User talk:Balon Greyjoy/Archive 3

The Downlink – June 2021
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The Signpost: 27 June 2021
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GAN Backlog Drive - July 2021
MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 22:31, 29 June 2021 (UTC)

WikiCup 2021 July newsletter
The third round of the 2021 WikiCup has now come to an end. Each of the sixteen contestants who made it into the fourth round had at least 294 points, and our top six scorers all had over 600 points. They were:


 * 🇧🇼 The Rambling Man, with 1825 points from 3 featured articles, 44 featured article reviews, 14 good articles, 30 good article reviews and 10 DYKs. In addition, he completed a 34-article good topic on the EFL Championship play-offs.
 * Epicgenius, a New York specialist, with 1083 points from 2 featured article reviews, 18 good articles, 30 DYKs and plenty of bonus points.
 * Bloom6132, with 869 points from 11 DYKs, all with bonus points, and 54 "In the news" items, mostly covering people who had recently died.
 * Standard of Oliver Cromwell (1653–1659).svg Gog the Mild, with 817 points from 3 featured articles on historic battles in Europe, 5 featured article reviews and 3 good articles.
 * Bennington Flag.svg Hog Farm, with 659 points from 2 featured articles and 2 good articles on American Civil War battles, 18 featured article reviews, 2 good articles, 6 good article reviews and 4 DYKs.
 * ICS Zulu.svg BennyOnTheLoose, a snooker specialist and new to the Cup, with 647 points from a featured article, 2 featured article reviews, 6 good articles, 6 good article reviews and 3 DYKs.

In round three, contestants achieved 19 featured articles, 7 featured lists, 106 featured article reviews, 72 good articles, 1 good topic, 62 good article reviews, 165 DYKs and 96 ITN items. We enter the fourth round with scores reset to zero; any content promoted after the end of round 3 but before the start of round 4 can be claimed in round 4. Please also remember that you must claim your points within 14 days of "earning" them (one contestant in round 3 lost out because of this). When doing GARs, please make sure that you check that all the GA criteria are fully met.

If you are concerned that your nomination—whether it is at good article nominations, a featured process, or anything else—will not receive the necessary reviews, please list it on WikiCup/Reviews Needed (remember to remove your listing when no longer required). Questions are welcome on Wikipedia talk:WikiCup, and the judges are reachable on their talk pages or by email. If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove yourself from WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. Judges: Sturmvogel 66 (talk) and Cwmhiraeth Cwmhiraeth (talk) MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 09:29, 2 July 2021 (UTC)

The Downlink – July 2021
MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 16:02, 3 July 2021 (UTC)

Editor of the Week
User:Neopeius submitted the following nomination for Editor of the Week:
 * I nominate Balon Greyjoy to be Editor of the Week for his tireless work not only in creating new encyclopedia content but also Wikignoming all over the place. He has mentored me for two years, and he is one of the backbones of Project Spaceflight. He's also a really nice guy and a tireless reviewer. User:Hawkeye7 seconded this nomination.

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

Thanks again for your efforts! &#8213; Buster7  &#9742;   14:42, 10 July 2021 (UTC)

The Signpost: 25 July 2021
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The Downlink – August 2021
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The Signpost: 29 August 2021
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The Downlink – September 2021
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WikiCup 2021 September newsletter
The fourth round of the competition has finished with over 500 points being required to qualify for the final round. It was a hotly competitive round with two contestants, 🇧🇼 The Rambling Man and Epicgenius, each scoring over 3000 points, and six contestants scoring over 1000. All but one of the finalists achieved one or more FAs during the round, the exception being Bloom6132 who demonstrated that 61 "in the news" items produces an impressive number of points. Other contestants who made it to the final are Gog the Mild, 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Lee Vilenski,  BennyOnTheLoose, 🇷🇼 Amakuru and  Hog Farm. However, all their points are now swept away and everyone starts afresh in the final round.

Round 4 saw the achievement of 18 featured articles and 157 good articles. Bilorv scored for a 25-article good topic on Black Mirror but narrowly missed out on qualifying for the final round. There was enthusiasm for FARs, with 89 being performed, and there were 63 GARs and around 100 DYKs during the round. As we start round 5, we say goodbye to the eight competitors who didn't quite make it to the final round; thank you for the useful contributions you have made to the Cup and Wikipedia, and we hope you will join us again next year. For other contestants, remember that any content promoted after the end of round 4 but before the start of round 5 can be claimed in round 5. Remember too that you must claim your points within 14 days of "earning" them.

