User talk:Jackmcbarn/Archive 8

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Module:Repeat_symbols

Thanks for rewriting the module, these were my baby steps in Lua. There is one issue, I tried to fix, but I need some more practicing first. In your version icons have been swapped, so |25|A|B leads to BBAAAAA instead of AA|BBBBB. Could you please take a look? Thanks! Erik Zachte (talk) 21:29, 16 September 2014 (UTC)

@Erik Zachte: Are you sure you want it to work like that? Right now, it's easy to predict which argument goes with which digit, since the x'th argument always represents the (10^x)'th place. Jackmcbarn (talk) 21:33, 16 September 2014 (UTC)

I can see your reasoning. Maybe it's matter of taste, not sure. My reasoning is: use the same sequence as how we write numbers. We write 521, largest number left-most, so using the same sequence for images seems most intuitive for me. Yours seems a bit more leaning toward expert users. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Erik Zachte (talk • contribs) 21:47, 16 September 2014 (UTC)

@Erik Zachte: Okay, that's now done. Jackmcbarn (talk) 22:14, 16 September 2014 (UTC)

Awesome! I'm playing around with using symbols for numbers in tables, like this one [1], here are some symbols I might use

Land area        

Population        

GDP        

GDP per capita        

Erik Zachte (talk) 23:24, 16 September 2014 (UTC)

@Erik Zachte: I've renamed d to base, and it's now optional, defaulting to 10 if not specified. I think I fixed all the uses. Jackmcbarn (talk) 22:35, 17 September 2014 (UTC)

Default is nice, thx. Still functionality changed, and I inadvertently benefited from the earlier bug. See this table where I actually want no more than two icons, and the first can exceed 10 for a few exceptional large cases. Three icons would be too confusing in this busy table with 3 sets of Isotype diagrams. Do you have a suggestion for how to implement this? I could fork the function but may be overkill. Also FYI here is a blog post on the new page.

@Erik Zachte: Okay, you now have the behavior you want there, and I didn't have to reintroduce the bug to do it. Jackmcbarn (talk) 22:51, 17 September 2014 (UTC)

I'm really impressed with how fast you do these things. Thanks a lot! Erik Zachte (talk) 22:55, 17 September 2014 (UTC)

Infobox map

Hey Jack! Was hoping I could shoot you a little poke regarding this. No rush or anything, just wanted to see if there was a possibility of getting this fixed? I'd try it myself, but I'm afraid it's out of the realm of my knowledge. Thanks! ~SuperHamster Talk Contribs 02:30, 21 September 2014 (UTC)

@SuperHamster: Should be fixed now. (Note that I didn't switch it over to use the module; I just took care of that particular issue in the existing code.) Jackmcbarn (talk) 03:57, 21 September 2014 (UTC)

Nice, thanks so much! ~SuperHamster Talk Contribs 04:00, 21 September 2014 (UTC)

Church coordinates

Hi,

Regarding this edit, please can you give me a pointer to where and when the decision to deprecate the parameter was made? Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 20:05, 21 September 2014 (UTC)

I WP:BOLDly did it because it has no advantages over using the latd/longd style, and it has the big disadvantage of not working with the map. Jackmcbarn (talk) 02:02, 22 September 2014 (UTC)

Balochi Wiki test Wp/bcc

Hello Mr Jackmcbarn! I from Balochi language Incubator Wiki-test, I am really so much grateful to you, for your help. Ibrahim khashrowdi (talk) 22:22, 21 September 2014 (UTC)

Please comment on Talk:Muse (Jolin Tsai album)

Greetings! You have been randomly selected to receive an invitation to participate in the request for comment on Talk:Muse (Jolin Tsai album). Should you wish to respond to the invitation, your contribution to this discussion will be very much appreciated! If in doubt, please see suggestions for responding. If you do not wish to receive these types of notices, please remove your name from Wikipedia:Feedback request service. — Legobot (talk) 00:08, 22 September 2014 (UTC)

Tech News: 2014-39

Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.

