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“	The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ, Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line, Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it	”
— Omar Khayyám on Wikipedia's record of all edits

Thank you[edit]

I've seen how much you hate paid editors, and continuously making an effort to stop them, I really grateful to have you here on English Wikipedia :D .--AldNon^Ucallin?☎ 15:43, 20 March 2014 (UTC)

@Aldnonymous: Thanks for noticing! It's always good to get positive feedback. I will correct you, however, I don't hate paid editors, rather it is paid editing that is hateful. It is tearing down a wonderful structure that has been built up by many volunteers, that provides good information to whoever has access to the internet. If that information is poisoned, and people can't trust us, then the whole structure may collapse.

Your post reminded me of a news story from a couple of decades ago. After the fall of the Soviet Union people started cutting down and selling copper cable from high power electrical transmission systems (nominally still in use). I don't hate those folks who cut down the cable - they were doing what they had to do to survive. I did hate the fact that the transmission systems were being destroyed. It just seemed like there must be a pretty simple enforcement system that would stop the destruction. Everybody likely knew who was buying the cable - these folks could be stopped fairly simply if anybody took the obvious steps. Similarly, most people likely knew who was cutting the cable or where to look to stop folks from cutting more. So the system was messed up, but the parts of the system that led to the destruction of the cable could easily be fixed. The actual folks who cut the cable, in my mind, were less responsible than the authorities who couldn't be bothered to take a few minimal steps. That's my reading in any case.

Thanks again.

Smallbones_(smalltalk) 17:32, 20 March 2014 (UTC)

That was insightful, I'm the one who should thanking you (again :D), and... You're welcome.--AldNon^Ucallin?☎ 19:54, 20 March 2014 (UTC)

Editor of the Week[edit]

		Editor of the Week
		Your ongoing efforts to improve the encyclopedia have not gone unnoticed: You have been selected as Editor of the Week, for integrity and valiance in the fight against paid editing. Thank you for the great contributions! (courtesy of the Wikipedia Editor Retention Project)

User:Coretheapple submitted the following nomination for Editor of the Week:

I nominate Smallbones as Editor of the Week for the integrity that he brings to the project, and for his yeoman work - unsung, unrecognized, unappreciated - fighting to preserve Wikipedia from encroachments by paid editors. He has been an editor for more than eight and a half years, and during that time has edited a staggering 11,337 articles at last count. He is not an administrator, heaven only knows why (too much sense?), but a content contributor par excellence, with in excess of 31,000 edits, 65% of them in article space. He is a generalist's generalist, with his top contributions ranging from Bernard Madoff to Media, Pennsylvania. But his prodigious talents as a contributor are not the only assets he brings to the project. No one has fought longer and more valiantly against paid editing. It is a great pleasure to nominate Smallbones for Editor of the Week.

You can copy the following text to your user page to display a user box proclaiming your selection as Editor of the Week:

{{subst:Wikipedia:WikiProject Editor Retention/Editor of the Week/Recipient user box}}

Smallbones

A Favorite Photo

Editor of the Week for the week beginning August, 2014

A content contributor par excellence known for integrity and yeoman work fighting encroachments by paid editors.

Recognized for

Contributions ranging from Bernard Madoff to Media, Pennsylvania.

Nomination page

Thanks again for your efforts! Go Phightins! 16:04, 3 August 2014 (UTC)

• Thanks for your continuing concern over the issue and your calm, level-headed approach. ```Buster Seven Talk 18:36, 3 August 2014 (UTC)

  Wow! It's always great to get feedback like this. Thanks Coretheapple and Buster7 Smallbones_(smalltalk) 18:49, 3 August 2014 (UTC)

• Hey Smallbones, just wanted to express my thanks as well for both for your contributions and your engagement with others on broader ideas with Wikipedia that I've seen on Jimbo's talk page and other spots. I often find it difficult to jump into those conversations myself, but I do read them, and I appreciate your thoughtfulness. I, JethroBT ^{drop me a line} 02:02, 4 August 2014 (UTC)
• Very pleased to propose this. Your contributions are tremendously appreciated. Coretheapple (talk) 19:55, 7 August 2014 (UTC)

Today's Wikipedian 10 years ago[edit]

Awesome

Ten years!

--Gerda Arendt (talk) 07:03, 27 September 2020 (UTC)

Special report on paid editing[edit]

Sorry for the very late question; I understand it can't be addressed before publication. It's a bit odd to have to speculate on what Wikipedia administrators thought; did they not respond to inquiries? isaacl (talk) 21:02, 27 September 2020 (UTC)

@Isaacl: I understand what you're saying and will recheck the wording. Long story short, I didn't want to name anybody here and perhaps there were more than one. Smallbones_(smalltalk) 21:11, 27 September 2020 (UTC)

Thanks for looking into it! I apologize for the piecemeal comments, as I work my way through the report: regarding how the edit being tagged as a visual edit means it was probably copied and pasted from a word processor document, I don't think it's compelling evidence. Lots of editors use the Visual Editor and I'm sure many of them use it directly without copying and pasting from another program. isaacl (talk) 21:21, 27 September 2020 (UTC)

@Isaacl: i think you're misinterpreting here. It's not that all visual editors copy, but that this one looks like it was copied. If I remember correctly, it was a huge edit in many parts. I'll probably stick with my guide on this. Smallbones_(smalltalk) 21:30, 27 September 2020 (UTC)

You wrote, "The edit was tagged as a visual edit, which means that Issack.build most likely drafted the content in a word processor before copying and pasting it into the Wikipedia article." The sentence seems to imply that the visual edit tag leads to the conclusion that the content was drafted in a word processor. If you meant something else, perhaps it could be reworded. The edit is a couple paragraphs of text. isaacl (talk) 21:36, 27 September 2020 (UTC)

OK, the last comment I have is editorial, and so again I'm sorry for not reading the report earlier and commenting then. The Canadian prime minister doesn't really have much to do with the story, so personally I think mentioning him again in the last section and saying there are no known links to the firm in question is a bit uncalled for. There isn't much reason to believe that people vet the advertising firms used by the people they interact with, so it's not exactly news that there is no known link. I know publication is nigh, and so I understand if you want to leave your concluding section as-is. isaacl (talk) 21:33, 27 September 2020 (UTC)

I've commented at the article, but I'm glad it clarifies there is no known link, nor any evidence whatsoever, tying Trudeau to the paid editing story. Which of course begs the question, why is he mentioned at all? At best this is just clickbait, at worse, a BLP violation. – bradv🍁 00:00, 28 September 2020 (UTC)

Newsworthy newsworthiness[edit]

Wikipedia_talk:In_the_news#Closing/re-opening noms might be worth an op-ed. [W]e should retire ITN as a section of the Main Page altogether, except possibly for the RD portion. We basically are saying to our readers that we know way way way better what's good for them and what's really important. That 8 editors who cast the 'oppose' votes in that discussion count more than all the news coverage in the world and the fact that tomorrow we'll probably discover that the DT Wikipedia article had been viewed by over 500K readers today (or at least I wouldn't be surprised if it were a number in that range). Those readers, they don't know anything about our ITN and ITNR rules, no do they care. But they most definitely know when a story is 'in the news'. seems on-point to me (I've had problems with ITN for a long time now, I could show you my unsuccessful bid for what seemed an obvious item to me). Another comment: The thread was closed too quickly, in less than 1.5 hours, of course while the U.S. editors were asleep. Perhaps a revenge for the RBG story being posted so fast. - Bri.public (talk) 17:42, 2 October 2020 (UTC)

• ITN story proposed [1] 05:09
• discussion closed [2] 06:32 (02:32 NYC / 23:32 Los Angeles)
• discussion reopened [3] 12:12
• discussion closed [4] 12:38 (08:38 NYC / 05:38 Los Angeles)
• discussion reopened [5] 12:38–12:48
• discussion closed [6] 13:01 (09:01 NYC / 06:01 Los Angeles)
• talkpage discussion "Closing/re-opening noms" started [7] 13:04

Brief timeline above for Smallbones and/or watchers. - Bri.public (talk) 18:00, 2 October 2020 (UTC)

@Bri and Bri.public: I'm just gobsmacked. Of course there can be an op-ed; do you want to write it, or find somebody else to write it. Perhaps even a forum-type article with 2 authors facing-off. I'll be at the beach for the first time in about 2 months. Smallbones_(smalltalk) 21:43, 2 October 2020 (UTC)

Proposal: How about a mix of the two ideas. I'll do some legwork while you're relaxing (this weekend?) and we can make a decision about what to do next. I'm thinking of an outline/introduction kind of neatening up what I wrote above, and locating perhaps 1-2 people who can provide opposing POVs on whether ITN is tenable.

One of the things this exposes is how there's a shocking lack of procedure for something that is part of the front page. The story selection is personality-driven ... no semblance of developing consensus IMO ... with a strong bias against US news (my own experience). I'll be digging into what the procedures are or are supposed to be. - Bri.public (talk) 22:04, 2 October 2020 (UTC)

Sounds good. I'll be writing a book review and trying to catch up on my emails. Smallbones_(smalltalk) 22:23, 2 October 2020 (UTC)

The discussion continues. It looks like it has turned into a vote on a proposal but incompletely defined and without any notifications AFAIK. They are also mixing the merits of the specific story with the discussion of the proposal to re-open discussion. What a mess. - Bri.public (talk) 20:00, 5 October 2020 (UTC)

Update: Discussion closed 6 October as "moot" without a resolution [8]. A reform proposal to introduce an ITN editorial board, in a separate thread, was trounced. Bri.public (talk) 17:38, 8 October 2020 (UTC)

@Bri: I couldn't find the separate discussion. You should write the whole thing up, including the separate discussion. Smallbones_(smalltalk) 17:45, 8 October 2020 (UTC)

Check Wikipedia_talk:In_the_news#Radical idea. I have not started my write-up yet (other than these notes) but still plan to. ☆ Bri (talk) 17:51, 8 October 2020 (UTC)

Hello[edit]

You commented on my question at teahouse which made me happy. Thanks for your help. I will like you to help me in my first signpost draft and guide me. Tbiw (talk) 20:53, 15 October 2020 (UTC)

October 21: ONLINE WikiWednesday Salon NYC[edit]

October 21, 7pm: ONLINE WikiWednesday Salon NYC

You are invited to join the Wikimedia NYC community for our monthly "WikiWednesday" evening salon (7-8pm) and knowledge-sharing workshop. To join the meeting from your computer or smartphone, just visit this link. More information about how to connect is available on the meetup page. We look forward to seeing local Wikimedians, but would also like to invite folks from the greater New York metropolitan area (and beyond!) who might not typically be able to join us in person! In honor of Wikidata's 8th birthday earlier this month, we especially encourage lightning talks related to Wikidata and Wikidata adjacent projects and tools. We'll also discuss the recent proposal to change the Wikimedia Foundation Bylaws, including the Statement of Opposition from Wikimedia NYC. Wednesday October 21 WikiWednesday Salon and Skill-Share NYC (optional RSVP on-wiki). 7:00pm - 8:00 pm online via Zoom (optional breakout rooms from 8:00-8:30)

(You can subscribe/unsubscribe from future notifications for NYC-area events by adding or removing your name from this list.)

--Wikimedia New York City Team 04:10, 21 October 2020 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – November 2020[edit]

News and updates for administrators from the past month (October 2020).

Guideline and policy news

• Community sanctions now authorize administrators to place under indefinite semiprotection any article on a beauty pageant, or biography of a person known as a beauty pageant contestant, which has been edited by a sockpuppet account or logged-out sockpuppet, to be logged at WP:GS/PAGEANT.

Technical news

• Sysops will once again be able to view the deleted history of JS/CSS pages; this was restricted to interface administrators when that group was introduced.
• Twinkle's block module now includes the ability to note the specific case when applying a discretionary sanctions block and/or template.
• Sysops will be able to use Special:CreateLocalAccount to create a local account for a global user that is prevented from auto-creation locally (such as by a filter or range block). Administrators that are not sure if such a creation is appropriate should contact a checkuser.

Arbitration

• The 2020 Arbitration Committee Elections process has begun. Eligible editors will be able to nominate themselves as candidates from November 8 through November 17. The voting period will run from November 23 through December 6.
• The Anti-harassment RfC has concluded with a summary of the feedback provided.

Miscellaneous

• A reminder that standard discretionary sanctions are authorized for all edits about, and all pages related to post-1932 politics of the United States and closely related people. (American Politics 2 Arbitration case).

---

Reply to email[edit]

Thank you for your interest in my project.

Unfortunately I have no time time to detail my answers. If you don't mind, I will quickly speak out here.

“

I'd like to ask you, on the record, about the tender you won to write articles about Tatarstan for the Tatarstan government. How long have you been active as a paid editor on ruwiki? on enwiki? How do you handle the conflict of interest that arises from being paid? How does the Russian Wiki community react to your articles? The enwiki community? Do you see any problems going forward with the government insisting that something be published onWiki, which the community would object to?

”

Since 2015, I have been primarily engaged in teaching wikipedia and wiki-mentoring. My paid contribution is the result of competencies. I work only transparently and speak directly to customers if they have no chance. And I assessed all the conditions, risks, requirements and consequences from technical task before starting the tender. The work doesn't imply any influence on the text on the part of the customer. Wikipedia rules are always more important.

