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.

• The user interface no longer gives a (nonfunctional) link to patrol a deleted page that has been visited from Special:Newpages. (r27941, bug 12143)
• At least one, and possibly two, bugs related to a new preprocessor that caused strip markers (strings starting with UNIQ and ending with QINU) to show up in pages were fixed. (r27871, bug 12056) (r28004, bug 12154) (see related story)
• A typo in the code caused links to pages which a user had set their preferences to mark as short or 'stub' pages (which should show up in dark brown) instead disappeared altogether; this has been fixed. (r27981, bug 12165)
• Some invalid HTML in Special:Emailuser was fixed. (r27987, bug 12166)
• A bug that caused the API to sometimes cause an "rvrevids" error when there was in fact no error has been fixed. (r28025, bug 12177)

• The form to enter the text of an email on Special:Emailuser now has the id "wpTextbox1" (the same ID as the edit box on an edit page), rather than no id; this makes it easier for user scripts to affect it in a logical manner. (r27868, bug 12082)

• Part of the hide/show code in MediaWiki:Common.js was removed, because it was erroneously trying to apply bug fixes intended for Internet Explorer to Firefox 3, causing the code to break on that browser. (bug 12157, [1])

• 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.

On Wednesday, Wikipedian Marine 69-71 (Tony the Marine) was honored by the Senate of Puerto Rico. In a resolution (near the top of page 4), the Senate decreed:

Para expresar el reconocimiento y agradecimiento del Senado de Puerto Rico al señor Antonio Santiago por su dedicación y entrega a la causa de ayudar a difundir a través de los nuevos medios electrónicos de difusión, información sobre distinguidos puertorriqueños y, en particular, aquellos que han servido con distinción en la milicia.

A resolution to recognize and acknowledge the gratefulness of the Senate of Puerto Rico for Mr. Antonio Santiago, for his dedication to the cause of helping spread information about distinguished Puerto Ricans through new media, and in particular, those who have served with distinction in the military.

The Wikimedia Foundation fundraiser continued this week. In the first five weeks of the fundraiser, about 32,950 people had donated at least US$1, and the Foundation had raised about $1,016,000.

Monday's total donations ($13,096.63) and number of contributions (375) reached a fundraiser low; however, the average donation of $34.92 was the fifth-highest total of the fundraiser.

• A London meetup has been scheduled for Wednesday, to mark Wiki Wednesday. The meetup coincides with a trip to London by Wikimedia officials; Jimbo Wales is expected to attend, and Executive Director Sue Gardner may also attend.
• The military history WikiProject has started a tag-and-assess drive, spanning over 165,000 articles. The drive runs through December 31, and help is requested.
• The Galician Wikipedia has reached 30,000 articles.
• The Catalan Wikipedia has reached 90,000 articles.
• The English Wiktionary has reached 600,000 entries.
• The Arabic Wikipedia has reached 200,000 pages.
• The Bikol Wikipedia has reached 100 articles.
• The Aromanian Wikipedia reaches 1000 articles.

The Arbitration Committee opened one new case this week, and closed six cases.

• Macedonia: A case involving a dispute between editors from Greece and from the Republic of Macedonia over the use of the name "Macedonia" in Wikipedia. As a result of the case, remedies were implemented permitting editing sanctions to be imposed by any uninvolved administrator, after a warning, against any user who violates Wikipedia policies in editing articles concerning the Balkans region.

• Asgardian-Tenebrae: A case involving conflict between Asgardian and Tenebrae. As a result of the case, Asgardian's editing was restricted for one year.

• Privatemusings: A case involving alleged sockpuppetry and BLP violations by Privatemusings. As a result of the case, Privatemusings was limited to one account, banned for 90 days, and subjected to an editing restriction indefinitely.

• Durova and Jehochman: A case involving the actions of Durova and Jehochman, and in particular a controversial block by Durova of !! as an allegedly disruptive sockpuppet, based on evidence she refused to reveal on-wiki on the ground that do so could provide puppetmasters with too much information regarding her investigative techniques. This evidence was provided to some administrators, and was later leaked, with some users, including the Arbitration Committee, arguing that the evidence was insufficient for blocking !!. Durova resigned her adminship, and, in what appears to be an exceptionally quick resolution of the case, remedies were implemented admonishing Durova to exercise greater care when issuing blocks, admonishing all participants in the discussion of the block of !! to act with proper decorum, and noting that Durova must go through normal channels (a request for adminship) if she wishes to regain adminship.

• Eyrian: A case involving checkuser-confirmed sockpuppetry by admin Eyrian. As a result of the case, Eyrian was desysopped, and banned until he explains his actions to the committee.

• Ferrylodge: A case involving a community ban of Ferrylodge on the now-defunct Community sanction noticeboard, but which User:B, in accordance with Wikipedia:Community ban, stated that he was willing to overturn. As a result of the case, the ban was disapproved, but Ferrylodge's editing was restricted and he was instructed not to interact with Bishonen or KillerChihuahua.

• Matthew Hoffman: A case involving a controversial block of MatthewHoffman as a sockpuppet by a vanished user. Arbitrator UninvitedCompany has proposed a remedy calling for Hoffman's block log to be annotated to show that the blocks were unjustified, as well as another remedy, which has been opposed by arbitrator FloNight, desysopping the vanished user.

• Episodes and characters: A case involving alleged misconduct with regard to the notability of episodes and characters from television series.

• Winter Soldier 2: A case involving alleged misconduct on Winter Soldier-related articles. Kirill Lokshin has proposed remedies prohibiting TDC and Xenophrenic from editing any Winter Soldier-related pages.

• Anonimu: A case involving alleged revert warring and incivility by Anonimu, who has not yet commented in the case and was community-banned soon after the case was opened. Some others also allege that Sceptre, who brought the case, has stalked Anonimu. Kirill Lokshin has proposed remedies permitting discretionary sanctions to be imposed by any uninvolved administrator, and banning Anonimu for one year.