User talk:TheSandDoctor/Archives/2022/August
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Tech News: 2022-31
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
- Improved LaTeX capabilities for math rendering are now available in the wikis thanks to supporting
Phantomtags. This completes part of the #59 wish of the 2022 Community Wishlist Survey.
Changes later this week
The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from 2 August. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from 3 August. It will be on all wikis from 4 August (calendar).- The Realtime Preview will be available as a Beta Feature on wikis in Group 0. This feature was built in order to fulfill one of the Community Wishlist Survey proposals.
Future changes
- The Beta Feature for DiscussionTools will be updated throughout August. Discussions will look different. You can see some of the proposed changes.
Future meetings
- This week, three meetings about Vector (2022) with live interpretation will take place. On Tuesday, interpretation in Russian will be provided. On Thursday, meetings for Arabic and Spanish speakers will take place. See how to join.
Tech news prepared by Tech News writers and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe.
21:20, 1 August 2022 (UTC)
Rollback
Backlog at WP:PERM/R. Would you mind having a look? Dr.Pinsky (talk) 06:51, 2 August 2022 (UTC)
- @Dr.Pinsky: I have looked and addressed the two entries there, but for future: 2 really isn't a backlog at all. As an aside, {{backlog}} typically displays when venues are backlogged and is generally done automatically. TheSandDoctor Talk 14:51, 2 August 2022 (UTC)
Question from AwldSkreweel (17:40, 2 August 2022)
I see a lot of entries that say "citation needed." Would it be okay to pick one and research it to find the appropriate citation? --AwldSkreweel (talk) 17:40, 2 August 2022 (UTC)
- @AwldSkreweel: Yes, it would be! I would recommend reading this short guide to referencing/reliable sources and this short quiz to confirm understanding on what reliable sources look like (don't worry, there are no marks given & the answers are there. It's just a tool to help you learn.). TheSandDoctor Talk 19:11, 2 August 2022 (UTC)
Feedback request: All RFCs request for comment
Your feedback is requested at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Tennis on a "All RFCs" request for comment. Thank you for helping out!
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Feedback request: All RFCs request for comment
Your feedback is requested at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Politics/American politics on a "All RFCs" request for comment. Thank you for helping out!
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Request for peer review help
Hello again. I hope you are doing well and enjoying your weekend so far. I was wondering if you could possibly help me with my current peer review? I have already received a good amount of engagement and reviews, and I am very thankful for that, and I wanted to reach out to you since you have always been very helpful and honest with your feedback. I completely understand if you do not have the time or interest. Best of luck with everything! Aoba47 (talk) 00:10, 31 July 2022 (UTC)
- @Aoba47: I've left a review. You've done some good work on the article! I think it has a shot at the FA level. TheSandDoctor Talk 18:14, 31 July 2022 (UTC)
- Thank you for the kind words and for your review. The "records" typo was very silly on my part. I have been trying to use the peer review space more often to ease the transition into the FAC space, particularly for the articles that I had worked on years ago. I have found the process very nice and I am grateful for the reviewers as it is a fun collaborative process. Aoba47 (talk) 18:24, 31 July 2022 (UTC)
- @Aoba47: You're most welcome! You have been of tremendous help to me and I am always happy to return the favour and lend a hand whenever I can. Typos are the bane of my existence—believe me, I make my fair share of them—and I do my best to point them out/fix them whenever I see 'em.
Please do ping or something when it goes to FAC; barring any insanely unlikely changes, you can count on my support for this one per my comments at the peer review. TheSandDoctor Talk 03:10, 3 August 2022 (UTC)
- @Aoba47: You're most welcome! You have been of tremendous help to me and I am always happy to return the favour and lend a hand whenever I can. Typos are the bane of my existence—believe me, I make my fair share of them—and I do my best to point them out/fix them whenever I see 'em.
- Thank you for the kind words and for your review. The "records" typo was very silly on my part. I have been trying to use the peer review space more often to ease the transition into the FAC space, particularly for the articles that I had worked on years ago. I have found the process very nice and I am grateful for the reviewers as it is a fun collaborative process. Aoba47 (talk) 18:24, 31 July 2022 (UTC)
Bolivian Studies Journal
what would be examples of reliable secondary sources? Do ISBN numbers not count? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Xavier Serif (talk • contribs) 13:36, 2 August 2022 (UTC)
- @Xavier Serif: Having an ISBN number doesn't implicitly make something a reliable source, though can be a step in the right direction or a good indicator. The problem here, though, is that it appears the only references for the draft are the journal itself, which are primary sources; what Wikipedia requires are significant secondary sources that cover article subjects (in this case, the journal). Though it isn't a formal guideline, Wikipedia:Notability (academic journals) is a good explanatory essay/page for guidance relating to this. Since journals don't have their own explicit guideline, the relevant (formal) one would be the general notability guideline.
