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Archive 5Archive 6Archive 7Archive 8Archive 9Archive 10

Answering help requests

Hi Firefly. On User talk:Ixionrex, you "deactivated" the help template because no question was asked. A couple of things. Firstly, when a question is not asked, you should use {{help me-nq}}, which indicates a message saying there wasn't a question. You used the help template which indicates that there was a question and it was answered. Secondly, they did ask a question, just did the unusual thing of putting it in the section title. Naleksuh (talk) 18:26, 28 March 2022 (UTC)

@Naleksuh woops, missed the question in the section header. Thanks for noticing and answering. firefly ( t · c ) 18:31, 28 March 2022 (UTC)

Template:Word count by section?

Are you planning to continue work on {{Word count by section}} and the associated module? There is a group of us trying to tidy up untranscluded template pages, and this one popped up on a recent report. – Jonesey95 (talk) 16:14, 29 March 2022 (UTC)

@Jonesey95 Yep - hoping to give it a trial run at the next ArbCom case. :) firefly ( t · c ) 16:40, 29 March 2022 (UTC)

IP making threats

Heya! You may want to reconsider the block length on IP 75.174.102.250 (talk · contribs · WHOIS) given that they've recently made legal threats on their talk page and vaguely hinted at purchasing accounts. Clearly NOTHERE in my opinion. See diffs: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] Bsoyka (talk) 01:47, 31 March 2022 (UTC)

Also, maybe block evasion or something along those lines? Looking at their apparent knowledge of CheckUsers. Bsoyka (talk) 01:54, 31 March 2022 (UTC)
@Bsoyka ehhhh I somehow doubt this is anything more than a bored kid given the horrible English. If the disruption resumes after the 72h block expires however I'll happily give them a longer time-out. firefly ( t · c ) 06:59, 31 March 2022 (UTC)

A barnstar for you!

The Admin's Barnstar
About time you get one of these. Keep on doing what you do best Volten001 ☎ 14:28, 31 March 2022 (UTC)
Volten001 Thanks! :) firefly ( t · c ) 17:48, 31 March 2022 (UTC)

Blocked IP editor hopped to new IP

Sorry to bother you. It appears that 85.238.102.237 has hopped to a new IP address. – Jonesey95 (talk) 16:30, 1 April 2022 (UTC)

Oops, never mind, you blocked them already. Thanks. – Jonesey95 (talk) 16:31, 1 April 2022 (UTC)
@Jonesey95 no worries! firefly ( t · c ) 16:39, 1 April 2022 (UTC)
Now at 46.211.9.157. – Jonesey95 (talk) 17:00, 1 April 2022 (UTC)
@Jonesey95 Yup just saw and whacked. This is ‘fun’ … firefly ( t · c ) 17:01, 1 April 2022 (UTC)
This incompetent editor appears to be quite competent at regex searching, IP-hopping, and fast editing, but not at editing well or following basic WP policies. I'm glad I'm not an admin! – Jonesey95 (talk) 17:03, 1 April 2022 (UTC)
@Jonesey95 heh. Indeed - going on an IP hopping spree isn’t a good look if you’re hoping to contribute constructively! firefly ( t · c ) 17:07, 1 April 2022 (UTC)
Thanks also to Widr for blocking some of these hopping addresses. – Jonesey95 (talk) 17:46, 1 April 2022 (UTC)

Invidious is still under the radar

You're correct that in Wikipedia terms, https://github.com/iv-org/invidious is currently still under the radar. In terms of users' security and privacy, Invidious front ends are obviously much safer than using Youtube directly, but that's a different issue from the actual building of consensus on Wikipedia on specific methods of reducing Wikipedia readers' and editors' risks from GAFAM, which could take some time. There's a nice recommendation there for https://github.com/SimonBrazell/privacy-redirect#get . Boud (talk) 17:57, 3 April 2022 (UTC)

@Boud I don't disagree with the principle, but using "front" URLs, particularly ones that look similar to the 'real' URL, is in my opinion a bad idea given such "looky-likey" links are commonly used for phishing. I'd also agree that their use would require some sort of consensus. firefly ( t · c ) 18:09, 3 April 2022 (UTC)
Good point about phishing: I agree that a "looky-likey" link risks encouraging user mis-education, even if in reality it's a safer link. Boud (talk) 18:25, 3 April 2022 (UTC)

Your edits to my user talk page

In the future, I would appreciate if you did not make edits such as the one you made to my user talk page, which I cannot diff for reasons I'm sure you remember. It was an especially annoying act considering you were reverting my edit where I asked another administrator not to do that very thing. The next time a situation arises where you think a TP discussion includes a link that is so unsavory that it is within the realm of revdel, I encourage you to consider removing and revdeleting only the content you've deemed inappropriate, which is fully within the guidelines for handling inappropriate content in user space. Seriously, two thumbs down for that. Thanks. --Equivamp - talk 23:50, 4 April 2022 (UTC)

@Equivamp Apologies for the wholesale removal - the message was left by an account that is likely to be an LTA sock, and it has become standard practice to simply revert and revision-delete offensive material posted by / linked to by LTAs given some of it (including this case) contains doxxing and other potentially illegal material. However, you're right that the link is the only objectionable part of the message. I have restored the message with the link removed. firefly ( t · c ) 07:00, 5 April 2022 (UTC)

2A02:2F0A:C212:A100:6D81:473E:F321:6B05

PLEASE do not leave 2a02:2f0a:c212:a100::/64 (block range · block log (global) · WHOIS (partial)) blocked for just 31 hours; this is an LTA (WP:LTA/WKHF) who is known to simply wait out blocks. Thanks! wizzito | say hello! 22:16, 5 April 2022 (UTC)

Some instances of them waiting out blocks include:

wizzito | say hello! 22:22, 5 April 2022 (UTC)

I also wouldn't mind having the 2A02:2F0A:C000:0:0:0:0:0/36 (block range · block log (global) · WHOIS (partial)) range they are mainly using lately blocked; a lot of edits from it are from the LTA, with minimal collateral at a first glance. wizzito | say hello! 22:36, 5 April 2022 (UTC)
@Wizzito Ohnoitsjamie beat me to it - they've blocked the /37 for 6 months :) firefly ( t · c ) 09:52, 6 April 2022 (UTC)
now active @ 5.12.0.0/17 (block range · block log (global) · WHOIS (partial)); latest IP sent to AIV [Wizzito's IP suppressed] 04:02, 7 April 2022 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – April 2022

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

Guideline and policy news

Technical news

  • Access to Special:RevisionDelete has been expanded to include users who have the deletelogentry and deletedhistory rights. This means that those in the Researcher user group and Checkusers who are not administrators can now access Special:RevisionDelete. The users able to view the special page after this change are the 3 users in the Researcher group, as there are currently no checkusers who are not already administrators. (T301928)
  • When viewing deleted revisions or diffs on Special:Undelete a back link to the undelete page for the associated page is now present. (T284114)

Arbitration

Miscellaneous

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 18:13, 7 April 2022 (UTC)

Congrats!

This is one of those "You weren't already an admin" congratulations. Also, it looks like you've set the record for unanimity at Wikipedia... I'm not sure I've ever seen 200+ people completely agree on anything much less an RFA. The corp is much strengthened for your addition to it. Look forward to serving along side of you. --Jayron32 18:17, 7 April 2022 (UTC)

@Jayron32 thank you! It’s still rather surreal to see that support count - not sure that’ll ever change! And likewise :) firefly ( t · c ) 19:01, 7 April 2022 (UTC)

User talk:Firefly

Hi, I'm Amangeldy Beksultan. I deleted your edits because this article doesn't need any extra information other than the size of the snake. In addition, you put the Indian cobra in the photo, indicating that it is the largest elapid. In fact, this position is occupied by the King Cobra. Амангелді Бексұлтан (talk) 07:18, 10 April 2022 (UTC)

Hello Амангелді Бексұлтан, I have restored the editing of because blind users also use Wikipedia, who have the article read to them. Please leave the text. Regards --Serols (talk) 07:33, 10 April 2022 (UTC)

IP is back

Seems like the disruptive IP at Devi-Bhagavata Purana is back, diff 1, diff 2. WikiLinuz {talk} 🍁 05:16, 11 April 2022 (UTC)

I think it's best to protect the page, isn't it? Not sure about the IPv4 range that they're operating from. WikiLinuz {talk} 🍁 05:17, 11 April 2022 (UTC)
Ok, the IP is blocked by another admin after they radically vandalized Wikipedia. WikiLinuz {talk} 🍁 05:56, 11 April 2022 (UTC)

Thank you.

