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.
Latest comment: 3 months ago1 comment1 person in discussion
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 mobile site history pages now use the same HTML as the desktop history pages. If you hear of any problems relating to mobile history usage please point them to the phabricator task.
On most wikis, admins can now block users from making specific actions. These actions are: uploading files, creating new pages, moving (renaming) pages, and sending thanks. The goal of this feature is to allow admins to apply blocks that are adequate to the blocked users' activity. Learn more about "action blocks". [1][2]
Changes later this week
The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from 6 February. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from 7 February. It will be on all wikis from 8 February (calendar). [3][4]
Talk pages permalinks that included diacritics and non-Latin script were malfunctioning. This issue is fixed. [5]
Future changes
24 Wikipedias with Reference Tooltips as a default gadget are encouraged to remove that default flag. This would make Reference Previews the new default for reference popups, leading to a more consistent experience across wikis. For 46 Wikipedias with less than 4 interface admins, the change is already scheduled for mid-February, unless there are concerns. The older Reference Tooltips gadget will still remain usable and will override this feature, if it is available on your wiki and you have enabled it in your settings. [6][7]
Latest comment: 3 months ago15 comments2 people in discussion
Hi, I've been updating my NAClister script recently. Would you be okay with testing out the beta script and letting me know if you have any issues/improvements? The main change is I added a button for closing discussions in one click, for straightforward "as nom" closures. — Qwerfjkltalk 19:31, 2 February 2024 (UTC)
@Qwerfjkl: thank you so much for this useful script. Feedback:
I have this issue with Factotum and User:Nardog/CopySectLink: when the beta script loads first, it prevents WP:XFDC from loading.
When quick closing as "merge", I got an error and was told to click "list discussion" manually
I would love a button to edit the list of discussions before they get added to WT:CFDW
When I initially clicked List discussions, one of the asterisks was not on a new line (which prevents it from turning into a bullet point)
Love that there are no more underscores in the discussion link!
Let me know if you need any more help—I am excited for the new version! HouseBlaster (talk · he/him) 22:43, 2 February 2024 (UTC)
I noticed that. I don't know how XFDCloser loads, and my scripts ' performance with it is variable. I modified how it works in the beta script, but evidently that didn't help (in fact, it might have maken things worse).
The quick close button has a bunch of sanity checks because you don't get a chance to edit the output. Can you tell me which discussion this was in particular?
I could do that, that shouldn't be too hard.
I've noticed this before, but I'm not sure which part of my code causes it. I'll look into it.
I'm also planning on adding formatted pasting support, so you could just copy the categories from the discussion and it will convert them to wikitext.
Strange. I've probably made a mistake in my regex somewhere. — Qwerfjkltalk 08:18, 3 February 2024 (UTC)
Okay, I've done/fixed most of those. I have hopefully fixed the XFDCloser not loading problem (at least for me) by adding the links to the end of the header instead of the start. There was a minor bug in my regex which probably caused the error when quick closing, which I've now fixed. And I've also hopefully sorted out the asterisk not being on a newline issue. Adding a button to edit the list of discussions will take a bit longer for me to do. — Qwerfjkltalk 18:52, 3 February 2024 (UTC)
@Qwerfjkl: working beautifully. Thank you so much!HouseBlaster (talk · he/him) 19:01, 3 February 2024 (UTC)
Well, I seem to have broken the list discussion button now, but apart from that. — Qwerfjkltalk 19:02, 3 February 2024 (UTC)
Fixed it, it was a minor problem with how I added the elements to the header. — Qwerfjkltalk 19:09, 3 February 2024 (UTC)
Okay, I've added both the paste formatter and editing listed discussions to the beta script. — Qwerfjkltalk 18:11, 4 February 2024 (UTC)
@Qwerfjkl: beautiful. I don't know if I will ever get over the elegance of clicking twice to close a discussion and add it to the queue of things to list at WT:CFDW. Thank you again!HouseBlaster (talk · he/him) 02:37, 5 February 2024 (UTC)
┌───────────────────────────┘ If no issues manifest themselves over the next few days, I'll uodate the main CFDlister script with the changes. — Qwerfjkltalk 19:42, 5 February 2024 (UTC)
Permission to write bio for my 2nd great grandfather from Wikipedians!
Latest comment: 3 months ago5 comments2 people in discussion
Hi Wikipedians!
I am excited to be a part of Wikipedia! I have always donated to this people's encyclopedia. I would like to edit and add to my ancestor's bio, Jonathan Baldwin Turner. He was born in 1899 and lived to be 93. Please let me know if this is an issue for you if I do this. It would be my first edit. Many thanks to all of you for your consideration. This would mean so much to our family and related cousins to make this bio more complete in certain areas! Creative Lizzie (talk) 00:31, 8 February 2024 (UTC)
You don't need permission to do something like that—there is no "Wikipedia editorial board", if that makes sense. I do think you have a conflict of interest, so what I would recommend is that you draft your changes at User:Creative Lizzie/sandbox. Let me know when you are ready for me to take a look!HouseBlaster (talk · he/him) 00:46, 8 February 2024 (UTC)
Thank you! Actually a Wikipedian suggested this to me. Can you delete it? Gotcha and I will let you know when I think it looks like something. I appreciate the help so much. I will work on it slowly because there is so much reading to find relatable info and citations. One issue for me, like many writers is that there is a voice in this article and it is hard to blend my thoughts with the prior writer but I will try. If I had written it, it would look about the same but with my voice. That is the frustration. There is also a concern as to what are the most important topics. There are so many for this great American. I realize this is an encyclopedia but I would have phrased some of it differently. Creative Lizzie (talk) 00:58, 8 February 2024 (UTC)
If you want to delete the entire page, just place {{delete my user page}} before everything else on the page. But if you just want to delete parts so you can rewrite them, I would recommend editing with the visual editor (click here to edit your sandbox with the visual editor) and editing it like you would a Google Doc. And remember that you can always click "view history" to see the history of the page, where you can undo your changes if you make a mistake.HouseBlaster (talk · he/him) 01:04, 8 February 2024 (UTC)
Thank you for your help! This means a lot to me! I so appreciate your effort to guide me through the process. Being that I am practicing, the original will stay in place and viewing the history which is helpful. It probably will take me some time to get it together. Yes, I am a newbie! Creative Lizzie (talk) 04:17, 8 February 2024 (UTC)
January 2024 NPP backlog drive – Points award
Latest comment: 3 months ago1 comment1 person in discussion
The Working Man's Barnstar
This award is given in recognition to HouseBlaster for collecting at least 10 points during the January 2024 NPP backlog drive. Your contributions played a part in the 16,070 reviews completed during the drive. Thank you so much for taking part and contributing to help reduce the backlog! Hey man im josh (talk) 22:44, 8 February 2024 (UTC)
Question from Balakumar93j (15:40, 26 January 2024)
Latest comment: 3 months ago10 comments2 people in discussion
Hi. Can I able to create a new page for company on Wikipedia.
Share your tips regarding this. --Balakumar93j (talk) 15:40, 26 January 2024 (UTC)
No. Just interested to learn that. Because in future i had an idea to create a wikipedia page for my blog website Balakumar93j (talk) 11:06, 27 January 2024 (UTC)
@Balakumar93j: unfortunately, those sources are not independent of the subject. Do you have sources that were not written in collaboration with Diversion Edge?HouseBlaster (talk · he/him) 23:35, 30 January 2024 (UTC)
If not means provide tips, how to get it Balakumar93j (talk) 13:26, 2 February 2024 (UTC)
@Balakumar93j: I must have missed this response. Those sources might be reliable, but they do not have significant coverage of Diversion Edge. Unfortunately, there is no way to resolve this. Best,HouseBlaster (talk · he/him) 14:46, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
Latest comment: 3 months ago2 comments2 people in discussion
Hello, HouseBlaster,
Category:LGBT people by nationality and sexual orientation showed up as an empty category tonight. It has an CFD tag to this discussion but I don't see this particular category listed as part of the deletion discussion. What do you believe should happen with it? Thanks for your insight. LizRead!Talk! 01:30, 12 February 2024 (UTC)
@Liz: hmm. It looks like it was created by Giovanni 0331, who then tagged for CfD a week later. I think because it was not actually discussed, removing the CfD tag and replacing it with a WP:C1 tag is the best way forward. Best,HouseBlaster (talk · he/him) 01:37, 12 February 2024 (UTC)
Latest comment: 3 months ago5 comments2 people in discussion
I was going to close this, but I noticed you closed this earlier CfD. What are your thoughts? — Qwerfjkltalk 19:20, 12 February 2024 (UTC)
@Qwerfjkl: I closed the first CfD as rename because the opposition opposed merging. I am not seeing consensus in the second discussion, but I am seeing opposition to the rename in the first place. Maybe a third relist, and drop a note to WP:DANCE/WP:FILM saying something like this discussion is at an impasse—your input would be very much appreciated?HouseBlaster (talk · he/him) 19:34, 12 February 2024 (UTC)
Not sure that would do much more than postpone the close, I doubt there'd be any input. But maybe worth trying anyhow. It seems to me that you misinterpreted the consensus in the previous CfD, given that Marcocapelle has now clarified they're also opposed to the rename. It could be closed as "no consensus; revert to status quo ante"? — Qwerfjkltalk 20:36, 12 February 2024 (UTC)
Latest comment: 3 months ago1 comment1 person in discussion
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 WDQS Graph Split experiment is working and loaded onto 3 test servers. The team in charge is testing the split's impact and requires feedback from WDQS users through the UI or programmatically in different channels. [8][9][10] Users' feedback will validate the impact of various use cases and workflows around the Wikidata Query service. [11][12]
Problems
There was a bug that affected the appearance of visited links when using mobile device to access wiki sites. It made the links appear black; this issue is fixed.
Changes later this week
The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from 13 February. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from 14 February. It will be on all wikis from 15 February (calendar). [13][14]
As work continues on the grid engine deprecation,[15] tools on the grid engine will be stopped starting on February 14th, 2024. If you have tools actively migrating you can ask for an extension so they are not stopped. [16]
Latest comment: 2 months ago6 comments2 people in discussion
Hi, HouseBlaster. I noticed that you deleted a table providing per-country data about the organization. The justification you cited was WP:UNDUE. Translated to English, you are claiming that the table represents a minority viewpoint within the domain of the article, and gives it too much weight relative to the 'mainstream view'. I don't see how that applies here. What might a legitimate reason be for deleting the table? If there is none, perhaps you should restore it. In the nature of it, it's sure to provide current information about the organization, in some degree of compliance with the update template at the top. :-)
@Bn: hi! UNDUE is sometimes used as shorthand for undue prominence in an article, which I felt including the table in the lead was. It also did not have any references.HouseBlaster (talk · he/him) 17:09, 11 February 2024 (UTC)
@HouseBlaster: Interesting. I agree it's topheavy for the lead, but it's not disproportionate for the article. It should be in its own section, and then flag RS/citation rather than UNDUE. The figures must have been published somewhere by the organization, which is not necessarily a RS problem. That would give user DSP2092 some guidance what to do about it rather than just dumping their work. Did you say anything to them? It's a maintenance nightmare for them. They should put an 'as of' date on it. And IMO that is a misunderstanding of WP:UNDUE, which weighs mainstream vs. minority views as part of NPOV. Is it really common practice to use it on structural grounds having nothing to do with NPOV balance? Maybe I should ask about that on the WP:NPOV talk page if I get time from work. Maybe kinda the way the FRINGE guideline was being abused until the nutshell was clarified.
