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:::I left a message on the user's talk page about using non-existent usernames in the {{t|Property}} template, and if they ignore it and continue giving me free edits in correcting this, I may post back here. Of course, the IP was only blocked for 31 hours, so it would only be 31 hours of block evasion. I don't think we need to jump to an indefinite block for sockpuppetry just yet. --'''[[:User:K6ka|k6ka]]''' ([[:User talk:K6ka|talk]] | [[:Special:Contributions/K6ka|contribs]]) 02:11, May 24, 2014 (UTC)
:::I left a message on the user's talk page about using non-existent usernames in the {{t|Property}} template, and if they ignore it and continue giving me free edits in correcting this, I may post back here. Of course, the IP was only blocked for 31 hours, so it would only be 31 hours of block evasion. I don't think we need to jump to an indefinite block for sockpuppetry just yet. --'''[[:User:K6ka|k6ka]]''' ([[:User talk:K6ka|talk]] | [[:Special:Contributions/K6ka|contribs]]) 02:11, May 24, 2014 (UTC)

I agree.

I'm not sure why, but these two users make me a tad suspicious. '''[[User:C.Syde65|<font color="maroon">C.Syde</font>]]''' ([[User talk:C.Syde65|<font color="black">talk</font>]] &#124; [[:Special:Contributions/C.Syde65|<font color="black">contribs</font>]]) 02:16, May 24, 2014 (UTC)

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User:ILoveSims5

ILoveSims5 (talk · contribs · editcount · block · modify rights · logs · block log) has no history of constructive edits outside of her own userspace, and has a history of repeatedly vandalizing infobox templates after being warned and blocked for that. Given that, I propose that we go straight to a permanent block the next time she vandalizes. Dharden (talk) 04:18, January 30, 2014 (UTC)

Seeing that her edits have been in the area of templates, we may temporarily lock the page (not the best practice IMO), extend her ban length, or give her an editing restriction in template namespace. It might need to take a little while until she could get a permanent ban. Nikel Talk Vote! 05:53, January 30, 2014 (UTC)
I'd be more in favor of giving her blocks of increasing length. She's already had a 1-day block, so the next logical step would be a 3-day block. That's what I'd personally do, but I wouldn't oppose an indefinite block either. -- LostInRiverview talk ~ blog 06:03, January 30, 2014 (UTC)
Normally I'd put my faith into believing that there is some hope and that this user would change their approach to editing the wiki. This isn't one of those situations. The lack of any constructive contributions and persistence to vandalise despite being warned several times speaks for itself and I for one wouldn't mind a permanent block here. Lost Labyrinth (c)(b) 14:16, January 30, 2014 (UTC)
That's pretty much the reasoning I was using. I'd support escalating blocks or a restriction on editing templates if this user had made some good-faith edits or had shown some sign of being reachable, but she hasn't. Dharden (talk) 04:06, January 31, 2014 (UTC)

Interpretation of RfA rules in relation to a current request

I have specifically asked for input from TSW's currently-active bureaucrats (other users are welcome to input as well) regarding an issue with the current RfA nomination. We're coming to the end of the initial five day discussion period and, while it's clear based on the input there that a consensus is not present to support promotion, I'm not sure whether the RfA should be dismissed or whether discussion should continue (with the possibility that it may eventually move to a vote).

My indecisiveness comes from the wording and meaning of the RfA nomination rules, the relevant bits of which I will paste here, with important points bolded:

Stage 2 - Discussion
  • After the five day period of discussion has elapsed, it shall be determined whether a consensus has been reached. Consensus can only be reached in favor of a nominee, not in opposition to them. If the discussion shows consensus for a nominee, the nomination is successful and the user is promoted. If the discussion clearly shows a lack of consensus, the nomination will be ended and the nominee will not be promoted.
  • In cases where a consensus is not clear after the initial discussion period, discussion will continue until there is a two-day long period, or longer, in which nothing is added to the discussion.
    • If this occurs and a clear consensus exists, the nomination is successful and the user is promoted.
    • If this occurs and a consensus in support is not clear, the nomination will proceed to Stage 3.

The issue here is in the definition of 'consensus'. TSW doesn't have a formal definition set up for this term, as far as I'm aware, but a quick web search of the term gives a dictionary definition of "general agreement."

So, to rephrase the rules into simpler terms, if a nomination shows a general agreement for promotion, promotion takes place. If a nomination shows a lack of general agreement about promotion, it fails. If it's not clear whether or not there is general agreement, discussion continues and may result in a vote.

Based on the current status of Joey.eyeball's RfA, a general agreement about promotion clearly does not exist. So, by the meaning of these words and the interpretation of the rules as written, this RfA should be closed down due to lack of consensus. However, I am curious as to whether it was truly our (as the community's) intent to set it up this way. The reason I'm curious is because of the next point - "In cases where a consensus is not clear." If going by the straightforward definition of consensus, I can see very very few circumstances where a consensus wouldn't be clear in one direction or the other. In reality, you either have a general agreement about something or you don't, but very rarely would you be in a position where you don't know just by looking at it whether or not you have that general agreement.

