User Talk: StefenTower

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Wikifunctions & Abstract Wikipedia Newsletter #254: Working on Functions, together

There is a new update ↗ for Abstract Wikipedia and Wikifunctions. Please, come and read it!

In this issue, we report on new collaborative patterns emerging in our community, we discuss news in Types, we share some events that relate to Wikifunctions and Abstract Wikipedia at Wikimania 2026, and we take a look at the latest software developments.

Want to catch up with the previous updates? Check our archive ↗!

Also, we remind you that if you have questions or ideas to discuss, the next '''Volunteers' Corner''' will be held on '''July 6, at 17:30 UTC ↗''' (link to the meeting ↗).

Enjoy the reading! -- User:Sannita (WMF) (talk) 09:58, 27 June 2026 (UTC)

Fourth Street Live!

If spacing the rest of the years (May 2017 – 2018) does not fix the issue, then when is using spaces for such appropriate? Aspifi (talk) 22:18, 27 June 2026 (UTC)

:I had pointed you to MOS:DATERANGE ↗. It explains everything. <span style="background:linear-gradient(to right,light-dark(#388700,#76D12C),light-dark(#7B7100,#F1F550));background-clip:text;letter-spacing:3px;color:#388700;color:transparent">'''<small>''the''</small> Stefen 𝕋ower'''</span> 22:20, 27 June 2026 (UTC)
::I get it now - if it's "April 2003 – June 2004" that has to be spaced because it's between months in different years. But "May 2017–2018" remains unspaced because the "2017–2018" is still year{{ndash}}year. Aspifi (talk) 22:28, 27 June 2026 (UTC)
:::{{tps}} That's not quite right. "May 2017 through (sometime in) 2018" would be spaced, "May 2017 – 2018". The implied "sometime in the second year" is an unusual way to write a date range, which is why it is so confusing. – Jonesey95 (talk) 16:04, 28 June 2026 (UTC)
::::The "2017–2018" portion is ''still'' year-year. The policy does not state that it should be spaced if only one side is spaced but the other isn't. Aspifi (talk) 16:27, 28 June 2026 (UTC)
:::::Yes, it's year to year, but the presence of "May" means that spaces are required. The relevant guidance is "if the modifier applies to only one of the two endpoints of the range, use a spaced en dash". It's the same as "c. 800 – 875"; when there are multiple elements on one or more sides of the dash, spaces are needed. – Jonesey95 (talk) 18:02, 28 June 2026 (UTC)

This week's article for improvement ↗ (week 27, 2026)

{| style="width:100%; padding:2px;" class="TAFI-weekly"
! <div style="margin:0; background-color:#E2E7FF; border:1px solid blue; text-align:center; color:#082840; padding-left:0.4em; padding-top: 0.4em; padding-bottom: 0.4em; padding-right: 0.4em; font-weight:normal">{{AFI/Picture box|week=2026/27}} Hello, StefenTower. The article for improvement ↗ of the week is:

<span style="font-size:140%;">'''{{Wikipedia:Articles for improvement/2026/27/1}}'''</span>

Please be bold and help improve it!
----
Previous selections: {{Wikipedia:Articles for improvement/2026/26/1}} • {{Wikipedia:Articles for improvement/2026/25/1}}
----
Get involved with the AFI project: Nominate an article ↗{{•}} Review nominations ↗
----
<small>Posted by: <span style="font-family:sans-serif"><b><span style="color:black; font-style:italic">MusikBot</span> <sup><span style="color:green">talk</span></sup></b></span> 00:05, 29 June 2026 (UTC) using MediaWiki message delivery (talk) on behalf of WikiProject AFI • {{edit|Wikipedia:Articles for improvement/Participants/Notifications|Opt-out instructions}}</small>{{-}}</div>
|}

Tech News: 2026-27

<section begin="technews-2026-W27"/><div class="plainlinks">
Latest '''tech news ↗''' from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations ↗ are available.

