User talk:Nick Moyes/Archive 15

This is an archive of past discussions. 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.

Archive 10

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Archive 13

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Can you help?

Hi Nick Moyes, I have seen that you accept adoptees and maybe you can help. I am looking on how to reuse a citation and I until now do not find a solution. I also do not see how to sign. So I copied it from an other talk where I signed... (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 09:54, 27 December 2018 (UTC)

Hi, Lean Anael. Of course I can help you. To sign any talkpage post, simply type four keyboard tilde characters at the end of your post (like this: ~~~~) and hit the blue Publish Changes button. This adds your username and a timestamp to every post you add.

To reuse a reference you will need to allocate it a shortcut name which you subsequently 'call' when you want to use it a second, third or fourth time etc. I find it best to avoid using Visual Editor for this bit as (annoyingly) there isn't yet a field to simply add a refname in the cite window, as there is in source editor. Take a look at the instructions at WP:REFNAME for precisely how to do this, and let me know how you get on. Once you master it, it saves so much effort. There is also a way to reuse, say, a book reference, but to add dufferent page numbers to each reused reference. Let me know if this might be handy, too. I'm not near a PC for most of today, so if you're still stuck, and in a hurry, you might get a quicker reply by asking at the Teahouse. Regards, Nick Moyes (talk) 10:18, 27 December 2018 (UTC)

Thank you! For your fast and useful answer. The signing I master since yesterday. The re-use of the citations I master now, too. Have a nice day. Lean Anael (talk) 07:44, 28 December 2018 (UTC)

Wikipedia:WikiProject Portals update #025, 30 Dec 2018

We can now crop the tops of pics to make banners

Before, we could only cut off the bottom of pics.

User:FR30799386 has pulled it off, and made the upgrade to {{Portal image banner}}...

So, this:

Niagara falls, from the Canadian side

Becomes this:

Niagara falls, from the Canadian side

Here's the code for the above banner:

{{Portal image banner|File:American Falls from Canadian side in winter.jpg | [[Niagara falls]], from the Canadian side |maxheight=175px |overflow=Hidden|croptop=10}}

To see it employed in a portal, check out Portal:Niagara Falls.

About that end of the year goal...

We were racing against time to create 5,000 portals by the end of the year (just for the heck of it).

We made it. We've passed the 5,000 portals mark, with time to spare!

And the 5,000th portal is Portal:Major League Baseball, by Happypillsjr.

Congratulations!

What's next?

The 10,000th portal mark. But...

...there is plenty else to do in addition to building new portals:

The new portals need to be linked to from the encyclopedia.
On those portals about subjects that are not typically capitalized, the search parameters need to be refined/expanded, to maximize the chances of Did you know and In the news items being found and displayed.
A Recognized content section needs to be added to each portal that has a corresponding WikiProject.
Addition of a category on those portals that lack a subject category.
Implement the portal category system, adding the appropriate categories to each portal.
Upgrade, and complete (as per the tasks enumerated above), the old-style portals that are not regularly maintained, which have not been converted yet (about 1,100 of them).
Find and fix the remaining bugs in the underlying lua modules.
Build portal tools (scripts) to assist in the creation, development, and maintenance of portals.
Build a script to help build navbox footer templates, via the harvesting of categories, amongst other methods.
Update the portal building instructions.
Update the portal guideline.
Refine the programming of the portals to reduce their load time.
Design and develop the next generation of portals and portal components.

And whatever else you can dream up.

But most of all, have a...

Happy New Year!

Nick Moyes, thank you for your contributions to the Portals Project, and have a prosperous, productive and enjoyable New Year.

Sincerely, — The Transhumanist 12:05, 30 December 2018 (UTC)

A barnstar for you!

	The Random Acts of Kindness Barnstar
	Thank you for answering my question, Nick Moyes, but to answer your question, I would like scientists in astronomy, like Tycho Brahe or Nicolaus Copernicus.so I hope that helps narrow it down THEGREECEPEACE 23:19, 10 October 2018 (UTC)

Thanks, Greecemaniac2005. You get points deducted for not explaining yourself better when you posted at the Teahouse!!! But seriously, like I said in my original reply, this encyclopaedia is never going to create its own list of best scientists, but I now think I have an answer to help you find all the articles about a related topic, like 'astronomers'. You simply need to look at the 'Categories' shown at the bottom of every page. Tycho Brahe has nearly 30 categories, and click one that interests you. That will display a list of all the articles currently tagged with that Category name, and at the bottom of the page you'll see the parent category that that child category falls in to. If you visit Special:CategoryTree you are able to select simple category titles and see the sub-categories and pages within them (like this). Does this make sense and give you what you want?

By the way, what have you done to your signature? I think you have you changed it at Special:Preferences, and have given yourself a name that's not the same as your username. If you would uncheck the box labelled Treat the above as wiki markup. Keeping it as it is gives no link back to your talk page and so I had no idea who really had left a talk page message, and this goes against our guidelines that require a hyperlink back to you. (See WP:SIGLINK for details). Regards, Nick Moyes (talk) 23:58, 10 October 2018 (UTC)

A barnstar for you!

		The Original Barnstar
		Nick, many thanks for pointing my mistake and helping me out.

Denim11 (talk) 16:23, 15 November 2018 (UTC)

A barnstar for you!

	The Random Acts of Kindness Barnstar
	For your diplomatic, helpful, and understanding posts on Teahouse - especially tonight's! Schazjmd (talk) 03:42, 29 December 2018 (UTC)

A cheeseburger for you!

Thanks for all you do here in Wikipedia! (Especially giving me guidance when I am (and still am) a Wikipediholic! Thegooduser Let's Chat 🍁 22:08, 30 December 2018 (UTC)

Thank you so much for the burger, Thegooduser. You have the makings of a really great, committed editor, though I still remain concerned lest your amazing ~~interest here~~ Wikipediholism here ends up impacting on your real-world school work. How is school going, may I ask? Do you (including your family) think you have got the balance right, or have teachers expressed any concern over how well you study and work in class? If you show the initiative and commitment at school/college that you do here, you'll be doing fine. No need to answer if I'm asking personal questions. But I just want to know I/we care, though none of us here are as important as real world friends and family. Do have a really great New Year. I've got my daughter home from her first year at University right now (and she seems to have managed a sensible balance between studies and a good social life with like-minded friends there); whilst the one a couple of years younger is now seriously revising for mock-exams starting at the beginning of January. I'm not sure whereabouts you are in your college life, but I really wish you well. Regards from the UK, Nick Moyes (talk) 22:36, 30 December 2018 (UTC)

