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.

• <ref/> tags that refer to previous references can now be created with {{#tag:}}. (r41669, bug 15770)
• #iferror: has been improved to catch more sorts of errors. (r41881, bug 15730)
• When a template is removed from a cascade-protected page and the template transcluded a category onto that page, the category is now removed from the page. (r41923, bug 15846)
• The special-pages dropdown is now in the correct place on the Nostalgia skin. (r41940, bug 15928)
• A page's content is no longer silently overwritten if a user has an edit conflict with another user, then an edit conflict with themself when they try to fix it (which could, for instance, happen due to clicking on the 'back' button during the save). (r42034, bug 15991)
• A user no longer overwrites the entire page when trying to edit a section and clicking on 'save' before the edit page is fully loaded. (r42037, bug 1181)
• A large number of SVG-related bugs were fixed by the upgrade of the SVG-rendering code used on the MediaWiki servers; more fonts are now available for SVG as well.

• The "templates used on this page" list at the very bottom of the edit screen now has edit links for those templates which are editable by the user viewing them. (r41829, bug 11904)
• Special:BlockIP now has a link to the contributions of the user who will be blocked. (r41831, bug 15432)
• Images now take their alt text from their alt= parameter, if one is present. (r41837, bug 368)
• Special:RecentChangesLinked can now be transcluded. (r41861, bug 13179)
• Searching Special:IPBlockList now reveals rangeblocks that block a particular IP, as well as blocks directly on that IP. (r41902, bug 14634)

• 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.

This week, Wikimedia Chief Technical Officer Brion Vibber announced the hiring of two new developers: Trevor Parscal and Ariel Glenn. Parscal will focus primarily on MediaWiki development and other scripting, while Glenn will handle MediaWiki and extension development, as well as general IT support for the San Francisco office.

• The English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary have both reached 1,000,000 entries.
• The Italian Wikipedia has reached 500,000 articles.
• The Portuguese Wiktionary has reached 50,000 articles.
• The Czech Wiktionary has reached 5,000 entries.
• The Czech Wikiversity has reached 500 articles.
• The Galician Wikipedia has reached 40,000 articles.
• The Vietnamese Wikipedia has reached 60,000 articles.
• The Lithuanian Wiktionary has reached 90,000 articles.
• The Ukrainian Wiktionary has reached 7,000 articles.

The Arbitration Committee opened one case this week, bringing the number of cases currently open to four.

• Abtract-Collectonian: A case between Abtract and Collectonian, involving an editing dispute between the two. A temporary injunction has passed in the case, declaring administrator-imposed editing restrictions to remain in effect until a decision is reached, and directing the users to submit evidence speedily, so that the Committee can swiftly introduce a decision that would supersede the injunction.

• Piotrus 2: A second case involving alleged edit warring and other misconduct by Piotrus and other editors. Piotrus denies the allegations against him, and has suggested that the case may be a deliberate attempt to drive him from the site.

• SlimVirgin-Lar: A case brought by Thatcher, asking the committee to review the use of checkuser by Lar, in the light of comments by SlimVirgin (here, inter alia), alleging that he misused the tool. A finding of fact with the support of six arbitrators find that Lar's conduct "fell within the acceptable range of CheckUser discretion", and remedies reminding users to bring similar issues to appropriate dispute resolution processes rather than "public invective", and reminding CheckUser operators to abide strictly to the Wikimedia Foundation's privacy policy, have the support of five arbitrators, with none opposing.

• Sarah Palin protection wheel war: A case involving allegations of wheel-warring on the Sarah Palin article, over a dispute as to the merits of page protection being applied in respect of it. Remedies instructing the parties to follow the principles adopted in the case, admonishing Jossi and MZMcBride for their use of administrative tools in the dispute, and urging the community to continue discussions regarding the improvement of the biographies of living persons policy, have the support of seven to eight arbitrators. Remedies restricting Jossi and MZMcBride from unprotecting or reducing the edit-protection status of a biography of a living person for 90 days have the support of five arbitrators, with two abstaining (meaning that the remedies have a majority). A motion to close is active on the case, currently supported by four and opposed by FloNight; the case is unlikely to close until voting has completed on a few points.