User talk:The Interior/Archive 14

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Tech News: 2014-43

Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. You can read translations.

Recent changes

  • You can test a new system to see math using MathML. Go to your display options and choose "⧼mw math mathml⧽".
  • You can add badges in Wikidata for quality articles and featured lists. [1] [2]

File information cleanup

Problems

  • Developers fixed a security problem. If you use Internet Explorer 6, you won't be able to log in any more. You should use a newer browser. [4]

Changes this week

  • The new version of MediaWiki (1.25wmf4) has been on test wikis and MediaWiki.org since October 16. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis from October 21, and on all Wikipedias from October 23 (calendar).
  • 10% of logged-out readers are getting pages from servers that run the HHVM tool. HHVM should make pages load faster. You can also test it as a Beta Feature. [5]
  • If you add the same parameter twice in a template, it now puts the page in a tracking category. [6] [7]

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

13:48, 20 October 2014 (UTC)


JSTOR?

Rumor has it that you are able to assist editors with getting regular unlimited access to JSTOR articles... I want in! What do I have to do? For years I have been relying on others to look up materials for me using the Resource Exchange, but would much rather be able to do this myself (for all the obvious reasons). Let me know. Thanks!! KDS4444Talk 20:44, 22 October 2014 (UTC)

KDS4444, thanks for getting in touch! There are definitely still accounts available. I'll get you to post a request to WP:JSTOR. I'll be processing another batch tomorrow. The Interior (Talk) 18:21, 23 October 2014 (UTC)
Hey, there! So it looks like my application for a JSTOR account was approved some time ago (Nov. 5) but I don't recall receiving any notice of such and still don't know how I am to log in to JSTOR to take advantage of this new status. I am missing something, I am sure of it. Can you help me out?? THANK YOU! KDS4444Talk 06:28, 29 November 2014 (UTC)
There seems to be some holdup at JSTOR - I'm assuming because of Thanksgiving. They have the approved emails (including yours, just checked), and will be mailing out access I hope early next week (although that's what I said last week ..) On its way, though. The Interior (Talk) 06:35, 29 November 2014 (UTC)
No worries, then. I will sit tight, and am just glad to know that I haven't missed any important deadlines or lists. KDS4444Talk 06:37, 29 November 2014 (UTC)

Hello. I requested access to JSTOR and was sent a link for sign up but have never received the e-mail confirmation. I checked the approved accounts page and I am listed there as having been approved but no e-mail response. I checked my spam folder too. Can you assist? Thanks in advance.Canticle (talk) 07:24, 28 December 2014 (UTC)

Exact same problem here. YohanN7 (talk) 09:32, 28 December 2014 (UTC)

YohanN7, Canticle, we will have to wait for our JSTOR contact to get back from holidays. I will request new login emails for both of you. I've made overly optimistic estimates before, but let's hope we can get both of you online in the first week of the new year. In the meantime, if there are specific JSTOR articles you need for your work, let me know and I am happy to forward them to you. Best, The Interior (Talk) 15:07, 28 December 2014 (UTC)
I'd appreciate
  • Bargmann, V. (1947), "Irreducible unitary representations of the Lorenz group", Ann. Of Math., 48 (3): 568–640, doi:10.2307/1969129, JSTOR 1969129
and
Sorry to bother you about this. I have them both on my "shelf" over there, but reading such stuff on a screen is difficult. YohanN7 (talk) 21:06, 28 December 2014 (UTC)
No bother at all, YohanN7. I've sent them to the email address you provided earlier. The Interior (Talk) 21:33, 28 December 2014 (UTC)
Wow, that's quick. Thank you! YohanN7 (talk) 23:14, 28 December 2014 (UTC)
No problem, was online when your message came through. The Interior (Talk) 03:03, 29 December 2014 (UTC)

Many thanks.Canticle (talk) 11:49, 2 January 2015 (UTC)

Tech News: 2014-44

Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.

Problems

  • There was an issue with files from Commons on October 21. You could only see those with names between 140 and 159 characters by visiting Commons itself. [8]
  • There was a problem with cut and paste in VisualEditor in Firefox. It was fixed quickly. [9]
  • There was a problem with editing math in VisualEditor. It was fixed quickly. [10]

Software changes this week

  • The new version of MediaWiki will now come to Wikipedia sites every Wednesday, instead of every Thursday. [11]
  • The new version of MediaWiki (1.25wmf5) has been on test wikis and MediaWiki.org since October 23. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis from October 28, and on all Wikipedias from October 29 (calendar).
  • VisualEditor now uses autovalues for templates if they are in TemplateData. [12] [13] [14]
  • VisualEditor's menu items now show their shortcuts beside them. [15]
  • VisualEditor now opens faster when you click "edit". [16]
  • The rules for plurals in translations changed in some languages. Interface translations are currently not being updated from translatewiki.net; this process will start again on November 6. [17]

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

05:21, 27 October 2014 (UTC)

Halloween cheer!

Happy Halloween!

Hello The Interior:
Thanks for all of your contributions to improve Wikipedia, and have a happy and enjoyable Halloween!
    – — revimsg 14:55, 27 October 2014 (UTC)



Send Halloween cheer by adding {{subst:Happy Halloween}} to user talk pages with a friendly message.
Revi, thanks so much! Hope you have a spooky halloween! The Interior (Talk) 18:46, 27 October 2014 (UTC)

Tech News: 2014-45

Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.

Recent software changes

Problems

  • There was a bug in VisualEditor with Internet Explorer. It hid tools like the link editor when you opened them. The bug was fixed on Monday. [21]
  • Issues with the new search tool caused geo data code to show up on pages on Monday and Friday. The mobile "nearby" tool was also broken. The problem is now fixed. [22] [23] [24]
  • HHVM caused server issues on Thursday. They are now fixed.

Software changes this week

  • The new version of MediaWiki (1.25wmf5) has been on test wikis and MediaWiki.org since October 29. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis from November 4, and on all Wikipedias from November 5 (calendar).
  • Some wikis have icons at the top of a page to show if it is protected or featured. Icons show up using CSS. You can now use the <indicator> tag in these templates instead to add the icons. [25] [26]
  • VisualEditor now tells you if you're editing a re-used reference. This helps you avoid changing it if you just want to add a new one. [27]
  • The icons in VisualEditor's template editor tool for adding more fields are back, along with other fixes. [28] [29] [30] [31] [32]
  • After November 6, all wikis will have the tool to edit TemplateData. [33] [34] [35]

Future changes

  • The new search tool will come to the last wikis in the coming weeks. This includes Wikipedia in French, Chinese, German and English. [36]

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

17:28, 3 November 2014 (UTC)

JSTOR list of journals archive/current

Hi. I'm returning to content-creation after a six-month semi-break. Mainly, I'm interested in working on health and medicine. I had access once before to JSTOR but found that the vast majority of journal articles I wanted weren't available - either because the journals weren't included or the current issues weren't. I don't want to take a scarce subscription if I'm unlikely to use it. Can you point me to a list somewhere of the journals included in TWL JSTOR subscription, and whether access to the journal includes current issues, please?

Are there any other free subscriptions available through TWL that have wider and more current access to health/medical journals? --Anthonyhcole (talk · contribs · email) 20:56, 8 November 2014 (UTC)

Anthonyhcole, glad to have you back to article work. JSTOR is stronger in the humanities than it is for health sciences, and you're right, there is a fairly long "embargo" (or what they call the "moving wall") on most of their titles (usually 2-5 years) Here's the full title list, with the moving walls (I believe we have access to all packages, but as I don't have a subscription myself, I'd have to inquire about specific ones). As far as good, up-to-date health content goes, are best current resources are BMJ and Cochrane, but it looks like you've found those. Sign up for a De Gruyter account, they have some medical titles, and we have unlimited accounts with them, so no loss if it isn't that useful to you. We are hoping to partner with Sage Publications soon (fingers crossed), who have more offerings. There are two other partnerships in the works that will have good medical content, but I shouldn't spill the beans until we have something in place with them. Best way to keep track of new offerings is to watchlist the journal page, and subscribe to the newsletter. The Interior (Talk) 01:40, 10 November 2014 (UTC)
Done. Thank you for this excellent service. --Anthonyhcole (talk · contribs · email) 09:36, 10 November 2014 (UTC)

Tech News: 2014-46

Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.

