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Happy First Edit Day!

August music

story · music · places

Today I have two "musicians" on the Main page, one is also the topic of my story, watch and listen, - I like today's especially because you see him at work, hear him talk about his work and the result of his work - rare! -- Gerda Arendt (talk) 15:08, 7 August 2024 (UTC)

... and a third, like 22 July but with interview and the music to be played today --Gerda Arendt (talk) 14:24, 8 August 2024 (UTC)

A rainbow if you click on places --Gerda Arendt (talk) 20:23, 11 August 2024 (UTC)

On 13 August, Bach's cantata was 300 years old, and the image one. The cantata is an extraordinary piece, using the chorale's text and famous melody more than others in the cycle. It's nice to have not only a recent death, but also this "birthday" on the Main page. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 12:45, 13 August 2024 (UTC)

today's story is about education, 10 years OTD after lecturing our founder). Music for today's feast is Monteverdi's, the best concert we ever did (so pictured again on my talk). --Gerda Arendt (talk) 20:39, 15 August 2024 (UTC)

I'm sorry I've not been responding. I was on vacation. I finally got a chance to nearly completely unplug from work (something I haven't been able to do in a while). I also made a conscious decision to unplug from WP as well. It was wonderful. Equal parts sitting in the sun, reading, kayaking, and eating. Not sure why I came back.... Floquenbeam (talk) 20:28, 22 August 2024 (UTC)
to hear good news, probably, such as my first DYK was 15 years ago OTD, about a friend of mine who had a red link, and better: just returned from a wonderful concert with only music I had never heard before, - the youngest composer (of 12, 2 of them women) born 1988 (a red link), heavenly from start to finish! --Gerda Arendt (talk) 22:32, 22 August 2024 (UTC)
Congrats on the 15th anniversary, and glad you enjoyed the multi-composer concert. It amazes me that someone born in 1988 isn't a kid! Born in the 80's and in their 30's? How did that happen? Floquenbeam (talk) 20:56, 23 August 2024 (UTC)
Today is the birthday of Alma Mahler. I believe that Siegfried Lorenz should be mentioned on the Main page among the Recent deaths. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 21:05, 31 August 2024 (UTC)
... and he appeared! --Gerda Arendt (talk) 22:23, 31 August 2024 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – September 2024

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

Administrator changes

removed Pppery

Interface administrator changes

removed Pppery

Oversighter changes

removed Wugapodes

CheckUser changes

removed

Guideline and policy news

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

Arbitration

Miscellaneous

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 18:44, 2 September 2024 (UTC)

About a legitimate draft that needs moving to a salted draft page

Hello I have seen a draft on Chris Chan that appears to be a legitimate draft. As I cannot move it and you are the protecting admin, I ask that you move the draft as it isn't an attack, thanks. Felicia (talk) 23:23, 15 September 2024 (UTC)

Hi Floquenbeam, I have declined the draft due to WP:BIO1E along with referencing the the ANI discussion that led to you salting the title (other titles were already salted). If you disagree with the decline you are of course welcome to move it mainspace. Pinging @JSwift49, the creator of the draft. S0091 (talk) 14:32, 16 September 2024 (UTC)
@Felicia777 and S0091: Thanks for the notice, I agree with the decline. I don't think any article about Chris Chan should be in mainspace without some kind of community discussion (DRV I think?). There is a reason that every possible page title related to them has been salted. --Floquenbeam (talk) 16:15, 16 September 2024 (UTC)
@Floquenbeam @S0091 No worries. And I agree in that it’s a good idea to get community consensus on the mainspace inclusion. I do think I could work on the draft to make it better; would it be possible to move it to Draft:Chris Chan or Draft:Christine Weston Chandler? JSwift49 16:29, 16 September 2024 (UTC)
How about /dev/null? Writ Keeper ⚇♔ 16:46, 16 September 2024 (UTC)
I don't think we need to rename the draft page; that would be like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. Before you spend too much time on this, you should know that I am pretty confident that the community will never support having an article on Chris Chan. I'm less confident, but I suspect even an MFD on the draft article would succeed. I think the community is kind of sick of talking about this over the years, and has settled on a "no means no" philosophy. I'm not going to do anything to the draft itself, but others might. Be aware that you're up against an annoyed and exhausted community as far as this person is concerned. And - although I do not doubt your good motivations - be aware that you've got some really slimy bedfellow who really, really want an article. Make sure their reputations don't get transferred to you. Floquenbeam (talk) 18:02, 16 September 2024 (UTC)
Got it; thanks. Appreciate your explaining. JSwift49 19:02, 16 September 2024 (UTC)

A barnstar for you!

The Surreal Barnstar
For your insights as a sage veteran: But also, like scripture, policy can be made to support any side of any ITN/C discussion; which specific policies people quote in each discussion is primarily determined by whether they instinctively want that thing posted or not. Now that I think about it, kind of like AN/ANI. Now that I really think about it, kind of like Wikipedia in general.[1] —Bagumba (talk) 09:46, 17 September 2024 (UTC)
Surreal? Ha! Thanks, Bagumba. (I'm not really a sage veteran, but I sometimes do a passable job of masquerading as one.) Floquenbeam (talk) 19:37, 17 September 2024 (UTC)

Guidance required.

Hi, im here to get some guidance or simple advice on our ban lift conversion before 2 months ago, i wonder if editing the article Turkmeneli will result in breaking your conditions? Because i really cant bare seeing such edits labeling the article to extreme ideologies like; (1) or vandalizing it (2) or falsely describing scores such as this edit (3) where in the book it says (The fact that no published expression of it shows Turkmeneli continuing into Syria, Turkey, or Iran reflects the reality of its origins! As you can see deleting a line (it shows Turkmeneli continuing into Syria, Turkey, or Iran reflects the reality of its origins) can convert the meaning of the book’s author 180! I wonder if i can edit the page of Turkmeneli or it will violate your conditions, because i feel these edits meant for vandalism and since we are a small nation and almost no wiki volunteer cares about it, makes me very concerned and hurt for how the article became a hub for anti turkmen edits.

i will be waiting a reply from you and wont make a move before you giving me some wisdom over the situation, have a great day. NICTON t (talk) 22:32, 26 September 2024 (UTC)

@NICTON t:, I believe that would be covered by "the topics of Kurds and Kurdistan, broadly construed". It is not a perfect fit, but I believe it is covered because of the "broadly construed" part. It appears there is some disagreement/overlapping claims/anti-Kurdish sentiment (or claims of such). I note this pre-block edit of yours: [2]. The main idea is to stay way, way, far away from contentious editing. --Floquenbeam (talk) 16:23, 27 September 2024 (UTC)
Thanks alot. NICTON t (talk) 16:25, 27 September 2024 (UTC)
No problem, I'm glad you asked. Floquenbeam (talk) 16:27, 27 September 2024 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – October 2024

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

Administrator changes

added
removed

CheckUser changes

readded
removed

Guideline and policy news

Arbitration

Miscellaneous

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 15:59, 2 October 2024 (UTC)

September music

story · music · places

And he appeared! What do you think of my short version of the life of Alexander Goehr? Our DYK team would probably want that he worked in a training kibbutz. I was happy to include a link to an article by Brian Boulton, - we sang the Monteverdi Vespers on 1 September 2019. -- Gerda Arendt (talk) 15:13, 2 September 2024 (UTC)