Thanks for sticking up for me and stopping that ignorant hostile user attacking me. Just to let you know, I have a huge sneaking suspicion that the user who is attacking me is another sock puppet of User:ZestyLemonz. I’m highly suspicious of it by the hostility and the edit history. Zesty creats accounts to target users too. I did alert 2 other admins, but I thought you should probably learn my suspicions too. Thanks again! WikiFlame50 (talk) 20:33, 14 April 2022 (UTC)

@WikiFlame50 already blocked ‘em :) firefly ( t · c ) 20:34, 14 April 2022 (UTC)

Just saw. And I knew it was him! WikiFlame50 (talk) 20:34, 14 April 2022 (UTC)

Thanks for the help buddy WikiFlame50 (talk) 20:34, 14 April 2022 (UTC)

@WikiFlame50 no probs! firefly ( t · c ) 20:36, 14 April 2022 (UTC)

Will this be filed as a sock block for the user? WikiFlame50 (talk) 20:37, 14 April 2022 (UTC)

@WikiFlame50 not sure there’s much point filing it to be honest. It just gives them the notoriety they crave. firefly ( t · c ) 20:53, 14 April 2022 (UTC)

Fair enough WikiFlame50 (talk) 20:55, 14 April 2022 (UTC)

New administrator activity requirement

The administrator policy has been updated with new activity requirements following a successful Request for Comment.

Beginning January 1, 2023, administrators who meet one or both of the following criteria may be desysopped for inactivity if they have:

  1. Made neither edits nor administrative actions for at least a 12-month period OR
  2. Made fewer than 100 edits over a 60-month period

Administrators at risk for being desysopped under these criteria will continue to be notified ahead of time. Thank you for your continued work.

22:52, 15 April 2022 (UTC)

Recent sock block

I see that you recently blocked a sockpuppet. It might be worth mentioning that they are in an open SPI case, but I filed it under a different sockmaster at Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Mazum24. TornadoLGS (talk) 16:50, 15 April 2022 (UTC)

@TornadoLGS thanks - commented. firefly ( t · c ) 10:29, 16 April 2022 (UTC)

Contest the speedy deletion of "Long Face Jack Manifold" as the button to contest does not show

The article does not violate G3 or G10 for the following reasons:

  1. Not vandalism, a hoax, or misinformation
  2. Does not disparage, threaten, intimidate, or harass Jack Manifold, his supporters, or those close to him
  3. It does not attack any of the aforementioned groups
  4. The article is not unsourced, as claimed in the deletion, as the oldest source of the image online was provided

Tealyt (talk) 23:13, 19 April 2022 (UTC)

@Tealyt I deleted the article under G3 & G10, as the content was wholly concerned with some image being used to mock somebody. I could find no evidence that the topic was even mentioned anywhere online, let alone in a fashion that would lend notability to the concept, and therefore came to the conclusion that the article was someone's attempt at some meme-vandalism. I could be convinced that G10 didn't in fact apply, but maintain that G3 did, and therefore the deletion remains valid. firefly ( t · c ) 12:16, 20 April 2022 (UTC)
It was not meant to mock someone as the image was taken and posted by someone that personally knows him. Tealyt (talk) 15:24, 20 April 2022 (UTC)
@Tealyt if you feel the deletion was invalid, feel free to contest it at WP:DRV. firefly ( t · c ) 15:36, 20 April 2022 (UTC)

Deletion review for Long Face Jack Manifold

An editor has asked for a deletion review of Long Face Jack Manifold. Because you speedily deleted the page, you might want to participate in the deletion review. Tealyt (talk) 02:07, 21 April 2022 (UTC)

National Labor Party (Mongolia)

NLP of Mongolia recently changed their ideology to Centre-Right. Why are you deleting the edit? Please research before asking like you know anything. 64.119.22.161 (talk) 16:12, 1 May 2022 (UTC)

A barnstar for you!

The Defender of the Wiki Barnstar
For your comment in this diff. — Ixtal ( T / C ) ⁂ Join WP:FINANCE! 16:58, 2 May 2022 (UTC)

Semi-protection

Dear Firefly, would you like to semi-protection my user page. See, I don't like the filter logs. Greetings from, Drummingman Talk 21:08, 5 May 2022 (UTC)

Done! firefly ( t · c ) 21:42, 6 May 2022 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – May 2022

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

Guideline and policy news

Technical news

Arbitration

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 23:33, 9 May 2022 (UTC)

Revoking TPA

I think you might need to revoke TPA at User talk:Eatdatcock445. TornadoLGS (talk) 15:24, 12 May 2022 (UTC)

@TornadoLGS Jamie beat me to it - thanks though :) firefly ( t · c ) 15:43, 12 May 2022 (UTC)

Restoration of Page on Kamla Nath Sharma

Dear FireflyBot, The article on Kamla Nath Sharma has been drastically pruned by me from about 17000 bytes to about 10500 bytes, retaining only the essential parts containing what has been done or written by the named person who is an engineer, Hindi language writer and researcher of Indian Vedic literature demonstrated by published work in Encyclopaedia and journals. I request that the article may please be considered for re-posting/restoration on Wikipedia. Your valued opinion is requested.Aaditya.Bahuguna (talk) 05:09, 11 May 2022 (UTC)

@Aaditya.Bahuguna Hello - the bot only notifies users that articles are soon eligible for deletion. If it has been deleted, you'll need to ask the deleting administrator to restore it. Thanks! firefly ( t · c ) 07:05, 11 May 2022 (UTC)

Dear @Firefly, thanks for your response. The article was put as a 'draft' for further editing by me, so that it could be considered for restoration. It was in this connection. Regards.Aaditya.Bahuguna (talk) 05:41, 14 May 2022 (UTC)

.

Thanks for inform me. Please delete the page. খাঁটি বাঙালি (talk) 13:21, 18 May 2022 (UTC)

DRN Status

I think that your bot that updates the status table has been taking a nap for 36 hours. Robert McClenon (talk) 00:10, 17 May 2022 (UTC)

@Robert McClenon - thanks for the ping, I'll take a look in the next day or two. :) firefly ( t · c ) 11:25, 17 May 2022 (UTC)
I think it is working now. Thank you. Robert McClenon (talk) 15:31, 19 May 2022 (UTC)
@Robert McClenon Ah no probs, apologies I forgot to reply here :) firefly ( t · c ) 15:45, 19 May 2022 (UTC)

Query

Hello, Firefly,

I just stumbled upon your Firefly Tools on ToolForge. Very helpful. Any chance you could update the "Longest redirects on enwiki" page? That would be useful to see. Thanks! I hope you are well. Liz Read! Talk! 03:33, 31 May 2022 (UTC)

I think there might be a problem with "User pages of non-existent users on enwiki". I cleaned out the pages and when it updated, the pages listed are either already deleted or are pages for existing users. Liz Read! Talk! 04:28, 31 May 2022 (UTC)
@Liz Hello! That query has always been a little buggy unfortunately - some (most?) of that is due to replication delay between the live databases and the toolforge replicas, and some... is just random weirdness! :) Now someone other than me is using them - and I was really only using them for curiosity - I can see if there's any improvements to be made. firefly ( t · c ) 07:13, 31 May 2022 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – June 2022

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

Guideline and policy news

Technical news

  • Administrators using the mobile web interface can now access Special:Block directly from user pages. (T307341)
  • The IP Info feature has been deployed to all wikis as a Beta Feature. Any autoconfirmed user may enable the feature using the "IP info" checkbox under Preferences → Beta features. Autoconfirmed users will be able to access basic information about an IP address that includes the country and connection method. Those with advanced privileges (admin, bureaucrat, checkuser) will have access to extra information that includes the Internet Service Provider and more specific location.

Arbitration

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 17:55, 2 June 2022 (UTC)

FireflyBot

Your bot appears to have stopped between 1100 GMT, 2 June, and 1200 GMT, 2 June. I noticed because it hasn't updated the DRN status table, but then I checked that it stopped notifying users about expiring drafts. It may have gone into a coughing fit on encountering something it didn't expect. Please take a look at it, or a look for it. Robert McClenon (talk) 20:50, 3 June 2022 (UTC)

Please restart the tool

Outstanding linter errors on dewiki As of 2022-06-02 11:15:25 it does not actualise since yesterday. --Lómelinde (talk) 04:50, 3 June 2022 (UTC)

@Lómelinde acknowledged - will try to take a look today :) firefly ( t · c ) 10:55, 3 June 2022 (UTC)
It's still down; we hope you can find the time to restart it. It is a very useful tool. Thanks. – Jonesey95 (talk) 16:09, 6 June 2022 (UTC)
On 2. june there might have been an update in the software, that stopped some bots, in the german Wikipeda some are still not working too. --Lómelinde (talk) 04:36, 7 June 2022 (UTC)

Bot jobs and tools fixed

Just making a general post here rather than replying to each message individually - thanks for the pings, everything is back up now (FireflyBot's G13 nudges/DRN clerking etc, and the Linter Counts tool).

