Happy First Edit Anniversary 28bytes 🎉
Hey @28bytes. Your wiki edit anniversary is today, marking 19 years of dedicated contributions to English Wikipedia. Your passion for sharing knowledge and your remarkable contributions have not only enriched the project, but also inspired countless others to contribute. Thank you for your amazing contributions. Wishing you many more wonderful years ahead in the Wiki journey. :) -❙❚❚❙❙ GnOeee ❚❙❚❙❙ ✉ 15:48, 14 December 2025 (UTC)
- Thank you! 28bytes (talk) 18:53, 14 December 2025 (UTC)
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- I support what Gnoeee said and am happy that I shared many of those years. - I brought Wozzeck to the main page, not by me but I noticed the quality and the centenary. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 21:51, 14 December 2025 (UTC)
- Today's 1750 Advent Bach cantata translates to "Prepare the ways", - listen ;) - "places" have new pics from Copenhagen". --Gerda Arendt (talk) 16:19, 21 December 2025 (UTC)
- Laughter for Christmas - enjoy the season! --Gerda Arendt (talk) 08:34, 25 December 2025 (UTC)
The Signpost: 17 December 2025
- Interview: Part 1: Bernadette Meehan
Say hello to the new WMF CEO.
- News and notes: We're gonna have a party!
And a new WMF CEO!
- In the media: The "bigg" bosses: Robertsky and the Pope
Pay up, big guys!
- Traffic report: Death and stranger things
And going for the FIFA prize!
- Gallery: A feast of holidays and carols
Something old and something new!
- Obituary: Michal Lewi (Iwelam) and Alan R. King (A R King)
Rest in peace.
- Concept: List of xxtreme sports (redirected from Electrojousting)
You are viewing an old revision of this page, as edited on 2065-11-10 04:33:10.
- Comix: display: flex-inline;
ampersand nb semicolon ampersand nb semicolon ampersand nb semicolon
January music
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300 years ago, a Bach cantata was born: happy new year! -- Gerda Arendt (talk) 19:14, 1 January 2026 (UTC)
... inviting you to check out "my" story (fun listen today, full of surprises), music (and memory), and places (pictured by me: the latest uploads) any day! --Gerda Arendt (talk) 15:02, 10 January 2026 (UTC)
Administrators' newsletter – January 2026
News and updates for administrators from the past month (December 2025).
Administrator changes
Guideline and policy news
- All general sanctions imposed by the community may now be enforced at the Arbitration Enforcement noticeboard (WP:AE) as a result of a recent RfC.
- Due to the result of a recent RFC, the administrator recall process is amended to extend the deadline for a re-request for adminship to 30 days or the next administrator election, whichever is later.
- Changes to the Access to Temporary Account IP Addresses Policy's disclosure rules include broadening the consecutive-blocks exception to cover all admin actions and removing the requirement to revision-delete permissible disclosures once they become unnecessary (instead requiring only their removal). See WP:TAIVDISCLOSE for more information.
Arbitration
- Following the 2025 Arbitration Committee elections, the following editors have been elected to the Arbitration Committee: Aoidh, Asilvering, Girth Summit, Guerillero, HJ Mitchell, HouseBlaster, Izno, Sdrqaz, SilverLocust.
- The arbitration case Pbsouthwood has been suspended.
The Signpost: 15 January 2026
- News and notes: Wikipedia's 25th anniversary is here!
Where does the time go?
- Special report: Wikipedia at 25: A Wake-Up Call
The internet is booming. We are not.
- Serendipity: The WMF wants to buy you books!
Really! A major triumph.
- WikiProject report: Time for a health check: the Vital Signs 2026 campaign
The campaign to get all of our top-importance medical articles up to B-class or above.
- In the media: Fake Acting President Trump and a Wikipedia infobox
D.J.T. assumes a new position.
- Community view: The inbox behind Wikipedia
What the Volunteer Response Team actually does!