RD looks hard to achieve these days. Quite a lot of nominations, so the time on the main page looks short. Looks like Lorenz only made it on for a little under 1 day. Glad you got that, at least. --Floquenbeam (talk) 18:23, 3 September 2024 (UTC)
Goehr comment will have to wait; just popped online fo a sec. -Floquenbeam (talk) 18:25, 3 September 2024 (UTC)
Your summary for Goehr seems about right ... for something in your own userspace. I've kind of given up guessing what DYK team would want to do, but that summary certainly seems longer than what I usually see at DYK. Good luck with the GA. Floquenbeam (talk) 19:41, 3 September 2024 (UTC)
Thank you. DYK is not for an overview of a person's life, I understand that much, but do we have to go for trivia? I doubt that. The usual reasoning is that the broad readership is not interested in anything regarding the production of a contemporary composer, and we have to search for something appealing to them, and if we don't find anything, close the nomination. No guesswork needed, it happens again and again. Latest example. (It's resolved, he's in prep, but what a waste of time.) - GA for Goehr was trying something after John said it was a good article. More serious: BWV 78, written for last Sunday, Wikipedia birthday 10 September, so today last chance for a nomination, but it should ideally be GA before. Chances are slim, but there's nothing to loose. Listen if you haven't on Sunday ;) --Gerda Arendt (talk) 20:44, 3 September 2024 (UTC)
Today's story has 3 composers, I couldn't decide for the one on the Main page or the one who didn't make it on his bicentenary, so took both, and the pic has a third. Listen if you have a bit of time. The music, played by the Kyiv Symphony Orchestra in Germany in April 2022, soon after the invasion of Ukraine, impressed me. (The official DYK hook, to continue the above, has no indication of music whatsoever, - all it says about a pioneer is that he died, the rest is some attention-grabbing stuff about burning of his papers, which - as the talk page has - is not even hard fact.) --Gerda Arendt (talk) 14:42, 4 September 2024 (UTC)
My first barnstar was for resilience. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 21:29, 5 September 2024 (UTC)
Recommended reading today: Frye Fire, by sadly missed Vami_IV. - Went with friends to a place you know: lovely again! --Gerda Arendt (talk) 21:10, 6 September 2024 (UTC)
Hey, I see the block didn't last too long. Glad it was undone, rather than "shortened to time served". Hope your friends enjoyed the view as much as I did. Floquenbeam (talk) 23:09, 8 September 2024 (UTC)
As I said over there, I liked the wording of the unblock. One of my edit summaries said "I don't want mercy but to be understood", and that is still not achieved. I remembered a case where an admin thought "clearly a violation" and you said "No foul, play one." (and we played on.) Yes, I was on a campaign, fighting bias for 1) a woman, 2) a classical musician, 3) a foreigner, and a block will not stop me from doing such things, and then what is good for at all? Do you think such a question would be understood? I really don't know ;) - Enjoying lovely days, with Sibylle's husband, - Sybille whose death notice said "Non, je ne regrette rien". (Look for her name in my 2022 talk, - I didn't remember how often I mentioned it.) - We went to Goldatzel, pic to come! --Gerda Arendt (talk) 06:35, 9 September 2024 (UTC)
Happy because my story today is about a Czech mezzo soprano who is mentioned on the Main page on her birthday. --Gerda Arendt (talk)
Happier about Bach's cantata on the Main page on its 300th birthday (per calendar), my story (again)! --Gerda Arendt (talk) 19:30, 10 September 2024 (UTC)
Three stories related to today in memory, 11 September, 20 July and 20 June, the latter piece of art also pictured on the Main page. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 20:11, 11 September 2024 (UTC)
Today is the wedding anniversary of the Schumanns, they needed court support because she wasn't of age and her father against it. She was coming of age the following day ... - Anyway, saw your name on my watchlist and was reminded that I uploaded the pics from "our" place but then got lost updating Friedrich Schorlemmer and distracted by you know who. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 18:30, 12 September 2024 (UTC)
Today is Schoenberg's 150th birthday! On display, portrayed by Egon Schiele, with music from Moses und Aron, and with two DYK hooks, one from 2010 and another from 2014; the latter, about his 40th birthday, appeared on his 140th birthday, which made me happy then and now again. - See places for a stunning sunrise, on the day Bruckner's 200th birthday was celebrated (just a few days late). --Gerda Arendt (talk) 12:49, 13 September 2024 (UTC)
My story is about one of the people behind the peaceful revolution. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 21:12, 15 September 2024 (UTC)
Ah, back when I was optimistic about how the world was evolving. Floquenbeam (talk) 21:20, 15 September 2024 (UTC)
My story today is about a man who played jazz when it was banned by the Nazis, - you can listen to how they played it later. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 21:22, 17 September 2024 (UTC)
Ach, lieben Christen, seid getrost, BWV 114, is one of the pieces in my topic of this year. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 18:59, 22 September 2024 (UTC)
My story today features a pic I took from my position in the choir, I can also offer varied delightful music, some from Venice, also with pics I took, - note the rose in the clarinet ;) --Gerda Arendt (talk) 13:45, 25 September 2024 (UTC)
Sorry, I'm skipping ahead by a day; I can't wait to get home and discover the musical overlap between RVW and the Beatles. --Floquenbeam (talk) 16:26, 27 September 2024 (UTC)

Let's not?

Hello! Why did you reject my request for guidance here? -- mikeblas (talk) 03:24, 3 October 2024 (UTC)

It is always best to focus on the underlying issue. A section at ANI on the removal of citations is not the place to talk about suppression. In fact, the whole point of suppression is that something should not be discussed anywhere. The question concerns whether it is a good idea to remove citations merely because they are broken. The answer is obvious but should be argued at ANI, not here. Johnuniq (talk) 03:50, 3 October 2024 (UTC)
@Mikeblas: "Reject your request for guidance"? What an odd accusation. And the second time that you've taken something you don't understand, and assumed it must be because of another editor mistreating you. I'll assume it's because you're stressed out from ANI. Anyway, I already explained this in the collapse text. You misunderstood how suppression worked and jumped to a conclusion, a couple of people explained to you what actually happened, and then you and another editor continued sniping about something other than the main topic of the thread. The guidance was provided. I was preventing the thread from spiraling even further from the topic. --Floquenbeam (talk) 15:09, 3 October 2024 (UTC)
Indeed, the ANI free-for-all (because it's not any kind of process) has made me miserable. My last comment was But maybe it would be more productive to consider my repeated plea for help and guidance. and your response to was to box the comment with the response "Let's not." If you were asking for help and the response was "Let's not", what would you take away? Can you tell me where the guidance was provided so I can review it, please? -- mikeblas (talk) 15:13, 3 October 2024 (UTC)
The guidance about suppression was provided here by Schazjmd and here by Valeree. To explain even further, it was not your edits that were suppressed; the way suppression (and revision deletion, a tool in the admin toolkit) works is that all intervening revisions of the page between the edit that added the text needs to be hidden and the edit removing that text needs to be suppressed in order for said text to be fully hidden from view; otherwise, one could simply go to an unsuppressed version of the page in between the two and see the offending text. Your (unrelated) edits were caught in between the addition and removal of the offending text, so the revisions wherein you added your edits were suppressed, but the suppression itself doesn't actually hide the text you added, which was and is still visible in the versions of the page.
I understand that you were also asking for more general guidance about how ANI works, but surely you can see and appreciate that, with all of the aforementioned sniping, any such guidance was not going to come of that subsection, which is why Floq closed it. Not because of the request for guidance itself, but because any further guidance wasn't going to happen in that subsection. Writ Keeper ⚇♔ 15:30, 3 October 2024 (UTC)
Guidance was provided about your confusion regarding suppressed edits. That was the topic of the subsection I closed. Your request for more basic guidance on ANI has been made in the main thread, and on ANI's talk page; the fact that there was a third request in the section I closed doesn't mean I've somehow rejected your request. I'm not sure there is any written guidance about how to react to an ANI thread, but if there is I imagine it would be in the ANI header section. I suppose the best approach is to calmly answer any questions, don't get drawn into bickering, and listen to constructive criticism. I agree ANI sucks but it's all we have. Floquenbeam (talk) 15:30, 3 October 2024 (UTC)
"ANI sucks" is an understatement. A vast, vast understatement. Thanks for the explanation, but to be clear, at that section, I wasn't asking for guidance about suppression. I was asking for guidance about ANI. I have yet to receive anything useful. And your guess is right: there's nothing in the page header. -- mikeblas (talk) 01:03, 4 October 2024 (UTC)

Invitation to participate in a research

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The Wikimedia Foundation is conducting a survey of Wikipedians to better understand what draws administrators to contribute to Wikipedia, and what affects administrator retention. We will use this research to improve experiences for Wikipedians, and address common problems and needs. We have identified you as a good candidate for this research, and would greatly appreciate your participation in this anonymous survey.

