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Userfied Alpha Company, 29th Signal Bn, 28th Infantry DivisionEdit

Userfied Philip De CarteretEdit

Archived talk pagesEdit

This is a list of talk page archives: March 2009 – June 2011.

DraftsEdit

My SandboxEdit

Draft ArticlesEdit

{{WikiProject Biography |living=yes|class=start|listas=wiki-count |a&e-work-group=yes|a&e-priority=low |baronets-work-group=yes|baronets-priority=mid |filmbio-work-group=yes|filmbio-priority=low |military-work-group=yes|military-priority=low |musician-work-group=yes|musician-priority=low |peerage-work-group=yes|peerage-priority=low |politician-work-group=yes|politician-priority=low |royalty-work-group=yes|royalty-priority=low |s&a-work-group=yes|s&a-priority=low |spor

WikiProject templatesEdit

Tasks and toolsEdit

AssessmentsEdit

Wiki eventsEdit

Category:Wikipedia requested photographs in the Channel Islands

Wikimania 2014 and 2015Edit

  • "Wikimania 2014 London". Wikimania 2014
  • [2] DC CHAPTER
  • Maggie
  • 208-555-1658 home 7947 222415\cell

PA MunicipalitiesEdit

GoCEEdit

Useful toolsEdit

Reference toolsEdit

List of access keys (<SHIFT>+<ALT>+<char>)Edit

Database ReportsEdit

Missing coordinatesEdit

LinkrotEdit

MoreEdit

New ArticlesEdit

Source searchesEdit

SSD articlesEdit

Early sandboxesEdit

SEPTA Regional Rail Bridge = PA Railroad Bridge???Edit

An 1886 map has a railroad bridge at the site of the current SEPTA Regional Rail Bridge. The bridge has the label Penna RR Bridge. Though the original bridge led to a high level grade and the current rails descend to below ground, this might suggest a much older name than SEPTA et al. Map – Plate 1 of JL Smith's Philadelphia 1886 West, Wards 24 and 27 – is on-line at http://www.historicmapworks.com/Map/US/83014/Plate+001/Philadelphia+1886+West+-+Wards+24+and+27/Pennsylvania/ Bridge is in lower-left corner. EdK (talk)

Hi!Edit

Hi Dthomsen8, we just spoke about image uploading and Wikimedia Commons in the dining room at the pre-Wikimania hackathon. I just wanted to leave a quick note here so we've got each other's contact information. Cheers, Emw (talk) 14:10, 11 July 2012 (UTC)

Template etherpadEdit

Here you go: http://etherpad.wikimedia.org/templates and thank you for the hat! Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 17:11, 15 July 2012 (UTC)

Hat pixEdit

    What do you think? OK with you? Smallbones(smalltalk) 12:43, 3 August 2013 (UTC)

OK with me, but can the dog do edits?--DThomsen8 (talk) 15:34, 3 August 2013 (UTC)

Talk about your workEdit

Hello –

I'm a reporter with The Philadelphia Inquirer and I'd love to talk with you about your work editing Philadelphia-related pages. Would you mind sending me an email at tschleifer@philly.com?

Thanks, and all the best,

Teddy Schleifer The Philadelphia Inquirer — Preceding unsigned comment added by 161.188.211.240 (talk) 20:54, 14 August 2013 (UTC)

Will do.--DThomsen8 (talk) 20:57, 14 August 2013 (UTC)

I gather this is the result. Not bad! Keep up the good work! --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here 23:58, 2 September 2013 (UTC)

Nice writeup!Edit

[4] This is lovely! – David Gerard (talk) 14:22, 5 September 2013 (UTC)

Congratulations! A friend of mine snailed me a copy from Philadelphia of your writeup in the Philadelphia Inquirer. Awesome! It's great to be able to put a face (and name and background!) to the Username, especially since you were the one who immediately welcomed me to Wikipedia editorship and the GOCE when I first signed on! Great job! Keep up the great work! JudyCS (talk) 21:38, 11 September 2013 (UTC)

Answer – A king among Wikipedia editorsEdit

Question – Who is Dthomsen8?  . Schleifer, Theodore (5 September 2013). "A king among Wikipedia editors". Phys.org. Retrieved 5 October 2013.Jreferee (talk) 14:12, 5 October 2013 (UTC)

Kimberly Wright CassidyEdit

Hi Dthomsen8! I agree with your point that cleanup templates don't belong in draft articles, in the same way they don't belong in AFC articles. When I created my edit list in AWB, I merely told AWB to get a list from new articles. The Kimberly Wright Cassidy article, though titled "Draft Kimberly Wright Cassidy" was actually in mainspace. I've since moved it to "Draft:Kimberly Wright Cassidy". I hope that doesn't mess anything up. I've also removed the other cleanup template that was on the page. Since I notice you have far more edits under your belt than I, if I didn't go about this the correct way, I'm all ears for learning. :D Regards, Cyphoidbomb (talk) 15:12, 21 March 2014 (UTC)

You saw something I did not, and you did the right thing to move the article. Thank you. Draft namespace is new, and this is my first attempt at it. --DThomsen8 (talk) 15:45, 21 March 2014 (UTC)
  Acknowledged. A good day to you. Cyphoidbomb (talk) 15:59, 21 March 2014 (UTC)
hope you don't mind if i moved to article space. presidents of universities = notability under wp:academic No. 6. Duckduckstop (talk) 18:45, 25 March 2014 (UTC)

Disambiguation link notification for August 1Edit

Hi. Thank you for your recent edits. Wikipedia appreciates your help. We noticed though that when you edited 2014 Hama offensive, you added a link pointing to the disambiguation page Al-Majdal. Such links are almost always unintended, since a disambiguation page is merely a list of "Did you mean..." article titles. Read the FAQ • Join us at the DPL WikiProject.

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This is Delahays replying to your note about Robert Milligan _ I am going away just now – today – for 5 weeks when I won't be online. You may find stuff in the Barbican Library, but I don't know it and I don't know what you will find. You might get better luck with the Museum of Docklands. For the Forteath links in Jamaica, which will at least tie him to Morayshire contacts other than his wife, – not the key issue, but a start – John Kelly's (PROB 11/1424) will will help a bit but you will need to go to the PRO for it unless you want to stump up for a download – could be the Barbican Library might have online access, BUT... There are a number of Dumfries sources, but it's possible the Barbican has never bothered about them and it may not know where Dumfries is. (This is NOT a joke) As an Englishman normally domiciled in Scotland I find all this maddening, because Milligan's Scottishness is taken for granted in Scotland, rightly. You could try ringing the Dumfries and Galloway archives. You might be lucky. Otherwise, you could do what I did and Google him. And don't stop at Wikipedia. There are Jamaica online sources too. The ScotlandsPeople Database is expensive to use unless you are fairly sure in the first place, and though I have a memory of some Dumfries burgh kin, I can't check for them just now. Family Search is useless for detailed research in Scotland, because ScotlandsPeople, run by DC Thomson for profit has exclusive reproduction rights from the SRO. I'll try and produce more detailed evidence by the end of September. BestDelahays (talk) 08:32, 3 August 2014 (UTC)

This is memory, so don't hold me to it. I THINK that you may get some traction in London if you look for a Jamaica West India merchant called DAVID Milligan who died in the late 1798. This was actually David Milligan of DALSKAIRTH, in Galloway. The Gentleman's Magazine and kindreed publications note his death, but they also mention his widow. If you want to get into ScotlansPeople, it could be that that Dalskairth in the parish of TRAQUAIR, might lead you in a useful direction. There is a PCC Will but the National Archives downloading service is on the blink and I can't access the whole of it. What I can access indicates that it's in the Scottish form, and the bit about sons and property is inaccessible, but it wouldn't have been processed both in Scotland and by the PCC if it didn't have some mention of overseas property. I've sent a complaint, so they might be getting around to fixing it by Tuesday. Best I can do just now.Delahays (talk) 09:34, 3 August 2014 (UTC)

Sorry, Dalskairth is in TROQUEER parish – not Traquair. It counts as Kircudbrightshire, or did, but it's not far from Dumfries. The only Kirkcudbright 1746 birth of a Robert Milligan on 8 August 1746 was to an innkeeper and his wife, but the witnesses to the baptism were both merchants.- doesn't mean much, but it points in the right direction. The 1756 birth isn't very helpfully registered. Positively the last I can do today, David Milligan says his family was from a FARM at Dalskairth, not Dalskairth house, but it's worth checking on both.Delahays (talk) 09:47, 3 August 2014 (UTC)

You'll need to check this with David Milligan's will, if they can get it to you and with the online source http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~alanmilliken/regarde_bien/15.html

but it loks as though I wasn't raving when I remembered David Milligan. this source, run by an alan millken confirms David was Robert's cousin, and left him his fortune after keeping it in trust for his widow. It also places Robert as the son of James Milligan of Dumfried born 19 August 1746, and gives his wife and descendants. This is probably better than pfaffing around in the Barbican Library, and when you do go, it will give you something to go on. I hope I can catch my train now! Good Luck and keep in touch.Delahays (talk) 10:03, 3 August 2014 (UTC)

IpohEdit

Hello. We're chatting at Wikimania and it turns out that we have a common interest in Ipoh. FYI, I wrote List of roads in Ipoh and user:yuitsum helped with some photos as she was born there. I'll try to introduce her to you tomorrow. Andrew (talk) 11:26, 6 August 2014 (UTC)

  • We talked about meeting at the London Transport Museum today (Monday). I'll go there about noon but please post on my user page or send email if there's a change of plan. I'll be watching Wikipedia closely as I have a double DYK up on the main page currently. Andrew (talk) 08:25, 11 August 2014 (UTC)
  • I'm tied up at work, alas, and so won't be at the London Transport Museum until about 13:00 (1 pm now). I'll wear the editor hat that you kindly presented me. Andrew (talk) 10:31, 11 August 2014 (UTC)
I must apologize, I am in Forest Gate, and my wife told me not to go without her to anything, so I am at her sister's house all day. I must apologize for not being with you.--DThomsen8 (talk) 12:23, 11 August 2014 (UTC)
  • Thanks for the update as I'm at the Museum now looking out for you. We could have eaten at Hawksmoor (restaurant), which I have on the front page as the lead DYK right now. Enjoy the article instead and post again, as and when you can get into the centre. Andrew (talk) 12:31, 11 August 2014 (UTC)

Common knowledge?Edit

Hi David, it was nice talking to you! The book was reviewed by Forbes and Signpost so far, and mentioned in the Chronicle, as well as in my own op-eds in the Slate, and the Daily Dot. The Polish edition was covered in three largest newspapers in Poland: Gazeta Wyborcza (currently paywalled), Dziennik Gazeta Prawna, and Rzeczpospolita. More reviews should be upcoming. best Pundit|utter 15:17, 8 August 2014 (UTC)

Excellent references! I will do a book article at the end of August. You can check it out for me when it is in draft form.--15:51, 8 August 2014 (UTC)
Just one more :) Pundit|utter 15:28, 2 September 2014 (UTC)

REFUNDEdit

Hi Dthomsen8. I've chatted with SPhilbrick (you can see our conversation on his talk page), and have now put the following articles in your userspace: User:Dthomsen8/Cherry Street (Philadelphia), User:Dthomsen8/Locust Street (Philadelphia), User:Dthomsen8/Pine Street (Philadelphia), User:Dthomsen8/Race Street (Philadelphia), User:Dthomsen8/Snyder Avenue and User:Dthomsen8/Spruce Street (Philadelphia).

If you can spend a little time on each, expanding them a bit – I'd suggest a rule of thumb, at least double the size of the text – then no one can say they're not substantially contributed to by you. Another option would be to remove all the text that's there (leaving the layout and images and templates and such) and re-write the article in your own words.

Let me know if you're struggling. Once you've substantially contributed to the articles, feel free to move them to the main space, and then we're all good to go. WormTT(talk) 13:44, 15 August 2014 (UTC)

Very nice work with these five streets. Thank you. I am in Iceland until Friday, so I may not do much before then, it depends on my energy in the evening hours. I can add images when I am home, too.--DThomsen8 (talk) 17:35, 15 August 2014 (UTC)

Thank you for your interview in 2012Edit

We just published your interview as a blog post. Thank you! VGrigas (WMF) (talk) 15:38, 30 October 2014 (UTC)

Common knowledge?Edit

Hi David, it is my great pleasure to let you know that Pacific Standard has reviewed my book, too! Previously it was reviewed by Forbes and Signpost, Motherboard, the Wikipedian, and mentioned in the Chronicle, as well as in my own op-eds in the Slate, and the Daily Dot, as well as the Chronicle. The Polish edition was covered in three largest newspapers in Poland: Gazeta Wyborcza (currently paywalled), Dziennik Gazeta Prawna, and Rzeczpospolita. best Pundit|utter 19:25, 17 November 2014 (UTC)

Edit

Hi Dave, What do you think of the idea of donating a book about using Wikipedia to the silent auction for the Small Museums Assocation conference? (Maybe a hat, too?) I might have a couple of other small things we could add.Mary Mark Ockerbloom (talk) 14:36, 12 January 2015 (UTC)

I will bring some copies of John Broughton's Wikipedia:The Missing Manual and Phoebe Ayers' How Wikipedia Works to the meeting tomorrow, so you can have two books for the SMA auction, and two books for the CHF library, if they will accept them. Send me the meeting details right here.--DThomsen8 (talk) 20:34, 12 January 2015 (UTC)
Hi Dave! I was able to confirm that the Small Museum Association can give me a receipt for the donated books. Thank you again. Also, I have your scarf from the last GLAM Cafe Meetup – I'll try to bring it to the next one on Tuesday, Feb 10, at UPenn. I'm encouraging people to edit articles from the Small Museums list that night.Mary Mark Ockerbloom (talk) 01:36, 6 February 2015 (UTC)

CONSOL Energy Wikipedia Page – Suggested EditsEdit

Hi Dthomsen8,

I am on the communications team for Consol Energy. I would like to suggest several edits/updates to the Consol Energy Wikipedia page. A lot of the information listed is outdated and therefore no longer accurate. Please see my suggested edits and sourcing below. Let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks for your time and help on this issue.

First paragraph:

"As of 2011..." should be replaced with: As of 2013, Consol had 3 billion tons of proven reserves, mainly in northern and central Appalachia and produced nearly 29 million tons of coal in the same year. The company has natural gas reserves totaling 5.7 trillion cu. ft. as of 2013 and produced 172.4 billion cubic feet in that year. Through the different services, it employs 3,890 people.

History:

To be added: In 2012, Consol Energy won the rights to drill the Marcellus Shale on leased acres at the Pittsburgh International Airport. Consol entered into the public-private partnership, agreeing to pay 500 million dollars over the next twenty years. In partnership, the airport will receive 18 percent royalties with an additional 50 million dollar bonus. It is estimated that the project will bring the airport around 20 to 25 million dollars annually over the next 20 years. This revenue is to be used to offset the airports 91 million dollar annual budget, as well as support improvements to infrastructure and paying off airport debt, currently shouldered by taxpayers.(i) In August 2014, after a year of talks with the township, the Federal Aviation Commission, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and Allegheny County, Consol began drilling its first well on airport property.(ii)

In 2013, Consol sold it’s subsidiary, Consolidation Coal Company, to Murray Energy Corporation (MEC). This deal, valued at 3.5 billion dollars, included all five of their longwall coal mines in West Virginia, as well as Consol’s River and Dock Operations, comprised of 21 tow-boats and 600 barges, as well as 2.4 billion dollars of Consol’s balance sheet liabilities. These liabilities include 2.1 billion dollars in postretirement benefit plans, 105 million dollars of workers compensation, 61 million dollars of coal workers’ pneumoconiosis, 13 million of long-term disabilities, and 149 million in environmental. With the deal Consol sold 1.1 billion tons of coal reserves, reflecting the trend of switching away from coal to focus on natural gas exploration and development.(iii) By selling the mines in conjuction with the liabilities, Consol cleared room in the balance sheet to further investment in Marcellus Shale.(iv)

Financials:

"In 2010..." should be replaced with: In 2013, Consol Energy had an annual revenue of 3.120 billion. Customers primarily include electric and steel mills in the U.S., but demand from European utilities has increased during the 2000s. Consol Energy was ranked number 434 on the Fortune 500 list in 2014.(v)

To be added: In December 2014, CONSOL announced its intent to pursue transactions that would result in changes to the company's organizational and management structure to better align the company to execute its strategy for its natural gas and coal operations in the Appalachian Basin. These anticipated transactions resulted in changes to the company's reportable segments effective for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2014. The Coal Division will now report the following segments: Pennsylvania Operations (Bailey, Enlow Fork, and Harvey mines), Virginia Operations (Buchanan Mine), and Other Operations (Miller Creek Complex). The E&P Division will now report the following segments: Marcellus Shale, Utica Shale, Coalbed Methane (CBM), and Other. (x)

Chart on the right side of the page:

Key People: J. Brett Harvey, Executive Chairman Nicholas J. DeIuliis, President & CEO James C. Grech, CCO & Executive VP Stephen W. Johnson, Executive VP & Chief Legal & Corporate Affairs Officer David M. Khani, Executive VP & CFO (vi)

Products:Coal Natural gas Timber Electric power Land Development Property Development Water Purification (vii)

Revenue: US $3.120 billion (2013) (viii ix)

Number of employees: 3,890

i. http://businessjournaldaily.com/drilling-down/consol-kicks-drilling-project-pittsburgh-airport-2014-8-26 ii. http://businessjournaldaily.com/drilling-down/consol-kicks-drilling-project-pittsburgh-airport-2014-8-26 iii. http://www.charlestondailymail.com/article/20140417/DM05/140419287 iv. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/29/business/energy-environment/consol-energy-to-sell-5-coal-mines.html v. http://fortune.com/fortune500/ vi. http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=66439&p=irol-govbio vii. http://consolenergy.com/other-services/land-resources.aspx viii.http://www.statista.com/statistics/217115/revenues-of-consol-energy/ ix. http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=66439&p=irol-irhome x. http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/consol-energy-announces-fourth-quarter-2014-earnings-release-and-conference-call-schedule-300022121.html

Kodonovan (talk) 16:42, 28 May 2015 (UTC)

Maria D. Quiñones-Sanchez (and other Council articles?)Edit

Knocking around some Philly articles, I found that

I updated the reference link and the accessdate, and deleted the external reference. That left the Ext Refs section empty, so I commented out the header. I also updated her name to "Quiñones-Sánchez" in the infobox and the Persondata, but not the DEFAULTSORT, which has no diacritics.

I have three questions:

  1. Did I do this right?
  2. Should the article be renamed "Maria Quiñones-Sánchez"? There are so many links to it that would have to be fixed that I hesitate. Or is there a program that can do it?
  3. Should we check the pages for other City Council members, and (shudder) possibly other city government members as well, for the change in URL format?

Please {{ping}} me to reply. --Thnidu (talk) 00:22, 28 June 2015 (UTC)

Free to create articlesEdit

Sorry I missed this, but at User_talk:Compassionate727#RfD you asked

"If Snyder Avenue, Pine Street Philladelphia and Locust Street (Philadelphia) are deleted as redirects, does that leave me and other editors free to create articles on those streets?--DThomsen8 (talk) 23:05, 1 July 2015 (UTC)"

In fact, you can always just overwrite a redirect, and the gnomes at RfD like me will just procedurally close it if a redirect has been turned into an article, WP:BOLD!. So yes, you can just overwrite them, no problem. (I have done so in the past when I think a redirect merits its own article). As I noted at the RfD, I think the (Philadelphia) qualification is unnecessary, since we don't have Locust Street unqualified. Of course, I (or you) could just move that across, but I don't like to do so when things are under discussion, it just confuses matters, in my eyes. Pine Street also is red so you can just put that there rather than with the (Philadelphia) suffix. I assume the two L's in your Philladelphia was just a typo. Si Trew (talk) 08:38, 2 July 2015 (UTC)

GOCE July driveEdit

  Guild of Copy Editors Leaderboard Award: Total Articles, 1st Place
This Leaderboard Barnstar is awarded to Dthomsen8 for copyediting 32 articles during the GOCE July 2015 Backlog Elimination Drive. Congratulations, and thank you for your contributions! Miniapolis 17:46, 5 August 2015 (UTC)
  The Modest Barnstar
This barnstar is awarded to Dthomsen8 for copy edits totaling over 4,000 words during the GOCE July 2015 Backlog Elimination Drive. Congratulations, and thank you for your contributions! Miniapolis 17:46, 5 August 2015 (UTC)

WikiProject Brazil v WikiProject South AmericaEdit

Hi. I just reverted an edit of yours, which always feels rude — it certainly was not my intention. Then I noticed that you are quite actively tagging articles with WikiProject banners. Thank you! I too am actively tagging WikiProject Brazil articles, having created 8 new task forces this summer, and I am not alone. WikiProject Brazil has had a huge revival after the addition of these task force groups. There is a core group of enthusiastic taggers who have managed to chip away at the 10,000+ backlog of unassessed articles since June, bringing that number down to 1,429.

{{WikiProject South America}} should really be used for articles related to French Guiana, the Falklands (Malvinas), or other areas of South America without an active WikiProject of their own. Brazilian articles tagged as {{WikiProject South America}} are not included in the assessment categories associated with these new task forces that I mentioned, so we have been removing the Brazil=yes and Brazil-importance tags and replacing them with the {{WikiProject Brazil}} template and the task force tags. I believe Argentina and Uruguay have similar WikiProject specific tags that are not included if you use {{WikiProject South America}}, but I do not know all the details.

