User talk:HouseBlaster/Archive 6

Tech News: 2024-20
 Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.

Recent changes
 * On Wikisource there is a special page listing pages of works without corresponding scan images. Now you can use the new magic word  to exclude certain pages (list of editions or translations of works) from that list.
 * If you use the user-preference "", then the template-page feature "" will now also work without reloading the page.
 * Kartographer maps can now specify an alternative text via the  attribute. This is identical in usage to the  attribute in the image and gallery syntax. An exception for this feature is wikis like Wikivoyage where the miniature maps are interactive.
 * The old Guided Tour for the "New Filters for Edit Review" feature has been removed. It was created in 2017 to show people with older accounts how the interface had changed, and has now been seen by most of the intended people.

Changes later this week
 * Octicons-sync.svg The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from . It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from . It will be on all wikis from (calendar).
 * Octicons-tools.svg The results page will now use CSS flex attributes, for better accessibility, instead of a table. If you have a gadget or script that adjusts search results, you should update your script to the new HTML structure.

Future changes
 * In the Vector 2022 skin, main pages will be displayed at full width (like special pages). The goal is to keep the number of characters per line large enough. This is related to the coming changes to typography in Vector 2022. Learn more.
 * Octicons-tools.svg Two columns of the  database table ( and  ) are being dropped soon. Users must use two columns of the new  table instead ( and  ). In your existing SQL queries:
 * Replace  with  and  with  in the  statement
 * Below that add 
 * See T222224 for technical reasoning.

Tech news prepared by Tech News writers and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe. <section end="technews-2024-W20"/>

MediaWiki message delivery 23:56, 13 May 2024 (UTC)

The Signpost: 16 May 2024
<div class="hlist" style="margin-top:10px; font-size:90%; padding-left:5px; font-family:Georgia, Palatino, Palatino Linotype, Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> * Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 10:57, 16 May 2024 (UTC)

Request to reopen CFD
Hi, you asked for my opinion yesterday at Categories_for_discussion/Log/2024_May_6, then closed it before I had saved my !vote. I have comments that I think are worth contributing. Please would you reopen the discussion? – Fayenatic  L ondon 09:00, 15 May 2024 (UTC)
 * my apologies. Not sure how I overlooked that you had not commented. ✅.<span id="HouseBlaster:1715772784929:User_talkFTTCLNHouseBlaster" class="FTTCmt"> House Blaster  (he/him) 11:33, 15 May 2024 (UTC)
 * Cheers. Please could I also ask for Categories_for_discussion/Log/2024_May_4, as the rationale is partly incorrect – there are other national siblings within Category:20th-century films. – Fayenatic  L ondon 16:17, 18 May 2024 (UTC)
 * Sure. ✅.<span id="HouseBlaster:1716054134883:User_talkFTTCLNHouseBlaster" class="FTTCmt"> House Blaster  (he/him) 17:42, 18 May 2024 (UTC)

Tech News: 2024-21
<section begin="technews-2024-W21"/> Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.

Recent changes
 * The Nuke feature, which enables administrators to mass delete pages, will now correctly delete pages which were moved to another title.
 * New changes have been made to the UploadWizard in Wikimedia Commons: the overall layout has been improved, by following new styling and spacing for the form and its fields; the headers and helper text for each of the fields was changed; the Caption field is now a required field, and there is an option for users to copy their caption into the media description.

Changes later this week
 * Octicons-sync.svg The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from . It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from . It will be on all wikis from (calendar).
 * Octicons-tools.svg The HTML used to render all headings is being changed to improve accessibility. It will change on 22 May in some skins (Timeless, Modern, CologneBlue, Nostalgia, and Monobook). Please test gadgets on your wiki on these skins and report any related problems so that they can be resolved before this change is made in all other skins. The developers are also considering the introduction of a Gadget API for adding buttons to section titles if that would be helpful to tool creators, and would appreciate any input you have on that.

Tech news prepared by Tech News writers and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe. <section end="technews-2024-W21"/>

MediaWiki message delivery 23:02, 20 May 2024 (UTC)

FlagIOC
Would you like me to finish the job and add spaces to the rest of the Flag templates? Primefac (talk) 06:06, 21 May 2024 (UTC)
 * That would be awesome! Thank you so much :)<span id="HouseBlaster:1716291207196:User_talkFTTCLNHouseBlaster" class="FTTCmt"> House Blaster  (he/him) 11:33, 21 May 2024 (UTC)
 * Cool. Will save me an additional 50 watchlist notification emails :) Primefac (talk) 11:45, 21 May 2024 (UTC)
 * Also, if you're keen on expanding compact/vague template names, I have a list of acronyms that need expansion. Primefac (talk) 11:54, 21 May 2024 (UTC)
 * I love the title of that page :) Let me see what I can do.<span id="HouseBlaster:1716292646595:User_talkFTTCLNHouseBlaster" class="FTTCmt"> House Blaster  (he/him) 11:57, 21 May 2024 (UTC)