I have now sort of found a way to balance my schoolwork with Wikipedia, Yet I can never get off Wikipedia of my mind though. [ I am in Grade 10 by the way :) ] It's so hard to not be a Wikipediholic once you become one. I find my self to be a level 1-2 (Mostly level 2 Wikipediholic). I really should be doing my schoolwork instead of spending it here on Wikipedia, but ever since I started editing Wikipedia, it's been really hard to stop. --Thegooduser Let's Chat 🍁 22:41, 30 December 2018 (UTC)

I am at 6,011 edits or something the last time I checked my edit count. I am trying to clock at or past 10,000 edits by the end of my Winter Break for some reason. Do I have Edit contitius? --Thegooduser Let's Chat 🍁 22:43, 30 December 2018 (UTC)

@Thegooduser: Yes it does! (At least by 'Edit contitius' I presume you mean 'Edit countitus' - or perhaps you're employing a soldier from the Roman legions to assist you, LOL. I think your Grade 10 is our 'Year 11' here, so you and my youngest are at roughly the same stage. She spends here online time listen to YouTube music videos - so, if - and only if - you do get the balance right, I think you're using your online time far more usefully! But don't tell her that. However, it will all be for nothing if you flunk your studies because you've been overly-distracted by Wikipedia editing. I'm rather the same as you (albeit retired now, so I have far more right than you to waste all my time here!), but I love the elegance of how this site works and have often wondered if anyone has written a script which assesses and reports back on how much time an editor spends on Wikipedia. It would need to look at time between consecutive edits and make assumptions on how small a gap between them constitutes one period of 'continuous editing' and then add them together and report back on how much time we spend. I suspect in your and my case that that figure could be quite alarmingly high. In the case of my own Wikipediaholism I sometimes wake in the middle of the night with a thought, grab the phone and my glasses under the bedsheets, wait for the ensuing condensation to clear as my glasses warm up and, ensuring my wife doesn't get woken by the dim glow of the phone on its lowest brightness setting, make the odd edit or check the Teahouse messages. How worryingly sad is that? I do hope you don't do that too! (When I was your age it was a Crystal radio that I had wired with an earpiece under my pillow) BTW: Did you ever work out the answer to your Huggle question? My one foray into Huggle left me feeling I'd leave it for another day to get to grips with, but it was a very good point ]] that I had wired with an earpiece under my pillow) you asked. I didn't see you asking ti at Wikipedia:Huggle/Feedback, so maybe you found the answer? If so, what was it? Maybe rather than aim at edit counts you might like to think about focussing on some of the Wikipedia things that might give you useful life experiences - possibly even in the eyes of a future employer. When I was your age I became the secretary of my local ham radio society; so I wonder what potential there is there for you in your own local community to work with others to, say, run a local WP:EDITATHON or get work experience at local museum, library or local archives office? Approaching any one of these, whilst scary for a youngster, could all lead to content being added to Wikipedia, providing you happen to encounter a receptive person there. This might sound frightening to a youngster like you, but I suspect you could find that encouraging real-world Wikipedia events to be run by one of them - or even simply being the catalyst to bring other like-minded people together in a local social situation could be great CV material that has career benefits for you. Certainly far more useful than meeting random edit count targets! I do think you have the potential to become an admin here (and even that probably has real-world CV-type benefits for a young person). So have you worked through the many essays around the topic at WP:RFA and assessed yourself against them? I am absolutely not suggesting you should put yourself forward at this stage in your life, but identifying your strengths and weaknesses against what is required for adminship could be quite a useful exercise in its own right that could help you grow and evolve as an editor and as a person. It's something I've been mulling over for a while now, yet still feel I've a lot more to learn first. So I'm not for one moment suggesting you rush to an WP:ORFA, but the act of self-assessment might help you identify strengths and weaknesses that need addressing. But above all, do stay grounded in the real world! You are welcome to email me if you ever get to the point of Wikipedia overtaking you. I will happily give you a really very stern, but private, talking to, and tell you, once again, that it is the real world and your own real life and future career that matters the most. Cheers, my friend. Nick Moyes (talk) 23:39, 30 December 2018 (UTC)

I have decided to not use HG to do CSD, instead I will now use TW. (It's easier and much faster :) ) Somedays, I'll think of nothing but Wikipedia. ALL DAY. I am an extreme wikipediholic, When I meet someone new the first thing I ask them is, "Do you edit Wikipedia?" and the answer was always "No, I don't". --Thegooduser Let's Chat 🍁 23:45, 30 December 2018 (UTC)

That's way too nerdy for most people. Why not just drop it in later, and very gently, and then learn to drop it if there's no response. There are other more important things in life! Nick Moyes (talk) 23:53, 30 December 2018 (UTC)

All I ever talk to people usually at school is Transit or Wikipedia.--Thegooduser Let's Chat 🍁 22:13, 31 December 2018 (UTC)

LOL. Happy New Year! Nick Moyes (talk) 00:44, 1 January 2019 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – January 2019

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

Administrator changes

Galobtter

Orangemike

BorgQueen • Davidruben • Ocee • Revolving Bugbear • Theda • There'sNoTime • Timc • Tijuana Brass • Tristessa de St Ange

Bureaucrat changes

Addshore

CheckUser changes

Joe Roe • SilkTork

Euryalus • Newyorkbrad • There'sNoTime

Oversight changes

AGK • Joe Roe • SilkTork

Euryalus • Newyorkbrad • There'sNoTime

Guideline and policy news

There are a number of new or changed speedy deletion criteria, each previously part of WP:CSD#G6:

G14 (new): Disambiguation pages that disambiguate only zero or one existing pages are now covered under the new G14 criterion (discussion). This is {{db-disambig}}; the text is unchanged and candidates may be found in Category:Candidates for speedy deletion as unnecessary disambiguation pages.
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}}.

The Wikimedia Foundation now requires all interface administrators to enable two-factor authentication.
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:

At least 8 characters in length
Not in the 100,000 most popular passwords (defined by the Password Blacklist library)
Different from their username

User accounts not meeting these requirements will be prompted to update their password accordingly. More information is available on MediaWiki.org.

Blocked administrators may now block the administrator that blocked them. This was done to mitigate the possibility that a compromised administrator account would block all other active administrators, complementing the removal of the ability to unblock oneself outside of self-imposed blocks. A request for comment is currently in progress to determine whether the blocking policy should be updated regarding this change.
{{Copyvio-revdel}} now has a link to open the history with the RevDel checkboxes already filled in.

Arbitration

Following the 2018 Arbitration Committee elections, the following editors have been appointed to the Arbitration Committee: AGK, Courcelles, GorillaWarfare, Joe Roe, Mkdw, SilkTork.