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BGerdemann (WMF) (talk) 19:23, 23 October 2024 (UTC)

recall

It is downright ugly over there. I doubt even the strongest supporters of this expected this absolute shitshow. I thought this was supposed to be a better, more lightweight alternative to dragging admins to arbcom but so far it seems much, much worse. Just Step Sideways from this world ..... today 01:17, 28 October 2024 (UTC)

The strongest supporters of admin recall are probably the most disgusted of anyone. That thing needs someone to take over managing it. Floquenbeam (talk) 01:39, 28 October 2024 (UTC)
I’m looking at this now and I’m trying to think of something better. The community has wanted the ability to desysop for a long time, we just need to find a way that’s effective and minimises drama. My initial thoughts are to turn the petition into a straight 7 day poll. You have a week to state your case, if 70% support a desysop, it happens. If they don’t, no further petitions in a year as per (IIRC) the existing proposal.
i think we need to let this current petition play out per the agreed rules. After that, I’ll see if I can formulate an RfC. Ritchie333 (talk) (cont) 11:33, 28 October 2024 (UTC)
No disagreement with the above, but I do think a big contributor to the shitshow is the typical "Wikipedians kneejerk against change", multiplied quite a lot by an (imo) poorly phrased and poorly timed initial attempt. We probably ought to see what happens with the second recall before an RfC. -- asilvering (talk) 21:17, 29 October 2024 (UTC)
I agree it might smooth itself out after a couple of tries, except ... it sure sucks to be the target of the first few attempts. The Community experiments while the target bears 100% of the brunt of the experiment. 32 people recently chose to try an election because a 7-day RFA sucks so bad that they wanted no part of it, but this new process means a 37-day RFA. In a way, I almost (not quite) think the best thing for Graham would be to just sign my name in support of the petition, to help it get to 25 as fast as possible, so we can get an RFA (which we all know will pass) out of the way. Except I don't know if it gets to 25, do we still wait until 30 days are up? To see if anyone withdraws? Floquenbeam (talk) 21:26, 29 October 2024 (UTC)
It does suck, that's for sure. Presently, I think the meta is to wait until the admin elections voting is over, then start a re-RfA. Why wait for the votes to trickle in when you could call it now? -- asilvering (talk) 21:45, 29 October 2024 (UTC)
Yes, that is probably what I would do if I were in his shoes. This may not be an idle intellectual exercise, there are certainly more than 25 people who don't think I should be an admin! Floquenbeam (talk) 21:51, 29 October 2024 (UTC)

October music

story · music · places

You may remember Maryvonne Le Dizès, my story today as on 28 August. Some September music was unusual: last compositions and eternal light, with Ligeti mentioned in story and music. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 12:16, 3 October 2024 (UTC)

today Rohan de Saram - unbelievable story --Gerda Arendt (talk) 22:30, 7 October 2024 (UTC)

Today is the birthday of Tabea Zimmermann, and you can listen to the exact concert I mentioned last year ;) --Gerda Arendt (talk) 21:36, 8 October 2024 (UTC)

Not intentionally ignoring you, Gerda. Just busy and stressed and even more fuzzy-headed than usual, and haven't had anything to say. I don't understand why I'm old enough to get the senior discount at Dunkin Donuts (I refuse it, out of pride, but these young 20-something weasels at the counter keep offering), but not old enough to see retirement on the horizon. Had a night shift last night, and now my whole body rhythm is going to be thrown off for a solid 3-4 days, and it's taking me hours to become sentient. I hate working for a living. --Floquenbeam (talk) 18:44, 10 October 2024 (UTC)
Lol, I got impatient for the archiving bot, and then it archived another section 30 seconds after I manually archived your september music. patience, floq, patience.... it's been that kind of day week month year. Floquenbeam (talk) 18:48, 10 October 2024 (UTC)
but iii'll be there for youuuu Writ Keeper ⚇♔ 18:57, 10 October 2024 (UTC)
Lol. That must have been in my subconscious, it wasn't an intentional callback. What an embarrassing thing to have in the subconscious. For both of us, now that I think about it.... --Floquenbeam (talk) 19:52, 10 October 2024 (UTC)
(ec) patience - I think I mentioned that word more than once on my user talk every years (2 - 6 - 9 - 9 ... going backwards). - Did you get a chance to look at De Saram? I was so thrilled that I wrote about the piece he inspired and only then found out that it was one of the key compositions of this century, - some good luck. It seems unfair. For more luck: that piece was approved for DYK within two days - which hasn't happened in ages. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 19:01, 10 October 2024 (UTC)
I've just read it. Really interesting life, thanks for sharing it. --Floquenbeam (talk) 19:52, 10 October 2024 (UTC)
matching that I'm just in the process of expanding the German article ;) - look (small world) --Gerda Arendt (talk) 20:49, 10 October 2024 (UTC)
small world, indeed. cool. --Floquenbeam (talk) 02:57, 11 October 2024 (UTC)
today I remember an organist who was pictured on the Main page on his birthday ten years ago, and I found two recent organ concerts to match, - see top of my talk --Gerda Arendt (talk) 19:56, 11 October 2024 (UTC)
today brought a timely promotion of Helmut Bauer to the Main page on the day when pieces from Mozart's Requiem were performed for him. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 18:12, 12 October 2024 (UTC)
timely promotion indeed; that was close to being archived! Floquenbeam (talk) 21:43, 13 October 2024 (UTC)
I woke up (that day) thinking what I might do if not, - what desperate cries for help would be permissible without getting blocked. But PFHLai had come for the rescue already, and Stephen today for Amaury du Closel, a remarkable person (see story). Now just Leif Segerstam is waiting for a comment or three, but a few days to go. Actually: posting to the RD set seems no big deal, and you could do it if the others who trust me enough to post without a single "support" are not around ;) - I haven't seen any other other procedure that simple: for giving the credits, you just click on "credit"! - I just managed, - I had forgotten that de Closel had just been created. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 10:52, 14 October 2024 (UTC)
I go to bed, last day for Segerstam tomorrow. Listen to the music in my story: I put it on DYK 10 years ago (mentioning Ukraine) and heard it today for the first time. That violinist/violist was incredible! Last month someone added to her article that she died, - a year ago OTD - which is also the wedding anniversary of two people who heard her play when they were children, - so I love that she plays viola d'amore in that music ;) --Gerda Arendt (talk) 22:22, 15 October 2024 (UTC)
I made him my big story today. -Gerda Arendt (talk) 09:08, 16 October 2024 (UTC)
Went to Johannisberg with new American guests, who gave me a new song ;) --Gerda Arendt (talk) 19:36, 19 October 2024 (UTC)
Can't go wrong with the Beatles. Floquenbeam (talk) 16:14, 25 October 2024 (UTC)
My story today is a cantata 300 years old, based on a hymn 200 years old when the cantata was composed, based on a psalm some thousand years old, - so said the 2015 DYK hook. I had forgotten the discussion on the talk. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 17:40, 20 October 2024 (UTC)
My story today is about a composer and choir conductor, listen to his Lamento. - My story on 13 October was about a Bach cantata. As this place works, it's on the Main page now because of the date. I sort of like it because today is the birth date of my grandfather who loved and grew dahlias like those pictured. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 14:50, 22 October 2024 (UTC)
I received a new song at a familiar place - a first that I pictured the location (and some cheese) where the song was "given", - well, when it started in 2020, that exactly wasn't possible. What do you think about Silvia Sasson? --Gerda Arendt (talk) 21:21, 24 October 2024 (UTC)
I don't understand, there's no article there. Floquenbeam (talk) 16:19, 25 October 2024 (UTC)
sorry, was too late for checking what I wrote, mixing up my problem "children" ;) - Silvia Weiss, and actually it's already better than why I asked. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 16:24, 25 October 2024 (UTC)
thank you for a list of replies for the ballerina, - I had hoped for something like the first bullet. I agree that admin recall - the bit I saw, Graham87 - is even worse than other procedures I've seen. Heading for Rheingau, always the better alternative ;) --Gerda Arendt (talk) 09:19, 28 October 2024 (UTC)
Happy whatever you celebrate today, - more who died, more to come, and they made the world richer. Greetings from Madrid where I took the pic of assorted Cucurbita in 2016. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 17:06, 31 October 2024 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – November 2024