I believe that up to now we have assumed a different meaning for these terms. I think that we have generally worked under the idea that, unless consensus was clearly against a nomination, we would at least allow it to proceed to a vote, then use the strict rules under Stage 3 to determine the outcome. If that's the case, then in the near future we should seek to clean up the language to state as such. But, that still leaves the matter of the current RfA.

At the present time, and if acting in-line with the rules as written, I would close down Joey's RfA without proceeding to a vote. However, I am not comfortable with taking this action given what I see as a discontinuity between the rules as written and what I perceive to be the intent of the rule as it was originally written. I can't even say for sure whether I would support making the rule mean what I believe it does, but that's a discussion for the community and not really the present matter of concern.

So, let's figure this out. -- LostInRiverview talk ~ blog 02:50, February 4, 2014 (UTC)

Gnarr.... On one hand, it explicitly says that consensus cannot be reached against a nominee. On the other, there seems to be an implicit assumption that it can be. Gnarr.... As for the current RfA, the difference seems to be not on whether to support a promotion, but whether it should be done now or later. Dharden (talk) 03:15, February 4, 2014 (UTC)
RfAs need two-thirds support to pass and we have roughly the opposite of this here, so I'd just close it as unsuccessful and forgo the vote, though it does seem to be a close call here if we take into account that the nomination clearly supports the nominee. This isn't usually an issue for self-nominations but here the circumstances are rather different.
The issue at hand seems to be that how the nominations rules are written can be confusing. The way I see it is that if the discussion is favourable towards the promotion then the user is promoted while if it's unfavourable then they aren't while we move to a vote if the outcome is undecidedly split to the point where it would be impossible to determine consensus.
Confusing choice of words or a fatal flaw with the RfA system? I don't know. Maybe this is worth a more in-depth discussion but this is just my two pence on the matter. Lost Labyrinth (c)(b) 15:10, February 4, 2014 (UTC)
I think the biggest problem here may be a discrepancy between what the rule says and what we its meaning to be. Take, for instance, the points Lab has just raised - in a vote, it takes 2/3rds support to pass, but he also says that it passes if discussions is favorable towards promotion - which could in theory happen even if the nominee would otherwise receive only a majority support (>50% but <66.7%) but not meet the vote threshold we've established. So perhaps the stricter wording in the interpretation I've laid out above is better? Perhaps if we had wanted the nominee to receive only a majority support, we would have stated so in the discussion rules? Perhaps the consensus rule isn't incorrect after all, but our prior interpretation of it was?
As Lab has said already, this is probably a topic for the greater community to chew over, so I'll be starting a thread in Community Discussions soon. In the meantime, I am suggesting that we close down the request. -- LostInRiverview talk ~ blog 15:20, February 4, 2014 (UTC)
Now that the discussion is brought up, it does appear that the term "consensus" has a confusing meaning. Even more confusing is what the term "lack of consensus" means. In the discussion, we state our reasoning whether we support a nominee to be an admin or not. Although in a discussion it says that our statement is what really matters in making a conclusion, it's only like "agree / disagree" or "yes / no" as we simplify it in voting. In that way, the possible outcome would be either support or opposition, and there doesn't seem to be a way that makes it "unclear".
In Mate's RfA, the discussion tends to not support (not now, weak support, not ready) instead straight oppose. Is this what it means by "unclear"? It doesn't shut the possibility that some random user nominates oneself, and I could see that the general input would be straight oppose. Is it what it means by "clear"?
So what does "lack of consensus" mean? Does it mean lack of support, or lack of community input? In Mate's RfA where voting is implemented, it seems to be both. But I feel like the voting is implemented because the community input is inclined to be lacking, and that's when the term "unclear" would make sense too. Nikel Talk Vote! 05:14, February 5, 2014 (UTC)
Nikel, that's really the heart of what we're talking about... when we say something 'lacks consensus', do we mean that it is being opposed, or do we mean that it simply doesn't have resounding support? If going by dictionary definition, then something which has 50% of people agreeing and 50% disagreeing lacks consensus, even though half of them are in support. If going by what seems to be past precedent, in a 50/50 scenario we'd probably resort to a vote, despite the fact that this scenario clearly represents a "lack of consensus," since consensus means general agreement and a 50/50 split hardly represents agreement about anything. So the question here is whether we want to go by what is written, or whether we should re-write the rule to allow votes in close discussions instead of simply "unclear" ones. -- LostInRiverview talk ~ blog 05:23, February 5, 2014 (UTC)
I've made a thread that stems off of this discussion in a way of tackling this issue. Lost Labyrinth (c)(b) 13:40, February 5, 2014 (UTC)

User:Ilovemondler

I suspect that this may be ILoveSims5 attempting ban evasion. Dharden (talk) 02:36, February 17, 2014 (UTC)

