User talk:28bytes
The Signpost: 1 May 2025
[edit]- In the media: Feds aiming for WMF's nonprofit status
- Recent research: How readers use Wikipedia health content; Scholars generally happy with how their papers are cited on Wikipedia
- Arbitration report: Sysop Tinucherian removed and admonished by the ArbCom
- Discussion report: Latest news from Centralized discussions
- Traffic report: Of Wolf and Man
- Disinformation report: At WikiCredCon, Wikipedia editors and Internet Archive discuss threats to trust in media
- News from the WMF: Product & Tech Progress on the Annual Plan
- Comix: By territory
- Community view: A deep dive into Wikimedia
- Debriefing: Barkeep49's RfB debriefing
Administrators' newsletter – May 2025
[edit]News and updates for administrators from the past month (April 2025).

Rusalkii
NaomiAmethyst (overlooked last month)
Interface administrator changes
- Following an RfC, administrator elections were permanently authorized on a five-month schedule. The next election will be scheduled soon; see Wikipedia talk:Administrator elections for more information. This is an alternate process to the RfA process and does not replace the latter.
- An RfC was closed with consensus to allow editors to opt-out of seeing "sticky decorative elements". Such elements should now be wrapped in {{sticky decoration wrapper}}. Editors who wish to opt out can follow the instructions at WP:STICKYDECO.
- An RfC has resulted in a broad prohibition on the use of AI-generated images in articles. A few common-sense exceptions are recognized.
- A New Pages Patrol backlog drive is happening in May 2025 to reduce the backlog of articles in the new pages feed. Sign up here to participate!
The Signpost: 14 May 2025
[edit]- In the media: Wikimedia Foundation sues over UK government decision that might require identity verification of editors worldwide
- Disinformation report: What does Jay-Z know about Wikipedia?
- Technology report: WMF introduces unique but privacy-preserving browser cookie
- Debriefing: Goldsztajn's RfA debriefing
- Obituary: Max Lum (User:ICOHBuzz)
- Community view: A Deep Dive Into Wikimedia (part 2)
- Comix: Collection
- From the archives: Humor from the Archives
May music
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Jadwiga Rappé - lovely voice --Gerda Arendt (talk) 07:09, 25 May 2025 (UTC)
A first: two stories about two people who worked together and died the same day --Gerda Arendt (talk) 15:07, 27 May 2025 (UTC)
Administrators' newsletter – June 2025
[edit]News and updates for administrators from the past month (May 2025).
- An RfC is open to determine whether the English Wikipedia community should adopt a position on AI development by the WMF and its affiliates.
- A new feature called Multiblocks will be deployed on English Wikipedia on the week of June 2. See the relevant announcement on the administrators' noticeboard.
- History merges performed using the mergehistory special page are now logged at both the source and destination, rather than just the source as previously, after this RFC and the resolution of T118132.
- An arbitration case named Indian military history has been opened. Evidence submissions for this case close on 8 June.
- Voting for the Universal Code of Conduct Coordinating Committee (U4C) election is open until 17 June 2025. Read the voting page on Meta-Wiki and cast your vote here!
- An Articles for Creation backlog drive is happening in June 2025, with over 1,600 drafts awaiting review from the past two months. In addition to AfC participants, all administrators and new page patrollers can help review using the Yet Another AFC Helper Script, which can be enabled in the Gadgets settings. Sign up here to participate!
- The Unreferenced articles backlog drive is happening in June 2025 to reduce the backlog of articles tagged with {{Unreferenced}}. You can help reduce the backlog by adding citations to these articles. Sign up to participate!
June music
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Stravinsky pictured on his birthday + Vienna pics - but too many who died -- Gerda Arendt (talk) 21:39, 17 June 2025 (UTC)
I heard this music, yesterday, - streamed a day before at a different location. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 20:04, 23 June 2025 (UTC)
While you are of course invited to check out my recommendations any day, today offers unusually a great writer of novels, music with light and a place with exquisite food. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 16:27, 28 June 2025 (UTC)
The Signpost: 24 June 2025
[edit]- News and notes: Happy 7 millionth!