If you are concerned that your nomination, whether it be for a good article, a featured process, or anything else, will not receive the necessary reviews, please list it on WikiCup/Reviews Needed (remember to remove your listing when no longer required). If you want to help out with the WikiCup, please do your bit to help keep down the review backlogs! Questions are welcome on Wikipedia talk:WikiCup, and the judges are reachable on their talk pages or by email. If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove your name from WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. Sturmvogel 66 and Cwmhiraeth. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 13:01, 2 September 2021 (UTC)

Your GA nomination of Space Shuttle Challenger disaster
Hi there, I'm pleased to inform you that I've begun reviewing the article Space Shuttle Challenger disaster you nominated for GA-status according to the criteria. This process may take up to 7 days. Feel free to contact me with any questions or comments you might have during this period. Message delivered by Legobot, on behalf of Kusma -- Kusma (talk) 13:00, 14 September 2021 (UTC)

NASA Astronaut Group 2
I hate to ask, but NASA Astronaut Group 2 is up for review at FAC at Featured article candidates/NASA Astronaut Group 2/archive1. It hasn't received many reviews and will probably be archived if there aren't any soon. If you could drop by with a few comments, that would be appreciated. Hawkeye7  (discuss)  20:09, 14 September 2021 (UTC)

New Page Patrol newsletter September 2021
Hello ,

Please join this discussion - there is increase in the abuse of Wikipedia and its processes by POV pushers, Paid Editors, and by holders of various user rights including Autopatrolled. Even our review systems themselves at AfC and NPR have been infiltrated. The good news is that detection is improving, but the downside is that it creates the need for a huge clean up - which of course adds to backlogs.

Copyright violations are also a serious issue. Most non-regular contributors do not understand why, and most of our  Reviewers are not experts on copyright law - and can't be expected to be, but  there is excellent, easy-to-follow advice on COPYVIO detection here.

At the time of the last newsletter (#25, December 2020) the backlog was only just over 2,000 articles. New Page Review is an official system. It's the only firewall against the inclusion of new, improper pages.

There are currently 706 New Page Reviewers plus a further 1,080 admins, but as much as nearly 90% of the patrolling is still being done by around only the 20 or so most regular patrollers.

If you are no longer very active on Wikipedia or you no longer wish to be part of the New Page Reviewer user group, please consider asking any admin to remove you from the list. This will enable NPP to have a better overview of its performance and what improvements need to be made to the process or its software. Various awards are due to be allocated by the end of the year and barnstars are overdue. If you would like to manage this, please let us know. Indeed, if you are interested in coordinating NPR, it does not involve much time and the tasks are described here. To opt-out of future mailings, please remove yourself here. Sent to 827 users. 04:30, 16 September 2021 (UTC)

The Signpost: 26 September 2021
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Please Help Me
Can you Help Me and Tell me ;Please see Draft:Ameya Prabhu.Do you find this article remarkable? and may i accept this submission. Best Regards. --- ✨Lazy Maniik✨  15:41, 21 October 2021 (UTC)

The Signpost: 31 October 2021
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The Downlink – October 2021
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WikiCup 2021 November newsletter
The WikiCup is over for another year and the finalists can relax! Our Champion this year is, who amassed over 5000 points in the final round, achieving 8 featured articles and almost 500 reviews. It was a very competitive round; seven of the finalists achieved over 1000 points in the round (enough to win the 2019 contest), and three scored over 3000 (enough to win the 2020 event). Our 2021 finalists and their scores were:


 * 1) with 5072 points
 * 2) with 3276 points
 * 3) with 3197 points
 * 4) with 1611 points
 * 5) with 1571 points
 * 6) with 1420 points
 * 7) with 1043 points
 * 8) with 528 points

All those who reached the final round will win awards. The following special awards will be made based on high performance in particular areas of content creation and review. Awards will be handed out in the next few days.


 * wins the featured article prize, for 8 FAs in round 5.
 * wins the featured list prize, for 3 FLs in round 5.
 * wins the featured topic prize, for 13 articles in a featured topic in round 5.
 * wins the good article prize, for 63 GAs in round 4.
 * wins the good topic prize, for 86 articles in good topics in round 5.
 * wins the reviewer prize, for 68 FAC reviews and 213 GAN reviews, both in round 5.
 * wins the DYK prize, for 30 did you know articles in round 3 and 105 overall.
 * wins the ITN prize, for 71 in the news articles in round 1 and 284 overall.

Congratulations to everyone who participated in this year's WikiCup, whether they made it to the final round or not, and particular congratulations to the newcomers to the WikiCup, some of whom did very well. Wikipedia has benefitted greatly from the quality creations, expansions and improvements made, and the numerous reviews performed. Thanks to all who have taken part and helped out with the competition, not forgetting User:Jarry1250, who runs the scoring bot.

