User talk:Quetzal1964/Archive 1

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Welcome

Welcome!

Hello, Quetzal1964, and welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are some pages that you might find helpful:

• The five pillars of Wikipedia
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I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! Please sign your messages on discussion pages using four tildes (~~~~); this will automatically insert your username and the date. If you need help, check out Wikipedia:Questions, ask me on my talk page, or ask your question on this page and then place {{help me}} before the question. Again, welcome! Jimfbleak - talk to me? 16:21, 22 January 2012 (UTC)

Hi, thanks for your octopus article. I've tweaked it a bit, you might want to look at Eledone moschata to see if there is anything more you can do to improve your article. In-line references are good, but not compulsory. Jimfbleak - talk to me? 16:24, 22 January 2012 (UTC)

Jim

Thanks for all your help with the Curled Octopus article. I saw in the NBN Gateway that Curled Octopus was the commonest Octopus in Scottish waters and was surprised that there was no wikipedia article on this species. I then decided to add my own, although my knowledge of Octopii is limited. I have added some new information today.

DavidQuetzal1964 (talk) 20:46, 23 January 2012 (UTC)

Thanks, I know nothing about cephalopods, but I've been around a long time, so I can do the formatting and such-like. I've move one of your refs in-line, you might want to do the same with the others. Try to vary your wording a bit more from the original texts, I know it's not intended, but too-close paraphrasing risks copyright infringement. Jimfbleak - talk to me? 07:24, 24 January 2012 (UTC)

I was speaking to a colleague today whose brother is a lobster and crab fisherman in Fife and in his experience this species is a significant pain, he hardly ever sees them as they exit the creels before they are raised but when they eat three lobsters from a single creel that's a big loss. I can't think of anyway of including that anectdotal information in the article but I found some science to back it up.

Wasps

Hello Quetzal1964, I noticed your new articles pop up in the "new pages" list lately and just wanted to say: keep up the good work! You are doing a great job. Glad to see someone else working on insect articles. Ruigeroeland (talk) 09:18, 23 March 2012 (UTC)

Thanks, enjoying this so will continue.Quetzal1964 18:38, 27 March 2012 (UTC)

Dipogon (Plant)

This is an automated message from MadmanBot. I have performed a search with the contents of Dipogon (Plant), and it appears to be very similar to another Wikipedia page: Dipogon. It is possible that you have accidentally duplicated contents, or made an error while creating the page— you might want to look at the pages and see if that is the case. If you are intentionally trying to rename an article, please see Help:Moving a page for instructions on how to do this without copying and pasting. If you are trying to move or copy content from one article to a different one, please see Wikipedia:Copying within Wikipedia and be sure you have acknowledged the duplication of material in an edit summary to preserve attribution history.

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Cryptocheilus bicolor ... spooky

When I tried to ID this morning's photo, the species page didn't exist, but when I came back this evening, you'd created it! Thanks. --99of9 (talk) 12:40, 1 April 2012 (UTC)

Dipogon

Hi, and thank you for your contributions to Wikipedia. It appears that you recently tried to give Dipogon a different title by copying its content and pasting either the same content, or an edited version of it, into Talk:Dipogon (plant). This is known as a "cut and paste move", and it is undesirable because it splits the page history, which is needed for attribution and various other purposes. Instead, the software used by Wikipedia has a feature that allows pages to be moved to a new title together with their edit history.

In most cases, once your account is four days old and has ten edits, you should be able to move an article yourself using the "Move" tab at the top of the page. This both preserves the page history intact and automatically creates a redirect from the old title to the new. If you cannot perform a particular page move yourself this way (e.g. because a page already exists at the target title), please follow the instructions at requested moves to have it moved by someone else. Also, if there are any other pages that you moved by copying and pasting, even if it was a long time ago, please list them at Wikipedia:Cut and paste move repair holding pen. Thank you. --CharlieDelta (talk) 19:33, 3 April 2012 (UTC)

Science lovers wanted!

Science lovers wanted!

Hi! I'm serving as the wikipedian-in-residence at the Smithsonian Institution Archives until June! One of my goals as resident, is to work with Wikipedians and staff to improve content on Wikipedia about people who have collections held in the Archives - most of these are scientists who held roles within the Smithsonian and/or federal government. I thought you might like to participate since you are interested in the sciences! Sign up to participate here and dive into articles needing expansion and creation on our to-do list. Feel free to make a request for images or materials at the request page, and of course, if you share your successes at the outcomes page you will receive the SIA barnstar! Thanks for your interest, and I look forward to your participation! Sarah (talk) 18:32, 16 April 2012 (UTC)

SIA project!

Hey David! So happy that you came by the Smithsonian Institution Archives project and signed up to participate! We've got a great list of subjects that need to be improved upon or written about. I do hope you'll visit the to-do list and dive in - do let me know if you need anything. And of course, your contributions can earn you the official oh so fancy SIA barnstar :) Thanks again! So happy to have you on board! SarahStierch (talk) 23:09, 19 April 2012 (UTC)

Priocnemis coriacea

Hello, Quetzal1964, and thank you for your contributions!

An article you worked on Priocnemis coriacea, appears to be directly copied from http://www.bwars.com/index.php?q=wasp/pompilidae/pepsinae/priocnemis-coriacea. Please take a minute to make sure that the text is freely licensed and properly attributed as a reference, otherwise the article may be deleted.

It's entirely possible that this bot made a mistake, so please feel free to remove this notice and the tag it placed on Priocnemis coriacea if necessary. CorenSearchBot (talk) 09:16, 29 July 2012 (UTC)

Wikipedian in Residence at the National Library of Scotland

I'm just dropping you a quick note about a new Wikipedian in Residence job that's opened up at the National Library of Scotland. There're more details at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Scotland#Wikimedian in Residence at the National Library of Scotland. Richard Symonds (WMUK) (talk) 15:03, 22 April 2013 (UTC)

October 2013

Hello, I'm BracketBot. I have automatically detected that your edit to Beaudouin's Snake Eagle may have broken the syntax by modifying 3 "[]"s. If you have, don't worry: just edit the page again to fix it. If I misunderstood what happened, or if you have any questions, you can leave a message on my operator's talk page.

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• In a narrow band from [[Guinea-Bissau]], [Senegal]] and [[Gambia]] through southern [[Mali]] and [[Burkina Faso]], northern [[Nigeria]] and [[Cameroon]
• ]]<ref>BirdLife International (2013) Species factsheet: Circaetus beaudouini. Downloaded from http://

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Your submission at Articles for creation: Sphyraena sphyraena has been accepted

Sphyraena sphyraena, which you submitted to Articles for creation, has been created.

You are more than welcome to continue making quality contributions to Wikipedia. Note that because you are a logged-in user, you can create articles yourself, and don't have to post a request. However, you may continue submitting work to Articles for Creation if you prefer.

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Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 13:38, 6 April 2015 (UTC)

Given the quality of this article I believe it is no longer necessary for you to submit your drafts to the Articles for Creation process, you could rather move them directly into mainspace when they are ready. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 13:43, 6 April 2015 (UTC)

Scottish Fairground Culture Editathon, May 2015

Hey there! As a Wikipedian in Scotland I thought you might be interested in the Scottish Fairground Culture editathon taking place on 7 May at the Riverside Museum - drop me a line if you'd like to know more, or if you'd be interested in taking part remotely! Lirazelf (talk) 12:15, 8 April 2015 (UTC)

Oh dear, linkfail! Here's the correct one... Scottish Fairground Culture Editathon Lirazelf (talk) 09:55, 14 April 2015 (UTC)

A page you started (Delta dimidiatipenne) has been reviewed!

Thanks for creating Delta dimidiatipenne, Quetzal1964!

Wikipedia editor Animalparty just reviewed your page, and wrote this note for you:

Note that images in {{taxobox}} should be entered in the format Filename.jpg, not in thumbnail markup or Image:Filname.jpg. This assures the image fills the entire space, and it looks nicer too.

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ArbCom elections are now open!

Hi,
You appear to be eligible to vote in the current Arbitration Committee election. The Arbitration Committee is the panel of editors responsible for conducting the Wikipedia arbitration process. It has the authority to enact binding solutions for disputes between editors, primarily related to serious behavioural issues that the community has been unable to resolve. This includes the ability to impose site bans, topic bans, editing restrictions, and other measures needed to maintain our editing environment. The arbitration policy describes the Committee's roles and responsibilities in greater detail. If you wish to participate, you are welcome to review the candidates' statements and submit your choices on the voting page. For the Election committee, MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 16:53, 24 November 2015 (UTC)

A page you started (Niklas Westring) has been reviewed!

Thanks for creating Niklas Westring, Quetzal1964!

Wikipedia editor Animalparty just reviewed your page, and wrote this note for you:

Note that we should NEVER use other Wikipedia articles, in any language, as a reference, per WP:CIRCULAR. Otherwise we risk perpetuating unverifiable information, or outright falsehoods. Cheers.

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Spider articles

Nice article on Xerolycosa nemoralis. We need more spider editors, so keep going! Just to point out that as per WP:SECONDARY, where possible we should use secondary sources, especially for taxonomic matters, so authorities and synonyms are best referenced to the World Spider Catalog, which is the accepted international source of spider taxonomy. The project page, WP:SPIDERS, has links to useful information, although the project is not very active at present. Peter coxhead (talk) 09:14, 28 August 2016 (UTC)

Taxonomy templates

Hi, in taxonomy templates (i.e. "Template:Taxonomy/..." pages), there's no formatting in the fields. Have a look at Template:Taxonomy/Trochosa as I fixed it. (It's also now used in the article Trochosa.) Ideally also include a reference to the World Spider Catalog both in the article and the template; see e.g. Template:Taxonomy/Gelanor. The automatic taxobox system is quite complicated; there's an introduction at Template:Automatic_taxobox/doc/intro, but I'm always happy to help or advise if you leave a note on my talk page. Peter coxhead (talk) 09:25, 3 September 2016 (UTC)

Nice article; synonyms from WSC

Nice start article at Cheiracanthium erraticum!

Unfortunately the World Spider Catalog does not directly list synonyms, as is explained at Wikipedia:WikiProject Spiders/Style guide#Synonyms (there really needs to be an index to the project's information!). In this specific case:

• The line "Clubiona nutrix Hahn, 1831a: 7, f. 98 (mf, misidentified)" shows that this is not a synonym but a misidentification.
• The lines "Clubiona erratica Walckenaer, 1805: 43" and "Cheiracanthium erraticum Westring, 1861: 380" show that in 1805 Walckenaer transferred the species from his earlier Aranea to Clubiona and in 1861 Westring then transferred it to Cheiracanthium. In zoological nomenclature, when a species is moved from one genus to another retaining the second part of the binomen (the species name), the name and date of the original author is kept, placed in parentheses (see Author citation (zoology)). The mover is ignored (unlike botanical nomenclature). So the correct citations of these two names are "Clubiona erratica (Walckenaer, 1802)" and "Cheiracanthium erraticum (Walckenaer, 1802)". You can check the correctness of the second one from the entry for the species in the WSC.

Sometimes one of the other references will give a true synonym list with taxon authors and dates, but the WSC is usually more detailed, so is often the best source once it has been "decoded". Peter coxhead (talk) 09:55, 12 September 2016 (UTC)

Xysticus cristatus is another nice article, but the synonyms are still not right. Peter coxhead (talk) 08:59, 18 September 2016 (UTC)

A page you started (Dissosteira carolina) has been reviewed!

Thanks for creating Dissosteira carolina, Quetzal1964!

Wikipedia editor Animalparty just reviewed your page, and wrote this note for you:

Note that sources like ZipcodeZoo and BugGuide.net may be not reliable sources themselves, as the first primarily aggregates other databases (including Wikipedia: see WP:CIRCULAR), and the second is user generated.

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Another nice article

Nice start article on Allan Frost Archer! You can search the bibliography at the World Spider Catalog – see here. These could be added to the article, perhaps. Peter coxhead (talk) 19:17, 19 September 2016 (UTC)

A barnstar for you!

	The Original Barnstar
	Great work on Pepsis grossa. You are doing great work on building that article, and I would greatly encourage writing more content: we need more editors like you around the community. Sadads (talk) 03:01, 25 September 2016 (UTC)

Link in taxonomy template

Hi, when a genus article is not at the genus name, as for Zora which is at Zora (spider), the taxonomy template (in this case Template:Taxonomy/Zora) needs to be set up as it is now. The |link= field is given the (apparent) value actual article name|taxon name. (I won't try to explain here why it's only an "apparent" value). Unfortunately there are quite a few taxonomy templates around not correctly set up in this way to serve as bad examples! Peter coxhead (talk) 18:03, 27 September 2016 (UTC)

Invite to the African Destubathon

Hi. You may be interested in participating in the African Destubathon which starts on October 15. Africa currently has over 37,000 stubs and badly needs a quality improvement editathon/contest to flesh out basic stubs. There are proposed substantial prizes to give to editors who do the most geography, wildlife and women articles, and planned smaller prizes for doing to most destubs for each of the 55 African countries, so should be enjoyable! Even if contests aren't your thing we would be grateful if you could consider destubbing a few African wildlife articles during the drive to help the cause and help reduce the massive 37,000 + stub count, of which many are rated high importance. If you're interested in competing or just loosely contributing any article related to a topic you often work on, please add your name to the Contestants/participants section. Might be a good way to work on fleshing out articles you've long been meaning to target and get rewarded for it! Diversity of work from a lot of people will make this that bit more special. Thanks. --Ser Amantio di Nicolao^{Che dicono a Signa?}_{Lo dicono a Signa.} 04:57, 13 October 2016 (UTC)

A little early I'm afraid, it starts in just under 3 hrs time :-) You can add the articles done already to Wikipedia:WikiProject Africa/The 10,000 Challenge though, but the contest has to start on the 15th to make it a fair run!♦ Dr. Blofeld 20:14, 14 October 2016 (UTC)

Ah that explains why no one else seemed to be participating. Thanks, missed that point.Quetzal1964 20:19, 14 October 2016 (UTC)

Haha, yeah that's why! Can you make sure that all refs are filled out though, the Botswana entry had two sources in the middle which need publisher info, all the sourcing will have to be sound to be approved. Nice job other than that though! Just add the two or three you did to the challenge and then you can have a whole six weeks to do what you want in three hours time ;-). Best of luck and look forward to seeing more great articles coming in! If there's anybody else you might know who hasn't signed up and might be interested give them a bell too!♦ Dr. Blofeld 20:22, 14 October 2016 (UTC)

Can you remember to update the talk page project tag to start class too! I often forget that myself!♦ Dr. Blofeld 13:46, 15 October 2016 (UTC)

A barnstar for you!

	The Tireless Contributor Barnstar
	An impressive body of work today, excellent stuff! ♦ Dr. Blofeld 18:04, 15 October 2016 (UTC)

Africa Destubathon

Hi, thanks for your work so far! Can you do me a favour though and always add every entry you do to the main list here as well as the entries page, regardless if yet approved or not as that's the master list of all articles being done. It's just veyr time consuming for me to be judging the articles, trying to contribute myself and chasing up what people have done and filling it out for people each time. So if you can take care of that this would be a great help, there's some part filled out ones underneath so you just need to add country, article name and then you username. Thanks.♦ Dr. Blofeld 20:33, 16 October 2016 (UTC) Will do, you haven't included Edible Bullfrog under the total for Zambia on the leaderboard, I assume I am not supposed to edit that. Back at work now, so edits should slow down a bit! Quetzal1964 07:42, 17 October 2016 (UTC)

Can you remember to add entries to the main page list. Thanks.♦ Dr. Blofeld 19:51, 19 October 2016 (UTC) Thought I was, what did I miss? Quetzal1964 19:55, 19 October 2016 (UTC)

Congrats after one week you're currently leading the contest with 6 countries held.♦ Dr. Blofeld 17:27, 22 October 2016 (UTC)

Fraser's eagle-owl

I have removed some of the content you added to the above article, as it appears to have been copied from http://www.owlpages.com/owls/species.php?s=1300, a copyright web page. All content you add to Wikipedia must be written in your own words. Please let me know if you have any questions or if you think I made a mistake. — Diannaa 🍁 (talk) 21:45, 23 October 2016 (UTC) @Diannaa: I have rewritten it, actually most of the information on The Owl Pages has been taken from the book Owls by Konig, Weick and Becking which I own a copy of. I hope this version passes muster. Quetzal1964 06:03, 24 October 2016 (UTC)

Reference errors on 23 October

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Reference errors on 26 October

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DYK for Tetragnatha montana

On 27 October 2016, Did you know was updated with a fact from the article Tetragnatha montana, which you recently created, substantially expanded, or brought to good article status. The fact was ... that in a Polish study, the silver stretch spider ate an average of 3.7 mosquitoes per day in early June? The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Tetragnatha montana. You are welcome to check how many page hits the article got while on the front page (here's how, Tetragnatha montana), and it may be added to the statistics page if the total is over 5,000. Finally, if you know of an interesting fact from another recently created article, then please feel free to suggest it on the Did you know talk page.

— Maile (talk) 01:11, 27 October 2016 (UTC)

Reference errors on 4 November

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Reference errors on 6 November

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Reference errors on 8 November

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Merge proposal - "Acacia (Vachellia)" into "Vachellia"

Hi Quetzal1964. I see you have been doing work on vachellias, thought of letting you know about this merge proposal. It was tagged for merger, but the discussion was not created at the time, so it never happened. Perhaps you might want to look at it and act on the proposal. I merely created the merge discussion, but don't really know enough, especially with all the name changes (my father was a botanist, I still know things by the old names). Regards, Rui ''Gabriel'' Correia (talk) 00:40, 9 November 2016 (UTC)

Reference errors on 12 November

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Reference errors on 16 November

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ArbCom Elections 2016: Voting now open!

Hello, Quetzal1964. Voting in the 2016 Arbitration Committee elections is open from Monday, 00:00, 21 November through Sunday, 23:59, 4 December to all unblocked users who have registered an account before Wednesday, 00:00, 28 October 2016 and have made at least 150 mainspace edits before Sunday, 00:00, 1 November 2016.

The Arbitration Committee is the panel of editors responsible for conducting the Wikipedia arbitration process. It has the authority to impose binding solutions to disputes between editors, primarily for serious conduct disputes the community has been unable to resolve. This includes the authority to impose site bans, topic bans, editing restrictions, and other measures needed to maintain our editing environment. The arbitration policy describes the Committee's roles and responsibilities in greater detail.

If you wish to participate in the 2016 election, please review the candidates' statements and submit your choices on the voting page. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 22:08, 21 November 2016 (UTC)

Reference errors on 23 November

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African scops owl

Thanks for spotting the corrupted file. I've re-uploaded it and it looks OK in Commons, but still distorts on Wikipedia. Weird. Charlesjsharp (talk) 10:20, 25 November 2016 (UTC)
sorted now. cleared cache. Charles (born Dundee) Charlesjsharp (talk) 10:28, 25 November 2016 (UTC) ps we came close against Australia - again!

Reference errors on 27 November

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More about this is here.— Vchimpanzee • talk • contributions • 17:48, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

Prizes

Hi, as you did a lot of wildlife/geo articles I think you could claim enough articles to win some vouchers under "Most geography and wildlife articles destubbed" if you want them at here You could use them to buy a book on wildlife you want or whatever. Given how many you did I'd guess you'd finish near the top on that. ♦ Dr. Blofeld 10:53, 28 November 2016 (UTC) Dr. Blofeld Sorry I was at work today, claim now in and I count 210, not including the pre challenge ones. Quetzal1964 16:33, 28 November 2016 (UTC)

Africa Destubathon

Hello congratulations on winning first place in the Africa Destubathon. Please contact me at karla.marte@wikimedia.org.uk to coordinate sending the prize your way. Thanks, Karla Marte(WMUK) 12:16, 7 December 2016 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Karla Marte(WMUK) (talk • contribs)

Collect your prize

Hi, please carefully read the instructions at the bottom of Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Africa/The Africa Destubathon for collecting your remaining winnings. I will need you to send me an email, your wiki name, what I owe you and your preference for currency in dollars or pounds/country of residence.♦ Dr. Blofeld 14:42, 13 December 2016 (UTC)

Merry Christmas!

Redolta 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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Reference errors on 1 January

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DYK for Chelidonura fulvipunctata

On 23 January 2017, Did you know was updated with a fact from the article Chelidonura fulvipunctata, which you recently created, substantially expanded, or brought to good article status. The fact was ... that sea slug Chelidonura fulvipunctata is likely an anti-Lessepsian migrant? The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Chelidonura fulvipunctata. You are welcome to check how many page hits the article got while on the front page (here's how, Chelidonura fulvipunctata), and it may be added to the statistics page if the total is over 5,000. Finally, if you know of an interesting fact from another recently created article, then please feel free to suggest it on the Did you know talk page.

Cas Liber (talk · contribs) 00:01, 23 January 2017 (UTC)

Taxonbars for spiders

Could you please explain to me what you think is the point of adding {{Taxonbar}} to spider articles, such as Pardosa monticola for example.

• You haven't included the most important taxonomic database for spiders, the World Spider Catalog – this has to be added manually at present.
• Fauna Europaea's taxonomy is hopelessly out of date; the division of Araneae into three suborders, Araneomorphae, Labidognatha and Orthognatha, was abandoned years ago.
• ITIS says clearly that it got its data from an old version of the World Spider Catalog, so why include what is just a mirror site?
• GBIF also copies from the World Spider Catalog, as noted here.
• That leaves EoL, basically a lightly curated blog, no more reliable (and usually less so) than Wikipedia.
• The only one of the taxonomic databases that adds anything is GBIF.

