User talk:Guettarda/Archive21

One year Three Four Six years
It's been a year, somehow it's been a year three six years already.

Deepest sympathy


They found the bodies this morning. I was hoping for a better outcome, I really was. This is just heartbreaking. Guettarda (talk) 01:31, 13 January 2009 (UTC)


 * They will be in my prayers, Guettarda. FloNight&#9829;&#9829;&#9829; 01:08, 13 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Truly sad news. FloNight&#9829;&#9829;&#9829; 17:46, 13 January 2009 (UTC)


 * Our hearts go out to you and your family. It's so hard to know what to say. What we really want is to be able to change it for you. :-( SlimVirgin  talk| contribs 01:43, 13 January 2009 (UTC)


 * Terrible news. So sorry. Casliber (talk · contribs) 01:52, 13 January 2009 (UTC)


 * Oh nooooo, dearest Guettarda :' ( what awful news.  Much love, tears, and deepest sympathy. -- M P er el  04:56, 13 January 2009 (UTC)

Man, that really sucks. So sorry. Hesperian 06:09, 13 January 2009 (UTC)

I go to sleep tonight with you in my thoughts. Take care of yourself my friend.--Jimbo Wales (talk) 06:21, 13 January 2009 (UTC)


 * This is dreadful news, and completely heartbreaking. It's hard even thinking about the pain this must be causing for you and your family, so sorry to hear of this, you have my thoughts and condolences. . dave souza, talk 09:32, 13 January 2009 (UTC)



I just read the link on your user page and understand you've lost two people who clearly meant a great deal to you. My profound condolences, dear ((Guettarda)).* I hold you and yours in my thoughts and prayers and wish you peace. *my arms around you. :/ deeceevoice (talk) 10:04, 13 January 2009 (UTC)

My deepest sympathies for you in this difficult time. You and your family are in my thoughts. KillerChihuahua?!? 11:45, 13 January 2009 (UTC)

I am very saddened by this, Guettarda. My heart reaches out to you and the rest of those closest to you. ... Kenosis (talk) 12:39, 13 January 2009 (UTC)

Words fail me here. I just want you to know that my thoughts are with you, with my deepest sympathies to you and your family. Orange Marlin Talk• Contributions 16:36, 13 January 2009 (UTC)



I'm very sorry Guettarda. These two people clearly meant a lot to you. I share this moment of reflection with you. --CSTAR (talk) 18:41, 13 January 2009 (UTC)

No man is an island, and this is especially true in small communities such as this one. Your loss is our loss. Words cannot adequately convey how sorry we are. Personally, I have lost people before, but never suddenly like this. What you and your family must be going through must be very difficult. I offer my deepest condolences in these hard times. JoshuaZ (talk) 19:19, 13 January 2009 (UTC)

My heartfelt condolences to you, your sister and your family. &#0149;Jim 62 sch&#0149; dissera! 20:32, 13 January 2009 (UTC)

I'm so sorry. While studying I had heard of the search come across the radio in Trinidad during the hourly news update but I hadn't yet put two-and-two together to take them to be your relatives. I express to you and the rest of the entire Ramjohn family my most heartfelt and expressed condolences at this very tragic loss. It is clear to all that they gave of themselves a great deal of service for Trinidad and Tobago in their research and for that myself and others in society should be grateful for the service they have given to the country. CaribDigita (talk) 20:41, 13 January 2009 (UTC)

I am very sorry to hear that. My deepest sympathies and condolences dear Guettarda. -- FayssalF  -  Wiki me up®  20:45, 13 January 2009 (UTC)

I too offer my condolences. Sincerely, --A NobodyMy talk 22:35, 13 January 2009 (UTC)

My condolences, Guettarda. It is good to have closure, but not this closure. --Una Smith (talk) 03:33, 14 January 2009 (UTC)


 * My utmost condolences, Guettarda. Amerique dialectics  14:09, 14 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Someone in my house survived 24 hours out there last year lost diving (for a living not tourism), hope things are as well as can be expected, best wishes. Thanks, SqueakBox 03:46, 14 January 2009 (UTC)

My sympathy and solidarity man. Alun (talk) 04:12, 14 January 2009 (UTC)

My God...my most heartfelt sympathies Guettarda. I can't imagine... Aunt Entropy (talk) 05:18, 14 January 2009 (UTC)

My sympathy and condolences, as usual in such cases, words fail. --Kim D. Petersen (talk) 15:22, 14 January 2009 (UTC)

My condolences Guettarda; your family is in our prayers. -- Samir 07:48, 17 January 2009 (UTC)

I just found out this morning about your terrible loss and my heart goes out to you. I, too, have just lost someone close recently. I will be sending warm thoughts of strength and fellowship as I lie awake at night waiting for the pain to dull (it comes in waves) and allow me to sleep. John Hill (talk) 22:45, 24 January 2009 (UTC)

My deepest sympathy my friend. I lost someone too in the New Year and it really just is hard to get through. If you need to talk, you can send me a message any time. Spawn Man (talk) 03:55, 25 January 2009 (UTC)

I saw you briefly at that awful Egyptian controversy article a couple of days ago, and I wanted to drop by again to tell you I haven't forgotten, that you and yours are still in my thoughts and prayers. Memories persist, and healing will come. Bless, :) deeceevoice (talk) 10:01, 9 February 2009 (UTC)




 * This is for the most part a copy/pasted notice, but I would like to offer my condolences for this recent loss. -  Ca ri bb e a  n ~ H. Q.  22:20, 19 January 2009 (UTC)

I never thanked any of you personally, but I appreciate your notes more than I can possibly express. And I still treasure these notes too much to archive them Guettarda (talk) 16:01, 10 January 2010 (UTC)


 * You are very welcome, Guettarda. I read about what happened, and I know that in addition to the grief of loss there is a separate pain that comes from lack of closure.  Even when it is temporary, lack of closure is a wound that takes time to heal.  Hugs.  --Una Smith (talk) 16:52, 10 January 2010 (UTC)


 * As a former US Coastguardsman, I'm sad to say I've seen happy excursions on the sea turn to tragedy before. Your brothers' bravery retains my admiration, and your family remains in my prayers. Amerique dialectics  20:38, 10 January 2010 (UTC)

Unreferenced BLPs
Hello Guettarda! Thank you for your contributions. I am a bot alerting you that 7 of the articles that you created  are tagged as Unreferenced Biographies of Living Persons. The biographies of living persons policy requires that all personal or potentially controversial information be sourced. In addition, to ensure verifiability, all biographies should be based on reliable sources. If you were to bring these articles up to standards, it would greatly help us with the current Category:All_unreferenced_BLPs article backlog. Once the articles are adequately referenced, please remove the unreferencedBLP tag. Here is the list:

Thanks!--DASHBot (talk) 05:11, 16 January 2010 (UTC)
 * 1) Satnarayan Maharaj -
 * 2) Rakesh Yankaran -
 * 3) Gypsy (calypsonian) -
 * 4) Vincent Floissac -
 * 5) Winston Dookeran -
 * 6) Geddes Granger -
 * 7) Mary King (economist) -

Ficus maxima
have asked Circeus to have a look at context as we've been discussing how to add genus-level material on flower structure to some other plant articles recently. I don't think there is too much to add. A bum rush of ficus at GAN might be fun. Casliber (talk · contribs) 13:09, 17 March 2011 (UTC)

DYK for Roupala
— Crisco 1492 (talk) 00:02, 14 January 2013 (UTC)

Ecosystem GAR
I understand about real life getting in the way of doing as much on Wikipedia as one would like.

Given my own work and home responsibilities, I'm not sure how much assistance I can offer you, but my work location is just a few minutes away from the university library. If you need access to a published journal article, there is a good chance that I can get it for you.

By the way, if you have time, could you take a look at this and if you like it, place a vote? I was amazed when I first saw this animation on a German astronomy web site, so I got permission to use it in an article. Stigmatella aurantiaca (talk) 00:22, 23 January 2013 (UTC)

DYK for Cecropia peltata
KTC (talk) 16:03, 25 January 2013 (UTC)

DYK nomination of Roupala montana
Hello! Your submission of Roupala montana at the Did You Know nominations page has been reviewed, and some issues with it may need to be clarified. Please review the comment(s) underneath your nomination's entry and respond there as soon as possible. Thank you for contributing to Did You Know! BlueMoonset (talk) 02:06, 28 January 2013 (UTC)


 * I wasn't aware of that. Thanks. Guettarda (talk) 18:47, 29 January 2013 (UTC)

DYK for Roupala montana
Lord Roem ~ (talk) 08:02, 31 January 2013 (UTC)

DYK for Richeria grandis
Lord Roem ~ (talk) 08:02, 31 January 2013 (UTC)

DYK for Parinari campestris
Lord Roem ~ (talk) 08:03, 31 January 2013 (UTC)

Expanding Jared Diamond
Thanks for weight in on the RFC at Talk:Jared Diamond. You mentioned that the article "simply skips Diamond's (quite notable) scientific contributions", and I wondered if you had anything specific in mind on that score? Given the amount of bytes spilt over relatively trivial points on that article recently, it would be nice to expand it with some properly encyclopaedic coverage. Joe Roe (talk) 13:38, 11 February 2013 (UTC)


 * I'm sure his work on Bowerbirds in New Guinea has been pretty significant, but that's outside of my area of expertise. As far as things I know about, in the 1970s he made important contributions to island biogeography, community assembly (including supertramp (ecology), protected area design (see SLOSS debate; Google Scholar says that his "The island dilemma: lessons of modern biogeographic studies for the design of natural reserves" article has been cited over 1100 times) and what is now called extinction debt (I believe he coined the term "relaxation" in this paper, which Google Scholar says has been cited 350x). Guettarda (talk) 14:03, 11 February 2013 (UTC)

My identity
Hi. I watch the article Race and intelligence, mainly to look out for socks of Mikemikev and other banned users. I noticed that you added my username in an edit summary, which puzzled me. Looking at the talk page, I think you were referring to comments by Hans Adler, who announced himself as a mathematician (like me) and made some comments on the term "racial IQ gap". I believe that I introduced the term "racial IQ gap" when creating a new version of the lede on April 5 2010. I hope nobody is confused by any of this :-) Cheers, Mathsci (talk) 16:34, 15 February 2013 (UTC)


 * Oops, sorry. Yeah, I must have filed Hans' comment as yours...he isn't filed in my brain as a mathematician, tbh. Sorry about that. Guettarda (talk) 17:21, 15 February 2013 (UTC)

ANI, R&I and an IP at User talk:BlackHades
I've had to mention you at ANI to make it clear that the IP's claim that I made your edit is ridiculous. See User talk:BlackHades first where the IP says an edit 'I' made is a clue. Dougweller (talk) 12:26, 17 February 2013 (UTC)


 * People don't understand the power of 10,000-item watchlists. I may have stopped editing the race article in 2005 or 2006, but I watchlisted the R&I article back in those days, though I've generally avoided it except when it spills over into articles closer to my real interests (ecology and biogeography). Guettarda (talk) 15:44, 17 February 2013 (UTC)


 * Exactly. My watchlist is also over 10,000, and some people get very suspicious when I suddenly reappear at an article. Dougweller (talk) 17:21, 17 February 2013 (UTC)


 * Though I must say, if we're sockpuppets, we've got an impressive (and impressively broad) editing history ;) Guettarda (talk) 17:41, 17 February 2013 (UTC)


 * I'm having an identity crisis:) So this baby seal walks into a club... — ArtifexMayhem (talk) 18:29, 17 February 2013 (UTC)


 * Well, that didn't end well for BH, who has been blocked for a week. Dougweller (talk) 11:23, 18 February 2013 (UTC)


 * The years here have made me a cynic, I think. It's remarkable how predictable people can be. Guettarda (talk) 19:24, 18 February 2013 (UTC)

Personal Attacks
Asking you again to stop with personal attacks and hostility. BlackHades (talk) 01:12, 28 February 2013 (UTC)


 * Dude, your nonsense is tiresome. When I tell you to stop misbehaving, that's not a personal attack. You're coming fresh off a block and headed back down the same path. Guettarda (talk) 03:04, 28 February 2013 (UTC)
 * You need to calm down. You repeatedly made statements that you don't consider content from Rushton, Jensen, Lynn, Gottfredon, as reliable sources. Am I right or wrong here? So based on your statements, I wrote:


 * "Per WP:NPOV all significant views must be represented. That includes the position held by Rushton, Jensen, Lynn, Templer, Gottfredson, etc. You seem to argue for the complete omission of one side of the debate. But neither you, nor anyone else, gets to pick and choose which views belong in the article. That would be WP:Truth. All significant views must be represented including ones that you don't agree with."--BlackHades


 * Which you responded back with:


 * "Please cut out your bullshit accusations. I'm sick of your crap already, and you've only been back from your block for what - 2 days? and you're engaging full bore in the sort of nonsense that earned you the block in the first place. I am not "argu[ing] for the complete omission of one side of the debate"...that's utterly false, and you damn well know it's false. I'm arguing against your insistence on using your own interpretation of primary sources. I'm arguing against your insistence on building an article around the primary sources of a group that's viewed by the mainstream as fringe. Now please cut out the bullshit."--Guettarda
 * You're really going to say your response is an appropriate response to mine? You really don't notice a difference in the level of tone and hostility of mine compared to yours? Did you or did you not state that you consider Rushton, Jensen, Lynn, Gottfredson, as "not reliable", or "fringe", or "non-mainstream". My response to you were based on these statements. If I'm wrong, all you had to do was calmly reply back "I support the inclusion of all relevant positions including Rushton, Jensen, Lynn, Gottfredson", in which case I would have apologized and accepted. But when you constantly call Rushton, Jensen, Lynn, Gottfredson as "not reliable", or "fringe", or "non-mainstream", you don't see how someone can see this as an indication that the person is trying to omit their positions? By the way, even though you responded back that you're not arguing for omission of one side, you still haven't made it clear if that means you support the inclusion of the hereditarian position of Rushton, Jensen, Lynn, Gottfredson. It seems like you do now as you stated you don't support omission but I would request for better clarification here. BlackHades (talk) 04:14, 28 February 2013 (UTC)
 * Where's the personal attack? ?? (✉→BWilkins←✎) 09:58, 28 February 2013 (UTC)


 * BlackHades - it was a response to all your crap. Again, as I pointed out before, you shouldn't quote mine - not in article spaces, not on talk pages, not in user talk. It was a response to crap like your repeated insistence that subject-verb agreement is acceptable in English grammar...which is clear and obvious tendentious editing. It was a response to your false claims about sources. It was a response to your constant rudeness and hostility. But never mind me. Please proceed. Guettarda (talk) 12:48, 28 February 2013 (UTC)
 * It wasn't a quote mine. Your assertions here are inaccurate. There's a drastic difference in the tone and hostility that I respond to you versus vice versa. But I digress. Moving on. I would hope that we can both discuss civilly from this point forward. BlackHades (talk) 16:05, 28 February 2013 (UTC)


 * So...I'm wrong, BWilkins is wrong, and you're right? Because you say so? Strange, isn't it that two established users (one with five years experience here, one with over 8.5), with clean block logs, don't understand Wikipedia policy and that you, fresh off a block for disruptive editing, are the only one who understands policy. Very interesting. Guettarda (talk) 13:51, 1 March 2013 (UTC)
 * Wikipedia longevity doesn't make someone immune to bias. As very clearly shown on the R&I talk page. And I thought we're moving on. Are we still beating this dead horse? BlackHades (talk) 18:33, 1 March 2013 (UTC)


 * And once again, you take half my statement and runs with it, ignoring the other half (cf. quote mining). You're just a few days off a block for disruption. This is your second chance to show that you can learn acceptable behaviour. But rather than learn from BW, you imply that your understanding of policy is superior to his. It's not an encouraging attitude. My observation (and that's just an observation, not a threat) is that editors with an attitude like yours end up perma-blocked. If you refuse adjust your attitude, if you refuse to learn from people with more experience, your time here is likely to be short. As for beating a dead horse - you're the one who keeps posting to my talk page. Guettarda (talk) 19:18, 1 March 2013 (UTC)
 * There is nothing wrong with my attitude. As to yours, the example above is clear. I guarantee that you won't be able to show a single example where I show that level of hostility toward you. And stop with the false accusations of quote mining. Allow me to respond to this with your preferred method. "Please cut out your bullshit accusations. I'm sick of your crap already." In regards to beating a dead horse, you keep reviving this after I've shown that I've clearly moved on.BlackHades (talk) 21:00, 1 March 2013 (UTC)
 * BlackHades, your phrase "there's nothing wrong with my attitude" is actually proof positive that there is. Look, I'm an utterly unbiased third party here - it's YOU who are incorrect about the definition of personal attacks, it's YOU who continues to post here (Guettarda has a right to post here - you really don't) and he's allowed to have the last word.  You're the one beating a dead horse.  You're the one failing to grow from your mistakes and move on.  Really - this is not the kind of hounding behaviour that is endearing to anyone.  My advice: drop the stick and move on, quickly (✉→BWilkins←✎) 21:55, 1 March 2013 (UTC)
 * As much as I love the amusing absurdity of this guy, it's clearly time for it to be done. And since BH apparently is unable to stop himself from replying here, and his repeated responses are my fault, it's time to close this thread. Thanks for your input BWilkins. And BlackHades, please consider yourself banned from my talk page, since that appears to be the only way you'll be able to stop yourself from replying to this thread. Guettarda (talk) 14:49, 2 March 2013 (UTC)

A barnstar for you!

