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Hello, Alexf. This message is being sent to remind you of significant upcoming changes regarding logged-out editing.

Starting 4 November, logged-out editors will no longer have their IP address publicly displayed. Instead, they will have a temporary account (TA) associated with their edits. Users with some extended rights like administrators and CheckUsers, as well as users with the temporary account IP viewer (TAIV) user right will still be able to reveal temporary users' IP addresses and all contributions made by temporary accounts from a specific IP address or range.

How do temporary accounts work?

• When a logged-out user completes an edit or a logged action for the first time, a cookie will be set in this user's browser and a temporary account tied with this cookie will be automatically created for them. This account's name will follow the pattern: ~2025-12345-67 (a tilde, year of creation, a number split into units of 5).
• All subsequent actions by the temporary account user will be attributed to this username. The cookie will expire 90 days after its creation. As long as it exists, all edits made from this device will be attributed to this temporary account. It will be the same account even if the IP address changes, unless the user clears their cookies or uses a different device or web browser.
• A record of the IP address used at the time of each edit will be stored for 90 days after the edit. Users with the temporary account IP viewer (TAIV) user right will be able to see the underlying IP addresses.
• As a measure against vandalism, there are two limitations on the creation of temporary accounts:
  • There has to be a minimum of 10 minutes between subsequent temporary account creations from the same IP (or /64 range in case of IPv6).
  • There can be a maximum of 6 temporary accounts created from an IP (or /64 range) within a period of 24 hours.

Temporary account IP viewer user right

• Administrators may grant the temporary account IP viewer (TAIV) user right to non-administrators who meet the criteria for granting. Importantly, an editor must make an explicit request for the permission (e.g. at WP:PERM/TAIV)—administrators are not permitted to assign the right without a request.
• Administrators will automatically be able to see temporary account IP information once they have accepted the Access to Temporary Account IP Addresses Policy via Special:Preferences or via the onboarding dialog which comes up after temporary accounts are deployed.

Impact for administrators

• It will be possible to block many abusers by just blocking their temporary accounts. A blocked person won't be able to create new temporary accounts quickly if the admin selects the autoblock option.
• It will still be possible to block an IP address or IP range.
• Temporary accounts will not be retroactively applied to contributions made before the deployment. On Special:Contributions, you will be able to see existing IP user contributions, but not new contributions made by temporary accounts on that IP address. Instead, you should use Special:IPContributions for this (see a video about IPContributions in a gallery below).

Rules about IP information disclosure

• Publicizing an IP address gained through TAIV access is generally not allowed (e.g. ~2025-12345-67 previously edited as 192.0.2.1 or ~2025-12345-67's IP address is 192.0.2.1).
• Publicly linking a TA to another TA is allowed if "reasonably believed to be necessary". (e.g. ~2025-12345-67 and ~2025-12345-68 are likely the same person, so I am counting their reverts together toward 3RR, but not Hey ~2025-12345-68, you did some good editing as ~2025-12345-67)
• See Wikipedia:Temporary account IP viewer § What can and can't be said for more detailed guidelines.

Useful tools for patrollers

• It is possible to view if a user has opted-in to view temporary account IPs via the User Info card, available in Preferences → Appearance → Advanced options → Enable the user info card
  • This feature also makes it possible for anyone to see the approximate count of temporary accounts active on the same IP address range.
• Special:IPContributions allows viewing all edits and temporary accounts connected to a specific IP address or IP range.
• Similarly, Special:GlobalContributions supports global search for a given temporary account's activity.
• The auto-reveal feature (see video below) allows users with the right permissions to automatically reveal all IP addresses for a limited time window.

Videos

• How to use Special:IPContributions
• How automatic IP reveal works
• How to use IP Info
• How to use User Info

Further information and discussion

• For more information and discussion regarding this change, please see the announcement from the Wikimedia Foundation at Wikipedia:Village pump (WMF) § Temporary accounts rollout.

Most of this message was written by Mz7 (source). Thanks, 🎃 SGrabarczuk (WMF) (talk) 02:48, 31 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Starting on 1 November, the month-long 2025 Article Improvement Drive will target a number of content improvement areas and backlogs. Participating editors will be in line for barnstars and other awards; articles from all aspects of the project will be eligible so there will be something for everybody. Interested editors are encouraged to sign up now! MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 20:17, 1 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

News and updates for administrators from the past month (October 2025).

