This is a summary of recent technology and site configuration changes that affect the English Wikipedia. Note that not all changes described here are live as of press time; the English Wikipedia is currently running version 1.44.0-wmf.12 (8b8c762), and changes with a version number higher than that will not yet be active.
Fixed bugs
- A bug which caused the interface for some registered user contribution pages to display as though they were contribution pages for anonymous users was fixed. (r22969, bug 10247)
- Some code was added to prevent the diff display breaking on some old Mozilla versions. (r22970, bug 9948)
- Some bugs in the API were corrected:
- The output when an interwiki link title like de:API is passed as an input no longer produces bogus results. (r22974, bug 10147)
- A bug meaning that there was no legal combination of parameters that would use the watchlist as a generator for a complex API query was fixed. (r23043, bug 10275)
- Paging forwards and then backwards on categories containing large numbers of images now returns the correct page of images rather than a blank page. (r23012, bug 10265)
- When the number of jobs in the job queue reaches 0, the approximate number of jobs shown on Special:Statistics now gives the exact correct value of 0 rather than 1. (r23057, bug 10228)
New features
- It is now possible to specify an 'editintro' on a link to edit a page, which changes the text above the edit box; the syntax is to put &editintro=URLencoded_name_of_editintro_page at the end of the URL. (r22905, bugs 5175 and 10215)
- A new interface message MediaWiki:Modifiedarticleprotection is used as the log entry when the protection level for a page is changed, rather than the previous generic 'protection' message. (r22947, bug 8734)
- The maximum length of a customized user signature on a given wiki can now be limited (see 'Configuration changes' below). (r22960, bug 8458)
- Some more features were added to the API:
- It is now possible to query the API for a list of valid interwiki prefixes, using the meta=siteinfo parameter. (r22975, bug 10096)
- The results of a query (prop=links) on the links from a page can now be filtered by namespace. (r23044, bug 10275)
- It is now possible to query for a page's protection level. (r23052, bug 10260)
Configuration changes
- The maximum customized signature length $wgMaxSigChars on the English Wikipedia has been set to its default value of 255; any signatures longer than this should be changed. (This value can be changed by developers.)
Ongoing news
- Internationalisation has been continuing as normal; help is always appreciated! See m:Localization statistics for how complete the translations of languages you know are, and post any updates to bugzilla.
The Arbitration Committee did not accept or close any cases this week.
Evidence phase
- Abu badali: A case alleging that Abu badali (talk · contribs) has disruptively tagged non-free images for deletion, even when a valid fair-use justification exists, and has harassed editors who have complained about this behavior. Abu badali denies the allegations.
Voting phase
- Badlydrawnjeff: A highly controversial case involving the actions of Badlydrawnjeff, Doc glasgow, Tony Sidaway and JzG in relation inter alia to the article known as QZ, which underwent an AfD which was closed as delete by Drini, but overturned on DRV by Xoloz. The resulting AfD was then speedily closed by thebainer. Badlydrawnjeff then filed for a deletion review, which was speedily closed or removed by a number of administrators and others consecutively, including JzG, Doc Glasgow and Tony Sidaway, and the closures often reverted or new DRVs opened. There is dispute as to whether the actions of all parties were within process, and whether, as some believe, WP:BLP takes priority over DRV. A peripheral issue to the case is a 60-hour block of Badlydrawnjeff by Zsinj, apparently after discussions on the admin IRC channel, although some have stated that the consensus on the channel did not favour the block. The block was quickly undone by Gaillimh. Additionally, some allege that violetriga acted improperly in undeleting some articles deleted under BLP. Kirill Lokshin has proposed principles to the effect that the overriding principle with respect to BLPs should be "do no harm", and that suspected violations may be speedy deleted, but that these may be contested through the normal channels, although they must not be restored until consensus has formed to do so, and principles cautioning Violetriga and Night Gyr to avoid undeleting content deleted under BLP, all of which have the support of FloNight. A remedy banning Badlydrawnjeff from editing all articles covered by WP:BLP, and any associated discussions, especially deletion discussions, and those relating to the policy itself has not been voted on.
- Paranormal: A case involving the actions of various users, especially as regards bias and attribution, on "articles on paranormal and pseudoscientific topics", such as parapsychology and Electronic voice phenomenon. Proposals placing paranormal-related articles on article probation, limiting editors on them to one revert per week, and cautioning Dradin and Kazuba have the support of two arbitrators; voting on other remedies is split.
- Hkelkar 2: A case involving the actions of Rama's Arrow (talk · contribs · blocks · protections · deletions · page moves · rights · RfA), Bakasuprman (talk · contribs), Dangerous-Boy (talk · contribs) and Sbhushan (talk · contribs), Rama's Arrow alleges that the others acted as meatpuppets of banned user Hkelkar, and blocked them for six months. They deny the allegations, and allege that Rama's Arrow acted improperly in blocking them, and in posting private e-mails to the incidents noticeboard. Various remedies have been proposed including an early proposal to impose no sanctions on any of the parties but calling on the parties to enter into mediation, based on a finding of fact noting a lack of reliable evidence in the case, and a proposal to prohibit administrator actions between the parties has the support of six arbitrators. Voting on a recent proposal to desysop Rama's Arrow is split at three-to-two. Voting on principles regarding the posting of private e-mails is split but it appears that a majority of arbitrators will support the principle that private e-mails may not be posted on-wiki without the consent of the sender.
- E104421-Tajik: A case involving the actions of E104421 and Tajik. The case had been suspended to allow a referral to Community enforceable mediation, but the mediation broke down after Tajik was alleged to have edited through sockpuppets while claiming to be away and unavailable for the mediation. Remedies have been proposed banning Tajik either indefinitely or for one year (which have the support of six arbitrators), and reminding AzaToth that Wikipedia operates by consensus (with the support of three arbitrators).
Motion to close
- TingMing: A case involving the actions of TingMing (talk · contribs). Ideogram (talk · contribs) alleges that he has engaged in "controversial edits", edit warring, incivility, and possibly sockpuppetry. TingMing denies the allegations, and alleges incivility on the part of Ideogram. Kirill Lokshin has proposed a remedy banning TingMing for one year, which has the support of eight arbitrators. However, a motion to close the case "as moot" has the support of three arbitrators.
Under review