Wikipedia talk:Missing Wikipedians

message: There may be Wikipedians who long ago used one name to make Wikipedia edits, but now use a new name owing to technological difficulties (N.B. this is not a use of sock puppetry). For example, I used to make edits under the name ACEOREVIVED, but owing to problems I was off-line and now that I am back online, I edit under the name Vorbee. Could this explain how some of these so-called missing Wikipedians could be revived?Vorbee (talk) 16:00, 8 August 2017 (UTC)
thread_title: Wikipedians who now use a new name

message: Would you like to make a proposal, rather than make unilateral changes? Chris Troutman (talk) 20:12, 15 May 2019 (UTC)
replies: text: I realised it, and I was about to revert myself before you did. I was wondering if we should stop adding people who have declared leaving wikipedia/retirement. Maybe a differenet section or a subpage for such users? —usernamekiran(talk) 20:27, 15 May 2019 (UTC)
replies: text: I think this page was meant to include those that left in frustration, not simply those that stopped editing. While I agree we shouldn't include the confirmed deceased or those blocked for cause, I'm not sure I would also remove the ragequits. Let's be honest: anyone that posts a retirement notice on their userpage isn't gone for long. I always find those notices to be childish tantrums. Chris Troutman (talk) 20:59, 15 May 2019 (UTC)
thread_title:  edit requirement before qualifying for this list 

message: User:TheWWEThunderbolt wasn't on Wikipedia since June 26, 2019 Should I add him TheProWrestlingFanatic (talk) 04:31, 3 April 2020 (UTC)
replies: text: TheProWrestlingFanatic, I know this was from a while ago, but this talk page has been neglected. For your information, the short answer is no. This user edited much less than the required 1,000 edits to be on this page. Hope this helps, Lima Bean Farmer (talk) 19:29, 19 September 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  TheWWEThunderbolt 

message: If a user that is on this list edits in the recent month, should that be mentioned or should the user be removed? IMiss2010 (talk) 15:12, 16 February 2022 (UTC)
replies: text: Remove as they've become active and are no longer missing. Acalamari 03:35, 17 February 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  Question 

message: Is it good to capitalize the beginning of a user description? IMiss2010 (talk) 13:56, 2 March 2022 (UTC)
replies: text: The beginning of sentences should be capitalized. If the entry isn't a sentence, perhaps capitalization isn't needed. Chris Troutman (talk) 01:09, 28 March 2022 (UTC)
replies: text: Thank you, I just wanted to be sure, as I am becoming more active here and wanted to clean up. IMiss2010 (talk) 12:18, 29 March 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  Asking 

message: Basic information for most users is missing: first edit date, last edit, number of edits, number of days active. This could be  solved by converting to a table, thus encouraging blank cells to be filled in - a bot probably could. Plus a Notes column for any misc info. Then you can sort the columns. -- GreenC 00:59, 28 March 2022 (UTC)
replies: text: I would be opposed to this for a couple reasons: first, each editor has their own narrative about the facts of their disappearance; this isn't meant to be a quantitative analysis of days, edits, etc. That sounds like a separate effort you might want to create as a sub-page to this, although I doubt you'd ever find meaningful conclusions. Second, as the point of each bullet is a narrative of disillusionment, there is little point in stating methodically how long an editor was active until they weren't. Third, a chart that doesn't give us much in the way of understanding is also going to be more difficult for those of us adding new entries. While a bot could start a table how would the bot keep adding new entries? Some editors return so how would the bot not keep re-adding them? Some editors don't even want to be listed here. I think a chart, were it to exist, needs to be on a different page. Chris Troutman (talk) 01:08, 28 March 2022 (UTC)
replies: text: . I didn't realize that was the point of this page, to create mini narratives of disillusionment. In which case it doesn't do that very well.  This page contains two things: quantitative and qualitative data. They are not exclusive of one another. By creating a table you can sort columns ie. show me users sorted by most edits, tells us who the biggest contributors are. Sort by first edit date, tells the oldest and newest. Sort by days active, tells us the longest and shortest lived users. From these things arise narrative (hey, the oldest user has the least number of edits look at that). Tables don't need to be complete, there can be empty cells waiting to be filled. Textual prose can be part of the table as one of the cells. One cell might be their parting message. Another cell might be other notes or info. Sortable tables are a powerful tool that create multi-facted views from which narrative arises. -- GreenC 22:23, 30 March 2022 (UTC)
replies: text: I'm not against the creation of such a table, I'm just opposed to it replacing the present bullets. If you want to make a table in addition to the bullets, that's fine with me. As you know everything is social sciences is probabilistic: there are too many factors weighing on why someone stops editing to think we can deduce meaningful patterns from the data we can collect here. I think the data would end up being misleading. Chris Troutman (talk) 23:51, 30 March 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  Table 

