User talk:Asked42

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-- Wikinews Welcome (talk) 21:27, 21 June 2023 (UTC)

Article about Wagner Group's rebellion

I started an article titled Private mercenary group rebels against Russia about this same event before Prigozhin halted the advance. I had submitted it for review but the story developed too quickly and the article now needs to be updated.

You are free to incorporate parts of or all of that article into yours or finish the one I started. I doubt I will have time to do much work at all on this one now.

I use html comments to cite my sources for reviewers. You can see the comments using Source editor mode.

Let me know if you have any questions. I might have some time later this week to work on the story — should you decide not to complete your version. If you continue working on yours, I'll step back and let you take it over the finish line.

Michael.C.Wright (^Talk/_Published) 13:57, 27 June 2023 (UTC)

I am relatively new to Wikinews and therefore lack experience. However, I believe we can collaborate on the article you previously created and further develop it. I expect that your article is relatively issue-free, unlike mine, which may contain some errors and be relatively brief. I am willing to contribute to your version by providing suggestions and exploring other avenues to enhance its quality. Thanks. Asked42 (talk) 14:16, 27 June 2023 (UTC)

Great! Feel free to jump right in and edit the article started: Private mercenary group rebels against Russia. Feel free to adjust what I have already composed by changing tense, adding or subtracting content, etc.

It should be relatively straight-forward for you to incorporate your content starting around "On Saturday, 24th of June, the Wagner Group began to withdraw..." into the background content I have and expand from there. Remember the focus of the article. The title dictates the who, what, when, and where. If you want to continue with the "stability" angle of your article, you'll have to adjust the article slightly to reflect that and then make the content flow through the inverted pyramid. You'll also have to change my title, which is easy to do (click on "More" at the top and select "Rename").

I do think the stability question is now the main concern regarding the incident.

Here are a couple links to articles I've collected since the incident, in hopes of updating and expanding what I started:

https://news.sky.com/story/russia-rebellion-wagner-group-troops-to-be-absorbed-into-russian-military-as-mercenary-boss-yevgeny-prigozhin-heads-to-belarus-12909128

https://www.economist.com/europe/2023/06/24/how-the-mutiny-in-russia-will-shape-the-battlefield-in-ukraine

The following Twitter list has a lot of good, open-source intelligence (OSI) that can get you links, help make sense of things, provide context, etc. Just be careful about using any OSI as a direct source for an article. You have to vet it all very carefully yourself. I've never tried to use it as a direct source so I don't know if it's permitted. But I do often rely on it to get context and links to stronger (and more-mainstream) sources: https://twitter.com/i/lists/1483456727219683332?s=20

Again, feel free to jump in to what I created and do what you need to do with it. For the next day or two I won't have a lot of time to help. I may have more time closer to the end of this week. Don't wait for me and don't worry about me being offended by your changes to anything I have already composed.

Michael.C.Wright (^Talk/_Published) 17:31, 27 June 2023 (UTC)

I will try to do it based on my expertise. Whenever you have time, please make the necessary changes to that edit. If it doesn't seem very good, simply undo it and do what should be done. Also, I believe it is risky to entrust the initial work to a newbie. Perhaps, I will try! Thanks! Asked42 (talk) 17:52, 27 June 2023 (UTC)

Modi

I liked your article: Short, sweet... to the point.--Bddpaux (talk) 20:45, 30 June 2023 (UTC)

This is quite overdue!

		The Order of the Humble Pencil For completing 5 edits.
		Great work! Keep it up!Bddpaux (talk) 20:47, 30 June 2023 (UTC)

Thanks a lot. Asked42 (talk) 21:17, 30 June 2023 (UTC)

And you might put this on your User Page

This award is presented to new reporters who have started 10 or fewer news articles.

