permanent basis.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 19:24, 3 August 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – September 2019[edit]

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

Administrator changes

Bradv • Chetsford • Izno

Floquenbeam • Lectonar

DESiegel • Jake Wartenberg • Rjanag • Topbanana

CheckUser changes

Callanecc • LFaraone • There'sNoTime

Oversight changes

Callanecc • Fox • HJ Mitchell • LFaraone • There'sNoTime

Technical news

Editors using the mobile website on Wikipedia can opt-in to new advanced features via your settings page. This will give access to more interface links, special pages, and tools.
The advanced version of the edit review pages (recent changes, watchlist, and related changes) now includes two new filters. These filters are for "All contents" and "All discussions". They will filter the view to just those namespaces.

Arbitration

A request for comment is open to provide an opportunity to amend the structure, rules, and procedures of the 2019 English Wikipedia Arbitration Committee election and to resolve any issues not covered by existing rules.

Miscellaneous

A global request for comment is in progress regarding whether a user group should be created that could modify edit filters across all public Wikimedia wikis.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 00:37, 7 September 2019 (UTC)[reply]

You might choose to comment[edit]

at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Silence Day (2nd nomination), pursuant to yours' adding the entry to OTD, about 12 years back. ∯WBG^converse 06:58, 17 September 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Request to restore the category you deleted[edit]

Hi, I found you deleted Category:Tharparkar and moved the content to Category:Tharparkar_District. I would request you to reverse it and after shifting contents from Category:Tharparkar_District to Category:Tharparkar, you may delete Category:Tharparkar_District. Just before sometime the articles Tharparkar and Tharparkar District have been merged and rectified. So I would request you to fix similar thing in Categories for this region. --Vikram Nankani (talk) 16:55, 28 September 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Hello, Vikram Nankani. That was 13 years ago! I have no idea why I did what I did... I am looking at Category:Districts of Sindh now. If I do what you suggested, would it make things inconsistent with other subcategories there? Those other subcategories have the word 'District'. I don't think it's a good idea to create inconsistency. --PFHLai (talk) 19:28, 28 September 2019 (UTC)[reply]

PFHLai, if you consider Tharparkar talk page you will understand that both refer same entity. This doubt was also raised while merging Tharparkar and Tharparkar District page which was discussed and understood in same talk page. So by doing what I requested you, will actually remove the inconsistency or unnecessary categories created.

Among sub-categories Thari people and People from Tharparkar District are again same since Demonym for Tharparkar(District) is Thari as specified in page and as confirmed in many references in that page. So even Thari people and People from Tharparkar District needs to be merged into Thari people. The third sub-category Populated places in Tharparkar District may remain as it is since I can't confirm.

Referring Page Authorship and Tharparkar page you may confirm and get assured that I am trying to bring accurate details and remove inconsistency as much possible relating to this topic. Kindly, let me know if further any doubts or issues are raised by merging categories or by doing anything as I suggested. Thanks and Regards.--Vikram Nankani (talk) 21:33, 28 September 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Hello, Vikram Nankani. Have you tried Wikipedia:Categories for discussion yet? --PFHLai (talk) 00:24, 29 September 2019 (UTC)[reply]

PFHLai thank you for promptly responding. I have never tried it. I will read entire topic soon. Meanwhile, if you have any further suggestion regarding same do let me know.

I will need your help also in another matter which is regarding removal of a redirect and create a page. There is an administrative division namely Dahli in same Tharparkar which is railway hub of the district. Although Dahli page doesn't exist but someone has set it to redirect on another page which has no edits or updates for more than 2 years. So can a page with name as Dahli with url as here be created or it has got reserved and can't be created with same title and url? Thanks and regards.--Vikram Nankani (talk) 03:39, 29 September 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Hi! For "Dahli", please see Wikipedia:Redirect#How to edit a redirect or convert it into an article. You do not need admin intervention to change a redirect into an article. I've found another place also called Dahli in Turkey. It seems that a disambiguation page may be in order. Hope this helps. Happy editing. Cheers! --PFHLai (talk) 19:03, 29 September 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry PFHLai to notice your reply late. Thank you very much to help me fix the issues. 🙏😊 Vikram Nankani (talk) 11:38, 6 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Not at all, Vikram Nankani. No worries. You are the one doing all the hard work improving the encyclopedia. I hope you are having fun "working" here at Wikipedia. Happy editing. Cheers! --PFHLai (talk) 15:31, 6 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]

PFHLai thanks for your kind appreciation. --Vikram Nankani (talk) 16:26, 6 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – October 2019[edit]

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

Administrator changes

Barkeep49

Beetstra • KillerChihuahua • Kusma

Arcadian • Extraordinary Machine • Xeno

JamesBWatson → JBW

Interface administrator changes

CheckUser changes

Courcelles • SilkTork • Timotheus Canens

Oversight changes

Courcelles • SilkTork • Timotheus Canens

Guideline and policy news

Following a discussion, a new criterion for speedy category renaming was added: C2F: One eponymous article, which applies if the category contains only an eponymous article or media file, provided that the category has not otherwise been emptied shortly before the nomination. The default outcome is an upmerge to the parent categories.

Technical news

As previously noted, tighter password requirements for Administrators were put in place last year. Wikipedia should now alert you if your password is less than 10 characters long and thus too short.

Arbitration

The 2019 CheckUser and Oversight appointment process has begun. The community consultation period will take place October 4th to 10th.
The arbitration case regarding Fram was closed. While there will be a local RfC focus[ing] on how harassment and private complaints should be handled in the future, there is currently a global community consultation on partial and temporary office actions in response to the incident. It will be open until October 30th.

Miscellaneous

The Community Tech team has been working on a system for temporarily watching pages, and welcomes feedback.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 11:55, 2 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – November 2019[edit]

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

Administrator changes

GermanJoe • Girth Summit • Kees08 • Nosebagbear

DESiegel • GB fan • MSGJ • Voice of Clam • WilyD

DeltaQuad • Fang Aili • Pakaran

Bureaucrat changes

DeltaQuad • Pakaran

Interface administrator changes

MSGJ

CheckUser changes

L235 • Mz7 • SQL • ST47

Ivanvector

Oversight changes

L235 • Mz7 • ST47 • Stwalkerster • The Blade of the Northern Lights • Xaosflux

DeltaQuad • DGG • Julia W

Guideline and policy news

An RfC was closed with the consensus that the resysop criteria should be made stricter.

The follow-up RfC to develop that change is now open at Wikipedia:Requests for comment/2019 Resysop Criteria (2).

A related RfC is seeking the community's sentiment for a binding desysop procedure.

Arbitration

Eligible editors may now nominate themselves as candidates for the 2019 Arbitration Committee Elections. The self-nomination period will close November 12, with voting running from November 19 through December 2.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 21:15, 3 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

ArbCom 2019 election voter message[edit]

Hello! Voting in the 2019 Arbitration Committee elections is now open until 23:59 on Monday, 2 December 2019. All eligible users are allowed 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 2019 election, please review the candidates and submit your choices on the voting page. If you no longer wish to receive these messages, you may add {{NoACEMM}} to your user talk page. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 00:03, 19 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – December 2019[edit]

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

Administrator changes

EvergreenFir • ToBeFree

Akhilleus • Athaenara • John Vandenberg • Melchoir • MichaelQSchmidt • NeilN • Youngamerican • 😂

CheckUser changes

Beeblebrox

Deskana

Interface administrator changes

Guideline and policy news

An RfC on the administrator resysop criteria was closed. 18 proposals have been summarised with a variety of supported and opposed statements. The inactivity grace period within which a new request for adminship is not required has been reduced from three years to two. Additionally, Bureaucrats are permitted to use their discretion when returning administrator rights.
Following a proposal, the edit filter mailing list has been opened up to users with the Edit Filter Helper right.

Technical news

Wikimedia projects can set a default block length for users via MediaWiki:ipb-default-expiry. A new page, MediaWiki:ipb-default-expiry-ip, allows the setting of a different default block length for IP editors. Neither is currently used. (T219126)

Arbitration

Voting in the 2019 Arbitration Committee Elections is open to eligible editors until Monday 23:59, 2 December 2018 UTC. Please review the candidates and, if you wish to do so, submit your choices on the voting page.

Miscellaneous

The global consultation on partial and temporary office actions that ended in October received a closing statement from staff concluding, among other things, that the WMF will no longer use partial or temporary Office Action bans... until and unless community consensus that they are of value or Board directive.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 02:48, 2 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – January 2020[edit]

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

Administrator changes

Dreamy Jazz • Newslinger • Rosguill

Deor • Spartaz • Xeno

Angusmclellan • clpo13 • Edgar181 • Matthewedwards • NCurse

CheckUser changes

Bradv • Casliber • David Fuchs • Maxim • Newyorkbrad • SoWhy • Xeno

Oversight changes

Bradv • Casliber • DGG • David Fuchs • Maxim • Newyorkbrad • SoWhy • Xeno

Someguy1221

Guideline and policy news

A request for comment asks whether partial blocks should be enabled on the English Wikipedia. If enabled, this functionality would allow administrators to block users from editing specific pages or namespaces, rather than the entire site.
A proposal asks whether admins who don't use their tools for a significant period of time (e.g. five years) should have the toolset procedurally removed.
Following a successful RfC, a whitelist is now available for users whose redirects will be autopatrolled by a bot, removing them from the new pages patrol queue. Admins can add such users to Wikipedia:New pages patrol/Redirect whitelist after a discussion following the guidelines at Wikipedia talk:New pages patrol/Redirect whitelist.