- Recent research: Art museums on Wikidata; comparing three comparisons of Grokipedia and Wikipedia
And other research.
- Traffic report: Tonight I'm gonna rock you tonight
A world in white gets underway.
- Comix: Oh come on man.
Really?
The Signpost: 29 January 2026
- Traffic report: The most viewed articles of 2025
Everybody had a hard year, everybody had a good time.
- News and notes: Good news... but also bad news for the Public Domain
Benvenuto Betty Boop, arrivederci Italian Photos.
- News from Diff: Solving puzzles together
Maryana Iskander says farewell.
- In the media: Every view on the 25th anniversary of everything
Media about hard-core nerds, a place with paragraphs, baby globes, and wikipedes.
- Comix: Perspectives
Everybody has one.
A barnstar for you!
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The Admin's Barnstar |
| Thank you for your hard work! Umasoyee (talk) 17:00, 6 February 2026 (UTC) |
Administrators' newsletter – February 2026
News and updates for administrators from the past month (January 2026).
Administrator changes
CheckUser changes
Arbitration
- Due to the result of a recent motion, a rough consensus of administrators at the arbitration enforcement noticeboard may impose an expanded topic ban on Israel, Israelis, Jews, Judaism, Palestine, Palestinians, Islam, and/or Arabs, if an editor's Arab-Israeli conflict topic ban is determined to be insufficient to prevent disruption. At least one diff per area expanded into should be cited.
Miscellaneous
- Voting in the 2026 Steward elections started on 06 February 2026 at 14:00 (UTC) and will end on 27 February 2026 at 14:00 (UTC). The confirmation process for current stewards is being held in parallel. You can automatically check your eligibility to vote.
February music
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Tamás Vásáry today, who began his career with a Mozart concerto at age 8. -- Gerda Arendt (talk) 23:08, 12 February 2026 (UTC)
Today something new: a 100th birthday of someone alive, György Kurtág! In 2004 I was there when he and his wife played for the Rheingau Musik Festival where he was the featured composer. They played as the 2019 DYK said, on an upright piano, - listen, the last piece was the same. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 20:06, 19 February 2026 (UTC)
Today's main page features four biographies I helped to bring there, two women and two men, three opera singers (one pictured) and an actor, - a record for me, I believe ;) --Gerda Arendt (talk) 15:46, 24 February 2026 (UTC)
The Signpost: 17 February 2026
- In the media: Global powers see Wikipedia as fundamental target for manipulation
Attempted Wikipedia shenanigans apparent from Epstein, AI, various governments.
- News and notes: Discussions open for the next WMF Annual Plan
Plus, WikiFlix going places, steady progress on older FAs and other news from the Wikimedia world.
- Serendipity: Maintenance crews continue to slog through Wikipedia's oldest Featured Articles
Hundreds of old FAs have been triaged since project began, but thousands remain — and they need reviewers.
- Disinformation report: Epstein's obsessions
The sex offender's attempts to whitewash Wikipedia run deeper than we first thought.
- Technology report: Wikidata Graph Split and how we address major challenges
A personal perspective on a major update to the Wikimedia social machine.
- Traffic report: Deaths, killings, films, and the Olympics
I'll have the usual!
- Opinion: Incoming Incurables
A poem for Wikipedia Day 2026.
- Crossword: Pop quiz
Sharpen your pencil. How well do you really know Wikipedia?
- Comix: herculean
efforts.
Administrators' newsletter – March 2026
News and updates for administrators from the past month (February 2026).
Administrator changes
CheckUser changes
Oversight changes
Guideline and policy news
- Following an RfC, the web archival service archive.today has been deprecated; links to the site should be removed.
- A request for comment is open to discuss retiring CSD criterion R3 in favour of handling such redirects through RfD.
Arbitration
- Following a motion, remedy 9.1 of the Conduct in deletion-related editing case has been amended to limit TenPoundHammer to one XfD nomination or PROD per 24-hour period.
