User talk: Paine Ellsworth

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The Closer: non-admin reveal

Disclosure

I am not an administrator on Wikipedia. I very much respect admins and have been helped by them many, many times over the years. I also respect the community vettings at RfA that often show the ultimate community respect and trust of an editor.

I shall likely remain a non-admin and continue to enjoy discussions with other WP editors. I sometimes participate, sometimes help with disagreements and sometimes close discussions when needed. I am no stranger to closing contentious discussions about controversial subjects. I sometimes close the easy talks, too, because if it's elapsed or in the backlog, then it's fair game!

Remember that WP is not a democracy, so discussions are not just a vote. The key factors in all good discussion closures are the arguments written by concerned editors, policy-based (P&G) rationales, which count most toward an acceptable decision and closure.

Anyway, if you have come to ask about one of my RfC, RM, MRV or other discussion closures, you are very welcome here! I am usually inclined to reopen a discussion if the outcome was "no consensus" and when I am specifically and intentionally asked to do so! (Not so much if I found a consensus – that doesn't mean I cannot be persuaded with a good, sound argument.) Please be very clear about your intentions and do not beat around the bush. That just means please don't expect me to read your mind; I have enough trouble reading my own mind sometimes. Thank you beyond words for your deeply respected concerns! – Paine  

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Older discussions and notifications... → click the section title in the Table of Contents (ToC) above, or click [show] to see all the discussions →

The following are closed discussions. Please do not modify them. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. No further edits should be made to this section. ⸎

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Please help me?

Hello Paine, I would like to ask a simple request: when you have an available moment, would you please change the historical & current HTML color codes for the Tennessee Titans over at Module:Gridiron color/data? My request is found over at Module talk:Gridiron color. Here's a link to my edit diff over at Module:Gridiron color/data/sandbox proposing these changes, in light of the Titans' new logo, color palette & uniform rebrand, which is available here at TennesseeTitans.com (official HTML color codes for the Titans are now at NFL.com's SVG page for the club's logo). Please help me implement these changes? CharlesEditor23 (talk) 05:33, 13 March 2026 (UTC)

Sorry for the wait, editor CharlesEditor23, and thank you for coming to my talk page! I'm very busy this time of year, so I have been unable to visit WP much. I will take a look at your proposed changes as soon as I can. I see that you've been getting a little flack for your avid pursuit of a solution. Hope you AGF it all. Thanks again! P.I. Ellsworth , ed. – welcome! – 06:02, 17 March 2026 (UTC)

Paine, please see User talk:Pppery#Please help me?: this user has been forumshopping random admins. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 21:57, 17 March 2026 (UTC)

Yes, I got that, and thank you! You know... there are many crimes in the world, some of them huge, and some of them small, petty. And there are many crimes on Wikipedia, some of them huge, and some of them small. I've always considered forum shopping to be one of the smaller crimes. They're just people asking for help to do things they can't do. They're just people asking for help to make improvements they cannot make. And as you have helped me countless times over the years, I try to pass that forward and help when I can, to help when I'm asked. Unfortunately, right now I'm too busy in RL to get to it, but, following your tireless example, I will get back to it. Thanks again! P.I. Ellsworth , ed. – welcome! – 05:54, 18 March 2026 (UTC)

Are you sure that you'll get the time to eventually change the color codes for the Tennessee Titans over at Module:Gridiron color/data? I guess the only reason why I'm asking other editors is because it's been a few days since the Titans unveiled their new brand & I'm not exactly the most patient person or editor in the world. That being said, should I ask other editors to do it or should I try to continue to be patient a little while longer? I mean, I would do it myself if I could re-gain the template editor right again & then I wouldn't need to WP:FORUMSHOP. CharlesEditor23 (talk) 05:12, 19 March 2026 (UTC)

