A team of students, academics, researchers, and Wikipedia contributors have produced "Why Medical Schools Should Embrace Wikipedia", a case study of the Wikipedia Education Program, published in the journal Academic Medicine. (I was one of the co-authors.) The research presents the study method and outcomes for several groups of medical students editing Wikipedia health-related articles. This paper is the first academic case-study of the Program. It models a method for reporting audience reach for Wikipedia editing projects, grants credibility for Wikipedia editing in the sensitive space of medical schools, and presents a thorough classroom outreach and follow-up model which interested instructors may replicate.
In the study, a class on editing Wikipedia was offered between 2013 and 2015 to final-year medical students. Collectively, 43 students edited 43 Wikipedia articles. Student contributions were reviewed by classroom peers, topic experts, and the Wikipedia community. Following the class, the Wikipedia articles edited by the students were accessed more than 22 million times by Wikipedia readers. The authors of the paper argue that students met learning goals by editing Wikipedia, and that Wikipedia is an efficient way for anyone to share information with a large, relevant audience.
The research is significant because Wikipedia continues to gain popularity as a source of medical information among health-science professionals and students. Having a Wikipedia editing case-study in a medical school is especially pertinent because readers use the information to inform healthcare decisions.
Historically, many Wikipedia outreach projects have focused on reporting Wikipedia participation. This study highlighted the impact to readers by tracking Wikipedia pageviews of the articles edited by the students. Although a comparison to other publishing channels was outside the scope of the study, the paper does provocatively ask if a student-written article "garners over 100,000 views/ month, might those edits constitute the greatest contribution to the medical literature in that student’s nascent career?”
Following this paper’s publication, the authors make the following calls to action:
First, they would like Wikipedians to support instructors in considering class projects that include student Wikipedia editing. When an instructor and students can accept the time involved in the Wikipedia Education Program, the students gain practical experience in new media publishing; Wikipedia editors access high-quality information to process; professors have the opportunity to guide text in their field of expertise that will be widely read around the world; the school gains prestige for making a real-world impact, and Wikipedia readers have access to improved information in Wikipedia articles.
Second, the authors would like ask whether any method exists which is more efficient to share general interest information than Wikipedia. Right now, Wikipedia’s significance is broadly doubted in education, publishing, and the media. Despite the doubts, perhaps no other organization reaches a larger or more relevant audience than Wikipedia in medicine, or any other field for that matter. Are there other reputable authorities who will make their readership metrics public for comparison? LR
| “ | After a courageous battle with cancer, my loving husband, my best friend, and a wonderful father passed away peacefully yesterday morning. Thanks to everyone who helped us through this journey. | ” |
Thus Ray Saintonge's wife announced the death of the longtime Wikimedian. Raymond Michael Saintonge, better known to many Wikimedians as User:Eclecticology, died at the age of 73 on September 12, 2016, with his family at his side.
True to his username, Ray impacted numerous facets of the Wikimedia world in a wiki career of 14 years. His local newspaper in Richmond, British Columbia published a death notice, and many Wikimedians learned of his passing through a message posted to Facebook (not publicly visible), and republished to the Wikimedia-L email list, comprising a short message from his family in English and French.
Ray first edited Wikipedia in February 2002, with a series of additions to the Library of Congress catalog scheme page. Making more than 1,000 edits in his first month, to topics as varied as chess, Shakespeare, indigenous peoples, as well as service pages like disambiguation and talk pages, he had clearly found a platform that facilitated exploration of his varied interests. His English Wikipedia user page still carries a barnstar, awarded in 2011, for his contributions to The Cambridge Modern History. Ray was among those credited by Andrew Lih, in the acknowledgments for his 2009 book Wikipedia Revolution, as among "those who gave special insight on the community".