So what's the point of cluttering spider articles in this way? Peter coxhead (talk) 09:04, 30 January 2017 (UTC)

Wikipedia:WikiProject Africa/The 10,000 Challenge

Hi, you're very welcome to contribute to this long term. It's slowed down since the Destubathon but we're nearly at 3000! More contests planned, though Europe may be the next destubathon.♦ Dr. Blofeld 11:05, 15 March 2017 (UTC)

@Dr. Blofeld:, Thanks, just added a couple. I have been having fun with a wee bit of a personal project on the List of Lessepsian migrants, mainly new articles but some destubbing and other editing. The articles involve Africa too as Lessepsian migrants have been found as far west as Algeria. Some of the facts are really interesting, especially where species which were previously unknown to science were described in the med but were found to be invaders from the Red Sea but I can't nominate my own articles for DYK. (talk) Quetzal1964 20:38, 16 March 2017 (UTC)

Excellent. Yes it's a pity that the African content production has decreased in recent months. Hopefully I can get a few contests running again though, they're definitely the best way to get content improved enmasse.♦ Dr. Blofeld 20:39, 16 March 2017 (UTC)

Thanks on behalf of Wikiproject Insects Hymenoptera task force!

Thanks for all your recent edits adding automatic taxoboxes to wasp pages! The taxonomy of many insect groups is often rewritten, and having automatic taxoboxes is a great way to deal with the changes to many pages at a higher level. I hope you continue to help shore up the many wasp pages! If you have any insights as to tasks that need to be done with Hymenoptera at large, consider visiting the task force page. Cheers! M. A. Broussard (talk) 23:05, 10 April 2017 (UTC)

Taxonomy template link parameter

Hi, the taxobox at Boulder chat should show the genus name, Pinarornis, in bold text and without a link – bold because the article is about the monotypic genus as well as the species, and unlinked because otherwise the link would be circular, just leading back to the article. When I first looked at the article, the line in the taxobox looked like this: "Genus: Pinarornis", whereas it should look like this: "Genus: Pinarornis".

To achieve this, |link= at Template:Taxonomy/Pinarornis must be given the value Boulder chat|Pinarornis. What happens then is that the code that sets up the taxobox starts off with a wikilink like [[Boulder chat|Pinarornis]], but the Wikimedia software recognizes that the article is called "Boulder chat" so this is a circular link, and replaces it by bolding.

The general point is that |link= must be set to have the actual article title as the first value, and not rely on a redirect, otherwise the taxobox formatting won't always be correct.

One more of these subtle points about automated taxoboxes! Peter coxhead (talk) 20:08, 11 April 2017 (UTC)

DYK for Myrtle Florence Broome

On 30 April 2017, Did you know was updated with a fact from the article Myrtle Florence Broome, which you recently created, substantially expanded, or brought to good article status. The fact was ... that Myrtle Florence Broome and the Canadian epigrapher Amice Calverley traveled together throughout Egypt taking trains and often driving across the desert in a Jowett car they named Joey? The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Myrtle Florence Broome. You are welcome to check how many page hits the article got while on the front page (here's how, Myrtle Florence Broome), and it may be added to the statistics page if the total is over 5,000. Finally, if you know of an interesting fact from another recently created article, then please feel free to suggest it on the Did you know talk page.

Mifter (talk) 01:41, 30 April 2017 (UTC)

Proposed deletion of Symmorphoides

Your prod rationale was "this genus has no species in it according to GBIF and insectoid.info". Does that make it non-notable? All the best, Miniapolis 17:20, 10 May 2017 (UTC)

@Miniapolis: See my comment on the talk page.

DYK for Jacobus van der Vecht

On 11 May 2017, Did you know was updated with a fact from the article Jacobus van der Vecht, which you recently created, substantially expanded, or brought to good article status. The fact was ... that a number of insect species were named in honour of Dutch entomologist Jacobus van der Vecht? The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Jacobus van der Vecht. You are welcome to check how many page hits the article got while on the front page (here's how, Jacobus van der Vecht), and it may be added to the statistics page if the total is over 5,000. Finally, if you know of an interesting fact from another recently created article, then please feel free to suggest it on the Did you know talk page.

Mifter (talk) 04:38, 11 May 2017 (UTC)

DYK nomination of Giovanni Gribodo

Hello! Your submission of Giovanni Gribodo at the Did You Know nominations page has been reviewed, and some issues with it may need to be clarified. Please review the comment(s) underneath your nomination's entry and respond there as soon as possible. Thank you for contributing to Did You Know! Yoninah (talk) 16:57, 4 June 2017 (UTC)

Please see new note on your DYK nomination. Yoninah (talk) 16:05, 6 June 2017 (UTC)

Speedy deletion nomination of Dahlbohminus fuscipennis

If this is the first article that you have created, you may want to read the guide to writing your first article.

You may want to consider using the Article Wizard to help you create articles.

Hello, and welcome to Wikipedia. This is a notice that the page you created, Dahlbohminus fuscipennis, was tagged as a test page under section G2 of the criteria for speedy deletion and has been or soon may be deleted. Please use the sandbox for any other tests you want to do. Take a look at the welcome page if you would like to learn more about contributing to our encyclopedia.

If you think this page should not be deleted for this reason, you may contest the nomination by visiting the page and clicking the button labelled "Contest this speedy deletion". This will give you the opportunity to explain why you believe the page should not be deleted. However, be aware that once a page is tagged for speedy deletion, it may be removed without delay. Please do not remove the speedy deletion tag from the page yourself, but do not hesitate to add information in line with Wikipedia's policies and guidelines. If the page is deleted, and you wish to retrieve the deleted material for future reference or improvement, then please contact the deleting administrator, or if you have already done so, you can place a request here. Field Marshal Aryan (talk) 07:52, 10 June 2017 (UTC)::

Field Marshal Aryan No problem it was a typing error so the title was misspelled, I am currently creating the page Dahlbominus fuscipennis with the name correctly spelled. Quetzal1964 (talk) 10:07, 10 June 2017 (UTC)

Quetzal1964 Oh OK! I didn't know about that. Good luck with the article :) Field Marshal Aryan (talk) 06:25, 11 June 2017 (UTC)

DYK for Giovanni Gribodo

On 23 June 2017, Did you know was updated with a fact from the article Giovanni Gribodo, which you recently created, substantially expanded, or brought to good article status. The fact was ... that Giovanni Gribodo, an architect in the Italian Art Nouveau Liberty Style, also published 42 scientific papers describing 377 new taxa of Hymenoptera? The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Giovanni Gribodo. You are welcome to check how many page hits the article got while on the front page (here's how, Giovanni Gribodo), and it may be added to the statistics page if the total is over 5,000. Finally, if you know of an interesting fact from another recently created article, then please feel free to suggest it on the Did you know talk page.

IronGargoyle (talk) 01:43, 23 June 2017 (UTC)

Template:Did you know nominations/Shinano River

Hi Quetzal, thanks for reviewing the nomination. It looks like the <!-- tag is still there before your comment so it isn't displaying. I'd remove it myself for you, but I'd need to play around with your signature to make it work. Regards, Callanecc (talk • contribs • logs) 05:09, 6 July 2017 (UTC)

Incomplete DYK nomination

Hello! Your submission of Template:Did you know nominations/Colletes halophilus at the Did You Know nominations page is not complete; if you would like to continue, please link the nomination to the nominations page as described in step 3 of the nomination procedure. If you do not want to continue with the nomination, tag the nomination page with {{db-g7}}, or ask a DYK admin. Thank you. DYKHousekeepingBot (talk) 06:02, 7 July 2017 (UTC)

Bees

Great work on the bees. FYI: I have a Sandbox page listing all Bee species, already wikified. You might be interested in using this list to make genus articles? See: Ruigeroeland (talk) 08:32, 17 July 2017 (UTC)

DYK for Colletes halophilus

On 3 August 2017, Did you know was updated with a fact from the article Colletes halophilus, which you recently created, substantially expanded, or brought to good article status. The fact was ... that one of the largest colonies in England of the rare sea aster mining bee is in an artificial mound of sand? The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Colletes halophilus. You are welcome to check how many page hits the article got while on the front page (here's how, Colletes halophilus), and it may be added to the statistics page if the total is over 5,000. Finally, if you know of an interesting fact from another recently created article, then please feel free to suggest it on the Did you know talk page.

IronGargoyle (talk) 00:03, 3 August 2017 (UTC)

Snowy Egret

Thanks, but are you sure? I linked the wikidata item to three egrets, because the commons categories are not clear (and neither are the museums. Talking about this. So if correct, thanks, but can you check the others I linked in the Wikidata item - theoretically only one should be linked. Thx Jane (talk) 19:56, 18 August 2017 (UTC)

Jane Absolutely sure. My reasoning is, putting aside that I am a birder with experience of most of the world's species called egrets, as you know the image is from Birds of America by Audubon (published originally in my home city of Edinburgh) and the image shows a small Egretta species in breeding plumage. The only candidate in North America in the early 19th Century would be Snowy Egret, Great egret is a much bulkier beast and in proportion more like the Great Blue Heron or Grey Heron. Here is a great egret from Birds of America http://audubon.nyhistory.org/great-egret/ and here is the link to the image you posted http://www.audubon.org/birds-of-america/snowy-heron-or-white-egret . The old world little egret and cattle egret have now spread to the Americas too.Quetzal1964 (talk) 20:09, 18 August 2017 (UTC)

Nice. It would be nice to have all of these linked to Wikidata items that point to the proper bird in Wikidata through Wikispecies. The Audubon images have all been uploaded and are indexed with page numbers here: Wikipedia:GLAM/NHMandSM/NHM Galleries/Treasures/The Birds of America/Pages. Jane (talk) 21:58, 18 August 2017 (UTC)

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Michael Patrick Stuart Irwin

Hello Quetzal1964, I see you have added a date for the death of ornithologist, Michael P.S. Irwin. As an article for him does not yet exist and I am interested in starting one, do you have a link to his obituary? The only ref I have currently is this page. The September 2012 Honeyguide issue also looks promising, but I only have access to the index. 'Cheers, Loopy30 (talk) 23:14, 14 September 2017 (UTC)

Loopy30 I subscribe to a listserv called African Birding and it was announced on that listserv that Michael Irwin had died on 13 September 2017 so it's a wee bit early for formal obituaries, of which I am sure there will be many. The first ones will probably be in the British press such as The Guardian, The Times or the Daily Telegraph. As he was born in Northern Ireland the Belfast Telegraph may also carry an obituary. The ornithological journals will take longer, as you are no doubt aware, but British Birds or Ibis will probably publish one. I own a 2nd edition copy of his Birds of Zimbabwe which has very limited biographical information on its author. Quetzal1964 (talk) 06:23, 15 September 2017 (UTC)

Oooh, that is recent. I will just have to wait a bit before looking some more. Thanks, Loopy30 (talk) 10:07, 15 September 2017 (UTC)

Loopy30 The death notice has appeared in The Babbler http://www.birdlifezimbabwe.org/Babblers/Babbler%20138.pdf but I can't see any signs of a formal obituary yet.Quetzal1964 (talk) 07:09, 1 November 2017 (UTC)

The Signpost: 25 September 2017

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WikiProject Women in Red/The World Contest

Hi. Thankyou for your participation in the challenge series or/and contests. In November The Women in Red World Contest is being held to try to produce new articles for as many countries worldwide and occupations as possible. There will be over $4000 in prizes to win, including Amazon vouchers and paid subscriptions. If this would appeal to you and you think you'd be interested in contributing new articles on women during this month for your region or wherever please sign up in the participants section. The articles done may also count towards the ongoing challenge. If you're not interested in prize money yourself but are willing to participate and raise money to buy books about women for others to use, this is also fine. Help would also be appreciated in drawing up the lists of missing articles. If you think of any missing articles please add them to the sub lists by continent at Missing articles. Thankyou, and if taking part, good luck!♦ Dr. Blofeld 17:54, 4 October 2017 (UTC)

Sad to see you leave, though I gather there's a reason for it. I hope WMF will continue to support my contests and we can do another general Destubathon if this is a success!♦ Dr. Blofeld 18:03, 1 November 2017 (UTC)

Dr. Blofeld yes personal circumstances. I tried to look at a few missing articles and its just that most would be outside my area of knowledge and interest and finding online sources seemed very difficult. Most of the articles appear to be BLPs which are normally a type of article I try to avoid. I certainly aim to try and edit or create a few more articles on women, especially women who have been active in biological sciences (see new "stub" on Louise Schilthuis) but not in a competitive way. Yes I do hope WMF continue to support your competitions and this one would have been a real challenge for me but at this moment I do not have the time.Quetzal1964 (talk) 07:12, 2 November 2017 (UTC)

The Signpost: 23 October 2017

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New Year's resolution: Write more articles for Women in Red!

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--Megalibrarygirl (talk) 18:13, 27 December 2017 (UTC) via MassMessaging

Technical move request declined

Hello, I removed your technical move request because the rationale you provided was incorrect. If you see FishBase, you will find that the scientific name is invalid. Of course, you may open an RM if you feel my removal was in error. With thanks. --QEDK (桜 ❄ 伴) 20:22, 29 December 2017 (UTC)

QEDK Thanks for that, it's not a problem, actually it looks like Fishbase has got itself (and me) confused over this, see Fishbase. So its Nemacheilus inglisi that should be changed from a redirect to an article which explains what's going on. Actually what you are refusing is not what I thought I was asking for, although looking closer the refusal would apply to my originally intended request. Quetzal1964 (talk) 22:04, 29 December 2017 (UTC)

That's alright. Hope I could help. With thanks. --QEDK (桜 ❄ 伴) 04:35, 30 December 2017 (UTC)

The Signpost: 16 January 2018

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Feburary 2018 at Women in Red

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		(To subscribe: Women in Red/English language mailing list and Women in Red/international list. Unsubscribe: Women in Red/Opt-out list) --Rosiestep (talk) 14:32, 28 January 2018 (UTC) via MassMessaging

Family for Pareledone

Hi, I know nothing about the taxonomy of cephalopods; I merely constructed a taxonomy template, as it was missing, based on the article. I've changed Pareledone to fit the family you put in the taxonomy template, but there are no refs supporting this in the article, and those that are there support "Octopodidae". Can you add a ref for "Megaleledonidae"? Peter coxhead (talk) 07:50, 1 February 2018 (UTC)

@Peter coxhead:Peter, Thanks that's it done now with ref in template and article.Quetzal1964 (talk) 08:01, 1 February 2018 (UTC)

Sasakiopus salebrosus

Hi, Quetzal1964. I have moved the genus to the species because I do not think it makes sense to have two pages for what comes to be the same animal. I see it as useless, and in fact, it's something that I agree with. I think a taxon has to have a page if it contains two or more taxa. And the common names, it does not matter, usually put the common names of title, but it is not mandatory. By the way, in your message you tell me "but it will not follow the accepted conventions on Wikipedia". Is there any policy that affirms this? --Super Ψ Dro 21:28, 2 February 2018 (UTC)

@Super Dromaeosaurus: see Wikipedia:Naming conventions (fauna) and in particular the section on monotypic taxa. Peter coxhead (talk) 22:02, 2 February 2018 (UTC)

Okey, thank you. I feel the inconveniences that I have caused to both of you. Super Ψ Dro 09:18, 3 February 2018 (UTC)

The Signpost: 5 February 2018

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Incomplete DYK nomination

Hello! Your submission of Template:Did you know nominations/Sepia australis at the Did You Know nominations page is not complete; if you would like to continue, please link the nomination to the nominations page as described in step 3 of the nomination procedure. If you do not want to continue with the nomination, tag the nomination page with {{db-g7}}, or ask a DYK admin. Thank you. DYKHousekeepingBot (talk) 11:08, 18 February 2018 (UTC)

Nice work!

Awesome contributions on Sepia et al.! Nice to see cephalopods receiving some much needed attention. Keep up the good work! :-) mgiganteus1 (talk) 18:53, 18 February 2018 (UTC)

Women's History Month 2018 at Women in Red

		Welcome to Women in Red's March 2018 worldwide online editathons. Historically, our March event has been one of the biggest offerings of the year. This year, we are collaborating with two other wiki communities. Our article campaign is the official on-line/virtual node for Art+Feminism. Our image campaign supports the Whose Knowledge? initiative. Women's History Month 2018 Continuing: #1day1woman Global Initiative
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The Signpost: 20 February 2018

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DYK nomination of Sepia australis

Hello! Your submission of Sepia australis at the Did You Know nominations page has been reviewed, and some issues with it may need to be clarified. Please review the comment(s) underneath your nomination's entry and respond there as soon as possible. Thank you for contributing to Did You Know! Yoninah (talk) 00:13, 22 March 2018 (UTC)

April 2018 at Women in Red

		Welcome to Women in Red's April 2018 worldwide online editathons. Focus on: April+Further with Art+Feminism Archaeology Military history (contest) Geofocus: Indian subcontinent Continuing: #1day1woman Global Initiative
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Signpost issue 4 – 29 March 2018

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  Wikimedia events, group recognition, and individual appointments are ongoing.

• Arbitration report: Ironing out issues in infoboxes; not sure yet about New Jersey; and an administrator who probably wasn't uncivil to a sockpuppet.
  Arbcom considers new discretionary sanctions for infoboxes and an extension of 1RR.

• In the media: The media on Wikipedia's workings: the good and not-so-good
  Diplomats join Wikipedia for International Women's Day, the perfect "Human", how fringe theories are sustained, and perennial plagiarism from our pages.

• Traffic report: Real sports, real women and an imaginary country: what's on top for Wikipedia readers
  Wakanda still fascinates; the Oscars happened; Winter Olympics come to a close; and International Women's Day gets over a million page views.

• Featured content: Animals, Ships, and Songs
  A plethora of content.

• Technology report: Timeless skin review by Force Radical.
  Reviewing a browser skin providing equal emphasis on both content and editing tools simultaneously.

• Special report: ACTRIAL wrap-up.
  Retrospective on article creation trial.

• Humour: WikiWorld Reruns
  Nostalgia and trips down Memory Lane.

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 18:49, 29 March 2018 (UTC)

DYK for Sepia australis

On 30 March 2018, Did you know was updated with a fact from the article Sepia australis, which you recently created, substantially expanded, or brought to good article status. The fact was ... that despite its "tasty flesh" and abundance, the southern cuttlefish Sepia australis is currently of little interest to fisheries? The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Sepia australis. You are welcome to check how many page hits the article got while on the front page (here's how, Sepia australis), and it may be added to the statistics page if the total is over 5,000. Finally, if you know of an interesting fact from another recently created article, then please feel free to suggest it on the Did you know talk page.

Cas Liber (talk · contribs) 00:02, 30 March 2018 (UTC)

Melittobia australica

Why suppressing the ref link ? Pueblopassingby (talk) 14:19, 30 March 2018 (UTC)

The word "catholic" does not need a citation, it has been used to emphasise that this species is not host specific. In this context "catholic" means non specialised, unfussy.Quetzal1964 (talk) 14:21, 30 March 2018 (UTC)

that does not answer the question. Please do.Pueblopassingby (talk) 14:24, 30 March 2018 (UTC)

or maybe you did not pay enough attention to see that there was a link added to a ref in the same edit ? Pueblopassingby (talk) 14:26, 30 March 2018 (UTC)

Is a url needed when there is a doi? They both link to the reference so is having both not otiose? Quetzal1964 (talk) 14:29, 30 March 2018 (UTC)

By all means change "catholic" to a synonym if you think its more suitable. I think catholic is the most appropriate in this context. Quetzal1964 (talk) 14:33, 30 March 2018 (UTC)

@Pueblopassingby:I am not going to revert that, I still think catholic in its non religious context "including a wide variety of things; all-embracing" is the correct term, and I was brought up as a Roman Catholic, but you didn't answer my question on why a url and a doi are both needed in a citation? Quetzal1964 (talk) 14:39, 30 March 2018 (UTC)

lol, I was answering it but your edit came along.

By experience doi work less often than url (I did not think so to start with and I really son't see why it should be so, but...). That's only my own experience, though must say it happened once more (!) only today. Also and more importantly, when the weblinks get broken, the works are easier to recover with the "broken link" data; whereas I don't know of the equivalent for doi (if there is one, please do tell: it would be very useful to know that). So I have taken to adding web links quite systematically. Pueblopassingby (talk) 14:43, 30 March 2018 (UTC)

N.B.: I fail to see how "catholic" can be considered as having a non-religious signification. In both en and fr, using it in a 'non-catholic' context still implies that catholic is a reference for 'agreed-upon norm'. As a bit of humour I'd say that considering the world's political context I quite appreciate it for all human affairs, but I'd rather we humans leave bees out of politics! :) Pueblopassingby (talk) 14:53, 30 March 2018 (UTC)

Ex. of "broken doi" : same article, "Species of Melittobia (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) established in Bahamas, Costa Rica, Cuba, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico and Trinidad". Just updated it. Another reason I put web links is that with the web link, En wiki very intelligently puts a link on the whole title of article/book/aso - I find this somehow easier to use, it's more direct. Doi does not do that. Pueblopassingby (talk) 15:03, 30 March 2018 (UTC)

You may personally fail to see how catholic can be used in a non religious context but as an ex-Roman Catholic, a native speaker of British English (Scottish variety) and a Biology graduate I find catholic has a scientific meaning too. Just google "catholic host choice in parasitoids" (annoyingly you have to add the last two words or you get articles about the Eucharist) and you will see the term is widely used. Quetzal1964 (talk) 15:14, 30 March 2018 (UTC)

An interesting Google search is for "catholic diet" OR "catholic diets" biology. It does produce a few related to religion, but judging at least from the first few pages of hits, most of the 800,000+ are biology-related. One result, for "their catholic diet and a geographically variable sex life completes a portrait of an unusual animal" struck me as somewhat amusing if you think that "catholic" always has the religious sense. Peter coxhead (talk) 16:06, 30 March 2018 (UTC)

The Signpost: 26 April 2018

• From the editors: The Signpost's presses roll again
  Following Kudpung's op-ed "Death knell sounding for The Signpost?" in the 29 March issue, user comments encouraged a burst of enthusiasm to keep the newspaper in print.