- In the media: Playing professor pong with prosecutorial discretion
- Disinformation report: Pardon me, Mr. President, have you seen my socks?
- Recent research: Wikipedia's political bias; "Ethical" LLMs accede to copyright owners' demands but ignore those of Wikipedians
- Traffic report: All Sinners, a future, all Saints, a past
- Debriefing: EggRoll97's RfA2 debriefing
- Community view: A Deep Dive Into Wikimedia (part 3)
- Comix: Hamburgers
admin
[edit]make me a admin pls 2600:4040:A864:B000:40EF:543F:22E:D2D2 (talk) 20:20, 4 July 2025 (UTC)
- (Non-admin comment) Absolutely not. You need to create an account for that. Sparkschu Itai (talk) 10:14, 6 July 2025 (UTC)
Administrators' newsletter – July 2025
[edit]News and updates for administrators from the past month (June 2025).

Interface administrator changes
- Following a talk page discussion, speedy deletion criterion G13 has been amended to remove "Userspace with no content except the article wizard placeholder text."
- WP:Manual of Style/Superscripts and subscripts was upgraded to a guideline following a RfC discussion.
- The 2025 Developing Countries WikiContest will run from 1 July to 30 September. Sign up now!
- Administrator elections will take place this month. Administrator elections are an alternative to RFA that is a gentler process for candidates due to secret voting and multiple people running together. The call for candidates is July 9–15, the discussion phase is July 18–22, and the voting phase is July 23–29. Get ready to submit your candidacy, or (with their consent) to nominate a talented candidate!
Administrator Elections | Call for Candidates
[edit]The administrator elections process has officially started! Interested editors are encouraged to self-nominate or arrange to be nominated by reviewing the instructions at Wikipedia:Administrator elections/July 2025/Candidates.
Here is the schedule:
- July 9–15 - Call for candidates
- July 18–22 - Discussion phase
- July 23–29 - SecurePoll voting phase
Please note the following:
- The requirements to run are identical to RFA—a prospective candidate must be extended confirmed.
- Prospective candidates are advised to become familiar with the community's expectations of administrators, which are much higher than the minimum requirement of having extended confirmed status. This includes reviewing successful and unsuccessful RFAs, reading the essay Wikipedia:Advice for RfA candidates, and possibly requesting an optional poll on their chances of passing.
- The process will have a seven day call for candidates phase, a two day pause, a five day discussion phase, and a seven day private vote using SecurePoll. Discussion and questions are only allowed on the candidate pages during the discussion phase.
- The outcome of this process is identical to making a request for adminship. There is no official difference between an administrator appointed through RFA versus administrator elections.
- Administrator elections are also a valid means of regaining adminship for de-sysopped editors.
Ask any questions about the process at the talk page. A separate user talk message will be sent to official candidates with additional information about the process.
If you are interested in the process, please make sure to watchlist the appropriate pages. A watchlist notice will be added when the discussion phase opens, and again when the voting phase opens.
MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 01:11, 9 July 2025 (UTC)
Administrator Elections | Discussion phase
[edit]The discussion phase of the July 2025 administrator elections is officially open. As a reminder, the schedule of the election is:
- July 18–22 - Discussion phase (we are here)
- July 23–29 - SecurePoll voting phase
- July 30–c. Aug 3 - Scrutineering phase
We are currently in the discussion phase. The candidate subpages are open to questions and comments from everyone, in the same style as a request for adminship. You may discuss the candidates at Wikipedia:Administrator elections/July 2025/Discussion phase.
On July 23, we will start the voting phase. The candidate subpages will close again to public questions and discussion, and everyone will have a week to use the SecurePoll software to vote, which uses a secret ballot. You can see who voted, but not who they voted for. Please note that the vote totals cannot be made public until after voting has ended and as such, it will not be possible for you to see an individual candidate's totals during the election. You must be extended confirmed to vote.
