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    Fashion/textiles class is back again (n+1)

    Ayup, just like clockwork, Wikipedia:Education noticeboard/Archive 23#Surprise, another semester, another undeclared school project making a mess of fashion articles is ramping up with one-off uncited edits to a not-small pool of articles. They never discuss. They often don't ever make a second edit. They do not always hit the same articles, so protection is not very useful. But they often do hit the same articles, so better to leave them unprotected as a honeypot with a hair trigger? That's really a horrible non-solution. I'm fairly confident I know which school it is. DMacks (talk) 03:13, 22 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]

    Block the entire class. I know it's an extreme solution, but I think we've hit the point where anything less will not be sufficient. Primefac (talk) 13:46, 22 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    While I do support that, the past two semesters they have switched to mostly single-edit accounts. As if the assignment has become as lame as "make an edit to a WP article related to our class" or even "prove that WP is editable by anyone". Is there a set of IPs that can be blocked to help make a dent in it? DMacks (talk) 14:14, 22 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    Jeez... if that's the case, we're almost running into meatbot territory... could probably justify a rangeblock based on that. Primefac (talk) 14:24, 22 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    It is still on-going, and as usual oozing into more and different articles. One of them confirmed on-wiki that it is a class project and has a username with the string "CSULA" in it. That confirms the school I had in mind, consistent semester-to-semester. DMacks (talk) 03:27, 29 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    With that school name, we can try to find the instructor and reach out to offer our support so the students hopefully can make more productive edits. But if anyone hears the actual professor or class's name, please let us know. --LiAnna (Wiki Ed) (talk) 17:45, 3 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    I was able to find the professor! I've connected with them and asked them to have the students stop editing for now, and to schedule a call with us to provide better support in the future. --LiAnna (Wiki Ed) (talk) 18:07, 3 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    The professor apologized profusely -- they inherited this assignment from someone else and have just been following what the previous person did. They have agreed to have students stop editing for now so hopefully the disruption will end shortly. We will meet with them next week to ensure they better understand Wikipedia and are following our best practices before tackling it again. --LiAnna (Wiki Ed) (talk) 18:27, 3 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    Thank you for your follow-up here! Wracking talk! 21:27, 3 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    Thank you thank you thank you! DMacks (talk) 07:35, 4 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    Do we know if this is the same project as Wikipedia:Education_noticeboard/Archive_23#"Off_the_rails"_school_project_resuming, which has been recurring twice a year since at least 2021? (Students make a few edits to fashion/textile articles and return two or three weeks later to create draft fashion/artist biographies from an out of date list, some of them duplicates, many using copyrighted images taken from the web.) Belbury (talk) 16:05, 4 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    I think so, yes. We'll make sure to address this when we speak to the current instructor. --LiAnna (Wiki Ed) (talk) 17:22, 4 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

    Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Caramseyphotog

    UNLV related madness. Well, confusion and weirdness. Thanks -- Deepfriedokra (talk) 19:15, 28 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]

    Minneapolis

    • Some background. About four or five students from a University of Minnesota class on "social computing" have been making their edits to Minneapolis. I welcomed the first one. Then we decided something was up and I erroneously reported the whole bunch as part of our years-long sockpuppet farm. I wrote to their instructor, who says he's had students editing for years and that this class has completed their assignment. This class was unlucky to coincide with an old page protection removal on March 4, which was restored on March 29.
    • I apologized and emailed the first person who I unfairly accused of sockpuppetry. I hope he forgives me.
    • The Minneapolis article is in extended featured article review, and in the middle of a contentious RfC, which has postponed the FAR process. Then came this class on top. I skimmed a bit of WikiEducation; it says that if they choose their own, students should select underdeveloped articles to work on. Minneapolis is as far from underdeveloped as one can get.
    • Spicy kindly supplied the link to WP:Student assignments during the sockpuppet investigation. It's completely new to me.

    -SusanLesch (talk) 15:17, 2 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

    It sounds to me like you handled it very sensitively, thanks. The one additional thing that needs to be done is to tell the instructor that he is expected to conduct his on-Wikipedia classes with WikiEd. The educational institution is in the US, so it's within WikiEd's remit, and working with them would have avoided any of these problems having happened. The links to WikiEd are at the student assignments information page, and also at the top of this noticeboard. --Tryptofish (talk) 18:15, 2 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    Tryptofish, thanks for your kind reply. Done. -SusanLesch (talk) 21:16, 2 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

    - SusanLesch (talk) 18:10, 4 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

