Last week, a new option was added to the preferences page, enabling users to force edit summaries. If the option is turned on and an edit without a summary is attempted, MediaWiki will then ask for confirmation of the edit, reminding the user that no edit summary has been entered. This option had been available previously as a user script.

Developer Tim Starling has enabled the ParserFunction extension on all Wikimedia wikis. The extension allows for the simplification of logic code and "mathematical expressions and conditional constructs", according to Starling. Several templates have already been simplified because of the extension.

A loophole in the spam blacklist was corrected by developer Rob Church. Previously, any URL in the spam list could be added by inserting hidden comments (<!-- -->) in the address; the loophole was being exploited by those who wished to add the spam sites. The change now prohibits the addition of the sites listed, even if comments are inserted in the website address.

Server-related events, problems, and changes included:

• 12 April — English Wikipedia moved to separate cluster from other databases
• 13 April — CAPTCHAs enabled on Chinese Wikipedia to fight a vandalbot attack
• 15 April — English Wikipedia's main database server crashes, site briefly in read-only mode

A new anti-vandalism application, dubbed VandalProof, was recently released. Created by AmiDaniel and inspired by CryptoDerk's Vandal Fighter, the tool makes finding vandalism, warning users, checking out other contributions by vandals and watching articles easier. Because of security reasons, users must first be approved by the moderators of the application in order to use it. As of April 29, over 200 users had been approved for the tool. Please note that the application is exclusively for use with Windows based PCs with Internet Explorer.

Ragib, a native of Bangladesh and administrator on both the English and Bengali (or Bangla) Wikipedias, reports some developments with the Bengali Wikipedia in addition to its recent milestone (see below). He relates that the project was mostly dormant until a publicity campaign starting last month in Bangladeshi media brought in a number of new volunteers. Underrepresentation of particular languages has been a longstanding concern for Wikimedia Foundation projects. Bengali is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world, ranking somewhere between fourth and seventh, depending on how speakers are counted and whether non-native speakers are included.

• The Greek Wiktionary has reached 14,000 entries.
• The Japanese Wikipedia has reached 50,000 registered users.
• The Finnish Wiktionary has reached 20,000 entries.
• The Breton Wikipedia has reached 6,000 articles.
• The Vietnamese Wikipedia reaches 8,000 registered users.
• The Nynorsk Wikipedia has reached 15,000 articles.
• The Bengali Wikipedia has reached 1,000 articles.
• The Haitian Wikipedia has reached 1,000 articles.
• The Russian Wikipedia has reached 70,000 articles
• The Azeri Wikipedia has reached 3,000 articles.
• The Indonesian Wikipedia has reached 22,000 articles.
• The English Wikipedia has reached 50,000,000 edits since July 2002.
• The Cantonese Wikipedia has reached 200 articles.
• The Marathi Wikipedia has reached 400 registered users.
• The Slovenian Wikipedia has reached 3,000 registered users.
• The Ido Wiktionary has reached 40,000 pages.
• The Korean Wikipedia has reached 23,000 articles.

The Arbitration Committee closed two cases this week. In addition, a motion passed in a prior case.

A case against administrators involved in a wheel war was closed on Wednesday. As a result, Guanaco was desysopped, MarkSweep was banned from userbox-related administrative actions and cautioned regarding the use of rollback privileges, and StrangerInParadise was placed on personal attack parole for one year. The dispute involved abuse of administrative privileges, not all involving userboxes, and incivility and disruption. The Arbitration Committee also banned Guanaco from requesting adminship, in light of his previous desysopping in a prior case.

A case against ZAROVE was closed on Tuesday. As a result, ZAROVE was banned indefinitely from articles relating to Acharya S, and prohibited from making any comments relating to Acharya S. ZAROVE, a frequent editor on the page, had released personal information about the subject of the article.

A motion in the prior case against Lightbringer, to formally ban the user for one year for sockpuppetry, passed with 6 support votes and no opposition.

Cases were accepted this week involving users SqueakBox and Zapatancas, and Monicasdude (user page). Both are in the evidence phase.

Additional cases involving Messhermit (user page), Jacrosse (user page), Terryeo (user page), Marcosantezana (user page), users DarrenRay and 2006BC, FourthAve (user page), and editors on Depleted uranium are in the evidence phase.

Cases involving Aucaman (user page), Agapetos angel (user page), Locke Cole (user page), Lou franklin (user page) and editors on Bible verse articles are in the voting phase.

No motions to close are currently on the table.