But Ray didn't stop with Wikipedia; according to his several user pages, he was involved with the launch of Wikisource, and was Wiktionary's first bureaucrat. Over the years, he accumulated 36,000 edits to 62 Wikimedia sites. His early and ongoing engagement was cited in a 2008 email discussion building the case for registration of the Wikimedia trademarks in Canada. One illustration of the breadth of Ray's interests was his work on the "Authors lists" for the site Canada's Early Women Writers, a project based at the University of Alberta, where his detailed work is in evidence in the discussions at the bottom of the initial page.
Ray attended each of the first ten annual Wikimania conferences, beginning in Frankfurt in 2005. He shared this distinction with just seven others. Colleagues praised his unwavering attendance, his pleasant manner, and his insights in their comments on Wikimedia-L.
Ray's contributions to Meta Wiki reflect his ongoing interest in the policies and organizational structures of the Wikimedia movement. For many years he was a valued participant in mailing lists such as Wikimedia-L (previously known as Foundation-L). He ran for a seat on the Wikimedia Foundation's Board of Trustees in 2008; his candidate statement offers a glimpse into his background, his personality, and his philosophical views relating to Wikimedia. He mentioned his career as a tax consultant, and his volunteer work in his son's school district; and described himself as a "manic" book collector and a "clutterholic". He emphasized his interest in governance issues, and in the importance of grassroots leadership and the autonomy of Wikimedia projects. He expressed concern about technical obstacles to editing, and advocated for chapters taking a leading role in decentralizing Wikimedia's organizational structure. In 2014, he added his name to a letter to Wikimedia Foundation leadership (which I wrote), reflecting his ongoing interest in less centralized control.
Ray's interest in governance and politics never pushed aside his core appreciation for sharing knowledge, or his drive to connect with colleagues. A moment recalled by Benoit Rochon, a colleague at Wikimedia Canada who was visiting Ray's home, reveals that passion: Ray, with eyes sparkling, handed Benoit the oldest book he has ever held in his life. Llywrch—himself no stranger to the challenges of an unusual username—recalled Ray sharing his own amusement that nobody could pronounce his username.
Ray served on the Chapters Committee from 2010 to 2013, during which time it changed its name to the Affiliations Committee (AffCom), and adjusted its scope. It was during Ray's tenure on AffCom that I made his acquaintance at several conferences; we shared a hotel room, and several enjoyable conversations, during the 2011 Wikimania conference. Ray and his colleagues on AffCom grappled with governance issues that continue to the present day, as covered in the previous edition of the Signpost.
In 2011, Ray joined the Board of Directors of Wikimedia Canada, where he served for several years. In 2012, the founder of the site Wikilivres (an independently run site that complements Wikisource, hosting books which are in the Public Domain in Canada but not yet in the United States) needed to step aside; Ray, who had participated there since 2009, took the reins. The Wikilivres community is currently discussing its plans going forward, and appears likely to transition smoothly to a new operator.
Marcus Cyron has written In memory of Ray on the German Wikipedia's Kurier.
Those who knew or knew of Ray are encouraged to share memories in the comments below, or on one of his various user pages. Ray's family would appreciate donations in his name to the BC Cancer Foundation or the Salvation Army Rotary Hospice House. PF
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Nineteen featured articles were promoted these weeks.
Eleven featured lists were promoted these weeks.
One featured portal was promoted these weeks.
Twelve featured pictures were promoted these weeks.
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A new case has been accepted by the Arbitration Committee. Filing party Banedon requested a case against The Rambling Man, an administrator since 2007 and helper at In The News and Today's Featured List, alleging that the editor has long-term civility issues.
Eight members of the committee voted to accept the case, with Casliber recusing. Arbitrator DGG, who voted to accept the case, stated "there seem to be unresolved problems", making reference to the several ANI cases being made on The Rambling Man since 2014. DeltaQuad opposed the case, stating double jeopardy as the reason.
On 9 September, the committee announced that it is performing a round of checkuser and oversight appointments. Arbitrators DeltaQuad and Opabinia regalis will oversee the process. Applications closed at 23:59, 20 September 2016 (UTC). For more details, see the 2016 CUOS appointments page.
Your Top 10 most-viewed Wikipedia articles for the weeks of August 28 – September 3, September 4–10, September 11–17, and September 18-24, 2016.
