User talk:Edison/Archive 8

Latest comment: 3 months ago by MediaWiki message delivery in topic The Signpost: 14 May 2025
Archive 5Archive 6Archive 7Archive 8

Administrators' newsletter – June 2022

News and updates for administrators from the past month (May 2022).

  Guideline and policy news

  Technical news

  • Administrators using the mobile web interface can now access Special:Block directly from user pages. (T307341)
  • The IP Info feature has been deployed to all wikis as a Beta Feature. Any autoconfirmed user may enable the feature using the "IP info" checkbox under Preferences → Beta features. Autoconfirmed users will be able to access basic information about an IP address that includes the country and connection method. Those with advanced privileges (admin, bureaucrat, checkuser) will have access to extra information that includes the Internet Service Provider and more specific ___location.

  Arbitration


The Signpost: 26 June 2022

Office actions to secretly delete stuff when told to? Well, at least not if they're Putin's.
Belarusian Mark Bernstein to serve 36 months of "home chemistry" for unapproved posting, Slate covers historically large adminship bid, UBI economist with goofy infobox caption thinks it's funny.
A review of Wikipedia's fundraising messages and financial status.
Just three for the history books this month (or not).
Famed FP ace steps up to run main page outfit. Millions tremble in fear, or something.
And who can forget the black-breasted buttonquail.
Don't be dumb, says math whiz: avoid the gambler's fallacy. Illustrated for your pleasure.
Tables "like to socialize" and "share genes": ooh la la!
What's the deal with Anita Forrer, redlinked woman of mystery who saved Schwarzenbach archives?
Google and Internet Archive sold on new product, more customers hoped to follow.
Plus editing stampedes for cheery subjects: shootings, deaths, and virus.
Lest Southern Hemisphere be forgotten.
Can we offer you a nice crossword in this trying time?

Administrators' newsletter – July 2022

News and updates for administrators from the past month (June 2022).

  Technical news

  • user_global_editcount is a new variable that can be used in abuse filters to avoid affecting globally active users. (T130439)

  Arbitration

  Miscellaneous

  • The New Pages Patrol queue has around 10,000 articles to be reviewed. As all administrators have the patrol right, please consider helping out. The queue is here. For further information on the state of the project, see the latest NPP newsletter.

The Signpost: 1 August 2022

The future of stuff? Who knows, but two articles were written by a computer this month.
Wikipedia and human rights, publishers and the Internet Archive, Russia and Wikipedia.
Real news or silly season?
IGNORANCE IS NOT STRENGTH.
"This year's victory was sad and dull."
Candidate op-eds, open question spaces, and more.
Was Minecraft YouTuber a GNG pass in life, or only in death?
Mass murderers, sex criminals, Ponzi schemers, insider traders, and business people.
The last three months of arbitration through the eyes of a GPT-3
GPT-3 whips it out.
And when is 'today'?
The world shows its messy complexity.
More lists expected next month.
It doesn't have to be a pain in the butt!
PAC2 explains the item documentation template.
Education, climate change, and journalism.
Zoom and enhance.
And other new research findings.
But Commons is a treasure trove.
All the things about theatre that the general public misses out on.
Ten years ago, Russian Wikipedia went dark in protest of new Russian laws. Today...
Strange mysteries of our animal world.

Administrators' newsletter – August 2022

News and updates for administrators from the past month (July 2022).

 

  Administrator changes

  Valereee
  Anthony Appleyard (deceased) • CapitalistroadsterSamsara

  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.

The Signpost: 31 August 2022

jimmy@wikipedia.org donate@wikimedia.org (not a typo?) wants a moment of your time.
Why the 'Festival Edition' was less than perfect, and what we can do better.
But Annie Rauwerda is the real thing!
2022 elections, new page patrol, Fox News, Vector 2022, Royal Central and external links
Change and stability.
All there is to know about userboxen.
Sometimes Citation bot is not enough.
Plus, the Private Incident Reporting System, and new bots & user scripts!
One exterior, one interior.
Also includes a campaign to "Suck for Luck".
And other new research
Because there really is no real theme this month you can grab onto to give a catchy title.
Some articles aren't worth saving
Edinburgh in August.
Because the Signpost needs a cartoon.
The Signpost looks back on The Signpost: New reports, conceived in a spirit of collaboration, and dedicated to the proposition of information and, uh, more information for all.

Administrators' newsletter – September 2022

News and updates for administrators from the past month (August 2022).

  Guideline and policy news

  • A discussion is open to define a process by which Vector 2022 can be made the default for all users.
  • An RfC is open to gain consensus on whether Fox News is reliable for science and politics.

  Technical news

  Arbitration

  • An arbitration case regarding Conduct in deletion-related editing has been closed. The Arbitration Committee passed a remedy as part of the final decision to create a request for comment (RfC) on how to handle mass nominations at Articles for Deletion (AfD).
  • The arbitration case request Jonathunder has been automatically closed after a 6 month suspension of the case.

  Miscellaneous

  • The new pages patrol (NPP) team has prepared an appeal to the Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) for assistance with addressing Page Curation bugs and requested features. You are encouraged to read the open letter before it is sent, and if you support it, consider signing it. It is not a discussion, just a signature will suffice.
  • Voting for candidates for the Wikimedia Board of Trustees is open until 6 September.

Happy Fifteenth Adminship Anniversary!

The Signpost: 30 September 2022

Candidates sign off and peel out – Sigalov is on and Peel is in.
Just what is NPP? Why does it need the WMF? Why does it need YOU?
Was Katherine Maher a former encyclopedia salesperson?
The latest from the Wikimedia Deutschland Movement Strategy & Global Relations Team.
Source reliability, NPP, and appearance discussions.
Find out firsthand what our newest admin, ScottishFinnishRadish, does with a chainsaw.
Some Articles for Deletion just drag on.
Suggestion: promote removal of visible copyright signs of images under a CC-BY license.
And other research news.
Repeat after me: I solemnly swear not to put "oh my!" in a headline.
This month: A FACBot upgrade, a completed list of lists.
Lo!
When Commons gives you a blank space...
Yes, again.

Administrators' newsletter – October 2022

News and updates for administrators from the past month (September 2022).

  Guideline and policy news

  Technical news

  • The Articles for creation helper script now automatically recognises administrator accounts which means your name does not need to be listed at WP:AFCP to help out. If you wish to help out at AFC, enable AFCH by navigating to Preferences → Gadgets and checking the "Yet Another AfC Helper Script" box.

  Arbitration

  Miscellaneous


The Signpost: 31 October 2022

Or maybe the spit -- only time will tell.
News from Twitter, Commons and the WMF C-Suite.
501(c)(3) application approved, Amazon donates another million.
Wading into several controversies.
I can has Kremlin sockfarms?
And other new research publications.
The newest sysop speaks on the process that got them there.
Featured content from October.
The strength of Wikipedia is the peer review afterwards.
More serial killers than you can shake a stick at!
What tales echo in these hallowed halls.

