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Books & Bytes – Issue 37

The Wikipedia Library

Books & Bytes
Issue 37, November – December 2019

#1Lib1Ref
Wikimedia and Libraries User Group

Read the full newsletter

On behalf of The Wikipedia Library team --MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 07:10, 1 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – February 2020

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

Administrator changes

Ergo Sum • Nick Moyes • QEDK • Wugapodes

Dennis Brown

Aude • BrownHairedGirl • CALR • Jengod • John Reaves • J.smith • Kim Dent-Brown • K1Bond007 • MECU • Refdoc • RHaworth

CheckUser changes

Opabinia regalis • Premeditated Chaos

Interface administrator changes

Ragesoss

Guideline and policy news

Following a request for comment, partial blocks are now enabled on the English Wikipedia. This functionality allows administrators to block users from editing specific pages or namespaces rather than the entire site. A draft policy is being workshopped at Wikipedia:Partial blocks.
The request for comment seeking the community's sentiment for a binding desysop procedure closed with wide-spread support for an alternative desysoping procedure based on community input. No proposed process received consensus.

Technical news

Twinkle now supports partial blocking. There is a small checkbox that toggles the "partial" status for both blocks and templating. There is currently one template: {{uw-pblock}}.
When trying to move a page, if the target title already exists then a warning message is shown. The warning message will now include a link to the target title. [1]

Arbitration

Following a recent arbitration case, the Arbitration Committee reminded administrators that checkuser and oversight blocks must not be reversed or modified without prior consultation with the checkuser or oversighter who placed the block, the respective functionary team, or the Arbitration Committee.

Miscellaneous

Voting in the 2020 Steward elections will begin on 08 February 2020, 14:00 (UTC) and end on 28 February 2020, 13:59 (UTC). The confirmation process of current stewards is being held in parallel. You can automatically check your eligibility to vote.
The English Wikipedia has reached six million articles. Thank you everyone for your contributions!

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 15:05, 1 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

January 2020 Tree of Life Newsletter

Shortcut

WP:TOLN

January 2020—Issue 010

Tree of Life

Welcome to the Tree of Life newsletter!

Newly recognized content
Megarachne by Ichthyovenator Christmas imperial pigeon by Dunkleosteus77, reviewed by FunkMonk Paranthropus by Dunkleosteus77, reviewed by IJReid Orcinus meyeri by Dunkleosteus77, reviewed by Enwebb Christmas darter by Enwebb and Cwmhiraeth, reviewed by J Milburn Saxifragales by Michael Goodyear, reviewed by starsandwhales Segnosaurus by FunkMonk, reviewed by Jens Lallensack Dryopithecus by Dunkleosteus77, reviewed by Jens Lallensack Drosophila subobscura by Andrewoh29, reviewed by Jens Lallensack Egyptian fruit bat by Enwebb, reviewed by FunkMonk Scale insect by Chiswick Chap and Cwhmiraeth, reviewed by Dunkleosteus77

Newly nominated content
Wolf by LittleJerry Segnosaurus by FunkMonk The Goldfinch (painting) by Jimfbleak Dryomyza anilis by AnuBalasubramanian Pigs in culture by Chiswick Chap Coronariae by Michael Goodyear Neanderthal by Dunkleosteus77 Gharial by BhagyaMani Honeynut squash by Ɱ James John Joicey by RLO1729 Gigantorhynchus by Mattximus Ardipithecus ramidus by Dunkleosteus77

News at a Glance

In a major milestone for the automated taxobox system, more taxa articles now use automatic taxoboxes than manual ones. Particularly robust groups for automatic taxoboxes are turtles, primates, birds, rodents, amphibians and reptiles, sharks, and bivalves, with each project adopting automatic taxoboxes at rates greater than 95%. Only the fungi, arthropods, and microbiology projects had automatic taxobox adoption rates less than 25%. Read more in the 1 January update.
Thanks to user Trappist the monk, all citations to the IUCN using Template:Cite web or Template:Cite journal have now been swapped to Template:Cite iucn. This will prevent a recurrence of massive link failure should the IUCN change its URL format again. That does not address the 14.5k articles that cite the IUCN without the use of templates. For more background discussion, see here and here.

Vital Articles

The vital articles project on English Wikipedia began in 2004 when an editor transferred a list from Meta-Wiki: List of articles every Wikipedia should have. The first incarnation of the list became what is now level 3. As of 2019, there are 5 levels of vital articles:

Level 1: the 10 most vital articles (2009)
Level 2: the 100 most vital articles (2009)
Level 3: the 1,000 most vital articles (2004)
Level 4: the 10,000 most vital articles (2006)
Level 5: the 50,000 most vital articles (2017)

Each level is inclusive of all previous levels, meaning that the 1,000 Level 3 articles include those listed on Levels 2 and 1. Below is an overview of the distribution of vital articles, and the quality of the articles. While the ultimate goal of the vital articles project is to have Featured-class articles, I also considered Good Articles to be "complete" for the purposes of this list.

Animals (1,148 designated out of projected 2,400)

Cnidarians (5/8): 62.5% complete

Echinoderms (3/6): 50% complete

Insects (30/70): 42.9% complete

Invertebrates + others (10/27): 37% complete

Other arthropods (3/10): 30% complete

Reptiles (25/85): 29.4% complete

Amphibians (6/22): 27.3% complete

Porifera (1/4): 25% complete

Mammals (68/319): 21.3% complete

Mollusks (2/19): 21.1% complete

Arachnids (3/17): 17.6% complete

Birds (33/187): 17.6% complete

Animal breeds and hybrids (19/112): 17% complete

Crustaceans (3/25): 12% complete

Fishes (11/134): 8.2% complete

Agnatha (0/4): 0% complete

Plants, fungi, and other organisms (510 designated out of projected 1,200)

Fungi (4/33): 12.1% complete

Other organisms—Archaea, Bacteria, Eukarya (5/62): 8.1% complete

Vegetables (6/96): 6.7% complete

Monocots (2/35): 5.7% complete

Edible fruits (5/95): 5.3% complete

Non-flowering plants (1/30): 3.3% complete

Edible seeds, grains, nuts (1/69): 1.4% complete

Non-monocots (1/88): 1.1% complete

Carnivorous plants (0/2): 0% complete

Many articles have yet to be designated for Tree of Life taxonomic groups, with 1,942 outstanding articles to be added. Anyone can add vital articles to the list! Restructuring may be necessary, as the only viruses included as of yet are under the category "Health". The majority of vital articles needing improvement are level 5, but here are some outstanding articles from the other levels:

Level 2

· Life · Human · Plant

Level 3

· Abiogenesis · Death · Cell · Human evolution · Organism · Zoology · Cattle · Dog · Reptile · Flower · Nut · Seed · Algae · Eukaryote · Biodiversity · Extinction · Photosynthesis

Level 4

· Sexual dimorphism · Feather · Fur · Hair · Gill · Plant anatomy · Plant morphology · Berry · Leaf · Root · Stoma · Shrub · Plant stem · Bark · Trunk · Epidermis · Ground tissue · Meristem · Vascular tissue · Vascular cambium · Hypha · Mycelium

January DYKs

Fossil teeth of Alopias palatasi

LuEsther T. Mertz Library

The Central Park mandarin duck

Christmas Island red crab

Salvador Dalí with his pet ocelot Babou

Passionvine bug

Tansy beetle

Winter bell

Doubleband surgeonfish

... that the extinct giant thresher shark Alopias palatasi is the only one of its kind to possess serrated teeth (pictured)? (1 January)
... that Dogor, an 18,000-year-old canine puppy, may represent a common ancestor of the dog and the wolf? (2 January)
... that the Caton Oak in Lancashire, England, was reputed to be a site of worship by druids? (4 January)
... that the LuEsther T. Mertz Library (pictured), one of the world's largest botanical libraries, had 6.5 million plant specimens and 75 percent of the world's systematic botany literature in 2002? (4 January)
... that Australian biologist Lee Berger identified Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis as being responsible for the decline and extinction of hundreds of amphibian species? (5 January)
... that the beetle Zaitzevia thermae has a total habitat of less than 35 square metres (380 sq ft) around one hot spring in Montana? (6 January)
... that the Anatolian frog is exported from Turkey to France, Italy and Switzerland for food, and is considered by the IUCN to be a near-threatened species? (6 January)
... that the stems and leaves of the endangered Holloway's crystalwort look as if they are covered in sugar crystals? (8 January)
... that a severe infestation of the palm weevil borer can kill its host palm? (9 January)
... that a mandarin duck (pictured) that appeared in New York City's Central Park became an international celebrity, with followers whom the Associated Press called "quackarazzi"? (10 January)
... that the Lac La Croix Indian Pony was recreated from a breeding population of four mares by crossing them with a Spanish Mustang? (11 January)
... that the female Savannah darter lays clutches of sticky eggs that she buries in gravel or sand? (12 January)
... that the Malayan banded pitta is threatened by the destruction of its forest habitat and by being targeted for the illegal trade in birds? (12 January)
... that in 2007, a rescued European bison calf dubbed Pubal grew so attached to humans in southeastern Poland that he could not be successfully reintegrated back into the wild? (13 January)
... that evolutionary biologist Rebecca Kilner has found that mites can give burying beetles a competitive advantage? (13 January)
... that jellyfish blooms can clog coastal power plants, causing losses of tens of thousands of US dollars per day? (14 January)
... that redbanded thrips are a significant pest of mango and cacao in the West Indies? (15 January)
... that the red crabs (example pictured) dominating the wildlife of Christmas Island have been threatened by the arrival of yellow crazy ants? (15 January)
... that Anisocentropus krampus was described in the same paper as other insects with monstrous names like Ganonema dracula and Anisocentropus golem? (16 January)
... that in France, the beetle Aepus marinus is restricted to a narrow strip of the beach near the high-water mark? (17 January)
... that the palm scale was first found on an endemic species of palm on the island of Réunion, but now infests plants in at least 78 families around the world? (17 January)
... that artist Salvador Dalí claimed that his pet ocelot (both pictured) was an ordinary domestic cat that he had "painted over in an op art design"? (18 January)
... that a whale found in western Vermont has presented further evidence of glaciation in New England? (19 January)
... that hosts of the passionvine bug (example pictured) include coffee, citrus, mung bean, squash, and mango? (21 January)
... that the lizard goby holds on to rocks in fast-flowing water by means of a "sucker" formed from two fins? (21 January)
... that the egg sacs of the newly discovered Phinda button spider are made of bright purple silk that fades to grey when it dries? (22 January)
... that the nationally rare tansy beetle (example pictured) survives at Acaster South Ings, a Site of Special Scientific Interest near York, England? (23 January)
... that chitons, such as Acanthochitona crinita, are molluscs with a shell composed of eight separate articulating valves? (25 January)
... that the main pollinators of the winter bell (pictured) are the singing honeyeater and the red wattlebird? (26 January)
... that with a stretched length of up to 20 cm (8 in), Pontobdella muricata is one of the largest marine leeches? (28 January)
... that not only does Couma utilis have edible fruit, its latex is used as a base for chewing gum, caulking boats, and whitewashing houses? (29 January)
... that the doubleband surgeonfish (example pictured) can turn a dark brown shade flushed with red or violet when stressed? (30 January)

Discuss this issue

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New Page Reviewer newsletter February 2020

Hello JoJan,

Source Guide Discussion

The first NPP source guide discussion is now underway. It covers a wide range of sources in Ghana with the goal of providing more guidance to reviewers about sources they might see when reviewing pages. Hopefully, new page reviewers will join others interested in reliable sources and those with expertise in these sources to make the discussion a success.

Redirects

New to NPP? Looking to try something a little different? Consider patrolling some redirects. Redirects are relatively easy to review, can be found easily through the New Pages Feed. You can find more information about how to patrol redirects at WP:RPATROL.

Discussions and Resources

There is an ongoing discussion around changing notifications for new editors who attempt to write articles.
A recent discussion of whether Michelin starred restraunts are notable was archived without closure.
A resource page with links pertinent for reviewers was created this month.
A proposal to increase the scope of G5 was withdrawn.

Refresher

Geographic regions, areas and places generally do not need general notability guideline type sourcing. When evaluating whether an article meets this notability guideline please also consider whether it might actually be a form of WP:SPAM for a development project (e.g. PR for a large luxury residential development) and not actually covered by the guideline.

Six Month Queue Data: Today – 7095 Low – 4991 High – 7095

To opt-out of future mailings, please remove yourself here

16:08, 13 February 2020 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – March 2020

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

Administrator changes

Money emoji

Athaenara • DeltaQuad

Fishhead64 • Kudpung • Mikaey

Bureaucrat changes

DeltaQuad

CheckUser changes

DeltaQuad

Oversight changes

DeltaQuad

Guideline and policy news

Following an RfC, the blocking policy was changed to state that sysops must not undo or alter CheckUser or Oversight blocks, rather than should not.
A request for comment confirmed that sandboxes of established but inactive editors may not be blanked due solely to inactivity.

Technical news

Following a discussion, Twinkle's default CSD behavior will soon change, most likely this week. After the change, Twinkle will default to "tagging mode" if there is no CSD tag present, and default to "deletion mode" if there is a CSD tag present. You will be able to always default to "deletion mode" (the current behavior) using your Twinkle preferences.

Miscellaneous

Following the 2020 Steward Elections, the following editors have been appointed as stewards: BRPever, Krd, Martin Urbanec, MusikAnimal, Sakretsu, Sotiale, and Tks4Fish. There are a total of seven editors that have been appointed as stewards, the most since 2014.
The 2020 appointees for the Ombudsman commission are Ajraddatz and Uzoma Ozurumba; they will serve for one year.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 11:20, 2 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

February 2020 Tree of Life Newsletter

Shortcut

WP:TOLN

February 2020—Issue 011

Tree of Life

Welcome to the Tree of Life newsletter!

Newly recognized content
Segnosaurus by FunkMonk The Goldfinch (painting) by Jimfbleak Gharial by BhagyaMani, reviewed by Dunkleosteus77 Steller's sea ape by Dunkleosteus77, reviewed by Hog Farm Poinsettia by Enwebb, reviewed by Starsandwhales Honeynut squash by Ɱ, reviewed by Ealdgyth

Newly nominated content
Danuvius guggenmosi by Dunkleosteus77 Denisovan by Dunkleosteus77 Homo luzonensis by Dunkleosteus77 Homo naledi by Dunkleosteus77 Horseshoe bat by Enwebb Cimicidae by Cwmhiraeth and Chiswick Chap

News at a Glance

The Great Britain and Ireland Destubathon began on 1 March and runs for the entire month. Expansion of any stubs related to Great Britain and Ireland is welcome, inclusive of taxa. There are also monetary prizes for winners of specific categories in the form of Amazon gift cards. PetScan could be useful here to find the intersection of Stub-class articles and other categories: Biota of Ireland; Biota of Great Britain; Biota of the Isle of Man
The WP:WikiCup just completed its first round. Dunkleosteus77 had the most points of any Tree of Life editor, with 5 GAs and 6 GARs. Other Tree of Life editors moving on to round two include Enwebb, Sainsf, starsandwhales, Guettarda, and Casliber.
Some winners of the 2019 Wiki Science Competition have been announced. For the finalists and winners, see here.

