Ixtal
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Guild of Copy Editors – June 2026 Newsletter
editGuild of Copy Editors June 2026 Newsletter
  Hello and welcome to the June 2026 newsletter, a quarterly-ish digest of Guild activities since April. Election news: Nominations for the mid-year coordinator election ends at 23:59 on 15 June. Voting will last from 00:00 on 16 June to 23:59 on 30 June. Results will be announced on the election page. April Blitz: 18 of the 21 editors who signed up for the April 2026 Copy Editing Blitz copy edited 122,993 words in 56 articles. Barnstars awarded are here. May Drive: 34 of the 66 editors who signed up for the May 2026 Backlog Elimination Drive copy edited 543,972 words in 211 articles. Barnstars awarded are here. June Blitz: Our June 2026 Copy Editing Blitz will start on 14 June and finish on 30 June. Barnstars awarded will be posted here. Progress report: As of 22:40, 11 June 2025 (UTC), GOCE copyeditors have completed 132 requests since 1 January, and the backlog stands at 1,691 articles. Thank you all again for your participation; we wouldn't be able to achieve what we have without you! Cheers from your GOCE coordinators. To discontinue receiving GOCE newsletters, please remove your name from our mailing list.
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The DCWC is back!
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Hey Ixtal, the Developing Countries WikiContest is back for a third year, and sign-ups are now open! The contest will run from 1 July to 30 September, and the objective remains the same: improve as many articles relating to developing countries as you can to help fight systemic bias on Wikipedia.
Thanks to everyone who answered the call for coordinators, and please welcome the new faces on the coordinator team: the 2024 Gold Belt Buckle winner Generalissima (talk · contribs); and the record-holder for most India-related submissions in 2024, Magentic Manifestations (talk · contribs)! Following feedback from last year, adjustments have been made to the scoring rules; discussion can be found on the contest talk page.
If you have any questions, please leave a message on the contest talk page or contact one of the coordinators: Arconning (talk · contribs), Generalissima (talk · contribs), Magentic Manifestations (talk · contribs), sawyer777 (talk · contribs), or TechnoSquirrel69 (talk · contribs). (To unsubscribe from these updates, remove yourself from this list. Sent via MediaWiki message delivery.) —TechnoSquirrel69 (talk) 16:00, 20 June 2026 (UTC)
Arb Motion Question for SilverLocust
editHi, SilverLocust! I saw that you closed this motion. Since the latter part (from what I gather) seems to affect the remedy Arbcom enacted regarding my conduct in the WP:ARBSCE case, I thought I'd ask and get some more clarity on what exactly this changes for me. The community notes section devolved into squabbling that means it is probably a bad idea to ask in that page since it might be seen by editors I have had disagreements with over the aforementioned case as an attempt to reignite our dispute and I'd rather avoid any unnecessary drama over a long-past issue. I'm asking in my talk page and not yours since this might be useful and easier to find if my behavior is being reviewed in the future, hope that's fine. ScottishFinnishRadish, as a current arb who was an involved party in that arb case, if SL's busy, I'd appreciate you clarifying in his's stead. — ♠ Ixtal ( T / C ) ⁂ Non nobis solum ♠ 20:00, 20 June 2026 (UTC)
- Before the motions, there was a requirement in the contentious topics procedure that administrators should only impose editor restrictions if the editor was considered "aware" (WP:AWARE) of the contentious topic designation while engaging in some misconduct about the topic. Afterwards, "awareness" is no longer a requirement, but now instead, when responding to misconduct within a contentious topic,
An administrator should warn an editor whose behavior is not egregiously disruptive if the administrator believes the editor does not understand what editing in a contentious topic means. Otherwise, the administrator should issue an appropriate restriction.
If an editor does not improve their behavior after a warning, administrators should normally impose editor restrictions rather than give additional warnings.
- That is the general rule for all editors. To conform with that change, we amended any particular remedies in cases which referred to the old "awareness" provision. In WP:ARBSCE you were given a "reminder" (a mild warning) to remain collegial, and a reminder about the BLP contentious topic designation. So given the new procedures, since you've received those reminders, if in the future you were to fail to remain collegial while editing about or discussing a BLP, then applying the general rule would mean normally "the administrator should issue an appropriate restriction" (for example, a temporary ban from editing about BLPs or some particular BLP, or from interacting with some editor).