Administrators' newsletter – November 2022

News and updates for administrators from the past month (October 2022).

  Guideline and policy news

  Arbitration

  Miscellaneous


The Signpost: 28 November 2022

Joe Roe's close sows dough woes, manifestos... vetoes? overthrows?
Ineffective altruism, return of the toaster, Jess Wade keeps wading through it, Russia censors searches, schools embrace Wikipedia.
An interview with Wikimedia's Chief Advancement Officer.
Oh, just one more thing... AI couldn't help but notice you use that punctuation a little bit more than most people...
Are government goons prowling our fair encyclopedia?
Have we gotten past the point where better articles makes us a better encyclopedia? And what comes next?
Heather Ford's new volume on Wikipedia, knowledge and power in the 2011 Egyptian revolution.
Facebook's Galactica demo provides a case study in large language models for text generation at scale: this one was silly, but we cannot ignore them forever.
Okay, six hundred, but either way, the bionic editor speaks.
Productively doing nothing
And other research findings.
Do consider joining FPC, though: we need you.
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
A lost article from our deep annals
The weeks and weeks, as reviewed by Wikipedia's readers.
Search upgrades, lawsuits, paid editing, and personal reflection.
A toast to good health, a health to good hoax, a hoax to good toast.

ArbCom 2022 Elections voter message

Hello! Voting in the 2022 Arbitration Committee elections is now open until 23:59 (UTC) on Monday, 12 December 2022. All eligible users are allowed 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.

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Administrators' newsletter – December 2022

News and updates for administrators from the past month (November 2022).

 

  CheckUser changes

  TheresNoTime

  Oversight changes

  TheresNoTime

  Guideline and policy news

  Technical news

  • A new preference named "Enable limited width mode" has been added to the Vector 2022 skin. The preference is also shown as a toggle on every page if your monitor is 1600 pixels or wider. When disabled it removes the whitespace added by Vector 2022 on the left and right of the page content. Disabling this preference has the same effect as enabling the wide-vector-2022 gadget. (T319449)

  Arbitration

  Miscellaneous


The Signpost: 1 January 2023

Plus admin update and cool tools for the new year.
Sometimes you need to read more than just the headlines!
Interview of ComplexRational about their recent request for adminship.
Wikifunctions might drag it down.
Frustrations and successes.
Congratulations.
And other new research findings.
How Iranian press agencies help Wikipedia to reflect football in a better way.
You head into the featured content report. Amongst the features you see astronauts, both Gilbert and Sullivan, Ursula K. Le Guin's incredibly talented mother, and Billboard charts. It is pitch black, you are likely to be eaten by a grue.
It is mostly about football!
In which a couple sentences of text recontextualises an image.
Photographers, Sandy Hook, the shocking use of Nazi symbols in articles about Nazis, and "You wouldn't recognise a fact if it bit you in the ass".

Administrators' newsletter – January 2023

News and updates for administrators from the past month (December 2022).

  Guideline and policy news

  Arbitration

  Miscellaneous

  • Voting for the Sound Logo has closed and the winner is expected to be announced February to April 2023.
  • Tech tip: You can view information about IP addresses in a centralised ___location using bullseye which won the Newcomer award in the recent Coolest Tool Awards.

The Signpost: 16 January 2023

It's not just a phase! Well, maybe it is.
Long-time contributors imprisoned for 32 and 8 years after "swaying public opinion" and "violating public morals".
UCoC draws nearer, alongside the rise of the machines, in mainspace this time.
Wikipedia's birthday, a cute dog, and nipplefruit.
The depths of Commons, at your fingertips. Or eyetips.
Debunking widely-told myths about New York's grandest and centralest railway station.
The economics of Wikipedia.
When notability conflicts with what it might be used for.
7,000,000-year Landmasses for Subduction discussions considered "too long".
Allow us to bring you back, back, back, to days of Wikifun rampant.
...and your ambigram. Also: Boring lava fields, birds of Tuvalu, and commelinid family names with etymologies.
War, sports, and all types of chaos.
The editor with five million edits, the death of Aaron Swartz, and rollback.

Administrators' newsletter – February 2023

News and updates for administrators from the past month (January 2023).

  Guideline and policy news

  Technical news

  • The Vector 2022 skin has become the default for desktop users of the English Wikipedia.

  Arbitration

  Miscellaneous

  • Voting in the 2023 Steward elections will begin on 05 February 2023, 21:00 (UTC) and end on 26 February 2023, 21:00 (UTC). The confirmation process of current stewards is being held in parallel. You can automatically check your eligibility to vote.
  • Voting in the 2023 Community Wishlist Survey will begin on 10 February 2023 and end on 24 February 2023. You can submit, discuss and revise proposals until 6 February 2023.
  • Tech tip: Syntax highlighting is available in both the 2011 and 2017 Wikitext editors. It can help make editing paragraphs with many references or complicated templates easier.

The Signpost: 4 February 2023

Last issue's vow for "something to show for these efforts" revisited.
As well as the continued rise of the machines, and Amanda Keton's WMF departure.
Section 230 before the Supreme Court in two cases, with broad implications for the web.
Or Santos on Wikipedia?
WMF issues salvo in latest battles of the Posting Wars
The good, the bad, and the ugly.
Isamaa party sponsor Parvel Pruunsild files claim in Tartu County Court against WMEE head Ivo Kruusamägi and Reform Party politicians.
English Wikipedia among most "global" and Thai Wikipedia's among most "Western", but non-Western works neglected overall.
And other new research publications.
An interview with those who pitch in together
Letting you find out about yourself (and others).
An exceptionally good period for featured articles.
Can we have a chat?

The Signpost: 20 February 2023

UCoC Enforcement Guidelines pass, Wikimedia Enterprise financials, GPTs gone wild, and a speedy deletion criterion removed.
Also: Russ Baker's BLP, the digital commons, the NSA, and more on Pakistan.
Gautam Adani and his companies possibly behind scheme featuring scores of socks, infiltration of articles for creation process.
GPT: friend or foe?
Your one-stop hooker's handbook.
But much else to be found.
Lovey-dovey stuff for Valentine's.
And maybe a side of AI.
Also: let's delete images of Muhammed! Let's delete portals!
Yesterday's controversies, reported on today.
A musical interlude.

Administrators' newsletter – March 2023

News and updates for administrators from the past month (February 2023).

  Guideline and policy news

  Technical news

  Arbitration

  Miscellaneous

  • The 2023 appointees for the Ombuds commission are AGK, Ameisenigel, Bennylin, Daniuu, Emufarmers, Faendalimas, JJMC89, MdsShakil, Minorax and Renvoy as regular members and Zabe as advisory members.
  • Following the 2023 Steward Elections, the following editors have been appointed as stewards: Mykola7, Superpes15, and Xaosflux.
  • The Terms of Use update cycle has started, which includes a [p]roposal for better addressing undisclosed paid editing. Feedback is being accepted until 24 April 2023.

