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Using some AI vibe coding and decent amount of reviews, I was able to put together a tool that we could use here. Basically it's a "Cart" for travel destinations. Myself, until now I used competitor page to put together travel itineraries - but this could very well replace it. Additionally, the tool could work as "To visit" list.

Notable features:

• any/most WV marker can be dragged into it, its wikidata and lat/long will be saved; drag'n'drop supported to reorder stuff
• the data is stored in mediawiki user-specific JS storage, so it should be available from all logged-in sessions
• export to JSON/GPX/mediawiki text, import from JSON; I was thinking the mediawiki text could be later used for people who want to create travel itineraries maybe
• map of the current trip
• after grabbing https://openrouteservice.org/ API key, one can ask it to calculate distances (by car or feet, probably others) between the POIs

I'd be happy if someone would give it a try -> you'll need to copy User:Andree.sk/common.js to your private common.js (or use redirect). -- andree 21:24, 28 January 2026 (UTC)Reply

This sounds amazing – I'll give it a try. //shb (t | c | m) 22:25, 28 January 2026 (UTC)Reply

After some quick use, I have to say it's great and can very much see this as a tool being published for all desktop users. A few minor things, though:

1. How is the "route" feature supposed to be used? I tried entering at least two cities in a few ways but I still keep getting the must enter at least 2 cities error.
2. Is it possible to interim save such a route in your userspace?
3. Will support for public transit integration be included? I don't imagine this to be easy (especially compiling multiple countries' and public transit operators' timetables together), and I don't know if it's doable with OSM data either.

Great job on this, btw! It's features like these we need to prevent this site from dying. //shb (t | c | m) 22:46, 28 January 2026 (UTC)Reply

1) seems to work for me, maybe you can export/share the JSON and I'll check what's wrong...

2) not yet, I'll check if it's possible to somehow export the paths in some reasonable format

3) in principle, we could configure it to use some open GTFS data on per-city (e.g. in Prague I know for fact that complete routes are available), probably depends on how free the access is. The question is if the users would use it. But if we would head towards making WV one-stop tourist guide with more whistles included....

I'll test the stuff a bit more and if it turns out useful, I think indeed I'd put it out there, to get some feedback... Thanks for giving it early try! -- andree 18:13, 30 January 2026 (UTC)Reply

I tried to make the tools as non-invasive as possible and made it public, to get more feedback. If you guys want to disable it, go into your preferences/Gadgets. If there's a consensus to remove it or not make it default enabled, we'll do it...... :) -- andree 21:02, 6 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

I suppose it is useful, but I also think it indeed is intrusive, so not suitable for being activated by default. As I type this, I don't know how to close or move it, and it keeps de-iconifying, obscuring the text I am writing (yes, I can scroll the page so that the input box isn't covered, but it is still annoying). –LPfi (talk) 21:31, 6 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

It shouldn't de-iconify on it's own, maybe some interaction with some browser extension, skin or Parsoid...? The only problem is, I'd say about 95% of people don't even know there are some gadgets in the settings. So if it's not on by default, almost noone will know it even exists. Especially the random visitors, for which I intended it the most (to keep them here) :-( -- andree 21:42, 6 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

Maybe then I'll add it to the icons at the top of of the article, instead of a floating icon, that's pretty tame, right? -- andree 21:55, 6 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

Of course, unless it's on by default, few will find it, but it needs testing by regulars. I'll do some testing later, until then I cannot say what should be done. The de-iconifying happend when I used the reply function, on typing. –LPfi (talk) 22:26, 6 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

@LPfi, I improved the behavior a bit, now it should be more low-key... Let me know if you are okay with it now, I'd again enable it, to get some more than zero feedback... :) -- andree 20:29, 12 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

Just an FYI that mw:Extension:ReadingLists is coming in the next few months which has persistent private storage of lists with a button that occupies the exact spaces you are adding your backpack icon. I think this feature could be ripe for repurposing/ customization in Wikivoyage as a "trip" feature (said as someone who has made lists in the past). You can play with it on test.wikipedia.org now as a beta feature. Jdlrobson (talk) 01:21, 16 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

Huh, thanks for the pointer... For a basic "to read" list it's okay, but the API is veeeery basic :-( I'll give it a try, but I'd say already now it's missing 90% of the functionality. If I only wanted a raw bookmark list, one can already put that in $User/Xyz... Especially I didn't want another "hidden storage" that can't be exported/exchanged with other people. Quite the opposite, I'd like it, if the data could be directly shared between users (think - a shared trip plan), but I think there's no such thing on mediawiki? -- andree 05:34, 16 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

the api supports multiple lists; storing any page (across projects - including Wikipedia articles). Unlike the localStorage used in your tool it is persistent and will follow the user across devices (e.g. if I am on my mobile phone it will be annoying when I go to my laptop and the lists I spent hours creating are not there)

The sharing functionality has been built by you already. Why could it not be built on top of the reading list feature rather than as a separate feature? In future where there is a bookmark button and a backpack button that both save lists, users are going to be very confused about why that the difference between them is.

If you download the Wikipedia official app youll see additional features that are not yet on web. The android app supports sharing lists with other users (albeit wikipedia not wikivoyage).

Essentially I have a concern here that shipping this feature to all users is going to give us headaches later on when we have to consolidate it with the native bookmarking tool that is currently being built by Wikimedia Foundation staff. Jdlrobson (talk) 17:46, 16 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

The gadget works on listing granularity, though... Esp. on WV, having article-based storage for this stuff is quite useless. For a trip to a bigger city, you could do is pick the favorite districts at best. There are also features like map and route calculation. Bt, it only uses localStorage for anonymous users (if it worked), but switches to mw.Api().saveOption("userjs-...") to have it persistent across devices.

I don't see a problem with WP official, we will see it if+when it gets here. I've been waiting such a thing for 5+ years now :-) I don't mind competition, if the reading lists thing is better/voted for, we can disable this one. I'll add there a flash "beta" sticker in the meantime :-) -- andree 18:20, 16 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

The problem with sharing lists of articles is that it's easy at the English Wikipedia to construct a list of articles that has inappropriate meaning – not just something like "Donald Trump, Fascism, Dementia", which might annoy some people, but things like "My, Teacher, Mary, Smith, Has, Sex, With, Students" or "Meeting, 123, Maple, Street, Chicago, Tuesday, Noon, Come, Alone". Private storage is a subpoena-generating risk (because account credentials can be shared, so it can turn into a private messaging system), public storage is a libel (and therefore oversighter) problem, and public sharing is a brand nightmare. This killed mw:Gather but not (apparently) the desire to create lists.

Having said all that, I don't think that these risks play out equally across all the wikis. It's a problem for the biggest wikis, but not here. WhatamIdoing (talk) 17:58, 17 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

I just saw this icon and opened it up. I may have missed a post or two. Is there a place that elaborates on this new feature? —Justin (koavf)❤T☮C☺M☯ 23:03, 15 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

#Trip_Planner_WIP/RFC. Never mind me. —Justin (koavf)❤T☮C☺M☯ 23:05, 15 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

Hi I also saw this and it's been interrupting some of my workflows on mobile so just turned it off. I am very concerned that logged out users cannot do the same.

Sorry to be a buzz kill, but I have some serious reservations about adding this to the experience for ALL logged out users based on the feedback from 3 users (User:SHB2000, User:LPfi and User:Andree.sk ) and I'd like to see some more discussion. I think this should be an opt-in gadget until that's happened.

As someone who has recently taken over the listing editor I am very concerned about long maintenance and the anonymous community becoming too dependent on another gadget they we might not be able to maintain so I'd like to understand more of the plan there...

I will share more thoughts later. Would those be better to put here or on another talk page? Jdlrobson (talk) 00:32, 16 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

Is there a way to make it show only to logged in users? //shb (t | c | m) 00:34, 16 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

yes. You can set rights option in addition to the default option to limit to logged in users with a certain right. I believe there is a right specific to all logged in users. Mw:Extension:Gadgets. I would have no objection to us doing that given gadgets tend to be a good place to cultivate new ideas (withiut the associated stress that comes with supporting a gadget for all users 😀). Jdlrobson (talk) 01:17, 16 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

We could also make it a desktop-only gadget. WhatamIdoing (talk) 19:14, 27 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

I was contemplating the same - on desktop you would prepare your trip (fill the days with POIs) and have the gadget. On mobile, you'd open e.g. wv.org/wiki/MyTrip and it would show you the trip for today on a map (with much reduced interface). This would play nicely with the locator gadget too... OTOH, typically when I'm on a vacation, I don't take my desktop - yet I want to be able to adjust the plans... :) -- andree 19:34, 27 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

I think we can move discussion to MediaWiki talk:Gadget-TripPlanner now. Note gadgets dont support desktop vs mobile any more. You can choose not to display it by skin but that is not the same. We can however update the code to check things like browser viewport size.

Currently the gadget is enabled for all logged in users. Jdlrobson (talk) 00:12, 28 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Could you be more specific - which workflows does it break? Right now it really only adds that one icon... Does it interfere with some other gadgets or some browser? I'd like to make it ultimately available to everyone, if community doesn't disapprove it - but at the moment it doesn't show up for anonymous users (by accident :) I can't find how to enable it only for users, groups apparently can't be matched?). As for maintenance, given how easy it became to (vibe-)code things, I'm not too concerned... :-) -- andree 05:21, 16 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

My biggest concern is it creates a performance issues by introducing it a cumulative layout shift which would be highly damaging to Wikivoyage showing up in search result pages. However there are also security concerns.

Regarding vibe coding - I think it has great application for rapid prototyping but typically the resulting code quality and UX can be problematic. There are various problems in the code that could impact end users and playing with the tool I found quite a few bugs. If something is built with AI tooling I still expect a human to be able to understand it.

Where would be the best page to share these concerns? On the gadget talk page?

Regarding user rights I think autoconfirmed should be a the right group so perhaps editsemiprotected right would act as a good proxy? Jdlrobson (talk) 17:34, 16 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

It's a dynamically created gadget/on-click icon, does google/DDG/... index generated stuff already by programatically clicking all the stuff? Serious question, I'm no expert...

Obviously vibe-coding was a bit hyperbole, but for sure it was much less manual coding/inventing new stuff, than I'd expect... I tried to keep some security in mind, like not downloading stuff randomly and sanitizing inputs. We can for sure continue this on the gadget talk page! -- andree 18:25, 16 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

Should we return to IP editing, if not, why? Can we ask WMF to switch back to IPs, instead of TAs? ~2026-65288-5 (talk) 22:34, 29 January 2026 (UTC)Reply

No, the WMF will never do that. Why do you even want to go back to IP editing btw? //shb (t | c | m) 22:51, 29 January 2026 (UTC)Reply

There's a fairly serious privacy issue; making IP addresses public makes it too easy to identify users. That might be dangerous for anyone posting something their employer or their government wouldn't like. Temporary accounts are much better, though they do not even come close to providing secure & complete anonymity. Pashley (talk) 00:11, 30 January 2026 (UTC)Reply

For sure – trusted users (accounts over 6 months + 300 edits, admins, bureaucrats) have the option of seeing IP addresses to identify any IP abuse so functionally this change means very little for those who would benefit seeing raw IP addresses. //shb (t | c | m) 00:18, 30 January 2026 (UTC)Reply

I think it's an excellent change. Has it affected the quantity of anonymous editing, though? I'd be curious to see the numbers. I hope it does in the long run. --Comment by Selfie City (talk) (contributions) 14:25, 4 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

I'd imagine it probably improved IP editing as you now carry the same temporary account with you (for 90 days at least) since TAs are attached to your device cookies, not left with multiple IP addresses lying around. //shb (t | c | m) 23:28, 4 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

In some welcoming news, finally! (these were the guys who ran the public consultation for closing Wikinews) //shb (t | c | m) 23:54, 3 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

The SPTF is disbanded after running the public consultation for closing Wikinews. Well, I think Wikinews users still have to archive the content since the SPTF's decision doesn't get negated by being dissolved. Sbb1413 (he) (talk • contribs) 02:28, 4 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

Task forces are meant to be short-term groups. Of course it was disbanded when its work was done. And as Sbb says, that doesn't invalidate any of its findings or negate any of its recommendations.

