User talk:علاء

Renaming Wikicology

Hi there, still having user Wikicology's talk page on my watchlist, I just noticed that you renamed this user and all their pages to T Cells. Just wondering, what's going on? - DVdm (talk) 13:48, 23 April 2018 (UTC)

Hello @DVdm: nothing. The user applied a request on SRUC and before that the user opened a request on SRUC talk page and as you see there's no objection, also I talked with few stewards on stewards mail-list and IRC, and I don't see any objection related to this specific situation, and also the user blocked on en.wiki but he is active on other projects so we can't deny him from his right to change his account name. Usually, we don't rename any user blocked ident. in any projects except if he active on several other projects. Wikicology active on commons, has a sysop flag on yo.wiki and active on wikidata & metawiki. So if there's any thing related to en.wiki blocking, you can change the user name on the reports or just mention that this user known previously as "Wikicology". Best --Alaa :)..! 14:34, 23 April 2018 (UTC)

Ok, I was just a bit puzzled. Thanks & Cheers! - DVdm (talk) 14:39, 23 April 2018 (UTC)

@DVdm: welcome --Alaa :)..! 14:44, 23 April 2018 (UTC)

مبارك

ألف مبارك أخي كونك أكثر مساهم عربي في مجال الطب--مصعب (talk) 10:35, 26 April 2018 (UTC)

@مصعب: شُكرًا، ومبارك لنا جميعًا. تحياتي--Alaa :)..! 13:07, 27 April 2018 (UTC)

User:Knms/vector.css

Great minds think alike! Green Giant (talk) 00:36, 12 June 2018 (UTC)

@Green Giant: --Alaa :)..! 01:10, 12 June 2018 (UTC)

@Green Giant: I told A’laa this, but if you have an issue with tagging similar pages in the future, feel free to leave a note on my talk. TonyBallioni (talk) 01:20, 12 June 2018 (UTC)

@TonyBallioni: Thank you for the note; I will do so in future. I just figured it works as long as the page is categorised in the speedy categories even if it doesn’t display properly but anyhow. Green Giant (talk) 01:24, 12 June 2018 (UTC)

Updated embassy address

The Palestinian Embassy in Cairo is located at 17 Zainab Kamel Hasan Street and not at Al Nahda Street. Platonic Love (talk) 20:46, 12 June 2018 (UTC)

@Platonic Love: see the official website, also many ar.wiki users confirmed it's location on 24 Al Nahda Street. This year, there's a new Palestinian embassy, but it's beside the old one --Alaa :)..! 20:48, 12 June 2018 (UTC)

I see! So the address moved from 33 to 24 Al Nahda Street. I tried searching for the Al Nahda location on google maps but couldn't find anything. The only location I found was at 17 Zainab Kamal Hasan Street. I couldn't even find any street named "Al/EL Nahda" in Dokki, Cairo at all. Platonic Love (talk) 20:51, 12 June 2018 (UTC)

LTA

Hi Ala'a. Would you mind locking and Login-wiki CUing meta:Special:CentralAuth/LT. CAPTAlN RAJU. It is the LTA that impersonates users/comes up with weird names and posts on their talk pages cross-wiki. Last thing for you before I got to bed TonyBallioni (talk) 04:25, 20 June 2018 (UTC)

Hello @TonyBallioni: so it's  Done, with all of this confirmed accounts (User:RickDisIlkesBaItimore, user:LT. CAPTAlN RAJU, user:Wi-Fi team editor and user:Kars4Kids 501(c)(3)), and I blocked the IP globally also. Good night to you, and good morning to me --Alaa :)..! 04:48, 20 June 2018 (UTC)

Talkback

Hello, علاء. You have new messages at Doug Weller's talk page.
Message added 18:06, 13 August 2018 (UTC). You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.