Administrator changes

Toadspike

• Elahrairah
• Juliancolton
• Magnus Manske

CheckUser changes

asilvering

Guideline and policy news

• The speedy deletion criteria U5 has been repealed, with U6 and U7 replacing it. See the FAQ for more clarifications.
• Community-designated contentious topics may now be enforced and appealed at the arbitration enforcement noticeboard (AE) as a result of an RfC.

Technical news

• You can enable a handy user info card next to usernames, which when clicked displays edit count, blocks, thanks, and other information. To enable this feature, visit Preferences → Appearance → Advanced options → Enable the user info card

Arbitration

• The arbitration case Transgender healthcare and people has been closed
  • Uninvolved administrators may impose an AE participation restriction on any thread at the Arbitration Enforcement noticeboard.

Miscellaneous

• An unreferenced articles backlog drive is happening in November 2025 to reduce the backlog of articles tagged with {{Unreferenced}}. You can help reduce the backlog by adding citations to these articles. Sign up to participate!

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Precious

Five years!

--Gerda Arendt (talk) 06:27, 19 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Your Military History Newsletter Project news: From the editors; awards and honours; contest results Articles: Last month's new featured and A-class content Book review: Hawkeye7 and Nick-D look at four works Op-ed: Nick-D on 20 years with Wikipedia Timeline: This month in military history

Nominations now open for the WikiProject Military History newcomer of the year and military historian of the year awards for 2025! The top editors will be awarded the coveted Gold Wiki. Nominations are open here and here respectively. The nomination period closes at 23:59 on 30 November 2025 when voting begins. On behalf of the coordinators, wishing you the very best for the festive season and the new year. MediaWiki message delivery via MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 18:42, 30 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Correction: nominations are open until 23:59 (UTC) on 14 December 2025. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 03:20, 2 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Skibidi toilet 6767 is almost definitely a vandalism-only account, but I was surprised to see a {{uw-ublock}} added to their talk page. It's a meme name, but I'm not sure I've ever seen these interpreted as disruptive. Should similar names be reported to UAA? tony 22:12, 5 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

If they are disruptive names, yes. This one had not edited much, so it was hard to justify a Vandalism Only block, but the name itself is not conducive to Wikipedia work, so out they go. -- Alexf^(talk) 22:17, 5 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Alexf, on 3 January 2023 you were hiding all contributions of this IP address in the article Comparison of anti-plagiarism software. I wonder if these edits are related to this spamming case that appeared now at Commons and Wikidata. Thanks and regards, AFBorchert (talk) 22:38, 5 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Doesn't seem so. Those were spamming a different website. -- Alexf^(talk) 23:35, 5 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

News and updates for administrators from the past month (November 2025).

Administrator changes

• Chaotic Enby
• Rjjiii

Valereee

• Fathoms Below
• Tamzin

CheckUser changes

Spicy

Technical news

• Starting on November 4, the IP addresses of logged-out editors are no longer being publicly displayed. Instead, they will have a temporary account associated with their edits.
• Administrators will now find that Special:MergeHistory is now significantly more flexible about what it can merge. It can now merge sections taken from the middle of the history of the source (rather than only the start) and insert revisions anywhere in the history of the destination page (rather than only the start). T382958

Miscellaneous

• The December 2025 administrator elections are scheduled from Nov 25 – Dec 15.
• An Articles for Creation backlog drive is happening in December 2025, with over 1,000 drafts awaiting review from the past two months. In addition to AfC participants, all administrators and new page patrollers can help review using the Yet Another AFC Helper Script, which can be enabled in the Gadgets settings. Sign up here to participate!

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Hello, Alexf. You have imposed a spam username block on Gaurang Space Agency. "Gaurang Space Agency" turns out to be a rather grandiose (in my opinion) name for a school project. The user has now posted UTRS appeal #109079, in which they have said "I ... will avoid creating content about myself or projects I am connected to. I will use a neutral username". That seems to me to cover the reasons for the block, and I see no reason not to unblock. Do you wish to express any opinion? JBW (talk) 11:48, 14 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@JBW: No issues in that case. Unblock is fine. -- Alexf^(talk) 11:59, 14 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks. 😊 JBW (talk) 14:12, 14 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Well, that didn't last long: see the block log. 🙄 JBW (talk) 10:10, 15 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@JBW: Figures. Some people don't learn. -- Alexf^(talk) 10:41, 15 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Voting is now open for the WikiProject Military History newcomer of the year and military historian of the year awards for 2025! The top editors will be awarded the coveted Gold Wiki. Cast your votes here and here respectively. Voting closes at 23:59 on 30 December 2025. On behalf of the coordinators, wishing you the very best for the festive season and the new year. MediaWiki message delivery via MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 01:54, 15 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@Zoku International has a meatpuppet named @Eliselhofman, just so you know. shane (talk to me if you want!) 13:24, 16 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@EditorShane3456: Thanks. Blocked. -- Alexf^(talk) 13:39, 16 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The meatpuppet was active yesterday when Zoku was active, should probs block Zoku for sockpuppetry shane (talk to me if you want!) 13:40, 16 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

