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User talk:The Earwig/Archive 16

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Latest comment: 2 years ago by MediaWiki message delivery in topic The Signpost: 30 January 2022
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The Signpost: 1 March 2020

Latest comment: 4 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 18:46, 1 March 2020 (UTC)

Copyvios local version

Latest comment: 4 years ago4 comments2 people in discussion

Posting this here because I think interested parties will be following...

From the for-what-it's-worth department, I have hastily thrown together a clean-room implementation of the "URL comparison" feature in a Windows exe creatively called "Copyvios". It has limited applicability (i.e. it scratches my own personal itch) explained in its README. I'll try to get the source on sourceforgegithub. For now, get the exe and a reference source from https://1drv.ms/u/s!AtuCZY0YF4hGop43fHSS2GiSK2fPUw?e=goT44W. David Brooks (talk) 17:03, 5 March 2020 (UTC)

Hello DavidBrooks, I got your email, but I didn't see the message below my question above. In the future, I prefer to do communication on-wiki, unless it has be confidential for obvious reasons. It is for the benefit of the community so others can help me out as well. I don't like to install unfamiliar software, just to be safe so I am going to pass on installing it and wait until the copyvio detector is fixed. Interstellarity (talk) 21:21, 5 March 2020 (UTC)
Both understood. David Brooks (talk) 21:47, 5 March 2020 (UTC)

Source now at https://github.com/DavidWBrooks/Copyvios. I don't know how to handle contributions yet; be gentle. David Brooks (talk) 22:35, 5 March 2020 (UTC)

Template:AFC statistics

Latest comment: 4 years ago2 comments2 people in discussion

In the Recently accepted table, could you add the class when it's set? Probably via the use of {{class}} in the 'Notes' column? Headbomb {t · c · p · b} 18:09, 11 March 2020 (UTC)

Thanks, that's a good idea. I'll look into it when I have some free time. — Earwig talk 03:11, 13 March 2020 (UTC)

Another interim tool to try

Latest comment: 4 years ago2 comments2 people in discussion

Here's a comparison tool that's available to people not using Windows-based machines: https://copyleaks.com/compare. It's like Duplication Detector, but has more options, and highlights the overlapping content in a more usable way.— Diannaa (talk) 14:02, 16 March 2020 (UTC)

Based only on my favorite testcase and one more, that is definitely impressive, in two respects (a) it applies the highlights to the visible pages (b) it has a "related meaning" highlight for a single word that doesn't match within a sentence that does. Otherwise, the matches are broadly the same as both copyvios and my tool. Downsides: biggest is it doesn't appear to be scriptable (you can't specify the arguments within the URL as far as I can see), a fairly hard captcha, and (a small quibble) needs the full URL of the WP article like dupdet. The only downside of (a) is it highlights matches in all the sidebar and header stuff (in this case, between a Wikipedia and a Wikisource page) although that's unlikely to bleed into the text itself. Oh, and it labels "original" and "suspect" in that order, unlike copyvios, not that it matters. Recommended along with mine :-) (which is faster, and scriptable but only shows naked text like copyvios). David Brooks (talk) 14:42, 16 March 2020 (UTC)

March 18: First ever ONLINE WikiWednesday Salon NYC

March 18, 7pm: ONLINE WikiWednesday Salon NYC
 

You are invited to join the Wikimedia NYC community for our monthly "WikiWednesday" evening salon (7-9pm) and knowledge-sharing workshop. This month, as part of Wikimedia NYC's commitment to the well-being of members, we will hold WikiWednesday online via Zoom videoconferencing! To join the meeting from your computer or smartphone, just visit this link. More information about how to connect is available on the meetup page.

We look forward to seeing local Wikimedians, but would also like to invite folks from the greater New York metropolitan area (and beyond!) who might not typically be able to join us in person!

Is there a project you'd like to share? A question you'd like answered? A Wiki* skill you'd like to learn? Let us know by adding it to the agenda.

7:00pm - 9:00 pm online via Zoom

We especially encourage folks to add your 5-minute lightning talks to our roster, and otherwise join in the "open space" experience! Newcomers are very welcome! Bring your friends and colleagues! --Wikimedia New York City Team 04:37, 17 March 2020 (UTC)

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The Signpost: 29 March 2020

Latest comment: 4 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
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Copyvios down?

Latest comment: 4 years ago9 comments7 people in discussion

Hi! Is Copyvios down again? https://tools.wmflabs.org/copyvios/?project=wikipedia&lang=de does not work. Kind regards Doc Taxon (talk) 17:48, 2 March 2020 (UTC)

@Doc Taxon: It worked for me just a moment ago. Curb Safe Charmer (talk) 18:06, 2 March 2020 (UTC)
Repairs are still underway; you can check the status of the tool here.— Diannaa (talk) 01:26, 3 March 2020 (UTC)
Diannaa is correct: the problems from the past couple weeks are still ongoing. — Earwig talk 02:02, 3 March 2020 (UTC)
@The Earwig: This happened to me as well. Is there an alternative copyright tool I can use while yours is getting fixed? Interstellarity (talk) 19:41, 5 March 2020 (UTC)
Often if you wait a few minutes you can successfully try again. Graeme Bartlett (talk) 22:43, 5 March 2020 (UTC)
There's https://tools.wmflabs.org/dupdet/, but it's pretty primitive compared to Earwig's tool.— Diannaa (talk) 00:39, 6 March 2020 (UTC)
The site was briefly up this morning, but timing out again now. And, at the risk of continuing to appear to brag, my Windows-local tool (below) is still available as described. You can certainly think of it as a version of dupdet with the copyvios UI. And, on a quick test while copyvios was up, it seemed to identify more matches without falling into false positive territory. Again, the big disclaimer, it doesn't duplicate the Google/turnitin search. David Brooks (talk) 17:05, 14 March 2020 (UTC)

The Earwig, can you help me and declare the problems of Copyvios? I didn't understand the concrete reason(s) yet. Thank you, Doc Taxon (talk) 07:46, 2 April 2020 (UTC)

Exclusions list addition for gamexflash.net?

Latest comment: 4 years ago3 comments2 people in discussion

Hello,

Take a look at User talk:Ryūkotsusei#Ways to improve Zero Racers. Do you need to add that website to the exclusions list? « Ryūkotsusei » 15:26, 13 April 2020 (UTC)

Hi Ryūkotsusei, I don't generally recommend adding exclusions for a single page unless we can determine multiple pages on the site have been copied from Wikipedia. Do you know if this is case? Looking at a couple other articles on the site, it seems to be generally low-quality content, but not clearly copying from WP in large amounts. — Earwig talk 15:29, 13 April 2020 (UTC)
I do not believe its in large amounts. The site appears to have original content articles, and others are quoting Wikipedia without attribution, [1], [2]. F-Zero is probably an early work. « Ryūkotsusei » 16:31, 13 April 2020 (UTC)

Today's Wikipedian 10 years ago

Latest comment: 4 years ago2 comments2 people in discussion
Awesome
 
Ten years!

--Gerda Arendt (talk) 07:39, 17 April 2020 (UTC)

Thank you, Gerda. Incredible to think that was ten years ago. — Earwig talk 12:37, 17 April 2020 (UTC)

April 22: ONLINE WikiWednesday Salon NYC

April 22, 7pm: ONLINE WikiWednesday Salon NYC
 

You are invited to join the Wikimedia NYC community for our monthly "WikiWednesday" evening salon (7-8pm) and knowledge-sharing workshop. This month, as part of Wikimedia NYC's commitment to the well-being of members, we will hold WikiWednesday online via Zoom videoconferencing! To join the meeting from your computer or smartphone, just visit this link. More information about how to connect is available on the meetup page.

We look forward to seeing local Wikimedians, but would also like to invite folks from the greater New York metropolitan area (and beyond!) who might not typically be able to join us in person!

This month, we've invited Esther Jackson of the New York Botanical Garden to join us for an Earth Day focused conversation.

Is there a project you'd like to share? A question you'd like answered? A Wiki* skill you'd like to learn? Let us know by adding it to the agenda.

7:00pm - 8:00 pm online via Zoom (optional breakout rooms from 8:00-8:30)

We especially encourage folks to add your 5-minute lightning talks to our roster, and otherwise join in the "open space" experience! Newcomers are very welcome! Bring your friends and colleagues! --Wikimedia New York City Team 23:26, 21 April 2020 (UTC)

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The Signpost: 26 April 2020

Latest comment: 4 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
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Sat May 9: Symposium on Wikipedia and COVID-19

Symposium on Wikipedia and COVID-19 (May 9)
 

You are invited to join the Wikimedia NYC community for a Symposium on Wikipedia and COVID-19, which aims to answer questions the public may have about Wikipedia's coverage of the pandemic. The event includes four speakers, all of whom are active contributors to the topic area on Wikipedia, but bring different perspectives, backgrounds, and interests. The event is free and open to the public, broadcast live on YouTube and Facebook, and questions taken from viewers on these platforms. Abstracts and speaker bios are available on the event page.

Symposium on Wikipedia and COVID-19

Saturday May 9, 6:00PM - 8:00PM EST (22:00 - 24:00 UTC)

online via YouTube and Facebook

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--Wikimedia New York City Team 14:48, 5 May 2020 (UTC)

Excluded url list

Latest comment: 4 years ago3 comments2 people in discussion

Hi, recently I've added http://legendsofhockey.net/LegendsOfHockey/jsp/SearchPlayer.jsp to prevent results like this, but as you can see, the URL is still displayed at the results. I thought I can happen, because I've did not included the "www.", but the editnotice of the list says that I should not. However there are other entries with www., so what is correct now? Best regards, Luke081515 19:43, 8 May 2020 (UTC)

@Luke081515: You did it correctly. There shouldn't be a www; entries with a www are because people didn't follow the directions. The problem is actually a bug on my part: exclusions with uppercase letters weren't being handled correctly. I fixed it. You should see the correct result now. — Earwig talk 00:28, 9 May 2020 (UTC)
Thank you very much. Luke081515 07:30, 9 May 2020 (UTC)

A barnstar for you!

Latest comment: 4 years ago2 comments2 people in discussion
  The Technical Barnstar
Thank you, thank you, thank you, for the MediaWiki Parser From Hell! Been using it a lot at the Wikimedia Hackathon 2020 Gabrielaltay (talk) 21:45, 10 May 2020 (UTC)
Thank you! — Earwig talk 14:07, 11 May 2020 (UTC)

EarwigBot down?