Pinging Robert McClenon, Lómelinde, Jonesey95, Liz - hopefully that's everyone :) firefly ( t · c ) 10:33, 8 June 2022 (UTC)

Thanks a lot everything is fine again. --Lómelinde (talk) 10:35, 8 June 2022 (UTC)
Thank you. Robert McClenon (talk) 19:11, 8 June 2022 (UTC)
https://fireflytools.toolforge.org/linter/enwiki appears to be updating the time stamp, but not the counts. This has been happening for at least a few hours. – Jonesey95 (talk) 00:02, 10 June 2022 (UTC)
Hmmmmmm strange, let's take a look... firefly ( t · c ) 07:07, 10 June 2022 (UTC)
It looks like this is a replag problem. – Jonesey95 (talk) 14:45, 10 June 2022 (UTC)
Ah yes that'd explain it :) firefly ( t · c ) 15:01, 10 June 2022 (UTC)

Block request

Hi Firefly, Could you please pblock Asartea (test)? Doesn't matter from what, just that its a pblock (trying to confirm whether something is fixed in the app) -- Asartea Talk | Contribs 14:59, 13 June 2022 (UTC)

@Asartea done! firefly ( t · c ) 15:07, 13 June 2022 (UTC)

Involved Parties?

Hi, I noted that this page, the last page before it was closed off, has three "Involved parties", yet the case opened names four parties with the addition of 7+6. How did that come about? HighKing++ 17:08, 18 June 2022 (UTC)

@HighKing Hi! The Arbitrators asked for 7&6 to be added as a party to the case in their instructions to the clerks. firefly ( t · c ) 17:15, 18 June 2022 (UTC)
OK, wasn't clear how it happened, did they say that in a public forum somewhere? Oh and thanks. HighKing++ 17:26, 18 June 2022 (UTC)
@HighKing - no, it was on the clerks mailing list, which is used for co-ordinating case management (e.g. opening and closing cases) with the clerks. No problem! If you have any questions for the Arbs about the decision, I'd ask on the main case talk page. firefly ( t · c ) 18:45, 18 June 2022 (UTC)

Self-refs

I have reversed your self-ref removal. You are free to dislike them, but self-refs on dabs are not necessarily shunned upon. Thank you. --NotReallySoroka (talk) 00:30, 17 June 2022 (UTC)

I have also restored it at Bureaucrat (not a dab page). Thanks again. NotReallySoroka (talk) 03:31, 20 June 2022 (UTC)

June 2022

Hi, Theoder2055 here. I am taking a break from editing so I may not edit the page Draft:Avan Ivan (Soundtrack). If you want you can nominate it for deletion. I think so soundtrack article is not necessary for this page Draft:Avan Ivan (Soundtrack) as everything is mentioned in the film’s page Avan Ivan#Soundtrack. I feel it’s better to go for deletion. Theoder2055 (talk) 10:52, 25 June 2022 (UTC)

@Theoder2055 If you want, you can tag it for deletion under CSD G7, or just leave it be and it'll be deleted under G13 in time. Thanks! firefly ( t · c ) 11:38, 25 June 2022 (UTC)

Firefly promoted to full clerk

The Arbitration Committee is pleased to announce that Firefly (talk · contribs) has been appointed a full clerk, effective immediately, concluding his successful traineeship.

The arbitration clerk team is often in need of new members, and any editor who meets the expectations for appointment and would like to join the clerk team is welcome to apply by e-mail to clerks-l@lists.wikimedia.org.

For the Arbitration Committee, KevinL (aka L235 · t · c) 16:42, 25 June 2022 (UTC)

Discuss this at: Wikipedia talk:Arbitration Committee/Noticeboard § Firefly promoted to full clerk

Solving an issue

You recently asked that is it my second account, so yes it is. And I am not hiding it like sock puppetry!

I read policy of sock puppetry on Wikipedia and carefully following it.

I will give you every info. Just ask me.😊😊 LängeBreitoben (talk) 18:20, 26 June 2022 (UTC)

I have looked a little closer at your contributions, LängeBreitoben, and am rather troubled by what I see. You appear to have made a series of inconsequential edits in order to reach autoconfirmed status - my suspicions here are strengthened by the fact that immediately after you did this you requested manual confirmation. As soon as you were confirmed you moved a draft created by what appears to be a single-purpose account (GroßartigGehirn) to mainspace. Is GroßartigGehirn your other account? Are you being paid for any contributions to Wikipedia, or directed to edit by an employer? firefly ( t · c ) 18:22, 26 June 2022 (UTC)

Yes both accounts are mine. As I said I read policy of sock puppetry.

Did I do something wrong to reach autoconfirmed rights? I don't think it harmed anyone on Wikipedia. And you are targeting me instead of someone else.

If you disagree with me, well, you are admin, just block me immediately for indefinitely. LängeBreitoben (talk) 18:27, 26 June 2022 (UTC)

Hello User:LängeBreitoben. I don't see any valid reason for you to be operating two accounts. I suggest you abandon one of the two accounts, and allow admins to block it. EdJohnston (talk) 18:55, 26 June 2022 (UTC)
Sure. Why not.
How can I delete my one account? Any process for it? Send me link please. LängeBreitoben (talk) 19:00, 26 June 2022 (UTC)
Deleting accounts is not done here on Wikipedia, but if you allow the account to be blocked it will have a similar effect. If you agree to such a block, let me know and I will do it. I will mark it as a 'user requested block'. EdJohnston (talk) 19:05, 26 June 2022 (UTC)
Block this account: GroßartigGehirn LängeBreitoben (talk) 19:17, 26 June 2022 (UTC)
Done. Thank you. EdJohnston (talk) 19:31, 26 June 2022 (UTC)

So...

How precisely does this action of yours benefit the encyclopedia? Let me express my concern another way: how does that action not enable, and perhaps tacitly approve, the highly disruptive behaviors of a problematic editor? JoJo Anthrax (talk) 15:13, 27 June 2022 (UTC)

@JoJo Anthrax - the decision to decline (or accept) a request for Arbitration rests solely with the Arbitration Committee. Clerks such as myself only handle the "paperwork". The case had met the threshold for being declined and removed, and such action had been authorised by the Arbitrators. If you disagree with their decision or have questions for them I would suggest posting at WT:AC. Thanks, firefly ( t · c ) 15:18, 27 June 2022 (UTC)
To add, the declining of the case does not preclude other actions being taken elsewhere if uninvolved administrators or the community feel they are warranted. firefly ( t · c ) 15:22, 27 June 2022 (UTC)
@JoJo Anthrax, Firefly doesn't really get a say in what happens to the cases - that falls on the committee, including myself. It's important that the case requests remain as the "final" step in dispute resolution, so that there is a final step in dispute resolution. We have place for the buck to stop. That doesn't mean that behaviour is approved of - but that it should be handled elsewhere. I did see that you were advocating for an indefinite block and it may be that something like that happens - but only once someone who is uninvolved in the case sees the threshold for it being met. We're the last port of call, and just because it was brought before us early doesn't mean that we stop being that last port of call. WormTT(talk) 15:23, 27 June 2022 (UTC)
Thank you, both Firefly and Worm That Turned, for your responses. I do understand your positions. Yet, at the risk of repeating myself, I trust you can understand why an uninvolved editor like me would interpret the closure of the case request as a robotic action that enables continued, needless disruption, with much of that disruption taking the form of egregious personal attacks against long-term, valuable editors. In addition to that action, and although it might be technically unrelated, that no administrator took any meaningful action to prevent this obvious disruption from continuing leaves me disappointed and, frankly, worried. That said, please accept my appreciation for your good-faith efforts on behalf of the encyclopedia. JoJo Anthrax (talk) 16:04, 27 June 2022 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – July 2022

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

Technical news

  • user_global_editcount is a new variable that can be used in abuse filters to avoid affecting globally active users. (T130439)

Arbitration

Miscellaneous

  • The New Pages Patrol queue has around 10,000 articles to be reviewed. As all administrators have the patrol right, please consider helping out. The queue is here. For further information on the state of the project, see the latest NPP newsletter.
Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 13:28, 10 July 2022 (UTC)

Deletion of Long Face Jack Manifold

FireflyBot draft notifications request

Hi. I'd like to bump the request at /Archive 7#Extension of FireflyBot notification to also post to draft talk pages please. Are you still available for this? --Paul_012 (talk) 12:37, 11 July 2022 (UTC)

@Paul 012 ah, thanks for the reminder. I'll try to look at it soon - I can't promise when that'll be, but I can say that it's on my to-do list :) firefly ( t · c ) 18:04, 30 July 2022 (UTC)

A barnstar for you!

