Spambot

Hi Billinghurst. Please see the thread at en:Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/Incidents#what is going on in the filter log? spambot?. The disruption is ongoing. Is there any way you can help? Perhaps add something to the title blacklist? Thanks, Diannaa (talk) 19:12, 1 January 2018 (UTC)

Looks like Ajraddatz has taken care of it. --MRD2014 (talk) 20:43, 1 January 2018 (UTC)

Wikidata weekly summary #293

chrwikt

Hello there. Wonder if you could check wikt:chr:Special:RecentChanges and see if something can be done with the recent wave spotted there? Apparently the domain they're spamming is quite common (COIBot refuses to do a full report due to db issues). Thanks! —MarcoAurelio (talk) 12:10, 8 January 2018 (UTC)

Wikidata weekly summary #294

Wikidata weekly summary #295

Reminder about Blocking consultation

Hello again,

The discussion about new blocking tools and improvements to existing blocking tools is happening on meta now and is in the final days.

We contacted you because you are one of the top users of the blocking tool on this wiki. We think that your comments will help us make better improvements. There is still time to share your ideas. You can post to the discussion in any language.

Thank you if you have already shared your thoughts. You can also help out by sharing a link to the meta discussion with users on other wikis. Or you can translate the summary of the discussion and share it on another wiki.

If you have questions you can contact me on wiki or by email.

For the Anti-Harassment Tools team, SPoore (WMF), Community Advocate, Community health initiative (talk) 23:22, 16 January 2018 (UTC)

Wikidata weekly summary #296

Wikidata weekly summary #297

Stho002

When are global locks used and when are global bans used? Because I saw that you were refer steward who unlocked Stho0002 a former administrator with 500.000 contributions but that this user was later globally locked, are such locks within policy and if I were to want to get this user unlocked should I open an RFC or request an unlock? --Donald Trung (Talk 🤳🏻) (My global lock 🔒) (My global unlock 🔓) 13:33, 30 January 2018 (UTC)

Global locks and global bans. Otherwise, your question should be addressed to a steward.  — billinghurst sDrewth 13:53, 30 January 2018 (UTC)

Restore request

Hello,

Could you please restore Template:Verified account as I am working (slowly) on a proposal to solve this issue.

best,

--AntonierCH(d) 10:33, 31 January 2018 (UTC)

Wikidata weekly summary #298

Wikidata weekly summary #299

For info

Had attempts to spam Tiger77 on Commons in the past day or so. Cheers --Herby talk thyme 10:07, 14 February 2018 (UTC)

Think that we all did. I umm'd and ahh'd and blacklisted as they were hitting pages at some wikis.  — billinghurst sDrewth 05:21, 15 February 2018 (UTC)

Wikidata weekly summary #300

If you get a moment

Can you just glance at the last COIbot one I added. No report as of now and I'm away for a couple of weeks. It's probably nothing but I had a feeling I'd seen it before a time or two - more likely old age! Cheers --Herby talk thyme 17:06, 19 February 2018 (UTC)

Wikidata weekly summary #301

Wikidata weekly summary #302

Wikidata weekly summary #303

Ivy R. Smith

That's an LTA, one of their many identity crisis accounts. See JaySmith2018 for the master and some examples of their other work: 1, 2, 3, 4 and I could go on...he's got over 200 accounts at this point. Chrissymad (talk) 15:16, 15 March 2018 (UTC)

Yeah, not a surprise. Dispassionately responding with boredom will usually be my methodology. They can troll away, whatever, blocking one more doesn't affect the ecology.  — billinghurst sDrewth 03:21, 16 March 2018 (UTC)

Wikidata weekly summary #304

Re: Tool or gadget to quickly swap between desktop and mobile view?

