User talk:HouseBlaster

Welcome to my talk page!

My pronouns are he/they.
I prefer to keep discussions unfragmented. If you leave me a message here, I will respond to it here as an effort to keep the entire conversation in one place. By the same token, if I leave a comment on your talk page, please respond to it there.
I am an administrator, which just means I have some extra tools to help you out. If you need help, ask! If I am not online and you need help urgently, you can find a recently active admin using this tool.
Talk page watchers are welcome to add their input!

Thank you!

Archives

This page has archives. Topics inactive for 14 days are automatically archived 2 or more at a time by if there are more than 5.

Question from Kala Khan Faizi (12:37, 11 June 2026)

Thank you so much. I am from Pakistan and I, in the past, have found a lack of extensive information, topics, and articles on Wikipedia in Urdu language. I would contribute to that area but for now I am glad that I can be an editor. I am an undergraduate student working on my thesis. Thank you, my mentor! --Kala Khan Faizi (talk) 12:37, 11 June 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Welcome Kala Khan Faizi! Let me know if you have any questions about editing :) House Blaster (he/they) 16:32, 11 June 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Question from ILoveMyDogFrankie on Umar Bakkalcha (14:22, 14 June 2026)

Hello, I am editing a page, but it is not letting me publish my changes, even though I cannot change the page in any way. It says this is part 1 of 2 "before publishing." --ILoveMyDogFrankie (talk) 14:22, 14 June 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Hmmm. You should be able to edit this page. I've asked some tech wizards for their thoughts; they should get back to us soon! Best, House Blaster (he/they) 15:23, 14 June 2026 (UTC)[reply]

ILoveMyDogFrankie, can you share more information about the error you are seeing? Ideally, can you copy/paste the exact wording of the message? Thanks, House Blaster (he/they) 02:15, 15 June 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for your help :) ILoveMyDogFrankie (talk) 13:34, 15 June 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Your the goat!

I think you are an awesome Wikipedia editor, and I want to show you my thanks :D

ILoveMyDogFrankie (talk) 14:25, 14 June 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you!! House Blaster (he/they) 16:22, 14 June 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Question from Ryankachu10 (18:07, 14 June 2026)

Hey there so how would I go about creating a whole new Wikipedia page --Ryankachu10 (talk) 18:07, 14 June 2026 (UTC)[reply]

(talk page stalker) Hi @Ryankachu10 and welcome to Wikipedia! You can get started by creating a draft of an article. For more info, see the message I left on your user talk page. --ABx11 (she/they | formerly TheAuroraBorealis | In solidarity) 19:04, 14 June 2026 (UTC)[reply]

A little suspicious…

Hi, I came across this TA, ~2026-34899-33, whose first and only edit is to an RfC. This usually is a type of thing that experienced editors would do, so this implies that they have some experience. Do you think a CU check is appropriate in this case? --ABx11 (she/they | formerly TheAuroraBorealis | In solidarity) 19:07, 14 June 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Hello ABx11! Thank you for writing. I do not believe this is enough for a check for a couple of reasons, but one main one: CheckUser requires that there be evidence of abuse of multiple accounts. Simply being precocious is not sufficient grounds for a check. There are many acceptable reasons to use a new account; maybe their previous temporary account expired. Unless there is evidence they are engaging in unacceptable uses of multiple accounts. Best, House Blaster (he/they) 02:15, 15 June 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks HB! I forgot about that point; I did not consider at all that their TA expired...I just saw that that was their only edit and got concerned. Thanks again! --ABx11 (she/they | formerly TheAuroraBorealis | In solidarity) 02:18, 15 June 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Of course! Always happy to help :) House Blaster (he/they) 02:19, 15 June 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Tech News: 2026-25

Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.

Weekly highlight

The Reader Growth team has launched an Image Browsing beta feature on the mobile web version of all Wikipedias. The feature shows an image carousel at the top of articles with 3 or more images. Editors can configure this feature with the following controls: to hide a specific image from a page, either use class=notpageimage excluding it from thumbnail previews, or class=noviewer excluding it from MediaViewer. The carousel can also be disabled from a page entirely, with the magic word __NOMEDIAVIEWERCAROUSEL__. To submit feedback or flag bugs, please visit the project page.
Wikitables can now be sorted in descending order on the first click by adding data-sort-order="desc" to the header cell. Previously, by default, clicking a column header for the first time sorts it in ascending order. This addition to a Wikitable gives it more control and flexibility, while the default behavior for subsequent clicks remains unchanged. [1]

