This is an archive of past discussions with User:GeneralNotability. Do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page.
Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.
Problems
There was an issue on the Vector skin with the text size of categories and notices under the page title. It was fixed last Monday. [1]
The Crew of SpaceX Crew-1 had a successful splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico on 2nd May at 06:56:33 UTC. After they launched in November 2020 and had spent 167 days in space.
A LongMarch 5B rocket had an uncontrolled re-entery into the atmosphere on 4th May. With any debris being reported to have landed in the Indian Ocean.
One of Rocket Labs Electron rockets expierienced a launch malfunction 2:30 into launch causing the mission to result in failure.
Images have been released after the landing of Zhurong rover on Mars on 14th May.
Creola Katherine Johnson was an American mathematician whose calculations of orbital mechanics as a NASA employee were critical to the success of the first and subsequent U.S. crewed spaceflights. The space agency noted her "historical role as one of the first African-American women to work as a NASA scientist".
Image of the month.
Astronaut Clayton Anderson wis shown as a water bubble floats in the middeck of space shuttle Discovery during the STS-131 mission.
Since April, 45 pages have been added to Spaceflight. 1 article reached FA-Class and 1 image reached FM-Class. There is 1 more GA class article, with 2 more B-class, 8 more C-class, 1 less start-class and 5 new stub-class articles.
FoldArchives collapses archived talk page threads in order to reduce screen space
GoToTitle converts the page title into an input field for navigating to other pages
UserHighlighter adds highlighting to links to the userpages, talk pages, and contributions of administrators and other user groups as well as tooltips to indicate which groups a user is in
filterDiff: Adds a "Show changes" button to the filter editor.
filterNotes: Parses filter notes as wikitext (so links are clickable), and signs and dates new comments for you.
filterTest: Adds a "Test changes" button. Opens Special:AbuseFilter/test with what's currently in the edit form, not with what's saved in the database, so you don't have to copy-paste your changes.
Twinkle has a number of improvements, including that most watchlist defaults now make use of the new temporary watchlist feature. Other changes include rollbacks treating consecutive IPv6 editors in the same /64 range as the same user, adding a preview for shared IP tagging, a preference for watching users after CSD notification, and for sysops, the ability to block the /64 and link to a WP:RfPP request, and new copyright blocks default to indefinite.
Wikipedia:Shortdesc helper now v3.4.17, changes include minor fixes and preventing edits that don't change the description.
Joeytje50's JWB now version 4.1.0, includes the ability to generate page lists from the search tool, major updates to the handling of regular expressions, the storing of user settings, the addition of upload protection, and an option to skip pages that belong to a specific category, among other changes. See User:Joeytje50/JWB/Changelog for a full list of recent changes.
Wikipedia:User scripts/List has been revamped to make it easier to find scripts suited for your needs. If you know of a cool script that is missing on the list, or a script on the list that is no longer working, please edit the list or let us know on the talk page.
My apologies for this long-overdue issue, and if I missed any scripts. Hopefully going forward we can go back to monthly releases - any help would be appreciated. Thanks, --DannyS712 (talk) 13:04, 2 June 2021 (UTC)
Hi GN, I was thinking about a possible mod to SPI helper, wondered if you'd considered it, or if there was a potential workaround already. If I want to check recent SPI cases I've handled, I scroll down to the bottom of my log, but it's already pretty long and will only get longer. Is there a way it could be built up in reverse order, with the new month being added at the top rather than the bottom of the page? Or should I just look at archiving it instead? GirthSummit (blether)14:18, 29 May 2021 (UTC)
Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.
Changes later this week
The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from 8 June. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from 9 June. It will be on all wikis from 10 June (calendar).
