Wikispecies:Administrators' Noticeboard/Archive 2023

This is an archive of closed discussions. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this archive.

Possible hoax article: "Murexia xenochromus"

Murexia xenochromus does not appear to exist. I can find no references to it outside Wikipedia and Wikispecies. The cited references do not support it. Ucucha 05:19, 27 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Page deleted, Thanks, Burmeister (talk) 10:55, 27 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]
I will check on this with P. Woolley just in case someone was getting ahead of themselves. Give me a day or so. Leave it deleted for now. Cheers Scott Thomson (Faendalimas) talk 12:45, 27 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks both! Given the falsified references I'm pretty sure this was an intentional hoax, not a premature publication. Ucucha 14:39, 27 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]
For posterity there's now also discussion at w:Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Murexia xenochromus and commons:Commons:Deletion requests/File:Murexia xenochromus specimen.jpg. Seems like they also stole some images from Pat Woolley's work. Ucucha 14:16, 28 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]
For info I have received a reply from Patricia Wooley and she has never heard of this species, I would say as suspected somewhere along the line its a hoax. Cheers Scott Thomson (Faendalimas) talk 10:06, 30 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Problematic, cross-wiki harasser. I suggest you block. SVTCobra (talk) 09:07, 2 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Has already been handled by stewards via a global lock. 𝟙𝟤𝟯𝟺𝐪𝑤𝒆𝓇𝟷𝟮𝟥𝟜𝓺𝔴𝕖𝖗𝟰 (𝗍𝗮𝘭𝙠) 09:09, 2 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Problematic, cross-wiki harasser. I suggest you block. 61.220.170.133 09:09, 2 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, you have now been blocked. 𝟙𝟤𝟯𝟺𝐪𝑤𝒆𝓇𝟷𝟮𝟥𝟜𝓺𝔴𝕖𝖗𝟰 (𝗍𝗮𝘭𝙠) 09:10, 2 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]
(For those who were confused, the IP was the actual problematic user that was blocked) --DannyS712 (talk) 12:24, 7 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Report conserning of user:83.120.106.4

83.120.106.4 (talkcontribsblock logall projects) - inserting non/false translation content.--Syunsyunminmin (talk) 09:33, 9 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]

I have done a one month block to stop this, happy for it to be reverted if I am wrong. Could some translation admins go over his contribs and see whats happening. This level of content is not good from an IP user. Cheers Scott Thomson (Faendalimas) talk 13:20, 9 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Handled. FWIW deleting translation units does not require translation adminship, though I deleted the whole translation along the way too. 𝟙𝟤𝟯𝟺𝐪𝑤𝒆𝓇𝟷𝟮𝟥𝟜𝓺𝔴𝕖𝖗𝟰 (𝗍𝗮𝘭𝙠) 15:47, 9 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Language:Greek

Hello from el.wiktionary. At sections #Vernacular names el appears as Ελληνικά with capital Ε. But in Greek, language names are not proper nouns and are not written with initial capital -only some people write them in the English fashion, with capital-. They are written like it = italiano.
el should give ελληνικά (wikt:el:ελληνικά). I am sorry that I do not know how to change it at Module:Languages or mw....
A side note: Perhaps the title of section would be more precise as #Academic_or_vernacular_names. Because in some languages (as in Greek), apart from vernacular names we have quasi-Ancient Greek taxonomic names equivalent to the New Latin terms.
Thank you for your excellent work. Sarri.greek (talk) 02:48, 3 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Please consider semi-protection for this article because of persistent vandalism. --Ameisenigel (talk) 07:25, 4 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

 Done only confirmed users can edit the page. Andyboorman (talk) 08:41, 4 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Hello @Ameisenigel and Andyboorman:
The user in the IP range 2601:5C7:4100:3600::/64, who vandalized Boris Sket (and other pages), has now created this page and this page. These 2 species does not appear elsewhere on the Internet: perhaps they are hoaxes?
Regards --NicoScribe (talk) 15:42, 8 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]
I have deleted the pages which looked like they were randomly created using info fromlegitimate pages. The IP has been previously blocked so I have blocked this IP for evasion. Cheers Scott Thomson (Faendalimas) talk 12:00, 9 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Template:Documentation

