Wikipedia:Village pump (miscellaneous)

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WikiData Orphan Articles

Hi everyone,

I am conducting research (for my Masters) on content-gaps related to orphan articles. I am doing my best with Wikidata, but I cannot seem to find the appropriate attribute or combination of attributes that would let me extract orphan articles.

For context: An orphan article is one that has no other articles referencing to it. (Wikipedia:Orphan)

Does anyone have any pointers?

So far, I am using following two lines of SPARQL to narrow down orphan articles, but when I check the resulting list of articles, any given article does have links when I look under What Links Here.

?article schema:about ?item .

?item wikibase:sitelinks ?linkcount .

FILTER (?linkcount = 0) MNSanchez (talk) 15:14, 10 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Is either Category:All_orphaned_articles or randomincategory.toolforge.org/All_orphaned_articles?site=en.wikipedia.org helpful to you? Peaceray (talk) 15:31, 10 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Peaceray! Thank you for the super quick response. I did look into this for the English Wikipedia. However, I need to extract the orphans from different languages. Spanish, for example does not use the categories for their orphans.

I have so far found a very inefficient way to do it... And I am hoping to get some help from the community to optimize this! (I posted it on Request A Query). If you have any advice. I would be very grateful. MNSanchez (talk) 14:04, 14 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@MNSanchez to add to the comment above, you can't do this through Wikidata - that does not have any information about article to article links on individual wikis. Using "wikibase:sitelinks" will get you the number of links on Wikidata to individual language versions of that article (and any Wikidata item with sitelinks=0 would this presumably have no linked Wikipedia article)

You can get access to the individual wiki's link tables using Quarry - see eg this query for orphaned talkpages on mediawiki.org - but it might be more practical to identify them here as pages in Category:Orphaned articles, which is fairly up to date. Andrew Gray (talk) 09:13, 14 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Andrew!

I actually did find a way to do it through Wikidata using the mwapi API in SPARQL. It works, but it is very slow and times out, which I am hoping to resolve with the help of the community (See here).

I am curious about Quarry. I will have to play around with it to get familiar with it because I have been spending all my energy into the SPARQL query I mentioned earlier. If you have any advice either regarding how to get started with Quarry or about the SPARQL query, I would appreciate it a lot!

Thank you! MNSanchez (talk) 14:09, 14 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Oh interesting! Yes, I had forgotten the magic of invoking the API within a query. I think for this particular use case it will be impractical - just too many articles involved if you're needing to look at "all women". I'll follow up over there. Andrew Gray (talk) 17:37, 14 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Israel Palestine articles have a sourcing problem

I feel like I/P articles have a very big issue of an excessive use of problematic sources, especially on less popular I/P articles. Usually these articles are either minor incidents from the ongoing Gaza war where the only reporting that is readily available is from problematic sources. The most common problematic sources are Al Jazeera English which is listen the Perennial sources page as biased on I/P and Middle East Eye which is 75% owned by the "former director for the Hamas-controlled Al-Quds TV" according to its Wikipedia Page. I could go ahead and try to change on of these articles but theres too many for me to get through, I feel like something more systematic and top down is needed. Denninithan (talk) 23:45, 11 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

You should probably get consensus before mass removing a generally reliable source. Perhaps others may disagree that the use of this source is a problem. –Novem Linguae (talk) 01:37, 12 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Where would I even go to get consensus on something like that, I haven't really spent much time on the policies side of wikipedia usually I just write stuff. Denninithan (talk) 01:53, 12 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

If it is about a particular use of a source, the article talk page is the place. If it is about then general use of a source, it is WP:RSN. However, before you start a section on a source at RSN you should read the previous discussions about those sources at RSN and also look at their entry in WP:RSP. If you don't have more to offer than was already discussed, you might consider whether restarting the same discussion again with the same evidence has a chance of a different outcome. Zero^talk 03:07, 12 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Are there Israeli sources that you think may have the "excessive use" and "problematic" features from the ongoing Gaza war? I ask because the reporting environment in Israel is quite difficult right now in terms of reporting restrictions. Sean.hoyland (talk) 06:06, 12 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

It's important to remember that it's officially okay for sources to be biased (WP:RSBIASED). The goal is for Wikipedia editors to behave in an unbiased way, so that the result is an article in which Wikipedia editors have fairly and proportionately presented the views of all the reliable sources – including biased reliable sources. WhatamIdoing (talk) 02:33, 15 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Template:Infobox government cabinet has an RfC