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

Administrator changes

readded
removed

CheckUser changes

removed Maxim

Oversighter changes

removed Maxim

Guideline and policy news

Technical news

  • Mass deletions done with the Nuke tool now have the 'Nuke' tag. This change will make reviewing and analyzing deletions performed with the tool easier. T366068

Arbitration

Miscellaneous

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 10:20, 3 November 2024 (UTC)

Admin Elections

I'm not going to disclose my votes, but I am curious if any talk page watchers are willing to divulge how many people they supported/opposed/abstained? I'll go first:

My estimate is that *very very roughly* 60 people just blanket supported, and *very very roughly* 70 people blanket opposed. This is based on two candidates who I believe would have sailed thru a normal RFA with minimal opposition and a candidate who was definitely WP:NOTNOW.

Just for fun, I reduced the Supports and Opposes by these numbers, and it would have meant 7 more admins who got >70% of those who didn't blanket support/oppose. Mdewman6 would have been the last elected, and McClenon would have been the highest percentage not to pass. There's also a more natural gap of 8% between last admin elected and first candidate not elected doing it this way. --Floquenbeam (talk) 21:40, 4 November 2024 (UTC)

Reminder to participate in Wikipedia research

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BGerdemann (WMF) (talk) 00:18, 13 November 2024 (UTC)

One Mass Message to hundreds of people about this is mildly annoying, but understandable. Two of them is no longer mildly annoying. If I wanted to participate, I would have. Floquenbeam (talk) 17:16, 13 November 2024 (UTC)
I said something similar at my talk page. [4] Hopefully the foundation actually listens to said feedback. Clovermoss🍀 (talk) 19:05, 13 November 2024 (UTC)
My estimate of the odds of that happening are really low. Possibly influenced by a general skepticism about everyone and everything that I've been experiencing lately. The entire world is dysfunctional, I'm not sure why the Foundation is likely to be a counter-example. Floquenbeam (talk) 19:10, 13 November 2024 (UTC)
It's possible my optimism is based on having some success trying to make the relationship between the WMF and the community less of a venn diagram. Some of the most glaring technical issues on the app were fixed after I pointed them out (User:Clovermoss/Mobile editing). I was also told my feedback helped them to decide not to move forward with mw:Wikimedia Apps/Team/iOS/Fundraising Experiment in the iOS App. There's definitely been a lot of tense interactions but I'm generally of the hope that things can get better and that's it worth trying. Maybe I'll end up jaded one day too, though. Clovermoss🍀 (talk) 19:14, 13 November 2024 (UTC)
To be fair, ending up jaded is much easier in the States. You're not irrationally optimistic; you're just Canadian. Floquenbeam (talk) 19:19, 13 November 2024 (UTC)
I live near the border and I'm definitely concerned for my American neighbours. I have a lot of friends in the States. As for general optimism, I'm really not sure how Canadians got the stereotype of we're super nice. I am, but I know plenty of deeply cynical people. My life has also been very depressing. If you want to hear about my traumatic childhood, you can watch me talk about it here. I choose optimism because the alternative is much worse. I'd rather not be lost in a deep abyss feeling that nothing I do matters. Clovermoss🍀 (talk) 19:31, 13 November 2024 (UTC)
I also found it annoying, a post at a noticebosard or something would have been less annoying than spamming everyone whether they took it already or not, which I did. Just Step Sideways from this world ..... today 19:32, 13 November 2024 (UTC)

The eatings will continue until morale improves

This is what I thought after this comment. Best, Barkeep49 (talk) 16:52, 14 November 2024 (UTC)

Bravo. I'm very disappointed that I didn't see the opportunity for that myself. Although I did get to sneak a second Voltaire reference into that thread., which (for an engineering nerd) ain't nothing. Floquenbeam (talk) 17:34, 14 November 2024 (UTC)
Came here to make roughly the same comment as Barkeep! HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 18:16, 14 November 2024 (UTC)
Now who will come here to make a third Voltaire reference? Place your bets now.... Barkeep49 (talk) 18:18, 14 November 2024 (UTC)
It won't be me. I've only ever known the one. Bishonen supplied the first (hanged in silence...) --Floquenbeam (talk) 18:19, 14 November 2024 (UTC)
Écrasez l'infâme! bishzilla ROARR!! pocket 21:58, 14 November 2024 (UTC).
Oh, come on, Zilla, now you're being overprotective. It's just a little committee on a little website, all doing their best. Not exactly infamous. Bishonen | tålk 22:01, 14 November 2024 (UTC).
[Zilla protectively gathers up the little 'shonen, stuffs her in pocket head first.] Stay! bishzilla ROARR!! pocket 22:02, 14 November 2024 (UTC).