- This guide to creating your first article might be of use as well. I hope that this has helped. Please let me know if you have any further questions or need clarification. TheSandDoctor Talk 03:04, 3 August 2022 (UTC)
Question from Assafzing (01:17, 3 August 2022)
how to create a wiki page --Assafzing (talk) 01:17, 3 August 2022 (UTC)
- Hello @Assafzing:! This is a good guide to creating your first article, but I would recommend starting with this interactive tutorial to get a head start on how to edit Wikipedia etc. I hope that you like your time here and decide to stay. Wikipedia can have quite a learning curve—I was there, too, a few short years ago and I remember it—but we are here to try and help lessen that curve and point you in the right direction. Please let me know if you have any questions! TheSandDoctor Talk 03:07, 3 August 2022 (UTC)
JCKitKat
Hi, I'm not here to question why you didn't block them for the sockpuppeting ipso facto, but I think the content of what they created that sock to do, i.e. the attacks on me on my talk page (with both accounts) and the ANI thread, show it wasn't just an innocent mistake. That thread, and their talk page, have numerous instructions for how to deal with their COI, plus welcome messages for how to edit and the pillars etc, that they've removed and then think they can ignore. She is still SPAing for the LaGuardia Archives, adding photos from there without proper attribution directly to affected pages, without posting anywhere on the article talks. This user probably does have good intentions in the broadest sense, but it looks a lot like they're not here to build a collaborative encyclopedia as much as promote their project, which even if a non-profit/educational venture is still a promotional COI issue. She's not the only one to have spent time on these articles that she's adding bad sources/formatting/files etc to, making them poorer by BLP standards or just deleting content spuriously for revenge (as Demonslayer). I think they need a sterner warning, and a serious demonstration that they understand WP policies. Thank you, JesseRafe (talk) 13:25, 3 August 2022 (UTC)
- @JesseRafe: I was writing out a response reiterating what you had said on their user talk page, but then noticed that they did disclose on their userpage that they are a colleague student using their college's archives and have read the COI policy. This appears to make your templated welcome, at least partially, moot as this was done before your TP message? At this point I believe a note on editing warring/seeking consensus and/or on copyright might be the best way forward. While it is a copyright issue on Commons, I really don't see how adding a context appropriate image (i.e. of the subject, especially where one doesn't already exist on-wiki) from their university archive would be a COI issue on enwiki; sort of like how alum of institutions using their institution's academic paper access to add information and citations to drafts/articles isn't a COI. I understand that they attacked you and I sympathize, but they have been warned, have apologized for their past conduct, and haven't repeated the behaviour to date. If they do personally attack again, let me know; I would be the first in line to block given that they would have blown their second chance. TheSandDoctor Talk 15:15, 3 August 2022 (UTC)
- OK, will sit on it, and as I was already watching most of the pages they'd edited, I'll follow up if it continues (though not further on their talk page, because I earnestly doubt they'll perceive the same content from me vs from you, or anyone else, the same way as they no doubt perceive me as "out for them"). But I'm just not seeing any contrite attempt to edit constructively or recognize what they did was in fault, in my view just unilaterally declaring their unspecified actions to be in the past puts a damper on the sincerity of the apology, if this is what you were referring to: "My sincere apologies of the actions I've done that are in the past now." But maybe I'm reading too much into it, just don't see that as owning of their actions. Cheers, JesseRafe (talk) 16:31, 3 August 2022 (UTC)
Administrators' newsletter – August 2022
News and updates for administrators from the past month (July 2022).
Administrator changes
Guideline and policy news
- An RfC has been closed with consensus to add javascript that will show edit notices for editors editing via a mobile device. This only works for users using a mobile browser, so iOS app editors will still not be able to see edit notices.
- An RfC has been closed with the consensus that train stations are not inherently notable.
Technical news
- The Wikimania 2022 Hackathon will take place virtually from 11 August to 14 August.
- Administrators will now see links on user pages for "Change block" and "Unblock user" instead of just "Block user" if the user is already blocked. (T308570)
Arbitration
- The arbitration case request Geschichte has been automatically closed after a 3 month suspension of the case.
Miscellaneous
- You can vote for candidates in the 2022 Board of Trustees elections from 16 August to 30 August. Two community elected seats are up for election.
- Wikimania 2022 is taking place virtually from 11 August to 14 August. The schedule for wikimania is listed here. There are also a number of in-person events associated with Wikimania around the world.
