New features
Some changes to HTTP headers sent by MediaWiki should improve performance for users a long distance from the main server clusters of the Wikimedia Foundation (Tampa for almost all projects, Seoul for some East Asian-language projects). However, Tim Starling observed that "it's not as great a difference as we had hoped, barely user-visible. Research will continue." (Tim Starling and Brion Vibber, various revisions)
Superfluous links such as "next 200" and related links should no longer be shown on certain pages such as Special:Ipblocklist or Special:Listusers when there are no results. (Sui Min and Raimond Spekking, T10919, r20019, r20034)
Quickbar settings, which are used by some skins, can now be localized into different languages using MediaWiki:qbsettings-none, MediaWiki:qbsettings-fixedleft, MediaWiki:qbsettings-fixedright, MediaWiki:qbsettings-floatingleft, and MediaWiki:qbsettings-floatingright. (Niklas Laxström, T11032, r20033)
When there are no pages in a category, the "Pages in this category" heading will no longer be shown. (Raimond Spekking, T10132, r20039)
It is now possible for wikis to be configured to limit the rate at which e-mails can be sent. This was enabled for Wikimedia Foundation wikis, with up to 100 e-mails per hour per user account (or IP address, for anonymous users) permitted. By default, sysops and bureaucrats are exempt from this limit, as from all limits, but this is configurable. (Tim Starling; r20049, r20051, and r20052)
Images on image pages now have checkered backgrounds, so that any transparent parts will show up as checkers rather than white, light blue, or whatever other color is used by the wiki. (Leon Weber, r20065)
Fixed bugs
A workaround was instituted for Internet Explorer for Mac's poor handling of empty CSS/JS files. This could cause extremely slow loading of pages under some conditions. While this problem is fixed, IE/Mac has not been maintained since 2003, and users should consider switching to other browsers such as Camino or Safari. (Brion Vibber, T11044, r20018)
Internationalization
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.
New arbitrators appointed
On Friday, Jimbo Wales appointed two arbitrators to the Arbitration Committee. Mackensen, a former arbitrator who resigned in the wake of minor controversy (see archived story), will replace Dmcdevit, who retired last week (see archived story). Essjay, a checkuser, bureaucrat and former chair of the mediation committee, will claim an expansion seat on the Committee. Both positions will expire in December 2007.
CAPTCHA images enabled for account creation
Due to malicious robot account creation, CAPTCHA images are now required to register a Wikipedia account. To help users who cannot read the images, a new process, request an account, has been created. Administrators are needed to watch the page and create accounts for these users. For more information, contact Ral315.
Alexa ranks rise
Alexa ranks for Wikipedia rose again this week. The daily traffic rose to 8th for the first time on Monday, 19 February, but dropped back to 9th on Wednesday. Wikimedia sites traffic ranks (updated Friday, 23 February) include:
| Site |
3-month rank |
1-week averages
|
| Wikipedia
|
12 |
10
|
| Meta/Commons/Wikispecies
|
351 |
311
|
| Wiktionary
|
2,255 |
2,338
|
| Wikibooks
|
3,286 |
3,357
|
| Wikiquote
|
3,596 |
3,626
|
| Wikimedia Foundation
|
5,820 |
14,596
|
| Wikisource
|
7,007 |
6,995
|
| Wikinews
|
11,672 |
16,109
|
| Wikiversity
|
21,899 |
23,452
|
Wiktionary, Wikibooks and Wikiquote showed small declines in rank; Wikinews and Wikiversity showed larger declines in rank. The sharp decline in rank for the Wikimedia Foundation website can be attributed to the end of the fundraiser; indeed, the site's rank had risen to about 1500 during the peak of the fundraiser, then declined sharply.
Wikipedia again mentioned on prime-time U.S. sitcom
Wikipedia has again been mentioned on a prime-time U.S. sitcom. On 18 February, the American animated television series American Dad! episode entitled Black Mystery Month centered around the main character, Stan Smith and his son, Steve, discovering a plot involving peanut butter and the Civil War (a parody of The Da Vinci Code and other movies). Near the end of the episode, Stan says, "If only there was a place where you could make outrageous claims, without any proof, and millions of people would accept it as fact...", and the show cuts to Steve adding a Wikipedia article on The Truth about Peanut Butter. The article on Peanut butter was semi-protected shortly after the show aired to combat vandalism.
