User talk:Mz7/September–November 2021

Pending changes reviewer

 * Hi
 * Vandalism I apolagaized for use this word and I did not mean that
 * Asking random other editors to intervene Yes I do that, I did not want editor wars I hated that
 * Dispute I do not have any Dispute with any editors in Wikipedia but this user remove all my edits, this user refuse put Kurdish and Arabic names in articles and I required for him discuss with me , he was did not answer me and removed all my edits. This user was block for one week before few weeks ago
 * I hope you give me this permission, I wrote in Wikipedia 3 years and I do not have any problem with any one I promise you
 * Help me
 * Thank you, Hamaredha (talk) 12:34, 1 September 2021 (UTC)
 * Hello, . For the reasons I've already expressed at WP:PERM/PCR, I will not be granting you this permission at this time. You are welcome to request the permission again at the same place after some time has passed. Mz7 (talk) 20:50, 3 September 2021 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – September 2021
News and updates for administrators from the past month (August 2021).

Administrator changes
 * Gnome-colors-view-refresh.svg Jake Wartenberg
 * Gnome-colors-list-remove.svg Emperor • Viridian Bovary
 * Pictogram voting rename.png →

Guideline and policy news
 * Feedback is requested on the Universal Code of Conduct enforcement draft by the Universal Code of Conduct Phase 2 drafting committee.
 * A RfC is open on whether to allow administrators to use extended confirmed protection on high-risk templates.
 * A discussion is open to decide when, if ever, should discord logs be eligible for removal when posted onwiki (including whether to oversight them)
 * A RfC on the next steps after the trial of pending changes on TFAs has resulted in a 30 day trial of automatic semi protection for TFAs.

Technical news
 * The Score extension has been re-enabled on public wikis. It has been updated, but has been placed in safe mode to address unresolved security issues. Further information on the security issues can be found on the mediawiki page.

Arbitration
 * A request for comment is in progress to provide an opportunity to amend the structure, rules, and procedures of the Arbitration Committee election and resolve any issues not covered by existing rules. Comments and new proposals are welcome.

Miscellaneous
 * The 2021 RfA review is now open for comments.

Discuss this newsletter

Subscribe

Archive Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 20:45, 3 September 2021 (UTC)

Tech News: 2021-36
 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 wikis that have Growth features deployed have been part of A/B testing since deployment, in which some newcomers did not receive the new features. Now, all of the newcomers on 21 of the smallest of those wikis will be receiving the features.

Changes later this week
 * There is no new MediaWiki version this week.

Future changes
 * Octicons-tools.svg In 2017, the provided jQuery library was upgraded from version 1 to 3, with a compatibility layer. The migration will soon finish, to make the site load faster for everyone. If you maintain a gadget or user script, check if you have any JQMIGRATE errors and fix them, or they will break.
 * Last year, the Portuguese Wikipedia community embarked on an experiment to make log-in compulsory for editing. The impact report of this trial is ready. Moving forward, the Anti-Harassment Tools team is looking for projects that are willing to experiment with restricting IP editing on their wiki for a short-term experiment. Learn more.

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

15:19, 6 September 2021 (UTC)

IP-block-exempt
Hello, hope you are doing good. Last day I've applied for global IP block exempt and it is granted by. But it is not working on Wikipedia. As I mentioned there, My native is Thrissur in Kerala and I moved to Alappuzha along with my family. I'll be here for 3 years from today. Unfortunately I can't login to Wikipedia from some places here. I think many IP addresses are blocked here due to which I cannot work in Wikimedia projects. Humbly requesting you to add me to the IP block exemption. Thank you, -- Sreeram Dilak (talk) 03:51, 10 September 2021 (UTC)
 * Hello, . Unfortunately, I was not able to identify the IP address block that is affecting your account. Note that blocks only prevent you from editing Wikipedia; you can still log into your account even if the IP address is blocked, and in most cases, you should still be able to edit after logging in, even from a blocked IP address. The next time that you find yourself unable to edit Wikipedia because of a block affecting your IP address, could you please file a request for the IP block exemption on WP:UTRS by filling out this form? Importantly, please submit this form from the IP address that is blocked. This is so that we can verify the problem. Thanks, Mz7 (talk) 04:43, 10 September 2021 (UTC)

Just a wink
-Rng0286 (talk) conts (extended confirmed, rollbacker, and pending changes;) Excellent! (rights) D'oh! 06:43, 10 September 2021 (UTC)

Orphaned non-free image File:Shelter animation screenshot.jpg
Thanks for uploading File:Shelter animation screenshot.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. --B-bot (talk) 04:05, 11 September 2021 (UTC)

Tech News: 2021-37
 Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.

