Hello! This is an announcement that The Downlink has been revived. Rather than simply start again, I have chosen to create two special issues recapping the past three years. The first special issue spans November 2021 to December 2023, while the second special issue spans January 2024 to December 2024.

Due to the size of these pages, as well as the fact that they are non-standard issues, I have instead had this notice sent out. The following issues of volume 3 (Jan - Dec 2025) should be significantly smaller.

Please be aware that, for a variety of reasons, the issues that I create may be published late.

Here are the issues:

• First special issue

• Second special issue

Ships & Space_(Edits) 02:36, 30 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Discuss & propose changes to The Downlink at the talk page. To unsubscribe from the newsletter remove your name from the mailing list.

Hi, I see you have reverted my edit on Enrico Fermi. Can you explain to me how my edit was "weird"? I don't see how it was weird. Thanks. RedactedHumanoid (talk) 22:22, 31 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Hmmm. The change seemed to be aimed at using digits instead of English text. But I could not think of a reason why someone would want to make such a change. It contributes nothing to the article and defines MOS:NUMERAL. Weird. Hawkeye7 (discuss) 22:40, 31 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Ah, I see. Well, thanks for telling me. Have a nice day. RedactedHumanoid (talk) 22:44, 31 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Hi there, I'm pleased to inform you that I've begun reviewing the article Fritz Strassmann you nominated for GA-status according to the criteria. This process may take up to 7 days. Feel free to contact me with any questions or comments you might have during this period. Message delivered by ChristieBot, on behalf of Chiswick Chap -- Chiswick Chap (talk) 10:44, 1 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The article Fritz Strassmann you nominated as a good article has passed ; see Talk:Fritz Strassmann for comments about the article, and Talk:Fritz Strassmann/GA1 for the nomination. Well done! If the article is eligible to appear in the "Did you know" section of the Main Page, you can nominate it within the next seven days. Message delivered by ChristieBot, on behalf of Chiswick Chap -- Chiswick Chap (talk) 04:02, 2 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

MediaWiki message delivery 00:06, 4 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I just stumbled on this. It's one of the best descriptions of the place I have come across. Kudpung กุดผึ้ง (talk) 06:46, 7 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you today for Lise Meitner, about "the Austrian physicist who was the co-discover of the element protactinium and nuclear fission. She spent much of her scientific career in Berlin, Germany, where she was a physics professor and a department head at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute. She fled to Sweden after Austria was absorbed into Germany in 1938."! -- Gerda Arendt (talk) 15:30, 8 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

This Month in GLAM – Volume XV, Issue I, January 2025 Headlines Africa report: Guinea-Bissau Heritage from Commons to the World Albania report: Wikimedian in Residence at the Qemal Baholli Public Library in Elbasan (October - December 2024) Aruba report: Wikipedia on Aruba project has officially begun! Brazil report: Wiki Loves Maranhão Germany report: Exploring Wikidata & Building Community for Cultural Heritage Professionals Indonesia report: Celebrating Public Domain Day 2025 in Indonesia Italy report: New Wikimedia Italia Grant for GLAMs Netherlands report: 3 Million Dutch Cultural Heritage Images in Commons & 400,000 RCE images now in higher resolution & Usage of DBNL in Dutch Wikipedia articles New Zealand report: Student led Edit-a-thon Poland report: GLAM-Wiki 2024 in Poland: Achievements, Collaborations, and Impact Serbia report: Wikimedia Serbia: Advancing GLAM collaborations and digital heritage Switzerland report: Swiss GLAM Programme UK report: Cairo Geniza USA report: Wikipedia Day Biodiversity Heritage Library report: BHL-Wiki Working Group January monthly highlights Special story: Join the Global GLAM Call – Tuesday, February 11th, 13:30 UTC! Memory of the World report: To the front page! Wikidata report: Wikidata at WikiLibCon 2025 Calendar: February's GLAM events Read this edition in full • Single-page To assist with preparing the newsletter, please visit the newsroom. Past editions may be viewed here.