Judging from her alias, her being in Friends wiki, and her biodata, it's highly likely that she's a sock. We could charge her for attempting ban evasion after ignoring the second chance for her to get unbanned from LiR. Nikel Talk Vote! 02:44, February 17, 2014 (UTC)
Will send in a CheckUser request to Wikia. If the CheckUser confirms that this account is a sockpuppet of ILoveSims5, we can block this one. K6ka (talk | contribs) 02:48, February 17, 2014 (UTC)
How is the check going? I'm not sure if the staff is willing to accept the request for a user with not-so-disruptive behavior. I think her biodata clearly resembles the blocked user, though her behavior doesn't. Nikel Talk Vote! 03:23, February 18, 2014 (UTC)
The evidence that this is a sock is pretty overwhelming. Even if we get denied for a CheckUser, I say we should block the account. -- LostInRiverview talk ~ blog 03:27, February 18, 2014 (UTC)
Received a response from Wikia, confirmed that this is a sockpuppet. Blocking now. K6ka (talk | contribs) 12:08, February 18, 2014 (UTC)

Establishing a new precedent regarding indefinite blocks

As detailed in Lab's blog about Wikia user email, it has been revealed that users will no longer be able to use the email feature to contact other users privately. While this feature isn't used on Wikia or The Sims Wiki nearly as extensively as on Wikipedia, there is one notable exception - user "appeal" emails for indefinite (aka infinite or permanent) blocks from the wiki.

There is no broad guideline set down regarding how users would be blocked indefinitely; some blocks are meant to be permanent, while others are simply indefinite, meaning that they could possibly be ended at some point in the future. The main avenue for reaching an end to an indefinite block was to utilize the email feature, but since that is no longer possible, we might have to determine a new course of action.

What I'm suggesting is that we come to some sort of agreement on how we'll handle indefinite blocks. That is, how we will handle blocks of an indeterminate length. The precedent we apply should be more standardized than it has been in the past, for the sake of fairness. But, because of the changes to the email system, this precedent must also be changed so it can still allow indefinitely blocked users to somehow contact wiki admins. The obvious solution, and really the only one left open to us, is to allow these users to edit their own talk pages. So, I would suggest that, if we indefinitely block a user from now on, we allow them to edit their talk page. In cases where this privilege is abused by the blocked user, it would be with the understanding that the privilege and, therefore, the ability to be unblocked will never be extended again. Perhaps we should also consider adding an 'infinite' block length into the standard lengths; this would allow us to differentiate between 'indefinite' blocks, which can be appealed and possibly terminated, and 'infinite' or 'permanent' blocks which cannot.

Thoughts? -- LostInRiverview talk ~ blog 23:21, February 19, 2014 (UTC)

That's what I have in mind when I block users. (Wikipedia-reference up ahead!) The Wikipedia blocking policy generally recommends that sysops allow blocked users to edit their talk pages so they can discuss the block with other admins. Talk page access is only revoked if the blocked editor abuses the privilege (such as using the talk page to insult, harass, make inappropriate unblock requests, or to continue vandalizing). ∴ I am in support of this proposal. K6ka (talk | contribs) 23:28, February 19, 2014 (UTC)
I feel we should be doing this anyway. I'm alright with auto-revoking (for the lack of a better term) talk page access for sockpuppet accounts (but let the main account use their talk page unless the abuse is long-term and extensive - it's situational really) and maybe obvious spambots too (most of them are hit-and-run anyway).
I'm not sure if we really need both an "indefinite" and an "infinite" block duration listing as if an indef-blocked user is abusing their talk page then we can simply revoke their access and then that's the end of it. I'm not opposed to the idea however.
Finally, and slightly derivative of the main topic, are we okay with IRC (seeing as they can't access Chat) being another form of communication with regards to blocked users? I know permabans on-wiki are usually naturally extended to IRC but I'd be okay with these users coming onto IRC to discuss their block and whatnot provided they're not messing around; if they are then we can simply ban them. Lost Labyrinth (c)(b) 13:26, February 24, 2014 (UTC)
Requesting on IRC works for me. Though regardless of whether they request on their talk page or IRC, any unblocking of an indefinitely-blocked account should probably be discussed by the admins here. -- LostInRiverview talk ~ blog 19:15, February 24, 2014 (UTC)
I'm OK with letting people request unblocking on IRC, but any unblocking of an indefinitely-blocked account should definitely be discussed by the admins here, so that all will have a chance to contribute to it. Dharden (talk) 20:12, February 24, 2014 (UTC)
Should we go through the Block list and grant talk page access for users that have had them revoked? K6ka (talk | contribs) 02:15, February 25, 2014 (UTC)
I would say yes, except in those cases where they had been extended talk page rights in the past but abused them (there are a few cases of this, they should appear in the block logs). Honestly, I don't think many users would exercise that second chance, but for the sake of fairness I think we should. -- LostInRiverview talk ~ blog 04:14, February 25, 2014 (UTC)

┌─────────────────┘

Threadcromancy, but I'm just gonna be bold and change the block settings for the blocked users - once I can find time, that is. K6ka (talk | contribs) 11:58, March 21, 2014 (UTC)

Handling RfA and RfB pages for users who apply/are nominated multiple times

One of the results of the rights requests reform of last year was the implementation of holding discussions for individual user RfAs and RfBs on sub-pages of the main RfA and RfB page. So, for example, the discussion of promoting K6ka to administrator took place on the "The Sims Wiki:Requests for administratorship/K6ka" sub-page. This procedure works well if a promotion is successful.

