I am on Wikipedia intermittently in order to focus on my academic and professional pursuits and will be back again to full-time editing again soon. I apologize in advance if I don't get to your request or reply to your comment, talk page message, or otherwise. I still very much do see them in my emails though, so please know that although I am aware of what's happening in my circle, I won't necessarily have the time to log on and edit (but may be on intermittently--just not as often). Thanks for your understanding!

Welcome to my Wikipedia user talk page. I await your comments. I will generally respond here to comments that are posted here, rather than replying via your talk page (or the article's talk page, if you are writing to me here about an article), so you may want to watch this page until you are responded to, or let me know where specifically you'd prefer the reply.

This user does not mind criticism. Feel free to let them know if they did something wrong.

Archives

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A couple of months ago, you asked about changes on Wikipedia over the last couple of decades. I bet you thought I'd forgotten about it, and you were RIGHT! But today while pulling some weeds outside, I remembered. These are a few things that stand out: (WARNING: Much rambling here. Feel free to collapse the comments if it's taking up too big a chunk of your page.)

• So many fewer frequent editors. I felt like I knew them all. My RfA in November of 2004 had an astounding 21 participants.
• The rate of incoming edits was a lot slower. Twenty years ago, three people working RC patrol at the same time could put eyeballs on EVERY new edit in the recent change list without really breaking a sweat. And this was mostly before the automated helpers like Twinkle or Huggle, so we had to either copy/paste or hand-type the warnings for vandals.
• There was much less stress on sourcing, and more on just writing articles to get them in here to build up a critical mass of information. It wasn't hard to think of an article that would be pretty easy to research, that just wasn't here. I wrote the original version of masking tape, for example, with (I'm embarrassed to report) not a single source cited. It just wasn't the huge deal it is now.
• ANYONE could start an article. No oversight, no AFC. Any anonymous IP could create one, which meant a HUGE part of RC patrol was clearing out new "articles" that were 10 steps below nonsense.
• Today, the "burden of proof" is on an editor who wants to add something to an article. Then, the burden was much more on the editor who believed something was baloney and needed to be removed. Today's focus is SO MUCH better for eliminating gossip and rumors and just general BS. "Just find a source...."
• A lot of edits that are performed by bots now, were done by hand then. For example, there was someone who ran reports of common typos, like "the the," and there would be this huge list of articles with that error, and you'd have to go to the article, use CtrlF to find the mistake, and correct it. It was very satisfying to watch the list get smaller and smaller...and then he'd re-run the report and flag a zillion new ones.

Thanks for making me think about this. I've enjoyed glancing over my ancient talk page messages to refresh my memory. Joyous! Noise! 22:42, 8 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]__DTELLIPSISBUTTON__{"threadItem":{"timestamp":"20240508224200","author":"Joyous!","type":"comment","level":1,"id":"c-Joyous!-20240508224200-Twenty_years_IS_a_long_time","replies":["c-Rolando_1208-20240809175200-Joyous!-20240508224200"]}}-->

@Joyous! Wow, what a journey. Thanks for sharing!! Rolando 1208 (talk) 17:52, 9 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]__DTELLIPSISBUTTON__{"threadItem":{"timestamp":"20240809175200","author":"Rolando 1208","type":"comment","level":2,"id":"c-Rolando_1208-20240809175200-Joyous!-20240508224200","replies":[]}}-->

News and updates for administrators from the past month (May 2024).

Administrator changes

Graham Beards

• Deskana
• Mets501
• Staxringold

Bureaucrat changes

• Deskana
• Warofdreams

Oversight changes

Dreamy Jazz

Guideline and policy news

• Phase II of the 2024 RfA review has commenced to improve and refine the proposals passed in Phase I.

Technical news

• The Nuke feature, which enables administrators to mass delete pages, will now correctly delete pages which were moved to another title. T43351

Arbitration

• The arbitration case Venezuelan politics has been closed.
• The Committee is seeking volunteers for various roles, including access to the conflict of interest VRT queue.

