This is not the first time this issue has occurred, but this latest instance makes it clear that it is a global Wiki issue that needs to be addressed. Using the most recent instance as an example, I have never visited the Egyptian Arabic Wikipedia, as I can't read Arabic script. A user with sysop privileges there insists that I have, which is complete nonsense. It has been suggested as an alternate explanation that I had edited a page on the English Wikipedia which contains a link back to the Egyptian Arabic Wikipedia site. Thus, a talk page was created there for me without my permission.
Thus, there is a bug in the global Wiki system in which a user having never visited a particular Wikipedia language site, will be recorded as having done so even though they haven't. I am aware that others have complained about pages being created without the users ever having visited that language site. Sometimes a global SYSOP will revert the page creation, but this doesn't resolve the underlying issue.
5 Key points:
- English editors who never visit other language Wikipedias, are recorded as having done so.
- Unwanted pages are created for said editors at the other language Wikipedias.
- No preference system is in place for the user to block unwanted page creation, nor link back to their home Wikipedia talk page without editing the unwanted Wikipedia talk page (and thus creating a presence there).
- Users who edit another language Wikipedia have a presence there, but may still not want a talk page there if they cannot read the language.
- An automatic redirect to their primary Wiki talk page should be considered as a possible default option.
I understand that this is an unfortunate result of the various Wiki logins becoming globalized. While I would agree that it offers users some protection against multiple users having the same account name, it has also created annoyance for editors, as outlined above. ~~~~
On a side-note, this Phabricator "preview" doesn't appear to recognize four tilde marks (standard Wiki markup) as a signature with date and time stamp. As someone who almost never needs to visit the Phabricator, it is unclear how I should sign my reports, and I'm probably doing it wrong.