Wikimedia Forum/Archives/2019-05

Pt.wikisource still have a lot of interwiki links

See edits by CandalBot, VolkovBot and TVT-bot. They should now all provided by Wikidata. Could anyone run a bot to remove them? --94rain ^Talk 10:40, 5 May 2019 (UTC)

How is this the business of this forum? If anywhere, it should be addressed at ptWS, they are grown ups and can look after their wiki.

Further, I will note that interwikis for Wikisources are different than Wikipedias, as WS works are all editions, not works, so interwikis don't work in a traditional sense.  — billinghurst sDrewth 13:27, 5 May 2019 (UTC)

Yeah it is better to be discussed locally first, but I just wanted to know which bot can do this task currently. Now I found EmausBot is still running currently. I have just raised the issue on the local Scriptorium page and I am waiting for their discussion. This section can be archived.--94rain ^Talk 11:54, 6 May 2019 (UTC)

This section was archived on a request by: 94rain ^Talk 11:54, 6 May 2019 (UTC)

Blocked

I am indefinitely blocked on the English Wikipedia, but since I am still young (not even 18 years old), what should I do? My unblock request was failed because a checkuser detected that my IP address was editing Wikipedia and it seemed to evade my block. But I did not make the edits, it was my sister who was inspired to edit Wikipedia by me. What should I do? — The preceding unsigned comment was added by Owen912 (talk) 00:02, 1 May 2019 (UTC)

The review process is at w:Wikipedia:UTRS. Some of admins, especially those repeatedly dealing with abuse, can become old and cynical about claims of "the dog ate my homework" and the like. It pays to bed open and honest, and you should be prepared to sit out for a little while, choosing a foreshortened block with some contrition, rather than an expectation of absolute forgiveness now.  — billinghurst sDrewth 01:55, 1 May 2019 (UTC)

Hi Owen912, the English Wikipedia is fairly strict on our socking policies. If another English Wikipedia CheckUser has determined that you have been editing logged out while your account is blocked, we will not consider appeals for six months. During those six months, I would encourage you to edit projects such as Wikimedia Commons or the Simple English Wikipedia so that you can demonstrate that you are here to help the Wikimedia movement as a whole. TonyBallioni (talk) 01:58, 3 May 2019 (UTC)

This section was archived on a request by:  — billinghurst sDrewth 11:03, 13 May 2019 (UTC)

Other operating systems section of Wiki Project Med/App

There is a typo that says "Windows 9" it should be "Windows 8" as Windows 9 never existed. --Thegooduser (talk) 01:14, 4 May 2019 (UTC)

Corrected. Ruslik (talk) 17:59, 4 May 2019 (UTC)

This section was archived on a request by:  — billinghurst sDrewth 11:03, 13 May 2019 (UTC)

User name policy

Please provide links for "user name policy".

Most of the user name policies are at the Wikipedias, and also at Commons. There is nothing central. We do manage certain restrictions through title blacklist and that is where certain user names are misleading, abusive, or abusing the system.  — billinghurst sDrewth 01:58, 13 May 2019 (UTC)

user:billinghurst, Thanq. Archieved page of Username policy.

https://en.m.wikiversity.org/wiki/Wikiversity_talk:Username

https://m.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:Administrators%27_noticeboard/Archive/2019/05#Username_policy

(Omkaram12 (talk) 08:50, 13 May 2019 (UTC)).

This section was archived on a request by:  — billinghurst sDrewth 11:03, 13 May 2019 (UTC)

Doubt about User names in Black list

   https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Title_blacklist

"This is a list of page titles which are blocked from creation/editing on Wikimedia wikis". A comment from above link.

My doubt is  :

The black listed user names are prohibited only in "meta.wikimedia" ? OR prohibited in "Wikimedia foundation all wikies like Wikipedia" ?

Thanq

(Omkaram12 (talk) 06:07, 15 May 2019 (UTC))

Title blacklist is universal/global; Mediawiki:Titleblacklist is local/wiki-specific. Account names have to be universal, so are added in the former page.  — billinghurst sDrewth 06:19, 15 May 2019 (UTC)

Nice talk ,user:billinghurst ,the black listed account names are universal/global,so prohibited and blocked in all Wikimedia wikis include Wikipedia.

Thanq (Omkaram12 (talk) 06:39, 15 May 2019 (UTC))

Can we update the "Wikipedia user name policy" With above black listed user names? Please reply ....