-- Bddpaux (talk) 20:50, 30 June 2023 (UTC)

Adiprush article

Please look at my comments on the Talk page for that article. We have a certain tone/style we favor here. I have left you some suggestions there. Let me know if I can help you in some way.--Bddpaux (talk) 21:37, 30 June 2023 (UTC)

I have seen your comment on the talk page of the Adipurush article, and I will do my best to follow a news-style approach and incorporate the suggested edits you made. I don't have a journalistic background, so this is quite different and somewhat challenging for me. Another challenge I encounter while writing articles is that English is not my native language, which may result in tone and tense issues. Thank you for your help. Asked42 (talk) 21:54, 30 June 2023 (UTC)

France article

Excellent start on that article. Keep at it!--Bddpaux (talk) 21:45, 30 June 2023 (UTC)

I am struggling with this sentence: " Authorities have reported numerous arrests and injuries, including among police officers." I am not sure about the meaning of that. Are police officers being arrested AND being injured?--Bddpaux (talk) 16:26, 3 July 2023 (UTC)

The sentence means that police officers are also sustaining injuries. Asked42 (talk) 16:35, 3 July 2023 (UTC)

This sentence was based on examples of reports and clashes, which can be found in the third and last source articles. Asked42 (talk) 16:48, 3 July 2023 (UTC)

OK. --Bddpaux (talk) 16:55, 3 July 2023 (UTC)

kenya story

is it stale yet? Thank you. HushPuppie280 (talk) 22:10, 3 July 2023 (UTC)

As per WN:Stale, "An unpublished article is typically considered stale when it's five to seven days old." So I guess it may become stale. However, I am unaware of what the exceptions are. Asked42 (talk) 22:24, 3 July 2023 (UTC)

Thank you for the reply! HushPuppie280 (talk) 22:25, 3 July 2023 (UTC)

Support.....

I would appreciate a vote of Support for check user here: https://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Wikinews:Requests_for_permissions#CheckUser_and_Oversight --Bddpaux (talk) 16:00, 30 May 2024 (UTC)

For sure! Asked42 (talk) 16:11, 30 May 2024 (UTC)

We need more reviewers

Do you have any interest in becoming a reviewer? If so, I would like to nominate you. —Michael.C.Wright (^Talk/_Published) 16:41, 7 December 2024 (UTC)

Thank you for the interest. But, I don’t think I am capable or ready to be a reviewer at the moment. Honestly, I feel I’m not yet a proficient editor and still have much to learn about the concepts of news writing. Asked42 (talk) 16:51, 7 December 2024 (UTC)

I won't push you. But I do think you are capable and you write well and your articles are clean. You also have demonstrated a willingness to help with articles you didn't originally write.

Having said that, if you change your mind, I would volunteer to work with you on learning the ropes. If you are interested but would like to take some time before being nominated, then please continue developing good articles and helping others, even using {{Pre-review}} as practice/learning. I think you'd make a fine reviewer. —Michael.C.Wright (^Talk/_Published) 17:11, 7 December 2024 (UTC)

I will try to create more good articles. Thanks. Asked42 (talk) 07:49, 8 December 2024 (UTC)

Re: revitalising Wikinews

Hi, I'm reaching out to you as you indicated support for revitalising Wikinews. Here are a few ways to help out, in no particular order:

1. write new articles by style guide and content guide
2. find news which happened today and share it on live chat or a news tip page
3. read drafts in Newsroom, especially those submitted for review, and edit them to make them more comprehensive or more current
4. read drafts in Newsroom, especially those that failed review recently, and address reviewer's comments quickly and re-submit for review
5. chat with new authors (of articles in Newsroom) and help them understand the key concepts
6. subscribe at Wikinews:Water cooler (there are 5 subforums, open each and click 'Subscribe' link at top - then keep a close eye on your Echo notifications) to help newcomers and help with editing articles when someone requests assistance
7. chat on live chat and help newcomers and reviewers with their review process
8. help with software development for authoring or reviewing articles, perhaps for the mobile platforms
9. chat with other contributors on audio or video chat
10. present notes about how Wikinews works at various conferences via audio and video communucations [as we don't have funds for travel at present] this can be linux, programming, journalistical, or wikimedia themed conferences
11. figure out how to get someone to do any of the above through a grant, sometimes google summer of code
12. find high school and university educators who would like to teach their class journalism by asking them to write articles for Wikinews (was done with in the past, and we have extension installed for marking students)
13. collaborate with Pharos on getting more news coverage of the New York City and adjacent areas
14. proofread, or read, Wikinews articles out loud for Audio Wikinews
15. make English Wikinews accounts on various social media like twitter, facebook, blue sky app (sp?), others [in consultation with someone on-wiki first] ensuring you're posting new news articles there with appropriate tags, moderate comments, and setup multiple moderators if possible and document which contributor is in charge of which social network account for Wikinews and how articles are being posted there