I might be the only one who cites UNDUE in that way :)Given that it is not something I was able to verify with a quick google search, per WP:V it needs an inline citation to a reliable source before being re-added to the article. If it is in its own section, I have no objection to it being restored alongside a citation.HouseBlaster (talk · he/him) 15:45, 13 February 2024 (UTC)
It should be restored with a citation needed template, with a ping to user DSP2092. Will you do that? If I do it, it has the appearance of edit warring, and frankly I haven't the time. (See note at the top of my user page.) Thanks! Bn (talk) 19:53, 14 February 2024 (UTC)
I am not willing to restore unsourced content to mainspace, but I would be happy to drop a note to DSP2092. Would that work for you?HouseBlaster (talk · he/him) 22:08, 14 February 2024 (UTC)
Category:Diving organizations
Latest comment: 2 months ago4 comments3 people in discussion
My apologies, I thought as a speedy criterion applies and it is clearly in the same group as the categories already discussed and cleared for moving, It would be OK to just do it. Cheers, · · · Peter Southwood(talk): 05:25, 15 February 2024 (UTC)
Latest comment: 2 months ago2 comments2 people in discussion
Hello, HouseBlaster,
Since your closure on one of the proposals was "No consensus", I think you forgot to remove CFD tags from those categories. Just a reminder to do the follow-through after closing a deletion discussion. Thank you. LizRead!Talk! 20:34, 15 February 2024 (UTC)
Hi! Thank you for the note: I am guessing WP:XFDC missed them because they were added to the nomination later. I will de-tag them now :) Thanks,HouseBlaster (talk · he/him) 20:44, 15 February 2024 (UTC)
Tech News: 2024-08
Latest comment: 2 months ago1 comment1 person in discussion
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
If you have the "Email me when a page or a file on my watchlist is changed" option enabled, edits by bot accounts no longer trigger notification emails. Previously, only minor edits would not trigger the notification emails. [17]
There are changes to how user and site scripts load for Vector 2022 on specific wikis. The changes impacted the following Wikis: all projects with Vector legacy as the default skin, Wikivoyage, and Wikibooks. Other wikis will be affected over the course of the next three months. Gadgets are not impacted. If you have been affected or want to minimize the impact on your project, see this ticket. Please coordinate and take action proactively.
Newly auto-created accounts (the accounts you get when you visit a new wiki) now have the same local notification preferences as users who freshly register on that wiki. It is effected in four notification types listed in the task's description.
The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from 20 February. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from 21 February. It will be on all wikis from 22 February (calendar). [19][20]
Selected tools on the grid engine have been stopped as we prepare to shut down the grid on March 14th, 2024. The tool's code and data have not been deleted. If you are a maintainer and you want your tool re-enabled reach out to the team. Only tools that have asked for extension are still running on the grid.
The CSS filter property can now be used in HTML style attributes in wikitext. [21]
Latest comment: 2 months ago2 comments2 people in discussion
Thanks for listing some categories before deletion. Do you already have a tool for that? If not, there is User:DannyS712/Cat links.js. – FayenaticLondon 21:20, 20 February 2024 (UTC)
I use a mix of copy/paste and various regex tools to format everything. That tool looks much easier, thank you so much!HouseBlaster (talk · he/him) 21:24, 20 February 2024 (UTC)
Question from Wallaby5312 (22:52, 20 February 2024)
Latest comment: 2 months ago2 comments2 people in discussion
Hello, I am new to editing in Wikipedia. I would like to create a page that can be published and viewed by anyone who uses Wikipedia. Doesn't look like I was able to create a page as the information is sitting in my sandbox. Thank you for your help. --Wallaby5312 (talk) 22:53, 20 February 2024 (UTC)
@Awele Uchidiuno: First, hello and welcome! Wikipedia is the encyclopedia that anyone can edit: you are already a certified editor on Wikipedia :)What articles are you interested in editing? I should be able to give you some suggestions!HouseBlaster (talk · he/him) 22:35, 20 February 2024 (UTC)
Latest comment: 2 months ago2 comments2 people in discussion
Dear HouseBlaster,
I hope you're doing well. I work at DIGITIMES, and I noticed a small issue with our page name on your platform. It's currently displayed as "DigiTimes," but it should be "DIGITIMES" with capital letters.
Could you please assist us in updating the page name to reflect the correct capitalization? It's important for our brand's consistency and recognition.
Thank you for your help with this matter. Let me know if you need any further information from our end. --Tony41803 (talk) 16:27, 21 February 2024 (UTC)
@Tony41803: hi, and welcome to Wikipedia! Per our Manual of Style, Wikipedia normally uses standard English capitalization for trademark names (CamelCase is an exception), even if they are stylized by the company in capital letters. I have updated the article to reflect this practice.HouseBlaster (talk · he/him) 17:02, 21 February 2024 (UTC)
Welcome to the drive!
Welcome, welcome, welcome HouseBlaster! I'm glad that you are joining the
drive! Please, have a cup of WikiTea, and go cite some articles.
Latest comment: 2 months ago3 comments2 people in discussion
Hello, How do I remove dead link citations? VIP Magazine. --Divyasuperhairpieces (talk) 14:54, 22 February 2024 (UTC)
@Divyasuperhairpieces: to delete a reference, the easiest way is to edit the article and delete it like you would for any other bit of text. Hope this helps, and let me know if you have any questions!HouseBlaster (talk · he/him) 16:11, 22 February 2024 (UTC)
Latest comment: 2 months ago2 comments2 people in discussion
How do you source the appropriate article for edit? --MamiAdefe (talk) 15:44, 23 February 2024 (UTC)
@MamiAdefe: I am not sure what you mean. Wikipedia:Citing sources has information about how to cite a source, if that is what you are asking?HouseBlaster (talk · he/him) 17:40, 23 February 2024 (UTC)
Category:2115 films
Latest comment: 2 months ago9 comments3 people in discussion
Hello. Would like to ask that you consider reversing your decision and keep the category. You mention it can be recreated when "appropriately populated". I don't know what that means. It had one entry, so what you are saying is that Wikipedia should have no categories with one entry. I'd agree for the most part, but I literally do not know the rules: are one entry categories allowed by guidelines or forbidden? Depending on context I would guess. The context for this one is a film premiering in a specific year, 2115. This is similar to Category:2025 films. As well as to several years in the 1800s which include only one film. The category Category:2115 films seems the have been appropriately populated per existing allowable categories, or am I just missing a logical reason (been known to happen)? Thanks. Randy Kryn (talk) 23:42, 23 February 2024 (UTC)
Yes, but why disregard other one-film categories? I don't think reflecting consensus is or can be the total job, closers also (I would think) have to judge for themselves if precedent is being followed or set. They would have to have really good reasons to set precedent. There are thousands of one-item categories, most of them applicable in context, which is why I mentioned and linked some of the 1800s film categories, which allow one-film entries. Why disregard those precedents? Not to be argumentative, but maybe giving a point of view you haven't considered. Randy Kryn (talk) 00:02, 24 February 2024 (UTC)
All well and good, until...you read the next section on that page: WP:OTHERCATSEXIST. Other cats being sexist, I mean, "other categories exist", reminds us that if similar categories exist then the category under discussion should too. Regardless of how many entries. Please have a read of that link, thanks. Randy Kryn (talk) 01:44, 24 February 2024 (UTC)
I never noticed that it can be read as sexist :) Of course it is a stronger argument than at, say, AfD. But I read that participants had argued that it was different in a noticeable way, namely, it is for the future, not the past. I will also note that the essay is out-of-date: WP:SMALLCAT has been deprecated.HouseBlaster (talk · he/him) 01:55, 24 February 2024 (UTC)
Well, there is Category:2025 films which lists many future films. What's good for the goose is good for the gander, no? The only argument I can think of why the 2115 category won't be expanded is that films will no longer be an acceptable form of entertainment in 2115 (and all statues of movie stars will be torn down and thrown into lakes decades earlier, being that lakes seem to be a preferred-destination of cultural sculpture), but that is WP:CRYSTAL. Since the 2115 film 100 Years already exists, is listed in the filmographies of the director (Rodriquez) and star (Malkovich), and tickets have been created and distributed, all that is left is the popcorn (unless popfivecoursemeals are invented). Randy Kryn (talk) 12:07, 24 February 2024 (UTC)
I think the participants felt that there is a difference between a well-populated category for 2025 and a single-member category for 2115. Again, you are welcome to take this to WP:DRV if you feel I erred as a closer.HouseBlaster (talk · he/him) 17:54, 24 February 2024 (UTC)
(I've just removed the sentence rferencing SMALLCAT.) — Qwerfjkltalk 10:13, 25 February 2024 (UTC)
Latest comment: 2 months ago3 comments2 people in discussion
Hello, How do I remove citations from the body of the content? --Divyasuperhairpieces (talk) 16:40, 26 February 2024 (UTC)
@Divyasuperhairpieces: hi again! Normally, this should not be done, but if you need to you delete them just like you would any piece of text. Best,HouseBlaster (talk · he/him) 17:03, 26 February 2024 (UTC)
Thank you for the help. I tried to remove citations which looks like advertorial content by editing them but now I succesufully removed it. Divyasuperhairpieces (talk) 17:12, 26 February 2024 (UTC)
Tech News: 2024-09
Latest comment: 2 months ago1 comment1 person in discussion
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 mobile visual editor is now the default editor for users who never edited before, at a small group of wikis. Research shows that users using this editor are slightly more successful publishing the edits they started, and slightly less successful publishing non-reverted edits. Users who defined the wikitext editor as their default on desktop will get the wikitext editor on mobile for their first edit on mobile as well. [22]
The mw.config value wgGlobalGroups now only contains groups that are active in the wiki. Scripts no longer have to check whether the group is active on the wiki via an API request. A code example of the above is: if (/globalgroupname/.test(mw.config.get("wgGlobalGroups"))). [23]
Changes later this week
The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from 27 February. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from 28 February. It will be on all wikis from 29 February (calendar). [24][25]
Future changes
The right to change edit tags (changetags) will be removed from users in Wikimedia sites, keeping it by default for admins and bots only. Your community can ask to retain the old configuration on your wiki before this change happens. Please indicate in this ticket to keep it for your community before the end of March 2024.