Recent software changes

  • You may see a new tool on the mobile site of the English Wikipedia. It asks simple questions to make the article better. In the future, your answers will go to Wikidata. [37] [38]
  • The MediaWiki API now shows information in a nice format. You can translate it in translatewiki.net. [39]

File information cleanup

Problems

  • Wikimedia Labs was broken for a few hours on Thursday. It was due to a hardware problem. [40]

Software changes this week

  • The new version of MediaWiki (1.25wmf7) has been on test wikis and MediaWiki.org since November 5. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis from November 11, and on all Wikipedias from November 12 (calendar).
  • You can now use more editing tools for tables in VisualEditor. You can add rows and columns, merge cells, and edit table captions. [41] [42]
  • The style and insert menus in the toolbar of VisualEditor now show fewer tools. This helps you see the most common tasks. You can see all items by clicking "More". [43]
  • The way windows inside VisualEditor work has changed. VisualEditor should be faster and have fewer bugs. [44]

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

15:00, 10 November 2014 (UTC)

JSTOR Question

Hello The Interior, I was approved for JSTOR (Thank you by the way!) and was wondering if I was supposed to receive an email to create my account or if they're coming up in the future. Regards, --Church Talk 20:18, 10 November 2014 (UTC)

Very soon, Church! Just want to finish up the current applications, then sending. The Interior (Talk) 20:20, 10 November 2014 (UTC)

A barnstar for you!

The Barnstar of Diligence
WMF takes a lot of heat, and sometimes deservedly so, but the work you do in helping content creators get access to scholarly resources to help improve articles is of unparalleled importance, and for that, I say thank you -- this is one program in which WMF ought to continue to invest! Go Phightins! 21:36, 10 November 2014 (UTC)
Go Phightins!, thanks so much for this! I very much agree about the importance of the library project, and will exert the minimal influence I have to keep it on the priority list at the Foundation. The Interior (Talk) 21:56, 10 November 2014 (UTC)

JSTOR approval

Hey, thanks for approving me for JSTOR. What is the next step, though? Will I get an email with more details? Llightex (talk) 02:16, 11 November 2014 (UTC)

Indeed Llightex - email will be coming. There is a more detailed explanation of the process on the JSTOR page, in the sidebar beside "New Applications." The Interior (Talk) 13:12, 11 November 2014 (UTC)

JSTOR - postponed approval

Hello The Interior, thanks for your message on my talk page. What you suggest sounds very fair - I was thinking myself after making the request that I personally might find it hard to approve on the basis of what I've already done. I'll improve the articles as far as possible from books and internet sources, and see how my edit count looks after that. Thanks for your consideration. Crinoline (talk) 09:58, 11 November 2014 (UTC)

Crinoline, thanks for understanding my position. Please do stay in touch, and if you need help finding sources, I'm a librarian and always happy to help. Don't forget about WP:RX, where, if you know the author/title/date of an article you want, you can request it there, and a helpful person will try to get it to you. The Interior (Talk) 13:15, 11 November 2014 (UTC)

JSTOR

Hi The Interior,

I recently remembered about JSTOR, and found myself Approved according to the archive, but I have never received any email. I assume you tried to send mail to Hym411. Can you send it once more to this account (here)? Thanks! — revimsg 13:19, 11 November 2014 (UTC)

Actually, the emails haven't gone out yet, waiting on our bot operator. But I will make sure yours goes to your new account name, -revi! The Interior (Talk) 13:29, 11 November 2014 (UTC)

Jstor

Hello. you moved me to Wikipedia:JSTOR/Approved but you haven't marked me as Approved and you haven't sent any email. Yoav Nachtailer (talk) 17:59, 15 November 2014 (UTC)

Madman, pinging! Yoav, emails are coming. The Interior (Talk) 20:58, 15 November 2014 (UTC)
Thank you Yoav Nachtailer (talk) 21:07, 15 November 2014 (UTC)
Hello again. I got an email from Madman requesting me to write my Wikipedia user name and my email. I did it and I haven't got my password/user name for Jstor yet. sorry for nagging, Yoav Nachtailer (talk) 16:57, 25 November 2014 (UTC)
No apologies needed, Yoav. Our JSTOR partner has all the emails (including yours) and will be sending the access emails out as soon as she can. I will post to WT:JSTOR as soon as she confirms they are sent. Thanks for your patience. The Interior (Talk) 17:44, 25 November 2014 (UTC)
Thanks. I just wanted to make sure im doing everything right. Yoav Nachtailer (talk) 17:55, 25 November 2014 (UTC)

Tech News: 2014-47

Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.

Software changes this week

  • The new version of MediaWiki (1.25wmf8) has been on test wikis and MediaWiki.org since November 12. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis from November 18, and on all Wikipedias from November 19 (calendar).
  • The new search tool ("CirrusSearch") will be on the English Wikipedia from November 19. [45]

Move from Bugzilla to Phabricator

  • The tool to track bugs will change on November 21.
  • You won't be able to add or edit bugs between November 21 and November 24.
  • You can make the change easier for you by creating your account.
  • Bugzilla will be frozen after the change. You will see, edit and report bugs in Phabricator.
  • You can join two IRC chats to learn more about the change. The chats will be on Tuesday, November 18 at 16:00 (UTC) and 23:00 UTC. [46]

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

18:28, 17 November 2014 (UTC)

Copyright checks when performing AfC reviews

Hello The Interior. This message is part of a mass mailing to people who appear active in reviewing articles for creation submissions. First of all, thank you for taking part in this important work! I'm sorry this message is a form letter – it really was the only way I could think of to covey the issue economically. Of course, this also means that I have not looked to see whether the matter is applicable to you in particular.

The issue is in rather large numbers of copyright violations ("copyvios") making their way through AfC reviews without being detected (even when easy to check, and even when hallmarks of copyvios in the text that should have invited a check, were glaring). A second issue is the correct method of dealing with them when discovered.

If you don't do so already, I'd like to ask for your to help with this problem by taking on the practice of performing a copyvio check as the first step in any AfC review. The most basic method is to simply copy a unique but small portion of text from the draft body and run it through a search engine in quotation marks. Trying this from two different paragraphs is recommended. (If you have any question about whether the text was copied from the draft, rather than the other way around (a "backwards copyvio"), the Wayback Machine is very useful for sussing that out.)

If you do find a copyright violation, please do not decline the draft on that basis. Copyright violations need to be dealt with immediately as they may harm those whose content is being used and expose Wikipedia to potential legal liability. If the draft is substantially a copyvio, and there's no non-infringing version to revert to, please mark the page for speedy deletion right away using {{db-g12|url=URL of source}}. If there is an assertion of permission, please replace the draft article's content with {{subst:copyvio|url=URL of source}}.

Some of the more obvious indicia of a copyvio are use of the first person ("we/our/us..."), phrases like "this site", or apparent artifacts of content written for somewhere else ("top", "go to top", "next page", "click here", use of smartquotes, etc.); inappropriate tone of voice, such as an overly informal tone or a very slanted marketing voice with weasel words; including intellectual property symbols (™,®); and blocks of text being added all at once in a finished form with no misspellings or other errors.

I hope this message finds you well and thanks again you for your efforts in this area. Best regards--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 02:20, 18 November 2014 (UTC).

       Sent via--MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 02:20, 18 November 2014 (UTC)

Wikipedia:JSTOR, how has the information circulated?

Can I ask you one thing? or maybe just a suggestion, you decide. I just feel talk would be useful. So, i discovered this page, I didn't know if it had been linked on it.wiki at local village pump or at it:Progetto:Coordinamento/Bibliografia e fonti, but I was sure I heard nothing of it. I wanted to link it directly on it.wiki but I wasn't sure I was doing a duplicate or causing a "traffic jam", so I used my knowledge of the it.wiki users and I selected some of them leaving messages int heir talks.

How do i "know" them? In it:Wikipedia:Novità we list what's new and good enough for the home page. There are two sections: "new articles" (that's easy, we have automatic list to scroll, I don't update it anymore, other users do it) and "recently updated/modified articles", of which I provide 70-90% of the total every week [47] because I have a personal archive of the active profiles and I know where to look. I just have a very good memory, so I am the one who performs this task "easily". I also know the faces in the good article evalutation pages, and as a "co-creator" of the maintgraph (I am no informatician, but 20-30% of the ideas dispalyed are "mine"), together with regular supervision of our monthly "quality festivals" to remove warnings or fix problems, I have a solid overview of the users who perform these tasks constantly.

So I left a message here on en.wiki to some of the user who can speak English, possibly with some institutional roles, that I know are very active in some area on it.wiki and sometimes even other wikis. I selected one expert of biographies of artists, one of Ancient Greece, one of Onomastics, one of Chemistry, one of Literature. the first ones popping in my mind, totally random.

I was curious in any case, so today I took a look in the approved candidatures looking for it.wiki users and I confess, I was surprised. they don't show great ns0-profiles, sometimes not even great overall contribution profiles. 2 or 3 are good, but I could suggest other ones who are definitely more active sometimes in similar areas. I mean, it does not sound as a great allocation of resources, but again I cannot be sure because mine is a statistics performed on a very limited sample.