Arbitration

The fourth case on Palestine-Israel articles was closed. The case consolidated all previous remedies under one heading, which should make them easier to understand, apply, and enforce. In particular, the distinction between "primary articles" and "related content" has been clarified, with the former being the entire set of articles whose topic relates to the Arab-Israeli conflict, broadly interpreted rather than reasonably construed.
Following the 2019 Arbitration Committee elections, the following editors have been appointed to the Arbitration Committee: Beeblebrox, Bradv, Casliber, David Fuchs, DGG, KrakatoaKatie, Maxim, Newyorkbrad, SoWhy, Worm That Turned, Xeno.

Miscellaneous

This issue marks three full years of the Admin newsletter. Thanks for reading!

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 20:06, 4 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – February 2020[edit]

News and updates for administrators from the past month (January 2020).

Administrator changes

Ergo Sum • Nick Moyes • QEDK • Wugapodes

Dennis Brown

Aude • BrownHairedGirl • CALR • Jengod • John Reaves • J.smith • Kim Dent-Brown • K1Bond007 • MECU • Refdoc • RHaworth

CheckUser changes

Opabinia regalis • Premeditated Chaos

Interface administrator changes

Guideline and policy news

Following a request for comment, partial blocks are now enabled on the English Wikipedia. This functionality allows administrators to block users from editing specific pages or namespaces rather than the entire site. A draft policy is being workshopped at Wikipedia:Partial blocks.
The request for comment seeking the community's sentiment for a binding desysop procedure closed with wide-spread support for an alternative desysoping procedure based on community input. No proposed process received consensus.

Technical news

Twinkle now supports partial blocking. There is a small checkbox that toggles the "partial" status for both blocks and templating. There is currently one template: {{uw-pblock}}.
When trying to move a page, if the target title already exists then a warning message is shown. The warning message will now include a link to the target title. [2]

Arbitration

Following a recent arbitration case, the Arbitration Committee reminded administrators that checkuser and oversight blocks must not be reversed or modified without prior consultation with the checkuser or oversighter who placed the block, the respective functionary team, or the Arbitration Committee.

Miscellaneous

Voting in the 2020 Steward elections will begin on 08 February 2020, 14:00 (UTC) and end on 28 February 2020, 13:59 (UTC). The confirmation process of current stewards is being held in parallel. You can automatically check your eligibility to vote.
The English Wikipedia has reached six million articles. Thank you everyone for your contributions!

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 15:06, 1 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – March 2020[edit]

News and updates for administrators from the past month (February 2020).

Administrator changes

Money emoji

Athaenara • DeltaQuad

Fishhead64 • Kudpung • Mikaey

Bureaucrat changes

CheckUser changes

Oversight changes

Guideline and policy news

Following an RfC, the blocking policy was changed to state that sysops must not undo or alter CheckUser or Oversight blocks, rather than should not.
A request for comment confirmed that sandboxes of established but inactive editors may not be blanked due solely to inactivity.

Technical news

Following a discussion, Twinkle's default CSD behavior will soon change, most likely this week. After the change, Twinkle will default to "tagging mode" if there is no CSD tag present, and default to "deletion mode" if there is a CSD tag present. You will be able to always default to "deletion mode" (the current behavior) using your Twinkle preferences.

Miscellaneous

Following the 2020 Steward Elections, the following editors have been appointed as stewards: BRPever, Krd, Martin Urbanec, MusikAnimal, Sakretsu, Sotiale, and Tks4Fish. There are a total of seven editors that have been appointed as stewards, the most since 2014.
The 2020 appointees for the Ombudsman commission are Ajraddatz and Uzoma Ozurumba; they will serve for one year.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 11:20, 2 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

A barnstar for you![edit]

	The Tireless Contributor Barnstar
	Thank you for all the work you do on making sure Wikipedia:Community portal/Opentask is always up to date and formatted properly. Moxy 🍁 15:59, 15 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Wow! Thank you so much, Moxy. Just trying to do my part in this wiki project. Thank you. :-) --PFHLai (talk) 03:52, 16 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – April 2020[edit]

News and updates for administrators from the past month (March 2020).

Administrator changes

Cabayi • Lee Vilenski

Boing! said Zebedee

Jonny-mt • MarkGallagher • PeaceNT

Money emoji → Moneytrees

Bureaucrat changes

SilkTork • WereSpielChequers

CheckUser changes

NativeForeigner

Oversight changes

Someguy1221

Daniel Case

Guideline and policy news

There is an ongoing request for comment to streamline the source deprecation and blacklisting process.

Technical news

There is a plan for new requirements for user signatures. You can give feedback.

Arbitration

Following the banning of an editor by the WMF last year, the Arbitration Committee resolved to hold a Arbcom RfC regarding on-wiki harassment. A draft RfC has been posted at Wikipedia:Arbitration Committee/Anti-harassment RfC (Draft) and not open to comments from the community yet. Interested editors can comment on the RfC itself on its talk page.

Miscellaneous

The WMF has begun a pilot report of the pages most visited through various social media platforms to help with anti-vandalism and anti-disinformation efforts. The report is updated daily and will be available through the end of May.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 07:00, 1 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – May 2020[edit]

News and updates for administrators from the past month (April 2020).

Administrator changes

Gnangarra • Kaisershatner • Malcolmxl5

CheckUser changes

Oversight changes

HJ Mitchell

Guideline and policy news

Discretionary sanctions have been authorized for all pages and edits related to COVID-19, to be logged at WP:GS/COVID19.
Following a recent discussion on Meta-Wiki, the edit filter maintainer global group has been created.
A request for comment has been proposed to create a new main page editor usergroup.
A request for comment has been proposed to make the bureaucrat activity requirements more strict.

Technical news

The Editing team has been working on the talk pages project. You can review the proposed design and share your thoughts on the talk page.
Enterprisey created a script that will show a link to the proper Special:Undelete page when viewing a since-deleted revision, see User:Enterprisey/link-deleted-revs.

Miscellaneous

A request for comment closed with consensus to create a Village Pump-style page for communication with the Wikimedia Foundation.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 01:19, 2 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – June 2020[edit]

News and updates for administrators from the past month (May 2020).

Administrator changes

CaptainEek • Creffett • Cwmhiraeth

Anna Frodesiak • Buckshot06 • Ronhjones • SQL

CheckUser changes

SQL

Guideline and policy news

A request for comment asks whether the Unblock Ticket Request System (UTRS) should allowed any unblock request or just private appeals.
The Wikimedia Foundation announced that they will develop a universal code of conduct for all WMF projects. There is an open local discussion regarding the same.

Arbitration

A motion was passed to enact a 500/30 restriction on articles related to the history of Jews and antisemitism in Poland during World War II (1933–45), including the Holocaust in Poland. Article talk pages where disruption occurs may also be managed with the stated restriction.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 13:27, 1 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – July 2020[edit]

News and updates for administrators from the past month (June 2020).

Administrator changes

Malcolmxl5

John • TheCoffee • Tim!

Creffett → GeneralNotability

DeltaQuad → AmandaNP

CheckUser changes

Bbb23

Interface administrator changes

TonyBallioni

Guideline and policy news

A request for comment is in progress to remove the T2 (template that misrepresents established policy) speedy deletion criterion.

Technical news

Protection templates on mainspace pages are now automatically added by User:MusikBot II (BRFA).

Arbitration

Following the banning of an editor by the WMF last year, the Arbitration Committee resolved to hold an RfC regarding on-wiki harassment. The RfC has been posted at Wikipedia:Arbitration Committee/Anti-harassment RfC and is open to comments from the community.
The Medicine case was closed, with a remedy authorizing standard discretionary sanctions for all discussions about pharmaceutical drug prices and pricing and for edits adding, changing, or removing pharmaceutical drug prices or pricing from articles.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 10:25, 1 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Hamilton on OTD[edit]

FYI, I had Hamilton repeat on July 13 as it was topical due to the recent release of the Hamilton movie on Disney+. —howcheng {chat} 16:26, 13 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Is that so? I had no idea. I don't subscribe to Disney+. Sorry for messing up your plans, howcheng. --PFHLai (talk) 18:22, 13 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I guess you don't use social media much? Even if I didn't have Disney+ I've seen it all over every platform (ads, people talking about it). —howcheng {chat} 21:00, 13 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Perhaps advertisers here in Canada targeted me for other promotions, I suppose. --PFHLai (talk) 01:43, 14 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Direct, reliable sources needed for Days of the Year pages[edit]

You're probably not aware of this change, but Days of the Year pages now require direct reliable sources for additions. For details see the content guideline, the WikiProject Days of the Year style guide or the edit notice on any DOY page. Almost all new additions without references are now being reverted on-sight.

