Wikipedia:Did you know/Monthly wrap

"Did you know ...?"
Introduction and rules	WP:DYK
General discussion	WT:DYK
Supplementary rules	WP:DYKSG
Nominations (awaiting approval)	WP:DYKN
Reviewing guide	WP:DYKR
Nominations (approved)	WP:DYKNA
Preps and queues	T:DYK/Q
Currently on Main Page	T:DYK
Main Page errors	WP:ERRORS
Archive of appearances	WP:DYKA
Statistics	WP:DYKSTATS
April 1 hooks	WP:DYKAPRIL
April 1 talk	WT:DYKAPRIL
Monthly wraps	WP:DYKW

This page serves as an archive of summaries of the past month's events at Did you know. They are stored in reverse chronological order (i.e. newest first).

DYK's February wrap, 2022

Donna Moss (Janel Moloney): My value here is that I have no value?

Josh Lyman (Bradley Whitford): You have enormous value to me. You have no value to Eastern Europe.

From The West Wing's "The Lame Duck Congress" (2000)

By the grace of the Whatever high atop The Thing, this one's somehow on time. Welcome to another installment of the DYK wrapped, everybody! It has been quite a month here, and I do hope you all are as jazzed to start this next one as I am, because I'm really not going to stop making these write-ups until someone tells me the joy is long dead. Let's hop to it with our most viewed hooks of the month! (Did you know...)

File:Gigante dell'Appennino del Giambologna.jpg

File:Deerfield, IL Pie house.jpg

File:Mothica 2018 (cropped).jpg

File:Buchenwald Prisoners Roll Call 10105.jpg

File:Marsden Rock in 1990 - geograph.org.uk - 2261806.jpg

• ... that Francesco de' Medici enjoyed sitting inside the head of the Apennine Colossus (pictured) and fishing through its eyes? by Paradise Chronicle – 33,232 views in 12 hours
• ... that the pie house (pictured) gained media attention from a viral TikTok that received more than one million views? by PCN02WPS – 43,343 views in 24 hours
• ... that Mothica (pictured) credits TikTok for the success of her career as a musician? by ezlev – 20,032 views in 12 hours. Where'd you go, ezlev? I miss ya, friend
• ... that the persecution of homosexuals in Nazi Germany (pictured) is considered to be the most severe persecution of LGBT people in history? by Buidhe – 37,778 views in 24 hours
• ... that the naturally formed arch of Marsden Rock (pictured) collapsed in 1996 following a winter of storms? by Unexpectedlydian – 15,714 views in 12 hours

Before we get to anything substantive that happened this month, has the SOHA been moved yet?

no.

Excellent, moving on. Last week, the world's political climate was upended with the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. The shock of the offensive has rippled around the world, so it's no surprise that we've seen some waves here in this corner of the internet. In particular, Kingsif had raised the notion that running hooks that could be seen as commentary on the conflict, whether or not they are neutrally written, could be construed to run afoul of DYK's rule against hooks that promote one side of an ongoing dispute. The DYK nominations for Russia (nom), Attack on Snake Island (nom), and Yulia Tolopa (nom) are all on hold while this discussion continues on multiple pages. Not running our entries for German victory parade in Paris (1871) and Lazar Bicherakhov was also considered, but both ran in the end in the set that's currently on the Main Page as I write this.

We started the month off running two sets a day, but it looked like we were getting pretty close to dropping below 60 approved hooks; on the third of the month, I put some hooks in some sets, and announced that we had dropped below 60 hooks. That, as it turned out, was in error; I had misjudged the way the bot would count the number of approved hooks and made an inaccurate prediction as to how my changes would play out. By the time the error was discovered, dropping below 60 again was out of reach, so we reverted back to two-a-days. Five days later, by 9 February, we had (really that time) dropped below 60, so I put out another announcement, with the diffs to show that I wasn't jumping the gun. Because of the special occasion swaps that were required at the time, we ended up waiting a couple of days before making the switch.

For some of our quality quirkies that went unappreciated by our readership: (Did you know...)

• ... that Cheok Hong Cheong sold bananas for a decade, after which he became superintendent of the Church of England of Melbourne? by Kingoflettuce
• ... that the 2013 novel Body Offering was described by a critic as "more erratic than erotic"? by DanCherek
• ... that at WSTA, the first radio station in the U.S. Virgin Islands, goats and chickens sometimes wandered in during broadcasts? by Sammi Brie
• ... that to promote the Paramount Hotel, its operator mailed out apples? by Epicgenius
• ... that squatters in Hamburg briefly occupied the former Erotic Art Museum? by Munfarid1 Mujinga :D
• ... that the private members' club George has a bespoke menu for pet dogs? by No Swan So Fine
• ... that Phil Williams served in the Alabama state legislature at the same time as Phil Williams? by Kafoxe
• ... that the Claudia Quintet was born out of an incident at alt.coffee? by me—that "the" is just gonna annoy me until the end of time.

In other news, we had a brief idea from Schwede66 to shoehorn in a secret "special occasion" hook on the bio of someone who was going to win an award, but the way in which it was proposed and executed gave quite a few editors pause. I tried to get y'all in on some ideas that I had written a bot to perform, which (with the exception of the hook modification notification system) received the delightful response that is absolute silence. So, that discussion is probably coming back if I ever have the wherewithal to write it. Our prep-set builders' class of SL93, Kavyansh.Singh, and I ruminated on the difficulty of attracting new prep set editors. And we had quite a few discussions on the role of misdirection in DYK hooks.