Miscellaneous

• WikiProject Reliability's unsourced statements drive is happening in June 2024 to replace {{citation needed}} tags with references! Sign up here to participate!

The third round of the 2024 WikiCup ended on 28 June. As with Round 2, this round was competitive: each of the 16 contestants who advanced to Round 4 scored at least 256 points.

The following editors all scored more than 400 points in Round 3:

• Generalissima (submissions) with 1,059 points, mostly from 1 featured article on DeLancey W. Gill, 11 good articles, 18 did you know nominations, and dozens of reviews;
• Skyshifter (submissions) with 673 points, mostly from 2 featured articles on Worlds (Porter Robinson album) and I'm God, 5 good articles, and 2 did you know nominations;
• Sammi Brie (submissions) with 557 points, mostly from 1 featured article on KNXV-TV, 5 good articles, and 8 did you know nominations; and
• AryKun (submissions) with 415 points, mostly from 1 featured article on Great cuckoo-dove, with a high number of bonus points from that article.

The full scores for round 3 can be seen here. So far this year, competitors have gotten 28 featured articles, 38 featured lists, 240 good articles, 92 in the news credits, and at least 285 did you know credits. They have conducted 279 featured article reviews, as well as 492 good article reviews and peer reviews, and have added 22 articles to featured topics and good topics.

Remember that any content promoted after 28 June but before the start of Round 4 can be claimed during Round 4, which starts on 1 July at 00:00 (UTC). 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. If you are concerned that your nomination—whether for a good article, featured content, or anything else—will not receive the necessary reviews, please list it on Wikipedia:WikiCup/Reviews Needed.

If you would like to learn more about rules and scoring for the 2024 WikiCup, please see this page. Further questions are welcome on Wikipedia talk:WikiCup and the judges (Cwmhiraeth (talk · contribs), Epicgenius (talk · contribs), and Frostly (talk · contribs)) are reachable on their talk pages. Good luck! If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove your name from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 21:30, 29 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]__DTELLIPSISBUTTON__{"threadItem":{"timestamp":"20240629213000","author":"MediaWiki message delivery","type":"comment","level":1,"id":"c-MediaWiki_message_delivery-20240629213000-WikiCup_2024_July_newsletter","replies":[]}}-->

News and updates for administrators from the past month (June 2024).

Administrator changes

• Elli
• HouseBlaster
• Pickersgill-Cunliffe

• Brianga
• De728631
• Georgewilliamherbert
• Hyacinth (deceased)
• ProveIt
• The Night Watch

Technical news

• Local administrators can now add new links to the bottom of the site Tools menu without using JavaScript. Documentation is available on MediaWiki. (T6086)

Miscellaneous

• The Community Wishlist is re-opening on 15 July 2024. Read more

Hello, That Coptic Guy,

If you had looked at the page history of this article, you would have seen that it's been around for years and was the subject of article hijacking. Please do a little research into articles to make sure that deletion tagging is appropriate. Liz ^{Read! Talk!} 03:02, 20 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]__DTELLIPSISBUTTON__{"threadItem":{"timestamp":"20240720030200","author":"Liz","type":"comment","level":1,"id":"c-Liz-20240720030200-Gabriel_George","replies":["c-That_Coptic_Guy-20240720030600-Liz-20240720030200"]}}-->

Ok, noted - thanks. — That Coptic Guy^{ping me!} (talk) (contribs) 03:06, 20 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]__DTELLIPSISBUTTON__{"threadItem":{"timestamp":"20240720030600","author":"That Coptic Guy","type":"comment","level":2,"id":"c-That_Coptic_Guy-20240720030600-Liz-20240720030200","replies":[],"displayName":"\u2014 That Coptic Guyping me!"}}-->