Doug Weller talk 18:06, 13 August 2018 (UTC)

Declined speedy: Rafiq al-Yasiri

I notice that you tagged the page Rafiq al-Yasiri for speedy deletion with the reason ""un-useful redirect"". While that's a valid reason for speedy deletion in general, this page does not qualify for speedy deletion under that criterion because sources seem to use both names, this it is not implausible enough to delete under WP:R3. If you still want the page to be deleted, please consider taking the page to WP:RFD for discussion on the merits. Thanks! Iffy★Chat -- 10:08, 24 August 2018 (UTC)

Email

Hi friend :) I just sent you an email, check whenever you have a chance. TonyBallioni (talk) 15:04, 1 September 2018 (UTC)

Done --Alaa :)..! 07:20, 2 September 2018 (UTC)

meta:Special:CentralAuth/Prince456123 was blocked a few days ago by NinjaRobotPirate as a suspected sock, and it also has edits on ar.wiki. I just blocked another one today (meta:Special:CentralAuth/Hussam qari), but that one has only edited on en. Thanks for all your help cleaning up this mess when it’s needed :) TonyBallioni (talk) 16:20, 15 September 2018 (UTC)

Hello @TonyBallioni: Thanks for updates. From the technical view in arwiki, I don't think that (Prince456123) = (Mhsohaib), so if @NinjaRobotPirate: can help me be add the (Prince456123) CU information in CUwiki. Also, I can't confirmed (Hussam qari) realtion, so we can't take any step in arwiki till now! --Alaa :)..! 22:36, 15 September 2018 (UTC)

That's fine. Just wanted to let you know since there did appear to be overlap. TonyBallioni (talk) 22:38, 15 September 2018 (UTC)

@TonyBallioni: --Alaa :)..! 22:40, 15 September 2018 (UTC)

I blocked Prince456123 based on behavioral evidence and haven't yet run a CU. Do you still want me to start a report on CU wiki? NinjaRobotPirate (talk) 07:55, 16 September 2018 (UTC)

​FWIW, for both of you, having dealt with this sockmaster for the last year on en, CU is normally only useful on en.wiki when he has two or more accounts running at the same time, and even then he sometimes uses multiple devices. I’ve had several inconclusive CUs here that Ala’a has confirmed on ar and several others where CU turns up nothing but he mass creates the same stubs verbatim without appropriate sourcing here. I’m pretty confident both of the accounts above are him. At this point, my thoughts are that the best is to let these two lie and report back to Ala’a any future socks here that also have edits on ar. TonyBallioni (talk) 08:17, 16 September 2018 (UTC)

I can recognize a couple of the major cross-wiki English/Arabic sockmasters, but I'm not an expert. It's mostly because I took an interest in one of them, and the others have so much crossover with him. Every article I watchlist is like a three-for-one sockmaster free-for-all. NinjaRobotPirate (talk) 08:35, 16 September 2018 (UTC)

فصلاء listed at Redirects for discussion

An editor has asked for a discussion to address the redirect فصلاء. Since you had some involvement with the فصلاء redirect, you might want to participate in the redirect discussion if you have not already done so. GZWDer (talk) 08:24, 5 September 2018 (UTC)

Notability question, re: Draft:Albi Ekhatark

Hello! TonyBallioni pointed me in your direction to check on if the subject of this article is notable. Just moved it from main space for lack of references. {{u|zchrykng}} {T|C} 06:16, 16 September 2018 (UTC)

Hello @Zchrykng:. Albi Ekhatark should be a redirect to Tamally Maak (album), as it's included in this album and there's no special thing with it to create separate article for it. Best --Alaa :)..! 06:31, 16 September 2018 (UTC)

Apparently I’m making you famous on en. Hopefully you’ll forgive me. TonyBallioni (talk) 06:34, 16 September 2018 (UTC)

@Zchrykng: any updates here? --Alaa :)..! 16:16, 23 October 2018 (UTC)

علاء, honestly I forgot about it entirely after the original drafter stopped doing anything with the draft. >.> Will redirect it sometime later today. zchrykng (talk) 17:44, 23 October 2018 (UTC)