• Signpost: Future directions for The Signpost
  How to revive and evolve The Signpost? Big blue-sky proposals and small concrete proposals from the community and from two regular Signpost contributors.

• News and notes: Photo of Kim Jong-un. Stephen Hawking death tops hits on many Wikipedias.
  Finally a free image Kim Jong-un. WMF wins legal battle. Stephen Hawking death tops all Wikipedia hits.

• In the media: The rise of Wikipedia as a disinformation mop
  Internet companies use Wikipedia to police truth; Citogenesis proven yet again; early birthday greetings; and trains

• In focus: Admin reports board under criticism
  A recent Community Health Initiative survey found only 27% of respondents are happy with the way reports of conflicts between Editors are handled on the Administrators' Incident Noticeboard (ANI).

• Special report: ACTRIAL results adopted by landslide
  New major editing policy starting immediately: creation of articles in mainspace is to be limited to users with confirmed accounts

• Opinion: Guideline for Organization Notability revised
  The standards have been raised for sources used in judging the notability of nonprofit and for-profit organizations.

• Op-ed: World War II Myth-making and Wikipedia
  Wikipedia's myth of the clean Wehrmacht and what you can do about it. Or, how not to be one of "the worst distributors of pro-Nazi perspectives and the Wehrmacht myth".

• Community view: It's time we look past Women in Red to counter systemic bias
  Can Wikipedia mobilize the same energy to fill other gaps in coverage?

• Discussion report: The future of portals
  What should we do about Portals? Keep them, delete them, or mark them as historical? Or should they be more closely connected with their WikiProject(s)?

• Arbitration report: No new cases, and one motion on administrative misconduct
  Quiet month for the Arbitration Committee

• WikiProject report: WikiProject Military History
  Combat, weapons, monuments and personalities.

• Blog: Why the world reads Wikipedia
  What we learned about reader motivation from a recent research study

• Humour: Our Favorite Places to Whine About Stuff
  You might not get all excersized about essays but they can be as fun as talk pages

• Traffic report: A quiet place to wrestle with the articles of March
  The most popular articles from March 25 to April 14.

• Technology report: Coming soon: Books-to-PDF, interactive maps, rollback confirmation
  Plus the latest tech news and userscripts.

• Featured content: Featured content selected by the community
  Material promoted from March 2 through April 20.

• Gallery: A look at some famous and not as well-known border tripoints
  Honoring a day in military history, as well as peaceful borders

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May 2018 at Women in Red

		Welcome to Women in Red's May 2018 worldwide online editathons. File:Soraya Aghaee4.jpg New: "Women of the Sea" New: "Villains" New: "Women in Sports" New: "Central Eastern European women" Continuing: #1day1woman Global Initiative
		(To subscribe: Women in Red/English language mailing list and Women in Red/international list. Unsubscribe: Women in Red/Opt-out list) --Rosiestep (talk) 23:11, 29 April 2018 (UTC) via MassMessaging

Wiki Loves Food

Curd Rice

Hello! After the successful pilot program by Wikimedia India in 2015, Wiki Loves Food (WLF) is happening again in 2018 and this year, it's going International. To make this event a grand success, your direction is key. Please sign up here as a volunteer to bring all the world's food to Wikimedia. Danidamiobi (talk) 21:09, 6 May 2018 (UTC)

(Opt-out instructions.) --DPL bot (talk) 10:24, 13 May 2018 (UTC)

The Signpost: 24 May 2018

• From the editor: Another issue meets the deadline
  A busy office with minimal staff.

• Op-ed: Has the wind gone out of the AdminShip's sails?
  Kudpung has some thoughts on the reasons for becalmed forums and the reluctance of candidates to (wo)man the rigging.

• Opinion: Integrating my many lives on Wikipedia
  Thoughts on how looking for the truth on Wikipedia brings out unexpected things in the real world.

• WikiProject report: WikiProject Portals
  After a recent Village Pump discussion, the Signpost looks at WikiProject Portals.

• Discussion report: User rights, infoboxes, and more discussion on portals
  A busy month for discussions on major topics.

• Featured content: Featured content selected by the community
  Science, sportspeople, video games, and history feature heavily in the community's picks this month.

• Arbitration report: Managing difficult topics
  Has an attempt to prevent historical revisionism become a content battleground?

• News and notes: Lots of Wikimedia
  De-recognition of Brazil user groups; brute-force attack on Wikipedia; Wikimedia Conference 2018; and assorted other silly things.

• In the media: Wikipedia in Turkish politics; COI politics in Wikipedia; most cited work
  And the burning question of the day, is the monkey selfie going to space with the rest of Wikipedia?

• Traffic report: We love our superheroes
  No surprises here as the summer movie season begins.

• Technology report: A trove of contributor and developer goodies
  Improved mobile app, searching, citations, inline maps, voting, and more.

• Blog: Why I write about women on Wikipedia
  Editor SusunW delves into reasons why she has created hundreds of articles about women.

• Recent research: Why people don't contribute to Wikipedia; using Wikipedia to teach statistics, technical writing, and controversial issues
  Too many women still don't know that Wikipedia is editable.

• Humour: Play with your food
  Down the rabbit hole into the realm of third-grade mind.

• Gallery: Wine not?
  May 25 is National Wine Day in the United States.

• From the archives: The Signpost scoops The Signpost
  The dark and twisted world of Wikipedia's most powerful media institution: The Signpost.

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Women in Red June Editathons

		Welcome to Women in Red's June 2018 worldwide online editathons. New: WiR Loves Pride New: Singers and Songwriters New: Women in GLAM New: Geofocus: Russia/USSR Continuing: #1day1woman Global Initiative
		(To subscribe: Women in Red/English language mailing list and Women in Red/international list. Unsubscribe: Women in Red/Opt-out list)

--Megalibrarygirl (talk) 17:15, 29 May 2018 (UTC) via MassMessaging

thanks

thanks for fixing up Centriscidae . I had no objections to the contents--it's just that the edits I reverted seem to have accidentally placed deletion tags on the article, and I couldn't otherwise figure out quickly how to fix them. I may have been a biologist, but I am totally ignorant about plant taxonomy. tell one plant DGG ( talk ) 19:59, 12 June 2018 (UTC)

No, thank you! That's what happens when you're in a rush. I too know very little about plant taxonomy, or fish taxonomy for that matter, but I love learning. Quetzal1964 (talk) 20:07, 12 June 2018 (UTC)

DYK for Walter Kenrick Fisher

On 20 June 2018, Did you know was updated with a fact from the article Walter Kenrick Fisher, which you recently created, substantially expanded, or brought to good article status. The fact was ... that the marine biologist Walter Kenrick Fisher illustrated the book The Salinas: Upside Down River written by his wife Anne B. Fisher? The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Walter Kenrick Fisher. You are welcome to check how many page hits the article got while on the front page (here's how, Walter Kenrick Fisher), and it may be added to the statistics page if the total is over 5,000. Finally, if you know of an interesting fact from another recently created article, then please feel free to suggest it on the Did you know talk page.

Alex Shih (talk) 00:01, 20 June 2018 (UTC)

Walter Kenrick Fisher

Please see WP:ENGVAR. The author of the article doesn't matter, it's the subject. GiantSnowman 19:01, 20 June 2018 (UTC)

GiantSnowman (talk · contribs) What about the third last word of the artcle?: Quetzal1964 (talk) 19:08, 20 June 2018 (UTC)

 Done GiantSnowman 19:11, 20 June 2018 (UTC)

GiantSnowman (talk · contribs)Excellent! Quetzal1964 (talk) 19:16, 20 June 2018 (UTC)

Invitation to participate in study

Hello,

I am E. Whittaker, an intern at Wikimedia with the Scoring Team to create a labeled dataset, and potentially a tool, to help editors deal with incivility when they encounter it on talk pages. A full write-up of the study can be found here: m:Research:Civil_Behavior_Interviews. We are currently recruiting editors to be interviewed about their experiences with incivility on talk pages. Would you be interested in being interviewed? I am contacting you because of your involvement in Wikipedia’s Women in Red project. The interviews should take ~1 hour, and will be conducted over BlueJeans (which does allow interviews to be recorded). If, so, please email me at ewhit@umich.edu in order to schedule an interview.

Thank you Ewitch51 (talk) 20:25, 20 June 2018 (UTC)

July 2018 at Women in Red

		Hello again from Women in Red! July 2018 worldwide online editathons: New: Sub-Saharan Africa Film + stage 20th-century Women Rock Continuing: Notable women, broadly-construed! Latest headlines, news, and views on the Women in Red talkpage (Join the conversation!): Are we losing momentum? London calling (the Mayor of London!) Publication about Wikipedia's coverage of women mathematicians Women in Red is featured in Toolhub
		(To subscribe: Women in Red/English language mailing list and Women in Red/international list. Unsubscribe: Women in Red/Opt-out list) --Rosiestep (talk) 14:04, 28 June 2018 (UTC) via MassMessaging

The Signpost: 29 June 2018

• From the editor: The Admin Ship is still barely afloat, while a Foundation project risks sinking
  A Wiki not so Simple, a mayor motivating an editathon, a Marshall Plan, and a Wikimania under a cloud of criticism

• Special report: NPR and AfC – The Marshall Plan: an engagement and a marriage?
  Further developments on New Page Review and Articles for Creation work sharing

• Op-ed: What do admins do?
  Admins volunteer to be abused – or so it seems

• Opinion: Google isn't responsible for Wikipedia's mistakes
  So it shouldn't get credit for our work, either.

• News and notes: Money, milestones, and Wikimania
  Major grants announced, a new milestone for Afrikaans Wikipedia, a new WMF technical engagement team, an effort to start up a new library, two new admins – or maybe three fewer depending on your math.

• In the media: Much wikilove from the Mayor of London, less from Paekākāriki or a certain candidate for U.S. Congress
  Several online battles are juxtaposed with stories about cooperation and good deeds, Arbcom hovering over it all; notwithstanding, a good action movie script is not necessarily found here.

• Discussion report: Deletion, page moves, and an update to the main page
  Community discussions include style updates to project-wide icons and the main page, procedural questions on royal names and jettisoning unsuitable drafts, and deeper questions of compliance with European privacy laws and the perennial issue of shrinking admin corps.

• Featured content: New promotions
  Enjoy the superb content

• Arbitration report: WWII, UK politics, and a user deCrat'ed
  British politics case enters workshop phase and German war effort closes workshop, goes to Arbcom for proposals.

• Traffic report: Endgame
  Two celebrities hang themselves, and the FIFA World Cup is underway

• Technology report: Improvements piled on more improvements
  An AI assistant comes to watchlists; better mobile compatibility; new bots, tools and scripts; and more

• Gallery: Wiki Loves Africa
  Colorful and moving.

• Blog: Wikipedia should be open for editors in Turkey
  WMF appeals to Turkish Minister of Transport, Maritime, and Communications Ahmet Arslan to lift the block of all language versions of Wikipedia for over a year.

• Recent research: How censorship can backfire and conversations can go awry
  Studying ourselves: 'driven by a sense of mission' according to researchers.

• Humour: Television plot lines
  In our next episode...

• Wikipedia essays: This month's pick by The Signpost editors
  Some essays are funny, some are serious; some are just, well what exactly?

• From the archives: Wolves nip at Wikipedia's heels: A perspective on the cost of paid editing
  Revisiting an editor's warning to count our kidneys and keep the wolves at bay

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 01:29, 30 June 2018 (UTC)

August 2018 at Women in Red

		An exciting new month for Women in Red! August 2018 worldwide online editathons: New: Indigenous women Women of marginalized populations Women writers Geofocus: Bottom 10 Continuing: #1day1woman Global Initiative Notable women, broadly-construed! For the first time, this month we are trying out our Monthly achievement initiative All creators of new biographies can keep track of their progress and earn virtual awards. It can be used in conjunction with the above editathons or for any women's biography created in August. Try it out when you create your first biography of the month.
		Latest headlines, news, and views on the Women in Red talkpage (Join the conversation!): Call for members for the Gender Diversity Visibility Community User Group (To subscribe: Women in Red/English language mailing list and Women in Red/international list. Unsubscribe: Women in Red/Opt-out list) --Rosiestep (talk) 11:22, 23 July 2018 (UTC) via MassMessaging

The Signpost: 31 July 2018

• From the editor: If only if
  Ships and shoes – and if you don't like it here, just go away!

• Op-ed: The last leg of the Admin Ship's current cruise
  How admin would-bes run the gauntlet.

• Opinion: Wrestling with Wikipedia reality
  Wikipedia referees wag a finger at Professional Wrestling editors.

• News and notes: Another newspaper for Wikipedia; Wikimania 2018 ends; changes at NPR
  New admins and Kudpung finally leaves NPP after 7 years.

• In the media: Blackouts in Europe; Wikipedia and capitalists; WMF Jet Set
  One secret cabal that watches out for conspiracy theories, and another one out to stymie venture capitalists?

• Discussion report: Wikipedias take action against EU copyright proposal, plus new user right proposals
  And more: a new user group for editing code, Women in Red, and arbitrator articles.

• Featured content: Wikipedia's best content in images and prose
  Spanning the gamut from warfare and destruction to pop culture to celebrations of nature and humanity's achievements.

• Arbitration report: Status quo processes retained in two disputes
  We don't have "state agents" in a political debate, but couldn't talk about it if there were.

• Traffic report: Soccer, football, call it what you like – that and summer movies leave room for little else
  Finding the mathematician and Supreme Court nominee in this list is like playing Where's Waldo?.

• Technology report: New bots, new prefs
  Useful new gadgets.

• Gallery: Independence days, national holidays, and football – all in July
  Depictions of July events in several countries.

• Blog: Motivation of two editors
  Those who study ancient Egypt.

• Recent research: Different Wikipedias use different images; editing contests more successful than edit-a-thons
  And other recent findings, plus a roundup of research presentations at Wikimania.

• Humour: It's all the same
  Merge WikiProject Professional wrestling and ANI.

• Essay: Wikipedia does not need you
  Get over it!

• From the archives: The pending changes fiasco: how an attempt to answer one question turned into a quagmire
  They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 23:51, 31 July 2018 (UTC)

September 2018 at Women in Red

		September is an exciting new month for Women in Red's worldwide online editathons! New: Women currently in academics Women + Law Geofocus: Hispanic countries Continuing: #1day1woman Global Initiative Check it out: Monthly achievement initiative All creators of new biographies can keep track of their progress and earn virtual awards. It can be used in conjunction with the above editathons or for any women's biography created in September. Try it out when you create your first biography of the month.
		Latest headlines, news, and views on the Women in Red talkpage (Join the conversation!): Call for members for the Gender Diversity Visibility Community User Group Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Women in Red#The Endless Night of Wikipedia’s Notable Woman Problem (To subscribe: Women in Red/English language mailing list and Women in Red/international list. Unsubscribe: Women in Red/Opt-out list) --Rosiestep (talk) 01:55, 26 August 2018 (UTC) via MassMessaging

The Signpost: 30 August 2018

• From the editor: Today's young adults don't know a world without Wikipedia
  Keep straight on – there are trolls in the hedgerows.

• Interview: 2018 Wikimedian of the Year, Farkhad Fatkullin
  "Imagine a world in which every single human being is a Wikimedian. That's my commitment!"

• News and notes: Flying high; low practice from Wikipedia 'cleansing' agency; where do our donations go? RfA sees a new trend
  WMF pays possible Orangemoody ring for user research, and ditches MediaWiki for publishing its own blog. Knife-edge closures at RfA.

• In the media: Quicksilver AI writes articles
  But unfortunately its output is incompatible with open licensing.

• Discussion report: Drafting an interface administrator policy
  Plus: Simple English Wikipedia stays open, a discussion on draft header templates, bias blind spot by admins offered cash?

• Featured content: Featured content selected by the community
  Astronauts named Armstrong, babes of the Brits, Cortinarius caperatus and all that.

• Special report: Wikimania 2018
  "Bridging knowledge gaps, the ubuntu way forward".

• Traffic report: Aretha dies – getting just 2,000 short of 5 million hits
  Very high and very low hits; love and loss.

• Technology report: Technical enhancements and a request to prioritize upcoming work
  Citation bot and mapframe enhancements; new licenses for Data space; possible hiccup on 12 September; per-user page, namespace, and upload blocking; and miscellaneous new bots and tools.

• Gallery: Leapfrog, historic Thai cave, and a rhythmic beat
  Some of the best pictures of 2017.

• Recent research: Wehrmacht on Wikipedia, neural networks writing biographies
  Readers prefer the AI's version 40% of the time – but it still suffers from hallucinations.

• Humour: Signpost editor censors herself
  Nothing funny about it.

• Essay: Principle of Some Astonishment
  Remind you of any Wikipedia articles?

• From the archives: Playing with Wikipedia words
  The Wikipedia Plays.

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AfroCine: Join us for the Months of African Cinema in October!

Greetings!

You are receiving this message because your username or portal was listed as a participant of a WikiProject that is related to Africa, the Carribean, Cinema or theatre.

This is to introduce you to a new Wikiproject called AfroCine. This new project is dedicated to improving the Wikipedia coverage of the history, works, people, places, events, etc, that are associated with the cinema, theatre and arts of Africa, African countries, the carribbean, and the diaspora. If you would love to be part of this or you're already contributing in this area, kindly list your name as a participant on the project page here.

Furthermore, In the months of October and November, the WikiProject is organizing a global on-wiki contest and edit-a-thon tagged: The Months of African Cinema. If you would love to join us for this exciting event, also list your username as a participant for this event here. In preparation for the contest, please do suggest relevant articles that need to be created or expanded in different countries, during this event!

If you have any questions, complaints, suggestions, etc., please reach out to me personally on my talkpage! Cheers!--Jamie Tubers (talk) 20:50, 5 September 2018 (UTC)

October 2018 at Women in Red

		Please join us... We have four new topics for Women in Red's worldwide online editathons in October! New: Clubs Science fiction + fantasy STEM The Mediterranean Continuing: #1day1woman Global Initiative
		(To subscribe: Women in Red/English language mailing list and Women in Red/international list. Unsubscribe: Women in Red/Opt-out list) --Rosiestep (talk) 14:46, 28 September 2018 (UTC) via MassMessaging

The Signpost: 1 October 2018

• From the editor: Is this the new normal?
  We keep on publishing as long as you keep on reading.

• News and notes: European copyright law moves forward
  Wikipedia dodges a bullet in Brussels... maybe.

• In the media: Knowledge under fire
  Can Wikipedians help save the world's knowledge and shine a light on current events?

• Discussion report: Interface Admin policy proposal, part 2
  Plus: signatures, shortcuts, and reliable sources.

• Arbitration report: A quiet month for Arbcom
  No valid new requests for arbitration, no new cases.

• Traffic report: John McCain's death generates over 7 million hits, followed by historical low
  Fourth highest view count of the year; lowest view count since 2014; death, sports, and movies ever constant.

• Technology report: Paying attention to your mobile
  Plus the latest scripts, bots, and tech news.

• Gallery: A pat on the back
  A pictorial ode to the end of summer.

• Blog: After a catastrophic fire at the National Museum of Brazil, a drive to preserve what knowledge remains
  As the global community of volunteer Wikimedia editors mourns the destruction of this amazing museum, this post pays tribute to all editors who have contributed restlessly to tell the story of the National Museum, our history.

• Recent research: How talk page use has changed since 2005; censorship shocks lead to centralization; is vandalism caused by workplace boredom?
  And other recent research papers.

• Humour: Signpost Crossword Puzzle
  What is a four-letter word for...

• Essay: Expressing thanks
  You know you should...

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 00:45, 1 October 2018 (UTC)

Welcome to the Months of African Cinema!

Greetings!

The AfroCine Project welcomes you to October, the first out of the two months which has been dedicated to improving contents that centre around the cinema of Africa, the Caribbean, and the diaspora.

This is a global online edit-a-thon, which is happening in at least 5 language editions of Wikipedia, including the English Wikipedia! Join us in this exciting venture, by helping to create or expand articles which are connected to this scope. Also remember to list your name under the participants section, if you haven't done so already.

On English Wikipedia, we would be recognizing Users who are able to achieve the following:

• Overall winner (1st, 2nd, 3rd places)
• Country Winners
• Diversity winner
• High quality contributors
• Gender-gap fillers
• Page improvers
• Wikidata Translators

For further information about the contest, the recognition categories and how to participate, please visit the contest page here. For further inquiries, please leave comments on the contest talkpage or on the main project talkpage. See you around :).--Jamie Tubers (talk) 22:50, 03 October 2018 (UTC)

Get ready for November with Women in Red!

