User talk:Dennis Brown
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STATUS: Busy in real life.
It's been a good run, almost 20 years, most of that as admin, and I'm not sure how much longer I expect to be here. In the last couple of years, I've basically retired in real life, moved to the other side of the planet, and stay busy with a new life. It's a good life. Being at enwp, however, simply isn't very enjoyable at this time. I joined in 2006 to "build an encyclopedia" but most of the building is done, and the political infighting and bias just wears on me, so I don't hang out here very much anymore, as I find it a drag on my mental health. I don't feel that Wikipedia is actually "improving", it is just getting bigger, and in many ways, uglier. I still pop in and lurk, read some of what is going on so I have a clue as to general consensus, but the urge to participate just isn't strong at this moment. Maybe in the future I will feel differently, maybe not, but for now, don't expect to see me every week. -db
It's been a good run, almost 20 years, most of that as admin, and I'm not sure how much longer I expect to be here. In the last couple of years, I've basically retired in real life, moved to the other side of the planet, and stay busy with a new life. It's a good life. Being at enwp, however, simply isn't very enjoyable at this time. I joined in 2006 to "build an encyclopedia" but most of the building is done, and the political infighting and bias just wears on me, so I don't hang out here very much anymore, as I find it a drag on my mental health. I don't feel that Wikipedia is actually "improving", it is just getting bigger, and in many ways, uglier. I still pop in and lurk, read some of what is going on so I have a clue as to general consensus, but the urge to participate just isn't strong at this moment. Maybe in the future I will feel differently, maybe not, but for now, don't expect to see me every week. -db
Notice of new RfC on aligning community CTOPs with ArbCom CTOPs
Hi Dennis Brown: You previously participated in this April 2024 RfC on community contentious topics and their relationship with ArbCom's contentious topics. There is now a new RfC on this topic that you may be interested in.
Guide to temporary accounts
Hello, Dennis Brown. This message is being sent to remind you of significant upcoming changes regarding logged-out editing.
Starting 4 November, logged-out editors will no longer have their IP address publicly displayed. Instead, they will have a temporary account (TA) associated with their edits. Users with some extended rights like administrators and CheckUsers, as well as users with the temporary account IP viewer (TAIV) user right will still be able to reveal temporary users' IP addresses and all contributions made by temporary accounts from a specific IP address or range.
How do temporary accounts work?
- When a logged-out user completes an edit or a logged action for the first time, a cookie will be set in this user's browser and a temporary account tied with this cookie will be automatically created for them. This account's name will follow the pattern:
~2025-12345-67(a tilde, year of creation, a number split into units of 5). - All subsequent actions by the temporary account user will be attributed to this username. The cookie will expire 90 days after its creation. As long as it exists, all edits made from this device will be attributed to this temporary account. It will be the same account even if the IP address changes, unless the user clears their cookies or uses a different device or web browser.
- A record of the IP address used at the time of each edit will be stored for 90 days after the edit. Users with the temporary account IP viewer (TAIV) user right will be able to see the underlying IP addresses.
- As a measure against vandalism, there are two limitations on the creation of temporary accounts:
- There has to be a minimum of 10 minutes between subsequent temporary account creations from the same IP (or /64 range in case of IPv6).
- There can be a maximum of 6 temporary accounts created from an IP (or /64 range) within a period of 24 hours.
Temporary account IP viewer user right
- Administrators may grant the temporary account IP viewer (TAIV) user right to non-administrators who meet the criteria for granting. Importantly, an editor must make an explicit request for the permission (e.g. at WP:PERM/TAIV)—administrators are not permitted to assign the right without a request.
- Administrators will automatically be able to see temporary account IP information once they have accepted the Access to Temporary Account IP Addresses Policy via Special:Preferences or via the onboarding dialog which comes up after temporary accounts are deployed.
Impact for administrators
- It will be possible to block many abusers by just blocking their temporary accounts. A blocked person won't be able to create new temporary accounts quickly if the admin selects the autoblock option.
- It will still be possible to block an IP address or IP range.
- Temporary accounts will not be retroactively applied to contributions made before the deployment. On Special:Contributions, you will be able to see existing IP user contributions, but not new contributions made by temporary accounts on that IP address. Instead, you should use Special:IPContributions for this (see a video about IPContributions in a gallery below).
Rules about IP information disclosure
- Publicizing an IP address gained through TAIV access is generally not allowed (e.g. ~2025-12345-67 previously edited as 192.0.2.1 or ~2025-12345-67's IP address is 192.0.2.1).