message: On users who have been marked as admins, should they be marked as formeradmin instead if they have been desyopped for inactivity or other reasons? IMiss2010 (talk) 12:25, 29 March 2022 (UTC)
replies: text: provides a link to their RfA, whereas  does not. I don't think it matters, as anyone who quit editing will be desysopped for inactivity before long. Chris Troutman (talk) 23:57, 30 March 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  Question about Admins 

message: This is an alphabetical list. Edits of yours like , , , , and perhaps hundreds of others are not in alphabetical order and so have created errors to fix. Please correct what you misplaced. Chris Troutman (talk) 19:09, 1 April 2022 (UTC)
replies: text: What do you mean? I placed the users with the same first letters on the same letter list. IMiss2010 (talk) 19:21, 1 April 2022 (UTC)
replies: text: Alphabetical order means, for example, that "Berkut" comes after "Berean Hunter" because while both start with the three letters ber, k (the fourth letter of Berkut's name) comes after e (the fourth letter of Berean's name). It follows that Bernstein2291 comes after Berkut because Bernstein2291's fourth letter is n, which comes after k. Alphabetical order means that all names are sorted in this way, like the words in a printed dictionary are. I am deeply sorry if this concept in the English-language is new to you. Chris Troutman (talk) 19:35, 1 April 2022 (UTC)
replies: text: Yes I understand now, I will fix the problems and I will not edit here again to prevent making more problems I am sorry for my errors IMiss2010 (talk) 20:39, 1 April 2022 (UTC)
replies: text: It's not a huge deal, ; everyone makes mistakes. There are assumptions regarding competence. Please feel free to ask questions if you don't understand, as we would prefer to encourage your editing. Chris Troutman (talk) 20:43, 1 April 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  FFS 

message: If a user who does not meet the required 1,000 edits has a not around template added on their talk page, should it be removed? IMiss2010 (talk) 18:43, 29 April 2022 (UTC)
replies: text: I'm not sure I understand your question. The current rule on this page is editors who have ~1000 edits. We shouldn't be adding anyone who doesn't meet that threshold; do we need to purge a bunch of entries?  is an entirely separate thing. Any editor who stopped editing for a year or so ought to be labeled with it and it has nothing to do with this page. There's only a natural overlap in the Venn diagram of those populations who are not around who might also be listed here. That diagram isn't a circle. Chris Troutman (talk) 19:00, 29 April 2022 (UTC)
replies: text: I was just wondering as a user who was removed from here due to not meeting that requirement still had the template. Apologies if I disturbed you. IMiss2010 (talk) 19:18, 29 April 2022 (UTC)
replies: text: IMiss2010, sorry no one has gotten back to you for a while. Any editor is allowed to put that (or pretty much anything else) on their talk page. It should be left unless done by a known act of vandalism or other extreme circumstances. This page is for editors to report fellow editors who meet the criteria as missing. So to answer your question, it should not be removed as these are 2 entirely different things. Thank you for asking though, happy editing Lima Bean Farmer (talk) 16:15, 21 November 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  Question 