However, it is likely inevitable that we will have a user whose first RfA or RfB ended without promotion later apply or be nominated again. If this happened, we would run into a problem, since the first (unsuccessful) would be named TSW:Requests for <adminship/bureaucratship>/<User name>, meaning we would need to come up with a unique name to give to the second and subsequent requests. To head off this eventual problem, I've moved all the archived RfA and RfB pages, such that the name of the page now includes the month and year when the page was created. So, for example, K6Ka's successful RfA now is archived at The Sims Wiki:Requests for administratorship/K6ka (January 2014). When new RfA or RfB request pages are created, they should follow this same format as well. -- LostInRiverview talk ~ blog 19:18, February 22, 2014 (UTC)

Shyflower3

Shyflower3 certainly passes the duck test for sockpuppetry. Sock master is Shyflower2, which is a sockpuppet of Holdit, which is a sockpuppet of Scarygirla. Shyflower3 was on chat today and produced violent RP messages. K6ka (talk | contribs) 21:31, February 25, 2014 (UTC)

Already banhammered. Just as an aside, you don't have to bring it up here immediately if you see a sock, especially an obvious one. If the evidence is overwhelming, like it was here, then feel free to deal with them yourself. Lost Labyrinth (c)(b) 21:39, February 25, 2014 (UTC)

Administrator Fake

What would happen if a non-administrator added the administrator and / or bureaucrat userbox to their userpage? C.Syde (talk | contribs) 06:14, March 16, 2014 (UTC)

Those are admin-only userboxes. If a user were to add one, it would be removed and they would receive a warning. -- LostInRiverview talk ~ blog 12:25, March 16, 2014 (UTC)

Jerichovictor11's fanons

Jerichovictor11 (talk · contribs · editcount · block · modify rights · logs · block log) has recently been blocked for being underage, and the block expires on November 2015. The problem is, he has a lot of fanons that are low in quality, and putting fanon maintenance templates (i.e. {{Fanon-cleanup}} and {{Fanon-stub}}) is pointless since the author can't do anything with it anyway. I delete fanon stubs that have been left unedited for considerable amount of time, but I don't really think these fanons should wait for 20 months until it can be improved by the author. Should we keep them by tagging the Fanon-stub templates or delete them outright? Nikel Talk Vote! 14:58, March 22, 2014 (UTC)

I agree with deletion. -- LostInRiverview talk ~ blog 15:01, March 22, 2014 (UTC)
The policy says to delete it anyway. All his fanon has been nuked by technology. Lost Labyrinth (c)(b) 21:11, March 22, 2014 (UTC)
Ah, good 'ol adminbots. Should the images he uploaded go as well? If he comes back and wants them back, we could always restore them. K6ka (talk | contribs) 21:15, March 22, 2014 (UTC)
Thanks for taking care of them, Lab. The unused files would be piled up in Special:UnusedFiles. Eventually they might be deleted anyway, but I guess he could ask us to restore them. Nikel Talk Vote! 16:55, March 25, 2014 (UTC)

Removing a comment from my fanon page

I accidentally logged out while posting a comment on my own fanon page. If it's possible, could an administrator please remove the comment. I've re-posted it under my own userpage. I know it's nothing to be bugged about, but it would be nice to have this comment removed. C.Syde (talk | contribs) 05:08, April 2, 2014 (UTC)

Done. K6ka (talk | contribs) 10:57, April 2, 2014 (UTC)
That's better. Thanks! :) C.Syde (talk | contribs) 02:33, April 3, 2014 (UTC)

ILoveSims5

Relocated from Forum:Unblock system

Hey, I noticed that Nikel potentially blocked the IP address for ILoveSims5. If it turns out that this is indeed her IP address, does this mean she will be unable to return to the Sims wiki without requesting an unblock? I was just wondering. C.Syde (talk | contribs) 05:01, April 12, 2014 (UTC)

By now, I expect her to respond her ban in any of her accounts. She has failed to do that 6 times. If she doesn't communicate with us, nothing will stop her from making even more socks. I allowed her to leave a message in her own IP address talk page, but didn't tell her that. I guess I forgot. Nikel Talk Vote! 10:29, April 12, 2014 (UTC)
Autoblock was supposedly enabled on all her socks, and all the blocks supposedly disabled account creation. The block settings are carried on into the autoblock, which usually lasts for 24 hours and can autoblock other IP addresses (hence the term "Collateral Damage" when a shared IP is autoblock, in which the MediaWiki software recklessly blocks thousands of innocent users). Call me crazy, but I have no clue how ILoveSims5 is getting around her block. --k6ka (talk | contribs) 11:38, April 12, 2014 (UTC)
Okay, looked up the IP address here. It is a static IP address, run by Verizon Online LLC. We should be able to block it safely, though if the IP changes owners, then we'll need to unblock it as soon as we find out. --k6ka (talk | contribs) 11:56, April 12, 2014 (UTC)

Mass article spammer (IP)

Well, it looks like our old friend (well, not old, but "New") has learned the art of clever IP hopping - a dangerous enemy.

