Wikipedia:Village pump (technical)/Archive 154

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Village pump (technical) archive  

This page contains discussions that have been archived from Village pump (technical). Please do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to revive any of these discussions, either start a new thread or use the talk page associated with that topic.

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Categories for .js pages

Another editor asked me why some other editor's userland .js page was in several cleanup categories. With some testing, it appears that [[Category:]] strings are recognized no matter where they appear. In the case at hand, it was in a template that was in a JavaScript string, so the parser is actually even doing the wikitext transclusion on a JavaScript page. See User:DMacks/test.js for a demo. Should Content model=JavaScript inhibit categorization altogether? DMacks (talk) 13:38, 27 March 2017 (UTC)

.js pages have different content models which control how the page displays, but they pretty much function in the same way as regular pages, including categorization. As for inhibiting categorization, speedy deletion notices on user .js pages would become invisible to admins patrolling the CSD categories, so perhaps not. Jo-Jo Eumerus (talk, contributions) 14:48, 27 March 2017 (UTC)

This initially was not the case, but people were complaining that what links here of something like // [[User:TheDJ/script.js]] and indeed categorisation for the purpose of deletion notices etc. wasn't working. The parser basically always runs the wikicode parser on such a page, explicitly to make make sure that such things keep working. It throws away the wikicode HTML output, but keeps all the metadata connections and output. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 14:58, 27 March 2017 (UTC)

Ooh good point about CSD, and backlinks. Is there a way to protect chunks of the code from being seen (like <nowiki>)? Obviously one could get creative and split these sorts of strings into concatenated parts, but it seems like a lot of work-around. DMacks (talk) 16:16, 27 March 2017 (UTC)

// <nowiki> and // </nowiki> can be used. You can see it in my common.js. ({{copyvio-revdel}} transclusion is prevented, so the page is not categorized.) — JJMC89 (T·C) 20:13, 27 March 2017 (UTC)

Disabling is the same as in lua, see (http://dev.wikia.com/wiki/Lua_templating/Style_guide#Escaping_wikitext). — Preceding unsigned comment added by 197.218.80.220 (talk) 17:22, 27 March 2017‎ (UTC)

Lua modules on Wikimedia wikis don't work the same way as they do on Wikia. On Wikimedia wikis, categories and template links etc. are not added to a module page even without any special tricks like // <nowiki>. I understand this is because of differences in the way the Scribunto content model is implemented. — Mr. Stradivarius ^{♪ talk ♪} 14:27, 28 March 2017 (UTC)

Another way to do it, if there is only a couple of occurrences, is to use multiple strings instead of a single string, e.g. var foocat = "[[" + "Category:Foo" + "]]"; - Evad37 [talk] 00:17, 28 March 2017 (UTC)

I've found that splitting in that position can put the page into a strange "what links here" list. It's better to split the brackets, so that they're not parsed as a pair, i.e. var foocat = "[" + "[Category:Foo]" + "]"; But escaping them, as in var foocat = "\[\[Category:Foo\]\]"; also works. Same goes for curly braces. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 13:07, 28 March 2017 (UTC)

I have emptied several such red-linked categories using the split strings trick. But can anyone figure out how to remove the two javascript pages from Category:+: User:Makyen/common.js and User:Graeme Bartlett/monobook.js? --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 23:19, 29 March 2017 (UTC)

@BrownHairedGirl: Is it not possible to alter [[Category:+]] to [' +'[Category:+]' + '] or to \[\[Category:+\]\]? --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 00:04, 30 March 2017 (UTC)

@Redrose64: thanks, that did it. I had somehow failed to spot that it was a string enclosed in single quotes. Duh.

And now I am pleased that Category:+ is finally empty. It had been bugging me for the last five updates of Special:WantedCategories. --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 06:59, 30 March 2017 (UTC)

Is it possible to search for multiple items in the insource: field in a search query?

Hi all

Apologies for the confusing title, I'm trying to set up a search result and I the documentation doesn't cover what I want to do (or I didn't understand it) but I feel like it is probably possible. Basically I want to understand which articles reuse open license text from a set of UNESCO publications and use Massviews to see how many page views the articles get.

I know how to do a search for all articles using text from a single publication or search term e.g hastemplate:"Free-content attribution" insource:"unesco.org" returns this which shows all articles using text from any URL within unesco.org. I want to search for all articles that use text from a specific set of publications from one division of UNESCO, I have the list of URLs for the pdf files, I just don't know how to search for any articles using

Basically I want to run a query that would say something like:
"Free-content attribution" insource:http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0023/002325/232555e.pdf or http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0024/002446/244676e.pdf

I just don't know how to express it.

Thanks

--John Cummings (talk) 22:33, 29 March 2017 (UTC)

Insource probably doesn't support the "OR" operator(https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T151347), but it does support regex which would solve your problem, it might be useful to learn how to use it instead of the one off hack you're asking for (https://regexone.com/). "Give a man fish ..." — Preceding unsigned comment added by 197.218.81.13 (talk) 09:24, 30 March 2017 (UTC)

This also wouldn't work too well with multiple urls because there is a limit to the search field (in fact a single url may exceed the limit), so regex like would make more sense. 197.218.80.203 (talk) 11:19, 30 March 2017 (UTC)

Discussion at ANI about Wikidata use in mobile view

See Wikipedia:Administrators'_noticeboard/Incidents#Hard_to_detect_mobile_vandalism Jytdog (talk) 04:52, 28 March 2017 (UTC)

Related: — Preceding unsigned comment added by 197.218.92.114 (talk) 10:15, 28 March 2017 (UTC)

• Wikipedia:Village_pump_(technical)/Archive_148#.5BIdea.5D_Wikidata_descriptions_to_help_disambiguate_article_topic_on_mobile_web
• Wikipedia:Village_pump_(technical)/Archive_152#Showing_Wikidata_descriptions_underneath_article_title_on_mobile_web
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Search?search=Wikidata_descriptions&prefix=Wikipedia%3AVillage+pump&fulltext=Search+all+village+pumps+%26+archives&fulltext=Search&searchToken=bqnkcybpcas4a689n608lhdss — Preceding unsigned comment added by 197.218.92.114 (talk) 10:14, 28 March 2017 (UTC)

Not an ANI issue. At least, should be here at VPT. -DePiep (talk) 21:08, 28 March 2017 (UTC)

Wikidata description in mobile view on enwiki

This has been discussed at WP:ANI#Hard to detect mobile vandalism, but for a technical solution (and/or to reach the correct WMF and local people) this probably should be here as well. Basically, in mobile view (but not in desktop view), the first thing readers get to see beneath the title is a description taken from Wikidata. This is prone to vandalism but hard to detect, correct, or prevent on enwiki in the current situation (we can't block the culprits, protecting the page has no effect, and the vandalism doesn't show up in the page history or in "related changes"; and vandalism control at Wikidata is much slower than here, with obvious vandalism to very high visibility pages remaining much, much longer than is usual on enwiki).

At the relevant MediaWiki page[1] it is said that "If there are any problems with the feature, we have a configuration switch built as part of the feature so that we can turn it off very quickly if there are any problems, at any phase" Now that we have evidence of these problems, it is time to use that switch (at least for enwiki). Otherwise, some local technical solution may also override this "feature".

And then a discussion is needed about whether this label is wanted, and if so whether it should be hosted on Wikidata or (as it is language-specific anyway) be hosted locally. Fram (talk) 11:34, 29 March 2017 (UTC)

Vandalism of Wikidata descriptions takes longer to discover but is also much more rare than Wikipedia vandalism. I don't think a feature should be disabled just because it causes some vandalism. We don't disable anonymous editing and that may cause hundreds or thousands of times as much vandalism to the English Wikipedia. But we can look for ways to detect and fix the vandalism faster. At Wikipedia:Village pump (technical)/Archive 152#Showing Wikidata descriptions underneath article title on mobile web I wrote: "I would like two features for editors who want to look out for bad Wikidata descriptions in articles of interest. An opt-in preference to also display the subtitle in the desktop version. And a watchlist setting to show changes to English Wikidata descriptions without showing other Wikidata edits." Is there a JavaScript programmer who will make a script for the first option, or does it already exist? A script could also include an edit link for the Wikidata description. PrimeHunter (talk) 12:31, 29 March 2017 (UTC)

Trivial:

// Adds a wikidata description just below the "page title"
// Behaves a lot like the mobile version, use ".wdDesc" in CSS to style it differently
var wdDescription = "";
var wgLanguage = mw.config.get("wgContentLanguage");
var wgQid = mw.config.get("wgWikibaseItemId");
$.ajax({
	url: '//www.wikidata.org/w/api.php',
	data: {
		action: 'wbgetentities',
		ids: wgQid,
		props: "descriptions",
		languages : wgLanguage,
		format: 'json'
	},
	dataType: 'jsonp',
	success: function(data) {
		if ( data.entities[wgQid].descriptions[wgLanguage]){
			$("#siteSub").hide();
			wdDescription = data.entities[wgQid].descriptions[wgLanguage].value;
			wdDescription = wdDescription.substring(0,1).toUpperCase() + wdDescription.slice(1);
			$("#bodyContent").prepend('<div class = "wdDesc">' + wdDescription  + '</div>');
		}
	}
});

https://www.mediawiki.org/w/index.php?title=API:Search_and_discovery#Wikidata_2

— Preceding unsigned comment added by 197.218.81.36 (talk) 14:31, 29 March 2017 (UTC)

Thanks! Could the script work like the mobile feature by automatically displaying the Wikidata description if it exists without having to click "Show wikidata description", but display nothing if there is no Wikidata item or it has no English description? PrimeHunter (talk) 15:15, 29 March 2017 (UTC)

Done197.218.80.185 (talk) 16:42, 29 March 2017 (UTC)

Thanks again! I have installed it in my user js. It could be even more like mobile by capitalizing the initial letter and hiding MediaWiki:Tagline instead of appending to it. PrimeHunter (talk) 18:33, 29 March 2017 (UTC)

(edit conflict) I have no problem with the feature, I think it's useful for mobile search results, but agree that there should be an easy way for experienced editors here (who I suspect primarily edit on desktop) to see the Wikidata description for an article. Having to manually check the wikidata item for each article to make sure it hasn't been vandalised isn't a good situation to be in. I think T161596 is the best solution - logged in editors being able to see Wikidata descriptions for articles (probably at the top of the page under the title) and having a button that can take them to the item to edit it would go a long way to making this a non-issue, even if it was an opt-in preference. Sam Walton (talk) 12:33, 29 March 2017 (UTC)

Still doesn't explain why this should be live before these solutions (or anything similar) are implemented, when the WMF was warned about these problems months before the rollout; and also doesn't explain why this should need to be a Wikidata item, adding the need for all kinds of extra checks, preferences, ... when this can just as well be achieved with a template on enwiki, similar to what we already do with hatnotes. Fram (talk) 12:46, 29 March 2017 (UTC)

Wikidata descriptions are stored in a database where they can be retrieved for different purposes without having to read and process an article source. They are used in search at the mobile version and https://www.wikipedia.org (currently overused due to phab:T160749), and they are displayed at top of the Wikidata item where they can help Wikidata users. There may be many other current and future uses including external sites we don't know about. It should be possible to make a system where Wikidata can automatically pull them from the live Wikipedia but this would require new software. And if they are stored in Wikipedia wikitext then they would be vandalised much more than now. It would be fixed faster on average but the net result might still be more risk of seeing vandalism. PrimeHunter (talk) 13:41, 29 March 2017 (UTC)

It should be pointed out that the descriptions are used in many more areas (including the mobile app, search results and dozens of downstream tools like https://tools.wmflabs.org/monumental etc). I don't see how turning it off in one place, would move us much forward, and I fear that with reduced visibility of Wikidata labels the problem will become larger instead of smaller. From my point of view it constitutes security theatre to turn it off, but if people want to disable it, then I'm not gonna oppose that either. Arguing it, would distract too many people from their work. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 13:47, 29 March 2017 (UTC)

Work should be made of making a local template which displays in mobile view and in search results. "with reduced visibility of Wikidata labels the problem will become larger instead of smaller" Not really, there may be more (or longer living vandalism) but it will be exposed to significantly fewer people, the three main areas where this is visible is mobile view, search results, and Google (the boxes on the right of Google results). If the WMF would turn it off now, and then work together with us to implement a local template (which can be introduced to all wiki-languages, but which is added locally to each article) which can easily be retrieved for the same three uses (and whichever other uses they want to make of it), but which can be easily maintained locally, where the people with the language knowledge are most often around and where it is visible in the page history, then we would have the same functionality but with a lot more security. Fram (talk) 14:09, 29 March 2017 (UTC)

BTW. as far as I'm aware wikidata descriptions (which is what we are actually talking about, not Wikidata labels) are not used by Google sidebars. While Knowledge Graph does use parts of Wikipedia (through TextExtracts) and uses Wikidata properties and labels, I've not seen it use Wikidata descriptions. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 14:38, 29 March 2017 (UTC)

One point, if you are watching an article then any wikidata changes made to it also appear in your watchlist. Now a question for anyone with more technical knowledge of Wikidata. If the label is in more than one language as WD permits, which is one is shown? By user language preferences or associated language WP? Nthep (talk) 13:51, 29 March 2017 (UTC)

The watchlist only displays Wikidata edits if you enable "Show Wikidata edits in your watchlist" at Special:Preferences#mw-prefsection-watchlist. Most Wikidata edits don't affect the English Wikipedia so your watchlist may be flooded with edits you don't care about. That's why I suggested an option to only display changes to the English description. The mobile English Wikipedia always displays the English description as subheading on the article but always a description in your preference language in searches. PrimeHunter (talk) 14:07, 29 March 2017 (UTC)

Only if you enable it. And if you do prepare for your watchlist to be flooded with irrelevant changes to fields that are not used in the article, and changes with nonsensical edit summaries that make sense only sense to a bot (as I look, having just enabled it to briefly test it, mine is filled with Reinheitsgebot doing something to Property:P3827). I.e. it is pretty much useless at the moment, unless you are familiar with what Property:P3827 etc. represents. It is completely broken at the moment, at least for normal editors not heavily involved in Wikidata.