Future changes
The Wikimedia movement uses Phabricator for technical tasks. This is where we collect technical suggestions, bugs and what developers are working on. The company behind Phabricator will stop working on it. This will not change anything for the Wikimedia movement now. It could lead to changes in the future. [2][3][4]
Searching on Wikipedia will find more results in some languages. This is mainly true for when those who search do not use the correct diacritics because they are not seen as necessary in that language. For example searching for Bedusz doesn't find Będusz on German Wikipedia. The character ę isn't used in German so many would write e instead. This will work better in the future in some languages. [5]
The CSRF token parameters in the action API were changed in 2014. The old parameters from before 2014 will stop working soon. This can affect bots, gadgets and user scripts that still use the old parameters. [6][7]
Wikimedia previously used the IRC network Freenode. However, due to changes over who controlled the network with reports of a forceful takeover by several ex-staff members, the Wikimedia IRC Group Contacts decided to move to the new Libera Chat network. It has been reported that Wikimedia related channels on Freenode have been forcibly taken over if they pointed members to Libera. There is a migration guide and Wikimedia discussions about this.
Hi GeneralNotability! I noticed that you're the one that does the hammers at COIN. I want to request a hammer on a COIN in which I'm involved: I'm feeling harassed by two users (one of them is the one I complained about below, on 27 May) who I feel have been bullying me for about 2 weeks and have been thanking each other on one of their talk pages. I've been losing sleep and having trouble eating and digesting food, for the last 2 weeks. It's affecting other members of my family. Unfortunately these two users are very regular, experienced users, so know how to "get to me" in a way that circumvents looking like policy violations to most people (I unfortunately don't know much about how Wikipedia works because I've been a "casual" user since 2008, having only made a few edits per year: even though I now have 1000+ edits, 500 of them were in the last two weeks). I don't want to use the noticeboards, because I am finding them extremely overwhelming. These 2 users have both "hounded" me on some noticeboards, and I am finding that process extremely bad for my mental health. I have repeatedly told both users: "please be more gentle with me", "go easy on me please", "I don't want to get into another 1-on-1 lengthy debate with you", "Can we please call a truce?" (x2), and they keep on replying again and again and again. I can't "disengage" because these users have made accusations against me publicly. I feel that if these accusations were true, then other Wikipedians would be able to make them (these 2 users don't have to keep initiating everything against me). In 13 years of being on Wikipedia, I'm new to all this drama and it's extremely disturbing to me. These users seem like they're on here full-time, and I can't compete with that because I have other work and other interests and family. My edit history will make it look like I'm on here full-time too, but that's only been in the last 2 weeks because of these users badgering me and sealioning me and digging up edits from years ago (some of them were even commented out using and still they're digging these up from years ago). Are you able to help me please? I told JoellJay to stop WP:Badgering and Sealioning me over and over and over, and recently asked for a truce and offered not to interact with them on AfD discussions if we can both agree not to interact with each other anymore, but they replied to me with more accusations. I've already removed pretty much all mentions of the person I wrote a biography about, from the articles listed at the top of the COIN accusation, and I would really just like that discussion to end because JoelleJay keeps writing more accusations that I find myself having to defend myself against. Is it possible to close the discussion early, or to mark it as resolved? Even if you want to put that the consensus is "COI exists" I don't care about that anymore, I just want the accusations to stop pouring in against me. I had very little WP experience when I wrote most of those articles and I want to make positive contributions to WP in the future. Dr. Universe (talk) 23:30, 2 June 2021 (UTC)
Here's the complaint I made about JoelleJay on 27 May, but the harassment keeps continuing:
I have so many times told JoelleJay that I'm feeling badgered, and I have even changed my !vote from "keep" to "speedy delete" because not only am I getting overwhelmed with all the replies and pings I was getting, but also if that user is so adamant about deleting the article, the article may benefit from waiting some time until the notability criteria are more "indisputably" passed. However even after changing my !vote to delete, which is what JJ was pushing for, I keep getting badgered further and told something like "if you don't want to be badgered then don't reply to me". The user left some scathing remarks in two responses last night but I didn't reply to them because I was hoping the page could get deleted sooner rather than later, in order for the badgering to stop. I said on their talk page that I would be okay for the article to get deleted (which is what they want), and asked in what I thought was a nice way "if I don't reply to