Commons Picture of the Year competition
The Wikimedia Commons Picture of the Year competition has reached the second and final round. For the second round, which lasts through Wednesday, 28 February, the 321 pictures on the shortlist have been narrowed to the top 11 (due to a tie). Users with at least 100 edits on any local project or Commons can vote on their favorite of the 11 photos. The finalists can be seen below:
Briefly
The Arbitration Committee opened two cases this week, and closed one case.
Closed case
- WLU-Mystar: WLU alleges that Mystar has harrassed him, alleging incivility, wikistalking and sockpuppetry, inter alia. Mystar denies the allegations, and claims that WLU has been incivil. As a result of the case, the two parties were prohibited from interacting with each other.
New cases
- Armenia-Azerbaijan: A case, brought by ex-arbitrator Dmcdevit, regarding a dispute between Armenian and Azerbaijani editors on a large number of articles.
Evidence phase
Voting phase
- India-Pakistan: A case involving a dispute between Rama's Arrow and others, and Nadirali, Szhaider and others, over whether certain people should be categorised as Indian or Pakistani, and what should occur as a result of this. Kirill Lokshin has proposed remedies banning Szhaider, Unre4L, Siddiqui and Nadirali for one year.
- Occupation of Latvia: A case regarding the discussion over the propriety of the article in question having its current scope to be titled Occupation of Latvia 1940-1945. Some editors, notably Irpen, allege that the issue is merely a content dispute (upon which the committee has traditionally declined to rule), but others, especially Constanz feel that there has been abuse of dispute tags, and possibly WP:NOR violations. Remedies admonishing the parties for their behaviour, and strongly encouraging them to enter into mediation have the support of five arbitrators.
- Barrett v. Rosenthal: A case brought by Peter M. Dodge involving the actions of Ilena and Fyslee. According to Dodge, Ilena was initially reported to AN/I for "posting links to sites that some considered to be attack sites". Various users attempted to assist Ilena, but "This was sabotaged...when Fyslee posted a link to a site that attacked Ilena in a personal manner". The title of the case refers to Barrett v. Rosenthal, a decision of the Supreme Court of California, which ruled that internet users and providers were not liable for the republication of defamatory statements, which some editors believe provides protection for Wikipedia. According to Durova, Ilena is the Rosenthal in that case, and she (Ilena) alleges that Fyslee has a close relationship with Barrett. Fred Bauder has proposed remedies, with the support of three arbitrators, banning Ilena for one year, and prohibiting her and Fyslee from editing the articles in question.
- Philwelch: A case regarding the actions of Philwelch. A number of editors, principally Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington allege that he has taken "very controversial" sysop actions. Philwelch has since been voluntarily desysopped. Flcelloguy has proposed a principle stating that admins who request desysopping under non-controversial circumstances may have adminship restored upon request, although remedies have been proposed defining Philwelch's desysopping as controversial, and requiring him to reapply through RfA.
- 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. Hanuman Das and 999 have been blocked indefinitely as sockpuppets of Ekajati, who has been blocked as puppetmaster. Fred Bauder has proposed a remedy cautioning Rosencomet "to avoid aggressive editing of articles when there is a question of conflict of interest".
- 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. Fred Bauder has proposed a remedy banning Smallbones from editing articles and talk pages relating to Prechter.
Motion to close
- 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, as well as an alternative remedy banning him for one year, and another banning him only from the Smart article. These remedies have the support of three to eight arbitrators. A motion to close has been proposed by UninvitedCompany and supported by Essjay, but opposed by Fred Bauder.
- 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. remedies have been proposed banning Andries, Wikisunn, SSS108 and Freelanceresearch from editing the article, and requiring Ekantik to edit under one username only. These proposals have the support of two to six arbitrators.
Under review
- Waldorf education: In pursuance of a remedy passed in the initial case, Fred Bauder has initiated a review of all parties' behaviour, and has proposed a remedy banning Pete K from the article and those relating to it indefinitely.
