Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2009-04-27/From the editors Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2009-04-27/Traffic report Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2009-04-27/In the media
Bugs, Repairs, and Internal Operational News
This is a summary of recent technology and site configuration changes that affect the English Wikipedia. Please note that some bug fixes or new features described below have not yet gone 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.
Bug fixes
- The ability has been added for oversighters to unhide a username (reversing the hide-user feature) when unblocking an account; Previously, it was only possible to reverse the hide-user action by reblocking the user with the hide-user setting unchecked. Also, when unblocking and unhiding a user, the hidden edit summaries can now be restored. (r49685, bug 18543; bug 18542)
- When purging an image page, the metadata now will also be purged. (r49848, bug 18571)
- MediaWiki Exif handling now properly handles tags that are arrays, such as GPS coordinates. (r49677, bug 13172)
- Subversion revision numbers for MediaWiki extensions are now shown on the Special:Version page. Revision numbers previously displayed were oftentimes inaccurate, but changes made will have the revision numbers automatically update now and show accurately on the Special:Version page. (r49890, bug 18242)
New features
- Developer Andrew Garrett (User:Werdna) has restructured the MediaWiki code used to manage user preferences, which are now managed using a class and is separated logically from the user interface code. Along with the changes, the GetPreferences hook is now available (and must be used by) MediaWiki extensions to access and add user preferences. The code has been rewritten to be more efficient; Wikipedia users should not see any difference. [1]
Other news
- The TorBlock configuration has been changed to require explicit block exemption, rather than allowing all logged-in users to edit via a Tor proxy. The change is due to the amount of harassment and vandalism problems coming in via Tor proxies, which substantially overweighs the amount of positive contributions via Tor. [2]
- The Google Summer of Code projects for Wikimedia have been announced: Niklas Laxström (User:Nikerabbit) will be working to improve localization and internationalization, Zhe Wu will work on an image thumbnailing daemon, Gerardo Antonio Cabero will be improving the Cortado Java applet for playing videos, and Jeroen de Dauw will be improving the Semantic Layers extension and integrate it with the Semantic Google Maps extension. [3]
- The pywikipedia mailing lists have been restructured and split into multiple lists, with bug reports now sent to the pywikipedia-bugs list, svn updates to pywikipedia-svn, announcements to pywikipedia-announce, and general pywikipedia discussion on pywikipedia-l. [4]
Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2009-04-27/Essay Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2009-04-27/Opinion
Usability study, Wiki Loves Art, and more
Usability study examines newcomers' editing troubles
Preliminary results of usability testing conducted in late March, as part of the grant-funded Wikimedia Usability Initiative (see earlier coverage), are now available. Participants expressed enthusiasm about Wikipedia as a useful resource, though they experienced substantial difficulties when trying to edit Wikipedia. Participants were unsure of Wikipedia's rules and proper etiquette. They also experienced difficulties with the markup and formatting, especially when it came to adding references, links, and editing tables, and it was challenging for them to create new articles. Participants experienced information overload when it came to the documentation and found it difficult to navigate the help resources.
Wikimedia Netherlands bringing Wiki Loves Art to Dutch museums
Following the Wikipedia Loves Arts photography events organized in New York and elsewhere, this June Dutch museums will open their doors to photographers to create Creative Commons-licensed images of important artwork. Wikimedia Netherlands, working with Creative Commons, is gathering volunteers to visit a number of Dutch museums; so far, participating institutions include the Jewish Historical Museum, the Netherlands Media Art Institute, and the Tropenmuseum.
Wikimedia signs deal with Orange
The Wikimedia Foundation has signed a deal with Orange to distribute mobile and web content in the UK, Poland, Spain and France, according to a Wikimedia Foundation blog post. According to the Foundation Q&A about the deal, the partnership will involve adding Wikimedia elements to the Orange web portals and creating mobile and web widgets.
Briefly
- Dottydotdot has launched The Wikipedia Forum, an independent message board for discussing Wikipedia. It is intended as a friendlier alternative to The Wikipedia Review, a forum that is frequented by a number of dedicated Wikipedia critics (as well as some active Wikipedians) and has been the subject of past controversy within the Wikipedia community.
- There is an RFC going about whether the page What Wikipedia is Not should include plot summaries or not.
Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2009-04-27/Serendipity Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2009-04-27/Op-ed Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2009-04-27/In focus
The Report on Lengthy Litigation
The Committee officially adopted their proposed policy for temporary removal of permissions. They also appointed Mackensen, Thatcher and Tznkai as interim members of the Audit Subcommittee until elections are held.
The Arbitration Committee opened two cases this week, and closed none, leaving nine cases open.
New cases
- Abd and JzG: A case brought regarding a dispute between Abd and JzG about the latter's use of administrative tools on Cold fusion.
- Macedonia 2: A case about naming disputes at the Macedonia article, and ChrisO's use of administrator tools in the dispute.
Evidence phase
- Aitias: A case regarding Aitias's use of his administrator tools.
- Tang Dynasty: A case about editing conflicts on Inner Asia during the Tang Dynasty.
- Ryulong: A case regarding Ryulong's use of his administrator tools.
- Obama articles: A case opened to review behavior of editors of articles related to Barack Obama.
- West Bank - Judea and Samaria: A dispute about editor behavior in discussions about naming conventions for certain Israel- and Palestine-related locations.
- Date delinking: A case regarding the behavior of editors in the ongoing dispute relating to policy on linking dates in articles. An injunction has been issued prohibiting large-scale linking or delinking of dates until the case is resolved.
Voting
- Scientology: A case regarding behavioral problems in Scientology-related articles; the case is related to the prior case Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration/COFS.
Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2009-04-27/Humour