Recent software changes

• You can test a new Beta Feature called HHVM. It should make editing faster. Please report bugs if you see them. [2]

Problems

• There was a problem on the English Wikipedia on September 19. It was due to edits on a template used on many pages.
• Sites were down for users in the Pacific area around 7:00 UTC on September 20. It was due to a problem in the San Francisco data center.
• There were two bad bugs messing up articles in some browsers in VisualEditor. We fixed the bugs and updated the sites. [3] [4]

Software changes this week

• The new version of MediaWiki (1.24wmf22) is on test wikis and MediaWiki.org since September 18. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis on September 23, and on all Wikipedias on September 25 (calendar).
• If you have more than 2000 notifications, the oldest ones will be removed.[5] [6]
• In the "Vector" skin, the icon used for users will show a neutral gender. [7] [8]
• The VisualEditor template tool now tells you if a required field is missing. [9]
• The "Cancel" button of the VisualEditor save window is now called "Resume editing". This shows that you can still edit and you won't lose your changes. [10]
• There are new keyboard shortcuts in VisualEditor. Use Ctrl+Shift+6 for code and Ctrl+Shift+5 for strikethrough. [11] [12]
• In VisualEditor, you can now see that you are switching to the source editing mode. Before, it was not clear it was happening. [13]

Future site changes

• You can see a plan for the move to Phabricator. It's the new tool to track bugs. A guided tour will be done via video on September 24. [14]

Tech news prepared by tech ambassadors and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe.

09:05, 22 September 2014 (UTC)

Every information is right

I want to clear that I whatever I have added information on wiki was right. There is a village in Punjab Named "Amarpura". I live in that . I have added everything about that .If you want I can give you geo location points or map address. Also if you will google "amarpura abohar" then you will get all those information which I have written — Preceding unsigned comment added by Gangparia (talk • contribs) 21:50, 24 September 2014 (UTC)

It may be the case that you live in a different village with the same name. In that case, create a new article rather than hijacking the existing one. Jackmcbarn (talk) 22:29, 24 September 2014 (UTC)

A barnstar for you!

	The Writer's Barnstar
	Dear Jackmcbarn, thank you for all your contributions to Wikipedia, especially your recent creation of Self-XSS. Keep up the good work! You are making a difference here! With regards, AnupamTalk 02:47, 28 September 2014 (UTC)

Tech News: 2014-40

Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.

Recent software changes

• On Commons, you can now see what files are most used across all wikis. You can also see the same list for deleted or uncreated files. [15] [16]
• There are now many more translations for language names. [17]

Software changes this week

• The new version of MediaWiki (1.25wmf1) is on test wikis and MediaWiki.org since September 25. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis on September 30, and on all Wikipedias on October 2 (calendar).
• Errors from Scribunto (Lua) are now shown on the page. Before, you had to click on "Script error" to see them. [18] [19]
• You can add an "autovalue" for a field in TemplateData. When users add the template to a page, the value will be added automatically. An example is when a clean-up template shows the date it was added. [20]
• If you change a user preference but don't save it, it now asks if you want to save it. [21] [22]
• The PDF export tool has changed. The new one has better language support but it doesn't offer ZIM and EPUB formats. [23]

Future changes

• You can watch a video showing Phabricator, the new tool to track bugs. You can also read more about the move from Bugzilla.
• JavaScript authors: Many old methods will be removed soon. Please check your scripts and gadgets and replace the old methods by the new ones if needed. [24]

Tech news prepared by tech ambassadors and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe.

09:44, 29 September 2014 (UTC)

Careful

I presume you know you've hit 3RR. Dougweller (talk) 15:50, 29 September 2014 (UTC)

Thanks mate

Thank you again for the help. I see and understand the revisions. And yes..., I do hope to stick around. Wilson.3308 (talk) 06:06, 30 September 2014 (UTC)

Trophy

File:Trophyjustforyou.jpg	Trophy
	Thanks for deleting my articles. I'd like to congratulate you for a job well done. I hope you would get another more victims. You've been successfully wasting the knowledge that people contribute on Wikipedia. Pureromblomanon (talk) 09:31, 30 September 2014 (UTC)

Hey, can you help me out with something?

@Jackmcbarn:You remember that section on the bot requests that was about the bot for user sandboxes? Well, I made a bot on Labs. Want to help me with it and become a maintainer? Thanks! Philroc^{My contribs} 21:39, 30 September 2014 (UTC)

@Philroc: I'd be okay with being a maintainer as long as it's still clear that you're the bot's operator. Jackmcbarn (talk) 22:23, 30 September 2014 (UTC)

@Jackmcbarn: Yes. I'd do the basics, and you'd do all the tricky stuff. (i.e. finding user sandboxes) Deal? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Philroc (talk • contribs) 22:47, 30 September 2014‎ (UTC)

@Philroc: Okay. (By the way, you don't have to ping me on my own talk page.) Jackmcbarn (talk) 22:50, 30 September 2014 (UTC)

I found all the user sandboxes by doing an advanced search, if you care. Philroc^{My contribs} 23:41, 30 September 2014 (UTC)

Carl Freer

Hi Jack,

It looks like when "Freer" bought the "intellectual property assets" of Tiger Telematics, it was already failed. Are you saying that because he founded Eagle Eye Scandinavian, he founded Tiger Telematics? Thanks. 24.242.94.114 (talk) 18:40, 1 October 2014 (UTC)

Hey!

