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WikiCup newsletter correction

There was an error in the WikiCup 2020 March newsletter; United States L293D should not have been included in the list of top ten scorers in Round 1 (they led the list last year), instead, United States Dunkleosteus77 should have been included, having garnered 334 points from five good articles on animals, living or extinct, and various reviews. MediaWiki message delivery ( talk) 09:30, 2 March 2020 (UTC)

GOCE March newsletter

Guild of Copy Editors March 2020 Newsletter

Hello and welcome to the March newsletter, a brief update of Guild activities since December 2019. All being well, we're planning to issue these quarterly in 2020, balancing the need to communicate widely with the avoidance of filling up talk pages. Don't forget you can unsubscribe at any time; see below.

Election results: There was little changeover in the roster of Guild Coordinators, with Miniapolis stepping down with distinction as a coordinator emeritus while Jonesey95 returned as lead coordinator. The next election is scheduled for June 2020 and all Wikipedians in good standing may participate.

January Drive: Thanks to everyone for the splendid work, completing 215 copy edits including 56 articles from the Requests page and 116 backlog articles from the target months of June to August 2019. At the conclusion of the drive there was a record low of 323 articles in the copy editing backlog. Of the 27 editors who signed up for the drive, 21 copyedited at least one article. Final results, including barnstars awarded, are available here.

February Blitz: Of the 15 editors who signed up for this one-week blitz, 13 completed at least one copy edit. A total of 32 articles were copy edited, evenly split between the twin goals of requests and the oldest articles from the copy-editing backlog. Full results are here.

March Drive: Currently underway, this event is targeting requests and backlog articles from September to November 2019. As of 18 March, the backlog stands at a record low of 253 articles and is expected to drop further as the drive progresses. Awards will be given to everyone who copyedits at least one article from the backlog. Help set a new record and sign up now!

Progress report: As of 18 March, GOCE copyeditors have completed 161 requests in 2020 and there was a net reduction of 385 articles from the copy-editing backlog – a 60% decrease from the beginning of the year. Well done and thank you everyone!

Election reminder: It may only be March but don't forget our mid-year Election of Coordinators opens for nominations on 1 June. Coordinators normally serve a six-month term and are elected on an approval basis. Self-nominations are welcome. If you've thought of helping out at the Guild, or know of another editor who would make a good coordinator, please consider standing for election or nominating them here.

Thank you all again for your participation; we wouldn't be able to achieve what we have without you! Cheers from your GOCE coordinators Jonesey95, Baffle gab1978, Reidgreg, Tdslk and Twofingered Typist

To discontinue receiving GOCE newsletters, please remove your name from our mailing list.

MediaWiki message delivery ( talk) 15:52, 18 March 2020 (UTC)

Thank you ...

... for improving Jessye Norman's article by a thorough review, borrowing her smile -- Gerda Arendt ( talk) 12:47, 29 March 2020 (UTC)

You're welcome! Reaper Eternal ( talk) 14:06, 2 April 2020 (UTC)

The Signpost: 29 March 2020

Is it possible to redact the titles of the pages created in the logs? Thanks for the block, even if that's not possible. Semi Hyper cube 19:14, 20 April 2020 (UTC)

It's possible, and I already nuked log entries related to the libelous title. In general, though, it's best to not redact log entries so people can see why a person was blocked, and to maintain accountability for administrators. Cheers! Reaper Eternal ( talk) 19:18, 20 April 2020 (UTC)

Phishing?

On an article? How? Qwirkle ( talk) 19:45, 20 April 2020 (UTC)

Posting links to phishing websites disguised as legitimate links. Reaper Eternal ( talk) 20:54, 20 April 2020 (UTC)
Ahh. I hadn’t seen them do that, but that’s probably because you had nuked it already. It takes a particularly stupid form of phisherman to do ordinary vandalism before trying to slip in a bad link. Qwirkle ( talk) 21:01, 20 April 2020 (UTC)

The Signpost: 26 April 2020

JarlaxleArtemis

Has this long-term abuser, whose sockpuppet investigation you frequently edited, stopped editing Wikipedia? I have not seen any evidence in recent years of him being here and am considering archiving his LTA casepage. Or are there any other editors who might know more about his recent activities?

Thank you, Passenger pigeon ( talk) 13:20, 29 April 2020 (UTC)

It's hard to really say, since he's spawned copycat vandals. I don't find LTA pages useful at all and have never looked at them; do with them whatever you want. Reaper Eternal ( talk) 21:20, 1 May 2020 (UTC)

WikiCup 2020 May newsletter

The second round of the 2020 WikiCup has now finished. It was a high-scoring round and contestants needed 75 points to advance to round 3. There were some very impressive efforts in round 2, with the top ten contestants all scoring more than 500 points. A large number of the points came from the 12 featured articles and the 186 good articles achieved in total by contestants, and the 355 good article reviews they performed; the GAN backlog drive and the stay-at-home imperative during the COVID-19 pandemic may have been partially responsible for these impressive figures.

Our top scorers in round 2 were:

  • New York (state) Epicgenius, with 2333 points from one featured article, forty-five good articles, fourteen DYKs and plenty of bonus points
  • England Gog the Mild, with 1784 points from three featured articles, eight good articles, a substantial number of featured article and good article reviews and lots of bonus points
  • Botswana The Rambling Man, with 1262 points from two featured articles, eight good articles and a hundred good article reviews
  • Somerset Harrias, with 1141 points from two featured articles, three featured lists, ten good articles, nine DYKs and a substantial number of featured article and good article reviews
  • England Lee Vilenski with 869 points, Gondor Hog Farm with 801, Venezuela Kingsif with 719, Cascadia (independence movement) SounderBruce with 710, United States Dunkleosteus77 with 608 and Mexico MX with 515.

The rules for featured article reviews have been adjusted; reviews may cover three aspects of the article, content, images and sources, and contestants may receive points for each of these three types of review. Please also remember the requirement to mention the WikiCup when undertaking an FAR for which you intend to claim points. Remember also that DYKs cannot be claimed until they have appeared on the main page. As we enter the third round, any content promoted after the end of round 2 but before the start of round 3 can be claimed now, and anything you forgot to claim in round 2 cannot! Remember too, that you must claim your points within 14 days of "earning" them. When doing GARs, please make sure that you check that all the GA criteria are fully met.

If you are concerned that your nomination—whether it is at good article nominations, a featured process, or anything else—will not receive the necessary reviews, please list it on Wikipedia:WikiCup/Reviews Needed (remember to remove your listing when no longer required). Questions are welcome on Wikipedia talk:WikiCup, and the judges are reachable on their talk pages or by email. Good luck! If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove your name from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. Godot13 ( talk), Sturmvogel 66 ( talk), Vanamonde ( talk) and Cwmhiraeth. - MediaWiki message delivery ( talk) 17:44, 1 May 2020 (UTC)

The Signpost: 31 May 2020

Requesting IP block exemption rights

I want to apply IP block exemption rights for my account because I'm going to use FreeBasics.com as a proxy website to edit free access in Wikipedia. JeBonSer ( talk | sign) 07:27, 5 June 2020 (UTC)

Hi there, it appears that the song Gangnam Style has been semi-protected for over seven years straight. The song is not as popular as it was in 2012-13, so can I request unprotection of the song's article? Thanks, I'm not perfect but I'm almost ( talk) 05:31, 5 June 2020 (UTC)

Replied at WP:RFPP. Reaper Eternal ( talk) 15:45, 6 June 2020 (UTC)

GOCE June newsletter

Guild of Copy Editors June 2020 Newsletter

Hello and welcome to the June newsletter, a brief update of Guild activities since March 2020. You can unsubscribe from our mailings at any time; see below. All times and dates stated are in UTC.

Current events

Election time: Nomination of candidates in our mid-year Election of Coordinators opened on 1 June, and voting will take place from 00:01 on 16 June. GOCE coordinators normally serve a six-month term and are elected on an approval basis. Self-nominations are welcome. If you've thought about helping out at the Guild, or you know of another editor who would make a good coordinator, please consider standing for election or nominating them here.

June Blitz: This blitz begins at 00:01 on 14 June and ends at 23:59 on 20 June, with themes of articles tagged for copyedit in May 2020 and requests.

Drive and blitz reports

March Drive: Self-isolation from coronavirus may have played a hand in making this one of our most successful backlog elimination drives. The copy-editing backlog was reduced from 477 to a record low of 118 articles, a 75% reduction. The last four months of 2019 were cleared, reducing the backlog to three months. Fifty requests were also completed, and the total word count of copy-edited articles was 759,945. Of the 29 editors who signed up, 22 completed at least one copy edit. Final results, including barnstars awarded, are available here.