All this is to say, please don’t take offense at any untagging or retagging that you see me or other members of WikiProject Brazil doing. We aren’t trying to be difficult. Please do try to refrain from using the WP South America template, however, when it comes to Brazil-related articles. Thanks for all you do! giso6150 (talk) 02:50, 5 September 2015 (UTC)

I will refrain from changing Brazil talk pages, and from other large South America countries, but I presume you would allow {{WikiProject South America|class=stub|importance=|Falkland Islands=yes|Falkland-Islands-importance=low}} and other small places such as Guyana, which I did a lot of changes a few years ago. --DThomsen8 (talk) 13:29, 5 September 2015 (UTC)
Thanks. I agree with continuing to tag articles about the Falklands, Guyana, and other smaller countries with the South America WP template. giso6150 (talk) 13:36, 5 September 2015 (UTC)
Tell me where I sign up as a member to work on the 1,851 unassesed Brazil articles. --DThomsen8 (talk) 15:02, 5 September 2015 (UTC)
Any help would be greatly appreciated, I’m sure. There is a generic sign-up list for WikiProject Brazil as a whole. But as I said, there are also these eight task forces. Seven are part of {{WikiProject Brazil}}:
The eighth task force is part of {{WikiProject Football}}:
Each of the above have their own list of participants, but you are welcome to tag articles for any of them, even if you have not officially signed up. Of course, even if you are just adding the basic {{WikiProject Brazil}} template without evaluating the subject matter or adding any of the task force tags, it would still help out a lot. Thanks again! giso6150 (talk) 18:37, 5 September 2015 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Personal acquaintancesEdit

Hallo Dthomsen8,

I just saw, that you are a participant in Wikipedia:Personal acquaintances and confirmed, that I know you. We did meet each other in London. You gave me one of your great caps. Back than I had no idea who you are. I was just glad to meet such a wonderful person.

So now, you are a "confirmed" person in the personal-acquaintances-project and may be able to re-confirm and confirm that you met other people in person.

Best wishes, WikiAnika (talk) 07:36, 17 September 2015 (UTC)
(who is on her way to the German "wikimania", the WikiCon that is held in Dresden this weekend, and where many other people will get "confirmed"/"bestätigt" this month ;)\\

Thank you for reminding me about this project, and getting me "confirmed" as a member.
I am going to WikiConference USA 2015 Washington, D.C. in October.--DThomsen8 (talk) 12:55, 17 September 2015 (UTC)
I'm also going to WikiConference USA in October. I hope we'll be able to meet there. DStrassmann (talk) 01:17, 19 September 2015 (UTC)

Personal acquaintancesEdit

Hello Dthomsen8, You are now confirmed! Welcome!

  • You can add this box to your userpage: {{User:Romaine/Persönliche Bekanntschaften/box}} This works on de-wiki, en-wiki, fr-wiki, nl-wiki, Commons, Meta, Wikidata, WMBE-wiki, WMNL-wiki and can be requested on other wiki's.
  • The list of English participants is on Wikipedia:Personal acquaintances/Participants.
    • To stay informed, add this page to your watchlist.
  • For a complete overview of all participants, see here.
  • You can confirm others at: this page.

Romaine (talk) 01:07, 28 September 2015 (UTC)

after WikiConference USA 2015Edit

It was good to meet you at the conference. You are a legend! And thank you for the wonderful Wikipedia Editor hat! – econterms (talk) 23:31, 15 October 2015 (UTC)

Somebody tried to delete Walnut Street (Philadelphia) via a move and then a redirectEdit

The move was to Walnut Street, Philadelphia, which then redirected to Center City, Philadelphia. I reverted back to the un-redirected Walnut Street, Philadelphia but couldn't move it back to Walnut Street (Philadelphia). Obviously I'm in over my head. Can you get it back to the original? Any help appreciated. Smallbones(smalltalk) 02:34, 21 October 2015 (UTC)

Same thing with "Temple Town" whcih should probably go back to the version https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cecil_B._Moore,_Philadelphia&direction=prev&oldid=664526585
There are no official neighborhoods in Philly, so I should check this, but "Cecil B. Moore" is a street not a neighborhood. Will get back on this. Smallbones(smalltalk) 02:50, 21 October 2015 (UTC)
I put all this at User talk:Nyttend – I'd let him do the moves, if they are all as clear as I think. But I thought I'd check with you – is "Cecil B. Moore" a neighborhood, or is it "Temple Town"? Please let him know what you think. Smallbones(smalltalk) 02:50, 21 October 2015 (UTC)

WikiProject Women's sportEdit

We appear to have a common interest, and that is to give unrated articles an importance rating. I'm doing that for Wikiproject New Zealand (ever so slowly), and you appear to do this for WikiProject Women's sport in a somewhat quicker way using AWB. I'm of course not sure what your exact decision making process is, but three Kiwi sports women on my watchlist who between them have collected a heap of Olympic gold medals have all received a 'low importance' rating by you. Given that they were obviously on top of the world at some point, that seems somewhat surprising. Would love to hear your thoughts on the likes of Georgina Evers-Swindell, Caroline Evers-Swindell, and Sarah Ulmer. It's not a criticism by any means, I'm mostly curious what your plan is. Schwede66 09:22, 25 November 2015 (UTC)

Thank you for the examples. I will look into it and get back to you right here.--DThomsen8 (talk) 17:01, 27 November 2015 (UTC)
I raised the importance for the three New Zealand women you cite, and also created three redirect pages for them. I have worked on providing importance ratings for Wikipedia:WikiProject:New Zealand. For the ??? column, 6054-5972=82 rated, and for the Unassessed row, 5785-5712=72, almost all class=stub articles. This is progress towards your goal for New Zealand. --DThomsen8 (talk) 19:26, 28 November 2015 (UTC)

Removal of "WikiProject class rating" headings on talk pagesEdit

Hi Dthomsen8. I was wondering: what's the rationale behind removing "WikiProject class rating" headings on talk pages, as you did here? Thanks. DH85868993 (talk) 10:08, 25 November 2015 (UTC)

Mistake. I wanted to remove "This article was automatically assessed because at least one article was rated and this bot brought all the other ratings up to at least that level. BetacommandBot 23:05, 27 August 2007 (UTC)" at the same time. AWB is powerful, but sometimes tricky to achieve all that was intended.--DThomsen8 (talk) 13:15, 25 November 2015 (UTC)
Cool. (I thought it was a bit odd that you removed the heading, but left the content). All good. Thanks. DH85868993 (talk) 20:36, 25 November 2015 (UTC)

WikiProject College Basketball importance assessmentEdit

I notice that you have been going though and adding "low" to articles where the project importance is blank, such as this edit here to Marques Johnson. However, he was a national player of the year and consensus All-American, which should warrant a "high". I've also updated a few other similar edits of yours e.g. All-Americans that should probably be "mid". Can you explain what is the criteria you are currently using to assess the blank impotence articles? Thanks.—Bagumba (talk) 06:11, 27 November 2015 (UTC)

I am sure you know far more about basketball than I do. I have now done some corrections, but my contributions page does not show me what I need to find to make specific corrections except by going to the talk page and looking at the history.
Perhaps you can explain to me why Grant Hill has NBA importance=High, but college basketball and Olympics importance=low. There are many such articles, and I am sure you did nothing to cause that situation, but I may have caused a few of them.--DThomsen8 (talk) 16:58, 27 November 2015 (UTC)
The project banners on the talk page should have a link to the project's "importance" assessment criteria. For example, college basketball's is at Wikipedia:WikiProject_College_Basketball/Assessment#Importance_scale. There's nothing inherently wrong if one project deems one subject a different importance than another, is there? As for specific examples like Grant Hill, some assessments could be out of date, others may be wrong. Those can be judged on a per-case basis. If you are not familiar with a specific person, I suggest you leave the field blank, so other project members will know an assessment is still outstanding, instead of placing a value that is potentially wrong. Can you explain the goal of your AWB edits to remove "auto-inherit"? Thanks.—Bagumba (talk) 18:16, 27 November 2015 (UTC)
If I have provided class and importance ratings for most or all of a talk page, the auto= parameter done by automated processes is irrelevant. I have made a number of corrections to the male basketball players, especially where I made earlier updates but I am sure much more is needed. --DThomsen8 (talk) 19:38, 28 November 2015 (UTC)I now will stop doing AWB on basketball and women's sport talk pages.

Project WP:Personal acquaintances confirmationsEdit

Hello Dthomsen8!
You were confirmed for the third time a few weeks ago. Thus you have enough confirmations to certify other people which you know personally. You can look up your obtained confirmations here. If you have any questions then ask them there. The full list of participants is here – you will know a lot of them! Best regards –.js[democracy needed] 13:29, 9 January 2016 (UTC)

discussion at WikiProject PhiladelphiaEdit

You've worked on articles about Philadelphia, so I'd like you to see a discussion at WikiProject Philadelphia: Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject Philadelphia#IP_editors_are_erasing_neighborhoods.

It's about a spate of recent changes, largely by anonymous users, to articles about Center City Philadelphia. The changes seem misguided to me, and I'd like to hear what other people think. TypoBoy (talk) 00:14, 10 January 2016 (UTC)

You are right on. See my reply on Talk:WikiProject Philadelphia--DThomsen8 (talk) 00:59, 10 January 2016 (UTC)

HI!!!!Edit

Hi, I am Rachael. We met today! RLS (talk) 18:33, 27 February 2016 (UTC)

Reply to NyctemanaEdit

Hi, thanks for the message. Userfy seems to be mainly pushing the article back into non-public draft mode? There has been a lot of aggressive editorial bulldozing by James_Allison, which I guess is his job here. As a complete wiki novice I have limited understanding of all the wiki standards for article inclusion. The judgement concept of failing the notability of a community museum as perceived by someone on the other side of the world seems strange and unfair. It would be nice to think that using userfication, we could develop the article to meet the standards of wikis editors. But some of the more vocal critics of this article seem to have already made up their minds. The museum has grown through Oceania artefact donations for more than 50 years, and the article has the potential to grow through contribution also. If there is hope that this article, which is about a cultural resource very important to us, can continue somehow, then I would like to work towards that. Thanks. Regards, Nyctemana Nyctemana55 (talk) 13:23, 31 March 2016 (UTC)

I will work with you on this situation, and look for other help. See my user page for who I am, a seasoned editor, and reply right here. --DThomsen8 (talk) 13:34, 31 March 2016 (UTC)
Oh, notice the category of this talk page!

Thank You for your helpEdit

We have recently worked together (sort of) in the Ambai Islands article and I would just like to say thank you for your hard work. Thanks to your work the article passed from a rather unintelligible stub to a rather decent start-class. Thank you! I did re-add the ref improve because I still consider that some sections could really do with more in-line citations. Thank you and I look forward to working together in the future.Jtrrs0 (talk) 02:23, 31 May 2016 (UTC)

Project languages importanceEdit

Thanks for updating some of the language talk-pages. I noticed your activities on some Ethiopian language pages I watch. You have classified some of these language as low importance. Please be advised that all language pages, regardless of the number of speakers, are classified as high with respect to the Wiki Project languages. It would be great if you could fix that for the languages where you have changed it to low. Best wishes, Landroving Linguist (talk) 11:27, 5 July 2016 (UTC)

Thank you for the information. Please tell me what "regardless of the number of speakers" means for my updates. If a language is currently spoken, then "high" is the importance. What about long extinct languages, like Linear A or recently extinct? All currently spoken dialects, like Aachen dialect? What about constructed languages, like Nal Bino? Please clarify for me.--DThomsen8 (talk) 17:24, 5 July 2016 (UTC)

Email replyEdit

Hey, you told me you replied to my email, but I don't see it in my inbox or on my talk page. I may be missing something. Let me know Stelba90 (talk) 00:18, 2 August 2016 (UTC)

Cross-listing WP:WikiProject New York City articles in WP:WikiProject New YorkEdit

In this series of edits: [5], [6], [7], you added Ivana Trump, Melania Trump, and Elizabeth Christ Trump to WP:WikiProject New York. These people really have no connection to the state other than they reside in Manhattan. It's really counterproductive to cross-list every NYC article into the state WikiProject for two reasons: 1) It would turn WP:WikiProject New York into WP:WikiProject New York City and 2) WP:WikiProject New York editors already have to wade through a lot of WP:WikiProject New York City just to edit ones that really have a state-wide scope or are upstate. – DanielPenfield (talk) 10:46, 24 August 2016 (UTC)

help project pagesEdit

Just a quick thanks for your help page assessments :) Lee∴V 10:19, 12 September 2016 (UTC)

Happy to do it. Passing 70% and may do more.--Dthomsen8 (talk) 13:53, 13 September 2016 (UTC)

Fixed Nitrogen Research LaboratoryEdit

Noodling around in Commons I found pictures of this lab but not much information. Apparently it was somewhere in DC and apparently the Chemical Heritage Foundation had more information but I haven't been able to find it. Probably not worth an article but it deserves at least a paragraph in the history of fixation. Any hints? Jim.henderson (talk) 16:17, 27 September 2016 (UTC)

Jim: I have asked User talk:Mary Mark Ockerbloom, resident Wikipedian at CHF to contact you.--Dthomsen8 (talk) 21:39, 27 September 2016 (UTC)
Hi @Jim.henderson:, I think the Fixed Nitrogen Research Laboratory would make a nice article! Most of what we have in the CHF collection is images, but there are at least some published sources that I can suggest as useful starting points. Mary Mark Ockerbloom (talk) 00:14, 28 September 2016 (UTC)
Splendid. Actually the contemporary C&ME report is the valuable one; the one I can access that tells me where and what. With that, I intend to expand the miserably written McKinley Building article with a citation-rich paragraph; maybe a section. I was mostly looking for a home for the topic, not intending to do a full-blown article. I know only a little chemistry and in WP do more editing of architecture, a subject in which I am equally ignorant but more bold. That's why I didn't want to put it in the Nitrogen fixation article and wondered whether it belonged in the Haber process article. The splendid reference tells me it does not, so this building will be the home of the topic unless someone more confident in industrial chemistry takes it out of my hands. Thanks, @Mary Mark Ockerbloom: Jim.henderson (talk) 01:07, 28 September 2016 (UTC)

Wikiproject bannerEdit

Hi there, Dthomsen8. I noticed you did a bunch of recent edits replacing the {{WikiProject Cape Verde}} with the {{WikiProject Africa}} one. Thanks for the assessment, but please fix them like this, because WikiProject Cape Verde relies on features of its banner that aren't implemented in WikiProject Africa's banner. Thanks, Waldir talk 09:21, 14 October 2016 (UTC)

I am sorry you find {{WikiProject Africa|class=start|importance=low|Cape Verde=yes|Cape Verde-importance=low}} and like templates unacceptable. I will not place it on any other Cape Verde talk pages.
Please consider Wikipedia:WikiProject Africa/The Africa Destubathon, and Wikipedia:WikiProject Africa/The Africa Destubathon, which includes Wikipedia:WikiProject Africa/The Africa Destubathon/Core stubs - Cape Verde.--Dthomsen8 (talk) 14:50, 20 October 2016 (UTC)

Women articlesEdit

Hi. I was wondering if you could buy this to give as a prize to whoever creates the most women bios for the Africa contest? It's usually very expensive but very lucky for it to be only 80 cents. A few books prizes on this and I think we could get more articles in different areas. I went to buy the Africa book myself but I'd have to pay £21 for them to send it to the UK!♦ Dr. Blofeld 18:11, 23 October 2016 (UTC)

  Done Don't spend a lot on books, but what happens if the winner is far away from me in Philadelphia?--Dthomsen8 (talk) 21:20, 23 October 2016 (UTC)
Thanks. Well you could always get Amazon to dispatch it directly to the winner!♦ Dr. Blofeld 08:16, 24 October 2016 (UTC)
I'll ask on the contets talk page if anybody wants it. Can you sort out giving the $200 to Miyagawa for most women entries then, as I believe you said you'd give 200 for the women top prize. He'll want part cash I think to allow him to buy a new subscription for British Library. That can be sent via paypal, assuming you've both got paypal accounts.♦ Dr. Blofeld 13:39, 28 November 2016 (UTC)

Best WishesEdit

Dthomsen8,

I wish you the best this holiday season.

May the new year bring you nearer to your dreams.

BoringHistoryGuy (talk) 00:15, 26 December 2016 (UTC)

Hat trickEdit

Hi, Dave. I love my "Wikipedia Editor" cap, especially for the envy it inspires. I'm wondering if my WP:WMNYC local chapter should buy a bunch of similar ones but with our name on it. Where did you get it? Jim.henderson (talk) 20:57, 3 January 2017 (UTC)

I had two batches made at different times, some khaki (and with a jacket, front and back) and later for London, blue caps. I have been giving them out to serious editors. Any place that does embroidering can make them, and of course in quantity they are cheaper. Shop around, but be quick, the 15th is near. It should say "Wikipedia editor" in the right font.--Dthomsen8 (talk) 22:26, 3 January 2017 (UTC)

John BullEdit

Heya! I noticed you had PA history next to your name on the Wikiproject Pennsylvania page.

I recently made a new page for John_Bull_(general), and it could use some help from someone with more wikipedia experience than me. Anything you can do for it will be appreciated.

Thanks! Acronach —Preceding undated comment added 16:15, 24 January 2017 (UTC)

I made a few changes in your article. It is a good start, but rather than do more, I want you to look at some examples.
I will check again tomorrow.--Dthomsen8 (talk) 03:36, 25 January 2017 (UTC)

4th Marine DivisionEdit

Your page says you are a master editor and I need your help. One of the bare URLs you fixed on the 4th Marine Division Article was from me. However, the user that put that tag there did that because of me. I made the mistake of telling them that the: Invasion of Iwo Jima and the Battle of Iwo Jima, used back to back is reduntant for the USS Mifflin. That got me a complaint with Wikipedia that I was a sock puppit. Which was dismissed. They checked my edits and un did one for the Seabees and put tags on the 4th Marine Division and the Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 133 articles, But, yesterday I found that they had put 7 hidden categories on 133 in addition. Will you tell me what I need to know. This user seems to use the rules of Wikipedia to be vindictive. My reason for even being on Wikipedia was the inaccuate history posted for 133. Anything else I made an edit on was something that was linked to that article. I would very much apprrecciated your input. I had also asked this of another editor but you were on the 4th's page because of me and I wanted to apologize for the trouble. Thank you 184.97.155.158 (talk) 14:43, 13 February 2017 (UTC)mcb133184.97.155.158 (talk) 14:43, 13 February 2017 (UTC)

Oh my Gosh! I had not logged in Mcb133aco (talk) 14:56, 13 February 2017 (UTC)mcb133acoMcb133aco (talk) 14:56, 13 February 2017 (UTC)

User:MartincbsmithEdit

Hi Dthomsen. I'm not sure why you redirected User:Martincbsmith to Martin Smith (academic). Even if they are one and the same person, the article was created more tha 10 years ago, and it didn't start out as a user space draft. Smith is free to add a COI declaration or other information to the user page if he wants, but a cross namespace redirect to the article does not seem to be needed here. – Marchjuly (talk) 03:38, 11 March 2017 (UTC)

You are quite right.--Dthomsen8 (talk) 04:51, 11 March 2017 (UTC)

Request for helpEdit

I see that in the past you have helped with the Ellis Paul article. I am trying to resolve a dispute regarding the article and am hoping you will lend support on the Talk:Ellis Paul page by offering a Third Party Opinion. In a nutshell, another editor removed a sound sample box that has been part of the article for 10 years. I would like to have a consensus to be able to add the sound sample back. I would appreciate your support. Thank you for your time and consideration. Kmzundel (talk) 12:01, 1 April 2017 (UTC)

  Done--Dthomsen8 (talk) 16:04, 1 April 2017 (UTC)
Thank you so much! I appreciate the support! Kmzundel (talk) 12:40, 3 April 2017 (UTC)

CoordsEdit

Hallo, I've noticed you helpfully adding coordinates to quite a few articles on my watch list, as here: thanks. A couple of points:

  1. Precision – please have a look at Wikipedia:WikiProject_Geographical_coordinates#Precision_guidelines. For an area like a parish I think 2 or 3 decimal places is appropriate: the precision you give is specific to about 8cm.
  2. Region code: if you add "region:GB" it means that someone clicking on the coords gets offered a local set of maps including Ordnance Survey mapping, which is very helpful
  3. Type code: I think "type:city" is probably the appropriate one to use for a parish, which is a 4th-level admin unit so doesn't fit into any of the other categories.

These improvements make the coordinates even more useful for readers. Thanks. PamD 07:10, 20 April 2017 (UTC)

Thank you for the suggestions. I am afraid I have been going for volume, rather than precision. --Dthomsen8 (talk) 12:37, 20 April 2017 (UTC)

Question about quality assessment ratingEdit

Hi, you recently changed the rating for an article which I've been working on, Lilias Armstrong, from a Stub to a Start. This is my first article for wikipedia and since you've looked at it I was wondering if you had any feedback for how I could maybe get it to a C-class or even a B-class. I really thought I had improved it past Start-class but I'm still new to figuring out the different categories. Thank you for looking at the article I've been writing, and thank you for the time. Umimmak (talk) 22:38, 30 April 2017 (UTC)

I will work on this tomorrow.--Dthomsen8 (talk) 01:13, 1 May 2017 (UTC)
@Umimmak: See Template:Grading scheme for a general list (including Start and C-class), use the [show] links to reveal the detailed criteria; see WP:BCLASS for the specifics of a B-class rating. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 08:56, 1 May 2017 (UTC)
@Redrose64: I guess that's why I'm confused because the criteria for start class say things like: not adaquately sourced, doesn't fully adhere to the manual of style, or lacking in content, and I don't see how those criteria apply to Lilias Armstrong. What about it makes it only "developing" and "not quite complete"? Umimmak (talk) 09:11, 1 May 2017 (UTC)

County magistrateEdit

Hi DThomsen8;

Thanks for going out of your way in assessments – I took the liberty of looking at your "User contributions" and am much impressed. I have felt guilty for not doing more of this sort of work, and your example may move me off my behind.

But County magistrate should be more than "low importance." Looking at the criteria in China Assessments, "low importance" is "peripheral knowledge, possibly trivial." The Reference and further reading section of the article lists more than a dozen sources, including a whole book, on the magistrate, which was a key offfice in the government.

There are two or three dozen links to it on Pages that link to County magistrate

The subject seems to me to be at least mid-importance – "fills in more minor details, and may have been included primarily to achieve comprehensive coverage of another topic" – and probably even high: "contributes a depth of knowledge to the encyclopedia."

Likewise, the quality is better than "start." I don't see what more should be added to qualify for at least B – "The article is mostly complete and without major problems, but requires some further work to reach good article standards" – or even A: "The article is well organized and essentially complete, having been reviewed by impartial reviewers from this WikiProject or elsewhere."

