Wikimedia:Village pump

Village pump

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Welcome to the Outreach Wiki's village pump. This page has two functions:

• This is where general outreach-related discussions can be held. Click here to open up a new topic.
• You can also use this page to request administrator assistance with vandalism or other incidents needing action. Please be as specific as possible, including the name of the user or IP causing problems, the page name, and your signature.
• Requests for permissions should be made on the respective page.

Please sign and date your post (by typing ~~~~ or clicking the signature icon: in the edit toolbar). Please add new topics to the bottom of this page.

« Older discussions | Archives: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Wikimuseum

@Mu301: advised me to warn you guys: please check meta:Wikimuseum.--Felipe da Fonseca (talk) 12:07, 2 January 2018 (UTC)

This could be of interest to those from the GLAM community. I don't have an opinion on this specific proposal, but it is an interesting idea to consider and discuss. --mikeu ^talk 17:33, 2 January 2018 (UTC)

IP blocks

I was looking in the block log and I notice that some IP blocks are indefinite with account creation disabled. I generally think that this should be avoided because IPs are not so closely linked to individual people as accounts are, and we wouldn't want to indefinitely block an entire school from editing Outreach wiki because one student vandalized a page. I would like to propose that local IP blocks should generally be 6 months long and should block anonymous edits only. If we want to get more sophisticated with checkuser tools we can do so, but for the time being I think that this would be sufficient. Pinging User:Joalpe and User:Jeff G. who have made IP blocks in 2017-2018. --Pine^✉ 20:13, 22 July 2018 (UTC)

@Pine: I commuted one block to 6 months anon only and paroled another.   — Jeff G. ツ 20:34, 22 July 2018 (UTC)

@Pine: Thanks for bringing this up. You're right. I have changed the expiration date of one IP I had blocked --this particular case is currently under global block anyway. --Joalpe (talk) 00:42, 25 July 2018 (UTC)

Proposal: change the design of the main page

Hi all. I would like to bring to your attention a discussion that is taking place at Talk:Main_Page#Featured_publications_on_the_main_page. The issue is a proposal to feature publications on the main page of the project. As of today, the main page remains mostly static. I hope you can come and comment. Good edits! --Joalpe (talk) 20:55, 24 August 2018 (UTC)

Broken link at MediaWiki:Histlegend

The "Edits by user" link at MediaWiki:Histlegend is broken. //tools.wmflabs.org/usersearch/index.html?page={{FULLPAGENAMEE}}&server=outreachwiki should be changed to //tools.wmflabs.org/sigma/usersearch.py?page={{FULLPAGENAMEE}}&server=outreachwiki. For example, on the page history of GLAM the current link produces the broken https://tools.wmflabs.org/usersearch/index.html?page=GLAM&server=outreachwiki. The change will produce the working https://tools.wmflabs.org/sigma/usersearch.py?page=GLAM&server=outreachwiki. PrimeHunter (talk) 21:26, 8 September 2018 (UTC)

@PrimeHunter: Thanks, fixed. --Steinsplitter (talk) 17:36, 27 September 2018 (UTC)

Reminder: No editing at 14:00 UTC on September 12 and October 10

Hey everyone,

This is a reminder that, because of a server test to make sure we can still function in case of a catastrophe, there will be a short period of time (up to an hour, probably shorter) when you can read but not edit the wikis on September 12 and October 10. This will start at 14:00 UTC. You can read more at m:Tech/Server switch 2018. /Johan (WMF) (talk) 12:17, 10 September 2018 (UTC)

IP Block

Hi there!

I couldn't find a better place to do this, so sorry if this is at the wrong place. The IP 130.193.237.228 (talk · contribs) is vandalizing a lot of articles, so I think a block should be made.

Thanks in advance! —Thanks for the fish! ^{talk•contribs} 17:55, 4 October 2018 (UTC)

@Tks4Fish: Y Done Thanks Koavf (talk) 18:18, 4 October 2018 (UTC)

Security incident involving account with Outreach admin permissions

It looks like we had a security incident with an account that somehow got admin permissions on Outreach wiki. I don't see a notice about this on Meta on the Stewards' noticeboard, and I don't know whether this problem was specific to Outreach or extended also to other wikis. Pinging Steward @Shanmugamp7: to request more information. --Pine^✉ 06:14, 21 October 2018 (UTC)

