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Picture of the day

Galena, also called lead glance, is the natural mineral form of lead(II) sulfide (PbS). In addition to lead, some deposits contain up to 0.5 percent silver, in the form of silver sulfide or as limited silver in solid solution; when present, this byproduct far surpasses the main lead ore in revenue. Galena has been used since antiquity, one of its oldest uses being the production of kohl, an eye cosmetic now regarded as toxic due to the risk of lead poisoning. In modern times, galena is primarily used to extract its constituent minerals. In addition to silver, it is the most important global source of lead, for uses such as in lead-acid batteries. This sample of galena, measuring 3.5 cm × 2.5 cm × 2.0 cm (1.38 in × 0.98 in × 0.79 in), contains a small amount of gold-colored pyrite and was extracted from the Huanzala Mine in the Peruvian region of Ancash. This photograph was focus-stacked from 156 separate images.Photograph credit: Ivar Leidus

Archive – More featured pictures...

Hi, Awilley - I filed an appeal at ARCA. Atsme 💬 📧 01:21, 2 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

News and updates for administrators from the past month (December 2021).

Administrator changes Amalthea • Ihcoyc (deceased) • Kateshortforbob • Kirill Lokshin • Rifleman 82 • Ryan Norton • Wrp103 Interface administrator changes Mr. Stradivarius

CheckUser changes Cabayi • Donald Albury • Enterprisey • Izno • Wugapodes Opabinia regalis Casliber • David Fuchs • Newyorkbrad • SoWhy Oversighter changes Cabayi • Donald Albury • Enterprisey • Izno • Wugapodes Opabinia regalis Casliber • David Fuchs • Newyorkbrad • SoWhy

Guideline and policy news

• Following consensus at the 2021 RfA review, the autopatrolled user right has been removed from the administrators user group; admins can grant themselves the autopatrolled permission if they wish to remain autopatrolled.

• Additionally, consensus for proposal 6C of the 2021 RfA review has led to the creation of an administrative action review process. The purpose of this process will be to review individual administrator actions and individual actions taken by users holding advanced permissions.

Arbitration

• Following the 2021 Arbitration Committee elections, the following editors have been appointed to the Arbitration Committee: Beeblebrox, Cabayi, Donald Albury, Enterprisey, Izno, Opabinia regalis, Worm That Turned, Wugapodes.

Miscellaneous

• The functionaries email list (functionaries-enlists.wikimedia.org) will no longer accept incoming emails apart from those sent by list members and WMF staff. Private concerns, apart from those requiring oversight, should be directly sent to the Arbitration Committee.

Hi!

You get this message because you are an admin on a Wikimedia wiki.

When someone edits a Wikimedia wiki without being logged in today, we show their IP address. As you may already know, we will not be able to do this in the future. This is a decision by the Wikimedia Foundation Legal department, because norms and regulations for privacy online have changed.

Instead of the IP we will show a masked identity. You as an admin will still be able to access the IP. There will also be a new user right for those who need to see the full IPs of unregistered users to fight vandalism, harassment and spam without being admins. Patrollers will also see part of the IP even without this user right. We are also working on better tools to help.

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Thank you. /Johan (WMF)

18:13, 4 January 2022 (UTC)

Hello Awilley. Season's greetings.

There's an editor who has repeatedly violated the 24-hour BRD sanction at the Racial Views of Donald Trump article. The same editor has been making problematic edits at other BLP and Politics-related articles. I opened a thread at the user's talk page here trying to explain the problem and asking for them to correct it, but this does not seem to be sinking in. Next time you have a chance, could you have a look and do as you see fit? I'm not inclined to file an AE complaint, but the behavior does need to stop. Thanks. SPECIFICO talk 19:26, 11 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

@SPECIFICO: Sorry I missed you. (Traveling) It looks like you got this resolved in a different way at SPI. ~Awilley (talk) 23:38, 13 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

All's well thanks for the note. SPECIFICO talk 00:39, 14 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

In a process that began last year with WP:DS2021, the Arbitration Committee is evaluating Discretionary Sanctions (DS) in order to improve it. A larger package of reforms is slated for sometime this year. From the work done so far, it became clear a number of areas may no longer need DS or that some DS areas may be overly broad.

