Links can now be used in captions for <gallery> tags. (Rob Church, bug 8489, r18813)
Specific usergroups can now be exempted from IP blocks. By default, all sysops are immune to them. They can only be blocked if their account is blocked. (Andrew Garrett, bug 3706, r18904)
A separate stylesheet for handheld devices like PDAs and cellular phones has been added to the software for the default skin, Monobook. In principle, the site should now display better on such devices. However, this may not affect devices that do not correctly implement CSS 2. (Simetrical, r18949 and r18965)
Administrators can now add custom text to the bottom of the Special:Statistics page by editing MediaWiki:Statistics-footer. (Rob Church, bug 6937, r18972)
The block log will now mention whether the block stops account creation and (for IPs) whether it is limited to anonymous users, as Special:Ipblocklist does. This will only apply to new blocks. (Rob Church, bug 6638, r18992)
Some bugs were fixed:
A few interface changes were made:
- When printing out a page in the Monobook skin, external link icons are no longer overlaid on the link URL or link text. Instead, they are hidden. (Simetrical, bug 8463, r18768)
- When a query page has been disabled for performance reasons, the page will now display a message to that effect instead of simply showing no results. (Rob Church, r18799)
- Irrelevant preferences, such as whether a user who can't move pages wishes to watch pages he moves, are now hidden on Special:Preferences. (Rob Church, bug 8487, r18800)
- On wikis that have mathematical anti-bot captchas enabled, so that anonymous users may give the solution to an arithmetic problem to prove they are not a robot rather than typing the text they see in an image, the message will now correctly reflect the fact that users need to solve a mathematical problem rather than an image-recognition one. (Rob Church, bug 8484, r18803) The message for these captchas will also now warn the user that they must have HTTP cookies enabled to submit an edit. (Rob Church, bug 8469, r18820)
- The counter for recent changes and the watchlist can now be made to state explicitly that the count is of bytes, potentially clarifying its purpose. To enable this, MediaWiki:Rc-change-size may be edited. (In the formatting used by MediaWiki, UTF-8, characters that can be typed on an English keyboard are generally one byte and others are two or three bytes.) (Ashar Voultoiz, bug 8330, r18811; Brion Vibber, r18917)
Some updates were made to non-English messages, specifically:
Internationalization help is always appreciated! See m:Localization statistics for how complete the translations of languages you know are, and post any updates to Mediazilla.
The Wikimedia Foundation fundraiser was extended this week, and will end on 15 January, to coincide with Wikipedia Day. As of press time, the fundraiser had raised over US$900,000. Matching funds donations from Virgin Unite have not yet been received. Wikimedia Foundation Chair Florence Devouard indicated that no more matching funds promotions were scheduled for this fundraiser.
The Wikimedia Foundation C.O.R.E. fundraising site has been updated to include all donations from 2006 (though until the database is updated to indicate whether donors wished their name to be public, all old entries appear as 'anonymous'). The site indicates that during 2006, the Foundation received US$1,467,062.93 in donations (before fees).
Mailing lists moved
The mailing lists for Wikipedia and other projects have changed to new addresses after the Wikimedia Foundation migrated them to a new server. All new addresses will use @lists.wikipedia.org, so that for example the English Wikipedia mailing list is now wikien-l at lists.wikipedia.org. Old addresses will still work, but the transition will include mail headers and may require recipients to adjust any filters or other settings they use to read list messages.
Briefly
The Arbitration Committee opened no cases this week, and closed one case.
Closed case
- Deltabeignet: SebastianHelm suggests that Deltabeignet's account may have been hijacked due to some edits which he felt were revertions to vandalism. In a somewhat bizarre statement, Deltabeignet denies that he has been hijacked by a vandal but admits that he has violated WP:POINT in an "experiment" to determine possible prejudice towards edits from IPs and offers to request desysopping "if the community wills it". In a relatively rare decision, Dmcdevit proposed a motion to close with absolutely no other motions whatsoever, following an informal agreement with Deltabeignet, where he agreed for his IP to be softbanned. This motion was adopted.
Evidence phase
- Piotrus-Ghirla: A case involving the actions of Piotrus and Ghirla on various Russia- and Poland-related articles. Piotrus alleges that Ghirla has added unsourced POV material to these articles, and generally been incivil, while Ghirla claims that Piotrus has engaged in various forms of harassment, and calls for his desysopping. However, the parties have now entered into informal mediation, with proposals including mutual civility parole (and in which Ghirla has dropped his call for desysopping), and as a result of this, a motion has been proposed temporarily deferring the case until the outcome of the mediation is known.
- Starwood: A case involving links to Starwood Festival-related articles from various pages. Paul Pigman, who brought the case, alleges that Rosencomet "persistently and systematically" added these links, perhaps to an extent that violates WP:SPAM, and that Hanuman Das, Ekajati and 999 have harassed users attempting to remove the links. Mattisse confirms that she has been harassed by Hanuman Das, Ekajati and 999, but that she has no issue of harassment with Rosencomet himself. Hanuman Das has asked that his name be removed from the request, as "I decline to participate", citing that he has not edited the links since he agreed not to on the 5th of December. Although Arbitration is not a consensual process, he also seems to have exercised the right to vanish. 999 and Ekajati deny the allegations, and allege that Mattisse has used multiple sockpuppets to request the links and then call for their removal. In addition, various users allege that Rosencomet has a WP:COI, as the executive director of the for-profit ACE LLC, which promotes the festival.
