This is an archive of past discussions. Do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page.

News and updates for administrators from the past month (November 2019).

Administrator changes

EvergreenFir • ToBeFree

Akhilleus • Athaenara • John Vandenberg • Melchoir • MichaelQSchmidt • NeilN • Youngamerican • 😂

CheckUser changes

Beeblebrox

Deskana

Interface administrator changes

Evad37

Guideline and policy news

• An RfC on the administrator resysop criteria was closed. 18 proposals have been summarised with a variety of supported and opposed statements. The inactivity grace period within which a new request for adminship is not required has been reduced from three years to two. Additionally, Bureaucrats are permitted to use their discretion when returning administrator rights.
• Following a proposal, the edit filter mailing list has been opened up to users with the Edit Filter Helper right.

Technical news

• Wikimedia projects can set a default block length for users via MediaWiki:ipb-default-expiry. A new page, MediaWiki:ipb-default-expiry-ip, allows the setting of a different default block length for IP editors. Neither is currently used. ( T219126)

Arbitration

• Voting in the 2019 Arbitration Committee Elections is open to eligible editors until Monday 23:59, 2 December 2018 UTC. Please review the candidates and, if you wish to do so, submit your choices on the voting page.

Miscellaneous

• The global consultation on partial and temporary office actions that ended in October received a closing statement from staff concluding, among other things, that the WMF will no longer use partial or temporary Office Action bans... until and unless community consensus that they are of value or Board directive.

Hi Sergecross, is there any chance you can have a look at the Messiah (American TV series) page? There have been a ton of edits to the page recently regarding (spoilers) the main character potentially being the Islamic version of the anti-christ. At the moment it has all been speculation but that hasn't stopped unregistered accounts with almost no previous edits from making unsupported edits several times an hour. I'm wondering if it would be a good idea to semi-protect the page for now? Thanks Nial Ist ( talk) 13:07, 8 December 2019 (UTC)

Hi there. I’ve protected it. Just so you know, while you’re in the right here, it is possible for them to add their information too, if anyone bothers to do it right. You’re right that speculative, unsourced content should not be added as fact. But if they found reliable sources that mentioned the theory, and added it with the context somewhere that its not confirmed fact, then that could be allowed. Basically, the concern here is less about spoilers (they are allowed per WP:SPOILER), and more about WP:V, WP:RS, WP:OR, and generally sloppy editing practices. Sergecross73 msg me 15:15, 8 December 2019 (UTC)

Hi again, thanks for the fast response. The show has already caused some religious outrage so I'm fairly certain that it would have continued for weeks. Just to clarify, the spoiler warning was for you as a courtesy in case you were planing on watching it, and the reception section of the page contains the speculative information which I left in as it did seam relevant in that context, my issue was simply the constant edits to character names and the Premise with unconfirmed information. Again, thanks for the help. Nial Ist ( talk) 09:46, 9 December 2019 (UTC)

Gotcha, thanks for clarifying, and for looking out. I was just trying to do the same for you - many editors who are newer to the website don't realize that Wikipedia allows for spoilers, just since a lot of the internet tries to tiptoe around them. Its just one of those things that aren't readily apparent. Sergecross73 msg me 13:17, 9 December 2019 (UTC)

Go to 0:25 in this video. I think you'll be amused. JOE BRO 64 20:44, 15 December 2019 (UTC)

Lol. Accurate. Sergecross73 msg me 22:46, 15 December 2019 (UTC)

Can you please unlock Ninth generation of video game consoles the article History of video game consoles (ninth generation) there needs to be moved to Ninth generation of video game consoles it is ready as a start status article. Valoem ^{talk contrib} 06:40, 16 December 2019 (UTC)

I honestly don’t believe it’s ready for mainspace. I tried locking every combination of wording to keep people from making it so early. It looks like I missed a combination. Anyways, I’d recommend getting a WP:CONSENSUS at WT:VG. Sergecross73 msg me 12:08, 16 December 2019 (UTC)