Latest comment: 2 months ago3 comments2 people in discussion
The Categorisation Barnstar
Thank you for your hard work on closing CfDs! Qwerfjkltalk 17:54, 22 February 2024 (UTC)
@Qwerfjkl: It feels cheap to "right back atchya" a barnstar... I will find a reason to give you one! Anyways, thank you for closing 'em, too! HouseBlaster (talk · he/him) 21:22, 22 February 2024 (UTC)
Latest comment: 2 months ago2 comments2 people in discussion
Hello everyone, and welcome to the 24th issue of the Wikipedia Scripts++ Newsletter, covering all our favorite new and updated user scripts since 24 December 2021. Uh-huh, we're finally covering the good ones among the rest! Aren't you excited? Remember to include a link in double brackets to the script's .js page when you install the script, so that we can see who uses the script in WhatLinksHere! The ScriptInstaller gadget automatically does this. Aaron Liu (talk) 01:00, 1 March 2024 (UTC)
Got anything good? Tell us about your new, improved, old, or messed-up script here!
Featured script
Making user scripts load faster by SD0001 is this month's featured script, which caches userscripts every day to eliminate the overhead caused by force-downloading the newest version of scripts every time you open a Wikipedia page. Despite being released in April 2021, our best script scouters have failed to locate it due to its omission from the US of L. For security reasons, the script only supports loading JavaScript pages.
Newly maintained scripts
After earthly attempts at improving the original have failed...
Ahecht has created a fork of SiBr4/TemplateSearch, which adds the "TP:" shortcut for "Template:" in the search box, and updated it to be compatible with Vector 2022.
AquilaFasciata/goToTopFast is a much faster fork of the classic goToTop script that also adds compatibility for Minerva and Vector 2022.
Without caching. Each script takes 400–500ms. A particularly large script takes 1.11 s! Internet download speed is 50 Mbps.With caching enabled. Each script takes just 1-2 ms to load.
Improve a script
Unfortunately, this section has remained nearly identical. Help us out here!
To a lesser extent, the same goes for PrimeHunter/Search sort. I wish someone would integrate the sorts into the sort menu instead of adding 11 portlet links.
Dragoniez/SuppressEnterInForm stops you from accidentally submitting anything due to pressing enter while in the smaller box, and works on almost anything... except the InputBox element itself, used in subscription lists and the Signpost Crossword! Oh, the humanity!
Doǵu/Adiutor(pictured) provides a nice, integrated interface to do some twinkley tasks such as copyvio detection, CSD tagging, and viewing the most recent diff.
Eejit43 has quite the aesthetically pleasing scripts, all made in TypeScript.
/afcrc-helper is a replacement for the unmaintained Enterprisey/AFCRHS and processes Redirects for Creation and Categories for Creation requests.
/ajax-undo stops the "undo" button from taking you to another page while providing a text box to provide a reason for the revert.
/redirect-helper(pictured) adds a much better interface for editing and redirects, including categorization, for which valid categories are dictated by /redirect-helper.json.
/rmtr-helper helps process technical requested moves without being able to actually move them.
Guycn2/UserInfoPopup(pictured) adds a flyout after the watchlist star on userspace pages that displays the common information you might use about a user.
Jeeputer/editCounter, under userspace, adds a portlet link to count your edits by namespace, put them in a table, and put that table in a hardcoded subpage, all in the background.
Hilst/Scripts/sectionLinks converts all section links to use the § sign, which are known to be preferred over the ugly # by 99% of the devils I've met.
PrimeHunter/Category source.js adds portlet links to tell you where a category for an article comes from and supports those from template transclusions.
Sophivorus's MiniEdit adds some nice, li'l buttons next to paragraphs to edit their wikitext with a minimal interface.
Edit-listings
Dragoniez/ToollinkTweaks adds more and customizable links next to users in page history, logs, watchlist, recent changes, etc.
Firefly/more-block-info optimizes the display of rangeblocks in contribution pages. Doesn't work outside the English locale of any wiki, unfortunately.
NguoiDungKhongDinhDanh/AjaxLoader makes paging links (e.g. older 50, 500, newest) load without refreshing and makes you realize how slow your internet actually is.
Appearance-ricing
Ahecht/RedirectID adds the redirect target to all redirects. For all the WP:NAVPOPS haters. (Do these exist?)
Dragoniez/MarkBLockedGlobal: Remember the "strike blocked usernames" gadget? Now you can use a red, dotted line to highlight rangeblocks and global locks!
Jonesey/common(pictured) has some styles to overhaul your Vector 2022 experience. It reduces padding everywhere, and makes the top bar animation faster.
Aaron Liu/V22 is a fork that narrows the sidebars instead of upheaving them, reverts the January 2024 dropdown changes, and restores the old page-link color for links that don't go outside the current wiki.
Nardog: SmartDiff is a spiritual successor to Enterprisey/fancy-diffs. It makes the page title part of links in diffs clickable, along with template and parser function calls. Unnamed parameters can be configured per template to also be linked. All links are styled based on the normal CSS classes of rendered links.
For the paranoid: Rublov/anonymize replaces your username at the top of the screen with the generic "User page" text. Remember, it is your duty to persuade everyone that editing is an honor.
/AjaxBlock provides a dialog box for easy input of reasons while blocking users.
/Selective Rollback(pictured) provides a dialog box to customize rollback edit summaries and does them without reloading the page. Seriously, why doesn't MediaWiki already do this?
/flickrsearch adds a portlet link to search for uploadable flickr images about the subject.
/randomincategory adds a portlet link when on Category pages to go to a random page in the current category.
Vghfr/EasyTemplates adds a portlet link to automatically insert some of the most common inline {{fix}} templates.
Yes, we're just doing 'em as we go now. Thanks for reading through this looong issue, if you did! I'm sure this'll send a record for the longest issue ev-ah. You may need to wait even longer for the last issue, as our reserve of old-y and goodie scripts have ran out... We encourage you to try and do some of the requests or improvement tasks. See you in Summer, hopefully!
Latest comment: 2 months ago2 comments1 person in discussion
Hello, HouseBlaster. Please check your email; you've got mail! It may take a few minutes from the time the email is sent for it to show up in your inbox. You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{You've got mail}} or {{ygm}} template.
Message delivered to you with love by Yapperbot :) | Is this wrong? Contact my bot operator. | Sent at 14:30, 4 March 2024 (UTC)
Tech News: 2024-10
Latest comment: 2 months ago1 comment1 person in discussion
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 Special:Book page (as well as the associated "Create a book" functionality) provided by the old Collection extension has been removed from all Wikisource wikis, as it was broken. This does not affect the ability to download normal books, which is provided by the Wikisource extension. [26]
Maintenance on etherpad is completed. If you encounter any issues, please indicate in this ticket.
Gadgets allow interface admins to create custom features with CSS and JavaScript. The Gadget and Gadget_definition namespaces and gadgets-definition-edit user right were reserved for an experiment in 2015, but were never used. These were visible on Special:Search and Special:ListGroupRights. The unused namespaces and user rights are now removed. No pages are moved, and no changes need to be made. [27]
A usability improvement to the "Add a citation" in Wikipedia workflow has been made, the insert button was moved to the popup header. [28]
Changes later this week
The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from 5 March. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from 6 March. It will be on all wikis from 7 March (calendar). [29][30]
Future changes
All wikis will be read-only for a few minutes on March 20. This is planned at 14:00 UTC. More information will be published in Tech News and will also be posted on individual wikis in the coming weeks. [31]
The HTML markup of headings and section edit links will be changed later this year to improve accessibility. See Heading HTML changes for details. The new markup will be the same as in the new Parsoid wikitext parser. You can test your gadget or stylesheet with the new markup if you add ?useparsoid=1 to your URL (more info) or turn on Parsoid read views in your user options (more info).
What's your opinion on Spider-Man? CourageousMarie (talk) 01:32, 6 March 2024 (UTC)
@CourageousMarie: I am not a huge fan myself. Do you have any questions about Wikipedia? Our policies say we should keep chit-chat to a minimum :)HouseBlaster (he/him) 01:34, 6 March 2024 (UTC)
Yeah which decade was it that began the history of modern horror films 60s or 70s CourageousMarie (talk) 01:35, 6 March 2024 (UTC)
Message delivered to you with love by Yapperbot :) | Is this wrong? Contact my bot operator. | Sent at 02:30, 8 March 2024 (UTC)
February 2024 WikiProject Unreferenced articles backlog drive – award
Latest comment: 2 months ago1 comment1 person in discussion
Citation Barnstar
This award is given in recognition to HouseBlaster for collecting more than 5 points during the WikiProject Unreferenced articles's FEB24 backlog drive. Your contributions played a crucial role in sourcing 14,300 unsourced articles during the drive. Thank you so much for participating and helping to reduce the backlog! – – DreamRimmer (talk) 17:58, 8 March 2024 (UTC)
Latest comment: 2 months ago5 comments2 people in discussion
Hey HouseBlaster,
I hope all is well!
Would it be possible for you to take a quick look at my draft article, Draft:William John Titus Bishop, and advise on whether you think it is ready to be moved?
All my Love,
TopG1985 --Topg1985 (talk) 19:37, 9 March 2024 (UTC)
TopG1985 Topg1985 (talk) 07:35, 10 March 2024 (UTC)
Topg1985, unfortunately I do not believe Bishop qualifies for a Wikipedia article at this time. This is independent of the state of the draft article, meaning that no amount of editing can make Draft:William John Titus Bishop qualify. Here is my assessment of the sources you listed:
An interview with Bishop is not independent of Bishop
✘No
This table may not be a final or consensus view; it may summarize developing consensus, or reflect assessments of a single editor. Created using {{source assess table}}.
Thank you for having a look over the sources. I will add further sources according to the criteria you’ve outlined above.
All my Love,
TopG1985 Topg1985 (talk) 16:59, 10 March 2024 (UTC)
Tech News: 2024-11
Latest comment: 2 months ago1 comment1 person in discussion
Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.
Changes later this week
The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from 12 March. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from 13 March. It will be on all wikis from 14 March (calendar). [32][33]
After consulting with various communities, the line height of the text on the Minerva skin will be increased to its previous value of 1.65. Different options for typography can also be set using the options in the menu, as needed. [34]
The active link color in Minerva will be changed to provide more consistency with our other platforms and best practices. [35]
Structured data on Commons will no longer ask whether you want to leave the page without saving. This will prevent the “information you’ve entered may not be saved” popups from appearing when no information have been entered. It will also make file pages on Commons load faster in certain cases. However, the popups will be hidden even if information has indeed been entered. If you accidentally close the page before saving the structured data you entered, that data will be lost. [36]
Future changes
All wikis will be read-only for a few minutes on March 20. This is planned at 14:00 UTC. More information will be published in Tech News and will also be posted on individual wikis in the coming weeks. [37][38]
RFA2024 update: no longer accepting new proposals in phase I
Latest comment: 1 month ago4 comments4 people in discussion
Hey there! This is to let you know that phase I of the 2024 requests for adminship (RfA) review is now no longer accepting new proposals. Lots of proposals remain open for discussion, and the current round of review looks to be on a good track towards making significant progress towards improving RfA's structure and environment. I'd like to give my heartfelt thanks to everyone who has given us their idea for change to make RfA better, and the same to everyone who has given the necessary feedback to improve those ideas. The following proposals remain open for discussion:
Proposals 3 and 3b, initiated by Barkeep49 and Usedtobecool, respectively, provide for trials of discussion-only periods at RfA. The first would add three extra discussion-only days to the beginning, while the second would convert the first two days to discussion-only.
