Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/Single/2008-04-14
Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2008-04-14/From the editors Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2008-04-14/Traffic report Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2008-04-14/In the media
Bugs, Repairs, and Internal Operational News
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.14 (47ccde2), 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 thumb=filename feature that allowed images to be thumbnailed manually (rather than automatically by the software) was accidentally broken, but now works again (this was caused by the same change that caused the ClickFix bug). (r32933, bug 13624)
- The part of the protection form that deals with move protection is now less confusing to screen-readers. (r32999, bug 11039)
- The syntax <references /> no longer results in an error if no <ref> tags are found, but instead in an empty reference list. (r33003, bug 13653)
- The combination of parameters action=render and diff= now work on image description pages. (r33057, bug 13433)
- Clicking on the 'earliest' link for the history of a page with a large history no longer shows users with the ability to rollback a nonfunctional rollback link for the first entry on that page. (r33190, bug 13705)
- The title of the browser window when viewing Special:Search with no search term entered no longer incorrectly says 'Search results'. (r33192, bug 13708)
- Old redirect pages are now automatically added to the redirect table if they weren't there already when viewed or queried through the API. (This correction makes viewing redirects more efficient, and also corrects some bugs where API queries that automatically resolve redirects caused errors.) (r33133, bug 13651)
- The API parameter cmcontinue (to page through category member queries) now works correctly. (r33256, bug 13718)
- Special:Protectedpages no longer contains an excessively long line that can cause horizontal scrolling in smaller browser windows. (r33267, bug 13738)
- Deleting a user's user page no longer causes the user creation entry to disappear from Recent Changes (this bug did not affect the user creation log). (r33269, bug 13727)
New features
- The API can now filter returned recentchanges data by whether the changes refer to redirects. (r32916, bug 13618)
- The API now allows an old version of a page to be used with action=parse. (r33069, bug 13544)
- A new interface message MediaWiki:Mainpage-description has been added, which allows the link to the Main Page in the sidebar to be given text other than "Main Page". (bugs 6332 and 8617, r33084)
- A new magic word {{PAGESINCATEGORY:category}} is available, counting the number of pages total in a category; it returns 0 on error, and uses of that magic word count towards the same limit as #ifexist: (see related story). (r32932, bug 6943)
- Special:Whatlinkshere can now be filtered to show just redirects, transclusions, or links. (r33163, bug 6934)
- Emails sent via Special:Emailuser now identify the user who sent them. (r33178, bug 13714) (reverted in r33315)
- Indefinitely protected pages can now be filtered out from Special:Protectedpages. (r33238, bug 13722)
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.
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News and notes
Recap of April board meeting
The Wikimedia Foundation's Board of Trustees met on April 5–7. On April 10, board Chair Florence Devouard released a recap of the events of the meeting. The first day concerned the June Board elections, and possible reorganization, and a much-discussed Wikicouncil, composed of community members. According to Devouard, Jan-Bart de Vreede will report this outcome "within the next ten days" (by Sunday).
The second day concerned the search for a new Treasurer on the Board, and related issues, including audit news. Devouard indicated that she would give an update on the matter soon. The third day dealt with a report from Executive Director Sue Gardner, as well as various issues, including the press issues surrounding Jimmy Wales, resolutions on data retention and privacy policies, a Wikimania security assessment (which is to be posted by Mike Godwin), and a decision that no restrictions would be made on Board members becoming staff members, or vice versa.
A proposed "non-disparagement agreement" for board members also came up during the meeting, but was rejected by the Board.
Resolutions passed during the meeting have not yet been posted to the Foundation's resolutions page.
Briefly
- The Esperanto Wikipedia has reached 4000 registered users.
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The Report on Lengthy Litigation
The Arbitration Committee opened no new cases this week and closed two cases, leaving just two cases currently open.
Closed cases
- Betacommand 2: A case involving the actions of Betacommand and others in relation to BetacommandBot, a controversial bot which tags some non-fair-use-compliant images. Betacommand's actions had previously been discussed on a subpage of WP:AN. As a result of the case, Betacommand was instructed to remain civil, refrain from making personal attacks, operate BetacommandBot within the scope of policies, and refrain from "further instances of untoward conduct". Other remedies adopted, urged Betacommand to be more responsive to good-faith questions, advised editors that images and media may be periodically reviewed for compliance with non-free content criteria, and asked the community to re-examine policies regarding image deletion, bot-assisted and otherwise, and consider whether any updating of the bot approvals group's procedures is warranted.
- International Churches of Christ: A case involving disputes concerning the article on International Churches of Christ. As a result of the case, TransylvanianKarl was restricted from editing this and related articles anonymously or through other accounts, urged to refrain from editing these articles until he has familiarized himself with core policies, and instructed to comply with such policies.
Voting phase
- Strider12: A case involving an Abortion-related dispute between Strider12 and MastCell. A proposed remedy banning Strider12 has the support of two arbitrators.
- Prem Rawat: A case involving the actions of editors on Prem Rawat and related articles. A remedy that would place Rawat-related articles on article probation currently passes, and another, more recently proposed remedy instructing editors with a possible or perceived conflict of interest to comply with Wikipedia policies on NPOV and conflict of interest has the support of four arbitrators.
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