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Administrators' newsletter – November 2021
News and updates for administrators from the past month (October 2021).
- 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.
- Toolhub is a catalogue of tools which can be used on Wikimedia wikis. It is at https://toolhub.wikimedia.org/.
- 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.
- The 2021 CheckUser and Oversight appointments process has concluded with the appointment of five new CheckUsers and two new Oversighters.
This is to let you know that the above article has been scheduled as today's featured article for December 4, 2021. Please check the article needs no amendments. If you're interested in editing the main page text, you're welcome to do so at Wikipedia:Today's featured article/December 4, 2021. Congratulations on your work!—Wehwalt (talk) 12:28, 4 November 2021 (UTC)
- Thank you @Wehwalt, that is great! I'll try my best to get Georg Forster in better shape by that time :) —Kusma (talk) 12:35, 4 November 2021 (UTC)
- Thank you today for the article, introduced: "(my first FAC in 15 years, so apologies if I don't know everything about the current process) is about a report by Georg Forster (my other FA) about the Second voyage of James Cook. It has a famously controversial genesis (it appeared in competition with Cook's official account), and is an important book in the history of travel writing and source for 18th century Polynesian ethnology" --Gerda Arendt (talk) 09:16, 4 December 2021 (UTC)
Un-unbundling
I saw some of your comments at RFA2021 part two and thought you might be interested in this brainstorming idea that never really got off the ground. The draft isn't a great process but I think the underlying reasoning and mechanics might interest you as it tries to grapple with the enthusiasm gap between (for example) PERM/template editor and RFA. I think you're on to something about the effect of unbundling; it seems really hard to get people to swap their hat rack for the one hat to rule them all mop. It's an interesting question, and if you've got written your thoughts up anywhere I'd be excited to read more on how you've been looking at it. — Wug·a·po·des 23:16, 4 November 2021 (UTC)
- @Wugapodes, I don't have anything written up, sorry (not good at essays). I think my feeling is that in the old days (I became an admin in 2006), the progression of Wikipedians to admins was a natural thing happening to most people. You'd start editing articles, get involved in some noticeboards or AfDs, do some maintenance work, then get noticed by others and nominated for adminship so you could do all the work yourself instead of asking others to do it for you. Nowadays people edit for years and have all kinds of permissions (allowing them to do most of the work themselves) and never become admins. It seems to be (anecdotal evidence alert!) that some of the most difficult-to-please editors at RfA are non-admins with high editcount and lots of permissions. I'm looking for something that prevents the accumulation of more highly experienced non-admins acting as gatekeepers against less experienced non-admins becoming admins. My not totally serious proposal is to force everyone with more than a handful of permissions to apply for adminship. Undoing the unbundlings of the past might help in theory, but I don't think there is any hope in getting it through. —Kusma (talk) 09:46, 5 November 2021 (UTC)
G7's
The reason I put the G7 template on those is because those re-direct targets will no longer apply since they are being removed from those pages because they are no longer with these organizations. Can you please re-consider the deletion requests?-- Yankees10 00:08, 10 November 2021 (UTC)
- I'm confused. Either these players weren't notable enough to be listed anywhere before now, or they still are notable enough. And I'm going to sleep now. Ask me again tomorrow or ask a different admin. —Kusma (talk) 00:22, 10 November 2021 (UTC)
Books & Bytes – Issue 47
Books & Bytes
Issue 47, September – October 2021
- On-wiki Wikipedia Library notification rolling out
- Search tool deployed
- New My Library design improvements
Sent by MediaWiki message delivery on behalf of The Wikipedia Library team --16:58, 10 November 2021 (UTC)
DYK for Observations Made during a Voyage round the World
On 12 November 2021, Did you know was updated with a fact from the article Observations Made during a Voyage round the World, which you recently created, substantially expanded, or brought to good article status. The fact was ... that Johann Reinhold Forster's 1778 book Observations Made during a Voyage round the World has been described as "the beginning of modern geography"? The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Observations Made during a Voyage round the World. You are welcome to check how many pageviews the nominated article or articles got while on the front page (here's how, Observations Made during a Voyage round the World), and if they received a combined total of at least 416.7 views per hour (i.e., 5,000 views in 12 hours or 10,000 in 24), the hook may be added to the statistics page. Finally, if you know of an interesting fact from another recently created article, then please feel free to suggest it on the Did you know talk page.
Cwmhiraeth (talk) 00:02, 12 November 2021 (UTC)
DYK for Emil Utitz
On 13 November 2021, Did you know was updated with a fact from the article Emil Utitz, which you recently created, substantially expanded, or brought to good article status. The fact was ... that the philosopher Emil Utitz, a classmate of Franz Kafka, became the head librarian of Theresienstadt Ghetto? The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Emil Utitz. You are welcome to check how many pageviews the nominated article or articles got while on the front page (here's how, Emil Utitz), and if they received a combined total of at least 416.7 views per hour (i.e., 5,000 views in 12 hours or 10,000 in 24), the hook may be added to the statistics page. Finally, if you know of an interesting fact from another recently created article, then please feel free to suggest it on the Did you know talk page.