BTW, it's always been the Board of Trustees for the Wikimedia Foundation, and not the SPTF, that will be deciding whether to archive Wikinews. There are about four board meetings a year, and they also pass resolutions outside of meetings. The most recent meeting was in December, so it's possible that the decision has already been taken, but from a general how-boards-work POV, I'd actually expect it to happen in the next meeting. They'll probably want to make that decision before they set the budget for the next year (which is traditionally their second meeting of the calendar year), because their decision might affect the budget (e.g., one-time expenses if they decided to support a fork to a new organization). WhatamIdoing (talk) 22:47, 4 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

A bit of a late reply, but I do think it's safe to say Wikinews is dead. Despite issues with the consultation process, I don't think there's anything saving it now (and like you I also expect the decision to come anytime in the next upcoming month or two). But I do really hope that Board takes feedback from this, were a similar task force in the future to be appointed (and definitely not with 2 sanctioned/self-sanctioned members and 1 very inactive user out of 6). //shb (t | c | m) 21:47, 6 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

The task force only had five non-Board members on it. One is a former WMF board trustee, one is a former steward, one practically is the French Wiktionary, and the other two I don't know well. One of those got into some trouble last year, but if it were possible for the WMF to magically know, in 2023, that an editor would be desysopped in 2025, then I think those powers could probably be put to better use than merely not appointing him to a temporary committee. (Victoria, who posted the list of appointed volunteers, is a community-selected WMF board trustee, having been a top vote-getter in 2021 and 2024. If you think that's a problem [I don't], then remember that the next time you hear someone saying that all WMF trustees should be elected by editors.) WhatamIdoing (talk) 06:14, 7 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

It's a problem, but not one that I think can actually be easily solved. //shb (t | c | m) 06:16, 7 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

Late to the conversation. I wouldn't give much too much thought about the composition of the task force members. The task force selects members themselves without an open election so it's basically a cabal/echo chamber. New vacancies were not advertised and simply appointed via a secret process. I have given a bigger breakdown on why the task force failed (and not just from Wikinews's perspective) in this comment. OhanaUnited^{Talk page} 14:04, 17 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

I wonder what makes you think that task force "failed". I suspect that they achieved the only thing they were really meant to do.

For that matter, what makes you think there were any "new vacancies"? Unlike the US Supreme Court, task forces don't have a set, limited size. If the group is working closely with someone, then it makes sense to make them be part of the group. The second most senior person for the WMF's entire technical division could not be easily replaced by any volunteer contributor, so your realistic choices are "appoint him", "keep it a secret", or "have an election just for show, with all the other candidates disqualified because they can't do what he can (e.g., assign WMF staff to study technical migration plans)". Which would you choose under those circumstances? WhatamIdoing (talk) 17:34, 17 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

I'll keep my reply here short since I have written extensively in the linked comment on Meta. The objective of the sister project was immense. It was, for the first time, allowing non-trustees to determine whether to open new sister project(s). At the same time, it's going to determine, for the very first time*, whether a project be closed. You absolutely need to ensure that the task force selection process is representative of the community and not selected through backdoor channels or knowing the right people because the result and impact is immense. The failure of the task force in both objectives further fracture the Wikinews community and set the adoption of new sister project process back by at least 2-3 years while proposals have been waiting for 7 years (and we're complaining about drop in human traffic because of AI while ignoring new ideas and projects that could counter the drop). Not to mention that the conduct by some of the selected task force members were less then stellar to say the least.

* The September 11 memorial wiki was the first (and I believe the only time) a WMF non-language wiki be closed. But it's not at the same level and prominence as Wikinews. OhanaUnited^{Talk page} 14:17, 19 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

• I don't think the objective was immense. I suspect that the actual, if unwritten, objective was to figure out whether Wikinews should be closed. The founder of Wikinews thought it was a failed experiment some 15 years ago. People have been talking about closing it for approximately forever. If you'd said to me five years ago, and especially at any point after Pi zero died, "Huh, the Board is setting up a committee to look at opening and closing non-Wikipedias", my first thought would have been "I bet they'll be looking at finally getting rid of Wikinews". This shouldn't be a surprise to anyone who has been paying attention to Wikinews.
• The SPTF made recommendations to a Board committee. They did not make decisions. There have always been non-trustees making recommendations. It's now up to the committee to vote on whether to take this recommendation, or a different one, to the Board for a vote. (There are also 131 other closed wikis.)
• I don't agree that all stakeholders have to be at the table when the question is whether to fire one of the stakeholders for under-performance. I bet you wouldn't expect that for a real-world job, either.

WhatamIdoing (talk) 17:32, 19 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Heya, long time no write here. Just some points:

I was an advisor in the SPTF, not a full member, only BoT members had voting rights in the SPTF. In the limited meetings I attended, decisions were already made, so my contributions were minimal, mainly promoting community consultations about their decisions, which proved ineffective since SPTF decisions were pre-determined.

Upon my sanction, I was immediately removed, missing subsequent meetings. While I agree that sanctioned individuals shouldn't be part of such bodies, at the time I still had community trust and always focused on small communities.

Btw, there was a proposal for a Sister Projects Committee (SPC); I suggest promoting initiatives like this, because WMF should not have task forces that override community wishes.

Cya~ Galahad (sasageyo!)^(esvoy) 03:47, 25 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

I think the WMF should override some community wishes, because some of them are bad. Five or ten years ago, the WMF had to override a community decision to block all "out" gay editors on sight. Before that, they had to explain to another community that it wasn't okay for them to punish women for editing articles about sex, even if their culture thought that was immodest behavior. Each community must meet the minimum standards, even if it "wishes" to do otherwise. WhatamIdoing (talk) 21:50, 26 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

After 13 years, many Wikivoyage listings are still in plain text, rather than templates. This means they can't have coordinates, they're often badly formatted because they don't use our templates (Eat, Drink, Sleep, See, etc.), and they don't have a lastedit parameter so the date of information is unclear allowing them to become out of date. I try to fix these manually, but in some cases (Amandola) the task is just too daunting. I bet that half of the businesses listed there are defunct. without templates

I think we used to have a bot that did just this. Could we create a new one? Listings would still need to be checked, but this could save a lot of time and make our listings more time-relevant, the biggest critique of our website from outside of Wikivoyage. --Comment by Selfie City (talk) (contributions) 14:52, 4 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

That sounds like a great idea, but I would ask that the bot not fill in the lastedit field, but leave it blank. We would not want a bunch of listings imported from Wikitravel to be automatically converted to templates indicating that the listing was last updated on 4 Feb 2026 (for example). I have been trying to apply templates to new listings without templates that have been added to a couple of England articles (by an experienced editor). It's a job and a half. Ground Zero (talk) 22:06, 4 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

I agree. I should've clarified that I mean the lastedit parameter should be created empty, so that editors can make edits and fill it in. --Comment by Selfie City (talk) (contributions) 22:59, 4 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

Do you have some representative list of such pages? A bot is not a problem to make, but to make it reliable and not do breaking edits is something different... -- andree 22:06, 4 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

• Amandola
• Gilbertsville
• Ilhéus
• Neuss

--Comment by Selfie City (talk) (contributions) 23:02, 4 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

Listings are often but not automatically a good way to convey info, so unleashing a bot will generate text that only a bot will ever want to read (and perhaps that day is dawning). As the experienced editor that GZ just had a little poke at, I'm bound to observe that the System Architects of WV have endowed us with half a dozen different formats for presenting info. It is not for us mere mortals to know their sublime intent, but I suggest we should continue to make use of them all. Grahamsands (talk) 22:54, 5 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

Lists of untemplated restaurants, bars and hotels look like the stuff that was imported from Wikitravel in 2007. When I use Wikivoyage for travelling, I ignore undated entries because they are usually outdated cruft. I think Wikivoyage should be doing better than that in 2026. Ground Zero (talk) 02:49, 6 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

Agreed. They also just look pure messy (esp markers) and my mind often just glosses right by. //shb (t | c | m) 03:16, 6 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

I understand, but I think that for the sake of creating a bot, we shouldn't let ourselves be sidetracked by that concern. We have articles and business listings from 2007 that actually are unchanged. That's the main problem my proposal is attempting to fix. --Comment by Selfie City (talk) (contributions) 13:55, 6 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

Oh ftr I support – listings should be the norm sitewide. //shb (t | c | m) 21:42, 6 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

I think in some cases, it's fine to list POIs as markers or simply in bold — I've noticed you do this in articles, and personally I don't have a problem with that. My concern is more with articles pulled from WikiTravel which use their old format. These are the "dinosaur" articles rather than the newer drafts. --Comment by Selfie City (talk) (contributions) 22:57, 5 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

I'm not overly concerned by it. Yellowknife's See section is a mix of bulleted items, templates and nested templates. And that doesn't bother me. OhanaUnited^{Talk page} 14:10, 6 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

The only bulleted items in Yellowknife#See are the Aurora Borealis, and the Great Slave Lake. If someone did assign coordinates to the aurora, they would be wrong. As the lake covers an area larger than Wales, coordinates would not be useful. Ground Zero (talk) 14:25, 6 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

There's also "buy" in Yellowknife which is a mixture of bulleted items and templates. OhanaUnited^{Talk page} 15:05, 6 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

All of the stores listed in Buy are templated. The bulleted items are things that you might consider buying, like Caribou-skin mittens, so they would not have a template with coordinates, date, address, telephone. It would be a problem for a bot, but the concern I am raising is about businesses that are listed without dates. Ground Zero (talk) 17:19, 6 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

I'm imagining a bot that is applied on a case by case basis, not sitewide. I don't think it would need to be used on decent articles like Yellowknife, where minor fixes if needed could be made by a human. --Comment by Selfie City (talk) (contributions) 13:36, 9 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

Non-decent articles probably need more than bot-tidying. A human should make the major fixes. Of course, if they want a tool to do some of the work automatically, I don't object, but listifying should not be the only thing done. Most restaurant and hotel listings not edited since 2013 should probably be removed rather than listingified, unless they can be at least tentatively verified. –LPfi (talk) 14:00, 9 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

I agree, but listifying is a tool that would make the human updates (checking businesses' status, etc.) quicker. --Comment by Selfie City (talk) (contributions) 16:08, 9 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

Just run that by me again. The problem is that we have far more outdated entries than editorial input to update them. Many are not time-stamped: you and I would know that these are especially likely to be outdated but the casual reader is left guessing. The proposed solution is to deploy a bot that would fix none of them but create far more, as it would listify entries that are fairly recent and those that are not time-sensitive, such as landmarks. That's the idea, right? Grahamsands (talk) 19:43, 10 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

We have two separate issues here. One is listings that are not dated. That's a problem, but it needs to be fixed with user input.

I'm talking about entries that were imported from WikiTravel and aren't even in a listing template. Should we just leave them as timeless messes? At least if they're in the template, they can be updated more easily... --Comment by Selfie City (talk) (contributions) 20:52, 10 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

Indeed – there is nothing saying that a bot has to fill in the lastedit field. //shb (t | c | m) 23:08, 10 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

Any such bot IMO should skip the |lastedit= field, and it could even add a |bot=yes field. Since unknown parameters are usually ignored, that shouldn't even require any changes to the templates. WhatamIdoing (talk) 19:27, 11 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

I am not sure that unknown parameters are ignored in listing fields as I have recently seen errors being flagged up for twitter and facebook fields which I think were a brief experiment.