Welp, that's all I've got; super excited for International Women's Day coming up. Mark your calendars, this March 8th! I'm really, really hoping to get my West Wing character of choice in on time. As always, a huge thank you to all the admins that keep the queues running. See y'all next month, and have a lovely and springy March! theleekycauldron (talk • contribs) (she/they) 07:58, 1 March 2022 (UTC)

Theleekycauldron, great wrap as usual. Not sure if I sent a final report on the predicted award winner; don’t think I did. But my prediction was spot on and Julie Stout won the award as I had anticipated. I’ll try and talk the industry organisation into letting us Wikipedians write a bio for next year’s winner. We’ll see how that goes. Schwede66 09:00, 1 March 2022 (UTC)

Aw, leek, I miss you too! I’m still around, lurking – projects in meatspace are taking up most of my time. Hopefully I’ll be back to my old level of engagement soon. Great wrap as always! ezlev (user/tlk/ctrbs) 15:49, 1 March 2022 (UTC)

:D good luck with the meatspace stuff, and see you soon! theleekycauldron (talk • contribs) (she/they) 22:29, 1 March 2022 (UTC)

Notes

DYK's January wrap, 2022

... That's 'cause you don't know the story of Fishhooks McCarthy... corrupt politician on the Lower East Side in the '20s. Every morning he stopped at the St. James Church on Oliver Street and said the same prayer: "O Lord, give me health and strength. We'll steal the rest".

– Donna Moss (Janel Moloney), from The West Wing's "Guns Not Butter" (2003)

Hi everyone, welcome back to yet another installment of the DYK Wrap! Since this is so late, I'll keep it very brief—let's hop to it, shall we?

For our most viewed hooks of the month, drumroll please... (Did you know...)

File:Marshall Sherman with 28th Virginia battle flag (cropped).jpg

File:Veronica May Innes (1940 - 1945).jpg

File:Wordle 196 example.svg

• ... that the 28th Virginia battle flag (pictured) is stored at an undisclosed location in the Minnesota Historical Society, and has not been returned to Virginia despite multiple requests across three centuries? by ezlev—a whopping 47,387 views in 12 hours
• ... that beauty queen Veronica Volkersz (pictured) was the first woman to pilot an operational jet fighter? by Andrew Davidson—22,859 views in 12 hours
• ... that "Prawo Jazdy", once considered the worst traffic violator in Ireland, is actually the Polish term for 'driving licence'? by AFreshStart—21,986 views in 12 hours
• ... that according to legend, the Red Ghost trampled a woman to death, and killed and ate a grizzly bear? by Pladica—19,403 views in 12 hours
• ... that the viral online word game Wordle (instance pictured) was originally created just for the developer and his partner to play? by eviolite et al.—18,800.5 views in 12 hours

Pretty excellent draw! I was happily surprised to see two of the top five not have an image. Wordle, of course, has gone crazy-viral as of late, and here's to hoping Minnesota keeps that flag until it crumbles to dust. Also, we had hooks that mentioned broken toes, broken fingers, and broken feet; I suppose the bones really are connected.

For the boring internal-works stuff, I had to make my appearances at the prep sets part time this month due to schoolwork, so thanks to everyone who covered, especially SL93 and Kavyansh.Singh :) and we were pretty much at two-a-day the whole month! Pretty sure we'll stay there, because of wikicup. But not so much in policy this month; we still haven't moved the SOHA, so I'm starting to think that's going to become a running segment... Has the SOHA been moved yet?

no.

I'm fine with waiting, honestly—we can do a ribbon-cutting when we finally move it, just for some spice :) In all seriousness, the story of the month was probably a user getting topic banned from DYK. I'm not... inclined to use this space to get into this, so I've linked the discussion if you want to read on your own—and try not to discuss it here, either. We also had someone (who has confidentially requested that we here at the DYK wrap not name her) request a mop for DYK purposes, but whoever it was, they had to withdraw.

Lastly, our quality quirkies of the month:

• ... that the vegan-food brand Squeaky Bean produces food that does not contain beans? by Raintheone—try as they might, squeaky beans will still never measure up to the greatness of Hedgehog Flavour Crisps
• ... that Daviesia devito and D. schwarzenegger are two Australian peas? By Gderrin—a shame, this one got modified in WP:ERRORS for proper scientific naming :(
• ... that the Glen Rock is very gneiss? By Mhawk10—a shame, these "you-have-to-pronounce-it" hooks never get there. maybe we could add an audio recording for it, why not
• ... that General Antonio Valero de Bernabé is said to have used his skills as a ventriloquist to fool his enemies into believing that their weapons were possessed? by Caribbean H.Q.
• ... that during a match at the snooker 2021 UK Championship, player Mark Williams fell asleep? by Lee Vilenski et al.

Welp, that's all I've got; like I said in another recent post, I'm going to start to try to release these before the month is over, given my inability to function without a deadline :) Thanks for tuning in, y'all, and have a lovely (rest of your) February! theleekycauldron (talk • contribs) (she/they) 10:21, 6 February 2022 (UTC)

Thanks leeky for giving these monthly wraps on a consistent basis! I'd say that SL93 primarily deserves credit for doing prep-sets in you limited absence. He was really helpful. My work was based primarily as a helping hand on promoting hooks which neither of you can. But I hope was can agree that the main credit for doing prep-sets and other DYK stuff previous month goes to that confidential user (who, for whatever reasons, does not wishes to be named)!! – Kavyansh.Singh (talk) 20:44, 6 February 2022 (UTC)

DYK's December wrap, 2021

The number of people whose permission I need before I can do whatever the hell I want... Let me tell you something—there's really a lot to be said for fascism.

