Wikipedia talk:Teahouse

Occasionally, while I am around the Teahouse, I see some people closing discussions as "out of scope" if they are completely unrelated, such as "I fell out of a tree". How often is this done and should it be done? I'm relatively new as a host, and I want to learn more about how to do better here. CabinetCavers----DEPOSIT OPINION, [valued customer] 20:01, 27 February 2026 (UTC)

@CabinetCavers, our goal is to improve the encyclopedia. So if a post seems like someone is trying to improve Wikipedia, I'll generally deem it worth replying to to help them out, no matter how off course they may be. But if not, for the "I fell out of a tree" CIR-type situations, it's just not worth our effort. Sdkb ^talk 18:58, 28 February 2026 (UTC)

My main question is how I close these. Is there just a template I can slap on or something, or is more needed? CabinetCavers----DEPOSIT OPINION, [valued customer] 00:21, 1 March 2026 (UTC)

Different templates can be used, but they're used as a set; {{discussion top}}/{{discussion bottom}} and {{Archive top}}/{{Archive bottom}} are some that I've seen used. FWIW, you probably don't need to worry about doing this type of thing in most cases since TH threads are regularly archived and don't remain on the main page for too long if left unanswered. In fact the risk of overdoing something this, particularly if your a new host and your intentions are the best, could actually blowback on you. There are several administrators who reqularly answer questions at the TH and usually one of them will take care of the really bad stuff. Of course, any thing that's a clear violation of things like WP:NPA, WP:BLP, WP:COPYVIO or even WP:OUTING can be removed asap without needing to use a template to do so. If you do such a thing, though, you probably should follow up with an administrator so that they can cleanup what's left to cleanup. -- Marchjuly (talk) 00:52, 1 March 2026 (UTC)

Sounds good! You are right though, I likely should avoid closing too much. CabinetCavers----DEPOSIT OPINION, [valued customer] 12:55, 2 March 2026 (UTC)

I think people are confused by the fact it's called a "Teahouse" and use it to just have random discussion as they would in a physical teahouse (though occasionally, people do ask for tea which in reply we give them tea emojis). While I like the name and the sentiment, it might be time to start reconsidering how to avoid confusion like this. VidanaliK (talk to me) (contributions) 18:25, 1 March 2026 (UTC)

I have removed a user who was blocked as a sockmaster a month after being added to the Teahouse featured host rotation. User:Phoenix. Please revert if this was in error. I don't want to add anyone to the rotation to replace that editor without discussion.

Edit: Well to quote @Chaotic Enby (who saw my message just after I made the change, unfortunately): "That won't work, as the code in the header looks for a random subpage between 1 and 29, so even if you remove a user from the list at Wikipedia:Teahouse/Host/Featured, they can still show up in the header." Exactly that happened on manual confirmation, so I am not sure what ought to be done now, but I do not think this user should be featured. The question then arises as to who should be featured in their place? Pietrus1 (talk) 22:55, 7 March 2026 (UTC)

It looks like I was (accidentally?) removed from the host list at some point, so I've swapped in myself to the slot. Cheers, Sdkb ^talk 23:20, 7 March 2026 (UTC)

Phew. All has worked out. Pietrus1 (talk) 23:35, 7 March 2026 (UTC)

Glad to hear it! Chaotic Enby (talk · contribs) 23:50, 7 March 2026 (UTC)

Is the list of hosts just the featured host rotation? VidanaliK (talk to me) (contributions) 18:34, 8 March 2026 (UTC)

@VidanaliK The system is confusing owing to its history. There is a partial explanation at WP:Teahouse/Host/Featured that tries to explain the difference between WP:Teahouse/Hosts and WP:Teahouse/Host landing. You will need to decide what you want the end result to be before you make any changes. Mike Turnbull (talk) 17:50, 18 March 2026 (UTC)

@Michael D. Turnbull You will need to decide what you want the end result to be before you make any changes. What does that mean? Changes to what? Can I add myself to the list of hosts but not the featured host rotation? VidanaliK (talk to me) (contributions) 17:59, 18 March 2026 (UTC)

The rubric at Host/Featured says Please do not attempt to add yourself unilaterally to this feature; discuss changes at WT:TH first, please. Currently you are in the odd position of not being on the list a newbie would see if they clicked the "View Hosts" link at the top of the Teahouse page, nor are you among the 29 hosts who rotate randomly through the Teahouse header banner. The only place you are listed is at WP:Teahouse/Host landing, which I assume is because you signed up to become a host. Hence your "decision" is whether to ask to be added to one or both of the other two lists or just ignore the fact that almost no-one will ever learn you signed up. By the way, I didn't sign up, despite now being on the rotation: someone else decided I was a "regular" and added me there! See this discussion. As I said, the system is confusing... Mike Turnbull (talk) 10:42, 19 March 2026 (UTC)

I am the subject of this article and have prepared this draft to document my public work and civic leadership. I understand that this represents a conflict of interest and request that independent editors review the article for neutrality, sourcing, and notability before publication. D M Moore Bailey (talk) 06:21, 12 March 2026 (UTC)

D M Moore Bailey This page is for discussing the operation of the Teahouse, and is not the Teahouse itself, please post to the main Teahouse page with any questions. 331dot (talk) 07:42, 12 March 2026 (UTC)

We often have to ask people which editor they are using, which can be confusing for them and long-winded for us to explain.

I have made Wikipedia:Which editor? to which we can refer such people. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 12:00, 18 March 2026 (UTC)

That's a good start. I think you should add a comment that you can switch editors using the icon on the right to go from VE -> SE or SE -> VE when you have started in one to edit an article but need temporarily to go to the other. Newbies to the Teahouse will also be confused by the fact that "Add topic" either here or on other talk pages starts in SE but if one tries to switch to VE using the link provided doesn't actually go into conventional visual mode! The "Reply" tool is also odd in that it has an editing window and a preview window active together. I'm aware that this might rapidly become TLDR. Mike Turnbull (talk) 18:11, 18 March 2026 (UTC)

Does anyone know why some topics that have been here for longer than 72h haven't been archived, e.g. Wikipedia:Teahouse#Subst template in signatures? Lowercase sigmabot still seems to be archiving (), but it isn't archiving all the ones that have gone past the time limit. 45dogs (they/them) (talk page) (contributions) 04:09, 21 March 2026 (UTC)

Pinging @Σ, as it doesn't seem to have fixed itself and there are quite a few topics that have been sitting despite being old enough for an archive. MetalBreaksAndBends (talk) 20:53, 22 March 2026 (UTC)

The archiving bot appears to be working fine. It's not about how old a topic is, rather how old the most recent comment in a particular section is. Graham87 (talk) 02:23, 26 March 2026 (UTC)

At the time, some of the most recent comments were over a week old without the section being archived. In the diff I gave, there are sections were the most recent comment was 9 days from when there was last a comment, and the bot didn't archive them. 45dogs (they/them) (talk page) (contributions) 02:24, 26 March 2026 (UTC)

Oh I see now. Yeah that's odd. Graham87 (talk) 04:00, 26 March 2026 (UTC)