I reverted your NAC at Talk:Withdrawal_of_Joe_Biden_from_the_2024_United_States_presidential_election#Requested_move_23_July_2024. Please read Wikipedia:Requested_moves/Closing_instructions#Closing_the_requested_move 142.113.140.146 (talk) 18:25, 23 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]__DTELLIPSISBUTTON__{"threadItem":{"timestamp":"20240723182500","author":"142.113.140.146","type":"comment","level":1,"id":"c-142.113.140.146-20240723182500-Talk:Withdrawal_of_Joe_Biden_from_the_2024_United_States_presidential_election#R","replies":["c-That_Coptic_Guy-20240723183600-142.113.140.146-20240723182500","c-142.113.140.146-20240723183700-142.113.140.146-20240723182500","c-142.113.140.146-20240723185100-142.113.140.146-20240723182500"]}}-->

@142.113.140.146: - I'm a bit confused as to what exactly your objection is. I've since re-closed the discussion with the "normal" template. — That Coptic Guy^{ping me!} (talk) (contribs) 18:36, 23 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]__DTELLIPSISBUTTON__{"threadItem":{"timestamp":"20240723183600","author":"That Coptic Guy","type":"comment","level":2,"id":"c-That_Coptic_Guy-20240723183600-142.113.140.146-20240723182500","replies":[],"displayName":"\u2014 That Coptic Guyping me!"}}-->

You are supposed to remove the {{Requested move/dated|Foo}} line. If you don't, the bot might readd the ambox or something. This is why I reverted you, but I might as well remove the /dated template myself. 142.113.140.146 (talk) 18:37, 23 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]__DTELLIPSISBUTTON__{"threadItem":{"timestamp":"20240723183700","author":"142.113.140.146","type":"comment","level":2,"id":"c-142.113.140.146-20240723183700-142.113.140.146-20240723182500","replies":["c-That_Coptic_Guy-20240723183800-142.113.140.146-20240723183700"]}}-->

AH, OK! That makes sense. Yes, please, I'd appreciate you doing that so I can see what to do for future closings. Still learning here! Thank you. — That Coptic Guy^{ping me!} (talk) (contribs) 18:38, 23 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]__DTELLIPSISBUTTON__{"threadItem":{"timestamp":"20240723183800","author":"That Coptic Guy","type":"comment","level":3,"id":"c-That_Coptic_Guy-20240723183800-142.113.140.146-20240723183700","replies":[],"displayName":"\u2014 That Coptic Guyping me!"}}-->

You also forgot the {{subst:RM bottom}}, which I fixed.

FYI, for the {{NAC}}, you can use |nac=1 of {{subst:RM top|reason|nac=1}}. 142.113.140.146 (talk) 18:51, 23 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]__DTELLIPSISBUTTON__{"threadItem":{"timestamp":"20240723185100","author":"142.113.140.146","type":"comment","level":2,"id":"c-142.113.140.146-20240723185100-142.113.140.146-20240723182500","replies":["c-That_Coptic_Guy-20240723190100-142.113.140.146-20240723185100"]}}-->

Thanks, that's very much appreciated. — That Coptic Guy^{ping me!} (talk) (contribs) 19:01, 23 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]__DTELLIPSISBUTTON__{"threadItem":{"timestamp":"20240723190100","author":"That Coptic Guy","type":"comment","level":3,"id":"c-That_Coptic_Guy-20240723190100-142.113.140.146-20240723185100","replies":[],"displayName":"\u2014 That Coptic Guyping me!"}}-->

A discussion is taking place as to whether the article What can be, unburdened by what has been is suitable for inclusion in Wikipedia according to Wikipedia's policies and guidelines or whether it should be deleted.

The article will be discussed at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/What can be, unburdened by what has been until a consensus is reached, and anyone, including you, is welcome to contribute to the discussion. The nomination will explain the policies and guidelines which are of concern. The discussion focuses on high-quality evidence and our policies and guidelines.

