User talk:Mz7/June–August 2022

Administrators' newsletter – June 2022
News and updates for administrators from the past month (May 2022).

Administrator changes
 * Gnome-colors-list-add.svg Tamzin
 * Gnome-colors-list-remove.svg Barek • Darkwind • Geometry guy • ProcseeBot • RoyBoy • Sean Whitton • Valereee • Visorstuff • WAvegetarian
 * Pictogram voting rename.png →



CheckUser changes
 * Gnome-colors-list-remove.svg Ivanvector

Guideline and policy news
 * Several areas of improvement collated from community member votes have been identified in the Universal Code of Conduct Enforcement guidelines. The areas of improvement have been sent back for review and you are invited to provide input on these areas.

Technical news
 * Administrators using the mobile web interface can now access Special:Block directly from user pages.
 * The IP Info feature has been deployed to all wikis as a Beta Feature. Any autoconfirmed user may enable the feature using the "IP info" checkbox under . Autoconfirmed users will be able to access basic information about an IP address that includes the country and connection method. Those with advanced privileges (admin, bureaucrat, checkuser) will have access to extra information that includes the Internet Service Provider and more specific location.

Arbitration
 * Remedy 2 of the Rachel Marsden case has been rescinded following a motion. The remedy previously authorised administrators to delete or reduce to a stub, together with their talk pages, articles related to Rachel Marsden when they violate Wikipedia's biographies of living persons policy.
 * An arbitration case regarding WikiProject Tropical Cyclones has been closed.

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Archive Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 17:55, 2 June 2022 (UTC)

Tech News: 2022-23
 Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.

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 A new  function can be used in abuse filters to replace parts of text using a regular expression.

Tech news prepared by Tech News writers and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe. 

02:45, 7 June 2022 (UTC)

Help!
Hello I had a question about Mehran Ghafourian's article. Mehran Ghafourian is very famous. But because of the creation by the blocked user, the article can not be created. What can we do to create an article for them? Because a lot of fame is evident — Preceding unsigned comment added by Saharwolf (talk • contribs) 08:57, 13 June 2022 (UTC)
 * This user popped up in asking the same question. I've blocked as a duck sock of Sockpuppet investigations/Aliasghar ghorbandokht.  --  Tamzin  [ cetacean needed ] (she/they) 09:17, 13 June 2022 (UTC)

Tech News: 2022-24
 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
 * All wikis can now use Kartographer maps. Kartographer maps now also work on pages with pending changes.

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-sync.svg Some wikis will be in read-only for a few minutes because of a switch of their main database. It will be performed on at 06:00 UTC (targeted wikis).
 * Starting on Wednesday, a new set of Wikipedias will get "Add a link" . This is part of the progressive deployment of this tool to more Wikipedias. The communities can configure how this feature works locally.
 * The New Topic Tool will be deployed for all editors at Commons, Wikidata, and some other wikis soon. You will be able to opt out from within the tool and in Preferences.

Future meetings
 * The next open meeting with the Web team about Vector (2022) will take place today (13 June). The following meetings will take place on: 28 June, 12 July, 26 July.

Future changes
 * By the end of July, the Vector 2022 skin should be ready to become the default across all wikis. Discussions on how to adjust it to the communities' needs will begin in the next weeks. It will always be possible to revert to the previous version on an individual basis. Learn more.

Tech news prepared by Tech News writers and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe. 

16:57, 13 June 2022 (UTC)

User:Julnhsj/sandbox
Hi MZ7. is a newly created account that for some reason is spending most of its time editing User:Julnhsj/sandbox, which is the sandbox of an account that you've indefinitely blocked per Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Vallabharebel. Please let me know if you believe this to be something more than just a weird coincidence (i.e. a case of WP:DUCK). -- Marchjuly (talk) 07:29, 15 June 2022 (UTC)
 * Update: Another has started a SPI for this user so it will be sorted out one way or another. -- Marchjuly (talk) 14:21, 15 June 2022 (UTC)
 * Nice, looks like it's been handled already. Let me know if I can help in the future. Mz7 (talk) 00:46, 16 June 2022 (UTC)

Tech News: 2022-25
 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 Wikipedia App for Android now has an option for editing the whole page at once, located in the overflow menu (three-dots menu Ic more vert 36px.svg).
 * Octicons-tools.svg Some recent database changes may affect queries using the Quarry tool. Queries for  at English Wikipedia, Commons, and Wikidata will need to be updated. Read more.
 * Octicons-tools.svg A new  variable can be used in abuse filters to avoid affecting globally active users.