 * Thanks so much. And thank you for your hard work on that project as well! Guettarda (talk) 12:49, 28 February 2013 (UTC)

DYK for Bactris
The DYK project (nominate) 08:03, 13 March 2013 (UTC)

DYK for Frère León
Materialscientist (talk) 08:03, 14 March 2013 (UTC)

DYK for Bactris campestris
Casliber (talk · contribs) 00:03, 24 March 2013 (UTC)

RE: Phyllodytes auratus
Given you recent move of Phyllodytes auratus to El Tucuche golden tree frog, I was wondering if you had any reliable sources for that name. I can find OK sources attesting to "golden tree frog", but not this name. Guettarda (talk) 04:00, 7 April 2013 (UTC)
 * It came from the Phyllodytes page, which seemed well cited. Gigemag76 (talk) 13:28, 7 April 2013 (UTC)
 * I'm sorry, but what are you talking about? That page includes no inline references, so how can you say it's "well cited"? In addition, I checked the external links, and those that aren't broken do not appear to support the name. One includes it as one of two variant names, but the others don't include any common name. Guettarda (talk) 13:50, 7 April 2013 (UTC)
 * Surely you aren't moving pages without checking to see that the names you moved them to aren't reliably sourced, are you? Guettarda (talk) 13:52, 7 April 2013 (UTC)

Peer review request
Hi Guettarda, I've initiated a peer review request for the List of historic schools of forestryarticle, and would appreciate your input on ways that it can be improved. Ultimately, I would like to nominate it for Featured List status. Please add any comments or suggestions at this link. Thanks & Kind regards, DA Sonnenfeld (talk) 14:05, 29 April 2013 (UTC)

Environmental Science and Pollution Research and its editor
Is Environmental Science and Pollution Research notable? Is it an industry shill? What about Alvin L. Young, its editor for 2000-2012? 86.121.18.17 (talk) 14:07, 21 June 2013 (UTC)


 * I'm not familiar with the journal, but it's published by Springer, and has an impact factor of 2.6 which, for a relatively narrowly-focused journal is pretty respectable. That doesn't mean that everything published in it should be accepted uncritically, of course. I'm not familiar with Young or his work. The best way to get a sense of how his work has been received is to look at the articles that cite it (Google Scholar is a good place to find those). If what he has to say seems at all controversial (as would anything on Agent Orange, I'd guess) look for two things - it being ignored (if no one cites something controversial, that's a suggestion that it wasn't taken too seriously) or the publication of rebuttals. If his work on Agent Orange is being cited, and these citations aren't primarily rebuttals, then I'd be inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt. Guettarda (talk) 15:30, 21 June 2013 (UTC)
 * Thanks. Young's writings were contested on a couple of issues.
 * How much TCDD was in Agent Orange [hard to estimate apparently because of heterogeneity]. From PMID 12700752: "NAS-1974 calculated a mean TCDD level of 1.91 p.p.m.± 20% for the stockpile. USAF documentation that is widely viewed as authoritative, however, disputes this mean and contends that the four highest values (17, 22, 33 and 47 p.p.m.) must have been Agent Purple, and not Agent Orange, because these values exceeded the mean reported for the NCBC inventory, citing a personal communication from a military officer who recalled that as many as 20 drums of Agent Purple may have been present in the stockpile and redrummed into Agent Orange containers. (The hypergeometric probability of selecting four of the 20 Agent Purple drums from the stockpile is 1.32 × 10-5.) In fact, the range observed is completely consistent with the USAF’s own analysis of the range and heterogeneity of TCDD levels. By 1988, Young, the senior author of the USAF documentation, dropped the word “may” and simply reported the four high values to have been Agent Purple. This latter reference has been relied upon as authoritative by the IOM, and many others." Stellman et al. later guesstimate that "mean TCDD levels in Agent Orange were far higher than 3 p.p.m. for much of the herbicide used. An average value closer to 13 p.p.m. may be more realistic."
 * Young is also the DoD spearhead in a dispute, this time mostly with journalists, over the presence of Agent Orange in Okinawa. This mostly involves shipping records rather than any scientific measurements, so probably of no interest to you.
 * 86.121.18.17 (talk) 06:23, 22 June 2013 (UTC)

User:Guettarda/Fauna of Trinidad and Tobago
I came across your draft page User:Guettarda/Fauna of Trinidad and Tobago and I would like to encourage you to move it to article space. Some of the books found at this search might be worth adding as references, although others found in the search are just reprints of existing Wikipedia articles. Eastmain (talk • contribs) 02:32, 1 July 2013 (UTC)


 * Yeah, I should. I'll try to make the time. Guettarda (talk) 00:58, 2 July 2013 (UTC)

You MUST pay
You owe me one brand new keyboard because you are solely responsible for making me spit out my coffee over mine with your latest response to North. It took me a long time to remove all the keys and clean it out, but it'll never be the same old keyboard after the trauma it (and I) experienced. Oh... and you also owe me for the coffee. And I'm going to charge you for the time I spent cleaning it up, too. And for the time writing this message, as well. AAARRRGGGHHH!!! Dominus Vobisdu (talk) 11:08, 5 July 2013 (UTC)

stopping by
Came by Wikipedia way for some reminiscing. I had not heard about SLR - how sad! I never finished resolving my postmodernism debates with him. Perhaps in the post-afterlife. How are you? Graft | talk 21:52, 23 July 2013 (UTC)


 * Hey - good to see you. I'm well, but barely here these days...trying to be productive in real life, and this place isn't as much fun as it used to be. It's full of ghosts. I come back and try to get back into the rhythm of things every so often, but I haven't managed to get back into the swing of things. If you're on fb and remember my real name, you should add me.


 * It was quite a shock when Steve died...when I run into his comments on Wikipedia it feels strange - comments that sit, waiting to be engaged, but that never will be answered. Guettarda (talk) 03:02, 24 July 2013 (UTC)

ID dispute resolution
As you know, we have frequent disputes on the Talk:Intelligent design page that focus on distinguishing Intelligent design from the teleological argument. I have started a new section on the dispute resolution noticeboard for this and listed you as a participant in these disputes. If you have some time, please stop over and explain what your proposed resolution is and why you believe this to be the case. Thank you! -- MisterDub (talk | contribs) 23:02, 21 August 2013 (UTC)

Hello! There is a DR/N request you may have interest in.
This message is being sent to let you know of a discussion at the Dispute resolution noticeboard regarding a content dispute discussion you may have participated in. Content disputes can hold up article development and make editing difficult for editors. You are not required to participate, but you are both invited and encouraged to help find a resolution. The thread is "Talk:Intelligent design". Please join us to help form a consensus. Thank you! EarwigBot  operator /  talk  23:04, 21 August 2013 (UTC)

Precious again
  ecosystem and memory

Thank you for quality articles such as Aiphanes, for polishing Core content ecosystem and defending it, for keeping the memory of dear people, - repeating: you are an awesome Wikipedian (22 August 2010)!

--Gerda Arendt (talk) 12:31, 23 August 2012 (UTC) A year ago, you were the 222nd recipient of my PumpkinSky Prize, repeated in br'erly style, --Gerda Arendt (talk) 09:20, 23 August 2013 (UTC)

Five years ago, you were recipient no. 222 of Precious, a prize of QAI! --Gerda Arendt (talk) 06:09, 23 August 2017 (UTC)

Six years now! --Gerda Arendt (talk) 06:21, 23 August 2018 (UTC)

Manning case
There are twelve active arbs presently but one is abstained. The number however for the majority is currently being incorrectly calculated so I will speak to the clerk team and see what the issue is. 11 active arbs, 1 abstained and 1 inactive. Thanks for pointing this out :) Seddon talk 14:33, 6 September 2013 (UTC)

Disambiguation link notification for September 7
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Evidence phase open - Manning naming dispute
Dear Guettarda.

This is just a quick courtesy notice. You recently offered a statement in a request for arbitration. The Arbitration Committee has accepted that request for arbitration and an arbitration case has been opened at Arbitration/Requests/Case/Manning naming dispute. Evidence that you wish the arbitrators to consider should be added to the evidence subpage, at Arbitration/Requests/Case/Manning naming dispute/Evidence. Please add your evidence by September 19, 2013, which is when the evidence phase closes. You can also contribute to the case workshop subpage, Arbitration/Requests/Case/Manning naming dispute/Workshop. For a guide to the arbitration process, see Arbitration/Guide to arbitration. For the Arbitration Committee, Seddon talk 23:32, 8 September 2013 (UTC)

Intelligent design
Hi Guettarda, thanks for your partial revert on intelligent design. As you may have noticed, a couple of editors are pushing for the topic of the article to be shifted to cover the generic argument-from-design and/or uses of the term for the generic argument. The talk page discussions are very extensive, I think it needs some attention. If you have suggestions for a preferred introductory paragraph to the lead, I'd appreciate your thoughts. . dave souza, talk 19:13, 9 September 2013 (UTC)

You seem like someone who would know
Hi there, I recently created some new Trinidad-related pages: Caroni Plain, Naparima Plain, Nariva Plain, Southern Range and added pictures to Nariva Swamp and the Caroni Swamp. I also annotated the map: File:Trinidad and Tobago Shaded Relief PCL Texas Annotated.jpg to show where all these geographical features are located. I don't know that much about Trinidad, and fell into working on these pages by accident while rewriting the V. S. Naipaul page. Could you look at the pages, in particular at the map, and let me know if there are any errors and how to correct them. Thanks. Fowler&amp;fowler «Talk»  00:07, 16 October 2013 (UTC)

Check this out
My friend, I want to share this with you: https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/10/30/profile-tony-the-marine/ Not bad, right? Tony the Marine (talk) 18:58, 31 October 2013 (UTC)

ITN credit
ThaddeusB (talk) 02:59, 11 April 2014 (UTC)

Disambiguation link notification for April 11
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FYI ARBCOM notice procedures
Hi, Just fyi regarding this; that's the old procedure. The new "DS Alert" procedure is simply to add
 * cc ~

to the user's talk page without embellishment. The programming takes care of the logging. If you want to add comments, I think the DS instructions say to add the comments in a new thread after posting the DS alert. NewsAndEventsGuy (talk) 22:46, 27 June 2014 (UTC)


 * Thanks! Guettarda (talk) 00:44, 28 June 2014 (UTC)

Modified my comment
Hi. I'm still wavering about the beauty queen tape, and have modified my comment to better represent my present view. I don't think my change affects the meaning of your later comment, but if you'd prefer to restore my original comment, please do and I'll add a clarification. Cheers. --Anthonyhcole (talk · contribs · email) 07:21, 8 July 2014 (UTC)
 * Thanks for letting me know. I have no problem leaving things the way they are. Guettarda (talk) 11:20, 8 July 2014 (UTC)

July 2014
This is the last warning you will receive regarding your off-topic commentary at Talk:Intelligent design. It is not your place to soapbox in that thread as you have fairly consistently done already. I asked an independent admin to review and summarie the discussion yesterday, although he has apparently not done so yet. But there is a very real probability that what I can only think of as your obnoxious, arrogant refusal to abide by guidelines will go to AE should it continue. John Carter (talk) 21:44, 13 July 2014 (UTC)


 * You can't be serious. I'm discussing the topic at hand. You are the one using the page to attack atheists, discuss the historicity of Jesus, speculate about string theory. I'm discussing the issue at hand which is whether "pseudoscience" is an appropriate descriptor for the topic. Seriously, take your bluster and nonsense elsewhere. Guettarda (talk) 22:21, 13 July 2014 (UTC)
 * The above statement can reasonably be seen as a transparent probably willful absolute disregard for the topic of the thread. And some of your own recent comments casstng similar aspersions on Chrisstians specifically raise serious questions of hypocrisy. Let me try to spell it out in terms you might perhaps be able to understand. The stated topic of the thread in question is presenting evidence to ArbCom. It is not your place to determine what others can present. Are you capable of understanding that? Warning stands.John Carter (talk) 14:45, 14 July 2014 (UTC)


 * The above statement can reasonably be seen as a transparent probably willful absolute disregard for the topic of the thread
 * Nope, just amusement at your absurd "warning". I'm on topic. You, on the other hand, are using the talk page to complain about Richard Dawkins, the historical Jesus, string theory, and atheism.
 * And some of your own recent comments casstng [sic] similar aspersions on Chrisstians [sic] specifically raise serious questions of hypocrisy
 * Religious intolerance is unbecoming. Attacking me (practicing Christian, regular church attendee, liturgist, who has served on a variety of church committees and chaired one of the key local church committees) because my beliefs do not square with yours is pretty distasteful behaviour on your part.
 * Let me try to spell it out in terms you might perhaps be able to understand...Are you capable of understanding that
 * Please try to abide by our policy on personal attacks.
 * The stated topic of the thread in question is presenting evidence to ArbCom. It is not your place to determine what others can present.
 * But apparently it's your place to determine what others are allowed to discuss? Fascinating.
 * Warning stands
 * Yep. As an indictment of your incivility, rudeness, misunderstanding of policy and general intolerance of world-views other than your own. Guettarda (talk) 17:37, 14 July 2014 (UTC)g
 * You accuse me in te above of attacking you on your personal beliefs none of whi I was aware of and also accuse me of editing to support my personal beliefs despite knowin nothin whatsoever what those beiefs even are. If you hatted the disussion about relevant matters because you determined them "off-topic" and thus deemed the matters which you unilaterally decided others could not discuss that is even more fascinating and something. You also indicate both a rush to making unsubstantiated assertions about the motivations of other actions. Personally as someone who won an astronomy scholarship from a major astronomy foundation in college I actually strongly support it. Perhaps you were too blinded by your own possible intolerance to even care about knowing something about something before being taken over by your own biases and transparent attempts at misdirection regarding your own actions. Feel free to giving more evidence further irrational and unfounded rushes to judgment. John Carter (talk) 18:08, 14 July 2014 (UTC)
 * You accuse me in te above of attacking you on your personal beliefs none of whi [sic] I was aware of
 * Sorry, not an out. You engaged in attacks based on sectarian religious positions. The fact that you specifically accused me of attacking Christianity makes your comments more offensive, but it doesn't change their substance. And seriously, that's a very poor attempt at an apology. Guettarda (talk) 18:27, 14 July 2014 (UTC) I spoke too soon. Relative to this, it was an excellent apology. Fewer personal attacks on this side. Guettarda (talk) 18:34, 14 July 2014 (UTC)
 * I don't see any apologies from yout about your personal attacks based on your irrational and factually wrong assumptions either, but I have known for some time how certain parties who are so quick to criticize others love pulling out the long knives themselves quickly, and rarely if ever apologize for doing so.John Carter (talk) 20:09, 15 July 2014 (UTC)
 * Wander off and find someone else to bug. Preferably sans the personal attacks. Your antics have gone from amusingly absurd to boringly repetitive. And if you expect people to stop posting on your user page, you need to stop posting on theirs. Guettarda (talk) 20:50, 15 July 2014 (UTC)


 * John, saying to anyone that they are "obnoxious" and "arrogant" is a violation of our rules on being WP:CIVIL. If you have a grievance, then remain professional here, and if it is unresolved then make use of WP:DR.  If any ed is truly being a problem, you needn't try to to label the behavior, just point it out in an efficient presentation and let the other party hoist themselves on their own petard.  But watch out for the WP:BOOMERANG effect. NewsAndEventsGuy (talk) 00:44, 14 July 2014 (UTC)