Russian wikipedians generally treat this project favorably and with interest. They know that I'm principled and uphold the rules of the site. Of course, there are editors who fear a PR invasion on Wikipedia. But clear requirements for affiliate editing are always a more reliable control tool than catching shadow intruders.

About money. The average cost of an original article or its translation is significantly lower than the market value of any copywriter order. The authors, whom I have involved in this project, understand and accept this fact. From their side, work is more like volunteering. The prize fund of any wiki contest will be more profitable. As a result, I want to show both wikipedians and government customers that this is not a profitable and difficult format of cooperation.

Thanks again for your interest and, I hope, understanding.--Birulik (talk) 11:58, 1 November 2020 (UTC)

Your Percepto piece is in the news again[edit]

FYI [9] ☆ Bri (talk) 04:00, 5 November 2020 (UTC)

Thanks, I hadn't noticed yet. Smallbones_(smalltalk) 04:08, 5 November 2020 (UTC)

Plus minor Smallbones_(smalltalk) 02:28, 8 November 2020 (UTC)

Billionth[edit]

Wasn’t this prediction made after the pool closed in 2019? ☆ Bri (talk) 05:09, 7 November 2020 (UTC)

Articles[edit]

Is three articles too many? I've finished Featured Content, I've done my bit of the Wikicup report, and I was planning on finishing the Gallery, but the Gallery can be knocked forwards again at this point. Adam Cuerden ^(talk)_{Has about 7.7% of all FPs} 05:37, 10 November 2020 (UTC)

October 18: ONLINE WikiWednesday Salon NYC (plus weekend editathons)[edit]

October 18, 7pm: ONLINE WikiWednesday Salon NYC

You are invited to join the Wikimedia NYC community for our monthly "WikiWednesday" evening salon (7-8pm) and knowledge-sharing workshop. To join the meeting from your computer or smartphone, just visit this link. More information about how to connect is available on the meetup page. We look forward to seeing local Wikimedians, but would also like to invite folks from the greater New York metropolitan area (and beyond!) who might not typically be able to join us in person! This month we've invited the creators of instagram accounts @depthsofwikipedia and @wikipediapictures to chat with us about their Wiki* appreciation accounts. If there's a project you'd like to share or a question you'd like answered, just let us know by adding it to the agenda or responding to this message. Wednesday November 18 WikiWednesday Salon and Skill-Share NYC (optional RSVP on-wiki). 7:00pm - 8:00 pm online via Zoom (optional breakout rooms from 8:00-8:30) Editathons this coming Saturday You are also invited to join thse two editathon on Saturday November 21: NYC COVID-19: Environmental Justice in Public Health Edit-a-thon - Sat Nov 21, 11am-1pm Wikipedia Asia Month Edit-a-thon on Exhibition Histories - Sat Nov 21, 12pm-5pm

(You can subscribe/unsubscribe from future notifications for NYC-area events by adding or removing your name from this list.)

--Wikimedia New York City Team 17:57, 18 November 2020 (UTC)

ArbCom 2020 Elections voter message[edit]

Hello! Voting in the 2020 Arbitration Committee elections is now open until 23:59 (UTC) on Monday, 7 December 2020. 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 2020 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) 01:21, 24 November 2020 (UTC)

No editors for the Signpost?[edit]

Was browsing Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/About and saw that "Editors" appears to be vacant right now. Do you want a pair of eyes and a brain on it? jp×g 12:59, 25 November 2020 (UTC)

Late November Signpost contribution[edit]

Be sure to see User:Bri/Signpost Story1 for potential inclusion in the issue. ☆ Bri (talk) 15:00, 29 November 2020 (UTC)

@Bri: - maybe for the December issue? Right now the story seems to go around in swirls if not circles. Maybe we can straighten out the story 1st, Smallbones_(smalltalk) 15:14, 29 November 2020 (UTC)

No problem. Maybe you can assign suggest one of the new folks go over it copyedit-wise.

Perhaps it can be December's In focus or Special report? ☆ Bri (talk) 15:55, 29 November 2020 (UTC)

Exploding whale link[edit]

Can you please explain this edit of Exploding whale, adding a link (http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/post-impressionism.html) to a Khan Academy article about post-impressionist paintings? — BarrelProof (talk) 20:34, 29 November 2020 (UTC)

@BarrelProof: Thanks for catching that! I was interrupted during the edit (long story) and thought I'd saved it (but it was still incomplete and I had to go in a hurry). Sorry. Smallbones_(smalltalk) 20:43, 29 November 2020 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – December 2020[edit]

News and updates for administrators from the past month (November 2020).

Administrator changes

Andrwsc • Anetode • GoldenRing • JzG • LinguistAtLarge • Nehrams2020

Interface administrator changes

Izno

Guideline and policy news

• There is a request for comment in progress to either remove T3 (duplicated and hardcoded instances) as a speedy deletion criterion or eliminate its seven-day waiting period.

Technical news

• Voting for proposals in the 2021 Community Wishlist Survey, which determines what software the Wikimedia Foundation's Community Tech team will work on next year, will take place from 8 December through 21 December. In particular, there are sections regarding administrators and anti-harassment.

Arbitration

• Voting in the 2020 Arbitration Committee Elections is open to eligible editors until Monday 23:59, 7 December 2020 UTC. Please review the candidates and, if you wish to do so, submit your choices on the voting page.

---

Your help if possible[edit]

I found an article on someone so very distantly related to me that I do not think it is a conflict of interest to edit, and I noticed that since he is Alaskan Native Heritage, whoever started his page uses "Bill Beltz" but I never find that he actually used that, all the papers and documents about him are "William Earnest Beltz" and as first president of the Alaska Senate, I think we should honor him with his name spelled out correctly. Do you know the process by which an existing article can be renamed? Thanking you in advance for all your continuing help! Sincerely yours, Ellin Beltz (talk) 02:00, 3 December 2020 (UTC)

You could probably just move it if you want. I move so few articles I sometimes forget how, but try the "more" button right next to the "view history button" on the 2nd line from the top. But that might be considered rushing things (maybe not though). I think I'd just ping RadioKAOS and RFD from the talk page and say something like "if both of you are against moving this to William Earnest Beltz I won't move this. But I think it should be moved because ... Or we could have an RfC if you'd like." (RFD and RadioKaos seem to be the "major" editors). I bet that would take one day. @Ellin Beltz: Smallbones_(smalltalk) 02:41, 3 December 2020 (UTC)

Thank you. I have not yet gotten to it but thank you very much for your help. I think pinging is probably best! "RfC" is request for comment? Thanks for all your help! Ellin Beltz (talk) 02:01, 10 December 2020 (UTC)

Good edition of the Signpost[edit]

Thanks! Tony (talk) 08:17, 5 December 2020 (UTC)

Seconded! Zazpot (talk) 22:33, 9 December 2020 (UTC)

Thirded — Eddie891 ^Talk _Work 23:01, 9 December 2020 (UTC)

Fourthed! SarahSV ^(talk) 23:10, 9 December 2020 (UTC)

Fifthed! Great to see the Signpost doing so well, makes me remember working on it very fondly. Actually, looking forward to the next edition, I have a Conflict of Interest case that I think you might find interesting. The article is Dragon Group and the CoI discussion is here. Lemme know if you're interested in more info! Zarasophos (talk) 21:07, 10 December 2020 (UTC)

Slow as Christmas!![edit]

🔔🎁⛄️🎅🏻 Atsme 💬 📧 04:16, 24 December 2020 (UTC)

Merry Christmas & Let's See Out the Year![edit]

	Merry Christmas and a Prosperous 2021!
	Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! In this toughest of years, thank you for continuing to care about others - both in your editing, your words, and just in your being. Roll on 2021 and I'll see you there! Nosebagbear (talk) 14:42, 24 December 2020 (UTC) Spread the love by adding {{subst:Seasonal Greetings}} to other user talk pages.

Thank you @Nosebagbear:. I'll be continuing to be being! Smallbones_(smalltalk) 15:08, 24 December 2020 (UTC)

Happy New Year![edit]

Walter Elmer Schofield, Across the River (1904), Carnegie Museum of Art.		Best wishes for a safe, healthy and prosperous 2021.
		Thank you for your contributions toward making Wikipedia a better and more accurate place. BoringHistoryGuy (talk) 13:27, 26 December 2020 (UTC) Oneupsmanship: This painting turned the friendly rivalry between Edward Redfield and Elmer Schofield into a feud. Schofield was a frequent houseguest at Redfield's farm, upstream from New Hope, Pennsylvania, and the two would go out painting together, competing to capture the better view. Redfield served on the jury for the 1904 Annual Exhibition of the Carnegie Institute; at which, despite Redfield's opposition, Across the River was awarded the Gold Medal and $1,500 prize. It was not until a 1963 interview that the 93-year-old Redfield revealed the painting as the cause of the 40-year feud between them. Schofield may have painted it in England, but a blindsided Redfield knew that it was a view of the Delaware River, from his own front yard!

Ruining the joke by explaining it[edit]

Maybe this helps with the question you asked (you pinged but didn't sign, I noticed it anyway). The joke is regarding use of PLACEHOLDER NAME because these sorts of situations happen so frequently in the software industry. ☆ Bri (talk) 03:06, 27 December 2020 (UTC)

In the media[edit]

Regarding Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/Next issue/In the media#Introducing Wikipedia and data journalism: I'm finding it hard to copy edit as the through line is not clear to me. Admittedly, I think part of the issue is that the first graphic in the article seems to be misplaced—it would fit better in the section about using Twitter bots to help monitor edits from specific IP ranges. However you didn't explain the usefulness of Twitter bots for journalism, and instead talked about community response to problematic edits. That would be another use for Twitter bots, but it doesn't fit the story about mining Wikipedia data for journalistic purposes. And the last sentence left me wondering, was I supposed to be worrying? Nothing else gave me any indication that I should be. And I don't know what you mean by half the article is left; did you not cover half the article for some reason? Or is there a part 2 forthcoming from the author (I didn't see any indication of this in the article, though)? isaacl (talk) 23:01, 27 December 2020 (UTC)

@Isaacl: I just made a couple of changes, a few words really. Please see if that helps. "The first graphic" - If you're talking about the "exteranl video" box - it should be way down on the same line as "In Brief". What other graphic are you talking about? A Twitter bot obviously sends Wikipedia data, but doesn't send a whole dataset all at once. Let me know what's wrong. Smallbones_(smalltalk) 23:21, 27 December 2020 (UTC)

Sorry, I realize I was confusingly referring to the original article by Monika Sengul-Jones. What you referred to "her first example" was the first graphic in her article, which I think ought have been placed in the section where she actually talks about Twitter bots. isaacl (talk) 23:41, 27 December 2020 (UTC)

Please don't try to edit her article - I don' think it will work! Smallbones_(smalltalk) 23:44, 27 December 2020 (UTC)

The edit to the last paragraph is helpful; thanks. To me the through line is still unclear regarding the Twitter bot: whether or not the change was reverted isn't related to the use of the Twitter bot to alert journalists when potential conflict-of-interest edits occur. It's of interest for a "can Wikipedia editors detect and revert problematic edits" story, but the point I get from the original article is how to try to mine Wikipedia data for all kinds of stories. isaacl (talk) 00:01, 28 December 2020 (UTC)

You're right, it's superfluous. I'll get rid of it. Smallbones_(smalltalk) 00:03, 28 December 2020 (UTC)

Happy holidays![edit]

Hey Smallbones, sorry to arrive empty-handed without a card. I'm too disorganized as usual. But thank you for your card (great photograph), and I'm wishing you and yours all the best for the New Year. SarahSV ^(talk) 20:46, 28 December 2020 (UTC)

Happy New Year![edit]

	Happy New Year!
	Hello Smallbones: Did you know ... that back in 1885, Wikipedia editors wrote Good Articles with axes, hammers and chisels? Thank you for your contributions to this encyclopedia using 21st century technology. I hope you don't get any unnecessary blisters. CAPTAIN RAJU(T) 23:26, 30 December 2020 (UTC)

Spread the WikiLove; use {{subst:Happy New Year elves}} to send this message

Happy New Year 2021![edit]

The sequel to Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2020-03-01/By the numbers is here[edit]

See User:MER-C/AdminStats2020. I am not convinced the drop in spamming and sockpuppetry are real - these admin stats are reflective of the amount of abuse that gets caught and mitigated, not the amount of abuse that there is. I do think the amount of vandalism has decreased in reality, though - it's seen in all five actions examined. MER-C 20:04, 2 January 2021 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – January 2021[edit]

News and updates for administrators from the past month (December 2020).

Guideline and policy news

• Speedy deletion criterion T3 (duplication and hardcoded instances) has been repealed following a request for comment.

Technical news

• You can now put pages on your watchlist for a limited period of time.

Arbitration

• By motion, standard discretionary sanctions have been temporarily authorized for all pages relating to the Horn of Africa (defined as including Ethiopia, Somalia, Eritrea, Djibouti, and adjoining areas if involved in related disputes). The effectiveness of the discretionary sanctions can be evaluated on the request by any editor after March 1, 2021 (or sooner if for a good reason).
• Following the 2020 Arbitration Committee elections, the following editors have been appointed to the Arbitration Committee: Barkeep49, BDD, Bradv, CaptainEek, L235, Maxim, Primefac.