Recent changes
 * 45 new Wikipedias now have access to the Growth features.
 * A majority of Wikipedias now have access to the Growth features. The Growth team has published an FAQ page about the features. This translatable FAQ covers the description of the features, how to use them, how to change the configuration, and more.

Problems
 * All wikis will be read-only for a few minutes on 14 September. This is planned at 14:00 UTC.

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 this week, Wikipedia in Italian will receive weekly software updates on Wednesdays. It used to receive the updates on Thursdays. Due to this change, bugs will be noticed and fixed sooner.
 * You can add language links in the sidebar in the new Vector skin again. You do this by connecting the page to a Wikidata item. The new Vector skin has moved the language links but the new language selector cannot add language links yet.
 * The syntax highlight tool marks up code with different colours. It now can highlight 23 new code languages. Additionally,  can now be used as an alias for the Go programming language, and a special  mode has been added to show a program's output.

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

15:32, 13 September 2021 (UTC)

Conflict of users
Hello Mz7,a few days ago I watched indian horror show X Zone in which indian actor Manoj Joshi worked,so I edited Manoj Joshi wikipedia page with YouTube video reference in which actor Manoj Joshi worked,but one user Yappy2bhere  deleting that information along with that YouTube video reference,so please look at that matter if that reference is not appropriate then I will not add that reference again but if YouTube video can be added as a reference and please stop that user Yappy2bhere removing information again and again,thanks Zoro0909 (talk) 00:10, 15 September 2021 (UTC)
 * Hi, . I'm not familiar with this subject matter, so I can't help with the specifics of the dispute. However, in general, YouTube is not considered a reliable enough source for Wikipedia purposes. This is primarily because it is considered a "user-generated source"—anyone can upload videos and claim to be an expert. I recommend providing a better source that follows Wikipedia's reliable source guideline. All the best, Mz7 (talk) 03:53, 15 September 2021 (UTC)

So then why most of wikipedia contents added without references?then we have to remove that editings whenever we find any editing without references? Zoro0909 (talk) 13:14, 29 September 2021 (UTC)

New Page Patrol newsletter September 2021
Hello ,

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

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

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

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

If you are no longer very active on Wikipedia or you no longer wish to be part of the New Page Reviewer user group, please consider asking any admin to remove you from the list. This will enable NPP to have a better overview of its performance and what improvements need to be made to the process or its software. Various awards are due to be allocated by the end of the year and barnstars are overdue. If you would like to manage this, please let us know. Indeed, if you are interested in coordinating NPR, it does not involve much time and the tasks are described here. To opt-out of future mailings, please remove yourself here. Sent to 827 users. 04:32, 16 September 2021 (UTC)

Profuse sockmaster in need of discouragement
Hello Mz7! This SPI (cf. also this one) could really do with some CU attention. This master seems to have created multiple accounts at once in the last few weeks, and may have revived an older one at the same time. They edit profusely and disruptively, and always seem to have some sleeper at the ready to take over. TNT normally deals with this one, but she seems to be on a break. Feel free to point me to another CU. Thanks! ☿ Apaugasma  ( talk  ☉) 12:25, 16 September 2021 (UTC)
 * Hi, thanks for your message. I've put the SPI "on my radar", so to speak. Unfortunately, the case seems a little complicated, involving potentially a whole different sockmaster whose case we may have to merge (SheryOfficial) I don't have as much free time these days as I've had in the past to edit Wikipedia, but I will see if I can take a deeper dive into the case as soon as I can. (Fortunately, it seems we may be getting some fresh new CUs soon.) Mz7 (talk) 06:03, 17 September 2021 (UTC)
 * Hi Mz7! Not sure if the fact that they have now actually confessed to be SheryOfficial (as well as a bunch of other accounts) makes things easier, or rather more difficult... Great news about the new CUs though! ☿  Apaugasma  ( talk  ☉) 06:16, 17 September 2021 (UTC)

Tech News: 2021-38
 Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.