• I have been doing more poking around. It looks like Koavf (talk · contribs)'s account was compromised, and is now globally locked. I am not impressed with a bureaucrat losing control of their account, and I will want an explanation of how this could have happened, if and when Koavf returns. @Steinsplitter:, @Wittylama:, @Jami (Wiki Ed):, @OhanaUnited: you are the remaining bureaucrats on this wiki, and I would like to request that you revoke Koavf's bureaucrat and admin flags. Even if he returns, I will want an explanation of how this could have happened and what he will do to prevent a recurrence before I will trust him again with having the bureaucrat and admin flags. I regret the inconvenience to him and others, but I think that we should be cautious here about re-assigning the bureaucrat and admin flags to someone who lost control of their account. --Pine^✉ 06:27, 21 October 2018 (UTC)
  • Access to those tools have been removed via meta yet. A general suggestion for everybody (not just crats/admins): Use two-factor authentication. Best --Steinsplitter (talk) 07:38, 21 October 2018 (UTC)

• @Steinsplitter: please do not return those flags if and when he returns until and unless there becomes consensus to do so. In my opinion there needs to be a persuasive case for why he should be trusted again with those flags. I am likely to oppose re-granting those flags. --Pine^✉ 13:40, 21 October 2018 (UTC)

• My account was compromised 3 years ago and en.wiki's ArbCom restored my rights rather quickly after I re-gained control. I don't see a lot of issues with restoring his admin rights because of the limited impact on Outreach Wiki. On the other hand, Koavf is also a Checkuser on Wikispecies and that has far greater impact in terms of reach, impact and public-facing because of the rights he held there. OhanaUnited^{Talk page} 22:38, 21 October 2018 (UTC)

The stewards and WMF (understandably) have not gone into specifics, but from what I can tell, it looks like malicious JavaScript. --Rschen7754 06:41, 22 October 2018 (UTC)

Correction: at least part of it looks like malicious JavaScript, it's possible there were other factors involved. --Rschen7754 18:12, 22 October 2018 (UTC)

There is discussion about this on CU mailing list, for those who have access. Yes, I would like my user rights restored. Koavf (talk) 08:25, 23 October 2018 (UTC)

Welcome back Koavf. Sorry to hear about the issue. Best. --Joalpe (talk) 18:50, 23 October 2018 (UTC)

Yeah, a weird thing. I have a unique password for WMF. I'm looking forward to details on CU-list. I am also hoping that no one expects me to have a (insecure surveillance device) smartphone in order to be a bureaucrat here. I think that's the wrong solution. Koavf (talk) 19:29, 23 October 2018 (UTC)

I am pretty sure this will be solved in the best possible way. You are an active, good-faith editor. Let me know if I can be of any assistance. --Joalpe (talk) 22:04, 23 October 2018 (UTC)

I am going to take a firm stance. As far as I know, there is nothing that I would accept as an excuse for not using 2FA these days. Not using 2FA puts other people at elevated risk, such as by misuse of the editinterface permission. If someone does not want to use a smartphone then I believe that they can use an iPod or a non-phone mobile device. I oppose returning Koavf's admin and bureaucrat permissions on this wiki. The benefits do not offset the risks. Regrets, --Pine^✉ 05:46, 24 October 2018 (UTC)

@Pine: If you know of a device I can use with free software that isn't a cellular mobile, I will happily investigate one. Koavf (talk) 05:53, 24 October 2018 (UTC)

There are tons of twofactor auth tools out there, for example this for firefox. I saw you got rights restored via meta, please enable two factor auth asap. And btw, if you know how-to a smartphone is not a insecure surveillance device. --Steinsplitter (talk) 14:34, 25 October 2018 (UTC)

@Steinsplitter: If this browser extension works, then that is great. If you know of cellular mobiles that can overcome these shortcomings, then I am all ears. Koavf (talk) 20:09, 25 October 2018 (UTC)

@Koavf: if you want a device for 2FA that isn't a cellular mobile and uses free software then my guess is that an old non-cellular Android device would be your cheapest and best option. If you don't require free software then iPods are an option too. I have heard that Google employees who have access to Google's data center hardware use a physical device as part of their authentication, and although I don't know how it works, that makes me think that there are probably also single-purpose devices that are designed for corporate users like Google employees that would also support 2FA, but my guess is that an old non-cellular Android device would be your cheapest physical option. I haven't tried a browser plugin and I don't know how secure it would be to use one of those for 2FA, but they sound like they're worth researching. --Pine^✉ 04:39, 28 October 2018 (UTC)

Thanks. Koavf (talk) 05:04, 28 October 2018 (UTC)

Bureaucrat removal

Hi all. Currently, this is one of the few wikis where bureaucrats can remove bureaucrats (see m:Bureaucrats). This was apparently done in 2010 with no community discussion presented phab:T25118.