The topics proposed for revocation are:

• Senkaku islands
• Waldorf education
• Ancient Egyptian race controversy
• Scientology
• Landmark worldwide

The topics proposed for a rewording of what is covered under DS are:

• India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan
• Armenia/Azerbaijan

Additionally any Article probation topics not already revoked are proposed for revocation.

Community feedback is invited and welcome at Wikipedia:Arbitration/Requests/Motions. --Barkeep49 (talk) 16:59, 27 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

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

Administrator changes AustralianRupert • Cimon Avaro • Euryalus • Jehochman • Nunh-huh 28bytes Bureaucrat changes 28bytes

Interface administrator changes Evad37 • Galobtter Ragesoss

Guideline and policy news

• The Universal Code of Conduct enforcement guidelines have been published for consideration. Voting to ratify this guideline is planned to take place 7 March to 21 March. Comments can be made on the talk page.

Technical news

• The user group oversight will be renamed suppress in around 3 weeks. This will not affect the name shown to users and is simply a change in the technical name of the user group. The change is being made for technical reasons. You can comment in Phabricator if you have objections.
• The Reply Tool feature, which is a part of Discussion Tools, will be opt-out for everyone logged in or logged out starting 7 February 2022. Editors wishing to comment on this can do so in the relevant Village Pump discussion.

Arbitration

• Community input is requested on several motions aimed at addressing discretionary sanctions that are no longer needed or overly broad.
• The Arbitration Committee has published a generalised comment regarding successful appeals of sanctions that it can review (such as checkuser blocks).
• A motion related to the Antisemitism in Poland case was passed following a declined case request.

Miscellaneous

• Voting in the 2022 Steward elections will begin on 07 February 2022, 14:00 (UTC) and end on 26 February 2022, 13:59 (UTC). The confirmation process of current stewards is being held in parallel. You can automatically check your eligibility to vote.
• Voting in the 2022 Community Wishlist Survey is open until 11 February 2022.

Happy First Edit Day!

Have a very happy first edit anniversary!

From the Birthday Committee, CAPTAIN RAJU^(T) 06:58, 10 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

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

Administrator changes Modussiccandi BOZ • Brookie (deceased) • Jackmcbarn • Jamesday • Jonathunder • Master of Puppets • Saravask

CheckUser changes Callanecc Oversighter changes Callanecc

Guideline and policy news

• A RfC is open to change the wording of revision deletion criterion 1 to remove the sentence relating to non-infringing contributions.
• A RfC is open to discuss prohibiting draftification of articles over 90 days old.

Technical news

• The deployment of the reply tool as an opt-out feature, as announced in last month's newsletter, has been delayed to 7 March. Feedback and comments are being welcomed at Wikipedia talk:Talk pages project. (T296645)
• Special:Nuke will now allow the selection of standard deletion reasons to be used when mass-deleting pages. This was a Community Wishlist Survey request from 2022. (T25020)
• The ability to undelete the talk page when undeleting a page using Special:Undelete or the API will be added soon. This change was requested in the 2021 Community Wishlist Survey. (T295389)

Arbitration

• Several unused discretionary sanctions and article probation remedies have been rescinded. This follows the community feedback from the 2021 Discretionary Sanctions review.

Miscellaneous

• The 2022 appointees for the Ombuds commission are Érico, Faendalimas, Galahad, Infinite0694, Mykola7, Olugold, Udehb and Zabe as regular members and Ameisenigel and JJMC89 as advisory members.
• Following the 2022 Steward Elections, the following editors have been appointed as stewards: AntiCompositeNumber, BRPever, Hasley, TheresNoTime, and Vermont.
• The 2022 Community Wishlist Survey results have been published alongside the ranking of prioritized proposals.

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

Administrator changes Firefly • Sdrqaz Ad Orientem Geschichte • Ryan Postlethwaite • Sabine's Sunbird • Wassupwestcoast

Interface administrator changes Evad37

Guideline and policy news

• An RfC is open proposing a change to the minimum activity requirements for administrators.