Recent changes
 * Growth features are now deployed to almost all Wikipedias. For the majority of small Wikipedias, the features are only available for experienced users, to test the features and configure them. Features will be available for newcomers starting on 20 September 2021.
 * MediaWiki had a feature that would highlight local links to short articles in a different style. Each user could pick the size at which "stubs" would be highlighted. This feature was very bad for performance, and following a consultation, has been removed.
 * A technical change was made to the MonoBook skin to allow for easier maintenance and upkeep. This has resulted in some minor changes to HTML that make MonoBook's HTML consistent with other skins. Efforts have been made to minimize the impact on editors, but please ping Jon (WMF) on wiki or in phabricator if any problems are reported.

Problems
 * There was a problem with search last week. Many search requests did not work for 2 hours because of an accidental restart of the search servers.

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 meta=proofreadpage API has changed. The  parameter has been renamed to  . API users should update their code to avoid unrecognized parameter warnings. Pywikibot users should upgrade to 6.6.0.

Future changes
 * The Reply tool will be deployed to the remaining wikis in the coming weeks. It is currently part of "" in Beta features at most wikis. You will be able to turn it off in Editing Preferences.
 * Octicons-tools.svg The previously announced change to how you obtain tokens from the API has been delayed to September 21 because of an incompatibility with Pywikibot. Bot operators using Pywikibot can follow T291202 for progress on a fix, and should plan to upgrade to 6.6.1 when it is released.

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

18:30, 20 September 2021 (UTC)

The Signpost: 26 September 2021
 * Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 20:57, 26 September 2021 (UTC)

Tech News: 2021-39
 Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.

Recent changes
 * iOS 15 has a new function called Private Relay (Apple website). This can hide the user's IP when they use Safari browser. This is like using a VPN in that we see another IP address instead. It is opt-in and only for those who pay extra for iCloud. It will come to Safari users on OSX later. There is a technical discussion about what this means for the Wikimedia wikis.

Problems
 * Octicons-tools.svg Some gadgets and user-scripts add items to the portlets (article tools) part of the skin. A recent change to the HTML may have made those links a different font-size. This can be fixed by adding the CSS class .

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 GettingStarted extension was built in 2013, and provides an onboarding process for new account holders in a few versions of Wikipedia. However, the recently developed Growth features provide a better onboarding experience. Since the vast majority of Wikipedias now have access to the Growth features, GettingStarted will be deactivated starting on 4 October.
 * A small number of users will not be able to connect to the Wikimedia wikis after 30 September. This is because an old root certificate will no longer work. They will also have problems with many other websites. Users who have updated their software in the last five years are unlikely to have problems. Users in Europe, Africa and Asia are less likely to have immediate problems even if their software is too old. You can read more.
 * You can receive notifications when someone leaves a comment on user talk page or mentions you in a talk page comment. Clicking the notification link will now bring you to the comment and highlight it. Previously, doing so brought you to the top of the section that contained the comment. You can find more information in T282029.

Future changes
 * The Reply tool will be deployed to the remaining wikis in the coming weeks. It is currently part of "" in Beta features at most wikis. You will be able to turn it off in Editing Preferences. See the list of wikis.

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

22:20, 27 September 2021 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – October 2021
News and updates for administrators from the past month (September 2021).

Administrator changes
 * Gnome-colors-list-add.svg Blablubbs
 * Gnome-colors-list-remove.svg Alvestrand • Black Falcon • Deathphoenix • Dppowell • Mark Arsten • JGHowes (deceased)



Oversighter changes
 * Gnome-colors-view-refresh.svg Callanecc
 * Gnome-colors-list-remove.svg Mkdw

Interface administrator changes
 * Gnome-colors-list-remove.svg Galobtter

Guideline and policy news
 * Following an RfC, extended confirmed protection may be used preemptively on certain high-risk templates.
 * Following a discussion at the Village Pump, there is consensus to treat discord logs the same as IRC logs. This means that discord logs will be oversighted if posted onwiki.