IPs 108.40.164.174, 108.40.195.112, and 108.40.198.230 were blocked for vandalism, with the content being the same. 108.40.198.230 also vandalized Wikipedia today - 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. The IP addresses appear to change owners, meaning that, if we block an IP, the next day the vandal is issued a new IP address and now we have an innocent user blocked. Especially with the new edit filter LiR Lab set up; the effectiveness diminishes as the vandal hops around IPs while we block innocent users in a desperate attempt to stop it - similar to trying to fire a cannon at a guy who's running at top speed.

If my limited knowledge in IP addresses is correct, all these IPs are in the same range, so we need to rangeblock the whole darn thing, autoblock disabled, anonymous users only. The IP range is owned by Verizon, for reference. --k6ka (talk | contribs) 22:47, April 14, 2014 (UTC)

Oh, if you were wondering about my block - yeah, i accidentally tripped the filter and it blocked me. I'm a clumsy admin. --k6ka (talk | contribs) 22:47, April 14, 2014 (UTC)
I did have the range blocked initially prior to the filter coming up, but it doesn't seem to be helping much. I've put the range block back up for 3 months...for now. Lost Labyrinth (c)(b) 23:05, April 14, 2014 (UTC)
(For the record, Lab set up the filter, not I.) -- LostInRiverview talk ~ blog 23:27, April 14, 2014 (UTC)
Ah yes, pfft. *slaps forehead* Brainfart. --k6ka (talk | contribs) 23:32, April 14, 2014 (UTC)
It's alright, I'll forgive you. But don't ever do it again. -- LostInRiverview talk ~ blog 23:35, April 14, 2014 (UTC)

77.251.79.188 and Marcky2001

Special:BlockList indicates that this IP and Marcky2001 are the same, as the IP was autoblocked when I blocked Marcky. Dharden (talk) 21:51, April 21, 2014 (UTC)

96.224.66.16

This anon, 96.224.66.16 (talk · contribs · editcount · block · modify rights · logs · block log), is blocked, but he doesn't seem to have any block logs. When I left a message on his talk page on April 25, I'm certain he wasn't blocked at that time. When I checked blocked users list, only FriendsandSimsLuver (talk · contribs · editcount · block · modify rights · logs · block log) and an autoblock are blocked between 25th and 27th, and haven't expired until now. I'm just wondering if this IP belongs to FriendsandSimsLuver, who is the sock of ILoveSims5 or this block was caused by the autoblock. Nikel Talk Vote! 16:41, April 27, 2014 (UTC)

An IP lookup shows that the user is located on Long Island, New York, which is where ILoveSims5 lives. So, it seems pretty likely that the IP was blocked along with FriendsandSimsLuver. - LostInRiverview talk ~ blog 22:56, April 27, 2014 (UTC)
ILoveSims5 isn't the only person living on Long Island. Could belong to someone else. Thing is though, since this IP does not have a local block log, the IP may have been globally blocked by Wikia. It happened here once, where a user was globally blocked but nothing showed up in the block log. The only evidence was the "BLOCKED" flag on their userpage header. --k6ka (talk | contribs) 01:05, April 28, 2014 (UTC)
I checked the block list and removed the autoblock, which unblocked 96.224.66.16. The fact that the user's IP was flagged as being similar to User:MondlerLove (who is a sock of ILoveSims5) and the fact that the IP address locates to suburban Long Island - like others associated with ILoveSims5 - leads me to conclude that this IP must be associated with it. -- LostInRiverview talk ~ blog 01:35, April 28, 2014 (UTC)
FYI, the anon had created several fanons, e.g. Fanon:Justine Dattilo, Fanon:Summer Anderson, and Fanon:Shirley Jones, which used to belong to Ilovemondler and MondlerLove. Not to mention, the anon clearly has a pattern of not finishing their fanon. I believe the IP is a sock now. The autoblock wasn't incorrect after all. Nikel Talk Vote! 08:31, April 29, 2014 (UTC)

ILoveSims5, again

So, ILoveSims5 (talk · contribs · editcount · block · modify rights · logs · block log) has thrice applied for unblock and has thrice been denied such. Lab has revoked her talk page access, effectively making her block permanent. I would like to suggest, however, that we not give up on this user quite yet. Simply put, I feel that her actions aren't meant to be malevolent, but are simply misguided. What I failed to explain to her, and what has so far not been explained to her in her unblock denials, is that we simply can't ignore the attempts at ban evasion that have taken place since this main account was first indefinitely blocked. I feel that this fact should've been made clear - unblock requests at this stage simply won't be successful because there's no demonstration that the user is willing to take the time and consider their actions. I would have explained this to her, except for the fact that I am prohibited from denying her requests since I was the admin that blocked her.

In her case, I think the most effective way for her to prove her readiness to return would be to stop making socks and to wait for a few months before requesting unblock again. This is because the most damning thing she has done is create sock puppets. The actions that led to her being blocked in the first place were aggravating but not necessarily in bad faith. However, circumventing a block would almost always be a bad faith action, and it's that action that I was hoping to address.

