This is an archive of past discussions. 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.
Andy, in reviewing your pending proposed six-way template merge @Wikipedia:Templates for discussion/Log/2015 February 16#Interlanguage link templates, I have noticed that three of the six template creators have neither been notified on their user talk pages with the usual notice template, nor pinged on the TfD discussion page. As I have already indicated in the discussion, I generally support your approach in this TfD/TfM, but notice of each of the six template creators should not be overlooked. I respectfully ask that you notify the remaining three template creators who have received neither notice of the proposed merge nor a TfD ping. Thanks. Dirtlawyer1 (talk) 16:22, 18 February 2015 (UTC)
Yes, Andy, I am quite capable of notifying all template creators in a proposed TfD or TfM, and I will certainly endeavor to do so in any TfD or TfM in which I am the nominator. If I fail to do so, I trust that I may rely on you to remind me. You will note that as of noon today, User:RexxS made the following changes to the TfD/TfM instructions: [1]. These changes eliminate whatever perceived wiggle room there may have been regarding the TfD or TfM nominator's obligation to notify the creators of all templates involved in a deletion or merge proposed by the nominator; thanks to Rexx's revisions, the obligation to notify the creators of all involved templates is explicitly the TfD/TfM nominator's.
As I said previously, the TfD process works best when all concerned parties are properly notified and given the opportunity to discuss the specific purposes and uses of the particular template(s) involved. Often, the creators (and major contributors) are the best sources of information about the templates, and bypassing them in TfD and TfM discussions is not in the best interests of Wikipedia -- and it surely is not in keeping with the basic concepts of procedural fairness inherent in our XfD processes. I sincerely hope that we can focus on the substance of proposed template deletions and merges in the future, and not have further debates about procedural issues such as this. There has been an ongoing problem regarding proper TfD and TfM notices for template creators and other concerned parties for several years, and steps are being taken to correct those issues. I trust that you will be a willing part of the solutions. Thank you for your time and consideration. Dirtlawyer1 (talk) 23:31, 18 February 2015 (UTC)
Talkback
Hello, Pigsonthewing. You have new messages at Martijn Hoekstra's talk page. Message added 12:25, 19 February 2015 (UTC). You can remove this notice at any time by removing the ((Talkback)) or ((Tb)) template.
Hi Andy. I see you're going to meet new user BrumEduResearch soon. Can you keep an eye on him/her? I'm a bit worried that they're being bullied (see their talk page). Cordless Larry (talk) 18:39, 20 February 2015 (UTC)
Hi, Andy. Could you please help me archive old threads on my user talk page? --Uncle Ed (talk) 18:31, 18 February 2015 (UTC)
@Ed Poor: Done. I've re-numbed the two existing archive pages I found. A bot will now archive the page periodically, starting in the next few hours. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 23:09, 18 February 2015 (UTC)
Thanks! In the old days, I used to know all about things like this. But I'm not active enough to keep up with the latest procedures. Please give me lots of advice. :-) --Uncle Ed (talk) 16:08, 21 February 2015 (UTC)
Wikidata weekly summary #146
Here's your quick overview of what has been happening around Wikidata over the last week.
Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.
The new version of MediaWiki has been on test wikis and MediaWiki.org since February 18. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis from February 25. It will be on all Wikipedias from February 26 (calendar).
It is now easier to see template fields in VisualEditor. The fields are bigger. [6]
It is now easier to see when a button is disabled in VisualEditor. [7]
Sometimes when you copy-pasted a template in VisualEditor, it was replaced by HTML. This problem is now fixed. [8]
Tools in Labs will stop working for a few hours on February 24. [9]
Meetings
You can read the notes from the last meeting with the VisualEditor team.
You can join the next weekly meeting with the VisualEditor team. During the meetings you can tell developers which bugs are the most important. The meeting will be on February 26 at 00:00 (UTC). See how to join.
Future changes
At the moment you need to log in to edit Wikimedia wikis on mobile devices. You can say if anyone should be allowed to edit on the mobile sites. The discussion ends on March 15.