Hey there Serge. I have worked quite a bit on the Radar Scope article this year, as another one of those that spilled over from my main deep research and writing at the very brilliant Nintendo of America and History of the Nintendo Entertainment System and whatnot. Then Namcokid chimed in a lot and wanted to take it to Good, as we discussed here. I learned a bit in the process, and squeezed out a real key fulcrum of Nintendo's path from Radar Scope to Donkey Kong and thus Mario saving the world. I wanted to carefully emphasize the legacy fact that out of Radar Scope's corpsified husk leapt Jumpman. A very cynical Yamauchi was forced to dig deep and scrape the bottom of the burning oil barrel for fresh talent at NCL. So I thought you might like it.

— 
Smuckola
(talk) 02:22, 13 December 2019 (UTC)

I do enjoy your deep dives, I’ll definitely read this later. Sergecross73 msg me 22:46, 15 December 2019 (UTC)

@ Smuckola: Whoa, great work Smuckola! I remember thinking very recently how this article looked so scant, but now it's quite the opposite. The hard work is noticed! :) - Bchill53 ( talk) 07:03, 18 December 2019 (UTC)

https://en.wikipedia.org/?title=Who_Do_You_Trust%3F_(album)&diff=931634899&oldid=931600571 SirZPthundergod9001 ( talk) 07:05, 20 December 2019 (UTC)

( talk page stalker) I sorta agree with BIL. dannymusiceditor ^oops 07:08, 20 December 2019 (UTC)

What? Since when is rock “too general”? What does that even mean? There’s no requirement to use more specific genre than that. If we’ve got something more specific, like a source saying “hard rock”, then sure, I could see that reasoning. But there’s no way it’s not better than leaving the field blank. We’ve had discussions at Wikiprojects about about this in the past. This is acceptable sourcing and practice. Sergecross73 msg me 11:38, 20 December 2019 (UTC)

If it were a review, that's one thing, but it's a list that only presents the genre in the source's title. I don't feel comfortable taking it from that site on that basis. dannymusiceditor ^oops 04:07, 22 December 2019 (UTC)

That all sounds very arbitrary though. There’s no requirement genre come from reviews. We need a reliable source to call it a genre. And there’s no realistically possible conceptual alternative interpretation of this scenario: If an album gets listed on a list of best rock albums, the publication considers it a rock album. Sergecross73 msg me 04:19, 22 December 2019 (UTC)

Merry Christmas and a Prosperous 2020!

Hello Sergecross73, may you be surrounded by peace, success and happiness on this seasonal occasion. Spread the WikiLove by wishing another user a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, whether it be someone you have had disagreements with in the past, a good friend, or just some random person. Sending you heartfelt and warm greetings for Christmas and New Year 2020. Happy editing, JOE BRO 64 18:19, 23 December 2019 (UTC) Spread the love by adding {{ subst:Seasonal Greetings}} to other user talk pages.

Thanks, same to you! Sergecross73 msg me 23:54, 23 December 2019 (UTC)

MrLinkinPark333 ( talk) is wishing you Happy Holidays! This greeting (and season) promotes WikiLove and hopefully this note has made your day a little better. Spread the WikiLove by wishing another user Happy Holidays, whether it be someone you have had disagreements with in the past, a good friend, or just some random person. Happy New Year!

Spread the cheer by adding {{ subst:Happy holidays}} to their talk page with a friendly message.

Thank you! I hope you had a good day too! Sergecross73 msg me 01:18, 26 December 2019 (UTC)

Hello, Sergecross73. 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. Kidburla ( talk) 00:23, 27 December 2019 (UTC)

Received, responded. Sergecross73 msg me 00:37, 27 December 2019 (UTC)

You just commented on my talk page affirming "the above is exactly correct" at a message advocating the abusive enforcement of wrong policies and mass-removal of information. What gives? Googinber1234 ( talk) 22:15, 14 January 2020 (UTC)

...It was a very basic affirmation of WP:V... Sergecross73 msg me 22:59, 14 January 2020 (UTC)

News and updates for administrators from the past month (December 2019).