Proposal 5, initiated by SilkTork, provides for a trial of RfAs without threaded discussion in the voting sections.
Proposals 6c and 6d, initiated by BilledMammal, provide for allowing users to be selected as provisional admins for a limited time through various concrete selection criteria and smaller-scale vetting.
Proposal 7, initiated by Lee Vilenski, provides for the "General discussion" section being broken up with section headings.
Proposal 9b, initiated by Reaper Eternal, provides for the requirement that allegations of policy violation be substantiated with appropriate links to where the alleged misconduct occured.
Proposals 12c, 21, and 21b, initiated by City of Silver, Ritchie333, and HouseBlaster, respectively, provide for reducing the discretionary zone, which currently extends from 65% to 75%. The first would reduce it 65%–70%, the second would reduce it to 50%–66%, and the third would reduce it to 60%–70%.
Proposal 13, initiated by Novem Lingaue, provides for periodic, privately balloted admin elections.
Proposal 14, initiated by Kusma, provides for the creation of some minimum suffrage requirements to cast a vote.
Proposals 16 and 16c, initiated by Thebiguglyalien and Soni, respectively, provide for community-based admin desysop procedures. 16 would desysop where consensus is established in favor at the administrators' noticeboard; 16c would allow a petition to force reconfirmation.
Proposal 16e, initiated by BilledMammal, would extend the recall procedures of 16 to bureaucrats.
Proposal 17, initiated by SchroCat, provides for "on-call" admins and 'crats to monitor RfAs for decorum.
Proposal 25, initiated by Femke, provides for the requirement that nominees be extended-confirmed in addition to their nominators.
Proposal 27, initiated by WereSpielChequers, provides for the creation of a training course for admin hopefuls, as well as periodic retraining to keep admins from drifting out of sync with community norms.
To read proposals that were closed as unsuccessful, please see Wikipedia:Requests for adminship/2024 review/Phase I/Closed proposals. You are cordially invited once again to participate in the open discussions; when phase I ends, phase II will review the outcomes of trial proposals and refine the implementation details of other proposals. Another notification will be sent out when this phase begins, likely with the first successful close of a major proposal. Happy editing! theleekycauldron (talk • she/her), via:
Oh my god, I am so so sorry if you just got 50 billion pings!! that calls for a {{whale}} on me, for sure. theleekycauldron (talk • she/her) 10:58, 14 March 2024 (UTC)
Doesn't seem like I did :) Thanks again for coordinating this project! HouseBlaster (he/him) 15:47, 14 March 2024 (UTC)
Latest comment: 1 month ago3 comments3 people in discussion
On 16 March 2024, Did you know was updated with a fact from the article 1934 German referendum, which you recently created, substantially expanded, or brought to good article status. The fact was ... that in the 1934 German referendum, some areas recorded more votes than there were eligible voters? The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/1934 German referendum. You are welcome to check how many pageviews the nominated article or articles got while on the front page (here's how, 1934 German referendum), and the hook may be added to the statistics page after its run on the Main Page has completed. Finally, if you know of an interesting fact from another recently created article, then please feel free to suggest it on the Did you know talk page.
Thank you for quality articles such as 1934 German referendum and Daniel McCaffery, for help at many ends of the project including categories for discussion and articles for deletion and creation, for for enlightening and remembering, - you are an awesome Wikipedian!
You are recipient no. 2923 of Precious, a prize of QAI. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 22:05, 16 March 2024 (UTC)
Thank you so much, Gerda! :) HouseBlaster (he/him) 18:42, 17 March 2024 (UTC)
Category renaming
Latest comment: 1 month ago3 comments2 people in discussion
Hi Cplakidas. It is listed at WT:CFDW, and will be processed when an admin gets around to it. Sometimes it takes a minute! HouseBlaster (he/him) 18:42, 17 March 2024 (UTC)
I didn’t know that :) Thanks and cheers! Constantine ✍ 16:14, 18 March 2024 (UTC)
Tech News: 2024-12
Latest comment: 1 month ago1 comment1 person in discussion
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 notice "Language links are at the top of the page" that appears in the Vector 2022 skin main menu has been removed now that users have learned the new location of the Language switcher. [39]
IP info feature displays data from Spur, an IP addresses database. Previously, the only data source for this feature was MaxMind. Now, IP info is more useful for patrollers. [40]
The Toolforge Grid Engine services have been shut down after the final migration process from Grid Engine to Kubernetes. [41][42][43]
RevisionSlider is an interface to interactively browse a page's history. Users in right-to-left languages reported RevisionSlider reacting wrong to mouse clicks. This should be fixed now. [45]
Changes later this week
The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from 19 March. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from 20 March. It will be on all wikis from 21 March (calendar). [46][47]
All wikis will be read-only for a few minutes on March 20. This is planned at 14:00 UTC. [48][49]
@Wallaby5312: I have requested that the sandbox be undeleted. HouseBlaster (he/him) 04:24, 21 March 2024 (UTC)
Would it be possible for you to review my draft article: Draft:Santana exmachine. This was previously published a few days ago and had all the appropriate hyperlinks. Then it got deleted. The name Santana Sexmachine has a hyperlink on Drag Race Sverige but when click on, it takes the reader back to the Drag Race Sverige page: Drag Race Sverige. I am a new Wikipedia contributor. Thank you. Wallaby5312 (talk) 04:45, 21 March 2024 (UTC)
Do you have two or three sources which meet all three of the following criteria:
Independent of the subject (interviews and sponsored content are not independent)
Contain significant coverage of Santana (this means paragraphs about Santana)
If so, would you be able to share links to them? Thanks, HouseBlaster (he/him) 05:00, 21 March 2024 (UTC)
Hello,
Here are the sources I have:
https://www.gscene.com/arts/start-your-engines-for-the-uk-premiere-of-drag-race-sverige/. February 8, 2023.
Article from qx.se announcing DR Sverige Season 1 (https://www.qx.se/noje/filmtvmusik/242520/drag-race-sverige-har-ar-alla-tavlande/)
Interview with Thelindrome recorded April 15, 2020: https://thelindrome.com/podcast/s03e04-santana-sexmachine/
Drag Queens- kulturen: old school vs new school interview with Sverige radio: https://sverigesradio.se/artikel/6400492, Kristian Pehrsson och Jesper Lindgren. March 30, 2016
This table may not be a final or consensus view; it may summarize developing consensus, or reflect assessments of a single editor. Created using {{source assess table}}.
We have zero sources which count towards the general notability guideline. To be considered "wiki-notable", Santana needs to have two or three reliable sources which are independent of the subject and contain significant coverage of Santana. Unfortunately, this means Santana does not qualify for an article at this time, and no amount of editing can change that. Let me know if you have any questions, HouseBlaster (he/him) 05:17, 21 March 2024 (UTC)
This table may not be a final or consensus view; it may summarize developing consensus, or reflect assessments of a single editor. Created using {{source assess table}}.
Unfortunately, none of those sources contain significant coverage. I continue to think that Santana does not qualify for a Wikipedia article. HouseBlaster (he/him) 15:37, 21 March 2024 (UTC)
Query
Latest comment: 1 month ago2 comments2 people in discussion
Hi Liz! I was actually investigating this when you left me the message... great minds think alike :) Looking at the discussion, there appears to be consensus for its deletion. Nobody argued for keeping it, but two people (nom and FL, who said Deletion of the parent "by country" can still go ahead) argued for deletion. HouseBlaster (he/him) 16:12, 21 March 2024 (UTC)
Lapinjärvi article
Latest comment: 1 month ago4 comments2 people in discussion
Latest comment: 1 month ago1 comment1 person in discussion
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
An update was made on March 18th 2024 to how various projects load site, user JavaScript and CSS in Vector 2022 skin. A checklist is provided for site admins to follow.
Changes later this week
The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from 26 March. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from 27 March. It will be on all wikis from 28 March (calendar). [50][51]
Latest comment: 1 month ago6 comments3 people in discussion
You can't close something as delete unless you are an admin, because you can't delete it. Somebody needs to delete it, and it's been there for a week since your closure. QuicoleJR (talk) 01:08, 28 March 2024 (UTC)
Hello, QuicoleJR. At CfD, non-admins regularly close things as delete. See WP:NACD: Certain venues (Wikipedia:Templates for discussion and – per the implementation process at WP:CFD/W – Wikipedia:Categories for discussion) have made an exception to this rule, and allow non-admins to close discussions as delete. It is currently listed at WT:CFDW, where an admin will process it. That page has been backlogged as of late; normally it does not take this long. Let me know if you have any additional questions, HouseBlaster (he/him) 01:16, 28 March 2024 (UTC)
That said, maybe you should consider an RfA, HouseBlaster? — Qwerfjkltalk 12:10, 28 March 2024 (UTC)
Thank you for the kind words, Qwerfjkl! I am at WP:ORCP right now :)
You should consider running, too... HouseBlaster (he/him) 12:14, 28 March 2024 (UTC)
Sorry for the misunderstanding. I am admittedly not very familiar with CFD. QuicoleJR (talk) 13:16, 28 March 2024 (UTC)
Latest comment: 1 month ago2 comments2 people in discussion
Hello, HouseBlaster,
What makes you think because someone is an atheist writer that they are a writer on atheism? This is like saying because someone is a women writer that they are a writer on women. Or because they are an American writer that they are a writer on America. This makes no sense. LizRead!Talk! 01:23, 29 March 2024 (UTC)
Hi Liz! I closed this discussion as rename and purge, not just rename. The scope of the category is changing, because it was the consensus of participants that being an atheist writer is not a WP:DEFINING characteristic. On the other hand, they felt that being a writer who writers about atheism is a defining characteristic. In other words, the result of the discussion was functionally the same as deleting the "atheist writer" tree and creating a "writers on atheism" tree. It just so happens that there is a large deal of overlap between the two, and so repurposing the categories would save time. Let me know if you have further questions, HouseBlaster (he/him) 01:34, 29 March 2024 (UTC)
The Signpost: 29 March 2024
Latest comment: 1 month ago1 comment1 person in discussion
Latest comment: 1 month ago2 comments2 people in discussion
You said that there was consensus to merge and rename but it hasn't happened yet. What should I do? Charles Essie (talk) 08:47, 30 March 2024 (UTC)
Hi Charles Essie! It is currently in the queue at WT:CFDW, where it will be processed by an admin. That page has been backlogged as of late. So, to answer your question: nothing. It will happen once an admin gets around to it :) HouseBlaster (he/him) 17:05, 30 March 2024 (UTC)
CfD backlog
Latest comment: 1 month ago2 comments2 people in discussion
Hi, I'm going to be going skiing for a week, so I'm not sure how much I'll be able to help out at CfD. — Qwerfjkltalk 10:04, 30 March 2024 (UTC)
I will try to help out as much as I can in the meantime. Have so much fun!! HouseBlaster (he/him) 17:05, 30 March 2024 (UTC)
Your recent nomination
Latest comment: 1 month ago2 comments2 people in discussion
Thanks for your nomination. You said: "Not sure what to put as a header? Would appreciate it if someone could fix this for me :)". which I did fix. I always try to leave an open thread titled Nominations for just this purpose. If you go to the nomination page you will see the one I leave and the changes to your entry You used "noping" which was great. I then switch it to "user10" which give access to the nominees talk page and history for other editors to possibly second your nomination. After a week or so, I move the nomination to the end of the queue at the Accepted page. Right now, there are about a dozen or so in line. So, your nomination will be awarded in about 3 months. Buster Seven Talk (UTC) 06:35, 31 March 2024 (UTC)
Latest comment: 1 month ago2 comments2 people in discussion
Hi, when I try to publish this new draft page it wont let me because it says "No stashed content found for 0/700287b6-ebd0-11ee-a96e-5d30b2b92412" What does this mean --ThePseudoithic (talk) 16:43, 28 March 2024 (UTC)
That sounds like a bug. Does it let you post it in your sandbox? HouseBlaster (he/him) 16:53, 28 March 2024 (UTC)
Latest comment: 1 month ago2 comments2 people in discussion
hello. How do I save my edit? --WikiEditGEE (talk) 09:46, 29 March 2024 (UTC)
Hi WikiEditGEE, and welcome to Wikipedia! To publish your changes, click the blue Publish changes button. Let me know if you have any other questions, HouseBlaster (he/him) 13:13, 29 March 2024 (UTC)
Latest comment: 1 month ago12 comments2 people in discussion
Hello mentor!