On 10 February 2025, Did you know was updated with a fact from the article Thomas M. Robins, which you recently created, substantially expanded, or brought to good article status. The fact was ... that Thomas M. Robins was responsible for the construction of the Bonneville Dam? The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Thomas M. Robins. You are welcome to check how many pageviews the nominated article or articles got while on the front page (here's how, Thomas M. Robins), and the hook may be added to the statistics page after its run on the Main Page has completed. Finally, if you know of an interesting fact from another recently created article, then please feel free to suggest it on the Did you know talk page.

—Kusma (talk) 00:03, 10 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

MediaWiki message delivery 00:09, 11 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I finally figured out a plan for dealing with that one annoying intrusion. Little bit of normal cleanup left, but...

Sorry it took so long. Some images just kind of get shoved to the "When I get better" pile. Adam Cuerden ^(talk)_{Has about 8.8% of all FPs.} 09:24, 12 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I was going to nominate the article for VE-Day. Hawkeye7 (discuss) 10:15, 12 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Well, should be done by then. It's maybe a day away Adam Cuerden ^(talk)_{Has about 8.8% of all FPs.} 11:21, 12 February 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 looks at three aspects of World War II Op-ed: Matarisvan on ways to improve A-class reviewing numbers

It's done! Adam Cuerden ^(talk)_{Has about 8.8% of all FPs.} 20:10, 12 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Wow. Do you think it could be a Featured Picture? Hawkeye7 (discuss) 20:25, 12 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

We'll find out! It's grainy, and I would have preferred to find a TIFF of it, but... Adam Cuerden ^(talk)_{Has about 8.8% of all FPs.} 20:34, 12 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Well, so far, so good: Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/US Navy ferrying troops across the Rhine River at Oberwesel, Germany commons:Commons:Featured_picture_candidates/File:Rhine_Crossing_-_US_Navy_ferrying_troops_across_the_Rhine_River_at_Oberwesel,_Germany.jpg. Cart makes a really good point about the difficulty of the shot on Commons. Adam Cuerden ^(talk)_{Has about 8.8% of all FPs.} 15:08, 13 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Looks like Commons has all-but-passed, and the en-wiki is at 4 out of 5 votes, so thinking FP is very likely. Adam Cuerden ^(talk)_{Has about 8.8% of all FPs.} 10:06, 15 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

And both are passing now. Adam Cuerden ^(talk)_{Has about 8.8% of all FPs.} 20:15, 15 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Right, it's passed on Commons. Any day you'd like for it to run as POTD there? It'll probably need to be at least a year out. Adam Cuerden ^(talk)_{Has about 8.8% of all FPs.} 15:40, 18 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I was hoping to run the article with the image on the front page on 8 May (VE-Day), but WP:TFA/R is not yet open for May. Hawkeye7 (discuss) 18:41, 18 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Alright. Let me know if the article isn't happening. It's passed, so we can schedule it whenever, but really don't want to double it. Adam Cuerden ^(talk)_{Has about 8.9% of all FPs.} 00:31, 23 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

It has now been nominated at WP:TFA/R. Hawkeye7 (discuss) 02:55, 23 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

MediaWiki message delivery 21:19, 17 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