Feedback request: Politics, government, and law request for comment
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Feedback request: Politics, government, and law request for comment
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Notice of reliable sources noticeboard discussion
There is currently a discussion at Reliable sources/Noticeboard regarding an issue with which you may have been involved. The thread is The Telegraph and trans issues. Thank you. I am informing you because you have commented on a prior RfC on a similar issue. Chess (talk) (please mention me on reply) 02:48, 27 May 2024 (UTC)

Category question

 * Categories for discussion/Log/2023 September 3

Hi! Hope you are doing well. I was wondering if you had sources in mind for Draft:List of video games with AI-versus-AI modes? At Categories for discussion/Log/2023 September 3, you suggested Category:Video games with AI-versus-AI modes be listified, but I am not finding sources which indicate it meets WP:LISTN. See also this discussion at WT:VG. Thanks! House Blaster  (talk · he/him) 11:50, 15 May 2024 (UTC)
 * Hi. Thanks for the note.
 * Looking these over, most seem to fall under Category:Fighting games, though honestly, this could apply to any game that has at least 1 AI opponent. The feature in question also being known as autoplay, or more commonly "demo mode".  The latter is what I found most when doing a quick search.
 * I think you're probably right that this might be shaky ground for a stand-alone list. But I think it's info that could probably be merged to List of fighting games, or other such lists. (Maybe by use of a universal footnote for those that have the feature?)
 * As an aside, thinking about this further, I see that I had mentioned Category:Video game lists by technology or feature. Looking at that category now, I think it probably needs to be re-thought. It seems a catch-all, and not a very good one. I think the word "feature" is looking like it's a bad word to use for categorization, because in computer software, that can mean a very broad grouping of things. I think there probably should be a split/merge in that category's future.
 * I hope this helps. - jc37 19:22, 27 May 2024 (UTC)
 * thank you for your reply! I am currently leaning towards letting the CFD bot delete the category, and adding the contents of the category at Talk:List of fighting games for future incorporation into the list as a universal footnote. Does that work for you?<span id="HouseBlaster:1716838299419:User_talkFTTCLNHouseBlaster" class="FTTCmt"> House Blaster  (he/him) 19:31, 27 May 2024 (UTC)
 * Sounds like a plan : ) - jc37 19:35, 27 May 2024 (UTC)
 * Awesome :) Just want to make sure this is okay with Marcocapelle before listing at WT:CFDW? House Blaster  (he/him) 19:38, 27 May 2024 (UTC)
 * of course that is okay! Marcocapelle (talk) 19:53, 27 May 2024 (UTC)
 * I figured, but wanted to be sure :) House Blaster  (he/him) 19:54, 27 May 2024 (UTC)

Tech News: 2024-22
<section begin="technews-2024-W22"/> Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.

Recent changes
 * Several bugs related to the latest updates to the UploadWizard on Wikimedia Commons have been fixed. For more information, see T365107 and T365119.
 * Octicons-tools.svg In March 2024 a new addPortlet API was added to allow gadgets to create new portlets (menus) in the skin. In certain skins this can be used to create dropdowns. Gadget developers are invited to try it and give feedback.
 * Octicons-tools.svg Some CSS in the Minerva skin has been removed to enable easier community configuration. Interface editors should check the rendering on mobile devices for aspects related to the classes: <bdi lang="zxx" dir="ltr"> <bdi lang="zxx" dir="ltr"> <bdi lang="zxx" dir="ltr"> <bdi lang="zxx" dir="ltr"> <bdi lang="zxx" dir="ltr"> . Further details are available on replacement CSS if it is needed.

Changes later this week
 * Octicons-sync.svg The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from . It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from . It will be on all wikis from (calendar).
 * When you visit a wiki where you don't yet have a local account, local rules such as edit filters can sometimes prevent your account from being created. Starting this week, MediaWiki takes your global rights into account when evaluating whether you can override such local rules.

Tech news prepared by Tech News writers and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe. <section end="technews-2024-W22"/>

MediaWiki message delivery 00:13, 28 May 2024 (UTC)

Question from Rachel Kufreabasi (00:47, 28 May 2024)
How do I create and publish an article on a personality --Rachel Kufreabasi (talk) 00:47, 28 May 2024 (UTC)
 * hello, and welcome to Wikipedia! Who do you want to write about?<span id="HouseBlaster:1716857506460:User_talkFTTCLNHouseBlaster" class="FTTCmt"> House Blaster  (he/him) 00:51, 28 May 2024 (UTC)

