Wikipedia talk:STiki/Archive 22

Request for permission to use STiki
Hello. I have been on Wikipedia for some time, and I am a pending changes reviewer and rollbacker. I have Twinkle enabled, however, I would like to use STiki as it appears to be a quicker and more effective way of removing vandalism. As of today, I have around 1,300 edits. If you think I would be a suitable user, let me know. I look forward to a response on this matter. --Ches (talk) 10:20, 14 February 2016 (UTC)
 * Support – I can vouch for . Has an excellent understanding in spite of his young age. — Gareth Griffith-Jones &#124; The Welsh &#124; Buzzard &#124; 10:33, 14 February 2016 (UTC)
 * Thanks, I appreciate that. --Ches (talk) 10:35, 14 February 2016 (UTC)
 * Since you are a rollbacker, you should be able to use STiki already. Widr (talk) 11:11, 14 February 2016 (UTC)
 * , I presumed that because the project page says it is available to "trusted users", I would have to ask permission first. I've seen an editor ask for permission here before, but it was before he was given rollback rights. --Ches (talk) 11:19, 14 February 2016 (UTC)
 * You were found to be trustworthy when you were made a rollbacker. Just go ahead and join our STiki team already. ;-) Widr (talk) 11:29, 14 February 2016 (UTC)
 * - thanks! --Ches (talk) 11:30, 14 February 2016 (UTC)
 * I'm on Windows 8.1. What program do I open STiki with? I have Java installed, however, when it comes up with the list of programs I can open STiki with, Java doesn't appear. and, do you have any recommendations for software I can use to open STiki? --Ches (talk) 11:32, 14 February 2016 (UTC)
 * I have WinRAR for unzipping. I guess there are other programs too. Widr (talk) 12:18, 14 February 2016 (UTC)

, thank you. :-) -Ches (talk) 12:20, 14 February 2016 (UTC)
 * , I am confused yet again. When I open STiki using WinRAR, I get a list of folders. Which do I open? --Ches (talk) 12:31, 14 February 2016 (UTC)
 * Hmm, for me it always opens just one folder. You should try to find executable jar file, STiki_2016_02_12.jar, and then double-click it. Widr (talk) 12:41, 14 February 2016 (UTC)
 * , when I double click the JAR file it opens WinRAR and displays a list of folders. --Ches (talk) 12:43, 14 February 2016 (UTC)
 * So after you downloaded WinRAR you went to the project page and clicked on the download link of STiki, and after that you get this list of folders? Widr (talk) 12:50, 14 February 2016 (UTC)
 * , ah silly me, I need to go to the project page. My apologies. I presumed I could just run the file from WinRAR. Mea culpa. --Ches (talk) 13:01, 14 February 2016 (UTC)
 * Wait, no, still not working. --Ches (talk) 13:04, 14 February 2016 (UTC)
 * I don't know if this helps, but I downloaded the zip file, unzipped it to give three files (the Java file plus two text files), copied the .jar file to a newly created folder on my C: drive under programs, then created a desktop shortcut for easy access, and moved the shortcut to the taskbar for easy access.   D b f i r s   13:13, 14 February 2016 (UTC)
 * - done that. Thanks. It is now asking which program I wish to open STiki with: WinRAR archiver, a Microsoft thing which doesn't work, or another program? --Ches (talk) 13:52, 14 February 2016 (UTC)
 * Do you have Java installed on your computer?   D b f i r s   16:30, 14 February 2016 (UTC)
 * You'll probably need to download and install Java at: https://www.java.com/en/download/ After that, try double-clicking the .jar file again. Best of luck, Mz7 (talk) 19:08, 14 February 2016 (UTC)

Yep, sounds like Java is not installed. FYI, a *.JAR is actually a compressed format, so it in the absence of Java, it makes sense that WinRAR is taking a crack at it. A JAR is just a compressed encapsulation of the many *.java and compiled *.class files that sit within it. There is a also a specification of what code to fire at start up. Thanks, West.andrew.g (talk) 02:07, 15 February 2016 (UTC)
 * and - You are both right; I don't have it installed. I presumed Java came on all computers by default. As soon as I get back on my computer I'll sort it out. Best, --Ches (talk) 09:52, 15 February 2016 (UTC)
 * - is "Java platform SE binary" the program I open it with? It is still asking me which program I wish to run the file with, and when I choose the Java platform SE binary program it shows an error message. Also, could this be because I'm browsing on Chrome? When I installed it, it said that some aspects of it wouldn't work on Chrome, so should I use Firefox/IE for the time being? Thanks, --Ches (talk) 15:03, 15 February 2016 (UTC)
 * Yes, Ches. See above (Re- Task Manager). Use Firefox—and continue to do so. It is much more suitable for WP:Twinkle too. — Gareth Griffith-Jones &#124; The Welsh &#124; Buzzard &#124;  17:59, 15 February 2016 (UTC) — Gareth Griffith-Jones &#124; The Welsh &#124; Buzzard &#124;  18:04, 15 February 2016 (UTC)
 * - here is a quote of the error message I receive, upon attempting to open STiki in this program: "Unable to install Java. There are errors in the following switches: C:\Program Files\New folder\STiki_2016_02_12.jar Check that the commands are valid and try again". Are the commands incorrect with me? --Ches (talk) 18:47, 15 February 2016 (UTC)

No queue, slow queue?!
This morning the STiki interface opens up but no fresh edits turn up. As well, closing down STiki is more cumbersome than ususal. Anyone else?! Super48paul (talk) 08:03, 21 February 2016 (UTC) Continued: STiki does populate but takes 5 minutes to do so. Then treating the first edit takes 2 minutes, after that everything is smooth sailing. Strange.. Super48paul (talk) 08:53, 21 February 2016 (UTC) Continued: all is working fine now, right from the start. Still strange... Super48paul (talk) 10:44, 21 February 2016 (UTC)
 * Yes, I had something odd happen around that time, and I thought it was my computer, but all seems OK again now.   D b f i r s   09:15, 21 February 2016 (UTC)
 * STiki performance is often affected on a Sunday morning, because the computer that runs STiki is busy producing the weekly Popular redlinks list Noyster (talk),  12:58, 22 February 2016 (UTC)
 * Also, User:West.andrew.g/Popular_pages and User:West.andrew.g/Popular_medical_pages do tend to slow down the database considerably. Thanks, West.andrew.g (talk) 15:54, 23 February 2016 (UTC)

