User talk:Rhododendrites/2018f

Editing News #2—2018
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Did you know?

Did you know that you can use the visual editor on a mobile device?

Tap on the pencil icon to start editing. The page will probably open in the wikitext editor.

You will see another pencil icon in the toolbar. Tap on that pencil icon to the switch between visual editing and wikitext editing.



Remember to publish your changes when you're done.

You can read and help translate the user guide, which has more information about how to use the visual editor.

Since the last newsletter, the Editing Team has wrapped up most of their work on the 2017 wikitext editor and the visual diff tool. The team has begun investigating the needs of editors who use mobile devices. Their work board is available in Phabricator. Their current priorities are fixing bugs and improving mobile editing.

Recent changes

 * The Editing team has published an initial report about mobile editing.
 * The Editing team has begun a design study of visual editing on the mobile website. New editors have trouble doing basic tasks on a smartphone, such as adding links to Wikipedia articles.  You can read the report.
 * The Reading team is working on a separate mobile-based contributions project.
 * The 2006 wikitext editor is no longer supported. If you used that toolbar, then you will no longer see any toolbar.  You may choose another editing tool in your editing preferences, local gadgets, or beta features.
 * The Editing team described the history and status of VisualEditor in this recorded public presentation (starting at 29 minutes, 30 seconds).
 * The Language team released a new version of Content Translation (CX2) last month, on International Translation Day. It integrates the visual editor to support templates, tables, and images.  It also produces better wikitext when the translated article is published.

Let's work together

 * The Editing team wants to improve visual editing on the mobile website.  Please read their ideas and tell the team what you think would help editors who use the mobile site.
 * The Community Wishlist Survey begins next week.
 * If you aren't reading this in your preferred language, then please help us with translations! Subscribe to the Translators mailing list or contact us directly.  We will notify you when the next issue is ready for translation.

— Whatamidoing (WMF) (talk) 17:12, 1 November 2018 (UTC)

This Month in GLAM: October 2018
About This Month in GLAM · Subscribe/Unsubscribe · Global message delivery · Romaine 08:15, 9 November 2018 (UTC)

Please comment on Talk:BTS (band)
The feedback request service is asking for participation in this request for comment on Talk:BTS (band). Legobot (talk) 04:24, 22 November 2018 (UTC)

The Signpost: 1 December 2018
 * Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 04:47, 1 December 2018 (UTC)

Your GA nomination of Rhode Island banking crisis
Hi there, I'm pleased to inform you that I've begun reviewing the article Rhode Island banking crisis you nominated for GA-status according to the criteria. This process may take up to 7 days. Feel free to contact me with any questions or comments you might have during this period. Message delivered by Legobot, on behalf of Barkeep49 -- Barkeep49 (talk) 01:41, 9 December 2018 (UTC)

This Month in GLAM: November 2018
About This Month in GLAM · Subscribe/Unsubscribe · Global message delivery · Romaine 05:56, 11 December 2018 (UTC)

Your GA nomination of Rhode Island banking crisis
The article Rhode Island banking crisis you nominated as a good article has passed ; see Talk:Rhode Island banking crisis for comments about the article. Well done! If the article has not already been on the main page as an "In the news" or "Did you know" item, you can nominate it to appear in Did you know. Message delivered by Legobot, on behalf of Barkeep49 -- Barkeep49 (talk) 20:21, 12 December 2018 (UTC)

December 19: WikiWednesday Salon and Skill-Share NYC
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WikiProject X Newsletter • Issue 13
Newsletter • December 2018

This month: A general update.

The current status of the project is as follows:
 * Progress of the project has been generally delayed since September due to development issues (more bitrot than expected, some of the code just being genuinely confusing, etc) and personal injury (I suffered a concussion in October and was out of commission for almost two months as a result).
 * I currently expect to be putting out a proper call for CollaborationKit pilots in January/February, with estimated deployment in February/March if things don't go horribly wrong (they will, though, don't worry). As a part of that, I will properly update the page and send out announcement and reach out to all projects already signed up as pilots for WikiProject X in general, at which point those (still) interested can volunteer specifically to test the CollaborationKit extension.
 * WikiProject X/Pilots was originally created for the first WikiProject X prototype, and given this is where the project has since gone, it's only logical to continue to use it. While I haven't yet updated the page to properly reflect this:
 * If you want to add your project to this page now, feel free. Just bear in mind that more information what to actually expect will be added later/included in the announcement, because by then I will have a much better idea myself.
 * Until then, you can find me in my corner working on making the CollaborationKit code do what we want and not just what we told it, per the workboard.