Question from ACP Writer (04:59, 29 May 2024)
Hi HouseBlaster,

Did you get your Wiki name because, you work in demolition or something? I tried submitting an article, but it got refused. Not sure if you can see what I tried to contribute Anyway, I am trying to contribute another, If you get a chance, please take a look and I would appreciate any tips you can offer. Thanks. --ACP Writer (talk) 04:59, 29 May 2024 (UTC)
 * The story of how I got my username is not that deep: it is the pseudonym I came up with when I was around 8 years old. (I registered for Wikipedia many years later, but I have kept using the name.) The first thing I have to ask is if you have a conflict of interest? (A very incomplete list of why you might have a COI includes having a spouse which works at the company.) If you do, you are strongly encouraged to disclose the COI. A particularly important type of COI is paid editing, which is when you are being compensated for your edits. If you are a paid editor, you are required by the Terms of Use to disclose the paid editing. You can do so by following the instructions at Paid-contribution disclosure. The second thing I have to ask you is to change your username. Usernames must identify you as a person, not just your role or company (you can file a request to do so at Changing username/Simple). Something like "ACP John" or "Jane at ACP" is okay, but "ACP Writer" or "ACP rail" is probably not. Once you have done those two things, I would be happy to help you with the article you are trying to write! Best,<span id="HouseBlaster:1716983352911:User_talkFTTCLNHouseBlaster" class="FTTCmt"> House Blaster  (he/him) 11:49, 29 May 2024 (UTC)
 * Thank you for the quick reply. It looks like changing the username would not be an easy thing to do because I do not have any edits under my username yet. Basically, they suggest to just open another account.
 * Have you ever submitted an article in which you have a COI or was paid for it? In Wikipedia, are articles written by paid writers treated fairly or the bias automatically becomes a hindrance for the article being accepted? ACP Writer (talk) 00:05, 30 May 2024 (UTC)
 * you would be changing your username because it violates the username policy, so they will let you rename the account. If you don't change your username, there is a chance you will be blocked from editing. Like the vast majority of editors, I have never submitted a COI/paid article. Most of us are volunteers, just like people who volunteer at their local animal shelter or to pick up litter off the sidewalk. It is certainly harder to get an article accepted if you are paid, though I wouldn't say it is due to higher standards. Rather, people with COIs tend to write about topics which do not qualify for articles, so we are very careful to make sure that they are writing about topics which satisfy our inclusion guideline.  However, with all due respect, you are not answering my questions: do you have a conflict of interest? Are you a paid editor? House Blaster  (he/him) 00:48, 30 May 2024 (UTC)

Feedback request: Politics, government, and law request for comment
Your feedback is requested &#32;at Talk:2022 Alaska's at-large congressional district special election&#32; on a "Politics, government, and law" request for comment. Thank you for helping out! You were randomly selected to receive this invitation from the list of Feedback Request Service subscribers. If you'd like not to receive these messages any more, you can opt out at any time by removing your name. Message delivered to you with love by Yapperbot :) &#124; Is this wrong? Contact my bot operator. &#124; Sent at 22:30, 30 May 2024 (UTC)

CfD nomination and closure
If I had noticed earlier that the Category:People_from_Imperial_China_by_religion has been populated in the past few days I would have withdrawn my nomination at Categories_for_discussion/Log/2024_May_22. Should we re-open the discussion? Marcocapelle (talk) 19:42, 30 May 2024 (UTC)
 * ✅. I will let you explain why; if you could ping the other participants so they can respond to your comment (in all likelihood, agreeing that the nomination should be withdrawn) that would be great. Thanks,<span id="HouseBlaster:1717110125338:User_talkFTTCLNHouseBlaster" class="FTTCmt"> House Blaster  (he/him) 23:02, 30 May 2024 (UTC)

Appointment as trainee clerk
Hi HouseBlaster. We have added you to the list of clerks and subscribed you to the mailing list (info: WP:AC/C). Welcome, and I look forward to working with you! To adjust your subscription options for the mailing list, see the link at clerks-l. The mailing list works in the usual way, and the address to which new mailing list threads can be sent is. Useful reading for new clerks is the procedures page, WP:AC/C/P, but you will learn all the basic components of clerking on-the-job. New clerks begin as a trainee, are listed as such at WP:AC/C, and will remain so until they have learned all the aspects of the job. When you've finished training, which usually takes a few months (and a maximum of one year), then we'll propose to the Committee that you be made a full clerk. As a clerk, you'll need to check your e-mail regularly, as the mailing list is where the clerks co-ordinate (on-wiki co-ordination page also exists but is not used nearly as much). If you've any questions at any point of your traineeship, simply post to the mailing list. Lastly, it might be useful if you enter your timezone into WP:AC/C (in the same format as the other members have), so that we can estimate when we will have clerks available each day; this is, of course, at your discretion. Again, welcome! Regards, Dreamy <i style="color:#d00">Jazz</i> talk to me &#124; my contributions 19:38, 30 May 2024 (UTC)


 * Hello, HouseBlaster,
 * I was an Arbitration Clerk for two years and learned a lot. I hope you find it a satisfying assignment, it's very different from other work on the Project. It all depends on how busy the Arbitration Committee is and for the past few years, it seeem like the workload has been manageable. The most important element of being an artibration clerk, I found, is finding out where all of the relevant templates are becuase much of your work involves posting templates, setting up cases and notifying editors of the status of cases. All involve templates! Good luck! Liz <sup style="font-family: Times New Roman; color: #006400;">Read! Talk! 03:46, 1 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Thank you for the words of encouragement, Liz! House Blaster  (he/him) 15:16, 1 June 2024 (UTC)

Template editor granted
Your account has been granted the "templateeditor" user permission, allowing you to edit templates and modules that have been protected with template protection. It also allows you to bypass the title blacklist, giving you the ability to create and edit editnotices. Before you use this user right, please read Template editor and make sure you understand its contents. In particular, you should read the section on wise template editing and the criteria for revocation.