Technical news
 * DiscussionTools has superseded Enterprisey's reply-link script. Editors may switch using the "Discussion tools" checkbox under.

Arbitration
 * A motion has standardised the 500/30 (extended confirmed) restrictions placed by the Arbitration Committee. The standardised restriction is now listed in the Arbitration Committee's procedures.
 * Following the closure of the Iranian politics case, standard discretionary sanctions are authorized for all edits about, and all pages related to, post-1978 Iranian politics, broadly construed.
 * The Arbitration Committee encourages uninvolved administrators to use the discretionary sanctions procedure in topic areas where it is authorised to facilitate consensus in RfCs. This includes, but is not limited to, enforcing sectioned comments, word/diff limits and moratoriums on a particular topic from being brought in an RfC for up to a year.

Miscellaneous
 * Editors have approved expanding the trial of Growth Features from 2% of new accounts to 25%, and the share of newcomers getting mentorship from 2% to 5%. Experienced editors are invited to add themselves to the mentor list.
 * The community consultation phase of the 2021 CheckUser and Oversight appointments process is open for editors to provide comments and ask questions to candidates.

Discuss this newsletter

Subscribe

Archive Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 17:04, 1 October 2021 (UTC)

Tech News: 2021-40
 Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.

Recent changes
 * A more efficient way of sending changes from Wikidata to Wikimedia wikis that show them has been enabled for the following 10 wikis: mediawiki.org, the Italian, Catalan, Hebrew and Vietnamese Wikipedias, French Wikisource, and English Wikivoygage, Wikibooks, Wiktionary and Wikinews. If you notice anything strange about how changes from Wikidata appear in recent changes or your watchlist on those wikis you can let the developers know.

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 Some gadgets and bots that use the API to read the AbuseFilter log might break. The  property will no longer say an entry is <bdi lang="zxx" dir="ltr"> for unsuppressed log entries about suppressed edits. If your bot needs to know this, do a separate revision query. Additionally, the property will have the value <bdi lang="zxx" dir="ltr"> for visible entries; previously, it wasn't included in the response.
 * A more efficient way of sending changes from Wikidata to Wikimedia wikis that show them will be enabled for all production wikis. If you notice anything strange about how changes from Wikidata appear in recent changes or your watchlist you can let the developers know.

Future changes
 * You can soon get cross-wiki notifications in the iOS Wikipedia app. You can also get notifications as push notifications. More notification updates will follow in later versions.
 * Octicons-tools.svg The JavaScript variables <bdi lang="zxx" dir="ltr">, <bdi lang="zxx" dir="ltr"> , and <bdi lang="zxx" dir="ltr"> will soon be removed from <bdi lang="zxx" dir="ltr"> . These are not part of the "stable" variables available for use in wiki JavaScript.
 * Octicons-tools.svg The JavaScript variables <bdi lang="zxx" dir="ltr">, <bdi lang="zxx" dir="ltr"> , <bdi lang="zxx" dir="ltr"> , and <bdi lang="zxx" dir="ltr"> will soon be removed from mw.config. Scripts should instead use <bdi lang="zxx" dir="ltr"> from the "<bdi lang="zxx" dir="ltr">mediawiki.cookie " module.

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

16:28, 4 October 2021 (UTC)

A barnstar for you!

 * +1. Spicy (talk) 12:14, 8 October 2021 (UTC)

RfA 2021 review update
Thanks so much for participating in Phase 1 of the RfA 2021 review. 8 out of the 21 issues discussed were found to have consensus. Thanks to our closers of Phase 1, and.