To editor CharlesEditor23: I am pleased that another TE was able to implement this change for you! Please remember the best way around WP:FORUMSHOPING: "it is normally best to give links to show where else you have raised the question". I personally don't even see what you did strictly as forum shopping because: "It does not help develop consensus to try different forums in the hope of finding one where you get the answer you want." So I see forum shopping as an incorrect way to achieve consensus. You weren't doing that – you were just trying to make an improvement. But as you know from experience, there will be some TEs and admins who would see it another way and who will react differently. That's why I suggested for you to AGF, because even those who disagree with you are usually acting in good faith. Thanks again! P.I. Ellsworth , ed. – welcome! – 06:40, 25 March 2026 (UTC)

CfD nomination at Wikipedia:Categories for discussion/Log/2026 March 22 § Category:Pages with editnotices

Categories you have created have been nominated for possible deletion, merging, or renaming. A discussion is taking place to decide whether this proposal complies with the categorization guidelines. If you would like to participate in the discussion, you are invited to add your comments at Wikipedia:Categories for discussion/Log/2026 March 22 § Category:Pages with editnotices on the categories for discussion page. Thank you. –LaundryPizza03 (dc̄) 20:14, 22 March 2026 (UTC)

Guild of Copy Editors/Membership/News/2025 Annual Report

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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 05:35, 31 March 2026 (UTC)

The Signpost: 31 March 2026

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Template:Pell

I came upon Template:Pell because it is presently uncategorized. May it be userfied, if you are still using it? Bsherr (talk) 02:09, 3 April 2026 (UTC)

Hi editor Bsherr, and thank you for coming to my talk page about my sig template! I've sorted it to the User namespace templates category, which has several other pages in template space. As I mention in the /doc page, "If another use for the title 'Template:Pell' becomes necessary, please let me know", so the only reason I see to userfy it would be if you need to use that template name for something else. I do link to it with two iterations with TemplateScript, an awesome user script framework for adding custom one-click templates and scripts to my sidebar. It's only drawback is that it doesn't trigger notifications. So let's please leave it where it is if at all possible. Thanks again! P.I. Ellsworth , ed. – welcome! – 12:16, 3 April 2026 (UTC)

No one else uses it but you, right? Is there a reason you are reluctant to userfy it? It's unusual to have a template like this in the template namespace. --Bsherr (talk) 17:52, 3 April 2026 (UTC)

My reluctance is more of a "let it be", "it's not hurting anything" kind of hesitancy. And I think that the latter is evidenced by the template's age of nearly 12 years. So my usage note, which has also been around for almost 12 years, can imho continue to stand. P.I. Ellsworth , ed. – welcome! – 16:59, 4 April 2026 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – April 2026

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

Administrator changes

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Guideline and policy news

• The content of Wikipedia:Writing articles with large language models has been updated following a request for comment. It now prohibits using LLMs to generate content, with exceptions for translation and copy-editing.

Arbitration

• Following a motion, the GSCASTE extended-confirmed restriction in the Indian military history case has been narrowed. It now applies to caste-related topics in South Asia, and the preemptive protection remedy has been amended accordingly.
• The arbitration case Pbsouthwood has been closed.
• The arbitration case Maghreb has been opened. Evidence submissions in this case will close on 7 April.

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Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 00:19, 6 April 2026 (UTC)