Users may edit the article during the discussion, including to improve the article to address concerns raised in the discussion. However, do not remove the article-for-deletion notice from the top of the article until the discussion has finished.

—Ganesha811 (talk) 12:26, 26 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]__DTELLIPSISBUTTON__{"threadItem":{"timestamp":"20240726122600","author":"Ganesha811","type":"comment","level":1,"id":"c-Ganesha811-20240726122600-Nomination_of_What_can_be,_unburdened_by_what_has_been_for_deletion","replies":[]}}-->

Thanks for your reasoned comment at the MfD. I do not expect favoritism and do not claim there are no problems with the draft. That's why it's a draft. I have asked for evidence for accusations of BLP violations in the draft. Maybe they are there, but the accuser refuses to provide even one example. I don't want to bludgeon the discussion at MfD or ANI, so I started a discussion on the talk page, where longer discussions belong. Feel free to provide any advice to me. I really WANT to find any BLP violations and fix them. We don't MfD or AfD drafts or articles because there is some violation in them. We fix the violation. His refusal to provide evidence is a behavioral issue that should be dealt with. Accusations without evidence are not allowed. See my request at Please provide evidence of BLP violations Now, instead of replying to my request, he has dragged me to ANI. -- Valjean (talk) (PING me) 19:00, 28 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]__DTELLIPSISBUTTON__{"threadItem":{"timestamp":"20240728190000","author":"Valjean","type":"comment","level":1,"id":"c-Valjean-20240728190000-TY","replies":["c-That_Coptic_Guy-20240728201400-Valjean-20240728190000"]}}-->

Sure, I understand. That’s the point of draft pages in one’s user space—to do whatever you please and write what you’d like before submitting it into the main space. It’s a bit of a waste of time to start a discussion over something frankly pretty inconsequential in the grand scheme of things on this project. There are much more pressing issues to consider. I also say this as someone who is not vehemently opposed to all things Trump; we must allow all values and viewpoints to be heard here on WP.

I’ll probably stay out of the ANI thread to be honest since I’ve been lurking there far too much recently, but it’s annoying that it has gotten to this point. I think they were concerned about your overreaction to the oppose votes, so perhaps the ANI thread will probably end in just a reprimand and a variety of comments from other experienced folks like yourself. So, a learning experience for everyone hopefully.

Also it’s pretty cool seeing people who have been here for over 20 years like you. I reached out to @Joyous! recently about that on his talk page (I promise I’ll reply above, Joyous!). Fun stuff. — That Coptic Guy^{ping me!} (talk) (contribs) 20:14, 28 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]__DTELLIPSISBUTTON__{"threadItem":{"timestamp":"20240728201400","author":"That Coptic Guy","type":"comment","level":2,"id":"c-That_Coptic_Guy-20240728201400-Valjean-20240728190000","replies":["c-Valjean-20240728204800-That_Coptic_Guy-20240728201400"],"displayName":"\u2014 That Coptic Guyping me!"}}-->

Yes, us oldtimers gather experience, but also POV enemies, who then wikilawyer the craziest stuff. The purpose of Wikipedia is to document the "sum of all human knowledge" as it is covered in RS. We document all kinds of stuff, including POV we may not agree with. We are supposed to write for the opponent and even help editors we don't agree with when they need help to include and refine content we may not like, but as long as it's backed by RS and is policy compliant, we should seek to include it. I do this all the time. Some people are deletionists and whitewashers. That's unwikipedian behavior. They are NOTHERE.

