User talk:HouseBlaster/Archive 7
This is an archive of past discussions about User:HouseBlaster. 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. |
Archive 1 | ← | Archive 5 | Archive 6 | Archive 7 |
Texas Government Sites are Free Use
You stated my content was "paraphrasing" for a Award Criteria. Award criteria's on Wikipedia always remain verbatim as they are specific criteria's. Furthermore you stated it was copyrighted. The source was The State of Texas and The Governors Office of Texas. Both of those cannot copyright the material such as Award Info and Criteria as it's free-use. Please learn the law and understand it before making changes. TheNathanMuir (talk) 13:51, 23 July 2024 (UTC)
- @TheNathanMuir: first, if you are copying verbatim, it needs to be in quotation marks or else it is plagiarism. Next, on Wikipedia, we require that text borrowed from other sources be more than "free-use". We require that it be eligible for commercial redistribution. The Texas website says it prohibits commercial redistribution, so we cannot use it on Wikipedia. The Texas website is copyrighted: the opposite of copyrighted is in the public domain, not "free use". Best, HouseBlaster (he/they) 14:10, 23 July 2024 (UTC)
- It was not verbatim. It was re-written hence you putting it was "paraphrased". The award which is public law is not copyrightable. Hence why every other government award on Wikipedia is written verbatim. TheNathanMuir (talk) 14:13, 23 July 2024 (UTC)
- @TheNathanMuir: You need to supply proof that it is not eligible copyright. HouseBlaster (he/they) 15:17, 23 July 2024 (UTC)
- Works by the federal government are legally public domain, but per https://copyright.lib.harvard.edu/states/texas/ it's not clear whether works of Texas state government are. This is the case for, e.g. works of the State of California -- but not for every state. @TheNathanMuir: The burden is on you to supply evidence that positively states that the State of Texas releases its works into the public domain (or is statutorily required to do so). This means that, for example, https://gov.texas.gov/site-policies does not count -- it simply lacks any statement on copyright for textual content -- this is not enough. jp×g🗯️ 16:11, 23 July 2024 (UTC)
- You're the one ACCUSING me of Copyright Infringement, thus the burden of proof is on YOU. Where is the burden of proof ever on the person defending themself?
- If the laws and case laws show it's Federally accepted that you can't copyright Governmental stuff like Awards, then it's the same for States unless otherwise specifically noted, which for Texas it is not.
- This award was created by Texas Law. You cannot copyright a law. You cannot copyright any part of the law. The text was taken directly from the law.
- Use some common sense. TheNathanMuir (talk) 15:58, 2 August 2024 (UTC)
- TheNathanMuir
Where is the burden of proof ever on the person defending themself?
on Wikipedia, for one. See WP:BURDEN. But that is not necessary, because even if the burden was on me I have provided evidence that the text from the website is not eligible for commercial distribution. Eligibility for commercial distribution is a requirement for inclusion on Wikipedia. Therefore, the burden of proof is on you to disprove the assertion that it is not eligible for inclusion on Wikipedia. You are getting very close to an "I didn't hear that" block. HouseBlaster (he/they) 16:07, 2 August 2024 (UTC)- That's a lot of words for saying nothing. I don't think you understand how the laws in the U.S work. If there is no specific law banning or allowing something at a local, county or state level, it falls on established Federal guidelines.
- Federal Guidelines in this case state that Government Work (Such as Awards, Laws, Etc) are Public Domain and thus cannot be copyrighted. The State follows the Federal law in this case because there is no State laws stating otherwise. It's not a abstract or complex issue here. You're saying that it's copyrighted (which it's not). There are plenty of other awards on here from Texas that have had no issues (cite: Awards and decorations of the Texas government#Public Safety Office). Furthermore there are no issues on Military awards either (cite: Awards and decorations of the United States Armed Forces). Wikimedia Commons also establishes that works produced by the government are Public domain, hence the massive amount of images of Government Works.
- The Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution (Article VI, Clause 2) establishes that federal law takes precedence over state and local laws. This principle is supported by:
- McCulloch v. Maryland (1819): Affirmed that federal laws have supremacy over conflicting state laws.
- Gibbons v. Ogden (1824): Reinforced federal authority over interstate commerce, highlighting federal preeminence.
- Supremacy Clause: Directly states that federal law is the "supreme Law of the Land." These provisions ensure that in the absence of local laws, federal laws apply.
- The Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution (Article VI, Clause 2) establishes that federal law takes precedence over state and local laws. This principle is supported by:
- The text I wrote for the award was from and per the Law (Texas Government Code, Title 4, Subtitle B, Chapter 3106)
- You legally cannot copyright a law, or most Government Works.
- It's public information and public records. Since this Award was created by law it would fall under Wheaton V. Peters (1834) [The U.S. Supreme Court case Wheaton v. Peters (1834) established that no one can claim a copyright in laws or judicial opinions.]
- Under Title 17, Section 105 of the United States Code, it is stated that "Copyright protection under this title is not available for any work of the United States Government." This is often interpreted to mean that federal, state, and local laws, regulations, and other official documents are not eligible for copyright protection.
- Texas state law reflects this general principle. Texas Government Code Section 552.002 defines public information, which includes information that is written, produced, collected, assembled, or maintained under a law or ordinance or in connection with the transaction of official business by a governmental body. This ensures that such information, including laws, is public and accessible.
- Banks v. Manchester (1888): Reinforced that judicial opinions, which are government-created, are public domain. This principle extends to other government works.
- Now again, I have proven my side consistently, please explain your side without tagging a useless page that has no merit on this discussion. TheNathanMuir (talk) 16:21, 2 August 2024 (UTC)
- Also you tagged the page Wikipedia:Verifiability#Responsibility for providing citations, I provided Citations for everything I used so again I am not understanding the issue. I did the citations exactly how other awards and decorations are done on Wikipedia. I also did everything as I was supposed to. It appears you haven't a clue and made a mistake but lack humility to admit it. TheNathanMuir (talk) 16:27, 2 August 2024 (UTC)
- TheNathanMuir: I referenced WP:BURDEN because you asked where in the world the burden is on the defendant. I provided such an example. I agree you have met that burden in this case. I was just providing an example in which the burden is on the "accused".In general, text of statues is not copyrighted. However, the website is not a statue. You can include things like the official qualifications which are defined in a statue. (However, they need to be enclosed in quotes or otherwise indicated that it is copying from a public domain source. This is not a legal requirement; it is "only" a Wikipedia rule. See Wikipedia:Plagiarism#Public-domain sources.) But things that are not statutory text, such as the blurb from the website explaining what the award is, are subject to copyright. Read the statue: it is very clear that it applied to works of the US government, not the governments of individual states (including Texas). And again: that website says it does not authorize commercial use. Either that website is lying or it cannot be used on Wikipedia. HouseBlaster (he/they) 16:45, 2 August 2024 (UTC)
- The text from the site, was from the law. Almost verbatim. So again, how is that plagiarism. Again, the above laws/case laws/citations show that the State cannot copyright things belonging to public domain. So it's doubled down that it's not plagiarism or copyrighted. If it was plagiarized, there would need to be a victim. The State of Texas (SOT) cannot be the victim, because they cannot copyright. The person who wrote it (A government official/employee) cannot be the victim when creating work in official capacity unless explicitly stated (rare occurrence, and it would have to be provided that it was copyrighted), because they are the Government (belonging to), and therefor cannot copyright the writing of the site, belonging to the state, in official capacity for the state. Third, it came directly from the law which; cannot be copyrighted, so again what was plagiarized and who did I plagiarize? As stated this isn't abstract. This isn't complex.
- If the content was Third Party content (such as Images taken by Contractors, News Organizations, Etc), or Trademarked (such as "U.S. Army Branch Insignia") this would be different. And again as Texas law states, the website about the Award and Law would be considered Public Information, which means it's not copyrighted.
- The website policies state explicitly the only things copyrighted are the Videos and Photographs:
- "All photographs and videos are copyrighted and may not be used without permission. Commercial use of any reproduction of any portion of this website is strictly prohibited. The OOG respects the rights of intellectual property owners and will not intentionally infringe on those rights. If an intellectual property owner believes his or her rights have been infringed by the posting or sharing of intellectual property on an OOG website or social media page, please visit the" (Cite: https://gov.texas.gov/site-policies)
- The purpose of this is because they often get their content from Third-Parties (see above how that's allowed to be Copyrighted).