- Following a motion, the Iskandar323 further POV pushing motion has been rescinded.
- The Arbitration Committee has passed a housekeeping motion rescinding a number of outdated remedies and enforcement provisions across multiple legacy cases. In most instances, existing sanctions remain in force and continue to be appealable through the usual processes, while some case-specific remedies were amended or clarified.
Miscellaneous
- Following the 2026 Steward Elections, the following editors have been appointed as stewards: A09, AmandaNP, Barras, Count Count, M7, SHB2000, Teles and VIGNERON.
- An Unreferenced articles backlog drive is taking place in March 2026 to reduce the backlog of articles tagged with {{Unreferenced}}. You can help reduce the backlog by adding citations to these articles. Sign up to participate!
I typed the wrong year!
I thought it is 2026, but I typed in 2025. That is so wrong! Take a look at my talk page. ~2026-13036-74 (talk) 00:03, 7 March 2026 (UTC)
The Signpost: 10 March 2026
- Interview: Bernadette Meehan, new Wikimedia Foundation CEO
Part 2.
- News and notes: Security testing unleashes computer worm on Meta-wiki
Dormant worm awakes; a sketchy archiving site struck; ether burns.
- Special report: What actually happened during the Wikimedia security incident?
A horrifying exploit took place, which could have had catastrophic and far-reaching consequences if used maliciously; instead, it seems to have happened by accident and was used for childish vandalism. How did this happen, and what did the script actually do?
- In the media: Indonesian government blocks Wikimedia logins; archive site scoured from Wikipedia after owner runs malware
As well as controversy over LLM translations.
- Recent research: To wiki, perchance to groki
Comparisons continue.
- Obituary: Madhav Gadgil, Fredrick Brennan, Mark Miller, Chip Berlet
Rest in peace.
- Opinion: Interface administrators and trusting trust
Potential attacks are the logical consequence of giving a group of users unlimited control over JavaScript.
- Technology report: English Wikipedia deprecates archive.today after DDoS against blog, altered content
After the archive site launched a DDoS campaign against a small blog in January 2026, a request for comment was started, with consensus to deprecate the site used almost 700 thousand times.
- Op-ed: Why is "Trypsin-sensitive photosynthetic activities in chloroplast membranes" cited in "List of tallest buildings in Chicago"?
The answer is slop.
- Essay: The pursuit of a button click
Volunteering for Wikipedia has its rewards. The thank-button, for example.
- In focus: Short descriptions: One year later
A discussion of the challenge set forth to the Wikipedia community one year ago!
- WikiProject report: Unreferenced articles backlog drive
Unreferenced articles in English Wikipedia - help us in the backlog drive!
- Community view: Speaking of planning ...
The WMF planning process is underway.
- Traffic report: Over the mountain, kissing silver inlaid clouds
Death and the Winter Olympics.
- Crossword: "It will never happen"
Want to take a break?
- Comix: BRIEn't
Or is it.
Spring music
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on Bach's birthday, a story about my joy -- Gerda Arendt (talk) 18:24, 21 March 2026 (UTC)
A barnstar for you!
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The Original Barnstar | |
| Thank you for being such great admins for this site! (Talk) PHLOGISTON ENTHUSIAST 17:33, 26 March 2026 (UTC) |
The Signpost: 31 March 2026
- News and notes: Entirety of Wikinews to be shut down
All languages to be shut down in May; first AI agent blocked; new name for AfD?
- In the media: AI ban, newspapers disrupt archiving; and antisemitism complaints
Perennial challenges with AI, demographic representation, and attacks from people buying media influence.
- Community view: Videos from WikiConference North America 2025 in NYC
In attendees' own words.
- Disinformation report: Cleaning up after Jeffrey Epstein, Peter Nygard, and Mohamed Al-Fayed
Countering the edits of the rich and dangerous.
- WikiConference report: WikiConference North America 2025 in NYC review
About the conference series, and this conference particularly.
