User talk:Discott

Archived talk pages can be viewed here.

• To see discussions from September 2010 to November 2015 see: User:Discott/talk archive 1
• To see discussions from December 2015 to November 2017 see: User:Discott/talk archive 2
• To see discussions from December 2017 to February 2019 see: User:Discott/talk archive 3

And so ends the first round of the competition. Everyone with a positive score moves on to Round 2. With 56 contestants qualifying, each group in Round 2 contains seven contestants, with the two leaders from each group due to qualify for Round 3 as well as the top sixteen remaining contestants.

Our top scorers in Round 1 were:

• L293D, a WikiCup newcomer, led the field with ten good articles on submarines for a total of 357 points.
• Adam Cuerden, a WikiCup veteran, came next with 274 points, mostly from eight featured pictures, restorations of artwork.
• MPJ-DK, a wrestling enthusiast, was in third place with 263 points, garnered from a featured list, five good articles, two DYKs and four GARs.
• Usernameunique came next at 243, with a featured article and a good article, both on ancient helmets.
• Squeamish Ossifrage was in joint fifth place with 224 points, mostly garnered from bringing the 1937 Fox vault fire to featured article status.
• Ed! was also on 224, with an amazing number of good article reviews (56 actually).

These contestants, like all the others, now have to start scoring points again from scratch. Between them, contestants completed reviews on 143 good articles, one hundred more than the number of good articles they claimed for, thus making a substantial dent in the review backlog. Well done all!

Remember that any content promoted after the end of Round 1 but before the start of Round 2 can be claimed in Round 2. 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.

If you want to help out with the WikiCup, please do your bit to keep down the review backlogs! Questions are welcome on Wikipedia talk:WikiCup, and the judges are reachable on their talk pages or by email. Good luck! If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove yourself from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. Godot13 (talk), Sturmvogel 66 (talk), Vanamonde (talk) and Cwmhiraeth (talk).

Thanks for uploading File:Dodo Pizza logo.png. The image description page currently specifies that the image is non-free and may only be used on Wikipedia under a claim of fair use. However, the image is currently not used in any articles on Wikipedia. If the image was previously in an article, please go to the article and see why it was removed. You may add it back if you think that that will be useful. However, please note that images for which a replacement could be created are not acceptable for use on Wikipedia (see our policy for non-free media).

Note that any non-free images not used in any articles will be deleted after seven days, as described in section F5 of the criteria for speedy deletion. Thank you. AntiCompositeNumber (talk) 23:54, 2 March 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for uploading File:VBS Mutual Bank.jpg. The image description page currently specifies that the image is non-free and may only be used on Wikipedia under a claim of fair use. However, the image is currently not used in any articles on Wikipedia. If the image was previously in an article, please go to the article and see why it was removed. You may add it back if you think that that will be useful. However, please note that images for which a replacement could be created are not acceptable for use on Wikipedia (see our policy for non-free media).

Note that any non-free images not used in any articles will be deleted after seven days, as described in section F5 of the criteria for speedy deletion. Thank you. --B-bot (talk) 02:45, 25 March 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Greetings, Discott. How are you? I have noticed on the 2019 South African general election article that you have uploaded a few images of the election posters situated in Cape Town. Can you perhaps take more photos of the election posters? I reside in Paarl, more specifically the quite-predominant Afrikaans part of Paarl, so it is basically Freedom Front Plus or Democratic Alliance or nothing. I was in Cape Town yesterday, and I saw a lot of ACDP/DA/EFF/ANC posters that we don't have here in Paarl. I tried to take a few pictures, but, unfortunately, the pictures came out all blurry. You take the best, most high-quality pictures. Do you maybe see an opportunity to go out your way and go take some pictures? it would be of great help! Thanks in advance. Lefcentreright (talk) 21:10, 26 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Lefcentreright: I have also been thinking about this especially given the disproportionate number of DA posters relative to other parties. Unfortunately there are not many EFF posters around Cape Town. I was in Johannesburg a few weeks ago where I saw many EFF and other party posters but I was there for such a short period of time that I was unable to get any pictures of them. However I have managed to take a generic EFF poster recently and a picture of a GOOD campaign bus.--Discott (talk) 20:11, 28 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]

@Discott: Thanks for the posters! I appreciate it a lot! Lefcentreright (talk) 20:32, 29 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]

The second round of the 2019 WikiCup has now finished. Contestants needed to scored 32 points to advance into round 3. Our top four scorers in round 2 all scored over 400 points and were:

• Cas Liber (1210), our winner in 2016, with two featured articles and three DYKs. He also made good use of the bonus points available, more than doubling his score by choosing appropriate articles to work on.
• Kosack (750), last year's runner up, with an FA, a GA, two FLs, and five DYKs.
• Adam Cuerden (480), a WikiCup veteran, with 16 featured pictures, mostly restorations.
• Zwerg Nase (461), a seasoned competitor, with a FA, a GA and an ITN item.