User:Cranxi

Wikipedia has their username policy, and that will have to be directed there. Where a username is in breach of a local policy, the user can request a rename.  — billinghurst sDrewth 22:46, 15 May 2019 (UTC)

This section was archived on a request by:  — billinghurst sDrewth 22:45, 15 May 2019 (UTC)

Role account

This is an unofficial role account. --Sulen96wg (talk) 12:55, 28 May 2019 (UTC)

@Sulen96wg: And what is the role as permitted by Role account? Praxidicae (talk) 12:57, 28 May 2019 (UTC)

Vandalism and spam cleanup. Unofficially, it belongs to en:w:Wikipedia:WikiProject Automobiles and en:w:Wikipedia:WikiProject Japan and is a shared-password account. --Sulen96wg (talk) 12:59, 28 May 2019 (UTC)

I guess i'm confused since enwiki doesn't even allow role accounts outside of those designated here. Praxidicae (talk) 13:02, 28 May 2019 (UTC)

Comment That is not a good idea, and I would suggest that undertaking those actions with that account will get it blocked reasonably quickly, as that is not a role.  — billinghurst sDrewth 13:03, 28 May 2019 (UTC)

It's allowed on here. Just leave a message at WikiProject Automobiles., --Sulen96wg (talk) 13:04, 28 May 2019 (UTC)

How do you figure? It's not a role and has no specific aim. Who are the operators? Praxidicae (talk) 13:05, 28 May 2019 (UTC)

Shared accounts are not allowed at English Wikipedia by local rules. At Meta depending on your edits, we will have to see.  — billinghurst sDrewth 13:08, 28 May 2019 (UTC)

Contact w:en:User:Vauxford if you want to know more. --Sulen96wg (talk) 13:09, 28 May 2019 (UTC)

This section was archived on a request by:  — billinghurst sDrewth 13:15, 28 May 2019 (UTC)

You are invited

to participate over Requests for comment/Do something about azwiki. Winged Blades of Godric (talk) 16:07, 4 May 2019 (UTC)

Requests for comment/Do something about azwiki#Proposal

Hello. I have proposed removing all administrators, bureaucrats, and interface admins from the Azerbaijani Wikipedia due to concerns about copyright violations, abuse of the block tool, and use of admin tools to push POV editing. Evaluation of the situation on this Wikipedia by outside Wikimedia editors would be appreciated. Rschen7754 01:25, 6 May 2019 (UTC)

Mailing list is broken for me?

Page not found

/mailman/listinfo

We could not find the above page on our servers.

Did you mean: /wiki/mailman/listinfo

Alternatively, you can visit the Main Page or read more information about this type of error. --Liuxinyu970226 (talk) 11:03, 9 May 2019 (UTC)

It is working fine for me. Perhaps a temporary issue? —MarcoAurelio (talk) 10:12, 11 May 2019 (UTC)

Maybe you went to [1] instead of [2] ? Is it possible you have something set to change Host headers? --Krenair ^{(talk • contribs)} 17:08, 11 May 2019 (UTC)

Talk pages consultation: Phase 2

The Wikimedia Foundation is currently conducting a global consultation about communication. The goal is to bring Wikimedians and wiki-minded people together to improve tools for communication.

Phase 1 of the consultation is over – thank you to everyone who participated! – and we've published the Phase 1 report. The report summarizes what people have said and what we've learned, proposes a direction for the project, and asks specific questions to explore in Phase 2.

Very briefly, the proposed direction is that wikitext talk pages should be improved, and not replaced. We propose building a new design on top of talk pages that changes the page's default appearance, and offers key tools like replying, indenting and signing posts. To keep consistency with existing tools, the new design will be a default experience that existing users can opt out of. We also propose building features that experienced contributors want, including the ability to watchlist a single discussion, and the ability to move, archive and search for threads. Building these features may require some loss of flexibility, or small-to-medium changes in wikitext conventions. The goal is to only make changes that directly enable functionality that users really want.

You can see more information and discussion about the proposed direction in the Phase 1 report, including the results of new user tests and some of the quotations from Phase 1 discussions that led to this proposal.

Now it's time to start Phase 2!

We have six questions to discuss in Phase 2, asking for reactions to the proposed direction, and pros and cons for specific changes that we could make.

You can help by hosting a discussion at your wiki. Here's what to do:

1. First, sign up your group here.
2. Next, create a page (or a section on a Village pump, or an e-mail thread – whatever is natural for your group) to collect information from other people in your group.
3. Then start the conversation with the six questions listed in the Questions for Phase 2 section of the report.
4. When the conversation is concluded, the host should write a summary of the discussion on the Phase 2 community discussion summaries page, and report what you learned from your group. Please include links if the discussion is available to the public.

