User talk:DMacks

Erich Clar page

I want to include a synthetic reaction that is known as Clar's reaction. It is of a certain class of cyclic ketones that condense with themselves when heated to 400 C in a mixture of zinc dust and zinc chloride.

I will add references and a description of what it is used for in synthesizing new polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

Judd Buchanan

This is the second time in the last 10 days or so that an anonymous IP has attempted to update this page to indicate that the subject has died.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judd_Buchanan

You undid this update today and Nohomersryan did so as well on August 20. While I cannot find an obituary (which I'm sure you also tried to find), I wonder if someone who's not familiar with editing protocol on Wikipedia is trying in good faith to tell us something. The subject would be 97 years old and his career as an MP spanned from 1968 to 1981, so it's often the case in my experience that sites like Parlinfo (the gold standard) may take a long time to catch wind of the death of an MP who left Parliament 45 years ago. Or perhaps you have a back story that I don't -- although I find it rather unusual that such an elderly person would today be the object of controversy.

I'm curious to hear your thoughts on this. MauriceYMichaud (talk) 23:53, 29 August 2026 (UTC)

It's probably the same person: the several TAs over the past two weeks have some technical correlations to each other. They are hitting lots of random old-person articles with never a reference provided. I spot-checked a few and found nothing (neither google nor the news-wire of several of their institutions that would surely post an obit promptly. So I blanket rolled-back today's lot and left a level-3 warning. Next step would be to block the TAs, or take other measures, if there's another batch. DMacks (talk) 00:52, 30 August 2026 (UTC)

Oh I see! While for me the Buchanan article happens to be one of the 5,000 or so that I track, you've seen a broader pattern -- older-person articles and no evidence that they really died. Fair enough! Personally, I've had cases of persons I thought alive had actually died as much as 25 years before, but those were more the exceptions than the rule. So, along with the pattern you've noted, it's better to assume that those updates, while perhaps not in total bad faith, simply cannot be subtantiated. MauriceYMichaud (talk) 11:37, 30 August 2026 (UTC)

Yup, "verifiability is policy", especially when it comes to biographical details. I guess death hoaxes are an easy pattern of messing around? I saw this particular one on a different old-person article on my watchlist. After realizing that it was not supported, I looked at the editor's other contributions and saw a pattern in this case. Thanks for helping patrol these sorts of things! DMacks (talk) 01:47, 31 August 2026 (UTC)

Tech News: 2026-36

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MediaWiki message delivery 20:51, 31 August 2026 (UTC)

Thoughts on a user who has repeated criticism of their articles & editing

Any thoughts on the page creation record of Skaterlight2013, as an uninvolved admin? They just recreated one of their pages that was deleted a few days ago at AfD; obviously not appropriate but by itself not major. (I have CSD'd it.) However, when I looked at their edit history there are many instances of page deletions and other issues.

I don't see this as ready for ANI as nobody has warned them. I also don't see any of the canned warnings which are appropriate, although I could always create something. Any thoughts on how to encourage them to be more constructive? Ldm1954 (talk) 11:27, 4 September 2026 (UTC)

Are you seeing a large problem mainly about mainspace page-creation, or about one or two each of many different types of problems? DMacks (talk) 11:45, 4 September 2026 (UTC)

This is not everything, as a quick count in 2026:

1. 2 unattributed translations
2. 14 drafts > 6 months unedited
3. 8 articles moved to draft
4. 5 tagged for deletion

Ldm1954 (talk) 11:59, 4 September 2026 (UTC)

N.B., that was a quick count from their talk page. I may have missed some. Ldm1954 (talk) 12:01, 4 September 2026 (UTC)

Sounds like {{uw-create2}} would be good place to start, with an added bit of custom message emphasizing that there's a long history and that it's wasting a lot of other editors' time having to deal with it. DMacks (talk) 12:05, 4 September 2026 (UTC)

Good idea, thanks. Busy now, will do it later today. Ldm1954 (talk) 12:23, 4 September 2026 (UTC)

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MediaWiki message delivery 18:42, 7 September 2026 (UTC)

Just wanted to say thanks!

Thank you for reverting my edit on Livestreamed suicide a while ago, I was trying to add more details, but I should have checked to see if it was disputed first, I also should have double checked before adding it. I also should have made sure it was notable. Although I personally think it is notable but should have checked for consensus before adding it. RandomNumber-x3lz (talk) 19:10, 8 September 2026 (UTC)

Thanks for the followup! Typically no harm in being bold with edits at times. DMacks (talk) 03:03, 9 September 2026 (UTC)

Tech News: 2026-38

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MediaWiki message delivery 15:28, 14 September 2026 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – September 2026

News and updates for administrators from the past month (August 2026).

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Dclemens1971

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• Speedy deletion criteria G15 has been renamed from "LLM-generated pages without human review" to "Unambiguously LLM-generated pages" and has an additional sign of detection added to it following a RfC.

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• The September 2026 New Pages Patrol backlog drive is ongoing. Help tackle the 30,000+ article backlog!
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Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 20:36, 14 September 2026 (UTC)