Daphnia giving birth (Poland)
Immunofluorescence staining of a mouse intestine, "Microscopy" (Australia)
Bat scientist Lauri Lutsar determining the age of a bat, "People In Science" (Estonia)
Close-up view of a bioluminescent beetle Elateroidea, "Wildlife and Nature" (France)
Coral fluorescence, "General Category" (Russia)
Paleoanthropologist at work, "People in Science" (Italy)
Ammonite fossil from Morocco, "General Category" (Spain)
Yellow orange-tip male (Ixias pyrene), "Wildlife and Nature" (India)

The spread of coronavirus across Wikipedia

With the outbreak of a novel coronavirus dominating news coverage, Wikipedia content related to the virus has seen much higher interest. Tree of Life content of particular interest to readers has included viruses, bats, pangolins, and masked palm civets. Viruses saw the most dramatic growth in readership: Coronavirus, which was the 105th most popular virus article in December 2019 with about 400 views per day, averaged over a quarter million views each day of January 2020. Total monthly viewership of the top-10 virus articles ballooned from about 1.5 million to nearly 20 million.

Top 10 WikiProject Virus articles in December 2019 vs. January 2020
	December 2019	January 2020	Rank change
1	Gastroenteritis	Coronavirus	+104
2	HIV/AIDS	2019–20 Wuhan coronavirus outbreak	NA
3	Norovirus	2019 novel coronavirus	NA
4	Smallpox	Severe acute respiratory syndrome	+47
5	Shingles	Novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV)	NA
6	Measles	Spanish flu	+3
7	HIV	Severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus	+124
8	Influenza	List of epidemics	+54
9	Spanish flu	Timeline of the 2019–20 Wuhan coronavirus outbreak	NA
10	Dengue fever	Coronaviridae	+490
Total views	1,466,143‬	19,845,246

From October 2019 – December 2019, the top ten most popular bat articles fluctuated among 16 different articles, with the December viewership of those 10 articles at 209,280. For January 2020, three articles broke into the top-10 that were not among the 16 articles of the prior three months: Bat as food, Horseshoe bat, and Bat-borne virus. Viewership of the top-10 bat articles spiked nearly 300% to 617,067 in January.

While bats have been implicated as a possible natural reservoir of SARS-CoV-2, an intermediate host may be the bridge between bats and humans. Pangolins have been hypothesized as the intermediate host for the virus, causing a large spike in typical page views of 2-3k each day up to more than 60k in a day. Masked palm civets, the intermediate host of SARS, saw a modest yet noticeable spike in page views as well, from 100 to 300 views per day to as many as 5k views per day.

With an increase in viewers came an increase in editors. In an interview, longtime virus editor Awkwafaba identified the influx of editors as the biggest challenge in editing content related to the coronavirus. They noted that these newcomers include "novices who make honest mistakes and get tossed about a bit in the mad activity" as well as "experienced editors who know nothing about viruses and are good researchers, yet aren't familiar with the policies of WP:ToL or WP:Viruses." Disruption also increased, with extended confirmed protection (also known as the 30/500 rule, which prevents editors with fewer than 30 days tenure and 500 edits from making edits and is typically used on a very small subset of Wikipedia articles) temporarily applied to Coronavirus and still active on Template:2019–20 coronavirus outbreak data. New editors apparently seeking to correct misinformation continuously edited the article Bat as food to remove content related to China: Videos of Chinese people eating bat soup were misrepresented to be current or filmed in China, when at least one such video was several years old and filmed in Palau. However, reliable sources confirm that bats are eaten in China, especially Southern China, so these well-meaning edits were mostly removed.

Another level of complexity was added by the fluctuating terminology of the virus. Over a dozen moves and merges were requested within WikiProject Viruses. To give you an idea of the musical chairs happening with article titles, here are the move histories of two articles:

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2

Began as Wuhan coronavirus on 9 January
Moved to 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) on 16 January
Moved to Novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) on 19 January
Moved to 2019 novel coronavirus on 9 February
Moved to Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 on 18 February (current name)

2019–20 coronavirus outbreak

Began as 2019-2020 China pneumonia outbreak on 5 January
Moved to 2019–20 China pneumonia outbreak on 5 January
Moved to 2019-20 outbreak of novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in Wuhan, China on 15 January
Moved to 2019-20 outbreak of novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) on 15 January
Moved to 2019–20 outbreak of novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) on 15 January
Moved to 2019–20 outbreak of novel coronavirus 2019-nCoV on 23 January
Moved to 2019–20 Wuhan coronavirus outbreak on 23 January
Moved to 2019–20 coronavirus outbreak on 18 February (current name)

Awkwafaba noted that "the main authorities, WHO and ICTV, don't really have a process for speedily naming a virus or disease." Additionally, they have different criteria for naming. They said, "I remember in a move discussion from the article then called Wuhan coronavirus that a virus name cannot have a geographical location in it, but this is a WHO disease naming guideline, and not an ICTV virus naming rule. ICTV may have renamed Four Corners virus to Sin Nombre orthohantavirus but there are still plenty of official virus species names that don't abide by WHO guidelines."

February DYKs

Thistle broomrape

Painting of the Shelton Oak

Female A. diabolicum flowers with curled stigmas

... that juvenile ornate surgeonfish are quite different in colouring from the adult fish? (1 February)
... that Quarry Moor is one of the few locations in England where the rare parasitic plant thistle broomrape (example pictured) grows? (2 February)
... that the hollow Shelton Oak (pictured) near Shrewsbury was so big that a party of eight could dance a quadrille inside it? (3 February)
... that growth in the brown seaweed Zanardinia typus occurs at the base of the hairs that grow around the edge of the frond? (4 February)
... that entomologist Karim Vahed led the team that found a cricket species in which the testes accounted for 14 percent of the insect's body mass? (4 February)
... that the ant Acropyga exsanguis shares its nest with several species of mealybug, including Geococcus coffeae? (4 February)
... that no fungi or algae are listed as endangered or threatened by the Illinois Endangered Species Protection Board? (5 February)
... that the blue pitta is a shy, secretive bird, but will respond to a recording of its call? (5 February)
... that Acer diabolicum, the devil maple, gets its scientific and common names from the curly stigmas of its flowers (pictured)? (6 February)
... that the alga Acetabularia acetabulum (pictured) resembles a green parasol? (7 February)
... that Bishop Monkton Ings in North Yorkshire, England, provides a habitat to the semi-parasitic marsh lousewort? (9 February)
... that although the bird of paradise fly was first described from an Angophora tree, it is quite likely that this is not the insect's host plant? (11 February)
... that Hack Fall Wood in North Yorkshire, England, hosts the rare lemon slug (example pictured)? (13 February)
... that the hairy sea cucumber has long tube feet on its dorsal surface, giving it a furry appearance? (14 February)
... that Diego (pictured) "had so much sex he saved his species"? (15 February)
... that common lousewort owes its name to the belief that livestock that ate it would become lousy? (16 February)
... that groups of social feather dusters sway in unison in the water current and retract into their tubes at the slightest disturbance (16 February)
... that the copepod Mesocyclops longisetus can be used in the biological control of mosquitoes? (17 February)
... that the specific name of Pterophorus pentadactyla, commonly known as the white plume moth, comes from the Greek for 'five fingers'? (22 February)
... that the laciniate conch (shell pictured) is able to flip itself off the seabed using its muscular foot? (25 February)

A. acetabulum caps
Lemon slug
Diego in 2009
Five views of a laciniate conch shell

Discuss this issue

You are receiving this because you added your name to the subscribers list of the WikiProject Tree of Life. If you no longer wish to receive the newsletter, please remove your name.

Jérôme Bernard

Hello, I was about to create the page 'Jérôme Bernard' when a message popped up saying you had previously deleted this page and I should contact you first. I am wanting to create this page because this rider is notable because of the following reason. According to WikiProject Cycling/Consensus decisions a rider who has riden a grand-tour is presumed notable. Jérôme Bernard rode the 2002 Tour de France. I look forward to your input. Paulpat99 (talk) 04:11, 7 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Are you talking about the same person ? The deleted article stated: " Jérôme Bernard is the Singer of Pestifer and also a Graphic Designer". If you want to create an article about the cyclist, go ahead. JoJan (talk) 08:50, 7 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Oh, turns out I was not talking about the same person, whoops. Is there a way for me to see what a deleted page was so this does not occur again, thanks. Paulpat99 (talk) 16:39, 7 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

No, you cannot, unless you're an admin. But you can always ask any admin. JoJan (talk) 16:46, 7 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – April 2020

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

Administrator changes

Cabayi • Lee Vilenski

Boing! said Zebedee

Jonny-mt • MarkGallagher • PeaceNT

Money emoji → Moneytrees

Bureaucrat changes

SilkTork • WereSpielChequers

CheckUser changes

NativeForeigner

Oversight changes

Someguy1221

Daniel Case

Guideline and policy news

There is an ongoing request for comment to streamline the source deprecation and blacklisting process.

Technical news

There is a plan for new requirements for user signatures. You can give feedback.

Arbitration

Following the banning of an editor by the WMF last year, the Arbitration Committee resolved to hold a Arbcom RfC regarding on-wiki harassment. A draft RfC has been posted at Wikipedia:Arbitration Committee/Anti-harassment RfC (Draft) and not open to comments from the community yet. Interested editors can comment on the RfC itself on its talk page.

Miscellaneous

The WMF has begun a pilot report of the pages most visited through various social media platforms to help with anti-vandalism and anti-disinformation efforts. The report is updated daily and will be available through the end of May.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 07:00, 1 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]

March 2020 Tree of Life Newsletter

Shortcut

WP:TOLN

March 2020—Issue 012

Tree of Life

Welcome to the Tree of Life newsletter!

Newly recognized content
Argentinosaurus by Slate Weasel and Jens Lallensack Wolf by LittleJerry Horseshoe bat by Enwebb, reviewed by Chiswick Chap Cimicidae by Cwmhiraeth and Chiswick Chap, reviewed by Enwebb Coronariae by Michael Goodyear, reviewed by Dank Ardipithecus ramidus by Dunkleosteus77, reviewed by starsandwhales Ooedigera by Dunkleosteus77, reviewed by Hog Farm Bathyphysa conifera by Awkwafaba, reviewed by Chiswick Chap Calliphora vomitoria by Y.shiuan, reviewed by Jens Lallensack

Newly nominated content
Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations by Britishfinance Bathyphysa conifera by Awkwafaba Moniliformidae by Mattximus Disease X by Britishfinance Mandarin Patinkin by Rhododendrites

News at a glance

A year of the Tree of Life Newsletter: Thank you to all the subscribers who have been with us from the beginning or have joined along the way, and to those who have contributed their time to producing this newsletter. I've really valued your ideas, copyediting, and willingness to be interviewed. Onwards and upwards!
April marks the start of the GAN Backlog Drive, which continues through the end of May. The goal of this backlog elimination drive is to cut the number of outstanding GANs, in particular those which have been in the queue 90 days or more. All hands welcome, new and old.
The finalists of the US Wiki Science Competition have been announced. Illustrating Wikipedia articles can be challenging, so these new images represent a chance to find suitable media for our articles. For all images uploaded in the Wiki Science Competition, see here and click "all images" in the upper right corner.

Fly's mouth and tongue (Microscopy)
Killer whales hunting a crabeater seal (Wildlife)
Fossilized tooth of a Squalicorax shark (Microscopy)
Flourescent coral (Non-photographic media)

A new WikiProject responding to the pandemic

The newest Tree of Life WikiProject is about a taxon that is dominating the headlines, Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, and its many effects. We interviewed Another Believer, the founder of WikiProject COVID-19.

This interview has been edited for length. Find the full interview here.

Number of participants of WikiProject Covid-19

Please describe how you went about creating WikiProject COVID-19. What made you think a project was needed?
I've been following the outbreak and editing related Wikipedia articles since January. I'm not particularly interested in infectious diseases or viruses, but I've been to China a few times and wanted to monitor the outbreak's impact on society as well as the government's response. For a while, I was casually tracking updates to the first couple pages about the outbreak. Then a pattern began to emerge as February saw the creation of separate articles about outbreaks in Iran, Italy, and South Korea. New Wikipedia articles continued being created in early March, and the outbreak was recognized as a pandemic by the World Health Organization on March 11. Knowing there would many more articles, lists, templates, illustrations, and other pages on Wikipedia, I created WikiProject COVID-19 on March 15. My goal was simply to create a temporary or permanent space for editors to collaborate, communicate, and focus specifically on content related to this ongoing pandemic. I'm a member of many WikiProjects and have created several before, but this one definitely felt more necessary and urgent. Most WikiProjects unite editors with similar interests, which is fine and serves a purpose, but I felt this project could have a much bigger real life impact. I don't think I was alone in my thinking; the project had 80 members by March 20 and 100 members by March 26.
Who or what was invaluable to getting off the ground?
If I'm being honest, getting this project off the ground required little work on my part. All I did was create the space and post invitations to existing talk pages related to the outbreak. Editors joined the project very quickly; 30 members joined on the same day I started the project, and there were more than 50 participants one day later. I've been a daily Wikipedia editor for more than 12 years, and I've never seen so much interest in a project or content added to Wikipedia about a specific topic in such a short period of time. WikiProject members worked expeditiously to build a framework and hang a barnstar, tagging related pages, assessing content, and starting talk page discussions about the project's goals and scope. I'm thankful to the many editors who pitched in to get the project established, and I look forward to seeing how editors collaborate in this space as we move forward.
What are the short-term goals of the project?
No specific goals have been posted to the project page yet, but I'd like to think members share a collective desire to ensure Wikipedia has accurate and reliable information about the disease and pandemic. Disinformation and misinformation seem rampant these days, so we're working to give readers around the globe access to accurate, objective, and possibly even life-saving information. Unlike some WikiProjects which may take a more historical approach to documenting certain topics, WikiProject COVID-19 members have the ability to mitigate the disease's spread in real time by arming communities with facts about outbreaks in their region as well as information about prevention, testing, vaccine research, societal impact, etc.
Viewership of WikiProject Medicine, WikiProject Viruses, and WikiProject COVID-19 in the month of March 2020
What are the long-term goals? English Wikipedia has many of 'lumpers' who think there are too many projects already. The project has also inspired the creation of two portals, which I imagine caused some raised eyebrows in this trend of portal deletionism. What will come of the WP after the current outbreak subsides?
After creating WikiProject COVID-19, a couple editors said I should have created a task force instead of a standalone WikiProject. I wasn't bothered. The number of 'thank you' notifications I received for creating the page vastly outweighed these critical comments. I knew the page I created was much needed, and I would be fine if editors decide to call the page by another name. I understand some editors think there are too many WikiProjects. No one's required to join WikiProject COVID-19, but the 100+ of us who have already joined invite you to help with our efforts, if you're interested. As for the project's future, I would be fine if editors decided to convert the WikiProject into a task force, or even put the project into retirement if the time comes. Given the level of interest and impact the pandemic has already had on a global scale, I have a feeling the WikiProject will be active for a long time.
Another criticism of the project is its narrow focus. It is focused on only one strain of virus, and the disease it causes. Even WikiProject AIDS is about two species of virus. Is the scope of the project too small? What would an expanded scope look like? Why would including another virus strain in the same species, Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus which causes SARS, not be wanted? or is it wanted?
Narrow focus? I disagree. The project may focus on a single virus and disease, but the pandemic has resulted in the creation of hundreds of Wikipedia articles documenting outbreaks in most countries and territories. There are pages covering the pandemic's impact on aviation, cinema, education, politics, religion, sports, and television, not to mention others related to the resulting economic turmoil. Additionally, there are hundreds of templates, charts, and other graphics. Who knows how many thousands of images and other media will be uploaded at Wikimedia Commons by the time this pandemic subsides? There's also COVID-19 WikiProject COVID-19 at Wikidata, and I wouldn't be surprised if similar spaces are created for other Wikimedia projects soon. Even if the focus is narrow, there's plenty of content for Wikimedians to improve and protect.
In your opinion, what should be the guidelines for creating a new project, as opposed to creating a task force or working under an existing WikiProject?
I don't feel strongly about new project creation guidelines, or the differences between WikiProjects and task forces. Project members should decide what structure works for them and call themselves whatever name they prefer. I understand project construction requires maintenance and can come at an administrative cost, but we should be careful about discouraging editors from proposing new projects.