    Hi SusanLesch, just letting you know my organization, Wiki Education, exists to help support faculty who are teaching with Wikipedia in higher education institutions in the US and Canada. The course page you referenced there is one of ours; the course from the social computing class isn't one of ours, but after it was brought to our attention earlier this year, we reached out and asked the instructor to join us in future terms, to which they seemed amenable. We also understand that course is over for this term. So hopefully any future students of theirs will receive our support. --LiAnna (Wiki Ed) (talk) 23:07, 4 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    Thank you for your reply, LiAnna (Wiki Ed). Last week's train wreck doesn't appear to correspond with "earlier this year". But I put in my request to you guys and that's all I can do. Best wishes, -SusanLesch (talk) 13:32, 5 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    Ah sorry by earlier this year I meant this thread: Wikipedia_talk:Education_program#College_student_asking_for_help_at_University_of_Minnesota. --LiAnna (Wiki Ed) (talk) 15:26, 5 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    Would anyone here like to send an email to GroupLens? -SusanLesch (talk) 13:05, 6 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    No problem, moving on. Roadkill happens. -SusanLesch (talk) 16:49, 13 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

    Concerns about Algoma University student editors

    It appears that several students from Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/Algoma University/Introduction to Community Economic and Social Development II (Winter 2024) have been making some substandard edits, including the creation of Indie dog of India (see that page's history), and other edits using first person, with unsourced additions, copy pasting copyrighted material, etc. None of the edits seem particularly malevolent, but it makes me question whether proper Wikipedia policies were fully discussed in class.

    Not sure if this is something someone should bring up with the instructor. I haven't checked all the student editors, and some are just editing in their sandboxes, but others (including User:Abhi Suthar, User:Hr54ankush, User:Jashann, and User:Amrsandhu) are not. ForsythiaJo (talk) 04:14, 5 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

    @ForsythiaJo I got in touch the instructor yesterday and they've agreed to tell their students to stop editing, at least until we can figure out what's going on with so many of the students. Ian (Wiki Ed) (talk) 13:43, 5 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    @Ian (Wiki Ed), whatever you did isn't working, because I've just had to revert @Abhisheksaini007 twice for adding crap to International students in Canada. ♠PMC♠ (talk) 04:33, 13 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    See also:
    Wracking talk! 05:17, 13 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    Ugh. Thanks for the heads-up Wracking. The professor told the students to stop editing in mainspace, but the ones who aren't good at following instructions are likely to be the hardest to reach. Ian (Wiki Ed) (talk) 15:05, 17 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    (Also my apologies for having missed this message.) Ian (Wiki Ed) (talk) 15:07, 17 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

    Undisclosed class? Gone haywire

    See User talk:HJ Mitchell#About blocking some of the users, this mentions a bunch of student accounts being globally locked and blocked here. I have some knowledge of this, given that I made this Steward requests/Global report that most likely contains some of the mentioned locks. Anybody know of this class? Pinging HJ Mitchell. v/r - Seawolf35 T--C 08:15, 7 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

    This is not one of Wiki Education's, and looks like it might not be in the U.S. If you do find out the name of the school, I can try to connect them to support in their location. --LiAnna (Wiki Ed) (talk) 15:33, 8 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    This looks like it's related to Government Medical College Bhavnagar (this link, provided by AminMDMA (talk · contribs), does not work for me). See discussion at User talk:AminMDMA and User talk:Arjayay. Wracking talk! 05:37, 13 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

    Questions

    I asked a bunch of questions over at User_talk:Ian_(Wiki_Ed)#Back_again, please respond there. Polygnotus (talk) 04:14, 19 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

    Please do not, a user talkpage is not an appropriate location for extended general discussions. CMD (talk) 05:10, 19 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    @Chipmunkdavis: Yeah but I don't really want to do a bunch of work rewriting everything so that it can be placed here. Especially since one of the problems is that I feel that a bunch of my time is being wasted and undervalued. Polygnotus (talk) 05:15, 19 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    I've transcluded the discussion in question so that folks can see it without necessarily needing to go there. Primefac (talk) 11:36, 19 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    Content of the link in question
    Extended content

    If I underestimated the amount of good edits caused by Wiki Edu that is awesome; as a pessimist I love being wrong.

    Perhaps you missed these questions:

    I would consider Nature therapy and Urban green space to fall within the controversial/MEDRS area, but somehow students still get assigned those articles. (1) Do you think the instructions are unclear in that respect? (2) How can they be improved? (3) Where can I see the instructions given to students and teachers?