If you have views on whether the rules or scoring need adjustment for next year's contest, please comment on the WikiCup talk page. Next year's competition will begin on 1 January. You are invited to sign up to participate; the WikiCup is open to all Wikipedians, both novices and experienced editors, and we hope to see you all in the 2022 competition. Until then, it only remains to once again congratulate our worthy winners, and thank all participants for their involvement! If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove yourself from WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. Sturmvogel 66 and Cwmhiraeth. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 19:55, 3 November 2021 (UTC)

Jim Lovell
Would you be interested in co-nomming Jim Lovell with me at FAC? At 93 he is the second oldest living astronaut, and the most famous of the Group 2 astronauts who's article is not already featured. It's promotion would raise Group 2 from a Good Topic to a Featured one. Hawkeye7  (discuss)  18:26, 4 November 2021 (UTC)
 * Happy to help! I don't have a ton of Lovell resources (other than the Apollo 13 book), but I think you have compiled a good list of internet resources. Balon Greyjoy (talk) 05:55, 5 November 2021 (UTC)

Challenger
Sorry to keep you dangling. I'll be able to give the final looksee on Monday. I am going on a much-needed vacation this weekend. Thanks for your patience! --Neopeius (talk) 04:06, 5 November 2021 (UTC)
 * Sounds good, thanks for the update! Looking forward to getting this FAC wrapped up! Balon Greyjoy (talk) 06:11, 5 November 2021 (UTC)

Just popped by to say I hope you're not too disheartened by my oppose. It's an important article and you've clearly put a lot of work into it so I'd love to see it get its star. I'm sorry that I've got to it so late in the process but I hope you'll be able to address the issues I've raised. HJ Mitchell &#124; Penny for your thoughts? 15:41, 8 November 2021 (UTC)
 * I appreciate the note. The oppose definitely felt like a punch in the gut when I first saw it, but you have brought up plenty of ways that this article can be improved. I'm not the strongest writer, and it's appreciated that your advice brings up objective things to fix. I'll work on it as I can this week, but will be gone for the long weekend, so I may not address all of your points until next week. Thanks again for dropping by! Balon Greyjoy (talk) 16:12, 8 November 2021 (UTC)
 * I know it's not pleasant having an FAC opposed but I'm glad you've taken it in the spirit I intended it. The article and FAC are on my watchlist but feel free to ping me when you want me to read through again or if there's anything you want me to clarify. Best, HJ Mitchell &#124; Penny for your thoughts? 16:57, 8 November 2021 (UTC)

Congrats!
Congratulations on the FA promotion of Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster, and on your Wikibirthday, no less! :) Eewilson (talk) 02:57, 18 November 2021 (UTC)

The Signpost: 29 November 2021
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Your GA nomination of Space Shuttle Challenger disaster
The article Space Shuttle Challenger disaster you nominated as a good article has passed ; see Talk:Space Shuttle Challenger disaster for comments about the article. Well done! If the article has not already appeared on the main page as a "Did you know" item, or as a bold link under "In the News" or in the "On This Day" prose section, you can nominate it within the next seven days to appear in DYK. Bolded names with dates listed at the bottom of the "On This Day" column do not affect DYK eligibility. Message delivered by Legobot, on behalf of Kusma -- Kusma (talk) 08:21, 6 October 2021 (UTC)

Merry Christmas Balon


—  W ILD S TAR  TALK is wishing you a Merry Christmas! This greeting (and season) promotes WikiLove and hopefully this note has made your day a little better. Spread the WikiLove by wishing another user a Merry Christmas, whether it be someone you have had disagreements with in the past, a good friend, or just some random person. Don't eat yellow snow!

Spread the holiday cheer by adding to their talk page with a friendly message.

Happy holidays to you too
As of tomorrow, I will finally get about two weeks off. After a few days' refractory period, I intend to do some WP work. Sorry for being away so long!

--Neopeius (talk) 15:22, 20 December 2021 (UTC)

Thoughts on SpaceX Starship?
First of all, congratulations on your Space Shuttle Challenger disaster featured article status! I can imagine that it is pretty difficult, due to the scope of the topic. Anyways, since you are the nominator on Space Shuttle FAC, and with this being the only rocket that got that status, I think you are the guy to get help for SpaceX Starship third FAC. Currently, there is a peer review about it here, but I wouldn't mind if you comment about the article anywhere. What do you think Starship should improve on? What is lacking of the article? CactiStaccingCrane (talk) 10:11, 21 December 2021 (UTC)

The Signpost: 28 December 2021
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GAN Backlog Drive – January 2022
Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) on behalf of WikiProject Good articles at 21:17, 31 December 2021 (UTC).

Promotion of Space Shuttle Challenger disaster
Well done! Hawkeye7  (discuss)  00:18, 18 November 2021 (UTC)

Space Shuttle Challenger disaster scheduled for TFA
This is to let you know that the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster article has been scheduled as today's featured article for January 28, 2022. Please check the article needs no amendments. If you're interested in editing the main page text, you're welcome to do so at Today's featured article/January 28, 2022, but note that a coordinator will trim the lead to around 1000 characters anyway, so you aren't obliged to do so.

