Wikipedia talk:Tip of the day/Archive 9

This is an archive of past discussions on Wikipedia:Tip of the day. 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.

Archive 5

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Archive 7

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February 27 - What is Page curation? - Done

Done

Greetings, The following new February 27 tip can replace existing (duplicate of August 27) tip: Join the Recent Changes Patrol!.

Tip title: What is Page curation?

Wikipedia:Page Curation is a suite of tools developed by Wikimedia Foundation to help experienced editors review new pages on the English Wikipedia. The recommendations and guidelines for new page patrollers described at WP:NPP which should be studied carefully before using these tools.

Page curation provides two main features:

the New Pages Feed, a dynamic list of new pages for review by community patrollers.
the Curation Toolbar, an optional panel on articles that enables editors to review them more effectively.

If there are any additions or updates needed for this new tip, please discuss here. JoeHebda (talk) 17:16, 23 December 2015 (UTC)
* Discussion:

@JoeHebda and Checkingfax: I wonder why they named it that. Do you know? What does it have to do with curation? Perhaps the tip should explain what the activity "page curation" is. The Transhumanist 20:17, 26 December 2015 (UTC)

JoeHebda Hi, The Transhumanist, sorry I did not receive your pings on the 23rd. The first time the ping was set but the date/time was not changed so it did not go out; 2nd time the ping was reset, time/date were refreshed, but ping was not reset

Re-pinging is frustrating sometimes.

I can see it being page curation in an abstract way, or if curation was redefined in Wiktionary

We can always edit Wiktionary to suit our needs. Not.

Firefox spell-check does not even recognize curation as a real word. LOL.

Clarification always helps. I will do what I can to help clarify what curation means in this context.

As an aside, There is a link in the lefthand Tools section of each article page called 'RTRC' that links to 'Special:BlankPage/RTRC' which is supposed to 'Monitor and Patrol Recent Changes in Real-Time'. When I click on it I get a mostly blank page. What is up with that link? Cheers! {{u|Checkingfax}} {Talk} 04:31, 27 December 2015 (UTC)

UPDATE: I refreshed the [[Special:BlankPage/RTRC]] page five times and an interface finally appeared instead of a blank page. Cheers! Checkingfax — Preceding unsigned comment added by Checkingfax (talk • contribs) 04:59, 27 December 2015 (UTC)

This new tip can be posted at Tips library Watchdogging (monitoring) Wikipedia section. JoeHebda (talk) 21:33, 30 December 2015 (UTC)

Done Cheers! JoeHebda talk 13:09, 7 January 2016 (UTC)

Unfortunate text wrapping

I use {{totd b}} to serve TOTD to my User page. The problem is the Prior tip – Next tip line wraps on to two lines. See screenshot (circled in red):
http://i68.tinypic.com/2h6zf2g.jpg

So I see:
Prior Read more:
tip – Next tip

instead of: Prior tip – Next tip Read more:

I'm going to go over and tweak tonight's tip so it looks right on my User page. Cheers! {{u|Checkingfax}} {Talk} 02:53, 29 November 2015 (UTC)

Greetings Checkingfax - just a thought, you might like to try {{right|{{totd3}}}} like above or {{totd CP}} which is what I use on my talk page. Another option... Cheers! JoeHebda (talk) 15:33, 30 November 2015 (UTC)

Greetings Checkingfax and The Transhumanist - I have a solution in mind for the Prior tip/Next tip navigation that will more closely resemble other WP pages. When I removed the br brk and variations it is to reduce vertical length of the tips using up valuable display realestate. At the time I had no idea that removal would cause this issue. While I am working up this different navigation I would ask to refrain from adding that clear as it will likely not be part of the new nav. It is okay to leave those few clears out there for now. Thanks. JoeHebda (talk) 19:25, 1 December 2015 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:Tip of the day/January 2 for an example of clickable buttons. Cheers! JoeHebda (talk) 20:30, 1 December 2015 (UTC)

@JoeHebda and The Transhumanist:, OK, will do.

FYI: it is confusing but {{br}} and {{brk}} are not the same command. br is a template shortcut to template {{clear}} and brk is a template shortcut to template {{break}}.

The template "Clear" is to prevent images or templates, etc. from bleeding beyond headings, etc.

The template "Break" functions exactly like the HTML tag <br /> which is a self-closing single line break only. Neither template {{break}} nor its identically functioning template shortcut {{brk}} will clear an image like template {{clear}} or its identically functioning template shortcut {{br}} will. Bonus tip: you can add a number to template "Break" to indicate the number of line breaks you want, for example: {{brk|6}} or {{break|6}} will perform 6 line breaks in a row. PS: I created the template shortcut brk because the template shortcut br confused me

I will check out the clickable buttons in a minute. Thanks for the tip on the other TOTD layouts. Cheers! {{u|Checkingfax}} {Talk} 22:20, 1 December 2015 (UTC)

@JoeHebda and The Transhumanist: OK, I checked out the "clickable buttons" on Jan 1 tip. Very snappy. Are there any accessibility or browser issues to worry about? Cheers! {{u|Checkingfax}} {Talk} 02:02, 3 December 2015 (UTC)

Checkingfax and The Transhumanist - Is there a BOT that could read through entire TOTD schedule queue (all 366 days) and do this update for us? After countless hours (and fighting boredom) making that last Stack - Read more update, a BOT update would be great! I recall seeing an article about requesting a BOT. Wonder if there is an BOT existing where we could feed two parameters: wikicode to add and wikicode to delete, or same but processed in two passes instead of one... This is something I have no WP experience with although I have used mainframe data patching tools previously (several lifetimes ago). JoeHebda (talk) 12:24, 3 December 2015 (UTC)