I just created a draft article for a historical personality that finds very little mention anywhere, but those mentions suggest he did exist and he is an important figure in the history of Jainism (religion). In fact, he also finds mentions in Paul Dundas's book The Jains. How do I make sure that the article hits mainspace and not just stays in draft namespace? --Hemchandra Jain (talk) 18:09, 30 March 2024 (UTC)
They are old scriptural mentions. Sivabhuti finds mentions in Avashyak Bhashya (a 5th century text) and in Paul Dundas's book The Jains and in a few other books as well, so multiple books mention him and the theory. Although less is known about him, but a popular theory as to what caused schism in Jainism considers him a central character and an article on him would make sense for researchers looking for information on him. Hemchandra Jain (talk) 19:51, 30 March 2024 (UTC)
Hemchandra Jain, given that the books only mention him, it does not appear that Sivabhuti is wiki-notable. Unfortunately, this means that Sivabhuti is not eligible for an article on Wikipedia, and no amount of editing can fix that. Best, HouseBlaster (he/him) 20:10, 30 March 2024 (UTC)
However, the books have an account of events from is life and several old research considers him instrumental in understanding the current state of affairs in Jainism. Is it still not eligible to be an article? Hemchandra Jain (talk) 20:17, 30 March 2024 (UTC)
Hemchandra Jain, it depends on the nature of the books. Are they affiliated with Jainism? If so, they are unlikely to be considered independent and thus are not useful for determining notability. I will note that "important" is not synonymous with "notable". Notability requires significant coverage in reliable sources independent of the subject (this is considered Wikipedia's "golden rule"). "Important" subjects often receive such coverage, but it is the coverage they receive which makes them notable—not their "importance". HouseBlaster (he/him) 20:28, 30 March 2024 (UTC)
All the books are scholarly research on Jainism and its historicity. They are not published by Jains, per say, but Indian and international scholar researching Jainism and other Indic religions. Several books are not focused on Jainism, but are accounts of different perspectives on how sects and religions originated. Some are also reports of the Archaeological Survey of India. Hemchandra Jain (talk) 20:35, 30 March 2024 (UTC)
If that is the case, the subject is likely to be considered notable. To minimize the chance of a deletion discussion, make sure that such sources are contained in the article (they don't have to be, because notability is assessed by the existence of sources, but the first place people look to check for notability are the sources in the article). Let me know if you have any other questions, HouseBlaster (he/him) 20:40, 30 March 2024 (UTC)
Understood! I am sorry I am new to Wikipedia so I am just getting used to it. I have written an article with all credible sources (scholarly research or works of historians) about the single account of his life. I don't know if there is a review system on Wikipedia, but could you please review it, if it is not a problem for you, just so I wil know what to do and what not to do in future? :) Hemchandra Jain (talk) 20:46, 30 March 2024 (UTC)
Don't worry! There is a review process (see this page for an introduction to "new page patrol"), but I generally try to avoid officially reviewing articles written by my mentees (to avoid the potential for a conflict of interest), but I am happy to take an unofficial look at the page. Sivabhuti appears to look fairly good, and I have made some minor improvements. One thing that sticks out to me is our guideline on references and punctuation: citations go after punctuation (like this,[1] this;[2] or this.[3]Not like this[1], this[2]; or this[3].). HouseBlaster (he/him) 21:07, 30 March 2024 (UTC)
Understood it completely. I will take care of how punctuations and citations work. It was new for me. I will keep adding credible information as I find any, but first get a review from someone. I understand the reasons why you may not review my articles. Thank you so much for the guidance! Hemchandra Jain (talk) 22:07, 30 March 2024 (UTC)
Of course! Let me know if you have any additional questions. HouseBlaster (he/him) 23:30, 30 March 2024 (UTC)
Tech News: 2024-14
Latest comment: 1 month ago1 comment1 person in discussion
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
Users of the reading accessibility beta feature will notice that the default line height for the standard and large text options has changed. [52]
Changes later this week
The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from 2 April. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from 3 April. It will be on all wikis from 4 April (calendar). [53][54]
Future changes
The Wikimedia Foundation has an annual plan. The annual plan decides what the Wikimedia Foundation will work on. You can now read the draft key results for the Product and Technology department. They are suggestions for what results the Foundation wants from big technical changes from July 2024 to June 2025. You can comment on the talk page.
Latest comment: 1 month ago4 comments2 people in discussion
Hello I want create an article and publish it on internet.Iam new to Wikipedia joined recently what should I do --Mahammed parvez (talk) 17:44, 26 March 2024 (UTC)
Hello Mahammed parvez, and welcome to Wikipedia! What topic do you wish to create an article about? HouseBlaster (he/him) 18:54, 26 March 2024 (UTC)
I Want to create an article of a person my grandfather
I have all the proper references required.He's name is already mentioned in Wikipedia and now I want to create an article and publish live in Wikipedia Mahammed parvez (talk) 08:41, 31 March 2024 (UTC)
Latest comment: 1 month ago1 comment1 person in discussion
Hello HouseBlaster,
New Page Review queue January to March 2024
Backlog update: The October drive reduced the article backlog from 11,626 to 7,609 and the redirect backlog from 16,985 to 6,431! Congratulations to Schminnte, who led with over 2,300 points.
Following that, New Page Patrol organized another backlog drive for articles in January 2024. The January drive started with 13,650 articles and reduced the backlog to 7,430 articles. Congratulations to JTtheOG, who achieved first place with 1,340 points in this drive.
Looking at the graph, it seems like backlog drives are one of the only things keeping the backlog under control. Another backlog drive is being planned for May. Feel free to participate in the May backlog drive planning discussion.
It's worth noting that both queues are gradually increasing again and are nearing 14,034 articles and 22,540 redirects. We encourage you to keep contributing, even if it's just a single patrol per day. Your support is greatly appreciated!
2023 Awards
Onel5969 won the 2023 cup with 17,761 article reviews last year - that's an average of nearly 50/day. There was one Platinum Award (10,000+ reviews), 2 Gold Awards (5000+ reviews), 6 Silver (2000+), 8 Bronze (1000+), 30 Iron (360+) and 70 more for the 100+ barnstar. Hey man im josh led on redirect reviews by clearing 36,175 of them. For the full details, see the Awards page and the Hall of Fame. Congratulations everyone for their efforts in reviewing!
Recruitment: A couple of the coordinators have been inviting editors to become reviewers, via mass-messages to their talk pages. If you know someone who you'd think would make a good reviewer, then a personal invitation to them would be great. Additionally, if there are Wikiprojects that you are active on, then you can add a post there asking participants to join NPP. Please be careful not to double invite folks that have already been invited.
Reviewing tip: Reviewers who prefer to patrol new pages within their most familiar subjects can use the regularly updated NPP Browser tool.
Latest comment: 1 month ago8 comments3 people in discussion
You are reminded that the Gibraltarian category in question became a subcategory of the corresponding UK one only after the Cfm nomination was made. Please make sure your closing remarks are valid before they are put to the record. 83.229.61.201 (talk) 15:24, 31 March 2024 (UTC)
That's by way of Category:Churches in British Overseas Territories which is like a connector category between that for UK and those for the overseas territories. What you said was an oversimplified version of the picture. 83.229.61.201 (talk) 17:50, 3 April 2024 (UTC)
I certainly could have been more clear, but I don't think that makes my remark not valid. HouseBlaster (he/him) 17:54, 3 April 2024 (UTC)
Thank you. With all respect it'd simply be wrong to label a church in Gibraltar to be in the United Kingdom; and the way the article is structured remotely under a greatgreatgrandparent UK category makes it hardly an entirely valid argument to put the article direct into an in the United Kingdom category. The same would apply for churches in the Falklands. 83.229.61.201 (talk) 18:06, 3 April 2024 (UTC)
You may be amused to learn that the nominator had avoided the UK category when they enforced the upmerges re. the Falklands. 83.229.61.201 (talk) 18:18, 3 April 2024 (UTC)
Latest comment: 1 month ago4 comments2 people in discussion
Hi, I created a new page in Sandbox, and I'm not sure what the next step is in order to publish this page. I'd appreciate any help you caqn offer. Many thanks! --Dra FB (talk) 20:25, 28 March 2024 (UTC)
@Dra FB: the first step is ensuring the topic is wiki-notable. Do you have three reliable sources (you can see a list of sources Wikipedia considers reliable here) which provide significant coverageand are independent of the subject (that is, neither created by the subject nor at the behest of the subject)? HouseBlaster (he/him) 20:43, 28 March 2024 (UTC)
Thanks for your feedback! I thought I checked the guidelines to ensure that the topic is wiki-notable, while writing the article. I will double check again. However, if the topic does fulfill the minimum requirements, what else could be the problem? Dra FB (talk) 16:12, 4 April 2024 (UTC)
Do you have two or three such sources? I don't like to proceed before ensuring the topic is wiki-notable, because no amount of editing can "fix" a lack of notability. I don't want to waste our time by giving you a list of things to fix just for the article to get deleted. HouseBlaster (he/him) 17:30, 4 April 2024 (UTC)
What is policy? Delete it for advertisement? Or perhaps there is a more appropriate place for it (like the 'See also' or 'External links' pages*)?
