This is an archive of past discussions about User:Gorthian. Do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page.
Hi. Thank you for making move requests. You are putting the pages into the RMassist template the wrong way round (here & here). Put the existing title first, and the desired title second. {{subst:RMassist|current (incorrect) page name|requested new (correct) name|reason= reason for move}} Otherwise people will get confused. Thanks. —Frayæ (Talk/Spjall) 21:41, 26 July 2018 (UTC)
@Frayae: Thanks for letting me know. But basically, I’m asking that the pages be switched, so for each page, the correct page is the other one. I thought it wouldn’t matter which one went into which spot in that case. Is there something about the moves (preserving page histories, maybe?) that really defines the order when asking this? — Gorthian (talk) 22:37, 26 July 2018 (UTC)
Conventionally you put the page with the content first, otherwise the article appears to already have been moved and the preloaded move button is the wrong way round and thus won't work.
The pages are not always switched, so it does matter. For example with Lomagundi I moved the page over the redirect. This deletes the original redirect page while creating a new redirect page on the previous title. It does not switch the pages. In some moves the pages are both relevant and are switched with a round-robin move, but this is not always the situation and often one page is deleted in the process.
I doubt it makes much difference since it should be easy enough to figure out what to do regardless but I thought I should point it out just in case you didn't know. —Frayæ (Talk/Spjall) 23:08, 26 July 2018 (UTC)
Thanks for the clarification. I’ll make an effort to put the page with the content first. — Gorthian (talk) 23:11, 26 July 2018 (UTC)
After a discussion at Meta, a new user group called "interface administrators" (formerly "technical administrator") has been created. Come the end of August, interface admins will be the only users able to edit site-wide JavaScript and CSS pages like MediaWiki:Common.js and MediaWiki:Common.css, or edit other user's personal JavaScript and CSS. The intention is to improve security and privacy by reducing the number of accounts which could be used to compromise the site or another user's account through malicious code. The new user group can be assigned and revoked by bureaucrats. Discussion is ongoing to establish details for implementing the group on the English Wikipedia.
Following a request for comment, the WP:SISTER style guideline now states that in the mainspace, interwiki links to Wikinews should only be made as per the external links guideline. This generally means that within the body of an article, you should not link to Wikinews about a particular event that is only a part of the larger topic. Wikinews links in "external links" sections can be used where helpful, but not automatically if an equivalent article from a reliable news outlet could be linked in the same manner.
Technical news
The WMF Anti-Harassment Tools team is seeking input on the second set of wireframes for the Special:Block redesign that will introduce partial blocks. The new functionality will allow you to block a user from editing a specific set of pages, pages in a category, a namespace, and for specific actions such as moving pages and uploading files.
OK, I agree I was wrong to convert the redirect to a dab - I hadn't checked for incoming links. Interestingly they're predominantly in descriptions of fictional characters: presumably in most cases serious articles are watched by editors who are more careful about language. I've tweaked the Dementia article to reflect the status of "Senile dementia" and "Senility", which didn't get a mention in the lead until now. So the encyclopedia is a better place than it was. Senile has had a complicated history, being an article at times and redirecting to various places - there may still be scope for an article there on the use of the word, as it was a while ago: I might get round to it. Thanks. PamD 08:08, 6 August 2018 (UTC)
It’s odd: we don’t usually have articles on adjectives; our titles are ideally nouns. So you’d expect “senility” instead of “senile”. It certainly has had an unusual history! — Gorthian (talk) 22:34, 6 August 2018 (UTC)
Hi Gorthian,
