Picture of the day

The Mac (known as the Macintosh until 1999) is a family of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc. The product lineup includes the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro laptops, and the iMac, Mac Mini, Mac Studio, and Mac Pro desktops. Macs are sold with the macOS operating system, previously known as OS X. The Macintosh project was conceived by Jef Raskin in 1979 and then redefined in 1981 by Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, the first model being introduced in 1984 through an advertisement played during Super Bowl XVIII. The product evolved with the introduction of color in 1987 with the Macintosh II, and a new processor line in the Power Macintosh in 1994. Through most of the 1990s, the Mac was not fully competitive with commodity IBM PC compatibles. Steve Jobs returned to Apple in 1996 and subsequently returned the Mac to the mainstream with the launch of the iMac series OS X. Many users, especially professionals, felt that the Mac was neglected during the 2010s under CEO Tim Cook, but a new line of Macs with the Apple silicon chipset has received more positive reviews. This photograph shows Jobs with the first Mac, at the time of its launch on January 24, 1984. The image on the computer screen is a digitized version of A Woman Combing Her Hair, a painting by the Japanese artist Goyō Hashiguchi.Photograph credit: Bernard Gotfryd; edited by W.carter and Janke

Archive – More featured pictures...

10 January 2024
From the editor: NINETEEN MORE YEARS! NINETEEN MORE YEARS! Special report: Public Domain Day 2024 Technology report: Wikipedia: A Multigenerational Pursuit News and notes: In other news ... see ya in court! In focus: The long road of a featured article candidate In the media: What is plagiarism? Oklahoma Disneyland? Reaching a human being at Wikipedia? WikiProject report: WikiProjects Israel and Palestine Obituary: Anthony Bradbury Traffic report: The most viewed articles of 2023 Crossword: everybody gangsta till the style sheets start cascading Comix: Conflict resolution
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Hello JoJan, welcome to Wikipedia! I hope you like the place and decide to join the community. Drop us a note at Wikipedia:New user log so we can meet you and help you get started. If you need editing help, visit Wikipedia:How to edit a page. For format questions, visit our manual of style. If you have any other questions about the project then check out Wikipedia:Help or add a question to the Newcomers' Village pump. And of course, feel free to talk with me or ask questions on my talk page. Enjoy! --Αλεξ Σ 15:14, 11 Apr 2004 (UTC)

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

Administrator changes Amalthea • Ihcoyc (deceased) • Kateshortforbob • Kirill Lokshin • Rifleman 82 • Ryan Norton • Wrp103 Interface administrator changes Mr. Stradivarius

CheckUser changes Cabayi • Donald Albury • Enterprisey • Izno • Wugapodes Opabinia regalis Casliber • David Fuchs • Newyorkbrad • SoWhy Oversighter changes Cabayi • Donald Albury • Enterprisey • Izno • Wugapodes Opabinia regalis Casliber • David Fuchs • Newyorkbrad • SoWhy

Guideline and policy news

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

• Additionally, consensus for proposal 6C of the 2021 RfA review has led to the creation of an administrative action review process. The purpose of this process will be to review individual administrator actions and individual actions taken by users holding advanced permissions.

Arbitration

• Following the 2021 Arbitration Committee elections, the following editors have been appointed to the Arbitration Committee: Beeblebrox, Cabayi, Donald Albury, Enterprisey, Izno, Opabinia regalis, Worm That Turned, Wugapodes.

Miscellaneous

• The functionaries email list (functionaries-enlists.wikimedia.org) will no longer accept incoming emails apart from those sent by list members and WMF staff. Private concerns, apart from those requiring oversight, should be directly sent to the Arbitration Committee.

Happy New Year!

JoJan,
Have a prosperous, productive and enjoyable New Year, and thanks for your contributions to Wikipedia.
— Moops ^⋠T⋡ 02:23, 2 January 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

   Send New Year cheer by adding ((subst:Happy New Year fireworks)) to user talk pages.

— Moops ^⋠T⋡ 02:23, 2 January 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Hello JoJan,

Backlog

The October drive reduced the backlog from 9,700 to an amazing 0! Congratulations to WaddlesJP13 who led with 2084 points. See this page for further details. The queue is steadily rising again and is approaching 2,000. It would be great if <2,000 were the “new normal”. Please continue to help out even if it's only for a few or even one patrol a day.

2022 Awards

Onel5969 won the 2022 cup for 28,302 article reviews last year - that's an average of nearly 80/day. There was one Gold Award (5000+ reviews), 11 Silver (2000+), 28 Iron (360+) and 39 more for the 100+ barnstar. Rosguill led again for the 4th year by clearing 49,294 redirects. For the full details see the Awards page and the Hall of Fame. Congratulations everyone!

Minimum deletion time: The previous WP:NPP guideline was to wait 15 minutes before tagging for deletion (including draftification and WP:BLAR). Due to complaints, a consensus decided to raise the time to 1 hour. To illustrate this, very new pages in the feed are now highlighted in red. (As always, this is not applicable to attack pages, copyvios, vandalism, etc.)

New draftify script: In response to feedback from AFC, the The Move to Draft script now provides a choice of set messages that also link the creator to a new, friendly explanation page. The script also warns reviewers if the creator is probably still developing the article. The former script is no longer maintained. Please edit your edit your common.js or vector.js file from User:Evad37/MoveToDraft.js to User:MPGuy2824/MoveToDraft.js

Redirects: Some of our redirect reviewers have reduced their activity and the backlog is up to 9,000+ (two months deep). If you are interested in this distinctly different task and need any help, see this guide, this checklist, and spend some time at WP:RFD.

Discussions with the WMF The PageTriage open letter signed by 444 users is bearing fruit. The Growth Team has assigned some software engineers to work on PageTriage, the software that powers the NewPagesFeed and the Page Curation toolbar. WMF has submitted dozens of patches in the last few weeks to modernize PageTriage's code, which will make it easier to write patches in the future. This work is helpful but is not very visible to the end user. For patches visible to the end user, volunteers such as Novem Linguae and MPGuy2824 have been writing patches for bug reports and feature requests. The Growth Team also had a video conference with the NPP coordinators to discuss revamping the landing pages that new users see.

Reminders

• Newsletter feedback - please take this short poll about the newsletter.
• There is live chat with patrollers on the New Page Patrol Discord.
• Please add the project discussion page to your watchlist.
• If you no longer wish to be a reviewer, please ask any admin to remove you from the group. If you want the tools back again, just ask at PERM.
• To opt out of future mailings, please remove yourself here.

News and updates for administrators from the past month (December 2022).

Administrator changes

• ComplexRational
• Extraordinary Writ

Stephen

• Andrew Yong
• Dbenbenn
• DESiegel
• GlassCobra
• Joe Decker
• Nancy
• Pathoschild
• StuffOfInterest
• William Pietri
• Wwwwolf
• Xdamr

Interface administrator changes

Nihiltres

CheckUser changes

Moneytrees

• Ivanvector
• SilkTork

Oversighter changes

• GeneralNotability
• Moneytrees

• Guerillero
• SilkTork

Guideline and policy news

• Speedy deletion criterion A5 (transwikied articles) has been repealed following an unopposed proposal.