	The Downlink	The WikiProject Spaceflight Newsletter
		2025 1 – 31 January

Volume 3 — Issue 1
Spaceflight Project • Project discussion • Members • Assessment • Open tasks • Popular pages • The Downlink
Introduction to Volume 3 Initially launched in late 2010/early 2011 for a run of four months, The Downlink was unpublished for more than nine years, after which a second volume was published from October 2020 to October 2021. This second volume was very different from the first volume, both in style and structure. A December issue was planned (for some reason, the second volume became volume 1 in April 2021), but was never finished. Like with volume 2, this volume 3 was intended to come with changes, though primarily to style. Volume 3 will not feature any significant changes to style or structure. This both provides continuity with the previous volume and allows the contributors to construct each issue relatively easily. However, following volumes may see changes to style, format, and upload schedule. As it is still very early in the year, a discussion on this is not yet necessary, but suggestions of all kinds are always welcome at the talk page.
In the News Blue Ghost Mission 1 and Hakuto-R Mission 2 were launched from Kennedy Space Center on 15 January. They are planned to land in March and April, respectively. On 30 January, Sunita Williams broke Peggy Whitson's record for most time spent on spacewalks by a woman, at 62 hours and 6 minutes total. ISRO successfully docked two SpaDeX satellites on 16 January, making India the fourth country (including the EU) to dock two vehicles in space. Blue Origin's New Glenn launch vehicle completed its maiden flight on 16 January. The payload was successfully placed in orbit, while the first staged failed to land on the recovery ship.
Featured Content The image Jupiter clouds was promoted to Featured Media status on 4 January. It was nominated by MER-C.
Article of the Month Soyuz programme The Soyuz programme (/ˈsɔɪjuːz/ SOY-yooz, /ˈsɔː-/ SAW-; Russian: Союз [sɐˈjus], meaning "Union") is a human spaceflight programme initiated by the Soviet Union in the early 1960s. The Soyuz spacecraft was originally part of a Moon landing project intended to put a Soviet cosmonaut on the Moon. It was the third Soviet human spaceflight programme after the Vostok (1961–1963) and Voskhod (1964–1965) programmes. The programme consists of the Soyuz capsule and the Soyuz rocket and is now the responsibility of the Russian Roscosmos. After the retirement of the Space Shuttle in 2011, Soyuz was the only way for humans to get to the International Space Station (ISS) until 30 May 2020, when Crew Dragon flew to the ISS for the first time with astronauts.	Image of the Month Gene Cernan on the Moon Gene Cernan was the eleventh and (as of 2025) last person to ever step foot on the moon. In addition to being an astronaut, he was an aviator in the US Navy and engineer. Apollo 17 was his second Apollo mission, as he served as Apollo 10's lunar module pilot. He died in Houston on 16 January, 2017. He was the first astronaut to be buried at Texas State Cemetery.
Members New members: Joost van Assenbergh (9 January) TheCosmicNebula (25 January) Number of active members: 200. Total number of members: 426. Launches All times stated here are in UTC. For a complete list, see here: List_of_spaceflight_launches_in_January–June_2025#January. New Glenn — DarkSky-1 (16 Jan. at 07:03) (success) SpaceX Starship — 10 Starlink simulators (16 Jan. at 22:37) (launch failure)	Article Statistics This data reflects values from the 31 January 2025. Monthly Changes Since December 2024, five new high-importance, eight new mid-importance, forty new low-importance, and 1,522 new NA-importance articles have been created. Fifteen unknown-importance articles have been removed, for a total of 1,560 more articles. One article has been promoted to Good Article status. There are also three more B-class articles, eleven more C-class articles, 23 more Start-class articles, four more Stub-class articles, 4 more lists, and 34 more files.
Discuss & propose changes to The Downlink at The Downlink talk page. To unsubscribe from the newsletter remove your name from the mailing list. Newsletter contributor: Ships&Space

MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 21:30, 18 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I have rated this B class. There were no entries on the talk page. I added these banners:
{{WikiProject banner shell|class=B|listas=Merritt, Philip L.|blp=no|1= {{WPMILHIST|class=B|b1=yes|b2=yes|b3=yes|b4=yes|b5=yes|Biography=yes|SciTech=yes|US=yes|WWII=yes}} {{WikiProject Biography|core=no|military-work-group=y|importance=mid}} {{WikiProject Geology|class=B|importance=mid}} {{WikiProject Science|class=B|importance=mid}} }}
and this edit summary: add banner shell, military history, biography, geology and science banners, milhist task forces; assess B class for military history project and in banner shell for others; importance ratings (experienced project reviewers: change importance if needed)
I am not entirely confident that the other project banners, and especially the importance ratings, are complete and correct. If not, please let me know. Donner60 (talk) 02:22, 22 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Hi there. I currently have an FAC open on Bruce Springsteen's The River and wanted to know if you could provide any comments so it doesn't get archived? If so, I'd appreciate it, but if not, I totally understand. Thanks and best wishes. – zmbro _{(talk) (cont)} 19:25, 22 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I have added some comments. Let's hope it gets promoted soon. Hawkeye7 (discuss) 21:08, 22 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you so much! – zmbro _{(talk) (cont)} 22:02, 22 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