Technical news

• Access to Special:RevisionDelete has been expanded to include users who have the deletelogentry and deletedhistory rights. This means that those in the Researcher user group and Checkusers who are not administrators can now access Special:RevisionDelete. The users able to view the special page after this change are the 3 users in the Researcher group, as there are currently no checkusers who are not already administrators. (T301928)
• When viewing deleted revisions or diffs on Special:Undelete a back link to the undelete page for the associated page is now present. (T284114)

Arbitration

• Wikipedia:Arbitration Committee/Procedures § Opening of proceedings has been updated to reflect current practice following a motion.
• A arbitration case regarding Skepticism and coordinated editing has been closed.
• A arbitration case regarding WikiProject Tropical Cyclones has been opened.

Miscellaneous

• Voting for the Universal Code of Conduct Enforcement guidelines has closed, and the results were that 56.98% of voters supported the guidelines. The results of this vote mean the Wikimedia Foundation Board will now review the guidelines.

22:52, 15 April 2022 (UTC)

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

Administrator changes Colin M David.Monniaux • Fribbler • Grue • Kpjas • West.andrew.g

CheckUser changes Ks0stm Oversighter changes Ks0stm

Guideline and policy news

• Following an RfC, a change has been made to the administrators inactivity policy. Under the new policy, if an administrator has not made at least 100 edits over a period of 5 years they may be desysopped for inactivity.
• Following a discussion on the bureaucrat's noticeboard, a change has been made to the bureaucrats inactivity policy.

Technical news

• The ability to undelete the associated talk page when undeleting a page has been added. This was the 11th wish of the 2021 Community Wishlist Survey.
• A public status system for WMF wikis has been created. It is located at https://www.wikimediastatus.net/ and is hosted separately to WMF wikis so in the case of an outage it will remain viewable.

Arbitration

• Remedy 2 of the St Christopher case has been rescinded following a motion. The remedy previously authorised administrators to place a ban on single-purpose accounts who were disruptively editing on the article St Christopher Iba Mar Diop College of Medicine or related pages from those pages.

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

Administrator changes Tamzin Barek • Darkwind • Geometry guy • ProcseeBot • RoyBoy • Sean Whitton • Valereee • Visorstuff • WAvegetarian Sn0wflake → VersedFenrir

CheckUser changes Ivanvector

Guideline and policy news

• Several areas of improvement collated from community member votes have been identified in the Universal Code of Conduct Enforcement guidelines. The areas of improvement have been sent back for review and you are invited to provide input on these areas.

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

• Remedy 2 of the Rachel Marsden case has been rescinded following a motion. The remedy previously authorised administrators to delete or reduce to a stub, together with their talk pages, articles related to Rachel Marsden when they violate Wikipedia's biographies of living persons policy.
• An arbitration case regarding WikiProject Tropical Cyclones has been closed.

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

Administrator changes AA • Gwalla • Ioeth • Laurascudder • Moriori (deceased) • Nat • Rfl Drilnoth → AFigureOfBlue Bureaucrat changes Lee Vilenski

Interface administrator changes Nihiltres

Technical news

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

Arbitration

• An arbitration case regarding conduct in deletion-related editing has been opened.

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.

Wishing Awilley a very happy adminship anniversary on behalf of the Wikipedia Birthday Committee! Chris Troutman (talk) 20:12, 31 July 2022 (UTC)[reply]

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

Administrator changes

Valereee

Anthony Appleyard (deceased) • Capitalistroadster • Samsara

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.

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

Administrator changes DanCherek • DatGuy • Femke • Z1720 Aldux • Graham Beards • Nyttend

Interface administrator changes Mr. Stradivarius

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

• The impact report on the effects of disabling IP editing on the Persian (Farsi) Wikipedia has been released.
• The WMF is looking into making a Private Incident Reporting System (PIRS) system to improve the reporting of harmful incidents through easier and safer reporting. You can leave comments on the talk page by answering the questions provided. Users who have faced harmful situations are also invited to join a PIRS interview to share the experience. To sign up please email Madalina Ana.

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.

