Wikipedia:Village pump (miscellaneous)

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The miscellaneous section of the village pump is used to post messages that do not fit into any other category. Please post on the policy, technical, or proposals sections when appropriate, or at the help desk for assistance. For general knowledge questions, please use the reference desk.

Discussions are automatically archived after remaining inactive for a week.

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Weird Wikipedia Search Result

Inappropriate, rude nastiness appearing in blurb of search result for "The Spike" essay by George Orwell. Can anyone help get it deleted? It is only returned +/- 1 in 5 times of search. Seemingly linked to orwell.ru website although I am not suggesting they are responsible. DieselEstate (talk) 06:59, 18 May 2024 (UTC)

Hello @DieselEstate: can you confirm if this is the Wikipedia search function or Google? I can't reproduce this on Wikipedia. We have no control over the Google blurb or the knowledge panel here. —Femke 🐦 (talk) 14:05, 19 May 2024 (UTC)

Wikimedia Foundation banner fundraising campaign in Malaysia starts next week

Dear all,

As mentioned previously,  the WMF is running its annual banner fundraising campaign for non logged in users in Malaysia (on English Wikipedia only) from 28th of May to the 25th of June..

Generally, before and during the campaign, you can contact us:

• On the talk page of the fundraising team
• If you need to report a bug or technical issue, please create a phabricator ticket
• If you see a donor on a talk page, VRT or social media having difficulties in donating, please refer them to donatewikimedia.org

Thanks you and regards, JBrungs (WMF) (talk) 09:46, 20 May 2024 (UTC)

Wikimedia Foundation banner fundraising campaign in South starts next week

Dear all,

As mentioned previously, the WMF is running its annual banner fundraising campaign for non logged in users in South Africa (on English Wikipedia) from 28th of May to the 25th of June.

You can find more information around the campaign, see example banners, and leave any questions or suggestions you might have, on the community collaboration page.

Generally, before and during the campaign, you can contact us:

• On the talk page of the fundraising team
• If you need to report a bug or technical issue, please create a phabricator ticket
• If you see a donor on a talk page, VRT or social media having difficulties in donating, please refer them to donatewikimedia.org

Thanks you and regards, JBrungs (WMF) (talk) 09:49, 20 May 2024 (UTC)

Thanks for working closely with the South African community @JBrungs (WMF). If there are any inputs from our end, we shall let you know.Bobbyshabangu _talk 10:00, 20 May 2024 (UTC)

Art Project about Userboxes

Hello, I'm an art student conducting research on Userboxes.

I made a tool to browse through your Userbox social graph, which you can check out at: https://lucaszuidema.com/network.html. And I'm hoping to gain more insight into why Wikipedians put Userboxes on their User Pages, and what the social function of them can be.

Do you have Userboxes on your page? Or do you actively choose not to use them? I'd love to interview you about your Userboxes (or lack thereof), and for your insights to be published on a website, together with the graph.

If you're interested in participating, please send me a message on my talk page, or send me an email via the sidebar. As a reward for participating (for all you Userbox collectors out there), you'll get a special Userbox to put on your User Page.

Thanks a lot!

Lucasorigami (talk) 18:14, 20 May 2024 (UTC)

Feedback invited on Procedure for Sibling Project Lifecycle

You can find this message translated into additional languages on Meta-wiki. Please help translate to other languages.

Dear community members,

The Community Affairs Committee (CAC) of the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees invites you to give feedback on a draft Procedure for Sibling Project Lifecycle. This draft Procedure outlines proposed steps and requirements for opening and closing Wikimedia Sibling Projects, and aims to ensure any newly approved projects are set up for success. This is separate from the procedures for opening or closing language versions of projects, which is handled by the Language Committee or closing projects policy.

You can find the details on this page, as well as the ways to give your feedback from today until the end of the day on June 23, 2024, anywhere on Earth.

You can also share information about this with the interested project communities you work with or support, and you can also help us translate the procedure into more languages, so people can join the discussions in their own language.

On behalf of the CAC,

RamzyM (WMF) 02:25, 22 May 2024 (UTC)

Senior Secretary of Cadres for CPSU existed or not?

