This is an archive of past discussions about User:Ronhjones. Do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page.
Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.
Tech News
Because of the holidays the next issue of Tech News will be sent out on 7 January 2019.
Recent changes
Some templates that show notices about the content of the page will now be shown on the mobile website. In many cases they were hidden before. [1][2]
Admins can no longer unblock themselves, except for self-blocks. A blocked admin can block the user who blocked them but no one else. This is so no one can block all admins on a wiki without being stopped. [3]
The ParserMigration extension has been removed. It compared the result of two versions of the MediaWiki wikitext parsing pipeline. It was used when we moved to the Remex parsing library instead of Tidy.
Problems
<ref> tags can use parameters such as "name" or "group". For example <ref name="adams" group="books">. If a <ref> tag has more than two parameters all parameters are ignored. You don't get a warning that they don't work. This will soon be fixed. [4]
Changes later this week
The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from 18 December. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from 19 December. It will be on all wikis from 20 December (calendar).
Meetings
You can join the technical advice meeting on IRC. During the meeting, volunteer developers can ask for advice. The meeting will be on 19 December at 16:00 (UTC). See how to join.
Future changes
The Wikimedia Foundation Android app team are working on making it easier to edit on mobile phones. You can read more about these plans. If you have an Android phone and speak at least two languages you can help testing in English. Tell Dchen (WMF) you want to be part of the testing by writing on her talk page or email her.
tiles.wmflabs.org and wma.wmflabs.org will stop working. They have no maintainers and run an old operating system. Tools which use it could stop working. This includes the mapnik gadget, hill shading, and hike and bike layers. New maintainers could help out and keep it going. [5]
Hello R,
Early in A Child's Christmas in Wales the young Dylan and his friend Jim Prothero witness smoke pouring from Jim's home. After the conflagration has been extinguished Dylan writes that
Nobody could have had a noisier Christmas Eve. And when the firemen turned off the hose and were standing in the wet, smoky room, Jim's Aunt, Miss. Prothero, came downstairs and peered in at them. Jim and I waited, very quietly, to hear what she would say to them. She said the right thing, always. She looked at the three tall firemen in their shining helmets, standing among the smoke and cinders and dissolving snowballs, and she said, "Would you like anything to read?"
My thanks to you for your efforts to keep the 'pedia readable in case the firemen chose one of our articles :-) Best wishes to you and yours and happy editing in 2019. MarnetteD|Talk19:55, 19 December 2018 (UTC)
Hermitage Community Moorings
Hi, hadn't checked this for (way) too long. I would like to re-instantiate the page if that's possible? I am happy to rewrite it if needed, and have new content to update with too (2019 is its 10th anniversary).
The reason cited for deletion was re-using 'copyright material'. I wrote the copy for the Hermitage Community Moorings website and reused it for the wikipedia entry. I didn't flag this at the time (and wasn't sure how to).
Very happy to take any guidance you might have on what we should do.
Get rid of the "Copyright 2015 HRM / HCP | All Rights Reserved" in the page footer and replace with "Copyright 2015 HRM / HCP | CC-BY-SA-4.0" - quick and easy - let let me know when done.
Get the copyright holder to go to WP:CONSENT - from an identifying e-mail domian (like XXX@hermitagemoorings.com - hotmail, gmail, etc., are wasting your time), state which pages (or the whole site) are copyright released. The backlog is 98 days to process.
Complete re-write, where it has all been written not to match the web site (full re-write only, a close paraphrase is no good)
Note that 1 and 2 have exactly the same effect. If the footer is changed, then the page can be re-used by anyone. If you send in permission, then the page will be listed on the article talk page for re-use by anyone. Ronhjones (Talk)18:15, 21 December 2018 (UTC)
Association footballers not categorized by position
@Dammit steve: Will do. It might take a while to track it down. I suspect someone has added a bad category somewhere - the bot starts by making a list of everything in...
Category:Footballers by city or town
Category:Association football players by club
Category:Association football players by competition
Category:Association football players by country
Category:Association football players by national team
Category:Association football players by nationality
Category:Women's association football players
Category:Expatriate association football players
There are categories in those, so there is a lot of drilling down and there are 14488 categories, with 164599 players. Somewhere there is a link to your players. Ronhjones (Talk)17:23, 21 December 2018 (UTC)
Hi. Can you please have your bot discontinue adding Category:Association footballers not categorized by position to Clifton Bush. Clifton Bush is a former basketball player, not a football player. Thanks. DaHuzyBru (talk) 11:36, 22 December 2018 (UTC)
Hello Ron, Sorry I've only just picked up your replies concerning these photos.
No I'm afraid I don't know who took the photo of William Snelling Hadaway. It was taken in India around 1914-15 (and is out of copyright), it was almost certainly taken by a studio photographer in Madras/Chennai for WSH. It was his property, inherited by his daughter and then by me.