- The policy above is cited for this page (https://gov.texas.gov/organization/cjd/star-of-texas). Thus, there were no photographs, videos or images taken from this page only Text. The Text was taken from the law. Nullifying any copyright.
- Nowhere on https://gov.texas.gov/apps/cjd/staroftexas does it state anything is Copyrighted.
- Nowhere onhttps://gov.texas.gov/apps/cjd/staroftexas/default.aspx#:~:text=The%20Star%20of%20Texas%20Awards%20honor%20all%20Texas%20peace%20officers,or%20after%20September%201%2C%202003. does it state anything is Copyrighted.
- Nowhere on https://gov.texas.gov/uploads/files/organization/criminal-justice/All_Recipients--SOTA_Database_9.14.23.pdf states it's copyrighted.
- Nowhere in the law https://casetext.com/statute/texas-codes/government-code/title-11-state-symbols-and-honors-preservation/subtitle-a-state-symbols-and-honors/chapter-3106-star-of-texas-awards/section-3106002-peace-officers-star-of-texas-award is anything copyrighted.
- The only page I found from the State of Texas that had a copyright was www.texas.gov not the Governors/Office of the Governors page/domains ("OOG") www.gov.texas.gov. You can't use the Copyright for one domain and use it on a different page and Subdomain, especially when they belong to different organizations.
- However, looking at www.texas.gov Copyright or "Legal Policy" it says:
- "Texas.gov is provided for public use on computer systems located within the State of Texas and for the use and benefit of citizens of Texas. Any person choosing to use this system or seeking access to information or materials on this system is subject to Texas jurisdiction. Any dispute arising therefrom shall be decided under the laws and in the courts in Texas."
- Which per the laws cited above make it all PUBLIC INFORMATION, and thus Public Domain, meaning anything produced for the state, by the state, cannot be copyrighted and is available to the public unless explicitly stated otherwise. TheNathanMuir (talk) 19:55, 2 August 2024 (UTC)
- @TheNathanMuir: Let's try taking this one step at a time. I never accused you of plagiarism. I just said that if the website was able to be used on Wikipedia, we would need to put it in quotes or else indicate that it was copied from the Texas website. Wikipedia's definition of plagiarism is
taking credit for someone else's writing as your own, including their language and ideas, without providing adequate credit.
It does not matter whether the writing is copyrighted or in the public domain. It does not require there to be avictim
. Can we agree on that? (And yes, I will respond to the rest of your message later. I want to make sure we can first establish some common ground.) HouseBlaster (he/they) 20:54, 2 August 2024 (UTC)- No other pages in regards to awards or laws on Wikipedia are put in quotes. Bronze Star Medal look here, even with this verbiage is found on many pages, nobody is flagging it as "plagiarism" because it's public works of the Government. (Copied directly from https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2023-title10/pdf/USCODE-2023-title10-subtitleA-partII-chap57-sec1128.pdf | https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/10/1126 | https://veteranmedals.army.mil/home/us-army-medals-award-badges-ribbon-and-attachments-information/us-army-service-campaign-medals-and-foreign-awards-information)
- The Purple Heart text is copied verbatim from Government and public sites as well (https://history.army.mil/html/reference/purhrt.html#:~:text=On%20January%207%2C%201931%2C%20Summerall's,bicentennial%20of%20George%20Washington's%20birth. | https://www.hopeforthewarriors.org/the-purple-heart/ | https://www.va.gov/opa/publications/celebrate/purple-heart.pdf)
- If you want to ding me for copying award criteria's verbatim than we can go through and flag 100's of pages on Wikipedia that were taken directly from Government sites.
- I've already proven that the work does not belong to anyone as it's created by the Government and free-use, the Texas law and State of Texas acknowledge that, along with Federal Law and Court cases (all provided above). If you had read the data provided it would articulate that. Citations were provided for the Text. It was done the same as every other award page.
- Unless you have something that counters everything I've provided besides your opinion don't even respond. If you want to continue this game I expect all the other award pages to get the same treatment. TheNathanMuir (talk) 14:59, 15 August 2024 (UTC)
- @TheNathanMuir: So your argument is that because other articles are problematic, you get to continue being problematic? Not how this works. Sorry. And you have not answered my one, simple question: do you agree that plagiarism does not require a victim? It is a simple yes or no question. Please answer it. HouseBlaster (he/they) 15:10, 15 August 2024 (UTC)
- My argument is it's a Government Website that clearly states it is not copyrighted, and based on the precedent of Wikipedia, shows it's reasonable to copy Award Criteria and Information from Government Sites and Sources. Don't put words into my mouth to fit your fallacy ridden argument.
- Plagiarism does require a victim. You can't say it's plagiarism if there's nobody to credit. However, in this instance - if the Government creates something it can't be plagiarized, because the Government cannot be the victim here. This is where fair-use, public information, etc all come into play. Which I've already laid the foundation and proven my argument for. TheNathanMuir (talk) 20:31, 27 August 2024 (UTC)
- @TheNathanMuir: Do you want to ask the community to resolve this issue? I don't think we are going to be able to convince each other. HouseBlaster (he/they) 20:42, 27 August 2024 (UTC)
- You can do what you want. Just don't go deleting pages without you having a understanding of what you're doing. Instead of editing the draft, or making a talk page you guys delete it first. An hour of formatting and sourcing down the drain, over something you have no clue about.
- There is no issue, I already revised the text to the best that is possible so it's not verbatim. I provided my sources and the page is good to go.
- Nobody has countered my proof that I have provided. It meets the terms of Wikipedia, it's not verbatim, and is not copyrighted per the policy on the OOG site. So I don't know what the issue is. TheNathanMuir (talk) 20:46, 27 August 2024 (UTC)
- @TheNathanMuir: Have you already rephrased the article? If so, that is all we need. HouseBlaster (he/they) 20:51, 27 August 2024 (UTC)
- It has been rephrased since right after you deleted it... TheNathanMuir (talk) 20:52, 27 August 2024 (UTC)
- @TheNathanMuir: Excellent. As long as you are not going to re-incorporate the verbatim text, we are good. (I did not delete the draft you wrote. That was Jimfbleak.) HouseBlaster (he/they) 20:57, 27 August 2024 (UTC)
- It has been rephrased since right after you deleted it... TheNathanMuir (talk) 20:52, 27 August 2024 (UTC)
- @TheNathanMuir: Have you already rephrased the article? If so, that is all we need. HouseBlaster (he/they) 20:51, 27 August 2024 (UTC)
- @TheNathanMuir: Do you want to ask the community to resolve this issue? I don't think we are going to be able to convince each other. HouseBlaster (he/they) 20:42, 27 August 2024 (UTC)
- @TheNathanMuir: So your argument is that because other articles are problematic, you get to continue being problematic? Not how this works. Sorry. And you have not answered my one, simple question: do you agree that plagiarism does not require a victim? It is a simple yes or no question. Please answer it. HouseBlaster (he/they) 15:10, 15 August 2024 (UTC)
- @TheNathanMuir: Let's try taking this one step at a time. I never accused you of plagiarism. I just said that if the website was able to be used on Wikipedia, we would need to put it in quotes or else indicate that it was copied from the Texas website. Wikipedia's definition of plagiarism is
- Listen, pal: I don't like state governments asserting copyright over their works either, and if I had my druthers, I would tell them to pound sand. But I do not get to have my druthers, and neither do you: we get to follow the rules of this website, which are extremely clear that images are presumed to be copyrighted unless explicitly confirmed otherwise. The rules of this website are a pain in the keister. This is known to be true.