Ideally, editors would only create a new WikiProject if at least a few others were committed to joining. I created WikiProject COVID-19 without conferring with others because I assumed the interest would be there. I encourage people to be bold and create project pages, but maybe ask a few other editors for feedback first. I'll let other editors worry about the guidelines.
What tools (templates, bots, etc.) are essential, or even just really helpful, for organizing and maintaining a successful project? What is something every WP should do, that maybe isn't doing now?
I appreciate the standard WikiProject assessment framework. AlexNewArtBot and Article alerts have also been very helpful.
What have you learned about Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 or COVID-19 during this process that surprised you?
I don't have any sort of medical background, and I'm more interested in the pandemic's impact than details about the disease or virus. Most surprising to me has been the lack of preparedness for combating outbreaks by governments around the world, including here in the United States. I don't know how COVID-19's spread compares to other infectious diseases, but as I've watched the outbreak develop I've continually wondered why governments did not start preparing earlier. What was happening in China, Iran, Italy, and South Korea should have prompted action sooner.
What important things about 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic do you think folks should know and maybe have missed in the deluge of information coming at people?
1. Know the most common symptoms: cough, fever, and difficulty breathing.

2. Learn what behavioral adjustments you should make to protect yourself and reduce transmission, and remember to wash your hands.

3. Get your information from reputable sources. I'd like to think Wikipedia editors are pretty good at this last bit of advice.

Thank you to Another Believer for your time, both in this interview and in this project. Interested readers can join WikiProject COVID-19. And please stay safe and healthy out there. --Awkwafaba

March DYKs

... that Calamagrostis intermedia is the dominant plant of the grassy páramo in Ecuador's El Cajas National Park? (March 1)
... that the blood-sucking bug Primicimex cavernis survives in a cave in Texas while the bats on which it feeds overwinter elsewhere? (March 2)
... that the worm Phyllodoce lineata is a predator and scavenger, feeding mostly on other polychaetes? (March 4)
... that the crested oyster has been eaten by humans for at least 6,000 years? (March 5)
... that larvae of the tube worm Hydroides ezoensis prefer to settle on a substrate already inhabited by other worms of their own species? (March 14)
... that the sea slug Berthella ocellata hides during the day and feeds on sponges such as Corticium candelabrum at night? (March 18)
... that the sea cucumber Actinopyga agassizii has five teeth surrounding its anus? (March 19)
... that unlike most soft scale insects, the adult female pyriform scale is able to move around? (March 20)
... that in Florida, winged termites are sometimes found stuck to wet foliage, buildings, or vehicles after rain? (March 23)
... that despite being known as the Kerry lily, the perennial plant has a much wider distribution outside Ireland? (March 24)
... that in 1725 Hans Sloane described a plant he called Prickly-Pole as the Jamaican tree species that was "the most fit to make Rods and Scowrers for Guns"? (March 25)
... that a deep-sea fish known as a black ruff was caught in a salmon net in the Firth of Forth and donated to the Edinburgh Museum of Science and Art in 1901? (March 29)
... that the flowering plant Gentianella anglica is found only in Great Britain? (March 30)

Discuss this issue

You are receiving this because you added your name to the subscribers list of the WikiProject Tree of Life. If you no longer wish to receive the newsletter, please remove your name.

Issue 38, January – April 2020

The Wikipedia Library

Books & Bytes
Issue 38, January – April 2020

New partnership
Global roundup

Read the full newsletter

On behalf of The Wikipedia Library team --15:57, 29 April 2020 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – May 2020

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

Administrator changes

Gnangarra • Kaisershatner • Malcolmxl5

CheckUser changes

Callanecc

Oversight changes

HJ Mitchell

Guideline and policy news

Discretionary sanctions have been authorized for all pages and edits related to COVID-19, to be logged at WP:GS/COVID19.
Following a recent discussion on Meta-Wiki, the edit filter maintainer global group has been created.
A request for comment has been proposed to create a new main page editor usergroup.
A request for comment has been proposed to make the bureaucrat activity requirements more strict.

Technical news

The Editing team has been working on the talk pages project. You can review the proposed design and share your thoughts on the talk page.
Enterprisey created a script that will show a link to the proper Special:Undelete page when viewing a since-deleted revision, see User:Enterprisey/link-deleted-revs.

Miscellaneous

A request for comment closed with consensus to create a Village Pump-style page for communication with the Wikimedia Foundation.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 01:19, 2 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

April 2020 Tree of Life Newsletter

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April 2020—Issue 013

Tree of Life

Welcome to the Tree of Life newsletter!

Newly recognized content
Danuvius guggenmosi by Dunkleosteus77, reviewed by J Milburn Neanderthal by Dunkleosteus77, reviewed by Jens Lallensack Homo luzonensis by Dunkleosteus77, reviewed by Jens Lallensack Lythronax by FunkMonk, reviewed by Jens Lallensack Ichthyovenator by PaleoGeekSquared, reviewed by FunkMonk Secretarybird by LittleJerry, Aa77zz and Casliber, reviewed by The Rambling Man James John Joicey by RLO1729, reviewed by The Rambling Man Homo naledi by Dunkleosteus77, reviewed by Jens Lallensack Vermilion flycatcher by CaptainEek, reviewed by HickoryOughtShirt?4 Canada lynx by Sainsf, reviewed by Dunkleosteus77 Alice Gray by Rhododendrites, reviewed by The Rambling Man Caryodendron orinocense by CPC273, reviewed by Chiswick Chap Jaguarundi by Sainsf, reviewed by Usernameunique Gigantopithecus by Dunkleosteus77, reviewed by Starsandwhales Denisovan by Dunkleosteus77, reviewed by Starsandwhales Disease X by Britishfinance, reviewed by DannyS712

Newly nominated content
Lythronax by FunkMonk, Lythronaxargestes and IJReid Ichthyovenator by PaleoGeekSquared Neanderthal by Dunkleosteus77 Alpine newt by Tylototriton Secretarybird by LittleJerry, Aa77zz and Casliber List of ursids by PresN Borchgrevinkium by Super Dromaeosaurus Caryodendron orinocense by CPC273 Siamosaurus by PaleoGeekSquared Canada lynx by Sainsf Vietnam mouse-deer by Sainsf Jaguarundi by Sainsf Vermilion flycatcher by CaptainEek Alice Gray by Rhododendrites Gigantopithecus by Dunkleosteus77 Paleobiota of the Posidonia Shale by Yewtharaptor Meerkat by Sainsf

News at a glance

WikiProject Birds gained a new task force. A discussion determined that WikiProject Poultry might be more successful as a task force, with the move completed 15 April.
Round 2 of the WikiCup wrapped up this month. Several editors moved on to Round 3 by scoring points in biodiversity-related areas, including Sainsf, Casliber, Dunkleosteus77, CaptainEek, Guettarda, and Enwebb. Dunkleosteus77 finished at the top of the Tree of Life pack with 608 points, finishing 9th overall in the round.
After a relatively quiet February and March, with only 11 total articles nominated for GA and none for FAC, April brought a shower of nominations. In total, 5 articles were nominated for FAC, 1 for FLC, and 11 for GA.

Tree of Life's growing featured content

Inspired by a March 2020 post at WikiProject Medicine detailing the growth of Featured Articles over time, we decided to reproduce that table here, adding a second table showing the growth of Good Articles. Tree of Life articles are placed in the "Biology" category for FAs, which has seen a growth of 381% since 2008. Only two other subjects had a greater growth than Biology: Business, economics, and finance; and Warfare.

Percentage Growth in FA Categories, 2008–2019, Legend:

Considerably above average, Above average, Average

Below average , Considerably below average, Poor

Featured Article Category as of	Feb 23, 2008	Sep 16, 2008	Sep 16, 2010	Dec 1, 2011	Jan 1, 2015	Jan 1, 2020	Pct chg Feb 2008 to 2011	Pct chg Feb 2008 to 2020
Art, architecture and archaeology	65	72	117	128	175	271	97%	317%
Awards, decorations and vexillology	24	26	28	27	26	24	1.3%	0%
Biology	130	155	261	326	456	625	151%	381%
Business, economics and finance	16	19	22	44	73	116	175%	625%
Chemistry and mineralogy	29	31	34	37	40	46	28%	59%
Computing	17	17	17	18	16	14	5.9%	−18%
Culture and society	40	48	61	65	77	104^B	63%	160%
Education	30	34	36	38	40	40	27%	33%
Engineering and technology	35	37	38	40	43	49	14%	40%
Food and drink	11	11	9	13	17	21^B	18%	91%
Geography and places	148	158	181	185	213	232	25%	57%
Geology and geophysics	9	12	18	20	23	29	122%	222%
Health and medicine	31	36	42	43	51	52	39%	68%
History	146	154	189	201	239	308	38%	111%
Language and linguistics	17	15	13	13	12	15	−24%	−12%
Law	29	34	41	49	65	72	69%	148%
Literature and theatre	108	134	161	191	258	316^B	77%	193%
Mathematics	13	14	19	17	18	18	31%	38%
Media	159	171	221	231	324	424	45%	167%
Meteorology	61	78	111	126	147	168	107%	175%
Music	153	182	232	254	331	398	66%	160%
Philosophy and psychology	12	13	12	12	12	14	0%	17%
Physics and astronomy	67	82	98	101	127	153	51%	128%
Politics and government	62	67	98	117	166	217	89%	250%
Religion, mysticism and mythology	36	44	73	84	105	121	133%	236%
Royalty, nobility and heraldry	75	90	94	108	124	173	44%	131%
Sport and recreation	119	162	268	298	365	449	150%	277%
Transport	47	74	107	128	171	213	172%	353%
Video gaming	72	96	127	137	180	222	90%	208%
Warfare	145	173	318	366	537	729	152%	403%
Total	1,906	2,239	3,046	3,417	4,431	5,695 ^A	79.3%	198.8%

Note A: Total is off by one; not worth looking for the error.
Note B Three food biographies moved [2] per discussion at WT:FAC
Note: The very odd dates used in earlier years result from pulling old data from the talk page at WP:FAS.

Good Article Category as of	Feb 23, 2008	Sep 16, 2008	Sep 16, 2010	Dec 1, 2011	Jan 1, 2015	Jan 1, 2020	Pct chg Feb 2008 to 2011	Pct chg Feb 2008 to 2020
Agriculture, food and drink	27	34	37	55	113	226	104%	737%
Art and architecture	134	188	321	450	683	1022	236%	663%
Engineering and technology	256	396	882	1198	1828	2407	368%	840%
Geography and places	191	248	424	523	716	1052	174%	451%
History	261	312	651	825	1219	1894	216%	626%
Language and literature	173	215	377	462	686	982	167%	468%
Mathematics	19	22	27	30	36	67	58%	253%
Media and drama	403	658	1352	1300	3070	3961	223%	883%
Music	357	527	997	1437	2532	3892	303%	990%
Natural sciences	544	686	1275	1717	2404	3426	216%	530%
Philosophy and religion	134	174	244	294	365	557	119%	316%
Social sciences and society	468	549	790	998	1430	1854	113%	296%
Sports and recreation	384	546	1074	1402	2350	3802	265%	890%
Video games	168	220	373	443	684	1349	164%	703%
Warfare	155	241	989	1654	2544	3996	967%	2478%
Total	3674	5016	9813	12788	20660	30487	248%	730%
Organisms*	119	130	402	528	685	1017	344%	755%

*subset of natural sciences

Unsurprisingly, the number of GAs has increased more rapidly than the number of FAs. Organisms, which is a subcategory of Natural sciences, has seen a GA growth of 755% since 2008, besting the Natural sciences overall growth of 530%. While Warfare had far and away the most significant growth of GAs, it's a clear outlier relative to other categories.

April DYKs

Jenny

White-throated round-eared bat

Formica fusca ants tending mealybugs

... that the human-like behaviour of Jenny (depicted), a resident of London Zoo, reinforced Charles Darwin's view that humans were "created from animals"? (3 April)
... that white-throated round-eared bats (example pictured) roost in cavities in active termite mounds excavated by the males? (4 April)
... that flatter mires in montane regions of Europe are often dominated by deergrass and cottongrass? (5 April)
... that the white-browed tit-warbler has been found to practice cooperative breeding? (6 April)
... that most species in the palm genus Desmoncus climb using grappling hook–like structures called acanthopylls? (7 April)
... that some ants herd scale insects (example pictured)? (10 April)
... that birds, bats and humans are the main hosts of members of the bed bug family? (12 April)
... that the sponge Aplysina cavernicola (pictured) has been used as a model organism to monitor the presence of isotopes such as americium-241 in seawater? (16 April)
... that although the alpine bartsia has a wide range in Europe and North America, it is known in the British Isles only from a few locations in northern England and the central Scottish Highlands? (19 April)
... that the orange-band surgeonfish (pictured) can change colour from dark to light almost instantaneously? (21 April)
... that the parasitic greater broomrape usually grows on the roots of the common broom or the European gorse? (24 April)
... that the tree Macaranga triloba encourages the ants that defend it by providing them with food bodies? (25 April)
... that amateur entomologist James John Joicey had a collection of 1.5 million butterflies? (28 April)
... that the globe chamomile (pictured), a member of the daisy family native to South Africa, infests parts of Arizona and California? (28 April)
... that the bicoloured sedge (pictured) was part of an attempted botanical fraud? (30 April)

A. cavernicola
Orange-band surgeonfish
Bicoloured sedge
Globe chamomile blooms

Discuss this issue

You are receiving this because you added your name to the subscribers list of the WikiProject Tree of Life. If you no longer wish to receive the newsletter, please remove your name.

MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 02:40, 5 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

White Panda

Hello, I was trying to read about The White Panda, a musical group, and noticed that their article had been removed for copyright reasons. I was not affiliated with the original article, but I was wondering what the procedure would be to create a new article that doesn't have the same problems?

I'm not an expert on Wikipedia's notability guidelines, or Wikipedia in general, but I suspect they would meet the criteria if I looked for references, as they have headlined at least one college campus show I'm aware of. I could be wrong, but I'm willing to work on establishing notability if a case can be made.

I was pointed to contact the editor who removed the article before attempting to create a new article on the same subject. Ideally, I would like access to the latest versions of the deleted article as material to draw on when re-writing, and would be happy to write it in a sandbox before moving it to article space when the problems are resolved. Let me know what you would advise.

Thanks, Semitones (talk) 17:22, 18 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

EDIT: I should add that after some cursory research, it does appear that they have been written about by at least a few significant sources: Entertainment Weekly and Billboard so I'm fairly hopeful I can write an article that conforms with Wikipedia's policies. Thanks! --Semitones (talk) 17:45, 18 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

EDIT 2: I'm not sure which link I followed to post this on your talk page -- are you the right person to ask? I am pasting this on Mer-C's profile since it seems that he deleted it most recently. Thanks!! --Semitones (talk) 18:01, 18 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

This article has been deleted a couple of times in the course of the past years, being not notable or infringing on copyright. This should not stop you trying again, but this time you should first read "Contributing to Wikipedia" and Wikipedia:Notability (music). This will help you on your way. Remember not to plagiarize and to write the article in a neutral way (by just stating facts and not opinions), in your own words, using reliable references. Perhaps writing first a draft (Wikipedia:Drafts) wouldn't be a bad idea. Aim for quality and then hope your article can withstand any criticism and survive. Once you get the knack of it, you'll find out that writing new articles or improving existing articles is really pleasant and self-satisfying. JoJan (talk) 13:00, 19 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you - I studied up on notability, especially the portions about articles other than interviews, and I did a major rewrite with the help of folks on IRC. It's hanging out here now :) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draft:White_Panda Semitones (talk) 03:47, 21 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – June 2020

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

Administrator changes

CaptainEek • Creffett • Cwmhiraeth

Anna Frodesiak • Buckshot06 • Ronhjones • SQL

CheckUser changes

SQL

Guideline and policy news

A request for comment asks whether the Unblock Ticket Request System (UTRS) should allowed any unblock request or just private appeals.
The Wikimedia Foundation announced that they will develop a universal code of conduct for all WMF projects. There is an open local discussion regarding the same.

Arbitration

A motion was passed to enact a 500/30 restriction on articles related to the history of Jews and antisemitism in Poland during World War II (1933–45), including the Holocaust in Poland. Article talk pages where disruption occurs may also be managed with the stated restriction.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 13:27, 1 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]

May 2020 Tree of Life Newsletter

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WP:TOLN

May 2020—Issue 014

Tree of Life

Welcome to the Tree of Life newsletter!

Newly recognized content
Lythronax by FunkMonk, Lythronaxargestes and IJReid Meerkat by Sainsf, reviewed by Chiswick Chap Borchgrevinkium by Super Dromaeosaurus, reviewed by Amitchell125 Nakalipithecus by Dunkleosteus77, reviewed by Gog the Mild Scanisaurus by Ichthyovenator, reviewed by Gog the Mild Sand cat by BhagyaMani, reviewed by Aven13 Pigs in culture by Chiswick Chap, reviewed by Sainsf Sun bear by Sainsf, reviewed by Chiswick Chap Megacephalosaurus by Macrophyseter, reviewed by Aven13 Cinnamon red bat by Enwebb, reviewed by Dunkleosteus77 Banteng by Sainsf, reviewed by Chiswick Chap Cartorhynchus by Lythronaxargestes, reviewed by Dunkleosteus77 Black-footed cat by BhagyaMani, reviewed by Amitchell125 Homo ergaster by Ichthyovenator, reviewed by Dunkleosteus77 Black coral by Aven13, reviewed by Sainsf Heuglin's gazelle by Sainsf, reviewed by The Rambling Man Australopithecus garhi by Dunkleosteus77, reviewed by Hog Farm Chororapithecus by Dunkleosteus77, reviewed by IJReid Ornithocheiromorpha by JurassicClassic767, reviewed by IJReid

Newly nominated content
Gigantorhynchus by Mattximus Leech by LittleJerry, Chiswick Chap and Cwmhiraeth List of mephitids by PesN Sand cat by BhagyaMani Cinnamon red bat by Enwebb Kristianstad Basin by Ichthyovenator Nakalipithecus by Dunkleosteus77 Scanisaurus by Ichthyovenator Sun bear by Sainsf Heuglin's gazelle by Sainsf Black coral by Aven13 Australopithecus garhi by Dunkleosteus77 Chororapithecus by Dunkleosteus77 Northern crested newt by Tylototriton Megacephalosaurus by Macrophyseter Banteng by Sainsf Cartorhynchus by Lythronaxargestes Ornithocheiromorpha by JurassicClassic767 Black-footed cat by BhagyaMani Bat virome by Enwebb Echinodon by IJReid Homo ergaster by Ichthyovenator Dwarf dog-faced bat by Enwebb Doedicurus by Dunkleosteus77 Zebra by LittleJerry

News at a glance

This month saw two Tree of Life editors gain the mop: CaptainEek (WikiProjects Birds and Plants) and Cwmhiraeth (familiar name at DYK, WikiProjects Plants, Animals, and Insects)
The April – May GAN backlog drive finished up, clearing the queue from nearly 700 outstanding nominations to about 350.

Interview with Jts1882

This month we're joined by Jts1882, who is active in depicting evolutionary relationship of taxa via cladograms. Part of this includes responding to cladogram requests, where interested editors can have cladograms made without using the templates themselves.

How did you come to be interested in systematics? Are you interested in systematics broadly, or is there a particular group you're most fond of?

As long as I can remember I’ve been interested in nature, starting with the animals and plants in the garden, school grounds, and local wood, and then more general wildlife worldwide. An interest in how things are classified grew from this. I like things to be organised and understanding the relationships between things and systems (not just living things) is a big part of that. Biology was always my favourite subject in school and took up a disproportionate part of my time. My interest in systematics is broad as I’d like to comprehend the whole tree of life, but the cat family is my favourite group.

What's the background behind cladogram requests? I see that it isn't a very old part of the Tree of Life

Well I can’t take any credit for the cladogram requests page, although I help out there sometimes. It was created by IJReid and there are several people who have helped there more than me. I think the motivation is that creating cladograms requires a knowledge of the templates that is daunting for many editors. It was one way of helping people who want to focus on content creation.

My main contribution to the cladograms is converting the {{clade}} template to use a Lua module. The template code was extremely difficult to follow and had to be repetitive (I can only admire the efforts of those who got the thing to work in the first place). The conversion to Lua made it more efficient, allowed larger and deeper cladograms, plus facilitating the introduction of new features. The cladogram request page was recently the venue for discussion on making time calibrated cladograms, which is now possible, if not particularly user friendly.

What advice do you have for an editor who wants to learn how to make cladograms?

The same advice I would give to someone facing any computer problem, just try it out. Start by taking existing code for a cladogram and make changes yourself. The main advice would be to format it properly so indents match the brackets vertically. Of course, not everyone wants to learn and if someone prefers to focus on article content there is the cladogram request page.

Examples of cladograms Jts1882 has created, showing different proposed clades for Neoaves

Jarvis et al (2014)

Prum et al (2015)

Suh (2016) — a hard polytomy

Columbea

	Mirandornithes (flamingos, grebes)

	Columbimorphae (pigeons, mesites, sandgrouse)

Passerea

Otidae

	Otidimorphae (cuckoos, bustards, turacos)

	Strisores (hummingbirds, swifts, nightbirds)

Gruae

Opisthocomiformes (hoatzin)

Gruimorphae

	Gruiformes (cranes, rails)

	Charadriiformes (shorebirds)

Ardeae

	Aequornithes (core waterbirds)

	Eurypgimorphae (sunbittern, kagu, tropicbirds)

Telluraves

	Afroaves

	Australaves

(core landbirds)

Strisores (hummingbirds, swifts, nightbirds)

Columbaves

	Columbimorphae (pigeons, mesites, sandgrouse)

	Otidimorphae (cuckoos, bustards, turacos)

Gruiformes (cranes, rails)

Aequorlitornithes

	Charadriiformes (shorebirds)

	Mirandornithes(flamingoes, grebes)

Ardeae

	Aequornithes (core waterbirds)

	Eurypgimorphae (sunbittern, kagu, tropicbirds)

(waterbirds)

Inopinaves

Opisthocomiformes (hoatzin)

Telluraves

	Afroaves

	Australaves

(core landbirds)

Columbimorphae (pigeons, mesites, sandgrouse)

Otidimorphae (cuckoos, bustards, turacos)

Strisores (hummingbirds, swifts, nightbirds)

Opisthocomiformes (hoatzin)

Gruiformes (cranes, rails)

Charadriiformes (shorebirds)

Mirandornithes (flamingoes, grebes)

Ardeae

	Aequornithes (core waterbirds)

	Eurypgimorphae (sunbittern, kagu, tropicbirds)

Telluraves

	Afroaves

	Australaves

(core landbirds)

Do you have any personal projects or goals you're working towards on Wikipedia?

As I said I like organisation and systems. So I find efforts like the automated taxobox system and {{taxonbar}} appealing. I would like to see more reuse of the major phylogenetic trees on Wikipedia with more use of consensus trees on the higher taxa. Too often they get edited based on one recent report and/or without proper citation. Animals and bilateria are examples where this is a problem.

Towards this I have been working on a system of phylogeny templates that can be reused flexibly. The {{Clade transclude}} template allows selective transclusion, so the phylogenetic trees on one page can be reused with modifications, i.e. can be pruned and grafted, used with or without images, with or without collapsible elements, etc. I have an example for the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification (see {{Phylogeny/APG IV}}) and one for squamates that also includes collapsible elements (see {{Phylogeny/Squamata}}).

A second project is to have a modular reference system for taxonomic resources. I have made some progress along this lines with the {{BioRef}} template. This started off simply as a way of hardlinking to Catalog of Fishes pages and I’ve gradually expanded it to cover other groups (e..g. FishBase, AmphibiaWeb and Amphibian Species of the World, Reptile Database, the Mammalian Diversity Database). The modular nature is still rudimentary and needs a rewrite before it is ready for wider use.

What would surprise your fellow editors to learn about your life off-Wikipedia?

I don’t think there is anything particularly surprising or interesting about my life. I’ve had an academic career as a research scientist but I don't think anyone could guess the area from my Wikipedia edits. I prefer to work on areas where I am learning at the same time. This why I spend more time with neglected topics (e.g. mosses at the moment). I start reading and then find that I’m not getting the information I want.

Anything else you'd like us to know?

My interest in the classification of things goes beyond biology. I am fascinated by mediaeval attempts to classify knowledge, such as Bacon in his The Advancement of Learning and Diderot and d’Alembert in their Encyclopédie. They were trying to come up with a universal scheme of knowledge just as the printing press was allowing greater dissemination of knowledge.

With the internet we are seeing a new revolution in knowledge dissemination. Just look at how we could read research papers on the COVID virus within weeks of its discovery. With an open internet, everyone has access, not just those with the luxury of books at home or good libraries. Sites like the Biodiversity Heritage Library allow you to read old scientific works without having to visit dusty university library stack rooms, while the taxonomic and checklist databases provide instant information on millions of living species. In principle, the whole world can now find out about anything, even if Douglas Adams warned we might be disinclined to do so.

This is why I like Wikipedia, with all its warts, it’s a means of organising the knowledge on the internet. In just two decades it’s become a first stop for knowledge and hopefully a gateway to more specialised sources. Perhaps developing this latter aspect, beyond providing good sources for what we say, is the next challenge for Wikipedia.

May DYKs

Slender Scotch burnet moth on a flower

Northern plains gray langur

Male vermilion flycatcher

Canada lynx

Meerkats

Hilarimorphites burmanica

Sun bear

... that coconut mites can be dispersed by wind, or perhaps by hitching a lift? (1 May)
... that Neanderthals went fishing? (1 May)
... that the Rowridge Valley in the Isle of Wight is the only known location for the wood calamint in Britain? (1 May)
... that Tetraponera penzigi is one of several species of ant that protect whistling thorn trees in East Africa from grazing giraffes and rhinoceroses? (3 May)
... that the Vietnam mouse-deer, which had been feared to have gone extinct nearly 30 years ago, was sighted again in 2019? (4 May)
... that most branchiobdellids use crayfish as hosts, living on their heads, carapaces, or claws, but in some instances inside their gill cavities? (5 May)
... that the song of the Madagascan hoopoe differs markedly from that of the African hoopoe? (5 May)
... that populations of the slender Scotch burnet (pictured), a European moth that lives in dry, lime-rich areas, have been declining? (6 May)
... that the spinosaurid dinosaur Ichthyovenator had two sails on its back? (9 May)
... that the scale insect Saissetia coffeae attacks many other plants besides coffee? (9 May)
... that entomologist Frederick Vincent Theobald wrote a five-volume monograph and sixty scientific papers on mosquitoes? (12 May)
... that the northern plains gray langur monkey (example pictured) is killed in India for food and to prevent crop raiding, despite being considered sacred by Hindus? (12 May)
... that the leech Limnatis nilotica can affect humans and livestock, entering hosts through the mouth, nose, or other orifices? (12 May)
... that while the termite Pterotermes occidentis inhabits dead blue palo verde in the Sonoran Desert, Marginitermes hubbardi prefers dead saguaro? (14 May)
... that the tree Barteria fistulosa is associated with Tetraponera aethiops, an aggressive species of ant that lives in its hollow branches and twigs? (15 May)
... that Miller's langur, one of the rarest primates in Borneo, was feared to be extinct until a 2012 study rediscovered it in an area where it was previously unknown? (16 May)
... that most of the known Gigantopithecus fossils are of teeth because the other bones are likely to have been eaten by porcupines? (17 May)
... that Tetraponera tessmanni, a very aggressive ant, is able to establish dominance over the whole of the liana in which it lives, which may be 50 m (164 ft) long? (17 May)
... that mesophyletid weevils have only been found in Burmese amber? (18 May)
... that Pyrocephalus, the genus name of the vermilion flycatcher (example pictured), literally means 'fire head'? (19 May)
... that the male bigtooth cardinalfish broods a ball of eggs in his mouth? (20 May)
... that in the Australian Journal of Herpetology, a first-year student and a high school teacher reassessed the taxonomy of Australia's entire reptile class, naming 33 novel genera and 214 new species? (20 May)
... that the Arizona dampwood termite exclusively colonizes dead parts of standing trees? (22 May)
... that Megaceroides algericus is one of only two deer species known to have been native to Africa, alongside the Barbary stag? (23 May)
... that besides eating ants and termites, the waved woodpecker feeds on fruits, berries, and seeds? (24 May)
... that populations of the Canada lynx (pictured) undergo cyclic rises and falls in line with those of the snowshoe hare? (25 May)
... that despite being known as the Mexican hydrangea, Clerodendrum bungei is neither from Mexico nor a species of hydrangea? (25 May)
... that meerkats (examples pictured) use alarm calls that can identify the type of predator posing the risk, the level of danger, and the caller itself? (27 May)
... that the frog Boophis fayi can be identified by its unusual green-and-turquoise eyes? (30 May)
... that members of the fly family Apystomyiidae (example depicted) have been found in Late Jurassic sediments in Kazakhstan? (30 May)
... that the sun bear (pictured) is the smallest of all bear species? (31 May)

Discuss this issue

You are receiving this because you added your name to the subscribers list of the WikiProject Tree of Life. If you no longer wish to receive the newsletter, please remove your name.

