Cremastra

SEMI-RETIRED

This user is no longer very active on Wikipedia.

Some problems I have noticed

• Hyper-bureaucracy which:

a) prevents things from being done except very, very slowly, and

b) creates slow-moving but very powerful bureaucratic "councils" which are more formal and, if I may say, somewhat more pretentious, than they need to be (see: ArbCom).

• Chronic, systemic incivility, especially at:

a) divisive topics of content or policy which attract long-term arguments between editors. (see: Infoboxes with composers, etc.)

b) large central discussion places, most notably at RfA and AN/I.

• This is due to:

a) drama-thirst, which is a regrettably common humain trait; when one editor acts on it, there isn't a problem, but when you have 115,000 active editors, a few hundred are going to have it at any given time, and you get AN/I.

b) an understandable sense of urgency and pressure to get things Right™, stemming from the fact that Wikipedia is the sixth most-visited site on the internet and run entirely by volunteers.

c) the ultimate limitations of working everything by consensus, which means discussions often end up as a battleground.

d) the nature of the internet, where rudeness, harassment etc. are well-observed and well-known problems.

• As regards civility, I do not want to become part of the problem.

• Large numbers of POV-pushers, both covert and overt.
• Too little regulation on what kind of block is appropriate for what situation: this choice is generally in the hands of one admin, and may be dissected at AN/I, where the tension is already high. This is not a good system. Clearly delineate (as a guideline) what blocks are appropriate when, and instead of discussing a block at AN/I, and create and maintain Wikipedia:Block review, (distinct from XRV) where ONLY administrators discuss and come to a consensus, instead of having a badly-structured snowballing free-for-all at AN/I. At minimum, use XRV more instead of complaining at AN/I.

• Too much regulation on most other things, where policies are extremely detailed, bureaucratic, and needlessly argued over. (See: WP:CREEP)

(View)

I will of course finish the WP:JUN24 drive and help hand out awards for that.

I'm going to still edit if I see a typo, and I'll likely add some links to sister projects when I deem appropriate.

I'll also be editing Wikisource, Wikidata, Wikibooks, and probably Wikimedia Commons, so if you leave a message here, I'll still definitely see it. Feel free to comment/complain about the things I have listed above. Cheers, Cremastra (talk) 17:00, 26 June 2024 (UTC)

RFA2024 update: phase I concluded, phase II begins

Hi there! Phase I of the Wikipedia:Requests for adminship/2024 review has concluded, with several impactful changes gaining community consensus and proceeding to various stages of implementation. Some proposals will be implemented in full outright; others will be discussed at phase II before being implemented; and still others will proceed on a trial basis before being brought to phase II. The following proposals have gained consensus:

• Proposals 2 and 9b (phase II discussion): Add a reminder of civility norms at RfA and Require links for claims of specific policy violations
• Proposal 3b (in trial): Make the first two days discussion-only
• Proposal 13 (in trial): Admin elections
• Proposal 14 (implemented): Suffrage requirements
• Proposals 16 and 16c (phase II discussion): Allow the community to initiate recall RfAs and Community recall process based on dewiki
• Proposal 17 (phase II discussion): Have named Admins/crats to monitor infractions
• Proposal 24 (phase II discussion): Provide better mentoring for becoming an admin and the RfA process
• Proposal 25 (implemented): Require nominees to be extended confirmed

See the project page for a full list of proposals and their outcomes. A huge thank-you to everyone who has participated so far :) looking forward to seeing lots of hard work become a reality in phase II. theleekycauldron (talk), via MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 08:08, 5 May 2024 (UTC)

DYK for Jerrawangala National Park

On 6 May 2024, Did you know was updated with a fact from the article Jerrawangala National Park, which you recently created, substantially expanded, or brought to good article status. The fact was ... that police officers had to be flown in by helicopter to seize hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of cannabis plants found growing illegally in Jerrawangala National Park? The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Jerrawangala National Park. You are welcome to check how many pageviews the nominated article or articles got while on the front page (here's how, Jerrawangala National Park), and the hook may be added to the statistics page after its run on the Main Page has completed. 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) 00:03, 6 May 2024 (UTC)

