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Hello! Welcome to one of my Archive Pages. This page contains all comments and discussions that took place on my User Talk Page, were inactive for 15 days or more, and have been archived by a robot. If you would like to leave me a new message or revive some old discussion please leave me a note at my current talk page found here. Thanks and All the Best, --Mifter (talk) 17:36, 28 September 2008 (UTC)




Orphaned non-free image File:IE 11 Wikipedia.png

⚠

Thanks for uploading File:IE 11 Wikipedia.png. 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 the criteria for speedy deletion. Thank you. clpo13(talk) 19:01, 30 April 2016 (UTC)

WikiCup 2016 May newsletter

FP of Christ Church Cathedral, Falkland Islands by Godot13

Round 2 is over and 35 competitors have moved on to Round 3.

Round 2 saw three FAs (two by New South Wales Cas Liber (submissions) and one by Montana Montanabw (submissions)), four Featured Lists (with three by England Calvin999 (submissions)), and 53 Good Articles (six by Lancashire Worm That Turned (submissions) and five each by Zanzibar Hurricanehink (submissions), Wales Cwmhiraeth (submissions), and Denmark MPJ-DK (submissions)). Eleven Featured Pictures were promoted (six by There's always time for skeletons Adam Cuerden (submissions) and five by Smithsonian Institution Godot13 (submissions)). One Featured Portal, Featured Topic and Good Topic were also promoted. The DYK base point total was 1,135. Wales Cwmhiraeth (submissions) scored 265 base points, while British Empire The C of E (submissions) and Denmark MPJ-DK (submissions) each scored 150 base points. Eleven ITN were promoted and 131 Good Article Reviews were conducted with Denmark MPJ-DK (submissions) completing a staggering 61 reviews. Two contestants, Wales Cwmhiraeth (submissions) and New South Wales Cas Liber (submissions), broke the 700 point mark for Round 2.

If you are concerned that your nomination will not receive the necessary reviews, please list it on Wikipedia:WikiCup/Reviews. Questions are welcome on Wikipedia talk:WikiCup, and the judges are reachable on their talk pages or by email. If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove yourself from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. Thanks to everyone for participating, and good luck to those moving into round 2. Sturmvogel 66 (talk · contribs · email), Figureskatingfan (talk · contribs · email), and Godot13 (talk · contribs · email) -- MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 03:00, 5 May 2016 (UTC)

Hello,

I wold like to contest the speedy deletion of Equality for HER. The organization has been nominated for several awards and appeared in many news articles. How can I best prove this since the page was deleted prior to my ability to resolve the nomination for speedy deletion.

Best, Bimanib — Preceding unsigned comment added by Biminib (talkcontribs) 01:24, 4 July 2016 (UTC)

Biminib (talk) 01:28, 4 July 2016 (UTC)

LavaBaron's editing restrictions

I am writing this message to you because you put yourself down as a regular admin at DYK.

Per this AN thread, LavaBaron is given editing restrictions on DYK. Any hook nominated or reviewed by LavaBaron must be reviewed by a second editor before it may be promoted to the main page. The restrictions are reproduced below as follows:

  1. A DYK article nomination or hook submitted by LavaBaron must be reviewed and accepted by 2 other editors before it may be promoted.
  2. Any DYK nomination reviewed by LavaBaron must also be reviewed and accepted by 1 other editor before it may be promoted.
  3. Any additional reviews by other editors, which are mandated by this restriction, shall count towards the QPQ of that editor.
  4. (To balance the maths) For each article submitted by LavaBaron to DYK, 2 QPQ reviews by LavaBaron are required, at least 1 of which shall be a nomination that had not yet been accepted by another editor.
  5. These restrictions shall initially last for a period of 3 months. At the end of the period, this restriction shall be reviewed.

--Deryck C. 13:45, 8 July 2016 (UTC)

Extended confirmed protection

Hello, Mifter. This message is intended to notify administrators of important changes to the protection policy.

Extended confirmed protection (also known as "30/500 protection") is a new level of page protection that only allows edits from accounts at least 30 days old and with 500 edits. The automatically assigned "extended confirmed" user right was created for this purpose. The protection level was created following this community discussion with the primary intention of enforcing various arbitration remedies that prohibited editors under the "30 days/500 edits" threshold to edit certain topic areas.

In July and August 2016, a request for comment established consensus for community use of the new protection level. Administrators are authorized to apply extended confirmed protection to combat any form of disruption (e.g. vandalism, sock puppetry, edit warring, etc.) on any topic, subject to the following conditions:

  • Extended confirmed protection may only be used in cases where semi-protection has proven ineffective. It should not be used as a first resort.
  • A bot will post a notification at Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard of each use. MusikBot currently does this by updating a report, which is transcluded onto the noticeboard.

Please review the protection policy carefully before using this new level of protection on pages. Thank you.
This message was sent to the administrators' mass message list. To opt-out of future messages, please remove yourself from the list. 17:48, 23 September 2016 (UTC)

WikiCup 2016 November newsletter: Final results

The final round of the 2016 WikiCup is over. Congratulations to the 2016 WikiCup top three finalists:

In addition to recognizing the achievements of the top finishers and everyone who worked hard to make it to the final round, we also want to recognize those participants who were most productive in each of the WikiCup scoring categories:

  • Featured Article – Cas Liber (actually a three-way tie with themselves for two FAs in each of R2, R3, and R5).
  • Good Article – MPJ-DK had 14 GAs promoted in R3.
  • Featured List – England Calvin999 (submissions) produced 2 FLs in R2
  • Featured Pictures – Adam Cuerden restored 18 images to FP status in R4.
  • Featured Portal – Yakutsk SSTflyer (submissions) produced the only FPO of the Cup in R2.
  • Featured Topic – Connecticut Cyclonebiskit (submissions) and Calvin were each responsible for one FT in R3 and R2, respectively.
  • Good Topic – MPJ-DK created a GT with 9 GAs in R5.
  • Did You Know – MPJ-DK put 53 DYKs on the main page in R4.
  • In The News – India Dharmadhyaksha (submissions) and New York City Muboshgu (submissions), each with 5 ITN, both in R4.
  • Good Article Review – MPJ-DK completed 61 GARs in R2.

Over the course of the 2016 WikiCup the following content was added to Wikipedia (only reporting on fixed value categories): 17 Featured Articles, 183 Good Articles, 8 Featured Lists, 87 Featured Pictures, 40 In The News, and 321 Good Article Reviews. Thank you to all the competitors for your hard work and what you have done to improve Wikipedia.--MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 01:53, 2 November 2016 (UTC)

We will open up a discussion for comments on process and scoring in a few days. The 2017 WikiCup is just around the corner! Many thanks from all the judges. If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove yourself from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. Sturmvogel 66 (talk · contribs · email), Figureskatingfan (talk · contribs · email), and Godot13 (talk · contribs · email)

WikiProject Good Articles's 2016-2017 GA Cup

WikiProject Good Articles's 2016-2017 GA Cup

Greetings, all!

We would like to announce the start of the 4th GA Cup, a competition that seeks to encourage the reviewing of Good article nominations! Thus far, there have been three GA Cups, which were successful in reaching our goals of significantly reducing the traditionally long queue at GAN, so we're doing it again. Currently, there are over 400 nominations listed. We hope that we can again make an impact this time.

The 4th GA Cup will begin on November 1, 2016. Four rounds are currently scheduled (which will bring the competition to a close on February 28, 2017), but this may change based on participant numbers. We may take a break in December for the holidays, depending on the results of a poll of our participants taken shortly after the competition begins. The sign-up and submissions process will remain the same, as will the scoring.

Sign-ups for the upcoming competition are currently open and will close on November 14, 2016. Everyone is welcome to join; new and old editors, so sign-up now!

If you have any questions, take a look at the FAQ page and/or contact one of the judges.

Cheers from 3family6, Figureskatingfan, Jaguar, MrWooHoo, and Zwerg Nase. We apologize for the delay in sending out this message until after the competition has started. Thank you to Krishna Chaitanya Velaga for aiding in getting this message out.

To subscribe or unsubscribe to future GA Cup newsletters, please add or remove your name to our mailing list. If you are a participant, you will be on the mailing list no matter what as this is the easiest way to communicate between all participants.

--MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 01:41, 3 November 2016 (UTC)

Two-Factor Authentication now available for admins

Hello,

Please note that TOTP based two-factor authentication is now available for all administrators. In light of the recent compromised accounts, you are encouraged to add this additional layer of security to your account. It may be enabled on your preferences page in the "User profile" tab under the "Basic information" section. For basic instructions on how to enable two-factor authentication, please see the developing help page for additional information. Important: Be sure to record the two-factor authentication key and the single use keys. If you lose your two factor authentication and do not have the keys, it's possible that your account will not be recoverable. Furthermore, you are encouraged to utilize a unique password and two-factor authentication for the email account associated with your Wikimedia account. This measure will assist in safeguarding your account from malicious password resets. Comments, questions, and concerns may be directed to the thread on the administrators' noticeboard. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 20:32, 12 November 2016 (UTC)

A new user right for New Page Patrollers

Hi Mifter.

A new user group, New Page Reviewer, has been created in a move to greatly improve the standard of new page patrolling. The user right can be granted by any admin at PERM. It is highly recommended that admins look beyond the simple numerical threshold and satisfy themselves that the candidates have the required skills of communication and an advanced knowledge of notability and deletion. Admins are automatically included in this user right.

It is anticipated that this user right will significantly reduce the work load of admins who patrol the performance of the patrollers. However,due to the complexity of the rollout, some rights may have been accorded that may later need to be withdrawn, so some help will still be needed to some extent when discovering wrongly applied deletion tags or inappropriate pages that escape the attention of less experienced reviewers, and above all, hasty and bitey tagging for maintenance. User warnings are available here but very often a friendly custom message works best.

If you have any questions about this user right, don't hesitate to join us at WT:NPR. (Sent to all admins).MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 13:47, 15 November 2016 (UTC)

ArbCom Elections 2016: Voting now open!

Hello, Mifter. Voting in the 2016 Arbitration Committee elections is open from Monday, 00:00, 21 November through Sunday, 23:59, 4 December to all unblocked users who have registered an account before Wednesday, 00:00, 28 October 2016 and have made at least 150 mainspace edits before Sunday, 00:00, 1 November 2016.