'''Updates for editors'''

As part of the Account Creation Experiments ↗, the Growth team tested adding a user account icon in the mobile web header for logged-out users, providing direct access to "Create account" and "Log in" actions. The experiment increased account creation by about 20% without negatively affecting edit quality or constructive edit rates. The feature will now be rolled out to all Wikimedia Foundation wikis on mobile web in the first week of July. https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T428220 ↗

After a successful experiment ↗, logged-in users who did not confirm their email address ↗ when their account was created see a new banner asking them to complete that process. This helps reduce the risk that users get locked out of their account, and makes account email addresses overall more reliable. This is part of the Account Security ↗ project. https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T428292 ↗

An update to Search ↗ is refining how the <bdi lang="zxx" dir="ltr"><code><nowiki>-prefix:</nowiki></code></bdi> behaves when used to exclude results. Previously, using <bdi lang="zxx" dir="ltr"><code><nowiki>-prefix:</nowiki></code></bdi> with negation could unintentionally broaden search results by adding the namespaces included in the search scope, leading to confusing behavior for users expecting a straightforward exclusion filter. With the update, <bdi lang="zxx" dir="ltr"><code><nowiki>-prefix:</nowiki></code></bdi> will now strictly exclude matching page titles as intended and may display a warning if the relevant namespace has not been explicitly selected. The behavior of <bdi lang="zxx" dir="ltr"><code><nowiki>prefix:</nowiki></code></bdi> without negation however remains unchanged. https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T427443 ↗

12px|link=|class=skin-invert|Recurrent item ↗ View all {{formatnum:33}} community-submitted {{PLURAL:33|task|tasks}} that were resolved last week ↗. For example, an issue where reviewers using the Page Curation toolbar were not automatically subscribed to talk page discussions they started has now been fixed. Reviewers will now receive notifications when someone replies to those discussions. https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T329346 ↗

'''Updates for technical contributors'''

Starting June 29th, automated downloads from the dumps.wikimedia.org website will be subject to the user-agent policy ↗. Automated requests that provide a generic or empty user-agent will be blocked. Access to dumps through Wikimedia Cloud Services remains unaffected. This is a follow up to the announcement made in the 2026/25 issue of Tech News ↗.

12px|link=|class=skin-invert|Recurrent item ↗ Detailed code updates later this week: MediaWiki ↗

'''''Tech news ↗''' prepared by Tech News writers ↗ and posted by bot ↗ • Contribute ↗ • Translate ↗ • Get help ↗ • Give feedback ↗ • Subscribe or unsubscribe ↗.''
</div><section end="technews-2026-W27"/>

<bdi lang="en" dir="ltr">MediaWiki message delivery</bdi> 11:46, 29 June 2026 (UTC)

Your signature

Hi, perhaps it's my out-of-date browser, but to me your signature shows as just a blank space; I have to mouse over it to see the variant name you're using. It does link to your user page, and I imagine screen-reader users get the markup read to them, but it's certainly not searchable on a noticeboard, and I'm not sure it meets the guidelines. Has anyone raised this issue with you before? Am I not seeing some graphic that most people are seeing? Yngvadottir (talk) 01:51, 2 July 2026 (UTC)