Please do not add new additions to these pages without direct sources as the burden to provide them is on the editor who adds or restores material to these pages.

Thank you. Toddst1 (talk) 19:17, 15 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Hello, Toddst1. Thank you for letting me know. I shall get that rectified soon. --PFHLai (talk) 23:51, 15 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Hi, Toddst1. I have restored Johann Palisa's birth and death to the respective day wikipages with references now. I hope you would approve of these edits of mine. Please let me know if any further fixes are needed. Thank you. --PFHLai (talk) 01:53, 16 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Looks great to me, but it's not about my opinion.

Just so you know, the Days of Years (DOTY) project had exempted themselves from verifiability. As a result, almost none of the pages had any sources to back things up, based on the naive (and against Wikipedia policy) belief that all entries would be backed by reliable sources in the linked article. It turns out that was not the case and the DOTY pages were filled with incorrect info and even worse, other places started believing the info there and publishing the incorrect info in newspapers, for example on "Today's date in history" type listings.

So about two years ago the DOTY project took the bold step of requiring that all new entries be backed by direct reliable sources. Several of us have gone through and started cleaning things up. May 11 is an example of where we want to be. For details see the content guideline, the WikiProject Days of the Year style guide or the edit notice on any DOY page.

We could use your help in:

Preventing new entries that don't include direct sources and when they occur, either supplement them with a reliable source or reverting them.
Helping us clean up articles. The project members have asked all participants to go through their birthday and clean the entries up by adding reliable sources to each entry, or removing entries where reliable sources aren't readily available.

I hope this helps. Toddst1 (talk) 16:29, 16 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you, Toddst1. I am glad to know that DOTY wikipages are getting properly referenced. I used to find anons and new users putting in their own birthday a little too often and became rather annoyed. I'll help add more references and remove questionable births, etc. --PFHLai (talk) 22:41, 18 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – August 2020[edit]

News and updates for administrators from the past month (July 2020).

Administrator changes

Red Phoenix

Euryalus • SQL

Jujutacular • Monty845 • Rettetast • Madchester

Oversight changes

GB fan

Keegan • Opabinia regalis • Premeditated Chaos

Guideline and policy news

There is an open request for comment to decide whether to increase the minimum duration a sanction discussion has to remain open (currently 24 hours).
Speedy deletion criterion T2 (template that misrepresents established policy) has been repealed following a request for comment.
Speedy deletion criterion X2 (pages created by the content translation tool) has been repealed following a discussion.
There is a proposal to restrict proposed deletion to confirmed users.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 08:21, 1 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Birth date[edit]

For this edit, the New York Times won't let me see the reference to confirm the change, so you should be the one to correct the remaining mentions of the birth date: Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/August 8, "age 89" at the {{death date and age}} template in the Esther Hobart Morris infobox, and "age 89" at Esther Hobart Morris#Death and legacy. Art LaPella (talk) 04:18, 7 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you, Art, for letting me know. I have made the necessary changes now. --PFHLai (talk) 04:38, 7 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Today's Wikipedian 10 years ago[edit]

--Gerda Arendt (talk) 05:57, 8 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you, Gerda. Ten years already, eh?! Time flies! :-) --PFHLai (talk) 06:02, 8 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

... and look: again today! - in memory of Jerome Kohl, more on my talk --Gerda Arendt (talk) 08:47, 28 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Nicely done at DYK today, Gerda.

--PFHLai (talk) 23:49, 28 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – September 2020[edit]

News and updates for administrators from the past month (August 2020).

Administrator changes

Eddie891

Angela • Jcw69 • Just Chilling • Philg88 • Viajero

CheckUser changes

SQL

Guideline and policy news

Following a request for comment, the minimum length for site ban discussions was increased to 72 hours, up from 24.
A request for comment is ongoing to determine whether paid editors must or should use the articles for creation process.
A request for comment is open to resolve inconsistencies between the draftification and alternative to deletion processes.

Arbitration

A request for comment is open to provide an opportunity to amend the structure, rules, and procedures of the 2020 English Wikipedia Arbitration Committee election and to resolve any issues not covered by existing rules.
An open request for comment asks whether active Arbitrators may serve on the Trust and Safety Case Review Committee or Ombudsman commission.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 09:56, 2 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – September 2020[edit]

News and updates for administrators from the past month (September 2020).

Administrator changes

Ajpolino • LuK3

Jackmcbarn

Ad Orientem • Harej • Lid • Lomn • Mentoz86 • Oliver Pereira • XJaM

There'sNoTime → TheresNoTime

Guideline and policy news

A request for comment found consensus that incubation as an alternative to deletion should generally only be recommended when draftification is appropriate, namely 1) if the result of a deletion discussion is to draftify; or 2) if the article is newly created.

Technical news

The filter log now provides links to view diffs of deleted revisions (phab:T261630).

Arbitration

The 2020 CheckUser and Oversight appointment process has begun. The community consultation period will take place from September 27th to October 7th.
Following a request for comment, sitting Committee members may not serve on either the Ombuds Commission or the WMF Case Review Committee. The Arbitration Committee passed a motion implementing those results into their procedures.

Miscellaneous

The Universal Code of Conduct draft is open for community review and comment until October 6th, 2020.
Office actions may now be appealed to the Interim Trust & Safety Case Review Committee.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 10:43, 1 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – November 2020[edit]

News and updates for administrators from the past month (October 2020).

Administrator changes

John M Wolfson

Bduke • Nilfanion • Philosopher • Rspeer • Yunshui

Interface administrator changes

TonyBallioni

CheckUser changes

EdJohnston • Oshwah • Yamla

Yunshui

Oversight changes

Anarchyte

Yunshui

Guideline and policy news

Community sanctions now authorize administrators to place under indefinite semiprotection any article on a beauty pageant, or biography of a person known as a beauty pageant contestant, which has been edited by a sockpuppet account or logged-out sockpuppet, to be logged at WP:GS/PAGEANT.

Technical news

Sysops will once again be able to view the deleted history of JS/CSS pages; this was restricted to interface administrators when that group was introduced.
Twinkle's block module now includes the ability to note the specific case when applying a discretionary sanctions block and/or template.
Sysops will be able to use Special:CreateLocalAccount to create a local account for a global user that is prevented from auto-creation locally (such as by a filter or range block). Administrators that are not sure if such a creation is appropriate should contact a checkuser.

Arbitration

The 2020 Arbitration Committee Elections process has begun. Eligible editors will be able to nominate themselves as candidates from November 8 through November 17. The voting period will run from November 23 through December 6.
The Anti-harassment RfC has concluded with a summary of the feedback provided.

Miscellaneous

A reminder that standard discretionary sanctions are authorized for all edits about, and all pages related to post-1932 politics of the United States and closely related people. (American Politics 2 Arbitration case).

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 11:52, 1 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

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.

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 2020 election, please review the candidates and submit your choices on the voting page. If you no longer wish to receive these messages, you may add {{NoACEMM}} to your user talk page. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 01:16, 24 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – December 2020[edit]

News and updates for administrators from the past month (November 2020).

Administrator changes

Andrwsc • Anetode • GoldenRing • JzG • LinguistAtLarge • Nehrams2020

Interface administrator changes

Izno

Guideline and policy news

There is a request for comment in progress to either remove T3 (duplicated and hardcoded instances) as a speedy deletion criterion or eliminate its seven-day waiting period.

Technical news

Voting for proposals in the 2021 Community Wishlist Survey, which determines what software the Wikimedia Foundation's Community Tech team will work on next year, will take place from 8 December through 21 December. In particular, there are sections regarding administrators and anti-harassment.

Arbitration

Voting in the 2020 Arbitration Committee Elections is open to eligible editors until Monday 23:59, 7 December 2020 UTC. Please review the candidates and, if you wish to do so, submit your choices on the voting page.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 02:37, 1 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – January 2021[edit]

News and updates for administrators from the past month (December 2020).

Administrator changes

Hammersoft

Andres • Brion VIBBER • Rkitko • Thatcher

CheckUser changes

Barkeep49 • BDD • CaptainEek • Primefac

Oversight changes

Barkeep49 • BDD • CaptainEek

Joe Roe

Guideline and policy news

Speedy deletion criterion T3 (duplication and hardcoded instances) has been repealed following a request for comment.

Technical news

You can now put pages on your watchlist for a limited period of time.

Arbitration

By motion, standard discretionary sanctions have been temporarily authorized for all pages relating to the Horn of Africa (defined as including Ethiopia, Somalia, Eritrea, Djibouti, and adjoining areas if involved in related disputes). The effectiveness of the discretionary sanctions can be evaluated on the request by any editor after March 1, 2021 (or sooner if for a good reason).
Following the 2020 Arbitration Committee elections, the following editors have been appointed to the Arbitration Committee: Barkeep49, BDD, Bradv, CaptainEek, L235, Maxim, Primefac.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 00:08, 5 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – February 2021[edit]

News and updates for administrators from the past month (January 2021).