The Signpost: 9 March 2023

A lack of transparency.
Using failed AI Galactica's worst mistakes to test a new AI.
Probable answers: No, no, maybe?
Seriously, even the chef has a major military history connection.
And other new research publications.
Wikizine, Wikipedia Zero, Single User Login, and Wales allegedly editing his girlfriend's article.

The Signpost: 20 March 2023

Be part of the Wikimania 2023 program!
One year in: volunteering, science, art, and candlelight.
Everything is broken, again.
Seriously, it's only a fortnight's worth!
An interview with Wikipedia's newest admin.
All the pop culture that's fit to print, with a sprinkling of cocaine (bear).

Precious anniversary

Precious
 
Five years!

--Gerda Arendt (talk) 07:51, 27 March 2023 (UTC)

The Signpost: 03 April 2023

Errata regretted.
Skynet believed to be in violation of the new Universal Code of Conduct.
Taking the phrase "gaming the system" to the next level.
Desysop case request still in accept/decline phase.
Thou gildest e'en the Signpost's trade.
And a dataset of article revisions to provide a corpus for promotional content.
A retrospective of the best and worst pranks.
Do important banks sock? Maybe – but don't grab your money and run just yet!

Administrators' newsletter – April 2023

News and updates for administrators from the past month (March 2023).

  Guideline and policy news

  Technical news

  Arbitration


The Signpost: 26 April 2023

Plus: Wikipedians get own Mastodon account, and Wikiprojects move to uniform quality assessment.
Covering Russia, Poland, the Vatican, the U.S., and the "perilously thin" boundary between real life and Wikipedia.
The prolific editor, former Arbitration Committee member and co-founder of Wikimedia New York City died in April.
No news is good news, and this isn't no news.
The problem we haven't solved.
Can Wikipedia help keep AI agents honest?
In this article, we will look at The Signpost statistics. More precisely: Signpost article statistics by year, TOP 20 titles of Signpost articles, TOP 20 article authors, and the home wikis of article authors.
First of a two part series summarising the priorities for the Wikimedia Foundation's next fiscal year (July 2022–June 2023) including staffing, budget and other changes, and how to provide your feedback.
And somehow made it more readable than when it's not rhyming.
2011 and on.
The Selfish Hatnote, the Disambiguation Singularity, and other information-theoretic conundra of encyclopedic note.
Wrestling bumps world-changing technology from the #1 spot, imagine that.

Administrators' newsletter – May 2023

News and updates for administrators from the past month (April 2023).

  Guideline and policy news

  • A request for comment about removing administrative privileges in specified situations is open for feedback.

  Technical news

  Arbitration

  Miscellaneous


The Signpost: 8 May 2023

... and at WP:Mastodon.
Fake fines, false alarms and faux headlines!
And other new research publications.
...Layout lovers will hate this featured content's title.
There will likely be more to say next issue.
The second article in a series describing the priorities and work of the Wikimedia Foundation. The article invites Wikimedians to collaborate with the Foundation.
First national-level conference in the Indian subcontinent in seven years.

The Signpost: 22 May 2023

... and a referendum on Jimmy Wales' traditional role as a final court of appeal in arbitration policy.
Opposing scholars on ArbCom case.
Includes stronger sourcing restriction, and a nod to the UCoC.
And other new research results.
Bird is the word for featured pictures.
Celebs and Bollywood film dominated reader interest, as usual, but with a new persistent presence on the lists of a certain AI.
An online conference with 12 distributed trans-local in-person meetup "Nodes" on 5 continents.

The Signpost: 5 June 2023

Code of Conduct Coordinating Committee Building Committee Commences Command By Convening.
Also: Goog gets delist ask for en-wp yt-dl ar-ticle, wacky football fails.
Now is not this ridiculous, and is not this preposterous? A thorough-paced absurdity - explain it if you can.
Plus mortalities, and movies about mermaids.

Administrators' newsletter – June 2023

News and updates for administrators from the past month (May 2023).

  Guideline and policy news

  • Following an RfC, editors indefinitely site-banned by community consensus will now have all rights, including sysop, removed.
  • As a part of the Wikimedia Foundation's IP Masking project, a new policy has been created that governs the access to temporary account IP addresses. An associated FAQ has been created and individual communities can increase the requirements to view temporary account IP addresses.

  Technical news

  • Bot operators and tool maintainers should schedule time in the coming months to test and update their tools for the effects of IP masking. IP masking will not be deployed to any content wiki until at least October 2023 and is unlikely to be deployed to the English Wikipedia until some time in 2024.

  Arbitration

  • The arbitration case World War II and the history of Jews in Poland has been closed. The topic area of Polish history during World War II (1933-1945) and the history of Jews in Poland is subject to a "reliable source consensus-required" contentious topic restriction.

  Miscellaneous


The Signpost: 19 June 2023

Problems with emergency emails sent to WMF.
... and an AI writer explains why he just bought a paper encyc.
Poetry still present.
And other new research findings.

Administrators' newsletter – July 2023

News and updates for administrators from the past month (June 2023).

 

  Administrator changes

  Novem Linguae
 

  Bureaucrat changes

  MBisanz

  Guideline and policy news

  Technical news

  Arbitration

  • Two arbitration cases are currently open. Proposed decisions are expected 5 July 2023 for the Scottywong case and 9 July 2023 for the AlisonW case.

The Signpost: 3 July 2023

... and a new Elections Committee.
A few editors who fought many times to keep advertisements out.
Are you now, or have you ever been, a Wikipedia editor?
In which featured pictures have a pleasing orange/blue colour scheme for some reason.
Don't worry, they are mostly harmless.
Mission to ensure stability in conflict-ridden area.

The Signpost: 17 July 2023

Gitz666 unglocked, Wikimania scholarships given and a new admin anointed.
Ruwiki on the Ruinternet, Rauwerda on TEDx, and Jimbo on Fridman.
Philadelphians and Tanzanians say goodbye.
The collaboration process for the 2023 English fundraising campaign is kicking off now, right from the start of the fiscal year.
Wikidata queries investigate nepo babies.
A summary of various tools designed over the years.
And various other research on large language models and Wikipedia.
Bold move intended to "get some variety" into Wikipedia arguments.
The annual report that tries to understand the Signpost through data, written in 2020, which never saw the light of day until now.
In which choices have been made™.
Sex, drugs and violence, English, math and science.

The Signpost: 1 August 2023

And French gov't proposes legislation to slam Wikipedia, others.
Or just another brouhaha?
Hot damn, it's damned hot!
Three editors have departed.
You don't really want to do this stuff by yourself, do you?
A serious visual investigation.
A compilation of over 3M citations.
Possible solutions after being re-harassed.
Due to unfortunate events, this issue is published as is, in its unfinished state.
Oppenheimer, Barbie, and a couple other scandals.

Administrators' newsletter – August 2023

News and updates for administrators from the past month (July 2023).