For the full top-25 lists (and archives back to January 2013), see WP:TOP25. See this section for an explanation of any exclusions. For a list of the most edited articles every week, see WP:MOSTEDITED.
Lull: The end of the Olympics has brought a bit of a lull this week. Actor Gene Wilder's death (#1) received significant attention and 3.5 million views, also lifting his second wife Gilda Radner (#8), who died of ovarian cancer in 1989, into the Top 10. Netflix's Stranger Things continues to show strange staying power, at #3 this week. The 2016 MTV Video Music Awards also propelled a number of performers into the Top 25, and Rihanna to #9. Oddly though, after our commentary on Reddit last week, a full six articles apparently fueled by Reddit made it into the Top 25 (all outside the Top 10). This includes slots 22–25, which wouldn't have made it last week when the threshold to make the Top 25 was a bit higher. And though I happen to know that #25, Thomas Day, was actually the subject of the "Stuff You Misssed in History Class" podcast the day before its Reddit thread, so that was no doubt the original inspiration for the post.
As prepared by Milowent, for the week of August 28 to September 3, 2016, the ten most popular articles on Wikipedia, as determined from the newly revamped WP:5000 report were:
| Rank | Article | Class | Views | Image | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gene Wilder | 
|
3,500,029 |  |
The American comedian, born Jerome Silberman (a fact I just learned), very popular in a number of 1970s and 1980s films, died at home in Connecticut on August 29. He had been out of the spotlight for a number of years and died of complications from Alzheimer's disease, a condition he had kept private. |
| 2 | Colin Kaepernick | 
|
1,294,476 |  |
This American football player is getting a lot of attention for choosing to sit during the national anthem, as a protest against the treatment of people of color, see Colin_Kaepernick#National_anthem_protest. There's a lot of strong opinions going around America about this, so I'll leave mine out for once. |
| 3 | Stranger Things (TV series) |
|
999,668 |  |
This Netflix science-fiction series is basically an 8-hour homage to early 80s kid-centric flicks like E.T., The Goonies and Explorers, though aimed mostly at adults. It has been a smash hit for Netflix, evidenced by its continuing appearance on this chart – seven straight weeks. Netflix recently ordered a second season. |
| 4 | Juan Gabriel |
|
925,762 | .jpg) |
This Mexican singer and songwriter died of a heart attack at his home in California on August 28. He was clearly very popular in the Spanish-speaking world, as the Spanish version of his article got well over two million hits in the same timeframe. |
| 5 | Queen Victoria | 
|
848,142 |  |
Not a Google Doodle or a significant anniversary, but the debut of the British television show Victoria. |
| 6 | Killing of Harambe | 
|
664,596 |  |
What began as a heartfelt reaction to what some felt was the unnecessary killing of a silverback western lowland gorilla (pictured, though not him specifically) has morphed over the last three months into online trolling and racist abuse, along with the standard targeted misogyny. What the troll army hopes to accomplish is never clear, but whatever it is it doesn't involve helping gorillas. |
| 7 | Deaths in 2016 | 
|
663,187 |  |
The views for the annual list of deaths are remarkably consistent on a day to day basis. It was consistently higher in the first half of 2016 with a string of highly notable deaths. |
| 8 | Gilda Radner | 
|
625,108 |  |
The Saturday Night Live original cast member, film actress, and wife of #1 died in 1989 from ovarian cancer. |
| 9 | Rihanna |
|
605,079 |  |
The singer was featured at the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards. |
| 10 | Pablo Escobar |
|
601,802 | .jpg) |
Narcos is back. |
Plata y mas plata: Wikipedia's viewers seem determined to tune the real world out this week, with pop culture in overwhelming dominance once again. And leading the charge is, of course, Netflix's series Narcos, which was similarly dominant during its first season last year. A close runner up is Clint Eastwood's hero hagiography Sully, which, like his previous American Sniper, came with a spicy touch of controversy to turn eyeballs its way. Even the real world seemed focused on the departed, since two of the non-media generated entries were both dead icons: Mother Teresa and Steve Irwin. The only genuine bit of real world horror was the troubling early release of Brock Turner, over which many of our users likely felt a very personal fear.
