User talk:Cromium/Archive 11

Avoided

Hi Green Giant, thank you very much for your effort regarding Avoided, it’s most appreciated :-) He rode a big attack at deWP yesterday; some of the ~ 100 accounts were already locked by you due to CU, but many are still on the loose. So if you feel bored, please see my new request at SRG ;-) Most of these edited parallel to the locked ones, so there must be at least one other IP range. Also, I wouldn’t be surprised, if the "Les allemands"-complex (see also SRG) is also Avoided (he tends to use French or Italian names). Regards --Schniggendiller (talk) 19:24, 21 May 2018 (UTC)

Done. Green Giant (talk) 22:24, 22 May 2018 (UTC)

LTA sock

Lulz is the password (talk • contribs • block • xwiki-contribs • xwiki-date ^(alt) • CA • gblock • ST • lwcheckuser)

Hi there. Can you please Lock this account, and also globally rangeblock the underlying IPs (for at least 3 months)? A sleeper check would also help. This is the sock of a serial vandal, though I can't tell at this moment whether it is TryToBeFunny or Cruizir. Thanks. LightandDark2000 (talk) 02:34, 22 May 2018 (UTC)

• Popcorn Sutton Maggie Valley (talk • contribs • block • xwiki-contribs • xwiki-date ^(alt) • CA • gblock • ST • lwcheckuser)
• Spray, wipe, and shine with Troll-B-Gone (talk • contribs • block • xwiki-contribs • xwiki-date ^(alt) • CA • gblock • ST • lwcheckuser)
• Permission error (talk • contribs • block • xwiki-contribs • xwiki-date ^(alt) • CA • gblock • ST • lwcheckuser)
• 2012IsABeach (talk • contribs • block • xwiki-contribs • xwiki-date ^(alt) • CA • gblock • ST • lwcheckuser)

And here are three other abusive accounts (these are probably Cruizir socks, or socks of another LTA). LightandDark2000 (talk) 04:43, 23 May 2018 (UTC)

Added another account. The last account listed in this batch is an unlocked account of an LTA with an offensive username (whom you've locked recently). One of this guy's socks is known as "TheDoubleManiac" (also locked). LightandDark2000 (talk) 05:10, 23 May 2018 (UTC)

Done together with a number of additional accounts. Green Giant (talk) 08:19, 23 May 2018 (UTC)

LTA IP socks

Can you please deal with this IP range of the Fuerdai vandal (probably a proxy or a VPN), and also this proxy network of Cruzir or Wikinger? THose reports have been open for some time now. Since both of them are proxies or VPNs, they should probably be globally rangeblocked for at least 6-12 months. Thanks. LightandDark2000 (talk) 04:47, 23 May 2018 (UTC)

Done. Green Giant (talk) 09:09, 27 May 2018 (UTC)

More LTA

Fcukerdai (talk • contribs • block • xwiki-contribs • xwiki-date ^(alt) • CA • gblock • ST • lwcheckuser)

Long term aboose (talk • contribs • block • xwiki-contribs • xwiki-date ^(alt) • CA • gblock • ST • lwcheckuser)

Thanks. 2601:1C0:4401:24A0:88DF:1E65:518A:8676 00:22, 24 May 2018 (UTC)

Done. Green Giant (talk) 09:09, 27 May 2018 (UTC)

Help

Hello, could you globally block this LTA? An application has already been opened in Steward requests/Global‎‎. --Editor D.S (talk) 23:12, 26 May 2018 (UTC)

Done. Green Giant (talk) 09:09, 27 May 2018 (UTC)

Cross-wiki LTA ROXELANA22 returns

• 181.49.64.0/19 xwiki-contribs • ST • IP info • WHOIS • robtex • gblock • glist • abuselog • bullseye - Known abuse source for past 12+ months

@Green Giant: Hi there. The cross-wiki LTA vandal, ROXELANA22, has returned. In case you haven't dealt with him before, this vandal has been actively vandalizing, socking, trolling, and making death threats across multiple Wikimedia Projects for the past 12 years. (For the record, I have been harasses and threatened by this lunatic on Commons for 2 years.) This discussion should give you a picture of just how bad the abuse is (and the worst of his vandalism is not even linked). Some of his vandalism was so severe that the edits were deleted, and his older account, Macallla, has even been Globally Hidden as a result. The listed IP range is displaying cross-wiki vandalism once again, and since the edits are very similar to the pattern this LTA is known for, he's probably active on that range again. Some examples of the recent vandalism include: [1] [2] (the hatred towards Wikipedia seems to identical to him). LightandDark2000 (talk) 02:18, 28 May 2018 (UTC)

Can you please check the listed IP range (a known abuse source for this LTA) and the most recent sock accounts for more sleepers, and also Globally Rangeblock the IP Range(s) for at least 6 months? (Shorter blocks have already proven ineffective.) I've listed the most recently (known) abused socks below for reference - they have already been Globally Locked. This vandal's history has demonstrated that the only thing capable of stopping his cross-wiki abuse are Global Rangeblocks. Thank you. LightandDark2000 (talk) 02:18, 28 May 2018 (UTC)

