Please keep in mind that features listed here may not be live on the English Wikipedia yet. Also, in general, features that do not affect the English Wikipedia, such as new extensions that are not enabled here, are not listed.
This page covers revisions up to r20946.
New features
- To help with javascript and other programming, a new javascript variable
wgAction
has been added. The value of this variable is the action from the page's URL, defaulting to "view" when simply viewing an article. (T10421; r20754)
Fixed bugs
- Users are now warned when uploading an image with an uppercase extension if one with the same lowercase extension exists or if uploading a scaled down version of an existing image. (T5069; r20563)
- The block log will now show expanded text instead of abbreviations for the block flags (i.e. "anonymous users only" instead of "anononly", "account creation disabled" instead of "nocreate", etc.) (r20583)
- If a page is both normally protected and cascade protected, the regular protection message will be shown when attempting to edit the page. (T11401; r20646)
- Special:Renameuser now doesn't allow renaming a user to an invalid username, and does allow renaming a user with an invalid username to a valid one. (T6939; r20841)
- The failed rollback message now parses the edit summary of the most recent edit, instead of displaying raw wikicode. (T11466; r20875)
- The "My contributions" link is now bold when viewing your own contributions. (T6764; r20902)
Internationalization
Internationalization help is always appreciated! See m:Localization statistics for how complete the translations of languages you know are, and post any updates to bugzilla.
Wikipedia officially a top ten site, according to Alexa
For the first time, Wikipedia has become a top ten-ranked website over a three-month period, according to Alexa.com. Wikipedia has in recent months hovered around the daily rank of 9 during the week, and 10 or 11 on weekends, but Wikipedia remained at a three-month rank of 11 until this week.
Version 0.5
Version 0.5, a DVD release of 1,964 Wikipedia articles, will be released this week at WikipediaOnDVD.com. The release date has been pushed back, most recently due to an issue involving a banking system; its current release date is scheduled for Tuesday, 3 April.
Checkuser access
The Arbitration Committee put up a page last week inviting contributors to apply for checkuser access. In three days, 44 people expressed interest, but the page was shut down again with the comment, "The Arbitration Committee has concluded that this is the wrong approach to finding checkuser candidates."
Attribution vote
The possible merger of the Verifiability and No original research policies into Wikipedia:Attribution is the subject of a one-week poll scheduled to end 6 April.
An experimental dispute resolution process called community enforceable mediation, which would allow established editors involved in disputes to agree to enforceable remedies in mediation, has started a 90-day trial period.
Record month for featured articles
The number of featured articles showed a record increase in the month of March, with a net gain of 70 articles (88 were selected and 18 removed). The last two months have reversed, at least temporarily, the steady decline in featured articles as a proportion of the total number of articles. Although at one point more than 1 in 1000 articles was featured, the ratio is currently well below that threshold, partly because increasing standards mean that older selections no longer satisfy the criteria and may be removed after a review process.
Briefly
The Arbitration Committee opened one case this week, and closed two cases.
Closed cases
- Barrett v. Rosenthal: A case brought by Peter M. Dodge involving the actions of Ilena and Fyslee. According to Dodge, Ilena was initially reported to AN/I for "posting links to sites that some considered to be attack sites". Various users attempted to assist Ilena, but "This was sabotaged...when Fyslee posted a link to a site that attacked Ilena in a personal manner". The title of the case refers to Barrett v. Rosenthal, a decision of the Supreme Court of California, which ruled that internet users and providers were not liable for the republication of defamatory statements, which some editors believe provides protection for Wikipedia. It has been alleged that some editors were involved in the real-life litigation of the case. As a result of the case, Ilena was banned for one year, and indefinitely banned from editing articles relating to alternative medicine.
New case
- Betacommand: A case involving the actions of Betacommand. Some of Betacommand's blocks have been questioned, and his bot-related actions have led to his removal from the bot approvals group. Betacommand has noted that he makes numerous username-related blocks, and that most of his blocks were appropriate.
Evidence phase
- Freedom skies: A case involving the actions of Freedom skies. JFD and others allege that he has edit warred to push his point of view. He denies the allegations.
- Falun Gong: A case regarding the conduct of various editors on the Falun Gong article. Olaf Stephanos and Asdfg12345 allege that Samuel Luo has edit-warred in removing pro-Falun Gong material from the article, while Luo, Tomananda and others allege that Stephanos, Asdfg and others have edit-warred (including page blanking) in removing anti-Falun Gong material.
Voting phase
- Darwinek: A case involving the actions of Darwinek. Thatcher131 alleges that he has misused blocks and rollback, and has edit warred and been incivil. Darwinek promises that "I will never abuse that powers (sic) again in the future." A remedy proposed by Paul August would result in Darwinek's desysopping; no other arbitrators have voted on the case.
- Lukas19-LSLM: A case involving the conduct of Lukas19 and LSLM. Both parties allege incivility. Remedies supported by five users would ban both parties for one year.
- Armenia-Azerbaijan: A case, brought by ex-arbitrator Dmcdevit, regarding a dispute between Armenian and Azerbaijani editors on a large number of articles. Remedies supported by 4 to 5 arbitrators would impose a variety of bans and paroles on various editors.
Motion to close
- InShaneee: A case involving the actions of Inshaneee. 81.179.115.188 (formerly Worldtraveller) alleges that InShaneee inappropriately blocked him in a dispute in which he was involved in violation of WP:BP, and that he responded agressively to criticism. InShaneee in his statement points to an apology admitting the block was premature, and denying any aggressive response. Remedies would pass, desysopping him for ten days and admonishing him.