In any case, I would suggest to put very clear limit of ns-0 and non-ns0 activity if possible, next time. I understand the importance of insitutional roles but it would be better to give powerfull tools to "admins" (or similar instituional users) who are active in ns0 than to "admins" who does not, at least not very often. After all, we are writing an encyclopedia. --Alexmar983 (talk) 18:19, 18 November 2014 (UTC)

Alexmar983 - thank you for starting the conversation. As you point out, the applications up to this point have been self-selecting, and I use only a loose criteria (1000 edits and 1 year experience) to approve or not. Targeted notifications to the users who would most benefit, and make the most use of the accounts, would be ideal - let's talk about ways to do this (for a service that covers a broad range of topics, such as JSTOR, that task is not easy).
In terms of limiting applications to those who have x-number article edits, I think this is a good idea, but one that needs consensus. For that, we should discuss at WT:TWL or m:Talk:The Wikipedia Library.
Thank you for making the contacts with appropriate it.wiki editors - this is a task that really only someone with deep knowledge of their project's editor base can do well. In terms of notifying editors on other projects, this is something that we struggle with. One solution is to set up Wikipedia Libraries on each project, and have them coordinate messaging as they know how to do this effectively. Would you be interested in helping set up a it.wiki library? It could be intergated somehow with Progetto:Coordinamento/Bibliografia e fonti, or be a separate project. We have a set of templates on meta that can be easily adapted for each project. The Interior (Talk) 19:41, 19 November 2014 (UTC)
thank you for you very "proactive" reply, that's a pleasure. I am not going to start any real discussion now, but fell free to contact me if someone has or is it. I would like to be as neutral as possible. that means I will be happy to suggest parameters which may not be fitting for me, just based on the top editors I have followed over the years. just take in mind that in my experience 1000 edits in ns0 can be obtained by patroller in 1 year. Of curse, creating pages per se doesn't mean anything (I rewrite 1 article in deletion procedure per month, which is not "mine"), so you see, "you" should set up adequate combination not particularly rigid "threshold", IMHO.
I could help you set up something on/for it.wiki, maybe for next round. You would like me to translate some of the key points, then paste them in "The_Wikipedia_Library/Kit/it" on meta and then show the result to the Italian village pump? It is possible, after all it is just a translation. I am very active in the "information circulation", some of my contact can do things like creating a bot informing all the editors with "good parameters" (ns edit, global edit, recent activities, no "trouble") of the opportunity. I made with other user (including Nemo, you know the name?) about statistics of profiles, it should be very " egalitarian", I will be happy to show results. As you can see I never work alone, that's a good start I hope :)--Alexmar983 (talk) 20:26, 19 November 2014 (UTC)
Alexmar983, on the topic of article edits, and patrollers - we would like that the access be used both for content creation, and content verification - e.g. adding references to existing content. So in that sense, I don't want to see access strictly limited to content creators (however, I do feel they should be prioritized). I don't know if the same case on it.wiki that there is massive amounts of existing content that is unreferenced, but it is the case on en.wiki. All that said, a good system to identify prolific content creators, and make sure they are aware of the resources available, would be very valuable, and I'd like to hear more about your process. (I do know Nemo by name, but have never met).
I would be very grateful if you could find time to translate the templates at Meta. Another it.wiki colleague, Elitre, is doing some outreach with it.wiki editors and WMIT members, some of whom are librarians. It would be good to post to the it.wiki Village Pump (it is a Cafe, correct?). For an it.wiki Library to be successful, it needs two things: coordinators who are experienced, and good publisher partners in the Italian language, so that it does not serve only bilingual editors (although I recognize that Europeans have much more language skills than us North Americans ;). Are you aware of any good Italian-language publishers who offer electronic access, or databases that contain a large amount of Italian works? Perhaps you could ask it.wiki editors for a "wish list" of resources - that would help us prioritize which publishers to pursue. The Interior (Talk) 23:19, 26 November 2014 (UTC)
I am referring mainly to people who perform content creation and verification at the same time, in a good balance. Good content creators with institutional role for example are often patroller at least in their field, whilst there are patrollers who can be very active and yet just limited to simple reverts. Every problem is an opportunity but this depends on the resource you put to solve it.
I don't know precisely who are good publisher partners available in the italian speaking area, but sure there are users who can select them. It is just a matter of coordination. Knowledge of foreing languages is boosting in Italy, emigration is a reality since 2007-2009, many people live abroad. Virtually everyone below 25 y.o. can understand English, so if they show a good interest in one field, they can understand technical English as well. First local-born generations of foreign people from Albania or Rumania or Poland are emerging. Languages is not the key problem, IMHO.
our "references situation" is not terrible, mainly because is very organized, with a lot of deep category trees, analytical instruments etc. We are labelling all the articles with no source at all, they are in the order of 80000-130000 and in 1-2 years the job will be completed. There is some lack of references or in-line references in the old articles, but new articles in the last 2 years are usually referenced, at least after some deletion processes. "almanac" articles (species, types of cars...) are in general under control, as soon as you find a new user he or she can select and update the articles in his/her field quite fast. I know user who in one afternoon put references to more than 2 or 3 articles, for example. With the "core" articles on vry important topic situation is worse than other languages, but we are a creating specific project. We try to go forward with balanced efforts.--Alexmar983 (talk) 15:21, 27 November 2014 (UTC)

access to JSTOR

HELLO. how can I have had access to JSTOR FOR WIKIPEDIA. if guide me more simple it is very useful. thanks for helpingm,sharaf (talk) 11:17, 21 November 2014 (UTC)

Hello m,sharaf! The requirements for accounts are 1000 edits (across different language Wikipedias of course) and an account that is older than one year. Right now you are more than half way there with edits, but you won't qualify until March of next year. So be sure to re-apply then. Regards, The Interior (Talk) 21:53, 22 November 2014 (UTC)
thanks for guiding...its your pleasure...--m,sharaf (talk) 17:48, 25 November 2014 (UTC)

Tech News: 2014-48

Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.

Recent changes

  • The move from Bugzilla to Phabricator is done. You can now report bugs in Phabricator. [48]

Problems

  • There was a problem when editing tables in VisualEditor. VisualEditor was trying to fix bad values for the colspan or rowspan option. VisualEditor now leaves the bad values to avoid making things worse. This was fixed on November 17. [49]

Software changes this week

  • The new version of MediaWiki (1.25wmf9) has been on test wikis and MediaWiki.org since November 19. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis from November 25, and on all Wikipedias from November 26 (calendar).
  • You will be able to try VisualEditor on many new wikis for the first time. After November 26, VisualEditor will become available on Wikidata, Wikiquote, Wikibooks, Wikiversity, Wikivoyage, and Wikinews wikis. You can find it in your Beta options. [50]
  • VisualEditor now tells you if your edit needs to be approved. [51]
  • You can now use VisualEditor's tools directly when you resume editing after closing the save window. [52]
  • VisualEditor's table editing tools now work better in right-to-left languages. [53] [54]

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

19:31, 24 November 2014 (UTC)

Disambiguation link notification for November 29

Hi. Thank you for your recent edits. Wikipedia appreciates your help. We noticed though that when you edited CBC North, you added a link pointing to the disambiguation page Cassette. Such links are almost always unintended, since a disambiguation page is merely a list of "Did you mean..." article titles. Read the FAQ • Join us at the DPL WikiProject.

It's OK to remove this message. Also, to stop receiving these messages, follow these opt-out instructions. Thanks, DPL bot (talk) 09:11, 29 November 2014 (UTC)

JSTOR access approved but no email received

Hello, The Interior! I just noticed that my application posting was moved to the Approved page on November 6, but I didn’t receive an email notification. There seems to be a problem with mine: I get automatic notices per my Preferences (including one on Nov. 5), so I know the address works in general, but apparently not user-to-user messages. (This is the second instance of the latter I’ve noticed.) How do you suggest I proceed? I hope I haven’t missed any deadline for acknowledging or acting on the approval …—Odysseus1479 20:58, 7 December 2014 (UTC)

No, Odysseus, you've done everything right. We are still waiting for JSTOR to deliver the logins :( Our contact is aware that people are waiting, and will hopefully send them very soon. The Interior (Talk) 21:11, 7 December 2014 (UTC)
(edit conflict) Sorry, should have looked harder before bothering you: I found the MadmanBot message of Nov. 15 in my spam folder. I’ve responded now, but please let me know if the delay is likely to cause a problem. Otherwise, never mind—and thanks! —Odysseus1479 21:16, 7 December 2014 (UTC)
I got my log-in link today and seem to have registered successfully; thanks again.—Odysseus1479 04:49, 11 December 2014 (UTC)
Odysseus, glad to hear it! Happy researching. The Interior (Talk) 16:46, 16 December 2014 (UTC)

Tech News: 2014-50

Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.