- If the state of Texas has broken the law in claiming copyright over their website's contents, this needs to be taken up with them -- in an actual court of law, not a Wikipedia talk page. jp×g🗯️ 18:32, 2 August 2024 (UTC)
- TheNathanMuir: I referenced WP:BURDEN because you asked where in the world the burden is on the defendant. I provided such an example. I agree you have met that burden in this case. I was just providing an example in which the burden is on the "accused".In general, text of statues is not copyrighted. However, the website is not a statue. You can include things like the official qualifications which are defined in a statue. (However, they need to be enclosed in quotes or otherwise indicated that it is copying from a public domain source. This is not a legal requirement; it is "only" a Wikipedia rule. See Wikipedia:Plagiarism#Public-domain sources.) But things that are not statutory text, such as the blurb from the website explaining what the award is, are subject to copyright. Read the statue: it is very clear that it applied to works of the US government, not the governments of individual states (including Texas). And again: that website says it does not authorize commercial use. Either that website is lying or it cannot be used on Wikipedia. HouseBlaster (he/they) 16:45, 2 August 2024 (UTC)
- Also you tagged the page Wikipedia:Verifiability#Responsibility for providing citations, I provided Citations for everything I used so again I am not understanding the issue. I did the citations exactly how other awards and decorations are done on Wikipedia. I also did everything as I was supposed to. It appears you haven't a clue and made a mistake but lack humility to admit it. TheNathanMuir (talk) 16:27, 2 August 2024 (UTC)
- TheNathanMuir
- It was not verbatim. It was re-written hence you putting it was "paraphrased". The award which is public law is not copyrightable. Hence why every other government award on Wikipedia is written verbatim. TheNathanMuir (talk) 14:13, 23 July 2024 (UTC)
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Hello
Hi HouseBlaster. Have a great day! Chloe is a fish (talk) 21:45, 2 September 2024 (UTC)
- Hello, Chloe is a fish! Let me know if you need any help with anything :) HouseBlaster (he/they) 01:04, 3 September 2024 (UTC)
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Hi, I have noticed that this category has been deleted by the bot, but the relevant discussion's final consensus was not that if I'm not mistaken. I am going to re-create the category if you, @Marcocapelle and Smasongarrison would agree. Aintabli (talk) 22:41, 3 September 2024 (UTC)
- My understanding of the consensus in Wikipedia:Categories for discussion/Log/2024 August 26#Category:Governors of the Ottoman Empire by century was that the by century category was to be merged to Category:Governors of the Ottoman Empire (in other words, the by century categories live directly in Category:Governors of the Ottoman Empire). HouseBlaster (he/they) 22:44, 3 September 2024 (UTC)
- The initial proposal was to delete this category as it had one isolated category in it, which has since not been the case because I populated it with more categories. Then, we went by with Marcocapelle's suggestion, which was to merge and remove the categories within this category so that the categories do not distinguish the continents. Aintabli (talk) 22:54, 3 September 2024 (UTC)
- I'm in different to recreating the by century category. Mason (talk) 00:27, 4 September 2024 (UTC)
- Given I clearly misread the consensus in the discussion, I will remove the listing from WP:CFDW. I will then re-create the category in ~an hour (enough time to make sure the bot realizes it has been removed and therefore will not instantly re-delete the category). Apologies for the hassle, Aintabli! Best, HouseBlaster (he/they) 02:28, 4 September 2024 (UTC)
- No worries. Thank you for your work! Aintabli (talk) 02:53, 5 September 2024 (UTC)
- Ditto, HouseBlaster thank you as always for your work! Mason (talk) 03:43, 5 September 2024 (UTC)
- No worries. Thank you for your work! Aintabli (talk) 02:53, 5 September 2024 (UTC)
- Given I clearly misread the consensus in the discussion, I will remove the listing from WP:CFDW. I will then re-create the category in ~an hour (enough time to make sure the bot realizes it has been removed and therefore will not instantly re-delete the category). Apologies for the hassle, Aintabli! Best, HouseBlaster (he/they) 02:28, 4 September 2024 (UTC)
- I'm in different to recreating the by century category. Mason (talk) 00:27, 4 September 2024 (UTC)
- The initial proposal was to delete this category as it had one isolated category in it, which has since not been the case because I populated it with more categories. Then, we went by with Marcocapelle's suggestion, which was to merge and remove the categories within this category so that the categories do not distinguish the continents. Aintabli (talk) 22:54, 3 September 2024 (UTC)
Request
After this discussion, would it be possible to undelete the Middle East page and convert it to a redirect? I should've added this in the nomination, but only realize it now. Marcocapelle (talk) 22:52, 5 September 2024 (UTC)
- @Marcocapelle: Of course! I have removed it from WP:CFDW, but I will wait about an hour before undeleting it because sometimes it takes the bot a minute to realize the category is no longer listed at CFDW. (Otherwise the bot will simply re-delete the page.) HouseBlaster (he/they) 23:17, 5 September 2024 (UTC)
Mind batching nomination?
Mind batching the curly nominations and adding the rest of the set? They are all created by the same editor and all curly characters so the result will be the same either way.
Gonnym (talk) 18:27, 6 September 2024 (UTC)
- No problem :) HouseBlaster (he/they) 19:32, 6 September 2024 (UTC)
Edit Filter Helper
don't worry about denying the permission. I'll try to help on the noticeboard a little more before trying again next time. just looking for someone else to do aside from WP:NPP. NYC Guru (talk) 11:11, 7 September 2024 (UTC)
Question from Ashwinitorvi90 (10:56, 7 September 2024)
Hi Mentor, i am trying to create a page for a musician i love, but i have had a few issues, could you have a look at my page editing and let me know if i need to do anything differently? :) Appreciate your help!
Ash --Ashwinitorvi90 (talk) 10:56, 7 September 2024 (UTC)
- @Ashwinitorvi90: Hello, and welcome to Wikipedia! Trying to write an article from scratch is difficult work. It is highly recommended you try improving existing articles before you dive into creating a new article. Once you feel you are ready, you can check out Help:Introduction to referencing with VisualEditor for information on creating inline citations and Help:Your first article for a detailed look at how to create a brand new article. Let me know if you have any further questions, HouseBlaster (he/they) 15:59, 7 September 2024 (UTC)
Undiscussed and seemingly uninformed move of template:CNY
There are many of these currency templates. What made you think it was appropriate to move it without discussion? Did you seriously believe that it would be an uncontroversial move? Please revert immediately and make a proper proposal at the article talk page. 𝕁𝕄𝔽 (talk) 23:29, 7 September 2024 (UTC)
- @JMF: It is very common to move things without discussion per WP:BOLDMOVE. Generally people find more descriptive template names helpful, and this is encouraged by WP:TG:
Template function should be clear from the template name, but redirects can be created to assist everyday use of very popular templates.
So, yes, I seriously thought that it would be an uncontroversial improvement, especially considering CNY (in mainspace) is a redirect to Renminbi. As there was an objection, I will revert myself and open a mass RM for all of them. Best, HouseBlaster (he/they) 23:57, 7 September 2024 (UTC)
Question from Gehailun (23:21, 8 September 2024)
Hello Mentor. I have been making some edits to an entry, including adding some references. When I publish I get a message regarding the citation for the journal: Cite journal and check issn value. I don't understand why that is happening. Can you help me? Thanks. --Gehailun (talk) 23:21, 8 September 2024 (UTC)
- Hello, and welcome to Wikipedia! I have corrected the ISSNs. To do so, I clicked on the invalid ISSNs, which took me to this WorldCat search (WorldCat is a very helpful tool when writing on Wikipedia!), which gave me the corrected ISSN: 1528-2708. Best, HouseBlaster (he/they) 23:32, 8 September 2024 (UTC)
Question from Gehailun (12:55, 9 September 2024)
Dear HouseBlaster, Thanks for your help with the journal citation yesterday. I have another question. As you may know, in Chinese names the surname is typically placed first, followed by the given name. The artist whose article I am editing would like to follow this custom. I have been able to change the order in the first paragraph of the article, but I don't seem to have the authority to change the order in the article title. This also has an impact on wikilinks with which the page has been associated: Living people, 21st century Chinese calligraphers, 21st century Chinese painters, and Chinese artist stubs. In all, the artist is listed under "M" (the given name) rather than "W" (the surname). I would like to rectify this but don't seem to have the authority to do that either. Thanks for your advice. --Gehailun (talk) 12:55, 9 September 2024 (UTC)
- Before I can answer that question, I need to know if you are being paid to edit. Paid editing is taken very seriously on Wikipedia. HouseBlaster (he/they) 14:41, 9 September 2024 (UTC)
Tech News: 2024-37
Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.