@Jackmcbarn: Now I need your help with the bot. I found all the user sandboxes with an advanced search, and now I need your help to round them all up and put them into a category. Will you help me? Thanks! Philroc^{My contribs} 20:18, 1 October 2014 (UTC)

Socks?

Am I seeing things, or are we dealing with socks?

• Teaksmitty (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)
• Batsgasps (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)

It was this faux pas that alerted me:

• Teaksmitty (quickly self-reverted)
• Batsgasps

Looking back they are pushing the same types of edits and agenda. -- Brangifer (talk) 15:27, 2 October 2014 (UTC)

@BullRangifer: I think we are. Do you want to open the SPI, or should I? Jackmcbarn (talk) 22:14, 2 October 2014 (UTC)

Since I don't have any real experience with these editors, or recent working knowledge of the editing on these two(?) articles, it would probably be best if you did, but please let me know when you do so I can follow along. I'll lend a hand if I can. -- Brangifer (talk) 01:44, 3 October 2014 (UTC)

@BullRangifer: I've opened Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Teaksmitty. Jackmcbarn (talk) 02:08, 3 October 2014 (UTC)

the Syrian and Iraqi Modules

the Modules stopped updating since yesterday,is there a technical problem or something.Alhanuty (talk) 17:54, 2 October 2014 (UTC)

@Alhanuty: Everything seems fine to me. What specifically looks wrong? Jackmcbarn (talk) 22:16, 2 October 2014 (UTC)

Nvm,they updated.Alhanuty (talk) 22:23, 2 October 2014 (UTC)

Read mint julep

Thanks for the help with the username trouble. Disappointed I have to use the spaces, but that makes sense. Read mint julep (talk) 20:57, 3 October 2014 (UTC)

https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Papaly

Questioning as to why our page got deleted and submitted for spam? Papaly.com is a social bookmarking website that's rapidly growing. If you need sources to be edited into the page let me know. Thanks and looking to hear back from you. — Preceding unsigned comment added by PapalyOfficial (talk • contribs) 23:42, 3 October 2014 (UTC)

DYK for Self-XSS

—HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 12:02, 5 October 2014 (UTC)

Tech News: 2014-41

Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.

Recent changes

• You can use the phab: and phabricator: interwikis to link to https://phabricator.wikimedia.org. [25] [26]
• Some wikis have a template to track bugs in Bugzilla. You should update it to work with Phabricator. You can look at the one on mediawiki.org to see how. [27] [28]
• You can look at Special:MediaStatistics to see what kind of files are on your wiki. [29]
• A new tool can now create thumbnails of large TIFF images. This concerns files larger than 50 megapixels. These thumbnails are also sharpened. You can comment on Commons. [30]
• The Media Viewer tool has a clearer link to the file page. It also has buttons to download, share and embed the file. You can enlarge images by clicking on them. [31]

Changes this week

• The new version of MediaWiki (1.25wmf2) has been on test wikis and MediaWiki.org since 2 October. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis from 7 October, and on all Wikipedias from 9 October (calendar).
• If you make a code mistake when editing a Lua script, you won't be able to save your edit. [32] [33]
• We fixed some more Internet Explorer bugs. If you use Internet Explorer 10, you will be able to use VisualEditor next week. Support for earlier versions is coming next. [34]
• On Thursday, the tool to edit TemplateData will come to 30 more wikis. [35] [36]
• You can help sort bugs in the Book and PDF export tool on October 8. [37]
• 1% of logged-out readers are getting pages from servers that run the HHVM tool. HHVM should make pages load faster. [38]

Future changes

• You can look at the plan of the Mobile team for their future work. [39]
• More changes to Media Viewer are coming. It will be easier to disable it, and you will see the caption below the image. [40] [41]

Tech news prepared by tech ambassadors and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe.

06:10, 6 October 2014 (UTC)

Requests for map data modules

Hi! I notice you contributed a lot to Module:Location map/data/United States. I would like for somebody to set up Module:Location map/data/Sakhalin Oblast for Korean Air Flight 007, so where do I make this request?