Side note: I am not really sure what precise roles things like 'See also' & 'External links' play. What criteria suggest that some information is fit for one of these? --TheREALflipflopflimflam (talk) 17:43, 4 April 2024 (UTC)
Hi TheREALflipflopflimflam, and welcome to Wikipedia! You are absolutely correct that this is too promotional and should be taken out. I think moving the book to a "Further reading" section is a good compromise. Per our Manual of Style, this should be its own section below the references. Would you like to try doing it yourself? Don't worry about breaking anything: every revision of Wikipedia is saved in the page's history and it is very easy to undo changes.
We do have guidelines about what should be in an external links section. At Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Layout § Standard appendices and footers, you can read about the various inclusion criteria for the "end matter", including "See also", "Further reading", and "External links" sections. Let me know if you have any additional questions, and again: Welcome! HouseBlaster (he/him) 19:30, 4 April 2024 (UTC)
Latest comment: 1 month ago2 comments2 people in discussion
How to install twinkle, I tried but not find it in setting gadget. --Shah Of Nowheretalk! 01:31, 7 April 2024 (UTC)
Hi Shah Of Nowhere, and welcome to Wikipedia! To edit war-related articles, check out the lists at WikiProject Military History. If you want specific suggestions, check out the instructions at User:SuggestBot/Requests to get SuggestBot to send you a list of suggested articles. To install Twinkle, you must be autoconfirmed, which will happen automatically after your account is four days old (you also need at least ten edits total, but you have already done that). Let me know if you have any additional questions, 01:36, 7 April 2024 (UTC)
Latest comment: 1 month ago2 comments2 people in discussion
हेलो सर
नया विकिपीडिया केसे बनाया जा सकता हे? --Desi balak (talk) 16:34, 7 April 2024 (UTC)
@Desi balak, नया विकिपीडिया से अगर आपका मतलब एक नई विकी बनना जो बिलकुल इस विकिपीडिया की तरह काम करती हो तो आप अपनी वेबसाइट में मीडियाविकी सॉफ्टवेयर स्थापित कर सकते हैं, इससे आप विकिपीडिया की तरह ही अपनी खुद की एक विकी बना सकते हैं। अगर आपको इस विषय में अधिक जानकारी चाहिए तो आप मेरे वार्ता पृष्ठ पर सन्देश छोड़ सकते हैं। – DreamRimmer (talk) 17:44, 7 April 2024 (UTC)
Burials by place
Latest comment: 19 days ago2 comments2 people in discussion
I noticed you were the person who nominated burials in Ontario for containerization. This same issue applies to basically all burials in categories, as opposed to burials at categories. I have been trying to go through and make these categories follow containerization. A bunch need to be deleted, such as Burials in Yemen, since they only contain biographical articles not sub-categories. I have begun the work, but help from others would help in move along. I have posted some issues on my talk page.John Pack Lambert (talk) 19:31, 24 April 2024 (UTC)
@Johnpacklambert: Hi Johnpacklambert. Thank you for this note. I am concerned that you are violating your topic ban from deletion discussions, broadly construed, by stating that something should be deleted. See also WP:PROXYING. I do not want to see you blocked, and as such will be ignoring this message. If possible, would you be able to "thank" me for this edit so I can archive it as soon as you have seen it? (Courtesy link to the diff.)HouseBlaster (he/him) 20:38, 24 April 2024 (UTC)
Tech News: 2024-15
Latest comment: 1 month ago1 comment1 person in discussion
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
Web browsers can use tools called extensions. There is now a Chrome extension called Citation Needed which you can use to see if an online statement is supported by a Wikipedia article. This is a small experiment to see if Wikipedia can be used this way. Because it is a small experiment, it can only be used in Chrome in English.
A new Edit Recovery feature has been added to all wikis, available as a user preference. Once you enable it, your in-progress edits will be stored in your web browser, and if you accidentally close an editing window or your browser or computer crashes, you will be prompted to recover the unpublished text. Please leave any feedback on the project talk page. This was the #8 wish in the 2023 Community Wishlist Survey.
Readers using the Minerva skin on mobile will notice there has been an improvement in the line height across all typography settings. [58]
Changes later this week
The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from 9 April. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from 10 April. It will be on all wikis from 11 April (calendar). [59][60]
New accounts and logged-out users will get the visual editor as their default editor on mobile. This deployment is made at all wikis except for the English Wikipedia. [61]
Latest comment: 1 month ago2 comments2 people in discussion
That would be me botching a manual archiving of my talkpage. Appreciate your catching that. The Blade of the Northern Lights (話して下さい) 03:03, 13 April 2024 (UTC)
Latest comment: 29 days ago2 comments2 people in discussion
This is regarding the merge of Category:Food deities into Category:Agricultural_deities. The Hindu goddess Annapurna (goddess) is the goddess of food, but is unrelated to Agriculture. Phosop is the goddess of rice, not agriculture in general. Mellona is the goddess of apples. Merge is not appropriate in these situations. Since the discussion is closed, Please suggest on appeal. RedtigerxyzTalk 05:54, 14 April 2024 (UTC)
@Redtigerxyz: I will relist the discussion. Best,HouseBlaster (he/him) 16:42, 14 April 2024 (UTC)
Latest comment: 29 days ago5 comments2 people in discussion
Hi! thanks for mentoring. I was wondering about the nature of wikipedia telling me i have to wait a few minutes to edit due to it suspecting I might be a bot, and the associated ReCaptcha tests it has me performing. Do these just go away after so many edits? can I verify I am human in any other way besides providing an email? --ReddlSKye (talk) 19:14, 14 April 2024 (UTC)
@ReddlSKye: hello, and welcome to Wikipedia! After your account has existed for 4 days, you will be "autoconfirmed", at which point you will no longer have to perform a Captcha. (You also to make at least 10 edits to be autoconfirmed, but you already have met that criterion.)HouseBlaster (he/him) 19:57, 14 April 2024 (UTC)
Hi! Thanks! That should set me for now! Have a good one. ReddlSKye (talk) 20:00, 14 April 2024 (UTC)
@ReddlSKye: you too! Again, welcome and let me know if you have any other questions!HouseBlaster (he/him) 20:03, 14 April 2024 (UTC)
Thank you. I'll keep that in mind! ReddlSKye (talk) 20:04, 14 April 2024 (UTC)
Tech News: 2024-16
Latest comment: 28 days ago1 comment1 person in discussion
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
Between 2 April and 8 April, on wikis using Flagged Revisions, the "Reverted" tag was not applied to undone edits. In addition, page moves, protections and imports were not autoreviewed. This problem is now fixed. [62][63]
Changes later this week
The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from 16 April. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from 17 April. It will be on all wikis from 18 April (calendar). [64][65]
Default category sort keys will now affect categories added by templates placed in footnotes. Previously footnotes used the page title as the default sort key even if a different default sort key was specified (category-specific sort keys already worked). [66]
A new variable page_last_edit_age will be added to abuse filters. It tells how many seconds ago the last edit to a page was made. [67]
Future changes
Volunteer developers are kindly asked to update the code of their tools and features to handle temporary accounts. Learn more.
Four database fields will be removed from database replicas (including Quarry). This affects only the abuse_filter and abuse_filter_history tables. Some queries might need to be updated. [68]
Latest comment: 27 days ago19 comments2 people in discussion
Hi HouseBlaster. I've re-written copy for the x wikipedia page. The company has changed significantly since the original copy was created, as has the product offering. I have two questions. 1: because there are so many changes, is it best to submit the copy for review first? And 2: I would like to include the "about us" widget that often appears in the top right (on desktop) of a wikipedia page. How do I go about doing this?
With thanks in advance!
Jess --JessZoiti (talk) 04:40, 11 April 2024 (UTC)
I am not sure what you mean by the "about us" widget. Would you be able to point to a page with the "about us" widget, so I can see what you are talking about? HouseBlaster (he/him) 11:53, 11 April 2024 (UTC)
hi @HouseBlaster. Yes, I have an affiliation with the company. I'll check out the paid editor disclosure instructions today before updating and editing the copy. Once I've disclosed the conflict of interest, am I able to simply head into the page and edit it, or should I send copy for review first?
Regarding the "about us" widget, I'm referring t the infobox that appears at the top of many pages. As an example, see the IONQ wikipedia page. (IonQ)
Thanks! Looking forward to your responses. JessZoiti (talk) 00:55, 15 April 2024 (UTC)
Hi JessZoiti. First, you should upload your changes to your sandbox. I have gone ahead and copied the current version of the article into your sandbox, so you can make the changes you need. From your sandbox in edit mode, you should be able to click on the very small infobox in the right corner, and from there you should be able to edit it to include all the relevant information. Then, you should follow the instructions at the Edit Request Wizard to request an independent editor review the changes. You can delete the "What I think should be changed", "Why it should be changed", and "References supporting the possible change (format using the "cite" button)" bullet points that will pop up and replace them with something "please sync with my sandbox, because [reason your version is better / list of general changes you made / etc.]". To include an infobox, simply include one in your sandbox version of the article. Best, HouseBlaster (he/him) 01:13, 15 April 2024 (UTC)
Another query @HouseBlaster, I'm trying to upload a logo to the infobox. The instructions ask users to "Upload a wordmark/logo graphic using the organization logo upload form". Where do I find this form, please? Again, thanks for your help. JessZoiti (talk) 03:25, 15 April 2024 (UTC)
Another query @HouseBlaster, I'm trying to upload a logo to the infobox. The instructions ask users to "Upload a wordmark/logo graphic using the organization logo upload form". Where do I find this form, please? Again, thanks for your help. JessZoiti (talk) 03:35, 15 April 2024 (UTC)
@JessZoiti: do you have a link to the logo? I can upload it for you, because you need to have made at least ten edits before you are able to upload images. HouseBlaster (he/him) 03:37, 15 April 2024 (UTC)
I also have to ask you to complete the steps at the paid editor disclosure before proceeding any further. This is a requirement under the Terms of Use for Wikipedia. HouseBlaster (he/him) 03:39, 15 April 2024 (UTC)
Sorry @HouseBlaster! I was going to publish the disclaimer once I'd wrapped my head around how to edit. Apologies. All done now! How do I send you the link to the logo? Thank you. JessZoiti (talk) 03:43, 15 April 2024 (UTC)
JessZoiti, don't worry! As long as you did it . Just paste the link to a webpage with the logo (e.g. the company website) here and tell me which thing is actually the logo. Best, HouseBlaster (he/him) 03:47, 15 April 2024 (UTC)
@JessZoiti: just to let you know, I am heading to bed soon, so I won't be able to respond until the morning (local time). If you need more urgent help, feel free to ask at the Teahouse, a general-purpose area for newbies to ask questions. Of course, if your question can wait, I will be back tomorrow!HouseBlaster (he/him) 04:14, 15 April 2024 (UTC)
I hope you slept well @HouseBlaster! Hopefully one last question. I'm concerned my changes in the sandbox aren't saving. There is no 'save changes' button, only 'review changes' and 'publish changes'. If I hit publish, will the changes only be reflected in the sandbox environment, or will they update the actual company page in Wikipedia? JessZoiti (talk) 05:42, 15 April 2024 (UTC)
JessZoiti, you should click "Publish changes". It will affect the sandbox environment. Best, HouseBlaster (he/him) 15:04, 15 April 2024 (UTC)
Latest comment: 25 days ago4 comments2 people in discussion
Hi again Mentor. I'd like to touch back on the "Autoconfirm" thing. I've been editing with my account for 5 days, yet I have no access to edit any articles with that prerequisite, and, more importantly to me, I'm still being pelted with ReCaptchas and "can't do this action too many times, please wait" messages. Can you give me any advice as to why this is happening? I also, as you noted earlier, have more than 10 edits to my account.
