User talk:Firestar464

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••••🎄Merry Christmas🎄••••

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"May you be surrounded by peace, success and happiness on this seasonal occasion. Spread the WikiLove by wishing another user a ..Merry Christmas.. and a ..Happy New Year.., whether it be someone you have had disagreements with in the past, a good friend, or just some random person. Sending you ..warm greetings.. for Christmas and New Year 2021."

Happy editing,
User:245CMR

A Joyous Yuletide to You!

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JACKINTHEBOX • TALK is wishing you a Merry Christmas! This greeting (and season) promotes WikiLove and hopefully this note has made your day a little better. Spread the WikiLove by wishing another user a Merry Christmas, whether it be someone you have had disagreements with in the past, a good friend, or just some random person. Happy New Year!

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Trouted

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a rainbow trout fish

Whack!

You've been whacked with a wet trout.

Don't take this too seriously. Someone just wants to let you know that you did something silly.

You have been trouted for: muddling locations with a shared name.

Your error was understandable, given that there are three places named Lukyanivka in Kyiv Oblast alone, and only one has an English Wikipedia article. There are two ways to avoid making this kind of mistake when editing Module:Russo-Ukrainian War detailed map:

  1. See whether a Ukrainian version of the disambiguation page is available. If there isn't one linked at the side, machine-translate the name of the settlement and search for its disambiguation page on Ukrainian Wikipedia. By doing this, you would have found uk:Лук'янівка, which lists three locations in Kyiv Oblast.
  2. More simply, you could have spotted a discrepancy in the location: the coordinates for Lukyanivka (neighborhood) are inside Kyiv, while the source said the village in question was tens of kilometers east of Brovary.

Regardless, thank you for your contributions. —AlphaMikeOmega (talk) 18:26, 31 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]

slaaaaaap...thanks for the advice Firestar464 (talk) 02:29, 1 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Hi again! I see you had some trouble with some of the locations in the ISW's most recent update. Personally, the way I try to avoid errors is to
  1. Search on Google Maps for locations of the same name near the area being discussed;
    • By comparing the locations of search results against the location of the front lines on Template:Russo-Ukrainian War detailed map, it may be possible to determine which settlement is being talked about. Still, at this stage, it is best not to assume.
  2. Copy Google's Ukrainian transliteration of the settlement's name from the bar on the left;
    • This should appear if you click on a settlement with the right name.
  3. Go to the Ukrainian Wikipedia article with the same name as was copied;
    • If the page is for a settlement, see if there is a disambiguation link at the top. (In-browser machine translation is useful here. Unfortunately, I do not believe Preferences>Gadgets>Appearance>Display links to disambiguation pages in orange is available on Ukrainian Wikipedia, but if a link is clicked, it should be clear whether its destination is a disambiguation page from the format.) If there is no link, you can be confident you have the right settlement; if there is a link, click it.
  4. Filter out most settlements by looking only at those in the oblasts you are interested in;
    • Disambiguation pages generally group articles by their oblast.
    • Again, machine translation is useful here; alternatively, you can learn to recognise the Ukrainian Cyrillic for "Donetsk", "Luhansk", "Kherson" etc.
  5. Out of the settlements which remain, use the maps/coordinates on their respective pages to judge whether they are in the correct location.
Incidentally, another thing to note is that in HTML, <ref name="foo"/> is shorthand for <ref name="foo"></ref>, so you can save yourself some typing there. Once again, thanks for your help! —AlphaMikeOmega (talk) 16:56, 28 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Control of Cities: Blahodatne

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Hi! Thanks again for your contributions to Control of cities during the Russo-Ukrainian War and the related maps. It's good to know you were working on the pages while I was taking a break.

I'd just like to bring up your recent edits regarding Blahodatne, and why I largely reverted them, without being constrained to an edit summary. Here's how I believe the claim got to the ISW's map:

  • 7 June: Twitter user Ukraine War Map posts this, which says that Blahodatne was reported retaken, but does not cite a source;
  • 8 June: This is picked up and relayed by Ukrainian military journalist Roman Bochkala here. He does not cite a source, but uses the same map image;
  • 8 June: The ISW does not mention Blahodatne in its text, but to draw its map (which can only ever be approximate due to the fog of war), the ISW cites Bochkala's Telegram post (see here).