I agree with those here who think this does not belong in articles. Articles in mobile view should have the same content as in non-mobile view, as far as is possible. These statements from wikidata add nothing. At best they are just a restatement of the lead and so redundant. At worst they are badly written, at odds with what the article says. And that is before vandals and POV pushers realise they have a new way to disrupt/impose their view on articles.--JohnBlackburne^words_deeds 14:12, 29 March 2017 (UTC)

And if it gets fixed per en-WP's BLP policy, as far as I know Wikidata has no BLP policy and there is no way policy-based way in Wikidata to enforce compliance with en-WP BLP. Jytdog (talk) 23:45, 29 March 2017 (UTC)

improperly placed RfC that was closed

Rfc Remove description taken from Wikidata from mobile view of en-WP The following discussion is an archived record of a request for comment. Please do not modify it. No further edits should be made to this discussion. A summary of the conclusions reached follows. Take this to WP:VPR please. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 23:58, 29 March 2017 (UTC) Do you support the following statement: "The description taken from Wikidata that is currently being loaded in mobile views of en-WP pages, must be immediately removed from mobile views of en-WP pages" Please !vote "support" or "oppose". Jytdog (talk) 23:18, 29 March 2017 (UTC) !votes Discussion Note - please don't turn this into bigger issues, of which there are many. These descriptions from Wikidata are added to content generated by the en-WP community that is subject to en-WP policies, but comes from a source that is outside the control and oversight of the en-WP community, and can only be fixed off-enWP. We already have examples of BLP violations showing up in mobile views because of this feature. This should be a quick/yes no, and if it is "yes, remove it" we can have subsequent discussions about adding it back or setting up some safeguards, in other discussions. Not here please. Jytdog (talk) 23:18, 29 March 2017 (UTC) This village pump is used to discuss technical issues. If it's flooded with Rfc posts then fewer people able to answer technical questions may follow it. Please take an RfC elsewhere like Wikipedia:Village pump (proposals). PrimeHunter (talk) 23:56, 29 March 2017 (UTC) The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

• RfC reposed Wikipedia:Village_pump_(proposals)/Archive 138#Rfc:_Remove_description_taken_from_Wikidata_from_mobile_view_of_en-WP Jytdog (talk) 00:08, 30 March 2017 (UTC)

• Update: User:OVasileva (WMF) posted at the RfC and said that they are turning this off and asked for feedback about "blockers". I have withdrawn the RfC, which was focused simply on supporting or opposing a request to turn this off, and I suggested that they open a new RfC targeted at obtaining information they want from the en-WP community. Jytdog (talk) 17:48, 30 March 2017 (UTC)

Link to talk page goes to notices instead

Tracked in Phabricator
Task T161302

The process for using Phabricator to report a bug is too difficult for me to handle. So I will just describe the bug here.

For the last few weeks, when I click on the "talk" icon in the list of links at the top right of a page, it frequently goes to notices instead. Indeed when I just hover over "talk", it says that I am selecting notices. However, after I get the notices and dismiss them, it usually works correctly the next time. JRSpriggs (talk) 00:49, 26 March 2017 (UTC)

@JRSpriggs: Could you explain what is too difficult so we could improve the documentation on login and mw:How to report a bug? --Malyacko (talk) 13:55, 26 March 2017 (UTC)

Thanks to Catrope for fixing this bug. JRSpriggs (talk) 02:06, 31 March 2017 (UTC)

Identifying cosmetic fixes at Checkwiki

There is currently an effort to identify which WP:CWERRORS should be considered cosmetic/which aren't. Help and feedback would be appreciated. Headbomb {t · c · p · b} 12:58, 31 March 2017 (UTC)

Code editor toggle no longer persistent

Tracked in Phabricator
Task T161875

The code editor is now always loading/activating on .js pages (probably also other pages where it is available, but I haven't checked). Previously, the 'toggle' button would keep it off on future page loads, until it was toggled on again. I'm using Chrome / Windows 7 / Vector skin. How can I either restore the previous behaviour (preferably), or else just disable the code editor all together? - Evad37 [talk] 04:00, 31 March 2017 (UTC)

I've tried clearing cookies/cache but that didn't help. - Evad37 [talk] 04:21, 31 March 2017 (UTC)

See phab:T161875#3146524 for an explanation of what's going on. Ideally the fix will be merged in time for 1.29.0-wmf.19 (scheduled for April 6 here), or if someone thinks it important enough they're welcome to backport the fix for earlier deployment after the fix is merged to the master branch. Anomie⚔ 13:20, 31 March 2017 (UTC)

To copy or not to copy?

I was looking at the Babel userbox templates for Esperanto and found what looks to me like a problem in the docs. I've escaped the wikicode in the following quotes, and left the regular text as text, highlighting the apparent trouble spot. The boldface is in the original.

Template:User_eo-0 says

== Rules ==

• DO NOT copy the source of this userbox. Otherwise you risk putting your userpage in a miscategorization, and/or generating duplicate templates/userboxes.

== Usage ==

*Put this Userbox on your userpage like this:{{[[Template:{{BASEPAGENAME}}|{{BASEPAGENAME}}]]}}
*Put this userbox in Babel like this {{Babel|XX-#}}
*You can replace "ne komprenas" with another phrase like this: {{Babel|special-boxes={{User eo-0|tre malfacile komprenas}}}}, {{Babel|special-boxes={{User eo-0|ne volas paroli}}}}.

Template:User_eo-1 — Template:User_eo-5 don't have this text in any form. I don't know whether they should or not.

Template:User_eo-N (redirects to Template:User eo looks seriously damaged by a cut-and-paste error:

== Usage ==

copy the source of this userbox. Otherwise you risk putting your userpage in a miscategorization, and/or generating duplicate templates/userboxes.

• Put this userbox on your userpage like this: {{[[Template:{{BASEPAGENAME}}|{{BASEPAGENAME
• {{#ifexist:Template:{{BASEPAGENAME}}-f|For the female version, see: {{tl|{{BASEPAGENAME}}-f}}.
• }}This template will automatically add your page to the following categories:
  • {{#ifexist:Category:{{BASEPAGENAME}}-N

|[[:Category:{{BASEPAGENAME}}-N]] |{{#ifexist:Category:{{BASEPAGENAME}} ''[...]'' }} }}

}}

This looks wrong, but I don't know if it is, or how to fix it if so; therefore this post. Please {{Ping}} me to discuss. --Thnidu (talk) 06:19, 31 March 2017 (UTC)

@Thnidu: I don't know whether the message is needed or not, it was added to Template:User_eo-0 10 years ago with this edit. Template:User_eo-N was broken recently by vandalism [2], which I have now fixed. Sarahj2107 (talk) 07:14, 31 March 2017 (UTC)

@Sarahj2107: Thank you. --Thnidu (talk) 13:55, 31 March 2017 (UTC)

What's causing these "cite errors"?

I can't figure out the cause of all the cite errors at Luoyang Bridge (Quanzhou)#Reference. If I remove the "name" attributes, I get a different error. Any help? Largoplazo (talk) 19:46, 31 March 2017 (UTC)

 Fixed. – Jonesey95 (talk) 20:04, 31 March 2017 (UTC)

Thanks! Largoplazo (talk) 20:09, 31 March 2017 (UTC)

@Largoplazo: I still see four red error messages. But have you tried clicking those "help" links? --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 22:01, 31 March 2017 (UTC)

I clicked them and saw mostly general information about how to use {{reflist}} with nested references that I already knew. For whatever reason, what was distinguishing the way it was supposed to be set up from the way it was actually set up was eluding me. Largoplazo (talk) 22:59, 31 March 2017 (UTC)

Orderering of user scripts

How do I specify a certain order to any user scripts added at User:AlexTheWhovian/common.js? They seem to be added to the left-hand navigation in a seemingly random order that is different with each page-load (example), both the ones added under "Tools" and my own custom "TV Tools". Cheers. -- Alex^TW 19:51, 31 March 2017 (UTC)

@AlexTheWhovian: When you use mw.util.addPortletLink to add the link, you need to specify the nextnode parameter. This will anchor it before the DOM element that you specify. However, judging from the source code, this won't work if the DOM element isn't present because the script adding it isn't loaded yet. In that case, you would need to make sure the scripts are loaded in a certain order, or alter the scripts so that all the portlet links are added in the right order from a single script. (I was hoping that you could use mw.loader to load the scripts in the right order, but it seems that this isn't possible for non-gadget user scripts at the moment.) — Mr. Stradivarius ^{♪ talk ♪} 01:08, 1 April 2017 (UTC)

Tried messing around with some code, but to no avail. May just need to remain random sorting, then. Thanks for the help, Mr. S. -- Alex^TW 10:01, 1 April 2017 (UTC)

Dispenser tools going to subscription mode - April Fools?

See User:Dispenser/Tools subscription. If not an April Fools thing, do we have free alternatives for the most popular tools in this bunch? (besides ReFill for Reflinks) I don't see many folks paying to edit on the Wikipedia, no matter how wonderful these tools are (and they are). Stevie is the man! ^{Talk • Work} 13:29, 1 April 2017 (UTC)

I thought the TPER I declined at Template talk:Peer review tools was an April Fools. Looks like the requester was also suckered. You've heard they're going to delete wikt:gullible? Cabayi (talk) 13:41, 1 April 2017 (UTC)

I don't know where 'also' came from. I immediately thought it could be an April Fools. But there's no straightforward indication of a joke... perhaps there's one that only insiders get. Stevie is the man! ^{Talk • Work} 16:01, 1 April 2017 (UTC)

The best policy on April 1 is to wait until April 2. – Jonesey95 (talk) 16:37, 1 April 2017 (UTC)

Chains of self-reverted one-byte space edits

Does anyone know what could be causing these edits, and whether other users have been affected? I've asked Jobas and while they said they'd try to solve the problem, an explanation of the cause wasn't given. --Paul_012 (talk) 21:30, 1 April 2017 (UTC)

I think you're right to consider it a technical issue; I can imagine someone doing this to get autoconfirmed or otherwise to game the system, but when you have more than 100,000 edits on more than 50 wikis in more than 5 years of editing, you're not going to be doing some silly chain of self-reversion for nefarious purposes, and given the amount of time it would take to make these pointless edits, I can't imagine why you'd intentionally do it for non-nefarious purposes. Nyttend (talk) 01:11, 2 April 2017 (UTC)

Pending changes topicon

On my talk, the pending changes topicon goes to the pending changes guideline page. I'd like it to go to the actual list of pending changes. Is that allowed? If so, how would I do that? And if not, how can I change the yellow warning icon on my talk's infobox so it goes to that list instead of to the full image? CityOfSilver 15:35, 1 April 2017 (UTC)

@CityOfSilver: changing the topicon would change it for everyone, you could possibly fork it. I updated the warning icon link on your own page to point to the PC queue - is this enough for now? — xaosflux ^Talk 15:42, 1 April 2017 (UTC)

@Xaosflux: Oh, I don't want to change the topicon for everybody. I wanted an image at my talk that exists as a topicon but goes to the list rather than the guideline. But come to think of it, the warning icon is easier to click so this is probably the better option. Let's go with this! Thank you! I'll go away now! CityOfSilver 15:49, 1 April 2017 (UTC)

@CityOfSilver: If you use a link a lot then you can also add it to the interface, for example with this in your common JavaScript to place PC before Preferences:

mw.util.addPortletLink(
  'p-personal',
  mw.util.wikiGetlink( 'Special:PendingChanges' ),
  'PC',
  'pt-PC',
  'Pending changes',
  null,
  '#pt-preferences'
);

I chose 'PC' to save space but it could say anything. PrimeHunter (talk) 19:14, 1 April 2017 (UTC)

I just updated {{reviewer topicon}} to take a "link" parameter. Just use {{reviewer topicon|link=Special:PendingChanges}}. – Train2104 (t • c) 22:47, 1 April 2017 (UTC)

@Train2104: Oh, that's awesome. Heck with it: I'm making it so both the warning thing and the topicon go to the list. And User:PrimeHunter, I was going to ask if that were possible but, because I don't know anything, I just assumed it wasn't. So I'll do that too. Thanks everybody! CityOfSilver 02:30, 2 April 2017 (UTC)

Two issues

1. JL-Bot hasn't edited in over a week. What happened?
2. Sometimes, when using the "cite" function on the Wikitext editor, if I click on "templates" then any of the cite options (i.e. "Cite web"), nothing shows up; refreshing the editor doesn't fix the problem, and this happens with multiple articles for several minutes. During these times, I would have to use ProveIt. What's happening? I've been having this issue intermittently for over a year now.

