User talk:PotsdamLamb

Unlock Request December 4, 2023

@Ferien Per your last comment, I am requesting the unlocking of my account so I can request my unblock as it has been over 6 months since I’ve last edited, as requested. Since my account is globally locked I cannot log in and request anything.

Thanks. PDL

174.236.98.95 (talk) 08:47, 4 December 2023 (UTC)

Unblock Request August 14, 2023

This blocked user asked to be unblocked, but one or more administrators said no to this unblock request. Other administrators can also review this block, but should not unblock the user without a good reason. Do not remove this unblock review while you are blocked.

PotsdamLamb (contribs · deleted contribs · block log · filter log · global contribs)

---

Request reason:

While I know now (and knew then) my behavior on the way out was unacceptable, I acknowledge that what I did was rude and uncalled for. I would like to ask for another chance since it has been over a year since I have been blocked. I do recognize I was not following the 5 pillars of the project and promise to do so going forward. I plan on working on expanding articles, working on getting templates onto articles, connecting to a wikidata item (or create it if needed) as these are all the areas I have knowledge of. I spent an incredible amount of time updating and fixing articles and would like to resume doing so, as well as fighting vandalism. Since my account is locked, if my block is removed I would need the lock removed from this account so I can log in. This is PotsdamLamb. A few people have my email address and can email me directly to verify I posted this. Thank you in advance for whatever your decision happens to be.2606:54C0:76E0:C90:0:0:26B:2E (talk) 12:39, 14 August 2023 (UTC)

Decline reason:

Let me note that there is no issue with this unblock request, and with the way you've written this, I would support an unblock soon. However, according to Special:CA/ThatFungi, you've evaded your block as recently as May, and so I would not feel comfortable until you had not edited at all for 6 months (in December). I will note here, for the record, that I do not believe globally locking your account was appropriate in the first place and would support an unlock prior to another unblock request in the future. Thank you. --Ferien (talk) 16:57, 14 August 2023 (UTC)

@Ferien Thank you. I am not sure how to request an unlock as it would require me to be not be blocked on two or more wikis per the rules. You as a crat may be able to better help me to go about doing this and when I should start the request. If you would like, you can email me. Thanks 2600:8801:CA05:EF00:1D51:8BEC:EB5:B9D8 (talk) 06:14, 15 August 2023 (UTC)

@Ferien Thank you for starting the request https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Steward_requests/Global#Global_unlock_for_PotsdamLamb. I appreciate it. 2600:8801:CA05:EF00:386E:38F5:3FBB:CFD3 (talk) 02:31, 16 August 2023 (UTC)

I don't want to make this a thing. It's been a thing long enough. For me, the answer is hard no. The lock remains in place, the blocks should remain in place, the user should move on. The user should not evade blocks by using IPs. Emailing the admins isn't going to change that stance for me. They should be blocked on sight for evasion. --Gordonrox24 | ^Talk 04:06, 23 August 2023 (UTC)

Block

I understand that you have marked yourself as retired, though the comments you made while leaving, (1, 2) combined with other instances of recent incivility (3, 4, and others) have necessitated that this be enforced with a block. I understand it can be difficult to handle disagreements, but resorting to incivility is never an acceptable option. Regards, Vermont 🐿️ (talk) 23:46, 2 August 2022 (UTC)

Tech News: 2023-14

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

• The system for automatically creating categories for the Babel extension has had several important changes and fixes. One of them allows you to insert templates for automatic category descriptions on creation, allowing you to categorize the new categories. [1][2][3][4][5]

Changes later this week

• The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from 4 April. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from 5 April. It will be on all wikis from 6 April (calendar).
• Some older Web browsers will stop being able to use JavaScript on Wikimedia wikis from this week. This mainly affects users of Internet Explorer 11. If you have an old web browser on your computer you can try to upgrade to a newer version. [6]
• The deprecated jquery.hoverIntent module has been removed. This module could be used by gadgets and user scripts, to create an artificial delay in how JavaScript responds to a hover event. Gadgets and user scripts should now use jQuery hover() or on() instead. Examples can be found in the migration guide. [7]
• Some of the links in Special:SpecialPages will be re-arranged. There will be a clearer separation between links that relate to all users, and links related to your own user account. [8]
• You will be able to hide the Reply button in archived discussion pages with a new __ARCHIVEDTALK__ magic word. There will also be a new .mw-archivedtalk CSS class for hiding the Reply button in individual sections on a page. [9][10][11]

Future changes

• The Vega software that creates data visualizations in pages, such as graphs, will be upgraded to the newest version in the future. Graphs that still use the very old version 1.5 syntax may stop working properly. Most existing uses have been found and updated, but you can help to check, and to update any local documentation. Examples of how to find and fix these graphs are available.