Template:Documentation is still broken as of writing: a Lua error appears on every single Wikispecies page that transcludes it, and has done so since at some point last year. See Wikispecies:Village Pump/Archive 63#Template:Documentation is broken for context. Monster Iestyn (talk) 15:58, 15 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Module:Documentation/config does not define a "container". Not sure what all of those imports both there and on Module:Documentation did, but they appear to come from different wikis resulting in the inconsistencies. 𝟙𝟤𝟯𝟺𝐪𝑤𝒆𝓇𝟷𝟮𝟥𝟜𝓺𝔴𝕖𝖗𝟰 (𝗍𝗮𝘭𝙠) 17:02, 19 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Hello, I think that as per this edit the last version of the Module:Documentation from Wikidata will work fine for us and will make the "error" messages disappears. Regards, Christian Ferrer (talk) 08:03, 16 April 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Apparently not; I've just tried that and the problem persists. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 20:31, 1 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]
@Pigsonthewing You probably need to also import Wikidata's version of Module:Documentation/config to this wiki. Monster Iestyn (talk) 22:12, 1 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Done; still no joy. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 14:35, 2 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]
@Pigsonthewing ...Hrm, it looks like importing from Wikidata made no change whatsoever at least in Module:Documentation's case, since it *still* has code not in the Wikidata version. (In particular, the line 140 that Lua is complaining about in it, :addClass(message('container')), does not exist in Wikidata's version of the module. That's bothersome. Monster Iestyn (talk) 15:15, 2 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]
When I tried importing Module:Documentation from Wikidata, this wiki reported that there were no changes to import. I've deleted it, then done a fresh import, and that seems to have resolved the problem. Thank you for your input, and please let me know if any issues arise. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 15:37, 2 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Please block 75.132.62.86

75.132.62.86 (talkcontribsblock logall projects) – keeps creating nonsense pages. FlyingAce (talk) 00:06, 14 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

 Done Burmeister (talk) 00:42, 14 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Regarding 2601:206:8580:35D0:94EA:9AD0:3995:E460

2601:206:8580:35D0:94EA:9AD0:3995:E460 (talkcontribsblock logall projects) : The anonymous user is adding nonsense to pages. A block may be needed. Tropicalkitty (talk) 04:19, 22 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

 DoneJustin (koavf)TCM 05:57, 22 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Regarding 2601:206:8580:35D0:523:765:C00E:85AC

2601:206:8580:35D0:523:765:C00E:85AC (talkcontribsblock logall projects)

Looks same person as #Regarding 2601:206:8580:35D0:94EA:9AD0:3995:E460. Also please delete my user page, too. --LR0725 (talk) 17:31, 23 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

 Done Burmeister (talk) 17:33, 23 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

2001:448A:2022:B44C:D4DB:171A:F24:2080 (talkcontribsblock logall projects) : Vandalism --Ameisenigel (talk) 14:59, 31 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

 Done by someone else. —Justin (koavf)TCM 18:00, 31 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

User:2001:448A:2022:B44C:C5B8:8E01:AD35:3FA1

2001:448A:2022:B44C:C5B8:8E01:AD35:3FA1 (talkcontribsblock logall projects) Vandalism, says that they can't stop. Also needs their pages deleted.Mako001 (C)  (T)  🇺🇦 10:05, 11 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Can I suggest blocking 2001:448A:2022:B44C:0:0:0:0/64 (talkcontribsblock logall projects) for a while, maybe a week or two? Mako001 (C)  (T)  🇺🇦 10:09, 11 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]
 Done Slava Ukraini. —Justin (koavf)TCM 10:29, 11 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]

2604:2D80:D009:6C00:E50F:C8DF:C73E:1657 (talkcontribsblock logall projects) : Vandalism Esteban16 (talk) 23:42, 14 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]

 DoneJustin (koavf)TCM 03:28, 15 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Report concerning User:The WikiBalls

The WikiBalls (talkcontribsblock logall projects) – x-wiki abuse, vandalistic userpage. TIA, --SHB2000 (talk) 12:51, 17 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]

HakanIST has just locked this account, but their userpage/user talk pages remain. --SHB2000 (talk) 13:01, 17 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]
 Done — blocked 3 months also deleted a number of pages created by them, tagged their user and talk page for speedy delete. Cheers Scott Thomson (Faendalimas) talk 06:06, 18 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]

New special page to fight spam

Please help translate to your language

Hello, We are replacing most of the functionalities of MediaWiki:Spam-blacklist with a new special page called Special:BlockedExternalDomains. In this special page, admins can simply add a domain and notes on the block (usually reasoning and/or link to a discussion) and the added domain would automatically be blocked to be linked in Wikis anymore (including its subdomains). Content of this list is stored in MediaWiki:BlockedExternalDomains.json. You can see w:fa:Special:BlockedExternalDomains as an example. Check the phabricator ticket for more information.

This would make fighting spam easier and safer without needing to know regex or accidentally breaking wikis while also addressing the need to have some notes next to each domain on why it’s blocked. It would also make the list of blocked domains searchable and would make editing Wikis in general faster by optimizing matching links added against the blocked list in every edit (see phab:T337431#8936498 for some measurements).