Until next time,

-— Isarra ༆ 22:44, 20 December 2018 (UTC)

Books & Bytes, Issue 31
 The Wikipedia Library Books & Bytes

Issue 31, October – Novemeber 2018  French version of Books & Bytes is now available on meta!
 * OAWiki
 * Wikimedia and Libraries User Group update
 * Global branches update
 * Bytes in brief

Read the full newsletter Sent by MediaWiki message delivery on behalf of The Wikipedia Library team --MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 14:34, 21 December 2018 (UTC)

File:Marie Tharp in July 2001.jpg
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Please comment on Talk:Michael Fassbender
The feedback request service is asking for participation in this request for comment on Talk:Michael Fassbender. Legobot (talk) 04:24, 23 December 2018 (UTC)

The Signpost: 24 December 2018
 * Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 13:36, 24 December 2018 (UTC)

Bloodofox contd.
I was the one who qualified his defense of Bloodofox by saying they were snarky. I just wanted to make sure the context was clear, since I'd added that statement specifically to a request to close the thread. This is not my first go-around with over-enthusiastic fringe proponents and I've been in Bloodofox's shoes. In fact one example of a failure of enforcement of WP:FRINGE on a vast scale led to my extended absence from Wikipedia, and my efforts not to let fans of crank theories get under my skin is a result of that hard-earned personal growth.

With that being said, I find Bloodofox's frustration with the situation on the cryptid page to be entirely reasonable and their snark to also be well within the expected bounds of comportment on Wikipedia. Please do not attempt to use a qualifier I included in a statement to suggest that my support for this user and their position on this issue is anything other than entirely whole-hearted.

Simonm223 (talk) 15:51, 27 December 2018 (UTC)


 * I thought, but perhaps was mistaken, that I was clear in placing your comment about snarkiness in the context of a defense of bloodofox. I apologize if you feel I mischaracterized what you said. Clearly, as you say here, you do not find it enough for a sanction, but it seemed meaningful that even the person making the most impassioned defense of bloodofox acknowledged the core behavioral issue of that thread, even if stopping short of calling it unwarranted. Even that token acknowledgement was missing from the close, however. I say this not to continue the discussion of bloodofox but to underline that that central subject of the thread was completely omitted, and in fact inverted in the close.
 * The result is a closing statement that isn't functionally different from trolling (which is not to say that was the intent, obviously). i.e. several experienced editors express good faith, policy-based complaints about a user's behavior; some agree it's a problem and call for sanction, some agree it's a problem and stop short of sanction, some acknowledge the behavior but call it warranted; then the discussion is closed with a statement that's not about that user's behavior at all, but flipped to cast that person as a victim fighting the good fight, saying it's the other people who are being tendentious! That's not even an attempt at summarizing consensus. An inversion of the topic of a thread isn't the purpose of a closing statement, no matter how righteous the admin feels. If it were a bunch of SPAs making bad faith arguments and he were the only person with any sense of policy it would be less shocking to just trump the discussion as such, but that was far from the case. Anyway, again, I'm not trying to extend the substance of the discussion at this point; I would not be engaging at this point if someone even closed as "no consensus for action" or some such. My bigger problem is with jehochman's closing statement and subsequent digging in/doubling down. We can't expect people to in good faith report someone who chronically treats others badly if an admin can just swoop in, shut down discussion, and not only ignore all concerns but blame the people who raised them. (copyedited after initially writing on mobile) &mdash; Rhododendrites  talk \\ 20:01, 27 December 2018 (UTC)
 * It occurs to me I edited the above to be more succinct and actually added characters to it. Gah. Oh well. I'm not really looking for any particular response here, anyway, FWIW. I'm just sort of repeating myself at this point and don't intend to take this further. Just wanted to clarify to Simonm223 what my intention was, and that I did not intend to mischaracterize his comments. &mdash; Rhododendrites  talk \\ 00:49, 28 December 2018 (UTC)


 * That’s my reading of the situation too. Bloodofox needs help from other editors to enforce policy. One editor can’t carry the full burden. Jehochman Talk 18:26, 27 December 2018 (UTC)


 * It beggars belief that you think this is a helpful or relevant line to repeat. &mdash; Rhododendrites  talk \\ 20:01, 27 December 2018 (UTC)


 * I don’t understand your comment. Have a happy new year. Jehochman Talk 01:29, 28 December 2018 (UTC)→

New Rfc on merging List of cryptids
Since you participated in the rfc earlier in the year, I am letting you know of another rfc to merge List of cryptids. Which ever way the wind blows you are welcome to join in. Fyunck(click) (talk) 07:51, 28 December 2018 (UTC)

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