Template:Infobox government cabinet has an RfC for possible consensus. A discussion is taking place. If you would like to participate in the discussion, you are invited to add your comments on the discussion page. Thank you. Impru20^talk 09:56, 13 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

CentralNotice for Bangla Wiktionary Entry Contest 2025

A contest will take place from July 1, 2025, to July 31, 2025, on Bangla Wiktionary to enrich its entries. A central notice request has been placed to target both English and Bangla Wikipedia users, including non-registered users from Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal. Thank you. Aishik Rehman (talk) 20:49, 13 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Vote now in the 2025 U4C Election

Eligible voters are asked to participate in the 2025 Universal Code of Conduct Coordinating Committee election. More information–including an eligibility check, voting process information, candidate information, and a link to the vote–are available on Meta at the 2025 Election information page. The vote closes on 17 June 2025 at 12:00 UTC.

Please vote if your account is eligible. Results will be available by 1 July 2025. -- In cooperation with the U4C, Keegan (WMF) (talk) 23:00, 13 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Can anyone translate this post to an article talk page

Have a look at these edits to an article talk page.

Can anyone identify the language, and preferably provide a translation? Andrewa (talk) 05:48, 14 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I suppose that this is a language spoken in India wrote in "Latin script" instead of one of the "Brahmic scripts".

This is a bit like if you was writing English with "Cyrillic script".

Concerning the "edit" that you shared with us.

I don't know what is the language but I'm sure that this is one of the language spoken in India

It sound like one of the many languages spoken there and the IP is in India.

I saw the others edits made by this IP. This IP was not used to edit on another "Wikimedia project" than "Wikipedia in English".

I found an "edit" that seems to include a bit of English.

This is maybe a "English-based creole language" but I don't know if such language does exist in India.

This is maybe a "Mixed language" but I don't know if such language does exist in India..

This is maybe a text with many "loan words" from English.

I think to the possibility that these two edits aren't wrote in the same language.

Why not try with a characters converter in "brahmic scripts" to try many brahmic scripts and send the results to an automatic translator ?

You can maybe find the language(s) used for these two edits with this method. Anatole-berthe (talk) 07:13, 14 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Maybe Tamil. nenjinil vantha devathai might be நெஞ்சினில் வந்த தேவதை = The angel who came into my heart. Sean.hoyland (talk) 07:32, 14 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Concerning this "edit".

When I tried to identify the language of the text in "Latin script" with "Google translate". It did suggested me "Tamil" as a language.

Now , I read your message. I think that there are a high probability that the text was wrote in "Tamil" with "latin characters" instead of "Tamil script".

The other "edit" is maybe on the same subject because of the word "angel". Anatole-berthe (talk) 07:53, 14 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Maybe song lyrics. Sean.hoyland (talk) 07:37, 14 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

While I still have not identified the language, Goggle Translate eventually rendered it as

The angel who came to my heart mixed with life will come to hear with the moon that goes with the wind

Thanks to those who have helped. Andrewa (talk) 09:20, 14 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

You could try asking the person who posted it, either on the article talk page or the user talk page. It's unlikely, but you could possibly get a reply. Phil Bridger (talk) 09:30, 14 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I think likewise that he can post a message on the "User talk page".

Also , I think likewise that he can use ""Talk:Silambarasan"".

These are good ideas even if I think that this is unlikely to expect an answer.

I have another idea. The user under an IP address did made two edits when I'm writing these lines.

Maybe , this user will continue to contribute. In this case , maybe we could get more material for a linguistical analysis. Anatole-berthe (talk) 10:03, 14 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Imagine saying that to someone face to face, then just standing there staring at them to see what happens. Sean.hoyland (talk) 09:51, 14 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The language appears to be tamil. I'm guessing that Silambarasan is locally famous in India (or part of it) for singing that particular song, and that the IP who added these lyrics doesn't understand much about English Wikipedia, and it's a good question as to whether they understand English. We of course assume good faith and that they were trying to add relevant and accurate content.

Thanks again to all who have helped. Andrewa (talk) 10:18, 14 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I don't know if "Silambarasan" did already singed this song.

This actor is a native Tamil speaker.