Latest comment: 4 years ago8 comments3 people in discussion

Hi, I just noticed that Template:AFC statistics/pending hadn't been updated since 02:00, 14 April 2020‎, and then noticed that the bot had only done one edit since then as well. Cheers KylieTastic (talk) 16:32, 15 April 2020 (UTC)

@KylieTastic: Thanks for reporting. It looks like there is some significant replication lag right now on Toolforge, so the bot isn't updating the chart to avoid putting extra strain on the database servers to give them a chance to catch up. — Earwig talk 16:53, 15 April 2020 (UTC)
Thanks - I forgot to check replag... probably because I was doing wiki checking while on a conference call and not giving either all my attention. Nice to see the bot is resposive and resposible to such things. Cheers, keep safe KylieTastic (talk)
I've also tried to run a couple of Earwig copyvio checks and getting error "An error occurred while using the search engine (Google Error: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden). Note: there is a daily limit on the number of search queries the tool is allowed to make. You may repeat the check without using the search engine." Joseph2302 (talk) 16:44, 15 April 2020 (UTC)
@Joseph2302: Thanks for reporting. It looks like there might be an issue with the proxy we use to access Google. I will ask the people responsible for that. — Earwig talk 16:53, 15 April 2020 (UTC)
This issue should be resolved now. — Earwig talk 20:44, 15 April 2020 (UTC)

May 20: ONLINE WikiWednesday Salon NYC

May 20, 7pm: ONLINE WikiWednesday Salon NYC
 

You are invited to join the Wikimedia NYC community for our monthly "WikiWednesday" evening salon (7-8pm) and knowledge-sharing workshop. This month, as part of Wikimedia NYC's commitment to the well-being of members, we will hold WikiWednesday online via Zoom videoconferencing! To join the meeting from your computer or smartphone, just visit this link. More information about how to connect is available on the meetup page.

We look forward to seeing local Wikimedians, but would also like to invite folks from the greater New York metropolitan area (and beyond!) who might not typically be able to join us in person!

This month, we'll focus on WikiProject New York City and our favorite local articles, as well as Wiki Loves Pride past and future.

Is there a project you'd like to share? A question you'd like answered? A Wiki* skill you'd like to learn? Let us know by adding it to the agenda.

7:00pm - 8:00 pm online via Zoom (optional breakout rooms from 8:00-8:30)

We especially encourage folks to add your 5-minute lightning talks to our roster, and otherwise join in the "open space" experience! Newcomers are very welcome! Bring your friends and colleagues!

(You can subscribe/unsubscribe from future notifications for NYC-area events by adding or removing your name from this list.)

--Wikimedia New York City Team 16:00, 18 May 2020 (UTC)

The Signpost: 31 May 2020

Latest comment: 4 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
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June 17: ONLINE WikiWednesday Salon NYC

June 17, 7pm: ONLINE WikiWednesday Salon NYC
 

You are invited to join the Wikimedia NYC community for our monthly "WikiWednesday" evening salon (7-8pm) and knowledge-sharing workshop. This month, as part of Wikimedia NYC's commitment to the well-being of members, we will hold WikiWednesday online via Zoom videoconferencing! To join the meeting from your computer or smartphone, just visit this link. More information about how to connect is available on the meetup page.

We look forward to seeing local Wikimedians, but would also like to invite folks from the greater New York metropolitan area (and beyond!) who might not typically be able to join us in person!

This month, we'll check in on the global WikiCup race and have as featured speaker our local champion and frontrunner, who is trying to win it by writing as many new New York City articles as possible, as well as other local and global topics.

Is there a project you'd like to share? A question you'd like answered? A Wiki* skill you'd like to learn? Let us know by adding it to the agenda.

7:00pm - 8:00 pm online via Zoom (optional breakout rooms from 8:00-8:30)

We especially encourage folks to add your 3-minute lightning talks to our roster, and otherwise join in the "open space" experience! Newcomers are very welcome! Bring your friends and colleagues!

(You can subscribe/unsubscribe from future notifications for NYC-area events by adding or removing your name from this list.)

--Wikimedia New York City Team 01:55, 16 June 2020 (UTC)

The Signpost: 28 June 2020

Latest comment: 4 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
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Earwig doing the thing again

Latest comment: 4 years ago2 comments2 people in discussion

Hey. Yesterday and today I've tried to use the Earwig tool to check for copyvios, and have gotten the (Google Error: HTTP Error 429: Too Many Requests) issue that I know we had a couple months back. Not sure if something has to be re-tweaked over at Phabricator or if this is something that is screwy on Google's end. Wizardman 01:59, 3 July 2020 (UTC)

Hi Wizardman, thanks for the notice. I looked though the tool's logs and it seems we're being hammered by an unidentified bot that's trying to scan every article in the Turkish Wikipedia—or a substantial fraction thereof. I've blocked it. Hopefully the operator will notice and do something to identify themselves so we can work out a more reasonable approach. — Earwig talk 05:42, 3 July 2020 (UTC)

Exploring EarwigBot for tagging WikiProject Lakes

Latest comment: 4 years ago3 comments2 people in discussion

Hi, I'm investigating automated WP tagging of articles for WP:LAKES as part of the revamp of the project. I'm wondering if EarwigBot could handle or might be modified to handle recursive categories limited to the pattern of the category's name within the top category Category:Lakes by country. Given the scope of WP:LAKES the tagging of these with {{WikiProject Lakes}} is non controversial since the items in the categories should all be in scope and even some assumed this has been automated already. There is great consistency in the name patterns and categorization of articles to scan and tag with the pattern filter. A few pattern of names that could have articles tagged automatically are "Lakes of *", "Artificial Lakes in *", "Reservoirs in *", and a handful of others. Since these naming conventions are well followed even future categories with this pattern would be included without modification while also avoiding out of scope categories at the deepest levels where categories like Category:Lake_Tahoe exist. The reason for the pattern is not only the dynamic, but also that categories for a specific lake include out of scope articles and are best left to manual review. Does the recursion based on pattern to compile a list then to tag the articles without WP:LAKES seem reasonable to implement? Wolfgang8741 says: If not you, then who? (talk) 13:31, 10 July 2020 (UTC)

Hi Wolfgang8741. Yes, this is possible. I'll work on it and let you know when I have a list of articles the bot would tag using the filters you gave. — Earwig talk 22:17, 10 July 2020 (UTC)
Thanks The Earwig. I knew it was technically possible, but didn't know if it was a readily available feature. :) I don't have stats on the the level of overlap, but let's go within the following. They should be safe, but I'm happy to review the first run prior to tagging to verify. I don't expect too many new tags to be identified as there has been a recent manual effort to tag articles too, but ongoing this will help immensely shift efforts.:
  1. Lakes of *
  2. Artificial Lakes in *
  3. Reservoirs in *
  4. International lakes of *
  5. Lists of Lakes of *
  6. Lists of Reservoirs in *
  7. Endorheic lakes of *
  8. Saline lakes of *
  9. Oxbow lakes of *
  10. Glacial lakes of *
  11. Sacred lakes of *
  12. Subalpine lakes of
  13. Volcanic lakes of *
  14. Freshwater lochs of *

Wolfgang8741 says: If not you, then who? (talk) 09:58, 11 July 2020 (UTC)

The Signpost: 2 August 2020

Latest comment: 4 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 18:26, 2 August 2020 (UTC)

mwparserfromhell

Latest comment: 4 years ago2 comments2 people in discussion

I've been working on a tool which parses SPI case pages. It kept crashing on Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Alex Neman/Archive, apparently mis-parsing headers. To make a long story short, I eventually got down to a minimal test case showing that mwpfh breaks on mis-matched quotes (i.e. italics), and was working on opening a bug. Then I saw about skip_style_tags, which did indeed fix the problem. So, glad you added that feature. -- RoySmith (talk) 22:49, 4 August 2020 (UTC)

Glad to hear it helped. This is mwparserfromhell's most significant long-standing bug, #40, which will require some considerable redesigning to fix properly. — Earwig talk 23:01, 4 August 2020 (UTC)

Sun Aug 16: Great American Wiknic NYC & Beyond

August 16, 3pm: Great American Wiknic
 
 

You are invited to join the Wikimedia NYC community for our annual summer Great American Wiknic, this year being held virtually.

We look forward to seeing local Wikimedians, but would also like to invite folks from the greater New York metropolitan area (and beyond!) who might not typically be able to join us in person!

Featuring artist-Wikimedian Sara Clugage's "Picnics: An Outside History" for a cultural exploration of picnicking, knowledge and society during the national panel in the first part. We encourage you to call in for the second part from a local park or natural site and share it on the video stream, as well as sharing your favorite picnic grub or other special foods with us.

Is there a project you'd like to share? A question you'd like answered? A Wiki* skill you'd like to learn? Let us know by adding it to the agenda. The Wiknic is taking the place of "WikiWednesday" this month, so we will also include salon and knowledge-sharing workshop aspects.

3:00 pm - 4:00 pm online via YouTube (watch our national panel's livestream, and participate by text chat)
4:00 pm - 5:00 pm online via Zoom (participate by videoconference with NYC community)

We especially encourage folks to share your parks and foods on screen, and add your 3-minute lightning talks to our roster for the Zoom portion, and otherwise join in the "open space" experience! Newcomers are very welcome! Bring your friends and colleagues!

(You can subscribe/unsubscribe from future notifications for NYC-area events by adding or removing your name from this list.)