message: Hi. This page carries a theme and is written by volunteers. Please discuss. Chris Troutman (talk) 17:06, 21 November 2022 (UTC)
replies: text: talk, all pages on Wikipedia are written by volunteers. Why did you revert my edits? The “theme” if you want to call it that, is to provide information on editors who are not active anymore. I provided more detailed information on how many edits they made and when their last edit was. I also got rid of some sentences about editors that appeared to be opinion-based or biased. Since the editors are no longer active to correct this, we want to stick with facts we know about them instead of reasons we may have thought they were leaving. The article is currently a jumbled list with a jumble of information. I am trying to standardize it. I don’t see why you have a problem with that. Lima Bean Farmer (talk) 18:21, 21 November 2022 (UTC)
replies: text: I see no value in changing this into a dry list of names, numbers of edits, and last date edited; much of that is visible from nav popups. For example, this page had described  as  which tells us something more than you recitation: . Those are sentence fragments and useless.  I didn't revert you, but I don't think your complaint about text I wrote is reasonable. The theme here is who is quitting (what sort of editors) and why. Everyone else if fine with how this page has been historicaly written so you've made a Chesterton's fence error. Chris Troutman (talk) 19:30, 21 November 2022 (UTC)
replies: text: Chris Troutman, Chesterton's fence is a philosophical theory, not a Wikipedia guideline. The page currently is mainly mismatched information. It is almost entirely sentence fragments as it is. Your assumption that “Everyone else if fine with how this page has been historicaly written” is simply speculation. It appears this is a page that is not often edited and that no one has previously put a lot of time/effort into making this page better. Again, you say that you want something to be said about each editor, yet a lot of edits are simply “last edited on (date)”. The amount of information we have about each editor leaving is arbitrary. We can always find out how many edits they made and when their last edit was. It seems like leaving it this way would be most useful for this article. Lima Bean Farmer (talk) 20:51, 21 November 2022 (UTC)
replies: text: Yes, we can always find out how many contributions made and when Wikipedians stopped. That's exactly the information we do not need, because it is ubiquitous. What we need are those arbitrary narratives around each editor's departure. It says at top  What you're doing isn't that. If you want to list more editors, I won't argue over how you do that, as you point out many present entries are sparse. However, when you remove content others took the time to add I have to protest. Just in the past 500 edits (past year) a bunch of other editors have contributed as the history tab shows. Please also read WP:CONSENSUS. Chris Troutman (talk) 21:02, 21 November 2022 (UTC)
replies: text: Chris Troutman, I am not sure why you have any need to protest. I have not redone your revisions and am kindly discussing with you on the talk page. It seems unnecessary and in bad faith to make any sort of protest over these actions. I am very aware of what consensus is. I don’t see the need for information such as “Final edits were unhappy farewells” are needed on this page. While the information you discuss is ubiquitous, so is almost anything on Wikipedia. The idea is to put it in encyclopedic format. I am not sure why we need a page on arbitrary reasons users left based on how users who currently use Wikipedia determine they left. Lima Bean Farmer (talk) 21:45, 21 November 2022 (UTC)
replies: text: You have changed content I added, as I provided a diff above. You are an inexperienced editor coming off a series of blocks, so it would help if you would cease insisting on your way beyond reason. Claiming my discussion is bad faith sounds a lot like WP:ASPERSIONS to me. I have pointed to the purpose of the page. I have explained my editing. You seem to think you know better. You were bold, I reverted, now we're discussing. As you do not have consensus for your changes, the page remains status quo ante. Chris Troutman (talk) 21:50, 21 November 2022 (UTC)
replies: text: Chris Troutman, first please consider pinging another editor when in a discussion so they can see you responded. This is the comment you made which I reverted: “A 2006 editor of no accomplishment, Goldom was elected admin in an era where almost anyone could and it didn't matter.” How is that helpful? It is simply a negative opinion of yourself on an editor who is no longer active to refute what you said. I have provided reason for everything I have said, I’m not sure what makes you think you’re more “experienced” than me or how that would help your argument. I do not know where you have consensus on reverting my edits either. You should really read that aspiration article. I made it very clear that the reason I accused you of bad faith was because you stated that “I have to protest”. This seems unnecessarily excessive when I’m having a good faith discussion with you. Lima Bean Farmer (talk) 00:09, 22 November 2022 (UTC)
replies: text:  I haven't been pinging you because you should have this talk page on your watchlist. You do not need to ping me. If someone removes content I've added then it is fair to protest that removal. Again, I did not revert you regarding Goldom. The rest of it (like ACSE) you haven't provided a rationale for. Chris Troutman (talk) 02:41, 22 November 2022 (UTC)
replies: text: Chris Troutman, it is my choice what to have on my watch list. And yes, I have provided a rationale. I stated that the current list is just an arbitrary list of facts based on 1 user’s view of another user. It doesn’t make sense as this isn’t encyclopedic content. I recommend you start an rfc on this issue because you clearly don’t want to listen to me. Lima Bean Farmer (talk) 04:38, 22 November 2022 (UTC)
replies: text:  I'm not starting an RfC because you don't know how to be a Wikipedian. Chris Troutman (talk) 05:05, 22 November 2022 (UTC)
replies: text: Chris Troutman, I am not the one refusing to engage in debate over content. You refuse to even acknowledge my points, threaten a “protest” whatever that entails, and claim I’m inexperienced as the reason you are right. If you refuse to listen to my arguments, and refuse to start an rfc, then I will be reverting your reverts as you have not had a solid argument backing them up and what I am doing is making the article look more encyclopedic Lima Bean Farmer (talk) 05:21, 22 November 2022 (UTC)
replies: text:  You are welcome to add information but you have not convinced me it makes sense to remove information. Pinging other contributors to the page  for their opinions. Chris Troutman (talk) 17:53, 22 November 2022 (UTC)
replies: text: Chris Troutman, see now there is consensus supporting your point. I will leave it at that, it is clear that the current status of the article is the way the community wants it. However, I will point out that this is all you had to do from the beginning. I’m not sure why you decided first to attack me for my previous blocks, all of which are from over a year ago, and say I don’t know how to be a Wikipedian. This gives the impression that you somehow know better than me. This type of interaction in my mind is not in good faith. However, I’ll look past this and say you were probably just having a bad day. Hope your days in the future are better and that we can work together productively to improve Wikipedia. Best, Lima Bean Farmer (talk) 20:05, 22 November 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  standardized and accurate? 

