MediaWiki talk:Titleblacklist

Using en:wikipedia user ID here

Swept in from the pub

Hi, apologies if I am being stupid or missing the point but I don't seem to be able to log in here. I have an account (in good standing!) on en:wikipedia and I have visited Special:MergeAccount there and been told it's worked. It lists about 82 systems where the login will work. Wikivoyage, though, is not one of them. Additionally, if I try to log in here, I get this "Login error <The user name "(redacted)" has been banned from creation. It matches the following blacklist entry: <code> .{30,} <newaccountonly></code>>. I cannot see how my username would be blacklisted, especially when it works fine for so many other wikis. Am I missing the point about what I should have done? Please advise! Happy to mail someone with the actual user name, don't want to link it to this irrelevant IP. I've also tried creating a new account with the same username but, perhaps not surprisingly, that doesn't work either. Thanks 138.37.199.206 14:57, 15 January 2013 (UTC)

It looks like we currently prohibit usernames longer than 29 characters. Would 34 be long enough? How many characters do you need? LtPowers (talk) 15:19, 15 January 2013 (UTC)

Thanks very much for the fast response. Aha, so that's it. I need 31 characters to reuse the same ID, please ... might that be possible? Cheers 138.37.199.206 15:24, 15 January 2013 (UTC)

If the local community is okay with it, the name could be added to the whitelist so you can log in. --Rschen7754 17:12, 15 January 2013 (UTC)

Thanks. Do you mean "OK with the length" or "OK with the actual name"? Either are slightly weird when I think about it too much (why does Wikivoyage have different length allowed than all these other projects / why would Wikivoyage enforce a different name standard than ... well, you get the picture) but since all I want to do is log in easily between projects, I'll happily(ish) co-operate with what it takes to get it done ... which is what? (I'm still not mad keen on positively IDing my username as being from one IP address or another.) Thanks for your help - please advise. Best wishes 138.37.199.206 17:39, 15 January 2013 (UTC)

Comment: or - why not just make existing WMF usernames OK in this project too? The 29-character limit seems a bit arbitrary and unhelpful though there may be a good reason ... it's a bit odd to be told "welcome, Wikipedian!" in one breath and "oh but our system hates your shtoopid username" in the other! Is there really a good reason for this? My username is indeed stupid, yes, but no-one ever gave me cause to think I couldn't use it across projects (if they had, it would be 29 characters long right now <g>) - it works fine in de or fr or commons or wherever so, from the er er consumer/editor-experience point of view, it's ... strange. Not meaning to be nasty, but just sayin' :) Cheers 138.37.199.206 17:44, 15 January 2013 (UTC)

I would support any adjustment that allows contributors the same username on all WMF projects. We did not know about this incompatibility until you mentioned it. Teething problems I guess. • • • Peter (Southwood) ^(talk): 17:59, 15 January 2013 (UTC)

In the spirit of the new camaraderie between Wikivoyagers and Wikipedians (and contributors from other WMF projects), I also support such an adjustment. -- AndreCarrotflower (talk) 18:02, 15 January 2013 (UTC)

I see no problem with that, either. Let's do it. Ikan Kekek (talk) 18:23, 15 January 2013 (UTC)

(edit conflict; dangit, Ikan!) I don't have a problem with that, I'm just not sure how to do it. I believe we inherited the current blacklist from our de.Wikivoyage compatriots -- the ones who gave us our pre-WMF home-away-from-home. LtPowers (talk) 18:24, 15 January 2013 (UTC)

I believe that username rules are configured via MediaWiki:Titleblacklist. If there is a way to sync that with other Wikimedia projects then I would suggest doing so, but this is an area that would benefit greatly from someone with deep Mediawiki knowledge weighing in. -- Ryan • (talk) • 18:27, 15 January 2013 (UTC)

You can copy the contents from any other WMF site by going to the same page and copy-pasting. By the way, there is also a global blacklist on Meta. --Rschen7754 20:18, 15 January 2013 (UTC)

Neither the global blacklist, nor wikipedia have a username character limit, so I don't see why we should here. I have removed the rule from our blacklist, so your username should work now. –sumone10154^(talk) 20:30, 15 January 2013 (UTC)

That's absolutely great, thank you very much. I have already tried it while logged in to en:wiki and it works like a charm. I must say that I also had a look at MediaWiki:Titleblacklist both here and over on wikipedia. It's quite a can of worms - the one here is so short and simple and the one at en:wiki is a nightmare of length and complexity, which leaves you thinking, can both approaches be right? Is en:wiki massively overregulated, or is wikivoyage about to sink beneath a wave of appalling usernames - also, what will happen when someone starts an account here then goes and tries to use it at en:wiki and finds that it is banned by the much more proscriptive list there? Surely more consistency across projects is a good thing ... or am I missing the point? I must say, I am glad that I am just a simple editor and not a managerial type so I don't have to worry about these things! But regardless of all that, thank you very, very much for sorting out that length limit so nicely and promptly. Happy editing and best wishes 138.37.199.206 08:06, 16 January 2013 (UTC)

Speaking as an en.wiki admin, stuff gets added to the list because of recurring problem editors whose usernames are all similar. The other issue that happens is that troublesome editors create accounts like User:Rschen7754 sucks!!!!! so editors sometimes ask for their names to be added to the blacklist. (The worst is when you get usernames like User:Rschen7754's real name is Fred Joe which not only have to be blocked, but have to be oversighted). --Rschen7754 08:09, 16 January 2013 (UTC)

Removing 'Account' from the blacklist

I don't see what's wrong with using the word 'account' in a username, so I'm removing this rule from the list. If anyone objects, say so, and I can revert back. –sumone10154^(talk) 18:15, 18 January 2013 (UTC)

Well, it might be there for reasons such as... hm.... Oh, I don't know, disallowing bot creations with titles such as "Somebody'sBotAccount", et cetera. Maybe it's there for a different reason. ~Ceadeus Slayer I'm too lazy to log in, plus I'm at school :<

• Logs in* there we go. :p Ceadeus Slayer (talk) 18:26, 18 January 2013 (UTC)

"The"

So what's the purpose behind putting "^The.*" on the blacklist? It prohibits the creation of articles such as Theater and Theft. (Not to mention The Hague, or potential redirects like The Ukraine.) Powers ^(talk) 01:47, 9 May 2015 (UTC)

Very odd. No reason was given in edit summ when it was added years ago. I have deleted it now. Nurg (talk) 03:03, 10 May 2015 (UTC)

I assume the German admins had found reason to include it and simply imported it from de.wikivoyage along with all the others when this wiki was getting going. For someone who speaks German, the de.wikivoyage history page might reveal more. Powers ^(talk) 13:13, 10 May 2015 (UTC)