For Featured Articles promoted recently, there will be an existing blurb linked from the FAC talk page, which is likely to be transferred to the TFA page by a coordinator at some point.

We suggest that you watchlist Main Page/Errors from the day before this appears on Main Page. Thanks! Jimfbleak - talk to me?  13:54, 20 December 2021 (UTC)
 * I was under the impression that since this was already a TFA in 2007, it was ineligible for TFA again. Is that not the case? Balon Greyjoy (talk) 14:07, 20 December 2021 (UTC)
 * You are correct that it was a TFA in 2007, but since for some years now the supply of new potential TFAs has been insufficient to replace those run at TFA, we have been permitted to rerun TFAs more than five years old at a rate ofup to one a week, although we don't normally do that many. In this case, given that it was demoted and re-FACed, I think it's appropriate to run it again, especially since its first outing was 15 years ago <b style="font-family:Lucida;color:red">Jimfbleak</b> - talk to me?  14:16, 20 December 2021 (UTC)

Thank you today for the article "about the 1986 disaster during the launch of the Space Shuttle Challenger that killed all 7 astronauts aboard"! --Gerda Arendt (talk) 07:02, 28 January 2022 (UTC)

The Signpost: 30 January 2022
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The Signpost: 27 February 2022
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The Signpost: 27 March 2022
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The Signpost: 24 April 2022
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Archiving talk pages
I notice that you are making lots of edits. Please note that this format will be ignored, and no archiving will be performed. See User:MiszaBot/config, the bit beginning The bot expects to see exactly one parameter per line. -- Red rose64 &#x1f339; (talk) 21:41, 20 April 2022 (UTC)
 * I'll change future archive adds, but it looks like that specific talk page was archived as the next edit after I added the archiver template. Not sure about the mismatch between the bot and its documentation. Balon Greyjoy (talk) 13:32, 2 May 2022 (UTC)

New Page Patrol newsletter May 2022
Hello ,

At the time of the last newsletter (No.26, September 2021), the backlog was 'only' just over 6,000 articles. In the past six months, the backlog has reached nearly 16,000, a staggering level not seen in several years. A very small number of users had been doing the vast majority of the reviews. Due to "burn-out", we have recently lost most of this effort. Furthermore, several reviewers have been stripped of the user right for abuse of privilege and the articles they patrolled were put back in the queue.

Several discussions on the state of the process have taken place on the talk page, but there has been no action to make any changes. The project also lacks coordination since the "position" is vacant.

In the last 30 days, only 100 reviewers have made more than 8 patrols and only 50 have averaged one review a day. There are currently Special:ListUsers/patroller New Page Reviewers, but about a third have not had any activity in the past month. All administrators have this permission, but only about a dozen significantly contribute to NPP.

This means we have an active pool of about 450 to address the backlog. We cannot rely on a few to do most of the work as that inevitably leads to burnout. A fairly experienced reviewer can usually do a review in a few minutes. If every active reviewer would patrol just one article per day, the backlog would very quickly disappear.

If you have noticed a user with a good understanding of Wikipedia notability and deletion, do suggest they help the effort by placing on their talk page.

If you are no longer very active on Wikipedia or you no longer wish to be part of the New Page Reviewer user group, please consider asking any admin to remove you from the list. This will enable NPP to have a better overview of its performance and what improvements need to be made to the process and its software.

To opt-out of future mailings, please remove yourself here. Sent 05:17, 23 May 2022 (UTC)

The Signpost: 29 May 2022
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Date format
Hi, I'ms seing that you've made a lot of changes in date formats from dmy to mdy. As far as I understand, both options fit the rules. Could you help me to undestand this rule? Cofcorpse (talk) 10:05, 22 June 2022 (UTC)
 * Hopefully I haven't made too many dramatic changes, the intentions of my work this morning was to standardize articles with their existing mdy/dmy formats. The overarching guidance for date format is to use the national standard for the subject of the article, if there is one. In general, articles about US-subjects use mdy, while articles from the rest of the world use dmy. Look at MOS:DATEVAR for more guidance. Most importantly, it is important not to change the existing format if it is already standardized and unnecessary. If you have any questions for a specific page, I recommend posting on the talk page about it before making changes. Balon Greyjoy (talk) 10:14, 22 June 2022 (UTC)


