User talk:Ixtal
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Barnstars for AI
[edit]Hi -- you recently gave a user a barnstar for what is, in context, clearly AI-assisted rewriting, which is not allowed on Wikipedia. The edit in question has many indicators of AI, and has the associated problems:
- Most obviously, AI edit summaries, which this user only started using in 2026 (i.e. it's not "just how their summaries are").
- Source-to-text integrity issue upon spot check, such as:
[ETPs] may provide exposure to equities, bonds, commodities, currencies, crypto assets, volatility, or other benchmarks and strategies.
- The source does not mention crypto (nor bitcoin, ethereum, any ____coin, etc) -- which also applies to every other instance of this source being used to "verify" mentions of crypto, of which there are several. It also doesn't mention volatility, nor any volatil- word.Commodity ETPs may be structured as grantor trusts, commodity pools, or other vehicles
- The source does not mention grantors or trusts.
- Similar indicators present in the user's other edits around this time, many of which are made in extremely quick succession (sometimes 4 minutes or so) relative to the amount of text changed.
Please familiarize yourself with the signs of AI writing page and don't give people mixed messages by encouraging them to violate our guidelines. Gnomingstuff (talk) 18:06, 16 July 2026 (UTC)
- Gnomingstuff, thanks! Super appreciate the heads-up, I guess I didn't scrutinize the edit enough and was unfamiliar with the AI signs essay you've linked here. It's important that we make sure that AI writing does not squirrel its way onto the wiki, so I'm very thankful editors like you are keeping guard against it. I'll have to keep a keener eye out for it. Hope you have a delightful rest of the summer ^u^ — ♠ Ixtal ( T / C ) ⁂ Non nobis solum ♠ 21:19, 16 July 2026 (UTC)
- No problem, just wanted to give you a heads up. Gnomingstuff (talk) 21:24, 16 July 2026 (UTC)
Feedback request: Wikipedia proposals request for comment
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Your feedback is requested at Wikipedia:Village pump (policy)/RfC on modifying the criteria for autoconfirmed and extended confirmed on a "Wikipedia proposals" request for comment. Thank you for helping out!
You were randomly selected to receive this invitation from the list of Feedback Request Service subscribers. If you'd like not to receive these messages any more, you can opt out at any time by removing your name.
Articles for Creation backlog drive
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Hello Ixtal:
WikiProject Articles for creation is holding a month long Backlog Drive in August!
The goal of this drive is to reduce the backlog of unreviewed drafts to less than a month of outstanding reviews from the current 3+ months. Bonus points will be given for reviewing drafts that have been waiting more than 30 days. The drive is running from 1 August 2026 through 31 August 2026.
You may find Category:AfC pending submissions by age or other categories and sorting helpful.
Barnstars will be given out as awards at the end of the drive.
There is a backlog of over 5000 pages, so start reviewing drafts. We're looking forward to your help! MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 00:37, 19 July 2026 (UTC)
- If you wish to opt-out of future mailings, please remove yourself from the mailing list or alternatively to opt-out of all massmessage mailings, you may add Category:Wikipedians who opt out of message delivery to your user talk page.
Feedback request: Wikipedia proposals request for comment
[edit]Your feedback is requested at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Articles for creation on a "Wikipedia proposals" request for comment. Thank you for helping out!
You were randomly selected to receive this invitation from the list of Feedback Request Service subscribers. If you'd like not to receive these messages any more, you can opt out at any time by removing your name.
Welcome to the drive!
[edit]Welcome, welcome, welcome Ixtal! I'm glad that you are joining the August 2026 drive! Please, have a cup of WikiTea, and go cite some articles.
DCWC August update
[edit]The 2026 Developing Countries WikiContest has been running for a month now, so let's check in with the competition so far!
As of the time of writing, our top contestants are:
Vanderwaalforces (submissions) ahead of the pack with 715 points, with two FAs and many GAs on the monarchs of the Kingdom of Benin;- Simongraham (submissions) with 291 points, mostly with GAs on jumping spiders, alongside various GAN and FAC reviews;
- Jaguarnik (submissions) with 240 points, mostly from an FA on the 1945 film Ivan the Terrible;
Grnrchst (submissions) with 215 points, mostly from GAs on anarchist history in various countries, alongside many GA reviews, and;
Vestrian24Bio (submissions) tied for 4th with 215 points, with an FL and four GAs on Indian cricket!
