Hello! Thanks for signing up for Toronto Wikipedia Day 2025. This is a gentle reminder that the meetup is scheduled for this Sunday. Full details are on the sign-up page if you wish to refer to it again.
The meetup will be casual, drop-in format and you are welcome to come & leave at any time to suit your schedule. We have planned different activities and discussion topics for the event. You are encouraged to bring a laptop or tablet if you wish to participate in editing activities or follow along. Please note that the room capacity is 50 individuals and we may arrange other alternative activities for individuals who are unable to enter the room while the room is full.
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This award is given in recognition to Risker for accumulating at least 5 points during the January 2025 NPP backlog drive. Your contributions helped play a part in the 16,000+ articles and 14,000+ redirects reviewed (for a total of 19,791.2 points) completed during the drive. Thank you so much for taking part and contributing to help reduce the backlog!Hey man im josh (talk)19:39, 6 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Hi Risker. Very, very few users have the in-depth, all round experience and institutional memory that you do. Very few have been so engaged on various committees. I once thought I did, but the interest waned somewhat in 2020. I still follow a few things though and write the occasional article, but I've been pretty much put out to pasture by the new generations. I've often wondered how you maintain the enthusiasm I so much admire. The one place you never went was the BoT - I guess you have your reasons although I would have thought you would be a shoe-in for it. Anyways, looking at the lineup for this year's scramble for the two community seats, while the contenders all mean well, it's more like a modern quest for takers for Arbcom (where you are still dearly missed). I'm sure though that you will turn out to vote, so if you do,here's my take on it, and I make no apology for canvassing. Warm regards, Chris.Kudpung กุดผึ้ง (talk)02:47, 20 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]
HelloKudpung, thanks for your very kind words, and for stopping by on my talk page. I think probably my "longevity" can be attributed to the fact that I don't stay in one task too long, and after I've been off in "global Wikimedia" land for a bit, I make sure to reground myself in my home project. The one thing I have always really liked about Wikipedia (and the global roles I've taken on) has been that there's always something different to try or do. At the same time, I still fix typos and grammar errors when I see them, just as I did with my very first contributions. Yes, there have been many who have approached me over the course of several years to put my name forward for the Board of Trustees. Little known fact: I was in fact a candidate for an "expertise" seat back in 2015, but I am the first to admit I wasn't qualified for the proposed seat, and the candidate ultimately selected didn't really work out. It was a very strange time in Wikimedia-land, let's just leave it at that. My decision not to run this year has to do with things outside of the Wikimedia world, and until some of those things stabilize I am not in a position to make that commitment, although I don't rule out something down the road if I'm still around.
My preference is to work on time-limited projects with specific goals (as nebulous as some of those goals may seem), and I think the teams I have worked on have had made some significant contributions to the Wikimedia family. Working on those global committees and task forces and working groups has reinforced to me how critical collaboration is for our success. I've had the opportunity to work with a lot of really fine Wikimedians from many projects (as well as affiliates and the WMF), and have learned a lot about how the Wikimedia world works outside of English Wikipedia. I try to bring those lessons home to this project and share that knowledge. I sometimes fantasize about taking a chainsaw to our extremely overwrought policies, because I believe our overkill in this area has a chilling effect on policy development on other projects.
Thanks for sharing your views on the current WMF Board of Trustees candidates. Myself, I am hoping to see a successful candidate coming out of Africa or Asia in particular; I think the challenge in the past has been getting enough voters to coalesce around one or two of those candidates to result in their success. While I'm pretty sure that, no matter what, there is likely to be a successful candidate from English projects (which I'll note have the most diverse and globalized editorial base of any project), it would sure be nice to see someone from a region that hasn't had their feet under the table before.Risker (talk)04:04, 20 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you so much for a long and lovely reply! I've not got around all the nooks and crannies of the movement as much as you have, living where I do makes it a bit awkward (and unable to sit in a plane for more than a couple of hours these days and that's why I didn't even fly down to Singapore although I could have driven there - I haven't been out of Asia now since Esino Lario), but I've been around long enough to know what works and what doesn't, and to realise how much I, and I'm sure many others appreciate your work. Your quip with the chainsaw echoes my thoughts entirely, and some of it is exactly at the root of the problems at NPP which has been my hobby horse here for nearly 20 years. Our MoS itself would make any E-in-C of a newspaper of record blanche in horror. There's a PhD thesis out there just waiting to be written on Wikipedia's Policies and Guidelines. Our notability rules alone are over 5 hours of reading for a well educated native English reader! (I know because I did it in a bored moment not so long ago, just to prove a point).