Narutolovehinata5 ^tccsdnew 05:06, 1 April 2017 (UTC)

• @Narutolovehinata5: So issue 2, which version/mode of RefToolbar are you using ? —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 15:27, 1 April 2017 (UTC)

@TheDJ:RefToolbar 2.0b. Narutolovehinata5 ^tccsdnew 22:13, 1 April 2017 (UTC)

@Narutolovehinata5: Could it be that the menu is actually opening, but that the contents are hidden behind the textarea ? In that case, there is no blue between the 'templates' button and the textarea... I've seen something like that before, but I've never been able to figure out what is causing it. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 12:43, 2 April 2017 (UTC)

@TheDJ: From what I understand, the cite box doesn't show up at all when the glitch happens. Narutolovehinata5 ^tccsdnew 13:04, 2 April 2017 (UTC)

List of stock exchanges

Is there a problem at List of stock exchanges? The table for major stock exchanges seems to be displaying at the bottom of the page. AusLondonder (talk) 05:51, 3 April 2017 (UTC)

@AusLondonder: I have undone a recent edit to the {{Major stock exchanges}} template. -- John of Reading (talk) 06:32, 3 April 2017 (UTC)

Thanks for that. Had no idea it'd be something so simple! AusLondonder (talk) 07:56, 3 April 2017 (UTC)

@AusLondonder: If a table is being displayed too far down, that's usually a sign that someone has removed or damaged the end-of-table marker. -- John of Reading (talk) 08:46, 3 April 2017 (UTC)

Tech News: 2017-14

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

• The Save page button now says Publish page or Publish changes on most Wikipedias. The point is to make it more clear that the edit will change the page immediately. Publish page is when you save a new page and Publish changes when you edit an existing page. [3]
• The tracking category Category:Pages with template loops is now added when a template loop is found. A template loop is for example when a template tries to use a second template that uses the first template. [4]
• English Wikipedia now has cookie blocks. It will come to more wikis in the future. This is an extension to the autoblock system so when a user is blocked, the next time they visit the wiki a cookie will be set. This means that even if the user switches accounts and to a new IP address the cookie will block them again. [5]

Problems

• Wikidata descriptions, aliases and labels that used some characters could not be saved. This has now been fixed. [6]

Changes this week

• The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from 4 April. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from 5 April. It will be on all wikis from 6 April (calendar).

Meetings

• You can join the next meeting with the VisualEditor team. During the meeting, you can tell developers which bugs you think are the most important. The meeting will be on 4 April at 19:00 (UTC). See how to join.
• You can join the next office hour with the Wikidata team. The meeting will be on 5 April at 16:00 (UTC). See how to join.

Future changes

• New filters for Recent changes will come to Wikidata and Persian, Dutch, Russian, Turkish, Czech and Hebrew Wikipedia on 11 April. The new filters include filtering, highlighting and user intent prediction. User intent prediction means the filter tries to help editors determine if the edit was made in good faith or not. Other wikis will get it later. [7]

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

17:53, 3 April 2017 (UTC)

Flagicon of Iran

What's wrong with Flagicon on Iran? Result of {{Flagicon|Iran}} is . 213.151.215.195 (talk) 20:10, 2 April 2017 (UTC)

It looks correct to me? Jo-Jo Eumerus (talk, contributions) 20:23, 2 April 2017 (UTC)

OK, it's Firefox problem. In Internet Explorer I see it correctly. 213.151.215.195 (talk) 21:09, 2 April 2017 (UTC)

it looks totally normal here with Firefox. --fireattack (talk) 16:53, 3 April 2017 (UTC)

@Fireattack: I found out what's wrong – my Firefox was on 110% zoom. When I adjusted it to 100% or less, everything was OK. 213.151.215.195 (talk) 20:30, 3 April 2017 (UTC)

Global edit count broken

I just checked the date I started editting and according to https://tools.wmflabs.org/xtools-ec/?user=Stuartyeates&project=en.wikipedia.org I've been editting since "First edit: Dec 31, 2099, 12:00 AM" I've been editing for more than a decade and that date is wrong. Stuartyeates (talk) 09:27, 30 March 2017 (UTC)

Just found out where to log a bug. https://github.com/x-tools/xtools/issues/119 Stuartyeates (talk) 09:41, 30 March 2017 (UTC)

The link currently says "First edit: Dec 20, 2004, 5:14 PM" for me. That matches your oldest edit here.[8] I guess it was just a temporary glitch, maybe showing the last possible time in some system. PrimeHunter (talk) 10:12, 30 March 2017 (UTC)

That happens every now and then for me, too. Rather startling the first time, but temporary. You might try this edit counter as an alternative. BlackcurrantTea (talk) 10:29, 31 March 2017 (UTC)

Yechh. Hawkeye7 (talk) 22:29, 3 April 2017 (UTC)

The xtools edit counter is still down. Where can one report a problem with it? Hawkeye7 (talk) 22:29, 3 April 2017 (UTC)

Is there a way to check whether a page has a specified property

As in Pages with a page property

Using parser functions or a template? In template code, I want to inquire whether a particular page has the property "disambiguation".

if (page has property "disambiguation") do "this"...

else do "that". – wbm1058 (talk) 21:31, 3 April 2017 (UTC)

No, that would be inviting property inception [9]. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 197.218.91.190 (talk) 23:21, 3 April 2017 (UTC)

Can't back out on mobile

The past couple of days I've been having problems with backing out of a page I've edited. (I'm on mobile.) It doesn't always happen, but when it does I have to hit the home button and completely get off the internet. It seems to happen more often when I've made several edits to the same page in a row. White Arabian Filly ^Neigh 21:38, 28 March 2017 (UTC)

@White Arabian Filly: When you back out... what are the steps you specifically ? —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 06:00, 29 March 2017 (UTC)

I normally hit the back button on my phone, which looks like a reversing arrow, as many times as I have to go back to return to the main page or the article/category/cleanup list I started out on. I don't think the phone is the problem because it's not doing this on any other site, and the problem just started a few days ago. White Arabian Filly ^Neigh 15:18, 29 March 2017 (UTC)

What kind of phone are you using? What exactly happens when you hit the back button to back out of the page you've edited? ~ ONUnicorn^{(Talk|Contribs)}problem solving 15:54, 29 March 2017 (UTC)

Phone is Samsung Galaxy S4. Normally when I hit the back button after saving the edit, I see the edit mode, and if I hit back again I see the article as it currently stands. I have to repeat that for however many edits I made. However, now I go back once or twice, but can't go back to the main page of Wikipedia. The screen remains on the article or talk page I edited and I have to hit the home button to completely back off the internet. White Arabian Filly ^Neigh 19:04, 31 March 2017 (UTC)

Hi @White Arabian Filly: I just created this bug report: https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T162128 I hope it captures the problem. If you get a moment, could you add some comments on the behavior you're observing? We'll send it over to our QA team to look for ways to reproduce. Thanks! OVasileva (WMF) (talk) 10:51, 4 April 2017 (UTC)

What Links Here bug

Article pages that link to "Peter Schaefer" lists as its first of 13 entries August Hermann Francke. This page does not link to Peter Schaefer. However, it includes {{Pietism}}, and that template displays Peter Schaefer, but does not link to it; the link Peter Schaefer is piped to Peter Schaefer (Pietist). What's going on? Anomalocaris (talk) 07:15, 4 April 2017 (UTC)

The link was removed 27 March.[10] It sometimes takes a long time before link tables are updated. It must have happened now because I don't see the entry you mention. See WP:NULL for how to force updates. PrimeHunter (talk) 11:02, 4 April 2017 (UTC)

"Historical" scripts

Is there already a maintenance template to mark no-longer-developed scripts that is similar to Template:Historical? If not, I'm just going to make one. I'm going through Category:Wikipedia scripts to find scripts that are no longer maintained. Mark Schierbecker (talk) 23:49, 3 April 2017 (UTC)

Templates don't work so well in scriptspace. You'd need to find a solution for that. Jo-Jo Eumerus (talk, contributions) 14:34, 4 April 2017 (UTC)

Category:Pages with template loops

Per the above tech news, Category:Pages with template loops now exists to track pages with template loops in them. Some documentation on that Category page about how to fix template loops, assuming that they are a problem, would be welcome. – Jonesey95 (talk) 21:32, 3 April 2017 (UTC)

What's the difference between that category, and Category:Template loop warnings? Problems in the latter category are usually easy to understand. wbm1058 (talk) 21:38, 3 April 2017 (UTC)

The new Category:Pages with template loops automatically tracks all pages where a template loop was encountered during rendering. It may populate slowly as pages are rendered. It can take months before a page is rendered if it isn't edited. The English Wikipedia has added Category:Template loop warnings in MediaWiki:Parser-template-loop-warning since 2009 (the default message has no category). However, the category is only added if MediaWiki:Parser-template-loop-warning is displayed in the rendered page and that only happens if a page tries to display the result of a template loop. For example, on page X the code {{X}} will produce the message and therefore the category. But the code {{#if:{{X}}|A|B}} will not try to display {{X}} which will just evaluate to a non-empty error message during processing, so the #if will display A. Category:Template loop warnings is not added in this case but Category:Pages with template loops is. The former should be a subset of the latter, at least when Category:Pages with template loops has been fully populated. We could also "merge" the two categories by removing our old category from MediaWiki:Parser-template-loop-warning (we could still keep the name by creating MediaWiki:Template-loop-category with it). PrimeHunter (talk) 00:23, 4 April 2017 (UTC)

I picked a page in Category:Pages with template loops, Postbellum, to track down the problem.

Next I isolated the code that was generating the error: {{Language with name/for||Latin|"after the war"}} (trial & error to do that, as there's no obvious error message)

Digging deeper into that, I found:

• {{#ifexist: {{ISO 639 name||}} }} (with a blank parameter) silently populates Category:Pages with template loops
• {{ISO 639 name||}} populates Category:Template loop warnings and writes the message: Template loop detected: Template:ISO 639 name

I'll try to patch Template:ISO 639 name to make the error go away. – wbm1058 (talk) 22:52, 3 April 2017 (UTC)

A fix may already be in that template's sandbox from three years ago. – Jonesey95 (talk) 23:19, 3 April 2017 (UTC)

This patch cleared the problem from Postbellum. – wbm1058 (talk) 23:21, 3 April 2017 (UTC)

Yuck. Fix one issue and the side-effect of that is to introduce another. Now there are a ton of false-positive {{error}} transclusions.

Taking this off the village pump; see Template talk:ISO 639 name#Return empty string for codes not on the list. @Jonesey95: you may be interested in this as I see you created Category:Articles containing unknown ISO 639 language template. – wbm1058 (talk) 18:33, 4 April 2017 (UTC)

UserProfile gone west

Where has Special:UserProfile gone? It was working two years ago. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 16:21, 4 April 2017 (UTC)

phab:T85929? Jo-Jo Eumerus (talk, contributions) 16:26, 4 April 2017 (UTC)

Seems to be about removing it from Mobile, which I didn't use (and still don't). I prefer keyboards that cost £15 to replace when you spill coffee into them. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 18:24, 4 April 2017 (UTC)

It was only created for mobile and only linked to from mobile. While it could be visited on the Desktop, it never got beyond that. People didn't like it, so it was removed. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 19:11, 4 April 2017 (UTC)

Math parse problem in PNG-mode with \begin{aligned} and \end{aligned}

See Talk:Acceleration (special relativity)#Parse error, in the article of which I had to replace all instances of the strings \begin{aligned} resp. \end{aligned} with \begin{align} resp. \end{align}. Is this the right place to bring this up? If not, please advise. Thx. DVdm (talk) 13:54, 4 April 2017 (UTC)

Note: there's more articles that seem to suffer from this, for instance History of Lorentz transformations. Will this be fixed globally, or are we going to have to visit and cure all these pages?

I have fixed it and article Hyperbolic motion (relativity).

There's many more.

@D.H: for your information. - DVdm (talk) 14:18, 4 April 2017 (UTC)

There are very few cases of this. This search returns 7 results. --Izno (talk) 14:24, 4 April 2017 (UTC)

Oops, hadn't seen you remark, but I think you missed some with that search . By the way, I was't aware that we can use regexes there. NEAT! - DVdm (talk) 14:29, 4 April 2017 (UTC)

Well, that's concerning that the one generates 7 and the other 8k (though yours certainly has false positives--there are still more in your results than in mine). --Izno (talk) 14:45, 4 April 2017 (UTC)

I clicked on one at random--Semi-implicit Euler method does not contain the string in question. Regardless, this seems like it could be a trivial bot/AWB request to have fixed. Hop over to WP:Bot requests. --Izno (talk) 14:48, 4 April 2017 (UTC)

Bot requested: [11]. - DVdm (talk) 16:10, 4 April 2017 (UTC)

@Izno: I manually corrected the 7 articles. The other hits seem unrelated, with the "aligned" string not within source math constructs, just in translated math results.

It looks like <math>\begin{align}... gets translated to {\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}...}}, whereas <math>\begin{aligned}... causes an error.