Guild of Copy Editors – April 2026 Newsletter

Guild of Copy Editors – April 2026 Newsletter Hello and welcome to the April 2026 newsletter, a quarterly digest of Guild activities since December. We extend a warm welcome to all of our new members. We wish you all happy copy-editing. Election results: In our December 2025 coordinator election, incumbents Dhtwiki, GoldRomean, Miniapolis, and Mox Eden were reelected coordinators, and Wikieditor662 was newly elected coordinator, to serve through 30 June. Nominations for our mid-year Election of Coordinators will open on 1 June (UTC). December 2025 Blitz: 16 of the 31 editors who signed up for the December 2025 Copy Editing Blitz edited 116,064 words in 47 articles. Barnstars awarded are here. January Drive: 35 of the 55 editors who signed up for the January Backlog Elimination Drive edited 498,397 words in 183 articles. Barnstars awarded are here. February Blitz: 19 of the 23 editors who signed up for the February Copy Editing Blitz edited 83,969 words in 43 articles. Barnstars awarded are here. March Drive: 28 of the 48 editors who signed up for the March Backlog Elimination Drive edited 210,064 words in 87 articles. Barnstars awarded are here. April Blitz: Sign up for our April Copy Editing Blitz, which runs from 12 to 18 April. Barnstars will be awarded here. Progress report: As of 09:10, 10 April 2026 (UTC), GOCE copyeditors have processed 81 copyediting requests since 1 January 2026. The backlog of articles needing copyediting stands at 1,794 articles. Thank you all again for your participation; we wouldn't be able to achieve what we have without you! Cheers from your GOCE coordinators Dhtwiki, GoldRomean, Miniapolis, Mox Eden and Wikieditor662. To discontinue receiving GOCE newsletters, please remove your name from our mailing list.

MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 09:29, 10 April 2026 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Destubathon of the Americas

You are invited to participate in the Destubathon of the Americas, a contest/editathon which will run from May 1 to May 31. The goal is to destub as many of our 475,000+ stubs for the Americas (from Alaska down to Chile) as possible. A good chance to have fun in expanding many of our old stale stubs and win up to £2000 ($2680) in Amazon vouchers for expanding stub articles. Sign up in the Contestants/participants section on the contest page if interested. Even if not interested in prizes you are still warmly welcome to participate in it as an editathon! Hopefully we can achieve something significant in the month of May together! ♦ Dr. Blofeld 17:25, 15 April 2026 (UTC)

Thanks for the in-discussion 'tweet'

Pun intended. Randy Kryn (talk) 15:34, 17 April 2026 (UTC)

Good one. P.I. Ellsworth , ed. – welcome! – 16:17, 17 April 2026 (UTC)

The Signpost: 21 April 2026

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New pages patrol May 2026 Backlog drive

May 2026 Backlog Drive | New pages patrol
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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 11:24, 29 April 2026 (UTC)

Move Gol Linhas Aéreas Inteligentes

Dear Paine, there was no oppositon to move the above mentioned page to Gol Linhas Aéreas, as per reasons stated on the talk page. However, the latter is already a redirect and thus I am unable to move it. I would appreciate your help in deleting the redirect. Thanks a lot. Brunoptsem (talk) 17:46, 3 May 2026 (UTC)

I don't see this everyday! Thank you for coming to my talk page, editor Brunoptsem! At a glance I tend to agree with you that no opposition warrants renaming. I would like to hear from relisting editor 1isall, and to hear why he did not go ahead and close this request as moved, wouldn't you? Thanks again! P.I. Ellsworth , ed. – welcome! – 23:08, 3 May 2026 (UTC)

Hello! Some users choose to relist an RM with zero other participants, then close it if still no one shows up afterwards, while others just close it immediately. I often do the former. 1isall (talk | contribs) 23:50, 3 May 2026 (UTC)

I agree it's a gray area, and I do see it go both ways. The right thing to do, then, is to wait until either more support for the page move is shown or until the relisted period has ended. P.I. Ellsworth , ed. – welcome! – 02:56, 4 May 2026 (UTC)

Thanks for the help of both! Brunoptsem (talk) 14:16, 4 May 2026 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – May 2026

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

Administrator changes

• Deepfriedokra

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Interface administrator changes

L235

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Oversight changes

Moneytrees

Guideline and policy news

Technical news

• Changes to user permissions made from Meta are now included in the local user permissions log (T6055).
• The autoconfirmed user group will soon be modified such that the four-day account age requirement begins when an account makes its first edit (T418484).