• LagashISHTAR (talk • contribs • block • xwiki-contribs • xwiki-date ^(alt) • CA • gblock • ST • lwcheckuser)
• LaMiradaDeRasputin (talk • contribs • block • xwiki-contribs • xwiki-date ^(alt) • CA • gblock • ST • lwcheckuser)
• POPITLEO1 (talk • contribs • block • xwiki-contribs • xwiki-date ^(alt) • CA • gblock • ST • lwcheckuser)
• SARTORIO1 (talk • contribs • block • xwiki-contribs • xwiki-date ^(alt) • CA • gblock • ST • lwcheckuser)
• PSOAS1 (talk • contribs • block • xwiki-contribs • xwiki-date ^(alt) • CA • gblock • ST • lwcheckuser)
• NS4KK1 (talk • contribs • block • xwiki-contribs • xwiki-date ^(alt) • CA • gblock • ST • lwcheckuser)

Locked by There’sNoTime. Range not blocked because there are far too many innocent users involved. Green Giant (talk) 09:05, 29 May 2018 (UTC)

Global lock

Please look here: Steward_requests/Global#Global ban / block for Meister und Margarita and associated accounts. --Mautpreller (talk) 08:38, 28 May 2018 (UTC)

Hi Green Giant, please reconsider this case and note that this request was submitted by a user who was party to the corresponding case of the arbitration committee. Regards, AFBorchert (talk) 16:48, 28 May 2018 (UTC)

The User Meister und Margarita was already indefinitely blocked several times on different Accounts in the German Wikipedia since 2008. He is manifold guilty of sock puppetry and meat puppetry and also has other indefinitely blocked Accounts on other Wikipedias. The German community vote regarding his (un)blocking had also a majority supporting his block. What exactly should be reconsidered? Kind regards 141.113.69.35 17:46, 28 May 2018 (UTC)

Done I have unlocked them all and left a note. Cheers. Green Giant (talk) 19:56, 28 May 2018 (UTC)

Thank you, Green Giant! Regards, AFBorchert (talk) 21:05, 28 May 2018 (UTC)

Message

You fixed it. --Jim Doen (talk) 15:07, 28 May 2018 (UTC)

Stryn is giving me some guidance now. --Jim Doen (talk) 19:57, 28 May 2018 (UTC)

Request

Hi,

I noticed my IP has been blocked from editing Wikipedia.

But I am not a spam bot or a suspicious account. I have frequently contributed to projects on Wikipedia; not on a large scale: but with de-orphaning, red link removals, referral updates and such.

Please undo the block for me.

Here's my page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Cae_prince — The preceding unsigned comment was added by 117.199.140.95 (talk) 19:58, 28 May 2018 (UTC)

@Cae prince: This request needs to be made on your Wikipedia talkpage. Stewards cannot intervene in local wikis. If you find you are still struggling outside Wikipedia, let me know and we can look at it. Green Giant (talk) 20:20, 28 May 2018 (UTC)

That's just it. I'm unable to edit my Talk Page because my IP has been blocked. What do I do? — The preceding unsigned comment was added by 117.199.132.117 (talk) 20:58, 28 May 2018 (UTC)

Edit: This is the message I get:

"Editing from your IP address range (117.199.128.0/18) has been blocked (disabled) on all Wikimedia wikis until 09:11, 2019 April 3 by Green Giant (meta.wikimedia.org) for the following reason:

Cross-wiki spam: spambot: Numerous sleeper accounts

This block began on 09:11, 2018 April 3" — The preceding unsigned comment was added by Cae prince (talk) 21:10, 28 May 2018 (UTC)

@Cae prince: Very strange. The block was due to the range being used by about 70 spam accounts compared to 30 that seemed innocent. It should not be affecting you when you are logged in. It is only meant to stop anonymous editing. Nonetheless your account is now exempt from global blocks for the next six months (when the block expires). Green Giant (talk) 01:52, 29 May 2018 (UTC)

@Green Giant: Thank you so much. :)

Email

I want to send you a message that I had sent you an email before. --Jim Doen (talk) 01:51, 29 May 2018 (UTC)

Why did you block me?

Hi Green Giant, it seems that you have blocked me blaming me of long term abuse. Long term is right, I try to fix minor issues whenever I see them. But abuse? Please indicate what I did wrong and why you blocked me! Please unblock me again asap! Thanks. Dawied Dawiedmainz (talk) 03:19, 29 May 2018 (UTC)

@Dawiedmainz: As part of protecting Wikimedia projects from anonymous vandalism, at times we are forced to block ranges of IP addresses. Due to the dynamic nature of IP addressing, these blocks may sometimes affect innocent users as well. The global block you mention is most probably not directed at you personally, and the reason why you cannot edit or create an account is that your IP, or the range in which your IP falls, was previously used by someone to vandalize a Wikimedia project or projects and was blocked to protect that project or projects.

Since you have an account already and cannot edit, please contact the local administrators of your project and ask whether or not you are eligible for the 'ipblock-exempt' group. If they assign you to that group, please log back in to your account and check if you can edit afterwards. If you still cannot edit, please get back to us with your wiki username so we can investigate further.

