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.
I have just concluded an AfC review of yet another draft for
Igorrr which was salted back in 2015.
The article has significantly improved since its last review in AfC (about a month ago), and presumably more so since 2015.
It has significantly more sources as well as being no more advertising than its counterparts. Alas, it is in fact oversourced, with a heavy array of unsuited sources (running the range from primary/unreliable/non-independent etc etc)
After an overly lengthy review I managed to extract a few suitable sources (though I concede at least a couple of them would not be immune to challenge). I did of course close them before finding out this was salted, but hopefully I've been able to re-dig them up. They aren't in any order other than their position in the reference list. Please read or not as you see fit.
Regarding
WP:NMUSIC I would say that as well as criterion 1, it also satisfies criteria 4 & 7
just pointing out It also passes criteria 2 (album charted on a national chart) and possibly 8 & 10 (nominated for a major award - though it's for a soundtrack so it's a film award. The soundtrack has received lots of coverage.) as well as probably criteria #5 (Metal Blade & Ad Noiseam records).
RF23 (
talk) 21:13, 19 July 2018 (UTC)
Nosebagbear,
Ringerfan23 the current draft is sufficiently different than the deleted version, and it's been a few years, if you want to accept the draft and move it over, I have no strong conviction otherwise. Not commenting on this particular drafts suitability, but I am not going to stand in the way. --
kelapstick(
bainuu) 18:54, 20 July 2018 (UTC)
Many thanks - I'll send it through and we shall see what happens.
Nosebagbear (
talk) 18:57, 20 July 2018 (UTC)
After
a discussion at Meta, a new user group called "
interface administrators" (formerly "technical administrator") has been created. Come the end of August, interface admins will be the only users able to edit site-wide JavaScript and CSS pages like
MediaWiki:Common.js and
MediaWiki:Common.css, or edit other user's personal JavaScript and CSS. The intention is to improve security and privacy by reducing the number of accounts which could be used to compromise the site or another user's account through malicious code. The new user group can be assigned and revoked by
bureaucrats.
Discussion is ongoing to establish details for implementing the group on the English Wikipedia.
Following a
request for comment, the
WP:SISTER style guideline now states that in the mainspace, interwiki links to
Wikinews should only be made as per the
external links guideline. This generally means that within the body of an article, you should not link to Wikinews about a particular event that is only a part of the larger topic. Wikinews links in "external links" sections can be used where helpful, but not automatically if an equivalent article from a reliable news outlet could be linked in the same manner.
Technical news
The WMF
Anti-Harassment Tools team is seeking input on the
second set of wireframes for the
Special:Block redesign that will introduce
partial blocks. The new functionality will allow you to block a user from editing a specific set of pages, pages in a category, a namespace, and for specific actions such as moving pages and uploading files.
Following
a "stop-gap" discussion, six users have temporarily been made
interface administrators while
discussion is ongoing for a more permanent process for assigning the permission. Interface administrators are now the only editors allowed to edit sitewide
CSS and
JavaScript pages, as well as CSS/JS pages in another user's userspace. Previously, all administrators had this ability. The right can be granted and revoked by bureaucrats.
Technical news
Because of
a data centre test you will be able to read but not edit the wikis for up to an hour on 12 September and 10 October. This will start at 14:00 (UTC). You might lose edits if you try to save during this time. The time when you can't edit might be shorter than an hour.
Some
abuse filter variables
have changed. They are now easier to understand for non-experts. The old variables will still work but filter editors are encouraged to replace them with the new ones. You can find the list of changed variables
on mediawiki.org. They have a note which says Deprecated. Use ... instead. An example is article_text which is now page_title.
Abuse filters
can now use how old a page is. The variable is page_age.
Arbitration
The Arbitration Committee has resolved to perform a round of
Checkuser and Oversight appointments. The usernames of all applicants will be shared with the
Functionaries team, and they will be requested to assist in the vetting process. The deadline to submit an application is 23:59 UTC, 12 September, and the candidates that move forward will be published on-wiki for community comments on 18 September.
Your fight against vandalism including 202.142.107.3 is important to the maintenance of a useful Wikipedia. Thank you!
Nat.Account (
talk) 04:06, 15 September 2018 (UTC)
A barnstar for you!
Snowflake award
Not just cuz you're Canadian and thus need extra hugs, but also to celebrate the return of winter--on a day where I'm sweating in my shorts.
Drmies (
talk) 02:07, 14 September 2018 (UTC)
Does kelapstick still exist? I thought he fell off the face of the earth a few months after getting elected to ArbCom.