Updates for editors

The Article guidance feature is currently being tested with some editors creating new articles on the Simple English, French, and Turkish Wikipedias. The experiment will soon begin on the Arabic and Bangla Wikipedias as well. This feature gives editors community-curated guidance to help them create articles that follow community standards. Experienced editors can continue creating or adapting outlines for specific article types that are commonly created by less experienced contributors. The outlines guide less experienced editors in creating high-quality articles. A quick guide to markups used in outlines can be found on this page. Example outlines that can be adapted and instructions for how to adapt them are on this section of the project page.
Wikis that wish to replace the "indefinitely" button in Special:Block for temporary accounts (for example, wikis that block temporary users only until account expiration) will be able to do so by creating MediaWiki:ipb-indefinite-expiry-temporary-account with the block duration they want. [2]
View all 41 community-submitted tasks that were resolved last week.

Updates for technical contributors

By the end of June, a valid user-agent string will be required for automated dumps downloads from the dumps.wikimedia.org website. Automated requests that provide a generic or empty user-agent will be blocked. This extends enforcement of the long standing user-agent policy. Access to dumps through Wikimedia Cloud Services will not change.
The roll out of global API rate limits is now complete, with limits enforced across all APIs and at the documented levels for all groups. Bots running in Toolforge/WMCS or with the bot user right on any wiki remain exempt. All bots should continue to follow the documented best practices to avoid being rate limited.
The API Portal wiki will be read only starting this week (June 15-18). The following week (June 22-25), all API Portal wiki URLs will redirect to Wikimedia APIs on mediawiki.org. Learn more on the project page.
Detailed code updates later this week: MediaWiki

Meetings and events

On June 17th at 6pm UTC the WMF will be holding Discord call focused on a code review. We've heard through the Developer Satisfaction Survey that volunteers are struggling with code review and we'd like to discuss these experiences with the goal of surfacing workable solutions. You can join the call via the Wikimedia Community Discord server.
The Latin American Wikimedia Conference will host a regional hackathon that will bring together the Wikimedia movement’s technical community including developers, system administrators, data scientists, and users with extended rights. Interested technical contributors can apply for a scholarship to participate until June 21 at midnight (Bolivia time, UTC-4).
Sign up for Wikimania Team Challenges to join this special event. The Team challenges will take place online and in person from July 21 to 22, before Wikimania conference. Everyone is welcome, regardless of skills or Wikimania registration. Teams will work on 10 important challenges supporting the Wikimedia community. For details, visit the Team Challenges page and register there. Registration closes on June 20th at 11pm UTC.

Tech news prepared by Tech News writers and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe.

MediaWiki message delivery 16:46, 15 June 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Question from GreenKangaroo48 (18:04, 15 June 2026)

Hey! How do I make an article? Like a totally new one not just editing other ones? --GreenKangaroo48 (talk) 18:04, 15 June 2026 (UTC)[reply]

@GreenKangaroo48: Welcome! Creating a new article from scratch is extremely challenging, and new editors are strongly recommended to spend a few months learning how Wikipedia works, by making improvements to some of our existing seven million articles before trying it. When you do decide to have a go at a new article, you are highly encouraged to read Help:Your first article. If you haven't already also check out the tutorial; it's a lot of fun! Happy editing! House Blaster (he/they) 18:06, 15 June 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Question from Joeydaone7 (01:57, 21 June 2026)

So is creating a fake wiki article just for fun is ok? --Joeydaone7 (talk) 01:57, 21 June 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Joeydaone7! Creating fake wiki articles is not okay. See Wikipedia:Do not create hoaxes for the official rule. If you want to have some fun, I'd recommend checking out the task center for ideas :) Best, House Blaster (he/they) 03:24, 21 June 2026 (UTC)[reply]

So is it Ok to create articles about Santa's Universe wars

So Joeydaone7 (talk) 02:03, 22 June 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Have reliable sources (such as the BBC or The New York Times) written in detail about Santa's Universe wars? Best, House Blaster (he/they) 02:05, 22 June 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Question from Landon wisian (18:14, 22 June 2026)

hello, im wondering how i should word things when i edit, and how i cite sources, i am planning to focus mainly on political figures, and important figures in our society. my sources purely consist of that single persons own statements --Landon wisian (talk) 18:14, 22 June 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Landon wisian, and welcome to Wikipedia! When writing prose, you should write using a formal tone. See Wikipedia:Writing better articles § Information style and tone for more about tone, and Help:Introduction to referencing with VisualEditor for citing sources. Let me know if you have any other questions; I am always happy to help :) House Blaster (he/they) 00:37, 23 June 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Happy Adminship Anniversary!