Add this wikicode before stack | float = right wikicode

{{stack|float=left |1={{Clickable button 2|{{day-1|{{SUBPAGENAME}}|Wikipedia:Tip of the day/|}}|Prior tip}}{{snds}}{{Clickable button 2|{{day+1|{{SUBPAGENAME}}|Wikipedia:Tip of the day/|}}|Next tip}} }}

At noinclude, remove this wikicode

[[{{day-1|{{SUBPAGENAME}}|Wikipedia:Tip of the day/|}}|Prior tip]] - [[{{day+1|{{SUBPAGENAME}}|Wikipedia:Tip of the day/|}}|Next tip]]

JoeHebda (talk) 12:39, 3 December 2015 (UTC)

JoeHebda, the tool you need is WP:AWB. It's a semi-automatic editor designed for search/replace on batches of pages. The Transhumanist 21:21, 5 December 2015 (UTC)

@JoeHebda and The Transhumanist:This is the tip for the 9th (tomorrow). It renders properly in its directory: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Tip_of_the_day/December_9

The clickable buttons aren't working once the tip is encapsulated in a display template.

RAW TIP:

How to bypass scrolling and clicking

When you are done editing, you do not have to scroll or click to summarize your edits, nor to Preview or Save the article.

You can jump to the Edit summary box by pressing the Tab ↹ key.

To preview the article, press Alt+⇧ Shift+p.

To save the article, press Alt+⇧ Shift+s or press ↵ Enter when the cursor is in the Edit summary box.

To see the changes you have made so far, press Alt+⇧ Shift+v.

Prior tip – Tips library – Next tip

Adding TEST display template to each RAW template

Idea: @JoeHebda and The Transhumanist: I think each RAW daily tip template should display a dressed template below it when you hit Preview or Save (in the documentation section). It would be a <noinclude> feature for testing functionality and format before saving a template. It would have a static date in it instead of a dynamic date. I might be smart enough to figure it out on my own. We shall see. Although, a smart version of this would be a single, dynamic template that would sense the date of the tip template it was displaying. Instead of having to paste the entire code in to the 366 tip templates. Cheers! {{u|Checkingfax}} {Talk} 03:49, 9 December 2015 (UTC)

@Checkingfax: The previous/next links are needed in the tips themselves, so that when you are on one of those tip pages, you can go to the previous or next tip! The Transhumanist 03:53, 9 December 2015 (UTC)

GTG, will catch ya later. The Transhumanist 04:06, 9 December 2015 (UTC)

@JoeHebda and The Transhumanist: For the meantime I quickly created a tip display template and added it to the display template gallery called {{totd-static}} (based on {{totd}}) where you can edit the display template, insert/save a static date, and test the RAW tip before you save the RAW tip. Cheers! {{u|Checkingfax}} {Talk} 02:10, 10 December 2015 (UTC)

(TBD) - Wikipedia: The Missing Manual

Idea:

@JoeHebda and The Transhumanist: This tip would replace: TBD

Wikipedia: The Missing Manual

Wikipedia: The Missing Manual is a how-to guide that explains the process of contributing to the English Wikipedia, both for novice users and experienced editors.

Anyone can edit Wikipedia‍—‌including you. That is right. There is no fee, and you do not have to register. You do not even have to have an email account. As the Introduction explains, all Wikipedia articles are collaborative efforts. You can jump right in and add your own knowledge with just a few clicks and some typing.

See also:
Help:Wikipedia: The Missing Manual (complete: online)

Wikipedia – The Missing Manual (backstory only)

Cheers! {{u|Checkingfax}} {Talk} 10:02, 12 December 2015 (UTC)

Discuss:

@Checkingfax and JoeHebda: The tip doesn't explain why we have a manual in addition to the help system.

Perhaps change it to this:

Wikipedia: The Missing Manual

Wikipedia: The Missing Manual is a how-to guide that explains the process of contributing to the English Wikipedia.

It was originally published as a book on the open market. The author and publisher have made it available as part of Wikipedia's help system where it can be improved by us.

It explains the core aspects of editing, and is a good introduction to the process of encyclopedia building.

TOTD for User scripts - can 3 be combined?

The tips for January 20, plus July 20 & October 8 are similar. Wondering if they can be combined? Since I am new to Wikipedia and have not used any of these scripts so asking for help here.

January 20 different from July 20, Oct. 8

User Scripts - January 20

You can install user scripts written in JavaScript to add features to your account, and to automate various tasks.

You could write your own scripts. But many user scripts have already been written by Wikipedians, and are ready for you to make use of. To enable these scripts, simply paste them into your vector.js file. (Only logged-in users can install scripts).

Examples of scripts:

wiktLookup – Double-click a word, and go to its definition on Wiktionary. Watchlist sorter – Sorts your watchlist by namespace, and shows the pages for each namespace in alphabetical order. Also adds spacing for further ease of reading. Some of the most popular scripts have become gadgets, which can be enabled simply by checking an option in your preferences.

These next two, very similar / July 20 - User scripts / October 8 – User scripts

User Scripts - July 20

Many different tasks on Wikipedia can be automated with user scripts. For example, you can create tabs to automate different vandalism warnings or even perform an AfD nomination.

These scripts can also add a Google search link to your toolbox, and display the current time in a place of your choosing.

Many scripts have been written by Wikipedians, and are ready for you to make use of.

To enable these scripts, simply paste them into your monobook.js Afile.

A number of scripts can be activated by checking a box in Preferences, under the Gadgets tab.