You were either a participant in WP:DS2021 (the Arbitration Committee's Discretionary Sanctions reform process) or requested to be notified about future developments regarding DS reform. The Committee now presents Wikipedia:Arbitration_Committee/Discretionary_sanctions/2021-22_review/Phase_II_consultation, and invites your feedback. Your patience has been appreciated. For the Arbitration Committee, MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 17:01, 3 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

A change to a provision at MOS:LDS regarding capitalization in titles is currently being discussed at Wikipedia talk:Manual of Style/Capital letters § Midsentence capitalization of the that you might be interested in. Please participate in the discussion there, thanks. --FyzixFighter (talk) 12:56, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

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

Administrator changes ScottishFinnishRadish Staxringold Ahoerstemeier (deceased) • Ched

Interface administrator changes Cyberpower678 CheckUser changes GorillaWarfare

Guideline and policy news

• Following an RfC, consensus was found that if the rationale for a block depends on information that is not available to all administrators, that information should be sent to the Arbitration Committee, a checkuser or an oversighter for action (as applicable, per ArbCom's recent updated guidance) instead of the administrator making the block.
• Following an RfC, consensus has been found that, in the context of politics and science, the reliability of FoxNews.com is unclear and that additional considerations apply to its use.
• Community comment on the revised Universal Code of Conduct enforcement guidelines is requested until 8 October.

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

• Remedy 8.1 of the Muhammad images case will be rescinded 1 November following a motion.
• A modification to the deletion RfC remedy in the Conduct in deletion-related editing case has been made to reaffirm the independence of the RfC and allow the moderators to split the RfC in two.
• The second phase of the 2021-22 Discretionary Sanctions Review closes 3 October.

Miscellaneous

• An administrator's account was recently compromised. Administrators are encouraged to check that their passwords are secure, and reminded that ArbCom reserves the right to not restore adminship in cases of poor account security. You can also use two-factor authentication (2FA) to provide an extra level of security.
• Self-nominations for the electoral commission for the 2022 Arbitration Committee elections open 2 October and close 8 October.
• You are invited to comment on candidates in the 2022 CUOS appointments process.
• An RfC is open to discuss whether to make Vector 2022 the default skin on desktop.
• Tech tip: You can do a fuzzy search of all deleted page titles at Special:Undelete.

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

Administrator changes

• 
  • Isabelle Belato
  • Whpq
• 
• 
  • Atama
  • Astronautics~enwiki
  • Athaenara
  • Eddie891
  • GraemeL
  • Marianocecowski
  • Natalya
  • Pratyeka
  • SB Johnny

Interface administrator changes

• TheresNoTime
• Ragesoss

CheckUser changes

• 
  • Blablubbs
  • Firefly
• Joe Roe

Oversight changes

• DGG

Guideline and policy news

• The article creation at scale RfC opened on 3 October and will be open until at least 2 November.
• An RfC is open to discuss having open requests for adminship automatically placed on hold after the seven-day period has elapsed, pending closure or other action by a bureaucrat.

Arbitration

• Eligible editors are invited to self-nominate themselves from 13 November 2022 until 22 November 2022 to stand in the 2022 Arbitration Committee elections.
• The arbitration case request titled Athaenara has been resolved by motion.
• The arbitration case Reversal and reinstatement of Athaenara's block has entered the proposed decision stage.
• AmandaNP, Mz7 and Cyberpower678 have been appointed to the Electoral Commission for the 2022 Arbitration Committee Elections. Xaosflux and Dr vulpes are reserve commissioners.

Miscellaneous

• The 2022 CheckUser and Oversight appointments process has concluded with the appointment of two new CheckUsers.
• You can add yourself to the centralised page listing time zones of administrators.
• Tech tip: Wikimarkup in a block summary is parsed in the notice that the blockee sees. You can use templates with custom options to specify situations like {{rangeblock|create=yes}} or {{uw-ublock|contains profanity}}.

You are receiving this message because you are subscribed to updates on the Arbitration Committee's discretionary sanctions review process. The Proposed Decision phase of the discretionary sanctions review process has now opened. A five-day public review period for the proposed decision, before arbitrators cast votes on the proposed decision, is open through November 18. Any interested editors are invited to comment on the proposed decision talk page. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 21:56, 13 November 2022 (UTC)[reply]

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.