April Blitz: This blitz ran from 12 to 18 April with a theme of Indian military history. Of the 18 people who signed up, 14 copyedited at least one article. Participants claimed a total of 60 copyedits. Final results, including barnstars awarded, are available here.

May Drive: This event marked the 10th anniversary of the GOCE's copy-editing drives, and set a goal of diminishing the backlog to just one month of articles, as close to zero articles as possible. We achieved the goal of eliminating all articles that had been tagged prior to the start of the drive, for the first time in our history! Of the 51 editors who signed up, 43 copyedited at least one article. Final results, including barnstars awarded, are available here.

Other news

Progress report: as of 2 June, GOCE participants had processed 328 requests since 1 January, which puts us on pace to exceed any previous year's number of requests. As of the end of the May drive, the backlog stood at just 156 articles, all tagged in May 2020.

Outreach: To mark the 10th anniversary of our first Backlog Elimination Drive, The Signpost contributor and GOCE participant Puddleglum2.0 interviewed project coordinators and copy-editors for the journal's April WikiProject Report. The Drive and the current Election of Coordinators have also been covered in The Signpost's May News and Notes page.

Thank you all again for your participation; we wouldn't be able to achieve what we have without you! Cheers from your GOCE coordinators Jonesey95, Baffle gab1978, Reidgreg, Tdslk and Twofingered Typist.

To discontinue receiving GOCE newsletters, please remove your name from our mailing list.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery ( talk) at 15:46, 5 June 2020 (UTC).

Softblock

Hi Reaper, hope you are well and safe! Quick question, was the softblock for RECALL BYRON BROWN ( talk · contribs · logs · block log) a mistake? I see that their only edit was a pretty serious BLP violation. -- LuK3 (Talk) 12:54, 6 June 2020 (UTC)

I was waffling between hardblocking and softblocking for that one. Ultimately, I chose softblocking because the user had already been warned for NPOV and hadn't repeated the edit, so I chose to softblock for the username issue. I also am well aware of the current events in the USA, which are greatly upsetting to most people. Cheers! Reaper Eternal ( talk) 15:03, 6 June 2020 (UTC)
I appreciate the explanation Reaper, please stay safe. -- LuK3 (Talk) 15:11, 6 June 2020 (UTC)

The Signpost: 28 June 2020

Tulsi rights change

Special:UserRights/Tulsi Bhagat

FYI as it revokes a right you granted. - Alexis Jazz 06:18, 30 June 2020 (UTC)

WikiCup 2020 July newsletter

The third round of the 2020 WikiCup has now come to an end. The 16 users who made it into the fourth round each had at least 353 points (compared to 68 in 2019). It was a highly competitive round, and a number of contestants were eliminated who would have moved on in earlier years. Our top scorers in round 3 were:

  • New York (state) Epicgenius, with one featured article, 28 good articles and 17 DYKs, amassing 1836 points
  • Botswana The Rambling Man , with 1672 points gained from four featured articles and seventeen good articles, plus reviews of a large number of FACs and GAs
  • England Gog the Mild, a first time contestant, with 1540 points, a tally built largely on 4 featured articles and related bonus points.

Between them, contestants managed 14 featured articles, 9 featured lists, 3 featured pictures, 152 good articles, 136 DYK entries, 55 ITN entries, 65 featured article candidate reviews and 221 good article reviews. Additionally, Denmark MPJ-DK added 3 items to featured topics and 44 to good topics. Over the course of the competition, contestants have completed 710 good article reviews, in comparison to 387 good articles submitted for review and promoted. These large numbers are probably linked to a GAN backlog drive in April and May, and the changed patterns of editing during the COVID-19 pandemic. As we enter the fourth round, remember that any content promoted after the end of round 3 but before the start of round 4 can be claimed in round 4. Please also remember that you must claim your points within 14 days of "earning" them. When doing GARs, please make sure that you check that all the GA criteria are fully met. Please also remember that all submissions must meet core Wikipedia policies, regardless of the review process.

If you are concerned that your nomination—whether it is at good article nominations, a featured process, or anywhere else—will not receive the necessary reviews, please list it on Wikipedia:WikiCup/Reviews Needed (remember to remove your listing when no longer required). Questions are welcome on Wikipedia talk:WikiCup, and the judges are reachable on their talk pages or by email. Good luck! If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove your name from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. Godot13 ( talk), Sturmvogel 66 ( talk), Vanamonde ( talk), Cwmhiraeth ( talk) MediaWiki message delivery ( talk) 12:34, 2 July 2020 (UTC)

Wishing Reaper Eternal a very Eternal happy adminship anniversary on behalf of the Wikipedia Birthday Committee! PRAHLAD balaji ( M•T•AC) This message was left at 17:45, 28 July 2020 (UTC)

Happy Adminship Anniversary!

The Signpost: 2 August 2020

Help

Hi, different IP addresses are continuously removing the contents that I added to the wikipedia page MCAT Pakistan. I requested for page protection but that was declined. So please help me Banksboomer ( talk) 02:37, 4 August 2020 (UTC)

Same guy?

I was curious if this these two accounts User:The Peacocks Are Back and User:Peacocks Not Going Away are the same person? Govvy ( talk) 15:09, 10 August 2020 (UTC)

I would assume so—they're already blocked by other checkusers. Cheers! Reaper Eternal ( talk) 15:43, 10 August 2020 (UTC)

Mail

Hello, Reaper Eternal. Please check your email; you've got mail!
It may take a few minutes from the time the email is sent for it to show up in your inbox. You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{ You've got mail}} or {{ ygm}} template.

VR talk 21:22, 10 August 2020 (UTC)

Filter 11 Oopsie


Hi Reaper Eternal. You are one of the people who has edited Filter 11 ( hist · log), even though in 2012. Would you have a minute to look at this error report at WP:EFN? User is saying that an IP made a valid and sourced edit of Apple Inc. litigation that was tagged by the filter as possible vandalism. It's not a private filter so I suppose any interested person could try to diagnose it. But it's unclear to me why Filter 11 should have tripped. Thanks, EdJohnston ( talk) 02:48, 14 August 2020 (UTC)

It's because "fortnite" is listed in the filter. If I recall correctly, there was a huge rash of Fortnite-related vandalism around the time that video game exploded in popularity. Checking the logs reveals that the majority of the Fortnite-related hits are now false positives, so I've removed that check from the filter. (It's stopping Fortnite-related vandalism on average of once every several days.) Cheers! Reaper Eternal ( talk) 14:09, 14 August 2020 (UTC)

The Signpost: 30 August 2020

Wikiproject Military history coordinator election nominations open

Nominations for the upcoming project coordinator election are now open. A team of up to ten coordinators will be elected for the next year. The project coordinators are the designated points of contact for issues concerning the project, and are responsible for maintaining our internal structure and processes. They do not, however, have any authority over article content or editor conduct, or any other special powers. More information on being a coordinator is available here. If you are interested in running, please sign up here by 23:59 UTC on 14 September! Voting doesn't commence until 15 September. If you have any questions, you can contact any member of the coord team. Peacemaker67 ( click to talk to me) 02:06, 1 September 2020 (UTC)

WikiCup 2020 September newsletter

The fourth round of the competition has finished, with 865 points being required to qualify for the final round, nearly twice as many points as last year. It was a hotly competitive round with two contestants with 598 and 605 points being eliminated, and all but two of the contestants who reached the final round having achieved an FA during the round. The highest scorers were

  • Free Hong Kong Bloom6132, with 1478 points gained mainly from 5 featured lists, 12 DYKs and 63 in the news items;
  • Indonesia HaEr48 with 1318 points gained mainly from 2 featured articles, 5 good articles and 8 DYKs;
  • England Lee Vilenski with 1201 points mainly gained from 2 featured articles and 10 good articles.

Between them, contestants achieved 14 featured articles, 14 featured lists, 2 featured pictures, 87 good articles, 90 DYK entries, 75 ITN entries, 95 featured article candidate reviews and 81 good article reviews. Congratulations to all who participated! It was a generally high-scoring and productive round and I think we can expect a highly competitive finish to the competition.