– Josh Lyman (Bradley Whitford), on The West Wing's "Bad Moon Rising" (2001)

Welcome back, everyone! :D I'm sorry this is so late, I've been super busy and trying to catch up on stuff. It's been a hell of a year, and I say that even though I wasn't even around here for the half of it. Because of that (and to the disappointment of my husband), i'll be leaning a little heavier on summarizing this month rather than the entire year. No reason to skimp on December for having the rotten luck of being the last month, after all. Also, next month's will be shorter, I promise. Let's hop to it!

As always, an ovation for our most-viewed hooks of the month: (Did you know...)

File:Outstanding in the Field table setting on beach.jpg

File:Lampetra fluviatilis.jpg

File:3 utilities problem plane.svg

File:Tusks in City of Mombasa.jpg

• ... that on an average night, between 130 and 200 people can be found Outstanding in the Field (example pictured) for about five hours? by ezlev—19,620 views in 12 hours
• ... that on special occasions, the city of Gloucester supplies a pie made from lampreys (lamprey pictured) to the British monarch? by Dumelow—39,220 views in 12 hours
• ... that it's pronounced "gif", not "gif"? by yours truly :) 17,473 views in 12 hours (without an image, too—not too shabby if i do say so myself)
• ... that it is impossible to draw non-crossing lines from three houses to three utilities (pictured) in a plane? by David Eppstein—17,408 views in 12 hours
• ... that United States Marines have repainted the Mombasa tusks (pictured) several times? by eviolite—17,356 views in 12 hours

To let you in on a secret, I actually really like the two-a-day sets :) sometimes it feels too quiet around here. Nonetheless, we switched over to one-a-day on the 21st, just before Christmas. Speaking of which, the Christmas sets! I'm sorry to report that they were not... the best performers, but I wouldn't have it any other way. We had fantastic sets for Christmas and Christmas eve, and thank you so much to everyone who contributed! There was a little bit of disagreement over how to best format the Christmas sets; some thought the sets should all be run in one day, while others wanted to run one set on Christmas Eve and another on Christmas Day to utilize the December 24 hooks. In the end, when we switched to one-a-days on the 21st, we swapped queues to opt for the Christmas Eve and Christmas Day sets (a swap and switch, by the way, for which I nearly got shishkabobed—right here at WT:DYK). We are also still waiting on the incredibly important moving of the SOHA from the bottom to the top, since Wugapodes is quite busy lately transcending the mere mortals to join the High ArbCom (congrats, by the way :D). Lastly, there was quite a bit of sprawl when Kingsif swept of all of the prep sets and queues for mistakes, leading to lots and lots of discussions and hook swaps. Thanks to everyone who discussed and found solutions, and thanks to Kingsif for the vigilance!

And finally, for our ever-wonderful quality quirkies that did not receive that sweet sweet validation of making WP:DYKSTATS—there were so many this month, unfortunately: (Did you know...)

• ... that trade negotiator Michael Smith's negotiating style was summarized by a sign at his office door that read "This is not Burger King"? by Ktin
• ... that Indonesian politician Iskandar Ramis had to be hospitalized after attempting to make juice? by Jeromi Mikhael
• ... that the album series Jingle Cats spawned Jingle Dogs, Jingle Babies, and a Japanese video game in which "the object is to breed and care for cats, which begin to sing when they're done copulating"? by SL93
• ... that after Kellogg's announced plans to replace striking workers in 2021, members of r/antiwork organized to submit fake applications to the company's hiring system? also by ezlev
• ... that Cibo paints Italian food over neo-fascist graffiti? by ezlev
• ... that the Global Methodist Church is part of a proposed divorce over marriage? by Pbritti
• ... that William Goebel was sworn in as Governor of Kentucky a day after being shot? by Kavyansh.Singh
• ... that George Asprey was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth – according to the Daily Mirror, it was a silver shovel? by Moonraker

Year-end wrap

Just when you think, you're in control,

Just when you think, you got a hold,

Just when you get on a roll,

Oh here it goes, here it goes, here it goes again...

– OK Go, "Here It Goes Again" (2006)

Like I said before, I really only got here in August. I read through most of the archives, and was going to try and highlight the most important thing that happened every month—but the announcement of Yoninah's death in March weighed too heavily on anything else to be found. Instead, I'd like to use this space to share something with y'all as I intersperse our most-viewed DYK images and hooks for the year. I promise, this extremely uncharacteristic display of emotion will be as brief as possible and most definitely non-recurring.

Growing up, it was kinda hard to find common ground with others interest-wise. I was, and am, pretty personable (if i do say so myself), but I'm still kind of an oddball. My parents might have cared what my grade in geometry was, but probably not what I found interesting from the class (for the record: t'was logic and proofs. That shtuss ruled.) So, I did lots of cool projects and spreadsheets and documents, but all of it just sat in folders. And even when the results were interesting to others, they didn't care about the process, or all the things I learned along the way, making me feel trapped in that respect. I still got by socially just fine, and today I'm so lucky to have my friends and husband and family; I love them all to the stars and back. Let's be real, though—none of the other going-into-eighth graders that year toted the mueller report and a graphing calculator to summer camp.

