User talk:Philippe (WMF)

Starting anew

Archiving happened again. :-) Philippe Beaudette, Wikimedia Foundation (talk) 00:01, 3 January 2015 (UTC)

Illuminati

I saw your unveiled reference to our fraternity on ANI. Please be more circumspect. In other news, I have been trying to read The Illuminatus! Trilogy (an Ent favorite, I believe), but gave up some 30 or 40 pages in. Perhaps I'm too far away from San Francisco to really, you know, dig it. Happy days, Drmies (talk) 17:27, 6 December 2014 (UTC)

Clearly, I forgot the first rule of the Illuminati. I'll try to be better. You keep slugging away at the trilogy though! Philippe Beaudette, Wikimedia Foundation (talk) 00:13, 7 December 2014 (UTC)

Precious

word cloud
Thank you, Philippe, for serving WMF, giving galaxies of barnstars, for fighting vandalism and nonsense ("We could really use your help to create new content, but ..."), for reminding us of the colourful word cloud and for clear words of reaching out, - repeating: you are an awesome Wikipedian (4 March 2010)!

--Gerda Arendt (talk) 08:55, 15 December 2014 (UTC)

Colliding Tori Fusion Reactor - (CTFR)

Could you restore and instantly re-delete Colliding Tori Fusion Reactor - (CTFR) please? With my normal admin rights, I see no deletion log entry at all (as if it just vanished into deletionland by itself), and there's no way to know that it was a WP:OFFICE-related issue; I discovered it only because it's linked at WP:OFFICE. Had I wandered to it from somewhere else, e.g. a link in a page history, I would have been thoroughly confused; you could prevent this kind of confusion with a simple re-deletion summary such as "Per WP:OFFICE" or "Office action". Nyttend (talk) 20:01, 20 December 2014 (UTC)

I'm sorry, I can't do that. Philippe Beaudette, Wikimedia Foundation (talk) 17:31, 1 January 2015 (UTC)

Would creating a page with dummy content (e.g. "a") then deleting it be a better solution? MER-C 11:50, 19 January 2015 (UTC)

As far as I care, yes. I just want the page to have a WP:OFFICE deletion rationale that's added by someone from WMF staff, so that the situation's clear. Nyttend (talk) 02:06, 8 February 2015 (UTC)

Best wishes

Hi Philippe. Just slipping in here to quietly wish you all the best for 2015 and that the year will treat you personally better. Thanks for all you do. Regards, Chris (Kudpung กุดผึ้ง (talk) 16:25, 1 January 2015 (UTC)).

Chris, thank you for the well wishes. I hope that you have a wonderful New Year, and extend my best wishes to you and yours.  :) Philippe Beaudette, Wikimedia Foundation (talk) 17:32, 1 January 2015 (UTC)

Demiurge1000

Is there any reason this would be a problem? Thanks. Go Phightins! 00:14, 9 January 2015 (UTC)

Nope, seems perfectly reasonable to me. Philippe Beaudette, Wikimedia Foundation (talk) 01:15, 9 January 2015 (UTC)

Sunshine

		Sunshine!
		Hello Philippe (WMF)! Pine✉ has given you a bit of sunshine to brighten your day! Sunshine promotes WikiLove and hopefully it has made your day better. Spread the sunshine by adding {{subst:User:Meaghan/Sunshine}} to someone else's talk page, whether it be someone you have had disagreements with in the past or a good friend. In addition, you can spread the sunshine to anyone who visits your userpage and/or talk page by adding {{User:Meaghan/Sunshine icon}}. Happy editing! Pine✉ 21:23, 11 January 2015 (UTC)

WikiProject Articles for creation/Participants

Hello Philippe, is there any particular reason why your WMF account is listed on Wikipedia:WikiProject Articles for creation/Participants? Thanks, Harej (talk) 02:22, 19 January 2015 (UTC)

Not that I'm aware of. :-) Philippe Beaudette, Wikimedia Foundation (talk) 03:37, 19 January 2015 (UTC)

YGM

Hello, Philippe (WMF). Please check your email; you've got mail!
It may take a few minutes from the time the email is sent for it to show up in your inbox. You can at any time by removing the {{You've got mail}} or {{ygm}} template.