Therefore , I think that there are a high probability that you did found the right hypothesis. Anatole-berthe (talk) 11:04, 14 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees 2025 - Call for Candidates

More languages • Please help translate to other languages.

Hello all,

The call for candidates for the 2025 Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees selection is now open from June 17, 2025 – July 2, 2025 at 11:59 UTC [1]. The Board of Trustees oversees the Wikimedia Foundation's work, and each Trustee serves a three-year term [2]. This is a volunteer position.

This year, the Wikimedia community will vote in late August through September 2025 to fill two (2) seats on the Foundation Board. Could you – or someone you know – be a good fit to join the Wikimedia Foundation's Board of Trustees? [3]

Learn more about what it takes to stand for these leadership positions and how to submit your candidacy on this Meta-wiki page or encourage someone else to run in this year's election.

Best regards,

Abhishek Suryawanshi
Chair of the Elections Committee

On behalf of the Elections Committee and Governance Committee

[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Wikimedia_Foundation_elections/2025/Call_for_candidates

[2] https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Legal:Bylaws#(B)_Term.

[3] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Wikimedia_Foundation_elections/2025/Resources_for_candidates

MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 17:43, 17 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

During the last round, I wrote m: User:WhatamIdoing/Board candidates to describe my view of what's needed and often missing in Board candidates. Specifically, editors from this community tend to look at the board as "How do I get an admin from the English Wikipedia elected?" IMO we need to be thinking more like "How do I get someone who can read a balance sheet elected?" Being able to run WP:AWB does not make you suited to working on a committee, or to allocating a US$175,000,000 budget. WhatamIdoing (talk) 18:35, 18 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Paid editors question

If I suspect that certain editors are undisclosed paid editors, what is the best way to handle that without causing undue drama? Nosferattus (talk) 16:20, 18 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

See Wikipedia:Paid-contribution disclosure § Reporting undisclosed paid editors and Wikipedia:Arbitration Committee/Conflict of interest reports for steps to take. isaacl (talk) 16:56, 18 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Percentage of edits (yearly and total) made by members of each user group

Is there a way to compile this info from the existing statistics? I am curious about the proportion of edits from each group (anonymous, autoconfirmed, extended confirmed, etc.) CVDX (talk) 23:10, 20 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@CVDX, I suggest that you ask at Wikipedia:Request a query, and then put the answer in Wikipedia:Wikipedians (and/or other pages) so other editors will be able to find the answer later. You might need to make a few more decisions (e.g., whether you want to check only the article space, what about bots, what about AWB/Twinkle/scripts, etc.). WhatamIdoing (talk) 23:44, 20 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia:Who writes Wikipedia? is another page that might be appropriate for your results. WhatamIdoing (talk) 00:11, 21 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The analytics team maintains a denormalized dataset which I think has what you need to do this, although you'll probably need their help to set up the appropriate Hadoop job. I'd start by getting in touch with them via their contact page RoySmith (talk) 00:14, 21 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I agree. It looks like they have an easy way of figuring out what groups a user was in at a given time, which is difficult to do from the live database replicas for a single user and entirely impractical to do in bulk. —Cryptic 01:34, 21 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Looking for a document on editor retention in function of account age

I'm 90% it was the product of a WMF project. IIRC: It was shaped like a triangle of squares, colored from green to red. One of the axises was the year/month of account creation; the other was, for a given date, the probability that the account was still active. I came past it around march of this year, but I can't find it anymore. Does that ring a bell to anyone? Thanks, — Alien 3
3 3 17:07, 21 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Is it https://retention.toolforge.org/enwiki? I previously put a link to it under Wikipedia:WikiProject Editor Retention § Resources so I could find it again. isaacl (talk) 17:39, 21 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks you very much. That's exactly what I was looking for. :) — Alien 3
3 3 18:58, 21 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Follow up discussion on ITN

In the recent RfC on the fate of ITN, the closers suggested a follow up RfC in 6 months (July 2025) as to whether ITN should be abolished. I am starting a discussion now so that we can take a look at what, if anything, has changed within the last 6 months. voorts (talk/contributions) 17:28, 21 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Notified: [[Wikipedia talk:In the news]]. voorts (talk/contributions) 17:29, 21 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

