User talk:Mbcap

ibn taymiyyah dog

wahhabi filth. Vietcong nuturlizer (talk) 04:52, 23 February 2015 (UTC)

Vietcong nuturlizer what do you mean? Mbcap (talk) 07:13, 23 February 2015 (UTC)

are you not a follower of wahabism? why did you revert my edit? Vietcong nuturlizer (talk) 23:05, 23 February 2015 (UTC)

Vietcong nuturlizer firstly please read WP:CIVIL which is one of the five pillars and learn how to interact with your fellow editors. You cannot go around calling people Ibn Taymiyyah dog or Wahhabi filth. I ask you to withdraw those comments. Regarding the revert, it was done because the two references in the infobox said that the Islamic State adheres to a Salafist ideology. Finally regarding your question as to what or whom I follow, that is none of your business. Please do not ask other editors personal questions. Mbcap (talk) 23:41, 23 February 2015 (UTC)

your still a dog and if you are a wahabi then ur not a muslim. ibn taymiyyah was an idiot kufar. Vietcong nuturlizer (talk) 00:03, 24 February 2015 (UTC)

Vietcong nuturlizer That is interesting, what makes you say that? Are you aware that a dog does not possess the cortical functional capacity to process information and relay it to the motor cortex, to enable it to write intelligible morphemes onto a web based system such as Wikipedia. Please stop with the inappropriate conduct. I have said before that you should not call your own colleague a dog. You are always welcome to come speak to me and I shall be obliged to answer you questions. I am not exactly sure why you think I am a Wahabbi or why you consider them as non-Muslim. Lastly what has made you so critical of Ibn Taymiyyah, has he done something to upset you? Mbcap (talk) 01:13, 24 February 2015 (UTC)

You know dam well ibn taymiyyah was sent to jail for his views. Mass media support by the puppet state of Saudi Arabia will not decimate the truth about this man. I know you hate to admit it but the terrorist groups all admire this idiotic man and call him "shaykh of islam". If it wasnt for the oil backing the brainwashing would not have occurred. Ibn taymiyyah took advantage of the chaos that endured after the fall of the caliphate at the hands of the mongols. I know for sure you have some sort of association with the Wahhabis seeing that you pounced on my edit on the ISIS article. if your so adamant in writing about Ibn taymiyyah, why dont you write in the article about how ibn taymiyyah's so called fatwa was the basis of burning a man alive by isis Vietcong nuturlizer (talk) 04:57, 24 February 2015 (UTC)

Vietcong nuturlizer See this is much better. Thank you for the reply. You are correct that terrorist groups admire him, they quote him endlessly. Yes I am aware that he went to jail for his views. He went to jail five or six times for his view in fact. Please read the Ibn Taymiyyah page for more information but keep in mind that the article is not yet complete. You are also correct that the Saudi's follows this man and his ideas but they fail to admit the truth because they Saudi ruling establishment show one face to the west, and another to their people and the scholars who have such a massive hold over their internal policy. There was a Saudi TV presenter who was sacked because he criticised Ibn Taymiyyah. This is unfortunately the sad state of affairs. However what I do not understand is, why would you take out your frustration on me by calling me a "ibn taymiyyah dog" or "wahhabi filth"? I would kindly request that you withdraw those comments. Your edits on the Islamic State article are welcome and it was not my intention to pounce on them. The references said something and the edit said something else so I was obliged to correct it. Regarding my association with whatever party, religion or person, frankly that is not your business, unless I choose to divulge that information. My own experience has shown that people who hate Ibn Taymiyyah are mostly Shia or Sufi's because of the harsh rebuke Ibn Taymiyyah gave to these people, so I do understand why people do not like him.

Regarding the burning, all I know is from a blog in the spectator which mentioned they did it via Qisas which was a reason also echoed by Moazaam Begg. I am not sure what Ibn Taymiyyah has to do with that. Mbcap (talk) 05:23, 24 February 2015 (UTC)

I apologize. I was having a bad day. Vietcong nuturlizer (talk) 06:37, 24 February 2015 (UTC)

No problem, we all have those days. Mbcap (talk) 09:00, 24 February 2015 (UTC)

@User:Vietcong nuturlizer, we do not tolerate such personal attack in wikipedia. Be careful. --Seyyed(t-c) 12:15, 27 February 2015 (UTC)

I dont believe it is a matter of being shia or sufi although it seems that way because those two groups have been attacked by the wahhabis. That logic would therefore persume that all of the past Sunnis were indeed Sufis including the Ottomans and muslims of the Saladin era. The majority of the modern "Sunnis" are ignorant of their religion so they are easy prey for wahhabis that call for the destruction of sunni schools . One can not call himself a Sunni when he does not follow one of the madhabs. Al Azhar has pointed out clearly that wahhabism is satanic. Ibn taymiyyah was exposed by one of his students for believing God has hands and legs like a human. This is why the terrorists all follow this man. Vietcong nuturlizer (talk) 01:12, 28 February 2015 (UTC)

Vietcong nuturlizer I hear you and what? Mbcap (talk) 02:13, 28 February 2015 (UTC)

User:Vietcong nuturlizer, do you realize beside terrorist groups "admire, follow and quote" ibn taymiya endlessly, actualy that groups also "admire and quoting endlesly" form Hadith of prophet Muhammad, Al-Bukhari's and Sunni imams works too. then why ibn taimiya have special treatment?. then, if one can not call himself a Sunni when he does not follow one of the madhabs, so what is the madhab of Al-Bukhari? or the madhdhab of Anas ibn Malik? isnt Ibn Taimiya himself is following jurisprudence of Hanbali madhab?. Please stop spreading private opinion, especially misleading one. ibensis (What’s the Story?) 03:07, 28 February 2015 (UTC)

Ibn taymiyyah is known for pushing very dangeorus fatwas. Ibn taymiyyah himself said that one shouldnt follow a madhab blindly. Go and watch the ISIS video of the Jordan pilot, it is there they quote Ibn taymiyyah to justify burning someone alive. You can not simply compare yourself to the likes of "Al bukhari" who spent his entire life learning. If everyone proceeds to compile the hadiths collection on their own and interprets it thier way, eventually the results are fringe terrorist groups such as ISIS and others who follow the way of Ibn taymiyyah's "ignore consensus ways". Vietcong nuturlizer (talk) 03:33, 28 February 2015 (UTC)

honestly i'm not really interested to talk about this theme, but you keep on coming with your opinion. i dont know who is ISIS exactly, suddenly they pop up to media in recent years, and i dont have any access to the video about Jordan pilot, i only read the incident from many articles headlines, so i dont know its true or not about the quote. but luckily they aren't quoting from Bukhari's this [1] or Volume 9, Book 84, Number 57. otherwise Imam Bukhari and Imam Ali will face same accusation from you. And i think we should stop this prolonged and unbeneficial argumentation. ibensis (What’s the Story?) 08:32, 28 February 2015 (UTC)

It is not my opinion it is the opinion of scholars. i have seen you try to censor information on here to boost wahabism. I suggest you stop that and if you dont want to discuss this issue then dont respond to me. You obviously dont know much about the subject to have a discussion. Vietcong nuturlizer (talk) 20:40, 28 February 2015 (UTC)

Why has this turned into a discussion on Wahhabi's? The talk page is for content related discussion so please cease your posts. Mbcap (talk) 22:59, 28 February 2015 (UTC)

You are the one that reverted my edit and started this. Dont act like your not aware of that. Ibenesis here has been caught red handed by me. He tried to change the wording of a source used for boko haram article. Vietcong nuturlizer (talk) 04:22, 1 March 2015 (UTC)

Freedom in Iran

Salam Alaykum, regarding to your edit here, please read Edward Said's book Covering Islam. The case you mentioned[2] relates to what happened after Iranian presidential election, 2009. I mean, the government oppressed the opposition. However, even at that time the ideas of Marx, Max Weber, Durkheim, Freud, etc where studied freely in the universities. Whether you believe me or not, The German Ideology and The History of Sexuality is taught in the university which is directed by the Shia seminary in Qom. I do not want to say everything is OK. Of course, there are some restrictions, particularly when somebody wants to speak about some Islamic issues such as Jinn, the westernized scholars can not tolerate it. I hope you travel to Iran and check the issues by yourself.--Seyyed(t-c) 12:36, 27 February 2015 (UTC)