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Henpecked

Not sure when you'll be back, but in case you do soon, I'm curious what you think of User talk:Bbb23#changing "excessive" to "too bulk and unnecessary" is a 3rd level vandalism warning now?. One of the troll's defenders (and I do think the user is a troll) is an editor you said something rather nasty about (assuming you meant it and weren't being sarcastic) after she brought a recall petition against Fastily. I wasn't sure why you said it or why it wasn't challenged, but I didn't want to ask; the petition was contentious enough as it was. Anyway, if you have a moment and don't mind reading through a bit of a minefield, please tell me what you think. Thanks. In case you aren't around for a while, rather than posting this somewhere else, I'll ring in Drmies. Oh yeah, Happy Thanksgiving to you both. We're doing another year of Cornish game hens instead of turkey.--Bbb23 (talk) 21:43, 25 November 2024 (UTC)

I’ll try to swing back later, but just so it doesn’t look like I’m ignoring this, I’ll give you a Floq Express Opinion (TM). You’re 90% right, they’re 10% right. -Floquenbeam (talk) 23:51, 25 November 2024 (UTC)
OK, I've got a few minutes before Old People Bedtime. Technically, yes, the edit you warned them for wasn't vandalism. But they were a vandal, and it was a non-useful edit, and there is no reason for your antagonists to get so upset that you used the wrong template. Well, there is kind of a reason; I have thoughts on the motivations for a portion of those complaining the loudest, but I don't feel like going to ANI right now so I'll keep them to myself. And the comment of mine you reference was an unguarded moment of frustration at the following argument style: "you disagree with my opinion, but there was a recent ANI case where you were wrong about something else, so ha-ha you suck as an admin and you lose". Just smug and stupid. Ugh. --Floquenbeam (talk) 01:42, 26 November 2024 (UTC)
No matter what you write, it's always fun to read. Oh, and if you feel like sharing your thoughts on the motivations, please e-mail me. Thanks.--Bbb23 (talk) 01:50, 26 November 2024 (UTC)
Sent, and goodnight. Floquenbeam (talk) 01:57, 26 November 2024 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – December 2024

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

Administrator changes

added
readded
removed

Interface administrator changes

added
readded Pppery

CheckUser changes

readded

Guideline and policy news

Technical news

Arbitration

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 16:19, 3 December 2024 (UTC)

November music

story · music · places

memories -- Gerda Arendt (talk) 22:36, 4 November 2024 (UTC)

same procedure? but a surprise close --Gerda Arendt (talk) 21:20, 5 November 2024 (UTC)

Like pretty much every other process on WP, DYK seems so unfriendly, filled with Enforcers Of Policy And Rules And Mindless Bureaucracy. I sometimes don't know why you bother. I don't really know why I bother either. Perhaps recent events have just got me overly depressed and I won't feel so bleak in, say, four years. But the world seems so full of horrible people. Floquenbeam (talk) 22:30, 6 November 2024 (UTC)
For a surprise, a Bach cantata is on the Main page today, where it was last year for the 300th anniversary, and they were too lazy to find something new ;) - Look at my story, and listen. "Es ist genug" translates to "It is enough", - 301 years ago, and three dialogues between Fear and Hope. - Nothing wrong with enforcers of policy, such as accessibility, but enforcers of misunderstood guidelines, that's the problem. Did you see what I wrote in the ballerina's DYK nom (on the talk page)? - Will upload more vacation pics shortly. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 09:06, 7 November 2024 (UTC)
A few more pics added. An open letter open to be signed (more info on the talk), - I haven't checked if you did, please ignore then. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 19:43, 7 November 2024 (UTC)
signed! Floquenbeam (talk) 16:13, 11 November 2024 (UTC)
Today's story relates to 2 meanings of 9 Nov, - imagine: I found a DYK I liked from 2006, before my time here. - Why I bother: to make the subjects known. By known, I mean something substantial, - that someone served an organization for 70 years tells only about endurance, not creativity. I guess if they take the image - which says more than 1000 words - I'll let the pale words go, but if not just withdraw. - More pics from back home. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 21:02, 9 November 2024 (UTC)
I uploaded more pics, on a mountain in the sun above the fog. - Madeleine Riffaud - remember. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 15:14, 11 November 2024 (UTC)
Madrid looks beautiful (never been). Took a peek at Riffaud, but will have to come back to it later. Floquenbeam (talk) 16:15, 11 November 2024 (UTC)
The ballerina was promoted with no image and saying (no more than) she served the Bolshoi for 70 years. I told the promoter that I'll withdraw if no image. No reaction so far. It feels like saying about Riffaud that she worked in Resistance for so-an-so- many years. Interesting??? --Gerda Arendt (talk) 17:14, 11 November 2024 (UTC)
travel pics begun - happy Thanksgiving! --Gerda Arendt (talk) 00:44, 29 November 2024 (UTC)
I uploaded pics of a trip that was a 10-day celebration of a 16 November event, but the day was also when a dear friend died. We sang Hevenu shalom aleichem at his funeral yesterday, and it was good. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 19:59, 30 November 2024 (UTC)
Well that's certainly a new vacation spot! Looks fabulous, hope you enjoyed it. Weird coincidence, there was a DYK about Teresina a day or two ago. Floquenbeam (talk) 22:07, 3 December 2024 (UTC)
That's a spot where a friend of many years lives, who said that I never came ;) - I enjoyed it thoroughly, and pics got to the next leg of the trip, Bacabal. More pics to come. I missed the Teresina DYK, thanks for telling me. Will change one item in music now, after an inspiring concert. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 22:25, 3 December 2024 (UTC)

Notice of noticeboard discussion

Information icon There is currently a discussion at Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard regarding an issue with which you may have been involved. Thank you. It's not about you really, I just see your involvement in past discussions of the same issue. Just Step Sideways from this world ..... today 19:44, 6 December 2024 (UTC)

Sorry, Beeb. I understand why you'd notify me, and I've thought for a while that OM needs to slow down with the block button and ABF. But the bloodthirsty way the last few "eat the admins" threads have gone I just don't have the stomach for participating. Even if it would be the right thing to do. I'm wise enough to recognize the dysfunction, but not smart enough to know how to overcome the dysfunction to achieve good goals in a non-horrible way. Floquenbeam (talk) 17:20, 7 December 2024 (UTC)
I don't think anyone feels that the recall process has been what one could call a success so far. It seems way uglier to me than just doing an ARBCOM case, which is not something I ever expected to say. I just kept seeing your name in the previous incidents trying to steer things in a better direction, but I get what you're saying. I'm just really aggravated that this is still an issue after all this time, and honestly, feel kind of personally insulted by it as well. Just Step Sideways from this world ..... today 19:00, 7 December 2024 (UTC)

Busiest month of the year, you say?

I thought your elves do most of the real work?-- Ponyobons mots 17:48, 7 December 2024 (UTC)

I would kill to have some elves.--Floquenbeam (talk) 16:08, 9 December 2024 (UTC)
I can't believe Floq missed the opportunity to say that they were unable to jingle as many bells. Risker (talk) 18:17, 7 December 2024 (UTC)
I can't believe I missed it either. The shame. --Floquenbeam (talk) 16:08, 9 December 2024 (UTC)

Shame on you!

You hate Messi that's why you block my main account

Ha ha, you can't stop me Penaldo fan Messi10-barcelona2 (talk) 23:59, 4 December 2024 (UTC)

13 years later??? I knew you were memorable but not that memorable.--Bbb23 (talk) 00:05, 5 December 2024 (UTC)
Yes, I am so memorable that I inspire depressingly incoherent fuckwittery decades later. unless this is the most pointless Joe job in the history of Joe jobs. Floquenbeam (talk) 01:32, 5 December 2024 (UTC)
Who knew fuckwittery was a word? I really need to be more in touch with the, uh, real world. What do you do, spend your spare time hunting these down? A bit like Mr Collins and his compliments to the ladies, although he's a ridiculous, sanctimonious jerk.--Bbb23 (talk) 18:26, 6 December 2024 (UTC)
I had a troll for a while, various IPs in India that kept calling me "uncle" and saying God would punish me for what I had done. I tried to tell them they needed to tell me what block they were evading if they wanted me to have the slightest idea what they were mad about, but they never did. It went on for years. Just Step Sideways from this world ..... today 19:50, 6 December 2024 (UTC)
"real world"? I have never seen the word used outside of WP. I saw it here, liked it a lot, and now use it regularly, but didn't come up with it or hunt for it. Aside from, you know, creating a free global online encyclopedia, I think the creation (or, if not, at least the spreading) of this word is one of WP's greatest contributions to society. Floquenbeam (talk) 17:17, 7 December 2024 (UTC)
Yes! It has certainly enriched my life. -- Deepfriedokra (talk) 18:33, 7 December 2024 (UTC)
if enshitification is a word, fuckwittery is one too. Floquenbeam (talk) 16:15, 9 December 2024 (UTC)
Two ts please. See also emmerder, a word I used to love but no longer have occasion to use.--Bbb23 (talk) 16:37, 9 December 2024 (UTC)
It's British slang, definitely has a life outside of WP - years one of my managers used the phrase "epic fuckwittery" in an email (not directed at me, I hasten to add). Pawnkingthree (talk) 21:06, 9 December 2024 (UTC)

Io Saturnalia!