World Resources Institute
Greetings. I see that you've attempted a "clean start" on this article, but I see no claim of notability as it currently stands, so I've tagged it for an A7 speedy deletion. Let me know if I've overstepped here. Thanks. -- Finngall  talk  20:50, 6 August 2014 (UTC)


 * Ugh. First someone adds copyvio material to the article, so the whole thing gets deleted by people who don't bother to check for pre-copyvio additons. Twice. I'm trying to find a way to avoid this in the future...and you nominate it for speedy deletion. Well, I can't do anything about it right now, especially since my battery is about to die. When did this place get so deleting-happy? Guettarda (talk) 21:44, 6 August 2014 (UTC)

Problem editor
Would you mind examining the disruption occurring on Tragedy of the commons, Mediterranean Sea and History of sustainability and see if you can suggest a way forward. I've run out of patience. --Epipelagic (talk) 20:40, 22 September 2014 (UTC)

Milo Yiannopoulos
No. I don't believe there should be a move because it is indeed NOT the name for which he is known for. And at the same time, it is his birth name(for which there is conclusive sources pointing towards this). For that reason alone, the article must include it if it is to paint a complete, unbiased picture of the man. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Malfuron4 (talk • contribs) 19:51, 19 January 2015 (UTC)
 * Including his birth name, if it can be sourced appropriately, is fine. What you were doing was changing every mention of his name. And if that's the case, then the article should be moved. (And please read WP:BLP and note the sourcing requirements. Guettarda (talk) 20:02, 19 January 2015 (UTC)
 * I do not wish to involve myself further with how the article should be handled. What i am here for, is to provide one solid piece of information. His real name. The source is indeed, blacklisted seeing as how it comes from both his fathers twitter and ccdni. A fourth source, is companycheck.co.uk does not appear to be blacklisted but contains an address which i am concerned of linking. It is clear that Yiannopoulos is not his name. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Malfuron4 (talk • contribs) 22:19, 19 January 2015 (UTC)
 * The problem is that truth isn't good enough - we need reliable sources. And the more controversial the claim, the more important it is that the source be of the highest quality. Guettarda (talk) 22:21, 19 January 2015 (UTC)
 * Just confirmed it via his own twitter account. It proves everything. Cannot get more reliable information than the horses mouth itself. Im reverting back to my changes. If anyone wants to do cleanup on it, be my guest but the info is 100% accurate. https://twitter.com/Nero/status/476380632533450753 — Preceding unsigned comment added by Malfuron4 (talk • contribs) 16:30, 20 January 2015 (UTC)

"say no to mansplaining"
Nice comment at the MFD! I looked up Mansplaining and hope i have not done that. Is "say no to mansplaining" your phrase? I like it. I think it's probably helpful for men to respond to other men's comments/questions, though, not a violation, right? I've said enough already, don't want to comment much more. cheers, :) -- do ncr  am  22:38, 5 February 2015 (UTC)


 * Thanks. I have no idea if I just coined that phrase. Or cobbled it together. it wasn't aimed at anyone in particular (except the original draft of my comment). Definitely wasn't aimed at you. Guettarda (talk) 12:55, 6 February 2015 (UTC)

Questions about a certain [reversion] edit
I have some questions about this edit.

I did not remove the character string that [supposedly] is the title. That is, the string that is the title according to the "edit comment" which says: "um, no, the title is the line above that".]

On the other hand, this edit (see above) did remove the character string that (IMHO) was a better title. (That is, the string that I thought was better, as [all or part of] a "title" for the web page with the URL of http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=128944 .)

I am not immediately ready to "insist" that leaving in both of those two character strings is the best choice. (However, if you have any comments about that "idea", I am willing to listen.)

I am prepared to try to reach some consensus. Is there anything we can do to explore (or discuss) (or, explain to each other) the goals that are [perhaps] to be achieved by choosing well, [and carefully] which character string to use as the "title"? (or, maybe that should say, << the goals that are "more nearly" to be achieved >> by doing so) (- ? -).

Would it benefit anyone (perhaps in pursuing the above mentioned goals?) if one of us were to explore (or discuss) (or, explain) the reasons why the use of the character string"Sabal Adanson ex Guersent, Bulletin des Sciences, par la Societe Philomatique. 87: 205-206. 1804" for the "title", would be better?

Do we both understand (thoroughly and well) what each word of that "title" means, and what its role is, in doing whatever things a title is supposed to be helpful for? (such as, describing the "topic" of a certain web page, and informing the reader a little bit, what a certain web page is "about" - ? - )

Do we both (or, do any of us) think that this "title""Sabal Adanson ex Guersent, Bulletin des Sciences, par la Societe Philomatique. 87: 205-206. 1804" comes closer to describing the "topic" of the web page, or otherwise (in some sense) doing thoroughly and well those things that a title is [/slash, "should" be] helpful for?

Have both of us [sufficiently] considered the question of what the web page with the URL of (value of the "url" field) is about? IMHO, it comes pretty close to being about "Palmetto". I could be wrong...

I hope this does not sound [too] negative. I hope that there is still a chance that one of us can wake up and learn something, that is not already known (at least, something that we don't both already know). So, maybe there is hope for a happy, win-win outcome, that will be the best for all concerned. (It would even be fine with me, if [after reaching some consensus successfully] we were to nuke this whole section, if [e.g.] we both wanted to delete it before it got in to any "archive" files.) "No harm / no foul." (getting in to "history" logs, -- or, "remaining" in them -- might be a different matter.)

You are welcome (btw) to answer some questions that I did not [know to] ask. ("if any").

The kindness of a response (and/OR an edit that restores the word "Palmetto") would be appreciated. Thank you. --Mike Schwartz (talk) 07:18, 12 February 2015 (UTC)


 * I've come back to this repeatedly, and I still can't get what you're asking here. I've spent a week trying to figure out how to answer your question. It just baffles me. I'll try, but I think it's better that we take this to WT:PLANTS, where there's someone who can better understand what you're asking. I'll take a shot at it, in any case, but I doubt I will answer your question.
 * The part about "Palmetto" is the first bit of information in the entry, after the title. Using it as a title is like picking the first bit of text in an article and calling that the title. I can't wrap my head around how that sentence should be the title. eFloras is an electronic version of the Flora of North America. It's a web version of the printed flora. Like other floras, it's organised into volumes, and within each volume, by family. Within families, you have genera, and within them, species. So the title of the section is the genus, not the common name. Look, for example, at the entry for Arabis The section title is the genus name. Guettarda (talk) 19:36, 21 February 2015 (UTC)


 * Thanks for that kind response. I did not realize that Sabal was the name of the genus.  The rest of the "title""Sabal Adanson ex Guersent, Bulletin des Sciences, par la Societe Philomatique. 87: 205-206. 1804" sounded (to me) (and it still does... 'somewhat') like some kind of bibliography entry, for some article in a certain journal ... or something like that.  I could be wrong.  Maybe someone else will chime in .. and comment about that, and/or answer some question that I did not even know to ask!  I am not (re-) editing the change, at this time.  --Mike Schwartz (talk) 06:52, 22 February 2015 (UTC)

Perhaps I Should Change My Username?
Guettarda, it's good to see that you're still around and contributing on Wikipedia. I don't doubt the significance of your contributions since I fell off the map back in, oh - 2005ish I suppose it was? What a remarkably distorted worldview I had back then. To my credit, I was still in high school, and now that I'm an adult it's interesting to return to my old account and really take in the effects that religious fundamentalism had on an impressionable young man. You may be glad to know that you made an impact - despite my youthful intemperance. The battles that we waged on the Evolution article stuck with me, for some strange reason, and have ultimately led me back into the field of science. I have since obtained a four-year, and am going back for another B.S. (Biology this time.) Anyway, I wanted to say thank you for sticking to your guns far more patiently than I would have expected from anyone. I hope everything is well with you and that you have not been pestered by any more high school creationists. That said, I'm eager to get involved on Wikipedia once again. For now I think it's just a matter of finding my feet and looking to hone in on one or two topics. Perhaps you'd be willing to advise. Respectfully, Salva (talk) 16:13, 23 February 2015 (UTC)

New Mail
--Kyohyi (talk) 14:28, 24 February 2015 (UTC)


 * Sorry, I can't help on that. Try these folks. Guettarda (talk) 14:54, 24 February 2015 (UTC)

Hello!
I just noticed that Sophie Hunter has notable relatives and this should be reflected in her infobox. All sources are in the family family section of the page. If you may be so kind to copy-paste this to the page, I would be very grateful and it would be a big improvement to her page. Thank you in advance! 62.46.161.223 (talk) 06:01, 25 February 2015 (UTC)


 * family       = Michael Gow

(maternal grandfather)

J. E. B. Seely

(maternal great-grandfather)

Timothy Carlton

(father-in-law)

Wanda Ventham

(mother-in-law)


 * Sophie Hunter? I have no idea who she is, but this info has been added to the infobox of her article. Guettarda (talk) 06:16, 25 February 2015 (UTC)
 * This IP is a sock of Fairyspit. Be careful as they spam editors to do their editing for them. LADY LOTUS • TALK 12:35, 25 February 2015 (UTC)
 * You 'might' want to see User:Fairyspit ...and/or, check out User talk:62.46.161.223. ...plus (of course) "62.46.161.223"
 * Just "FYI"! --Mike Schwartz (talk) 19:30, 22 May 2015 (UTC)
 * Ooops, I did not see this until now: User_talk:Art_LaPella ...hence, please "see the other [-named] page, if appropriate" ("if applicable"). :-)
 * --Mike Schwartz (talk) 20:03, 22 May 2015 (UTC)

Disambiguation link notification for March 4
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Disruptive users
Hi, you seem very experienced so I was wondering if you could point me in the right direction. I know that we're supposed to assume good faith, but how long until I can suspect that someone is not editing in good faith, and what do I do when I come to that conclusion? Is there a way to keep someone from editing a single page? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Inicholson (talk • contribs) 21:30, 12 March 2015 (UTC)


 * Do nothing. Yet. The guy's upset, give him a chance to step back and gain some perspective, realise he's pretty much alone in his perspective. If he keeps it up, there are a lot of options, all of which are tedious. Guettarda (talk) 21:40, 12 March 2015 (UTC)


 * Thanks for the advice, it seems wise. Inicholson (talk) 21:44, 12 March 2015 (UTC)

WikiCup 2015 May newsletter
The second round one has all wrapped up, and round three has now begun! Congratulations to the 34 contestants who have made it through, but well done and thank you to all contestants who took part in our second round. Leading the way overall was in Group B with a total of 777 points for a variety of contributions including Good Articles on Corona Borealis and Microscopium - both of which received the maximum bonus. Special credit must be given to a number of high importance articles improved during the second round.
 * was one of several users who worked on improving Ulysses S. Grant. Remember, you do not need to work on an article on your own - as long as each person has completed significant work on the article during 2015, multiple competitors can claim the same article.
 * took Dragonfly to Good Article for a 3x bonus - and if that wasn't enough, they also took Damselfly there as well for a 2x bonus.
 * worked up Alexander Hamilton to Good Article for the maximum bonus. Hamilton was one of the founding fathers of the United States and is a level 4 vital article.

The points varied across groups, with the lowest score required to gain automatic qualification was 68 in Group A - meanwhile the second place score in Group H was 404, which would have been high enough to win all but one of the other Groups! As well as the top two of each group automatically going through to the third round, a minimum score of 55 was required for a wildcard competitor to go through. We had a three-way tie at 55 points and all three have qualified for the next round, in the spirit of fairness. The third round ends on June 28, with the top two in each group progressing automatically while the remaining 16 highest scorers across all four groups go through as wildcards. Good luck to all competitors for the third round! , and  16:33, 4 May 2015 (UTC)

Video vixen move
Some cleanup seems necessary, as the Talk:Video vixen page is for the old redirect, not the current article. (I think there's a speedy delete category for Talk pages of deleted pages, which seems to apply here, but I'm sure you know more about that than I do.) —BarrelProof (talk) 17:57, 8 May 2015 (UTC)


 * I was sure I clicked "move associated talk page". But apparently I didn't. Thanks for the note. Guettarda (talk) 12:56, 9 May 2015 (UTC)

Caroni River
Dear Guettarda, I am writing articles about Trinidad on the German Wikipedia. I am having trouble researching a seemingly easy question and would like to ask if you know anything about it or whom to ask: Where does the Caroni river start? "In the Northern Range" it says, but I only see the Aripo and Arima rivers coming from the north. I have no idea how the Caroni River continues after this spot. Can you help? Thanks a lot and kind regards, Grueslayer (talk) 03:43, 16 May 2015 (UTC)


 * I asked a friend who worked on those rivers, and she said the Caroni River starts where the Aripo River ends. So I'm guessing the continuation of the name past that point is an error, and the southern arm is actually the Cumuto River. Guettarda (talk) 15:37, 16 May 2015 (UTC)
 * Thanks a lot! I'll need written proof, but this makes sense and is a good base for further research! Thanks again and kind regards, Grueslayer (talk) 16:01, 16 May 2015 (UTC)

Watts Up With That?
I see that you protected it recently, but I do not see the protection icon.-- S Philbrick (Talk)  15:38, 25 May 2015 (UTC)


 * People forget things. (I've often had to remind admins about this). SPhilbrick, as an admin you're within your rights to add the padlock thingy. Short Brigade Harvester Boris (talk) 15:50, 25 May 2015 (UTC)


 * Thanks for the reminder. Guettarda (talk) 15:55, 25 May 2015 (UTC)
 * SBHB, yes, I sort of know, but I do so little in protection, and took a few months off, I wanted someone else to do it, cause I didn't have time to review the process.-- S Philbrick (Talk)  17:45, 25 May 2015 (UTC)

I made a change that was reverted without any Talk at all by RoxytheDog, after I left a justification on the Talk page myself. I reverted back once and was accused of edit warring. I subsequently realized the change was not where it needed to be, and made a slightly different change. It has just been reverted by the same editor, again sans discussion. I'd like to confirm I am okay to revert it back. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Darkthlayli (talk • contribs) 18:26, 26 May 2015 (UTC)


 * See WP:BRD. Basically, if you make a change to an article and someone reverts it, you should discuss the change on the talk page. You aren't obligated to, but it's good form. The onus is on the person making the change to justify it. Guettarda (talk) 18:35, 26 May 2015 (UTC)
 * On this particular article (and several others on related topics) a note at the top of the editing page reminds that "This page is under a 1 revert rule restriction due to the climate change topic community probation. Do not make any edit to the article that reverses the edit of another user in whole or in part more than once in any 24 hour period. Avoid edit warring and seek consensus." Under WP:ARBCC as revised, Arbitration Committee/Discretionary sanctions. Bottom line, discuss, don't revert more than once, or you could be blocked. . . . dave souza, talk 09:15, 27 May 2015 (UTC)

re: Page move
Hi! I was unaware of that convention (on it.wiki we do exactly the opposite!) Sorry! --Esculapio (talk) 15:09, 27 May 2015 (UTC)

Moving Burma to Myanmar - new 2015 poll
You participated in a Burma RM in the past so I'm informing you of another RM. I hope I didn't miss anyone. New move attempt of Burma>Myanmar Fyunck(click) (talk) 08:35, 7 August 2015 (UTC)

ScienceDirect
You should have received an email from me a couple of weeks ago regarding your request for access to ScienceDirect. Could you please either fill out the form linked from that email or let me know if you did not receive it? We are hoping to get these processed as soon as possible. Nikkimaria (talk) 15:41, 22 August 2015 (UTC)
 * Ping. Nikkimaria (talk) 15:10, 31 August 2015 (UTC)

WikiCup 2015 September newsletter
The finals for the 2015 Wikicup has now begun! Congrats to the 8 contestants who have survived to the finals, and well done and thanks to everyone who took part in rounds 3 and 4.

In round 3, we had a three-way tie for qualification among the wildcard contestants, so we had 34 competitors. The leader was by far in Group B, who earned 1496 points. Although 913 of these points were bonus points, he submitted 15 articles in the DYK category. Second place overall was at 864 points, who although submitted just 2 FAs for 400 points, earned double that amount for those articles in bonus points. Everyone who moved forward to Round 4 earned at least 100 points.