- Publicly linking a TA to another TA is allowed if "reasonably believed to be necessary". (e.g.
~2025-12345-67 and ~2025-12345-68 are likely the same person, so I am counting their reverts together toward 3RR
, but not Hey ~2025-12345-68, you did some good editing as ~2025-12345-67) - See Wikipedia:Temporary account IP viewer § What can and can't be said for more detailed guidelines.
Useful tools for patrollers
- It is possible to view if a user has opted-in to view temporary account IPs via the User Info card, available in Preferences → Appearance → Advanced options →
Enable the user info card
- This feature also makes it possible for anyone to see the approximate count of temporary accounts active on the same IP address range.
- Special:IPContributions allows viewing all edits and temporary accounts connected to a specific IP address or IP range.
- Similarly, Special:GlobalContributions supports global search for a given temporary account's activity.
- The auto-reveal feature (see video below) allows users with the right permissions to automatically reveal all IP addresses for a limited time window.
Videos
- How to use Special:IPContributions
- How automatic IP reveal works
- How to use IP Info
- How to use User Info
Further information and discussion
- For more information and discussion regarding this change, please see the announcement from the Wikimedia Foundation at Wikipedia:Village pump (WMF) § Temporary accounts rollout.
Administrators' newsletter – May 2026
News and updates for administrators from the past month (April 2026).
Administrator changes
Interface administrator changes
CheckUser changes
Oversight changes
Guideline and policy news
Technical news
- Changes to user permissions made from Meta are now included in the local user permissions log (T6055).
- The autoconfirmed user group will soon be modified such that the four-day account age requirement begins when an account makes its first edit (T418484).
Arbitration
- The arbitration case SchroCat has been opened. Evidence submissions in this case closed on 15 April.
- Per a recent motion, appeals of blocks from the conflict-of-interest VRT queue are, by default, appealed on-wiki through the normal unblock process. However, they may be heard by the Committee if COIVRTers disagree on the interpretation of the evidence or believe ArbCom would be better suited to hear the appeal. Administrators are also advised that loosening or lifting such blocks without the consent of someone with access to the queue or ArbCom can be grounds for desysopping.
- Per a recent motion, restrictions issued directly by the Committee may now be enforced with blocks which work exactly like contentious topic blocks.
- The arbitration case Maghreb has been closed.
Miscellaneous
- The May 2026 administrator elections are scheduled to run from April 29 to May 19. The call for candidates ends May 5.
- The 2026 Universal Code of Conduct Coordinating Committee (U4C) election is scheduled to run from April 25 to June 1. Candidacy submissions close on May 10.
- A new noticeboard for non-urgent, batch page protection requests has been created, primarily for the enforcement of contentious topic restrictions.
Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 19:29, 3 May 2026 (UTC)
I was just browsing through my contribs...
...and I realized you were the first user I'd ever spoken to on Wikipedia about 18 years ago...--v/r - TP 01:48, 18 May 2026 (UTC)
- Good to hear from you now, it's been a while. I'm not nearly as busy here as I used to be. I'm about to hit a crossroads in a few months here, debating it. Retired early in the Philippines, doing some traveling, keeping it simple, enjoying the journey. Real world is a lot more fun than hanging out here, to be honest. Dennis Brown - 2¢ 04:41, 18 May 2026 (UTC)
- I'm retiring from my first career after 22 years. I'm looking for IT roles in Singapore, Korea, Japan, and Taiwan. I may stay near Cebu for a few months to get a foothold in the region. My buddy owns a farm there and he lives in Hawaii and needs someone to do repairs. So maybe I'll poke you if I end up there around August/Sept timeframe and we can get a beer.--v/r - TP 20:44, 18 May 2026 (UTC)
- I'm up between Manila and Tagaytay, uphill a bit, cooler weather, suburban life. Let me know when you are near. PH is a tricky place, so much opportunity and so difficult to access it. Working is harder, but I'm somewhat retired early, so it doesn't affect me. Easy for someone like you to get an SRRV, then come and go as you please here with virtually no hassle or visa worries, fairly cheap, if you want it as a second home. Email me if you like. Dennis Brown - 2¢ 11:01, 19 May 2026 (UTC)
- I'm retiring from my first career after 22 years. I'm looking for IT roles in Singapore, Korea, Japan, and Taiwan. I may stay near Cebu for a few months to get a foothold in the region. My buddy owns a farm there and he lives in Hawaii and needs someone to do repairs. So maybe I'll poke you if I end up there around August/Sept timeframe and we can get a beer.--v/r - TP 20:44, 18 May 2026 (UTC)