You can use this user right to perform maintenance, answer edit requests, and make any other simple and generally uncontroversial edits to templates, modules, and edinotices. You can also use it to enact more complex or controversial edits, after those edits are first made to a test sandbox, and their technical reliability as well as their consensus among other informed editors has been established. If you are willing to process edit requests on templates and modules, keep in mind that you are taking responsibility to ensure the edits have consensus and are technically sound.

This user right gives you access to some of Wikipedia's most important templates and modules; it is critical that you edit them wisely and that you only make edits that are backed up by consensus. It is also very important that no one else be allowed to access your account, so you should consider taking a few moments to secure your password.

If you do not want this user right, you may ask any administrator to remove it for you at any time.

If you were granted the permission on a temporary basis you will need to re-apply for the permission a few days before it expires including in your request a permalink to the discussion where it was granted and a ping for the administrator who granted the permission. You can find the permalink in your [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Log/rights&page=User:HouseBlaster rights log].


 * Useful links
 * All template-protected pages
 * User:AnomieBOT/TPERTable – outstanding template-protected edit requests (bot-generated)
 * Request fully-protected templates or modules be downgraded to template protection

Happy template editing! Aoidh (talk) 11:17, 1 June 2024 (UTC)


 * Thank you, Aoidh! House Blaster  (he/him) 15:18, 1 June 2024 (UTC)

ygm
Moneytrees🏝️(Talk) 03:39, 2 June 2024 (UTC)

Conditional parent categories in templates
Re Template:Bridges completed in the YYY0s category header etc, rather than use "if exists", isn't it better to set a threshold year after which parent categories should exist, as in the case of Template:Synagogues completed in decade category header? That way, when e.g. a year category is created using the relevant template, it will prompt for the parent (decade category) to be created. Conversely, if a too-early decade category is (re)created against prior consensus, it would rightly not be auto-populated by year categories.

I also suggest documenting the related CFD decision on the template, at least in the edit summary. – Fayenatic  L ondon 15:55, 29 May 2024 (UTC)
 * if there is a consensus for a specific cutoff year, I agree that would be a better implementation. In Categories for discussion/Log/2024 April 27, you proposed using 1800 as a cutoff year. However, I don't see consensus for a specific cutoff year in Categories for discussion/Log/2024 May 12, which just said very complicated tree for only a few subcategories about bridges, canals and lighthouses. I would be happy to add a comment about the CFD discussions to the templates which I added Category if exists to. Does that work for you?<span id="HouseBlaster:1716998969863:User_talkFTTCLNHouseBlaster" class="FTTCmt"> House Blaster  (he/him) 16:09, 29 May 2024 (UTC)
 * I had not realised that Category if exists is brand new – well done! – it is surprising that nobody thought of this before. I've added links to it from some similar templates.
 * How about extending it, or adding a version 2, with a fallback category? This could simplify e.g. Template:Fooian sportswomen.
 * But let's not overuse "if exists" functionality. I already reverted the first two usages in "Bridges" templates back to required parents. For such Buildings & structures templates, I recommend coding a start year instead, for the reasons stated. The start date can be determined by current usage after the CFD implementations, and explained in the documentation. – Fayenatic  L ondon 10:26, 31 May 2024 (UTC)
 * I was surprised, too! Probably there is something with an opaque name, but I couldn't find it. I will look into adding a fallback option. Still not convinced that using a cutoff date is the best idea when there is no explicit consensus for a cutoff date, but also still open to being convinced. Would you object to pinging some people and asking for their opinions?<span id="HouseBlaster:1717193336916:User_talkFTTCLNHouseBlaster" class="FTTCmt"> House Blaster  (he/him) 22:08, 31 May 2024 (UTC)
 * your views on this would be welcome. – Fayenatic  L ondon 21:06, 1 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Even if a discussion doesn't explicitly codify it, it is determining that there isn't enough content to warrant chronology categories before a certain point - there is some reason people always end these nominations at round-number years, for example. Thus I think having a cutoff point is preferable to ifexist checking. * Pppery * <sub style="color:#800000">it has begun... 21:10, 1 June 2024 (UTC)
 * The cutoff point varies from one topic to another, isn't that going to be a problem? Marcocapelle (talk) 06:03, 2 June 2024 (UTC)
 * I don't see that as a problem, as the cutoff is chosen according to category sizes, which vary by topic. The cutoff that is coded should also be stated in the template documentation, ideally with a link to CFD where applicable. – Fayenatic  L ondon 07:45, 2 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Then I don't see any objection. Marcocapelle (talk) 11:42, 2 June 2024 (UTC)
 * I'm a big fan of category automation (e.g. Module:Category described in year as most relevant to this discussion). However, I haven't done any work related to cat maintenance/creation/deletion surrounding cutoffs.
 * Generally, it's better to prompt the user to confirm/create the parent cat(s), which would be obfuscated by "if exists". If "if exists" must to be used, and if it fails to display a particular parent, then it would be good to place the active category into a tracking category for followup, to decide whether or not the parent should be created and the threshold changed.
 * Thresholds & "if exists" could also be used together, where a category is forced above the threshold, and "if exists" used below the threshold and the active cat placed into a tracking cat for followup.
 * Also, having relevant discussions/CfDs/etc. in the /doc is a good idea so that everyone can stay on the same page.  ~ Tom.Reding (talk ⋅dgaf)  11:05, 2 June 2024 (UTC)

Tech News: 2024-23
<section begin="technews-2024-W23"/> Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.

