Fetchcomms

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I haven't edited much in the last few years because I was busy with work and other "real life" things, but I always figured I'd come back to contribute eventually. I love reading, writing, researching, and – above all – learning. I do not love drama, bureaucracy, cliquishness, or any of the other distractions that plagued Wikipedia when I was active, and it was cathartic to take a long break from caring about policies, guidelines, and procedures. During my absence, it seemed to me that the project was heading in the right direction: There were new UI features to make editing friendlier and easier for new users, for example, and I noticed last year that the number of WMF staff had increased exponentially. (My memory is spotty, but it feels like when I first started editing, the foundation had no more than a couple dozen full-time employees.) As far as I could tell while removed from all the on-wiki goings-on, the project was healthy and growing.

I saw the news earlier this year that Lila Tretikov was stepping down as executive director of the foundation; this struck me as unusual, given the brevity of her tenure. But I wasn't aware of the entire saga of apparent management and communication failures until I stumbled upon GorillaWarfare's timeline this week. I hadn't even heard of "Discovery" or any plans about a knowledge engine.

I am not anti-change or anti-innovation. Frankly, I don't care if the foundation decides to invest money into building a Google or Wolfram Alpha competitor. In fact, I think the community is often too stubborn and conservative when it comes to change. But what worries me is the apparent way in which mismanagement has led to a lack of oversight, transparency, and communication. The project leadership has lost sight of its core principles and, in the process, alienated a lot of community leaders for whom I had great respect. I was shocked to see how many foundation employees, many of whom began as regular old editors, have left in the past two years. The community does not run the foundation, but it's the lifeblood of the foundation's projects. The community doesn't always have to agree with the foundation's decisions, but it needs to trust the foundation and ultimately take a leap of faith and buy into the decisions that are made. It's clear to me that the trust has eroded, and there is no buy-in.

I still love the idea of building up a repository of the world's knowledge. I still love researching topics that pique my interest and I still love writing. But I don't think I could care enough about Wikipedia to spend hours writing articles now after seeing how the leadership has alienated the very people who built their projects up – both volunteers and staffers – while neglecting the crucial tenets of transparency and accountability.

I'll return when I think I can care enough again, but until then, thanks for all the fish, and try not to take this place so seriously. (Seriously, lighten up!)

/ƒETCHCOMMS/ 18:51, 23 May 2016 (UTC)

Hey fetch, welcome back Mlpearc (open channel) 18:56, 23 May 2016 (UTC)

Fetchcomms, I'm so glad I ran into your talk page today! It was a pleasant surprise to see this note. I've also been much less active these past few years (until very recently) and have not had the drive to do any substantial writing, so I can empathize a bit in that respect. Hope all is well with you, and I hope to see you around some time. Best wishes, Airplaneman ✈ 15:14, 4 August 2016 (UTC)

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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. --B-bot (talk) 03:28, 2 November 2016 (UTC)

Wikipedia:WikiProject United States/The 50,000 Challenge

You are invited to participate in the 50,000 Challenge, aiming for 50,000 article improvements and creations for articles relating to the United States. This effort began on November 1, 2016 and to reach our goal, we will need editors like you to participate, expand, and create. See more here!

--MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 02:37, 8 November 2016 (UTC)

New deal for page patrollers

Hi Fetchcomms,

In order to better control the quality of new pages, keep out the spam, and welcome the genuine newbies, the current system we introduced in 2011 is being updated and improved. The documentation and tutorials have also been revised and given a facelift. Most importantly a new user group New Page Reviewer has been created.

Under the new rule, you may find that you are temporarily unable to mark new pages as reviewed. However, this is nothing to worry about - most current experienced patrollers are being accorded the the new right without the need to apply, and if you have significant previous experience of patrolling new pages, we strongly encourage you to apply for the new right as soon as possible - we need all the help we can get, and we are now providing a dynamic, supportive environment for your work.

Find out more about this exiting new user right now at New Page Reviewers and be sure to read the new tutorial before applying. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 04:29, 13 November 2016 (UTC)

ArbCom Elections 2016: Voting now open!

Hello, Fetchcomms. 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)

RC Patrol-related Proposals in the 2016 Community Wishlist Survey

Greetings Recent Changes Patrollers!

This is a one-time-only message to inform you about technical proposals related to Recent Changes Patrol in the 2016 Community Wishlist Survey that I think you may be interested in reviewing and perhaps even voting for:

1. Adjust number of entries and days at Last unpatrolled
2. Editor-focused central editing dashboard
3. "Hide trusted users" checkbox option on watchlists and related/recent changes (RC) pages
4. Real-Time Recent Changes App for Android
5. Shortcut for patrollers to last changes list

Further, there are more than 20 proposals related to Watchlists in general that you may be interested in reviewing. (and over 260 proposals in all, across many aspects of wikis)

Thank you for your consideration. Please note that voting for proposals continues through December 12, 2016.

Note: You received this message because you have transcluded {{User wikipedia/RC Patrol}} (user box) on your user page. Since this message is "one-time-only" there is no opt out for future mailings.

Best regards, Stevietheman — Delivered: 01:09, 8 December 2016 (UTC)

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Note that any non-free images not used in any articles will be deleted after seven days, as described in section F5 of the criteria for speedy deletion. Thank you. --B-bot (talk) 18:44, 16 January 2018 (UTC)

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Note that any non-free images not used in any articles will be deleted after seven days, as described in section F5 of the criteria for speedy deletion. Thank you. --B-bot (talk) 03:30, 10 March 2019 (UTC)

Today's Wikipedian 10 years ago

Awesome

Ten years!

--Gerda Arendt (talk) 07:33, 28 October 2020 (UTC)

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Good article reassessment for 2010 Shanghai fire

2010 Shanghai fire has been nominated for a good article reassessment. If you are interested in the discussion, please participate by adding your comments to the reassessment page. If concerns are not addressed during the review period, the good article status may be removed from the article. Thebiguglyalien (talk) 23:33, 17 March 2024 (UTC)

@Thebiguglyalien: Fetchcomms hasn't edited for almost 8 years. FYI. - FlightTime (open channel) 23:40, 17 March 2024 (UTC)

Thanks for the heads up, but this was automated when I completed the listing. To my knowledge, there's no way to turn this off when using the GAR listing tool. Thebiguglyalien (talk) 23:41, 17 March 2024 (UTC)

Proposed deletion of Eli Bridge Company

The article Eli Bridge Company has been proposed for deletion because of the following concern:

Non-notable Company, no independent sources. Does not meet WP:CORP or WP:GNG.

While all constructive contributions to Wikipedia are appreciated, pages may be deleted for any of several reasons.

You may prevent the proposed deletion by removing the {{proposed deletion/dated}} notice, but please explain why in your edit summary or on the article's talk page.

Please consider improving the page to address the issues raised. Removing {{proposed deletion/dated}} will stop the proposed deletion process, but other deletion processes exist. In particular, the speedy deletion process can result in deletion without discussion, and articles for deletion allows discussion to reach consensus for deletion. Andrewjenner75 (talk) 01:27, 21 May 2024 (UTC)