The scores required to move onto the semifinals were impressive; the lowest scorer to move onto the finals was 407, making this year's Wikicup as competitive as it's always been. Our finalists, ordered by round 4 score, are:


 * , who is competing in his sixth consecutive Wikicup final, again finished the round in first place, with an impressive 1666 points in Pool B. Casliber writes about the natural sciences, including ornithology, botany and astronomy.  A large bulk of his points this round were bonus points.
 * , second place both in Pool B and overall, earned the bulk of his points with FPs, mostly depicting currency.
 * , first in Pool A, came in third. His specialty is natural science articles; in Round 4, he mostly submitted articles about insects and botany.  Five out of the six of the GAs he submitted were level-4 vital articles.
 * , second in Pool A, took fourth overall. He tends to focus on articles about cricket and military history, specifically the 1640s First English Civil War.
 * , from Pool A, was our highest-scoring wildcard. West Virginia tends to focus on articles about the history of (what for it!) the U.S. state of West Virginia.
 * , from Pool A, likes to work on articles about British geography and places. Most of his points this round were earned from two impressive accomplishments: a GT about Scheduled monuments in Somerset and a FT about English Heritage properties in Somerset.
 * , from Pool B, came in seventh overall. RO earned the majority of her points from GARs and PRs, many of which were earned in the final hours of the round.
 * , also from Pool B, who was competing with RO for the final two spots in the final hours, takes the race for most GARs and PRs—48.

The intense competition between RO and Calvin999 will continue into the finals. They're both eligible for the Newcomers Trophy, given for the first time in the Wikicup; whoever makes the most points will win it.

Good luck to the finalists; the judges are sure that the competition will be fierce!

, and  11:48, 2 September 2015 (UTC)

Still Active?
Hey there - are you still active in maintaining T&T related articles? Looking to get back into the swing of things and just reaching out to see if there's merit to making a task force to prioritize certain sections that need immediate help. --   R45    talk! 04:04, 15 September 2015 (UTC)

WikiCup 2015: The results
WikiCup 2015 is now in the books! Congrats to our finalists and winners, and to everyone who took part in this year's competition.

This year's results were an exact replica of last year's competition. For the second year in a row, the 2015 WikiCup champion is. All of his points were earned for an impressive 253 featured pictures and their associated bonus points (5060 and 1695, respectively). His entries constituted scans of currency from all over the world and scans of medallions awarded to participants of the U.S. Space program. came in second place; she earned by far the most bonus points (4082), for 4 featured articles, 15 good articles, and 147 DYKs, mostly about in her field of expertise, natural science. , a finalist every year since 2010, came in third, with 2379 points.

Our newcomer award, presented to the best-performing new competitor in the WikiCup, goes to. Everyone should be very proud of the work they accomplished. We will announce our other award winners soon.

A full list of our award winners are:


 * wins the prize for first place and the FP prize for 330 featured pictures in the final round.
 * wins the prize for second place and the DYK prize for 160 did you knows in the final round (310 in all rounds).
 * wins the prize for third place and the FA prize for 26 featured articles in all rounds.
 * wins the prize for fourth place
 * wins a final 8 prize.
 * wins a final 8 prize.
 * wins a final 8 prize and the FL prize for 11 featured lists.
 * wins the most prizes: a final 8 prize, the GA prize for 41 good articles, and the topic prize for a 13-article good topic and an 8-article featured topic, both in round 3.
 * wins the news prize for the most news articles in round 3.

We warmly invite all of you to sign up for next year's competition. Discussions and polls concerning potential rules changes are also open, and all are welcome to participate. The WikiCup judges will be back in touch over the coming months, and we hope to see you all in the 2016 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.

, and  18:39, 8 November 2015 (UTC)

JSTOR cleanup drive
Sent of behalf of for The Wikipedia Library's JSTOR using MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 22:18, 16 November 2015 (UTC)

ArbCom elections are now open!
MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 12:50, 23 November 2015 (UTC)

WikiCup 2016 is just around the corner...
Hello everyone, and we would like to wish you all a happy holiday season. As you will probably already know, the 2016 WikiCup begins in the new year; there is still time to sign up. There are some changes we'd like to announce before the competition begins.

After two years of serving as WikiCup judge, User:Miyagawa has stepped down as judge. He deserves great thanks and recognition for his dedication and hard work, and for providing necessary transition for a new group of judges in last year's Cup. Joining Christine (User:Figureskatingfan) and Jason (User:Sturmvogel 66) is Andrew (User:Godot13), a very successful WikiCup competitor and expert in Featured Pictures; he won the two previous competitions. This is a strong judging team, and we anticipate lots of enjoyment and good work coming from our 2016 competitors.

We would also like to announce one change in how this year's WikiCup will be run. In the spirit of sportsmanship, Godot13 and Cwmhiraeth have chosen to limit their participation. See here for the announcement and a complete explanation of why. They and the judges feel that it will make for a more exciting, enjoyable, and productive competition.

The discussions/polls concerning the next competition's rules will be closed soon, and rules changes will be made clear on WikiCup/Scoring and talk pages. The judges are committed to not repeating the confusion that occurred last year and to ensuring that the new rules are both fair and in the best interests of the competition, which is, first and foremost, about improving Wikipedia.

If you have any questions or concerns, the judges can be reached on Wikipedia talk:WikiCup, on their talk pages, or by email. We hope you will all join us in trying to make the 2015 WikiCup the most productive and enjoyable yet. You are receiving this message because you are listed on WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. Sturmvogel 66 (talk), Figureskatingfan (talk), and Godot13 (talk).--MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 06:46, 22 December 2015 (UTC)

Happy New Year, Guettarda!


Happy New Year! Guettarda, Have a prosperous, productive and enjoyable New Year, and thanks for your contributions to Wikipedia. DA Sonnenfeld (talk) 16:54, 1 January 2016 (UTC)


 * Spread the WikiLove; use {{subst:Happy New Year 2016}} to send this message


 * Thank you. And Happy New Year to you as well! Guettarda (talk) 20:17, 3 January 2016 (UTC)

WikiCup 2016: Game On!
We are about to enter the second week of the 2016 WikiCup. The most recent player to sign up brings the current total to 101 contestants. Signups close on 5 February. If you’re interested, you can join this year's WikiCup here.

We are aware that in some areas the scoring bot’s numbers are a little bit off (i.e., overly generous) and are working to have that corrected as soon as possible.--MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 18:04, 7 January 2016 (UTC)

WikiCup 2016: Game On!
We are about to enter the second week of the 2016 WikiCup. The most recent player to sign up brings the current total to 101 contestants. Signups close on 5 February. If you’re interested, you can join this year's WikiCup here.

We are aware that in some areas the scoring bot’s numbers are a little bit off (i.e., overly generous) and are working to have that corrected as soon as possible.--MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 18:08, 7 January 2016 (UTC)

WikiCup 2015 March newsletter


That's it, the first round is done, sign-ups are closed and we're into round 2. Forty-seven competitors move into this round (a bit shy of the expected 64), and we are roughly broken into eight groups of six. The top two of each group will go through to round 3, and then the top scoring 16 "wildcards" across all groups.

Twenty-two Good Articles were submitted, including three by, and two each by , , , and. Twenty-one Featured Pictures were claimed, including 17 by (the Round 1 high scorer). Thirty-one contestants saw their DYKs appear on the main page, with a commanding lead (28) by. Twenty-nine participants conducted GA reviews with completing nine.

If you are concerned that your nomination will not receive the necessary reviews, please list it on WikiCup/Reviews. 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. Thanks to everyone for participating, and good luck to those moving into round 2. ,, and --MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 02:39, 1 March 2016 (UTC)

WikiCup 2016 March newsletter (update)
Along with getting the year wrong in the newsletter that went out earlier this week, we did not mention (as the bot did not report) that claimed the first Featured Article Persoonia terminalis of the 2016 Wikicup. ,, and .--MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 16:06, 2 March 2016 (UTC)

Discuss with me?
Hi there,

I wanted to see if you were still an active Wikipedia editor and to invite you to discuss the renaming of the article Evidence of common descent. See: Talk:Evidence_of_common_descent and Talk:Evidence_of_common_descent.

Cheers!  A. Z. Colvin  •  Talk  01:07, 5 March 2016 (UTC)


 * Thanks for the heads up. I just don't know how I feel. Guettarda (talk) 18:28, 7 March 2016 (UTC)

Merging altitudinal zonation articles
I wrote a first draft of a merged article at User:Hike395/sandbox. As an ecologist, what do you think? Please feel free to comment at Talk:Mountain ecology. Thanks! —hike395 (talk) 15:13, 8 April 2016 (UTC)

Incidentally...
A third fig...at FAC, see Featured article candidates/Ficus rubiginosa/archive1...Cas Liber (talk · contribs) 11:06, 16 April 2016 (UTC)

Moving Montane ecology to Montane ecosystem
The discussion seems to have completely died out at Talk:Montane ecology. I am unable to perform the move any more (probably due to my previous move), so could you kindly execute the move? Thanks! —hike395 (talk) 14:55, 22 April 2016 (UTC)


 * Back in June, User:Henriduvent moved the article to Mountain ecosystems (note plural). The consensus at the talk page seemed to prefer "Montane" to "Mountain", so I just moved the article to Montane ecosystems. The plural may or may not be correct --- WP prefers singular titles, but it seems that the article is about multiple different kinds of ecosystems (at different elevations), so I kept the plural. —hike395 (talk) 07:25, 19 July 2016 (UTC)

WikiCup 2016 May newsletter


Round 2 is over and 35 competitors have moved on to Round 3.

Round 2 saw three FAs (two by and one by ), four Featured Lists (with three by ), and 53 Good Articles (six by  and five each by, , and ). Eleven Featured Pictures were promoted (six by and five by ). One Featured Portal, Featured Topic and Good Topic were also promoted. The DYK base point total was 1,135. scored 265 base points, while and  each scored 150 base points. Eleven ITN were promoted and 131 Good Article Reviews were conducted with completing a staggering 61 reviews. Two contestants, and, broke the 700 point mark for Round 2.

If you are concerned that your nomination will not receive the necessary reviews, please list it on WikiCup/Reviews. 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. Thanks to everyone for participating, and good luck to those moving into round 2. ,, and -- MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 03:00, 5 May 2016 (UTC)

Extended confirmed protection

 * Hello Ian I recently finished my Femme wikipedia page, I would really appreciate if you could briefly look over it and review how it was done. I would appreciate any commentary you could possibly add to help. Thanks Takkygirl1153 (talk) 16:26, 28 October 2016 (UTC)

WikiCup 2016 November newsletter: Final results
The final round of the 2016 WikiCup is over. Congratulations to the 2016 WikiCup top three finalists:
 * First Place -
 * Second Place -
 * Third Place -

In addition to recognizing the achievements of the top finishers and everyone who worked hard to make it to the final round, we also want to recognize those participants who were most productive in each of the WikiCup scoring categories:
 * Featured Article – Cas Liber (actually a three-way tie with themselves for two FAs in each of R2, R3, and R5).
 * Good Article – MPJ-DK had 14 GAs promoted in R3.
 * Featured List – produced 2 FLs in R2
 * Featured Pictures – Adam Cuerden restored 18 images to FP status in R4.
 * Featured Portal – produced the only FPO of the Cup in R2.
 * Featured Topic – and Calvin were each responsible for one FT in R3 and R2, respectively.
 * Good Topic – MPJ-DK created a GT with 9 GAs in R5.
 * Did You Know – MPJ-DK put 53 DYKs on the main page in R4.
 * In The News – and, each with 5 ITN, both in R4.
 * Good Article Review – MPJ-DK completed 61 GARs in R2.

Over the course of the 2016 WikiCup the following content was added to Wikipedia (only reporting on fixed value categories): 17 Featured Articles, 183 Good Articles, 8 Featured Lists, 87 Featured Pictures, 40 In The News, and 321 Good Article Reviews. Thank you to all the competitors for your hard work and what you have done to improve Wikipedia.--MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 01:53, 2 November 2016 (UTC)

We will open up a discussion for comments on process and scoring in a few days. The 2017 WikiCup is just around the corner! Many thanks from all the judges. If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove yourself from WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. ,, and

WikiProject Good Articles's 2016-2017 GA Cup
--MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 01:40, 3 November 2016 (UTC)

MfD nomination of Wikipedia:Caribbean Wikipedians' notice board/Caribbean Articles for Deletion/Closed
Wikipedia:Caribbean Wikipedians' notice board/Caribbean Articles for Deletion/Closed, a page which you created or substantially contributed to (or which is in your userspace), has been nominated for deletion. Your opinions on the matter are welcome; you may participate in the discussion by adding your comments at Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/Wikipedia:Caribbean Wikipedians' notice board/Caribbean Articles for Deletion/Closed and please be sure to sign your comments with four tildes ( ~ ). You are free to edit the content of Wikipedia:Caribbean Wikipedians' notice board/Caribbean Articles for Deletion/Closed during the discussion but should not remove the miscellany for deletion template from the top of the page; such a removal will not end the deletion discussion. Thank you. Steel1943 (talk) 03:53, 11 November 2016 (UTC)

Two-Factor Authentication now available for admins
Hello,

Please note that TOTP based two-factor authentication is now available for all administrators. In light of the recent compromised accounts, you are encouraged to add this additional layer of security to your account. It may be enabled on your preferences page in the "User profile" tab under the "Basic information" section. For basic instructions on how to enable two-factor authentication, please see the developing help page for additional information. Important: Be sure to record the two-factor authentication key and the single use keys. If you lose your two factor authentication and do not have the keys, it's possible that your account will not be recoverable. Furthermore, you are encouraged to utilize a unique password and two-factor authentication for the email account associated with your Wikimedia account. This measure will assist in safeguarding your account from malicious password resets. Comments, questions, and concerns may be directed to the thread on the administrators' noticeboard. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 20:33, 12 November 2016 (UTC)

A new user right for New Page Patrollers
Hi.

A new user group, New Page Reviewer, has been created in a move to greatly improve the standard of new page patrolling. The user right can be granted by any admin at PERM. It is highly recommended that admins look beyond the simple numerical threshold and satisfy themselves that the candidates have the required skills of communication and an advanced knowledge of notability and deletion. Admins are automatically included in this user right.

It is anticipated that this user right will significantly reduce the work load of admins who patrol the performance of the patrollers. However,due to the complexity of the rollout, some rights may have been accorded that may later need to be withdrawn, so some help will still be needed to some extent when discovering wrongly applied deletion tags or inappropriate pages that escape the attention of less experienced reviewers, and above all, hasty and bitey tagging for maintenance. User warnings are available here but very often a friendly custom message works best.

If you have any questions about this user right, don't hesitate to join us at WT:NPR. (Sent to all admins) .MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 13:47, 15 November 2016 (UTC)

Editing in this topic
Hello Guettarda, I would like to edit and to expand some references based on the edits in the article Gore Effect. Because I did some new research after I found by chance the discussion on the talk page at WP:DE, some days ago. After two actions to deled this article – the same as with this article – editors started to change the article to a Stup. How I write my articles you can see at Georg Nees and William Fetter for example. I get a Barn Star for this articles and Architectural endoscopy too. My way to edit and expand is to discus this first on the talk page and after this I star with the edits. Please can you have a look at my edits and my English too, Best regards.--Maxim Pouska (talk) 06:10, 2 December 2016 (UTC)

WikiCup December newsletter: WikiCup 2017
On 1 January 2017, WikiCup 2017 (the 10th Annual WikiCup) will begin. This year we are trying something a little different – monetary prizes.

For the WC2017 the prizes will be as follows (amounts are based in US$ and will be awarded in the form of an online Amazon gift certificate):
 * First place – $200
 * Second & Third place – $50 each
 * Category prizes – $25 per category (which will be limited to FA, FL, FP, GA, and DYK for 2017). Winning a category prize does not require making it to the final round.

Note: Monetary prizes are a one-year experiment for 2017 and may or may not be continued in the future. In order to be eligible to receive any of the prizes above, the competing Wikipedia account must have a valid/active email address. After two years as a WikiCup judge, Figureskatingfan is stepping down. We thank her for her contributions as a WikiCup judge. We are pleased to announce that our newest judge is two-time WikiCup champion Cwmhiraeth.

The judges for the 2017 WikiCup are, , and.

Signups are open now and will remain open until 5 February 2017. You can sign up here.