I converted Plateau Creek to a redirect because I couldn't find any articles that mentioned the other three rivers. Since disambiguation pages are supposed to contain a link to an existing article, that left only one item. I tried to figure out how I could add their names to at least a 'list of rivers' but, although I can find all four rivers on Google maps, I couldn't determine the other information needed - for example, the Montana list is formatted by watershed. Ultimately I decided that Plateau Creek could be returned to a disambiguation page when other editors, more knowledgable than I, add more information about the other rivers. Leschnei (talk) 11:55, 7 August 2018 (UTC)
Oops, I saw your first edit but not your second. You found a mention! You must be the 'editor, more knowledgable'. Leschnei (talk) 12:18, 7 August 2018 (UTC)
Thanks. I'd be glad to. Can you tell me how I find them?Stretchrunner (talk) 03:45, 10 August 2018 (UTC)
Thanks, I think I got all of them now. --Philly boy92 (talk) 10:27, 14 August 2018 (UTC)
If it is confirmed that YBN is not a valid IATA code for CFB Borden, can you update the related articles, namely:
Done Thanks for the reminder, AngusWOOF. — Gorthian (talk) 00:43, 16 August 2018 (UTC)
Just a friendly heads up on your U2 speedy deletion request for User:Deepak Kumar Dixit/sandbox. The user does indeed exist -- s/he was the one who created that page.----Fabrictramp|talk to me 00:06, 25 August 2018 (UTC)
Fabrictramp, I had my doubts shortly after I tagged it, but had to run off to do stuff, so didn’t get back to it (or one or two others I tagged similarly). Thanks for the heads up! — Gorthian (talk) 01:42, 25 August 2018 (UTC)
Please read WP:DAB and MOS:DAB, though. Disambiguation pages are edited very differently, because they are not articles. They have very different rules than articles or lists, and can be confusing till you get used to them. Cheers! — Gorthian (talk) 01:16, 1 September 2018 (UTC)
Hello Gorthian, Thank you for your kind recommendation:WP:DAB and MOS:DAB, I will keep in mind it for the Disambiguation pages Goodtiming8871 (talk) 01:29, 1 September 2018 (UTC)
Following a "stop-gap" discussion, six users have temporarily been made interface administrators while discussion is ongoing for a more permanent process for assigning the permission. Interface administrators are now the only editors allowed to edit sitewide CSS and JavaScript pages, as well as CSS/JS pages in another user's userspace. Previously, all administrators had this ability. The right can be granted and revoked by bureaucrats.
Technical news
Because of a data centre test you will be able to read but not edit the wikis for up to an hour on 12 September and 10 October. This will start at 14:00 (UTC). You might lose edits if you try to save during this time. The time when you can't edit might be shorter than an hour.
Some abuse filter variables have changed. They are now easier to understand for non-experts. The old variables will still work but filter editors are encouraged to replace them with the new ones. You can find the list of changed variables on mediawiki.org. They have a note which says Deprecated. Use ... instead. An example is article_text which is now page_title.
Abuse filters can now use how old a page is. The variable is page_age.
Arbitration
The Arbitration Committee has resolved to perform a round of Checkuser and Oversight appointments. The usernames of all applicants will be shared with the Functionaries team, and they will be requested to assist in the vetting process. The deadline to submit an application is 23:59 UTC, 12 September, and the candidates that move forward will be published on-wiki for community comments on 18 September.
When you make edits like these, it's usually a good idea to check whether the new primary topic article has a hatnote back to the dab page. I've fixed this now . – Uanfala (talk) 08:09, 18 September 2018 (UTC)
Are you back? Do you remember me? —usernamekiran(talk) 09:27, 24 September 2018 (UTC)
To Gorthian and User:Bkonrad and User:Neelix, hey, call this delayed mild feedback: i hate how youand you converted a disambiguation page on term "Fire Station" into a poor-in-my-view list-article, and how you got rid of a different legitimate dab page on term "Fire Hall".
Could y'all please apply the helpful category Category:Former disambiguation pages converted to set index articles (which usually gets a hidden note "admin note: pls keep even if page becomes disambiguation again") when you wreak mayhem in the future. That will help me come back and undo your damage.:) Cheers, --Doncram (talk) 18:44, 5 October 2018 (UTC)
There is an open request for comment on Meta regarding the creation a new user group for global edit filter management.