If you wish to participate in the 2022 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) 00:35, 29 November 2022 (UTC)[reply]

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

Administrator changes

• Eddie891
• Euryalus
• TheresNoTime

• Alex.muller
• Excirial
• RedWordSmith
• Ron Ritzman
• TheresNoTime
• Stephen

Interface administrator changes

TheresNoTime

TheresNoTime

CheckUser changes

TheresNoTime

Oversight changes

TheresNoTime

Guideline and policy news

• Consensus has been found in an RfC to automatically place RfAs on hold after one week.
• The article creation at scale RfC has been closed.
• An RfC on the banners for the December 2022 fundraising campaign has been closed.

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

• Eligible users are invited to vote on candidates for the Arbitration Committee until 23:59 December 12, 2022 (UTC). Candidate statements can be seen here.
• The proposed decision for the 2021-22 review of the discretionary sanctions system is open.
• The arbitration case Reversal and reinstatement of Athaenara's block has been closed.
• The arbitration case Stephen has been opened and the proposed decision is expected 1 December 2022.
• A motion has modified the procedures for contacting an admin facing Level 2 desysop.

Miscellaneous

• Tech tip: A single IPv6 connection usually has access to a "subnet" of 18 quintillion IPs. Add /64 to the end of an IP in Special:Contributions to see all of a subnet's edits, and consider blocking the whole subnet rather than an IP that may change within a minute.

Hi, This is notification of my appeal.[1] You were the enforcing admin. FYI we briefly discussed it over a year ago.[2] Regards, -- Yae4 (talk) 12:07, 2 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

You are receiving this message because you are subscribed to updates on the Arbitration Committee's discretionary sanctions review process.

The Arbitration Committee has concluded the 2021-22 review of the contentious topics system (formerly known as discretionary sanctions), and its final decision is viewable at the revision process page. As part of the review process, the Arbitration Committee has resolved by motion that:

This motion initiates a one-month implementation period for the updates to the contentious topics system. The Arbitration Committee will announce when the initial implementation of the Committee's decision has concluded and the amendments made by the drafting arbitrators in accordance with the Committee's decision take effect. Any editors interested in the implementation process are invited to assist at the implementation talk page, and editors interested in updates may subscribe to the update list.

For the Arbitration Committee, MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 21:47, 14 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Discuss this at: Wikipedia talk:Arbitration Committee/Noticeboard § Contentious topics procedure adopted

A 1RR DS for Hunter Biden laptop controversy isn't really working. We've got roughly the same number of editors on opposite sides of an argument, merely reverting each other. Editor-A adds something; Editor-B reverts it; Editor-C re-adds it; Editor-D reverts it; etc etc. A 1-month protection for the page, would've been best. GoodDay (talk) 22:36, 19 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

I doubt 24-hrs will do. If not 1-month, then why not 2-weeks. GoodDay (talk) 22:57, 19 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for stepping in. I was thinking something a bit longer term than a day, as the dispute immediately reignited after the last protection expired. I think more along the lines of three days or a week. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 22:54, 19 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

@ScottishFinnishRadish: A month would've been best. But, I think 2-weeks would've sufficed. GoodDay (talk) 22:57, 19 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry, I tried to reply yesterday but my edit got lost in an edit conflict and I was on mobile in the car so I gave up.

A month of full protection on an unstable article with this much traffic isn't an option in my book. I still think the best option would be for you to follow the advice I left on TFD's talk page: to work with your opponents to find a compromise. That would make protection unnecessary. ~Awilley (talk) 15:39, 20 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Hello Awilley. If an editor pinged editors to a talkpage discussion (editor's who've already chimed in on that talkpage, in recent days on same topic), to ask them if they'll support that editor's edit to the page. Would that be considered canvassing? -- GoodDay (talk) 03:13, 20 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

PS: When the page protection expires. You'll know (via page history) which editor or editors, will soon re-add the dispute tag. GoodDay (talk) 19:12, 20 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

I'd like to say I'm surprised, but I'm not. I knew that as soon as the recent rfc regarding capitalization ended in favor of lower case "the", the name of the article itself would be challenged based on that result (despite the arguments in the rfc that the two were completely separate and distinct situations that had nothing to do with each other). Anyways, just wanted to make sure someone else was aware as I'm likely to be out of communications for a couple of days due to an unexpected medical situation. --FyzixFighter (talk) 02:27, 20 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