Recent software changes

  • All users are now getting pages from servers that run the HHVM tool. HHVM should make pages load faster. [55]
  • You can join a video chat about Phabricator on December 11 at 18:00 (UTC). Phabricator is the new tool to report issues. [56]

Problems

  • There was a problem with Phabricator on November 29. It was due to a network issue. [57]

Software changes this week

  • The new version of MediaWiki (1.25wmf11) has been on test wikis and MediaWiki.org since December 3. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis from December 9. It will be on all Wikipedias from December 10 (calendar). [58]
  • You can now exit VisualEditor by pressing the "Esc" key. [59]
  • It is now easier to use VisualEditor with IMEs. Typing in Malayalam now works better. [60] [61]
  • The new version of OOjs UI fixed many issues with the size and layout of buttons in dialogs. [62] [63] [64]
  • (Lua) You can no longer use mw.text.unstrip to get the HTML from special page transclusion. You can see a list of scripts to fix. [65] [66]

Future changes

  • Starting next week JavaScript tools won't work if they use jQuery Migrate. [67]

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

17:11, 8 December 2014 (UTC)

Wikimedia genealogy project

Just wondering if you have any thoughts re: the idea of WMF hosting a genealogy project. If so, feel free to contribute to this discussion. And apologies if I have made this request before. ---Another Believer (Talk) 17:40, 9 December 2014 (UTC)

JSTOR access activated and Research Barnstar

Research Participation Barnstar
For exceptional service in helping users get JSTOR access, which results in better articles with better references. HalfGig talk 00:22, 11 December 2014 (UTC)


I got my activation email from JSTOR today. Instructions were simple and it worked great. Thanks for all your work on this! !!!! HalfGig talk 00:22, 11 December 2014 (UTC)

Thank you for your part in this; yes, I got the JSTOR instructions in the email. --Ancheta Wis   (talk | contribs) 02:45, 11 December 2014 (UTC)

Ancheta Wis, HalfGig, thanks for the thanks and the barnstar, hope you find JSTOR useful for your work. The Interior (Talk) 16:47, 16 December 2014 (UTC)

DYK nomination of Willie Thrasher

Hello! Your submission of Willie Thrasher at the Did You Know nominations page has been reviewed, and some issues with it may need to be clarified. Please review the comment(s) underneath your nomination's entry and respond there as soon as possible. Thank you for contributing to Did You Know! 97198 (talk) 08:52, 12 December 2014 (UTC)

97198, sorry for the late reply (vacationing), heading over there now. Thanks for reviewing :) The Interior (Talk) 16:48, 16 December 2014 (UTC)

JSTOR

Hi!

I have been waiting for the email for some time. It turned out that I had received it a month ago (it drowned in junk mail). I did fill out the form a couple of days ago. I hope I didn't "time out"? YohanN7 (talk) 17:20, 12 December 2014 (UTC)

YohanN7, just on a little vacation, but I will look into your logins later this week. Sorry for the delay. The Interior (Talk) 16:44, 16 December 2014 (UTC)
No hurry, I am calm and happy now Iv'e also received access to the Royal Society's publications, and it has really boosted everything. It is so much easier to write solid articles (and to learn/research) with a good supply of references, and JSTOR access will make this even better. YohanN7 (talk) 17:16, 16 December 2014 (UTC)

Tech News: 2014-51

Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.

Recent software changes

  • You may see a new tool tested on the mobile site of the English Wikipedia. It asks simple questions to make the article better. In the future, your answers will go to Wikidata. [68]
  • You can watch a video to learn how to use Phabricator to manage projects. [69]
  • You can test a new version of the Content Translation tool.

Software changes this week

  • The new version of MediaWiki (1.25wmf12) has been on test wikis and MediaWiki.org since December 10. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis from December 16. It will be on all Wikipedias from December 17 (calendar). [70]
  • You can now find and replace text in VisualEditor. You can open the tool via the menu, Ctrl+F or Cmd+F. [71]
  • VisualEditor now doesn't change the space at the end of a text that you make bold. [72]
  • The "Apply changes" button in the reference window of VisualEditor is now disabled until you make a change. [73]

Future changes

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

16:44, 15 December 2014 (UTC)

Merry Christmas!


— Revi is wishing you a Merry Christmas! This greeting (and season) promotes WikiLove and hopefully this note has made your day a little better. Spread the WikiLove by wishing another user a Merry Christmas, whether it be someone you have had disagreements with in the past, a good friend, or just some random person. Happy New Year!

Spread the cheer by adding {{subst:Xmas2}} to their talk page with a friendly message.

— Revi 03:48, 20 December 2014 (UTC)

Thanks revi! Best to you, The Interior (Talk) 04:06, 20 December 2014 (UTC)

The great divide

That's it, it's over. And I want my Sam Roberts CD and rice cooker back.--Jezebel's Ponyobons mots 14:46, 20 December 2014 (UTC)

We mustn't let the software come between us. Besides, I used the rice cooker to make some illicit booze, and now it's really stinky. And the Roberts CD is helping to keep the crows away from my corn. The Interior (Talk) 15:26, 20 December 2014 (UTC)
Booze in the rice cooker? That's just like the time you cooked Kraft Dinner in the coffee maker! Why must you defile my most beloved small appliances?--Jezebel's Ponyobons mots 15:42, 20 December 2014 (UTC)
two minutes pass Gah, I can't stay mad at you! Happy Holidays :) --Jezebel's Ponyobons mots 15:42, 20 December 2014 (UTC)
I'm glad :) Feliz Fiestas to you, Ponyo. I'm guessing now probably isn't a good time to talk about your popcorn popper ... The Interior (Talk) 16:01, 20 December 2014 (UTC)

Tech News: 2014-52

Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.

Recent software changes

  • The Technical Operations team is now using Phabricator to track their tasks. The Operations team manages the Wikimedia servers. In the future you will be able to see the tasks that are not private. [78]

Software changes this week

  • There will be no software changes this week and next week. This is because of the end-of-year holidays. The next update of MediaWiki will be on January 6. [79]

Future changes

  • The system that displays citations will change in the future. The new system will not change the style of citations. [80]
  • A new design for VisualEditor will come in January. You can try it now on test wikis. [81]

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

16:52, 22 December 2014 (UTC)

Tech News: 2015-01

Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.

Software changes

  • There are no technical changes this week.

Feedback about Tech News in 2014

  • The writers of the technical newsletter are asking for your opinion. Did you get the information you wanted this year? Did we miss important technical news in 2014? What kind of information was too late? Please tell us at m:Talk:Tech/News. You can write in your language. Thank you!

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

16:52, 29 December 2014 (UTC)

Yay, an admin. Please whack the troll.

Ahem. User_talk:Dxf_vgmds_xdmsdgmvx

-- DMahalko (talk) 21:32, 31 December 2014 (UTC)

Looks like I was slower than Wtmitchell. Vandalizing a library, how fun. The Interior (Talk) 21:35, 31 December 2014 (UTC)

Length of JSTOR

I'm using JSTOR a lot now that I have access via wiki. It's been a big help. I do have one question: How long is my access good for, or does that depend in WMF funding JSTOR? HalfGig talk 23:11, 4 January 2015 (UTC)

Hey HalfGig, glad to hear you are finding it useful. The JSTOR partnership is a donation from JSTOR - they provide the accounts free of cost. Of course, this means they have the right to end the partnership when they choose. However, they have been expanding the number of accounts available, which strongly suggests they support the program, and will continue to operate it for the near future. Right now, accounts are good for one year, but have been renewed each year. So, long story short, editors should have JSTOR access as they need it for the foreseeable future. The library coordinators will do their best to make sure the arrangement continues. Can't make any promises, though. The Interior (Talk) 16:40, 5 January 2015 (UTC)

Books and Bytes - Issue 9

The Wikipedia Library

Books & Bytes
Issue 9, November-December 2014
by The Interior (talk · contribs), Ocaasi (talk · contribs), Sadads (talk · contribs)

  • New donations, including real-paper-and-everything books, e-books, science journal databases, and more
  • New TWL coordinators, conference news, a new open-access journal database, summary of library-related WMF grants, and more
  • Spotlight: "Global Impact: The Wikipedia Library and Persian Wikipedia" - a Persian Wikipedia editor talks about their experiences with database access in Iran, writing on the Persian project and the JSTOR partnership