Enwebb (talk) 19:40, 3 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Books & Bytes – Issue 39, May – June 2020

The Wikipedia Library

Books & Bytes
Issue 39, May – June 2020

Library Card Platform
New partnerships
- ProQuest
- Springer Nature
- BioOne
- CEEOL
- IWA Publishing
- ICE Publishing
Bytes in brief

Read the full newsletter

On behalf of The Wikipedia Library team --MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 06:13, 11 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]

New Page Reviewer newsletter June 2020

Hello JoJan,

Your help can make a difference

NPP Sorting can be a great way to find pages needing new page patrolling that match your strengths and interests. Using ORES, it divides articles into topics such as Literature or Chemistry and on Geography. Take a look and see if you can find time to patrol a couple pages a day. With over 10,000 pages in the queue, the highest it's been since ACPERM, your help could really make a difference.

Google Adds New Languages to Google Translate

In late February, Google added 5 new languages to Google Translate: Kinyarwanda, Odia (Oriya), Tatar, Turkmen and Uyghur. This expands our ability to find and evaluate sources in those languages.

Discussions and Resources

A discussion on handling new article creation by paid editors is ongoing at the Village Pump.
Also at the Village Pump is a discussion about limiting participation at Articles for Deletion discussion.
A proposed new speedy deletion criteria for certain kinds of redirects ended with no consensus.
Also ending with no change was a proposal to change how we handle certain kinds of vector images.

Six Month Queue Data: Today – 10271 Low – 4991 High – 10271

To opt-out of future mailings, please remove yourself here

MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 02:52, 18 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Happy...

Wishing JoJan a very happy adminship anniversary on behalf of the Wikipedia Birthday Committee! Have a great day! CommanderWaterford (talk) 06:41, 25 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Happy Adminship Anniversary!

Have a very happy adminship anniversary on your special day!

Best wishes, CAPTAIN RAJU^(T) 10:47, 25 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – July 2020

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

Administrator changes

Malcolmxl5

John • TheCoffee • Tim!

Creffett → GeneralNotability

DeltaQuad → AmandaNP

CheckUser changes

Bbb23

Interface administrator changes

TonyBallioni

Guideline and policy news

A request for comment is in progress to remove the T2 (template that misrepresents established policy) speedy deletion criterion.

Technical news

Protection templates on mainspace pages are now automatically added by User:MusikBot II (BRFA).

Arbitration

Following the banning of an editor by the WMF last year, the Arbitration Committee resolved to hold an RfC regarding on-wiki harassment. The RfC has been posted at Wikipedia:Arbitration Committee/Anti-harassment RfC and is open to comments from the community.
The Medicine case was closed, with a remedy authorizing standard discretionary sanctions for all discussions about pharmaceutical drug prices and pricing and for edits adding, changing, or removing pharmaceutical drug prices or pricing from articles.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 10:25, 1 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Help!

Hello. Lightning in the sky has repeated added an unreliable source to the Che Guevara page. The source is a right wing propaganda YouTube video from an anti-communist think take, which has no place on Wikipedia. I have tried to explain why the source is inadequate, but the user does not appear to take notice. I tried posting this on the vandalism reporting page, but it was removed. Hope this is an alright spot to alert someone about it! Bluedude588 (talk) 13:55, 3 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Speciesbox parameters

Hi, {{Speciesbox}} requires the taxon for the species X y to be specified in one and only one of two ways:

|taxon=X y, OR
|genus=X plus |species=y

The system is pretty forgiving and tries to make sense of unexpected parameter combinations, often resorting to using the page title, so taxoboxes with the wrong parameters often appear to work, and hence don't show editors any errors, although checks work best with the expected parameters. It's not something to bother about too much, because there are tracking categories, like Category:Speciesboxes with incorrect parameters specifying the taxon, which report odd-looking taxoboxes and they will get corrected eventually. Peter coxhead (talk) 09:33, 6 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Taxon inquerendum

Hi, I ran across the word inquerendum in several places on Wikipedia and couldn't find a definition of it. I saw that you had added most of them so I thought I'd check with you. I wonder if the right word is inquirendum, and that it could link to Species inquirenda? I'd be happy to go through and make the changes. Thank you, SchreiberBike | ⌨ 19:59, 23 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]

You're quite right. Inquirendum is derived from the Latin word inquirere (inquiro, inquisivi, inquisitum), meaning "to make a research". It must have slipped my mind. JoJan (talk) 14:10, 24 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I'll fix those later today. I'm jealous of your Latin skills. Keep up the good work. SchreiberBike | ⌨ 20:35, 24 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]

British Phycological Society page - deleted 2007

Hullo! I've been writing a page about the British Phycological Society and can see that you deleted a page about it in 2007. I can't see what was on that deleted page. I am contacting you because I saw an automatic message saying I should do this before creating a new page with this title. Have you any advice for me?--MerielGJones (talk) 11:13, 29 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]

The article contained no useful content. It had only a link to the British Phycological Society [3]. Feel free to recreate a useful article. JoJan (talk) 14:18, 29 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Ok! Thanks.--MerielGJones (talk) 17:36, 29 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – August 2020

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

Administrator changes

Red Phoenix

Euryalus • SQL

Jujutacular • Monty845 • Rettetast • Madchester

Oversight changes

GB fan

Keegan • Opabinia regalis • Premeditated Chaos

Guideline and policy news

There is an open request for comment to decide whether to increase the minimum duration a sanction discussion has to remain open (currently 24 hours).
Speedy deletion criterion T2 (template that misrepresents established policy) has been repealed following a request for comment.
Speedy deletion criterion X2 (pages created by the content translation tool) has been repealed following a discussion.
There is a proposal to restrict proposed deletion to confirmed users.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 08:20, 1 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

June/July 2020 Tree of Life Newsletter

Shortcut

WP:TOLN

June and July 2020—Issue 015

Tree of Life

Welcome to the Tree of Life newsletter!

Newly recognized content
Canada lynx by Sainsf Gigantorhynchus by Mattximus Leech by LittleJerry, Chiswick Chap and Cwmhiraeth Orangutan by LittleJerry Secretarybird by LittleJerry, Aa77zz and Casliber Vermilion flycatcher by CaptainEek Bat virome by Enwebb, reviewed by Chidgk1 Doedicurus by Dunkleosteus77, reviewed by Hog Farm Dwarf dog-faced bat by Enwebb, reviewed by Dunkleosteus77 Echinodon by IJReid, reviewed by JurassicClassic767 Edvard August Vainio by Esculenta, reviewed by ChiswickCahp Hammer-headed bat by Enwebb, reviewed by Jens Lallensack Homo rudolfensis by Dunkleosteus77, reviewed by JurassicClassic767 Nina Demme by SusunW, reviewed by Enwebb Northern crested newt by Tylototriton, reviewed by Enwebb Pterodactylus by JurassicClassic767, reviewed by ChiswickCahp Zebra by LittleJerry, reviewed by Dunkleosteus77

Newly nominated content
Horseshoe bat by Enwebb Siamosaurus by PaleoGeekSquared Zebra by LittleJerry Australopithecus afarensis by Dunkleosteus77 Australopithecus africanus by Dunkleosteus77 Australopithecus bahrelghazali by Dunkleosteus77 Australopithecus deyiremeda by Dunkleosteus77 Australopithecus sediba by Dunkleosteus77 Bonelli's eagle by Sandhillcrane Great flying fox by Enwebb Homo habilis by Dunkleosteus77 Markham's storm petrel by Therapyisgood Ornithocheiridae by JurassicClassic767 Paranthropus aethiopicus by Dunkleosteus77 Paranthropus boisei by Dunkleosteus77 Paranthropus robustus by Dunkleosteus77 Tatenectes by Slate Weasel

News at a glance

This issue is a double issue, but the plan is to return to monthly henceforth.
A discussion at WikiProject Palaeontology about internal peer review processes led to the creation of a peer review space. In contrast to the more formal Peer Review, PalaeoPR focuses on short "fact checks", emphasizing content over style. Reviews are meant to be low commitment, with "drive-by reviews" encouraged. Since its inception on 8 July, seven articles have been submitted to PalaeoPR.
After a highly competitive third round, two Tree of Life editors advanced to the fourth round of the WikiCup: Dunkleosteus77 and Sainsf
A February 2020 paper published in PLOS noted that Mammalian Species is one of the most over-cited journals on Wikipedia relative to how frequently it is cited in other academic works.

Categorizing life with DexDor

DexDor is a WikiGnome with a particular interest in article categorization, including how organisms are categorized.

How did you become interested in editing biodiversity topics on Wikipedia?: I'm a wikignome who tries to remove unnecessary complexity and confusion in Wikipedia. I specialise in categorization. I've worked on categorization of several topic areas (e.g. military equipment) - anywhere where I see things like category tags on articles that the category text doesn't support. Categorization of organisms is one area I'm currently looking at (my essay on this).

You seem to be particularly interested in geographic categorization of organisms. What are some issues in this area?: One issue is that there are several possible relationships between an organism and a region (i.e. what the "of" in a "Xs of Y" means) - the organism may be found throughout the region, somewhere in the region, only in the region (i.e. endemic to that region) - there are categories for each of these (and others) and some categories have been unclear about their exact meaning. Then there's introductions by man, locally extinct species, occasional visitors...

Another issue is that some editors have thought it's appropriate to create categories for very small areas ("Spiders of Vatican City" is only a slight exaggeration) and put a few articles in them, thus creating a category that is both massively incomplete and non-defining for the articles in it.

There have been several (now blocked) editors who have been disruptive in this area, but a confusing and sprawling categorization scheme is also partly due to editors from a particular background categorizing a particular article in a way that appears to make sense, but doesn't really make sense in the wider categorization scheme - for example, if an article mentions the countries at the extremes of an animal's distribution, the animal is categorized just for those countries.

What potential solutions do you see for categorizing organisms by geography? How can other editors help address this issue, or at least, not make it worse?: We should have some guidelines that tell editors how to categorize any article about an organism (including any geographical categorization). I've started drafting guidelines at User:DexDor/BioCat. The guidelines are also a good way to ensure that the categorization of articles about organisms is aligned with categorization of other articles and may help us to identify where there are problems, inconsistencies etc in the categorization. I welcome suggestions for improvement of the guidelines (which should at some point be moved into WP:TOL).

Regarding geographical categorization of animals the main advice for editors would be to not create categories for any new areas and to only create a new category if you intend to populate it.

What have you learned from being a Wikipedia editor?: That lots of people (from varied backgrounds) each making (mostly) small improvements (like ants in an ants nest?) and only understanding some parts of Wikipedia can produce such a wonderful resource. But also, how that tends to result in ever-increasing complexity which negatively affects editors and readers.

Is there anything about your life outside Wikipedia that would surprise us?: Not sure - I'm a member of a band.

June DYKs

Blue calamintha bee

Culture of S. aureus

Ambay pumpwood

Heuglin's gazelle

Gold-striped frog

... that despite being a member of the cat family, the jaguarundi has several features in common with mustelids such as otters and weasels? (2 June)
... that scientists were unsure whether the blue calamintha bee (pictured) still existed until it was observed again in March 2020? (2 June)
... that many of the animals regarded as pests have co-evolved with humans, adapting to the warm, sheltered conditions that a building provides? (3 June)
... that the banteng is the second endangered species to be successfully cloned, and the first clone to survive beyond infancy? (5 June)
... that the colonial morphology of Staphylococcus species (culture pictured) is described as "creamy"? (5 June)
... that ant gardens are cultivated by several species of ant, including Crematogaster carinata? (6 June)
... that the presence of the beetle Coelomera ruficornis on its host tree (pictured) is tolerated by the ant Azteca alfari, but not by the ant Azteca muelleri? (8 June)
... that cattle and deer sometimes stand under trees where southern plains gray langurs are feeding in order to consume the edible pieces that the monkeys drop? (10 June)
... that Singaporean authorities hope that the Mandai Wildlife Bridge will reduce the risk of animals such as Sunda pangolins and leopard cats becoming roadkill? (13 June)
... that the gold-striped frog (pictured) sometimes breeds inside an active nest of leafcutter ants? (13 June)
... that Heuglin's gazelle (illustrated), reportedly last seen in Eritrea over a century earlier during Italian colonial rule, was sighted again in the country last year? (12 June)
... that Siamosaurus, a large bipedal carnivore from the Early Cretaceous of Thailand, is the first crocodilian-like dinosaur named from Asia? (14 June)
... that Homo ergaster may have been the first species of archaic humans to control fire? (14 June)
... that the small frog Cochranella nola has yellow intestines, a green tongue, and dark green bones? (16 June)
... that Nigel, nicknamed "the world's loneliest gannet" (species pictured), attempted to mate with a concrete decoy bird on Mana Island, New Zealand? (17 June)
... that the male giant glass frog has a hooked spur on his upper arm which is used when fighting rivals? (19 June)
... that vestigial organs in the Brazilian Callichirus major population (example species pictured) suggest Callichirus may be the only crustacean genus with basal, yet not universal, hermaphroditism? (20 June)
... that Megacephalosaurus was one of the last known pliosaurs and coexisted with some of the earliest mosasaurs? (21 June)
... that when boiled in milk, black coral (example pictured) emits a faint scent of myrrh? (21 June)
... that one of the factors affecting the future of the Huanchaca mouse is the increased cultivation of biofuels? (22 June)
... that the Strawberries and Cream Tree (pictured) is noted for producing pink blossoms on one side of the tree and white on the other, when it blooms every spring? (23 June)
... that the Chilean seaside cinclodes bobs its tail while it walks and flares its wings while it sings? (24 June)
... that Boie's frog (pictured) and the Banhado frog both resemble dead leaves on the floor of the forest? (25 June)
... that the extinct sumac species Rhus republicensis is named for Republic, Washington? (30 June)

Australasian gannet
C. brasiliensis, a species
in the C. major complex
Deep-sea Antipathes dendrochristos
Strawberries and Cream Tree
in full bloom in April 2020
Boie's frog

July DYKs

Amazon parrot

Life reconstruction of Pterodactylus antiquus

... that the Newland Oak in Gloucestershire took "200 years to grow, 200 years to exist, and 200 to die"? (2 July)
... that the hollow trunk of Queen Elizabeth's Oak was used as a prison? (4 July)
... that Markham's storm petrel, which nests in Peru and northern Chile, has been described as "one of the least known seabirds in the world"? (7 July)
... that the Asian freshwater leech Barbronia weberi has invaded North Carolina? (11 July)
... that a large, elderly, "decently behaved" Russian brown bear once lived in the Leeds suburb of Headingley? (12 July)
... that the female Andes marsupial frog carries her developing young in a pouch on her back? (14 July)
... that the Amazon parrot (depicted) was implicated as a source of the great parrot fever pandemic of 1929–30, in which more than 100 people died? (17 July)
... that the frog Corythomantis greeningi retreats into a hole, blocks the entrance with its spiny head, and injects venom into anything that tries to dislodge it? (18 July)
... that the reef box crab uses its powerful pincers to break open the shells of snails? (21 July)
... that carnivorous wildlife of North Macedonia as small as the Balkan lynx have been reported to attack not just livestock, but humans too? (22 July)
... that the sea slug Discodoris boholiensis exhibits photokinesis? (22 July)
... that the genus Pterodactylus (species depicted), the scientific name for a pterodactyl, had been considered a "wastebasket taxon" as many species were assigned to it and later reassigned? (23 July)
... that the sea urchin Abatus cordatus broods its young for nine months in pockets on its upper surface? (24 July)
... that Harold Clyde Bingham trailed a troop of gorillas for 100 hours in 1929? (25 July)
... that the sea urchin Goniocidaris umbraculum moves its eggs with its tube feet, assisted by cilia, to an area near its mouth where they can be brooded? (27 July)

Discuss this issue

You are receiving this because you added your name to the subscribers list of the WikiProject Tree of Life. If you no longer wish to receive the newsletter, please remove your name.