- Obituary: Dr. Subas Chandra Rout
Rest in peace.
- Traffic report: Call in the dogs of war, soldier of fortune
Though of course the picture needs to be Chuck Norris...
- Gallery: Canadian Rangers participate in Operation Enduring Encyclopedia
Analogies between how Wikipedia works and how Canada works.
- Comix: n00bsitting
...!
Administrators' newsletter – April 2026
News and updates for administrators from the past month (March 2026).
Administrator changes
Checkuser changes
Oversight changes
Guideline and policy news
- The content of Wikipedia:Writing articles with large language models has been updated following a request for comment. It now prohibits using LLMs to generate content, with exceptions for translation and copy-editing.
Arbitration
- Following a motion, the GSCASTE extended-confirmed restriction in the Indian military history case has been narrowed. It now applies to caste-related topics in South Asia, and the preemptive protection remedy has been amended accordingly.
- The arbitration case Pbsouthwood has been closed.
- The arbitration case Maghreb has been opened. Evidence submissions in this case will close on 7 April.
You are invited to participate in the Destubathon of the Americas, a contest/editathon which will run from May 1 to May 31. The goal is to destub as many of our 475,000+ stubs for the Americas (from Alaska down to Chile) as possible. A good chance to have fun in expanding many of our old stale stubs and win up to £2000 ($2680) in Amazon vouchers for expanding stub articles. Sign up in the Contestants/participants section on the contest page if interested. Even if not interested in prizes you are still warmly welcome to participate in it as an editathon! Hopefully we can achieve something significant in the month of May together! ♦ Dr. Blofeld 16:35, 15 April 2026 (UTC)
The Signpost: 21 April 2026
- News and notes: Six Serbian Wikipedia editors banned following controversy about political bias
Plus, new bans for AI-generated content in place, a new drop in active admins, pranks on pranks, May admin election, and other news from the Wikimedia world.
- In the media: Could Wikipedia be involved in Massachusetts' proposed social media ban for minors?
Another regulate-the-internet attempt casts a wide net.
- Gallery: March equinox
The progression of seasons in March.
- Traffic report: Time to change my galaxy in case, we outta space!
What catches the reader's eye? Death and film, per usual, and a loop around the moon per unusual.
- Comix: Of skirts and articles
When significant coverage is only skin deep.
May 2026 Administrator Elections – Schedule
- The May 2026 administrator elections are set to proceed.
- We plan to use the following schedule:
- April 29–May 5: Candidate sign-up
- May 8–May 12: Discussion phase
- May 13–May 19: SecurePoll voting phase
- If you have any questions, concerns, or thoughts before we get started, please ask at Wikipedia talk:Administrator elections.
You're receiving this message because you signed up for the mailing list. To opt-out of future mailings, please remove yourself from the list.
MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 19:04, 22 April 2026 (UTC)
April thanks
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In old friendship -- Gerda Arendt (talk) 21:19, 22 April 2026 (UTC)
Today's story is about one of three bios I brought to today's main page: look and listen, an extraordinary woman in many respects. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 17:38, 30 April 2026 (UTC)
May 2026 Administrator Election – Call for Candidates
The administrator elections process has officially started! Interested editors are encouraged to self-nominate or arrange to be nominated by reviewing the instructions at Wikipedia:Administrator elections/May 2026/Candidates.
Here is the schedule:
- April 29 – May 5: Call for candidates
- May 8–12: Discussion phase
- May 13–19: SecurePoll voting phase
Please note the following:
- The requirements to run are identical to RFA—a prospective candidate must be extended confirmed.
- Prospective candidates are advised to become familiar with the community's expectations of administrators, which are much higher than the minimum requirement of having extended confirmed status. This includes reviewing successful and unsuccessful RFAs, reading the essay Wikipedia:Advice for admin elections candidates, and possibly requesting an optional poll on their chances of passing.