If you want to migrate your entries in MediaWiki:Spam-blacklist, there is a python script in phab:P49299 that would produce contents of MediaWiki:Spam-blacklist and MediaWiki:BlockedExternalDomains.json for you automatically migrating off simple regex cases.

Note that this new feature doesn’t support regex (for complex cases) nor URL paths matching. Also it doesn’t support bypass by spam whitelist. For those, please either keep using MediaWiki:Spam-blacklist or switch to an abuse filter if possible. And adding a link to the list might take up to five minutes to be fully in effect (due to server-side caching, this is already the case with the old system) and admins and bots automatically bypass the blocked list.

Let me know if you have any questions or encounter any issues. Happy editing. Amir (talk) 09:41, 19 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Vandalism, please delete all pages made by this user. MathXplore (talk) 10:48, 21 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]

 DoneJustin (koavf)TCM 11:33, 21 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Request for AWB access

Vahurzpu (talkcontribsblock logall projects)

I've been working recently on cleaning up author pages, and using AWB would be useful for certain tasks (in particular, updating links and categories after merges). I'm familiar with the tool from enwiki, where I'm approved to use it. Vahurzpu (talk) 00:48, 22 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]

 DoneJustin (koavf)TCM 02:41, 22 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]
@Koavf: AWB and JWB have migrated towards using Project:AutoWikiBrowser/CheckPageJSON instead of the old format; could you add me to that one (and possibly leave a note on Wikispecies:AutoWikiBrowser/CheckPage so the next admin doesn't do the same thing)? Thanks. Vahurzpu (talk) 02:47, 22 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Absolutely not. Blocked permanently for even requesting this. —Justin (koavf)TCM 02:51, 22 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]
  • obvious joke, by the way. Merci, friend.
Justin (koavf)TCM 02:52, 22 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks! Vahurzpu (talk) 02:57, 22 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Mass vandalism. Sincerely, Taketa (talk) 05:21, 24 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]

I blocked locally and deleted the spam... then realized this wasn't a GS wiki. Local sysop group please be aware of my action and review if necessary. Operator873 (talk) 05:44, 24 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]
My bad. I didn't notice that this was just a proposal and not a guidelines. Thank you anyways. All the best, Taketa (talk) 05:48, 24 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Template:Commonscat duplication

Hi, Template:Commonscat and Template:Template:Commonscat are duplicates of each other and may need a history merge, or for the former title to be deleted to make way for the latter.

What happened is that Fagus intended to rename Template:Commons category to Template:Commonscat, but by mistake renamed it to Template:Template:Commonscat instead. Template:Commonscat is the intended page name but Template:Template:Commonscat holds all the page history so it shouldn't be deleted. Monster Iestyn (talk) 12:37, 19 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]

 Done Burmeister (talk) 12:41, 19 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Speedy Deletion

There are more and more candidates for speedy deletion with the reason "Probably not a taxon author". Please could Admins look regularly and check using the expertise. I can not assess most of them. Thanks. Andyboorman (talk) 14:06, 20 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]

This is my fault, sorry! I've been checking taxon author pages and their linked ResearchGate, Google Scholar, ORCID profiles and found no evidence they have named any taxa at all. It's always possible I'm wrong in each case though, which is why I say "probably". Monster Iestyn (talk) 14:50, 20 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Cross-wiki abuse.--USSR-Slav (talk) 08:50, 21 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]

 Done by someone else. —Justin (koavf)TCM 09:50, 21 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]

This IP user is repeating vandalism at Wikispecies:Village Pump‎. MathXplore (talk) 12:16, 21 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]

(Note) The user was globally blocked. MathXplore (talk) 12:20, 21 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]
 Done globally. —Justin (koavf)TCM 19:36, 21 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Speedy deletion

Anybody able to fix the problem with the speedy delete display? Thanks. Andyboorman (talk) 07:05, 22 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]

