Ad Orientem
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Administrators' newsletter – July 2026
editNews and updates for administrators from the past month (June 2026).
Administrator changes
CheckUser changes
Oversight changes
Guideline and policy news
- A request for comment asks whether the criteria for autoconfirmed and extended confirmed should be modified.
- A request for comment proposes an addendum for the Real name section of the Username policy.
Technical news
- The special page Special:RangeCalculator has been created for any users to use to find an IP range. (phab:T268429)
- The "indefinitely" button in Special:Block for temporary accounts can be replaced with a preferred block duration stated on MediaWiki:ipb-indefinite-expiry-temporary-account. (phab:T427125)
Arbitration
- Following a series of motions, changes to the contentious topics procedure to restructure awareness have been implemented.
- The arbitration case Michael Jackson has been closed.
Miscellaneous
- The 2026 Developing Countries WikiContest will run from 1 July to 30 September. Sign up now!
- 10 candidates have been appointed to the U4C.
There is an open SPI about the person you just blocked
editthanks for blocking them, just thought you should know Froglord (Finnfrog99) (talk) 18:45, 9 July 2026 (UTC)
- Which one is that? I just blocked a number of users. -Ad Orientem (talk) 18:49, 9 July 2026 (UTC)
- VhhFgh Froglord (Finnfrog99) (talk) 18:50, 9 July 2026 (UTC)
- Thanks... -Ad Orientem (talk) 18:54, 9 July 2026 (UTC)
- VhhFgh Froglord (Finnfrog99) (talk) 18:50, 9 July 2026 (UTC)
Revdel request
editLooking for a revdel of just this revision due to an apparent WP:OUTING attempt. ThxBye. -- Nat Gertler (talk) 22:26, 10 July 2026 (UTC)
- @NatGertler
Done -Ad Orientem (talk) 22:42, 10 July 2026 (UTC)
- Thanks! -- Nat Gertler (talk) 22:44, 10 July 2026 (UTC)
- And we have another WP:OUTING by the same editor at these two revisions of the BLP noticeboard to be RevDel'd, if you may. -- Nat Gertler (talk) 23:25, 11 July 2026 (UTC)
- It's not outing. When I said, "the subject", I meant the article subject, and did not make any claim about the identity of MapleLeaf33. It's very clear that whoever MapleLeaf33 is, they are acting on behalf of and reflect the wishes of the article subject, and suggesting so is not outing. Hemiauchenia (talk) 23:44, 11 July 2026 (UTC)
- Inventing unsourced claims about a BLP subject is inappropriate. WP:BLP limits apply to talk pages as well as articles. Please cease your irrelevant assuming. -- Nat Gertler (talk) 00:11, 12 July 2026 (UTC)
- @NatGertler First, the new claim of WP:OUTING doesn't look like it's explicit outing to me. It's a little on the edge there, so if you want to seek a 2nd opinion from another admin, I'm ok with that. Secondly, @Hemiauchenia your edit labeled ML33 as "the subject" of the article. Not sure if that was strictly accurate or not, but it was a serious no no. It is one thing to say that they have a COI and are connected to the subject. But your edit said that the were the subject. You can't do that. -Ad Orientem (talk) 01:02, 12 July 2026 (UTC)
- If he did label ML33 as the subject, in a thread where the subject is named, that would seem a clear OUTING to me. However, I will take H at his word that he was not trying to refer to ML33, and that rather he was trying to suggest that the subject was the one that had a web page disappeared (if I understand correctly).... which is a) problematic as the subject is a living person and such speculation regarding them seems to be outside of WP:BLP, and b) not relevant to any decision being made. -- Nat Gertler (talk) 01:50, 12 July 2026 (UTC)
- I saw no evidence of bad faith. I didn't feel any warning was necessary. It was a breech of P&G, but likely unintentional. No need to make any more of it. -Ad Orientem (talk) 02:11, 12 July 2026 (UTC)
- If he did label ML33 as the subject, in a thread where the subject is named, that would seem a clear OUTING to me. However, I will take H at his word that he was not trying to refer to ML33, and that rather he was trying to suggest that the subject was the one that had a web page disappeared (if I understand correctly).... which is a) problematic as the subject is a living person and such speculation regarding them seems to be outside of WP:BLP, and b) not relevant to any decision being made. -- Nat Gertler (talk) 01:50, 12 July 2026 (UTC)
- @NatGertler First, the new claim of WP:OUTING doesn't look like it's explicit outing to me. It's a little on the edge there, so if you want to seek a 2nd opinion from another admin, I'm ok with that. Secondly, @Hemiauchenia your edit labeled ML33 as "the subject" of the article. Not sure if that was strictly accurate or not, but it was a serious no no. It is one thing to say that they have a COI and are connected to the subject. But your edit said that the were the subject. You can't do that. -Ad Orientem (talk) 01:02, 12 July 2026 (UTC)
- Inventing unsourced claims about a BLP subject is inappropriate. WP:BLP limits apply to talk pages as well as articles. Please cease your irrelevant assuming. -- Nat Gertler (talk) 00:11, 12 July 2026 (UTC)
- It's not outing. When I said, "the subject", I meant the article subject, and did not make any claim about the identity of MapleLeaf33. It's very clear that whoever MapleLeaf33 is, they are acting on behalf of and reflect the wishes of the article subject, and suggesting so is not outing. Hemiauchenia (talk) 23:44, 11 July 2026 (UTC)
- And we have another WP:OUTING by the same editor at these two revisions of the BLP noticeboard to be RevDel'd, if you may. -- Nat Gertler (talk) 23:25, 11 July 2026 (UTC)
- Thanks! -- Nat Gertler (talk) 22:44, 10 July 2026 (UTC)
Books & Bytes – Issue 75
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Issue 75, May–June 2026
- New partnerships: The Telegraph, Marg, The Tribune newspapers
- Tech tip: Expired partnerships
Sent by MediaWiki message delivery on behalf of The Wikipedia Library team – 14:43, 17 July 2026 (UTC)
(This message was sent to User:Ad Orientem and is being posted here due to a redirect.)
Articles for Creation backlog drive
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Hello Ad Orientem:
WikiProject Articles for creation is holding a month long Backlog Drive in August!
The goal of this drive is to reduce the backlog of unreviewed drafts to less than a month of outstanding reviews from the current 3+ months. Bonus points will be given for reviewing drafts that have been waiting more than 30 days. The drive is running from 1 August 2026 through 31 August 2026.
You may find Category:AfC pending submissions by age or other categories and sorting helpful.
Barnstars will be given out as awards at the end of the drive.
There is a backlog of over 5000 pages, so start reviewing drafts. We're looking forward to your help! MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 00:36, 19 July 2026 (UTC)
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