Request for permission to use STiki
Hello there! I'm still a novice editor with not too many edits, although I request permission to use STiki. I love combating vandalism with Twinkle except I think STiki is a more effective way to. It gives you more options including good faith edits and such, so that is why I'm here. I hope you will grant me the permissions and good day to you! FiendYT 01:15, 23 February 2016 (UTC)
 * Just getting back from some time offline. Can someone familiar with my tendencies make a recommendation here? The edit-count tool isn't working for me. Thanks, West.andrew.g (talk) 16:00, 23 February 2016 (UTC)
 * Editing history looks OK; but some more Twinkle or Huggle edits is to be recommended. Borderline at the moment.. Super48paul (talk) 09:48, 26 February 2016 (UTC)

✅ -- Access approved. Has remained active and in good standing since STiki request almost a week ago. Was also granted Huggle access. Given that I don't have the time right now to vet these in full, I will assume food faith, and follow from the recommendation of the usually conservative (no criticism!) Super48Paul. Good luck and happy reverting. West.andrew.g (talk) 21:18, 29 February 2016 (UTC)
 * Whoops! I see now that you already got rollback and made your first STiki classification. Woot woot! West.andrew.g (talk) 21:40, 29 February 2016 (UTC)

Queue depletion problems?
Anybody having issues using STiki lately? 200+ day old edits from the get-go and generally low hit rates so far. lavender |(formerly HMSSolent )| lambast 00:35, 29 February 2016 (UTC)
 * Is this still ongoing? CBNG queue I presume? The CBNG ingestion blinked overnight but I had it going again this morning. Also, is the 200 days comment accurate? I am pretty sure I wiped the CBNG completely sometime in the past month so I could repair the indices and avoid just this type of issue -- but that would imply there should be no edits older than that action. Thanks, West.andrew.g (talk) 21:37, 29 February 2016 (UTC)
 * Ran STiki again this morning and things are back to normal. I'm sure that the ingestion hiccup may have been the case, since I was running STiki around 0700-0800 (UTC+7), with the 200+ day old edits popping up within the first few minutes before dissipating completely after switching between queues. lavender |(formerly HMSSolent )| lambast  01:11, 1 March 2016 (UTC)
 * The old edits often appear. For example, this one is 230+ days old. --Dcirovic (talk) 18:23, 2 March 2016 (UTC)
 * Yep, looking back through my logs I think I culled very old edits only from the "STiki (metadata)" queue. I've now done the same for the CBNG queue. This muddles the elegance of the approach slightly, but it is probably justified as someone has likely reviewed the edit outside the context of STiki. My dissertation described a probabilistic way to estimate the probability of external review and adjust queue priorities accordingly -- but it is unlikely to be implemented in practice. Thanks, West.andrew.g (talk) 21:15, 2 March 2016 (UTC)

Requesting permission to use STiki
Hello,

I'm requesting permission to use STiki. I've been a Wikipedian for almost two months, but in the meantime I've been very active. I have approximately 300 mainspace edits to date. I have reverted a lot of edits by vandals, have warned all vandals I've encountered, and have reported the more persistent ones to AIV (I would also like to add that all of the vandals I reported were subsequently blocked).

I've been using Twinkle a good deal lately for reverting vandalism and, so far, have never been accused with misusing it. I have earned a barnstar for my anti-vandalism efforts, and have been thanked a couple of times for said efforts.

My block record is untarnished, and I have received no complaints for any of my edits. I have never been engaged in an edit war.

Please inform me if I an eligible for STiki rights. If not, I am perfectly willing to fulfill any requirements asked of me.

Respectfully Yours,

Mademoiselle La Souris (Squeak!) 02:21, 26 February 2016 (UTC)
 * Several Twinkle, but less than 300 in main space.Energetic but limited experience. Another borderline case.. Super48paul (talk) 09:57, 26 February 2016 (UTC)
 * ✅ -- Access approved; being consist with above approval request on recommendation of Super48Paul. Thanks, West.andrew.g (talk) 21:20, 29 February 2016 (UTC)

Also requesting access. This seems like a more efficient approach than RC patrolling. Here's my user stats stuff:

— SMcCandlish ☺ ☏ ¢ ≽ʌⱷ҅ᴥⱷʌ≼  01:40, 6 March 2016 (UTC)


 * you don't need to request access if you have rollback rights or 1,000 mainspace edits, both of which you have. You can just download it and start using it. Thanks, Melonkelon (talk) 01:51, 6 March 2016 (UTC)
 * Ah so! I thought perhaps one had to be white-listed as for WP:AWB.  — SMcCandlish ☺ ☏ ¢ ≽ʌⱷ҅ᴥⱷʌ≼  01:55, 6 March 2016 (UTC)

Password not working only on STiki
On web, my password is not working, on STiki it is not working login failed. --Tito Dutta (talk) 19:31, 26 February 2016 (UTC)
 * Given no further comments by yourself or fellow STiki-ers, I am going to assume this issue resolved itself? West.andrew.g (talk) 21:22, 29 February 2016 (UTC)
 * , no it is not working still. Same error. I am using Ubuntu 12.04. --Tito Dutta (talk) 01:00, 1 March 2016 (UTC)
 * Is that a typo above, or is it the case that "On web, my password is not working"? If its not working in the browser, there is no expectation it would work in STiki -- you might want to consider a password reset. Thanks, West.andrew.g (talk) 19:08, 1 March 2016 (UTC)
 * Twinkle etc seems to be working for you, so I assume it's a typo. Your last use of STiki was on January 9th, so perhaps downloading the update might help?    D b f i r s   09:28, 6 March 2016 (UTC)
 * Ya it was a typo, I have tried the latest version. --Tito Dutta (talk) 13:13, 6 March 2016 (UTC)
 * You could try downloading the latest Java if you haven't already done so. Have you tried STiki on a different computer or operating system?    D b f i r s   13:19, 6 March 2016 (UTC)