In this case, I just want to see examples of BLP violations in the draft so I can fix them (and also find out what the accuser even means by their vague accusations). That's all I'm asking for, and instead of providing it, I get dragged to ANI over a topic we don't cover, and that clearly passes GNG. The rumor has been the sole topic in two lawsuits, covered very thoroughly by the Senate Intelligence Committee, that was far more thorough than the Mueller report, and also covered by myriad high quality RS. Our goal should be to make this fully policy compliant and suitable as an article, but some POV warriors don't want the topic to see the light of day. So they attack me instead and provide no evidence. -- Valjean (talk) (PING me) 20:48, 28 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]__DTELLIPSISBUTTON__{"threadItem":{"timestamp":"20240728204800","author":"Valjean","type":"comment","level":3,"id":"c-Valjean-20240728204800-That_Coptic_Guy-20240728201400","replies":[]}}-->

Thanks for reverting edits here: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Deaths_in_January_1987&diff=1238294708&oldid=1238294643 However I don't think it was vandalism, merely an edit that didn't agree with the format of this page. Bryan Krippner (talk) 07:51, 3 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]__DTELLIPSISBUTTON__{"threadItem":{"timestamp":"20240803075100","author":"Bryan Krippner","type":"comment","level":1,"id":"c-Bryan_Krippner-20240803075100-Velma_Abbott","replies":["c-That_Coptic_Guy-20240803135700-Bryan_Krippner-20240803075100"]}}-->

Hi, @Bryan Krippner - Thanks for leaving a message. I agree with you. That’s why the notice that I left on that editor’s talk page was about the Manual of Style and not a warning about vandalism. Should’ve specified in the edit summary, but I don’t believe WP:AntiVandal includes the reason for the reversion in the edit summary. — That Coptic Guy^{ping me!} (talk) (contribs) 13:57, 3 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]__DTELLIPSISBUTTON__{"threadItem":{"timestamp":"20240803135700","author":"That Coptic Guy","type":"comment","level":2,"id":"c-That_Coptic_Guy-20240803135700-Bryan_Krippner-20240803075100","replies":[],"displayName":"\u2014 That Coptic Guyping me!"}}-->

Bro I added it to celebrate the game’s 26th anniversary plz don’t remove it Pranaauvparkway (talk) 10:22, 5 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]__DTELLIPSISBUTTON__{"threadItem":{"timestamp":"20240805102200","author":"Pranaauvparkway","type":"comment","level":1,"id":"c-Pranaauvparkway-20240805102200-\ud83d\udea8\u203c\ufe0fdon\u2019t_remove_the_link","replies":[]}}-->

News and updates for administrators from the past month (July 2024).

Administrator changes

Isabelle Belato

• Ian.thomson
• Modussiccandi

Interface administrator changes

Izno

CheckUser changes

Barkeep49

Technical news

• Global blocks may now target accounts as well as IP's. Administrators may locally unblock when appropriate.
• Users wishing to permanently leave may now request "vanishing" via Special:GlobalVanishRequest. Processed requests will result in the user being renamed, their recovery email being removed, and their account being globally locked.

Arbitration

• The Arbitration Committee appointed the following administrators to the conflict of interest volunteer response team: Bilby, Extraordinary Writ

Do you think Eastern and Oriental Orthodox could reunite, or are the differences irreconcilable? Cheers. Rolando 1208 (talk) 17:46, 9 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]__DTELLIPSISBUTTON__{"threadItem":{"timestamp":"20240809174600","author":"Rolando 1208","type":"comment","level":1,"id":"c-Rolando_1208-20240809174600-Coptic_Church","replies":["c-That_Coptic_Guy-20240809182700-Rolando_1208-20240809174600"]}}-->

Hi, @Rolando 1208. Thanks for your message. It could certainly happen one day, and we would need another ecumenical council to do so, but it really hard to say. I do hope and pray it happens. The Church was united--EO, OO, Catholicism, etc--at the very start and will be again at the end of days, but as for right now, we are unfortunately divided. — That Coptic Guy^{ping me!} (talk) (contribs) 18:27, 9 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]__DTELLIPSISBUTTON__{"threadItem":{"timestamp":"20240809182700","author":"That Coptic Guy","type":"comment","level":2,"id":"c-That_Coptic_Guy-20240809182700-Rolando_1208-20240809174600","replies":["c-Rolando_1208-20240927112400-That_Coptic_Guy-20240809182700"],"displayName":"\u2014 That Coptic Guyping me!"}}-->

I heard an Egyptian priest on YouTube explain miaphysitism. It makes sense. The Council of Chalcedon was silly.