Once voting concludes, we will begin the scrutineering phase, which will last approximately four days, or perhaps a little longer. Once everything is certified, the results will be posted on the results page (you may want to watchlist this page) and transcluded to the main election page. In order to be granted adminship, a candidate must have received at least 70.0% support, calculated as Support / (Support + Oppose), and must also have received a minimum of 20 support votes. Because this is a vote and not a consensus, there are no bureaucrat discussions ("crat chats").
Any questions or issues can be asked on the election talk page. Thank you for your participation. Happy electing.
MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 00:52, 18 July 2025 (UTC)
The Signpost: 18 July 2025
[edit]- News and notes: Is no WikiNews good WikiNews? — Election season returns!
- In the media: How bad (or good) is Wikipedia?
- WikiProject report: WikiProject Medicine reaches milestone of zero unreferenced articles
- Recent research: Knowledge manipulation on Russia's Wikipedia fork; Marxist critique of Wikidata license; call to analyze power relations of Wikipedia
- News from the WMF: Form 990 released for the Wikimedia Foundation’s fiscal year 2023-2024
- Discussion report: Six thousand noticeboard discussions in 2025 electrically winnowed down to a hundred
- Comix: Divorce
- Traffic report: God only knows
Administrator Elections | Voting phase
[edit]The voting phase of the July 2025 administrator elections has started and continues until July 29 at 23:59 UTC. You can participate in the voting phase at Wikipedia:Administrator elections/July 2025/Voting phase.
As a reminder, the schedule of the election is:
- July 23–29 – Voting phase
- July 30–c. Aug 3 – Scrutineering phase
In the voting phase, the candidate subpages will close to public questions and discussion, and everyone who qualifies to vote will have a week to use the SecurePoll software to vote, which uses a secret ballot. You can see who voted, but not who they voted for. Please note that the vote totals cannot be made public until after voting has ended and as such, it will not be possible for you to see an individual candidate's vote total during the election. The suffrage requirements are similar to those at RFA.
Once voting concludes, we will begin the scrutineering phase, which will last for approximately four days, perhaps longer. Once everything is certified, the results will be posted on the results page (this is a good page to watchlist), and transcluded to the main election page. In order to be granted adminship, a candidate must have received at least 70.0% support, calculated as Support / (Support + Oppose), and a minimum of 20 support votes. Because this is a vote and not a consensus, there are no bureaucrat discussions ("crat chats").
Any questions or issues can be asked on the election talk page. Thank you for your participation. Happy electing.
MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 00:36, 23 July 2025 (UTC)
July music
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Sharing flowers with you on Bach's day of death, - I decorated my user pages in memory, with his music, and my story ends on "peace". --Gerda Arendt (talk) 13:36, 28 July 2025 (UTC)
Administrators' newsletter – August 2025
[edit]News and updates for administrators from the past month (July 2025).
- Following a request for comment, a new speedy deletion criterion, G15, has been enacted. It applies to pages generated by a large language model (LLM) without human review.
- Following a request for comment, there is a new policy outlining the granting of permissions to view the IP addresses of temporary accounts. Temporary account deployment on the English Wikipedia is currently scheduled for September 2025, and editors can request access to the permission ahead of time. Admins are encouraged to keep an eye on the request page; there will likely be a flood of editors requesting the permission when they realize they can no longer see IP addresses.
- Administrators can now restrict the "Add a Link" feature to newcomers. The "Add a Link" Structured Task helps new account holders get started with editing. Administrators can configure this setting in the Community Configuration page.
- The arbitration case Indian military history has been closed.
- South Asia (WP:CT/SA) is designated a contentious topic. The topic area is specifically defined as
All pages related to the region of South Asia (India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal), broadly construed, including but not limited to history, politics, ethnicity, and social groups.
- The contentious topic designations for Sri Lanka (SL) and India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan (IPA) are folded into this new contentious topic.
- The community-authorized general sanctions regarding South Asian social groups (GS/CASTE) are rescinded and folded into this new contentious topic.
- South Asia (WP:CT/SA) is designated a contentious topic. The topic area is specifically defined as
- The arbitration case Article titles and capitalisation 2 has been opened. Evidence submissions in this case closed on 31 July.