I do think that converting suitable text to listings by a human controlled bot is a good idea. Having a listing with its "edit" link at the end encourages users to make minor updates. I was disappointed to see that a bot recently converted a few inline listings to markers, for example on Benešov, but this was only on a very few pages. AlasdairW (talk) 21:33, 11 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

See listing template discussion -- andree 16:54, 12 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

Good idea regarding the bot parameter – I think the default listing template you see at the source header would need to be changed; I'm not sure how this can be done, but I'm sure there is a way. //shb (t | c | m) 21:46, 11 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

I believe the warning for unknown parameters is shown only for those who have enabled such warnings, i.e. people who in this case indeed should see it (and remove the parameter if the listing is OK). If the template were edited, what would you like it to do when that parameter is set? Perhaps have it show a warning :-)

–LPfi (talk) 09:36, 12 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

Oh I see what you mean. //shb (t | c | m) 09:57, 12 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

I think that converting a templated listing for a restaurant to ordinary text is a bad idea. In addition to removing the date stamp that tells the reader how current the information is, it removes the coordinates, and in this case the phone number. Ground Zero (talk) 12:03, 23 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Agreed; it also makes the article in general look a lot less organized and tidy, and is against current site consensus anyway. //shb (t | c | m) 12:16, 23 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

You can check out the gadget by enabling it in your settings - it adds 'current position' marker into dynamic maps around here. Feedback welcome :-) -- andree 20:16, 15 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

@Andree.sk: Having properly tested out this gadget now, this is an amazing little gadget. I'd support making this mainstream and default for everyone. //shb (t | c | m) 12:09, 8 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Given the lack of objections, should this be made a mainstream default gadget? //shb (t | c | m) 09:20, 23 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

I made it so. If someone is against, speak now or stay silent forever... :)

The poimap2.php thing also has this feature actually, but I think it's not used too much anymore? I'll try to get some statistics from somewhere... -- andree 18:51, 27 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Hello! There will be a Wikimedia Café meetup on 7 March 2026 at 15:00 UTC, focusing on the Wikimedia Commons mobile app. Featured guests will be software developers User:Misaochan and User:RitikaPahwa4444, and Wiki Project Med chair User:Doc James. Please see the Café page for more information, including how to attend. ↠Pine (✉) 07:32, 22 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

Nice to see Commons is finally getting a mobile app. //shb (t | c | m) 06:31, 23 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

For full context, see this discussion I had with @WhatamIdoing: yesterday on my talk page here, and the Meta page at m:Archive.today incident.

As a response to this, I created Special:AbuseFilter/89 (public filter, btw) which only tags edits that add any archive.today url. However, since we do not actively use archive links on this site (and the few mainspace pages that did use archive.today and related domains were all removed by WhatamIdoing yesterday), I propose we block all archive.today urls altogether (using the filter): there's very little to be lost by blocking this url, and any archived pages should ideally use archive.org (run by Wayback Machine).

//shb (t | c | m) 22:40, 23 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

I don't particularly care one way or the other, but I wouldn't be surprised if this ended up on the global blacklist at Meta-Wiki, in which case we could just wait and save ourselves the trouble. WhatamIdoing (talk) 00:04, 24 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

Oh easily, but as with everything on Meta, I expect there to be some significant opposition to it, and I think we'd save ourselves the drama by taking initiative ourselves. //shb (t | c | m) 00:24, 24 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

Archived links are not very useful for our project anyway. Let's leave this filter as tag-only for a week or two, to give us time to notice any bugs that might lead to false positives, and then I would support upgrading it to disallow.

We might also consider adding an edit filter that warns (but doesn't disallow) for archive.org, to let well-meaning Wikipedians know that on this project it's usually better to replace or remove a link than to substitute an archived copy. —Granger (talk · contribs) 14:38, 24 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

Good idea about the archive.org warning – there are a few instances where I think an archived link is better, but I agree, in most cases it's better to replace/remove than to use an archive link. I'll work on such a filter later today. //shb (t | c | m) 03:22, 25 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

@Andyrom75: I noticed you added this to MediaWiki:BlockedExternalDomains.json. While I do think that's probably the simpler solution, I prefer to use a filter as any additions can be easily tracked with a custom warning template specifically for archive.today urls. //shb (t | c | m) 22:24, 26 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

@SHB2000, I've been requested to take action in fr:voy and I've done the same in it:voy and en:voy thinking that was the right thing to do. That said, if you have other preferences, I've no concern if you want to revert what I've done applying different solution on en:voy. Andyrom75 (talk) 21:02, 27 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

tbh I think it should be left up for now – if the community decides a filter is better I think we should go from there. //shb (t | c | m) 21:05, 27 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

@SHB2000, as said no problem at all. I'm fine with any decision taken. Andyrom75 (talk) 12:53, 28 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

Hi all, I noticed that there were not much articles about the specific provinces within Equatorial Guinea. I wanted to make some (I've so far only made one, Litoral, my province), but I was wanting to know how much info the articles should include. Could I just add the major cities, destinations, Understand, Do, See and Go Next? Or is this not recommended and I should not create these because they lack information? I am new and am willing to do whatever it takes to enhance peoples understanding of my country and its regions. I could also implement other sentences or paragraphs from Wikipedia into the articles, but is this allowed? I'm not sure.

Thanks, ThatEquatorialGuineaEditor (talk) 02:57, 24 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

Wikivoyage regions don't necessarily correspond to provinces.

City articles are where most of our core content lives. Focus on writing City and Park articles first, and add them to the existing three region articles. If you really don't like the existing region splits, bring it up on Talk:Equatorial_Guinea.

When a region has so many City and Park articles that list becomes overwhelming (usually around 15-20), then it's time to split the big region into smaller regions. Propose the split on the Talk:Equatorial_Guinea; province boundaries are typically a natural way to split a region. Gerode (talk) 03:19, 24 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

I think the issue is that, currently, we don't have enough articles about cities and parks in Equatorial Guinea to justify having articles for every province. If you want to go about this, I'd focus on creating articles about cities in Equatorial Guinea and then we can look at provinces. Otherwise the region hierarchy becomes top-heavy with province articles without city articles underneath them. --Comment by Selfie City (talk) (contributions) 03:21, 24 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

So creating province articles are not allowed?

On the Australia article, it is split into the different provinces. I assumed that could comply with Equatorial Guinea as well, as some people might want information in the various provinces than the country as a whole. ThatEquatorialGuineaEditor (talk) 03:24, 24 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

Australian provinces are much larger than Equatorial Guinea provinces, and we have a lot more content for them.

If a province is so small that it has only one major city (or none), you can write the entire province as a City or Rural Area article. Gerode (talk) 03:30, 24 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

There are judgement calls to be made here & since you know the country & are willing to work on the articles, you are likely the best person to make them.

The main criterion is what works best for the traveller. We do divide some countries by province, but for others we have regions like North/South/Central or Coastal/Mountains/Plains. Whatever works.

It is not very useful to have, for example, an article on Kié-Ntem that only says it is a province with Ebibeyin as its capital. You get to decide whether to write a better article, or to create a stub article in hopes it will become useful later, or to just make the province name a redirect.

Provinces that don't get full articles should always get redirects so a search for the province name will succeed. Pashley (talk) 03:38, 24 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

Some food for thought: given the geographic size of some GQ provinces, would it be a bad idea to create rural area articles for them? (for the smaller provinces, that is) //shb (t | c | m) 03:43, 24 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

A more relevant comparison would be Gabon. Gabon has 9 provinces, but we don't divide Gabon into regions because we only have 5 city articles and 3 park articles.

Gerode provides useful advice: create the city and rural area articles first, then if we get lots of them, we can talk about creating region articles, which could be along provincial lines, or something else.

Equatorial Guinea only has 5 city articles, 1 park article, and 1 rural area article (Annobon), so it doesn't really need subregions. They do, however, make sense because they are geographically separate from each other.

And I would love to see more articles about Equatoguinean cities, and more content in our existing articles. Ground Zero (talk) 03:55, 24 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

So if I were to create an article on w:Centro Sur and added quite a bit of relevant information, it would still work as an article? I am not focused on creating only stub articles, because a traveller would benefit much much more from an article with at least a handful of information available. ThatEquatorialGuineaEditor (talk) 05:27, 24 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

Depends. How many City/Park articles do you expect a complete guide on Centro Sur to have? The Wikipedia page suggests there's only three cities of interest, which would make a lot of small province pages excessive. Exceptions can be made, but you'd need to build a consensus for that.

My hesitation is that I'm worried about having too many stubby pages for places that don't have a lot of tourist attractions. You can address that worry by putting as much content as you can into those city articles and the broader Río Muni region article. When the content in those articles becomes so detailed and compelling that we need a better way to organize it, you'll have a strong argument to spin out a new province page.

If you need to, start by making subsections within the Río Muni article for each province - See#Centro Sur, See#Litoral, etc. I don't think this is a best practice, but I've done it before! Gerode (talk) 06:29, 24 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

If I did this, how would I create miniature sections in those spaces? ThatEquatorialGuineaEditor (talk) 07:00, 24 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

I just compared the Litoral and Rio Muni articles. There isn't much additional information that is specific to Litoral. I don't see how this article benefits readers. I recommend against creating more provincial articles. It would be better to add new information to Rio Muno. If you have information that is relevant to Centro Sur and not to other parts of the region, just mention that in the text. You don't need to create minisections at this point. Ground Zero (talk) 11:58, 24 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

Badlands and Black Hills is an example I like of a large Region article that IMO covers two distinct regions and could be split up if User:Someone else was motivated to do so.

• The Intro and Understand sections discuss the two subregions separately.
• The Cities list is broken up into subsections (and the Other Destinations list probably should be too). Grouping the cities list is a good way to introduce the provinces you want to eventually make new pages for.
• While the See and Do sections are divided by category and not geography, each category largely pertains to one subregion or the other.

When Rio Muni looks a bit like this article, breaking it into provinces is a natural next step. I'm excited to learn what you know about Equatorial Guinea, I place I think most of us know little about!

(Most of this is my personal opinion, and not site policy. Someone who's been here longer will probably have a different take.) Gerode (talk) 18:25, 24 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

@ThatEquatorialGuineaEditor: I think @Pashley's suggestions make the most sense Purplebackpack89 01:11, 25 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

Perhaps, & thank you. But there are plenty of other valid suggestions above & no contradiction between those & mine. Pashley (talk) 02:06, 25 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

How many existing Equatorial Guinea pages do we have? I thought we have a table of stats that lists out how many articles we have within each country. OhanaUnited^{Talk page} 05:51, 25 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

iirc that list was manually updated by DaGizza at User:DaGizza/Articles by country. Hasn't been updated in 22 months, though. //shb (t | c | m) 06:08, 25 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

I find Acalayong, Annobón, Bata, Bioko, Ciudad de la Paz, Kogo, Litoral, Luba, Malabo, Monte Alén National Park, Muni Estuary Nature Reserve, and Río Muni in Category:Equatorial Guinea. WhatamIdoing (talk) 19:23, 25 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

We currently have 12 mainspace pages on Equatorial Guinea, not including the country itself. 3 of these were created quite recently by TEGE. Gizza ^(roam) 02:02, 26 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

I was on work travel to Nunatsiavut last week and forgot to make an announcement per event organizer requirement. AfroCROWD User Group, Wikimedians of the Caribbean User Group and the Toronto WikiClub will be running a Caribbean food tasting event this Saturday in Toronto. While the main focus will be taking food pictures to Commons and writing about the food on Wikipedia, I will run an editing workshop to introduce Wikivoyage editing through food (the "Eat" section) for Caribbean countries. Don't know how many people registered but the room capacity is 50 and not everyone is going to edit Wikivoyage. Hope this notice is sufficient. OhanaUnited^{Talk page} 02:20, 25 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

Thanks for the announcement. Make sure they look for any edit summaries and posts to their user talk pages. Ikan Kekek (talk) 21:41, 25 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

All the best for the event, Ohana! //shb (t | c | m) 08:25, 26 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Well, the event turnout was less than expected. I have been keeping an eye on Recent Changes and I don't think anyone else other than myself made any edits to Wikivoyage. OhanaUnited^{Talk page} 01:00, 2 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

How disappointing for you! I'm sorry it didn't work out like you had expected. WhatamIdoing (talk) 21:36, 3 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

There's a discussion at User_talk:Ioannawfy24#What_not_to_link_to,_and_don't_edit_war that I think raises more general issues worth some discussion here. The main question is whether links to the weather site wfy24 are legitimate or are violations of our external links policy.

We do link to some reference sites, e.g. China#Money & quite a few other places link to xe.com for exchange rates. Is that a good thing? We also have a whole article on Smartphone apps for travellers; is that where a link to wfy24 might belong?

If we are going to link to a weather site, is this the right one? I've been using wunderground.com for years, don't recall why I started there. It handles my main concern -- typhoons in SE Asia -- adequately, but there are many others.