Feature news
- Starting this week, the standard syntax highlighter will receive new colors that make them compatible in dark mode. This is the first of many changes to come as part of a major upgrade to syntax highlighting. You can learn more about what's to come on the help page. [4][5]
- Editors of wikis using Wikidata will now be notified of only relevant Wikidata changes in their watchlist. This is because the Lua functions
entity:getSitelink()
andmw.wikibase.getSitelink(qid)
will have their logic unified for tracking different aspects of sitelinks to reduce junk notifications from inconsistent sitelinks tracking. [6]
Project updates
- Users of all Wikis will have access to Wikimedia sites as read-only for a few minutes on September 25, starting at 15:00 UTC. This is a planned datacenter switchover for maintenance purposes. More information will be published in Tech News and will also be posted on individual wikis in the coming weeks. [7]
- Contributors of 11 Wikipedias, including English will have a new
MOS
namespace added to their Wikipedias. This improvement ensures that links beginning withMOS:
(usually shortcuts to the Manual of Style) are not broken by Mooré Wikipedia (language codemos
). [8]
Tech news prepared by Tech News writers and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe.
MediaWiki message delivery 18:49, 9 September 2024 (UTC)
Administrator Elections: Updates & Schedule
Administrator Elections | Updates & Schedule | |
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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 01:18, 10 September 2024 (UTC)
Categories
Hello, HouseBlaster,
All of the "Fair use" categoories that you proposed for speedy renames (like Category:Fair use Unknown magazine covers and Category:Fair use Galaxy Science Fiction magazine covers) were moved by JJMC89 bot III hours ago to the "Non-free" new categories but the contents of the categories haven't been moved yet. So the new categories are showing up on the "Empty categories" lists when it really is just a matter of time before they are filled. But you have spent more time working at CFD than I have and I was hoping you could tell me how much of a delay typically happens with this bot. Is this something to ask the bot operator about? I don't like to bother them so I was hoping you could clue me in on whether it generally takes a few hours to get everything moved, or a day or longer. Thanks for any information you can offer. Liz Read! Talk! 03:01, 10 September 2024 (UTC)
- The issue with these is they are populated by a template, so someone needs to fix the template so it populates the new category. Then the job queue takes care of the rest. (When the bot moves categories, it usually happens essentially simultaneously.) I will update the templates now. Best, HouseBlaster (he/they) 03:14, 10 September 2024 (UTC)
Books & Bytes – Issue 64
The Wikipedia Library: Books & Bytes
Issue 64, July – August 2024
- The Hindu Group joins The Wikipedia Library
- Wikimania presentation
- New user script for easily searching The Wikipedia Library
Sent by MediaWiki message delivery on behalf of The Wikipedia Library team --16:34, 11 September 2024 (UTC)
Question from Javadshirazi1002 (15:34, 11 September 2024)
hello How can I contact a coach on WhatsApp or Telegram? I have an important job. Thank you --Javadshirazi1002 (talk) 15:34, 11 September 2024 (UTC)
- What job do you have, Javadshirazi1002? HouseBlaster (he/they) 15:39, 11 September 2024 (UTC)
- I am a social media expert Javadshirazi1002 (talk) 16:40, 11 September 2024 (UTC)
- @Javadshirazi1002: we are not a social media website. If you are not here to build an encyclopedia, you are in the wrong place. Best, HouseBlaster (he/they) 16:47, 11 September 2024 (UTC)
- I know where I stand, I just need help, why are high ranking people so cold and dry. I just need your help, that's all, my friend Javadshirazi1002 (talk) 17:00, 11 September 2024 (UTC)
- What do you need help with, Javadshirazi1002? If you want to promote something, you are in the wrong place and I will not help you do so. HouseBlaster (he/they) 17:03, 11 September 2024 (UTC)
- Why are you so rude my friend? Please be calm. I don't want to advertise anything. Thank you for not helping, unfortunately I don't know why you became my coach. have a nice day Javadshirazi1002 (talk) 17:07, 11 September 2024 (UTC)
- What do you need help with, Javadshirazi1002? If you want to promote something, you are in the wrong place and I will not help you do so. HouseBlaster (he/they) 17:03, 11 September 2024 (UTC)
- I know where I stand, I just need help, why are high ranking people so cold and dry. I just need your help, that's all, my friend Javadshirazi1002 (talk) 17:00, 11 September 2024 (UTC)
- @Javadshirazi1002: we are not a social media website. If you are not here to build an encyclopedia, you are in the wrong place. Best, HouseBlaster (he/they) 16:47, 11 September 2024 (UTC)
- I am a social media expert Javadshirazi1002 (talk) 16:40, 11 September 2024 (UTC)
note re CfD status
thanks for all your helpful effort in closing CfD sections items recently. i have just added my consent for a proposed change, at a CfD for categories that i created. i can proceed as soon as the CfD is closed. so this seems to resolve the issues there. if you wish to see my specific comment on this, please check my own contribs history, and see my edit just now at that page. thanks. Sm8900 (talk) 16:40, 12 September 2024 (UTC)
- I try not to let people close-shop, so I will not take a look at your contributions. I will get to it when I get to it :) HouseBlaster (he/they) 16:55, 12 September 2024 (UTC)
- ok, noted. i understand totally, sounds fine. thanks for all your great work, for the community. Sm8900 (talk) 16:57, 12 September 2024 (UTC)
Wikimedia Foundation Bulletin September Issue 1
Upcoming and current events and conversations Talking: 2024 continues
- The Voting period for the 2024 Board of Trustees election is open until September 17. Go to the SecurePoll voting page to vote.
- Scholarship application for Wikisource Conference 2025 in Bali, Indonesia is open until September 20.
- WikiConference Nigeria 2024 will be held in Abuja, Nigeria from September 12–14.
- Wikimedia CEE Meeting 2024 will take place in Istanbul, Türkiye on September 20–22.
- Celtic Knot Wikimedia Languages Conference will take place in Waterford City, Ireland on September 25–27.
- Italian WikiConference will be held in Padua, Italy on September 27–29.
- Join Wiki Loves Onam, a photo campaign dedicated to documenting the vibrant and colorful festival of Onam on Wikimedia Commons. The campaign runs until September 30.
Annual Goals Progress on Infrastructure
See also newsletters: Wikimedia Apps · Growth · Research · Web · Wikifunctions & Abstract Wikipedia · Tech News · Language and Internationalization · other newsletters on Mediawiki.org
- Users of all Wikis will have access to Wikimedia sites as read-only for a few minutes on September 25, starting at 15:00 UTC. This is a planned datacenter switchover for maintenance purposes.
- The Alternative Text suggested edits feature has now been fully deployed to production on the iOS App for Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, and French Wikipedias! This feature, part of WE1.2, is designed to enhance how newcomers add alt text to images, aiming to improve accessibility and engagement. For more details, visit the project page and explore the new feature in the app!
- Editors and volunteer developers interested in data visualization can now test the new software for charts. Its early version is available on beta Commons and beta Wikipedia. This is an important milestone before making charts available on regular wikis. You can read more about this project update and help test the charts.
- A new draft text of a policy discussing the use of Wikimedia’s APIs has been published on Meta-Wiki. The draft text does not reflect a change in policy around the APIs; instead, it is an attempt to codify existing API rules. Comments, questions, and suggestions are welcome on the proposed update’s talk page until September 13 or until those discussions have concluded.
- More recent tech updates from Tech News.
- The latest status updates from Wikifunctions.
- Help us find WikiProjects or other online collaboration spaces!
Annual Goals Progress on Equity
See also a list of all movement events: on Meta
- Revamping Movement Strategy Grants with Hub Focus.
- Watch the recordings of Let's Connect Grantee Partner Learning Conversation: Conversation #1 with Wiki in Africa, Wiki Advocates Philippines, and Indic MediaWiki Developers UG and Conversation #2 with Wikimedia Community UG Malta, Wikimedia MA UG, and Wikimedia Canada.