It's because Template:Commonscat was tagged by User:Fagus with {{Speedy}} and that is transcluded in thousands of pages, so all of those pages had it temporarily transcluded and (something like this) the server's cache just takes time to refresh. One solution is to just wait, another is to edit every one of the 4,400+ pages so a new version will be saved, and another is to just remove the code from MediaWiki:Watchlist-details, which seems like an easy quick-fix, so I did it, but that edit should be undone in ~48 hours or so. Do you need me to follow up and ensure that it's reinserted? —Justin (koavf)TCM 10:17, 22 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for the fix and yes please keep an eye on the problem. Andyboorman (talk) 19:44, 22 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Still a problem. I can not easily admin deletes. What happens if you remove the edits by Fagus? Andyboorman (talk) 19:07, 23 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]
It's already a deleted edit. It will just take time for the cached versions to refresh. :/ —Justin (koavf)TCM 19:17, 23 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]
As you can see, I just edited Abatocera and it is now removed from Category:Candidates for speedy deletion. (The following is not a 100% accurate explanation, but close enough.) The server will have to have some reason to have a new version of the page and that could be editing all 4,000 of them, it could be purging the cache of all 4,000 pages, or it could be just waiting until it refreshes itself, which I think is maybe a weekly schedule? So even if no one edits these pages and no one purges them, they should drop off in the next several days. Until then, the category is just useless and the color-coding on the watch list header will either not work or also be useless (as it's definitely going to be above five pages for a while). This is all a friendly reminder to be careful about transcluding templates inside of templates. —Justin (koavf)TCM 19:22, 23 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Note that it is c. 40% emptied now. Looking at Special:RecentChanges, I do not see anyone who is systematically editing the pages to remove them from the category, so I think the internal logs are just refreshing (again, the terminology I just used is probably not 100% accurate, but it's something like that: the computers are saying, "Oh, these aren't tagged for speedy deletion anymore: I'll remove them from the category".) —Justin (koavf)TCM 18:29, 25 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]
I don't know how the caching system works, and how quickly the pages would have been automatically removed from the category by the software. In any case, the pages were removed from Category:Candidates for speedy deletion with the help of the script en:User:Ahecht/Scripts/refresh (All I had to do was click on a link entitled "Null edit category members" and keep a tab open while the pages were being updated.). The category is now (almost) empty. Korg (talk) 21:06, 25 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Merci. —Justin (koavf)TCM 06:11, 26 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]
It is possible to perform null edits to fix the problem, either with a user script like Refresh, or with AutoWikiBrowser. I tested the former, it works great. I'll run it again later if the problem hasn't been completely solved yet. Korg (talk) 23:16, 24 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Unfortunately, I can't turn off the flood flag for you or add you as a bot for 24 hours. It would be nice if a bureaucrat would just to not overwhelm recent changes. —Justin (koavf)TCM 23:27, 24 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks, but it would not have been needed as null edits are "invisible" and don't impact recent changes :) The problem is now fixed. Korg (talk) 21:06, 25 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Requesting AWB rights

I'd like to explore some automated editing, say the fixing of unused institution acronyms. I'm not planning any high-volume editing, mostly I'd want to get familiar with the tool again (I think I used it on wp a long time ago). Example edit: https://species.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Antaresia_papuensis&diff=prev&oldid=9321937. Azertus (talk) 16:02, 22 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Approved. Prior to this request the user has made 257 non-automated and 9 (semi-)automated edits to Wikispecies. @Azertus: Please see Wikispecies:AutoWikiBrowser/CheckPage for guidelines, rules of use, and link to our bot policy. –Tommy Kronkvist (talk), 09:04, 27 August 2023 (UTC).[reply]

Speedy deletion request

Given the current state of Category:Candidates for speedy deletion (as discussed in the above discussion), could I request that Dolichopus maculicornis be deleted? I created it by mistake thinking I was creating the page for Dolichopus maculipennis. (I'll probably create D. maculicornis's page from scratch at a later point) Monster Iestyn (talk) 16:51, 25 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]

 DoneJustin (koavf)TCM 16:55, 25 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Module:String2 / Module:Ustring

Hello, please could Module:String2 be imported, as I would like to split the string of authors in {{Sandbox10}} in relation to {{Sandbox6}} and Village Pump#Wikimania 2023. While I could copy it across myself, my recollection is that it is better for it to be "imported"...? Thank you, Maculosae tegmine lyncis (talk) 14:31, 25 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]

 Done. Let me know if it doesn't work. —Justin (koavf)TCM 14:46, 25 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Great, thank you, seems to be working well; please could Module:Ustring similarly be imported, in relation to {{Sandbox11}} (I wish to see whether the final three characters of a url are "pdf"); thank you, Maculosae tegmine lyncis (talk) 10:10, 26 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]

 DoneJustin (koavf)TCM 22:59, 26 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Module:Documentation - error

Hello, as at {{BHL page}}, there is an error message displaying in relation to Module:Documentation; I don't speak Lua and line 144 appears unchanged; thank you, Maculosae tegmine lyncis (talk) 18:25, 26 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]

