Wikipedia:Simple talk

Simple talk
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Poorly worded or wrong interface message for Special link to non-existent user subpage

Following a link to a non-existent user subpage such as User:Mathglot/Sandbox gives the right top-of-page boilerplate message, apparently based on MediaWiki:Newarticletext, with some modifications to add strings like, "Before starting this page, please see m:Sub pages" absent from the basic message. So far, so good.

However, when a link is generated by a Special, such as (for me), Special:MyPage/Sandbox^{[blue always]} to the same non-existent user subpage, clicking it should result in the same top-of-page boilerplate, but it does not. Instead, I see this:^{[but see note]}

Wikipedia does not yet have a user page with this name.

If you are Mathglot/Sandbox, click start this page.
To contact Mathglot/Sandbox, go to User talk:Mathglot/Sandbox.

I don't believe Simple allows usernames with a slash character as part of the name, so this message is misleading at the very least. It apparently derives from MediaWiki:Noarticletext NS User, but either it is not adjusted properly to emit an appropriate message, or it is the wrong interface message entirely. Instead, I would emit something like this:

Wikipedia does not yet have a user subpage with this name.

Click start this page to create it.
To contact Mathglot about creating their^{[uses magic word]} sandbox, go to User talk:Mathglot.

Note: if you already have a Sandbox subpage, the link above will not demonstrate the bad behavior to you, so you can use these links instead to observe it: Special:MyPage/Sandbox-999, Special:MyPage/Any old name here. Thanks, Mathglot (talk) 22:18, 11 August 2026 (UTC)

Would any bureaucrat (@Eptalon, Ferien, and BRPever:) please look into this? canadachick (talk) 18:46, 31 August 2026 (UTC)

I've noticed this (although, for me, it is any time I visit a non-existent userspace page). Wouldn't replacing {{PAGENAME}} with {{ROOTPAGENAME}} fix the grammar? Walnut (talk • changes) 23:48, 31 August 2026 (UTC)

Thank you both for saying about this and for notifying 'crats. I have looked slightly into this, it should involve adding a subpage variation based on en, I just haven't had the energy to see all the changes through this week, but over the weekend I should get the chance. --Ferien (talk | join TBA!) 21:14, 3 September 2026 (UTC)

Request for comment

Hello community,

Your input is needed on Talk:Ottoman-Soran War (1832–1834) to resolve an ongoing dispute about the article's title and scope.

Thanks, Garsh (talk) 04:45, 26 September 2026 (UTC)

I left a comment on the talk page; the idea is that the article is iat the most ommon term, and there are redirexts from less ocmoomn terms Eptalon (talk) 11:10, 26 September 2026 (UTC)

Good Articles / Very Good articles

Hello, i just wanted to point out that there are articles at the Proposed good artticles page. These articles have been sitting there for months, and I would envourage poeple who have not done so (and who are interested) to leave their comments. Idea would be to close these at the end of the month. Same applies to the listing in Proposed very good articles. Eptalon (talk) 11:24, 26 September 2026 (UTC)

Since no one else writes it: The Uplift Mofo Party Plan and Vaginal yeast infection have both been promoted to good article status. Thank you to all who contributed and helped these articles get their current status. Eptalon (talk) 12:02, 4 October 2026 (UTC)

Title change

Could somebody please move the article title on the page Dervish movement (Somali) to Dervish State, since thats the article title in use on English Wikipedia? The word "movement" is usually reserved for a polity that hasn't emerged yet (such as Khalistan movement), whereas Dervish State did come out of its emergement phase as existing. ~2026-53846-80 (talk) 22:53, 6 October 2026 (UTC)

Technically the Enwiki title has a disambiguator, but it seems to go against their article name policy. This seems pretty uncontroversial, so I've moved the article. Garsh (talk) 03:24, 7 October 2026 (UTC)

Deaths in 2026, how many months back?

Hello, I think we usually have a window of 3 months for that page. This means that deaths in June 2026 and those in July go to their respective pages (that likely exist, but are redirects). Note also: in the past, there have been cases that those reported to have died were still alive, so I think the page is semiprotected right now. Whoever does the move, please append a reference if the respective entry does not have one. Eptalon (talk) 05:50, 8 October 2026 (UTC)

Deaths in 2026? Why do we do it like that? An article on 2026 deaths should cover all deaths. It should definitely link to the other articles at the very least here. Lee Vilenski ^{(talk • contribs)} 17:50, 8 October 2026 (UTC)

The article list the last few months, after that it's deaths in <month> <year>, for example Deaths in February 2026. Eptalon (talk) 18:00, 8 October 2026 (UTC)

But how would a reader know that, we don't even hat link to those pages. It's not like those pages are far too large either. Lee Vilenski ^{(talk • contribs)} 20:44, 9 October 2026 (UTC)

I agree with @Lee Vilenski, that is a weird practice. Better to just include all deaths in a given year. Garsh (talk) 04:11, 9 October 2026 (UTC)

Wikidata Sitelink changes in Recent Changes and Watchlist

(Apologies for cross-posting in English, translating it will help spread the message)

Earlier last month, all Wikis were contacted for feedback on our proposal to remove language link changes, this change has already been deployed to Wikisource, Wikibooks, Wikivoyage, Wikiquote, Wikiversity and Wiktionary.

The same change is now being rolled out globally to all Wikipedias on October 13, 07:00 UTC. Editors will no longer see notifications after this time on their Recent Changes and Watchlist when a link to another language version of a page is added, removed, or changed in its Wikidata item (it does not affect language link notifications to the home wiki). There will then be a two-week monitoring period to observe if a reduction of high-volume but low-value notifications takes place, or if higher-value changes become easier to identify. Editors who rely on these notifications should be aware of the change and can share feedback or concerns on the Wikidata For Wikimedia Projects talk page.
Wikidata's own Recent Changes page is not affected as it serves as the repository for these changes.

Please reach out if you have any questions, or if your wiki would like to opt-out, thank you! -- Danny Benjafield (WMDE) (talk) sent via MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 09:29, 9 October 2026 (UTC)

Wikipedia Asian Month 2026

Wikipedia Asian Month 2026

After a long gap of 4 years, Wikipedia Asian Month is back in this wiki. It is an upcoming online edit-a-thon. Its purpose is to increase understanding among Asian Wikipedia communities. It is going to take place through November 2026. The purpose of Asian Month at Simple English Wikipedia is to have more quality articles about Asian countries. The last annual edition of the event at local level took place in 2021.

As a symbol of friendship, each person who creates at least 4 articles that meet the requirements will receive a specially designed Wikipedia postcard. The postcard will come from another country that joined in.

Wikipedians who create the most articles on each Wikipedia will be honored as "Wikipedia Asian Ambassadors".

Interested people are invited to join the edit-a-thon.

Regards! :-) HAOREIMA (Khurumjari) 11:20, 9 October 2026 (UTC)