Annual Goals Progress on Safety & Integrity
See also blogs: Global Advocacy blog · Global Advocacy Newsletter · Policy blog
- Wikimedia Foundation defeats gambling magnate’s lawsuit in Germany.
- Wikimedia Indonesia and UNESCO Jakarta Team Up Against Harmful Content Online.
- Child Rights Impact Assessment at EduWiki Knowledge Showcase and more: Latest updates from the Global Advocacy team.
- Protecting the people: Some recommendations for safety while contributing to Wikimedia projects.
Board and Board committee updates
See Wikimedia Foundation Board noticeboard · Affiliations Committee Newsletter
- The Movement Charter Drafting Committee published their recommendations and bid farewell.
- Read updates from the July 2024 Wikimedia Endowment Board Meeting.
- Learn more about 12 candidates running for 4 seats on the Board by reading their statements and their answers to community questions.
- See the new members of the U4C following the results of the Universal Code of Conduct Coordinating Committee (U4C) special election, a new decision making group that will enforce the UCoC in specific circumstances.
Other Movement curated newsletters & news
See also: Diff blog · Goings-on · Wikimedia World · Signpost (en) · Kurier (de) · other newsletters:
- Topics: Education · GLAM · The Wikipedia Library
- Wikimedia Projects: Milestones · Wikidata
- Regions: Central and Eastern Europe
Previous editions of this bulletin are on Meta. Let askcacwikimedia.org know if you have any feedback or suggestions for improvement!
MediaWiki message delivery 21:40, 12 September 2024 (UTC)
Could you check Draft:Giovanni Timoteo Calosso please
Hi, hope you are well. I saw that you are a helpful and active administrator and wanted to request that you review the draft and give feedback and/or accept it. Thanks. Perast (talk) 22:14, 12 September 2024 (UTC)
- Hello Perast! I am an administrator, but administrators do many different things on Wikipedia. I am not an active in the articles for creation process, so I am not able to help with that, unfortunately. If you have specific questions about Wikipedia policy, I would be more than happy to answer them! Best, HouseBlaster (he/they) 22:18, 12 September 2024 (UTC)
post move cleanup
Hey, I'm happy to chase you on some of the post move cleanup (at least for those articles that I have on my watchlist where it's easy to spot) on the renames, but just wanted to check with you if you have a list of the ones you're planning to move in case there are some that I don't cleanup (mainly updating the lead, default sort and the linked templates is the important part since the bots won't fix those)? Raladic (talk) 23:42, 13 September 2024 (UTC)
- I do not have a list I am working from; I am just doing them as I come across them. Best, HouseBlaster (he/they) 23:44, 13 September 2024 (UTC)
- Sounds good, I'll just try to chase and do what I can when I spot it and we'll see where we end up at. Hopefully the rest of the editing community also helps since it looks like various editors have started independently of each other to help with it :) Raladic (talk) 23:46, 13 September 2024 (UTC)
- Sounds like a plan :) HouseBlaster (he/they) 23:46, 13 September 2024 (UTC)
- By the way, do you have an opinion of whether we should move the various Templates that have LGBT in the template name itself (like Template:LGBT or Template:LGBT sidebar) to LGBTQ and will redirects for those still works so we don't have to update the transclusions for those in all the articles that currently transclude the then potentially outdated name? Or is there a bot that could update outdated transclusions? Raladic (talk) 23:57, 13 September 2024 (UTC)
- Template redirects definitely work. For instance, {{t}} is a redirect to {{template link}}, which I have used to write this message. I think that making template moves is a good idea, though a lower-priority item than article/category/portal moves (which are visible to readers). Best, HouseBlaster (he/they) 00:03, 14 September 2024 (UTC)
- Ok good to know :)
- But yes, I agree, the visible text stuff is more important, so that's why so far I've only updated the visible text in those templates I've encountered in my post move cleanup and left the template itself at the existing part. Raladic (talk) 00:06, 14 September 2024 (UTC)
- Template redirects definitely work. For instance, {{t}} is a redirect to {{template link}}, which I have used to write this message. I think that making template moves is a good idea, though a lower-priority item than article/category/portal moves (which are visible to readers). Best, HouseBlaster (he/they) 00:03, 14 September 2024 (UTC)
- By the way, do you have an opinion of whether we should move the various Templates that have LGBT in the template name itself (like Template:LGBT or Template:LGBT sidebar) to LGBTQ and will redirects for those still works so we don't have to update the transclusions for those in all the articles that currently transclude the then potentially outdated name? Or is there a bot that could update outdated transclusions? Raladic (talk) 23:57, 13 September 2024 (UTC)
- Sounds like a plan :) HouseBlaster (he/they) 23:46, 13 September 2024 (UTC)
- Sounds good, I'll just try to chase and do what I can when I spot it and we'll see where we end up at. Hopefully the rest of the editing community also helps since it looks like various editors have started independently of each other to help with it :) Raladic (talk) 23:46, 13 September 2024 (UTC)
Reporter
Hello I am a reporter hoping to speak with you about Wikipedia editing -- could you please contact me on my Twitter @margimurphy? Thanks! Margimurphy (talk) 02:30, 16 September 2024 (UTC)
Tech News: 2024-38
Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.
Improvements and Maintenance
- Editors interested in templates can help by reading the latest Wishlist focus area, Template recall and discovery, and share your feedback on the talkpage. This input helps the Community Tech team to decide the right technical approach to build. Everyone is also encouraged to continue adding new wishes.
- The new automated Special:NamespaceInfo page helps editors understand which namespaces exist on each wiki, and some details about how they are configured. Thanks to DannyS712 for these improvements. [9]
- References Check is a feature that encourages editors to add a citation when they add a new paragraph to a Wikipedia article. For a short time, the corresponding tag "Edit Check (references) activated" was erroneously being applied to some edits outside of the main namespace. This has been fixed. [10]
- It is now possible for a wiki community to change the order in which a page’s categories are displayed on their wiki. By default, categories are displayed in the order they appear in the wikitext. Now, wikis with a consensus to do so can request a configuration change to display them in alphabetical order. [11]
- Tool authors can now access ToolsDB's public databases from both Quarry and Superset. Those databases have always been accessible to every Toolforge user, but they are now more broadly accessible, as Quarry can be accessed by anyone with a Wikimedia account. In addition, Quarry's internal database can now be queried from Quarry itself. This database contains information about all queries that are being run and starred by users in Quarry. This information was already public through the web interface, but you can now query it using SQL. You can read more about that, and 20 other community-submitted tasks that were resolved last week.
- Any pages or tools that still use the very old CSS classes
mw-message-box
need to be updated. These old classes will be removed next week or soon afterwards. Editors can use a global-search to determine what needs to be changed. It is possible to use the newercdx-message
group of classes as a replacement (see the relevant Codex documentation, and an example update), but using locally defined onwiki classes would be best. [12]
Technical project updates
- Next week, all Wikimedia wikis will be read-only for a few minutes. This will start on September 25 at 15:00 UTC. This is a planned datacenter switchover for maintenance purposes. This maintenance process also targets other services. The previous switchover took 3 minutes, and the Site Reliability Engineering teams use many tools to make sure that this essential maintenance work happens as quickly as possible. [13]
Tech in depth
- The latest monthly MediaWiki Product Insights newsletter is available. This edition includes details about: research about hook handlers to help simplify development, research about performance improvements, work to improve the REST API for end-users, and more.
- To learn more about the technology behind the Wikimedia projects, you can now watch sessions from the technology track at Wikimania 2024 on Commons. This week, check out:
- Hackathon Showcase (45 mins) - 19 short presentations by some of the Hackathon participants, describing some of the projects they worked on, such as automated testing of maintenance scripts, a video-cutting command line tool, and interface improvements for various tools. There are more details and links available in the Phabricator task.
- Co-Creating a Sustainable Future for the Toolforge Ecosystem (40 mins) - a roundtable discussion for tool-maintainers, users, and supporters of Toolforge about how to make the platform sustainable and how to evaluate the tools available there.
Tech news prepared by Tech News writers and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe.