DYK for Kooraban National Park

On 7 May 2024, Did you know was updated with a fact from the article Kooraban National Park, which you recently created, substantially expanded, or brought to good article status. The fact was ... that Kooraban National Park provides a habitat for more than twenty endangered animal species, including koalas? The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Kooraban National Park. You are welcome to check how many pageviews the nominated article or articles got while on the front page (here's how, Kooraban National Park), and the hook may be added to the statistics page after its run on the Main Page has completed. 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, 7 May 2024 (UTC)

Your draft article, Draft:Fireaway

Hello, Cremastra. It has been over six months since you last edited the Articles for Creation submission or draft page you started, "Fireaway".

In accordance with our policy that Wikipedia is not for the indefinite hosting of material, the draft has been deleted. When you plan on working on it further and you wish to retrieve it, you can request its undeletion. An administrator will, in most cases, restore the submission so you can continue to work on it.

Thank you for your submission to Wikipedia, and happy editing. ✗plicit 03:32, 8 May 2024 (UTC)

Question from Asiimwe Edward councillor (12:19, 15 May 2024)

Hello how do I create my biography --Asiimwe Edward councillor (talk) 12:19, 15 May 2024 (UTC)

@Asiimwe Edward councillor: The answer is you probably don't. Sorry.

Wikipedia is not a place to promote yourself. Even if you are "notable" (which on Wikipedia means secondary sources have discussed you in-depth, like Prince William), you shouldn't be writing an article about yourself, because you have a conflict of interest (WP:COI).

See WP:Autobiography for more information: in short, writing an article about yourself is strongly discouraged. Maybe take a look at the task centre for other ideas on how to improve Wikipedia. Cheers, Cremastra (talk) 20:08, 15 May 2024 (UTC)

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June backlog drive

Hi, sorry about my lack of work on setting up this backlog drive. Unfortunately, I've recently lost interest in running this drive, so I'm not going to be able to help organize or run it. Once again, sorry for this, and if you decide to continue with it, good luck! ARandomName123 (talk)^{Ping me!} 03:11, 21 May 2024 (UTC)

No worries. I think I'll continue, since it looks like we have a schedule in place now. Cremastra (talk) 11:53, 21 May 2024 (UTC)

May music

story · music · places

Thank you for improving article quality in May! - Today's story mentions a concert I loved to hear (DYK) and a piece I loved to sing in choir, 150 years old (OTD). -- Gerda Arendt (talk) 20:40, 22 May 2024 (UTC)

A message from Big kush daddy 420

Hello! You've edited my user page but now there is a blank spot in the table. Please fix. Thanks. Big kush daddy 420 (talk) 18:32, 23 May 2024 (UTC)

Template:CL Male is deleted anyway, so I'd advise you to find another userbox that isn't so hostile. I can't remember what the actual wording was, but users at the deletion discussion described it as "abusive", "insulting", "potentially sexist or transphobic", and "hostile not only to LGBTQ users but probably also to female users." So, yeah, bad choice of userbox. Cremastra (talk) 19:40, 23 May 2024 (UTC)

June backlog drive

Hi there, thank you for setting up the drive! May I ask how we can find articles with cn tags or is it as we come across the articles? Also, are we allowed to place cn tags during this drive (I imagine it's cheating if we place them then correct it immediately)? Conyo14 (talk) 04:50, 28 May 2024 (UTC)

(talk page stalker) @Conyo14 Hi there, Category:All articles with unsourced statements usually tracks articles with the citation needed tags on them. For the later, it doesn’t seem right to just place citation needed tags and fix them immediately, it’s quite deceptive in my opinion. Vanderwaalforces (talk) 06:32, 28 May 2024 (UTC)