Delivered on behalf of Enwebb (talk) 16:33, 1 August 2020 (UTC) [reply]

Speedy deletion nomination of Category:Zethalia

A tag has been placed on Category:Zethalia requesting that it be speedily deleted from Wikipedia. This has been done under section C1 of the criteria for speedy deletion, because the category has been empty for seven days or more and is not a disambiguation category, a category redirect, a featured topics category, under discussion at Categories for discussion, or a project category that by its nature may become empty on occasion.

If you think this page should not be deleted for this reason, you may contest the nomination by visiting the page and clicking the button labelled "Contest this speedy deletion". This will give you the opportunity to explain why you believe the page should not be deleted. However, be aware that once a page is tagged for speedy deletion, it may be deleted without delay. Please do not remove the speedy deletion tag from the page yourself, but do not hesitate to add information in line with Wikipedia's policies and guidelines. Liz ^{Read! Talk!} 18:57, 5 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Speedy deletion nomination of Category:Roseaplagis

A tag has been placed on Category:Roseaplagis requesting that it be speedily deleted from Wikipedia. This has been done under section C1 of the criteria for speedy deletion, because the category has been empty for seven days or more and is not a disambiguation category, a category redirect, a featured topics category, under discussion at Categories for discussion, or a project category that by its nature may become empty on occasion.

If you think this page should not be deleted for this reason, you may contest the nomination by visiting the page and clicking the button labelled "Contest this speedy deletion". This will give you the opportunity to explain why you believe the page should not be deleted. However, be aware that once a page is tagged for speedy deletion, it may be deleted without delay. Please do not remove the speedy deletion tag from the page yourself, but do not hesitate to add information in line with Wikipedia's policies and guidelines. UnitedStatesian (talk) 04:55, 14 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Speedy deletion nomination of Category:Parviterebra

A tag has been placed on Category:Parviterebra requesting that it be speedily deleted from Wikipedia. This has been done under section C1 of the criteria for speedy deletion, because the category has been empty for seven days or more and is not a disambiguation category, a category redirect, a featured topics category, under discussion at Categories for discussion, or a project category that by its nature may become empty on occasion.

If you think this page should not be deleted for this reason, you may contest the nomination by visiting the page and clicking the button labelled "Contest this speedy deletion". This will give you the opportunity to explain why you believe the page should not be deleted. However, be aware that once a page is tagged for speedy deletion, it may be deleted without delay. Please do not remove the speedy deletion tag from the page yourself, but do not hesitate to add information in line with Wikipedia's policies and guidelines. UnitedStatesian (talk) 03:01, 17 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Speedy deletion nomination of Category:Ascalista

A tag has been placed on Category:Ascalista requesting that it be speedily deleted from Wikipedia. This has been done under section C1 of the criteria for speedy deletion, because the category has been empty for seven days or more and is not a disambiguation category, a category redirect, a featured topics category, under discussion at Categories for discussion, or a project category that by its nature may become empty on occasion.

If you think this page should not be deleted for this reason, you may contest the nomination by visiting the page and clicking the button labelled "Contest this speedy deletion". This will give you the opportunity to explain why you believe the page should not be deleted. However, be aware that once a page is tagged for speedy deletion, it may be deleted without delay. Please do not remove the speedy deletion tag from the page yourself, but do not hesitate to add information in line with Wikipedia's policies and guidelines. UnitedStatesian (talk) 05:55, 17 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Speedy deletion nomination of Category:Adinassa

A tag has been placed on Category:Adinassa requesting that it be speedily deleted from Wikipedia. This has been done under section C1 of the criteria for speedy deletion, because the category has been empty for seven days or more and is not a disambiguation category, a category redirect, a featured topics category, under discussion at Categories for discussion, or a project category that by its nature may become empty on occasion.

If you think this page should not be deleted for this reason, you may contest the nomination by visiting the page and clicking the button labelled "Contest this speedy deletion". This will give you the opportunity to explain why you believe the page should not be deleted. However, be aware that once a page is tagged for speedy deletion, it may be deleted without delay. Please do not remove the speedy deletion tag from the page yourself, but do not hesitate to add information in line with Wikipedia's policies and guidelines. UnitedStatesian (talk) 05:00, 23 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – September 2020

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

Administrator changes

Eddie891

Angela • Jcw69 • Just Chilling • Philg88 • Viajero

CheckUser changes

SQL

Guideline and policy news

Following a request for comment, the minimum length for site ban discussions was increased to 72 hours, up from 24.
A request for comment is ongoing to determine whether paid editors must or should use the articles for creation process.
A request for comment is open to resolve inconsistencies between the draftification and alternative to deletion processes.

Arbitration

A request for comment is open to provide an opportunity to amend the structure, rules, and procedures of the 2020 English Wikipedia Arbitration Committee election and to resolve any issues not covered by existing rules.
An open request for comment asks whether active Arbitrators may serve on the Trust and Safety Case Review Committee or Ombudsman commission.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 09:56, 2 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]

August 2020 Tree of Life Newsletter

Shortcut

WP:TOLN

September 2021—Issue 016

Tree of Life

Welcome to the Tree of Life newsletter!

Newly recognized content
Horseshoe bat by Enwebb Siamosaurus by PaleoGeekSquared Australopithecus sediba by Dunkleosteus77, reviewed by Jens Lallensack Homo habilis by Dunkleosteus77, reviewed by Enwebb Tatenectes by Slate Weasel, reviewed by FunkMonk

Newly nominated content
Black-and-red broadbill by AryKun Turtle by LittleJerry Symphyotrichum lateriflorum by Eewilson Dracophyllum fiordense by Dracophyllum Scarlet-and-white tanager by AryKun Viatkogorgon by FunkMonk Punctelia borreri by Esculenta Chivi vireo by AryKun Mountain kingfisher by AryKun Kererū by Ambrosia10

Hoax taxon sniffed out after nearly fifteen years

Cross posted from the Signpost

On August 7, WikiProject Palaeontology member Rextron discovered a suspicious taxon article, Mustelodon, which was created in November 2005. The article lacked references and the subsequent discussion on WikiProject Palaeontology found that the alleged type locality (where the fossil was first discovered) of Lago Nandarajo "near the northern border of Panama" was nonexistent. In fact, Panama does not even really have a northern border, as it is bounded along the north by the Caribbean Sea. No other publications or databases mentioned Mustelodon, save a fleeting mention in a 2019 book that presumably followed Wikipedia, Felines of the World.

The article also appeared in four other languages, Catalan, Spanish, Dutch, and Serbian. In Serbian Wikipedia, a note at the bottom of the page warned: "It is important to note here that there is no data on this genus in the official scientific literature, and all attached data on the genus Mustelodon on this page are taken from the English Wikipedia and are the only known data on this genus of mammals, so the validity of this genus is questionable."

Editors took action to alert our counterparts on other projects, and these versions were removed also. As the editor who reached out to Spanish and Catalan Wikipedia, it was somewhat challenging to navigate these mostly foreign languages (I have a limited grasp of Spanish). I doubted that the article had very many watchers, so I knew I had to find some WikiProjects where I could post a machine translation advising of the hoax, and asking that users follow local protocols to remove the article. I was surprised to find, however, that Catalan Wikipedia does not tag articles for WikiProjects on talk pages, meaning I had to fumble around to find what I needed (turns out that WikiProjects are Viquiprojectes in Catalan!) Mustelodon remains on Wikidata, where its "instance of" property was swapped from "taxon" to "fictional taxon".

How did this article have such a long lifespan? Early intervention is critical for removing hoaxes. A 2016 report found that a hoax article that survives its first day has an 18% chance of lasting a year.^[1] Additionally, hoax articles tend to have longer lifespans if they are in inconspicuous parts of Wikipedia, where they do not receive many views. Mustelodon was only viewed a couple times a day, on average.

Mustelodon survived a brush with death three years into its lifespan. The article was proposed for deletion in September 2008, with a deletion rationale of "No references given; cannot find any evidence in peer-reviewed journals that this alleged genus actually exists". Unfortunately, the proposed deletion was contested and the template removed, though the declining editor did not give a rationale. Upon its rediscovery in August 2020, Mustelodon was tagged for speedy deletion under CSD G3 as a "blatant hoax". This was challenged, and an Articles for Deletion discussion followed. On 12 August, the AfD was closed as a SNOW delete. WikiProject Palaeontology members ensured that any trace of it was scrubbed from legitimate articles. The fictional mammal was finally, truly extinct.

At the ripe old age of 14 years, 9 months, this is the longest-lived documented hoax on Wikipedia, topping the previous documented record of 14 years, 5 months, set by The Gates of Saturn, a fictitious television show, which was incidentally also discovered in August 2020. How do we discover other hoax taxa? Could we use Wikidata to discover taxa are not linked to databases like ITIS, Fossilworks, and others?

^ Kumar, Srijan; West, Robert; Leskovec, Jure (April 2016). "Disinformation on the Web: Impact, Characteristics, and Detection of Wikipedia Hoaxes" (PDF). Proceedings of the 25th International World Wide Web Conference: 591–602. doi:10.1145/2872427.2883085.

Spotlight with Mattximus

This month's spotlight is with Mattximus, author of two Featured Articles and 29 Featured Lists at current count.

How did you become involved with editing biodiversity articles?

I think I have a compulsion to make lists, it doesn't show up in my real life, but online I secretly get a lot of satisfaction making orderly lists and tables. It's a bit of a secret of mine, because it doesn't manifest in any other part of my life. My background is in biology, so this was a natural (haha) fit.

You have an impressive number of FAs under your belt. Two of your more recent ones, Apororhynchus and Gigantorhynchus, are part of what you referred to as an "experiment". How did you choose these articles, and what's next for you in this experiment?

This experiment was just to see if I could get any random article to FA status, so I picked the very first alphabetical animal species according to the taxonomy and made that attempt. Technically, there isn't enough information for a species page so I just merged the species into a genus and went from there. It was a fun exercise, but doing it alone is not the most fun so it's probably on pause for the foreseeable future.

Note: Aporhynchus is the first alphabetical taxon as follows: Animalia, Acanthocephala, Archiacanthocephala, Apororhynchida, Apororhynchidae, Apororhynchus

What advice would you give to someone who wants to nominate their first FAC?

I would recommend getting a good article nominated, then a featured list up before tackling the FA. Lists are a bit more forgiving but give you a taste of what standards to expect from FA. The most time consuming thing is proper citations so make sure that is in order before starting either.

Is there anything that would surprise us to learn about your life off-Wikipedia?

My personality in real life does not match my wikipedia persona. I'm not a very organized, or orderly in real life, but the wikipedia pages I brought to FL or FA are all very organized. Maybe it's my outlet for a more free-flowing life as a scientist/teacher.

Anything else you'd like us to know?

The fact that wikipedia exists free of profit motive and free for everyone really is something special and I encourage everyone to donate a few dollars to the cause.

August DYKs

Woolly thistle

Life reconstruction of Ankylorhiza tiedemani

Female cicada laying eggs

Acampe rigida

... that in the Brazilian state of Bahia, cerrado mice are often caught by barn owls, but seldom by researchers? (1 August)
... that ornithologist Corina Newsome and herpetologist Earyn McGee held events as part of the inaugural Black Birders Week, an effort to highlight the challenges faced by Black nature enthusiasts? (5 August)
... that the flower buds of the woolly thistle (pictured) can be eaten in a similar way to artichokes? (8 August)
... that the French peanut is native to Brazil? (10 August)
... that the 800-year-old Minchenden Oak is one of the oldest trees in London? (14 August)
... that the forward-facing incisors of the extinct dolphin Ankylorhiza (restoration pictured) may have been used for ramming their prey, similar to a hunting method used by modern orcas? (16 August)
... that scientists accidentally created a hybrid of two endangered fish species, called the sturddlefish? (17 August)
... that despite having the widest distribution in the United States, the arid-land subterranean termite causes less structural damage than other members of its genus? (19 August)
... that the Eocene leaf species Tetracentron hopkinsii was not confirmed from Washington state until 2018? (19 August)
... that Helen Ballard was a hellebore horticulturist? (22 August)
... that in 2021, the dwarf periodical cicada (pictured) is due to emerge in parts of eastern North America, not having been seen for 17 years? (24 August)
... that the fossil sumac Rhus boothillensis is named for a public fossil digging site in Republic, Washington? (25 August)
... that the orchid Acampe rigida (pictured) is pollinated by raindrops? (28 August)
... that fossils identified as Pentacentron sternhartae may actually be the fruits of another fossil species? (29 August)
... that American naturalist William Harvey Brown, who went to Africa to collect specimens, ended up fighting in two wars there? (30 August)
... that the rosy spindle cowry, a species of sea snail, lives exclusively on gorgonians? (30 August)

Discuss this issue

You are receiving this because you added your name to the subscribers list of the WikiProject Tree of Life. If you no longer wish to receive the newsletter, please remove your name.