Requesting for my previous STiki contributions to be reassigned to my new account name.
Hello, I'm using STiki for the past 4 months and I'd also received a Barnstar for reaching 1,000 edits. I've received a message on my talk page stating that since I've changed my username, so STiki will reset my edit count. I don't want this to happen as my all hard work will be vanished. Now I want to kindly request for my previous STiki contributions to be reassigned to my new account name. Mr. Smart ℒION ⋠☎️✍⋡ 12:35, 4 March 2016 (UTC)
 * Noting here that the user's previous username was Kunalforyou. Widr (talk) 12:43, 4 March 2016 (UTC)
 * Well thanks for providing the evidence. By the way, how did you come to know that I've changed my username to Mr. Smart LION? Mr. Smart ℒION  ⋠☎️✍⋡ 14:13, 4 March 2016 (UTC)
 * It can be seen in the history of your user page and talk page. Widr (talk) 14:21, 4 March 2016 (UTC)

✅ -- 1567 contributions re-mapped to new username. Change will be reflected when report regenerates within 24 hours. West.andrew.g (talk) 16:37, 6 March 2016 (UTC)

Issue
Is anything happening today? I've been logged out from STiki four times in the past few hours. Best, FoCuS contribs ;  talk to me!  17:32, 14 March 2016 (UTC)
 * STiki seems to stop responding after a while. Widr (talk) 17:45, 14 March 2016 (UTC)
 * Yes, that too! FoCuS contribs ;  talk to me!  17:53, 14 March 2016 (UTC)

Problems with reverting
I've been having reverting edits with STiki since yesterday. Reversions are not logged and I've had to log in again. Is this an issue with STiki, or does it have anything to do with Java? lavender |(formerly HMSSolent )| lambast 02:21, 18 March 2016 (UTC)
 * Appears to be fixed now - must have been a temp glitch. lavender |(formerly HMSSolent )| lambast  03:29, 21 March 2016 (UTC)

Requesting permission to use STiki
Hello, I'm Omni Flames. I've got around 400 article namespace edits now, many of which were anti-vandalism related. I'm also quite active in New page patrolling. I've been using Twinkle and IRC channels to find and quickly revert vandalism, but I'd like to try STiki since it looks more efficient in reverting vandalism. I have no problem waiting until I reach the 1000 edit mark, but I thought I'd give requesting access a shot. Thanks, — Omni Flames  ( talk   contribs ) 23:11, 18 March 2016 (UTC
 * Well, only 1 month on board, but 400 main namespace edits, 500 Twinkle edits, and no (intense) conflicts on talk page. We might give it a try! Super48paul (talk) 15:29, 19 March 2016 (UTC)
 * Okay, thanks for the reply :) — Omni Flames  ( talk   contribs ) 20:34, 19 March 2016 (UTC)

✅ -- Approved on basis of Super48paul's recommendation. Sorry for the delay on my end. Thanks, West.andrew.g (talk) 18:06, 22 March 2016 (UTC)
 * Thank you! :) — Omni Flames  ( talk   contribs ) 20:57, 22 March 2016 (UTC)

"Problem in log-in pane"
Anyone else getting today, "Error in the user login interface, likely caused by network error null" errors? Never seen it before. Thanks! -- Michael Scott Cuthbert (talk) 14:58, 19 March 2016 (UTC)
 * Not happening over here! Super48paul (talk) 15:35, 19 March 2016 (UTC)
 * It appears that currently STiki isn't reverting anything. Yesterday there were also some kind of passing problems and errors at times. Widr (talk) 13:04, 20 March 2016 (UTC)
 * This is the error message I received once yesterday and just a moment ago today after clicking AGF button: "Error: WMF has dropped session. A check associated with your last revert/AGF action found your login session has been unexpectedly terminated. This is believed to be a bug on the WMF server-side, not within STiki itself. Regardless, to protect your privacy (i.e., your IP address), your last revert and warnings did not commit. When you click 'OK' below, STiki will shut down. Restarting the program and logging in again will initiate a new session and correct the issue." I don't believe I have seen this particular one before until this weekend. Posting this here just for Andrew to investigate. Widr (talk) 18:35, 20 March 2016 (UTC)

The most recent error that Widr discusses was handling code put in place quite recently. As the message states, something is happening on the Wikipedia/WMF side that causes a user session to drop. There is nothing we can do about this; and instead take appropriate actions to protect user privacy. I know there are efforts underway to rebuild part of WM's session and authentication management, and these could be related. When network errors are thrown, it is always after multiple retries. If these things are happening sporadically and cannot be consistently duplicated, I am going to assume the problem is not in the STiki code base. Sometimes WP:VPT and elsewhere are decent places to search out possible causes. If something is fundamentally broken, please elevate that to my attention. West.andrew.g (talk) 18:15, 22 March 2016 (UTC)
 * Thanks, Andrew. It has not happened for me after those two occasions. Widr (talk) 18:18, 22 March 2016 (UTC)
 * I can confirm this is happening as well. Let's hope Wikipedia/WMF get their act together. FoCuS  contribs ;  talk to me!  14:15, 24 March 2016 (UTC)
 * For the record: Happening just now over here as well. Super48paul (talk) 14:46, 25 March 2016 (UTC)
 * I'm also getting an "Error: Problem in log-in pane". The text in the error box says: "Error in the user login interface, likely caused by network error /n Exception thrown to terminate thread." This has been going on for several days. -  t u coxn \talk 00:55, 28 March 2016 (UTC)