 Done As always, let me know if there are problems. —Justin (koavf)TCM 23:00, 26 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]
{{BHL page}} is still showing an error message; apparently the issue is that Module:Documentation/config hasn't also been updated, the only thing is that it looks like the latest wikispecies version is later than the latest enwiki version (:en:Module:Documentation/config); apparently "This has resulted in several necessary config fields being missing, among them cfg.container" - if you search for "container", it's in the 25 January 2022 version, but not in the latest wikispecies version; thank you, Maculosae tegmine lyncis (talk) 11:14, 27 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]
"No revisions imported (all were either already present, or skipped due to errors)." This is why I hate importing and I usually refuse. —Justin (koavf)TCM 05:23, 28 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]
According to enwiki Module:Documentation, "This module displays a blue box containing documentation for templates, Lua modules, or other pages." As its use (here) appears to be limited to template documentation pages, which aren't displaying properly, I propose to paste in the lines re cfg.container; can always be reverted, Maculosae tegmine lyncis (talk) 08:45, 28 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]
I do not have permission to edit Module:Documentation/config; please can someone who has permission try, thank you, Maculosae tegmine lyncis (talk) 15:46, 31 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Please write very explicitly exactly what you want done and I'll do it. —Justin (koavf)TCM 16:23, 31 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]
I was going to add lines 344 to 347 from :en:Module:Documentation/config to Module:Documentation/config, in particular "cfg['container'] = 'documentation-container'". However, on the assumption that :en:Module:Documentation and :en:Module:Documentation/config go together, please could you simply import the latest enwiki :en:Module:Documentation/config. Thank you, Maculosae tegmine lyncis (talk) 21:59, 31 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]
 Done. No changes made. —Justin (koavf)TCM 23:36, 31 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks (but...), I think that may have been Module:Documentation/config/doc rather than Module:Documentation/config? Maculosae tegmine lyncis (talk) 23:52, 31 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]
 Done Again, no changes. I imported "Module:Documentation/config" (copied and pasted from your above message) from en.wp and chose "Copy all the revisions for this page", "Include all templates and transcluded pages", and "Assign edits to local users where the named user exists locally". "Module:Documentation/config No revisions imported (all were either already present, or skipped due to errors)." —Justin (koavf)TCM 01:02, 1 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]
That's strange, because there are several differences between en:Module:Documentation/config (17,433 bytes) and Module:Documentation/config (17,778 bytes), which was imported from Wikidata (d:Module:Documentation/config, 17,778 bytes). Maybe no revisions were imported because of errors ("or skipped due to errors")?
As a possible solution, I would suggest to import (or simply copy?) meta:Template:Documentation (a simpler version) to Template:Documentation; after that, you may be able to import en:Module:Documentation/config to Module:Documentation/config (if that's not the case, then you could simply copy-paste the code from enwiki to WS). I'm not sure why the code in Template:Documentation is causing errors... Korg (talk) 03:07, 1 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]
 Done Imported from m:Template:Documentation: "Template:Documentation 41 revisions, etc." Then imported from w:en:Module:Documentation/config: "No revisions imported (all were either already present, or skipped due to errors)." This is why I hate importing. If you want to copy/paste from en.wp, just make sure you give attribution in the edit summary. A simple "from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Module:Documentation/config" is sufficient. —Justin (koavf)TCM 03:17, 1 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks. I can't edit Template:Documentation or Module:Documentation/config, because they are transcluded in Template:ISBN and Template:URL to diff, which are protected with the "cascading" option turned on. Perhaps cascading protection should be removed, or these pages could be semi-protected instead? Thanks again, Korg (talk) 03:47, 1 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]
 Done Copied: https://species.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Module:Documentation/config&diff=prev&oldid=9336108. Please let me know if anything else is needed. —Justin (koavf)TCM 03:59, 1 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]
The error message has gone, but the display of {{Template:BHL}} is not quite so colourful and pretty as it once was... I'm sure we can live with that, thanks, Maculosae tegmine lyncis (talk) 08:06, 1 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

───────────────────────── The CSS pages Module:Documentation/styles.css and en:Module:Documentation/styles.css differ. Could en:Module:Documentation/styles.css be imported, please? Additionally, could the protection level of Template:ISBN and Template:URL to diff be reduced (so that the CSS page and related pages can be edited)? Thanks, Korg (talk) 10:23, 8 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

@Korg: The protection levels have now been reduced (temporarily, for one week). As for importing the ENWP styles.css file, are you sure that the .ts-doc-header and .ts-doc-content etc. CSS classes in the present Wikispecies version of the styles.css file aren't necessary to maintain compatibility? (They aren't included in the ENWP version, hence would be removed from our version if the ENWP file is imported.) –Tommy Kronkvist (talk), 17:14, 8 September 2023 (UTC).[reply]
Thank you for reducing the protection levels! The present version of Module:Documentation/styles.css (1,516 bytes) is based on the file on Meta m:Module:Documentation/styles.css (1,516 bytes), where the CSS classes (or class selectors, e.g. .ts-doc-header) have been defined in m:Module:Documentation/config (e.g. cfg['header-div-class'] = 'ts-doc-header'). But they are no longer in Module:Documentation/config, with this change. (The different pages had been imported from various sources, but now they would all come from enwp.) There wouldn't be compatibility issues, I did some tests and it works (see Template:Documentation/sandbox). Korg (talk) 20:16, 8 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]
@Korg: For some reason I wasn't able to import the enWP version, instead I got an error message. As an alternative I entered the code manually – that also makes it easy to revert, should we need to. The Wikispecies version Module:Documentation/styles.css and English Wikipedia version en:Module:Documentation/styles.css should now be identical. –Tommy Kronkvist (talk), 13:33, 9 September 2023 (UTC).[reply]
Thank you! The documentation is now properly displayed. The error message you got is probably related to the error present in Module:Documentation, I'll look into it later. Korg (talk) 14:22, 9 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

