Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2012-10-01/From the editors Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2012-10-01/Traffic report Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2012-10-01/In the media
The Toolserver is an external service hosting the hundreds of webpages and scripts (collectively known as "tools") that assist Wikimedia communities in dozens of mostly menial tasks. Few people think that it has been operating well recently; the problems, which include high database replication lag and periods of total downtime, have caused considerable disruption to the Toolserver's usual functions. Those functions are highly valued by many Wikimedia communities, comprising data reports on the relationships between pages, categories, images, and external links; support for Wiki Loves Monuments, OpenStreetMap and GLAM projects; talk-page archiving services; edit counters; and tools aimed at easing many automated administrative processes such as the account and unblock request processes on several major wikis, as well as cross-wiki abuse detection.
It was originally set up in 2005 through the donation by Sun Microsystems of servers to Wikimedia Deutschland (WMDE); so it was almost by coincidence that the German chapter was prompted to take on responsibility for the project. WMDE has since invested heavily in Toolserver infrastructure and its operations—an unusually global role for a chapter, resulting from the particular nature of its revenue streams and German charity laws. There has been in-kind support from the Wikimedia Foundation, mostly in the form of database replication and space in its Amsterdam data centre (valued at US$65k a year), as well as financial grants to expand the hardware (example). Nevertheless, WMDE still makes up the bulk of the general budget of about €100k (US$130k); other chapters, such as Wikimedia UK, have also made smaller contributions.
In 2011, the Foundation announced the creation of Wikimedia Labs, a much better funded project that among other things aimed to mimic the Toolserver's functionality by mid-2013. At the same time, Erik Möller, the WMF's director of engineering, announced that the Foundation would no longer be supporting the Toolserver financially, but would continue to provide the same in-kind support as it had done previously.
DaB is the volunteer who administers the Toolserver, and who in the process has acquired unique expertise for running the system. (WMDE has also contracted Marlen Caemmerer to assist in Toolserver administration since October 2011.) DaB told the Signpost that there is a simple reason for the recent degradation in performance: the Toolserver's hardware was not added to in 2012, while more tools have been written and more people are using the tools. The German chapter, he says, has refused his request to extend the hardware infrastructure, giving only a vague commitment of support. But its September forward planning allocates just a fraction of last year's funding.
DaB's comments are a reference to a message from WMDE's CEO, Pavel Richter, who publicly reassured Toolserver developers this week that "Wikimedia Deutschland will make all necessary investments [including new hardware] to keep the Toolserver up and running", but said that the chapter could not ignore the existence and growth of Labs. The movement now faces a complex challenge in working out how to maintain continuous support of the tools, a complexity that is obvious from recent debates (conducted in German) on Meta and the German Wikipedia; moreover, DaB has threatened to resign if WMDE does not allocate funds for hardware purchase.
What the WMF didn't anticipate, and what it now seems as though they're naively ignoring despite the outcry, is that WMDE doesn't have anything like the foundation's eight-figure budget, and apparently the WMF has decided the Toolserver is going to get the short end of the stick when it comes to funding.
Richter's reference to Wikimedia Labs' rapid growth prompted WMF deputy director Erik Möller to express the Foundation's thinking (full version, including rationale) in response to questions raised about the scenario:
Möller accepted that Labs, while well-resourced both in terms of processing capability and storage space, is not yet suitable for Toolserver migrants, lacking (among other things) both database replication and a "Quick Start" mode for users uninterested in Labs' capability for custom server setups. While funding has been put aside for developing such features, Möller would not commit to targeted WMF funding for tool transition, and therein lies the cause of concern among volunteer Toolserver developers: that they could be left facing a switchover deadline without being in a position (lacking either the time, the capabilities, or both) to migrate their tools themselves. They are concerned, then, that only time will tell what will happen to these popular but difficult to migrate tools, to whose continued existence both WMDE and the WMF seem unwilling to commit.It is true that we (the WMF) have ... asked WMDE to work with us in transitioning from Toolserver to Labs. ... Chapters are autonomous organizations, and it's WMDE's call how much / whether it wants to continue to invest in [the Toolserver] ... However, for our part, we will not continue to support the current arrangement ... indefinitely. The timeline we've discussed with Wikimedia Germany is roughly as follows:
- Wind down new account creation on Toolserver by Q2 of 2013 calendar year
- Decommission Toolserver by December 2013
English Wikipedia arbitrator Hersfold was closely involved in writing the "unblock ticket request system" (UTRS), which allows blocked users—including innocent parties caught up in range-blocks—to appeal their blocks. UTRS, created only recently and now officially mandated by the Foundation, is written for the Toolserver, not the Labs environment. Hersfold told the Signpost:
How Labs functions seems to be almost completely different from how the Toolserver functions. We've been told multiple times that Labs will provide lots of "beefy" infrastructure for tools development; ... users will be able to set up virtual machines, or "instances" ... to handle their development, and submit new programming code to a shared location. As one may expect from the Foundation, it's a very collaborative setup. Once inside their instance, a user can more-or-less do whatever they want; install MediaWiki, run a bot, set up web pages for tools, whatever. But most people on the Toolserver don't need "beefy"; we just need a web server that will let us run our tools and access the databases holding information about Wikipedia and the other projects. If someone needed "beefy," they'd have set up their own server ages ago. While Labs is all swishy and fancy (and presumably has less downtime than the Toolserver), it's an environment we're all completely unused to, and perhaps worst of all, it provides no access to the Wikimedia databases, which will prevent most tools and bots from working at all. Supposedly this functionality will be available at some point in the future [editor's note: planned for the first quarter of 2013] ... I don't think either organization fully realizes how much Wikipedia, the Commons, and all the other projects rely on the tools provided by the Toolserver ... [if it goes,] most of the tools and bots we take for granted will suddenly cease to function.