 * According to MOS:DATERET it seems that there is no reason to change date formats. For example, in Expedition 56. Cofcorpse (talk) 10:13, 22 June 2022 (UTC)
 * In the case of that article, both date formats were used. I decided to standardize it to MDY instead of DMY because of the American commander. Balon Greyjoy (talk) 10:17, 22 June 2022 (UTC)
 * Thank you for the answer! But wouldn't it be better to keep the same format in a series of articles about ISS Expeditions? I don't think that this particular expedition has strong national ties with USA because of the commander. Crew consists of astronauts from three different countries. And MOS:DATERET perfectly fit here in my opinion. Cofcorpse (talk) 10:41, 22 June 2022 (UTC)
 * With regard to international missions, I think it's appropriate that either format would be used. Most importantly, it should be standardized on a single page; I chose to use MDY over DMY. Balon Greyjoy (talk) 10:44, 22 June 2022 (UTC)
 * But the rule says: "If an article has evolved using predominantly one date format, this format should be used throughout the article, unless there are reasons for changing it based on strong national ties to the topic or consensus on the article's talk page." This article evolved using DMY. So why to change? It seems to be against the rule. Cofcorpse (talk) 10:45, 22 June 2022 (UTC)
 * The article used both MDY and DMY; my most recent edit was an effort to standardize it. Looking back through the edit history, the article began with only MDY format; the addition of DMY dates were later on. Balon Greyjoy (talk) 10:53, 22 June 2022 (UTC)
 * Thank you for explanation. Cofcorpse (talk) 11:02, 22 June 2022 (UTC)

New Page Patrol newsletter June 2022
Hello ,

At the time of the last newsletter (No.27, May 2022), the backlog was approaching 16,000, having shot up rapidly from 6,000 over the prior two months. The attention the newsletter brought to the backlog sparked a flurry of activity. There was new discussion on process improvements, efforts to invite new editors to participate in NPP increased and more editors requested the NPP user right so they could help, and most importantly, the number of reviews picked up and the backlog decreased, dipping below 14,000 at the end of May.
 * Backlog status

Since then, the news has not been so good. The backlog is basically flat, hovering around 14,200. I wish I could report the number of reviews done and the number of new articles added to the queue. But the available statistics we have are woefully inadequate. The only real number we have is the net queue size.

In the last 30 days, the top 100 reviewers have all made more than 16 patrols (up from 8 last month), and about 70 have averaged one review a day (up from 50 last month).

While there are more people doing more reviews, many of the ~730 with the NPP right are doing little. Most of the reviews are being done by the top 50 or 100 reviewers. They need your help. We appreciate every review done, but please aim to do one a day (on average, or 30 a month).

A backlog reduction drive, coordinated by buidhe and Zippybonzo, will be held from July 1 to July 31. Sign up here. Barnstars will be awarded.
 * Backlog drive

Many new articles on schools are being created by new users in developing and/or non-English-speaking countries. The authors are probably not even aware of Wikipedia's projects and policy pages. WP:WPSCH/AG has some excellent advice and resources specifically written for these users. Reviewers could consider providing such first-time article creators with a link to it while also mentioning that not all schools pass the GNG and that elementary schools are almost certainly not notable.
 * TIP – New school articles

There is a new template available,, to show the current backlog. You can place it on your user or talk page as a reminder:
 * Misc

There has been significant discussion at WP:VPP recently on NPP-related matters (Draftification, Deletion, Notability, Verifiability, Burden). Proposals that would somewhat ease the burden on NPP aren't gaining much traction, although there are suggestions that the role of NPP be fundamentally changed to focus only on major CSD-type issues.


 * Reminders
 * Consider staying informed on project issues by putting the project discussion page on your watchlist.
 * If you have noticed a user with a good understanding of Wikipedia notability and deletion, suggest they help the effort by placing on their talk page.
 * If you are no longer very active on Wikipedia or you no longer wish to be part of the New Page Reviewer user group, please consider asking any admin to remove you from the list. This will enable NPP to have a better overview of its performance and what improvements need to be made to the process and its software.
 * To opt-out of future mailings, please remove yourself here.
 * Notes

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The Signpost: 26 June 2022
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NPP July 2022 backlog drive is on!
(t &#183; c)  buidhe  20:25, 1 July 2022 (UTC)

Elon Musk peer review
I was wondering whether you would be able to give a few comments at the ongoing peer review for Elon Musk. I noticed you've done some great work and have overlapping interests. I know it's a lot, and if you don't have the time/energy, no worries. Best, ~  HAL  333  20:01, 4 July 2022 (UTC)

Typo in your recent AWB edit summaries
Hello, the subject line says it all I guess ... "substituing" should be "substituting". Graham 87 01:46, 6 July 2022 (UTC)
 * Good catch! Thanks! Balon Greyjoy (talk) 08:14, 6 July 2022 (UTC)

The Signpost: 1 August 2022
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New Page Patrol newsletter August 2022
Hello ,

After the last newsletter (No.28, June 2022), the backlog declined another 1,000 to 13,000 in the last week of June. Then the July backlog drive began, during which 9,900 articles were reviewed and the backlog fell by 4,500 to just under 8,500 (these numbers illustrate how many new articles regularly flow into the queue). Thanks go to the coordinators and, as well as all the nearly 100 participants. Congratulations to who led with 880 points. See this page for further details.
 * Backlog status

Unfortunately, most of the decline happened in the first half of the month, and the backlog has already risen to 9,600. Understandably, it seems many backlog drive participants are taking a break from reviewing and unfortunately, we are not even keeping up with the inflow let alone driving it lower. We need the other 600 reviewers to do more! Please try to do at least one a day.