RfTA

Hey there is a request for translation admin we all seem to have missed. Wikispecies:Translation administrators#Requests for translation adminship. Scott Thomson (Faendalimas) talk 05:00, 28 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you, Scott! The request has now been approved. –Tommy Kronkvist (talk), 11:49, 29 August 2023 (UTC).[reply]

Hello, there is a link to Template:FULLBASEPAGENAME in Template:Module rating. Please import the page en:Template:FULLBASEPAGENAME. Thank you, Korg (talk) 10:29, 30 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]

@Korg: Done. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 14:04, 30 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks! Korg (talk) 10:35, 31 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]

An IP user is repeating SD tag removal from this page, but I cannot recognize any intent related to Wikispecies and I think this page is out of the project scope. MathXplore (talk) 05:06, 3 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

 Done Recreated nonsense deleted and protected. —Justin (koavf)TCM 06:09, 3 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Vandalism user: 186.107.44.190

Can I leave this message here? LR0725 (talk) 18:54, 24 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Globally blocked, edits reverted. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 21:36, 24 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Block

Please block 72.135.248.71. Thanks, --Mtarch11 (talk) 03:28, 26 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

 Done Wow. —Justin (koavf)TCM 03:39, 26 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Block 2400:4052:2C80:4600:65F4:CE91:82B1:7768

This IP is spam. Thanks. Chqaz (talk) 00:44, 2 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]

 Done. Scott Thomson (Faendalimas) talk 02:22, 2 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Block

Please block 2400:4052:2C80:4600:19D5:3BB2:13C4:21CB/64: Long-term abuse. Thanks, --Mtarch11 (talk) 04:27, 6 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]

 Done Andyboorman (talk) 06:41, 6 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]
@Andyboorman: For information, there is the special page Special:Nuke to mass delete pages recently created by a user or IP address. Korg (talk) 06:51, 6 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]
@Korg: Thanks for the useful info. Andyboorman (talk) 07:02, 6 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Meta-Wiki user pages

Hello fellow administrators. FYI, there is currently an internal error in the MediaWiki server software that prevents user pages and user statistics to be shown via Meta-Wiki.
As an example, showing Global Account Information via Meta-Wiki doesn't work (meta:Special:CentralAuth/Tommy Kronkvist), while showing the same data here at Wikispecies works as expected (species:Special:CentralAuth/Tommy Kronkvist).

Hopefully this will be resolved soon. –Tommy Kronkvist (talk), 08:32, 17 October 2023 (UTC).[reply]

They look identical to me. —Justin (koavf)TCM 11:43, 17 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, the problem only remained for two hours or so. Here's one of the error messages I got at Meta-Wiki:
MediaWiki internal error.
Original exception: [521681ad-7c8f-4914-b27c-615a82492a75] 2023-10-17 08:28:59: Fatal exception of type "InvalidArgumentException"
Exception caught inside exception handler.
Set $wgShowExceptionDetails = true; at the bottom of LocalSettings.php to show detailed debugging information.
I retried a bunch of times, refreshing caches in between, but gave up after a while. As you said, it's running fine now though. Tommy Kronkvist (talk), 16:44, 17 October 2023 (UTC).[reply]

Please delete...

All edits by Special:Contributions/2604:3D08:9476:BE00:D893:23D3:605:80B8. They are not a native speaker of English language and have been blocked and reverted on meta, commons and wikidata because of bad translations (IP sock of 64.114 etc). Cheers, Achim55 (talk) 20:40, 15 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

 Done We don't need simple translations anyway. —Justin (koavf)TCM 20:49, 15 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Now blocked here as well (for a duration of one week). –Tommy Kronkvist (talk), 08:19, 16 November 2023 (UTC).[reply]