Softlavender (
talk) 03:15, 14 September 2018 (UTC)
Oh I am still around, kind of. It's easier to get ah old of me by text these days though. I don't seem to get logged in very often. --
kelapstick(
bainuu) 21:01, 17 September 2018 (UTC)
Revoke protection for the title ITC Infotech
I'd like to request you to revoke protection for the title ITC Infotech.
As I've gone through the reasons for previous deletions, I tried to add only that much content which has reliable links. The other editors can further add to the page.
Sahiltaivas (
talk) 09:06, 1 October 2018 (UTC)
Sure. Here is the
draft for the same title. The draft has only limited content that can be supported with strong reference links. Me and other editors can contribute more with time when more sources become available. ITC Infotech is one important IT organization in India under aegis of one of the largest group, ITC. I think it deserves to have a Wikipedia page.
Rest, I'll look forward to your further guidance.
If that were an article, it would be deleted very quickly, as it does not demonstrate
notability. As I said above, please use the Articles for Creation process, they may be able to help you. But at this stage, I will not be removing protection. --
kelapstick(
bainuu) 14:30, 5 October 2018 (UTC)
There is an open
request for comment on Meta regarding the creation a new user group for global edit filter management.
Technical news
Partial blocks should be available for testing in October on the
Test Wikipedia and the
Beta-Cluster. This new feature allows admins to block users from editing specific pages and in the near-future, namespaces and uploading files. You can expect more updates and an invitation to help with testing once it is available.
The Foundations' Anti-Harassment Tools team is currently looking for input on how to
measure the effectiveness of blocks. This is in particular related to how they will measure the success of the aforementioned partial blocks.
Because of
a data centre test, you will be able to read but not edit the Wikimedia projects for up to an hour on 10 October. This will start at 14:00 (UTC). You might lose edits if you try to save during this time.
Following a
request for comment, the size of the Arbitration Committee will be decreased to 13 arbitrators, starting in 2019. Additionally, the minimum support percentage required to be appointed to a two-year term on ArbCom has been increased to 60%. ArbCom candidates who receive between 50% and 60% support will be appointed to one-year terms instead.
Nominations for the 2018 Arbitration Committee Electoral Commission are
being accepted until 12 October. These are the editors who help run the ArbCom election smoothly. If you are interested in volunteering for this role, please consider nominating yourself.
Partial blocks is now available for testing on the
Test Wikipedia. The new functionality allows you to block users from editing specific pages. Bugs may exist and can be reported on the
local talk page or on
Meta. A discussion regarding deployment to English Wikipedia will be started by community liaisons sometime in the near future.
A
user script is now available to quickly review unblock requests.
The
2019 Community Wishlist Survey is now accepting new proposals until November 11, 2018. The results of this survey will determine what software the Wikimedia Foundation's Community Tech team will work on next year. Voting on the proposals will take place from November 16 to November 30, 2018. Specifically, there is a proposal category for
admins and stewards that may be of interest.
Arbitration
Eligible editors will be invited to nominate themselves as candidates in the
2018 Arbitration Committee Elections starting on November 4 until November 13. Voting will begin on November 19 and last until December 2.
The Arbitration Committee's email address
has changed to arbcom-enwikimedia.org. Other email lists, such as functionaries-en and clerks-l, remain unchanged.
2:30. November. 24th. 2018. Volunteer Marek 18:50, 9 November 2018 (UTC)
I think we're ready, VM.
Drmies (
talk) 18:45, 20 November 2018 (UTC)
ArbCom 2018 election voter message
Hello, Kelapstick. Voting in the 2018 Arbitration Committee elections is now open until 23.59 on Sunday, 3 December. All users who registered an account before Sunday, 28 October 2018, made at least 150 mainspace edits before Thursday, 1 November 2018 and are not currently blocked are eligible to vote. Users with alternate accounts may only vote once.
The
Arbitration Committee is the panel of editors responsible for conducting the
Wikipedia arbitration process. It has the authority to impose binding solutions to disputes between editors, primarily for serious conduct disputes the community has been unable to resolve. This includes the authority to impose
site bans,
topic bans, editing restrictions, and other measures needed to maintain our editing environment. The
arbitration policy describes the Committee's roles and responsibilities in greater detail.
I really wish you hadn't. --
kelapstick(
bainuu) 18:53, 20 November 2018 (UTC)
arc
I posted this to Katie already, so don't want to post there again, but the TBAN seems to have been listed
here.