Please see also Global blocks/FAQ for more information. I hope you find this information useful. Green Giant (talk) 07:03, 29 May 2018 (UTC)

Tech News: 2018-22

Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.

Recent changes

• You can now use global preferences on most wikis. This means you can set preferences for all wikis at the same time. Before this you had to change them on each individual wiki. Global preferences will come to the Wikipedias later this week. [3][4]
• It is now easier for blocked mobile users to see why they were blocked. [5]
• Wikidata now supports lexicographical data. This helps describe words.
• There is now a checkbox on Special:ListUsers to let you see only users in temporary user groups. [6]
• Some rare invisible Unicode characters have recently been banned from page titles. This includes soft hyphens (U+00AD) and left-to-right (U+2066) and right-to-left (U+2067) isolate markers. Existing pages with these characters will soon be moved by a script. [7]
• There's a new Wikimedia Foundation team to support the Wikimedia technical communities. It's called the Technical Engagement team. Most of the team members did similar work in other teams before this. [8]

Problems

• Some translatable pages are showing old translations instead of latest ones. The cause of this issue has been fixed. We will update all pages automatically to show the latest translations. [9]

Changes later this week

• There will be a new special page named PasswordPolicies. This page gives information about the password rules for each user group on that wiki. [10]
• A new way to see moved paragraphs in diffs is coming to most wikis. This is to make it easier to find the moved paragraphs and the changes in them. [11]
• The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from 29 May. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from 30 May. It will be on all wikis from 31 May (calendar).
• Wikis can enable Citoid to provide automatic reference look-up in the visual editor and the 2017 wikitext editor. This is complex. The tool will now disable itself if the configuration isn't correct. It has warned about this in the JavaScript console since February. Check that your wiki is configured correctly. You can ask for help if you need it. [12]

Meetings

• You can join the next meeting with the Editing team. During the meeting, you can tell developers which bugs you think are the most important. The meeting will be on 29 May at 18:30 (UTC). See how to join.
• You can join the technical advice meeting on IRC. During the meeting, volunteer developers can ask for advice. The meeting will be on 30 May at 15:00 (UTC). See how to join.

Future changes

• Content Translation drafts which have not been updated in over a year will be removed. This allows other users to translate those articles. [13]
• A survey is collecting information on what users think about how Wikimedia wiki pages are loaded. This information could be used in future development. [14]
• Some wikis will switch to use the Remex parsing library. This is to replace Tidy. It will happen on 30 May and 13 June. Wikis with fewer than 100 linter issues in the main namespace in all high-priority linter categories will switch. This includes Wikidata. Tidy will probably be removed on all wikis in the first week of July. [15][16]

Tech news prepared by Tech News writers and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe.

12:40, 29 May 2018 (UTC)

FYI

Since you have been the processor: https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Steward_requests/Global&diff=18087194&oldid=18087155 Kind regards 141.113.69.35 14:50, 29 May 2018 (UTC)

Thank you for the note. I’ve already unlocked them pending a decision by all parties concerned. Green Giant (talk) 15:33, 29 May 2018 (UTC)

Regarding Your Comment On My Talk Page

I found a wiki already. Its name is wikiHow. I know it is not a Wikimedia project, but it has similar goals as other Wikimedia projects. What Tony is saying is that I should wait until August at the least before unblocking because he says it usually takes a long time to change the community consensus of other editors. And I need to make sure that it is clear that I know what I was blocked for.

The reason why User:Primefac blocked my talk page access for a week is because I was disrupting it by playing with Twinkle, personalizing my talk page, and not keeping away from the English Wikipedia. Otherwise, I was only using it for Wikipedia-related comments about my block. Ups and Downs (↕) 19:20, 29 May 2018 (UTC)

Lost access to my original account

Hello Green Giant. I was blocked for socking/block evasion and have lost access to my original account DinoBambinoNFS. I can only edit through this one. I haven't edited on any Wiki project except Wikipedia and Commons as far as I remember with my old account. Hope there's no problem and I am permitted to retain this one. I neither have the password nor do I remember if it had any email. MonsterHunter32 (talk) 19:20, 29 May 2018 (UTC)

77.178.

Regarding your piecemeal blocks… from where is known that Avoided’s IP prefers certain /24 subnets within the whole /16 network? Incnis Mrsi (talk) 09:38, 30 May 2018 (UTC)

I did a checkuser on 77.178.0.0/16 on 21 May and subsequently globally blocked the range based on a very large number of locked accounts compared to unlocked accounts. However, we have received several email complaints from people saying their editing is being affected. I’ve rechecked the range and removed the /16 block in favour of piecemeal blocks based on my analysis of the results - where a subnet has been used solely by locked accounts. My original block of 77.178.0.0/16 did not account for the innocent users in some of the subnets and I could not justify it any longer. I cannot say that all of the locked accounts are Avoided but some clearly are. Green Giant (talk) 09:49, 30 May 2018 (UTC)