Hello, I'm researching historical positions within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) because Andrei Kirilenko (politician) page have the position called "Senior Secretary of Cadres." However, I haven't been able to find much information about it. Did this position officially exist within the CPSU, and if so, what were its responsibilities? Any guidance or references would be greatly appreciated. Thank you! SleepyJoe42 (talk) 09:27, 22 May 2024 (UTC)

You can try asking at the Wikipedia:Reference desk. This page is for discussing improvements to the article. Donald Albury 14:07, 22 May 2024 (UTC)

@Donald Albury: Your reply is confusing. Why would you say that the Village Pump is for discussing article improvements? RudolfRed (talk) 02:28, 23 May 2024 (UTC)

Forgot what page I was looking at, thought it was the talk page for an article. This is still not really the place to answer questions about the real world. Donald Albury 11:59, 23 May 2024 (UTC)

Is this discrimination?(Transcription)

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

---

(Transcribed from here) "pedophiles, will be blocked and banned indefinitely." I was curious about the sentence, but isn't this equivalent to discrimination against the mentally ill? --H.K.pauw (talk · contribs) 05:14, 3 May 2024 (UTC)

Certain mental illnesses and conditions are incompatible with collectively building an encyclopedia. This is one of them. Another, for example, could be being intoxicated to the point of disruption, delusions, and severe intellectual disabilities that prevent competent contributions EvergreenFir (talk) 05:36, 3 May 2024 (UTC)

@H.K.pauw: Not all pedophiles are mentally ill. Also, on the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog. So unless if an account tries to get over-friendly with minor/shows danger, then that account wouldn't be blocked. Like EvergreenFir said above, the goal of Wikipedia community is to build an encyclopeadia through collaboration. No matter what behavior causes problems to that, is not permitted. This includes pedophilia among other things. WP:NOT Wikipedia is not a social networking site, nor a dating site, nor a platform for pedophiles. —usernamekiran (talk) 05:45, 3 May 2024 (UTC)

@Usernamekiran:It's okay if it's not harming Wikipedia? H.K.pauw (talk · contribs) 06:11, 7 May 2024 (UTC)

@H.K.pauw: Wikipedia is neither omnipotent, nor a policing authority. What anybody does in their personal lives is out of scope of Wikipedia. I recommend you to concentrate on content creation, and if you have any suggestions to make changes to WP:child protection, then I recommend you to start relevant discussion here. —usernamekiran (talk) 17:36, 7 May 2024 (UTC)

I'm not asking how users with specific mental disabilities affect Wikipedia. I'm asking if it's tantamount to discrimination against people with mental disabilities. --H.K.pauw (talk · contribs) 09:14, 24 May 2024 (UTC)

This is not a place to exchange views about discrimination. This talk page is to discuss improvements to the wording at Wikipedia:Child protection. Please stop posting off-topic commentary here. Johnuniq (talk) 09:30, 24 May 2024 (UTC)

@EvergreenFir:I am sorry. It's about this page, so I wrote it here. In response to your point, I transcribed it to Village pump .--H.K.pauw (talk · contribs) 09:51, 24 May 2024 (UTC)

(Transcribed here) --H.K.pauw (talk · contribs) 09:51, 24 May 2024 (UTC)

An interested ethics question. The short answer is "no."

Discrimination against the mentally ill is generally categorized a subtype of discrimination against the disabled. Like all matters if discrimination, it is a fallacy to think of it in absolutist, black-and-white terms. It's not a iron-clad moral stance that must be followed to the letter no matter what; there are always exceptions. Certain types of medical research for example are based on things like skin type or genetic markers. Likewise, with disabilities there is the principle if "reasonable accommodation." There are many ways to be accommodating to the needs of someone with a disability, but sometimes accommodating is impossible, would require too much resources, or doing so would violate the rights of others. A person who is completely vision impaired will not be allowed to drive a car or fly a plane (with current technology anyway), and that is not discrimination. Mental illness in particular is a very broad range of conditions, which cause: subjective distress, impairment of function, and/or a drive or behavior causing harm the self or others. Many types of accommodation to alleviate distress or assist with function are reasonable. However, the harm the self or others has no need to be "accommodated." This is the reason why individuals can be held against their will when mental illness causes them to be suicidal or violent. Harm also doesn't have to be physical; psychosis, personality disorders and mood disorders are well known for causing people to be irritating, threatening, verbally abusive, or manipulative. We do not "accommodate" that either. An example was a lawsuit many years ago brought by a person who'd been expelled from a non-profit after he repeatedly made racist jokes, claiming his autism prevented him from judging the social inappropriateness of the joke, and that the non-profit was discriminating against him based on his mental illness. The judge threw his case out immediately.