The Anti-Vandalism Barnstar
Nice work! Andrevan@ 18:02, 30 July 2022 (UTC)
@Andrevan: - thanks! Always happy to help clean up. firefly ( t · c ) 18:04, 30 July 2022 (UTC)

Firefly bot proposal: add sign-up capability

Hi, Firefly. I appreciate the bot's messages about draft articles nearing deletion. I'd like to propose a functionality upgrade, which would basically allow a user to "sign up" to being notified when a Draft is nearing deletion. There are certain drafts that were created by someone else, but I may have contributed to the most content in Draft, or I'm otherwise just interested in seeing the article expanded and released to mainspace. However currently, I won't get notified about an impending deletion. I'll leave it to you to decide how best to manage it, but I'll make one suggestion, in case nothing comes to mind.

Suppose we defined an optional sign-up sheet for receiving notifications about impending deletion, and this sign-up sheet would exist at subpage Draft talk:ArticleName/Firefly_signup_sheet, and contain WP:4TILDES signatures, one per line (maybe bulleted). Any user could create this signup subpage, and add their signature to it, as described at some /doc page that you would create. Now suppose the bot, once it discovered that Draft:FOO was within the 30-day limit, would check for the existence of Draft talk:Foo/Firefly_signup_sheet, and if it found it, would read in a list of user names from that page, and then send a notification about Draft:FOO to everyone on the list, plus the creator by default, as it does now. (Extra credit: have the bot *create* the Sign_up_sheet when first noticing a Draft is present, and copy the creator's name there as first on the list. This would give the creator editor the new option to avoid being notified about the Draft they created, by simply remove their name from the list, if for some reason they didn't wanted to be notified.)

If you want to see about possibly reusing some "signup sheet" code, Yapperbot does something somewhat similar to this; see Wikipedia:Feedback request service. The main difference is that Yapperbot has a single, global signup, and by the above design, you'd potentially have one subpage per Draft, although I suspect that the actual number would be a lot less. But, you would have one sign-up right away (me; for a Draft I didn't create). Also, I'm happy to help out by lending my Talk page to be a test bed for the effort, and I'll "sign up" for a few Drafts (of your choice, or mine) so you can test changes if you want. Thanks, Mathglot (talk) 06:56, 1 August 2022 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – August 2022

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

Administrator changes

readded Valereee
removed Anthony Appleyard (deceased) • Capitalistroadster • Samsara

Guideline and policy news

  • An RfC has been closed with consensus to add javascript that will show edit notices for editors editing via a mobile device. This only works for users using a mobile browser, so iOS app editors will still not be able to see edit notices.
  • An RfC has been closed with the consensus that train stations are not inherently notable.

Technical news

  • The Wikimania 2022 Hackathon will take place virtually from 11 August to 14 August.
  • Administrators will now see links on user pages for "Change block" and "Unblock user" instead of just "Block user" if the user is already blocked. (T308570)

Arbitration

  • The arbitration case request Geschichte has been automatically closed after a 3 month suspension of the case.

Miscellaneous

  • You can vote for candidates in the 2022 Board of Trustees elections from 16 August to 30 August. Two community elected seats are up for election.
  • Wikimania 2022 is taking place virtually from 11 August to 14 August. The schedule for wikimania is listed here. There are also a number of in-person events associated with Wikimania around the world.
  • Tech tip: When revision-deleting on desktop, hold ⇧ Shift between clicking two checkboxes to select every box in that range.
Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 08:44, 5 August 2022 (UTC)

Deletion of contributions

Hi, thanks for blocking that guy. Would it be possible for you to delete my contributions from User talk:THREE GRAIN CORN RING since Twinkle included the defamatory page names in the edit summary? I'd rather not have them in my contributions. Thanks! Uhai (talk · contribs) 11:49, 6 August 2022 (UTC)

Done! When dealing with things like that it's best to uncheck the "notify creator" box as it leads to issues like these, and for obvious vandalism there's really no need to notify :) firefly ( t · c ) 11:50, 6 August 2022 (UTC)
Thanks! Yeah, force of habit, as I usually notify but obviously this was a different kind of situation. Uhai (talk · contribs) 11:53, 6 August 2022 (UTC)
No worries - I've done it myself plenty of times. firefly ( t · c ) 11:53, 6 August 2022 (UTC)

Wikipedia talk:Blocking policy

I was so busy staring at the ridiculous edit summaries that I forgot to look at the actual changes. Thanks for deleting the rest.--Bbb23 (talk) 21:20, 6 August 2022 (UTC)

@Bbb23 no worries! That was certainly some of the more bizarre spam I’ve seen onwiki. firefly ( t · c ) 09:04, 7 August 2022 (UTC)

Saadgoldboyofficial

Hi, I've been keeping an eye on this user, and now see that you've blocked them. There's another account, Sadmohd999, which I suspect is the same IRL user, as suggested by their first edit. I don't think this is quite socking, as they don't seem to have used the extra account for anything dodgy, but I'm just mentioning this in case you think Sadmohd999 is also worth blocking. Best, -- DoubleGrazing (talk) 12:49, 6 August 2022 (UTC)

@DoubleGrazing thanks! I’ll keep an eye on them. firefly ( t · c ) 09:05, 7 August 2022 (UTC)

firefly report not updating

Mind taking a look at the firefly report? It hasn't been updated since over 3d ago. Sheep (talk) 01:21, 15 August 2022 (UTC)

@Sheep8144402 thanks for the report - a job got stuck in a failed state which prevented any others from starting. I've cleared it out and the next run should get things moving again :) firefly ( t · c ) 16:23, 15 August 2022 (UTC)

Deletoin of The Blockchain-based Service Network (BSN)

Hello, I noticed the page was deleted because it appeared to be unambiguous advertising, and I'd like to retrieve and improve it. FranklinA47 (talk) 22:04, 11 August 2022 (UTC)

FranklinA47 I am reluctant to restore it even to draftspace as in addition to being written basically like an advert, it contained a fair amount of copyrighted material from elsewhere on the Internet, which Wikipedia cannot accept. I am also interested as to whether you have any connection with the subject or are being paid to create articles given that you have created other drafts relating to Red Date Technology, the company mentioned in this article. Can you enlighten me? firefly ( t · c ) 09:15, 12 August 2022 (UTC)
@Firefly I understand there are copyrighted materials in the articles, and I can rewrite or summarize them better, so that won't be an issue anymore. I don't have any connections to the article's subject and haven't been paid to write it. I have an interest in NFTs and the crypto and digital world as a whole. Red Date Technology is one of the four founding members of BSN, not the owners. Red date I emphasized that they are responsible for the technical architecture and development of BSN because they are, and this has been mentioned on numerous verifiable news sites; if this is what caused the advertising tag, After researching the Chinese ban, watching the Hong Kong summit, which is available on YouTube, and reading other news reports about the subject "BSN," I wrote this article. FranklinA47 (talk) 10:41, 12 August 2022 (UTC)
Hello@Firefly , I'd like to retrieve and improve the page deleted. FranklinA47 (talk) 17:25, 15 August 2022 (UTC)
@FranklinA47 I can't undelete the page as it contained copyrighted material, and as I said regardless it was written as an advert rather than an encyclopedia article. You're free to create a fresh draft on the same topic, but bear in mind that it needs to be written in a neutral tone and use reliable sources independent of the subject. firefly ( t · c ) 09:24, 16 August 2022 (UTC)
Okay, thank you. FranklinA47 (talk) 13:25, 16 August 2022 (UTC)

Draft:Utrecht (municipality)

Why did you delete my draft? It wasn't a "fork" as the original page was just a redirect. – Ilovemydoodle (talk) 09:50, 18 August 2022 (UTC)

Noting that I'm replying at Ilovemydoodle's talk as I left a message there about my actions. firefly ( t · c ) 09:55, 18 August 2022 (UTC)

RIP my first (?) wikipedia account

@AccountCreationBypass , only lasted for 35 minutes. 157.254.193.140 (talk) 14:00, 18 August 2022 (UTC)

Tylerbrizyy

Hello, Firefly,

You blocked David DXL for sockpuppetry but you didn't mention a sockmaster or refer to an SPI case so I couldn't check up on this. But since you seem to be familiar with this case, I thought I'd let you know that Marvel 19 popped up this month with a new article about Tylerbrizyy, this time under the title Tylerbrizyy (Singer), a page has bounced around from main space to Draft space and back. It's now tagged for another AFD discussion. Thanks! Liz Read! Talk! 04:43, 20 August 2022 (UTC)

Hi Liz, I blocked them as a sock of Tylerbrizyy (if you check the block log entry, I put a link to the master's contribs there - that tends to be the typical practice when blocking socks, linking to either the suspected master or the SPI case if there is one). Thanks for the heads-up, I'll take a look now :) firefly ( t · c ) 16:18, 20 August 2022 (UTC)

