After an extremely close race, Round 3 is over. 244 points secured a place in Round 4, which is comparable to previous years- 321 was required in 2013, while 243 points were needed in 2012. Pool C's Godot13 (submissions) was the round's highest scorer, mostly due to a 32 featured pictures, including both scans and photographs. Also from Pool C, Casliber (submissions) finished second overall, claiming three featured articles, including the high-importance Grus (constellation). Third place was Pool B's , whose contributions included featured articles Russian battleship Poltava (1894) and Russian battleship Peresvet. Pool C saw the highest number of participants advance, with six out of eight making it to the next round.

The round saw this year's first featured portal, with Sven Manguard (submissions) taking Portal:Literature to featured status. The round also saw the first good topic points, thanks to 12george1 (submissions) and the 2013 Atlantic hurricane season. This means that all content types have been claimed this year. Other contributions of note this round include a featured topic on Maya Angelou's autobiographies from Figureskatingfan (submissions), a good article on the noted Czech footballer Tomáš Rosický from Cloudz679 (submissions) and a now-featured video game screenshot, freely released due to the efforts of Sven Manguard (submissions).

The judges would like to remind participants to update submission pages promptly. This means that content can be checked, and allows those following the competition (including those participating) to keep track of scores effectively. This round has seen discussion about various aspects of the WikiCup's rules and procedures. Those interested in the competition can be assured that formal discussions about how next year's competition will work will be opened shortly, and all are welcome to voice their views then. If you are concerned that your nomination—whether it is at good article candidates, a featured process, or anywhere else—will not receive the necessary reviews, please list it on Wikipedia:WikiCup/Reviews. If you want to help out with the WikiCup, please do your bit to help keep down the review backlogs! Questions are welcome on Wikipedia talk:WikiCup, and the judges are reachable on their talk pages or by email. Good luck! If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove yourself from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. J Milburn (talk · contribs) The ed17 (talk · contribs) and Miyagawa (talk · contribs) 18:48, 30 June 2014 (UTC)

Sorry for interrupt, can you please block him/her for three months, he/she added unsourced genre recently, like this. 183.171.168.117 (talk) 03:22, 2 July 2014 (UTC)

User has received no warnings. Spencer^T♦C 04:06, 2 July 2014 (UTC)

Hello, Spencer. I noticed that a declined report was removed from the user-reported section by a user who is not an admin. Is there a policy on this removal of content? - Hoops gza (talk) 03:25, 2 July 2014 (UTC)

@Hoops gza: I assume you are referring to [1]. Generally I would say that's probably not a good idea, but since this was a referral to SPI (and an SPI report was created before this was removed), I'd say in this case it's okay. Especially since the user appears to be pretty experienced (has 21K edits; not saying that edits=experience, but 21K is still a lot). But to directly answer your question, I do not know of any policy related to that. Spencer^T♦C 03:35, 2 July 2014 (UTC)

Although Wikipedia:Guide to administrator intervention against vandalism seems to assume that only admins remove comments. Spencer^T♦C 03:38, 2 July 2014 (UTC)

Thanks. - Hoops gza (talk) 07:28, 2 July 2014 (UTC)

You marked a report on Parksddkdmxl as stale/declined at AIV. Please have a second look. Not sure "vandalism-only" accounts should be marked as stale. If it was declined, then perhaps it was my fault for not being specific, but I did note it was the "usual vandalism" (on the article, should have specified). The editor then proceeded to vandalize again a few hours later. A casual reviewer of the article wouldn't know but the "fans" of this person (who is involved with the show described in the original vandalized article) like to insert his name into various articles. --NeilN ^{talk to me} 04:22, 2 July 2014 (UTC)

The issue was not with the AIV report but rather with how the user was warned. The report was declined because the user only received a 4im warning after their very first edit, which should be given "for severe or grotesque vandalism only". This definitely does not look like severe or grotesque vandalism. The warning sequence should have started with a level 2 warning ("suitable for intentional nonsense or disruption") and gone up from there. After another administator declined, the user had not edited and the report had been listed on AIV for three hours without any other actions, so that's where I then removed. That said, given the recent edit, I will block. Thank you for bringing this to my attention. Best, Spencer^T♦C 05:12, 2 July 2014 (UTC)