Miscellaneous

Accounts continue to be compromised on a regular basis. Evidence shows this is entirely due to the accounts having the same password that was used on another website that suffered a data breach. If you have ever used your current password on any other website, you should change it immediately.
Around 22% of admins have enabled two-factor authentication, up from 20% in June 2018. If you haven't already enabled it, please consider doing so. Regardless of whether you use 2FA, please practice appropriate account security by ensuring your password is secure and unique to Wikimedia.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 21:39, 1 January 2019 (UTC)

Fulfilled request concerning Rocher de la Tournette

@Nick Moyes: I am notifying you that I have completed your move request concerning Rocher de la Tournette. MarkZusab (talk) 01:55, 2 January 2019 (UTC)

Teahouse

Sorry for deleting your change at Teahouse, I think I've restored everything. RhinosF1 (talk) 09:45, 5 January 2019 (UTC)

No worries. Nick Moyes (talk) 09:49, 5 January 2019 (UTC)

Adoption

Hey Nick! Thanks for reaching out on my talk page. Just the push I needed to get back into this. I really appreciate your commitment to women on Wikipedia; the Art + Feminism events are really what got me started editing. I did start with a bang last year while at an Artist Residency where I hosted an edit-a-thon at the Art Center and taught a dozen people how Wikipedia works. Together we edited 20 articles on women artists of color and I wrote and published a new article (that never got flagged for deletion!). Although I fell off the editing wagon, Iam back and have found new motivation for editing this year. I have set fairly reasonable goals but I am trying to self-motivate to edit every week. I plan to write a few articles this year about women and gender-non-binary artists and would love some help editing those when the time comes. I am starting from my own bookshelf and seeing what I can contribute to, as well as looking at the Women in Red project. Lastly, I am dreaming of hosting local micro-events at specialized libraries like the Craft Council Library or the History Museum archives. Let me know if you would be interested in adopting me and helping me accomplish these goals this year! Thanks, Terasaface (talk) 17:37, 7 January 2019 (UTC)

Adoption

Hello,

I am a relatively new user that is looking to be adopted as part of the adopt a user program. My interests include Judaism, Computer Science, and history (particularly American and Jewish).

Thank you for taking the time to consider this. Alternate Side Parking (talk) 00:16, 4 November 2018 (UTC)

Hi, Alternate Side Parking and thanks very much for taking the initiative of contacting me, and well done for getting all 15 of your The Wikipedia Adventure badges. I'm not confident that your interests and mine tally up sufficiently closely for me to be able to help and guide you in a formal adoption process. In particular, I know nothing of religion, about which you seem to edit a lot. I would also have preferred that you had 'come clean' right from the start and explained your previous J.A.R.N.Y. account and 6-month block (and subsequent unblock) and what appears now to be a genuine attempt to make up for past poor behaviour. So well done for the latter. If you are going for a WP:CLEANSTART, you might like me to add {{retired}} to it on your behalf. If, rather than just a clean start, you've simply just lost the password, as you've stated elsewhere, using your A.S.P. account you ought to edit the old J.A.R.N.Y. and clearly declare the linkage between accounts, and why you've retired it. Obviously, you must never use multiple accounts, so that one must not be used again. Ever. (I think I'm giving you the right advice here, but I am going to ping @Vsmith: who unblocked you in April so as to be certain.)

That all said, and despite thinking formal adoption isn't quite right between us, I'd still be happy to offer any help and guidance you need - either here, on your talk page, or over at the Teahouse where I tend to lurk quite a bit. My approach to adoption (and I'm new to this myself) is to support a new(ish) editor in an ad hoc way, rather than in a structured step-by-step manner as some adopters have done in the past. So even if we don't go down that route, perhaps I could invite you to list a few of the areas you have been struggling with and would like assistance over, and at the very least I'll try and help and perhaps get a sense of what support you need. Looking at your contributions since you began editing under this new account name last month, I could make the following suggestions for you:

You could lose a few of your userboxes to help other editors get a better sense of you, as a few do seem rather irrelevant - but fun though!! (I am guessing that one of them is actually revealing your true age - if so, you might wish not to reveal your birth date in such a sobering way.)
With this edit you seem to have copy/pasted an entire paragraph as a 'quote' within the reference. This isn't necessary. Indeed, it's a breach of copyright so do please remove that. The citation and link lead users to the article where they can check the source for themselves. I know absolutely nothing about religious topics, nor have little interest in them, but the source seemed adequate to support the statement (even if I didn't understand many of the terms used within it). I see you've also done it here too] which, again, is unnecessary if it's to an online article. I would like you to understand that using quotes in this way is not only unnecessary, but also against our policy explained at WP:COPYVIO.
Whilst it's great to send welcome messages to other new users, there's no need to send them to editors who, thus far, have never edited. You seem to have done that a quite few times, and as so many accounts get created that never ever edit, this is a waste of your efforts.

You do seem to have done a lot of things right since editing under this new account name, so keep it up. Like I said, give me a shout on my talk page, or wherever, if you need any input or guidance, and I'll support you as best as I'm able. But bear in mind this. Regards from the UK, Nick Moyes (talk) 02:09, 5 November 2018 (UTC)

Adoption

Can you please adopt me and help me around Wikipedia so one day I can be like you :), Also I'm British too Breakroute (talk) 21:23, 15 December 2018 (UTC)

@Breakroute: Thanks very much for posting your request for adoption. I would prefer to see a longer commitment from editors to contributing across Wikipedia before considering adoption. I feel the Teahouse is the best way for experienced editors to help you on specific issues you come across. My approach is outlined here at Adopt a User. That said, if you need input on a matter relevant to my declared experiences, I'll do my best to help you. Best wishes for Christmas and the New Year, and good luck at the star of your Wikipedia journey. Nick Moyes (talk) 00:36, 17 December 2018 (UTC)

Recently created accounts

Hi Nick, is there any page on Wikipedia which shows the list of recently created accounts?Betour13 (talk) 13:46, 13 January 2019 (UTC)

Hi Betour13 Sorry for the delay in replying to you. Yes, you can see a list of all new user accounts at Special:Log/newusers. You can use this to both check for inappropriate account names, and to identify new editors and send them a welcoming message. This can really help make new editors feel welcome here (I shall be sending you one in a few minutes, myself!). Just bear in mind that most accounts are never actually used, so only welcome active editors whose 'contribs' link is blue, not red. Likewise, no need to report to accounts to WP:UAA unless they, too, have actually edited. There are some guidance links there on username policy and how UAA works. (I'm guessing this is why you asked your question). You seem to have dived into a lot of helpful administrative work since you joined us in late December. How are you finding it? And have you tried The Wikipedia Adventure yet? There are 15 badges to be gained as you tour the universe and gain useful Wikipedia skills. Feel free to ask any further questions you may have, though you will, of course, get a faster response by posting at the Teahouse where lots of volunteers are on standby to answer calls for assistance. Best wishes from the UK, Nick Moyes (talk) 19:04, 13 January 2019 (UTC)