MediaWiki message delivery 23:59, 16 September 2024 (UTC)
Question from Executive20000 (01:29, 17 September 2024)
Hello. I saw you were assigned to me as a mentor. Quick question: How can I make a photo ID of an image work while editing so that the image actually appears on the article instead of just the ID on the article itself. --Executive20000 (talk) 01:29, 17 September 2024 (UTC)
I am not entirely sure what you mean, Executive20000. Definitely not your fault that you don't magically know our jargon :)
Would you be able to give me an example of a photo ID? I think that would help me understand how to help you best. Thanks, HouseBlaster (he/they) 01:32, 17 September 2024 (UTC)- For example, I was trying to add a photo to an article and when I saved my changes, the entire link of the photo including “.jpg” at the end appeared instead of the photo itself. Executive20000 (talk) 01:34, 17 September 2024 (UTC)
- Ah. I think I get what you are talking about, Executive20000. To include an image, we have a tutorial. So, to include a file title "Example file 123.png", you would write
[[File:Example file 123.png|thumb|alt=<A short description of what the image displays. This is used for blind people with screen readers so we can ensure Wikipedia is as accessible as possible> | <A caption which is displayed for everyone below the image>]]
(replacing the bolded parts as needed). Best, HouseBlaster (he/they) 01:41, 17 September 2024 (UTC)- Appreciate it very much.
- Kudos, Stephen Sarsalari aka Executive20000 (talk) 01:45, 17 September 2024 (UTC)
- Ah. I think I get what you are talking about, Executive20000. To include an image, we have a tutorial. So, to include a file title "Example file 123.png", you would write
- For example, I was trying to add a photo to an article and when I saved my changes, the entire link of the photo including “.jpg” at the end appeared instead of the photo itself. Executive20000 (talk) 01:34, 17 September 2024 (UTC)
Question from Jdog175 (01:01, 18 September 2024)
Hello, how do I create an article? --Jdog175 (talk) 01:01, 18 September 2024 (UTC)
- Welcome! Creating a new article from scratch is extremely challenging, and new editors are strongly recommended to spend a few months learning how Wikipedia works, by making improvements to some of our existing seven million articles before trying it. When you do decide to have a go at a new article, you are highly encouraged to read WP:Your first article. If you haven't already also check out WP:TUTORIAL; it's a lot of fun! Happy editing! HouseBlaster (he/they) 01:03, 18 September 2024 (UTC)
Question from Shariffa mutua on Kenya Power and Lighting Company (12:20, 18 September 2024)
Hello how can i get the token reallocation form --Shariffa mutua (talk) 12:20, 18 September 2024 (UTC)
- @Shariffa mutua: Unfortunately, I am only able to answer questions about editing Wikipedia. Best, HouseBlaster (he/they) 16:48, 18 September 2024 (UTC)
Concern regarding User:JessZoiti/sandbox
Hello, HouseBlaster. This is a bot-delivered message letting you know that User:JessZoiti/sandbox, a page you created, has not been edited in at least 5 months. Drafts that have not been edited for six months may be deleted, so if you wish to retain the page, please edit it again or request that it be moved to your userspace.
If the page has already been deleted, you can request it be undeleted so you can continue working on it.
Thank you for your submission to Wikipedia. FireflyBot (talk) 19:32, 18 September 2024 (UTC)
A fresh new Cfd?
Hey there. Am I allowed to withdraw and the restart a few Cfd? I'm referring to the mess that is the baseball category where I'm being accused of having an agenda and making the Cfd in bad faith and so on. The main purpose of it, in my mind, has been lost entirely and I think a fresh one will let me clarify any misunderstanding there may have been. Asking for an opinion basically. Omnis Scientia (talk) 22:05, 18 September 2024 (UTC)
- Hi Omnis Scientia! If nobody else has opined in favor of a nomination you made, you can use XFD closer to close the nomination as speedy keep. I am not going to advise for or against it; you might consider whether the act of making a fresh nomination is going to raise or lower the temperature. Best, HouseBlaster (he/they) 23:15, 18 September 2024 (UTC)
- I'm not one to step out of the usual system of how things work and usually only withdraw if I realize the nomination I made was by mistake. So I'm a bit hesistant to do so. I think I will let this one go on and hope that a consensus is reached. If this closes as "no consensus" then I'll think about opening a new one. Omnis Scientia (talk) 23:21, 18 September 2024 (UTC)
- Works for me :) HouseBlaster (he/they) 23:22, 18 September 2024 (UTC)
- I'm not one to step out of the usual system of how things work and usually only withdraw if I realize the nomination I made was by mistake. So I'm a bit hesistant to do so. I think I will let this one go on and hope that a consensus is reached. If this closes as "no consensus" then I'll think about opening a new one. Omnis Scientia (talk) 23:21, 18 September 2024 (UTC)
Question from Thomasgallatin (18:08, 19 September 2024)
Hey! Can you take a look at my recent edits and let me know your thoughts? --Thomasgallatin (talk) 18:08, 19 September 2024 (UTC)
- Hello, Thomasgallatin, and welcome to Wikipedia! They all look fabulous. If I had to offer one way to improve, in this edit you swapped a primary source for a better primary source. That is an improvement, but not the biggest improvement we can make. On Wikipedia, we actually prefer secondary sources to primary sources. In this case, if you can find a news article from a reliable source (here is a list of sources and their reliability: As you would imagine, green is best), that would be even better. But you are taking great care to cite your sources when updating articles, and that is the most important thing on Wikipedia – especially when dealing with information about living people. If you have any other questions, please do not hesitate to ask. I am more than happy to help you! Best, HouseBlaster (he/they) 20:04, 19 September 2024 (UTC)
Feedback request: Politics, government, and law request for comment
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Procedural question for CfD closes where redirects are kept
Hello, I need advice and I think you're probably the best person to provide it. I want to close the two CfD discussions about LGBT categories which you posted at CR as a consensus to rename and retain redirects. If it weren't for the redirects, I would just post a request on WT:CFDW, but I'm assuming the bot will automatically delete the redirects, and I don't see a way to specify that it shouldn't. Is there? Otherwise, I'll need to manually move the categories and then, I guess, use AWB to semiautomatically change the category on all articles, which would be quite tedious. Or just recreate the redirects afterwards, which I guess would be okay, although it feels sloppy. —Compassionate727 (T·C) 12:52, 21 September 2024 (UTC)
- Hi Compassionate727! To tell the bot to automatically leave a redirect, you add (case-sensitive)
REDIRECT
after the * but before the old category name. I usually paste the list into your selection of word processor and find and replace*[
with* REDIRECT [
. And thank you for volunteering to close the discussion! Best, HouseBlaster (he/they) 14:24, 21 September 2024 (UTC)- Thanks. Do you know if a bot will automatically remove the CfD templates from the categories? —Compassionate727 (T·C) 15:14, 22 September 2024 (UTC)
- The bot will automatically remove the CfD templates from the categories :) HouseBlaster (he/they) 17:26, 22 September 2024 (UTC)
- Thanks. Do you know if a bot will automatically remove the CfD templates from the categories? —Compassionate727 (T·C) 15:14, 22 September 2024 (UTC)
Tech News: 2024-39
Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.
Weekly highlight
- All wikis will be read-only for a few minutes on Wednesday September 25 at 15:00 UTC. Reading the wikis will not be interrupted, but editing will be paused. These twice-yearly processes allow WMF's site reliability engineering teams to remain prepared to keep the wikis functioning even in the event of a major interruption to one of our data centers.
Updates for editors
- Editors who use the iOS Wikipedia app in Spanish, Portuguese, French, or Chinese, may see the Alt Text suggested-edit experiment after editing an article, or completing a suggested edit using "Add an image". Alt-text helps people with visual impairments to read Wikipedia articles. The team aims to learn if adding alt-text to images is a task that editors can be successful with. Please share any feedback on the discussion page.
- The Codex color palette has been updated with new and revised colors for the MediaWiki user interfaces. The most noticeable changes for editors include updates for: dark mode colors for Links and for quiet Buttons (progressive and destructive), visited Link colors for both light and dark modes, and background colors for system-messages in both light and dark modes.