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).
 * Users of non-responsive skins (e.g. MonoBook or Vector) on mobile devices may notice a slight change in the default zoom level. This is intended to optimize zooming and ensure all interface elements are present on the page (for example the table of contents on Vector 2022). In the unlikely event this causes any problems with how you use the site, we'd love to understand better, please ping Jon (WMF) to any on-wiki conversations.

Future changes
 * The Beta Feature for DiscussionTools will be updated throughout July. Discussions will look different.  You can see some of the proposed changes.
 * Octicons-tools.svg Parsoid's HTML output will soon stop annotating file links with different  attribute values, and instead use  for all types. Tool authors should adjust any code that expects: ,  , or .

Tech news prepared by Tech News writers and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe. 

20:17, 20 June 2022 (UTC)

Administrators' noticeboard
is live -- Deep fried okra ( talk ) 13:29, 21 June 2022 (UTC)
 * User:Whatsupkarren also mentioned your name in a comment that's now on his talk page: User talk:Whatsupkarren. He states that you caught all the accounts he listed. EdJohnston (talk) 17:25, 21 June 2022 (UTC)

Kisaan swaraj sangathan
Hi, you deleted and salted Kisan Swaraj Sangathan: can you please check whether new article Kisaan swaraj sangathan is substantially different? Thanks. Storchy (talk) 23:35, 23 June 2022 (UTC)


 * Thank you for bringing this to my attention. In my view, the new article does not contain substantially new content compared to the previously deleted article such that it would prevent WP:G4 from applying. I have therefore speedily deleted the new article. Mz7 (talk) 07:11, 26 June 2022 (UTC)

New Page Patrol newsletter June 2022
Hello ,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 10:01, 24 June 2022 (UTC)

Question
Hi Mz7, I hope you are well. I was wondering if you could help me with something, where can I find my Wikimedia VRT 2 factor token? Many thanks Blanchey (talk) 16:24, 25 June 2022 (UTC)


 * Hello, . If you haven't set up two-factor authentication on your VRT account, you should just be able to log in while leaving that field blank. Just to be clear, access to VRT is granted only to users who successfully apply at meta:Volunteer Response Team/Volunteering. You are given a VRT account only after VRT administrators approve your application. The reason I bring this up is because I don't see your username on the list of Volunteer Response Team members. Hope this information helps. Mz7 (talk) 18:20, 25 June 2022 (UTC)


 * Ah, never mind, I see what the problem is here. Basically i had emailed the Wikipedia team a couple of years ago and saw a link to my ticket when I requested my talk page blanked because I didn’t know how to do it back then. I don’t have the emails anymore so the vrt was a link for admins, thanks anyway! Blanchey (talk) 18:25, 25 June 2022 (UTC)


 * One other thing I need some help with, the other day, I edited a couple of articles although I forgot to login. I let everyone know in a null edit that it was me so that no one thought I was sockpuppeting because that is a violation of Wikipedias polices although now my ip is showing and I don’t really feel comfortable. I’ve seen that other users have had their IPs hidden in the past so would you be able to do the same for me? If so, these are the edits in question:  and . Many thanks, Blanchey (talk) 19:10, 25 June 2022 (UTC)
 * ✅. Please make sure that you are logged in for all editing to make sure this doesn't happen again in the future. If it does, you can contact the oversight team privately to get the IP address suppressed. Mz7 (talk) 19:24, 25 June 2022 (UTC)


 * Thanks, I’ll make sure it doesn’t. Blanchey (talk) 19:30, 25 June 2022 (UTC)

The Signpost: 26 June 2022
 * Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 22:31, 26 June 2022 (UTC)

Tech News: 2022-26
 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
 * Octicons-tools.svg Wikimedia Enterprise API service now has self-service accounts with free on-demand requests and monthly snapshots (API documentation). Community access via database dumps & Wikimedia Cloud Services continues.
 * Octicons-tools.svg All Wikimedia wikis can now use Wikidata Lexemes in Lua after creating local modules and templates. Discussions are welcome on the project talk page.

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-sync.svg Some wikis will be in read-only for a few minutes because of a switch of their main database. It will be performed on at 06:00 UTC (targeted wikis).
 * Some global and cross-wiki services will be in read-only for a few minutes because of a switch of their main database. It will be performed on at 06:00 UTC. This will impact ContentTranslation, Echo, StructuredDiscussions, Growth experiments and a few more services.
 * Users will be able to sort columns within sortable tables in the mobile skin.

Future meetings
 * The next open meeting with the Web team about Vector (2022) will take place tomorrow (28 June). The following meetings will take place on 12 July and 26 July.