I don't know any, no. As far as I know the thing is controlled by means of cookies, which are set with URL parameters provided e.g. by the "mobile view" or "desktop view" link in the footer, like https://meta.m.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:Billinghurst&mobileaction=toggle_view_mobile --Nemo 13:19, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

Quick question

Hi Billingshurst, would you be able to take a look at the message I posted at Meta:Requests for help from a sysop or bureaucrat#Help unblocking. Richard Nevell (talk) 15:27, 22 March 2018 (UTC)

Unblocked by Stryn SA 13 Bro (talk) 15:35, 22 March 2018 (UTC)
Fantastic! Richard Nevell (talk) 18:43, 22 March 2018 (UTC)

Wikidata weekly summary #305

On a personal note

I find what I did hardly combative. It's true, on wikipedia I took part in some endless debates, but this was due to my misapprehension that the one who delivers the best arguments wins. Instead, I was blocked by admins with whom I should not have debated. But I never insulted anyone. --Mathmensch (talk) 14:01, 26 March 2018 (UTC)

@Mathmensch: You asked for an administrator's review of another's action; so I read what you said, and where you said it on Meta, and that was my independent assessment without looking anywhere else. You can like or dislike my assessment, but to dismiss it out of hand because you don't like it is not a great indicator. FWIW I don't know what you said or did at any Wikipedia, and I don't particularly care about the goings-on of some of the bear pits; that had no influence on my opinion of your approach here.  — billinghurst sDrewth 22:39, 26 March 2018 (UTC)

Userpage

Hello dear Mr. Billinghurst,

I've noticed that you took away my userboxes. However, let me explain my intentions. I'm active on several Wikimedia projects, including ENWB and commons (hopefully the ban on ENWP, which I consider unjustified, will soon be lifted), and my current userpage is transcluded to all these projects. It would cause considerable trouble to update each one of these, so that I prefer to have it transcluded automatically. Given my engagement at Wikibooks, you'll notice that I don't have a lot of time. --Mathmensch (talk) 13:52, 26 March 2018 (UTC)

By the way, I also study mathematics, which is very time-consuming too. --Mathmensch (talk) 13:53, 26 March 2018 (UTC)
@Mathmensch: Do as you please (within reasonable practice and civility) using {{userbox}} on your user page. Please do not start proliferating meta with userbox templates and categories.  — billinghurst sDrewth 22:32, 26 March 2018 (UTC)
Please return to me the source code of the userboxes, so that I don't have to create anything anew. --Mathmensch (talk) 06:35, 29 March 2018 (UTC)

Wikidata weekly summary #306

A blacklist question if I may

Hi Billinghurst.

Sorry. I have been away from wiki for a while.

I refer to this.

The bot inserted template at the top of the article Froggatt Awards states that it is globally blocked ? Is the template wrong ? Where do I look to see why it was locally blocked so that I can proceed further ?

Regards.

Aoziwe (talk) 06:57, 7 April 2018 (UTC)

@Aoziwe: the addition of the domain to the blacklist was reversed due to the negative consequences, then other, though less efficient, means were implemented to manage the spambot abuse.  — billinghurst sDrewth 07:58, 7 April 2018 (UTC)
Thanks - I hope what I have done here is okay then ? Aoziwe (talk) 08:17, 7 April 2018 (UTC)

Wikidata weekly summary #307

question

hi.how are you. is that template valid?--مصعب (talk) 14:49, 10 April 2018 (UTC)

@مصعب: You are seeing a "my" language page where there is no translation, so the English language (default) shows through. Feel free to follow the link above the template to put in the language of interest.  — billinghurst sDrewth 14:55, 10 April 2018 (UTC)
thanks. the purpose of my question is to make sure this template is useful because i don't see it different than this one --مصعب (talk) 15:06, 10 April 2018 (UTC)
No idea. Better to ask at Meta:Babel, as it is way too late for any lucid thought from me..  — billinghurst sDrewth 15:13, 10 April 2018 (UTC)
aha. Is that means that "my" is abbreviation like "ar" for arabic? thanks for answer --مصعب (talk) 15:16, 10 April 2018 (UTC)
Yes, compared with Template:StrategyButton/ar and all the other existing variations at special:prefixindex/Template:StrategyButton.  — billinghurst sDrewth 21:57, 10 April 2018 (UTC)