Wishing HouseBlaster a very happy adminship anniversary on behalf of the Wikipedia Birthday Committee! ☘︎☘︎☘︎ALEXHammeke (talk | guestbook | sandbox) 00:41, 23 June 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Happy Adminship Anniversary!

Thank you so much, DaniloDaysOfOurLives and AlexHammeke!! It's hard to believe my RfA is already two years ago… I really appreciate everything members of the Birthday Committee do to spread WikiLove :)

@Moneytrees and Theleekycauldron: thank you, as always, for all you did before, during, and after that week. I don't have the words—and doubt I ever will have the words—to explain how much it meant and still means to me. Best, House Blaster (he/they) 21:18, 23 June 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Tech News: 2026-26

Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.

Weekly highlight

Growth features are now available at Wikidata. This update enables access to Mentorship (if configured), Impact module, the Help Panel, and a simplified Newcomer Homepage (without Suggested Edits). Wikidata administrators are still configuring the features through Community Configuration.

Updates for editors

The special page Special:RangeCalculator has been created. It allows users to find an IP range without needing to rely on external tools. Until now, this tool was only available to CheckUsers. [3]
Sub-referencing is a new MediaWiki feature that allows editors to reuse references with different details. It will be deployed to most small and medium-sized Wikipedia language versions on June 23. The FAQ lists possible actions to take on your wiki to support the deployment. Check the rollout plan for the next deployment steps. [4]
Starting next week, users will get a notification when they are blocked or unblocked from editing, or if this block changes. [5]
View all 32 community-submitted tasks that were resolved last week.

Updates for technical contributors

Starting next week, abuse filters that are set to "require CAPTCHA verification" will begin to also affect users with the skipcaptcha right, which includes most autoconfirmed users. Bots are exempted. This change only affects edits that trigger an abuse filter. The skipcaptcha right will continue to exempt users from having to solve CAPTCHAs in the ordinary course of using the wikis. [6]
Reference documentation for the Lift Wing API has moved from the API Portal to the interactive REST Sandbox.
The API Portal wiki is now closed. For API documentation, see Wikimedia APIs on mediawiki.org. All API Portal wiki URLs (https://api.wikimedia.org/wiki/) will redirect to the mediawiki.org page starting June 22. [7]
Detailed code updates later this week: MediaWiki

Meetings and events

Join an online call on 25 June at 2:30pm UTC to meet the current Wikimedia interns for Google Summer of Code and Outreachy. Interns will provide an overview of their projects and a brief demo of their work so far. Attendees are encouraged to share ideas and connections in their community.

Tech news prepared by Tech News writers and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe.

MediaWiki message delivery 13:03, 23 June 2026 (UTC)[reply]

RFC about AI-generated content in Wikimedia Commons

Copied from Wikipedia:Village pump (miscellaneous) § RFC about AI-generated content in Wikimedia Commons because this page is listed on Wikipedia:Village pump (miscellaneous)/Subscribe.

You are invited to participate in a request for comment on Wikimedia Commons about a policy update for AI content. This may affect files that are uploaded to Wikimedia Commons for use on this project. Thank you. Codename Noreste (talk) 17:11, 23 June 2026 (UTC)[reply]

A yummy cookie for you!

For your lovely GA reviews of 2 articles I created and nominated! Thank you so much you amazing guy :) DaniloDaysOfOurLives (talk) 18:43, 24 June 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you so much, Danilo! I really enjoyed working with you :) House Blaster (he/they) 19:34, 24 June 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Aw thank you! Also, I just realised: when I was going through your comments, I was editing the page and replied to every single one individually, and then submitted it and wrote my comment pinging you. But I just noticed the replies did not publish for some reason - maybe I forgot to press "publish"?? But that is why there were not replies to your comments, I am so sorry! DaniloDaysOfOurLives (talk) 19:44, 24 June 2026 (UTC)[reply]

No worries! Happens to the best of us, and I was happy with all your changes :) House Blaster (he/they) 19:45, 24 June 2026 (UTC)[reply]

In appreciation

		The Template Barnstar
		For {{Contentious topics/welcome}} in particular. ~~ AirshipJungleman29 (talk) 15:24, 25 June 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you so much, Airship :) House Blaster (he/they) 17:09, 25 June 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Deletion

Hey, I hope you are having a beautiful day! Can you please delete this revision? [8] This is due to privacy concerns and an OTRS request DaniloDaysOfOurLives (talk) 20:35, 26 June 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Done :) In the future, it is better to request privacy-related revdel by emailing Special:EmailUser/Oversight (oversight-en-wp

wikipedia.org); it avoids the Streisand effect. Best, House Blaster (he/they) 20:59, 26 June 2026 (UTC)[reply]