And the Council of Ephesus too. Assyrians don't deny Theotokos. They just have a preference for Christotokos. They're just very clear that Mary is mother of God the Son, but not the Father.

And then there's Papa Franciscus who is going against what the Bible says. I was low key considering Catholicism, but papal infallibility is so obviously false. Eastern Christians must return to Orthodoxy. All bishops are equal. The Latin Pope is not Jesus. Rolando 1208 (talk) 11:24, 27 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]__DTELLIPSISBUTTON__{"threadItem":{"timestamp":"20240927112400","author":"Rolando 1208","type":"comment","level":3,"id":"c-Rolando_1208-20240927112400-That_Coptic_Guy-20240809182700","replies":[]}}-->

"2024 and Feeding Our Future fraud scheme"--I'm not quite sure why you added that. Very, very tangential. Drmies (talk) 21:44, 9 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]__DTELLIPSISBUTTON__{"threadItem":{"timestamp":"20240809214400","author":"Drmies","type":"comment","level":1,"id":"c-Drmies-20240809214400-Tim_Walz","replies":["c-That_Coptic_Guy-20240809225400-Drmies-20240809214400"]}}-->

I disagree that it’s “very, very” tangential, @Drmies. I added it because it is still relevant to his term as governor. It was significant fraud (the U.S.’s biggest COVID-related fraud by dollar amount) that occurred in the state of Minnesota during his governorship and there is reliable sourcing for it.

I’ll consider bringing it to the talk page as you suggest, but I think it was legitimate to include. — That Coptic Guy^{ping me!} (talk) (contribs) 22:54, 9 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]__DTELLIPSISBUTTON__{"threadItem":{"timestamp":"20240809225400","author":"That Coptic Guy","type":"comment","level":2,"id":"c-That_Coptic_Guy-20240809225400-Drmies-20240809214400","replies":["c-Drmies-20240809225500-That_Coptic_Guy-20240809225400"],"displayName":"\u2014 That Coptic Guyping me!"}}-->

I don't think I suggested that--someone else removed it, and I agree completely. Drmies (talk) 22:55, 9 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]__DTELLIPSISBUTTON__{"threadItem":{"timestamp":"20240809225500","author":"Drmies","type":"comment","level":3,"id":"c-Drmies-20240809225500-That_Coptic_Guy-20240809225400","replies":["c-That_Coptic_Guy-20240809230800-Drmies-20240809225500"]}}-->

Ah I see now. It was indeed someone else (wasn't clear on mobile browser). — That Coptic Guy^{ping me!} (talk) (contribs) 23:08, 9 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]__DTELLIPSISBUTTON__{"threadItem":{"timestamp":"20240809230800","author":"That Coptic Guy","type":"comment","level":4,"id":"c-That_Coptic_Guy-20240809230800-Drmies-20240809225500","replies":[],"displayName":"\u2014 That Coptic Guyping me!"}}-->

The fourth round of the 2024 WikiCup ended on 29 August. Each of the 8 contestants who advanced to Round 4 scored at least 472 points, and the following contestants scored more than 700 points:

• Generalissima (submissions) with 1,150 points, mostly from 3 featured articles, 2 featured lists, 7 good articles, and 13 did you know nominations;
• Arconning (submissions) with 791 points, mostly from 2 featured lists, 8 good articles, 4 did you know nominations, and plenty of reviews;
• AirshipJungleman29 (submissions) with 718 points, mostly from a high-multiplier featured article on Genghis Khan and 2 good articles; and
• BennyOnTheLoose (submissions) with 714 points, mostly from 1 featured article on Susanna Hoffs, 2 featured lists, and 3 good articles.