Read the full newsletter

McFarland access

Apparently my first email didn't make it. I sent an new email about the Wikipedia Library McFarland access; let me know if there any further issues. NinjaRobotPirate (talk) 00:55, 6 January 2015 (UTC)

NinjaRobotPirate, got the latest one, don't know what happened to the first. Thanks, The Interior (Talk) 02:19, 6 January 2015 (UTC)

JSTOR

Hello, Interior, I was given access to JSTOR, I believe last month, but it isn't clear to me how to gain access to JSTOR. Do I need a special link? Do I connect via the Wikipedia site? My apologies for asking a question that must get directed to you all of the time but I can not locate the email with any instructions. Thank you. Liz Read! Talk! 14:40, 9 January 2015 (UTC)

Hey Liz, there were a few users from the "Round 3" group of approvals that seem to have been left off the batch of emails from JSTOR. I'm meeting with our rep soon to get them straightened out. However, do check your spam/junk folders for an email with the subject line: "MyJSTOR Registration Confirmation" - a few have been lost that way. But if not, you and a few others will be on my list for "re-sends", hopefully next week. If there are any JSTOR articles you need in the meantime, let me know, and I can email them to you. The Interior (Talk) 15:16, 9 January 2015 (UTC)

Uploading my preferences

Hello. For some reason, my internet connection won't let me update my preferences to allow e-mails from users right now. I think it may be because I am travelling and the internet here is dismal. The rest works though. Hopefully we can find another way if there is a Jstor account available for me? Just wanted to let you know so you don't think I didn't read the instructions. Thanks.Zigzig20s (talk) 09:14, 12 January 2015 (UTC)

Actually, it looks like it's just worked. I won't try to understand why!Zigzig20s (talk) 09:20, 12 January 2015 (UTC)
Glad to hear, Zigzig20s. We're just starting the approvals for this round, but hope to get access out ASAP. The Interior (Talk) 16:43, 12 January 2015 (UTC)
Thanks. I also did a McFarland request for polo btw. (I had fun visiting the UBC campus two years ago btw. Small world.)Zigzig20s (talk) 17:22, 12 January 2015 (UTC)
Zigzig20s, just going to go sort out the McFarland applications. They have some pretty neat titles; their sports coverage is amazing. UBC campus is one of the nicest in the world, I think. Not so much architecturally (although there are nice buildings, but no cohesive design philosophy. Say what you will about the concrete of SFU, at least it is of a whole), but the location is magical. The Interior (Talk) 00:02, 14 January 2015 (UTC)
Thanks. I was a bit shocked by the nudist beach. If you want to create more articles about the UBC campus, let me know--I'd be interested. I spent a couple of months there--I was living in a fraternity house--a bit of an adventure.Zigzig20s (talk) 00:04, 14 January 2015 (UTC)
Oh Wreck Beach. I think it's startled more than a few people. I will let you know if I see some new candidates. I didn't spend much time at the frats, but my band did play a gig at one. Really can't remember which one it was. The Interior (Talk) 00:17, 14 January 2015 (UTC)

Tech News: 2015-03

Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.

Recent software changes

  • Rotated PDF files in landscape format used to show too small. They will now display correctly. You may need to purge older files. [82]
  • You can now use the {{!}} magic word instead of Template:!. Many wikis used the template to create a pipe (|) in tables and templates. You can delete the template. [83]

Software changes this week

  • The new version of MediaWiki (1.25wmf14) has been on test wikis and MediaWiki.org since January 7. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis from January 13. It will be on all Wikipedias from January 14 (calendar).
  • A bug in VisualEditor sometimes added a ☀ (Sun) character. This is now fixed. [84]
  • The search and replace tool in VisualEditor is now much faster in long pages. [85]
  • The TemplateData editor now uses the same design as VisualEditor. [86] [87] [88]
  • The thumb option is now shown in your language in the help of the classic editor toolbar. [89]

Future changes

  • You can sign up to answer questions from designers. It will help them make editing easier. [90]

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

16:47, 12 January 2015 (UTC)

A barnstar for you!

The Original Barnstar
thanks for your help Roxanne Chante (talk) 22:43, 12 January 2015 (UTC)

A barnstar for you!

The Real Life Barnstar
Thanks for helping us out today! Verybusydragon (talk) 22:45, 12 January 2015 (UTC)

DYK for Willie Thrasher

The DYK project (nominate) 04:42, 13 January 2015 (UTC)

McFarland question

I am approved, but I have not received the requested PDFs. I am eagerly waiting for them, but I understand if there is a bit of a delay. I was just confused as to why my inbox was lonely. ChrisGualtieri (talk) 23:46, 14 January 2015 (UTC)

Chris, this is the first batch, and things might take a week or two to get processed - McFarland is a small outfit, and our contact is managing the partnership on his own. As we are throwing a fairly big bunch of titles at him, we should be patient :) I'll update the McFarland talk page if I can get a timeframe. The Interior (Talk) 04:00, 15 January 2015 (UTC)
Ah, thanks. I'm just working on the Thanhouser sets for a bit then. Universal is much more difficult to do without the titles mentioned. Plenty of pages to work on in the interim, I can surely wait a week. ChrisGualtieri (talk) 04:15, 15 January 2015 (UTC)

ArtAndFeminism

Hey! You added Vancouver to the ArtAndFeminism template but included a link to Brussels. Has a page been create for the Vancouver event specifically? ---Another Believer (Talk) 22:36, 15 January 2015 (UTC)

Never minnnnddddd. ---Another Believer (Talk) 22:36, 15 January 2015 (UTC)
We haven't got details ironed out yet, but will in the coming days. You should come up! The Interior (Talk) 22:38, 15 January 2015 (UTC)
Tempting! I love Vancouver. :) ---Another Believer (Talk) 22:45, 15 January 2015 (UTC)

re this

See esto. If we timed it right (Tu/Th early afternoon), I could bring a bunch of students whose job this semester is to improve Wikipedia's coverage of women writers. Even on a weekend, some might turn up. --jbmurray (talk • contribs) 04:51, 16 January 2015 (UTC)

So you're at it again! Let's try to get them out. The organizer is Christine D'Onofrio, in Fine Arts. Do you want me to copy you in to the planning email thread? The Interior (Talk) 20:35, 17 January 2015 (UTC)
Ugh, I was about to complain that you hadn't responded, but I see that you had and I missed it... Sorry! Yes, please do put me in the loop. --jbmurray (talk • contribs) 10:05, 23 January 2015 (UTC)
How dependent we have become on the pings! Forwarded you a mail. Hopefully we'll have a hard date/venue this week. The Interior (Talk) 18:04, 27 January 2015 (UTC)

JSTOR account

Hi, Thanks for approving my JSTOR account application. I believe that I should have received an e-mail detailing the next step. However, I am yet to receive any such message. Please advise. -- Cpt.a.haddock (talk) 09:47, 19 January 2015 (UTC)

Cpt.a.haddock, should be on its way, tomorrow or shortly thereafter. Best, The Interior (Talk) 09:09, 20 January 2015 (UTC)
Excellent, thanks! -- Cpt.a.haddock (talk) 10:19, 20 January 2015 (UTC)

Tech News: 2015-04

Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.

Recent changes

  • You can download the new version of the Wikipedia app for Android. The new version shows lead images, better galleries and content from Wikidata. It also has many other new features.[91] [92]
  • Programs and bots still can't read information about images on many wikis. You can see the list of wikis with the most files to fix. Wikipedia in Italian, Indonesian and Japanese language have the most files to fix. On the biggest wikis you should use bots. Bots can add information templates to groups of files. You can ask other tech users to help you.

Problems

  • All JavaScript on Commons was broken for a few minutes on Tuesday. It was because of old code in the HotCat tool. The same problem happened on some Wikipedias on Wednesday. It is now fixed. [93]

Software changes this week

  • There are no software changes this week and next week due to annual meetings. [94]

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

18:13, 19 January 2015 (UTC)

Tech News: 2015-05

Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.

Recent software changes

This week

  • There are no software changes this week due to annual meetings. [96]

Future changes

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

16:08, 26 January 2015 (UTC)

JSTOR application

I have JSTOR account now with them, free, where I can have 3 articles up but cannot delete for 2 weeks. Would it be possible to get on from Wikipedia, and have more extensive access? I mainly hang out on Wikispecies, and extensively use journals available through JSTOR. Neferkheperre (talk) 21:31, 28 January 2015 (UTC)

Neferkheperre, you definitely qualify for a Wikipedia Library JSTOR account. Very happy to get one to a Wikispecies contributor. Can I get you to make an application on the signup page for record-keeping, and email me at earleypat@hotmail.com (so I can get your email address) and I'll add you to the batch that we are just getting out now. Thanks for getting in touch, The Interior (Talk) 16:40, 29 January 2015 (UTC)

Jstor

I was sent a Google Docs form and told I was approved, but I have not received anything yet to access an account. I am no longer on the pending list so the approval must have went through, what is the next step? --Richard Arthur Norton (1958- ) (talk) 21:22, 31 January 2015 (UTC)

Richard Arthur Norton (1958- ), you're all set. We now must wait for the accounts to be filled on JSTOR's end. I'm hoping this week, or early next. Best, The Interior (Talk) 18:24, 2 February 2015 (UTC)
Thanks!