Sorry, I missed the initial admin decline. I disagree that I should have started with a level 2 warning as the same vandalism occurs every couple weeks, indicating sock/meat puppetry. Usually it's a 4im and then a block. I will endeavor to point out the history in future reports. --NeilN ^{talk to me} 13:12, 2 July 2014 (UTC)

Oh that past history of similar edits by other accounts was what you meant by "usual history"? Yeah if in future reports you link to previous acciunts making similar edits, that's really helpful. I didn't realize there were other accounts involved. Spencer^T♦C 14:54, 2 July 2014 (UTC)

Also I'm not familiar with this case but I'd also suggest SPI or semiprotection if you think that would be helpful in preventing future abuse too. Spencer^T♦C 14:56, 2 July 2014 (UTC)

I was thinking about requesting semi-prot but since the disruption only happens every couple weeks and doesn't involve a BLP, decided against it. Thanks for your attention and I will highlight the history in future reports. --NeilN ^{talk to me} 15:13, 2 July 2014 (UTC)

Spencer, can you please repair AIV? You removed a bit too much in this edit. Thank you. 66.168.160.62 (talk) 18:23, 31 July 2014 (UTC)

Ach! Someone else has kindly corrected my error, but thanks for letting me know. Spencer^T♦C 18:31, 31 July 2014 (UTC)

Sure thing. I'd do it but it's not so easy on a netbook. Thanks for adminning and keeping the joint clean. 66.168.160.62 (talk) 23:56, 1 August 2014 (UTC)

IP address 108.240.19.166 vandalized the Casey Jones[2] by deleting a lot of info for no reason at all.108.82.6.62 (talk) 18:43, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

The final of the 2014 WikiCup begins in a few short minutes! Our eight finalists are listed below, along with their placement in Round 4:

1. Godot13 (submissions), a WikiCup newcomer, finished top of Pool A and was the round's highest scorer. Godot is a featured picture specialist, claiming large numbers of points due to high-quality scans of historical documents, especially banknotes.
2. Casliber (submissions) is a WikiCup veteran, having been a finalist every year since 2010. In the semi-final, he was Pool B's highest scorer. Cas's points primarily come from articles on the natural sciences.
3. Czar (submissions) was Pool A's runner-up. Czar's points come mostly from content related to independent video games, including both articles and topics.
4. Adam Cuerden (submissions) was Pool B's runner-up. Another featured picture specialist, many of Adam's points come from the restoration of historical media. He has been a WikiCup finalist twice before.
5. Cwmhiraeth (submissions) won the WikiCup in 2012 and 2013, and enters this final as the first wildcard. She focuses on biology-related articles, and has worked on several high-importance articles.
6. 12george1 (submissions) is the second wildcard. George's points come primarily from meteorology-related articles. This year and last year, George was the first person in the competition to score.
7. Sturmvogel 66 (submissions), the third wildcard, was the 2010 champion and a finalist last year. His writes mostly on military history, especially naval history.
8. Bloom6132 (submissions), the fourth and final wildcard, has participated in previous WikiCups, but not reached any finals. Bloom's points are mostly thanks to did you knows, featured lists and good articles related to sport and national symbols.

We say goodbye to this year's semi-finalists. Matty.007 (submissions), ThaddeusB (submissions), WikiRedactor (submissions), Figureskatingfan (submissions), Yellow Evan (submissions), Prism (submissions) and Cloudz679 (submissions) have all performed well to reach this stage of the competition, and we hope they will all be joining us again next year.

There are two upcoming competitions unrelated to the WikiCup which may be of interest to those who receive this newsletter. The Stub Contest will run through September, and revolves around expanding stub articles, especially high-importance or old stubs. In addition, a proposal has been made for a new competition, the GA Cup, which the organisers plan to run next year. This competition is based on the WikiCup and aims to reduce the good article review backlog.