Cwmhiraeth (talk) 12:03, 13 November 2021 (UTC)
Illuminati
Hi, I based the template on de:Kategorie:Illuminat from the German Wikipedia, as their articles on this subject are far more developed than the ones on the English Wikipedia. You may be right about this specific individual, please feel free to correct any mistakes. Torchist (talk) 19:32, 17 November 2021 (UTC)
ArbCom 2021 Elections voter message
The Signpost: 29 November 2021
- In the media: Denial: climate change, mass killings and pornography
- WikiCup report: The WikiCup 2021
- Deletion report: What we lost, what we gained
- From a Wikipedia reader: What's Matt Amodio?
- Arbitration report: ArbCom in 2021
- Discussion report: On the brink of change – RFA reforms appear imminent
- Technology report: What does it take to upload a file?
- WikiProject report: Interview with contributors to WikiProject Actors and Filmmakers
- Recent research: Vandalizing Wikipedia as rational behavior
- Humour: A very new very Wiki crossword
Your GA nomination of Therese Forster
Hi there, I'm pleased to inform you that I've begun reviewing the article Therese Forster you nominated for GA-status according to the criteria. This process may take up to 7 days. Feel free to contact me with any questions or comments you might have during this period. Message delivered by Legobot, on behalf of Simongraham -- Simongraham (talk) 13:41, 29 November 2021 (UTC)
Administrators' newsletter – December 2021
News and updates for administrators from the past month (November 2021).
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/62/ANEWSicon.png/150px-ANEWSicon.png)
- 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)
- 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.
Your GA nomination of Therese Forster
The article Therese Forster you nominated as a good article has been placed on hold . The article is close to meeting the good article criteria, but there are some minor changes or clarifications needing to be addressed. If these are fixed within 7 days, the article will pass; otherwise it may fail. See Talk:Therese Forster for issues which need to be addressed. Message delivered by Legobot, on behalf of Simongraham -- Simongraham (talk) 13:01, 4 December 2021 (UTC)
Your GA nomination of Therese Forster
The article Therese Forster you nominated as a good article has passed ; see Talk:Therese Forster for comments about the article. Well done! If the article has not already appeared on the main page as a "Did you know" item, or as a bold link under "In the News" or in the "On This Day" prose section, you can nominate it within the next seven days to appear in DYK. Bolded names with dates listed at the bottom of the "On This Day" column do not affect DYK eligibility. Message delivered by Legobot, on behalf of Simongraham -- Simongraham (talk) 02:41, 6 December 2021 (UTC)
Administrators will no longer be autopatrolled
A recently closed Request for Comment (RFC) reached consensus to remove Autopatrolled from the administrator user group. You may, similarly as with Edit Filter Manager, choose to self-assign this permission to yourself. This will be implemented the week of December 13th, but if you wish to self-assign you may do so now. To find out when the change has gone live or if you have any questions please visit the Administrator's Noticeboard. 20:06, 7 December 2021 (UTC)
The 25 DYK Creation and Expansion Medal
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The 25 DYK Creation and Expansion Medal | |
Howdy there! Looks like you got to 34 DYKs before someone got around to decorating your lapel for it; Thank you for your articles on German history and historical figures, and other miscellanea (I liked the article on the Phipps expedition quite a bit)—great work, and keep it up! :)) |
theleekycauldron (talk • contribs) (they/she) 02:06, 12 December 2021 (UTC)
- Thank you Theleekycauldron, added to my awards closet :) The Phipps expedition article is on my to do list for GA expansion, and I have a few more 18th century voyages of exploration things planned. (As always, I have more plans than time). Thank you for all your work on DYK! —Kusma (talk) 09:43, 12 December 2021 (UTC)
A barnstar for you!