Skookum1

The Interior,

Sorry for the trouble. The ANI has been archived by a bot without a decision having been made, but Skookum1's behavior has continued. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Chinese_Canadians_in_British_Columbia&action=history

I don't think he's capable of controlling himself. I must withdraw from interacting with him and his topics as I have discovered that I have damaged my health by doing so, and this is going to destroy my small savings and it may harm the relationship I have with my parents. I don't believe Skookum1 is a liar, but I think he needs help now, and the commmunity needs to intervene now. I want your help in this matter because you know him and you know he can be a productive editor. I fear that if this question isn't addressed immediately Skookum1 can hurt himself and other editors.

If another ANI is filed, it should not be archived without a decision being made. WhisperToMe (talk) 00:11, 1 February 2015 (UTC)

WhisperToMe, I'm very troubled by the recent behaviour. I've tried reasoning, but I don't think it had much effect. This needs to be resolved, I agree. The Interior (Talk) 18:26, 2 February 2015 (UTC)
The options may be another ANI, Arbcom or perhaps an RFC/U. Which do you think is the best? I haven't filed any of the three before. It may be also good to wait a little while before making a new inquiry, so things can calm down. WhisperToMe (talk) 22:29, 3 February 2015 (UTC)
WhisperToMe's comments are outright AGF and NPA, and he has showed no sign of controlling himself throughout his ongoing AGF about my recommendations and sources and events given re the page. His disingenuous above and the "blame Skookum1" agenda are typical of his inability to admit wrong or to apologize for his disruptive opposition to any input from me to further his attempted control of the article on its very POV theme and academicist elitism in terms of what is a valid source or not. Accusations of misbehaviour against me have been all one-sided and nothing has been said, other than by me, and nobody will read what I have to say...other than @TheMightyquill: who has begun to investigate the talkpage issues and asked me to lay out the sources and issues/events that WTM has so disruptively warred against.
As for ARBCOM, I have my own thoughts on that about WTM, and an RFC/U on his use of incredibly long board disputes and talkpage illogic and SYNTH/POV claims is more suitable for him than for me; how someone with an adminship deserves that status after so much protracted and extended AGF against an informed editor experienced and knowledgeable about the subject area, and also about what other sources are than the very selective ones he's insisting have priority over any others, including ones I've pointed him to, with links (which even have page-cites). @Carrite:, @Floydian:, @Viriditas: and others are able to read and understand my posts and writing style and, like many others, respect me for my knowledge and my contributions rather than campaign to label me as a problem for taking on NPOV and COI/SYNTH issues that others who don't care or know about the subject have denounced me for standing up to. They do advise me to ignore the harassment campaign and proceed with working on content.
Another ANI or an RFC/U is just more AGF to get me out of the way of a highly POV agenda that has been rife with NPA/AGF and SYNTH from its very start.Skookum1 (talk) 05:11, 4 February 2015 (UTC)
and oh, re the posting by WMT of the talkpage history as to me ""continuing my behaviour", he seems to be meaning my listing of issues and events that TheMightyquill has requested I lay out in point form and the addition of a section on Cumberland, British Columbia's Chinese history, with cites. WTM has so assiduously waged combat against me, and imputed I am dishonest, about such issues/events and sought to repress them from even the talkpage with his SYNTH arguments and WP:CREEPery about page-cites being mandatory, and I have not had time or energy to add them, or to re-list the many already mentioned on that page in non-point-form writing.
Now that he has disengaged from his warring, other than here to seek procedural measures to get rid of me again, I've had some breathing room and am simply following up on another editor's request I lay out materials and sources that WTM has persistently not just ignored, but attacked me and challenged with his "walls of texts" and penchant for academic-elitist sources in lieu of any others. All this is so misdirected against me, and so hypocritical on his part, is pointless and also un-wikipedian (in the sense of what that used to mean, not what has become typical in recent years), that it is a sick joke that I am being made the villain for standing up for fairness and facts vs ideological diatribe "research" that often has its facts wrong.
WTM has clearly not "disengaged" from me, not even close, though he has so far not attacked with SYNTH comments and demands for talkpage cites of material he doesn't know about and/or wishes suppressed; disengagement means letting go of the argument, not revving it up and campaigning for "official" actions against me.
"I'm sorry to be a burden" is quite comical, he's never apologized to me, nor has he ever admitted he might be wrong about anything. He said on Reso's page he has been "damaged" yet completely ignored my statements about my own health and life situation, instead upping his onslaught even more ferociously since then (Xmas or Boxing Day or thereabouts).Skookum1 (talk) 05:26, 4 February 2015 (UTC)
Skookum, thanks for the ping. I don't really know what's going on here, so I can't address anyting. I will say, try to avoid commenting on the contributor and focus on the content. Is there a content issue that needs to be addressed? What's the problem? Viriditas (talk) 05:39, 4 February 2015 (UTC)
I'll write you, this is a goldfish bowl but have a look here and also on Jimbotalk.

[post edit conflict]


This is a quote from a discussion on the WP:EXR talkpage that is very apropos about the SYNTH-cum-instruction creep that I have been resisting and also being assaulted and persistently AGF'd about; and in that lengthy discussion that's in the opening, nobody has trotted out WoT as a reason not to read it, or to attack the editors making it as "disrespectful for expecting other editors to read it".

The level of WP:OWNership already exerted by some projects, and the zeal with which they pursue the WP:Specialist style fallacy, sometimes in righteous and advertised defiance of WP:CONLEVEL policy, is a menace to the entire encyclopedia"

I'm not the only one to feel that way and it's not just in this one case that that applies; I'll also quote from the Specialist style fallacy page thus:

"The basic argument is that because the specialist literature on some topic is [usually] the most reliable source of detailed facts about the specialty, it must also be the most reliable source for deciding how to name or style articles about the topic and things within its scope. It is used to justify a "local consensus" of specializing editors, often a wikiproject, for specialist-sourced article naming and styling issues that other editors and readers, unfamiliar with the field, find strange, impenetrable, inappropriate and/or grammatically incorrect.
It is also called the reliable sources style fallacy (RSSF), as it is an argument sometimes made by editors who "over-defer" to specialist works on matters, like style, beyond the specialists' scope. The argument does not always depend upon explicit reliable sources and may instead take the form of an appeal to tradition and ipse dixitism (e.g. "it's just how it's done in this field").
A secondary implication of either version, sometimes stated explicitly, is a straw man argument that disagreement with specialist naming and style preferences is a criticism of specialist sources or even a direct attack on the specialty and its editors. This particular SSF variant is the specialist straw man (SSM)

From CONVLEVEL:

Consensus among a limited group of editors, at one place and time, cannot override community consensus on a wider scale.

paraphrasing that "Assertions by one editor cannot override community consensus in a given topic area" and the article he's presuming to OWN and forcibly evict me from contributing to or correcting POV and include relevant and important history is at odds with the standards and content of other Wikipedia articles and tone of same that are connected to it. Consensus has established that other content over time, and standards of usage and content that he has not just systematically ignored but also attempted to ARGUE are wrong and that his "choices" are right. They are not.