Technical news
Partial blocks should be available for testing in October on the Test Wikipedia and the Beta-Cluster. This new feature allows admins to block users from editing specific pages and in the near-future, namespaces and uploading files. You can expect more updates and an invitation to help with testing once it is available.
The Foundations' Anti-Harassment Tools team is currently looking for input on how to measure the effectiveness of blocks. This is in particular related to how they will measure the success of the aforementioned partial blocks.
Because of a data centre test, you will be able to read but not edit the Wikimedia projects for up to an hour on 10 October. This will start at 14:00 (UTC). You might lose edits if you try to save during this time.
Following a request for comment, the size of the Arbitration Committee will be decreased to 13 arbitrators, starting in 2019. Additionally, the minimum support percentage required to be appointed to a two-year term on ArbCom has been increased to 60%. ArbCom candidates who receive between 50% and 60% support will be appointed to one-year terms instead.
Nominations for the 2018 Arbitration Committee Electoral Commission are being accepted until 12 October. These are the editors who help run the ArbCom election smoothly. If you are interested in volunteering for this role, please consider nominating yourself.
You may prevent the proposed deletion by removing the {{proposed deletion/dated}} notice, but please explain why in your edit summary or on the article's talk page.
Please consider improving the page to address the issues raised. Removing {{proposed deletion/dated}} will stop the proposed deletion process, but other deletion processes exist. In particular, the speedy deletion process can result in deletion without discussion, and articles for deletion allows discussion to reach consensus for deletion. Lotus 50 (talk) 11:44, 30 October 2018 (UTC)
Partial blocks is now available for testing on the Test Wikipedia. The new functionality allows you to block users from editing specific pages. Bugs may exist and can be reported on the local talk page or on Meta. A discussion regarding deployment to English Wikipedia will be started by community liaisons sometime in the near future.
A user script is now available to quickly review unblock requests.
The 2019 Community Wishlist Survey is now accepting new proposals until November 11, 2018. The results of this survey will determine what software the Wikimedia Foundation's Community Tech team will work on next year. Voting on the proposals will take place from November 16 to November 30, 2018. Specifically, there is a proposal category for admins and stewards that may be of interest.
Arbitration
Eligible editors will be invited to nominate themselves as candidates in the 2018 Arbitration Committee Elections starting on November 4 until November 13. Voting will begin on November 19 and last until December 2.
The Arbitration Committee's email address has changed to arbcom-enwikimedia.org. Other email lists, such as functionaries-en and clerks-l, remain unchanged.
Hello, Gorthian. Voting in the 2018 Arbitration Committee elections is now open until 23.59 on Sunday, 3 December. All users who registered an account before Sunday, 28 October 2018, made at least 150 mainspace edits before Thursday, 1 November 2018 and are not currently blocked are eligible to vote. Users with alternate accounts may only vote once.
The Arbitration Committee is the panel of editors responsible for conducting the Wikipedia arbitration process. It has the authority to impose binding solutions to disputes between editors, primarily for serious conduct disputes the community has been unable to resolve. This includes the authority to impose site bans, topic bans, editing restrictions, and other measures needed to maintain our editing environment. The arbitration policy describes the Committee's roles and responsibilities in greater detail.
That editing was not disruptive at all and was based factually.
So go away you old fart.
—Propestorouspato (talk • contribs) 05:51, 4 August 2018 (UTC)
Your revert on this page made little if any sense. I do understand the need for references of proper quality; however a possible bad reference deleted and replaced with no reference seems self-defeating. If you read the "bad" reference you would have noticed the sourcing they used of scientific journals. Now, obviously it would be better to use those as a source but I don't have access to them as of now and I won't second-hand source them. If I offend I apologize but I will change this back and search for better sourcing (first hand of course). - speednat (talk)
—Speednat (talk • contribs) 03:18, 21 August 2018 (UTC)
Fixed it, thanks for your patience, as I was able to access the article. - speednat (talk)
—Speednat (talk • contribs) 03:51, 21 August 2018 (UTC)
A request for comment is in progress to determine whether members of the Bot Approvals Group should satisfy activity requirements in order to remain in that role.