Thanks and request

I removed comments I made about that drama not relevant to here. I just have one request. A banned Wikipedia editor whose website is blacklisted for harassment is misusing his user-page on this wiki as traffic to that website. His name is Rome Viharo. His only edits on this wiki was creating a userpage to influence google searches of his name so his website is advertised. The website Wikipedia we have a problem is blacklisted by Wikipedia, it doxes and attacks Wikipedia & RationalWiki editors. I'm a sysop from the latter and we have an article on Rome Viharo that documents more about his harassment against Wikipedians. It's not appropriate he misuses this wiki for traffic to his website.Largewarhammer (talk) 12:35, 14 April 2018 (UTC)

The page itself is no different from hundreds or thousands of others. In itself I have no scope to delete it.  — billinghurst sDrewth 12:41, 14 April 2018 (UTC)

Final request

I'm no longer posting here, but have a final request. Can you delete this and this. The user Abd was recently globally banned by the WMF for harassment, as part of that he was creating LTA "studies" filled with misinformation on another user. Those separate articles were taken down, but he has two "user-data" links still up that still links to the edits; someone else recently blanked them complaining, but they should be completely deleted. Abd deceptively is linking to this on his blog still since there are still edits on that page if you view the history, as well as it comes up on a google search. Is there any chance these here and this link can be deleted completely?Largewarhammer (talk) 15:08, 14 April 2018 (UTC)

That has already been assessed by another administrator, and I have no need to override their decision by discussion at my user page.  — billinghurst sDrewth 15:10, 14 April 2018 (UTC)

Information

Hi.

I wish information on this point. If a name entered on the blacklist of metawiki matches the name of an encyclopedic person in the future, can the page on the subject be created? Or is it excluded despite being relevant?--151.19.89.189 10:08, 16 April 2018 (UTC)

This is all covered in the help documentation of the extension. If you have issues with the blacklist then please use the talk page of the blacklist to report any issues.  — billinghurst sDrewth 10:12, 16 April 2018 (UTC)

Wikidata weekly summary #308

Wikidata weekly summary #309

Gift

Hi. Not sure if you've noticed, but you're now able to modify global abusefilters yourself as Meta-Wiki sysop. Regards, —MarcoAurelio (talk) 21:18, 24 April 2018 (UTC)

@MarcoAurelio:   Thanks for that information, I call that a great initiative.  — billinghurst sDrewth 00:32, 25 April 2018 (UTC)
You're welcome. The bad part is that you'll likely get more work, the counter-good part is that we can use your help again in that area after your (sad) departure as steward. Spambots are changing patterns again and having the filters updated to prevent the crap is of utmost importance until they design a system to stop them from even registering, or lower the number at least. Thanks. —MarcoAurelio (talk) 11:25, 26 April 2018 (UTC)
The existing system, including with current spam filters, has been remarkably resilient, and still catches the vast bulk of the shite. What is still needed is the top level prevention of account creation, and captcha avoidance. That appears to be going nowhere, and slowly. The project people who contacted me early this year seem to have disappeared into the ether.  :-(  — billinghurst sDrewth 11:51, 26 April 2018 (UTC)
I guess it's the same people I've been working with. Yes, their scholarship/project/whatever expired already so they ain't working anymore afaik. I don't know what happened to their work though :-( —MarcoAurelio (talk) 21:34, 26 April 2018 (UTC)

Wikidata weekly summary #310

161

Hi billinghurst, I made some adjustments to Special:AbuseFilter/161 to exclude groups (wmf staff, bots, patrollers) and updated the message at MediaWiki:Abusefilter-warning-otheruserpage - since this is now a disallowing filter (effectively adding protection to all base userpages for all but exempted group members). Please review and ensure that I haven't spoiled your intent. — xaosflux Talk 13:56, 1 May 2018 (UTC)

@Xaosflux: I am not sure that I am seeing this filter as "my intent", I am trying to reflect the wishes of the community, and allow the functioning of the community for effective global user pages free of vandalism and spam, and still appear a friendly pace. So even if your edits are different to mine yet reflect the community's wishes, then that is around managing PoV.  