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MediaWiki message delivery 23:40, 3 April 2023 (UTC)

Tech News: 2023-15

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

• In the visual editor, it is now possible to edit captions of images in galleries without opening the gallery dialog. This feature request was voted #61 in the 2023 Community Wishlist Survey. [12]
• You can now receive notifications when another user edits your user page. See the "Edits to my user page" option in your Preferences. This feature request was voted #3 in the 2023 Community Wishlist Survey. [13]

Problems

• There was a problem with all types of CentralNotice banners still being shown to logged-in users even if they had turned off specific banner types. This has now been fixed. [14]

Changes later this week

• The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from 11 April. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from 12 April. It will be on all wikis from 13 April (calendar).
• Starting on Wednesday, a new set of Wikipedias will get "Add a link" (Moroccan Arabic Wikipedia, Danish Wikipedia, Dinka Wikipedia, Lower Sorbian Wikipedia, Ewe Wikipedia, Greek Wikipedia, Emiliano-Romagnolo Wikipedia, Esperanto Wikipedia, Estonian Wikipedia, Basque Wikipedia, Extremaduran Wikipedia, Tumbuka Wikipedia, Fulah Wikipedia, Finnish Wikipedia, Võro Wikipedia, Fijian Wikipedia, Faroese Wikipedia, Arpitan Wikipedia, Northern Frisian Wikipedia, Friulian Wikipedia, Irish Wikipedia, Guianan Creole Wikipedia, Scottish Gaelic Wikipedia, Galician Wikipedia, Gilaki Wikipedia, Guarani Wikipedia, Goan Konkani Wikipedia, Gothic Wikipedia, Gujarati Wikipedia, Manx Wikipedia). This is part of the progressive deployment of this tool to more Wikipedias. The communities can configure how this feature works locally. [15][16]

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MediaWiki message delivery 20:05, 10 April 2023 (UTC)

Movement Charter Drafting Committee's monthly newsletter

Committee's meeting in New York, in early March.

• Starting conversations on how to ratify the Movement Charter: The Committee invites the Wikimedia movement to express opinions on the proposed Movement Charter ratification methodology from April 10 to April 28. Everyone is invited to share feedback on the Meta talk page or the Movement Strategy forum. Two community conversation hours are planned to take place: on April 18 at 10.00 UTC and April 24 at 17.00 UTC. Please read the details here.
• MCDC’s responses to the community feedback are now on Meta: The Committee has shared a summary of their responses and next steps based on the feedback from the first round of community consultation which took place late 2022.
• What to read on Diff?
  • Learn more about the Movement Charter Ambassadors work: Movement Charter Ambassadors from the French-speaking community share their experience.
  • MCDC member Manavpreet Kaur has written a blog post titled “An excerpt from my life, movement, strategy and MCDC”.
• Learn about Movement Charter Drafting Committee’s work in March: the monthly Committee’s updates include information about the coordination efforts with Wikimedia Germany, update on membership, submission to Wikimania 2023, participation at the Wikimedia Foundations Board of Trustees’ strategic retreat in New York in March 2023.

Coming up:

• Revised chapters: The Committee is preparing to publish the revised draft chapters of The Preamble, Values & Principles, and Roles & Responsibilities intentions statement, based on the community feedback received in November and December 2022.
• Inviting advisors and experts: The Committee is preparing to welcome a number of advisors from outside the Committee. All interested Wikimedians were invited to apply earlier (you can still apply here!). Additionally, the Committee is planning and scheduling meetings with individuals with specific sets of expertise in various topics, including stewards, movement committees, Wikimedia Foundation and affiliate staff, and others.

Subscribe to this newsletter on Meta wiki

--19:18, 15 April 2023 (UTC).

Tech News: 2023-16

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 now see nearby articles on a Kartographer map with the button for the new feature "Show nearby articles". Six wikis have been testing this feature since October. [17][18]
• The Special:GlobalWatchlist page now has links for "mark page as read" for each entry. This feature request was voted #161 in the 2023 Community Wishlist Survey. [19]

Problems

• At Wikimedia Commons, some thumbnails have not been getting replaced correctly after a new version of the image is uploaded. This should be fixed later this week. [20][21]
• For the last few weeks, some external tools had inconsistent problems with logging-in with OAuth. This has now been fixed. [22]

Changes later this week

• The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from 18 April. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from 19 April. It will be on all wikis from 20 April (calendar).