Thanks WhisperToMe (talk) 04:34, 8 October 2014 (UTC)

Do you have an image to use for the map? If so, link me to it and I can do it. If not, ask for one to be created at Wikipedia:Graphics Lab/Map workshop. Jackmcbarn (talk) 11:59, 8 October 2014 (UTC)

Yes, I have one here: File:Outline Map of Sakhalin Oblast (with position on the map of Russia).svg. Thank you! WhisperToMe (talk) 12:11, 8 October 2014 (UTC)

Actually, a new map seems unnecessary. We already have Template:Location map Russia Sakhalin Oblast. Jackmcbarn (talk) 13:59, 8 October 2014 (UTC)

Ok. Thanks for finding it! So that means Module:Location map/data/Sakhalin Oblast should be made into a redirect. Where should it point to? WhisperToMe (talk) 14:25, 8 October 2014 (UTC)

Why does that need to be made into a redirect? Jackmcbarn (talk) 14:31, 8 October 2014 (UTC)

I'm trying to use the template seen at Malaysia Airlines Flight 17#Maps but modify it for use in Korean Air Flight 007. The map used depends upon the parameter here:

• {{Location map many
• | (INSERTLOCATIONHERE)

What I want to be able to do is write "Sakhalin Oblast" in place of (INSERTLOCATIONHERE) and get a map of Sakhalin Oblast (and for that matter, a physical map of Sakhalin if I write "Sakhalin" - Right now, if I say "Sakhalin Oblast" the template breaks and points to Module:Location map/data/Sakhalin Oblast being empty.

WhisperToMe (talk) 14:35, 8 October 2014 (UTC)

Just put "Russia Sakhalin Oblast" there instead of "Sakhalin Oblast". Jackmcbarn (talk) 14:40, 8 October 2014 (UTC)

Ok. I would strongly prefer that any "Sakhalin Oblast" queries redirect anyway to "Russia Sakhalin Oblast" so people easily get what they need out of the template. WhisperToMe (talk) 14:56, 8 October 2014 (UTC)

Okay, I think I got it now. I do not mess with the "module"s but instead just redirect the templates. I did a test at Wikipedia:Sandbox and got the template names to redirect. Now "Russia Sakhalin Oblast" and "Sakhalin Oblast" get the same result. WhisperToMe (talk) 15:16, 8 October 2014 (UTC)

@WhisperToMe: I'm still not sure why you needed a new redirect at all, though. Was it just for convenience, or was something breaking if you used the long name? Jackmcbarn (talk) 15:35, 8 October 2014 (UTC)

It's for convenience so I can type "Sakhalin Oblast" without needing to add Russia. I've noticed some other redirects like it set up. For instance: Template:Location map Texas was moved to Template:Location map USA Texas and but the "Texas" one remained as a redirect. WhisperToMe (talk) 17:07, 8 October 2014 (UTC)

Template:Military navigation

Jack, I don't know if it has to do with the changes you made the other day to Template:WPMILHIST Infobox style, but Template:Military navigation isn't centering the title properly. See Template:Grand Armee Corps for example. Can you take a look? Thanks. Mojoworker (talk) 19:01, 9 October 2014 (UTC)

@Mojoworker: I previewed with the old version, and the change is unrelated. The problem was actually in Module:Navbar, which I've now fixed. Jackmcbarn (talk) 22:36, 9 October 2014 (UTC)

Your graph expertise

Hello Jackmcbarn; The nice graphs by EngineeringGuy on Wikipedia look like they could be improved with your expertise. Could you look at this diff[42]. The fix might be simple to save on the graphic visual space on the Wikipedia page, though I don't know how to do it. Maybe you'll have a good idea. Cheers. FelixRosch (talk) 20:14, 9 October 2014 (UTC)

Internet Archive

Thanks for the notice, it's resolved. Is there some way to monitor for errors with Lua? There are a lot of possibles with this script and difficult to check them all, though I believe everything is OK. BTW I adapted some of your code/ideas from Module:AFC_submission_catcheck. On removing false positives when getting Category data. Thank you. -- GreenC 00:32, 13 October 2014 (UTC)

@Green Cardamom: I suggest that you pull information like that from Wikidata rather than attempting to parse a wiki page. Also, [43] will give you a (not very pretty) list of pages with script errors, newest first. Jackmcbarn (talk) 00:47, 13 October 2014 (UTC)

Wikidata is a good idea as first step, then fallback to Category. I looked at Wikibase Client and various example code and can't figure out how to open a database entity that isn't the current page ie. how to determine the ID for a page (label). For example Douglas Adams has an ID of 'Q42', but what if all we know is the label ('Douglas Adams'), how to do a mw.wikibase.getEntityObject? -- GreenC 16:02, 13 October 2014 (UTC)