The Arbitration Committee is the panel of editors responsible for conducting the Wikipedia arbitration process. It has the authority to impose binding solutions to disputes between editors, primarily for serious conduct disputes the community has been unable to resolve. This includes the authority to impose site bans, topic bans, editing restrictions, and other measures needed to maintain our editing environment. The arbitration policy describes the Committee's roles and responsibilities in greater detail.

If you wish to participate in the 2016 election, please review the candidates' statements and submit your choices on the voting page. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 22:08, 21 November 2016 (UTC)

WikiCup December newsletter: WikiCup 2017

On 1 January 2017, WikiCup 2017 (the 10th Annual WikiCup) will begin. This year we are trying something a little different – monetary prizes.

For the WC2017 the prizes will be as follows (amounts are based in US$ and will be awarded in the form of an online Amazon gift certificate):

  • First place – $200
  • Second & Third place – $50 each
  • Category prizes – $25 per category (which will be limited to FA, FL, FP, GA, and DYK for 2017). Winning a category prize does not require making it to the final round.

Note: Monetary prizes are a one-year experiment for 2017 and may or may not be continued in the future. In order to be eligible to receive any of the prizes above, the competing Wikipedia account must have a valid/active email address.

After two years as a WikiCup judge, Figureskatingfan is stepping down. We thank her for her contributions as a WikiCup judge. We are pleased to announce that our newest judge is two-time WikiCup champion Cwmhiraeth.

The judges for the 2017 WikiCup are Godot13 (talk · contribs · email), Cwmhiraeth (talk · contribs), and Sturmvogel 66 (talk · contribs · email).

Signups are open now and will remain open until 5 February 2017. You can sign up here.

If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove yourself from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send.MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 20:02, 14 December 2016 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter - February 2017

News and updates for administrators from the past month (January 2017). This first issue is being sent out to all administrators, if you wish to keep receiving it please subscribe. Your feedback is welcomed.

Administrator changes

NinjaRobotPirateSchwede66K6kaEaldgythFerretCyberpower678Mz7PrimefacDodger67
BriangottsJeremyABU Rob13

Guideline and policy news

Technical news

  • When performing some administrative actions the reason field briefly gave suggestions as text was typed. This change has since been reverted so that issues with the implementation can be addressed. (T34950)
  • Following the latest RfC concluding that Pending Changes 2 should not be used on the English Wikipedia, an RfC closed with consensus to remove the options for using it from the page protection interface, a change which has now been made. (T156448)
  • The Foundation has announced a new community health initiative to combat harassment. This should bring numerous improvements to tools for admins and CheckUsers in 2017.

Arbitration

Obituaries

  • JohnCD (John Cameron Deas) passed away on 30 December 2016. John began editing Wikipedia seriously during 2007 and became an administrator in November 2009.

13:37, 1 February 2017 (UTC)

Could you please explain your rationale for putting this article under full protection? There is an extensive discussion of the issue on the talk page Talk:Palindrome#cat_example so there was no need to fully protect the article to force discussion on to the talk page. Multiple editors, including the one who has repeatedly removed the material and who has already been blocked for edit warring to remove the material, are discussing the issue in the thread. There appears to be a growing consensus that that the material should remain in the article, and in the meantime it should remain at the status quo. Per WP:PREFER a block of the edit warring editor rather that full protection of the article would seem appropriate. I raised the issue at AIV. You correctly told me to take it to 3RR, but applied full protection to the article. The result at 3RR after documenting a clear 3RR violation after multiple warnings and a previous block for the same edit was simply a close noting that you had protected the article. Wikipedia:Administrators'_noticeboard/Edit_warring#User:B.C3.B6ri_reported_by_User:Meters_.28Result:_Page_protected.29 Given the editor's comments [1] in the talk page thread before his last revert (and the personal attack in his edit summary} [2] I see no reason to think that he will not continue the edit war once the protection ends if the talkpage consensus is not to his liking. Meters (talk) 19:50, 11 February 2017 (UTC)

Hi there. The reason that I protected Palindrome is because from what I could see, their has been a slow edit-war ongoing for the past few months. While I am extremely glad to see there is a discussion ongoing, the continued revert war that was occurring in the meantime was concerning. Further, in my estimation, handing out blocks for edit warring wouldn't necessarily solve the problem as their are multiple users who have either violated 3RR or come close enough that they would be potentially blockable for edit warring. By protecting the page it forces people to engage on the talk page and take a step baack whereas blocks sometimes only inflame the situation. If, after the protection expires, there is still an edit war then further action may be appropriate (including blocks) however I personally like to reserve those only for when everything else has failed.
I know you are likely feeling frustrated, and it appears that at least one other editor is as well. Its clear that the first block didn't resolve this issue, however taking a step back over two days (now about 36 hours) for everyone to think, discuss, clear their head, and deescalate instead of revert warring or handing out blocks might do a better job resolving the situation instead of just ratcheting up sanctions. Best, Mifter (talk) 20:26, 11 February 2017 (UTC)
I really don't see that there was any need to deescalate things, and locking hte article seems inappropriate. There is already a discussion on the talkpage, including the editor in question. That editor returned from an edit warring block to break the bright line 3RR rule, and despite what you say, no-one else has come close to breaking 3RR. I even left the contested removal in place during the editor's block so that it could be discussed. The only frustration I have is in the waste of my time in trying to deal with an edit warrer. I have a mild opinion on which way the article should go, but as I said in a discussion on another involved editor's talkpage [3], I will happily accept whatever the consensus is. Meters (talk) 20:54, 11 February 2017 (UTC)
Thank for you the clarification however I respectfully disagree with your assessment of the situation. It is perfectly possible to edit war without breaking 3RR and from what I can see in the article's history that is exactly what has taken place with multiple editors. I appreciate your efforts to resolve this and hope they succeed because I do agree that if this is not resolved through discussion longer term blocks or topic/article bans will unfortunately likely become necessary. Best, Mifter (talk) 21:11, 11 February 2017 (UTC)

Can you semi-protect the page to persistent genre warring. 183.171.182.135 (talk) 03:46, 12 February 2017 (UTC)

Hi, I just Pending Changes protected the page for two weeks. As this is a new song I suspect their will be a number of edits incoming (hopefully some of which will be constructive) over the next few days/weeks and I believe semi-protection is a bit premature. However, if this continues to be an issue however let me know or another admin know and we can step up to semi. Best, Mifter (talk) 04:16, 12 February 2017 (UTC)

Prep 3

Hi, I'm watching you build the prep set. Just wanted to mention that you should try to alternate biographical hooks with non-bio hooks. Right now you have a lot of non-bios, which will probably be swapped out to other prep sets for the purpose of balance. Best, Yoninah (talk) 19:25, 11 February 2017 (UTC)

Thanks for the heads up, I was trying to clear some of the oldest approved hooks (and was working reverse chronologically) but I'll split some of the non-bio hooks into Prep 4. Thanks, Mifter (talk) 19:27, 11 February 2017 (UTC)
Actually, I see you are working in Prep 4, I'll use Prep 5 then. Mifter (talk) 19:29, 11 February 2017 (UTC)
It's great to have you building prep sets and shifting some of the older approved hooks. Yoninah and I have been largely doing all the set-building recently and it sometimes proves difficult to move some hooks to prep at all because we have both contributed to the review. Keep up the good work! :-) Cwmhiraeth (talk) 07:28, 12 February 2017 (UTC)
@Cwmhiraeth: Thanks! Its good to be back at DYK :). Also, on a semi-related note, what are your thoughts about this image File:Jeff Forshaw.jpg? I promoted it with the lead in Prep 3 but upon further reflection I am concerned about its source as there is none except a vague claim from the uploader. Mifter (talk) 07:49, 12 February 2017 (UTC)
I am not at all expert on image licensing but it might be safer not to use it. Personally, my philosophy has been to try to use picture hooks where the picture is necessary for the hook topic or illustrative of it, such as art, ceramics, architecture, wildlife, composer or monument, but I seldom use a picture of a living person as being less encyclopedic. If they are famous everyone knows what they look like, if the are notable in some other way, they may prefer their anonymity. David Levy has just overruled my choice of picture hook in Queue 1 by replacing the Presidential M&Ms by an Indian filmstar. Cwmhiraeth (talk) 10:08, 12 February 2017 (UTC)

I'm trying to track down that retraction claim. If it is legitimate the section probably should go, and if not the claim itself can go. Meters (talk) 00:34, 14 February 2017 (UTC)

Thanks, I just added an archive link to replace the dead live link and converted it to use a citation template. Also, after looking at the articles history I am concerned this may be more of a long term issue and have opened a Sockpuppet investigation here to get a second opinion. Mifter (talk)
Sorry. I misread your edit summary where you had already pointed the unsourced claim of retraction. This does look like it could be a PR office type situation. Meters (talk) 00:43, 14 February 2017 (UTC)
No worries, and I agree. The account naming is also nudging me towards WP:QUACK. Mifter (talk) 00:47, 14 February 2017 (UTC)

DYK

Hello! Your submission of ZTE Orbit at the Did You Know nominations page has been reviewed, and some issues with it may need to be clarified. Please review the comment(s) underneath your nomination's entry and respond there as soon as possible. Thank you for contributing to Did You Know! Philafrenzy (talk) 10:10, 14 February 2017 (UTC)

Prep to Queue promotion reminder

Mifter, it's great that you've been promoted preps to queues lately; we always need more people doing that.