You are right Nick, I wanted the list of newcomers to check whether there username is with policy or not. I will only report them to WP:UAA if they have edited and if there username is against policy. I am finding it very nice on Wikipedia but haven't tried The Wikipedia Adventure yet. I mainly improve sports related articles and do Anti-Vandalism works here.Betour13 (talk) 10:27, 14 January 2019 (UTC)

Tech News: 2019-03

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 changes

You can now use Google Translate in the content translation tool. [1][2]
You can now add captions to files on Commons. Captions are short descriptions of the file. They can be translated to all languages we use. They can't use wikitext markup.
Earlier a quoted HTML attribute had to be followed by a space. Now it doesn't. This means that some pages could look different when you save them even if you didn't edit that part of the text. [3][4]
Templates with <templatestyles> could not show the difference between the live template and the sandbox version when they were tested. This has now been fixed. <templatestyles> has a new wrapper parameter now. You can use it for selectors like .mw-parser-output <wrapper parameter value> <selector from CSS page>. [5]

Problems

When you see an edit in the recent changes feed or in the history of a page some of them have tags. Some tags are added automatically. You can also add tags manually. Tags for edits that have been added manually can be edited. This didn't work for a little while. This has now been fixed. [6]

Changes later this week

You can move files from your wiki to Wikimedia Commons and keep the file history with the new FileExporter. It will be a beta feature on all wikis from 16 January. If you want to test it you activate it and check your wiki's configuration file.
Users who could cause more damage to the wikis if someone took over their account have to have more secure passwords. This includes administrators and other user groups. They can't use passwords that are in a list of common passwords. Accounts with common passwords are easy to take over. The list of common passwords was made longer a few weeks ago and has a different error message. Some user groups have been added to those who can't use common passwords. This is to protect all accounts with user rights that could cause damage. [7]
The AbuseFilter variable minor_edit has been removed. It was deprecated in 2016. Now you can't use it. You can fix the filters using it. You can find them if you use the search bar on Special:AbuseFilter.
The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from January 15

17:54, 14 January 2019 (UTC)

Wikipedia:WikiProject Portals update #026, 20 Jan 2019

Well, here's the first issue of the new year. Enjoy...

New participants

A hearty welcome to new arrivals to the portals department:

Harvesting categories tool prototype

DannyS712 has created a user script prototype, User:DannyS712/Cat links, that can pull members from a category, a functionality we've been after since the project's revamp last Spring. Now, it's a matter of applying this technique to scripts that will place the items where needed, such as with a section starter script and/or portal builder script.

New portals since last issue

What else is going on

There have been some discussions at Wikipedia talk:Portal guidelines.

DreamyJazz is working on a bot to place links to portals on root articles, category pages, and navigation footer templates.

Portal bugs are getting dealt with soon after they are reported.

Lots of wikignome activity (using Hotcat, etc.).

Keep up the good work. — The Transhumanist 08:31, 20 January 2019 (UTC)

Tech News: 2019-04

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

Tech News

Some people did not get last week's issue of Tech News. This was because of a problem with MassMessage. If you did not get last week's issue, you can read it on Meta. [8]

Recent changes

The content translation tool can now use version 2 as the default version for users who turned on the beta feature. For example it adds the tracking category Pages with unreviewed translations to translations that might have used machine translations without fixing the problems. This is so others can find them. You can find this category in Special:TrackingCategories on Wikipedias.
https://mediawiki2latex-large.wmflabs.org can now convert collects of up to 800 pages to PDF, EPUB or ODT. Previously this was 200 pages.

Problems

When a template was edited with the visual editor, it would sometimes put all information on one line. This makes it difficult to read for editors who use the wikitext editor. It also makes it more difficult to see what happened in a diff. This problem affected edits made between 8 and 17 January and is now fixed. [9]
MassMessage is used to post a message to many pages. It has not been working reliably. Some messages have not been posted to everyone. [10][11]
Because of a database problem that had to be fixed immediately you could not edit most wikis for a couple of minutes on 17 January (UTC). This has now been fixed. [12]

Changes later this week

You will be able to use template styles in the Module namespace. [13]
The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from 22 January. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from 23 January. It will be on all wikis from 24 January (calendar).

Meetings

You can join the technical advice meeting on IRC. During the meeting, volunteer developers can ask for advice. The meeting will be on 23 January at 16:00 (UTC). See how to join.

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

20:36, 21 January 2019 (UTC)

Wikipedia module

Hi Nick! You may or may not remember me from the marvellous help you gave us last year at Derby with our editathon? I've tried emailing you, but I may not have an up to date email address. Basically, we're doing an entire publishing for Publishing students structured around Wikipedia, and I was wondering if you were interested in coming along? There's a course page for it - Outreach_Dashboard/University_of_Derby/5PU506_Content_Development_(January_2019) - and we can pay you this time! CBDerbyLib (talk) 15:36, 22 January 2019 (UTC)

Hi User:Cbderbylib. Yes, I do indeed remember, Caroline, it was a fun day, and great to be involved. I'm sorry I missed your message. I'm afraid I haven't been monitoring my emails very much recently as I have limited computer access whilst involved in a massive house renovation project since the autumn. But the dust has almost settled (literally) on that one, and I hope to return to a more normal life soon.

Ooo - the module sounds very interesting, and I would happily get involved if you'd like me to. When I saw your post late last week I didn't think that you had put any content into the page you had linked to. However, on checking your user contributions this morning, I realised you had given me the wrong link. (Should have been: Wikipedia:Outreach Dashboard/University of Derby/5PU506 Content Development (January 2019)). I see the course is starting on 29th (tomorrow), so let me know what input you might still like from me. I'm guessing general support. I'm best reached urgently either by a post to this page, or to my mobile phone. I won't post the latter here. (I have just dug out your email and see you'd like editing input on 5th February (I think I can do that) so will reply in full there). Regards, Nick Moyes (talk) 09:18, 28 January 2019 (UTC)

Thank you!