I don't like having to disallow in what we look to have a more open society, however, at this point in time, disallow would seem to be the only effective means to manage the crap that has appeared, and I hope after a period of quietness we can return to a more open place.  — billinghurst sDrewth 21:13, 1 May 2018 (UTC)

By intent I only referred to the technical aspect, not your "motivation" :D I'm not sure the old filter was working at all - this one MIGHT work in a "warn" mode, not sure. I'll try keeping an eye on it for users that are being helpful that could benefit from "autopatrol". — xaosflux Talk 21:56, 1 May 2018 (UTC)
I was gently saying that I don't own filters, I am not precious about them, and I am not a skilled artisan. [Or with plain-speaking hat ... I am not one to argue over the methodology for skinning rabbits. My intent was simple and mallet-like to stop the shite. Any finesse is welcome.] [Plainer-speaking: At some point when the dickhead gets bored and FRO then maybe we can dial it back. We all have better things to do.]  — billinghurst sDrewth 23:04, 1 May 2018 (UTC)

sorry to bother you

Sorry to bother you, you just leave a comment on this topic [1].

May I ask, suppose there is a administrator target to me and delete pages i created on purpose but acted like innocent, suppose he is a sneaky administrator and got some followers to justify for him, suppose other administrators remain silence about this, what is the legit and reasonable way could i do? Who should i talk to?--Jasonnn~zhwiki (talk) 03:07, 2 May 2018 (UTC)

I am not explaining or forgiving any behaviour by an administrator or by a user. I am saying that a community manages its internal processes, and your request for review and intervention belongs at that community. The community in question should have pages available on how to resolve issues.

The conversation does not belong at that page, and should be shut down when brought there. We can do nothing, resolve nothing, nor answer questions. The local page that you chose is not a soapbox.  — billinghurst sDrewth 08:45, 2 May 2018 (UTC)

Q- Chronic cross wiki vandalism by big IP ranges

Hello Billinghurst, any suggestion for this? --Alaa :)..! 15:46, 2 May 2018 (UTC)

Wikidata weekly summary #311

can you check me on this?

Does this look correct? Attempt was to block anything from that host. Jalexander--WMF 02:10, 13 May 2018 (UTC)

@Jalexander-WMF: thumbs up.  — billinghurst sDrewth 08:05, 13 May 2018 (UTC)

Wikidata weekly summary #312

User:Belchicks

You need to delete this page again. User recreated. I can't tag the page for speedy deletion because Meta's abuse filter won't let me edit another user's page. Cheers, --SVTCobra (talk) 08:14, 18 May 2018 (UTC)

Thanks SVTCobra. You should also be able to edit root user pages.  — billinghurst sDrewth 08:19, 18 May 2018 (UTC)

Wikidata weekly summary #313

Wikidata weekly summary #314

CommonsDelinker on Swedish Wikipedia

Hi,

You requested the Swedish Wikipedia user page of CommonsDelinker to be deleted, in order to make place for the global user page. This is to make you aware that the Swedish community is currently having a discussion about very active bots having their presentations mirrored – everyone isn't too happy about the idea of having a tool that edits the wiki daily presenting itself in English, which all users can't be assumed to comfortably understand, and the Translate extension doesn't work with mirrored pages. /Julle (talk) 22:05, 28 May 2018 (UTC)

Hi Julle. Thanks for heads up. I understand that it is a little provocative to dump and run, and I am not trying to set each wiki's policies, and it is an understandable position.

In a conversation with Kaganer at their talk page they indicated that they thought it would be possible to have translations show through, and that would be my desired outcome, and I think that it would benefit all the language pages of the sister wikis. [I have seen lots of very outdated CDL user pages across the wikis as I started the clean-up]. Clearly translated pages are be a much preferred outcome.  — billinghurst sDrewth 22:33, 28 May 2018 (UTC)

Right, maybe I was mistaken about the translatability – in my experience, it hasn't worked out, but maybe I made a mistake. If we can solve that, the combination of a translated and up-to-date page would probably be preferable, yes. /Julle (talk) 23:03, 28 May 2018 (UTC)

Convertion "CommonsDelinker" page into autotranslated mode

For starting convertion of User:CommonsDelinker page into autotranslated mode, is needs folowing steps:

  1. Move (or copy) current page into subpage like "User:CommonsDelinker/i18n" or "User:CommonsDelinker/text" or any other.
  2. Prepare this subpage for translation, and then mark for translation. As result will be created "/en" subpage.
    Please note: is needs addition "m:" prefix into all links what leads to another meta pages.
  3. Replace User:CommonsDelinker to next code: {{autotranslate|base=User:CommonsDelinker/i18n}} (depends from your translatable subpage name)
  4. This is all ;)

Maybe also add {{Help translate}} (or similar) for invite users to translate into their language.--Kaganer (talk) 00:21, 29 May 2018 (UTC)

Wikidata weekly summary #314

User:Incnis Mrsi/Global locks

Hello.
I currently write a draft on global locks, based mostly on my experience. Could you please peer-review it? Then a broader discussion may happen. Incnis Mrsi (talk) 12:35, 30 May 2018 (UTC)

Wikidata weekly summary #315

GlobalRenameRequest Queue abuse

Hello, can we set an abusefilter or blacklist for (Reason for request) box on Special:GlobalRenameRequest? --Alaa :)..! 15:47, 3 June 2018 (UTC)

Hello just a note to say that no globalrename integration into abusefilter was not done yet, as this ticket says. phab:T27377 --Framawiki (talk) 17:20, 8 June 2018 (UTC)

A kitten for you!

 

Thank you very much!  

ToBeFree (talk) 23:25, 6 June 2018 (UTC)

"Тегела" in Title blacklist

Hello. "Тегела" is incorrect, as you writed here. Please, fix "Тегела" to "Тегел". Marshmallych 06:41, 11 June 2018 (UTC)

Please put suggestions at Talk:Title blacklist. And it is neither correct, or incorrect, it is what it is, from what was happening at the time.  — billinghurst sDrewth 07:20, 11 June 2018 (UTC)

Wikidata weekly summary #316

I understand, but...

Regarding this block, people could need to communicate with me. Could you unblock the page, please? --Daniele Pugliesi (WMIT) (talk) 11:01, 14 June 2018 (UTC)

p.s.: In case vandalisms will continue to happen, what do you suggest to do? --Daniele Pugliesi (WMIT) (talk) 11:04, 14 June 2018 (UTC)
  Done  — billinghurst sDrewth 11:12, 14 June 2018 (UTC)

Wikidata weekly summary #317

Wikidata weekly summary #318

Deleted template

Hi, Thanks for taking care of {{Former affiliate staff}}, but the intention was only to have Template:Former affiliate staff/text/en deleted to make room for the translations. Can you please undelete the template again. /Axel Pettersson (WMSE) (talk) 07:49, 2 July 2018 (UTC)

  Done @Axel Pettersson (WMSE):  — billinghurst sDrewth 08:09, 2 July 2018 (UTC)

Wikidata weekly summary #319

Consulting you for help

I have expressed the problem here: Link. Who can solve this problem? You are an admin at meta, can you help me to find the right address? We had the same edit-war with that patrol of Turkish wikipedia on English wikipedia, upon reporting him the patrol quitted edit-war on English wikipedia but on Turkish wikipedia he and his mob prevent me without stating any reason why their inventions should remain on Wikipedia and what is the reason to reject my content. What can we do? --Ruhubelent (talk) 13:30, 6 July 2018 (UTC)

@Ruhubelent: You can only work with Turkish Wikipedia admins to remove your block.

All rights are determined on the communities as they are self-managing communities according to the local rules at those communities (where such rules do not exist then the global guidance by stewards is applied). Meta admins only manage meta affairs, and assist with some of the global settings, we have no authority at those local wikis.  — billinghurst sDrewth 02:04, 7 July 2018 (UTC)