I wanted to reminder that once you've promoted the prep to a queue and cleared out the prep, there's one more step: updating Template:Did you know/Queue/NextPrep from the prep number you just promoted to the next one that will need to be promoted. Someone will eventually come along and do the update, but it's much cleaner if you do it. Thanks for everything you've been doing for DYK. BlueMoonset (talk) 02:25, 16 February 2017 (UTC)

Hey BlueMoonset, thanks for the note. I wasn't previously aware (or forgot over the years) that we had a variable that needed to be updated once a prep was promoted to a queue. I'll be sure to tick it to the next number after promoting a prep moving forward. Best, Mifter (talk) 02:29, 16 February 2017 (UTC)

Your bot for marathi Wikipedia

Hi sir seen your bot (MifterBot) is very helpful i would be extremely pleased if we have one for the Marathi Wikipedia(MrWp). I have been working very hard to solve images that don't have tags(license) on it and on mrwp there are excess of it. The need for it is very extreme in this wiki as it's undergoing a Copyright revolution to remove out all these untagged files. Hoping to hear affirmative from you asap. Do reply me via ping or via a message on my talk page..--✝iѵɛɳ२२४०†ลℓк †๏ мэ 07:32, 15 February 2017 (UTC)

Hello, thank you for sending me a note. I would be happy to help, however I regretfully do not speak Marathi and doubt I would be able to translate the output of the bot to Marathi. That being said, if you would like I could give you a copy of the bot's sourcecode so that you could translate it and run it on the Marathi Wikipedia as needed. From what you've described if their are a number of untagged images it may require a human to sort them or a single bot run to handle the old files. Best, Mifter (talk) 02:34, 16 February 2017 (UTC)
For any type of translation or help for the same the admistrators of MrWp will surely assist u. How to make a bot and how to run it we don't have any coding knowledge nd do assist us with the single bot too.. --✝iѵɛɳ२२४०†ลℓк †๏ мэ 07:25, 16 February 2017 (UTC)

DYK nomination of Edward C. Cardon

Hello! Your submission of Edward C. Cardon at the Did You Know nominations page has been reviewed, and some issues with it may need to be clarified. Please review the comment(s) underneath your nomination's entry and respond there as soon as possible. Thank you for contributing to Did You Know! Jo-Jo Eumerus (talk, contributions) 20:05, 18 February 2017 (UTC)

DYK promotion of Prep 5 to Queue 6

Mifter, I've asked Maile to move Queue 6 back to Queue 5 where it belongs, so things aren't out of order. There aren't any special occasion hooks in the queue, and all of the Washington-related hooks that had been special occasion hooks for February 20 or 22 have been promoted to Queue 4 and Prep 2 respectively. If there was some other reason for the move, I can't see it—I do realize that this was a Prep I had moved back one to make room for a Washington set, but I did notice that the new slot was more favorable for the three Asian hooks it contained, so it seemed like a good thing all around. BlueMoonset (talk) 16:01, 19 February 2017 (UTC)

Its not a problem. I presumed you would want Q5 for the other Washington hooks currently in Prep 2. If that is not the case then the switch is not necessary, if you'd like me to revert I can do so as well. Best Mifter (talk) 16:15, 19 February 2017 (UTC)
Nobody's asking my opinion on this, but tomorrow is the holiday that celebrates both presidents Washington and Lincoln. But Feb 22 is Washington's real birthday. Wouldn't that be when Queue 2 is on the main page? — Maile (talk) 17:07, 19 February 2017 (UTC)
I believe you are correct. After reading BlueMoonset's message I believe that was likely his plan all along. Mifter (talk) 17:12, 19 February 2017 (UTC)

DYK for Samsung Omnia M

On 20 February 2017, Did you know was updated with a fact from the article Samsung Omnia M, which you recently created, substantially expanded, or brought to good article status. The fact was ... that the Samsung Omnia M was announced for the European market prior to being rolled out in Brazil and China? The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Samsung Omnia M. You are welcome to check how many page hits the article got while on the front page (here's how, Samsung Omnia M), and it may be added to the statistics page if the total is over 5,000. Finally, if you know of an interesting fact from another recently created article, then please feel free to suggest it on the Did you know talk page.

Coffee // have a cup // beans // 00:03, 20 February 2017 (UTC)

Regarding AIV reports by 172.58.40.205

I'm a bit worried that the mentioned IP editor above does not understand the necessity of starting with the lowest level templates, as well as WP:AGF. I don't think that this[4] edit was in deserving of a indefinite block. It looks more like a new editor that does not fully understand the guidelines and policies, more than a vandal. Boomer VialHolla! We gonna ball! 00:34, 23 February 2017 (UTC)

Hi Boomer Vial, thanks for your note. It appears we were writing each other notes at the same time as I just finished a note to you on your talk page about the concern you raised at AIV. Feel free to reply there (or here if you like) and I'd be happy to answer any questions or concerns you may have. Best, Mifter (talk) 00:40, 23 February 2017 (UTC)

Can you semi-protect the page to persistent disruptive editing. 123.136.106.112 (talk) 02:57, 23 February 2017 (UTC)

Hello and Welcome to Wikipedia! I looked at the article and it does not have enough disruption to justify protection at this time as we do not protect pages preemptively (over the past six months the article has less than 50 total edits with only 3 this month.) If you have any other questions or concerns, don't hesitate to ask. Best, Mifter (talk) 03:11, 23 February 2017 (UTC)

I don't get it.

I just seen another vandalism-only account with nearly identical behavior get blocked[5] after being reported to AIV, despite insufficient warning. Why, again, did you decline my AIV report against User:Nemerux? Boomer VialHolla! We gonna ball! 04:27, 23 February 2017 (UTC)

Reading the IP editor's comment on my talk page satisfied my question. Boomer VialHolla! We gonna ball! 06:47, 23 February 2017 (UTC)
Good to hear, it looks like he gave you a pretty detailed response which was in essence almost exactly what I was going to write. Best, Mifter (talk) 19:12, 23 February 2017 (UTC)

Re: WP:AIV

Hi,

Just wanted to let you know that I have responded to you about the WP:AIV conversation on Boomer Vial's talkpage. Regards. 172.58.41.215 (talk) 05:32, 23 February 2017 (UTC)

@172.58.41.215: Thanks! That was a really detailed and accurate response which was almost exactly what I was going to say (and you are correct that MaterialScientist does like to "crack the whip" so to speak more than I do.) If you ever do get around to creating an account, let me know and I'd be happy to give you rollback, etc. as you have done some great work and we'd be lucky to have you stick around :). Best, Mifter (talk) 19:15, 23 February 2017 (UTC)

Hi again Mifter,

I've got a question regarding this block that you made. Looking at their block log, it seems as though the IP immediately resumed their continued disruption in just under an hour after their previous block expired. My point here, is that the short block that you made, 72 hours, might not do it's job... For example, the same thing happened with this IP: 163.232.200.101 (talk · contribs · WHOIS), and you ended up issuing a longer block... I don't want to "back-seat drive" your decision here, but I just wanted to point this out to you just in case if you didn't notice it. :-) Regards. 172.58.41.83 (talk) 02:21, 24 February 2017 (UTC)

Thanks for the heads up, I hadn't noticed that the vandalism occurred almost synchronously with the previous block expiring. I'll keep an eye on it over the next few days. Best, Mifter (talk) 00:37, 25 February 2017 (UTC)

Hello. I tagged the page as "G8-exempt". Can you undelete just the file talk page please? Thank you. --George Ho (talk) 01:04, 26 February 2017 (UTC)

 Done - Sorry about that, I was using Twinkle to clean the category after manually verifying the images were in fact orphaned and set it to automatically take care of the talk pages as well. Best, Mifter (talk) 01:06, 26 February 2017 (UTC)
It's okay. :) Sometimes "G8-exempt" tag is overlooked and less noticeable; so are discussions. --George Ho (talk) 01:13, 26 February 2017 (UTC)

DYK for ZTE Orbit

On 26 February 2017, Did you know was updated with a fact from the article ZTE Orbit, which you recently created, substantially expanded, or brought to good article status. The fact was ... that the ZTE Orbit was the first Windows Phone to include near field communication? The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/ZTE Orbit. You are welcome to check how many page hits the article got while on the front page (here's how, ZTE Orbit), and it may be added to the statistics page if the total is over 5,000. Finally, if you know of an interesting fact from another recently created article, then please feel free to suggest it on the Did you know talk page.

Cas Liber (talk · contribs) 12:03, 26 February 2017 (UTC)

DYK for John Michael Bednarek

On 28 February 2017, Did you know was updated with a fact from the article John Michael Bednarek, which you recently created, substantially expanded, or brought to good article status. The fact was ... that John Michael Bednarek was commander of the First United States Army, prior to becoming the top US military officer in Iraq? The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/John Michael Bednarek. You are welcome to check how many page hits the article got while on the front page (here's how, John Michael Bednarek), and it may be added to the statistics page if the total is over 5,000. Finally, if you know of an interesting fact from another recently created article, then please feel free to suggest it on the Did you know talk page.

Mifter (talk) 00:01, 28 February 2017 (UTC)

Queen of Sky photo

Hi Mifter - You recently deleted a photo I had uploaded quite a long time ago now. I write not so much to complain about that, as to describe to you the sequence of events that led to that, and perhaps hear your opinion on the issue. Many years ago, I uploaded the photo to support the biography page Ellen Simonetti. The photo was a snapshot of her blog page; she is famous for what happened with her blog and employment. Noting the copyright issues, I reduce the screenshot by 60% and worked through the licensing description for that. The image stood like that for many years, supporting the Ellen Simonetti page. (BTW, I started into that page because of some disgusting misogynistic attacks the page was getting at that time.) A month ago or so, someone decided the image was in copyright violation (not up to fair use standards) and reduced the image further. Then someone else removed the reduced image from the Ellen Simonetti page with the (dubios IMO) argument "fails NFCC#8". I wasn't really up for putting up a fight; I've had run-ins with those that conduct widespread missions before, its just a big fight with arguments like "fails NFCC#8" (and I have other things to do these days). Thus orphaned, you deleted the image. But the sequence of events seems rather fishy to me; not quite up to snuff. I thought the image supported the article nicely. It survived the license inspection originally, and the image stood for lo these many years. There you have it... Cheers and thanks for all your efforts! Bdushaw (talk) 11:00, 27 February 2017 (UTC)

HI Bdushaw, thanks for the note. I have been exceptionally busy as of late and while I have started looking into the points you have raised I will not be able to reply more fully until later. Best, Mifter (talk) 05:09, 1 March 2017 (UTC)

Mifter, there's been a reply to your review here. Please stop by when you get the chance. Many thanks. BlueMoonset (talk) 02:17, 28 February 2017 (UTC)

Thanks, I've left a note there for clarity. Mifter (talk) 05:09, 1 March 2017 (UTC)

Precious

law enforcement

Thank you for quality articles such as William G. Webster, Hampshire Constabulary and ZTE Orbit, for project work for Law Enforcement, for zero tolerance for vandalism, and for keeping the DYK process flowing, - you are an awesome Wikipedian!