I will take a look and investigate. I know authentication changes are rolling out soon and we are currently using a deprecated method. I've been fighting real life to try to get ahead of that WMF rollout, but I would expect things to be profoundly broken when that happens. Thanks, West.andrew.g (talk) 16:29, 28 March 2016 (UTC)

Error:WMF has dropped session
After opening StiKi and after logging in I get a pop-up window with the following error. At times I make a few contributions say 3 or 4 and then the pop-up comes and I have to close Stiki and start it again. I have tried it on my two PCs which I have been using and I get same error. "A Check association with your last reverted/AGF action found your login session has been unexpectedly terminated. This is believed ot be a bug on the WMF server-side, not within Stiki itself blah blah......" I am wondering what could be causing this one. I am running Windows 10. Kagundu Wanna Chat? 09:25, 8 April 2016 (UTC)
 * This happens to me quite often as well. I'm running Windows 8. — Omni Flames  ( talk   contribs ) 07:13, 9 April 2016 (UTC)

Request to Use STiki
Hi there! I'm ProgrammingGeek and I use Wikipedia as a hobby. I understand I may not have enough edits, but I'm quite levelheaded and have a lot of common sense. I use Twinkle quite a bit, and I'd like to start combating vandals more. If it's too soon for me, I completely understand, but please give me a chance. Thanks, Programming G E E K (mah page! // use words to communicate page) 12:58, 26 March 2016 (UTC)
 * Well, if I may: not even 50 Twinkle, not even 200 ms edits. My feeling is that this request definitely comes too early in your Wikipedia career. Carry on Twinkle, try Huggle - and soon you will be ready. Super48paul (talk) 19:50, 26 March 2016 (UTC)
 * Okay, thanks Programming G E E K (mah page! // use words to communicate page) 21:46, 26 March 2016 (UTC)
 * FYI, we consider participation/completion of WP:CVUA to be a fast-track for STiki access. Thanks, West.andrew.g (talk) 16:30, 28 March 2016 (UTC)
 * Thanks, looking into that now.  Programming Geek  (Page! • Talk! • Contribs!) 18:49, 28 March 2016 (UTC)

Hi there! I'm NeatCoronet458. I use Twinkle a bit, and I'd like to start combating vandals more. Thanks, NeatCoronet458. NeatCoronet458 (talk) 12:28, 9 April 2016 (UTC)
 * Hi NeatCoronet458. As with the above editor, you don't have enough edits under your belt for us to judge if you would be a reliable user of STiki. Also as with the above editor, it might be a good idea to sign up with WP:CVUA. Yaris678 (talk) 14:25, 9 April 2016 (UTC)
 * I agree with Yaris on this. And do not forget to start using Twinkle and Huggle, these are accessible without any permission needed. Good luck. Super48paul (talk) 17:57, 10 April 2016 (UTC)
 * Actually, Huggle requires rollback rights here. — Omni Flames  ( talk   contribs ) 21:56, 10 April 2016 (UTC)

Freezing
STiki freezes at some point during session and then after a while always resumes with this edit. After that it stops responding altogether. It has happened to me at least three or four times today. Widr (talk) 13:46, 24 April 2016 (UTC)
 * That's a pretty curious behavior. Let me know if it continues in the future. I might be able to blame the freezing on the fact I was absolutely hammering my databases this weekend as I tried to get my statistical processing caught up after the downtime. I also had everything on lockdown while I made a completely consistent backup of the database. I did observe that particular RID is no longer in the queue. I wonder if the sheer size of the edit was causing some problem with parsing the other checks I do for presentation. I was able to pull it up in my Offline Review Tool and it didn't choke. Thanks, West.andrew.g (talk) 15:31, 25 April 2016 (UTC)
 * Not exactly related to the issue above, but STiki isn't reverting anything right now. Pressing "vandalism" or "AGF" does notihng at all. lavender |(formerly HMSSolent )| lambast  01:38, 28 April 2016 (UTC)
 * Works fine over here, no problems. Super48paul (talk) 05:43, 28 April 2016 (UTC)

Error: Backend connection is required
I'm unable to log in to STiki as of today. Has something happened to the server or the STiki version? Best, FoCuS contribs ;  talk to me!  12:57, 14 April 2016 (UTC)
 * Confirming. It's down again. Widr (talk) 14:11, 14 April 2016 (UTC)
 * -- Yep, server is down for unknown reasons. I do not recall an associated UPenn network maintenance notification. As long as fails to resolve, the server is down. I've notified my colleague on site and will update here as appropriate. Thanks, West.andrew.g (talk) 14:52, 14 April 2016 (UTC)
 * Confirming STiki down here as well. lavender |(formerly HMSSolent )| lambast  02:07, 15 April 2016 (UTC)
 * Wow, this thing's a major nuisance... FoCuS contribs ;  talk to me!  17:03, 17 April 2016 (UTC)
 * Still down over here. Vanamonde93 (talk) 06:36, 19 April 2016 (UTC)
 * FYI still down. --Sam Sailor Talk! 21:31, 19 April 2016 (UTC)


 * A major nuisance indeed. I prefer STiki, not WP:Huggle. And I can't even use the legacy WP:Huggle anymore. Flyer22 Reborn (talk) 05:46, 20 April 2016 (UTC)
 * Agreed! And it's probably the only software rollback tool a non-rollbacker can use. &#60;&#60;&#60; SOME GADGET GEEK &#62;&#62;&#62; (talk) 18:49, 20 April 2016 (UTC)
 * Is it time to consider moving STiki to a new server, one that has guaranteed uptime? Not sure how much it'll cost, but if STiki is this important to so many patrollers (I haven't had much time recently to patrol, but STiki is a nice, relaxed way of helping out), we can avert such a debacle in the future. — k6ka  🍁 ( Talk ·  Contributions ) 20:04, 20 April 2016 (UTC)


 * With as many crashes as the STiki server has had (also, I think it used a different one before the current one), I think we all want a very stable one for it. Flyer22 Reborn (talk) 23:54, 20 April 2016 (UTC)