Arbitration

• Following the 2022 Arbitration Committee elections, the following editors have been appointed to the Arbitration Committee: Barkeep49, CaptainEek, GeneralNotability, Guerillero, L235, Moneytrees, Primefac, SilkTork.
• The 2021-22 Discretionary Sanctions Review has concluded with many changes to the discretionary sanctions procedure including a change of the name to "contentious topics". The changes are being implemented over the coming month.
• The arbitration case Stephen has been closed.

Miscellaneous

• Voting for the Sound Logo has closed and the winner is expected to be announced February to April 2023.
• Tech tip: You can view information about IP addresses in a centralised location using bullseye which won the Newcomer award in the recent Coolest Tool Awards.

your edit, commons category is misplaced. placement info Template:Commons_category#Location. thank u. <_> jindam, vani (talk) 16:02, 18 January 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

The Wikipedia Library: Books & Bytes
Issue 54, November – December 2022

• New collections:
  • British Newspaper Archive
  • Findmypast
  • University of Michigan Press
  • ACLS
  • Duke University Press
• 1Lib1Ref 2023
• Spotlight: EDS Refine Results

Read the full newsletter

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery on behalf of The Wikipedia Library team --14:14, 23 January 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

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

(Opt-out instructions.) --DPL bot (talk) 06:10, 24 January 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Hello, thanks for all your work on references. I see hundreds of articles about species often have the same references and some (most?) seem added by you so hopefully you can help me understand: would it be ok to convert them to ((cite journal)) usage? Sometimes the links break and it would be nice to automatically add links to archives, but that's hard if the citations aren't templated. For example doi:10.1111/zoj.12431 is currently broken (classic OUP) but the citation would be still usable if we had added an archive. doi:10.1093/mollus/eyu055 is cited on over 800 articles and is also available at https://hal.science/hal-02458202 . Nemo 21:38, 31 January 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

OK, I wouldn't mind if this can be done automatically by a bot. JoJan (talk) 14:33, 1 February 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

News and updates for administrators from the past month (January 2023).

Administrator changes Gimmetrow Bjelleklang Bob the Wikipedian Leithp WhisperToMe 100 inactive admins

CheckUser changes BDD Bradv Donald Albury Maxim MusikAnimal Oversighter changes BDD Bradv Donald Albury Maxim

Guideline and policy news

• Following an RfC, the administrator policy now requires that prior written consent be gained from the Arbitration Committee to mark a block as only appealable to the committee.
• Following a community discussion, consensus has been found to impose the extended-confirmed restriction over the topic areas of Armenia and Azerbaijan and Kurds and Kurdistan.

Technical news

• The Vector 2022 skin has become the default for desktop users of the English Wikipedia.

Arbitration

• The arbitration case Armenia-Azerbaijan 3 has been opened and the proposed decision is expected 24 February 2023.
• In December, the contentious topics procedure was adopted which replaces the former discretionary sanctions system. The contentious topics procedure is now in effect following an initial implementation period. There is a detailed summary of the changes and administrator instructions for the new procedure. The arbitration clerk team are taking suggestions, concerns, and unresolved questions about this new system at their noticeboard.

Miscellaneous

• Voting in the 2023 Steward elections will begin on 05 February 2023, 21:00 (UTC) and end on 26 February 2023, 21:00 (UTC). The confirmation process of current stewards is being held in parallel. You can automatically check your eligibility to vote.
• Voting in the 2023 Community Wishlist Survey will begin on 10 February 2023 and end on 24 February 2023. You can submit, discuss and revise proposals until 6 February 2023.
• Tech tip: Syntax highlighting is available in both the 2011 and 2017 Wikitext editors. It can help make editing paragraphs with many references or complicated templates easier.

News and updates for administrators from the past month (February 2023).

Administrator changes The Wordsmith Fuhghettaboutit Spinningspark (deceased)

CheckUser changes Callanecc Oversighter changes Callanecc

Guideline and policy news

• Following a request for comment, F10 (useless non-media files) has been deprecated.
• Following a request for comment, the Portal CSD criteria (P1 (portal subject to CSD as an article) and P2 (underpopulated portal)) have been deprecated.
• A request for comment is open to discuss making the closing instructions for the requested moves process a guideline.

Technical news

• The results of the 2023 Community Wishlist Survey have been posted.

Arbitration

• Remedy 11 ("Request for Comment") of the Conduct in deletion-related editing case has been rescinded.
• The proposed decision for the Armenia-Azerbaijan 3 case is expected 7 March 2023.
• A case related to the Holocaust in Poland is expected to be opened soon.

Miscellaneous

• The 2023 appointees for the Ombuds commission are AGK, Ameisenigel, Bennylin, Daniuu, Emufarmers, Faendalimas, JJMC89, MdsShakil, Minorax and Renvoy as regular members and Zabe as advisory members.
• Following the 2023 Steward Elections, the following editors have been appointed as stewards: Mykola7, Superpes15, and Xaosflux.
• The Terms of Use update cycle has started, which includes a [p]roposal for better addressing undisclosed paid editing. Feedback is being accepted until 24 April 2023.

A file that you uploaded or altered, File:Ophrys-araneola1.jpg, has been listed at Wikipedia:Files for discussion. Please see the discussion to see why it has been listed (you may have to search for the title of the image to find its entry). Feel free to add your opinion on the matter below the nomination. Thank you. --Minorax^«¦talk¦» 08:13, 2 March 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Hi, please ensure that "United States" and other common words and terms are not linked in articles you edit. Tony (talk) 23:53, 14 March 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

The Wikipedia Library: Books & Bytes
Issue 55, January – February 2023

• New bundle partners:
  • Newspapers.com
  • Fold3
• 1Lib1Ref January report
• Spotlight: EDS SmartText Searching

Read the full newsletter

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery on behalf of The Wikipedia Library team --12:45, 16 March 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Hiya! Sorry to bother you but I saw you in the recently active admins list and I thought I would see if you could help me with a burgeoning dispute (on a minor page, all things considered). User:TheWikiholic has twice reverted my edits on Forbes list of the world's highest-paid dead celebrities. There is a small group of editors on that page that have continuously sought to list Michael Jackson's cause of death as homicide, which I argue contradicts the page on his death. I tagged the article for contradiction, but the user in question reverted the tag without engaging with me on the talk page. I know this is petty all things considered, but I thought it would give it a shot

Thanks! ~~RedPandaWatcher RedPandaWatcher (talk) 13:40, 21 March 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

I don't see how I can intervene in this dispute. The article Death of Michael Jackson states that the cause of his death was homocide and that his physician was convicted of involuntary manslaughter. JoJan (talk) 13:57, 21 March 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Thanks for the quick response!

Sorry for not being more clear, but the main issue with the argument is that homicide is not a cause of death, it is a manner of death (see here for an explanation of the distinction). That's the reason it is listed as what it is on the page I referenced. RedPandaWatcher (talk) 14:17, 21 March 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

In the future, please add attribution when copying from public domain sources: simply add the template ((PD-notice)) after your citation. I have done so for the above article. Please do this in the future so that our readers will be aware that you copied the prose rather than wrote it yourself, and that it's okay to copy verbatim. Thanks, — Diannaa (talk) 15:31, 26 March 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

News and updates for administrators from the past month (March 2023).

