Wikipedia talk:Teahouse

Regular Teahouse answerers, please be mindful of the information at Wikipedia:Long-term abuse/ChronicleBooks885. Every time this user comes back I see people take the bait even though the signs are very obvious; be mindful and when this user appears, ignore them and hat their questions. Athanelar (talk) 20:00, 12 June 2026 (UTC)

@Athanelar What are the signs? How can you tell them from your typical newcomer? ^{In solidarity,} 🏳️‍🌈JohnLaurens333 (They/them • Ping me!) 05:44, 13 June 2026 (UTC)

@JohnLaurens333, the signs are described at the LTA page. You can also read through some of the past SPI cases to get a feel for them. —In solidarity with Wiki Workers United · ClaudineChionh (she/her · talk · email) 05:49, 13 June 2026 (UTC)

In brief, with registered accounts you're looking for a username like WordWordNumbers, WordWordWordNumbers, or occasionally just Wordwordword

With both registered accounts and TAs, their questions (both here and at the Teahouse) have a lot of recurring themes. There's the generic "I'm new, how can I contribute", the comparative questions "What is the difference between x and y" (usually asked at the refdesk, and usually the comparison is nonsense; like what's the difference between laptops and books) "Which is more reliable, x or y" (e.g., public libraries or Wikipedia), and questions relating to the difference between TAs and IPs and whether Wikimedia will ever go back to IPs.

As of late, they also have a habit of specifying that their questions should be answered "in your own words" (i.e., without linking them to project pages containing the answer)

They also generally never use less than 2 accounts at a time, sometimes up to 4 or 5. So if you suddenly see a string of this sort of question appear on the TH in quick succession from similarly-named accounts and a TA or two, that's a surefire tell. If you see them, hat their questions, keep an eye on the teahouse for a bit to hat any questions by other accounts, and report all the accounts to the SPI page for CB885. Checkusers normally find a couple of sleepers, and then sometimes they come back and do it again in a day or two, sometimes they'll be gone for a couple of weeks. Athanelar (talk) 06:14, 13 June 2026 (UTC)

What does "hat" their questions mean? SomeoneDreaming (talk) 16:08, 13 June 2026 (UTC)

@SomeoneDreaming See WP:Reference_desk/Science#Relations_between_Scientology_and_Science for a recent example. Basically, you WP:CLOSE the discussion started by a LTA rather than just revert their original edit. Mike Turnbull (talk) 16:46, 13 June 2026 (UTC)

@Athanelar Got it. I had already read the LTA page and was still unsure of how to tell them from newcomers, but this was very helpful, thank you. ^{In solidarity,} 🏳️‍🌈JohnLaurens333 (They/them • Ping me!) 16:18, 13 June 2026 (UTC)

I've just undone their latest effort. Mike Turnbull (talk) 10:23, 14 June 2026 (UTC)

Are they the same person who keeps asking "What if everyone on Wikipedia was a Checkuser?" or is that someone else? ^{In solidarity,} 🏳️‍🌈JohnLaurens333 (They/them • Ping me!) 15:34, 14 June 2026 (UTC)

That's them, yes. Athanelar (talk) 15:55, 14 June 2026 (UTC)

Lol I saw this immediately after taking the bait myself. Thanks for hatting. cyberdog958^Talk 03:52, 17 June 2026 (UTC)

Not sure how much effort goes into getting an llm to spin up a few paragraphs. CMD (talk) 04:42, 17 June 2026 (UTC)

I recommend Teahouse hosts who are unsure about whether they can spot this one apply for WP:TAIV. In solidarity, asilvering (talk) 05:18, 17 June 2026 (UTC)

Not eligible for TAIV yet, so checking my ability to spot them by hand: this one? how do administrators know that someone is vandalizing a page? M kuhner (talk) 18:16, 22 June 2026 (UTC)

Not one of their typical questions, the typing style has errors that are unusual for them, and there's no other accounts at the same time, nor any similar questions asked at other venues, so I'd say not them this time. Athanelar (talk) 08:38, 23 June 2026 (UTC)

I've just submitted a request since I spend a fair amount of time here, and watched one of their rampages unfold just after joining. I know I'm still fairly new even though I'm over the minimum requirements, so if admins don't feel comfortable granting it yet I understand. ChompyTheGogoat (talk) 05:39, 12 July 2026 (UTC)

Can anyone interested in Mathematics check out the talk page of Congruent number, the current content looks completely unjustified. For ex. Even though some scholars note Diophantus didn't formulate the congruent number problem, the established source present there still discuss his connection ot it; Removing this and also quote from Dickson's book seems counterproductive.~2026-38045-95 (talk) 15:31, 2 July 2026 (UTC)

Hello! This is the talk page for the teahouse, which is for discussion of the teahouse itself, not for asking questions. Please use Wikipedia:Teahouse instead. {{GearsDatapacks|talk|contribs|in solidarity}} 01:04, 4 July 2026 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Teahouse/Suggestions could use some updates. The SuggestBot workflow is confusing, and a lot of the linked WikiProjects are inactive. For example, the page could link to:

• Special:Homepage
• Wikipedia:Articles for improvement
• Wikipedia:Task Center
• Wikipedia:Backlog
• A smaller number of selected active WikiProjects, with a link to Category:Active WikiProjects
• I'm also trying to figure out how it could work to integrate the tool at https://projo.toolforge.org/ (that I helped with) that allows people to type in a topic and get suggested articles to edit.

I might try to draft something, but also would be happy for other people to make changes. Dreamyshade (talk) 05:25, 16 July 2026 (UTC)

Hi! I've been answering questions on the Teahouse for quite a while and am familiar with major policies. The problem is that I have only 99 mainspace edits. Would it still be possible for me to become a host? Or should I keep editing for a while before requesting host permissions? Thank you. Giovanni Guasconti (a word with me) 03:46, 8 August 2026 (UTC)

You don't gain any special status by being called a "host", and you can still keep answering questions as before if you're not. Why does it matter to you whether you're a host today or the day you meet the criteria needed to become one? What will it allow you to do that you can't already do? FWIW, I'm not saying you shouldn't be a host per se; I'm only pointing out that that there's nothing magical about being one that suddenly makes Wikipedia things easier to do. -- Marchjuly (talk) 05:33, 8 August 2026 (UTC)

Hi @Marchjuly,

Thanks for your quick response! That makes sense. I thought that there were advantages to being a host that I didn't know about. Giovanni Guasconti (a word with me) 15:05, 8 August 2026 (UTC)

Wondering if this is "I am new" guy but this time with registered accounts. M kuhner (talk) 22:30, 8 August 2026 (UTC)

I've noticed the above in the last couple of days, but have no idea whatever of how to fix it. Anyone? {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} ~2026-43920-01 (talk) 10:22, 11 August 2026 (UTC)

The {{Skip to top and bottom}} template was removed from the Teahouse as it causes issues with the new parser, but this link referenced it. Replaced it with "#footer". Sjoerd de Bruin (talk) 10:34, 11 August 2026 (UTC)

Thank you very much, Sjoerd de Bruin. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} ~2026-43920-01 (talk) 13:49, 11 August 2026 (UTC)