Cheers and apologies for taking up your time. ch (talk) 20:51, 14 June 2017 (UTC)

I hope my changes to County magistrate meet wtih your approval.--Dthomsen8 (talk) 14:26, 16 June 2017 (UTC)
Yes – and thanks once again! The article actually meets the Six Good Article Criteria or could easily be brought up to them. But it's a headache to take this on, plus, there are a number of others in the China Portal that also would qualify, so I hesitate to put it first.ch (talk) 18:07, 17 June 2017 (UTC)

Help with edit requestEdit

Hello! I recently submitted an edit request to update the David Trone article, which I posted at Talk:David_Trone#Edit_request_to_update_article. I won't update the article directly because of my conflict of interest, so I am looking for a neutral editor who is willing to make this change on my behalf. I've posted requests for help at WikiProjects Biography, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, but so far no one has responded. As an active WikiProject Pennsylvania participant, I was wondering if you might be available. I don't think it would take very long to review, and I've provided specific markup that is easy to copy and paste if you find the changes acceptable. Thanks for your consideration. Inkian Jason (talk) 21:22, 17 July 2017 (UTC)

Carlton Place BridgeEdit

Carlton Place Bridge, which you created a few days ago, currently redirects to itself. Was this a mistake? Are you planning to expand the article in the future? --Iiii I I I (talk) 07:04, 8 August 2017 (UTC)

It should redirect to South Portland Street Suspension Bridge, and that article says "... is sometimes known as Carlton Place Bridge or simply Glasgow Suspension Bridge...", justifying a redirect to that bridge. Am I correct, or somehow the original was wrong? (I don't know if I can see a deleted original redirect.)--Dthomsen8 (talk) 20:03, 8 August 2017 (UTC)
The way that you had set up Carlton Place Bridge, it contained the single line
#REDIRECT [[Carlton Place Bridge]]
so it redirected right back to itself. Circular redirects are forbidden: this one was deleted under WP:CSD#G8 but there were several other criteria which could have applied, such as G2, G6, A1, R3. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 22:57, 8 August 2017 (UTC)
I explained the possible mistake above, and you have confirmed it. Thanks.--Dthomsen8 (talk) 00:12, 9 August 2017 (UTC)

WikiProject InvestmentEdit

Hey there! I just re-launched the WikiProject Investment.

The site has been fully revamped and updated and I would like to invite you the project.

Feel free to check out the project and ping me if you have any questions.


I'd like to invite you to join the Investment WikiProject. There are a lot of Investment related articles on Wikipedia that could use a little attention, and I hope this project can help organize an effort to improve them. So please, take a look and if you like what you see, help get this project off the ground and a few Investment pages into the front ranks of Wikipedia articles. Thanks!


Cheers! WikiEditCrunch (talk) 00:39, 23 August 2017 (UTC)

Yes, I would join, but how?--Dthomsen8 (talk) 16:43, 21 September 2017 (UTC)
Joined in September.--Dthomsen8 (talk) 11:48, 5 October 2017 (UTC)

PECO tunnelEdit

I am interested in the PECO utility tunnel under the Schuylkill River in relation to a book I am writing called Underground Philadelphia (forthcoming 2018). See below for the paragraph on the tunnel. I used some of the information at "List of crossings of the Schuylkill River" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_crossings_of_the_Schuylkill_River) and its Talk page, plus I found some newspaper articles about the tunnel. I have edited and entered a few wiki articles as "Phillyguy," but I stopped doing that years ago. I haven't updated the wiki page, but I thought you might want to see this... Harry Kyriakodis

PECO bored a $650,000 tunnel through bedrock about seventy feet below the Schuylkill River in 1946–47 to carry both steam pipes and electrical transmission lines. The fifteen-foot diameter passage was burrowed after concerns arose that PECO's electrical cables might be severed by tankers on the Schuylkill. Armored submarine cables had previously transmitted power from Schuylkill Station under the river to the Pennsylvania Railroad's nearby catenary lines via the Arsenal Bridge substation, located by the tunnel's western entrance. That end of the tunnel is inside a shack on the river's west bank next to the Schuylkill Arsenal Bridge; the tunnel's eastern end is a small structure at the intersection of Christian Street and Schuylkill Avenue. Veolia still uses this 1070-foot long utility tunnel. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Phillyguy (talkcontribs) 18:25, 9 September 2017 (UTC)

Great, but what is the source, Harry?

Barlow's syndromeEdit

I believe the redirect you're looking for is within the Scurvy article. Hope this helps. jd22292 (Jalen D. Folf) (talk) 17:56, 16 September 2017 (UTC)

The situation has become very complicated, due to my mistakes and a very quick Speedy Deletion. #REDIRECT Mitral valve prolapse is the correct redirect for Barlow's syndrome. I don't know how to achieve that following the SD. Perhaps I should contest the SD, or perhaps I should just relax and hope others will help me out, perhaps you. To clarify, look at the Disambiguation page Barlow's disease, which separates the scurvy from the modern Barlow's syndrome, nothing to do with scurvy.--Dthomsen8 (talk) 18:19, 16 September 2017 (UTC)
I see. Thank you for the information. jd22292 (Jalen D. Folf) (talk) 18:22, 16 September 2017 (UTC)
From looking at your contributions, I believe you have corrected the problems I created. Thank you for your speedy help.--Dthomsen8 (talk) 18:26, 16 September 2017 (UTC)
The idea of speedy deletion is that it is quick. Anyway, if you disagree with a deletion, see WP:DELETE#Deletion review – in short, ask the deleting admin. If they won't help, you may still be able to get a WP:REFUND. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 20:43, 16 September 2017 (UTC)

Halloween cheer!Edit

Orphaned non-free image File:PhilaRDA.pngEdit

 

Thanks for uploading File:PhilaRDA.png. The image description page currently specifies that the image is non-free and may only be used on Wikipedia under a claim of fair use. However, the image is currently not used in any articles on Wikipedia. If the image was previously in an article, please go to the article and see why it was removed. You may add it back if you think that that will be useful. However, please note that images for which a replacement could be created are not acceptable for use on Wikipedia (see our policy for non-free media).

Note that any non-free images not used in any articles will be deleted after seven days, as described in section F5 of the criteria for speedy deletion. Thank you. --B-bot (talk) 18:15, 23 November 2017 (UTC)

File is now in use.--Dthomsen8 (talk) 22:13, 23 November 2017 (UTC)

Articles for Creation ReviewingEdit

Hello, Dthomsen8.
AfC submissions
Random submission
2+ months
4,680 pending submissions
Purge to update

I recently sent you an invitation to join NPP, but you also might be the right candidate for another related project, AfC, which is also extremely backlogged.
Would you please consider becoming an Articles for Creation reviewer? Articles for Creation reviewers help new users learn the ropes of creating their first articles, and identify whether topics are suitable for inclusion in Wikipedia. Reviewing drafts doesn't take much time but it requires a good understanding of Wikipedia inclusion policies and guidelines; currently Wikipedia needs experienced users at this task. (After requesting to be added to the project, reviewing is not mandatory. One can do it at their convenience). But kindly read the reviewing instructions before making your decision. Thanks. — Insertcleverphrasehere (or here) 03:06, 29 December 2017 (UTC)

I am a member of the Guild of Copy Editors, and my efforts there and for other projects keep me quite busy. Thank you, but I must decline.--Dthomsen8 (talk) 01:35, 19 January 2018 (UTC)

BoringHistoryGuy (talk) 13:48, 16 January 2018 (UTC)Edit

Disambiguation link notification for February 8Edit

Hi. Thank you for your recent edits. An automated process has detected that when you recently edited 1st Essex Artillery Volunteers, you added a link pointing to the disambiguation page Plaistow (check to confirm | fix with Dab solver). Such links are usually incorrect, since a disambiguation page is merely a list of unrelated topics with similar titles. (Read the FAQ • Join us at the DPL WikiProject.)

It's OK to remove this message. Also, to stop receiving these messages, follow these opt-out instructions. Thanks, DPL bot (talk) 09:13, 8 February 2018 (UTC)

  Fixed

Please seeEdit

File:Wikipedia editor.jpg

Smallbones(smalltalk) 01:39, 11 February 2018 (UTC)

Share your experience and feedback as a Wikimedian in this global surveyEdit

WMF Surveys, 18:25, 29 March 2018 (UTC)

April 2018Edit

  Please do not add or change content, as you did at Jack Boyle (footballer), without citing a reliable source. Please review the guidelines at Wikipedia:Citing sources and take this opportunity to add references to the article. Thank you. GiantSnowman 15:26, 7 April 2018 (UTC)

I did cite a reliable source, BBC Sports Football, "The 17-year-old player was asked to travel to England and visit the club after a series of impressive performances for the Jersey team." on 7 February 2008, so 2008–17=1991, his date of birth. See http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/o/oldham_athletic/7231408.stm, the first reference in the article, "(1991<ref name=birth/>)". Please check this out and if I am correct, change my contribution back.--Dthomsen8 (talk) 15:41, 7 April 2018 (UTC)
What if he turned 18 later in the year, meaning he was born in 1990? GiantSnowman 17:06, 7 April 2018 (UTC)
(talk page stalker) Fixed using two sources. – Jonesey95 (talk) 18:11, 7 April 2018 (UTC)

Help reviewing proposed changes to Financial Accounting Standards BoardEdit

Hey Dthomsen8, I saw you're a member of WP:FINANCE and I'm hoping you might have some time to review a new draft I'm proposing for the FASB. I know it's a lot to look over, but I'm trying to get as much feedback on it as possible given its large scope. My changes are centered on both reorganizing the article and outlining the history of the organization alongside the accounting standards that the board has proposed in the past. If you could take a look at it, even just a small part, I'd really appreciate it.--FacultiesIntact (talk) 20:33, 17 April 2018 (UTC)

I ran a dash correcting script and added a talk page, but I think I will stop there. I am not an accountant or finance person. The class=B setting may not be the right one, but it is important to have a correct talk page with appropriate WikiProject values. Cheers!--Dthomsen8 (talk) 23:26, 17 April 2018 (UTC)
Thanks for taking a look!--FacultiesIntact (talk) 16:37, 19 April 2018 (UTC)

Invitation to WikiProject PortalsEdit

Hi,

I noticed your interest in portals. Here is what has been going on behind-the-scenes with them...

Currently, there are about 1500 portals, comprised of 150,000 pages in portal space, the rest beyond the 1500 being subpages. Most of those subpages contain an excerpt, copied and pasted from some article. Such excerpts never change, and they go stale over time (no longer matching the original source material).

The Portal WikiProject was rebooted on April 17th, and has grown to 68 members. We've been busy redesigning the portal model so that portals will not need all those subpages.

The design concept called "selective transclusion", which is used for migrating excerpts (moving them to the base page), does so by displaying part of an article the same as a template. An added benefit of this is that it also keeps them fresh, by always showing the current version of the content that is transcluded.

We are also working on ways to make excerpted content, and listed entries, dynamic, so that the material or links shown automatically change over time without the intervention of an editor. Selected articles, could be set up to change daily, for example, to present a different article each day. This can even be made to show a different article every time a user visits the page. Currently, we can do this from a set list. We're trying to make it so that the list is updated automatically from an external source that is regularly maintained.

Other automated solutions are being sought or developed for each section type of portals. To automatically update and archive news, did you know entries, and so on.

Once we get a fully automated design worked out, it will be applied to all the portals that do not have dedicated maintainers. This will reduce the amount of maintenance they need. A single editor will then be able to watch over far more portals than before, ideally, with each portal taking up only a single page in portal space.

The Portal WikiProject is dedicated to updating, upgrading, and maintaining the entire portal system and every portal in it.

Come check us out, and if you like what you see, feel free to join.    — The Transhumanist   05:31, 9 May 2018 (UTC)


WikiProject Portals update, 11 May 2018Edit

We've grown to 73 members, and morale is high. Thank you for joining. Here is some news, and some tasks...

The RfC will be closed soon...Edit

2018-05-11: preparations are being made to close the RfC. See Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/Requests for closure#Wikipedia:Village pump (proposals)/RfC: Ending the system of portals.

When there, be sure to notice the consultation link.

We're trying to get a prototypical single-page portal developed in time to show the RfC closers before they make their final decision. You can help. It's Portal:Humanism. So far, we've applied selective transclusion (automation) to excerpts, and have made the following sections without subpages: intro, selected article, selected biography, categories, related portals, wikiprojects, things to do, and wikimedia. Eight down, 4 to go, plus 2 formatting subpages (not sure we can migrate those). Automating every section, would also be nice.

Main objectivesEdit

Our main objectives currently, are:

  1. Replace static excerpts with selective transclusions, so that the excerpts always stay fresh (that is, match the source content). We are now doing this on the portal base page as much as possible, to reduce the number of subpages that are needed. See #2...
  2. Migrate the functions of subpages to the portal base pages. There are around 150,000 subpages in portal space. We aim to make these obsolete by using templates and other calls from the portal base pages.
  3. Improve portal design to make portals self-update. Semi-dynamic sections update from a static list, as used in {{Transclude random excerpt}}. Fully-dynamic sections would update from a list maintained elsewhere on Wikipedia, like a category. We haven't found a way to do this yet, other than to create a bot (which we will probably need to do).

Maintenance pass #1: Upgrading the intro sectionEdit

The intro section of many portals transcludes an "Intro" subpage that has an excerpt in it.

We're replacing that with a selective transclusion directly in the intro section, bypassing the subpage. Though, there's a little more to it...

For instructions, see: Wikipedia:WikiProject Portals#Transclude intro excerpt directly on the portal base page.

Please skip Portal:American Civil War, as that is specifically being maintained by hand.

Maintenance pass #2: Obsoleting the Wikimedia subpagesEdit

One of the sections on many portals links to sister projects on the subject. This needlessly takes a subpage. The subpage can be made obsolete by using the template {{Wikimedia for portals}} directly on the portal base page.

This has been done for several hundred portals so far.

See Wikipedia:WikiProject Portals#Obsolete a Wikimedia subpage for instructions.

Maintenance pass #3: calling the category tree from the portal base pageEdit

Certes figured out how...

{{subst:Text|<category|tree>}}{{subst:PAGENAME}}{{subst:Text|</categorytree>}}

For more information, see the thread Wikipedia:WikiProject Portals#Rendering PAGENAME inside categorytree tag doesn't work (it does now).

More to come...Edit

In the meantime, see ya around the portals!    — The Transhumanist   15:33, 11 May 2018 (UTC)


Task requestEdit

Dear Portals Project WikiGnome,

There are a number of portals missing from the main list at Portal:Contents/Portals.

The missing ones are on a list at Portal talk:Contents/Portals#These are not listed yet.

Please place one or as many as you have time for on the main list. Instructions are included with the list of missing entries.

Every little bit helps.

Thank you.    — The Transhumanist   08:37, 15 May 2018 (UTC)

Portals WikiProject update, 15 May 2018Edit

We are at 74 members. If you know anyone who might find this WikiProject interesting, please invite them.

The RfC has endedEdit

The RfC was closed May 11th, and a closing statement was posted May 12th which says "There exists a strong consensus against deleting or even deprecating portals at this time."

Ongoing tasksEdit

Some major activities that we are in the middle of include:

  • Adding the missing existing portals to the main portals list at Portal:Contents/Portals. Instructions are on the talk page. There are about 125 portals left to be processed. (There were 400). Keep up the good work!
  • Development discussions on how to migrate the subpages to the base pages. There are around 150,000 subpages in portal space, associated with the various sections on a typical portal. We are trying to obsolete them section type by section type. Currently, we're working on obsoleting the intro subpages and the "selected articles" subpages. Please join in.

Other tasksEdit

  • The list of portals not ready to be listed on the main list can be found at Wikipedia:WikiProject Portals#These are not listed yet (scroll down to see them - they are marked   Not ready). They are incomplete. If you want a specific portal to work on, please consider choosing one from that list.
  • Over the years, some incomplete portals (portals under construction) got added to Portal:Contents/Portals. Therefore, every portal listed there needs to be inspected, and any that are incomplete should be removed from that list and added to the not ready list at Wikipedia:WikiProject Portals#These are not listed yet (scroll down to see it). On Portal:Contents/Portals, I'm already almost done inspecting the portals in the culture section, and so you can skip those. The types of things to look for are empty sections (most will have a redlinked subpage), lack of "selected" sections, portal stubs with just an intro and end sections, and very poor layout (like seriously unbalanced columns).

Portal-building resourcesEdit

During his work on portals, Broter found a quote randomizer. It is {{Random quotation}}.

Trailblazer: approaching the one-page portalEdit

Broter has transformed the Portal:Community of Christ so it is comprised of only 3 pages in portal space: the base page, its box-header subpage, and its box-footer subpage. Its other other subpages are now obsolete and are waiting for deletion. Nice job, Broter!

Well, that's all for now. See ya around the portals.    — The Transhumanist   06:38, 16 May 2018 (UTC)

Just a heads upEdit

Hey Dthomsen8! I just noticed you made an edit almost a month ago to the James Gayley talk page where you put the GA nomination in the banner shell. Doing this removed the page from WP:GAN, drastically reducing the odds that someone will come along and review it. I'm unsure if you made similar changes to other pages, but just a heads up to make sure you're not placing GAN templates into banner shells in the future! SEMMENDINGER (talk) 18:07, 23 May 2018 (UTC)

You are right on that.--Dthomsen8 (talk) 20:16, 29 June 2018 (UTC)

Portals WikiProject update, 25 May 2018Edit

We have grown to 79 members.

Please provide a warm welcome to our latest additions, Wpgbrown, Cactus.man, JLJ001, and Wumbolo.

A lot is going on, much of it on the WikiProject's talk page, so be sure to go there and join in on any of the many discussions taking place there.

Elsewhere around the portal project, or related to portals, the following is happening...

New news template ready for testingEdit

Evad37 has created a new template, with supporting lua module, to handle news in portals...

{{Transclude selected current events}} is ready to be tested in some actual portals. Let Evad37 know if you need help with the search patterns.

Noyster commented that "This is the best portal innovation since sliced bread!"

See the relevant discussion at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Portals#Alternative to Wikinews.

Thank you, Evad.

Coming soon: Automatic article alerts (but there is a glitch)Edit

Our WikiProject is now subscribed to the bot that makes automatic article alerts, but the subpage where they are posted has not been added to our WikiProject page yet because of a weird problem...

Featured portal nominations from two years ago keep popping up on there.

Please check Wikipedia:WikiProject Portals/Article alerts to see if you can figure out how to fix this.

Once that is remedied, it will be posted on our WikiProject page.

Thank you.

Note that, this will only track base pages, because to track the rest, we'd have to create over 140,000 talk pages for the subpages, and that just isn't worthwhile (as we're trying to remove the subpages anyways). Therefore, any alerts for subpages will still need to be posted manually.

New portal, still needs workEdit

Drafting a new portals guidelineEdit

Your input/editing is welcome on the draft-in-progress of a new guideline for portals.

See or work on the draft at User:Cesdeva/sandbox11.

See also the discussion at: Wikipedia talk:Portal guidelines#RfC on new portal guidelines

RfC on new TOC layout for main portal listEdit

There is a proposal to change the look of the table of contents at Portal:Contents/Portals.

See: Portal talk:Contents/Portals#RFC on layout update.

Deletion discussion survivorsEdit

Thank you to those who have participated in portal deletion discussions. There are still some editors out there who despise portals, and this comes across in their argumentation style. Wow. Such negativity. But, there is some good news...

Current deletion discussions are posted on our WikiProject page.

Portal space clean upEdit

While portal detractors are trying to get rid of portals via MfD, we have deleted many of them via speedy deletion (per {{Db-p1}} or {{Db-p2}}). Essentially, they were bare skeletons, with maybe a little meat on them. The plus here is that speedy deletion is without prejudice to re-creating the portals. They can easily be restarted from scratch without getting approval, or be undeleted by request by someone willing to work on them. We have kept track of these, for when someone wants to rebuild them. They are listed at Portal talk:Contents/Portals#These are not listed yet.

We are also removing subpages, the functions of which have been migrated to portal base pages. To see which ones have been removed, look for the redlinks in our watchlist.

There is also an MfD concerning some of these at Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/Redundant subpages of the Cornwall portal.

For subpages that need to be deleted, you can conveniently place this speedy deletion template at the top of each of them:

{{Db-g6|rationale=of subpage clean up – this subpage's function has been migrated to the portal base page and is no longer needed}}

Then an admin will come along and delete them.

Please help list the unlisted portals!Edit

There are still 100 existing portals not yet presented on the main portal list at Portal:Contents/Portals. There were 400, so we've come a long way. Thank you! But we are not done yet...

Please list a couple of them. Every little bit helps. If each member of this project listed one more, it would almost all be done. Many hands make light work.

The list of missings, and instructions, are to be found at Portal talk:Contents/Portals#These are not listed yet.

I hope to see you there!

Wrapping upEdit

These developments make up just the tip of the iceberg. I'll have more to report in the next update, soon.    — The Transhumanist   00:31, 25 May 2018 (UTC)

Whoa, I missed one...Edit

There's an article about the Portals WikiProject in the new issue of Signpost:

Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2018-05-24/WikiProject report

Enjoy.

P.S.: We now have 80 members. Evad37 just joined!    — The Transhumanist   01:36, 25 May 2018 (UTC)

WikiGnome task...Edit

See Wikipedia:WikiProject Portals#Add a missing Associated Wikimedia section

Even a single edit will help.

Thank you,    — The Transhumanist   21:27, 28 May 2018 (UTC)

Portals WikiProject update #007, 31 May 2018Edit

We have grown to 89 members.

This is the seventh issue of this newsletter. For previous issues, see our newsletter archive.

WelcomeEdit

A warm welcome to our nearly one dozen new members...

Our new members include:

Be sure to say "hi" and welcome them to the team.

The portal set has shrunkEdit

There were 1515 portals, but now we have 1475, because we speedy deleted a bunch of incompleted portals that had been sitting around for ages, that were empty shells or had very little content. Because they were speedied, they can be rebuilt from scratch without acquiring approval from WP:DRV.

Maintenance runs on the portals set have begunEdit

This is what we have been gearing up for: upgrading the portals en masse, using AWB.

More than half of the Associated Wikimedia sections have been converted to no longer use a subpage. This chore will probably be completed over the next week or two. Many thanks to the WikiGnome Squad, who have added an Associated Wikimedia section to the many geography-related portals that lacked one. The rest of the subjects await. :)

The next maintenance drive will be on the intro sections. Notices have gone out to the WikiProjects for which one or more portals fall within their subject scope. Once enough time has elapsed for them to respond (1 week), AWB processing of intro sections will begin.

Thank you, youEdit

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your part in the RfC. I went back and reread much of it. I believe your enthusiasm played a major part in turning the tide on there. I'm proud of all of you.

Why reread that mess, you ask?

To harvest ideas, and to keep the problems that need to be fixed firmly in mind. But, also to keep in touch. See below...