Looking at the wfy24 home page, I see they have lots of travel info, & our policy is not to link to other travel guides. Pashley (talk) 14:56, 26 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

As the site has broad weather coverage, I think adding a link to Weather alongside other international weather services, rather than to individual cities, could make sense. Besides the policy on competing travel guides, what is relevant is how good the forecasts are. I don't know how to evaluate that, but more important than resolution is how well topographic features are taken into account by the weather model. It is a problem for most weather forecasts within our archipelagoes, and certainly is in mountainous terrain.

As a side note, I think it is quite funny that the service currently warns about severe cold in Lapland, which today and in the coming days seems to have rather mild temperatures of −5 to −14 °C (23 to 7 °F) – rather mild related to what you'd expect this time of the year. The Finnish Meteorological Institute gives the lowest-level warning ("potentially dangerous") about severe cold when the temperature is predicted to get under -20, -25 or -30 (depending on area; Lapland is in the last category). For the critical warnings ("very dangerous") the limits are -35, -45 and -45!

–LPfi (talk) 17:49, 26 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

(But it does not warn about the driving weather, which is awful in much of the country, including in Helsinki ("dangerous" according to FMI.) –LPfi (talk) 17:52, 26 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

As per Pashley's last paragraph, I do not support linking that site anywhere. Ikan Kekek (talk) 19:13, 26 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

I also oppose linking to that site. We don't link to other travel guides. The link that was added to the Vienna took readers to the landing page of the site, and not to information about the weather in Vienna. Ground Zero (talk) 19:47, 26 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

I am not keen on that site. I think we should prefer to link to the relevant government weather agency - National Weather Service in the US, Met office in the UK, MetService in NZ etc. News organisations that have extensive weather coverage for that country are also acceptable, eg the BBC. AlasdairW (talk) 21:58, 26 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

Ditto. This isn't currency exchange where there is no one single official website that has all the conversion rates. Government agencies have official websites for the weather, as Alasdair mentioned. //shb (t | c | m) 22:48, 26 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

I agree with @AlasdairW; government agencies are fine, anything else needs to be specific to the region and more compelling than the universal platforms or the various thin interfaces over NWS/ECMWF/etc.

I'm not opposed to weather app "listings" in Smartphone apps for travellers or similar travel topics; competing apps can state their case there, alongside others. Gerode (talk) 00:04, 27 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

As long as there isn't a long list or an arbitrary selection. The one we list should be well-established and reliable. The problem I cited above, about warnings on expected temperatures and lack of locally important warnings: dangerous driving weather, slippery pavements (today is the day of the year when emergency clinics get crowded). Apps with global coverage may not be good at covering such region-specific risks. –LPfi (talk) 11:25, 27 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

I have had a quick look at a list over 50 grant applications in meta:Grants:Regions/Sub-Saharan Africa. I only looked at the details of a small selection of the applications in the "Rapid Funds - Fiscal Year (FY) 2025-26 (SSA)" - "Under Review" in the box at he bottom of the page. I found two that planned to edit Wikivoyage:

• meta:Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Rapid Fund/Promoting Tourism and Travel Information in Northeast Nigeria through Wikimedia (ID: 23747298)
• meta:Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Rapid Fund/Open Heritage:Documenting Northern Nigerian Cultures, Festivals, and Emirates on Wikimedia (ID: 23741619)

You can comment on the applications on the linked grant discussion pages. Has the discussion of the new policy on Wikivoyage:Welcome, event organizers concluded? - it may be appropriate to mention this policy in grant application discussion. AlasdairW (talk) 22:27, 26 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

Do we know which user is behind the two grants? Unfortunately the edit histories of both applications were done by a bot. //shb (t | c | m) 23:07, 26 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

See the answer to question: "8. Describe your team.", nearly halfway down the page. AlasdairW (talk) 23:15, 26 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

I see – pinging @Ishaku Ajeje, Mlamido, Gwanki, Mahuta, Mr. Snatch, A Sulaiman Z: – can you all confirm you are aware of this discussion?

While I'm at it, I'm going to be completely honest: I don't get good feelings about the first. Two of the organisers listed there, Special:CA/Hajara ya'u and Special:CA/Nnamadee, do not even have local accounts on enwikivoyage (i.e. they never even visited Wikivoyage whilst logged in). That alone should be a bit concerning, but I am happy to be proved otherwise (and I hope it ends up being that way). //shb (t | c | m) 03:20, 27 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

@SHB2000@Ikan Kekek Thank you very much for contacting us regarding the proposal.

Typically, we form a team with members from different specializations who work collaboratively on such projects. We assure you that we will fully comply with all Wikivoyage policies and guidelines throughout the process.

Thank you again for your consideration. Mr. Snatch (talk) 08:45, 27 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

Thank you for posting, and please stay in touch with us so we can be available to help with planning in any way that could be useful. Ikan Kekek (talk) 09:06, 27 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

@Ikan Kekek, AlasdairW, SHB2000 Thank you very much for reaching out to us about this proposal, [1], I am very pleased with your response. As you rightly noted, some individuals have not yet opened accounts on Wikivoyage. For this reason, we aim to intensify our efforts to encourage people from Northeast Nigeria to begin contributing actively to Wikivoyage. This will be achieved by helping them appreciate the value of their cultural heritage and traditions, and by reassuring them that their contributions will gain global recognition when shared not only on Wikivoyage but also on Wikipedia as a whole. We assure you of our full commitment to strictly following all relevant guidelines. [2] Ishaku Ajeje (talk) 09:31, 27 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

Thanks very much! I'm posting to those talk pages. Ikan Kekek (talk) 23:19, 26 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

Hello AlasdairW, Thank you for for pointing out the inclusion of Wikivoyage in our project.

In our proposal Open Heritage: Documenting Northern Nigerian Cultures, Festivals, and Emirates, we included Wikivoyage because the organizers already have practical experience creating and improving Wikivoyage articles. The project is focused on documenting Northern Nigerian emirates, festivals, and cultural heritage, and some of these topics are directly relevant to travel and cultural tourism. Because of this, it makes sense to improve related travel information where appropriate.

We are aware of the ongoing discussion about the new policy for event organizers on Wikivoyage. We will review the guidance on Wikivoyage:Welcome, event organizers and make sure our project activities align with the expected standards for training and content contributions. Our team will ensure that our contributions follow Wikivoyage policies and best practices.

We are not connected to the other proposal mentioned. Our team will focus on implementing our own project activities, while ensuring that any contributions to Wikivoyage follow the Wikivoyage guidelines and scope. We also welcome any suggestions from the community that can help improve the quality of our contributions.

Thank you

Gwanki (talk) 06:00, 27 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

Awesome, @Gwanki, glad to hear you're aware – hopefully all goes well for you with the grant. :) //shb (t | c | m) 06:35, 27 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

Indeed, good luck with the grant application, and thanks for working with us! My feeling is that for Wikivoyage, the most important things in regard to festivals are what, when and where. From what I've seen, what is the most commonly covered of the three, but when and exactly where may be omitted, and visitors need that information for planning and to attend. What we don't want is either just a list of festival names without other information or lots of detail about the what with no practical information about when or where to go. Ikan Kekek (talk) 07:26, 27 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

I am pleased to see that the grant applicants have engaged with us, and I hope that the applications are successful. AlasdairW (talk) 11:13, 27 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

Unfortunately, these two grant applications were not funded. AlasdairW (talk) 23:22, 27 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

@AlasdairW Yes, we didn’t anticipate this outcome, but considering the high number of proposed projects, we fully understand the limitations involved. Mr. Snatch (talk) 08:32, 28 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

I'm really sorry to hear that. I hope you guys can reapply soon. Let us know if we might be able to help you in any way. Ikan Kekek (talk) 22:44, 28 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

There are two other grant applications that mention Wikivoyage, but these are proposing less edits, and may not have much impact:

• meta:Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Rapid Fund/Wikipédia & Génocide des Tutsis (ID: 23653583) This Rwanda based application proposes to edit 10 pages on Wikivoyage, but as the application is mainly written in French, they may not contribute here.
• meta:Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Rapid Fund/Advance Wikipedia Awareness and Training at Abdu Gusau Polytechnic and Historical Documentation of Gusau, Zamfara States. Follow up to our Previous Initiative. (ID: 23526700) is based in Nigeria and proposes to edit 30 pages on Wikivoyage, but the main activity is adding photos to Commons. As it is planned for 2026-01-01 - 2026-03-31, it is unlikely to get a grant in time.

As before there are comment links in the applications. AlasdairW (talk) 11:24, 27 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

I knew tourism to the US was way down, but this is new to me:

Americans are leaving the US in record numbers

The article says net negative immigration, more people leaving than arriving. Pashley (talk) 05:27, 27 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

I am not surprised. It seems that all over Europe, governments and universities try to find ways to attract and accommodate scientists who see working in the U.S. become difficult, and I assume few scientists over here plan a carrier across the pond any more. Also low-income immigrants are probably aware of the risks caused by Trump's immigration policy. Of course, such trends are easily overestimated in ones mind, so them being reality this time is real news. –LPfi (talk) 07:11, 27 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

I didn't think of all the big groups though, such as small-business owners and sub-Saharans – and 40% of women wanting to move abroad! I am astonished.

I suppose we should take a look at Digital nomad, Working abroad & co, as to whether they cover the needs of the new immigrant groups adequately. I assume Retiring abroad does.

–LPfi (talk) 07:36, 27 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

Wow, this is an interesting article. I actually am surprised. As an American I've never noticed that there's been a culture of leaving the country, even during less favorable times. It's a really major shift that American citizens are moving abroad in such large numbers, and maybe in the long run we'll want to fork those articles into how they look for specific countries. The options for an American to retire abroad are likely different than for people from other countries due to visa issues and potential for cultural matches. There's alo a significant split, I believe between Americans who move to Latin America and those who move to Europe, as the appeal between these regions is quite different. --Comment by Selfie City (talk) (contributions) 18:01, 27 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

Yes, I've seen news stories about both Canadian & European universities actively recruiting disillusioned or defunded scientists from the US. Also Hundreds of American nurses choose Canada over the U.S. under Trump. Pashley (talk) 12:01, 27 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

Reuters: Airlines suspend Middle East flights after US, Israel strikes on Iran

Al Jazeera: Airlines suspend Middle East flights after US, Israel strikes on Iran Pashley (talk) 10:48, 28 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

Dubai airport suspends operations & Qatar Airways Halts Flights as Qatari Airspace Closes Pashley (talk) 13:30, 28 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

This is definitely major in the world of aviation with Doha, Dubai and Abu Dhabi all shut. I probably wouldn't update anything on Wikivoyage just yet (those affected should probably seek advice from their airline), but I expect a lot to change this upcoming week. //shb (t | c | m) 09:18, 1 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

I've created a warningbox template with generic travel advice at Template:2026 Middle East warningbox and added it to the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait articles. It's very vague but deliberately like that to prevent the need to update it every so often. //shb (t | c | m) 10:06, 1 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Well done. Pashley (talk) 10:37, 1 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Under war zone safety, it says "Close your eyes, cover your ears and open your mouth to minimize blast injuries". Do we mean close your mouth? OhanaUnited^{Talk page} 01:04, 2 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

No. WHO "Keep your mouth slightly open to protect the lungs against injury from the blast." & many other sources. Pashley (talk) 05:35, 2 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Interesting... Thank you for the link to the WHO document. OhanaUnited^{Talk page} 21:22, 2 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Does this matter for fliers who are not landing in the region but might pass over it, e.g. Flying Singapore-London? Pashley (talk) 10:37, 1 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

I don't think so tbh – flights like SIN–LHR would just avoid that airspace altogether (and use the Caucasus corridor). //shb (t | c | m) 10:40, 1 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

For those of you into random stats, here's one I put together for all our articles on rail travel by country. It's based on a template (in the public domain) and I can't seem to change the issues with TW and Northern Ireland.

I think unsurprisingly our best coverage of rail travel is in Europe with most major countries having a separate article – the only major countries without an article with a sizable rail network are Belgium and Finland (and to a lesser extent, Slovakia and Hungary). Asia seems to be a mixed bag: we don't have any articles for a single country in Southeast Asia (Vietnam, Indonesia and Peninsular Malaysia could all do with articles), same with Rail travel in Taiwan, though we do kinda cover the main four Asian rail networks to a reasonable degree (Japan, S Korea, India, and China). North America/Oceania is very expected, though I will say having a rail travel in Cuba article caught me off-guard a few days ago. No articles for South America is kinda surprising, but also maybe not because bus travel tends to typically prevail. Africa as well.