Ultimately, I'm not necessarily proposing any course of action. My belief is that she isn't trying to do this on purpose but simply doesn't understand her situation. My suggestion, therefore, would be to have someone explain to her why her requests are being denied, tell her that she needs to wait, then wait for a few months before returning talk page access to her. If she can sit for that time without creating socks, I think it would go a long way towards demonstrating her readiness to return. If, however, she continues to block evade, then she truly would be a lost cause. -- LostInRiverview talk ~ blog 21:09, May 5, 2014 (UTC)

My view on ILS5 is that the user is unexperienced with wiki editing in general. Her edits at the other two wikis are minimal, and I'm under the impression that ILS5 didn't know what she was doing when editing the templates: after all, ILS5's biggest issue that caused this was the repeated template vandalism (which I believe is caused by her lack of knowledge that it was undone) and sockpuppets. Given that none of us (I haven't left a message there, which was IMO because I was semi-absent then) were there to instruct her how to use the templates to help build her fanon, my suggested course of action is to give her a final chance, but before that, thoroughly instruct her. In effect, if we are to unblock ILS5, she will be conscripted into the adopt-a-user program, and I (and a few others) will serve as the mentor. I was personally leaving her a message on how to use the template page in the slight prospect of ILS5 actually getting unblocked before LiR notified me of this topic. MILK FOR THE UNYUUFEX, FLAT CHEST FOR THE CUTENESS THRONE, SKULLS FOR THE SKULL PROBES (user talk:Mathetesalexandrou) 21:24, May 5, 2014 (UTC)
I feel she's had more than enough chances already to acknowledge what she did wrong and she's had several opportunities to at least attempt to rectify her behaviour and she's failed to do just that. She was asked nicely in her first two unblock requests to acknowledge she was in the wrong and to try to convince us why we should give her another chance. Again, she failed at that and came back with a nonsensical third unblock request that was completely irrelevant to the block at hand. If she hasn't already realised that ban evasion is a no-no from her countless number of accounts being blocked then there's really no point explaining it to her. Maybe she's inexperienced but is it really an excuse?
This is why I'm not convinced that unblocking her would be a good idea hence that was why I revoked her talk page access. If somebody wants to try and give her a grace period to not make any accounts then I won't stop you but I'm not expecting any miracles. If she is ultimately unblocked then I strongly suggest she's either listed on TSW:ER or adopted or possibly both. Lost Labyrinth (c)(b) 21:29, May 5, 2014 (UTC)
I agree that unblocking her at this point would be premature. But I also think it's premature to close the door on that possibility in the future. -- LostInRiverview talk ~ blog 21:32, May 5, 2014 (UTC)
Agree with LiR's point. I've left a note on her talk page explaining why she was blocked and her ticket - and gateway - to being unblocked. I've made it clear that she should not create any more accounts, and advised her not to continue making pointless unblock requests. If she squanders this round, we can feel comfortable closing this door. --k6ka (talk | contribs) 21:44, May 5, 2014 (UTC)
I concur with k6ka's decision. To connect with k6ka giving ILS5 a chance to discuss this on IRC, if ILS5 does discuss this on IRC, inform me please of the content, or better upload the entire chat log. MILK FOR THE UNYUUFEX, FLAT CHEST FOR THE CUTENESS THRONE, SKULLS FOR THE SKULL PROBES (user talk:Mathetesalexandrou) 21:54, May 5, 2014 (UTC)

I agree with Lost In Riverview, Lost Labyrinth, K6ka and Mathetealexandrou. C.Syde (talk | contribs) 09:21, May 6, 2014 (UTC)

I think we should unblock ILoveSims5 in a few months time - but only if she doesn't try to evade her block. Then if she does any more vandalism then we should just re-block her - like that! I'm not an administrator myself, but if I was I would unfortunately oppose her requests for unblock - at least for a few months. C.Syde (talk | contribs) 05:43, May 8, 2014 (UTC)

Given Syde's opinion, I feel like I'm in the "extremist" minority that believes ILoveSims5 could do well with a fairly early unblock of say few weeks, as I'm on the notion that lessons are often learned quickly or not at all. But who knows. MILK FOR THE UNYUUFEX, FLAT CHEST FOR THE CUTENESS THRONE, SKULLS FOR THE SKULL PROBES (user talk:Mathetesalexandrou) 17:25, May 8, 2014 (UTC)

Alright, so the discussion immediately above this one (titled #96.224.66.16) mentions that that particular anon was autoblocked by a block issued against MondlerLove, which is a sock of ILoveSims5. The autoblock was removed but this IP continues to create fanon articles without registering an account. The thing is, the evidence at hand makes me very confident that 96.224.66.16 is an IP address associated with ILoveSims5. My reasoning for this theory is as follows:

  1. The 96.224.66.16 IP address is located (approximately) in the Long Island area of New York. This is also the home of ILoveSims5, according to the global header on her profile. It is true that many people live on Long Island, but only a couple hundred unique people edit The Sims Wiki from month to month across the entire world, so the odds that two of them would live very close to each other and have similar editing patterns (as I will detail shortly) is pretty remote.
  2. Both the anon and ILS5 seem to have a fascination with The Sims and the TV show Friends. Several of ILS5's sock accounts have directly or indirectly referenced a love of Friends (e.g. Mondler in "MondlerLove" is an amalgamation of "Monica" and "Chandler", two characters in the show), and some of the anon's Fanon works have been based on or derived from other Friends characters (for instance, Fanon:Ross Geller Jr., very likely based off the Ross character from Friends, or possibly his son).
  3. Both the anon and ILS5 tend to write in title case i.e. Almost Every Word in Sentences That They Write are Capitalized, Like This.