The WMF ignores, perhaps not deliberately, that we volunteers also have the skill sets - and better ones too - than the salaried devs who can can write good code, agreed, but they don't know enough about addressing the various audiences desire for compelling UX and UI design. Instead, they imagine what's needed and spend fortunes on it without it having any measurable impact at all. And that's one of the reasons why a robust BoT is needed and someone who can stimulate some positive action there. Above all, many of us would like to see a board that is more accessibleand mostly populated by our peers.
I do share your thoughts about Africa and Asia but IMO the current line up falls short of the really required quals and global knowledge. IMO there are almost certainly other opportunities for them to acquire important roles without needing to be on the Board right now. Do enjoy your trip to Nairobi, (it's been decades since I was last in Africa). Take care. Chris.Kudpung กุดผึ้ง (talk)05:08, 20 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]
See now, here's where we differ in candidate assessment. There are at least two candidates, one from Africa and one from Asia, who I personally am aware have solid experience on global Wikimedia task forces and/or committees; it's just that you probably haven't heard their names as often as the candidates you prefer, as both of them make most of their contributions on projects or in areas other than English Wikipedia. I'm still looking at other candidates; I agree that there are several with insufficient experience - but there always are.Risker (talk)06:54, 20 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]
I don't disagree with you at all. I saw those candidates and one from Europe. I am biased however, because the en.Wiki realises most of the money and probably has the most urgent software needs (both editors and other audiences) before processes such as NPP (arguably the most essential of all the backroom operations) get out of control. Therefore we need partners who have not just a bunch of PhDs amongst them but who understand our systems and priorities rather than rubber-stamping the Foundation's high speed expansionism and spending. Also, previous compositions from the non-community contingent have not always been particularly friendly towards the volunteers. Somehow this decades old gaping chasm between the WMF and the volunteer communities has to be bridged, and the BoT is the only organism that could do it officially and effectively if they wanted to. I'll be happy if both of my candidates make the shortlist. People who can "give real thoughtful guidance and oversight" — Jimbo Wales.Kudpung กุดผึ้ง (talk)08:43, 20 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you very much for being a discussion phase monitor atWP:AELECT2. Considering that we basically had 16 RFAs going at one time, it was quite smooth and drama free. Great job. –Novem Linguae(talk)13:05, 1 August 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you,Owobusingye. It was very good to meet you. We talked about some guidance for members of the Uganda-based Wikimedia user group to work toward adminship on English Wikipedia, and I have responded at the talk page section on the user group's Meta page, having gathered the thoughts of a few other administrators about good advice for prospective admins.Risker (talk)21:49, 7 August 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Hello. This is a continuation ofthis topic. The user, who requested an IPBE, wasspecial:centralauth/Mitte27, a very experienced user of ru-, ukwiki, WD and Commons. His problem still not solved, as he says today in ruwiki's Discord chat, could you check him and give him IPBE? He already has one in ukwiki.MBH (talk)06:37, 15 August 2025 (UTC)[reply]
HelloMBH, and thanks for your message. Yes, IPBE grants are a little behind, as I do a lot of them and have just returned from Wikimania. I've granted IP block exemption toMitte for six months, and will be happy to review further once I return from traveling for a family matter.Risker (talk)06:47, 15 August 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks, I also has one more wish. One year ago I gathered some statistics using my bot, in ru- and enwiki. It was planned to save result tables to ruwiki, but due to bot error result table for enwiki was saved in enwiki with a Russian-language title. The page was planned for Wikipedia: namespace in ruwiki, but, because "Википедия:" isn't a namespace title in enwiki, a page appeared in enwiki's main (article) namespace. Page was located by admin, deleted and this adminblocked my bot indefinitely due to one this edit, like I was some sort of vandal. I requested unblock, but request was declined due to reasons I can't understand (I understand text in this reason, but doesn't understand logic). Could you unblock my bot account?This block notification in my bot's metadata is frustrating for me and sufficient reason for unblock, in my opinion, is thatI have no intention to edit enwiki from that account, so there are no reasons to forbid this using block. It was one mistaken edit.MBH (talk)20:44, 28 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Sorry to bug you... I sent in a request to renew my IP block exemption to checkuser-en-wp@wikipedia.org on September 6 (it expires in about a week and I'll be travelling at that point) and haven't heard back from the checkuser team. You've helped me in the past with similar exemptions, so I thought I'd check if you can help me once again. —Joeyconnick (talk)18:53, 21 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Oh my. That was scrumptious with a nice cup of Kenyan tea. Thank you for the chocolate...and for reassuring me that at least a few people read my comments. Hope you're doing well!Risker (talk)05:14, 26 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Learning Clinic: The nextLet's Connect Learning Clinic will talk about "Mastering the Capacity Exchange (CapX) Tool" and will take place on September 30 at 13:00 UTC.
Big Fat Brussels Meeting: The tenth in-person gathering of Wikimedians enthusiastic in free knowledge advocacy,Big Fat Brussels Meeting, will take place on October 3-4.