--Wikimedia New York City Team 22:29, 13 August 2020 (UTC)

The Signpost: 30 August 2020

Latest comment: 4 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
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Template:AFC_statistics/declined

Latest comment: 4 years ago2 comments2 people in discussion

EarwigBot seems to have stopped updating this page since 14 September. Could you look into it? The replag is high these days but surely that would only the bot would emit outdated statistics, rather than not work at all, right? – SD0001 (talk) 18:36, 16 September 2020 (UTC)

@SD0001: The bot will avoid fetching data from the wiki entirely if replag is too high, with the idea of relieving some pressure off the servers so they can catch up. To be honest, replag doesn't usually get this high, so I haven't necessarily planned around it. But just doing a quick check, replag right now is about 64 hours (!) and has increased by an hour over the past hour. This tells me data isn't being replicated at all, not just that it's slow, so even if we tried to fetch the latest data, I don't think things would change much. — Earwig talk 03:36, 17 September 2020 (UTC)

Earwig's Copyvio Detector %% notes

Latest comment: 4 years ago2 comments2 people in discussion

Hi, following this discussion at ru-wiki I would like to clarify what do exactly mean "confidence" percents in your tool? Say here - 46.2% is like "46.2% of my confidence that the text is taken from the source at the right"? Or like "46.2% of text is taken from the source at the right"? Or something else? Best regards, --Neolexx (talk) 02:55, 18 September 2020 (UTC)

Hi Neolexx, thanks for your question. The simple answer is that the confidence number is based on the amount of text in the article that is found in the source at the right, but it's not necessarily equal to the actual percentage. The calculation is a bit complicated. For example, the confidence will be higher than the "raw" percentage when a very large amount of text is copied even if it makes up a small portion of an article. Intuitively, you should think of the confidence as an estimate of how significantly the article copies from the source. 50% confidence doesn't mean 50% of the article is copied or there's a 50% chance the article is copied, just that the degree of copying is more than an article with 40% confidence and less than an article with 60% confidence. I admit this is not clearly explained, and could be communicated better. For a more detailed explanation of the math, see here: Special:Permalink/867222414#Meaning of copyvio detector result. Thanks, — Earwig talk 06:46, 18 September 2020 (UTC)

Sat Sep 26: Met Fashion Virtual Edit Meet-up

September 26, 12:30pm: Met Fashion Virtual Edit Meet-up
 
 
 

You are invited to join the Wikimedia NYC community and the Metropolitan Museum of Art for our The Met x Wikipedia Virtual Edit Meet-up: Met Fashion.

This is a follow-up to last year's successful MetFashion 2019, and will follow a similar theme optimized for a remote online experience.

We will be partially coordinating with the international Wiki Loves Fashion campaign.

Watch and join the livestream! The Metropolitan Museum of Art event on Saturday Sep 26 will host a tutorial and question-and-answer session live on YouTube and other social media platforms.

  • 12:30 pm - 1:30 pm - Presentation
  • 1:30 pm - 2:30 pm - Guidance and Q&A

Chat about improving articles! Support will be provided to help guide new editors in this area at Wikimedia Fashion Chat for the duration of the campaign.

(You can subscribe/unsubscribe from future notifications for NYC-area events by adding or removing your name from this list.)

--Wikimedia New York City Team 17:51, 24 September 2020 (UTC)

The Signpost: 27 September 2020

Latest comment: 4 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
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The Signpost: 27 September 2020

Latest comment: 4 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
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Copyvio Detector error

Latest comment: 4 years ago3 comments2 people in discussion

Hello. For the last couple of says (including today), I've been getting a Google Error: HTTP Error 429: Too Many Requests when trying to use your Copyvio Detector tool. With this error, I can't use the Use search engine button but the Use links in page works fine. I seen in your talk page archive this error has happened before. Perhaps a similar issue is going on now? Thanks! --MrLinkinPark333 (talk) 23:42, 18 October 2020 (UTC)

Hi MrLinkinPark333, thanks for letting me know. I reviewed the tool's usage and found two heavily active users who might be exhausting our quota. I will ask them to lower their usage. — Earwig talk 03:21, 19 October 2020 (UTC)
@The Earwig: Good to know. Thank you for the reply. --MrLinkinPark333 (talk) 03:27, 19 October 2020 (UTC)

October 21: ONLINE WikiWednesday Salon NYC

October 21, 7pm: ONLINE WikiWednesday Salon NYC
 

You are invited to join the Wikimedia NYC community for our monthly "WikiWednesday" evening salon (7-8pm) and knowledge-sharing workshop. To join the meeting from your computer or smartphone, just visit this link. More information about how to connect is available on the meetup page.

We look forward to seeing local Wikimedians, but would also like to invite folks from the greater New York metropolitan area (and beyond!) who might not typically be able to join us in person!

In honor of Wikidata's 8th birthday earlier this month, we especially encourage lightning talks related to Wikidata and Wikidata adjacent projects and tools. We'll also discuss the recent proposal to change the Wikimedia Foundation Bylaws, including the Statement of Opposition from Wikimedia NYC.

7:00pm - 8:00 pm online via Zoom (optional breakout rooms from 8:00-8:30)

(You can subscribe/unsubscribe from future notifications for NYC-area events by adding or removing your name from this list.)

--Wikimedia New York City Team 04:10, 21 October 2020 (UTC)

The Signpost: 1 November 2020

Latest comment: 4 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
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October 18: ONLINE WikiWednesday Salon NYC (plus weekend editathons)

October 18, 7pm: ONLINE WikiWednesday Salon NYC
 

You are invited to join the Wikimedia NYC community for our monthly "WikiWednesday" evening salon (7-8pm) and knowledge-sharing workshop. To join the meeting from your computer or smartphone, just visit this link. More information about how to connect is available on the meetup page.

We look forward to seeing local Wikimedians, but would also like to invite folks from the greater New York metropolitan area (and beyond!) who might not typically be able to join us in person!

This month we've invited the creators of instagram accounts @depthsofwikipedia and @wikipediapictures to chat with us about their Wiki* appreciation accounts. If there's a project you'd like to share or a question you'd like answered, just let us know by adding it to the agenda or responding to this message.

7:00pm - 8:00 pm online via Zoom (optional breakout rooms from 8:00-8:30)

Editathons this coming Saturday

You are also invited to join thse two editathon on Saturday November 21:

(You can subscribe/unsubscribe from future notifications for NYC-area events by adding or removing your name from this list.)

--Wikimedia New York City Team 17:57, 18 November 2020 (UTC)

Template:AFC statistics moved

Latest comment: 4 years ago5 comments3 people in discussion

Hi Earwig! Recently Template:AFC statistics was moved to Template:AfC statistics (cc Primefac). Following this, User:EarwigBot has stopped updating AfC statistics. Could you fix the page name in the code? (As a result, User:SDZeroBot/Declined AFCs which relies on Template:AFC statistics/declined also stopped working.) Thanks, – SD0001 (talk) 19:55, 19 November 2020 (UTC)

Thanks for the note, SD0001. I fixed the bot. — Earwig talk 20:18, 19 November 2020 (UTC)
Crap, I was hoping the bot would follow the redirect. Thanks for following up on this. Primefac (talk) 20:22, 19 November 2020 (UTC)
No worries, Primefac. Maybe it should, but I think I did that in case someone vandalized the template with a redirect to some random page? You'd have to ask the 2009 version of me to be sure... — Earwig talk 20:29, 19 November 2020 (UTC)
Good point. Primefac (talk) 22:41, 19 November 2020 (UTC)

Quota exhausted already at 7 in the morning

Latest comment: 4 years ago4 comments2 people in discussion

Good morning Ben. It's 7 AM Mountain Standard Time and we've already exhausted our quota of looks for the day (Google Error: HTTP Error 429: Too Many Requests). I wondler if you have a minute if you could take a look and see if there's anything you can spot that could help? Thanks, — Diannaa (talk) 14:03, 17 November 2020 (UTC)

@Diannaa: Sorry about this, again. Checking the logs, there's a Turkish Wikipedia bot that's using the tool rather heavily. Everything else seems normal. Their bot isn't enough to exhaust the quota alone, but it's more active than anyone else. I left them a message. — Earwig talk 16:55, 17 November 2020 (UTC)
Thank you - I try to make selective use of the search engine myself, such a valuable resource. Cheers, — Diannaa (talk) 20:40, 17 November 2020 (UTC)
@Diannaa: I've checked the logs over the past few days ago and usage seems to be back at normal levels, so let me know if you continue to see this error. — Earwig talk 06:01, 23 November 2020 (UTC)

ArbCom 2020 Elections voter message

Latest comment: 4 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
 Hello! Voting in the 2020 Arbitration Committee elections is now open until 23:59 (UTC) on Monday, 7 December 2020. All eligible users are allowed 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 2020 election, please review the candidates and submit your choices on the voting page. If you no longer wish to receive these messages, you may add {{NoACEMM}} to your user talk page. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 01:42, 24 November 2020 (UTC)

The Signpost: 29 November 2020

Latest comment: 4 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
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Problems today

Latest comment: 3 years ago7 comments4 people in discussion

Hi there, today I am unable to make much use of the CopyVio Detector - for the most part it just sits and spins without ever timing out or generating a report. It's been this way for about the last seven hours. If you have time to have a look that would be great. Thank you,— Diannaa (talk) 23:52, 30 November 2020 (UTC)

Getting either a slow spin today or a 503 timeout error today as well; not sure if it's something scraping the claims yet again/a backend issue with google/something else entirely. (Not sure how long-lasting it's been since I hadn't touched CV issues for a few weeks until today) Wizardman 14:55, 5 December 2020 (UTC)
Hello again Ben. It's 5:45 AM Mountain Standard Time and we've already exhausted our quota of looks for the day (Google Error: HTTP Error 429: Too Many Requests). — Diannaa (talk) 12:45, 7 December 2020 (UTC)
This is strange, because my logs don't show much activity today (only a few hundred queries; not enough to exceed the quota). Kaldari, could you check on the quota usage over the past few days? — Earwig talk 14:09, 7 December 2020 (UTC)
Now it's showing Error 503: Service Unavailable. (I may have made a mistake at the error code in my first post.)— Diannaa (talk) 14:50, 7 December 2020 (UTC)
@Diannaa and The Earwig: We did hit the quota on November 30, which explains your initial report, but we haven't hit it again since then (including today). Kaldari (talk) 15:25, 7 December 2020 (UTC)
Thanks for checking, Kaldari. It seems to be working again at the moment!— Diannaa (talk) 15:26, 7 December 2020 (UTC)

A barnstar for you!

Latest comment: 3 years ago2 comments2 people in discussion
  The da Vinci Barnstar
Thank you for making your Copyvio Detector. It has helped me soooooo much with CCI cleanup and saved me a lot of time. Keep up the great work :D MrLinkinPark333 (talk) 21:02, 24 December 2020 (UTC)
Thanks, MrLinkinPark333! — Earwig talk 21:03, 24 December 2020 (UTC)

The Signpost: 28 December 2020

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Administrators' newsletter – January 2021

Latest comment: 3 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion

News and updates for administrators from the past month (December 2020).