There is now a thread for brainstorming on how next year's WikiCup competition should work. Please come along and share your thoughts- What works? What doesn't work? What needs changing? Signups for next year's competition will be open soon; we will be in touch. If, at this stage of the competition, you are keen to help the with the WikiCup, please do what you can to participate in review processes. Our finalists will find things much easier if the backlogs at good article candidates, featured article candidates, featured picture candidates and the rest are kept at a minimum. As ever, questions are welcome on Wikipedia talk:WikiCup, and the judges are reachable on their talk pages or by email. Good luck! If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove yourself from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. J Milburn (talk · contribs) The ed17 (talk · contribs) and Miyagawa (talk · contribs) 22:09, 31 August 2014 (UTC)

In one month's time, we will know our WikiCup 2014 champion. Newcomer Godot13 (submissions) has taken a strong lead with a featured list (historical coats of arms of the U.S. states from 1876) and a raft of featured pictures. Reigning champion Cwmhiraeth (submissions) is in second place with a number of high-importance biology articles, including new FA Isopoda and new GA least weasel. Casliber (submissions), who is in his fifth WikiCup final, is in third, with featured articles Pictor and Epacris impressa.

Signups for the 2015 WikiCup are open. All Wikipedians, new and experienced, are warmly invited to sign up for the competition. Wikipedians interested in friendly competition may also like to sign up for the GA Cup, a new WikiCup-inspired competition which revolves around completing good article reviews. As ever, questions are welcome on Wikipedia talk:WikiCup, and the judges are reachable on their talk pages or by email. Good luck! If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove yourself from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. J Milburn (talk · contribs) The ed17 (talk · contribs) and Miyagawa (talk · contribs) 22:11, 30 September 2014 (UTC)

Hello, you are the only EST North American admin I saw online at the moment, so I decided to ask my question to you. The Wikipedia:NEWBLPBAN applies Discretionary sanctions to BLP articles. 1) does this apply at all to talk pages articles? 2) Do discretionary sanctions apply to things like incivility or belligerent or WP:BATTLEGROUND, etc. made on BLP talk pages? --Obsidi (talk) 06:08, 17 October 2014 (UTC)

Hi, Obsidi, these are good questions, but they are outside my scope of expertise as an administrator (I generally work at WP:AIV and WP:ITN these days). I would encourage you to ask either at Wikipedia:Help desk or at Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard, where you would be able to get a better response to your questions. Best, Spencer^T♦C 06:12, 17 October 2014 (UTC)

The 2014 WikiCup champion is Godot13 (submissions), who flew the flag of the Smithsonian Institution. This was Godot13's first WikiCup competition and, over the 10 months of the competition, he has produced (among other contributions) two featured lists and an incredible 292 featured pictures, including architectural photographs and scans of historical documents. Cwmhiraeth (submissions), 2012 and 2013 WikiCup champion, came in second, having written a large number of biology-related articles. Casliber (submissions), WikiCup finalist every year since 2010, finished in third.

A full list of our prize-winners follows:

• Godot13 (submissions) wins the prize for first place and the FP prize for 181 featured pictures in the final round.
• Cwmhiraeth (submissions) wins the prize for second place and the DYK prize for 65 did you knows in the final round.
• Casliber (submissions) wins the prize for third place and the FA prize for four featured articles in the final round.
• Czar (submissions) wins the prize for fourth place
• Sturmvogel 66 (submissions) wins a final 8 prize.
• Bloom6132 (submissions) wins a final 8 prize.
• 12george1 (submissions) wins a final 8 prize.
• ChrisGualtieri (submissions) wins the GA prize for 27 good articles in round 2 and the review prize for 28 good article reviews in round 1.
• Caponer (submissions) wins the FL prize for three featured lists in round 2.
• Sven Manguard (submissions) wins the FPo prize his work on featured portals.
• Figureskatingfan (submissions) wins the topic prize for a nine-article featured topic in round 3.
• ThaddeusB (submissions) wins the news prize for 28 in the news articles in round 3.

Congratulations to everyone who has been successful in this year's WikiCup, whether you made it to the final rounds or not, and a particular congratulations to the newcomers to the WikiCup who have participated this year. We warmly invite all of you to sign up for next year's competition. Discussions and polls concerning potential rules changes are also open, and all are welcome to participate. The WikiCup judges will be back in touch over the coming months, and we hope to see you all in the 2014 competition. Until then, it only remains to once again congratulate our worthy winners, and thank all participants for their involvement! If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove yourself from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. J Milburn (talk · contribs) The ed17 (talk · contribs) and Miyagawa (talk · contribs) 22:52, 4 November 2014 (UTC)