Thank yous all aroundEdit

I've contacted all of the other opposers of the RfC proposal to delete portals, to thank them for their support, and to assure them that their decision was not made in vain. I updated them on our activities, provided the link to the interviews about this project in the Signpost, pointed out our newsletter archive so they can keep up-to-date with what we are doing, and I invited them all to come and have a look-see at our operations (on our talk page).

Sockpuppet, and reverting his workEdit

It so happened that one of our members was a sockpuppet: JLJ001. According to the admin who blocked him, he was a particularly tricky long term abuser. This is a weird situation, since the user was quite helpful. He will be missed.

This has been somewhat disruptive, because admins are doing routine deletions of the pages (portals, templates, etc.) he created, and reversion of his edits (I don't know if they will be reverting all of them). Please bear with them, as they are only doing what is best in the long run.

The following pages have been deleted by the admins so far, that I know of:

Automation so far, section by section...Edit

Automatic article alerts is up and runningEdit

Automatic article alerts are now featured on the project page.

Some super out-of-date entries kept showing up on there, so posting it on the Project page was delayed. Thanks to Evad37 and AfroThundr for providing solutions on this one. Evad37 adjusted the workflow settings per Wikipedia:Article alerts/Subscribing#Choosing workflows, to make sure only the appropriate page types show up. AfroThundr removed the tags from the old entries that caused them to keep showing up in the article alerts.

Other things that could use some automationEdit

Noyster pointed out that it would be nice to automate the updating of the portals section at the Community bulletin board.

Another major component of the portal system is the main list of portals, at Portal:Contents/Portals. How would we go about automating the updating of that?

Please post your ideas on the WikiProject's talk page. Thank you.

Deletion discussion survivorsEdit

Keep in mind that we have already speedy deleted almost all of the nearly empty portals, which can be rebuilt without approval whenever it is convenient to do so. Other portals should be completed if at all possible rather than delete them through MfD (which requires approval from Deletion review to rebuild).

(Current deletion discussions are posted on our WikiProject page).

Portals needing repairEdit

Wrapping upEdit

There's still more, but it will have to wait until next issue.

Until then, see ya around the project.    — The Transhumanist   12:01, 31 May 2018 (UTC)

Portals WikiProject update #008, 7 June 2018Edit

The WikiProject now has 92 participants, including 16 admins.

WelcomeEdit

A warm welcome to the newest members of the team:

Be sure to say hi.

CongratsEdit

Pbsouthwood has just gotten through the grueling RfA process to become a Wikipedia administrator. Be sure to congratulate him.

The reason he went for it was: "For some time I expect to be busy with subpage deletion for Wikipedia:WikiProject Portals as mentioned above. The amount of work is expected to keep me busy for some time. I am primarly a content creator and contributor to policy discussions, but would be willing to consider other admin work on request, providing that I feel that my involvement would be appropriate and not too far outside my comfort zone."

New feature: Picture slideshowEdit

Picture slideshow

Evad37 has figured out a way to let the user flip through pictures without purging the page. Purging is awkward because there is an intermediary confirmation screen that you have to click on "yes". In the new picture slideshow section, all you have to do is click on the > to go to the next picture or < to instantly show the previous feature. The feature also shuffles the pictures when the page is initiated, so that they are shown in a different order each time the user visits the page (or purges it).

It is featured in Portal:Sacramento, California. Check it out to the right.

Keep in mind that the feature is a beta version. Please share your comments on how to refine this feature, at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Portals#Refining the Picture slideshow.

The one-page portal has been achievedEdit

We now have a one-page portal design. It isn't fully automated, nor is it even fully semi-automated, as there are still some manually filled-in areas. But it no longer requires any subpages in portal space, and that is a huge improvement. For example, Portal:Sacramento, California utilizes the one-page design concept. While is employs heavy use of templates, it does not have any subpages of its own.

I commend you for your teamworkEdit

This is the most cooperative team I've ever seen. With a strong spirit of working together to get an important job done. Kudos to you.

In conclusion...Edit

There's more. A lot more. But it will have to wait until next issue, but you don't have to wait. See what's going on at the WikiProject's talk page.    — The Transhumanist   02:08, 7 June 2018 (UTC)

London meetupEdit

Per your request at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject London#LONDON MEETUP, the next one is this coming Sunday. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 16:24, 8 June 2018 (UTC)

Very nice to meet you there, albeit briefly, Best Johnbod (talk) 13:10, 12 June 2018 (UTC)

MealEdit

  • I just sent a photo from the Wikimeet to your email address. It's proving quite a busy week for me and I find that Wednesday evening is not working out as I find I have a research interview scheduled for that evening and my builder also wants to see me then about the start of a project, which won't keep. I'm running another event this evening (Tuesday) and so I suggest Thursday evening as my only free slot now. Can we make it Thursday?
The Austrian restaurant that I looked up was Fischers but The Tiroler Hut sounds to be more fun so I suggest we focus on that. If you go to the British Library to see their Captain Cook exhibition, you'd be able to get to the Tiroler Hut by underground railway (Tube) -- here's a map of the route from King's Cross to Royal Oak.
I'll text these suggestions to that number you gave me and see we can get it together.
Andrew D. (talk) 13:07, 12 June 2018 (UTC)
Thursday is fine for me, have to consult my wife, who is out. --Dthomsen8 (talk) 19:18, 12 June 2018 (UTC)
Andy, it turns out we leave at Heathrow at 6:30 AM on Friday, so going out on Thursday is not good for us. --Dthomsen8 (talk) 10:56, 13 June 2018 (UTC)
  • I'm getting texts from Annie now and trying to work something out. Maybe we can drive over so that they can talk about Ipoh. I'm not sure where you are though. Was it Forest Gate? That's about a 90 minute journey from where we live so maybe we could come over on Thursday evening for a quick meeting, without an elaborate meal. Andrew D. (talk) 12:11, 13 June 2018 (UTC)
  • I've not heard more and am quite busy with work so I don't think we can get together again this time. Please stay in touch online so we can plan in advance as and when you come again. Not sure when I'll next be in PA but will keep you in mind. Andrew D. (talk) 15:26, 14 June 2018 (UTC)

Got your messageEdit

Made a call. Didn't get thru, but left a message. I'll try every 30 minutes until I hear something.

Good try. Tom goes to Mass on Saturday evening. Been w/o Email a week, one more day is not bad, but I do want to communicate with people here and back in PHilly.--Dthomsen8 (talk) 20:28, 9 June 2018 (UTC)
i'll try again later.
Got thru to T, something didn't work. He says he is a luddite. But I am just confused. You can call him on his landline if you wish. Give me land line seven digits here, aand I will promptly e
Good start. Does he have WhatsAp On his cell phone? Calling him is expensive unless I find a way to call with a calling card. I am trying for that now. If he is in Phila, my friend Harvey Welker can help with the techie stuff; phone 215-978-4364.Dthomsen8 (talk) 09:41, 11 June 2018 (UTC)

The Right Stuff June 2018Edit

June 2018
FROM THE EDITOR
The Right Stuff Returns

By Lionelt

Fellow members, I'm pleased to announce the return of the newsletter of WikiProject Conservatism. And considering the recent downsizing at The Signpost the timing could not be better. The Right Stuff will help keep you apprised of what's happening in conservatism at Wikipedia and in the world. The Right Stuff welcomes submissions including position pieces, instructional articles, or short essays addressing important conservatism-related issues. Post submissions here.

Add the Project Discussion page to your watchlist for the latest updates at WikiProject Conservatism Watch (Discuss this story)

ARBITRATION REPORT
Russian Agents Editing at American Politics?

By Lionelt

After a series of unfortunate events largely self-created, bureaucrat and admin Andrevan was the subject of an Arbitration case for conduct unbecoming. Prior to the case getting underway Andrevan resigned as bureaucrat and admin. A widely discussed incident was when he suggested that some editors he described as "pro-Trump" were paid Russian agents. This resulted in a number of editors from varied quarters denouncing the allegations and voicing support for veteran editors including Winkelvi and the notorious MONGO.

Editors who faced Enforcement action include SPECIFICO (no action), Factchecker atyourservice (three month topic ban ARBAPDS), Netoholic (no action) and Anythingyouwant (indef topic ban ARBAPDS). (Discuss this story)
IN THE MEDIA
Breitbart Versus Wikipedia

By Lionelt

Breitbart News, in response to Facebook's decision to use Wikipedia as a source to fight fake news, has declared war on our beloved pedia. The article in Haaretz describes the Facebook arrangement as Wikipedia's "greatest test in years" as well as a "massive threat" to the encyclopedia that anyone can edit. Breitbart's targeting of Wikipedia has resulted in an "epic battle" with respect to editing at the Breitbart article. The article has also recently experienced a dramatic increase in traffic with 50,000 visitors according to Haaretz. There is no love lost between Breitbart and Wikipedia where editors at the Reliable Sources Noticeboard have criticized the news websites unreliability and have compared it to The Daily Mail. (Discuss this story)

DISCUSSION REPORT
Liberty and Trump and Avi, Oh my!

By Lionelt

 
President Donald Trump Speaks at Liberty University Commencement Ceremony
There are several open discussions at the Project:
Recently closed discussions include Anti-abortion movements which was not renamed, and an RFC at Trump–Russia dossier. (Discuss this story)

Delivered: 11:12, 12 June 2018 (UTC)

Wrong building coordinatesEdit

You inserted coordinates that pointed to the wrong building in the William and Anita Newman Library article. What was your source for these faulty (but excessively precise) coordinates? Abductive (reasoning) 01:34, 13 June 2018 (UTC)

WikiGnome task requests, from the Portals WikiProjectEdit

Here are some incremental tasks for you to consider. Do one, or many, as time allows. Every little bit helps...

Task #1Edit

We're getting close to having the main portals list up-to-date, but we aren't quite there yet. There are about 75 portals not yet listed there.

Therefore the first task, of course, is to add as many of these as you can. They can be found at Portal talk:Contents/Portals#These are not listed yet. Instructions are there.

Task #2Edit

The second task on this wish list is to convert one selected picture section to a picture slideshow section. The template to use for this is {{Random slideshow}}. Here are some examples of portals with a picture slideshow section: Portal:Bangladesh, Portal:Sacramento, California, Portal:Algae, and Portal:Reference works.

Note that selected picture sections display pictures from subpages (one subpage per pic), and that each picture would need to be listed in the {{Random slideshow}} template.

Tip: Some portals have only a single picture covered in the selected picture section. Replacing their selected picture sections with a slideshow would be easiest. Eight or more pictures make a decent slide show. Search for pictures at Wikimedia Commons.

Have fun! Sincerely,    — The Transhumanist   09:51, 13 June 2018 (UTC)

Portals WikiProject update #009, 15 June 2018Edit

(Article slideshow prototype)
Selected animals

Don't mind that box to the right. We'll be talking about that later, below.

Almost done...Edit

With the portals upgrades?

No. :)

What is almost done is the updating of the main list of portals!

There are 23 portals left to be listed.

Kudos to the WikiGnome Squadron, for spearheading this.

Once it is fully updated, we need to keep it up to date. When you complete a portal, remember to add it to Portal:Contents/Portals.

Concerning portal upgrades, we are working on those section-by-section...

Associated Wikimedia section conversion task completeEdit

The Associated Wikimedia sections of the entire set of portals have been upgraded. These are now handled on each portal base page (bypassing the previously used corresponding subpages), using the {{Wikimedia for portals}} template rather than reiterated copied/pasted code.

So, to be more accurate on reporting upgrade progress, that's one section down (for the whole set of portals), with (about) nine sections to go. (Skipping curated portals, regarding custom content sections, of course).

Further section conversions (using AWB)Edit

Work is underway on converting Portals' introduction sections, and the categories sections.

If you would like to help, see Wikipedia:WikiProject Portals#Upgrade introduction sections and Wikipedia:WikiProject Portals#AWB task: Convert category sections

Further section conversions (by hand)Edit

Work has also started with converting selected picture sections to picture slideshow sections. See Wikipedia:WikiProject Portals#Install picture slideshows.

Quality rating system for portals under developmentEdit

Currently, there is no quality rating for portals: in the Portals WikiProject box on each portals' talk page, it just says "Portal". But times are a changin'. Quality assessment is on the way, and you can help. See the discussion.

What's coming: excerpt slideshowsEdit

Evad37 has figured out a way to apply the picture slideshow feature to displaying article excerpts (now you can check out the provided box above). :) This allows us to bypass page purging to see the next selection, and you can even click through them rather quickly. Currently, the wikicode for doing this for article excerpts is a bit eye-boggling, and so we are looking into simplifying it. A streamlined version may be just around the corner.

Note that this is a prototype, not ready for widespread use. Click on the box in between the lesser than and greater than signs, to see what I mean. It was meant for pictures, and so the thumbnail feature doesn't apply to article prose very well. I've presented it even though it isn't ready, to show the direction portal development is heading. See the discussion.

WowEdit

I'm amazed at how rapidly portals are evolving. And we're still within a single generation of portal technological evolution. Imagine what they might be in 2 or 3 more generations of developments. Pretty soon, portals will be able to shake your hand. :)    — The Transhumanist   11:03, 16 June 2018 (UTC)

WikiGnome task request, from WikiProject PortalsEdit

Hi.

Portal:Tamil civilization could sure use a picture slideshow. See instructions at Wikipedia:WikiProject Portals#Install picture slideshows.

Please add as many pictures as you have time for. Even adding a single picture helps.

Thank you. Cheers,    — The Transhumanist   00:05, 18 June 2018 (UTC)

Earl of CallendarEdit

You have me at a disadvantage. I am not sure to which of my many confusions you refer. I have edited the article Earl of Callendar a couple of times (Earl of Callendar history). So to jog my memory please tell me to which talk page you found my posting. If you feel so inclined you could add some citations to the Earl of Callendar article.

-- PBS (talk) 09:42, 29 June 2018 (UTC)

Talk:Earl of Linlithgow is the talk page, about the Earl of Callendar.--Dthomsen8 (talk) 11:34, 29 June 2018 (UTC)
Thanks. I think my confusion was long since resolved (see also Talk:The Incident (conspiracy) (and some of the links in Cromwell's Act of Grace). -- PBS (talk)

Portals WikiProject update #010, 30 June 2018Edit

We've grown to 94 participants.

A warm welcome to dcljr and Kpgjhpjm.

Rating system for portalsEdit

We are in the process of developing a rating system specifically for portals, as the quality assessment scheme for articles does not apply to portals. It is coming along nicely. Your input would be very helpful. See the discussion at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Portals/General#Proposed new quality class assessments.

Better than a barnstarEdit

One of our participants got involved with this WikiProject through interest in how the new generation of portals would be handled in WP's MOS (Manual of Style). It didn't take long before he got sucked in deeper. This has given him an opportunity to look around, and so, he has made an assessment of this WikiProject's operations:

I'm quite frankly really impressed and inspired by what's happening here. If you'd asked me a year ago if I thought portals should just be scrapped as a failed, dragged-out experiment, I would have said "yes". This planning and the progress toward making it all practical is exemplary of the wiki spirit, in particular of a happy service-to-readers puppy properly wagging its technological and editorial tail instead of the other way around, and without "drama". It's also one of the few examples I've seen in a long time of a new wikiproject actually doing something useful and fomenting constructive activity (instead of acting as a barrier to participation, and a canvassing/ownership farm for PoV pushers). Kudos all around. — SMcCandlish

Congratulations, everyone. Keep up the great work.

Slideshow developmentEdit

We've run into a glitch with slideshows: they don't work on mobile devices.

Initially, we will need to explore options that allow portals to have slideshows without adversely affecting mobile viewers. See Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Portals/Design#Mobile view support.

Eventually, we may need another way to do slideshows. If we do go this route, and I don't see why we wouldn't, then (user configurable) automatic slideshows also become a possibility.

TemplateStyles RfC passedEdit

Once implemented, this will allow editors to create and edit cascading style sheets for use with templates. This will expand what we can do with portals. For more detail, see mw:Extension:TemplateStyles and Wikipedia:TemplateStyles.

Automation effortEdit

We've run into an obstacle using Lua-based selective transclusion: Lua is incapable (on Wikipedia) of reading in article names from categories. Because of this, we'll need to seek other approaches for fully automating the Selected article section. We are exploring sources other than categories, and other technologies besides Lua.

Speaking of using other sources, the template {{Transclude list item excerpt}} collects list items from a specified page, or from a section of that page, and transcludes the lead from a randomly selected link from that list. Courtesy of Certes. So, if you use this in a portal, and if the template specifies a page or section serviced by JL-Bot, you've now got yourself an automatically updated section in the portal. JL-Bot provides links to featured content and good articles, by subject.

What is "fully automated"? When you create a portal using a creation template, and the portal works thereafter without editor intervention, the portal is fully automated. That is, the portal is supported by features that fetch new content. If you have to add new article names every so often for it to display new content, then it is only semi-automated.

Currently, the Selected article section is semi-automated, because it requires that an editor supplies the names of the various articles for which excerpts are (automatically) displayed. For examples, look at the wikisource code of Portal:Reptiles, Portal:Ancient Tamil civilization, and Portal:Reference works.

So far, 3 sections are fully automatable: the introduction section, the categories section, and the Associated Wikimedia section.

Where is all this heading?Edit

Henry.

Or some other name.

Eventually, the portal department will be a software program. And we won't have to do anything (unless we want to). Not even tell it what portals to create (unless we want to). It will just do it all (plus whatever else we want it to do). And we will of course give it good manners, and a name.

But, that is a few years off.

Until then, building portals is still (partially) up to us.    — The Transhumanist   13:30, 30 June 2018 (UTC)

A barnstar for youEdit

  The Original Barnstar
This is for your valuable efforts for contributing to Wikipedia PATH SLOPU (Talk) 13:20, 4 July 2018 (UTC)


The Right Stuff: July 2018Edit

July 2018
DISCUSSION REPORT
WikiProject Conservatism Comes Under Fire

By Lionelt

WikiProject Conservatism was a topic of discussion at the Administrators' Noticeboard/Incident (AN/I). Objective3000 started a thread where he expressed concern regarding the number of RFC notices posted on the Discussion page suggesting that such notices "could result in swaying consensus by selective notification." Several editors participated in the relatively abbreviated six hour discussion. The assertion that the project is a "club for conservatives" was countered by editors listing examples of users who "profess no political persuasion." It was also noted that notification of WikiProjects regarding ongoing discussions is explicitly permitted by the WP:Canvassing guideline.

At one point the discussion segued to feedback about The Right Stuff. Member SPECIFICO wrote: "One thing I enjoy about the Conservatism Project is the handy newsletter that members receive on our talk pages." Atsme praised the newsletter as "first-class entertainment...BIGLY...first-class...nothing even comes close...it's amazing." Some good-natured sarcasm was offered with Objective3000 observing, "Well, they got the color right" and MrX's followup, "Wow. Yellow is the new red."

Admin Oshwah closed the thread with the result "definitely not an issue for ANI" and directing editors to the project Discussion page for any further discussion. Editor's note: originally the design and color of The Right Stuff was chosen to mimic an old, paper newspaper.

Add the Project Discussion page to your watchlist for the "latest RFCs" at WikiProject Conservatism Watch (Discuss this story)

ARTICLES REPORT
Margaret Thatcher Makes History Again

By Lionelt

Margaret Thatcher is the first article promoted at the new WikiProject Conservatism A-Class review. Congratulations to Neveselbert. A-Class is a quality rating which is ranked higher than GA (Good article) but the criteria are not as rigorous as FA (Featued article). WikiProject Conservatism is one of only two WikiProjects offering A-Class review, the other being WikiProject Military History. Nominate your article here. (Discuss this story)
RECENT RESEARCH
Research About AN/I

By Lionelt

Reprinted in part from the April 26, 2018 issue of The Signpost; written by Zarasophos

 

Out of over one hundred questioned editors, only twenty-seven (27%) are happy with the way reports of conflicts between editors are handled on the Administrators' Incident Noticeboard (AN/I), according to a recent survey . The survey also found that dissatisfaction has varied reasons including "defensive cliques" and biased administrators as well as fear of a "boomerang effect" due to a lacking rule for scope on AN/I reports. The survey also included an analysis of available quantitative data about AN/I. Some notable takeaways:

  • 53% avoided making a report due to fearing it would not be handled appropriately
  • "Otherwise 'popular' users often avoid heavy sanctions for issues that would get new editors banned."
  • "Discussions need to be clerked to keep them from raising more problems than they solve."

In the wake of Zarasophos' article editors discussed the AN/I survey at The Signpost and also at AN/I. Ironically a portion of the AN/I thread was hatted due to "off-topic sniping." To follow-up the problems identified by the research project the Wikimedia Foundation Anti-Harassment Tools team and Support and Safety team initiated a discussion. You can express your thoughts and ideas here.

(Discuss this story)

Delivered: 09:27, 9 July 2018 (UTC)

Portals WikiProject update #011, 10 July 2018Edit

We now have 97 participants.

Be sure to welcome our newest members, BrantleyIzMe, Coffeeandcrumbs, and Nolan Perry, with warm regards.

Work is proceeding apace. We have 2 major thrusts right now: converting the intro sections of portals, and building the components of the one-page automated model...

Converting the intro sections

We need everybody, except those building software components, to work on converting intros. If you have AWB, definitely use that. If not, then work on them manually. Even one a day, or as often as you can muster, will help a lot. There are only about 1,000 of them left to go, so if everyone chips in, it will go pretty quickly. Remember, there are 97 of us!

The intros for most of the portals starting with A through F have already been converted to use the {{Transclude lead excerpt}} template.

The standard wikicode for the automated intro that we want to put into place looks like this:

{{/box-header|Introduction|noedit=yes|}}
{{Transclude lead excerpt | {{PAGENAME}} | paragraphs=1-2 | files=1}}
{{Box-footer|[[{{PAGENAME}}|Read more...]]}}

That works for most portals, but not all. For some portals it requires some tweaking, and for others, we may have to use a different or more customized approach. Remember to visually inspect each portal you work on and make sure that it works before moving on to the next one.

Be sure to skip user-maintained portals. They are listed at Wikipedia:WikiProject_Portals#Specific_portal_maintainers.

AWB tips

I've started an AWB tips page, for those of you feeling a bit overwhelmed by that power user tool. Feel free to add to it and/or improve it.