Searches for insource:/\<math\>.*\\(end|begin)\{aligned\}/ and insource:/\<math\>.*\\(end|begin)\{align\}/ would have been more relevant. - DVdm (talk) 07:27, 5 April 2017 (UTC)

Noticed this question at help desk

Wikipedia:Help desk#Unable to log in on mobile (Safari).

Looks like a technical question. They could probably use your advice. The Transhumanist 05:19, 6 April 2017 (UTC)

Misplaced alert buttons

Has something changed today with the notification alert buttons? This image depicts the top-right section of my screen when viewed with IE11; I use Monobook, although I doubt that's relevant here. This afternoon (at least as late as 19:45 UTC), everything was fine, but by about 21:00 UTC, this was happening suddenly. The big problem is that the little notification icons are far below the rest of the bar (at https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alerts_bar_with_overlaps.png, the icons are at the top of the box in the file history section, between the words "User" and "Comment"), and links above these icons are non-clickable, so most of the page is useless. If you click and drag (as if you're highlighting) starting at any point above the icons, nothing gets highlighted on the left side of the page, and on the right side, the only thing that gets highlighted (even if you're mousing over text that's way far down) is the links appearing in this image.

Technical notes: I'm seeing the same thing at Commons, and I'm not seeing the same thing if I use Firefox. I've not tried it with Chrome, since I don't have that browser. If I log out, everything's fine in IE, but I'm not sure if that's because it's a different skin or because you can't get Notifications when you're logged out. Nyttend (talk) 23:51, 30 March 2017 (UTC)

It looks like you have enabled "Add a clock to the personal toolbar" at Special:Preferences#mw-prefsection-gadgets. Maybe that fails to push your icons to the left along with the links. Does it help to disable the gadget? PrimeHunter (talk) 00:24, 31 March 2017 (UTC)

No, not useful; I tried it, and that just resulted in the buttons being farther right by a little bit. I've been using the clock gadget for several years without encountering this error before. Nyttend (talk) 00:27, 31 March 2017 (UTC)

I am getting this problem too with IE11; Chrome is all right. To be clear, I have not enabled the clock gadget. Double sharp (talk) 03:01, 31 March 2017 (UTC)

The problem seems to only show up in Monobook: Vector is still all right. The same is true on Russian Wikipedia (which I checked as an example, because I don't speak the language and thus don't edit it much if at all, and so I haven't set Monobook there in my preferences): Monobook gives this problem with the icons, while Vector is all right. Double sharp (talk) 03:50, 31 March 2017 (UTC)

Same problem for me. In addition, the notification buttons do appear lower on every page, and wikilinks on each page are inoperative above the point where they appear. That's why I'm logged out to make this edit; because this thread is at the bottom of the page, the "edit" link following its heading is operable for me, but the edit page I get doesn't work, since the window is above the point where the notification buttons appear. I can't change to Vector either, since the tabs on my preferences page are similarly inoperable. 97.91.247.16 (talk) 04:04, 31 March 2017 (UTC)

...<crickets>... Hello, is anyone at all looking into this? I'm pretty much unable to edit from my account until this is fixed, as I currently only have access to IE11. 97.91.247.16 (talk) 06:28, 31 March 2017 (UTC)

Yep, all broken in IE, fine in Firefox. Something obviously happened last night that needs to be reverted. Lugnuts ^{Precious bodily fluids} 06:43, 31 March 2017 (UTC)

I'm seeing the problem in Firefox (an old version). Very frustrating. Until it's fixed, perhaps a notice about the problem and the way around it could be put somewhere obvious, like across the top of the watchlist? It took some looking for me to find this discussion, and although I saw the overlapping alert buttons, I didn't think that switching skins would fix both it and the associated problems. I'd already tried changing other settings in my prefs to no avail. BlackcurrantTea (talk) 08:43, 31 March 2017 (UTC)

This needs to be fixed already. I could click the edit button for this section in IE, but I could not place the cursor in the edit window (had to switch to Chrome for this edit). Also, the alert and notification icons weirdly appear below the edit window and the save/preview/changes buttons, to the right of the "This page is a member of X hidden categories". HandsomeFella (talk) 08:42, 31 March 2017 (UTC)

Thursday evenings (UTC) you should always expect the unexpected. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 09:50, 31 March 2017 (UTC)

New MediaWiki versions are installed at the English Wikipedia on Thursdays as Redrose64 hints at. Yesterday it was mw:MediaWiki 1.29/wmf.18. You can probably change skin at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Preferences?useskin=vector#mw-prefsection-rendering. As a temporary bad workaround in MonoBook, try hiding them completely with this in Special:MyPage/monobook.css:

#pt-notifications-alert { display: none; }
#pt-notifications-notice { display: none; }

You can then check them by viewing a page in Vector, for example with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BlankPage?useskin=vector. PrimeHunter (talk) 09:57, 31 March 2017 (UTC)

As further information on this issue, I'm also using IE11 (not by choice; work computer) and monobook.js. In this combination, I find the following issues:

1. Alerts are misplaced as previously described.
2. Many links are unclickable. The closer to the top of the page, the less likely to be clickable. As I move down a page, there comes a point where the links do become clickable.
3. When I try to edit a section, I get the edit box, but it is non-responsive.

These problems only apply to monobook.js, not to the default vector.js skin. As a work around, I'll work in the vector skin for now, but this is clearly a bug that needs to be resolved. WikiDan61^ChatMe!_ReadMe!! 12:13, 31 March 2017 (UTC)

• Same problem, looks exactly like the example on top. Can't edit, and the code-error won't allow me to change skins under my user name. If it's affecting others posting here then it must be affecting thousands of editors, so...eek? and thanks if this can be cleared up. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2605:A000:1112:410A:686E:D7B6:DCFB:E6C0 (talk) 12:53, 31 March 2017 (UTC)

I was able to change skins by using the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Preferences?useskin=vector#mw-prefsection-rendering link provided by PrimeHunter above. Deor (talk) 12:58, 31 March 2017 (UTC)

Until it's fixed we could use MediaWiki:Monobook.js to add something like this somewhere: If you have misplaced alert buttons then try Vector. PrimeHunter (talk) 13:36, 31 March 2017 (UTC)

Same problem here with IE11. Works fine with Firefox. Ruigeroeland (talk) 15:02, 31 March 2017 (UTC)

A fault with my Wikipedia editing screen when displayed in Firefox

Moved from WP:AN

• Long-time editor reporting either an effect or a 'help'. When I came back to my logged-in account after this went into effect I can't edit because the 'alert' and 'notices' icons/buttons have moved way down the page. The coding won't let me click on a link until after my cursor has moved after that point, which precludes editing or linking on anything before the point where the 'alert' and 'message' icons appear. Whatever the cause can anyone suggest a cure? I'd hate to clear my history, which would erase notice of pages already visited here which would compromise project work. Thanks. Will now post this while signing a red-link name to see if the IP appears. Alertmessageiconwtf — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2605:A000:1112:410A:341B:6974:355F:57B8 (talk) 11:11, 31 March 2017 (UTC)

  I'm not sure exactly what the issue is, but I can tell you it's not because of cookie blocks. There is a discussion at Wikipedia:Village_pump (technical)#Misplaced alert buttons (permalink). I would follow there for updates, as that as that venue is where technical discussions like this take place. Best — MusikAnimal ^talk 11:33, 31 March 2017 (UTC)

• I use Firefox. When I am in Wikipedia, at the top of the screen on the right are these click links:-
  1. My username, leading to my user page
  2. An image of a bell, leading to my alerts
  3. An image of a computer screen, leading to my notices
  4. The word "talk", leading to my user talk page
  5. The word "sandbox", leading to my user sandbox
  6. (And others)
  • OK so far. But in this display, the graphical clickable for "Your notices" has a much too big catchment area for mouse clicks. As a result, if I click on "talk", I get not my talk page but my notices, unless I click as far to the right as possible, on the rightmost end pixels of the "k" of "talk". This fault has developed in the last few days. Anthony Appleyard (talk) 11:07, 31 March 2017 (UTC)
    • See my message in the section just above, a somewhat similar problem but now can't edit. Alertmessageiconwtf — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2605:A000:1112:410A:341B:6974:355F:57B8 (talk) 11:13, 31 March 2017 (UTC)

I had that problem a few days ago (clicking on talk and getting notices) and it seems to be working properly again for me (clicking on talk again would open my talk page). I use Chrome. —MRD2014 📞 contribs 13:37, 31 March 2017 (UTC)

• • It seems to be working properly again for me now also. Anthony Appleyard (talk) 05:23, 6 April 2017 (UTC)

Alerts/notices links are corrupting all pages under IE11

I'm using IE11. As of this morning, all WP pages are corrupted and only partially functional. The row of links at the top of every page (userpage/sandbox/prefs/watchlist et al) function normally, but the alerts/notices links now appear as text (vs. icons) and overlap my talk page link. Furthermore, the alerts/notices icons do appear on every page -- way down below the top row of links (perhaps 30 or more text lines below it). All links below these icons function normally, but all links above them are non-functional (except the top row, as mentioned above). Chrome doesn't exhibit this problem, nor did IE11 as of last night. Lambtron (talk) 15:00, 31 March 2017 (UTC)

Probably the same as reported above #Misplaced alert buttons. Nthep (talk) 15:06, 31 March 2017 (UTC)

Fixed

The issue should be fixed now. I would appreciate if someone could confirm that it works for them :) Matma Rex talk 19:47, 31 March 2017 (UTC)

Yes. I was experiencing this problem (using IE11) and it's fixed for me now. DH85868993 (talk) 20:05, 31 March 2017 (UTC)

Ditto. Nyttend (talk) 22:23, 31 March 2017 (UTC)

OK by me now. 22:28, 31 March 2017 (UTC)

Thank you for the fix! Double sharp (talk) 05:13, 1 April 2017 (UTC)

Problem solved for IE11 -- thanks! Lambtron (talk) 17:46, 4 April 2017 (UTC)

Fixed for me also. Thanks. Anthony Appleyard (talk) 04:55, 5 April 2017 (UTC)

SVG not rendering at particular thumb size

File:Underground.svg at 70px

For some reason the image File:Underground.svg (shown right) isn't rendering when resized to 70px, but it's fine at all other sizes. Clicking through to the generated thumbnail image Firefox tells me that "The page you are trying to view cannot be shown because it uses an invalid or unsupported form of compression." I've resized it to 72px in Template:London Underground sidebar so that it's visible again, but is this a known bug? Was the 70px thumbnail corrupted when being generated recently? (The svg file itself hasn't been touched for three years.) --McGeddon (talk) 09:00, 6 April 2017 (UTC)

Thanks for reporting this. The image embedded displays correctly for me. This might be yet another instance of phab:T162035. --AKlapper (WMF) (talk) 09:48, 6 April 2017 (UTC)

What is this sidebar?

?

In the last day or two I have seen this sidebar gadget or whatever it is appear on the right hand side of certain pages.I think only articles, but not all of them? I've not made any recent changes to my preferences so I'm somewhat mystified as to what this is and why I'm sometimes seeing it. Beeblebrox (talk) 18:55, 6 April 2017 (UTC)

It's the page curation bar. It appears and disappears for me as well. Jo-Jo Eumerus (talk, contributions) 19:22, 6 April 2017 (UTC)

It appears if you visit certain special pages (such as Special:NewPagesFeed), even if you get there by accident and exit immediately; and it's a swine to get rid of again. According to Wikipedia:Page Curation/Help#Curation Toolbar, there's supposed to be a little "x" icon at the top, which will close it; but none is visible in your screenshot. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 19:35, 6 April 2017 (UTC)

• The very first "button" on that bar is "minimize", after minimizing you should see the "x" to close it. — xaosflux ^Talk 19:39, 6 April 2017 (UTC)

  The icon that looks like a right-pointing arrow against a vertical bar? Doesn't suggest "minimise" to me, it's more of a "next page" thing. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 19:52, 6 April 2017 (UTC)

  There are only seven icons and it has mouseover "Minimize". If you click it then the only options are "x" with mouseover "Close", and "Curation" to show the bar again. If it works then it shouldn't be hard to figure out. PrimeHunter (talk) 20:47, 6 April 2017 (UTC)

Huh, I did look at the new pages feed a few days ago while trying to sort something out, I had no idea that just looking at a page could activate an editng gadget. I'll see if I can't turn it off next time it pops up. Beeblebrox (talk) 21:10, 6 April 2017 (UTC)

Are you using the (really) old wikitext editor?