It is impossible to prove with 100% certainty that these two are the same, especially since Wikia Staff will not confirm a connection between a known IP address and a registered user. But I feel like there's enough here to show that they are one in the same. To that effect, I've blocked 96.224.66.16 for three months. -- LostInRiverview talk ~ blog 20:56, May 10, 2014 (UTC)

I have an additional piece of evidence, which is the smoking gun that definitively links the IP to ILS5 - Fanon:Ellie Sims (non-admins won't be able to view that page). The page was initially created by MondlerLove in February, and was deleted when MondlerLove was indefinitely blocked. At that time, K6ka requested a CheckUser, and that CheckUser confirmed that MondlerLove and ILoveSims5 are the same person. After this, the Ellie Sims page was recreated by two different IP users - 71.167.70.105 and the previously-mentioned 96.224.66.16. The most recent recreation of the page was on May 10th, which is after ILoveSims5's unblock requests, in which multiple users made it clear that she was to stop attempting to evade her block. With this in mind, I am retracting my support for giving her a final chance; her block should be permanent. We've given her enough chances to learn her lesson and reform her behavior and she seems either unwilling to learn or unwilling to cooperate. -- LostInRiverview talk ~ blog 22:13, May 10, 2014 (UTC)
Judging by ILoveSims5's unloving behaviour towards the wiki, what with his/her persistent attempts at block evasion and wasting our time with pointless and unconvincing unblock requests, I will repeal my offer at ILS5's last chance at getting unblocked. There's no coming back for him/her... --k6ka (talk | contribs) 22:59, May 10, 2014 (UTC)

65.78.158.183

This user has already been blocked for inserting false information to articles. User has been warned to improve their behaviour, continues to insert false information, and does not make constructive edits. Personally I believe that an administrator needs to go ahead and block this user. It's obvious that they've had all the chances they deserve. C.Syde (talk | contribs) 04:22, May 10, 2014 (UTC)

Blocked for 1 week. In future, please use this page to report users that require administrative intervention of any kind. Lost Labyrinth (c)(b) 12:20, May 10, 2014 (UTC)
However, this anon has been repeatedly warned, and has been blocked twice before. I think we need to discuss what to do about them, especially if they continue their behavior after this latest block. Dharden (talk) 12:31, May 10, 2014 (UTC)
Take them to TSW:ER. Just for reference, here's the IP address data - [1][2]. One of the sources suspect that this IP is a "Dynamic IP", meaning it may change owners constantly. That's not a good sign. --k6ka (talk | contribs) 12:46, May 10, 2014 (UTC)
I don't support an ER in this case. The user has shown no attempts to edit constructively, and setting an ER assumes that there should be at least some reason why the user doesn't deserve an outright block for their actions. -- LostInRiverview talk ~ blog 22:36, May 10, 2014 (UTC)
Indeffing the IP would probably cause some concerns with innocent users getting blocked. I'll just keep an eye on the IP and block them if they persist. Hopefully they'll get bored and go spend their time doing something else. --k6ka (talk | contribs) 22:59, May 10, 2014 (UTC)

IPs can be really irritating sometimes. There are times when I wish this wiki was limited only for access by registered users. But this would then have a big disadvantage towards newcomers. C.Syde (talk | contribs) 07:54, May 11, 2014 (UTC)

Unfortunately that comes with the wiki, same with users who only want to mess about. I know some wikis do have anonymous editing disabled but to be honest I'm happy that we allow for it and you are right that it is more of a disadvantage for new users than anything else. That said if you do think we should discuss it on a larger scale then you're more than welcome to bring it up. Lost Labyrinth (c)(b) 12:36, May 11, 2014 (UTC)
I personally disagree with disabling anonymous editing. Why else would Wikipedia be so successful if it actually lived up to its slogan - "The Free Encyclopedia that anyone can edit". Sure, nearly 80%+ of vandalism come from anonymous users, but 70% of anonymous edits are not vandalism. Some people prefer editing behind an IP address without registering for an account. Wikis that allow anonymous editing are allowing people to choose. It also helps for people who are not into wiki-editing and only edited once or twice just to fix a typo or something. It saves them (and the servers) from creating accounts that won't be used later on anyways. But, as this is the administrator's noticeboard and not the forums, I'll stop right there. --k6ka (talk | contribs) 16:58, May 11, 2014 (UTC)

That is true. C.Syde (talk | contribs) 04:19, May 12, 2014 (UTC)

Food Fiction: The Sims Feast

Hi Sims admins,

I wanted to run a fun idea by you all to see if you can help us make it as fun of an idea as possible.

We've been running Food Fiction programs with various communities. Here is a list of all the ones we've done so far here .

