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.

(none relevant)

• The new interface messages MediaWiki:Createaccount-title and MediaWiki:Createaccount-text have been added, which control the title and content of the email that's sent out when an account is created for another user via Wikipedia:Request an account; previously, they were the same as the password reminder emails. (r27643, bug 3973)
• The new shortcut Special:Listbots has been added as a redirect to Special:Listusers/bot. (Redirects in the Special: namespace need a developer to set up.) (r27704, bug 12028)
• When visiting Special:Upload for a previously deleted image (for instance, after clicking on an image redlink), the image's deletion log is now shown on that page, the same way as for non-Image:-namespace pages; this is customisable via MediaWiki:Upload-wasdeleted. (r26175, bug 6909)
• api.php now honours the 'maxlag' parameter the same way as non-API accesses to wiki pages do. (r27630, bug 11206)
• A drop-down menu of common deletion reasons is now available in the software to administrators, so that scripts no longer need be used for this purpose, the same way as with block messages; the list is customisable via MediaWiki:Deletereason-dropdown. (r27832, bug 9633)

• Internationalisation has been continuing as normal; help is always appreciated! See mw:Localisation statistics for how complete the translations of languages you know are, and post any updates to bugzilla or use Betawiki.

A new ombudsman commission was chosen by Wikimedia Foundation officials this week. Mackensen, Rebecca, and Hei ber will serve a term of approximately a year. They replace Nathan Carter, Steve Dunlop, and Anders Wegge Jakobson, who served from July 2006 through November 2007. Foundation Chair Florence Devouard quoted from m:Ombudsman commission about their duties:

The ombudsman commission is tasked with processing complaints about violations of the privacy policy on any Wikimedia project, in particular concerning the use of CheckUser tools. The ombudsman is tasked with investigating cases of such policy breach or CheckUser abuse for the board in an official manner. They will mediate between the complainant and the respondent (usually a CheckUser, bureaucrat, administrator, or arbitration committee member). When legally necessary, the ombudsman will assist the general counsel, the executive director or the board in handling the case.

The Wikimedia Foundation fundraiser continued this week. In the first four weeks of the fundraiser, about 29,600 people had donated at least US$1, and the Foundation had raised about $903,000.

The addition of a link to the new fundraising blog, updated a few times a week with reasons why visitors should donate, may have played a part in a large increase in donations. From Thursday to Friday, contributions exhibited not only a 59.6% increase in donors, but also a 17.7% increase in average donation. Part of this increase may have been related to the celebration of Thanksgiving in the United States on the Thursday; Thursday's donations were the lowest of the fundraiser.

In large donations, an anonymous donor contributed $2,500 on Monday.

This week, new job openings at the Wikimedia Foundation were added this week. The deadlines of Head of Partnerships, Head of Development, and Chief Financial and Operating Officer were extended to December 15. The position of Treasurer of the Board of Trustees is still open until December 1. Positions of software developer and public outreach are set to open soon.

A discussion is currently underway to change the default move permissions on all wikis to "autoconfirmed", requiring an account to be at least four days old before it can move pages. This setting is already enabled on many large wikis, including the English and German Wikipedias, but is not set on many smaller wikis, which are often the target of vandalism that is not quickly reverted. Most users support this move, but a few have opposed it, arguing that such a decision should be made at the project level.

• The Bikol Wikipedia, Breton Wikiquote, Armenian Wikisource, Limburgish Wikiquote and Finnish Wikinews have been created.
• Steward elections have begun. New stewards are up for election, and current stewards are up for re-confirmation. Summaries of current voting tallies can be found here.
• The Lombard Wikipedia has reached 100,000 articles.
• The Asturian Wikipedia has reached 10,000 articles.
• After dropping below the 100-article mark, the Burmese Wikipedia gains its hundredth article.

The arbitration committee opened five cases this week, and closed two cases.

• Railpage Australia: A case involving alleged disruptive editing and sockpuppetry on Railpage Australia. As a result of the case, Tezza1 was banned for one year.
• Martinphi-ScienceApologist: A case involving alleged POV-pushing and incivility on pseudoscience-related articles. As a result of the case, the editing of Martinphi and ScienceApologist was restricted, and ScienceApologist limited to one account.

• Durova and Jehochman: A case involving the actions of Durova and Jehochman, and in particular a controversial block by Durova of !! as a sockpuppet, based on evidence she refused to reveal on-wiki, saying that she was concerned that to do so could give puppetmasters too much information on her investigative techniques. This evidence was provided to some administrators, and was later leaked, with some users, including the Arbitration Committee, arguing that the evidence was insufficient for blocking !!. Durova has resigned her adminship, and, in what appears to be an exceptionally quick resolution of the case, remedies have been proposed, admonishing Durova to exercise greater care when issuing blocks, admonishing all participants to act with proper decorum, and noting that Durova must go through normal channels to regain adminship.
• Privatemusings: A case involving alleged sockpuppetry and BLP violations by Privatemusings. Remedies limiting Privatemusings to one account, prohibiting him from editing biographies of living persons, and banning him for either three months or one year have the support of five to seven arbitrators.
• Anonimu: A case involving alleged revert warring and incivility by Anonimu, who has not yet commented in the case. Some others also allege that Sceptre, who brought the case has stalked Anonimu.
• Episodes and characters: A case involving alleged misconduct with regard to the notability of episodes and characters from television series.
• Winter Soldier 2: A case involving alleged misconduct on Winter Soldier-related articles.

• Macedonia: A case involving a dispute between editors from Greece and from the Republic of Macedonia over the use of "Macedonia" in Wikipedia. Remedies have been proposed with the support of four arbitrators permitting sanctions to be imposed by any uninvolved administrator.
• Asgardian-Tenebrae: A case involving conflict between Asgardian and Tenebrae. A remedy restricting Asgardian's editing has the support of three arbitrators.
• Ferrylodge: A case involving a community ban of Ferrylodge on the now-defunct Community sanction noticeboard, but which User:B has, in accordance with Wikipedia:Community ban, stated that he is willing to overturn. Kirill Lokshin has proposed remedies, with the support of five to eight arbitrators, disapproving the ban, but restricting Ferrylodge's editing and instructing him not to interact with Bishonen or KillerChihuahua.

• Eyrian: A case involving checkuser-confirmed sockpuppetry by admin Eyrian. If closed, Eyrian would be desysopped, and banned until he explains himself to the committee.