Please let me know which of these points you're most comfortable with, and/or would like to learn.

Which points would you like to contribute? Please name up to 3-5 points, if you like. Or suggest your own. :-)

I'm happy to connect with you and guide you in any of the above areas.

Regards, Gryllida (talk) 22:53, 16 March 2025 (UTC)

LeadManager

I am using LeadManager to re-arrange the lead order of just Leads 1 and 2. I am trying to do that by updating the leads one at a time. When I use LM to update Lead 2 with "Oregon court rules voter-approved gun law constitutional," I get unexpected results: it is defaulting to a generic image for the infobox (scales of justice) instead of the article's image. The description is pulling in text from the image property (thumb|left|alt=high capacity magazines|), and the image size isn't defaulting to 100px100px for Lead 2. It successfully updated the Lead when I manually correct these. I verified the behavior is the same for "Mark Carney sworn in as Prime Minister of Canada."

When I've used it in the past to update all Leads, it has worked great! Let me know if I can help test and troubleshoot in any way.

Thanks again for developing this. —Michael.C.Wright (^Talk/_Reviewer) 14:30, 19 March 2025 (UTC)

The image issue has been resolved. The problem occurred because the LM could not handle the more complex image patterns used in those articles, but it can now.

Regarding the image size logic: The size follows this rule, "Size of Selected Template (Size of Other Templates)." For example, if we select only the Lead 2 template, the selected template now becomes Lead 2, and the image size defaults to 150x150px. This means the image size does not automatically revert to 100x100px if the template is not Lead 1. (But, On the form you can make the adjustment on the Additional Options)

Would you like me to change this logic so that the image size defaults to 100x100px whenever the selected template is not Lead 1? Asked42 (talk) 15:28, 19 March 2025 (UTC)

Thank you! Would you like me to adjust the logic so that the image size defaults to 100x100px whenever the selected template is not Lead 1? This might help streamline the process for reviewers who prefer not to (or don't know they need to) adjust the size manually, making it a smoother experience overall. —Michael.C.Wright (^Talk/_Reviewer) 16:07, 19 March 2025 (UTC)

I have made the changes. Now, if the selected template is not Lead 1, the image size will default to 100x100px.

Also, if you want to update only specific leads (like the first two), you can do it individually or use the "Explicit Update" option with this command: "1->2". This will shift Lead 1 to Lead 2, and new data will be added to Lead 1. Asked42 (talk) 17:17, 19 March 2025 (UTC)

That's a cool option. I saw it but since I was doing a 1<—>2 swap, I didn't think to make #2 "new data" and use the 1->2 option. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Next time. —Michael.C.Wright (^Talk/_Reviewer) 13:25, 20 March 2025 (UTC)

Invitation to live chat

Hi Asked42

You're welcome to join English Wikinews live chat:

• #wikinews-en ^{live connect}

Note: May need to stay in the live chat for a few days before a conversation starts. Please keep the chat open for a while and don't close it.

The other place has a news feed:

• ###news ^{live connect}

If you'd like another news feed, I'm happy to add it to another channel.