message: Hi there, hope someone add User:Jethro B who was a very active editor to the list. Because I'm not familiar with the process. His/her last edit is dated 10 June 2013. Thank you, Egeymi (talk) 19:11, 9 March 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  User:Jethro B 

message: Editing regularly for a long time then just vanishing without explanation has the unfortunate ring of death about it. Should Wikipedia have some responsibility to reach out to these people's families using details they may have provided, or through their ISP? It may not be possible to stop something bad from happening but the community could then at least properly honour them for their work over the years, rather than just dropping their usernames into this somewhat clinical list. Thanks. 2A00:23C8:512:4401:9994:9A79:84BE:2C51 (talk) 23:31, 22 September 2023 (UTC)
replies: text: Absolutely not, on all accounts. First, many editors come to Wikipedia as students. Once they've graduated, gotten employment, started a family, etc. these life changes take them away from the occasions they used to have to edit. They're probably not dead. Second, even if they were dead it's none of our business. Not only does each editor deserve some privacy hiding behind a pseudonym, but they also might not choose to tell anyone surviving that they edited here. We have plenty of editors who choose to vanish and now you want an opposite process to keep tabs on them? Third, we already announce the deaths of editors when we have some evidence; this page is for those who stop editing. Finally, Wikipedia is just a website. People join, contribute, and leave. Their edits are part of the encyclopedia, logged in our history tabs. Wikipedia is not a shrine to former editors, many of whom would find your suggestions gauche. Chris Troutman (talk) 01:19, 23 September 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  Regulars who suddenly vanished years ago, without explanation, are probably deceased? 