Other notable performances were put in by Barkeep49 with six GAs, Ceranthor, Lee Vilenski, and Canada Hky, each with seven GARs, and MPJ-DK with a seven item GT.

So far contestants have achieved nine featured articles between them and a splendid 80 good articles. Commendably, 227 GARs have been completed during the course of the 2019 WikiCup, so the backlog of articles awaiting GA review has been reduced as a result of contestants' activities. The judges are pleased with the thorough GARs that are being performed, and have hardly had to reject any. As we enter the third round, remember that any content promoted after the end of round 2 but before the start of round 3 can be claimed in round 3. Remember too that you must claim your points within 14 days of "earning" them.

If you are concerned that your nomination—whether it is at good article nominations, a featured process, or anywhere else—will not receive the necessary reviews, please list it on Wikipedia:WikiCup/Reviews Needed (remember to remove your listing when no longer required). Questions are welcome on Wikipedia talk:WikiCup, and the judges are reachable on their talk pages or by email. 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. Godot13 (talk), Sturmvogel 66 (talk), Vanamonde (talk) and Cwmhiraeth (talk) MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 17:46, 1 May 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, Discott! I really do appreciate the award. Lefcentreright (talk) 16:08, 13 May 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Hey, in https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ZAR-USD_exchange_rate_1974-2014.png, in the legend to the right, 'percentage' is spelled with an extra h. If you ever wanted to update it, it might be good to address that as well. Thanks for your time! LRataplan (talk) 12:34, 30 May 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Hey Douglas

I'm keen on popping into the meetup on Sunday - this is my first time joining, other than my laptop, is there anything else I should bring with or know about?

Thanks Jennifer Nefiger (talk) 13:29, 31 May 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Nefiger, that's great! No need to bring anything else. Will be great to have you and see you there. Discott (talk) 16:28, 31 May 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Hi again - please accept my apologies, unfortunately I will no longer be able to make the meetup today. Will keep an eye out for any updates on future meetings. Hope to see you soon. 209.203.28.15 (talk) 08:38, 2 June 2019 (UTC)[reply]

No worries Nefiger, see you next time on the 7th July then?--Discott (talk) 10:20, 2 June 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Hi, there - how are you? I propose that the name of the article be just "South African energy crisis" because there is no confirmation that the blackouts have completely stopped for good. There is still speculation that load-shedding will be implemented later in the year, because of the ongoing woes at Eskom. Have a great week. Lefcentreright (talk) 15:33, 9 June 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Good suggestion. I support that name change.--Discott (talk) 20:01, 9 June 2019 (UTC)[reply]

The third round of the 2019 WikiCup has now come to an end. The 16 users who made it to the fourth round needed to score at least 68 points, which is substantially lower than last year's 227 points. Our top scorers in round 3 were:

• Cas Liber, our winner in 2016, with 500 points derived mainly from a featured article and two GAs on natural history topics
• Adam Cuerden, with 480 points, a tally built on 16 featured pictures, the result of meticulous restoration work
• SounderBruce, a finalist in the last two years, with 306 points from a variety of submissions, mostly related to sport or the State of Washington
• Usernameunique, with 305 points derived from a featured article and two GAs on archaeology and related topics

Contestants managed 4 (5) featured articles, 4 featured lists, 18 featured pictures, 29 good articles, 50 DYK entries, 9 ITN entries, and 39 good article reviews. As we enter the fourth round, remember that any content promoted after the end of round 3 but before the start of round 4 can be claimed in round 4. Please also remember that you must claim your points within 14 days of "earning" them, and it is imperative to claim them in the correct round; one FA claim had to be rejected because it was incorrectly submitted (claimed in Round 3 when it qualified for Round 2), so be warned! When doing GARs, please make sure that you check that all the GA criteria are fully met.

If you are concerned that your nomination—whether it is at good article nominations, a featured process, or anything else—will not receive the necessary reviews, please list it on Wikipedia:WikiCup/Reviews Needed (remember to remove your listing when no longer required). Questions are welcome on Wikipedia talk:WikiCup, and the judges are reachable on their talk pages or by email. 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. Godot13 (talk), Sturmvogel 66 (talk), Vanamonde (talk) and Cwmhiraeth (talk). MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 20:12, 2 July 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for uploading File:African Rainbow Minerals (logo).gif. The image description page currently specifies that the image is non-free and may only be used on Wikipedia under a claim of fair use. However, the image is currently not used in any articles on Wikipedia. If the image was previously in an article, please go to the article and see why it was removed. You may add it back if you think that that will be useful. However, please note that images for which a replacement could be created are not acceptable for use on Wikipedia (see our policy for non-free media).