Arbitration

• The arbitration case SchroCat has been opened. Evidence submissions in this case closed on 15 April.
• Per a recent motion, appeals of blocks from the conflict-of-interest VRT queue are, by default, appealed on-wiki through the normal unblock process. However, they may be heard by the Committee if COIVRTers disagree on the interpretation of the evidence or believe ArbCom would be better suited to hear the appeal. Administrators are also advised that loosening or lifting such blocks without the consent of someone with access to the queue or ArbCom can be grounds for desysopping.
• Per a recent motion, restrictions issued directly by the Committee may now be enforced with blocks which work exactly like contentious topic blocks.
• The arbitration case Maghreb has been closed.

Miscellaneous

• The May 2026 administrator elections are scheduled to run from April 29 to May 19. The call for candidates ends May 5.
• The 2026 Universal Code of Conduct Coordinating Committee (U4C) election is scheduled to run from April 25 to June 1. Candidacy submissions close on May 10.
• A new noticeboard for non-urgent, batch page protection requests has been created, primarily for the enforcement of contentious topic restrictions.

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Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 19:30, 3 May 2026 (UTC)

TfD nomination at Wikipedia:Templates for discussion/Log/2026 May 12 § Template:U.S. current election editnotice

Templates you have created have been nominated for discussion. You are invited to comment on the discussion at the entry on the Templates for discussion page. Thank you. –LaundryPizza03 (dc̄) 22:54, 12 May 2026 (UTC)

New Page Patrol Newsletter - May 2026

Hello Paine Ellsworth,

New Page Review queue November 2025 - May 2026

Backlog update

At the time of this message, there are 15,282 articles and 32,951 redirects awaiting review.

After the January–February drive the article backlog was reduced to 15,179 articles and the redirect backlog to 19,053 respectively. Great job! However, both queues are growing rapidly and any additional reviews are highly appreciated.

2024 and 2025 NPP Awards

JTtheOG was selected as the NPP reviewer of the year for both 2024 and 2025, for reviewing the most articles amongst all reviewers.

Hey man im josh and MPGuy2824 won the Redirect Ninja Master Award for 2024 and 2025 respectively, for reviewing the most redirects.

Overall in 2024, one Platinum, two Gold, eight Silver, 12 Bronze and 45 Iron Barnstars were awarded. Additionally, 66 reviewers got the NPP barnstar for doing more than 100 reviews through the year. In 2025, one Platinum, ten Silver, 13 Bronze and 38 Iron Barnstars were awarded. Additionally, 38 reviewers got the NPP barnstar for doing more than 100 reviews through the year.

BoyTheKingCanDance, Rosiestep, SunDawn, and Vanderwaalforces were inducted into the NPP Hall of Fame for having two separate years of 2,000+ article reviews.

January–February backlog drive

The experimental two-month long backlog drive concluded with 183 reviewers patrolling over 27,761 articles and 35,309 redirects, earning over 36,836 points. Congratulations to JTtheOG, who achieved first place with 6,484.6 points in this drive.

May backlog drive

An article-only backlog drive is currently underway. We are hoping to make a big dent in the backlog. You can read more about it or join at Wikipedia:New pages patrol/Backlog drives/May 2026.

PageTriage

An attempt was made to get the New Pages Feed to sort by date marked as reviewed instead of date created. However we had to revert it due to bugs. We may try again in the future. You can subscribe to the Phabricator ticket if you're interested in following along.

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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 23:38, 14 May 2026 (UTC)

The Signpost: 22 May 2026

• News and notes: Offline: Osama Khalid still in prison
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• In the media: Indonesian editors, you shall return!
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help please

Thanks for your note at WT:Wikipe-tan § Requested move 24 May 2026. Even with the assistance of Twinkle I seem to have made a royal mess of things. Is there some way to easily fix this, perhaps manually? — Arlo James Barnes 22:09, 24 May 2026 (UTC)

I'm happy to help, editor Arlo James Barnes! I will procedurally close the move request, and then you can follow the guidance at WP:MERGER. Let me know if you need any help with that, okay? Thank you very much for coming to my talk page! P.I. Ellsworth , ed. – welcome! – 00:37, 25 May 2026 (UTC)

I appreciate that, thank you. — Arlo James Barnes 01:32, 25 May 2026 (UTC)