As prepared by Serendipodous, for the week of September 4 to 10, the ten most popular articles on Wikipedia, as determined from the newly revamped WP:5000 report were:
| Rank | Article | Class | Views | Image | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pablo Escobar |
|
2,309,885 |  |
Narcos is back. And apparently people weren't sufficiently informed about its subject last year, because numbers are up fourfold on last week and he's reclaimed his throne at the top of this chart. A suspiciously high 75% mobile count, but there's no reason for it not to be here. |
| 2 | Mother Teresa |
|
1,155,944 |  |
The Albanian missionary, who, depending on your point of view, was either the modern paragon of holy virtue or a hideous amalgam of all the faults of organised religion, was canonised this week as Saint Teresa of Calcutta before a crowd of thousands. |
| 3 | Ann Coulter |
|
987,975 |  |
It must have looked good on paper. Have not-quite-has-been actor Rob Lowe over for a celebrity roast and get professional aggressor Ann Coulter to lead the attack. Unfortunately, after years of bilious vitriol spewed through various media at basically everyone who wasn't her, it seems Ann had reached some kind of critical mass, because the tide of battle turned, and everyone decided to roast her instead. |
| 4 | Stranger Things (TV series) |
|
846,657 | |
This Netflix science-fiction series is basically an 8-hour homage to early 80s kid-centric flicks like E.T., The Goonies and Explorers, though aimed mostly at adults. It has been a smash hit for Netflix, evidenced by its continuing appearance on this chart – eight straight weeks. Netflix recently ordered a second season. |
| 5 | Narcos |
|
752,660 |  |
The second season of the TV series about the rise of Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar (see #1) premiered in its entirety on Netflix on September 2. |
| 6 | Harley-Davidson |
|
675,195 |  |
The standard toy for middle-aged, middle class white guys to enact their rebellious and countercultural fantasies got a boost this week thanks to Harley and the Davidsons, a three-part drama that aired to middling reviews but stellar ratings, giving the Discovery Channel their best week in years. |
| 7 | Deaths in 2016 |
|
647,054 | |
The views for the annual list of deaths are remarkably consistent on a day to day basis. It is consistently higher in the first half of 2016 with a string of highly notable deaths, but things seem to be calming down a bit. |
| 8 | 2016 Summer Paralympics |
|
644,210 | .jpg) |
The Olympics's less heralded encore got underway this week in Rio de Janeiro. We in the UK are good at Olympic events because we spend lottery money on them, but in recent years we've given special notice to the Paralympics, mainly because we did them so well last time. |
| 9 | Rob Lowe |
|
615,920 |  |
The former Brat Packer and West Wing star was the intended target of a celebrity roast on Comedy Central this week, but the format eventually collapsed when the team turned on Ann Coulter (see #3). |
| 10 | Killing of Harambe |
|
554,465 | |
What began as a heartfelt reaction to what some felt was the unnecessary killing of a silverback western lowland gorilla (pictured, though not him specifically) has morphed over the last three months into online trolling and racist abuse, along with the standard targeted misogyny. What the troll army hopes to accomplish is never clear, but whatever it is it doesn't involve helping gorillas. |
Anniversaries: The anniversaries of historic events are frequent visitors to this Report, but instead of being led by the 15th anniversary of the September 11 attacks (#4) this week, as we expected, we have the 11th anniversary of the Corrupted Blood incident (#1) video game event, which occurred in World of Warcraft and in which literally no one died, even the game's characters which can be reincarnated. We can all scratch our head over that one, but the ways of the internet are complex. See the chart comments for more on that. And the upcoming 20th anniversary of the Murder of JonBenét Ramsey comes in at #10 because of a new miniseries.