The following had consensus support of participating editors:
 * 1) Corrosive RfA atmosphere
 * The atmosphere at RfA is deeply unpleasant. This makes it so fewer candidates wish to run and also means that some members of our community don't comment/vote.
 * 1) Level of scrutiny
 * Many editors believe it would be unpleasant to have so much attention focused on them. This includes being indirectly a part of watchlists and editors going through your edit history with the chance that some event, possibly a relatively trivial event, becomes the focus of editor discussion for up to a week.
 * 1) Standards needed to pass keep rising
 * It used to be far easier to pass RfA however the standards necessary to pass have continued to rise such that only "perfect" candidates will pass now.
 * 1) Too few candidates
 * There are too few candidates. This not only limits the number of new admin we get but also makes it harder to identify other RfA issues because we have such a small sample size.
 * 1) "No need for the tools" is a poor reason as we can find work for new admins

The following issues had a rough consensus of support from editors: 1. Lifetime tenure (high stakes atmosphere) Because RfA carries with it lifetime tenure, granting any given editor sysop feels incredibly important. This creates a risk adverse and high stakes atmosphere.

2. Admin permissions and unbundling There is a large gap between the permissions an editor can obtain and the admin toolset. This brings increased scrutiny for RFA candidates, as editors evaluate their feasibility in lots of areas.

3. RfA should not be the only road to adminship Right now, RfA is the only way we can get new admins, but it doesn't have to be.

Please consider joining the brainstorming which will last for the next 1-2 weeks. This will be followed by Phase 2, a 30 day discussion to consider solutions to the problems identified in Phase 1. There are 2 future mailings planned. One when Phase 2 opens and one with the results of Phase 2. To opt-out of future mailings, please remove yourself here. Best, MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 00:08, 10 October 2021 (UTC)

Tech News: 2021-41
<section begin="technews-2021-W41"/> 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).


 * The "auto-number headings" preference is being removed. You can read T284921 for the reasons and discussion. This change was previously announced. A JavaScript snippet is available which can be used to create a Gadget on wikis that still want to support auto-numbering.

Meetings
 * You can join a meeting about the Desktop Improvements. A demonstration version of the newest feature will be shown. The event will take place on Tuesday, 12 October at 16:00 UTC. 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-2021-W41"/>

15:29, 11 October 2021 (UTC)

Reverts of Donald B. Gillies article
It is so frustrating that the article about my father which has been hosted more or less intact for 15Y on Wikipedia is being systematically destroyed by so-called editors following new dogma about wikipedia (that wikipedia is a digest of magazine articles and journal papers only, that other forms of evidence including historical correspondence which I have painfully made efforts to collect, is now rejected by wikipedia due to new dogma.) Anyway, the article has been shredded to 30% of its original length by junior folks, and I will soon disengage from this failing platform. This article was written as a joint effort between the my mother, the wife of Donald B. Gillies, and myself, son of Donald B. Gillies. But the good folks at Wikipedia choose to apply dogma to erase history. So be it. Enough. SystemBuilder (talk) 07:28, 13 October 2021 (UTC)
 * I'm sorry that you feel frustrated by your experience here. There are a couple different issues involved here. Firstly, has the historical correspondence you are referring to ever been published in a reliable source outside of Wikipedia? Perhaps, for example, on a biographical page on a university website? The principle that I think the editors referred you to is "no original research". This isn't a "new dogma"; it has been a fundamental principle of Wikipedia since its founding. Basically, we can only publish information that has already been published elsewhere—this is because we are an encyclopedia, not a publisher of original thought. For this reason, if you have new information about your father that no one else has ever published before, I'm afraid Wikipedia is not in the best position to be the first to publish that new information. The other issue I want to discuss is your closeness to the article subject. In general, Wikipedia strongly discourages editors from editing any article subject that they have an external relationship with. This is because you have a conflict of interest with respect to those subjects, which is not a judgment of your character, but rather a description of a situation. For more information on editing with a conflict of interest, please read our guideline at Conflict of interest. I hope this information is helpful. Mz7 (talk) 18:18, 15 October 2021 (UTC)

Re: Alaskan wildlife fan
Since you were the closer here, I wanted to tell you that has resurfaced at ANI with a comment that was reverted on ARBPIA 30/500 grounds. This after being inactive since the SPI discussion you closed in March, and within a few hours of me opening an ANI discussion about two users' tendentious editing at Talk:StandWithUs. Strange behavior for sure – I have no knowledge of the SPI area but figured I'd drop you a note just in case you feel any action is warranted. ezlev (user/tlk/ctrbs) 05:17, 14 October 2021 (UTC)

Dopenguins, a strange user, and an IP


I'm coming to you because you're the most recent checkuser for Dopenguins at the SPI. Vuehalloo created Sockpuppet investigations/ZH8000 accusing ZH8000 of editing logged out at Basel having to do with an MOS issue that Vuehalloo misinterpreted. Vuehalloo's stated purpose for creating an account was to file the SPI. I deleted the SPI as meritless (implicitly a personal attack against ZH8000). In looking through the Dopenguins archive, I noticed that Dopenguins socks have attacked ZH8000, although not, as far as I know, gone as far as filing an SPI against them. For those reasons, I blocked Vuehalloo as a suspected sock of Dopenguins.

