Semi-protected edit request on 30 November 2018

--47.8.119.167 (talk) 09:32, 30 November 2018 (UTC)Reply

  Not done: it's not clear what changes you want to be made. Please mention the specific changes in a "change X to Y" format and provide a reliable source if appropriate. DannyS712 (talk) 16:22, 30 November 2018 (UTC)Reply


Why are we keeping empty requests ? Look at this page, do we really want to archive all these ? Remove them and notify the editor with {{Empty edit request}}. - FlightTime (open channel) 16:26, 30 November 2018 (UTC)Reply
Pinging @DannyS712, Abelmoschus Esculentus, Danski454, Sakura Cartelet, NiciVampireHeart, NotTheFakeJTP, L293D, Spintendo, and ElHef: - FlightTime (open channel) 16:32, 30 November 2018 (UTC)Reply
I'm thinking it might be some sort of meme where anons like to "leave their mark" on this page due to it's nature. Having said that I'm not sure it's worth archiving tons of blank requests. On an unrelated note though the page was only protected once back in 2015 by Bkonrad for indef. Maybe we could try unprotection? Sakura CarteletTalk 16:58, 30 November 2018 (UTC)Reply
@Sakura Cartelet: Thanks for your reply. I have no comment on the protection aspect (I'm not familiar with the article subject enough to comment) I'm just hoping to change some editors view on how to handle empty requests. - FlightTime (open channel) 17:12, 30 November 2018 (UTC)Reply
@Sakura Cartelet: I don't mind either way. I've being avoiding removing blank requests so far, but in the future I'll remove them if there is a history of posting just blank requests. --DannyS712 (talk) 17:24, 30 November 2018 (UTC)Reply
Thank you, @DannyS712: - FlightTime (open channel) 17:27, 30 November 2018 (UTC)Reply
  Note: the only content of the archive page is blank edit requests.   Question: How should those be dealt with, if at all? --DannyS712 (talk) 17:31, 30 November 2018 (UTC)Reply
I wondered about this a while ago, and assume it's some sort of bot somewhere. I have no idea how we should react. - DavidWBrooks (talk) 17:50, 30 November 2018 (UTC)Reply
Perhaps a discussion with the wider Wikipedia community might be useful? A while back I tried to get an edit filter that would handle this issue but it was declined by an admin (sorry I don't remember who). Sakura CarteletTalk 21:53, 30 November 2018 (UTC)Reply
I've been removing blank requests since late April, following this discussion at VPT. I haven't had anyone object (requesters or other editors). As to what to do here - in the absence of guidance otherwise, I'll keep removing new blank requests, but since these have sat for awhile and spawned a discussion of their very own (metadiscussion?), I'd leave them where they are. We couldn't really clean out this discussion because WP:TPO, and without a bunch of empties, this conversation doesn't make much sense. Maybe throw them into a collapse box in case other actual discussions show up here?
@FlightTime: I had no idea {{Empty edit request}} existed - thanks for writing that, I'll have to stick that in my pocket for future use. ‑‑ElHef (Meep?) 00:10, 1 December 2018 (UTC)Reply
Ah, I didn't know about that conversation since I was out of the loop for a few months during my wikibreak (and while I was considering retirement). Also the {{Empty edit request}} template does sound useful for dealing with this in the future- not only on this talk page but others as well. Sakura CarteletTalk 04:46, 1 December 2018 (UTC)Reply

I watch a few pages where empty edit requests are a recurring problem. As Redrose64 has pointed out, most empty edit requests are simply tests to see what happens. If an IP visits XXXX they see "View source" where "Edit" would normally appear. That sparks their interest, so they click it. Then they see a wondrous page they have probably never previously encountered with an attractive "Submit an edit request" button. Who could resist clicking that? Then they click Publish to see the final result. Then editors waste time wondering what to do. I routinely remove such test edits. Johnuniq (talk) 08:34, 15 January 2019 (UTC)Reply

Discussion at Wikipedia talk:Talk page guidelines#Removing empty edit requests

  You are invited to join the discussion at Wikipedia talk:Talk page guidelines#Removing empty edit requests. Shhhnotsoloud (talk) 07:59, 15 January 2019 (UTC)Reply