As prepared by Milowent, for the week of September 11 to 17, the ten most popular articles on Wikipedia, as determined from the newly revamped WP:5000 report were:
| Rank | Article | Class | Views | Image | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Corrupted Blood incident |
|
1,636,405 |  |
Like professional wrestling, gaming is an activity that is very popular among a group of the population, yet most of the rest of us are not very aware of the goings-on in that area. And while wrestling events often reach the top of this chart (SummerSlam 2016 hit #1 three weeks ago), gaming events simply don't. Yet, the 11th anniversary of this "virtual plague" in World of Warcraft drew a great deal of attention on September 13–14 (and 1.4M views on Sept 13, the actual anniversary). In this event, a game update included a new character that could inflict a "corrupted blood" disease that damaged characters over time. It could spread to nearby characters, but was not intended to spread out of the area where it was introduced. A programming error allowed the disease to spread, and it caused death and mass mayhem for a week. A primary driver of traffic was a Reddit thread on the /r/gaming subreddit. Normally only Reddit threads from the todayilearned subreddit can direct enough traffic to this chart, but the gaming thread already has over 5700 upvotes. Of course, the fact that this event got more views than the 15th anniversary of the September 11 attacks (#4) does not mean the this virtual plague got more worldwide attention. Instead it is just another example of how Wikipedia article popularity is only a proxy for measuring cultural attention. |
| 2 | Pablo Escobar |
|
1,494,049 | |
Down from 2.3 million views last view, but Narcos is back on your television screens for another week. Mobile views are on the high side again (73%) but nothing suggests these views are not legitimate. |
| 3 | Alexis Arquette |
|
1,320,202 |  |
Arquette, part of the Arquette family of actors, and known for transitioning her gender to female, died on September 11 at age 47 of undisclosed causes. |
| 4 | September 11 attacks |
|
1,155,678 |  |
The fifteenth anniversary of the worst terrorist attack in world history fell this week. It fell on the first day of the week, so that may be why it is only #4 for the week this year, as compared to #2 the last two years. |
| 5 | Roanoke Colony |
|
870,775 |  |
The sixth season of American Horror Story, dubbed American Horror Story: Roanoke debuted on September 14. It invokes the story of England's failed attempt to establish a colony in America in the 1580s, where by 1590 all inhabitants had disappeared and could not be located. The only clue left behind by the "lost colony" was the word "CROATOAN" carved into a post. |
| 6 | Yma Sumac |
|
811,712 |  |
Google ran a Doodle on what would have been the 94th birthday of the Peruvian soprano. The Doodle only appeared in the United States and certain South American countries (of course including Peru). |
| 7 | Donald Trump |
|
688,121 |  |
Press coverage in the United States is at 25% Donald Trump every day, it seems. On September 16, Trump promised to give a press conference regarding his current views on birtherism. Starting in 2011, Trump had led the charge into the specious claims that Barack Obama was not born in the United States. At the press conference, Trump mostly touted his new D.C. hotel (where the event was held) and endorsements from some veterans, and concluded the conference by quickly admitting Obama was born in the United States, and then claiming Hillary Clinton had been the one pushing the rumor, apparently to deflect any implications of his years of obvious and absurd lying about the subject. The press has been highly critical of the event, with CNN anchor Jake Tapper even calling it a "political Rick roll". |
| 8 | Edward Snowden |
|
671,125 |  |
The film Snowden was released in the United States on September 16. |
| 9 | UFC 203 |
|
667,115 |  |
Stipe Miocic defeated Alistair Overeem is the featured match of this September 10 event held at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. |
| 10 | Murder of JonBenét Ramsey |
|
649,805 |  |
In addition to the O. J. Simpson murder case, the 1990s also brought us this second over-covered over-sensationalized and exploited murder. A new mini-series on American television 'The Case of: JonBenét Ramsey has brought another round of attention as we approach the 20th anniversary of the girl's death. |
J'Accuse! pour pauvre petit JonBenét: In the United States, hundreds of children are murdered every year, and, thanks to an average homicide clearance rate of 64%, will likely have their deaths unanswered. But we as a culture, and perhaps as a species, can't handle that. So instead we shine lights on specific examples particularly deviant or prurient in their details, dubbed "media friendly", allowing us to shelter in our moral outrage. And boy did the murder of poor JonBenét Ramsey give us the chance to do that. JonBenét was a product of that strangely American industry, child beauty pageants, which, with their overly made up contestants made to look like living Barbie dolls, gave her murder a slightly paedophilic cast despite having no proven connection to her murder. And with the media having anointed her as their icon of shattered innocence du jour, it is unsurprising that, with the approaching 20th anniversary of her death, the media have again chosen to anoint themselves the sole arbiters of truth and justice in her murder. Several television specials accounting the details of her death or offering new "evidence" have been shown or are in development, but the clear driver of views for this list is The Case of: JonBenét Ramsey, a CBS "documentary" that aired on Monday and Tuesday this week. Unlike the more cautious (rational) approaches taken by other networks, CBS decided to flat out name their chosen suspect, JonBenét's then nine-year-old brother, Burke. Needless to say, they're now getting threatened with defamation suits, and in the ensuing lahar of speculation, people turned to Wikipedia for clarity. He're hoping we provided it.