My pleasure! Paine  01:44, 25 May 2026 (UTC)

Thanks and a query

Hi - thanks for your recent edit to Inflation/NZ for me; how do I go about getting the template editor string to my bow? I have been on here for more than a couple of decades now, and have helped hack together, fix and/or maintain several templates now, e.g. {{Cite Grove}}, {{Climate chart}}, infoboxes, navs, and indeed the odd tweaks in the past to {{Inflation/NZ}}-related things. — Jonathanischoice (talk) 04:17, 25 May 2026 (UTC)

Hi editor Jonathanischoice, and thank you for coming to my talk page! I'm always glad to help out at CAT:ETP. You will find the information you need to receive the TE bit at WP:TPE. Best to you, and thanks again! P.I. Ellsworth , ed. – welcome! – 13:43, 25 May 2026 (UTC)

RM review advice

Hi there, I'm just looking for a bit of advice before I open a Move Review. I want to contest this close . However, although I have some issues with the close comments, I do not wish to contest that the decision not to move was correct. Rather, I wish to contest the 12 month moratorium on move requests on that page, which the closer chose, but was not in the move proposition and was only supported by a minority of participants. I have discussed with the closer to no avail . My question is only this: which is the correct venue to contest this please? Is it a move review? or should I take it to WP:AN as a close review? Thanks. Sirfurboy🏄 (talk) 17:27, 26 May 2026 (UTC)

To editor Sirfurboy: move review is for challenging the closure of an RM. When a moratorium is a part of the close, then yes it can be up for discussion at MRV. I've seen it before on occasion where an editor will write something like, "I do not disagree with the moved/not moved/no consensus outcome of this move request; however, I do not think that a 12-month moratorium is appropriate." Keep in mind that it is recommended in cases of moved or not moved decisions that editors wait at least a year anyway before starting another RM (unless something about the title significantly changes before then). And that's because experience has shown that the longer one waits, the more likely it is that one will get the page moved successfully. There are no hard and fast rules about this, though. Lastly, keep in mind that the enforcement of a moratorium of any kind relies on the voluntary nature of editors and editing. There are no P&Gs with guidance about moratoriums. It's definitely a judgement call. P.I. Ellsworth , ed. – welcome! – 22:13, 26 May 2026 (UTC)

Thanks for this. I have not seen any advice that editors wait a year between requests. Where is that? Thanks again. I'll use MRV. Sirfurboy🏄 (talk) 06:33, 27 May 2026 (UTC)

That advice used to be in the closing instructions, which still suggest waiting at least three months after a no-consensus decision. This has been discussed many times over the years, but no agreement that would have resulted in a change to policy or guideline has ever been attained. It's still being adjudged on a case-by-case basis. That's why putting a moratorium in place has become more and more popular among admins and closers. Admins do not need a consensus to impose a moratorium. It's solely a judgement call. P.I. Ellsworth , ed. – welcome! – 06:58, 27 May 2026 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – June 2026

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

Administrator changes

• Asukite
• Bobby Cohn
• Bonadea
• Ca
• Drm310
• Reconrabbit
• Sammi Brie

• Tamzin
• TonyBallioni

• Ezhiki
• Queen of Hearts

Bureaucrat changes

• WereSpielChequers

Guideline and policy news

• Following an RfC, the "persistent usage of large language models" has been included as a common reason for a block.

Technical news

• Mandatory 2FA for bureaucrats: Bureaucrats without two-factor authentication (2FA) enabled have already lost access to their advanced rights on 26 May. Those who do not enable 2FA may be automatically removed from the groups in mid-June 2026, and from that point onward, new members must have 2FA enabled before they can be added. (T423119, T423120)

Arbitration

• The arbitration case SchroCat has been closed.
• The arbitration case Michael Jackson has opened. Evidence submissions in this case closes on 1 June.

Miscellaneous

• Voting for the 2026 Universal Code of Conduct Coordinating Committee (U4C) election closes on 1 June.