Tech news prepared by Tech News writers and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe.

MediaWiki message delivery 01:54, 18 April 2023 (UTC)

Tech News: 2023-17

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

• The date-selection menu on pages such as Special:Contributions will now show year-ranges that are in the current and past decade, instead of the current and future decade. This feature request was voted #145 in the 2023 Community Wishlist Survey. [23]

Problems

• Due to security issues with the Graph extension, graphs have been disabled in all Wikimedia projects. Wikimedia Foundation teams are working to respond to these vulnerabilities. [24]
• For a few days, it was not possible to save some kinds of edits on the mobile version of a wiki. This has been fixed. [25][26][27]

Changes later this week

• All wikis will be read-only for a few minutes on April 26. This is planned for 14:00 UTC. [28]
• The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from 25 April. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from 26 April. It will be on all wikis from 27 April (calendar).

Future changes

• The Editing team plans an A/B test for a usability analysis of the Talk page project. The planned measurements are available. Your wiki may be invited to participate. Please suggest improvements to the measurement plan at the discussion page.
• The Wikimedia Foundation annual plan 2023-2024 draft is open for comment and input until May 19. The final plan will be published in July 2023 on Meta-wiki.

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MediaWiki message delivery 22:03, 24 April 2023 (UTC)

Tech News: 2023-18

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

• The content attribution tools Who Wrote That?, XTools Authorship, and XTools Blame now support the French and Italian Wikipedias. More languages will be added in the near future. This is part of the #7 wish in the 2023 Community Wishlist Survey. [29][30][31]
• The Video2commons tool has been updated. This fixed several bugs related to YouTube uploads. [32]
• The Special:Preferences page has been redesigned on mobile web. The new design makes it easier to browse the different categories and settings at low screen widths. You can also now access the page via a link in the Settings menu in the mobile web sidebar. [33]

Changes later this week

• The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from 2 May. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from 3 May. It will be on all wikis from 4 May (calendar).

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MediaWiki message delivery 01:45, 2 May 2023 (UTC)

Tech News: 2023-19

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

• Last week, Community Tech released the first update for providing better diffs, the #1 request in the 2022 Community Wishlist Survey. This update adds legends and tooltips to inline diffs so that users unfamiliar with the blue and yellow highlights can better understand the type of edits made.
• When you close an image that is displayed via MediaViewer, it will now return to the wiki page instead of going back in your browser history. This feature request was voted #65 in the 2023 Community Wishlist Survey. [34]
• The SyntaxHighlight extension now supports wikitext as a selected language. Old alternatives that were used to highlight wikitext, such as html5, moin, and html+handlebars, can now be replaced. [35]
• Preloading text to new pages/sections now supports preloading from localized MediaWiki interface messages. Here is an example at the Czech Wikipedia that uses preload=MediaWiki:July. [36]

Problems

• Graph Extension update: Foundation developers have completed upgrading the visualization software to Vega5. Existing community graphs based on Vega2 are no longer compatible. Communities need to update local graphs and templates, and shared lua modules like de:Modul:Graph. The Vega Porting guide provides the most comprehensive detail on migration from Vega2 and here is an example migration. Vega5 has currently just been enabled on mediawiki.org to provide a test environment for communities. [37]

Changes later this week

• The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from 9 May. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from 10 May. It will be on all wikis from 11 May (calendar).
• Until now, all new OAuth apps went through manual review. Starting this week, apps using identification-only or basic authorizations will not require review. [38]

Future changes

• During the next year, MediaWiki will stop using IP addresses to identify logged-out users, and will start automatically assigning unique temporary usernames. Read more at IP Editing: Privacy Enhancement and Abuse Mitigation/Updates. You can join the discussion about the format of the temporary usernames. [39]
• There will be an A/B test on 10 Wikipedias where the Vector 2022 skin is the default skin. Half of logged-in desktop users will see an interface where the different parts of the page are more clearly separated. You can read more. [40][41]
• jquery.tipsy will be removed from the MediaWiki core. This will affect some user scripts. Many lines with .tipsy( can be commented out. OO.ui.PopupWidget can be used to keep things working like they are now. You can read more and read about how to find broken scripts. [42]

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MediaWiki message delivery 00:36, 9 May 2023 (UTC)

Movement Charter Drafting Committee's monthly newsletter

Updates:

• Charter Ratification Methodology proposal conversations: The Movement Charter Drafting Committee recently held the first conversations regarding the ratification methodology for the Movement Charter. The MCDC has received valuable feedback from different communities and the Committees during the community input period. The report of the community input will be shared in May, while the updated version of the ratification methodology will be presented between September and November 2023.
• Communication evaluation: The Communications sub-committee of the MCDC together with the support staff conducted an evaluation of the communications. The Communications sub-committee appreciates the time and input of the community members who shared their opinions during the interviews. Several recommendations are going to be implemented in the upcoming period based on the valuable input.
• Learn about the MCDC’s work in April: The MCDC continues to draft additional chapters: The Global Council, Hubs, Decision-making and Roles & Responsibilities. Alongside the drafting work, the MCDC is planning their in-person meeting scheduled for 2-4 June in Utrecht, Netherlands with the aim of advancing the charter's content.

What’s coming up?

• Participants of the WikiNusantara 2023 in Banjarmasin, Indonesia are invited to join a session on the topics around Wikimedia Movement Strategy and community collaboration on May 20. Ramzy Muliawan will provide updates, share about the Movement Charter Ambassadors Program and answer the questions.

Subscribe to this newsletter on Meta wiki

Tech News: 2023-20

Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.

Problems

• Citations that are automatically generated based on ISBN are currently broken. This affects citations made with the VisualEditor Automatic tab, and the use of the citoid API in gadgets and user scripts. Work is ongoing to restore this feature. [43]

Changes later this week

• The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from 16 May. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from 17 May. It will be on all wikis from 18 May (calendar).
• Starting on Wednesday, a new set of Wikipedias will get "Add a link" (Gorontalo Wikipedia, Hausa Wikipedia, Hakka Chinese Wikipedia, Hawaiian Wikipedia, Fiji Hindi Wikipedia, Croatian Wikipedia, Upper Sorbian Wikipedia, Haitian Creole Wikipedia, Interlingua Wikipedia, Interlingue Wikipedia, Igbo Wikipedia, Iloko Wikipedia, Ingush Wikipedia, Ido Wikipedia, Icelandic Wikipedia, Inuktitut Wikipedia, Jamaican Patois Wikipedia, Javanese Wikipedia). This is part of the progressive deployment of this tool to more Wikipedias. The communities can configure how this feature works locally. [44]

Future changes

• There is a recently formed team at the Wikimedia Foundation which will be focusing on experimenting with new tools. Currently they are building a prototype ChatGPT plugin that allows information generated by ChatGPT to be properly attributed to the Wikimedia projects.
• Gadget and userscript developers should replace jquery.cookie with mediawiki.cookie. The jquery.cookie library will be removed in ~1 month, and staff developers will run a script to replace any remaining uses at that time. [45]

Tech news prepared by Tech News writers and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe.

MediaWiki message delivery 21:45, 15 May 2023 (UTC)

Tech News: 2023-21

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

• The "recent edits" time period for page watchers is now 30 days. It used to be 180 days. This was a Community Wishlist Survey proposal. [46]

Changes later this week

• An improved impact module will be available at Wikipedias. The impact module is a feature available to newcomers at their personal homepage. It will show their number of edits, how many readers their edited pages have, how many thanks they have received and similar things. It is also accessible by accessing Special:Impact. [47]
• The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from 23 May. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from 24 May. It will be on all wikis from 25 May (calendar).

Tech news prepared by Tech News writers and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe.

16:55, 22 May 2023 (UTC)

Books & Bytes – Issue 56

The Wikipedia Library: Books & Bytes
Issue 56, March – April 2023

• New partner:
  • Perlego
• Library access tips and tricks
• Spotlight: EveryBookItsReader

Read the full newsletter

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery on behalf of The Wikipedia Library team --10:04, 24 May 2023 (UTC)

RfD nomination of Template:Non-admin closure

An editor has requested deletion of Template:Non-admin closure, a page you created. We appreciate your changes, but the nominator doesn't believe that the article meets Wikipedia's criteria for inclusion and has explained why in the nomination (see also "What Wikipedia is not").

Please comment on the discussion by adding your comments at Wikipedia:Requests for deletion/Requests/2023/Template:Non-admin closure and please be sure to sign your comments with four tildes (~~~~).

You may also change the article during the discussion to address the nominator's concerns. But you should not remove the requests for deletion template from the top of the article; such removal will not end the deletion debate. Thank you very much. --Ferien (talk) 14:26, 25 June 2023 (UTC)

Unblock Request - December 6, 2023

@Ferien per your request to wait until December, I am requesting an unblock.

This blocked user asked to be unblocked, but one or more administrators said no to this unblock request. Other administrators can also review this block, but should not unblock the user without a good reason. Do not remove this unblock review while you are blocked.