Images in the interface will soon work better in Opera 12. [10]
Hello! I wanted to ask about the changes you made to ((Infobox fire department)). It dramatically changed the look of the infobox. Is this the new style? Is there a reason for this change? Just curious. Thanks!! --Zackmann08 (talk) 04:59, 24 February 2015 (UTC)
I added some new parameters, such as |native_name_lang= and |coordinates= (which I included in the documentation), placed |native_name= in its own subheading, and removed the arbitrary colouring to restore the underlying template ((Infobox))'s defaults. I also de-linked some common terms in field labels, one of which I see you have restored. We really don't need to link "Country". Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 06:29, 24 February 2015 (UTC)
2015-02--28 Royal Society of Chemistry
Hello Andy
Thank you for the training session today. Vicki Aldmington (talk) 12:10, 24 February 2015 (UTC)
Hi Andy
Hi Andy, can't think of what to type... Davidedallen (talk) 12:10, 24 February 2015 (UTC)
Hello Andy
Thank you very much for your training.Eowyn041084 (talk) 12:10, 24 February 2015 (UTC)
Thanks for the training today. Spessartite (talk) 12:11, 24 February 2015 (UTC)
Hello Andy
Ciao Andy. Beer sounds good ChrCc (talk) 12:11, 24 February 2015 (UTC)
Hi Andy
Thanks for today's training.N10n17 (talk) 12:11, 24 February 2015 (UTC)
Happy tuesday
Hello Andy.
Hope your Tuesday is going well :-). Zedcma (talk) 12:11, 24 February 2015 (UTC)
Editing Headings
Andy I have just edited Andricus fecundator becuae its name reverted to Andricus foecundatrix some time ago. I have changed the text and referenced the change OK, but cannot work out how to edit the heading. What do i have to do? Also how do I italicise anything in this message?
Peter Robert Shirley (talk) 15:11, 23 February 2015 (UTC)
Andy, thanks, I understand about the italics, I had not realised the coding applied to the talk pages as well. I don't understand 'move' though. I have opened the page in edit to have a look, and cannot see the word anywhere. Am I just not looking hard enough? Peter Robert Shirley (talk) 23:32, 24 February 2015 (UTC)
@Peter Robert Shirley: You probably don't have that link, because your account is new. Also, note how I've placed this reply under yours, in the relevant section. You can use the "Edit" link next to the heading to leave your reply here. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 09:42, 25 February 2015 (UTC)
Honorary fellows
Hi Andy
We've added the links to the HF articles on WP, but Hilary noted that there is a link on the PP block of our WP article to it.
She asks that we remove this link and make a minor text change, but I'm unsure whether I should just go ahead and make that edit, or whether you should/would prefer to do it:
On the main wiki page it reads
• HonFRSC: Honorary Fellow of the Society (remove link) Honorary Fellowship is awarded for distinguished service in the field of chemistry.[15]
Could we then add an extra piece that was is found through the link
Awardees are entitled to use the post nominal HonFRSC. Recipients have included:[1]
[1] – this presently links to http://www.rsc.org/membership-and-community/ - could it link to http://www.rsc.org/membership-and-community/who-our-members-are/ instead
Thanks
Kevin — Preceding unsigned comment added by Kswiltshire (talk • contribs) 17:04, 26 February 2015 (UTC)
Hi, Andy. I've noticed that the parameters postal, telephone, and license are being discarded when substituting this infobox. Should we add them to ((Infobox islands)), or at least preserve them in source? Alakzi (talk) 22:13, 27 February 2015 (UTC)
Hi. Thank you for your recent edits. Wikipedia appreciates your help. We noticed though that when you edited Foley House, Malvern, you added a link pointing to the disambiguation page Malvern. Such links are almost always unintended, since a disambiguation page is merely a list of "Did you mean..." article titles. Read the FAQ • Join us at the DPL WikiProject.
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Wikidata weekly summary #147
Here's your quick overview of what has been happening around Wikidata over the last week.
Chaged a number of Lua modules (from deprecated function mw.wikibase.getEntity to mw.wikibase.getEntityObject)
Updated the json documentation
Always link to Wikidata on client pages that don’t have any langlinks. This affects users without JavaScript and logged out users, logged in users will still see the link item dialog. gerrit:168632
Fixes for the Wikibase qunit Jenkins job
Made Vagrant git-update also properly update Wikibase and dependencies
Fix for phabricator:T88254 (malformatted Wikidata entries appearing in Watchlist RSS feed in clients)
Final touches on new header design
Investigated how we can provide language fallback also in suggestions when search or adding new statements
More work on allowing additional languages in monolingual text datatype
Added missing backend piece for quantities with units. Now the remaining piece is the user interface.