Still down here. Is it possible to keep a backup server on say the WMF Labs which only works while the UPenn server is down? --Rsrikanth05 (talk) 05:54, 21 April 2016 (UTC)
 * Agree totally, tools of such utility as STiki should not be reliant on borrowed server capacity or the everlasting attention of a single volunteer. Does any reader have an idea how best to inject Rsrikanth05's suggestion into the WMF structure? Noyster (talk),  09:38, 21 April 2016 (UTC)
 * I'd support a full migration to labs, personally. have you thought about this before? —  crh 23   &thinsp;(Talk) 10:00, 21 April 2016 (UTC)
 * Shifting to Labs was rules out earlier as WMF Labs itself is not too reliable. That is why I suggested using it as a backup. --Rsrikanth05 (talk) 20:32, 21 April 2016 (UTC)


 * How soon before it is up again? Flyer22 Reborn (talk) 06:39, 22 April 2016 (UTC)
 * Same question over here! Super48paul (talk) 07:00, 22 April 2016 (UTC)

✅ -- We are up! More details to come, but I am going to focus on technical repairs for the time being. West.andrew.g (talk) 14:55, 22 April 2016 (UTC)
 * Can confirm. Many thanks, Andrew! Vanamonde93 (talk) 15:28, 22 April 2016 (UTC)
 * Yup, all running up and well here. lavender |(formerly HMSSolent )| lambast  01:48, 23 April 2016 (UTC)


 * Thanks. Flyer22 Reborn (talk) 05:29, 23 April 2016 (UTC)
 * Getting an error when I do an AGF revert. --Rsrikanth05 (talk) 10:21, 23 April 2016 (UTC)
 * That's been happening for some time now (see archives). Widr (talk) 10:24, 23 April 2016 (UTC)

Okay, everything should be back up and running (this also includes my statistical reports unrelated to STiki); also I locked down everything for a bit in order to get a completely consistent backup. It is unclear why the machine went offline in the first place. There was no scheduled network/power maintenance at the time. I contacted my colleague to restart the machine. He did not respond (and still has not responded; I hope he is okay). After a day or two without response, I began the process of locating someone else who has access to the server room. When this was done (through some hierarchies), the power was cycled, and the machine came up fine. Recall I am not geographically near the machine. Even if I wanted to make the 3-hour drive, I don't have the credentials to get inside the server room. Yes, the reason for such a delay is pretty dumb. I *do* support a migration to the WMF Labs infrastructure, but I am not sure how much work that will take. I want to keep STiki running, and the day-to-day on the talk page and minor maintenance is fine, but real-life doesn't have the capacity for major improvements right now (noting I am not sure a migration would be major). If anyone out there has the expertise to help in the effort, it would be welcomed.

Secondly, is this error specific to AGF reverts? I spun through some edits last night and didn't get any errors. West.andrew.g (talk) 16:08, 25 April 2016 (UTC)
 * Only happens with AGF reverts, at least for me. Widr (talk) 16:42, 25 April 2016 (UTC)
 * Yes, it happened to me about 4 times today, and it seems to be for no-msg AGF reverts as far as I can tell. I can confirm this is happening to all my AGF edits as of today. As soon as I hit the button, STiki closes. FoCuS contribs ;  talk to me!  01:37, 2 May 2016 (UTC)

Frustrating
I'm having this for the last several weeks: Stiki behaves "normally", reverting and skipping edits as I command, but the reverts don't appear in contributions of either my account or my IP. After ca. 10-20 actions Stiki throws out an error message (see below), I restart it, and then it reverts fine (I need such a restart once a day). The diffs appearing in Stiki are actual, and I can revert them manually in a regular web browser, but this is inconvenient. The error message is this: A check association with your last revert/AGF action found your login session has been unexpectedly terminated. This is believed to be a bug on the WMF server-side, not within STiki itself. Regardless, to protect your privacy (i.e., your IP address), your last revert and warrnings did not commit. When you click "OK" below, STiki will shut down. Restarting the program and logging in again will initiate a new session and correct the issue. Materialscientist (talk) 02:58, 29 April 2016 (UTC)
 * A few weeks ago I started getting these errors too. Usually I open STiki, revert a few edits, and then get that error. The edits aren't reverted. Omni Flames   let's talk about it  04:23, 29 April 2016 (UTC)
 * I'm afraid I've gone over to the dark side... Omni Flames   let's talk about it  09:32, 2 May 2016 (UTC)

I can understand everyone's frustration and will do some preliminary investigation tonight. These inconsistent errors are hard to chase down. It's also frustrating that some are reporting frequent problems, while others are reporting nothing at all. This makes me wonder if it is a platform, permission, etc. specific issue. In my recent experiences with the tool I have also experienced no errors. I'll also dig into the technical forums and see if anything is up with authentication/session functionality. Thanks, West.andrew.g (talk) 20:35, 3 May 2016 (UTC)
 * We understand. I hope you're able to find the sneaky hamster. Best of luck! FoCuS contribs ;  talk to me!  22:01, 3 May 2016 (UTC)

Did about 30 minutes of work tonight across multiple login sessions, including several AGF reverts, and was unable to encounter a single error. All my work seems reflected in my contributions. I am trying here! Anyone got any advice on how to best encounter an error condition? Is there some larger context we might be missing when things get screwy? Thanks, West.andrew.g (talk) 04:03, 7 May 2016 (UTC)
 * I often get this issue as well, seems to happen randomly and the only solution is to restart STiki.  Satellizer el Bridget (Talk)  10:45, 7 May 2016 (UTC)
 * Just encountered the same issue for the first time here. The only difference that might have mattered and that I knew of since last session is an additional reviewer permission on myself, not sure if that would be somehow related.  JW  Noctis talk to me 14:10, 8 May 2016 (UTC)
 * I only have rollback, and I'm getting the same problem. lavender |(formerly HMSSolent )| lambast  02:29, 11 May 2016 (UTC)