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Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 13:14, 1 June 2026 (UTC)

Guild of Copy Editors – June 2026 Newsletter

Guild of Copy Editors June 2026 Newsletter Hello and welcome to the June 2026 newsletter, a quarterly-ish digest of Guild activities since April. Election news: Nominations for the mid-year coordinator election ends at 23:59 on 15 June. Voting will last from 00:00 on 16 June to 23:59 on 30 June. Results will be announced on the election page. April Blitz: 18 of the 21 editors who signed up for the April 2026 Copy Editing Blitz copy edited 122,993 words in 56 articles. Barnstars awarded are here. May Drive: 34 of the 66 editors who signed up for the May 2026 Backlog Elimination Drive copy edited 543,972 words in 211 articles. Barnstars awarded are here. June Blitz: Our June 2026 Copy Editing Blitz will start on 14 June and finish on 30 June. Barnstars awarded will be posted here. Progress report: As of 22:40, 11 June 2025 (UTC), GOCE copyeditors have completed 132 requests since 1 January, and the backlog stands at 1,691 articles. Thank you all again for your participation; we wouldn't be able to achieve what we have without you! Cheers from your GOCE coordinators. To discontinue receiving GOCE newsletters, please remove your name from our mailing list.

MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 22:57, 11 June 2026 (UTC)

The Signpost: 21 June 2026

• From the editors: Ways for beginners to support The Signpost community journalism
  Pointing the way to your contribution to The Signpost!

• News and notes: Community Tech development team disbanded
  And English Wikipedia reaches a milestone in number of highly active editors.

• Disinformation report: PR for the people?
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• Recent research: Proposed tagging system for AI involvement; successful and unsuccessful AI tools for contributors
  And other new research publications.

• In the media: Who won a 14th century battle and who won the 2026 Iran war?
  Media take issue with portrayals of recent and medieval history on Wikipedia. Plus a team supporting Wikipedians gets dissolved, and a few other things.

• Community view: Putting the Wish into the Wishlist
  A history of the Wikimedia community's request process to Foundation developers.

• In focus: A global standard for Neutral Point of View
  Wikipedians are commenting on a proposed global standard for neutral point of view.

• On the bright side: Flowers, blue helmets, reefs, pride, and Juneteenth
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• Op-ed: Breathe, Don’t Panic, there is a different story about Wikimedia + AI futures
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• Opinion: Wikimedia Foundation staff develop union and Wikimedia user community reacts
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• Technology report: Community Tech team is disbanded, controversy erupts
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• Traffic report: 'Cause this is thriller, thriller night
  Horror movies and Michael Jackson dominate theaters in the lead-up to the World Cup.

• WikiConference report: Report of Volunteer Supporters Network Annual Meeting 2026
  Outreach staff of Wikimedia chapters host a global discussion.

• Comix: Take your turn
  In a maze of twisty little edits, all alike.

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Request to reopen discussion of moving INDOPACOM to PACOM

Pacific Command

United States Indo-Pacific Command (talk|edit|history|logs|links|archive|watch) (RM) (Discussion with closer specified)

Hi, @Paine Ellsworth. May I suggest you consider reopening the recent discussion about moving the INDOPACOM article to PACOM?

To recap: On the evening of 16 June, Pentagon leaders announced that they would rename Indo-Pacific Command as Pacific Command. At 8:56 pm, a WP editor proposed to rename this article as PACOM; the discussion was closed in just three hours and the page moved at 12:13 am.

The move was described as "more of a technical request", but in fact the name of the page is controversial due to issues of law, media coverage, public and official usage, and more.

None of this was raised by the editors who weighed in during the three-hour discussion, perhaps because they were unfamiliar with the concerns raised during a similar renaming of the Defense Department.

But it took less than two days for the fuller context to emerge in media coverage. On June 18, the Associated Press reported that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had asserted and acknowledged in a memo that "PACOM" is merely a "secondary title" because the command's actual name is set in law.

