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
The list=search query now returns the titles of the pages returned by the search engine, rather than null strings. (r31522, bug 10908)
The audio on some videos with a high frame rate now plays back properly in the Cortado Java-based player. (r31527, bug 13071)
The error message "You do not have permission to do that" now only comes up for rollback when the user actually does not have permission to perform an action, not in other cases when the action might fail (the edit has already been rolled back by someone else, or the user is the only one who edited the page). (r31588, bug 13110)
An article with hidden categories but no non-hidden categories no longer displays an empty gray box at the bottom. (r31731, bug 13234)
New feature
A new parameter xmldoublequote is available in the API, for all results in XML format; it causes all attributes and content in the XML output to be double-escaped. (r31525, bug 11401)
Ongoing news
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.
Riana'sRfB was unsuccessful; it closed at 85.9%, within what some considered a bureaucrat's discretionary range, though others argued that the roughly 90% standard should remain in place for this round of RfBs, until community consensus could be achieved on the proper cutoff. After a bureaucrat chat, bureaucrats remained split on the RfB, with three users (WJBscribe, Andrevan, and Warofdreams) supporting Riana's promotion, and four (Rdsmith4, UninvitedCompany, Kingturtle, and Deskana) who would not support promotion. As such, WJBscribe closed the RfB as unsuccessful, with the bureaucrats unable to determine whether consensus existed.
A proposal to lower the bar for RfBs is being voted on; most commenting on the proposal have supported lowering the bar, although whether the discussion will result in any changes once completed is unknown.
Wikimania 2009 bids narrowed to two
On 9 March, the Wikimania 2009 bids from Brisbane and Karlsruhe were eliminated by the jury, leaving just two bids open: Buenos Aires and Toronto. The final decision will be made sometime on or after Thursday, 13 March.
Valentine's image re-featured
Love or Duty
After being featured and de-featured in February, Image:Love or dutyb.jpg, an 1871 chromolithograph by Gabriele Castagnola, has been re-featured. A suggestion by Spikebrennan for a Valentine's Day featured picture led Durova to locate the image at the Library of Congress archives, restoring it as Image:Love or dutya.jpg, where it passed featured picture candidacy on a unanimous vote; however, some users complained that the vote violated usual procedure. In order to feature the picture on the Main Page on Valentine's Day, the vote ran for just over two days, while most nominations run for about seven days. After being featured on the main page, these procedural issues led to a nomination for delisting, which resulted in the image's de-featuring. Afterward, the image was renominated as Image:Love or dutyb.jpg, where it passed on a second unanimous vote. This is believed to be the first time that a featured picture has been nominated, promoted, highlighted on the main page, delisted, and repromoted in less than 30 days.
The Arbitration Committee did not open or close any cases this week, leaving five currently open.
Voting phase
Franco-Mongol alliance: A case involving alleged misconduct over a dispute on Franco-Mongol alliance and related articles. Newyorkbrad has proposed remedies prohibiting PHG from editing articles relating to medieval or ancient history for a period of one year.
Mantanmoreland: A case involving alleged sockpuppetry by Mantanmoreland, which he denies. In a controversial proposed decision, Newyorkbrad has made proposals, with the support of nine arbitrators, finding that a "definitive conclusion" cannot be reached, placing some articles on article probation, and placing restrictions on current and future editors to the articles. A topic ban for Mantanmoreland has the support of six arbitrators, and a direction that he edit Wikipedia from only one account, four.
Ehud Lesar: A case involving a dispute involving Ehud Lesar, with alleged sockpuppetry on his part and alleged harassment by Fedayee, Eupator and others. Sam Blacketer has proposed a remedy, with the support of eight arbitrators, finding that there is insufficient evidence of sockpuppetry and overturning the block.
Motion to close/dismiss
Highways 2: A case involving editing by NE2 on articles relating to WikiProject U.S. Roads, allegedly against consensus of other editors involved with that wikiproject. A remedy has been proposed, with the support of two arbitrators, counselling editors to consider contributing outside of disputed articles. UninvitedCompany has proposed a motion, with the support of three arbitrators, to dismiss the case as a content dispute.
Episodes and characters 2: A case involving alleged continuing disruption of articles concerning television series episodes and characters, following on from a prior case. An injunction has been enacted halting certain editing activities on these articles until the case is resolved. If closed, TTN would be prohibited from requesting merges, redirections or deletions of these articles, and all parties instructed to "cease engaging in editorial conflict and to work collaboratively to develop a generally accepted and applicable approach to the articles in question". The motion to close stands at 6-1.