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 software changes
A Lua function to use Wikidata has changed. You need to update the pages that use it. [11]
You can use the Content Translation tool on Wikipedia in Uzbek and Minangkabau. You need to enable it in your Beta options.
You can now hide banners if you don't have an account. [12][13]
Software changes this week
The new version of MediaWiki has been on test wikis and MediaWiki.org since February 25. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis from March 3. It will be on all Wikipedias from March 4 (calendar).
You can use the Content Translation tool on Wikipedia in Punjabi and Kyrgyz. You can ask for the tool in other languages.
Editing the fake blank line in VisualEditor is now simpler. This change also fixed a few bugs. [14][15][16][17]
The TemplateData editor now warns you if a related page already has TemplateData. [18]
The TemplateData table now tells you if a template doesn't take any parameters. [19]
Meetings
You can read the notes from the last meeting with the VisualEditor team.
You can join the next weekly meeting with the VisualEditor team. During the meetings you can tell developers which bugs are the most important. The meeting will be on March 4 at 16:00 (UTC). See how to join.
You can join technical meetings in France and Mexico this year. You will be able to ask for help if you can't pay yourself. [20]
Future changes
You will be able to get a direct link for a section of a page. [21]
Thanks for your edits on Shakes versus Shav and Waldo Lanchester. The mysterious "descreated" was, I think, "created" with part of "destruction" glued onto it. Or something like that. I make so many typos I lose track. Paul B (talk) 16:47, 2 March 2015 (UTC)
@Alakzi: Fair enough. Though the two non-British templates should be merged. How would you like to handle this? Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 16:54, 2 March 2015 (UTC)
Wikipedia session at ACS Boston chemistry conference in August
Andy, you may remember us talking about a possible Wikimedia session at the American Chemical Society conference in Boston in August. It ended up getting submitted as a Wikipedia-only session with the title, "Wikipedia and Chemistry: Collaborations in Science and Education". I already posted a call for papers here. Would you be willing to give a presentation on your work with RSC at that symposium? We probably can't offer any funding (though I'll ask), but perhaps RSC might be willing to provide some funding. A cheaper alternative would be to have you present via Skype or similar.
If you can't come yourself, perhaps you could suggest someone else who would be good? Thanks, Walkerma (talk) 16:52, 3 March 2015 (UTC)
Secondly, can the column widths be set at ((Public art header)) so that they're consistent throughout the list? Rodw seems to think that they might, but I can't see anything in the documentation.
Lastly, I have a suggestion and a question about Wikidata items and these templates. (Neither of these is an urgent necessity for the list to pass FLC.) What if, instead of |wikidata= being a column to itself, it were a link underneath "More images" (i.e. |commonscat=) that simply read "Data"? I could then add Wikidata items to List of public art in the City of Westminster without adding to the number of columns and making the |notes= column too narrow. The question that leads on from that is: could the missing Wikidata items automatically be generated from the list? All the best, Ham II (talk) 20:44, 3 March 2015 (UTC)
@Ham II: Happy to look at this for you, but I have two madly busy days ahead; I should have some time on Friday. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 20:56, 3 March 2015 (UTC)
I've tried to add some genuine historical items to this (drawing inspiration from Horrible Histories amongst others) but would appreciate some GLAM people, adding their input as well. Something that could also done and appreciated, is adding a set of 'educators' notes on the talk page. I don't feel able to do this for the entire page, but perhaps you have GLAM contacts that would?
In terms of content additions to the actual article, my contributions have been rather London centric because of where I'm based. The upcoming Thinktank event may be a chance to add some Birmingham (and Midlands) content ?
Thanks in advance.