Remember that any content promoted after the end of round 4 but before the start of round 5 can be claimed in round 5. Remember too that you must claim your points within 10 days of "earning" them. If you are concerned that your nomination will not receive the necessary reviews, please list it on Wikipedia:WikiCup/Reviews. It would be helpful if this list could be cleared of any items no longer relevant. If you want to help out with the WikiCup, please do your bit to keep down the review backlogs! Questions are welcome on Wikipedia talk:WikiCup, and the judges are reachable on their talk pages or by email. If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove yourself from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. Godot13 ( talk), Sturmvogel 66 ( talk), Vanamonde ( talk), Cwmhiraeth ( talk) MediaWiki message delivery ( talk) 19:53, 1 September 2020 (UTC)

Milhist coordinator election voting has commenced

G'day everyone, voting for the 2020 Wikiproject Military history coordinator tranche is now open. This is a simple approval vote; only "support" votes should be made. Project members should vote for any candidates they support by 23:59 (UTC) on 28 September 2020. Thanks from the outgoing coord team, Peacemaker67 ( click to talk to me) 05:18, 15 September 2020 (UTC)

Guild of Copy Editors September 2020 Newsletter

Guild of Copy Editors September 2020 Newsletter

Hello and welcome to the September GOCE newsletter, a brief update of Guild activities since June 2020.

                 Current and upcoming events

September Drive: Our current backlog-elimination drive is open until 23:59 on 30 September (UTC) and is open to all copy editors. Sign up today!

Election reminder: our end-of-year Election of Coordinators opens for nominations on 1 December. Coordinators normally serve a six-month term and are elected on an approval basis. Self-nominations are welcome. If you've thought of helping out at the Guild, or know of another editor who would make a good coordinator, please consider standing for election or nominating them here.

Drive and Blitz reports

June Blitz: An uncorrected typo (even copy editors make copy editing mistakes!) led to an eight-day "leap blitz" from 14 to 21 June, focusing on requests and articles tagged in May. 19 participating editors claimed 54 copy edits. Final results, including barnstars awarded, are available here.

July Drive: Over 750,000 words of articles were copy edited for this event, keeping pace with the previous three self-isolated drives. Of the 38 people who signed up, 30 copyedited at least one article. Final results and awards are listed here.

August Blitz: From 16 to 22 August, we copy edited articles tagged in June and July 2020 and requests. 12 participating editors completed 37 copy edits on the blitz. Final results, including barnstars awarded, are available here.

Other news

June election: Jonesey95 was chosen to continue as lead coordinator, assisted by Baffle gab1978, Tdslk, Twofingered Typist, and first-time coordinator Puddleglum2.0. Reidgreg took a break after serving for a couple years. Thanks to everyone who participated!

Progress report: As of 01:33, 18 September 2020 (UTC), GOCE copyeditors had processed 532 requests since 1 January and there were 38 requests awaiting completion on the Requests page. The backlog of articles tagged for copy-editing stood at 433 (see monthly progress graph above).

Thank you all again for your participation; we wouldn't be able to achieve what we have without you! Cheers from your GOCE coordinators Jonesey95, Baffle gab1978, Puddleglum2.0, Tdslk and Twofingered Typist.

To discontinue receiving GOCE newsletters, please remove your name from our mailing list.

MediaWiki message delivery ( talk) 16:02, 19 September 2020 (UTC)

The Signpost: 27 September 2020

The Signpost: 27 September 2020

Meaning of the "Not possible" template wrt to cu checks

Hello. Regarding Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Tcfwikiaccount, you mentioned a sleeper check is "not possible". I haven't seen this template used before and, out of interest, wonder what the meaning of the template is? The template page ( Template:Impossible) isn't very descriptive and its listed as a case decision (not a CU specific template). If you could give me some insight into the usual meaning of the template, that would be appreciated. Thanks and happy editing, Dreamy Jazz talk to me | my contributions 20:52, 6 October 2020 (UTC)

Basically, this means that the check requested cannot be performed for technical reasons. In this specific case, the range is too wide and there would be far too many false positives even if I could run the check. Cheers! Reaper Eternal ( talk) 00:23, 7 October 2020 (UTC)


Proxy editing

Dear Brian. I use a VPN for all my internet usage, would it be possible to get 'anonymous proxy editing' permission on wikipedia? Carcharias taurus ( talk) 12:41, 27 October 2020 (UTC)

Hello! Due to abuse, IP block exemption is not given out to new (or relatively new) editors unless there is a technical means preventing you from editing. (For example, restrictive government firewalls.) Is there a specific reason you need IPBE? If you do not feel comfortable discussing this on a public webpage, you can contact UTRS as mentioned in the second section on WP:IPBE. Thanks! Reaper Eternal ( talk) 00:22, 2 November 2020 (UTC)

The Signpost: 1 November 2020

WikiCup 2020 November newsletter

The 2020 WikiCup has come to an end, with the final round going down to the wire. Our new Champion is England Lee Vilenski ( submissions), the runner-up last year, who was closely followed by England Gog the Mild ( submissions). In the final round, Lee achieved 4 FAs and 30 GAs, mostly on cue sport topics, while Gog achieved 3 FAs and 15 GAs, mostly on important battles and wars, which earned him a high number of bonus points. Botswana The Rambling Man ( submissions) was in third place with 4 FAs and 8 GAs on football topics, with New York (state) Epicgenius ( submissions) close behind with 19 GAs and 16 DYK's, his interest being the buildings of New York.

The other finalists were Gondor Hog Farm ( submissions), Indonesia HaEr48 ( submissions), Somerset Harrias ( submissions) and Free Hong Kong Bloom6132 ( submissions). The final round was very productive, and besides 15 FAs, contestants achieved 75 FAC reviews, 88 GAs and 108 GAN reviews. Altogether, Wikipedia has benefited greatly from the activities of WikiCup competitors all through the contest. Well done everyone!

All those who reached the final will receive awards and the following special awards will be made, based on high performance in particular areas of content creation. So that the finalists do not have an undue advantage, these prizes are awarded to the competitor who scored the highest in any particular field in a single round, or in the event of a tie, to the overall leader in this field.

Next year's competition will begin on 1 January. You are invited to sign up to participate; the WikiCup is open to all Wikipedians, both novices and experienced editors, and we hope to see you all in the 2021 competition. Until then, it only remains to once again congratulate our worthy winners, and thank all participants for their involvement! If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove yourself from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. Godot13, Sturmvogel 66, Vanamonde and Cwmhiraeth MediaWiki message delivery ( talk) 11:38, 3 November 2020 (UTC)

The Signpost: 1 November 2020

WikiCup 2020 November newsletter

The 2020 WikiCup has come to an end, with the final round going down to the wire. Our new Champion is England Lee Vilenski ( submissions), the runner-up last year, who was closely followed by England Gog the Mild ( submissions). In the final round, Lee achieved 4 FAs and 30 GAs, mostly on cue sport topics, while Gog achieved 3 FAs and 15 GAs, mostly on important battles and wars, which earned him a high number of bonus points. Botswana The Rambling Man ( submissions) was in third place with 4 FAs and 8 GAs on football topics, with New York (state) Epicgenius ( submissions) close behind with 19 GAs and 16 DYK's, his interest being the buildings of New York.

The other finalists were Gondor Hog Farm ( submissions), Indonesia HaEr48 ( submissions), Somerset Harrias ( submissions) and Free Hong Kong Bloom6132 ( submissions). The final round was very productive, and besides 15 FAs, contestants achieved 75 FAC reviews, 88 GAs and 108 GAN reviews. Altogether, Wikipedia has benefited greatly from the activities of WikiCup competitors all through the contest. Well done everyone!

All those who reached the final will receive awards and the following special awards will be made, based on high performance in particular areas of content creation. So that the finalists do not have an undue advantage, these prizes are awarded to the competitor who scored the highest in any particular field in a single round, or in the event of a tie, to the overall leader in this field.

Next year's competition will begin on 1 January. You are invited to sign up to participate; the WikiCup is open to all Wikipedians, both novices and experienced editors, and we hope to see you all in the 2021 competition. Until then, it only remains to once again congratulate our worthy winners, and thank all participants for their involvement! If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove yourself from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. Godot13, Sturmvogel 66, Vanamonde and Cwmhiraeth MediaWiki message delivery ( talk) 11:38, 3 November 2020 (UTC)

ArbCom 2020 Elections voter message

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) 02:27, 24 November 2020 (UTC)

The Signpost: 29 November 2020

December 2020 Guild of Copy Editors Newsletter

Guild of Copy Editors December 2020 Newsletter

Hello and welcome to the December GOCE newsletter, a brief update of Guild activities since September 2020.

                 Current and upcoming events

Election time: our end-of-year Election of Coordinators opened for nominations on 1 December and will close on 15 December at 23:59 (UTC). Voting opens at 00:01 the following day and will continue until 31 December at 23:59, just before Auld Lang Syne. Coordinators normally serve a six-month term and are elected on an approval basis. Self-nominations are welcome. If you've thought of helping out at the Guild, or know of another editor who would make a good coordinator, please consider standing for election or nominating them here.