Administrator changes

Hog Farm

Mattflaschen • Nandesuka • Savidan • Wangi

CheckUser changes

Berean Hunter • Xeno

Oversight changes

Someguy1221 • Xeno

Arbitration

The standard discretionary sanctions authorized for American Politics were amended by motion to cover post-1992 politics of United States and closely related people, replacing the 1932 cutoff.

Miscellaneous

Voting in the 2021 Steward elections will begin on 05 February 2021, 14:00 (UTC) and end on 26 February 2021, 13:59 (UTC). The confirmation process of current stewards is being held in parallel. You can automatically check your eligibility to vote.
Wikipedia has now been around for 20 years, and recently saw its billionth edit!

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 19:10, 1 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]

News image[edit]

I had liked your image :(. Also, could you revisit our conversation here? I gave the proposal as you asked but it seems it was closed before you could answer. CheersOyMosby (talk) 16:40, 21 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Hi, OyMosby. Thanks for your message here and your e-mail. Things change quite quickly on WP:ERRORS, a place meant for mostly requests for simple, quick changes. If no further changes are deemed necessary, posts get removed. That was what Stephen (talk · contribs) did, which is fine. Everything is still in the page history and can be easily restored as needed, which was what you did. Let's keep the dialogue continue as needed. Thank you. Happy editing. --PFHLai (talk) 19:57, 21 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]

No problem, but now I am

Dealing with an abusive editor. I filed a report however. Cheers OyMosby (talk) 01:24, 22 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – March 2021[edit]

News and updates for administrators from the past month (February 2021).

Administrator changes

TJMSmith

Boing! said Zebedee • Hiberniantears • Lear's Fool • Only • WGFinley

Interface administrator changes

AmandaNP

Guideline and policy news

A request for comment is open that proposes a process for the community to revoke administrative permissions. This follows a 2019 RfC in favor of creating one such a policy.
A request for comment is in progress to remove F7 (invalid fair-use claim) subcriterion a, which covers immediate deletion of non-free media with invalid fair-use tags.
A request for comment seeks to grant page movers the delete-redirect userright, which allows moving a page over a single-revision redirect, regardless of that redirect's target. The full proposal is at Wikipedia:Page mover/delete-redirect.
A request for comment asks if sysops may place the General sanctions/Coronavirus disease 2019 editnotice template on pages in scope that do not have page-specific sanctions?
There is a discussion in progress concerning automatic protection of each day's featured article with Pending Changes protection.

Technical news

When blocking an IPv6 address with Twinkle, there is now a checkbox with the option to just block the /64 range. When doing so, you can still leave a block template on the initial, single IP address' talkpage.
When protecting a page with Twinkle, you can now add a note if doing so was in response to a request at WP:RfPP, and even link to the specific revision.
There have been a number of reported issues with Pending Changes. Most problems setting protection appear to have been resolved (phab:T273317) but other issues with autoaccepting edits persist (phab:T275322).

Arbitration

By motion, the discretionary sanctions originally authorized under the GamerGate case are now authorized under a new Gender and sexuality case, with sanctions authorized for all edits about, and all pages related to, any gender-related dispute or controversy and associated people. Sanctions issued under GamerGate are now considered Gender and sexuality sanctions.
The Kurds and Kurdistan case was closed, authorizing standard discretionary sanctions for the topics of Kurds and Kurdistan, broadly construed.

Miscellaneous

Following the 2021 Steward Elections, the following editors have been appointed as stewards: AmandaNP, Operator873, Stanglavine, Teles, and Wiki13.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 19:14, 1 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Precious anniversary 9[edit]

--Gerda Arendt (talk) 09:22, 17 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you, Gerda. Have a Happy St Patrick's Day! Cheers! PFHLai (talk) 11:38, 17 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Just a question: why would we have BLP=yes for someone who died a week ago? --Gerda Arendt (talk) 07:21, 3 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry, Gerda, is it about one of my recent edits? It should be BLP=no, or BLPO=yes if the wikibio mentions other people who may be still alive. If it's my mistake somewhere, please let me know where and I'll go fix it. Thanks. --PFHLai (talk) 08:17, 3 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

My mistake, I didn't know about BLPO. - How useful is that? I mean, there will almost always be other people who are alive, no? Louis Andriessen - generations of students. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 08:24, 3 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

BLPO is something new to me, too. I stumbled upon it recently. For simple teacher-student relationship, it's probably not important. This may be important in other relationships, such as marriage/divorce/extramarital affairs with (illegitimate) children, for instance. --PFHLai (talk) 08:44, 3 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

His wife is alive, but nothing more is said about her than that she reported his dementia last year. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 08:46, 3 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I see. Well, then, a statement that someone is demented had better come with references. BLPO applies, I suppose. --PFHLai (talk) 08:51, 3 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

It had a ref, and I added another. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 09:47, 3 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Also, I was confused, your change was for Frederic Rzewski. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 09:50, 3 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

No worries. Zingarese fixed it there. And, I was confused, too. I misread what you wrote above and thought Andriessen's wife was demented. Oh, well... never mind. Anyway, thank you for putting in the refs. Glad to see that everything is properly referenced in your articles. --PFHLai (talk) 10:01, 3 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you, I try. Only: there's no "my articles", - I "adopt" many translations, and many who recently died, and often it's not easy to find refs in retrospect. Example: there were two lines in the Andriessen bio, about "amplified non-vibrato voices" and such, for which we could find no independent ref (but many who copied exactly that). A conservative user removed it, although it was in the article for more than a decade. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 10:06, 3 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Well, it's a wiki. Someone may put it back with refs soon. --PFHLai (talk) 10:21, 3 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I doubt that, because I really looked. Many copied it, but the original was possibly a program booklet, not easily found. It's just a bit funny, that now other Wikipedias and websites have that detail, but not in English. It doesn't really matter, at least to me. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 11:13, 3 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

It's just one point in an already quite long article. Let it be. It's okay. --PFHLai (talk) 11:41, 3 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

ITN removal[edit]

Hi PFHLai, regarding your recent removal of the Atlanta Spa shooting blurb from the ITN template, the oldest one on the list is actually the Pritzker Architecture Prize one per this comment here [3]. Some1 (talk) 01:42, 20 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for letting me know, Some1. ONUnicorn has taken care of this already. Cheers! --PFHLai (talk) 05:15, 20 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – April 2021[edit]

News and updates for administrators from the past month (March 2021).

Administrator changes

Alexandria • Happyme22 • RexxS

Guideline and policy news

Following a request for comment, F7 (invalid fair-use claim) subcriterion a has been deprecated; it covered immediate deletion of non-free media with invalid fair-use tags.
Following a request for comment, page movers were granted the delete-redirect userright, which allows moving a page over a single-revision redirect, regardless of that redirect's target.

Technical news

When you move a page that many editors have on their watchlist the history can be split and it might also not be possible to move it again for a while. This is because of a job queue problem. (T278350)
Code to support some very old web browsers is being removed. This could cause issues in those browsers. (T277803)

Arbitration

A community consultation on the Arbitration Committee discretionary sanctions procedure is open until April 25.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 22:20, 1 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

France/French Guiana[edit]

You do realize, of course, that French Guiana is a department of France. It is not considered to be a separate country politically. It's part of the EU (ridiculous as that may seem). Hence the DYK hook, which was discussed at considerable length at DYK. Just so's you know – the hook wasn't an error. MeegsC (talk) 20:39, 2 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the note, MeegsC. A mountain of gold gets my attention regardless of location. This one is in France the country but not in France the place. I thought the original hook is less ambiguous than ALT1... maybe not... Should I revert my edit at the template? --PFHLai (talk) 21:19, 2 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I suppose it's fine to leave now; there's only another 1.5 hours until it's replaced anyway. I actually didn't know myself that French Guiana was a department until the discussion at DYK. That was kind of the point of the hook, I guess. The nominator thought (probably correctly) that it would get people to click on the link. MeegsC (talk) 21:31, 2 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Okay, thanks, I shall leave things as they are at DYK. The hook works as clickmagnet either way, methinks. --PFHLai (talk) 21:36, 2 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – May 2021[edit]

News and updates for administrators from the past month (April 2021).

Administrator changes

Enchanter • Carlossuarez46

Interface administrator changes

Guideline and policy news

Following an RfC, consensus was found that third party appeals are allowed but discouraged.
The 2021 Desysop Policy RfC was closed with no consensus. Consensus was found in a previous RfC for a community based desysop procedure, though the procedure proposed in the 2021 RfC did not gain consensus.

Technical news

The user group oversight will be renamed to suppress. This is for technical reasons. You can comment at T112147 if you have objections.

Arbitration

The community consultation on the Arbitration Committee discretionary sanctions procedure was closed, and an initial draft based on feedback from the now closed consultation is expected to be released in early June to early July for community review.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 15:51, 7 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – June 2021[edit]

News and updates for administrators from the past month (May 2021).