Io, Saturnalia!
Wishing you and yours a Happy Holiday Season, from the horse and bishop person. May the year ahead be productive and distraction-free. Ealdgyth (talk) 15:09, 17 December 2024 (UTC)

Happy Holidays

Merry Christmas and a Prosperous 2025!

Hello Floquenbeam, may you be surrounded by peace, success and happiness on this seasonal occasion. Spread the WikiLove by wishing another user a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, whether it be someone you have had disagreements with in the past, a good friend, or just some random person. Sending you heartfelt and warm greetings for Christmas and New Year 2025.
Happy editing,
Abishe (talk) 22:31, 24 December 2024 (UTC)

Spread the love by adding {{subst:Seasonal Greetings}} to other user talk pages.

Abishe (talk) 22:31, 24 December 2024 (UTC)

December music

story · music · places

Today's story comes from a DYK about a concert that fascinated me, and you can listen! For my taste, the hook has too little music - I miss the unusual scoring and the specific dedication - but it comes instead with a name good for viewcount. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 17:25, 6 December 2024 (UTC)

Thanks Gerda! Floquenbeam (talk) 17:21, 7 December 2024 (UTC)
On the Main page today Jean Sibelius on his birthday. Listening to Beethoven's Fifth from the opening of Notre-Dame de Paris. We sang in choirs today. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 20:50, 8 December 2024 (UTC)
Ode to Joy! Floquenbeam (talk) 16:13, 9 December 2024 (UTC) Oops, got my symphonies confused. Note to self: look stuff up to be sure BEFORE hitting publish, not right after. --Floquenbeam (talk) 16:14, 9 December 2024 (UTC)
You could give me the same note, all the time. Interesting photographer in my story, - just look at youtube if you have little time. - Some new pics that look like vacation, - beach, from the third monastery, and dinner there, for the first time in a restaurant on the trip. - How do you like my Notre-Dame pic? --Gerda Arendt (talk) 19:10, 10 December 2024 (UTC)
Listen today to the (new) Perplexities after Escher. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 10:50, 12 December 2024 (UTC)
Listen today to Beethoven's 3rd cello sonata, on his birthday - it was a hook in the 2020 DYK set when his 250th birthday was remembered. I picked a recording with Antônio Meneses, because he was on my sad list this year, and I was in Brazil (see places, particularly stunning today), and I love his playing. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 16:31, 16 December 2024 (UTC)
I come to fix the cellist's name, with a 10-years-old DYK and new pics - look for red birds --Gerda Arendt (talk) 19:12, 18 December 2024 (UTC)
Today is a woman poet's centenary. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 16:08, 20 December 2024 (UTC)
Hauptfriedhof Mainz today (remember November?) - if you have the time, take the YouTube walk by a young man from from Jamaica, speaking English. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 21:40, 21 December 2024 (UTC)
Today it's another great woman, soprano Sigrid Kehl, and I found a 1963 Christmas Oratorio detail. 10 years earlier than that cycle, Bach wrote seven cantatas for the 1724 season, based on seven songs, - my focus this year. Expect three stories for the three days they celebrated in Leipzig ;) - Enjoy the season! --Gerda Arendt (talk) 21:32, 23 December 2024 (UTC)
My first Christmas story is about Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ, BWV 91, 300 years today, and its song, 500 years old. Enjoy! --Gerda Arendt (talk) 15:27, 25 December 2024 (UTC)
Similarly, my second Christmas story is about Christum wir sollen loben schon, BWV 121, 300 years today, and its song, 500 years old. An aria is inspired by a baby leaping in his mother's womb. Enjoy! --Gerda Arendt (talk) 22:33, 26 December 2024 (UTC)
My third Christmas story is different. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 19:01, 27 December 2024 (UTC)

Thanks for a year of interesting articles and beautiful pictures and kind words. Have a great New Years Eve, and I'm hoping for a better-than-expected 2025. --Floquenbeam (talk)

Administrators' newsletter – January 2025

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

Guideline and policy news

Technical news

  • The Nuke feature also now provides links to the userpage of the user whose pages were deleted, and to the pages which were not selected for deletion, after page deletions are queued. This enables easier follow-up admin-actions.

Arbitration

Miscellaneous

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 15:48, 5 January 2025 (UTC)

An archiving

Hi, you said " Last comment in this thread was 6 days ago; not sure why the bot hasn't archived it." but AN is on a seven-day archive schedule, as said in the banner at the top. Best wishes for the new year! Fram (talk) 14:06, 6 January 2025 (UTC)

Well that certainly explains it! For some reason (perhaps it was the case long, long ago) I thought ANI was on a 48 hour schedule, and AN on a 72 hr schedule. Hope your 2025 goes well too. Floquenbeam (talk) 14:32, 6 January 2025 (UTC)

Happy Adminship Anniversary!

Thanks DDOOL! A day that will live in infamy. --Floquenbeam (talk) 00:05, 19 January 2025 (UTC)

Notice of noticeboard notice

Information icon There is currently a discussion at Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/Incidents regarding an issue with which you may have been involved. The thread is Drbogdan misuse of talk page while blocked. Thank you. Ivanvector (Talk/Edits) 13:29, 27 January 2025 (UTC)

A reminder to WP:AGF and WP:DROPTHESTICK in the future

Hello. I noticed the way you communicated with @FactsheetPete and I wanted to politely ask you to consider your own behavior here. Whether intentionally or not, you and @Tiggerjay have chased away a new editor by immediately accusing them of meatpuppetry. Yes, the behavior may look suspicious. Yes, the activity pattern looks suspicious. Yes, the accounts are all different. But as others have pointed out, this commonly happens with articles relating to current events. There is a very fine line between a meatpuppet and someone who sincerely agrees with the argument someone else presented. As a guideline, I would advise you to avoid WP:ABF in these discussions, as you are doing when you allege meatpuppetry. If you don't have damning evidence, enough to take to ArbCom, WP:DROPTHESTICK. guninvalid (talk) 08:09, 28 January 2025 (UTC)

thank you for the blue links. I was unaware. —-Floquenbeam (talk) 09:47, 28 January 2025 (UTC)

January music

story · music · places

Happy new year 2025, opened with trumpet fanfares that first sounded OTD in 1725 (as the Main page has). -- Gerda Arendt (talk) 17:52, 1 January 2025 (UTC)