If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove yourself from WikiCup/Newsletter/Send.MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 20:02, 14 December 2016 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter - February 2017
News and updates for administrators from the past month (January 2017). This first issue is being sent out to all administrators, if you wish to keep receiving it please subscribe. Your feedback is welcomed.

Administrator changes
 * Gnome-colors-list-add.svg NinjaRobotPirate • Schwede66 • K6ka • Ealdgyth • Ferret • Cyberpower678 • Mz7 • Primefac • Dodger67
 * Gnome-colors-list-remove.svg Briangotts • JeremyA • BU Rob13

Guideline and policy news
 * A discussion to workshop proposals to amend the administrator inactivity policy at Wikipedia talk:Administrators has been in process since late December 2016.
 * Pending changes/Request for Comment 2016 closed with no consensus for implementing Pending changes level 2 with new criteria for use.
 * Following an RfC, an activity requirement is now in place for bots and bot operators.

Technical news
 * When performing some administrative actions the reason field briefly gave suggestions as text was typed. This change has since been reverted so that issues with the implementation can be addressed. (T34950)
 * Following the latest RfC concluding that Pending Changes 2 should not be used on the English Wikipedia, an RfC closed with consensus to remove the options for using it from the page protection interface, a change which has now been made. (T156448)
 * The Foundation has announced a new community health initiative to combat harassment. This should bring numerous improvements to tools for admins and CheckUsers in 2017.

Arbitration
 * The Arbitration Committee released a response to the Wikimedia Foundation's statement on paid editing and outing.

Obituaries
 * JohnCD (John Cameron Deas) passed away on 30 December 2016. John began editing Wikipedia seriously during 2007 and became an administrator in November 2009.

Discuss this newsletter • Subscribe • Archive

13:37, 1 February 2017 (UTC)

March 2017 WikiCup newsletter
And so ends the first round of the competition, with 4 points required to qualify for round 2. It would have been 5 points, but when a late entrant was permitted to join the contest in February, a promise was made that his inclusion would not result in the exclusion of any other competitor. To achieve this, the six entrants that had the lowest positive score of 4 points have been added to the 64 people who otherwise would have qualified. As a result, some of the groups have nine contestants rather than eight. Our top four scorers in round 1 were:


 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Cas Liber, last year's winner, led the field with two featured articles on birds and a total score of 674.
 * 🇪🇺 Iry-Hor, a WikiCup newcomer, came next with a featured article, a good article and a tally of 282 bonus points for a score of 517. All these points came from the article Nyuserre Ini, an Ancient Egyptian pharaoh,
 * 🇯🇵 1989, another WikiCup newcomer, was in joint third place at 240. 1989 has claimed points for two featured lists and one good article relating to anime and comedy series, all of which were awarded bonus points.
 * Peacemaker67 shared third place with five good articles and thirteen good article reviews, mostly on naval vessels. He is also new to the competition.

The largest number of DYKs have been submitted by Vivvt and The C of E, who each claimed for seven, and MBlaze Lightning achieved eight articles at ITN. Carbrera and Peacemaker67 each claimed for five GAs and Krishna Chaitanya Velaga was well out in front for GARs, having reviewed 32. No featured pictures, featured topics or good topics yet, but we have achieved three featured articles and a splendid total of fifty good articles.

So, on to the second round. Remember that any content promoted after the end of round 1 but before the start of round 2 can be claimed in round 2. Invitations for collaborative writing efforts or any other discussion of potentially interesting work is always welcome on the WikiCup talk page. Remember, if two or more WikiCup competitors have done significant work on an article, all can claim points equally.

If you are concerned that your nomination—whether it is a good article candidate, a featured process, or anything else—will not receive the necessary reviews, please list it on WikiCup/Reviews. 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. Good luck! If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove yourself from WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. Godot13, Sturmvogel 66 and Cwmhiraeth 13:52, 1 March 2017 (UTC)

Speedy deletion nomination of Jamaat al Muslimeen (disambiguation)


A tag has been placed on Jamaat al Muslimeen (disambiguation) requesting that it be speedily deleted from Wikipedia. This has been done under section G6 of the criteria for speedy deletion, because it is an orphaned disambiguation page which either
 * disambiguates two or fewer extant Wikipedia pages and whose title ends in "(disambiguation)" (i.e., there is a primary topic); or
 * disambiguates no (zero) extant Wikipedia pages, regardless of its title.

Under the criteria for speedy deletion, such pages may be deleted at any time. Please see the disambiguation page guidelines for more information.

If you think this page should not be deleted for this reason, you may contest the nomination by visiting the page and clicking the button labelled "Contest this speedy deletion". This will give you the opportunity to explain why you believe the page should not be deleted. However, be aware that once a page is tagged for speedy deletion, it may be removed without delay. Please do not remove the speedy deletion tag from the page yourself, but do not hesitate to add information in line with Wikipedia's policies and guidelines. – S. Rich (talk) 20:24, 5 April 2017 (UTC)

May 2017 WikiCup newsletter
The second round of the competition has now closed, with just under 100 points being required to qualify for round 3. YellowEvan just scraped into the next round with 98 points but we have to say goodbye to the thirty or so competitors who didn't achieve this threshold; thank you for the useful contributions you have made to the Cup and Wikipedia. Our top scorers in round 2 were:


 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Cas Liber, led the field with five featured articles, four on birds and one on astronomy, and a total score of 2049, half of which came from bonus points.
 * 🇯🇵 1989 was in second place with 826 points, 466 of which were bonus points. 1989 has claimed points mostly relating to anime and Japanese-related articles.
 * Peacemaker67 took third place with two FAs, one GA and seven GARs, mostly on naval vessels or military personnel, scoring 543 points.
 * Other contestants who scored over 400 points were Freikorp, Carbrera, and Czar. Of course all these points are now wiped out and the 32 remaining contestants start again from zero in round 3.

Vivvt submitted the largest number of DYKs (30), and MBlaze Lightning achieved 13 articles at ITN. Carbrera claimed for 11 GAs and Argento Surfer performed the most GARs, having reviewed 11. So far we have achieved 38 featured articles and a splendid 132 good articles. Commendably, 279 GARs have been achieved so far, more than double the number of GAs.

So, on to the third round. Remember that any content promoted after the end of round 2 but before the start of round 3 can be claimed in round 3. Remember too that you must claim your points within 10 days of "earning" them. Invitations for collaborative writing efforts or any other discussion of potentially interesting work is always welcome on the WikiCup talk page. Remember, if two or more WikiCup competitors have done significant work on an article, all can claim points equally.

If you are concerned that your nomination—whether it is at good article nominations, a featured process, or anywhere else—will not receive the necessary reviews, please list it on WikiCup/Reviews. 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. Good luck! If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove yourself from WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. Godot13, Sturmvogel 66 and Cwmhiraeth 13:16, 1 May 2017 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – May 2017
News and updates for administrators from the past month (April 2017). Administrator changes
 * Gnome-colors-list-add.svg Karanacs • Berean Hunter • GoldenRing • Dlohcierekim
 * Gnome-colors-list-remove.svg Gdr • Tyrenius • JYolkowski • Longhair • Master Thief Garrett • Aaron Brenneman • Laser brain • JzG • Dragons flight

Guideline and policy news
 * An RfC has clarified that user categories should be emptied upon deletion, but redlinked user categories should not be removed if re-added by the user.
 * Discussions are ongoing regarding proposed changes to the COI policy. Changes so far have included clarification that adding a link on a Wikipedia forum to a job posting is not a violation of the harassment policy.

Technical news
 * You can now see a list of all autoblocks at Special:AutoblockList.
 * There is a new tool for adding archives to dead links. Administrators are able to restrict other user's ability to use the tool, and have additional permissions when changing URL and domain data.
 * Administrators, bureaucrats and stewards can now set an expiry date when granting user rights. (discuss, permalink)

Miscellaneous
 * Following an RfC, the editing restrictions page is now split into a list of active restrictions and an archive of those that are old or on inactive accounts. Make sure to check both pages if searching for a restriction.

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Archive Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 20:19, 2 May 2017 (UTC)

Today's Wikipedian 10 years ago
... the sixth! --Gerda Arendt (talk) 20:42, 5 May 2017 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – June 2017
News and updates for administrators from the past month (May 2017).

Administrator changes
 * Gnome-colors-list-add.svg Doug Bell • Dennis Brown • Clpo13 • ONUnicorn
 * Gnome-colors-list-remove.svg ThaddeusB • Yandman • Bjarki S • OldakQuill • Shyam • Jondel • Worm That Turned

Guideline and policy news
 * An RfC proposing an off-wiki LTA database has been closed. The proposal was broadly supported, with further discussion required regarding what to do with the existing LTA database and defining access requirements. Such a tool/database formed part of the Community health initiative's successful grant proposal.
 * Some clarifications have been made to the community banning and unblocking policies that effectively sync them with current practice. Specifically, the community has reached a consensus that when blocking a user at WP:AN or WP:ANI, it is considered a "community sanction", and administrators cannot unblock unilaterally if the user has not successfully appealed the sanction to the community.
 * An RfC regarding the bot policy has closed with changes to the section describing restrictions on cosmetic changes.

Technical news
 * Users will soon be able to blacklist specific users from sending them notifications.

Miscellaneous
 * Following the 2017 elections, the new members of the Board of Trustees include Raystorm, Pundit and Doc James. They will serve three-year terms.

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Archive Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 21:40, 1 June 2017 (UTC)

Patrick Matthew : Talk
Hi, I really respect Wikipedia editors because of the difficult job they do. it is a thankless task. i also understand that the mass action of many editors ought to result in a mean effect across the site. Might I suggest that undo-ing so many edits in a single rollback would have been better researched by looking at the involved users' talk pages. if you had done so, the background to the current situation would have been made obvious and your choice to remove vital material may have been different. Please reinstate the edits on the Patrick Matthew : Talk page -- we are trying to resolve an issue of great significance to the parties involved and would appreciate your cooperation. we have already negotiated this with your fellow moderators. Thank you. Jfderry (talk) 01:35, 25 June 2017 (UTC)


 * unfortunately, all edits are preserved in the page history, so there's no way to simply remove parts of them. Since the edits were suppressed by an Oversighter, I no longer have the ability to see the edits or undo the suppression. Guettarda (talk) 15:09, 26 June 2017 (UTC)


 * Hi thanks for the info. It was rather a shock, so much work had gone into it - apologies if my outcry was a little authoritarian. I do have a copy of the deleted material, which, if you agree, could be reinstated within Wiki rules. Please can I ask for confirmation, what were the issues with it? You mention IPs, which I included only because the same person was being questioned in a previous section regarding sock puppetry, but I can redact those numbers. You also mentioned the insulting language. Well, that was entirely at the hand of the outspoken aggressor who was attacking me, about which I do not mind, especially as his outbursts were eliciting some useful information. What can be returned to the Talk page please? If you need to see it again, how can I get the material to you without invoking problems here, in Wikipedia? Thanks again, Jfderry (talk) 16:26, 26 June 2017 (UTC)


 * Anything that connects a Wikipedia contributor with their real-life identity is out of bounds. The sock puppetry issue can be raised at WP:SPI, not on a talk page. On an article talk page you need to focus on the content and how to improve it, not on the contributors. If it's about the person, not the content, it doesn't belong there., do you have any other suggestions for how he might proceed? Guettarda (talk) 13:34, 28 June 2017 (UTC)


 * Excellent clarification thank you Guettarda. I've asked  Jezebel's Ponyo bons mots who issued me a Final Warning (I'd rather not get banned when only trying to share information) whether I should add the IP's and other Wiki alias accounts for  to  Sockpuppet investigations/Bustermythmonger/Archive. Perhaps you or  can clarify. These IPs I have used to confirm the ones  informed me that people have been reluctant to add in, because they may have been the action of another at NTU. But they are confirmed, his having made visits to the page hosting his non-peer review paper (and then sat there repeatedly clicking to drive up the page counter before then tweeting his disbelief at how many thousands of people have read his paper; the clicks are just page loads, not PDF downloads) in the journal of the Polish intelligent design movement, Aspects of Genesis. The person behind Bustermythmonger and those other accounts, bar  who is legit, thinks they are cutting edge, forefront of sceptical science: you couldn't make this up! That is why I am involved, to curb misinformation, and how I can identify IPs and aliases. Now, if I get booted for relating any of that, then I am unable to see the line between information about activities and it's substantiation, and information about a person. Cheers. Jfderry (talk) 16:57, 28 June 2017 (UTC)
 * I'm not familiar with the detail of how sock puppet investigations work, but Ponyo has given good advice on where to email any information which suggests specific users are socks, or have been sockpuppeting. In my view, the Matthew article doesn't need any detail about the recent accusations against Darwin. It should briefly mention the issue, outlining the main views of reliable third party sources. We should aim to give these accusations no more weight than they are given in good expert publications. Hope that's clearer, dave souza, talk 21:49, 28 June 2017 (UTC)

WikiCup 2017 July newsletter
The third round of the competition has finished in a flurry of last minute activity, with 288 points being required to qualify for round 4. It was a hotly competitive round with all but four of the contestants exceeding the 106 points that was necessary to proceed to round 4 last year. Coemgenus and Freikorp tied on 288, and both have been allowed to proceed, so round 4 now has one pool of eight competitors and one of nine.

Round 3 saw the achievement of a 26-topic Featured topic by MPJ-DK as well as 5 featured lists and 13 featured articles. PanagiotisZois and SounderBruce achieved their first ever featured articles. Carbrera led the GA score with 10, Tachs achieved 17 DYKs and MBlaze Lightning 10 In the news items. There were 167 DYKs, 93 GARs and 82 GAs overall, this last figure being higher than the number of GAs in round 2, when twice as many people were taking part. Even though contestants performed more GARs than they achieved GAs, there was still some frustration at the length of time taken to get articles reviewed.

As we start round 4, we say goodbye to the fifteen or so competitors who didn't quite make it; thank you for the useful contributions you have made to the Cup and Wikipedia. Remember that any content promoted after the end of round 3 but before the start of round 4 can be claimed in round 4. Remember too that you must claim your points within 10 days of "earning" them (some people have fallen foul of this rule and the points have been removed).

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. It would be helpful if this list could be cleared of any items no longer relevant. If you want to help out with the WikiCup, please do your bit to keep down the review backlogs! Questions are welcome on Wikipedia talk:WikiCup, and the judges are reachable on their talk pages or by email. Good luck! If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove yourself from WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. Godot13, Sturmvogel 66 and Cwmhiraeth 05:38, 30 June 2017 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – July 2017
News and updates for administrators from the past month (June 2017).

Administrator changes
 * Gnome-colors-list-add.svg Happyme22 • Dragons flight
 * Gnome-colors-list-remove.svg Zad68

Guideline and policy news
 * The RFC discussion regarding WP:OUTING and WMF essay about paid editing and outing (see more at the ArbCom noticeboard archives) is now archived. Milieus #3 and #4 received support; so did concrete proposal #1.

Technical news
 * Fuzzy search will soon be added to Special:Undelete, allowing administrators to search for deleted page titles with results similar to the search query. You can test this by adding ?fuzzy=1 to the URL, as with Special:Undelete?fuzzy=1. Currently the search only finds pages that exactly match the search term.
 * A new bot will automatically revision delete unused file versions from files in Category:Non-free files with orphaned versions more than 7 days old.

Miscellaneous
 * A newly revamped database report can help identify users who may be eligible to be autopatrolled.
 * A potentially compromised account from 2001–2002 attempted to request resysop. Please practice appropriate account security by using a unique password for Wikipedia, and consider enabling two-factor authentication. Currently around 17% of admins have enabled 2FA, up from 16% in February 2017.
 * Did you know: On 29 June 2017, there were 1,261 administrators on the English Wikipedia – the exact number of administrators as there were ten years ago on 29 June 2007. Since that time, the English Wikipedia has grown from 1.85 million articles to over 5.43 million.