Rollback vs. reviewer isn't going to manifest any difference. There are STiki users who don't have rollback, and I simulate rollback for them using standard editing calls. However, the underlying sentiment here might be helpful. Whereas "revert" actions tend to use rollback, I am pretty sure "AGF" uses the standard edit calls -- and this is where everyone is complaining of issues. West.andrew.g (talk) 02:57, 11 May 2016 (UTC)

Permission to use STiki
Hi I am PlanetofLinux a.k.a Callum I am intrested in using STiki as I have good history in finding vandals and am on Wikipedia a lot of the time. I also know a lot about stuff that appears on Wikipedia

Can I use STiki? PlanetofLinux (talk) 13:54, 14 May 2016 (UTC)
 * You don't really seem to have a "track record" of anti-vandal work. You've made only around 70 edits total, and only a few of them have been vandalism reversion. In addition, looking through your contributions I see some questionable edit summaries . I advise that you get more involved in counter vandalism, the CVUA is available for that, and then maybe you'll be experienced enough to use the tool. Omni Flames   let's talk about it  01:15, 15 May 2016 (UTC)

Usage Permission?
Hi,

I'm interested in STiki, and I saw that it is possible to get usage permissions via the talk page if you don't have 1000 edits. I think it would be interesting to contribute and use the tool, but I don't have that many edits. I have been using and lightly editing wikipedia for a long time however, and I think that my contribution record is solid.

Would it be possible to get permissions to use STiki?

Thanks! Jazzlw (talk) 16:15, 12 May 2016 (UTC
 * Hello, you have a solid record indeed - but a rather tiny one at the moment. Why not try Huggle and/or Twinkle first? And enroll in that Counter Vandalism Unit Academy which prepares for the use of STiki?! Give it a try and I am sure you will be back soon. Hope this advice works out allright. Super48paul (talk) 06:40, 13 May 2016 (UTC)


 * Thanks! I'll check those out and come back!  Huggle seems to require rollback permissions though, is there another tool you'd recommend for finding vandalism and unconstructive edits that does not? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jazzlw (talk • contribs) 17:27, 15 May 2016 (UTC)
 * Rollback may be acquired sooner than STiki, at above 200 varied mainspace edits. So just continue from 100 to 200 edits; then apply for rollback; then try out Huggle; and finally go for STiki. That is how I did it anyway! Good luck. Super48paul (talk) 20:11, 15 May 2016 (UTC)
 * But by the time you have rollback, you can already use STiki... Omni Flames   let's talk about it  21:49, 15 May 2016 (UTC)

CBNG down for 35+ hours; metadata queue now default
Section title says it all. Vandalism density might be unusually rich with CBNG not working. Happy reverting! West.andrew.g (talk) 16:49, 17 May 2016 (UTC)
 * CBNG running again and restored as default. West.andrew.g (talk) 19:50, 18 May 2016 (UTC)

STiki Permission Request
Hi, My name is Silverplate Delta. I have been on Wikipedia for about two months now and am interested in joining the STiki team. On Wikipedia, I mostly fight vandals with Twinkle, and sometimes I do some new page curation. My edit count is 263 and 80 of which were performed with Twinke while fighting vandals. Haveing STiki on my anti-vandal tool-belt would be, in my opinion, the next step in my anti-vandal work. In my experience, RC hunting with twinkle is very tedious and more times than not, you are staring at RC waiting, rather than reverting. My Contribs/track record can be found here.

Thank you for your consideration- SilverplateDelta (talk) 16:25, 19 May 2016 (UTC)


 * ✅ -- This meets the threshold for me. Happy reverting! West.andrew.g (talk) 18:43, 19 May 2016 (UTC)

Thanks man, see you out there! SilverplateDelta (talk) 18:45, 19 May 2016 (UTC)

Request
I have been using STiki as User:OluwaCurtis until I changed to my current username. I will like to add my previous STiki contributions to be reassigned to new new account name. Regards! —Oluwa2Chainz »» (talk to me) 06:41, 21 May 2016 (UTC)
 * ✅ -- 1776 edits remapped. Will be reflected on next nightly report. Thanks, West.andrew.g (talk) 14:16, 21 May 2016 (UTC)

Possible false positive?
The new user recently removed what looked like vandalism to the article when he/she changed the name of the school's governor from "Badfellow" to the correct "Goodfellow". He/She was soon thereafter reverted using STiki.

I am not a fan of automated editing in general and have never used STiki (and I don't intend to start), but is it possible this was "marked" as vandalism because it came from a new account (see WP:BITE) and because the user changed "bad" to "good" (the type of edit that might easily be taken as vandalism)?

In this case, it seems STiki was used for the opposite of its intended purpose, as it inadvertently reinserted an instance of probable vandalism.

As I said above, I am not experienced with this type of editing tool, and I don't know how to interpret the You take full responsibility for any action you perform using STiki at the top of this page, but if this was an instance of the software calling a false positive, would it be possible to tweak so as to perhaps prevent such instances in the future?

Best, Hijiri 88 ( 聖やや ) 07:46, 25 May 2016 (UTC)


 * STiki is not automated editing (bot), it is an editing assistant tool. A STiki user has the same responsibility as any recent changes patroller when assessing edits. If there is a mistake, you should notify the editor in question. STiki's backend algorithms can help people to find edits that have a likelihood of being vandalism, but this is nothing even beginning to approach a guarantee. Typical hit rates are around 30%. We do not use terms such as "false positive" because the approach is not automated and due to the dynamics of online operation. See some additional notes in my below response.