The thing you take for the signal might be just noise – the observed sampling for the third octet 77.178.X.… (in other words, grouping of IPs by /24 ranges) can likely arise probabilistically assuming uniform distribution of customers’ IPs over all or most of the /16 (that is, null hypothesis). Further monitoring of the /16 is needed to confirm or disprove your guess that the /16 range is indeed finely subdivided by the ISP. Incnis Mrsi (talk) 10:09, 30 May 2018 (UTC)

Indeed, more monitoring is needed, and I’m going to spend some time later today going through everything I’ve learnt about this user to see if I’ve missed anything. A cursory look through Robtex suggests Telefonica probably does split its subnets equally. I intend to do a follow—up checkuser in about two weeks time to see if there are any new disruptive accounts from different subnets. I’m also going to compile a non-public list of OTRS tickets related to this range. Green Giant (talk) 10:27, 30 May 2018 (UTC)

Why Am I Blocked For

Hi Green Giant You Blocked for abuse and I'm sorry I meant to do that will you give me another chance so that I Won't get blocked but why am I Blocked for. 2600:8803:7A00:976A:D1E9:A20C:8714:3DD8 23:06, 30 May 2018 (UTC)

As part of protecting Wikimedia projects from anonymous vandalism, at times we are forced to block ranges of IP addresses. Due to the dynamic nature of IP addressing, these blocks may sometimes affect innocent users as well. The global block you mention is not directed at you personally, and the reason why you cannot edit or create an account is that your IP, or the range in which your IP falls, was previously used by someone to vandalize a Wikimedia project or projects and was blocked to protect that project or projects.

If you don’t have an account, it is highly recommended that you create one; certainly it offers more privacy and less difficulties than anonymous editing. If you wish to create an account, email us on stewardswikimediaorg, with a username that is not currently in use. We can then create your account and send you a temporary password.

Please see also Global blocks/FAQ for more information. I hope you find this information useful. Green Giant (talk) 23:41, 30 May 2018 (UTC)

Hello!

Hi Green Giant! I'd just like you to know that you're doing a great task here at the wikis, in making sure they run well. Good Luck in future endavours! Jay Jay Marcus Keize13 (talk) 00:21, 1 June 2018 (UTC)

Another LTA

Skyscraper Enthusiast (talk • contribs • block • xwiki-contribs • xwiki-date ^(alt) • CA • gblock • ST • lwcheckuser)

Disruption on Commons and en.wiki. Also, is there a way that we can get this image that they uploaded to commons deleted? Thanks. 176.205.8.108 18:04, 2 June 2018 (UTC)

Done locked, file deleted, IP blocked. Green Giant (talk) 18:11, 2 June 2018 (UTC)

UltraSockerX (talk • contribs • block • xwiki-contribs • xwiki-date ^(alt) • CA • gblock • ST • lwcheckuser)

UltraSockerFuaerdai (talk • contribs • block • xwiki-contribs • xwiki-date ^(alt) • CA • gblock • ST • lwcheckuser)

Thanks. These two accounts above have likely been used by the vandal as well. 176.205.8.108 18:39, 2 June 2018 (UTC)

Done. Green Giant (talk) 19:36, 2 June 2018 (UTC)

Thanks

Thanks for your response to that ping. I knew what you were doing and wasn’t accusing you of any mistakes, but wanted you to know since the unlock is being used to say it should be unblocked locally. Documenting what actually is going on being important since apparently local wikis following well-established local policy has become controversial... TonyBallioni (talk) 16:09, 3 June 2018 (UTC)

Aye, I knew you weren't accusing me but I felt I had to clarify why I unlocked. Stewards can't be seen to be immovable and remote, especially when a request is made with multiple users commenting. Green Giant (talk) 17:26, 3 June 2018 (UTC)

Global lock request link error?

Just stumbled upon by accident…

Today you have globally locked a bunch of users, e.g. this one, stating they are “Batch creation of accounts by long term abuser” and locked per request.

While I have no reason to doubt that the accounts are indeed batch creation, I still wanted to know what that is all about, so I followed the “request” link. On the page it points to, I could not find the user name in question, nor anything I was able to relate to it… while it might very well be that I just missed something, now I wonder whether the link is wrong? --78.51.138.162 21:18, 4 June 2018 (UTC)

The link is correct but I forgot to specify the origin. It is from this request. I carried out a checkuser on User:C zier be C 'zin (probably short for "Cruizier be Cruizing"), listed near the end of the request. I can’t reveal the exact IP but it led to a wider CU on the 2400:8500:1000:0:0:0:0:0/36 range. There were sixty four accounts created this morning, across about ten individual IP's using the exact same browser settings, in the space of just over two hours. Most of the usernames were not simple names, some extending to entire phrases, similar to the ones used previously by the LTA. The range also had eight accounts locked previously, and four apparently innocent accounts (although I have doubts about two of those). I hope that clarifies things. I will try to be more careful in giving accurate links. Green Giant (talk) 22:57, 4 June 2018 (UTC)

Yes, it clarifies. Thanks. Interesting, although the names in the request do not look like the ones discovered in the course of the CU (and they were created on a different language version, if that means anything). --78.52.223.90 10:57, 5 June 2018 (UTC)

Yes, one of the complications is that there are a number of copycats floating around, mimicking one or other of the older LTA's. It is difficult to say who was behind these accounts, and it is easier to just say they are "a LTA" rather than specify. Green Giant (talk) 12:48, 5 June 2018 (UTC)

Tech News: 2018-23

Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.