I mean if I place a tag for someone else to do, that's fine right? Conyo14 (talk) 06:35, 28 May 2024 (UTC)

Well, we're not going to give you points for it, but I guess if you want to, you can. I'd focus my efforts on removing tags, though. You can search by topic from the category Vanderwaalforces linked to, or you can use Citation Hunt. Cheers, Cremastra (talk) 12:24, 28 May 2024 (UTC)

Hi there, another question. Would this: {unsourced section} be the same as a citation tag? Conyo14 (talk) 06:01, 3 June 2024 (UTC)

@Conyo14 No. This drive focuses only on {{citation needed}}, not on {{unsourced section}} or {{more sources needed}} or similar templates. See WP:FEB24, which was a drive for unsourced articles. Cremastra (talk) 12:02, 3 June 2024 (UTC)

Page mover granted

Hello, Cremastra. Your account has been granted the "extendedmover" user right, either following a request for it or demonstrating familiarity with working with article names and moving pages. You are now able to rename pages without leaving behind a redirect, move subpages when moving the parent page(s), and move category pages.

Please take a moment to review Wikipedia:Page mover for more information on this user right, especially the criteria for moving pages without leaving a redirect. Please remember to follow post-move cleanup procedures and make link corrections where necessary, including broken double-redirects when suppressredirect is used. This can be done using Special:WhatLinksHere. It is also very important that no one else be allowed to access your account, so you should consider taking a few moments to secure your password. As with all user rights, be aware that if abused, or used in controversial ways without consensus, your page mover status can be revoked.

Useful links:

• Wikipedia:Requested moves
• Category:Requested moves, for article renaming requests awaiting action.

If you do not want the page mover right anymore, just let me know, and I'll remove it. Thank you, and happy editing! Hey man im josh (talk) 12:14, 28 May 2024 (UTC)

Project Reliability/June 024

Wikipedia:WikiProject Reliability/June 2024 Drive I signed up in this drive and updated my tally, but I ended up creating new section,so there are two sections with my name and there no edit button in the sections. How do I update my existing tally, like others are doing Redmyname31 (talk) 11:50, 1 June 2024 (UTC)

Redmyname31 By clicking "Edit" at the top of the page, and then scrolling down to your tally section (a ctrl+f search should help you find it). I'll see if I can add "edit source" buttons, I don't know why they aren't showing up. Cremastra (talk) 11:53, 1 June 2024 (UTC)

edit button on the top is to edit introduction part only. Redmyname31 (talk) 16:21, 1 June 2024 (UTC)

That shouldn't be the case. Maybe you have some kind of gadget/script installed? Are you sure you're clicking the "Edit" tab next to "View History", and scrolling all the way down to the bottom? What happens if you follow this link? Cremastra (talk) 17:56, 1 June 2024 (UTC)

I don't have any gadget or script installed. the link works fine, ty Redmyname31 (talk) 18:23, 1 June 2024 (UTC)

Awards changes in current reliability event

I don't pretend to understand why you abruptly changed the awards thresholds (too many people are improving the encyclopedia too much, let's fix the incentive structure?), but I suspect that having two reward tiers with identical thresholds is not intentional. Could you take another look? Thanks. Indignant Flamingo (talk) 02:42, 2 June 2024 (UTC)

 Fixed sorry about that. I changed it because I wildly underestimated how much people would score, and wanted to make the incentives a bit more incentivizing. I figured since it was the first day of the drive, there wouldn't be too much confusion. Cremastra (talk) 12:46, 2 June 2024 (UTC)

The Signpost: 8 June 2024

• News and notes: Wikimedia Foundation publishes its Form 990 for fiscal year 2022-2023

• Technology report: New Page Patrol receives a much-needed software upgrade

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Backlog Drive

One thing that I'm somewhat concerned by with this drive is that in some cases, people may find resources that perpetuate citogenisis. I was wondering if it is possible to put a warning on the backlog drive page on how to avoid this (either finding resources that aren't susceptible to citogensis or trying to identify when the claim was added, and finding older sources). Kwkintegrator (talk) 14:29, 8 June 2024 (UTC)