@Green Cardamom: For this purpose, why do you need to fetch for any page other than the current one? Jackmcbarn (talk) 03:07, 14 October 2014 (UTC)

So it can be used and demonstrated on other pages, like the documentation page or talk pages e.g.:

Works by or about Charles Dickens at the Internet Archive

{{Internet Archive author|name=Charles Dickens}}

..includes birth/death dates in the URL. It would be confusing to have different IA search results for Charles Dickens depending what page the template is hosted. It's not critical but would be good to have. I guess you're saying there is no support for it. What I can do then is try wikibase first and if no dates then getContent() as backup. GetContent() is working ok, just a question of extra load to pull (once) and search (twice) the entire article. -- GreenC 04:38, 14 October 2014 (UTC)

@Green Cardamom: At some point, we will be able to pull from other articles. I think it's a bad idea to use getContent at all though, even in the interim. Jackmcbarn (talk) 15:18, 14 October 2014 (UTC)

Is it safe to assume all dates on Wikidata are in Georgian format eg. Qin Shi Huang is born 258 BC, but is AD/BC used for all cultures? Still would like a backup method if Wikidata fails to provide the info, it won't be a common occurrence. I will (rightly?) assume that Wikidata info is as current as Wikipedia Category data, and if Wikidata doesn't return a PropertyValue it doesn't exist as a Wikipedia Category either. But if it fails to open mw.wikibase.getEntityObject() then will assume it's a non-mainspace article and try the alt method of getContent(). It will be very few, mostly just on the documentation page, testcases page, this talk page etc.. here's the sandbox code, two functions near the bottom, bdDate() for Wikidata method and bdDateAlt() for getContent method. -- GreenC 18:40, 14 October 2014 (UTC)

Thanks for catching that. It affected living people with no death info on Wikidata ('P570'). I should have thought of it, but it didn't show up on the test cases page for the same reason above (unable to get Wikidata except on the actual page). I'll remember to test on real pages in addition. -- GreenC 04:09, 15 October 2014 (UTC)

Tech News: 2014-42

Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.

Recent software changes

• You can now log into Phabricator, the new tool to track bugs. Create your account and add your Bugzilla email address. We are copying the bugs from Bugzilla. Bugzilla is still open. [44] [45]
• You will now get the VisualEditor newsletter in your language if someone has translated it. You can add translations. You can know about the next translations by joining the translators list or asking Elitre (WMF).

Problems

• 10% of Tool Labs was down on October 7. [46]
• Tool Labs was also broken on October 11. [47]

Software changes this week

• The new version of MediaWiki (1.25wmf3) has been on test wikis and MediaWiki.org since 9 October. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis from 14 October, and on all Wikipedias from 16 October (calendar).
• 5% of logged-out readers are getting pages from servers that run the HHVM tool. HHVM should make pages load faster. You can also test it as a Beta Feature. [48]

Meetings

• You can join a meeting with Language developers on October 15, 2014 at 17:00 (UTC). [49]
• There is a proposal to organize file pages better. It would use the same tools as Wikidata. You can join a meeting about it on October 16, 2014 at 18:00 (UTC). [50]
• You can join a meeting about VisualEditor on October 18, 2014 at 18:00 (UTC). [51]

Tech news prepared by tech ambassadors and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe.

08:54, 13 October 2014 (UTC)

Module:RfD

when this module is substituted, it leaves a {{{|safesubst:}}} behind. is this necessary? the reason I ask that the WP:WikiProject Check Wikipedia has a list for cleaning up "programming elements" which have been included in articles (e.g., when someone substitutes a template that shouldn't be substituted). a key signature of this sort of thing is three braces. to work-around the fact that this module is adding {{{|safesubst:}}}, they just made this change to explicitly ignore pages with {{{|safesubst:}}}. can we just fix the module instead? Frietjes (talk) 20:59, 17 October 2014 (UTC)

@Frietjes: I could do <includeonly>safesubst:</includeonly> instead of {{{|safesubst:}}}, but "safesubst:" itself is necessary somehow. Would that option be better? Jackmcbarn (talk) 21:52, 17 October 2014 (UTC)

yes, that would be an improvement! Frietjes (talk) 21:53, 17 October 2014 (UTC)

or, on second thought, let's get some more feedback first ... Frietjes (talk) 21:55, 17 October 2014 (UTC)