--Gerda Arendt (talk) 16:01, 28 February 2017 (UTC)

Thank you very much! I am touched that you saw fit to recognize me in this way. It looks like you did quite a bit of research into my contribs to find everything I've worked on during my time here and I truly appreciate your kind gesture. Have a great day. Mifter (talk) 05:11, 1 March 2017 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – March 2017

News and updates for administrators from the past month (February 2017).

Administrator changes

AmortiasDeckillerBU Rob13
RonnotelIslanderChamal NIsomorphicKeeper76Lord VoldemortSherethBdeshamPjacobi

Guideline and policy news

Technical news

  • A recent query shows that only 16% of administrators on the English Wikipedia have enabled two-factor authentication. If you haven't already enabled it please consider doing so.
  • Cookie blocks should be deployed to the English Wikipedia soon. This will extend the current autoblock system by setting a cookie for each block, which will then autoblock the user after they switch accounts under a new IP.
  • A bot will now automatically place a protection template on protected pages when admins forget to do so.

March 2017 WikiCup newsletter

And so ends the first round of the competition, with 4 points required to qualify for round 2. It would have been 5 points, but when a late entrant was permitted to join the contest in February, a promise was made that his inclusion would not result in the exclusion of any other competitor. To achieve this, the six entrants that had the lowest positive score of 4 points have been added to the 64 people who otherwise would have qualified. As a result, some of the groups have nine contestants rather than eight. Our top four scorers in round 1 were:

  • Scotland Cas Liber, last year's winner, led the field with two featured articles on birds and a total score of 674.
  • European Union Iry-Hor, a WikiCup newcomer, came next with a featured article, a good article and a tally of 282 bonus points for a score of 517. All these points came from the article Nyuserre Ini, an Ancient Egyptian pharaoh,
  • Japan 1989, another WikiCup newcomer, was in joint third place at 240. 1989 has claimed points for two featured lists and one good article relating to anime and comedy series, all of which were awarded bonus points.
  • South Australia Peacemaker67 shared third place with five good articles and thirteen good article reviews, mostly on naval vessels. He is also new to the competition.

The largest number of DYKs have been submitted by Vivvt and The C of E, who each claimed for seven, and MBlaze Lightning achieved eight articles at ITN. Carbrera and Peacemaker67 each claimed for five GAs and Krishna Chaitanya Velaga was well out in front for GARs, having reviewed 32. No featured pictures, featured topics or good topics yet, but we have achieved three featured articles and a splendid total of fifty good articles.

So, on to the second round. Remember that any content promoted after the end of round 1 but before the start of round 2 can be claimed in round 2. Invitations for collaborative writing efforts or any other discussion of potentially interesting work is always welcome on the WikiCup talk page. Remember, if two or more WikiCup competitors have done significant work on an article, all can claim points equally.

If you are concerned that your nomination—whether it is a good article candidate, a featured process, or anything else—will not receive the necessary reviews, please list it on Wikipedia:WikiCup/Reviews. If you want to help out with the WikiCup, please do your bit to help keep down the review backlogs! Questions are welcome on Wikipedia talk:WikiCup, and the judges are reachable on their talk pages or by email. Good luck! If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove yourself from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. Godot13, Sturmvogel 66 and Cwmhiraeth 13:52, 1 March 2017 (UTC)

Mifter, I noticed that you closed this as "withdrawn by nominator". I thought the only choices were "promoted" (by entering yes for the "passed" parameter) or "rejected" (by entering no). What is the value that results in "withdrawn by nominator", and are there any others I should know about? The template documentation for DYKsubpage is basically non-existent; if it wasn't, I wouldn't be asking. Thanks for anything information you can give me. BlueMoonset (talk) 01:29, 5 March 2017 (UTC)

Hi BlueMoonset, there isn't actually a variable for withdrawn. I manually edited the page after closing as I felt that using the term "rejected" was overly harsh/inaccurate considering the nom withdrew. I was also planning to look at the template to see how difficult it would be to introduce such a variable, but had not yet gotten to it. Mifter (talk) 01:49, 5 March 2017 (UTC)
@BlueMoonset: - I just added a withdrawn variable to {{DYK top}} (input to use is "w" or "withdrawn") . While I'm looking at the templates, are there any other variables we would like to add? Mifter (talk) 02:05, 5 March 2017 (UTC)
Thanks for letting me know. There's nothing else I can think of. Withdrawn should probably remain in the "Failed" category, however. BlueMoonset (talk) 02:18, 5 March 2017 (UTC)
It does, using the withdrawn variable only changes the text, the rest of the template still treats it as if it failed for what categories it adds, etc. Mifter (talk) 02:20, 5 March 2017 (UTC)
Great, thanks. I'll keep it in mind. By the way, I just had to shorten the hook from Template:Did you know nominations/Qandala campaign, which had been promoted to Prep 2; it was over the 200-character ceiling allowed for regular DYK noms. BlueMoonset (talk) 08:50, 5 March 2017 (UTC)
Thanks for the heads up, I eyeballed it and missed that it was 9 characters over. On that note, considering there has been some talk about DYK not taking up enough space on the MP (hence the switch back to 8 hooks per set) how strict do we want to be on 200 char? Most hooks are well under (with some extremely under) and while we don't want to start a trend for being too long, a hook that is slightly over could be used to help balance space when dealing with very short hooks. Mifter (talk) 18:26, 5 March 2017 (UTC)

A barnstar for you!

The DYK Medal

For exceptional work in the DYK arena. It may not be realised by others how much work you do in reviewing articles, building prep sets and moving prep sets to the queue. Since you became busy in this field a few weeks ago, the excess of unreviewed nominations over approved ones has reduced by about one hundred. I have been keeping a record, and on February 4th, there were 284 unapproved and 88 approved nominations. By March 4th these figures had reduced to 170 and 71. Well done! Cwmhiraeth (talk) 11:52, 5 March 2017 (UTC)

Thank you very much for this! It made my day. Mifter (talk) 18:36, 5 March 2017 (UTC)

Mifter, have the edits made subsequent to your review addressed the sourcing issues you were concerned about? Please stop by when you can to check. Many thanks. BlueMoonset (talk) 21:56, 6 March 2017 (UTC)

Thanks for the note, I've replied there and approved the proposed ALT hook. Mifter (talk) 22:31, 6 March 2017 (UTC)

Why was World Fasting Day expunged

Dear Mifter, I was browsing and stumbled upon the page World Fasting Day and i saw that you have deleted the previous authors article. I'm not sure on the inaccuracy of the previous author. If you find the time it will be greatly appreciated if you took a look at the article that i updated World Fasting Day. Thank You in advance mate. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Thebookworm24 (talkcontribs) 21:50, 5 March 2017 (UTC)

Hi, it unfortunately appears that the previous author was in fact you from the Sockpuppet investigation. That being said, the reason the article was deleted is that it did not assert that it was itself notable and that it had been referenced in independent third party sources such that we can verify its notability. Thanks, Mifter (talk) 22:34, 6 March 2017 (UTC)

203.14.52.147

In looking at this, did you mean two days or two years...? 172.56.38.150 (talk) 03:34, 8 March 2017 (UTC)

Hello there. Thanks for your question. That block is for the length I intended it for. I decided to utilize a short block for a few reasons: 1) no edits were actually made as the were all stopped by the edit filter, 2) the IP received no warnings, and 3) blocks are preventative, not punitive and I felt 48 hour was long enough to satisfy that goal. If you have any further questions, please feel free to let me know. Best, Mifter Public (talk) 20:48, 8 March 2017 (UTC)

DYK QPQs

In addition to the Echo thanks, I do appreciate your comment in approving the nomination finally. I very much do try to find the one that has gone unreviewed for the longest time to review whenever I make a new nom (as long as it's a single article hook, I guess). The first one I did, for Byzantine is one of the rare cases where doing so led to the nomination being withdrawn, but I think that's for the best if, as the nominator decided, I called attention to significant issues with the article. Daniel Case (talk) 02:03, 9 March 2017 (UTC)

Hi Daniel, don't mention it, I completely agree. I along with everyone else at DYK really appreciate all you do for the project. Clearing the older hooks is never fun but it must be done by someone even if not every nom ends up in an approval. On a related note, after seeing the user withdraw their nom I actually went and added a new variable to the DYK template so we can parse a withdrawal directly in the template when closing. Also, looking back I found this from nearly a decade ago. Here's to many more years of making the internet not suck :). Mifter (talk) 02:19, 9 March 2017 (UTC)

DYK for Edward C. Cardon

On 11 March 2017, Did you know was updated with a fact from the article Edward C. Cardon, which you recently created, substantially expanded, or brought to good article status. The fact was ... that Edward C. Cardon was given command of the Second United States Army upon its reactivation in 2014 because he was already commander of the United States Army Cyber Command? The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Edward C. Cardon. You are welcome to check how many page hits the article got while on the front page (here's how, Edward C. Cardon), and it may be added to the statistics page if the total is over 5,000. Finally, if you know of an interesting fact from another recently created article, then please feel free to suggest it on the Did you know talk page.