Recent changes
 * It is now possible for local administrators to add new links to the bottom of the site Tools menu without JavaScript. Documentation is available.
 * The message name for the definition of the tracking category of WikiHiero has changed from "<bdi lang="zxx" dir="ltr"> " to "<bdi lang="zxx" dir="ltr"> ".
 * One new wiki has been created: a in Kadazandusun

Changes later this week
 * Octicons-sync.svg The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from . It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from . It will be on all wikis from (calendar).

Future changes
 * Next week, on wikis with the Vector 2022 skin as the default, logged-out desktop users will be able to choose between different font sizes. The default font size will also be increased for them. This is to make Wikimedia projects easier to read. Learn more.

Tech news prepared by Tech News writers and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe. <section end="technews-2024-W23"/>

MediaWiki message delivery 22:32, 3 June 2024 (UTC)

Feedback request: Politics, government, and law request for comment
Your feedback is requested &#32;at Talk:United States&#32; on a "Politics, government, and law" request for comment. Thank you for helping out! You were randomly selected to receive this invitation from the list of Feedback Request Service subscribers. If you'd like not to receive these messages any more, you can opt out at any time by removing your name. Message delivered to you with love by Yapperbot :) &#124; Is this wrong? Contact my bot operator. &#124; Sent at 15:30, 4 June 2024 (UTC)

Question from Balgobeen (03:12, 5 June 2024)
Request an article creation --Balgobeen (talk) 03:12, 5 June 2024 (UTC)
 * hello, and welcome to Wikipedia! Before any article is created on Wikipedia, we need to make sure it is eligible for an article. Do you have two or three reliable sources (we have a list of sources alongside their reliability) which are independent of the subject (nothing created by or in collaboration with the subject counts) and cover the subject in detail?<span id="HouseBlaster:1717587697826:User_talkFTTCLNHouseBlaster" class="FTTCmt"> House Blaster  (he/him) 11:41, 5 June 2024 (UTC)

Question from Peewoop 68369 (22:05, 3 June 2024)
Hi, how do I add links in articles? --Peewoop 68369 (talk) 22:05, 3 June 2024 (UTC)
 * hello, and welcome to Wikipedia! To add a link, you surround the term you want to link with . You can see more information at Help:Link. Best,<span id="HouseBlaster:1717452535664:User_talkFTTCLNHouseBlaster" class="FTTCmt"> House Blaster  (he/him) 22:08, 3 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Thank you! Peewoop 68369 (talk) 00:08, 6 June 2024 (UTC)

Deletion review for Category:Dominican Republic people of European American descent
Iñaki Salazar has asked for a deletion review of Category:Dominican Republic people of European American descent. Because you closed the deletion discussion for this page, you might want to participate in the deletion review. —Cryptic 02:42, 6 June 2024 (UTC)

The Signpost: 8 June 2024
<div class="hlist" style="margin-top:10px; font-size:90%; padding-left:5px; font-family:Georgia, Palatino, Palatino Linotype, Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> * Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 12:26, 8 June 2024 (UTC)

Jovana-Aja Panić
Artist and master od criminal law Ajapanic (talk) 14:13, 8 June 2024 (UTC)
 * hello, and welcome to Wikipedia! Do you have a question about editing?<span id="HouseBlaster:1717862110429:User_talkFTTCLNHouseBlaster" class="FTTCmt"> House Blaster  (he/they) 15:55, 8 June 2024 (UTC)

Category:Ezo'la CFD close
Per WP:BADNAC, non admins are not supposed to close discussions when the result requires admin action. Can you revert the close so an admin actually moves the page? Nickps (talk) 16:43, 9 June 2024 (UTC)
 * hi, it is listed at WT:CFDW where an admin will process the discussion. That is par for the course at CFD.<span id="HouseBlaster:1717951472388:User_talkFTTCLNHouseBlaster" class="FTTCmt"> House Blaster  (he/they) 16:44, 9 June 2024 (UTC)
 * I didn't know that process existed. I'm sorry about that. Nickps (talk) 16:46, 9 June 2024 (UTC)

