Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2016 June 26

Welcome to the Wikipedia Miscellaneous Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

June 26

UPMC, Melbourne, Manchester, Copenhagen

Since the Academic Ranking of World Universities was first published in 2003, these 4 universities have made the greatest gains among those in the top 50 in the latest rankings. Is there anything in common about these universities that makes them much more competitive than peers in rising in this ranking? Muzzleflash (talk) 10:49, 26 June 2016 (UTC)

See Academic Ranking of World Universities#Methodology. AllBestFaith (talk) 18:41, 26 June 2016 (UTC)

Riga Black Balsam

I just got back from Riga, Latvia. I bought a bottle of Riga Black Balsam from the airport and took it home with me. Should I put it in the fridge? JIP | Talk 19:58, 26 June 2016 (UTC)

You don't need to keep it in the fridge to preserve it. Whether you want to drink it chilled or not is a matter of choice. The article says you can have it in your coffee if you want - in which case chilling it will just make the coffee cold. Wymspen (talk) 20:19, 26 June 2016 (UTC)

Multiple accounts

Is there a way to contact wikipedia to allow us to create multiple accounts within the same IP address? We are trying to do a "Wiki Women Edit-a-thon" similar to the MOMA's "Art and Feminism" event and have trouble because we have a group of people in the same room editing pages and it pulls up red flags for wikipedia and we can't edit as many pages.

Thanks! — Preceding unsigned comment added by Murphm5 (talk • contribs) 21:17, 26 June 2016 (UTC)

Moved this as it was posted as an answer to an unrelated question Wymspen (talk) 21:51, 26 June 2016 (UTC)

Murphm5, I think you want Wikipedia:IP block exemption#Requesting and granting exemption. Dismas|^(talk) 22:01, 26 June 2016 (UTC)

I'm not quite sure what you're asking, Murphm5, but I would strongly suggest that each of the people in the event create their own account. Once they have an account, the IP address becomes irrelevant. --ColinFine (talk) 10:46, 27 June 2016 (UTC)

There is a limit on the rate of new accounts from one IP address. Often a facilitator can be granted account creator bit to allow this limit to be exceeded. See Wikipedia:Requests for permissions/Account creator. Graeme Bartlett (talk) 12:18, 27 June 2016 (UTC)

Firstly, to be completely clear, account names aren't tied to IP addresses. There's kinda two parts to this:

1. Can you create multiple named accounts rapidly from the same IP address?
2. Can you edit using multiple named accounts simultaneously from the same IP address?

I could certainly understand (1) being a restriction - rapid creation of accounts from a single IP is a tactic that evildoers love to employ to force admins into "whack-a-mole" responses to vandalism. If that's the problem here then it's easily resolved by asking the participants to create their accounts BEFORE attending the event - presumably all using different IP's - or by having the organizer create the accounts S-L-O-W-L-Y over a matter of days before the event. I'd be rather surprised if (2) was restricted by WP because it's such a common situation. You should of course check both issues in advance if you don't want a disaster on your hands - but I think that asking participants to create their accounts beforehand (or even at the event using their phones or something) - would resolve the likely problems.

SteveBaker (talk) 22:45, 27 June 2016 (UTC)

Your suggestion may work, but there are lots of things that could throw a wrench into things. Participants can forget to create accounts, or not get the message, or people can find out about the editathon at the last minute. Better to just get the exemption and then not have to worry about unforeseen circumstances. Also, it doesn't hurt to notify the project about an editathon. You're right that by default blocking an account won't block other accounts editing from the same IP address, but that can be changed. And sometimes recent changes patrollers get suspicious when they see a lot of edits to similar pages. Finally, to the original poster: no big deal, but the Reference Desk isn't intended for questions about Wikipedia itself. In the future see here if you have a question. --71.110.8.102 (talk) 23:13, 27 June 2016 (UTC)

The way we learned how to handle this problem at an edit-a-thon facilitator training workshop was simply to have an experienced editor on-site who has the ACC permission handle registration on-site for anyone who wants an account. It's pretty straightforward. The account creator sits in a corner, announces that if anybody wants an account they can come see him or her at any time. As a word of advice, people don't need to be pressured into registering or left to just work alone: People might feel more comfortable just watching at first, so just FYI. —/Mendaliv/^2¢/_Δ's/ 02:21, 29 June 2016 (UTC)