- Tech tip: When revision-deleting on desktop, hold ⇧ Shift between clicking two checkboxes to select every box in that range.
New Page Patrol newsletter August 2022
Hello TheSandDoctor/Archives/2022,
- Backlog status
After the last newsletter (No.28, June 2022), the backlog declined another 1,000 to 13,000 in the last week of June. Then the July backlog drive began, during which 9,900 articles were reviewed and the backlog fell by 4,500 to just under 8,500 (these numbers illustrate how many new articles regularly flow into the queue). Thanks go to the coordinators Buidhe and Zippybonzo, as well as all the nearly 100 participants. Congratulations to Dr vulpes who led with 880 points. See this page for further details.
Unfortunately, most of the decline happened in the first half of the month, and the backlog has already risen to 9,600. Understandably, it seems many backlog drive participants are taking a break from reviewing and unfortunately, we are not even keeping up with the inflow let alone driving it lower. We need the other 600 reviewers to do more! Please try to do at least one a day.
- Coordination
- MB and Novem Linguae have taken on some of the coordination tasks. Please let them know if you are interested in helping out. MPGuy2824 will be handling recognition, and will be retroactively awarding the annual barnstars that have not been issued for a few years.
- Open letter to the WMF
- The Page Curation software needs urgent attention. There are dozens of bug fixes and enhancements that are stalled (listed at Suggested improvements). We have written a letter to be sent to the WMF and we encourage as many patrollers as possible to sign it here. We are also in negotiation with the Board of Trustees to press for assistance. Better software will make the active reviewers we have more productive.
- TIP - Reviewing by subject
- Reviewers who prefer to patrol new pages by their most familiar subjects can do so from the regularly updated sorted topic list.
- New reviewers
- The NPP School is being underused. The learning curve for NPP is quite steep, but a detailed and easy-to-read tutorial exists, and the Curation Tool's many features are fully described and illustrated on the updated page here.
- Reminders
- Consider staying informed on project issues by putting the project discussion page on your watchlist.
- If you have noticed a user with a good understanding of Wikipedia notability and deletion, suggest they help the effort by placing
{{subst:NPR invite}}
on their talk page. - If you are no longer very active on Wikipedia or you no longer wish to be part of the New Page Reviewer user group, please consider asking any admin to remove you from the list. This will enable NPP to have a better overview of its performance and what improvements need to be made to the process and its software.
- To opt-out of future mailings, please remove yourself here.
Delivered by: MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 21:25, 6 August 2022 (UTC)
ACC Tool User account inactivity
Hi TheSandDoctor! Because you have been inactive on the ACC Tool for longer than 90 days, I have suspended your access to it. This is only for inactivity, and does not affect your standing with the Account Creations team in any way. If you wish to return, simply let me (or another ACC Tool admin) know, and we'll be happy to re-instate your ACC Tool User account. :-) Best - ~Oshwah~(talk) (contribs) 22:34, 6 August 2022 (UTC)
Tech News: 2022-32
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
- GUS2Wiki copies the information from Special:GadgetUsage to an on-wiki page so you can review its history. If your project isn't already listed on the Wikidata entry for Project:GUS2Wiki you can either run GUS2Wiki yourself or make a request to receive updates. [1]
Changes later this week
- There is no new MediaWiki version this week.
- Some wikis will be in read-only for a few minutes because of a switch of their main database. It will be performed on 9 August at 07:00 UTC (targeted wikis) and on 11 August at 7:00 UTC (targeted wikis).
Future meetings
- The Wikimania Hackathon will take place online from August 12–14. Don't miss the pre-hacking showcase to learn about projects and find collaborators. Anyone can propose a project or host a session. Newcomers are welcome!
Tech news prepared by Tech News writers and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe.
19:48, 8 August 2022 (UTC)
Archived SPI case
Hey TheSandDoctor,
I was just looking at an SPI case I opened last week (to bookmark the name in case I had to report them again). In doing so I saw that the archive of the SPI had a duplicate entry. Just wanted to let you know since I didn't think I was allowed to clean it up. Hey man im josh (talk) 13:16, 12 August 2022 (UTC)
- @Hey man im josh: Thank you for letting me know! I've removed the duplicate entry. You are correct that you should report errors/duplicates to a clerk (or CU) rather than edit archives yourself. I'm always happy to look at archives with issues and answer questions should you have any in future. TheSandDoctor Talk 14:36, 12 August 2022 (UTC)
- Thank you, I'll be sure to keep that in my mind. Hey man im josh (talk) 14:38, 12 August 2022 (UTC)
Question from Volcan 1982 (17:25, 15 August 2022)
How can I become an editor of Wikipedia? --Volcan 1982 (talk) 17:25, 15 August 2022 (UTC)
- Hello @Volcan 1982:! You already are one! I'd recommend following this interactive tutorial to start learning the ropes. TheSandDoctor Talk 17:29, 15 August 2022 (UTC)
Tech News: 2022-33
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 Persian (Farsi) Wikipedia community decided to block IP editing from October 2021 to April 2022. The Wikimedia Foundation's Product Analytics team tracked the impact of this change. An impact report is now available.
