Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2009-06-22/From the editors Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2009-06-22/Traffic report Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2009-06-22/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.13 (ab7da13), 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.
Bots approved
4 bots or bot tasks were approved for operation this week. These were:
- AnomieBOT 32, for the creation of isotope-based redirects;
- Mr.Z-bot 7, to report certain abuse filter violations to the administrator intervention against vandalism noticeboard;
- Kwjbot 3, to fix double redirects.
- EdwardsBot, to deliver newsletters for Amazing Race Wikipedia.
This week's discussion report contains information on current bot requests and related discussions.
Bug fixes
- The API no longer flags pre-April 2008 edits, retrieved using
list=usercontribs, as new edits. (r52096, bug:19271)
New features
- MediaWiki:Sp-contributions-footer-anon has been added for all IPs, when viewing Special:Contributions, rather than appear only when the IP has made edits. (r52174, bug:19294)
Userandexcludeuserhave been added to the API forlist=recentchangesandlist=watchlist. (r52152, bug:14200)- The API now returns a HTTP 503 status code for maxlag errors. (r52190)
Other news
- The Wikimedia Foundation has announced that the Amsterdam-based data center provider EvoSwitch will be providing bandwidth and hosting services — 300,000 euros of in-kind support — to the Foundation, with their center serving as a HUB for Europe. The sponsorship will allow the Foundation to add new caching servers at the Amsterdam data center. [1] [2]
Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2009-06-22/Essay Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2009-06-22/Opinion
Wikizine, video editing, milestones
Wikizine
A large new edition of Wikizine is out: "Year: 2009 Week: 29 Number: 108". It includes news about the LiquidThreads extension, various Wikimedia Foundation announcements and goings-on, privacy issues with traffic analysis services that were installed on two Wikipedias, a Wikimedia Canada meeting and Wiki-Conference New York, and more.
Video editing coming soon?
According to an article in MIT's Technology Review, "Wikipedia Gets Ready for a Video Upgrade", Wikipedia will see dramatic improvements in video capabilities rolled out within the next few months.
On the Commons-l mailing list, Casey Brown described the article:
They just put together all of the mini-updates about Michael Dale/Kaltura's
work that we've been getting for months now.
- http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Collaborative_Video
- http://blog.wikimedia.org/2008/07/23/kaltura-sponsors-michael-dale-open-source-video-developer/
- http://metavid.org/blog/2009/03/27/add-media-wizard-and-firefogg-on-test-wikimediaorg/
- http://techblog.wikimedia.org/author/mdale/
- public svn
- lots of wikitech-l/commons-l/foundation-l notes
The article just put all the snippets together into a solid update for people outside our community. :-)
Milestones
- The Russian Wikipedia has reached 400,000 articles (Страсти по Матфею (Бах)) (St Matthew Passion).
- The Belarusian (Taraškievica orthography) Wikipedia has reached 20,000 articles with page be-x-old:Казімер Нарбут.
- The Turkmen Wiktionary has reached 2,000 entries.
- The Occitan Wiktionary has reached 10,000 entries.
- The Esperanto Wikipedia has reached 20,000 registered users.
Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2009-06-22/Serendipity Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2009-06-22/Op-ed Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2009-06-22/In focus
The Report on Lengthy Litigation
The Arbitration Committee this week announced that there will be another Checkuser and Oversight Election in August, and outlined a schedule for the election.
The Arbitration Committee opened no cases and closed one this week, leaving four open.
Evidence phase
- Seeyou: A case examining the conduct of user Seeyou.
- ADHD: A case examining the dispute on the ADHD article and the conduct of the editors involved therein.
Voting
- A Man In Black: A case brought to examine the conduct of administrator A Man In Black.
- Mattisse: A case, brought when a recent Request for Comment failed to abate concerns regarding her behavior, examining the conduct of User:Mattisse.
Closed
- Obama articles: The Committee mandated that "a group of involved and non-involved editors and administrators" will review the current article probation on Barack Obama and report on its effectiveness, with recommendations for the future. Several editors were admonished for their behavior and placed under editing restrictions. A full summary is available here.
Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2009-06-22/Humour