But I've learned that common sense and open minds are in short supply when it comes to anything that involves me. TheMightyquill has often said that while my tone is an issue, I'm in the right about the matters I raise, whether about content or titles or POV. But hey, a witch-hunt is a witch-hunt and fairness is not part of the rules of order.Skookum1 (talk) 05:46, 4 February 2015 (UTC)

Quoting TheMightyquill about me, and about the kind of thing that's been going on here:
"I accept that Skookum's style can be trying at times, but please do not claim that he is alone in his perspective. He has given ample evidence that there are many of us knowledgeable editors who agree with him. I, for one, am tired of arguing with editors who refuse to acknowledge the ample evidence backing up our arguments. Eventually, I think you'll all come around and feel rather embarrassed about your current position, but in the mean time, if Skookum feels strong enough about the issue to continue pressing these points and so long as he remains polite in his argument, it hardly seems fair to dismiss him as beating a dead horse."
- TheMightyquill 10:34, 22 March 2014 rethis CfD, which was derailed and closed against me by the invocation of TLDR, which should not be used on discussions, but never mind..... geez it's not even a year ago......feels like years..... and not just to dismiss me as a DEADHORSE or for BLUDGEONing, but to assert that I have 'behavioural problems' because I don't write in point-form and don't write things that some are too impatient to read....or just won't. Somewhere in guidelines it says, very clearly, "if you don't know about the subject of a discussion, please stay out of it [and don't vote]", which is in reference to the many naysayers on that CfD and related RMs, and very much in reference to the many ANIs used to harass me in the course of my efforts to correct damage done to titles and categories enacted by the "specialist-style fallacy" and other things.Skookum1 (talk) 05:54, 4 February 2015 (UTC)
OK, I'll check that out, but might I recommend using a brief outline method for efficiency? In other words, if I say "what's the problem", you respond with "point 1, point 2, and point 3". If I need to ask you about detail, then you provide the detail on each point. The above "wall of text" (heh, lighten up, man) is too much for most editors to follow. I'm not most editors, however. :) But really, play to your audience. Sorry, I wanted to give you a little jive while I still could. Anyway, I read it. I sorta follow what you are getting at, but it would help to isolate the parts of the problem and address them separately. Uh oh. Did I just advocate specialist reductionism? But seriously. Separate the personal and behavioral problems from the content issues. Once you do that, your life will improve a great deal here. So let's start from the beginning by highlighting priorities. Choosing just one problem from the above, which needs immediate attention? Be brief in your reply, please. :) I'm going to go out on a limb here, but I think that part of the problem between you and Whisper is that he's still a "kid" in relation to your age, and maybe that contributes to the communication problems between you. You've got knowledge and wisdom, and he's a young upstart who doesn't respect that. Am I sort of on the right track? You know, in many ways, you guys would make a great team. He's willing to try new things and take risks, and you have the experience to know what works and what doesn't, and the wisdom to tell the difference. Let's cut the bullshit here. What would it take for you guys to work together instead of at loggerheads? Viriditas (talk) 06:01, 4 February 2015 (UTC)
Ask him that - I've asked it often, and have offered ideas for research for him to conduct, and also translation projects of various sources that he could undertake for profit. The whole theme of all that's going in is complete opposition to me, and to sources and what I know to be in them, and long-winded argumentation about what he claims guidelines mandate, but do not. I'm someone he could learn a lot from about the topic if it's something he's so interested about as to try to OWN it, but he never condescends to that, only ups the ante about his claims about e.g. page-cites and more; not ready to learn, but spends tons of energy opposing and criticizing while never listening or learning; not even once.
See here also, where despite conceding that we were right he asserts that he thinks differently; immediately after which he launched an even larger and more sweeping series of rapid-fire changes to Chinese Canadians in British Columbia and upped his SYNTH arugments about page-cites and specialist sources on that talkpage; similar went on, and in relation to this article/talkpage and others, and re this derailed/stonewalled merge discussion and more.Skookum1 (talk) 06:33, 4 February 2015 (UTC)
Skookum1, I don't know what to say that hasn't been said to you already - by your colleagues, by people who respect you. You've completely lost perspective on this one. This has become way too personal between you an WhisperToMe. I see that an olive branch has been extended on WhisperToMe's talkpage. That's really the best outcome for now - complete disengagement. But you've got to try to meet in the middle here.
This is going to sound patronising, but I mean it sincerely - I'm worried about you, man. Worried about your health, both physical and emotional. I guess that's not my business, but I don't want to see this escalate further. WhisperToMe has mentioned that the stress of this dispute has been wearing on them as well. This is not good. This is supposed to be a hobby, Skookum1, something to enjoy. Why not putter away at some interesting content - you know there is no shortage of holes in BC coverage. Anyway, I've got to say this is my last attempt at trying to talk you down on this. It will come down to something more wiki-dire if this continues, and I don't want to see that. I really don't. The Interior (Talk) 04:54, 5 February 2015 (UTC)
I don't see his intention to file an RFC/U or ARBCOM or another ANI on me as an "olive branch". And he ignored my comments about the effect of his daily onslaughts on, yes, my health. Long before he trotted that out as his own reasons to condemn me again; never once apologizing, though apologizing to you and others for "being a burden". If other Canadians don't care about the POVization of their history, that says a bit too much about our national mentality as a whole. That there are very few BC Wikipedians left is part of the problem and why they left is a symptom of the problem. The articles that led to the problem have major issues of not being harmonized in content or style with a large range of other Canadian/BC history and biography articles. That I am one of the few who can see that is a furtehr reflection of the relative ignorance of BC history and geography by Canadian Wikipedians beyond the Rockies.
The one-sided criticism of me, and the witch-hunt to try to block me again, is a black mark in my estimation of the utility of Wikipedia as a public resource on the history of Canada; the meddling in titles by those with no knowledge of the country (including a certain party from Alberta re the native endonyms that got changed without discussion and which, despite harassment of myself during the procedures needed to correct them to their long-stable forms, were ultimately restored, other than those closed by "hostile" closers during an arbitrarily-imposed block against consensus NOT TO); as for the damage to my health and income cause by caring too much, it's a given that older editors should not be pressured, nor barraged with demands based on supposed guideline claims and not faced with harassment by procedural means in lieu of informed, reasoned debate and good-faith listening to issues that arise re content/ POV and more; that some in ANIs say I need medical attention, i.e. psychiatric attention, is often heard, and is a rank NPA of the very worst kind. "Old man, go home and take your pills" is how that comes across.
I'm less worried about my health than worried about the politicization of content by POV editors, whether as individuals or as concerted efforts. The presence of individuals of this kind in ANI votes and other board discussions is an ongoing problem; my only POV is the whole and complete truth, not a politically/culturally-filtered one. But if nobody else cares, and only say they will stand aside from any discussion, and will not even read about why and how these POV matters affect content, then that, also, is a sad statement on the quality of content, and of the state of the "community" - so different than the days before instruction creep overtook the prevailing paradigms of discussions vs familiarity with the subject and sensitivities and sourcing issues that those weighing in from afar rarely know anything about but man, they sure do know their guidelines (or claim to).Skookum1 (talk) 05:36, 5 February 2015 (UTC)
  • Can someone summarize the nature of the dispute, as it relates to content and editing rather than editorial behaviour and interaction? I can tell there's plenty of two-way rancour here, but it's unclear to me what the reader-facing issue(s) is/are. 2601:9:4303:88E0:72CD:60FF:FEAA:C075 (talk) 13:43, 9 February 2015 (UTC)
    • rank POV and race politics. Short enough for you?
  • Resistance and technical opposition based on false conflations of guidelines against sources and issues that should be in the article is only the symptom. The article needs balance, not masses of obscure academic critiques with overtly biased content vs other sources which pose evidence that reveals a lot of the modern academic literature bunk. It would help if those kibbitzing on this or condemngin me for saying anything at all had any kind of graps of BC history/politics/geography; but BC Wikipedians who contributed huge amounts have mostly left Wikipedia, out of frustrating with the increasingly ossified bureaucracy and its interference with matters it has no knowledge of, and as evinced by much of the condemnation of myself, don't want to learn and don't care about. The interests of the general readership should trump those of specialists and THAT is in policy (WP:TITLE); the article would offend many in BC in its current state, quite frankly, and flies in the face of other content and other sources that are under attack/refusal.Skookum1 (talk) 06:57, 10 February 2015 (UTC)

Tech News: 2015-06

Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.

Problems

  • There was a security issue on Wikimedia Labs. Many Labs tools were down after the issue was fixed. [99]

Software changes this week

  • The new version of MediaWiki has been on test wikis and MediaWiki.org since January 14. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis from February 3. It will be on all Wikipedias from February 4 (calendar).
  • The "Save page" button in the VisualEditor toolbar is now blue rather than green. This is the same as on the mobile site. [100]
  • You can now edit pages on the draft namespace with VisualEditor on the Russian Wikipedia and Hebrew Wikipedia. You can ask to get VisualEditor for a namespace on your wiki. When your community agrees, ask in Phabricator. [101] [102]

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

16:31, 2 February 2015 (UTC)

Approved: JSTOR access (?)

