Wikiversity:Colloquium/archives/December 2018

New Wikimedia password policy and requirements
The Wikimedia Foundation security team is implementing a new password policy and requirements. You can learn more about the project on MediaWiki.org.

These new requirements will apply to new accounts and privileged accounts. New accounts will be required to create a password with a minimum length of 8 characters. Privileged accounts will be prompted to update their password to one that is at least 10 characters in length.

These changes are planned to be in effect on December 13th. If you think your work or tools will be affected by this change, please let us know on the talk page.

CKoerner (WMF) (talk) 20:02, 6 December 2018 (UTC)

Mediawiki request for an onlymobile css class
I'm trying to create the opposite of the 'nomobile' class that hides text from mobile view. Would it be possible to add the following lines to wikiversity core css pages: Thanks! T.Shafee(Evo&#65120;Evo)talk 10:49, 12 December 2018 (UTC)
 * in MediaWiki:Common.css
 * in MediaWiki:Mobile.css


 * Since there was no consensus reached during previous discussions, we don't currently have anyone with Interface Administrator rights. Consistent with the minimum of the options indicated in that discussion, I've added your account as an Interface Administrator with a 24-hour expiration. Please feel free to to make the proposed changes and test the results. -- Dave Braunschweig (discuss • contribs) 14:12, 12 December 2018 (UTC)
 * Thanks. I've made the edits and doing testing. It seems to be working as intended. I'll post here if I notice any issues pop up. T.Shafee(Evo&#65120;Evo)talk 23:41, 12 December 2018 (UTC)
 * Rats, could you give me another 24 bump? I was advised that the  wasn;'t needed so removed it,. However I think that that isn't correct for wikiversity's setup so need to undo my last edit to each of MediaWiki:Common.css and MediaWiki:Mobile.css. T.Shafee(Evo&#65120;Evo)talk 22:46, 13 December 2018 (UTC)
 * ✅ -- Dave Braunschweig (discuss • contribs) 02:05, 14 December 2018 (UTC)

Delete a page
Please delete the page Pipeline which I created by mistake.

The correct page (do not delete it) is Automatic transformation of XML namespaces/Pipeline. --VictorPorton (discuss • contribs) 04:22, 16 December 2018 (UTC)


 * ✅. Note that you can just add at the top of a page to request deletion. -- Dave Braunschweig (discuss • contribs) 15:01, 16 December 2018 (UTC)

Word-to-word notes copied from my school
Not all, but many of my pages on WV (pages such as Meiosis, for example) are copied straight from the notes that I receive from my school. To prevent any damage to WV or myself, do I have to include some type of disclaimer in the talk page or on the page itself? For now, it doesn't seem to be an issue... but as I progress into higher-level studies, this issue that has been boggling me for a few years now might seem to become a reputation-threatening matter that would be a struggle to deal with. Thanks. -Atcovi (Talk - Contribs) 00:18, 17 December 2018 (UTC)


 * In the U.S., anything that isn't explicitly public domain is assumed to be copyrighted. Anything copyrighted that isn't explicitly licensed for reuse (CC-BY, etc.) can only be reused under Fair Use guidelines. To be legal, you would need to ask the source for permission to post it as CC-BY-SA, and then include a note either in the edit summary, the content, or the Discussion page indicating the source and the permission granted for posting it. You are free to publish your own personal notes you develop based on these materials and others without specific permissions, if you wish. My college developed a good, short tutorial on copyright, published at https://sites.google.com/view/harper-copyright-tutorial . It may answer some of your questions. -- Dave Braunschweig (discuss • contribs) 01:36, 17 December 2018 (UTC)


 * Interesting site... will keep bookmarked for future purposes. As for the notes that has been published already (word by word), what should the appropriate action be? -Atcovi (Talk - Contribs) 01:49, 17 December 2018 (UTC)


 * Fair use usually "word by word" is a quote. A reference providing author, lecture title, date, publisher (school), location, url if available online, would prevent plagiarism concerns. If it's a series of lectures, < 95 % copied would meet fair use traditionally though legally it's < 100 %. Since your use is also educational you could mention "fair use" but that's Wikiversity purpose. Why others should regard use as educational only is supplying a rationale such as "educational only site restriction". Hope this helps! --Marshallsumter (discuss • contribs) 03:15, 17 December 2018 (UTC)


 * Fair use at Wikiversity only applies to the File: namespace, where a Fair Use indicator may be applied. All other namespaces include a required CC-BY-SA license and permission when the page is published. Fair use isn't relevant to these pages, because the user posting doesn't have permission to relicense the content.


 * The easiest solution legally might be to delete the pages (or delete the content) and instead add the content to the File namespace with Fair Use tags. But, be careful, because Fair Use requires identifying the source. If you identify the source, you may end up identifying yourself geographically. Any Personally Identifiable Information should be avoided.
 * Alternatively, you could edit the pages into your own words. Depending on how much content there is, that may not be practical. As a third option, you could add a generic "The following (or the above) is based on a handout provided in a high school biology course." or similar notation. It doesn't solve the copyright issues, but it does let anyone who wants to reuse the content know that source information is lacking. -- Dave Braunschweig (discuss • contribs) 04:30, 17 December 2018 (UTC)
 * Going forward, you should post outlines based on school handouts, but then copy the content from related Wikipedia or Wikibooks articles rather than copying detail from the handouts themselves. Or, add the content as files with Fair Use, and then link to the files from relevant content pages. -- Dave Braunschweig (discuss • contribs) 04:30, 17 December 2018 (UTC)
 * I surely do not want my content deleted, so I geuss I will go back on all the resources I can think of [when I have time] and make a couple of changes. I think work in my words is a lot better to me and also in terms of copyright. It will be a hard task, but I think it is worth embarking on it in the long run. Thanks for the inputs. -Atcovi (Talk - Contribs) 11:09, 17 December 2018 (UTC)

Invitation from Wiki Loves Love 2019


Love is an important subject for humanity and it is expressed in different cultures and regions in different ways across the world through different gestures, ceremonies, festivals and to document expression of this rich and beautiful emotion, we need your help so we can share and spread the depth of cultures that each region has, the best of how people of that region, celebrate love.

Wiki Loves Love (WLL) is an international photography competition of Wikimedia Commons with the subject love testimonials happening in the month of February.

The primary goal of the competition is to document love testimonials through human cultural diversity such as monuments, ceremonies, snapshot of tender gesture, and miscellaneous objects used as symbol of love; to illustrate articles in the worldwide free encyclopedia Wikipedia, and other Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) projects.

The theme of 2019 iteration is Celebrations, Festivals, Ceremonies and rituals of love.

Sign up your affiliate or individually at Participants page.

To know more about the contest, check out our Commons Page and FAQs

There are several prizes to grab. Hope to see you spreading love this February with Wiki Loves Love!

Kind regards,

Wiki Loves Love Team

Imagine... the sum of all love! --MediaWiki message delivery (discuss • contribs) 10:12, 27 December 2018 (UTC)