Revdel request

Would you mind RD2 zapping this revision; the LTAs vandalism wasn't removed by until the next edit, thanks. 74.73.224.126 (talk) 16:35, 20 August 2022 (UTC)

Done! Thank you - at least someone is awake today :) firefly ( t · c ) 16:37, 20 August 2022 (UTC)
Which LTA are you referring to, Firefly? Mildcircle strikes me as being neither CalebHughes or Blue Barette Bam – if it were them, the article would've been protected two hours ago. This doesn't feel like an LTA. Sdrqaz (talk) 18:49, 20 August 2022 (UTC)
My thinking was an LTA that had/has a particular obsession with the second person mentioned in the edits. (Yes I’m being intentionally obscure as I’m not sure how much is public - see filter 1205 for a little more). That person being mentioned in edits to TFA is usually evidence enough I’ve found, although happy to be proven wrong here. firefly ( t · c ) 20:56, 20 August 2022 (UTC)
@Sdrqaz missed the ping last time - oops! See above. firefly ( t · c ) 21:04, 20 August 2022 (UTC)

My Contents

I tried my best in editorial from my place. Those who had the opportunity to edit, I edited. thank you রায়হান রিয়াদ মল্লিক (talk) 20:45, 21 August 2022 (UTC)

Pending changes rationale

"If you are autoconfirmed (as you are), your edits will be automatically accepted if there are no unreviewed edits pending." Yes, that's the point. Aztecs is a low-traffic page, so in the case of useful edits, as the example I linked, that may simply need tweaking, or where I'm doing ongoing editing, I am left to wait for another user to approve or disapprove. And in the case I linked, they made the wrong choice. The edit summary which you called "uncivil" is a Simpsons joke, which, fair enough, not everyone will get. But when a new user's good faith (and sourced, as it's on the file description which is sourced) edits get reverted, that's quite a memorable experience for that user, so those kinds of mistakes need to be called out. As to your general impression of my edit summaries being uncivil, well, my sense of humor doesn't work on everyone, but I'm not asking to be an admin here. For the purposes of a pending changes remover, I have checked, manually, the source of every single bit of content I have removed, and I always check for sources on unsourced material when I feel should be removed. And yes, I take the time to call veterans out on their interaction with new usernames and IPs, because that's kind of important. SamuelRiv (talk) 22:48, 21 August 2022 (UTC)

I won't lose sleep over rejection, but I am a little concerned that the justification does not reflect any reasonable expectations set in the reviewer guidelines. More appropriate justifications for denying my request would be that my emphasis on the accuracy of the material reviewed is not within the responsibility of the reviewer, whose main focus is on vandalism and other speedy reversion/rollback edits. Or perhaps I don't watch enough protected pages (though this also isn't listed or hinted at in the criteria for becoming a reviewer, it is a practical concern.) Or perhaps that I should have explained in more detail to the reviewer why their rejection of the edit was improper on their Talk page (although, some of the discussion about how to respond to an improper rejection seems to imply that the reviewer should not be called out at all.) Also, in looking into this a bit more last night (another possible sound reason for rejection: shouldn't I have done this level of review of the policy beforehand?) it seems the tips for reviewers essay is at times blatantly contradictory of the reviewing guideline, which I will detail on that essay's Talk page probably in the next month. In summary, if the standards for pending changes reviewer are something different than what's reflected on the pages we are to read before requesting permissions, then that should probably be reflected on those pages. If not, should I request a review? To whom? SamuelRiv (talk) 16:13, 23 August 2022 (UTC)
@SamuelRiv Apologies for the delay in responding. I see now what you mean - I misunderstood your request, yes you will end up waiting for a reviewer to approve or disapprove if there are intervening edits. As such,  Done - PCR granted.
(For what it's worth, I wholeheartedly agree that editor retention and acquisition is the critical problem for Wikipedia these days (I could happily write several essays on the subject) and also agree that dismissing IPs and newbies out of hand needs to be challenged.) firefly ( t · c ) 16:26, 23 August 2022 (UTC)

Rollback enquiry

Hello, you didn't respond to my message there so I came here. Seeing your contributions I noticed you where active a while ago. About the rollback you denied me I would like to know if there is any other thing that made you have your decision aside from the one time error. Normally when I see declined rollback right I see things like "no recent anti-vandalism edits, " "edit-warring", "less than required main space edit" etc but mine was about an incorrect reference. If it wasn't only that that made the right declined I would like to know so in the future I will take corrections, I always do. Please re-consider, happy editing — UricdivineTalkToMe 16:52, 24 August 2022 (UTC)

I have re-considered this in form of a second opinion, which can be summarized as "no, please stop asking for three months". ~ ToBeFree (talk) 19:45, 24 August 2022 (UTC)
ToBeFree, like I said before I respect you decision. — UricdivineTalkToMe 21:39, 24 August 2022 (UTC)
@Uricdivine sorry, I didn’t see your message until now. I stand by my decline. It was not just about the IP/account mix up (although I think being able to reliably distinguish between them is important), but the seeming rush to acquire the right without any real effort that I could see in terms of working on patrolling. I realise this may be disappointing but echo what ToBeFree said above - please don’t focus on acquiring the permission, go do good work and come back in a few months. firefly ( t · c ) 20:34, 24 August 2022 (UTC)
No real effort? Worked for months you know. I saw a user who hasn't entered extended confirmed get rollback rights. I respect your decision too and am not re-applying any time soon. To be honest am happy I didn't see things like "not warning users" "edit warring" "no anti-vandalism" work and the rest of them. — UricdivineTalkToMe 21:42, 24 August 2022 (UTC)
@Uricdivine I meant effort between your last application for rollback and this one, rather than overall. firefly ( t · c ) 21:46, 24 August 2022 (UTC)
Ohokay. Although I did put in more effort than last time which made me withdraw my request I still respect your decision. — UricdivineTalkToMe 21:50, 24 August 2022 (UTC)

LTA?

Hey, just a quick question for you. I've been working on vandalism reversion, and I keep seeing Muppets edits that are suspicious, but don't match WP:MUPPETSLTA in geolocation. Obviously this LTA is still active, given that you just blocked them a couple days ago, and the exclusivity of the Muppets edits coming from this IP can't help but think it might be one of them, despite the IP not being from one of their known locations. Considering the fact that you appear to have experience with them, any thoughts on this? FrederalBacon (talk) 06:49, 25 August 2022 (UTC)

@FrederalBacon I don't have a lot of experience with them unfortunately - regardless, whether or not that IP is this LTA or not they've been making a nuisance of themselves, so I've blocked the IP for 31h. If they resume their silliness feel free to ping me again. firefly ( t · c ) 08:49, 25 August 2022 (UTC)
Well that takes care of it whether it's the LTA or not. I'll just keep an eye out, it looks according to the case page, like while the Indiana user is recently active, the Cali user hasn't been for quite some time, so who is to say they didn't move cross country. Thanks! FrederalBacon (talk) 22:32, 25 August 2022 (UTC)

Blocked User

The IP you just blocked is now harassing me cross wiki. NytharT.C 09:32, 28 August 2022 (UTC)

@Nythar - looks like BRPever has just globally blocked it, so that should be the end of that :) firefly ( t · c ) 09:34, 28 August 2022 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – September 2022

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

Guideline and policy news

  • A discussion is open to define a process by which Vector 2022 can be made the default for all users.
  • An RfC is open to gain consensus on whether Fox News is reliable for science and politics.

Technical news

Arbitration

  • An arbitration case regarding Conduct in deletion-related editing has been closed. The Arbitration Committee passed a remedy as part of the final decision to create a request for comment (RfC) on how to handle mass nominations at Articles for Deletion (AfD).
  • The arbitration case request Jonathunder has been automatically closed after a 6 month suspension of the case.

Miscellaneous

  • The new pages patrol (NPP) team has prepared an appeal to the Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) for assistance with addressing Page Curation bugs and requested features. You are encouraged to read the open letter before it is sent, and if you support it, consider signing it. It is not a discussion, just a signature will suffice.
  • Voting for candidates for the Wikimedia Board of Trustees is open until 6 September.
Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 11:11, 1 September 2022 (UTC)

Need help

I have seen a line which is on another Wikipage, and wanted to add that line on the wiki page that I created. Can that be a problem in respect to various policies of Wikipedia.. Hitoodesai (talk) 07:59, 3 September 2022 (UTC)

@Hitoodesai no, although you should mention in your edit summary where you copied the content from. See WP:CWW. firefly ( t · c ) 15:29, 4 September 2022 (UTC)

WP:10 decline overridden - "kiddo"

@Firefly, Northamerica1000, and InvadingInvader: Please see User talk:InvadingInvader#September 2022. User:Shirt58 (talk) 🦘 10:50, 5 September 2022 (UTC)

@Shirt58 Seems about right (your rationale of it effectively being 'NOTHERE-as-a-template') - having that stupid copypasta around is definitely not a good idea. I probably should've thought a little more about how it would be used (effectively as an 'attack template', so could probably come under G10 that way). firefly ( t · c ) 10:54, 5 September 2022 (UTC)

Oleksii Anischenko

My Polish translation of "kurwa matć" came out as "fucking hell".....? Dan arndt (talk) 09:15, 8 September 2022 (UTC)

@Dan arndt yep, seems DeepL picked the wrong language and "tried its best" - alternative translation engine gives me the same as what you had. Page has gone to the memory hole. firefly ( t · c ) 09:19, 8 September 2022 (UTC)

Rendall's sockpuppetry ban

Hey man. Could you possibly clarify a couple of things about Rendall's sockpuppetry block? For full disclosure, Rendall was kind and supportive to me in some recent discussions, so I'm sad for him that he's ended up getting blocked essentially for a clumsy response to what looks like an innocent and innocuous mistake, but I'm also just slightly confused about what happened. I'm not doubting that he was the IP editor, as that seems like the obvious conclusion even in the absence of your unshared "other links", and nor am I suggesting that anything was procedurally wrong - I just can't follow some of it.