:Hi. I just did a technical review to fix potential flaws and after some adjustments, the signature you see below should work. If it doesn't, it's because it uses a CSS feature that was adopted by all core browser engines in early 2024, and the only browsers that will fail to show it properly are outdated versions or legacy systems that haven't been updated since then. Thanks for letting me know about issues - you are the second to bring it up, but the first to post in my talk about it. <span style="background-image:linear-gradient(to right,light-dark(#388700,#76D12C),light-dark(#7B7100,#F1F550));-webkit-background-clip:text;background-clip:text;color:transparent;lett">'''<small>''the''</small> Stefen 𝕋ower'''</span> 02:34, 2 July 2026 (UTC)
::Oops, changing it caused a new issue for me... so here's my new-new sig. <span style="letter-spacing:3px;color:transparent;background:linear-gradient(90deg,light-dark(#380,#7d2),light-dark(#770,#ff5));-webkit-background-clip:text;background-clip:text\">'''<small>''the''</small> Stefen 𝕋ower'''</span> 02:40, 2 July 2026 (UTC)
::I just made another adjustment, but this should be it. <span style="letter-spacing:3px;color:transparent;background:linear-gradient(90deg,light-dark(#3A0,#7d2),light-dark(#850,#ff5));-webkit-background-clip:text;background-clip:text\">'''<small>''the''</small> Stefen 𝕋ower'''</span> 03:28, 2 July 2026 (UTC)
:::Thanks, but that didn't fix it. It's my browser, then. What am I supposed to see, gradient shading on the name? Yngvadottir (talk) 03:56, 2 July 2026 (UTC)
::::Yes, it's gradient shading. <span style="letter-spacing:3px;color:transparent;background:linear-gradient(90deg,light-dark(#3A0,#7d2),light-dark(#850,#ff5));-webkit-background-clip:text;background-clip:text\">'''<small>''the''</small> Stefen 𝕋ower'''</span> 03:57, 2 July 2026 (UTC)

Wikifunctions & Abstract Wikipedia Newsletter #255: Integration on test wiki and annual plan

There is a new update ↗ for Abstract Wikipedia and Wikifunctions. Please, come and read it!

In this issue, we discuss integration of Abstract Wikipedia in Test Wiki and our objectives for the new Wikimedia Foundation Fiscal Year, we remind you of the Wikifunctions and Abstract Wikipedia events at Wikimania 2026, and we take a look at the latest software developments.

Want to catch up with the previous updates? Check our archive ↗!

Also, we remind you that if you have questions or ideas to discuss, the next '''Volunteers' Corner''' will be held on '''July 6, at 17:30 UTC ↗''' (link to the meeting ↗).

Enjoy the reading! -- User:Sannita (WMF) (talk) 08:22, 2 July 2026 (UTC)

This week's article for improvement ↗ (week 28, 2026)

{| style="width:100%; padding:2px;" class="TAFI-weekly"
! <div style="margin:0; background-color:#E2E7FF; border:1px solid blue; text-align:center; color:#082840; padding-left:0.4em; padding-top: 0.4em; padding-bottom: 0.4em; padding-right: 0.4em; font-weight:normal">{{AFI/Picture box|week=2026/28}} Hello, StefenTower. The article for improvement ↗ of the week is:

<span style="font-size:140%;">'''{{Wikipedia:Articles for improvement/2026/28/1}}'''</span>

Please be bold and help improve it!
----
Previous selections: {{Wikipedia:Articles for improvement/2026/27/1}} • {{Wikipedia:Articles for improvement/2026/26/1}}
----
Get involved with the AFI project: Nominate an article ↗{{•}} Review nominations ↗
----
<small>Posted by: <span style="font-family:sans-serif"><b><span style="color:black; font-style:italic">MusikBot</span> <sup><span style="color:green">talk</span></sup></b></span> 00:05, 6 July 2026 (UTC) using MediaWiki message delivery (talk) on behalf of WikiProject AFI • {{edit|Wikipedia:Articles for improvement/Participants/Notifications|Opt-out instructions}}</small>{{-}}</div>
|}

Tech News: 2026-28

<section begin="technews-2026-W28"/><div class="plainlinks">
Latest '''tech news ↗''' from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations ↗ are available.

'''Updates for editors'''

12px|link=|class=skin-invert|Recurrent item ↗ View all {{formatnum:34}} community-submitted {{PLURAL:34|task|tasks}} that were resolved last week ↗. For example, an issue where the search bar results on Wikidata, showed English results instead of using the correct language fallback for users of language variants, has now been fixed. Search suggestions will now follow the expected language fallback chain. https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T429769 ↗

'''Updates for technical contributors'''

In preparation for Celebrate Women campaign ↗ planned for March 2027, the Wikimedia Foundation’s Content Enablement team ↗ has launched a 22-question survey to better understand technical contributions by women+ (anyone who identifies as a woman) across Wikimedia projects. The survey takes approximately 15–20 minutes to complete and will remain open until 20 July 2026. The questions ↗ are also available on-wiki for review in advance.