Is anyone here using a wikitext editor that gives you a toolbar that looks like this (possibly with a few more buttons):

If you're using this, can you tell me why (e.g., personal preference, a tool that hasn't been ported to the 2010 wikitext editor, just never bothered to switch, anything)? Whatamidoing (WMF) (talk) 01:02, 21 March 2017 (UTC)

Looks like I am, did not know there was a later version of the editor, just the one you get by default. Keith D (talk) 01:44, 21 March 2017 (UTC)

They most don't change your preferences when potentially disruptive new options are introduced. If you go to Special:Preferences#mw-prefsection-editing and tick the box for "Enable enhanced editing toolbar", then you'll see the 2010 wikitext editor. Whatamidoing (WMF) (talk) 05:39, 21 March 2017 (UTC)

I use the old wikitext editor but have disabled the toolbars. Except for trivia, my editing is done in a text editor and the clean and simple old wikitext editor allows quick previews. Particularly when working with a module, I might preview stuff in a sandbox twenty of more times to try different things. This comment was written in a text editor. Johnuniq (talk) 06:40, 21 March 2017 (UTC)

I dislike screen clutter and have disabled the upper toolbar. There's another toolbar underneath the edit window which I haven't disabled but hardly use; the option there that I use most often is the one added by User:Anomie/unsignedhelper.js. -- John of Reading (talk) 07:19, 21 March 2017 (UTC)

I use the old one - the JavaScript payload is a lot smaller, and so page loads are noticeably quicker. It also takes up less vertical height, leaving more room for the real purpose of the page - the edit box - to fit into the viewport without scrolling down. I also don't need any of the buttons that it provides. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 09:43, 21 March 2017 (UTC)

@Redrose64: "I also don't need any of the buttons that it provides." can you clarify to which toolbar 'it' refers here ? It's ambiguous. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 10:48, 21 March 2017 (UTC)

I already stated "I use the old one" - see Wikipedia:RefToolbar, we have three available, and for me the old one is the only one that we had when I started, i.e. Wikipedia:RefToolbar/1.0; but I also don't need any of the buttons that either of the forms of Wikipedia:RefToolbar/2.0 provide.

I used the term "old" here because Whatamidoing started off by using the phrase "old wikitext editor" in conjunction with an image that shows something very similar to the Wikipedia:RefToolbar/1.0 toolbar as opposed to the 2.0 ones (although mine has several extra buttons, and some differ, so it looks much more like this except that mine doesn't have the ${\sqrt {n}}$ button that appears eighth from left in both that image and Whatamidoing's image). --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 13:03, 21 March 2017 (UTC)

@Whatamidoing (WMF):, seems like something that we could also easily measure with event logging is it not ? Or are the usage numbers too low for that ? —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 10:48, 21 March 2017 (UTC)

Event logging would count how many, but wouldn't give the "why". I'm guessing that this is an attempt to understand the usage rather than just measure it. Anomie⚔ 12:53, 21 March 2017 (UTC)

Anomie is correct: I'm trying to figure out why. The toolbar is under-maintained, rarely used (about 1 in 3,000 of the active editors), and it's not clear whether it's worth the resources to prevent death from bitrot. I was assuming that some of those ~50 editors were using it because it was the shiny new thing when they started editing in 2006, and that therefore I had a chance of finding smoe of them here. Whatamidoing (WMF) (talk) 15:22, 21 March 2017 (UTC)

I normally keep Javascript off - everything works way faster, with less worry about what hacks might be introduced into the site javascript, and also to marginally (because alas occasionally I do allow the script, like this time) reduce concern about what panopticlick techniques (cf. EFF) might be introduced, allegedly to further the endless hopeless war on sock puppets - so I don't see any of that. But when I enable it I see a different but similar bar with extra items for "special characters" and such; I'm not sure which version it is. Wnt (talk) 12:33, 21 March 2017 (UTC)

I probably would still be have the toolbar entirely disabled if it weren't for needing it to toggle CodeEditor between code and plaintext when editing things like Module and JavaScript pages. I never use it except for that. Anomie⚔ 12:53, 21 March 2017 (UTC)

Also, BTW, I note that we seem to have bug where, if you've disabled the "enhanced" WikiEditor toolbar in preferences since (probably) September 2016, the default-enabled refToolbar gadget will load it anyway due to JavaScript interpreting "0" as true rather than false like PHP does. I should fix that in MediaWiki, because it's probably affecting more than just refToolbar. Anomie⚔ 12:53, 21 March 2017 (UTC)

@Anomie: See also phab:T54542, I don't think that commit was a particular problem, it's always been a bit of a mess on that front. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 14:01, 21 March 2017 (UTC)

Yuck, no you are right, this is significantly worse now. :( —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 14:08, 21 March 2017 (UTC)

local fix deployed. But this definitely is not nice. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 14:24, 21 March 2017 (UTC)

I turned off the toolbar years ago (as all it does for me is allow me to accidentally click on it and reduce the amount of space available for the edit box). So lacking any toolbars, I don't know which editor I am using (other than not VisualEditor). —Kusma (t·c) 12:57, 21 March 2017 (UTC)

Um, how do I get my old toolbar back, please? I turned on "Enable enhanced editing toolbar", noted that it now took two rows to display buttons and didn't have my Cite button, and turned it back off. The new toolbar still loads despite a logout, browser restart, etc. Anomie, is this the bug you mentioned? --NeilN ^{talk to me} 13:30, 21 March 2017 (UTC)

@NeilN: should be better now, can you confirm ? —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 14:25, 21 March 2017 (UTC)

@TheDJ: Nope. I even turned "Enable enhanced editing toolbar" back on, saved, turned it back off, and saved. The "classic" toolbar appears briefly and then the new toolbar replaces it. --NeilN ^{talk to me} 14:36, 21 March 2017 (UTC)

You might have to bypass your browser cache. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 14:54, 21 March 2017 (UTC)

Did that. Issue remains. --NeilN ^{talk to me} 15:45, 21 March 2017 (UTC)

Try going to this ApiSandbox link, verify that it looks sensible to you, and click "Make request". That should reset the preference to a better value. Anomie⚔ 16:55, 21 March 2017 (UTC)

@Anomie: That worked. Thank you. --NeilN ^{talk to me} 17:30, 21 March 2017 (UTC)

I'm still using this editor. I did try the new editor when it came out and had some problems with it. It's so long ago, I can't clearly remember what the difficulties were, but some tools/functions were either not available, or took extra clicks or typing to execute. Subsript and superscript might have been in that category, but as I say, I can't fully remember. SpinningSpark 16:06, 21 March 2017 (UTC)

I still technically use this editor, but like others have the toolbar disabled because I don't click any of the buttons (my meta CSS page shows the various clutter I hide). Long as I can continue to disable them with the 2010 editor, it wouldn't bother me to swap over. ^demon^{[omg plz]} 16:36, 21 March 2017 (UTC)

2003 wikitext editor

It sounds like most of you (including Johnuniq, John of Reading, Kusma, Wnt, and ^demon) are using the 2003-era wikitext editor.

This is what you get with no Javascript and/or if you disable the toolbars via Special:Preferences. RedRose, have you considered switching to this one, since you don't need any of the buttons? It'd be very slightly faster for you. Whatamidoing (WMF) (talk) 17:05, 21 March 2017 (UTC)

I still use this, as it's considerably less cluttered than the "official" toolbar so isn't wasting valuable screen space with buttons I'll rarely if ever use, and the few buttons I actually use (super/subscript, hidden text, the RefTools cite button) are right there rather than buried in slow and cumbersome pop-up menus. ‑ Iridescent 17:06, 21 March 2017 (UTC)

+1 --NeilN ^{talk to me} 17:30, 21 March 2017 (UTC)

I use similarly the editor without toolbar as I never use the buttons. In case of non-trivial edits I load the contents of the edit window (via Firefox/It's all text!) into vim, edit it within vim with nice syntax highlighting for MediaWiki markup, and save it back to the edit window. --AFBorchert (talk) 17:37, 21 March 2017 (UTC)

My editor looks very much like the original image; i used to have one with all manner of buttons, bells and, possibly, a whistle, but i went back to this as all the other did was take space for stuff i didn't need. TBH, if i knew a way to get rid of the buttons at the top of this editor i might, as they are almost never of use to me. Happy days, Lindsay^Hello 09:36, 22 March 2017 (UTC)

mw:Editor has the instructions you want (notes on the first item in the table). Whatamidoing (WMF) (talk) 20:06, 22 March 2017 (UTC)

I should add that the proper way to get custom characters on Windows involves setting some kind of custom keyboard key so that hitting say ` changes the next letter, so you can `a for umlaut a if you want, `- for emdash etc. (There was even a way to make it three keys so you could use ``a for an accent and `:a for an umlaut, etc) But I did that years ago on a laptop that died and forgot how; might be worth giving instructions on it somewhere prominent if anyone remembers how... Wnt (talk) 22:48, 24 March 2017 (UTC)

@Wnt: you're talking about setting up a Compose key. If our article is correct then there is no built-in way to get to get this functionality in Windows (I'm a linux user so can't verify this). Thryduulf (talk) 08:03, 28 March 2017 (UTC)

@Thryduulf: Thanks for the hint - the article led me to Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator, which is very simple to download and still runs on Windows 8.1, at least. I've started editing a new keyboard along the same line (beginning from scratch, with the thought of posting it somewhere under the WMF umbrella). Wnt (talk) 15:57, 28 March 2017 (UTC)

@Whatamidoing (WMF): I still use this toolbar - the only button I use on it these days is "cite". I used to occasionally use "table" but not for several years I suspect. If I need to do anything more complicated I either type the wikicode directly or use visual editor. I have no idea whether I've turned it off or never turned it on, but if the former I guess it would have been a performance issue or something several years back. If it's the latter it's because I will never have seen a need to do anything with it - I use almost no scripts or gadgets (hotcat, popups, the insert bar below the editing window and tracking of phab tickets are basically it). Thryduulf (talk) 08:03, 28 March 2017 (UTC)

Whatamidoing, I have this toolbar also. I don't use it, and I don't believe I've ever made a practice of using it; I don't remember the last time I intentionally clicked any of the buttons on it. Like Johnuniq, I do significant writing in Notepad; when I need simple code, e.g. <!-- -->, I just type it, and when I need more complex code, I go to a page that uses it and copy/paste the coding. Unlike Wnt and Thryduulf, I type accented characters directly; I know the ALT+ combinations for the extended characters I generally use, and if I don't know it, I'll just find it in Character Map. Nyttend (talk) 22:18, 31 March 2017 (UTC)

This is all still in the rumor phase, but I'm hearing that this old toolbar is probably going away, maybe even this year.

Given that nobody who is using it has professed any love for the 2010 wikitext editor, I think that the reasonable plan is to default to 2003 (the one that has no toolbar at all). If you all think that's a bad idea (substituting no toolbar rather than substituting the newer one, not the going-away part), then please speak up. Thanks, Whatamidoing (WMF) (talk) 00:40, 1 April 2017 (UTC)

To clarify, you're saying that people currently using the 2006 wikitext editor (pictured at the top of this section) would wind up with the 2003 wikitext editor (i.e. a textarea with no toolbar at all). People using the 2010 Extension:WikiEditor wikitext editor or the 2017 VE-based wikitext editor would not be affected. Is that right? Your first sentence lacks a clear antecedent for "it", at first I read it as referring to the 2010 wikitext editor. Anomie⚔ 12:22, 1 April 2017 (UTC)

Yes, exactly. (People using any of the other tools, e.g., WikEd, would also not be affected.) Whatamidoing (WMF) (talk) 06:12, 5 April 2017 (UTC)

Probably relates to this task: https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T30856 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 197.218.83.103 (talk) 12:52, 1 April 2017 (UTC)

I use the toolbar and would not expect it to be removed from the editor. It should be retained. Keith D (talk) 13:10, 1 April 2017 (UTC)

@KeithD: question, if we move this into a Gadget, and give everyone a single time option to enable that gadget (switchover or not) and then make maintenance of this gadget a responsibility of the community, do you think that something like that would be ok ? Because personally, especially for non-Wikimedia cases, I would really like to take that out of the core of the MediaWiki product. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 16:08, 1 April 2017 (UTC)

I wouldn't mind having to re-enable the toolbar through Preferences, if it is moved to a Gadget for maintainability. Diego (talk) 11:05, 4 April 2017 (UTC)

A pity they couldn't figure out how to add a button that tells people exactly what version of the editor they are using. Hawkeye7 (talk) 23:29, 3 April 2017 (UTC)

Funny case here - I've been using the 2010 for years (I enabled it when it arrived, as I often do to review any new interfaces), but after this conversation I've found that I like the old version better. Nowadays I only use the toolbar for adding the #REDIRECT tag and occasionally including the code for table cells. For these two actions, the old interface has the buttons in plain view, while the 2010 editor has them hidden under the Advanced menu that I have to unfold each time (although it's supposed to be sticky, I often lose its unfolded status when I switch browsers and/or clean cookies). Plus, I prefer the plain #R button that resemble the code to be inserted, rather than the "mystery meat" one with an arrow in the new toolbar, which is hard to parse; and same for the subscript and superscript buttons (x² is way better than A^{small triangle}). So I'm turning off the 2010 version and going back to the old 2006 one. Diego (talk) 10:51, 4 April 2017 (UTC)

Sometimes the old editor comes up instead of the new one. Pressing the "preview" button then brings up the new. Hawkeye7 (talk) 22:28, 6 April 2017 (UTC)

@Hawkeye7: I think that's because the oldest one is the default state, newer ones essentially being the old one to which patches are applied with JavaScript. If one of these patches fails to reach your device, or JavaScript fails to complete (or doesn't run at all), you get what is essentially an old version. Although a preview will fix it, any action that causes a page fetch should also work - so you should also be able to fix it simply by using your browser's "reload" facility - in Firefox it's F5. Be warned that by doing this, the edit window can be reset with the consequence that any changes that you made following the partial load may be lost. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 23:25, 6 April 2017 (UTC)

MediaWiki:Sharedupload-desc-here

Moved to Wikipedia:Village pump (proposals)

 – – Train2104 (t • c) 05:53, 8 April 2017 (UTC)

In late 2011 it was suggested (by user jonkerz) unlinking the Commons logo (File:Commons-logo.svg) in MediaWiki:Sharedupload-desc-here or making the link point to the actual file on Commons like it is in pt:MediaWiki:Sharedupload-desc-here. In many other major/important Wikipedias that logo is either unlinked or link points to the corespondent Commons file page. Hereby I've opened this thread to decide together what to do. XXN, 20:59, 4 April 2017 (UTC)

Working with files in several Wikipedias, jumping from on wiki to another and trying to access file pages from articles, sometimes I've encountered a problem here clicking quickly on that logo to access the specific file page of the viewed file on Commons, but in result I just opened one more time the page File:Commons-logo.svg:( That's why personally I prefer to see that link pointing to the corespondent Commons file page of the viewed file, or at least to see it unlinked. XXN, 20:59, 4 April 2017 (UTC)

I didn't even notice this...but now that I do, it seems really silly. Support delinking it. – Train2104 (t • c) 19:41, 5 April 2017 (UTC)

Moved to VPR as this is a proposal – Train2104 (t • c) 05:53, 8 April 2017 (UTC)

code editor?