Sfan00 IMG (talk) 11:26, 4 March 2015 (UTC)
Hi, it surprises me that by now you've not proposed it to be merged with infobox person, as I know you do a lot of work with merging infoboxes. I think I've raised a valid point about making the infobox of more value in terms of information conveyed, so it might be best to merge with infobox person to allow for more flexibility in parameters and content.♦ Dr. Blofeld 12:07, 5 March 2015 (UTC)
@Dr. Blofeld: See here. Nonetheless, the template is already a customised wrapper for Infbox person, as its documentation explians. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 12:15, 5 March 2015 (UTC)
Oh, OK, I didn't see that, perhaps somebody ought to replace the infobox architect name some time then, cheers.♦ Dr. Blofeld 12:22, 5 March 2015 (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 now create books on almost all wikis. It doesn't work yet on wikis using the language converter. [22][23]
VisualEditor had problems with categories in Safari. It sometimes moved or removed the categories. The issue is now fixed. [24][25][26]
Changes this week
The new version of MediaWiki has been on test wikis and MediaWiki.org since March 4. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis from March 10. It will be on all Wikipedias from March 11 (calendar).
In VisualEditor the "Edit beta" button is now called "Edit" on the English Wikipedia. [27][28]
The feedback tool in VisualEditor now looks like the other tools. It also asks for information about your browser to help fix bugs. [29][30]
You now see the VisualEditor toolbar even if the rest of the page is still loading. [31][32]
You now see more information when you edit a link, a reference or other items in VisualEditor. You also see a clearer edit button in those tools. [33][34]
If you use the ContentTranslation tool you now see red links in the list of articles in other languages. The link is red if the article doesn't exist in the language of your options or of your browser. You can translate the article by clicking on the red link.
Meetings
You can read the notes from the last meeting with the VisualEditor team.
You can join the next weekly meeting with the VisualEditor team. During the meetings you can tell developers which bugs are the most important. The meeting will be on March 11 at 19:00 (UTC). See how to join.
You can join a technical meeting in France in May. You can ask for help if you can't pay yourself. [35]
Would you consider weighing in on this discussion Talk:Lulu Wang#Infobox? Thanks. – Editør (talk) 16:48, 9 March 2015 (UTC)
Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Linking
Greetings! Sorry for not really explaining my edit[38] at Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Linking. Anyway, I find the change quite challenging since, not just that it's not been discussed, it is actually encouraging to link from the more specific to more general (e.g. from beer to alcoholic beverage). That's something I'd expect to be discussed first. Cheers! Jayaguru-Shishya (talk) 18:53, 9 March 2015 (UTC)
I came across Template:Infobox UK constituency main § Why? and was instantly reminded of this xkcd. And what a godawful over-engineered mess each one of these constituency infoboxes is. Alakzi (talk) 23:33, 9 March 2015 (UTC)
@Alakzi: Looks good to me (and visually an improvement, in the sandbox). Do you intend to deal with the 'English county' infobox merge, too? Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 15:45, 10 March 2015 (UTC)
The sandbox is an ((Infobox English county)) wrapper. Or did you mean to merge that one with a more generic template? Alakzi (talk) 15:57, 10 March 2015 (UTC)
@Alakzi: Infobox English county is tagged "This template is currently being merged with Template:Infobox England county" - I wondered whether you were addressing that at the same time; or might consider doing so? Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 16:15, 10 March 2015 (UTC)
Yes, I will be merging all three at "English county", as was suggested at the TfD. Alakzi (talk) 16:19, 10 March 2015 (UTC)
Thank you very much for endorsing my application for a grant to attend AdaCamp! You mentioned that USD 20 per diem would be too low for Montreal. Could you please suggest an approximate amount? -- Rohini (talk) 09:51, 12 March 2015 (UTC)
Hello! I think you and I got off on the wrong foot. I would like to start over. I should not have reverted your edits without talking to you. Can we start over? We may not agree 100% of the time, but I would like to have constructive dialogue between us. I would love to work with you on this template. Help me understand what your goals are for merging. I would love to be helpful. Hoping you are well. --Zackmann08 (talk) 19:45, 12 March 2015 (UTC)
Could I make a proposal? I am in the process of redoing the page for Fire engine (User:Zackmann08/fire engine) which is a DISASTER. Once I am done with that I want to redo the ((Infobox fire department)) so that it links more properly and to reduce some of the duplication (trucks, ladders, tower ladders, etc.). Rather than redoing the template multiple times, how would you feel about giving me some time to finish this page, then make this merge happen? :-) Let me know your thoughts. --Zackmann08 (talk) 02:02, 14 March 2015 (UTC)
Wikidata weekly summary #149
Here's your quick overview of what has been happening around Wikidata over the last week.