Note that any non-free images not used in any articles will be deleted after seven days, as described in section F5 of the criteria for speedy deletion. Thank you. --B-bot (talk) 17:26, 10 July 2019 (UTC)[reply]

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Welcome back to the Editing newsletter.

Since the last newsletter, the team has released two new features for the mobile visual editor and has started developing three more. All of this work is part of the team's goal to make editing on mobile web simpler.

Before talking about the team's recent releases, we have a question for you:

Are you willing to try a new way to add and change links?

If you are interested, we would value your input! You can try this new link tool in the mobile visual editor on a separate wiki.

Follow these instructions and share your experience:

📲 Try Edit Cards.

The mobile visual editor is a simpler editing tool, for smartphones and tablets using the mobile site. The Editing team has recently launched two new features to improve the mobile visual editor:

1. Section editing
   • The purpose is to help contributors focus on their edits.
   • The team studied this with an A/B test. This test showed that contributors who could use section editing were 1% more likely to publish the edits they started than people with only full-page editing.
2. Loading overlay
   • The purpose is to smooth the transition between reading and editing.

Section editing and the new loading overlay are now available to everyone using the mobile visual editor.

This is a list of our most active projects. Watch these pages to learn about project updates and to share your input on new designs, prototypes and research findings.

• Edit cards: This is a clearer way to add and edit links, citations, images, templates, etc. in articles. You can try this feature now. Go here to see how: 📲Try Edit Cards.
• Mobile toolbar refresh: This project will learn if contributors are more successful when the editing tools are easier to recognize.
• Mobile visual editor availability: This A/B test asks: Are newer contributors more successful if they use the mobile visual editor? We are collaborating with 20 Wikipedias to answer this question.
• Usability improvements: This project will make the mobile visual editor easier to use.  The goal is to let contributors stay focused on editing and to feel more confident in the editing tools.

• Wikimania: Several members of the Editing Team will be attending Wikimania in August 2019. They will lead a session about mobile editing in the Community Growth space. Talk to them about how editing can be improved.
• Talk Pages: In the coming months, the Editing Team will begin improving talk pages and communication on the wikis.

The VisualEditor on mobile is a good place to learn more about the projects we are working on. The team wants to talk with you about anything related to editing. If you have something to say or ask, please leave a message at Talk:VisualEditor on mobile.

PPelberg (WMF) (talk) and Whatamidoing (WMF) (talk) 21:25, 15 July 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Hi. Thank you for your recent edits. An automated process has detected that when you recently edited Wynberg Boys' High School, you added a link pointing to the disambiguation page John Macnaughton (check to confirm | fix with Dab solver). Such links are usually incorrect, since a disambiguation page is merely a list of unrelated topics with similar titles. (Read the FAQ • Join us at the DPL WikiProject.)

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Thanks for uploading File:Vida e Caffe logo.png. The image description page currently specifies that the image is non-free and may only be used on Wikipedia under a claim of fair use. However, the image is currently not used in any articles on Wikipedia. If the image was previously in an article, please go to the article and see why it was removed. You may add it back if you think that that will be useful. However, please note that images for which a replacement could be created are not acceptable for use on Wikipedia (see our policy for non-free media).

Note that any non-free images not used in any articles will be deleted after seven days, as described in section F5 of the criteria for speedy deletion. Thank you. --B-bot (talk) 17:55, 16 August 2019 (UTC)[reply]

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While all constructive contributions to Wikipedia are appreciated, pages may be deleted for any of several reasons.

You may prevent the proposed deletion by removing the {{proposed deletion/dated files}} notice, but please explain why in your edit summary or on the file's talk page.

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This bot DID NOT nominate any file(s) for deletion; please refer to the page history of each individual file for details. Thanks, FastilyBot (talk) 01:01, 21 August 2019 (UTC)[reply]

The fourth round of the competition has finished in a flurry of last minute activity, with 454 points being required to qualify for the final round. It was a hotly competitive round with two contestants with over 400 points being eliminated, and all but two of the finalists having achieved an FA during the round. Casliber, our 2016 winner, was the highest point-scorer, followed by Enwebb and Lee Vilenski, who are both new to the competition. In fourth place was SounderBruce, a finalist last year. But all those points are swept away as we start afresh for the final round.