User Scripts - October 8

Many different tasks on Wikipedia can be simplified (automated) with user scripts. For example, you can create tabs to automate different vandalism warnings or even perform an AfD nomination.

These scripts can also add a Google search link to your toolbox, and display the current time in a place of your choosing.

Many scripts have been written by Wikipedians, and are ready for you to make use of.

To enable these scripts, simply paste them into your common.js file.

Hoping that an expert editor will be able to solve since this is totally beyond me. Regards, JoeHebda (talk) 14:40, 28 May 2015 (UTC)

I think that they could be combined JoeHebda, opening up two new slots for new tips like your wikipedia adventure one and if there are no other proposals, I could come up with one. Again though I just joined and am calling in User:The Transhumanist. Thanks Tortle (talk) 19:13, 7 September 2015 (UTC)

Greetings Tortle and User:The Transhumanist After taking a second look at these three: the tip from January 20 is different, so I retitled it to 'User scripts examples'; and did the updates to TOTD Schedule Queue, Tips library, and above January maintenance wikitable. Remaining now are Tips July 20 and October 8 to be somehow merged together into the same tip. Regards, JoeHebda (talk) 15:09, 21 September 2015 (UTC)

Sounds fine.

Joe, the TOTD department is fairly simple. There are 366 tip pages that get displayed year after year (except the leap year day). Just make sure something good is on each of them, and keep the lists (scheduling queue, library) up to date (like you have been).

You guys are doing good. The Transhumanist 04:25, 22 September 2015 (UTC)

@JoeHebda and The Transhumanist: Is this situation handled? If so, I can Archive it. Cheers! {{u|Checkingfax}} {Talk} 03:05, 14 December 2015 (UTC)

Obsolete/erroneous tips for November

Done Using WP:LINKY and Firefox's Ctrl+W hot key to cycle through the links in the tip scheduling queue, I came across the following tips that need to be replaced:

Wikipedia:Tip of the day/November 2 – Gain feedback on your editing from other editors
- Wikipedia:Editor review is inactive
Wikipedia:Tip of the day/November 4 – How to disable the section edit links
- I can't find this in Preferences anywhere. I don't think it exists anymore.
Wikipedia:Tip of the day/November 10 – Search Wikipedia with Lycos
- no longer applies. Link in tip is dead. Instructions are erroneous.
Wikipedia:Tip of the day/November 12 – Making the edit summary input field larger
- this one was written when monobook was the default skin.
Wikipedia:Tip of the day/November 21 – Viewing Persondata
- deprecated as of May 26, 2015

Those are all I could find in November. The Transhumanist 03:58, 24 September 2015 (UTC)

@The Transhumanist and Tortle: Wondering if October tips has been checked? I will be away from computer until this afternoon but wanted to ask this before leaving. And I do have a small list of new tip ideas waiting in the wings to be written. Cheers! JoeHebda (talk) 12:49, 24 September 2015 (UTC)

I have not checked October. I figured you would be working on that. I did November to help with your safety buffer before tips go live. The Transhumanist 13:19, 24 September 2015 (UTC)

@The Transhumanist and JoeHebda: ctrl+W closes the active window in Firefox. Cheers! {{u|Checkingfax}} {Talk} 04:26, 14 December 2015 (UTC)

Tip of the day/November 2

Done

Answered

– JoeHebda (talk) 03:24, 25 September 2015 (UTC)

Current tip name = Gain feedback on your editing from other editors

Recommendation: Rewrite this tip, changing title to Noticeboards to request assistance and ask questions

Pull this tip's content from Wikipedia:Noticeboards lead section. For example:

Noticeboards on Wikipedia are pages where editors can ask questions and request assistance from people who are familiar with the policies and guidelines covered by each individual noticeboard. They are to be used for specific problems that editors encounter in writing and maintaining Wikipedia articles.

Posting a message to a noticeboard can also be an appropriate early step in resolving disputes on Wikipedia. Noticeboards are best used for simple and urgent matters. If an editor needs a more complex response, and is willing to wait for it, the WP:Requests for comment process may be more suitable.

If you want feedback on an article that you have planned, or that you have recently made major changes to, try the Teahouse or help desk. If you have a question about an encyclopedic subject, leave a note for the Wikipedia:Reference desk.

If you need general help with creating and editing articles on Wikipedia, try Wikipedia:Questions or Wikipedia:Help desk. New editors may find the WP:New contributors' help page a valuable resource.

Tip of the day/November 4

Done

Answered

– JoeHebda (talk) 03:45, 25 September 2015 (UTC)

Current tip name = How to disable the section edit links

Recommendation: replace with new tip below.

Tip title: Help reduce the Wikipedia backlog

There are a number of tasks that should be done to improve Wikipedia. First of all, while reading any article, and you notice something in the article that can be improved, if you are not able to cleanup the article immediately, then feel free to add the necessary cleanup templates. Template messages may be added to articles needing a cleanup.

Articles with these templates will appear in the backlog, and help other editors to easily identify the needed changes. Some editors help to reduce the backlog by specializing in certain specific types of cleanup and are experts for these types of improvements.

The Wikipedia backlog page lists important tasks that should be done and invites editors to help.

Tip of the day/November 10

Answered

– JoeHebda (talk) 12:26, 25 September 2015 (UTC)

Done

Current tip name = How to search Wikipedia with Lycos

Recommendation: replace with new tip below, discussed above at (November 10) Lycos tip is no longer applicable.

Tip title: Editing articles for web accessibility

Web accessibility is the goal of making web pages easier to navigate and read. While this is primarily intended to assist those with disabilities, it can be helpful to all readers.

While editing articles, keep in mind the goal of making Wikipedia web accessible. All users, regardless of disability, should be able to read, navigate, and contribute to Wikipedia easily.