So overall, it doesn't appear well-sourced (unless perhaps we can find Twitter user Ukraine War Map's source). It's probably because of cases like this that the contributors who worked on the Syrian Civil War maps decided not to copy others' maps – a policy carried over to equivalent pages on the Russo-Ukrainian War. That said, the ISW's maps are still useful: it's just probably best to chase down the maps' claims to see if you can find the original source. —AlphaMikeOmega (talk) 23:33, 10 June 2022 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 2 October 2025

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Tech News: 2025-41

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

Weekly highlight

  • Paste Check is a new Edit Check feature to help avoid and fight copyright violations. When editors paste text into an article, Paste Check prompts them to confirm the origin and licensing of the content. Starting Wednesday, 8 October, 22 wikis will test Paste Check. Paste Check will help new volunteers understand and follow the policies and guidelines necessary to make constructive contributions to Wikipedia projects.

Updates for editors

  • Mobile devices will receive mobile articles directly on the standard domain (like en.wikipedia.org), instead of via a redirect to an "m" domain (like en.m.wikipedia.org). This change improves performance. This week it will be enabled on Wikipedias. The existing mobile URLs and the "Desktop view" opt-out remain available. Learn more. [1]
  • New date filters, creationdate: and lasteditdate:, are now available in the wiki search engine. This allows users to filter search results by a page's first or last revision date. The filters support comparison operators (e.g. >2024) and relative dates (e.g. today-1d), making it easier to find recently updated content or pages within specific age ranges. [2]
  • Wikifunctions now supports rich text in embedded calls across the 150 wikis where it's enabled. To showcase this, the team created a Latin declination table that Wiktionary editors can use to automatically generate noun forms, producing clear, formatted results — see an example output. If you need any help or have any feedback, please contact the Wikifunctions Team. [3]
  • An edit link will now appear inside the categories box on article pages for logged in users, which will directly launch the VisualEditor category dialog. [4]
  • Recurrent item View all 34 community-submitted tasks that were resolved last week. For example, there was a problem downloading pdf files last week and that has been resolved. [5]

Updates for technical contributors

  • The field rev_sha1 in the revision database table is being removed in favor of content_sha1 in the content database table. See the announcement for more information.
  • The Reader Experience team will roll out Dark Mode user interface on all Wikimedia sites on October 29, 2025. All anonymous users of Wikimedia sites will have the option to activate a color scheme that features light-colored text on a dark background. This is designed to provide a more comfortable reading experience, especially in low-light situations. Template authors and technical contributors are encouraged to learn how to make pages ready for Dark mode and address any compatibility issues found in templates in their wiki before the enablement. Please contact the Web team for questions or any support on this talk page before the enablement. [6]
  • Starting on Monday, October 6, API endpoints under the rest.php path will be rerouted through a new internal API Gateway. Individual wikis will be updated based on the standard release groups, with total traffic increased over time. This change is expected to be non-breaking and non-disruptive. If any issues are observed, please file a Phabricator ticket to the Service Ops team board. [7]
  • Recurrent item Detailed code updates later this week: MediaWiki

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MediaWiki message delivery 17:19, 6 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Tech News: 2025-42

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

Weekly highlight

  • Last week, improvements to account security and two-factor authentication (2FA) features were enabled across all wikis. These changes include user interface improvements for Special:AccountSecurity, the support of multiple 2FA methods via authenticator apps and portable security keys (previously users could only enable one method), and a new Recovery Codes module which facilitates fewer account lockouts due to lost two-factor apps and devices. As part of the Account Security project, work is continuing through the rest of 2025 on further user experience improvements, and support for passkeys as an alternate second factor.