Administrator changes Dreamy Jazz • Newslinger • Rosguill Deor • Spartaz • Xeno Angusmclellan • clpo13 • Edgar181 • Matthewedwards • NCurse

CheckUser changes Bradv • Casliber • David Fuchs • Maxim • Newyorkbrad • SoWhy • Xeno Oversight changes Bradv • Casliber • DGG • David Fuchs • Maxim • Newyorkbrad • SoWhy • Xeno Someguy1221

Guideline and policy news

• A request for comment asks whether partial blocks should be enabled on the English Wikipedia. If enabled, this functionality would allow administrators to block users from editing specific pages or namespaces, rather than the entire site.
• A proposal asks whether admins who don't use their tools for a significant period of time (e.g. five years) should have the toolset procedurally removed.
• Following a successful RfC, a whitelist is now available for users whose redirects will be autopatrolled by a bot, removing them from the new pages patrol queue. Admins can add such users to Wikipedia:New pages patrol/Redirect whitelist after a discussion following the guidelines at Wikipedia talk:New pages patrol/Redirect whitelist.

Arbitration

• The fourth case on Palestine-Israel articles was closed. The case consolidated all previous remedies under one heading, which should make them easier to understand, apply, and enforce. In particular, the distinction between "primary articles" and "related content" has been clarified, with the former being the entire set of articles whose topic relates to the Arab-Israeli conflict, broadly interpreted rather than reasonably construed.
• Following the 2019 Arbitration Committee elections, the following editors have been appointed to the Arbitration Committee: Beeblebrox, Bradv, Casliber, David Fuchs, DGG, KrakatoaKatie, Maxim, Newyorkbrad, SoWhy, Worm That Turned, Xeno.

Miscellaneous

• This issue marks three full years of the Admin newsletter. Thanks for reading!

Serge, you've been one of the kindest and best collaborators with me this entire time I've been on Wikipedia. An admin who loves hard rock music, would come to my defense when necessary, and always strove to keep the place clean and expand the encyclopedia on some of the best music and video games ever. I wanted to say thank you for working with me.

With all my GANs and GA reviews now completed, however, I've decided I need to step away from Wikipedia, with all the reasons listed there. This time it'll be for actual good (at least for a long time, and I may not ever return as a regular but we'll see), I attempted that once. I've felt that I've been a bit more of an annoyance to other editors, and sooner or later, I'm probably going to wear out my welcome if I continue anyway, as I'm meeting more and more who I come into regular conflict with. You were one of a special few who I thoroughly enjoyed working with, though.

Thanks, Serge. Happy editing, new year, and new decade, and good luck with everything. dannymusiceditor ^oops 16:22, 11 January 2020 (UTC)

Thanks for letting me know, DannyMusicEditor, and thanks for the kind words. I've always enjoyed working with you as well. Youve been great to work with, on many projects, both content creation and disputes. I'm sorry to see you go, and I hope you'll come back some day, but I totally get it. You've got to take care of yourself first. Personally, I'll still be around plenty, but I think it'll be harder for me to make time to do much content creation for a while, just with being busier off-wiki myself.

Best of luck with your life. If you ever do come back, let me know, and come to me if you need any help. I'm sure I'll still be around. Take care. Sergecross73 msg me 17:04, 11 January 2020 (UTC)

Hi Serge, re: the undo of Casablanca/ Miskatonic Graffiti - I understand reason, that's fine. But how does one know (in general) what exclusion criteria are? I know re: having to have external references - and that 'jumps' out in any page. You say only albums with pages can go here and now you say it - that jumps out too - but only (to me) after the event. Is there a link I should click (re: a change to any page with exclusion criteria) to check a given pages inclusion rules? If not - is it worth putting it on the actual page (I've gone off the page now - but "List of Concept Albums" in this case? I've done a few adds and edits over years and the whole Wikipedia system is very good - but not all that... intuitive. In fact, I may well find I'm doing this 'Talk' wrong! So all learning...