Speaking of unfounded accusations, rumours are again flying around the divorce of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, with echoes of Brad Pitt's previous divorce coaxing the media to turn on poor Marion Cotillard, who still managed to get her own back online. Celebrity presence on this list was also due to actual accomplishment, however; the Emmys also featured.
As prepared by Serendipodous, for the week of September 18 to 24, the 10 most popular articles on Wikipedia, as determined from the WP:5000 report were:
| Rank | Article | Class | Views | Image | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Murder of JonBenét Ramsey |
|
1,155,334 | |
In the lead up to its 20th anniversary, the puzzling murder of this six-year-old beauty queen has become a topic of discussion thanks largely to the suggestions (as opposed to outright accusations, mind you) levelled by the CBS documentary The Case of: JonBenét Ramsey. |
| 2 | Angelina Jolie |
|
1,140,991 | .jpg) |
As I have said many times in the past, I care not a jot for the private lives of celebrities. Divorces are never pleasant, least of all for the children, of which she has many, so I hope that, once the walls of tabloid illusion are blown away in the wind, she'll be able to provide them with a stable environment in which to grow up. |
| 3 | Pablo Escobar |
|
1,091,369 | |
Narcos is back on your television screens, meaning Don Pablo is back on the list for another week. |
| 4 | Marion Cotillard |
|
884,417 |  |
You know who else cares not a jot about the private lives of celebrities? Marion Cotillard, who filmed the spy thriller Allied with Jolie's husband Brad Pitt in the lead up to the divorce. This led to speculation that an affair between the two was the catalyst for the proceedings, presumably on the grounds that she is the only woman on Earth with whom one could contemplate cheating on Angelina Jolie. Cotillard, who by all accounts is in a longterm and happy relationship with French actor Guillaume Canet, with whom she is currently expecting her second child, refuted the claims with a withering post on Instagram that included the delicious line, "This crafted conversation isn't distressing. And to all the media and the haters who are quick to pass judgment, I sincerely wish you a swift recovery." Burn! I'd like to call her wonderfully down to earth, but she also believes in the moon landing hoax and 9/11 conspiracy theories. |
| 5 | Brad Pitt |
|
851,307 |  |
Ever since starting this list I've had that abominable song by Shania Twain rolling through my head: "OK, so you're Brad Pitt! That don't impress me much!" It seems those words were a curse. A very, very, very, long-delayed curse, but a curse nonetheless. Not that Brad Pitt is likely to be lonely long. |
| 6 | Deaths in 2016 |
|
625,921 | |
The views for the annual list of deaths are remarkably consistent on a day to day basis. It is consistently higher in the first half of 2016 with a string of highly notable deaths, but things seem to be calming down a bit. |
| 7 | Pink (2016 film) |
|
593,314 |  |
This Bollywood drama, starring Amitabh Bachchan (pictured), about three girls falsely accused of prostitution and attempted murder by the boys who sexually assaulted them, grossed ₹210.5 million ($3.2 million) in its opening weekend. Despite its heavy subject matter, being Bollywood, it still has musical numbers. |
| 8 | Stranger Things (TV series) |
|
589,801 | |
This Netflix science-fiction series is basically an 8-hour homage to early 80s kid-centric flicks like E.T., The Goonies and Explorers, though aimed mostly at adults. It has been a smash hit for Netflix, evidenced by its continuing appearance on this chart -- ten straight weeks. Netflix recently ordered a second season. |
| 9 | Richard Garfield |
|
570,257 | .jpg) |