- It is now possible to include clickable wikilinks and external links inside code blocks. This includes links that are used within
<syntaxhighlight>
tags and on code pages (JavaScript, CSS, Scribunto and Sanitized CSS). Uses of template syntax{{…}}
are also linked to the template page. Thanks to SD0001 for these improvements. [14] - Two bugs were fixed in the GlobalVanishRequest system by improving the logging and by removing an incorrect placeholder message. [15][16]
- View all 25 community-submitted tasks that were resolved last week.
Updates for technical contributors
- From Wikimedia Enterprise:
- The API now enables 5,000 on-demand API requests per month and twice-monthly HTML snapshots freely (gratis and libre). More information on the updates and also improvements to the software development kits (SDK) are explained on the project's blog post. While Wikimedia Enterprise APIs are designed for high-volume commercial reusers, this change enables many more community use-cases to be built on the service too.
- The Snapshot API (html dumps) have added beta Structured Contents endpoints (blog post on that) as well as released two beta datasets (English and French Wikipedia) from that endpoint to Hugging Face for public use and feedback (blog post on that). These pre-parsed data sets enable new options for researchers, developers, and data scientists to use and study the content.
In depth
- The Wikidata Query Service (WDQS) is used to get answers to questions using the Wikidata data set. As Wikidata grows, we had to make a major architectural change so that WDQS could remain performant. As part of the WDQS Graph Split project, we have new SPARQL endpoints available for serving the "scholarly" and "main" subgraphs of Wikidata. The query.wikidata.org endpoint will continue to serve the full Wikidata graph until March 2025. After this date, it will only serve the main graph. For more information, please see the announcement on Wikidata.
Tech news prepared by Tech News writers and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe.
MediaWiki message delivery 23:33, 23 September 2024 (UTC)
Feedback request: Politics, government, and law request for comment
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Request related to template moves
Thanks for moving templates to better names. I think you are doing good work. I have one minor request: After you move a template, can you please click Edit and then Publish? In case you are unfamiliar, this is called a null edit, and it helps avoid having the template and its subpages show up in various error reports, including Wikipedia:Database reports/Uncategorized templates. It's a small thing, but it will help your fellow gnomes. – Jonesey95 (talk) 18:56, 26 September 2024 (UTC)
- I can do that. Thanks, Jonesey95, for all the work you do :) HouseBlaster (he/they) 19:13, 26 September 2024 (UTC)
The Signpost: 26 September 2024
- In the media: Courts order Wikipedia to give up names of editors, legal strain anticipated from "online safety laws"
- Community view: Indian courts order Wikipedia to take down name of crime victim, editors strive towards consensus
- Serendipity: A Wikipedian at the 2024 Paralympics
- Opinion: asilvering's RfA debriefing
- News and notes: Are you ready for admin elections?
- Recent research: Article-writing AI is less "prone to reasoning errors (or hallucinations)" than human Wikipedia editors
- Traffic report: Jump in the line, rock your body in time
RFA2024 update: Discussion-only period now open for review
Hi there! The trial of the RfA discussion-only period passed at WP:RFA2024 has concluded, and after open discussion, the RfC is now considering whether to retain, modify, or discontinue it. You are invited to participate at Wikipedia:Requests for adminship/2024 review/Phase II/Discussion-only period. Cheers, and happy editing! MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 09:38, 27 September 2024 (UTC)
Wikimedia Foundation Bulletin September Issue 2
Upcoming and current events and conversations
Talking: 2024 continues
- "Wikimania Katowice coverage travels around the world" – a curated list of community and media coverage of Wikimania 2024. Over 100 pieces so far have been published about the event.
- WikiForHumanRights will lead a conversation about the future of the campaign with the Africa region on September 25 at 15:00 UTC.
- Let’s Connect: “Technology for Language Diversity in Wikimedia” will take place on September 26 at 15:00 UTC.
- Wikisource Conference 2025, the deadline for scholarship applications has been extended to September 29.
- Big Fat Brussels Meeting 9 will be held in Brussels, Belgium from September 29–30.
- WikiConference North America will be held in Indianapolis, USA from October 3–6.
- WikiIndaba Conference 2024 will be held in Johannesburg, South Africa from October 4–6.
- Wikimedia Technology Summit (WTS 2024): will be held in Hyderabad, India from October 4–5.
- ESEAP Community Call will be held on October 6 at 07:00 UTC.
- Wikimedia+Libraries International Convention 2025 is accepting submissions until October 6.
- The Language and Product Localisation team is hosting two office hours to discuss this year's plans and gather feedback from event organizers. The first session is October 5 at 16:00 UTC (Europe-Africa-Americas friendly), and the second is on October 6 at 03:00 UTC (Asia-Pacific friendly).
Annual Goals Progress on Infrastructure See also newsletters: Wikimedia Apps · Growth · Research · Web · Wikifunctions & Abstract Wikipedia · Tech News · Language and Internationalization · other newsletters on Mediawiki.org
- MediaWiki Product Insights: The latest edition includes details about: research about hook handlers to help simplify development, research about performance improvements, work to improve the REST API for end-users, and more.
- Tech News: Find out about the new automated Special:NamespaceInfo page, the latest Wishlist focus area, Template recall and discovery, and more recent tech updates.
- Wikidata Query Service: A new change to Wikidata Query Service will impact certain uses. The project will enter a transition period until the end of February 2025. For more details, visit the announcement page.
- Wikimedia Enterprise: Enhanced Free API Accounts: Recurring Credits and More Frequent Updates, early beta release of Structured Contents in Snapshot API, and early beta dataset release to Hugging Face.
- Wikifunctions: Status updates from September 20.
- Wikipedia Mobile Apps: Over 20,000 images have been added via the "Add an Image" feature on both iOS and Android (T372954)!
- Knowledge is Human: Read about ongoing work on the 2024 iteration of the "Knowledge is Human" public awareness campaign
- Server Switch: A server switch was completed successfully on September 25 with a read-only time of only 2 minutes 45 seconds.
Annual Goals Progress on Equity
See also a list of all movement events: on Meta
- Wikimedia Research Showcase: Watch the latest showcase with the theme of Curation of Wikimedia AI Datasets.
- Conference and Event Fund: Updates and changes to the Conference and Event Fund program beginning in September 2024.
Annual Goals Progress on Safety & Integrity
See also blogs: Global Advocacy blog · Global Advocacy Newsletter · Policy blog
- UN Summit of the Future Action Days: Watch the Wikimedia event titled "The Power of the Commons: Digital Public Goods for a more secure, inclusive, and resilient world" at The Summit of the Future. This is expected to result in a negotiated Global Digital Compact, which represents the final phase of our movement-wide campaign to impact the text of the Global Digital Compact.
- Wikipedia and the Digital Services Act: Lessons on the strength of community and the future of internet regulation.
Foundation statements
Other Movement curated newsletters & news
See also: Diff blog · Goings-on · Wikimedia World · Signpost (en) · Kurier (de) · other newsletters:
- Topics: Education · GLAM · The Wikipedia Library
- Wikimedia Projects: Milestones · Wikidata
- Regions: Central and Eastern Europe
Previous editions of this bulletin are on Meta. Let askcacwikimedia.org know if you have any feedback or suggestions for improvement!