Vuehallo has had an unblock request outstanding for about a week. Their first was declined by, but I have no way of knowing if Yamla ran a check. Then along comes the IP 81. who asked Vuehallo about 185., an IP whose edit to Basel was the same as Vuehalloo's. I reverted IP 81. as having no business in any of this, but Vuehalloo reinstated the IP's edit, and I left it alone. Today, the IP posted an extensive analysis of Dopenguins that is impressive in its depth.

I'm having trouble with all of this. Although I know from my own experience that checks of possible Dopenguins socks can be problematic, especially if they've made very few edits, because of Dopenguins' use of proxies. Still, as IP 81. says, Dopenguins doesn't edit from legitimate IPs in England (IP 81. himself is editing from an English ISP). If I've incorrectly blocked Vuehalloo, the block should be lifted, but I'm also suspicious of IP 81.'s behavior. Obviously, I'm not expecting you to disclose anything that connects IPs to named accounts, but whatever you believe you can do would be helpful. Thanks.--Bbb23 (talk) 14:22, 14 October 2021 (UTC)
 * I ran a check on Vuehalloo when investigating the unblock request. If I remember correctly, it was consistent but not conclusive, as is common with Dopenguins socks. Mz7 may have better luck or see something I didn't. --Yamla (talk) 15:06, 14 October 2021 (UTC)
 * Thanks for that, . Although you can't confirm this, it then sounds like Vuehallo's assertion that he used the 185. IP must be false. As far as I can tell with the limited tools at my disposal, that IP is not a proxy and, although it's been a long time and I don't have access to recent CU results, I don't recall Dopenguins ever using a legitimate English IP. BTW, curiosity trivia, how do you and Mz7 pronounce Dopenguins in your head? I "say" Doe-penguins, but I have no idea if that's "correct". Just thought I'd ask while I was here as I've been typing the name now repeatedly.--Bbb23 (talk) 15:46, 14 October 2021 (UTC)
 * I pronounce it "dope penguins". I'm aware that can't possibly be correct but it amuses me. :) --Yamla (talk) 15:56, 14 October 2021 (UTC)
 * , I do the same! -- Jezebel's Ponyo bons mots 18:24, 15 October 2021 (UTC)
 * Hmm, the Vuehalloo account doesn't appear to be using proxies, and it doesn't look like they're on a range frequented by Dopenguins. From a purely technical standpoint, I do not think there is sufficient evidence to conclude definitively that Vuehalloo is Dopenguins. I do, however, share your suspicion about the peculiarity of certain aspects of this situation. It is unusual for a random IP (81.147.178.170) to take notice of an obscure sockpuppetry block, and also interestingly, the IP that Vuehalloo accused ZH8000 of using,, is in a range that is partially blocked because it is used by Dopenguins. There is a very small chance that Vuehalloo is using a novel kind of proxy that we've really only started seeing this year (I'm hesitant to share more per WP:BEANS), but to use such a proxy requires a nontrivial amount of money and interest, and I don't think we've ever seen Dopenguins use this kind of proxy in the past.  Overall, I feel like the next step here is a bit of a reluctant unblock of Vuehalloo because of the uncertainty of the evidence. What do you think? Mz7 (talk) 00:18, 16 October 2021 (UTC)
 * Thanks for your comments. I had in fact noticed the 194. pblock and the reason for it. Everything about this event (filing of the SPI report) was odd. I'm afraid I'm still suspicious of everyone involved, but I agree with you that I must unblock the user. Of course, you haven't weighed in on the most important question: how do you pronounce Dopenguins? :-) --Bbb23 (talk) 13:13, 16 October 2021 (UTC)
 * Heh, I was scrolling through my talk page and realized that I had embarrassingly missed your question. I say "doe penguins" (like the female deer), precisely because it sounds kind of like "dope penguins". Mz7 (talk) 01:13, 18 December 2021 (UTC)
 * Nothing to be embarrassed about, but nice of you to respond, however belatedly. :-) --Bbb23 (talk) 01:25, 18 December 2021 (UTC)