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

Administrator changes

• ComplexRational
• Extraordinary Writ

Stephen

• Andrew Yong
• Dbenbenn
• DESiegel
• GlassCobra
• Joe Decker
• Nancy
• Pathoschild
• StuffOfInterest
• William Pietri
• Wwwwolf
• Xdamr

Interface administrator changes

Nihiltres

CheckUser changes

Moneytrees

• Ivanvector
• SilkTork

Oversighter changes

• GeneralNotability
• Moneytrees

• Guerillero
• SilkTork

Guideline and policy news

• Speedy deletion criterion A5 (transwikied articles) has been repealed following an unopposed proposal.

Arbitration

• Following the 2022 Arbitration Committee elections, the following editors have been appointed to the Arbitration Committee: Barkeep49, CaptainEek, GeneralNotability, Guerillero, L235, Moneytrees, Primefac, SilkTork.
• The 2021-22 Discretionary Sanctions Review has concluded with many changes to the discretionary sanctions procedure including a change of the name to "contentious topics". The changes are being implemented over the coming month.
• The arbitration case Stephen has been closed.

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.

You are receiving this message because you are subscribed to updates on the Arbitration Committee's contentious topics procedure revision process.

In December, the Arbitration Committee adopted the contentious topics procedure, which replaces the former discretionary sanctions system. The contentious topics procedure is now in effect following an initial implementation period.

• For a detailed summary of the changes from the discretionary sanctions system, see WP:DSVSCT.
• A brief guide for administrators may be found at Wikipedia:Contentious topics/Administrator instructions.
• Updated templates may be found at Template:Contentious topics.
• Suggestions and concerns may be directed to the arbitration clerk team at WT:AC/C.

The drafting arbitrators warmly thank all those who have worked to implement the new procedure during this implementation period and beyond. KevinL (aka L235 · t · c) 19:44, 17 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Discuss this at: Wikipedia talk:Arbitration Committee/Noticeboard § Contentious topics procedure now in effect

Hello Awilley. Here's something odd: The talk page template for the 24-hour BRD restriction has been changed to a new version that IMO is not as clear and easily observed for most users. I'm pretty sure I don't need to tell you why, but for anyone else who reads this, the former version was worded in terms of each editor's own actions, which are known and controlled by them. It said more or less, if your edit is reverted do this and this. The new version says "observe BRD" -- which takes the user link-hopping eventually to a page that says BRD is optional and ties to the CONSENSUS page, which is very broad and does not give the kind of brief instrumental instruction that the former 24-BRD template presented. The former template simply told editors what to do in order to comply. The new one is a head scratcher, especially since any infractions may be (sometimes unintentionally) from less experienced editors. I have no idea how templates work, who edits them etc. and I was hoping that with your Admin and software chops you might agree with me and propose to the appropriate person that we return to the former wording for this very effective page restriction. SPECIFICO talk 15:32, 19 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]

The template was probably changed to match the new wording proposed by Arbcom. I'll have a look and see what if anything can be done. ~Awilley (talk) 16:31, 19 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks. I don't recall any discussion of this revision during the review process. This restriction works very well on the most contentious pages, Trump among others. It would be a real loss if it were not well understood or less widely applied vs. the more onerous and less effective restrictions. SPECIFICO talk 16:44, 19 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]

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The redirect Wikipedia:Wrong has been listed at redirects for discussion to determine whether its use and function meets the redirect guidelines. Anyone, including you, is welcome to comment on this redirect at Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Log/2023 September 10 § Wikipedia:Wrong until a consensus is reached. QuickQuokka ^{[⁠talk • contribs]} 20:38, 10 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Precious

Nine years!