Actually... it was long enough ago I forgot. Already redirected it. TonyBallioni should I just tag the draft for deletion, or just let it expire from age? zchrykng (talk) 17:47, 23 October 2018 (UTC)

Just let it expire. Easiest way to deal with it since they haven't edited in a while. Thanks for your help, Ala'a. TonyBallioni (talk) 17:49, 23 October 2018 (UTC)

Accidental rollback

Here—sorry about that. I self-reverted the moment I realised though! Cheers, ——SerialNumber54129 09:41, 3 November 2018 (UTC)

Hello @Serial Number 54129:, don't mind, and thanks for revert vandalism in my talk page (+protect request) --Alaa :)..! 12:38, 3 November 2018 (UTC)

Yes we wee all very busy for a time! ——SerialNumber54129

You have been selected to serve as a scrutinizer

My condolences to you. ;-) You have been selected to server as a scrutinizer for the English Wikipedia ArbCom elections. The scrutiny process begins on December 3, 2018 at the stroke of midnight. If you will not be able to perform the task, please let us know as soon as possible so we can coordinate for a replacement. You will receive temporary CheckUser access at the start of the process. Thank you for volunteering serve as a scrutinizer.—CYBERPOWER (Chat) 22:52, 7 November 2018 (UTC)

Temporary checkuser permission for election scrutineers

The Arbitration Committee has resolved by motion that:

Temporary local Checkuser rights are granted to -revi, علاء and Mardetanha for the purpose of their acting as Scrutineers in the 2018 Arbitration Committee election.

For the Arbitration Committee, --Cameron₁₁₅₉₈ ^(Talk) 22:58, 7 November 2018 (UTC)

Discuss this at: Wikipedia talk:Arbitration Committee/Noticeboard#Temporary checkuser permission for election scrutineers

Help me, please

Hi Alaa, Can you help me with... (I want to Creat source of AHMED HASSAN AL-RASHIDI article but hi's say: you're a new user here...)What I can do?.. — Preceding unsigned comment added by سيف نجم (talk • contribs) 13:21, 16 November 2018 (UTC)

ArbCom 2018 election voter message

Hello, علاء. Voting in the 2018 Arbitration Committee elections is now open until 23.59 on Sunday, 2 December. All users who registered an account before Sunday, 28 October 2018, made at least 150 mainspace edits before Thursday, 1 November 2018 and are not currently blocked are eligible to vote. Users with alternate accounts may only vote once. The Arbitration Committee is the panel of editors responsible for conducting the Wikipedia arbitration process. It has the authority to impose binding solutions to disputes between editors, primarily for serious conduct disputes the community has been unable to resolve. This includes the authority to impose site bans, topic bans, editing restrictions, and other measures needed to maintain our editing environment. The arbitration policy describes the Committee's roles and responsibilities in greater detail. If you wish to participate in the 2018 election, please review the candidates and submit your choices on the voting page. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 18:42, 19 November 2018 (UTC)

ArbCom 2018 election voter message

Hello, علاء. Voting in the 2018 Arbitration Committee elections is now open until 23.59 on Sunday, 2 December. All users who registered an account before Sunday, 28 October 2018, made at least 150 mainspace edits before Thursday, 1 November 2018 and are not currently blocked are eligible to vote. Users with alternate accounts may only vote once. The Arbitration Committee is the panel of editors responsible for conducting the Wikipedia arbitration process. It has the authority to impose binding solutions to disputes between editors, primarily for serious conduct disputes the community has been unable to resolve. This includes the authority to impose site bans, topic bans, editing restrictions, and other measures needed to maintain our editing environment. The arbitration policy describes the Committee's roles and responsibilities in greater detail. If you wish to participate in the 2018 election, please review the candidates and submit your choices on the voting page. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 18:42, 19 November 2018 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – December 2018

News and updates for administrators from the past month (November 2018).