These competitors are in the lead, but if past experience is any indication, big shake-ups might still await us in the contest. If you're looking for a way to boost your position, we got a table of review requests from fellow participants—you can rack up a lot of points through reviews, and it might just convince others to review your own nominations! You can also look through the eligible reviews page to find other articles to review, with highlights for articles eligible for the 1.5× multiplier. The coordinators would like to thank Jaguarnik (submissions) for his work to keep this page up to date.
Thank you so much for all your work in the contest so far, dear participants, and keep on the good fight against systemic bias on our wiki! Have any questions? Leave a message on the contest talk page or send it to one of our wonderful coordinators: Arconning (talk · contribs), Generalissima (talk · contribs), Magentic Manifestations (talk · contribs), sawyer777 (talk · contribs), and TechnoSquirrel69 (talk · contribs). (To unsubscribe from these updates, remove yourself from this list. Sent via MediaWiki message delivery.) Generalissima (talk) (it/she) 05:25, 2 August 2026 (UTC)
The Signpost: 2 August 2026
[edit]- In the media: Union drive, most prolific editor make headlines
AI's impact on Wikipedia, World Cup editing, and encyclopedia's place in public life.
- News and notes: Foundation rejects voluntary recognition of union, proposed board eligibility rules sharply restrict candidates
Further: harassment allegations at Wikimania, and new RfC for Abstract Wikipedia.
- WikiConference: "Kurier, Signpost, wikipress: You can be a Wikimedia journalist" - Wikimania presentation by User:Noé Recap
A recap of Noé Gasparini's Wikimania 2026 presentation on the variety of wikipress outlets
- In focus: Is Larry Sanger the co-founder of Wikipedia?
A look over the years.
- Arbitration report: Think, and not just about content
ArbCom continues business.
- News from Diff: Meet the Wikimedians of the Year 2026!
Wikimedians of the Year 2026 announced at Wikimania 2026 - Paris
- On the bright side: The beautiful game
2026 Men's FIFA World Cup, Wikimania music, and wikipress.
- Traffic report: Odyssey and Oyarzabal
To take you in the sun to (Ithaca), to show you the World Cup, it's the time of the season for editing!
- Comix: Well-spotted
You dasherdly—dash–dash−dash-dash!
Name
[edit]Hi, I was just wondering if, Salmon Of Ignorance and Salmon of Knowledge, y'all were aware of each other's similar usernames. — ♠ Ixtal ( T / C ) ⁂ Non nobis solum ♠ 14:22, 3 August 2026 (UTC)
- Well my user name is a reference to the Salmon of Knowledge from Irish folklore. I'd assume so is theirs. I'm surprised to learn the user name Salmon of Knowledge wasn't taken when I created my account, maybe I'd assume it had been. Salmon Of Ignorance (talk) 14:42, 3 August 2026 (UTC)
- Salmon Of Ignorance, that makes sense, I just found it a cool coincidence to have two new editors with similar names, kind of like editing twins in a way. I've added y'all to Wikipedia:Editors who may be confused. — ♠ Ixtal ( T / C ) ⁂ Non nobis solum ♠ 16:06, 3 August 2026 (UTC)
- Thank you Salmon Of Ignorance (talk) 08:15, 4 August 2026 (UTC)
- Salmon Of Ignorance, that makes sense, I just found it a cool coincidence to have two new editors with similar names, kind of like editing twins in a way. I've added y'all to Wikipedia:Editors who may be confused. — ♠ Ixtal ( T / C ) ⁂ Non nobis solum ♠ 16:06, 3 August 2026 (UTC)
- @Ixtal and Salmon Of Ignorance: When I created this account, I thought I was just really lucky with swiping this username. Indeed, it's a direct reference to the folklore character; I discovered the character only a few moments before creating my account. Of course, the primary reason I chose for them to be my namesake was not because of how much I liked the character, but how much I liked the name. Along those lines, I must admit that I had actually been aware of Salmon Of Ignorance's username. I too was surprised that it wasn't taken before (as were others, evidently), so I looked up the username perhaps the day of or the day after I selected it—I can't really remember. To my disappointment—yes, I wished I was the only one!—I discovered Salmon Of Ignorance's account and scrolled through their contributions for a few minutes. I'd actually considered dropping them a message about our usernames but felt that would've potentially been too overwrought, especially coming from an account as new as mine. So thanks for the opportunity, Ixtal, and it's nice to meet you, Salmon Of Ignorance! Salmon of Knowledge (talk) 01:56, 4 August 2026 (UTC)
- Nice to meet you too. There isn't a Fionn mac Cumhaill yet, but when there is you'll need to be careful. Salmon Of Ignorance (talk) 08:15, 4 August 2026 (UTC)
Administrators' newsletter – August 2026
[edit]News and updates for administrators from the past month (July 2026).