@Frietjes: Since it's equivalent, but better than what we have now, I'll do it for now, and we can always change it again later. Jackmcbarn (talk) 22:03, 17 October 2014 (UTC)

okay. my concern was if the checkwiki project is looking for <includeonly>...</includeonly> as well, but it looks like this isn't the case (yet). Frietjes (talk) 22:07, 17 October 2014 (UTC)

@Frietjes: Anyway, the module's fixed now, so all new nominations will be right, and I've fixed a few of the existing ones (see my latest contributions). As for the rest, either wait for all of the RfDs already open today to be closed (which will take a few weeks), or a BRFA could be filed to use AWB to automatically fix all the rest. Jackmcbarn (talk) 22:25, 17 October 2014 (UTC)

The checkwiki lists are done in the first week of each month, using the database dump, so it should be mostly resolved by the time the lists are generated. thank you again. Frietjes (talk) 22:28, 17 October 2014 (UTC)

Wikipedia talk:Criteria for speedy deletion#Proposal to update R2 criterion for "Special talk:" redirects

You are invited to join the discussion at Wikipedia talk:Criteria for speedy deletion#Proposal to update R2 criterion for "Special talk:" redirects. Thanks. — {{U|Technical 13}} ^{(e • t • c)} 15:50, 19 October 2014 (UTC)

Tech News: 2014-43

Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. You can read translations.

Recent changes

• You can test a new system to see math using MathML. Go to your display options and choose "⧼mw math mathml⧽".
• You can add badges in Wikidata for quality articles and featured lists. [52] [53]

File information cleanup

• You can join a wiki project to help tools read file information. It will help people reuse files.
• See how to fix metadata. You can fix it by adding markers to templates and adding templates to files.
• You can see a list of files missing machine-readable information on your wiki.
• The files missing readable data are also in these categories: no license, no description, no author or no source. [54]

Problems

• Developers fixed a security problem. If you use Internet Explorer 6, you won't be able to log in any more. You should use a newer browser. [55]

Changes this week

• The new version of MediaWiki (1.25wmf4) has been on test wikis and MediaWiki.org since October 16. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis from October 21, and on all Wikipedias from October 23 (calendar).
• 10% of logged-out readers are getting pages from servers that run the HHVM tool. HHVM should make pages load faster. You can also test it as a Beta Feature. [56]
• If you add the same parameter twice in a template, it now puts the page in a tracking category. [57] [58]

Tech news prepared by tech ambassadors and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe.

13:48, 20 October 2014 (UTC)

Please comment on Talk:2014 Formula One season

You have been randomly selected to receive an invitation to participate in the request for comment on Talk:2014 Formula One season. Should you wish to respond, your contribution to this discussion will be appreciated. For tips, please see WP:Requests for comment#Suggestions for responding. If you wish to change the frequency or topics of these notices, or do not wish to receive them any longer, please adjust your entries at WP:Feedback request service. — Legobot (talk) 00:11, 22 October 2014 (UTC)

Adminship?

Seeing that you would like to be an admin (userbox) I think that you should give it a try. WP:RfA has been dead lately and we need a new candidate! --AmaryllisGardener ^talk 02:20, 22 October 2014 (UTC)

@AmaryllisGardener: You're not the first one to ask this. I was a little nervous then, but I guess I will give it a go now. I talked with Mr. Stradivarius about this on IRC a while back, and he offered to nominate me. I've pinged him above to let him know. Jackmcbarn (talk) 02:26, 22 October 2014 (UTC)

Ah, excellent news. :) I'll write you up a nom when I have a spare moment. — Mr. Stradivarius ^{♪ talk ♪} 02:36, 22 October 2014 (UTC)

I'd come out of my wiki break to be a co-nom; I was going to wait a while to ask Jackmcbarn about an RFA, but since you guys beat me to it, if you could let me know where the nomination is posted, I'd be happy to be a co-nom. Steel1943 (talk) 04:49, 22 October 2014 (UTC)

...So, Jackmcbarn, whaddya say? Sounds like you already have a few editors willing to nominate you, so... Sounds promising? :) Steel1943 (talk) 04:51, 22 October 2014 (UTC)

Scratch that. As I stated in one of my above statements, I made mention that I was "going to wait", and that's exactly what I'm going to do. At this time, I have some concerns that would make me a "strong neutral". I feel that there are some aspects that may need to be worked out first, but I'm not going to post them here, unless requested. Basically, I don't want my concerns to derail an RFA for Jackmcbarn. I really think that Jackmcbarn will be an incredible administrator, but some concerns that I have about recent edits prevents me from wanting to nominate at this time. Steel1943 (talk) 05:07, 22 October 2014 (UTC)