  Guideline and policy news

  Technical news

  Arbitration

  • By motion, standard discretionary sanctions have been temporarily authorized for all pages relating to the Horn of Africa (defined as including Ethiopia, Somalia, Eritrea, Djibouti, and adjoining areas if involved in related disputes). The effectiveness of the discretionary sanctions can be evaluated on the request by any editor after March 1, 2021 (or sooner if for a good reason).
  • Following the 2020 Arbitration Committee elections, the following editors have been appointed to the Arbitration Committee: Barkeep49, BDD, Bradv, CaptainEek, L235, Maxim, Primefac.
Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 00:08, 5 January 2021 (UTC)

DiscussionTools update

Latest comment: 3 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion

Hello,

The Editing team has scheduled a major update to mw:Extension:DiscussionTools (the new Reply tool) for next week's deployment train. Since you invoke the feature from a script (I do, too), you're probably going to see that update next week, before it's officially released in the mw:Beta Feature system. The new update will use a similar system for starting a ==New discussion==. As before, full-page wikitext editing will not be affected. There is more information on the project page at mw:Talk pages project/New discussion.

You don't have to do anything about this; I just didn't want you to be surprised. If you encounter problems next week, please ping me or leave a note on the talk page for the project. Thanks, Whatamidoing (WMF) (talk) 22:08, 12 January 2021 (UTC)

A barnstar for you!

Latest comment: 3 years ago2 comments2 people in discussion
  The Anti-Vandalism Barnstar
Thank you for making the semi-protection indefinite on that page, much appreciated! I can imagine what would've happened if everything had gone unnoticed! Tfess up?or down? 02:54, 13 January 2021 (UTC)
TFESS, thank you! — The Earwig talk 03:00, 13 January 2021 (UTC)

Thanks!

Latest comment: 3 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion

Hi, thanks for the links! The Five Pillars of Wikipedia may be helpful in a discussion about the Ripple Music page I'm having right now.Jessiemay1984 (talk) 12:58, 13 January 2021 (UTC)

your name

Latest comment: 3 years ago3 comments2 people in discussion

Ah, so it's the entomological connection. Being on Wikipedia, I assumed a metaphorical sense. Still, something I'll remember after encountering you just once, so it's an excellent user name. — kwami (talk) 03:19, 30 January 2021 (UTC)

Ha—thank you, kwami. A younger version of me particularly liked these bugs for a reason that is difficult to explain, and the name stuck. I like the alternate interpretations people come up with for it. — The Earwig talk 03:27, 30 January 2021 (UTC)

I remember playing with them. A younger version of me would've delighted in putting them in my little sister's hair, except that I'd accustomed her to crawlies from such an early age (her favorite animal was the pill-bug) that she'd've been delighted to have them in her hair, and what's the fun in that? I just looked up the etymology, and evidently the final -g is the same old diminutive suffix as in dog, frog and pig. (On the off chance you didn't already know that.) So it's an odd word for an odd bug. — kwami (talk) 03:38, 30 January 2021 (UTC)

The Signpost: 31 January 2021

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Melbourne High School

Latest comment: 3 years ago3 comments2 people in discussion

Thanks for the revdel. I'm positive I've seen that exact same rant before, but I don't remember the user. Not worth remembering since they are not around long enough to be an issue. Meters (talk) 07:03, 1 February 2021 (UTC)

No problem, Meters. It's a well-known bit of copied text around the internet. In fact, we even have a section of an article about it: Copypasta#Navy Seal. — The Earwig talk 07:05, 1 February 2021 (UTC)
Ah, that explains the RD1. Thanks. Meters (talk) 07:06, 1 February 2021 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – February 2021

Latest comment: 3 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion

News and updates for administrators from the past month (January 2021).

  Arbitration

  Miscellaneous

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 19:10, 1 February 2021 (UTC)

Question...

Latest comment: 3 years ago3 comments2 people in discussion

In your delete closure at WP:Articles for deletion/Impeachment inquiry against Joe Biden you wrote: "The primary arguments to merge are countered by the point that all usable content has already been integrated into Efforts to impeach Joe Biden..."

  1. When I checked, the larger article did not use all the references in the smaller article
  2. If content had been merged from Impeachment inquiry against Joe Biden then shouldn't deletion have been off the table, due to the legal requirement to comply with the attribution clause of the license we use?

In my comment I pointed out that one of the contributors who favoured delete based that opinion on arguments that were not supported by the delete policy. Administrators are supposed to discount non-policy arguments, like this one, correct? This was not the only delete argument of its type - ie not policy based - correct?

Can I ask if you considered arguments on whether they were or weren't supported by policy, or guideline? Geo Swan (talk) 23:37, 5 February 2021 (UTC)

Hi Geo Swan, thanks for the questions. You are, of course, correct about the attribution requirement. I did not properly review the page histories and had originally concluded the articles developed independently, but upon reexamining it's very clear Efforts to impeach Joe Biden had content directly copied from Impeachment inquiry against Joe Biden. I maintain my assessment that editors were broadly in agreement the impeachment inquiry should not exist as a separate article. Therefore, I've restored the article history and overturned my close to redirect. To your first point, an editorial decision can be made through normal processes (e.g., on the talk page) about whether further content should be integrated from the now-redirected article. From what I can see, the only additional reference used there is a Twitter post from Rep. Greene detailing the specific allegations, the inclusion of which was in dispute.
The remainder of your comment concerns the policy grounding of the arguments. As I wrote, the discussion was on a contentious subject, and so will tend to attract arguments that are not well supported by policy. I do not see this materially changing the outcome in this case: there are clear policy-based arguments for deletion that were the basis for my original conclusion, such as the lack of existence of an "impeachment inquiry" (present or future) documented by sources justifying anything under that title, and the existence of Efforts to impeach Joe Biden at a title better reflective of the sourcing on the subject.
I hope you find this answer satisfactory. Thanks. — The Earwig ⟨talk⟩ 03:53, 6 February 2021 (UTC)
  • Thanks for the quick reply. Restoring the history, so it is a redirection, works for me.
I drafted an essay, which I recently moved to WP space, WP:Teachable moments. I'd love to see administrators spend a sentence addressing counter-policy arguments, in their closures, even if discounting those arguments didn't alter their closures. If an AFD would look like an overwhelming delete, but is only marginally for delete, if those arguments are discounted, I think it would be best for the project if a sentence is spent to educating about those bad arguments, worthy of discounting.
Would that help reduce the use of those bad arguments? I think it might.
Cheers! Geo Swan (talk) 17:05, 6 February 2021 (UTC)

Overturned close at Afd for Impeachment inquiry against Joe Biden

Latest comment: 3 years ago4 comments3 people in discussion

Since there was a rather strong consensus to not keep the redirect, would you consider protecting the redirect page to some level (to prevent it being developed as a POVFORK by either unknowledgeable or badly intentioned editors [or, alternatively, the same sock as before...])? Semi should do the trick, although ECP could also work as it clearly is under the scope of the ArbCom DS on the topic. RandomCanadian (talk / contribs) 04:27, 6 February 2021 (UTC)

RandomCanadian, thanks. I restored the semi-protection that was originally in place before the article was deleted, which is set to expire at the end of the month. I'm keeping an eye on it and, if if disruption continues after that expires, I think we can revisit applying further protection. — The Earwig ⟨talk⟩ 04:34, 6 February 2021 (UTC)
Your first close regarding the validity of the redirect was correct. As such I boldly moved the redirect and its history to Efforts to impeach President Biden. I request you re-delete Impeachment inquiry against Joe Biden Ribbet32 (talk) 00:10, 7 February 2021 (UTC)
Hi Ribbet32, this sounds like an acceptable compromise. Deleted again. If there are further objections to this, I'm unlikely to be willing to take further action, and I suggest WP:DRV. — The Earwig ⟨talk⟩ 07:39, 7 February 2021 (UTC)

Wjae1

Latest comment: 3 years ago2 comments2 people in discussion

Can user:Wjae1 please be blocked ASAP for vandalism? CLCStudent (talk) 01:52, 20 February 2021 (UTC)

CLCStudent, done, thanks. — The Earwig ⟨talk⟩ 01:54, 20 February 2021 (UTC)

Bcgmsrich

Latest comment: 3 years ago2 comments2 people in discussion

This user is obviously a sock of Pcgmsrich. They've apparently reported themselves for vandalism; can you oblige them with a block?Crboyer (talk) 05:29, 24 February 2021 (UTC)

Crboyer, coincidentally, I noticed it on AIV just when you wrote this. Done, thanks. — The Earwig ⟨talk⟩ 05:33, 24 February 2021 (UTC)

A kitten for you!

Latest comment: 3 years ago2 comments2 people in discussion
 

This kitten has caught a dangerous piece of cloth, and I think you for catching my error at Abronia fragrans! I copied and pasted text from the lilac article but apparently I did not sufficiently clean up after myself.

HouseOfChange (talk) 02:21, 26 February 2021 (UTC)

Thanks, HouseOfChange! — The Earwig (talk) 04:50, 26 February 2021 (UTC)

The Signpost: 28 February 2021

Latest comment: 3 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
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Administrators' newsletter – March 2021

Latest comment: 3 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion

News and updates for administrators from the past month (February 2021).

 

  Administrator changes

  TJMSmith
  Boing! said Zebedee • Hiberniantears • Lear's Fool • Only • WGFinley

  Interface administrator changes

  AmandaNP

  Guideline and policy news

  Technical news

  • When blocking an IPv6 address with Twinkle, there is now a checkbox with the option to just block the /64 range. When doing so, you can still leave a block template on the initial, single IP address' talkpage.
  • When protecting a page with Twinkle, you can now add a note if doing so was in response to a request at WP:RfPP, and even link to the specific revision.
  • There have been a number of reported issues with Pending Changes. Most problems setting protection appear to have been resolved (phab:T273317) but other issues with autoaccepting edits persist (phab:T275322).

  Arbitration

  Miscellaneous

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 19:15, 1 March 2021 (UTC)
Latest comment: 3 years ago3 comments2 people in discussion

Hi Earwig,

An error in the ELP data: the link for 10424 Ngatikese appears at Ngatik Men's Creole rather than at Ngatikese language. I'll fix if you show me how.

— kwami (talk) 20:28, 7 March 2021 (UTC)

Also 4711 Mores shows up on Ande language rather than Mores language.