The Accessibility section of Wikipedia's Manual of Style is a valuable resource that provides helpful guidelines. In addition, WikiProject Accessibility is a group of editors promoting better access for disabled or otherwise disadvantaged users. For more information, such as what you can do to help, see the main project page.

Discussion for consensus: If there are any additions or updates needed for this new tip, please feel free to communicate here. Suggestions for improvement are welcome. JoeHebda (talk) 12:26, 25 September 2015 (UTC)

It looks ready to go. The Transhumanist 01:27, 26 September 2015 (UTC)

Done Posted: 15:55, 27 September 2015

Thanks!

JoeHebda (talk) 20:03, 28 September 2015 (UTC)

Done

Tip of the day/November 12

Done

@The Transhumanist:

Answered

– JoeHebda (talk) 03:55, 29 September 2015 (UTC)

Current tip name = Making the edit summary input field larger

Recommendation: replace with new tip below.

Tip title: Giving editor awards

Whether an editor collaborates with a team of editors on a WikiProject or is improving articles independently, an editor can give a Wikipedia award (often a barnstar) to another deserving editor.

Editors may reward vigorous Wikipedia contributors for their hard work and due diligence by awarding them a fitting barnstar, or other award. In additional to these virtual awards, editors may nominate someone to receive a gift, in the mail, from the Wikimedia Foundation.

If there are any additions or updates needed for this new tip, please feel free to communicate here. Suggestions for improvement are welcome. Regards, JoeHebda (talk) 20:15, 28 September 2015 (UTC)

Done This replacement tip is now posted at TOTD Schedule Queue, and at Tips library.

JoeHebda (talk) 21:03, 30 September 2015 (UTC)

Done

Tip of the day/November 21

Done

Current tip name = Viewing Persondata

Recommendation: replace with new tip below.

Tip title: Welcome to Wikipedia!

As a new editor you may be wondering, "How can I help?" and be overwhelmed by the extent and scope of the entire Wikipedia project.

An introduction for new contributors is available at Help:Getting started which provides a self-guided roadmap of tutorials, introductions, training topics and other resources allowing you to learn more about how you can help improve Wikipedia.

(March 30) - Working on the Main Page = lengthy

Unresolved

Greetings, Wonder if the Wikipedia:Tip of the day/March 30 tip can be divided into two? I noticed this tip is quite long. Does it make sense to make two seperate tips?

Main Page departments (top half of current tip)
Main Page schedule queues (bottom of current tip)

Discussion for consensus:

Please feel free to communicate feedback here. Cheers! JoeHebda (talk) 23:45, 26 September 2015 (UTC)

@JoeHebda and The Transhumanist: Is this still up in the air? Cheers! {{u|Checkingfax}} {Talk} 04:42, 14 December 2015 (UTC)

TOTD Archives

Greetings, This talk page is getting somewhat lengthy & I'm thinking that by/after Dec. 31 might be a good time to create another archive (Archive 6). For now, wondering if it would be worthwhile to move all of the Archive 1 to Archive 5 subpages into a single subpage (Archives)? Since I have not done any archiving, asking for advice please. JoeHebda (talk) 16:10, 26 October 2015 (UTC)
* Discussion

@JoeHebda: There are a number of ways to do archiving. They are covered at Help:Archiving a talk page.

Cutting and pasting existing archive pages into a single page is not advisable for a couple reasons:

it creates a page that is too cumbersome for some readers (which is why we archive in the first place), and...
it unnecessarily disconnects the archive content from its edit histories (assuming the move/rename method of archiving was used).

There are some other things you can do. If you want a page with all the archives on it, you can transclude them like this:

To see how well this works, see Wikipedia talk:Tip of the day/Sandbox.

Note that this department uses the automated template {{archivebox}} to display links to standard numbered archive pages. It is used like this:

By the way, the way I handle archives on my user talk page is with a menu subpage. Click on it to see the menu:

Proposal: add Tips library to TOTD templates

Greetings: Now that the Tips library improvements are well under way, the nine TOTD templates can each have the following added to the template footer, directing tip readers to the library.

Become a Wikipedia tipster - Tips library, by subject

* Discussion

If there should be alternate wording, or better placement suggestions, please respond here. Regards, JoeHebda (talk) 20:04, 26 October 2015 (UTC)

Done posted to TOTD templates. JoeHebda (talk) 15:24, 29 October 2015 (UTC)

@JoeHebda and The Transhumanist: The ndash confuses me a bit – like the sentence is supposed to continue instead of being separated. Can we switch to a pipe or a bold bullet? Cheers! {{u|Checkingfax}} {Talk} 05:37, 14 December 2015 (UTC)

(February 29) issue: Next tip goes to March 2.

Done Greetings @Tortle and The Transhumanist: For Wikipedia:Tip of the day/February 29, when I click on Next tip, it loads March 2 tip instead of March 1. I looked at the wikicode & it's beyond anything that I can understand.

It is possible that because of Feb. 29 being a leap day it might need something special? Maybe a hard-coded wikilink to force March 1:

[[Wikipedia:Tip of the day/March 1|Next tip]]

In addition, whenever there is a leap year, how does Feb. 28 Tip know to use Feb. 29 and not skip fwd to March 1?