MediaWiki message delivery 00:38, 25 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

On 27 February 2025, Did you know was updated with a fact from the article Plutonium Finishing Plant, which you recently created, substantially expanded, or brought to good article status. The fact was ... that the Plutonium Finishing Plant, which processed more than 66 metric tons of plutonium between 1949 and 1989, was demolished (animation pictured) between 2016 and 2021? The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Plutonium Finishing Plant. You are welcome to check how many pageviews the nominated article or articles got while on the front page (here's how, Plutonium Finishing Plant), and the hook may be added to the statistics page after its run on the Main Page has completed. Finally, if you know of an interesting fact from another recently created article, then please feel free to suggest it on the Did you know talk page.

jlwoodwa (talk) 00:02, 27 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Hi there, I'm pleased to inform you that I've begun reviewing the article Plutonium Finishing Plant you nominated for GA-status according to the criteria. This process may take up to 7 days. Feel free to contact me with any questions or comments you might have during this period. Message delivered by ChristieBot, on behalf of Matarisvan -- Matarisvan (talk) 06:24, 27 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Hi there, I'm pleased to inform you that I've begun reviewing the article Operation Matterhorn you nominated for GA-status according to the criteria. This process may take up to 7 days. Feel free to contact me with any questions or comments you might have during this period. Message delivered by ChristieBot, on behalf of Matarisvan -- Matarisvan (talk) 06:26, 27 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The first round of the 2025 WikiCup ended on 26 February. As a reminder, we are no longer disqualifying the lowest-scoring contestants; everyone who competed in round 1 will advance to round 2 unless they have withdrawn or been banned from Wikipedia. Instead, the contestants with the highest round-point totals now receive tournament points at the end of each round. Unlike the round points in the main WikiCup table, which are reset at the end of each round, tournament points are carried over between rounds and can only be earned if a competitor is among the top 16 round-point scorers. This table shows all competitors who have received tournament points so far.

Round 1 was very competitive compared with previous years; two contestants scored more than 1,000 round points, and the top 16 contestants all scored more than 500 round points. The following competitors scored more than 800 round points:

• Gog the Mild (submissions) with 1,168 round points, mainly from 4 featured articles and 4 good articles on old military history, in addition to an assortment of GA and FA reviews.
• Generalissima (submissions) with 1,095 round points, mainly from 2 FAs, 2 featured lists, 8 GAs, and 16 Did You Know articles mainly on historical topics.
• BeanieFan11 (submissions), with 866 round points from 20 GAs, 23 DYKs, and 2 In the News articles primarily about athletes.
• Sammi Brie (submissions), with 846 round points from 16 GAs about radio and TV stations, 45 GA reviews, and 3 DYKs.
• Hey man im josh (submissions), with 816 round points from 5 FLs about sports and Olympic topics, 46 FL reviews, 3 ITN articles, and a large number of bonus points.
• MaranoFan (submissions), with 815 round points primarily from 3 FAs and 1 GA about music, in addition to 9 article reviews.

The full scores for round 1 can be seen here. During this round, contestants have claimed 18 featured articles, 26 featured lists, 1 featured-topic article, 197 good articles, 38 good-topic articles and more than 100 Did You Know articles. In addition, competitors have worked on 23 In the News articles, and they have conducted nearly 550 reviews.

Remember that any content promoted after 26 February but before the start of Round 2 can be claimed in Round 2, which begins on 1 March. Invitations for collaborative writing efforts or any other discussion of potentially interesting work is always welcome on the WikiCup talk page. Remember, if two or more WikiCup competitors have done significant work on an article, all can claim points. If you are concerned that your nomination—whether it is at good article candidates, a featured process, or anywhere else—will not receive the necessary reviews, please list it on Wikipedia:WikiCup/Reviews Needed. If you want to help out with the WikiCup, feel free to review one of the nominations listed on Wikipedia:WikiCup/Reviews Needed. Questions are welcome on Wikipedia talk:WikiCup, and the judges are reachable on their talk pages. Good luck! If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove your name from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 14:12, 27 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