Hi kwami. It's a two step process: remove the statement from the first item and add to the second. From Ngatik Men's Creole, go to the "Wikidata item" on the left sidebar; you should end up at d:Q36400. Search for the "endangeredlanguages.com ID" statement and click "edit" next to 10424, then "remove". Then go to the item for Ngatikese language (d:Q21072753). Under "Identifiers", click "add statement", enter the property "endangeredlanguages.com ID", 10424 as the value, then "add qualifier", enter "named as", then add the ELP name "Ngatik Men's Creole". Hope this makes sense. Thanks! — The Earwig (talk) 21:41, 7 March 2021 (UTC)

Okay, straightforward. I didn't know about the data link from the article. — kwami (talk) 04:59, 8 March 2021 (UTC)

A barnstar for you!

Latest comment: 3 years ago2 comments2 people in discussion
  The Copyright Cleanup Barnstar
Thank you for your help at that massive moth CCI. Your help is greatly appreciated! Keep up the great work :) MrLinkinPark333 (talk) 19:34, 18 March 2021 (UTC)
Thanks, MrLinkinPark333. A long way to go... — The Earwig (talk) 00:09, 19 March 2021 (UTC)

A bit late...but a pi for you!

Latest comment: 3 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
  Apologies for being a bit late, but to celebrate a belated π day, here's a pi for you! Tfess up?or down? 04:44, 19 March 2021 (UTC)

Please untag the name B Major SA

Latest comment: 3 years ago2 comments2 people in discussion

He is a notable musician from Cape Town South Africa. Please do search "B Major SA" because he is verified on Facebook as a public figure and got multiple news articles.

(197.229.7.223 (talk) 17:49, 21 March 2021 (UTC))

Assuming you are the same person, you've been repeatedly told that reliable sources must be provided showing significant coverage under the terms of WP:MUSICBIO. If multiple quality news articles exist, link them. Being verified on Facebook doesn't imply coverage exists. — The Earwig (talk) 21:54, 21 March 2021 (UTC)

Copyvio tool: timeouts for the URL comparison case

Latest comment: 3 years ago5 comments2 people in discussion

Hello, I'm getting timeouts for the URL comparison case, for the last 24 hours. It's unable to retrieve this article from US News, which I have no trouble accessing. Here's an example. The copyvio search case works fine. Thanks, Mathglot (talk) 19:56, 23 March 2021 (UTC)

Thanks Mathglot, I’ll take a look at this later; is it just this URL or others too? — The Earwig alt (talk) 20:23, 23 March 2021 (UTC)
Hm, perhaps just that one? Using this url and a different article, this test returns results in less than a second. I wonder if US News is doing some kind of bot detection. I was faced with this years ago; I forget all the params, now, plus things are probably different, but make sure whatever GET method you're using looks as much like some particular browser agent as possible. I also had a routine set up to introduce randomized "human-looking" delays before hitting the same domain or url twice, but maybe that's overkill. Mathglot (talk) 20:37, 23 March 2021 (UTC)
@Mathglot: Yep, you had exactly the right intuition about US News (or more likely their CDN, Akamai) detecting a bot-like user agent. I've thought about this before and I don't want to spoof a "real" user agent or simulate human-like behavior because this tool runs on Wikimedia's servers, and while our intentions are good, that could be construed as malicious and I expect would go against some terms of use. However, I found a workaround in presenting a user agent that truthfully identifies the tool but does not contain the word "Bot", which seems to bypass their filter. Your comparison works now. Thanks for the bug report! — The Earwig (talk) 07:36, 24 March 2021 (UTC)
Thanks, glad you figured it out!   Mathglot (talk) 07:46, 24 March 2021 (UTC)

Thank you

Latest comment: 3 years ago3 comments2 people in discussion

Thank you for the edits that you made - It made it much clearer and easier to understand. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Eastcoasthawaiian (talk • contribs) 19:14, 25 March 2021 (UTC)

Thank you Eastcoasthawaiian, but I just handled a small part of the cleanup. Worldbruce deserves most of the credit. — The Earwig alt (talk) 20:02, 25 March 2021 (UTC)

I will thank him as well - much appreciated — Preceding unsigned comment added by Eastcoasthawaiian (talk • contribs) 20:09, 25 March 2021 (UTC)

Please block me

Latest comment: 3 years ago2 comments1 person in discussion

Do it. ;-) ~Oshwah~(talk) (contribs) 04:10, 26 March 2021 (UTC)

LOL! I can't believe that worked! ;-) ~Oshwah~(talk) (contribs) 04:14, 26 March 2021 (UTC)

The Signpost: 28 March 2021

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Administrators' newsletter – April 2021

Latest comment: 3 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion

News and updates for administrators from the past month (March 2021).

 

  Administrator changes

  Alexandria • Happyme22 • RexxS

  Guideline and policy news

  • Following a request for comment, F7 (invalid fair-use claim) subcriterion a has been deprecated; it covered immediate deletion of non-free media with invalid fair-use tags.
  • Following a request for comment, page movers were granted the delete-redirect userright, which allows moving a page over a single-revision redirect, regardless of that redirect's target.

  Technical news

  • When you move a page that many editors have on their watchlist the history can be split and it might also not be possible to move it again for a while. This is because of a job queue problem. (T278350)
  • Code to support some very old web browsers is being removed. This could cause issues in those browsers. (T277803)

  Arbitration

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 22:20, 1 April 2021 (UTC)

Edit summaries from IP you blocked

Latest comment: 3 years ago2 comments2 people in discussion

24.96.111.106 added inflammatory and accusatory edit summaries to several of their edits. Notably: Old revision of Eileen Donahoe, Old revision of Eileen Donahoe, Old revision of John Donahoe, Old revision of John_Donahoe, Old revision of John Donahoe. Figured I'd flag them in case they needed to be deleted. Thanks. NightS H I F T (49) (talk) 03:43, 2 April 2021 (UTC)

Thanks Nightshift49. I considered it borderline the first time around, but on review it's probably enough for RD3, so I've hidden them. — The Earwig (talk) 03:52, 2 April 2021 (UTC)

The Signpost: 25 April 2021

Latest comment: 3 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 22:33, 25 April 2021 (UTC)
Latest comment: 3 years ago3 comments2 people in discussion

At AFC I accepted a barely notable submission on Harry Lawtey, but I noticed that two sentences were completely copied from a news website. I forgot the name of it, but the removed text is in the page history. Normally I would create a copyvio template, but I am unsure if the violation is egregious enough to warrant revdeletion. Is it okay if you take a look? Thanks. Scorpions13256 (talk) 02:57, 1 May 2021 (UTC)

Hi Scorpions13256. In this case I wouldn't consider the violation significant enough to redact from the history, because it's just a couple sentences and there are some (albeit minor) intervening edits by other users. Thanks for checking! — The Earwig (talk) 15:01, 1 May 2021 (UTC)
Good to know. Thank you for your help. It seems that you are the one who responds to most of my revdelete requests. Scorpions13256 (talk) 16:19, 1 May 2021 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – May 2021

Latest comment: 3 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion

News and updates for administrators from the past month (April 2021).

 

  Administrator changes

  Enchanter • Carlossuarez46

  Interface administrator changes

  Ragesoss

  Guideline and policy news

  Technical news

  • The user group oversight will be renamed to suppress. This is for technical reasons. You can comment at T112147 if you have objections.

  Arbitration

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 15:52, 7 May 2021 (UTC)

Kutumbi

Latest comment: 3 years ago3 comments2 people in discussion

Sometimes the choices in the CSD don't give the appropriate choice. I chose the copyright one because it was a direct cut and paste, but understand it's outside the time parameters. My issue was that virtually the entire article is cut and paste from a source. Not sure where the exact policy is, but that's not allowed is it? Onel5969 TT me 12:46, 9 May 2021 (UTC)

Hi Onel5969. It's not desirable, but it's not disallowed by policy for articles to extensively quote from a source that is public domain (or otherwise appropriately licensed). Wikipedia:Plagiarism#Copyright expired sources and Wikipedia:Do not include the full text of lengthy primary sources are relevant guidelines. We do have articles that began primarily as direct copies from PD encyclopedias, such as Britannica's 1911 edition or the Catholic Encyclopedia. In a sense it's a shortcut to a proper article, and these sources usually have their own problems, often being out of date or written with an improper tone.
Clearly this article needs work, but the solution in my view is to trim the quotation to most important information, convert factual information to prose and use the book as a source, and link to the full text on Wikisource. There's no need to revdel, though, and I would argue what we have is better than a redirect, which is why I reverted instead of just removing the revdel template. — The Earwig (talk) 16:26, 9 May 2021 (UTC)
Cool. Thanks for the detailed explanation. I don't come across these frequently, but I'll remember for future reviewing. Onel5969 TT me 16:28, 9 May 2021 (UTC)

Message from Lasttaps

Latest comment: 3 years ago2 comments2 people in discussion

hello can you give back the page i created i fixed it — Preceding unsigned comment added by Lasttaps (talk • contribs) 20:00, 16 May 2021 (UTC)

@Lasttaps, I'm guessing this is about Draft:Piper Rockelle, but I'm not sure what you want me to do? — The Earwig (talk) 20:42, 16 May 2021 (UTC) give it back

Request to send a hoax article to the hoax list

Latest comment: 3 years ago3 comments2 people in discussion

Hello!   This is regarding the recently deleted article Messenger Premier League (see Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Messenger Premier League). You closed this discussion, and that's why I'm contacting you. Is there any way that you could add the article to Wikipedia:List of hoaxes on Wikipedia? The article existed since 2008 and I'm pretty sure it was a hoax article. Thanks! Wizzito (talk) 19:28, 30 May 2021 (UTC)

Thanks for the reminder, Wizzito! Added. — The Earwig (talk) 19:37, 30 May 2021 (UTC)

You're welcome   Wizzito (talk) 19:38, 30 May 2021 (UTC)

Artist Bio

Latest comment: 3 years ago2 comments2 people in discussion

How can one get his/her Wikipedia artist bio BennyGram (talk) 18:29, 4 June 2021 (UTC)

Hi, BennyGram. My recommendation is to start by reading through Your first article, which covers the most important things you need to know. The Plain and simple conflict of interest guide is also important if you have a connection to the article subject as your comment suggests, and finally, WP:ARTIST explains the inclusion guidelines for artists. Let me know if you have any follow-up questions. — The Earwig (talk) 05:56, 5 June 2021 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – June 2021

Latest comment: 3 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion

News and updates for administrators from the past month (May 2021).

 

  Administrator changes

  Ashleyyoursmile • Less Unless
  Husond • MattWade • MJCdetroit • Carioca • Vague Rant • Kingboyk • Thunderboltz • Gwen Gale • AniMate • SlimVirgin (deceased)

  Guideline and policy news

  Technical news

  • 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.