@Steel1943: I think it would be a good idea to post your concerns here. You would have to post them at the RfA anyway, and if they are legitimate someone would probably post them at the RfA even if you didn't. The more data we have now, the better the decisions we can make. We should wait for Jackmcbarn to reply here, first, though, as he might prefer to deal with this by email or on IRC. — Mr. Stradivarius ^{♪ talk ♪} 08:31, 22 October 2014 (UTC)

@Mr. Stradivarius: @Steel1943: I'd like any concerns to be raised here. Jackmcbarn (talk) 11:57, 22 October 2014 (UTC)

Jackmcbarn, I was just looking through your recent edits, and ... I honestly cannot remember what my concerns were. Whatever they were, they may have been valid at one point, but if anything, looking at your even-more recent edits have resolved my concerns ... that I cannot remember. In fact, me just recently looking at other edits of yours in other administration-areas which I had no idea of your track record just enforced my original thought that nominating you is the correct thing to do in my mind. So ... count me in as a co-nom, again. Steel1943 (talk) 14:22, 22 October 2014 (UTC)

@Mr. Stradivarius, Steel1943, and AmaryllisGardener: Yes, I'm ready then. Jackmcbarn (talk) 14:30, 22 October 2014 (UTC)

@Mr. Stradivarius: Would you mind sending me a note or Ping when the RFA draft is created? If you could, I should be able to respond within 24 hours of the note/Ping. (My Wikipedia access is a bit limited right now, thus the reason why my user pages state that I'm on a "WikiBreak".) Steel1943 (talk) 16:35, 22 October 2014 (UTC)

Sure, no problem. — Mr. Stradivarius ^{♪ talk ♪} 14:57, 27 October 2014 (UTC)

Thanks! Steel1943 (talk) 20:37, 27 October 2014 (UTC)

Jack, sorry to take so long with this - this is just to let you know that I haven't forgotten. I've finished writing up all my notes for the nomination now, but it's a bit late here to put it all into prose. I'll get the finished text written tomorrow. — Mr. Stradivarius ^{♪ talk ♪} 14:57, 27 October 2014 (UTC)

• @Mr. Stradivarius: If you could, please Ping me/message me before the nomination goes live so that I can put myself down on the nomination as a co-nom. Thanks! Steel1943 (talk) 17:16, 27 October 2014 (UTC)

Oops, I completely overlooked the response above. Thanks! Steel1943 (talk) 20:37, 27 October 2014 (UTC)

@Mr. Stradivarius: Can I be a co-nom too? --AmaryllisGardener ^talk 17:22, 27 October 2014 (UTC)

Jack, in case you haven't seen or it failed to ping you, Strad has typed it up here, now you just need to formally accept it, and I guess we're off! Also notifying Steel1943 about this, because from what I see you haven't been pinged yet. Regards, --AmaryllisGardener ^talk 00:33, 29 October 2014 (UTC)

@AmaryllisGardener: Thanks. I had no idea that was there. Jackmcbarn (talk) 00:56, 29 October 2014 (UTC)

Jackmcbarn, AmaryllisGardener and Mr. Stradivarius, I shall add my co-nomination statement there shortly. Steel1943 (talk) 02:07, 29 October 2014 (UTC)

• Well Jackmcbarn, I have finished my co-nomination statement and posted it. At this point, unless anyone else wants to join in the nomination circle, it's just waiting for you to activate it. I'm wishing you the best on this, and wishing you a successful, and hopefully stress-free, RFA week! :) Steel1943 (talk) 02:32, 29 October 2014 (UTC)

• Oh, and AmaryllisGardener and Mr. Stradivarius, don't forget to add your support votes! I'm going to go ahead and put mine down as I'm not certain of my availablity for Wikipedia access during these next few days. Steel1943 (talk) 02:35, 29 October 2014 (UTC)

@Jackmcbarn, Steel1943, and AmaryllisGardener: Well, it looks like you all found the nomination page ok! I hadn't told anyone about it because I hadn't finished the nomination (I still might tweak it some more), but that didn't seem to stop any of you. :) I'll have another look through it over the next 30 mins or so, and report back when I'm done. After that, it looks like we will be all set to go. — Mr. Stradivarius ^{♪ talk ♪} 04:40, 29 October 2014 (UTC)

Ok, I've finished going through the nomination now. Jack, feel free to transclude it on WP:RFA whenever you're ready. (And don't forget to subst the date template!) — Mr. Stradivarius ^{♪ talk ♪} 05:15, 29 October 2014 (UTC)

Oh yes, and you still need to add your signature to show that you accept the nominations (although I'm sure you knew that already). — Mr. Stradivarius ^{♪ talk ♪} 05:18, 29 October 2014 (UTC)

Tech News: 2014-44

Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.