You can read more about the overall process on MediaWiki.org. If you have questions or ideas, you can leave feedback about the consultation process in the language you prefer.

Thank you! We're looking forward to talking with you. DannyH (WMF) (talk) 17:40, 17 May 2019 (UTC)

As long as I can opt out of things via GlobalPreferences, I'm fine with any changes (so that I can continue to use the old behaviors without worrying about disabling it on +700 wikis) — regards, Revi 17:56, 17 May 2019 (UTC)

-revi at the beginning of the process all options were on the table, including Flow. At the end of phase 1 the Foundation reached a finding: we propose that wikitext talk pages should be improved, and not replaced. So we'll likely still have editable wikipages. However it's not yet clear whether a full opt-out will remain possible. For example it appears some of the Foundation's ideas would require a software-generated-code in order to create a new section. You might want to read and respond to this phase 2 process. Alsee (talk) 09:33, 18 May 2019 (UTC)

I don't care that much to comment on that. I also have enough things to do, which doesn't give me time to invest my time in side-project for now. It still has a possibility to be a good change unlike WMF past failures like Flow, MediaViewer, etc. I can just accept the unfortunate result if it turns out to be such. — regards, Revi 09:37, 18 May 2019 (UTC)

Whenever the WMF operates a site that cannot be accessed, the front page should clearly explain what the site is, who qualifies for access, and how to request access.

I have been looking at various WMF-owned pages as part of a series of tests that I am doing to see how many barriers we have put up for blind people using screen readers.

While doing this I ran into a project page that should be fixed, but I cannot request that is be fixed on that page because the problem that should be fixed prevents me from reporting the problem on that page.

Whenever the WMF operates a site that cannot be accessed, the front page should clearly explain what the site is, who qualifies for access, and how to request access.

[ https://advisory.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page ] says

"This wiki has moved to Meta:Advisory Board and has been closed."

...which leads to [ https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Advisory_Board ], which is fine.

On the other hand, [ https://advisors.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page ] says:

Welcome! For more information, visit the Community Portal.

...but the Community Portal that it tells you to visit doesn't contain any information other than a "Login required" page. Again, whenever the WMF operates a site that cannot be accessed, the front page should clearly explain what the site is, who qualifies for access, and how to request access.

If advisors.wikimedia.org is active (I can't tell because I cannot access it) then that page needs a better explanation about what it is and why an ordinary user cannot access it.

If advisors.wikimedia.org is not active, then it should be closed in the same manner that advisory.wikimedia.org was. --Guy Macon (talk) 19:18, 23 May 2019 (UTC)

Not 100% sure I assume it's board advisors? — regards, Revi 19:30, 23 May 2019 (UTC)

Could be, but what goes on inside a private WMF wiki doesn't concern me. Having the page that faces the public say "Welcome! For more information, visit the Community Portal." without any scrap of information on the page you are sent to for "more information" does. Are we a professional non-profit organization that brings in $250,000 USD in donations every single day[3] or are we a bunch of amateurs working out of a garage? We need to fix all of the small, easy-to-fix problems with our user interface. This is a good place to start. --Guy Macon (talk) 22:01, 23 May 2019 (UTC)

@Guy Macon: suggest that you ping Maggie or one of her team to address; or be bold and put in a phabricator: ticket. It should be part of the setup to a wiki, and that belongs with the sites teams.  — billinghurst sDrewth 22:33, 23 May 2019 (UTC)

Global Search

Hello! Sorry to use this venue for advertising, but I don't know of a better place to get the word out. I'd like to present to you a new tool: Global Search. This tool allows you to do keyword and source regular expression searches across all WMF wikis, using the new CloudElastic service. For the time being, you must login with a Wikimedia account to use it. It may be opened to everyone in the future. This is still an experimental service so you may encounter issues. You can report bugs on Phabricator, or just comment here. Thanks and hope you find this useful, — MusikAnimal ^talk 02:01, 25 May 2019 (UTC)

@MusikAnimal: Thanks. I am looking forward to seeing how it works with anti-spam efforts.  — billinghurst sDrewth 02:41, 26 May 2019 (UTC)

Some thoughts. A regex search, is that case sensitive or not, here I am doing phrase searches quickly. If it is case sensitive, can one easily flick between the two? Might be worth adding a note that main ns is ns:0 or simple adding that as a tick box for where someone wants to quickly check that space.  — billinghurst sDrewth 04:03, 26 May 2019 (UTC)

Thanks for the feedback, billinghurst! I have replied at phab:T224358. Best, — MusikAnimal ^talk 23:15, 26 May 2019 (UTC)