I'm particularly worried that the point structure, while good, might make people more careless. I've definitely noticed myself acting slightly faster than I otherwise would. Kwkintegrator (talk) 14:29, 8 June 2024 (UTC)

Yeah, these concerns are unfortunately inherent to the competitive nature of backlog drives like this one. I've added a reminder for now, and if it looks to be a problem I'll go a little further. Cheers, Cremastra (talk) 14:42, 8 June 2024 (UTC)

DYK

The article says up to 4.9 ft tall rather than up to 4.11 ft in the hook. No need to break down the measurements. SL93 (talk) 20:21, 11 June 2024 (UTC)

I have responded at the DYK nom page. Basically, 4 ft 11 in ≠ 4.11 ft. Cremastra (talk) 20:31, 11 June 2024 (UTC)

I saw your comment. It isn't just about promoting your hook. I'm done promoting all hooks. I hate being nitpicked about interestingness and image choice when I promote. It can really hurt. It's just unfortunate that my decision coincided with your nomination. I sometimes wonder why I still write for DYK, when I don't receive much thanks for them. Over 400 nominations later, and the main shit I hear about them is when editors hate something. Then I remember that I write on Wikipedia, and DYK, to improve the encyclopedia. SL93 (talk) 20:52, 11 June 2024 (UTC)

Okay. Happy editing, Cremastra (talk) 20:55, 11 June 2024 (UTC)

Note to self...

...for a possible future essay on incivility: What the heck was this? Cremastra (talk) 19:32, 16 June 2024 (UTC)

story · music · places

Thank you for improving article quality in June! - Today we have a centenarian story (documentation about it by Percy Adlon) and an article that had two sentences yesterday and was up for deletion, and needs a few more citations. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 21:14, 20 June 2024 (UTC)

Thanks, Gerda. You're lucky to live in such a lovely area, albeit with introduced nutrias roaming at large :) . Cheers, Cremastra (talk) 21:18, 20 June 2024 (UTC)

Yes, I am thankful for the blessed area! - You may want to add Gustav Mahler to your notes ;) --Gerda Arendt (talk) 21:32, 20 June 2024 (UTC)

Goodness. (I tried Mahler, never really got into him. He's pretty popular though; perhaps I'll try again. I like another Gustav, so you never know.) Cremastra (talk) 21:34, 20 June 2024 (UTC)

I meant the talk, matching the note linked above. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 22:37, 20 June 2024 (UTC)

I know, hence the "goodness". Cremastra (talk) 22:56, 20 June 2024 (UTC)

I missed the irony ;) --Gerda Arendt (talk) 08:19, 21 June 2024 (UTC)

DYK for Schoenoplectus triqueter

On 22 June 2024, Did you know was updated with a fact from the article Schoenoplectus triqueter, which you recently created, substantially expanded, or brought to good article status. The fact was ... that Schoenoplectus triqueter (pictured) can grow up to 1.5 metres (4 ft 11 in) tall on stems less than half a centimetre (0.20 in) wide? The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Schoenoplectus triqueter. You are welcome to check how many pageviews the nominated article or articles got while on the front page (here's how, Schoenoplectus triqueter), and the hook may be added to the statistics page after its run on the Main Page has completed. 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.

RoySmith (talk) 00:35, 22 June 2024 (UTC)

Concern regarding Draft:2024 American strikes in Iraq

Hello, Cremastra. This is a bot-delivered message letting you know that Draft:2024 American strikes in Iraq, a page you created, has not been edited in at least 5 months. Drafts that have not been edited for six months may be deleted, so if you wish to retain the page, please edit it again or request that it be moved to your userspace.

If the page has already been deleted, you can request it be undeleted so you can continue working on it.

Thank you for your submission to Wikipedia. FireflyBot (talk) 02:06, 25 June 2024 (UTC)