    (4) Please respond over at Nature therapy, like I asked you before. People do a lot of work, but it doesn't improve the article. (5) Can you please explain to the instructor that this is not a suitable topic for their course (6) and to the student why this is inappropriate for an encyclopedia? (7) Is there a blacklist of topics and article names somewhere? I honestly feel bad reverting 10k bytes from a good faithed editor who will get bitten because their instructor did not give them the help required. Polygnotus (talk) 05:25, 10 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

    (8) How do the teachers ensure students aren't simply using ChatGPT or something similar to violate the copyright of the sources? (9) Do the students work from home with no oversight or in a classroom? Polygnotus (talk) 22:01, 10 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

    Turns out they didn't do a lot of work. Bit of digging and I discovered they are introducing blatant copyright violations into Wikipedia, most likely with the help of ChatGPT (or something similar). Assuming good faith failed again. Polygnotus (talk) 20:09, 10 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

    (10) Why are you ignoring my questions. That is very impolite. Polygnotus (talk) 01:29, 18 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    Urban green space seems to have been assigned again. I got the student over at Nature therapy blocked because they kept posting copyright violations. Polygnotus (talk) 01:33, 18 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

    Here you wrote: When students assign themselves a GA or FA they get an automated email strongly suggesting they pick another article to work on. Why isn't this same system used for articles in Category:Alternative medical treatments, Category:Fringe science and Category:Pseudoscience? Nature therapy is in all three those categories but it still got assigned to a student editor multiple times. (11) Can you please ensure that articles in those categories are never assigned to Wiki Edu students and that students who pick them get a similar email telling them to pick a more suitable topic? Polygnotus (talk)

    We do this for controversial topics as well, although it works a little differently. The notification system broke though (I think a category was renamed) and I wasn't getting the notifications. Ian (Wiki Ed) (talk) 20:52, 18 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    Can you respond to the numbered questions please. You wrote: We do this for controversial topics as well, although it works a little differently. Ok, (12) how does this system work, (13) where can I see the code, (14) why is it not working currently and (15) how can we fix it? I wasn't getting the notifications (16) Does that mean the system relies on a single human being to stop students from picking controversial articles? That seems like bad design. Polygnotus (talk) 21:55, 18 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    (17) I am currently looking at the work of another student editor and it seems like that everything they have done needs to be reverted. It is unfair to dump this responsibility on me, so can you fix it please? Diamond.xza (talk · contribs) I have reverted the edits to Urban green space already. Polygnotus (talk) 22:13, 18 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    @Polygnotus
    Can you respond to the numbered questions please.
    No, I'm sorry, I can't. I woke up this morning to twenty-five notifications from you. If you're trying to harass me off Wikipedia, you're on the right track.
    Please email lianna@wikiedu.org. I can't support 4-5,000 student editors while you're subjecting me to this relentless barrage. Ian (Wiki Ed) (talk) 14:20, 19 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    An incredibly disappointing response. If you want to contact me again you should apologize first. Polygnotus (talk) 14:25, 19 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    Sounds good. Ian (Wiki Ed) (talk) 14:28, 19 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

    @Primefac: Thanks, but please revert yourself; I got bullied off that page. Predictable, but incredibly disappointing. So my options are to waste yet more time trying to improve Wikipedia, or go descale the washing machine. I'll go descale my washing machine. Polygnotus (talk) 14:43, 19 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

    I will respectfully decline. Primefac (talk) 14:47, 19 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    Ok, whatever. But one needs the context to see DARVO in action. Polygnotus (talk) 17:04, 19 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    Polygnotus, please refrain from making personal attacks and assuming bad faith of other editors. Several editors noted why they thought your behavior was inappropriate, especially for the venue. I encourage you to reflect on their feedback. Wracking talk! 17:35, 19 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    I did reflect on their feedback. And I am going to have to agree to disagree. Sometimes, when people view a situation radically different that is the best we can do. I have moved on and will do my best to avoid those users (and I sincerely hope they will do the same). I am very disappointed. Polygnotus (talk) 18:19, 19 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

    Alerts for contentious articles

    I'll address the technical problem that came up on Ian's talk page. Wiki Education Dashboard had a feature to monitor for any time a student in a supported course edits an article that was under discretionary sanction. The feature was based on the category, and it broke when DS was renamed to 'contentious articles' last year, and the category was renamed correspondingly. (I fixed it last week, so we're getting these alerts again.) --Sage (Wiki Ed) (talk) 18:11, 19 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

    Thank you. It sounds like we could, in theory, add other categories to that list. I would recommend adding Category:Pseudoscience and Category:Fringe science and Category:Alternative medical treatments (at depths higher than 1).
    In \config\wizard\researchwrite\wizard.yml around line 150 I see "Medicine and other tricky topics".
    It asks the teacher if they "expect any of your students to work on medicine-related articles" but that should be reworded to "articles that potentially contain medical claims".
    For example, one of the schools is the "Niagara Parks School of Horticulture" so it makes sense that the teacher answers "No" to the question.
    But the correct answer is yes, because one of their students is going to pick Nature therapy.
    I understand that teachers cannot predict the future. A simple solution would be to always include the training module that covers MEDRS (but perhaps there are alternative solutions).
    Polygnotus (talk) 18:21, 19 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Education_noticeboard