So I have been trying to find our documentation of the projects processes, but sadly we don't have as detailed of instructions as you have. I have also looked into the possibility of contacting our project's founders, but they have not been around for quite awhile. (Most have left but a couple were blocked.) Sadly I lack knowledge of Wikipedia's templates and how they work, other then parameters related to assessment. I do know how to add them to pages though, just not how to create them. Also I am looking at starting an election in the project, I will most likely base it off of your as there is no real set way of doing in our project. (There has only been one election in our history and it was in 2008.) Sheriff U3 | Talk | Con 21:41, 1 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Let's take this in small steps. Did you have a newsletter in the past? The The Downlink (see above) from WP:WikiProject Spaceflight is an example of a simple newsletter. Hawkeye7 (discuss) 23:39, 1 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Yes And I have found out how make a newsletter using the system in-place, but not how to modify it. (Like for example to change the header design, layout, over all color, etc.) Sheriff U3 | Talk | Con 23:43, 1 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Hawkeye7 Ok I have figured out how to modify the newsletters headers, layout, color, etc. I just did not look hard enough the first time. Also I have assess to older versions of the newsletter, so I will be going through them. Sheriff U3 | Talk | Con 05:20, 3 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

On 2 March 2025, Did you know was updated with a fact from the article Fritz Strassmann, which you recently created, substantially expanded, or brought to good article status. The fact was ... that Fritz Strassmann, a co-discoverer of nuclear fission, concealed a Jewish woman in his home during World War II? The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Fritz Strassmann. You are welcome to check how many pageviews the nominated article or articles got while on the front page (here's how, Fritz Strassmann), and the hook may be added to the statistics page after its run on the Main Page has completed. Finally, if you know of an interesting fact from another recently created article, then please feel free to suggest it on the Did you know talk page.

RoySmith (talk) 00:02, 2 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Do you know why your edit to BK's RfB changed a ton of spaces to nonbreaking spaces? Here: [27]. I can imagine it annoying people. Floquenbeam (talk) 00:05, 2 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I have no idea what happened! I can assure you that it was not deliberate. Hawkeye7 (discuss) 07:59, 2 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@Floquenbeam: User talk:Cacycle/wikEd#Stop adding   provides the answer. Hawkeye7 (discuss) 03:40, 3 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Ah, I think I see. It's "fixing" invisible nonbreaking space (which are added in error by visual editor?). It's a little disheartening that we've had this problem since at least 2017. Anyway, thanks for update; I'm mostly concerned with cranky people saying "Hey don't mess with my signature!". Certainly knew you weren't doing it on purpose. --Floquenbeam (talk) 17:39, 3 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Dear Hawkeye7, I am writing this message to remind you that I have nominated the article on the battle of Meligalas for an A-class review as part of the military history Wikiproject, that you have kindly begun to conduct. Having taken into account your comments concerning the article's assessment, I tried on January 31st to fix the problems that you pointed out and to reply to the best of my abilities to what you had written. I would greatly appreciate your response. With many thanks in advance, Ashmedai 119 (talk) 17:05, 2 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I haven't forgotten; I am just very busy. Will get back to it soon. Hawkeye7 (discuss) 03:37, 3 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

On 3 March 2025, Did you know was updated with a fact from the article Transportation during the 2024 Summer Olympics and Paralympics, which you recently created, substantially expanded, or brought to good article status. The fact was ... that transportation during the 2024 Summer Olympics and Paralympics accounted for 53 percent of the games' carbon footprint? The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Transportation during the 2024 Summer Olympics and Paralympics. You are welcome to check how many pageviews the nominated article or articles got while on the front page (here's how, Transportation during the 2024 Summer Olympics and Paralympics), and the hook may be added to the statistics page after its run on the Main Page has completed. Finally, if you know of an interesting fact from another recently created article, then please feel free to suggest it on the Did you know talk page.

—Ganesha811 (talk) 00:05, 3 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I was hoping that you're able to fix this very important article, Douglas MacArthur. Btw, I love your work at the article; so thank you for that. 24.239.145.13 (talk) 23:06, 3 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

MediaWiki message delivery 02:28, 4 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]