Happy New Year, Gerda! I actually had a chance to click on one of your watch/listen links! Very cool. --Floquenbeam (talk) 15:30, 2 January 2025 (UTC)
Glad about that! - Liebster Immanuel, Herzog der Frommen, BWV 123, my story today 300 years after the first performance, is up for GAN. Dada Masilo will be my story tomorrow. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 21:16, 6 January 2025 (UTC)
My story today is about a composer who influenced music history also by writing. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 09:56, 8 January 2025 (UTC)
Today a violinist from Turkey, Ayla Erduran, whom you can watch playing Schubert chamber music --Gerda Arendt (talk) 22:09, 13 January 2025 (UTC)
... and today, pictured on the Main page, Tosca, in memory of her first appearance on stage OTD in 1900, and of principal author Brian Boulton. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 19:11, 14 January 2025 (UTC)
Today, between many who just died, Tobias Kratzer on his 45th birthday who was good for an unusual DYK mentioning a Verdi opera in 2018, - you can see his work in the trailer of another one that I saw, and my talk page has a third (but by a different director). 2025 pics, finally. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 18:56, 17 January 2025 (UTC)
Today I have a composer (trumpeter, conductor) on the main page who worked closely with another who became GA yesterday, - small world! To celebrate: mostly flowers pics from vacation ;) --Gerda Arendt (talk) 20:06, 20 January 2025 (UTC)
I have more vacation pics to offer, and today's story of Werner Bardenhewer. I took the pic, and it was my DYK on his 90th birthday, in both English and German. He spent the day in Africa, and after his return said - chatting after a mass of thanks he celebrated at Mariä Heimsuchung - that we'd have to talk about these articles. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 18:55, 30 January 2025 (UTC)
Sorry, I've been ignoring you, to the extent that I let it fall of my talk page! Looking forward to taking a peek at vacation pics, will try to pick up my pace a bit. Floquenbeam (talk) 18:10, 31 January 2025 (UTC)

your User Page quote

the center of the universe, I live very, very far away from it now. I am really confusing🤓 about what's that mean?? KPopMachine (talk) 20:58, 1 February 2025 (UTC)

Hi KPM, I used to live near Tahoma (follow link), and it felt very important to me. I don't live near it anymore. Floquenbeam (talk) 17:05, 2 February 2025 (UTC)

E-mail

So, are you reading your e-mail, e. g. my messages? Bishonen | tålk 18:36, 2 February 2025 (UTC).

Sorry, reading them now. I’m pretty untrustworthy these days. Floquenbeam (talk) 21:01, 2 February 2025 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – February 2025

News and updates for administrators from the past month (January 2025).

Administrator changes

readded
removed Euryalus

CheckUser changes

removed

Oversighter changes

removed

Technical news

  • Administrators can now nuke pages created by a user or IP address from the last 90 days, up from the initial 30 days. T380846
  • A 'Recreated' tag will now be added to pages that were created with the same title as a page which was previously deleted and it can be used as a filter in Special:RecentChanges and Special:NewPages. T56145

Arbitration

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 15:28, 5 February 2025 (UTC)

Sock

the banned BittersweetParadox (talk · contribs) is editing again under HopeLost (talk · contribs). Yankees10 16:22, 12 February 2025 (UTC)

Sorry to steal your thunder, Floq, but it was pretty obvious and I wasn't sure if you'd be back on-wiki anytime soon (looked like you'd left for the day).--Bbb23 (talk) 16:38, 12 February 2025 (UTC)
No worries, you're always welcome to steal my thunder. Less work for me! Floquenbeam (talk) 17:44, 12 February 2025 (UTC)
Thanks for letting me know, Yankees10. Looks like Bbb23 has sorted things Floquenbeam (talk) 17:43, 12 February 2025 (UTC)

Authoritarianism

At ANI, you wrote, "....give it a few more months, I may even have first-hand knowledge! [about Government interference in Wikipedia]" I have been pondering over that the past few days and am seriously concerned about Musk and his cronies coming after Wikipedia. I suppose Jimbo could move the servers and the Foundation to Canada and side-step it all? After all, the climate up there is probably a better temperature for a server farm, right? Ritchie333 (talk) (cont) 18:52, 21 February 2025 (UTC)

For a while, until climate change forces server farms to the Antarctic, where it will only be 40 degrees F.
I am honestly considering removing update: I have removed the ability to email me from WP, so that the WMF won't know what my email address is (surely they don't save it once I remove it??), and can't be forced to turn it over to Musk or Trump's lunatic FBI director or someone. The WMF has apparently actually already done that very thing in India, even with US servers, so moving to Canada might not help if they aren't going to have a backbone. Also going to start thinking about what IPs I edit from, because I can't keep the WMF from telling them that.
I won't rant for too much longer, because of POLEMIC and all that, but it's depressing how many people think this is an obvious hyperbolic exaggeration. American exceptionalism has got a lot of people convinced that "it can't happen here". It fucking is happening here, right in front of our noses, but we're like the proverbial frog in the slowly warming pot of water. I would have thought that the percentage of people willing to kiss a bully's ass would be around 20-30%, but it turns out it's over 50%. Floquenbeam (talk) 19:12, 21 February 2025 (UTC)
Re email: I believe I saw someone mention in one of the ANI v WMF discussions that the WMF retains email changes for 90 days, after which they are permanently deleted. Unfortunately I’m currently on mobile with no chance of finding the comment's source, so take that with one or more grains of salt. Perfect4th (talk) 19:55, 21 February 2025 (UTC)
Thank you, that seems like it would be true. Truthy, at least. All I have to do is hope that we can hold on for 3 months. Floquenbeam (talk) 20:00, 21 February 2025 (UTC)
It appears I misread. According to the Foundation's Data Retention Guidelines, IPs are kept for 90 days but emails are retained only until a user deletes/changes the account setting. Perfect4th (talk) 20:21, 21 February 2025 (UTC)
Thank you very much P4th. I would not have known where to even begin looking for that document. Floquenbeam (talk) 20:22, 21 February 2025 (UTC)

February music

story · music · places

On the main page today, 300 years after its first performance, Bach's cantata BWV 125, - a lovely very intimate piece, with peace and joy in the title. Enjoy listening with score - I discovered that only now! - Today is also the birthday of James Joyce, who has an article by many authors. -- Gerda Arendt (talk) 22:52, 2 February 2025 (UTC)