Administrator changes

Al Ameer son • Randykitty • Spartaz

Boson • Daniel J. Leivick • Efe • Esanchez7587 • Fred Bauder • Garzo • Martijn Hoekstra • Orangemike

Interface administrator changes

Deryck Chan

Guideline and policy news

• Following a request for comment, the Mediation Committee is now closed and will no longer be accepting case requests.
• A request for comment is in progress to determine whether members of the Bot Approvals Group should satisfy activity requirements in order to remain in that role.
• A request for comment is in progress regarding whether to change the administrator inactivity policy, such that administrators "who have made no logged administrative actions for at least 12 months may be desysopped". Currently, the policy states that administrators "who have made neither edits nor administrative actions for at least 12 months may be desysopped".
• A proposal has been made to temporarily restrict editing of the Main Page to interface administrators in order to mitigate the impact of compromised accounts.

Technical news

• Administrators and bureaucrats can no longer unblock themselves unless they placed the block initially. This change has been implemented globally. See also this ongoing village pump discussion (permalink).
• To complement the aforementioned change, blocked administrators will soon have the ability to block the administrator that placed their block to mitigate the possibility of a compromised administrator account blocking all other active administrators.
• Since deployment of Partial blocks on Test Wikipedia, several bugs were identified. Most of them are now fixed. Administrators are encouraged to test the new deployment and report new bugs on Phabricator or leave feedback on the Project's talk page. You can request administrator access on the Test Wiki here.

Arbitration

• Voting in the 2018 Arbitration Committee Elections is open to eligible editors until Monday 23:59, 3 December 2018. Please review the candidates and, if you wish to do so, submit your choices on the voting page.

Miscellaneous

• In late November, an attacker compromised multiple accounts, including at least four administrator accounts, and used them to vandalize Wikipedia. If you have ever used your current password on any other website, you should change it immediately. Sharing the same password across multiple websites makes your account vulnerable, especially if your password was used on a website that suffered a data breach. As these incidents have shown, these concerns are not pure fantasies.
• Wikipedia policy requires administrators to have strong passwords. To further reinforce security, administrators should also consider enabling two-factor authentication. A committed identity can be used to verify that you are the true account owner in the event that your account is compromised and/or you are unable to log in.

Obituaries

• Shock Brigade Harvester Boris (Raymond Arritt) passed away on 14 November 2018. Boris joined Wikipedia as Raymond arritt on 8 May 2006 and was an administrator from 30 July 2007 to 2 June 2008.

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Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 03:37, 3 December 2018 (UTC)

A barnstar for you!

	The Barnstar of Diligence
	Thank you so much for your hard work scrutinizing the results of the 2018 Arbitration Committee elections. We can't say how much we appreciate it. Mz7 (talk) 07:42, 14 December 2018 (UTC)

• Thank you for your assistance in the election this year, scrutineering work is not understood by most of the voters, but is very appreciated! — xaosflux ^Talk 15:14, 14 December 2018 (UTC)

Merry Xmas

Merry Christmas and a Prosperous 2019!

Hello علاء, may you be surrounded by peace, success and happiness on this seasonal occasion. Spread the WikiLove by wishing another user a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, whether it be someone you have had disagreements with in the past, a good friend, or just some random person. Sending you heartfelt and warm greetings for Christmas and New Year 2019. Happy editing, Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 06:09, 25 December 2018 (UTC) Spread the love by adding {{subst:Seasonal Greetings}} to other user talk pages.

Administrators' newsletter – January 2019

News and updates for administrators from the past month (December 2018).