Problems

• There was an issue with files from Commons on October 21. You could only see those with names between 140 and 159 characters by visiting Commons itself. [59]
• There was a problem with cut and paste in VisualEditor in Firefox. It was fixed quickly. [60]
• There was a problem with editing math in VisualEditor. It was fixed quickly. [61]

Software changes this week

• The new version of MediaWiki will now come to Wikipedia sites every Wednesday, instead of every Thursday. [62]
• The new version of MediaWiki (1.25wmf5) has been on test wikis and MediaWiki.org since October 23. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis from October 28, and on all Wikipedias from October 29 (calendar).
• VisualEditor now uses autovalues for templates if they are in TemplateData. [63] [64] [65]
• VisualEditor's menu items now show their shortcuts beside them. [66]
• VisualEditor now opens faster when you click "edit". [67]
• The rules for plurals in translations changed in some languages. Interface translations are currently not being updated from translatewiki.net; this process will start again on November 6. [68]

Tech news prepared by tech ambassadors and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe.

05:20, 27 October 2014 (UTC)

A barnstar for you!

	The Technical Barnstar
	For your hard work fixing MediaWiki bugs, including this major issue with pending changes and your responsiveness at WT:FILTER. You're the best! — MusikAnimal talk 23:05, 27 October 2014 (UTC)

PS – looking forward to supporting you on your upcoming RfA! — MusikAnimal ^talk 23:07, 27 October 2014 (UTC)

@MusikAnimal: Yeah, more and more things just keep on happening that prove that this RFA makes tons of sense! (In other words, you beat me to the "thanks"!) Steel1943 (talk) 23:55, 27 October 2014 (UTC)

Seconded. If you go to RFA Jackmcbarn, I will definitely support you because of your invaluable template and MediaWiki skills. Epicgenius (talk) 01:32, 28 October 2014 (UTC)

A cup of tea for you!

Five days left. I think we should both drink some tea. AmaryllisGardener talk 19:55, 31 October 2014 (UTC)

Good luck with the rest of your Request for Adminship

Good luck with the rest of your Request for Adminship !

I know this can be a stressful time, just wanted to stop by and wish you well. :)

I'm sure you'll do fine, and perhaps it's a most interesting omen that your WP:RfA ends on the Fifth of November.

Good luck,

— Cirt (talk) 03:08, 3 November 2014 (UTC)

Accidental thanks

... caused by poor page design on mobile and fat finger. PamD 06:06, 3 November 2014 (UTC)

Tech News: 2014-45

Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.

Recent software changes

• The "Special:Cite" page is now called "Special:CiteThisPage". That way, you know it's to cite the page, not to add a reference. [69]
• You can no longer use the insource: keyword for text searches. It caused issues with the new search tool. It will come back later. [70] [71]

Problems

• There was a bug in VisualEditor with Internet Explorer. It hid tools like the link editor when you opened them. The bug was fixed on Monday. [72]
• Issues with the new search tool caused geo data code to show up on pages on Monday and Friday. The mobile "nearby" tool was also broken. The problem is now fixed. [73] [74] [75]
• HHVM caused server issues on Thursday. They are now fixed.

Software changes this week

• The new version of MediaWiki (1.25wmf5) has been on test wikis and MediaWiki.org since October 29. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis from November 4, and on all Wikipedias from November 5 (calendar).
• Some wikis have icons at the top of a page to show if it is protected or featured. Icons show up using CSS. You can now use the <indicator> tag in these templates instead to add the icons. [76] [77]
• VisualEditor now tells you if you're editing a re-used reference. This helps you avoid changing it if you just want to add a new one. [78]
• The icons in VisualEditor's template editor tool for adding more fields are back, along with other fixes. [79] [80] [81] [82] [83]
• After November 6, all wikis will have the tool to edit TemplateData. [84] [85] [86]

Future changes

• The new search tool will come to the last wikis in the coming weeks. This includes Wikipedia in French, Chinese, German and English. [87]

Tech news prepared by tech ambassadors and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe.

17:28, 3 November 2014 (UTC)

thank you

Thank you for answering my questions. I am very wary of your answers but remain supportive of your RFA. I have no desire to oppose it so I have kept the support vote.

Try to be wise and caring as an administrator. EatingGlassIsBad (talk) 16:40, 4 November 2014 (UTC)

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