Congratulations to our eight finalists and all who participated. Contestants put in extraordinary amounts of effort during this round, and their scores can be seen here. So far this year, competitors have gotten 36 featured articles, 55 featured lists, 15 good articles, 93 in the news credits, and at least 333 did you know credits. They have conducted 357 featured content reviews, as well as 553 good article reviews and peer reviews, and have added 30 articles to featured topics and good topics.

Any content promoted after 29 August but before the start of Round 5 can be claimed during Round 5, which starts on 1 September at 00:00 (UTC). Invitations for collaborative writing efforts or any other discussion of potentially interesting work is always welcome on the WikiCup talk page. If two or more WikiCup competitors have done significant work on an article, all can claim points. If you are concerned that your nomination—whether for a good article, featured content, or anything else—will not receive the necessary reviews, please list it on Wikipedia:WikiCup/Reviews Needed. Remember to claim your points within 14 days of earning them, and importantly, before the deadline on 31 October.

If you would like to learn more about rules and scoring for the 2024 WikiCup, please see this page. Further questions are welcome on Wikipedia talk:WikiCup and the judges (Cwmhiraeth (talk · contribs), Epicgenius (talk · contribs), and Frostly (talk · contribs)) are reachable on their talk pages. Good luck! If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove your name from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 03:13, 30 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]__DTELLIPSISBUTTON__{"threadItem":{"timestamp":"20240830031300","author":"MediaWiki message delivery","type":"comment","level":1,"id":"c-MediaWiki_message_delivery-20240830031300-WikiCup_2024_August_newsletter","replies":[]}}-->

News and updates for administrators from the past month (August 2024).

Administrator changes

Pppery

Interface administrator changes

Pppery

Oversighter changes

Wugapodes

CheckUser changes

• Courcelles
• GeneralNotability

Guideline and policy news

• Following an RfC, there is a new criterion for speedy deletion: C4, which applies to unused maintenance categories, such as empty dated maintenance categories for dates in the past.
• A request for comment is open to discuss whether Notability (species) should be adopted as a subject-specific notability guideline.

Arbitration

• Following a motion, remedies 5.1 and 5.2 of World War II and the history of Jews in Poland (the topic and interaction bans on My very best wishes, respectively) were repealed.
• Remedy 3C of the German war effort case ("Cinderella157 German history topic ban") was suspended for a period of six months.
• The arbitration case Historical Elections is currently open. Proposed decision is expected by 3 September 2024 for this case.

Miscellaneous

• Editors can now enter into good article review circles, an alternative for informal quid pro quo arrangements, to have a GAN reviewed in return for reviewing a different editor's nomination.
• A New Pages Patrol backlog drive is happening in September 2024 to reduce the number of unreviewed articles and redirects in the new pages feed. Currently, there is a backlog of over 13,900 articles and 26,200 redirects awaiting review. Sign up here to participate!

Hi there! The trial of the RfA discussion-only period passed at WP:RFA2024 has concluded, and after open discussion, the RfC is now considering whether to retain, modify, or discontinue it. You are invited to participate at Wikipedia:Requests for adminship/2024 review/Phase II/Discussion-only period. Cheers, and happy editing! MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 09:38, 27 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]__DTELLIPSISBUTTON__{"threadItem":{"timestamp":"20240927093800","author":"MediaWiki message delivery","type":"comment","level":1,"id":"c-MediaWiki_message_delivery-20240927093800-RFA2024_update:_Discussion-only_period_now_open_for_review","replies":[]}}-->

News and updates for administrators from the past month (September 2024).