Administrator changes Aoidh KillerChihuahua

CheckUser changes Ferret

Guideline and policy news

• A community RfC is open to discuss whether reports primarily involving gender-related disputes or controversies should be referred to the Arbitration enforcement noticeboard.

Technical news

• Some older web browsers will not be able to use JavaScript on Wikimedia wikis starting this week. This mainly affects users of Internet Explorer 11. (T178356)
• The rollback of Vector 2022 RfC has found no consensus to rollback to Vector legacy, but has found rough consensus to disable "limited width" mode by default.
• A link to the user's Special:CentralAuth page will now appear in the subtitle links shown on Special:Contributions. This was voted #17 in the Community Wishlist Survey 2023.

Arbitration

• The Armenia-Azerbaijan 3 case has been closed.
• A case about World War II and the history of Jews in Poland has been opened, with the first evidence phase closing 6 April 2023.

An article that you have been involved in editing—Amphimenia —has been proposed for merging with another article. If you are interested, please participate in the merger discussion. Thank you. UtherSRG (talk) 20:17, 6 April 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

New Page Patrol | May 2023 Backlog Drive
On 1 May, a one-month backlog drive for New Page Patrol will begin. Barnstars will be awarded based on the number of redirects patrolled and for maintaining a streak throughout the drive. Article patrolling is not part of the drive. Sign up here! There is a possibility that the drive may not run if there are <20 registered participants. Participants will be notified if this is the case.
You're receiving this message because you are a new page patroller. To opt out of future mailings, please remove yourself here.

MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 17:12, 20 April 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Hi, I made some changes to a couple articles example Special:Diff/1151195681/1151210845. This is because cloudfront URLs are hosted at AWS and expire within a few hours see WP:AWSURL. Also I converted it to a ((cite journal)). Feel free to copy to other articles. Thanks! -- GreenC 16:02, 22 April 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

News and updates for administrators from the past month (April 2023).

Administrator changes Spicy Ale jrb Dbachmann DGG (deceased) Jimbo Wales

CheckUser changes Jimbo Wales Oversighter changes Jimbo Wales

Guideline and policy news

• A request for comment about removing administrative privileges in specified situations is open for feedback.

Technical news

• Progress has started on the Page Triage improvement project. This is to address the concerns raised by the community in their 2022 WMF letter that requested improvements be made to the tool.

Arbitration

• The proposed decision in the World War II and the history of Jews in Poland case is expected 11 May 2023.

Miscellaneous

• The Wikimedia Foundation annual plan 2023-2024 draft is open for comment and input through May 19. The final plan will be published in July 2023.

The Wikipedia Library: Books & Bytes
Issue 56, March – April 2023

• New partner:
  • Perlego
• Library access tips and tricks
• Spotlight: EveryBookItsReader

Read the full newsletter

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery on behalf of The Wikipedia Library team --10:03, 24 May 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

News and updates for administrators from the past month (May 2023).

Administrator changes Ingenuity Ddstretch Prodego Resolute

CheckUser changes Courcelles

Guideline and policy news

• Following an RfC, editors indefinitely site-banned by community consensus will now have all rights, including sysop, removed.
• As a part of the Wikimedia Foundation's IP Masking project, a new policy has been created that governs the access to temporary account IP addresses. An associated FAQ has been created and individual communities can increase the requirements to view temporary account IP addresses.

Technical news

• Bot operators and tool maintainers should schedule time in the coming months to test and update their tools for the effects of IP masking. IP masking will not be deployed to any content wiki until at least October 2023 and is unlikely to be deployed to the English Wikipedia until some time in 2024.

Arbitration

• The arbitration case World War II and the history of Jews in Poland has been closed. The topic area of Polish history during World War II (1933-1945) and the history of Jews in Poland is subject to a "reliable source consensus-required" contentious topic restriction.

Miscellaneous

• Following a community referendum, the arbitration policy has been modified to remove the ability for users to appeal remedies to Jimbo Wales.

Hi @JoJan Your edit at Vitrea subrimata got picked up as a possible copyright violation on CopyPatrol [1]. This is the comparison with the source. Since you added the source as a reference I assume this is a case of close paraphrasing. It might be better to add it as a quote instead. Nobody (talk) 08:35, 15 June 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

The database AnimalBase "provides copyright-free open access to zoological works, and provides manually verified lists of names of zoological genera and species as a free resource for the public. The public use of AnimalBase data is not restricted or conditioned. Those who contribute voluntarily data or pictures to AnimalBase do this under the understanding of contributing to a free public resource. age authors). If you download content from AnimalBase please make sure that you attribute the source (in cases of downloaded books, the library, and in cases of downloaded pictures, the image authors). The legal term for this is CC BY-SA." ^[1]

Since I have made that deep link to AnimalBase, I can't see any infringement on copyright. Furthermore, the description of species is very specific. Any alteration, and you may be describing another species. JoJan (talk) 12:51, 15 June 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Hi JoJan, thanks for clarifying the copyright status of the source, I missed it when I checked the website earlier. I've marked the report as a false positive. Sorry for the trouble Nobody (talk) 13:00, 15 June 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

A tag has been placed on Category:Xenuroturris subconcavus 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!} 05:23, 17 June 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

I've deleted this unnecessary category. JoJan (talk) 12:32, 17 June 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

A tag has been placed on Category:Vexillum pisolinum 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!} 05:25, 17 June 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

I've deleted this unnecessary category. JoJan (talk) 12:30, 17 June 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Hello JoJan,

Backlog

Redirect drive: In response to an unusually high redirect backlog, we held a redirect backlog drive in May. The drive completed with 23851 reviews done in total, bringing the redirect backlog to 0 (momentarily). Congratulations to Hey man im josh who led with a staggering 4316 points, followed by Meena and Greyzxq with 2868 and 2546 points respectively. See this page for more details. The redirect queue is steadily rising again and is steadily approaching 4,000. Please continue to help out, even if it's only for a few or even one review a day.

Redirect autopatrol: All administrators without autopatrol have now been added to the redirect autopatrol list. If you see any users who consistently create significant amounts of good quality redirects, consider requesting redirect autopatrol for them here.

WMF work on PageTriage: The WMF Moderator Tools team, consisting of Sam, Jason and Susana, and also some patches from Jon, has been hard at work updating PageTriage. They are focusing their efforts on modernising the extension's code rather than on bug fixes or new features, though some user-facing work will be prioritised. This will help make sure that this extension is not deprecated, and is easier to work on in the future. In the next month or so, we will have an opt-in beta test where new page patrollers can help test the rewrite of Special:NewPagesFeed, to help find bugs. We will post more details at WT:NPPR when we are ready for beta testers.