@Billinghurst:, Which stewards can I report this issue to? The admin that blocked me messaged my talk page stating "You are blocked due to your actions being against WP." I asked him to point out which of my actions violate Wikipedia, he did not point to any of my actions. He stated I should quit attempting to delete the content I am trying to delete. I am gonna delete the baseless content, I am not gonna quit it. That was all the response I have been able to get. Turkish Wikipedia rules say if admins are on edit-arguement with someone the same admin can not block his adversary but they still ban me. --Ruhubelent (talk) 10:57, 7 July 2018 (UTC)
@Ruhubelent: You are not listening ... Turkish Wikipedia is a self-managing community. Stewards have no authority to intervene, it is not their role. Your only means for resolution is with that community.  — billinghurst sDrewth 11:16, 7 July 2018 (UTC)
Sorry, I misunderstood, billinghurst. I was listening but I misunderstood. In short, a wikipedia is a mob-rule community? Administrators can do whatever they want and no way to supervise them? I understand all of them siding with eacch other because the content we have conflict on is a case between a CIA agent and a Turkish journalist. They now are publishing the conflict in favour of Turkish journalist and preventing me from publishing what actually happened. I am writing against that mob's worldview and there is nothing to supervise it if that mob of wikipedia is biased in favour of something? --Ruhubelent (talk) 12:27, 7 July 2018 (UTC)
No, a Wikipedia is a consensus rule of the community. The community supervises their administrators as administrators act on the consensus of the users. If you want to consider it a mob, go ahead, make your own day. I cannot help you further.  — billinghurst sDrewth 13:09, 7 July 2018 (UTC)
Mob-rules have their consensus. A certian mob has their ideology, has preference on which they all agree and they will go on imposing their wills and there is nothing others can do. As seen from your answer, wikipedia seems to have no difference than that. The only difference may be mobs work in a monarchy-like regime while wikipedia is like a republical mob. Thank you for everything --Ruhubelent (talk) 22:55, 7 July 2018 (UTC)

re:Global rollback removal

Oh! This is unexpected. Thanks, the flag would make my wiki-life a little bit easier once again. --Ignacio   (talk) 02:01, 7 July 2018 (UTC)

  Also recommend that you get your IRC cloak back in place, then we can get COIBot to listen to you.  — billinghurst sDrewth 02:06, 7 July 2018 (UTC)
I already request a week and a half ago, seems they have a certain delay. And yes, COIBot doesn't answer me :( --Ignacio   (talk) 02:16, 7 July 2018 (UTC)
Hmm, have you looked at emailing someone? IRC/Group Contacts Those on that list are on IRC, have you pinged them directly?  — billinghurst sDrewth 02:23, 7 July 2018 (UTC)
Yes, but I'll try to talk them again. Thanks for the help --Ignacio   (talk) 02:58, 7 July 2018 (UTC)

Wikidata weekly summary #320

filter 172 false positive

22:52, 10 July 2018: COIBot (talk | contribs | block) triggered filter 172, performing the action "edit" on User:COIBot/LinkReports/zanaflexcgh.com. Actions taken: Warn; Filter description: retail drug spam (details | examine)

Sounds like we should let COIBot do the job? :D — regards, Revi 14:40, 10 July 2018 (UTC)

@-revi: It will, I created the page afterwards, which circumvents the filter. Pretty certain that I will blacklist the url anyway, which will make it moot.  — billinghurst sDrewth 23:07, 10 July 2018 (UTC)

Spammy stuff

Not around enough to take a balanced view on these though I have b/l'd on Commons. To me these two COI ones look like they are abused Wiki but another view would be welcome. See here and here. Thanks & regards --Herby talk thyme 11:00, 14 July 2018 (UTC)

@Herbythyme: At Talk:spam blacklist use Template:BLRequestRegex on trainingzone.co.uk/search as it is being abused, though not through CoI, and we don't need the search url. I am keeping a record of those abused and not yet blacklisted at user talk:COIBot/Poke.  — billinghurst sDrewth 11:07, 14 July 2018 (UTC)

Next steps for the wish “confirmation prompt for the rollback link”

 

Hello, a while ago you participated in a feedback round about a proposal how accidental clicks on the rollback link could be avoided. Thanks again for sharing your thoughts and ideas!
Looking at the feedback and the rollback situation in different wikis, the development team decided how to approach this wish: As a default, most wikis won’t have a confirmation. But users who wish to have one, can enable it in their preferences, which will add a confirmation prompt to the rollback link on the diff page and on the list pages. The prompt won’t be a pop-up, but an inline prompt like for the thanks confirmation. You can read more about the planned solution and what influenced this decision on the project page. -- Best, Johanna Strodt (WMDE) (talk) 09:39, 16 July 2018 (UTC)

Wikidata weekly summary #321

Wikidata weekly summary #322