Thanks, and have a good one! --ReddlSKye (talk) 12:55, 18 April 2024 (UTC)
@ReddlSKye: hi again! The software is looking for exactly four days – in other words, it looks for 96 hours. Your account was created at 17:38 UTC, and it is currently 13:02 UTC. You will be autoconfirmed in 4.5 hours. Let me know if you have any other questions,HouseBlaster (he/him) 13:03, 18 April 2024 (UTC)
Oh! Thanks for looking into that for me! "over the span of 5 days" and "91.5 total hours" are two completely different things, thanks for telling me how the system clock reads stuff.
Again, thank you, and have a good one! ReddlSKye (talk) 13:06, 18 April 2024 (UTC)
@ReddlSKye: of course, and you too :)HouseBlaster (he/him) 13:07, 18 April 2024 (UTC)
Comment on the latest citation for Justin Morrell
Latest comment: 25 days ago13 comments2 people in discussion
Hello HouseBlaster,
A recent citation for Justin Morrill in the Turner bio has gotten my attention. Nowhere in the bio is there mention of Turner being the "father of the Land grant system". Earlier in helping to create the bio for Wikipedia, I mentioned all the letters asking for Jonathan Baldwin's help and creating an educational system in the 1830's,1840's onward and then he gave a speech about the plan for industrial colleges in 1851. There's a lot of evidence to show that this man was an early voice for the land grant and so recognized by the majority of citations and reading I did for the past two months. This is evident with the numbers of citations throughout the bio. I see that it is not necessary to add a citation calling Justin Murrell, the father of the land grant system. So to give Justin credit, and indeed, he was a great man, a reference like this one:
Parker, William B. (1971). The Life and Public Services of Justin Smith Morrill. New York: Da Capo Press. 378 pp.
would be more appropriate. I consider Justin Morrell to be the father of the legislation for the grant system. Definitely heard the voices in Illinois that were loud and strong about the grant system. He did not do this totally on his own other than adapt. A plan that was probably laid out by Turner. whatever the case, I would like this citation removed, and the other one put in this place, which describes Morrill's life and political journey! This particular citation is much more neutral and appropriate to be put in Jonathan Baldwin Turner's article! Thank you for your understanding on this, and you have said that Wikipedia does its best to remain neutral. Here's an opportunity for you to balance the scales again! I will always be looking into the bio to see what's been added!
@Creative Lizzie: the current citation is to a peer-reviewed journal. I would be happy to add an additional citation to that sentence, but I see no reason to remove a citation just because it is critical of Turner's contribution to the land grant system. Articles are supposed to give the whole story, not the story which paints the subject in the best light.HouseBlaster (he/him) 17:33, 17 April 2024 (UTC)
I really find this unreasonable when you have taken the history out that supports Jonathan Baldwin Turner being the father of the land grant system and keep this one link added. You will find that the majority of the Internet agrees with me about the title. So I couldn't make a comment about Jonathan being considered the father of the Land Grant System but yet you have added a citation, making Morrill the father of the land system. I think I would've been fine with that if you had clearly stated that JBT was also called the father of the Land Grant System. After all, he gave a speech in 1851 which clearly laid out the idea, continue to be the voice of idea long before Morrell was in the picture. The majority of the citations or information out there clearly points to a lot of views around the country stating JBT was the father of the LGS. I can see you adding another view but only if it was clearly stated in JBT's bio. So, seeing this I should be able to put a citation in by Jonathan Baldwin Turner in the Morrill bio that shows Jonathan Baldwin Turner has been known as the father of the Land grant system. To me, it makes perfect sense and is perfectly neutral. As you have just said that it's important to give the whole story and information for both sides. Right? Creative Lizzie (talk) 18:28, 17 April 2024 (UTC)
Should I make a list of writers around the country who say Turner is the father of the land grant system. Also, I would like to put in a citation for Turner in the Morrill. What goes around comes around in this situation! (Eddie Stone, 1974) Creative Lizzie (talk) 18:32, 17 April 2024 (UTC)
It seems like many of the higher education writers or colleges are definitely more in support of Jonathan Baldwin Turner. Both of the men, Morrell and Turner were stars at the time however, Morrill came from money, and that is a much easier way to go than coming up from a rocky farm. That may not have anything to do with anything, but Lincoln was the same way. I think most educators see Jonathan more positively and truthfully in the view of the land grant system. There are two views for me is that Justin Morrill had to work very hard getting the bills through Congress and is the Father of the Land Grant Legislation. At that time, Turner had Lincoln's ear and was lobbying the Land grant issue long before Morrill presented the bill. It is also said that Turner heavily influenced Lincoln to be an abolitionist because he wasn't an abolitionist from the start. He was probably trying to find middle ground on slavery. A lot of what I said, is supported by citations. Creative Lizzie (talk) 19:05, 17 April 2024 (UTC)
@Creative Lizzie: You should not make a list of writers, because that would be original research. You are welcome to suggest a source be added to the article on Morrill. You should not add it personally, because you have a clear conflict of interest. HouseBlaster (he/him) 18:56, 17 April 2024 (UTC)
Once again, just the fact, you added Morrill as a father of the land grant system with this citation in the Turner bio is a ? I feel a lopsided thinking on this. Also in the Morrill bio, there is no mention of him being the father of the Land grant system in his bio. So put in a citation like this with that title is a point of view. Also, there is no mention of Jonathan Baldwin Turner's lobbying for the industrial land grant schools before even probably heard of it. Neutrality is a double edge sword.
I will make citation suggestions for the land grant act with Turner being the lobbyist and send them to you. Turner actually went beyond the lobbying, speeches and wrote a plan for the grant system put it down on paper.
I see these things as a historian, and not necessarily an ancestor. Yet I am happy the bio in there just trying to see how you balance truth. Creative Lizzie (talk) 19:22, 17 April 2024 (UTC)
However, if I can eventually get the boulder photo in the bio that will help the balance. Creative Lizzie (talk) 19:24, 17 April 2024 (UTC)
This is book that clearly gives Turner credit for the lobby and formulation of the plan. Should be placed by the land grant act in Morrill's bio. Sadly JBT is not mentioned at all and there is too much complete credit given to Morrill.
@Creative Lizzie: there is no requirement that sources be unbiased. In fact, our policy says reliable sources are not required to be neutral, unbiased, or objective. We are not going to add a citation to Justin S. Morrill just because a "biased" source is in Jonathan Baldwin Turner. That is not how this works.
I am going to be blunt. When I became a mentor, I signed up to answer questions about how Wikipedia works. I did not volunteer to pour over sources on your behalf, because you did not follow the conflict of interest guidelines and did not use the sandbox. I did not volunteer to determine who actually deserved credit for the LGS. I did not volunteer for spending hours of rechecking citations created by an editor with a conflict of interest. I say this not to make you feel bad. I am just saying that before you accuse me of being unreasonable, you should consider how much I have done to assist you in getting this article along. I have enjoyed doing much of the work we have done together. But it stops being enjoyable when someone with a conflict of interest decides that an article is biased because of a single citation. You are throwing all these citations at me, trying to see which citations "stick". I have been extraordinarily patient with you, but I am not required to satisfy you with my answer. HouseBlaster (he/him) 20:33, 17 April 2024 (UTC)
Yes, you have been extraordinarily kind and patient ........ I do want you to know that. I have become too much of a perfectionist and this is why I am backing out for now. I understand how you feel about this because after all, you are the editor and have to adhere to Wikipedia rules and your own personal opinions. I am tough and I know it. I wonder where I got that from? Once again, I am grateful to have the bio up and so thank you for all of your energy with me. There will be no more citation balls thrown! I am out of the ballpark for now. Happy hitting lots of home runs! Creative Lizzie (talk) 16:44, 18 April 2024 (UTC)
Latest comment: 24 days ago2 comments2 people in discussion
Hello, How do I add pictures/images to the page? --Damian Garth Brown (talk) 02:59, 19 April 2024 (UTC)
@Damian Garth Brown: hello, and welcome to Wikipedia! What encyclopedia article do you want to add an image to? I will not that we are not a place to put a resume, so in general pages like your current user page are frowned upon. Best, HouseBlaster (he/him) 13:12, 19 April 2024 (UTC)
Category:Transgender genocide
Latest comment: 24 days ago2 comments2 people in discussion
You closed as delete but it still hasn't been deleted. (t · c) buidhe 18:31, 19 April 2024 (UTC)
@Buidhe: hi! It is currently listed at WT:CFDW, where an admin will process it eventually. Best,HouseBlaster (he/him) 20:26, 19 April 2024 (UTC)
Feedback request: Politics, government, and law request for comment
Latest comment: 23 days ago1 comment1 person in discussion
Message delivered to you with love by Yapperbot :) | Is this wrong? Contact my bot operator. | Sent at 18:30, 20 April 2024 (UTC)
Draft:William John Titus Bishop
Latest comment: 22 days ago2 comments2 people in discussion
Dear HouseBlaster,
Thank you for your messages. I have just read your message and edits to my draft. I’m terribly sorry that you feel that I have not taken you seriously. I have taken you very seriously and added independent, reliable sources, and re-written the article to comply with all your and other editors requests. I do not wish for an edit war, but I think other editors would disagree with you.
@Topg1985: Please try to keep discussion in one place; I already got your message on your talk page. I have responded to your message there. Best,HouseBlaster (he/him) 20:50, 21 April 2024 (UTC)
Tech News: 2024-17
Latest comment: 21 days ago1 comment1 person in discussion
Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.
You can nominate your favorite tools for the fifth edition of the Coolest Tool Award. Nominations will be open until May 10.
Changes later this week
The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from 23 April. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from 24 April. It will be on all wikis from 25 April (calendar). [70][71]
Future changes
This is the last warning that by the end of May 2024 the Vector 2022 skin will no longer share site and user scripts/styles with old Vector. For user-scripts that you want to keep using on Vector 2022, copy the contents of Special:MyPage/vector.js to Special:MyPage/vector-2022.js. There are more technical details available. Interface administrators who foresee this leading to lots of technical support questions may wish to send a mass message to your community, as was done on French Wikipedia. [72]
The Growth team will now send quarterly reports to keep you in the loop. Growth team weekly updates are available on wiki (in English) if you want to know more about our day-to-day work.