 

  Administrator changes

  Firefangledfeathers
 

  Interface administrator changes

  Novem Linguae

  Technical news

  Arbitration


Edison can u help me with an ip ban?

https://es.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Especial:MobileDiff/152974204 https://es.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Especial:Contribuciones/186.11.123.149 https://es.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usuario_discusión:MajinBaki

I contributed a lot to the mu online article in Spanish and LuchoCR just for having contributed without vandalism blocked me forever from Wikipedia, you can review the changes I made on the page and I asked them in a good way to remove the block since I had not done anything and instead they gave me a 13-day block and then for asking librarians for help in Spanish they undid my changes asking for help on their discussion pages and they blocked me forever, the librarian Taichi is complicit I asked for help with this user https://es.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usuario_discusión:MajinBaki who is 3 years old and they blocked my IP forever without having done anything https://es.m.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?action=edit&redlink=1&title=User_discussion:186.11.123.149 Taichi deleted my discussion page where I put the unlock template explaining everything and rightly put that it was unnecessary, just to delete it, vandalizing my page discussion page Here is an example of the help I asked a librarian in Spanish on the subject and the ocelot librarian as a mafioso reverted the changes https://es.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Especial:MobileDiff/152986729 and asked my ip ban without doing anything, I just ask for help to do justice, the user Ocelot asked for my IP ban and the mafia user LuchoCR thanked him for reverting my help changes on librarian pages and said yes to me ip ban requested by ocelot https://es.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Tablón_de_anuncios_de_los_bibliotecarios/Portal/Archivo/Nombres_inapropiados_y_vandalismo_persistente/Actual?markasread=52216326&markasreadwiki=eswiki#c-Ocelot-2023081016300 0-Block_Breach_10 there is a mob on wikipedia in Spanish that is why I ask you for help, please translate everything that appears in the links that I send you so that you understand MajinBaki (talk) 20:26, 10 August 2023 (UTC)

The Signpost: 15 August 2023

Jimbo promises more transparency, Wikimania in Singapore, move away from Tides still planned, and Wikifunctions rolls out.
Harsh words from problematic fave Glenn Greenwald.
Rigorous Review of Content for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Wikipedia.
Damn kids need to get off our lawn and onto RfA.
Because one gets some secondary skills when one has 645 featured pictures.
The innards of the Signpost received a major overhaul in March/April 2019. Here's how we reduced behind-the-scenes busywork and improved writers resources.
For whom does the Creative Commons enforcement clause toll?
An announcement of 335,000 new images on Wikimedia Commons.
Some improvement on last week.
Case request cited misuse of tools by administrator who last used tools in 1661.
Barbenheimer, Pee-Wee Herman and the Women's World Cup.

The Signpost: 31 August 2023

News for the editoriat. Stuff that matters.
Wikipedia really comes into its own, editorially and artistically.
"Poli", which means "many", and "tics", which means "under-the-table Wikipedia article whitewashing campaigns".
And other recent research publications.
The good, the bad, and the nonsense.
A message from the Counter-Fun Unit.
I just poured HOT GRITS down my pants ohh yeah

Administrators' newsletter – September 2023

News and updates for administrators from the past month (August 2023).

  Guideline and policy news

  • Following an RfC, TFAs will be automatically semi-protected the day before it is on the main page and through the day after.
  • A discussion at WP:VPP about revision deletion and oversight for dead names found that [s]ysops can choose to use revdel if, in their view, it's the right tool for this situation, and they need not default to oversight. But oversight could well be right where there's a particularly high risk to the person. Use your judgment.

  Technical news

  Arbitration

  • The SmallCat dispute case has closed. As part of the final decision, editors participating in XfD have been reminded to be careful about forming local consensus which may or may not reflect the broader community consensus. Regular closers of XfD forums were also encouraged to note when broader community discussion, or changes to policies and guidelines, would be helpful.

  Miscellaneous

  • Tech tip: The "Browse history interactively" banner shown at the top of Special:Diff can be used to easily look through a history, assemble composite diffs, or find out what archive something wound up in.

Happy Adminship Anniversary!

The Signpost: 16 September 2023

Plus: Africa news, funding report, U4C draft, roads fork and another ChatGPT block.
Plus a new judge, an "unimportant" record, and staying in the swim!
A Wikipedian and a friend.
Non-flammable, BPA-free, and really whips the llama's ass.
Covering all of August. Pretty much.
The Signpost brings you the latest from the source.
Sports, film and singers. We've got it all!

The Signpost: 3 October 2023

Finances during Tides Foundation management of the endowment are shown for the first time.
Plus Harvard, Yale, Lords and Commons, partners and trolls!
And other new research publications
The first issue to feature two poetry article
Material must be written with the greatest care and attention; the level of detail and commentary regarding the antlers of living persons is to be kept to a minimum.
Tamzin reflects on the hunt.
Taylor Swift with an NFL tight end and Lauren Boebert with a Democrat?

Administrators' newsletter – September 2023

News and updates for administrators from the past month (September 2023).

  Guideline and policy news

  • An RfC is open regarding amending the paid-contribution disclosure policy to add the following text: Any administrator soliciting clients for paid Wikipedia-related consulting or advising services not covered by other paid-contribution rules must disclose all clients on their userpage.

  Technical news

  • Administrators can now choose to add the user's user page to their watchlist when changing the usergroups for a user. This works both via Special:UserRights and via the API. (T272294)

  Arbitration

  Miscellaneous


The Signpost: 23 October 2023

Long time passing
Also: High fives, Wikipedia as a guide for counterfeiters and crossword makers, and Iskander at the UN.
The benefits of research.
These titles never make much sense even at the best of times, so why not be random?
They are still fighting.
Sounds good!
"Cite altered state" to join the distinguished ranks of CS1 templates

The Signpost: 6 November 2023

"Is this an ArbCom case request or an M. Night Shyamalan movie?"
Plus Gaza bias, Speaker Johnson, Maher, the music of websites, and antisemitism.
And three new admins!
You should learn some of our rules!
The winner is...
Do you ever wonder where Wikipedia articles come from?
And other new research findings.
Only literally.
A systematic approach.
Plus Kollywood, Killers of the Flower Moon, and ongoing war.

Administrators' newsletter – November 2023

News and updates for administrators from the past month (October 2023).

 

  Administrator changes

  0xDeadbeef
  Tamzin
  Dennis Brown

  Interface administrator changes

  Pppery
 

  Guideline and policy news

  Technical news

  Arbitration

  • Eligible editors are invited to self-nominate themselves from 12 November 2023 until 21 November 2023 to stand in the 2023 Arbitration Committee elections.
  • Xaosflux, RoySmith and Cyberpower678 have been appointed to the Electoral Commission for the 2023 Arbitration Committee Elections. BusterD is the reserve commissioner.
  • Following a motion, the contentious topic designation of Prem Rawat has been struck. Actions previously taken using this contentious topic designation are still in force.
  • Following several motions, multiple topic areas are no longer designated as a contentious topic. These contentious topic designations were from the Editor conduct in e-cigs articles, Liancourt Rocks, Longevity, Medicine, September 11 conspiracy theories, and Shakespeare authorship question cases.
  • Following a motion, remedies 3.1 (All related articles under 1RR whenever the dispute over naming is concerned), 6 (Stalemate resolution) and 30 (Administrative supervision) of the Macedonia 2 case have been rescinded.
  • Following a motion, remedy 6 (One-revert rule) of the The Troubles case has been amended.
  • An arbitration case named Industrial agriculture has been opened. Evidence submissions in this case close 8 November.