--Gerda Arendt (talk) 08:14, 15 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]

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A few of us have been writing an essay: Wikipedia:Crime_labels. I ran across your similar posting on BLP Talk "Applying controversial labels to people" so thought you'd be interested. I am overwhelmed by the vast expense/waste of time and effort debating/squabbling the same issue across large numbers of BLPs! Cheers, Bdushaw (talk) 14:28, 9 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]

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I have been trying to get other members of the LDS WikiProject to understand the issue with varying degrees of success. I'm glad you get it from your edit summary and edits on 2 Nephi. Is there some way you can help explain this to the others? The Book of Mormon pages are filled with this kind of mystifying prose, and I cannot tell if it is all anachronism or if it gloss that has been added by Mormon oral culture through their Sunday School classes. Any thoughts you might have on how to get, let's be honest here, cultural Mormons to understand that this kind of description does not work outside of the Mormon culture would be most appreciated. jps (talk) 11:38, 17 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]

It is a problem, and it's one that is hard to see when you're "in" it. There is a whole slew of "Mormon lingo" -- terms Mormons use that are confusing to outsiders, words that mean different things inside Mormonism than outside. I don't know the exact reason for it, and I suspect it has something to do with basically having your own state for a century. But I've also seen these kinds of things in many different groups, cultures, religions, and even political parties. I'm certain an English speaking alien visiting the United States for the first time would be confused by our use of the words "pro-life" and "pro-choice". And I occasionally read news articles mentioning "dog-whistles" used by politicians that sound innocuous to casual observers but have specific meanings to people in their base.

I'm not sure how to best solve the problem. It takes a conscious effort. I suppose the first step is to recognize that there is a problem. An expansion of MOS:LDSJARGON might be helpful. Off the top of my head I can think of a bunch of words that have a completely different meaning inside Mormonism than outside. For example:

• Elder = 19-year-old boy
• Priest = 16-year-old boy
• Laurel = 16-year-old girl
• Deacon = 12-year-old boy
• Sunbeam = 4-year-old child
• Sacrament = Eucharist
• Ordinance = Sacrament
• Atonement = Agony in the Garden + Crucifixion of Jesus (roughly)
• Word of Wisdom = health code
• Zion = Pretty much anywhere where Mormons gather together, but also a specific place in Missouri. And a national park. And a bank. Oh dear.
• Plural marriage = religious polygamy
• Godhead = Trinity (but mostly this kind)
• Trinity = A really bad false doctrine made up by the Catholic Church
• Heavenly Father = God the Father. (The TV series Under the Banner of Heaven overused that one, in my opinion. Where most Mormons would have just said "God", they made sure to say "Heavenly Father" each time.)
• Christ = Jesus (this one's not unique to Mormonism obviously, but it's not great form on Wikipedia to swap the title for the name)
• Celestial Kingdom = Heaven
• Spirit Prison = Hell but more like Purgatory
• Outer Darkness = Actual Hell
• Telestial Kingdom = Something between heaven and hell
• Gentiles = non-Mormons (sometimes including Jews 🤦)
• The Church (capitalized) = LDS Church (no, I'm not going to take the time to write it all out)
• Gospel = kinda hard to define. Basically the whole message about Jesus saving everybody.

I remember once being in a meeting where a word was being re-defined in real time. There's a well-known document from the church presidency stating that husbands/fathers are to "preside over their families". But there's also a principle that husbands and wives are supposed to be "equal partners". There were some interesting mental gymnastics involved in trying to redefine the word "preside" as meaning "not being in charge".