Regards, -- Gryllida (talk) 21:02, 31 March 2025 (UTC)

LeadManager

Hey there! I just used LeadManager to do a custom shuffle of 2 through 5 and it worked swimmingly.

However, I've noticed twice now (and it still does it) that it is pulling the wrong sentences from Danish foreign minister responds to U.S. vice president on Greenland. For some reason it is pulling "Currently, relations between..." and "Over the past several years..." as the first and second sentences. I'm able to manually over-ride it successfully.

I just updated lead 5 with [[ Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah sworn in as Namibia's first female president]] and for that one, the correct first and second sentences are pulled.

Let me know how I can help test! And again, thank you for writing and maintaining this tool! —Michael.C.Wright (^Talk/_Reviewer) 15:28, 2 April 2025 (UTC)

I have noticed this issue and tried to figure out why, for some reason, it is only fetching from the "Currently, relations between..." sentence. But, I have not been able to determine the cause or why this happens only for this article. I will continue trying to resolve this and will let you know once it's fixed. Sorry for the inconvenience. Asked42 (talk) 17:10, 2 April 2025 (UTC)

I think it's now correctly fetching the sentences. Could you have a look? A very silly mistake in the code was causing the issue. Asked42 (talk) 17:34, 2 April 2025 (UTC)

So far so good! I'll let you know how things go. Thanks again. —Michael.C.Wright (^Talk/_Reviewer) 13:40, 3 April 2025 (UTC)

RR

Hi Asked42, would you like to be added to the 'users who can make article revisions by request' group? Then you'll get 'Minor revision requested' or 'Major revision requested' notifications in Echo (top right corner of the page) when someone requests an article edit.

This contribution -- with such edits potentially taking only 3-5 minutes each -- would help a lot to get the articles written and published faster, as the news story reviewer isn't disqualified from reviewing by making a substantial edit to article content.

This is particularly fruitful to be involved into this if you're often logged into the wiki (not necessarily Wikinews, i.e. Wikipedia or Wikimedia Commons would work equally well, as Wikinews notifications get delivered to all sister wikis) and reading the notifications on it, and have time to make the edits. If you agree, I will add you to the list at the {{pingrr}} page. What do you think? Gryllida (talk) 19:55, 29 April 2025 (UTC)

@Gryllida: Thanks. I would like to be added, though my contributions may be limited due to time constraints. Asked42 (talk) 14:50, 30 April 2025 (UTC)

Hi, how do you read me

Hi, I included you at your request into the "pingrr" list recently. You'd've received a few dozens of "RR" echo notifications in the last two weeks. Did they arrive? Could you please tell me what, if anything, is preventing you from responding to them?

Revision requests are an essential part of the collaboration process, and your participation is vitally important. Please provide me with the feedback, it would help me a lot with making this process more efficient and easier for you to use.

Thanks. Gryllida (talk) 05:20, 18 May 2025 (UTC)

Shameless copy of LeadManager

I like it so much I mimicked the layout and tried to copy some of the functionality. ツ User:Michael.C.Wright/MarkupManager Hope you don't mind. —Michael.C.Wright (^Talk/_Reviewer) 13:26, 18 June 2025 (UTC)

That's pretty cool and useful. For the design, I used the Codex design approach. You can find some helpful documentation about Wikimedia's Codex here and here. -- Asked42 (talk) 13:29, 19 June 2025 (UTC)

Many thanks. I'll see if I can get the Codex incorporated. I do like the cleanness of LeadManager. —Michael.C.Wright (^Talk/_Reviewer) 13:58, 19 June 2025 (UTC)

Live chat software trial

Live chat software trial (August-September 2025)

Hi, i am running a software to make live chat easier to use. It requires installation of QuasselDroid on Android, Quassel Client on Windows or Mac or Linux, and I don't know what on iOS (let me know if this is your main platform). The software would connect you to the official IRC channel for Wikinews and stay connected including all chat history, including when you closed the app. I am achieving this by hosting it on my Quassel Core on my server. If you are interested in trying this option, please install the Quassel Client software, and after this is done (not before), ensure you have a working email in your Special:Preferences so i can email you login credentials, and specify your desired IRC nickname. Please note this is open source software with low bandwidth usage and the communication is only via text, so it is not privacy invasive. This platform is older than the web, irc existed since 1980s. Thanks. Gryllida 22:07, 7 August 2025 (UTC)