You mention loutsocking, which is apparently "editing while logged out in order to mislead". Which of his contributions are you talking about? Presumably not the initial post, which wasn't obviously misleading, but maybe this and this, where Rendall and the IP seemed to actively imply that they were not the same person?

You also say that While the IP didn't directly attempt to influence the discussion on the article talk page, the Teahouse post could be seen as an attempt to avoid scrutiny and create the appearance of "impartial" interest in the case. Which of the IP's and/or Rendall's posts did you think could be seen an attempt to create the appearance of "impartial" interest? And what were you referring to as "the case"?

Thanks. Clicriffhard (talk) 02:23, 17 September 2022 (UTC)

@Clicriffhard just noting that I’ve seen this and will give a substantive reply later today. firefly ( t · c ) 09:04, 17 September 2022 (UTC)
@Clicriffhard I'll try to answer your questions in turn to keep things clear, if you feel I've missed anything or want additional clarification please do ask:
  • Re: loutsocking - indeed, it is the kind of things you link that very much cross the line into "editing [...] in order to mislead". The IP and Rendall edited in a fashion that implied they were controlled by different people, and contributed to the same discussion on that basis.
  • Re: impartial interest - while the Teahouse post about stonewalling didn't directly mention the issue at Talk:Graham Linehan it was quickly determined that was the underlying issue (by the fact that Rendall and the IP both edited the original post). A genuinely uninvolved editor asking for advice in another forum is very different to an involved editor doing the same thing. For example (and this is just a generic example, not necessarily related to this issue) an uninvolved editor saying "hmm, this discussion seems to be going off track and devolving into personal attacks against user X" is probably just a request for additional eyes on something, whereas user X using a sockpuppet do to the same thing would probably be a request for additional help for "their side", as they obviously have a stake in the discussion. Because Wikipedia works on consensus, we have to be strict around multiple-account use as it can easily give a false impression of where consensus lies.
  • Re: "case" - apologies, this was poor word choice on my part. By "this case" I meant the issue of the Teahouse post and the discussions at Talk:Graham Linehan.
Hope this clarifies things, please do ask if you want any more detail on any specific point. firefly ( t · c ) 10:30, 17 September 2022 (UTC)
Sorry, forgot to add this - you say that he ended up getting blocked essentially for a clumsy response to what looks like an innocent and innocuous mistake. This may well have started out as an innocent mistake, but the IP and Rendall both edited the SPI and vehemently denied any connection between them, and even alleged that the SPI was part of some pattern of harassment. If either had said at any point something like "okay, yes, I edited logged out, it was a mistake" then I highly doubt any blocks would have resulted. firefly ( t · c ) 11:47, 17 September 2022 (UTC)

Re: loutsocking - indeed, it is the kind of things you link that very much cross the line into "editing [...] in order to mislead". The IP and Rendall edited in a fashion that implied they were controlled by different people, and contributed to the same discussion on that basis.

Got it, thank you. I think that alone explains the block, so please only read the below if you're interested in context or think you might be able to give any guidance on how to deal with issues relating to the dreaded Linehan article. For context, I am more "involved" on the article than Rendall - as far as I'm aware, he first posted on the article's talk page last week and I think was quite shocked at the response he experienced and the conduct (historical and ongoing) that he saw on the talk pages, and it seems he was hoping to find a way to address that. Newimpartial is the de facto "ringleader" of the response and conduct that Rendall took issue with, and also the editor who found Rendall's accidental logged-in post and made a point of connecting the Teahouse post with the Linehan article. JaggedHamster then followed from the Linehan article to the Teahouse discussion, and then started the Sockpuppet investigation.
Full disclosure: I am regularly appalled by Newimpartial's on-wiki conduct myself, and have tried to have a number of discussions with them about it, but it rarely ends well. A couple of discussions are ongoing on our respective talk pages, but I'm currently taking a breather to let my stress-levels settle, as it can feel like going ten rounds with a relentless psychological pugilist. Incidentally, I say this as a working lawyer, but this person is off the scale.

Re: impartial interest - while the Teahouse post about stonewalling didn't directly mention the issue at Talk:Graham Linehan it was quickly determined that was the underlying issue (by the fact that Rendall and the IP both edited the original post).

To be fair, I think that the original post was written in a way that made it difficult to identify which article the IP was talking about - and in fact, the first few replies said that it was "too abstract" for people to identify the situation being discussed and give a helpful reply. The link to Linehan only became clear when Newimpartial found the Teahouse discussion and repeatedly linked it to Linehan (probably finding it through Rendall's accidental "logged-in" comment, as Newimpartial has a very intimidating habit of following anyone who disagrees with them around Wikipedia, presumably by watching their contributions - they've done the same to me, and no doubt they'll see this too).

A genuinely uninvolved editor asking for advice in another forum is very different to an involved editor doing the same thing. For example (and this is just a generic example, not necessarily related to this issue) an uninvolved editor saying "hmm, this discussion seems to be going off track and devolving into personal attacks against user X" is probably just a request for additional eyes on something, whereas user X using a sockpuppet do to the same thing would probably be a request for additional help for "their side", as they obviously have a stake in the discussion. Because Wikipedia works on consensus, we have to be strict around multiple-account use as it can easily give a false impression of where consensus lies.

Yeah, I get that. In Rendall's case, I don't read the initial IP post as an attempt to make its poster sound completely uninvolved, but as above, he wasn't very involved - he'd only been aware for a few days of issues going back years. To me, the tone reflects the level of his involvement fairly accurately; of course, you may differ.

Re: "case" - apologies, this was poor word choice on my part. By "this case" I meant the issue of the Teahouse post and the discussions at Talk:Graham Linehan.

Not at all - thanks for clarifying.

Sorry, forgot to add this - you say that he ended up getting blocked essentially for a clumsy response to what looks like an innocent and innocuous mistake. This may well have started out as an innocent mistake, but the IP and Rendall both edited the SPI and vehemently denied any connection between them, and even alleged that the SPI was part of some pattern of harassment. If either had said at any point something like "okay, yes, I edited logged out, it was a mistake" then I highly doubt any blocks would have resulted.

Again you might read this differently, but I don't think the initial IP comment was posted "logged-out" by mistake. I think that was done to avoid drawing the attention of Newimpartial and their coterie, because of the aforementioned contribution-watching and associated "flying monkey effect", where a number of like-minded editors inexplicably turn up in the same place at the same time. The part that I read as accidental is the "logged-in" edit as Rendall, which unfortunately did draw the attention of Newimpartial (and subsequently JaggedHamster).
Of course, Rendall didn't have to then make comments that actively denied the link between the IP and his named account, and he only has himself to blame for that. I can see that your close was probably the only option you could have taken, but the situation leading up to the investigation does look like a bit of a "managed" stitch-up to me, without even getting into the broader shenanigans. Would appreciate your perspective if you have time, but no worries if not - the explanation you've already given is very helpful in itself. Clicriffhard (talk) 16:42, 17 September 2022 (UTC)

SPI Nikokiris

Hello, Firefly. Thanks for closing this SPI. One question - although I had not listed Kunupe as a suspected sockpuppet in the SPI, the CheckUser found that this account is also a sockpuppet of Nikokiris; can this account be blocked as well? Thank you. --Local hero talk 19:17, 24 September 2022 (UTC)

@Local hero whoops, missed that one. Thanks for the heads up. Now blocked! firefly ( t · c ) 19:42, 24 September 2022 (UTC)
Thanks! --Local hero talk 19:45, 24 September 2022 (UTC)

