User Talk: Dennis Brown

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{{box|align=center|padding=12px|border color=#880000|border size=3px|header=STATUS: Busy in real life. |It's been a good run, almost 20 years, most of that as admin, and I'm not sure how much longer I expect to be here. In the last couple of years, I've basically retired in real life, moved to the other side of the planet, and stay busy with a new life. It's a good life. Being at enwp, however, simply isn't very enjoyable at this time. I joined in 2006 to "build an encyclopedia" but most of the building is done, and the political infighting and bias just wears on me, so I don't hang out here very much anymore, as I find it a drag on my mental health. I don't feel that Wikipedia is actually "improving", it is just getting bigger, and in many ways, uglier. I still pop in and lurk, read some of what is going on so I have a clue as to general consensus, but the urge to participate just isn't strong at this moment. Maybe in the future I will feel differently, maybe not, but for now, don't expect to see me every week. -db}}
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<div class="center">Barnstars given to me since 2012</div>

Notice of new RfC on aligning community CTOPs with ArbCom CTOPs

Hi Dennis Brown: You previously participated in this April 2024 RfC ↗ on community contentious topics and their relationship with ArbCom's contentious topics. There is now a new RfC on this topic ↗ that you may be interested in.

Guide to temporary accounts

Hello, Dennis Brown. This message is being sent to remind you of significant upcoming changes regarding logged-out editing.

'''Starting 4 November, logged-out editors will no longer have their IP address publicly displayed.''' Instead, they will have a '''temporary account ↗''' (TA) associated with their edits. Users with some extended rights like administrators and CheckUsers, as well as users with the temporary account IP viewer ↗ (TAIV) user right will still be able to reveal temporary users' IP addresses and all contributions made by temporary accounts from a specific IP address or range.

'''How do temporary accounts work?'''

thumb|350px|Editing from a temporary account ↗

When a logged-out user completes an edit or a logged action for the first time, a cookie will be set in this user's browser and a temporary account tied with this cookie will be automatically created for them. This account's name will follow the pattern: <code>~2025-12345-67</code> (a tilde, year of creation, a number split into units of 5).

All subsequent actions by the temporary account user will be attributed to this username. The cookie will expire 90 days after its creation. As long as it exists, all edits made from this device will be attributed to this temporary account. It will be the same account even if the IP address changes, unless the user clears their cookies or uses a different device or web browser.

A record of the IP address used at the time of each edit will be stored for 90 days after the edit. Users with the temporary account IP viewer ↗ (TAIV) user right will be able to see the underlying IP addresses.

As a measure against vandalism, there are two limitations on the creation of temporary accounts:

* There has to be a minimum of 10 minutes between subsequent temporary account creations from the same IP (or /64 range in case of IPv6).

* There can be a maximum of 6 temporary accounts created from an IP (or /64 range) within a period of 24 hours.

'''Temporary account IP viewer user right'''

thumb|350px|How to enable IP Reveal ↗

Administrators may grant the '''temporary account IP viewer ↗''' (TAIV) user right to non-administrators who meet the criteria for granting ↗. Importantly, an editor must make an explicit request for the permission (e.g. at WP:PERM/TAIV ↗)—administrators are not permitted to assign the right without a request.

Administrators will automatically be able to see temporary account IP information once they have accepted the Access to Temporary Account IP Addresses Policy ↗ via Special:Preferences ↗ or via the onboarding dialog which comes up after temporary accounts are deployed.

'''Impact for administrators'''

It will be possible to block many abusers by just blocking their temporary accounts. A blocked person won't be able to create new temporary accounts quickly if the admin selects the autoblock ↗ option.

It will still be possible to block an IP address or IP range.

Temporary accounts will not be retroactively applied to contributions made before the deployment. On Special:Contributions ↗, you will be able to see existing IP user contributions, but not new contributions made by temporary accounts on that IP address. Instead, you should use Special:IPContributions ↗ for this (see a video about IPContributions in a gallery below).

'''Rules about IP information disclosure'''

Publicizing an IP address gained through TAIV access is generally ↗ not allowed (e.g. {{!tq|~2025-12345-67 previously edited as 192.0.2.1}} or {{!tq|~2025-12345-67's IP address is 192.0.2.1}}).

Publicly linking a TA to another TA is allowed if "reasonably believed to be necessary". (e.g. {{tq|~2025-12345-67 and ~2025-12345-68 are likely the same person, so I am counting their reverts together toward 3RR ↗}}, but not {{!tq|Hey ~2025-12345-68, you did some good editing as ~2025-12345-67}})

See {{section link|Wikipedia:Temporary account IP viewer|What can and can't be said}} for more detailed guidelines.