I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I volunteered to build one (1) prep set here nearly five months ago, just as a what-if. But I'm sitting here, after a length of time that feels like both the blink of an eye and an eternity, and I feel such gratitude. It's crazy to me that I get to be a part of this place that celebrates knowledge and discovery—not for the sake of grades, or a paycheck, or fame, but just because we're all committed to making a more knowledgeable space for everyone. It feels like, after quite some time, that I get to be among peers who value the work I do—in barnstars and buttons and praise, sure, but more importantly in genuine discussion and interest and collaboration towards a common goal. That is irreplaceably valuable to me.

So, I'd like to extend a heartfelt thank-you to everyone who made my experience on the site both enjoyable and impactful. I wish you all a bright 2022, full of storytelling and curiosity :) Cheers!

Most-viewed hooks of 2021 (Did you know...)

• ... that after being hijacked, United Airlines Flight 175 almost had two mid-air collisions with other aircraft before crashing into the South Tower of the World Trade Center (pictured)?
  ... that after being hijacked, United Airlines Flight 175 almost had two mid-air collisions with other aircraft before crashing into the South Tower of the World Trade Center (pictured)?
• ... that Chadwick Boseman (pictured) was the seventh actor to receive a posthumous Academy Award nomination?
  ... that Chadwick Boseman (pictured) was the seventh actor to receive a posthumous Academy Award nomination?
• ... that mercy dogs (example illustrated) were trained during World War I to comfort mortally wounded soldiers as they died in no man's land?
  ... that mercy dogs (example illustrated) were trained during World War I to comfort mortally wounded soldiers as they died in no man's land?
• ... that the 1935 New York anti-lynching exhibitions included Death (modeled after the lynching of George Hughes), Necklace (by Aaron Goodelman), This Is Her First Lynching, and The Law Is Too Slow (pictured), and were intended to support anti-lynching legislation, while earlier similar proposed legislation was supported by the NAACP using the lynching of Henry Lowry?
  ... that the 1935 New York anti-lynching exhibitions included Death (modeled after the lynching of George Hughes), Necklace (by Aaron Goodelman), This Is Her First Lynching, and The Law Is Too Slow (pictured), and were intended to support anti-lynching legislation, while earlier similar proposed legislation was supported by the NAACP using the lynching of Henry Lowry?
• ... that Belle Delphine's online popularity surged after she mimicked the orgasm faces (example pictured) featured in some Japanese manga?
  ... that Belle Delphine's online popularity surged after she mimicked the orgasm faces (example pictured) featured in some Japanese manga?
• ... that Kristoffer Domeij (pictured) set a record when he died after 14 tours of duty in more than 10 years as a Special Operations Ranger?
  ... that Kristoffer Domeij (pictured) set a record when he died after 14 tours of duty in more than 10 years as a Special Operations Ranger?
• ... that hit-to-kill weapons (example pictured) require no warhead as their high velocity gives them many times the energy per kilogram of TNT?
  ... that hit-to-kill weapons (example pictured) require no warhead as their high velocity gives them many times the energy per kilogram of TNT?
• ... that Megan Phelps-Roper (pictured) announced her departure from the Westboro Baptist Church when the church planned to protest at the funerals of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting?
  ... that Megan Phelps-Roper (pictured) announced her departure from the Westboro Baptist Church when the church planned to protest at the funerals of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting?

Notes

theleekycauldron (talk • contribs) (they/she) 13:21, 7 January 2022 (UTC)

@Theleekycauldron: thanks very much for this excellent summary of last month's records and your impressions of the year as a whole. I'm sure I speak on behalf of everyone in giving a huge thanks to yourself and the others who put their time into DYK day-in-day-out. As noted, there was a huge hole left behind when Yoninah tragically left us, and it's very encouraging that others have stepped up to fill that void and bring new ideas to the project in that time.

Also, I hear you on your "what I found interesting from the class" theme... I can identify with all that. I too have played with graphing calculators for hours, just making interesting shapes and exploring what different things look like. I can also sit for hours with a map, just charting out where the various roads or railways go and what their history was, not because I need to travel anywhere, but just because I admire the order and logic of it all. All things which play nicely into being a Wikipedian!

And let's be honest, while writing articles is great on its own, having a project like this one (and also GAN, FAC, the various contests etc.) where you get to validate and discuss those articles with others adds significantly to the satisfaction. Obviously my main role at DYK is to sanity-check the hooks on the final leg of their journey, and I apologise to anyone who may be annoyed by my pernickety points, but I only do it because I care about the project and I want our front page to represent the best of what we have to offer! So a happy new year to yourself Leeky and everyone else, and here's to much more entertainment and useful work in the coming year!  — Amakuru (talk) 14:34, 7 January 2022 (UTC)

I couldn't agree more :D theleekycauldron (talk • contribs) (they/she) 02:35, 12 January 2022 (UTC)

DYK's November wrap, 2021

I thought I'd start these monthly wraps with an epigraph to summarize this month at DYK, a specific experience from this month at DYK, or the DYK experience in general. Our first epigraph is as follows:

The internet people have gone crazy.