--Pine^✉ 02:08, 9 February 2015 (UTC)

Off-wiki harassment, on-wiki threats

Hi, Philippe. Several users are being harassed on and off wiki and threatened with further off-wiki harassment by a user I have now indeffed, AnnalesSchool (talk · contribs). See their talkpage, especially the stuff I've removed. Last night they posted through an IP (which I have also blocked, but what's the use) on my page, making even stronger threats ("I have decided to expose and name (with links) these miscreants on the ComandoSupremo site", "Also more blogs may start to appear denouncing such editors and articles until you admin guys start to realize what's really going on"). Also promising ongoing Wikipedia disruption together with his "supporters": "The problems of sockpuppery, vandalism, having to protect pages, and a whole raft of other problems will continue." Is there anything WMF can do? This guy runs a site, compare for instance this page. There, he doesn't yet name the users who have disobliged him, but that's what he plans to do next (and me, no doubt, but I don't care), per the latest on my page. Not sure if he's got access to any of their real names or details. I wouldn't suggest trying to get ComandoSupremo site shut down just for being abusive, as such, but when it's being used to re-inforce on-wiki threats and chilling effects, it's gone a bit far. See also this ANI thread. I won't leave their plans for revving up the harassment and disruption (until admins see it their way) up on my page any longer, but you can see it in the history. Regards, Bishonen | talk 08:04, 16 May 2015 (UTC).

Offer of help

OK, Philippe, you offered to help... (See, I do have a sense of humor!) Would you have a look at the talk page for CSI: Cyber, discussion "McNicol leaving". It started with a reliability discussion of sources reporting rumors he's leaving, but it's deteriorated (to put it mildly) into a squabbling match among three editors who don't have a year's experience among them. They don't understand WP:RS or WP:VERIFY, two of them are basing their edits on a gossip site reporting rumors, and they are now at the level of nursing grudges and throwing personal insults at one another. I've absented myself from the mess, since reasonable discussion isn't possible, but I think they need a firm hand to get them back on track, and perhaps to hat some of the uglier stuff. --Drmargi (talk) 21:34, 17 May 2015 (UTC)

Question about site CSS

Hi for 3,5 years we have now had this in the site CSS. Do you remember what that was for and if it can be removed perhaps ? —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 16:28, 16 June 2015 (UTC)

Yep, it was for the March 2011 update on the strategy project. It can come out, and I'm doing so. Thanks! Philippe Beaudette, Wikimedia Foundation (talk) 18:42, 19 June 2015 (UTC)

Hello again...

My God it's been a long time since I've been in touch with you, mostly before all my problems started. I just thought I'd direct you to this since I'm allowed to edit again. It doesn't do much, but it does clear a lot of the past out of my head. If you want to get in touch, feel free. What does the Fish say? | Woof! 13:54, 18 June 2015 (UTC)

Excellent. It's so good to have you back, my friend. Philippe Beaudette, Wikimedia Foundation (talk) 18:45, 19 June 2015 (UTC)

SOPA-like issue

Since you were involved in Wikipedia:SOPA from the WMF perspective, I wonder if the foundation is aware of commons:https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Freedom_of_Panorama_2015 and Wikipedia:Freedom of Panorama 2015 issues? --_{Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here} 01:56, 28 June 2015 (UTC)

I am. Romaine called my attention to it last week. There's a group working to figure out what our response could/should be, but I know that significant effort is going into this, both at the WMF, at the movement affiliates, and in Brussels. As I hear more, if it's not publicly posted, I'll do my best to make it so. Thank you for checking. I share your concern. Philippe Beaudette, Wikimedia Foundation (talk) 07:17, 28 June 2015 (UTC)

WMF and harassment

Hi Philippe, we're kind of going round in circles at Wikipedia_talk:Arbitration/Requests/Case/Lightbreather/Proposed_decision with regard to the (potential) role of the WMF in matters relating to harassment. I'm sure you are aware of the specifics of the case but the discussion is in large part really about the meta issue - for example, see Mr Potto's section.