December Blitz: This will run from 13 to 19 December, and will target all Requests. Sign up now.

Drive and Blitz reports

September Drive: 67 fewer articles had copy-edit templates by this month's close. Of the 27 editors who signed up, 15 copy-edited at least one article, and 124 articles were claimed for the drive.

October Blitz: this ran from 18 to 24 October, and focused on articles tagged for copy-edit in July and August 2020, and all Requests. Of the 13 who signed up, 11 editors copy-edited at least one article. 21 articles were claimed for the blitz.

November Drive: Of the 18 editors who signed up, 15 copy-edited at least one article, and together claimed 134 articles. At the close of the drive, 67 fewer articles were in the backlog and we had dealt with 39 requests.

Other news

Progress report: As of 09:05, 3 December 2020 (UTC), GOCE copyeditors had processed 663 requests (18 from 2019) since 1 January and there were 52 requests awaiting completion on the Requests page. The backlog of articles tagged for copy-editing stood at 494 (see monthly progress graph above).

Annual Report for 2020: this roundup of the year's activity at the Guild is planned for publication in late January or early February.

Thank you all again for your participation; we wouldn't be able to achieve what we have without you! Seasonal tidings and cheers from your GOCE coordinators: Jonesey95, Baffle gab1978, Puddleglum2.0, Tdslk and Twofingered Typist.

To discontinue receiving GOCE newsletters, please remove your name from our mailing list.

MediaWiki message delivery ( talk) 03:47, 8 December 2020 (UTC)

Nominations for the 2020 Military history WikiProject Newcomer and Historian of the Year awards now open

G'day all, the nominations for the 2020 Military history WikiProject newcomer and Historian of the Year are open, all editors are encouraged to nominate candidates for the awards before until 23:59 (GMT) on 15 December 2020, after which voting will occur for 14 days. There is not much time left to nominate worthy recipients, so get to it! Peacemaker67 ( click to talk to me) 06:45, 10 December 2020 (UTC)

Yo Ho Ho

The Signpost: 28 December 2020

Voting for "Military Historian of the Year" and "Military history newcomer of the year" closing

G'day all, voting for the WikiProject Military history " Military Historian of the Year" and " Military history newcomer of the year" is about to close, so if you haven't already, click on the links and have your say before 23:59 (GMT) on 30 December! Peacemaker67 ( click to talk to me) 23:35, 28 December 2020 (UTC) for the coord team

Precious anniversary

Precious
Seven years!

-- Gerda Arendt ( talk) 08:29, 1 January 2021 (UTC)

Thanks! Reaper Eternal ( talk) 08:04, 3 January 2021 (UTC)

Welcome to the 2021 WikiCup!

Happy New Year and Happy New WikiCup! The competition begins today and all article creators, expanders, improvers and reviewers are welcome to take part. If you have already signed up, your submissions page can be found here. If you have not yet signed up, you can add your name here and the judges will set up your submissions page. Any questions on the rules or on anything else should be directed to one of the judges, or posted to the WikiCup talk page. Signups will close at the end of January, and the first round will end on 26 February; the 64 highest scorers at that time will move on to round 2. We thank Vanamonde93 and Godot13, who have retired as judges, and we thank them for their past dedication. The judges for the WikiCup this year are Sturmvogel 66 ( talk · contribs · email) and Cwmhiraeth ( talk · contribs · email). Good luck! MediaWiki message delivery ( talk) 11:11, 1 January 2021 (UTC)

The Signpost: 31 January 2021

The Signpost: 28 February 2021

WikiCup 2021 March newsletter

Round 1 of the competition has finished; it was a high-scoring round with 21 contestants scoring more than 100 points. Everyone with a positive score moves on to Round 2, with 55 contestants qualifying. You will need to finish among the top thirty-two contestants in Round 2 if you are to qualify for Round 3. Our top scorers in Round 1 were:

  • New York (state) Epicgenius led the field with a featured article, nine good articles and an assortment of other submissions, specialising on buildings and locations in New York, for a total of 945 points.
  • Republic of Venice Bloom6132 was close behind with 896 points, largely gained from 71 "In the news" items, mostly recent deaths.
  • Scotland ImaginesTigers, who has been editing Wikipedia for less than a year, was in third place with 711 points, much helped by bringing League of Legends to featured article status, exemplifying how bonus points can boost a contestant's score.
  • Rwanda Amakuru came next with 708 points, Kigali being another featured article that scored maximum bonus points.
  • Ktin, new to the WikiCup, was in fifth place with 523 points, garnered from 15 DYKs and 34 "In the news" items.
  • Botswana The Rambling Man scored 511 points, many from featured article candidate reviews and from football related DYKs.
  • Gog the Mild, last year's runner-up, came next with 498 points, from a featured article and numerous featured article candidate reviews.
  • Hog Farm, at 452, scored for a featured article, four good articles and a number of reviews.
  • United States Le Panini, another newcomer to the WikiCup, scored 438 for a featured article and three good articles.
  • England Lee Vilenski, last year's champion, scored 332 points, from a featured article and various other sport-related topics.

These contestants, like all the others, now have to start again from scratch. In Round 1, contestants achieved eight featured articles, three featured lists and one featured picture, as well as around two hundred DYKs and twenty-seven ITNs. They completed 97 good article reviews, nearly double the 52 good articles they claimed. Contestants also claimed for 135 featured article and featured list candidate reviews. There is no longer a requirement to mention your WikiCup participation when undertaking these reviews.

Remember that any content promoted after the end of Round 1 but before the start of Round 2 can be claimed in Round 2. Invitations for collaborative writing efforts or any other discussion of potentially interesting work is always welcome on the WikiCup talk page. Remember, if two or more WikiCup competitors have done significant work on an article, all can claim points. If you are concerned that your nomination—whether it is a good article candidate, a featured process, or something else—will not receive the necessary reviews, please list it on Wikipedia:WikiCup/Reviews.

If you want to help out with the WikiCup, please do your bit to keep down the review backlogs! Questions are welcome on Wikipedia talk:WikiCup, and the judges are reachable on their talk pages or by email. Good luck! If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove yourself from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. Sturmvogel 66 ( talk) and Cwmhiraeth ( talk). MediaWiki message delivery ( talk) 20:27, 1 March 2021 (UTC)

sock block

Hi Reaper, back in January you blocked this account [1] as a CU block. Was there an SPI for that particular account? There's some similar new ones around again. Volunteer Marek 21:02, 10 March 2021 (UTC)

I don't believe there was an SPI at the time—note that I blocked the account in January 2020—but it was later confirmed to be Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/LegitimateProfit. (Note the tag on the sockpuppet's userpage.) Cheers! Reaper Eternal ( talk) 20:25, 12 March 2021 (UTC)

Requesting removal of protection of creation for Kendra Sunderland

I see a lot of reliable news sources that establish general notability, so perhaps compared to 2015, 6 years ago, it’s no longer a BLP issue and I believe a legitimate article can be started from scratch. Trillfendi ( talk) 19:27, 20 March 2021 (UTC)

I can unprotect this, but please be careful with how you write the article. The previous version was a major BLP violation. Reaper Eternal ( talk) 03:30, 23 March 2021 (UTC)

Can you check Klein ISD?

Can you check Klein ISD? — Preceding unsigned comment added by SparklesonApple ( talkcontribs) 14:41, 22 March 2021 (UTC)

I'm not sure what you're asking. Can you clarify? Thanks! Reaper Eternal ( talk) 03:25, 23 March 2021 (UTC)

You fully protected this title, which is a redirect, in 2013, after an AFD, and after disruption by sockpuppets. There is now a draft in review at Articles for Creation. I have not yet reviewed the draft, but I am requesting that now, eight years later, the protection be downgraded to ECP, which was not available in 2013, to facilitate review. To repeat, I have not yet reviewed the draft. Robert McClenon ( talk) 15:45, 25 March 2021 (UTC)

I completely unprotected it. The sockpuppets and single-purpose accounts that were attempting to subvert the AFD are likely gone by now. If they show back up, protection can always be re-added, but you and others should be able to freely edit the page now. Cheers! Reaper Eternal ( talk) 15:10, 26 March 2021 (UTC)
Thank you. I have tagged the redirect as having a draft waiting for review. If the draft shows that the syndrome is medically recognized, the draft will be accepted. Robert McClenon ( talk) 22:47, 27 March 2021 (UTC)
Robert, I restored the old talk page history for reference, since your move of the redirect also ate the talk page, and deleted the redirect that was in your userspace. Cheers! Reaper Eternal ( talk) 23:42, 27 March 2021 (UTC)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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WikiCup newsletter correction

There was an error in the WikiCup 2020 March newsletter; United States L293D should not have been included in the list of top ten scorers in Round 1 (they led the list last year), instead, United States Dunkleosteus77 should have been included, having garnered 334 points from five good articles on animals, living or extinct, and various reviews. MediaWiki message delivery ( talk) 09:30, 2 March 2020 (UTC)

GOCE March newsletter

Guild of Copy Editors March 2020 Newsletter

Hello and welcome to the March newsletter, a brief update of Guild activities since December 2019. All being well, we're planning to issue these quarterly in 2020, balancing the need to communicate widely with the avoidance of filling up talk pages. Don't forget you can unsubscribe at any time; see below.