- The specific change for ARBSCE, made to conform to that general rule, was removing Editors named in this decision shall be considered aware of these discretionary sanctions under awareness criterion 1. and replacing it with
Administrators should give serious consideration to issuing contentious topic restrictions to editors named in this decision in the event of further misconduct.
That was meant to have much the same effect as the general change applicable to all editors. ~ Jenson (SilverLocust 💬) 07:37, 21 June 2026 (UTC)- Thanks for the clarification, SilverLocust. I feel like I understand the context and change much better now. Hope you have a nice rest of the weekend ^u^ — ♠ Ixtal ( T / C ) ⁂ Non nobis solum ♠ 08:58, 21 June 2026 (UTC)
The Signpost: 21 June 2026
edit- From the editors: Ways for beginners to support The Signpost community journalism
Pointing the way to your contribution to The Signpost!
- News and notes: Community Tech development team disbanded
And English Wikipedia reaches a milestone in number of highly active editors.
- Disinformation report: PR for the people?
Or, "PR using PR for PR"?
- Recent research: Proposed tagging system for AI involvement; successful and unsuccessful AI tools for contributors
And other new research publications.
- In the media: Who won a 14th century battle and who won the 2026 Iran war?
Media take issue with portrayals of recent and medieval history on Wikipedia. Plus a team supporting Wikipedians gets dissolved, and a few other things.
- Community view: Putting the Wish into the Wishlist
A history of the Wikimedia community's request process to Foundation developers.
- In focus: A global standard for Neutral Point of View
Wikipedians are commenting on a proposed global standard for neutral point of view.
- On the bright side: Flowers, blue helmets, reefs, pride, and Juneteenth
Nice things around the world.
- Op-ed: Breathe, Don’t Panic, there is a different story about Wikimedia + AI futures
We can build a strategy about AI that doesn't just center on readers; there are still plenty of humans to write the encyclopedia and work on diverse global knowledge.
- Opinion: Wikimedia Foundation staff develop union and Wikimedia user community reacts
Why should editors support the Wiki Workers United union drive? Lessons the Wikimedia movement can learn from other labor struggles.
- Technology report: Community Tech team is disbanded, controversy erupts
WMF disbands Community Tech, sparking community backlash over the future of the Wishlist and concerns about unionization.
- Traffic report: 'Cause this is thriller, thriller night
Horror movies and Michael Jackson dominate theaters in the lead-up to the World Cup.
- WikiConference report: Report of Volunteer Supporters Network Annual Meeting 2026
Outreach staff of Wikimedia chapters host a global discussion.
- Comix: Take your turn
In a maze of twisty little edits, all alike.
- Humour: Group of banned T-shirt makers comes out of hiding to sell new Wikipedia-themed merchandise
It ain't WikiProject United Nations, but you will find some PUNs.
Wikimedia Apps Newsletter – Second Quarter of 2026
editHello, and welcome to the second Wikimedia Apps newsletter of 2026!
In this edition, we’ll walk you through the main updates, launches, experiments, and improvements in the Wikipedia mobile apps during March, April,May, and June.
Liquid Glass migration
editA major focus this quarter was the transition to Apple’s new Liquid Glass design system.
The team completed extensive design, infrastructure, and implementation work, culminating in the release of Wikipedia iOS 8.0.0 with Liquid Glass support. This represented one of the largest visual updates to the app in recent years and required coordinated work across navigation, interface components, theming, and platform-specific behaviors.
The Apps team plans continued modernization of the app’s design system and navigation patterns.
Following the successful rollout of the Activity Tab earlier this year, the team continued refining the experience based on user feedback.
One recurring theme was confusion around the relocation of reading history. Some users believed history had been removed or required an account to access.
To address this:
- Additional guidance was added explaining that History is now available within Search.
- Search from article view was updated to provide easier access to reading history.
- Ongoing improvements were made to onboarding and user education.
Development continued on the new "Which Came First?" daily trivia game.
The game became available on 11 June 2026.
Other iOS improvements
editAdditional work this quarter included:
- hCaptcha instrumentation and rollout preparation.
- Explore Feed Refresh design and infrastructure work.
- Performance improvements and stability updates.
- Resolution of numerous bugs affecting search, reading lists, login flows, article viewing, donations, widgets, and accessibility.