Portal automation

We have some very talented Lua programmers, who are pushing the limits of what we can do in gathering data from Wikipedia's various namespaces and presenting it in portals. Due to their efforts, Lua is powering the selective transclusion core of our emerging automated portal design, in the form of selected article sections that rotate content, and slideshows.

To go beyond Lua's limits, to take full advantage of Mediawiki's API, we are in the midst of adding another programming language to the resources we shall be making use of: JavaScript. The ways that JavaScript can help us edit portals to boost the power of our Lua solutions, are being explored, which will likely make the two languages synergistic if not symbiotic. Research is under way on how we can use JavaScript to make some of the portal semi-automated features fully automatically self-updating, in ways that Lua cannot. Like gathering random members from a category and inserting them into a portal's templates as parameters. Once the parameters are in place, Lua does the rest.

If you would like to get involved with design efforts, or just keep up on them, see Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Portals/Design.

When should we start building new portals?

Well, not at the present time, because building portals is quite time consuming. The good news is that we are working on a design that will be fully automated, or as close to that as we can get. And the new design is being implemented in the portal department's main portal creation template. This means, that not only will portals update themselves, their creation will be highly automated as well. That's the nature of templates. You put them in place, and they just... work.

What I'm getting at here, is that it would be better to wait to build lots of new portals until after the new design is completed. Because with it, instead of taking hours to create a new portal, it will likely take minutes.

That does not mean we should be idle in the meantime. The main reason most of us are here is because it became apparent that portals were largely unmaintained and had grown out-of-date. This had become so apparent that a proposal was made to delete all the portals and the portal namespace to boot. That makes our main objective in the short term to improve all the existing portals so that the community will want to keep them—forever.

Building lots of new portals comes later. Let's fix up the ones we have first. ;)

And on that note, I bid you adieu. Until next newsletter, see ya 'round the WikiProject.    — The Transhumanist   12:30, 10 July 2018 (UTC)

Portals WikiProject update #012, 15 July 2018Edit

We have 97 participants.

Getting fasterEdit

Automation makes things go faster, even portal creation. One of the components Certes made was {{Transclude list item excerpt}}. I became curious about its possible applications.

So I worked out a portal design using it, the initial prototypes being Portal:Kyoto (without a "Selected pictures" section), and Portal:Dubai (with a "Selected pictures" section). Then I used Portal:Dubai as the basis for further portals of this type...

I was able to revamp Portal:Munich from start to finish in less than 22 minutes.
Portal:Dresden took about 19 minutes.
Portal:Athens took less than 17 minutes.
Did Portal:Florence in about 13 minutes.
Portal:Stockholm also in about 13.
Portal:Palermo approx. 12 minutes.

Why?

To see, and to show, what may become feasible via automation.

It now looks highly feasible that we could get portal construction time down to a few minutes, or maybe even down to a few seconds.

The singularity is just around the corner. :)

SlideshowsEdit

When using the {{Random slideshow}} template to display pictures, be sure to use the plural tense in the section title: "Selected pictures". That's because slideshows don't show up on many mobile devices. Instead the whole set of pictures is shown, hence the section title "Selected pictures", as it fits both situations.

In case you are curious, here is a list of the portals so far that have a slideshow:

Progress on intro conversionsEdit

The intros for most of the portals up through the letter "O" have been converted, using this wikicode:

{{/box-header|Introduction|noedit=yes|}}
{{Transclude lead excerpt | {{PAGENAME}} | paragraphs=1-2 | files=1}}
{{Box-footer|[[{{PAGENAME}}|Read more...]]}}

Where the pagename didn't match the article title for the subject, the title was typed in.

Most of the portals that do not contain {{/intro}} or {{{{FULLPGENAME}}/Intro}} have not yet been processed.

About a thousand portals use the method of selective transclusion for the intro section. That's about two-thirds. That means we have one-third of the way to go on the intro section conversions.

Much more to come...Edit

So much has been happening with portals that I can't keep up with it. (That's good). Which means, more in the upcoming issue. Until then, see ya 'round the project. Sincerely,    — The Transhumanist   08:44, 15 July 2018 (UTC)

WikiGnome task requests from the Portals WikiProjectEdit

Here are some relatively minor tasks that are fairly repetitive, just the way you like '7em...

Add missing completed portals to Portal:Contents/PortalsEdit

Here are some new portals:

Add panoramasEdit

Here's a fun one, that really brightens up a page...

Add a panoramic pic to the top of geographic portals, such as cities, states, provinces, countries, regions, and continents.

Do one, here or there, as you feel like it. Do as many as you like. Every little bit helps.

Please do not add pics over 2 megabytes in size, as they can cause the portal scripts to time out, causing empty sections, or sections with error messages. Watch out, because some of those pictures are huge, like 12 megabytes or more. Less than one megabyte is best, if you can manage it.

Pictures can be found at commons:. Search strings that work well with the city name to find these are "skyline" or "panorama".

Geographic portals are listed in the Geography section of Portal:Contents/Portals. City portals are shown in parentheses.

Here is an example of the main template used to place panoramic pics:

{{wide image|Prague Panorama - Oct 2010.jpg|750px|align=center|border=no}}

Which looks like this:

Here are some examples of city portals with panoramas or panoramic skylines in their intro sections:

Have fun.    — The Transhumanist   02:14, 16 July 2018 (UTC)

Portals WikiProject update #013, 18 July 2018Edit

I got overwhelmed IRL (in real life) during the production of issue #12. So, here is a catch-up issue, to help bring you (and me) up to speed on what is happening with portals...

By the way, we still have 97 participants. (Tell all your friends about this WikiProject, and have them join!)

Panoramas!Edit

One cool feature of some of the geographical portals is a panoramic picture at the top of the intro section.

Check these out:

The Portals WikiGnome squadron is busy adding panoramas to geographical portals that don't yet have one. Feel free to join in on the fun. See task details at Wikipedia:WikiProject Portals#Add a panorama or skyline to a geographic portal.

Caveat: avoid super-huge pics, as they can cause portal scripts to time-out. Please try to keep picture size down below 2 megabytes. Thank you.

Auto-populated slideshowsEdit

Speaking of pictures...

We now have two slideshow templates. You may be familiar with {{Random slideshow}}, in which the editor types in (or copies/pastes) a list of pictures he or she wants it to display.

Well, now we have another template, courtesy of Evad37, which accepts one or more page names instead, and displays a random image off of the listed pages. So instead of listing dozens of files by hand, you can include a title or three to be scanned automatically. It even lets you specify particular sections.

The new slideshow template is {{Transclude files as random slideshow}}.

Here's a sample, that grabs images from a single page:

Selected motorcycle or motorcycling pictures

New Template:Box-header colourEdit

Speaking of new templates, here's another one!

Also from Evad37, we have a new component for starting section boxes, that is color configurable, and that bypasses the need for box-header subpages altogether. It is {{Box-header colour}}.

For color support, see Web colors.

For the discussion in which this was inspired, see Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Portals/Tasks#Colour combinations for accessibility.

(In case you didn't notice, the slideshow box above uses this new template).

BTW, don't forget to close your box with {{Box-footer}}.

Where are we on the redesign?Edit

The answer to this question is quite involved, and would fill this page to overflowing. Therefore, this subject, including a complete update on where we are at and where we are going with portal design, is covered at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Portals/Design.

Where are we on portal conversion?Edit

An AWB pass to convert intros on the portals has been completed. The pass couldn't convert them all (due to various formatting configurations, etc.).

All but about 170 portals now have introductions selectively transcluded on the base page. Not counting manually maintained portals, that leaves about 70 portals that either need their intros converted, or they need an intro.

Next, we'll be converting the categories sections!

What's the plan, man?Edit

The course of action we have been taking goes something like this, with all steps being pursued simultaeneously...

1) Design a one-page automated portal model

2) Convert existing portals to that design (except those being manually maintained)

3) Remove subpages no longer needed

4) Develop further tools to empower editors working on portals

Later, when the tools are up to the task, filling in the gaps in coverage (with new portals) will also become practical.

Are we caught up yet?Edit

Probably not.

Who knows what our programmers and editors have dreamed up while I was writing this.

See ya again soon,    — The Transhumanist   11:06, 18 July 2018 (UTC)

Project banner edits on portalsEdit

Just a heads up, the WikiProject Portals project banner doesn't use the same assessment criteria as most other project banners. Portals will still be given an importance rating, and will soon be using custom classes as well. I've already fixed the ones that were set to NA (a class that portals shouldn't end up in). If you run across portals we haven't assessed yet, you're welcome to take a crack at giving them an importance rating, or just leave them unassessed, and we'll triage them eventually. — AfroThundr (u · t · c) 04:46, 26 July 2018 (UTC)

So, how should Portal:Jersey look?--Dthomsen8 (talk) 12:38, 26 July 2018 (UTC)
For importance, I'd rank it as low for the Portals project. So basically as it is now. — AfroThundr (u · t · c) 05:35, 27 July 2018 (UTC)

Portals WikiProject update #014, 27 July 2018Edit

Development of design continues, full speed ahead...

Excerpt slideshows are here!Edit

Can you say "paradigm shift"?

Now, in addition to picture slideshows, we have slideshows that can display excerpts. Portals are not just for topic tasting anymore. Now they can be made useful for surveying Wikipedia's coverage of entire subjects. This gives a deeper meaning to their name. Hmmm. "Portals"... Doorways to knowledge.

Portal:Lithuania was redesigned using excerpt slideshows. Check it out.

For those of you who cannot wait to test out these new toys...

We have not one, but three excerpt slideshow components to pick from:

{{Transclude excerpts as random slideshow}}

For this one, you specify the page names where the excerpts are to be extracted from.

{{Transclude list item excerpts as random slideshow}}

This one accepts source pages from where the page names are gathered from list items. Then an excerpt from one of those pages is displayed. The selection of what is included in the slide show can be limited to a specific number from the collection (of the page names gathered), and that selection is renewed from scratch each time the page is purged.
For example, if you specify Template:World Heritage Sites in Spain as a source page, the slideshow will cycle through those sites. Now you don't have to type them in one-by-one. This greatly reduces portal creation time.

{{Transclude linked excerpts as random slideshow}}

Same as above, but gathers links instead of just linked list items.

Panoramic bannersEdit

{{Portal image banner}} displays a panoramic picture the width of the page, and adjusts its size, so it stays that way even if the user changes page view size. And it accepts multiple file names, so that the picture displayed randomizes between them each time the page is visited/purged.

Give resizing the page a try:

Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania.

You can now balance section boxesEdit

Before:

Reptile types
Amphibian types

After:

Reptile types
Amphibian types

Notice how the box bottoms line up. That readjusts even if you click the slideshow buttons.

The template used for this is {{Flex columns}}.

By the way, when you include more than one box in a column, any left over whitespace in that column is divided between them.

Box-header colourEdit

You may have noticed the new {{Box-header colour}} template used above. It lets you pick the color locally (right on the same page). Before, this was handled on a subpage somewhere.

Testing, testingEdit

Now that we have lots of toys to play with for making cool portals...

Don't forget, that the majority of views of Wikipedia these days are from mobile devices. We need to make certain that portals display well on those. So, remember to check your work on portals in mobile view mode...

To see a portal in mobile view mode, insert a ".m" into a portal's url, after "en", like this:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Reptile

If you discover problems in a portal you can't fix, report them on Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Portals/Design.

Until next time...Edit

Have fun.    — The Transhumanist   00:57, 27 July 2018 (UTC)

Speedy deletion nomination of Unity Hall HotelEdit

 

A tag has been placed on Unity Hall Hotel requesting that it be speedily deleted from Wikipedia. This has been done for the following reason:

Created in error - this is a completely different hotel, creator misread article, no possibility someone looking for that would want the article on the other one.

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. The Drover's Wife (talk) 09:59, 28 July 2018 (UTC)

You are right! Go ahead and delete.--Dthomsen8 (talk) 10:12, 28 July 2018 (UTC)

Portals tasks requests: presented in the newsletter below...Edit

Portals WikiProject update #015, 31 July 2018Edit

Now that we have lots of toys to play with, it's play time!

Here are some fun activities to use our new toys on...

Fun activity #1: put the improved panorama template to useEdit

Would you like to travel around the world? Well, this may be the next best thing...

Here's another fun toy to play with: {{Portal image banner}}

To see what it looks like, check out the panoramas at the tops of the following portals:

The task: There are many geography portals that lack panoramas. Please add some. Please keep the file size down below 2 megabytes, and keep in mind that you may find quality banners at commons: at less than 200K (.2 megabytes). Good search terms to include with the place name are "banner", "cityscape", "skyline", "panorama", "landscape", etc.

Related task: There are also lots of geography portals that have panoramas used as gaudy banners (with print or icons splattered across them) or that display them in some random location on the page. In many cases, those pages would be improved by displaying the panorama as a clean picture at the top of the intro section, like on the examples above. This works best with banner-like panoramas. Please fix such pages when you come across them, if you believe it would improve the look of the page.

Taller images might be better suited displayed further down the page, or in the "Selected images" section.

Note that {{Portal image banner}} supports multiple images, and displays one at random upon the first visit, and each time the page is purged.

Fun activity #2: install "Selected images" sectionsEdit

That is, image slideshows!

Over 200 have been installed so far. Just 1200 to go. (Be sure not to install them on portals with active maintainers, unless they want you to).

The title "Selected images" reflects the fact that not all images on Wikipedia are pictures, and encompasses maps, graphs, diagrams, sketches, paintings, pictures, and so on.

The toys we have to work with for this are:

{{Random slideshow}}

and

{{Transclude files as random slideshow}}

The task: Using one of the above templates directly on a portal's base page, replace static "Selected picture" sections, with a section like one of these:

Selected images
Selected images

The one on the left uses {{Random slideshow}} (which accepts file names), and the one on the right uses {{Transclude files as random slideshow}} (which accepts source pages from which the filenames are gathered).

The above section formatting is used on many of the pages you will come across, but not all. In those cases, use whatever section formatting matches the rest of the page.

Note that you may come across "Selected picture" sections done with {{Random portal component}} templates. That template call is the entire section. Replace it with a section that matches the other sections on the page, and put the new slideshow inside that.

For example, in Portal:California, this code:

{{Random portal component|max=21|seed=27|header=Selected picture|subpage=Selected picture}}

was replaced with this code:

{{/box-header|Selected images|noedit=yes}}
{{Transclude files as random slideshow
| {{PAGENAME}}
| Culture of {{PAGENAME}}
}}
{{Box-footer}}

And the new section blended right in with the formatting of the rest of the page. Note the use of the {{PAGENAME}} magic word. Plain article titles also work. Don't feel limited to one or two page names. But be sure to test each slideshow before installing the next one. (Or if you prefer, in batches - just don't leave them hanging). Report technical problems at the Portal design talk page.

Fun activity #3: upgrade "Selected article" sectionsEdit

These sections, where unmaintained, have gone stale. That's because 1) the excerpts are static, having been manually copied and pasted, and 2) because they lack automatic addition of new entries.

They can be upgraded with:

{{Transclude random excerpt}}

or

{{Transclude list item excerpt}}

or

{{Transclude linked excerpt}}

All three of these will provide excerpts that won't go stale. The latter two can provide excerpt collections that won't go stale, by providing new entries over time. The key is to select source pages or source sections that are frequently updated, such as root article sections, mainstream lists, or navigation templates.

Where will this put us?Edit

When the above tasks are completed for the entire collection of portals (except the ones with specific maintainers), we'll be more than half-way done with the portal system upgrade.

Keep up the great work.    — The Transhumanist   19:10, 30 July 2018 (UTC)

Talk page templatesEdit

Please do not add {{talk header}} (or one of its redirects) to talk pages that do not warrant it, see Template:Talk header for appropriate usage.

Also, on the talk pages for railway stations, please do not add both {{WikiProject England}} and a county-specific WikiProject banner; similarly, please do not add {{WikiProject England}} to a talk page that already has a county-specific WikiProject banner. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 18:31, 8 August 2018 (UTC)

Portals WikiProject update #016, 15 Aug 2018Edit

Future portal toolEdit

Discussions are underway on the design of a portal tool (user script) that will hopefully have features for modifying portals at the click of a menu item, to make editing them easier. It might do things like change the color for you, add to a selection, add a new section, move a section, and so on.

If you'd like to be involved and suggest features for the tool, please join us at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Portals/Design#What would you want a portal tool to be able to do?.

Progress report: upgrade of portalsEdit

As new portal components are built by our Lua gurus, those components are being used to upgrade portals. Each component automates a section of a portal in a particular way.

The sections that are mostly upgraded so far are the Intro, and the Associated Wikimedia section.

The sections currently undergoing upgrade are: Selected image, Categories, and the Intro.

The Intro? Isn't that done already?

Yes, and no.

The upgrade of the excerpt in intros is mostly complete (there are about 70 non-standard portals that still need it).

Now we are doing another upgrade of intros in the form of adding a panoramic picture at the top of the intro, on portals for which such a picture is available on Commons:. Dozens of panoramas have been added so far, and they are really starting to affect the look of portals — the portals that have them look really good.

Regions are the most likely subjects to have panoramas, but a surprising number of other subjects have banner-shaped pictures too. Some examples of non-geographic portals that they have been added to are:

Speaking of pictures, several hundred Selected image sections have been upgraded to include image slideshows.

Progress report: designEdit

The push for automation continues, with new components under continuous testing in the field. As problems are spotted, they are reported to our programmers, who have done a fantastic job of keeping up with bug reports and fixing the relevant Lua modules fast. I am highly impressed.

Construction time on new portals is now down to as little as a minute or less. Though not in general. If you are lucky enough to spot portals that fit the profile of the new tools (their strengths), then a portal can be complete almost as soon as it is created, with the added time it takes to find and add a panorama. Source page titles are not generally standardized, and so it source pages in many cases must be entered manually. Where source page titles follow a standard naming convention, portal creation for those subjects goes quickly.

So, we still have some hurdles, but the outlook on portals is very good. New features, and many improvements to features are on the horizon. I'll be sure to report them when they become available.

What will the portal of the future look like? That is up to you!

See you on the project's talk pages.

Sincerely,    — The Transhumanist   21:03, 15 August 2018 (UTC)

Portals WikiProject update #017, 22 Aug 2018Edit

This issue is about portal creation...

Creating new portalsEdit

Myself and others have been testing and experimenting with the new components in upgrading existing portals and in building new portals. They have now been applied in hundreds of portals.

The templates are ready for general use for portal creation.

They are still a bit buggy, but the only way we are going to work the rest of the bugs out is by using them and reporting the bugs as we come across them.

I look forward to seeing what new portals you create!

Be sure to report bugs at WT:WPPORTD.

The main portal creation template is {{box portal skeleton}}.

Portal creation tipsEdit

After starting a portal using {{box portal skeleton}}...

  1. Placing a panorama (banner picture) at the top of the intro section is a nice touch, and really makes a portal look good. {{box portal skeleton}} doesn't automatically insert panoramas. So, you will need to do that by hand. They can be found at Commons:. For some examples, check out Portal:Sharks, Portal:Cheese, and Portal:Florence
  2. The search term provided in the Did you know? and In the news sections is very basic and rarely matches anything. It is best to replace that term with multiple search arguments, if possible (separate each argument with a pipe character). For example, in Portal:Capital punishment, see https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Portal:Capital_punishment&diff=855255361&oldid=855137403 Searches in templates use Lua search notation.
  3. Check the In the news and Did you know? sections for mismatches. That is, sometimes entries come up that shouldn't be displayed. If there are any, refine the search strings further, so they don't return such results.
  4. Finish each portal you've created before creating a new one. We don't want unfinished portals sitting around.

Need a laugh?Edit

Check out the Did you know? section on Portal:Determinism.    — The Transhumanist   01:53, 22 August 2018 (UTC)

Attn: WikiGnomesEdit

WikiProject Portals has a fun task for you...

There are lots of new portals.

Many.

Not a few.

Hundreds.

So, it's time for another round of "These are not listed yet".

Instructions and a list of the portals that have not been listed yet are included at that link.

List as many as you have time for, and pick away at the list at your leisure. Every single entry helps.

This is an especially fun task, because you get to browse the new portals while you are working on it.

Curious?

Dive right in. ;)

And of course...

...have fun!    — The Transhumanist   22:43, 29 August 2018 (UTC)

Portals WikiProject update #018, 04 Sept 2018Edit

Bug hunt!Edit

As you know, portals are now supported by a number of new templates, which are in turn supported by some new Lua modules.

Those templates and modules are being put to the test, in the new portals that have been created since this WikiProject rebooted, plus a number of existing portals that have been revamped.

The new portals, and revamped ones, can be found at Category:Single-page portals.

Please browse the new portals at your leisure, and report any and all problems that you spot. Post bug and other portal problem reports at WT:WPPORTD. Please report bugs, quirks, awkward aspects, or anything weird or off that you notice. Compliments and suggestions are also welcome. :)

When you report a bug, please indicate the portal's name, the section that the problem appeared in, and the name of the article appearing (first) in the section with the problem. Most problems will likely be encountered in the Selected general articles" section, due to quirks in a displayed article's wikicode that the lua modules don't handle yet. Your help in spotting those is of utmost value. Thank you.

Don't delete portal subpages just yetEdit

For portals that have been converted to the single-page design, we are not deleting their subpages at this time, because we are working on ways to harvest the data from those pages. For example, the Selected picture subpages include filenames and captions that would be valuable for the image slideshows. Please don't delete portal subpages, for now. They'll be slated for d-batch speedy deletion after harvesting. Thank you.

Development notesEdit

We are currently testing a feature added to {{Transclude files as random slideshow}} that allows it to accept both sourcepages and filenames. Courtesy of Evad37. This will pave the way for harvesting files and their captions from portal subpages, for use in image slideshows.

We need your helpEdit

The bulk of the work is being done by a handful of editors. But we can't do it all. We need help with spotting bugs, refining the search parameters in new/revamped portals (in the "Did you know..." and "In the news" sections), adding images to slideshows for a broader selection (they default to showing the images on the root article page but are capable of showing so much more), adding panoramic pictures at the top of the intro section of region portals (cities, counties, states, provinces, countries, continents, and other regions), to name but a few task types.

It is rewarding to be a part of the growing portal phenomenon. And you get to see its expansion and refinement up close.

Feel free to join in on the fun. ;)

Thank you,    — The Transhumanist   06:50, 4 September 2018 (UTC)

AfroCine: Join us for the Months of African Cinema in October!Edit

Greetings!