Articles for Creation (AFC): All new page reviewers are now automatically approved for Articles for Creation draft reviewing (you do not need to apply at WT:AFCP like was required previously). To install the AFC helper script, visit Special:Preferences, visit the Gadgets tab, tick "Yet Another AFC Helper Script", then click "Save". To find drafts to review, visit Special:NewPagesFeed, and at the top left, tick "Articles for Creation". To review a draft, visit a submitted draft, click on the "More" menu, then click "Review (AFCH)". You can also comment on and submit drafts that are unsubmitted using the script.

You can review the AFC workflow at WP:AFCR. It is up to you if you also want to mark your AFC accepts as NPP reviewed (this is allowed but optional, depends if you would like a second set of eyes on your accept). Don't forget that draftspace is optional, so moves of drafts to mainspace (even if they are not ready) should not be reverted, except possibly if there is conflict of interest.

Pro tip: Did you know that visual artists such as painters have their own SNG? The most common part of this "creative professionals" criteria that applies to artists is WP:ARTIST 4b (solo exhibition, not group exhibition, at a major museum) or 4d (being represented within the permanent collections of two museums).

Reminders

• Newsletter feedback - please take this short poll about the newsletter.
• There is live chat with patrollers on the New Page Patrol Discord and #wikimedia-npp ^connect on IRC.
• Please add the project discussion page to your watchlist.
• To opt out of future mailings, please remove yourself here.

Hello JoJan,

The New Page Patrol team is sending you this impromptu message to inform you of a steeply rising backlog of articles needing review. If you have any extra time to spare, please consider reviewing one or two articles each day to help lower the backlog. You can start reviewing by visiting Special:NewPagesFeed. Thank you very much for your help.

Reminders:

• There is live chat with patrollers on the New Page Patrol Discord.
• Please add the project discussion page to your watchlist.
• To opt out of future mailings, please remove yourself here.

Sent by Zippybonzo using MediaWiki message delivery at 06:59, 1 July 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

News and updates for administrators from the past month (June 2023).

Administrator changes

Novem Linguae

• Deckiller
• Electionworld
• MBisanz
• Penwhale
• Raul654
• Roadrunner
• Viridae
• Yannismarou

Bureaucrat changes

MBisanz

Guideline and policy news

• Contributions to the English Wikipedia are now released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0) license instead of CC BY-SA 3.0. Contributions are still also released under the GFDL license.

Technical news

• Discussion is open regarding a proposed global policy regarding third-party resources. Third-party resources are computer resources that reside outside of Wikimedia production websites.

Arbitration

• Two arbitration cases are currently open. Proposed decisions are expected 5 July 2023 for the Scottywong case and 9 July 2023 for the AlisonW case.

A tag has been placed on Category:Umbonella 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 removing the speedy deletion tag. Liz ^{Read! Talk!} 01:12, 15 July 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

I've deleted this unnecessary category. JoJan (talk) 13:23, 15 July 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

The Wikipedia Library: Books & Bytes
Issue 57, May – June 2023

• Suggestion improvements
• Favorite collections tips
• Spotlight: Promoting Nigerian Books and Authors

Read the full newsletter

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery on behalf of The Wikipedia Library team --11:22, 18 July 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

News and updates for administrators from the past month (July 2023).

Administrator changes

Firefangledfeathers

• AlisonW
• Amberrock
• Closedmouth
• Scottywong

Interface administrator changes

Novem Linguae

Technical news

• The tag filter on Special:NewPages and revision history pages can now be inverted. This allows hiding edits made by automated tools. (T334338)
• Special:BlockedExternalDomains is a new tool that allows easier blocking of plain domains (and their subdomains). This is more easily searchable and is faster for the software to use than the existing MediaWiki:Spam-blacklist. It does not support regex (for complex cases), URL path-matching, or the MediaWiki:Spam-whitelist. (T337431)

Arbitration

• The arbitration cases named Scottywong and AlisonW closed 10 July and 16 July respectively.
• The SmallCat dispute arbitration case is in the workshop phase.

Shortcut

• WP:TOLN

August 2023—Issue 021

Tree of Life

Welcome to the Tree of Life newsletter!

Newly recognized content

Australiformis by Mattximus Rodrigues night heron by FunkMonk Titanis by Augustios Paleo List of lorisoids by PresN List of storks by AryKun Brontosaurus by Augustios Paleo, reviewed by The Morrison Man Eukaryote by Chiswick Chap, reviewed by Fritzmann2002 Stramenopile by Chiswick Chap, reviewed by Fritzmann2002 Titanoboa by Augustios Paleo, reviewed by SilverTiger12 Antarctopelta by Augustios Paleo, reviewed by Jens Lallensack Anna Blackburne by Kusma, reviewed by Etriusus Anomochilus leonardi by AryKun, reviewed by Amitchell125 Nyctibatrachus manalari by AryKun, reviewed by Sammi Brie Mimodactylus by FunkMonk, reviewed by Jens Lallensack Nyctibatrachus major by AryKun, reviewed by Etriusus Anomochilus weberi by AryKun, reviewed by Etriusus Plant by Chiswick Chap, reviewed by Cessaune

Newly nominated content

Ohmdenosaurus by Jens Lallensack Polar bear by LittleJerry Mimodactylus by FunkMonk List of cercopithecoids by PresN List of tapaculos by AryKun Klallamornis by Larrayal Hypericum perforatum by Fritzmann2002 Holozoa by Snoteleks Teloschistaceae by Esculenta Carcharodontosaurus by Augustios Paleo Nyctibatrachus radcliffei by AryKun Anomochilus by AryKun

New contest!

This month has seen an incredible amount of activity creating high quality content, with 3 FAs, 3 FACs, and a veritable flood of GAs and GANs, not to mention the FLs and FLCs. To help maintain this high level of activity going forward, WikiProject Tree of Life is starting a new monthly rolling contest, inspired by the contest run by WikiProject Military History. This contest should hopefully help incentivize editors to contribute in ways that are less daunting than writing articles that are GA and FA-quality. Even improving articles from stub to start class, or helping other editors by reviewing their work at GAN, FAC, or FLC, gets you points, with bonus points for articles with especially high page views. Make sure to participate in any way you can, and help improve the 'pedia while having fun and winning Barnstars!

August DYKs

Two salt marsh snakes Blackburnian warbler ... that orcas have been teaching each other to attack boats? (August 2) ... that Ameles decolor has one of the most complex mating rituals of any praying mantis? (August 4) ... that salt marsh snakes (examples pictured) drink only rainwater? (August 6) ... that by 1967, staff at the Home Office were told not to feed Peta morsels of food as she had become "inordinately fat"? (August 8) ... that the perigynia of the few-flowered sedge spring outward when brushed against? (August 16) ... that three burnt golf balls are preserved at Kew Gardens as a "rare fungal species"? (August 19) ... that the chemicals responsible for the smell of freshly cut grass are a plant defense mechanism? (August 20) ... that the Blackburnian warbler (example pictured) is named after Anna Blackburne, who provided specimens to Thomas Pennant? (August 22) ... that Tylocephale possibly used their domed skulls to fight one another? (August 24) ... that John Cleese once called Olivia Benson "the weirdest cat I've ever seen in my life"? (August 25) ... that Winston Churchill was often portrayed as a bulldog (pictured), but his personal pet dog during the Second World War was a poodle? (August 25) ... that a report by the philosopher Jonathan Birch and colleagues led to cephalopods and decapods being recognised as sentient under the UK's Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act? (August 27) ... that Mike Wingfield named a fungus after his first grandchild, Rachel? (August 27) ... that depending on who you ask, an anomochilid could be a dwarf or a giant? (August 28)

Discuss this issue

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Delivered by: MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 23:14, 31 August 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

News and updates for administrators from the past month (August 2023).