Mifter (talk) 00:02, 11 March 2017 (UTC)

File:Padlock-purple.svg listed for discussion

A file that you uploaded or altered, File:Padlock-purple.svg, has been listed at Wikipedia:Files for discussion. Please see the discussion to see why it has been listed (you may have to search for the title of the image to find its entry). Feel free to add your opinion on the matter below the nomination. Thank you. Jo-Jo Eumerus (talk, contributions) 13:38, 12 March 2017 (UTC)

File:File-Wikipedia Rollback.svg listed for discussion

A file that you uploaded or altered, File:File-Wikipedia Rollback.svg, has been listed at Wikipedia:Files for discussion. Please see the discussion to see why it has been listed (you may have to search for the title of the image to find its entry). Feel free to add your opinion on the matter below the nomination. Thank you. Jo-Jo Eumerus (talk, contributions) 13:54, 12 March 2017 (UTC)

File:Banned proxys.png

Sorry for the pestering, but does File:Banned proxys.png still need the local text that only contains a protection template? (There is no local file) If protection of the local page is needed, it can be done by create protection. Jo-Jo Eumerus (talk, contributions) 16:22, 13 March 2017 (UTC)

Same question on File:Nuvola apps edu miscellaneous.svg, File:Australian coat of arms 1912 edit.png, File:Nuvola apps filetypes.png, File:Soccerball.svg, File:Crystal Clear app Login Manager.png, File:Start-icon.svg which also lack local files. Jo-Jo Eumerus (talk, contributions) 16:29, 13 March 2017 (UTC)
Don't worry about the pestering, if the images no longer need to be protected its good to clear them out. To be honest I am having a hard time remembering why I went through and protected some of these images all those years ago. I vaguely remember some issue we had with an image vandal but cannot remember much in the way of details. At this point I would say we could probably clear all the ones you listed without much concern. Thanks for taking the time to find these old images. Mifter (talk) 02:40, 14 March 2017 (UTC)
I've removed them under the terms of WP:CSD#F2. Jo-Jo Eumerus (talk, contributions) 16:21, 14 March 2017 (UTC)

Queue 6

Mifter, can you please remove the DYKmake Example credit that was left in the Credits section when the replacement hook was added to the prep set? Many thanks. BlueMoonset (talk) 05:17, 17 March 2017 (UTC)

 Done. Mifter (talk) 05:30, 17 March 2017 (UTC)

Creswell Eastman

Hi Mifter Thank you for your comments and I see you have made some changes that I am happy with. Regarding Creswell Eastman I first heard about him after listening to the Conversation Hour with Richard Fidler (one of my main references). I looked at Wikipedia and saw that no page existed and decided to make a page. I have relied heavily of a biography completed by the University Of Sydney and the recorded conversation. I went searching for photos in commons and could not find any and as a result contacted Eastman to see if he could help. He was happy to do so and he also provided me with his CV. I then used that to help with the article. I have tried to reference every award that he has been given but you will notice that a couple of the very early ones are not referenced (I could not find anything on-line but if I went to the University Of Sydney I am sure that they would be in the Archives. I made the decision to leave them. I queried the 2014 award from Thailand and he sent me a picture of the award and I included this in the article as he said to me that he sees it as one of his most important awards. I could not find reference to it on the net but this may be because of the language difference.

The photos that have been uploaded were at my request and I asked for pictures from the areas. He sent me a range of photos an I then selected from the ones supplied. I requested that as he was the owner of the photos that he uploaded them. I could not see another way to get photos up without copyright problems. I did explain the copyright issues to him before they were uploaded.

I do not see Eastman as a controversial person as just about everyone recognises the importance of Iodine. Equally I feel that the work he has done it very important. I have tried very hard to be impartial, maybe my admiration in his work comes through, and I may not have been as subjective as I could have been. I have done some editing now. If I have not achieved sufficient subjectivity I would really appreciate advice as I am new to this. I would like to both move the DYK nomination forward and remove the banners from the page. Thank You HaraldW1954 (talk) 03:50, 15 March 2017 (UTC)

Hi there. Thanks for your message. I appreciate your taking the time to address some of the concerns I raised, I've left a note over at the DYK nomination asking for a second reviewer to take a look as I have been relativity busy as of late and want to ensure that the nomination does not stall out. Thanks, Mifter (talk) 00:48, 20 March 2017 (UTC)

Thank you1.144.97.232 (talk) 08:53, 20 March 2017 (UTC)

Queue 6 needs an easy fix

Mifter, it looks like when you promoted Queue 6, you started the DYKbotdo template with only one brace character instead of the required two. If you could please add that extra starting brace, the queue will be in great shape to be promoted in about 25 hours. Many thanks. BlueMoonset (talk) 22:51, 20 March 2017 (UTC)

All set, thanks for letting me know. Mifter (talk) 00:22, 21 March 2017 (UTC)

Why does this bot tag my images for deletion???

I am the photographer and released it under {{cc-by-sa-4.0}}. This looks pretty clear in the Wikimedia Commons page.

But it still says the image has no license. What is up with that?

Image in question is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Leccinum.arbuticola.Alan.Rockefeller.jpg

Thanks for any insight you can provide!


Alan Rockefeller (Talk - contribs) 20:53, 15 March 2017 (UTC)

@Alan Rockefeller: Hi there. Thanks for leaving me a note and for your contributions to Wikipedia. Looking at the history of the image, when you first uploaded it there was no license tag on the image. My bot thus tagged it and it was deleted after a week. Afterwords you re-uploaded it and it was deleted as the source link you provided indicates it is licensed under CC-BY-SA-NC (non-commercial) which is incompatible with Wikipedia's licensing (though you as author are free to re-license/modify the license as you appear to have done.) On your third re-upload, it looks like you tried to add a license tag but you forgot the second "}" on the template (you put {{self|CC-by-sa-3.0|GFDL}) and the file was again tagged as the template you added did not transclude due to the missing "}". The license tag was then fixed by a patrolling user and another user then transferred your image to Wikimedia Commons so it can be used on other Wikimedia Foundation projects (such as other language Wikipedias, Wikinews, etc.) where it is currently. I hope this clears everything up, please feel free to let me know if you have more questions. Mifter (talk) 00:39, 20 March 2017 (UTC)
Thank you very much, I understand now. Appreciate it! Alan Rockefeller (Talk - contribs) 07:03, 22 March 2017 (UTC)

Mifter, the nominator has submitted a QPQ. Please return to this nomination when possible to continue your review. Many thanks. BlueMoonset (talk) 17:01, 25 March 2017 (UTC)

Thanks, I'm taking a look now. Mifter (talk) 17:28, 25 March 2017 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – April 2017

News and updates for administrators from the past month (March 2017).

Administrator changes

added TheDJ
removed XnualaCJOldelpasoBerean HunterJimbo WalesAndrew cKaranacsModemacScott

Guideline and policy news

  • Following a discussion on the backlog of unpatrolled files, consensus was found to create a new user right for autopatrolling file uploads. Implementation progress can be tracked on Phabricator.
  • The BLPPROD grandfather clause, which stated that unreferenced biographies of living persons were only eligible for proposed deletion if they were created after March 18, 2010, has been removed following an RfC.
  • An RfC has closed with consensus to allow proposed deletion of files. The implementation process is ongoing.
  • After an unsuccessful proposal to automatically grant IP block exemption, consensus was found to relax the criteria for granting the user right from needing it to wanting it.

Technical news

  • After a recent RfC, moved pages will soon be featured in a queue similar to Special:NewPagesFeed and require patrolling. Moves by administrators, page movers, and autopatrolled editors will be automatically marked as patrolled.
  • Cookie blocks have been deployed. This extends the current autoblock system by setting a cookie for each block, which will then autoblock the user if they switch accounts, even under a new IP.

March Madness 2017

Military history service award
For your efforts during March Madness 2017, I hereby award you this barnstar. Thank you for your contributions. Regards, AustralianRupert (talk) 08:09, 2 April 2017 (UTC)

James Oakley [roposed move

Hi Mifter... thanks for acting to close the James Oakley (politician) proposed move connected with my proposed DYK. BlueMoonset has failed the DYK nomination, which I completely understand given my absence and the time involved, but I still appreciate that you took the time to resolve the move request. Thank you. EdChem (talk) 00:47, 8 April 2017 (UTC)

Mifter, I was hoping you could stop by this nomination the next time you get a chance to respond to Vanamonde's query. The nomination has been sitting for quite a while, and this could help finalize it. Many thanks. BlueMoonset (talk) 14:30, 16 April 2017 (UTC)

@BlueMoonset: - Done, thanks for the heads up. Mifter (talk) 00:47, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

I am apologising for my own mistakes

I first of all apologise to what I had done today.Sorry for that.I didn't not know about the fact that getting license to a certain image wasn't easy.Please for give me.Here after I won't upload any images to wikipedia.Thank You.Abishe (talk) 12:32, 19 April 2017 (UTC)

Hello. Don't worry about it. Also, I wouldn't be discouraged about uploading images to Wikipedia or Wikimedia Commons, if you took the image yourself you can generally freely license it yourself and if someone else took it you simply need to tag it as fair use with a rationale for why it is fair use. Best, Mifter (talk) 00:50, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

Provided by the Office of Nily Rozic to Ballotpedia.org

Copyright Ballotpedia.org 2017

Cfuentespadilla1421 (talk) 15:59, 20 April 2017 (UTC)

Hello and thank you for your note. Wikipedia generally doesn't allow copyrighted images of living individuals as a free licensed alternative could be taken easily. Further, all images must be appropriately tagged to indicate their license status. Please let me know if you have any questions. Mifter (talk) 00:53, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

Potentially disruptive COI editing

Hey Mifter, would you mind taking another look at Erik Cassel? I notice you protected it and then had second thoughts. Well, the article has been recreated from the redirect (according to the edit summary "per approval of article by the ROBLOX Board of directors". Now, I still don't think the subject comes close to meeting GNG, but the AFD of the cofounder of Roblox, David Baszucki, closed as a redirect, so it seems sensible to do the same thing here. Not sure how to proceed. Triptothecottage (talk) 12:27, 22 April 2017 (UTC)

@Triptothecottage: - Hi Triptothecottage, thanks for the note. I agree with your assessment and have semi-protected the page for a long duration to hopefully prevent this in the future. Let me know if autoconfirmed accounts start recreating the article so we can discuss further steps if needed. Thanks, Mifter (talk) 00:57, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

Hello. I discussed the image (File:A. A. Gill BBC 2012.jpg) with Stephen, who removed the image from A. A. Gill article. I waited for one week and haven't received a response. If undeleted and then reinserted, I am worried that something would happen again. Some editors addressed concerns about his removals (or attempts to remove) the images. I even addressed the issue of using non-free images of deceased persons at Wikipedia talk:Non-free content. I wonder whether I should challenge the deletion/orphaning of images to WP:DRV. The matter is more than just a simple request for undeletion. Response? --George Ho (talk) 09:15, 16 April 2017 (UTC)

@George Ho: - Hi George, I'm sorry for the delay in getting back to you, some other obligations took a large chunk of my time over the past few days. A DRV may be not be needed in this case as the deletion was merely because the image was orphaned (I'd be happy to undelete or allow any other admin to undelete it as well once it would not be orphaned.) I am not sure what the best steps would be as our policy on utilizing copyrighted images of recently deceased individuals is in a bit of flux. Perhaps a RfC would be advisable once you have a rough consensus for what the policy ought to be to try and establish where we want to draw the line as a community. Then at least we can apply the rule and discuss any possible exceptions or special instances on a case-by-case basis rather than play "wack-a-mole" or risk edit-warring with each image. Best, Mifter (talk) 00:45, 28 April 2017 (UTC)
Thanks for responding, Mifter. The central discussion is ongoing at WT:NFC, where images of deceased are discussed. IMHO, the "orphaning" thing is gamed, but that's something to be discussed in the very far future. --George Ho (talk) 02:12, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