They're back: Special:Contributions/2604:3D08:9476:BE00:1D6F:3402:2026:C95A. Korg (talk) 00:58, 17 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Both are now blocked. Please delete all of their new edits as well. –Tommy Kronkvist (talk)‚ 01:45, 17 November 2023 (UTC).[reply]
I blocked the /64 since there was also Special:Contributions/2604:3D08:9476:BE00:690A:57EB:30B8:D9 --DannyS712 (talk) 02:09, 17 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks both! Coincidentally, I've just come across this essay: en:User:TonyBallioni/Just block the /64. Korg (talk) 12:55, 17 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks DannyS712. I took the liberty to re-block /64 with a duration of two weeks rather than one, analogue to the other 2604:3D08:9476:BE00... blocks. –Tommy Kronkvist (talk), 19:17, 18 November 2023 (UTC).[reply]

─────── @DannyS712, Koavf, and Korg: Now we've got Special:Contributions/2804:431:C7DD:494E:88EA:208C:D0FB:23A7 as well. Edits reverted by @Ameisenigel and IP blocked by me. –Tommy Kronkvist (talk), 21:19, 19 November 2023 (UTC).[reply]

In fact, they're not the same IP user. According to the above comment by Achim55, 2604:3D08... is an IP sock of 64.114 etc that has been blocked from the namespace Translations on Meta. They come from Canada.
The one you're talking about, with an IP address starting with 2804:431..., comes from Brazil. They have inserted mostly false information to the Formicoidea/Formicidae pages since about two weeks, but also before in January 2022: [1], [2]. They also made some acceptable edits: [3], [4], [5]. Korg (talk) 12:53, 21 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you Korg. I've blocked IP 179.113.112.193 and 177.188.170.6 which are both from Brazil, and seems related to 2804:431... when comparing their edits. Please have a look at User talk:179.113.112.193 and User talk:177.188.170.6 for examples.
Tommy Kronkvist (talk), 21:56, 21 November 2023 (UTC).[reply]
I've recently also blocked 2804:431:C7DD:494E:745F:E007:801B:9B5D (Brazil). –Tommy Kronkvist (talk), 00:06, 22 November 2023 (UTC).[reply]
I sent an email to the admin email address. Block all of these Brazilian ones. Cheers Scott Thomson (Faendalimas) talk 05:46, 22 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Just blocked Special:Contributions/2605:8D80:403:93F2:D0A5:6EB7:4E20:6E10 and Special:Contributions/2605:8D80:405:CAE0:79F4:DC2E:6B1D:504 - since this seems to be ongoing I've borrowed what another admin did on mediawiki.org (mw:Special:Diff/6211958) and blocked all non-autoconfirmed edits to simple translations - see Special:Diff/9436671. If another admin wants to replace this (eg with an abuse filter) no need to run it by me first but I'd suggest noting your action here for visibility --DannyS712 (talk) 08:40, 26 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

────────── @DannyS712, Justin, Korg, and Scott: Do you guys know whether Special:Contributions/2804:431:C7DC:F9AE:60AC:907C:C52A:7114 is related to the above? As of now all of their 3 edits are related to entomology, but I haven't got enough information to decide whether the edits are valid/correct or not. Looks suspicious though, with edit summaries such as "I prefer Endopterygota over Holometanbola". –Tommy Kronkvist (talk), 15:32, 9 December 2023 (UTC).[reply]

I do not. Sorry. :/ —Justin (koavf)TCM 15:34, 9 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]
@Tommy Kronkvist @Koavf I don't think it's vandalism, but as far as I've been hearing the current consensus is to call the group Holometabola (I could be wrong), which is why I renamed Endopterygota to Holometabola not only here but on English Wikipedia and Commons. What they personally prefer doesn't really matter IMO. That said, they didn't include anything in the Endopterygota page except for the taxonomy (name, references, etc are missing), and now Eumetabola has both of Endopterygota and Holometabola listed... Monster Iestyn (talk) 15:45, 9 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]
I've reverted their edits anyway, Google Scholar search with a custom date range starting 2013 (ten years ago) gives twice as many results for Holometabola than Endopterygota. Monster Iestyn (talk) 16:29, 9 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Edit filter to block simple translations

Per a similar thread on m: and outreach:, I ported over an edit filter that stops translations from certain language codes, including simple. Do you want me to add that same warning and block here? The one from Outreach blocks 'simple', 'es-419', 'en-gb', and 'en-ca'. The one at Meta also blocks simple and traditional Chinese characters. —Justin (koavf)TCM 15:37, 9 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, please do. –Tommy Kronkvist (talk), 15:58, 9 December 2023 (UTC).[reply]
 Done MediaWiki:Abusefilter-warning-unnecessary-translation and Special:AbuseFilter/6. —Justin (koavf)TCM 16:02, 9 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Page undelete request

