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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Dennis Brown (talk | contribs) at 03:15, 20 December 2023 (→‎Extended-confirmed protection of Lara Trump: re). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Barnstars given to me since 2012

Discretionary sanctions review: proposed decision and community review

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Contentious topics procedure now in effect

You are receiving this message because you are subscribed to updates on the Arbitration Committee's contentious topics procedure revision process.

In December, the Arbitration Committee adopted the contentious topics procedure, which replaces the former discretionary sanctions system. The contentious topics procedure is now in effect following an initial implementation period.

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Discuss this at: Wikipedia talk:Arbitration Committee/Noticeboard § Contentious topics procedure now in effect

Appreciation

Hi Dennis.

I just stopped by to note a couple of things.

So, recently a certain website not worth linking to was mentioned on some talk page. I don't think I've looked at that site in years - probably was related to some arb case or something.

So I read through the (long) thread and once done, on a whim I searched for my username on the site. Not much, though there was one thread that made me smile and laugh. In the thread (which was about some proposal I opposed at some point in the past), you made a couple comments.

So, first, I wanted to let you know: Due to our past interactions you have gained my respect. We haven't always agreed on things, quite the reverse sometimes, but your comments and some discussions we've had, and also that you "walk the walk" of your words (which says more about someone than what they merely say). I also respect how you are willing to work with Wikipedia newbies - at the "teahouse" or where ever.

Anyway, so, because of past discussions, this page is on my watchlist (along with many others), and so when I saw someone give you kudos that were well-deserved, I thought I'd comment. I'm sorry if my appearance confused you.

Besides that, I laughed at being called "excitable" : )

I guess when I see something worth participating in, I join in. But, over the last several years, I've generally avoided adding the ubiquitous "me too". So I guess when I do decide to join in, perhaps I look excitable : )

And finally, yes, I do things "manually". My few forays into trying out automated tools just hasn't gone very far (check out the contributions of User:jc377 - which was created to try out AWB), either due to it seeming more effort than just doing it myself, or because the automation doesn't do what I need it to do. My most recent look was at category tools like hotcat. Nice-ish, I guess, but I turned it back off.

C'est la vie. Maybe one of these days I'll go look into awb again. I don't know if I even recall that account's password lol

Anyway, sorry for the length, but just wanted to let you know that you are respected at least by one Wikipedian (not that that matters much, I suppose), and that you gave me a smile today.

I hope your day is going awesomely : ) - jc37 21:30, 26 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  • I appreciate the kind words, more than you might know. We've often been "debate opponents" on issues, but we both knew that each had the best interests of enwp at heart. If nothing else, this forced us to prove our positions and strengthen them. But I've always respected your opinions as well. None of us has all the right answers, and the best solution is usually found if you can first have vigorous but civil debate, and we have. So I'm grateful for that. And yes, I'm a little more of a hard ass than excitable, but it takes all kinds to reach the real goal: creating the best experience for the reader.
As for AWB, I don't use it, I just use Twinkle for basic admin things. Dennis Brown - 2¢ 22:56, 26 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Better you than me

Ugh, moving sucks. Best of luck, hope it all goes smoothly!-- Ponyobons mots 21:18, 6 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Sounds wonderful. I recommend an island in the Pacific; it certainly works for me! -- Ponyobons mots 23:07, 6 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]
I've been working on this for two years, dreaming of it for 20. I had a short list for years, but in the end, the Philippines won out, for English language usage and first and foremost, the people. I'm down to two suitcases and a carry on, after having a fairly large home(s) for decades. I find it all rather liberating. I still have to work remote for awhile, but putting in an hour or two isn't bad when you're sipping mimosas on the beach... Dennis Brown - 2¢ 23:26, 6 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]
I just saw that you handed in your janitorial tools. Good luck with the big move. I hope when you get settled and have reliable, secure internet access, you will choose to return to Wikipedia to help out with the mopping, discussion closing and vandal fighting. Just remember not to drink and delete, never a good combo. Take care. Liz Read! Talk! 18:36, 29 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]
+1 SPECIFICO talk 21:08, 29 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]
+2 --TheSandDoctor Talk 18:36, 19 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Only been here a couple of days, after 4 flights in just over 2 days, and I'm 12 hours of out my normal time zone, but adapting. So far, so good. Don't have an end date, just going to be here until I'm not. Crazy different environment, but I researched it endlessly for over a year before coming. But really, you know nothing until you land here and get around for a while. It will take a few months to really get a feel. Dennis Brown - 2¢ 06:13, 3 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]
I am glad to hear that things have gone at least somewhat smoothly. Fingers crossed things continue to be smooth sailing for you. I see that you did take @Ponyo:'s advice, just slightly further south. --TheSandDoctor Talk 18:36, 19 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

November Articles for creation backlog drive

Hello Dennis Brown:

WikiProject Articles for creation is holding a month long Backlog Drive!
The goal of this drive is to reduce the backlog of unreviewed drafts to less than 2 months outstanding reviews from the current 4+ months. Bonus points will be given for reviewing drafts that have been waiting more than 30 days. The drive is running from 1 November 2023 through 30 November 2023.