Administrator changes Pppery Theleekycauldron Dwheeler G.A.S Royalbroil Ssd

CheckUser changes Bradv Oversighter changes Bradv

Guideline and policy news

• Following an RfC, TFAs will be automatically semi-protected the day before it is on the main page and through the day after.
• A discussion at WP:VPP about revision deletion and oversight for dead names found that [s]ysops can choose to use revdel if, in their view, it's the right tool for this situation, and they need not default to oversight. But oversight could well be right where there's a particularly high risk to the person. Use your judgment.

Technical news

• Special:Contributions now shows the user's local edit count and the account's creation date. (T324166)

Arbitration

• The SmallCat dispute case has closed. As part of the final decision, editors participating in XfD have been reminded to be careful about forming local consensus which may or may not reflect the broader community consensus. Regular closers of XfD forums were also encouraged to note when broader community discussion, or changes to policies and guidelines, would be helpful.

Miscellaneous

• Tech tip: The "Browse history interactively" banner shown at the top of Special:Diff can be used to easily look through a history, assemble composite diffs, or find out what archive something wound up in.

New Page Patrol | October 2023 Backlog Drive
On 1 October, a one-month backlog drive for New Page Patrol will begin. Barnstars will be awarded based on the number of articles and redirects patrolled. Barnstars will also be granted for re-reviewing articles previously reviewed by other patrollers during the drive. Articles will earn 3x as many points compared to redirects. 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.

MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 09:13, 9 September 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

The Wikipedia Library: Books & Bytes
Issue 58, July – August 2023

• New partners - De Standaard and Duncker & Humblot
• Tech tip: Filters
• Wikimania presentation

Read the full newsletter

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery on behalf of The Wikipedia Library team --14:27, 12 September 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Hello JoJan,

Backlog update: At the time of this message, there are 11,300 articles and 15,600 redirects awaiting review. This is the highest backlog in a long time. Please help out by doing additional reviews!

October backlog elimination drive: A one-month backlog drive for October will start in one week! Barnstars will be awarded based on the number of articles and redirects patrolled. Articles will earn 4x as many points compared to redirects. You can sign up here.

PageTriage code upgrades: Upgrades to the PageTriage code, initiated by the NPP open letter in 2022 and actioned by the WMF Moderator Tools Team in 2023, are ongoing. More information can be found here. As part of this work, the Special:NewPagesFeed now has a new version in beta! The update leaves the NewPagesFeed appearance and function mostly identical to the old one, but updates the underlying code, making it easier to maintain and helping make sure the extension is not decommissioned due to maintenance issues in the future. You can try out the new Special:NewPagesFeed here - it will replace the current version soon.

Notability tip: Professors can meet WP:PROF #1 by having their academic papers be widely cited by their peers. When reviewing professor articles, it is a good idea to find their Google Scholar or Scopus profile and take a look at their h-index and number of citations. As a very rough rule of thumb, for most fields, articles on people with a h-index of twenty or more, a first-authored paper with more than a thousand citations, or multiple papers each with more than a hundred citations are likely to be kept at AfD.

Reviewing tip: If you would like like a second opinion on your reviews or simply want another new page reviewer by your side when patrolling, we recommend pair reviewing! This is where two reviewers use Discord voice chat and screen sharing to communicate with each other while reviewing the same article simultaneously. This is a great way to learn and transfer knowledge.

Reminders:

• You can access live chat with patrollers on the New Page Patrol Discord.
• Consider adding the project discussion page to your watchlist.
• To opt out of future mailings, please remove yourself here.

MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 16:45, 22 September 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Shortcut

• WP:TOLN

September 2023—Issue 022

Tree of Life

Welcome to the Tree of Life newsletter!

Newly recognized content

List of cercopithecoids by PresN List of tapaculos by AryKun Polar bear by Little Jerry Ohmdenosaurus by Jens Lallensack Amargatitanis by Augustios Paleo, reviewed by Jens Lallensack Teloschistaceae by Esculenta, reviewed by Chiswick Chap Holozoa by Snoteleks, reviewed by Esculenta Ashy flycatcher by AryKun, reviewed by Jens Lallensack Nyctibatrachus radcliffei by AryKun, reviewed by Jens Lallensack Carcharodontosaurus by Augustios Paleo, reviewed by SilverTiger12 Life by Chiswick Chap, reviewed by Jens Lallensack Apatosaurinae by Augustios Paleo, reviewed by Jens Lallensack Hypericum perforatum by Fritzmann2002, reviewed by Femke

Newly nominated content

Mountain pigeon by AryKun List of hominoids by PresN List of cranes by AryKun List of tarsiiformes by PresN Lycorma meliae by Etriusus Aristonectes by Amirani1746 Animal echolocation by Chiswick Chap Hyalospheniidae by Snoteleks Buellia frigida by Snoteleks

Contest results

The first edition of our new monthly contest had perhaps a little less participation than I hoped for, but it still resulted in a huge amount of content work, mainly focussed on de-stubbing articles on little-known species, although we did also see two GAs for Holozoa and Hypericum perforatum. Overall, over 60 articles were improved, with most going from stubs or redlinks to fully fleshed out articles. The winner this month was Simongraham, who improved 21 articles about spiders, mainly to B and C class, and racked up 70 points, over twice the next highest. Hopefully, we'll continue to see such great work next month, with even more participants and even more articles improved. Also anyone who wants to help coordinate the contest can just drop by at the talk page, I really need help.

September DYKs

Republicopteron douseae fossil Male Phallichthys fish Mimodactylus reconstruction Adult ashy flycatcher ... that with all known Palae­orehniidae fossils (example pictured) being incomplete, the relationships of the family are uncertain? (September 2) ... that butterfly collector Ian Heslop was once required to supervise an execution? (September 3) ... that the Munich Mouser, Neville Chamberlain's pet, and Nelson, Winston Churchill's pet, had a rivalry during World War II? (September 6) ... that Phal­lich­thys (literally 'penis fish') species are so called because the males (example pictured) have "comparatively huge" sex appendages? (September 8) ... that merry widows like soft bottoms? (September 10) ... that Mimodactylus (reconstruction pictured) is the first complete pterosaur from the Afro-Arabian continent? * ... that small Poecilia gillii males have longer sex organs than larger males, to facilitate mating with females that flee from them? (September 12) ... that the dwarf merry widow is not very brave? (September 13) ... that dwarf mollies hit rock bottom when they grow up? (September 14) ... that the Siberian crane is considered more threatened than the whooping crane, despite there being an estimated ten times more of them? (September 15) ... that one way to tell the African dusky flycatcher apart from the ashy flycatcher (example pictured) is that the former is "cuter"? (September 18) ... that the spiky inedible grass Triodia scintillans tastes like salt and vinegar chips? (September 19) ... that the bicolor molly inevitably goes off the deep end in adulthood? (September 27) ... that the Waitangiroto Nature Reserve is the only known nesting area for the eastern great egret in New Zealand? (September 28)

Discuss this issue

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Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 16:23, 1 October 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

News and updates for administrators from the past month (September 2023).

