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 RSS feed for Special:Newpages no longer incorrectly prompts for an edit summary. (r34230, bug 13952)
• Several bugfixes to the API were made this week:
  • Admins and bots can again query large numbers of titles in one API query (rather than being limited to 50). (r34296, bug 13965)
  • The API allpages query now honours the apfrom parameter when sorting in decending order. (r34361, bug 13993)
  • The query-continue for alllinks queries now works correctly when there are a large number of links to the same page. (r34392, bug 14018)
• Image redirects now work correctly when viewing the redirected image page itself. (r34568, bug 13943)

• There is now an option to watchlist a user's User and User Talk pages when blocking them. (r34307, bug 13950)
• API recentchanges queries now allow an rcshow=patrolled option to filter out patrolled (or non-patrolled) changes; note that on the English Wikipedia, the only patrolled changes will be page creations and log entries (log entries are always considered patrolled by the software). (r34394, bug 14013)
• The list of templates used on an article (shown at the bottom of the edit page) is now sorted, even when previewing a page. (r34485, bug 12644)
• API queries for the interwiki map now distinguish between interlanguage links (which appear in the 'in other languages' box unless quoted with a colon, like :de:) and interwiki links (which appear as ordinary links, like w:). (r34499, bug 14028)
• The API queries list=allusers and list=users now each support displaying all information that was available from the other (thus adding usprop=registration and auprop=blockinfo). (r34500, bug 14022)
• Special:Whatlinkshere now supports listing image inclusion links; although these were available on the image page anyway, that list is limited to 500 entries whereas the Special:Whatlinkshere list can be paged through any number of entries. (bug 3759http://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=3759; r34320 and r34507)

• Two new user groups were added this week. Each can be granted and revoked by administrators; note that all administrators gain the benefit of these groups regardless of whether they have them or not (much the same way as with rollback).
  • The ipblock-exempt group allows users to edit via a blocked IP; in order to block a user with ipblock-exempt, it is necessary to block their username. (see related story) (bug 9862http://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=9862)
  • The accountcreator group allows users to create more than 6 accounts per day (this limit is an anti-sockpuppetry measure, but used to cause problems at Wikipedia:Request an account, as checks for conflicting accounts need to be done by non-administrators). (bug 13498http://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=13498)

• Wikipedia was down for a while at about 17:40 on 5 May; this was due to some code related to global groups (e.g. granting +rollbacker to all a user's Single User Login accounts) accidentally being deployed before the servers had been prepared for it.

• The deprecated usage of titles= rather than bltitle= in a list=backlinks API query has been removed. (r34518, bug 14021)

• 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.

A poll is currently active, aiming to judge whether the level for "autoconfirmed" status should be changed. The status, which is currently given automatically four days after the registration of an account, allows a user to move pages, edit semi-protected pages, upload files, mark pages as "patrolled", and add external links without running into a CAPTCHA question or image. Currently, consensus is leaning toward a change to seven days after the registration of an account, with at least 20 edits, but the poll is still open.

Wikipedia was the response to a question on the American game show Jeopardy!. The clue, in the category "How Sophomoric!", was "In February 2008, someone edited Hillary Clinton's entry on this website, replacing her picture with one of a walrus". It was answered correctly. The game in which the question appeared, part of the show's 2008 College Championship, aired on May 7.

• A Washington D.C. meetup is scheduled for Saturday, May 17, at 5 p.m. EDT (21:00 UTC). It will be held at Uno's, at Union Station.
• The Vietnamese Wikipedia has reached 40,000 articles.
• The Latin Wikipedia has reached 20,000 articles.
• The Ukrainian Wiktionary has reached 4,000 articles.

The Arbitration Committee closed one case this week, leaving five currently open.

• Prem Rawat: A case involving the actions of editors on Prem Rawat and related articles. Remedies passed placing Prem Rawat and related articles on article probation, and reminding editors on the topic who may have, or may be perceived as having a conflict of interest, to comply with NPOV and conflict of interest policies.

• Giovanni33: A case involving the accusation of sockpuppetry by Giovanni33. Giovanni33 and Rafaelsfingers, who has been labeled as a sockpuppet of Giovanni33 by some, have denied the charges.

• Footnoted quotes: A case involving the use of quotes in footnotes; some users allege that Richard Arthur Norton has been using these quotes excessively, and against consensus. Richard Arthur Norton (1958- ), however, has argued for the quotes, and noted that he's "flexible" regarding specific uses of the quotes.

• CAMERA lobbying: A case involving alleged lobbying by pro-Israel group Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA) on Middle East-related articles. Gni was banned indefinitely by the community in the wake of these allegations; Gni denied allegations that he was Gilead Ini, a senior member of CAMERA. Zeq was community-banned for one year, and Dajudem was banned from Arab-Israeli topics for one year.

• Homeopathy: A dispute involving a number of editors over the Homeopathy article. Remedies with the support of four arbitrators include banning DanaUllman for one year, the creation of a "Sourcing Adjudication Board" regarding the inappropriate use of citations, and emphasizing the Committee's ability to issue subsequent sanctions in the case, based on reports of "inappropriate conduct" as judged by the Sourcing Adjudication Board. Two versions of another sanction each have the support of just one arbitrator, allowing administrators to impose sanctions on editors in the dispute.

• Tango: A case involving a controversial block of MONGO by Tango under this finding. Currently, three remedies have been proposed:
  • Suspending Tango's use of the blocking tool: Supported 5-2.
  • Suspending Tango's adminship for one month: Supported 7-1. This is the only version that currently passes (a majority is seven arbitrators for this case)
  • Indefinitely revoking Tango's adminship: Supported 5-2.