With the release of The Sims 4 upcoming, we'd like to plan to do a Food Fiction with you all!

For each program, we start off with a blog post on the community, inviting users to nominate their favorite dishes in various categories. We'd need admin help promoting that post as well as help deciding what those categories should be. We think it could be as simple as an appetizer, main dish, dessert, drink, and some extra fun category. Here's an example of that from our Adventure Time Food Fiction.

One idea we had would be to ask the users to design their feast, create the feast in game, and submit a screen shot of their party menu laid out (can be from any version of the Sims). We think this makes it a little harder to submit a menu, but definitely more fun.

Finally, we'll take the most popular nominees in each category and put them into polls by category on a post on Recipes Wikia. Here's an example from the same Adventure Time FF.

If you all like the idea, we'd like to save it for the mid-August/early September time frame. That would give us some time to also try to get a prize for the winner! Let us know what you think about the ideas and categories.

Thanks!

Annette <staff/> (profile)•(talk) 22:38, May 12, 2014 (UTC)Acardwell415

Determining consensus on "Regular Sim" discussion

We've had this thread open since February and discussion there has died off to the point where it's time to archive the thread and implement the decision that was reached. I personally believe the consensus is towards adopting the word 'Sim' to refer to humanoid non-occult simulated persons. However, this discussion isn't clear-cut one way or the other, so it could be argued that an alternative decision was reached, or that no decision was reached at all. Considering that I was the one to initially propose the discussion and that I am advocating for my particular suggested definition, I don't believe I can act in an unbiased manner to determine what the consensus is and to close that thread.

So, I would like us to determine whether or not a consensus has been reached and, if it has, what the consensus is. -- LostInRiverview talk ~ blog 01:42, May 18, 2014 (UTC)

Two users

Hello, I noticed that Kaiko Mikkusu and Kaylabaraonda are usually takes part of the talk page of a certain Sim and fanons. However, judging by her impressions and her style of writing theories, I think she used her other account as a sockpuppet. Although, I'm not against her or anything bad but I just wondered that if he/she uses two accounts. ThePeculiarMe | (talk to me) 11:50, May 22, 2014 (UTC)

Only a CheckUser could tell for sure, but Wikia will most likely decline our CheckUser requests in this case since the two are not vandalizing the wiki, nor are they evading blocks like ILoveSims5. Keep an eye on the two accounts, and use the Duck test when necessary. --k6ka (talk | contribs) 11:56, May 22, 2014 (UTC)
Okay, so, by any chances, a user and his/her sockpuppets vandalizes the wiki, can considered blocking to them. ThePeculiarMe | (talk to me) 12:06, May 22, 2014 (UTC)
Looking through the edits these users have made, I don't see any red flags that would suggest that the two are the same person. -- LostInRiverview talk ~ blog 14:56, May 22, 2014 (UTC)

User:Bootyfacezforev and 65.129.158.170

The two users have acted in a rather similar fashion: they're both involved in the comment section of the Elsa Frozen fanon, the IP having vandalized the fanon. However, there are key issues that make me almost certain that they are either the same user, or siblings. Bootyfacezforev have explicitly stated that the IP address that the user uses is the same as the IP address that was blocked, which can occur if the distance between the user and the IP address is rather small. However, there are other problems as well: Bootyfacezforev claims that his/her sibling has caused some trouble beforehand, which reeks of wikipedia:WP:BRO. However, the critical factor is the fanons: the IP address has created a fanon that is attributed to an nonexistent user lulu42546. The problem is that Bootyfacezforev does the exact same thing. Given that, I'm under the impression that the account has either been compromised, or the IP and the user are the same person. MILK FOR THE UNYUUFEX, FLAT CHEST FOR THE CUTENESS THRONE, SKULLS FOR THE SKULL PROBES (user talk:Mathetesalexandrou) 23:11, May 23, 2014 (UTC)

Quack! Quack! Quack! --k6ka (talk | contribs) 00:48, May 24, 2014 (UTC)
I presume no action should be taken since the user hasn't committed vandalism or other negative edits on the wiki as the user, besides the lulu42546 thing? MILK FOR THE UNYUUFEX, FLAT CHEST FOR THE CUTENESS THRONE, SKULLS FOR THE SKULL PROBES (user talk:Mathetesalexandrou) 01:26, May 24, 2014 (UTC)
Only a Checkuser can 100% confirm the relation between the account and the IP. If the IP of the account matches the one that vandalized the fanon, further action may be taken. However, Wikia Staff will refuse any Checkuser request in this case due to potential violations of the privacy policy (Wikipedia is like this as well). So the only thing we have is the Duck test.
I left a message on the user's talk page about using non-existent usernames in the {{Property}} template, and if they ignore it and continue giving me free edits in correcting this, I may post back here. Of course, the IP was only blocked for 31 hours, so it would only be 31 hours of block evasion. I don't think we need to jump to an indefinite block for sockpuppetry just yet. --k6ka (talk | contribs) 02:11, May 24, 2014 (UTC)

I agree.

I'm not sure why, but these two users make me a tad suspicious. C.Syde (talk | contribs) 02:16, May 24, 2014 (UTC)