I am not sure that this is a good idea going forward. For one, there was the security incident described above. This increases the damage that a hacked bureaucrat account can accomplish. Secondly, in the past there has not been high scrutiny of advanced permissions on this wiki - case in point, one bureaucrat was globally banned by WMF.

Thus, I am proposing that the ability to remove the bureaucrat flag is relegated to stewards. Thoughts? --Rschen7754 04:13, 17 December 2018 (UTC)

For those who aren't terribly familiar with the history, the bureaucrat rights used to be given out very freely as well, simply based on having been a trusted user elsewhere with WMF projects. This community has moved toward a much more stringent model in the past two or three years. Koavf (talk) 07:07, 17 December 2018 (UTC)

 Support realigning permissions to align with the rest WMF policies in regards to granting/revoking rights. A compromised bureaucrat scenario doesn't look good as evidenced above. --Arseny1992 (talk) 07:47, 17 December 2018 (UTC)

 Support It is necessary to define clearer guidelines on this subject, since currently this wiki does not have much "content" activity, but rather cleaning and administrative tasks. —AlvaroMolina (✉ - ✔) 02:56, 21 December 2018 (UTC)

 Support Seems reasonable. Quiddity (talk) 00:44, 22 December 2018 (UTC)

 Support Sounds reasonable. --Steinsplitter (talk) 19:25, 26 December 2018 (UTC)

 Oppose Maybe I'm the odd one out, but I notice that this wiki is self-contained and does not need this 'trimming' of 'crat rights. Both reasons provided aren't enough - anyone could be affected by one (even stewards). (ping me if you need further input, thanks) Leaderboard (talk) 20:33, 29 December 2018 (UTC)

Added to Phabricator: phab:T214133 --Rschen7754 01:29, 18 January 2019 (UTC)

And done. --Rschen7754 01:24, 23 January 2019 (UTC)

Desysop request

Could a bureaucrat please desysop User:Barbara Fischer (WMDE) since they have apparently left WMDE? [1] [2] --Rschen7754 01:30, 22 January 2019 (UTC)

Why would that warrant desysopping? Koavf (talk) 04:42, 22 January 2019 (UTC)

Because they were only granted the admin privileges due to their job. Also, the account is not supposed to be used again and the sysop rights should be removed for security (unless they are re-hired, in which case the rights would be regranted). --Rschen7754 01:24, 23 January 2019 (UTC)

Makes sense. Y Done Koavf (talk) 01:36, 23 January 2019 (UTC)

Admin request

Hello, I'm a new dashboard admin. Requesting admin access here for any useful maintenance I may come across. Xaosflux (talk) 18:26, 4 February 2019 (UTC)

@Xaosflux: Best requested over at Wikimedia:Requests for permissions. Cheers. Quiddity (talk) 07:48, 7 February 2019 (UTC)

Thanks, added there. Xaosflux (talk) 22:38, 7 February 2019 (UTC)

Bureaucrat request

Could a bureaucrat remove TA rights from User:EGalvez (WMF)? Account is globally locked. --Rschen7754 17:49, 9 February 2019 (UTC)

Y Done Thanks! Koavf (talk) 21:19, 9 February 2019 (UTC)

User talk:Drmies

See the history: this is my main argument for declaring this whole global account stuff to be just BS, nothing but an invitation to cross-wiki vandalism. Where am I going to get this next? My talk page on the Uzbek wiki? Drmies (talk) 15:01, 11 February 2019 (UTC)

• The piece of shit did indeed show up on the Uzbek wiki. I forgot who this jackass was--Willie on Wheels? Thanks WMF. Steward, crats, whatever, suppress please. Drmies (talk) 15:12, 11 February 2019 (UTC)

• @Drmies: it looks like Trijnstel (talk · contribs) deleted the page. I didn't look at its contents, but I hope that this fixes the problem. If there are further issues please let us know. The Outreach admins do look at this page periodically. As an alternative to posting on this page, you can leave a message for one of us who is active on one of our talk pages. If you post here and don't get a response within a few days, or if you have an urgent request, you can ping one of the active admins to your request on this page, though please don't ping a lot of us at the same time. Best wishes, --Pine^✉ 22:33, 22 February 2019 (UTC)