Hello, could an admin undelete the page Palaeodictyopterida please? Stho002 deleted this page back in 2014, without giving a reason why that I'm aware of, while making other drastic unexplained changes to higher taxonomy of insects at the time so it appears. In the present day I think this taxon is still in use, but usually with a different spelling (Palaeodictyopteroidea), so I think it might be useful for us to restore it. Monster Iestyn (talk) 04:35, 17 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

@Monster Iestyn: Ok I have undeleted the page please examine if it can be salvaged as is maybe moved to another spelling etc let me know if we need to just re-delete it. Cheers Scott Thomson (Faendalimas) talk 04:52, 17 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Requested edit to MediaWiki:Common.js

Per this discussion, please edit MediaWiki:Common.js and remove the code about external search options, from line 266 to line 415, as it is no longer functional. Thank you. Korg (talk) 20:18, 21 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

 DoneJustin (koavf)TCM 06:54, 22 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

This seems to be xwiki spam and open proxy, the IP is already blocked at several projects. MathXplore (talk) 06:10, 22 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

 Done Merci, amigo. —Justin (koavf)TCM 06:52, 22 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Historic sources templates

Hi fellow Admins. I come at this mostly from plants, but it may have a wider perspective. Whilst going through and updating the Curcuma taxon pages, I notice that a number of reference templates had been created for valuable historic sources. The Species Plantarum family {{LSP}} series and online links such as; PWO, GRIN, IPNI, MBG are well established, but have a look at Curcuma ferruginea and others where I have templated their existing citations. Most of these I started by trying to create from fresh before realising they already existed. It strikes me that there could be a need for a repository of these useful templates. This could be added to our Special Pages collection. Any thoughts? Andyboorman (talk) 10:40, 17 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

These reference templates are categorized in Category:Reference templates, which is a huge category with about 120.000 items. They should also be mentioned in the author's pages, where I usually look for them. Do you think an additional categorization by decade or by year would be helpful? --Thiotrix (talk) 11:23, 17 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for the info. I am thinking how we can make it easier for relatively new editors but am struggling to come up with a plan. Decade could help narrower the search quickly. Thanks again. Andyboorman (talk) 13:09, 17 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]
For example, Curcuma yunnanensis N.Liu & S.J.Chen, Guihaia 7: 16. (1987). If the reference template existed it would be very difficult to find in the existing 120000 + list. Liu is such a common Chinese name. It is quicker to try Template:Liu & Chen, 1987 and hope. However, this is where there is a problem for less experience editors. Mind you trying to find the protologue online is unlikely for this taxon. Andyboorman (talk) 13:22, 17 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]
I now realise that Category:Reference templates only contains pages where the first author has an author page! Andyboorman (talk) 15:26, 17 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]
The publication can be found here: PDF.
We could add a search box (input box), like the one at the top right of this page. I'm not sure if it can use Special:PrefixIndex (example: Special:PrefixIndex/Template:Liu &).
Also, we could have a larger table of contents, like the one in en:Category:Botanists with author abbreviations. I would suggest importing en:Template:CatAutoTOC, en:Template:Large category TOC and the related modules. Korg (talk) 14:03, 17 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Reference templates should be added to the Category:Reference templates by using the "subst.reftemp" string of the edit tools, regardless of any author having an author page. --Thiotrix (talk) 16:08, 17 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]
@Andyboorman Re: "I now realise that Category:Reference templates only contains pages where the first author has an author page!"
Actually from my experience this is not true at all. Many Zootaxa templates and other templates created by Stho002 many years ago still do not link any authors, and for the majority of those the authors actually should be linked in them. There are also some created more recently that don't link the first author (or don't link any of them at all) because they are not taxon authors. Monster Iestyn (talk) 14:44, 18 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

A dedicated Search Box for Category:Reference templates would be very useful. Andyboorman (talk) 09:31, 18 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

 Done-ish. So, the hack I did was really cheap and simple and it searches all templates. Since most are reference templates, it more-or-less works, but it will get some false positives. :/ Let me know if you need it more accurate. Wait--debugging.Fixed.Justin (koavf)TCM 09:34, 18 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]
 Done??? Wow, I think I actually did it correctly. @Andyboorman:. —Justin (koavf)TCM 09:50, 18 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Works a treat, thanks Andyboorman (talk) 12:10, 18 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

177.44.228.166

Please block and delete: Special:Contributions/177.44.228.166. --NGC 54 (talk | contribs) 18:28, 7 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]

 Done Again. :/ —Justin (koavf)TCM 18:30, 7 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks, @Justin. Due to cross-wiki abuse this IP was globally blocked for one day in August by @Tegel, a Steward at Meta-Wiki. They are presently blocked on a total of ten Wikimedia wikis; see for example Stalk toy: target=177.44.228.166.
–Regards, Tommy Kronkvist (talk), 03:48, 8 December 2023 (UTC).[reply]

The above discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this archive.