Tech news prepared by Tech News writers and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe. <section end="technews-2022-W26"/>

20:01, 27 June 2022 (UTC)

The user you blocked is bothering me on Wikiquote
Me and apparently another user too. I don't even edit horror film related pages so I have no idea how they found me. I just want to edit my Coldplay stuff in peace. https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/2600:387:15:633:0:0:0:5 GustavoCza (talk) 01:57, 1 July 2022 (UTC)


 * @GustavoCza: Unfortunately, I am not an administrator on Wikiquote, so I won’t be able to block the IP address there. Consider reaching out to administrators there on their noticeboard. Mz7 (talk) 21:59, 1 July 2022 (UTC)

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

Orphaned non-free image File:Amina watoto logo.png
Thanks for uploading File:Amina watoto logo.png. 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. --B-bot (talk) 17:03, 4 July 2022 (UTC)

Tech News: 2022-27
<section begin="technews-2022-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.

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-sync.svg Some wikis will be in read-only for a few minutes because of a switch of their main database. It will be performed on at 07:00 UTC (targeted wikis) and on  at 7:00 UTC (targeted wikis).
 * The Beta Feature for DiscussionTools will be updated throughout July. Discussions will look different.  You can see some of the proposed changes.
 * Octicons-tools.svg This change only affects pages in the main namespace in Wikisource. The Javascript config variable <bdi lang="zxx" dir="ltr"> will be removed from <bdi lang="zxx" dir="ltr"> and be replaced with the variable <bdi lang="zxx" dir="ltr">.

Tech news prepared by Tech News writers and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe. <section end="technews-2022-W27"/>

19:30, 4 July 2022 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – July 2022
News and updates for administrators from the past month (June 2022).

Administrator changes
 * Gnome-colors-list-remove.svg AA • Gwalla • Ioeth • Laurascudder • Moriori (deceased) • Nat • Rfl
 * Pictogram voting rename.png →

Bureaucrat changes
 * Gnome-colors-list-add.svg Lee Vilenski



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

Technical news
 * is a new variable that can be used in abuse filters to avoid affecting globally active users.

Arbitration
 * An arbitration case regarding conduct in deletion-related editing has been opened.

Miscellaneous
 * The New Pages Patrol queue has around 10,000 articles to be reviewed. As all administrators have the patrol right, please consider helping out. The queue is here. For further information on the state of the project, see the latest NPP newsletter.

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Archive Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 13:29, 10 July 2022 (UTC)

Tech News: 2022-28
<section begin="technews-2022-W28"/> 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
 * In the Vector 2022 skin, the page title is now displayed above the tabs such as Discussion, Read, Edit, View history, or More. Learn more.
 * Octicons-tools.svg It is now possible to easily view most of the configuration settings that apply to just one wiki, and to compare settings between two wikis if those settings are different. For example: Japanese Wiktionary settings, or settings that are different between the Spanish and Esperanto Wikipedias. Local communities may want to discuss and propose changes to their local settings. Details about each of the named settings can be found by searching MediaWiki.org.
 * The Anti-Harassment Tools team recently deployed the IP Info Feature as a Beta Feature at all wikis. This feature allows abuse fighters to access information about IP addresses. Please check our update on how to find and use the tool. Please share your feedback using a link you will be given within the tool itself.

Changes later this week
 * There is no new MediaWiki version this week.
 * Octicons-sync.svg Some wikis will be in read-only for a few minutes because of a switch of their main database. It will be performed on at 07:00 UTC (targeted wikis).

Future changes
 * The Beta Feature for DiscussionTools will be updated throughout July. Discussions will look different.  You can see some of the proposed changes.

Tech news prepared by Tech News writers and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe. <section end="technews-2022-W28"/>

19:23, 11 July 2022 (UTC)

Corona Treatment
Hi. I had the external link on the page there for 11 years. It is a link to an article that describes the physical aspects of corona treatment.