'''Useful tools for patrollers'''

It is possible to view if a user has opted-in to view temporary account IPs via the User Info card ↗, available in {{Preferences|Appearance|Advanced options|check={{int:checkuser-userinfocard-enable-preference-description}}}}

* This feature also makes it possible for anyone to see the approximate count of temporary accounts active on the same IP address range.

Special:IPContributions ↗ allows viewing all edits and temporary accounts connected to a specific IP address or IP range.

Similarly, Special:GlobalContributions ↗ supports global search for a given temporary account's activity.

The auto-reveal feature (see video below) allows users with the right permissions to automatically reveal all IP addresses for a limited time window.

'''Videos'''
<gallery>
Temporary Accounts demo - IP Contributions.webm|How to use Special:IPContributions
Temporary Accounts demo - IP Auto-reveal.webm|How automatic IP reveal works
Temporary Accounts demo - IP Information.webm|How to use IP Info
Temporary Accounts demo - User Info Card.webm|How to use User Info
</gallery>

'''Further information and discussion'''

For more information and discussion regarding this change, please see the announcement from the Wikimedia Foundation at {{section link|Wikipedia:Village pump (WMF)|Temporary accounts rollout}}.

Unprotect Cat Creek ↗

This really doesn't need ECP or even Semi, it hasn't been edited by a non bot in nearly a decade. '''Toketaa'''''talk'' 14:34, 11 June 2026 (UTC)

:Dennis is no longer an Admin. You might want to ping someone else. Intothat darkness ↗ 15:34, 11 June 2026 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – July 2026

News and updates for administrators ↗ from the past month (June 2026).

right|150px ↗

20px|alt= ↗ '''Administrator changes'''
:20px|alt=added|Added ↗ {{hlist|class=inline|Chipmunkdavis ↗|TechnoSquirrel69 ↗}}
:20px|alt=removed|Removed ↗ {{hlist|class=inline
|Mlaffs ↗
|SpuriousQ ↗
|Lectonar ↗
|Dennis Brown ↗
|Hog Farm ↗
}}

20px|alt= ↗ '''CheckUser changes'''
:20px|alt=readded|Readded ↗ {{hlist|class=inline
|Giraffer ↗
|TonyBallioni ↗
}}
:20px|alt=removed|Removed ↗ {{hlist|class=inline
|Dbeef ↗
|EdJohnston ↗
}}

20px|alt= ↗ '''Oversight changes'''
:20px|alt=readded|Readded ↗ {{hlist|class=inline
|Giraffer ↗
|TonyBallioni ↗
}}
:20px|alt=removed|Removed ↗ L235 ↗

20px|alt= ↗ '''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 ↗.

20px|alt= ↗ '''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 ↗)

20px|alt= ↗ '''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.

20px|alt= ↗ '''Miscellaneous'''

The 2026 Developing Countries WikiContest ↗ will run from 1{{nbsp}}July to 30{{nbsp}}September. '''Sign up now ↗'''!

10 candidates have been appointed ↗ to the U4C.

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{{center|{{flatlist|

Discuss this newsletter ↗

Subscribe ↗

Archive ↗

}}}}
{{center|1=Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 14:07, 2 July 2026 (UTC)}}

About your alt account's groups

Hey Dennis, {{user|Farmer Brown}} was showing up on inactivity database reports for advanced permissions, so I've cleaned them up a little and matched the groups it has to the ones on this account. Thank you for your service as an administrator! Please let me know if you need any other permissions in the meantime, and I'd be happy to help. —'''TechnoSquirrel69''' ('''talk''') 00:47, 4 July 2026 (UTC)
:Oh, and {{user|Pharmboy}}. —'''TechnoSquirrel69''' ('''talk''') 00:49, 4 July 2026 (UTC)
{{u|TechnoSquirrel69}}, not worried about Pharmboy, but I prefer Farmer Brown keep full rights. That is the only account I use on my phone. That includes IPBE, which is necessary in the part of the world I live in. Dennis Brown - 2¢ 03:39, 4 July 2026 (UTC)
:Sounds good, I've already restored the rights on Farmer Brown per your request on my talk page. Let me know if I can help with anything else. —'''TechnoSquirrel69''' ('''talk''') 03:42, 4 July 2026 (UTC)