your last two pages, can we call it a night and let the article get deleted?" and now they accused me of HOUNDING (in the AfD discussion rather than elsewhere, which I also thought was off-topic). If you look at what I wrote on their talk page, and the one 8-word comment I left on another AfD where I just said "JoelleJay, be careful not to badger the user", I hardly think you would think this is HOUNDING since it was just one AfD discussion which I happened to come across myself (I participated in a lot of them recently!). I also didn't even know what HOUNDING was at the time. I would very much appreciate if the AfD could be closed now since with my "keep" retracted, it seems everyone is okay with "delete" including me (the article's author). The article can be created later when (and if) the notability becomes undeniable. I would also like the user to stop badgering me. I would just like to move on and not have that user keep investigating every single thing I'm saying. Dr. Universe (talk) 20:19, 27 May 2021 (UTC)
Dr. Universe, acknowledging that I've seen this. I just got back from vacation, so I'm working through a bit of a to-do backlog - I'll try to give you a real response on this in the next day or so. GeneralNotability (talk) 20:42, 6 June 2021 (UTC)
Thanks GeneralNotability! It looks like the smoke has settled a bit. I offered that I would add the appropriate COI templates myself to the appropriate articles under the COI rules, and then MrOllie suggested that I simply avoid making edits on articles related to Waterloo people since if I do, "whether or not it's fair" (his words not mine), I will keep getting accusations thrown at me, so while I think this is extraordinary, for peace of mind and if it can help me to avoid having to deal with more accusations/conflict, I can totally avoid the articles related to Waterloo people such as LeRoy and his students such as Dattani. Those were (by far) not even the only articles I was contributing to anyway. I think I contributed to over 200 articles in the last 13 years of having this account. After my response to MrOllie, where I said I would avoid editing articles related to those people, I hope the discussion can end there, as in my experience, at least one of the users involved is one that can be extremely persistent in trying to get the last word in every conversation, and I can't keep dealing with more and more messages in a discussion about me or my Wikipedia account. Dr. Universe (talk) 04:36, 7 June 2021 (UTC)
Dr. Universe, sorry again about the delay. I think MrOllie gave you pretty good advice, though you are welcome to edit requests anywhere that you might have a conflict of interest of some sort - and yes, staying away from a topic area because of an apparent conflict of interest isn't necessarily a fair outcome. I can also sympathize with Wikipedia causing you stress, and am sorry that this process has been so grueling for you. I will close the noticeboard thread so that it is archived soon. GeneralNotability (talk) 23:58, 10 June 2021 (UTC)
Request for help
Hi GN - hope you are well. In May you deleted this article after some LTA from a banned/blocked user, following on from their attempted article hijack antics here. Bizarrely, I've just been pinged in an edit summary on this article, which is about the same person. I'm assuming the page creator is the aforementioned blocked user too. If you need anymore from me, please let me know. Thanks. LugnutsFire Walk with Me14:54, 12 June 2021 (UTC)
thanks you for your quick reaction on sockpuppets of Invisibelibrarian. i guess this person is working for a political party in the state of Andhra Pradesh all his contribution in Wikipedia is political contribution. if he again create new sockpuppets account i will intimate you and Twinkle all so --Jeevan naidu (talk) 16:49, 14 June 2021 (UTC)
Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.
Recent changes
Logged-in users on the mobile web can choose to use the advanced mobile mode. They now see categories in a similar way as users on desktop do. This means that some gadgets that have just been for desktop users could work for users of the mobile site too. If your wiki has such gadgets you could decide to turn them on for the mobile site too. Some gadgets probably need to be fixed to look good on mobile. [9]
German Wikipedia, English Wikivoyage and 29 smaller wikis will be read-only for a few minutes on 22 June. This is planned between 5:00 and 5:30 UTC. [11]
All wikis will be read-only for a few minutes in the week of 28 June. More information will be published in Tech News later. It will also be posted on individual wikis in the coming weeks. [12][13]
Thanks for your close of Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Bodiadub, not sure if I should post at a closed SPI, but cleaning up for the blocked socks I noticed this vote + edits ([14], [15]) to Topaz (company) by Sharky tale, the article itself started by PatokaT, which is a convincing link between the two accounts. This is one of the few Wikipedia space edits of Shark tale ([16]), and two of the subsequent nominations are after they voted at Topaz.--Eostrix (🦉 hoothoot🦉)08:02, 14 June 2021 (UTC)
Well, they actually have returned after this post here, what looks to be a sockpuppet showed up to revert the G5s and rollbacks I made yesterday. I filed at the SPI, and for good measure also asked for CU on uk.wiki at this page.--Eostrix (🦉 hoothoot🦉)14:32, 15 June 2021 (UTC)
Merchandise Giveaway Nomination – Successful
A Wikimeida t-shirt!