I am the user Seetmusic, the image I uploaded as Seet logo is my own product, therefore, i am confused on the actions taken to delete the uploaded item? thanks let me know so I can better understand how to avoided this. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Seetmusic (talk • contribs) 00:51, 20 December 2018 (UTC)
Hello Ronhjones, may you be surrounded by peace, success and happiness on this seasonal occasion. Spread the WikiLove by wishing another user a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, whether it be someone you have had disagreements with in the past, a good friend, or just some random person. Sending you heartfelt and warm greetings for Christmas and New Year 2019. Happy editing, TheSandDoctorTalk07:46, 25 December 2018 (UTC)
Hi I am Aankan Das. This picture was captured by me. So, I write that source is my own work. As it is my own work, why I write another source name ? If you has any doubt about it, please see metadata of this image. Aankan Das (talk) 05:36, 25 December 2018 (UTC)
Would it be at all possible, on this Post-Boxing Day, to ask if you could put the kibosh on the latest IP puppet of my other IP-hopping vandal nemesis, and semi-protect the pages it's been targeting?--Mr Fink (talk) 04:39, 27 December 2018 (UTC)
Hi Ron, could you take a look at List of Holby City characters and consider lowering the protection level? The semi protection expired in August, but you never set an expiry date for the PC protection; was that intentional? If so, you can leave it, but it seems like the sock puppetry has resolved so it may be useful to update the PC log if that's the case. Wugapodes[thɑk][ˈkan.ˌʧɹɪbz]07:39, 22 December 2018 (UTC)
Hi again, thanks for giving the lower protection a try, but it seems to have not worked out. Soaper1234 just had to clean up a bunch of changes from IPs and suggested increasing protection again. While I'm not sure pending changes reviewers would have reverted (I've been watching the page and didn't know enough to revert confidently), I do think more eyes on the page would be a benefit so would be happy with PC again. Wugapodes[thɑk][ˈkan.ˌʧɹɪbz]00:11, 28 December 2018 (UTC)
@BlaineParker: You need a free photo of the dog. I would ask its owner for an image they will release under a CC-BY-SA-4.0 license. Free images can be uploaded at commons c:Commons:Upload. A non-free image would not be allowed here until the dog is deceased, as it would be deemed replaceable. Ronhjones (Talk)17:09, 28 December 2018 (UTC)
Izzy the Frenchie
Hi Ron
Thank you. I tried adding my own image. It is freezing up saying I need to add a license. I am LOST!!
I wax nostalgically for the nascent days of Wiki. It was lovely when it didn't take itself so seriously. Bring back the Wild West. When I started in '04, there were few rules, and I've always wished it would have stayed that way. The occasional piece of juvenile vandalism that went undiscovered for way too long was worth it. The bureaucracy makes this endeavor feel like the workplace. While the site may have more content than before the Great Fair Use Purge, the fun died in '07. More photos make things unequivocally better. Wiki should be factual AND vivacious; this isn't a dry academic journal. The perpetual tightening of the corporate noose is not progress. The thrill is gone, Lucille. (I've never uploaded to Commons, and I never plan on it. I also still use the old school upload form. That process never should have changed.) Mr. Vitale (talk) 04:28, 30 December 2018 (UTC)
I saw that tagged the picture i uploaded to Here I tried to upload a smaller photo of it and it was (png/image) can you help me. A.R.M.04:29, 1 January 2019 (UTC)
Hi, I got a message from your RonBot today, part of which read, "...A formula for calculation the desired size..." etc. I think it is supposed to say, "...A formula for calculating the desired size..." or maybe "...A formula for calculation of the desired size...", but whichever it is, you might want to clear that up! Thanks! A loose noose (talk) 18:15, 1 January 2019 (UTC)
R4 (new): Redirects in the file namespace (and no file links) that have the same name as a file or redirect at Commons are now covered under the new R4 criterion (discussion). This is {{db-redircom}}; the text is unchanged.
G13 (expanded): Userspace drafts containing only the default Article Wizard text are now covered under G13 along with other drafts (discussion). Such blank drafts are now eligible after six months rather than one year, and taggers continue to use {{db-blankdraft}}.
Members of the Bot Approvals Group (BAG) are now subject to an activity requirement. After two years without any bot-related activity (e.g. operating a bot, posting on a bot-related talk page), BAG members will be retired from BAG following a one-week notice.
Technical news
Starting on December 13, the Wikimedia Foundation security team implemented new password policy and requirements. Privileged accounts (administrators, bureaucrats, checkusers, oversighters, interface administrators, bots, edit filter managers/helpers, template editors, et al.) must have a password at least 10 characters in length. All accounts must have a password:
User accounts not meeting these requirements will be prompted to update their password accordingly. More information is available on MediaWiki.org.
Blocked administrators may now block the administrator that blocked them. This was done to mitigate the possibility that a compromised administrator account would block all other active administrators, complementing the removal of the ability to unblock oneself outside of self-imposed blocks. A request for comment is currently in progress to determine whether the blocking policy should be updated regarding this change.
{{Copyvio-revdel}} now has a link to open the history with the RevDel checkboxes already filled in.
Accounts continue to be compromised on a regular basis. Evidence shows this is entirely due to the accounts having the same password that was used on another website that suffered a data breach. If you have ever used your current password on any other website, you should change it immediately.
Around 22% of admins have enabled two-factor authentication, up from 20% in June 2018. If you haven't already enabled it, please consider doing so. Regardless of whether you use 2FA, please practice appropriate account security by ensuring your password is secure and unique to Wikimedia.