 * Coordination: and  have taken on some of the coordination tasks. Please let them know if you are interested in helping out.  will be handling recognition, and will be retroactively awarding the annual barnstars that have not been issued for a few years.


 * Open letter to the WMF: The Page Curation software needs urgent attention. There are dozens of bug fixes and enhancements that are stalled (listed at Suggested improvements). We have written a letter to be sent to the WMF and we encourage as many patrollers as possible to sign it here. We are also in negotiation with the Board of Trustees to press for assistance. Better software will make the active reviewers we have more productive.


 * TIP - Reviewing by subject: Reviewers who prefer to patrol new pages by their most familiar subjects can do so from the regularly updated sorted topic list.


 * New reviewers: The NPP School is being underused. The learning curve for NPP is quite steep, but a detailed and easy-to-read tutorial exists, and the Curation Tool's many features are fully described and illustrated on the updated page here.


 * Reminders
 * Consider staying informed on project issues by putting the project discussion page on your watchlist.
 * If you have noticed a user with a good understanding of Wikipedia notability and deletion, suggest they help the effort by placing on their talk page.
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Kathryn Sullivan
I now have Kathryn Sullivan at FAC. Since you reviewed it at GA, I was wondering if you could drop by Featured article candidates/Kathryn D. Sullivan/archive1 with a few comments? Hawkeye7  (discuss)  19:40, 18 August 2022 (UTC)

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The Signpost: 31 August 2022
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October 2022 New Pages Patrol backlog drive
(t &#183; c)  buidhe  21:16, 23 September 2022 (UTC)

About your contributions on Androsace saussurei
Hello, I'm Interaccoonale. I wanted to let you know that one or more of your recent contributions on Androsace saussurei have been undone. Thanks for your contribution for resolving copyvio concerns. But please note that CC BY 4.0 is compatible with Wikipedia. If you think these contributions are constructive, you can resubmit them. But it's best not to mention copyvio again in the summary. Remember to use AGF towards other Wikipedians. ——🦝 The Interaccoonale Will be the raccoon race(talk・contribs) 13:17, 27 September 2022 (UTC)
 * My mistake! I saw that it was open access when I pulled up the article over copyright concerns, but I missed the CC By license. I would still recommend paraphrasing the content copied from the Nature article, as its pretty jargon-heavy and reads like an academic paper more than a Wikipedia article. Balon Greyjoy (talk) 13:24, 27 September 2022 (UTC)
 * Thanks. I have read it again, and I think you're right. ——🦝 The Interaccoonale Will be the raccoon race(talk・contribs) 13:38, 27 September 2022 (UTC)
 * I've restored your contributions and added a few things. Thanks again. ——🦝 The Interaccoonale Will be the raccoon race(talk・contribs) 14:18, 27 September 2022 (UTC)
 * I will take the time to reformat Androsace delphinensis and Androsace vesulensis, two other species described in the same paper. Thanks again for your contributions. ——🦝 The Interaccoonale Will be the raccoon race(talk・contribs) 14:24, 27 September 2022 (UTC)

The Signpost: 30 September 2022
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October 2022 New Pages Patrol backlog drive is on!
You are receiving this message because you signed up to participate in the drive, but have not yet reviewed any pages in October. We would love to see you over at the backlog drive! Buidhe 10:49, 4 October 2022 (UTC)

Erik Larsen comics
Erik did not grow up in Washington. He was raised in Mendocino, CA and was in my graduating class of 1981 from Mendocino High School. Maybe update your info.... 2603:800C:2402:572E:A19A:1BA5:24D0:C5CD (talk) 19:59, 19 October 2022 (UTC)

Early end of the backlog drive
A few days ago, new page patrollers got the backlog to zero. Due to the unprecedented success of the backlog drive, it will be ending early—at the end of 24 October, or in approximately two hours.