		Three new topics for WiR's online editathons in November, two of them supporting other initiatives New: Religion Deceased politicians Asia Continuing: #1day1woman Global Initiative
		Latest headlines, news, and views on the Women in Red talkpage (Join the conversation!): WikiProject AfroCine launches (To subscribe: Women in Red/English language mailing list and Women in Red/international list. Unsubscribe: Women in Red/Opt-out list)

--Megalibrarygirl (talk) 18:40, 14 October 2018 (UTC) via MassMessaging

Apogonidae

Good day, why did you remove the "Phylogeny of Apogonidae" section from the wikipage Apogonidae? It was properly cite and the work was from a reputable peer reviewed journal. If it was too detailed on lower level clades, you could have just taken off the genera and/tribes and let the subfamilies.Videsh Ramsahai (talk) 19:42, 15 October 2018 (UTC)

Hi @Videsh Ramsahai: Thank you for getting in touch. The accepted taxonomy for Wikipedia's Wikipedia:WikiProject Fishes is the Fifth Edition of Nelson's Fishes of the World, I was following that. I removed the cladogram because it does not agree with Nelson. You are free restore it, naturally, but it should be to be presented as an alternative to the "accepted" classification of Nelson which only recognises two subfamilies. Quetzal1964 (talk) 20:05, 15 October 2018 (UTC)

The Signpost: 28 October 2018

• From the editors: The Signpost is still afloat, just barely
  A slightly thinner issue, but out on time.

• Op-ed: Wikipedia's Strickland affair
  Is a missing article on a Nobel laureate a fail? What if her draft biography was declined as non-notable?

• News and notes: WMF gets a million bucks
  And it's richer than ever.

• In the media: Bans, celebs, and bias
  Breitbart begone; rescued by archivists; celebrating trolls?

• Discussion report: Mediation Committee and proposed deletion reform
  Plus: two pending changes-related discussions, notability, and naming conventions.

• Traffic report: Unsurprisingly, sport leads the field – or the ring
  Who's reading what?

• Technology report: Bots galore!
  Bots can do anything you want – well, almost.

• Special report: NPP needs you
  WMF continues to stonewall development; NPP wishes again relegated to stocking fillers.

• Special report 2: Now Wikidata is six
  SPARQL adds sparkle to WMF projects.

• In focus: Alexa
  We are all writing for Amazon.

• Gallery: Out of this world!
  No special effects here, just beautiful celestial images.

• Recent research: Wikimedia Commons worth $28.9 billion
  If it weren't free, of course.

• Humour: Talk page humour
  Wikipedia has a long history of talk page tomfoolery.

• Opinion: Strickland incident
  The reviewer who declined the article gives his perspective.

• From the archives: The Gardner Interview
  The "holy-shit" slide.

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?

Your account was not blocked, only the IP range you said you were on, because of longterm vandalism. I have changed the settings, but given the amount of disruption from that range, unfortunately sometimes we have to take those measures. Drmies (talk) 19:52, 31 October 2018 (UTC)

This blocked user is asking that their block be reviewed on the Unblock Ticket Request System:

Quetzal1964 (block log • active blocks • global blocks • autoblocks • contribs • deleted contribs • abuse filter log • creation log • change block settings • unblock • checkuser (log))

---

UTRS appeal #23100 was submitted on Oct 31, 2018 19:52:25. This review is now closed.

--UTRSBot (talk) 19:52, 31 October 2018 (UTC)

ArbCom 2018 election voter message

Hello, Quetzal1964. Voting in the 2018 Arbitration Committee elections is now open until 23.59 on Sunday, 3 December. All users who registered an account before Sunday, 28 October 2018, made at least 150 mainspace edits before Thursday, 1 November 2018 and are not currently blocked are eligible to vote. Users with alternate accounts may only vote once.

The Arbitration Committee is the panel of editors responsible for conducting the Wikipedia arbitration process. It has the authority to impose binding solutions to disputes between editors, primarily for serious conduct disputes the community has been unable to resolve. This includes the authority to impose site bans, topic bans, editing restrictions, and other measures needed to maintain our editing environment. The arbitration policy describes the Committee's roles and responsibilities in greater detail.

If you wish to participate in the 2018 election, please review the candidates and submit your choices on the voting page. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 18:42, 19 November 2018 (UTC)

December 2018 at Women in Red

		The WiR December editathons provide something for everyone. New: Photography Laureates Countries beginning with 'I' Continuing: #1day1woman Global Initiative
		Latest headlines, news, and views on the Women in Red talkpage (Join the conversation!): BBC 100 Women 2018 (To subscribe: Women in Red/English language mailing list and Women in Red/international list. Unsubscribe: Women in Red/Opt-out list) --Rosiestep (talk) 13:55, 27 November 2018 (UTC) via MassMessaging

December 2018 at Women in Red

		The WiR December editathons provide something for everyone. New: Photography Laureates Countries beginning with 'I' Continuing: #1day1woman Global Initiative
		Latest headlines, news, and views on the Women in Red talkpage (Join the conversation!): BBC 100 Women 2018 (To subscribe: Women in Red/English language mailing list and Women in Red/international list. Unsubscribe: Women in Red/Opt-out list) --Rosiestep (talk) 16:39, 27 November 2018 (UTC) via MassMessaging

The Signpost: 1 December 2018

• From the editor: Time for a truce
  Lay down your verbal weapons.

• Op-ed: Looking back, looking forward: A beginner's experience on Wikipedia
  The experiences of a new user on Wikipedia, told in their own words.

• Special report: The Christmas wishlist
  What do the WMF devs have in store for the community?

• Opinion: The blogosphere migrates to Galaxy WMF
  Suppose they gave a blog and nobody came?

• News and notes: Reviewer of the year, WikiCup winner, and the 2019 Wikimedia Summit
  Looking both backward and forward to events concerning the community.

• Reflections: Wikipedia, history, and the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day
  A personal reflection on Wikipedia's role as a repository of history.

• In the media: Court-ordered article redaction, paid editing, and rock stars
  Real-world news competes with the usual celeb fascination for Wikipedia's commentators.

• Discussion report: Farewell, Mediation Committee
  It was a good 15 years. Plus: admins, notability, substubs, and new padlocks.

• Arbitration report: A long break ends
  Arbcom takes its first new case since June.

• Traffic report: Queen reigns for four weeks straight
  The "Queen" of stage and screen, that is. Is there another?

• Gallery: Intersections
  Biology or technology? Form follows function in nature and the constructed world.

• Recent research: Why do the most active Wikipedians burn out?; only 4% of students vandalize
  And other new research results.

• Essay: No one cares about your garage band
  Nope, don't care!

• Humour: The dark side of our favorite root vegetable
  Wonky carrots invoke terror.

• From the archives: Ars longa, vita brevis
  ARS might continue, but some Wikipedians might not.

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 04:47, 1 December 2018 (UTC)

Trematochromis benthicola

Ctenochromis benthicolaCtenochromis benthicola now moved to Trematochromis benthicola. Can I leave the post-move changes of the text to you? Cheers, Sam Sailor 09:51, 4 December 2018 (UTC)

@Sam Sailor: Thank you, will do. Quetzal1964 (talk) 10:00, 4 December 2018 (UTC)

January 2019 at Women in Red

January 2019, Volume 5, Issue 1, Numbers 104-108 Happy New Year from Women in Red! Please join us for these virtual editathons. January events: Women of War and Peace Play! January geofocus: Caucasus New, year-long initiative: Suffrage Continuing global initiative: #1day1woman2019 Help us plan our future events: Ideas Cafe To subscribe: Women in Red/English language mailing list and Women in Red/international list Unsubscribe: Women in Red/Opt-out list Image attribution: Nevit Dilmen (CC BY-SA 3.0) --Rosiestep (talk) 17:40, 21 December 2018 (UTC) via MassMessaging

The Signpost: 24 December 2018

• From the editors: Where to draw the line in reporting?
  Tell us what you think!

• Op-ed: Wikipedia not trumped by Trump appointee
  Did World Patent Marketing pay to get Wikipedia to include flattering information on their board member, now the Acting United States Attorney General?

• Special report: The Signpost got 380,000+ views in 2018, sounds reasonable enough, right?
  A statistical insight into the English Wikipedia's very own online community newsletter.

• News and notes: Some wishes do come true
  NPP wins the wish list poll; Wikipedia editors will be able to work better at night; new WMF appointments and new arbitrators; and who wants to be an admin?

• In the media: Political hijinks
  Wikipedia says 'ta' to British M.P. and 'buh-bye' to U.S. President's image vandals.

• Discussion report: A new record low for RfA
  Plus: reliable sources, notability, and fallout from the self-blocking software changes.

• WikiProject report: Articlegenesis
  Discovering how new and unregistered users make articles with the members of WikiProject Articles for Creation.

• Arbitration report: Year ends with one active case
  GiantSnowman asked to chill, and other disputes addressed by Arbcom (or not).

• Traffic report: Queen dethroned by U.S. presidents
  The band relinquishes its first place hold; Aquaman is swimming into view for late December.

• Gallery: Sun and Moon, water and stone
  Happy solstice, and happy New Year!

• Blog: News from the WMF
  In and around the WMF and its projects from the WMF's web site.

• Humour: I believe in Bigfoot
  Are you a believer?

• Essay: Requests for medication
  When the desire to continue to have the privilege of editing Wikipedia overrides the body's innate desire to choke the living shit out of some bastard who really has it coming.

• From the archives: Compromised admin accounts – again
  Compromised accounts – especially those of inactive admins.

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February 2019 at Women in Red

February 2019, Volume 5, Issue 2, Numbers 107-111 Happy February from Women in Red! Please join us for these virtual editathons. February events: Social Workers Black Women February geofocus: Ancient World Continuing initiatives: Suffrage #1day1woman2019 Help us plan our future events: Ideas Cafe Join the conversations on our talkpage: Socialites Twitter - Forgotten African American Suffragists Women in Red image uploads to Commons Image attribution: Johntex (CC BY-SA 3.0) Subscription options: English language opt-in International opt-in Unsubscribe --Rosiestep (talk) 20:10, 26 January 2019 (UTC) via MassMessaging

The Signpost: 31 January 2019

• Op-ed: Random Rewards Rejected
  Lab rats deflate research to be performed on the Wikipedia community.

• In focus: The Collective Consciousness of Admin Userpages
  Did you know that there was an admin who thought that the metaphor of the mop was a joke, and now they know it's not?

• News and notes: WMF staff turntable continues to spin; Endowment gets more cash; RfA continues to be a pit of steely knives
  Rude or just forgetful? Eight-year WMF manager has disappeared; Facebook gives a million bucks, gets no love.

• In the media: The Signpost's investigative story recognized, Wikipedia turns 18 and gets a birthday gift from Google, and more editors are recognized
  Heroes and unsung heroes: many good news stories about the work we are all doing together.

• Discussion report: The future of the reference desk
  Plus: plagiarism from Wikipedia, user categories, and admin activity requirements.

• Featured content: Don't miss your great opportunity
  Get yourself lost in 1730's Paris, and a wide range of other recently promoted content.

• Arbitration report: An admin under the microscope
  Snowman flames newbies? Or just oversensitive snowflakes?

• Traffic report: Death, royals and superheroes: Avengers, Black Panther
  The most popular articles of 2018 include a cornucopia of superheroes (Avengers: Infinity War)

• Technology report: When broken is easily fixed
  Emergency server switch goes smoothly; technical glitches resolved; a new way to transfer files to Commons.

• Gallery: Let us build a memorial fit for such pain and suffering
  A tour of some of the world's greatest memorials courtesy the Prime Minister of India.

• News from the WMF: News from WMF
  The world’s largest photo contest, a $1 million gift, Wikipedia’s birthday, WF appoints Valerie D'Costa.

• Recent research: Ad revenue from reused Wikipedia articles; are Wikipedia researchers asking the right questions?
  And other new research publications.

• Essay: How
  A narrative to get you oriented to how this place works, and to the key policies and guidelines.

• Humour: Village pump
  More talk pages you don't want to miss.

• From the archives: An editorial board that includes you
  Four years - and nothing changed?

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 06:50, 31 January 2019 (UTC)

March 2019 at Women in Red

		March 2019, Volume 5, Issue 3, Numbers 107, 108, 112, 113 Happy Women's History Month from Women in Red! Please join us for these virtual events: March: Art+Feminism & #VisibleWikiWomen Geofocus: Francophone Women Continuing initiatives: Suffrage #1day1woman
		Other ways you can participate: Help us plan our future events: Ideas Cafe Join the conversations on our talkpage Follow us on Twitter: @wikiwomeninred Subscription options: English language opt-in International opt-in Unsubscribe --Rosiestep (talk) 22:09, 18 February 2019 (UTC) via MassMessaging

The Signpost: 28 February 2019

• From the editors: Help wanted (still)
  This may be too wordy, verbose and loquacious – and possibly redundant – but as you know, it takes others to check our work, and if there were more people in the Newsroom, we'd be able to double check ourselves and produce a better product for our readership; if you think you are up to it, you are welcome to join us and even copyedit the Editor-in-Chief's article intros.

• News and notes: Front-page issues for the community
  Encyclopedias for Deletion; Corinne; scholarships; partial blocks; and administrators headcount.

• In focus: Wikimedia affiliate organizations seek community participation in 2019 board election
  This election will select 2 of 10 seats on the board. All Wikimedia users are stakeholders in the election outcome and should participate.

• Discussion report: Talking about talk pages
  This month's major discussions include a WMF talk page consultation and a proposed current events noticeboard.

• Featured content: Conquest, War, Famine, Death, and more!
  Horsemen of the apocalypse all represented in recently promoted content, alongside new life, pretty birds, great music, and other miscellaneous topics.

• Arbitration report: A quiet month for Arbitration Committee
  Snowed in, maybe.

• Traffic report: Binge-watching
  Netflix shows and TV sports dominate. A US politician breaks into the top 10.

• Technology report: Tool labs casters-up
  Tool labs goes kaput, bots running wild (not really), interface administrators step into the breach, new gadgets and other tech happenings.

• Gallery: Signed with pride
  A gallery of user signatures created by Wikipedians themselves.

• Recent research: Research finds signs of cultural diversity and recreational habits of readers
  When watchers want the whole truth, they wind up with the wiki! And Cultural Context Content comes out of a complete cartography.

• Essay: Optimist's guide to Wikipedia
  Assume good faith even if it kills you.

• From the archives: New group aims to promote Wiki-Love
  The creation of the Esperanza group.

• Humour: Pesky Pronouns
  Not feeling blurbish right now.

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 11:16, 28 February 2019 (UTC)

April 2019

April 2019, Volume 5, Issue 4, Numbers 107, 108, 114, 115, 116, 117 Hello and welcome to the April events of Women in Red! Please join us for these virtual events: New topics: Gender studies / United Nations / Dance Geofocus: Portuguese-speakers Continuing initiatives: Suffrage / #1day1woman Other ways you can participate: Help us plan our future events: Ideas Cafe Join the conversations on our talkpage Follow us on Twitter: @wikiwomeninred Subscription options: Opt-in (EN-WP) / Opt-in (international) / Unsubscribe

--Megalibrarygirl (talk) 16:01, 25 March 2019 (UTC) via MassMessaging

(Please excuse this post if it is a duplicate!)

The Signpost: 31 March 2019

News, reports and features from the English Wikipedia's weekly journal about Wikipedia and Wikimedia

• From the editors: Getting serious about humor
• News and notes: Blackouts fail to stop EU Copyright Directive
• In the media: Women's history month
• Discussion report: Portal debates continue, Prespa agreement aftermath, WMF seeks a rebranding
• Featured content: Out of this world
• Arbitration report: The Tides of March at ARBCOM
• Traffic report: Exultations and tribulations
• Technology report: New section suggestions and sitewide styles
• News from the WMF: The WMF's take on the new EU Copyright Directive
• Recent research: Barnstar-like awards increase new editor retention
• From the archives: Esperanza organization disbanded after deletion discussion
• Humour: The Epistolary of Arthur 37
• Op-Ed: Pro and Con: Has gun violence been improperly excluded from gun articles?
• In focus: The Wikipedia SourceWatch
• Special report: Wiki Loves (50 Years of) Pride
• Community view: Wikipedia's response to the New Zealand mosque shootings

Read this Signpost in full · Single-page · Unsubscribe · Global message delivery 15:41, 31 March 2019 (UTC)

May you join this month's editathons from WiR!

May 2019, Volume 5, Issue 5, Numbers 107, 108, 118, 119, 120, 121 Hello and welcome to the May events of Women in Red! Please join us for these virtual events: New topics: "May" women / Mayors / Environentalists Geofocus: CEE countries Continuing initiatives: Suffrage / #1day1woman Other ways you can participate: Help us plan our future events: Ideas Cafe Join the conversations on our talkpage Follow us on Twitter: @wikiwomeninred Subscription options: Opt-in/Opt-out

--Megalibrarygirl (talk) 16:17, 27 April 2019 (UTC) via MassMessaging

The Signpost: 30 April 2019

• News and notes: An Action Packed April
  New Administrators, April Fools, our competitors, and other associated updates

• In the media: Is Wikipedia just another social media site?
  Harassment, a black hole, the Mueller Report, and Mötley Crüe - just another social media site?

• Discussion report: English Wikipedia community's conclusions on talk pages
  Plus: another round of paid editing discussion.

• Featured content: Anguish, accolades, animals, and art
  April's admirable additions.

• Arbitration report: An Active Arbitration Committee
  Policies and procedures, cases and controversies, and other ArbCom updates

• Traffic report: Mötley Crüe, Notre-Dame, a black hole, and Bonnie and Clyde
  Round up the unusual suspects

• Technology report: A new special page, and other news
  Welcoming English Wikipedia's newest admin (bot)

• Gallery: Notre-Dame de Paris burns
  Photos and videos show the damage

• News from the WMF: Can machine learning uncover Wikipedia’s missing “citation needed” tags?
  Wikimedia Foundation data scientists are using machine learning to predict whether—and why—any given sentence on Wikipedia may need a citation in order to help editors identify areas of content violating the verifiability policy.

• Recent research: Female scholars underrepresented; whitepaper on Wikidata and libraries; undo patterns reveal editor hierarchy
  And other recent research results

• From the archives: Portals revisited
  "The future of portals", a year later

• Humour: Jimbo and Larry walk into a bar ...
  Some editors will do anything to get a laugh

• Opinion: The gaps in our knowledge of our gaps
  What we know we don't know, and why it might matter more than you might think

• Interview: Katherine Maher marks 3 years as executive director
  Maher discusses her tenure as ED, the editing community, harassment and diversity, the WMF's 3-5 year plan, airplane travel, books, and her future.

• Community view: 2019 Wikimedia Summit gathers movement affiliate representatives to discuss movement strategy
  An overview of Wikimedia Summit 2019, a working conference to discuss the Wikimedia 2030 Movement Strategy Process, preparing draft recommendations for Wikimania 2019 in August.

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 17:37, 30 April 2019 (UTC)

WikiProject Tree of Life Newsletter

April 2019—Issue 001

Tree of Life

Welcome to the inaugural issue of the Tree of Life newsletter!

Newly recognized content

Sturgeon nominated by Atsme, reviewed by Chiswick Chap Eastern brown snake nominated by Casliber, reviewed by Opabinia regalis Cactus wren nominated by CaptainEek, reviewed by Sainsf Bidni nominated by PolluxWorld, reviewed by DepressedPer Crinoid nominated by Cwmhiraeth, reviewed by Chiswick Chap

Newly nominated FAs

Cretoxyrhina nominated by Macrophyseter Eastern brown snake nominated by Casliber

WikiCup heating up

Tree of Life editors are making a respectable showing in this year's WikiCup, with three regular editors advancing to the third round. Overall winner from 2016, Casliber, topped the scoreboard in points for round 2, getting a nice bonus for bringing Black mamba to FA. Enwebb continues to favor things remotely related to bats, bringing Stellaluna to GA. Plants editor Guettarda also advanced to round 3 with several plant-related DYKs.

Wikipedia page views track animal migrations, flowers blooming

A March 2019 paper in PLOS Biology found that Wikipedia page views vary seasonally for species. With a dataset of 31,751 articles about species, the authors found that roughly a quarter of all articles had significant seasonal variations in page views on at least one language version of Wikipedia. They examined 245 language versions. Page views also peaked with cultural events, such as views of the Great white shark article during Shark Week or Turkey during Thanksgiving.

Seasonal variation in page views among nine bird species

Did you know ... that Tree of Life editors bring content to the front page nearly every day?