Round 4 saw the achievement of 11 featured articles. In addition, Adam Cuerden scored with 18 FPs, Lee Vilenski led the GA score with 8 GAs while Kosack performed 15 GA reviews. There were around 40 DYKs, 40 GARs and 31 GAs overall during round 4. Even though contestants performed more GARs than they achieved GAs, there was still some frustration at the length of time taken to get articles reviewed.

As we start round 5, we say goodbye to the eight competitors who didn't quite make it; thank you for the useful contributions you have made to the Cup and Wikipedia, and we hope you will join us again next year. Remember that any content promoted after the end of round 4 but before the start of round 5 can be claimed in round 5. Remember too that you must claim your points within 14 days of "earning" them (some people have fallen foul of this rule and the points have been removed).

If you are concerned that your nomination, whether it be for a good article, a featured process, or anything else, will not receive the necessary reviews, please list it on Wikipedia:WikiCup/Reviews Needed (remember to remove your listing when no longer required). If you want to help out with the WikiCup, please do your bit to help keep down the review backlogs! Questions are welcome on Wikipedia talk:WikiCup, and the judges are reachable on their talk pages or by email. If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove yourself from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. Godot13, Sturmvogel 66, Vanamonde and Cwmhiraeth MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 18:44, 1 September 2019 (UTC)[reply]

A discussion is taking place as to whether the article Olivia Jackson is suitable for inclusion in Wikipedia according to Wikipedia's policies and guidelines or whether it should be deleted.

The article will be discussed at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Olivia Jackson until a consensus is reached, and anyone, including you, is welcome to contribute to the discussion. The nomination will explain the policies and guidelines which are of concern. The discussion focuses on high-quality evidence and our policies and guidelines.

Users may edit the article during the discussion, including to improve the article to address concerns raised in the discussion. However, do not remove the article-for-deletion notice from the top of the article. JDDJS (talk to me • see what I've done) 21:06, 13 September 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Hi, Discott. How are you? I recently discovered that you were the Chair of Wikimedia ZA, though it might be belated, but congratulations on obtaining such a senior role in South African Wikipedia. Your contributions are valued and appreciated. I have been contemplating for a while about notifying you and the others about this big, troublesome issue: The quality and standard of Wikipedia articles regarding South Africa is declining, and fast. Articles are littered with "outdated", "clean up", "orphan", "stub", "citation needed", "content explanation needed" and many more other templates regarding the condition.

One of the initial reasons why I started editing Wikipedia was to improve the quality and notability of these articles. I was frankly gatvol of opening an article and seeing that it is part of the infamous "one-liner and one source" (stub) articles. I was also tired of seeing vandalism and just plain nonsense on the articles, so I have attempted to improve the readability and content. We here in South Africa have so much to show and tell the world, but our Wikipedia articles do not reflect it. If we as a collective group of editors put our skills and knowledge together, we can fill the DYK, Good Article and Featured Article and List sections quite easily.

Now for the queries:

• South African Politics (My editing-turf) is struggling a bit. I looked at the Executive Council (South Africa) article and see that it is filled with a sea of red links. All of the Western Cape MECs have Wikipedia articles. Why can't the rest have? Also, the provincial departments (Only Western Cape departments have three articles!) and national departments either have no articles at all or are just outdated and lacking newer information. We need to create more MEC profile articles (for instance, Limpopo MEC for Finance and many more MEC positions should have articles). The national ministerial articles are stubs. Those articles should be expanded more since the positions are vital and whoever holds them, have immense power. All the MPLs should have articles too. I want to nominate Alan Winde to obtain Good Article status. It is currently being peer-reviewed (no one has responded yet). Can you maybe just check the quality and be the "peer reviewer"? It would be appreciated. I also want to nominate List of members of the 6th KwaZulu-Natal Legislature (Currently in progress) for Featured List status. Can you maybe give advice on how the article should look for it to get the prestigious title?
• Towns and cities. Almost all the same reasons as above. Many articles don't have many references and are consequently tagged with "additional sources needed" tags. It should not be like this. Plenty of the old Karoo towns have the potential of becoming a Good Articles or DYKs.
• Personalities. Most articles in this section are outdated and lack references. Leon Schuster and many others' Wikipedia articles need some work.

Thank you for your time. Ping as many people as possible. Maybe make an announcement on WikiProject South Africa? Let's get as many people as possible involved in this project.

Thank you. Dankie. Enkosi.

LefcentrerightTalk 15:56, 16 September 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks Lefcentreright, that's very nice of you. You are right about the quanitity and quality of South African articles which is why it is a focus of Wikimedia ZA to try and get more people working on them. You should join us for the Wikipedia meetup we are having on the 5th October in Cape Town. We talk about this sort of stuff there and it is a great place to make a plan for them.--Discott (talk) 16:02, 16 September 2019 (UTC)[reply]