@Twiceuponatime: It appears that the addition of [[File:..... which is not a working image will cause wiki to log that in the category for missing files, RonBot12 (on trial - now stopped as trial period ended) added BrokenImage to flag up the error (and hopefully get the last person to edit to fix it). Then along comes ImageRemovalBot who find an external linked image and removes it. The plan would be that RonBot12 would then remove the template as the problem is fixed - but it's stopped awaiting the BRFA review. I've removed the template manually. Ronhjones (Talk)16:25, 2 January 2019 (UTC)
Hi Ronhjones, Greetings to you. I came across this articles when I was reviewing AfC and added 4 sources to the article. I found out that I cant accept the page due to the title is protected as the title has been repeatedly recreated without providing sources - [6] . Since I added some sources, would this title be lifted from protection and I would proceed to accept this page into mainspace? Also may I know which editors repeatedly resubmit the article so I may advise them what should be done so next time they would know what to do. Thank in advance and happy new year. CASSIOPEIA(talk)12:23, 2 January 2019 (UTC)
@CASSIOPEIA: It was moved to draft 3 times, and each time the creator blanked the page and re-created in mainspace. He was told - User talk:A.lanzetta - you'll have to look in the history as he blanks the messages. So I salted the page on the 4th move to Draft to stop the endless move war. I'll take off the protection for you. Ronhjones (Talk)16:32, 2 January 2019 (UTC)
Hi Ronhjones, Good day. Thank you for lifting the salt. I will proceed to accept the article into mainspace after this message. The editor is a active MMA editor in Wikipedia and has been around since 2008. He also created more than 100 pages in mainspace. I am surprise he continued to recreate the article without providing independent, reliable sources. I doubt he doesnt understand the requirements needed for article to be accepted to the mainspace, yet to find sources for this title is not that hard as this MMA promotion/competition is well covered by the press since this promotion was a merge of 2 regional promotions in 2016 where they had been around for sometimes. I will write a message to them to explain the situation and hope this would not happen again as it cause some editor the time and effort to R2 and salt the title. Thank you and have a happy new year. CASSIOPEIA(talk)02:33, 3 January 2019 (UTC)
Hi Ron. Would you change summary:'Previous version(s) deleted per [[WP:F5|F5]])', to summary:'Previous version(s) deleted per [[WP:F5|F5]]', in order to remove the unbalanced ) at the end? — JJMC89 (T·C) 05:01, 3 January 2019 (UTC)
I am a first Nation Mi'kmaq status native from New Brunswick please note that there is a distinction between lower case metis and upper case Metis. It should be noted that is is a fact that the noun metis was coined by people of European descent prior to any colonization in Canada. It was used first in Canada by Acadians in it's original sense. Lower case metis is translated directly to halfbreed because that is the meaning of the word. It is being challenged that metis and Metis are of the same. However someone who is metis may not have any aboriginal ancestry at all. Please see that any blocking of editing is not donE in order to further any historical revisionism due to a misuse of a term. Sylvia Moranda Benoit BFA lower case metis/ Acadian/ and Mi'kmaq Adanrom (talk) 02:19, 6 January 2019 (UTC)
Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.
Tech News writers, editors and translators wish you a pleasant 2019 year.
Recent changes
RelatedSites extension has been undeployed. It was used to create interwiki links on Wikivoyage, now handled by Wikidata. [7]
MediaWiki logstash logging is moving to a new infrastructure. This is an ongoing deployment. [8]
codesearch.wmflabs.org has been updated, with new and updated repositories and a new search options for code. [9]
On several wikis, an account named "Edit filter" has been created on December 17 to perform some technical maintenance on AbuseFilter. This account has sysop rights but it's a system user and no human can use it. The account already existed on wikis where AbuseFilter can perform blocks, which are issued using this account. See T212268 for more information and future plans.
Problems
In AbuseFilter, the "Throttle" action takes three parameters: count, period and groups. They must now strictly respect the requirements listed on mediawiki.org. A list of broken filters is on Phabricator. If you're familiar with AbuseFilter, please take a look and fix them. [10]
Changes later this week
The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from January 8. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from January 9. It will be on all wikis from January 10 (calendar).
Meetings
Search Platform Office Hours is rescheduled to January 9. Check the details for time and date.
Allowing RonBot to revert it's own errors on articles where there was already an association football position category in place. Iggy (Swan) 17:16, 9 January 2019 (UTC)
File:Return of the Obra Dinn logo-title.gif listed for discussion
Hi, I'm RonBot, a script that checks new non-free file uploads. I have found that the subject image that you recently uploaded was more than 5% in excess of the Non-free content guideline size of 100,000 pixels. I have tagged the image for a standard reduction, which (for jpg/gif/png/svg files) normally happens within a day. Please check the reduced image, and make sure that the image is not excessively corrupted. Other files will be added to Category:Wikipedia non-free file size reduction requests for manual processing. There is a full seven-day period before the original oversized image will be hidden; during that time you might want to consider editing the original image yourself (perhaps an initial crop to allow a smaller reduction or none at all). A formula for the calculation of the desired size can be found at WP:Image resolution, along with instructions on how to tag the image in the rare cases that it requires an oversized image (typically about 0.2% of non-free uploads are tagged as necessarily oversized). Please contact the bot owner if you have any questions, or you can ask them at Wikipedia talk:Non-free content. See User:RonBot for info on how to not get these messages. RonBot (talk) 18:06, 10 January 2019 (UTC)
First, the document is text, not an image. It is ridiculous to convert a text pdf to an image, then shrink it and save the image as a pdf. That not only makes a huge file (unless you shrink it beyond what is readable) but it throws away all of the metadata in the pdf, much of which is valuable to show its provenance.
Secondly, The text is already on the article page, and it's precisely because it's challenged that the document is needed to verify that text. The reference is now a dead link, and the 2011 document is unavailable from its original source, UK Sport. Fortunately I have my downloaded copy of that document and I'm using our File: space to store that document under fair use. It performs a useful function and is not replaceable. It is not public domain, but it was available free of charge, as are all of UK Sport's online publications, so there is no commercial interest to violate. The principal reason for having low-resolution fair use images is to preserve commercial IP. That cannot apply to a pdf.
Thirdly, the other reason for having low-resolution fair use images is to reduce file size for readers with limited bandwidth. The pdf is 253K, and converting it into readable images would produce file sizes of megabytes in any lossless format. I assume you understand the issues of trying to render text as jpgs.