Administrator changes

Ashleyyoursmile • Less Unless

Husond • MattWade • MJCdetroit • Carioca • Vague Rant • Kingboyk • Thunderboltz • Gwen Gale • AniMate • SlimVirgin (deceased)

Guideline and policy news

Consensus was reached to deprecate Wikipedia:Editor assistance.
Following a Request for Comment the Book namespace was deprecated.

Technical news

Wikimedia previously used the IRC network Freenode. However, due to changes over who controlled the network with reports of a forceful takeover by several ex-staff members, the Wikimedia IRC Group Contacts decided to move to the new Libera Chat network. It has been reported that Wikimedia related channels on Freenode have been forcibly taken over if they pointed members to Libera. There is a migration guide and Wikimedia discussions about this.

Arbitration

After a Clarification request, the Arbitration Committee modified Remedy 5 of the Antisemitism in Poland case. This means sourcing expectations are a discretionary sanction instead of being present on all articles. It also details using the talk page or the Reliable Sources Noticeboard to discuss disputed sources.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 14:45, 9 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

ITN recognition for Wang Chiu-Hwa[edit]

On 21 June 2021, In the news was updated with an item that involved the article Wang Chiu-Hwa, which you nominated. If you know of another recently created or updated article suitable for inclusion in ITN, please suggest it on the candidates page. Step hen 00:44, 21 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

ITN recognition for Mir Hazar Khan Khoso[edit]

On 28 June 2021, In the news was updated with an item that involved the article Mir Hazar Khan Khoso, which you nominated. If you know of another recently created or updated article suitable for inclusion in ITN, please suggest it on the candidates page. Step hen 01:51, 28 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – July 2021[edit]

News and updates for administrators from the past month (June 2021).

Administrator changes

Trialpears

AGK • Eliz81 • Mulad • ThaddeusB • Vianello • Who

Lacrimosus → Ikuzaf

Interface administrator changes

CheckUser changes

AGK • DGG

Oversighter changes

AGK

Guideline and policy news

Consensus has been reached to delete all books in the book namespace. There was rough consensus that the deleted books should still be available on request at WP:REFUND even after the namespace is removed.
An RfC is open to discuss the next steps following a trial which automatically applied pending changes to TFAs.

Technical news

IP addresses of unregistered users are to be hidden from everyone. There is a rough draft of how IP addresses may be shown to users who need to see them. This currently details allowing administrators, checkusers, stewards and those with a new usergroup to view the full IP address of unregistered users. Editors with at least 500 edits and an account over a year old will be able to see all but the end of the IP address in the proposal. The ability to see the IP addresses hidden behind the mask would be dependent on agreeing to not share the parts of the IP address they can see with those who do not have access to the same information. Accessing part of or the full IP address of a masked editor would also be logged. Comments on the draft are being welcomed at the talk page.

Arbitration

The community authorised COVID-19 general sanctions have been superseded by the COVID-19 discretionary sanctions following a motion at a case request. Alerts given and sanctions placed under the community authorised general sanctions are now considered alerts for and sanctions under the new discretionary sanctions.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 11:27, 3 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

De facto[edit]

"Now italicized both in the article and in the blurb"

– Strange. – Sca (talk) 14:51, 10 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Strange? Why? It's strange to not italicize the Latin phrase. --PFHLai (talk) 19:46, 10 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

ITN recognition for Priscilla Johnson McMillan[edit]

On 14 July 2021, In the news was updated with an item that involved the article Priscilla Johnson McMillan, which you nominated. If you know of another recently created or updated article suitable for inclusion in ITN, please suggest it on the candidates page. Step hen 11:05, 14 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Latest ITN - headline (floods in europe)[edit]

The headline ("missing of 1300 people") is misleading. See also the latest comment, by User:Count Iblis in Wikipedia:In_the_news/Candidates#(Posted)_2021_European_floods. Not only I can confirm that for a short while, those numbers were raised/mentioned in the media because of broken mobile/telephone-infrastructure in a certain area. (Source: in german: by the spiegel (which is acknowledged by the english wikipedia). If you would like to the check the source for yourself you can do that with translation-addons. I ask you to remove those missing numbers and update the death toll (over 150 people) now. --LennBr (talk) 10:08, 17 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for your message, LennBr. I see that you have also posted at WP:ERRORS, and other admins have started to address your concern. I shall look into this and respond there soon. --PFHLai (talk) 14:05, 17 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

User:Mjroots has dealt with it. (Glad to have an edit conflict). So, I shall leave things as they are. Thanks. --PFHLai (talk) 14:43, 17 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – July 2021[edit]

News and updates for administrators from the past month (July 2021).

Administrator changes

BusterD

Kees08 • Nickshanks • Protonk • Schissel • Ultraexactzz • Wknight94

CheckUser changes

TheresNoTime

Oversighter changes

TheresNoTime

ST47

Guideline and policy news

An RfC is open to add a delay of one week from nomination to deletion for G13 speedy deletions.

Technical news

Last week all wikis were very slow or not accessible for 30 minutes. This was due to server lag caused by regenerating dynamic lists on the Russian Wikinews after a large bulk import. (T287380)

Arbitration

Following an amendment request, the committee has clarified that the Talk page exception to the 500/30 rule in remedy 5 of the Palestine-Israel articles 4 case does not apply to requested move discussions.

Miscellaneous

You can vote for candidates in the 2021 Board of Trustees elections from 4 August to 17 August. Four community elected seats are up for election.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 14:18, 1 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

What's up with Ron Popeil edits?[edit]

It seems like you're being very aggressive with the addition of {{cn}} tags in your recent edits of Ron Popeil. What's your intention with this? Fabrickator (talk) 03:52, 2 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Hi, Fabrickator. I was reviewing this nomination for ITN RD. Even before my edits, inadequate referencing has been identified as an issue, preventing this wikibio from getting featured on RD. I hope the {{cn}} tags would help the next wikieditors at that bio identify places to add missing references. Does this help? --PFHLai (talk) 12:12, 2 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

ITN recognition for Jon Lindbergh[edit]

On 4 August 2021, In the news was updated with an item that involved the article Jon Lindbergh, which you nominated. If you know of another recently created or updated article suitable for inclusion in ITN, please suggest it on the candidates page. Step hen 23:54, 4 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

File:Floods 16 July 2021, Belgium, Tilff 8 - ITN.jpg[edit]

Can you unprotect this file? It is not featured anymore. Thanks. (CC) Tbhotch^™ 18:57, 18 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, Tbhotch. I have forgotten about this pic. It's now unprotected. Cheers! --PFHLai (talk) 22:18, 18 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

ITN recognition for Haydée Coloso-Espino[edit]

On 19 August 2021, In the news was updated with an item that involved the article Haydée Coloso-Espino, which you updated. If you know of another recently created or updated article suitable for inclusion in ITN, please suggest it on the candidates page. Spencer^T•C 12:32, 19 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

ITN recognition for William J. Boarman[edit]

On 30 August 2021, In the news was updated with an item that involved the article William J. Boarman, which you nominated and updated. If you know of another recently created or updated article suitable for inclusion in ITN, please suggest it on the candidates page. Step hen 02:59, 30 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

ITN recognition for Hae Un Lee[edit]

On 30 August 2021, In the news was updated with an item that involved the article Hae Un Lee, which you nominated. If you know of another recently created or updated article suitable for inclusion in ITN, please suggest it on the candidates page. Spencer^T•C 03:33, 30 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

ITN recognition for B. V. Nimbkar[edit]

On 1 September 2021, In the news was updated with an item that involved the article B. V. Nimbkar, which you nominated. If you know of another recently created or updated article suitable for inclusion in ITN, please suggest it on the candidates page. Spencer^T•C 22:04, 1 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – September 2021[edit]

News and updates for administrators from the past month (August 2021).

Administrator changes

Jake Wartenberg

Emperor • Viridian Bovary

Ashleyyoursmile → Viridian Bovary

Guideline and policy news

Feedback is requested on the Universal Code of Conduct enforcement draft by the Universal Code of Conduct Phase 2 drafting committee.
A RfC is open on whether to allow administrators to use extended confirmed protection on high-risk templates.
A discussion is open to decide when, if ever, should discord logs be eligible for removal when posted onwiki (including whether to oversight them)
A RfC on the next steps after the trial of pending changes on TFAs has resulted in a 30 day trial of automatic semi protection for TFAs.

Technical news

The Score extension has been re-enabled on public wikis. It has been updated, but has been placed in safe mode to address unresolved security issues. Further information on the security issues can be found on the mediawiki page.

Arbitration

A request for comment is in progress to provide an opportunity to amend the structure, rules, and procedures of the Arbitration Committee election and resolve any issues not covered by existing rules. Comments and new proposals are welcome.