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Archive Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 20:59, 6 July 2017 (UTC)

Nomination for deletion of Template:Trinidad image map-small
Template:Trinidad image map-small has been nominated for deletion. You are invited to comment on the discussion at the template's entry on the Templates for discussion page. Frietjes (talk) 17:47, 7 July 2017 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – August 2017
News and updates for administrators from the past month (July 2017). Administrator changes
 * Gnome-colors-list-add.svg Anarchyte • GeneralizationsAreBad • Cullen328 (first RfA to reach WP:300)
 * Gnome-colors-list-remove.svg Cprompt • Rockpocket • Rambo's Revenge • Animum • TexasAndroid • Chuck SMITH • MikeLynch • Crazytales • Ad Orientem

Guideline and policy news
 * Following a series of discussions around new pages patrol, the WMF is helping implement a controlled autoconfirmed article creation trial as a research experiment, similar to the one proposed in 2011. You can learn more about the research plan at meta:Research:Autoconfirmed article creation trial. The exact start date of the experiment has yet to be determined.
 * A new speedy deletion criterion, regarding articles created as a result undisclosed paid editing, is currently being discussed (permalink).
 * An RfC (permalink) is currently open that proposes expanding WP:G13 to include all drafts, even if they weren't submitted through Articles for Creation.

Technical news
 * LoginNotify should soon be deployed to the English Wikipedia. This will notify users when there are suspicious login attempts on their account.
 * The new version of XTools is nearing an official release. This suite of tools includes administrator statistics, an improved edit counter, among other tools that may benefit administrators. You can report issues on Phabricator and provide general feedback at mw:Talk:XTools.

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Archive Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 00:11, 1 August 2017 (UTC)

WikiCup 2017 September newsletter
Round 4 of the WikiCup has ended and we move forward into the final round. In round 4, a total of 12 FAs, 3 FLs, 44 GAs, 3 FLs, 79 DYKs, 1 ITN and 42 GARs was achieved, with no FPs or FTs this time. Congratulations to Peacemaker67 on the Royal Yugoslav Navy Good Topic of 36 items, and the 12 featured articles achieved by Cas Liber (5), Vanamonde93 (3), Peacemaker67 (2), Adityavagarwal (1) and 12george1 (1). With a FA scoring 200 points, and bonus points available on top of this, FAs are likely to feature heavily in the final round. Meanwhile Yellow Evan, a typhoon specialist, was contributing 12 DYKs and 10 GAs, while Adityavagarwal and Freikorp topped the GAR list with 8 reviews each. As we enter the final round, we are down to eight contestants, and we would like to thank those of you who have been eliminated for the useful contributions you have made to the Cup and Wikipedia. The lowest score needed to reach round 5 was 305, and I think we can expect a highly competitive final round.

Remember that any content promoted after the end of round 4 but before the start of round 5 can be claimed in round 5. Remember too that you must claim your points within 10 days of "earning" them. If you are concerned that your nomination will not receive the necessary reviews, please list it on WikiCup/Reviews Needed. It would be helpful if this list could be cleared of any items no longer relevant. If you want to help out with the WikiCup, please do your bit to reduce the review backlogs! Questions are welcome on Wikipedia talk:WikiCup, and the judges are reachable on their talk pages or by email. Good luck, and let the best man (or woman) win! If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove yourself from WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. Godot13, Sturmvogel 66 and Cwmhiraeth 06:26, 1 September 2017 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – September 2017
News and updates for administrators from the past month (August 2017). Administrator changes
 * Gnome-colors-list-add.svg Nakon • Scott
 * Gnome-colors-list-remove.svg Sverdrup • Thespian • Elockid • James086 • Ffirehorse • Celestianpower • Boing! said Zebedee

Guideline and policy news
 * ACTRIAL, a research experiment that restricts article creation to autoconfirmed users, will begin on September 7. It will run for six months. You can learn more about the research specifics at meta:Research:Autoconfirmed article creation trial, while Wikipedia talk:Autoconfirmed article creation trial is probably the best venue for general discussion.
 * Following an RfC, WP:G13 speedy deletion criterion now applies to any page in the draftspace that has not been edited in six months. There is a bot-generated report, updated daily, to help identify potentially qualifying drafts that have not been submitted through articles for creation.

Technical news
 * You will now get a notification when someone tries to log in to your account and fails. If they try from a device that has logged into your account before, you will be notified after five failed attempts. You can also set in your preferences to get an email when someone logs in to your account from a new device or IP address, which may be encouraged for admins and accounts with sensitive permissions.
 * Syntax highlighting is now available as a beta feature (more info). This may assist administrators and template editors when dealing with intricate syntax of high-risk templates and system messages.
 * In your notification preferences, you can now block specific users from pinging you. This functionality will soon be available for Special:EmailUser as well.

Arbitration
 * Applications for CheckUser and Oversight are being accepted by the Arbitration Committee until September 12. Community discussion of the candidates will begin on September 18.

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Archive Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 17:35, 1 September 2017 (UTC)

Nomination of Democratic National Assembly for deletion
A discussion is taking place as to whether the article Democratic National Assembly is suitable for inclusion in Wikipedia according to Wikipedia's policies and guidelines or whether it should be deleted.

The article will be discussed at Articles for deletion/Democratic National Assembly until a consensus is reached, and anyone is welcome to contribute to the discussion. The nomination will explain the policies and guidelines which are of concern. The discussion focuses on high-quality evidence and our policies and guidelines.

Users may edit the article during the discussion, including to improve the article to address concerns raised in the discussion. However, do not remove the article-for-deletion notice from the top of the article. Power~enwiki (talk) 03:48, 12 September 2017 (UTC)

Invitation to Admin confidence survey
Hello,

Beginning in September 2017, the Wikimedia Foundation Anti-harassment tool team will be conducting a survey to gauge how well tools, training, and information exists to assist English Wikipedia administrators in recognizing and mitigating things like sockpuppetry, vandalism, and harassment.

The survey should only take 5 minutes, and your individual response will not be made public. This survey will be integral for our team to determine how to better support administrators.

To take the survey sign up here and we will send you a link to the form.

We really appreciate your input!

Please let us know if you wish to opt-out of all massmessage mailings from the Anti-harassment tools team.

For the Anti-harassment tools team, SPoore (WMF), Community Advocate, Community health initiative (talk) 20:56, 14 September 2017 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – October 2017
News and updates for administrators from the past month (September 2017). Administrator changes
 * Gnome-colors-list-add.svg Boing! said Zebedee • Ansh666 • Ad Orientem
 * Gnome-colors-list-remove.svg Tonywalton • AmiDaniel • Silence • BanyanTree • Magioladitis • Vanamonde93 • Mr.Z-man • Jdavidb • Jakec • Ram-Man • Yelyos • Kurt Shaped Box

Guideline and policy news
 * Following a successful proposal to create it, a new user right called "edit filter helper" is now assignable and revocable by administrators. The right allows non-administrators to view the details of private edit filters, but not to edit them.
 * Following a discussion about mass-application of ECP and how the need for logging and other details of an evolving consensus may have been missed by some administrators, a rough guide to extended confirmed protection has been written. This information page describes how the extended-confirmed aspects of the protection policy are currently being applied by administrators.

Technical news
 * You can now search for IP ranges at Special:Contributions. Some log pages and Special:DeletedContributions are not yet supported. Wildcards (e.g. 192.168.0.*) are also not supported, but the popular contribsrange gadget will continue to work.

Arbitration
 * Community consultation on the 2017 candidates for CheckUser and Oversight has concluded. The Arbitration Committee will appoint successful candidates by October 11.
 * A request for comment is open regarding the structure, rules, and procedures of the December 2017 Arbitration Committee election, and how to resolve any issues not covered by existing rules.

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Archive Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 17:23, 2 October 2017 (UTC)

Help design a new feature to stop harassing emails
Hi there,

The Anti-Harassment Tools team plans to start develop of a new feature to allow users to restrict emails from new accounts. This feature will allow an individual user to stop harassing emails from coming through the Special:EmailUser system from abusive sockpuppeting accounts.

We’re inviting you to join the discussion because you voted or commented in the 2016 Community Wishlist discussion or IdeaLab discussion about letting users restrict who can send them email.

You can leave comments on this discussion page or send an email to the Anti-Harassment Tools team.

It is important to hear from a broad range of people who are interested in the design of the tool, so we hope you join the discussion.

For the Anti-Harassment Tools team SPoore (WMF), Community Advocate, Community health initiative (talk) 21:48, 11 October 2017 (UTC)

Please let us know if you wish to opt-out of all massmessage mailings from the Anti-harassment tools team.

Algae project
Saw a familiar name on this new (to me) project, so hello. Interesting topic, weird lifestyles for these sort-of plants. Cheers, Pete Tillman (talk) 16:17, 28 October 2017 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – November 2017
News and updates for administrators from the past month (October 2017). Administrator changes
 * Gnome-colors-list-add.svg Longhair • Megalibrarygirl • TonyBallioni • Vanamonde93
 * Gnome-colors-list-remove.svg Allen3 • Eluchil404 • Arthur Rubin • Bencherlite

Technical news
 * The Wikimedia Foundation's Anti-Harassment Tools team is creating an "Interaction Timeline" tool that intends to assist administrators in resolving user conduct disputes. Feedback on the concept may be posted on the talk page.
 * A new function is now available to edit filter managers that will make it easier to look for multiple strings containing spoofed text.

Arbitration
 * Eligible editors will be invited to submit candidate statements for the 2017 Arbitration Committee Elections starting on November 12 until November 21. Voting will begin on November 27 and last until December 10.
 * Following a request for comment,, and  will serve as the Electoral Commission for the 2017 ArbCom Elections.

Obituaries
 * The Wikipedia community has recently learned that (William Allen Peckham) passed away on December 30, 2016, the same day as . Allen began editing in 2005 and became an administrator that same year.

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Archive Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 00:50, 2 November 2017 (UTC)

WikiCup 2017 November newsletter: Final results
The final round of the 2017 WikiCup is over. Congratulations to the 2017 WikiCup top three finalists:
 * First Place -
 * Second Place -
 * Third Place -

In addition to recognizing the achievements of the top finishers and everyone who worked hard to make it to the final round, we also want to recognize those participants who were most productive in each of the WikiCup scoring categories:
 * Featured Article – Cas Liber (actually a two-way tie with themselves for an astonishing five FAs in R2 and R4).
 * Good Article – Adityavagarwal had 14 GAs promoted in R5.
 * Featured List – and  both produced 2 FLs in R2
 * Featured Pictures – improved an image to FP status in R5, the only FP this year.
 * Featured Topic – has the only FT of the Cup in R3.
 * Good Topic – Four different editors created a GT in R2, R3 and R4.
 * Did You Know – Adityavagarwal had 22 DYKs on the main page in R5.
 * In The News – had 14 ITN on the main page in R2.
 * Good Article Review – completed 31 GARs in R1.

Over the course of the 2017 WikiCup the following content was added or improved on Wikipedia: 51 Featured Articles, 292 Good Articles, 18 Featured Lists, 1 Featured Picture, 1 Featured Topics, 4 Good Topics, around 400 Did You Knows, 75 In The News, and 442 Good Article Reviews. Thank you to all the competitors for your hard work and what you have done to improve Wikipedia.

Regarding the prize vouchers - please send  an email from the email address to which you would like your Amazon voucher sent. Please include your preference of global Amazon marketplace as well. We hope to have the electronic gift cards processed and sent within a week.

We will open up a discussion for comments on process and scoring in a few days. The 2018 WikiCup is just around the corner! Many thanks from all the judges. If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove yourself from WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. ,, and MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 11:41, 2 November 2017 (UTC)

WikiCup 2018
So the 2017 WikiCup has come to an end. Congratulations to the winner, to the other finalists and to all those who took part. 177 contestants signed up, more than usual, but not all of them submitted entries in the first round. Were editors attracted by the cash prizes offered for the first time this year, or were these irrelevant? Do the rules and scoring need changing for the 2018 WikiCup? If you have a view on these or other matters, why not join in the WikiCup discussion about next year's contest? , and. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 13:59, 17 November 2017 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – December 2017
News and updates for administrators from the past month (November 2017). Administrator changes
 * Gnome-colors-list-add.svg Joe Roe
 * Gnome-colors-view-refresh.svg JzG
 * Gnome-colors-list-remove.svg Ericorbit • Perceval • Thingg • Tristanb • Violetriga

Guideline and policy news
 * Following a request for comment, a new section has been added to the username policy which disallows usernames containing emoji, emoticons or otherwise "decorative" usernames, and usernames that use any non-language symbols. Administrators should discuss issues related to these types of usernames before blocking.

Technical news
 * Wikimedians are now invited to vote on the proposals in the 2017 Community Wishlist Survey on Meta Wiki until 10 December 2017. In particular, there is a section of the survey regarding new tools for administrators and for anti-harassment.
 * A new function is available to edit filter managers which can be used to store matches from regular expressions.

Arbitration
 * Voting in the 2017 Arbitration Committee elections is open until Sunday 23:59, 10 December 2017 (UTC). There are 12 candidates running for 8 vacant seats.

Miscellaneous
 * Over the last few months, several users have reported backlogs that require administrator attention at WP:ANI, with the most common backlogs showing up on WP:SPI, WP:AIV and WP:RFPP. It is requested that all administrators take some time during this month to help clear backlogs wherever possible. It should be noted that AIV reports are not always valid; however, they still need to be cleared, which may include needing to remind users on what qualifies as vandalism.
 * The Wikimedia Foundation Community health initiative is conducting a survey for English Wikipedia contributors on their experience and satisfaction level with Administrator’s Noticeboard/Incidents. This survey will be integral to gathering information about how this noticeboard works (i.e. which problems it deals with well and which problems it struggles with). If you would like to take this survey, please sign up on this page, and a link for the survey will be emailed to you via Special:EmailUser.

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Archive Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 20:58, 2 December 2017 (UTC)

Speedy deletion nomination of List of steelbands


A tag has been placed on List of steelbands requesting that it be speedily deleted from Wikipedia. This has been done under section A7 of the criteria for speedy deletion, because the article appears to be about a band or musician, but it does not credibly indicate how or why the subject is important or significant: that is, why an article about that subject should be included in an encyclopedia. Under the criteria for speedy deletion, such articles may be deleted at any time. Please read more about what is generally accepted as notable.

If you think this page should not be deleted for this reason, you may contest the nomination by visiting the page and clicking the button labelled "Contest this speedy deletion". This will give you the opportunity to explain why you believe the page should not be deleted. However, be aware that once a page is tagged for speedy deletion, it may be deleted without delay. Please do not remove the speedy deletion tag from the page yourself, but do not hesitate to add information in line with Wikipedia's policies and guidelines. If the page is deleted, and you wish to retrieve the deleted material for future reference or improvement, then please contact the. South Nashua (talk) 02:12, 4 December 2017 (UTC)

Proposed deletion of List of steelbands


The article List of steelbands has been proposed for deletion&#32;because of the following concern: "Unremarkable list of musicians, contested A7. No way this topic can pass INDISCRIMINATE"

While all constructive contributions to Wikipedia are appreciated, pages may be deleted for any of several reasons.

You may prevent the proposed deletion by removing the notice, but please explain why in your edit summary or on the article's talk page.

Please consider improving the page to address the issues raised. Removing will stop the proposed deletion process, but other deletion processes exist. In particular, the speedy deletion process can result in deletion without discussion, and articles for deletion allows discussion to reach consensus for deletion. South Nashua (talk) 13:24, 4 December 2017 (UTC)

Nomination of List of steelbands for deletion
A discussion is taking place as to whether the article List of steelbands is suitable for inclusion in Wikipedia according to Wikipedia's policies and guidelines or whether it should be deleted.

The article will be discussed at Articles for deletion/List of steelbands until a consensus is reached, and anyone is welcome to contribute to the discussion. The nomination will explain the policies and guidelines which are of concern. The discussion focuses on high-quality evidence and our policies and guidelines.

Users may edit the article during the discussion, including to improve the article to address concerns raised in the discussion. However, do not remove the article-for-deletion notice from the top of the article. South Nashua (talk) 14:41, 12 December 2017 (UTC)

ANI notice
There is currently a discussion at Administrators' noticeboard/Incidents regarding an issue with which you may have been involved. (See this thread). Pi.1415926535 (talk) 05:58, 16 December 2017 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – January 2018
News and updates for administrators from the past month (December 2017). Administrator changes
 * Gnome-colors-list-add.svg Muboshgu
 * Gnome-colors-view-refresh.svg Anetode • Laser brain • Worm That Turned
 * Gnome-colors-list-remove.svg None

Bureaucrat changes
 * Gnome-colors-view-refresh.svg Worm That Turned

Guideline and policy news
 * A request for comment is in progress to determine whether the administrator policy should be amended to require disclosure of paid editing activity at WP:RFA and to prohibit the use of administrative tools as part of paid editing activity, with certain exceptions.