Election results: There was little changeover in the roster of Guild Coordinators, with Miniapolis stepping down with distinction as a coordinator emeritus while Jonesey95 returned as lead coordinator. The next election is scheduled for June 2020 and all Wikipedians in good standing may participate.

January Drive: Thanks to everyone for the splendid work, completing 215 copy edits including 56 articles from the Requests page and 116 backlog articles from the target months of June to August 2019. At the conclusion of the drive there was a record low of 323 articles in the copy editing backlog. Of the 27 editors who signed up for the drive, 21 copyedited at least one article. Final results, including barnstars awarded, are available here.

February Blitz: Of the 15 editors who signed up for this one-week blitz, 13 completed at least one copy edit. A total of 32 articles were copy edited, evenly split between the twin goals of requests and the oldest articles from the copy-editing backlog. Full results are here.

March Drive: Currently underway, this event is targeting requests and backlog articles from September to November 2019. As of 18 March, the backlog stands at a record low of 253 articles and is expected to drop further as the drive progresses. Awards will be given to everyone who copyedits at least one article from the backlog. Help set a new record and sign up now!

Progress report: As of 18 March, GOCE copyeditors have completed 161 requests in 2020 and there was a net reduction of 385 articles from the copy-editing backlog – a 60% decrease from the beginning of the year. Well done and thank you everyone!

Election reminder: It may only be March but don't forget our mid-year Election of Coordinators opens for nominations on 1 June. Coordinators normally serve a six-month term and are elected on an approval basis. Self-nominations are welcome. If you've thought of helping out at the Guild, or know of another editor who would make a good coordinator, please consider standing for election or nominating them here.

Thank you all again for your participation; we wouldn't be able to achieve what we have without you! Cheers from your GOCE coordinators Jonesey95, Baffle gab1978, Reidgreg, Tdslk and Twofingered Typist

To discontinue receiving GOCE newsletters, please remove your name from our mailing list.

MediaWiki message delivery ( talk) 15:52, 18 March 2020 (UTC)

Thank you ...

... for improving Jessye Norman's article by a thorough review, borrowing her smile -- Gerda Arendt ( talk) 12:47, 29 March 2020 (UTC)

You're welcome! Reaper Eternal ( talk) 14:06, 2 April 2020 (UTC)

The Signpost: 29 March 2020

Is it possible to redact the titles of the pages created in the logs? Thanks for the block, even if that's not possible. Semi Hyper cube 19:14, 20 April 2020 (UTC)

It's possible, and I already nuked log entries related to the libelous title. In general, though, it's best to not redact log entries so people can see why a person was blocked, and to maintain accountability for administrators. Cheers! Reaper Eternal ( talk) 19:18, 20 April 2020 (UTC)

Phishing?

On an article? How? Qwirkle ( talk) 19:45, 20 April 2020 (UTC)

Posting links to phishing websites disguised as legitimate links. Reaper Eternal ( talk) 20:54, 20 April 2020 (UTC)
Ahh. I hadn’t seen them do that, but that’s probably because you had nuked it already. It takes a particularly stupid form of phisherman to do ordinary vandalism before trying to slip in a bad link. Qwirkle ( talk) 21:01, 20 April 2020 (UTC)

The Signpost: 26 April 2020

JarlaxleArtemis

Has this long-term abuser, whose sockpuppet investigation you frequently edited, stopped editing Wikipedia? I have not seen any evidence in recent years of him being here and am considering archiving his LTA casepage. Or are there any other editors who might know more about his recent activities?

Thank you, Passenger pigeon ( talk) 13:20, 29 April 2020 (UTC)

It's hard to really say, since he's spawned copycat vandals. I don't find LTA pages useful at all and have never looked at them; do with them whatever you want. Reaper Eternal ( talk) 21:20, 1 May 2020 (UTC)

WikiCup 2020 May newsletter

The second round of the 2020 WikiCup has now finished. It was a high-scoring round and contestants needed 75 points to advance to round 3. There were some very impressive efforts in round 2, with the top ten contestants all scoring more than 500 points. A large number of the points came from the 12 featured articles and the 186 good articles achieved in total by contestants, and the 355 good article reviews they performed; the GAN backlog drive and the stay-at-home imperative during the COVID-19 pandemic may have been partially responsible for these impressive figures.

Our top scorers in round 2 were:

  • New York (state) Epicgenius, with 2333 points from one featured article, forty-five good articles, fourteen DYKs and plenty of bonus points
  • England Gog the Mild, with 1784 points from three featured articles, eight good articles, a substantial number of featured article and good article reviews and lots of bonus points
  • Botswana The Rambling Man, with 1262 points from two featured articles, eight good articles and a hundred good article reviews
  • Somerset Harrias, with 1141 points from two featured articles, three featured lists, ten good articles, nine DYKs and a substantial number of featured article and good article reviews
  • England Lee Vilenski with 869 points, Gondor Hog Farm with 801, Venezuela Kingsif with 719, Cascadia (independence movement) SounderBruce with 710, United States Dunkleosteus77 with 608 and Mexico MX with 515.

The rules for featured article reviews have been adjusted; reviews may cover three aspects of the article, content, images and sources, and contestants may receive points for each of these three types of review. Please also remember the requirement to mention the WikiCup when undertaking an FAR for which you intend to claim points. Remember also that DYKs cannot be claimed until they have appeared on the main page. As we enter the third round, any content promoted after the end of round 2 but before the start of round 3 can be claimed now, and anything you forgot to claim in round 2 cannot! Remember too, that you must claim your points within 14 days of "earning" them. When doing GARs, please make sure that you check that all the GA criteria are fully met.

If you are concerned that your nomination—whether it is at good article nominations, a featured process, or anything else—will not receive the necessary reviews, please list it on Wikipedia:WikiCup/Reviews Needed (remember to remove your listing when no longer required). Questions are welcome on Wikipedia talk:WikiCup, and the judges are reachable on their talk pages or by email. Good luck! If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove your name from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. Godot13 ( talk), Sturmvogel 66 ( talk), Vanamonde ( talk) and Cwmhiraeth. - MediaWiki message delivery ( talk) 17:44, 1 May 2020 (UTC)

The Signpost: 31 May 2020

Requesting IP block exemption rights

I want to apply IP block exemption rights for my account because I'm going to use FreeBasics.com as a proxy website to edit free access in Wikipedia. JeBonSer ( talk | sign) 07:27, 5 June 2020 (UTC)

Hi there, it appears that the song Gangnam Style has been semi-protected for over seven years straight. The song is not as popular as it was in 2012-13, so can I request unprotection of the song's article? Thanks, I'm not perfect but I'm almost ( talk) 05:31, 5 June 2020 (UTC)

Replied at WP:RFPP. Reaper Eternal ( talk) 15:45, 6 June 2020 (UTC)

GOCE June newsletter

Guild of Copy Editors June 2020 Newsletter

Hello and welcome to the June newsletter, a brief update of Guild activities since March 2020. You can unsubscribe from our mailings at any time; see below. All times and dates stated are in UTC.

Current events

Election time: Nomination of candidates in our mid-year Election of Coordinators opened on 1 June, and voting will take place from 00:01 on 16 June. GOCE coordinators normally serve a six-month term and are elected on an approval basis. Self-nominations are welcome. If you've thought about helping out at the Guild, or you know of another editor who would make a good coordinator, please consider standing for election or nominating them here.

June Blitz: This blitz begins at 00:01 on 14 June and ends at 23:59 on 20 June, with themes of articles tagged for copyedit in May 2020 and requests.

Drive and blitz reports

March Drive: Self-isolation from coronavirus may have played a hand in making this one of our most successful backlog elimination drives. The copy-editing backlog was reduced from 477 to a record low of 118 articles, a 75% reduction. The last four months of 2019 were cleared, reducing the backlog to three months. Fifty requests were also completed, and the total word count of copy-edited articles was 759,945. Of the 29 editors who signed up, 22 completed at least one copy edit. Final results, including barnstars awarded, are available here.