I just updated the link from tantec.com/what-is-surface-treatment.html to tantec.com/what-is-surface-treatment/, and now I have to struggle with everyone who do not understand what corona treatment is! Reginvels (talk) 07:19, 14 July 2022 (UTC)

Corona treatment
Hi. I knew the engineer who wrote that article and I used to study surface treatment. I happen to know about the subject and thought it made sense. Reginvels (talk) 08:11, 14 July 2022 (UTC)

2600:387:0:0:0:0:0:0/43
Hey, thought I'd just let you know I renewed your block on that range. It's a fairly busy one so I'm loathe to do anything too drastic and I left account creation open. You might wish to check it to see if the intended target is exploiting that loophole. Best, <b style="color: teal; font-family: Tahoma">HJ Mitchell</b> &#124; <span style="color: navy; font-family: Times New Roman" title="(Talk page)">Penny for your thoughts? 12:02, 14 July 2022 (UTC)

Tscdrwh SPI
Might want to take a look at User:Focus of content. Seems to be the same user as in Sockpuppet investigations/Tscdrwh. Endwise (talk) 10:14, 15 July 2022 (UTC)
 * I have blocked User:Focus of content. User:Tschrwd, who has been reverting Focus of content, may be the same as User:Tschrwh. Do you have any insights? - Donald Albury 12:16, 15 July 2022 (UTC)

Tech News: 2022-29
<section begin="technews-2022-W29"/> Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.

Problems
 * The feature on mobile web for Nearby Pages was missing last week. It will be fixed this week.

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
 * The Technical Decision Forum is seeking community representatives. You can apply on wiki or by emailing TDFSupport@wikimedia.org before 12 August.

Tech news prepared by Tech News writers and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe. <section end="technews-2022-W29"/>

22:58, 18 July 2022 (UTC)

Tech News: 2022-30
<section begin="technews-2022-W30"/> 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 www.wikibooks.org and www.wikiquote.org portal pages now use an automated update system. Other project portals will be updated over the next few months.

Problems
 * Last week, some wikis were in read-only mode for a few minutes because of an emergency switch of their main database (targeted wikis).

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).
 * The external link icon will change slightly in the skins Vector legacy and Vector 2022. The new icon uses simpler shapes to be more recognizable on low-fidelity screens.
 * Administrators will now see buttons on user pages for "" and "" instead of just "" if the user is already blocked.

Future meetings
 * The next open meeting with the Web team about Vector (2022) will take place tomorrow (26 July).

Tech news prepared by Tech News writers and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe. <section end="technews-2022-W30"/>

19:26, 25 July 2022 (UTC)

The Signpost: 1 August 2022
<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) 00:39, 1 August 2022 (UTC)

Tech News: 2022-31
<section begin="technews-2022-W31"/> 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
 * Improved LaTeX capabilities for math rendering are now available in the wikis thanks to supporting <bdi lang="zxx" dir="ltr"> tags. This completes part of the #59 wish of the 2022 Community Wishlist Survey.

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).
 * The Realtime Preview will be available as a Beta Feature on wikis in Group 0. This feature was built in order to fulfill one of the Community Wishlist Survey proposals.

Future changes
 * The Beta Feature for DiscussionTools will be updated throughout August. Discussions will look different.  You can see some of the proposed changes.

Future meetings
 * This week, three meetings about Vector (2022) with live interpretation will take place. On Tuesday, interpretation in Russian will be provided. On Thursday, meetings for Arabic and Spanish speakers will take place. See how to join.

Tech news prepared by Tech News writers and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe. <section end="technews-2022-W31"/>

21:20, 1 August 2022 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – August 2022
News and updates for administrators from the past month (July 2022).



Administrator changes
 * Gnome-colors-view-refresh.svg Valereee
 * Gnome-colors-list-remove.svg Anthony Appleyard (deceased) • Capitalistroadster • Samsara

Guideline and policy news
 * An RfC has been closed with consensus to add javascript that will show edit notices for editors editing via a mobile device. This only works for users using a mobile browser, so iOS app editors will still not be able to see edit notices.
 * An RfC has been closed with the consensus that train stations are not inherently notable.

Technical news
 * The Wikimania 2022 Hackathon will take place virtually from 11 August to 14 August.
 * Administrators will now see links on user pages for "Change block" and "Unblock user" instead of just "Block user" if the user is already blocked. (T308570)

Arbitration
 * The arbitration case request Geschichte has been automatically closed after a 3 month suspension of the case.

Miscellaneous
 * You can vote for candidates in the 2022 Board of Trustees elections from 16 August to 30 August. Two community elected seats are up for election.
 * Wikimania 2022 is taking place virtually from 11 August to 14 August. The schedule for wikimania is listed here. There are also a number of in-person events associated with Wikimania around the world.
 * Tech tip: When revision-deleting on desktop, hold between clicking two checkboxes to select every box in that range.