Seyyedوعليكم السلام - All those things being taught are well and good but the crackdown and silencing of academics and the press are undeniable. I gave an example of Fars news agency which stated they had built a time machine, among other things. If a source is willing to do that, then how can you trust it? The sources originating from the press, educational institutions are generally unreliable. You only need to search the number of students and teachers that have faced problems. However, I should make clear that I am not calling for a blanket ban on Iranian sources, because that would be demonstrably unsatisfactory. If a an Iranian source is verifiable reliable then no one can stop that source from being used. Mbcap (talk) 20:53, 27 February 2015 (UTC)

How can you conclude "educational institutions are generally unreliable"!!! The problems relate to their political activities not their intellectual ones. For example, if Mostafa Malekian had been in country such as Saudi Arabia or even Egypt, his philosophical ideas would have never been tolerated. You can compare him with what has done against Nasr Abu Zayd. While you said "However, I should make clear that I am not calling for a blanket ban on Iranian sources, because that would be demonstrably unsatisfactory. If a an Iranian source is verifiable reliable then no one can stop that source from being used.", the proposal was different. Please check the discussion again. As Feder clarified: " I consider practically all media which are subject to Iranian media laws unreliable. The same goes for media under North Korean law, Belarusian law, Syrian law etc.--Anders Feder "--Seyyed(t-c) 03:11, 1 March 2015 (UTC)

Seyyed I explained in my previous post why I consider them to be unreliable. However a source could be considered reliable if it is cited by other reliable sources. If such is the case, then we can use the source. Mbcap (talk) 03:28, 1 March 2015 (UTC)

Please read the Clarification of the claim. As Andres Feders said above he means "practically all media which are subject to Iranian media laws unreliable" which means an Iranian magazine about life style or fauna is unreliable because it can not criticize the leader!!! You also has a general claim "The sources originating from the press, educational institutions are generally unreliable." As I understand this lead to ban all of the Iranian academic journal in every field such as medicine, philosophy or physics.--Seyyed(t-c) 03:33, 1 March 2015 (UTC)

Seyyed I am not sure about magazines about Fauna but sources of news from Iran are unreliable. Educational institutions produce unreliable sources of information and this is evident in Iran's suppression of Academic freedom. However any academic journal that is cited by other reliable sources and which is vetted by the academic community with a suitable impact factor, is reliable. If such sources exist for Iran then no one can stop it from being used. As to your comparison of Egypt and Saudi with Iran, I would say that Iran is equally as bad if not worse when it comes to the tolerance of ideas. Mbcap (talk) 17:19, 6 March 2015 (UTC)

I disagree about such generalization. Is this hypothesis falsifiable? --Seyyed(t-c) 17:30, 6 March 2015 (UTC)

Seyyed Where are you going with this? Does epistemology only encompass inductive reasoning? There is big diference between the beauty of falsifiability and the ululating impropriety which is practised by Iranian news sources. Mbcap (talk) 17:35, 6 March 2015 (UTC)

I know there is a lot of problem in Iran, however I can not accept such generalization. Logically, we can not make general conclusion based on Inductive reasoning. this is an obvious Fallacy. Let me make an analogy which may help me to explain the issue. There are a lot of terrorist attacks which are made by Muslims. Can we conclude that every Muslim is a potential terrorist or every terrorist is Muslim. Or even Islam leads to terrorism? Your generalization is logically wrong as all of these ones.--Seyyed(t-c) 19:19, 6 March 2015 (UTC)

Seyyed firstly logic and inductive reasoning are two separate fields of Epistemology. It is not entirely clear how you have synthesised the two together. Yes you are right, there are a lot of problems in Iran and your comment above which suggested Iran was more tolerant than Saudi and Egypt was laughable to say the least. All three spew out unreliable news sources. Regarding your analogy, it is completely devoid of reality. It does not in any way explain how it applies to our discussion regarding the unreliable news sources in Iran. Let me remind you about the time travelling machine story or that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was trained by Mossad or that the US is run by aliens. Give me one reliable Iranian news source. You wont be able to because the idea of a free press has not been invented yet in Iran. Regards Mbcap (talk) 20:24, 8 March 2015 (UTC)

Thank for your answer. We have different ideas and even different approach. However, I seldom use Iranian media so this issue does not make any problem. Wa Salam--Seyyed(t-c) 09:35, 9 March 2015 (UTC)

User:Vietcong nuturlizer

I reported this user's personal attacks to the admins. I mentioned your name as another case of his attack. Therefor, you can refer to WP:ANB#Personal attack by User:Vietcong nuturlizer and participate in the discussion.--Seyyed(t-c) 14:48, 3 March 2015 (UTC)

Thanks Mbcap (talk) 17:40, 6 March 2015 (UTC)

How to attribute posts to other people

Hi, Mbcap. You recently tried to mark a post by someone else as being done by them, which is good as it avoids confusion. Template:Unsigned2 can do that for you, easily if you copy the information from the history. Hope this helps and keep up the good work editing and discussing. Banak (talk) 20:48, 10 March 2015 (UTC)

Thanks I made a total mess of it and ended up undoing it. Will keep the template in mind next time it comes up. Mbcap (talk) 20:53, 10 March 2015 (UTC)

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A barnstar for you!

	The Special Barnstar
	Your work is most focused on Islam. MashaAllah A.A.Wasif | Talk 09:25, 19 March 2015 (UTC)

Help

On Depictions of Muhammad I added references to Hadith books like this:

cite book|last1=Sahih Bukhari, Hadith no. 7.834, and Jeppiz reverted it saying that it doesn't meet WP:RS. Please help A.A.Wasif | Talk 11:24, 20 March 2015 (UTC)

A.A.Wasif have you tried speaking to the editor who reverted it. He may have a good reason for doing so. Generally speaking, we do not use primary sources such as Sahih al-Bukhari. You would need a secondary source like Fath al-Bari or a tertiary souce, from which to use information from. I would recommend you have a read of WP:PRIMARY. As to the revert, it looks like it is about the prohibition of depictions of the Prophet Muhammad which I am sure you will be able to find in secondary or tertiary souces, if you search google books or scholar. Let me know if you need anything else. Regards. Mbcap (talk) 22:31, 20 March 2015 (UTC)

POV

here you have presented a political scientist in regard to "expert opinions" in connection to faithfulness to religion and have presented people like the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia in the context of laymen. I very honestly begin to despair. GregKaye 14:58, 28 March 2015 (UTC)

Greg I am not aware of a publication or a news story authored by the grand mufti of Saudi Arabia. Reliable sources do say that most Muslims reject the group, including the Muslim Scholars. These are news stories which are reported by journalists. I was speaking about the expert analysis on the group, Graeme Wood being one of those who has offered such. Mbcap (talk) 19:12, 28 March 2015 (UTC)Mbcap (talk) 00:33, 29 March 2015 (UTC)

Mahmoud Mohammadi

Greetings. I just changed my recommendation on the article, based on a careful reading of WP:N, its predecessor WP:IMPORTANT, and the discussion that accompanied the change. The article is backed by 2 reliable and extremely different sources--a strong criterion for inclusion. I urge you to give it some attention. Regards Tapered (talk) 02:41, 31 March 2015 (UTC)

Hello Tapered and thank you for informing me. However I still think the person is not notable enough to warrant an article. Regards. Mbcap (talk) 19:26, 3 April 2015 (UTC)

Regarding voting in article AfD

Hello. Could you please add your opinion to the AfD vote for Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Hadith of the succession of Abu Bakr. I only ask this because i noticed you voted on a similar hadith issue. Thanyou.--58.106.235.75 (talk) 04:22, 1 April 2015 (UTC)

Thanks 58.106.235.75. The article is a way bigger problem than you might think. I do not think it should be deleted but I completley understand why other's may want it to be deleted. The issues with the article are the following:

• The narration is one that comes from Ahlu Sunnah Wal Jama'ah.
• It is not a hadith but a narration. A hadith can only be from Muhammad. Since this came from Abu Bakr, it cannot be a hadith and no two sources disagree with this.
• It probably has extensive coverage in classical Arabic works.
• The vast majority of the commentary on this narration paints a very different picture to the one illustrated in the article at the moment.
• The narration has nothing to do with the Shia. They discount the validity of all Sunni sources and use the ones they agree with to create these POV pushing articles. Let me give you an example. The Muslims use a certain quotation from Deutronomy in 18:18 to prove the prophecy of Muhammad was laid down in the Bible. If you went to create an article on that quote from Deutronomy on Wikipedia to push this POV without reliable sources, it would be instantly deleted. This particular article on "Hadith of the succession of Abu Bakr" is the same. It relies on primary research and no reliable sources.
• It is extremely difficult to delete such article because a very deep understanding of Islamic works is needed to see the subtle game which is being played with these articles. There are many such articles, for example; hadith of the pond and the hadith about the cloak. Some old deletion discussions which I have gone through, revealed editors who commented that they did not have enough knowledge of the topic to make a decision, and therin lies the problem. We really need to attract more editors into Wikipedia who have expertise on these subjects.