Wikimedia Research Showcase: "Celebrating 13 Years: Wikidata’s Role in Learning and Culture" will be the featured theme for thenext research showcase taking place onOctober 15 at 16:30 UTC.
Search Suggestions: Upon clicking an empty search bar, logged-out users now seesuggestions of articles for further reading on all Wikipedias, in order to make it easier for users to find articles.
Activity Tab now on Android: Beta users of the Wikipedia Android app can now try the redesignedActivity tab, which replaces the Edits tab. The new tab offers personalized insights into reading, editing, and donation activity, while simplifying navigation and making app use more engaging.
Wikipedia 25: Wikimedia Foundation is creatingplayful, celebratory interventions on theWikipedia portal page, the Wikipedia app, and potentially any interested Wikipedias to celebrate Wikipedia’s 25th birthday. Pleaseshare your inputs and add your username on theTalk page if you think your community would be interested in participating.
National award: Wikipedian and current chair of Wikimedia Deutschland, Alice Wiegand, receives theOrder of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany for her voluntary commitment to Wikipedia and the global Wikimedia movement.
For information about the Bulletin and to read previous editions, see theproject page on Meta-Wiki. Let askcacwikimedia.org know if you have any feedback or suggestions for improvement!
Wikipedia 25: Are you planning to organize events to celebrateWikipedia's 25th birthday? The Wikimedia Foundation offers grants to support active Wikimedia groups in organizing short-term, low-cost projects to celebrate this milestone.Applications are open until November 1.
WikiConference North America 2025:WikiConference North America will take place from October 16–19 in New York City, USA.
Dark Mode will soon be available on all Wikimedia sites.
Mobile Editing:Insights on mobile web editing on Wikipedia in 2025 are now available. This report highlights that ~95% of IP mobile users editing via wikitext open the editor but make no changes at all, a vast untapped potential. It also pinpoints where contributors most often drop off.
Dark Mode:Dark Mode user interface will be rolled out on all Wikimedia sites on October 29. All anonymous users of Wikimedia sites will have the option to activate a color scheme that features light-colored text on a dark background. This is designed to provide a more comfortable reading experience, especially in low-light situations.
Community wishlist extension:The new Community Wishlist extension has been released. This will allow users to add tags to their wishes to better categorise them, and (in a future iteration) to filter them by status, tags and focus areas. It will also be possible to support individual wishes again, as requested by the community in many instances.
Paste Check:22 Wikis are now testing a new Edit Check feature,Paste Check, to help avoid and fight copyright violations. When editors paste text into an article, Paste Check prompts them to confirm the origin and licensing of the content.
Tone Check: The Wikimedia Foundation is working on a new check for newcomers:Tone check. Using a prediction model, this check will encourage editors to improve the tone of their edits.
Search Suggestions:Search Suggestions was deployed on English Wikipedia. Upon clicking an empty search bar, logged-out users see suggestions of articles for further reading. The feature is available on both desktop and mobile.
Unsupported Tools Working Group: A newUnsupported Tools Working Group has been formed to help prioritize and review requests for support of unmaintained extensions, gadgets, bots, and tools. The group has chosenVideo2Commons as the first tool for its pilot cycle. The group will explore ways to improve and sustain the tool over the coming months.
Tech News: Read updates from Tech News week40 and41 including aboutSub-referencing – a new feature to re-use references with different details.
Wikimedia Research Showcase: Don't miss the next Wikimedia Research Showcase, "Celebrating 13 Years: Wikidata's Role in Learning and Culture" taking place onOctober 15 at 16:30 UTC.
Human Rights: Making sure AI serves people and knowledge stays human: Wikimedia Foundation publishes aHuman Rights Impact Assessment on the interaction of AI and machine learning with Wikimedia projects.
Don't blink:The latest developments from around the world about protecting the Wikimedia model, its people and its values.
Learning Clinic: Join the next Let's Connect Learning Clinic on the topic of "Mastering the Capacity Exchange (CapX) Tool (Part 2)" taking place onOctober 20 at 17:00 UTC.
For information about the Bulletin and to read previous editions, see theproject page on Meta-Wiki. Let askcacwikimedia.org know if you have any feedback or suggestions for improvement!
What a week. I think we need a big block of 64% single originGuittard today, suitable for melting into the bottom of a chocolate pecan pie, but also just for eating out of hand.WhatamIdoing (talk)04:59, 23 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]
I was thinking of getting back into editing and was wondering if you'd be able to renew my IP block exemption. I use iCloud Private Relay and unfortunately there's no way to whitelist a single site. If that's not a valid reason, I'll just disable it instead.
wikimedia.org know if you have any feedback or suggestions for improvement!
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