Is it just me of has the code editor been removed? It used to be that when editing Lua or JavaScript files, the editor changed to support the use of tabs, syntax coloring, regex search and replace. I have changed none of the settings at Special:Preferences#mw-prefsection-editing. I will miss that stuff if the code editor has been permanently removed.

—Trappist the monk (talk) 10:21, 8 April 2017 (UTC)

@Trappist the monk: It still loads for me. Maybe your internet connection speed is preventing it from loading, or something in your CSS/JS pages is messing with it. Jc86035 (talk) Use {{re|Jc86035}}
to reply to me 11:03, 8 April 2017 (UTC)

Those reasons would be surprising. No recent changes to User:Trappist_the_monk/common.js nor User:Trappist_the_monk/common.css; internet connection speed is plenty fast. We just had Thursday which may be a clue. I noticed this first yesterday(Friday) while editing sco:Module:Citation/CS1/Date validation – at the time, I suspected that sco.wiki didn't have the code editor installed. But, now that for me it isn't working at en.wiki, and we just had Thursday, I wonder if mwf hasn't done something to break the code editor.

—Trappist the monk (talk) 11:24, 8 April 2017 (UTC)

On code pages I have a <> icon at the top left of the edit box to switch between code and source editor. And in the source editor I can also click "Advanced" above the edit box to get a search and replace icon with regex to the far right. The interface is different from the code editor. PrimeHunter (talk) 12:10, 8 April 2017 (UTC)

That's the fix. Thanks.

—Trappist the monk (talk) 14:04, 8 April 2017 (UTC)

Collapsing part of an infobox based on the number of rows of data

Help from parser function expert needed. There is an infobox I'm trying to develop {{UK railway station usage/sandbox}} that every year should get a new line of data added with the data for that year. Is there a way to specify within the infobox coding to display only the most recent three rows and collapse any additional rows into a labelled section (and omit that section if the total number of rows is two or less)? I don't want to specify that the three rows displayed are, for example, 2016, 2015 and 2014 but to take the three most recent rows for which data exists even if it ends up displaying 2015, 2013 and 2012 because 2016 and 2014 aren't recorded. I'd hope that this also makes the infobox dynamic and doesn't require huge amounts of recoding when 2017 gets added. Nthep (talk) 21:55, 5 April 2017 (UTC)

I have thought about this (for another language and use-case, but from technical POV it is the same). IMO, parser functions isn't the best solution (it will be very hacky). I would suggest Lua, which may be relatevily simple. --Edgars2007 (talk/contribs) 16:21, 7 April 2017 (UTC)

Thanks for that, after investigation that was where I was thinking things will end up. Nthep (talk) 18:40, 8 April 2017 (UTC)

External links

Hi! Please see my messages on talk pages this and this.

Actually the matter is that I have seen some English film wiki-pages, which have some links repeated two times; one under #Reference section and other under #External_links section. Why a link has been provided two times in one page? I think a template ({{Extref}}) should be made to resolve this, which can be put in between the article as reference and those can be listed only under #External_links section. This will remove the repetation of a single link in a single article. I have discussed this matter with Admin:Cyphoidbomb, and he suggested me to ask it here.

Also I had a conversation with TropicAces, and the user accepted this matter here. But the problem there is the links have gone under notelist and might disturb other notes on that page. Please help, Thanks! M. Billoo 04:07, 8 April 2017 (UTC)

Ugh. Having some references in the references section and some more under a "notes" section that's misplaced underneath the external links? No thanks. Anomie⚔ 13:27, 8 April 2017 (UTC)

It's against MOS. See WP:LAYOUTEL "nor should links used as references normally be duplicated in this section". --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 19:00, 8 April 2017 (UTC)

Question

This is an extremely odd question, and has far less to do with technical aspects of Wikipedia than it does with my own browser, but I just wanted to know if anybody else has encountered this and/or knows how to fix it. The situation is that frequently, when I'm typing a block of text that's longer than just a few lines, at some point in the text Google Chrome seems to have a weird predilection for self-inserting a hard line break when my text has wrapped to a new line in edit mode, causing my text to suddenly

do this. (In this instance I did it intentionally to show what I'm talking about. Normally, however, this happens without me doing anything to make it happen.)

And when that happens, it's a complete pain in the ass to correct it, typically requiring several repetitions of backspace backspace retype didn't work backspace backspace retype again before it actually corrects the formatting. So is this just happening to me, or have other people been having the same problem? Bearcat (talk) 20:56, 8 April 2017 (UTC)

Find/replace parameters in the edit URL

How do the amfind and amreplace parameters in the edit summary work? In the infobox at Downtown (Petula Clark song)#Downtown .2788 there is a link for deprodding, which I wrote to contain the parameters amfind={%7Bproposed%20deletion%2Fdated%20files.*%7D%7D%0A*.*>&amreplace=%20 based on what I saw in old versions {{prod blp/dated}} before I converted it. However, when I click on the link, the prod template is still in the edit box. – Train2104 (t • c) 18:58, 8 April 2017 (UTC)

It would require user JavaScript to do anything with the url parameters. I found some old scripts at User:Jnothman/automod.js and User:Henrik/js/automod.js. A userspace search on automod finds more. I don't know whether they work and have significant use. PrimeHunter (talk) 21:00, 8 April 2017 (UTC)

In that case, we should probably remove it from widely visible maintenance templates... – Train2104 (t • c) 21:01, 8 April 2017 (UTC)

I see you did that. Let's see if users with such scripts object. xkcd: Workflow is sometimes quoted here. PrimeHunter (talk) 23:24, 8 April 2017 (UTC)

Well, I'd rather that they object than someone without the script click "deprod" and save the page, not knowing they didn't actually deprod. And userscripts shouldn't be advertised on article space maintenance tags. – Train2104 (t • c) 00:55, 9 April 2017 (UTC)

Personalized CSS to hide certain types of divs

Once again I come to en-wiki for technical advice since my home-wiki is fairly small.

Would it be possible to have a piece of personalized CSS that hides certain types of divs? Let's say I have defined a div in MediaWiki:Common.css called "Foo" and I want to enter some code in User:InsaneHacker/common.css that makes any content within a "Foo"-div not show up when I load a page? Respectfully, InsaneHacker (💬) 16:41, 9 April 2017 (UTC)

You seem to have at least one misconception about CSS: Let's say I have defined a div in MediaWiki:Common.css called "Foo" is not how CSS works (at least with respect to the question you're asking--the "cascading" part of CSS is important to remember for later). CSS works by targeting some part of the HTML of a page, not the CSS of another stylesheet (which is what Common.css is). So you can hide certain kinds of divs just by knowing the structure of the HTML in the pages which you are trying to affect. It would help us help you if you gave us the exact kinds of divs you would like to hide. --Izno (talk) 17:32, 9 April 2017 (UTC)

I have limited css knowledge but I guess you refer to code similar to this in da:MediaWiki:Common.css:

 div.NavContent {
 	font-size: 100%;
        background-color: #fafafa;
        padding: 2px;
 }

It doesn't "define" NavContent but gives css rules for divs with the class NavContent. The class is assigned in wikitext or by the MediaWiki software. You should be able to override or supplement the css rules in personal css by replacing the part in { ... } with your own css, for example like this to hide it:

 div.NavContent {
        display: none;
 }

PrimeHunter (talk) 17:52, 9 April 2017 (UTC)

Yep, should work. I'm using such CSS to prevent some text from being shown that's not useful to me, like the copyright warning before the save button. Regards SoWhy 17:56, 9 April 2017 (UTC)

@PrimeHunter and SoWhy:Thanks, exactly what I needed. Respectfully, InsaneHacker (💬) 18:36, 9 April 2017 (UTC)

ListeriaBot adding non-free images to Wikipedia namespace page

Does anyone know why User:ListeriaBot keeps adding non-free images to Wikipedia:Tambayan Philippines/Task force LGU/Provinces in Wikidata with this edit? I've asked about this at User talk:ListeriaBot#Adding non-free images, but not sure how active that page is. The three files being continuously added are licensed as non-free, although one of them is shadowing a Commons file of the same name. From the bot's talk page, it appears to have been the subject of other discussions on VP/T before. Maybe it's something with the files themselves, but they should be used outside the article namespace per WP:NFCC#9. -- Marchjuly (talk) 02:11, 7 April 2017 (UTC)

It is operated by user:Magnus Manske. Given that the images are those named on Wikidata, it may expect it is adding a commons image. So the bot should be reprogrammed to check that the added image is actually the one from commons. It the talk is ignored,then we can block the bot without further warning, as bot operators must be responsive. Graeme Bartlett (talk) 02:23, 7 April 2017 (UTC)

These files are local ones which shadow ones on Commons. There appears to be a licensing conflict - Commons has a {{PD-PhilippinesGov}} which says that works produced by officers/employees of the Philippine government are in the public domain, while we have a {{Non-free Philippines government}} which says that the work is a product of the Government of the Philippines which does not permit commercial use, making it non-free. I have no idea which one is correct. – Train2104 (t • c) 02:44, 7 April 2017 (UTC)

@Train2104: Per c:COM:CRT#The Philippines the clause for prior approval is determined to be a non-copyright restriction and can be safely ignored for the purposes of Wikimedia Commons by policy. Therefore works of the Philippine Government is considered to be under the Public Domain. Generally, Commons should always be given deference when it comes to copyright templates over local enwiki templates. Their policies are kept up to date far better than our ever will be. --Majora (talk) 03:28, 7 April 2017 (UTC)

This TfD was closed as no consensus. A discussion should be started elsewhere to standardize the two. – Train2104 (t • c) 03:34, 7 April 2017 (UTC)

It was closed that way because TfD is not the place to have a drawn out discussion on the merits of non-copyright restrictions. Rightly so in my opinion as TfD was never designed for that purpose. In my opinion, the 929 transclusions of {{Non-free Philippines government}} probably have to be gone through. The copyright template needs to be replaced with the proper one (again, giving deference to Commons on matters of copyright), and the files need to be moved to Commons and deleted off of enwiki.

As for the actual original purpose of this thread. @Marchjuly and Graeme Bartlett: it doesn't looks like these photos are actually fair use but are considered free. There doesn't seem to be a need to block the bot at this time. --Majora (talk) 03:44, 7 April 2017 (UTC)

The TfD listed above is over a year old; we can try again. עוד מישהו Od Mishehu 04:04, 7 April 2017 (UTC)

The files being added are licensed as non-free. If that's incorrect, then maybe they should be re-licensed. Moreover, if the other two are also shadowing Commons files, then maybe all three should be speedied per WP:F8 if applicable. Just for reference, the diffrences between Commons and Wikipedia on the licensing of Philippine governments files was discussed at Wikipedia talk:Non-free content/Archive 64#Philippine government works back iat the end of 2015, but that was archived without anything being resolved. There is the much older discussion at Wikipedia talk:Non-free content/Archive 14#Template:Philippines-politician from 2006. -- Marchjuly (talk) 04:37, 7 April 2017 (UTC)

@Graeme Bartlett: The bot has re-added File:Ph seal bataan.png, File:Ph seal biliran.png and File:Ph seal camiguin.png and will probably keep re-adding them each time they are removed. While it's true c:File:Ph seal camiguin.png, c:File:Ph seal bataan.png and c:File:Ph seal biliran.png exist on Commons, no information at all is provided about them and they appeared to have been transferred to Commons from ceb.Wikipedia. If the Commons files are fine, then the local versions on not needed here; moreover, leaving them as is will only confuse things and mistakenly lead others to use them incorrectly. If the file names weren't the same, I could just replace the local files per NFCC#1 with the PD ones and let the locals be deleted as orphans. Because the names are the same, however, there is a chance someone will simply re-add the files in good faith so that they are not orphans. Do you think it would be OK to tag the locals with {{db-f8}}? Please note that although the file formats are the same for all files in looks to me that the quality of at least two of the local files is better than their Commons versions. -- Marchjuly (talk) 01:20, 8 April 2017 (UTC)

I deleted File:Ph seal biliran.png as it was identical to one on Commons. Other two files are not identical to those on Commons and the difference is not only in size. I do not know which of them are better. They can be uploaded to Commons under different names and deleted from enwiki. Ruslik_Zero 20:04, 9 April 2017 (UTC)

Ok, I moved the remaining files to Commons: c:File:Ph seal camiguin2.png and c:File:Ph seal bataan2.png, updated file links and deleted them from enwiki. Ruslik_Zero 20:30, 9 April 2017 (UTC)

Thank Ruslik0 for taking a look and figuring out how to resolve this. -- Marchjuly (talk) 21:47, 9 April 2017 (UTC)

Tech News: 2017-15

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

• Tidy is going to be replaced with an HTML5 parsing algorithm. Bad HTML in wikitext would cause problems on a number of wikis. There is now a ParserMigration extension on all wikis that you can use to help clean this up. You can read more about how you can use it. [12]

Changes this week

• Some older web browsers will not be able to use JavaScript on Wikimedia wikis from this week. If you have an old web browser on your computer you can upgrade to a newer version. [13]
• New filters for Recent changes will come to Wikidata and Persian, Russian, Turkish and French Wikipedia on 11 April. The schedule has been changed to fix the user intent prediction filters for some wikis. User intent prediction means the filter tries to make it easier for editors to determine if the edit was made in good faith or not. Other wikis will get it later. [14]
• The list of special characters in the wikitext editor and the visual editor will now have a group of Canadian Aboriginal characters. [15]
• The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from 11 April. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from 12 April. It will be on all wikis from 13 April (calendar).