MediaWiki message delivery 17:10, 27 September 2024 (UTC)
Closures not processed
Just a note that your closures on the CfD log page of 19 September have not been processed yet. Marcocapelle (talk) 06:47, 28 September 2024 (UTC)
- Thank you, Marcocapelle! HouseBlaster (he/they) 18:02, 28 September 2024 (UTC)
Hello, HouseBlaster,
I'm hoping you can find a solution for a problem I encountered (or started, I'm not sure). Another admin deleted this category as a CSD C1 which was not appropriate because it was being discussed at CFD. So, I restored it but they also emptied the category so now it is an empty category. Can you take a minute and close this discussion to bring this to closure? Thanks for any assistance you can supply. Liz Read! Talk! 03:25, 29 September 2024 (UTC)
- You definitely did not cause a problem, Liz.@JoJan: WP:C1 requires that the category be empty for seven full days as well as not currently under discussion at CFD. Any renames of categories need to go through CFD. That has been reversed by Liz, so no harm no foul – but something to keep in mind for the future :)There was not currently consensus in the discussion to merge, but if a subject-matter expert believes it should be merged I think we should defer to their judgement. Therefore, I have !voted to that affect. Best, HouseBlaster (he/they) 03:40, 29 September 2024 (UTC)
LGBT categories not redirected
Regrettably, many of the categories speedily renamed from the speedy nominations at [17] were not coded with *REDIRECT, so no redirects were left at the old names. The intersection categories by date and media are probably not worth recreating as redirects, and we don't need the template-generated ones for stubs nor the container categories e.g. "LGBT by continent", but I recommend that you do recreate the others e.g. LGBT for each country. – Fayenatic London 11:14, 28 September 2024 (UTC)
- I will do that. Thank you, Fayenatic london! HouseBlaster (he/they) 18:02, 28 September 2024 (UTC)
- Done. HouseBlaster (he/they) 03:54, 29 September 2024 (UTC)
Tech News: 2024-40
Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.
Updates for editors
- Readers of 42 more wikis can now use Dark Mode. If the option is not yet available for logged-out users of your wiki, this is likely because many templates do not yet display well in Dark Mode. Please use the night-mode-checker tool if you are interested in helping to reduce the number of issues. The recommendations page provides guidance on this. Dark Mode is enabled on additional wikis once per month.
- Editors using the 2010 wikitext editor as their default can access features from the 2017 wikitext editor by adding
?veaction=editsource
to the URL. If you would like to enable the 2017 wikitext editor as your default, it can be set in your preferences. [18] - For logged-out readers using the Vector 2022 skin, the "donate" link has been moved from a collapsible menu next to the content area into a more prominent top menu, next to "Create an account". This restores the link to the level of prominence it had in the Vector 2010 skin. Learn more about the changes related to donor experiences. [19]
- The CampaignEvents extension provides tools for organizers to more easily manage events, communicate with participants, and promote their events on the wikis. The extension has been enabled on Arabic Wikipedia, Igbo Wikipedia, Swahili Wikipedia, and Meta-Wiki. Chinese Wikipedia has decided to enable the extension, and discussions on the extension are in progress on Spanish Wikipedia and on Wikidata. To learn how to enable the extension on your wiki, you can visit the CampaignEvents page on Meta-Wiki.
- View all 22 community-submitted tasks that were resolved last week.
Updates for technical contributors
- Developers with an account on Wikitech-wiki should check if any action is required for their accounts. The wiki is being changed to use the single-user-login (SUL) system, and other configuration changes. This change will help reduce the overall complexity for the weekly software updates across all our wikis.
In depth
- The server switch was completed successfully last week with a read-only time of only 2 minutes 46 seconds. This periodic process makes sure that engineers can switch data centers and keep all of the wikis available for readers, even if there are major technical issues. It also gives engineers a chance to do maintenance and upgrades on systems that normally run 24 hours a day, and often helps to reveal weaknesses in the infrastructure. The process involves dozens of software services and hundreds of hardware servers, and requires multiple teams working together. Work over the past few years has reduced the time from 17 minutes down to 2–3 minutes. [20]
Meetings and events
- October 4–6: WikiIndaba Conference's Hackathon in Johannesburg, South Africa
- November 4–6: MediaWiki Users and Developers Conference Fall 2024 in Vienna, Austria
Tech news prepared by Tech News writers and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe.
MediaWiki message delivery 22:16, 30 September 2024 (UTC)
Question from Hushquid (17:38, 30 September 2024)
Hi mentor --Hushquid (talk) 17:38, 30 September 2024 (UTC)
- Hello, Hushquid! Let me know if there is anything you need help with! HouseBlaster (he/they) 19:55, 30 September 2024 (UTC)
- How long will it take this my User:Hushquid Wikipedia article to be published? Hushquid (talk) 21:04, 30 September 2024 (UTC)
- @Hushquid: That is a userpage, not an article. Your userpage is the place to tell other Wikipedians about yourself. If you want to get it published, you need to read the entirety of our autobiography guideline. Because it is strongly discouraged to write about yourself, I can only point you to relevant policies and guidelines – it is up to you to read them – but I can answer clarifying questions after you have read the guideline.I have a question for you: Is File:Hushquid home blackguard.jpg is selfie? Best, HouseBlaster (he/they) 21:10, 30 September 2024 (UTC)
- yes is a selfie Hushquid (talk) 21:15, 30 September 2024 (UTC)
- please how can I turn it into a artist, I went to get published. Hushquid (talk) 22:22, 30 September 2024 (UTC)
- @Hushquid: You can read our autobiography guideline, which will explain why you shouldn't try to get it published. It also explains how to do so, if you really want to. But again: I strongly discourage attempting. You are probably not notable, by Wikipedia's definition of the term. If you are not notable by Wikipedia's definition of the term, the article will just get deleted. Best, HouseBlaster (he/they) 22:26, 30 September 2024 (UTC)
- you mean this page cannot get published. Hushquid (talk) 22:58, 30 September 2024 (UTC)
- @Hushquid: It is very unlikely. Do you have any significant coverage in reliable sources, such as newspapers? Interviews do not count. HouseBlaster (he/they) 00:15, 1 October 2024 (UTC)
- you mean this page cannot get published. Hushquid (talk) 22:58, 30 September 2024 (UTC)
- @Hushquid: You can read our autobiography guideline, which will explain why you shouldn't try to get it published. It also explains how to do so, if you really want to. But again: I strongly discourage attempting. You are probably not notable, by Wikipedia's definition of the term. If you are not notable by Wikipedia's definition of the term, the article will just get deleted. Best, HouseBlaster (he/they) 22:26, 30 September 2024 (UTC)
- @Hushquid: That is a userpage, not an article. Your userpage is the place to tell other Wikipedians about yourself. If you want to get it published, you need to read the entirety of our autobiography guideline. Because it is strongly discouraged to write about yourself, I can only point you to relevant policies and guidelines – it is up to you to read them – but I can answer clarifying questions after you have read the guideline.I have a question for you: Is File:Hushquid home blackguard.jpg is selfie? Best, HouseBlaster (he/they) 21:10, 30 September 2024 (UTC)
- How long will it take this my User:Hushquid Wikipedia article to be published? Hushquid (talk) 21:04, 30 September 2024 (UTC)
Question from Hushquid (13:52, 1 October 2024)
I just added ==earlier life== and ===name career=== to my page is it allowed of me to do that. --Hushquid (talk) 13:52, 1 October 2024 (UTC)
- @Hushquid: It is allowed, though I will reiterate that you are not writing a true Wikipedia article and it is not indexed by search engines. HouseBlaster (he/they) 17:33, 1 October 2024 (UTC)
Administrators' newsletter – October 2024
News and updates for administrators from the past month (September 2024).
- Administrator elections are a proposed new process for selecting administrators, offering an alternative to requests for adminship (RfA). The first trial election will take place in October 2024, with candidate sign-up from October 8 to 14, a discussion phase from October 22 to 24, and SecurePoll voting from October 25 to 31. For questions or to help out, please visit the talk page at Wikipedia talk:Administrator elections.
- Following a discussion, the speedy deletion reason "File pages without a corresponding file" has been moved from criterion G8 to F2. This does not change what can be speedily deleted.
- A request for comment is open to discuss whether there is a consensus to have an administrator recall process.
- The arbitration case Historical elections has been closed.
- An arbitration case regarding Backlash to diversity and inclusion has been opened.
- Editors are invited to nominate themselves to serve on the 2024 Arbitration Committee Electoral Commission until 23:59 October 8, 2024 (UTC).
- If you are interested in stopping spammers, please put MediaWiki talk:Spam-whitelist and MediaWiki talk:Spam-blacklist on your watchlist, and help out when you can.
Question from Hushquid (19:51, 2 October 2024)
Why is that AntiDionysius deleted my so many times? --Hushquid (talk) 19:51, 2 October 2024 (UTC)
- Because you are trying to use Wikipedia to tell the world about yourself, which is against the rules. If you continue to do this, you will be blocked from editing. HouseBlaster (he/they) 22:08, 2 October 2024 (UTC)