Administrator changes Hey man im josh Alex Bakharev CorbieVreccan Cyphoidbomb Davodd Hog Farm JamesR KnightLago Mark Ironie Nosebagbear (deceased) Rschen7754 Tamzin TonyBallioni

CheckUser changes DatGuy Ferret RickinBaltimore TonyBallioni Worm That Turned Oversighter changes RickinBaltimore TonyBallioni Worm That Turned

Guideline and policy news

• An RfC is open regarding amending the paid-contribution disclosure policy to add the following text: Any administrator soliciting clients for paid Wikipedia-related consulting or advising services not covered by other paid-contribution rules must disclose all clients on their userpage.

Technical news

• Administrators can now choose to add the user's user page to their watchlist when changing the usergroups for a user. This works both via Special:UserRights and via the API. (T272294)

Arbitration

• Remedy 9 ("MarioProtIV topic ban") of the WikiProject Tropical Cyclones case has been rescinded.

Miscellaneous

• The 2023 CheckUser and Oversight appointments process has concluded with the appointment of one new CheckUser.
• Self-nominations for the electoral commission for the 2023 Arbitration Committee elections opens on 2 October and closes on 8 October.

A file that you uploaded or altered, File:Genliseaviolacea1web.jpg, has been listed at Wikipedia:Files for discussion. Please see the discussion to see why it has been listed (you may have to search for the title of the image to find its entry). Feel free to add your opinion on the matter below the nomination. Thank you. —Matr1x-101 _{(Ping me when replying)} {_{user page} ^{(@ commons)} - _talk} 18:02, 4 October 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Hello JoJan:

WikiProject Articles for creation is holding a month long Backlog Drive!
The goal of this drive is to reduce the backlog of unreviewed drafts to less than 2 months outstanding reviews from the current 4+ months. Bonus points will be given for reviewing drafts that have been waiting more than 30 days. The drive is running from 1 November 2023 through 30 November 2023.

You may find Category:AfC pending submissions by age or other categories and sorting helpful.

Barnstars will be given out as awards at the end of the drive.

There is a backlog of over 1200 pages, so start reviewing drafts. We're looking forward to your help! MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 13:24, 31 October 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Shortcut

• WP:TOLN

October 2023—Issue 023

Tree of Life

Welcome to the Tree of Life newsletter!

Newly recognized content

Mimodactylus by FunkMonk Mountain pigeon by AryKun List of tarsiiformes by PresN List of hominoids by PresN List of cranes by AryKun Outline of lichens by MeegsC Lycorma meliae by Etriusus, reviewed by Chiswick Chap Oak by Chiswick Chap, reviewed by Esculenta Animal echolocation by Chiswick Chap, reviewed by Primium Elke Mackenzie by Esculenta, reviewed by Moriwen Dwarf pufferfish by Primium, reviewed by Chiswick Chap Hyalospheniidae by Snoteleks, reviewed by An anonymous username, not my real name Paroedura maingoka by Olmagon, reviewed by Jens Lallensack

Newly nominated content

Hypericum sechmenii by Fritzmann2002 Teloschistaceae by Esculenta Nyctibatrachus major by AryKun List of sunbirds by AryKun List of platyrrhines by PresN Handicap principle by Chiswick Chap Slime mold by Chiswick Chap Punctelia by Esculenta Pulchrocladia retipora by Esculenta Anaptychia ciliaris by Esculenta Mocquard's Madagascar ground gecko by Olmagon Zavodovski Island by Jo-Jo Eumerus Chrysothrix chlorina by Esculenta Wood-pasture hypothesis by AndersenAnders Mammalian kidney by D6194c-1cc Lepas testudinata by Etriusus Teratoscincus roborowskii by Olmagon

Contest results

The second edition of our monthly contest was even better than the last month, with 80 articles improved spanning the entire tree of life. The winner this month was Quetzal1964, who contributed to 47 articles, mainly relating to marine fish, and racked up 81 points in the process. In second place was simongraham, who got 60 points from 14 articles on various species of jumping spiders. simongraham is still at the top of our overall standings, with 130 points, and Quetzal1964's close behind on 108. The November edition of the contest is now open: feel free to drop by and participate if you work on any TOL-related articles this month.

October DYKs

Illustration of swordtail mollies Lycorma meliae Illustrations of the front foot (A) and hind foot (B) of Diplobune quercyi ... that the Siberian columbine has been crossed with another species in the genus Aquilegia to determine the gene behind the genus's nectar spurs? (October 2) ... that the swordtail molly (examples pictured) and the Petén molly have been named and renamed so often, one even ending up with the other's name at one point, that the swordtail molly's current scientific name means 'confusion'? (October 8) ... that the early big cat Pachypanthera may have weighed as much as 142 kilograms (313 lb) and had teeth similar to a hyena's? (October 9) ... that ancient Greek philosopher Xenophon thought the alopekis was part dog, part fox? (October 11) ... that the katydid-like fossil Republicopteron douseae possibly could not sing? (October 12) ... that a Brontosaurus stamp led to the United States Postal Service being accused of "fostering scientific illiteracy"? (October 16) ... that the wings of Lycorma meliae (example pictured) undergo multiple color changes throughout their lives? (October 16) ... that the three-toed species of Diplobune (fossils pictured) were mammals of the order of "even-toed ungulates"? (October 17) ... that although fossils of the extinct mammal Asiavorator were first found in 1922, the genus was not named until 73 years later, in 1995? (October 18) ... that in aquariums, the humpbacked limia is known to cannibalise the young? (October 21) ... that Hypericum perforatum was a common component of classical cure-all concoctions called theriacs? (October 21) ... that Aristotle classified living things based on whether they had a "sensitive soul" or, like plants, only a "vegetative soul"? (October 22) ... that in June 2022, a neurosurgeon found a roundworm in someone's brain? (October 23) ... that ancient permafrost can preserve viable microorganisms, some of which contain antibiotic-resistance genes that may be transferred to modern bacteria? (October 27)

Discuss this issue

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-MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 16:30, 2 November 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

News and updates for administrators from the past month (October 2023).

Administrator changes

0xDeadbeef

Tamzin

Dennis Brown

Interface administrator changes

Pppery

• Ragesoss
• TheresNoTime

Guideline and policy news

Technical news

• The WMF is working on making it possible for administrators to edit MediaWiki configuration directly. This is similar to previous work on Special:EditGrowthConfig. A technical RfC is running until November 08, where you can provide feedback.
• There is a proposed plan for re-enabling the Graph Extension. Feedback on this proposal is requested.