April DYKs * ... that Dippy is the most famous dinosaur skeleton in the world? (1 April)

• ... that Coccothrinax jimenezii, a palm tree native to the island of Hispaniola, was listed as a critically endangered species within two years of its formal description? (5 April)
  
• ... that Hubbard's angel insects groom themselves and each other, perhaps in order to avoid the fungal diseases that kill many zorapterans? (6 April)
  
• ... that the polychaete worm Poecilochaetus serpens digs a burrow with its head and lines it with particles of clay or mud cemented with mucus? (8 April)
  
• ... that Promachocrinus is unusual among crinoids in having ten pairs of arms? (9 April)
  
• ... that while the fan palm Coccothrinax jamaicensis is the only Coccothrinax species native to Jamaica, the neighbouring island of Cuba has 39 native species? (10 April)
  
• ... that Sternaspis scutata swallows mud? (11 April)
  
• ... that the critically endangered Chinese alligator may have helped inspire the mythology of the Chinese dragon? (11 April)
  
• ... that the Indian Creek mushroom can be distinguished from chanterelles by its staining dark purple when cut or bruised? (12 April)
  
• ... that the mottled piculet likes to drum on bamboo? (13 April)
  
• ... that some leaves of the South African plant Romulea tortuosa are shaped like corkscrews? (15 April)
  
• ... that the colour and texture of the transparent lamellaria may vary according to the species of sea squirt on which it is living? (15 April)
  
• ... that the royal vole has larder chambers in its burrow but not latrines? (16 April)
  
• ... that the scientific name of the Chatham shag commemorates a former governor of New Zealand? (17 April)
  
• ... that the weevil species Sicoderus bautistai, described as resembling "black, shiny ants", is named after professional baseball player José Bautista? (18 April)
  
• ... that the dire whelk sometimes shares the prey of the ochre sea star while it is eating? (19 April)
  
• ... that in the 1970s, spoon worms helped promote biodiversity around the effluent outlets from the Los Angeles sewage system? (21 April)
  
• ... that some insect populations have declined dramatically? (22 April)
  
• ... that among the threats facing the "critically endangered" freshwater crayfish Euastacus dalagarbe are domestic livestock and cane toads? (23 April)
  
• ... that digger's speedwell is so named because it was thought to indicate the presence of gold? (24 April)
  
• ... that the yeast Candida blankii, first described from mink organs, is now known to infect humans? (25 April)
  
• ... that the young of the striking sea star are nourished in a manner described as "cannibalistic ectoparasitism"? (27 April)
  
• ... that the Bonin white-eye can evidently learn about new food sources by watching warbling white-eyes feed? (28 April)
  
• ... that the crinoid Aporometra wilsoni broods its young in cavities in the feathery pinnules on its arms? (30 April)
  

You are receiving this because you added your name to the subscribers list of the WikiProject Tree of Life. If you no longer wish to receive the newsletter, please remove your name.

MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 16:24, 7 May 2019 (UTC)

June events with WIR

June 2019, Volume 5, Issue 6, Numbers 107, 108, 122, 123, 124, 125 Check out what's happening in June at Women in Red: Virtual events: New topics: Pride / Royals / Space Geofocus: Mediterranean Continuing initiatives: Suffrage / #1day1woman Other ways you can participate: Help us plan our future events: Ideas Cafe Join the conversations on our talkpage Follow us on Twitter: @wikiwomeninred Subscription options: Opt-in/Opt-out

--Megalibrarygirl (talk) 17:42, 22 May 2019 (UTC) via MassMessaging

DYK for Clark Hubbs

On 30 May 2019, Did you know was updated with a fact from the article Clark Hubbs, which you recently created, substantially expanded, or brought to good article status. The fact was ... that Clark Hubbs was notorious for his collection of clothing depicting fish? The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Clark Hubbs. You are welcome to check how many page hits the article got while on the front page (here's how, Clark Hubbs), and it may be added to the statistics page if the total is over 5,000. Finally, if you know of an interesting fact from another recently created article, then please feel free to suggest it on the Did you know talk page.

 — Amakuru (talk) 00:01, 30 May 2019 (UTC)

Stuff bothers me that doesn't seem to get noticed by anyone else. Article says "... at the University of Texas in 1949." The cited home page adds "... (there was only one campus then)." Would it be reasonable to change to "... at the University of Texas in 1949 (Austin)." Shenme (talk) 03:42, 30 May 2019 (UTC)

@Shenme: Once an article is published it's no longer my article and I try my hardest not to be precious about articles I create. Wikipedia also encourages editors to "be bold". However, I think that your suggested edit is ambiguous and implies there were other campuses. I would suggest that a qualifier be added such as "at the University of Texas in 1949, which then had its only campus in Austin."Quetzal1964 (talk) 05:24, 30 May 2019 (UTC)

The Signpost: 31 May 2019

• From the editors: Picture that
  The North Face sneaks in advertisements, apologizes after being caught

• News and notes: Wikimania and trustee elections
  Get ready to go to Wikimania in Stockholm where you might meet two new trustees

• In the media: Politics, lawsuits and baseball
  Wikipedia finds itself up against China, Pennsylvania politicians and the Detroit Tigers

• Discussion report: Admin abuse leads to mass-desysop proposal on Azerbaijani Wikipedia
  Neutrality and copyright concerns lead and part 2 of the talk pages consultation.

• Arbitration report: ArbCom forges ahead
  Resignations, new cases, administrator security, and more

• Traffic report: Dark marvels, thrones, a vile serial killer biopic, that's entertainment!
  Who will be next to fill the throne at the top of the list?

• Technology report: Lots of Bots
  Admin bots, approved bots, bots on trial, lots and lots of bots

• News from the WMF: Wikimedia Foundation petitions the European Court of Human Rights to lift the block of Wikipedia in Turkey
  The WMF keeps working to stop Turkey from blocking Wikipedia.

• Recent research: Wikipedia more useful than academic journals, but is it stealing the news?
  And other new research publications

• Essay: Paid editing
  We've been talking about paid editing forever

• From the archives: FORUM:Should Wikimedia modify its terms of use to require disclosure?
  A debate from 5 years ago on whether we use to prohibit undisclosed paid editing

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 02:11, 31 May 2019 (UTC)

Wild Place Project

Wild Place Project isn't a zoo, it's an animal reservation. It's a 136 acre forest, and just because it's protected doesn't mean it's a zoo - They just didn't think brown bears and grey wolves wandering out of the reservation was a very smart idea. How about starting a discussion with me next time on the page's dedicated talk section before deleting all of contribution so hastily — Preceding unsigned comment added by Noah-x3 (talk • contribs) 06:00, 1 June 2019 (UTC)

@Noah-x3: It's a facility where animals are kept in captivity, maybe with bigger enclosures than the average zoo cage, and the public are charged for entrance. I don't see the difference between it and a safari park. There used to be a "bear park" at Balloch but I don't see anyone claiming that as a reintroduction of bears to Great Britain. It is run by Bristol Zoological Society and is called a conservation park, its the Bristol Zoo's equivalent of the Highland Wildlife Park or Whipsnade Zoo . I may have been quick to delete your edit but I was not hasty and I saw no need for discussion. Quetzal1964 (talk) 07:22, 1 June 2019 (UTC)

May 2019 Tree of Life Newsletter

May 2019—Issue 002

Tree of Life

Welcome to the Tree of Life newsletter!

Newly recognized content

Cretoxyrhina by Macrophyseter Bramble Cay melomys by The lorax/Vanamonde93, reviewed by Jens Lallensack Chimpanzee by LittleJerry/Chiswick Chap, reviewed by Tim riley Spinophorosaurus by FunkMonk/Jens Lallensack, reviewed by Enwebb Trachodon mummy by Jens Lallensack, reviewed by Gog the Mild Megabat by Enwebb, reviewed by Jens Lallensack

Newly nominated FAs

Spinophorosaurus by FunkMonk/Jens Lallensack Trachodon mummy by Jens Lallensack

Fundamental changes being discussed at WikiProject Biology

On 23 May, user Prometheus720 created a talk page post, "Revamp of Wikiproject Biology--Who is In?". In the days since, WP:BIOL has been bustling with activity, with over a dozen editors weighing in on this discussion, as well as several others that have subsequently spawned. An undercurrent of thought is that WP:BIOL has too many subprojects, preventing editors from easily interacting and stopping a "critical mass" of collaboration and engagement. Many mergers and consolidations of subprojects have been tentatively listed, with a consolidation of WikiProjects Genetics + Molecular and Cell Biology + Computational Biology + Biophysics currently in discussion. Other ideas being aired include updating old participants lists, redesigning project pages to make them more user-friendly, and clearly identifying long- and short-term goals.

Editor Spotlight: These editors want you to write about dinosaurs

Editors FunkMonk and Jens Lallensack had a very fruitful month, collaborating to bring two dinosaur articles to GA and then nominating them both for FA. They graciously decided to answer some questions for the first ToL Editor Spotlight, giving insight to their successful collaborations, explaining why you should collaborate with them, and also sharing some tidbits about their lives off-Wikipedia.

1) Enwebb: How long have you two been collaborating on articles?

• Jens Lallensack: I started in the German Wikipedia in 2005 but switched to the English Wikipedia because of its very active dinosaur project. My first major collaboration with FunkMonk was on Heterodontosaurus in 2015.
• FunkMonk: Yeah, we had interacted already on talk pages and through reviewing each other's articles, and at some point I was thinking of expanding Heterodontosaurus, and realised Jens had already written the German Wikipedia version, so it seemed natural to work together on the English one. Our latest collaboration was Spinophorosaurus, where by another coincidence, I had wanted to work on that article for the WP:Four Award, and it turned out that Jens had a German book about the expedition that found the dinosaur, which I wouldn't have been able to utilise with my meagre German skills. Between those, we also worked on Brachiosaurus, a wider Dinosaur Project collaboration between several editors.

2) Enwebb: Why dinosaurs?

• JL: Because of the huge public interest in them. But dinosaurs are also highly interesting from a scientific point of view: key evolutionary innovations emerged within this group, such as warm-bloodedness, gigantism, and flight. Dinosaur research is, together with the study of fossil human remains, the most active field in paleontology. New scientific techniques and approaches tend to get developed within this field. Dinosaur research became increasingly interdisciplinary, and now does not only rely on various fields of biology and geology, but also on chemistry and physics, among others. Dinosaurs are therefore ideal to convey scientific methodology to the general public.
• FM: As outlined above, dinosaurs have been described as a "gateway to science"; if you learn about dinosaurs, you will most likely also learn about a lot of scientific fields you would not necessarily be exposed to otherwise. On a more personal level, having grown up with and being influenced by various dinosaur media, it feels pretty cool to help spread knowledge about these animals, closest we can get to keeping them alive.

3) Enwebb: Why should other editors join you in writing articles related to paleontology? Are you looking to attract new editors, or draw in experienced editors from other areas of Wikipedia?

• JL: Because we are a small but active and helpful community. Our Dinosaur collaboration, one of the very few active open collaborations in Wikipedia, makes high-level writing on important articles easier and more fun. Our collaboration is especially open to editors without prior experience in high-level writing. But we do not only write articles: several WikiProject Dinosaur participants are artists who do a great job illustrating the articles, and maintain an extensive and very active image review system. In fact, a number of later authors started with contributing images.
• FM: Anyone who is interested in palaeontology is welcome to try writing articles, and we would be more than willing to help. I find that the more people that work on articles simultaneously with me, the more motivation I get to write myself. I am also one of those editors who started out contributing dinosaur illustrations and making minor edits, and only began writing after some years. But when I got to it, it wasn't as intimidating as I had feared, and I've learned a lot in the process. For example anatomy; if you know dinosaur anatomy, you have a very good framework for understanding the anatomy of other tetrapod animals, including humans.

4) Enwebb: Between the two of you, you have over 300 GA reviews. FunkMonk, you have over 250 of those. What keeps you coming back to review more articles?

• FM: One of the main reasons I review GANs is to learn more about subjects that seem interesting (or which I would perhaps not come across otherwise). There are of course also more practical reasons, such as helping an article on its way towards FAC, to reduce the GAN backlog, and to "pay back" when I have a nomination up myself. It feels like a win-win situation where I can be entertained by interesting info, while also helping other editors get their nominations in shape, and we'll end up with an article that hopefully serves to educate a lot of people (the greater good).
• JL: Because I enjoy reading Wikipedia articles and like to learn new things. In addition, reviews give me the opportunity to have direct contact with the authors, and help them to make their articles even better. This is quite rewarding for me personally. But I also review because I consider our GA and FA system to be of fundamental importance for Wikipedia. When I started editing Wikipedia (the German version), the article promotion reviews motivated me and improved my writing skills a lot. Submitting an article for review requires one to get serious and take additional steps to bring the article to the best quality possible. GAs and FAs are also a good starting point for readers, and may motivate them to become authors themselves.

5) Enwebb: What are your editing preferences? Any scripts or gadgets you find invaluable?

• FM: One script that everyone should know about is the duplink highlight tool. It will show duplinks within the intro and body of a given article separately, and it seems a lot of people still don't know about it, though they are happy when introduced to it. I really liked the citationbot too (since citation consistency is a boring chore to me), but it seems to be blocked at the moment due to some technical issues.
• JL: I often review using the Wikipedia Beta app on my smartphone, as it allows me to read without needing to sit in front of the PC. For writing, I find the reference management software Zotero invaluable, as it generates citation templates automatically, saving a lot of time.
  • Editor's note: I downloaded Zotero and tried it for the first time and think it is a very useful tool. More here.

6) Enwebb: What would surprise the ToL community to learn about your life off-wiki?

• FM: Perhaps that I have no background in natural history/science, but work with animation and games. But fascination with and knowledge of nature and animals is actually very helpful when designing and animating characters and creatures, so it isn't that far off, and I can actually use some of the things I learn while writing here for my work (when I wrote the Dromaeosauroides article, it was partially to learn more about the animal for a design-school project).
• JL: That I am actually doing research on dinosaurs. Though I avoid writing about topics I publish research on, my Wikipedia work helps me to keep a good general overview over the field, and quite regularly I can use what I learned while writing for Wikipedia for my research.

Get in touch with these editors regarding collaboration at WikiProject Dinosaurs!

Marine life continues to dominate ToL DYKs

May DYKs

• ... that the Pacific baza has been rumoured to imitate the calls of tree frogs when hunting, inducing them to return the call? (1 May)
• ... that 'Dumelow's Seedling' is known by more than 50 alternative names? (2 May)
• ... that staghorn hydrocoral grows on a mollusc shell occupied by a hermit crab? (3 May)
• ... that the burrow of the spoon worm Maxmuelleria lankesteri is sometimes modified by fish and crustaceans that take up occupancy there? (4 May)
• ... that the hairy sea squirt is preyed on by the Oregon hairy triton? (5 May)
• ... that the splendid hermit crab almost exclusively chooses to inhabit a shell on which a colonial hydroid is living? (8 May)
• ... that crinoids are closely related to sea urchins and starfish? (14 May)
• ... that El Drago Milenario, located in Parque del Drago, Tenerife, is the largest and oldest known specimen of Dracaena draco? (16 May)
• ... that the deepwater crinoid Notocrinus virilis broods its young in pouches on its arms? (17 May)
• ... that some ancient trees of the olive cultivar 'Bidni' have been recognised as "national monuments" in Malta? (18 May)
• ... that sturgeons are ancient fishes, widely sought after for caviar and more critically endangered than any other group of animal species? (19 May)
• ... that when several of the small bivalve molluscs Lasaea rubra occupy the same rock crevice, they are likely to be clones? (21 May)
• ... that the small crustacean Pseudamphithoides incurvaria builds itself a home out of forded sea tumbleweed, a brown seaweed that is distasteful to fish? (23 May)
• ... that while a red Irish lord can change color, it is not a yellow Irish lord? (24 May)
• ... that the whiteknee hermit crab is benefitted by the presence of the hedgehog hydroid but harmed by the barnacle Clistosaccus? (25 May)

Discuss this issue

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July events from Women in Red!

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The June 2019 Signpost is out!

• Discussion report: A constitutional crisis hits English Wikipedia
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June 2019 Tree of Life Newsletter

June 2019—Issue 003

Tree of Life

Welcome to the Tree of Life newsletter!

Newly recognized content

Masked booby by Casliber and Aa77zz, reviewed by Jens Lallensack Rook (bird) by Cwmhiraeth, reviewed by J Milburn Vernonopterus by Ichthyovenator, reviewed by Super Dromaeosaurus Campylocephalus by Ichthyovenator, reviewed by Super Dromaeosaurus Unionopterus by Super Dromaeosaurus, reviewed by Ashorocetus Big Cat, Little Cat by Barkeep49, reviewed by J Milburn Félicette by Kees08, reviewed by Nova Crystallis

Newly nominated content

Masked booby by Casliber Adelophthalmidae Plains zebra by LittleJerry Letter-winged kite by Casliber

Relative WikiWork

Project name	Relative WikiWork
Cats	4.79
Fisheries and fishing	4.9
Dogs	4.91
Viruses	4.91
ToL	4.94
Cetaceans	4.97
Primates	4.98
Sharks	5.04
All wikiprojects average	5.05
Dinosaurs	5.12
Equine	5.15
Bats	5.25
Mammals	5.32
Aquarium fishes	5.35
Hypericaceae	5.38
Turtles	5.4
Birds	5.46
Australian biota	5.5
Marine life	5.54
Animals	5.56
Paleontology	5.57
Rodents	5.58
Amphibians and Reptiles	5.64
Fungi	5.65
Bivalves	5.66
Plants	5.67
Algae	5.68
Arthropods	5.69
Hymenoptera	5.72
Microbiology	5.72
Cephalopods	5.74
Fishes	5.76
Ants	5.79
Gastropods	5.8
Spiders	5.86
Insects	5.9
Beetles	5.98
Lepidoptera	5.98

Spineless editors overwhelmed by stubs

Within the Tree of Life and its many subprojects, there is an abundance of stubs. Welcome to Wikipedia, what's new, right? However, based on all wikiprojects listed (just over two thousand), the Tree of Life project is worse off in average article quality than most. Based on the concept of relative WikiWork (the average number of "steps" needed to have a project consisting of all featured articles (FAs), where stub status → FA consists of six steps), only seven projects within the ToL have an average rating of "start class" or better. Many projects, particularly those involving invertebrates, hover at an average article quality slightly better than a stub. With relative WikiWorks of 5.98 each, WikiProject Lepidoptera and WikiProject Beetles have the highest relative WikiWork of any project. Given that invertebrates are incredibly speciose, it may not surprise you that many articles about them are lower quality. WikiProject Beetles, for example, has over 20 times more articles than WikiProject Cats. Wikipedia will always be incomplete, so we should take our relatively low WikiWork as motivation to write more articles that are also better in quality.

Editor Spotlight: Showing love to misfit taxa

We're joined for this month's Editor Spotlight by NessieVL, a long-time contributor who lists themselves as a member of WikiProject Fungus, WikiProject Algae, and WikiProject Cephalopods.

1) Enwebb: How did you come to edit articles about organisms and taxonomic groups?

• Nessie: The main force, then and now, driving me to create or edit articles is thinking "Why isn't there an article on that on Wikipedia?" Either I'll read about some rarely-sighted creature in the deep sea or find something new on iNaturalist and want to learn more. First stop (surprise!) is Wikipedia, and many times there is just a stub or no page at all. Sometimes I just add the source that got me to the article, not sometimes I go deep and try to get everything from the library or online journals and put it all in an article. The nice thing about taxa is the strong precedent that all accepted extant taxa are notable, so one does not need to really worry about doing a ton of research and having the page get removed. I was super worried about this as a new editor: I still really dislike conflict so if I can avoid it I do. Anyway, the most important part is stitching an article in to the rest of Wikipedia: Linking all the jargon, taxonomers, pollinators, etc., adding categories, and putting in the correct WikiProjects. Recently I have been doing more of the stitching-in stuff with extant articles. The last deep-dive article I made was Karuka at the end of last year, which is a bit of a break for me. I guess it's easier to do all the other stuff on my tablet while watching TV.

2) Enwebb: Many editors in the ToL are highly specialized on a group of taxa. A look at your recently created articles includes much diversity, though, with viruses, bacteria, algae, and cnidarians all represented—are there any commonalities for the articles you work on? Would you say you're particularly interested in certain groups?

• Nessie: I was a nerd from a time when that would get you beat up, so I like odd things and underdogs. I also avoid butting heads, so not only do I find siphonophores and seaweeds fascinating I don't have to worry about stepping on anyone's toes. I go down rabbitholes where I start writing an article like Mastocarpus papillatus because I found some growing on some rocks, then in my research I see it is parasitized by Pythium porphyrae, which has no article, and how can that be for an oomycete that oddly lives in the ocean and also attacks my tasty nori. So then I wrote that article and that got me blowing off the dust on other Oomycota articles, encouraged by the pull of propagating automatic taxoboxes. Once you've done the taxonomy template for the genus, well then you might as well do all the species now that the template is taken care of for them too. and so on until I get sucked in somewhere else. I think it's good to advocate for some of these 'oddball' taxa as it makes it easier for editors to expand their range from say plants to the pathogenic microorganisms of their favorite plant.

My favorite clades though, It's hard to pick for a dilettante like me. I like working on virus taxonomy, but I can't think of a specific virus species that I am awed by. Maybe Tulip breaking virus for teaching us economics or Variola virus for having so many smallpox deities, one of which was popularly sung about by Desi Arnaz and then inspired the name of a cartoon character who was then misremembered and then turned into a nickname for Howard Stern's producer Gary Dell'Abate. Sorry, really had to share that chain, but for a species that's not a staple food it probably has the most deities. But anyway, for having the most species that wow me, I love a good fungus or algae, but that often is led by my stomach. Also why I seem to research so many plant articles. You can't eat siphonophores, at least I don't, but they are fascinating with their federalist colonies of zooids. Bats are all amazing, but the task force seems to have done so much I feel the oomycetes and slime moulds need more love. Same thing with dinosaurs (I'm team Therizinosaurus though). But honestly, every species has that one moment in the research where you just go, wow, that's so interesting. For instance, I loved discovering that the picture-winged fly (Delphinia picta) has a mating dance that involves blowing bubbles. Now I keep expecting them to show me when they land on my arm, but no such luck yet.

3) Enwebb: I noticed that many of your recent edits utilize the script Rater, which aids in quickly reassessing the quality and importance of an article. Why is it important to update talk page assessments of articles? I also noticed that the quality rating you assign often aligns with ORES, a script that uses machine-learning to predict article quality. Coincidence?