Delivered on behalf of Enwebb (talk) 17:10, 2 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Odostomia meta

Hello! I came across Odostomia meta, which you created in 2011, when poking through orphaned article categories. I looked at the World Register of Marine Species to make sure it hadn't been turned into a synonym before linking it, but I didn't find the name anywhere on the entry there for Odostomia (or any similar-looking names). I tried searching the name on Google, as well as "Dall & Bartsch"+meta, and got no useful results. The only source in the article, Notes on Japanese, Indo-Pacific and American Pyramidellidae, doesn't seem to be available anywhere online. It's also supposed to have been published in 1906, but the article says the binomial was given in 1909, which seems odd. I was wondering - do you still have access to that source and if so, is it possible to double check it? ♠PMC♠ (talk) 04:36, 4 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Ah - you can disregard. I searched with the subspecies and got the WoRMS entry; looks like it's been accepted as a Parthenina species rather than as an Odostomia one, but they didn't say that on the Odostomia entry. Sorry to have bothered you. ♠PMC♠ (talk) 04:41, 4 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]

The whole genus Odostomia needs a complete review, as well as the taxa above it. Probably a gigantic undertaking to bring it to an end. But I'm working at this moment at something completely different in this wikiproject, in casu in the Commons : Category:Collections of the MNHN (to be sorted out) [4]. This will take quite some time to finish. JoJan (talk) 11:39, 4 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Books & Bytes – Issue 40

The Wikipedia Library

Books & Bytes
Issue 40, July – August 2020

New partnerships
- Al Manhal
- Ancestry
- RILM
#1Lib1Ref May 2020 report
AfLIA hires a Wikipedian-in-Residence

Read the full newsletter

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery on behalf of The Wikipedia Library team --10:14, 10 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Proposed deletion of Grand Turk

The article Grand Turk has been proposed for deletion because of the following concern:

See Talk:Grand Turk Island#Requested move 11 September 2020 for the reason behind this proposal.

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

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

Please consider improving the page to address the issues raised. Removing {{proposed deletion/dated}} will stop the proposed deletion process, but other deletion processes exist. In particular, the speedy deletion process can result in deletion without discussion, and articles for deletion allows discussion to reach consensus for deletion. P.I. Ellsworth ed. ^put'r there 19:52, 14 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – September 2020

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

Administrator changes

Ajpolino • LuK3

Jackmcbarn

Ad Orientem • Harej • Lid • Lomn • Mentoz86 • Oliver Pereira • XJaM

There'sNoTime → TheresNoTime

Guideline and policy news

A request for comment found consensus that incubation as an alternative to deletion should generally only be recommended when draftification is appropriate, namely 1) if the result of a deletion discussion is to draftify; or 2) if the article is newly created.

Technical news

The filter log now provides links to view diffs of deleted revisions (phab:T261630).

Arbitration

The 2020 CheckUser and Oversight appointment process has begun. The community consultation period will take place from September 27th to October 7th.
Following a request for comment, sitting Committee members may not serve on either the Ombuds Commission or the WMF Case Review Committee. The Arbitration Committee passed a motion implementing those results into their procedures.

Miscellaneous

The Universal Code of Conduct draft is open for community review and comment until October 6th, 2020.
Office actions may now be appealed to the Interim Trust & Safety Case Review Committee.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 10:43, 1 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – November 2020

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

Administrator changes

John M Wolfson

Bduke • Nilfanion • Philosopher • Rspeer • Yunshui

Interface administrator changes

Ragesoss

TonyBallioni

CheckUser changes

EdJohnston • Oshwah • Yamla

Yunshui

Oversight changes

Anarchyte

Yunshui

Guideline and policy news

Community sanctions now authorize administrators to place under indefinite semiprotection any article on a beauty pageant, or biography of a person known as a beauty pageant contestant, which has been edited by a sockpuppet account or logged-out sockpuppet, to be logged at WP:GS/PAGEANT.

Technical news

Sysops will once again be able to view the deleted history of JS/CSS pages; this was restricted to interface administrators when that group was introduced.
Twinkle's block module now includes the ability to note the specific case when applying a discretionary sanctions block and/or template.
Sysops will be able to use Special:CreateLocalAccount to create a local account for a global user that is prevented from auto-creation locally (such as by a filter or range block). Administrators that are not sure if such a creation is appropriate should contact a checkuser.

Arbitration

The 2020 Arbitration Committee Elections process has begun. Eligible editors will be able to nominate themselves as candidates from November 8 through November 17. The voting period will run from November 23 through December 6.
The Anti-harassment RfC has concluded with a summary of the feedback provided.

Miscellaneous

A reminder that standard discretionary sanctions are authorized for all edits about, and all pages related to post-1932 politics of the United States and closely related people. (American Politics 2 Arbitration case).

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 11:52, 1 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Books & Bytes – Issue 41

The Wikipedia Library

Books & Bytes
Issue 41, September – October 2020

New partnership: Taxmann
WikiCite
1Lib1Ref 2021

Read the full newsletter

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery on behalf of The Wikipedia Library team --10:47, 18 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

ArbCom 2020 Elections voter message

Hello! Voting in the 2020 Arbitration Committee elections is now open until 23:59 (UTC) on Monday, 7 December 2020. All eligible users are allowed to vote. Users with alternate accounts may only vote once.

The Arbitration Committee is the panel of editors responsible for conducting the Wikipedia arbitration process. It has the authority to impose binding solutions to disputes between editors, primarily for serious conduct disputes the community has been unable to resolve. This includes the authority to impose site bans, topic bans, editing restrictions, and other measures needed to maintain our editing environment. The arbitration policy describes the Committee's roles and responsibilities in greater detail.

If you wish to participate in the 2020 election, please review the candidates and submit your choices on the voting page. If you no longer wish to receive these messages, you may add {{NoACEMM}} to your user talk page. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 01:16, 24 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – December 2020

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

Administrator changes

Andrwsc • Anetode • GoldenRing • JzG • LinguistAtLarge • Nehrams2020

Interface administrator changes

Izno

Guideline and policy news

There is a request for comment in progress to either remove T3 (duplicated and hardcoded instances) as a speedy deletion criterion or eliminate its seven-day waiting period.

Technical news

Voting for proposals in the 2021 Community Wishlist Survey, which determines what software the Wikimedia Foundation's Community Tech team will work on next year, will take place from 8 December through 21 December. In particular, there are sections regarding administrators and anti-harassment.

Arbitration

Voting in the 2020 Arbitration Committee Elections is open to eligible editors until Monday 23:59, 7 December 2020 UTC. Please review the candidates and, if you wish to do so, submit your choices on the voting page.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 02:37, 1 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

New Page Patrol December Newsletter

Hello JoJan,

Year in review

It has been a productive year for New Page Patrol as we've roughly cut the size of the New Page Patrol queue in half this year. We have been fortunate to have a lot of great work done by Rosguill who was the reviewer of the most pages and redirects this past year. Thanks and credit go to JTtheOG and Onel5969 who join Rosguill in repeating in the top 10 from last year. Thanks to John B123, Hughesdarren, and Mccapra who all got the NPR permission this year and joined the top 10. Also new to the top ten is DannyS712 bot III, programmed by DannyS712 which has helped to dramatically reduce the number of redirects that have needed human patrolling by patrolling certain types of redirects (e.g. for differences in accents) and by also patrolling editors who are on on the redirect whitelist.

Rank	Username	Num reviews	Log
1	DannyS712 bot III (talk)	67,552	Patrol Page Curation
2	Rosguill (talk)	63,821	Patrol Page Curation
3	John B123 (talk)	21,697	Patrol Page Curation
4	Onel5969 (talk)	19,879	Patrol Page Curation
5	JTtheOG (talk)	12,901	Patrol Page Curation
6	Mcampany (talk)	9,103	Patrol Page Curation
7	DragonflySixtyseven (talk)	6,401	Patrol Page Curation
8	Mccapra (talk)	4,918	Patrol Page Curation
9	Hughesdarren (talk)	4,520	Patrol Page Curation
10	Utopes (talk)	3,958	Patrol Page Curation

Reviewer of the Year

John B123 has been named reviewer of the year for 2020. John has held the permission for just over 6 months and in that time has helped cut into the queue by reviewing more than 18,000 articles. His talk page shows his efforts to communicate with users, upholding NPP's goal of nurturing new users and quality over quantity.

NPP Technical Achievement Award

As a special recognition and thank you DannyS712 has been awarded the first NPP Technical Achievement Award. His work programming the bot has helped us patrol redirects tremendously - more than 60,000 redirects this past year. This has been a large contribution to New Page Patrol and definitely is worthy of recognition.

Six Month Queue Data: Today – 2262 Low – 2232 High – 10271

To opt-out of future mailings, please remove yourself here

18:17, 10 December 2020 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – January 2021

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

Administrator changes

Hammersoft

Andres • Brion VIBBER • Rkitko • Thatcher

CheckUser changes

Barkeep49 • BDD • CaptainEek • Primefac

Oversight changes

Barkeep49 • BDD • CaptainEek

Joe Roe

Guideline and policy news

Speedy deletion criterion T3 (duplication and hardcoded instances) has been repealed following a request for comment.

Technical news

You can now put pages on your watchlist for a limited period of time.

Arbitration

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

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 00:08, 5 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Books & Bytes - Issue 42

The Wikipedia Library

Books & Bytes
Issue 42, November – December 2020

New EBSCO collections now available
1Lib1Ref 2021 underway
Library Card input requested
Libraries love Wikimedia, too!

Read the full newsletter

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery on behalf of The Wikipedia Library team --14:00, 25 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – February 2021

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

Administrator changes

Hog Farm

Mattflaschen • Nandesuka • Savidan • Wangi

CheckUser changes

Berean Hunter • Xeno

Oversight changes

Someguy1221 • Xeno

Arbitration

The standard discretionary sanctions authorized for American Politics were amended by motion to cover post-1992 politics of United States and closely related people, replacing the 1932 cutoff.

Miscellaneous

Voting in the 2021 Steward elections will begin on 05 February 2021, 14:00 (UTC) and end on 26 February 2021, 13:59 (UTC). The confirmation process of current stewards is being held in parallel. You can automatically check your eligibility to vote.
Wikipedia has now been around for 20 years, and recently saw its billionth edit!

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 19:09, 1 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Redirection

Hi, it appears that you tried to create a redirect at Pharcidella, but didn't do it correctly. I've fixed it now. For future reference, the correct redirect syntax is:

#REDIRECT [[target page name]]

You can check redirects with the Preview button before saving them. If you have created a working redirect, the preview will show the name of the target page alongside a bent arrow (or "Redirect to:" label in text mode). — Smjg (talk) 15:33, 27 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – March 2021

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

Administrator changes

TJMSmith

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

Interface administrator changes

AmandaNP

Guideline and policy news

A request for comment is open that proposes a process for the community to revoke administrative permissions. This follows a 2019 RfC in favor of creating one such a policy.
A request for comment is in progress to remove F7 (invalid fair-use claim) subcriterion a, which covers immediate deletion of non-free media with invalid fair-use tags.
A request for comment seeks to grant page movers the delete-redirect userright, which allows moving a page over a single-revision redirect, regardless of that redirect's target. The full proposal is at Wikipedia:Page mover/delete-redirect.
A request for comment asks if sysops may place the General sanctions/Coronavirus disease 2019 editnotice template on pages in scope that do not have page-specific sanctions?
There is a discussion in progress concerning automatic protection of each day's featured article with Pending Changes protection.

Technical news

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

Arbitration

By motion, the discretionary sanctions originally authorized under the GamerGate case are now authorized under a new Gender and sexuality case, with sanctions authorized for all edits about, and all pages related to, any gender-related dispute or controversy and associated people. Sanctions issued under GamerGate are now considered Gender and sexuality sanctions.
The Kurds and Kurdistan case was closed, authorizing standard discretionary sanctions for the topics of Kurds and Kurdistan, broadly construed.

Miscellaneous

Following the 2021 Steward Elections, the following editors have been appointed as stewards: AmandaNP, Operator873, Stanglavine, Teles, and Wiki13.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 19:14, 1 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Please use stub templates that exist

Please use only stub templates that exist. If the article shows a red link like Template:foo-stub, that stub template does not exist, and you should look for one that exists for a higher taxonomic order. Thanks. – Jonesey95 (talk) 15:33, 20 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Books & Bytes – Issue 42

The Wikipedia Library

Books & Bytes
Issue 42, January – February 2021

New partnerships: PNAS, De Gruyter, Nomos
1Lib1Ref
Library Card

Read the full newsletter

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery on behalf of The Wikipedia Library team --11:27, 22 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Mangelia angusta

Hello. Is it possible that Mangelia angusta and Agathotoma angusta are synonyms, and therefore to be merged? It sound strange and suspect to me, that two species of the same family share the same second part of the scientific name. Lone-078 (talk) 17:23, 22 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Good remark ! After some research in the publications of Bellardi and Cossmann, I've come to the conclusion that the extinct species Mangelia angusta (actually originally Mangilia angusta) is a synonym of Raphitoma angusta, itself in turn a synonym of Agathoma angusta. I've made the necessary changes in the articles. JoJan (talk) 15:43, 23 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks. It is unfortunate that a lot of synonyms are missing on WORMS; I have no idea if one can report such issues to its editors. Lone-078 (talk) 16:34, 23 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

You can do it, if you want. WoRMS has always been very helpful. I've already reported more than 150 times such requests to WoRMS and each time they have accepted my remarks as valid. But my requests always concerned mistakes or double entries in WoRMS. This time Mangelia angusta has only been described by MNHN, Paris (relying on Cossmann) and not by WoRMS. Therefore, it is not primarily a concern for WoRMS but rather for the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle at Paris. But the MNHN., Paris is (understandably) often behind with their accepted names of the taxonomy. JoJan (talk) 16:47, 23 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

So, let's take the case of Mangelia frumentum (Brugnone, 1874), a fossil species which is referred as such on some websites (based, presumably, on some reliable publication). WoRMS doesn't have an entry for that species. I suppose that the name is now considered invalid, but I have no idea of what the current name could be because WoRMS can't track down its synonyms. What could I do? Lone-078 (talk) 17:18, 23 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Mangelia frumentum is a valid and still accepted name (see the refs I've provided in the article). You could inform WoRMS, but (in my opinion) this would be original research, which is forbidden in wikipedia. We cannot refer to WoRMS as our main reference source if we provide ourselves WoRMS with data. This would mean we would be referring to ourselves. JoJan (talk) 16:13, 24 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Oh, I see, I admit I didn't check in the Mangelia article, thanks for the tip. I'm aware of WP:OR but I was actually referring to a context outside Wikipedia. It is clear that WoRMS' bibliographic archives are incomplete. Lone-078 (talk) 17:02, 24 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

That's true. WoRMS is a work in progress. And a magnificent work, if I may say. There aren't many paleomalacologists in the world and so it could take quite while before the extraordinary number of extinct species will be included. Anyway, many extinct species (from diverse families) from New Zealand and Australia can already be found in WoRMS. The rest will follow some day, I suppose. But that is not our task.JoJan (talk) 11:07, 25 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – April 2021

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

Administrator changes

Alexandria • Happyme22 • RexxS

Guideline and policy news

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

Technical news

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

Arbitration

A community consultation on the Arbitration Committee discretionary sanctions procedure is open until April 25.

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

Happy First Edit Day!

Have a very happy first edit anniversary!

From the Birthday Committee, CAPTAIN RAJU^(T) 22:29, 9 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Disambiguation link notification for May 5

An automated process has detected that when you recently edited Bothriembryontidae, you added a link pointing to the disambiguation page Diplomorpha.