Despite these concerns I do not think it should be deleted as it does have coverage. The problem is all the information on that page comes from a Shia viewpoint, even though it is a Sunni topic. Imagine a catholic article being written from just a Mormon viewpoint. Someone who has a fully competent understanding of Arabic would need to go through the sources and make the article NPOV. As it stands it is atrocious but we really cannot do anything.Mbcap (talk) 21:01, 3 April 2015 (UTC)

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A community decision has authorised the use of general sanctions for pages related to the Syrian Civil War and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. The details of these sanctions are described here. All pages that are broadly related to these topics are subject to a one revert per twenty-four hours restriction, as described here.

General sanctions is a system of conduct regulation designed to minimise disruption in controversial topic areas. This means uninvolved administrators can impose sanctions for edits relating to these topics that do not adhere to the purpose of Wikipedia, our standards of behaviour, or relevant policies. Administrators may impose sanctions such as editing restrictions, bans, or blocks. An editor can only be sanctioned after he or she has been made aware that general sanctions are in effect. This notification is meant to inform you that sanctions are authorised in these topic areas, which you have been editing. It is only effective if it is logged here. Before continuing to edit pages in these topic areas, please familiarise yourself with the general sanctions system. Don't hesitate to contact me or another editor if you have any questions.

This message is informational only and does not imply misconduct regarding your contributions to date. PBS (talk) 08:07, 15 April 2015 (UTC)

Ismah

May I ask you to help me in copy-editing this article and making it a FA. Thanks.Salman mahdi (talk) 07:17, 20 April 2015 (UTC)

Salman mahdi I would love to help you but I have exams at the moment. I will have more time after May so please do let me know if you still require assistance. Regards. Mbcap (talk) 14:38, 20 April 2015 (UTC)

I try to find another copy-editor because we are in hurry, but if I could not find any one else until that time, I will ask you again. Really thanks for your kindness.--Salman mahdi (talk) 16:49, 21 April 2015 (UTC)

Any Reply?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Islamic_economic_jurisprudence --BoogaLouie (talk) 18:23, 27 April 2015 (UTC)

BoogaLouie My apologies for not replying yet, I will try to at a more suitable time. My hands are tied at the moment. Mbcap (talk) 20:52, 29 April 2015 (UTC)

For the man

who knows his onions]

Extended content
Good work looking after the page. GregKaye 18:09, 29 April 2015 (UTC)

Thank you Greg. It was Banak who spotted it. Mbcap (talk) 20:55, 29 April 2015 (UTC)

New question raised regarding Talk:Hillary Rodham Clinton/April 2015 move request

Some opposers of this move have now contended that there is a "Critical fault in proposal evidence", which brings the opinions expressed into question. Please indicate if this assertion in any way affects your position with respect to the proposed move. Cheers! bd2412 T 04:37, 8 May 2015 (UTC)

I am sorry but the opposer's have no legs to stand on. Any name other than Hillary Clinton is just wasting peoples time. This page should have been renamed years ago. Mbcap (talk) 05:44, 8 May 2015 (UTC)

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Email

Hello, Mbcap. Please check your email; you've got mail!
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Thank you P-123 for letting me know. Mbcap (talk) 08:56, 4 June 2015 (UTC)

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Umm Kulthum bint Ali

Your undo of my edit was extremely unfair. I simply wanted to let wikipedia readers know that the marriage of Umm Kulthum bint Ali was an issue disputed among various sects of Muslims (and certainly not 'fringe' sects). I provided sources for a competing point of view and DID NOT delete the work of the original article (stating that she was married to Umar) which I could have done under the pretext that it was not reliable or a 'fringe position'. Please allow readers to engage with both points of view. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Kaztrack (talk • contribs) 00:30, 11 July 2015 (UTC)

On the contrary it is a very fringe view and this is not a sectarian polemic chat forum to entertain such discussions. You have been reverted for the third time so I would encourage you to read WP:3RR. Maybe reading this[3] may help as well. Mbcap (talk) 01:13, 11 July 2015 (UTC)

Excuse me. Wikipedia is not your personal blog to entertain what you may or may not define as fringe or to present an unbalanced view of the issue. In my edit I made it clear that the position that Umar ibn Khattab was not the spouse of Umm Kulthum bin Ali was a view held by SOME Muslims. I did not vandalize the page or attempt to hide pieces of information as you seem to be doing. Please do not allow Wikipedia to be a forum for your personal opinions. I am not interested in getting into an editing war, so it would be apt to agree on a compromise where both points of view can be presented. I suggest that the position of Umm Kulthum bint Ali being the disputed wife of Ali be labelled as a 'minority position'. Would you have objections to this? Kaztrack (talk) 05:16, 11 July 2015 (UTC)

Kaztrack Absolute rubbish, I suggest you re-read the sources again. Mbcap (talk) 18:17, 11 July 2015 (UTC)

Absolute rubbish? That is certainly an excellent argument for dishonestly attempting to hide certain pieces of information that do not fit your seemingly sectarian views. I offered a solution to resolve the problem and you have belied it. Kaztrack (talk) 19:55, 11 July 2015 (UTC)

Kaztrack There are eleven sources for the information in the article, I suggest you read them. Lastly you do not know me so I suggest you focus on the content. Mbcap (talk) 19:57, 11 July 2015 (UTC)

Take care on ISIL talkpage

A number of users have ended up blocked, interaction banned or page banned after opposing Legacypac and making uncivil or borderline uncivil comments. Don't become another such person. StanTheMan is already at ANI. Banak (talk) 09:30, 18 July 2015 (UTC)

Banak I always try to treat fellow editors with respect. Please have a look at the first section in this page where a user called me filth and a dog but I still engaged in a friendly manner or at least I hope I did. However what I do not appreciate is the ISIL talk page being used as a forum and causing disruption to normalisation between policy & the mainspace. I respect that there are opposing arguments and I always appreciate coherent and consistent debate in light of policy that is content related and appropriate. One example is RGGlouster (I may have spelt the name wrong). His/her arguements I can respect because they are coherent, consistent, policy based and related to content. As to those who have made the page their pet project for the war on ISIL then that is something I have had enough of. If they get me or even StanTheMan banned, then that is OK. I will just follow a long line of editors that have been silenced, such as Technophant, P123ct, DocumentError. Mbcap (talk) 11:11, 18 July 2015 (UTC)

I did see those posts. They are far beyond what would be needed to get banned. I've been watching your talkpage because I was worried they were going to take you to ANI a year ago. I was going to stop watching, but saw a attempted outing by an IP in January which I asked to have the revision deleted of, and it was. Legacy felt the need to say that Greg never made such allegations, and various other IPs came from nowhere to attack you. Various IPs often appear during ANIs as well. Given all this I decided to not stop watching, which I hope you don't mind.

Just want you to be aware, that you wouldn't have to do a personal attack to be forced to ANI for incivility. I also would be annoyed if you were blocked, not least because it would be bad for balance of the talk page. Banak (talk) 18:45, 18 July 2015 (UTC)

Banak I do not know what I have done to deserve the much welcome assistance you have always given me. I feel very much obliged Banak. Your advice has always served me well so out of deference to you I will take the weekend off and start on Monday with a fresh mind. As for following my page, off course you may. Mbcap (talk) 19:09, 18 July 2015 (UTC)

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Recent improvements

Auto-fill features for citations can be enabled on each Wikipedia. The tool uses the citoid service to convert a URL or DOI into a pre-filled, pre-formatted bibliographic citation. You can see an animated GIF of the quick, simple process at mediawiki.org. So far, about a dozen Wikipedias have enabled the auto-citation tool. To enable it for your wiki, follow the instructions at mediawiki.org.

Your wiki can customize the first section of the special character inserter in VisualEditor. Please follow the instructions at mediawiki.org to put the characters you want at the top. 

In other changes, if you need to fill in a CAPTCHA and get it wrong, then you can click to get a new one to complete. VisualEditor can now display and edit Vega-based graphs. If you use the Monobook skin, VisualEditor's appearance is now more consistent with other software.  