April Blitz: This blitz ran from 12 to 18 April with a theme of Indian military history. Of the 18 people who signed up, 14 copyedited at least one article. Participants claimed a total of 60 copyedits. Final results, including barnstars awarded, are available here.

May Drive: This event marked the 10th anniversary of the GOCE's copy-editing drives, and set a goal of diminishing the backlog to just one month of articles, as close to zero articles as possible. We achieved the goal of eliminating all articles that had been tagged prior to the start of the drive, for the first time in our history! Of the 51 editors who signed up, 43 copyedited at least one article. Final results, including barnstars awarded, are available here.

Other news

Progress report: as of 2 June, GOCE participants had processed 328 requests since 1 January, which puts us on pace to exceed any previous year's number of requests. As of the end of the May drive, the backlog stood at just 156 articles, all tagged in May 2020.

Outreach: To mark the 10th anniversary of our first Backlog Elimination Drive, The Signpost contributor and GOCE participant Puddleglum2.0 interviewed project coordinators and copy-editors for the journal's April WikiProject Report. The Drive and the current Election of Coordinators have also been covered in The Signpost's May News and Notes page.

Thank you all again for your participation; we wouldn't be able to achieve what we have without you! Cheers from your GOCE coordinators Jonesey95, Baffle gab1978, Reidgreg, Tdslk and Twofingered Typist.

To discontinue receiving GOCE newsletters, please remove your name from our mailing list.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery ( talk) at 15:46, 5 June 2020 (UTC).

Softblock

Hi Reaper, hope you are well and safe! Quick question, was the softblock for RECALL BYRON BROWN ( talk · contribs · logs · block log) a mistake? I see that their only edit was a pretty serious BLP violation. -- LuK3 (Talk) 12:54, 6 June 2020 (UTC)

I was waffling between hardblocking and softblocking for that one. Ultimately, I chose softblocking because the user had already been warned for NPOV and hadn't repeated the edit, so I chose to softblock for the username issue. I also am well aware of the current events in the USA, which are greatly upsetting to most people. Cheers! Reaper Eternal ( talk) 15:03, 6 June 2020 (UTC)
I appreciate the explanation Reaper, please stay safe. -- LuK3 (Talk) 15:11, 6 June 2020 (UTC)

The Signpost: 28 June 2020

Tulsi rights change

Special:UserRights/Tulsi Bhagat

FYI as it revokes a right you granted. - Alexis Jazz 06:18, 30 June 2020 (UTC)

WikiCup 2020 July newsletter

The third round of the 2020 WikiCup has now come to an end. The 16 users who made it into the fourth round each had at least 353 points (compared to 68 in 2019). It was a highly competitive round, and a number of contestants were eliminated who would have moved on in earlier years. Our top scorers in round 3 were:

  • New York (state) Epicgenius, with one featured article, 28 good articles and 17 DYKs, amassing 1836 points
  • Botswana The Rambling Man , with 1672 points gained from four featured articles and seventeen good articles, plus reviews of a large number of FACs and GAs
  • England Gog the Mild, a first time contestant, with 1540 points, a tally built largely on 4 featured articles and related bonus points.

Between them, contestants managed 14 featured articles, 9 featured lists, 3 featured pictures, 152 good articles, 136 DYK entries, 55 ITN entries, 65 featured article candidate reviews and 221 good article reviews. Additionally, Denmark MPJ-DK added 3 items to featured topics and 44 to good topics. Over the course of the competition, contestants have completed 710 good article reviews, in comparison to 387 good articles submitted for review and promoted. These large numbers are probably linked to a GAN backlog drive in April and May, and the changed patterns of editing during the COVID-19 pandemic. As we enter the fourth round, remember that any content promoted after the end of round 3 but before the start of round 4 can be claimed in round 4. Please also remember that you must claim your points within 14 days of "earning" them. When doing GARs, please make sure that you check that all the GA criteria are fully met. Please also remember that all submissions must meet core Wikipedia policies, regardless of the review process.

If you are concerned that your nomination—whether it is at good article nominations, a featured process, or anywhere else—will not receive the necessary reviews, please list it on Wikipedia:WikiCup/Reviews Needed (remember to remove your listing when no longer required). Questions are welcome on Wikipedia talk:WikiCup, and the judges are reachable on their talk pages or by email. Good luck! If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove your name from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. Godot13 ( talk), Sturmvogel 66 ( talk), Vanamonde ( talk), Cwmhiraeth ( talk) MediaWiki message delivery ( talk) 12:34, 2 July 2020 (UTC)

Wishing Reaper Eternal a very Eternal happy adminship anniversary on behalf of the Wikipedia Birthday Committee! PRAHLAD balaji ( M•T•AC) This message was left at 17:45, 28 July 2020 (UTC)

Happy Adminship Anniversary!

The Signpost: 2 August 2020

Help

Hi, different IP addresses are continuously removing the contents that I added to the wikipedia page MCAT Pakistan. I requested for page protection but that was declined. So please help me Banksboomer ( talk) 02:37, 4 August 2020 (UTC)

Same guy?

I was curious if this these two accounts User:The Peacocks Are Back and User:Peacocks Not Going Away are the same person? Govvy ( talk) 15:09, 10 August 2020 (UTC)

I would assume so—they're already blocked by other checkusers. Cheers! Reaper Eternal ( talk) 15:43, 10 August 2020 (UTC)

Mail

Hello, Reaper Eternal. Please check your email; you've got mail!
It may take a few minutes from the time the email is sent for it to show up in your inbox. You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{ You've got mail}} or {{ ygm}} template.

VR talk 21:22, 10 August 2020 (UTC)

Filter 11 Oopsie


Hi Reaper Eternal. You are one of the people who has edited Filter 11 ( hist · log), even though in 2012. Would you have a minute to look at this error report at WP:EFN? User is saying that an IP made a valid and sourced edit of Apple Inc. litigation that was tagged by the filter as possible vandalism. It's not a private filter so I suppose any interested person could try to diagnose it. But it's unclear to me why Filter 11 should have tripped. Thanks, EdJohnston ( talk) 02:48, 14 August 2020 (UTC)

It's because "fortnite" is listed in the filter. If I recall correctly, there was a huge rash of Fortnite-related vandalism around the time that video game exploded in popularity. Checking the logs reveals that the majority of the Fortnite-related hits are now false positives, so I've removed that check from the filter. (It's stopping Fortnite-related vandalism on average of once every several days.) Cheers! Reaper Eternal ( talk) 14:09, 14 August 2020 (UTC)

The Signpost: 30 August 2020

Wikiproject Military history coordinator election nominations open

Nominations for the upcoming project coordinator election are now open. A team of up to ten coordinators will be elected for the next year. The project coordinators are the designated points of contact for issues concerning the project, and are responsible for maintaining our internal structure and processes. They do not, however, have any authority over article content or editor conduct, or any other special powers. More information on being a coordinator is available here. If you are interested in running, please sign up here by 23:59 UTC on 14 September! Voting doesn't commence until 15 September. If you have any questions, you can contact any member of the coord team. Peacemaker67 ( click to talk to me) 02:06, 1 September 2020 (UTC)

WikiCup 2020 September newsletter

The fourth round of the competition has finished, with 865 points being required to qualify for the final round, nearly twice as many points as last year. It was a hotly competitive round with two contestants with 598 and 605 points being eliminated, and all but two of the contestants who reached the final round having achieved an FA during the round. The highest scorers were

  • Free Hong Kong Bloom6132, with 1478 points gained mainly from 5 featured lists, 12 DYKs and 63 in the news items;
  • Indonesia HaEr48 with 1318 points gained mainly from 2 featured articles, 5 good articles and 8 DYKs;
  • England Lee Vilenski with 1201 points mainly gained from 2 featured articles and 10 good articles.

Between them, contestants achieved 14 featured articles, 14 featured lists, 2 featured pictures, 87 good articles, 90 DYK entries, 75 ITN entries, 95 featured article candidate reviews and 81 good article reviews. Congratulations to all who participated! It was a generally high-scoring and productive round and I think we can expect a highly competitive finish to the competition.