Meetings

• You can join the next meeting with the VisualEditor team. During the meeting, you can tell developers which bugs you think are the most important. The meeting will be on 11 April at 19:00 (UTC). See how to join.

Future changes

• Because of a data centre test you will be able to read but not edit the wikis for 20 to 30 minutes on 19 April and 3 May. This will start at 14:00 (UTC). You might lose edits if you try to save during this time. You can read more about this.
• RevisionSlider will change how you move between revisions. This will be available on the test wiki from 11 April. It will come to other wikis later if users like the change. You can test it and give feedback.

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

18:34, 10 April 2017 (UTC)

Can't start WP:GLOO

Hi. I have been trying to install Igloo, by pasting the code into my common.js file and vector.js file. I then cleared my cache, but it did not help. Can you please help me? Cheers, FriyMan ^talk 07:27, 10 April 2017 (UTC)

It says to install with importScript('Wikipedia:Igloo/gloo.js'); which you did correctly. Wikipedia:Igloo/gloo.js says mw.loader.load("//tools.wmflabs.org/igloo/code/Igloo/gloo.js");. But I get a 503 Service Unavailable error message at http://tools.wmflabs.org/igloo/code/Igloo/gloo.js. See List of HTTP status codes#5xx Server error. PrimeHunter (talk) 10:05, 10 April 2017 (UTC)

@FriyMan: at User:FriyMan/common.js, you have exactly the same problem that you had at Wikipedia:Village pump (technical)/Archive 153#My Twinkle stopped working. - you have omitted the terminating semicolon from the previous line. In Javascript (as with many other programming languages like Pascal and C), programs comprise a list of statements, and it's not necessarily one statement per line - newlines are largely irrelevant (except when the // form of comment is used). It is semicolons that are used to separate the statements, and omitting a semicolon between two statements will usually cause both statements to fail. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 18:50, 10 April 2017 (UTC)

Canned edit summaries and vandalism

Hi, I just wanted to ask if the web designers can change the mobile website to when you are previewing your edit, change "Example: Fixed typo, added content" to "Explain your changes in your box" or something like that because the canned edit summaries have caused a lot of vandalism, especially un-reverted edits. This new look can reduce canned edit summaries and vandalism. 68.228.254.131 (talk) 20:50, 2 April 2017 (UTC)

If you can link to such examples, that always helps. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 23:15, 2 April 2017 (UTC)

Actually, the canned edit summaries are pretty helpful with spotting vandalism. If I see >5 byte change with a canned edit summary of "fixed typo" then I immediately pull up a diff as the edit is likely to be some form of disruption. --NeilN ^{talk to me} 23:22, 2 April 2017 (UTC)

This, this, or this, has wrong edit summaries, two of them are vandalism. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.228.254.131 (talk) 23:19, 2 April 2017 (UTC)

OK... so where you say "canned edit summaries have caused a lot of vandalism", you meant that people use the wrong edit summary if they have nefarious purposes ? I presume you mean that they hide their nefarious purposes behind valid edit summaries, while without canned summaries, they'll likely use the edit summary not at all, or use it for nefarious purposes as well ? —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 08:26, 3 April 2017 (UTC)

There's a long-term plan to autogenerate simple edit summaries. I'm hoping that they will decide that "Changed teh → the" is one of the easy cases. Whatamidoing (WMF) (talk) 06:18, 5 April 2017 (UTC)

Whatamidoing (WMF), why can't you folks in SF ever keep us in the loop with your "long-term plans"? How long are we talking about here, next year or 15 years from now? I thought you couldn't auto-generate edit summaries, because per Jdforrester it would be very poor form, and goes against our user expectation models. – wbm1058 (talk) 11:49, 10 April 2017 (UTC)

That particular Phab task is specifically about edits that add section headings, rather than some simple edits in general (which is what my comment is about). The specific Phab comment that you quote identifies four options, and rejects only one of them (the one in which you would not be allowed to edit or override the automatically prepared edit summary) as poor form and unexpected. I'm hoping for the third of the four options in that comment – but for the general case of some simple edits, not specifically for the case of only edits that happen to add a new section heading.

I don't have a schedule. My best guess doesn't extend beyond 'not this year'. Also, I fully expect that it will appear in VisualEditor (both modes) before it appears in any of the old wikitext editors (it'll almost certainly require Javascript, some of the necessary processing is probably easier to do in VisualEditor, etc.). See phab:T54859 for one of the VisualEditor-specific requests.

On the general question of how to stay in the loop for long-term plans, it sounds like you want the annual plan. The first draft for the coming fiscal year was just posted on Meta. Whatamidoing (WMF) (talk) 19:27, 10 April 2017 (UTC)

Remove "day by day" sections from Watchlist?

Is there a way to tweak the Watchlist to list changes without regard to which day they were edited on? If I've been gone for a few days, my watchlist shows me pages changed today, followed by pages changed yesterday (sometimes listing the same pages with yesterday's changes), and so on for the day before that, etc.

I would prefer to simply see a list of all pages changed, with a single link I could click on to show me the diff of the page since the last time I visited it.

Is there a Preference or a .js/.css tweak for this? Thanks. – Jonesey95 (talk) 14:56, 10 April 2017 (UTC)

There is a(n ancient) phabricator task for this at phab:T10681. --Izno (talk) 15:53, 10 April 2017 (UTC)

@Jonesey95: Add $('.mw-changeslist > h4').hide(); to your custom skin script (e.g. User:Jonesey95/vector.js). But this also affects the Recent Changes page.

To enable the tweak only for the Watchlist page, use instead:

if ( mw.config.get( 'wgCanonicalSpecialPageName' ) == 'Watchlist' ) {
$('.mw-changeslist > h4').hide();
}

--XXN, 17:49, 10 April 2017 (UTC)

Neither of these tweaks worked for me. I still see the day headers (e.g. "10 April 2017" in bold before today's list of changed pages). Also, based on what the code looks like it should do, wouldn't it just hide the headers but leave the changed pages grouped by day? I want to see all changes by page, regardless of which day the changes happened on. – Jonesey95 (talk) 18:06, 10 April 2017 (UTC)

Do you have "Expand watchlist to show all changes, not just the most recent" enabled in Special:Preferences#mw-prefsection-watchlist? Whatamidoing (WMF) (talk) 19:47, 10 April 2017 (UTC)

Yes. I want to see all changes since the last time I viewed a page, not just the arbitrary change that happens to be the most recent one. I find it difficult to imagine a use case for disable that checkbox. – Jonesey95 (talk) 20:00, 10 April 2017 (UTC)

@Jonesey95: You have introduced this code inside another conditional statement,[16] this is why it didn't work. Move the new code below the last ending curly bracket and it will work. It removes the date headers in page, leaving an uninterrupted list of entries. --XXN, 20:00, 10 April 2017 (UTC)

@XXN: Your Javascript is unbroken, but that is not what Jonesey wants. He wants the functionality described at the phab task, which would take probably a hundred lines of Javascript to execute on the client side. --Izno (talk) 20:19, 10 April 2017 (UTC)

Hmm, I misunderstood. Sorry. Now I remember the proposal at the Community Wishlist Survey. XXN, 20:36, 10 April 2017 (UTC)

(A) Oops, that's embarrassing. (B) Thanks to all for your attention to this trivial request. I have bumped the phab task to see if anyone is paying attention to it. – Jonesey95 (talk) 01:02, 11 April 2017 (UTC)

My userscript Watchlist-openUnread can show you diffs of pages since you last viewed them, rather than just since the previous day. It might not quite be what you are looking for, in that it will open the n newest or oldest unread pages rather than a specific page, but that might be good enough. - Evad37 [talk] 01:50, 11 April 2017 (UTC)

Abandoned rater gadget

User:Kephir/gadgets/rater is a useful (and popular?) tool for quickly adding WikiProject ratings from an article's page, but it has been abandoned for some time now (with a number of suggestions on its talk page). Would anyone be interested in adopting it? czar 00:55, 8 April 2017 (UTC)

If memory serves, User:Kaldari was working on a similar script at one point. Either User:Harej or User:Walkerma may know who is active in assessment work these days. Whatamidoing (WMF) (talk) 19:39, 10 April 2017 (UTC)

I have a script at User:Kaldari/assessmentHelper.js. It's a lot simpler than Kephir's tool. It's basically just for adding new assessments (rather than changing existing ones). Kaldari (talk) 20:33, 10 April 2017 (UTC)

Thanks Kaldari for letting us know. Sorry, I don't have the tech skills to help, and I'm not sure who would be able to help with this. We're having trouble even getting someone to look after the assessment bot which has recently been limited to manual mode only. Walkerma (talk) 03:55, 11 April 2017 (UTC)

How would I go about creating a Bot-policy related group of task in phabricator?

I did a lot of work behind the scenes on bot-related policy stuff recently. A lot of that involved creating tasks in phabricator.

However, it would be quite nice to be able to flag all bot-policy related tasks with a tag, or group them under some kind of umbrella project so they can all easily be found and can be tracked, and possibly sub-categorized within the umbrella project. How would I go about doing that?

E.g. having some hierarchy like

1. #BotPolicy
   1. #BotPolicy-Account
   2. #BotPolicy-Cosmetic
   3. #BotPolicy-Communication
   4. #BotPolicy-<other subtask>

Then I could flag T161467 with #BotPolicy-Communication. Headbomb {t · c · p · b} 20:43, 10 April 2017 (UTC)

@Headbomb: See mw:Phabricator/Creating and renaming projects. — JJMC89 (T·C) 21:06, 10 April 2017 (UTC)

I tried that, and while I can find lots advice on when it's OK to do something, an hour later, I can't make any sense of how to actually do it, or what it is exactly I want to do (do I want to create a new tag, or does this need a new project, etc...). There's no sandbox, so I'd rather not screw it up. Headbomb {t · c · p · b} 21:13, 10 April 2017 (UTC)

"How to actually do it" is covered under "Permission" (second item). A tag is a project. --AKlapper (WMF) (talk) 10:36, 11 April 2017 (UTC)

Somehow, I missed that, ugh. I hate those type of brainfarts. @AKlapper (WMF): are tags re-nameable once they have been created, or are they immutable? Can priority be set on a per-tag basis (e.g. High priority for #FirstTag, Normal priority for #SecondTag)? Headbomb {t · c · p · b} 11:23, 11 April 2017 (UTC)

@Headbomb: For renaming projects/tags, see Renaming projects. Priority is independent from projects/tags (one task has one priority; one task can have several associated projects/tags). In theory, Herald rules could be used to set a task's priority when a project/tag is associated to a task, in practice I doubt that this is a good idea when it comes to realistic project management. Have you looked into using columns on workboards instead? --AKlapper (WMF) (talk) 11:57, 11 April 2017 (UTC)

The columns/workboard is pretty much exactly what I had in mind, yes. One single tag should be enough then. Headbomb {t · c · p · b} 12:01, 11 April 2017 (UTC)

Why is this "needed" on phab? For the most part it is a global system, but you seem to be referring to policies related to only the English Wikipedia. Are you referring to tasks realted to the global bot policy? — xaosflux ^Talk 23:47, 10 April 2017 (UTC)

It might not be *needed* on phab, per se, but it would likely be the easiest way to track things. I'm thinking en-wiki mostly, and nothing that would be mandatory. I just want a way to categorize/track things related to bots/bot policy. For instance bot authentication, security, edit summary improvements, improvements related to cosmetic bot policy, bot interactions with watchlists, etc. A lot of that would be of use to non-English wikis, however, but en-specific things could be tagged #BotPolicy-en or similar if that's prefered. Headbomb {t · c · p · b} 00:17, 11 April 2017 (UTC)