September 2022

Hi @Firefly: I noted your message on my talk page. I suggest, you can nominate the article Draft:Mudhal Paadal for deletion as it is not a notable film. Also the actors in the film, technicians and other crew members are also not notable. The Google Search of the page Mudhal Paadal doesn’t bring any other information from reliable sources. Theoder2055 (talk) 09:38, 17 September 2022 (UTC)

@Theoder2055 no need - it'll pretty much automatically be deleted after the six months elapse since the last edit. Thanks! firefly ( t · c ) 09:50, 25 September 2022 (UTC)

49.144.23.182

49.144.23.182 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) Back again! Adakiko (talk) 11:05, 29 September 2022 (UTC)

@Adakiko - thanks, blocked :) firefly ( t · c ) 11:11, 29 September 2022 (UTC)

Edit request

While I saw Grand Duchy of Lithuania on my phone, I found that the coat of arms is "compressed" much more smaller. As my investigation, the proper fix is inserting class="noresize" into Template:Infobox country/imagetable, the source code is available at its sandbox page. So I request you to fix. -- Great Brightstar (talk) 14:49, 29 September 2022 (UTC)

(talk page stalker) @Great Brightstar: done. Elli (talk | contribs) 14:59, 29 September 2022 (UTC)

Subsequent fix

As my another investigation, the vertical-align:top property should be limited to |image1b= parameter, I implemented the new code at its sandbox page. -- Great Brightstar (talk) 17:12, 29 September 2022 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – October 2022

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

Guideline and policy news

Technical news

  • The Articles for creation helper script now automatically recognises administrator accounts which means your name does not need to be listed at WP:AFCP to help out. If you wish to help out at AFC, enable AFCH by navigating to Preferences → Gadgets and checking the "Yet Another AfC Helper Script" box.

Arbitration

Miscellaneous

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 11:42, 1 October 2022 (UTC)

Nomination of Manu Kumar Srivastava for deletion

A discussion is taking place as to whether the article Manu Kumar Srivastava is suitable for inclusion in Wikipedia according to Wikipedia's policies and guidelines or whether it should be deleted.

The article will be discussed at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Manu Kumar Srivastava until a consensus is reached, and anyone, including you, is welcome to contribute to the discussion. The nomination will explain the policies and guidelines which are of concern. The discussion focuses on high-quality evidence and our policies and guidelines.

Users may edit the article during the discussion, including to improve the article to address concerns raised in the discussion. However, do not remove the article-for-deletion notice from the top of the article until the discussion has finished.

UtherSRG (talk) 18:41, 13 October 2022 (UTC)

Page deleted

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parkplus Why my page has been deleted? that too within few seconds of going it live, i dont think you have even read the page. May i know exact reason for its deletion and what needs to be done to improve it . Aakashsrivas 10:03, 14 October 2022 (UTC)

@Aakashsrivas I had seen it before it was moved to mainspace, I read it while it was a draft and then again before deleting in mainspace. It was deleted as it was entirely promotional in tone - i.e. it read like an advertisement or entry in a business directory. For example, phrasing like "offers solutions to every pain point around car ownership", a list of services and investors, etc does not make a neutral encyclopaedia article. You say that it is "your company's page" - what do you mean by that? Do you own/work for this company? firefly ( t · c ) 10:07, 14 October 2022 (UTC)
@Firefly Sorry you find my Article promotive... can I create a new neutral article and publish that Aakashsrivas 07:34, 17 October 2022 (UTC)
@Aakashsrivas if it meets our policies on neutrality, yes. However - I note that you said before that it is "your company's page", can you clarify what you meant by that? firefly ( t · c ) 07:37, 17 October 2022 (UTC)
Yes I work for this company. And I am from the Growth Team @Firefly Aakashsrivas 10:13, 17 October 2022 (UTC)

Why I protected your talk page

Hi, Firefly! I took the liberty of protecting your talk page, in response to a request at RFPP.[6] If you would rather not have it protected - for example, so that you can identify new socks and block them - then feel free to go ahead and unprotect. MelanieN (talk) 01:52, 18 October 2022 (UTC)

@MelanieN It's all good - thanks! This LTA seems to target enough pages that there'll be plenty of opportunities to spot socks without geting inundated with pings :) firefly ( t · c ) 07:00, 18 October 2022 (UTC)

Firefly Bot

Hey, Firefly,

Not often but every once in a while, Firefly Bot doesn't notify a page creator doesn't get a notification and I can't figure out why. This happened with Draft:Fifty & Fabulous which, now that you are an admin, you can look at its page history even if it has been deleted by the time you see this message. Usually an editor doesn't receive a notice if they have already received a notice 6 months ago. Although it would be great if editors could receive them after 5 months of inactivity whether or not they had already received one before. Any chance of that? Thanks for all that you and your bot do! Liz Read! Talk! 02:38, 13 October 2022 (UTC)

Hi Liz - sorry for the delay in replying. Ah yes I see what you mean - they didn't get a notice because they'd "already received one", despite the fact that the clock had reset in the meantime. I'll take a look! :) firefly ( t · c ) 11:52, 16 October 2022 (UTC)
I didn't see that. What about Draft:Hold Your Horse Is? They received other messages from FireflyBot but I don't see one for this draft. Liz Read! Talk! 21:05, 20 October 2022 (UTC)

FireflyBot malfunctioning?

Hello, Firefly,

I noticed tonight that editors weren't receiving notifications at the 5 month point of inactivity with the drafts they created. When I checked Firefly Bot's contributions, it looks like it stopped notifications on September 27th. Is there an easy way to start this up and, hopefully, post notices to those editors who didn't receive them over the past 30 days? I understand you are probably busy but we really rely on Firefly Bot to warn editors in advance...it helps keep the daily expiring drafts list manageable. Thanks for any help you (and your bot) can provide to the project. Liz Read! Talk! 04:09, 27 October 2022 (UTC)

Hmm that’s weird. I’ll take a look - and yes, notifications should automatically backfill once it’s fixed. firefly ( t · c ) 14:43, 27 October 2022 (UTC)
@Liz ^ firefly ( t · c ) 14:43, 27 October 2022 (UTC)
Still no notifications. I understand that you are away so I'm not expecting overnight fixes. It's ordinarily so reliable, I don't think to check to see if it's operating correctly. It'll be great when it's back to its old self! Liz Read! Talk! 19:04, 29 October 2022 (UTC)
@Liz fixed :) Was an issue with changes to the MediaWiki database schema. firefly ( t · c ) 20:19, 29 October 2022 (UTC)
Yeah! Thanks so much, Firefly! Thanks for taking care of this. Liz Read! Talk! 01:05, 30 October 2022 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – November 2022

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Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 00:22, 1 November 2022 (UTC)

Socks

Were you working SPI last time we actually got down to 0 cases? Someone (I think it was Mz7?) added a picture that pops up when the queue is empty. 'twould be nice to see it again, but maybe give it a few minutes before archiving in case someone else is still looking at it! ;-) Girth Summit (blether) 17:52, 4 November 2022 (UTC)

@Girth Summit I don't think so, no, but I've been made aware of the fun easter egg there. :) If you're talking about Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Rajarano100, I didn't actually archive that one, just closed it. But it's good advice nonetheless, I think I've archived a few recently that might've been a little keen. firefly ( t · c ) 17:55, 4 November 2022 (UTC)
Oh sorry, you're right - Spicy archived it, my bad. No harm done, of course - I just feel like we're all very eager to see that pic again :) Girth Summit (blether) 17:56, 4 November 2022 (UTC)
@Girth Summit guilty as charged. :P firefly ( t · c ) 17:57, 4 November 2022 (UTC)
Yeah, my apologies. I'll admit that I'm overly eager to see the cat picture. (Who doesn't like cat pictures)? Spicy (talk) 17:59, 4 November 2022 (UTC)
If it helps, I think the Vamlos case can be tidied away now. Firefly, care to do the honours? Girth Summit (blether) 18:01, 4 November 2022 (UTC)
@Girth Summit  Done :) firefly ( t · c ) 18:07, 4 November 2022 (UTC)
When the bot does its work - let there be cats. Or socks. Or maybe both, I can't quite remember. Girth Summit (blether) 18:08, 4 November 2022 (UTC)

A kitten for you!

For working through the queue so we could get to see that kitten.