Finally, I have to ask, as you're an experienced Wikimedia, aren't you blindly following some arbitrary set of guidelines in the case of fair use pdfs? Surely you can see that all of the factors that come into play with images have virtually no sensible application with text-based documents? --RexxS (talk) 21:52, 10 January 2019 (UTC)
@RexxS:It may be a text document, but wiki renders it as png images. The low res NF guideline is nothing to do with limited bandwidth, most images are large anyway - there are 51 million images available for articles, and only 600,000 NF images. It's to comply with the Fair Use - see WP:NFC - At the extreme high end of the range, non-free images where one dimension exceeds 1,000 pixels, or where the pixel count approaches 1 megapixel, will very likely require a close review to verify that the image needs that level of resolution. Editors should ensure that the image rationale fully explains the need for such a level of detail, with 5 pages you are at a total of 20 Megapixels - thus it needs a full review and consensus to stay, especially as the web archive link works just fine. Ronhjones (Talk)23:24, 10 January 2019 (UTC)
*Sigh*, If the web archive link worked just fine, we wouldn't be having this discussion. Yes, you can see the snapshot of the download page (I know that because I was the one who added the archive url). But have you actually tried clicking on the link to see or downlaod the pdf? Thought not. You get
Hrm.
The Wayback Machine has not archived that URL.
This page is not available on the web because page does not exist
Either that or you and I have very different definitions of "works just fine".
So you can't see or download the actual document in question. But you still can't see a reason why I want to make the source available.
You don't seem to understand how MediaWiki software deals with pdfs, which is rather worrying. The software renders a thumbnail image of the document, yes; it's a mere 12.7 KB in the article because it's important to minimise file size for many readers. Honestly, all web designers use small thumbs as a link to larger media which the reader can choose to visit or not. However, that thumbnail links to a file description page in File: space. On that page, you see a thumbnail image (which is 116KB for most folks). But there is a link to "Original file" that allows the reader to view or download the actual pdf, and that is still only 253 KB. It is simply a crazy suggestion to encourage changing the whole thing to an image which will be many times larger as a png, gif or tiff if you wish it to remain readable. Text is text, not an image, and you pay a large price in filesize by ignoring that.
See WP:NFC - At the extreme high end of the range, non-free images where one dimension exceeds 1,000 pixels, or where the pixel count approaches 1 megapixel, will very likely require a close review to verify that the image needs that level of resolution. Editors should ensure that the image rationale fully explains the need for such a level of detail. The key word here is IMAGES. Images are not text files and you are seriously mistaken in taking arbitrary guidance that is sensible when applied to raster images and trying to mangle it into use for text. It was never intended to apply to text files (or to svgs for that matter), and it makes no sense to slavishly adhere to a flawed interpretation that does not comport with the intention of the NFC guideline. --RexxS (talk) 00:38, 11 January 2019 (UTC)
(talk page stalker). I went to the archive link and was able to retrieve the PDF just fine. It took me three clicks (for the record, follow the url documented in the image page, click on the 506k pdf pointer, see "http 302", which after 5 seconds re-directs to download a Jan 13 2014 copy). I'll also note that a personally-stashed text or PDF file does not qualify as a WP:RS, while an archived copy from a reliable web source does. Tarl N. (discuss) 00:45, 11 January 2019 (UTC)
@Tarl N. and RexxS: Thanks Tarl N. - I agree 100% with you. I got the PDF with no problem (and I added the full url to the PDF on the discussion page). As for RS, I agree again, I can take any PDF and add of remove text as I want - I have the full Acrobat XI, it can change whatever you want in a PDF - and keep the metadata intact, and if there's a problem with the metadata you need to edit, you save in in Acrobat 5 format, and use a byte editor - tricky but very do-able.Ronhjones (Talk)00:57, 11 January 2019 (UTC)
I owe you an apology, Ron. If you follow the archive link from the article reference (archive date: 13 July 2014), clicking on the download link gives the file not found message that I described. The archive link from the file page (archive date: 7 August 2013) allows you to download it. I've no idea why the two seemingly identical snapshots of the download page contain different links, but it means we can update the article reference and get rid of the copy I uploaded. It can be CSD F7 as the file is now replaceable.
@Tarl N.: The assumption that a copy I downloaded does not qualify as a WP:RS is based on casting doubt on my bona fides when I tell you that it is an unaltered file from 2012. Of course I could have edited it; I could also use a hex editor to modify metadata, and a utility to change the filesystem timestamp, and so on. But you have to ask why would an editor in good standing with a proven track record of supporting Wikimedia projects do something so deceitful, when it is quite possible that an unaltered copy still exists somewhere else that could unmask such a forgery? Think about it hard, before you call me a liar. --RexxS (talk) 01:36, 11 January 2019 (UTC)
@RexxS: The file was deleted and the FFD discussion closed before I could respond to your last post; so, I hope you and the others don't mind me doing so here. My point was that you didn't really need to "show" the source in order to cite it; simply citing the original source would have most likely been acceptable per WP:SAYWHERE as long as the original source met WP:RS; so, there would've been no justification for the non-free use of the file (even as a true citation) per WP:FREER. I mentioned using a convenience link only as a possibility; you'd still be citing the original published source, but the link to the image would just be added for further clarification and aid in verification. For example, you might want to cite an old newspaper clipping that can only be found on a website like Newspapers.com. The source you cite is the old newspaper, not Newspapers.com. You then might want to add a link to Newspapers.com as a convenience to aid the reader in verifying the source. Now, whether a convenience link to a personal website would be acceptable to others is unclear, but it might be considered OK as long there's no WP:COPYVIO or WP:OR concerns; if there are, then you just remove the link and keep the original citation. Anyway, since Tarl N. found a workable archived version of the original source, things now appear to be sorted out. -- Marchjuly (talk) 01:59, 11 January 2019 (UTC)
CSD F11 of an image
Hi, you recently tagged one of my uploads as F11. I have no issues on that if it violates the policy. Do I upload another file from another source and remove the tags or let this file be deleted and upload the "issue-less" file with another name instead. ‑‑V.S.(C)(T)
Speedy deletion for copyright reasons of pictures that I took myself
There are a large number of pictures that I took myself to contribute to Wikipedia that got deleted due to copyright reasons, including some from my book, "Intelligent Image Processing", and some that I just took on my rooftop blue roof + green roof space. Can you help me understand why they were deleted?
Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.
You can now add captions to files on Commons. Captions are short descriptions of the file. They can be translated to all languages we use. They can't use wikitext markup.
Earlier a quoted HTML attribute had to be followed by a space. Now it doesn't. This means that some pages could look different when you save them even if you didn't edit that part of the text. [13][14]
Templates with <templatestyles> could not show the difference between the live template and the sandbox version when they were tested. This has now been fixed. <templatestyles> has a new wrapper parameter now. You can use it for selectors like .mw-parser-output <wrapper parameter value> <selector from CSS page>. [15]
Problems
When you see an edit in the recent changes feed or in the history of a page some of them have tags. Some tags are added automatically. You can also add tags manually. Tags for edits that have been added manually can be edited. This didn't work for a little while. This has now been fixed. [16]
Users who could cause more damage to the wikis if someone took over their account have to have more secure passwords. This includes administrators and other user groups. They can't use passwords that are in a list of common passwords. Accounts with common passwords are easy to take over. The list of common passwords was made longer a few weeks ago and has a different error message. Some user groups have been added to those who can't use common passwords. This is to protect all accounts with user rights that could cause damage. [17]
The AbuseFilter variable minor_edit has been removed. It was deprecated in 2016. Now you can't use it. You can fix the filters using it. You can find them if you use the search bar on Special:AbuseFilter.
The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from January 15
17:54, 14 January 2019 (UTC)
File permission problem with File:Ecca Vandal performing 2017.jpg
So I got your message, and I applied the resize to the music single cover you asked me to. I reduced the size from 820px to 400px. Does it sound right to you?
70Jack90 (talk) 02:26, 15 January 2019 (UTC)
@70Jack90: As the banner said - the reduction is automatic within 24 hours. I see the reducing bot has completed it's job at 6am, going to the typical record cover of 316x316. Ronhjones (Talk)17:07, 15 January 2019 (UTC)
Hi, Ronhjones. I was about to copy this file to Commons, but I had a couple of concerns: I don't suppose we have an OTRS ticket on the file? The reason I ask is that the reference to "my client" here suggests that the uploader is not the subject as claimed in the source field. Second, the EXIF lists the copyright holder as "Tara D. Sturm", not Jeff Allen anyway, and it's common practice for headshot photographers to retain copyright unless it's ceded to someone else (like the subject) in their contract. Entertainers often don't even know this and presume they are the copyright holders. I'd be interested in your thoughts on what to do. -- Rrburke (talk) 15:00, 15 January 2019 (UTC)
Good to know. Thanks. I’ll keep an eye out for the gadget. Incidentally, I found the Jeff Allen headshot all over the net, together with a slightly different one from the same shoot: [18]. Of course, ours has been online for almost two years, so we could be the source. -- Rrburke (talk) 20:19, 15 January 2019 (UTC)
@Rrburke: You could try this - Copy the content of User:Ronhjones/pdcV2.js into your vector.js or monobook.js (depends which skin you use) - gives 5 new macros to add templates...
nfr = "Non-free reduce"
nor = "Non-free no reduce"
ncs = "Now Commons"
mtc = "Copy to Wikimedia Commonss|human=" with your user name attached
An image your tagged for deletion is in question. FYI that is an original painting. I that is not a photograph within a painting. I took a photo myself of a flower and used it to work from to created a painted image. It does not use anyone elses work. I am the sole originator of the work, both the finished product as well as the photo I worked from. There is no one but ME. Thanks!