Miscellaneous

The 2021 RfA review is now open for comments.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 20:45, 3 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

ITN recognition for Muhammad Hamza[edit]

On 5 September 2021, In the news was updated with an item that involved the article Muhammad Hamza, which you nominated and updated. If you know of another recently created or updated article suitable for inclusion in ITN, please suggest it on the candidates page. Spencer^T•C 03:25, 5 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

ITN recognition for Ataullah Mengal[edit]

On 8 September 2021, In the news was updated with an item that involved the article Ataullah Mengal, which you updated. If you know of another recently created or updated article suitable for inclusion in ITN, please suggest it on the candidates page. Spencer^T•C 01:36, 8 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Phil Schaap[edit]

Oh, thanks for restoring that. As you guessed, just a classic error on my part, editing an old version of the page to make changes, without noticing it. Cheers — Amakuru (talk) 14:12, 12 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

You're welcome, Amakuru. No worries. No harm was done. Glad that I could help. Cheers! --PFHLai (talk) 14:15, 12 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

ITN recognition for Dinky Soliman[edit]

On 20 September 2021, In the news was updated with an item that involved the article Dinky Soliman, which you nominated and updated. If you know of another recently created or updated article suitable for inclusion in ITN, please suggest it on the candidates page. Spencer^T•C 00:16, 20 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

ITN recognition for Satoshi Hirayama[edit]

On 21 September 2021, In the news was updated with an item that involved the article Satoshi Hirayama, which you nominated. If you know of another recently created or updated article suitable for inclusion in ITN, please suggest it on the candidates page. Spencer^T•C 01:57, 21 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

RD András Ligeti[edit]

András Ligeti is ready to go. Could you please post on RD. Grimes2 (talk) 16:11, 26 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Hi, Grimes2. It's now posted on MainPage. Cheers! --PFHLai (talk) 19:03, 26 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

ITN recognition for Helmut Oberlander[edit]

On 27 September 2021, In the news was updated with an item that involved the article Helmut Oberlander, which you nominated. If you know of another recently created or updated article suitable for inclusion in ITN, please suggest it on the candidates page. Spencer^T•C 22:57, 27 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

ITN recognition for Grey Ruthven, 2nd Earl of Gowrie[edit]

On 1 October 2021, In the news was updated with an item that involved the article Grey Ruthven, 2nd Earl of Gowrie, which you nominated. If you know of another recently created or updated article suitable for inclusion in ITN, please suggest it on the candidates page. Spencer^T•C 01:32, 1 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – October 2021[edit]

News and updates for administrators from the past month (September 2021).

Administrator changes

Blablubbs

Alvestrand • Black Falcon • Deathphoenix • Dppowell • Mark Arsten • JGHowes (deceased)

Oversighter changes

Mkdw

Interface administrator changes

Galobtter

Guideline and policy news

Following an RfC, extended confirmed protection may be used preemptively on certain high-risk templates.
Following a discussion at the Village Pump, there is consensus to treat discord logs the same as IRC logs. This means that discord logs will be oversighted if posted onwiki.

Technical news

DiscussionTools has superseded Enterprisey's reply-link script. Editors may switch using the "Discussion tools" checkbox under Preferences → Beta features.

Arbitration

A motion has standardised the 500/30 (extended confirmed) restrictions placed by the Arbitration Committee. The standardised restriction is now listed in the Arbitration Committee's procedures.
Following the closure of the Iranian politics case, standard discretionary sanctions are authorized for all edits about, and all pages related to, post-1978 Iranian politics, broadly construed.
The Arbitration Committee encourages uninvolved administrators to use the discretionary sanctions procedure in topic areas where it is authorised to facilitate consensus in RfCs. This includes, but is not limited to, enforcing sectioned comments, word/diff limits and moratoriums on a particular topic from being brought in an RfC for up to a year.

Miscellaneous

Editors have approved expanding the trial of Growth Features from 2% of new accounts to 25%, and the share of newcomers getting mentorship from 2% to 5%. Experienced editors are invited to add themselves to the mentor list.
The community consultation phase of the 2021 CheckUser and Oversight appointments process is open for editors to provide comments and ask questions to candidates.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 17:04, 1 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for nominating Card. Medina to RD[edit]

I couldn't do it last night and planned to nominate him today if no one else did Cato censor (talk) 13:35, 4 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]

You're welcome, Cato censor. Glad to have this wikiarticle on MainPage. May Cardinal Medina rest in peace. Please be encouraged to nominate more well-updated wikiarticles for ITN/RD. Happy editing. Cheers! --PFHLai (talk) 17:42, 4 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]

ITN recognition for Raymond T. Odierno[edit]

On 11 October 2021, In the news was updated with an item that involved the article Raymond T. Odierno, which you updated. If you know of another recently created or updated article suitable for inclusion in ITN, please suggest it on the candidates page. Spencer^T•C 05:21, 11 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]

ITN recognition for Clement Bowman[edit]

On 12 October 2021, In the news was updated with an item that involved the article Clement Bowman, which you nominated. If you know of another recently created or updated article suitable for inclusion in ITN, please suggest it on the candidates page. Spencer^T•C 03:10, 12 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]

ITN recognition for Mike McCoy (businessman)[edit]

On 28 October 2021, In the news was updated with an item that involved the article Mike McCoy (businessman), which you updated. If you know of another recently created or updated article suitable for inclusion in ITN, please suggest it on the candidates page. — Amakuru (talk) 18:41, 28 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]

ITN credit for Sunao Tsuboi[edit]

On 1 November 2021, In the news was updated with an item that involved the article Sunao Tsuboi, which you recently nominated. If you know of another recently created or updated article suitable for inclusion in ITN, please suggest it on the candidates page. Spencer^T•C 00:24, 1 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – November 2021[edit]

News and updates for administrators from the past month (October 2021).

Administrator changes

Clpo13

Brian0918 • JDoorjam • Karanacs • MrDarcy • Mindspillage

Interface administrator changes

CheckUser changes

Dreamy Jazz • Ferret • GeneralNotability • Girth Summit • RoySmith

Oversight changes

Dreamy Jazz • LuK3

Guideline and policy news

Phase 2 of the 2021 RfA review has commenced which will discuss potential solutions to address the 8 issues found in Phase 1. Proposed solutions that achieve consensus will be implemented and you may propose solutions till 07 November 2021.

Technical news

Toolhub is a catalogue of tools which can be used on Wikimedia wikis. It is at https://toolhub.wikimedia.org/.

Arbitration

GeneralNotability, Mz7 and Cyberpower678 have been appointed to the Electoral Commission for the 2021 Arbitration Committee Elections. Ivanvector and John M Wolfson are reserve commissioners.
Eligible editors are invited to self-nominate themselves to stand in the 2021 Arbitration Committee elections from 07 November 2021 until 16 November 2021.

Miscellaneous

The 2021 CheckUser and Oversight appointments process has concluded with the appointment of five new CheckUsers and two new Oversighters.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 16:44, 1 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

ITN recognition for Frank Farrar[edit]

On 7 November 2021, In the news was updated with an item that involved the article Frank Farrar, which you updated. If you know of another recently created or updated article suitable for inclusion in ITN, please suggest it on the candidates page. Indefensible (talk) 23:02, 7 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

ITN recognition for Adolfo J. de Bold[edit]

On 8 November 2021, In the news was updated with an item that involved the article Adolfo J. de Bold, which you updated. If you know of another recently created or updated article suitable for inclusion in ITN, please suggest it on the candidates page. Step hen 00:21, 8 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

President of Bulgaria[edit]

Hello, I'm wondering on what basis you posted the President of Bulgaria election? 331dot (talk) 12:55, 22 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Hi. That was an update on a blurb already on MainPage. --PFHLai (talk) 13:11, 22 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

ArbCom 2021 Elections voter message[edit]

Hello! Voting in the 2021 Arbitration Committee elections is now open until 23:59 (UTC) on Monday, 6 December 2021. All eligible users are allowed 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 2021 election, please review the candidates and submit your choices on the voting page. If you no longer wish to receive these messages, you may add {{NoACEMM}} to your user talk page. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 00:03, 23 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – December 2021[edit]

News and updates for administrators from the past month (November 2021).