WP:ELECTCOM2021
Hello Mz7. Thank you for volunteering for the Electoral Commission for the 2021 ArbCom Election. Following the closure of the ELECTCOM RfC, you have been selected as a commissioner. Congratulations! Some important pages to watch about the election are: Arbitration Committee Elections December 2021/Coordination, Wikipedia talk:Arbitration Committee Elections December 2021/Coordination, Wikipedia talk:Arbitration Committee Elections December 2021, and others in Category:Wikipedia Arbitration Committee Elections 2021. Your duties may require some private communications with the other commissioners, traditionally wikimail and/or email has been used for this, along with IRC - but this is up to you to decide. Again, thank you for volunteering for this important position. Best regards, — xaosflux  Talk 23:38, 16 October 2021 (UTC)

Tech News: 2021-42
<section begin="technews-2021-W42"/> 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
 * Toolhub is a catalogue to make it easier to find software tools that can be used for working on the Wikimedia projects. You can read more.

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 developers of the Wikipedia Android app are working on communication in the app. You can now answer questions in survey to help the development.
 * 3–5% of editors may be blocked in the next few months. This is because of a new service in Safari, which is similar to a proxy or a VPN. It is called iCloud Private Relay. There is a discussion about this on Meta. The goal is to learn what iCloud Private Relay could mean for the communities.
 * Wikimedia Enterprise is a new API for those who use a lot of information from the Wikimedia projects on other sites. It is a way to get big commercial users to pay for the data. There will soon be a copy of the Wikimedia Enterprise dataset. You can read more. You can also ask the team questions on Zoom on 22 October 15:00 UTC.

Tech news prepared by Tech News writers and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe. <section end="technews-2021-W42"/>

20:52, 18 October 2021 (UTC)

Bot not updating SPI case list
Hi Mz7. I'm looking at the history of User:Mz7/SPI case list, and the bot appears to have stopped updating the list around 5.5 hours ago. There have been various updates at SPI since then, and I wanted to make sure you were aware of the bot's malfunctioning. — Mikehawk10 (talk) 05:32, 21 October 2021 (UTC)


 * Ah shoot, that's embarrassing. Looking into it now. Thank you for letting me know. Mz7 (talk) 06:05, 21 October 2021 (UTC)
 * Not a problem. Bots break sometimes. — Mikehawk10 (talk) 06:08, 21 October 2021 (UTC)
 * Should be now. Mz7 (talk) 06:32, 21 October 2021 (UTC)

You've got mail!
WhoAteMyButter ( 📨talk │ 📝contribs ) 05:35, 24 October 2021 (UTC)

Tech News: 2021-43
<section begin="technews-2021-W43"/> 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 Coolest Tool Award 2021 is looking for nominations. You can recommend tools until 27 October.

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
 * Diff pages will have an improved copy and pasting experience. The changes will allow the text in the diff for before and after to be treated as separate columns and will remove any unwanted syntax.
 * The version of the Liberation fonts used in SVG files will be upgraded. Only new thumbnails will be affected. Liberation Sans Narrow will not change.

Meetings
 * You can join a meeting about the Community Wishlist Survey. News about the disambiguation and the real-time preview wishes will be shown. The event will take place on Wednesday, 27 October at 14:30 UTC. 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-2021-W43"/>

20:07, 25 October 2021 (UTC)

RfA Reform 2021 Phase 2 has begun
Following a 2 week brainstorming period and a 1 week proposal period, the 30 day discussion of changes to our Request for Adminship process has begun. Following feedback on Phase 1, in order to ensure that the largest number of people possible can see all proposals, new proposals will only be accepted for the for the first 7 days of Phase 2. The 30 day discussion is scheduled to last until November 30. Please join the discussion or even submit your own proposal.