CFD categories
Hello, HouseBlaster,

After there is a CFD closure, please do not remove the CFD tag from the category to be deleted. If there is the CFD tag, then when an admin like me deletes the category, the deletion notice will list the relevant CFD discussion so that any interested editor can go and see the discussion. When you remove the CFD tag and just put a normal CSD tag on the page or some anonymous tag, then the CFD discussion won't be automatically listed as the reason for deletion. I regularly run a query for empty categories so if a category has been emptied after a CFD closure, there is a good chance I'll see it. But if you see me reverting an edit of yours on a CFD category, that's why I'm doing this. Thanks. Liz <sup style="font-family: Times New Roman; color: #006400;">Read! Talk! 01:53, 10 June 2024 (UTC)
 * hi Liz! Is there a particular category where I did that? I don't normally remove the CFD tag before adding a CSD tag (Twinkle adds the CSD tag without removing the CFD tag).<span id="HouseBlaster:1717984661961:User_talkFTTCLNHouseBlaster" class="FTTCmt"> House Blaster  (he/they) 01:57, 10 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Wait, I now see that it was the now-deleted Category:British LGBT civil servants‬. Not sure why I didn't use Twinkle; I'll consider this a . Apologies for the confusion!<span id="HouseBlaster:1717985304297:User_talkFTTCLNHouseBlaster" class="FTTCmt"> House Blaster  (he/they) 02:08, 10 June 2024 (UTC)

Tech News: 2024-24
<section begin="technews-2024-W24"/> Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.

Recent changes
 * The software used to render SVG files has been updated to a new version, fixing many longstanding bugs in SVG rendering.
 * Octicons-tools.svg The HTML used to render all headings is being changed to improve accessibility. It was changed last week in some skins (Vector legacy and Minerva). Please test gadgets on your wiki on these skins and report any related problems so that they can be resolved before this change is made in Vector-2022. The developers are still considering the introduction of a Gadget API for adding buttons to section titles if that would be helpful to tool creators, and would appreciate any input you have on that.
 * Octicons-tools.svg The HTML markup used for citations by Parsoid changed last week. In places where Parsoid previously added the <bdi lang="zxx" dir="ltr"> class, Parsoid now also adds the <bdi lang="zxx" dir="ltr"> class for better compatibility with the legacy parser. More details are available.

Problems
 * There was a bug with the Content Translation interface that caused the tools menus to appear in the wrong location. This has now been fixed.

Changes later this week
 * Octicons-sync.svg The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from . It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from . It will be on all wikis from (calendar).
 * Octicons-tools.svg The new version of MediaWiki includes another change to the HTML markup used for citations: Parsoid will now generate a <bdi lang="zxx" dir="ltr"> wrapper for both named and unnamed references for better compatibility with the legacy parser. Interface administrators should verify that gadgets that interact with citations are compatible with the new markup. More details are available.
 * On multilingual wikis that use the <bdi lang="zxx" dir="ltr"> system, there is a feature that shows potentially-outdated translations with a pink background until they are updated or confirmed. From this week, confirming translations will be logged, and there is a new user-right that can be required for confirming translations if the community requests it.

Tech news prepared by Tech News writers and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe. <section end="technews-2024-W24"/>

MediaWiki message delivery 20:18, 10 June 2024 (UTC)

Question from Dinesh Yadav Lohia on Help:Getting started (06:01, 12 June 2024)
Photos --Dinesh Yadav Lohia (talk) 06:01, 12 June 2024 (UTC)


 * what do you want to do with photos? House Blaster  (he/they) 16:22, 12 June 2024 (UTC)

Deleting Ninety Nines
Can you explain why you suggested the Category Ninety-Nines for deletion? As a new wikipedia editor, who is trying to improve the content for women's categories, I do not see why my contribution to building this new category was deleted on your suggestion? If there is some Wikipedia rule this new category violates, please let me know, I spent a lot of time to organize this information into something that was useful and applicable. Nayyn (talk) 18:29, 11 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Hello Nayyn! I did not suggest the category be deleted—I just "closed" the discussion as delete. The job of a "closer" is to assess the consensus in the discussion, not to choose a particular outcome. would be better equipped to tell you why they thought the category should be deleted (perhaps they would be willing to chime in?). Let me know if you have any more questions,<span id="HouseBlaster:1718140563543:User_talkFTTCLNHouseBlaster" class="FTTCmt"> House Blaster  (he/they) 21:16, 11 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Hi, thank you for the clarification. How many people are required to determine consensus? It just seems like a limited discussion took place in a short time frame and I'm not sure the rationale that closed the category. I am still learning here, but wish to contribute meaningfully and I'm not sure why anyone would have an objection to this. Nayyn (talk) 11:04, 12 June 2024 (UTC)
 * first, a bit of terminology: I closed the discussion, which resulted in the category being deleted. Deletion discussions on Wikipedia generally last a week, and there is no fixed number required for consensus. This section of the consensus policy which explains how consensus is determined. Four people is slightly above average participation at a deletion discussion. Now for specifics: categories are for navigation by grouping articles by their defining characteristics. In general, membership in an organization is not considered defining. Best, House Blaster  (he/they) 16:32, 12 June 2024 (UTC)

Questions at RfA
I wouldn't race through this first burst of questions. I would take my time and use the opportunity to let !voters into my head. That's what I might do. Opinions vary. The very best wishes in your run. Good noms. Trust them if you have questions. BusterD (talk) 14:11, 16 June 2024 (UTC)

Back in late March....
you nominated a fellow editor for the EotW award. You did fine!!! Thanks and good luck at RfA. <em style="font-family:Bradley Hand ITC;color:black">Buster Seven  <em style="font-family:Bradley Hand ITC;color:black"> Talk  (UTC) 18:26, 16 June 2024 (UTC)
 * thank you both for your words of encouragement; they are sincerely appreciated.<span id="HouseBlaster:1718564048458:User_talkFTTCLNHouseBlaster" class="FTTCmt"> House Blaster  (he/they) 18:54, 16 June 2024 (UTC)

Tech News: 2024-25
<section begin="technews-2024-W25"/> Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.