You are receiving this message because your username or portal was listed as a participant of a WikiProject that is related to Africa, the Carribean, Cinema or theatre.

This is to introduce you to a new Wikiproject called AfroCine. This new project is dedicated to improving the Wikipedia coverage of the history, works, people, places, events, etc, that are associated with the cinema, theatre and arts of Africa, African countries, the carribbean, and the diaspora. If you would love to be part of this or you're already contributing in this area, kindly list your name as a participant on the project page here.

Furthermore, In the months of October and November, the WikiProject is organizing a global on-wiki contest and edit-a-thon tagged: The Months of African Cinema. If you would love to join us for this exciting event, also list your username as a participant for this event here. In preparation for the contest, please do suggest relevant articles that need to be created or expanded in different countries, during this event!

If you have any questions, complaints, suggestions, etc., please reach out to me personally on my talkpage! Cheers!--Jamie Tubers (talk) 20:50, 5 September 2018 (UTC)

No, I do not have time or the energy to work on something new, and I say that here, and I will say that on your talk page. Sorry, but I am concentrating on Jersey for the remainder of 2018. No, not New Jersey, the Channel Islands Jersey.--Dthomsen8 (talk) 20:16, 18 September 2018 (UTC)

Request for your contributionEdit

I saw your addition of WikiProject School and WikiProject China on the Talk:EasyMandarin page - https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:EasyMandarin and wanted to ask for your contribution to the page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/EasyMandarin

The page was proposed for deletion and the individual that proposed this article for deletion is on holiday according to his user page - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Curb_Safe_Charmer

Since his proposal for deletion, the page was edited and updated, and appears to address all his concerns.

Would you be willing to take a look, review the content, and leave your vote as an independent editor - keep or delete? Hoping to reach a consensus. Thank you. Parkertony (talk) 13:13, 18 September 2018 (UTC)

If your objective in becoming a Wikipedia editor is to promote a business, I have to say to you that you will not achieve that objective. I reviewed your contributions and I see you have not done anything else besides the EasyMandarin article. I have been editing Wikipedia over ten years, and I know for sure what will happen. I will refrain from saying Delete on this article. --Dthomsen8 (talk) 20:10, 18 September 2018 (UTC)
See also Silk Mandarin Language Training Institute--Dthomsen8 (talk) 02:27, 19 September 2018 (UTC)
Thank you for your feedback. I understand how you would think that my goal is to promote a business; however, I wrote this article as a college assignment and made a big effort to abide by all the Wikipedia guidelines. I chose this organization because I attended the school for a summer program while I was in college. I do not actively write on Wikipedia, but sometimes I get pinged regarding my article as I did recently when it was tagged AfD. I would prefer not to see my work deleted from Wikipedia and am actively trying to keep it around. I do not know any other editors so I contacted you when I saw your post on the Talk:EasyMandarin page which is on my Watchlist. I know it is a random request. I understand your position and appreciate you not saying "delete". Regarding the "see also" above, their article does not appear to have any third party references, no claim of notability.Parkertony (talk) 04:00, 19 September 2018 (UTC)
See Hutong_School - I think the article is more comparable to this article as far as content and references.Parkertony (talk) 07:41, 19 September 2018 (UTC)

Portals WikiProject update #019, 22 Sept 2018Edit

Portals progress reportEdit

Don't blink. You might miss something.

As of a few days ago, portals had doubled in about a month and a half.

Also, there were 98 incompleted portals in Category:Portals under construction. Now there are just 43.

The WikiProject page has been thoroughly revisedEdit

The goals, plans, and task sections have all been updated.

Orphaned portals need a home...Edit

Many new portals are still orphans, and need links pointing to them:

  1. A portal link at the bottom of corresponding navigation footer template. E.g., Template:Machines for Portal:Machines. See examples of a portals link at the bottom of Template:Robotics and Template:Forestry.
  2. A {{Portal}} box in the See also section of the corresponding root article for each portal. If there is no See also section, create one and place the portal template in that. (Rather than placing them in an external links section -- they're not external links).
  3. A {{Portal}} template placed at the top of the category page corresponding to each portal.

All new and revamped portals can be found at Category:Single-page portals.

Portal:Contents/PortalsEdit

This is the main list of portals.

Nearly 2,000 of the new portals need to be listed here.

They can be found at Portal talk:Contents/Portals#These are not listed yet. Instructions are included there.

Customized Portal Rating system is now in placeEdit

Portals now have a new rating system of their own designed specifically to support portal evaluation! We were trying to use the standard assessment system for articles, but that doesn't fit portals very well.

Many thanks to Evad37, Waggers, AfroThundr3007730, SMcCandlish, Tom, BrendonTheWizard, and Pbsouthwood for their work and input on this.

The new system can be found at the top of all portal talk pages, in the WikiProject portals box. Those with "???" ratings need to be assessed, which makes up most of the older portals.

Most of the new portals were started out with an initial "Low" level of importance when their talk pages were created. Those deserving higher importance should be promoted as you come across them.

Improving the new portalsEdit

The starting point for new portals included minimal parameters and content, in the form of default values in the template(s) used for their creation.

Embellishing embedded search stringsEdit

So, for the search strings in the "Did you know..." and "In the news" sections, this was the magic word {{PAGENAME}}, which represents the portal's name. Unfortunately, the resulting term is alway capitalized, which limits its effectiveness as a search string for anything but proper nouns. Results for those two sections can be improved, by replacing the "PAGENAME" magic word with multiple search strings, and search strings that begin with lower case letters. There is no inherent limit as to how many search parameters may be included. Lua search notation is used. The more general the subject, the more subtopic search terms you may want to include. For example, on Portal:Avengers (comics), {{PAGENAME}} turned up nothing. But, when more parameters were added, as in the wikicode below...

{{Transclude selected recent additions | {{PAGENAME}} | Iron Man | Spiderman | Antman | Hawkeye | The Hulk | Incredible Hulk | David Banner | Captain America | Scarlet Witch | Black Widow | Tony Stark | Nick Fury | Age of Ultron | Infinity War | months=36 | header={{Box-header colour|Did you know... }}|max=6}}

... that returned several results in the portal's DYK section.

Be sure you make the improvements to both the DYK section and the "In the news" section, as they both require the search strings.

Expanding the slideshow contentsEdit

The default starting selection for the image slideshow in most new portals is whatever images happen to be in the corresponding root article (via the PAGENAME magic word). You can improve image slideshows by adding more sourcepages and filenames as parameters in the "Selected images" section of portals.

See Template:Transclude files as random slideshow/doc for instructions.

More exciting things are to come...Edit

Portals used to take about 6 hours or more to create. Now, for subjects that have particular navigation support, we've got that down to about one minute each, with even more content displayed than ever. True, that means the new portals pick you, rather than the other way around. Creating a specific portal that doesn't happen to have the requisite navigation support is still pretty time consuming. But, we are working on extending our reach beyond the low-hanging fruit.

And efforts are ongoing to keep shaving time off of the creation process. Eventually, we may get it down to seconds each.

In addition to improving automation, we're always looking for new features and improvements that we can add to portals, and there is plenty of potential to expand on the standard design so that new portals are even better right out of the starting gate. Additional designs are also possible.

On the horizon, there are many more portals waiting to be created. And we can expect to see at least a few more section types emerge. I never expected slideshows, for example, especially not for excerpts. Who knows where innovation will take us next?

Keep up the great work everyone.

Sincerely,    — The Transhumanist   07:05, 23 September 2018 (UTC)

Portals WikiProject update #020, 12 Oct 2018Edit

Whew, a lot has been happening.

A bit of defending of the portals has been needed. But, most activity recently has been directed upon maintenance and development of existing portals.

The majority of portals now use the new design, about 2400 of them, leaving around 1200 portals that still employ the old style.

Newest portalsEdit

Please inspect these portals, and report problems or suggest improvements at WT:WPPORTD. Thank you.

MfDsEdit

Since the last issue of this newsletter, Nineteen portals were nominated for deletion. All posted by the same person.

Two portals were deleted.

One resolved as "no consensus".

Sixteen resolved as "keep".

Links to the archived discussions are provided below:

  1. Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/Portal:Air France
  2. Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/Portal:Alexander Korda
  3. Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/Portal:August Derleth
  4. Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/Portal:Average White Band
  5. Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/Portal:Bee-eaters
  6. Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/Portal:Ben E. King
  7. Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/Portal:Benny Goodman
  8. Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/Portal:Bill Bryson
  9. Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/Portal:Billy Idol
  10. Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/Portal:Billy Ocean
  11. Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/Portal:Bob Hope
  12. Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/Portal:Bobbie Rosenfeld Award
  13. Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/Portal:Body piercing
  14. Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/Portal:Canton, Michigan
  15. Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/Portal:Compostela Group of Universities
  16. Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/Portal:Diplo
  17. Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/Portal:Diversity of fish
  18. Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/Portal:Pebble Beach
  19. Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/Portal:Peter, Paul and Mary

Many thanks to those who participated in the discussions.

To watch for future MfD's, keep in mind that the Portals WikiProject is supported by automatic alerts. You can see them at: Wikipedia:WikiProject Portals#Article alerts: portals for deletion at MfD

Creation criteriaEdit

There was also some discussion of creation criteria for portals. The result was that one of the participants in the discussion reverted the portal guidelines to the old version, which has the minimum number of articles for a portal included in there: "about 20 articles", a guideline that was in place since 2009.

Many of the portals that existed prior to April 2018 do not have that many (being limited to however many subpages the portal creator created), and therefore, these portals need to be upgraded to the new design (which automatically provides many articles for display). Using the new design, exceeding 20 articles for display is very easy.

Linking to the new portalsEdit

Efforts have been underway to place links to new portals (all 2200 of them created since April).

  1. Link (portal button) from corresponding category pages.   Done
  2. Link from See also section on corresponding root articles.   Partially implemented
  3. Link from bottom of corresponding templates.   Partially implemented
  4. Link for each portal on Portal:Contents/Portals.   Partially implemented

Your help is needed. It is easy to access the page mentioned in #1, #2, & #3 from the portals themselves.

AWBers could do these tasks even faster (that's how the category pages were done), except #4...

Item #4 above pretty much has to be done by hand. (If you can find a way to speed that up, I would be very impressed). The links needing placement can be found at Portal talk:Contents/Portals#These are not listed yet. Instructions are included there.

The conversion effort: news sectionsEdit

There are still around 1200 old-style portals that have only undergone partial conversion to the new design concepts, still relying on subpages with copied/pasted excerpts that have been going stale for years, out of date (manually posted) news entries, etc.

The section currently being tackled on these is news. You can help by deleting any news section on the old-style portals that has news entries that are years old (that is the dead giveaway to a manual news section). Be sure not to delete the news sections of portals that have up-to-date news, or active maintainers. For maintainers, look at the portal's categories, and/or check the participants list at WP:WPPORT.

Eventually, conditional news sections (that appear only when news items are available for display) will be added using AWB to all portals without a news section.

News items (and even the news sections themselves) are automatically generated for portals that were created using the Basic portal start page. On those portals, there is a hidden comment at the top of the page (that you can see in the edit window), that says this:

<!-- This portal was created using subst:Basic portal start page -->

Design developmentEdit

Presently, we are in the process of implementing the new design features, creating new portals with them, and installing them in existing portals.

But, what about development of new new design features?

We have a wish department.

Post your wishes at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Portals/Design#Discussions about possible cool new features, and they might come true. Many have already, and for many of those, this is where they were posted.

Cascade effectEdit

A resource that has been elusive so far will be obtained eventually: categories. That is, the ability to pull category member links to populate a page.

Rather than populate portals directly with such links, it may be more beneficial to the encyclopedia to utilize them in navigation footers, because portals already have the ability to generate themselves based on those.

So, this would create a cascade effect: auto-gathering entries from categories, would enable the construction of new navigation footers, that would in turn support the development of new portals.

The cascade effect would also be felt by existing portals, as existing navigation footers could be expanded using the category harvesting methods, which would in turn expand the coverage of portals that access those navigation footers.

You can help by providing leads about any potential category harvesting methods. Please report anything you know about harvesting categories at WT:WPPORTD. Thank you.

Looking into the future: the quantum portal?Edit

One idea that has been floating around is the concept of a pageless portal. That is, a portal that isn't stored anywhere, instead being generated when you click on a menu item or button.

Many of the new portals were generated by a single click, and then saved via a second click.

Therefore, it seems likely that the portals of the future will employ the one-click concept.

Because of the need for customization by users, this concept would need to be augmented with a way to integrate user contributions. This could be done in at least two ways: posting an existing portal, autogenerating one from scratch if such does not yet exist, or have a special data page for user contributions that is folded into the auto-generated portal.

How soon? That is up to you. All that is needed are persons to implement it.

Until next time...Edit

Keep up the good work on portals. They are improving daily. Thank you.    — The Transhumanist   04:17, 12 October 2018 (UTC)

Grande-Île (Normandy)Edit

This help request has been answered. If you need more help, you can ask another question on your talk page, contact the responding user(s) directly on their user talk page, or consider visiting the Teahouse.

Please help me with the quotation I am adding on Grande-Île (Normandy). Can the inline reference appear immediately after the quotation, instead of below the quotation?--Dthomsen8 (talk) 21:45, 18 October 2018 (UTC)

If you review the documentation at Template:Quote you'll see that one of the recommended ways to handle the citation is to put it at the end of the quote, still inside the curly braces for the {{quote}} template. — jmcgnh(talk) (contribs) 02:19, 19 October 2018 (UTC)
You even did the fix for me! Many thanks.--Dthomsen8 (talk) 02:24, 19 October 2018 (UTC)

Claire Wilson RfCsEdit

You've opened the same RfC in at least three different places [8] [9] [10]. To avoid creating multiple parallel discussions, you should close all but one RfC and provide links to it on the other relevant talk pages. I've already removed one from the IP's user talk page since this is never the right place to have an RfC about an article. As EEng pointed out, there's really no need for an RfC at all: This is a simple issue that you can resolve yourself by creating a disambiguation page. My Wiki access is quite limited for the next week or so but I'm sure other editors would be able to help. Thanks –dlthewave 10:39, 21 October 2018 (UTC)

Look at the end of Wikipedia talk:Requests for comment and you will see that I did not know how to do this. I will go ahead and close any RfC now outstanding. Can I just remove them, or is there something more formal to do? --Dthomsen8 (talk) 15:11, 21 October 2018 (UTC)
If nobody has responded, I think it would be OK to just remove the whole thing. Otherwise, remove the RfC tag (which will remove it from the list of open RfCs and stop inviting editors to !vote) and leave a "withdrawn by OP" note. –dlthewave 17:34, 21 October 2018 (UTC)
Go to Claire Wilson and see the disambiguation page to Claire Wilson (athlete) and Claire Wilson (University of Texas tower shooting). Now one of the 52 victims has a way for readers to look for her. The other 51 victims do not have that way.--Dthomsen8 (talk) 15:58, 22 October 2018 (UTC)

Portals WikiProject update #021, 24 Oct 2018Edit

Portals have passed the 4,000 mark.

More new portals...Edit

Here's a list of portals created since the last issue

List of new portals

Please inspect these portals, report problems or suggest improvements at WT:WPPORTD, or develop them further (see below). Thank you.

What's next?Edit

There is still lots to do...

There are many subject gaps that need to be filled. This can be done by creating new portals, or by adding Selected article sections to existing portals. To create a new portal, simply place {{subst:Basic portal start page}} on an empty portal page, and click "Preview". If the portal is complete, click "Save". After you try it, come share your experience and excitement at WT:WPPORTD.

Each new portal is just a starting point. Each portal of the new design can be further developed by:

  • refining the search parameters to improve the results displayed in the Did you know and In the news sections.
  • adding more specific Selected articles sections, like Selected biographies.
  • inserting a Recognized content section.
  • adding more pictures to the image slideshow.
  • placing a panoramic picture at the top of the intro section (especially for geographic portals).

Besides the new portals, there are still about 1200 portals of the old design that need to be converted to the new design.

Many portals need to be de-orphaned, by placing links to them (in the See also section of the corresponding root articles, at the bottom of the corresponding navigation footer templates, and on the corresponding category pages).

Many of the new portals still need to be listed at Portal:Contents/Portals.

Bugs keep popping up in portals. These need to be tracked down and reported at WT:WPPORTD.

Tools are needed to make developing and maintaining portals quicker and easier.

Dreaming up new features and capabilities. Innovation needs to continue, to design the portal of tomorrow, and the portal development-maintenance-system of the future. Automation!

So, if you find yourself with a little (or a lot) of free time, pick an area (or more) above and...

...dive in!    — The Transhumanist   07:11, 25 October 2018 (UTC)

Portals WikiProject update #022, 11 Nov 2018Edit

Welcome AmericanAir88Edit

Give a hearty welcome to AmericanAir88, who has adopted working on portals as one of his main purposes on Wikipedia. So far, he has created the following portals:

Way to go!

Where's Evad?Edit

Evad disappeared from Wikipedia on October 18.

He has been, and will continue to be, sorely missed.

Hopefully, he is okay, on a Caribbean cruise or something.

The conversion continuesEdit

Portals of the old design, are slowly but surely being converted to the new single-page design.

One factor that has slowed things down is that for many sections, the section header call and section contents call are integrated into a template and buried in a lua module, locking them in on each portal. They have been that way for years.

This means that these sections can't be directly edited like the other sections on the same portal. So, search/replaces affect all the sections except those. So, upgrading headers on these portals, for example, misses the integrated sections and inadvertently results in 2 different header colors.

Before we can continue with the upgrade of these portals, the headers and section contents calls need to be restored to each portal, so that those can be edited in concert with the other sections on the portal, and worked on independently of each other.

This is underway, with a solution implemented on about 1/4 of the affected portals so far. Around 300 of them. The remaining 900 should be done within a couple weeks or so.

Going wide...Edit

We now have banner-shaped pictures included in the introduction sections of 180 portals. The rarity of such pictures has made it difficult to find suitably narrow images for display across the tops of portals.

We have a solution for this, courtesy of FR30799386...

Most pictures are not banner-shaped. But, you can still use them as banners. Here's how:

{{Portal image banner|File:Blueberries .jpg |maxheight=120px |overflow=Hidden }}

Using both maxheight=120px and overflow=Hidden produces this:

Project's statusEdit

There are now 4,140 portals, with more being created almost daily. Prior to this project's reboot, portals were created at about the rate of 80 per year. Since April of this year, we've created about 2,600 new portals, or 32.5 years' worth at the old rate.

Of those new portals, about 3/4 of them need links leading to them. Almost all of them are linked to from the category system, but they still need links in article see also sections, at the bottom of navigation templates, and on the main portals list at Portal:Contents/Portals.

Of the 1500 portals created before the reboot, about 300 have been completely converted to the new design so far. About 1100 more have been partially converted, with intros, image slideshows, and associated wikimedia sections getting the most attention.

Discussion has resumed on the portal guidelines.

Until next issue...Edit

See ya round the portal system!    — The Transhumanist   11:41, 11 November 2018 (UTC)

Portals wikignome taskEdit

We need Category:Portals with titles not starting with a proper noun added to the remaining portals it is applicable to.

Differentiating these from capitalized subjects will enable many types of tasks.

I've tried Hotcat to place the category on some of the portals. It is pretty fast.

Thank you.    — The Transhumanist   14:18, 14 November 2018 (UTC)

Give us an example: Portal:White dwarfs would be in a category "white dwarfs" instead of the current Category:White dwarfs by changing exactly what and where?--Dthomsen8 (talk) 12:04, 19 November 2018 (UTC)

Wikipedia:WikiProject Portals update #023, 25 Nov 2018Edit

There are now 4,180 portals.

Will we break 5,000 by the end of the year?

I know we can. But, that is up to you!

( New portals are created with {{subst:Basic portal start page}} or {{subst:bpsp}} )

Happy HolidaysEdit

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

Jingling alongEdit

The following portals have been created since the last issue:

Keep 'em coming!

By the way, the above list was generated using this Petscan query. It can be easily modified by changing the date. The data page (under the Output tab) also has options for receiving the data in CSV or tabbed format, which some operating systems automatically load into a spreadsheet program for ease of use, such as copying and pasting the desired column (like page names).

In closingEdit

We'll keep it short this issue.

Expect a flood next time. Or the one after that.  

Cheerio,    — The Transhumanist   07:35, 26 November 2018 (UTC)

Nomination of Ethel Wood (supercentenarian) for deletionEdit

 

A discussion is taking place as to whether the article Ethel Wood (supercentenarian) 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/Ethel Wood (supercentenarian) 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. — JFG talk 10:31, 28 November 2018 (UTC)

December 2018 GOCE newsletterEdit

Guild of Copy Editors December 2018 Newsletter
 

Hello and welcome to the December 2018 GOCE newsletter. Here is what's been happening since the August edition.

Thanks to everyone who participated in the August blitz (results), which focused on Requests and the oldest backlog month. Of the twenty editors who signed up, eleven editors recorded 37 copy edits.

For the September drive (results), of the twenty-three people who signed up, nineteen editors completed 294 copy edits.

Our October blitz (results) focused on Requests, geography, and food and drink articles. Of the fourteen people who signed up, eleven recorded a total of 57 copy edits.

For the November drive (results), twenty-two people signed up, and eighteen editors recorded 273 copy edits. This helped to bring the backlog to a six-month low of 825 articles.

The December blitz will run for one week, from 16 to 22 December. Sign up now!

Elections: Nominations for the Guild's coordinators for the first half of 2019 will be open from 1 to 15 December. Voting will then take place and the election will close on 31 December at 23:59 UTC. Positions for Guild coordinators, who perform the important behind-the-scenes tasks that keep our project running smoothly, are open to all Wikipedians in good standing. We welcome self-nominations, so please consider nominating yourself if you've ever thought about helping out; it's your Guild and it doesn't run itself!

Thank you all again for your participation; we wouldn't be able to achieve what we have without you! Cheers from your GOCE coordinators; Reidgreg, Baffle gab1978, Jonesey95, Miniapolis and Tdslk.

To discontinue receiving GOCE newsletters, please remove your name from our mailing list.

MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 17:04, 3 December 2018 (UTC)

Wikipedia:WikiProject Portals update #024, 26 Dec 2018Edit

Last issue, I mentioned there would be a flood, and so, here it is...

Portals statusEdit

We now have 4,620 portals.

And the race to pass 5,000 by year's end is on...

Can we make it?

The New Year, and the 5,001st portal, await.