Updates for editors

  • Another part of the Account security project is making 2FA generally available to all users. Along with editors with advanced privileges, such as administrators and bureaucrats, 40% of editors now have access to 2FA. You can check if you have access at Special:AccountSecurity. Instructions for activation are on the linked page. The plan is to continue increasing availability if it is determined that the user support capabilities are able to support global usage. [8]
  • This week, users at wikis where talk page Usability Improvements are already available by default (everywhere except the 12 wikis listed in T379264) will gain the ability to Thank a comment directly from the talk page it appears on. Before this change, Thanking could only be done by visiting the revision history of the talk page. You can learn more about this change. [9]
  • Users who have not verified their email address will soon be receiving monthly Notification reminders to do so. This is because users who have verified their email can more easily recover their account. These reminders will not be sent if the user is inactive or removes the unverified email from their account. [10][11]
  • Recurrent item View all 21 community-submitted tasks that were resolved last week. For example, a fix was made for an occasional error with saving translated paragraphs in the Content Translation tool, and the related error messages are now easier to see. [12]

Updates for technical contributors

  • The Unsupported Tools Working Group has chosen Video2Commons as the first tool for its pilot cycle. The group will explore ways to improve and sustain the tool over the coming months. Learn more on Meta.
  • Recurrent item Detailed code updates later this week: MediaWiki

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MediaWiki message delivery 18:56, 13 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Tech News: 2025-43

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

Updates for editors

  • To optimize how user data is stored in our databases, the saved preferences of users who haven't logged in for over five years and have fewer than 100 edits will be cleared. When those users return, default settings will apply. [13]
  • Recurrent item View all 20 community-submitted tasks that were resolved last week. For example, there was a broken link from the GlobalContributions interface message to the XTools GlobalContributions page which has now been fixed. [14]

Updates for technical contributors

  • The work to reroute all traffic to API endpoints under the rest.php route through a common API gateway is now complete. If any issues are observed, please file a phabricator ticket to the Service Ops team board.
  • Edits to Wikidata references or qualifiers will now be shown in RecentChanges and Watchlist entries on other wikis less often, reducing unnecessary notifications. This will reduce the overall quantity of 'noisy' entries. Wikidata's own pages remain unchanged. [15]
  • Recurrent item Detailed code updates later this week: MediaWiki

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MediaWiki message delivery 19:32, 20 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 20 October 2025

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And the "Global Resource Distribution Committee" emerges.
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Don't get too excited before you read this.
* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 22:41, 20 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Tech News: 2025-44

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

Updates for editors

  • The Wikipedia iOS app has launched an A/B/C test of improvements made to the tabbed browsing feature for select regions and languages. The test, named “More dynamic tabs”, explores new tab experiences and includes “Did you know” and “Because you read” article recommendations. You can read more on the project page.
  • Autoconfirmed users on small and medium wikis with the CampaignEvents extension can now use Event Registration without the Event Organizer right. This feature lets organizers enable registration, manage participants, and lets users register with one click instead of signing event pages.
  • Recurrent item View all 31 community-submitted tasks that were resolved last week. For example, the issue of flashing colors when holding or pressing the arrow keys under the dark mode settings in Vector 2022 has been fixed. [16]

Updates for technical contributors

  • The CampaignEvents extension will be deployed to all remaining wikis during the week of 17 November 2025. The extension currently includes three features: Event Registration, Collaboration List, and Invitation List. For this rollout, Invitation List will not be enabled on Wikifunctions and MediaWiki unless requested by those communities. Visit the deployment page to learn more.
  • The SwaggerUI-based REST sandbox experience is now live on all wiki projects. The sandbox can be accessed through the Special:RestSandbox page. Please report any issues to the MediaWiki Interfaces team board, or join the discussion on the project launch page. [17]
  • Transform endpoints with a trailing slash path in the MediaWiki REST API are now marked as deprecated. They will remain functional during this time, but removal is expected by the end of January 2026. All API users currently calling them are encouraged to transition to the non-trailing slash versions. Both endpoint variations can be found and tested using the REST Sandbox. See the MediaWiki REST API Deprecation page for more detailed information about the API deprecation policies and procedures.
  • A dedicated changelog now exists for the MediaWiki REST API. The changelog provides an overview of these changes, making it easier for developers to keep track of improvements and iterations. Announcements will also continue to flow through the standard communication channels, including Tech News and email distribution lists, but can now be more easily referenced from a central location. If you have feedback about the style, structure, or content of this changelog, please join the discussion.
  • Administrators can delete the tracking category which was previously added by the JsonConfig extension, as it is no longer used. See the categories linked from Q130635582. It is OK if there are still pages listed in the category as that is just a caching issue, and they will be automatically cleared out the next time each page is edited. [18]
  • Recurrent item Detailed code updates later this week: MediaWiki

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MediaWiki message delivery 19:28, 27 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]