It also seems really weird to me that this page currently "counts" this and (presumably) a large number of other false positives as "instances of vandalism, spam, [or] other unconstructive editing" by what (I presume) is an automated counter. It seems unlikely that all "955,274" edits were screened and found not to be false positives. Am I missing something? It might be an idea to change it to "STiki has been used to revert 955,274 edits identified as vandalism, spam, and other unconstructive editing on Wikipedia". Hijiri 88 ( 聖やや ) 07:54, 25 May 2016 (UTC)


 * The statement is accurate. 955k edits have been *reverted* using the tool. More than 3 million edits have been *reviewed* using the tool. West.andrew.g (talk) 16:27, 25 May 2016 (UTC)
 * Okay, but the warning at the top explicitly says that the responsibility is on the user to judge whether an edit is vandalism, and then the lead calls all the edits that have been reverted with the tool "instances of vandalism, spam, and other unconstructive editing". Hijiri 88 ( 聖やや ) 21:18, 25 May 2016 (UTC)
 * How does that conflict with anything? — k6ka  🍁 ( Talk ·  Contributions ) 21:26, 25 May 2016 (UTC)
 * Because it essentially says "It is your responsibility to use this tool responsibly, but we're still going to call all the edits you reverted vandalism regardless of whether you actually do use it responsibly". Hijiri 88 ( 聖やや ) 22:35, 25 May 2016 (UTC)
 * I do think this user has a (small) point here. I changed the project page intro accordingly: but (anybody!) do correct my changes if you object! Our anti-vandalism efforts remain the same anyway.... Super48paul (talk) 08:35, 26 May 2016 (UTC)
 * Altered "deemed" to "judged" — Gareth Griffith-Jones &#124; The Welsh &#124; Buzzard &#124; 12:10, 27 May 2016 (UTC)

STiki down?
The tool appears to be down for me: the program does not launch, even when I downloaded it afresh. Is this a problem others are having too? Vanamonde93 (talk) 06:12, 29 May 2016 (UTC)
 * Yes, we are all having this problem! Had already been noted above. Maintainer(s) will be able to take care of this after the weekend I presume.Super48paul (talk) 06:28, 29 May 2016 (UTC)
 * Stiki is working again! Smoothless functioning I believe. Happy reverting! Super48paul (talk) 14:30, 31 May 2016 (UTC)
 * ✅ -- Should be smooth sailing on all front. Rollback issue resolved as per above and a little Memorial Day weekend network maintenance. Thanks, West.andrew.g (talk) 19:33, 1 June 2016 (UTC)
 * Can confirm: thanks, Andrew. Vanamonde93 (talk) 21:55, 1 June 2016 (UTC)

Site wide rollback functions have changed - may be breaking scripts
Reverting vandalism results in "conflict or error; check page hist" now, so I presume that a script has been broken as a result of the changes. lavender |(formerly HMSSolent )| lambast 01:22, 27 May 2016 (UTC)
 * I hope they reconsider and roll back the update, so maybe wait for devs' feedback before fixing Stiki. Materialscientist (talk) 01:25, 27 May 2016 (UTC)
 * Real life is crazy right now (and about to depart on a connection-less Memorial Day weekend), so I've briefly skimmed the issue at hand, and certainly don't have the bandwidth to do anything about it for a bit. I didn't really discover much of an impetus for the change, besides the fact that "it would be nice" to get HTTP POST/GET semantics normalized. It will also "be nice" if we could stop breaking legacy functionality. I can tolerate it when these things happen for security reasons, but that doesn't seem to be a driver here. I'd encourage everyone to at least advocate a temporary rollback so tool developers can author fixes before this goes back into effect. Thanks, West.andrew.g (talk) 04:26, 27 May 2016 (UTC)
 * Posted along these lines in the VPT thread. Thanks, West.andrew.g (talk) 04:36, 27 May 2016 (UTC)
 * And now STiki appears to be down altogether. lavender |(formerly HMSSolent )| lambast  01:28, 28 May 2016 (UTC)

✅ -- Won this battle and STiki is now up and working. The rollback seems permanent, or at least I'd assume if not that someone would have the good sense to come here with a deployment timeline and let us get ahead of the change. Thanks, West.andrew.g (talk) 19:30, 1 June 2016 (UTC)
 * Sorry for the late reply. All working fine now - thanks! lavender |(formerly HMSSolent )| lambast  07:08, 3 June 2016 (UTC)

Request to use STiki
I request to have permission to use STiki to combat vandalism. I have been editing for several months, and I would like to have this right. Evking22 (talk) 01:34, 7 June 2016 (UTC)
 * Evking22, I just checked your contributions, and you have only 75 edits to the article space. While you have made an excellent start, I would suggest that you focus a little more on basic contributions before asking for this tool. Of course, the decision is not mine, so Andrew might decide to give you the tool, but I think that is unlikely. Regards, Vanamonde93 (talk) 02:40, 7 June 2016 (UTC)
 * Following from above, check out WP:CVUA, which if completed can fast-track STiki access. Thanks, West.andrew.g (talk) 20:42, 7 June 2016 (UTC)
 * Thank you both for your help, but it appears that I am not ready to do this. I'll try to get more than 1,000 edits in userspace if I can. Evking22 (talk) 20:55, 7 June 2016 (UTC)
 * Userspace? You need edits in the article space, not user. --  numbermaniac  ( talk ) 00:53, 13 June 2016 (UTC)

Unable to login to STiki
I'm trying to use STiki and it's giving me the message about having one of the three qualifications. However, I have the Rollback right, so I don't know why it's not letting me login to it. Could I please have some help with this? -- Gestrid (talk) 21:49, 8 June 2016 (UTC)
 * I just figured out I see a rollback option because I use Twinkle. Well, that was embarrassing.  In any case, I would still like to request access to STiki. -- Gestrid (talk) 22:26, 8 June 2016 (UTC)
 * Whatever those details - welcome! Your mainspace number of edits is below 200, Twinkle experience minuscule. Therefore my advice would be to gather some more (AV) experience, using Twinkle and the Vandalism Academy (CVUA), and come back some time later. How does that sound? Co-STikians agree? Super48paul (talk) 08:38, 9 June 2016 (UTC)
 * I would concur with Super48paul. You seem to have made a good start here, but 272 edits is a little too early to be given a tool like this one. Try the CVUA, perhaps try some recent changes patrol. Regards, Vanamonde93 (talk) 16:06, 9 June 2016 (UTC)
 * I second Super48paul and Vanamonde93. Get some more Twinkle experience, and make some more AIV reports and then I think you'd be experienced enough to use STiki.  Omni Flames ( talk ) 00:58, 13 June 2016 (UTC)