You may find Category:AfC pending submissions by age or other categories and sorting helpful.

Barnstars will be given out as awards at the end of the drive.

There is a backlog of over 1200 pages, so start reviewing drafts. We're looking forward to your help! MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 13:23, 31 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – November 2023

News and updates for administrators from the past month (October 2023).

Administrator changes

added 0xDeadbeef
readded Tamzin
removed Dennis Brown

Interface administrator changes

added Pppery
removed

Guideline and policy news

Technical news

Arbitration

  • Eligible editors are invited to self-nominate themselves from 12 November 2023 until 21 November 2023 to stand in the 2023 Arbitration Committee elections.
  • Xaosflux, RoySmith and Cyberpower678 have been appointed to the Electoral Commission for the 2023 Arbitration Committee Elections. BusterD is the reserve commissioner.
  • Following a motion, the contentious topic designation of Prem Rawat has been struck. Actions previously taken using this contentious topic designation are still in force.
  • Following several motions, multiple topic areas are no longer designated as a contentious topic. These contentious topic designations were from the Editor conduct in e-cigs articles, Liancourt Rocks, Longevity, Medicine, September 11 conspiracy theories, and Shakespeare authorship question cases.
  • Following a motion, remedies 3.1 (All related articles under 1RR whenever the dispute over naming is concerned), 6 (Stalemate resolution) and 30 (Administrative supervision) of the Macedonia 2 case have been rescinded.
  • Following a motion, remedy 6 (One-revert rule) of the The Troubles case has been amended.
  • An arbitration case named Industrial agriculture has been opened. Evidence submissions in this case close 8 November.

Miscellaneous

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 17:22, 7 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

ArbCom 2023 Elections voter message

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A beer for you!

Welcome back! Ad Orientem (talk) 02:54, 4 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Our newest administrator! Shouldn't DB be the one buying the drinks? glad to have you back! Firefangledfeathers (talk / contribs) 03:02, 4 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you. I'll take a Jack and Ginger, hold the Jack. Dennis Brown - 2¢ 04:03, 4 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Happy Holidays

Peace is a state of balance and understanding in yourself and between others, where respect is gained by the acceptance of differences, tolerance persists, conflicts are resolved through dialog, people's rights are respected and their voices are heard, and everyone is at their highest point of serenity without social tension. Happy Holidays to you and yours. The project you created back in July of 2012 is still considered active. The lights are on and the rent is paid for the foreseeable future. Stop by for a jack and ginger. Start a thread. Nominate a fellow editor to be Editor of the Week. Or just have a chat. ―Buster7 ☎

Administrators' newsletter – December 2023

News and updates for administrators from the past month (November 2023).

Guideline and policy news

Arbitration

  • Following a motion, the Extended Confirmed Restriction has been amended, removing the allowance for non-extended-confirmed editors to post constructive comments on the "Talk:" namespace. Now, non-extended-confirmed editors may use the "Talk:" namespace solely to make edit requests related to articles within the topic area, provided that their actions are not disruptive.
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Notice of Dispute resolution noticeboard discussion

This message is being sent to let you know of a discussion at the Dispute resolution noticeboard regarding the edit dispute on the John de Lancie article. Since you may be busy and this minor editing dispute may not be a priority for you, I fully understand if you do not participate in this. The thread is "John de Lancie" .

Please join us to help form a consensus if you are interested. Thank you!

-- EpicTiger87 (talk) 00:49, 11 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Catching up

Just catching up on things, since serious family problems have been taking up most of my time (and to a certain extent still do). Congratulation on your move and the radical change in lifestyle, and welcome back as an admin. Fer sure you are one of the good ones! Beyond My Ken (talk) 02:09, 11 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  • Jury is still out on whether I make the grade, but thanks the kind words BMK. I'm getting ready to bounce around a bit here in the Philippines, do some island hopping. As long as I have internet, I can get some work done. Maybe do a little beach bumming. Dennis Brown - 2¢ 09:03, 11 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Extended-confirmed protection of Lara Trump

Hello, Dennis. I hope that you're well. I saw your response at RfPP ("it was a series of BLP violations that were serious enough that they required hiding the history, so in my judgement, that was the appropriate level of protection to guarantee the various IPS would not come back in a couple of days") to Mdaniels5757 regarding your year-long extended-confirmed protection of Lara Trump. I think this confusion was understandable, as your log summary refers to "(auto)confirmed accounts" (probably a pre-loaded summary from Twinkle?).