Administrator changes

A Train • Berean Hunter • Epbr123 • GermanJoe • Sanchom • Mysid

Technical news

Unregistered editors using the mobile website are now able to receive notices to indicate they have talk page messages. The notice looks similar to what is already present on desktop, and will be displayed on when viewing any page except mainspace and when editing any page. (T284642)
The limit on the number of emails a user can send per day has been made global instead of per-wiki to help prevent abuse. (T293866)

Arbitration

Voting in the 2021 Arbitration Committee Elections is open until 23:59, 06 December 2021 (UTC).
The already authorized standard discretionary sanctions for all pages relating to the Horn of Africa (defined as including Ethiopia, Somalia, Eritrea, Djibouti, and adjoining areas if involved in related disputes), broadly construed, have been made permanent.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 17:25, 3 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators will no longer be autopatrolled[edit]

A recently closed Request for Comment (RFC) reached consensus to remove Autopatrolled from the administrator user group. You may, similarly as with Edit Filter Manager, choose to self-assign this permission to yourself. This will be implemented the week of December 13th, but if you wish to self-assign you may do so now. To find out when the change has gone live or if you have any questions please visit the Administrator's Noticeboard. 20:06, 7 December 2021 (UTC)

Gracias![edit]

Thanks for adding credible sources to the Carlos Marín recent death nomination at the front page.RosameliaMartinezTorres (talk) 03:28, 20 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

You're welcome, RosameliaMartinezTorres. Glad that I could help. --PFHLai (talk) 04:35, 20 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

One more thing[edit]

Could you change movie to film on the hook "... that the 2018 film soundtrack album It's Christmas, Eve by LeAnn Rimes originated from a movie in which Rimes played the main character?" Gatoclass didn't like my hook and came up with a new one. I'm fine with it except for that error. SL93 (talk) 02:51, 24 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry for my slow response, SL93. Gatoclass has made the change himself already. --PFHLai (talk) 11:31, 24 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

RD[edit]

Hi Lai, could you take a look at the referenced RDs? There are a few of them. Thank you. Regards, Jeromi Mikhael 11:32, 26 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

No sleeping in on Boxing Day?! Fine.... :-) --PFHLai (talk) 15:31, 26 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

What is boxing day? Sorry I dont understand Regards, Jeromi Mikhael 16:19, 26 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

No worries. Boxing Day is a holiday. I'll go back to sleep now. Happy holidays! --PFHLai (talk) 16:21, 26 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

ITN recognition for Shirley Bottolfsen[edit]

On 31 December 2021, In the news was updated with an item that involved the article Shirley Bottolfsen, which you nominated. If you know of another recently created or updated article suitable for inclusion in ITN, please suggest it on the candidates page. —Bagumba (talk) 01:29, 31 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Happy New Year, PFHLai![edit]

Happy New Year!

PFHLai,
Have a prosperous, productive and enjoyable New Year, and thanks for your contributions to Wikipedia.
Abishe (talk) 14:17, 31 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

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

Thank you, Abishe. Happy New Year to you, too. May your 2022 be a year of success and happiness. Happy editing! Cheers! --PFHLai (talk) 00:03, 1 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Merchandise giveaway nomination[edit]

A token of thanks

Hi PFHLai! I've nominated you (along with all other active admins) to receive a solstice season gift from the WMF. Talk page stalkers are invited to comment at the nomination. Enjoy! Cheers, {{u|Sdkb}} ^talk ~~~~~

MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 23:50, 31 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you, Sdkb! --PFHLai (talk) 00:04, 1 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Well deserved for all the work that you do PFHLai!!! Thanks Sdkb for the initiative. Happy new year to both of you! Ktin (talk) 18:31, 1 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you, Ktin. Happy New Year to you, too. Have a wonderful 2022! Happy editing. Cheers! --PFHLai (talk) 19:33, 1 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

ITN recognition for Jonathan Spence[edit]

On 1 January 2022, In the news was updated with an item that involved the article Jonathan Spence, which you nominated. If you know of another recently created or updated article suitable for inclusion in ITN, please suggest it on the candidates page. Ktin (talk) 18:29, 1 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – January 2022[edit]

News and updates for administrators from the past month (December 2021).

Administrator changes

Amalthea • Ihcoyc (deceased) • Kateshortforbob • Kirill Lokshin • Rifleman 82 • Ryan Norton • Wrp103

Interface administrator changes

Mr. Stradivarius

CheckUser changes

Cabayi • Donald Albury • Enterprisey • Izno • Wugapodes

Opabinia regalis

Casliber • David Fuchs • Newyorkbrad • SoWhy

Oversighter changes

Cabayi • Donald Albury • Enterprisey • Izno • Wugapodes

Opabinia regalis

Casliber • David Fuchs • Newyorkbrad • SoWhy

Guideline and policy news

Following consensus at the 2021 RfA review, the autopatrolled user right has been removed from the administrators user group; admins can grant themselves the autopatrolled permission if they wish to remain autopatrolled.

Additionally, consensus for proposal 6C of the 2021 RfA review has led to the creation of an administrative action review process. The purpose of this process will be to review individual administrator actions and individual actions taken by users holding advanced permissions.

Arbitration

Following the 2021 Arbitration Committee elections, the following editors have been appointed to the Arbitration Committee: Beeblebrox, Cabayi, Donald Albury, Enterprisey, Izno, Opabinia regalis, Worm That Turned, Wugapodes.

Miscellaneous

The functionaries email list (functionaries-enlists.wikimedia.org) will no longer accept incoming emails apart from those sent by list members and WMF staff. Private concerns, apart from those requiring oversight, should be directly sent to the Arbitration Committee.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 00:24, 3 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

How we will see unregistered users[edit]

Hi!

You get this message because you are an admin on a Wikimedia wiki.

When someone edits a Wikimedia wiki without being logged in today, we show their IP address. As you may already know, we will not be able to do this in the future. This is a decision by the Wikimedia Foundation Legal department, because norms and regulations for privacy online have changed.

Instead of the IP we will show a masked identity. You as an admin will still be able to access the IP. There will also be a new user right for those who need to see the full IPs of unregistered users to fight vandalism, harassment and spam without being admins. Patrollers will also see part of the IP even without this user right. We are also working on better tools to help.

If you have not seen it before, you can read more on Meta. If you want to make sure you don’t miss technical changes on the Wikimedia wikis, you can subscribe to the weekly technical newsletter.

We have two suggested ways this identity could work. We would appreciate your feedback on which way you think would work best for you and your wiki, now and in the future. You can let us know on the talk page. You can write in your language. The suggestions were posted in October and we will decide after 17 January.

Thank you. /Johan (WMF)

18:12, 4 January 2022 (UTC)

ITN recognition for Michael R. Clifford[edit]

On 4 January 2022, In the news was updated with an item that involved the article Michael R. Clifford, which you updated. If you know of another recently created or updated article suitable for inclusion in ITN, please suggest it on the candidates page. —Bagumba (talk) 22:49, 4 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Zara[edit]

The other photo of Zara Rutherford seems to have proper provenance. Try that one instead. I’m very tired of seeing the planetary fart photo on the main page. Jehochman ^Talk 12:33, 21 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the suggestion, Jehochman. I'll look into using that pic soon. --PFHLai (talk) 22:20, 21 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

I have learned that the permission isn’t quite proper. We need to contact the uploader and ask them to confirm it through the designated procedure. Jehochman ^Talk 00:05, 22 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Good to know. Thanks for the heads up, Jehochman. We should steer away from these problematic images. --PFHLai (talk) 03:35, 22 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

In The News Barnstar[edit]

		The In The News Barnstar
		Thank you for all the heavy-lifting that you do on the WP:ITNC page! Just want to let you know that it is much much appreciated. Best wishes. Ktin (talk) 01:44, 24 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Ktin (talk) 01:44, 24 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you, Ktin. You are too kind. Thank you. To be honest, I was merely doing touch-ups most of the time. You actually build the wikiarticles for use on ITN. You have done a lot more heavy-lifting! Thank you for that! Happy editing. Cheers! --PFHLai (talk) 04:08, 24 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

ITN recognition for Gloria McMillan[edit]

On 26 January 2022, In the news was updated with an item that involved the article Gloria McMillan, which you nominated. If you know of another recently created or updated article suitable for inclusion in ITN, please suggest it on the candidates page. Step hen 23:43, 26 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Nomination for deletion of Wikipedia:Collaboration of the week/Template:COTWnow[edit]

Wikipedia:Collaboration of the week/Template:COTWnow has been nominated for deletion. You are invited to comment on the discussion at the entry on the Templates for discussion page. Gonnym (talk) 16:01, 30 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Biller[edit]

February songs
frozen

You kindly marked Biller ready for RD a while ago. He finally made it yesterday, 17:44, but was kicked already this morning. I remembered that you quoted a 24h rule/wish/whatever, and think he'd deserve it, by what he did for the world. I pleaded with Stephen who removed him (don't want to repeat my arguments), but to no avail. Would you make an exception, adding him back as a 7th for a bit more time? --Gerda Arendt (talk) 12:31, 2 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

... and latish happy new year! It started nicely with long vacation, pictured if you click on songs, and a few days still missing. I waited for a special day, a feast day for which Bach wrote several cantatas including Mit Fried und Freud ich fahr dahin, BWV 125, which was on on DYK 10 years ago and TFA 4 years ago. Georg Christoph Biller had to wait days for a Main page appearance under recent deaths, and then stayed not even for a full day. It would been so meaningful today, with the man in the cantata saying he can depart in joy and peace. - The February pic was taken in memory last year. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 16:38, 2 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Happy New year to you, too, Gerda. And thank you for letting me know about Biller. Nine hours was indeed a rather short appearance. He is now back on RD for a few more hours this evening. --PFHLai (talk) 17:10, 2 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you for intervening. What made me so furious was that instead of his name, we had just white space, at least in my rendering. I'll try to forget, but it was highly disappointing because of his stature, - the only bigger disappointment was Márta Kurtág not appearing at all, because the news (in Hungarian) arrived late, and by the time an article was created she had gone "stale", - at that time it went by day of death, strictly. It's an improvement that now we enter every new one at the front, and make adjustments for information of death coming late. - I like my talk today (keeping Biller a bit longer, and even explaining how it works), and managed to picture two more vacation days. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 17:13, 3 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]
- You're welcome, Gerda. I did not do much. Just a few clicks. You contributed much-appreciated contents for use on ITN and the work deserves a little more time in the spotlight on MainPage. Please keep the good contents coming. Happy editing! Cheers! --PFHLai (talk) 23:15, 3 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]
  I certainly will, especially when subjects die whose articles I created, like this one. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 23:23, 3 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]
  That's great! RD is a nice send-off for all these good people who have enriched our lives. --PFHLai (talk) 23:35, 3 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]
  yes --Gerda Arendt (talk) 23:40, 3 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]
  