TonyBallioni (
talk) 03:15, 28 November 2018 (UTC)
Thanks. I was absent from that vote. Must be why I don’t remember. At least that is my story. —
kelapstick(
bainuu) 03:18, 28 November 2018 (UTC)
A
request for comment is in progress to determine whether members of the
Bot Approvals Group should satisfy activity requirements in order to remain in that role.
A
request for comment is in progress regarding whether to change the administrator inactivity policy, such that administrators "who have made no logged administrative actions for at least 12 months may be desysopped". Currently, the policy states that administrators "who have made neither edits nor administrative actions for at least 12 months may be desysopped".
Administrators and bureaucrats can no longer unblock themselves unless they placed the block initially. This
change has been implemented globally. See also
this ongoing village pump discussion (
permalink).
To complement the aforementioned change, blocked administrators will soon have the ability to block the administrator that placed their block to mitigate the possibility of a compromised administrator account blocking all other active administrators.
In late November, an attacker compromised multiple accounts, including at least four administrator accounts, and used them to vandalize Wikipedia. If you have ever used your current password on any other website, you should change it immediately. Sharing the same password across multiple websites makes your account vulnerable, especially if your password was used on
a website that suffered a data breach. As these incidents have shown, these concerns are not pure fantasies.
Shock Brigade Harvester Boris (Raymond Arritt) passed away on 14 November 2018. Boris joined Wikipedia as Raymond arritt on 8 May 2006 and was an administrator from 30 July 2007 to 2 June 2008.
Thank you
CambridgeBayWeather, and same to you I have managed to make it up to NWT a few times this year, most recently two weeks ago. All the best to you and yours, --
kelapstick(
bainuu) 18:31, 21 December 2018 (UTC)
Kelapstick, Have a prosperous, productive and enjoyable
New Year, and thanks for your contributions to Wikipedia.
Donner60 (
talk) 05:52, 31 December 2018 (UTC)
R4 (new): Redirects in the file namespace (and no
file links) that have the same name as a file or redirect at
Commons are now covered under the new R4 criterion (
discussion). This is {{db-redircom}}; the text is unchanged.
G13 (expanded): Userspace drafts containing only the default Article Wizard text are now covered under G13 along with other drafts (
discussion). Such blank drafts are now eligible after six months rather than one year, and taggers continue to use {{db-blankdraft}}.
Members of the
Bot Approvals Group (BAG) are
now subject to an activity requirement. After two years without any bot-related activity (e.g. operating a bot, posting on a bot-related talk page), BAG members will be retired from BAG following a one-week notice.
Technical news
Starting on December 13, the Wikimedia Foundation security team implemented new
password policy and requirements. Privileged accounts (administrators, bureaucrats, checkusers, oversighters, interface administrators, bots, edit filter managers/helpers, template editors,
et al.) must have a password at least 10 characters in length. All accounts must have a password:
User accounts not meeting these requirements will be prompted to update their password accordingly. More information is available
on MediaWiki.org.
Blocked administrators
may now block the administrator that blocked them. This was done to mitigate the possibility that a compromised administrator account would block all other active administrators, complementing the removal of the ability to unblock oneself outside of self-imposed blocks. A
request for comment is currently in progress to determine whether the blocking policy should be updated regarding this change.
{{Copyvio-revdel}} now has a link to open the history with the
RevDel checkboxes already filled in.
Accounts continue to be compromised on a regular basis. Evidence shows this is entirely due to the accounts having the same password that was used on another website that suffered a data breach. If you have ever used your current password on any other website, you should change it immediately.
Around 22% of admins have enabled
two-factor authentication, up from 20% in June 2018. If you haven't already enabled it, please consider
doing so. Regardless of whether you use 2FA, please practice appropriate
account security by ensuring your password is
secure and unique to Wikimedia.
Administrators who are blocked have the technical ability to block the administrator who blocked their own account. A recent
request for comment has amended the
blocking policy to clarify that this ability should only be used in exceptional circumstances, such as account compromises, where there is a clear and immediate need.
A
request for comment closed with a consensus in favor of deprecating The Sun as a permissible reference, and creating an edit filter to warn users who attempt to cite it.
Technical news
A
discussion regarding an overhaul of the format and appearance of
Wikipedia:Requests for page protection is in progress (
permalink). The proposed changes will make it easier to create requests for those who are not using Twinkle. The workflow for administrators at this venue will largely be unchanged. Additionally, there are plans to archive requests similar to how it is done at
WP:PERM, where historical records are kept so that prior requests can more easily be searched for.