With pedophilia specifically, it's often overlooked that the reason it's a mental illness is because it causes a drive to do harm. People with this condition generally fall into two types: with insight, and without insight. Pedophiles with insight know their drive is dangerous and harmful, and actively work against it, seeking treatment and refraining from pursing their drives. They are very unlikely to advertise that they are a pedophile on Wikipedia, and are less of a concern when it comes using Wikipedia for seeking victims or spreading false information. So they are unlikely be discriminated against as a result of this policy. Pedophiles without insight think their impulses are normal and that acting on them doesn't cause harm. They are more likely to openly declare themselves, and are also at a much, much greater risk for using Wikipedia as a propaganda tool by spreading false or biased information via editing, or trying to seek victims. This literally already happened. For this reason, it would not seem all that "reasonable" to accommodate such users on an encyclopedia.Legitimus (talk) 16:48, 24 May 2024 (UTC)

@Legitimus:Does this mean that users with mental disabilities are not allowed to participate in Wikipedia? --H.K.pauw (talk · contribs) 01:22, 25 May 2024 (UTC)

Asking such a question after the detailed explanation I wrote is concerning. I'd guess either a language barrier, or ulterior motives.Legitimus (talk) 01:29, 25 May 2024 (UTC)

Speaking as someone who is mentally ill the answer to the question posed by the OP is very simple: no. Phil Bridger (talk) 18:51, 24 May 2024 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

CentralNotice for Bengla Wikibooks contest

A contest will take place from June 1, 2024, to June 30, 2024, on Bangla Wikibooks to enrich its content. 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. —MdsShakil (talk) 10:00, 24 May 2024 (UTC)

Turn off Media Viewer option removed for IP users?

Has the ability to turn off Media Viewer been removed for users without accounts? I recently reset my cookies, and now I don't see the option to turn off Media Viewer anymore.

-- 65.92.244.237 (talk) 14:09, 24 May 2024 (UTC)

It's still there for me. Look on the upper edge, for a vertical column of icons (approximately ✖️ 🔲 ⛭). The gear-shaped settings icon has an option for disabling it. WhatamIdoing (talk) 02:51, 25 May 2024 (UTC)

Ok, I think something broke when I turned on experimental dark mode in about flags. (it breaks many things) -- 65.92.244.237 (talk) 13:10, 25 May 2024 (UTC)

Userbox copyright guidance

I’m looking to create a Jet Lag: The Game themed userbox. I know this qualifies as fair use under U.S. law, however the Wikipedia upload tool for non free content says that it has to be for an article, explicitly stating “no userspace”, so what is the best way to proceed?
Iovecodeabc (talk) 00:48, 26 May 2024 (UTC)

@Iovecodeabc: Wikipedia policy is stricter than the "fair use" law. You can only use non-free content by following WP:NFCC, and that includes only using it in articles. You can create a user box that says "This user plays Jet Lag: The Game" but you can't use any copyrighted images/screenshots etc in that userbox. RudolfRed (talk) 01:12, 26 May 2024 (UTC)

Rename Draft:Pepe to Policemen Story

There is an error in the title and the article should be renamed. 2A02:9130:803B:C427:7879:15DD:A35C:63C1 (talk) 14:17, 26 May 2024 (UTC)

I renamed it to Draft:Policemen Story, submitted it to AFC for you, and made an edit in the edit history mentioning that it was translated (in order to comply with WP:CWW). Hope that helps. –Novem Linguae (talk) 14:51, 26 May 2024 (UTC)