The question is: should the WP article go by the official name or the "secondary title"? In the case of DoD, editors decided to retain the page's original title ("DoD") after a discussion that largely turned on the fact that most news media chose to continue using DoD's legal name. In the case of INDOPACOM, it's not yet clear whether media will follow suit.

In the meantime, I suggest we vacate the close and relist/reopen the discussion, preferably with the article restored to the previous title, pending consensus. What do you think? PRRfan (talk) 18:29, 24 June 2026 (UTC)

 Done – and thank you very much for coming to my talk page, editor PRRfan! P.I. Ellsworth , ed. – welcome! – 19:20, 24 June 2026 (UTC)

Well, to be clear, I started a discussion about this at Talk:PACOM before another editor explained the right way to do thing. But now I know, and thanks! PRRfan (talk) 19:39, 24 June 2026 (UTC)

Happy to help! Paine  19:48, 24 June 2026 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – July 2026

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

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L235

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Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 14:07, 2 July 2026 (UTC)

The Signpost: 13 July 2026

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Articles for Creation backlog drive

Hello Paine Ellsworth:

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)

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Infobox planet change

Hi- I noticed that you made a change to Template:Infobox planet. Shouldn't the documentation be updated? Thanks, Danbloch (talk) 15:38, 19 July 2026 (UTC)

Hi, editor Danbloch, yes I would think so. Please see the [edit request], where I asked editor LaundryPizza03 to edit the unprotected /doc page as needed. P.I. Ellsworth , ed. – welcome! – 17:44, 19 July 2026 (UTC)

Sorry, missed that. Thanks! Danbloch (talk) 17:54, 19 July 2026 (UTC)

Done. Can you add example usage for moons as well? –LaundryPizza03 (dc̄) 20:52, 19 July 2026 (UTC)

Sorry, come again? Not sure what you want, editor LaundryPizza03. Can you put it in a "change X to Y"-type request? P.I. Ellsworth , ed. – welcome! – 21:29, 2 August 2026 (UTC)

Create a complete example in the documentation with typical parameters for a moon, including parameters specific to moons. –LaundryPizza03 (dc̄) 03:05, 3 August 2026 (UTC)

One reason this hasn't been done in the past is due to the extreme variation among the planets in our solar system. Another reason might be that the /doc is already a bit of a long read. One more reason I can think of is that there are several examples in mainspace that can show editors how to exhibit satellites in this ibox, like Earth with one moon, Mars with two moons, Saturn with nearly 300 moons, and so on. For more examples editors can look at any number of notable moon articles to see how the specific parameters apply, such as Phobos (moon). We could link to examples in the /doc, but I think we would need a consensus before we add more fully coded examples to that page. P.I. Ellsworth , ed. – welcome! – 11:15, 3 August 2026 (UTC)

The Signpost: 2 August 2026

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Maybe someday...

...I'll be as nice to a new editor as you were today. Maybe. Thanks for that long, friendly message. – Jonesey95 (talk) 03:23, 8 August 2026 (UTC)

Well, like I said, it's not that you weren't being nice, it's that you were just being honest. There's a lot that new editors don't understand, and the amount of reading required these days is a lot more than I had to wade through. Sometimes the hoops we have to jump through seem a lot more teejus than they really are. P.I. Ellsworth , ed. – welcome! – 03:44, 8 August 2026 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – August 2026

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

Administrator changes

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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).

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Miscellaneous

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Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 19:51, 10 August 2026 (UTC)

Template:Incumbent pope issue

Please reinstate the opening noinclude you removed on Template:Incumbent pope, all pages calling this template are now showing this template's documentation and causing a ripe mess on papal pages. Thank you. Zinnober9 (talk) 13:52, 14 August 2026 (UTC)

 Completed. P.I. Ellsworth , ed. – welcome! – 13:58, 14 August 2026 (UTC)