The Android team continued work on Hybrid Search, combining traditional keyword search with semantic search capabilities.
The experiment expanded to English, French, Portuguese, and Greek Wikipedias and completed its first MVP phase.
Results
edit- Increased search engagement.
- Stable retention.
- Strong signals supporting continued investment in semantic search experiences.
The experiment also generated valuable datasets and user insights that will guide future development.
Learnings
editOne key learning was that users need clearer explanations of how hybrid search works. Existing onboarding and provenance indicators were not sufficient at larger scale.
Android introduced a new Games Hub, providing a centralized location for games and interactive experiences within the app.
The hub lays the groundwork for future expansion of game-based engagement features, including the upcoming trivia experience.
Cross-platform
editOne of the largest initiatives this quarter was the rollout of Phase 1 of the Explore Feed Refresh on Android.
The redesign introduces a new Home experience built around two primary feeds.
Community Feed
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The Community Feed highlights curated Wikipedia and Wikimedia content, including:
- Featured Article
- Top Read
- In the News
- On This Day
- Picture of the Day
For You feed
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The For You feed introduces personalized content through:
- Article recommendations based on selected interests.
- Because You Read recommendations.
- Continue Reading suggestions.
Additional improvements
editAdditional work included:
- New onboarding flows.
- Feed preference selection.
- Redesigned settings.
- Re-onboarding for existing users.
- Improved feed controls and personalization transparency.
The redesign was released through a holdout experiment, enabling the team to measure its impact while continuing iterative improvements.
Early learnings
edit- Users respond positively to structured onboarding.
- Topic selection can help personalize discovery experiences.
- Recommendation quality remains a critical factor for user trust and satisfaction.
The Explore Feed Refresh was then released to 50% of app users before being fully released to all users starting on 15 June 2026.
The refreshed experience is planned to launch in the Wikipedia iOS app during July 2026.
This quarter we launched the Wikipedia 25th Birthday Reading Challenge across Android and iOS.
The challenge included:
- Challenge enrollment experiences.
- Daily reading goals.
- Reading streak tracking.
- Challenge completion flows.
- Home screen widgets.
- App Store and Play Store promotional events.
- CentralNotice promotion.
- Instrumentation and analytics support.
- Translation support across target languages.
Following launch, the team implemented several improvements based on early feedback and usage patterns, while resolving onboarding and widget-related issues.
Early results showed encouraging participation, increased account creation, positive community reception, and opportunities for continued iteration.
Following the conclusion of the 2025 Year in Review experience, both teams completed a comprehensive analysis of the feature.
Key findings
edit- Both apps achieved an 86% return rate.
- Account creation increased significantly year over year.
- Approximately half of all new accounts during the campaign period were created through Year in Review.
- User satisfaction exceeded targets, with over 95% of surveyed users reporting neutral or positive experiences.
- Donations increased substantially, particularly among users exposed to personalized experiences.
Learnings
edit- Personalization significantly improves engagement.
- Logged-out users benefit from receiving limited personalized experiences.
- Account-gated personalization remains a strong driver of account creation.
- Users continue to request richer insights, improved sharing capabilities, and cross-platform statistics.
The findings will help shape future iterations of Year in Review and other personalized experiences within the apps.
Looking ahead
editThis quarter focused on launching major experiences while laying the groundwork for future growth.
The rollout of the Explore Feed Refresh, launch of the Reading Challenge, continued investment in Hybrid Search, and preparation for new games all reflect the team's broader focus on helping users discover, engage with, and contribute to knowledge in new ways.
We're excited to continue iterating on these experiences and look forward to sharing more updates in the next edition of the newsletter.
Thank you for reading!
WikiCup 2026 July newsletter
editThe third round of the 2026 WikiCup ended on 28 June at 23:59 (UTC). As a reminder, good article nomination reviews now receive 10 points, while peer reviews, which continue to be worth 5 points, are now listed in the same section as featured article candidate reviews, rather than with good article reviews. Everyone who competed in round 3 will advance to round 4 unless they have withdrawn or been banned. No other changes to the round-point system have been made for this year.