There is 1 future mailing planned with the results of Phase 2. To opt-out of future mailings, please remove yourself here. 16:13, 31 October 2021 (UTC)

The Signpost: 31 October 2021
<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) 20:15, 31 October 2021 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – November 2021
News and updates for administrators from the past month (October 2021).

Administrator changes
 * Gnome-colors-view-refresh.svg Clpo13
 * Gnome-colors-list-remove.svg Brian0918 • JDoorjam • Karanacs • MrDarcy • Mindspillage

Interface administrator changes
 * Gnome-colors-list-remove.svg Evad37

CheckUser changes
 * Gnome-colors-list-add.svg Dreamy Jazz • Ferret • GeneralNotability • Girth Summit • RoySmith

Oversight changes
 * Gnome-colors-list-add.svg Dreamy Jazz • LuK3

Guideline and policy news
 * Phase 2 of the 2021 RfA review has commenced which will discuss potential solutions to address the 8 issues found in Phase 1. Proposed solutions that achieve consensus will be implemented and you may propose solutions till 07 November 2021.

Technical news
 * Toolhub is a catalogue of tools which can be used on Wikimedia wikis. It is at https://toolhub.wikimedia.org/.

Arbitration
 * , and  have been appointed to the Electoral Commission for the 2021 Arbitration Committee Elections.  and  are reserve commissioners.
 * Eligible editors are invited to self-nominate themselves to stand in the 2021 Arbitration Committee elections from 07 November 2021 until 16 November 2021.

Miscellaneous
 * The 2021 CheckUser and Oversight appointments process has concluded with the appointment of five new CheckUsers and two new Oversighters.

Discuss this newsletter

Subscribe

Archive Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 16:44, 1 November 2021 (UTC)

Tech News: 2021-44
<section begin="technews-2021-W44"/> 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
 * There is a limit on the amount of emails a user can send each day. This limit is now global instead of per-wiki. This change is to prevent abuse.

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).

Tech news prepared by Tech News writers and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe. <section end="technews-2021-W44"/>

20:27, 1 November 2021 (UTC)

Blast from the past
Once upon a time, you once asked if my vote-history tool caught duplicate votes. It did at the time... sorta - all it did was use the vote appearing the furthest down the page, throwing the others away. But that was then, and this is now; I've fixed it to actually show a list of the duplicates. A tiny thing, but it merited a talk page post because it happened to be my final notification! I started at 74 notifications a while ago and went through them all, and now that I'm done with yours, my inbox is empty and I can finally... move on to my overgrown talk page (gulp). But anyway, thanks for the feature request and enjoy the new duplicate detection. Enterprisey (talk!) 07:14, 3 November 2021 (UTC)


 * Ha! That is amazing. I'm not sure how other people can handle 74 pending notifications—I'm the kind of guy that gets anxious with just one, although I suppose marking them as read as soon as they come in has indeed led to incidents where I've forgotten to follow-up on them... Mz7 (talk) 02:27, 7 November 2021 (UTC)

Socks of Nair saheb
Socks of Sockpuppet investigations/Nair Saheb are again vandalising Sambandam after protection expired. Please lock it. 42.109.147.198 (talk) 12:40, 4 November 2021 (UTC)

Tech News: 2021-47
<section begin="technews-2021-W47"/> 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
 * There is no new MediaWiki version this week.
 * The template dialog in VisualEditor and in the new wikitext mode Beta feature will be heavily improved on a few wikis. Your feedback is welcome.

Tech news prepared by Tech News writers and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe. <section end="technews-2021-W47"/>

20:01, 22 November 2021 (UTC)

The Signpost: 29 November 2021
<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) 00:47, 29 November 2021 (UTC)

One or Two Questions?
Is the question that I asked of the ArbCom candidates considered one question, or two questions? So, am I allowed to ask another non-follow-up question? Robert McClenon (talk) 03:57, 29 November 2021 (UTC)

Tech News: 2021-48
<section begin="technews-2021-W48"/> 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).

Tech news prepared by Tech News writers and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe. <section end="technews-2021-W48"/>

21:13, 29 November 2021 (UTC)