— Josh Lyman (Bradley Whitford), on The West Wing (2002)

It's me. I'm internet people. Ladies, gentlemen, and everyone betwixt, welcome to DYK's November wrap! Coincidentally, Spotify Wrapped was just released (and its article should be on DYK in a few days!), so I'm also staring, open-mouthed in horror, at the fact that 34% of my top-songs playlist is literally just Hamilton. College applications were due last night, so I'm running off of two hours of sleep, Dr Pepper, and pure spite—let's get into it!

As is tradition, a round of applause for our most-viewed hooks of the month: (Did you know...)

File:Belle Delphine gif.gif

File:Close up of Horned Helmet (797094630).jpg

File:Carl Griffith bread side 2.jpg

File:Susan Catania.jpg

File:Anne Saxelby (1981–2021).jpg

• ... that Belle Delphine's online popularity surged after she mimicked the orgasm faces (example pictured) featured in some Japanese manga? By Soulbust—37,017 views in 12 hours
• ... that the 1514 horned helmet of Henry VIII (pictured) has spectacles and a toothy grimace? By Dumelow—36,010 views in 12 hours
• ... that the keepers of Carl Griffith's sourdough starter (loaf pictured), which traveled the Oregon Trail in 1847, are sworn to keep no other sourdough starter in their homes? By Anon423—17,738 views in 12 hours
• ... that Susan Catania (pictured) shocked male legislators by bringing her infant daughter to the floor of the Illinois House of Representatives and nursing her baby in the women's restroom? By Edge3—15,456 views in 12 hours
• ... that Anne Saxelby (pictured) was a pioneer in promoting American artisanal cheese? my queen. my icon. The high cheese monarch herself. By Calliopejen1, Silver seren, and Thriley—15,001 views in 12 hours

Side note here: Dumelow had like fifteen gagillion hooks on the stats page on this month—idk how they do it, but whatever secret sauce they've figured out, it's good.

I really was hoping for a quieter month in the one-a-days, but we spent about half of it running two sets a day, for a total of 45 sets and 360 hooks this month—fortunately, the show went on just fine! Lots of admins helped promote to queues (I understand Ritchie333 and Hog Farm dangled their feet in the water), and given that we perennially run DYK's queue backlog like a sick American with a GoFundMe page for their medical bills, I very much appreciate the admins who are sufficiently guilted by our cries for help and hope they will consider making their one-time contributions monthly :) as for prep builders, Vaticidalprophet dipped their toes back in the water, and of course the ever-helpful SL93 and Kavyansh.Singh lent their hands to make sure we weren't running two sets a day forever. I was surprised by how long it went on, actually, but I can see from WP:Recent additions that there are entire months that ran on two a day; so I'm just going to be thankful for what we got.

I'd also like to highlight our well-performing non-image hooks, because 7⁄8ths of our hooks should probably make up at least a third of this wrap: (Did you know...)

• ... that after discovering the mass graves of the Arnsberg Forest massacre, American soldiers ordered the entire local population to watch the exhumation? By Dunutubble—13,996 views in 12 hours
• ... that Wikipedia editors wrote over 40,000 words arguing over a single letter? By me! 11,228 views in 12 hours
• ... that Earl Old Person, lifetime honorary Chief of the Blackfeet Nation, inadvertently broke a 1000-year tradition in 1971 when he asked the Shah of Iran to stand up? By Montanabw—10,678 views in 12 hours
• ... that Kursdorf is "the loudest village in Germany" and a "sound inferno"? By Eviolite—10,603 views in 12 hours

Speaking of an unquiet month, we had quite a bit going on behind the scenes! And I think you know what I mean when I say that; the one discussion that was so controversial, so fiery, as to dwarf nearly every other discussion for the month and temporarily cast a shadow on the decision-making of DYK. I'm talking, of course, *dramatic setup* about this question from DrThneed about whether we still do International Women's Day...

No, obviously I'm overdramatically referring to the Belle Delphine thingamadoodle. Umm, long story short, the entry that ended up being our most-viewed hook of the month (see above) was not exactly... uncontroversially interesting. While most respected WP:NOTCENSORED, some thought that the hook being reviewed, promoted, and ran was poor editorial oversight and didn't reflect well on Wikipedia's reputation. Others thought that the hook was fine, and pointed out that DYK had ran much more explicit images. The hook did end up running the full twelve hours, and Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da, life went on, although I'd like to input that the highlight of that discussion was Gerda Arendt being thoroughly unimpressed. We also restarted our starting-to-become-perennial discussion about whether we really need to haul in admins to keep this place running, and the discussion was closed after it became clear that 1. there was no consensus among admins and 2. the venn diagram of people the admins trust to promote preps to queues and people who actually want to do it is, like, almost no one. We're still figuring out how to implement SD0001's fancy new gadget, and EEng's find from several years ago on editor conduct guidelines was quietly archived as well—a shame, it might have come in handy for the Belle Delphine thing? Who knows.

Moving on, we also had some changes to the way the WP:DYKSTATS page is operated, due to the valiant efforts of our bold, efficient, and dare I say vivacious young theleekycauldron. We now have a script to semi-automate the updating of the monthly stats table, which allows one editor to maintain a page instead of relying on multiple editors to add their own hooks. We also stopped penalizing hooks for lingering interest, and some other cool behind-the-scenes changes to the page that make it easier to edit and nicer-looking! So, if something changed for the better this month here at DYK... it was probably that, because our equally important discussion about whether the Special occasion holding area belongs at the top or bottom hasn't been closed yet due to the absence of Shubinator.