• Nessie: I initially started focusing on WikiProject talk page templates because they seem to be the key to data collecting and maintenance for articles, much more so than categories. This is where you note of an article needs an image, or audio, or a range map. It's how the cleanup listing bot sorts articles, and how Plantdrew does his automated taxobox usage stats. The latter inspired me to look for articles on organisms that are not assigned to any ToL WikiProjects which initially was in the thousands. I got it down to zero with just copypasta so you can imagine I was excited when I saw the rater tool. Back then I rated everything stub/low because it was faster: I couldn't check every article for the items on the B-class checklists. Plus each project has their own nuances to rating scales and I thought the editors in the individual projects would take it from there. I also thought all species were important, so how can I choose a favorite? Now it is much easier with the rater tool and the apparent consensus with Abductive's method of rating by the pageviews (0-9 views/day is low, 10-99 is med, 100-999 is high...). For the quality I generally go by the ORES rating, you caught me. It sometimes is thrown off by a long list of species or something, but it's generally good for stub to C: above that needs formal investigation and procedures I am still learning about. It seems that in the ToL projects we don't focus so much on getting articles to GA/FA so it's been harder to pick up. It was a little culture shock when I went on the Discord server and it seemed everyone was obsessed with getting articles up in quality. I think ToL is focusing on all the missing taxa and (re)organizing it all, which when you already have articles on every anime series or whatever you can focus on bulking the articles up more. In any event, on my growing to-do list is trying to get an article up to FA or GA and learn the process that way so I can better do the quality ratings and not just kick the can down the road.

4) Enwebb: What, if anything, can ToL and its subprojects do to better support collaboration and coordination among editors? How can we improve?

• Nessie: I mentioned earlier that the projects are the main way maintenance is done. And it is good that we have a bunch of subprojects that let those tasks get broken up into manageable pieces. Frankly I'm amazed anything gets done with WikiProject Plants with how huge its scope is. Yet this not only parcels out the work but the discussion as well. A few editors like Peter coxhead and Plantdrew keep an eye on many of the subprojects and spread the word, but it's still easy for newer editors to get a little lost. There should be balance between the lumping and splitting. The newsletter helps by crossing over all the WikiProjects, and if the discord channel picked up that would help too. Possibly the big Enwiki talk page changes will help as well.

5) Enwebb: What would surprise the ToL community to learn about your life off-Wikipedia?

• Nessie: I'm not sure anything would be surprising. I focus on nature offline too, foraging for mushrooms or wild plants and trying to avoid ticks and mosquitos. I have started going magnet fishing lately, more to help clean up the environment than in the hopes of finding anything valuable. But it would be fun to find a weapon and help solve a cold case or something.

June DYKs

June DYKs

• ... that the deep-sea coral species Gersemia juliepackardae was named for Julie Packard, executive director of Monterey Bay Aquarium, for her work as an ocean conservationist? (1 June)
• ... that despite a genus name referring to its dull leaves, Astilbe chinensis was celebrated as the most important new hardy perennial by the Royal Horticultural Society in 1902? (2 June)
• ... that the pea crab Tunicotheres moseri lives inside the water-filled chamber of a sea squirt? (4 June)
• ... that the primrose family and the evening primrose family are not closely related? (5 June)
• ... that Calma glaucoides has such a rich diet of eggs that it does not need an anus? (6 June)
• ... that the pea crab Calyptraeotheres garthi effectively castrates its slipper limpet host, but breeding resumes if the crab is removed? (11 June)
• ... that if the disc coral Cycloseris cyclolites gets buried in sediment, it can "float" itself free? (16 June)
• ... that the sea cucumber Leptopentacta elongata has a U-shaped or S-shaped body and occupies a burrow in the seabed? (17 June)
• ... that Al Hoceima National Park is one of the few locations where the ribbed Mediterranean limpet survives? (18 June)
• ... that the marine worm Themiste pyroides is unusual in that it forms swarms when breeding? (20 June)
• ... that cut branches of the small tree Erythrina berteroana are used to make living fence posts? (26 June)
• ... that the ripe seed pods of Brachystegia eurycoma burst explosively and throw out the large disc-shaped seeds? (28 June)
• ... that Swedish entomologist Carl H. Lindroth suggested that more than 40 species of North American ground beetle were inadvertently transported from Europe in ship's ballast? (29 June)
• ... that the sea hedgehog is a cannibal? (29 June)

Discuss this issue

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sent by ZLEA via MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 20:29, 3 July 2019 (UTC)

DYK for Diplecogaster bimaculata

On 16 July 2019, Did you know was updated with a fact from the article Diplecogaster bimaculata, which you recently created, substantially expanded, or brought to good article status. The fact was ... that the clingfish Diplecogaster bimaculata has been photographed cleaning a moray eel? The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Diplecogaster bimaculata. You are welcome to check how many page hits the article got while on the front page (here's how, Diplecogaster bimaculata), and it may be added to the statistics page if the total is over 5,000. Finally, if you know of an interesting fact from another recently created article, then please feel free to suggest it on the Did you know talk page.

valereee (talk) 00:02, 16 July 2019 (UTC)

August 2019 at Women in Red

August 2019, Volume 5, Issue 7, Numbers 107, 108, 126, 129, 130, 131 Check out what's happening in August at Women in Red... Virtual events: New: Film+Stage / Indigenous women / Millennial countries Continuing: Sports (through August 31st) / Suffrage / #1day1woman Editor feedback: Check out the conversation regarding: August's Indigenous Women event and the REDress Project Help us plan our future events at the Ideas Cafe Join the conversations on our talkpage Social media: Facebook / Instagram / Pinterest / Twitter Subscription options: Opt-in/Opt-out

--Rosiestep (talk) 06:46, 29 July 2019 (UTC) via MassMessaging

The Signpost: 31 July 2019

• News and notes: Wikimedia grants less accessible for travel, equipment, meetups, and India
  WMF grants program changes position on funding random individuals globally and 100 crore people in one region

• In the media: Politics starts getting rough
  Are we ready for the sharp elbows?

• Discussion report: New proposals in aftermath of Fram ban
  Resysop requests on the ’crat board prove controversial; plus, aftermath of Framgate.

• Arbitration report: A month of reintegration
  Arbitration begins setting new boundaries after the June blow-up

• Gallery: Classic panoramas from Heinrich Berann
  It looks nice and cool up in those mountains

• On the bright side: What's making you happy this month?
  A selection of good news and encouraging stories that are from the Wikiverse.

• Community view: Video based summaries of Wikipedia articles. How and why?
  It's easy, education saves lives.

• News from the WMF: Designing ethically with AI: How Wikimedia can harness machine learning in a responsible and human-centered way
  Or, how to avoid Artificial Ignorance

• Recent research: Most influential medical journals; detecting pages to protect
  And other new research publications

• Special report: Administrator cadre continues to contract
  A new record set: fewer than 500 active admins.

• Traffic report: World cups, presidential candidates, and stranger things
  and don't forget the movies

• In focus: The French Wikipedia is overtaking the German
  Who is growing? Who is not?

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Tree of Life Newsletter

July 2019—Issue 004

Tree of Life

Welcome to the Tree of Life newsletter!

Newly recognized content

List of felids by PresN Masked booby by Casliber Letter-winged kite by Casliber, reviewed by Jens Lallensack Plains zebra by LittleJerry, reviewed by starsandwhales Ornithogalum umbellatum by Michael Goodyear, reviewed by Jens Lallensack

Newly nominated content

Letter-winged kite by Casliber Megabat by Enwebb Onychopterella by Super Dromaeosaurus Dvulikiaspis by Super Dromaeosaurus Kosmoceratops by FunkMonk Clussexx Three D Grinchy Glee by Hunter Kahn Giant golden-crowned flying fox by Enwebb Myxomatosis by Rabbit Vet

Two Tree of Life editors in WikiCup round of 16

The WikiCup, an annual editing competition, is now in its fourth round. Casliber, consistent participant since 2010 and winner in 2016, is currently dominating Group A with 601 points. Largely responsible is the successful Featured Article nomination of Masked booby. The other remaining Tree of Life participant, Enwebb, is participating in her first ever WikiCup. In this round, she has a grand total of...5 points. But with the recent Featured Article nomination of Megabat, she stands to gain 600 points if successful. As it stands, though, it appears that at least one ToL editor is headed to the fifth and final round of 8 contestants, which begins September 1.

Thus far, all participants in the WikiCup have generated 17 Featured Articles, 116 Good Articles, 16 Featured Lists, and 57 Featured Pictures. The Good Article Nominations backlog has been reduced as well, with 286 Good Article Reviews.

Editor spotlight: Photographing the tree of life

For this month's editor spotlight we're joined by Charlesjsharp, a longtime contributor to Wikimedia Commons with a plethora of featured pictures on English Wikipedia.

1) Starsandwhales: How long have you been editing Wikipedia, and how did you get interested? How did you begin your journey of photographing wildlife?

• Charlesjsharp: I uploaded my first pictures to Wikipedia twelve years ago for fun, to show my kids how it works. The pictures of my daughter (static trapeze), my son (Revell), my dog (Border Terrier) and my parents’ home (Tealing) are all still in the articles! I then started to upload wildlife images.

I’d got my first camera aged eight and went on my first safari in the Kruger Park, South Africa in 1970. I was hooked. I switched to digital in 2004, but didn’t buy any high-end lenses till 2014. Such a shame that hundreds of great photos I took before then look so dreadful by today’s quality standards. My 100-400mm lens transformed mammal and bird photography opportunities and when I got my 100mm macro lens in 2016, the whole new world of insects was open for business.

Pied kingfisher eating a chick, photographed by Charlesjsharp

2) S&W: Over the years, you've taken photos of many different organisms from birds to insects to big cats; you have an extensive list of favorite images. Which animals have been the most exciting for you to photograph?

• Charlesjsharp: The trophy animals the hunters used to shoot are the ones I like to shoot too: it was lion, elephant and baboon in 1970. More recently, hunting for tiger by jeep in Kanha National Park in India was exciting and so was searching for jaguar by boat in the rivers of the Pantanal in Brazil. Our encounters with the mountain gorillas in Rwanda and Uganda was amazing, but the actual photography was no challenge.

But photographing animal behaviour is the most exciting and challenging. There’s usually movement and it all happens so fast, like when a bird captures its prey. Every now and then you snap something really unusual – like the cannibal kingfisher

3) S&W: Many articles under ToL have requests for people to add images that can go unanswered. What can the community do to improve the coverage of different organisms on Wikipedia, especially when it comes to images?

• Charlesjsharp: It’s a very time consuming process because the Wikipedia code is cumbersome (*see below). It take an age to upload to Commons: to describe, categorize, geocode. Many of the categories don’t exist so have to be created. If the image is of a subspecies, then all the images have to be checked before you can nominate an image for VI. It’s also takes ages to nominate images for VI and QI on Commons. May be some users use sophisticated tools to lighten the load, but I don’t know if they exist. In other words, Wikipedia is OK, but Commons is a nightmare. Hundreds of really poor quality photos clog up the system and some users are too lazy to filter and edit their nominations.
  

Recently, some thoughtless editor added a ‘caption’ box to Commons. A waste of time. The image title should act as the caption.

I applied for a grant to attend Wikimania, but was unsuccessful. Not much can happen without some funding to kickstart and then drive improvements forward.
Here was my response to the question: "How can we increase the quality and diversity of images being uploaded and, in particular, improve the Featured Picture, Quality Image and Valued Image projects?"

Panther chameleon male, photographed by Charlesjsharp

1. Work together on pre-defined projects to develop a team spirit that will help us develop a set of shared values

2. Through brainstorming, Identify what we need to do to improve the quality and diversity of images being uploaded and, in particular, identify what we need to do to improve the credibility of the Featured Picture, Quality Image and Valued Image projects

3. By sharing our photographic skills, find ways to share skills with the community. Knowledge transfer is time-consuming and we need to set limited objectives and realistic time frames. This will require compromise as individuals have to listen and find ways to agree. This is going to be much easier through face-to-face meetings

3. Identify what we need to do to improve the quality and diversity of images being uploaded (diversity of contributor and diversity in subject) and, in particular, identify what we need to do to improve the credibility of the Featured Picture, Quality Image and Valued Image projects

4. Spend more time talking about values and knowledge transfer than sharing photography tips amongst delegates, then getting all delegates to agree to DO SOMETHING WHEN THEY GET HOME to take things forward.

4) S&W: What advice would you give to people new to photographing wildlife?

• Charlesjsharp: An impossible question unless you know what someone’s objective is. So you’re on your first safari? Borrow or rent a decent camera and a quality 300mm lens. Then read a few of the dozens of free advice pages on the internet. Then when you’re out and about, take the lens cap off and set the camera to fully automatic sports mode. Be ready. If you’ve time, get in the right place (sunlight/background). Watch the animal’s behaviour. Point and shoot. Glance at the screen. If OK, repeat. Only then start playing with the settings to optimise shutter speed, F number and ISO.
  

5) S&W: What would the Tree of Life community be surprised to learn about your life off-wiki?

• Charlesjsharp: I used to be a high-end stamp collector (early USA). My photography is a sort of collecting. And I’m a keen bridge player.

* An example of cumbersome code: getting the layout of my responses to your questions. So dated, and no online spellchecker.

July DYKs

• ... that the wildlife of Senegal includes a critically endangered subspecies of the giant eland and the common Senegal one-striped grass mouse? (July 1)

Cycloseris distorta

Tiny the Wonder, killing rats
at the Blue Anchor Tavern

Episcia cupreata flower

• ... that the free-living, solitary coral Cycloseris distorta (pictured) can subdivide its stony skeleton and form two new individuals? (July 4)
• ... that the wildlife of Nigeria includes 940 species of bird and all eight known species of West African mangrove? (July 6)
• ... that Hypericum olympicum , an Award of Garden Merit winner, is toxic to dogs, cats, and horses? (July 10)
• ... that flyways used by migrating wetland birds have traditional staging points where they can rebuild their energy reserves? (July 12)
• ... that in two species of megabat, males have been observed to produce milk? (July 13)
• ... that the cave-nesting rockwarbler has also been called the "hanging dick" because of its nest? (July 15)
• ... that Strombosia pustulata is one of over two hundred species of tree growing in the Omo Forest Reserve? (July 16)
• ... that Tiny the Wonder (pictured) could kill 200 rats per hour in London's rat-baiting pits? (July 17)
• ... that the clingfish Diplecogaster bimaculata has been photographed cleaning a moray eel? (July 17)
• ... that in South Africa, the mosquito Anopheles funestus used to breed in fast-moving streams but now prefers swamps? (July 18)
• ... that while the leaf shape varies among hybrids of Episcia cupreata (pictured), the flowers always have the same form? (July 19)
• ... that Sommen charrs are a relict population that has survived because of Lake Sommen's great depth, and its cold and oxygen-rich waters? (July 20)
• ... that the extinction of the Bramble Cay melomys was described as the first for a mammal species due to anthropogenic climate change? (July 21)
• ... that Félicette, the first cat in space, was subjected to 9.5 g of acceleration and five minutes of weightlessness? (July 22)
• ... that the fly Phytobia betulae is just 5 mm (0.2 in) long but the tunnel made by its larva inside a birch tree may reach 17 m (56 ft)? (July 23)
• ... that rooks are intelligent birds and can rival or even beat chimpanzees in puzzle-solving tests? (July 24)
• ... that the Guinean striped mojarra is one of the fish caught in the less polluted part of the Ébrié Lagoon (July 27)
• ... that a new disease which is deadly to corals is spreading from the Florida Keys to other parts of the Caribbean? (July 28)
• ... that the yellow-footed honeyguide probably includes beeswax in its diet? (July 30)

Discuss this issue

You are receiving this because you added your name to the subscribers list of the WikiProject Tree of Life. If you no longer wish to receive the newsletter, please remove your name.

Sent by ZLEA via MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 18:59, 1 August 2019 (UTC)

DYK for Ornate rainbowfish

On 14 August 2019, Did you know was updated with a fact from the article Ornate rainbowfish, which you recently created, substantially expanded, or brought to good article status. The fact was ... that the ornate rainbowfish can survive in water as acidic as orange juice? The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Ornate rainbowfish. You are welcome to check how many page hits the article got while on the front page (here's how, Ornate rainbowfish), and it may be added to the statistics page if the total is over 5,000. Finally, if you know of an interesting fact from another recently created article, then please feel free to suggest it on the Did you know talk page.

— Maile (talk) 00:01, 14 August 2019 (UTC)

September 2019 at Women in Red

September 2019, Volume 5, Issue 9, Numbers 107, 108, 132, 133, 134, 135 Check out what's happening in September at Women in Red... Online events: New: Law / Military history / Writers / Geofocus: defunct countries Continuing: Suffrage / #1day1woman Editor feedback: Check out the conversation regarding: Missing articles about notable women by "nationality" vs. "country of citizenship" Help us plan our future events at the Ideas Cafe Join the conversations on our talkpage Social media: Facebook / Instagram / Pinterest / Twitter Stay in touch: Join WikiProject Women in Red / Opt-out of notifications

--Rosiestep (talk) 16:25, 27 August 2019 (UTC) via MassMessaging

The Signpost: 30 August 2019

• News and notes: Documenting Wikimania and our beginnings
  The oldest surviving Wikipedia edit restored to article history, Wikimania, and the mystery of a disappearing Funds Dissemination Committee.

• In focus: Ryan Merkley joins WMF as Chief of Staff
  Working with leadership and the community, taking on both operational and strategic responsibilities

• In the media: Many layers of fake news: Fake fiction and fake news vandalism
  And the media report it all

• Discussion report: Meta proposals on partial bans and IP users
  Can we survive without IP addresses?

• Traffic report: Once upon a time in Greenland with Boris and cornflakes
  And some summer flicks with the usual heroes and villains

• Op-Ed: We couldn't have told you this, but Wikipedia was censored
  Should we break the law or publish the truth?

• Opinion: The Curious Case of Croatian Wikipedia
  Or how to make a concentration camp disappear?

• Community view: Chinese Wikipedia and the battle against extradition from Hong Kong
  From streets to Wikipedia - What are editors from Hong Kong facing?

• News from the WMF: Meet Emna Mizouni, the newly minted 2019 Wikimedian of the Year
  Emna Mizouni was named the 2019 Wikimedian of the Year.

• Recent research: Special issue on gender gap and gender bias research
  A roundup of many recent publications examining Wikpedia's gender gaps in participation and content, and their possible reasons

• On the bright side: What's making you happy this month?
  A selection of good news and encouraging stories that are from the Wikiverse

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 23:42, 30 August 2019 (UTC)

August 2019 Tree of Life Newsletter

August 2019—Issue 005

Tree of Life

Welcome to the Tree of Life newsletter!

Newly recognized content

Letter-winged kite by Casliber Megabat by Enwebb Rock parrot by Casliber Adelophthalmidae by Super Dromaeosaurus Giant golden-crowned flying fox by Enwebb, reviewed by Starsandwhales Myxomatosis by Rabbit Vet, reviewed by Chiswick Chap Tylopterella by Super Dromaeosaurus, reviewed by Starsandwhales and Enwebb Kosmoceratops by FunkMonk, reviewed by Jens Lallensack Slender glass lizard by SL93, reviewed by Casliber Guano by Enwebb, reviewed by Chiswick Chap Dvulikiaspis by Super Dromaeosaurus, reviewed by Casliber Rock parrot by Casliber, reviewed by The Rambling Man Leptospirosis by Cerevisae, reviewed by Ajpolino Hepatitis E by Ozzie10aaaa, reviewed by Casliber Cardabiodon by Macrophyseter, reviewed by FunkMonk Clostridium tetani by Ajpolino, reviewed by Chiswick Chap

Newly nominated content

Kosmoceratops by FunkMonk Western yellow robin by Casliber Pekarangan by Dhio270599 Hibbertopterus by Ichthyovenator

What's the relevance of WikiJournals to WP:TOL?

WikiJournal of Science is an open-access, peer-reviewed journal

One publishing pipeline for WikiJSci

Guest column by Thomas Shafee (Evolution and evolvability), Editor in Chief of WikiJournal of Science

The Tree of Life WikiProject and its sprawling phylogeny of daughter projects is one of the largest and most active communities in Wikipedia. It encompasses approximately 570 Featured Articles and well over a thousand Good Articles (second only to military history). The WikiJournal of Science (one of three current journals in the user group) has a few aims that may closely align with the interests of the ToL community.

Review of existing articles

Firstly, WikiJSci can be a complementary system for FA review (getting external review, input, and validity). When an Wikipedia article is nominated (via WP:JAN), journal editors go out to non-Wikipedian academics and researchers who have published on the subject on the last five years and invite them to give feedback comments (e.g. Peripatric speciation and Baryonyx). The resulting changes can then be integrated back into the Wikipedia article.

Attracting new articles and contributors

Getting more editors involved in Wikipedia is always a high priority. WikiJSci can also be a way to encourage new people to contribute articles (especially on missing/stub/start topics). An example of an article that was written from scratch by a group of non-Wikipedians is Teladorsagia circumcincta. This not only resulted in a new Wikipedia page on an underdeveloped topic, but introduced the idea of Wikimedia contribution to a group of people who had previously never considered it.

Images, videos, sound and galleries

The journal can be a way to get multimedia content reviewed or encourage contribution. The same approach could be easily adapted to sounds (e.g. frog mating calls) or videos (e.g. starfish feet motion). It also allows for tracking of those images in new articles via Altmetric (this example has >200, which is bananas). There aren't any biology examples in WikiJSci yet, but the sister medical journal has published a few summary diagrams, photography, and image galleries. Examples include this gallery by Blausen Medical or the diagram of cell disassembly during apoptosis.