Technical news
 * The 2017 Community Wishlist Survey results have been posted. The Community Tech team will investigate and address the top ten results.
 * The Anti-Harassment Tools team is inviting comments on new blocking tools and improvements to existing blocking tools for development in early 2018. Feedback can be left on the discussion page or by email.

Arbitration
 * Following the results of the 2017 election, the following editors have been (re)appointed to the Arbitration Committee:, , , , , , ,.

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Archive Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 02:37, 3 January 2018 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – February 2018
News and updates for administrators from the past month (January 2018). Administrator changes
 * Gnome-colors-list-add.svg None
 * Gnome-colors-list-remove.svg Blurpeace • Dana boomer • Deltabeignet • Denelson83 • Grandiose • Salvidrim! • Ymblanter

Guideline and policy news
 * An RfC has closed with a consensus that candidates at WP:RFA must disclose whether they have ever edited for pay and that administrators may never use administrative tools as part of any paid editing activity, except when they are acting as a Wikipedian-in-Residence or when the payment is made by the Wikimedia Foundation or an affiliate of the WMF.
 * Editors responding to threats of harm can now contact the Wikimedia Foundation's emergency address by using Special:EmailUser/Emergency. If you don't have email enabled on Wikipedia, directly contacting the emergency address using your own email client remains an option.

Technical news
 * A tag will now be automatically applied to edits that blank a page, turn a page into a redirect, remove/replace almost all content in a page, undo an edit, or rollback an edit. These edits were previously denoted solely by automatic edit summaries.

Arbitration
 * The Arbitration Committee has enacted a change to the discretionary sanctions procedure which requires administrators to add a standardized editnotice when placing page restrictions. Editors cannot be sanctioned for violations of page restrictions if this editnotice was not in place at the time of the violation.

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Archive Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 00:51, 4 February 2018 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – March 2018
News and updates for administrators from the past month (February 2018). Administrator changes
 * Gnome-colors-list-add.svg Lourdes†
 * Gnome-colors-list-remove.svg AngelOfSadness • Bhadani • Chris 73 • Coren • Friday • Midom • Mike V
 * † Lourdes has requested that her admin rights be temporarily removed, pending her return from travel.

Guideline and policy news
 * The autoconfirmed article creation trial (ACTRIAL) is scheduled to end on 14 March 2018. The results of the research collected can be read on Meta Wiki.
 * Community ban discussions must now stay open for at least 24 hours prior to being closed.
 * A change to the administrator inactivity policy has been proposed. Under the proposal, if an administrator has not used their admin tools for a period of five years and is subsequently desysopped for inactivity, the administrator would have to file a new RfA in order to regain the tools.
 * A change to the banning policy has been proposed which would specify conditions under which a repeat sockmaster may be considered de facto banned, reducing the need to start a community ban discussion for these users.

Technical news
 * CheckUsers are now able to view private data such as IP addresses from the edit filter log, e.g. when the filter prevents a user from creating an account. Previously, this information was unavailable to CheckUsers because access to it could not be logged.
 * The edit filter has a new feature  that edit filter managers may use to check if one or more strings are all contained in another given string.

Miscellaneous
 * Following the 2018 Steward elections, the following users are our new stewards:, , , ,.

Obituaries
 * Bhadani (Gangadhar Bhadani) passed away on 8 February 2018. Bhadani joined Wikipedia in March 2005 and became an administrator in September 2005. While he was active, Bhadani was regarded as one of the most prolific Wikipedians from India.

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Archive Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 03:00, 2 March 2018 (UTC)

WikiCup 2018 March newsletter
And so ends the first round of the competition, with 4 points required to qualify for round 2. With 53 contestants qualifying, the groups for round 2 are slightly smaller than usual, with the two leaders from each group due to qualify for round 3 as well as the top sixteen remaining users.

Our top scorers in round 1 were:


 * 🇺🇸 Aoba47 led the field with a featured article, 8 good articles and 42 GARs, giving a total of 666 points.
 * 🇩🇪 FrB.TG, a WikiCup newcomer, came next with 600 points, gained from a featured article and masses of bonus points.
 * 🇮🇳 Ssven2, another WikiCup newcomer, was in third place with 403 points, garnered from a featured article, a featured list, a good article and twelve GARs.
 * 🇺🇸 Ceranthor, 🇮🇳 Numerounovedant, Carbrera, 🇳🇱 Farang Rak Tham and 🇷🇴 Cartoon network freak all had over 200 points, but like all the other contestants, now have to start again from scratch. A good achievement was the 193 GARs performed by WikiCup contestants, comparing very favourably with the 54 GAs they achieved.

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

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. Good luck! If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove yourself from WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. Godot13 (talk), Sturmvogel 66 (talk), Cwmhiraeth (talk) and Vanamonde (talk) 15:27, 2 March 2018 (UTC)

Looking for feedback on a science writing brochure
To all WP:TPS: The Wiki Education Foundation is developing a guide to help students write about all topics related to science communication, and I’m reaching out to a small number of experienced editors with interest in science topics on Wikipedia to see if they’d be interested in providing feedback. The handout is meant to supplement other resources that students consult, such as an interactive training and basic editing brochures.

If anyone's interested to provide feedback, please see User:Cassidy (Wiki Ed)/Science communication and let User:Cassidy (Wiki Ed) know your thoughts by March 12. Guettarda (talk) 17:27, 7 March 2018 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – April 2018
News and updates for administrators from the past month (March 2018). Administrator changes
 * Gnome-colors-list-add.svg 331dot • Cordless Larry • ClueBot NG
 * Gnome-colors-list-remove.svg Gogo Dodo • Pb30 • Sebastiankessel • Seicer • SoLando

Guideline and policy news
 * Administrators who have been desysopped due to inactivity are now required to have performed at least one (logged) administrative action in the past 5 years in order to qualify for a resysop without going through a new RfA.
 * Editors who have been found to have engaged in sockpuppetry on at least two occasions after an initial indefinite block, for whatever reason, are now automatically considered banned by the community without the need to start a ban discussion.
 * The notability guideline for organizations and companies has been substantially rewritten following the closure of this request for comment. Among the changes, the guideline more clearly defines the sourcing requirements needed for organizations and companies to be considered notable.
 * The six-month autoconfirmed article creation trial (ACTRIAL) ended on 14 March 2018. The post-trial research report has been published. A request for comment is now underway to determine whether the restrictions from ACTRIAL should be implemented permanently.

Technical news
 * There will soon be a calendar widget at Special:Block, making it easier to set expiries for a specific date and time.

Arbitration
 * The Arbitration Committee is considering a change to the discretionary sanctions procedures which would require an editor to appeal a sanction to the community at WP:AE or WP:AN prior to appealing directly to the Arbitration Committee at WP:ARCA.

Miscellaneous
 * A discussion has closed which concluded that administrators are not required to enable email, though many editors suggested doing so as a matter of best practice.
 * The Foundations' Anti-Harassment Tools team has released the Interaction Timeline. This shows a chronologic history for two users on pages where they have both made edits, which may be helpful in identifying sockpuppetry and investigating editing disputes.

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Archive Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 01:23, 2 April 2018 (UTC)

Orphaned non-free image File:Unc.jpg
Thanks for uploading File:Unc.jpg. The image description page currently specifies that the image is non-free and may only be used on Wikipedia under a claim of fair use. However, the image is currently not used in any articles on Wikipedia. If the image was previously in an article, please go to the article and see why it was removed. You may add it back if you think that that will be useful. However, please note that images for which a replacement could be created are not acceptable for use on Wikipedia (see our policy for non-free media).

Note that any non-free images not used in any articles will be deleted after seven days, as described in section F5 of the criteria for speedy deletion. Thank you. ShakespeareFan00 (talk) 09:32, 15 April 2018 (UTC)


 * Thanks . I deleted it. Guettarda (talk) 15:32, 16 April 2018 (UTC)

WikiCup 2018 May newsletter
The second round of the 2018 WikiCup has now finished. Most contestants who advanced to the next round scored upwards of 100 points, but two with just 10 points managed to scrape through into round 3. Our top scorers in the last round were:


 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Cas Liber, our winner in 2016, with three featured articles
 * Iazyges, with nine good articles and lots of bonus points
 * 🇮🇳 Yashthepunisher, a first time contestant, with two featured lists
 * SounderBruce, a finalist last year, with seventeen good topic articles
 * 🇺🇸 Usernameunique, a first time contestant, with fourteen DYKs
 * Muboshgu, a seasoned competitor, with three ITNs and
 * Courcelles, another first time contestant, with twenty-seven GARs

So far contestants have achieved twelve featured articles between them and a splendid 124 good articles. Commendably, 326 GARs have been completed during the course of the 2018 WikiCup, so the backlog of articles awaiting GA review has been reduced as a result of contestants' activities. As we enter the third round, remember that any content promoted after the end of round 2 but before the start of round 3 can be claimed in round 3. Remember too that you must claim your points within 14 days of "earning" them. When doing GARs, please make sure that you check that all the GA criteria are fully met; most of the GARs are fine, but a few have been a bit skimpy.

If you are concerned that your nomination—whether it is at good article nominations, a featured process, or anywhere else—will not receive the necessary reviews, please list it on WikiCup/Reviews Needed (remember to remove your listing when no longer required). Questions are welcome on Wikipedia talk:WikiCup, and the judges are reachable on their talk pages or by email. Good luck! If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove your name from WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. Godot13 (talk), Sturmvogel 66 (talk), Vanamonde (talk) and Cwmhiraeth (talk) 06:10, 1 May 2018 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – May 2018
News and updates for administrators from the past month (April 2018). Administrator changes
 * Gnome-colors-list-add.svg None
 * Gnome-colors-list-remove.svg Chochopk • Coffee • Gryffindor • Jimp • Knowledge Seeker • Lankiveil • Peridon • Rjd0060

Guideline and policy news
 * The ability to create articles directly in mainspace is now indefinitely restricted to autoconfirmed users.
 * A proposal is being discussed which would create a new "event coordinator" right that would allow users to temporarily add the "confirmed" flag to new user accounts and to create many new user accounts without being hindered by a rate limit.

Technical news
 * AbuseFilter has received numerous improvements, including an OOUI overhaul, syntax highlighting, ability to search existing filters, and a few new functions. In particular, the search feature can be used to ensure there aren't existing filters for what you need, and the new  function can be used when checking multiple namespaces. One major upcoming change is the ability to see which filters are the slowest. This information is currently only available to those with access to Logstash.
 * When blocking anonymous users, a cookie will be applied that reloads the block if the user changes their IP. This means in most cases, you may no longer need to do /64 range blocks on residential IPv6 addresses in order to effectively block the end user. It will also help combat abuse from IP hoppers in general. This currently only occurs when hard-blocking accounts.
 * The block notice shown on mobile will soon be more informative and point users to a help page on how to request an unblock, just as it currently does on desktop.
 * There will soon be a calendar widget at Special:Block, making it easier to set expiries for a specific date and time.

Arbitration
 * The Arbitration Committee is seeking additional clerks to help with the arbitration process.

Obituaries
 * (Craig Franklin) passed away in mid-April. Lankiveil joined Wikipedia on 12 August 2004 and became an administrator on 31 August 2008. During his time with the Wikimedia community, Lankiveil served as an oversighter for the English Wikipedia and as president of Wikimedia Australia.

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Archive Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 07:05, 2 May 2018 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – June 2018
News and updates for administrators from the past month (May 2018). Administrator changes
 * Gnome-colors-list-add.svg None
 * Gnome-colors-list-remove.svg Al Ameer son • AliveFreeHappy • Cenarium • Lupo • MichaelBillington

Guideline and policy news
 * Following a successful request for comment, administrators are now able to add and remove editors to the "event coordinator" group. Users in the event coordinator group have the ability to temporarily add the "confirmed" flag to new user accounts and to create many new user accounts without being hindered by a rate limit. Users will no longer need to be in the "account creator" group if they are in the event coordinator group.
 * Following an AN discussion, all pages with content related to blockchain and cryptocurrencies, broadly construed, are now under indefinite general sanctions.

Technical news
 * IP-based cookie blocks should be deployed to English Wikipedia in June. This will cause the block of a logged-out user to be reloaded if they change IPs. This means in most cases, you may no longer need to do /64 range blocks on residential IPv6 addresses in order to effectively block the end user. It will also help combat abuse from IP hoppers in general. For the time being, it only affects users of the desktop interface.
 * The Wikimedia Foundation's Anti-Harassment Tools team will build granular types of blocks in 2018 (e.g. a block from uploading or editing specific pages, categories, or namespaces, as opposed to a full-site block). Feedback on the concept may be left at the talk page.
 * There is now a checkbox on Special:ListUsers to let you see only users in temporary user groups.
 * It is now easier for blocked mobile users to see why they were blocked.

Arbitration
 * A recent technical issue with the Arbitration Committee's spam filter inadvertently caused all messages sent to the committee through Wikipedia (i.e. Special:EmailUser/Arbitration Committee) to be discarded. If you attempted to send an email to the Arbitration Committee via Wikipedia between May 16 and May 31, your message was not received and you are encouraged to resend it. Messages sent outside of these dates or directly to the Arbitration Committee email address were not affected by this issue.

Miscellaneous
 * In early May, an unusually high level of failed login attempts was observed. The WMF has stated that this was an "external effort to gain unauthorized access to random accounts". Under Wikipedia policy, administrators are required to have strong passwords. To further reinforce security, administrators should also consider enabling two-factor authentication. A committed identity can be used to verify that you are the true account owner in the event that your account is compromised and/or you are unable to log in.

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Archive Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 21:00, 1 June 2018 (UTC)

13 years of adminship
Wishing Guettarda a very happy adminship anniversary on behalf of the Wikipedia Birthday Committee! Chris Troutman ( talk ) 00:52, 21 June 2018 (UTC)


 * Thank you so much User:Chris troutman! Guettarda (talk) 14:17, 25 June 2018 (UTC)

WikiCup 2018 July newsletter
The third round of the 2018 WikiCup has now come to an end. The 16 users who made it to the fourth round had at least 227 points. Our top scorers in round 3 were:


 * Courcelles, a first time contestant, with 1756 points, a tally built largely on 27 GAs related to the Olympics
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Cas Liber, our winner in 2016, with two featured articles and three GAs on natural history and astronomy topics
 * SounderBruce, a finalist last year, with a variety of submissions related to transport in the state of Washington

Contestants managed 7 featured articles, 4 featured lists, 120 good articles, 1 good topic, 124 DYK entries, 15 ITN entries, and 132 good article reviews. Over the course of the competition, contestants have completed 458 GA reviews, in comparison to 244 good articles submitted for review and promoted. As we enter the fourth round, remember that any content promoted after the end of round 3 but before the start of round 4 can be claimed in round 4. Please also remember that you must claim your points within 14 days of "earning" them. When doing GARs, please make sure that you check that all the GA criteria are fully met. Please also remember that all submissions must meet core Wikipedia policies, regardless of the review process; several submissions, particularly in abstruse or technical areas, have needed additional work to make them completely verifiable.

If you are concerned that your nomination—whether it is at good article nominations, a featured process, or anywhere else—will not receive the necessary reviews, please list it on WikiCup/Reviews Needed (remember to remove your listing when no longer required). Questions are welcome on Wikipedia talk:WikiCup, and the judges are reachable on their talk pages or by email. Good luck! If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove your name from WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. Godot13 (talk), Sturmvogel 66 (talk), Cwmhiraeth (talk), Vanamonde (talk) 04:55, 2 July 2018 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – July 2018
News and updates for administrators from the past month (June 2018). Administrator changes
 * Gnome-colors-list-add.svg Pbsouthwood • TheSandDoctor
 * Gnome-colors-view-refresh.svg Gogo Dodo
 * Gnome-colors-list-remove.svg Andrevan • Doug • EVula • KaisaL • Tony Fox • WilyD

Bureaucrat changes
 * Gnome-colors-list-remove.svg Andrevan • EVula

Guideline and policy news
 * An RfC about the deletion of drafts closed with a consensus to change the wording of WP:NMFD. Specifically, a draft that has been repeatedly resubmitted and declined at AfC without any substantial improvement may be deleted at MfD if consensus determines that it is unlikely to ever meet the requirements for mainspace and it otherwise meets one of the reasons for deletion outlined in the deletion policy.
 * A request for comment closed with a consensus that the promising draft template cannot be used to indefinitely prevent a WP:G13 speedy deletion nomination.