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The Tireless Contributor Barnstar |
Congrats on winning Alphabet! I see you've been crossing off the harder letters over the last few days—Q, X and Z. I'm intrigued by Fermat's Last Tango... I can't believe a full musical about Wiles was written and professionally performed. (I never met the guy at my time in Oxford, but some of my friends spotted him out in public.) — Bilorv (talk) 23:48, 12 December 2021 (UTC) |
- Cheers :) Yes, when I noticed that I had already done 24 letters (Zhinan Temple is my other Z), I had a peek at one of the wonderful WP:WIRED red link lists and decided to finish it with some interesting Chinese Communists. If you care about the musical, the Robert Marks blog I link to has a youtube link. There's Fermat singing "your proof contains a big fat hole" in my head every time I find out that my wonderful proof isn't as wonderful as I hoped (I'm a mathematician in real life). Thank you for hosting these challenges, I am enjoying myself more than I should :) —Kusma (talk) 21:47, 13 December 2021 (UTC)
DYK for A Journal of a Voyage to the South Seas
On 16 December 2021, Did you know was updated with a fact from the article A Journal of a Voyage to the South Seas, which you recently created, substantially expanded, or brought to good article status. The fact was ... that after Sydney Parkinson died on the return leg of the first voyage of James Cook, some of his drawings were engraved for publication in his Journal of a Voyage to the South Seas? The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/A Journal of a Voyage to the South Seas. You are welcome to check how many pageviews the nominated article or articles got while on the front page (here's how, A Journal of a Voyage to the South Seas), and if they received a combined total of at least 416.7 views per hour (i.e., 5,000 views in 12 hours or 10,000 in 24), the hook may be added to the statistics page. Finally, if you know of an interesting fact from another recently created article, then please feel free to suggest it on the Did you know talk page.
Cwmhiraeth (talk) 00:02, 16 December 2021 (UTC)
Pali-Aike volcanic field
Greetings, I have nominated Wikipedia:Featured article candidates/Pali-Aike volcanic field/archive1 for a featured article candidacy but so far it's languishing without much input. Do you have time to review the article? Thanks in advance. Jo-Jo Eumerus (talk) 10:44, 16 December 2021 (UTC)
- @Jo-Jo Eumerus, I don't think I can do a proper review at the moment, sorry. Maybe next time ... Just one thing from a quick glance: The "Eruptive history" section could probably do with some sort of summary. It is currently more a collection of known datings, and I don't understand whether they even agree with each other (one says volcanic activity stopped 170000 years ago, but others say there was an eruption less than 10000 years ago?). —Kusma (talk) 17:03, 18 December 2021 (UTC)
- Copied this to Wikipedia talk:Featured article candidates/Pali-Aike volcanic field/archive1 so that I remember to action it. Jo-Jo Eumerus (talk) 17:23, 18 December 2021 (UTC)
Merry Christmas 2021
CAPTAIN RAJU(T) 22:16, 24 December 2021 (UTC)
- Thanks! And the same to you! —Kusma (talk) 08:28, 26 December 2021 (UTC)
The Signpost: 28 December 2021
- From the editor: Here is the news
- News and notes: Jimbo's NFT, new arbs, fixing RfA, and financial statements
- Serendipity: Born three months before her brother?
- In the media: The past is not even past
- Arbitration report: A new crew for '22
- By the numbers: Four billion words and a few numbers
- Deletion report: We laughed, we cried, we closed as "no consensus"
- Gallery: Wikicommons presents: 2021
- Traffic report: Spider-Man, football and the departed
- Crossword: Another Wiki crossword for one and all
- Humour: Buying Wikipedia
RFA 2021 Completed
The 2021 re-examination of RFA has been completed. 23 (plus 2 variants) ideas were proposed. Over 200 editors participated in this final phase. Three changes gained consensus and two proposals were identified by the closers as having the potential to gain consensus with some further discussion and iteration. Thanks to all who helped to close the discussion, and in particular Primefac, Lee Vilenski, and Ymblanter for closing the most difficult conversations and for TonyBallioni for closing the review of one of the closes.
The following proposals gained consensus and have all been implemented:
- Revision of standard question 1 to
Why are you interested in becoming an administrator?
Special thanks to xaosflux for help with implementation. - A new process, Administrative Action Review (XRV) designed to review if an editor's specific use of an advanced permission, including the admin tools, is consistent with policy in a process similar to that of deletion review and move review. Thanks to all the editors who contributed (and are continuing to contribute) to the discussion of how to implement this proposal.
- Removal of autopatrol from the administrator's toolkit. Special thanks to Wugapodes and Seddon for their help with implementation.
The following proposals were identified by the closers as having the potential to gain consensus with some further discussion and iteration:
- An option for people to run for temporary adminship (proposal, discussion, & close)
- An optional election process (proposal & discussion and close review & re-close)
Editors who wish to discuss these ideas or other ideas on how to try to address any of the six issues identified during phase 1 for which no proposal gained are encouraged to do so at RFA's talk page or an appropriate village pump.
A final and huge thanks all those who participated in this effort to improve our RFA process over the last 4 months.
This is the final update with no further talk page messages planned.
01:46, 30 December 2021 (UTC)
Merchandise giveaway nomination
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A token of thanks
Hi Kusma! I've nominated you (along with all other active admins) to receive a solstice season gift from the WMF. Talk page stalkers are invited to comment at the nomination. Enjoy! Cheers, {{u|Sdkb}} talk ~~~~~
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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 23:50, 31 December 2021 (UTC)
- Thanks @Sdkb! While I have been doing a lot more content than admin work recently, I don't feel bad enough about that to decline this nomination :) Happy New Year! —Kusma (talk) 17:03, 2 January 2022 (UTC)