Anyway, I'm not trying to bash or mock LDS, but I am being more provocative than necessary, because I do want people to recognize that it's a problem. ~Awilley (talk) 17:29, 17 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks! Christ = Jesus to Mormons, but is that always how they interpret it in the Book of Mormon? If so, extremely confusing for an outsider. Same with "Messiah". Of course, they're listed on the anachronisms page for good reason. I am surprised that you are worried that this list will be seen as bashing or mocking. jps (talk) 18:15, 17 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry, no, that's not what I was saying. "Christ" didn't really belong in this list, but I mentioned it because I had switched a "Christ" to "Jesus" in my edit yesterday. Jesus has hundreds of titles (Christ, Jesus Christ, Messiah, Savior, Lamb of God, Son of God, The Lord, Jehovah,...) and they're all pretty much interchangeable to Mormons. My point was that for the purposes of writing on Wikipedia we should just be writing "Jesus" and not swapping that out with any titles. Calling him "Christ" (translated "anointed one") or "Messiah" (also "anointed") is POV as well as confusing to outsiders. ~Awilley (talk) 21:32, 17 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The other one to deal with is "Atonement" which is pretty difficult to follow as a concept when it is being described in early books as something that the characters in the BoM are anticipating. As you may know, that doctrine essentially exists only in Christianity and took centuries to come into being within Early Christianity only to be recast/repurposed again and again amidst heresies and reformations and counterreformations right up to is usage within low church Protestant Christianity out of which the vast majority of the "Christian" parts of Mormons gets its theology. Just using that word unadorned in a narrative, for example, is jarring. We either need to discuss it or find a way to put it that isn't so much like an oopart. jps (talk) 21:41, 17 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Right. That is a confusing one. How do you concisely define Atonement for a global audience, and how did people in 600 B.C. know it? The Book of Mormon answer is that an angel told Nephi in a vision that Jesus was going to be born in Jerusalem and then die to save everybody, so Nephi taught his followers to anticipate that. But I don't know how or whether to explain that in Wikipedia terms. I haven't done much editing on Book of Mormon topics. My focus has been more historical...Joseph Smith, Mormon belief and culture, etc. Just replied to you on AN/I btw. I think you misread the IP's edit. Rachel was reverting a Mormon pushing a Mormon POV. (Note how the IP references "The Church" in caps.) ~Awilley (talk) 22:02, 17 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Replied there. It was a compound edit, unfortunately, so I think the critique still stands.

Anyhoo... back to more pleasant topics: the thing that is troubling with describing the Book of Mormon is that Joseph Smith (et al.) was pretty fast and loose with their "translating"... which seems to be a common apologetic rejoinder when it comes to anachronisms. Problem is: Wikipedia is supposed to be intelligible so I think we have to either (a) identify the anachronisms in the discussion or (b) figure out a way to use words that are broad enough to not cause confusion. Sure, "church" could mean "religious gathering" more broadly, but Nephites, I gather, are thought by most Mormons to have attended something similar to their own church services. As Hydrangeans pointed out, the concern over this feels like it is falling into apologetics, which it is. But it is also falling into the problem of specificity. The proper solution is probably to excise discussion that would get bogged down in these sorts of things in favor of clear high-level summary style.

By the way, in researching all this, I found: [3] Don't know how much you like irreverant Mormon flowcharts, but I really enjoyed it.

jps (talk) 22:09, 17 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Ha! I'm reading Harry Potter to my kids right now, so I appreciate the house references. On the diff discussion, it was the "were you a fence sitter" part that Joseph Smith did not come up with but later leaders did.

Speaking of racism, that's a topic I struggle with when writing about Americans in the 1800s. I don't want to excuse it, but at the same time, literally everybody was racist back then by today's standards. So when I think about Mormonism, they're hardly unique in having racist policies from 1840 through the mid-1900s. What made the LDS Church unique is they held onto their racist policy all the way until 1978 and it took them until 2013 to apologize for it. I guess that's one downside of being a gerontocracy. I mean it's great to carry on some traditions, but others need to die. Don't get me wrong, I have a lot of respect for octogenarians...the accumulated experience and achievement and common sense...but on the flip side they are also pretty much set in their ways and resistant to change. (cough cough)

On how to treat anachronisms a) vs. b) I really don't know, and suspect it's best on a case-by-case basis. My personal preference is probably b). Find a way to make it intelligible to outsiders but still recognizable to believers.

My Wiki-time is over for today, so I probably won't be able to respond too much more. ~Awilley (talk) 22:59, 17 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]

There is pretty strong evidence that this traces to Smith. I put it in the response.

As far as racism goes, there is no excuse. It's just fact. The honest thing to do is admit it and be clear that basically the mucky-mucks were all inveterate racists. Same thing with the Founding Fathers of the US. And the fact that other white men were ridiculously racist is sidestepping the point. After all, weren't Founding Fathers and Mormons supposed to be better than everyone else according to their own doctrines?

Anyway, good to be honest about the past and not try to hide it. I see that on the LDS pages about their own racism. They need to do better. Maybe they will someday.

Glad you liked the flowchart in spite of its irreverance.

jps (talk) 23:20, 17 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]

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