Administrator changes

• Asilvering
• Significa liberdade

• Good Olfactory
• Hesperian
• I JethroBT
• TommyBoy
• Woody

CheckUser changes

• Barkeep49
• Izno

• Doug Weller
• Spicy

Guideline and policy news

• Administrator elections are a proposed new process for selecting administrators, offering an alternative to requests for adminship (RfA). The first trial election will take place in October 2024, with candidate sign-up from October 8 to 14, a discussion phase from October 22 to 24, and SecurePoll voting from October 25 to 31. For questions or to help out, please visit the talk page at Wikipedia talk:Administrator elections.
• Following a discussion, the speedy deletion reason "File pages without a corresponding file" has been moved from criterion G8 to F2. This does not change what can be speedily deleted.
• A request for comment is open to discuss whether there is a consensus to have an administrator recall process.

Arbitration

• The arbitration case Historical elections has been closed.
• An arbitration case regarding Backlash to diversity and inclusion has been opened.
• Editors are invited to nominate themselves to serve on the 2024 Arbitration Committee Electoral Commission until 23:59 October 8, 2024 (UTC).

Miscellaneous

• If you are interested in stopping spammers, please put MediaWiki talk:Spam-whitelist and MediaWiki talk:Spam-blacklist on your watchlist, and help out when you can.

The 2024 WikiCup has come to an end, with the final round being a very tight race. Our new champion is AirshipJungleman29 (submissions), who scored 2,283 points mainly through 3 high-multiplier FAs and 3 GAs on military history topics. By a 1% margin, Airship beat out last year's champion, BeanieFan11 (submissions), who scored second with 2,264 points, mainly from an impressive 58 GAs about athletes. In third place, Generalissima (submissions) scored 1,528 points, primarily from two FAs on U.S. Librarians of Congress and 20 GAs about various historical topics. Our other finalists are: Sammi Brie (submissions) with 879 points, Hey man im josh (submissions) with 533 points, BennyOnTheLoose (submissions) with 432 points, Arconning (submissions) with 244 points, and AryKun (submissions) with 15 points. Congratulations to our finalists and all who participated!

The final round was very productive, and contestants had 7 FAs, 9 FLs, 94 GAs, 73 FAC reviews, and 79 GAN reviews and peer reviews. Altogether, Wikipedia has benefited greatly from the activities of WikiCup competitors all through the contest. Well done everyone!

All those who reached the final will receive awards and the following special awards will be made, based on high performance in particular areas of content creation. So that the finalists do not have an undue advantage, these prizes are awarded to the competitor who scored the highest in any particular field in a single round, or in the event of a tie, to the overall leader in this field.

• Generalissima (submissions) wins the featured article prize for 3 FAs in round 4, and 7 FAs overall.
• Hey man im josh (submissions) wins the featured list prize for 23 FLs overall.
• MaranoFan (submissions) wins the featured topic prize for 9 articles in featured topics in round 1.
• Hey man im josh (submissions) wins the featured content reviewer prize for 110 FA/FL reviews overall.
• BeanieFan11 (submissions) wins the good article prize for 58 GAs in round 5, and 70 GAs overall.
• Fritzmann (submissions) wins the good topic prize for 6 articles in good topics in round 2.
• Sammi Brie (submissions) wins the good article reviewer prize for 45 GA reviews in round 2, and 78 GA reviews overall.
• BeanieFan11 (submissions) wins the DYK prize, for 131 Did you know articles overall.
• Muboshgu (submissions) wins the ITN prize, for 15 In the news articles in round 1, and 36 overall.

Next year's competition will begin on 1 January. You are invited to sign up to participate; the WikiCup is open to all Wikipedians, both novices and experienced editors, and we hope to see you all in the 2025 competition. Until then, it only remains to once again congratulate our worthy winners, and thank all participants for their involvement!

If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove yourself from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. Cwmhiraeth (talk · contribs), Epicgenius (talk · contribs), and Frostly (talk · contribs). MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 13:49, 1 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]__DTELLIPSISBUTTON__{"threadItem":{"timestamp":"20241101134900","author":"MediaWiki message delivery","type":"comment","level":1,"id":"c-MediaWiki_message_delivery-20241101134900-WikiCup_2024_November_newsletter","replies":[]}}-->