This is a summary of recent technology and site configuration changes that affect the English Wikipedia. Please note that some bug fixes or new features described below have not yet gone live as of press time; the English Wikipedia is currently running version 1.44.0-wmf.4 (a8dd895), and changes to the software with a version number higher than that will not yet be active. Configuration changes and changes to interface messages, however, become active immediately.
Lead developer Tim Starling has reverted several recent code changes to the parser functions, including removing the {{NUMBEROFCONTRIBS}} function and disabling the String Functions parser functions as the default setting. Starling referred to the string parser functions as "the ugliest, most inefficient programming language known to man," and suggests the Lua extension as a possible "alternative, saner solution for embedding complex text processing in MediaWiki templates." (r51529, r51497)
6 bots or bot tasks were approved for operation this week. These included:
DottyQuoteBot (task request) - for importing the quote of the day from Wikiquote;
PascalBot (task request) - to fix template parameter problems.
Also approved were AmphBot (task request), Rameshngbot (task request), MetaplasticityBot (task request) (though blocked from editing) and Thehelpfulbot (task request). Still in discussion are bots for italicising the titles of species and genera articles, warning editors who create unreferenced biographies of living people, and adding {{Unreferenced}} to articles meeting certain criteria, among others.
Extra input has been requested regarding the operation at least two bots this week: a request for comment is open on the use of LivingBot to alter heading levels and an ongoing request for input is open on the use of ListasBot to deal with orphaned talk pages.
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