Carl, another developer, agreed, "labs will be useful for some projects, particularly for developing MediaWiki extensions. [But] the current plans seem to be intentionally preventing [other] Toolserver users from simply migrating their tools to Labs; the result will be a great leap backwards when/if the toolserver is taken offline."
The Signpost understands that a further sticking-point is licensing: while recommended to, some tool operators have not released their code under a free license, which is a requirement for using Labs (one operator has stated he legally cannot do so, since he created the tool using his company's computer systems, so the company holds the copyright).
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Not all fixes may have gone live to WMF sites at the time of writing; some may not be scheduled to go live for several weeks.
Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2012-10-01/Essay Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2012-10-01/Opinion
Following considerable online and media reportage on the Gibraltar controversy and a Signpost report last week, the Wikimedia UK chapter and the foundation published a joint statement on September 28: "To better understand the facts and details of these allegations and to ensure that governance arrangements [are] commensurate with the standing of the Wikimedia Foundation, Wikimedia UK and the worldwide Wikimedia movement, Wikimedia UK’s trustees and the Wikimedia Foundation will jointly appoint an independent expert advisor to objectively review both Wikimedia UK’s governance arrangements and its handling of the conflict of interest."
Central to the debate have been Roger Bamkin's three simultaneous roles as English Wikipedia editor, WMUK trustee, and paid consultant for the innovative public projects MonmouthpediA, and more recently GibraltarpediA – projects that may have far-reaching benefits for the WMF movement, enabling on-the-spot access through mobile technology to the foundation's stored knowledge of locations of interest such as historical houses and monuments. The key to the innovation is the application of QRpedia QR code plaques (co-developed by Roger), which are installed at sites of interest under a trademark agreement with the foundation.
Roger declared his paid consultancy for Monmothpedia, in both his blog and candidature statements; nevertheless he was re-elected by the chapter's in May 2012 in the knowledge of his roles. He offered his resignation at least twice to the WMUK board to resign in relation to those declared conflicts. Questions related to English Wikipedia guidelines, especially those governing DYK, fall under the competence of the community and therefore will not be part of the review conducted by the advisor.
The organisations agreed that the WMF will take care of fundraising technicalities (processing) in the UK during the upcoming annual global fundraiser towards the end of the year. Under the new financial structure, this move has no direct consequences for the chapter's planned budget for the next fiscal year or for its five-year plan, and WMUK can apply for FDC funding. Thomas Dalton, the chapter's former treasurer, said this should be seen as an opportunity to broaden the chapter's financial basis and to become more financially independent of the WMF's annual campaign.
With the support of Cooley LLP, the WMF's attorneys, Holliday filed a motion on 26 September to variously strike and dismiss IB's complaints, asking for costs to be awarded against IB. The motion describes the original lawsuit as "a meritless action brought not to win, but to intimidate, threaten, and ultimately silence persons engaged in speech that IB dislikes but the Constitution protects." The motion contains 23 pages of legal argument, in which more than 40 US court judgements are cited. The motion sets out why IB cannot in this instance make prima facie cases of common-law trademark infringement, unfair competition, or civil conspiracy; and it accuses the plaintiff, among other things, of stifling debate, of cherry-picking email texts in its lawsuit in a way that distorts their meanings, and of "bluster".
Holliday had already filed papers the week before to transfer the IB lawsuit from the LA County Superior Court to the federal US District Court for the Central District of California. The motion will be heard on 5 November by Judge Stephen V. Wilson. The trial date for the original lawsuit has not yet been set. The Signpost understands that proceedings would, if it became necessary, relate also to the interests of Heilman, the other named defendant in IB's lawsuit.
Kelly Kay, the foundation's deputy counsel, said "We fully agree with Ryan’s position, and we hope his motion is successful. We think community volunteers like Ryan deserve our thanks, not meritless lawsuits."
The community can vote on proposals that have been submitted according to proper process between 07:00 UTC October 2–16 to determine the name.
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