File:Juansher Chkareuli.png

JAGuar1741: Hello, that image file File:Juansher Chkareuli.png has been taken from Prof. Chkareuli page at https://iliauni.academia.edu/JuansherChkareuli and, thereby, is absolutely legal and was allowed by Prof. Chkareuli himself. Please, help with this matter not to remove this file after May 5 2017, as is announced above. Thank you in advance. JAG — Preceding unsigned comment added by JAGuar1741 (talkcontribs) 20:31, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

Hello and thank you for your note. Unfortunately the page you linked has a copyright notice at the bottom of the page and no indication that the image is freely licensed. In order for the image to be used on Wikipedia, Mr. Chkareuli needs to freely license the image by posting it under a free license on a site he controls or contacting us to authorize the image under a free license. Thanks, Mifter (talk) 02:36, 29 April 2017 (UTC)

Protection Fred penner

Thanks for protecting Fred penner indefinitely. Was vandalized a lot. --TheSandDoctor (talk) 05:22, 29 April 2017 (UTC)

May 2017 WikiCup newsletter

The second round of the competition has now closed, with just under 100 points being required to qualify for round 3. YellowEvan just scraped into the next round with 98 points but we have to say goodbye to the thirty or so competitors who didn't achieve this threshold; thank you for the useful contributions you have made to the Cup and Wikipedia. Our top scorers in round 2 were:

  • Scotland Cas Liber, led the field with five featured articles, four on birds and one on astronomy, and a total score of 2049, half of which came from bonus points.
  • Japan 1989 was in second place with 826 points, 466 of which were bonus points. 1989 has claimed points mostly relating to anime and Japanese-related articles.
  • South Australia Peacemaker67 took third place with two FAs, one GA and seven GARs, mostly on naval vessels or military personnel, scoring 543 points.
  • Other contestants who scored over 400 points were Freikorp, Carbrera, and Czar. Of course all these points are now wiped out and the 32 remaining contestants start again from zero in round 3.

Vivvt submitted the largest number of DYKs (30), and MBlaze Lightning achieved 13 articles at ITN. Carbrera claimed for 11 GAs and Argento Surfer performed the most GARs, having reviewed 11. So far we have achieved 38 featured articles and a splendid 132 good articles. Commendably, 279 GARs have been achieved so far, more than double the number of GAs.

So, on to the third round. Remember that any content promoted after the end of round 2 but before the start of round 3 can be claimed in round 3. Remember too that you must claim your points within 10 days of "earning" them. Invitations for collaborative writing efforts or any other discussion of potentially interesting work is always welcome on the WikiCup talk page. Remember, if two or more WikiCup competitors have done significant work on an article, all can claim points equally.

If you are concerned that your nomination—whether it is at good article nominations, a featured process, or anywhere else—will not receive the necessary reviews, please list it on Wikipedia:WikiCup/Reviews. If you want to help out with the WikiCup, please do your bit to help keep down the review backlogs! Questions are welcome on Wikipedia talk:WikiCup, and the judges are reachable on their talk pages or by email. Good luck! If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove yourself from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. Godot13, Sturmvogel 66 and Cwmhiraeth 13:16, 1 May 2017 (UTC)

Jack The Ripper

Thanks for changing the protection. That article always gets vandalized in someway, shape or form. Thanks!Trevor Casey (talk) 02:56, 2 May 2017 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – May 2017

News and updates for administrators from the past month (April 2017).

Administrator changes

added KaranacsBerean HunterGoldenRingDlohcierekim
removed GdrTyreniusJYolkowskiLonghairMaster Thief GarrettAaron BrennemanLaser brainJzGDragons flight

Guideline and policy news

Technical news

Miscellaneous

  • Following an RfC, the editing restrictions page is now split into a list of active restrictions and an archive of those that are old or on inactive accounts. Make sure to check both pages if searching for a restriction.

Avengers: Infinity War

Just upped that to extended confirmed as pending was not really working anymore. CambridgeBayWeather, Uqaqtuq (talk), Sunasuttuq 22:00, 7 May 2017 (UTC)

Thanks for letting me know. Mifter (talk) 16:50, 9 May 2017 (UTC)

Block of 107.77.204.191

Thank you for blocking 107.77.204.191 in response to my request for protection of the main pages he vandalizes. However IP blocks have proven ineffective against him, because he knows he get a new IP, which is what he's done since then. He's been nursing this grudge against Todd McFarlane for over two decades, and pushing it obsessively on Wikipedia for over a year. Can you suggest additional measures that would be appropriate to request? -Jason A. Quest (talk) 20:43, 3 May 2017 (UTC)

@JasonAQuest: - Hi Jason, thanks for reaching out. Looking at the new IP, it looks like they picked a different article to vandalize. Cases like this are generally the hardest for us to handle as we generally don't preemptively protect articles and it is difficult to stop someone who hops around differing IPs and articles short of just reverting and blocking on sight. Our long term abuse page might be of some use to file a report of all this if you have not already looked at it. Thanks, Mifter (talk) 16:49, 9 May 2017 (UTC)
He has a cluster of several related articles that he predictably vandalizes (because his false claim is on-topic for them), and several more that he occasionally messes with while he's at it, out of petulance. Thanks for the suggestion. -Jason A. Quest (talk) 18:34, 9 May 2017 (UTC)

Queue 2

I came up with a new hook on the DYK talk page for Tomostethus multicinctus which is currently in queue 2. The Rambling Man had an issue with how interesting that hook was and he agreed that my new hook was better. I was wondering if you could change that hook to ...that two red-eyed vireo were witnessed bashing Tomostethus multicinctus larvae against a twig up to eighteen times, and then consuming them with multiple swallows without any noise? If those 200 characters for the hook is too long, it can be ...that two red-eyed vireo were studied bashing Tomostethus multicinctus larvae against a twig up to eighteen times, and the eating them with multiple swallows without any noise? SL93 (talk) 02:33, 13 May 2017 (UTC)

Looking at it now. Mifter (talk) 02:42, 13 May 2017 (UTC)
 Done I tweaked the wording of the alt slightly to simplify it (and left a note at WT:DYK.) I also pulled queue 2 entirely, though that was for an unrelated reason. Mifter (talk) 02:50, 13 May 2017 (UTC)
Thanks very much. SL93 (talk) 02:51, 13 May 2017 (UTC)

DYK: Cyberpunk

I edited Cyberpunk (novel) to reflect your suggested changes. Check it out, and if you consider it now acceptable, please add the green checkmark at Template:Did_you_know_nominations/Cyberpunk_(novel)Kaz (talk) 16:58, 14 May 2017 (UTC)

Thanks for the note, I've replied at the nomination and approved it. Mifter (talk) 18:47, 21 May 2017 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – June 2017

News and updates for administrators from the past month (May 2017).

Administrator changes

added Doug BellDennis BrownClpo13ONUnicorn
removed ThaddeusBYandmanBjarki SOldakQuillShyamJondelWorm That Turned

Guideline and policy news

Technical news

Miscellaneous


DYK for Paul M. Nakasone

On 4 June 2017, Did you know was updated with a fact from the article Paul M. Nakasone, which you recently created, substantially expanded, or brought to good article status. The fact was ... that Paul M. Nakasone commanded the Second United States Army until it was inactivated for the fourth time in its history in 2017? The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Paul M. Nakasone. You are welcome to check how many page hits the article got while on the front page (here's how, Paul M. Nakasone), and it may be added to the statistics page if the total is over 5,000. Finally, if you know of an interesting fact from another recently created article, then please feel free to suggest it on the Did you know talk page.

Mifter (talk) 00:05, 4 June 2017 (UTC)

Protection of The Rebel Media

Thank you for taking the step to fully protect The Rebel Media. It had slipped my mind to request protection following the warring on the article. As you noticed I stepped in and got the editors discussing issues. Does this mean I am able to close their ANI thread even though I am not an admin, but did step in to restore peace without either of them being blocked. Quite an achievement for me was that. Wes Wolf Talk 21:58, 4 June 2017 (UTC)

@Wesley Wolf: - As the issue is resolved for the moment you should be able to close the ANI thread (generally you don't need to be an Admin to close them so long as the issue is adequately resolved, to err on the side of caution just be sure to add {{Non-admin closure}} and you should be good.) Also, I want to thank you for getting those editors talking, it is always better to resolved edit wars and disputes without having to resort to blocking and it takes somewhat of a deft hand to juggle how to get people talking instead of reverting. Best, Mifter (talk) 22:11, 4 June 2017 (UTC)

Trisha Paytas

Hi, Mifter , and thank you for semi-protecting the article Trisha Paytas on June 7. I'm not sure the protection coding may have worked properly, since an anon IP made a vandal edit today that another editor reverted. If it's possible, do you think you might take a look and see? With thanks, --Tenebrae (talk) 05:53, 9 June 2017 (UTC)

Hi @Tenebrae: - looking at the article, all appears to be well. I utilized pending changes protection on the article and not semi-protection which still allows anonymous and new editors to edit the article however their edits must be approved prior to going live. I hope this clears things up. Best, Mifter (talk) 19:18, 10 June 2017 (UTC)

Protection of La Luna Sangre

Hello I would like to inform you. Please watch closely to La Luna Sangre [[6]] Couldn't you see how organize all the IP doing vandalism to the pages? One IP deleted all the casts name and other started inserted one by one and deleted it again and inserted again. This is the log please see it.

It was just a few of many abnormal edits. Beside for a series which is not yet aired isn't it strange to have so many edited by only IPs without source?

Hope only the best decision for the page, unless all editor will not want to edit the page due to edit warring and (smart-hidden-organized) vandal. Thank you in advance Puchicatos (talk) 07:21, 7 June 2017 (UTC)

Hello and thank you for your note. While it appears there was some disruption to the page I do not believe it rose to the level of needing protection. We are an open encyclopedia that anyone can edit and a community where we assume the best of intentions until it is demonstrated otherwise. We have plenty of new editors who are not familiar with our policies and a few disruptive edits out of 50 or 100 is generally not enough to justify locking the page down. Mifter (talk) 19:25, 10 June 2017 (UTC)

Un-protection of Government ?