Other projects

For those interested in other Wikimedia sister projects, there's also broad scope for interactions with the WikiJournals. Perhaps peer reviewed teaching resources could be useful to sit alongside sets of Wikipedia articles and be integrated into Wikiversity courses (like this or this)? Can sections of Wikidata & Wikispecies be peer reviewed? What are the potential avenues for integration with WikiCite, WikiFactMine, Scholia, etc.? Currently, WikiJSci is aiming to be very flexible and try out different formats so long as they can be externally peer reviewed.

For more info, see the 2019-06-30 Signpost article and the current sister project proposal.

Editor spotlight: Cwmhiraeth

1) Enwebb: You're very prolific with DYKs, with over 2,000 nominations credited (in fact, I'll highlight which DYK nominations this month were yours below). What made you become so involved in this part of Wikipedia? Why should Tree of Life editors nominate articles for DYK?

Cwmhiraeth: I became aware of the WikiCup in 2012 and entered the contest. The scoring structure seemed to me to favour DYKs, and I went to considerable trouble to identify short stubs that could be expanded into qualifying start class articles with multiple bonus points. Casliber introduced me to preparing articles for FAC and Sasata helped me with my first solo FA. I won the WikiCup that year, and repeated that success the following year, after which the Cup got a bit more competitive. By that time, nominating articles for DYK was an ingrained habit, and I have continued doing so ever since, but at a rather slower rate. I do more work behind the scenes at DYK now, reviewing other people's nominations in excess of my QPQ requirement, and building prep sets ready to go on the main page, and I retired from competing in the WikiCup and became a judge instead. I would encourage ToL editors to nominate suitable articles for DYK because it gives great satisfaction to know that hundreds or even thousands of people have appreciated your work, and it provides a foil for the biographies and historical articles that predominate there.

2) Enwebb: I noticed that your DYK nominations reflect a diverse array of flora and fauna, from trees, marine invertebrates, birds, fishes, and mammals. How do you decide what to work on?

Cwmhiraeth: As I look around different articles I keep a note of things I might work on, red links, stub articles that need expanding or places in articles where I would like to add a wikilink but no suitable target page exists. So I have this list, but more often than not I choose a new article to work on based on a Google book that I have been using in a previous article. I like Google books; some of them are really useful for species articles, the main annoyance being when certain pages are permanently unavailable, although I am quite good at tricking the books into revealing pages that they were trying to prevent me from viewing. Eventually I get bored with African rodents, or whatever my present topic is, and move on. I am particularly interested in organisms living in extreme habitats, endangered species, invasive species, pest species, parasites or creatures with interesting behavioural traits.

3) Enwebb: Which of your Wikipedia accomplishments are you most proud of?

Cwmhiraeth: Well, Sea really. Again that was inspired by the WikiCup, and working in collaboration with Chiswick Chap, we took it from virtually nothing, little more than a list of seas, through DYK and GA, culminating in a really tough FA. That was very satisfying (as were the 1000 odd points it gained me at the WikiCup). In complete contrast was the article Tree. I completely rewrote it in a sandbox as an entry for the "Core contest". The previous version had been quite short with a section on "Record breaking trees" which I hived off into a separate article. My new version was immediately challenged and an edit war would have erupted had I not decided to retire from the fray. My version had some serious flaws, I had never studied botany and I had used a book source which misled me. However, after corrections, my version largely remained in place and I later joined Chiswick Chap in bringing the article to GA status.

4) Enwebb: What motivates you to keep contributing? What's your 10,000 ft view (pardon the non-SI) of the community and Tree of Life?

Cwmhiraeth: I think Wikipedia is a really great project. The idea of Wikipedia as a pool of knowledge contributed to by thousands of individuals in hundreds of countries is inspiring. It would be nice if we had no vandalism and everyone co-operated with everyone else in an amicable spirit, but as we are all human, it does not quite work out like that. I like to think of my efforts as a legacy that will continue in existence after I am gone.

6) Enwebb: How did you first become interested in natural history?

Cwmhiraeth: When I was young I had an elderly aunt who used to come to stay and who would take me for walks in the countryside, during which we would watch birds and identify wild flowers. She would take me out at weekends from my girls-only boarding school and we would search for orchids on the Wiltshire Downs. My school was not geared up for science, we just did general science for O-levels, and when it came to A-levels, I was the only pupil in my year to do zoology and chemistry, and one of only two to do physics, for which we had to cycle off to the grammar school on the other side of town. I wanted to be a vet, but was discouraged by my father, obtained a BSc in biochemistry and ended up in an unrelated job. If I were to live my life again, things might work out differently, but then I dare say we could all say that!

August DYKs

Weebill

Nanhaipotamon macau

P. lutzii (yeast phase)

Cannonball mangrove

Ruspolia nitidula male

Female kob and calf

• ... that falguera, a plant known from only one valley in Spain, is threatened by rock climbers and by road maintenance? (1 August)
• ... that Dioscorea chouardii is known from a single crag in the Pyrenees and has been monitored using scaffolding and telescopes? (3 August)
• ... that the tree Humbertia madagascariensis, whose durable timber is used in heavy construction, is a member of the morning glory family? (4 August)
• ... that the new pine knot-horn is a serious pest of maritime pine plantations? (5 August)
• ... that William Pope created "the first comprehensive, well executed pictorial record of Canadian birds"? (7 August)
• ... that fronds of the seaweed Halimeda tuna each consist of a single cell? (8 August)
• ... that Elongatoolithus, Macroolithus, and Nanhsiungoolithus were the first types of fossil eggs to be given names in the modern classification system? (9 August)
• ... that the maple Acer beckianum was described from a piece of petrified wood found near Vantage, Washington, in 1954? (10 August)
• ... that the queen parrotfish feeds on the algae it scrapes from corals and other surfaces, resulting in bioerosion? (11 August)
• ... that the weebill (pictured), measuring 8 to 9 cm (3.1 to 3.5 in) long, is Australia's smallest bird? (12 August)
• ... that sheep infected with the parasitic nematode Teladorsagia circumcincta may suffer from protein deficiency? (12 August)
• ... that the Sahel bush sparrow, found in the Oti Valley Faunal Reserve, is one of 676 species of bird recorded in Togo? (13 August)
• ... that the Ethiopian white-footed mouse and the Ethiopian forest brush-furred rat are two of the most abundant rodents in the montane forests of Ethiopia? (13 August)
• ... that Dardanus deformis is one of at least 24 species of hermit crab that transfer sea anemones to a new shell? (14 August)
• ... that the ornate rainbowfish can survive in water as acidic as orange juice? (14 August)
• ... that the African giant shrew was first described from a mummified specimen found in an ancient Egyptian tomb? (15 August)
• ... that the brown-cheeked hornbill is among the eleven species of hornbill native to Ivory Coast? (15 August)
• ... that among the many uses of Erythrophleum ivorense and Lannea welwitschii, trees growing in Assagny National Park, are rope-making, canoe-building and to poison fish? (16 August)
• ... that the densely-populated territory of Macau is home to a recently discovered, endemic species of freshwater crab of the genus Nanhaipotamon (pictured)? (17 August)
• ... that the crimson seedcracker has two morphs, large-billed and small-billed, but this trait is not related to sex, age, body size, or location? (18 August)
• ... that the large leaves of Marantochloa purpurea are used for wrapping cola nuts to prevent them from becoming desiccated? (18 August)
• ... that the sea anemone Anemonia sulcata is known as ortiguilla in southern Spain, where it is a popular seafood? (19 August)
• ... that the Sorana bean is grown in such small quantities and is in such demand that it commands prices six to ten times higher than those of other cannellini beans? (19 August)
• ... that antelope grass can recover quickly after wildfires even in the middle of the dry season? (19 August)
• ... that the Namib brush-tailed gerbil uses ultrasonic whistles and foot drumming to communicate? (20 August)
• ... that deforestation in Brazil could be linked to higher rates of the severe fungal infection caused by P. lutzii (pictured), a neglected tropical disease?
• ... that in Cameroon, edible caterpillars are cultivated on dwarf red ironwood leaves? (20 August)
• ... that the lesser seedcracker enjoys rice and the large, hard seeds of carrycillo? (21 August)
• ... that despite their names, the greater Egyptian gerbil and the lesser Egyptian gerbil are found across much of North Africa? (21 August)
• ... that it is not known whether larvae of Deretaphrus beetles spin their cocoons from their mouths or anal glands? (22 August)
• ... that the toxic bark of a Madagascan tree species has been used as a poison in trials by ordeal? (23 August)
• ... that the cannonball (pictured) and white-flowered black mangroves are among the ten species of mangrove listed as occurring in Mozambique? (24 August)
• ... that strips of bark from the West African copal are used to make beehives, while the flowers are attractive to bees? (24 August)
• ... that the swamp musk shrew scrambles around among aquatic vegetation in the dark? (25 August)
• ... that the rock parrot often nests in the old burrows of seabirds? (26 August)
• ... that the bush cricket Ruspolia nitidula (pictured) is commonly eaten in Uganda, where the price per unit weight is periodically higher than that of beef? (26 August)
• ... that despite its reported disappearance from Britain and other European countries, the fountain spleenwort is still considered to have a stable population trend? (27 August)
• ... that the African hut tampan can transmit relapsing fever in humans and African swine fever in pigs? (28 August)
• ... that in 1946, entomologists E. B. Pinniger and Cynthia Longfield were the first to identify the dainty damselfly in Britain? (28 August)
• ... that the Argus tortoise beetle is named after the mythical Greek giant Argus Panoptes? (28 August)
• ... that Pollichia campestris was first described in 1789 by the Scottish botanist William Aiton in the publication Hortus Kewensis, a catalogue of all the plants then being cultivated at Kew Gardens? (30 August)
• ... that the wildlife of Uganda includes the Ugandan kob (pictured), the Uganda mangabey, and the Ugandan musk shrew? (30 August)
• ... that the blue korhaan favours habitats with short grass, dwarf shrubs, and termite mounds, but few trees? (31 August)
• ... that forests in the Guineo-Congolian region of Africa include patches dominated by a single species of tree, such as Brachystegia laurentii, Julbernardia seretii, Michelsonia microphylla, or Gilbertiodendron dewevrei? (31 August)
• Highlighted DYKs were submitted by this month's spotlighted editor, Cwmhiraeth

Discuss this issue

You are receiving this because you added your name to the subscribers list of the WikiProject Tree of Life. If you no longer wish to receive the newsletter, please remove your name.

Sent by ZLEA via MediaWiki message delivery (talk) at 15:43, 1 September 2019 (UTC)

October Events from Women in Red

October 2019, Volume 5, Issue 10, Numbers 107, 108, 137, 138, 139, 140 Check out what's happening in October at Women in Red... Online events: New: STEM / Fashion / Geofocus: landlocked countries / Stub Contest Continuing: Suffrage / #1day1woman Editor feedback: Check out the conversation regarding: Women vice Chancellors in Top 200 universities Help us plan our future events at the Ideas Cafe Join the conversations on our talkpage Social media: Facebook / Instagram / Pinterest / Twitter Stay in touch: Join WikiProject Women in Red / Opt-out of notifications

--Megalibrarygirl (talk) 17:36, 23 September 2019 (UTC) via MassMessaging

AfroCine: Join the Months of African Cinema this October!

Greetings!

After a successful first iteration of the “Months of African Cinema” last year, we are happy to announce that it will be happening again this year, starting from October 1! In the 2018 edition of the contest, about 600 Wikipedia articles were created in at least 8 languages. There were also contributions to Wikidata and Wikimedia commons, which brought the total number of wikimedia pages created during the contest to over 1,000.

The AfroCine Project welcomes you to October, the first out of the two months which have been dedicated to creating and improving content that centre around the cinema of Africa, the Caribbean, and the diaspora. Join us in this global edit-a-thon, by helping to create or expand articles which are connected to this scope. Also remember to list your name under the participants section.

On English Wikipedia, we would be recognizing participants in the following manner:

• Overall winner (1st, 2nd, 3rd places)
• Diversity winner
• Gender-gap fillers

For further information about the contest, the recognition categories and how to participate, please visit the contest page here. For further inquiries, please leave comments on the contest talkpage or on the main project talkpage. See you around :).--Jamie Tubers (talk) 00:50, 30 September 2019 (UTC)

The Signpost: 30 September 2019

• From the editors: Where do we go from here?
  Our constitutional crisis may continue

• Special report: Post-Framgate wrapup
  Summary of actions around a formerly banned former administrator: Arbitration Committee action and withdrawn request for adminship

• In the media: A net loss: Wikipedia attacked, closing off Russia? welcoming back Turkey?
  The internet may not be as stable as it seems

• Traffic report: Varied and intriguing entries, less Luck, and some retreads
  Luck, Serena, Bianca, 9/11, bad films, mass murderers and other good stuff

• News from the WMF: How the Wikimedia Foundation is making efforts to go green
  Wikipedia's footprint is equivalent to 251 average US homes’ energy use. Yes we can go green.

• Recent research: Wikipedia's role in assessing credibility of news sources; using wikis against procrastination; OpenSym 2019 report
  And other recent research publications

• Gallery: Finding freely licensed photo collections
  Wikimedia Commons is not the only place to find freely licensed photos

• On the bright side: What's making you happy this month?
  A selection of good news and encouraging stories that are from the Wikiverse

• In focus: Wikidata & Wikibase for national libraries: the inaugural meeting
  National libraries are planning to leverage Wikidata to interoperate and to bring information to the public

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 11:07, 30 September 2019 (UTC)

September 2019 Tree of Life Newsletter

September 2019—Issue 006

Tree of Life

Welcome to the Tree of Life newsletter!

Newly recognized content

Kosmoceratops by FunkMonk Onychopterella by Super Dromaeosaurus Western yellow robin by Casliber Western yellow robin by Casliber, reviewed by Josh Milburn Apororhynchus by Mattximus, reviewed by Chiswick Chap Pekarangan by Dhio-270599, reviewed by Cerebellum Fritillaria by Michael Goodyear, reviewed by Chiswick Chap Embioptera by Chiswick Chap and Cwmhiraeth, reviewed by Vanamonde93 Durio graveolens by NessieVL, reviewed by Dunkleosteus77 Big brown bat by Enwebb and Gen. Quon, reviewed by Dunkleosteus77 King brown snake by Casliber, reviewed by Dunkleosteus77 Staffordshire Bull Terrier by Atsme, reviewed by FunkMonk Ambush predator by Chiswick Chap, reviewed by Enwebb Belemnitida by Dunkleosteus77, reviewed by Chiswick Chap

Newly nominated content

Apororhynchus by Mattximus Meinhard Michael Moser by J Milburn St. Croix macaw by FunkMonk Paleocene by Dunkleosteus77 Orcinus meyeri by Dunkleosteus77 Snakefly by Chiswick Chap and Cwmhiraeth Tricolored bat by Enwebb Halloween darter by Enwebb

News at a Glance

• An end in sight for the WikiCup

The 2019 WikiCup is in its fifth and final round, with two of the eight remaining contestants from the ToL community. The 2016 winner Casliber is in first place as of 1 October, and Enwebbb is in seventh place.

• Getting spooky for Halloween

It's the most wonderful time of the year...Halloween, that is. With articles on skeleton frogs, ghost bats, and Satanic nightjars, Wikipedia has more spooky taxa than a graveyard has ghosts. In the new Spooky Species Contest, Tree of Life editors are turning Wikipedia into Spookypedia, working from a crowd-sourced list of taxa. There's still time to sign up! How can you let an article like Draculoides bramstokeri pass you by?

• The never-ending article title

September saw the creation of (takes deep inhalation) Cneoridium dumosum (Nuttall) Hooker F. Collected March 26, 1960, at an Elevation of about 1450 Meters on Cerro Quemazón, 15 Miles South of Bahía de Los Angeles, Baja California, México, Apparently for a Southeastward Range Extension of Some 140 Miles. Just two characters shy of Wikipedia's limit on article title length, Cneoridium dumosum...140 Miles now has the longest article title of any on English Wikipedia. In contrast to its verbose title, the journal article that is the subject of the article is only five words long.

Welcoming WikiProject Diptera and Project Creation Trends

5

10

15

20

'02

'04

'06

'08

'10

'12

'14

'16

'18

•   Active
•   Others

Tree of Life subprojects and task forces by start year and whether currently considered active or not

This month saw a vanishingly rare occurrence for the Tree of Life: a new WikiProject joined the fold. WikiProject Diptera, however, is also unusual in being a classroom project. Whether or not this project will stay active once the semester ends remains to be seen. It does not bode well, however, that WP:WikiProject VespidaeWP:WikiProject Vespidae—a creation from the same instructor at St. Louis University—faded to obscurity shortly after the fall semester concluded in 2014. WikiProject Vespidae is defunct and now redirects to the Hymenoptera task force of WikiProject Insects.

Since 2014, the Tree of Life has seen a string of years where one or zero projects or task forces were created. The only projects and task forces created since then are WikiProject Animal anatomy (2014), Hymenoptera task force (2016), Bats task force (2017), WikiProject Hypericaceae (2018), and now WikiProject Diptera (2019). The year 2006 saw the greatest creation of WikiProjects and task forces, with fourteen still active and the remaining six as "semiactive", "inactive", or "defunct".

September DYKs

Enischnomyia fossil in Dominican amber

Lebombo wattle in the sand forest

Betula leopoldae leaf fossil

Pholiota squarrosoides

Lady Burton's rope squirrel

A child picks chili peppers in an Indonesian home garden.

• ... that the Natal cycad and the dune false currant are among the 1,900 endemic plant species found in the Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany Hotspot? (1 September)
• ... that the Ethiopian epauletted fruit bat uses its hind feet to comb its fur and its tongue to wash its face, wing membranes, and genital region? (3 September)
• ... that the scaly ground roller mostly eats earthworms and centipedes, but has been known to also eat frogs, lizards, and shrews? (4 September)
• ... that Kihaule's mouse shrew is named after the medical-entomological technician who collected the type specimen from the Udzungwa Mountains in Tanzania? (5 September)
• ... that the bat fly Enischnomyia (pictured) was first described from a specimen fossilized with Vetufebrus malaria in its gut? (5 September)
• ... that Duthie's golden mole and the long-tailed forest shrew are among the wildlife of South Africa that are both endemic and "vulnerable"? (7 September)
• ... that the Lebombo wattle (pictured), the water ironplum, and the Zulu coshwood grow in the Southern African Sand Forest, where they are often swathed in pinhead orchids and other epiphytes? (8 September)
• ... that Zenker's fruit bat often forages in areas of forest where Haumania liebrechtsiana grows, a plant favoured by gorillas and chimpanzees? (8 September)
• ... that the hard seeds of the Guinea plum are dispersed by elephants, and crushed and eaten by Sanje mangabeys? (9 September)
• ... that the extinct birch Betula leopoldae (leaf fossil pictured) is named after conservationist Estella Leopold? (10 September)
• ... that the Namib day gecko can sprint at 2.5 m/s (8 ft/s) in bright light? (10 September)
• ... that there are believed to be fewer than 100 mature specimens of Dacrydium guillauminii, which is considered critically endangered? (11 September)
• ... that the parasite Enteromyxum scophthalmi causes a severe illness in farmed turbot for which no cure is known? (13 September)
• ... that the nymphs of the mayfly Ephemera simulans are able to burrow? (14 September)
• ... that the Asian garden dormouse can enter torpor, a state in which it may remain for several days? (14 September)
• ... that Alexander's bush squirrel is named after Lieutenant Boyd Alexander, a British Army officer, explorer, and ornithologist? (15 September)
• ... that the mushroom Pholiota squarrosoides (pictured) has decayed logs of the trees Acer saccharum and Tilia glabra in the Great Lakes region of the US? (15 September)
• ... that a dark form of the Angolan slender mongoose is found to the south of the Cunene River and a pale form to the north? (16 September)
• ... that clover grass used to grow in the Pacific Ocean, but has not been seen there since a severe storm in 1996? (16 September)
• ... that despite the Zulu serotine bat having a widespread distribution in Africa, it is not known where it roosts during the day? (17 September)
• ... that Lady Burton's rope squirrel (pictured) was named in honour of Isabel Burton, wife of British explorer Sir Richard Burton? (17 September)
• ... that there is a myth that the pieces of the broken tail of the slender glass lizard can grow into new lizards? (18 September)
• ... that Thomas's rope squirrel can communicate with other squirrels vocally or by stamping? (18 September)
• ... that the cut flesh of the bitter tooth mushroom smells of watermelon? (19 September)
• ... that although honeynut squash originated about forty years ago, it has only been in markets for four years? (19 September)
• ... that the phloem sap of Phyllanthus balgooyi contains up to 16.9 per cent nickel by weight, giving it a bright green color? (20 September)
• ... that although Schreber's yellow bat is believed to be an insectivore, the related white-bellied yellow bat has been observed to eat dead bats in captivity? (20 September)
• ... that nests of the black-tailed tree rat resemble those of the red-billed buffalo weaver? (21 September)
• ... that jackfruits and chili peppers (pictured) are among the many crops planted in Indonesian home gardens? (22 September)
• ... that the African tropical tree Pouteria adolfi-friedericii was named after a German explorer? (23 September)
• ... that the Celebes warty pig has been domesticated and introduced into other Indonesian islands? (23 September)
• ... that the metabolic rate of Rhoptropus bradfieldi is about a quarter of that of other desert lizards? (24 September)
• ... that the dune hairy-footed gerbil locates its burrows close to plants, where the roots stabilise the shifting sand? (28 September)

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November 2019 at Women in Red

November 2019, Volume 5, Issue 11, Numbers 107, 108, 140, 141, 142, 143 Check out what's happening in November at Women in Red... Online events: New: Librarians / Leaders / Geofocus: Asian Women Month Continuing: Suffrage / #1day1woman / Stub Contest Editor feedback: Check out the conversation regarding: Disappearing articles Help us plan our future events at the Ideas Cafe Join the conversations on our talkpage Social media: Facebook / Instagram / Pinterest / Twitter Stay in touch: Join WikiProject Women in Red / Opt-out of notifications

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The Signpost: 31 October 2019

• In the media: How to use or abuse Wikipedia for fun or profit
  Sweden, Poland, Armenia, Russia, the Vatican, and clueless English pubs.