message: Missing Wikipedians should be listed based on non-automated edits or a list of FA GA, not alphabetically.
There should be a separate group for former missing administrators, check users, oversights, and Arb members.
If editors want to remember them remember them based on their contribution, not their username alphabetically. 2409:40E1:2:7FD8:89DA:ED00:9521:AD09 (talk) 15:29, 13 December 2023 (UTC)
replies: text: Certainly not. Alphabetical listing is straight-forward and normal. We're not choosing criteria to "rank" missing editors by their usefulness and attempting to do so would probably be difficult if not impossible. I would sooner just list missing people with no alphabetical order at all or maybe list editors by when they went missing than doing what you suggest. I'd also be opposed to a sortable table, although I know others in the past have asked for it. Finally, all these missing editors chose their respective usernames, signed comments with their usernames, and are recognized in history tabs by those usernames so I see no reason not to sort them by such here. Chris Troutman (talk) 15:46, 13 December 2023 (UTC)
replies: text: Finally, all these missing editors chose their respective usernames, signed comments with their usernames, and are recognized in history tabs by those usernames  Missing wikipedians do many other important things after creating usernames.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2409:40E1:2:7FD8:89DA:ED00:9521:AD09 (talk) 16:58, 13 December 2023 (UTC)
replies: text: You said above  and my point is that the username is not some happenstance attribute by which we sort. I can list a bunch of editors I've interacted with but except for Tony the Tiger, I couldn't tell you offhand if they did much regarding GAs, DYKs, and the like. It's also worth noting that DYK and Four Award have halls of fame while we have multiple ways to track edit count. Chris Troutman (talk) 17:10, 13 December 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  Listing 

message: I just noticed an addition to this page, and I see there are mass additions being made by anon IPs starting with 2603:6081:7800.... I'm assuming that some of you who are watching this page will know if this is good, bad, or indifferent!
Thanks, BCorr|Брайен 02:21, 7 January 2024 (UTC)
replies: text: I was somewhat surprised by the number of edits as well. They seem constructive but could benefit from edit summaries. IMiss2010 (talk) 14:41, 5 February 2024 (UTC)
thread_title:  Many, many additions by unregistered users starting with 2603:6081:7800...? 

message: Template:Mop has been nominated for merging with Template:Icon. You are invited to comment on the discussion at the template's entry on the Templates for discussion page. Thank you. ‍—‍a smart kitten[meow] 22:26, 27 February 2024 (UTC)
thread_title:  Nomination for merger of [[Template:Mop]] 

message: Beginning after the entry of  in the list of WP:Missing Wikipedians, there appears to be a formatting error where subsequent entries show a "template" but no name of editors. I'm seeing this in both Chrome browser and Microsoft Edge browser. Could someone figure out what the problem is? Thanks. Woodlot (talk) 18:23, 7 April 2024 (UTC)
replies: text: See #Split proposal. —Compassionate727 (T·C) 18:38, 7 April 2024 (UTC)
thread_title: Error in formatting entries

message: Why? Bear with me here, but I really do struggle to see the actual point of this collation. It seems it can do little but annoy editors listed. Suffice it to say that
reads as really smarmy and borderline unacceptable as a guideline. I shouldn't have to remove myself if someone added me to this list: if I don't want to be on Wikipedia anymore, no one should be increasing my footprint here for the thrill of having done so.
Let people leave in peace, I guess? It's simply none of my concern other than to respect their stated wishes rather than imposing my own, and the default response should not be to put them into a spreadsheet they then have to opt out of. It's just odd to treat reminiscence as data, and should probably not happen by default. 
Remsense诉 12:01, 3 May 2024 (UTC)
replies: text: , another editor () mentioned in the above RfC that it has been 12 years since the last deletion discussion; do either of you want to start another one? Some1 (talk) 23:11, 18 May 2024 (UTC)
thread_title:  Puzzling endeavor