Girth Summit (blether) 19:18, 4 November 2022 (UTC)

@Girth Summit thank you! :) Seeing a cat is an excellent reward - in SPI world or otherwise! firefly ( t · c ) 19:32, 4 November 2022 (UTC)
I'mm more of a dog person myself to be honest - our whippet, Fleet, is currently curled up on the sofa next to me. I thought about replacing the Easter egg pic with something more canine, but the only ones I could find on commons were basically dogs tearing socks apart, which seemed a bit too violent... Girth Summit (blether) 19:33, 4 November 2022 (UTC)
@Girth Summit Awww! Dogs are great but I’m a lifelong cat person myself. Our two don’t really go for socks, they prefer little plushie mouse toys. firefly ( t · c ) 21:28, 4 November 2022 (UTC)

Owentonian

Did you spot them before they edited? Or are you the new world record holder for fastest block with six seconds between their revert of me and your block of them? DatGuyTalkContribs 17:04, 6 November 2022 (UTC)

@DatGuy heh, found 'em some other way :) firefly ( t · c ) 17:15, 6 November 2022 (UTC)

Socks/trolls

Hi, I noticed your question here. I've blocked the following users: Lonfir, Raucous Oatmeal, and Phil Fillibuster Fibbs Jr.. I blocked Lonfir for disruption based on a report at WP:AIV and then, after some poking around, blocked the other two as socks (I would have blocked Lonfir too as a sock if I'd poked around a bit earlier). The reason I'm telling you all this is partly because of your question and partly to give you the opportunity to block any additional socks you found in checks. Finally, being a tidy fellow, I'd like everyone tagged appropriately. Thanks!--Bbb23 (talk) 15:02, 15 November 2022 (UTC)

@Bbb23 - yeah those three are  Technically indistinguishable. I was tempted to block 'em myself, but thought I'd ask the question first given that at the time they were pretty much only being disruptive on each other's talk pages. However, given Lonfir has branched out and has started being disruptive elsewhere I'm not going to complain that you saved me the effort! :) They can explain what on Earth they were up to in an unblock request if they want to. I'll sort the tags. firefly ( t · c ) 15:09, 15 November 2022 (UTC)
See Wikipedia:Sockpuppet_investigations/Phil_Fillibuster_Fibbs_Jr. :) firefly ( t · c ) 15:14, 15 November 2022 (UTC)
Outstanding. Thanks for doing all the paperwork.--Bbb23 (talk) 16:00, 15 November 2022 (UTC)
@Bbb23 not a problem - I know how useful having an SPI to point to can be when encountering any future socks. firefly ( t · c ) 16:04, 15 November 2022 (UTC)

A goat for you!

hi would you help me out with getting this artist on wiki i did a article for him and they took it down.

Ghostxwriter111 (talk) 20:37, 23 November 2022 (UTC)

@Ghostxwriter111 If you mean the article I deleted, I did so because it was effectively written as an advertisement. I would suggest writing a draft, in draftspace and then submitting to Articles for Creation - however, I must ask, what's your relation to the article subject? Have you been paid in any way to write an article? firefly ( t · c ) 08:27, 24 November 2022 (UTC)
hi yes the artist asked me to do that for them i do admit, it was my first time but i can try again and submit it the way you asked me to they paid me a small sum to do it i went on youtube for help creating it i also looked around and looked at other artists write ups also. Ghostxwriter111 (talk) 14:44, 24 November 2022 (UTC)

A barnstar for you!

The Admin's Barnstar
This year I'm thankful for 12 new admins to add to the admin corps. Thank you for volunteering to take on more responsibilities on the project. We're lucky to have you! Liz Read! Talk! 19:11, 24 November 2022 (UTC)
I also want to thank you for setting up FireflyBot to notify draft creators when their drafts are close to expiring. I'm sure many editors appreciate these reminders for drafts they have forgotten about. It's really serving a great purpose on the project. Thanks! Liz Read! Talk! 19:23, 24 November 2022 (UTC)
@Liz thank you! My pleasure. :) firefly ( t · c ) 19:42, 24 November 2022 (UTC)

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Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 12:44, 1 December 2022 (UTC)

Could you confirm?

Hi! At the start of the month you answered my question about the paid-en-wiki email system, here. I've since sent a second email, since there were some updates. Could you confirm that those specific emails were received and are being addressed in some way? I don't mind if the case has to wait in line for a while, but I've heard nothing from anyone to confirm that the emails were noticed or even received, so it would be good to know that I'm not just talking into a void. Thanks again! —Ganesha811 (talk) 22:12, 20 November 2022 (UTC)

@Ganesha811 I'll take a look today and see. firefly ( t · c ) 08:24, 24 November 2022 (UTC)
Appreciate it. :) —Ganesha811 (talk) 14:29, 27 November 2022 (UTC)
@Firefly: any update on this? —Ganesha811 (talk) 19:31, 1 December 2022 (UTC)

Unbanning User:AG5263

Firefly, I understand that I vandalized User: AG5263, although that was not my intent and I simply wanted to be humorous, and that User: AG5263 and I are NOT using several accounts on the same Wikipedia IP address, and that he sent me wikilove because he is my friend in real life, and understands that it was simply a joke and not to be taken seriously, it is not me or him controlling both accounts and is not why User: AG5263 sent me wikilove, I am asking you to reconsider unbanning User: AG5263. I am not trying to be rude, although it may be seen that way, I am simply wondering why you banned him in the first place so I can explain what happened, and to try and resolve the solution. Thank you, Matthew. MasterMatt12 (talk) 23:52, 6 December 2022 (UTC)

@MasterMatt12: AG5263 will need to submit an unblock request themselves. As for why they were blocked in the first place, technical evidence suggested that they had created & used multiple accounts in a fashion incompatible with our policy on such things. firefly ( t · c ) 18:39, 7 December 2022 (UTC)

Happy holidays!

Hello Firefly: Enjoy the holiday season and winter solstice if it's occurring in your area of the world, and thanks for your work to maintain, improve and expand Wikipedia. Cheers, MrLinkinPark333 (talk) 03:14, 12 December 2022 (UTC)

Spread the WikiLove; use {{subst:Season's Greetings}} to send this message

MrLinkinPark333 (talk) 03:14, 12 December 2022 (UTC)

@MrLinkinPark333 thank you! :) firefly ( t · c ) 08:05, 13 December 2022 (UTC)

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Peace is a state of balance and understanding in yourself and between others, where respect is gained by the acceptance of differences, tolerance persists, conflicts are resolved through dialog, peoples rights are respected and their voices are heard, and everyone is at their highest point of serenity without social tension.
Happy Holidays. ―Buster7 ☎ 21:00, 12 December 2022 (UTC)
@Buster7 thank you! :) firefly ( t · c ) 08:05, 13 December 2022 (UTC)

Undeletion

Hello! Can I please have the Wikipedia page for Wendle Josepher undeleted please ?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Draft:Wendle_Josepher&action=edit&redlink=1 — Preceding unsigned comment added by BeanTwnJ (talk • contribs) 13:57, 15 December 2022 (UTC)

Thanks!

Hi Firefly, Thanks for your work on the POTY 2021. It's a great part of Wikipedia so I appreciate you keeping it going. Glennfcowan (talk) 03:08, 16 December 2022 (UTC)

@Glennfcowan thank you, but it was Legoktm who did all the work this year, I just gave the odd word of advice from the sidelines! firefly ( t · c ) 08:13, 16 December 2022 (UTC)

SPI

Thanks for the fix, stupidly I followed the instructions which say to use |ip1= etc. DuncanHill (talk) 19:10, 17 December 2022 (UTC)

@DuncanHill - No worries! Oooh, those instructions need fixing then. I'll take a look... firefly ( t · c ) 19:11, 17 December 2022 (UTC)
Thanks - there's always something that escapes when something else is updated! DuncanHill (talk) 19:12, 17 December 2022 (UTC)
@DuncanHill Indeed! Fixed in Special:Diff/1127982952. firefly ( t · c ) 19:15, 17 December 2022 (UTC)
Thanks for responding so quickly to my AIV post and for mass-rollbacking their edits! Mattdaviesfsic (talk) 18:05, 18 December 2022 (UTC)

Seasons Greetings

Whatever you celebrate at this time of year, whether it's Christmas or some other festival, I hope you and those close to you have a happy, restful time! Have fun, Donner60 (talk) 00:16, 23 December 2022 (UTC)

Donner60 (talk) 05:41, 24 December 2022 (UTC)

Happy First Edit Day!

Administrators' newsletter – January 2023

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Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 01:08, 6 January 2023 (UTC)

Speedy deletion nomination of Islamic and Protestants

A tag has been placed on Islamic and Protestants requesting that it be speedily deleted from Wikipedia. This has been done for the following reason:

Title is ungrammatical/illiterate gibberish created from a recent disruptive page move - an "ADJECTIVE and NOUN" ... implausible as a search term and essentially useless

Under the criteria for speedy deletion, pages that meet certain criteria may be deleted at any time.

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. If the page is deleted, and you wish to retrieve the deleted material for future reference or improvement, then please contact the deleting administrator, or if you have already done so, you can place a request here. Iskandar323 (talk) 14:19, 22 January 2023 (UTC)

Nomination for deletion of Template:Word count by section

Template:Word count by section has been nominated for deletion. You are invited to comment on the discussion at the entry on the Templates for discussion page. – Jonesey95 (talk) 19:20, 23 January 2023 (UTC)

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