As someone who is familiar with CalebHughes, I think that extended-confirmed is not necessary at all because a) Caleb does not bother with getting accounts to autoconfirmed to do BLP violations and b) use of extended-confirmed should not be based on whether the information was deletable. It should be used when there is actually disruption from autoconfirmed accounts, and this did not occur. I'm therefore requesting that you reduce it to semi-protection, please. Thank you, Sdrqaz (talk) 03:07, 11 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  • I disagree. In my opinion, my actions are clearly within administrative discretion. BLP violations of this type are pretty serious, and I used my best judgement to use what I felt was a balanced protection that allowed almost everyone to edit, while doing the primary job, which is protecting the person who is the subject of the BLP. Had this been simple vandalism, that might be a different discussion, but it isn't. As per the larger discussion, it isn't required that any other article has the same protection, btw. I stand behind my original protection, and would decline reducing it myself. Dennis Brown - 2¢ 09:00, 11 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]
    (Sorry, been quite busy this week). Respectfully, Dennis, I'm struggling to reconcile the view that the escalation to extended-confirmed without disruption from autoconfirmed accounts is discretionary with the actual policy, which says that it isn't. I absolutely agree that these BLP violations are serious, but we as administrators are bound by the decisions of the Community and I don't believe than an IAR action here would actually improve the encyclopaedia. Sdrqaz (talk) 02:17, 17 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]
    Hi Sdrqaz. How do you think Wikipedia:Protection policy#Discretionary usage plays into this? Wouldn't this sort of article, sitting at the intersection of at least two designated contentious topic areas, fit into that pocket of admin discretion? I'm asking more for my own info than out of advocacy for any particular action in this specific case. Firefangledfeathers (talk / contribs) 02:35, 17 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]
    I would say that if an administrator wishes to protect an article as arbitration enforcement, they should invoke it explictly (I don't think that that is controversial). In a hypothetical scenario, if an administrator carries out an action and it gets contested, it would be exceptionally poor if they retroactively upgrade it to an AE action. In my opinion, AE uses of extended-confirmed protection make a lot more sense if it's because the extended-confirmed restriction exists in that area. Another valid use (where reasonable) would be if the administrator wants to impose a longer protection than is usually warranted (for example, this article saw disruption over a two-day period – I would have probably protected it for at most a week). The use of AE to "skip" over a protection level in non-ECR areas is unusual and I do not support it. Sdrqaz (talk) 02:58, 17 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]
    Thanks for your thoughts. Apologies to DB for the digression. Happy holidays to you both. Firefangledfeathers (talk / contribs) 14:46, 17 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]
  • At no time did I say this was an AE action. Dennis Brown - 2¢ 06:27, 17 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]
    I know, Dennis; I was replying to Firefangledfeathers above . I notice that you've recently changed your personal accountability policy. Does that mean that you are not consenting to a modification for this case? Sdrqaz (talk) 02:40, 18 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]
    More of a clarification than a change. If a change is "controversial", then obviously the place to go is WP:AN, and always has been. My notice (which was just put back up a few days ago) is more about historical things, like unblocking editors that "get it" from a year ago, etc. The purpose of my statement is/was to say that simple things that fall under IAR or I obviously wouldn't have a problem with, can just be done without waiting for me to reply, particularly since I'm often gone for days or weeks. Dennis Brown - 2¢ 03:15, 20 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Communist Party USA Reversion

Good afternoon, just noticed that you have reverted the membership numbers numerous times. While what you are saying about the citation not being a secondary source, it would probably be far easier to update it with the sources that you are claiming notes membership as 5,000 - AquilaFasciata (talk | contribs) 19:50, 11 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  • It has been, check the existing sources. In fact, that 5000 is an older source (don't ask which, this was two years ago) but I searched for many hours looking for a better source, but one did not exist. So, I've already put in the time to find better sourcing, and the best sourcing IS 5000. So the burden isn't on me, as I've already done due diligence. Check the history. The people inflating the numbers have been IPs over the years, which is what got me to do the homework to begin with. Dennis Brown - 2¢ 08:02, 12 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]

New pages patrol January 2024 Backlog drive

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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 02:10, 20 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]

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