A new
IRC bot is available that allows you to subscribe to notifications when specific filters are tripped. This requires that your IRC handle be
identified.
Following discussions at
the Bureaucrats' noticeboard and
Wikipedia talk:Administrators, an earlier change to the
restoration of adminship policy was
reverted. If requested, bureaucrats will not restore administrator permissions removed due to inactivity if there have been five years without a logged administrator action; this "five year rule" does not apply to permissions removed voluntarily.
Technical news
A
new tool is available to help determine if a given IP is an open proxy/VPN/webhost/compromised host.
Arbitration
The Arbitration Committee announced
two new OTRS queues. Both are meant solely for cases involving private information; other cases will continue to be handled at the appropriate venues (e.g.,
WP:COIN or
WP:SPI).
paid-en-wpwikipedia.org has been set up to receive private evidence related to abusive
paid editing.
checkuser-en-wpwikipedia.org has been set up to receive private requests for CheckUser. For instance, requests for IP block exemption for anonymous proxy editing should now be sent to this address instead of the functionaries-en list.
The Wikimedia Foundation's Community health initiative plans to design and build a new user reporting system to make it easier for people experiencing harassment and other forms of abuse to provide accurate information to the appropriate channel for action to be taken. Please see
meta:Community health initiative/User reporting system consultation 2019 to provide your input on this idea.
Two more administrator accounts were compromised. Evidence has shown that these attacks, like previous incidents, were due to reusing a password that was used on another website that suffered a data breach. If you have ever used your current password on any other website, you should change it immediately. All admins are strongly encouraged to enable
two-factor authentication, please consider doing so. Please always practice appropriate
account security by ensuring your password is
secure and unique to Wikimedia.
As a reminder, according to
WP:NOQUORUM, administrators looking to close or relist an AfD should evaluate a nomination that has received few or no comments as if it were a
proposed deletion (PROD) prior to determining whether it should be relisted.
Recently, several Wikipedia admin accounts were compromised. The admin accounts were
desysopped on an emergency basis. In the past, the Committee often resysopped admin accounts as a matter of course once the admin was back in control of their account. The committee has updated its guidelines. Admins may now be required to undergo a fresh
Request for Adminship (RfA) after losing control of their account.
What do I need to do?
Only to follow the instructions in this message.
Check that your password is unique (not reused across sites).
Check that your password is strong (not simple or guessable).
Enable Two-factor authentication (2FA), if you can, to create a second hurdle for attackers.
How can I find out more about two-factor authentication (2FA)?
Administrator account security (Correction to Arbcom 2019 special circular)
ArbCom would like to apologise and correct our previous mass message in light of the response from the community.
Since November 2018, six administrator accounts have been compromised and temporarily desysopped. In an effort to help improve account security, our intention was to remind administrators of existing policies on account security — that they are
required to "have strong passwords and
follow appropriate personal security practices." We have
updated our procedures to ensure that we enforce these policies more strictly in the future. The policies themselves have not changed. In particular,
two-factor authentication remains an optional means of adding extra security to your account. The choice not to enable 2FA will not be considered when deciding to restore sysop privileges to administrator accounts that were compromised.
We are sorry for the wording of our previous message, which did not accurately convey this, and deeply regret the tone in which it was delivered.
For the Arbitration Committee, -
Cameron11598 21:03, 4 May 2019 (UTC)
XTools Admin Stats, a tool to list admins by administrative actions, has been revamped to support more types of log entries such as AbuseFilter changes. Two additional tools have been integrated into it as well:
Steward Stats and
Patroller Stats.
Arbitration
In response to the continuing compromise of administrator accounts, the Arbitration Committee
passed a motion amending the
procedures for return of permissions (
diff). In such cases, the committee will review all available information to determine whether the administrator followed "appropriate personal security practices" before restoring permissions; administrators found failing to have adequately done so will not be resysopped automatically. All current administrators have been notified of this change.
Following a
formal ratification process, the
arbitration policy has been amended (
diff). Specifically, the two-thirds majority required to remove or suspend an arbitrator now excludes (1) the arbitrator facing suspension or removal, and (2) any inactive arbitrator who does not respond within 30 days to attempts to solicit their feedback on the resolution through all known methods of communication.
The CSD feature of
Twinkle now allows admins to notify page creators of deletion if the page had not been tagged. The default behavior matches that of tagging notifications, and replaces the ability to open the user talk page upon deletion. You can customize which criteria receive notifications in your
Twinkle preferences: look for Notify page creator when deleting under these criteria.