All in all, nothing too important or serious, but some interesting stats that show where we do great at and where we don't for articles relating to rail travel. :)

//shb (t | c | m) 09:10, 1 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Finland being a blank spot is a little odd. I wonder, should I turn the 2½ screenful of Finland#By train 2 into a separate article? I suppose those that don't come by car, hire one or stay at a single destination reachable by plane and local transport will use the trains, so having them in Finland is not an issue, but the article is long, so offloading train and coach from there might make sense. –LPfi (talk) 11:41, 1 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

I mean I would love to see a rail travel in Finland article – one that breaks down all of VR's ticketing systems, network coverage, and also a bit on night trains. I'd support splitting that section off as well – that is way too long for a subheading, especially on mobile. //shb (t | c | m) 11:57, 1 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

I'd very much support that, also because we have a base of contributors who could update and improve that new article if it were to be created.

I also think that visualizing our coverage of travel topics is a good idea! --Comment by Selfie City (talk) (contributions) 18:25, 2 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Hey everyone,

I've been working on the Template:RouteSection template for a while now, and I’m trying to find a way to implement one of the following:

• Text-to-Map (Preferred): Link the name of a route section to its corresponding segment on a mapframe, so that clicking the name pans or zooms the map to that section.
• Map-to-Text: The reverse—making a displayed route segment on the map link back to the specific section in the text.

It’s a bit of a "Russian doll" situation with the Marker and Listing templates, I’m having a hard time untangling how they interact with mapframes. Bluecoordinationfine (talk) 00:15, 3 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

I got something half-working on the Lapplandsleden page. By default, the mapshapes are added to group=mask. Bluecoordinationfine (talk) 01:07, 3 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

The Map-To-Text can be done "easily", if the text you generate in the markers are like Lapplandsleden#Q134029418 - clicking that link will navigate to the respective marker.

The other way direction likely need some javascript (i.e. ultimately a custom gadget; you can in the meantime develop it via your User:Bluecoordinationfine/commmon.js). Also Map-To-Text could be done this way, if you wanted the click to marker directly take you to the listing (instead of after clicking the respective link in a marker popup). -- andree 06:08, 3 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

For the Map-to-Text approach I'd have to edit some modules I don't have access to though.

Do you think something like this could work?

<maplink zoom="10" group="mask">{"type":"ExternalData","service":"geoline","ids":"Q135660756"}</maplink> Bluecoordinationfine (talk) 18:11, 3 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

You should be able to do tests in your userspace, e.g. User:Bluecoordinationfine/sandbox/Template:xyz (similarly modules), and then use it like { { User:Bluecoordinationfine/sandbox/Template:xyz|param=abc } } (sans spaces :) ). Once/if you have it polished, I'd say further discussion can be had how/where/if to merge it... These days, LLMs will likely be able to help you with setting up the template :) -- andree 19:49, 3 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

I've tried several options, but I feel like this may be a function Kartographer doesn't support. The example above just pans to the center of the trail, not the actual trail section linked. I figured this might be useful for the Regionlist template as well (linking directly to a region displayed in Kartographer). Bluecoordinationfine (talk) 14:52, 14 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

There are a lot of locations people might visit and photograph because they are known from popular culture. Are these a possible travel topic?

An ex once sent me a photo of herself "Standing on the corner of Bleecker and MacDougal", a location in Greenwich Village mentioned by w:Fred Neil in a song. There are many photos of the corner of Haight & Ashbury, center of the hippie neighborhood in 60s San Francisco. Winslow (Arizona) has a statue based on an Eagles tune. Probably there are a bunch more I do not know of.

People also often take selfies in front of various famous structures, anything from the Washington Monument to the Taj Mahal. I don't think those locations belong in this topic, doubt it would be worth trying to list them anywhere.

Other opinions? Volunteers? Pashley (talk) 04:15, 4 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

In my own personal opinion, I find this photo to be spectacular, and classical at the same time. I remember this, during my middle school years. ~2026-69216-3 (talk) 21:26, 5 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Looks like a few moments ago, an attack (I'd rather name it "shooting in your own feet" :-) ) happened and wiki's are in degraded mode. No user javascript ATM. More info... -- andree 18:33, 5 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Many wikis were in read-only mode (see phab:T419143). Glad at least the damage has been reverted. It was a genuine mistake, though; shit happens I guess. Must say though that trying to edit m:SRG without scripts feels...painful. //shb (t | c | m) 21:05, 5 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

The WMF has released a statement about this at m:Wikimedia Foundation/Product and Technology/Product Safety and Integrity/March 2026 User Script Incident. User .css/.js scripts are back, too. //shb (t | c | m) 00:23, 6 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

That statement lacked a lot of details. And of course, one should not be doing testing on prod server. OhanaUnited^{Talk page} 18:29, 6 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

And running random code with staff privilege on internet connected machines as part of a security review sounds odd in itself, to say the least. I assume they cannot tell too much detail, at that might reveal vulnerabilities, if not in the system itself, at least in how privileges are handled by WMF staff. I still hope that they disclose as much as possible when such vulnerabilities have been handled. The vulnerabilities should be examined as a matter of urgency and dealt with as soon as practicable, but if a culture change is needed, the changes may need time to settle. However, the incident should not be forgotten until such a report is published. This is not a private company where such incidents can be seen as business secrets. –LPfi (talk) 20:35, 6 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

What I don't understand with all of this is why they needed to load a userscript onto the site js to test it for malicious code. //shb (t | c | m) 22:38, 6 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

My understanding is that the malicious code copied itself to the site js, as it was run with sufficient privileges. Otherwise it had just infected the user's (common.)js. –LPfi (talk) 07:50, 10 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Could be, yeah (the edits are oversighted and I have no idea what bit of the .js code infected which). //shb (t | c | m) 08:40, 10 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

There're test wikis for this reason. At the very least, even after loading this malicious userscript, the vulnerability would only be nuking pages on the test wiki and not on an actual wiki. OhanaUnited^{Talk page} 06:44, 8 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

I have finished making a new article but couldn't get the ropes of putting whatever you call the Dewey Decimal System on top of the article that is supposed to link the area with the rest of the country. Also need help in setting a mapframe that couldn't load as of now. Borgenland (talk) 16:59, 8 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Update: I have a Wikidata [3] but couldn't drag the Wikivoyage article into it. Need help as I am literally dizzy with chest pains trying to navigate. Borgenland (talk) 17:37, 8 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Hi, @Borgenland. It looks like the Breadcrumb navigation (the bit that says "Asia > Southeast Asia > Philippines > Luzon > Calabarzon > Laguna > Eastern Laguna" at the top) is working.

I have added Eastern Laguna to the Wikidata page for you. WhatamIdoing (talk) 18:04, 8 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Thank you so much. I got the is part of thingy before going to bed. Hope that other users get to enjoy. Borgenland (talk) 02:07, 9 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Switching from Wikimedia to Mapnik or Relief map results into a blank screen (no map) with markers only. FredTC (talk) 14:23, 9 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Fallout of the security breach security restrictions, reported in T419464...

Tracked in Phabricator ^(?)
Task T419464

Interestingly, also hill shading layer using https://tiles.wmflabs.org/hillshading seems gone, probably we should switch to maps.wikimedia.org because of T187601

Tracked in Phabricator ^(?)
Task T187601

, if there's even such a layer available... -- andree 18:45, 9 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Yesterday I've discussed with @Andree.sk about the syntax to be used in the image parameter of Template:Marker (and consequently of Template:Listing).

The following two links are valid and refer to the same image, the only difference is that the second file name has been "URL encoded", making the filename less readable:

• Regular filename: Древнерусская ладья "Анна Ярославна". Морской фестиваль Брест 2012.jpg
• URL encoded file name: %D0%94%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%B2%D0%BD%D0%B5%D1%80%D1%83%D1%81%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B0%D1%8F_%D0%BB%D0%B0%D0%B4%D1%8C%D1%8F_%22%D0%90%D0%BD%D0%BD%D0%B0_%D0%AF%D1%80%D0%BE%D1%81%D0%BB%D0%B0%D0%B2%D0%BD%D0%B0%22._%D0%9C%D0%BE%D1%80%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B9_%D1%84%D0%B5%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B8%D0%B2%D0%B0%D0%BB%D1%8C_%D0%91%D1%80%D0%B5%D1%81%D1%82_2012.jpg

This morning I've normalized the 67 pages affected by this "issue". Now I'd like to know from the community what is the preferred choice between:

1. highlight such cases as an error (as of now) that shall be fixed because may complicate the life of the future wikicode-editors
2. modify the behavior of the template to accept silently both syntaxes, to simplify the life of the first wikicode-editor because he'll be free to use whatever he wants

Andyrom75 (talk) 09:49, 12 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

I think I'd prefer 2 – they both ultimately work, and I don't think either should necessarily be highlighted as an error. //shb (t | c | m) 10:59, 12 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Is there a tool available for translating between the two formats? The encoded version is just a hexadecimal representation of the UTF-8 encoding of the Unicode code points of the characters, with a % prefixing every byte (i.e. a straight-forward – although multiple-step and ugly-looking – reversible encoding).

Ideally the listing editor would sanitise the encoded form into the human-readable version.

Any web kit and programming language can do the decoding, but "normal" editors need to hover on the link to see the filename (can you do that on mobile?) and click the link to get a copyable decoded filename.

I don't know who needs to input the encoded form – I would expect any browser to have the Cyrillic fonts needed, and even if not, to allow copying and pasting the filename without the encoding. Obviously, there is some workflow that gets the encoded characters there, but I think accepting but flagging as an error to be fixed is the right path, until we can get the filenames fixed on the fly.

–LPfi (talk) 18:20, 14 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

For your first question, pretty sure some browsers automatically translate between the two formats. //shb (t | c | m) 21:46, 14 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Yes, of course (as suggested in "any web kit" and "hover-or-click" above), but I wondered whether there is a tool you can use to get a decoded version to paste in, without clicking on the link (to have Commons do the conversion).

I assume I have a number of tools I could use on the Linux command line, into which I could paste the encoded file name, but a typical Window user probably has none, and my smart phone's command line probably hasn't any either (although a one-liner probably wouldn't be too hard to construct). I think I thought that there could be some gadget. As such a gadget shouldn't be too hard to build, I assume integrating the functionality into the listing editor shouldn't be too difficult either, but it might be seen as feature creep.

–LPfi (talk) 12:15, 15 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

"Ideally the listing editor would sanitise the encoded form into the human-readable version." Yes, indeed. Pashley (talk) 21:58, 14 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

I've already developed the logic that check if an image exists and if the name shall be decoded or not. Temporary this logic is on it:voy and it is use only to generate the relevant error category. That logic can be implemented into the listing editor to allow to use automatically the regular filename during saving.

I've opened a new bug/issue on GitHub but I think it would take time to be implemented because @Jdlrobson is pretty busy during this period. There are other two solved issues whose implementation is still pending.

PS to fix the 67 occurrences I've simply opened the image in commons and copied the file name from the page title (not from the URL). In the current status, it was definitely quicker. Andyrom75 (talk) 07:14, 16 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

(cc @Andyrom75, Jdlrobson:) Is it just me, or has the reply tool been down for everyone else as well? I'm using Chrome on MacOS. //shb (t | c | m) 10:57, 12 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

SHB2000, same here, but only on en:voy. In it:voy currently it works. --Andyrom75 (talk) 11:12, 12 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Oh good I'm glad it's not just me going crazy. :P (also have no issues on Meta, at least when viewing m:SRG and m:RFH) //shb (t | c | m) 11:13, 12 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

It's working now. WhatamIdoing (talk) 18:19, 12 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Hi everyone! We are Federica (User:Chicafratta) and Alessio (User:Aionna), two Italian researchers working on the WikiM.A.R.C.A. project. The name is an acronym for Marche, Artigianato, Ricerca, Cultura e Accoglienza (Marche, Craftsmanship, Research, Culture and Hospitality). It is a broader project coordinated by the University of Macerata in collaboration with Confartigianato Macerata - Fermo - Ascoli Piceno (a trade union association that represents, protects and develops over 8,000 small businesses and artisans in the area) and funded by ANCoS APS. This project aims at improving online content about the Marche region on Wikimedia platforms such as Wikipedia and Wikivoyage. The project focuses on researching and documenting local culture, traditions, itineraries and products, with the goal of creating reliable and useful information for both residents and travellers.