Future changes

The team will be changing the appearance of selected links inside VisualEditor. The purpose is to make it easy to see whether your cursor is inside or outside the link. When you select a link, the link label (the words shown on the page) will be enclosed in a faint box. If you place your cursor inside the box, then your changes to the link label will be part of the link. If you place your cursor outside the box, then it will not. This will make it easy to know when new characters will be added to the link and when they will not.

On the English Wikipedia, 10% of newly created accounts are now offered both the visual and the wikitext editors. A recent controlled trial showed no significant difference in survival or productivity for new users in the short term. New users with access to VisualEditor were very slightly less likely to produce results that needed reverting. You can learn more about this by watching a video of the July 2015 Wikimedia Research Showcase. The proportion of new accounts with access to both editing environments will be gradually increased over time. Eventually all new users have the choice between the two editing environments.

Let's work together

• Share your ideas and ask questions at Wikipedia:VisualEditor/Feedback.
• Can you read and type in Korean or Japanese? Language engineer David Chan needs people who know which tools people use to type in some languages. If you speak Japanese or Korean, you can help him test support for these languages. Please see the instructions at mw:VisualEditor/IME Testing#What to test if you can help.
• If your wiki would like VisualEditor enabled on another namespace, you can file a request in Phabricator. Please include a link to a community discussion about the requested change.
• Please file requests for language-appropriate "Bold" and "Italic" icons for the styling menu in Phabricator.
• The design research team wants to see how real editors work. Please sign up for their research program.
• The weekly task triage meetings continue to be open to volunteers, usually on Tuesdays at 12:00 (noon) PDT (19:00 UTC). Learn how to join the meetings and how to nominate bugs at mw:VisualEditor/Weekly triage meetings. You do not need to attend the meeting to nominate a bug for consideration as a Q1 blocker, though. Instead, go to Phabricator and "associate" the main VisualEditor project with the bug.

If you aren't reading this in your favorite language, then please help us with translations! Subscribe to the Translators mailing list or contact Elitre directly, so that she can notify you when the next issue is ready. Thank you! Whatamidoing (WMF) (talk) 00:01, 8 August 2015 (UTC)

Please comment on Template talk:User WikiProject United States presidential elections

The feedback request service is asking for participation in this request for comment on Template talk:User WikiProject United States presidential elections. Legobot (talk) 00:05, 20 August 2015 (UTC)

Please comment on Talk:Chris Bell (politician)

The feedback request service is asking for participation in this request for comment on Talk:Chris Bell (politician). Legobot (talk) 00:02, 5 September 2015 (UTC)

VisualEditor update

This note is only delivered to English Wikipedia subscribers of the visual editor's newsletter.

The location of the visual editor's preference has been changed from the "Beta" tab to the "Editing" section of your preferences on this wiki. The setting now says Temporarily disable the visual editor while it is in beta. This aligns en.wiki with almost all the other WMF wikis; it doesn’t mean the visual editor is complete, or that it is no longer “in beta phase” though.

This action has not changed anything else for editors: it still honours editors’ previous choices about having it on or off; logged-out users continue to only have access to wikitext; the “Edit” tab is still after the “Edit source” one. You can learn more at the visual editor’s talk page.

We don’t expect this to cause any glitches, but in case your account no longer has the settings that you want, please accept our apologies and correct it in the Editing tab of Special:Preferences. Thank you for your attention, Elitre (WMF) -16:32, 7 October 2015 (UTC)

VisualEditor News #5—2015

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Did you know?

You can use the visual editor on smartphones and tablets.

Click the pencil icon to open the editor for a page. Inside that, use the gear menu in the upper right corner to "Switch to visual editing".

The editing button will remember which editing environment you used last time, and give you the same one next time. The desktop site will be switching to a system similar to this one in the coming months.

You can read and help translate the user guide, which has more information about how to use the visual editor.

Since the last newsletter, the VisualEditor Team has fixed many bugs, added new features, and made some small design changes. They post weekly status reports on mediawiki.org. Their workboard is available in Phabricator. Their current priorities are improving support for languages like Japanese and Arabic, making it easier to edit on mobile devices, and providing rich-media tools for formulæ, charts, galleries and uploading.

Recent improvements

Educational features: The first time you use the visual editor, it now draws your attention to the Link and ⧼visualeditor-toolbar-cite-label⧽ tools. When you click on the tools, it explains why you should use them. (T108620) Alongside this, the welcome message for new users has been simplified to make editing more welcoming. (T112354) More in-software educational features are planned.

Links:  It is now easier to understand when you are adding text to a link and when you are typing plain text next to it. (T74108, T91285) The editor now fully supports ISBN, PMID or RFC numbers. (T109498, T110347, T63558)  These "magic links" use a custom link editing tool.

Uploads:  Registered editors can now upload images and other media to Commons while editing. Click the new tab in the "Insert Images and media" tool. You will be guided through the process without having to leave your edit. At the end, the image will be inserted. This tool is limited to one file at a time, owned by the user, and licensed under Commons's standard license. For more complex situations, the tool links to more advanced upload tools. You can also drag the image into the editor. This will be available in the wikitext editor later.

Mobile:  Previously, the visual editor was available on the mobile Wikipedia site only on tablets. Now, editors can use the visual editor on any size of device. (T85630)  Edit conflicts were previously broken on the mobile website. Edit conflicts can now be resolved in both wikitext and visual editors. (T111894) Sometimes templates and similar items could not be deleted on the mobile website. Selecting them caused the on-screen keyboard to hide with some browsers. Now there is a new "Delete" button, so that these things can be removed if the keyboard hides. (T62110) You can also edit table cells in mobile now.

Rich editing tools:  You can now add and edit sheet music in the visual editor. (T112925)  There are separate tabs for advanced options, such as MIDI and Ogg audio files. (T114227 and T113354)  When editing formulæ and other blocks, errors are shown as you edit. It is also possible to edit some types of graphs; adding new ones, and support for new types, will be coming.

On the English Wikipedia, the visual editor is now automatically available to anyone who creates an account. The preference switch was moved to the normal location, under Special:Preferences.

Future changes

You will soon be able to switch from the wikitext to the visual editor after you start editing. (T49779) Previously, you could only switch from the visual editor to the wikitext editor. Bi-directional switching will make possible a single edit tab. (T102398) This project will combine the "Edit" and "Edit source" tabs into a single "Edit" tab, similar to the system already used on the mobile website. The "Edit" tab will open whichever editing environment you used last time.

Let's work together

• Share your ideas and ask questions at mw:VisualEditor/Feedback. This feedback page uses Flow for discussions.
• Can you read and type in Korean or Japanese? Language engineer David Chan needs people who know which tools people use to type in some languages. If you speak Japanese or Korean, you can help him test support for these languages. Please see the instructions at mw:VisualEditor/IME Testing#What to test if you can help, and report it on Phabricator (Korean - Japanese) or on Wikipedia (Korean - Japanese).
• Local admins can set up the Citoid automatic reference feature for your wiki. If you need help, then please post a request in the Citoid project on Phabricator. Include links to the TemplateData for the most important citation templates on your wiki.
• The weekly task triage meetings are open to volunteers. Learn how to join the meetings and how to nominate bugs at mw:VisualEditor/Weekly triage meetings. You do not need to attend the meeting to nominate a bug for consideration, though. Instead, go to Phabricator and "associate" the main VisualEditor project with the bug.

If you can't read this in your favorite language, then please help us with translations! Subscribe to the Translators mailing list or contact us directly, so that we can notify you when the next issue is ready. Thank you!

— Whatamidoing (WMF) 04:16, 30 October 2015 (UTC)

ArbCom elections are now open!

Hi,
You appear to be eligible to vote in the current Arbitration Committee election. The Arbitration Committee is the panel of editors responsible for conducting the Wikipedia arbitration process. It has the authority to enact binding solutions for disputes between editors, primarily related to serious behavioural issues that the community has been unable to resolve. This includes the ability to impose site bans, topic bans, editing restrictions, and other measures needed to maintain our editing environment. The arbitration policy describes the Committee's roles and responsibilities in greater detail. If you wish to participate, you are welcome to review the candidates' statements and submit your choices on the voting page. For the Election committee, MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 17:07, 24 November 2015 (UTC)

VisualEditor News #6—2015

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Did you know?

A new, simpler system for editing will offer a single Edit button. Once the page has opened, you can switch back and forth between visual and wikitext editing.

If you prefer having separate edit buttons, then you can set that option in your preferences, either in a pop-up dialog the next time you open the visual editor, or by going to Special:Preferences and choosing the setting that you want:

The current plan is for the default setting to have the Edit button open the editing environment you used most recently.