Recent changes

• The MonoBook skin has been optimised for mobile devices. It now looks different. [17]
• Planet Wikimedia collects blogs about Wikimedia. It will now use the Rawdog feed aggregator to do this instead of Planet. [18][19]
• Redirect links in Special:WhatLinksHere now link to the original page and not the target page. This was done earlier and changed the used messages on some pages. This was a problem for wikis that customized the message. A new change fixed this by using the old messages with one more parameter for customization. Wikis that already changed their customized messages will have to move the customization back again. [20]

Problems

• You will not be able to edit some wikis between 06:00 and 06:30 UTC on 13 June. You can see if your wiki is one of them.
• MassMessage did not work 24–28 May. This is also why last week's Tech News was late. [21]

Changes later this week

• The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from 5 June. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from 6 June. It will be on all wikis from 7 June (calendar).

Meetings

• You can join the next meeting with the Editing team. During the meeting, you can tell developers which bugs you think are the most important. The meeting will be on 5 June at 18:30 (UTC). See how to join.
• You can join the technical advice meeting on IRC. During the meeting, volunteer developers can ask for advice. The meeting will be on 6 June at 15:00 (UTC). See how to join.

Future changes

• The new filters for edit review tools and interface for watchlists will leave beta. This is planned to happen in June or early July. [22][23]

Tech news prepared by Tech News writers and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe.

21:54, 4 June 2018 (UTC)

Reference function on the SWWP

Hi there! I'm Muddyb from Swahili Wikipedia. In our Wikipedia, we do not have an automatic reference function as the English Wikipedia. When you press CTRL+SHIFT+K to get reference TAB you find some functions are disabled including AUTOMATIC. On the English, I apply same method and it works so perfect fine. When I'm trying to use the same method on the Swahili Wikipedia, not working. I was wondering if you could help us fixing the auto-referencing function on our Wiki. Best!--_Wikipedian ^(Activist) 18:30, 8 June 2018 (UTC)

ROXELANA22 recent abuse

• 181.49.80.0/20 xwiki-contribs • ST • IP info • WHOIS • robtex • gblock • glist • abuselog • bullseye (Known abuse source for 2+ years)

@Green Giant: Hello. Can you please Globally Rangeblock this IP range (a known abuse source) for at least 6 months, and also locally block the range on Meta? This LTA has exponentially increased his socking/trolling activity cross-wiki, after he figured out that his main IP range no longer had an active block. Given his past history, this vandal is only going increase the rate and amount of his cross-wiki vandalism in the weeks to come. A local block is also needed on Meta, because he has recently begun to sock on Meta (in an attempt to circumvent global blocks). You can find more info on the recent socking activity in this report at SRG (the any other underlying IPs should also be Globally + locally blocked). Without effective IP blocks across each Wikimedia site, my experience has shown me that the abuse will only worsen. (Shorter blocks are also nearly ineffective, since this vandal uses the same range(s) for years at a time, and vandalizes immediately after short blocks expire.) Thank you. LightandDark2000 (talk) 01:36, 11 June 2018 (UTC)

Can you please also run a Sleeper Check on the range, because this LTA is known for creating more sleepers even weeks after the first blocks/locks. By the way, the Stalk Toy tool indicates that this range has notable cross-wiki abuse within the last 6 months, meaning that a Global (and local) block would be extremely effective at reducing a lot of the abuse from this LTA. This LTA has also been using this range for the past 2 years, creating 50+ socks cross-wiki within that time, so this range is been a source of abuse for a very long time. At this point, any anonymous users need to be redirected to ACC (or some equivalent) for editing with user accounts, because the abuse from this vandal has been ridiculously severe for the past 12 years. LightandDark2000 (talk) 01:36, 11 June 2018 (UTC)

@LightandDark2000: I’m slowly looking through this range because there are almost 300 accounts that used it in the last three months. Of these, only 21 have been locked and identified as LTA, on just two IP's, which I’ve blocked:

• 181.49.92.110 xwiki-contribs • xwiki-date ^(alt) • ST • IP info • WHOIS • robtex • gblock • glist • abuselog • bullseye
• 181.49.94.110 xwiki-contribs • xwiki-date ^(alt) • ST • IP info • WHOIS • robtex • gblock • glist • abuselog • bullseye

Both resolve to Colombia but the xwiki contributions don't show very much. I'll post more details if I find anything but as you can imagine 300 accounts is going to take a while. Green Giant (talk) 13:27, 11 June 2018 (UTC)

If it helps, the lack of recent accounts (only 21 recently) is because this LTA was using another IP range between October 2017–March 2018 (already Globally Rangeblocked), but the main IP range (the one listed above) has been abused for over 2 years. Almost all of the IPs on this page (same range) belong to this vandal, except for 3 or 4 IPs, so a Global Rangeblock encompassing all of the disruptive IPs there (and also the ones you just blocked) needs to be enacted, because this LTA is able to change his IPs. LightandDark2000 (talk) 19:26, 11 June 2018 (UTC)