Hi, Nick. Just came here to say thank you really. I asked a question about the page Long Tall Sally on the Teahouse page last year, and you were really friendly and kind to help me. If it wern't for you, I might have been scared away by the other editors and quitted editing. In the discussion, you mentioned something about my user page, and I've just got the time to create one. Hope you'll like it! (p.s. I am not a native speaker, so maybe this message is a bit weird to read?)James Booker fan (talk) 14:24, 24 January 2019 (UTC)

Hi, James Booker fan. Thank you for letting me know how you've got on - I really appreciate your feedback. Unfortunately, other editors can sometimes come across as a bit scary - even if they don't mean it. But everyone at the Teahouse tries to be as welcoming as we can. To be honest, no, I couldn't tell English was not your native language - your post reads just fine to me. Where are you from then, and what is your native tongue? You might like to add an infobox to state which languages you do speak. And maybe you might one day be interested in helping out at WP:Translation. Keep up the good work! Nick Moyes (talk) 11:24, 28 January 2019 (UTC)

Hi Nick. Thank you for saying my post reads fine. I'm from the city of Guangzhou in southern China. My native tongue is Mandarin, but I can speak a little bit of Cantonese and Chaoshan dialect as well. WP:Translation looks really interesting to me, but I'm afraid the Chinese Wikipedia is currently blocked in Mainland China (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship_of_Wikipedia#China). You can ask me anything about China if you're interested. James Booker fan (talk) 15:43, 28 January 2019 (UTC)

Question

NickMoyes Hello Nick please update me if you could read my message. Thank you in advanceMunichlife (talk) 14:49, 25 January 2019 (UTC)

No, I'm afraid your the post on your talk page failed to ping me correctly, nor did your post here work either. I will answer you on your own talkpage shortly. Regards Nick Moyes (talk) 11:48, 28 January 2019 (UTC)

Wikipedia:WikiProject Portals update #027, 28 Jan 2019

Portal styles

For a visually intensive portal, see Portal:Hummingbirds.

If you find any other portals that stand out, please send me the links so I can include them in the next issue. Thank you.

Conversion continues

There are about 1100 portals left in the old style, with subpages and static excerpts. As those are very labor intensive to maintain (because their maintenance is manual), all those except the ones with active maintainers (about 100) are slated for upgrade = approximately 1000. We started with 1500, and so over a quarter of them have been processed so far. That's good, but at this rate, conversion will take another 3 years. So, some automation (AWB?) is in order. We just need to keep at it, and push down on the gas pedal a bit harder.

You can find the old-style portals with an insource search of "box portal skeleton".

Flagship portals: the portals on the Main Page

Speaking of upgrades...

The following portals are listed in the header at the top of Wikipedia's Main Page, and get far more traffic than all other portals:

Of those, all but one have been revamped to an automated self-updating single-page design.

The remaining one, Portal:Mathematics has manual maintainers, and has been partially upgraded.

As these are our flagship fleet, they need to be kept in top-notch condition.

Check 'em out, and improve them if you can.

And be sure they are on your watchlist.

New portals since last issue

Keep 'em coming!

Deorphanizing the new portals

As you know, thousands of the new portals are orphans, that is, having no links to them from article space. For all practical purposes, that means they are not part of the encyclopedia yet, and readers will be unlikely to find them.

What is needed are links to these portals from the See also sections of the corresponding root articles.

Dreamy Jazz to the rescue...

Dreamy Jazz has created a bot to place the corresponding category link to the end of each portal (if it is missing), and place a link to each portal in the See also section of the corresponding root articles.

That bot, named User:Dreamy Jazz Bot, is currently in its trial period performing the above described edits!

To take a look at the edits it has made so far, see Special:Contributions/Dreamy_Jazz_Bot.

It shouldn't be long before the bot is processing the entire set of new portals.

Good news indeed.

Way to go, Dreamy Jazz!

And, that's a wrap

That's all I have to report this time around.

No doubt there will be more to tell soon.

Until then, — The Transhumanist 13:13, 28 January 2019 (UTC)

A goat for you!

Butt 'em hard. Butt 'em often. But 'em a Large number of your choice.

7&6=thirteen (☎) 01:37, 29 January 2019 (UTC)

Errm, thank you. Now I know how Roger Federer felt after winning Wimbledon for the first time. Guess I'm gonna have to milk this one for all its worth. Say cheese! Nick Moyes (talk) 09:51, 29 January 2019 (UTC)

Question from Teahouse

Hi Nick, thanks for the reply. Not sure how to reply comment in the tea room thread? I'm teaching myself how to use this software and trying to get my first post approved. Have been using the script from other pages to teach me how to lay everything out and add citations, etc. It's been a long journey. I'm impressed by how invested the community are in keeping a check on things. Do you have any tips or advice as to how I could perfect the current post for approval? would really appreciate it. thanks, j — Preceding unsigned comment added by Paradise lost 90 (talk • contribs) 16:14, 29 January 2019 (UTC)

Hi Paradise lost 90. To answer any post, just start a new line, adding one more colon than the previous editor used (if any) at the start of their replies. The colon, you see, is a command for indenting text.

Like this

or even this

Anyway, when you refer to "current post", I take it you mean your current draft article at Draft:Fredrikson Stallard? I was confused, because what I'm adding in reply to your post on my talk page, is also termed "a post". For the latter, always please add four keyboard tildes (like this ~~~~) which signs and dates every post. And always click the "add topic" tab to start a new discussion thread as this places talk page posts at the bottom of every page, which is convention. (I have moved yours down, btw).

I've just waded quickly through your draft (waded being the operative word!). My advice is strip it right back. It's full of what my art gallery colleagues used to lovingly call "art-bollocks", and is typical writing for someone who is trying to promote a product, or simply copying off the company website. These are usually stuffed full of puffery, peacock and promo terms, and yours is no exception. e.g.: "Their practice operates as an artist’s studio with a linear vocabulary from contextual thought...". My sense is that you might be writing this for profit, or work for the gallery in some way. Are you? If so, you must declare your connection by following both our WP:PAID and our WP:COI policies. Because this is an encyclopaedia, topics have to be notable. You are writing about a company, not two people, so you must re-read WP:NCOMPANY to see what references you need. I'd cut out all the waffle and trivial detail in between, and simply establish notability for the Studio before you go any further. In other words, what have independent sources written in detail about this studio? There are plenty of feedback comments on your draft from Theroadislong, and others.

To learn the basics of editing and references, why not try out The Wikipedia Adventure which offers a tour of the basics of editing. Both of our editing tools (Visual Editor and the source editor) have a "Cite" button. Do ensure you carefully complete all the fields and preview your changes before publishing (saving) them. It helps to ensure good sources. You article simply had too many for me to want to carefully wade through them; I suspect others doing WP:AFC might feel the same. Hope this helps. Nick Moyes (talk) 17:01, 29 January 2019 (UTC)

Hi Nick Moyes. hopefully thid works? I am not being paid or affiliated with Fredrikson Stallard, I am just trying to get my first post published and introduce myself to the wiki community. It's proving harder than expected but i am learning a lot about tone and citations, etc. I have edited your feedback - what do you think?