The page is a complete disaster content-wise, I think it will be helpful to allow un-confirmed users to edit it. I plan to watch the page for the next two weeks. Power~enwiki (talk) 19:07, 14 June 2017 (UTC)

@Power~enwiki: - Hi there. Checking the page, it is not currently semi-protected. I had applied pending changes protection to the page a few months ago however with pending changes anonymous and non-autoconfirmed editors are still able to edit it. The pending changes protection simply means that any edits made by non-autoconfirmed accounts must be approved prior to going live an is and intermediate step instead of long term semi-protection. Please feel free to let me know should you have any other questions. Best, Mifter (talk) 03:27, 16 June 2017 (UTC)

WikiCup 2017 July newsletter

The third round of the competition has finished in a flurry of last minute activity, with 288 points being required to qualify for round 4. It was a hotly competitive round with all but four of the contestants exceeding the 106 points that was necessary to proceed to round 4 last year. Coemgenus and Freikorp tied on 288, and both have been allowed to proceed, so round 4 now has one pool of eight competitors and one of nine.

Round 3 saw the achievement of a 26-topic Featured topic by MPJ-DK as well as 5 featured lists and 13 featured articles. PanagiotisZois and SounderBruce achieved their first ever featured articles. Carbrera led the GA score with 10, Tachs achieved 17 DYKs and MBlaze Lightning 10 In the news items. There were 167 DYKs, 93 GARs and 82 GAs overall, this last figure being higher than the number of GAs in round 2, when twice as many people were taking part. Even though contestants performed more GARs than they achieved GAs, there was still some frustration at the length of time taken to get articles reviewed.

As we start round 4, we say goodbye to the fifteen or so competitors who didn't quite make it; thank you for the useful contributions you have made to the Cup and Wikipedia. Remember that any content promoted after the end of round 3 but before the start of round 4 can be claimed in round 4. Remember too that you must claim your points within 10 days of "earning" them (some people have fallen foul of this rule and the points have been removed).

If you are concerned that your nomination, whether it be for a good article, a featured process, or anything else, will not receive the necessary reviews, please list it on Wikipedia:WikiCup/Reviews. It would be helpful if this list could be cleared of any items no longer relevant. If you want to help out with the WikiCup, please do your bit to keep down the review backlogs! Questions are welcome on Wikipedia talk:WikiCup, and the judges are reachable on their talk pages or by email. Good luck! If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove yourself from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. Godot13, Sturmvogel 66 and Cwmhiraeth 05:37, 30 June 2017 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – July 2017

News and updates for administrators from the past month (June 2017).

Administrator changes

added Happyme22Dragons flight
removed Zad68

Guideline and policy news

Technical news

Miscellaneous

  • A newly revamped database report can help identify users who may be eligible to be autopatrolled.
  • A potentially compromised account from 2001–2002 attempted to request resysop. Please practice appropriate account security by using a unique password for Wikipedia, and consider enabling two-factor authentication. Currently around 17% of admins have enabled 2FA, up from 16% in February 2017.
  • Did you know: On 29 June 2017, there were 1,261 administrators on the English Wikipedia – the exact number of administrators as there were ten years ago on 29 June 2007. Since that time, the English Wikipedia has grown from 1.85 million articles to over 5.43 million.

Administrators' newsletter – August 2017

News and updates for administrators from the past month (July 2017).

Administrator changes

added AnarchyteGeneralizationsAreBadCullen328 (first RfA to reach WP:300)
removed CpromptRockpocketRambo's RevengeAnimumTexasAndroidChuck SMITHMikeLynchCrazytalesAd Orientem

Guideline and policy news

Technical news


To use my work in other Wikis

Hi, I'm Shadegan, the author of file: [7]. I want to use the file in other Wikis (Farsi Wikipedia), but it's not possible. Could you please help me for the solution. Best --SHADEGAN (talk) 00:17, 24 June 2017 (UTC)

Hi @Shadegan: - I'm sorry for the belated reply. To use your image on another Wikipedia you would need to transfer it to Wikimedia Commons which is the central image repository for the Wikimedia Foundation. Feel free to let me know if you have any questions or you can also leave a message at the help desk. Thanks, Mifter (talk) 01:57, 17 August 2017 (UTC)

Thank you for comment

Dear Mifter,

Please tell me if I may use either of the following images in an article draft I intend to submit. If not, please tell me how I could cure defects.

1. File:Keltner's_Celebration_of_Life_program_photo.tif

2. File:John_W._Keltner.jpg

Many thanks. Luckybrian (talk) 22:38, 4 July 2017 (UTC) July 4, 2017 at 1637 MDT

Luckybrian — Preceding unsigned comment added by Luckybrian (talkcontribs) 22:32, 4 July 2017 (UTC)

Hi @Luckybrian: - as long the as the images are free licensed you are free to use them anywhere on Wikipedia, including in article drafts. If they are not publicly available you may need to submit documentation to our open ticket response system prior to use however. Please let me know if you have any further questions. Best, Mifter (talk) 02:05, 17 August 2017 (UTC)

MifterBot tagging

Please note that I've added a help=off parameter to all the DI tags, similar to how the CSD and PROD tags have them. Can MifterBot be updated to include that in its tags? Thanks. – Train2104 (t • c) 13:02, 6 July 2017 (UTC)

I'll take a look at implementing and updating that, thanks for letting me know. Best, Mifter (talk) 02:07, 17 August 2017 (UTC)

Thank you

Hi MifterBot, Thank you for your message regarding logo uploading of INAANI. I could not able to edit it. Could you give me the instructions to upload it again properly. Thank you — Preceding unsigned comment added by Sanjida Rojly (talkcontribs) 04:46, 19 July 2017 (UTC)

Hello. After looking at the image it appears that you figured out how to utilize the image and that it must have an applicable license tag prior to use. Best, Mifter (talk) 02:09, 17 August 2017 (UTC)

Talkback

Hello, Mifter. You have new messages at Wikipedia:Requests for page protection.
Message added 21:10, 21 August 2017 (UTC). You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.

jd22292 (Jalen D. Folf) (talk) 21:10, 21 August 2017 (UTC)

WikiCup 2017 September newsletter

Round 4 of the WikiCup has ended and we move forward into the final round. In round 4, a total of 12 FAs, 3 FLs, 44 GAs, 3 FLs, 79 DYKs, 1 ITN and 42 GARs was achieved, with no FPs or FTs this time. Congratulations to Peacemaker67 on the Royal Yugoslav Navy Good Topic of 36 items, and the 12 featured articles achieved by Cas Liber (5), Vanamonde93 (3), Peacemaker67 (2), Adityavagarwal (1) and 12george1 (1). With a FA scoring 200 points, and bonus points available on top of this, FAs are likely to feature heavily in the final round. Meanwhile Yellow Evan, a typhoon specialist, was contributing 12 DYKs and 10 GAs, while Adityavagarwal and Freikorp topped the GAR list with 8 reviews each. As we enter the final round, we are down to eight contestants, and we would like to thank those of you who have been eliminated for the useful contributions you have made to the Cup and Wikipedia. The lowest score needed to reach round 5 was 305, and I think we can expect a highly competitive final round.

Remember that any content promoted after the end of round 4 but before the start of round 5 can be claimed in round 5. Remember too that you must claim your points within 10 days of "earning" them. If you are concerned that your nomination will not receive the necessary reviews, please list it on Wikipedia:WikiCup/Reviews Needed. It would be helpful if this list could be cleared of any items no longer relevant. If you want to help out with the WikiCup, please do your bit to reduce the review backlogs! Questions are welcome on Wikipedia talk:WikiCup, and the judges are reachable on their talk pages or by email. Good luck, and let the best man (or woman) win! If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove yourself from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. Godot13, Sturmvogel 66 and Cwmhiraeth 06:25, 1 September 2017 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – September 2017

News and updates for administrators from the past month (August 2017).

Administrator changes

added NakonScott
removed SverdrupThespianElockidJames086FfirehorseCelestianpowerBoing! said Zebedee

Guideline and policy news

Technical news

  • You will now get a notification when someone tries to log in to your account and fails. If they try from a device that has logged into your account before, you will be notified after five failed attempts. You can also set in your preferences to get an email when someone logs in to your account from a new device or IP address, which may be encouraged for admins and accounts with sensitive permissions.
  • Syntax highlighting is now available as a beta feature (more info). This may assist administrators and template editors when dealing with intricate syntax of high-risk templates and system messages.
  • In your notification preferences, you can now block specific users from pinging you. This functionality will soon be available for Special:EmailUser as well.

Arbitration

  • Applications for CheckUser and Oversight are being accepted by the Arbitration Committee until September 12. Community discussion of the candidates will begin on September 18.

Administrators' newsletter – October 2017

News and updates for administrators from the past month (September 2017).

Administrator changes

added Boing! said ZebedeeAnsh666Ad Orientem
removed TonywaltonAmiDanielSilenceBanyanTreeMagioladitisVanamonde93Mr.Z-manJdavidbJakecRam-ManYelyosKurt Shaped Box

Guideline and policy news

Technical news

Arbitration

  • Community consultation on the 2017 candidates for CheckUser and Oversight has concluded. The Arbitration Committee will appoint successful candidates by October 11.
  • A request for comment is open regarding the structure, rules, and procedures of the December 2017 Arbitration Committee election, and how to resolve any issues not covered by existing rules.

Administrators' newsletter – November 2017

News and updates for administrators from the past month (October 2017).

Administrator changes

added LonghairMegalibrarygirlTonyBallioniVanamonde93
removed Allen3Eluchil404Arthur RubinBencherlite

Technical news

Arbitration

Obituaries

  • The Wikipedia community has recently learned that Allen3 (William Allen Peckham) passed away on December 30, 2016, the same day as JohnCD. Allen began editing in 2005 and became an administrator that same year.