Hey GeneralNotability,
You have been successfully nominated to receive a free t-shirt from the Wikimedia Foundation through our Merchandise Giveaway program. Congratulations and thank you for your hard work! Please email us at merchandisewikimedia.org and we will send you full details on how to accept your free shirt. Thanks!
I'm requesting you, as the blocking admin, to have another look at this guy. I'm not convinced that he's a sock. He may have got drawn into other people's activities thinking that he was being helpful. He's made an effort to improve his appeal and I think we should consider lifting it, with the proviso that he stays away from the articles that were causing problems. Deb (talk) 09:04, 17 June 2021 (UTC)
Deb, okay, I've reviewed it. My original response was going to be "they seem sketchy and promotional, but if you're willing to unblock I trust your judgment". However, I then found some weirdness. I wrote up the evidence at Wikipedia:Sockpuppet_investigations/Archiedesai, but in short - I am quite confident they are either using multiple accounts or actively coordinating with other people, and given both the choice of topics and the breadth of people they're writing about, this looks like a paid editing gig to me. If you still think that they're caught up in other editors' activities but are innocent, you can unblock them - but I recommend against it. GeneralNotability (talk) 01:54, 18 June 2021 (UTC)
I have some new information that fairly definitely connects CoosaGA1 to the Mcelite sockfarm, despite my comments on that SPI yesterday. I know it would have been easier if I'd figured this out before it was archived, but would you still be able to merge them? Thank you much. – bradv🍁01:35, 18 June 2021 (UTC)
WP:DUCK
Hi. It seems that the IP is apparent WP:DUCK of globally locked King kong92 who is notorious for his persistent source falsifications, copyvio, and sockpuppetry. See previous cases as well as the IP socks on the same page[17]. Puduḫepa13:00, 18 June 2021 (UTC)
Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.
Recent changes
The otrs-member group name is now vrt-permissions. This could affect abuse filters. [18]
Problems
You will be able to read but not edit German Wikipedia, English Wikivoyage and 29 smaller wikis for a few minutes on 22 June. This is planned between 5:00 and 5:30 UTC. [19]
Changes later this week
The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from 22 June. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from 23 June. It will be on all wikis from 24 June (calendar).
Spread the WikiLove by giving someone else a tea, especially if it is someone you have had disagreements with in the past or someone putting up with some stick at this time. Enjoy!
Spread the lovely, warm, refreshing goodness of tea by adding {{subst:wikitea}} to their talk page with a friendly message.
Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.
Wikisources have a new OCR tool. If you don't want to see the "extract text" button on Wikisource you can add .ext-wikisource-ExtractTextWidget { display: none; } to your common.css page. [21]
Problems
You will be able to read but not edit the Wikimedia wikis for a few minutes on 29 June. This is planned at 14:00 UTC. [22][23]
Changes later this week
The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from 29 June. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from 30 June. It will be on all wikis from 1 July (calendar).
Future changes
Threshold for stub link formatting, thumbnail size and auto-number headings can be set in preferences. They are expensive to maintain and few editors use them. The developers are planning to remove them. Removing them will make pages load faster. You can read more and give feedback.
A toolbar will be added to the Reply tool's wikitext source mode. This will make it easier to link to pages and to ping other users. [24][25]
@GeneralNotability No problem at all. Hope you had a fantastic vacation. L235 and Tamzin put in a lot of time untangling the long history of the behavior. Truly amazing what all the admins are able to do. You've helped combat the socks in that topic in the past. You've also helped me navigate all the locks during the sock influxes so I just wanted to put this on your radar. I figured new sock accounts would show up from one side or the other but looks like only 1 new account came and got flagged quickly. Thanks for the time! Kbhatt22 (talk) 00:20, 30 June 2021 (UTC)