(Opt-out instructions.) --DPL bot (talk) 05:58, 5 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – May 2021

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

Administrator changes

Enchanter • Carlossuarez46

Interface administrator changes

Ragesoss

Guideline and policy news

Following an RfC, consensus was found that third party appeals are allowed but discouraged.
The 2021 Desysop Policy RfC was closed with no consensus. Consensus was found in a previous RfC for a community based desysop procedure, though the procedure proposed in the 2021 RfC did not gain consensus.

Technical news

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

Arbitration

The community consultation on the Arbitration Committee discretionary sanctions procedure was closed, and an initial draft based on feedback from the now closed consultation is expected to be released in early June to early July for community review.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 15:51, 7 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Books & Bytes – Issue 43

The Wikipedia Library

Books & Bytes
Issue 43, March – April 2021

New Library Card designs
1Lib1Ref May

Read the full newsletter

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery on behalf of The Wikipedia Library team --11:11, 10 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Speedy deletion nomination of Category:Cavolinioidea

A tag has been placed on Category:Cavolinioidea indicating that it is currently empty, and is not a disambiguation category, a category redirect, a featured topics category, under discussion at Categories for discussion, or a project category that by its nature may become empty on occasion. If it remains empty for seven days or more, it may be deleted under section C1 of the criteria for speedy deletion.

If you think this page should not be deleted for this reason you may contest the nomination by visiting the page and clicking the button labelled "Contest this speedy deletion". This will give you the opportunity to explain why you believe the page should not be deleted. Please do not remove the speedy deletion tag from the page yourself. Liz ^{Read! Talk!} 13:49, 15 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

It has been taken care of. JoJan (talk) 14:03, 15 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Enquiry of sub article edit Jardinella Coreena/Edgbastonia Coreena

Hello, i am an university student currently working on the wikipedia article https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgbastonia_coreena and have noticed that you made an edit on the title (originally Jardinella Coreena) to Edgbastonia Coreena and would like to double check if they are synonymous of the same species and why you made the edit? Sorry for the inconvenience. - Andrew12333 - 17/5/21

You can check the authoritative database WoRMS for the species Edgbastonia coreena (Ponder & G. A. Clark, 1990) [5]. It has become the accepted name by the publication in Zootaxa 4583(1): 1-67 by Ponder W., Zhang W.-H. [Wei-Hong], Hallan A. & Shea M. (2019). New taxa of Tateidae (Caenogastropoda, Truncatelloidea) from springs associated with the Great Artesian Basin and Einasleigh Uplands, Queensland, with the description of two related taxa from eastern coastal drainages. Zootaxa. [6]. I hope this helps. JoJan (talk) 13:32, 17 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Request for peer review help

Hi JoJan. I hope you are doing well and staying safe during these times! Apologize to bother and posting a random request. I have just started to work on a stub (Fontainea Venosa)and had added some sections. Knowing your expertise, I would love if you can help me to review and left a comment on what I can do to improve my edits.

Would you be able to help me to provide feedback so that I can improve the article to be B class hopefully? But no pressure if you are busy. That is completely fine and understandable :) Have a good day! Hope to hear from you soon. The article is Fontainea Venosa

Thank you so much :) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Sparklingkull (talk • contribs) 01:01, 24 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – June 2021

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

Administrator changes

Ashleyyoursmile • Less Unless

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

Guideline and policy news

Consensus was reached to deprecate Wikipedia:Editor assistance.
Following a Request for Comment the Book namespace was deprecated.

Technical news

Wikimedia previously used the IRC network Freenode. However, due to changes over who controlled the network with reports of a forceful takeover by several ex-staff members, the Wikimedia IRC Group Contacts decided to move to the new Libera Chat network. It has been reported that Wikimedia related channels on Freenode have been forcibly taken over if they pointed members to Libera. There is a migration guide and Wikimedia discussions about this.

Arbitration

After a Clarification request, the Arbitration Committee modified Remedy 5 of the Antisemitism in Poland case. This means sourcing expectations are a discretionary sanction instead of being present on all articles. It also details using the talk page or the Reliable Sources Noticeboard to discuss disputed sources.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 14:45, 9 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Happy Adminship Anniversary!

Wishing JoJan a very happy adminship anniversary on behalf of the Wikipedia Birthday Committee! 🐶 EpicPupper ^{(he/him | talk, FAQ, contribs)} 01:47, 25 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Happy Adminship Anniversary!

Have a very happy adminship anniversary on your special day!

Best wishes, CAPTAIN RAJU^(T) 20:57, 25 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – July 2021

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

Administrator changes

Trialpears

AGK • Eliz81 • Mulad • ThaddeusB • Vianello • Who

Lacrimosus → Ikuzaf

Interface administrator changes

Ragesoss

CheckUser changes

AGK • DGG

Oversighter changes

AGK

Guideline and policy news

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

Technical news

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

Arbitration

The community authorised COVID-19 general sanctions have been superseded by the COVID-19 discretionary sanctions following a motion at a case request. Alerts given and sanctions placed under the community authorised general sanctions are now considered alerts for and sanctions under the new discretionary sanctions.

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

Word use

Hi JoJan, I notice your use of the word accremental in some articles (currently sighted in 12 articles). I can't find any dictionary source for this word. Do you have a dictionary reference? - Neils51 (talk) 15:30, 17 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

You're right, I can't find a dictionary reference either, even in the authoritative New Shorter Oxford English dictionary. However, the word "accremental" was used by the original author of the species, writing in English: Verco in Callistele calliston (originally described as Astele calliston Verco, 1905) [7]. I'm not a native speaker of English, but the narrow relationship with "accretion" and "accrete" didn't ring a warning bell with me. In my opinion "accremental" means "accretion by small steps". I suppose then, the word "accremental" should be regarded as scientific jargon, used by the Australian author Joseph Verco (1851-1933) in several scientific publications. Perhaps you can propose a word that means exactly the same without changing the meaning, even in a small way, of the exact description of the species (otherwise, you could be describing an other species). JoJan (talk) 16:57, 17 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Books & Bytes – Issue 45

The Wikipedia Library

Books & Bytes
Issue 45, May – June 2021

Library design improvements continue
New partnerships
1Lib1Ref update

Read the full newsletter

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery on behalf of The Wikipedia Library team --11:04, 30 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – July 2021

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

Administrator changes

BusterD

Kees08 • Nickshanks • Protonk • Schissel • Ultraexactzz • Wknight94

CheckUser changes

TheresNoTime

Oversighter changes

TheresNoTime

ST47

Guideline and policy news

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

Technical news

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

Arbitration

Following an amendment request, the committee has clarified that the Talk page exception to the 500/30 rule in remedy 5 of the Palestine-Israel articles 4 case does not apply to requested move discussions.

Miscellaneous

You can vote for candidates in the 2021 Board of Trustees elections from 4 August to 17 August. Four community elected seats are up for election.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 14:18, 1 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – September 2021

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

Administrator changes

Jake Wartenberg

Emperor • Viridian Bovary

Ashleyyoursmile → Viridian Bovary

Guideline and policy news

Feedback is requested on the Universal Code of Conduct enforcement draft by the Universal Code of Conduct Phase 2 drafting committee.
A RfC is open on whether to allow administrators to use extended confirmed protection on high-risk templates.
A discussion is open to decide when, if ever, should discord logs be eligible for removal when posted onwiki (including whether to oversight them)
A RfC on the next steps after the trial of pending changes on TFAs has resulted in a 30 day trial of automatic semi protection for TFAs.

Technical news

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

Arbitration

A request for comment is in progress to provide an opportunity to amend the structure, rules, and procedures of the Arbitration Committee election and resolve any issues not covered by existing rules. Comments and new proposals are welcome.

Miscellaneous

The 2021 RfA review is now open for comments.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 20:45, 3 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

New Page Patrol newsletter September 2021

Hello JoJan,

Please join this discussion - there is increase in the abuse of Wikipedia and its processes by POV pushers, Paid Editors, and by holders of various user rights including Autopatrolled. Even our review systems themselves at AfC and NPR have been infiltrated. The good news is that detection is improving, but the downside is that it creates the need for a huge clean up - which of course adds to backlogs.

Copyright violations are also a serious issue. Most non-regular contributors do not understand why, and most of our Reviewers are not experts on copyright law - and can't be expected to be, but there is excellent, easy-to-follow advice on COPYVIO detection here.

At the time of the last newsletter (#25, December 2020) the backlog was only just over 2,000 articles. New Page Review is an official system. It's the only firewall against the inclusion of new, improper pages.

There are currently 706 New Page Reviewers plus a further 1,080 admins, but as much as nearly 90% of the patrolling is still being done by around only the 20 or so most regular patrollers.

If you are no longer very active on Wikipedia or you no longer wish to be part of the New Page Reviewer user group, please consider asking any admin to remove you from the list. This will enable NPP to have a better overview of its performance and what improvements need to be made to the process or its software.

Various awards are due to be allocated by the end of the year and barnstars are overdue. If you would like to manage this, please let us know. Indeed, if you are interested in coordinating NPR, it does not involve much time and the tasks are described here.

To opt-out of future mailings, please remove yourself here. Sent to 827 users. 04:31, 16 September 2021 (UTC)

Books & Bytes – Issue 46

The Wikipedia Library

Books & Bytes
Issue 46, July – August 2021

Library design improvements deployed
New collections available in English and German
Wikimania presentation

Read the full newsletter

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery on behalf of The Wikipedia Library team --11:14, 22 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – October 2021

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

Administrator changes

Blablubbs

Alvestrand • Black Falcon • Deathphoenix • Dppowell • Mark Arsten • JGHowes (deceased)

Oversighter changes

Callanecc

Mkdw

Interface administrator changes

Galobtter

Guideline and policy news

Following an RfC, extended confirmed protection may be used preemptively on certain high-risk templates.
Following a discussion at the Village Pump, there is consensus to treat discord logs the same as IRC logs. This means that discord logs will be oversighted if posted onwiki.

Technical news

DiscussionTools has superseded Enterprisey's reply-link script. Editors may switch using the "Discussion tools" checkbox under Preferences → Beta features.

Arbitration

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

Miscellaneous

Editors have approved expanding the trial of Growth Features from 2% of new accounts to 25%, and the share of newcomers getting mentorship from 2% to 5%. Experienced editors are invited to add themselves to the mentor list.
The community consultation phase of the 2021 CheckUser and Oversight appointments process is open for editors to provide comments and ask questions to candidates.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 17:04, 1 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]

November 2021 backlog drive

New Page Patrol \| November 2021 Backlog Drive
On November 1, a one-month backlog drive for New Page Patrol will begin. Barnstars will be awarded based on the number of articles patrolled. Barnstars will also be granted for re-reviewing articles previously reviewed by other patrollers during the drive. Redirect patrolling is not part of the drive. Interested in taking part? Sign up here.
You're receiving this message because you are a new page patroller. To opt-out of future mailings, please remove yourself here. (t · c) buidhe 01:58, 25 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – November 2021

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

Administrator changes

Clpo13

Brian0918 • JDoorjam • Karanacs • MrDarcy • Mindspillage

Interface administrator changes

Evad37

CheckUser changes

Dreamy Jazz • Ferret • GeneralNotability • Girth Summit • RoySmith

Oversight changes

Dreamy Jazz • LuK3

Guideline and policy news

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

Technical news

Toolhub is a catalogue of tools which can be used on Wikimedia wikis. It is at https://toolhub.wikimedia.org/.

Arbitration

GeneralNotability, Mz7 and Cyberpower678 have been appointed to the Electoral Commission for the 2021 Arbitration Committee Elections. Ivanvector and John M Wolfson are reserve commissioners.
Eligible editors are invited to self-nominate themselves to stand in the 2021 Arbitration Committee elections from 07 November 2021 until 16 November 2021.

Miscellaneous

The 2021 CheckUser and Oversight appointments process has concluded with the appointment of five new CheckUsers and two new Oversighters.

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

Americoliva

Hey, since WoRMS now has Americoliva as a subgenus and not a valid genus of its own, do you think the article should be redirected to Oliva or moved to Oliva (Americoliva)? Or is leaving it where it is fine? ♠PMC♠ (talk) 23:05, 2 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Since there are at least two extinct species still named under Americoliva (probably taxa inquerenda), it is better to leave the article as it is until this has been resolved. JoJan (talk) 08:55, 4 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Works for me. ♠PMC♠ (talk) 08:58, 4 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Books & Bytes – Issue 47

The Wikipedia Library

Books & Bytes
Issue 47, September – October 2021

On-wiki Wikipedia Library notification rolling out
Search tool deployed
New My Library design improvements

Read the full newsletter

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery on behalf of The Wikipedia Library team --16:58, 10 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

ArbCom 2021 Elections voter message

Hello! Voting in the 2021 Arbitration Committee elections is now open until 23:59 (UTC) on Monday, 6 December 2021. All eligible users are allowed to vote. Users with alternate accounts may only vote once.

The Arbitration Committee is the panel of editors responsible for conducting the Wikipedia arbitration process. It has the authority to impose binding solutions to disputes between editors, primarily for serious conduct disputes the community has been unable to resolve. This includes the authority to impose site bans, topic bans, editing restrictions, and other measures needed to maintain our editing environment. The arbitration policy describes the Committee's roles and responsibilities in greater detail.

If you wish to participate in the 2021 election, please review the candidates and submit your choices on the voting page. If you no longer wish to receive these messages, you may add {{NoACEMM}} to your user talk page. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 00:03, 23 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Requesting some article expansion help

Greetings,

Requesting your visit to Draft:Intellectual discourse over re-mosqueing of Hagia Sophia and article expansion help if you find your interest in the topic.

Thanks and warm regards

Bookku, 'Encyclopedias = expanding information & knowledge' (talk) 13:37, 1 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – December 2021

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

Administrator changes

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

Technical news

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

Arbitration

Voting in the 2021 Arbitration Committee Elections is open until 23:59, 06 December 2021 (UTC).
The already authorized standard discretionary sanctions for all pages relating to the Horn of Africa (defined as including Ethiopia, Somalia, Eritrea, Djibouti, and adjoining areas if involved in related disputes), broadly construed, have been made permanent.

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 17:24, 3 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators will no longer be autopatrolled

A recently closed Request for Comment (RFC) reached consensus to remove Autopatrolled from the administrator user group. You may, similarly as with Edit Filter Manager, choose to self-assign this permission to yourself. This will be implemented the week of December 13th, but if you wish to self-assign you may do so now. To find out when the change has gone live or if you have any questions please visit the Administrator's Noticeboard. 20:06, 7 December 2021 (UTC)

Merchandise giveaway nomination

A token of thanks

Hi JoJan! I've nominated you (along with all other active admins) to receive a solstice season gift from the WMF. Talk page stalkers are invited to comment at the nomination. Enjoy! Cheers, {{u|Sdkb}} ^talk ~~~~~

MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 23:50, 31 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

[1] Kumar, Srijan; West, Robert; Leskovec, Jure (April 2016). "Disinformation on the Web: Impact, Characteristics, and Detection of Wikipedia Hoaxes" (PDF). Proceedings of the 25th International World Wide Web Conference: 591–602. doi:10.1145/2872427.2883085.

[1]