Regards, JoeHebda (talk) 21:27, 26 September 2015 (UTC)

The calendar incrementation is handled by the software. Mathematically speaking, the 29th day of February in 2015 is March 1st. That's probably why you are getting March 2 - in terms of the correct next numerical day of the year, March 2 it is correct. Try the same thing on January 1st, 2016, and it will probably show March 1. The Transhumanist 23:35, 26 September 2015 (UTC)

Greetings to PrimeHunter (PrimeHunter—The Transhumanist—JoeHebda) Re: Wikipedia:Tip of the day/February 29: Can you update the {{totd nav}} template so it jumps to March 1 after February 29 instead of jumping from February 29 to March 2? Thank you. Cheers! {{u|Checkingfax}} {Talk} 04:40, 14 December 2015 (UTC)

Done with code to bypass the behaviour of #time.[1] It's only relevant when you somehow end up on February 29 in a non-leap year, e.g. by using {{Totd-random}}. In non-leap years, "Next" goes from February 28 to March 1. In leap years it goes from February 28 to February 29 to March 1. PrimeHunter (talk) 12:16, 14 December 2015 (UTC)

Adding interlanguage wikilinks to bottom of tips

Unresolved

Idea:

@JoeHebda and The Transhumanist: Many of the tips have this [[fa:ویکی‌پدیا:نکته روز/۵ دی]] interlanguage wikilink (Persian). They go at the very bottom of the article outside of the </noinclude> tag. Should we add this Persian one to all the tips that lack it? If so, we should probably use [[WP:AWB]]. Cheers! {{u|Checkingfax}} {Talk} 20:51, 13 December 2015 (UTC)

Before doing this for each tip, check for to see if there is a translated page. The Transhumanist 14:46, 21 December 2015 (UTC)

@JoeHebda and The Transhumanist: Also need to change and see if the links are date specific. Cheers! {{u|Checkingfax}} {Talk} 06:34, 22 December 2015 (UTC)

(January 10) Tip posted; Why archived?

Greetings, Just curious as to why January 10 tip was archived so soon after posting live? Regards, JoeHebda (talk) 14:39, 23 December 2015 (UTC)

Me too. I haven't made it through all the postings yet. Concerning this tip...

I see a problem with the tutorial itself. The tutorial's title implies it is more general, but it's contents are aimed at editors more than readers. I've added "If you are interested in editing Wikipedia," to the tip to make this clearer. The Transhumanist 19:31, 23 December 2015 (UTC)

(January 19) Why tip to be skipped?

Greetings, Wondering why Jan. 19th tip (Preview tomorrow's Featured Article) is listed to be skipped? It is a duplicate of July 19th so I do not understand why it should not be replaced. Or at least wait until after Jan. 19th has passed? Please explain. Regards, JoeHebda (talk) 14:44, 23 December 2015 (UTC)

@JoeHebda and The Transhumanist: Joe, T T suggested skipping it because (paraphrased for brevity): "the FA folks need all the help they can get". Cheers! {{u|Checkingfax}} {Talk} 17:28, 23 December 2015 (UTC)

Where's the list with "skipped" in it? The Transhumanist 19:56, 23 December 2015 (UTC)

Sorry for the confusion...At January 19 above, I added this tip to April 19, July 19 and Oct. 19 dates (and removed the skipped). JoeHebda (talk) 20:24, 23 December 2015 (UTC)

Suggestion

When starting a thread on a particular tip (from the schedule) on this talk page, providing a link to that tip would be a nice convenience. The Transhumanist 19:34, 23 December 2015 (UTC)

In the MOS, I thought I read that it's not a good practice to put links into a section title. However I do agree that it is helpful to include the link when discussing. Regards, JoeHebda (talk) 20:19, 23 December 2015 (UTC)

The MOS includes publishing standards for articles. It's less critical for talk pages. But you don't necessarily have to put the links in the headings -- they are just as easily added to the body of a message. The Transhumanist 20:09, 26 December 2015 (UTC)

(tip idea) DRAFT

Idea:

@The Transhumanist and JoeHebda: This tip would replace: TBD

When creating external links on Wikipedia the server gods instruct us to strip off the https: or http: portion of long links. The receiving user site or browser will decide how to append the link when it is received. They call this protocol-relative URLs.

So a long URL that starts out like this:
https://www.longlink/folder.com

Will be submitted by you like this:
//www.longlink/folder.com

Or, one that starts out like this:
[http://www.wikipedia.com/wiki/tricky/dicky/page Hello world]

Will be submitted by your like this:
[//www.wikipedia.com/wiki/tricky/dicky/page Hello world]

Prior tip – Tips library – Next tip

More info:

Wikipedia:Simple diff and link guide

Uniform Resource Locator#Protocol-relative URLs

Cheers! {{u|Checkingfax}} {Talk} 07:19, 22 December 2015 (UTC)

Discuss here:

See Wikipedia:Protocol-relative URL. Some sites only allow either https: or http:. Both should be tested before making a protocol relative link. Some users make bare url's like https://www.longlink/folder.com, e.g. with <ref>https://www.longlink/folder.com</ref>. The protocol relative //www.longlink/folder.com doesn't make a link unless it's in square brackets: [2]. When used as a ref, the url is in another section and users may not notice if it doesn't link. I think "server gods instruct us" is misleading. It's decided by the editors and there is not full agreement about when to do it or whether it's important. I'm not sure this is suited for a tip. external links would probably be better to pipe to Wikipedia:External links. PrimeHunter (talk) 12:43, 23 December 2015 (UTC)

He's right. Providing an instructional tip on a controversial issue is probably not a good idea. It may be better to wait until a consensus has been reached by the community and a resultant practice becomes standardized. The Transhumanist 21:03, 26 December 2015 (UTC)

February 10 tip - Referencing for beginners - Done

Greetings, The following new February 10 tip can replace existing (duplicate of August 10) tip: How to create a category.