I know that it is a tricky subject but it might help if the WMF did at least say something, somewhere about the wider issues. Obviously, it would be inappropriate to talk about the actual case. - Sitush (talk) 11:53, 16 July 2015 (UTC)

Thanks, I'm writing now. I'll get something up. Philippe Beaudette, Wikimedia Foundation (talk) 17:43, 16 July 2015 (UTC)

Sorry about the revert. I misclicked while trying to thank you for it! Thryduulf (talk) 18:52, 16 July 2015 (UTC)

Yes, thanks very much, Philippe. I'm sorry to have burdened you like this. - Sitush (talk) 19:15, 16 July 2015 (UTC)

It's absolutely not a burden. Communicating out is a major part of our job, and regrettably it's not always the part that the WMF (or me, personally) get right. I appreciated hte pointer. Philippe Beaudette, Wikimedia Foundation (talk) 20:52, 16 July 2015 (UTC)

@Doug Weller: @Roger Davies: @Thryduulf: Just continuing the discussion from Wikipedia_talk:Arbitration/Requests/Case/Lightbreather/Proposed_decision#Huldra.27s_section:

• 1: semi-protect all articles under the Israel/Palestine: my impression is that when this has been discussed in the past, then those of us who actually edit in the area supports it (from "both sides of the divide"), as we are all sick to the bone of dealing with vandalism. Those who do not support it (the majority....) are those who do not have to deal with it; that is; the rest, "the encyclopaedia anyone can edit"-people.
• 2: user-names: Banning bad-name account after they are made is not enough: they should not have been able to make those accounts in the first place. There should be an absolute ban on making a new username which includes, say "Zero0000", or "Nishidani" or "Nableezy", "Pluto2012" or "Huldra". If we want to make an alternative account, (say, I want User:Huldra_while_travelling), we should be directed to a steward, who would be given the right to circumvent the ban. (And yes; I can see Thryduulf´s point: we cannot always know how it will effect other languages...but I would rather ban many names too many, than one too little. (Incidentally, the name of this account, which edited the article on the then Norwegian PM, means something *extremely offensive* in Norwegian; please suppress it.)
• 3: protected SUL-accounts: yes, I know each project is “independent”, but with SUL-account this has become a real problem. Though English Wikipedia is my "home" base, there are 4 languages (each with its own Wikipedia) that I speak better than English: I would like to edit those, but dread the abuse I would receive there if G discovered it.
• 4: email: this is something we have asked for years, and that WMF has not done anything about it, is one of the reasons why I have become utterly disillusioned with WMF. Presently we have 3 options: A: Enable email from other users B: Send me copies of emails I send to other users C: Email me when a page or file on my watchlist is changed. I cannot have A enabled, as I get hundreds of death/rape threats from Grawp. Instead, when I need to email another user (like here), I PM them, giving them my email-address, so then they can contact me off wiki. "White-listing" users is one possibility which should be looked into, or, my preference: we should be able to determine that we only received email from those editors who had a certain number of legitimate edits, say 100, or 500. (These days Grawp-accounts virtually never reaches those number of edits before they are banned.)
• Finally: it is well-known which University the "Runtshit"-vandal is associated with (it is on the Runtshit-page); has the WMF tried to contact the University in question to get help to stop the abuse? The abuse has come from University IPs, and during local office hours; it should be in their interest to put a stop to it. Huldra (talk) 21:36, 17 July 2015 (UTC)

A couple of quick replies. Re usernames, yes banning them after the fact is not ideal but it's better than nothing. A certain level of check exists for username similarity (e.g. I couldn't register user:Hu1dra or user:Нuldra (the first letter is Cyrillic) for example), but this is designed for spoofing prevention (see also Wikipedia:Doppelgänger accounts) not harassment prevention - at least at present. While your idea works for usernames that are distinctive, it would not scale well - for example user:Chris would prevent user:Chris McKenna being registered unnecessarily. It should be possible to have harassment prevention checks but (a) they will not be perfect, and (b) the algorithms will need careful thought and discussion. I suspect that's best discussed on meta (as it will have to affect all wikis) and then raised as a Phabricator task.

Regarding the university vandal, I have no idea what the WMF has or has not done regarding that vandal (they're not one I've had any personal encounters with) but while you would think and hope that it would be in the university's interest to put a stop to it many institutions/employers sadly either don't understand or don't care about such things. I don't really know how US universities work, but at some British universities the students union can be quite influential - if that's the case at this university has anyone tried reaching out them? Thryduulf (talk) 22:51, 17 July 2015 (UTC)

I agree that the naming question, (and probably the SUL-protection, too) should be best raised at meta, as they concerns all projects. And no harassment prevention checks would be perfect, but it would be better than none. It so happen that those targeted by G. mostly have rather distinct user-names. (We know we edit in a mine-field, so few of us would use our own names). There are also other vandals that use the same "modus operandi", but they target mostly vandal-fighters.