Lastly, here are some of our quality quirkies from this month that were left unappreciated by our readers (who needs 'em, they don't know what's good): (Did you know...)

• ... that the type specimen of the icefish Pagetodes, a synonym of Cryodraco, was stolen and eaten by a cat before it could be preserved? By Quetzal1964
• ... that Citizens Square was almost named after Fort Wayne's Harry Baals? By me, but you know what, it was a damn good hook
• ... that Miller's Anatomy of the Dog, a textbook dedicated to canines, was found by a specialist feline publication to be bereft of information about cats? By DferDaisy
• ... that Carol Publishing Group distributed a suicide manual? By AleatoryPonderings
• ... that one critic opined that "it's hard to fall for Falling for Figaro"? By Filmomusico
• ... that it can be hard to know which Snake is which? By Kevin1776

So, what have we learned? We've learned that no one really wants to promote queues (except me, but i'm certifiable anyway). We've learned that things stop moving a little when Shubinator takes a break. And, of course, we've learned that if you're considering putting an adult film actress in the image slot, you should probably... think it through first. Lessons noted—since quiet is apparently a dream of the foolhardy, here's to an... interesting December for us all! theleekycauldron (talk • contribs) (they/them) 09:41, 3 December 2021 (UTC)

I don't think we should be worrying about putting a porn star on the main page. The image was a bit vulgar, but it was absolutely necessary to understand the hook. I'm surprised there was such a big to-do. —valereee (talk) 19:03, 3 December 2021 (UTC)

Theleekycauldron, great write up for another month. Thank you. Ping to user:DrThneed so that she doesn’t miss her mention. Schwede66 19:19, 3 December 2021 (UTC)

Thanks Schwede66 You can generally rely on my to ask the noob questions. Although that may not be fair to myself, I noticed someone else asked the same question just a couple of months ago! DrThneed (talk) 03:56, 5 December 2021 (UTC)

@DrThneed: which newbie-child, candy-ass, tenderfoot, wet-behind the ears, inexperienced dingus of an editor asked that question before you?

...

it was me, wasn't it

yep theleekycauldron (talk • contribs) (they/she?) 03:59, 5 December 2021 (UTC)

Great write-up! Thanks for this. We should get this one on a separate page as well for posterity. a la WP:TOP25. Ktin (talk) 19:40, 3 December 2021 (UTC)

This was a joy to read, theleekycauldron :) ezlev (user/tlk/ctrbs) 20:22, 3 December 2021 (UTC)

I'm glad :) theleekycauldron (talk • contribs) (they/them) 22:18, 3 December 2021 (UTC)

I have said this earlier. Repeating it -- thanks for the energy that you bring to the project! Ktin (talk) 22:24, 3 December 2021 (UTC)

(: theleekycauldron (talk • contribs) (they/she?) 06:17, 4 December 2021 (UTC)

Hi theleekycauldron, sorry I've been away for a few days and missed this. Many thanks for the kind mention above and for your continued work on producing these lists and in DYK in general, much appreciated - Dumelow (talk) 07:51, 6 December 2021 (UTC)

Hey, thanks for this writeup. In the future, if you're thinking of doing this regularly, it might be worth putting it in a more general place, possibly as a regular Signpost feature? Ritchie333 ^{(talk) (cont)} 13:24, 6 December 2021 (UTC)

Oh, good idea! That would make it much more available to non-regulars here. —valereee (talk) 13:46, 6 December 2021 (UTC)

or you could send it out in a mass-message newsletter-type feature. Eddie891 ^Talk _Work 14:19, 6 December 2021 (UTC)

@Smallbones: Assuming @Theleekycauldron: is willing, how possible is it that some version of DYK monthly wrap could become a part of Signpost? It just seems like it would be a natural fit. — Maile (talk) 15:27, 6 December 2021 (UTC)

I appreciate the idea! Really, I'm flattered :) Hmm, it'd be logistically tricky, though. The Signpost is released towards the end of every month, but I usually like to wait until the beginning of the next month to let the stats update first. Also, my ability to write on a hard deadline is ... um ... shall we say my history professor this semester isn't writing any letters of rec based on my assignment punctuality.

As for the broader idea here, I'm a little hesitant there, as well (although I'm open to convincing. It's hard to put into words, so bear with me here, but I kind of enjoy the venue WT:DYK provides and I'm not sure that going to The Signpost and exposing this kind of content to the wider audience preserves the same kind of small chatter from the regulars that I really enjoy reading. Did y'all see the comments at Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2021-11-29/Serendipity? The comments section really wasn't fun—there was a tangent discussion about how DYK's standards are too low and how people are, and I quote, "feeding" [sic] their ego [sic] off [sic] DYK. I'm not sure I'd be comfortable with talking about this month's Belle Delphine controversy, for example, if I knew that 1. it would comprise a significant part of the comments and 2. it would just invite criticism of the editorial process. I don't know if I'm willing to leave the rather bubbly environment of WT:DYK for The Signpost, where I don't see it being warmer or more active. theleekycauldron (talk • contribs) (they/she?) 16:09, 6 December 2021 (UTC)

I would be happy to write some articles about the goings-on of DYK for The Signpost—but I'm leaning towards the idea that the wraps are for here. theleekycauldron (talk • contribs) (they/she?) 16:12, 6 December 2021 (UTC)