Remember that any content promoted after the end of round 4 but before the start of round 5 can be claimed in round 5. Remember too that you must claim your points within 10 days of "earning" them. If you are concerned that your nomination will not receive the necessary reviews, please list it on Wikipedia:WikiCup/Reviews. It would be helpful if this list could be cleared of any items no longer relevant. If you want to help out with the WikiCup, please do your bit to keep down the review backlogs! Questions are welcome on Wikipedia talk:WikiCup, and the judges are reachable on their talk pages or by email. If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove yourself from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. Godot13 ( talk), Sturmvogel 66 ( talk), Vanamonde ( talk), Cwmhiraeth ( talk) MediaWiki message delivery ( talk) 19:53, 1 September 2020 (UTC)

Milhist coordinator election voting has commenced

G'day everyone, voting for the 2020 Wikiproject Military history coordinator tranche is now open. This is a simple approval vote; only "support" votes should be made. Project members should vote for any candidates they support by 23:59 (UTC) on 28 September 2020. Thanks from the outgoing coord team, Peacemaker67 ( click to talk to me) 05:18, 15 September 2020 (UTC)

Guild of Copy Editors September 2020 Newsletter

Guild of Copy Editors September 2020 Newsletter

Hello and welcome to the September GOCE newsletter, a brief update of Guild activities since June 2020.

                 Current and upcoming events

September Drive: Our current backlog-elimination drive is open until 23:59 on 30 September (UTC) and is open to all copy editors. Sign up today!

Election reminder: our end-of-year Election of Coordinators opens for nominations on 1 December. Coordinators normally serve a six-month term and are elected on an approval basis. Self-nominations are welcome. If you've thought of helping out at the Guild, or know of another editor who would make a good coordinator, please consider standing for election or nominating them here.

Drive and Blitz reports

June Blitz: An uncorrected typo (even copy editors make copy editing mistakes!) led to an eight-day "leap blitz" from 14 to 21 June, focusing on requests and articles tagged in May. 19 participating editors claimed 54 copy edits. Final results, including barnstars awarded, are available here.

July Drive: Over 750,000 words of articles were copy edited for this event, keeping pace with the previous three self-isolated drives. Of the 38 people who signed up, 30 copyedited at least one article. Final results and awards are listed here.

August Blitz: From 16 to 22 August, we copy edited articles tagged in June and July 2020 and requests. 12 participating editors completed 37 copy edits on the blitz. Final results, including barnstars awarded, are available here.

Other news

June election: Jonesey95 was chosen to continue as lead coordinator, assisted by Baffle gab1978, Tdslk, Twofingered Typist, and first-time coordinator Puddleglum2.0. Reidgreg took a break after serving for a couple years. Thanks to everyone who participated!

Progress report: As of 01:33, 18 September 2020 (UTC), GOCE copyeditors had processed 532 requests since 1 January and there were 38 requests awaiting completion on the Requests page. The backlog of articles tagged for copy-editing stood at 433 (see monthly progress graph above).

Thank you all again for your participation; we wouldn't be able to achieve what we have without you! Cheers from your GOCE coordinators Jonesey95, Baffle gab1978, Puddleglum2.0, Tdslk and Twofingered Typist.

To discontinue receiving GOCE newsletters, please remove your name from our mailing list.

MediaWiki message delivery ( talk) 16:02, 19 September 2020 (UTC)

The Signpost: 27 September 2020

The Signpost: 27 September 2020

Meaning of the "Not possible" template wrt to cu checks

Hello. Regarding Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Tcfwikiaccount, you mentioned a sleeper check is "not possible". I haven't seen this template used before and, out of interest, wonder what the meaning of the template is? The template page ( Template:Impossible) isn't very descriptive and its listed as a case decision (not a CU specific template). If you could give me some insight into the usual meaning of the template, that would be appreciated. Thanks and happy editing, Dreamy Jazz talk to me | my contributions 20:52, 6 October 2020 (UTC)

Basically, this means that the check requested cannot be performed for technical reasons. In this specific case, the range is too wide and there would be far too many false positives even if I could run the check. Cheers! Reaper Eternal ( talk) 00:23, 7 October 2020 (UTC)


Proxy editing

Dear Brian. I use a VPN for all my internet usage, would it be possible to get 'anonymous proxy editing' permission on wikipedia? Carcharias taurus ( talk) 12:41, 27 October 2020 (UTC)

Hello! Due to abuse, IP block exemption is not given out to new (or relatively new) editors unless there is a technical means preventing you from editing. (For example, restrictive government firewalls.) Is there a specific reason you need IPBE? If you do not feel comfortable discussing this on a public webpage, you can contact UTRS as mentioned in the second section on WP:IPBE. Thanks! Reaper Eternal ( talk) 00:22, 2 November 2020 (UTC)

The Signpost: 1 November 2020

WikiCup 2020 November newsletter

The 2020 WikiCup has come to an end, with the final round going down to the wire. Our new Champion is England Lee Vilenski ( submissions), the runner-up last year, who was closely followed by England Gog the Mild ( submissions). In the final round, Lee achieved 4 FAs and 30 GAs, mostly on cue sport topics, while Gog achieved 3 FAs and 15 GAs, mostly on important battles and wars, which earned him a high number of bonus points. Botswana The Rambling Man ( submissions) was in third place with 4 FAs and 8 GAs on football topics, with New York (state) Epicgenius ( submissions) close behind with 19 GAs and 16 DYK's, his interest being the buildings of New York.

The other finalists were Gondor Hog Farm ( submissions), Indonesia HaEr48 ( submissions), Somerset Harrias ( submissions) and Free Hong Kong Bloom6132 ( submissions). The final round was very productive, and besides 15 FAs, contestants achieved 75 FAC reviews, 88 GAs and 108 GAN reviews. Altogether, Wikipedia has benefited greatly from the activities of WikiCup competitors all through the contest. Well done everyone!

All those who reached the final will receive awards and the following special awards will be made, based on high performance in particular areas of content creation. So that the finalists do not have an undue advantage, these prizes are awarded to the competitor who scored the highest in any particular field in a single round, or in the event of a tie, to the overall leader in this field.

Next year's competition will begin on 1 January. You are invited to sign up to participate; the WikiCup is open to all Wikipedians, both novices and experienced editors, and we hope to see you all in the 2021 competition. Until then, it only remains to once again congratulate our worthy winners, and thank all participants for their involvement! If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove yourself from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. Godot13, Sturmvogel 66, Vanamonde and Cwmhiraeth MediaWiki message delivery ( talk) 11:38, 3 November 2020 (UTC)

The Signpost: 1 November 2020

WikiCup 2020 November newsletter

The 2020 WikiCup has come to an end, with the final round going down to the wire. Our new Champion is England Lee Vilenski ( submissions), the runner-up last year, who was closely followed by England Gog the Mild ( submissions). In the final round, Lee achieved 4 FAs and 30 GAs, mostly on cue sport topics, while Gog achieved 3 FAs and 15 GAs, mostly on important battles and wars, which earned him a high number of bonus points. Botswana The Rambling Man ( submissions) was in third place with 4 FAs and 8 GAs on football topics, with New York (state) Epicgenius ( submissions) close behind with 19 GAs and 16 DYK's, his interest being the buildings of New York.

The other finalists were Gondor Hog Farm ( submissions), Indonesia HaEr48 ( submissions), Somerset Harrias ( submissions) and Free Hong Kong Bloom6132 ( submissions). The final round was very productive, and besides 15 FAs, contestants achieved 75 FAC reviews, 88 GAs and 108 GAN reviews. Altogether, Wikipedia has benefited greatly from the activities of WikiCup competitors all through the contest. Well done everyone!

All those who reached the final will receive awards and the following special awards will be made, based on high performance in particular areas of content creation. So that the finalists do not have an undue advantage, these prizes are awarded to the competitor who scored the highest in any particular field in a single round, or in the event of a tie, to the overall leader in this field.

Next year's competition will begin on 1 January. You are invited to sign up to participate; the WikiCup is open to all Wikipedians, both novices and experienced editors, and we hope to see you all in the 2021 competition. Until then, it only remains to once again congratulate our worthy winners, and thank all participants for their involvement! If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove yourself from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. Godot13, Sturmvogel 66, Vanamonde and Cwmhiraeth MediaWiki message delivery ( talk) 11:38, 3 November 2020 (UTC)

ArbCom 2020 Elections voter message

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) 02:27, 24 November 2020 (UTC)

The Signpost: 29 November 2020

December 2020 Guild of Copy Editors Newsletter

Guild of Copy Editors December 2020 Newsletter

Hello and welcome to the December GOCE newsletter, a brief update of Guild activities since September 2020.

                 Current and upcoming events

Election time: our end-of-year Election of Coordinators opened for nominations on 1 December and will close on 15 December at 23:59 (UTC). Voting opens at 00:01 the following day and will continue until 31 December at 23:59, just before Auld Lang Syne. Coordinators normally serve a six-month term and are elected on an approval basis. Self-nominations are welcome. If you've thought of helping out at the Guild, or know of another editor who would make a good coordinator, please consider standing for election or nominating them here.