PotsdamLamb (contribs · deleted contribs · block log · filter log · global contribs)

---

Request reason:

While I know now (and knew then) my behavior on the way out was unacceptable, I acknowledge that what I did was rude and uncalled for. I would like to ask for another chance since it has been over a year since I have been blocked and six months since I socked. I do recognize I was not following the 5 pillars of the project and promise to do so going forward. I plan on working on expanding articles, working on getting templates onto articles, connecting to a wikidata item (or create it if needed) as these are all the areas I have knowledge of. I spent an incredible amount of time updating and fixing articles and would like to resume doing so, as well as fighting vandalism. Thank you in advance for whatever your decision happens to be. - PDL 2600:8801:CA09:CC00:6CB9:B177:C816:7458 (talk)

Decline reason:

While I'd be inclined to unblock you, you are also currently globally locked, so an unblock would have no effect. Please pursue getting the global lock removed before asking for an unblock. By the way, the standard procedure for requesting an unblock when you can't edit from your primary account is to send an email to the admins' mailing list. By making the request under an IP, not only can we not be certain who's asking, but you are technically violating your block. -- Auntof6 (talk) 06:12, 7 December 2023 (UTC)

@Auntof6 I cannot request an unlock as my account is locked and the page requires auto-confirm status. I do not feel requesting my unblock is evading my block, as I am not editing any part of Wikipedia other than my talk page. If I email the stewards page they will not respond unless I’m unblocked as that is what happened before, even when I should not have been globally locked. Therefore, I would need to have to request the unblock and be granted it then an admin could request my unlocking to expedite it rather than me waiting months for a response from the stewards then requesting to be unblocked here (and based on what you stated, even if under my account posting an unblock request would be considered evading my block). I can be verified by IP by a crat and Ferien has my info and I’ve emailed him so he is aware I did indeed post this request. I’m not sure of any other way to do this. I also like it on the page so I can answer any questions someone has, which I know you have said to me previously :). Thanks - PDL 2600:8801:CA09:CC00:5078:1E07:15D0:2D47 (talk) 07:06, 7 December 2023 (UTC)

@Auntof6 To let you know I emailed the stewards list a few moments ago. Thank you. If granted the unlock, I’ll re-request the unblock. 2600:8801:CA09:CC00:5078:1E07:15D0:2D47 (talk) 08:07, 7 December 2023 (UTC)

@Auntof6 @Gordonrox24 @Ferien

This is the reply I got from the stewards:

”Dear (redacted)(they used my real name),

They may sponsor an unlock appeal for you by posting to: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Steward_requests/Global

Yours sincerely,

Shaemous Flocks

(below signature was standard disclaimer)

So this takes me back to I need someone to do this for me please. Whomever does, please post the link here so I can follow.

This was my email:

Username: PotsdamLamb

Reason: I have two admins on Simple Wikipedia who are “inclined” to unblock me but have requested that I get my account unlocked first. My account was locked as X-wiki since I was/am blocked on simple and en Wikipedias.

If you have any questions, please feel free to let me know. I look forward to your answer so I may move to the next phase of my unblock request.

Thanks,

PDL 2600:8801:CA09:CC00:5078:1E07:15D0:2D47 (talk) 10:41, 7 December 2023 (UTC)

2600:8801:CA09:CC00:6CB9:B177:C816:7458 (talk) 23:01, 6 December 2023 (UTC)

• We can probably discuss this a bit. My initial thought is, once again, no. I have no reason to believe the user won't just fall back into the same old pattern. Do we have the energy to keep dealing with that? With one strike, I don't think we have any obligation to give the user a 2nd or 3rd or 4th chance.--Gordonrox24 | ^Talk 03:17, 7 December 2023 (UTC)

  @Gordonrox24 I see where you are going. I have reviewed a lot of where I erred before and when I look at it I ask myself why was I even commenting or starting anything to begin with. None of those violated anything that Wikipedia says is not allowed, albeit, something’s hit a gray area. I should have let those go and let someone else handle those and in that position to do so. Going forward, I am not going to let those things or what people say to me get to me nor comment uncivilized. It has been over a year and a lot of things change, including people. No one is perfect, including myself or admins, and I have on occasion seen admins be uncivil but I know where my place is now and that is to edit in good faith and fight obvious vandalism and help others out as needed. I am happy to answer any other questions you or others may have. Thank you. PDL 2600:8801:CA09:CC00:5078:1E07:15D0:2D47 (talk) 04:11, 7 December 2023 (UTC)