A request for comment is in progress regarding whether to change the administrator inactivity policy, such that administrators "who have made no logged administrative actions for at least 12 months may be desysopped". Currently, the policy states that administrators "who have made neither edits nor administrative actions for at least 12 months may be desysopped".
Administrators and bureaucrats can no longer unblock themselves unless they placed the block initially. This change has been implemented globally. See also this ongoing village pump discussion (permalink).
To complement the aforementioned change, blocked administrators will soon have the ability to block the administrator that placed their block to mitigate the possibility of a compromised administrator account blocking all other active administrators.
In late November, an attacker compromised multiple accounts, including at least four administrator accounts, and used them to vandalize Wikipedia. If you have ever used your current password on any other website, you should change it immediately. Sharing the same password across multiple websites makes your account vulnerable, especially if your password was used on a website that suffered a data breach. As these incidents have shown, these concerns are not pure fantasies.
Shock Brigade Harvester Boris (Raymond Arritt) passed away on 14 November 2018. Boris joined Wikipedia as Raymond arritt on 8 May 2006 and was an administrator from 30 July 2007 to 2 June 2008.
R4 (new): Redirects in the file namespace (and no file links) that have the same name as a file or redirect at Commons are now covered under the new R4 criterion (discussion). This is {{db-redircom}}; the text is unchanged.
G13 (expanded): Userspace drafts containing only the default Article Wizard text are now covered under G13 along with other drafts (discussion). Such blank drafts are now eligible after six months rather than one year, and taggers continue to use {{db-blankdraft}}.
Members of the Bot Approvals Group (BAG) are now subject to an activity requirement. After two years without any bot-related activity (e.g. operating a bot, posting on a bot-related talk page), BAG members will be retired from BAG following a one-week notice.
Technical news
Starting on December 13, the Wikimedia Foundation security team implemented new password policy and requirements. Privileged accounts (administrators, bureaucrats, checkusers, oversighters, interface administrators, bots, edit filter managers/helpers, template editors, et al.) must have a password at least 10 characters in length. All accounts must have a password:
User accounts not meeting these requirements will be prompted to update their password accordingly. More information is available on MediaWiki.org.
Blocked administrators may now block the administrator that blocked them. This was done to mitigate the possibility that a compromised administrator account would block all other active administrators, complementing the removal of the ability to unblock oneself outside of self-imposed blocks. A request for comment is currently in progress to determine whether the blocking policy should be updated regarding this change.
{{Copyvio-revdel}} now has a link to open the history with the RevDel checkboxes already filled in.
Accounts continue to be compromised on a regular basis. Evidence shows this is entirely due to the accounts having the same password that was used on another website that suffered a data breach. If you have ever used your current password on any other website, you should change it immediately.
Around 22% of admins have enabled two-factor authentication, up from 20% in June 2018. If you haven't already enabled it, please consider doing so. Regardless of whether you use 2FA, please practice appropriate account security by ensuring your password is secure and unique to Wikimedia.
Administrators who are blocked have the technical ability to block the administrator who blocked their own account. A recent request for comment has amended the blocking policy to clarify that this ability should only be used in exceptional circumstances, such as account compromises, where there is a clear and immediate need.
A request for comment closed with a consensus in favor of deprecating The Sun as a permissible reference, and creating an edit filter to warn users who attempt to cite it.
Technical news
A discussion regarding an overhaul of the format and appearance of Wikipedia:Requests for page protection is in progress (permalink). The proposed changes will make it easier to create requests for those who are not using Twinkle. The workflow for administrators at this venue will largely be unchanged. Additionally, there are plans to archive requests similar to how it is done at WP:PERM, where historical records are kept so that prior requests can more easily be searched for.
A new IRC bot is available that allows you to subscribe to notifications when specific filters are tripped. This requires that your IRC handle be identified.
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.
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.
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.