We are mainly working on the Italian version of Wikivoyage, where we are creating itineraries based on traditional food and wine or local craftsmanship. These articles will later be translated into English.

Thank for your welcome and we are open to any help or suggestions! Chicafratta (talk) 16:20, 12 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Thank you very much. It sounds like a great project! I would suggest looking at existing itineraries in Category:Star articles and Category:Guide articles. Some existing travel topics on wine regions and craftsmanship could also be worth looking at; I know Colorado's Wine Country was a featured Off the beaten path article some years ago and Mexican artesanias is a guide-level article. I also recommend reading or at least looking through the key points in the core policy and guideline pages linked in Wikivoyage:Welcome, event organizers: Wikivoyage:What is an article?, Wikivoyage:Don't tout, Wikivoyage:Copyleft, Wikivoyage:Welcome, Wikipedians and Wikivoyage:Goals and non-goals, and familiarizing yourselves with Wikivoyage:Listings templates if you have not already done so.

Please ask us any questions that come to your minds when you read those pages. I believe there are at least a couple of differences in policy and guidelines between it.wikivoyage and en.wikivoyage.

I very much look forward to reading your contributions!

All the best,

Ikan Kekek (talk) 19:50, 12 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Looking forward to this, too. :) //shb (t | c | m) 20:47, 12 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Hi everyone! @Aionna and I’d like to share a quick update on our work: we have completed and published the article “Vernaccia Nera wine route”. We have followed the instructions on this page Wikivoyage:Itinerary article template. If you have time to take a look, we would really appreciate any feedback.

We also have a question: is it possible to display the itinerary route on the map, as we did in the Italian version Percorso della Vernaccia Nera? If so, could you please explain how to do it?

Thank you very much! :) Chicafratta (talk) 11:53, 18 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Thank you for creating this. I have made a couple of small technical additions. I set the article as Outline, but it does look very close to being Usable. It would be helpful to have a little more on getting to Serrapetrona, as I see from it:Serrapetrona that there are buses to get there. It would be even better if you could also create Serrapetrona. AlasdairW (talk) 22:00, 18 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

I've made a few copyedits (all very minor), but otherwise a really solid start, Chicafratta – great work so far. :) //shb (t | c | m) 04:50, 19 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Thanks for your help. We will make the changes you have suggested. As for the article on Serrapetrona, we are currently working on it: Serrapetrona (it is just the Sandbox). We will update you once it is finished.

) Chicafratta (talk) 18:09, 19 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Hiǃ We have just published the article on Serrapetrona, If you want to take a look and give us any feedback. Thank youǃǃ Chicafratta (talk) 12:57, 24 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Hi, @Chicafratta, I just glanced at your edit to the Marche page. What stands out is the use of "perfect" and "ideal". Those are on en.wikivoyage's list of words to avoid. You might also benefit from looking at WV:Welcome, tourism professionals, because while it's good to put great destinations in a good light, we should do so by giving specific information, not by using the kinds of promotional words and phrases travel agencies or tourism bureaux use. Ikan Kekek (talk) 13:09, 24 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

I only found out about Special:EditChecks today, and I must say I'm pretty pleased with the PasteCheck.js script (which warns users for copypasted text). However, underneath it, I notice there's a ToneCheck.js script, which, based on the description, is based on a BERT model, linking to m:NPOV, which is not a policy on Wikivoyage. Is there a way to configure this such that it reflects Wikivoyage:Be fair instead of NPOV? (cc @Andyrom75, Jdlrobson:) //shb (t | c | m) 11:52, 14 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

That's the Editing team's work, so you want to ping @Quiddity (WMF) and @PPelberg (WMF). Because the writing style is intentionally different, we might not want it here.

Several of the usual EditChecks are irrelevant, including addReference (we want the opposite: warn people if they add any), convertReference (we have no citation templates), externalLink (these are wanted), and probably yearLink (as irrelevant, because there are no articles for any years, and therefore no possibility of linking to the wrong one). WhatamIdoing (talk) 17:32, 14 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Thanks, both. It looks like the ToneCheck issue is partially covered at phab:T419812 (ToneCheck is only active at 3 pilot-wikipedia projects currently, and only intended for Wikipedias for now), and I'll file some related bug-reports next week about improving the overall clarity/accuracy of that new Special page for non-Wikipedias. Quiddity (WMF) (talk) 19:31, 14 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

+1, @Quiddity (WMF): thank you for making us aware of this issue, @SHB2000 + @WhatamIdoing. You should notice this fixed before this week is over.

See phab:T420124 for more details. PPelberg (WMF) (talk) 23:10, 16 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Thank you, Peter! Is there a timeline available for when such tools will be rolled out to non-Wikipedia projects? //shb (t | c | m) 23:59, 16 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

phab:T420124 is tagged for 1.46.0-wmf.20, which is scheduled for wikitech:Deployments#Wednesday, March 18. WhatamIdoing (talk) 03:35, 17 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Just to be clear, tomorrow's the date when the list will stop showing all the things that aren't being used here. Actually getting more of them to be useful here will take much longer. WhatamIdoing (talk) 00:15, 18 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Ah, right, I see. Thanks for the insight, though. //shb (t | c | m) 04:05, 18 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

It's mesmerizing, have a look! Could be due to the structure in wikidata, but I haven't figured out a way to fix it. Maybe the function should be recursive? Bluecoordinationfine (talk) 15:46, 16 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

I'm not sure I can reproduce the issue: I simply see a mapframe with lots of pins and a single black line that roughly follows the Welsh coastline. What are you seeing? Gerode (talk) 16:22, 16 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

For me, it's never a continuous black line. It has gaps, which change upon reloading (sometimes, the northern section has a gap, sometimes the southern section, etc.). Bluecoordinationfine (talk) 17:17, 16 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

The black line always appears continuous to me under Mac/Firefox, Mac/Chrome, Mac/Safari, Android/Firefox and Android/Chrome.

Is the Wikidata/OSM data underneath notably different from the other RouteSection articles? Gerode (talk) 17:45, 16 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

My partner and I are currently in Berlin on 6-month freelancers' visas. We're early in our time here but already have a lot to share about the process of applying for the visas, what you need to do to follow up when you have moved to wherever you're staying, and various differences between the U.S. and Germany. (For example, over-the-counter medications tend to be more expensive here and dispensed in much smaller quantities, and some supplements are more difficult to find; however, groceries are cheaper and produce and meat in supermarkets is generally excellent.) We have articles about studying abroad in different countries and retiring abroad. Should I start an article about living and working in Germany as an American? Ikan Kekek (talk) 15:57, 16 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Is a general article for non-EU people (not just for Americans) possible?

It would be nice to have articles like that for many countries. For example, I learned a few years ago that if you are living and working in Italy, you have to register your lease. This isn't to prove your residency so much as a way for them to prevent the landlord from "forgetting" to report your rent on their income taxes. (It also makes you eligible for various rental protection laws.) WhatamIdoing (talk) 17:21, 16 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Yes, it's possible, though the work I do will necessarily be from an American's perspective and experience. You have to register your place of residence here, too. That's the first official thing to do after you arrive at your rented apartment, receive a form from your landlord and fill out a form you bring to your appointment. Ikan Kekek (talk) 17:35, 16 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

I'm not clear whether I have permission to start this article or not. Ikan Kekek (talk) 10:36, 18 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

I'd say go for it (something like Living on a temporary work visa in Germany, whatever you think works) – what you write might be oriented towards someone migrating from the US, but I suspect over time as the article gets more edits, that will fade out. //shb (t | c | m) 10:41, 18 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Or Working in Germany. I think most of the content will apply also to somebody who gets permanent residency, and much of it also to EU citizens who don't need visas. Anybody should understand that it is directed to people from abroad. We have several Working in… articles already. Working in the United States seems to concentrate on directly work (or employment contract) related issues. In Working in Finland I have included a range of practical issues, such as housing and children, offloading to it practical matters many people who stay a longer time may need to consider. –LPfi (talk) 11:43, 18 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

I think many American-specific issues may be interesting for people from other countries too; somebody from a non-Western country who knows the USA even superficially may expect things to be the same in Germany. And for me, I suppose I will learn quite some about the USA from what is different in an EU country (although that's of course a side point). –LPfi (talk) 11:48, 18 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Ok, I'll start a draft in my userspace some time within the next 3 weeks or so, probably sooner. I would start by mentioning something about the fact that there are different types of work visas, my experience of the process of applying for one type of visa from my home country, what I've heard about how much harder it is for nationals of developing countries to get such visas, the things you need to do when you are in Germany with your work visa in order to be able to work, bill for your services and earn money, and some side points about similarities and differences between life in the U.S. and Germany such as more strongly enforced and relatively more uniform quiet hours, especially as relates to quiet days - Sunday and holidays - over-the-counter medications being more expensive and available in much smaller quantities per box and dry cleaning being more expensive and slower but produce being high-quality and often cheaper. OK, that was a run-on sentence that should have semicolons, but I'm not going to edit it on my phone. :-) Ikan Kekek (talk) 12:16, 18 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

What are the criteria for choosing one or the other? I'd consider listings the default & would certainly use them whenever creating a list, & markers only when mentioning a place in running text.

I cannot think of a case where I'd want to have:

• {{marker | name= ...

However, others obviously feel differently. For example Himalayas#Destinations has multiple lists done with markers. Pashley (talk) 10:29, 18 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

I tend to use markers to list cities and other destinations, as well as adding coordinates for places mentioned in running texts. Otherwise, I use listings. However, I do think we should use listings for cities and other destinations as well, and reserve markers for places mentioned in running texts. Sbb1413 (he) (talk • contribs) 11:04, 18 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

@Ground Zero: I see you converting listings to markers in Western Sahara. Why? Pashley (talk) 12:45, 31 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Regarding these edits, it is our standard formatting to use markers for cities and other destinations in region articles, and to use listing templates for See, Do, etc. listings. Why would this article be different? A city doesn't need address, phone, price, hours information, unlike a museum or restaurant. Ground Zero (talk) 12:55, 31 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Thank you. That does make sense. Pashley (talk) 13:17, 31 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

I went looking for a policy on this, and I couldn't find one. This is just one of those unwritten conventions. that trip people up. I think it would be a good idea to formalize this. Thoughts? Ground Zero (talk) 20:05, 31 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

I have just created the cancer article to address the elephant in the room for travellers. I have started with basic information, but feel free to expand it with more traveller-related information. Sbb1413 (he) (talk • contribs) 18:16, 20 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

I'm not sure about this one. On the one hand, cancer is a difficult & complex topic; I'm not sure if it belongs in a travel guide. Are we biting off more than we can chew here? On the other hand, some of what we can say is Captain Obvious (stay out of heavily polluted regions) or is already covered in other articles, e.g. UV in Sunburn and sun protection.

@Doc James: Pashley (talk) 21:31, 20 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

It isn't what I was expecting. Many people who are having treatment for cancer wish to travel. Sadly in some cases this is "one last trip". Travel insurance can be a major cost for such a trip. I was expecting advice like this from the Cancer Research UK charity. The article could also point readers look for the Tropic of Cancer to a suitable article. AlasdairW (talk) 22:22, 20 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

There are also cancer treatments available to travellers that would not be at home. Some, like w:Laetrile, seem quite clearly to be bogus while others, like the Cuban w:CimaVax-EGF & w:Racotumomab, have respectable research institutions behind them, though the research seems far from definitive. I'm not sure we should say anything about these, or what to say, and if we do say anything it might belong in medical tourism rather than here. Pashley (talk) 22:51, 20 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

We definitely have to guard against promoting particular medical treatments. Ikan Kekek (talk) 23:07, 20 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Yes, but what warnings do we need about quack remedies?