- The arbitration case Transgender healthcare and people has been opened. Evidence submissions in this case will close on 11 August.
- Wikimania 2025 is happening in Nairobi, Kenya, and online from August 6 to August 9. This year marks 20 years of Wikimania. Interested users can join the online event. Registration for the virtual event is free and will remain open throughout Wikimania. You can register here now.
The Signpost: 9 August 2025
[edit]- News and notes: Court order snips out part of Wikipedia article, editors debate whether to frame shreds or pulp them
- Discussion report: News from ANI, AN, RSN, BLPN, ELN, FTN, and NPOVN
- Disinformation report: The article in the most languages
- Community view: News from the Villages Pump
- Crossword: Accidental typography
- Traffic report: I'm not the antichrist or the Superman
August music
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Today's story - short version: ten years ago we had a DYK about a soprano who sang in concerts with me in the choir, - longer: I found today a youtube of an aria she sang with us then, recorded the same year, - if you still have time: our performances were the weekend before the Iraq war ultimatum, and we sang Dona nobis pacem (and the drummer drummed!) as if they could hear us in Washington. -- Gerda Arendt (talk) 15:09, 18 August 2025 (UTC)
Check out my talk for an Independence day, or: the pic of Oksana Lyniv was taken on 24 August. There's listening and reading in today's story, and I like both. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 19:02, 24 August 2025 (UTC)
On top of my talk: birthday of a great violinist and Requiem for a great friend. We sang Paradisi gloria from the Stabat Mater in the end. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 20:30, 31 August 2025 (UTC)
Administrators' newsletter – September 2025
[edit]News and updates for administrators from the past month (August 2025).
- An RfC is open on whether use of emojis with no encyclopedic value in mainspace and draftspace (e.g., at the start of paragraphs or in place of bullet points) should be added as a criterion under G15.
- Administrators can now access the Special:BlockedExternalDomains page from the Special:CommunityConfiguration list page. This makes it easier to find. T393240
- The arbitration case Article titles and capitalisation 2 has been closed.
- An RfC is in progress to amend the structure, rules, and procedures of the Arbitration Committee election and resolve any issues not covered by existing rules.
The Signpost: 9 September 2025
[edit]- News and notes: Wikimedia Foundation loses a round in court
- In the media: Congress probes, mayor whitewashed, AI stinks
- Disinformation report: A guide for Congress
- Recent research: Minority-language Wikipedias, and Wikidata for botanists
- Technology report: A new way to read Wikisource
- Traffic report: Check out some new Weapons, weapon of choice
- Essay: The one question
Administrator Elections | RFC phase
[edit]The RFC phase of the July 2025 administrator elections has started. There are 10 RFCs for consideration. You can participate in the RFC phase at Wikipedia:Administrator elections/July 2025/RFCs.
Any questions or issues can be asked on the election talk page. Thank you for your participation. Happy electing.
MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 12:43, 12 September 2025 (UTC)
September music
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Today is the birthday of the 16th Thomaskantor after Bach, remembered. -- Gerda Arendt (talk) 18:58, 20 September 2025 (UTC)
John Rutter 80 today! I sang his four major works for choir, with four choirs, German premieres for two of those, and many of his lovely anthems, DYK? I watched him explain his Magnificat in person in 1998, and now see it on Youtube: he wore the same outfit. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 21:03, 24 September 2025 (UTC)
The Signpost: 2 October 2025
[edit]- News and notes: Larry Sanger returns with "Nine Theses on Wikipedia"; WMF publishes transparency report
- In the media: Extraordinary eruption of "EVIL" explained
- Disinformation report: Emails from a paid editing client
- Discussion report: Sourcing, conduct, policy and LLMs: another 1,339 threads analyzed
- Recent research: Is Wikipedia a merchant of (non-)doubt for glyphosate?; eight projects awarded Wikimedia Research Fund grants
- Opinion: Some disputes aren't worth it
- Obituary: Michael Q. Schmidt
- Traffic report: Death, hear me call your name
- Comix: A grand spectacle