December Blitz: This will run from 13 to 19 December, and will target all Requests. Sign up now.

Drive and Blitz reports

September Drive: 67 fewer articles had copy-edit templates by this month's close. Of the 27 editors who signed up, 15 copy-edited at least one article, and 124 articles were claimed for the drive.

October Blitz: this ran from 18 to 24 October, and focused on articles tagged for copy-edit in July and August 2020, and all Requests. Of the 13 who signed up, 11 editors copy-edited at least one article. 21 articles were claimed for the blitz.

November Drive: Of the 18 editors who signed up, 15 copy-edited at least one article, and together claimed 134 articles. At the close of the drive, 67 fewer articles were in the backlog and we had dealt with 39 requests.

Other news

Progress report: As of 09:05, 3 December 2020 (UTC), GOCE copyeditors had processed 663 requests (18 from 2019) since 1 January and there were 52 requests awaiting completion on the Requests page. The backlog of articles tagged for copy-editing stood at 494 (see monthly progress graph above).

Annual Report for 2020: this roundup of the year's activity at the Guild is planned for publication in late January or early February.

Thank you all again for your participation; we wouldn't be able to achieve what we have without you! Seasonal tidings and cheers from your GOCE coordinators: Jonesey95, Baffle gab1978, Puddleglum2.0, Tdslk and Twofingered Typist.

To discontinue receiving GOCE newsletters, please remove your name from our mailing list.

MediaWiki message delivery ( talk) 03:47, 8 December 2020 (UTC)

Nominations for the 2020 Military history WikiProject Newcomer and Historian of the Year awards now open

G'day all, the nominations for the 2020 Military history WikiProject newcomer and Historian of the Year are open, all editors are encouraged to nominate candidates for the awards before until 23:59 (GMT) on 15 December 2020, after which voting will occur for 14 days. There is not much time left to nominate worthy recipients, so get to it! Peacemaker67 ( click to talk to me) 06:45, 10 December 2020 (UTC)

Yo Ho Ho

The Signpost: 28 December 2020

Voting for "Military Historian of the Year" and "Military history newcomer of the year" closing

G'day all, voting for the WikiProject Military history " Military Historian of the Year" and " Military history newcomer of the year" is about to close, so if you haven't already, click on the links and have your say before 23:59 (GMT) on 30 December! Peacemaker67 ( click to talk to me) 23:35, 28 December 2020 (UTC) for the coord team

Precious anniversary

Precious
Seven years!

-- Gerda Arendt ( talk) 08:29, 1 January 2021 (UTC)

Thanks! Reaper Eternal ( talk) 08:04, 3 January 2021 (UTC)

Welcome to the 2021 WikiCup!

Happy New Year and Happy New WikiCup! The competition begins today and all article creators, expanders, improvers and reviewers are welcome to take part. If you have already signed up, your submissions page can be found here. If you have not yet signed up, you can add your name here and the judges will set up your submissions page. Any questions on the rules or on anything else should be directed to one of the judges, or posted to the WikiCup talk page. Signups will close at the end of January, and the first round will end on 26 February; the 64 highest scorers at that time will move on to round 2. We thank Vanamonde93 and Godot13, who have retired as judges, and we thank them for their past dedication. The judges for the WikiCup this year are Sturmvogel 66 ( talk · contribs · email) and Cwmhiraeth ( talk · contribs · email). Good luck! MediaWiki message delivery ( talk) 11:11, 1 January 2021 (UTC)

The Signpost: 31 January 2021

The Signpost: 28 February 2021

WikiCup 2021 March newsletter

Round 1 of the competition has finished; it was a high-scoring round with 21 contestants scoring more than 100 points. Everyone with a positive score moves on to Round 2, with 55 contestants qualifying. You will need to finish among the top thirty-two contestants in Round 2 if you are to qualify for Round 3. Our top scorers in Round 1 were:

  • New York (state) Epicgenius led the field with a featured article, nine good articles and an assortment of other submissions, specialising on buildings and locations in New York, for a total of 945 points.
  • Republic of Venice Bloom6132 was close behind with 896 points, largely gained from 71 "In the news" items, mostly recent deaths.
  • Scotland ImaginesTigers, who has been editing Wikipedia for less than a year, was in third place with 711 points, much helped by bringing League of Legends to featured article status, exemplifying how bonus points can boost a contestant's score.
  • Rwanda Amakuru came next with 708 points, Kigali being another featured article that scored maximum bonus points.
  • Ktin, new to the WikiCup, was in fifth place with 523 points, garnered from 15 DYKs and 34 "In the news" items.
  • Botswana The Rambling Man scored 511 points, many from featured article candidate reviews and from football related DYKs.
  • Gog the Mild, last year's runner-up, came next with 498 points, from a featured article and numerous featured article candidate reviews.
  • Hog Farm, at 452, scored for a featured article, four good articles and a number of reviews.
  • United States Le Panini, another newcomer to the WikiCup, scored 438 for a featured article and three good articles.
  • England Lee Vilenski, last year's champion, scored 332 points, from a featured article and various other sport-related topics.

These contestants, like all the others, now have to start again from scratch. In Round 1, contestants achieved eight featured articles, three featured lists and one featured picture, as well as around two hundred DYKs and twenty-seven ITNs. They completed 97 good article reviews, nearly double the 52 good articles they claimed. Contestants also claimed for 135 featured article and featured list candidate reviews. There is no longer a requirement to mention your WikiCup participation when undertaking these reviews.

Remember that any content promoted after the end of Round 1 but before the start of Round 2 can be claimed in Round 2. Invitations for collaborative writing efforts or any other discussion of potentially interesting work is always welcome on the WikiCup talk page. Remember, if two or more WikiCup competitors have done significant work on an article, all can claim points. If you are concerned that your nomination—whether it is a good article candidate, a featured process, or something else—will not receive the necessary reviews, please list it on Wikipedia:WikiCup/Reviews.

If you want to help out with the WikiCup, please do your bit to keep down the review backlogs! Questions are welcome on Wikipedia talk:WikiCup, and the judges are reachable on their talk pages or by email. Good luck! If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove yourself from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. Sturmvogel 66 ( talk) and Cwmhiraeth ( talk). MediaWiki message delivery ( talk) 20:27, 1 March 2021 (UTC)

sock block

Hi Reaper, back in January you blocked this account [1] as a CU block. Was there an SPI for that particular account? There's some similar new ones around again. Volunteer Marek 21:02, 10 March 2021 (UTC)

I don't believe there was an SPI at the time—note that I blocked the account in January 2020—but it was later confirmed to be Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/LegitimateProfit. (Note the tag on the sockpuppet's userpage.) Cheers! Reaper Eternal ( talk) 20:25, 12 March 2021 (UTC)

Requesting removal of protection of creation for Kendra Sunderland

I see a lot of reliable news sources that establish general notability, so perhaps compared to 2015, 6 years ago, it’s no longer a BLP issue and I believe a legitimate article can be started from scratch. Trillfendi ( talk) 19:27, 20 March 2021 (UTC)

I can unprotect this, but please be careful with how you write the article. The previous version was a major BLP violation. Reaper Eternal ( talk) 03:30, 23 March 2021 (UTC)

Can you check Klein ISD?

Can you check Klein ISD? — Preceding unsigned comment added by SparklesonApple ( talkcontribs) 14:41, 22 March 2021 (UTC)

I'm not sure what you're asking. Can you clarify? Thanks! Reaper Eternal ( talk) 03:25, 23 March 2021 (UTC)

You fully protected this title, which is a redirect, in 2013, after an AFD, and after disruption by sockpuppets. There is now a draft in review at Articles for Creation. I have not yet reviewed the draft, but I am requesting that now, eight years later, the protection be downgraded to ECP, which was not available in 2013, to facilitate review. To repeat, I have not yet reviewed the draft. Robert McClenon ( talk) 15:45, 25 March 2021 (UTC)

I completely unprotected it. The sockpuppets and single-purpose accounts that were attempting to subvert the AFD are likely gone by now. If they show back up, protection can always be re-added, but you and others should be able to freely edit the page now. Cheers! Reaper Eternal ( talk) 15:10, 26 March 2021 (UTC)
Thank you. I have tagged the redirect as having a draft waiting for review. If the draft shows that the syndrome is medically recognized, the draft will be accepted. Robert McClenon ( talk) 22:47, 27 March 2021 (UTC)
Robert, I restored the old talk page history for reference, since your move of the redirect also ate the talk page, and deleted the redirect that was in your userspace. Cheers! Reaper Eternal ( talk) 23:42, 27 March 2021 (UTC)

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