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The Signpost: 31 October 2022
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Your GA nomination of Space Shuttle Columbia disaster
Hi there, I'm pleased to inform you that I've begun reviewing the article Space Shuttle Columbia disaster you nominated for GA-status according to the criteria. This process may take up to 7 days. Feel free to contact me with any questions or comments you might have during this period. Message delivered by Legobot, on behalf of Hawkeye7 -- Hawkeye7 (talk) 17:40, 14 November 2022 (UTC)

Anna Lee Fisher
Would you be interested in co-nomming Anna Lee Fisher with me at FAC? You're the editor with the most edits to the article after myself. Hawkeye7  (discuss)  23:16, 14 November 2022 (UTC)
 * Sure! I'm assuming you'll nominate the article in the near future? Balon Greyjoy (talk) 18:57, 15 November 2022 (UTC)


 * Yes. Rhea Seddon had passed. so I'm going to do it right now. Hawkeye7   (discuss)  20:09, 15 November 2022 (UTC)

Your GA nomination of Space Shuttle Columbia disaster
The article Space Shuttle Columbia disaster you nominated as a good article has been placed on hold. The article is close to meeting the good article criteria, but there are some minor changes or clarifications needing to be addressed. If these are fixed within 7 days, the article will pass; otherwise it may fail. See Talk:Space Shuttle Columbia disaster for issues which need to be addressed. Message delivered by Legobot, on behalf of Hawkeye7 -- Hawkeye7 (talk) 20:20, 16 November 2022 (UTC)

Your GA nomination of Space Shuttle Columbia disaster
The article Space Shuttle Columbia disaster you nominated as a good article has passed ; see Talk:Space Shuttle Columbia disaster for comments about the article. Well done! If the article has not already appeared on the main page as a "Did you know" item, or as a bold link under "In the News" or in the "On This Day" prose section, you can nominate it within the next seven days to appear in DYK. Bolded names with dates listed at the bottom of the "On This Day" column do not affect DYK eligibility. Message delivered by Legobot, on behalf of Hawkeye7 -- Hawkeye7 (talk) 18:41, 17 November 2022 (UTC)

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Talk page header
To my understanding, the template was created for contentious articles. I am not happy to see "Assume good faith" on top of an article for which I stand (BWV 56, BWV 227). It expresses doubt that an editor will do that, no? Shouldn't we assume good faith until proven it's missing? -- Gerda Arendt (talk) 18:33, 5 December 2022 (UTC)


 * My apologies if I did something to annoy you. I think I have had a different interpretation of the reason for a talk header; I have always thought of it as a good guide for users on busy talk pages (busy defined as having more than a few posts) since it includes helpful guidance and links. I have not thought of it as an expression of doubt about editors acting in good faith. The other reason I added it to those talk pages was because they had enough old posts on them to merit (in my opinion) an archive, and I think the talk header has the tidiest and most user-friendly archive navigator. Please remove the header if you do not feel that it belongs. Best, Balon Greyjoy (talk) 12:40, 6 December 2022 (UTC)
 * Thank you for explaining, and because of the archive management, I accept, also the history seems to get lost, and I'm willing to let it go :)
 * The documentation states: "This template should be placed in accordance with talk page guidelines. This template does not need to be placed on every talk page, and should not be indiscriminately added to talk pages using automated editing tools. Talk pages that are frequently misused, that attract frequent debate, articles often subject to controversy, articles that typically attract new editors, and highly-visible or popular topics may be appropriate for this template." - which tells me that a relatively calm page such as a Bach cantata isn't the typical candidate. If you know of a less dramatic way of archive management, I'd appreciate a switch, and also if you are just aware of the need for discrimination. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 12:55, 6 December 2022 (UTC)

Happy holidays!

 * Glad to see you back! Happy holidays to you as well! Balon Greyjoy (talk) 12:45, 11 December 2022 (UTC)

The Signpost: 1 January 2023
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Space Shuttle Columbia disaster scheduled for TFA
This is to let you know that the above article has been scheduled as today's featured article for 1 February 2023. Please check that the article needs no amendments. Feel free to amend the draft blurb, which can be found at Today's featured article/February 1, 2023, or to make comments on other matters concerning the scheduling of this article at Wikipedia talk:Today's featured article/February 2023. I suggest that you watchlist Main Page/Errors from the day before this appears on Main Page. Thanks and congratulations on your work. Gog the Mild (talk) 22:21, 2 January 2023 (UTC)
 * Thanks ! Balon Greyjoy (talk) 16:13, 4 January 2023 (UTC)

The Signpost: 16 January 2023
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Population density
Tnx for the procedural update to the Village of Westmont's population paragraph. A general, albeit trivial, Wikipedia thought to all such pages: "Shouldn't the numbers of people per unit area be rounded to whole numbers?" (I wouldn't want to be that last 0.4 person! But even then, the conversion to MKS probably will still show a fractional person.Casey (talk) 14:26, 16 January 2023 (UTC)

A kitten for you!
Thank you for your hard work bringing such a critical article as Space Shuttle Columbia disaster up to the quality it deserves.