The Score extension ↗ now supports rendering music scores as SVG images in addition to PNG, addressing a long-standing feature request ↗ and resolving historical image quality issues. Both formats are now provided to clients, with PNG in the <bdi lang="zxx" dir="ltr"><code><nowiki>src</nowiki></code></bdi> attribute and SVG in the <bdi lang="zxx" dir="ltr"><code><nowiki>srcset</nowiki></code></bdi> attribute.

The new Parsoid ↗ parser continues to be deployed to additional wikis ↗, making it easier to introduce new reading and editing features. It was enabled on French Wikipedia, bringing total progress to covering 78.9% of Wikipedia page views. Rollout to English Wikipedia desktop will progress through this week.

12px|link=|class=skin-invert|Recurrent item ↗ Detailed code updates later this week: MediaWiki ↗

'''In depth'''

The Wikimedia Hackathon 2026 recap blog post ↗ is now live. It highlights the projects, sessions, and social activities from this year’s event, and shares initial plans for the 2027 Wikimedia Hackathon.

'''''Tech news ↗''' prepared by Tech News writers ↗ and posted by bot ↗ • Contribute ↗ • Translate ↗ • Get help ↗ • Give feedback ↗ • Subscribe or unsubscribe ↗.''
</div><section end="technews-2026-W28"/>

<bdi lang="en" dir="ltr">MediaWiki message delivery</bdi> 13:55, 6 July 2026 (UTC)

Wikimedia Foundation Bulletin 2026 Issue 12

<section begin="content" />
<div class="plainlinks">
150px|right|class=skin-invert|link= ↗
<div style="margin-top:10px; padding-left:5px; font-family:Georgia, Palatino, Palatino Linotype, Times, Times New Roman, serif;">''Here is a quick overview of highlights from the Wikimedia Foundation since our last issue on June 19. Please help translate ↗.''

This edition uses the new annual plan goals ↗ for this fiscal year (July 2026–June 2027).</div>
<div style="clear:both"></div>
----

'''Highlights'''

'''Wikipedia 25''': Wikipedia's 25th birthday was celebrated with various projects designed to grow awareness and support for Wikipedia and the people who make it possible. This includes the virtual birthday event on January 15, which garnered 10,000 live viewers and 15,000 reactions. Find more details on all related projects and results in the program report ↗.

'''Sustainable use of Wikimedia infrastructure''': A valid user-agent string will now be required for automated dumps downloads from the dumps.wikimedia.org website. Automated requests that provide a generic or empty user-agent will be blocked. This extends enforcement ↗ of the long standing user-agent policy ↗. Access to dumps through Wikimedia Cloud Services will not change.

'''Increasing account creation''': The experiment ↗ providing direct access to “Create account” and “Log in” actions on mobile increased account creation by about 20% without negatively affecting edit quality. The feature will now be rolled out to all wikis ↗ on mobile web.

'''Annual Goals Progress on Engage ↗'''<br/><small>''See also: Growth ↗ · Product Safety and Integrity ↗ · Tech News ↗ · Language and Internationalization ↗ · The Wikipedia Library ↗ · list of movement events ↗ · Wikifunctions & Abstract Wikipedia ↗''</small>
thumb|250px|With Sub-referencing editors can reuse and add details to a main reference. ↗

'''Add A Link''': The Foundation deployed Add A Link ↗ as a default-on suggestion within Suggestion Mode ↗. It is now launched on all wikis to all editors who have opted in to the Suggestion Beta Feature.

'''Reusing references''': Sub-referencing ↗, the new MediaWiki feature that allows editors to reuse references with different details, was deployed to most small and medium-sized Wikipedia language versions.