If you want to receive more general updates about technical activity happening across the Wikimedia movement (including Growth work), we encourage you to subscribe to Tech News.
Community Configuration
Growth features are currently configurable at Special:EditGrowthConfig. This quarter we are working on making Community Configuration accessible for other MediaWiki developers while also moving Growth feature configuration to the new CommunityConfiguration extension.
An early version of Community Configuration can be tested at Spanish Beta Wikipedia. We plan to release the new Community Configuration extension to pilot wikis (Arabic and Spanish Wikipedia) in early May, 2024. The first non-Growth team feature to utilize Community Configuration will be Automoderator.
In parallel with the development, the Growth team will propose Community Configuration usage guidelines, Community Configuration design guidelines, and provide technical documentation.
The Growth team conducted an experiment to assess the impact of the “Add an Image” structured task on the Newcomer Homepage's "Suggested Edits" module. This analysis finds that the Add an Image structured task leads to an increase in newcomer participation on the mobile web platform, particularly by making constructive (non-reverted) article edits:
The likelihood that mobile web newcomers make their first article edit (+17.0% over baseline)
The likelihood that they are retained as newcomers (+24.3% over baseline)
The number of edits they make during their first two weeks on the wiki (+21.8% over baseline)
A lower probability of the newcomers' edits will be reverted (-3.3% over baseline).
This feature was developed for Mentors as part of the Growth team's Positive Reinforcement project. When A/B testing on Spanish Wikipedia, we found no significant impact on retention, but we found a significant positive impact on newcomer productivity. However, we concluded that the results weren’t positive enough to justify the time investment from Mentors. We plan to discuss this feature with our pilot wikis, and consider further improvements before scaling this feature further. Meanwhile, communities willing to test the feature can ask to have it deployed. (T361763)
As in previous years, donors were directed to a Thank you page after donation (example). However, this year we tested a new “Try editing Wikipedia,” call to action on the Thank You page. This call to action linked to a unique account creation page. From this account creation page we were able to track Registrations and Activation (editing for the first time). During the English banner campaign, the Donor Thank you page led to 4,398 new accounts, and 441 of those accounts went on to constructively edit within 24 hours. (T352900)
Future work
Annual Plan
The Growth team and the Editing team will work on the WE1.2 Key Result in the coming fiscal year. We will start initial discussions with communities soon to help finalize our plans. (T361657)
We plan to A/B test adding a new Community Configurable module to the Newcomer Homepage that will allow communities to highlight specific events, projects, campaigns, and initiatives. We are early in the planning phase of this project that will take place first at our pilot wikis and wikis volunteering. We welcome community feedback on initial designs and plans, in any language at our project talk page.
@Uchiha Itachi 25: depends what you want to say. If you just have general thoughts about the rename, you should probably keep them to yourself (per WP:NOTBLOG). If you think I misjudged the consensus in the discussion, you can leave a comment here (i.e. on my talk page), and I will consider your objection. If you are unsatisfied with my response, you can open a thread at deletion review. Alternatively, you may also place a request at WP:AN to ask an administrator to overturn my closure if you feel it was wildly off-base (emphasis on the "wildly" part: I sincerely doubt an admin will be willing to overturn my close without discussion, but it is an option you have. I have listed it for the sake of completeness). If no other place seems appropriate, you can leave a comment at Category talk:Autistic Wikipedians. (I will also note that the rename was from Category:Wikipedians with autism to Category:Autistic Wikipedians, not the other way around.)HouseBlaster (he/him) 23:45, 14 April 2024 (UTC)
Thank you for the thorough reply, and especially for correcting me with regard to the nature of the rename itself, as my misunderstanding of that was the entire root of my concern. Uchiha Itachi 25 (talk) 04:39, 24 April 2024 (UTC)
Partial undoing of a Cfd
Latest comment: 19 days ago5 comments2 people in discussion
Hey there. I came here because I realized made a slight mistake and since you closed the discussion I thought I should as you. In this discussion here about the Cleveland Guardian categories, I didn't mean to include the owners category as, even if the only the name changes, personnel category remains seperate for all team names regardless. So how do I undo the redirect there? Only that one, mind you. Omnis Scientia (talk) 17:12, 24 April 2024 (UTC)
@Omnis Scientia: If I understand your question correctly, you want to reverse the direction of the redirect? If so, opening a fresh CfD and explaining your reasoning is the best way forward. Thanks,HouseBlaster (he/him) 17:14, 24 April 2024 (UTC)
Just one of them. It was an oversight on my part. Omnis Scientia (talk) 18:46, 24 April 2024 (UTC)
Yeah, I would nominate just the one category for renaming. Best, HouseBlaster (he/him) 19:07, 24 April 2024 (UTC)
Thank you for your help. Much appreciated. Omnis Scientia (talk) 21:59, 24 April 2024 (UTC)
The Signpost: 25 April 2024
Latest comment: 18 days ago1 comment1 person in discussion
Message delivered to you with love by Yapperbot :) | Is this wrong? Contact my bot operator. | Sent at 01:31, 27 April 2024 (UTC)
Thanks for your work on Divine Child
Latest comment: 15 days ago2 comments2 people in discussion
Just wanted to send a message of thanks for your work on the Divine Child High School page. I am an alumni from 2016, and this is my service in giving back to the school that served me well. That is my own experience, as I know others may differ.
Best,
PSYCHREL PSYCHREL (talk) 02:37, 28 April 2024 (UTC)
@PSYCHREL: I can't say I recall working on the page: it appears I did some small edits which used automated tools over a year ago. You are quite welcome, though!
As much as it pains me to say this, if you went to the school, you probably shouldn't be editing the page. I fully realize the fact that you came here to say thanks, so I realize the irony in this request. However, you have a conflict of interest, and as such are discouraged from making any changes to the page. See our plain and simple guide to conflicts of interest for more information. Let me know if you have any questions, HouseBlaster (he/him) 02:56, 28 April 2024 (UTC)
Latest comment: 15 days ago1 comment1 person in discussion
Your recent article submission to Articles for Creation has been reviewed. Unfortunately, it has not been accepted at this time. The reason left by User toolbox was:
This submission appears to read more like an advertisement than an entry in an encyclopedia. Encyclopedia articles need to be written from a neutral point of view, and should refer to a range of independent, reliable, published sources, not just to materials produced by the creator of the subject being discussed. This is important so that the article can meet Wikipedia's verifiability policy and the notability of the subject can be established. If you still feel that this subject is worthy of inclusion in Wikipedia, please rewrite your submission to comply with these policies.
Please check the submission for any additional comments left by the reviewer. You are encouraged to edit the submission to address the issues raised and resubmit after they have been resolved.
Latest comment: 14 days ago9 comments2 people in discussion
Can you check my edits history and tell me if I made any mistakes? --XeVierTech (talk) 12:20, 29 April 2024 (UTC)
@XeVierTech: looks good to me! The only thing I would say is that this edit is probably not appropriate: you removed the maintenance tags without changing much of the article.HouseBlaster (he/him) 12:24, 29 April 2024 (UTC)
What do you suggest I should do? XeVierTech (talk) 12:24, 29 April 2024 (UTC)
@XeVierTech: I would simply re-add the maintenance banners. One other thing I missed: please do not remove the "use mdy dates", "use Canadian English", etc. tags from articles. Unlike the "Citation needed" banner, they are permanent tags which should stay on the article so all editors know what style of English the article uses.HouseBlaster (he/him) 12:28, 29 April 2024 (UTC)
@XeVierTech: the first thing you would need to do is take a screenshot, making sure there is no non-standard themes, third-party applications, or personally identifiable information (quote taken from the documentation of the "infobox"). Then, you should upload the image to a file-sharing service such as Flickr or Imgur, and send me the link. (You would normally upload the image directly to Wikipedia, but accounts must be at least four days old to upload images.) Best,HouseBlaster (he/him) 14:38, 29 April 2024 (UTC)
i uploaded it to wikimedia XeVierTech (talk) 14:39, 29 April 2024 (UTC)
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HarmonyOS_4.2_Home_screen.jpg XeVierTech (talk) 14:41, 29 April 2024 (UTC)
@XeVierTech: Images are super confusing. Wikimedia Commons is for free content images only, which means they have to be available under terms which permit copying, modifying, and even selling copies by anyone. However, the screenshot you uploaded is of proprietary software, which means it is not free content. Therefore, it needs to be uploaded to Wikipedia itself. (Don't worry if this makes no sense; it takes a while to get the hang of files on Wikipedia!) I filed a request with an admin to move the file from Commons to the English Wikipedia (thanks Explicit!), and have added the image to the article. HouseBlaster (he/him) 14:57, 29 April 2024 (UTC)
Will you keep me updated on that topic? XeVierTech (talk) 15:02, 29 April 2024 (UTC)
@XeVierTech: It should be all resolved now, but I will be sure to tell you of any updates :) HouseBlaster (he/him) 15:03, 29 April 2024 (UTC)
I mean, when I can add that picture to HarmonyOS page XeVierTech (talk) 15:05, 29 April 2024 (UTC)
Latest comment: 14 days ago2 comments2 people in discussion
How can I upload a picture to wikipedia I the future? --XeVierTech (talk) 17:22, 29 April 2024 (UTC)
@XeVierTech: you need to have an account which is four days old to upload images to Wikipedia. Once you do, see the file upload wizard for instructions.HouseBlaster (he/him) 17:24, 29 April 2024 (UTC)
The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from 6 February. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from 7 February. It will be on all wikis from 8 February (calendar). [3][4]
In progress HouseBlaster (talk · he/him) 22:14, 2 February 2024 (UTC)
; see Talk:1934 German referendum for comments about the article, and Talk:1934 German referendum/GA1 for the nomination. Well done! If the article is eligible to appear in the "Did you know" section of the Main Page, you can nominate it within the next seven days. Message delivered by ChristieBot, on behalf of Elli -- Elli (talk) 23:24, 7 February 2024 (UTC)
As work continues on the grid engine deprecation,[15] tools on the grid engine will be stopped starting on February 14th, 2024. If you have tools actively migrating you can ask for an extension so they are not stopped. [16]
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An interview with Bishop is not independent of Bishop
A new Edit Recovery feature has been added to all wikis, available as a user preference. Once you enable it, your in-progress edits will be stored in your web browser, and if you accidentally close an editing window or your browser or computer crashes, you will be prompted to recover the unpublished text. Please leave any feedback on the project talk page. This was the #8 wish in the 2023 Community Wishlist Survey.
. Just paste the link to a webpage with the logo (e.g. the company website) here and tell me which thing is actually the logo. Best, HouseBlaster (he/him) 03:47, 15 April 2024 (UTC)
added the image to the article. HouseBlaster (he/him) 14:57, 29 April 2024 (UTC)