This user User:Gulbuddinhekmatyar keeps vandalising the page Divya Sathyaraj adding wrong informations and photos. Each time I revert or delete them he keeps undo or add them again. This person Divya Sathyaraj messaged me in my talk page once, as I created the article, and ask for help, claiming those were wrong infos. I deleted those things at that time, even now, as he is posting them just as simple as that even without any ref, for sure as there's none. This user keep coming back with new IDs I think. The main problem is that, that user is adding those false infos like some personal vengeance. Everytime I or anyone else remove that he keeps adding them. The person Divya Sathyaraj is not even married, but this user keeps adding things like she married someone. Also adding mocking words (in regiaonal language written in English) on her infobox. So, I don't know what to request you, whether to block the user or block him from editing that article. If you check that articles history, even today he did the same thing and I just revert it back. It's just going on. Right now it's his edit again. Please do something. SRAppu ^💬 13:27, 17 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@SRAppu: I gave the user a 3RR warning. I would suggest you make a mention of this at ANI as contacting one user to look out for you is not enough, due to time constraints. You need more eyes on the issue. If you open a case at ANI, you must inform that user the case was opened. Please read the instructions at the top of that board. For any questions and help, you can also post a message at the TeaHouse which is constantly monitored by knowledgeable and helpful users. -- Alexf^(talk) 14:32, 17 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you. Mentioned the issue in ANI. SRAppu ^💬 18:49, 17 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@Alexf: Sorry for texting again. Some admin closed that ANI discussion saying that he didn't made any changes after that warning. Please check that article. He did that twice today. I have passed this message to that admin also. Thank You. SRAppu ^💬 05:29, 18 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@SRAppu: I had seen that yesterday. They are technically correct. I saw they have been blocked for a short time. Just watchlist the page and go to ANI if needed again. -- Alexf^(talk) 15:04, 18 December 2025 (UTC) -- Alexf^(talk) 15:04, 18 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Template:Editnotices/Page/Nigger has been nominated for discussion. You are invited to comment on the discussion at the entry on the Templates for discussion page. –LaundryPizza03 (dc̄) 09:16, 24 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Template:Editnotices/Page/List of feminist bookstores has been nominated for discussion. You are invited to comment on the discussion at the entry on the Templates for discussion page. –LaundryPizza03 (dc̄) 19:20, 24 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Template:Editnotices/Page/List of former Atlantic Records artists has been nominated for discussion. You are invited to comment on the discussion at the entry on the Templates for discussion page. –LaundryPizza03 (dc̄) 23:25, 24 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Your Military History Newsletter Project news: From the editors; awards and honours; contest results Articles: Last month's new featured and A-class content Book review: Hog Farm and Hawkeye7 review five recent releases Timeline: This month in military history

News and updates for administrators from the past month (December 2025).

Guideline and policy news

• All general sanctions imposed by the community may now be enforced at the Arbitration Enforcement noticeboard (WP:AE) as a result of a recent RfC.
• Due to the result of a recent RFC, the administrator recall process is amended to extend the deadline for a re-request for adminship to 30 days or the next administrator election, whichever is later.
• Changes to the Access to Temporary Account IP Addresses Policy's disclosure rules include broadening the consecutive-blocks exception to cover all admin actions and removing the requirement to revision-delete permissible disclosures once they become unnecessary (instead requiring only their removal). See WP:TAIVDISCLOSE for more information.

Arbitration

• Following the 2025 Arbitration Committee elections, the following editors have been elected to the Arbitration Committee: Aoidh, Asilvering, Girth Summit, Guerillero, HJ Mitchell, HouseBlaster, Izno, Sdrqaz, SilverLocust.
• The arbitration case Pbsouthwood has been suspended.

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You blocked SomeOldDudeInSeabrook for username issues, what is wrong with the new username? The UAA report was based on their old username SeabrookVillage, they'd already changed their username. Lavalizard101 (talk) 11:33, 10 January 2026 (UTC)[reply]

@Lavalizard101: Block may have been a mistake, as you pointed out. User posting a link to his website is spam, but not a username issue here. Unblocked. -- Alexf^(talk) 11:39, 10 January 2026 (UTC)[reply]