A problem
After logging onto STiki, after classifying one edit (vandalism, GF, pass, innocent, whatever) STiki promptly crashes ("this program is not responding") and never loads the next edit. The edit itself still gets reverted, though. Reloading/restarting the tool doesn't seem to help. Anyone else getting this problem?  Satellizer el Bridget (Talk)  06:14, 12 June 2016 (UTC)
 * Yes, I am having the same problem!! Such a thing never happened before in my experience, so definitely something IS wrong. Super48paul (talk) 09:45, 12 June 2016 (UTC)
 * I haven't had this at the time of your post, but with me Stiki doesn't revert - it gives me valid diffs, and behaves as if I revert, but it doesn't. It also gives me diffs of my own past reverts now, which I suppose it shouldn't (because they are mine, and I'm an admin). Materialscientist (talk) 08:56, 13 June 2016 (UTC)
 * STiki behaves normal again - ?!? Super48paul (talk) 10:26, 13 June 2016 (UTC)
 * I'm having the exact same problem as Materialscientist where STiki gives diffs but doesn't actually revert anything. Mostly the same symptoms as last time, except now restarting STiki doesn't help.  Satellizer el Bridget (Talk)  08:01, 14 June 2016 (UTC)
 * Had that yesterday. It took several restarts until STiki started to revert. Widr (talk) 08:05, 14 June 2016 (UTC)
 * Restarted at least 8 times with no luck. Ended up using STiki to identify vandal edits then manually reverting them with a web browser as the backlog had become filled with vandalism.  Satellizer el Bridget (Talk)  08:38, 14 June 2016 (UTC)

Investigating. Thanks, West.andrew.g (talk) 13:48, 14 June 2016 (UTC)
 * Seems to be back up  Satellizer el Bridget (Talk)  08:12, 18 June 2016 (UTC)

STiki stuck after several classifications
STiki seems to hang after at least 3-4 classifications, which then requires a restart. This issue has been recurring for the past 5 days now. Anyone else having this problem? lavender |(formerly HMSSolent )| lambast 04:12, 28 June 2016 (UTC)
 * Same here (restart doesn't solve the problem with me, just starts another brief editing session). Materialscientist (talk) 04:18, 28 June 2016 (UTC)
 * Works fine now . Materialscientist (talk) 22:34, 28 June 2016 (UTC)
 * Still ongoing on my side, although they would always work after a restart. lavender |(formerly HMSSolent )| lambast  03:43, 29 June 2016 (UTC)
 * I'm not having much luck in reproducing these errors, seemingly because they come and go for everyone. Problems of this nature also would indicate something isn't fundamentally wrong with STiki's code, but is perhaps contextual. Not fun. Classification counts have been down greatly in the past couple days, so I am confident more people are having issues than come here to discuss. Not fun. West.andrew.g (talk) 03:48, 29 June 2016 (UTC)
 * Andrew, yes, you can see that something is wrong through the daily stats of Stiki use (I see it indirectly by the number of unreverted edits in some filter logs). The issue is likely related to Wikimedia updates and Wikimedia server instabilities, which are beyond your control. You can try to think about stabilizing the code against such instabilities, but a more realistic task would be this - can you speed up the Stiki fallback, so that it sends a warning to the user and terminates at a very early stage? The current version keeps running for roughly 5-20 edits before the user realizes that those edits were not (and will not) be processed and he/she is wasting their time - this is the most frustrating part, not the crashing itself (though it would also be nice to have Stiki exiting itself without the need to unload it through CTRL-ALT-DEL). Materialscientist (talk) 04:12, 29 June 2016 (UTC)
 * I am also having a similar problem in that my STiki gets stuck after doing less than 10 actions - such as "pass" and reverting the edit whether AGF or not. To un-stick it I have to resstart my computer, open STiki, log in again, and so on. Is there another way to get this unstuck? Thanks in advance ---Steve Quinn (talk) 00:35, 2 July 2016 (UTC)
 * I forgot to mention that a stuck "machine" for me also means I can't close down the program. I click on the "x" and it won't close. This is why I would have to restart my computer and open the program again. I can minimize and un-minimize just fine. Of course I am not going to simply restart my computer just for this. ---Steve Quinn (talk) 00:45, 2 July 2016 (UTC)
 * Steve, to close a program in Windows hold three keys, CTRL-ALT-DEL or CTRL-SHIFT-ESC. This will start the Task Manager, where you can terminate any application (well, if it is a vital system application then unloading it will crash your PC; but Stiki is not). Note though that when an application like Stiki has crashed, it may take some time to unload it (and this is a nuisance), i.e. wait for a computer's reaction after every mouse click. Materialscientist (talk) 01:49, 2 July 2016 (UTC)
 * MaterialscientistTask manager is a great idea and thanks for "wait for a computer's reaction after every mouse click".---Steve Quinn (talk) 16:31, 2 July 2016 (UTC)

STiki not reverting
I've been having a problem with STiki. I'm logged in and every time I click "vandalism" or "good faith revert" and submit it, the edit never submits and no edits were made to any articles I was on. Is anyone else having this problem? — MRD2014 T C 00:29, 29 June 2016 (UTC)

I later logged back in and it made edits, so I don't know why it didn't submit edits the first time. — MRD2014 T C 00:31, 29 June 2016 (UTC)


 * I get an error for AGF reverts. Have been getting it for close to months now. The box says Error: WMF has dropped your session. --Rsrikanth05 (talk) 05:20, 30 June 2016 (UTC)
 * Got an error today as well.  Eve rgr een Fir  (talk) Please &#123;&#123;re&#125;&#125; 03:49, 4 July 2016 (UTC)