• Thanks Pine. 2600:6C58:607F:F8F1:5473:EB7C:2B96:8FB 22:43, 22 February 2019 (UTC)

Video tutorial regarding Wikipedia referencing with VisualEditor

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• Play media
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• 

Hi, I have received a grant from WMF to support production of a video tutorial regarding creating references with VisualEditor. I anticipate that the video will be published in March 2019. Depending on funding considerations, this tutorial might be published in both English and Spanish. If this tutorial is well received then I may produce additional tutorials in the future. If you would like to receive notifications on your talk page when drafts and finished products from this project are ready for review, then please sign up for the project newsletter.
Regards, --Pine^✉ 05:48, 26 February 2019 (UTC)

Wikimedia:Inactivity policy

Wikimedia:Inactivity policy

It seems that the last inactivity cleanup was done in September 2017. Maybe it is time to do another one? --Rschen7754 23:03, 10 March 2019 (UTC)

@Rschen7754: What do you propose needs changing? Koavf (talk) 06:46, 11 March 2019 (UTC)

Nothing. It's just that as it has been over a year, more users have gone inactive, so maybe it is time to do another run of the policy. --Rschen7754 07:00, 11 March 2019 (UTC)

Gotcha. Koavf (talk) 07:02, 11 March 2019 (UTC)

Note: the use of wikilinks in section headers can cause problems with navigation on mobile devices. Clicking on a table of contents item will open the page link rather than the subsection note about the page. This behaviour is sometimes inconsistent across devices. I've moved the link above out of the section markup to avoid this. Please see v:Wikiversity_talk:Manual_of_Style#Links_in_Headings --mikeu ^talk 14:36, 11 March 2019 (UTC)

How considerate. Thanks. Koavf (talk) 16:50, 11 March 2019 (UTC)

I wrote a script to pull the relevant usernames, https://quarry.wmflabs.org/query/34987

Username
Pharos
Kaganer
Jane023
Perohanych
Awinda
Abuse filter

Looks like @Koavf: notified them yet (E.g. here.) --Steinsplitter (talk) 14:23, 8 April 2019 (UTC)

My activity was very low in last two year (due to the heavy off-wiki workloads), but I intend to resume activity soon. --Kaganer (talk) 16:47, 8 April 2019 (UTC)

Me too. --Perohanych (talk) 19:00, 8 April 2019 (UTC)

@Steinsplitter, Koavf: Any update? --Rschen7754 16:53, 25 May 2019 (UTC)

User:Koavf notified the users as far i can see, some of then asked to keep permission. I pinged Koavf above but got no reaction at all. --Steinsplitter (talk) 17:30, 25 May 2019 (UTC)

Somehow, I didn't ping all of the users' talk pages. Now I have. Also, I already desysopped User:Awinda. What more is needed? I'm not understanding what you want. Koavf (talk) 19:47, 25 May 2019 (UTC)

Just wanted to make sure that this wasn't forgotten. It seems that Jane023 wants to resign and Pharos did not respond, everyone else did. --Rschen7754 22:39, 26 May 2019 (UTC)

Wikimedia brands

FYI: "Branding (summarized as name and logo associations with projects and values) is a powerful tool for simplifying our invitation and increasing the familiarity of both Wikimedia projects and our values. If we are to make Wikimedia projects the essential infrastructure of free knowledge, we need to make sure people can quickly recognize who “we” are and what the connections are between parts of our ecosystem." See meta:Communications/Wikimedia brands/2030 research and planning and participate at meta:Talk:Communications/Wikimedia brands/2030 research and planning/community review --mikeu ^talk 18:38, 12 March 2019 (UTC)

Template import request

Please can someone import d:Template:Talk quotation? Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy 11:51, 25 April 2019 (UTC)

Done. --Steinsplitter (talk) 14:25, 25 April 2019 (UTC)

New museum digitalisation grant (pilot)

meta:Grants:Project/Rapid/Rodrigo Tetsuo Argenton/Pilot project at Geoscience Museum,

Hi,

My name is Rodrigo Tetsuo Argenton (talk) and I'm starting a new grant proposal to built a GLAM digitalisation project, could pleas check up, and see the proposal, and with you enjoy it, endorse, thank you. If you have any questions, pleas let me know. Rodrigo Tetsuo Argenton (talk) 20:39, 15 May 2019 (UTC)

A proposal for WikiJournals to become a new sister project

Over the last few years, the WikiJournal User Group has been building and testing a set of peer reviewed academic journals on a mediawiki platform. The main types of articles are:

• Existing Wikipedia articles submitted for external review and feedback (example)
• From-scratch articles that, after review, are imported to Wikipedia (example)
• Original research articles that are not imported to Wikipedia (example)

Proposal: WikiJournals as a new sister project

From a Wikipedian point of view, this is a complementary system to Featured article review, but bridging the gap with external experts, implementing established scholarly practices, and generating citable, doi-linked publications.