  Miscellaneous


The Signpost: 20 November 2023

Comic-con, Media summit, and a classic!
Plus: Sockpuppet investigators asking for help.
Or if it's Indian sport or cinema.
And other new research findings.
Scholarship applications for Wikimania 2024 are now open!

ArbCom 2023 Elections voter message

Hello! Voting in the 2023 Arbitration Committee elections is now open until 23:59 (UTC) on Monday, 11 December 2023. All eligible users are allowed 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.

If you wish to participate in the 2023 election, please review the candidates and submit your choices on the voting page. If you no longer wish to receive these messages, you may add {{NoACEMM}} to your user talk page. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 00:22, 28 November 2023 (UTC)

The Signpost: 4 December 2023

Just as his term was ending!
Plus Apple Pay, fiction, registration, expulsion, and elimination!
An analysis of a literary mystery.
Continuing years of efforts to improve free-to-read access.
"I think we ought to read only the kind of comics that wound or stab us. If the comic we're reading doesn't wake us up with a blow to the head, what are we reading for?" — Franz Kafka
And so are you.
Quite literally, and other fascinating featured articles, pictures and lists
If you don't fancy the sport that occupies over 25% of the slots in these lists, there's always movies, celebrities, and political follies to fall back on – or an unusual fired-for-the-weekend CEO.
This page in a nutshell: Whether or not someone has denied unsavory allegations — though such a denial may not merit being given equal weight in an article — a worthless shitpost should still be included.

Administrators' newsletter – December 2023

News and updates for administrators from the past month (November 2023).

  Guideline and policy news

  Arbitration

  • Following a motion, the Extended Confirmed Restriction has been amended, removing the allowance for non-extended-confirmed editors to post constructive comments on the "Talk:" namespace. Now, non-extended-confirmed editors may use the "Talk:" namespace solely to make edit requests related to articles within the topic area, provided that their actions are not disruptive.
  • The Arbitration Committee has announced a call for Checkusers and Oversighters, stating that it will currently be accepting applications for CheckUser and/or Oversight permissions at any point in the year.
  • Eligible users are invited to vote on candidates for the Arbitration Committee until 23:59 December 11, 2023 (UTC). Candidate statements can be seen here.

The Signpost: 24 December 2023

Wikipedia article histories are public records that can be easily examined, so unlike other websites, we can answer this question thoroughly.
Not the best of times for Wikipedians across the world, but there are still glimpses of hope...
Forky on forky on forky, plus a strange donation scheme and other interesting bits of news.
Wiki goes dark and adopts Palestine flag logo; intellectual property rumblings from the bowels of the law.
Wikimedia Russia closes after founder is declared a "foreign agent".
No more must Wikipedia always be a lightbulb in the dark — except metaphorically of course.
And other new research publications.
Peace on earth, goodwill to all!
the dilution makes it stronger.
The Signpost Crossword is a 2018 online multiplayer social deduction game that takes place in space-themed settings where players are colorful, armless cartoon astronauts.
Bollywood, Hollywood, and both kinds of football to close out December.
The debugging will continue until performance improves.
Heartwarming — MUST READ — You Won't BELIEVE #4!!!!!
Winner receives a special prize!
Edit summary: "Only need this page for about 30 minutes to demonstrate to a friend how easy it is to create a Wikipedia page. Then it will be deleted."

Administrators' newsletter – January 2024

News and updates for administrators from the past month (December 2023).

  Arbitration

  Miscellaneous


The Signpost: 10 January 2024

The Signpost can now drink beer and chant slogans in Canada. What slogans should we chant for the next nineteen years?
Mickey & You: What can you do?
A techie looks at the big questions.
Let the games begin! The 2024 WikiCup is off to a strong start. With copyright enforcement, AI training and freedom of expression, it's another typical week in the wiki-sphere!
The first of two installments, regarding a process of many installments.
Watch out for those space ships!
What are the editorial processes behind covering some of the most politically polarizing and contentious topics on English Wikipedia?
Rest in peace.
Around the world in 365 days (with many stops in India).
The good news is that I've perfected the templates that allow other people to make actually good crosswords.
Getting down to brass tacks &c.

The Signpost: 31 January 2024

Plus WMF child rights impact assessment, Chinese Wikipedia changes admin rules
A stream of consciousness about plagiarism on Wikipedia from the perspective of a user who directly witnessed it.
And how you can stop them!
Another wobble, more Ackman, our usual pathological optimist, and football in dirty pants!
Everything you really wanted to know about writing featured articles.
And other new research publications.
Writing a good subheading for a one-sentence joke is basically like writing an entire second joke so I'm not going to do it.
Job changes, death, sex, murder, suicide and a vacation!

Administrators' newsletter – February 2024

News and updates for administrators from the past month (January 2024).

 

  CheckUser changes

  Wugapodes

  Interface administrator changes

 

  Guideline and policy news

  • An RfC about increasing the inactivity requirement for Interface administrators is open for feedback.

  Technical news

  • Pages that use the JSON contentmodel will now use tabs instead of spaces for auto-indentation. This will significantly reduce the page size. (T326065)

  Arbitration

  • Following a motion, the Arbitration Committee adopted a new enforcement restriction on January 4, 2024, wherein the Committee may apply the 'Reliable source consensus-required restriction' to specified topic areas.
  • Community feedback is requested for a draft to replace the "Information for administrators processing requests" section at WP:AE.

  Miscellaneous


The Signpost: 13 February 2024

"the exact extent of the obligations" unclear... many such cases!
Lower, trust me!
Finding the right bumblebee among all the bumblebees!
The usual odd articles about Wikipedia.
The hunt for Bertil Ragnar Anzén.
Plus films, Grammys and a rumble!
&c.
That's more than weakly!

Happy First Edit Day!

Administrators' newsletter – March 2024

News and updates for administrators from the past month (February 2024).

  Guideline and policy news

  Technical news

  • The mobile site history pages now use the same HTML as the desktop history pages. (T353388)

  Miscellaneous


The Signpost: 2 March 2024

Plus, the U4C Charter keeps planting seeds, the RfA process is set to become more sustainable, and more news from the Wikimedia ecosystem.
And other new findings
Plus, naughty politicians, Federal judge not a fan, UFOs and beavers.
Rest in peace.
If you say it loud enough the views will come your way!
135 battle it out; 67 advance

Precious anniversary

Precious
 
Six years!