  Today, I decorated my talk with a Bach cantata. I heard it last year when missing RexxS began, and "not letting go" was a theme. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 17:44, 6 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]
  And today, you have decorated MainPage with a Bach motet, too. Nicely done! --PFHLai (talk) 04:15, 7 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]
  Thank you, - it was the work of many. I like the collection of today on my user page: TFA, last DYK, last quality, new article, the people remembered: all around Bach ;) --Gerda Arendt (talk) 09:24, 7 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]
  my joy, thank you for noticing - more on my talk --Gerda Arendt (talk) 17:09, 7 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]
  Bach should be pleased. --PFHLai (talk) 07:11, 8 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]
  thank you - Valentine's Day edition, with spring flowers and plenty of music --Gerda Arendt (talk) 20:06, 14 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

stand and sing --Gerda Arendt (talk) 23:33, 25 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

May peace be back in Ukraine soon. --PFHLai (talk) 20:15, 26 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Do you speak a language in which Prayer for Ukraine didn't appear already (+ German, going to translate)? --Gerda Arendt (talk) 20:38, 26 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry, none well enough to contribute. I don't have the proper software installed, anyway. --PFHLai (talk) 21:13, 26 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

I took the pic in 2009, and it was on the German MP yesterday, with the song from 1885, in English Prayer for Ukraine. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 12:09, 6 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]

On German DYK, eh? Nice! Did I know? Well, now I know. :-) --PFHLai (talk) 12:28, 6 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, and the German DYK (SG) is normally slow, 6 weeks from nominating to appearing, as they take in only 2 per day. But they have a fast lane for Ukrainian culture: 3 days for this one - my record there! (In English: it was 10 minutes, in the good old days of 4 sets per day.) All this while the English DYK hesitates to show anything related to a conflict zone ... I don't think we have to remain neutral. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 12:37, 6 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Good Luck at English DYK, Gerda. Looking forward to seeing it on MainPage soon. --PFHLai (talk) 15:03, 6 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]

March songs[edit]

March songs

Thank you! We now have an RfC about that, DYK? Listening to the charity concert mentioned here. I created the articles of the composer and the soprano. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 20:29, 10 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Now, you can also listen on YouTube, and more music, the piece by Anna Korsun begins after about one hour, and the voices call "Freiheit!" (freedom, instead of "Freude", joy). Music every day, pictured in songs. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 17:18, 14 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the link to some nice music! --PFHLai (talk) 03:27, 15 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]

The Prayer is on the Main page, finally + new flowers, and btw: the TFA is a young writer's first, and you met them on ITN. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 21:28, 23 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]

thank you for having the ballet dancer also with the prayer! --Gerda Arendt (talk) 23:13, 23 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Thank YOU for providing the materials that go well together on MainPage! :-) --PFHLai (talk) 23:18, 23 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Bach's No. 1 today + a DYK (+ 2 reviewed) + 2 ITN which could be 3 if only anybody would look at Michail Jurowski - yes, he's Russian. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 16:08, 25 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Jurowski is getting there soon! :-) -- PFHLai (talk) 18:16, 25 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Sad record: three RD one day (not at the same time) - two of them from Ukraine, the third a Russian who left Moscow in 1990, and then went on to conduct the orchestra where my brother plays. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 20:12, 25 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]

May they all rest in peace. --PFHLai (talk) 01:14, 26 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]

yes - Sunday flowers and sounds, don't miss the extraordinary marriage of the beginnings of the theme of Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern, BWV 1, and Prayer for Ukraine - here! --Gerda Arendt (talk) 20:09, 27 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]

That indeed sounds nice. Thanks! --PFHLai (talk) 20:27, 27 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Always precious[edit]

Ten years ago, you were found precious. That's what you are, always. On another St. Patrick's Day, with green thoughts. Thank you for the amazing work you do for others! - I decorated my talk with memories of St. Patrick's in 2019, and the whole playlist of back then seems so good right now, music about the Breastplate (listen, YT in the article), Psalm 91, Psalm 130 ... --Gerda Arendt (talk) 07:43, 17 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you, Gerda!

Happy St. Patrick's Day to you, too! Cheers! --PFHLai (talk) 19:10, 17 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – February 2022[edit]

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

Administrator changes

AustralianRupert • Cimon Avaro • Euryalus • Jehochman • Nunh-huh

28bytes

Bureaucrat changes

28bytes

Interface administrator changes

Evad37 • Galobtter

Guideline and policy news

The Universal Code of Conduct enforcement guidelines have been published for consideration. Voting to ratify this guideline is planned to take place 7 March to 21 March. Comments can be made on the talk page.

Technical news

The user group oversight will be renamed suppress in around 3 weeks. This will not affect the name shown to users and is simply a change in the technical name of the user group. The change is being made for technical reasons. You can comment in Phabricator if you have objections.
The Reply Tool feature, which is a part of Discussion Tools, will be opt-out for everyone logged in or logged out starting 7 February 2022. Editors wishing to comment on this can do so in the relevant Village Pump discussion.

Arbitration

Community input is requested on several motions aimed at addressing discretionary sanctions that are no longer needed or overly broad.
The Arbitration Committee has published a generalised comment regarding successful appeals of sanctions that it can review (such as checkuser blocks).
A motion related to the Antisemitism in Poland case was passed following a declined case request.

Miscellaneous

Voting in the 2022 Steward elections will begin on 07 February 2022, 14:00 (UTC) and end on 26 February 2022, 13:59 (UTC). The confirmation process of current stewards is being held in parallel. You can automatically check your eligibility to vote.
Voting in the 2022 Community Wishlist Survey is open until 11 February 2022.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 03:02, 3 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Thank You[edit]

Thank You-RFD (talk) 14:37, 22 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

You're welcome, RFD. Happy editing! Cheers! --PFHLai (talk) 22:19, 22 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

ITN recognition for Joan Croll[edit]

On 28 February 2022, In the news was updated with an item that involved the article Joan Croll, which you updated. If you know of another recently created or updated article suitable for inclusion in ITN, please suggest it on the candidates page. Step hen 22:31, 28 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Already? I'm still working there! Thanks, anyway. --PFHLai (talk) 22:33, 28 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Was working the queue from the bottom, and saw your many updates had made it easily good enough. Thanks. Step hen 23:07, 28 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Very many thanks for all your work on this bio. You have made a tremendous difference, and got her over the line for ITN.--Oronsay (talk) 23:49, 28 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, Stephen & Oronsay. I just happen to have found on Google stuffs about this interesting character and moved them onto her wikibio. Glad that she is now on MainPage. Cheers! --PFHLai (talk) 06:55, 1 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – March 2022[edit]

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

Administrator changes

Modussiccandi

BOZ • Brookie (deceased) • Jackmcbarn • Jamesday • Jonathunder • Master of Puppets • Saravask

CheckUser changes

Oversighter changes

Guideline and policy news

A RfC is open to change the wording of revision deletion criterion 1 to remove the sentence relating to non-infringing contributions.
A RfC is open to discuss prohibiting draftification of articles over 90 days old.

Technical news

The deployment of the reply tool as an opt-out feature, as announced in last month's newsletter, has been delayed to 7 March. Feedback and comments are being welcomed at Wikipedia talk:Talk pages project. (T296645)
Special:Nuke will now allow the selection of standard deletion reasons to be used when mass-deleting pages. This was a Community Wishlist Survey request from 2022. (T25020)
The ability to undelete the talk page when undeleting a page using Special:Undelete or the API will be added soon. This change was requested in the 2021 Community Wishlist Survey. (T295389)

Arbitration

Several unused discretionary sanctions and article probation remedies have been rescinded. This follows the community feedback from the 2021 Discretionary Sanctions review.

Miscellaneous

The 2022 appointees for the Ombuds commission are Érico, Faendalimas, Galahad, Infinite0694, Mykola7, Olugold, Udehb and Zabe as regular members and Ameisenigel and JJMC89 as advisory members.
Following the 2022 Steward Elections, the following editors have been appointed as stewards: AntiCompositeNumber, BRPever, Hasley, TheresNoTime, and Vermont.
The 2022 Community Wishlist Survey results have been published alongside the ranking of prioritized proposals.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 01:46, 2 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – April 2022[edit]

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

Administrator changes

Firefly • Sdrqaz

Ad Orientem

Geschichte • Ryan Postlethwaite • Sabine's Sunbird • Wassupwestcoast

Interface administrator changes