Thanks, Gordon. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Gordon Panther ( talk • contribs) 14:14, 22 January 2020 (UTC)

Hi there. The inclusion criteria are listed on the article talk page, which can be found here. If there is inclusion criteria, they’re usually found on the talk page. As a general rule of thumb, that article’s criteria - requiring a source and the item on the list to have its own article - are pretty common criteria among Wikipedia lists that are actively maintained. Sergecross73 msg me 14:22, 22 January 2020 (UTC)

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

Administrator changes Ergo Sum • Nick Moyes • QEDK • Wugapodes Dennis Brown Aude • BrownHairedGirl • CALR • Jengod • John Reaves • J.smith • Kim Dent-Brown • K1Bond007 • MECU • Refdoc • RHaworth

CheckUser changes Opabinia regalis • Premeditated Chaos Interface administrator changes Ragesoss

Guideline and policy news

• Following a request for comment, partial blocks are now enabled on the English Wikipedia. This functionality allows administrators to block users from editing specific pages or namespaces rather than the entire site. A draft policy is being workshopped at Wikipedia:Partial blocks.
• The request for comment seeking the community's sentiment for a binding desysop procedure closed with wide-spread support for an alternative desysoping procedure based on community input. No proposed process received consensus.

Technical news

• Twinkle now supports partial blocking. There is a small checkbox that toggles the "partial" status for both blocks and templating. There is currently one template: {{ uw-pblock}}.
• When trying to move a page, if the target title already exists then a warning message is shown. The warning message will now include a link to the target title. [1]

Arbitration

• Following a recent arbitration case, the Arbitration Committee reminded administrators that checkuser and oversight blocks must not be reversed or modified without prior consultation with the checkuser or oversighter who placed the block, the respective functionary team, or the Arbitration Committee.

Miscellaneous

• Voting in the 2020 Steward elections will begin on 08 February 2020, 14:00 (UTC) and end on 28 February 2020, 13:59 (UTC). The confirmation process of current stewards is being held in parallel. You can automatically check your eligibility to vote.
• The English Wikipedia has reached six million articles. Thank you everyone for your contributions!

Hi, I just put a single edit into this page - /info/en/?search=Final_Fantasy_VII_Remake

You undid it. Are you unfamiliar with it? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2607:FEA8:3C80:646:B911:E6F3:3111:AA0 ( talk) 02:32, 8 February 2020 (UTC)

Do you mean this edit? Sergecross73 msg me 02:40, 8 February 2020 (UTC)

Yes, I'm unfamiliar with any of this, such as how to cite a source at the bottom of a major page. I should have looked more into it. Any search for Square Enix ethics department shows that they instruct the character designers, with FF7 Remake being what brought it to the spotlight. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2607:FEA8:3C80:646:B911:E6F3:3111:AA0 ( talk) 02:48, 8 February 2020 (UTC)

Please spare me, I’m aware of the situation, and we both know that’s not appropriate. Sergecross73 msg me 02:56, 8 February 2020 (UTC)

It's far more accurate and not a twisting of words, and I don't know what you're saying is inappropriate. The character design is controlled by an ethics department. That line it was replacing makes it sound as if the balance of "stylized" and "realism" had anything to do with anything other than standards set by their ethics department, as was clarified in an interview. The only things along the lines of "realism", were things related to the ethics department. It had nothing to do with designer choices. The article shouldn't make it sound like anything otherwise. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2607:FEA8:3C80:646:B911:E6F3:3111:AA0 ( talk) 03:12, 8 February 2020 (UTC)

You did a terrible job at framing it. If you wanted to add sourced content better articulating how an ethics department gave input on certain aspects, like the tweaking Tifa’s proportions/physics of her redesign, that could be reasoned. But your edit feels purposefully obtuse, as if we’re indicating that the only factor in all of the character designs was solely based off the direction of the ethics group. I find it hard to believe that you in good faith did such a terrible job at capturing the situation. It sounds more like the writings of a fan who was trying to grumble about change on the Internet. Sergecross73 msg me 03:41, 8 February 2020 (UTC)

No, again, this is about bad, contextless writing. Sergecross73 msg me 14:40, 9 February 2020 (UTC)