@Paradise lost 90: Your post worked, but you forgot to sign it! Had it not been on my own page, I wouldnt have got any notification. We need to include a username and a signature at the same time to trigger an alert. Nick Moyes (talk) 19:19, 29 January 2019 (UTC)

Hi Nick Moyes. Thanks for telling me. I’ve done some work on the page - what do you think? I looked at anish Kapoors Wiki and they talk a lot about his work there, so I’m just trying to understand how to find the right balance... I’ve scaled back as suggested and removed elecments Paradise lost 90 (talk) 19:19, 29 January 2019 (UTC)

@Paradise lost 90:I think a lot more scaling down is still needed. By way of demonstration I have trimmed the lead and the first section (which I have also renamed). What do you think? From hereon in I won't 'ping' you if I reply to any further posts from you here. Convention here is that if you post on another person's talk page, you add that page to your own WP:WATCHLIST and monitor for changes that way. Hope this makes sense. Revert my edits to the draft if you don't like them. I'm not sure if I accidentally implied they live together, or whether that's the reality. Please check which is correct! And don't foget to indent each response by one increment.Nick Moyes (talk) 20:59, 29 January 2019 (UTC)

Hi Nick Moyes. Thanks for helping but I am trying to figure out how to reverse your changes? I have been following the artist layout for Gilbert and George and most artists seems to use a similar chapter layout. I don’t want to have a founders section. Will see what I can do to cut it down further but I’m just slightly confused since it all seems very subjective based on what each editor thinks - having read the Gilbert and George and anish opportunity goes I don’t see what is different between the text I have written and what theirs say, etc

Paradise lost 90 (talk) 19:19, 29 January 2019 (UTC)

It's you're choice; I must leave it to you now. Just go to the View History tab and find the rows showing the latest edit. Find yours and mine, and select the version you want to revert to. Just remember that you're writing about a studio, not two people. That's how I interpreted your lead paragraph. Oh, and sign right at the end of the last line, not on a new line, as in a letter. I've corrected the indents, too. Don't forget that, either. It makes communicating easier. Cheers, Nick Moyes (talk) 21:37, 29 January 2019 (UTC)

Thanks

Sorry i did not get back to you sooner i have been very busy Well i guess i don't remember the name to my old account i will go through some of the articles i did edit though i guess i will just stick to using the browser as it seems easier to use Thanks for all the help! — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ezzpin (talk • contribs) 22:26, 17 November 2020 (UTC)

Thanks

Many thanks indeed for your help. I now understand what to do. Much appreciated! — Preceding unsigned comment added by Garboard Strake (talk • contribs) 07:42, 21 November 2020 (UTC)

National Hand Touch Football League

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Hand_Touch_Football_League can this be edited please? Demons24 (talk) 17:41, 30 November 2020 (UTC)

A second chance

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Hand_Touch_Football_League I thought you where giving my article a chance and I did thank you? Demons24 (talk) 20:10, 30 November 2020 (UTC)

National Hand Touch Football League

Will you be working on National Hand Touch Football League just wondering https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Demons24 this is my page? Demons24 (talk) 21:28, 30 November 2020 (UTC)

(edit conflict) Hi Demons24, No, as you'll have seen from my earlier reply at your talk page, I won't be working on it myself. Sport's not my thing at all (unless you include mountaineering). But please delete the content on your userpage at User:Demons24 - that page is for you simply to say a few words about yourself - it's not a place to draft new articles. Please work only at Draft:National Hand Touch Football League, but be aware that I chose to copy/paste the deleted article's content and put it into your sandbox at User:Demons24/sandbox in case there was content there that you'd like to move over to the draft, and not lose. Only when its contents are properly laid out like other encyclopaedia articles, and suitably referenced should you submit it for review. Unless it gets immediately accepted, you'll then get further feedback to point out any issues that still need addressing before you submit it again. All the best, Nick Moyes (talk) 21:51, 30 November 2020 (UTC)

Thank you for working on this with me Demons24 (talk) 22:03, 30 November 2020 (UTC)

Bouncy balloon Ball

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balloon_(game) I made a reference by expanding it is that ok because it’s a google searchable and it has a ton of views 431 so far? Demons24 (talk) 00:49, 1 December 2020 (UTC)

No. It's utterly pointlesss as a video. I have reverted your edit. Do not edit war over silly videos. Nick Moyes (talk) 08:47, 1 December 2020 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – December 2020

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

Administrator changes

Andrwsc • Anetode • GoldenRing • JzG • LinguistAtLarge • Nehrams2020

Interface administrator changes

Izno

Guideline and policy news

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

Technical news

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

Arbitration

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

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

Electronics the religion

Hi,

Regarding post earlyer. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Teahouse&action=edit&section=58

That my page is not was previously published, and my article and is not on something i made up and created.

I am the head admin of the website www.electronicsthereligion.com And content is "fictional". But the ideology is there and my article on wiki is not for promotional reasons but informative. Thus, for people.

I do have a feeling that Wiki is "trying to move to other platform"? Or has a "Technical Registration Problems" by moving my content a side? Not in a distancing way.

But i am the admin and the leader of the group.

Best regards, — Preceding unsigned comment added by Orangmatter (talk • contribs) 14:13, 1 December 2020 (UTC)

Good luck to you, then. Nick Moyes (talk) 16:35, 1 December 2020 (UTC)

Giselle Donnelly

This page is about me, but the photo is an old, pre-transition photo. Please substitute an updated one, such as the one on my AEI scholar page. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Giselle Donnelly (talk • contribs) 21:42, 1 December 2020 (UTC)

Hello, Giselle Donnelly Thank you for dropping by with your concerns. (I've moved your question down to the bottom of my talk page, as this is where we post the newest questions and answers) Forgive me, as I know nothing about you, but I do appreciate your concerns. I don't know what AEI page you refer to, I'm afraid, as you didn't give me a url. But I doubt I would have the legal right to upload any newer image of you unless it was very clearly stated as having already been released under what we call a 'Creative Commons' licence that allows for commercial reuse. (the commercial reuse is a critical requirement - SEE HERE) This is often referred to as a CC-BY-SA licence. If you have a website with your picture on it that you own copyright of (i.e. one that you took of yourself with a timer or selfie stick), you could change the wording to release that image for commercial reuse under a CC-BY SA 4.0 licence). I could then drop by and copy it and upload it to Wikimedia Commons myself, where a volunteer would check that I had done so legitimately by looking at your release statement. But it would be far, far easier if you were to upload that image yourself, or ask anyone who took it to upload it, as it's only the copyright owner who can lawfully upload and release such an image. Here is the link for a registered user to upload an image that they own (or which they have sourced from a properly released image elsewhere): https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:UploadWizard

I would not want you to think that anything we do here is intended to cause upset or harm. Please appreciate that I have no way of knowing you are who you say you are, other than your username. But, should we ned to, we have some helpful behind-the-scenes workers (see WP:OTRS) who can verify a user's identity without anyone else seeing personal information. All this is done to protect real people, their image rights and so forth. I can appreciate you would like to see a newer image of yourself- so I hope you can help us there. But I do have to also explain (in what I sincerely hope are polite terms) that we rarely change legitimate content at the behest of the article's subject unless, of course, it is manifestly wrong, biased or unsourced. But I will do my very best to assist you. But my I also request that you don't, at this time, try to remove the old photo of you again, please? You are, of course, free to post this and other concerns on the article's talk page if you don't feel I'm helping you sufficiently. I hope all this waffle makes at least a degree of sense. Regards from the UK, Nick Moyes (talk) 22:16, 1 December 2020 (UTC)

(talk page stalker) @Giselle Donnelly: Including your birth name is encyclopedic given that you used that name for many years of your public life. Whether the use of the old picture is encyclopedic or not is something that can be discussed on the article's talk page if anyone objects to my removal. If my removal IS reverted, I will not remove it again without a discussion first. davidwr/(talk)/(contribs) 22:27, 1 December 2020 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – September 2020

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

Administrator changes

Ajpolino • LuK3

Jackmcbarn

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

There'sNoTime → TheresNoTime

Guideline and policy news

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

Technical news

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

Arbitration

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

Miscellaneous

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

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

Adoption

I see your name on the adoption page. May I ask for adoption?