- Robert Prechter: A case regarding the behaviour of Rgfolsom and Smallbones on the Socionomics and Robert Prechter pages. Rgfolsom alleges that Smallbones has violated WP:NPOV, WP:CIVIL and WP:DR (by abusing the mediation process), and that he has added "smears, demonstrable falsehoods, and a calculated overemphasis on quotes of critics". In response, Smallbones alleges that Rgfolsom has violated WP:V and WP:NPOV by removing claims critical of Prechter, and adding claims complimentary to him, and WP:COI because he is one of Prechter's employees.
Voting phase
- Husnock: A case involving the actions of Husnock and Morwen, involving a comment made by Husnock, "I would be careful telling a deployed member of the military they shouldn't edit on Wikipedia for whatever reason.", following disputes on various Star Trek-related AfDs, which Morwen considered to be "intimidating", and Husnock alleges that she stated that she was "in fear of her life", and that he has been investigated by real-world bodies regarding it. Fred Bauder has proposed motions describing Husnock's comments as "regrettable", and others desysopping as well as cautioning him on various matters, and encouraging Morwen to "be more sensitive to the feelings of others".
- Sathya Sai Baba 2: Thatcher131 alleges that Andries has repeatedly added a link to an unreliable source to the Robert Priddy article, in violation of a remedy in a prior case on the subject, and that SSS108 has edit warred and exhibited signs of article ownership on the page. Both users deny the allegations. UninvitedCompany has proposed remedies banning Andries from editing the article, or starting any dispute resolution procedures regarding it and requiring Etanik to edit under one username only. Fred Bauder has supported the proposals, but Charles Matthews has opposed the editing restrictions.
- Midnight Syndicate: A case brought by Durova involving an edit war on the Midnight Syndicate article. Dionyseus and Skinny McGee allege that GuardianZ has engaged in sockpuppetry and general disruption on the article. He denies the allegations and argues that Dionyseus and Skinny McGee have engaged in similar behaviour. A temporary injunction has been granted placing Dionyseus, Skinny McGee, and GuardianZ on revert parole. Fred Bauder has proposed remedies, supported by jpgordon, banning GuardianZ and Skinny McGee from the article indefinitely, and Dionyseus for a period of six months, and forbidding any employees of Midnight Synidcate, Nox Arcana or Monolith Graphics from editing the article.
- Yoshiaki Omura: Various users, principally Crum375, allege that Richardmalter and alleged sockpuppets have added biased, unsourced material to Bi-Digital O-Ring Test, an alternative medicine technique created by Yoshiaki Omura which was criticised by a New Zealand disciplinary tribunal as lacking scientific basis. However, Richardmalter denies that his pro-Omura edits were either biased or unsourced and claims that the mediation process has supported his position. Fred Bauder has proposed motions to the effect that "Richardmalter...[has] edited Yoshiaki Omura in an aggressive biased manner", and banning him from the article indefinitely. These motions have attracted the support of SimonP.
- Derek Smart: A case involving a dispute over the inclusion of critical material in the Derek Smart article. Various editors on both sides of the dispute claim that the other has violated policy in promoting their case, and some suggest that various accounts (Supreme Cmdr and WarHawkSP inter alia) are in fact used by Smart himself, citing as evidence perceived similarities in their writing styles. These editors deny the allegations. Remedies have been proposed prohibiting single-purpose accounts (of which Mael-Num, WarHawk, WarHawkSP, and Supreme_Cmdr are named as examples) from reverting the article, and banning Supreme Cmdr for two weeks. These remedies have the support of three arbitrators.
- Naming Conventions: A case regarding a dispute over whether articles without alternative meanings should be disambiguated for the sake of clarity - for example, Never Kill a Boy on the First Date (Buffy episode). While about 80% of involved editors said in a straw poll that it should not be disambiguated, both sides allege that editors on the other have behaved disruptively. Fred Bauder has proposed a principle stating that appeals to the Arbitration Committee as a method to determine consensus in a policy dispute is not generally viable, due to the press of work as well as other considerations, and a remedy stating that no penalties are to be imposed in respect of past actions in the dispute, but has proposed an enforcement motion stating that editors who violate the consensus decision in the matter may be briefly blocked. These remedies have the support of five arbitrators. In addition, UninvitedCompany has proposed a remedy banning Izzy Dot for two weeks, which has the support of four arbitrators, but has been opposed by Fred Bauder, who claims that there is "no supporting evidence".
- Brahma Kumaris: A case involving the actions of avyakt7 and 195.82.106.244 (195) on the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University article. Avyakt alleges that 195 has defamed Brahma Kumaris in the article but 195 claims that avyakt has misinterpreted the reliable sources policy. Fred Bauder has proposed remedies banning 195 for one year, placing him on probation, and placing the article on article probation. These proposals have the support of five arbitrators.
Motion in a prior case
- Giano: On the application of Dmcdevit, various motions were proposed imposing a variety of bans and paroles on Giano. However, none of these obtained a significant majority, and this afternoon Fred Bauder removed the motions, with the edit summary "Start over".