My perspective is the same it's always been - I'm an impassioned "no" on getting rid of ITN or making the changes that have generally been suggested for the section. In fact, I actually think much better about the state of ITN lately. DarkSide830 (talk) 19:05, 21 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]
That prior discussion (from 6months ago), is the usual result when there are seemingly odd decisions at ITN about what to post or not post that come up every once in a while. Since then, while there's been a few couple similar incidents, I'm not seeing anything that suggests that there needs to be any change here. That prior argument on abolishing ITN is just one of those knee-jerk reactions that I don't think really still has legs now. ITN is not perfect, by any means, but the step to abolish it is just too far. Masem (t) 19:07, 21 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]
I'm still opposed to "abolishing" ITN. As an editor who occasionally checks the main page (with From today's featured article and In the news being the only two sections that I read or skim over) and who isn't involved with the behind-the-scenes stuff of ITN, ITN seems pretty much the same as it did six months ago. And that's not necessarily a bad thing. Some1 (talk) 19:41, 21 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Oppose. You'll have to remind me what the arguments for abolishing it are. If it's because it's toxic, well I'd rather do something to fix the toxicity than scrap a major part of the main page. It's also a good funnel for getting new editors involved, such as when I got an ITN in 2010: User talk:Novem Linguae/Archive 1#ITN: 2010 cargo plane bomb plot. –Novem Linguae (talk) 20:01, 21 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]
ITN should be canned as it is still quite dysfunctional. Just look at its current state – it's got nothing about the Iran-Israel conflict even though this is all over the news. Instead, it's leading on a hockey game that happened days ago. This pathetic productivity arises because of poor attendance. There was just one nomination today and that has had zero responses. That's because it's another sporting event that few are interested in. Yesterday there was just a single RD nomination and that only got one response and so hasn't been actioned. The day before that there were zero nominations.
You have to go back four days to find a nomination that's getting any attention. That's about the hot topic of Iran-Israel but seems stuck too. The latest comment plaintively asks, "what's taking so long?"
So, the big problem is that ITN's process just doesn't work. Every other main page section posts new content every day, regular as clockwork. ITN is supposed to be the most topical and timely but it isn't. This is not a fundamental difficulty because the Portal:Current events posts lots of fresh news content every day. The problem is that ITN has dysfunctional processes which prevent it getting things done. It has had years to reform but the incumbents with power are in denial. It should therefore be deprecated so that alternatives can be tried.
Andrew🐉(talk) 20:12, 21 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]
1) news of major significance does not happen every single day, and 2) quality is still a requirement which is what holds up most nominations that are otherwise agreed on. Neither of those can be changed (the first we can't control, and the second is a requirement of the main page) Masem (t) 23:14, 21 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]
The US strikes on Iran are today's major news. Portal:Current events posted the article American strikes on Iranian nuclear sites about an hour after they happened. ITN has a nomination which doesn't seem to be arriving at a clear conclusion or paying any attention to quality. Ice hockey is the ITN lead for another day. Andrew🐉(talk) 06:20, 22 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Oppose, being an internet encyclopedia that is editable by anyone at any time leads to us having articles on current events as they happen. And as such people like coming here to find them. I'm not convinced that this process should be removed from the main page. I am also OK with it "lagging behind" major news outlets -- we aren't journalists presenting breaking news. We simply are sharing newly minted encyclopedia articles about recent events, not a live feed of what is happening minute by minute. JackFromWisconsin (talk | contribs) 02:34, 22 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Comment: I asked above if anything had changed in the last 6 months given the calls for reform in the last RfC. I didn't intend to start an RfC now and I don't think bolded !votes are helpful at this point. voorts (talk/contributions) 02:49, 22 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]
I attend ITN regularly and haven't noticed any significant structural change in the last six months. The news during this period has been dominated by the Trump administration's "flooding the zone". ITN has posted very little of it as there are many ITN regulars who seem averse to US news. Andrew🐉(talk) 06:25, 22 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]
As far as I can tell, ITN still uses editor's feelings to decide what's "significant", providing readers with incredibly visible content that's unbalanced in a way we try to prevent elsewhere on the project. It still encourages the creation of articles about random news stories themselves as opposed to updating articles about notable subjects. And it still occupies space that could be used to showcase higher quality content or a panel that recruits new editors directly. Thebiguglyalien (talk) 🛸 04:47, 22 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]