I`ll @RolandR:, as he is the person who is being stalked by Runtshit. Runtshit operates mostly out of University of Haifa (=Israel) and sometimes out of Central European University (=Hungary), according to the page on him. I have no idea as to how universities in Hungary or Israel would react, or if their students have any power. But if Runtshit is employed by one (or both) Universities, then it really cannot be in these Universities interest that he spend their resources and office-time on being Wikipedia´s most prolific vandal. My question to WMF is: have you tried contacting these Universities? Huldra (talk) 23:34, 17 July 2015 (UTC)

I think many people are aware of who is behind the Runtshit harassment. BLP precludes me from naming names, but there is certainly an academic based at both of these universities, who has a long and documented record of internet stalking and harassment of people (particularly Jews) who do not share his far-right Zionist views. I would have thought that Wikipedia could threaten to name the person and the universities if steps are not taken to restrain him. RolandR (talk) 23:57, 17 July 2015 (UTC)

In the interests of not damaging any potential actions against a user, the WMF does not comment on investigations that we've undertaken, generally speaking. We've definitely looked into the Runtshit situation. Generally speaking, when we think about enforcement mechanisms, there are four main ways to create change: technical, social, legal, and law enforcement. Technically speaking, this situation is not going to be easily solvable without a huge amount of collateral damage and massive range blocks - and even then, it's trivial to get past them, for a determined vandal. Eliminating technical enforcement possibilities means that we're left with social, legal, and law enforcement as the remaining means for creating change. Social efforts (community blocks, reaching out to Universities, censures, etc) have been tried here and were largely ineffective. I'm not free to comment on the remaining two options (in legal areas, I am frequently subject to confidentiality requirements, and stating publicly that someone has been referred to law enforcement (or not) is problematic for a number of reasons, including possibly opening the WMF or myself up to defamation claims, and potentially falling afoul of local or global policies, such as BLP). I can tell you that we do not, in any way, consider this situation to be "closed", and continue to be engaged, even if such engagement is not highly visible to the community on-wiki. I'm very aware of the behavior that Roland and others have had to deal with here, and hope that they know that I, personally, and the WMF are committed to creating a space that's free of such anti-social (vile, and horrible!) behavior, and regret that anyone is subjected to it on-wiki. That's not behavior that I agree with, condone, or want to have in any area where serious work is done (or, indeed in any area where there's NOT serious work being done). People can effectively disagree without resorting to the despicable tactics employed by Runtshit, and I see absolutely no defensible moral position in employing those tactics. Philippe Beaudette, Wikimedia Foundation (talk) 00:26, 18 July 2015 (UTC)

Side note: Huldra, thank you for reporting that username. Philippe passed it on to the oversight team and we've suppressed it. In the future if stuff like this comes up, you can drop a note to us directly here; our response time is usually pretty fast. A fluffernutter is a sandwich! (talk) 00:52, 18 July 2015 (UTC)

Side note: Fluffernutter, thank you for suppressing it, editing in the I/P area I´m wading neck-deep in muck every day, so I sort of forgot it. Google translate works pretty well on that user name, though I, (as a native speaker) would have used the c-word, rather than the p-word. And in my part of the world: that is even more offensive than in the US.

Anyway, you might have deleted the history, too. Please just take my word on it; the former PM of Norway, present Secretary General of NATO, was never known as the "leader of the Sex,porn,fucking hard anal magazin", Cheers, Huldra (talk) 03:03, 18 July 2015 (UTC)

It appears that has now been done too.  :) Philippe Beaudette, Wikimedia Foundation (talk) 07:37, 18 July 2015 (UTC)

• Philippe, a letter from the Foundation to the president of the university would probably have an effect. I once wrote to the university's abuse team when that person had edited logged out. They said there was a glitch in the logs during the time the edit was made, so they couldn't trace it, and although that sounded like an odd coincidence they did seem helpful and said they were willing to help stop it. They said their logs were normally available for 14 days. Sarah ^(talk) 01:03, 18 July 2015 (UTC)