• Special report: “Catch and Kill” on Wikipedia: Paid editing and the suppression of material on alleged sexual abuse
  "It's time for Wikipedia to grow up."

• In focus: The BBC looks at Chinese government editing
  But they aren't entirely sure they see it

• Interview: Carl Miller on Wikipedia Wars
  A discussion on info wars, government editing and our defences.

• Community view: Observations from the mainland
  A different point of view

• Arbitration report: October actions
  An "unblockable" is blocked; a former arb resigns.

• Traffic report: Wrestling with a couple of teenagers, a Nobelist, and a lot of jokers
  Plus a few celebrities.

• Gallery: Wiki Loves Broadcast
  The future of public broadcasting has arrived.

• Recent research: Research at Wikimania 2019: More communication doesn't make editors more productive; Tor users doing good work; harmful content rare on English Wikipedia
  And other new research publications

• Essay: Wikipedia is in the real world
  Editing can have serious consequences.

• News from the WMF: Welcome to Wikipedia! Here's what we're doing to help you stick around
  Twenty questions to get you started.

• On the bright side: What's making you happy this month?
  A selection of good news and encouraging stories from the Wikiverse.

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October 2019 Tree of Life Newsletter

October 2019—Issue 007

Tree of Life

Welcome to the Tree of Life newsletter!

Newly recognized content

Meinhard Michael Moser‎ by J Milburn Paleocene by Dunkleosteus77, reviewed by Casliber Clussexx Three D Grinchy Glee by Hunter Kahn, reviewed by Valereee Halloween darter by Enwebb and Cwmhiraeth, reviewed by J Milburn Deathwatch beetle by Cwmhiraeth, reviewed by Enwebb

Newly nominated content

King brown snake by Casliber Paleocene by Dunkleosteus77 Megarachne by Ichthyovenator List of canids by PresN Devils Hole pupfish by Enwebb Dryomyza anilis by AnuBalasubramanian Plasmodium knowlesi by Ajpolino Black coral by Aven13

News at a Glance

• The first Spooky Species Contest wrapped up this week. Two articles were promoted to Good Article as a result (Halloween darter and Deathwatch beetle) and three Did You Know hooks on Halloween were related to the contest (Halloween darter, skeleton frog, and Coffin Cave mold beetle. Two new articles were created, including Longan witches broom-associated virus and Boophis popi, the skeleton frog species that appeared at DYK.
• The 2020 Community Wishlist Survey is live (focusing on non-Wikipedia content projects), with two proposals so far for WikiSpecies. The Wikimedia Foundation will prioritize the top 5 proposals across all sister projects.
• The 2019 WikiCup has finally concluded, with Casliber taking home the bronze. The bulk of their points this round came from two Featured Articles: rock parrot and western yellow robin.

Alphabet Soup: Explaining DYK, GA, FA, and More

By request from another editor, this month I wrote an overview of ways that content is featured on Wikipedia. Below I have outlined some of the processes for getting content featured:

Did You Know (DYK)

What is it: A way for articles to appear on the main page of Wikipedia. A short hook in the format of "Did you know...that ___" presents unusual and interesting facts to the reader, hopefully making the reader want to click through to the article

How it works: The DYK process has fairly low barriers for participation. The eligibility criteria are few and relatively easy to meet. Some important guidelines:

• To be eligible, article is either new (newly created or moved to mainspace), a 5x expansion, or passed a GA review. Its creation, expansion, or promotion to GA must have been in the past 7 days.
• Article must be long enough, with more than 1,500 characters of prose (this doesn't include embedded lists)
  • I find Shubinator's DYKcheck script useful in determining whether an article is eligible for nomination.

The process for creating the nomination is somewhat tedious. Instructions can be found here (official instructions) and here ("quick and nice" guide to DYK). Experience is the best teacher here, so don't be afraid to try and fail a few times. The last few DYK nominations I've done, however, have been with the help of SD0001's DYK-helper script, which makes the process a bit more streamlined (you create the template from a popup box on the article; created template is automatically transcluded to nominations page and article talk page)

Once your nomination is created and transcluded, it will need to be reviewed. The reviewer will check that the article meets the eligibility criteria, that the hook is short enough, cited, and interesting, and that other requirements are met, such as for images. If you've been credited with more than 5 DYKs, the reviewer will also check that you've reviewed someone else's nomination for each article that you nominate. This is called QPQ (quid pro quo). You can check how many credited DYKs you've had here to see if QPQ is required for you to nominate an article for DYK.

Good Article (GA)

What it is: A peer review process to determine that an article meets a set of criteria. This adds a symbol to the top of the article. About 1 in 200 articles on Wikipedia is a GA.

How it works: You follow the instructions to nominate an article, placing a template on its talk page. Anyone can nominate an article—you don't have to be a major contributor, though it is considered polite to inform the major contributors that you are nominating the article. The article is added to a queue to await a review. In the ToL, it seems that reviews happen pretty quickly, thanks to our dedicated members. Once the review begins, the reviewer will offer suggestions to help the article meet the 6 GA criteria. Upon addressing all concerns, the reviewer will pass the article, and voilà! Good Article!

Advice to a first-time nominator: Look at other Good Articles in related areas before nominating. If you're unsure about nominating, consider posting to the talk page of your project to see what other editors think. You can also have a more experienced editor co-nominate the article with you.

Featured Article (FA)

What it is: An exhaustive peer review to determine that an articles meets the criteria. This adds a to the top of the article. About 1 in 1,000 articles on Wikipedia is a FA.

How it works: You follow the instructions to nominate an article, placing a template on its talk page. Nominated articles are usually GAs already. Uninvolved editors can nominate, though the article's regular editors should be consulted first. Several editors will come by offering feedback, eventually supporting or opposing promotion to FA. A coordinator will determine if there is consensus to promote the article to FA. For an editor's first FA, spot checks to verify that the sources support the text are conducted.

Advice to a first-time nominator: The Featured Article Candidate (FAC) process is a bit intimidating, but several steps can make your first one easier (speaking as someone who has exactly one). If you also did the GA nomination of the article, you can ask the reviewer for "extra" feedback beyond the GA criteria. You can also formally request a peer review and/or a copy edit from the Guild of Copy Editors to check for content and mechanics. First-time nominators are encouraged to seek the help of a mentor for a higher likelihood of passing their first FAC.

Good and Featured Topics (GT and FT)

What it is: It took me a while to realize we even had GT and FT on Wikipedia, as they are not very common relative to GA and FA. Both GT and FT are collections of related articles of high quality (all articles at GA or FA, all lists at Featured List). GT/FT have to be at least 3 articles with no obvious gaps in coverage of the topic, along with other criteria. For GT, all articles have to be GA quality and all lists must be FL. For FT, at least half the articles must be FA or FL, with the remaining articles at GA.

How it works: Follow the nomination procedures for creating a new topic or adding an article to an existing topic. Other editors weigh in to support or oppose the proposal. Coordinators determine if there is consensus to promote to GT/FT.

Advice to a first-time nominator: There are very few GT/FT in Tree of Life (5 GT and 11 FT). Most of the legwork appears to be improving a cohesive set of articles to GA/FA.

October DYKs

Female apple maggot

• ... that the silk made by webspinners is produced from glands on their forelegs? (1 October)
• ... that falguera, a plant known from only one valley in Spain, is threatened by rock climbers and by road maintenance? (1 October)
• ... that the nudibranch Tritoniella belli is avoided by several predatory starfishes but is inefficiently preyed on by the sea anemone Isotealia antarctica? (5 October)
• ... that larvae of the drain fly can be found in trickling filter systems used to process sewage? (6 October)
• ... that the correct spelling of "liliifolia" in the name of the orchid Liparis liliifolia has been debated for decades? (7 October)
• ... that Polish entomologist Sergiusz Toll amassed a collection of about 8,000 bird eggs and 12,000 butterflies and moths while in Bydgoszcz? (10 October)
• ... that the female garden symphylan stores sperm in its mouth? (11 October)
• ... that adult apple maggot flies (example pictured) use their wing patterns defensively to mimic spiders? (15 October)
• ... that Hildegarde had a bat, a mouse and a shrew named in her honour? (16 October)
• ... that the naked-rumped tomb bat is among a number of species of bat that roost in different parts of the Karnak Temple Complex in Egypt? (17 October)
• ... that the cause of the decline in hornleaf riverweed, a foundation species in swift-flowing rivers in North America, is unclear? (18 October)
• ... that botanist Betty Flint continued research in a voluntary capacity at Lincoln University and Landcare Research until she was 100 years old? (23 October)
• ... that the gut bacteria of Drosophila subobscura can influence its mating behavior? (23 October)
• ... that the warehouse beetle usually develops within about two months, but may enter an active diapause and take two years? (24 October)
• ... that the nectar-rich flowers of the African locust-bean are visited by bats, dormice, and pottos? (25 October)
• ... that populations of the russet rice rat have been shown to have a monogamous mating system? (30 October)
• ... that infestations of the common plaster beetle have caused hygiene problems in a hospital? (31 October)
• ... that a tree at least 700 years old, reputedly planted by Robert the Bruce, was destroyed by an arson attack in 2004?
• ... that structural biologist Erica Ollmann Saphire traveled to Africa to observe rodents in the field in order to study how viruses like Ebola are spread? (31 October)
• ... that the Coffin Cave mold beetle may not actually be found in Coffin Cave? (31 October)
• ... that the skeleton frog Boophis popi can be identified by its bright red irises? (31 October)
• ... that the common name of the Halloween darter refers to the orange and black coloration that individuals develop during the breeding season? (31 October)

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December events with WIR

December 2019, Volume 5, Issue 12, Numbers 107, 108, 144, 145, 146, 147 Check out what's happening in December at Women in Red... Online events: New: Parliamentarians / Classical musicians / 2019 deaths / Geofocus: Arab world Continuing: Suffrage / #1day1woman / Stub Contest Editor feedback: Check out the conversation regarding: Disappearing articles Help us plan our future events at the Ideas Cafe Join the conversations on our talkpage Social media: Facebook / Instagram / Pinterest / Twitter Stay in touch: Join WikiProject Women in Red / Opt-out of notifications

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The Signpost: 29 November 2019

• From the editor: Put on your birthday best
  "We get by with a little help from our friends"

• News and notes: How soon for the next million articles?
  And when will we get the second extraterrestrial edit?

• In the media: You say you want a revolution
  Everybody wants to change Wikipedia.

• On the bright side: What's making you happy this month?
  A selection of good news and encouraging stories from the Wikiverse.

• Arbitration report: Two requests for arbitration cases
  Important or imprudent? Pondering portals. And an editor gets transported off-wiki for good.

• Traffic report: The queen and the princess meet the king and the joker
  Could this be the end of the Terminator?

• Technology report: Reference things, sister things, stranger things
  The latest tech news and updates.

• Gallery: Winter and holidays
  Some interesting and unusual winter and holiday images.

• Recent research: Bot census; discussions differ on Spanish and English Wikipedia; how nature's seasons affect pageviews
  And other new research publications.

• Essay: Adminitis
  Some humor about the otherwise serious subject of burnout.

• From the archives: WikiProject Spam, revisited
  Veteran editor: Wikipedia is losing existential battle against spam.

• In focus: An update on the Wikimedia Movement 2030 Strategy
  Coming to the end of a long road formulating the strategy.

• Special report: How many people edit in your favorite language? Where are they from?
  Only now can we say!

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November 2019 Tree of Life Newsletter

November 2019—Issue 008

Tree of Life

Welcome to the Tree of Life newsletter!

Newly recognized content

King brown snake by Casliber List of canids by PresN Tricolored bat by Enwebb, reviewed by Cwmhiraeth Alopias palatasi by Macrophyseter, reviewed by Dunkleosteus77 Deep biosphere by RockMagnetist (DCO visiting scholar), reviewed by Jens Lallensack

Newly nominated content

Eastern green mamba by Casliber A History of the Birds of Europe by Jimfbleak Anastrepha ludens by OstapKukhar Castorocauda by Dunkleosteus77 Aedes taeniorhynchus by XuLily Drosophila silvestris by Mmhua Dryopithecus by Dunkleosteus77 Christmas Island flying fox by Dunkleosteus77 Christmas imperial pigeon by Dunkleosteus77 Drosophila subobscura by Andrewoh29 Ceratitis capitata by Nikhilaggarwal123 Woolly rhinoceros by Thylacinus cynocephalus Ooedigera by Dunkleosteus77

News at a Glance

• The Wiki Science Competition has begun on Wikimedia Commons. Several flora and fauna images have already been uploaded (the image at left is my current favorite).

• 
  Several copepod species
• 
  Red deer
• 
  Teucrium polium
• 
  Ants cross chasm via body bridge
• 
  Sarus crane duet

• NessieVL created a Decemberween contest to improve taxa related to winter holidays. Loopy30 is out to an early lead, but with the bonus system for page views, there's still time for GA writers to hit a couple of home runs on some of the bigger articles like reindeer and mistletoe.
• Though it didn't make it onto the main page in time for Halloween, Satanic nightjar made a splash nevertheless, cracking the list of non-lead DYK hooks with at least 15,000 views. The article was viewed nearly 17,000 times while on the main page (a typical day for the article is 10-15 views).

Class is in Session in the Tree of Life

In an interesting turn of events, this month's guest column is by my alter-ego, Elysia (Wiki Ed):

*Puts on Wiki Education hat* Hi everyone, I'm Elysia and I work for Wiki Education. You may know me as Enwebb. I got a request last month to let you know how Wiki Education is intersecting with the Tree of Life subprojects. As one of Wiki Education's major goals is to improve topics related to the sciences, leading to our Communicating Science initiative, we end up supporting quite a few in the biological sciences. Here are the TOL-related courses active this term:

• Advanced Ecology and Evolution
• Animal Behaviour
• Aquatic and Marsh Plants

• Bacterial Physiology
• Behavioral Ecology
• Development and Evolution
• The Evolution and Ecology of Sex
• Graduate Seminar in Conservation Biology
• Mammalogy
• Mammalogy
• Microbial Symbiosis and Microbiomes
• Microbiology
• Microbiology
• Plant Diversity
• Research and technical writing in Biology
• Wetland Ecology

What is the impact of student editors in Tree of Life?

A Wiki Education resource for students editing species articles

Altogether, these 16 courses have 347 student participants. As the end of the semester hasn't come yet, these numbers are still growing, but these students have:

• created 50 new articles
• edited 516 articles in total
• made over 11.3k total edits
• added over 470,000 words
• added 5.9k references

Some of our best student work this semester (of any kind, not just biodiversity) has come from Agelaia's Behavioural Ecology course—you may remember this as the course that created WikiProject Diptera. The students have several Good Article nominations, including Dryomyza anilis, Anastrepha ludens, Aedes taeniorhynchus, Drosophila silvestris, Drosophila subobscura, and Ceratitis capitata.

And while long-term participation from students is low, there's always the chance that we'll discover a Wikipedian. I had never edited before my Wikipedia assignment in 2017 and I'm still here nearly 20,000 edits later! After I poked around in the beginning of the semester, I had the realization that not many people write Wikipedia, and very few of those have a special interest in bats. If I didn't stick around to write the content, there was no guarantee that it would ever get done.

Why are species articles suitable for students?

Writing about taxonomic groups is a great fit for students, as it keeps them away from areas where new editors traditionally struggle. The notability policy is generous towards taxa, and there is little danger of a student's work getting removed for lack of notability; this is to be expected when students write biographies. Students may struggle with encyclopedic tone for biographies and stray towards promotional writing, but this is much less common when writing about a shrew or algae!

Additionally, we're never going to run out of species to write about. Students have a bounty of stubs and redlinks to pick from. Creating a new article or expanding an existing one also takes a fairly predictable structure, with plenty of articles that students can model after.

Don't students just create messes for volunteers to clean up?

Our sincere hope is that, no, they don't, and we take several steps to try to minimize the burden on volunteer labor. With automatic plagiarism detection, alerts when students edit a Good or Featured Article, and notifications when students edit an article subject to discretionary sanctions, we try to stay ahead of problems as much as possible. We also review all student work at the end of each term. Ian, Shalor, and I are always happy to receive pings alerting us to student issues that need to be addressed.

November DYKs

Brants's whistling rat

Female black-capped tanager

• ... that Brants's whistling rat (illustration shown) seldom ventures more than 30 cm (12 in) from one of the many entrances to its burrow? (4 November)
• ... that the assassin bug Rhynocoris longifrons will feed on moth larvae in preference to sap-sucking pests? (5 November)
• ... that poison devil's-pepper has been used both as rat poison and as a traditional medicine for humans? (6 November)
• ... that the lamenting grasshopper seems to be expanding its range northwards in Italy, possibly as a result of climate change? (10 November)
• ... that each Xyloterinus politus larva has its own individual cradle? (12 November)
• ... that the assassin bug Rhynocoris marginatus injects venomous saliva into its prey to paralyse it? (13 November)
• ... that botanist George R. Proctor collected more than 55,000 specimens, had 31 species named after him, and was convicted of a conspiracy to murder his wife? (14 November)
• ... that the bark of Guibourtia tessmannii is much esteemed in traditional medicine and is often removed from living trees? (15 November)
• ... that the female black-capped tanager (pictured) moulds her nest by vibrating in it? (18 November)
• ... that the Satanic nightjar can make a growling noise when disturbed? (21 November)
• ... that infestations of Leptoconops torrens biting flies have halted construction and farming projects in California? (22 November)
• ... that the male of the hoverfly species Syritta pipiens darts sharply in flight to facilitate mating? (23 November)
• ... that the tree Drypetes gerrardii was named after William Gerrard, who collected plants in southern Africa in the 1860s? (25 November)
• ... that in Nova Scotia, the tricolored bat roosts exclusively in the dangling fronds of bony beard lichen? (26 November)
• ... that the southern black korhaan, native to South Africa, is becoming rarer due to loss of its natural habitat to agriculture? (27 November)
• ... that the green spruce aphid often continues breeding throughout the winter, but the nymphs become dormant in the summer? (28 November)
• ... that the ambrosia beetle Euplatypus parallelus cultivates fungi in the galleries it creates for its larvae (29 November)
• ... that the parasitic wasp Lathrolestes luteolator has adopted the amber-marked birch leaf miner as a new host? (30 November)

Discuss this issue

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Nomination for deletion of Template:Taxonomy/'Oomyzus

Template:Taxonomy/'Oomyzus has been nominated for deletion. You are invited to comment on the discussion at the template's entry on the Templates for discussion page. Gonnym (talk) 15:16, 19 December 2019 (UTC)

January 2020 at Women in Red

January 2020, Volume 6, Issue 1, Numbers 146, 148, 149, 150, 151, 153 Happy Holidays from all of us at Women in Red, and thank you for your support in 2019. We look forward to working with you in 2020! Online events: New: Activists / Public domain / Geofocus: Central America / Year-long campaign: Sports! Continuing: 2019 deaths / #1day1woman Editor feedback: Help us plan our future events at the Ideas Cafe Join the conversations on our talkpage Social media: Facebook / Instagram / Pinterest / Twitter Stay in touch: Join WikiProject Women in Red / Opt-out of notifications

The Signpost: 27 December 2019

• From the editors: Caught with their hands in the cookie jar, again
  You can buy "cleaners" but you might not come away clean.

• News and notes: What's up (and down) with administrators, articles and languages
  Active administrators and articles achieved are marking milestone metrics, but in diverging directions. Plus, the first time any court has found there exists a constitutional right to read Wikipedia.

• Special report: Are reputation management operatives scrubbing Wikipedia articles?
  Son of Wiki-PR.

• In the media: "The fulfillment of the dream of humanity" or a nightmare of PR whitewashing on behalf of one-percenters?
  Praise for possibly pansophic Wikipedia from a Nobel laureate collides head-on with real-world events in December.

• Discussion report: December discussions around the wiki
  Regarding integrity of information presented by Wikipedia, as well as the processes and people who ensure it remains trustworthy.

• Arbitration report: Announcement of 2020 Arbitration Committee
  ArbCom election results and status of open and requested cases.

• Traffic report: Queens and aliens, exactly alike, once upon a December
  We may have scrambled the headlines a bit.

• Technology report: User scripts and more
  Customise your Wikipedia experience

• Gallery: Holiday wishes
  Messages of holiday cheer from us to you.

• Recent research: Acoustics and Wikipedia; Wiki Workshop 2019 summary
  16 recent papers, and other research news

• From the archives: The 2002 Spanish fork and ads revisited (re-revisited?)
  A look at different approaches taken by Wikipedia's founders in 2002, as seen from the perspective of nine years when it was written; nearly twenty years ago now.

• On the bright side: What's making you happy this month?
  A selection of good news and encouraging stories from the Wikiverse.

• Op-Ed: Why we need to keep talking about Wikipedia's gender gap
  There's still a long way to go.

• WikiProject report: Wikiproject Tree of Life: A Wikiproject report
  Eight years after our last interview, WikiProject Tree of Life continues to thrive.

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