Tip title: Referencing for beginners

References (or refs), on Wikipedia, are important to validate writing and inform the reader of the source of the text. When adding something to an article, it is highly advisable to cite a reference which describes the source of the information to help the reader who wishes to verify it, or to pursue it in greater depth. It is also useful to update or improve existing references.

If there are any additions or updates needed for this new tip, please discuss here. JoeHebda (talk) 13:51, 22 December 2015 (UTC)
* Discussion:

Done Added this new tip to Tips library, Tips for contributors on getting started section. JoeHebda (talk) 20:10, 28 December 2015 (UTC)

February 12 tip - Introduction to tables - Done

Greetings, The following new February 12 tip can replace existing (duplicate of August 18) tip: Another way to search Wikipedia with Google.

Tip title: Introduction to tables

Tables are a common way of displaying data. There is a four part guide Introduction to tables with Wiki Markup about putting tables in pages. It consists of these sections:

Introduction to tables
Creating tables manually
Sortable tables
HTML and tables

This tutorial provide a guide on making new tables and editing existing ones. For guidelines on when and how to use tables, see the Manual of Style.

See also: Table and column templates

If there are any additions or updates needed for this new tip, please discuss here. JoeHebda (talk) 19:10, 21 December 2015 (UTC)
* Discussion:

Done this new tip posted to Tips library, Tips on working with articles section. JoeHebda (talk) 20:58, 28 December 2015 (UTC)

3 days of vandalism

@The Transhumanist and JoeHebda: The January 2 tip was vandalized three times starting here. Should the tips be protected by PC Protection (Pending Changes Protection)? We would still have unfettered access to updates but newly registered or anonymous editors would not. Cheers! {{u|Checkingfax}} {Talk} 15:02, 2 January 2016 (UTC)

Checkingfax} and The Transhumanist} - IMO let's wait a few more days & see if the vandalism ends. I have seen this type of drive-by vandalism on Community Portal & other pages (Jesus for example). Sometimes there is a BOT that auto-reverts these updates. Regards, JoeHebda (talk) 17:18, 2 January 2016 (UTC)

I agree with Joe, seek protection only if it becomes a recurring problem. The Transhumanist 22:31, 3 January 2016 (UTC)

Idea for new tip: Article banner templates

Done Idea:

Greetings, Today at Wikipedia:Teahouse/Questions/Archive 427#WIP_Banner is an interesting discussion about tagging an article with In use and Under construction templates. Have not had a chance to writeup a draft yet but wanted to capture the moment here. Regards, JoeHebda (talk) 19:12, 13 December 2015 (UTC)

@JoeHebda and The Transhumanist: Great idea, Joe. When you're drafting it be sure to point out that Wikipedia does not use under-construction banners for long-term initial use. New articles are left in the Draft namespace until they are ready for primetime. Under-construction and in-use are intended for subsequent tune-ups. Maybe throw in a mention of the {{stub}} templates (along with their switches) that can be used for articles still needing plumping up. Cheers! {{u|Checkingfax}} {Talk} 19:38, 13 December 2015 (UTC)

(January 16) - Article banner templates - Replacement tip

Done Greetings, The following new tip for January 16 can replace obsolete tip: Searching Wikipedia from any website.

Tip title: Article banner templates

New articles are usually created and left in the Draft namespace (or a user's subpage) until they are ready for primetime.

{{Under construction}} and {{In use}} templates are intended for subsequent article tune-ups, and are posted at the article page top.
{{In use}} template is for articles actively undergoing a major edit for a short time to list them in Category:Pages actively undergoing a major edit.
{{Under construction}} is for articles actively undergoing construction to list them in Category:Pages actively undergoing construction.

As the article is developed, {{stub}} templates along with their switches (posted at article bottom) are used for articles still needing additional content.

If there are any additions or updates needed for this new tip, please discuss here. JoeHebda (talk) 20:42, 30 December 2015 (UTC)
* Discussion:

This tip can be posted at the Tips library, Tips on working faster section. JoeHebda (talk) 21:17, 30 December 2015 (UTC)

Changed date on this tip from Feb. 13 to January 16 - see #Alert: January 16 tool does not exist below. JoeHebda | Talk 02:33, 7 January 2016 (UTC)

(September 28) updated Tip: 'Your customizable Wikipedia navigation hub'

Fixed – * Discuss

Greetings, Today for this tip, Wikipedia:Tip of the day/September 28 I changed the keystroke instructions from Alt-shift-(period) to Alt-(period). The original instructions did not work, no brower response. The revised instructions change the browser window to the editor's user page. Regards, JoeHebda (talk) 17:58, 23 September 2015 (UTC)

@JoeHebda and The Transhumanist: I just tried Alt+Shift+period and my userpage came up, but when I tried Alt+period nothing happened. I am using Pale Moon which is a sister browser to Firefox. Cheers! {{u|Checkingfax}} {Talk} 03:50, 14 December 2015 (UTC)

Greetings Checkingfax} (and The Transhumanist), Being that I'm not a very good typist, on this laptop I often hit the "CapsLock" key & it throws me off. Wondering if that could be happening with your keyboard? Secondly, can you try the previous suggestion of Alt-shift-(period) & see if that works? And BTW, yes at one time I also used Pale Moon browser, and am now switched to "Chromodo" a clone of chrome & like it the best of all, after tweaking & add-ons of course. :-) Regards, JoeHebda talk 17:54, 7 January 2016 (UTC)

Hello, @JoeHebda and The Transhumanist: Alt+period no-go on Firefox, but Alt+Shift+period opens my User page. CAPS LOCK is off

Cheers! {{u|Checkingfax}} {Talk} 03:57, 8 January 2016 (UTC)