Administrator changes
CheckUser changes
Guideline and policy news
- Following an RfC, the 30-day requirement for extended-confirmed status now begins after an account's first edit instead of its registration (T431060).
Technical news
- Inactive editors can now be removed as mentors at Special:CommunityConfiguration/Mentorship automatically.
- The Suggested Edits' Revise Tone feature is now enabled. It encourages editors to identify and revise non-neutral language in articles.
Miscellaneous
- The Unreferenced articles August 2026 backlog drive is underway. Help to add references to 47,000 articles.
- The Articles for creation August 2026 backlog drive is under way. Help to review 4,500+ drafts.
Hi Ixtal, I am new to editing and posting on Wikipedia. I am trying to publish a new page or two on an academic field (fetal medicine) and key scientists in that (one of which was my father, which I disclose as conflict in the review process). I am trying to figure out how to post this in the 'drafts' section of wikipedia (as I am now working in the main publishing sandbox with a prefix It suggests that we should move the page to drafts, however when I try to do this it says I do not have authority. Any help or insight you can provide? --Dikkebus (talk) 13:03, 11 August 2026 (UTC)
- Which page are you talking about, Dikkebus? Do you mean Draft:Jan Deprest? If so, that page is already in the drafts section. — ♠ Ixtal ( T / C ) ⁂ Non nobis solum ♠ 15:17, 11 August 2026 (UTC)
Hello! Are you able to explain ClueBot NG and what it does? It rejected an edit that I added. --Grmasm (talk) 11:47, 12 August 2026 (UTC)
- That's a great question, Grmasm. Here in Wikipedia, volunteers over time have developed a wide swath of tools that help us automate or otherwise reduce the amount of work needed to help maintain the wiki. As you can imagine with how large it is, this was very necessary. One of those tools is User:ClueBot NG. You can read on the linked page more about what the bot does, but it essentially works as the wiki's first line of defense against vandalism. The edit that ClueBot reverted I assume is this one. No bot is perfect, but there are a number of things about the edit that might have led to the bot mischaracterizing it as vandalism (see False positive). Firstly, you added information about a Free Jazz Collective review but forgot to add a reference to the review as a citation. This helps other editors find the source for the review and important to preserve verifiability. Secondly, you accidentally italicized two of the three letter in
the
in that same Free Jazz mention. Typos like these might make the bot think that the edit was an attempt to break the page's formatting, even though it wasn't, which could be what made it think it as vandalism and revert it. - In any case, you didn't really do anything in my eyes that would strike me as vandalism or worth reverting. I have reinstated your edit and fixed the italics on the quote, but I do encourage you to add the reference to the Free Jazz Collective to the end of the quote. I have placed a {{citation needed}} template to where the citation should be. For more information on referencing and when to cite sources, you can read the explanatory essay Wikipedia:When to cite.
- I wish you happy editing, and hope you have a delightful rest of your week. — ♠ Ixtal ( T / C ) ⁂ Non nobis solum ♠ 13:06, 12 August 2026 (UTC)
How are you> --AlterSkye (talk) 14:28, 14 August 2026 (UTC)