Somewhat a paradox. Remember good free images (which is what these are), will always get moved to commons, where this paradox will be an issue. Better to sort it out now. Ronhjones (Talk)01:15, 10 January 2019 (UTC)
@Inter&anthro and S.A. Julio: Now getting sensible numbers. Last good run was 141124 players, bad run was 39435 players, dummy run is 142724 players. Something went strange with the Api continue (bots can only get 5000 page names per Api call, then feeds the continue parameter back for 2, 3... calls until the whole category has been retrieved). I've rewritten that bit of code. Hopefully the dummy run will propose removal of all the ones badly added. I will add some number checks for future runs to check the list size of this main list of players Ronhjones (Talk)19:09, 7 January 2019 (UTC)
Your "bot" flagged File:Skylark's Good Will Tour of Marion, Ohio.jpg because it feels that the image needs to be smaller. Here is the problem. It is a significantly reduced size scan of a full page image that was originally published at size 18"x28". (The original illustration was 24x36") Even in that larger format, it would take someone with very good eyesight to read the captions in the image. When I created the image for Wikipedia from the BMP scan of the original, it was done as jpg with greater than normal compression. Even with all of this, the text of the image is almost impossible to read. If the image is made smaller, it will make looking at the example next to impossible, thus losing its educational aspect. I understand that nature of copyright, and even as is, the image couldn't be downloaded for reproduction with any clarity because of the jpg compression. As such, as is, and given it's rareness, I believe that it qualifies for fair use, and I am hoping you will remove the bot. Sjkoblentz (talk) 20:52, 19 January 2019 (UTC)
@Sjkoblentz: Compression is irrelevant as we allow many images formats, some are lossy (like jpg) and some are not (like png). We are only concerned with the image displayed, not how sharp the image is. The main criteria is displayed pixels. Wiki classes "resolution" as the sqrt(pixel count), so we can ask for "Low resolution" and mean a small pixel count. The standard guideline (and is is only a guideline) is 100,000 pixels, and 99.8% of non-free images are happily below that figure. WP:NFC states At the extreme high end of the range, non-free images where one dimension exceeds 1,000 pixels, or where the pixel count approaches 1 megapixel, will very likely require a close review to verify that the image needs that level of resolution. Your current image is 2.1 MegaPixels. Just to put it in proportion, I note out of the 600,000 Non-free images, there is only one other file that is anything this big (ignoring half a dozen Microsoft screenshots, which are allowed by MS). I do wonder if the image if PD. With a 1930 publication date, copyright would have to be registered at creation (I see nothing on the image - just the artist's name at the bottom), and it has to be renewed 28 years later. If you cannot prove it's PD, then we can set up a "File for discussion" and see if the community will approve a gigantic non-free image. Ronhjones (Talk)22:00, 19 January 2019 (UTC)
This is more than reasonable, but Thta I no longer live in Ohio, finding the the PD status would be a pain. So go ahead and have it resized. I donated the original to local historical society, while I maintained legal ownership of the electronic image. Its more important to get it out there under Wikipedia guidelines. Thanks for your time, Sjkoblentz (talk) 18:34, 20 January 2019 (UTC)
I have have second thoughts about using the image on Wikipedia. In fact an encounter with another twit on the site regarding an edit which needed to be made on another article has convinced me that my image collection and knowledge is better served others elsewhere. I am sorry if this caused you trouble. I will monitor the article to make sure the content is no readded. The picture should be removed as well. 02:56, 21 January 2019 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Sjkoblentz (talk • contribs)
Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.
Tech News
Some people did not get last week's issue of Tech News. This was because of a problem with MassMessage. If you did not get last week's issue, you can read it on Meta. [19]
Recent changes
The content translation tool can now use version 2 as the default version for users who turned on the beta feature. For example it adds the tracking category Pages with unreviewed translations to translations that might have used machine translations without fixing the problems. This is so others can find them. You can find this category in Special:TrackingCategories on Wikipedias.
When a template was edited with the visual editor, it would sometimes put all information on one line. This makes it difficult to read for editors who use the wikitext editor. It also makes it more difficult to see what happened in a diff. This problem affected edits made between 8 and 17 January and is now fixed. [20]
MassMessage is used to post a message to many pages. It has not been working reliably. Some messages have not been posted to everyone. [21][22]
Because of a database problem that had to be fixed immediately you could not edit most wikis for a couple of minutes on 17 January (UTC). This has now been fixed. [23]
The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from 22 January. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from 23 January. It will be on all wikis from 24 January (calendar).
Meetings
You can join the technical advice meeting on IRC. During the meeting, volunteer developers can ask for advice. The meeting will be on 23 January at 16:00 (UTC). See how to join.
As "Category:Non-free files with orphaned versions more than 7 days old" has over 860 files, it appears RonBot task #1 isn't running. I'm wondering if you have any ETA on that task running again. -Vanstrat((🗼))00:49, 21 January 2019 (UTC)
Turns out there was vandalism on the task's run page, stopping it from running. I undid the edit, I believe the task should run as normal now. -Vanstrat((🗼))00:55, 21 January 2019 (UTC)
The "run pages" (i.e. User:RonBot/1/Run) aren't protected in any way, meaning vandals can stop your bot from running, as they just did. I'm thinking it might be a good idea to semi-protect the pages? What do you think? - Vanstrat((🗼))01:03, 21 January 2019 (UTC)
@Vanstrat: Thanks for finding that! Looks like RonBot did some serious catching up after your edit. It's not normal to protect them. However I do have a solution. They all run from my PC using Windows schedule to fire up a DOS batch file. If there is an run time error the DOS window does not close. I'll tweak the code to make sure it exits with the errorcode set when the BOT is stopped. Then when I come to the PC, I'll find the DOS window still open. I do note that the /64 block of that IP is all vandalism - Special:Contributions/2600:387:1:813::/64 - /64 is usually one modem - I just wonder if it's some school wifi? Ronhjones (Talk)16:06, 21 January 2019 (UTC)
Sounds like a reasonable solution, especially since it's not happening that often from what I see. It appears that IP range is assigned to AT&T Mobility, and all the edits are done on mobile, so it's likely these are all mobile phone users, with geolocates putting them somewhere in the Dallas, TX area. - Vanstrat((🗼))20:30, 21 January 2019 (UTC)
@Vanstrat: Applied new code and tested OK - leaving python with "sys.exit(1)" means there is an "ERRORLEVEL 1" to be trapped in the DOS window. Appling to all bot tasks. Not sure about the /64 - strange there are virtually no good edits... Still if (s)he/they continue, I'm sure it will get sorted out. Ronhjones (Talk)20:48, 21 January 2019 (UTC)
Number9ine
Hello, RonHJones this is (Number9ine (talk) 03:03, 22 January 2019 (UTC)) I will be glad to speak with you regarding any of the pages we are working on; for many artists that either did not keep good records of their work or the work is in danger of being lost -- particularly if they have made important contributions, quantity of work unimportant we are minimalists here. I look to Encyclopedia Britannica, Australian Library, Wiki and other archives to help with useful biographies of this work. Any suggestions appreciated.