Recent changes
 * People who attempt to add an external link in the visual editor will now receive immediate feedback if they attempt to link to a domain that a project has decided to block. Please see Edit check for more details.
 * The new Community Configuration extension is available on Test Wikipedia. This extension allows communities to customize specific features to meet their local needs. Currently only Growth features are configurable, but the extension will support other Community Configuration use cases in the future.
 * The dark mode beta feature is now available on category and help pages, as well as more special pages. There may be contrast issues. Please report bugs on the project talk page.

Problems
 * Octicons-tools.svg Cloud Services tools were not available for 25 minutes last week. This was caused by a faulty hardware cable in the data center.
 * Last week, styling updates were made to the Vector 2022 skin. This caused unforeseen issues with templates, hatnotes, and images. Changes to templates and hatnotes were reverted. Most issues with images were fixed. If you still see any, report them here.

Changes later this week
 * Octicons-sync.svg The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from . It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from . It will be on all wikis from (calendar).
 * Starting June 18, the Reference Edit Check will be deployed to a new set of Wikipedias. This feature is intended to help newcomers and to assist edit-patrollers by inviting people who are adding new content to a Wikipedia article to add a citation when they do not do so themselves. During a test at 11 wikis, the number of citations added more than doubled when Reference Check was shown to people. Reference Check is community configurable.
 * Mailing lists will be unavailable for roughly two hours on Tuesday 10:00–12:00 UTC. This is to enable migration to a new server and upgrade its software.

Tech news prepared by Tech News writers and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe. <section end="technews-2024-W25"/>

MediaWiki message delivery 23:46, 17 June 2024 (UTC)

Questioning the outcome of the discussion
Hi, can you please explain what the result of this discussion is based on? The result you wrote is "keep and populate", but I believe that "populate" is not what follows from the discussion, and leads to the creation of undersized categories. FromCzech (talk) 17:51, 17 June 2024 (UTC)
 * stub templates do not always go together with stub categories. For instance, Mělník-geo-stub does not need to populate Category:Mělník geography stubs‎: it can be set up to feed directly into Category:Central Bohemian Region geography stubs. For that reason, we don't normally delete stub templates. (That way, we can always recreate the stub category and it will be automatically populated by simply updating the templates.) You nominated the templates for deletion, and the result was keep and populate the templates. If you wish to upmerge the categories, you can nominate them directly.<span id="HouseBlaster:1718675694614:User_talkFTTCLNHouseBlaster" class="FTTCmt"> House Blaster  (he/they) 01:54, 18 June 2024 (UTC)

You've got mail!
Snowmanonahoe (talk · contribs · typos) 13:07, 18 June 2024 (UTC)

Trouted
You have been trouted for: Blehhhhh :3 Skxnteq (talk) 21:50, 21 June 2024 (UTC)

Your request for adminship
Hi HouseBlaster, I have closed your request for adminship as successful. While your candidacy is a success, there was a non-trivial amount of opposition to your request; heeding any advice and concerns expressed would be well advised. That being said...Congratulations! As always, the administrators' reading list is worth reading and the new admin help pages are most certainly available if you feel that you might require some practice with the tools in a safe environment prior to applying them elsewhere on the project. Good luck! Acalamari 02:04, 23 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Thank you, Acalamari!<span id="HouseBlaster:1719108329217:User_talkFTTCLNHouseBlaster" class="FTTCmt"> House Blaster  (he/they) 02:05, 23 June 2024 (UTC)

A baton for you!
Congratulations on your RfA! Hawkeye7  (discuss)  01:50, 24 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Thank you! Looking forward to passing the baton sooner rather than later :) House Blaster  (he/they) 13:57, 23 June 2024 (UTC)

Congrats!

 * On your successful RfA.
 * Your nomination received his EotW award.
 * My family has a similar tradition. My parents were very open about their passing. <em style="font-family:Bradley Hand ITC;color:black">Buster Seven  <em style="font-family:Bradley Hand ITC;color:black"> Talk  (UTC) 03:53, 23 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Let me get your t-shirt. Sorry for the delay, the delivery truck broke down unexpectedly. Cremastra (talk) 13:59, 24 June 2024 (UTC) Admin T-shirt.svg

WP:RFU Nuclear Medicine Oncology & Radiotherapy Institute Nawabshah
While you did nothing wrong here, there are a number of us who prefer to draftify restorations of soft deletes and PRODs, so that the article doesn't immediately get re-nom'd. Do a search for "draftify" on the RFU page to see how I reply to these such requests. And welcome to the RFUn! :D - UtherSRG (talk) 12:00, 24 June 2024 (UTC)
 * thank you for the note; I will keep it in mind in the future :)<span id="HouseBlaster:1719261864267:User_talkFTTCLNHouseBlaster" class="FTTCmt"> House Blaster  (he/they) 20:44, 24 June 2024 (UTC)

Tech News: 2024-26
<section begin="technews-2024-W26"/> Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.