---

Someone is in a deleting mood[edit]

Greetings: Please see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Carlossuarez46 and also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Reywas92#Mass_prod_of_populated_places_in_California. It seems as though the gentleman above is in the process of attempting to delete present and historical populated places in California. As always, I do not spend enough time over here to follow the practices and politics of this project, and appreciate any help and guidance you can offer. In personal experience, Waddington, California is five miles from my house and very obviously currently populate. Pecwan, California was an historic settlement until the white settlers massacred its Yurok inhabitants. I am extremely concerned that smaller villages both white and native American appear to be slated for destruction - which means that us out here encouraging people to put up all the towns was a completely wasted effort - because now someone wants to delete them all. Additionally it renders local history projects back to "go look in the library" instead of "look on Wiki." I do not think the former is service to community. Your help is most gratefully appreciated. Ellin Beltz (talk) 00:48, 8 January 2021 (UTC)

Featured content reports[edit]

Right. Think I have everything set up so that it'll be easy to keep this all going. Only downside is that I'm already working on the issue after next's featured content, which might be a little weird at first at publication time. Adam Cuerden ^(talk)_{Has about 7.8% of all FPs} 07:01, 10 January 2021 (UTC)

Friday Jan 15: ONLINE Wikipedia Day NYC[edit]

January 15, 6pm: Wikimedia NYC celebrates 20 years of Wikipedia

Wikipedia Day is always a big day for Wikimedia NYC. While we cannot meet in person, we still have something special planned. We will begin the event with the debut of a new video celebrating our community. This will be followed by a panel discussion with some of the people you'll see in the video talking about Wikipedia's 20th anniversary, Wikimedia New York City, and the amazing work they do on Wikimedia projects. The event will be broadcast live via YouTube. Feel free to ask questions for the panel through the chat! We will also have some NYC wiki trivia you can participate in, with confectionery prizes. Friday January 15 ONLINE Wikipedia Day NYC. 6:00pm - 7:00 pm online via Wikimedia NYC on YouTube

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--Wikimedia New York City Team 14:52, 14 January 2021 (UTC)

Signpost[edit]

Just letting you know I haven't forgotten about writing up edit #1,000,000,000 for the Signpost - any place in particular you'd like me to write up my draft? --Ser Amantio di Nicolao^{Che dicono a Signa?}_{Lo dicono a Signa.} 14:08, 25 January 2021 (UTC)

@Ser Amantio di Nicolao: Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/Next issue/News and notes and we can edit it there, or send me an email. Smallbones_(smalltalk) 16:20, 25 January 2021 (UTC)

Great, thanks. I'll try to work something up this afternoon/evening. --Ser Amantio di Nicolao^{Che dicono a Signa?}_{Lo dicono a Signa.} 16:34, 25 January 2021 (UTC)

OK, it's here - I may come back to it in a little while and tinker with it a bit. Please let me know if it's of any use. --Ser Amantio di Nicolao^{Che dicono a Signa?}_{Lo dicono a Signa.} 02:51, 26 January 2021 (UTC)

Signpost obit[edit]

Hi, I'd like to see if it'd be okay to do one last-second tweak to Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/Next issue/Obituary. I would like to change ...she was well-known for policy-focused editing in controversial topic areas, especially to ensure that appropriate sources were used and the neutral point of view policy followed... to ...she was well-known for policy-focused editing in controversial topic areas, especially sexology, to ensure that appropriate sources were used and the neutral point of view policy followed... This adds "especially sexology". Both I and her brother think it would be good and more accurate. Crossroads ^-talk- 06:53, 31 January 2021 (UTC)

@Crossroads: Go ahead. Smallbones_(smalltalk) 06:58, 31 January 2021 (UTC)

Thank you; done. Also, I had forgotten to mention, should we clean up (cut) all that hidden text (most of which is from myself and SMcCandlish)? Crossroads ^-talk- 07:05, 31 January 2021 (UTC)

ok, but I'll check it out as well. Smallbones_(smalltalk) 07:08, 31 January 2021 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – February 2021[edit]

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

Arbitration

• The standard discretionary sanctions authorized for American Politics were amended by motion to cover post-1992 politics of United States and closely related people, replacing the 1932 cutoff.

Miscellaneous

• Voting in the 2021 Steward elections will begin on 05 February 2021, 14:00 (UTC) and end on 26 February 2021, 13:59 (UTC). The confirmation process of current stewards is being held in parallel. You can automatically check your eligibility to vote.
• Wikipedia has now been around for 20 years, and recently saw its billionth edit!

---

Naum Koen[edit]

Hi, it's was not my intention to be edit warring or WP:OWN. I have added the reasons why i don't believe Wally's edits are helpful on that page to the talk page. Looking forward to have a constructive discussion. The same user is doing a massive rewrite on another related page History of the Jews in the United Arab Emirates, where a consensus NPOV wording regarding leadership and rabbis was reached months ago. Also please note that these are the only two pages the user has ever edited. I also suspect the revert from anon account (207.237.117.218) was same user. Shemtovca (talk) 06:00, 3 February 2021 (UTC)

Teamwork and The Signpost[edit]

		The Teamwork Barnstar
		Thank you for being a part of and spearheading The Signpost in 2020 as Editor-in-chief. Volume 16 is informative and a delight to go through! DTM (talk) 16:24, 7 February 2021 (UTC)

Paid[edit]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Ovedc wrote for pay the draft Raviv Zoller, other editor moved it to the main space who is not authorized and there is no disclosure — Preceding unsigned comment added by 176.12.245.95 (talk) 18:10, 8 February 2021 (UTC)

• Ovedc declared the paid relationship here: User:Ovedc, so this part doesn't interest me, though he does seem to have had one sock puppet
• The person who moved the article Gilabrand might have violated some technicality, but is a very long-term contributor with more edits than I have. I don't see any major problem in the 15 minutes I've had to look at this.
• My feeling if you have any complaint about somebody is that the best thing to do is express it directly and politely. I'll try doing that here for you: Gilabrand - did you edit the Raviv Zoller article for pay? Hopefully this will clear up everything.
• Smallbones_(smalltalk) 19:13, 8 February 2021 (UTC)

February 17: ONLINE WikiWednesday Salon NYC[edit]

February 17, 7pm: ONLINE WikiWednesday Salon NYC

Play media Welcome to Wikimedia New York City! You are invited to join the Wikimedia NYC community for our monthly "WikiWednesday" evening salon (7-8pm) and knowledge-sharing workshop. To join the meeting from your computer or smartphone, just visit this link. More information about how to connect is available on the meetup page. We look forward to seeing local Wikimedians, but would also like to invite folks from the greater New York metropolitan area (and beyond!) who might not typically be able to join us in person! This month will include a discussion of Black WikiHistory Month in February, plans for WikiWomen's History Month in March, and of course the great work that is being done in these topical areas throughout the year. We will also have a relevant demonstration of the Wikipedia:Did you know process. If there's a project you'd like to share or a question you'd like answered, just let us know by adding it to the agenda or responding to this message. Wednesday February 17 WikiWednesday Salon and Skill-Share NYC (optional RSVP on-wiki). 7:00pm - 8:00 pm online via Zoom (optional breakout rooms from 8:00-8:30)

(You can subscribe/unsubscribe from future notifications for NYC-area events by adding or removing your name from this list.)

--Wikimedia New York City Team 01:22, 16 February 2021 (UTC)

Discussions of interest[edit]

Because of your interest in paid editing corporate articles, I thought you might be interested in the discussions at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Conflict_of_interest/Noticeboard#Policy and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:What_Wikipedia_is_not_(organizations)#Requested_move_18_February_2021 Coretheapple (talk) 15:11, 18 February 2021 (UTC)

Thursday Feb 25: ONLINE Black Wiki History Month at the Schomburg Center[edit]

Feb 25, 1:30-5pm: Black Wiki History Month at the Schomburg Center

You are invited to join the AfroCROWD and Wikimedia NYC communities for the 7th year of this edit-a-thon, this time being held in a virtual format. More information about how to connect is available on the meetup page, and register on the form to get the Zoom link. We look forward to seeing local Wikimedians, but would also like to invite folks from the greater New York metropolitan area (and beyond!) who might not typically be able to join us in person! Thursday Feb 25 Black Wiki History Month at the Schomburg Center (optional RSVP on-wiki). 1:30pm - 5:30 pm online, register on the form to get the Zoom link

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--Wikimedia New York City Team 07:24, 23 February 2021 (UTC)

Featured Content report[edit]

It's not ideal, but a short FCR is better than half-assing everything, and I really couldn't have done any better. I'll try to catch up for March's issue, which'll be rather large, as I'd like to catch up to as near the end of February as practical in that issue (and NO FURTHER: I'm struggling a bit to get out full months when I have a full month to write 'em. If the cutoff date is less than a month away, there's no way I can do it. Adam Cuerden ^(talk)_{Has about 7.8% of all FPs} 10:47, 28 February 2021 (UTC)

Copyediting[edit]

Just an fyi—I started copyediting the "Opinion" piece but I stopped, as my personal inclination would be to copy edit it a lot for conciseness, and I suspect it would not please the author. isaacl (talk) 19:29, 28 February 2021 (UTC)

@Isaacl: some of that would be ok. He does have his own views and his own way of expression, so let's give him leeway. Smallbones_(smalltalk) 19:34, 28 February 2021 (UTC)

Yeah, just letting you know that someone else should look over the article. isaacl (talk) 19:37, 28 February 2021 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – March 2021[edit]

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

Administrator changes

TJMSmith

Boing! said Zebedee • Hiberniantears • Lear's Fool • Only • WGFinley

Interface administrator changes

AmandaNP

Guideline and policy news

• A request for comment is open that proposes a process for the community to revoke administrative permissions. This follows a 2019 RfC in favor of creating one such a policy.
• A request for comment is in progress to remove F7 (invalid fair-use claim) subcriterion a, which covers immediate deletion of non-free media with invalid fair-use tags.
• A request for comment seeks to grant page movers the delete-redirect userright, which allows moving a page over a single-revision redirect, regardless of that redirect's target. The full proposal is at Wikipedia:Page mover/delete-redirect.
• A request for comment asks if sysops may place the General sanctions/Coronavirus disease 2019 editnotice template on pages in scope that do not have page-specific sanctions?
• There is a discussion in progress concerning automatic protection of each day's featured article with Pending Changes protection.

Technical news

• When blocking an IPv6 address with Twinkle, there is now a checkbox with the option to just block the /64 range. When doing so, you can still leave a block template on the initial, single IP address' talkpage.
• When protecting a page with Twinkle, you can now add a note if doing so was in response to a request at WP:RfPP, and even link to the specific revision.
• There have been a number of reported issues with Pending Changes. Most problems setting protection appear to have been resolved (phab:T273317) but other issues with autoaccepting edits persist (phab:T275322).

Arbitration

• By motion, the discretionary sanctions originally authorized under the GamerGate case are now authorized under a new Gender and sexuality case, with sanctions authorized for all edits about, and all pages related to, any gender-related dispute or controversy and associated people. Sanctions issued under GamerGate are now considered Gender and sexuality sanctions.
• The Kurds and Kurdistan case was closed, authorizing standard discretionary sanctions for the topics of Kurds and Kurdistan, broadly construed.

Miscellaneous

• Following the 2021 Steward Elections, the following editors have been appointed as stewards: AmandaNP, Operator873, Stanglavine, Teles, and Wiki13.

---

Is this a hill worth climbing?[edit]

Do you think it's reasonable to ask for Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2019-06-30/Special report to be restored? ☆ Bri (talk) 19:42, 3 March 2021 (UTC)

@Bri: It's reasonable, since it never should have been deleted. I'm not sure it's reasonable from the perspective of the time and effort it would take. email me if you want to go ahead. Smallbones_(smalltalk) 19:49, 3 March 2021 (UTC)

Well, I started the process. - Bri.public (talk) 17:06, 4 March 2021 (UTC)

Sat Mar 6: Met Women's History Month Virtual Edit Meet-up[edit]

March 6, 12:30pm: Met Women's History Month Virtual Edit Meet-up

You are invited to join the Wikimedia NYC community and the Metropolitan Museum of Art for our The Met x Wikipedia Virtual Edit Meet-up: Women's History Month. We will be partially coordinating with Art+Feminism and all of the International Women's Day and Women's History Month campaigns. Watch and join the livestream! The Metropolitan Museum of Art event on Saturday Mar 6 will host a tutorial and question-and-answer session live on YouTube and other social media platforms. 12:30 pm - 1:30 pm - Presentation 1:30 pm - 2:30 pm - Guidance and Q&A Chat about improving articles! Support will be provided to help guide new editors in this area at Wikimedia Gender Gap Editing Chat for the duration of the campaign. The Met x Wikipedia Virtual Edit Meet-up: Women’s History Month (Metropolitan Museum of Art)

(You can subscribe/unsubscribe from future notifications for NYC-area events by adding or removing your name from this list.)