I am so scared of asking a question for fear of being banned that adoption would be very helpful. Last month, I was accused of personal attacks but the one of the two accusers seemed to be the one attacking me. I do not want you to be a judge and decide. Rather, I want a mentor. Thank you in advance for your kind assistance. Vanny089 (talk) 03:52, 2 December 2020 (UTC)

Hi there Vanny089. Thanks for dropping by to seek some help and guidance. Adoption is a long-term, two-way mentoring process which I am sometimes prepared to provide to newish editors who have already shown a clear commitment to Wikipedia across various topics and already understand our basic ways of collaboration. I'm afraid you seem too confrontational and not sufficiently willing to accept the simple advice that other, more experienced editors have given you, and so for that reason I must decline. I can understand your concerns about being blocked. If you are unsure whether or not making an edit, my simple advice is don't. Instead, you could post your suggested edit and source on the article's talk page and ask for feedback. Then wait a four or five days for any response. If there is none, that might be the time to add it. If they point to a rationale for reverting you, based on our policies, go and read right the way through the ting so you understand why experienced editors are telling you something. But once an editor challenges your edit and reverts you, don't go into battle mode as you seem to have done with Meters, and in future avoid the temptation to insult other editors - that'll only get you blocked per WP:CIVIL if you repeat what you said to Meters. Stay calm and polite at all times. Keep a discussion in one place -either on your talk page if you are following up on a warning notice, and simply want to understand why an edit was made or changed, or take it to the article talk page, which is a good place for content-related discussion. Meanwhile, find less contentious and more encyclopaedic edits to make so that you learn the zen way of editing. [14] is an example of how to politely enquire why one person made an edit, which led to a quick resolution. If I'd turned up and said "I'm right, you're wrong; you're stupid, just revert it" I'd only make a situation much harder to resolve, because it is sadly human nature to dig our heels in when challenged. For further immediate help or advice, feel free to post a clearly-worded question at the Teahouse. You might like to demonstrate your commitment to Wikipedia by collecting all 15 badges at The Wikipedia Adventure, and perhaps add a few lines on your userpage to explain your interests and motivation in contributing to this encyclopaedia. I've left a few extra links on your talk page. All the best. Nick Moyes (talk) 11:24, 2 December 2020 (UTC)

Might you adopt me?

Hello! I recently learned about the adoptee program, and just checked to see who might be available. You have kindly helped me in the past, and I've been impressed with your help to others, including some of my students, in the Teahouse. I have been editing for a couple of years, mostly writing articles on topics related to women: artists, needlework, or historical topics (a few recent examples are Deerfield Society of Arts and Crafts, Deerfield Society of Blue and White Needlework, Margaret C. Whiting, Tilden Ladies' Seminary). I teach undergraduates using the Wiki Education program, and love doing that. I also sometimes work on finding references. I've organized several Art & Feminism events on my campus. I would like to deepen my knowledge/experience of Wikipedia and at some point Wikidata too. I feel as if there is so much to learn, and I have only been dipping a toe into the water. Thank you for considering my request. TrudiJ (talk) 02:18, 1 December 2020 (UTC)

Hi TrudiJ Yes, I'd love to be of help. You look to be the perfect fit for the type of editor I would wish to support - especially as you are already training others - though you are rather more arts-based than I am. My approach to supporting committed editors like yourself is not a structured one, but is rather a chance to invite you to ask a whole range of questions on topics that maybe need longer answers, more consideration or follow-through than one gets at places like the Teahouse. But WP:TH is still something you should use for quick answers to immediate problems.

What I did with a previous 'adoptee' Clovermoss was to create a subpage somewhere (probably best located as one of your own userpages) in which we can use the talk page to work through areas of interest. (See User:Nick Moyes/Adoption/Clovermoss and the discussions at its related talk page.)

Even after 10 years here, I am still learning new things, and that's what makes Wikipedia so interesting. It is both elegant and highly complex at one and the same time. But do bear in mind I have no idea (and possibly little interest) in what 'metaliteracy' or 'open pedagogy' means; I might have to leave that to you and your classes. I try and keep things simple when I can, but I do also have a preponderance for waffling on rather a lot! And, sadly, I still know nothing about Wikidata, I'm afraid.

My approach would probably be to invite you to think about the things you've found hard or confusing and to draft out a bulleted list which I can address one bit at a time, and which can be expanded or teased out as we go along. I'd like to know if there are areas you want to learn about in a mor structured way, or policies you need explaining. Along the way I would expect to be learning as well, which is a good thing. I see adoption as a two way deal; we both have to feel comfortable with it and we can each choose to stop at any time, with no questions asked.

If this appeals, just let me know. I won't be able to respond instantly to everything, but will do my best to offer support or guidance. Regards, Nick Moyes (talk) 00:41, 2 December 2020 (UTC)

Many thanks, Nick Moyes. I am very excited about this opportunity, and will begin to work on my bulleted list. I've set up a subpage of my userpage, as you suggested, and will ping you as soon as I've added something.TrudiJ (talk) 12:09, 2 December 2020 (UTC)

I started this page for our conversation and have added a couple of very basic questins to start. I am looking forward to learning! TrudiJ (talk) 07:23, 6 December 2020 (UTC)

@TrudiJ: That's a great start. Feel free to add on bulleted queries as you think of them, and add the page to you watchlist in case I forget to ping you from there. I'll address each one in turn, and we can both build up a simple list of policy links or topics covered on the user-page, so as to form a quick regerence. I am off to fetch my daughter home from University today, so it maybe a while before I can get some quiet time on a proper keyboard to respond in detail. Nick Moyes (talk) 08:56, 6 December 2020 (UTC)

Draft:Erythrina chiapasana

I've got it loosely assembled but I don't have access to JSTOR which means i can't see the Brittonia source. I have a feeling that journal could clarify a couple of things. Would you be able to lend a hand? Thanks, Zindor (talk) 16:37, 5 December 2020 (UTC)