Changes later this week
- The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from 16 August. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from 17 August. It will be on all wikis from 18 August (calendar).
- Some wikis will be in read-only for a few minutes because of a switch of their main database. It will be performed on 16 August at 07:00 UTC (targeted wikis) and on 18 August at 7:00 UTC (targeted wikis).
- The Realtime Preview will be available as a Beta Feature on wikis in Group 1. This feature was built in order to fulfill one of the Community Wishlist Survey proposals.
Future changes
- The Beta Feature for DiscussionTools will be updated throughout August. Discussions will look different. You can see some of the proposed changes. [2][3][4]
Tech news prepared by Tech News writers and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe.
21:07, 15 August 2022 (UTC)
NPP message
Hi TheSandDoctor/Archives/2022,
- Invitation
For those who may have missed it in our last newsletter, here's a quick reminder to see the letter we have drafted, and if you support it, do please go ahead and sign it. If you already signed, thanks. Also, if you haven't noticed, the backlog has been trending up lately; all reviews are greatly appreciated.
To opt-out of future mailings, please remove yourself here.
MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 23:11, 20 August 2022 (UTC)
Tech News: 2022-34
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
- Two problems with Kartographer maps have been fixed. Maps are no longer shown as empty when a geoline was created via VisualEditor. Geolines consisting of points with QIDs (e.g., subway lines) are no longer shown with pushpins. [5][6]
Changes later this week
- The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from 23 August. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from 24 August. It will be on all wikis from 25 August (calendar).
- Some wikis will be in read-only for a few minutes because of a switch of their main database. It will be performed on 25 August at 7:00 UTC (targeted wikis).
- The colours of links and visited links will change. This is to make the difference between links and other text more clear. [7]
Future changes
- The new [subscribe] button helps newcomers get answers. The Editing team is enabling this tool everywhere. You can turn it off in your preferences. [8]
Tech news prepared by Tech News writers and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe.
00:10, 23 August 2022 (UTC)
Editing news 2022 #2
Read this in another language • Subscription list for this multilingual newsletter
The new [subscribe] button notifies people when someone replies to their comments. It helps newcomers get answers to their questions. People reply sooner. You can read the report. The Editing team is turning this tool on for everyone. You will be able to turn it off in your preferences.
Question from I.C.Brindle (12:09, 26 August 2022)
Hello,
I've made the required edits to qualify for creating a homepage with info etc. How do I access this? --I.C.Brindle (talk) 12:09, 26 August 2022 (UTC)
- @I.C.Brindle: I don't understand your question, I'm afraid. If you are looking on how to create an article, there is this guide that would be of use. If you want to create a user page (like what I have at User:TheSandDoctor), then I would read this page. If your question is something else entirely, please advise. TheSandDoctor Talk 16:21, 26 August 2022 (UTC)
Tech News: 2022-35
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 Realtime Preview is available as a Beta Feature on wikis in Group 2. This feature was built in order to fulfill one of the Community Wishlist Survey proposals. Please note that when this Beta feature is enabled, it may cause conflicts with some wiki-specific Gadgets.
Problems
- In recent months, there have been inaccurate numbers shown for various Special:Statistics at Commons, Wikidata, and English Wikipedia. This has now been fixed. [9]
Changes later this week
- The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from 30 August. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from 31 August. It will be on all wikis from 1 September (calendar).
- Some wikis will be in read-only for a few minutes because of a switch of their main database. It will be performed on 30 August at 07:00 UTC (targeted wikis) and on 1 September at 7:00 UTC (targeted wikis).
Future changes
- The Wikimedia Foundation wants to improve how Wikimedia communities report harmful incidents by building the Private Incident Reporting System (PIRS) to make it easy and safe for users to make reports. You can leave comments on the talk page, by answering the questions provided. If you have ever faced a harmful situation that you wanted to report/reported, join a PIRS interview to share your experience. To sign up please email Madalina Ana.
Tech news prepared by Tech News writers and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe.
23:03, 29 August 2022 (UTC)