  Arbitration

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 14:46, 9 June 2021 (UTC)

You've got mail

Latest comment: 3 years ago2 comments2 people in discussion
 
Hello, The Earwig. Please check your email; you've got mail!
It may take a few minutes from the time the email is sent for it to show up in your inbox. You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{You've got mail}} or {{ygm}} template. AryaSanyasi (talk) 11:22, 10 June 2021 (UTC)
@AryaSanyasi: You need to discuss this on the article talk page, but please review the existing archives and history first. The issues you mention have been repeatedly discussed for years. — The Earwig (talk) 12:39, 10 June 2021 (UTC)

User:ClueBot III/ArchiveThis|archiveprefix=

Latest comment: 3 years ago4 comments2 people in discussion

Thank you for understanding my perspectives and for leading User:Baffle gab1978. Please look over User:ClueBot III/Indices/User talk:CJDOS and User talk:CJDOS. I think that |archiveprefix=User_talk:CJDOS/Archive should be |archiveprefix=User talk:CJDOS/Archive. I insist that there is also the underscore _ issue. Best regards. Sawol (talk) 03:44, 21 June 2021 (UTC)

Hi Sawol. I can't figure out the cause of the issue on CJDOS's page. When we fixed the : → / issue on Baffle gab1978's page, the problem went away, even though it still uses an underscore, so I really don't think the underscore is a problem. Looking through ClueBot III's edits, I see a lot of other broken indices, like User:ClueBot III/Master Detailed Indices/User talk:BrandonXLF, to pick a random example, and User talk:BrandonXLF does not use an underscore. I think this is a bug in the bot, and Cobi or whoever else is actually responsible for ClueBot III now needs to fix the bot's handling of these common edge cases. — The Earwig (talk) 04:30, 21 June 2021 (UTC)
|archiveprefix = User talk:BrandonXLF/Archives/ should be |archiveprefix=User talk:BrandonXLF/Archives/ for User talk:BrandonXLF. There is also the blank issue. There are no bugs of User:ClueBot III. Its manual is pretty good. Users should be forced to use User:ClueBot III/ArchiveThis#Required parameters. Sawol (talk) 05:04, 21 June 2021 (UTC)
Sorry, I disagree. That is absolutely a bug. The bot should be tolerant to extra spaces around parameters which are commonly added by editors. The fact that it has a workaround does not prevent it from being a flaw in the implementation. — The Earwig (talk) 05:13, 21 June 2021 (UTC)

RevDel request

Latest comment: 3 years ago2 comments2 people in discussion

Hi Earwig. I would just like to let you know there is a page revision that needs deletion because it is grossly offensive and degrading. Can you please delete revision [3]? Thanks. Train of Knowledge (Talk) 10:31, 22 June 2021 (UTC)

Done. — The Earwig (talk) 11:34, 22 June 2021 (UTC)

Tool idea: top wikifriends

Latest comment: 3 years ago2 comments2 people in discussion

Hi Earwig! A thought for a tool that might be neat just occurred to me, and just wanted to toss it out here in case it's actually feasible and something you'd be interested in. The idea would be to take something like the editor interaction analyzer, only instead of comparing two specific users, it instead looks at a single user and identifies which other editors they interact most frequently with, thus identifying their "top wikifriends". Potential use cases would include identifying possible recipients for wikilove (i.e. who I might want to nominate for t-shirts), finding sockpuppets, etc. {{u|Sdkb}} talk 09:00, 27 June 2021 (UTC)

Hey Sdkb. This seems like a plausible tool concept, but the details might be tricky. How are interactions defined (edits to the same pages, weighted by time)? It would probably need to work off database dumps due to the amount of data to examine. Σ, maybe you have thoughts? I wouldn't be able to work on this any time soon, but I can pin this section and look at it at some point in the future™. — The Earwig (talk) 17:22, 27 June 2021 (UTC)

The Signpost: 27 June 2021

Latest comment: 3 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
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Deletion of Manorama Mohapatra

Latest comment: 3 years ago2 comments2 people in discussion

Hello The Earwig, I see that the page(Manorama Mohapatra) has been deleted. This must be due to the same data between her website and the page. But I would like to inform you that, I am her grandson and I developed that website for her. The content of the pages are all written by me. I have also sent the mail regarding the copyright issue. Regards. Akshyapadma (talk) 06:41, 1 July 2021 (UTC)

Hi Akshyapadma, thanks for your message. Wikipedia:Donating copyrighted materials has instructions on allowing us to reuse material you own that is already online. But I need to warn you that even if you do this, the content will need to be rewritten to be acceptable as a Wikipedia article. The language is not neutral (see WP:WTW, in particular) and your draft also lacks any sources aside from the website you created. You will need to address these issues in order for the draft to be accepted. — The Earwig (talk) 12:25, 1 July 2021 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – July 2021

Latest comment: 3 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion

News and updates for administrators from the past month (June 2021).

  Guideline and policy news

  • Consensus has been reached to delete all books in the book namespace. There was rough consensus that the deleted books should still be available on request at WP:REFUND even after the namespace is removed.
  • An RfC is open to discuss the next steps following a trial which automatically applied pending changes to TFAs.

  Technical news

  • IP addresses of unregistered users are to be hidden from everyone. There is a rough draft of how IP addresses may be shown to users who need to see them. This currently details allowing administrators, checkusers, stewards and those with a new usergroup to view the full IP address of unregistered users. Editors with at least 500 edits and an account over a year old will be able to see all but the end of the IP address in the proposal. The ability to see the IP addresses hidden behind the mask would be dependent on agreeing to not share the parts of the IP address they can see with those who do not have access to the same information. Accessing part of or the full IP address of a masked editor would also be logged. Comments on the draft are being welcomed at the talk page.

  Arbitration

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 11:27, 3 July 2021 (UTC)

Articles for Creation July 2021 Backlog Elimination Drive

Latest comment: 3 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
 

Hello The Earwig:

WikiProject Articles for creation is holding a month long Backlog Drive!
The goal of this drive is to eliminate the backlog of unreviewed articles. The drive is running until 31 July 2021.

Barnstars will be given out as awards at the end of the drive.
There is currently a backlog of over 1500 articles, so start reviewing articles. We're looking forward to your help!

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) on behalf of Wikipedia:WikiProject Articles for Creation at 21:54, 7 July 2021 (UTC). If you do not wish to recieve future notification, please remove your name from the mailing list.

The Signpost: 25 July 2021

Latest comment: 3 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 23:13, 25 July 2021 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – July 2021

Latest comment: 3 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion

News and updates for administrators from the past month (July 2021).

  Guideline and policy news

  • An RfC is open to add a delay of one week from nomination to deletion for G13 speedy deletions.

  Technical news

  • Last week all wikis were very slow or not accessible for 30 minutes. This was due to server lag caused by regenerating dynamic lists on the Russian Wikinews after a large bulk import. (T287380)

  Arbitration

  Miscellaneous

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 14:19, 1 August 2021 (UTC)

Block me

Latest comment: 3 years ago6 comments3 people in discussion

Do it, I wanna see how it's like blocked! :) LooneyTraceYT comment • treats 00:50, 6 August 2021 (UTC)

@LooneyTraceYT, are you sure? For how long? — The Earwig (talk) 00:57, 6 August 2021 (UTC)

Just for 30 seconds, Just like what happened to Oshwah, but was blocked for about 7 seconds. LooneyTraceYT comment • treats 00:58, 6 August 2021 (UTC)

You've got it. Enjoy your 30 second block. — The Earwig (talk) 01:01, 6 August 2021 (UTC)

Lol! I cant believe I don't this for real! :) LooneyTraceYT comment • treats 01:03, 6 August 2021 (UTC)

LooneyTraceYT - Hahahaha... You can actually see what it's like to be blocked and try and edit a page. You can view the message you receive by clicking here. :-) ~Oshwah~(talk) (contribs) 02:39, 6 August 2021 (UTC)

🏚️⭐

Latest comment: 3 years ago2 comments2 people in discussion
  The da Vinci Barnstar
Today I wrote VisualEditor ref namer.py↗. Hardly the most beautiful Python script, but made the extremely tedious work of trying to fix all the unnamed citations in osteogenesis imperfecta very fast: [4]. I then ran it over Deseret alphabet with equally good results: [5]. Most of my work I do through the VE, but I know that plenty of editors still prefer source view, so anything I can do to make my VE-produced articles less annoying is appreciated.   Psiĥedelisto (talk • contribs) please always ping! 19:43, 28 August 2021 (UTC)
Cool! Thanks for sharing, Psiĥedelisto! — The Earwig (talk) 20:17, 28 August 2021 (UTC)

You are today's winner

Latest comment: 3 years ago3 comments2 people in discussion
  Very useful tool creation award
I use the Earwig copvio detector tool all the time. Thank you. --- Possibly ☎ 04:34, 29 August 2021 (UTC)

PS: Due to current COVID restrictions, the awards ceremony has been cancelled. Please enjoy this virtual award. --- Possibly ☎ 04:36, 29 August 2021 (UTC)

Thank you, Possibly! — The Earwig (talk) 05:20, 29 August 2021 (UTC)

The Signpost: 29 August 2021

Latest comment: 3 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 19:45, 29 August 2021 (UTC)

CCI regex challenge

Latest comment: 3 years ago2 comments2 people in discussion

Wikipedia:Contributor copyright investigations/20210531: "only" 12 pages but 48000 diffs, making this the largest CCI currently open (ever?). I suspect the last two or three pages and maybe another 5000+ diffs could disappear, but it requires someone who is better at regular expressions than I am to get rid of all of the "further reading" entries without false positives. Given that you managed to take out a big chunk of Wikipedia:Contributor copyright investigations/Ruigeroeland after I had a swing, I suspect that might be you. See also Wikipedia:Administrators'_noticeboard#We_cannot_sweep_copyright_issues_under_the_rug_any_longer... MER-C 16:19, 30 August 2021 (UTC)

Wow. Sure, I can do that. I'll take a look over the next day or so. — The Earwig (talk) 16:36, 30 August 2021 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – September 2021

Latest comment: 3 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion

News and updates for administrators from the past month (August 2021).

 

  Administrator changes

  Jake Wartenberg
  Emperor • Viridian Bovary
  Ashleyyoursmile → Viridian Bovary

  Guideline and policy news

  Technical news

  • The Score extension has been re-enabled on public wikis. It has been updated, but has been placed in safe mode to address unresolved security issues. Further information on the security issues can be found on the mediawiki page.

