This is a summary of recent technology and site configuration changes that affect the English Wikipedia. Note that not all changes described here are necessarily live as of press time; the English Wikipedia is currently running version 1.44.0-wmf.12 (8b8c762), 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.
Fixed bugs
- Width calculation of a <gallery> tag when the widths= option is given has been improved. (r25822, bug 11321)
- A bug involving Special:BrokenRedirects that showed redirects pointing to a target that they in fact did not point to has been fixed. (r25843, bug 7890)
- When the source language on a <source> tag is not given entirely in lowercase, this now no longer causes incorrect uppercase characters to appear in the class name of the generated content. (r25873, bug 11351)
New features
- An API query for the members of a category can now be sorted in reverse alphabetical or reverse chronological order (previously only forward alphabetical and chronological sort orders were supported). (r25726, bug 11275)
- The API now allows an image's metadata to be queried. (r25812, bug 11308)
- The 'Return to' link that appears in some error messages (for instance, when a non-admin tries to edit a protected page) now no longer incorrectly links to Main Page. (r25863, bug 11342)
Configuration changes
- Some more pages have been added to robots.txt, to instruct search engines not to visit or index them. In addition to the pages previously excluded (subpages of WP:AFD, WP:VFD, WP:MFD, and WP:PT, but not the pages themselves, and also WP:CP and its subpages), six more groups of subpages have been excluded from being visited or indexed by search engines:
Other technology news
- There is currently a bug with image thumbnailing that's affecting large numbers of images, causing them to not display in pages. The bug was caused at least partly by a server running out of disk space; system administrators are currently trying to fix the problem. As a workaround in the meantime, if you come across an image that isn't working, purging the server cache of the image's image description page often solves the problem for that image. (For more information, see this mailing list post.)
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 or use Betawiki.
Template standardization
This week, nearly all article message boxes were standardized with a consistent theme, and colors are based on the severity of each message. Multiple messages can also be stacked on top of one another, reducing the amount of screen space used when multiple notices are used. An example can be found below:
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This article documents a current event.
Information may change rapidly as the event progresses.
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Discussion on the changes continues at the standardization talk page.
Editing pattern prototype released
Recently, the Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) released a research prototype called WikiDashboard that can visualize users' editing patterns on Wikipedia articles. The tool shows visualizations embedded in live Wikipedia pages to provide social transparency about who edits how many revisions on each Wikipedia page. For example, this link shows editing patterns on the Main Page, and this link shows Raul654's personal editing patterns. Release notes for the prototype can be found here.
Wikimania bidding ends Sunday
Wikimania 2008 bids must be completed by Sunday at 0:01 UTC; later Sunday, at 15:00 UTC, a public meeting with bidders will be held. The final jury decision will be made around October 6.
Briefly
The Arbitration Committee accepted two new cases this week, and closed no cases.
New cases
- Attack sites: A case involving disputes over whether the attack sites section of WP:NPA should prohibit links from articles in the mainspace to websites which include pages attacking Wikipedia editors.
Evidence phase
- The Troubles: A case involving a large number of editors on articles related to The Troubles. Some editors attempted to withdraw from the case when its scope was widened at the request of an arbitrator to cover the entire area rather than only the behaviour of Vintagekits, but in accordance with arbitration policy, these attempts, along with other changes to statements after the case opened, were reverted by the clerk.
- SevenOfDiamonds: A case involving alleged abusive sockpuppetry and other misconduct by SevenOfDiamonds. SevenOfDiamonds vigorously denies the allegations, and alleges that MONGO has harassed him.
- Digwuren: A case involving alleged POV-pushing and incivility by Digwuren and alleged sockpuppets.
Voting phase
- Artaxerex: A case involving alleged POV-pushing, incivility and sockpuppetry by Artaxerex. Artaxerex denies the allegations, and alleges that Shervink and others are focusing on getting him blocked, and that certain editors push an Iranian nationalist POV. Remedies banning Artaxerex and reminding parties of the need to adhere closely to WP:NPOV have the support of three arbitrators.
- Jmfangio-Chrisjnelson: A case involving alleged edit warring, hostility and incivility between Jmfangio and Chrisjnelson. Jmfangio has been indefinitely blocked after checkuser confirmed that this account is the reincarnation of a community banned editor. Voting on most proposals is split.
- Allegations of apartheid: This case concerns the conduct of various editors in connection with a group of articles whose titles include the words "Allegations of apartheid". It has been alleged that these articles were created in violation of Wikipedia:Do not disrupt Wikipedia to illustrate a point, after several deletion debates concerning Allegations of Israeli apartheid resulted in that article being kept. Issues have also been raised concerning comments made in deletion discussions and reviews. Several users who have created and edited the "Allegations of apartheid" articles have strongly denied any inappropriate conduct. Voting on most proposals is split, but an amnesty for past actions currently has a majority.
- COFS: A case initiated by Durova based on a discussion at the community sanctions noticeboard. The case involves allegations of tendentious editing by various editors, sockpuppetry, conflicts of interest, and other user conduct issues on Scientology related articles. The proposed decision, which has the support of six to nine arbitrators, would ban COFS for 30 days for POV editing and require him to change his username and disclose any duties he may have to the Church of Scientology before resuming editing. A proposal banning Anynobody from harassing Justanother has the support of six to eight arbitrators, and one placing Scientology articles on article probation has six.
Motion to close
- Catalonia: A case brought by Physchim62 involving alleged edit warring, possible sockpuppetry, and other misconduct by various editors on Catalonia, Valencian Community, and related articles. If closed, Maurice27 would be banned for thirty days, and the parties encouraged to continue with the normal consensus-building procedure.
