K6ka

Are you looking for help?

Wikipedia can be confusing—but it doesn't have to be that way! What do you need help with?

Are you new to Wikipedia? Please consider going through the Wikipedia Introduction, which will walk you through the basics of using and editing Wikipedia. You can also play The Wikipedia Adventure, a fun and interactive way of learning how to edit Wikipedia in less than an hour.
Are you looking for an administrator? Administrators are trusted Wikipedia users who have been granted extra tools to help with the overall maintenance of the website. Although I am an administrator on the English Wikipedia, please see Wikipedia:Requests for administrator attention for most administrative requests. This way, other administrators can find the request more easily, and you're likely to get a faster response.
Is there a Help Desk or customer service team I can contact? Wikipedia doesn't have a professional customer service team, as all editors are volunteers who help out in their spare time, not employees. However, we do have a place called the Teahouse, where friendly volunteers can help you with any issues you may have.

Welcome to my user talk page!

A user talk page is a page where you leave messages for a user. In this case, this is the user talk page for me—K6ka. You can use this page to contact me.

Think of a user talk page like a public email inbox. All messages need to have a Subject and a Body, and they should be written politely and formally (e.g. starting with a greeting and ending with "Thank you for your time"). When you post your message, it is public—everyone can see it, even though it was addressed to me. I will receive a notification when you leave me a message, and will try to respond to your message the next time I log in.

How to leave a new message for me

Select the New section button.
The page editor will load.
In the "Subject:" field, enter the Subject of your message.
A subject is your title, not your entire message! Be clear, concise, and short.
Examples of bad titles: HELP ME!!!, Message, Hello, Question.
Examples of good titles: Question regarding the Coffee article.
In the text box underneath the Subject: field, type the message you would like to leave for me.
Look over your message for any typos or mistakes.
When you are finished, add your signature to the end of your message.
To do this, first move your text insertion cursor to the end of your message. Then, do any of the following:
- In the editor toolbar, select the button.
- Enter four tilde characters using your keyboard. This will look like the following: ~~~~.
  On a US keyboard, this is done by pressing the following key combinations four times: ⇧ Shift+`. Please see this chart for more information on how to type the tilde character.
Select Publish changes.
A new thread will appear at the bottom of this talk page with your message.

How to respond to an existing thread

Threads are organized by their Subject. Subjects are written as a Level 2 heading—large text with a grey underline—along with an edit link. If you would like to reply to an existing thread, do the following:

In the thread you would like to reply to, select the edit link next to the thread's Subject.
In the editor, move your text insertion cursor to the bottom of the page.
Type your response.
When you are finished, add your signature to the end of your message.
To do this, first move your text insertion cursor to the end of your message. Then, do any of the following:
- In the editor toolbar, select the button.
- Enter four tilde characters using your keyboard. This will look like the following: ~~~~.
  On a US keyboard, this is done by pressing the following key combinations four times: ⇧ Shift+`. Please see this chart for more information on how to type the tilde character.
Select Publish changes.
The thread will be updated with your new message.

Archived discussions

K6ka's talk page archives

Discussions that have not received a response for 10 days are archived into one of the pages linked below.

You can use the search box to search for the discussion you are looking for.

2013: October, November, December

2014: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December

2015: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December

2016: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December

2017: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December

2018: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December

2019: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December

2020: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December

2021: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December

2022: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December

2023: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December

2024: January, February, March, April, May, June

This page is archived by lowercase sigmabot III.

Frequently Asked Questions

Here is a list of frequently asked questions I get, and their answers.

Q: I am not logged in to Wikipedia, and I got a message from you saying that I vandalized an article that I didn't edit. What's going on?
A: No need to panic! Wikipedia uses your IP address to identify you when you are not logged in. IP addresses may be shared between multiple users, or be reassigned to different users periodically. For example, if you are at school or a coffee shop, the IP address you are using is shared by everyone using the Internet there.
The message you received was intended for someone who had previously used the IP address you are currently using. If you did not vandalize Wikipedia, you can safely ignore the message. If you get these kinds of messages frequently, you may want to consider creating an account and logging in to it. That way, any messages you get will actually be intended for you, rather than someone else who used your IP address.
Q: I am not logged into Wikipedia, and I can't edit because you have blocked me. What do I do?
A: See the above: you are probably on a shared IP address, and someone before you was editing Wikipedia inappropriately. Shared IP addresses are usually blocked from editing for long periods of time to prevent abuse. The good news is that you can usually still edit if you log in. If you don't have an account, and cannot create one because of the block, you can request an account.
Q: You reverted one of my edits. Why is that?
A: Unless I'm reverting vandalism, I usually provide an explanation for my reverts, either in my edit summary, or in a message on your user talk page. There are many reasons for reverting an edit, and each case has its own reason. If you're still not sure why I reverted your edit, you can ask me on this talk page.
Q: Are there alternate ways of contacting you?
A: For wiki-related inquiries, you can also reach me at the following venues:
- Discord – I can be found on the unofficial Wikipedia Discord server under the username k6ka. Please do not send me a friend request; just mention my username in any public channel and I'll respond when I get a chance to.
- Email – You must be logged in and have an email address registered with your account to use this feature.
- IRC – I can be found on the Libera Chat IRC network under the nickname k6ka in the #wikipedia-en ^connect channel.