Technical news
 * Starting on July 9, the WMF Security team, Trust & Safety, and the broader technical community will be seeking input on an upcoming change that will restrict editing of site-wide JavaScript and CSS to a new technical administrators user group. Bureaucrats and stewards will be able to grant this right per a community-defined process. The intention is to reduce the number of accounts who can edit frontend code to those who actually need to, which in turn lessens the risk of malicious code being added that compromises the security and privacy of everyone who accesses Wikipedia. For more information, please review the FAQ.
 * Syntax highlighting has been graduated from a Beta feature on the English Wikipedia. To enable this feature, click the highlighter icon (Codemirror-icon.png) in your editing toolbar (or under the hamburger menu in the 2017 wikitext editor). This feature can help prevent you from making mistakes when editing complex templates.
 * IP-based cookie blocks should be deployed to English Wikipedia in July (previously scheduled for June). This will cause the block of a logged-out user to be reloaded if they change IPs. This means in most cases, you may no longer need to do /64 range blocks on residential IPv6 addresses in order to effectively block the end user. It will also help combat abuse from IP hoppers in general. For the time being, it only affects users of the desktop interface.

Miscellaneous
 * Currently around 20% of admins have enabled two-factor authentication, up from 17% a year ago. If you haven't already enabled it, please consider doing so. Regardless if you use 2FA, please practice appropriate account security by ensuring your password is secure and unique to Wikimedia.

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Archive Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 19:22, 3 July 2018 (UTC)

New Articles T&T
Dear Guettarda, I would like to ask you for help. Nothing to do probably, just a gentle nudge into the right direction. I would like to see a bot-generated list of new articles for Category:Trinidad and Tobago. This exists for a lot of other categories and I think the User:AlexNewArtBot once did that for T&T, too. Do you know how to get the bot to list new T&T articles somewhere, or whom to ask? Thanks and kind regards, Grueslayer 12:18, 12 July 2018 (UTC)


 * I think I can set this up. Guettarda (talk) 18:37, 26 July 2018 (UTC)
 * That would be awesome! Kind regards, Grueslayer 08:34, 27 July 2018 (UTC)
 * As a longstanding RPG player my mind saw Tunnels & Trolls Cas Liber (talk · contribs) 00:26, 27 July 2018 (UTC)
 * Still better than Tackey & Tsubasa. ;-) Kind regards, Grueslayer 08:34, 27 July 2018 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – August 2018
News and updates for administrators from the past month (July 2018). Administrator changes
 * Gnome-colors-list-add.svg Sro23
 * Gnome-colors-view-refresh.svg KaisaL • Ymblanter

Guideline and policy news
 * After a discussion at Meta, a new user group called "interface administrators" (formerly "technical administrator") has been created. Come the end of August, interface admins will be the only users able to edit site-wide JavaScript and CSS pages like MediaWiki:Common.js and MediaWiki:Common.css, or edit other user's personal JavaScript and CSS. The intention is to improve security and privacy by reducing the number of accounts which could be used to compromise the site or another user's account through malicious code. The new user group can be assigned and revoked by bureaucrats. Discussion is ongoing to establish details for implementing the group on the English Wikipedia.
 * Following a request for comment, the WP:SISTER style guideline now states that in the mainspace, interwiki links to Wikinews should only be made as per the external links guideline. This generally means that within the body of an article, you should not link to Wikinews about a particular event that is only a part of the larger topic. Wikinews links in "external links" sections can be used where helpful, but not automatically if an equivalent article from a reliable news outlet could be linked in the same manner.

Technical news
 * The WMF Anti-Harassment Tools team is seeking input on the second set of wireframes for the Special:Block redesign that will introduce partial blocks. The new functionality will allow you to block a user from editing a specific set of pages, pages in a category, a namespace, and for specific actions such as moving pages and uploading files.

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Archive Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 01:31, 5 August 2018 (UTC)

WikiCup 2018 September newsletter
The fourth round of the 2018 WikiCup has now come to an end. The eight users who made it to the final round had to score a minimum of 422 points to qualify, with the top score in the round being 4869 points. The leaders in round 4 were:


 * Courcelles scored a magnificent 4869 points, with 92 good articles on Olympics-related themes. Courcelles' bonus points alone exceeded the total score of any of the other contestants!
 * Kees08 was second with 1155 points, including a high-scoring featured article for Neil Armstrong, two good topics and some Olympics-related good articles.
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Cas Liber, with 1066 points, was in third place this round, with two featured articles and a good article, all on natural history topics.
 * Other contestants who qualified for the final round were 🇲🇭 Nova Crystallis, Iazyges,  SounderBruce,  🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Kosack and 🇺🇸 Ceranthor.

During round four, 6 featured articles and 164 good articles were promoted by WikiCup contestants, 13 articles were included in good topics and 143 good article reviews were performed. There were also 10 "in the news" contributions on the main page and 53 "did you knows". Congratulations to all who participated! It was a generally high-scoring and productive round and I think we can expect a highly competitive finish to the competition.

Remember that any content promoted after the end of round 4 but before the start of round 5 can be claimed in round 5. Remember too that you must claim your points within 10 days of "earning" them. If you are concerned that your nomination will not receive the necessary reviews, please list it on WikiCup/Reviews. It would be helpful if this list could be cleared of any items no longer relevant. If you want to help out with the WikiCup, please do your bit to keep down the review backlogs! Questions are welcome on Wikipedia talk:WikiCup, and the judges are reachable on their talk pages or by email. Good luck, and let the best editor win! If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove yourself from WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. Godot13, Sturmvogel 66, Vanamonde and Cwmhiraeth. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 18:31, 1 September 2018 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – September 2018
News and updates for administrators from the past month (August 2018). Administrator changes
 * Gnome-colors-list-add.svg None
 * Gnome-colors-list-remove.svg Asterion • Crisco 1492 • KF • Kudpung • Liz • Randykitty • Spartaz
 * Pictogram voting rename.png →

Interface administrator changes
 * Gnome-colors-list-add.svg Amorymeltzer • Mr. Stradivarius • MusikAnimal • MSGJ • TheDJ • Xaosflux

Guideline and policy news
 * Following a "stop-gap" discussion, six users have temporarily been made interface administrators while discussion is ongoing for a more permanent process for assigning the permission. Interface administrators are now the only editors allowed to edit sitewide CSS and JavaScript pages, as well as CSS/JS pages in another user's userspace. Previously, all administrators had this ability. The right can be granted and revoked by bureaucrats.

Technical news
 * Because of a data centre test you will be able to read but not edit the wikis for up to an hour on 12 September and 10 October. This will start at 14:00 (UTC). You might lose edits if you try to save during this time. The time when you can't edit might be shorter than an hour.
 * Some abuse filter variables have changed. They are now easier to understand for non-experts. The old variables will still work but filter editors are encouraged to replace them with the new ones. You can find the list of changed variables on mediawiki.org. They have a note which says . An example is   which is now.
 * Abuse filters can now use how old a page is. The variable is.

Arbitration
 * The Arbitration Committee has resolved to perform a round of Checkuser and Oversight appointments. The usernames of all applicants will be shared with the Functionaries team, and they will be requested to assist in the vetting process. The deadline to submit an application is 23:59 UTC, 12 September, and the candidates that move forward will be published on-wiki for community comments on 18 September.

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Archive Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 23:23, 2 September 2018 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – October 2018
News and updates for administrators from the past month (September 2018). Administrator changes
 * Gnome-colors-list-add.svg Justlettersandnumbers • L235
 * Gnome-colors-list-remove.svg Bgwhite • HorsePunchKid • J Greb • KillerChihuahua • Rami R • Winhunter

Interface administrator changes
 * Gnome-colors-list-add.svg Cyberpower678 • Deryck Chan • Oshwah • Pharos • Ragesoss • Ritchie333

Oversight changes
 * Gnome-colors-list-remove.svg Guerillero • NativeForeigner •  Snowolf • Xeno

Guideline and policy news
 * Following a request for comment, the process for appointing interface administrators has been established. Currently only existing admins can request these rights, while a new RfC has begun on whether it should be available to non-admins.
 * There is an open request for comment on Meta regarding the creation a new user group for global edit filter management.

Technical news
 * Partial blocks should be available for testing in October on the Test Wikipedia and the Beta-Cluster. This new feature allows admins to block users from editing specific pages and in the near-future, namespaces and uploading files. You can expect more updates and an invitation to help with testing once it is available.
 * The Foundations' Anti-Harassment Tools team is currently looking for input on how to measure the effectiveness of blocks. This is in particular related to how they will measure the success of the aforementioned partial blocks.
 * Because of a data centre test, you will be able to read but not edit the Wikimedia projects for up to an hour on 10 October. This will start at 14:00 (UTC). You might lose edits if you try to save during this time.

Arbitration
 * The Arbitration Committee has, by motion, amended the procedure on functionary inactivity.
 * The community consultation for 2018 CheckUser and Oversight appointments has concluded. Appointments will be made by October 11.
 * Following a request for comment, the size of the Arbitration Committee will be decreased to 13 arbitrators, starting in 2019. Additionally, the minimum support percentage required to be appointed to a two-year term on ArbCom has been increased to 60%. ArbCom candidates who receive between 50% and 60% support will be appointed to one-year terms instead.
 * Nominations for the 2018 Arbitration Committee Electoral Commission are being accepted until 12 October. These are the editors who help run the ArbCom election smoothly. If you are interested in volunteering for this role, please consider nominating yourself.

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Archive Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 20:13, 5 October 2018 (UTC)

WikiCup 2018 November newsletter
The WikiCup is over for another year! Our Champion this year is, who over the course of the competition has amassed 147 GAs, 111 GARs, 9 DYKs, 4 FLs and 1 ITN. Our finalists were as follows:



All those who reached the final win awards, and awards will also be going to the following participants:


 * wins the FA prize, for three featured articles in round 2.
 * wins the GA prize, for 92 good articles in round 3.
 * wins the FL prize, for five featured lists overall.
 * wins the topic prize, for 30 articles in good topics overall.
 * wins the DYK prize, for 24 did you know articles in round 3.
 * wins the ITN prize, for 17 in the news articles overall.
 * wins the GAR prize, for 43 good article reviews in round 1.

Awards will be handed out in the coming weeks. Please be patient!

Congratulations to everyone who participated in this year's WikiCup, whether you made it to the final rounds or not, and particular congratulations to the newcomers to the WikiCup who have achieved much this year. Thanks to all who have taken part and helped out with the competition.

Next year's competition begins on 1 January. You are invited to sign up to participate; it is open to all Wikipedians, new and old. The WikiCup judges will be back in touch over the coming months, and we hope to see you all in the 2019 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. ,, and.

Administrators' newsletter – November 2018
News and updates for administrators from the past month (October 2018).

Administrator changes
 * Gnome-colors-list-add.svg Sir Sputnik
 * Gnome-colors-view-refresh.svg Kudpung • Liz • Lourdes
 * Gnome-colors-list-remove.svg Everyking • Jackmcbarn

Interface administrator changes
 * Gnome-colors-list-add.svg Dinoguy1000

CheckUser changes
 * Gnome-colors-list-add.svg AGK • Ivanvector • Stwalkerster • TonyBallioni

Oversight changes
 * Gnome-colors-list-add.svg Amorymeltzer • Oshwah • TonyBallioni • Vanamonde93
 * Gnome-colors-list-remove.svg Keilana

Guideline and policy news
 * A request for comment determined that non-administrators will not be able to request interface admin access.
 * A request for comment is in progress to determine whether the Mediation Committee should be closed and marked as historical.
 * A village pump discussion has been ongoing about whether the proposed deletion policy (PROD) should be clarified or amended.
 * A request for comment is in progress to determine whether pending changes protection should be applied automatically to today's featured article (TFA) in order to mitigate a recent trend of severe image vandalism.

Technical news
 * Partial blocks is now available for testing on the Test Wikipedia. The new functionality allows you to block users from editing specific pages. Bugs may exist and can be reported on the local talk page or on Meta. A discussion regarding deployment to English Wikipedia will be started by community liaisons sometime in the near future.
 * A user script is now available to quickly review unblock requests.
 * The 2019 Community Wishlist Survey is now accepting new proposals until November 11, 2018. The results of this survey will determine what software the Wikimedia Foundation's Community Tech team will work on next year. Voting on the proposals will take place from November 16 to November 30, 2018. Specifically, there is a proposal category for admins and stewards that may be of interest.

Arbitration
 * Eligible editors will be invited to nominate themselves as candidates in the 2018 Arbitration Committee Elections starting on November 4 until November 13. Voting will begin on November 19 and last until December 2.
 * The Arbitration Committee's email address has changed to arbcom-en@wikimedia.org. Other email lists, such as functionaries-en and clerks-l, remain unchanged.

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Archive Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 07:18, 3 November 2018 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – December 2018
News and updates for administrators from the past month (November 2018). Administrator changes
 * Gnome-colors-view-refresh.svg Al Ameer son • Randykitty • Spartaz
 * Gnome-colors-list-remove.svg Boson • Daniel J. Leivick • Efe • Esanchez7587 • Fred Bauder • Garzo • Martijn Hoekstra • Orangemike

Interface administrator changes
 * Gnome-colors-list-remove.svgk Chan

Guideline and policy news
 * Following a request for comment, the Mediation Committee is now closed and will no longer be accepting case requests.
 * A request for comment is in progress to determine whether members of the Bot Approvals Group should satisfy activity requirements in order to remain in that role.
 * A request for comment is in progress regarding whether to change the administrator inactivity policy, such that administrators "who have made no logged administrative actions for at least 12 months may be desysopped". Currently, the policy states that administrators "who have made neither edits nor administrative actions for at least 12 months may be desysopped".
 * A proposal has been made to temporarily restrict editing of the Main Page to interface administrators in order to mitigate the impact of compromised accounts.

Technical news
 * Administrators and bureaucrats can no longer unblock themselves unless they placed the block initially. This change has been implemented globally. See also this ongoing village pump discussion (permalink).
 * To complement the aforementioned change, blocked administrators will soon have the ability to block the administrator that placed their block to mitigate the possibility of a compromised administrator account blocking all other active administrators.
 * Since deployment of Partial blocks on Test Wikipedia, several bugs were identified. Most of them are now fixed. Administrators are encouraged to test the new deployment and report new bugs on Phabricator or leave feedback on the Project's talk page. You can request administrator access on the Test Wiki here.

Arbitration
 * Voting in the 2018 Arbitration Committee Elections is open to eligible editors until Monday 23:59, 3 December 2018. Please review the candidates and, if you wish to do so, submit your choices on the voting page.

Miscellaneous
 * In late November, an attacker compromised multiple accounts, including at least four administrator accounts, and used them to vandalize Wikipedia. If you have ever used your current password on any other website, you should change it immediately. Sharing the same password across multiple websites makes your account vulnerable, especially if your password was used on a website that suffered a data breach. As these incidents have shown, these concerns are not pure fantasies.
 * Wikipedia policy requires administrators to have strong passwords. To further reinforce security, administrators should also consider enabling two-factor authentication. A committed identity can be used to verify that you are the true account owner in the event that your account is compromised and/or you are unable to log in.

Obituaries
 * (Raymond Arritt) passed away on 14 November 2018. Boris joined Wikipedia as on 8 May 2006 and was an administrator from 30 July 2007 to 2 June 2008.

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Archive Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 03:36, 3 December 2018 (UTC)

Special Counsel Counter Report
Hello Guettarda,

I responded back to you on the [Special Counsel Counter Report AFD] with some concerns. I will like for you to respond back to clear my concerns with reassurance. Thank you! Aviartm (talk) 19:31, 16 December 2018 (UTC)

Biting etc.
Could you quickly explain what happened there? Animal Behaviour: Biting appears to be gone (which I'm not unhappy with) but not actually merged to Biting - or is it? -- Elmidae (talk · contribs) 09:14, 27 December 2018 (UTC)
 * Yes, I merged it with biting (not animal biting, though I think it would be wise to merge those two as well). Since they had mostly non-parallel histories, a history merge seemed the right way to go. Guettarda (talk) 13:54, 27 December 2018 (UTC)
 * I guess the histmerge material obscured it for me. Cheers -- Elmidae (talk · contribs) 15:25, 27 December 2018 (UTC)