—Compassionate727 (T·C) 04:01, 1 February 2023 (UTC) <br style="clear: both;"/>


 * Appreciate the note! Thanks! Balon Greyjoy (talk) 13:05, 1 February 2023 (UTC)

Viriditas message
Thanks for your hard work on this article. I was driving on the road at night when I first heard that they had detected falling debris in orbit around 10 pm HST, if my memory is correct. I could be completely wrong on this, but I thought they had detected the debris falling on the mainland US using one of the telescopes on Haleakala on Maui. Never heard anything about this later. Viriditas (talk) 08:09, 1 February 2023 (UTC)


 * Thanks for the note! I haven't heard of that. 10 PM HST would either be a few hours too early or quite a few hours after the disaster, so I would be surprised if it detected debris. There was debris detected from the orbiter near Albuquerque. I just did a quick Google and didn't come up with anything about debris detection in Hawaii. Balon Greyjoy (talk) 13:10, 1 February 2023 (UTC)

Million Award for Space Shuttle Columbia disaster
Thanks for your work on this vital article! – Reidgreg (talk) 13:44, 2 February 2023 (UTC)


 * Thanks! Balon Greyjoy (talk) 12:44, 3 February 2023 (UTC)

The Signpost: 4 February 2023
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Jim Lovell
This is to let you know that the above article has been scheduled as today's featured article for 24 March 2023. Please check that the article needs no amendments. Feel free to amend the draft blurb, which can be found at Today's featured article/March 2023, or to make comments on other matters concerning the scheduling of this article at Wikipedia talk:Today's featured article/March 2023. I suggest that you watchlist Main Page/Errors from two days before it appears on the Main Page. Thanks and congratulations on your work!—Wehwalt (talk) 15:51, 8 February 2023 (UTC)

For Distinguished Service

 * Thanks! Balon Greyjoy (talk) 21:48, 13 February 2023 (UTC)

The Signpost: 20 February 2023
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Gerda Arendt message
Thank you today for the article "about the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster in 2003", on time for the sad anniversary! --Gerda Arendt (talk) 08:38, 1 February 2023 (UTC)


 * Appreciate the note ! It's crazy to me that it's been 20 years. Balon Greyjoy (talk) 13:10, 1 February 2023 (UTC)
 * Agree. For yesterday's cantata, it was 300 years ;) --Gerda Arendt (talk) 15:57, 8 February 2023 (UTC)
 * ... and today the regional festival - DYK of 13 years ago ;) --Gerda Arendt (talk) 17:26, 17 February 2023 (UTC)
 * My story on 24 February is about Artemy Vedel (TFA by Amitchell235), and I made a suggestion for more peace, - what do you think? --Gerda Arendt (talk) 14:49, 24 February 2023 (UTC)
 * today: two women whose birthday we celebrate today, 99 and 90! --Gerda Arendt (talk) 10:30, 28 February 2023 (UTC)

The Signpost: 9 March 2023
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The Signpost: 20 March 2023
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TFA
Thank you today for Jim Lovell, "about the second oldest living American astronaut after his Gemini 7 and Apollo 8 crew mate Frank Borman. He also flew the Gemini 12 mission with Buzz Aldrin, who is two years younger. Lovell was part of the Next Nine group of astronauts selected in 1962 that also included Neil Armstrong, and he was Armstrong's backup for the Apollo 11 mission. Today he is probably best known for his unsuccessful final mission, Apollo 13, which was made into the 1995 film Apollo 13, in which he appeared."! -- Gerda Arendt (talk) 08:34, 25 March 2023 (UTC)

The Signpost: 03 April 2023
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Precious anniversary
--Gerda Arendt (talk) 07:13, 12 April 2023 (UTC)

New Page Patrol – May 2023 Backlog Drive
MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 17:11, 20 April 2023 (UTC)

The Signpost: 26 April 2023
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The Signpost: 5 June 2023
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Population Density
Hi, I see that you are applying  to population density statistics in articles about settlements. Thank you for that. I am doing something similar, I wonder if we might usefully compare notes? Gaius Cornelius (talk) 06:52, 7 May 2023 (UTC)
 * Sorry for the delay; what are you looking to know more about? Balon Greyjoy (talk) 22:28, 20 May 2023 (UTC)
 * I am slowly working my way through all the counties of the United States. I have a number of AWB regex rules that do things like this: recent edit. Could this sort of thing be of any help to you? Gaius Cornelius (talk) 04:25, 21 May 2023 (UTC)
 * Apologies for the delay. I like that regex script that automatically detects when there is an in-text conversion applied and it switches it to use the convert template. I am not the strongest with regex, and instead just have a bunch of slightly-varied scripts because of the way that population and housing densities have been written. Balon Greyjoy (talk) 00:16, 14 June 2023 (UTC)

The Signpost: 19 June 2023
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New pages patrol needs your help!
Hello , The New Page Patrol team is sending you this impromptu message to inform you of a steeply rising backlog of articles needing review. If you have any extra time to spare, please consider reviewing one or two articles each day to help lower the backlog. You can start reviewing by visiting Special:NewPagesFeed. Thank you very much for your help.

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Sent by using  at 06:58, 1 July 2023 (UTC)