Recent changes
 * Editors will notice that there have been some changes to the background color of text in the diff view, and the color of the byte-change numbers, last week. These changes are intended to make text more readable in both light mode and dark mode, and are part of a larger effort to increase accessibility. You can share your comments or questions on the project talkpage.
 * The text colors that are used for visited-links, hovered-links, and active-links, were also slightly changed last week to improve their accessibility in both light mode and dark mode.

Problems
 * You can copy permanent links to talk page comments by clicking on a comment's timestamp. This feature did not always work when the topic title was very long and the link was used as a wikitext link. This has been fixed. Thanks to Lofhi for submitting the bug.

Changes later this week
 * Octicons-sync.svg The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from . It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from . It will be on all wikis from (calendar).
 * Starting 26 June, all talk pages messages' timestamps will become a link at English Wikipedia, making this feature available for you to use at all wikis. This link is a permanent link to the comment. It allows users to find the comment they were linked to, even if this comment has since been moved elsewhere. You can read more about this feature on Diff or on Mediawiki.org.

Tech news prepared by Tech News writers and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe. <section end="technews-2024-W26"/>

MediaWiki message delivery 22:30, 24 June 2024 (UTC)

Categories for discussion/Log/2024 June 26
Good morning,

I've submitted a new renaming proposal for the above template and a number of linked ones. As you were involved in the previous discussion, I would welcome your views on the new proposal. Mdann52 (talk) 06:18, 26 June 2024 (UTC)

Categories for discussion/Log/2024 June 20
Hello, HouseBlaster,

I see that a bot has started emptying these categories and deleting others but the discussion hasn't been closed yet. What's up here? Liz <sup style="font-family: Times New Roman; color: #006400;">Read! Talk! 02:15, 28 June 2024 (UTC)
 * I forgot to click publish. My apologies; .<span id="HouseBlaster:1719541399463:User_talkFTTCLNHouseBlaster" class="FTTCmt"> House Blaster  (he/they) 02:23, 28 June 2024 (UTC)

Question from GHeavenRubberBandMan (04:44, 28 June 2024)
Hello HouseBlaster.

GHeavenRubberBandMan here. You know that little information box at the top right of every article? How do I adjust the image to take up the width of that box? Do I use the full-sized image or the thumbnail? What px value do I use?

Why doesn't the Image Size field affect anything?

I have lots of questions, but that's a good starting point.

Thank you! --GHeavenRubberBandMan (talk) 04:44, 28 June 2024 (UTC)
 * I have responded at your talk page.<span id="HouseBlaster:1719609381502:User_talkFTTCLNHouseBlaster" class="FTTCmt"> House Blaster  (he/they) 21:16, 28 June 2024 (UTC)

Tech News: 2024-27
<section begin="technews-2024-W27"/> Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.

Recent changes
 * Over the next three weeks, dark mode will become available for all users, both logged-in and logged-out, starting with the mobile web version. This fulfils one of the top-requested community wishes, and improves low-contrast reading and usage in low-light settings. As part of these changes, dark mode will also work on User-pages and Portals. There is more information in the latest Web team update.
 * Logged-in users can now set global preferences for the text-size and dark-mode, thanks to a combined effort across Foundation teams. This allows Wikimedians using multiple wikis to set up a consistent reading experience easily, for example by switching between light and dark mode only once for all wikis.
 * If you use a very old web browser some features might not work on the Wikimedia wikis. This affects Internet Explorer 11 and versions of Chrome, Firefox and Safari older than 2016. This change makes it possible to use new CSS features and to send less code to all readers.
 * Wikipedia Admins can customize local wiki configuration options easily using Community Configuration. Community Configuration was created to allow communities to customize how some features work, because each language wiki has unique needs. At the moment, admins can configure Growth features on their home wikis, in order to better recruit and retain new editors. More options will be provided in the coming months.
 * Editors interested in language issues that are related to Unicode standards, can now discuss those topics at a new conversation space in MediaWiki.org. The Wikimedia Foundation is now a member of the Unicode Consortium, and the coordination group can collaboratively review the issues discussed and, where appropriate, bring them to the attention of the Unicode Consortium.
 * One new wiki has been created: a in Mandailing

Problems
 * Editors can once again click on links within the visual editor's citation-preview, thanks to a bug fix by the Editing Team.

Future changes
 * Please help us to improve Tech News by taking this short survey. The goal is to better meet the needs of the various types of people who read Tech News. The survey will be open for 2 weeks. The survey is covered by this privacy statement. Some translations are available.

Tech news prepared by Tech News writers and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe. <section end="technews-2024-W27"/>

MediaWiki message delivery 23:57, 1 July 2024 (UTC)