'''Wikifunctions''': Check out the 71 new functions ↗ with implementations to get a taste of what functions have been created.

'''Range calculator''': The special page Special:RangeCalculator ↗ has been created. It allows users to find an IP range without needing to rely on external tools. Until now, this tool was only available to CheckUsers.

'''Captcha verification''': Abuse filters that are set to “require CAPTCHA verification” now also affect users ↗ with the <code>skipcaptcha</code> right, which includes most autoconfirmed users. Bots are exempted. This change only affects edits that trigger an abuse filter.

'''Latest experiments''': An upcoming experiment ↗ is testing two variations of a "thank you" badge shown to donors after a recent donation to deepen the relationship between donors and the Wikimedia movement. See all live, upcoming, and completed experiments in Product & Technology ↗.

'''Account security on private wikis''': Two-factor authentication ↗ will become mandatory for user accounts on private wikis. This will protect private information from being exposed by an account with a compromised password.

'''Tech News''': The latest highlights from Tech News week 26 ↗ and 27 ↗ include users will now get a notification when they are blocked or unblocked from editing, or if this block changes. See also the 65 community submitted tasks that were resolved over the last two weeks.

'''Team Challenges''': The core organizing team for Wikimania is introducing Team Challenges ↗, a different approach to Wikimania Hackathon. This year, Wikimedians and professionals from other fields will join forces to undertake one of the 2026 technical challenges.

'''Annual Goals Progress on Enable ↗'''<br/><small>''See also: Research newsletter ↗ · WikiLearn News ↗ · other newsletters on MediaWiki.org ↗''</small>

'''Wikimedia Hackathon''': A look at the 2026 edition of Wikimedia Hackathon ↗ which brought together 216 participants from 29 countries building, collaborating, and shaping the future together.

'''Wikimedia Hubs''': The Hub Fund ↗ will pause funding for new pilots ↗ in fiscal year 2026–2027 to align with the work on the Ecosystem of Movement Organizations and the Global Resource Distribution Committee. Existing pilots in transition will be offered an additional year of funding.

'''Annual Goals Progress on Protect ↗'''<br/><small>''See also: Global Advocacy blog ↗ · Global Advocacy Newsletter ↗ · Policy blog ↗''</small>

'''Open Knowledge And Digital Rights''': Wikimedians shared their reflections ↗ on how Digital Rights and Inclusion Forum reinforced the role of our movement within broader digital rights conversations.

'''Annual Goals Progress on Reach ↗'''<br/><small>''See also: Wikimedia Apps ↗ · Readers ↗''</small>

'''Journalism Award''': Wikimedia Foundation announced ↗ three journalists from Africa as recipients of the Open the Knowledge Journalism Awards, ↗ run in partnership with the International Center for Journalists ↗ (ICFJ). The awards celebrate the essential role journalists play in creating well-researched articles that volunteer editors can use as source materials to develop content on Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects. In total, 320 submissions were received from 40 African countries.

'''Other Movement-curated newsletters & news'''<br/><small>''Diff blog ↗ · Goings-on ↗ · Planet Wikimedia ↗ · Signpost (en) ↗ · Kurier (de) ↗ · Actualités du Wiktionnaire (fr) ↗ · Regards sur l'actualité de la Wikimedia (fr) ↗ · Wikimag (fr) ↗ · Education ↗ · GLAM ↗ · Milestones ↗ · Wikidata ↗ · Central and Eastern Europe ↗ · other newsletters ↗''</small>

<div style="margin-top:10px; font-size:90%; font-family:Georgia, Palatino, Palatino Linotype, Times, Times New Roman, serif;">
'''Subscribe or unsubscribe ↗ · Receive the bulletin by email ↗ · Help translate ↗'''

For information about the Bulletin and to read previous editions, see the project page on Meta-Wiki ↗. If you have feedback or suggestions about the bulletin, let us know at foundationbulletin@wikimedia.org. For questions about the Wikimedia Foundation's work, contact us ↗!
</div>
</div>
<section end="content" />

<bdi lang="en" dir="ltr">MediaWiki message delivery</bdi> 23:54, 7 July 2026 (UTC)

Wikifunctions & Abstract Wikipedia Newsletter #256: Moving toward our first Abstract Wikipedia integration milestone

There is a new update ↗ for Abstract Wikipedia and Wikifunctions. Please, come and read it!