Please don't try to contact me regarding wiki-related matters on other websites or platforms.

This user is busy in real life and may not respond swiftly to queries.

This week's article for improvement (week 27, 2024)[edit]

Theo Jansen's Strandbeest, a group of planar walking mechanisms

Hello, K6ka. The article for improvement of the week is:

Mechanism (engineering)

Please be bold and help improve it!

Previous selections: Breaking wave • Sports equipment

Get involved with the AFI project: Nominate an article • Review nominations

Posted by: MusikBot ^talk 00:05, 1 July 2024 (UTC) using MediaWiki message delivery (talk) on behalf of WikiProject AFI • Opt-out instructions[reply]

Tech News: 2024-27[edit]

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

Recent changes

Over the next three weeks, dark mode will become available for all users, both logged-in and logged-out, starting with the mobile web version. This fulfils one of the top-requested community wishes, and improves low-contrast reading and usage in low-light settings. As part of these changes, dark mode will also work on User-pages and Portals. There is more information in the latest Web team update. [1]
Logged-in users can now set global preferences for the text-size and dark-mode, thanks to a combined effort across Foundation teams. This allows Wikimedians using multiple wikis to set up a consistent reading experience easily, for example by switching between light and dark mode only once for all wikis. [2]
If you use a very old web browser some features might not work on the Wikimedia wikis. This affects Internet Explorer 11 and versions of Chrome, Firefox and Safari older than 2016. This change makes it possible to use new CSS features and to send less code to all readers. [3][4]
Wikipedia Admins can customize local wiki configuration options easily using Community Configuration. Community Configuration was created to allow communities to customize how some features work, because each language wiki has unique needs. At the moment, admins can configure Growth features on their home wikis, in order to better recruit and retain new editors. More options will be provided in the coming months. [5]
Editors interested in language issues that are related to Unicode standards, can now discuss those topics at a new conversation space in MediaWiki.org. The Wikimedia Foundation is now a member of the Unicode Consortium, and the coordination group can collaboratively review the issues discussed and, where appropriate, bring them to the attention of the Unicode Consortium.
One new wiki has been created: a Wikipedia in Mandailing (w:btm:) [6]

Problems

Editors can once again click on links within the visual editor's citation-preview, thanks to a bug fix by the Editing Team. [7]

Future changes

Please help us to improve Tech News by taking this short survey. The goal is to better meet the needs of the various types of people who read Tech News. The survey will be open for 2 weeks. The survey is covered by this privacy statement. Some translations are available.

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

MediaWiki message delivery 23:57, 1 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 4 July 2024[edit]

News and notes: WMF board elections and fundraising updates

Special report: Wikimedia Movement Charter ratification vote underway, new Council may surpass power of Board

In focus: How the Russian Wikipedia keeps it clean despite having just a couple dozen administrators

Discussion report: Wikipedians are hung up on the meaning of Madonna

In the media: War and information in war and politics

Sister projects: On editing Wikisource

Obituary: Hanif Al Husaini, Salazarov, Hyacinth, and PirjanovNurlan

Opinion: Etika: a Pop Culture Champion

Gallery: Spokane Willy's photos

Op-Ed: Why you should not vote in the 2024 WMF BoT elections

Crossword: On a day of independence, beat crosswords into crossploughshares

Humour: A joke

Cobwebs: Counting to a billion — manuscripts don't burn

Recent research: Is Wikipedia Politically Biased? Perhaps

Traffic report: Talking about you and me, and the games people play

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 13:39, 4 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Administrators' newsletter – July 2024[edit]

News and updates for administrators from the past month (June 2024).

Administrator changes

Technical news

Local administrators can now add new links to the bottom of the site Tools menu without using JavaScript. Documentation is available on MediaWiki. (T6086)

Miscellaneous

The Community Wishlist is re-opening on 15 July 2024. Read more

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 07:58, 6 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]

This week's article for improvement (week 28, 2024)[edit]

Hello, K6ka. The article for improvement of the week is:

Applied science

Please be bold and help improve it!

Previous selections: Mechanism (engineering) • Breaking wave

Get involved with the AFI project: Nominate an article • Review nominations

Posted by: MusikBot ^talk 00:06, 8 July 2024 (UTC) using MediaWiki message delivery (talk) on behalf of WikiProject AFI • Opt-out instructions[reply]

Tech News: 2024-28[edit]