Arbitration

• Eligible editors are invited to self-nominate themselves from 12 November 2023 until 21 November 2023 to stand in the 2023 Arbitration Committee elections.
• Xaosflux, RoySmith and Cyberpower678 have been appointed to the Electoral Commission for the 2023 Arbitration Committee Elections. BusterD is the reserve commissioner.
• Following a motion, the contentious topic designation of Prem Rawat has been struck. Actions previously taken using this contentious topic designation are still in force.
• Following several motions, multiple topic areas are no longer designated as a contentious topic. These contentious topic designations were from the Editor conduct in e-cigs articles, Liancourt Rocks, Longevity, Medicine, September 11 conspiracy theories, and Shakespeare authorship question cases.
• Following a motion, remedies 3.1 (All related articles under 1RR whenever the dispute over naming is concerned), 6 (Stalemate resolution) and 30 (Administrative supervision) of the Macedonia 2 case have been rescinded.
• Following a motion, remedy 6 (One-revert rule) of the The Troubles case has been amended.
• An arbitration case named Industrial agriculture has been opened. Evidence submissions in this case close 8 November.

Miscellaneous

• The Articles for Creation backlog drive is happening in November 2023, with 700+ drafts pending reviews for in the last 4 months or so. In addition to the AfC participants, all administrators and New Page Patrollers can conduct reviews using the helper script, Yet Another AFC Helper Script, which can be enabled in the Gadgets settings. Sign up here to participate!

The Wikipedia Library: Books & Bytes
Issue 59, September – October 2023

• Spotlight: Introducing a repository of anti-disinformation projects
• Tech tip: Library access methods

Read the full newsletter

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery on behalf of The Wikipedia Library team --16:15, 27 November 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Hello! Voting in the 2023 Arbitration Committee elections is now open until 23:59 (UTC) on Monday, 11 December 2023. 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 2023 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) 00:20, 28 November 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Shortcut

• WP:TOLN

November 2023—Issue 024

Tree of Life

Welcome to the Tree of Life newsletter!

Newly recognized content

Hypericum sechmenii by Fritzmann2002 Nyctibatrachus major by AryKun List of platyrrhines by PresN List of gymnosperm families by Dank Varroa destructor by KoA, reviewed by Chiswick Chap Lepas testudinata by Etriusus, reviewed by Jens Lallensack Island bronze-naped pigeon by AryKun, reviewed by SilverTiger12 Placidium arboreum by Esculenta, reviewed by SilverTiger12 Orange-billed lorikeet by AryKun, reviewed by Jens Lallensack Spinular night frog by AryKun, reviewed by An anonymous username, not my real name Crested cuckoo-dove by AryKun, reviewed by Femke Aristonectes by Amirani1746, reviewed by Jens Lallensack Mocquard's Madagascar ground gecko by Olmagon, reviewed by Etriusus Femoral gland by Esculenta, reviewed by Jens Lallensack Ameerega munduruku by AryKun, reviewed by Jens Lallensack Snowy plover by Jens Lallensack, reviewed by SilverTiger12 Crested cuckoo-dove by AryKun, reviewed by Grungaloo Wood-pasture hypothesis by AndersenAnders, reviewed by Chiswick Chap Hypericum bupleuroides by Fritzmann2002, reviewed by Etriusus Teratoscincus roborowskii by Olmagon, reviewed by Esculenta Pulchrocladia retipora by Esculenta, reviewed by Etriusus Anaptychia ciliaris by Esculenta, reviewed by Jens Lallensack

Newly nominated content

Snowy plover by Jens Lallensack List of birds of Bouvet Island by AryKun Laomaki by An anonymous username, not my real name Nyctibatrachus robinmoorei by AryKun Nyctibatrachus sabarimalai by AryKun Nyctibatrachus mewasinghi by AryKun Eucalyptus gomphocephala by Hughesdarren

Contest results

The third edition of our monthly contest saw Quetzal1964 win for the second month in a row, scoring 68 points from 39 articles about a variety of marine fishes. In second place for the month is Olmagon, who scored 45 points from 10 articles on extinct crustaceans and geckoes. In the overall standings, Quetzal1964 leapfrogged over simongraham into first place, with 176 points from 109 articles; simongraham is now in second place with 136 points from 37 articles. The December edition of the contest is now open: feel free to drop by and participate if you work on any TOL-related articles this month.

New newsletter!

Now, this newsletter is technically not new, but I have only recently become aware of its existence and am only a month late, so it still counts. Wikiproject Fungi's Lichen task force has a new newsletter that is very nicely formatted and also features much better writing than this newsletter. Anyone interested in receiving the newsletter can add their name here.

November DYKs

A bacterium that thrives in the deep ocean Georges Cuvier's reconstruction of Anoplotherium commune Paroedura maingoka Field of Wyethia amplexicaulis in bloom An adult dwarf pufferfish Adult Balkan terrapin Planocarina marginata, a hyalospheniid amoeba ... that a variety of the Connecticut field pumpkin is known as "the original commercial jack-o'-lantern pumpkin"? (November 1) ... that insects not only destroyed the personal plant collection of John Hunter Thomas, but also bear his name? (November 3) ... that life exists in every part of the biosphere, from the deepest parts of the ocean (bacterium pictured) to altitudes of up to 64 km (40 miles) in the atmosphere? (November 6) ... that Sivapardus was larger than a leopard, smaller than a lion, and had a face like a cheetah? (November 7) ... that Lillian V. Holdeman Moore identified a spike in hydrogen-gas-producing bacteria in Skylab astronauts? (November 8) ... that euglossine bees distribute the seeds of vanilla tlatepusco? (November 11) ... that in 1822, the Paleogene mammal Anop­lo­therium commune (reconstruction pictured) was the first fossil species to be subjected to a brain cast study? (November 12) ... that the island bronze-naped pigeon is a popular food at bars and parties on São Tomé? (November 12) ... that little pink elephants are parasitic? (November 12) ... that the gecko Paroedura maingoka (pictured) imitates venomous scorpions to discourage predators? (November 13) ... that the scenic fields of northern wyethia (pictured) found in the western United States are sometimes a sign that an area has been overgrazed? (November 15) ... that a 1950s album of frog calls developed a cult following? (November 15) ... that at a maximum standard length of roughly 2 cm (0.8 in), dwarf pufferfish are some of the smallest pufferfish in the world? (November 18) ... that the authors of The Neanderthals Rediscovered learned that their book proposal had been accepted on the same day they took their twin sons home from hospital? (November 20) ... that hatchling Balkan terrapins are only 3 to 4 centimetres (1.2 to 1.6 in) in length, while adults (example pictured) can grow as long as 25 cm (9.8 in)? (November 21) ... that organisms could harvest kinetic energy to survive? (November 22) ... that pollution in rivers scatters far-red light, making it harder for plants like Noveloa to germinate? (November 23) ... that many hyalospheniid amoebae (example pictured) construct shells by stealing mineralized particles from the shells of their prey? (November 28) ... that an ancient wildcat species is known only from a part of the jaw of a single animal discovered in Poland? (November 29)

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) 17:45, 1 December 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

The source for Zonites festae spells it as Zonites festai. Is this a mistake or not? 115.188.140.167 (talk) 08:00, 4 December 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Thank you for noticing this. I've made the necessary changes and deleted Zonites festae. JoJan (talk) 08:55, 4 December 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

News and updates for administrators from the past month (November 2023).