Oh, yes. You just reminded me of the playing out of a very strong difference of opinion of a specific coverage over there, a few months ago. Got kind of hostile. Stuff like that takes all the incentive away. — Maile (talk) 17:59, 6 December 2021 (UTC)

Is there a way we can send DYK December wrap to the talk page of all those who are active at DYK, say all those who reviewed/nominated an article. In a format similar to WikiProject Military history? – Kavyansh.Singh (talk) 18:15, 6 December 2021 (UTC)

I think you'd be thinking of the mass messaging system—but it'd definitely have to be opt-in, we don't need everyone who passes through DYK getting the alert. Like I hinted at before, I'd much rather a small, happy audience to a large, convoluted one. theleekycauldron (talk • contribs) (they/she?) 18:33, 6 December 2021 (UTC)

I, uh, um... how is bubbly a pun? ... File:Face-confused.svg Pamzeis (talk) 05:21, 7 December 2021 (UTC)

@Pamzeis: "bubbly" as in bright and perky but also "bubble-y" as in "that which the outside (i.e. wider wikipedia and not just dyk) does not penetrate". it's not my best work... theleekycauldron (talk • contribs) (they/she?) 05:32, 7 December 2021 (UTC)

Notes

DYK's October wrap, 2021

Hi everyone, and welcome to DYK's October wrap! I thought it'd be fun to try and take a look at the past month through hooks, policy proposals, prep-set things, and generally summarize what's been going on. Let's get into it!

First, let's give a big round of applause to our most-viewed hooks of October 2021! Did you know ...

File:Bond Street, Muang Thong Thani, 2021.jpg

File:JimmyCarterPortrait (cropped).jpg

File:Christus carthusian.jpg

File:Feetloaf! it's what's for dinner!.jpg

• ... that Anne Wyllie, also known as the "Spit Queen", now has a Wikipedia biography because a healthcare executive asked who she was? (without an image for half the time, too—not too shabby, DrThneed!)

• ... that Muang Thong Thani (street pictured), intended as a satellite city of Bangkok, has been called "one of the greatest planning disasters of the 20th century"? (of course there's an Epicgenius building here)
• ... that Jimmy Carter reported that he had seen a UFO?
• ... that many 15th- and 16th-century European paintings included a conspicuous depiction of a common fly (example pictured)?
• ... that parsnips serve as sawed-off tibiae in feetloaf (pictured)?

Speaking of feetloaf, that was our lead-off in our special Halloween set, which did quite well—four of the eight hooks are on the Wikipedia:DYKSTATS page for the month, which is great! Thanks to everyone who contributed a hook there!

In terms of the prep sets, we ran one a day right up until the last third of the month, when we switched to two a day—thanks to all the admins who promoted preps to queues during this time, it's much appreciated and I'm happy we're past that now. I understand that Kavyansh.Singh has been getting their sea legs at the prep sets of DYK—welcome Kavyansh, it's nice to know that you're helping with something much more valuable and long-lasting than your fifteen bajillion Featured Articles or whatever (i only jest). As always, thanks to SL93 and Cwmhiraeth for helping fill prep sets as well, and to Ravenpuff and Mandarax for doing all the formatting fixes we keep forgetting about.

For policy proposals, we have EEng's dug-up find from a couple of years ago on hook etiquette, a DYK gadget that looks quite fancy from SD0001, a proposal from Valereee and myself to move the Special Occasion Holding Area to the top, a half-baked idea from me to include audio narrations of different items on the Main Page, a possible 4/20 set from Valereee, and a proposal to loosen up on our "no DYK runs twice" rule, all of which are also ongoing. There was also a proposal from me to include an emergency hook storage area, which was shot down, a pedantic spat on whether or not to include (pictured) in every single lead hook, and a discussion prompted by an IP on whether we were just too obsessed with WandaVision (I know I'm nuts for the show). We also wrapped up some of the details from the proposal for "unreviewed backlog mode" from August.

Lastly, I want to highlight some hooks that didn't make the stats page, but I found to be quality quirkys regardless:

• ... that Janet Wilmshurst paints pictures of the past with poop?
• ... that the apartments and hotel rooms at Time Warner Center did not have internet from Time Warner because it was too expensive?
• ... that one of the smallest known species of frog is Mini scule?
• ... that the Marsh Family's parody of Les Misérables's "One Day More" required pizza?
• ... that Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Rawlins proposed that the Rhodesian Army employ witchdoctors as psychological warfare during the Rhodesian Bush War?
• ... that Dieter Trautwein gave his 2003 autobiography the same title as his hymn "Komm, Herr, segne uns" (Come, Lord, bless us), for which he wrote the text and music in 1978? (it's not quirky, but I did quite enjoy it so it goes here)
• ... that the impatient sea cucumber readily expels sticky white cuvierian tubules when handled?