File:Actor Robert Dorning.jpg
Hi,
I've received a message on my talk page today re. the photo I downloaded for actor Robert Dorning (File:Actor Robert Dorning.jpg) - however, I realised my error and downloaded a further file (File:Robert Dorning (actor).jpg) correctly sized. Hope that is O.K. Beryl reid fan (talk) 18:40, 23 January 2019 (UTC)
Gooday Ron. I have just established a User:cat for a gent who recently changed a licence for me; previously I have uploaded others which were already at the correct licence c:Category:Images by Mark Walker. I hope this is in order (I copied another I knew of).
The images contained therein were from memory. I have another similar to establish. Is there any way to keyword-search, other than relying on my memory from a few years back? Thx.--Rocknrollmancer (talk) 14:28, 20 January 2019 (UTC)
Muchas - just got back to this on the first search suggested - useful for finding same Flickr photographer's works uploaded by other editors!--Rocknrollmancer (talk) 23:33, 23 January 2019 (UTC)
@JoKalliauer: Sorry, neither do I! I have looked at that option, it looks like a steep learning curve. My bots all run from my PC, using Windows Schedule to start up a simple DOS batch file at the desired time. It's something I keep think about trying, and never get round to it. Ronhjones (Talk)14:50, 27 January 2019 (UTC)
Hi Ron,
Thanks for your message about the image file size. I am happy for the image size to be reduced to meet requirements. Thanks for your assistance. --PinkAechFas (talk) 22:27, 27 January 2019 (UTC)
Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.
When someone moves a page to a name that already exists that page that had the name the article is moved to is deleted. For a couple of months this didn't always work. Some users saw an error message instead. This has now been fixed. [25]
Changes later this week
There is no new MediaWiki version this week.
Meetings
You can join the technical advice meeting on IRC. During the meeting, volunteer developers can ask for advice. The meeting will be on 30 January at 16:00 (UTC). See how to join.
In re the edit summary for this edit. Kudos for including a link to disable the bot in the edit summary (other stuff I generally appreciate in the edit summary for bot edits: link to docs for bot tasks, link to its BRFA, direct link to bot talk page or feedback channel; just by the way), but it leads to User:RonBot/12/Run; a user subpage consisting of just the word "Run". Now while I may be able to guess that if I change that page to be anything other than "Run" the bot will stop editing, that's not at all discoverable to anyone that isn't more than averagely technically inclined. I'd suggest transcluding some instructions onto that page, or at the very least putting an edit notice on it. And apart from the technical "Here's how you do that" bit, it might also beneficially explain under what circumstances it would be appropriate to prevent the bot from editing (i.e. only for serious malfunctions etc.). In fact, now I think of it, there ought probably be standard verbiage for the latter for all bots in a template somewhere.
In any case, no biggie, and I mostly just took the opportunity to come say thanks for the useful edit (the broken image might have taken months to notice and fix otherwise). Cheers, --Xover (talk) 06:32, 29 January 2019 (UTC)
@Xover: It's something that got copied borrowed from somewhere else. It's easier to use the bot's home page to disable any task. I'll think about fixing edit summaries. (and yes, anything but "run" kills it) Ronhjones (Talk)16:07, 29 January 2019 (UTC)
@JG66: Image is on commons - c:File:Colin Newman b nov 2011.jpg. When the flickr review was done, the bot noted that a small version was uploaded, so it uploaded the largest one available. Now the wiki software (tries) works out which way up an image should be, but it sometimes fails. On the image page is a "request rotation" link, that calls another bot to rotate the image - I've done the request. It can take a few hours before it gets done. Ronhjones (Talk)17:27, 28 January 2019 (UTC)
Thanks very much for doing that. I see the rotation issue has been sorted out ... but the image now appears strangely blurred! I don't want to put you to any more trouble – will read up about Commons and try to request assistance there. Cheers, JG66 (talk) 04:57, 29 January 2019 (UTC)
@JG66: Image at c:File:Colin Newman b nov 2011.jpg looks OK(ish) to me (the depth of field is low, only the face is in good focus), wiki has to make a png for the page - 2592/200 = 12.96 times reduction (unlike some web sites, wiki does not send down the full image with a display size - that increases bandwidth too much). I've changed it to be 216 so that is 2592/216 = 12 - that stops any interpolation as a 12x12 pixel block of the image becomes just one whole pixel, that will help. Ronhjones (Talk)16:23, 29 January 2019 (UTC)
Sorry for distrubing. User:It's gonna be awesome is blocked on Chinese Wikipedia due to his personal attack toward others and gaming Wikipedia rules in a long time (3RR Noticeboard). If User:It's gonna be awesome continously does cross-wiki vandalism or disruptive edits, please report back to my talk page or zh:WP:VIP. Thanks. 云间守望 - (Talk with WQL) 13:13, 31 January 2019 (UTC)
Hello Ron, would you take a look at User:Cdo2017, they have continued to add unsourced content and creating poorly sourced articles that do not meet notability guidelines. All they do is increase the work for other users. It appears they have learned nothing from the last time you blocked them. I reckon a permanent block is in order.Vinegarymass911 (talk) 21:41, 31 January 2019 (UTC)
YGM
Hello, Ronhjones. Please check your email; you've got mail! It may take a few minutes from the time the email is sent for it to show up in your inbox. You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{You've got mail}} or {{ygm}} template.
Thanks for uploading File:Heather MacLeod .jpg. 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).
Hi you deleted the above file on 3rd January 2015 after the article it was attached to was deleted. A new article that meets standards is now in place so I will add the logo Vahvistus (talk) 17:26, 3 February 2019 (UTC)
Administrators who are blocked have the technical ability to block the administrator who blocked their own account. A recent request for comment has amended the blocking policy to clarify that this ability should only be used in exceptional circumstances, such as account compromises, where there is a clear and immediate need.