Administrator changes

• Ganesha811
• JPxG

• Ajpolino
• Lourdes
• Mairi
• RockMFR
• Somno
• WilyD

Beeblebrox → Just Step Sideways

CheckUser changes

• Beeblebrox
• Opabinia regalis

Oversight changes

• Beeblebrox
• Opabinia regalis

Guideline and policy news

• Following a talk page discussion, the Administrators' accountability policy has been updated to note that while it is considered best practice for administrators to have notifications (pings) enabled, this is not mandatory. Administrators who do not use notifications are now strongly encouraged to indicate this on their user page.

Arbitration

• Following a motion, the Extended Confirmed Restriction has been amended, removing the allowance for non-extended-confirmed editors to post constructive comments on the "Talk:" namespace. Now, non-extended-confirmed editors may use the "Talk:" namespace solely to make edit requests related to articles within the topic area, provided that their actions are not disruptive.
• The Arbitration Committee has announced a call for Checkusers and Oversighters, stating that it will currently be accepting applications for CheckUser and/or Oversight permissions at any point in the year.
• Eligible users are invited to vote on candidates for the Arbitration Committee until 23:59 December 11, 2023 (UTC). Candidate statements can be seen here.

New Page Patrol | January 2024 Articles Backlog Drive
On 1 January 2024, 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. Each review will earn 1 point. 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.

MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 02:10, 20 December 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Shortcut

• WP:TOLN

December 2023—Issue 025

Tree of Life

Welcome to the Tree of Life newsletter!

Newly recognized content

Snowy plover by Jens Lallensack Teloschistaceae by Esculenta List of birds of Bouvet Island by AryKun List of sunbirds by AryKun Slime mold by Chiswick Chap, reviewed by Esculenta Handicap principle by Chiswick Chap, reviewed by Etriusus Insect by Chiswick Chap, reviewed by Iztwoz Wheat by Chiswick Chap, reviewed by KoA Eucalyptus gomphocephala by Hughesdarren, reviewed by Grungaloo Buellia frigida by Esculenta, reviewed by J Milburn Nyctibatrachus robinmoorei by AryKun, reviewed by Grungaloo Nyctibatrachus mewasinghi by AryKun, reviewed by Grungaloo Nyctibatrachus sabarimalai by AryKun, reviewed by Grungaloo Great cuckoo-dove by AryKun, reviewed by Jens Lallensack Lake Patzcuaro salamander by Etriusus, reviewed by Grungaloo Anoplotherium by PrimalMustelid, reviewed by 20 upper

Newly nominated content

Alpine ibex by LittleJerry Pseudastacus by Olmagon Pachysentis by Mattximus List of primates by PresN Banded palm civet by Cremastra Perothops by Memer15151 Hypericum hircinum by Fritzmann2002 Boquila by Etriusus and Veridicae Aptostichus barackobamai by Etriusus Buffy-tufted marmoset by André Ribeiro Cardoso Ant mimicry by Chiswick Chap Mosquito by Chiswick Chap Anopheles by Chiswick Chap Rice by Chiswick Chap Pliosaurus andrewsi by Amirani1746 Triassosculda by Abdullah raji Flaco (owl) by Rhododendrites Crassispira incrassata by Etriusus Sei whale by 20 upper

Contest results

And so ends the fourth edition of the monthly rolling contest, as well as the 2023 Tree of Life Contest as a whole. This month saw simongraham win with a very impressive 120 points from 27 articles. Quetzal1964 was second with 74 points from 37 articles. The annual contest was a close race between simongraham and Quetzal1964; simongraham won first place with 256 points from 64 articles, and Quetzal1964 was second with 250 points from 146 articles. Snoteleks was third with 79 points from 33 articles. Congratulations to everyone who won this year and my gratitude to everyone else who helped raise the quality of articles in our little corner of Wikipedia this year. Additionally, a very Happy New Year to everyone in the project and here's looking forward to continuing our good work in 2024!

December DYKs

Snowy plover with chicks Bofedales in the foreground Adult female Varroa mite Dennstaedtia christophelii fossil frond ... that a "bat ensnared by a plant" was discovered in the garden of the Palestine Museum of Natural History? (December 2) ... that female snowy plovers often abandon their families as soon as the chicks hatch? (December 4) ... that Lepas testudinata can form colonies of more than 1000 members at a time? (December 5) ... that the gecko Teratoscincus roborowskii eats caper fruits and disperses the plant's seeds in its feces? (December 5) ... that Henk Zwartepoorte quacked at caimans? (December 5) ... that the green colour of bofedales (examples pictured) stands out in the yellow surrounding landscape? (December 6) ... that Desulfovibrio vulgaris can remove toxic heavy metals from the environment? (December 8) ... that Varroa destructor (example pictured), the Varroa mite, is an external parasitic mite that attacks and feeds on honey bees and is one of the most harmful honey-bee pests in the world? (December 11) ... that young orange-billed lorikeets are actually yellow-billed? (December 16) ... that stinking tutsan smells like goat? (December 20) ... that orange paintbrushes are guarded by rufous hummingbirds? (December 21) ... that the Antarctic lichen Buellia frigida has been to outer space? (December 22) ... that the closest modern fern relatives to Dennstaedtia christophelii (fossil pictured) of the Pacific Northwest are tropical species from South America? (December 24) ... that in Icelandic folklore, the Yule cat eats people who do not receive new clothing for Christmas? (December 25) ... that the Lake Patzcuaro salamander's native habitat is limited to a single lake in Mexico? (December 28) ... that plant species like Hypericum bupleuroides can reproduce by a callus? (December 29)

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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 10:57, 1 January 2024 (UTC)Reply[reply]

News and updates for administrators from the past month (December 2023).

Administrator changes

Clovermoss

Dennis Brown

• Julia W
• Marasmusine
• PBS

CheckUser changes

• Aoidh
• HJ Mitchell
• Sdrqaz
• Spicy
• ToBeFree
• Vanamonde93
• Z1720

Maxim

• Enterprisey
• Izno
• SilkTork

Oversighter changes

• Aoidh
• Firefly
• Sdrqaz
• ToBeFree
• Z1720

Maxim

• Enterprisey
• Izno
• SilkTork

Arbitration

• Following the 2023 Arbitration Committee elections, the following editors have been appointed to the Arbitration Committee: Aoidh, Cabayi, Firefly, HJ Mitchell, Maxim, Sdrqaz, ToBeFree, Z1720.
• Following a motion, the Arbitration Committee rescinded the restrictions on the page name move discussions for the two Ireland pages that were enacted in June 2009.
• The arbitration case Industrial agriculture has been closed.

Miscellaneous

• The New Pages Patrol backlog drive is happening in January 2024 to reduce the backlog of articles in the new pages feed. Currently, there is a backlog of over 13,000 unreviewed articles awaiting review. Sign up here to participate!

The Wikipedia Library: Books & Bytes
Issue 60, November – December 2023

• Three new partners
• Google Scholar integration
• How to track partner suggestions

Read the full newsletter

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery on behalf of The Wikipedia Library team --13:36, 24 January 2024 (UTC)Reply[reply]