You can read and help translate the user guide, which has more information about how to use the visual editor.

Since the last newsletter, the VisualEditor Team has fixed many bugs and expanded the mathematics formula tool. Their workboard is available in Phabricator. Their current priorities are improving support for languages such as Japanese and Arabic, and providing rich-media tools for formulæ, charts, galleries and uploading.

Recent improvements

You can switch from the wikitext editor to the visual editor after you start editing.

The LaTeX mathematics formula editor has been significantly expanded. (T118616) You can see the formula as you change the LaTeX code. You can click buttons to insert the correct LaTeX code for many symbols.

Future changes

The single edit tab project will combine the "Edit" and "Edit source" tabs into a single "Edit" tab, like the system already used on the mobile website. (T102398) Initially, the "Edit" tab will open whichever editing environment you used last time. Your last editing choice will be stored as a cookie for logged-out users and as an account preference for logged-in editors. Logged-in editors will be able to set a default editor in the Editing tab of Special:Preferences in the drop-down menu about "Editing mode:".

The visual editor will be offered to all editors at the following Wikipedias in early 2016: Amharic, Buginese, Min Dong, Cree, Manx, Hakka, Armenian, Georgian, Pontic, Serbo-Croatian, Tigrinya, Mingrelian, Zhuang, and Min Nan. (T116523) Please post your comments and the language(s) that you tested at the feedback thread on mediawiki.org. The developers would like to know how well it works. Please tell them what kind of computer, web browser, and keyboard you are using.

In 2016, the feedback pages for the visual editor on many Wikipedias will be redirected to mediawiki.org. (T92661)

Testing opportunities

• Please try the new system for the single edit tab on test2.wikipedia.org. You can edit while logged out to see how it works for logged-out editors, or you can create a separate account to be able to set your account's preferences. Please share your thoughts about the single edit tab system at the feedback topic on mediawiki.org or sign up for formal user research (type "single edit tab" in the question about other areas you're interested in). The new system has not been finalized, and your feedback can affect the outcome. The team particularly wants your thoughts about the options in Special:Preferences. The current choices in Special:Preferences are:
  • Remember my last editor,
  • Always give me the visual editor if possible, 
  • Always give me the source editor, and 
  • Show me both editor tabs.  (This is the current state for people using the visual editor. None of these options will be visible if you have disabled the visual editor in your preferences at that wiki.)
• Can you read and type in Korean or Japanese? Language engineer David Chan needs people who know which tools people use to type in some languages. If you speak Japanese or Korean, you can help him test support for these languages. Please see the instructions at mw:VisualEditor/IME Testing#What to test if you can help, and report it on Phabricator (Korean - Japanese) or on Wikipedia (Korean - Japanese).

If you aren't reading this in your favorite language, then please help us with translations! Subscribe to the Translators mailing list or contact us directly, so that we can notify you when the next issue is ready. Thank you!

Whatamidoing (WMF), 00:54, 24 December 2015 (UTC)

VisualEditor News #1—2016

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Did you know?

Among experienced editors, the visual editor's table editing is one of the most popular features.

If you select the top of a column or the end of a row, you can quickly insert and remove columns and rows.

Now, you can also rearrange columns and rows. Click "Move before" or "Move after" to swap the column or row with its neighbor.

You can read and help translate the user guide, which has more information about how to use the visual editor.

Since the last newsletter, the VisualEditor Team has fixed many bugs. Their workboard is available in Phabricator. Their current priorities are improving support for Japanese, Korean, Arabic, Indic, and Han scripts, and improving the single edit tab interface.

Recent changes

You can switch from the wikitext editor to the visual editor after you start editing. This function is available to nearly all editors at most wikis except the Wiktionaries and Wikisources.

Many local feedback pages for the visual editor have been redirected to mw:VisualEditor/Feedback.

You can now re-arrange columns and rows in tables, as well as copying a row, column or any other selection of cells and pasting it in a new location.

The formula editor has two options: you can choose "Quick edit" to see and change only the LaTeX code, or "Edit" to use the full tool. The full tool offers immediate preview and an extensive list of symbols.

Future changes

The single edit tab project will combine the "Edit" and "Edit source" tabs into a single "Edit" tab. This is similar to the system already used on the mobile website. (T102398) Initially, the "Edit" tab will open whichever editing environment you used last time. Your last editing choice will be stored as an account preference for logged-in editors, and as a cookie for logged-out users. Logged-in editors will have these options in the Editing tab of Special:Preferences:

• Remember my last editor,
• Always give me the visual editor if possible,
• Always give me the source editor, and
• Show me both editor tabs.  (This is the state for people using the visual editor now.)

The visual editor uses the same search engine as Special:Search to find links and files. This search will get better at detecting typos and spelling mistakes soon. These improvements to search will appear in the visual editor as well.

The visual editor will be offered to all editors at most "Phase 6" Wikipedias during the next few months. The developers would like to know how well the visual editor works in your language. They particularly want to know whether typing in your language feels natural in the visual editor. Please post your comments and the language(s) that you tested at the feedback thread on mediawiki.org. This will affect the following languages: Japanese, Korean, Urdu, Persian, Arabic, Tamil, Marathi, Malayalam, Hindi, Bengali, Assamese, Thai, Aramaic and others.

Let's work together

• Please try out the newest version of the single edit tab on test2.wikipedia.org. You may need to restore the default preferences (at the bottom of test2wiki:Special:Preferences) to see the initial prompt for options. Were you able to find a preference setting that will work for your own editing? Did you see the large preferences dialog box when you started editing an article there?
• Can you read and type in Korean, Arabic, Japanese, Indic, or Han scripts? Language engineer David Chan needs help from people who often type in these languages. Please see the instructions at mw:VisualEditor/IME Testing#What to test if you can help. Report your results on wiki (Korean – Japanese – all languages).
• Learn how to improve the "automagical" citoid referencing system in the visual editor, by creating Zotero translators for popular sources in your language! Join the Tech Talk about "Automated citations in Wikipedia: Citoid and the technology behind it" with Sebastian Karcher on 29 February 2016.

If you aren't reading this in your favorite language, then please help us with translations! Subscribe to the Translators mailing list or contact us directly, so that we can notify you when the next issue is ready. Thanks!

– Whatamidoing (WMF) 17:47, 25 February 2016 (UTC)

Merger discussion for Family tree of Ali

An article that you have been involved in editing—Family tree of Ali —has been proposed for merging with another article. If you are interested, please participate in the merger discussion. Thank you. 84.13.126.205 (talk) 15:36, 31 March 2016 (UTC)

Do you want one Edit tab, or two? It's your choice

How to switch between editing environments

Click the [[ ]] to switch to the wikitext editor.

Click the pencil icon to switch to the visual editor.

The editing interface will be changed soon. When that happens, editors who currently see two editing tabs – "Edit" and "Edit source" – will start seeing one edit tab instead. The single edit tab has been popular at other Wikipedias. When this is deployed here, you may be offered the opportunity to choose your preferred appearance and behavior the next time you click the Edit button. You will also be able to change your settings in the Editing section of Special:Preferences.

You can choose one or two edit tabs. If you chose one edit tab, then you can switch between the two editing environments by clicking the buttons in the toolbar (shown in the screenshots). See Help:VisualEditor/User guide#Switching between the visual and wikitext editors for more information and screenshots.

There is more information about this interface change at mw:VisualEditor/Single edit tab. If you have questions, suggestions, or problems to report, then please leave a note at Wikipedia:VisualEditor/Feedback.

Whatamidoing (WMF) 19:22, 11 April 2016 (UTC)

Speedy deletion nomination of Ahmad Musa Jibril

If this is the first article that you have created, you may want to read the guide to writing your first article.

You may want to consider using the Article Wizard to help you create articles.

A tag has been placed on Ahmad Musa Jibril requesting that it be speedily deleted from Wikipedia. This has been done under section A7 of the criteria for speedy deletion, because the article appears to be about a person or group of people, but it does not credibly indicate how or why the subject is important or significant: that is, why an article about that subject should be included in an encyclopedia. Under the criteria for speedy deletion, such articles may be deleted at any time. Please read more about what is generally accepted as notable.