- The process will have a seven day call for candidates phase, a two day pause, a five day discussion phase, and a seven day private vote using SecurePoll. Discussion and questions are only allowed on the candidate pages during the discussion phase.
- The outcome of this process is identical to making a request for adminship. There is no official difference between an administrator appointed through RFA versus administrator elections.
- Administrator elections are also a valid means of regaining adminship for de-sysopped editors.
Ask any questions about the process at the talk page. Later, a user talk message will be sent to official candidates with additional information about the process.
If you are interested in the process, please make sure to watchlist the appropriate pages. A watchlist notice will be added when the discussion phase opens, and again when the voting phase opens.
You're receiving this message because you signed up for the mailing list. To opt-out of future mailings, please remove yourself from the list.
MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 00:31, 29 April 2026 (UTC)
Administrators' newsletter – May 2026
News and updates for administrators from the past month (April 2026).
Administrator changes
Interface administrator changes
CheckUser changes
Oversight changes
Guideline and policy news
Technical news
- Changes to user permissions made from Meta are now included in the local user permissions log (T6055).
- The autoconfirmed user group will soon be modified such that the four-day account age requirement begins when an account makes its first edit (T418484).
Arbitration
- The arbitration case SchroCat has been opened. Evidence submissions in this case closed on 15 April.
- Per a recent motion, appeals of blocks from the conflict-of-interest VRT queue are, by default, appealed on-wiki through the normal unblock process. However, they may be heard by the Committee if COIVRTers disagree on the interpretation of the evidence or believe ArbCom would be better suited to hear the appeal. Administrators are also advised that loosening or lifting such blocks without the consent of someone with access to the queue or ArbCom can be grounds for desysopping.
- Per a recent motion, restrictions issued directly by the Committee may now be enforced with blocks which work exactly like contentious topic blocks.
- The arbitration case Maghreb has been closed.
Miscellaneous
- The May 2026 administrator elections are scheduled to run from April 29 to May 19. The call for candidates ends May 5.
- The 2026 Universal Code of Conduct Coordinating Committee (U4C) election is scheduled to run from April 25 to June 1. Candidacy submissions close on May 10.
- A new noticeboard for non-urgent, batch page protection requests has been created, primarily for the enforcement of contentious topic restrictions.
May 2026 Administrator Elections – Discussion Phase
The discussion phase of the May 2026 administrator elections is officially open. As a reminder, the schedule of the election is:
- May 8–12: Discussion phase (we are here)
- May 13–19: SecurePoll voting phase
- Scrutineering phase
We are currently in the discussion phase. The candidate subpages are open to questions and comments from everyone, in the same style as a request for adminship. You may discuss the candidates at Wikipedia:Administrator elections/May 2026/Discussion phase.
On 13 May, we will start the voting phase. The candidate subpages will close to public questions and discussion, and everyone will have a week to use the SecurePoll software to vote, which uses a secret ballot. You can see who voted, but not who they voted for.
Any questions or issues can be asked on the election talk page. Thank you for your participation. Happy electing.
You're receiving this message because you signed up for the mailing list. To opt-out of future mailings, please remove yourself from the list.
-- MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 06:22, 8 May 2026 (UTC)
May 2026 Administrator Elections – Voting Phase
The voting phase of the May 2026 administrator elections has started and will continue until 19 May 2026 at 23:59 UTC. You can participate in the voting phase at Wikipedia:Administrator elections/May 2026/Voting phase.
As a reminder, the schedule of the election is:
- May 13–19: SecurePoll voting phase (we are here)
- Scrutineering phase
In the voting phase, the candidate subpages close to public questions and discussion, and everyone who qualifies to vote has a week to use the SecurePoll software to vote, which uses a secret ballot. You can see who voted, but not who they voted for. Please note that the vote totals cannot be made public until after voting has ended and as such, it will not be possible for you to see an individual candidate's vote total during the election. The suffrage requirements are similar to those at RFA.