--Wikimedia New York City Team 01:54, 5 March 2021 (UTC)

Sat Mar 13: Asia Art Archive in America: Art and Feminism Edit-a-thon[edit]

March 13, 12-5pm: Asia Art Archive in America: Art and Feminism Edit-a-thon

You are invited to join the Wikimedia NYC community and Asia Art Archive for our fourth annual (and first virtual) Asia Art Archive in America: Art and Feminism Edit-a-thon! Organized by Asia Art Archive in America and NaPupila in collaboration with Asia Art Archive in Hong Kong and supported by Wikimedia NYC, this event brings together participants to discuss, create, share, and improve Wikipedia articles about women and non-binary artists. We will be partially coordinating with Art+Feminism and all of the International Women's Day and Women's History Month campaigns. Register and join the virtual event! 12:00 pm - 5:00 pm - Register ahead of time on Zoom to get the video link P.S. Next WikiWednesday You are also invited to join our March 17 WikiWednesday next week with a Saint Patrick's Day guest speaker from Wikimedia Community Ireland.

(You can subscribe/unsubscribe from future notifications for NYC-area events by adding or removing your name from this list.)

--Wikimedia New York City Team 00:19, 12 March 2021 (UTC)

March 17: ONLINE WikiWednesday Salon NYC with Wikimedia Community Ireland for St Patrick's Day[edit]

March 17, 7pm: ONLINE WikiWednesday Salon NYC with Wikimedia Community Ireland for St Patrick's Day

Play media Welcome to Wikimedia New York City! You are invited to join the Wikimedia NYC community for our monthly "WikiWednesday" evening salon (7-8pm) and knowledge-sharing workshop. To join the meeting from your computer or smartphone, just visit this link. More information about how to connect is available on the meetup page. We look forward to seeing local Wikimedians, but would also like to invite folks from the greater New York metropolitan area (and beyond!) who might not typically be able to join us in person! As this WikiWednesday coincides with Saint Patrick's Day, we will have a guest speaker from Wikimedia Community Ireland, about Irish-language Wikipedia, the efforts of the community in Ireland, and personal work on historical biographies with a special Irish-New York connection. This month will also include a discussion of Black WikiHistory Month in February and WikiWomen's History Month and Art+Feminism in March, and of course the great work that is being done in these topical areas throughout the year. If there's a project you'd like to share or a question you'd like answered, just let us know by adding it to the agenda or the talk page. Wednesday March 17 WikiWednesday Salon and Skill-Share NYC (optional RSVP on-wiki). 7:00pm - 8:00 pm online via Zoom (optional breakout rooms from 8:00-8:30)

(You can subscribe/unsubscribe from future notifications for NYC-area events by adding or removing your name from this list.)

--Wikimedia New York City Team 14:48, 15 March 2021 (UTC)

URFA/2020[edit]

If you are interested in running something on WP:URFA/2020 in next month's Signpost as part of Featured content, I can update and better copyedit and format this: Wikipedia talk:Unreviewed featured articles/2020#Restoring older Featured articles to standard: 1Q2021 summary of URFA/2020 activity. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 16:02, 1 April 2021 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – April 2021[edit]

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

Administrator changes

Alexandria • Happyme22 • RexxS

Guideline and policy news

• Following a request for comment, F7 (invalid fair-use claim) subcriterion a has been deprecated; it covered immediate deletion of non-free media with invalid fair-use tags.
• Following a request for comment, page movers were granted the delete-redirect userright, which allows moving a page over a single-revision redirect, regardless of that redirect's target.

Technical news

• When you move a page that many editors have on their watchlist the history can be split and it might also not be possible to move it again for a while. This is because of a job queue problem. (T278350)
• Code to support some very old web browsers is being removed. This could cause issues in those browsers. (T277803)

Arbitration

• A community consultation on the Arbitration Committee discretionary sanctions procedure is open until April 25.

---

Paidlist[edit]

If you don't know about it, WP:PAIDLIST is updated fairly frequently when editors sight either on-wiki paid editing or off-wiki offers to do so. Might be something to keep on your watchlist to see what's afoot. -- Bri.public (talk) 18:43, 9 April 2021 (UTC)

• FP1, a political reputation management firm on PAIDLIST, seems to be active here again. See Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Lesbianadvocate ☆ Bri (talk) 14:06, 19 April 2021 (UTC)

Regarding my book[edit]

I've sent you an email regarding my book: How I wrote a million Wikipedia articles HitomiAkane (talk) 19:44, 12 April 2021 (UTC)

Question regarding Signpost submission[edit]

Hi! I've written up a Signpost draft at User:Ganesha811/Signpost draft. I was wondering, for the checklist at the top, which parts are supposed to be done by me and which by other editors. I've added a title, but was unsure if I should go ahead and write a blurb or mark the article as being ready to be copyedited. Thank you for your help. Ganesha811 (talk) 19:53, 13 April 2021 (UTC)

April 21: ONLINE WikiWednesday Salon NYC with with Environmental focus[edit]

April 21, 7pm: ONLINE WikiWednesday Salon NYC with Environmental focus

Play media Welcome to Wikimedia New York City! You are invited to join the Wikimedia NYC community for our monthly "WikiWednesday" evening salon (7-8pm) and knowledge-sharing workshop. To join the meeting from your computer or smartphone, just visit this link. More information about how to connect is available on the meetup page. We look forward to seeing local Wikimedians, but would also like to invite folks from the greater New York metropolitan area (and beyond!) who might not typically be able to join us in person! As this WikiWednesday is just the day before Earth Day, we will have an environmental focus. If there's a project you'd like to share or a question you'd like answered, just let us know by adding it to the agenda or the talk page. Wednesday April 21 WikiWednesday Salon and Skill-Share NYC (optional RSVP on-wiki). 7:00pm - 8:00 pm online via Zoom (optional breakout rooms from 8:00-8:30)

(You can subscribe/unsubscribe from future notifications for NYC-area events by adding or removing your name from this list.)

--Wikimedia New York City Team 00:31, 18 April 2021 (UTC)

Robert Brockman[edit]

Hi SmallBones, Last month, I came across your Opinion article and decided to create an article about one of the public-shy billionaire individual. It went through the review and I was thinking, ok this will likely get linked to their autogenerated google snapshot. Seems to me this article has not been cached by google (it shows up on both bing and duckduckgo). Moreover, it doesn't even show up when you google "robert brockman billionaire wikipedia". I was wondering if this is some kind of catching issues or suppression by google. Is there anything I should do? Please let me know if may be I should just wait. Thanks. GreaterPonce665 ^(TALK) 17:50, 18 April 2021 (UTC)

@GreaterPonce665: This information may be of interest: Wikipedia:Controlling_search_engine_indexing#Indexing_of_articles_("mainspace"). It looks like it took a long time for your article to get reviewed and thus become available to get indexed by Google. I am not sure how fast Google usually picks up a newly eligible article after that, but since this one isn't orphaned, I would be cautiously optimistic. There is also wmf:Notices received from search engines, but unfortunately that page hasn't been updated since 2019, and also, such RTBF deletions would be expected to only affect search results in the EU. Regards, HaeB (talk) 20:35, 18 April 2021 (UTC)

@HaeB: Thanks for letting me know. I'll wait to see if google updates this in a month. GreaterPonce665 ^(TALK) 14:09, 20 April 2021 (UTC)

My, my![edit]

You've wasted a lot of time on your user page, wouldn't you agree? Thanks for doing it! Your friend, BeenAroundAWhile (talk) 20:37, 20 April 2021 (UTC)

Is something new brewing wrt corporate reputation management?[edit]

FYI my intuition is something is afoot ... see [10]. Proxy IP editing, reputation management, affects many other other articles about companies. - Bri.public (talk) 20:22, 22 April 2021 (UTC)

MfD nomination of Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2021-04-25/Disinformation report[edit]

Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2021-04-25/Disinformation report, a page which you created or substantially contributed to, has been nominated for deletion. Your opinions on the matter are welcome; you may participate in the discussion by adding your comments at Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2021-04-25/Disinformation report and please be sure to sign your comments with four tildes (~~~~). You are free to edit the content of Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2021-04-25/Disinformation report during the discussion but should not remove the miscellany for deletion template from the top of the page; such a removal will not end the deletion discussion. Thank you. Fram (talk) 13:41, 28 April 2021 (UTC)

April 2021[edit]

A page you created has been nominated for deletion as an attack page, according to section G10 of the criteria for speedy deletion.

Do not create pages that attack, threaten, or disparage their subject or any other entity. Attack pages and files are not tolerated by Wikipedia, and users who create or add such material may be blocked from editing. Fram (talk) 08:11, 30 April 2021 (UTC)

Precious anniversary[edit]

Precious

Six years!

--Gerda Arendt (talk) 05:52, 4 May 2021 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – May 2021[edit]

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

Administrator changes

Enchanter • Carlossuarez46

Interface administrator changes

Ragesoss

Guideline and policy news

• Following an RfC, consensus was found that third party appeals are allowed but discouraged.
• The 2021 Desysop Policy RfC was closed with no consensus. Consensus was found in a previous RfC for a community based desysop procedure, though the procedure proposed in the 2021 RfC did not gain consensus.

Technical news

• The user group oversight will be renamed to suppress. This is for technical reasons. You can comment at T112147 if you have objections.

Arbitration

• The community consultation on the Arbitration Committee discretionary sanctions procedure was closed, and an initial draft based on feedback from the now closed consultation is expected to be released in early June to early July for community review.

---

May 19: ONLINE WikiWednesday Salon NYC[edit]

May 19, 7pm: ONLINE WikiWednesday Salon NYC

Play media Welcome to Wikimedia New York City! You are invited to join the Wikimedia NYC community for our monthly "WikiWednesday" evening salon (7-8pm) and knowledge-sharing workshop. To join the meeting from your computer or smartphone, just visit this link. More information about how to connect is available on the meetup page. We look forward to seeing local Wikimedians, but would also like to invite folks from the greater New York metropolitan area (and beyond!) who might not typically be able to join us in person! If there's a project you'd like to share or a question you'd like answered, just let us know by adding it to the agenda or the talk page. Wednesday May 19 WikiWednesday Salon and Skill-Share NYC (optional RSVP on-wiki). 7:00pm - 8:00 pm online via Zoom (optional breakout rooms from 8:00-8:30)

(You can subscribe/unsubscribe from future notifications for NYC-area events by adding or removing your name from this list.)

--Wikimedia New York City Team 03:15, 18 May 2021 (UTC)

I'm not sure how to interpret this[edit]

What do you mean here? Do you mean you'll make the notation on the list of Signpost articles, or that Signpost will write something? Risker (talk) 01:36, 23 May 2021 (UTC)

We will compile it. Smallbones_(smalltalk) 02:20, 24 May 2021 (UTC)

That's not helping. Are you writing the article or not? I mean, a lot of people are working together collaboratively on this piece; if you're not going to use it, please just say so. Risker (talk) 03:50, 24 May 2021 (UTC)

@Risker: You don't have to worry that we won't use it, but, as usual with obits, we will start with the material on WP:Deceased Wikipedians and then add material from other sources - 2 other sources in this case. We also will edit the result, for length and to meet our standards.

In the future, if you want to submit an article to The Signpost, please submit the article via our submissions page, or drop the editor-in-chief (that's me for now) a line to get some feedback, or perhaps just a note on the newsroom talk page. Smallbones_(smalltalk) 14:52, 24 May 2021 (UTC)

• When you have finished throwing your very light weight about and making what you no doubt think is clever repartee, but can only be interpreted as impertinence to Risker, you should realise that many editors thought more than highly of Sarah. Over the years, we have lost many valued and respected editors, but none who have done so much to change and improve the project. That many here wish to give her what amounts to Wikipedia’s first state funeral, in the form of a collaborative obituary, is unsurprising. You should remember a newspaper only survives if people choose to read it. Editors and dull newspapers are here today and gone tomorrow, and I doubt many will mourn the Signpost not appearing on their talk page. Giano (talk) 19:52, 27 May 2021 (UTC)

  Thank you, Giano. I totally agree. Bishonen | tålk 20:07, 27 May 2021 (UTC).

  My thanks as well Giano. Smallbones please remember that Wikipedia is not a bureaucracy and that applies to the Signpost as well. How anyone can look at the heartfelt sentiments that are still being added here User talk:SlimVirgin and then retreat into "submit the item in the usual manner" and "we need two sources in this case" trope is beyond human and humane comprehension. MarnetteD|Talk 20:22, 27 May 2021 (UTC)

Hello Smallbones. I have now submitted the draft obituary to the Submissions page. Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/Newsroom/Submissions. There's also a subpage at Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/Next issue/Obituary/FA-GA detailing her major contributions. I have to admit I was shocked and dismayed when you blanked the page and will consider publishing instead. Thank you,— Diannaa 🇨🇦 (talk) 20:30, 27 May 2021 (UTC)

MarnetteD: as I understand it, the reference to two sources was that there are two other deaths that were added to the list of deceased Wikipedians and thus are slated for inclusion in the obituary column. isaacl (talk) 20:33, 27 May 2021 (UTC)

Thank you for pointing that out Isaacl. I have struck through that part of my post. MarnetteD|Talk 20:38, 27 May 2021 (UTC)

I hope everybody will calm down and realize that I'm just doing everything here in the usual way. Every article in The Signpost needs to get the approval by the editor-in-chief. We'll be writing our own article compiled from WP:Deceased Wikipedians, User talk:Slim Virgin, and your submission. I'm not up to something nefarious here - it's just our usual procedure. Please assume good faith. Smallbones_(smalltalk) 21:47, 27 May 2021 (UTC)

The people above seem quite calm to me, Smallbones. I think what they dislike isn't so much your procedure, as your breathtaking rudeness. Please think about it. Bishonen | tålk 21:54, 27 May 2021 (UTC).