If you think this page should not be deleted for this reason, you may contest the nomination by visiting the page and clicking the button labelled "Contest this speedy deletion". This will give you the opportunity to explain why you believe the page should not be deleted. However, be aware that once a page is tagged for speedy deletion, it may be removed without delay. Please do not remove the speedy deletion tag from the page yourself, but do not hesitate to add information in line with Wikipedia's policies and guidelines. If the page is deleted, and you wish to retrieve the deleted material for future reference or improvement, then please contact the deleting administrator. Super48paul (talk) 09:44, 25 April 2016 (UTC)

Editing News #2—2016

Editing News #2—2016 Read this in another language • Subscription list for this multilingual newsletter

Did you know?

It's quick and easy to insert a references list.

Place the cursor where you want to display the references list (usually at the bottom of the page). Open the "Insert" menu and click the "References list" icon (three books).

If you are using several groups of references, which is relatively rare, you will have the opportunity to specify the group. If you do that, then only the references that belong to the specified group will be displayed in this list of references.

Finally, click "Insert" in the dialog to insert the References list. This list will change as you add more footnotes to the page.

You can read and help translate the user guide, which has more information about how to use the visual editor.

Since the last newsletter, the VisualEditor team has fixed many bugs. Their workboard is available in Phabricator. Their current priorities are improving support for Arabic and Indic scripts, and adapting the visual editor to the needs of the Wikivoyages and Wikisources.

Recent changes

The visual editor is now available to all users at most Wikivoyages. It was also enabled for all contributors at the French Wikinews.

The single edit tab feature combines the "Edit" and "Edit source" tabs into a single "Edit" tab. It has been deployed to several Wikipedias, including Hungarian, Polish, English and Japanese Wikipedias, as well as to all Wikivoyages. At these wikis, you can change your settings for this feature in the "Editing" tab of Special:Preferences. The team is now reviewing the feedback and considering ways to improve the design before rolling it out to more people.

Future changes

The "Save page" button will say "Publish page". This will affect both the visual and wikitext editing systems. More information is available on Meta.

The visual editor will be offered to all editors at the remaining "Phase 6" Wikipedias during the next few months. The developers want to know whether typing in your language feels natural in the visual editor. Please post your comments and the language(s) that you tested at the feedback thread on mediawiki.org. This will affect several languages, including: Arabic, Hindi, Thai, Tamil, Marathi, Malayalam, Urdu, Persian, Bengali, Assamese, Aramaic and others.

The team is working with the volunteer developers who power Wikisource to provide the visual editor there, for opt-in testing right now and eventually for all users. (T138966)

The team is working on a modern wikitext editor. It will look like the visual editor, and be able to use the citoid service and other modern tools. This new editing system may become available as a Beta Feature on desktop devices around September 2016. You can read about this project in a general status update on the Wikimedia mailing list.

Let's work together

• Do you teach new editors how to use the visual editor? Did you help set up the Citoid automatic reference feature for your wiki? Have you written or imported TemplateData for your most important citation templates? Would you be willing to help new editors and small communities with the visual editor? Please sign up for the new VisualEditor Community Taskforce.
• Learn how to improve the "automagical" citoid referencing system in the visual editor, by creating Zotero translators for popular sources in your language! Watch the Tech Talk by Sebastian Karcher for more information.

If you aren't reading this in your preferred language, then please help us with translations! Subscribe to the Translators mailing list or contact us directly, so that we can notify you when the next issue is ready. Thank you!

Whatamidoing (WMF) (talk), 21:09, 30 June 2016 (UTC)

Editing News #3—2016

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Did you know?

Did you know that you can easily re-arrange columns and rows in the visual editor?

Select a cell in the column or row that you want to move. Click the arrow at the start of that row or column to open the dropdown menu (shown). Choose either "Move before" or "Move after" to move the column, or "Move above" or "Move below" to move the row.

You can read and help translate the user guide, which has more information about how to use the visual editor.

Since the last newsletter, the VisualEditor Team has mainly worked on a new wikitext editor. They have also released some small features and the new map editing tool. Their workboard is available in Phabricator. You can find links to the list of work finished each week at mw:VisualEditor/Weekly triage meetings. Their current priorities are fixing bugs, releasing the 2017 wikitext editor as a beta feature, and improving language support.

Recent changes

• You can now set text as small or big.[4]
• Invisible templates have been shown as a puzzle icon. Now, the name of the invisible template is displayed next to the puzzle icon.[5] A similar feature will display the first part of hidden HTML comments.[6]
• Categories are displayed at the bottom of each page. If you click on the categories, the dialog for editing categories will open.[7]
• At many wikis, you can now add maps to pages. Go to the Insert menu and choose the "Maps" item. The Discovery department are adding more features to this area, like geoshapes. You can read more on MediaWiki.org.[8]
• The "Save" button now says "Save page" when you create a page, and "Save changes" when you change an existing page.[9] In the future, the "Save page" button will say "Publish page". This will affect both the visual and wikitext editing systems. More information is available on Meta.
• Image galleries now use a visual mode for editing. You can see thumbnails of the images, add new files, remove unwanted images, rearrange the images by dragging and dropping, and add captions for each image. Use the "Options" tab to set the gallery's display mode, image sizes, and add a title for the gallery.[10]

Future changes

The visual editor will be offered to all editors at the remaining 10 "Phase 6" Wikipedias during the next month. The developers want to know whether typing in your language feels natural in the visual editor. Please post your comments and the language(s) that you tested at the feedback thread on mediawiki.org. This will affect several languages, including Thai, Burmese and Aramaic.

The team is working on a modern wikitext editor. The 2017 wikitext editor will look like the visual editor and be able to use the citoid service and other modern tools. This new editing system may become available as a Beta Feature on desktop devices in October 2016. You can read about this project in a general status update on the Wikimedia mailing list.

Let's work together

Do you teach new editors how to use the visual editor? Did you help set up the Citoid automatic reference feature for your wiki? Have you written or imported TemplateData for your most important citation templates? Would you be willing to help new editors and small communities with the visual editor? Please sign up for the new VisualEditor Community Taskforce.

If you aren't reading this in your preferred language, then please help us with translations! Subscribe to the Translators mailing list or contact us directly, so that we can notify you when the next issue is ready. Thank you! Whatamidoing (WMF) (talk) 18:19, 14 October 2016 (UTC)

Editing News #1—2017

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Did you know?

Did you know that you can review your changes visually?

When you are finished editing the page, type your edit summary and then choose "Review your changes".

In visual mode, you will see additions, removals, new links, and formatting highlighted. Other changes, such as changing the size of an image, are described in notes on the side.

Click the toggle button to switch between visual and wikitext diffs.

The wikitext diff is the same diff tool that is used in the wikitext editors and in the page history.

You can read and help translate the user guide, which has more information about how to use the visual editor.

Since the last newsletter, the VisualEditor Team has spent most of their time supporting the 2017 wikitext editor mode which is available inside the visual editor as a Beta Feature, and adding the new visual diff tool. Their workboard is available in Phabricator. You can find links to the work finished each week at mw:VisualEditor/Weekly triage meetings. Their current priorities are fixing bugs, supporting the 2017 wikitext editor as a beta feature, and improving the visual diff tool.

Recent changes

A new wikitext editing mode is available as a Beta Feature on desktop devices. The 2017 wikitext editor has the same toolbar as the visual editor and can use the citoid service and other modern tools. Go to Special:Preferences#mw-prefsection-betafeatures to enable the ⧼Visualeditor-preference-newwikitexteditor-label⧽.