Thoughts on what to do with the footer list? I've set up a couple of testcases here. I see there's ((Infobox station/Iarnród Éireann)) for Irish stations that are in use. Alakzi (talk) 23:39, 11 March 2015 (UTC)
Copy the material into a ((Navbox)), have a bot place it at the foot of the affected articles; remove it from the infobox. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 11:50, 12 March 2015 (UTC)
Okay, I've done that and the infobox is now ready to be substituted. I don't know how to request a bot, so I'll leave that to somebody else. Alakzi (talk) 12:46, 12 March 2015 (UTC)
Also, ((List of closed railway stations in Ireland by letter)) is now redundant. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 12:51, 12 March 2015 (UTC)
It's probably handier to keep that one as a TOC-lookalike at the top; it saves people from having to scroll to the bottom to jump to another letter. Alakzi (talk) 13:12, 12 March 2015 (UTC)
Actually, do we need all of these separate lists? The entire list of disused stations fits quite comfortably on a single page. Alakzi (talk) 13:43, 12 March 2015 (UTC)
Right; the master list transcludes all of the sub-lists. That's an idiosyncratic setup, and probably confusing to new editors, but I'll leave these for now. Let's add a see also link to the master list in disused station articles, instead of my new navbox. Alakzi (talk) 13:56, 12 March 2015 (UTC)
I've merged them all now, with no apparent issues. What do you think of using row-templates, like this? Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 15:10, 12 March 2015 (UTC)
Is it for the microformat classes? It seems like a good idea. Alakzi (talk) 15:16, 12 March 2015 (UTC)
@Alakzi: Yes; and we could later add columns for opening dates and coordinates (and perhaps even commons categories and Wikdiata IDs). See also this. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 15:23, 12 March 2015 (UTC)
Thanks. By the way, I've almost forgotten that I'd left out (({gridref))} from the infobox. There's no parameter for it in ((Infobox station)), but I see there was some discussion and an ER on the talk page. Alakzi (talk) 16:00, 12 March 2015 (UTC)
I've made a bot request. Alakzi (talk) 20:32, 15 March 2015 (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
The servers that resize images are using new software. You should report new problems that you notice with images. [39]
It is now easier to add special characters in VisualEditor. You can edit the list of characters for your wiki. [41][42]
Problems
Wikis were broken for a few minutes on Thursday due to a code error.
Changes this week
The new version of MediaWiki has been on test wikis and MediaWiki.org since March 11. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis from March 17. It will be on all Wikipedias from March 18 (calendar).
A puzzle piece icon () now shows hidden templates in VisualEditor. You can edit the template by clicking the icon. For example, you can now edit anchor templates. [43][44]
You can now add examples, and details about old parameters, in TemplateData. [45][46]
Meetings
You can read the notes from the last meeting with the VisualEditor team.
You can join the next weekly meeting with the VisualEditor team. During the meetings you can tell developers which bugs are the most important. The meeting will be on March 18 at 23:00 (UTC). See how to join.
Future changes
The list of bad user names on your wiki will no longer work. The global list will replace it. You can ask to add rules for bad user names on Meta. [47][48]
You can comment on how you want to see Wikidata edits in your watchlist on other wikis. [49]
Werent' you at one time migrating over the Russian template that consolidated IMDB, IBDB and Findagrave and other standard database entries for people. I remember working on it, but I do not where we were working on it. Do you remember? I want to go back and experiment with it. --Richard Arthur Norton (1958- ) (talk) 02:33, 20 March 2015 (UTC)
I Guess it was someone else. I can't find the version I migrated over, so I will start again. It was probably deleted. look at the way the Russians format standard external links with this template I am going to migrate it over and work on it in English. Go to say ru:Чаплин, Чарльз for Charlie Chaplin and see how it is formated to save space and complement authority control by linking in one place to all the standard databases.