Beyond the obvious "talk to your doctor", do we have anything useful to say to someone in a terrible situation -- cancer that the doctors say is terminal & the usual radiation & chemo have not stopped it -- who is looking at flights to Cuba since they reckon they have nothing to lose? I doubt we do, but it seems worth considering. Pashley (talk) 02:37, 21 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Cancer is primarily about Cancer prevention, and the focus appears to be on people who travel a lot. A once-in-a-lifetime trip to Smog City isn't going to have a significant effect on your lung cancer risk, nor will overeating on a one-time cruise. But if your job keeps you traveling constantly, the calculations change. It's not necessarily the travel per se, though air travel does cause cancer; it's your whole life. WhatamIdoing (talk) 00:23, 22 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

It sounds like we have three possibilities:

• Travellers with disabilities: Add a section on cancer
• Medical tourism: Add a section on cancer/scams
• The "one last trip", which could include Dying abroad

I'll start that last article in a minute. WhatamIdoing (talk) 20:06, 21 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Hello, this message is to notify that Faster than Thunder has been nominated for a global ban at m:Requests for comment/Global ban for Faster than Thunder. You are receiving this notification as required per the global ban policy as they have made at least 1 edit on this wiki. Thanks, //shb (t | c | m) 01:49, 22 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

@Asamboi: Also not sure if anyone has alerted you on FtT's latest misdeeds with off-wiki harassment, but some of it does involve you (happy to send evidence by email if you want) //shb (t | c | m) 04:43, 22 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Thanks for the heads-up. I was blissfully unaware, but I would appreciate it if you could email me the details. Asamboi (talk) 06:38, 22 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

I've recently had occasion to look at some intercontinental air fares & am seeing some painfully large numbers.

Is this due to the war in the Middle East causing rising fuel prices? Is it something we should write about? Where? Pashley (talk) 05:02, 24 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

I've been noticing this too (planning to fly out in August doing some early preparations). I'd very much put it on the Middle East war and fuel shortages caused by it. Maybe a box on flying? //shb (t | c | m) 05:45, 24 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Airfares go up and down, but this doesn't belong in a warning box. Ground Zero (talk) 11:58, 24 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Perhaps a caution box? It certainly seems worth mentioning since it affects many travellers, though discussing blame would be out of scope. Pashley (talk) 12:16, 24 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Correct, though of course we know who to blame... Ikan Kekek (talk) 13:03, 24 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Indeed... (not that it should be conveyed into mainspace, but you know what I mean). //shb (t | c | m) 01:45, 25 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

I added a caution box at Planning your flight. Pashley (talk) 06:31, 26 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Using some AI/vibecoding, I tried to redesign travel topics into something a bit more modern and minimalist (and something a bit based on abstractwiki's Main Page), with a bit of a hoverover effect. No templates were changed, but the boxes are now based on {{topicbox2}} instead of {{topicbox}} (since I didn't want to unilaterally change the look of the template).

The result is at User:SHB2000/travel topics; if there are no objections, I'll adjust the travel topics page accordingly. Works on both Vector 2010 and 2022. //shb (t | c | m) 01:44, 25 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Done, given the lack of objections. //shb (t | c | m) 23:57, 26 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Hey everyone!  

We at Wikimedia Small Projects are excited to suggest bringing the Wikivoyage communities together once more for a event—you know, just in time for the 2026 World Cup! We’re calling it the "Wikivoyage World Cup 2026," and we’d love for you to be part of it.

Here are some of our hopes for the event:  

• To bring all our active Wikivoyage communities together—especially those speaking Spanish, English (yes, I know this is the right community), and French, since they’re connected to the host countries.  

• To team up with local chapters like Wikimedia Mexico, Wikimedia Canada, and the affiliates in the United States.  

• To improve existing articles and create new ones about Canada, Mexico, and the United States.  

• To have a centralnotice to keep everyone in the loop.

We’re thinking of holding the event from June 11 to August 20, so it’s a good idea to start getting things ready now. I know this has come up before, and I’d really love for you to join us in coordinating the event and reaching out to affiliates and/or volunteers who might be interested.

Regards, Lord Ravager (talk) 03:03, 25 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Like last time, I'm happy to judge/evaluate the articles submitted as part of this contest once again. //shb (t | c | m) 05:36, 25 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

A question: is creation protection really supposed to be used after an article has only been created once? I was under the impression that you weren't supposed to use creation protection unless an article had been recreated after being deleted. Purplebackpack89 01:14, 26 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

@Purplebackpack89: I'd say the answer very much depends, but at least on this wiki the vast majority of cases, no. Page-creation protection (protectcreate) for a single creation can be done if we're salting a very obviously out-of-scope page (most often spam pages, though sometimes vandalism too), but never for normal deletions and never for genuine good-faith page creations. //shb (t | c | m) 02:06, 26 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

@SHB2000: @Ibaman: The problem with creation-protection is that it prevents ANY NON-ADMIN from creating ANY VERSION OF THE PAGE, even a redirect. It should only be used sparingly. Purplebackpack89 21:03, 26 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

That is indeed why it's not supposed to be used in the vast majority of cases (there is also the argument to be made that it shouldn't be made at all, but I won't spill the reason why on-wiki). //shb (t | c | m) 22:24, 26 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

@Ibaman I'd still like to see a commitment from you to be more careful about using creation protection in the future. Purplebackpack89 13:22, 31 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

I'd rather declare, in a forceful and willing way, my total commitment to WV:Manual of Style, WV:Policies, WV:Consensus. You sound like you're very forcefully motivated. Please chill out. Read WV:fun. Ibaman (talk) 13:37, 31 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

@Ibaman Unilaterally deleting and creation-protecting something is NOT consensus, my friend. If I'm forcefully motivated, it's because I'm dismayed by you talking down to me and making questionable calls about creation-protection. Purplebackpack89 14:39, 31 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

I don't exactly think it's controversial to say that the blue box on the Main Page has served its due time. For one, having a blue background reeks of very late-2000s/early 2010s era interface, which gives this site a very dated look, and very much not in line with broader more modern website trends which have been heading towards a more minimalist design. As seen in my screenshot on the left (from Safari on an iPhone, iOS 26.4), the indenting on the blue boxes on Vector 2022 (which is what all logged out users will see) tips over to the left ever so slightly, which is a really bad look for the Main Page.

I've tried to redesign the look based on w:abstract:'s design. On mobile, it eliminates the issue of the indents, and looks a lot more cleaner in my opinion based on a demo I've made at User:SHB2000/revamped main. Works well on both vector 2010 and vector 2022, optimised for both light and dark mode (using the help of Gemini). If there are no objections, I'll go ahead and change the design of the page.

//shb (t | c | m) 06:34, 26 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

That looks good. I have looked at it both logged in and logged out on a desktop. I don't think blue text on a pale blue background is a good idea, except for making the text less prominent (equivalent of fine print). AlasdairW (talk) 10:50, 26 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Support text on coloured background is more difficult to read for those with visual impairments. We should strive for accessibility.

Ground Zero (talk) 11:06, 26 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Support — It really looks good compared to the existing text on coloured background. Sbb1413 (he) (talk • contribs) 13:00, 26 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Support: looks great! Bluecoordinationfine (talk) 15:27, 26 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Support: Thank you for improving this! Should the WV:PF link in the "Get involved" heading be preserved? Gerode (talk) 16:01, 26 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Good catch – done. //shb (t | c | m) 00:36, 27 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Support always nice to see new design elements, can't wait to see how it looks on desktop. --Ypsilon (talk) 17:56, 26 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Support - I already insisted on getting an upgrade to Main Page elements when I picked up mending Vector 2022, but never got to {{Bottomboxes}}. I'm glad you've picked this up! I do think a little touch of colour is lacking though. I wonder, would it work if the border for Discover were Wikivoyage blue  #006699  and Get Involved were Wikivoyage green  #339966 ? ― Wauteurz (talk) 20:59, 26 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

@Wauteurz, Ypsilon: Special:PermaLink/5238380 would be how it'll look with the Wikivoyage colours. On one hand, I do like that it reflects the Wikivoyage theme, but on the other hand I'm conflicted because the box colours feel a tiny bit distracting (especially on dark mode). //shb (t | c | m) 22:41, 26 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Actually, ignore the permalink above, here's a screenshot of how it looks for me. //shb (t | c | m) 22:45, 26 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Support. I would want to take a closer look at the newly proposed code but am very much in favor of removing the blue background! I don't think it is accessible in current form? Jdlrobson (talk) 19:25, 27 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Support for a change. ~2026-69216-3 (talk) 08:50, 28 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Given the overwhelming clear consensus to implement this, Done. Part 2 of the revamps (to the sister project section) can be expected sometime in April. //shb (t | c | m) 02:03, 29 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Why is social media not a reliable source in general, and to begin with? What happens if you use them in articles? ~2026-18962-24 (talk) 17:19, 26 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Use them how? Give an example of what you're thinking of. Ikan Kekek (talk) 18:02, 26 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

@~2026-18962-24 @Ikan Kekek Is reliable source even a term on this project? Purplebackpack89 21:05, 26 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

it isn't lol. //shb (t | c | m) 23:55, 26 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

We do link to social media pages (like Facebook) when a small business (cafe etc) uses that as its only online presence. Such a page that appears to be created by the business, is only a little less reliable than a regular webpage for the business. The important thing is to check that the information makes sense, and that there is other evidence of the business existing.

AlasdairW (talk) 00:06, 27 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Oh for sure – but usually only FB (I think there was consensus against Instagram links sometime back). But "reliable source" isn't a term we use here. //shb (t | c | m) 00:11, 27 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Hi Lately I've been seeing more and more restaurants and other places that offer Whatsapp as a contact system, in addition to mail or telephone.

Finally today I found a Climbing guide which only offers Whatsapp or Telegram as contact for customers. Not address or Telephone. Additionally they offer email or web. ( and looks like a real business !)

Is there any policy about messaging applications to be included in the listings?? Any chance to add a new field (or fields) in the listings to include Messaging??

I'm afraid times are changing. I never filled the FAX or Tollfree fields. Also many times I find 2 telephone numbers, the fixed line and the mobile, and I always doubt which one include in the listing. Also many times the business says you can use the mobile for messaging. Mmorell (talk) 17:58, 27 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Honestly, yep... whatsapp/signal/instagram/... would be much more important these days for most businesses than fax/phone, at least outside Germany :) I seriously doubt more than 1% of our visitors book hotels by phone... Perhaps we can improve the templates a bit there... -- andree 18:42, 27 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

I saw a travel magazine recently that recommended contacting hotels by phone before booking (e.g., to make sure the hotel existed). WhatamIdoing (talk) 19:22, 27 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

This makes sense to me. I've also had this no-phone-number situation with Line and WeChat in some regions. Gerode (talk) 20:22, 27 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Whatsapp, Telegram, Facebook and Instagram are proprietary platforms, in contrast to universal communication protocols such as e-mail, the World Wide Web, and telefax. Wikimedia projects have been wary of endorsing proprietary platforms; but they can be considered for individual services which offer no other contact information. /Yvwv (talk) 14:08, 28 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

I agree with the fact that are private services. But reality is that in Spain whatsapp is almost universal. Event government has whatsapp lines for servicing people. And a policy explaining when and how to use those comunication systems may be useful for colaborators. On the example I mentioned at the begining I write the whatsapp contact in the content section of the listing, but I don't know if it's right or not. If there is no guidance every one will use his own way and thats not good for standarizing data. Mmorell (talk) 07:16, 30 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Hello! There will be a Wikimedia Café meetup on Saturday, 11 April 2026 at 14:00 UTC (timestamp conversion tool), focusing on the the 2026-2027 Wikimedia Foundation Annual Plan. The featured guests will be Kelsi Stine-Rowe (senior manager, Movement Communications, Wikimedia Foundation), and Sam Walton (senior product manager, Moderator Tools, Wikimedia Foundation). In addition to this Café session, several additional meetings regarding the Annual Plan are listed on the Collaboration page, and you may participate on the talk page. This Café meetup will be approximately two hours long. Attendees may choose to attend only for a part. Please see the Café page for more information, including how to register.