Please take a look and support/oppose/comment! Evolution and evolvability (talk) 04:25, 3 June 2019 (UTC)

Spambot activity

Outreach wiki is experiencing a minor but noticeable increase in spambot activity. We have no local checkusers. I have placed a notification on the Stewards' Noticeboard. --Pine^✉ 20:37, 20 June 2019 (UTC)

Note regarding page protection

I protected the NavWiki page because there may be new users coming to that page looking for help, and I don't want them to accidentally edit that page instead of the talk page. While less likely, I also wouldn't want a vandal to put something on that page that would intimidate or mislead new users. Please ping me here on the Village Pump page if there are any questions or objections. Thank you. --Pine^✉ 00:47, 26 June 2019 (UTC)

Wikimedia Space

Hello all. You might have seen on the Wikimedia-l a post on the newly released Wikimedia Space, and I am writing because this new resource might have an impact on this project and community. I say this because the new resource and Wikimedia Outreach appear to have overlapping goals. I am starting this topic on the Village Pump so we can have this discussion. Thanks. --Joalpe (talk) 13:08, 27 June 2019 (UTC)

• Thank you for the notice. I am okay with WMF conducting a certain level of experimentation. I have mixed feelings about whether that experiment is a good idea. Community members can make their own decisions about whether to go there. I would be concerned if WMF starts to try to centralize its communications there at the expense of on-wiki communications, email communications, and other methods. I especially don't want WMF to absorb mailing lists into Wikimedia Space. On the other hand, if people choose to go there without coercion or incentive from WMF, if WMF does not attempt to centralize communications there at the expense of other channels, and if WMF rapidly and carefully distances itself from policing communication or controlling policies on Wikimedia Space, then I would probably be okay with having Wikimedia Space be one option for communication. Community members routinely use a variety of tools and platforms to communicate, and I think that adding one more option is probably okay if the implementation is done in a careful, supportive, and non-controlling way. --Pine^✉ 01:59, 30 June 2019 (UTC)

Thanks for your input, Pine. My understanding is that Wikimedia Space has been framed to do what you are describing: centralize communications. This centralization would include: some mailing lists and, as far as I understood the proposal, newsletters that are currently hosted on this project. I might be getting this wrong, though. I agree with you that two features make the Wikimedia Space not ideal: (1) moderators are exclusively --at least for now-- WMF staff members; and (2) the tool is not easily transposable to wiki text (yet). --Joalpe (talk) 19:26, 1 July 2019 (UTC)

Bookshelf link on the sidebar

Has anyone recently gone through the bookshelf to remove outdated information and to replace older resources with newer resources? If this page is not being maintained with a certain amount of vigilance then I suggest that we remove the link from the Outreach sidebar. @NSaad (WMF), Koavf, Joalpe: do you have any comments? --Pine^✉ 19:56, 13 July 2019 (UTC)

• I certainly have not. As long as the material is good and germane, even if it's stale, I don't think it needs to be removed. Koavf (talk) 19:58, 13 July 2019 (UTC)
• OK. I'm not sure that my first attempt to ping @NSaad (WMF): worked, so I'm trying that again. Apologies if this is a duplicate.--Pine^✉ 18:54, 16 July 2019 (UTC)
• It's one of the main things I come to this wiki for, and direct other people here for. Keep. Help maintaining/updating it is of course always appreciated. Quiddity (talk) 02:38, 17 July 2019 (UTC)

Blocking of likely spambots

Note to administrators regarding blocks of likely spambots. Recently my practice has been to block the accounts indefinitely and revoke their email access, but leave their talk page access, and watch their talk pages. That way in the unfortunate event that I block a legitimate user they have a way to request an unblock. I mention this here in case anyone would like to comment on this practice or adopt it for their own use. Regards, --Pine^✉ 22:43, 2 August 2019 (UTC)

Nice. I've noticed a huge uptick in vandalism on en.wq lately for some reason. Thanks. Koavf (talk) 01:33, 3 August 2019 (UTC)