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.12 (8b8c762), 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.

• Special:CategoryTree now no longer accidentally confuses non-category pages with categories with the same name. (r25920, bug 11383)

• The page history now has a different <title> from the page itself, so that they can be distinguished in browser histories; administrators can customize this via MediaWiki:History-title. (r25952, bug 11151)
• When a <ref> tag has no content and no tag with the same name to copy the content from, it now displays an obvious error message rather than a blank reference. (r26045, bug 11426)

• After an unusually heated debate, the Siberian Wikipedia (http://ru-sib.wikipedia.org) was closed; for more information, see m:Proposals for closing projects/Closure of Siberian Wikipedia and bug 11397.

• Internationalisation has been continuing as normal; help is always appreciated! See m:Localization statistics for how complete the translations of languages you know are, and post any updates to bugzilla or use Betawiki.

This week, The New York Times opened their archives, allowing free access to all articles written from 1987 to the present, and those written from 1851 to 1922 (those in the public domain). Some articles from 1923 to 1986 will be available for free, while others may be available for a charge. This may help sourcing on some articles, providing a large repository of articles available to all for free sourcing.

The first French language Wikipedia conference is to be held in Paris on October 19 and 20, organised by the French WMF chapter. Some users from the English Wikipedia are attending. The goal is, roughly translated, "to explore concrete problems : How can we attract specialists who can guarantee the quality of a large number of articles ? How can make users more aware of the importance of reliable sources? ... The conference wishes to bring together scientists, teachers, experts and all contributors who care about the project."

Wikimania 2008 bids closed this week. A public meeting was held on Sunday; a log of the meeting has been made available. Representatives from Atlanta, Alexandria and Cape Town commented on their bids; no Toronto representatives were present at the meeting.

The final jury decision is scheduled for October 6.

• The Wikipedia in Cantonese has reached 5,000 articles and 100,000 edits.
• The Portuguese Wikisource has reached 15,000 text-units.
• The Italian Wikipedia has reached 350,000 articles.
• The Vietnamese Wikipedia has reached 50,000 registered users.
• The Kurdish Wikipedia has reached 10,000 articles.
• The Indonesian Wikipedia has reached 1,000,000 edits.

The Arbitration Committee accepted no new cases this week, and closed one case. However, there has been considerable controversy on the Attack Sites case (below).

• COFS: A case initiated by Durova based on a discussion at the community sanctions noticeboard. The case involves allegations of tendentious editing by various editors, sockpuppetry, conflicts of interest, and other user conduct issues on Scientology related articles. As a result of the case, COFS (short for Church of Scientology) was instructed to select a new username, as well as asked to refrain from recruiting editors to Scientology-related topics; Anynobody was prohibited from harassing Justanother, who was urged to avoid interesting himself in Anynobody's actions; and all Scientology-related articles were placed on article probation.

• Liancourt Rocks: A case involving alleged WP:NPOV violations on the Liancourt Rocks article.

• Bharatveer: A case involving alleged edit-warring, incivility and personal attacks by Bharatveer on India-related articles.

• Digwuren: A case involving alleged POV-pushing and incivility by Digwuren and alleged sockpuppets.

• SevenOfDiamonds: A case involving alleged abusive sockpuppetry and other misconduct by SevenOfDiamonds. SevenOfDiamonds vigorously denies the allegations, and alleges that MONGO has harassed him. Kirill Lokshin has proposed remedies restricting the two parties from interacting with each other.

• Dalmatia: A case involving a dispute between Italian and Croatian editors on articles relating to the Dalmatia region. Kirill Lokshin has proposed remedies restricting the editing of Giovanni Giove and DIREKTOR.

• DreamGuy 2: A case involving alleged persistent incivility by DreamGuy. Kirill Lokshin has proposed a remedy restricting DreamGuy's editing.

• The Troubles: A case involving a large number of editors on articles related to The Troubles. Some editors attempted to withdraw from the case when its scope was widened at the request of an arbitrator to cover the entire area rather than only the behaviour of Vintagekits, but in accordance with arbitration policy, these attempts, along with other changes to statements after the case opened, were reverted by the clerk. Remedies placing a group of editors on probation have the support of two arbitrators.

• Attack sites: A case involving disputes over whether the attack sites section of WP:NPA should prohibit links from articles in the mainspace to websites which include pages attacking Wikipedia editors. Fred Bauder has proposed a principle stating that "In contrast to the subjects of articles, Wikipedia users and administrators are generally of markedly lower social status", and remedies desysopping Cyde Weys, and, bizarrely, providing that articles on the owners of attack sites may be redirected to Clown. These, along with other controversial proposals, have led to calls by some for him to stand down from the committee, or at least to recuse from the case. Newyorkbrad has made proposals, copied to the Proposed Decision page, which prohibit links to web pages engaged in outing editors, and which discourage links to websites which routinely out editors, but which state that neither isolated disputes nor criticism or satire should prevent linking. These have the support of two arbitrators, and, in an unprecedented move, Newyorkbrad has been granted permission to edit them on the proposed decision page.

• THF-DavidShankBone: A case involving alleged POV editing by THF relating to Michael Moore, and alleged harassment by DavidShankBone. A motion banning THF from politically charged topics has the support of two arbitrators, but is opposed by Fred Bauder.

• Artaxerex: A case involving alleged POV-pushing, incivility and sockpuppetry by Artaxerex. Artaxerex denies the allegations, and alleges that Shervink and others are focusing on getting him blocked, and that certain editors push an Iranian nationalist POV. Remedies banning Artaxerex and reminding parties of the need to adhere closely to WP:NPOV have the support of three arbitrators.

• Jmfangio-Chrisjnelson: A case involving alleged edit warring, hostility and incivility between Jmfangio and Chrisjnelson. Jmfangio has been indefinitely blocked after checkuser confirmed that this account is the reincarnation of a community banned editor. Voting on most proposals is split, but a remedy restricting Chrisjnelson's editing has the support of five arbitrators.

• Allegations of apartheid: This case concerns the conduct of various editors in connection with a group of articles whose titles include the words "Allegations of apartheid". It has been alleged that these articles were created in violation of Wikipedia:Do not disrupt Wikipedia to illustrate a point, after several deletion debates concerning Allegations of Israeli apartheid resulted in that article being kept. Issues have also been raised concerning comments made in deletion discussions and reviews. Several users who have created and edited the "Allegations of apartheid" articles have strongly denied any inappropriate conduct. Voting on most proposals is split, but an amnesty for past actions currently has a majority.