  Arbitration

  Miscellaneous

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 20:46, 3 September 2021 (UTC)

Thank you

Latest comment: 3 years ago3 comments2 people in discussion
 
This was some superb reasoning in an impossible situation and so very well argued. My own addition was a pale shadow. Thank you. ◦ Trey Maturin 18:12, 5 September 2021 (UTC)

Ideally, that would've been a full-width template, or at the very least I would've noticed it wasn't before I clicked 'save'. So, as an additional thank you, please accept this {{clear}} template as an additional award. ◦ Trey Maturin 18:15, 5 September 2021 (UTC)

Appreciated. Thanks, Trey Maturin! — The Earwig (talk) 18:42, 5 September 2021 (UTC)

Deletion review for PROIV

Latest comment: 3 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion

An editor has asked for a deletion review of PROIV. Because you closed the deletion discussion for this page, speedily deleted it, or otherwise were interested in the page, you might want to participate in the deletion review. Djm-leighpark (talk) 13:58, 16 September 2021 (UTC)

The Signpost: 26 September 2021

Latest comment: 3 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
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Copyvio tool down

Latest comment: 3 years ago5 comments3 people in discussion

I'm not sure if you still personally maintain this tool or if this is the correct place to report the issue, but https://copyvios.toolforge.org/ is returning a 500 error today. Thanks! Calliopejen1 (talk) 20:12, 30 September 2021 (UTC)

I think that Toolforge was down for a while. Other applications such as CopyPatrol are now functioning, but https://copyvios.toolforge.org/ still throwing a 500 error.— Diannaa (talk) 23:24, 30 September 2021 (UTC)

That's right, @Diannaa. Yes @Calliopejen1, I am still the maintainer. Having been at work all day, I heard of the downtime but couldn't do anything about it. I've made a quick fix to solve the issue, though it will require a more involved fix later; everything should be working for now, at least. — The Earwig (talk) 23:46, 30 September 2021 (UTC)

thank you!! Calliopejen1 (talk) 00:40, 1 October 2021 (UTC)

Thank you! Meanwhile, users may be interested to know that https://dupdet.toolforge.org/ usually works, even when Toolforge is down. Not as good a tool, but better than nothing!— Diannaa (talk) 01:04, 1 October 2021 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – October 2021

Latest comment: 3 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion

News and updates for administrators from the past month (September 2021).

  Guideline and policy news

  Technical news

  Arbitration

  • A motion has standardised the 500/30 (extended confirmed) restrictions placed by the Arbitration Committee. The standardised restriction is now listed in the Arbitration Committee's procedures.
  • Following the closure of the Iranian politics case, standard discretionary sanctions are authorized for all edits about, and all pages related to, post-1978 Iranian politics, broadly construed.
  • The Arbitration Committee encourages uninvolved administrators to use the discretionary sanctions procedure in topic areas where it is authorised to facilitate consensus in RfCs. This includes, but is not limited to, enforcing sectioned comments, word/diff limits and moratoriums on a particular topic from being brought in an RfC for up to a year.

  Miscellaneous

  • Editors have approved expanding the trial of Growth Features from 2% of new accounts to 25%, and the share of newcomers getting mentorship from 2% to 5%. Experienced editors are invited to add themselves to the mentor list.
  • The community consultation phase of the 2021 CheckUser and Oversight appointments process is open for editors to provide comments and ask questions to candidates.
Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 17:05, 1 October 2021 (UTC)

Bankers' Lamp article

Latest comment: 3 years ago3 comments2 people in discussion

I have just edited this article (re an advertisement source). Is my edit acceptable or not. Please revert if not. Thanks for your interest. BFP1 (talk) 10:22, 24 October 2021 (UTC)

Hi BFP1, thanks! This is still not an ideal reference. To source the statement Examples are commonly seen on the second-hand market, we'd want to see some reliable, independent source (a reputable publication that does not stand to gain from the sale of antiques) explicitly stating that brass bankers' lamps are common on the secondary market; a single instance of them doesn't illustrate that (who says they're "common"?), and it would be original research to draw this conclusion. — The Earwig (talk) 03:56, 25 October 2021 (UTC)

Thanks @The Earwig:. It's a bit of a Catch 22 situation as I keep seeing current adverts (eg. 2 you previously reverted and the new 'sold' advert) for the brass bankers' lamps indcating that they are commonly available second-hand but I can't use them to prove the point. I will delete my edit. BFP1 (talk) 15:16, 25 October 2021 (UTC)

The Signpost: 31 October 2021

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Administrators' newsletter – November 2021

Latest comment: 3 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion

News and updates for administrators from the past month (October 2021).

  Guideline and policy news

  • Phase 2 of the 2021 RfA review has commenced which will discuss potential solutions to address the 8 issues found in Phase 1. Proposed solutions that achieve consensus will be implemented and you may propose solutions till 07 November 2021.

  Technical news

  Arbitration

  Miscellaneous

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 16:44, 1 November 2021 (UTC)

WiR Metrics

Latest comment: 3 years ago5 comments3 people in discussion

The Earwig, you've assisted WiR in the past when its metric system goes kaput. That time has come again [6]. Wikipedia:WikiProject Women in Red/Metrics, or more specifically Wikipedia:WikiProject Women in Red/Metrics/October 2021 has not seen an update in days.

I know these metrics are not your thing, but if there's anything you can do to assist WiR - which really has no clue about the technicalities of its own metrics system - then I'd be v.grateful for your input. thx. --Tagishsimon (talk) 17:19, 21 October 2021 (UTC)

Hey Tagishsimon, thanks for the note. I've fixed the issue and expect an updated report within an hour. There was a configuration problem; we were using old credentials to access the database that seem to have been disabled.
I'm the closest Reports bot has to a maintainer, but as you've noticed I don't actively check on it. I didn't even have the WiR talk page watchlisted. Sorry about that. I really appreciate when you let me know of issues. — The Earwig (talk) 05:47, 22 October 2021 (UTC)
Many thanks; profoundly grateful to you. See you again in a couple of years time ;) --Tagishsimon (talk) 08:33, 22 October 2021 (UTC)

mwparserfromhell question: getting the index/span of a node?

Latest comment: 3 years ago7 comments3 people in discussion

Hi Earwig. With mwparserfromhell, is there an easy way to get the span of a node in a wikitext string? For example, the span of the template in "hi {{pb}} hi" would be (3, 9), which is the index of the start of the template string and the index + 1 of the end of the template string. Winston (talk) 17:56, 7 November 2021 (UTC)

Hi Winston. There should be an easy way to do that, but there isn't, currently. wikitext.index(node) will give the index, but that's in terms of nodes, not characters. You could sum the lengths of the nodes with a lower index to find the start and add the length of the node to find the end, which is a bit awkward. What do you want this for? There might be a better way. — The Earwig (talk) 20:57, 7 November 2021 (UTC)

Here's the setup. Let's say you want to split wikitext into lines to do some processing on them. But actually, you don't want plain lines from the wikitext. You want lines from the POV of the rendering. So you cannot simply use \n as a delimiter since you can have stuff like:

Markup Renders as 
<strong
>Hello there.</strong>

Hello there. 

{{
as of
|2021
}}

As of 2021

(Note that mwparserfromhell seems unable to detect the tag in the first example, though it works as wikicode.) The most straightforward thing to do then, is to first iterate over objects in the wikitext such as tags and templates with something like mwparserfromhell to identify the newline characters inside them which should not be used as line delimiter. This is can be done by recording spans and simply avoiding newlines inside those spans later. I've been using wikitextparser since it offers a span function, but I noticed some bugs, i.e. edge cases where what works as wikitext isn't detected properly. So I tried mwparserfromhell which successfully detects some edge cases that wikitextparser doesn't, but vice versa as well. Probably no package can be catch all cases. The edge cases are usually some gnarly wikitext, but unfortunately they do exist "in the wild". I suppose all that can be done is to report edge cases to the respective packages. Winston (talk) 21:29, 7 November 2021 (UTC)

Hehe I just thought of something that's terrible performance-wise but would technically benefit accuracy: use both packages to catch the edge cases of the other. I might actually do this since performance isn't really a concern here. Winston (talk) 21:47, 7 November 2021 (UTC)
Just thought of something else. You could find edge cases for both packages at once by comparing their results on tons of wikitext. Winston (talk) 21:49, 7 November 2021 (UTC)
Thanks for the additional context. I'll think more about this. — The Earwig (talk) 22:53, 7 November 2021 (UTC)
We used to run mwparserfromhell across dumps of wikitext, but that was mostly to identify crashers. Running it alongside wikitextparser is an interesting idea. That said, I do wonder if most of your edge case issues would be taken care of by just using Parsoid HTML. I have some ideas and WIP on how to do that, but my main priority has been on the Rust side. Legoktm (talk) 16:39, 8 November 2021 (UTC)

ArbCom 2021 Elections voter message

Latest comment: 3 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
 Hello! Voting in the 2021 Arbitration Committee elections is now open until 23:59 (UTC) on Monday, 6 December 2021. All eligible users are allowed 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 2021 election, please review the candidates and submit your choices on the voting page. If you no longer wish to receive these messages, you may add {{NoACEMM}} to your user talk page. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 00:19, 23 November 2021 (UTC)

Earwig's Copyvio Detector

Latest comment: 3 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion

Could you please add the "vortaro.net" dictionary? https://vortaro.net/py/serchi.py?simpla=1&s=pirato&kap=1&der=1 Caves:

  • default version uses JS and fails to find anything
  • green colour of text must be removed before comparison

Taylor 49 (talk) 21:47, 25 November 2021 (UTC)

The Signpost: 29 November 2021

Latest comment: 3 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
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Administrators' newsletter – December 2021

Latest comment: 3 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion

News and updates for administrators from the past month (November 2021).