--Gerda Arendt (talk) 07:59, 27 March 2024 (UTC)

The Signpost: 29 March 2024

Much effort was spent drafting a movement charter about becoming "essential infrastructure of the ecosystem of free knowledge". How much is spent maintaining it?
Signpost interviews Wikimedia Foundation leadership on fundraising banners
And does it have anything to do with the unusual decision to let a zero-edit user open an arbitration request?
Can we compete with social media? Will aoomers forget Wikipedia?
And several papers look at climate change on Wikipedia
WLM winners announced, Wikimania 2024, a new Wikimedia movement affiliate, and active enwp admins reach a record low.
Worldwide women turned blue and controversies on Serbian & French Wikipedia.
Let me take you to the movies.
The only worthwhile grievance is the one that prompts satire.
margin: 0 auto !important;

Administrators' newsletter – April 2024

News and updates for administrators from the past month (March 2024).

 

  Administrator changes

 

  Guideline and policy news

  Technical news

  • The Toolforge Grid Engine services have been shut down after the final migration process from Grid Engine to Kubernetes. (T313405)

  Arbitration

  Miscellaneous

  • Editors are invited to sign up for The Core Contest, an initiative running from April 15 to May 31, which aims to improve vital and other core articles on Wikipedia.

The Signpost: 25 April 2024

Plus, tribute songs and shout-outs outweighing vandalism and hoaxes, a dispute about the real king of the platform and other bits of news.
Plus, new updates on the privacy and research ethics whitepaper and the graphs outage situation, and an Iranian former steward is globally banned from Wikimedia projects
Outcomes of the event including newly published videos and photos, the archived conference website and program, and some attendee reflections on its significance.
A WikiProject report on the 📰🌍 globe's finest news source!
And other recent research publications
Plus Godzilla meets Francis Scott Key!

Administrators' newsletter – May 2024

News and updates for administrators from the past month (April 2024).

  Administrator changes

  Nyttend
 

  Bureaucrat changes

  Nihonjoe
 

  CheckUser changes

  Joe Roe

  Oversight changes

  GeneralNotability

  Guideline and policy news

  Technical news

  • Partial action blocks are now in effect on the English Wikipedia. This means that administrators have the ability to restrict users from certain actions, including uploading files, moving pages and files, creating new pages, and sending thanks. T280531

  Arbitration

  Miscellaneous


The Signpost: 16 May 2024

WMF trustee elections, U4C results, Italian ArbCom, WMF and Endowment annual reports.
We don't know yet, but there is some encouraging news, nevertheless.
Some go out with a bang, some with a whimper, few with much of a comprehensible explanation.
Plus, the WMF joins the Unicode Consortium, Chris Albon talks about AI tools on Wikipedia, communities address under-representation on the site.
More queries are failing, and more frequently, so what is to be done?
It do be like that sometimes.
With cricket and some cute baby reindeer!

Administrators' newsletter – June 2024

News and updates for administrators from the past month (May 2024).

  Administrator changes

  Graham Beards
 

  Bureaucrat changes

 
 

  Oversight changes

  Dreamy Jazz

  Guideline and policy news

  Technical news

  • The Nuke feature, which enables administrators to mass delete pages, will now correctly delete pages which were moved to another title. T43351

  Arbitration

  Miscellaneous


The Signpost: 8 June 2024

The Form 990, as well as highlights and FAQs, are now available for review.
A new model for collaboration between the WMF and the community?
Hoaxes and the genesis of information.
First line, sixth paragraph, body text or unified Reich?
Outlining progress against the four key goals
A letter.
And various research findings about Wikidata and knowledge graphs.
No we didn't write it, but we tried to cite it
An essay.
... and flagging your articles with big ugly red notices! (This is a good thing.)
Movies, deaths, elections (but no cricket).
Some stuff's only okay in the privacy of the home.
Project in shambles – "it had never occurred to us that this was possible".
Hypertext.

The Signpost: 4 July 2024

Three new admins, but overall numbers still shrinking.
Will we weather the storm?
Unbundling, automation, fighting spirit, and a bot named Reimu Hakurei.
Debate unsettled after seventeen years.
Advocacy organizations, a journalist, mycophobes, conservatives, leftists, photographers, and a disinformation task force imagine themselves in Wikipedia.
A journey to a sister project.
Rest in peace.
An article about Etika's appeal and legacy in pop culture.
A virtual visit to the Inland Northwest.
"Simply not good enough".
How well do you know the main page (no peeking)?
...!
Special:Diff/1 and related techno-trivia more complicated than you'd think.
And other new publications on systemic bias and other topics.
Elections, movies, sports.

Administrators' newsletter – July 2024

News and updates for administrators from the past month (June 2024).

 

  Administrator changes

 
 

  Technical news

  Miscellaneous


The Signpost: 22 July 2024

Iconic photograph, invalid fair use exemption criterion #3a claimant, or both?
Establishment of power-sharing agreement between WMF corporation and volunteer user community in limbo.
Natalia Tymkiv, Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Wikimedia Foundation, on the Charter vote results, the resolution, meeting minutes, and proposed next steps.
A lost Signpost submission from fifteen years ago brought into the light, as good and true now as it was then.
Failing forks, smart and well-researched stories, LGBT rights, and oral sex!
Rest in peace.
Do you know these Wikipedia quotes?
Dems in disarray, GOP in chaos — analysts say news expected, but few can predict how race will shape up from here.

Administrators' newsletter – August 2024

News and updates for administrators from the past month (July 2024).

  Administrator changes

  Isabelle Belato
 

  Interface administrator changes

  Izno
 

  CheckUser changes

  Barkeep49

  Technical news

  • Global blocks may now target accounts as well as IP's. Administrators may locally unblock when appropriate.
  • Users wishing to permanently leave may now request "vanishing" via Special:GlobalVanishRequest. Processed requests will result in the user being renamed, their recovery email being removed, and their account being globally locked.

  Arbitration


The Signpost: 14 August 2024

A STORM over an AI that writes articles. And other notes of interest.
And other findings.
Musk's Twitter acquisition and rebranding have caused long debates on Wikipedia.
And Movement Charter ratification vote comments have been published
Possibly paid articles.
HouseBlaster's reflections on his RfA. In particular, do not ask superlative questions.
Just normally weird!
Come in, you whippersnapper, have a cup of tea.

Administrators' newsletter – September 2024

News and updates for administrators from the past month (August 2024).

  Administrator changes

  Pppery

  Interface administrator changes

  Pppery
 

  Oversighter changes

  Wugapodes

  CheckUser changes

 

  Guideline and policy news

  Arbitration

  Miscellaneous


The Signpost: 4 September 2024

JCW compilation now tracks free DOIs, Wiki Loves Monuments getting started, WMF's status as UN observer stymied by China for fourth time.
Updates from the Portland pol's case, the war in Gaza, and other Wiki-related reports.
And other new research findings
Who are they, why are they running and what are they bringing to the Board?
What all happened in Katowice?
Hannah Clover shares her fondest memories of her first Wikimania.
The Olympics (yay!) and the American election (oh no).
"I can't remember whether he is an incompetent moron, or an incorrigible POV warrior, or some other thing, but either way, to hell with him."