For this Sept. 28 tip, I added a "Read more" link to Wikipedia:Keyboard shortcuts. On that shortcut page, at the Older browsers bar, it shows that for Firefox, it might work if you use the 'Control key (instead of Alt). Please try this & let me know if it works. Thanks. JoeHebda talk 18:05, 7 January 2016 (UTC)

Done Fixed the wording. Now it is accurate. The Transhumanist 00:04, 8 January 2016 (UTC)

Hello, @JoeHebda and The Transhumanist: I have Firefox v. 43.0.4 which is the latest and updated. No-go with Ctrl+period nor with Ctrl+Shift+period. Cheers! {{u|Checkingfax}} {Talk} 04:00, 8 January 2016 (UTC)

Greetings Checkingfax, On my browser (Chromodo) I have a "Wikipedia Speedup extension" installed. For your Pale Moon browser, wondering if there might be an add-on or extension for Wikipedia? Regards, JoeHebda talk 12:57, 8 January 2016 (UTC)

FYI - interlanguage wikilinks (fa) updated

Greetings, Today I placed a question at Village Pump-Technical about why the interlanguage wikilink was not showing for all TOTD templates. It might be an issue with my browser & skin. After reading Help:Interlanguage links#Method I tested the Wikipedia:Tip of the day/January 2 tip by adding a leading colon & it now displays correctly. Then I used AWB to add a leading colon to all the other fa interlanguage wikilinks in TOTD tips. Regards, JoeHebda (talk) 17:27, 2 January 2016 (UTC)

At VP-Tech, PrimeHunter mentioned possibly using a pipe on these links (for example, [[:fa:ویکی‌پدیا:نکته روز/۱۲ دی|Persian]]) so as to be reader-friendly. Wondering if there should be some kind of Prefix before the word Persian? Cheers, JoeHebda (talk) 17:46, 2 January 2016 (UTC)

* Discuss:

Language(s): Persian
or
Translation(s): Persian

For January 2 tip (mentioned above) I moved the interlanguage wikilnk (Persian) before 'totd nav' buttons as an example. It contains the pipe trick and looks like this:

Persian: ویکی‌پدیا:نکته روز/۱۲ دی

Since this link is a translation of that page tip, I think it makes sense to place above the navigation buttons. When updating with AWB, I noticed a few tips with es for language (Spanish) so those can be updated as well.

JoeHebda (talk) 13:53, 3 January 2016 (UTC)

@The Transhumanist and JoeHebda: In Persian it says: Tip of the Day/Day 12.

It reads right to left. I do not think it should go in the body of the tip. Cheers! {{u|Checkingfax}} {Talk} 14:16, 3 January 2016 (UTC)

I Added it to the left sidebar Languages section. So now it can be removed from article. JoeHebda (talk) 14:28, 3 January 2016 (UTC)

Hi, JoeHebda. I do not think it will work that way either. If it is placed below the noinclude section it should show up in the left hand side of the page for the person viewing the article. Cheers! {{u|Checkingfax}} {Talk} 10:38, 10 January 2016 (UTC)

Quickly checking the minor edit box

Done

Here's an idea for a tip: when filling in the edit summary, press Tab ↹+Space to check the minor edit box quickly. —George8211 / T 09:06, 22 July 2015 (UTC)

Greetings George8211 – Thank you for this tip idea. After reviewing, I did include it at Help:Minor edit page. And plan to add into our TOTD schedule queue and Tips library. Regards, JoeHebda talk 15:36, 7 January 2016 (UTC)

February 13 - Shortcut for minor edit box - Done

Greetings, The following new tip can replace existing (duplicate of August 13) tip: Acronyms and initialisms.

Tip title: Shortcut for minor edit box

When you are done making changes in the edit window, here is a shortcut to tag the article's updates with minor edits. Right after filling in the edit summary, press Tab ↹+Space to check Y mark the minor edit box quickly.

Bird's eye view

@JoeHebda: Do you have all of the tips watchlisted?

Done – Yes, watching all, plus Tips library as well. JoeHebda (talk) 16:51, 14 January 2016 (UTC)

If not, the easiest way I know of to add them is to make a list of them using WP:AWB (gathering links from the totd page using links on page in AWB's list maker), and then pasting the list into your raw watchlist. The Transhumanist 16:44, 23 September 2015 (UTC)

@The Transhumanist: Being that I'm on old DOS dog & like to simplify, I did the flip through URLs to watchlist only January Tips. Plus watchlist for Tips I've updated. The reason being that January is the only month completed for Tip maintenance section above. As each month is done, I would watchlist it. At least that is the plan... JoeHebda (talk) 00:44, 24 September 2015 (UTC)

@JoeHebda: What about watching for vandalism, and keeping an eye on what other editors are doing to the tip collection? (Such as in the case a tip is replaced, but they forget to update the title in the scheduling queue or at the tip library. Or they make a tip incomprehensible or erroneous?). Just some thoughts.

DOS dog. Hehehe, you're showing your age. :) Yep, thank the stars for DOSBox. I wish someone would figure out how to make those legacy programs work on Unicode data. Too bad they have to rewrite them from scratch. The Transhumanist 02:33, 24 September 2015 (UTC)

Should we have a Wiki2 tip?

https://wiki2.org/

The Transhumanist 06:25, 22 September 2015 (UTC)

* Discuss

Greetings Checkingfax and The Transhumanist – After visiting this website, here are my thoughts:

Wiki2 does provide a very visual & interesting GUI (Graphical User Interface) which may be useful for better viewing on table and smartphone devices as well as desktop & laptop PCs.
I did find this wording at the page bottom: Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. WIKI 2 is an independent company and has no affiliation with Wikimedia Foundation.
On IXquick (my fav search engine) WIKI 2 results show a listing for WIKI 2. Wikipedia Republished.
Also found this entry WIKI 2 may collect and use Users personal information for the following purposes.