A request for comment closed with a consensus in favor of deprecating The Sun as a permissible reference, and creating an edit filter to warn users who attempt to cite it.
Technical news
A discussion regarding an overhaul of the format and appearance of Wikipedia:Requests for page protection is in progress (permalink). The proposed changes will make it easier to create requests for those who are not using Twinkle. The workflow for administrators at this venue will largely be unchanged. Additionally, there are plans to archive requests similar to how it is done at WP:PERM, where historical records are kept so that prior requests can more easily be searched for.
A new IRC bot is available that allows you to subscribe to notifications when specific filters are tripped. This requires that your IRC handle be identified.
Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.
Changes later this week
It was easy to untick a box by accident in Special:Preferences. This will now be fixed. [26]
The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from 5 February. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from 6 February. It will be on all wikis from 7 February (calendar).
Meetings
You can join the technical advice meeting on IRC. During the meeting, volunteer developers can ask for advice. The meeting will be on 6 February at 16:00 (UTC). See how to join.
To Ron H. Jones:
I received an email indicating that there were problems with a photo I uploaded to the Benjamin Cleveland Wikipedia page. The photo was of a painting of Benjamin Cleveland, painted by artist Don Troiani. It's not clear to me what the image source problem is, as I mentioned the artist in the caption. Can you clarify for me, and perhaps outline next steps?
Thank you,
Jr3arlington Jr3arlington (talk) 19:22, 4 February 2019 (UTC)
@Jr3arlington: One cannot gain the copyright by taking a photo. The painting (unless documented somewhere) is automatically "All Rights Reserved" under the Berne Convention at the point of creation, and will last until 70 years after the painter's death. Thus you need Don Troiani's copyright release to show the painting. Ronhjones (Talk)19:46, 4 February 2019 (UTC)
The article will be discussed at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Teaching grandmother to suck eggs 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. AtlasDuane (talk) 12:22, 5 February 2019 (UTC)
Do you know of any general consensus discussion(s) relating to this ("few months" requirement) or is it on an ad hoc, individual basis? I chose the image specifically for the bio infobox and would like to re-instate. Thx.--Rocknrollmancer (talk) 03:42, 4 February 2019 (UTC)
Hi Ron - I appreciate your comment and help regarding the Atomic Cocktail draft article picture. I have attempted to address the issue as I understand it. However, even once I found what I believe is the best tag, I am not sure if I know how to use the tag / where to place it? I can't begin to tell you as a newby how hard and confusing using even the talk pages like this is. Image use in particular is especially frustrating and overly complicated; hopefully I placed the tag correctly, which I am including here: {{PD-USGov-Military}} Thank youNicholas Nastrusnic (talk) 12:39, 8 February 2019 (UTC)
@Nicholas Nastrusnic: Images are never easy (unless it's a plain photo you took yourself). We need to be able to confirm that it's USGov-Military - so it needs a link to the film location to confirm, as there is nothing in the image to show that. Free images will always get tagged to be moved to commons, as they should not be here unless there is a reason - with no link to prove it PD, it would get deleted quickly there. If the film has author statement in it, then maybe the whole film should be uploaded - but that can be more tricky with file types and size... Ronhjones (Talk)17:51, 8 February 2019 (UTC)
Hi Ron - Here is where I can find the video, if you watch the very beginning of it, it says it is from US Army, and the screen shot is from that opening scene where it is labeled US Army. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-eBpfAxbng If I understand you correctly and I need to find it on an offical US Army website, I am guessing that would be impossible. Thanks for your patience with a newby. I looked a good hour for an image I though would pass muster, and even though there are "a ton on the internet" that was the only thing I could find that said US govt.Nicholas Nastrusnic (talk) 20:21, 8 February 2019 (UTC)
Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.
Recent changes
You can use the amboxCSS class to show page issues to mobile readers. When you use ambox there are classes you can use.
Changes later this week
The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from 12 February. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from 13 February. It will be on all wikis from 14 February (calendar).
Meetings
You can join the technical advice meeting on IRC. During the meeting, volunteer developers can ask for advice. The meeting will be on 13 February at 16:00 (UTC). See how to join.
Hi, Ronhjones.
I received a message from you that I need to confirm that I am the owner of these images:
Theosophical Society Emblem.jpg ,
White Lotus Day – May 8, 1891.jpg ,
Theosophical Society in Adyar (Façade).jpg ,
Sociedade Teosófica no Brasil – 100 an0s.jpg ,
Selo comemorativo dos 100 anos da Sociedade Teosófica no Brasil.png
I've put all the images that I uploaded in antecipation of future problems.
I've sent e-mails to confirm that is my work. I do not know if you can see them.
Sorry for my english.
My name is Jairo Pereira Cavalcanti and user name: Jacantti
The ParserMigration extension has been removed. It compared the result of two versions of the MediaWiki wikitext parsing pipeline. It was used when we moved to the Remex parsing library instead of Tidy.
The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from 18 December. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from 19 December. It will be on all wikis from 20 December (calendar).
Done Ronhjones (Talk) 05:18, 27 December 2018 (UTC)
Guideline and policy news
Technical news
Arbitration
Miscellaneous
Sounds like a reasonable solution, especially since it's not happening that often from what I see. It appears that IP range is assigned to AT&T Mobility, and all the edits are done on mobile, so it's likely these are all mobile phone users, with geolocates putting them somewhere in the Dallas, TX area. - Vanstrat ((🗼)) 20:30, 21 January 2019 (UTC)
.jpg){kind=link}
.jpg&action=edit&redlink=1){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}
.jpg&action=edit&redlink=1){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}
Administrator changes
Interface administrator changes