( New portals are created with {{subst:Basic portal start page}} or {{subst:bpsp}} )

Evad is back!Edit

After disappearing in mid-thread, Evad37 has returned from a longer than expected wikibreak.

Be sure to welcome him back.

Improved cropping is coming to Portal image bannerEdit

User:FR30799386 is working on making {{Portal image banner}} even better by enabling it to chop the top off an image as well as the bottom.

Many pictures aren't suitable for banners because they are too tall. Therefor, User:FR30799386 added cropping to this template, so that an editor could specify part of a picture to be used rather than the whole thing.

Upgrade of flagship portals is underwayEdit

Work has begun on upgrading Wikipedia's flagship portals (those listed at the top of the Main page).

So far, Portal:Geography, Portal:History, and Portal:Technology have been revamped. Of course, you are welcome to improve them further.

Work continues on the other five. Feel free to join in on the fun.

Spotting missing portals that are redirectsEdit

In place of many missing portals, there is a redirect that leads to "the next best topic", such as a parent topic.

Most of these were created before we had the tools to easily create portals (they used to take 6 hours or more to create, because it was all done manually). Rather than leave a portal link red, some editors thought it was best that those titles led somewhere.

The subjects that have sufficient coverage should have their own portals rather than a redirect to some other subject.

Unfortunately, being blue like all other live links, redirects are harder to spot than redlinks.

To spot redirects easily, you can make them all appear green.

What's new in portal space?Edit

Here are the new portals since the last issue:
  1. Portal:17th century
  2. Portal:18th century
  3. Portal:Absinthe
  4. Portal:Abuse
  5. Portal:Academic degrees
  6. Portal:Acari
  7. Portal:Acipenseriformes
  8. Portal:Actas
  9. Portal:Actinopterygii
  10. Portal:Activision
  11. Portal:Aerobatics
  12. Portal:Aeroflot
  13. Portal:Aesop
  14. Portal:Afrosoricida
  15. Portal:Aichi
  16. Portal:Airlines
  17. Portal:Air traffic control
  18. Portal:Akon
  19. Portal:Alan Turing
  20. Portal:Alfred Nobel
  21. Portal:Alice Paul
  22. Portal:Allahabad
  23. Portal:Allgemeine-SS
  24. Portal:Allium
  25. Portal:Aluminium
  26. Portal:Alvarezsauroidea
  27. Portal:Alveolata
  28. Portal:Amazon
  29. Portal:Amino acids
  30. Portal:Ancient Greek philosophy
  31. Portal:Andalusia
  32. Portal:Andes
  33. Portal:Animax
  34. Portal:Antennas
  35. Portal:Anthrax (American band)
  36. Portal:Antibiotics
  37. Portal:Antidotes
  38. Portal:Antifungals
  39. Portal:Antimony
  40. Portal:Antivirus software
  41. Portal:Aquifers
  42. Portal:Arachnids
  43. Portal:Armadillos
  44. Portal:Armour
  45. Portal:Art movements
  46. Portal:Arvicolinae
  47. Portal:Asanas
  48. Portal:Association of Southeast Asian Nations
  49. Portal:AstraZeneca
  50. Portal:Asturias
  51. Portal:Asus
  52. Portal:Atoms
  53. Portal:Automation
  54. Portal:Aylesbury
  55. Portal:Aztecs
  56. Portal:Bags
  57. Portal:Banks
  58. Portal:Basalt
  59. Portal:Batgirl
  60. Portal:Bats
  61. Portal:Bay Area Rapid Transit
  62. Portal:Beijing Subway
  63. Portal:Belo Horizonte
  64. Portal:Ben Affleck
  65. Portal:Binondo
  66. Portal:Biodiversity of Colombia
  67. Portal:Biomes
  68. Portal:Blue Origin
  69. Portal:Board games
  70. Portal:Boca Raton, Florida
  71. Portal:Bruno Mars
  72. Portal:Budapest Metro
  73. Portal:Buffalo, New York
  74. Portal:Bullying
  75. Portal:Busan Metro
  76. Portal:Buteoninae
  77. Portal:C++
  78. Portal:Cairo Metro
  79. Portal:Canadian art
  80. Portal:Character encoding
  81. Portal:Character encodings
  82. Portal:Charity
  83. Portal:Chemical engineering
  84. Portal:Chemical synthesis
  85. Portal:Chickenpox
  86. Portal:Chili peppers
  87. Portal:Chongqing Rail Transit
  88. Portal:Climate
  89. Portal:Communication
  90. Portal:Community of Madrid
  91. Portal:Computer files
  92. Portal:Concurrent computing
  93. Portal:Conservation biology
  94. Portal:Containers
  95. Portal:Contract bridge
  96. Portal:Convicts in Australia
  97. Portal:Copenhagen Metro
  98. Portal:Crochet
  99. Portal:Cucurbita
  100. Portal:Culture of Albania
  101. Portal:Culture of Argentina
  102. Portal:Culture of Armenia
  103. Portal:Culture of Assam
  104. Portal:Culture of Australia
  105. Portal:Culture of Austria
  106. Portal:Culture of Azerbaijan
  107. Portal:Culture of Bahrain
  108. Portal:Culture of Bangladesh
  109. Portal:Culture of Belarus
  110. Portal:Culture of Belgium
  111. Portal:Culture of Belize
  112. Portal:Culture of Bengal
  113. Portal:Culture of Cornwall
  114. Portal:Culture of Djibouti
  115. Portal:Culture of England
  116. Portal:Culture of Kerala
  117. Portal:Culture of Somalia
  118. Portal:Culture of West Bengal
  119. Portal:Curitiba
  120. Portal:Databases
  121. Portal:Data mining
  122. Portal:Data storage
  123. Portal:Deforestation and desertification
  124. Portal:Delta Air Lines
  125. Portal:Demi Lovato
  126. Portal:Demography
  127. Portal:Desalination
  128. Portal:Development of the human body
  129. Portal:Disease
  130. Portal:Disney Princess
  131. Portal:Dmitri Mendeleev
  132. Portal:Dublin
  133. Portal:DVD
  134. Portal:Eating
  135. Portal:Electronic components
  136. Portal:Elizabeth Cady Stanton
  137. Portal:Elizabeth I of England
  138. Portal:Ellie Goulding
  139. Portal:Embedded systems
  140. Portal:Embroidery
  141. Portal:Emmeline Pankhurst
  142. Portal:Emmy Awards
  143. Portal:Enugu
  144. Portal:Euro
  145. Portal:Eurostar
  146. Portal:Even-toed ungulates
  147. Portal:Executables
  148. Portal:Experimental aircraft
  149. Portal:Falkland Islands
  150. Portal:Fibers
  151. Portal:File sharing
  152. Portal:File systems
  153. Portal:Frankfurt
  154. Portal:Gaels
  155. Portal:Galicia (Spain)
  156. Portal:Gardens
  157. Portal:Gemstones
  158. Portal:Geotechnical engineering
  159. Portal:Geothermal power
  160. Portal:Glass
  161. Portal:Glass production
  162. Portal:GLONASS
  163. Portal:Guangzhou Metro
  164. Portal:Habitats
  165. Portal:Hall of Fame for Great Americans
  166. Portal:Helicopters
  167. Portal:Helmets
  168. Portal:Helsinki
  169. Portal:Hilary Duff
  170. Portal:Hiroshima
  171. Portal:History of computing
  172. Portal:Honey bees
  173. Portal:Honolulu County, Hawaii
  174. Portal:Hubble Space Telescope
  175. Portal:Hummingbirds
  176. Portal:HVAC
  177. Portal:Hymenoptera
  178. Portal:Intermodal containers
  179. Portal:International Council for Science
  180. Portal:International Space Station
  181. Portal:Interstate Highway System
  182. Portal:IOS
  183. Portal:IPv6
  184. Portal:Ithaca, New York
  185. Portal:James Webb Space Telescope
  186. Portal:Jammu and Kashmir
  187. Portal:JavaScript
  188. Portal:Jay-Z
  189. Portal:John Major
  190. Portal:Kabul
  191. Portal:KFC
  192. Portal:Khuzestan Province
  193. Portal:Launch vehicles
  194. Portal:Laundry
  195. Portal:Lenovo
  196. Portal:Leo Tolstoy
  197. Portal:Library classification systems
  198. Portal:Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II
  199. Portal:Longevity
  200. Portal:Los Angeles International Airport
  201. Portal:Love
  202. Portal:Lyra (constellation)
  203. Portal:MacOS
  204. Portal:Macroeconomics
  205. Portal:Madrid
  206. Portal:Mail
  207. Portal:Malaria
  208. Portal:Malware
  209. Portal:Manhattan Project
  210. Portal:Mao Zedong
  211. Portal:Marrakesh
  212. Portal:Mathematics and art
  213. Portal:Mattel
  214. Portal:Mayotte
  215. Portal:Media culture
  216. Portal:Media manipulation
  217. Portal:Medications
  218. Portal:Men
  219. Portal:Metalworking
  220. Portal:Metropolitan Transportation Authority
  221. Portal:Michael Faraday
  222. Portal:Microeconomics
  223. Portal:Milan Metro
  224. Portal:Military aircraft
  225. Portal:Military deception
  226. Portal:Mixed reality
  227. Portal:Modern history
  228. Portal:Mood disorders
  229. Portal:Morpeth, Northumberland
  230. Portal:Moscow Metro
  231. Portal:MPEG
  232. Portal:MTR
  233. Portal:Multihulls
  234. Portal:Museums
  235. Portal:Music of Scotland
  236. Portal:NASA
  237. Portal:National anthems
  238. Portal:Natural language processing
  239. Portal:Neoplasms
  240. Portal:New Delhi
  241. Portal:Northern Cyprus
  242. Portal:Nuclear weapons
  243. Portal:Nuts
  244. Portal:Odd-toed ungulates
  245. Portal:Ores
  246. Portal:Organ transplantation
  247. Portal:Orthoptera
  248. Portal:Oslo
  249. Portal:Palmyra
  250. Portal:Pan-Africanism
  251. Portal:Panasonic
  252. Portal:Parrots
  253. Portal:Parties
  254. Portal:Peanuts
  255. Portal:Peanuts (comic strip)
  256. Portal:Perl
  257. Portal:Permaculture
  258. Portal:Pesticides
  259. Portal:Physical fitness
  260. Portal:Physiology
  261. Portal:Plant nutrition
  262. Portal:Porcelain
  263. Portal:Ports and harbors
  264. Portal:Pre-Columbian era
  265. Portal:Prehistoric Scotland
  266. Portal:Private transport
  267. Portal:Programming languages
  268. Portal:Programming paradigms
  269. Portal:Prostitution
  270. Portal:Protests
  271. Portal:Psychological manipulation
  272. Portal:P. T. Barnum
  273. Portal:Public housing in the United Kingdom
  274. Portal:Public transport in Helsinki
  275. Portal:Public transport in Istanbul
  276. Portal:Pueblos
  277. Portal:Pune
  278. Portal:Quilting
  279. Portal:Racing
  280. Portal:Radiation
  281. Portal:RAID
  282. Portal:Rail transport in Argentina
  283. Portal:Rail transport in Finland
  284. Portal:Rail transport in Germany
  285. Portal:Rail transport in Israel
  286. Portal:Rail transport in Malaysia
  287. Portal:Rail transport in Norway
  288. Portal:Rail transport in Singapore
  289. Portal:Rail transport in Spain
  290. Portal:Rail transport in Sri Lanka
  291. Portal:Rail transport in Thailand
  292. Portal:Rail transport in the United Arab Emirates
  293. Portal:Realism (arts)
  294. Portal:Recycling
  295. Portal:Religion in China
  296. Portal:Religion in Egypt
  297. Portal:Religion in Iran
  298. Portal:Religion in Israel
  299. Portal:Religion in Mexico
  300. Portal:Religion in Mozambique
  301. Portal:Religion in Myanmar
  302. Portal:Religion in Norway
  303. Portal:Religion in Pakistan
  304. Portal:Religion in Poland
  305. Portal:Religion in Portugal
  306. Portal:Religion in Romania
  307. Portal:Religion in Scotland
  308. Portal:Religion in South Africa
  309. Portal:Religion in Sweden
  310. Portal:Religion in Thailand
  311. Portal:Religion in Turkey
  312. Portal:Religion in Zimbabwe
  313. Portal:Republic of Artsakh
  314. Portal:Revolutions
  315. Portal:Reykjavík
  316. Portal:Rhythm
  317. Portal:Rocket engines
  318. Portal:Rodenticides
  319. Portal:Roofs
  320. Portal:Roscosmos
  321. Portal:Roses
  322. Portal:Rowing
  323. Portal:RuPaul
  324. Portal:Saint Helena
  325. Portal:Sales
  326. Portal:San Juan, Puerto Rico
  327. Portal:San Marino
  328. Portal:São Paulo
  329. Portal:Scottish art
  330. Portal:Scottish clans
  331. Portal:Sex work
  332. Portal:Shinkansen
  333. Portal:Shipbuilding
  334. Portal:Silk
  335. Portal:Simple living
  336. Portal:SkyTrain (Vancouver)
  337. Portal:South Ossetia
  338. Portal:Space Shuttles
  339. Portal:SpaceX
  340. Portal:Spike Lee
  341. Portal:SQL
  342. Portal:Starbucks
  343. Portal:Statue of Liberty
  344. Portal:Stem cells
  345. Portal:Stonehenge
  346. Portal:Street newspapers
  347. Portal:Stuttgart
  348. Portal:Submarines
  349. Portal:Suffragettes
  350. Portal:Susan B. Anthony
  351. Portal:Systems
  352. Portal:Tallinn
  353. Portal:Tashkent
  354. Portal:Telephony
  355. Portal:Tents
  356. Portal:Tigers
  357. Portal:Tobacco
  358. Portal:Tomatoes
  359. Portal:Toronto Transit Commission
  360. Portal:Tortoises
  361. Portal:Transnistria
  362. Portal:Transport in Afghanistan
  363. Portal:Transport in Barcelona
  364. Portal:Transport in Belgium
  365. Portal:Transport in Bristol
  366. Portal:Transport in Bucharest
  367. Portal:Transport in Buckinghamshire
  368. Portal:Transport in Cardiff
  369. Portal:Transport in Chennai
  370. Portal:Transport in China
  371. Portal:Transport in Edinburgh
  372. Portal:Transport in Glasgow
  373. Portal:Transport in Guyana
  374. Portal:Transport in Hong Kong
  375. Portal:Transport in India
  376. Portal:Transport in Ireland
  377. Portal:Transport in Israel
  378. Portal:Transport in Kiev
  379. Portal:Transport in London
  380. Portal:Transport in Somerset
  381. Portal:Transport in Tamil Nadu
  382. Portal:Transport in Tiruchirappalli
  383. Portal:Transport in Vietnam
  384. Portal:Transport in Warsaw
  385. Portal:Tuberculosis
  386. Portal:Twitter
  387. Portal:Umayyad Caliphate
  388. Portal:United States Armed Forces
  389. Portal:United States Congress
  390. Portal:USB
  391. Portal:Valencian Community
  392. Portal:Vijayawada
  393. Portal:Voting
  394. Portal:Washington Metro
  395. Portal:Waterfalls
  396. Portal:Weapons
  397. Portal:Weaving
  398. Portal:Web browsers
  399. Portal:Websites
  400. Portal:Wendy's
  401. Portal:Women's prisons in the United States
  402. Portal:Woodworking
  403. Portal:World Chess Championships
  404. Portal:Yangtze

Keep 'em coming!Edit

And I'll see you next issue.  

Sincerely,    — The Transhumanist   08:07, 26 December 2018 (UTC)

Proposed deletion of File:Fairmount Park Art Association (logo).gifEdit

 

The file File:Fairmount Park Art Association (logo).gif has been proposed for deletion because of the following concern:

Unused logo with no article used, it's also can't move to commons because of an unused logo will be deleted as of out of project scope.

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

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

Please consider addressing the issues raised. Removing {{proposed deletion/dated files}} will stop the proposed deletion process, but other deletion processes exist. In particular, the speedy deletion process can result in deletion without discussion, and files for discussion allows discussion to reach consensus for deletion. Willy1018 (talk) 14:03, 27 December 2018 (UTC)

This file added to the Association for Public Art article, new name of the Fairmount Park Art Association.

Wikipedia:WikiProject Portals update #025, 30 Dec 2018Edit

We can now crop the tops of pics to make bannersEdit

Before, we could only cut off the bottom of pics.

User:FR30799386 has pulled it off, and made the upgrade to {{Portal image banner}}...

So, this:

Niagara falls, from the Canadian side

Becomes this:

Niagara falls, from the Canadian side

Here's the code for the above banner:

{{Portal image banner|File:American Falls from Canadian side in winter.jpg | [[Niagara falls]], from the Canadian side |maxheight=175px |overflow=Hidden|croptop=10}}

To see it employed in a portal, check out Portal:Niagara Falls.

About that end of the year goal...Edit

We were racing against time to create 5,000 portals by the end of the year (just for the heck of it).

We made it. We've passed the 5,000 portals mark, with time to spare!

And the 5,000th portal is Portal:Major League Baseball, by Happypillsjr.

Congratulations!

What's next?Edit

The 10,000th portal mark. But...

...there is plenty else to do in addition to building new portals:

  1. The new portals need to be linked to from the encyclopedia.
  2. On those portals about subjects that are not typically capitalized, the search parameters need to be refined/expanded, to maximize the chances of Did you know and In the news items being found and displayed.
  3. A Recognized content section needs to be added to each portal that has a corresponding WikiProject.
  4. Addition of a category on those portals that lack a subject category.
  5. Implement the portal category system, adding the appropriate categories to each portal.
  6. Upgrade, and complete (as per the tasks enumerated above), the old-style portals that are not regularly maintained, which have not been converted yet (about 1,100 of them).
  7. Find and fix the remaining bugs in the underlying lua modules.
  8. Build portal tools (scripts) to assist in the creation, development, and maintenance of portals.
  9. Build a script to help build navbox footer templates, via the harvesting of categories, amongst other methods.
  10. Update the portal building instructions.
  11. Update the portal guideline.
  12. Refine the programming of the portals to reduce their load time.
  13. Design and develop the next generation of portals and portal components.

And whatever else you can dream up.  

But most of all, have a...

Sincerely,    — The Transhumanist   12:12, 30 December 2018 (UTC)

Speedy deletion nomination of Template:WkiPRroject BiographyEdit

 

If this is the first article that you have created, you may want to read the guide to writing your first article.

You may want to consider using the Article Wizard to help you create articles.

Hello, and welcome to Wikipedia. This is a notice that the page you created, Template:WkiPRroject Biography, was tagged as a test page under section G2 of the criteria for speedy deletion and has been or soon may be deleted. Please use the sandbox for any other tests you want to do. Take a look at the welcome page if you would like to learn more about contributing to our encyclopedia.

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. cymru.lass (talkcontribs) 02:17, 1 January 2019 (UTC)

It should be deleted!--Dthomsen8 (talk) 00:59, 2 January 2019 (UTC)


Deorphanize portalsEdit

I would Deorphanize portals, but how is it done?--Dthomsen8 (talk) 21:26, 31 December 2018 (UTC)

@Dthomsen8: I'm glad you asked. We need different specific types of links at 3 different locations for each portal: at the top of each portal's corresponding category page, in the See also section of the corresponding main article, and at the bottom of the corresponding navigation footer template. It's easy, but there are a lot of them. Please do as many as you can when you find spare moments. Here's how...
  1. Place the portal box using the code {{Portal|{{subst:PAGENAME}}}} at the top of the portal's corresponding category page. If the category title does not match the portal's title, type in the portal's title into the portal box so that it shows up instead. If there are any other portal boxes there, remove them, as they are off-topic for the category.
  2. Place * {{Portal-inline|size=tiny|{{subst:PAGENAME}}}} in the "See also" section of the portal's corresponding main article, at the top of the list of entries presented there. If there isn't a "See also" section, make one. Don't forget the asterisk - it makes it into a list item. If there are columns of items there, include it in the columns. Remove any portal boxes, as they are off-topic, and we wish to keep portal navigation well-focused.
  3. Place {{icon|Portal}} '''[[Portal:{{subst:PAGENAME}}|Portal]]''' in the below = section at the bottom of the portal's corresponding navbox footer. If the link shows up red, that means the titles did not match exactly. In such a case, replace the pagename with the portal's actual title. If there isn't a below = section, make one. For an example, see Template:Computer science.
To learn about what "subst:" does and how it works, see Wikipedia:Substitution.
To learn about "magic words", like the PAGENAME variable, see Help:Magic words.
Doing all the above by hand is rather time-consuming, so I'm working on a script called P-link.js that will make the placement of portal links easier. The only menu item that works so far is "P link on category". But, until I figure out how to make it work in 1 click, you have to click on it up to 3 separate times (one per page), depending what kind of page you start on. It is designed to be used from the portal you want to provide links to, or from any of the target pages with matching title.
So, clicking on it from a matching non-category page will take you to the category page. Clicking on it while on the category page will bring up the editing page. And clicking on it from the category's editing page will place the code on the page to be ready to save.
I'm having trouble figuring out how to use local memory to isolate each page type, so that the script can go from one to the other automatically without getting them mixed up (otherwise it goes into an endless loop). Therefore, for now, the user has to do all the clicks personally.
The other 2 menu items don't do anything yet.
Let me know if you find the script useful.


I started a category of portals that need links to them. See Category:Portals needing placement of incoming links. (The category was automatically added at the time the portals were created). There are lots more than that, but at least this provides a partial list.
I hope the above instructions help. And of course, if you have any questions, please feel free to ask.
Sincerely,    — The Transhumanist   18:57, 1 January 2019 (UTC)

Bauhaus and its Sites in Weimar, Dessau and BernauEdit

Hello, you recently assessed the article about the World Heritage Site Bauhaus and its Sites in Weimar, Dessau and Bernau of "low importance" for the Wiki projects Germany, Architecture, and World Heritage Sites. Could you please explain the thinking, as the page Classical Weimar (World Heritage Site), which similarly describes a joint German World Heritage Site, although not in as much detail and citing only one reference (the Bauhaus article refers to 31 sources), is rated as "high importance" for these three categories. Thank you for your time.Felixkrater (talk) 08:34, 2 January 2019 (UTC)

Slow, but now   Done.--Dthomsen8 (talk) 18:25, 11 January 2019 (UTC)
Ein glückliches neues Jahr! --Dthomsen8 (talk) 18:36, 11 January 2019 (UTC)

January 13: Wikimedia NYC invites you to Wikipedia Day 2019Edit

Sunday January 13: Wikipedia Day 2019 in NYC

You are invited to join us at Ace Hotel for Wikipedia Day 2019, a Wikipedia celebration and mini-conference as part of the project's global 18th birthday festivities. In addition to the party, the event features keynote presentations, panels, lightning talks, and, of course, open space sessions.