Administrator changes

Galobtter

Orangemike

BorgQueen • Davidruben • Ocee • Revolving Bugbear • Theda • There'sNoTime • Timc • Tijuana Brass • Tristessa de St Ange

Bureaucrat changes

Addshore

CheckUser changes

Joe Roe • SilkTork

Euryalus • Newyorkbrad • There'sNoTime

Oversight changes

AGK • Joe Roe • SilkTork

Euryalus • Newyorkbrad • There'sNoTime

Guideline and policy news

• There are a number of new or changed speedy deletion criteria, each previously part of WP:CSD#G6:

1. G14 (new): Disambiguation pages that disambiguate only zero or one existing pages are now covered under the new G14 criterion (discussion). This is {{db-disambig}}; the text is unchanged and candidates may be found in Category:Candidates for speedy deletion as unnecessary disambiguation pages.
2. R4 (new): Redirects in the file namespace (and no file links) that have the same name as a file or redirect at Commons are now covered under the new R4 criterion (discussion). This is {{db-redircom}}; the text is unchanged.
3. G13 (expanded): Userspace drafts containing only the default Article Wizard text are now covered under G13 along with other drafts (discussion). Such blank drafts are now eligible after six months rather than one year, and taggers continue to use {{db-blankdraft}}.

• The Wikimedia Foundation now requires all interface administrators to enable two-factor authentication.
• Members of the Bot Approvals Group (BAG) are now subject to an activity requirement. After two years without any bot-related activity (e.g. operating a bot, posting on a bot-related talk page), BAG members will be retired from BAG following a one-week notice.

Technical news

• Starting on December 13, the Wikimedia Foundation security team implemented new password policy and requirements. Privileged accounts (administrators, bureaucrats, checkusers, oversighters, interface administrators, bots, edit filter managers/helpers, template editors, et al.) must have a password at least 10 characters in length. All accounts must have a password:

1. At least 8 characters in length
2. Not in the 100,000 most popular passwords (defined by the Password Blacklist library)
3. Different from their username

User accounts not meeting these requirements will be prompted to update their password accordingly. More information is available on MediaWiki.org.

• Blocked administrators may now block the administrator that blocked them. This was done to mitigate the possibility that a compromised administrator account would block all other active administrators, complementing the removal of the ability to unblock oneself outside of self-imposed blocks. A request for comment is currently in progress to determine whether the blocking policy should be updated regarding this change.
• {{Copyvio-revdel}} now has a link to open the history with the RevDel checkboxes already filled in.

Arbitration

• Following the 2018 Arbitration Committee elections, the following editors have been appointed to the Arbitration Committee: AGK, Courcelles, GorillaWarfare, Joe Roe, Mkdw, SilkTork.

Miscellaneous

• Accounts continue to be compromised on a regular basis. Evidence shows this is entirely due to the accounts having the same password that was used on another website that suffered a data breach. If you have ever used your current password on any other website, you should change it immediately.
• Around 22% of admins have enabled two-factor authentication, up from 20% in June 2018. If you haven't already enabled it, please consider doing so. Regardless of whether you use 2FA, please practice appropriate account security by ensuring your password is secure and unique to Wikimedia.

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Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 21:39, 1 January 2019 (UTC)

Happy New Year

Happy New Year, Ala'a. I hope it is prosperous and filled with joy for you and your family. If you're ever stateside, let me know TonyBallioni (talk) 23:41, 1 January 2019 (UTC)

Happy New Year @TonyBallioni: , I wish a wonderful year to you and your family. Best --Alaa :)..! 05:01, 3 January 2019 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – February 2019

News and updates for administrators from the past month (January 2019).

Administrator changes

Enterprisey • JJMC89

BorgQueen

Harro5 • Jenks24 • Graft • R. Baley

Interface administrator changes

Enterprisey

Guideline and policy news

• A request for comment is currently open to reevaluate the activity requirements for administrators.
• Administrators who are blocked have the technical ability to block the administrator who blocked their own account. A recent request for comment has amended the blocking policy to clarify that this ability should only be used in exceptional circumstances, such as account compromises, where there is a clear and immediate need.
• A request for comment closed with a consensus in favor of deprecating The Sun as a permissible reference, and creating an edit filter to warn users who attempt to cite it.

Technical news

• A discussion regarding an overhaul of the format and appearance of Wikipedia:Requests for page protection is in progress (permalink). The proposed changes will make it easier to create requests for those who are not using Twinkle. The workflow for administrators at this venue will largely be unchanged. Additionally, there are plans to archive requests similar to how it is done at WP:PERM, where historical records are kept so that prior requests can more easily be searched for.