Round 3 was competitive. Three contestants scored more than 1,000 round points; eight scored over 500; and thirteen scored over 300. The top three contestants had at least one featured article (two of them with two apiece). The following competitors scored more than 800 round points:
MCE89 (submissions) with 1567 points, mainly from good and featured articles about Australian people and geography, as well as some article reviews
Bgsu98 (submissions) with 1547 points, mainly from good articles, featured articles, featured lists, and a good topic about figure skating, along with 20 article reviews
Reconrabbit (submissions) with 1004 points, mainly from a high-multiplier featured article on European rabbit and several good articles, DYKs, and reviews
A.Cython (submissions) with 1004 points, mainly from good articles about warfare, along with 22 article reviews
Generalissima (submissions) with 859 points, mainly from good and featured articles about rivers and East Asian topics
The full scores for round 3 can be seen here. During this round, contestants have claimed 12 featured articles, 12 featured lists, 7 featured-topic articles, 117 good articles, 74 good-topic articles and more than 30 Did You Know articles. In addition, competitors have worked on 13 In the News articles, and they have conducted nearly 180 reviews. The tournament points table has been updated.
Remember that any content promoted after 28 June but before the start of Round 4 can be claimed in Round 4. Invitations for collaborative writing efforts or any other discussion of potentially interesting work is always welcome on the WikiCup talk page. Remember, if two or more WikiCup competitors have done significant work on an article, all can claim points. If you are concerned that your nomination—whether it is at good article candidates, a featured process, or anywhere else—will not receive the necessary reviews, please list it on Wikipedia:WikiCup/Reviews Needed. If you want to help out with the WikiCup, feel free to review one of the nominations listed on Wikipedia:WikiCup/Reviews Needed. Questions are welcome on Wikipedia talk:WikiCup, and the judges are reachable on their talk pages. Good luck! If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove your name from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 13:49, 29 June 2026 (UTC)
The DCWC is open!
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Hey Ixtal, the third annual Developing Countries WikiContest is now open for submissions. The coordinators have addressed some of the queries at the last contest and we are hopeful that it'll turn out great! If you haven't done so already, please review the following:
- New to Wikipedia? Many experienced editors are part of this contest and willing to help; feel free to ask questions on the talk page.
- Got open nominations? List them at the review requests sidebar.
- Looking for a topic to work on? Check out suggested articles and eligible reviews.
- Not sure if your article qualifies? See the scoring rules for more information or contact a coordinator.
- Know someone else who might be interested? Sign-ups remain open throughout the contest, so don't hesitate to invite other editors!
On behalf of the coordinators, we hope you enjoy participating and wish you the best of luck! If you have any questions, please leave a message on the contest talk page or ask one of the coordinators: Arconning (talk · contribs), Generalissima (talk · contribs), Magentic Manifestations (talk · contribs), sawyer777 (talk · contribs), or TechnoSquirrel69 (talk · contribs). (To unsubscribe from these updates, remove yourself from this list. Sent via MediaWiki message delivery.) —TechnoSquirrel69 (talk) 00:00, 1 July 2026 (UTC)
Administrators' newsletter – July 2026
editNews and updates for administrators from the past month (June 2026).
Administrator changes
CheckUser changes
Oversight changes
Guideline and policy news
- A request for comment asks whether the criteria for autoconfirmed and extended confirmed should be modified.
- A request for comment proposes an addendum for the Real name section of the Username policy.
Technical news
- The special page Special:RangeCalculator has been created for any users to use to find an IP range. (phab:T268429)
- The "indefinitely" button in Special:Block for temporary accounts can be replaced with a preferred block duration stated on MediaWiki:ipb-indefinite-expiry-temporary-account. (phab:T427125)
Arbitration
- Following a series of motions, changes to the contentious topics procedure to restructure awareness have been implemented.
- The arbitration case Michael Jackson has been closed.
Miscellaneous
- The 2026 Developing Countries WikiContest will run from 1 July to 30 September. Sign up now!
- 10 candidates have been appointed to the U4C.
You're invited to the Mentorship noticeboard
editHi, Ixtal. You are cordially invited to the brand new Wikipedia:Mentorship noticeboard. I get the impression sometimes that we mentors are each toiling in our own cubbyhole or hamster wheel, quietly answering mentee questions with little to no interaction with other mentors. I think we have a lot to share and learn from each other, and I know it will make me feel better just having the opportunity to interact with you and other mentors there, and I hope it will for you, too. Looking forward to hearing your feedback. Please take the § Survey when you get there! Mathglot (talk) 00:52, 5 July 2026 (UTC)