WikiCup 2017 November newsletter: Final results

The final round of the 2017 WikiCup is over. Congratulations to the 2017 WikiCup top three finalists:

In addition to recognizing the achievements of the top finishers and everyone who worked hard to make it to the final round, we also want to recognize those participants who were most productive in each of the WikiCup scoring categories:

  • Featured Article – Cas Liber (actually a two-way tie with themselves for an astonishing five FAs in R2 and R4).
  • Good Article – Adityavagarwal had 14 GAs promoted in R5.
  • Featured List – Canada Bloom6132 (submissions) and Japan 1989 (submissions) both produced 2 FLs in R2
  • Featured Pictures – Cascadia SounderBruce (submissions) improved an image to FP status in R5, the only FP this year.
  • Featured Topic – Denmark MPJ-DK (submissions) has the only FT of the Cup in R3.
  • Good Topic – Four different editors created a GT in R2, R3 and R4.
  • Did You Know – Adityavagarwal had 22 DYKs on the main page in R5.
  • In The News – India MBlaze Lightning (submissions) had 14 ITN on the main page in R2.
  • Good Article Review – India Krishna Chaitanya Velaga (submissions) completed 31 GARs in R1.

Over the course of the 2017 WikiCup the following content was added or improved on Wikipedia: 51 Featured Articles, 292 Good Articles, 18 Featured Lists, 1 Featured Picture, 1 Featured Topics, 4 Good Topics, around 400 Did You Knows, 75 In The News, and 442 Good Article Reviews. Thank you to all the competitors for your hard work and what you have done to improve Wikipedia.

Regarding the prize vouchers - @Adityavagarwal, Vanamonde93, Casliber, Bloom6132, 1989, and SounderBruce: please send Godot13 (talk · contribs · email) an email from the email address to which you would like your Amazon voucher sent. Please include your preference of global Amazon marketplace as well. We hope to have the electronic gift cards processed and sent within a week.

We will open up a discussion for comments on process and scoring in a few days. The 2018 WikiCup is just around the corner! Many thanks from all the judges. If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove yourself from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. Sturmvogel 66 (talk · contribs · email), Cwmhiraeth (talk · contribs · email), and Godot13 (talk · contribs · email) MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 11:40, 2 November 2017 (UTC)

Image without license

Unspecified source/license for File:1937.10.20 Lowenthal with Truman.png

Thanks for uploading File:1937.10.20 Lowenthal with Truman.png. The image has been identified as not specifying the copyright status of the image, which is required by Wikipedia's policy on images. Even if you created the image yourself, you still need to release it so Wikipedia can use it. If you don't indicate the copyright status of the image on the image's description page, using an appropriate copyright tag, it may be deleted some time in the next seven days. If you made this image yourself, you can use copyright tags like {{PD-self}} (to release all rights), {{self|CC-by-sa-3.0|GFDL}} (to require that you be credited), or any tag here - just go to the image, click edit, and add one of those. If you have uploaded other images, please verify that you have provided copyright information for them as well.

For more information on using images, see the following pages:

Wikipedia:Image use policy
Wikipedia:Image copyright tags

This is an automated notice by MifterBot. For assistance on the image use policy, see Wikipedia:Media copyright questions. NOTE: once you correct this, please remove the tag from the image's page. --MifterBot (TalkContribsOwner) 21:45, 26 August 2017 (UTC)

As an expert, please fix

Owner: Wikipedians need to start instructing people to specific actions, not "Here: go read this, figure out what applies, and fix it." I don't know the ins-and-outs of images – but you seem to, since you're claiming this particular image needs refiling. In its accompanying text, I went out of my way to providee ample details about why this image can be used: all you needed to do was correct it.

So, in fact, I ask you: please make corrections for this LOC-sourced, open-to-public-use image File:1937.10.20 Lowenthal with Truman.png (and do, please, read the image's text details first-thing in future). --Aboudaqn (talk) 21:35, 2 September 2017 (UTC)

Hello, thank you for your note. The image was tagged by my robot which noticed that the image did not have a license template. As the bot is automated it is incapable of noticing that you had provided an explanation of the license status of the image. It appears the issue was resolved however should you have any questions please feel free to let me know. Best, Mifter (talk) 00:55, 4 November 2017 (UTC)

Re: Image without a license tag

Hi Mifter, thanks for the message about adding the image without a license tag. I think I have addressed the issue now by adding the appropriate tag. --PinkAechFas (talk) 08:48, 26 October 2017 (UTC)

Good to hear. Please feel free to let me know if you have any questions. Best, Mifter (talk) 00:55, 4 November 2017 (UTC)

WikiCup 2018

So the 2017 WikiCup has come to an end. Congratulations to the winner, to the other finalists and to all those who took part. 177 contestants signed up, more than usual, but not all of them submitted entries in the first round. Were editors attracted by the cash prizes offered for the first time this year, or were these irrelevant? Do the rules and scoring need changing for the 2018 WikiCup? If you have a view on these or other matters, why not join in the WikiCup discussion about next year's contest? Sturmvogel 66 (talk · contribs · email), Godot13 (talk · contribs · email) and Cwmhiraeth (talk · contribs · email). MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 13:59, 17 November 2017 (UTC)

ANI Experiences survey

The Wikimedia Foundation Community health initiative (led by the Safety and Support and Anti-Harassment Tools team) is conducting a survey for en.wikipedia contributors on their experience and satisfaction level with the Administrator’s Noticeboard/Incidents. This survey will be integral to gathering information about how this noticeboard works - which problems it deals with well, and which problems it struggles with.

The survey should take 10-20 minutes to answer, and your individual responses will not be made public. The survey is delivered through Google Forms. The privacy policy for the survey describes how and when Wikimedia collects, uses, and shares the information we receive from survey participants and can be found here:

If you would like to take this survey, please sign up on this page, and a link for the survey will be mailed to you via Special:Emailuser.

Thank you on behalf of the Support & Safety and Anti-Harassment Tools Teams, Patrick Earley (WMF) talk 18:24, 1 December 2017 (UTC)

ArbCom 2017 election voter message

Hello, Mifter. Voting in the 2017 Arbitration Committee elections is now open until 23.59 on Sunday, 10 December. All users who registered an account before Saturday, 28 October 2017, made at least 150 mainspace edits before Wednesday, 1 November 2017 and are not currently blocked are eligible to vote. Users with alternate accounts may only vote once.

The Arbitration Committee is the panel of editors responsible for conducting the Wikipedia arbitration process. It has the authority to impose binding solutions to disputes between editors, primarily for serious conduct disputes the community has been unable to resolve. This includes the authority to impose site bans, topic bans, editing restrictions, and other measures needed to maintain our editing environment. The arbitration policy describes the Committee's roles and responsibilities in greater detail.

If you wish to participate in the 2017 election, please review the candidates and submit your choices on the voting page. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 18:42, 3 December 2017 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – December 2017

News and updates for administrators from the past month (November 2017).

Administrator changes

added Joe Roe
readded JzG
removed EricorbitPercevalThinggTristanbVioletriga

Guideline and policy news

  • Following a request for comment, a new section has been added to the username policy which disallows usernames containing emoji, emoticons or otherwise "decorative" usernames, and usernames that use any non-language symbols. Administrators should discuss issues related to these types of usernames before blocking.

Technical news

Arbitration

Miscellaneous

  • Over the last few months, several users have reported backlogs that require administrator attention at WP:ANI, with the most common backlogs showing up on WP:SPI, WP:AIV and WP:RFPP. It is requested that all administrators take some time during this month to help clear backlogs wherever possible. It should be noted that AIV reports are not always valid; however, they still need to be cleared, which may include needing to remind users on what qualifies as vandalism.
  • The Wikimedia Foundation Community health initiative is conducting a survey for English Wikipedia contributors on their experience and satisfaction level with Administrator’s Noticeboard/Incidents. This survey will be integral to gathering information about how this noticeboard works (i.e. which problems it deals with well and which problems it struggles with). If you would like to take this survey, please sign up on this page, and a link for the survey will be emailed to you via Special:EmailUser.

Destination maps discussion at WT:AIRPORT

Hi, I see your previous reversion and have started another discussion at the airport talk page. Maps have typically not been included in the past for the reasons given, but I would enjoy it if you would join the discussion there. Thanks! Garretka (talk) 03:43, 14 December 2017 (UTC)

Thank you, I'll be sure to take a look. Mifter (talk) 17:47, 17 December 2017 (UTC)

Request to decrease protection

Protection of Anna Baltzer should be decreased or totally removed now because there is no active dispute or discussion for a long time. Quality of the article is still below average. Raymond3023 (talk) 10:38, 16 December 2017 (UTC)

Hello. Unfortunately due to active arbitration restrictions I cannot lower the protection level. Thank you for your note. Mifter (talk) 17:49, 17 December 2017 (UTC)
Then how I will request the removal of this protection? Because its really unwarranted to keep such a strong protection on that article any longer. Raymond3023 (talk) 17:55, 17 December 2017 (UTC)
Unfortunately, you cannot request removal except by action/motion of the Arbitration Committee itself because they have imposed a blanket prohibition on anyone with less than 500 edits and 30 days tenure from editing pages reasonably related to the Israel/Arab Conflict. Mifter (talk) 18:41, 17 December 2017 (UTC)

Protection

Thank you for giving Witness (Katy Perry album) ECP. Since it's also had many instances of disruption from IPs and accounts that aren't autoconfirmed, can you please be sure to restore indefinite semi-protection as soon as ECP expires? Snuggums (talk / edits) 14:51, 22 December 2017 (UTC)

Sure thing. I might not be around immediately when the protection expires (I just extended it slightly so it doesn't expire on Christmas Day) but will drop by as soon as I am around after the expiration. Also, feel free to flag any admin and point them to this discussion should I be late getting the protection back up. Mifter (talk) 18:22, 23 December 2017 (UTC)
Much appreciated! The longer it can avoid such disruption, the better. Snuggums (talk / edits) 19:08, 23 December 2017 (UTC)

Hey Mifter, Please delete my picture

File:ITS Engineer Logo.jpg

Please note that I've decided to delete my image located here, but I can't delete it since I am not an administrator. Can Mifter or Mifterbot delete this photo? Thanks. Rockower (talk) 01:24, 26 December 2017 (UTC)

 Done - Merry Christmas! Mifter (talk) 01:28, 26 December 2017 (UTC)
Thanks! Happy New Year!!! Rockower (talk) 01:34, 26 December 2017 (UTC)