 

  Administrator changes

  A Train • Berean Hunter • Epbr123 • GermanJoe • Sanchom • Mysid

  Technical news

  • Unregistered editors using the mobile website are now able to receive notices to indicate they have talk page messages. The notice looks similar to what is already present on desktop, and will be displayed on when viewing any page except mainspace and when editing any page. (T284642)
  • The limit on the number of emails a user can send per day has been made global instead of per-wiki to help prevent abuse. (T293866)

  Arbitration


Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 17:25, 3 December 2021 (UTC)

Administrators will no longer be autopatrolled

A recently closed Request for Comment (RFC) reached consensus to remove Autopatrolled from the administrator user group. You may, similarly as with Edit Filter Manager, choose to self-assign this permission to yourself. This will be implemented the week of December 13th, but if you wish to self-assign you may do so now. To find out when the change has gone live or if you have any questions please visit the Administrator's Noticeboard. 20:07, 7 December 2021 (UTC)

Bots Newsletter, December 2021

Latest comment: 2 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
Bots Newsletter, December 2021
 
BRFA activity by month

Welcome to the eighth issue of the English Wikipedia's Bots Newsletter, your source for all things bot. Maintainers disappeared to parts unknown... bots awakening from the slumber of æons... hundreds of thousands of short descriptions... these stories, and more, are brought to you by Wikipedia's most distinguished newsletter about bots.

Our last issue was in August 2019, so there's quite a bit of catching up to do. Due to the vast quantity of things that have happened, the next few issues will only cover a few months at a time. This month, we'll go from September 2019 through the end of the year. I won't bore you with further introductions — instead, I'll bore you with a newsletter about bots.

Overall

  • Between September and December 2019, there were 33 BRFAs. Of these,  Y 25 were approved, and 8 were unsuccessful ( N2 3 denied,  ? 3 withdrawn, and   2 expired).

September 2019

 
Look! It's moving. It's alive. It's alive... It's alive, it's moving, it's alive, it's alive, it's alive, it's alive, IT'S ALIVE!
  •  Y Monkbot 16, DannyS712 bot 60, Ahechtbot 6, PearBOT 3, Qbugbot 3 ·  N2 DannyS712 bot 5, PkbwcgsBot 24 ·  ? DannyS712 bot 61, TheSandBot 4
  • TParis goes away, UTRSBot goes kaput: Beeblebrox noted that the bot for maintaining on-wiki records of UTRS appeals stopped working a while ago. TParis, the semi-retired user who had previously run it, said they were "unlikely to return to actively editing Wikipedia", and the bot had been vanquished by trolls submitting bogus UTRS requests on behalf of real blocked users. While OAuth was a potential fix, neither maintainer had time to implement it. TParis offered to access to the UTRS WMFLabs account to any admin identified with the WMF: "I miss you guys a whole lot [...] but I've also moved on with my life. Good luck, let me know how I can help". Ultimately, SQL ended up in charge. Some progress was made, and the bot continued to work another couple months — but as of press time, UTRSBot has not edited since November 2019.
  • Article-measuring contest resumed: The list of Wikipedians by article count, which had lain dead for several years, was triumphantly resurrected by GreenC following a bot request.

October 2019

November 2019

 
Now you're thinking with portals.

December 2019

In the next issue of Bots Newsletter:
What's next for our intrepid band of coders, maintainers and approvers?

  • What happens when two bots want to clerk the same page?
  • What happens when an adminbot goes hog wild?
  • Will reFill ever get fixed?
  • What's up with ListeriaBot, anyway?
  • Python 3.4 deprecation? In my PyWikiBot? (It's more likely than you think!)

These questions will be answered — and new questions raised — by the January 2022 Bots Newsletter. Tune in, or miss out!

Signing off... jp×g 04:29, 10 December 2021 (UTC)

(You can subscribe or unsubscribe from future newsletters by adding or removing your name from this list.)

Merry Christmas

Latest comment: 2 years ago2 comments2 people in discussion
  Merry Christmas, The Earwig!
Or Season's Greetings or Happy Winter Solstice! As the year winds to a close, I would like to take a moment to recognize your hard work and offer heartfelt gratitude for all you do for Wikipedia. May this Holiday Season bring you nothing but joy, health and prosperity. Onel5969 TT me 00:55, 22 December 2021 (UTC) 		 
Same to you, Onel5969! Have a wonderful holiday. — The Earwig (talk) 02:39, 22 December 2021 (UTC)

Happy Holidays!

Latest comment: 2 years ago3 comments2 people in discussion
 
 
 
 

Hello The Earwig: Enjoy the holiday season and winter solstice if it's occurring in your area of the world, and thanks for your work to maintain, improve and expand Wikipedia. Cheers, MrLinkinPark333 (talk) 21:09, 22 December 2021 (UTC)

 
Spread the WikiLove; use {{subst:Season's Greetings}} to send this message

--MrLinkinPark333 (talk) 21:09, 22 December 2021 (UTC)

Thank you, MrLinkinPark333! I'm glad we had a chance to work together this year, and looking forward to what we'll accomplish in 2022, in CCI or elsewhere. — The Earwig (talk) 03:25, 23 December 2021 (UTC)

The Signpost: 28 December 2021

Latest comment: 2 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 21:09, 28 December 2021 (UTC)

File talk:NicoleHart.jpg

Latest comment: 2 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion

Hello, I just marked this as a copyvio of https://httpwwwthenrgbandcomnewshtm.blogspot.com/, which I had easily found via a web search; however, interestingly, copyvios.toolforge.org did not find any results over 2 %. Any idea why? ~~~~
User:1234qwer1234qwer4 (talk) 14:53, 31 December 2021 (UTC)

Concern regarding User:The Earwig/Sandbox/Draft (current)

Latest comment: 2 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion

  Hello, The Earwig. This is a bot-delivered message letting you know that User:The Earwig/Sandbox/Draft (current), a page you created, has not been edited in at least 5 months. Drafts that have not been edited for six months may be deleted, so if you wish to retain the page, please edit it again or request that it be moved to your userspace.

If the page has already been deleted, you can request it be undeleted so you can continue working on it.

Thank you for your submission to Wikipedia. FireflyBot (talk) 20:01, 31 December 2021 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – January 2022

Latest comment: 2 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion

News and updates for administrators from the past month (December 2021).

  Guideline and policy news

  • Following consensus at the 2021 RfA review, the autopatrolled user right has been removed from the administrators user group; admins can grant themselves the autopatrolled permission if they wish to remain autopatrolled.

  Arbitration

  Miscellaneous

  • The functionaries email list (functionaries-en lists.wikimedia.org) will no longer accept incoming emails apart from those sent by list members and WMF staff. Private concerns, apart from those requiring oversight, should be directly sent to the Arbitration Committee.
Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 00:25, 3 January 2022 (UTC)

How we will see unregistered users

Hi!

You get this message because you are an admin on a Wikimedia wiki.

When someone edits a Wikimedia wiki without being logged in today, we show their IP address. As you may already know, we will not be able to do this in the future. This is a decision by the Wikimedia Foundation Legal department, because norms and regulations for privacy online have changed.

Instead of the IP we will show a masked identity. You as an admin will still be able to access the IP. There will also be a new user right for those who need to see the full IPs of unregistered users to fight vandalism, harassment and spam without being admins. Patrollers will also see part of the IP even without this user right. We are also working on better tools to help.

If you have not seen it before, you can read more on Meta. If you want to make sure you don’t miss technical changes on the Wikimedia wikis, you can subscribe to the weekly technical newsletter.

We have two suggested ways this identity could work. We would appreciate your feedback on which way you think would work best for you and your wiki, now and in the future. You can let us know on the talk page. You can write in your language. The suggestions were posted in October and we will decide after 17 January.

Thank you. /Johan (WMF)

18:14, 4 January 2022 (UTC)

Coolest Tool Award

Latest comment: 2 years ago3 comments3 people in discussion

Congrats! The Copyvio Detector is really a life-saver for detecting copyvios (lol). Seriously though, where would we be without it. ~~~~
User:1234qwer1234qwer4 (talk) 20:20, 14 January 2022 (UTC)

Hear hear! Earwig (the tool) is great and Earwig (the person) is awesome too :) Legoktm (talk) 22:18, 14 January 2022 (UTC)
Very kind! Thank you both. — The Earwig (talk) 00:30, 15 January 2022 (UTC)

Project tagging

Latest comment: 2 years ago11 comments3 people in discussion

Hi, I'm requesting the use of WikiProject tagging for WikiProject Radio Stations and the Television stations task force. (See: Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Radio Stations#Project tagging (two support !votes over 2 weeks) and the discussion without any comments at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Television/Television stations task force#Project tagging).

This is a one-time run to ensure that WPRS and TVS has all the pages in their scope. I expect most of the first two to be tagged, but this will help find anything that slipped through the cracks. The third category (television channel) is likely to result in a lot of pages being added to TVS because a lot of these were considered out of scope in the past.

Had originally requested this from AnomieBOT in October, but it has yet to happen. Thanks, Sammi Brie (she/her • t • c) 04:13, 5 January 2022 (UTC)

@Sammi Brie Hmm, are you sure pages like Istanbul Technical University should be in scope of the project? ~~~~
User:1234qwer1234qwer4 (talk) 20:18, 14 January 2022 (UTC)
@1234qwer1234qwer4 Wow, that page shouldn't have even had the infobox (I think it might have been merged in). Nice catch. The vast majority of pages would not be messes like that, though. Sammi Brie (she/her • t • c) 20:22, 14 January 2022 (UTC)
Sorry I missed this the first time around! This weekend, I'll have the bot make a list of pages that it would tag and we can review. — The Earwig (talk) 00:24, 15 January 2022 (UTC)
Sounds great. Sammi Brie (she/her • t • c) 04:07, 15 January 2022 (UTC)
Note that over 900 pages without the WikiProject Radio Stations project tag are tagged for WikiProject Radio. ~~~~
User:1234qwer1234qwer4 (talk) 12:00, 15 January 2022 (UTC)
@Sammi Brie: Thanks for your patience; here's the full list: User:The Earwig/Sandbox/WPRSTVS. — The Earwig (talk) 19:49, 22 January 2022 (UTC)
Looks good. The third header gives you a sense of the pages TVS never really thought of as its own. Sammi Brie (she/her • t • c) 20:31, 22 January 2022 (UTC)
OK, this is running now. Might take a couple days to finish. — The Earwig (talk) 04:57, 23 January 2022 (UTC)
@Sammi Brie: And done. The number of edited pages was a bit larger than the list above, because I also had the bot add |television-stations=yes to existing banners where it was missing. — The Earwig (talk) 08:54, 24 January 2022 (UTC)
Thank you so much! Sammi Brie (she/her • t • c) 17:41, 24 January 2022 (UTC)

The Signpost: 30 January 2022

Latest comment: 2 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 20:22, 30 January 2022 (UTC)
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