↠Pine (✉) 05:37, 29 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

If you're thinking about attending: That's 10:00AM Saturday in New York, 7:00AM Saturday in California, 10:00PM Saturday in Perth, and 2:00AM Sunday in Auckland. WhatamIdoing (talk) 19:17, 29 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/16/arts/louvre-museum-ticket-scam-arrests.html —Justin (koavf)❤T☮C☺M☯ 07:47, 29 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

https://www.travelandleisure.com/2026-road-trip-of-the-year-usa-rvshare-11893389 —Justin (koavf)❤T☮C☺M☯ 08:24, 29 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

A user named Darrrrmilk keeps removing the "Places of worship" section of Bangalore/West Central. Initially they say that they "disagree with making a section for places of warship [sic]" without providing a reason. So, I reverted the removal. However, they removed it again, saying, "But these aren't necessarily "places to visit" it is religion-exclusive". The relevant policy WV:POW says,

Some cities and rural areas have so many places of worship, such as churches, synagogues, mosques and temples, that it is impractical to list them all. Reasons to list a religious site could be that it

• has guided tours
• gives service in a foreign or minority language
• has historical or architectural importance
• is the city's only, largest or oldest place of worship for a religion or
• any other distinction which makes it interesting for a visitor, other than religious services that are typical of the area.

There is of course more leeway in articles with fewer listings in general, or where a certain type of place of worship has "rarity value", but don't give a 'See' listing to the fiftieth church in a quiet bedroom suburb when it looks as cookie-cutter as the one next door. [...] On the other hand, houses of worship that travellers may find useful in a religious or spiritual sense can be listed in the 'Cope' section of a city article. This would be especially useful if there's one main mosque in the city in question, or if there is only one church representing a certain Christian denomination in the area. The listing should make clear that it is a place of worship, not of tourism. And remember, if you're a member of the clergy or congregation of a church you're adding a listing for, the rules of Don't tout still apply.

I have preserved the removed section at User:Sbb1413/BLR, and started this discussion to avoid edit warring on this. Sbb1413 (he) (talk • contribs) 18:08, 29 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Of course, I value the local knowledge of the user, as I'm a mere outsider who has never visited Bengaluru (the name I prefer off-wiki) but want to live there. However, I find many of the well-known places of worship in BLR to be useful for secular travellers, including the ones deleted by the user. Sbb1413 (he) (talk • contribs) 18:12, 29 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

I happen to like walking around old church buildings and graveyards, so of course I think religious-related sites are valid tourist sites.

The first listing that was removed is a historical church and the description says it "attracts people of all faiths", so these are not exclusive to a single religion. However, I think that sites that are exclusive to a single religion should be acceptable (though probably in the ==Cope== section). For example, if you're an Arabic speaker traveling in the US, even if you are personally 100% secular atheist in terms of religious orientation, the local mosque is your best bet at finding another Arabic speaker should you ever need one. They can also be good sources of information for any religion-specific needs, like finding a halal or kosher restaurant. WhatamIdoing (talk) 20:16, 29 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Any house of worship that meets the criteria listed above can and should be listed Purplebackpack89 21:07, 29 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Because I got pinged here is my answer:

While some of the attractions listed such as the Hudson Memorial Church say that it attracts people of all faith but the vast majority of the temples do not, they do seem more of a place to actually "worship" or "pray" than just a historical attraction to visit. I may be wrong so if I am please feel free to correct me. Darrrrmilk (talk) 21:13, 29 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Put the section back. Some of these are worthwhile for the architecture or history, hence of interest to at least some visitors.

This site is not just for tourists, though, so it is also worth listing places where visitors might want to attend services -- a Christian church with services in a European language, a mosque with Urdu, etc. In these cases, the language should be mentioned. Pashley (talk) 22:09, 29 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Agree with Pashley here. //shb (t | c | m) 22:45, 29 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

I know that this wiki is not just for tourists, I am just saying that a section for "worships" should not belong in a guide especially under the "see" section because like I already mentioned, it is more "religion-exclusive" Darrrrmilk (talk) 02:46, 30 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

If it's listed under ==See==, that means that someone thought these were appropriate attractions for non-religious reasons (e.g., architecture or history or art).

Separately, a travel guide should also include information about actual religious content for religious travelers. Religious travelers should be treated the same as other groups of travelers who have predictable needs or interests. We should have content for families, for LGBTQ travelers, for low-income travelers, for disabled travelers, for short-term travelers, for long-term travelers, for holidaymakers, for emergency travelers – and on exactly the same basis, for religious travelers. It doesn't matter if religion is the purpose of the trip (e.g., Hajj, Camino de Santiago, Rome), if it is particularly important to the person (e.g., someone who attends religious services every day and prefers to keep doing that while out of town), or if it is a place to connect with others (e.g., a long-term traveler trying to find other people from their home culture). We should have some content for everyone. I assume that most people don't attend religious services while traveling, but we shouldn't discriminate against the minority that does. WhatamIdoing (talk) 21:35, 30 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

How is removing it discriminating them exactly? Darrrrmilk (talk) 22:18, 30 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

By removing advice relevant to them. However, the listings in the section are only six, which doesn't seem excessive, and the descriptions seem to be written from the perspective of tourists, not worshippers. I don't see the section as problematic. –LPfi (talk) 09:31, 31 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Yes, I wrote the description from the perspective of tourists, as I expect a tourist in BLR would visit them, just like I visited the churches and temples in Chennai and Visakhapatnam as a tourist. Sbb1413 (he) (talk • contribs) 09:47, 31 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Please see Wikivoyage talk:Administrators#Inactive_administrators as of 2026-03, thanks. Codename Noreste (talk) 02:45, 30 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Despite being an active Wikivoyager for several years, I wonder whether the seven continents (and also Other destinations) could be simply breadcrumbed further into Destinations, thus rendering the latter a top-level article à la Itineraries, Phrasebooks and Travel topics. This could fix problems with the country-level articles that can't perfectly belong to any continent, like Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha and maybe the British Indian Ocean Territory (although it would get breadcrumbed into Mauritius eventually as things stand). Sbb1413 (he) (talk • contribs) 07:50, 30 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

On a side note, this could render Other destinations redundant, as it currently acts as a "wastebucket" for extra regions that don't neatly fall into any of the seven continents. Sbb1413 (he) (talk • contribs) 07:54, 30 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

That would probably be a good thing because this page makes no sense to me. WikiSeto (talk) 11:28, 31 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

I don't like the idea. It makes most breadcrumb trails longer without any real benefit I can see. Pashley (talk) 10:32, 30 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

I was thinking that Destinations > Asia > ... > Chennai could enable some people to move back to the Destinations article instead of searching for "Destinations" explicitly. Yes, searching is common, but there's a reason for breadcrumbs to exist. Sbb1413 (he) (talk • contribs) 03:48, 31 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

I agree with Pashley. Ikan Kekek (talk) 06:03, 31 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

I thought the Destinations article would aid travellers to navigate various destinations, and adding it to the beginning of the breadcrumbs could help them even more. Like they could revert to Destinations if they have gone way down the hierarchy, like Asia > South Asia > India > Southern India > Karnataka > Cauvery Basin > Mysore (district) > Mysore. Sbb1413 (he) (talk • contribs) 06:24, 31 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

The neatly-categorize-everything side of my brain likes this proposal, but I agree that an overloaded breadcrumb is a bad user experience, and it's not clear to me how a perfectly clean hierarchy serves users of the site. Is there a way to suppress "Destinations" in breadcrumbs with more than a couple items, and is that worth the trouble?

The Destinations page looks largely redundant with the Main page. I'm not sure if I prefer making it a robust landing page or a more auxiliary corner for the (increasingly glitchy) article map. I'm hesitant to direct more traffic to it (versus the Main page) in its current state (though I think that is fixable with the same kind of attention SHB2000 is giving to other landing pages). Gerode (talk) 16:47, 31 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Hi everyone, I've nominated Sbb1413 for adminship – please weigh in at Wikivoyage:User rights nominations#Sbb1413 (sysop). Thanks, //shb (t | c | m) 08:32, 30 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

As per the latest announcement on the Board of Trustees noticeboard, Wikinews will be set to read-only from May 4, 2026. Given that it's unlikely there will be any new news articles from now, I've removed the link accordingly on Template:WikivoyageSister. //shb (t | c | m) 00:37, 31 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Thanks. I've done the same where I can and made relevant phab: tasks. I still have the vain hope that we can come back some day: if Wikivoyage can be adopted, Wikinews could be re-adopted. —Justin (koavf)❤T☮C☺M☯ 06:22, 31 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

There are several proposals to fork it to a new site; at least two groups appear to have plausible proposals, and everyone wants to get the rights to the trademarks (which the WMF has previously refused, but at some level, everything's negotiable). WhatamIdoing (talk) 19:47, 31 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

I don't think we should link non-Wikimedia projects ionn {{WikivoyageSister}}, though. //shb (t | c | m) 04:15, 1 April 2026 (UTC)Reply

Hi all.

The sister project Wikinews was scheduled to close in May. For context, each new page on that wiki is a news report and a few days after the event, unlike Wikipedia, it gets read-only and no longer editable. There were user engagement issues because it was hard to get new pages approved when there are only 2 or 3 reviewers active and news is not approved if it is over a week old , and also users lack awareness who else is from their own continent, do not make meaningful connections.

Main complaint from WMF is "Wikipedia does such a great job at news writing anyway" though I personally do not agree with it, their page format is not a news report as it stays editable forever and one page actually is an encyclopedic history page and not about one event. plus Wikinews allows photo essays about super local events which Wikipedia does not. I think they are all valuable additions to meet the content freedom and knowledge freedom mission of the Wikimedia movement.

Link: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_noticeboard#Board_of_Trustees_Approves_Closure_of_Wikinews

And I am wondering if it would be suitable to make a News: namespace here and, unlike what Wikinews did, try to aggressively make visual maps of where the events are, as well as where the users are from (they add a point on a map and there is a map of all events, and another map with all users). Now with the Kartographer feature this may be visually appealing and doable from programming point of view.

Maybe that helps users to connect better and also then Wikinews does not have to move to external site like miraheze. For wikivoyage this could mean a bit more traffic and maybe more users expanding the pages about travel destinations.

Main software difference is usage of FlaggedRevs in that namespace and the volunteer peer reviewers would need to apply for access to be allowed to approve or decline page revisions.

this was not yet discussed within Wikinews itself and I am just wondering what you think.

Hoping this is helpful and you can support or give some ideas.

Many thanks. Gryllida (talk) 09:17, 31 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

I'm not sure WV is the best place for generic news. Sure, most of the time news is about some place on the Earth, but likely there aren't enough people here (interested) to do any significant reviews? Thus probably quite a bit of politics stuff (which we seem to actively avoid around here) would flow in...

Maybe if we agreed that it's only news about local events (festivals, happenings, temporary exhibitions) and not "random events" (protests, wars, natural disasters...)? -- andree 09:46, 31 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

That might makes sense if local events like festivals, happenings and temporary exhibitions are covered here, and we already cover international ones like Olympic Games, FIFA World Cup, World's Fair, etc. Protests, wars and disasters may be covered, but they should be restricted to official advisories, which directly affect travel. Sbb1413 (he) (talk • contribs) 09:55, 31 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

I agree that posting news here is a big stretch, but for what it's worth, about a half-dozen Wikipedias host their own local version of Wikinews. —Justin (koavf)❤T☮C☺M☯ 11:13, 31 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Last I heard, the WMF will not install FlaggedRevisions on any more wikis, so if that's a requirement, then this idea is doomed. WhatamIdoing (talk) 19:46, 31 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

https://www.architecturaldigest.com/gallery/the-most-beautiful-places-in-the-world —Justin (koavf)❤T☮C☺M☯ 02:29, 31 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Interesting list, thanks. It's a little funny that they call the aurora borealis an "astrological light show", though. Ikan Kekek (talk) 06:02, 31 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

I'm seeing a weird type of vandalism on the pagebanner for Yucatec Maya phrasebook. The page displays with a red "For Sale" band on the right side, yet I don't see anything in the page source that would do that and I don't see that band in the jpg file that's on commons, so I'm scratching my head wondering how the heck somebody did that (and how can I fix it)? Any of y'all seen something like this before? Mrkstvns (talk) 20:48, 31 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

This is deliberate by User:Andree.sk as a humor article. —Justin (koavf)❤T☮C☺M☯ 21:43, 31 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Okay, thanks! I guess I wasn't thinking about March Fools Day pranks. Cheers, Mrkstvns (talk) 22:46, 31 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Too bad there's only one WV for the whole world! -- andree 04:31, 1 April 2026 (UTC)Reply