• 181.49.88.0/21 xwiki-contribs • ST • IP info • WHOIS • robtex • gblock • glist • abuselog • bullseye

In the event that you don't find anything else, can you please at least Globally and Locally Rangeblock this smaller range for at least 6 months? This smaller range is the smallest range I calculated containing all of the known (as of this writing) IPs abused on the larger IP range, and it has also extensively been rangeblocked (locally) in the past. The potential collateral damage is much smaller on this narrower range, and assuming that this vandal hasn't used any IPs outside of it, rangeblocking this range should be enough to seal off this LTA's IPs (when combined with the earlier rangeblock from March), and an "anon-only" block (both Globally and Locally) should still allow unrelated user accounts to continue editing. LightandDark2000 (talk) 19:43, 11 June 2018 (UTC)

Done @LightandDark2000: The /21 subnet is a more realistic target. We will need to keep an eye on this. Cheers. Green Giant (talk) 20:37, 11 June 2018 (UTC)

Thanks. We definitely need to keep an eye on this, given the extent and duration of the abuse. I have more information on this LTA, as does User:Alexf, if you need anything else. LightandDark2000 (talk) 22:59, 11 June 2018 (UTC)

Tech News: 2018-24

Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.

Recent changes

• In the Wikipedia app for Android or iOS users can create reading lists. The reading lists can be seen on different devices if you are logged in to your account. There is now a browser extension so you can add pages to your reading list from a web browser. At the moment it works with Firefox and Chrome. [24]
• There is a new version of Pywikibot. Pywikibot is a tool to automate tasks on MediaWiki wikis. [25]

Problems

• The MonoBook skin was changed to make it work better for mobile users. This caused some problems. The change was rolled back to fix them. The new version is now back on the wikis. MonoBook users can opt out from the new responsive design. [26]

Changes later this week

• The new filters for edit review tools and interface for watchlists will leave beta. For most wikis this will happen on 18 June. For the rest it will happen on 25 June. [27][28]

• The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from 12 June. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from 13 June. It will be on all wikis from 14 June (calendar).

Meetings

• You can join the Readers Web team IRC office hour. There you can discuss tools to contribute on the mobile web for the existing MediaWiki skins. The meeting will be on 18 June at 16:00 (UTC). See how to join.
• You can join the next meeting with the Editing team. During the meeting, you can tell developers which bugs you think are the most important. The meeting will be on 12 June at 18:30 (UTC). See how to join.
• You can join the technical advice meeting on IRC. During the meeting, volunteer developers can ask for advice. The meeting will be on 13 June at 15:00 (UTC). See how to join.

Future changes

• You will be able to move local wiki files to Commons and keep their original data intact. This is planned to come to the first wikis in June.

Tech news prepared by Tech News writers and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe.

21:55, 11 June 2018 (UTC)

More Black Magic spambots

• Tantrikji (talk • contribs • block • xwiki-contribs • xwiki-date ^(alt) • CA • gblock • ST • lwcheckuser)
• Tantrikji121 (talk • contribs • block • xwiki-contribs • xwiki-date ^(alt) • CA • gblock • ST • lwcheckuser)
• Tantrikji65 (talk • contribs • block • xwiki-contribs • xwiki-date ^(alt) • CA • gblock • ST • lwcheckuser) (already locked)

Here are some more of the black magic spambots that you missed. These socks belong to the spammer's "Tantrik/Tantrikji" sockfarm. LightandDark2000 (talk) 18:14, 12 June 2018 (UTC)

@LightandDark2000: The first two do not appear to have edited at all. They seem to have logged in about three years ago, so there won’t be any CU data and I’m not sure it is worth locking them at the moment. The third one was locked last month. Green Giant (talk) 18:40, 12 June 2018 (UTC)

LTA Cruizir

• 94.118.17.0/22 xwiki-contribs • xwiki-date ^(alt) • ST • IP info • WHOIS • robtex • gblock • glist • abuselog • bullseye

Can you please Globally + Locally block this IP Range for at least 6 months? The IP range should also be swept for sleepers. Cruizir is using to vandalize right now, and he's also using the network to create a bunch of vandalism-only pages. LightandDark2000 (talk) 19:56, 12 June 2018 (UTC)

Done —Green Giant (talk) 20:05, 12 June 2018 (UTC)

Trouble on pt.wikipedia

@Green Giant and RadiX: Hello. I reverted vandalism by a sock of LTA User:ROXELANA22 on pt.wiki (the sock account was LagashISHTAR). However, afterward, an admin named Chronus reverted me and indef blocked me (probably thought that I was a ROXELANA22 sock, even though I was obviously reverting him). He later self-reverted himself after realizing his mistake, but he never unblocked me. You can see what happened in this article's revision history. Can you please get someone to unblock my account on pt.wikipedia? I don't speak Portuguese, so I can't formulate an effective unblock request there. It's extremely unfair that I was blocked for reverting vandalism. Thank you. LightandDark2000 (talk) 22:14, 12 June 2018 (UTC)