That's all I've got for you, i did try to keep it brief—thanks to everyone who helped keep the wheels of DYK spin, be it nominations, reviews, prep building, queue promotion, or the mere act of existing as BlueMoonset—and here's to a enjoyable, but maybe quieter, November! theleekycauldron (talk • contribs) (they/them) 21:10, 1 November 2021 (UTC)

Nice job. Please keep up the good work on this kind of monthly recap. — Maile (talk) 22:37, 1 November 2021 (UTC)

Enjoyed, thank you! Noting also that I loved some of the "gang" DYK (LouisAlain, Grimes2 and myself) such as

• ... that a comic award jury wrote about the characters of Nicolas Mahler that they "have no eyes, no ears, no mouths – but they undoubtedly have character"?

but with LouisAlain banned, they will enlighten us more rarely. With 50+ DYK this year, he was one of the more prolific contributors, but sadly we seem to have no room for character. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 22:58, 1 November 2021 (UTC)

@Gerda Arendt: looks like our October Wrap will now have its own archive page (see below). That being the case, I am inserting a link here to the community banning of LouisAlain, for clarity. He is indeed community banned, preventing him from contributing here, but as far as I can tell, the banning was not a result of anything at DYK. (Diff) — Maile (talk) 19:45, 2 November 2021 (UTC)

• I think leeky might want to up the dosage just a smidge. EEng 00:29, 2 November 2021 (UTC)

  i'm not understanding? theleekycauldron (talk • contribs) (they/them) 05:44, 2 November 2021 (UTC)

  Just teasing you about your manic enthusiasm. Keep up the good work. EEng 11:00, 2 November 2021 (UTC)

  Ah, appreciate it :) my meth dosage is just fine, thank you very much theleekycauldron (talk • contribs) (they/them) 17:37, 2 November 2021 (UTC)

This is a great summary theleekycauldron!!! Thanks for all the energy that you bring to this project! Cheers and best wishes. Ktin (talk) 01:19, 2 November 2021 (UTC)

Indeed, very good! Cwmhiraeth (talk) 05:28, 2 November 2021 (UTC)

glad you enjoyed! Hopefully I can make this a regular thing :) theleekycauldron (talk • contribs) (they/them) 05:43, 2 November 2021 (UTC)

Awesome summary – thank you. There's an interesting backstory to the Anne Wyllie hook. A friend wrote the article and I suggested the theme for the hook. We then talked about it on Twitter (where all the journos hang out) as we needed somebody to write the story that she has a WP article because some snob asked who she was. Not sure whether this was the impetus for the media story that resulted but with it, we had a reliable source for our hook. And once the article had been featured, WWIII broke out on Wyllie's talk page over the listed scientific papers. My goodness me. Anyway, quite an eventful little article. Schwede66 08:44, 2 November 2021 (UTC)

• @Theleekycauldron: Just a thought, if you go through with the idea of a regular monthly wrap up. Instead of these being archived in the regular DYK pages, maybe it's own separate subpage like WP:DYKA, then we could fondly look back on the project's accomplishments whenever we want. — Maile (talk)
  • I agree, it would be a nice idea! – Kavyansh.Singh (talk) 10:36, 2 November 2021 (UTC)

  yes please --Gerda Arendt (talk) 12:07, 2 November 2021 (UTC)

  A sub-page is a very nice idea! Good luck. Ktin (talk) 15:24, 2 November 2021 (UTC)

  @Maile66: Done! WP:Did you know/Monthly wrap and WP:DYKW are created, but I'm not sure how to add them to the DYKbox (normal template editing doesn't seem to work) so I'll have to figure that out. theleekycauldron (talk • contribs) (they/them) 17:31, 2 November 2021 (UTC)

@Theleekycauldron: I think everything is on Template:DYKbox. The protection level is "autoconfirm", which I think you have been for years. You will notice at the bottom of the template are links for the template's sandbox and for a test case scenario. Care to give it a try? — Maile (talk) 18:55, 2 November 2021 (UTC)

Done—it wasn't showing me my changes when i clicked "show preview", which was throwing me off. theleekycauldron (talk • contribs) (they/them) 20:05, 2 November 2021 (UTC)

A couple of scattered thoughts. FYI, there is a part of this I have not figured out. Maybe you already have. I think maybe this section cannot be automatically archived, because it would then be moved into the normal archive listings. So, maybe each month, it will be a manual archive. Another idea occurred to me that won't require archiving. That is, post your future Monthly wrap directly onto the monthly wrap page, sectioned one month below another. And just post a notice over here that the latest month has been posted, with a link from here to there. — Maile (talk) 01:19, 3 November 2021 (UTC) Actually, if you posted directly there, it would be more user friendly to post the latest month at the top, with the older months below that - less scrolling down for the reader. — Maile (talk) 01:29, 3 November 2021 (UTC)

as long as i'm writing the thing, I don't see a problem in archiving it by hand, yeah—I'm archiving lots of the stuff on the talk page anyway. And smart to put newer ones on top, yeah theleekycauldron (talk • contribs) (they/them) 02:37, 3 November 2021 (UTC)

• I think it's fun and I look forward to future installments, but we're getting a bit ahead of ourselves planning a special archiving apparatus at this stage. It will be perfectly safe in the regular archives. EEng 05:44, 3 November 2021 (UTC)

  what are you talking about? i'm clearly never going to burn out or move on and i'm going to be writing these monthly recaps until the earth swallows me whole. theleekycauldron (talk • contribs) (they/them) 05:52, 3 November 2021 (UTC)

  Gulp. EEng 06:00, 3 November 2021 (UTC)

  Wikipedia tradition starts with the first edition: WikiProject Military history/News/Archives, Signpost/Archives/Years, Administrators' newsletter/Archive. Chugga-chugga-chugging along — Maile (talk) 15:14, 3 November 2021 (UTC)