In this issue, we discuss further our objectives for the new Wikimedia Foundation Fiscal Year, we show the latest community tool, we remind you of the Wikifunctions and Abstract Wikipedia events at Wikimania 2026, and we take a look at the latest software developments.

Want to catch up with the previous updates? Check our archive ↗!

Enjoy the reading! -- User:Sannita (WMF) (talk) 09:43, 9 July 2026 (UTC)

Jaime Laredo

Hello Editor Stefen Tower:

I have been editing pages of a number of Notable Bolivian Americans and came across the Wikipedia article for Jaime Laredo.
I see that you have placed a Tag on the entire page indicating that more cites are needed to establish verifiability. I would like to request that you reconsider your position in light of the following:
1-- Wikipedia guidance is to use the least intrusive editing where possible
2-- By putting the Tag on the entire page you call in to question the reliability, verifiability, and ultimately notability of this person.
3-- It is very hard to read your mind. If you have questions regarding a section, a paragraph, or a sentence in the Wikipedia page, please note it rather than tagging the entire page.
4-- I did a quick review of the Wikipedia pages of other conductors of US orchestras to see how many References they have. This is what I found:
Name of Conductor ----- Number of References
----------------------------------------------
Gustavo Dudamel 50
Jaime Laredo 49
Gisele Ben-Dor 7
Andres Orozco-Estrada 26
Andris Nelsons 43

Of all of the above, only the page for Jaime Laredo has been tagged as needing additional references to establish verifiability.

Keep in mind that Jaime Laredo has been nominated for the Grammy about 8 or 9 times and has won once or twice. This in itself would normally be sufficient to establish verifiabilty.

Therefore, please review the above and then, if you reach the same conclusion as I have, please remove the Tag and replace it with in-line tags or section tags.

Cheers, Nome Hodas NomeHodas (talk) 20:16, 9 July 2026 (UTC)

:The tag is there for the purpose it shows. It is not a scarlet letter - simply a request for more completely citing the content in the article, which by the way is a required thing. See also WP:OTHERSTUFF ↗ (what happens in other articles is irrelevant). <span style="letter-spacing:3px;color:transparent;background:linear-gradient(90deg,light-dark(#3A0,#7d2),light-dark(#850,#ff5));-webkit-background-clip:text;background-clip:text\">'''<small>''the''</small> Stefen 𝕋ower'''</span> 20:21, 9 July 2026 (UTC)
:Also consider adding citations to unsourced content yourself ↗. That is the way for the article to earn the removal of the tag. <span style="letter-spacing:3px;color:transparent;background:linear-gradient(90deg,light-dark(#3A0,#7d2),light-dark(#850,#ff5));-webkit-background-clip:text;background-clip:text\">'''<small>''the''</small> Stefen 𝕋ower'''</span> 20:27, 9 July 2026 (UTC)

Mitch McConnell ↗

How was my footnote inappropriate? Ali Khamenei, for example, had a similar footnote when his condition was uncertain. Mx User (talk) 03:47, 10 July 2026 (UTC)

:Violates WP:CRYSTAL ↗. We're not getting ahead of ourselves on this. <span style="letter-spacing:3px;color:transparent;background:linear-gradient(90deg,light-dark(#3A0,#7d2),light-dark(#850,#ff5));-webkit-background-clip:text;background-clip:text\">'''<small>''the''</small> Stefen 𝕋ower'''</span> 06:00, 10 July 2026 (UTC)