Happy Adminship Anniversary!

The Signpost: 26 September 2024

ANI (but probably not the one you're thinking of), bias and bans, crisis and Clover, Engelhorn's euros, and will the zoomers inherit the project?
In response to a takedown request, Wikipedia editors reached a consensus on how to handle it appropriately.
User Hawkeye7 opens up on his experience as a media representative following the Australian team at the latest Summer Paralympics in Paris.
User asilvering reflects on their recent successful request for adminship.
More changes to RfA on the way in October, final results for the U4C elections revealed, and other news from the Wikimedia world.
Picture this: medicine, drugs, JFK, Cleopatra, anachronism, and global catastrophe.
And other recent research publications.
Band reunions and Beetlejuice!

Administrators' newsletter – October 2024

News and updates for administrators from the past month (September 2024).

 

  Administrator changes

 
 

  CheckUser changes

 
 

  Guideline and policy news

  Arbitration

  Miscellaneous


The Signpost: 19 October 2024

Find more about the new Trustees, the first election cycle for admins, and other news from the Wikimedia world.
And other searchings and findings.
Perplexing persistence, pay to play, potential president's possible plagiarism, crossword crossover to culture, and a wish come true!
Can it be fun to address systemic bias? Eighty participants say yes, it can!
Help me make it through the night!
A novel about us, from the point of view of three of us.
Where do I even start?
Pasta, acronyms, and one computer-crashing talk page.

Invitation to participate in a research

Hello,

The Wikimedia Foundation is conducting a survey of Wikipedians to better understand what draws administrators to contribute to Wikipedia, and what affects administrator retention. We will use this research to improve experiences for Wikipedians, and address common problems and needs. We have identified you as a good candidate for this research, and would greatly appreciate your participation in this anonymous survey.

You do not have to be an Administrator to participate.

The survey should take around 10-15 minutes to complete. You may read more about the study on its Meta page and view its privacy statement .

Please find our contact on the project Meta page if you have any questions or concerns.

Kind Regards,

WMF Research Team

BGerdemann (WMF) (talk) 19:22, 23 October 2024 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – November 2024

News and updates for administrators from the past month (October 2024).

 

  Administrator changes

 
 

  CheckUser changes

  Maxim

  Oversighter changes

  Maxim

  Guideline and policy news

  Technical news

  • Mass deletions done with the Nuke tool now have the 'Nuke' tag. This change will make reviewing and analyzing deletions performed with the tool easier. T366068

  Arbitration

  Miscellaneous


The Signpost: 6 November 2024

But not everybody is able to legally read Wikipedia, and not everybody is able to legally edit Wikipedia.
Defamation, privacy, censorship, and elections.
Plus human knowledge and Ozzie places!
Asian News International, the Delhi High Court, and the encyclopedia.
Your photos are more valuable than you may realize.
What is going on?
And Tata too!
IP address privacy tools, and mysterious archive sites.
Many such cases.

Reminder to participate in Wikipedia research

Hello,

I recently invited you to take a survey about administration on Wikipedia. If you haven’t yet had a chance, there is still time to participate– we’d truly appreciate your feedback. The survey is anonymous and should take about 10-15 minutes to complete. You may read more about the study on its Meta page and view its privacy statement.

Take the survey here.

Kind Regards,

WMF Research Team

BGerdemann (WMF) (talk) 00:17, 13 November 2024 (UTC)

The Signpost: 18 November 2024

ArbCom 2024 Elections voter message

Hello! Voting in the 2024 Arbitration Committee elections is now open until 23:59 (UTC) on Monday, 2 December 2024. All eligible users are allowed 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.

If you wish to participate in the 2024 election, please review the candidates and submit your choices on the voting page. If you no longer wish to receive these messages, you may add {{NoACEMM}} to your user talk page. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 00:08, 19 November 2024 (UTC)

Proposed deletion of Tulu'i Islam

 

The article Tulu'i Islam has been proposed for deletion because of the following concern:

Unreferenced and unimproved almost 15 years. Tagged as not notable for 12 years.

While all constructive contributions to Wikipedia are appreciated, pages may be deleted for any of several reasons.

You may prevent the proposed deletion by removing the {{proposed deletion/dated}} notice, but please explain why in your edit summary or on the article's talk page.

Please consider improving the page to address the issues raised. Removing {{proposed deletion/dated}} will stop the proposed deletion process, but other deletion processes exist. In particular, the speedy deletion process can result in deletion without discussion, and articles for deletion allows discussion to reach consensus for deletion. Bearian (talk) 03:32, 26 November 2024 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – December 2024

News and updates for administrators from the past month (November 2024).

 

  Administrator changes

 
 
 

  Interface administrator changes

 
  Pppery

  CheckUser changes

 

  Guideline and policy news

  Technical news

  Arbitration


Nino Mangione

Hello! I saw your edit on Nino Mangione, and was hoping you could please point me to the talk page discussion on Killing of Brian Thompson that led you to remove the personal life section from the page? Just want to make sure I know what the consensus is on mentioning the "person of interest" by name and his personal relations, and when I could re-add the content to Nino's page. Thanks! Y2hyaXM (talk) 02:09, 10 December 2024 (UTC)

Sorry, my comment on that talk page did not post. I have gotten it added now in the section "Man being questioned in Pennsylvania found w/ gun, silencer, and fake New Jersey ID." Edison (talk) 03:00, 10 December 2024 (UTC)

The Signpost: 12 December 2024

New arbs to be seated in January.
Will the fifth try at achieving peace be a mudfight, or something better?
Should old acquaintance be forgot?
An editor's reflection on social capital and their changing relationship with Wikipedia culture.
by Tamzin
Wikipedia aims to represent the sum of all knowledge. Is there an imbalance between Western countries and the rest of the world.
Ballooning British bias bombast!
Fighting and killing – on screen, in politics, and in the ring – competes for attention with Disney.
The importance of feedback.

The Signpost: 24 December 2024

What the VLOP – findings of an outside auditor for "responsibilization" of Wikipedia. Plus, new EU Commissioners for tech policy, WLE 2024 winners, and a few other bits of news from the Wikipedia world.
A personal essay.
Explanations for what led to it and what it was like to undergo it.
Plus, the dangers of editing, Morrissey's page gets marred, COVID coverage critique, Kimchi consultation, kids' connectivity curtailed, centenarian Claudia, Christmas cramming, and more.
Who's news?
And other new research findings.
Good faith edits REVERTED and accounts BLOCKED.
Peace on earth, goodwill to all!
Wicked war, martial law, killing, death and an Indian movie with a new chess champ!

Administrators' newsletter – January 2025

News and updates for administrators from the past month (December 2024).