Smallbones, if ever you wonder why it is so hard to get anyone to willingly write for the Signpost, this entire exchange and activity can be used as your template of how not to treat colleagues. Most of this article is written by some of the best writers on the project. It is written specifically for the Signpost, with an intention to move it over to the WP:DECEASED page following final copy-edits and publication. Materials from the user talk and the little bits over at WP:RIP have already been incorporated, although I wouldn't object to the notion of adding a few pull quotes from the user talk page. But you've been very deliberately obtuse at every step of the way. Just last month, you said you wanted out of the role of the editor in chief. This isn't the behaviour of someone looking to attract others to the role. Risker (talk) 22:12, 27 May 2021 (UTC)

Smallbones, I think maybe the piece of the puzzle you're not seeing yet is that the people who wrote the obituary did so as a final tribute and memorial, after having lost a co-worker and friend. It's been part of the grieving process for some of us. Remember too that Sarah was no ordinary contributor, she was larger than life, Wikipedia personified, our Princess Diana if you will. So there's a real sense of loss, even for people like me who did not know her well. For you to throw our work away by blanking the page (or implying that only small bits of it will be published) seems to me to be inappropriate under the circumstances. — Diannaa 🇨🇦 (talk) 00:11, 28 May 2021 (UTC)

@Diannaa: Many people seem to be all wound up over Sarah's passing. Many of us, myself included, considered her to be a close personal friend. She was also a trusted advisor to The Signpost. I do not think that "only small bits" of the submitted obit will be kept. I am not going to throw away your work. But we are an independent newspaper and decide on our own what we print. A newspaper can't operate any other way. We have rules and traditions that go back 16 years. Even if people don't know how a newspaper works, by now they should be familiar with how The Signpost works.

Smallbones_(smalltalk) 01:53, 28 May 2021 (UTC)

Why should people be familiar with how the Signpost works, when it doesn't work the same way consistently? This is a level of expectation that is unrealistic. The last time I wrote for the Signpost, my piece was published without any major changes, just a few copy edits. That's how I expected it to work this time, too; and how it works for the majority of contributions. Risker (talk) 02:15, 28 May 2021 (UTC)

Hello, I noticed that earlier today you blanked the submission re SV's obit. I'd asked Risker how to publish in the Signpost and have been in communications with Sarah's family. Risker has been helpful to me in terms of helping how to navigate the death of an editor; in retrospect I should have come directly to the Signpost and asked about how to get an obituary published and I apologize to Risker for ... well perhaps placing her in this situation. But Smallbones, I must ask that you reconsider the sentence above: "Many people seem to be all wound up over Sarah's passing". In fact, many are grieving. "Wound up" is entirely an inappropriate term for grief. If the Signpost's policy is to write obituaries, then please be very clear about the policy and post it somewhere easy to find, so those of us who are just regular editors can find it. I looked and found nothing. Victoria (tk) 02:16, 28 May 2021 (UTC)

(edit conflict) Using the phrase "wound up over Sarah's passing" shows a complete lack of sensitivity. Please don't belittle editors emotions in that fashion. Your blanking of other editors work with the edit summary "for signpost staff" is not an example of how any newspaper I've been around works. It would behoove you to take on board the posts here and start respecting your fellow editors. MarnetteD|Talk 02:26, 28 May 2021 (UTC)

Deep breath, everyone. Smallbones, I took a few minutes to re-read your last editorial, and it occurs to me that this discussion and the related actions are all a part of what you were talking about. I know this past year has been rough for you, and some of it may be playing out in unintentional ways, such as a degree of desensitization toward the concerns of others, and too much dependence on structures and processes that you know well and are comfortable with, whether or not others are equally knowledgeable or comfortable. A lot of care from some truly remarkable editors has been put into the draft article, and we should probably assume good faith that you recognize and appreciate that this is one article you aren't going to have to write from scratch, even if you haven't said that. A lot of care has also been taken on the part of the members of the collaborative effort to only include SarahSV's Wikipedia life, even though several of the editors have had more personal experiences with her, because we know how badly she was harassed over the years, and that at least a few of her tormentors would not hesitate to leverage any personal information made available to similarly harass those close to her outside of Wikipedia. I hope that you will keep this firmly in mind when publishing. There's not much on WP:DECEASED at this point that isn't covered concisely in what has been written in the collaboration, and a few pull quotes from her user talk would probably serve a Signpost article very well. Risker (talk) 05:04, 28 May 2021 (UTC)

• I think the problem is that when Smallbones says "we are an independent newspaper and decide on our own what we print" what they mean is veering signficantly towards the Royal "we". It is ironic that certain royals were also known for what Bishonen describes correctly as their "breathtaking rudeness". Black Kite (talk) 18:24, 28 May 2021 (UTC)

Just a note. As mentioned above my last From the editor column describes some difficult circumstances I'm dealing with right now. The next edition of The Signpost will be delayed until June 27, so there's lots of time to deal with the issues in the section. I'll be taking several days away from Wikipedia, so let's consider this discussion closed for the time being. Smallbones_(smalltalk) 03:51, 29 May 2021 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – June 2021[edit]

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

Administrator changes

Ashleyyoursmile • Less Unless

Husond • MattWade • MJCdetroit • Carioca • Vague Rant • Kingboyk • Thunderboltz • Gwen Gale • AniMate • SlimVirgin (deceased)

Guideline and policy news

• Consensus was reached to deprecate Wikipedia:Editor assistance.
• Following a Request for Comment the Book namespace was deprecated.

Technical news

• Wikimedia previously used the IRC network Freenode. However, due to changes over who controlled the network with reports of a forceful takeover by several ex-staff members, the Wikimedia IRC Group Contacts decided to move to the new Libera Chat network. It has been reported that Wikimedia related channels on Freenode have been forcibly taken over if they pointed members to Libera. There is a migration guide and Wikimedia discussions about this.

Arbitration

• After a Clarification request, the Arbitration Committee modified Remedy 5 of the Antisemitism in Poland case. This means sourcing expectations are a discretionary sanction instead of being present on all articles. It also details using the talk page or the Reliable Sources Noticeboard to discuss disputed sources.

---

June 16: ONLINE WikiWednesday Salon NYC[edit]

June 16, 7pm: ONLINE WikiWednesday Salon NYC

Play media Welcome to Wikimedia New York City! You are invited to join the Wikimedia NYC community for our monthly "WikiWednesday" evening salon (7-8pm) and knowledge-sharing workshop. To join the meeting from your computer or smartphone, just visit this link. More information about how to connect is available on the meetup page. We look forward to seeing local Wikimedians, but would also like to invite folks from the greater New York metropolitan area (and beyond!) who might not typically be able to join us in person! If there's a project you'd like to share or a question you'd like answered, just let us know by adding it to the agenda or the talk page. Wednesday June 16 WikiWednesday Salon and Skill-Share NYC (optional RSVP on-wiki). 7:00pm - 8:00 pm online via Zoom (optional breakout rooms from 8:00-8:30)

(You can subscribe/unsubscribe from future notifications for NYC-area events by adding or removing your name from this list.)

--Wikimedia New York City Team 16:20, 14 June 2021 (UTC)

You've got mail![edit]

🐶 EpicPupper (he/him | talk, FAQ, contribs) 01:31, 16 June 2021 (UTC)

Final Call for Candidates for AffCom - June 2021[edit]

<languages /> {{Help translate/AffCom Elections June 2021}}

This is an update from the Wikimedia Affiliations Committee. Translations are available.

This is a final Call for Candidates for the June 2021 Affiliations Committee election.

If you are interested in running, please post your application and follow all four steps on the nomination page by 30 June 2021 23:59 hours UTC.

If you know somebody you think may be interested, please share this with them and encourage them to consider it. If you have any questions about this process or the requirements, please email affcom@wikimedia.org before the application deadline or reach out to any of the current members.

On behalf of the AffCom elections committee,

--- FULBERT (talk) 14:37, 22 June 2021 (UTC)

Category:Affiliations committee communications Category:AffCom Elections June 2021 Category:Help translate templates [[:Category:AffCom Elections June 2021{{#translation:}}|]]

Obit[edit]

re: this. FWIW - I prefer the first option (green box) I think it looks cleaner and more professional. Just IMO. — Ched (talk) 18:02, 25 June 2021 (UTC) (edited: — Ched (talk) 18:05, 25 June 2021 (UTC))

@Ched: Thanks for the advice. I think I'll call in a box expert (and the ultimate copy editor) just to make sure. Smallbones_(smalltalk) 18:08, 25 June 2021 (UTC)

I'm wondering why I bothered to put that work into copy-editing. It seems to have been ignored. Tony (talk) 11:55, 27 June 2021 (UTC)

(watching:) from what I saw you added a version, instead of replacing, - how is anyone supposed to even notice if it was different? --Gerda Arendt (talk) 12:02, 27 June 2021 (UTC)

So you ruined it. Why didn't you do a simple check? Tony (talk) 13:15, 27 June 2021 (UTC)

Sorry, Tony, I don't know whom you mean by "you". I didn't touch the thing. I was only watching, and thought you did, too. I tried to explain. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 21:34, 27 June 2021 (UTC)

@Tony1 and Gerda Arendt: Tony1's last version got mangled via an edit conflict with another user. It had 2 Signpost editing templates on it (which would duplicate the text). So I went back before the mangling and attempted to replicate tony's edits. Smallbones_(smalltalk) 12:14, 27 June 2021 (UTC)

the best I can do is to show you the diff [11] where you should see your copyedits. Smallbones_(smalltalk) 12:22, 27 June 2021 (UTC)

Ok, see what happened, the template replication does make them hard to work out. But, but...but can we please restore Tony's edits, they were a large improvement. Thanks all. Ceoil (talk) 13:28, 27 June 2021 (UTC)

i'll try, but it will take some time. Smallbones_(smalltalk) 13:31, 27 June 2021 (UTC)

Had a go Smallbones with this diff, if @Tony1: could look over if what was intended. Ceoil (talk) 13:34, 27 June 2021 (UTC)

Why the "pet" image was placed on top with an edit summary saying that she recently put it on her user page while she added it to her user talk page I don't know, but I have regretted edit summaries myself. This is her user page, - magnificent and bold, no pet in sight. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 21:34, 27 June 2021 (UTC)

• Hey Gerda Arendt!
• Thanks for your help on this. I was getting too emotional. too sure that everything wasn't going to come out *exactly* right. I'm sorry to say that I don't know exactly where that pic went. I didn't delete it unless it was an accident. Yah, my edit summary was off by a word. It'll be a long time if ever that we get over the loss of Sarah, Thanks again. Smallbones_(smalltalk) 21:47, 27 June 2021 (UTC)

  Hi Smallbones, I've been out for the day and just took a look. It looks lovely. Thanks so much for everything and thanks to everyone else too. It has been an emotional journey. Victoria (tk) 21:51, 27 June 2021 (UTC)

Hi, both. I see that you were getting emotional - which I believe is a good thing. With less emotion, you'd have seen, Smallbones, that this is not a pic "missing" (which says "Art doesn't help people"), but a pic that a user who misses her created based on it (which says "This user misses SlimVirgin"). You did well, both and many, and if I had been less emotional I'd given you a flower of thanks right away, with some impressions of places, flowers and music for you. I hope we won't have to do this heartbreaking job too often. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 08:16, 28 June 2021 (UTC)

added: missing SlimVirgin, and RMF festival opening --Gerda Arendt (talk) 16:43, 29 June 2021 (UTC)

• Love the pic you eventually chose for the top. Tony (talk) 13:31, 28 June 2021 (UTC)

You've got mail![edit]

It's a rather short one. If you'd like me to stop posting these templates, please reply and ping, thanks. 🐶 EpicPupper ^{(he/him | talk, FAQ, contribs | please use {{ping}} on reply)} 22:04, 28 June 2021 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – July 2021[edit]

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

Guideline and policy news

• Consensus has been reached to delete all books in the book namespace. There was rough consensus that the deleted books should still be available on request at WP:REFUND even after the namespace is removed.
• An RfC is open to discuss the next steps following a trial which automatically applied pending changes to TFAs.

Technical news

• IP addresses of unregistered users are to be hidden from everyone. There is a rough draft of how IP addresses may be shown to users who need to see them. This currently details allowing administrators, checkusers, stewards and those with a new usergroup to view the full IP address of unregistered users. Editors with at least 500 edits and an account over a year old will be able to see all but the end of the IP address in the proposal. The ability to see the IP addresses hidden behind the mask would be dependent on agreeing to not share the parts of the IP address they can see with those who do not have access to the same information. Accessing part of or the full IP address of a masked editor would also be logged. Comments on the draft are being welcomed at the talk page.