Thanks for the Bach link (synching with score is cool; even tho it isn't useful to me I still like it), and for the James Joyce link. Reminds me of my trip to Dublin last year. One of my new favorite places; I could imagine living there. And I remembered to {{dnau}} this time... --Floquenbeam (talk) 16:52, 3 February 2025 (UTC)
new pics, with thanks for remembering ;) - back home --Gerda Arendt (talk) 17:17, 3 February 2025 (UTC)
Every time you go to La Palma, I (1) enjoy the pictures, and (2) get sort of jealous. Floquenbeam (talk) 17:49, 3 February 2025 (UTC)
Every time I go to La Palma (which has become a nice tradition of a winter home), I hope that enjoyment is stronger than jealousy. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 18:06, 3 February 2025 (UTC)
It is, but it's close... Floquenbeam (talk) 17:45, 11 February 2025 (UTC)
today: a German-born Spanish art collector, - the video in her honour is remarkable, as what she gave the world. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 18:33, 8 February 2025 (UTC)
I find today's birthday child particularly inspiring, by enthusiasm and determination. That was - believe it or not - a pictured DYK in 2021, without the last line though. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 19:59, 9 February 2025 (UTC)
Paul Plishka, a bass who sang 88 roles of all kinds at the Met was interviewed before his (first) retirement. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 17:48, 10 February 2025 (UTC)
Cool, thanks Gerda. Floquenbeam (talk) 17:46, 11 February 2025 (UTC)
Thank you! That article had not a single link to an opera, few references, and little biographical detail. (Thanks to two brilliant obits, that could be changed. Today I learned that Edith Mathis died. That article had few links to pieces, few references, and little biographical detail. Thank to Grimes2, that changed much today, and I worked on the formatting of the recordings (a bit). She made 193. It's her birthday. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 18:02, 11 February 2025 (UTC)
She arrived on the main page today! Check out how the article improved ;) - She portrayed young women by Mozart. The video of a 1993 interview has videos of her performances. - I saw my brother on stage, - see places. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 14:45, 13 February 2025 (UTC)
That *is* quite an expansion! Well done to you and Grimes and others. Floquenbeam (talk) 17:17, 14 February 2025 (UTC)
Look at places also for Valentine's food and flowers ;) - with a story, and more music there --Gerda Arendt (talk) 10:01, 14 February 2025 (UTC)
Happy Valentines Day, Gerda. I waited until too late, so while Mrs. Floquenbeam and I are going to a nice Cuban place for dinner, I could only get reservations for 5:00. That's practically lunch time! Floquenbeam (talk) 17:19, 14 February 2025 (UTC)
Hope it was still a pleasure! - I point at a composer today, as the main page does. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 22:51, 20 February 2025 (UTC)
It was fantastic (just early). Floquenbeam (talk) 17:12, 21 February 2025 (UTC)
Great, regards to Mrs. F! Today's is about an opera singer on her 35th birthday, - don't miss the short video which shows her in movement, - they had a Japanese movement coach for the production that impressed me in 2022. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 20:06, 21 February 2025 (UTC)
A coach in Japanese movement? Or a movement coach who was Japanese? :) Floquenbeam (talk) 20:14, 21 February 2025 (UTC)
Or both? She looks Japanese, and is interviewed. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 20:48, 21 February 2025 (UTC)
from 2:20 to about 4 when it's the conductor's turn, - the beginning was for the director --Gerda Arendt (talk) 20:53, 21 February 2025 (UTC)
nothing new from N. - see WT:DYK#Alexander Goehr, - it's about Alexander Goehr. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 23:25, 27 February 2025 (UTC)
I don't know what to say, Gerda. DYK is trying to maximize more than one variable, and according to my Dad (who taught business math) that's usually impossible. If you want to encourage (a) volume of new articles, (b) interesting articles, (c) high pageviews, and (d) make sure hooks are considered "interesting/funny" by high schoolers, something has to give. N and his crew are right: your hook is not interesting or funny to high schoolers. I don't have any political pull over there; I see Roy Smith commented, maybe he has more, I don't know. I'm kind of despairing of this place right now. Floquenbeam (talk) 15:33, 28 February 2025 (UTC)
We don't have to limit knowledge to what high schoolers can grasp. The other day we had a hook about an actress playing a certain role only 2 years later than she had hoped to get it. Sooo??? When I expanded I thought that N. would suggest to say that he worked in a kibbuz ;) - Compared to that, all is fine. The hook might just make it because people are to lazy to change it. I'll give you more flowers tomorrow, for encouragement, would have loved to begin the month with a five-composers hook, but not ideally in the early hours of the day when most Europeans would sleep through it. Working today on BWV 127, the last of the chorale cantatas that needs work to be GA, - the very last, BWV 1, is already a FA. - New pics of spring flowers and a songbird! --Gerda Arendt (talk) 17:36, 28 February 2025 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – March 2025

News and updates for administrators from the past month (February 2025).

Administrator changes

removed

CheckUser changes

removed

Oversighter changes

removed AmandaNP

Guideline and policy news

Technical news

  • A new filter has been added to the Special:Nuke tool, which allows administrators to filter for pages in a range of page sizes (in bytes). This allows, for example, deleting pages only of a certain size or below. T378488
  • Non-administrators can now check which pages are able to be deleted using the Special:Nuke tool. T376378

Miscellaneous

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 18:37, 4 March 2025 (UTC)

UT:WTT

Hello, Floq,

If you were being sarcastic, I think you should rethink your comment. I'd email you about this but you don't have that enabled. That's all. Liz Read! Talk! 00:12, 7 March 2025 (UTC)

You don't know whether I was being sarcastic? Floquenbeam (talk) 00:25, 7 March 2025 (UTC)
Well, I wanted to give you the benefit of the doubt. Because if you were, it seemed like a cruel comment to make. Liz Read! Talk! 01:29, 7 March 2025 (UTC)

Crat

I did joke yesterday with some people that I sure have done a lot as a crat in 3 days for a job that was supposed to be no work. I do hope, however, that someone starts a discussion around "do we still need this role" rather than leaving it as a comment someone makes every few years when someone bothers to RfB. Best, Barkeep49 (talk) 21:04, 11 March 2025 (UTC)

Personally, I like having Crats. I might not be able to justify it with an airtight argument, I just like knowing they're you're there. So it won't be me starting the discussion. Floquenbeam (talk) 21:07, 11 March 2025 (UTC)
I understand that WP:Project WikiDOGE is going to start eliminating various user rights to see what might happen if no one does whatever it is that those rights are for. 28bytes (talk) 23:12, 11 March 2025 (UTC)
What even is an edit filter manager? If we get rid of them we just have the edit filters tell us what they did this past week, and if an LLM isn't impressed we axe them too ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 23:23, 11 March 2025 (UTC)
What the fuck is a template. Delete all pages that are templates. And template editors are all elitist. Block them all. Also, delete any articles that start with “div”, “eq”, or “incl”. Also, we’re taking over Fandom. Floquenbeam (talk) 00:23, 12 March 2025 (UTC)
I actually suspect I like having Crats. I might not be able to justify it with an airtight argument, I just like knowing they're you're there is if not a consensus position at least one that is widely held enough to mean that there isn't consensus to eliminate them. It's why despite my own skepticism of the role I ran for it (I sent my self-nom to a few people and the most substantive feedback I got was to tone down my crat skepticism as a tangent to the actual discussion). And if, as I suspect, there is somewhat widespread support for the role that's good to know also. And to the extent that there is a divide it might point the way towards possible reforms - I know one person who would favor reconfirmation for crats in a way they never would for admins. Best, Barkeep49 (talk) 15:53, 12 March 2025 (UTC)
I guess the problem I see is that I don't like the "non-crat" alternatives. Admins appointing and removing admin tools? No thanks - I've seen a single admin go rogue too many times, compromised or had enough - I don't want the ability well spread. Passing it to the stewards? Again, enough history that we like our project to be ours. So that leaves our barely used crats - and I think the solution there is "use them more". I get there's not a lot of RfAs, but hopefully they'll (you'll... we'll? No, I don't need that hat) be well involved in elections.
The big problem with crat's is the legacy issue - no reconfirmation means we have had crats who are 20+ years long in the tooth, and since each crat counts for a significant portion of the crat group, due to the small overall number. WormTT(talk) 16:32, 12 March 2025 (UTC)
I probably have more trust in the Stewards than the average enwiki editor. So for me the big problem with passing to the Stewards crat responsibilities for +/- sysop and IA (I'd presume we would decide to bot flag locally) was the discrestion involved with some of our policies. But a Steward (accidently) reminded me that they evaluate consensus in their own elections so they could do so with ours. And the need for that is going to be less in an era of admin elections. But I agree that trust in the Stewards is not something universally shared and indeed in most instances I am of the opinion "when we can, we should do things ourselves" and the community not feeling that way would be a bit of a break with the past. Best, Barkeep49 (talk) 16:42, 12 March 2025 (UTC)
For me it's useful knowing there's a small group of people who can more or less be counted on to approach policy both thoughtfully and conservatively so I know who to ping when I wonder if I'm thinking too far outside the box. Valereee (talk) 17:25, 12 March 2025 (UTC)
Yes, I suspect for a lot of people, Crats are much more important as a social construct than as people who technically have the ability to flip bits. --Floquenbeam (talk) 15:20, 13 March 2025 (UTC)
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