Not include – Mainly because WIKI2 is not directly affiliated with Wikipedia, so it would be like External links in an article. JoeHebda (talk) 17:08, 14 January 2016 (UTC)
Not include – Per Joe. Cheers! {{u|Checkingfax}} {Talk} 19:45, 14 January 2016 (UTC)

(October 16) - Thanks - detail logs

Idea: – ~~To replace: Wikipedia:Tip of the day/February 16 - How to create a subcategory~~

To replace: Tip of the day/October 16 - Power tool: Navigation Popups

Whenever you send a Thanks notification to give positive feedback on Wikipedia, the resulting log files can be viewed. For a list of users that you have thanked, copy and paste this wikicode to your talk page, then change the XXXXXX to your user name. [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Log&type=thanks&user=XXXXXX List of users I thanked]

To view the usernames who thanked you, copy and paste this wikicode to your talk page and change the XXXXXX to your user name. [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Log&type=thanks&page=User:XXXXXX Who thanked me]

(June 16) - Thanks - template WikiThanks

Idea: – ~~To replace: Wikipedia:Tip of the day/February 15 - Using the Authority control template~~ (which was moved to Feb. 18).

To replace: Tip of the day/June 16 - Ask intelligent questions.

Expressing thanks for another user's helpful, generous, or positive actions is an important activity for cultivating community virtues such as civility and WikiPeace. Sending thanks communicates one's attitude towards other users. A message of thanks is most often directly placed on the other user's talk page. The WikiThanks template is a nice template to thank others.

WikiThanks template example:

Creates:

WikiThanks

Thank you for helping me. [[User]] [[(talk)]] 15:33, 17 January 2009 (UTC)

(February 5) - Getting real-time help via IRC (Internet Relay Chat)

Done Idea: @JoeHebda and The Transhumanist: This would replace the tip: In conflicts, reach consensus – February 5

Getting real-time help via IRC (Internet Relay Chat)

The freenode network‍—‌irc.freenode.net‍—‌has chat rooms dedicated to Wikipedia 24 hours a day, in which Wikipedians can engage in real-time discussions with each other. Many Wikipedians have IRC chatting open in one window and hop back and forth between it and other windows in which they are working on Wikipedia.

You can set your computer to make a sound or your browser tab to blink when you have IRC open and somebody is replying to you. Users with a "+" sign next to their nickname are IRC helpers.

See more:
m:IRC/Channels
Wikipedia:IRC

Wikipedia:IRC/Tutorial

Cheers! {{u|Checkingfax}} {Talk} 04:21, 13 December 2015 (UTC)

Discuss:

Wondering if this Feb. 5 tip can be installed? I do not do IRC so I have no feedback to offer. Only ce I did is for second paragraph to be an easier read. Regards, JoeHebda talk 15:09, 7 January 2016 (UTC)

ω Awaiting – Checkingfax and The Transhumanist, Should we ask for Expert help on this one? Regards, JoeHebda (talk) 16:32, 14 January 2016 (UTC)

Hi, @JoeHebda and The Transhumanist: I have used IRC quite a few times. Try it, Joe. Just click on a ^connect link from this list, enter a username on the fly, check off the CAPTCHA box, hit connect, enter your question at the bottom of the window, hit enter and wait for a reply. IRC will blink in your URL tab when you get a reply. To the right of the IRC window will be a list of who is logged in. Some of the rooms move pretty slow even if populated. Cheers! {{u|Checkingfax}} {Talk} 19:59, 14 January 2016 (UTC)

* Awaiting – February 5 is approaching. @Checkingfax and The Transhumanist: If there is no further discussion, would it be okay to go-live? JoeHebda (talk) 20:03, 21 January 2016 (UTC)

Approved – Cheers! {{u|Checkingfax}} {Talk} 20:26, 21 January 2016 (UTC)

Done – @Checkingfax and The Transhumanist: – Since Feb. 5 is next week, I took the liberty of moving this tip out there. At Tips library, it's posted at Getting help section. JoeHebda (talk) 15:21, 26 January 2016 (UTC)

(February 6) - Flashback to Wikipedia's past

Done – Idea:

@JoeHebda and The Transhumanist: ~~This tip would replace: Wikipedia:Tip of the day/February 6 – How to add an article to a category~~

This tip moved to WP:Tip of the day/November 1 per discussion below. JoeHebda (talk) 20:58, 26 January 2016 (UTC)

Flashback to Wikipedia's past

Nostalgia is a link to what Wikipedia looked like back in 2001 when we had only 19,000 articles.

The English Wikipedia now has over 6,925,913 articles. (purge server to refresh number.) The five-millionth article, Persoonia terminalis, about a rare shrub, was written by an editor in Australia just after midnight on November 1, 2015.

To view an archived version of Wikipedia between between 2001 and now, see the Wayback Machine

Searching a Tip-of-the-day

Hey, y'all. What is the best way to search the Tip of the day library for a string of text? (The Transhumanist—JoeHebda) Cheers! {{u|Checkingfax}} {Talk} 13:47, 17 January 2016 (UTC)

@Checkingfax: Like this:

I hope this helps. The Transhumanist 14:10, 24 January 2016 (UTC)

@The Transhumanist: This won't work. --Redrose64 (talk) 10:44, 25 January 2016 (UTC)

@Redrose64: I've tested it, and it seems to work fine. What happens when you type a string into the box above? The Transhumanist 07:05, 31 January 2016 (UTC)