Arbitration

• The community authorised COVID-19 general sanctions have been superseded by the COVID-19 discretionary sanctions following a motion at a case request. Alerts given and sanctions placed under the community authorised general sanctions are now considered alerts for and sanctions under the new discretionary sanctions.

---

July 14: Virtual Coney Island Meetup + NYC monthly collaboration[edit]

July 14, 7pm: Virtual Coney Island Meetup + NYC monthly collaboration

Play media Welcome to Wikimedia New York City! You are invited to join the Wikimedia NYC community for our monthly online gathering (7-8pm) and knowledge-sharing workshop. To join the meeting from your computer or smartphone, just visit this link. More information about how to connect is available on the meetup page. Instead of our usual "WikiWednesday" Salon, we'll focus on the WikiProject NYC monthly collaboration and this month's subject of Coney Island. And rather than Zoom, we'll meet on a proximity chat virtual Coney Island beach and share over topical articles and collaborations. We look forward to seeing local Wikimedians, but would also like to invite folks from the greater New York metropolitan area (and beyond!) who might not typically be able to join us in person! Wednesday July 14 Virtual Coney Island Meetup (optional RSVP on-wiki). 7:00pm - 8:00 pm online via WikiConey on Gather

(You can subscribe/unsubscribe from future notifications for NYC-area events by adding or removing your name from this list.)

--Wikimedia New York City Team 14:41, 12 July 2021 (UTC)

Voting methods[edit]

Regarding voting methods where voters rank candidates, including single transferable vote: I assume you've read the mechanics of the various procedures and are just wondering about the rationale for them? For STV, are you being tripped up by scenarios with multiple seats being elected and thus the different ways to specify quota and how to transfer the excess? (My current favourite Condorcet method voting system is Ranked Pairs because I think its method of resolving preferences loops (e.g. A is preferred to B is preferred to C is preferred to A) is relatively easy to understand.) isaacl (talk) 23:29, 25 July 2021 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – July 2021[edit]

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

Guideline and policy news

• An RfC is open to add a delay of one week from nomination to deletion for G13 speedy deletions.

Technical news

• Last week all wikis were very slow or not accessible for 30 minutes. This was due to server lag caused by regenerating dynamic lists on the Russian Wikinews after a large bulk import. (T287380)

Arbitration

• Following an amendment request, the committee has clarified that the Talk page exception to the 500/30 rule in remedy 5 of the Palestine-Israel articles 4 case does not apply to requested move discussions.

Miscellaneous

• You can vote for candidates in the 2021 Board of Trustees elections from 4 August to 17 August. Four community elected seats are up for election.

---

Perhaps some clarification could be done?[edit]

Regarding this edit: I can't quite figure out what you're trying to say; perhaps you could clarify on that talk page? There is no "2nd method" listed in the Terms of Use. The paid-contribution disclosure page has a second bullet on changing the policy (which, without going back to check, I believe you added in order to assert that more stringent requirements could be added without ratifying an alternative policy). However, when you said the 2nd method listed in the policy (and in the ToU) which would need to include using "the project's standard consensus-based process for establishing core policies, you seem to be referring to the first bullet anyway. If I had to guess, I think you're saying an alternative policy can't be enacted without establishing community consensus support for the policy. isaacl (talk) 02:58, 10 August 2021 (UTC)

Sat Aug 14: Wikimania Wiknic NYC[edit]

August 14, 12-5pm: Wikimania Wiknic NYC

Wikimania 2021 Play media Welcome to Wikimedia New York City! You are invited to join the Wikimedia NYC community for a planned socially-distanced Wiknic ("the picnic anyone can edit") in Brooklyn's Prospect Park to coincide with the virtual Wikimania 2021. For this occasion, and to allow more space as desired, we have individually packed lunches provided by the chapter, and attendees are encouraged to RSVP at Eventbrite and give sandwich/entree orders. Saturday August 14 Wikimania Wiknic NYC (optional RSVP on-wiki). 12:00pm - 5:00 pm in a shaded grove in front of the Picnic House (Prospect Park, Brooklyn) Long Meadow of Prospect Park

(You can subscribe/unsubscribe from future notifications for NYC-area events by adding or removing your name from this list.)

--Wikimedia New York City Team 18:49, 11 August 2021 (UTC)

August 25: ONLINE WikiWednesday Salon NYC[edit]

August 25, 7pm: ONLINE WikiWednesday Salon NYC

Play media Welcome to Wikimedia New York City! You are invited to join the Wikimedia NYC community for our monthly "WikiWednesday" evening salon (7-8pm) and knowledge-sharing workshop. To join the meeting from your computer or smartphone, just visit this link. More information about how to connect is available on the meetup page. We look forward to seeing local Wikimedians, but would also like to invite folks from the greater New York metropolitan area (and beyond!) who might not typically be able to join us in person! If there's a project you'd like to share or a question you'd like answered, just let us know by adding it to the agenda or the talk page. Wednesday August 25 WikiWednesday Salon and Skill-Share NYC (optional RSVP on-wiki). 7:00pm - 8:00 pm online via Zoom (optional breakout rooms from 8:00-8:30)

(You can subscribe/unsubscribe from future notifications for NYC-area events by adding or removing your name from this list.)

--Wikimedia New York City Team 14:21, 24 August 2021 (UTC)

You may find this funny[edit]

Talk:Jasenovac_concentration_camp#This article has been mentioned by a media organization: template. It's so... Wikipedian. Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 09:47, 3 September 2021 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – September 2021[edit]

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

Administrator changes

Jake Wartenberg

Emperor • Viridian Bovary

Ashleyyoursmile → Viridian Bovary

Guideline and policy news

• Feedback is requested on the Universal Code of Conduct enforcement draft by the Universal Code of Conduct Phase 2 drafting committee.
• A RfC is open on whether to allow administrators to use extended confirmed protection on high-risk templates.
• A discussion is open to decide when, if ever, should discord logs be eligible for removal when posted onwiki (including whether to oversight them)
• A RfC on the next steps after the trial of pending changes on TFAs has resulted in a 30 day trial of automatic semi protection for TFAs.

Technical news

• The Score extension has been re-enabled on public wikis. It has been updated, but has been placed in safe mode to address unresolved security issues. Further information on the security issues can be found on the mediawiki page.

Arbitration

• A request for comment is in progress to provide an opportunity to amend the structure, rules, and procedures of the Arbitration Committee election and resolve any issues not covered by existing rules. Comments and new proposals are welcome.

Miscellaneous

• The 2021 RfA review is now open for comments.

---

German paid editing scandal brewing[edit]

• de:Wikipedia:Checkuser/Anfragen/Olaf Kosinsky; Subteno
• https://netzpolitik.org/2021/wikipedia-edits-aus-dem-bundestag-abgeordnete-wahlkampf/

I only found out about it just now, so I have nothing to say. MER-C 12:49, 4 September 2021 (UTC)

• @MER-C: Got it. There now will be 2 very big paid editing stoties this month. The other involves $7 billion payment to IRS. 15:04, 4 September 2021 (UTC)
  • Here's a nice quote for you: "Autopatrolled would help me a lot". MER-C 12:02, 8 September 2021 (UTC)

@Smallbones I've drafted the article here. Hope you like it, feel free to do to it whatever you think is necessary! Zarasophos (talk) 14:54, 25 September 2021 (UTC)

Unsigned comment[edit]

You might want to go back and sign WT:NEWSROOM#Changing content after publication. ☆ Bri (talk) 03:35, 9 September 2021 (UTC)

Just a heads-up[edit]

I was re-reading the special report that you wrote a year ago about UPE and found that the discovery timeline was incorrectly flipped backwards. So I flipped them back to correct sequence while preserving the words that you wrote. Hope you're ok with that change. OhanaUnited^{Talk page} 02:35, 12 September 2021 (UTC)

Hello. You have a new message at Bri's talk page.

Inadvertent rollback[edit]

If you have revert notifications on, you'll probably see that I rollbacked you just now. It was an accident - I was looking at page history and fat-fingered my keyboard somehow. I've re-reverted myself. Sorry about that. ♠PMC♠ (talk) 23:05, 27 September 2021 (UTC)

Ha, I was *really* scratching my head over that. ☆ Bri (talk) 23:08, 27 September 2021 (UTC)

September 29: ONLINE WikiWednesday Salon + Annual Members' Meeting NYC[edit]

September 29, 7pm: ONLINE WikiWednesday Salon + Annual Members' Meeting NYC

Play media Welcome to Wikimedia New York City! You are invited to join the Wikimedia NYC community for our monthly "WikiWednesday" evening salon (7-8pm) and knowledge-sharing workshop. To join the meeting from your computer or smartphone, just visit this link. More information about how to connect is available on the meetup page. We look forward to seeing local Wikimedians, but would also like to invite folks from the greater New York metropolitan area (and beyond!) who might not typically be able to join us in person! If there's a project you'd like to share or a question you'd like answered, just let us know by adding it to the agenda or the talk page. Wednesday September 29 WikiWednesday Salon + Annual Members' Meeting NYC (optional RSVP on-wiki). 7:00pm - 8:00 pm online via Zoom (optional breakout rooms from 8:00-8:30)

Upcoming events:

• Prospect Park photo contest, ongoing
• Latinx Art Wikipedia Edit-a-thon, October 6
• Wiki-Pavilion Picnic NYC in Prospect Park (with WikiProject Craft + WikiConference North America), October 10

(You can subscribe/unsubscribe from future notifications for NYC-area events by adding or removing your name from this list.)

--Wikimedia New York City Team 04:43, 28 September 2021 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – October 2021[edit]

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

Guideline and policy news

• Following an RfC, extended confirmed protection may be used preemptively on certain high-risk templates.
• Following a discussion at the Village Pump, there is consensus to treat discord logs the same as IRC logs. This means that discord logs will be oversighted if posted onwiki.

Technical news

• DiscussionTools has superseded Enterprisey's reply-link script. Editors may switch using the "Discussion tools" checkbox under Preferences → Beta features.

Arbitration

• A motion has standardised the 500/30 (extended confirmed) restrictions placed by the Arbitration Committee. The standardised restriction is now listed in the Arbitration Committee's procedures.
• Following the closure of the Iranian politics case, standard discretionary sanctions are authorized for all edits about, and all pages related to, post-1978 Iranian politics, broadly construed.
• The Arbitration Committee encourages uninvolved administrators to use the discretionary sanctions procedure in topic areas where it is authorised to facilitate consensus in RfCs. This includes, but is not limited to, enforcing sectioned comments, word/diff limits and moratoriums on a particular topic from being brought in an RfC for up to a year.

Miscellaneous

• Editors have approved expanding the trial of Growth Features from 2% of new accounts to 25%, and the share of newcomers getting mentorship from 2% to 5%. Experienced editors are invited to add themselves to the mentor list.
• The community consultation phase of the 2021 CheckUser and Oversight appointments process is open for editors to provide comments and ask questions to candidates.

---

Journalism[edit]

If in a news article, you quote Person A talking about Person B, you ask Person B for a comment/response before running the story with Person A's quote about Person B, and if they give a response, you quote Person B's response in the story along with Person A's quote. This is journalism 101, don't you agree? It's why so many stories say something like "Person B did not respond to repeated requests for comment before this story was published." Shouldn't Signpost have done the same? Levivich 15:26, 3 October 2021 (UTC)

@Levivich:

"An important part of the EiC job is to ensure that The Signpost follows Wikipedia's rules and to read every word in every article to make sure violations of our policies and guidelines do not happen. If you believe there is a violation, please politely inform us on the article's talk page. I'll take every such report seriously, even if I disagree with you. If there is no satisfactory response, please email me directly and I'll try my best to make sure that any violations are corrected. This promise is not a guarantee that I'll take the actions you request. I will not censor a contributor's opinion simply because you disagree with it.

"All Wikipedia users have the right to take any further complaints to the Administrators' noticeboard for incidents or the arbitration committee, but please remember that your complaint will be against me, since I am in charge of compliance with Wikipedia's rules, and not against our writers, staff or other contributors." (from Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2019-03-31/From the editors)

There is a distinction betweem Wikipedia's rules and the rules that we impose upon ourselve - that we will follow the standard ethics of journalism. Wikipedia admins and arbs enforce Wikipedia's rules - and I doubt that they'll find anything amiss here. I've offered Person B a very simple way to make sure that's the case. He should take it to a non-involved admin. We can both send our statements to the admim and let them decide. I'll automatically accept the admin's decision if I believe that they are applying Wikipedia's rules, and not applying additional rules that don't apply to everybody else on Wikipedia. The additional rules on journalism ethics don't apply at this stage.

Now The Signpost does apply the rules of journalism ethics to itself, and I've already decided that. This is not a violation IMO. You seem to believe that anytime a person is mentioned in a story journalism ethics require us to get a comment from them and then print it. No, journalism ethics say that if a person is seriously accused or criticized, they should be contacted. There's a level of criticism below which there is no requirement. Person A did not accuse person B of a crime or suggested that B was a fascist. He stated it clearly in an RfC and was not contradicted for at least 3 weeks (maybe never). Person B has not even told me in an understandable way that he thinks A's statement is wrong - just that he thinks it should be removed.