@LightandDark2000: It was probably an honest mistake. I have left a note on their talkpage. Hopefully they will act soon. Afterwards I realised they probably understand some English, given they have made almost two thousand edits on ENWP, so it might be helpful if you added a request in English on your PTWP talkpage. Green Giant (talk) 22:34, 12 June 2018 (UTC)

Global unblock request

Hi Green Giant; i am globally blocked abusing global rename request feature since May 2017 i tried only 2 times this feature but now i am blocked please unblock my account so i can contribute globally again. Thanks, Regards Anna Velli 37.111.128.129 16:10, 13 June 2018 (UTC)

Hi Anna. You will have to ask User:MarcoAurelio, the steward who locked your account. Regards. Green Giant (talk) 16:18, 13 June 2018 (UTC)

@Green Giant: you are steward and you can unblock this he is not responding to users i will never repeat my mistakes please last time unblock my account. 37.111.128.240 16:32, 13 June 2018 (UTC)

When did you ask MarcoAurelio? Green Giant (talk) 16:41, 13 June 2018 (UTC)

@Green Giant: i just posted message on MarcoAurelio talk page. 37.111.128.36 16:44, 13 June 2018 (UTC)

@Green Giant: Hi, He is absend and not responding to the user please solve my problem i am waiting for use my account. Regards, Anna velli 37.111.128.62 17:46, 13 June 2018 (UTC)

You don’t need to ping me on my own talkpage. Your account was locked in August 2017, so waiting an additional day for MarcoAurelio to log in won’t hurt. Green Giant (talk) 17:51, 13 June 2018 (UTC)

Is there any reason you banned me from Wikipedia?

I have never contributed or added to an article on wikipedia - so how could I have been banned? I would appreciate some kind of clarification. Thank you

You are currently unable to edit Wikipedia.

Editing from your IP address range (213.162.73.0/24) has been blocked (disabled) on all Wikimedia wikis until 02:29, 6 July 2018 by Green Giant (meta.wikimedia.org) for the following reason: Long-term abuse: per request

This block began on 02:29, 6 April 2018

You can contact Green Giant to discuss the block and you may make unblock requests or file appeals at meta:Steward requests/Global. Your current IP address is 213.162.73.95. Please include all above details in any queries you make. — The preceding unsigned comment was added by 213.162.73.95 (talk) 08:17, 14 June 2018 (UTC)

In order to protect Wikimedia projects from vandalism, at times we have to block ranges of IP addresses. Due to the dynamic nature of IP addressing, these blocks sometimes affect innocent users as well. The global block you mention is not directed at you personally, and the reason why you cannot edit or create an account is that the range in which your IP falls, was previously used by someone to vandalize Wikimedia projects. In the previous three months the range was used by 323 abusive accounts that were locked compared to just 21 unlocked accounts. I hope that clarifies the reason for the global block. Green Giant (talk) 10:19, 14 June 2018 (UTC)

Why AM I Blocked for

Why Did You Block me for a couple of Months Ago 5.62.47.52 16:31, 14 June 2018 (UTC)

In order to protect Wikimedia projects from vandalism, at times we have to block ranges of IP addresses. Due to the dynamic nature of IP addressing, these blocks sometimes affect innocent users as well. The global block you mention is not directed at you personally, and the reason why you cannot edit or create an account is that the range in which your IP falls, was previously used by someone to vandalize Wikimedia projects. You’re email to OTRS (ticket:2018061410007995) could not be processed because your email address was not recognised by your mailer daemon. Green Giant (talk) 18:01, 14 June 2018 (UTC)

Request for add feature in Wikipedia

Hi Green Giant, There is no delete option in Wikipedia for user to delete their accounts. There are thousand of users which want to delete their account but they can not do this due to there is no delete option. Please add delete feature in wikipedia so user's can delete there account. Thanks

Regards, William Russell

37.111.128.2 08:02, 17 June 2018 (UTC)

William, thank you for the message but that decision is not mine to make. If there are indeed thousands of users wanting this, they should lobby the developers to implement this feature but please note it is a very old question - see phab:T34815 for one such request. If you wish to stop using your account, all you have to do is stop logging in. I believe there are literally tens of thousands of almost-unused accounts. —Green Giant (talk) 10:30, 17 June 2018 (UTC)

Tech News: 2018-25

Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.

Recent changes

• Syntax highlighting has been a beta feature on Wikimedia wikis with text written from left to right. It is now a normal feature. It is based on CodeMirror. [29]

Changes later this week

• There is no new MediaWiki version this week.

Meetings

• You can join the next meeting with the Editing team. During the meeting, you can tell developers which bugs you think are the most important. The meeting will be on 19 June at 18:30 (UTC). See how to join.
• You can join the technical advice meeting on IRC. During the meeting, volunteer developers can ask for advice. The meeting will be on 20 June at 15:00 (UTC). See how to join.