Hey, TI. I received an email on January 22, asking me to complete an online JSTOR authorization form with my WP username and email address. I did that on the day received, and did it again today. I have never received any sort of follow-up email, with registration confirmation and/or passwords, etc. Is there something else I need to do to complete the JSTOR registration process? Dirtlawyer1 (talk) 21:26, 3 February 2015 (UTC)

Hey Dirtlawyer1, your email has been recorded properly in the spreadsheet we share with JSTOR. We have been waiting to get all of the Round 4 applicants responses in before doing the mailout of JSTOR logins - JSTOR prefers we do this in batches, which slows things down. I'm estimating late this week, or early next, you should see an email from JSTOR. If you need an article post-haste, let me know and I can get it to you. Sorry for the long process, The Interior (Talk) 21:37, 3 February 2015 (UTC)
Thanks, TI. Understood. I thought something had gone wrong with my registration, but you're just waiting on the batch to process. I'll look for the JSTOR registration email in the next week or so. Cheers. Dirtlawyer1 (talk) 21:41, 3 February 2015 (UTC)

Tech News: 2015-07

Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.

Recent software changes

Problems

  • MediaWiki was reverted to the previous version on February 4. It was because of a performance issue. It was restored later. [104]
  • UploadWizard was broken on February 4 because of the revert of MediaWiki. [105]
  • All sites were broken for 30 minutes on February 5. It was due to a network problem. [106]

Software changes this week

  • The new version of MediaWiki has been on test wikis and MediaWiki.org since February 5. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis from February 10. It will be on all Wikipedias from February 11 (calendar).
  • You can have one user page for all wikis. Your Meta user page will show if you don't have a user page on a wiki. You can test this tool on test wikis. [107] [108] [109]
  • You can search for media files in VisualEditor more easily. Images are bigger and you see the size and license. [110] [111]
  • It is easier to review your changes when you save the page in VisualEditor. The window is wider. [112]
  • You can read the latest news about VisualEditor. You can now join weekly meetings with developers. During the meetings you can tell developers which bugs are the most important. The first meeting is on February 11 at 20:00 (UTC).

Future changes

  • Administrators will soon be able to delete change tags used fewer than 5,000 times. [113]
  • In the future you will be able to have personal lists of articles on the mobile site. [114]

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

16:27, 9 February 2015 (UTC)

Wikipedia Library JSTOR Access

Hi! I previously signed up for JSTOR access/Wikipedia Library, and was able to use the given JSTOR account for a while, but now when I login to JSTOR, I have 'limited access' and am only able to see abstracts/ article listings but not full text! Is there an expiration period on our accounts and/or what is the renewal process? I'm a bit confused about why my account abruptly stopped allowing me to read full-text articles. Thanks! OR drohowa (talk) 20:33, 9 February 2015 (UTC)

Hmm, my account is doing the same. Will ping our contact. The Interior (Talk) 23:46, 9 February 2015 (UTC)
OR drohowa, do you still see the "Your access to JSTOR provided by JSTOR, in collaboration with the Wikimedia Foundation" text in the right margin, below the JSTOR logo? The Interior (Talk) 01:40, 10 February 2015 (UTC)
I have a different interpretation: of the citations I used in the articles, there is no problem getting to the full text, in repeatable fashion. However, when I search for new citations, perhaps the 'moving wall' of dates restricts access to the 'newer' search results. I see no correlation to 'date newness', however. I think the articles might be restricted on a case basis by publisher. Such as Cornell University Press, perhaps? Or perhaps it is by individual author. Since I have focussed interests, and do not range widely, perhaps that is why I can 'get to the good' articles. Because one query returns 671,422 hits, and I am just ploughing through, reading these articles bit by bit.
The single most useful format is the thumbnail tab, for me. And you? --Ancheta Wis   (talk | contribs) 21:06, 9 February 2015 (UTC)
Ancheta Wis, I'm having trouble accessing content that is definitely on the right side of the "moving wall". Are you able to get into full articles as normal? The Interior (Talk) 23:46, 9 February 2015 (UTC)
Probably because I am specialized, I don't need to search for 2015 results, because I can just find them with Google searches. But this time, I deliberately searched for an article behind the moving wall, and found: Age of Icons Exploring Philanthrocapitalism in the Contemporary World EDITED BY GAVIN FRIDELL, MARTIJN KONINGS Publication Date: December 2013, Pages: 224 Published by: University of Toronto Press eISBN: 978-1-4426-9622-8 Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3138/j.ctt5hjvx6 Now when I paste in the stable URL, I do indeed get the Summary page, and not full text. I get this same behavior for a January 1984 book, summary page, Cornell University Press, which is what I referred to earlier. But I have been able to glean the contents from the January 1984 summary page, still quite a useful book, for my purposes. Indispensable, in fact. I am definitely able to get full text for a 2010 source with 550 pages, thumbnails and all. --Ancheta Wis   (talk | contribs) 00:14, 10 February 2015 (UTC)
I found another fantastic summary page, but its not my interest. However, I am pretty sure a political economist would love this JSTOR summary url! Lineages of European Political Thought; Explorations along the Medieval/Modern Divide from John of Salisbury to Hegel; Cary J. Nederman. Publication Date: August 2012, Pages: 400 Published by: Catholic University of America Press eISBN: 978-0-8132-2083-3Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt285181
I need to stop before I cite again! Backing away from the keyboard... but maybe this citation might trigger another interested JSTOR request from another editor. --Ancheta Wis   (talk | contribs) 00:39, 10 February 2015 (UTC)
LOL! That does sound like a good one. You may have the dreaded citovirus. Unfortunately, there's only one known cure: you have to cite your way out of it. The Interior (Talk) 01:40, 10 February 2015 (UTC)
Hi The Interior, I applied for JSTOR access, but it's over ten days there ain't any reply. EthicallyYours! 12:29, 11 February 2015 (UTC)
Ten days? I have waited ten weeks or more, and I was approved. YohanN7 (talk) 12:43, 11 February 2015 (UTC)
Oh, I thought that the limit for accounts was exceeded. EthicallyYours! 15:57, 11 February 2015 (UTC)
Ethically, we haven't exceeded the amount, we're just waiting for JSTOR to fufil the last batch before processing the next group. The Interior (Talk) 16:55, 11 February 2015 (UTC)
I am seeing the same thing. I'm using a newly approved account and find that I do not have access to some articles, particularly chapters of books. For example, I am asked to "Try logging in through your institution for full access" to articles such as this one and this one. Could you please clarify which articles I/we have access to? Or is this a bug? (And thanks for taking the time to do all this. It is much appreciated!)--Cpt.a.haddock (talk) 17:32, 13 February 2015 (UTC)
Trying to get to the bottom of this, will update. The Interior (Talk) 17:39, 13 February 2015 (UTC)

JSTOR new account?

Hi, sorry to trouble you. I applied for a JSTOR in November and was on the approved list in January. Don't seem to have had an email since. Have they gone out and I've missed it? Any chance of a re-send? Thanks Andy Dingley (talk) 11:05, 12 February 2015 (UTC)

Andy, no trouble. Just made a post about the delayed mailout at WT:JSTOR: [115] Regards, The Interior (Talk) 15:53, 12 February 2015 (UTC)

Valentine Greets!!!

Valentine Greets!!!

Hello Patrick, love is the language of librarians and is the feeling that joins two reference experts and brings two booklovers together in a bound bond. Taking librarian love to the level of Wikipedia, spread the WikiLove by wishing another bookworm Happy Valentine's Day, whether it be someone you have had disagreements over MARC records and authority control with with in the past, a good friend who never returns your kindle, or just some random child you found unsupervised in the divorce and living wills section.
 Sending you an expensive annually licensed heartfelt and snuggly love on this valentine's eve,
Happy cataloging,
 - 15:28, 13 February 2015 (UTC)

Spread the love by adding {{subst:Valentine Greetings}} to other user talk pages.

👍 Like Thanks, Jake!

Tech News: 2015-08

Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.

Software changes this week

  • The new version of MediaWiki has been on test wikis and MediaWiki.org since February 11. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis from February 17. It will be on all Wikipedias from February 18 (calendar).
  • On Wednesday your Meta user page will be shown if you don't have a user page on a wiki. [116] [117] [118]
  • You can now change the order of categories in VisualEditor using drag-and-drop. [119]
  • In VisualEditor, you now need to make a change before you can "Apply Changes" to citations and templates. [120]
  • The way the cursor moves in VisualEditor is changing. Your browser now handles the cursor directly. Most of you will see no change. In right-to-left text, the cursor now moves in a 'visible' rather than 'logical' way. This is like other sites but you may be surprised at first.​ [121]

Meetings

  • The VisualEditor Team had their first public bug triage meeting on February 11. They will post the results on the meeting page. [122]
  • You can join the second weekly meeting with the VisualEditor team. During the meetings you can tell developers which bugs are the most important. The meeting will be on February 18 at 16:00 (UTC). See how to join. [123]
  • You can join a meeting with the developers of the Content Translation tool. It will be on February 18 at 13:00 (UTC). [124]

Future changes

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

17:57, 16 February 2015 (UTC)

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