What B wants to do now is up to him. Smallbones_(smalltalk) 16:23, 4 October 2021 (UTC)

I am only talking about journalism ethics, not Wikipedia policy. Do you accept Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics as authoritative? "Diligently seek subjects of news coverage to allow them to respond to criticism or allegations of wrongdoing." I don't see where that is limited to allegations of criminal conduct or anything that substantiates There's a level of criticism below which there is no requirement. Is there any journalism code that limits the right of reply in this way?

If a Member of Parliament, on the Parliament floor, criticized another MP, and a newspaper later block quoted that criticism in an article, wouldn't they either also print the other MP's response if it's in the record, and/or contact the criticized MP and offer right of reply? You can imagine where the MP may not have replied in Parliament (for any number of reasons), but should still be given the opportunity to reply if the criticism were to be republished by a newspaper months later? Levivich 16:59, 4 October 2021 (UTC)

I certainly accept the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics as authoritative as far as it goes. I consult it about every other issue. Now "Diligently seek subjects of news coverage to allow them to respond to criticism or allegations of wrongdoing." does appear to be absolute, but what you are missing is that there are no absolutes in the code. Everything involves a trade off. It's more like Wikipedia's guidelines - allowing occasional exceptions

Under Why doesn’t SPJ enforce its Code of Ethics? they leave the enforcement and interpretation of the code up to the newspaper and say that there are always trade offs involved.

"We realize — and have embodied in our code — that all journalism ethics is a balancing act between often conflicting responsibilities. One of our guiding principles, whose importance we all recognize, is "Seek truth and report it." Another is "Minimize harm." Obviously, if one reports all truths without flinching, we will inevitably do great harm, and if one minimizes harm as much as possible, one will not be reporting essential truths. The key is in the balancing act — and in recognizing the importance of each core value. That's not easy to enforce.

"Similar conflict exists between our other two basic principles, "Act independently" and "Be accountable." "

Now when I see an editor A who has made a truthful statement (ignoring some rhetorical exaggeration) being criticized by a person who has made some exceptional accusations and criticism against A, complaining without success in 3 different forums about his minor penalty, I am not going to lend credence in any way to B's original accusations. This code is not subject to purely formal arguments, which when you scratch the surface have no substance.

I'm sorry, but I've made my decision on this. Further discussion about journalism ethics in this case should be sent to me by email. Smallbones_(smalltalk) 18:12, 4 October 2021 (UTC)

I'll take every such report seriously, even if I disagree with you – I had to laugh at this. You made no serious attempt to engage with this complaint: you posted a lengthy and defensive dismissal before you had even take the time to read and understand it. You seemingly still don't understand it, as you are repeating the patently false claim that I have forum-shopped this in "3 places" – I politely asked the author to remove it on his talk page, that's it. More bizarrely, you didn't post your response as an actual response to me, you posted it on another page entirely, without a ping or even mentioning my name. It's almost as if you're more interested in self-important grandstanding about being the Signpost 'editor-in-chief' than having a good faith conversation with a fellow Wikipedia editor. Which, by the way, is how we resolve disputes around here, not by running to a teacher admin and having them decide.

Oh, and another, uninvolved admin (unprompted by me), did ask you to remove it, but you ignored that and will doubtless now explain how his intervention does not pass your moved goalposts. – Joe (talk) 06:27, 8 October 2021 (UTC)

Sunday: Wiki-Pavilion Picnic NYC (part of WikiConference NA, Oct 8-10)[edit]

Sunday October 10, 12-5pm: Wiki-Pavilion Picnic NYC (part of WikiConference North America 2021, Oct 8-10)

WikiConference NA, October 8-10 Play media Welcome to Wikimedia New York City! You are invited to join the Wikimedia NYC community for a planned socially-distanced Wiknic ("the picnic anyone can edit") in Brooklyn's Prospect Park, being held at the historic Concert Grove Pavilion to coincide with WikiConference North America 2021, which will run virtually from Friday to Sunday. For this occasion, and to allow more space as desired, we have individually packed lunches provided by the chapter, and attendees are encouraged to RSVP at Eventbrite and give sandwich/entree orders. Sunday October 10 Wiki-Pavilion Picnic NYC (optional RSVP on-wiki). 12:00pm - 5:00 pm at the Concert Grove Pavilion 40°39′34″N 73°57′51″W / 40.65934°N 73.96414°W / 40.65934; -73.96414 (Prospect Park, Brooklyn) Concert Grove Pavilion

(You can subscribe/unsubscribe from future notifications for NYC-area events by adding or removing your name from this list.)

--Wikimedia New York City Team 17:24, 5 October 2021 (UTC)

And thank you.[edit]

Do you think we can/should collapse the infobox at North Platte, Nebraska, at least below "coordinates"? It would displace the image below less, fullscreen-on-laptop-wise. Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 11:25, 8 October 2021 (UTC)

@Gråbergs Gråa Sång: I'll suggest writing the article first, adding more content of course, then worry about the formatting. But in the meantime, whatever you think is best. BTW I'm taking this very seriously, even perhaps a full article for The Signpost. It represents to me a constant conflict in how we write Wikipedia, but even beyond that how we deal with contradictions in our lives! I'm swamped again (serial killer, mass tax avoidance, Wikiconference - the usual) but I'll try to help over there a bit. BTW, references are in the NRHP articles as well as 5 photos I took a decade ago. I was there for an hour or so. Smallbones_(smalltalk) 15:05, 8 October 2021 (UTC)

Interesting conflict, yes. "No, WP isn't for putting a positive spin on your city - but the article shouldn't look like that, either." Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 10:55, 9 October 2021 (UTC)

Interview with COVID-19[edit]

Hi Smallbones. Hope that you're well. What a year so far! I was thinking of doing an interview with the COVID-19 WikiProject to cap off our December Signpost. I thought I'd notify you early to see what you thought about that idea and ideally reserve that spot. Cheers, Tom (LT) (talk) 04:58, 14 October 2021 (UTC)

@Tom (LT): Go for it! I was thinking that we might have done something similar before. If so it was last year, not this year. It's still the biggest story of the year, so this interview is sorely needed. December or November will be a good time to do it. Note that the December issue *might be* published a week or so early. Thanks. Smallbones_(smalltalk) 13:18, 14 October 2021 (UTC)

Tom (LT) - have to admit this section title made me laugh. I had visions of a sarcastic "interview" with the Covid-19 virus. Risker (talk) 13:40, 14 October 2021 (UTC)

An article for submission to the Signpost[edit]

• Now found at Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/Next issue/Community view

Dear Editor in Chief:

I'm 不爱思考得猪 (a pig that does not like to think). I have written an op-ed piece for your review. You can find it at the bottom of Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/Newsroom/Submissions. Here is the direct link to the draft article itself: User:不爱思考得猪/Signpost_draft

Thank you for your time and consideration.

不爱思考得猪 (talk) 18:30, 23 October 2021 (UTC)

:@不爱思考得猪: thanks, I'll get back to you in a few hours. Smallbones(smalltalk) 19:02, 23 October 2021 (UTC)

Many, many thanks for your prompt reply Editor in Chief. 不爱思考得猪 (talk) 19:12, 23 October 2021 (UTC)

Thanks so much Editor in Chief! Feel free to change the article however you like and put it in whichever section of the next issue of the Signpost as you see fit. I will check back on Wednesday but I'm sure it will be looking good in the upcoming issue of Signpost. With respect to the tardiness: it is I who should apologize to you for the tardiness in bringing my piece to your attention, due to me repeatedly reading it over to iron out any bugs (out of my perfectionistic tendencies ;-) prior to submission.不爱思考得猪 (talk) 14:30, 24 October 2021 (UTC)

Looks beautiful! Last paragraph removed. 不爱思考得猪 (talk) 20:41, 26 October 2021 (UTC)

GLAM Newsletter[edit]

Dear Smallbones, This is the item about which I sent you an e-mail: GLAM Newseletter (draft). Vysotsky (talk) 15:05, 24 October 2021 (UTC)

Signpost article in progress[edit]

Hello dear Smallbones. I have just realized that I probobly wont be able to finish my article before Sunday. How do I save it for next month? NW1223(^{Howl at me}/_{My hunts}) 00:06, 26 October 2021 (UTC)

@NightWolf1223: Your content is currently at [12] but it will have moved after publication. It will be in the history of WP:Wikipedia Siignpost/2021-10-31/Opinion after 31 October. ☆ Bri (talk) 14:37, 26 October 2021 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – November 2021[edit]

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

Guideline and policy news

• Phase 2 of the 2021 RfA review has commenced which will discuss potential solutions to address the 8 issues found in Phase 1. Proposed solutions that achieve consensus will be implemented and you may propose solutions till 07 November 2021.

Technical news

• Toolhub is a catalogue of tools which can be used on Wikimedia wikis. It is at https://toolhub.wikimedia.org/.

Arbitration

• GeneralNotability, Mz7 and Cyberpower678 have been appointed to the Electoral Commission for the 2021 Arbitration Committee Elections. Ivanvector and John M Wolfson are reserve commissioners.
• Eligible editors are invited to self-nominate themselves to stand in the 2021 Arbitration Committee elections from 07 November 2021 until 16 November 2021.

Miscellaneous

• The 2021 CheckUser and Oversight appointments process has concluded with the appointment of five new CheckUsers and two new Oversighters.

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The WikiCup[edit]

The final round of the WikiCup concluded at the end of October. Would you be interested in having a page about the contest in the November Signpost, perhaps something like the one Adam Cuerden did last year? Cwmhiraeth (talk) 19:32, 6 November 2021 (UTC)

You will find my efforts at User:Cwmhiraeth/sandbox6, and as far as I am concerned, it is ready for publication. I used the same gallery layout as Adam Cuerden used last year, because he presumably knew what he was doing, and I don't. There is a footnote to the statistics in paragraph 2, because on the face of it, they do not agree with the unofficial tool, as it was not working correctly during round 1. You will know best how to deal with this footnote, but I think it ought to be included to explain the anomaly. Please do any editing to the text and layout that you think fit. Cwmhiraeth (talk) 11:23, 17 November 2021 (UTC)

@Cwmhiraeth: Thanks! Smallbones_(smalltalk) 13:28, 17 November 2021 (UTC)

ArbCom 2021 Elections voter message[edit]

Hello! Voting in the 2021 Arbitration Committee elections is now open until 23:59 (UTC) on Monday, 6 December 2021. 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 2021 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) 00:05, 23 November 2021 (UTC)

Blah blah blah, my signpost draft, also what happened to the arbitration report?[edit]

Hi! I remember that I once asked on this talk page if you wanted any help with the Signpost, and promptly got distracted by a shiny object and forgot about it entirely. For this I apologize! Anyway, I wrote a draft for the November issue (I know it's late, but it is a little time-sensitive since it's a report for November specifically). Also, I was wondering what happened to the arbitration report; it looks like we haven't had one in a while. I would be stoked to try my hand, but I am wondering if I should try writing something a little less contentious first (as I'm given to understand the arbitration report has traditionally been the most dramatic of all Signpost features)... jp×g 03:53, 25 November 2021 (UTC)

That's a pretty good article. Please fill in some missing numbers. How did I miss you a year ago? BTW, both @Mhawk10: and myself have become involved in an AfD for Mass killings under Communist regimes which started in the last few days, and may soon be in your record book. This is the 6th AfD for the article. Finish up the article please. Early next week we can talk about a couple future article on AfDs. Maybe Arb report next month if you want to try. Smallbones_(smalltalk) 05:40, 25 November 2021 (UTC)

Done, and ready for copyedit. I will, of course, probably have to update the numbers immediately before the piece runs (although this won't involve changing any of the rest of the content). If it's all right, I'm going to get started on an arb report next (since there hasn't been one since December, it'd have to be an overview of the whole year, so whether it runs in November or December it'll need to have all the previous months anyway). jp×g 06:16, 25 November 2021 (UTC)

I've finished User:JPxG/Signpost draft 2, which is the arbitration report. jp×g 01:40, 26 November 2021 (UTC)

Very urgent oopsie[edit]

I think I fucked up the script and mass-messaged the wrong edition of the Signpost. jp×g 01:03, 29 November 2021 (UTC)

Edit: It turns out I did not do this, and everything is fine now (save for the global mass-message). jp×g 01:24, 29 November 2021 (UTC)

I confirm by scanning Special:WhatLinksHere/Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/Archives/2021-11-29 ☆ Bri (talk) 02:22, 29 November 2021 (UTC)

Let's avoid being too quick to assert we failed mission; a failure report should not be spurious. Chris Troutman (talk) 02:27, 29 November 2021 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – December 2021[edit]

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

Administrator changes

A Train • Berean Hunter • Epbr123 • GermanJoe • Sanchom • Mysid

Technical news

• Unregistered editors using the mobile website are now able to receive notices to indicate they have talk page messages. The notice looks similar to what is already present on desktop, and will be displayed on when viewing any page except mainspace and when editing any page. (T284642)
• The limit on the number of emails a user can send per day has been made global instead of per-wiki to help prevent abuse. (T293866)

Arbitration

• Voting in the 2021 Arbitration Committee Elections is open until 23:59, 06 December 2021 (UTC).
• The already authorized standard discretionary sanctions for all pages relating to the Horn of Africa (defined as including Ethiopia, Somalia, Eritrea, Djibouti, and adjoining areas if involved in related disputes), broadly construed, have been made permanent.