  Guideline and policy news

  Technical news

  • The Nuke feature also now provides links to the userpage of the user whose pages were deleted, and to the pages which were not selected for deletion, after page deletions are queued. This enables easier follow-up admin-actions.

  Arbitration

  Miscellaneous


The Signpost: 15 January 2025

The 20th anniversary of The Signpost.
A lot of psephology!
HUMINT or humbug?
Hallelujah!
Johnny Au has edited for 17 years straight without missing a day.
Some thoughts from the original editor-in-chief.
Public Domain Day 2025, Women in Red hits 20% biography milestone, Spanish Wikipedia reaches two million articles, and other news from the Wikimedia world.
The Signpost staff on achievements of '24 and hopes for '25.
The latest crusade?
Our alumni speak!
Applying the scientific method to a model of conflict that leads to arbitration.
This post fact-checked by real Wikipedian patriots.

Administrators' newsletter – February 2025

News and updates for administrators from the past month (January 2025).

 

  Administrator changes

 
  Euryalus

  CheckUser changes

 

  Oversighter changes

 

  Technical news

  • Administrators can now nuke pages created by a user or IP address from the last 90 days, up from the initial 30 days. T380846
  • A 'Recreated' tag will now be added to pages that were created with the same title as a page which was previously deleted and it can be used as a filter in Special:RecentChanges and Special:NewPages. T56145

  Arbitration


The Signpost: 7 February 2025

But an open language model is ready to help.
The WMF executive team delivers a new update; plus, the latest EU policy report, good-bye to the German Wikipedia's Café, and other news from the Wikimedia world.
Editor Fathoms Below reminisces over their successful RfA from February 2024.
Plus, reports on the ARBPIA5 case, new concerns over projects targeting Wikipedia editors, John Green gets his sponsor flowers, and other news.
Wikimedians and newbies celebrate 24 years of Wikipedia in the Brooklyn Central Library. Special guests Stephen Harrison and Clay Shirky joined in conversation.
Ending with some bans, and a new set of editing sanctions.
The start of the year was filled with a few unfortunate losses, tragic disasters, emerging tech forces and A LOT of politics.

The Signpost: 27 February 2025

French Wikipedia defends a user against public threats, steward elections, and other news from the Wikimedia world.
"The only time I ever took photos in my entire life".
From patrolling new edits to uploading photos or joining a campaign, you can count on the Wikimedia platform to be up and running — in your language, anywhere in the world. That is, except for a couple of minutes during the equinoctes.
Or just the end of Wikipedia as we know it?
Of "hunters", "busybodies" and "dancers".
User Sennecaster shares her thoughts on her recent RfA and the aspects that might have played a role in making it successful.
What are they? Why are they important? How can we make them better? And what can you do to help?
Liberté, liberté chérie.
Grammys, politics and the Super Bowl.
Straight from the source's mouth. A source is a source, of course, of course!
Turkish linguist wrote about languages and plants; Brazilian informaticist studied Wikimedia projects and education.

Happy First Edit Day!

 
Happy First Edit Day!
 

Have a very happy first edit anniversary!

From the Birthday Committee, FarmerUpbeat (talk) 15:49, 1 March 2025 (UTC)

Happy First Edit Day!

Administrators' newsletter – March 2025

News and updates for administrators from the past month (February 2025).

 

  Administrator changes

 

  CheckUser changes

 

  Oversighter changes

  AmandaNP

  Guideline and policy news

  Technical news

  • A new filter has been added to the Special:Nuke tool, which allows administrators to filter for pages in a range of page sizes (in bytes). This allows, for example, deleting pages only of a certain size or below. T378488
  • Non-administrators can now check which pages are able to be deleted using the Special:Nuke tool. T376378

  Miscellaneous


Invitation to participate in research

Hello,

The Wikimedia Foundation is conducting a survey of a group of Wikipedians to better understand their experiences! We are also looking to interview some survey respondents in more detail, and you will be eligible to receive a thank-you gift for the completion of an interview. The outcomes of this research will shape future work designed to improve on-wiki experiences.

We have identified you as a good candidate for this research, and would greatly appreciate your participation in this survey, which shouldn’t take more than 2-3 minutes. You may view its privacy statement here. Please contact me if you have any questions or concerns. Kind regards, Sam Walton (talk) 16:34, 10 March 2025 (UTC)

The Signpost: 22 March 2025

It's an ecstasy, my spring.
Let them know what you think!
Read this, then forget all about it.
Life on the Wiki as usual!
And WMF invites multi-year research fund proposals
The Oscars, politics, and death elbow for the most attention.
The photographers are the celebrities!
And very unusual biographical images.
Send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee.

Precious anniversary

Precious
 
Seven years!

--Gerda Arendt (talk) 07:34, 27 March 2025 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – April 2025

News and updates for administrators from the past month (March 2025).

 

  Administrator changes

 
  Dennis Brown
 

  Bureaucrat changes

  Barkeep49

  CheckUser changes

  0xDeadbeef

  Oversighter changes

  GB fan
  Moneytrees

  Miscellaneous


The Signpost: 9 April 2025

Fellow doctor Osama Khalid remains behind bars for "violating public morals" by editing.
Major changes to core content policy, or still-developing plan for new initiative?
Defeat, or just a setback?
Plus: 30-year anniversary of wiki software commemorated.
Our content is free, our infrastructure is not!
What is to be done?
Advice to aspirants: "Read RfA debriefs", including this one.
Rest in peace.
Snow White sinking, Adolescence soaring, spacefarers stranded, this list has it all!
The Wikimedia Foundation's announcement from Diff.
Gadzooks!

The Signpost: 1 May 2025

As always, Wikimedia community governance relies on user participation; plus, more updates from the Wikimedia world
Scrapers, an Indian lawsuit, and a crash-or-not-crash?
And other new research findings.
And don't bite those newbies!
And don't bite those newbies!
Television dramas, televised sports, film, the Pope, and ... bioengineering at the top of the list?
Community volunteers network among themselves and use technology to counter attacks on information sharing.
A look at some product and tech highlights from the Wikimedia Foundation's Annual Plan (July–December 2024).
Hey! At least it is something!
Zounds!
Would a billion articles be a good idea?
There's a lot more to this than you think.
I wonder about having crats, but decided to become one anyway.
Just beautiful photos!
Rest in Paradise.

Administrators' newsletter – May 2025

News and updates for administrators from the past month (April 2025).

 

  Administrator changes

  Rusalkii
  NaomiAmethyst (overlooked last month)
 

  Interface administrator changes

  Galobtter

  Guideline and policy news

  Miscellaneous


The Signpost: 14 May 2025

And comment is requested on a privacy whitepaper.
And other courtroom drama.
And how he knows it: all about lawyer letters and editing logs.
Why the language barrier is not the only impediment to navigating sources from another culture.
And QR codes for every page!
When an editor is ready to become staff at a public library (not a brother in a fraternity).
Rest in peace.
The technology behind it, and the other stuff.
Gadzooks!
And more.