And there will be cake.

We also hope for the participation of our friends from the Free Culture movement and from educational and cultural institutions interested in developing free knowledge projects.

9:30AM - 6:00PM at Ace Hotel, 20 West 29th Street in Manhattan

We especially encourage folks to add your 3-minute lightning talks to our roster, and otherwise join in the "open space" experience! Newcomers are very welcome! Bring your friends and colleagues! --Wikimedia New York City Team 20:34, 3 January 2019 (UTC)

(You can subscribe/unsubscribe from future notifications for NYC-area events by adding or removing your name from this list.)

Reply to Wikipedia emailEdit

I received your email and appreciate your concern with my lack of recent contributions. I have been a bit busy lately. Happy 2019! FlyingLeopard2014 (talk) 16:40, 11 January 2019 (UTC)

There are only a few of us Leopards on Wikipedia. Surely there are more, just keeping their identity quiet. With 48,000 fans plus, filling Yankee Stadium, many more, myself among them! I want to find more, and have them proclaim themselves. Help me if you can.
Go Leopards! Beat Lehigh! --Dthomsen8 (talk) 18:17, 11 January 2019 (UTC)

Lightning talks at Wikipedia Day NYCEdit

Hope you are feeling better. The lightning talks, and the main sessions, will be livestreamed and can be watched at https://livestream.com/internetsociety/wikidaynyc2019/ on Sunday. Unfortunately, it's not possible to give a lightning remotely, but hopefully you can join us next year!--Pharos (talk) 15:14, 12 January 2019 (UTC)

Proposed deletion of File:PhiladelphiaSketchClub.jpgEdit

 

The file File:PhiladelphiaSketchClub.jpg has been proposed for deletion because of the following concern:

Unused logo with no article used, it's also can't move to commons because of an unused logo will be deleted as of out of project scope.

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

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

Please consider addressing the issues raised. Removing {{proposed deletion/dated files}} will stop the proposed deletion process, but other deletion processes exist. In particular, the speedy deletion process can result in deletion without discussion, and files for discussion allows discussion to reach consensus for deletion. Willy1018 (talk) 18:55, 14 January 2019 (UTC)

The PhiladelphiaSketchClub.jpg was used in the article Philadelphia Sketch Club at one time (10 February 2010 by me), and will be used there again as soon as I can update that article.--Dthomsen8 (talk) 19:15, 14 January 2019 (UTC)

Nepal News Network InternationalEdit

Hi, you !voted "Strong keep" at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Nepal News Network International, but the discussion was speedily closed on grounds of socking rather than on its merits.

Would you still keep it? Please reply at Talk:Nepal News Network International. – Fayenatic London 09:31, 16 January 2019 (UTC)

Wikipedia:WikiProject Portals update #026, 20 Jan 2019Edit

Well, here's the first issue of the new year. Enjoy...

New participantsEdit

A hearty welcome to new arrivals to the portals department:

Harvesting categories tool prototypeEdit

DannyS712 has created a user script prototype, User:DannyS712/Cat links, that can pull members from a category, a functionality we've been after since the project's revamp last Spring. Now, it's a matter of applying this technique to scripts that will place the items where needed, such as with a section starter script and/or portal builder script.

New portals since last issueEdit

  1. Academic publishing
  2. Accounting
  3. Adam and Eve
  4. African Great Lakes
  5. Al Green
  6. Alternative views
  7. America's Next Top Model
  8. Andaman and Nicobar Islands
  9. Angles
  10. Applied mathematics
  11. Arabic
  12. Areas of mathematics
  13. Atlanta metropolitan area
  14. Atlantic Ocean
  15. Big Bash League
  16. Bijelo Dugme
  17. Bill Cosby
  18. Boats
  19. Bombardier Aerospace
  20. Bruce Willis
  21. Canadian law
  22. Cannons
  23. Caribbean American
  24. Chinese American
  25. Chinese Canadians
  26. Chinese gardens
  27. Chris Brown
  28. City
  29. Common law
  30. Criminal law
  31. Czechoslovakia
  32. Data
  33. Data warehouses
  34. DC Comics
  35. Deities
  36. DeKalb County
  37. Destiny's Child
  38. Differential equations
  39. Discrete geometry
  40. East Asia
  41. Economy of China
  42. Economy of India
  43. Economy of Malaysia
  44. Economy of the United Kingdom
  45. Ellen DeGeneres
  46. Email clients
  47. E
  48. Equations
  49. European Americans
  50. Filipino Americans
  51. Football in Algeria
  52. Fox Corporation
  53. Fractions and ratios
  54. Functional analysis
  55. Game theory
  56. Girlguiding
  57. Gloucestershire
  58. Grazhdanskaya Oborona
  59. Greek diaspora
  60. Habsburg Monarchy
  61. Hilbert's problems
  62. Hoodoo Gurus
  63. Hyundai Motor Company
  64. Iggy Azalea
  65. Indian Ocean
  66. Infinity
  67. Information theory
  68. Integrals
  69. Irish diaspora
  70. Irrational numbers
  71. Italian diaspora
  72. Japanese diaspora
  73. J. Cole
  74. Jennifer Lopez
  75. Jessica Lange
  76. John Fogerty
  77. Kehlani
  78. Kiev
  79. K. Michelle
  80. Knot theory
  81. Kool & the Gang
  82. Lakes in China
  83. Lake Van
  84. Leonardo DiCaprio
  85. Limerick
  86. Literary composition
  87. Long Island Rail Road
  88. Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority
  89. Lukas Graham
  90. Mathematical optimization
  91. Matt Damon
  92. Merchant ships
  93. Metallic means
  94. Metro-North Railroad
  95. Microsoft Windows
  96. Military of India
  97. Miss America
  98. Modulation
  99. Moon landing
  100. Mozilla
  101. Music of Ireland
  102. Narratives
  103. Nashville
  104. Nassau County
  105. Norfolk
  106. Nottinghamshire
  107. One Life to Live
  108. Overseas Chinese
  109. Percentages
  110. Probability distributions
  111. Public Broadcasting Service
  112. Quezon City
  113. Raven-Symoné
  114. R. Kelly
  115. Rodeo
  116. RuneScape
  117. Sarah Silverman
  118. Saturn rockets
  119. Science and technology
  120. Sesame Street
  121. Seth MacFarlane
  122. Ships
  123. Shipwrecks
  124. Shropshire
  125. Spaceports
  126. Space suits
  127. Spanish diaspora
  128. Steam locomotives
  129. Suffolk
  130. Suzuki
  131. Tanks
  132. Tensors
  133. The CW
  134. Thomas Aquinas
  135. T.I.
  136. TISM
  137. Tom Cruise
  138. Toni Braxton
  139. Toyota
  140. Transportation in the Philippines
  141. True Blood
  142. Violin
  143. Virgin Group
  144. Vladimir Putin
  145. Volkswagen
  146. Volume
  147. Warner Bros.
  148. Warships
  149. Warwickshire
  150. Washington D.C.
  151. [[Portal:Watercraft|
  152. Web syndication
  153. Wikis
  154. Witchcraft
  155. Women's sports
  156. World of Warcraft

What else is going onEdit

There have been some discussions at Wikipedia talk:Portal guidelines.

DreamyJazz is working on a bot to place links to portals on root articles, category pages, and navigation footer templates.

Portal bugs are getting dealt with soon after they are reported.

Lots of wikignome activity (using Hotcat, etc.).

Keep up the good work.    — The Transhumanist   09:08, 20 January 2019 (UTC)

Very good progress in 2018. Keep it up in 2019.--Dthomsen8 (talk) 18:55, 20 January 2019 (UTC)

User:Dreamy Jazz/Edit

Can we communicate with User:Dreamy Jazz?--Dthomsen8 (talk) 19:00, 20 January 2019 (UTC)

Wikipedia:WikiProject Portals update #027, 28 Jan 2019Edit

Portal stylesEdit

For a visually intensive portal, see Portal:Hummingbirds.

If you find any other portals that stand out, please send me the links so I can include them in the next issue. Thank you.

Conversion continuesEdit

There are about 1100 portals left in the old style, with subpages and static excerpts. As those are very labor intensive to maintain (because their maintenance is manual), all those except the ones with active maintainers (about 100) are slated for upgrade = approximately 1000. We started with 1500, and so over a quarter of them have been processed so far. That's good, but at this rate, conversion will take another 3 years. So, some automation (AWB?) is in order. We just need to keep at it, and push down on the gas pedal a bit harder.

You can find the old-style portals with an insource search of "box portal skeleton".

Flagship portals: the portals on the Main PageEdit

Speaking of upgrades...

The following portals are listed in the header at the top of Wikipedia's Main Page, and get far more traffic than all other portals:

  1. Portal:Arts
  2. Portal:Biography
  3. Portal:Geography
  4. Portal:History
  5. Portal:Mathematics
  6. Portal:Science
  7. Portal:Society
  8. Portal:Technology

Of those, all but one have been revamped to an automated self-updating single-page design.

The remaining one, Portal:Mathematics has manual maintainers, and has been partially upgraded.

As these are our flagship fleet, they need to be kept in top-notch condition.

Check 'em out, and improve them if you can.

And be sure they are on your watchlist.  

New portals since last issueEdit

Keep 'em coming!

Deorphanizing the new portalsEdit

As you know, thousands of the new portals are orphans, that is, having no links to them from article space. For all practical purposes, that means they are not part of the encyclopedia yet, and readers will be unlikely to find them.

What is needed are links to these portals from the See also sections of the corresponding root articles.

Dreamy Jazz to the rescue...

Dreamy Jazz has created a bot to place the corresponding category link to the end of each portal (if it is missing), and place a link to each portal in the See also section of the corresponding root articles.

That bot, named User:Dreamy Jazz Bot, is currently in its trial period performing the above described edits!

To take a look at the edits it has made so far, see Special:Contributions/Dreamy_Jazz_Bot.

It shouldn't be long before the bot is processing the entire set of new portals.

Good news indeed.

Way to go, Dreamy Jazz!

And, that's a wrapEdit

That's all I have to report this time around.

No doubt there will be more to tell soon.

Until then,    — The Transhumanist   13:11, 28 January 2019 (UTC)

Country retreatEdit

Hi Dthomsen8. Rather hoping you follow up the idea of an article on "country retreat". Find link would have a field day!

You may like to consider "rural retreat" as a synonym: Bhunacat10 (talk), 18:41, 28 January 2019 (UTC)

GOCE 2018 Annual ReportEdit

Guild of Copy Editors 2018 Annual Report
 

Our 2018 Annual Report is now ready for review.

Highlights:

  • Overview of Backlog-reduction progress;
  • Summary of Drives, Blitzes, and the Requests page;
  • Membership news and results of elections;
  • Annual leaderboard;
  • Plans for 2019.
– Your project coordinators: Miniapolis, Baffle gab1978, Jonesey95, Reidgreg and Tdslk.
To discontinue receiving GOCE newsletters, please remove your name from our mailing list.


MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 21:30, 31 January 2019 (UTC)

Notice of No Original Research Noticeboard discussionEdit

  There is currently a discussion at Wikipedia:No original research/Noticeboard regarding an issue with which you may have been involved. Thank you. Curb Safe Charmer (talk) 13:32, 1 February 2019 (UTC)

Note:The article being discussed at Wikipedia:No original research/Noticeboard is about Channel Island English with the URL https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Channel_Island_English anyone not an editor.--Dthomsen8 (talk) 04:21, 4 February 2019 (UTC)

January 2019 GOCE drive blingEdit

  The Minor Barnstar
This barnstar is awarded to Dthomsen8 for copy edits totaling between 1 and 3,999 words (including bonus and rollover words) during the GOCE January 2019 Backlog Elimination Drive. Congratulations, and thank you for your contributions! Reidgreg (talk) 03:43, 4 February 2019 (UTC)

Wikipedia:WikiProject Portals update #028, 04 Feb 2019Edit

Here's a quicky status report:

Old-style portals: 1,018
Single-page portals: 4,367
Total portals: 5,385

But of course, there has been more going on than just that...

Dreamy Jazz Bot is up and running!Edit

Dreamy Jazz Bot has been approved and is now up and running.

What it does is places missing links to orphaned portals. It places a link in the See also section of the corresponding root article, and it puts one at the top of the corresponding category page.

We have thousands of new portals that have yet to be added to the encyclopedia proper, just waiting to go live.

When they do go live, over the coming days or weeks, due to Dreamy Jazz Bot, it will be like an explosion of new portals on the scene. We should expect an increase in awareness and interest in the portals project. Perhaps even new participants.

Get ready...

Get set...

Go!

Another sockpuppet infiltrator has been discoveredEdit

User:Emoteplump, a recent contributor to the portals project, was discovered to be a sockpuppet account of an indefinitely blocked user.

When that happens, admins endeavor to eradicate everything the editor contributed. This aftermath has left a wake of destruction throughout the portals department, again.

The following portals which have been speedy deleted, are in the process of being re-created. Please feel free to help to turn these blue again:

And the corresponding talk pages:

New portals since the last issueEdit

Keep up the great workEdit

Until next time,    — The Transhumanist   08:59, 4 February 2019 (UTC)

Administrators can helpEdit

Administrators can provide an article in your sandbox, provided you make changes in what you are putting back. In 2014 I had that done for a few articles, which I rewrote for restoration. Please look into it.--Dthomsen8 (talk) 16:59, 9 February 2019 (UTC)

Proposed deletion of ZhanakorganEdit

 

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

Has no visible verifiable references from reliable sources.

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

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

Please consider improving the page to address the issues raised. Removing {{proposed deletion/dated}} will stop the proposed deletion process, but other deletion processes exist. In particular, the speedy deletion process can result in deletion without discussion, and articles for deletion allows discussion to reach consensus for deletion.   — Jeff G. ツ 19:20, 4 February 2019 (UTC)

Louis Armstrong and WikiProject Pop music ratingEdit

I'm curious about this rating as low importance. Aside from his earlier importance in establishing the vocalist role, "Hello Dolly" received the 1965 Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance and What a Wonderful World was a UK No. 1 two years later, which in themselves would suggest higher importance? AllyD (talk) 14:01, 9 February 2019 (UTC)

You are qute right, and I have changed it to high. Hasty use of Rater tool is dangerous to me, and I must be more careful for famous people. Tiny towns in Normandy are unlikely to go wrong.--Dthomsen8 (talk) 16:53, 9 February 2019 (UTC)
  • Ah, the number of really grievous things I have almost done, especially when brushing against the powerful tools while using an unfamiliar touchscreen device! AllyD (talk) 20:21, 9 February 2019 (UTC)

Wikipedia:WikiProject Portals update #029, 13 Feb 2019Edit

Where we are at:

Single-page portals: 4,704
Total portals: 5,705

The Ref desks survived the proposal to shut them downEdit

You might be familiar with the Ref desks, by their link on every new portal. They are a place you can go to ask volunteers almost any knowledge-related question, and have been a feature of Wikipedia since August of 2005 (or perhaps earlier). They were linked to from portals in an effort to improve their visibility, and to provide a bridge from the encyclopedia proper to project space (the Wikipedia community).

Well, somebody proposed that we get rid of them, and the community decided that that was not going to happen. Thank you for defending the Ref desks!

Here's a link to the dramatic discussion:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Village_pump_(proposals)/Indefinitely_semiprotecting_the_refdesk#Proposal_II:_Shut_down_the_Ref_Desks

The cleanup after sockpuppet Emoteplump continues...Edit

The wake of disruption left by Emoteplump and the admins who reverted many (but not all) of his/her edits is still undergoing cleanup. We could use all the help we can get on this task...

Almost all of the speedy deleted portals have been rebuilt from scratch.

For the portals he/she restarted (many of which were done mistakenly, overwriting restarts and further development that had already been done), and/or tagged as the maintainer, see https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:Emoteplump&oldid=881568794#Additional_Portals_under_my_watch

10,000 portals, here we come...Edit

We're at 5,705 portals and counting.

New portals since issue #28Edit

  1. Portal:Abitibi-Témiscamingue
  2. Portal:Ahold Delhaize
  3. Portal:AKB48
  4. Portal:Åland Islands
  5. Portal:Alaska Airlines
  6. Portal:Albanian Civil War
  7. Portal:Albertsons
  8. Portal:Alevism
  9. Portal:All in the Family
  10. Portal:Alternative metal
  11. Portal:Ambient music
  12. Portal:Ancient Near East mythology
  13. Portal:Ancient Roman religion
  14. Portal:Andrew Cuomo
  15. Portal:Anti-consumerism
  16. Portal:Antimatter
  17. Portal:Arameans
  18. Portal:Arianism
  19. Portal:Australian Crawl
  20. Portal:Bali
  21. Portal:Banten
  22. Portal:Bengkulu
  23. Portal:Black Lives Matter
  24. Portal:Bluegrass music
  25. Portal:Bonnie Tyler
  26. Portal:Breakbeat
  27. Portal:Calypso music
  28. Portal:Cambridgeshire
  29. Portal:Camila Cabello
  30. Portal:Capcom
  31. Portal:Capsicum
  32. Portal:Celtic music
  33. Portal:Central American music
  34. Portal:Central Java
  35. Portal:Central Kalimantan
  36. Portal:Central Sulawesi
  37. Portal:Chanel
  38. Portal:Cinema of Australia
  39. Portal:Cognitive psychology
  40. Portal:Communication studies
  41. Portal:Conservatism in the United States
  42. Portal:Cortina d'Ampezzo
  43. Portal:Cross-Strait relations
  44. Portal:Cryptozoology
  45. Portal:Danish folk music
  46. Portal:Disco
  47. Portal:Dyslexia
  48. Portal:East Java
  49. Portal:East Kalimantan
  50. Portal:East Nusa Tenggara
  51. Portal:Easy listening
  52. Portal:Ed Sheeran
  53. Portal:Ehime
  54. Portal:Electricity
  55. Portal:Electronica
  56. Portal:Electronic rock
  57. Portal:English folk music
  58. Portal:Environmental technology
  59. Portal:Experimental music
  60. Portal:Extreme metal
  61. Portal:Fall Out Boy
  62. Portal:Finnish Defence Forces
  63. Portal:Finnish folk music
  64. Portal:Football in Croatia
  65. Portal:Football in Jordan
  66. Portal:Funk
  67. Portal:Gamelan
  68. Portal:General Mills
  69. Portal:Germanic languages
  70. Portal:German language
  71. Portal:Government of Canada
  72. Portal:Government of Hong Kong
  73. Portal:Government of Indonesia
  74. Portal:Government of Ireland
  75. Portal:Government of Malaysia
  76. Portal:Government of Russia
  77. Portal:Government of Singapore
  78. Portal:Government of Spain
  79. Portal:Government of Thailand
  80. Portal:Grapes
  81. Portal:Green Party of the United States
  82. Portal:Grinspoon
  83. Portal:Gwen Stefani
  84. Portal:Hardcore punk
  85. Portal:Hardcore techno
  86. Portal:Haskell (programming language)
  87. Portal:History of art
  88. Portal:History of North America
  89. Portal:History of Thailand
  90. Portal:Hollywood
  91. Portal:Hotels
  92. Portal:House music
  93. Portal:Hungarian folk music
  94. Portal:Hunters & Collectors
  95. Portal:Hydrogen
  96. Portal:Icelandic folk music
  97. Portal:Indigenous music of North America
  98. Portal:Insomniac Games
  99. Portal:International field hockey
  100. Portal:International trade
  101. Portal:Iranian music
  102. Portal:Islamophobia
  103. Portal:Jambi
  104. Portal:Jet engines
  105. Portal:Jordin Sparks
  106. Portal:Julius Caesar
  107. Portal:Kannur
  108. Portal:Kansas City Spurs
  109. Portal:Kelly Rowland
  110. Portal:Kirby
  111. Portal:Kraft Heinz
  112. Portal:Krasnoyarsk Krai
  113. Portal:Kroger
  114. Portal:Kuala Lumpur
  115. Portal:Lampung
  116. Portal:Larry Kramer
  117. Portal:LeBron James
  118. Portal:Lehigh Valley
  119. Portal:Leicestershire
  120. Portal:Liège
  121. Portal:Liguria
  122. Portal:Los Angeles Aztecs
  123. Portal:Los Angeles Wolves
  124. Portal:Macedonian language
  125. Portal:Magnetism
  126. Portal:Maithripala Sirisena
  127. Portal:Maluku (province)
  128. Portal:Mangoes
  129. Portal:Marco Pierre White
  130. Portal:McLaren
  131. Portal:Menstrual cycle
  132. Portal:Metalcore
  133. Portal:Miami FC
  134. Portal:Microblogging
  135. Portal:Microtonal music
  136. Portal:Midnight Oil
  137. Portal:Minnesota Kicks
  138. Portal:Mission: Impossible
  139. Portal:Modernism (music)
  140. Portal:Moheener Ghoraguli
  141. Portal:Mondelez International
  142. Portal:Music genres
  143. Portal:Music of Bangladesh
  144. Portal:Music of India
  145. Portal:Music of Italy
  146. Portal:Music of Japan
  147. Portal:Music of Korea
  148. Portal:Music of Latin America
  149. Portal:Music of Micronesia
  150. Portal:Music of North Africa
  151. Portal:Music of Pakistan
  152. Portal:Music of Serbia
  153. Portal:Music of the Philippines
  154. Portal:Music of the United States
  155. Portal:Mutations
  156. Portal:National Rugby League
  157. Portal:Neoclassicism (music)
  158. Portal:Netball
  159. Portal:New York City Fire Department
  160. Portal:Nick Jr.
  161. Portal:Nobility
  162. Portal:Nordic countries
  163. Portal:North Africa
  164. Portal:North Kalimantan
  165. Portal:North Maluku
  166. Portal:North Pole
  167. Portal:North Queensland
  168. Portal:North Sulawesi
  169. Portal:North Sumatra
  170. Portal:Norwegian folk music
  171. Portal:Papua (province)
  172. Portal:Peaches
  173. Portal:Politics of Abkhazia
  174. Portal:Politics of Afghanistan
  175. Portal:Politics of Albania
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