Once voting concludes, we will begin the scrutineering phase, which will last for a few days, perhaps longer. Once everything is certified, the results will be posted on the results page (this is a good page to watchlist), and transcluded to the main election page. In order to be granted adminship, a non-recall candidate must have received at least 70.0% support, calculated as Support / (Support + Oppose), and a minimum of 20 support votes. Recall candidates must achieve 55.0% support. Because this is a vote and not a consensus, there are no bureaucrat discussions ("crat chats").
Any questions or issues can be asked on the election talk page. Thank you for your participation. Happy electing.
You're receiving this message because you signed up for the mailing list. To opt-out of future mailings, please remove yourself from the list.
MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 00:10, 13 May 2026 (UTC)
The Signpost: 22 May 2026
- News and notes: Offline: Osama Khalid still in prison
He has been imprisoned since 2020 for his Wikipedia edits. A fresh campaign is calling for his release.
- In the media: Indonesian editors, you shall return!
And lawspam, may you be away.
- Disinformation report: Who is a typical paid editor? Who are their typical clients?
Remember the golden rule!
- Recent research: WikiLambda the Ultimate
Does Abstract Wikipedia help fight "One ring to rule them all" solutions for knowledge access - or does it implement one itself?
- Traffic report: This is where I'll be, so heavenly, so come and dance with me Michael!
A real off the wall thriller, invincible, can't beat it, or is it dangerous and just bad?
- Forum: WikiAnnotate: help us build a dataset of article quality evaluations
A research project to build better automated article assessment tools.
- In focus: Demystifying the 2026-27 Annual Plan
A guide to WMF's Tech Annual Plan for the next year.
- Opinion: Wikipedia isn't a battleground. So why does it feel like one?
Do we really have to fight?
- Serendipity: Wikinews: Into the Wikiverse
The early suggestions for what the wiki could have been.
- Special report: Wikimedia Foundation closes Wikinews after 21 years
Displaces 700 active editors among 31 language editions.
- Community view: Wikipedia's traffic drop: more on languages and freshness
Which topics are dropping, and is the pattern the same everywhere?
- Gallery: Earth Day and Mother's Day
Earth Day was on 22 April, and Mother's Day was on 10 May (in the US and many other countries).
- Comix: Brother, can you spare a page?
What would you say?
Administrators' newsletter – June 2026
News and updates for administrators from the past month (May 2026).
Administrator changes
Bureaucrat changes
Guideline and policy news
- Following an RfC, the "persistent usage of large language models" has been included as a common reason for a block.
Technical news
- Mandatory 2FA for bureaucrats: Bureaucrats without two-factor authentication (2FA) enabled have already lost access to their advanced rights on 26 May. Those who do not enable 2FA may be automatically removed from the groups in mid-June 2026, and from that point onward, new members must have 2FA enabled before they can be added. (T423119, T423120)
Arbitration
- The arbitration case SchroCat has been closed.
- The arbitration case Michael Jackson has opened. Evidence submissions in this case closes on 1 June.
Miscellaneous
- Voting for the 2026 Universal Code of Conduct Coordinating Committee (U4C) election closes on 1 June.
June music
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If you look at our church, you see three recent pics, one on top of a concert that Franz Josef Hamm arranged for his 90th birthday (and invited everybody for free), a new one of our conductor, and at the bottom us taking standing ovations. The music, Forrest's Jubilate Deo, is quite breathtaking, and the organist (my choral conductor for decades) said we were better than what he had heard on the internet. No youtube upcoming, though, copyright ... - Today a 90th birthday that I missed to announce for OTD over the concerts, a 2012 quirky hook. I was there when he lectured on "Transcendental Constructivism". -- Gerda Arendt (talk) 20:37, 2 June 2026 (UTC)
Adobe Flash shut down
Papa Louie: When Pizzas Attack! was shut down due to Adobe Flash shut down. ~2026-34056-98 (talk) 20:48, 8 June 2026 (UTC)