"Template:Redirect to married name" listed at Redirects for discussion

The redirect Template:Redirect to married name to the template Template:R from married name has been listed at redirects for discussion to determine whether its use and function meets the redirect guidelines. Anyone, including you, is welcome to comment on this redirect at Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Log/2026 August 9 § Template:Redirect to married name until a consensus is reached. Mathguy2718 (talk) 18:13, 16 August 2026 (UTC)

The reason that you are getting this notification is that you retargeted the similar template redirect {{R to married name}}, but {{Redirect to married name}} has a different target and is currently being discussed (though only Template:Redirect to married name is being discussed currently). Mathguy2718 (talk) 18:13, 16 August 2026 (UTC)

Habibti

Hi, thank you for your contributions. I've reverted the premature and improper close of the Habibti (album) discussion. Could you please help me move everything back to the stable titles? 162 etc. (talk) 02:44, 21 August 2026 (UTC)

You are a seasoned editor and therefore know that the usual way to contest a closure is to take it to move review. Forgive my suspicion, but you were the only participant who disagreed, so please first explain why you boldly reverted what appears to be an appropriate decision? P.I. Ellsworth , ed. – welcome! – 03:20, 21 August 2026 (UTC)

 Completed. P.I. Ellsworth , ed. – welcome! – 03:32, 21 August 2026 (UTC)

The Signpost: 24 August 2026

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New pages patrol September 2026 Backlog drive

September 2026 Backlog Drive | New pages patrol
On 1 September 2026, a one-month backlog drive for new pages patrol will begin at a particularly important time for NPP. The backlog has now passed 30,000 unreviewed articles, a level that has been described in current NPP discussions as exceptionally high and potentially difficult to overcome through normal reviewing alone. Backlog drives are one of the few measures that have historically produced a noticeable reduction in the backlog, so the participation of as many active patrollers as possible will matter this month. If you can review during September, please make articles your priority. Every article that is reviewed is a meaningful reduction in the backlog. With the queue at its current size, even a relatively small increase in the number of articles each patroller reviews can add up to a substantial difference over the course of the month. This is a hybrid drive, so redirect reviewing is still included. Redirects can be a useful way for newer patrollers to get comfortable with NPP and can help people build up to reviewing articles. However, the main goal of this drive is to tackle the article backlog, and experienced patrollers are particularly encouraged to spend as much of their available reviewing time on articles as they can. Barnstars will be awarded based on the number of articles and redirects patrolled. Each article review will earn 1 point, while each redirect review will earn 0.2 points. Streak awards will be given out based on consistently hitting point thresholds for each week of the drive. Barnstars will also be granted for re-reviewing articles previously reviewed by other patrollers during the drive. If you have been thinking about doing more NPP, this is an especially good month to jump in. Whether you can review a few pages or hundreds, every review helps. And if you are already an active patroller, please consider whether you can put in some additional time during September to help bring the backlog back under control. Interested in taking part? Sign up here.
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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 22:49, 24 August 2026 (UTC)

Editing archives

I know you know that you're not allowed to edit archived discussions, but here you go: Help:Archiving a talk page#May I edit an archived talk page?. voorts (talk/contributions) 16:42, 25 August 2026 (UTC)

To editor Voorts: you're correct, of course; however, when I wrote that, I hadn't known about the discussion until its closure was requested at WP:CR. I know that's no excuse, but the post really had no business being at CR, and I didn't know of another good place to put it. I have always been impressed by what I've seen of your work here, so I have no problem with your reversion or even with reverting it myself. I have to seek your opinion, though, about where would be the best place to give my opinion about this? I really do revere SJ, and I do want to say these words somewhere! Can you help? P.I. Ellsworth , ed. – welcome! – 17:47, 25 August 2026 (UTC)

the post really had no business being at CR There's an administrative discussions section at CR where proposed sanctions are routinely listed. You can ask an uninvolved admin to unarchive the discussion. voorts (talk/contributions) 18:12, 25 August 2026 (UTC)

Thank you! Then that is what I have done. Thanks again! P.I. Ellsworth , ed. – welcome! – 21:26, 25 August 2026 (UTC)