Miscellaneous

• Voting in the 2019 Steward elections will begin on 08 February 2019, 14:00 (UTC) and end on 28 February 2019, 13:59 (UTC). The confirmation process of current stewards is being held in parallel. You can automatically check your eligibility to vote.
• A new IRC bot is available that allows you to subscribe to notifications when specific filters are tripped. This requires that your IRC handle be identified.

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Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 02:16, 4 February 2019 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – March 2019

News and updates for administrators from the past month (February 2019).

Administrator changes

Evad37

There'sNoTime

Alex Shih • Brian • Mushroom • Nakon • Oscarthecat • PeruvianLlama • Ragib • Reaper Eternal • Rossami • Tom

Interface administrator changes

Evad37 • Galobtter

Ritchie333

CheckUser changes

There'sNoTime

Keegan • Ks0stm

Oversight changes

There'sNoTime

Ks0stm • Sphilbrick

Guideline and policy news

• The RfC on administrator activity requirements failed to reach consensus for any proposal.
• Following discussions at the Bureaucrats' noticeboard and Wikipedia talk:Administrators, an earlier change to the restoration of adminship policy was reverted. If requested, bureaucrats will not restore administrator permissions removed due to inactivity if there have been five years without a logged administrator action; this "five year rule" does not apply to permissions removed voluntarily.

Technical news

• A new tool is available to help determine if a given IP is an open proxy/VPN/webhost/compromised host.

Arbitration

• The Arbitration Committee announced two new OTRS queues. Both are meant solely for cases involving private information; other cases will continue to be handled at the appropriate venues (e.g., WP:COIN or WP:SPI).
  • paid-en-wpwikipedia.org has been set up to receive private evidence related to abusive paid editing.
  • checkuser-en-wpwikipedia.org has been set up to receive private requests for CheckUser. For instance, requests for IP block exemption for anonymous proxy editing should now be sent to this address instead of the functionaries-en list.

Miscellaneous

• Following the 2019 Steward Elections, the following editors have been appointed as stewards: Base, Einsbor, Jon Kolbert, Schniggendiller, and Wim b.

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Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 21:13, 4 March 2019 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – April 2019

News and updates for administrators from the past month (March 2019).

Administrator changes

Reaper Eternal • ThaddeusB

Bogdangiusca • Christopher Parham • Necrothesp • Schneelocke • Siroxo • Sarah

Mentifisto → Lofty abyss

Interface administrator changes

Mr. Stradivarius

Bureaucrat changes

DeltaQuad

Kingturtle

Technical news

• In Special:Preferences under "Appearance" → "Advanced options", there is now an option to show a confirmation prompt when clicking on a rollback link.
• The Wikimedia Foundation's Community health initiative plans to design and build a new user reporting system to make it easier for people experiencing harassment and other forms of abuse to provide accurate information to the appropriate channel for action to be taken. Please see meta:Community health initiative/User reporting system consultation 2019 to provide your input on this idea.

Arbitration

• The Arbitration Committee clarified that the General 1RR prohibition for Palestine-Israel articles may only be enforced on pages with the {{ARBPIA 1RR editnotice}} edit notice.

Miscellaneous

• Two more administrator accounts were compromised. Evidence has shown that these attacks, like previous incidents, were due to reusing a password that was used on another website that suffered a data breach. If you have ever used your current password on any other website, you should change it immediately. All admins are strongly encouraged to enable two-factor authentication, please consider doing so. Please always practice appropriate account security by ensuring your password is secure and unique to Wikimedia.
• As a reminder, according to WP:NOQUORUM, administrators looking to close or relist an AfD should evaluate a nomination that has received few or no comments as if it were a proposed deletion (PROD) prior to determining whether it should be relisted.

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Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 21:57, 7 April 2019 (UTC)