Discuss this newsletter

Subscribe

Archive Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 08:44, 5 August 2022 (UTC)

New Page Patrol newsletter August 2022
Hello ,

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

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


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


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


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


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


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

Delivered by: MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 21:24, 6 August 2022 (UTC)

Tech News: 2022-32
<section begin="technews-2022-W32"/> 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
 * GUS2Wiki copies the information from to an on-wiki page so you can review its history. If your project isn't already listed on the Wikidata entry for Project:GUS2Wiki you can either run GUS2Wiki yourself or make a request to receive updates.

Changes later this week
 * There is no new MediaWiki version this week.
 * Octicons-sync.svg Some wikis will be in read-only for a few minutes because of a switch of their main database. It will be performed on at 07:00 UTC (targeted wikis) and on  at 7:00 UTC (targeted wikis).

Future meetings
 * The Wikimania Hackathon will take place online from August 12–14. Don't miss the pre-hacking showcase to learn about projects and find collaborators. Anyone can propose a project or host a session. Newcomers are welcome!

Tech news prepared by Tech News writers and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe. <section end="technews-2022-W32"/>

19:48, 8 August 2022 (UTC)

Invitation to Local Wikimania Event in San Francisco this Friday
Hi!

Wikimania is happening and hopefully you're enjoying the sessions. While it's fairly last minute, you're warmly invited to participate in the local Wikimania-themed meetup in the Wikimedia Foundation office this Friday (tomorrow!). You will have to register in advance, but we would love to see more people from the WikiSalon community participate! For more information and registration, please check out Wikimania 2022/San Francisco Meetup.

The event will involve hacking, teaching, learning, and celebrating and we'll have snacks. We will have the opportunity to watch live sessions at Wikimania together in the afternoon. The rest of the day we'll have opportunity to participate in the hackathon, and we may have some on-demand workshops/learning sessions.

In case we run out of space, it's first-come-first-serve so let us know soon! Hope to see you there.

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On behalf of the Bay Area Wiki Salon team and Bittakea, Effeietsanders

Tech News: 2022-33
<section begin="technews-2022-W33"/> 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 Persian (Farsi) Wikipedia community decided to block IP editing from October 2021 to April 2022. The Wikimedia Foundation's Product Analytics team tracked the impact of this change. An impact report is now available.

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-sync.svg Some wikis will be in read-only for a few minutes because of a switch of their main database. It will be performed on at 07:00 UTC (targeted wikis) and on  at 7:00 UTC (targeted wikis).
 * The Realtime Preview will be available as a Beta Feature on wikis in Group 1. This feature was built in order to fulfill one of the Community Wishlist Survey proposals.

Future changes
 * The Beta Feature for DiscussionTools will be updated throughout August. Discussions will look different.  You can see some of the proposed changes.

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21:07, 15 August 2022 (UTC)

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For those who may have missed it in our last newsletter, here's a quick reminder to see the letter we have drafted, and if you support it, do please go ahead and sign it. If you already signed, thanks. Also, if you haven't noticed, the backlog has been trending up lately; all reviews are greatly appreciated.
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Tech News: 2022-34
<section begin="technews-2022-W34"/> 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
 * Two problems with Kartographer maps have been fixed. Maps are no longer shown as empty when a geoline was created via VisualEditor. Geolines consisting of points with QIDs (e.g., subway lines) are no longer shown with pushpins.

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-sync.svg Some wikis will be in read-only for a few minutes because of a switch of their main database. It will be performed on at 7:00 UTC (targeted wikis).
 * The colours of links and visited links will change. This is to make the difference between links and other text more clear.

Future changes
 * The new [] button helps newcomers get answers. The Editing team is enabling this tool everywhere.  You can turn it off in your preferences.

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00:10, 23 August 2022 (UTC)

Tech News: 2022-35
<section begin="technews-2022-W35"/> 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 Realtime Preview is available as a Beta Feature on wikis in Group 2. This feature was built in order to fulfill one of the Community Wishlist Survey proposals. Please note that when this Beta feature is enabled, it may cause conflicts with some wiki-specific Gadgets.

Problems
 * In recent months, there have been inaccurate numbers shown for various at Commons, Wikidata, and English Wikipedia. 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-sync.svg Some wikis will be in read-only for a few minutes because of a switch of their main database. It will be performed on at 07:00 UTC (targeted wikis) and on  at 7:00 UTC (targeted wikis).

Future changes
 * The Wikimedia Foundation wants to improve how Wikimedia communities report harmful incidents by building the Private Incident Reporting System (PIRS) to make it easy and safe for users to make reports. You can leave comments on the talk page, by answering the questions provided. If you have ever faced a harmful situation that you wanted to report/reported, join a PIRS interview to share your experience. To sign up please email Madalina Ana.

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23:03, 29 August 2022 (UTC)

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