Hi, please install the Quassel Client, it is free/open source, low bandwidth, low RAM and CPU usage

and tell me your desired nickname

I would greatly appreciated if you could use it for a few weeks and then leave me some feedback. This chat platform has 3 reviewers on it, and yourself being sitting in chat all 24/7 via this software could make collaboration much easier as then others could send messages to the group while your device is offline, and you could get notifications on mobile. Thanks Gryllida 20:09, 10 August 2025 (UTC)

You are now an 'interface administrator'

Hi Asked42

Congratulations, you're now an interface administrator. I would suggest you to post a note about the changes that have been made, around once a month (or at any frequency that is convenient to you) at Wikinews:Water cooler/technical; they should be a little bit more interesting for subscribers than the generic technical newsletters from the WMF.

Please let me know if you have any questions or issues.

Regards, -- Gryllida 19:47, 24 September 2025 (UTC)

Thanks. I will try my best to maintain such a local newsletter as you suggested, whenever there are significant changes happening around Wikinews. However, I think it might be a better idea not to limit it to technical changes only, but to make it a general local newsletter for Wikinews. @Gryllida. -- Asked42 (talk) 18:13, 25 September 2025 (UTC)

There could be a newsletter. It would not go to technical water cooler, it would go somewhere else. There are some tools used at other wikis, to deliver to users who opted in, directly to their talk pages; that may be of intetest. At current publish rate i think monthly newsletter might be good. Gryllida 17:59, 28 October 2025 (UTC)

LeadManager explicit update

I just used the explicit update to do a reshuffling of the five leads. It was impressive and interesting. Lead 1 was not to be changed, but all four of the others had to be shuffled for order only. It worked well, but I had to go through the motion as if I was updating 1 anew, then also specify 1->1, 5->2, 3-4, 2->5, 4->3 or whatever the real shuffle order was.

It worked swimmingly and I have no complaints. But it might be more intuitive if one could just define an explicit update without having to enter a title for #1 and fetch the two sentences. If it's a difficult update, I wouldn't worry about it. This is the first time in a little over a year of reviewing that I've had to do that. Thanks again for a very useful tool!Michael.C.Wright (^Talk/_Reviewer) 22:49, 10 November 2025 (UTC)

Got it. As I understand, you are suggesting that the shuffle pattern should work without requiring a fetch operation, meaning a "pure shuffle" where no new lead content is added.

I have implemented this as a new mode called "pure shuffle." To enable it, simply add * before the pattern, like this:

 * 5->2, 3->4, 2->5, 4->3 

This allows you to reorder the leads without fetching new content or using a dummy move like 1->1. I hope this matches what you meant. If anything needs adjustment, please let me know. --Asked42 (talk) 08:46, 11 November 2025 (UTC)

I tested the pure-shuffle feature on Lead templates 6, 7, and 8, and it worked as expected. I'll update the documentation soon. -- Asked42 (talk) 08:53, 11 November 2025 (UTC)

Yes, that is exactly what I was trying to do. Thank you again!Michael.C.Wright (^Talk/_Reviewer) 13:15, 11 November 2025 (UTC)

Thanks!

I was about to make the requested changes to 2025 Queens World Film Festival features filmmakers breakfast and ceremony honoring Warrington Hudlin but I see you already made many, thanks, it's nice to see wikinews starting to function like it's supposed to! Tduk (talk) 19:11, 11 November 2025 (UTC)

Sure. Keep up the great work here. I hope we can be more collaborative in developing articles which will surely make the publication process more efficient. -- Asked42 (talk) 20:05, 11 November 2025 (UTC)