A new visual diff tool is available in VisualEditor's visual mode. You can toggle between wikitext and visual diffs. More features will be added to this later. In the future, this tool may be integrated into other MediaWiki components. [11]

The team have added multi-column support for lists of footnotes. The <references /> block can automatically display long lists of references in columns on wide screens. This makes footnotes easier to read. You can request multi-column support for your wiki. [12]

Other changes:

• You can now use your web browser's function to switch typing direction in the new wikitext mode. This is particularly helpful for RTL language users like Urdu or Hebrew who have to write JavaScript or CSS. You can use Command+Shift+X or Control+Shift+X to trigger this. [13]
• The way to switch between the visual editing mode and the wikitext editing mode is now consistent. There is a drop-down menu that shows the two options. This is now the same in desktop and mobile web editing, and inside things that embed editing, such as Flow. [14]
• The Categories item has been moved to the top of the Page options menu (from clicking on the icon) for quicker access. [15] There is also now a "Templates used on this page" feature there. [16]
• You can now create <chem> tags (sometimes used as <ce>) for chemical formulas inside the visual editor. [17]
• Tables can be set as collapsed or un-collapsed. [18]
• The Special character menu now includes characters for Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics and angle quotation marks (‹› and ⟨⟩) . The team thanks the volunteer developer, Tpt. [19]
• A bug caused some section edit conflicts to blank the rest of the page. This has been fixed. The team are sorry for the disruption. [20]
• There is a new keyboard shortcut for citations: Control+Shift+K on a PC, or Command+Shift+K on a Mac. It is based on the keyboard shortcut for making links, which is Control+K on a PC or Command+K on a Mac. [21]

Future changes

• The VisualEditor team is working with the Community Tech team on a syntax highlighting tool. It will highlight matching pairs of <ref> tags and other types of wikitext syntax. You will be able to turn it on and off. It will first become available in VisualEditor's built-in wikitext mode, maybe late in 2017. [22]
• The kind of button used to Show preview, Show changes, and finish an edit will change in all WMF-supported wikitext editors. The new buttons will use OOjs UI. The buttons will be larger, brighter, and easier to read. The labels will remain the same. You can test the new button by editing a page and adding &ooui=1 to the end of the URL, like this: https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Project:Sandbox?action=edit&ooui=1 The old appearance will no longer be possible, even with local CSS changes. [23]
• The outdated 2006 wikitext editor will be removed later this year. It is used by approximately 0.03% of active editors. See a list of editing tools on mediawiki.org if you are uncertain which one you use. [24]

If you aren't reading this in your preferred language, then please help us with translations! Subscribe to the Translators mailing list or contact us directly, so that we can notify you when the next issue is ready. Thank you! User:Whatamidoing (WMF) (talk) 19:19, 9 May 2017 (UTC)

Editing News #1—2018

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Did you know?

Did you know that you can now use the visual diff tool on any page?

Sometimes, it is hard to see important changes in a wikitext diff. This screenshot of a wikitext diff (click to enlarge) shows that the paragraphs have been rearranged, but it does not highlight the removal of a word or the addition of a new sentence.

If you enable the Beta Feature for "⧼visualeditor-preference-visualdiffpage-label⧽", you will have a new option. It will give you a new box at the top of every diff page. This box will let you choose either diff system on any edit.

Click the toggle button to switch between visual and wikitext diffs.

In the visual diff, additions, removals, new links, and formatting changes will be highlighted. Other changes, such as changing the size of an image, are described in notes on the side.

This screenshot shows the same edit as the wikitext diff. The visual diff highlights the removal of one word and the addition of a new sentence. An arrow indicates that the paragraph changed location.

You can read and help translate the user guide, which has more information about how to use the visual editor.

Since the last newsletter, the Editing Team has spent most of their time supporting the 2017 wikitext editor mode, which is available inside the visual editor as a Beta Feature, and improving the visual diff tool. Their work board is available in Phabricator. You can find links to the work finished each week at mw:VisualEditor/Weekly triage meetings. Their current priorities are fixing bugs, supporting the 2017 wikitext editor, and improving the visual diff tool.

Recent changes

• The 2017 wikitext editor is available as a Beta Feature on desktop devices. It has the same toolbar as the visual editor and can use the citoid service and other modern tools. The team have been comparing the performance of different editing environments. They have studied how long it takes to open the page and start typing. The study uses data for more than one million edits during December and January. Some changes have been made to improve the speed of the 2017 wikitext editor and the visual editor. Recently, the 2017 wikitext editor opened fastest for most edits, and the 2010 WikiEditor was fastest for some edits. More information will be posted at mw:Contributors/Projects/Editing performance.
• The visual diff tool was developed for the visual editor. It is now available to all users of the visual editor and the 2017 wikitext editor. When you review your changes, you can toggle between wikitext and visual diffs. You can also enable the new Beta Feature for "Visual diffs". The Beta Feature lets you use the visual diff tool to view other people's edits on page histories and Special:RecentChanges. [25]
• Wikitext syntax highlighting is available as a Beta Feature for both the 2017 wikitext editor and the 2010 wikitext editor. [26]
• The citoid service automatically translates URLs, DOIs, ISBNs, and PubMed id numbers into wikitext citation templates. This tool has been used at the English Wikipedia for a long time. It is very popular and useful to editors, although it can be tricky for admins to set up. Other wikis can have this service, too. Please read the instructions. You can ask the team to help you enable citoid at your wiki.

Let's work together

• The team is planning a presentation about editing tools for an upcoming Wikimedia Foundation metrics and activities meeting.
• Wikibooks, Wikiversity, and other communities may have the visual editor made available by default to contributors. If your community wants this, then please contact Dan Garry.
• The <references /> block can automatically display long lists of references in columns on wide screens. This makes footnotes easier to read. This has already been enabled at the English Wikipedia. If you want columns for a long list of footnotes on this wiki, you can use either <references /> or the plain (no parameters) {{reflist}} template. If you edit a different wiki, you can request multi-column support for your wiki. [27]
• If you aren't reading this in your preferred language, then please help us with translations! Subscribe to the Translators mailing list or contact us directly. We will notify you when the next issue is ready for translation. Thank you!

—User:Whatamidoing (WMF) (talk) 23:15, 28 February 2018 (UTC)

Editing News #2—2018

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Did you know?

Did you know that you can use the visual editor on a mobile device?

Tap on the pencil icon to start editing. The page will probably open in the wikitext editor.

You will see another pencil icon in the toolbar. Tap on that pencil icon to the switch between visual editing and wikitext editing.

Remember to publish your changes when you're done.

You can read and help translate the user guide, which has more information about how to use the visual editor.

Since the last newsletter, the Editing Team has wrapped up most of their work on the 2017 wikitext editor and the visual diff tool. The team has begun investigating the needs of editors who use mobile devices. Their work board is available in Phabricator. Their current priorities are fixing bugs and improving mobile editing.

Recent changes

• The Editing team has published an initial report about mobile editing.
• The Editing team has begun a design study of visual editing on the mobile website. New editors have trouble doing basic tasks on a smartphone, such as adding links to Wikipedia articles. You can read the report.
• The Reading team is working on a separate mobile-based contributions project.
• The 2006 wikitext editor is no longer supported. If you used that toolbar, then you will no longer see any toolbar. You may choose another editing tool in your editing preferences, local gadgets, or beta features.
• The Editing team described the history and status of VisualEditor in this recorded public presentation (starting at 29 minutes, 30 seconds).
• The Language team released a new version of Content Translation (CX2) last month, on International Translation Day. It integrates the visual editor to support templates, tables, and images. It also produces better wikitext when the translated article is published. [28]

Let's work together

• The Editing team wants to improve visual editing on the mobile website. Please read their ideas and tell the team what you think would help editors who use the mobile site.
• The Community Wishlist Survey begins next week.
• If you aren't reading this in your preferred language, then please help us with translations! Subscribe to the Translators mailing list or contact us directly. We will notify you when the next issue is ready for translation. Thank you!

— Whatamidoing (WMF) (talk) 17:12, 1 November 2018 (UTC)

Editing News #1—July 2019

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Did you know?

Did you know that you can use the visual editor on a mobile device?

Every article has a pencil icon at the top. Tap on the pencil icon to start editing.

Edit Cards

This is what the new Edit Cards for editing links in the mobile visual editor look like. You can try the prototype here: 📲 Try Edit Cards.

Welcome back to the Editing newsletter.

Since the last newsletter, the team has released two new features for the mobile visual editor and has started developing three more. All of this work is part of the team's goal to make editing on mobile web simpler.

Before talking about the team's recent releases, we have a question for you:

Are you willing to try a new way to add and change links?

If you are interested, we would value your input! You can try this new link tool in the mobile visual editor on a separate wiki.

Follow these instructions and share your experience:

📲 Try Edit Cards.

Recent releases

The mobile visual editor is a simpler editing tool, for smartphones and tablets using the mobile site. The Editing team has recently launched two new features to improve the mobile visual editor:

1. Section editing
   • The purpose is to help contributors focus on their edits.
   • The team studied this with an A/B test. This test showed that contributors who could use section editing were 1% more likely to publish the edits they started than people with only full-page editing.
2. Loading overlay
   • The purpose is to smooth the transition between reading and editing.

Section editing and the new loading overlay are now available to everyone using the mobile visual editor.

New and active projects

This is a list of our most active projects. Watch these pages to learn about project updates and to share your input on new designs, prototypes and research findings.