The creator of the first ever trading card game, Magic: The Gathering, is the great-great grandson of US President James Garfield, as learned in a Reddit thread this week. |
| 10 | Jennifer Aniston |
|
542,402 |  |
Despite having nothing whatsoever to do with her ex-husband's current breakup, the tabloids have latched her onto his every relational flutter for so many years that she's now back in the storm by sheer association. |
Category sorting has been revamped on English Wikipedia. Titles are now sorted according to the Unicode collation algorithm (phabricator task). The most noticeable change is that characters which differ only in diacritics are now sorted together. Also, numeric sorting is now supported, closing a 10-year-old bug. This should, in many cases, alleviate the need for custom keys to be defined using the DEFAULTSORT behavior switch.
It took approximately a week to regenerate all of the sort keys for English Wikipedia. During this time (29 August to 6 September), sorting in categories was unreliable, prompting reports and discussion in several threads on the technical Village Pump (now archived). One remaining issue is that hyphens are now sorted before commas. This means that hyphenated surnames are sorted earlier if articles use DEFAULTSORT keys of the form "Surname, First name". For example, sorting Jessica Ennis-Hill (sort key "Ennis-Hill, Jessica") before Andy Ennis (sort key "Ennis, Andy"). The issue is being investigated. One proposed solution is to switch to using "Surname First name" in DEFAULTSORT keys.
Improvements to category sorting were one of the projects worked on by the WMF's Community Tech team. The "Numerical sorting in categories" proposal was ranked #5 on the 2015 Community Wishlist Survey, having received 85 support votes. The new collation has also been deployed to Swedish Wikipedia, and may be rolled out to other wikis which agree to switch to the new sorting system.
The Template Parameters tool is now available on Tool Labs, for viewing template parameter usage. It works with TemplateData to show the validity of parameter names that are used in template transclusions. For a required parameter, it can display a list of pages where the template is missing the parameter. The tool also shows commonly used values for each parameter. The data is updated monthly.
As an example, the parameter usage for Template:Multicol is as follows (as of 1 September):
| Parameter name | Valid name? | Value count | Unique values (count) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yes | 706 | > 50 unique values |
| 2 | Yes | 28 | 0 (1 page) 0.38em (1 page) 0px (1 page) 10px (1 page) 2px (9 pages) 3em (2 pages) 3px (3 pages) 4px (6 pages) 6px (1 page) 8px (3 pages) |
| width | No | 16 | 100% (3 pages) 40% (1 page) 50% (2 pages) 60% (1 page) 70% (3 pages) 90% (4 pages) 95% (1 page) auto (1 page) |
Newly approved bot tasks
Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available. [1][2][3]
When you preview the MediaWiki:Captcha-ip-whitelist page it will show validation output of the listed IP addresses instead of the list of addresses only. This can help you to identify if your whitelist rules will work or not. [6]
<maplink> on all Wikipedias. It creates a link to a full screen map. [8][9]<maplink> and <mapframe> can now use geodata from Open Street Map if Open Street Map has defined a region and given it an ID in Wikidata. You can use this to draw on the map and add information. [10][11] A new user right will allow most users to change the content model of pages. [15][16]
The new version of MediaWiki will hopefully be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from 20 September. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from 21 September. It will be on all wikis from 22 September (calendar). This is the version that was meant to go out last week. The CheckUser extension could work differently in the future. There is a Request for Comments to figure out how. [19]