Future changes

• Some old web browsers will not be able to read the Wikimedia wikis. This is because they use an insecure way to connect to them. This means that we get less security for everyone else too. This affects about 0.08% of all traffic to the Wikimedia wikis. This affects for example those who read Wikipedia on a PlayStation 3. [30][31]
• The new filters for edit review tools and interface for watchlists will leave beta. Because there is no new MediaWiki version this week it will happen on 25 June for most wikis. For the rest it will happen in early July. [32][33]
• All wikis that have not already done so will switch to use the Remex parsing library on 5 July. This is to replace Tidy. You can help fix remaining errors. [34]

Tech news prepared by Tech News writers and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe.

21:47, 18 June 2018 (UTC)

New community space for IdeaLab on Connect

Hi folks. If you're receiving this message, you've contributed to IdeaLab or an Inspire Campaign this year. Thanks for participating to develop ideas and review ones from other Wikimedians.

We are preparing some changes to IdeaLab and Inspire Campaigns. One of these changes is a new community space on Connect, where Wikimedians can find each other based on common activities or skills, and ask questions about the space. You are invited to join this community space for IdeaLab, especially if you would ever consider needing to find contributors with certain skills (like design or project management) or would like to offer your skills to others in our movement. To join, please proceed to Connect/IdeaLab and click on the "Add yourself" button on the right. Thanks, I JethroBT (WMF) 19:53, 21 June 2018 (UTC)

(Opt-out instructions)

Inappropriate username

Vituzzu [f-word] king I s a new user with an inappropriate username. I am requesting q global block on him. 45.33.143.183

Done yesterday. -- Tegel _(Talk) 11:40, 24 June 2018 (UTC)

Cruizir sock

• CriticalFusion (talk • contribs • block • xwiki-contribs • xwiki-date ^(alt) • CA • gblock • ST • lwcheckuser)
• 162.255.117.0/24 xwiki-contribs • ST • IP info • WHOIS • robtex • gblock • glist • abuselog • bullseye

@Green Giant: Can you please Globally Lock this account? It's a sock of Cruizir. For some reason, the Stewards appeared to have missed this account. The underlying IP(s) should also be Globally Blocked and checked for sleepers. Thanks. LightandDark2000 (talk) 23:46, 24 June 2018 (UTC)

Can you please Globally + Locally rangeblock the listed IP for at least 1 year? It's an Open Proxy that has recently been abused by this LTA. LightandDark2000 (talk) 23:50, 24 June 2018 (UTC)

Done @LightandDark2000: cheers. Green Giant (talk) 13:22, 25 June 2018 (UTC)

• BiscuitsAndCookies (talk • contribs • block • xwiki-contribs • xwiki-date ^(alt) • CA • gblock • ST • lwcheckuser)

This is another one of his socks (or the sock of an imposter), and it also needs Locking. Can you please also check and block (Globally + Locally) the underlying IPs? Thanks. LightandDark2000 (talk) 23:35, 27 June 2018 (UTC)

Tech News: 2018-26

Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.

Recent changes

• PAWS, our JupyterHub system, got an upgrade and a logo. Several bugs should be fixed.

Problems

• When a link text was in italics or had other formatting you could sometimes not edit it in the visual editor. This has now been fixed. [35][36]

Changes later this week

• Content translation users who translate between any two of Arabic, English, French, Japanese and Russian will be asked to be part of a research project. This is to create better tools for translating articles. [37]
• The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from 26 June. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from 27 June. It will be on all wikis from 28 June (calendar).

Meetings

• You can join the next meeting with the Editing team. During the meeting, you can tell developers which bugs you think are the most important. The meeting will be on 26 June at 18:30 (UTC). See how to join.
• You can join the technical advice meeting on IRC. During the meeting, volunteer developers can ask for advice. The meeting will be on 27 June at 15:00 (UTC). See how to join.

Tech news prepared by Tech News writers and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe.

23:10, 25 June 2018 (UTC)

Cross-wiki LTA - User:De la lombertie

Hello Green Giant, thank you for all your work in fighting cross-wiki abuse. You recently globally locked User:Milica78 for LTA after the user was indefinitely blocked on both English and French Wikipedia. However, Milica78 is just one of the latest socks of the user De la lombertie, who initially edited on French Wikipedia (24 Jun 2014 - 30 Aug 2015) until blocked indefinitely - see French SPI (Faux-nez) and French AIV (RA)). He continues as a dynamic IP editor adding many disruptive edits across 23 different projects and has been reported on English Wikipedia as a sock-master (SPI link here. Further information of the scale and scope of his edits can be found here.

A global lock was previously requested at SRG in April 2018 but was not actioned at that time, as the named accounts were considered to be too old. A global block for the IP accounts was also denied as being already stale. He has of course, just continued with new IP addresses (the current one is 88.138.58.202) or occasionally a new account (like Milica78) since then.

Based on the sock (Milica78) now being globally locked, I am requesting that the original account (De la lombertie) also be globally locked. This will then allow new socks to be blocked more easily as they pop up across different Wikipedia projects. Thank you, Loopy30 (talk) 14:49, 2 July 2018 (UTC)

@Loopy30: Done with the account locked and 88.138.58.0/24 globally blocked. Cheers. Green Giant (talk) 17:58, 2 July 2018 (UTC)