@Zindor: It looks like you're after this, as well, perhaps as this? Hope they help. (I don't currently have access to JSTOR, but I could arrange it as an alumnus through my old University. But I think the Wikipedia Library may be able to grant you future access. Nick Moyes (talk) 22:45, 5 December 2020 (UTC)

(talk page watcher) Wikipedia library makes JSTOR and a bunch of other sources available to all extended-confirmed editors at your library page on the "instant access" tab. No sign-up or pre-approval needed anymore. Schazjmd (talk) 22:51, 5 December 2020 (UTC)

Thanks - I wasn't sure what the current access status was. I appreciate this clarification,. What we now need is for the major world newspapers to grant Wikipedia editors slightly greater free access to their content so we can reuse it here. Just managed to get access to 5 articles a month from the Independent here in the UK registering for free, and greater access to The Guardian content by making a small PayPal donation. Nick Moyes (talk) 22:55, 5 December 2020 (UTC)

Thanks for finding those, I'm sure I'll be able to glean some content. I applied for an exemption to the library requirements a few months ago but never even heard back and I seemingly forgot about it. Looks like I'm only a day off meeting them again, so hopefully will get access before I head off on my Christmas Wikibreak. I've found the New York Times to have a reasonably low subscription fee, which is great because I'm not a big fan of the papers here in Ireland (apart from the Farmer's Journal). Zindor (talk) 23:35, 5 December 2020 (UTC)

Growth team updates #16

Welcome to the sixteenth newsletter from the Growth team!

The Growth team's objective is to work on software changes that help retain new contributors in mid-size Wikimedia projects.

Growth features show impact

Newcomer task experiments results

The team recently published our analysis of the impact of newcomer tasks. We are happy to announce that we found that the Growth features, and particularly newcomer tasks, lead to increased editing from newcomers.

In November 2019, the Growth team added the "newcomer tasks" feature to the newcomer homepage. After six months, we collected data from Arabic, Vietnamese, Czech, and Korean Wikipedias. We analyzed the overall impact of the Growth features, including newcomer tasks.

This analysis finds that the Growth features lead to increases in:

the probability that newcomers make their first article edit (+11.6%)
the probability that they are retained as editors
the number of edits they make during their first couple of weeks on the wiki (+22%)

We also find that the quality of their edits, as measured by revert rate, is comparable to that of a control group.

The number of suggested edits completed by each wiki each week, going from December 2019 to November 2020, with a line for the total.
The number of distinct users completing suggested edits by each wiki each week, going from December 2019 to November 2020.

Because of these results, we think all Wikipedias should consider implementing these features. Learn more about how to get them.

You can find more details about this experiment on the report page. Please post any feedback or questions on the talk page

General metrics

As of November 2020, across all wikis where the features have been deployed:

more than 5,000 newcomers have made more than 40,000 edits using Newcomer tasks.
more than 14,000 questions have been sent to volunteer mentors by more than 11,000 users.
more than 2,000 questions have been asked on help desks by more than 1,500 users.

Learn more about Growth results here, and please post any feedback or questions on the talk page.

Variants C and D

Variants C and D are two new arrangements of the newcomer homepage. We deployed them in October. After six weeks of these variants being deployed, we can see that they have led to increased interactions with newcomer tasks. Next, we will determine which variant is best and use that for all newcomers.

News for mentors

A separate list for workshops hosts

During workshops organized by education programs through the communities, workshops hosts like to mentor people they train on wiki. Several wikis requested to have a way to claim their mentees without having other newcomers being randomly being assigned to them. To address this need, a separate list can be created on wiki, for mentors that wish to claim mentees, but prefer not to have random mentees being assigned to them. Learn more about this feature.

Claiming multiple mentees at once

Mentors can use Special:ClaimMentee to claim a newcomer as their mentee. The feature now allows mentors to claim multiple newcomers at once.

Community news

The help panel allows people to post a message to the local help desk while editing. Previously, the tool always posted messages to the bottom of help desks. Wikis are now able to configure it to display new messages at the top of the help desk page. T261714

Growth team's newsletter prepared by the Growth team and posted by bot • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe.

14:22, 7 December 2020 (UTC)

Thank you

Thank you Nick for the warm welcome. Rinju2074 (talk) 21:46, 11 August 2020 (UTC)

You're very welcome, Rinju2074. I've left some further suggestions for you in my reply at the Teahouse. Good luck! Nick Moyes (talk) 21:55, 11 August 2020 (UTC)

Test edit - rapid double click. Nick Moyes (talk) 16:04, 8 December 2020 (UTC)

Follow-up to Teahouse discussion on Dec. 8 at 12:27 UTC

The following message is from TheLAXPlanespotter. DON'T JUDGE ME

At the request of Nick Moyes, aka, you, the user page has been updated to reflect a more "current" synonym because vigilante sounds too 1880's. I didn't want to change it, but I decided to because I am not an idiot. (I am referring to myself, not anyone else). I also observe the general scope of things around Wikipedia, and maybe, just maybe it sounds like I'm not welcome here because of all of the restrictive things we can do. Not saying there is no freedom of speech, but I think Wikipedian Admins should pull the reins and loosen them a bit. Not too much, but just a bit. But, just maybe, maybe, I will consider deleting this account and never returning to edit on Wikipedia. :)

Regards, TheLAXPlanespotter "The original AvGeek" LINKS FOR GOOD USE: www.flightradar24.com (Mobile version is better, will work on desktop fine) www.airbus.com (View my user page to find out why I put this link) That's it for now, more coming soon.

TheLAXPlanespotter (talk) 15:17, 8 December 2020 (UTC)

Crikey, TheLAXPlanespotter - someone's a sensitive puppy! This comment and advice was intended for you in all good faith. So I'm sorry if you felt it was unwelcoming - that was most definitely not my intention, and I am quite happy to apologise if I offended you. But, yes, there is a lot of stuff that's not permitted around here, and you may well need to be prepared for people giving you more good advice. Nick Moyes (talk) 15:25, 8 December 2020 (UTC)

Australian, eh? I once went there and let me tell you, it was quite nice. Anyway, thanks, but I stand where stand. Also, I don't like dogs. See ya in my talk page in awhile! -TheLAXPlanespotter (Totally NOT in Los Angeles....) TheLAXPlanespotter (talk) 15:33, 8 December 2020 (UTC)

TheLAXPlanespotter Awards

	Order of the LAX Airport
	For your understanding and companionship, I, TheLAXPlanespotter, hereby bestow upon you the Order of the LAX Airport, which is the highest honor of the TheLAXPlanespotter Award Council. Thanks for your contributions! TheLAXPlanespotter (talk) 20:39, 8 December 2020 (UTC)