• Edit cards: This is a clearer way to add and edit links, citations, images, templates, etc. in articles. You can try this feature now. Go here to see how: 📲Try Edit Cards.
• Mobile toolbar refresh: This project will learn if contributors are more successful when the editing tools are easier to recognize.
• Mobile visual editor availability: This A/B test asks: Are newer contributors more successful if they use the mobile visual editor? We are collaborating with 20 Wikipedias to answer this question.
• Usability improvements: This project will make the mobile visual editor easier to use.  The goal is to let contributors stay focused on editing and to feel more confident in the editing tools.

Looking ahead

• Wikimania: Several members of the Editing Team will be attending Wikimania in August 2019. They will lead a session about mobile editing in the Community Growth space. Talk to them about how editing can be improved.
• Talk Pages: In the coming months, the Editing Team will begin improving talk pages and communication on the wikis.

Learning more

The VisualEditor on mobile is a good place to learn more about the projects we are working on. The team wants to talk with you about anything related to editing. If you have something to say or ask, please leave a message at Talk:VisualEditor on mobile.

PPelberg (WMF) (talk) and Whatamidoing (WMF) (talk) 21:25, 15 July 2019 (UTC)

Editing News #2 – Mobile editing and talk pages – October 2019

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Inside this newsletter, the Editing team talks about their work on the mobile visual editor, on the new talk pages project, and at Wikimania 2019.

Help

What talk page interactions do you remember? Is it a story about how someone helped you to learn something new? Is it a story about how someone helped you get involved in a group? Something else? Whatever your story is, we want to hear it!

Please tell us a story about how you used a talk page. Please share a link to a memorable discussion, or describe it on the talk page for this project. The team would value your examples. These examples will help everyone develop a shared understanding of what this project should support and encourage.

Talk Pages

The Talk Pages Consultation was a global consultation to define better tools for wiki communication. From February through June 2019, more than 500 volunteers on 20 wikis, across 15 languages and multiple projects, came together with members of the Foundation to create a product direction for a set of discussion tools. The Phase 2 Report of the Talk Page Consultation was published in August. It summarizes the product direction the team has started to work on, which you can read more about here: Talk Page Project project page.

The team needs and wants your help at this early stage. They are starting to develop the first idea. Please add your name to the "Getting involved" section of the project page, if you would like to hear about opportunities to participate.

Mobile visual editor

The Editing team is trying to make it simpler to edit on mobile devices. The team is changing the visual editor on mobile. If you have something to say about editing on a mobile device, please leave a message at Talk:VisualEditor on mobile.

Edit Cards

What happens when you click on a link. The new Edit Card is bigger and has more options for editing links.

• On 3 September, the Editing team released version 3 of Edit Cards. Anyone could use the new version in the mobile visual editor.
• There is an updated design on the Edit Card for adding and modifying links. There is also a new, combined workflow for editing a link's display text and target.
• Feedback: You can try the new Edit Cards by opening the mobile visual editor on a smartphone. Please post your feedback on the Edit cards talk page.

Toolbar

The editing toolbar is changing in the mobile visual editor. The old system had two different toolbars. Now, all the buttons are together. Tell the team what you think about the new toolbar.

• In September, the Editing team updated the mobile visual editor's editing toolbar. Anyone could see these changes in the mobile visual editor.
  • One toolbar: All of the editing tools are located in one toolbar. Previously, the toolbar changed when you clicked on different things.
  • New navigation: The buttons for moving forward and backward in the edit flow have changed.
  • Seamless switching: an improved workflow for switching between the visual and wikitext modes.
• Feedback: You can try the refreshed toolbar by opening the mobile VisualEditor on a smartphone. Please post your feedback on the Toolbar feedback talk page.

Wikimania

The Editing Team attended Wikimania 2019 in Sweden. They led a session on the mobile visual editor and a session on the new talk pages project. They tested two new features in the mobile visual editor with contributors. You can read more about what the team did and learned in the team's report on Wikimania 2019.

Looking ahead

• Talk Pages Project: The team is thinking about the first set of proposed changes. The team will be working with a few communities to pilot those changes. The best way to stay informed is by adding your username to the list on the project page: Getting involved.
• Testing the mobile visual editor as the default: The Editing team plans to post results before the end of the calendar year. The best way to stay informed is by adding the project page to your watchlist: VisualEditor as mobile default project page.
• Measuring the impact of Edit Cards: The Editing team hopes to share results in November. This study asks whether the project helped editors add links and citations. The best way to stay informed is by adding the project page to your watchlist: Edit Cards project page.

– PPelberg (WMF) (talk) & Whatamidoing (WMF) (talk) 16:51, 17 October 2019 (UTC)

Editing news 2020 #1 – Discussion tools

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This early version of the Reply tool automatically signs and indents comments.

The Editing team has been working on the talk pages project. The goal of the talk pages project is to help contributors communicate on wiki more easily. This project is the result of the Talk pages consultation 2019.

In a future update, the team plans to test a tool for easily linking to another user's name, a rich-text editing option, and other tools.

The team is building a new tool for replying to comments now. This early version can sign and indent comments automatically. Please test the new Reply tool.

• On 31 March 2020, the new reply tool was offered as a Beta Feature editors at four Wikipedias: Arabic, Dutch, French, and Hungarian. If your community also wants early access to the new tool, contact User:Whatamidoing (WMF).
• The team is planning some upcoming changes. Please review the proposed design and share your thoughts on the talk page. The team will test features such as:
  • an easy way to mention another editor ("pinging"),
  • a rich-text visual editing option, and
  • other features identified through user testing or recommended by editors.

To hear more about Editing Team updates, please add your name to the "Get involved" section of the project page. You can also watch these pages: the main project page, Updates, Replying, and User testing.

– PPelberg (WMF) (talk) & Whatamidoing (WMF) (talk) 15:45, 13 April 2020 (UTC)

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Editing news 2020 #2 – Quick updates

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The new features include a toolbar. What do you think should be in the toolbar?

This edition of the Editing newsletter includes information the Wikipedia:Talk pages project, an effort to help contributors communicate on wiki more easily. The central project page is on MediaWiki.org.

• Reply tool: This is available as a Beta Feature at the four partner wikis (Arabic, Dutch, French, and Hungarian Wikipedias). The Beta Feature will get new features soon. The new features include writing comments in a new visual editing mode and pinging other users by typing @. You can test the new features on the Beta Cluster. Some other wikis will have a chance to try the Beta Feature in the coming months.
• New requirements for user signatures: Soon, users will not be able to save invalid custom signatures in Special:Preferences. This will reduce signature spoofing, prevent page corruption, and make new talk page tools more reliable. Most editors will not be affected.
• New discussion tool: The Editing team is beginning work on a simpler process for starting new discussions. You can see the initial design on the project page.
• Research on the use of talk pages: The Editing team worked with the Wikimedia research team to study how talk pages help editors improve articles. We learned that new editors who use talk pages make more edits to the main namespace than new editors who don't use talk pages.

– Whatamidoing (WMF) (talk) 18:11, 15 June 2020 (UTC)

Editing news 2020 #3

On 16 March 2020, the 50 millionth edit was made using the visual editor on desktop.

Seven years ago this week, the Editing team made the visual editor available by default to all logged-in editors using the desktop site at the English Wikipedia. Here's what happened since its introduction:

• The 50 millionth edit using the visual editor on desktop was made this year. More than 10 million edits have been made here at the English Wikipedia.
• More than 2 million new articles have been created in the visual editor. More than 600,000 of these new articles were created during 2019.
• Almost 5 million edits on the mobile site have been made with the visual editor. Most of these edits have been made since the Editing team started improving the mobile visual editor in 2018.
• The proportion of all edits made using the visual editor has been increasing every year.
• Editors have made more than 7 million edits in the 2017 wikitext editor, including starting 600,000 new articles in it. The 2017 wikitext editor is VisualEditor's built-in wikitext mode. You can enable it in your preferences.
• On 17 November 2019, the first edit from outer space was made in the mobile visual editor.
• In 2019, 35% of the edits by newcomers, and half of their first edits, were made using the visual editor. This percentage has been increasing every year since the tool became available.

Whatamidoing (WMF) (talk) 02:06, 3 July 2020 (UTC)

Removal from newsletter subscription list

Hello,

It looks like you haven't edited for a long time, so I'm taking your name off of Wikipedia:VisualEditor/Newsletter. If I've guessed wrong, or you come back to Wikipedia in the future, then please feel free to re-add your name, or to put your name on the global list at m:Special:MyLanguage/VisualEditor/Newsletter.

Thanks for your interest in editing.

Whatamidoing (WMF) (talk) 02:56, 19 August 2020 (UTC)