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Dec 15: ONLINE WikiWednesday Salon NYC[edit]

December 15, 7pm: ONLINE WikiWednesday Salon NYC

Play media Welcome to Wikimedia New York City! You are invited to join the Wikimedia NYC community for our monthly "WikiWednesday" evening salon (7-8pm) and knowledge-sharing workshop. To join the meeting from your computer or smartphone, just visit this link. More information about how to connect is available on the meetup page. We look forward to seeing local Wikimedians, but would also like to invite folks from the greater New York metropolitan area (and beyond!) who might not typically be able to join us in person! If there's a project you'd like to share or a question you'd like answered, just let us know by adding it to the agenda or the talk page. Wednesday December 15 WikiWednesday Salon and Skill-Share NYC (optional RSVP on-wiki). 7:00pm - 8:00 pm online via Zoom (optional breakout rooms from 8:00-8:30)

(You can subscribe/unsubscribe from future notifications for NYC-area events by adding or removing your name from this list.)

--Wikimedia New York City Team 18:51, 13 December 2021 (UTC)

Affiliations Committee (AffCom) Call for candidates - January 2022[edit]

Translations are available.

The Affiliations Committee – the committee responsible for guiding volunteers in establishing Wikimedia chapters, thematic organizations, and user groups – is looking for new members!

The main role of the AffCom is to guide groups of volunteers that are interested in forming Wikimedia affiliates. We review applications from new groups, answer questions and provide advice about the different Wikimedia affiliation models and processes, review affiliate bylaws for compliance with requirements and best practices, and update the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees as well as advise them on issues connected to chapters, thematic organizations and Wikimedia user groups.

The committee consists of five to fifteen members, selected at least once every year, to serve two-year terms.

Being a part of the AffCom requires communication with volunteers all over the world, negotiating skills, cultural sensitivity, and the ability to understand legal texts. We look for a mix of different skill sets in our members.

Responsibilities

• Availability of up to 5-8 hours per month

• Participate in monthly one and two-hour voice/video meetings

• Commitment to carry out assigned tasks in a given time.

• Facilitate and support communications

• Affiliate Support and growth

Required and Recommended Abilities, Skills, Knowledge for Affiliations Committee Members

Strong interpersonal relationship among members of the committee and also with the Wikimedia community members. Across all committee members, there are additional relevant skills as well as requirements which help to support the committee and its sustainability which include both required and relevant general skills

Required

• Fluency in English
• Availability of up to 5 hours per week, and the time to participate in a monthly one and two-hour voice/video meetings.
• Willingness to use one's real name in committee activities (including contacts with current and potential affiliates) when appropriate.
• Strong track record of effective collaboration
• International orientation

Relevant for all members

• Public Communications (English writing and speaking skills)
• Skills in other languages are a major plus.
• Understanding of the structure and work of affiliates and the Wikimedia Foundation.
• Documentation practices
• Interviewing experience
• Experience with, or in, an active affiliate is a major plus.
• Teamwork: Project and people management skills to coordinate and collaborate with different parties on a shared plan and see it through to completion.
• Problem-Solving: Ability to evaluate various solutions, consider multiple interests and points of view, revisit unresolved issues, seek compromise and work and communicate across languages and cultures.

Given the expectations for maintaining the course in 2022 and preparing for potential 2022 transitions as part of the Movement Strategy implementation process, it is important that we are also clear about two different skill sets critical to committee support at this time. The first skillset is oriented to understanding affiliate dynamics and organizational development patterns to successfully process affiliate applications for recognition; the other is oriented to conflict prevention and intervention support for affiliates in conflict.

Relevant to Affiliate Recognitions

• Administration & Attention to detail
• Readiness to participate in political discussions on the role and future of affiliates, models of affiliation, and similar topics.
• Awareness of the affiliates ecosystem and models and understanding of community building, organizational development, and group dynamics

Relevant to Conflict Prevention & Intervention

• Communication skills for active listening, clear instruction and turn-taking.
• Stress Management skills for maintaining patience and positivity
• Emotional intelligence to maintain awareness of emotions of oneself and others to practice empathy, impartiality, and mutual respect.
• Facilitation, negotiation, and mediation skills to guide diverse individuals and groups toward cooperation.
• Ability to work within a team

Do you have relevant skills and interest to support movement affiliates?

We are looking for people who are excited by the challenge of empowering volunteers to get organized and form communities that further our mission around the world. In exchange, committee members will gain the experience of supporting their world-wide colleagues to develop their communities as well as personal development in guiding organizational development, facilitating affiliate partnerships, and professional communications.

Selection process

As a reflection of our commitment to openness, transparency, and bilateral engagement with the Wikimedia community, the 2022 member selection process will include a public review and comment period and a self-assessment survey for candidates to share their skills and their experience. This self-assessment information will help the committee to identify the skill sets relevant and supportive to our affiliate support processes. We invite you to apply for membership to the committee and join us in supporting the affiliates. The data shared in the self-assessment will only be made available to the committee and the relevant staff support. The nomination, candidate Q&A, and endorsements will still take place posted on Meta for public review at January 2022 page. Here the global community is welcome to provide comments and feedback about each candidate.

Once the nomination window closes 31 January 2022, the sitting members who are not candidates for re-election in this cycle will deliberate and then vote, taking into account all inputs from the meta page, self-assessment, advisors, Wikimedia Foundation staff and board liaisons, and committee member discussion.

A final decision will be made in late-February 2022, with new members to be notified for onboarding in February.

How to apply

If you are interested in joining the committee, please:

Step 1. Post your application on the nomination page by 31 January 2022. Your application must include the following information:

1. Your full name and Wikimedia username
2. A statement describing your relevant education, experience, abilities, skills, knowledge, availability, and motivation for joining the committee.

Step 2. Complete the self-assessment survey between January 1, 2021 and January 31, 2021.

• The privacy statement that applies to the survey can be found here.
• NOTE: The survey will take 15 mins. Please do not close your browser. If you need a break, you are advised to keep the browser open. In case of losing the link, please reach out to mkaur-ctr

{{subst:Afd top}}wikimedia.org

• This survey must be completed before Steps 3 & 4, as it will provide more background as to the type of work and expectations of members of AffCom.

Step 3. Answers the following questions:

• NOTE: Questions 1-3 are required for all candidates.

• Question 4 & 5 should be answered by those interested in joining the Recognitions subcommittee.
• Question 6 & 7 should be answered by those interested in joining the Conflicts Intervention subcommittee.
• If you are willing to nominate yourself for both subcommittees, answer all questions.

1. What roles have you served across any Wikimedia projects and affiliates that you think have prepared you for this role?
2. AffCom members need to manage time, confidentiality, conflicts of interest, and diverse situations across the global movement. How do you envision managing these?
3. Members of AffCom serve on one of two subcommittees: Recognitions OR Conflicts Intervention. Which one of these are you most interested in serving on?
4. If you are interested in serving on the Recognitions subcommittee, what do you think makes a group of Wikimedians ready to function together as an affiliate?
5. If you are interested in serving on the Recognitions subcommittee, what do you think are the benefits and responsibilities of functioning as formal affiliates?
6. If you are interested in serving on the Conflicts Intervention subcommittee, please describe your experience working with conflicts resolution.
7. If you are interested in serving on the Conflicts Intervention subcommittee, please describe how you have helped build consensus and support diversity.

Step 4. Once you have completed the above, send an email announcing your application to affcomwikimedia.org before the application deadline.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me and/or the committee as a whole. We are happy to chat or have a webinar call with anyone about our work if this helps them decide to apply. Please distribute this call among your networks, and do apply if you are interested!

On behalf of the committee,

--FULBERT (talk) 13:18, 19 December 2021 (UTC)

Affiliations Committee (AffCom) Call for advisors - January 2022[edit]

Translations are available.

The Affiliations Committee – the committee responsible for guiding volunteers in establishing Wikimedia chapters, thematic organizations, and user groups – is looking for advisors!

The main role of the Affiliations Committee is to guide groups of volunteers that are interested in forming Wikimedia affiliates. We review applications from new groups, answer questions and provide advice about the different Wikimedia affiliation models and processes, review affiliate bylaws for compliance with requirements and best practices, and advise the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees on issues connected to chapters, thematic organizations and Wikimedia user groups.

We are looking for advisors who are excited by the challenge of empowering volunteers to get organized and form communities that further our mission around the world. In exchange, committee advisors selected will gain the experience of supporting their world-wide colleagues to develop their communities as well as personal development in guiding organizational development, facilitating affiliate partnerships, and professional communications.

AffCom advisors can engage with the committee in a variety of capacities:

Consultant

Individuals with extensive movement experience can be engaged as Consultants for specific cases or initiatives by AffCom.

Trainer

Individuals with specific expertise may be engaged for short-term projects for training AffCom or Affiliates. They might also lead the Capacity Building initiatives for AffCom or affiliates.

Observer

AffCom can request specific or all advisors to act as an observer in different cases to ensure neutrality & compliance with guidelines.

AffCom Support

Development of Policies: While advisors cannot create legally binding policies for the committee, they can help create policies that provide direction and support for the committee.

Planning and Implementing Community Relations: The advisors are long-term wikimedians & also include influential community leaders who can be effective at spreading the word about initiatives and services.

Supporting Subcommittees: The advisors can support subcommittees that have assigned tasks in specific areas.

Other Tasks: Advisors can be engaged to address a specific need. Such engagements are usually short-lived and are disbanded as soon as their specific goals are met.

Key skills

We look for a healthy mix of different skill sets in our advisors, including the following key skills and experience:

1. Strong understanding of the structure and work of Wikimedia affiliates and the Wikimedia Foundation.
2. Readiness to participate in political discussions on the role and future of affiliates, models of affiliation, and similar topics.
3. Availability of up to 2 hours per week, and the time to participate in a monthly two-hour voice/video meeting
4. International orientation and ability to work and communicate with other languages and cultures.
5. Knowledge of different legal systems and experience in community building and organizing are a plus.
6. Fluency in English is required; skills in other languages are a major plus.
7. Experience with or in an active Wikimedia affiliate is a major plus.
8. Strong track record of effective collaboration (such as evidenced skills at facilitation, mediation, negotiation, and so forth) is a major plus.
9. Willingness to use one's real name in committee activities (including contacts with current and potential affiliates) when appropriate.

Selection process

As a reflection of our commitment to openness, transparency, and bilateral engagement with the Wikimedia community, the 2022 advisors selection process will include a public review and comment period. All applications must be posted on Meta between January 01 and January 31, 2022 at the nomination page, and the community will be invited to provide comments and feedback about each candidate. At the end of the nomination period, the applications will be voted on by the members of the committee, taking into account comments put forward by the committee's members, advisors, Wikimedia Foundation staff and board liaisons, and the community. A final decision will be made in February 2022, with new advisors expected to begin later that month.

How to apply

If you are interested in advising the committee, please submit your candidacy on the nomination page between January 01 to January 31, 2022. Your application must include the following information:

1. Your full name and Wikimedia username
2. A statement describing your relevant experience, skills, and motivation for joining the committee as an advisor.
3. The advisor role you would like to serve
4. Answers to the following three questions:
   1. How do you think affiliates work best together to partner on effective projects and initiatives?
   2. What do you see as the role of affiliates in the Wikimedia movement in the next three years?
   3. What do you feel you will bring as an advisor to the committee that makes you a uniquely qualified candidate?

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact the committee. We are happy to chat or have a phone call with anyone about our work if this helps them decide to apply. Please distribute this call among your networks, and do apply if you are interested!

On behalf of the committee,

--FULBERT (talk) 13:17, 19 December 2021 (UTC)

Joyous Season[edit]

Merry Christmas![edit]

Merry Christmas![edit]

Chris Troutman (talk) is wishing you a Merry Christmas! This greeting (and season) promotes WikiLove and hopefully this note has made your day a little better. Spread the WikiLove by wishing another user a Merry Christmas, whether it be someone you have had disagreements with in the past, a good friend, or just some random person. Happy New Year! Spread the Christmas cheer by adding {{subst:Xmas3}} to their talk page with a friendly message.

A somewhat premature New Year's greeting[edit]

John Vanderlyn, Ariadne Asleep on the Island of Naxos (c.1812), Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts		Best wishes for a safe, healthy and prosperous 2022.
		Thank you for your contributions toward making Wikipedia a better and more accurate place. BoringHistoryGuy (talk) 20:02, 26 December 2021 (UTC) Moral lesson: John Vanderlyn was an American painter who studied in Paris, and his life-sized Ariadne Asleep on the Island of Naxos was one of the first large nudes exhibited in the United States. Peddling the poison as well as the cure, this overtly sensuous work was presented to the public as a moral lesson on the consequences of lascivious behavior. Visible in the distance is the ship of Princess Ariadne's secret lover, Theseus, for whom she has betrayed her people by helping him to escape the Labyrinth and slay the Minotaur. Ariadne's bliss will come to an end when she awakens from her post-coital reverie, only to discover that the faithless Theseus has sailed away without her.