Twinkle's d-batch (batch delete) feature now supports deleting subpages (and related redirects and talk pages) of each page. The pages will be listed first but use with caution! The und-batch (batch undelete) option can now also restore talk pages.
Miscellaneous
The
previously discussed unblocking of IP addresses indefinitely-blocked before 2009 was
approved and has taken place.
In a related matter, the account throttle has been restored to six creations per day as the
mitigation activity completed.
The scope of
CSD criterion G8 has
been tightened such that the only redirects that it now applies to are those which target non-existent pages.
The scope of
CSD criterion G14 has
been expanded slightly to include orphan "Foo (disambiguation)" redirects that target pages that are not disambiguation pages or pages that perform a disambiguation-like function (such as set index articles or lists).
The Wikimedia Foundation's
Community health initiative plans to design and build a
new user reporting system to make it easier for people experiencing harassment and other forms of abuse to provide accurate information to the appropriate channel for action to be taken. Community feedback is invited.
Miscellaneous
In February 2019, the Wikimedia Foundation (WMF)
changed its office actions policy to include temporary and project-specific bans. The WMF exercised this new ability for the first time on the English Wikipedia on 10 June 2019 to temporarily ban and desysop Fram. This action has resulted in
significant community discussion, a
request for arbitration (
permalink), and, either directly or indirectly, the resignations of numerous administrators and functionaries. The WMF Board of Trustees is aware of the situation, and discussions continue on a statement and a way forward. The Arbitration Committee has sent an
open letter to the WMF Board.
Following a
research project on masking IP addresses, the Foundation is starting a new project to
improve the privacy of IP editors. The result of this project may significantly change administrative and counter-vandalism workflows. The project is in the very early stages of discussions and there is no concrete plan yet. Admins and the broader community are encouraged to leave feedback on the
talk page.
Since the introduction of temporary user rights, it is becoming more usual to accord the New Page Reviewer right on a probationary period of 3 to 6 months in the first instance. This avoids rights
removal for inactivity at a later stage and enables a review of their work before according the right on a permanent basis.
Editors using the mobile website on Wikipedia can opt-in to new
advanced features via your settings page. This will give access to more interface links, special pages, and tools.
The advanced version of the edit review pages (recent changes, watchlist, and related changes)
now includes two new filters. These filters are for "All contents" and "All discussions". They will filter the view to just those namespaces.
A
global request for comment is in progress regarding whether a user group should be created that could modify
edit filters across all public Wikimedia wikis.
It seems there has been a retirement of ArbCom members lately, something I should know about? --
kelapstick(
bainuu) 21:48, 9 September 2019 (UTC)
Are you aware of the whole
WP:FRAM debacle?
Wikipedia talk:Arbitration/Requests/Case/Fram/Proposed decision would give you a pretty good overview. ... and nudge, nudge - if you'd consider another go at it - I would certainly support it, and I suspect there are quite a few folks who now realize how good they had it back when.
— Ched (
talk) 03:36, 20 September 2019 (UTC)
And sorry I didn't respond sooner.
— Ched (
talk) 03:37, 20 September 2019 (UTC)
Hey
Ched, yes I am aware of the Fram case, although I haven't been following too closely. Not sure if I would run this year, I haven't really been active, so that is a for sure strike against me. Also not sure if I will have the time to serve, but we will see how year's end goes. Will probably wait and see who puts them self up for the punishment as things progress. --
kelapstick(
bainuu) 20:09, 20 September 2019 (UTC)
Ricky Byrd
Hello and good morning. I am writing for some help. I created in my sandbox a very neutral sourced page on
Ricky Byrd. However, you have page protected the redirect for him to the
Joan Jett page. I am trying to get this removed and not been able to figure out the process. Byrd has had a career that has extended well beyond his work with Jett, so I think the page is warranted. Can you help me with this?
EllenZoe (
talk) 14:42, 27 September 2019 (UTC)
Hi
EllenZoe, in have unprotected the page for you. --
kelapstick(
bainuu) 17:16, 27 September 2019 (UTC)
Following
a discussion, a new criterion for speedy category renaming was added:
C2F: One eponymous article, which applies if the category contains only an eponymous article or media file, provided that the category has not otherwise been emptied shortly before the nomination. The default outcome is an upmerge to the parent categories.
Technical news
As
previously noted, tighter
password requirements for Administrators were put in place last year. Wikipedia should now alert you if your password is less than 10 characters long and thus too short.