I think some sort of #bots in general certainly could be helpful. — xaosflux ^Talk 05:04, 11 April 2017 (UTC)

T162685 for those interested. Headbomb {t · c · p · b} 13:38, 11 April 2017 (UTC)

Non-free image in Teahouse archive

For some reason File:Action-centre-warning.PNG is showing up as being used in Wikipedia:Teahouse/Questions/Archive 290#Disapearing image file (but not image page)?, which is not something allowed per WP:NFCC#9. I've tried a couple of times to link/hide the file, but can't seem to get it done. Anyone know what's going on here and how to resolve this? Thanks in advance. -- Marchjuly (talk) 07:42, 11 April 2017 (UTC)

[[:File:Action-centre-warning.PNG]] with a colon in front doesn't produce a File usage entry but my tests at User:PrimeHunter/sandbox3 show that [[:Media:Action-centre-warning.PNG]] and [[Media:Action-centre-warning.PNG]] do produce an entry even though the file is not displayed in the page. I don't know whether it's a bug or feature. A Media link [[Media:Action-centre-warning.PNG]] bypasses the file page and goes straight to the actual file so readers don't see license information. PrimeHunter (talk) 10:52, 11 April 2017 (UTC)

Its a "new" feature, but how new I do not know. But it seems like if you change :media with :file it does not show up. (there is other pages which links to that file, see: what links here (I see PrimeHunter said the same ...) Christian75 (talk) 13:34, 11 April 2017 (UTC)

It's not that new, I've come across this before, I don't recall exactly where. Werieth (talk · contribs) at Wikipedia:Village pump (technical)/Archive 122#File usage bug alludes to a similar problem ("perhaps it was a [[Media: link causing the false hit") so it seems that they were aware of it three years ago. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 13:52, 11 April 2017 (UTC)

Sorry, I was only refereeing to the :file - I didn't knew of the existence of the media tag at all), and thought it was the behaviour of :file which had changed. But Mediawiki has some kind of explanation here (in the history of MW:Help:Images (e.g. here: https://www.mediawiki.org/w/index.php?title=Help:Images&oldid=332287 (search "Media:" on the page)) - I read it (:media) as a feature, and if it shouldn't be linked you should use :file - Christian75 (talk) 14:05, 11 April 2017 (UTC)

Panoramic viewer?

Tracked in Phabricator
Task T70719

Does Wikipedia currently yet support any panoramic viewers for 360 degree (or less) panoramic images/movies? Thanks. SharkD  Talk  02:23, 5 April 2017 (UTC)

No, and I doubt that it's going to turn up in the annual plan for next year. But I keep hoping, because there's a Commons contributor who has made some awesome images in that format. Whatamidoing (WMF) (talk) 06:23, 5 April 2017 (UTC)

For anyone willing to work on this, it wouldn't be terribly hard. It's basically just moving the pannellum JS library into a MediaWiki extension, making sure that the thumbnail renderer outputs some sort of hook for the library to detect and adding the RL modules. It's a couple of days work but you need to have the days.. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 08:20, 5 April 2017 (UTC)

I have been using Pannellum on my website too. It works pretty well IMO. Performance seems better than Panosalado. SharkD  Talk  23:56, 6 April 2017 (UTC)

Update: I asked around, and there's a proof-of-concept gadget at Commons. See c:Template:Pano360. But it's there, not here, etc. Whatamidoing (WMF) (talk) 19:31, 10 April 2017 (UTC)

There seem to be some issues with it. For instance, there is something very wrong with this panorama. SharkD  Talk  15:21, 11 April 2017 (UTC)

Also, the template is not designed for use inside articles. Just image description pages. Though that would be easy to fix IMO. SharkD  Talk  15:23, 11 April 2017 (UTC)

Move toward a simplistic design

It's 2017 and the UI design is dominated by simplistic or flat design or whatever it is. But Wikipedia didn't catch up the trend. Basically what it means is to remove all the gradients things like gradient buttons and gradient borders. Here is my attempt:

Proposed modification to site skin

.mw-body { border-left: 1px solid #cacaca; border-right: 0px; border-top: 1px solid #CACACD; border-bottom: 0px; } body{ background: none; } #mw-page-base{ background: none; } #mw-head-base { border-left: 1px solid #cacaca; margin-left: 176px; background: #f7f7f7; height: 5.2em; } div#mw-panel div.portal{ background: none; } div.vectorTabs ul li{ background: none; } div.vectorTabs span{ background: none; } div.vectorTabs ul{ background: none; } div.vectorTabs li.selected{ background: none; } div.vectorTabs{ background: none; } #left-navigation { margin-left: 12em; } #right-navigation { margin-right: 9px; } #firstHeading{ border-bottom: 0px; } #siteSub{ display:none; } div#footer { border-left: 1px solid #cacaca } div.vectorTabs li.selected a, div.vectorTabs li.selected a:visited { color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none; } #mw-head a:visited{ color: #0645ad; }

Screenshot: http://i.imgur.com/xuz0wik.png

You can evaluate it by pasting it to your user common.css (here).

Golopotw (talk) 05:01, 11 April 2017 (UTC)

You may be interested in Isarra's work on mw:Skin:Timeless. Whatamidoing (WMF) (talk) 19:40, 11 April 2017 (UTC)

And its deployment progress. We're very organised. Very. -— Isarra ༆ 15:00, 12 April 2017 (UTC)

wikibits.js is being removed on 25 April 2017

Some old Javascript, some of which has been deprecated for more than five years, is being removed later this month. Some old user scripts may need to be updated. For more information, see https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikitech-ambassadors/2017-April/001574.html Whatamidoing (WMF) (talk) 19:22, 12 April 2017 (UTC)

Cite button when editing

My cite shortcut button has recently disappeared from the top toolbar when I edit. I have refToolbar ticked in my Preferences. When I previewed this post it's reappeared. Any ideas why this might have happened?. Thanks. Eldumpo (talk) 15:37, 12 April 2017 (UTC)

It may be cause by a conflict with another script that you are using. Ruslik_Zero 20:03, 12 April 2017 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Patrolled revisions

Is there a reason that the above proposal wasn't implemented, even though an RfC on it was successful? The basic premise is that an edit that isn't vandalism can be marked as patrolled, so RC patrollers or people checking their watchlist don't have to look at it. This would help prevent effort duplication, where lots of editors check an edit that might appear to be vandalism but isn't. The feature already exists in MediaWiki (see mw:Help:Patrolled edits), and has for many years. It's fully enabled on Wikidata, where it is helpful for checking recent changes. It doesn't affect the article at all, it's just a behind-the-scenes system for patrollers, very similar to STiki's system of classifying edits. Cheers, Laurdecl ^talk 05:29, 12 April 2017 (UTC)

Can you link to that successful RfC? Wikipedia talk:Patrolled revisions has at the top a long list of unsuccesful RfCs, but apparently not the one you refer to. Fram (talk) 07:15, 12 April 2017 (UTC)

@Fram: I believe this is the RfC the proposal page refers to (a whopping 259 supports). I can't see how this would be a controversial addition anyway. Laurdecl ^talk 07:51, 12 April 2017 (UTC)

Thanks. So, contrary to your initial post, after this 2009 RfC, the proposal (for a trial) was implemented, extensively tested and discussed, and finally the trial was ended after a lengthy 2011 RfC where the third fase concluded with the disabling of the feature: Wikipedia:Pending changes/Request for Comment February 2011/Archive 3. So the reason "the above proposal wasn't implemented" is that it was implemented, tested for a long time, and disabled again after community discussion. Please familiarize yourself with this history (which you could easily have found from the top of that old, old RfC) and you will rapidly "see how this would be a controversial addition". Fram (talk) 08:09, 12 April 2017 (UTC)

The controversy was over pending changes (which is now implemented anyway), not this. Patrolled revs simply tags edit as not patrolled until they, well, are. Laurdecl ^talk 08:30, 12 April 2017 (UTC)

Pending changes is implemented on a very, very limited basis, not all-out as it originally was planned. Fram (talk) 09:01, 12 April 2017 (UTC)

More importantly, that RfC wasn't even for patrolled revisions, but for pending changes, which isn't the same. Pending changes are not shown before being approved, unpatrolled revisions are shown live. Fram (talk) 08:13, 12 April 2017 (UTC)

From the page title: "Flagged protection and patrolled revisions". Laurdecl ^talk 08:27, 12 April 2017 (UTC)

Yes, so? The RfC was for pending changes, from that page "A trial of patrolled revisions is not planned yet.", and at the top "Patrolled revisions was not implemented." Do you have an actual RfC about patrolled revisions which supported the implementation of patrolled revisions specifically? Please don't point to your 2009 RfC (well, a poll, not an RfC) again, as you can read at the actual 2010 RfC "Only flagged protection will be part of the trial, patrolled revisions has not been developed yet." (emphasis mine): Wikipedia:Requests for comment/Pending changes trial. As for the use of patrolled revisions on Wikidata, it doesn't seem to be really have any positive effects, thousands of unpatrolled edits are falling of the end of the recent changes page, including vandalism and dubious changes. You are free to start a discussion or RfC about having patrolled revisions activated on enwiki, but pointing to an 8 year old RfC which started a failed trial of another tool only isn't going to help. Fram (talk) 09:01, 12 April 2017 (UTC)

I'm not sure where the RfC is, I'm only going by the project page, which says there was one. Wikidata isn't really a good example, they have a far smaller community than enwiki, and are apparently quite lax about incorrect data (see the response to this discussion I started). The feature is developed now, according to the MediaWiki page. In fact, the system is used to patrol new pages, it just hasn't been fully enabled. I would think that you of all people would want this, as it ensures every edit is in time patrolled (no more lurking BLP violations). We could sort recent changes by oldest first and make sure nothing slips through the cracks. If we really need an RfC then I could start it, but I don't feel this is controversial. Laurdecl ^talk 09:13, 12 April 2017 (UTC)

"I would think that you of all people would want this, as it ensures every edit is in time patrolled (no more lurking BLP violations)." It ensures nothing at all. At the moment, not even all pages get patrolled, never mind if we would mark all (or many) edits as unpatrolled. "Recent changes" only lists the most recent, there is no way to get "older" recent edits at the moment. Try it at Wikidata, please provide us a link to the "oldest" unpatrolled edit. If you can't, your claims about what this change can achieve are not based on the actual situation. Fram (talk) 09:46, 12 April 2017 (UTC)

The point is that good edits are marked as such, and RC patrollers can spend more time on edits that possibly aren't. A part of this would be an "auto patrol" right, probably granted after a certain level (extended confirmed, perhaps?). Take an example: If an IP makes an edit with a suspicious looking edit summary then it will be checked by more people than another with a summary like "fixed typo". Assuming the edit is good, this leads to lots of editors needlessly rechecking the edit and wasting their time. There is a feature on Wikidata that allows hiding of patrolled revisions. Scroll to the bottom of the unpatrolled list and you will find the oldest unpatrolled edits, voila. Laurdecl ^talk 09:59, 12 April 2017 (UTC)

"Scroll to the bottom of the unpatrolled list and you will find the oldest unpatrolled edits, voila." No, that is not how it works. The unpatrolled list only shows the 50 (default) or 500 (maximum option) most recent unpatrolled edits. Any unpatrolled edits older than that (thousands and thousands of them) are simply not shown. Fram (talk) 10:10, 12 April 2017 (UTC)

The limit is 5000, just as it is with watchlist, user contribs, page history etc. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 20:34, 12 April 2017 (UTC)

Bots Newsletter, April 2017

Bots Newsletter, April 2017

Greetings! The BAG Newsletter is now the Bots Newsletter, per discussion. As such, we've subscribed all bot operators to the newsletter. You can subscribe/unsubscribe from future newsletters by adding/removing your name from this list. Highlights for this newsletter include: Arbcom Magioladitis ARBCOM case has closed. The remedies of the case include: Community encouraged to review common fixes Community encouraged to review policy on cosmetic edits Developers encouraged to improve AWB interface Bot approvals group encouraged to carefully review BRFA scope Reminders/Restrictions specific to Magioladitis BRFAs We currently have 27 open bot requests at Wikipedia:Bots/Requests for approval, and could use your help processing! Discussions There are multiple ongoing discussions surrounding bot-related matters. In particular: RFC on COSMETICBOT Efforts at WP:CHECKWIKI to identify cosmetic fixes Requested move for the Bot Owners' Noticeboard A phabricator ticket T162685 has been made to have a "bots" tag, so issues related to bot frameworks can be tracked New things Several new things are around: A BAG Guide has been created (WP:BAGG, discussion). Users now have the option to hide AWB from their watchlists via a script (WP:HIDEAWB, discussion) The guidance on how to deal with bot issues has been overhauled (WP:BOTISSUE, discussion) The bot policy has been updated to clarify that bot operators are required to register accounts. (WP:BOTACCOUNT, discussion) Wikimania Wikimania 2017 is happening in Montreal, during 9–13 August. If you plan to attend, or give a talk, let us know! Thank you! edited by: Headbomb 00:29, 13 April 2017 (UTC) (You can unsubscribe from future newsletters by removing your name from this list.)

Table header view

There is a new option in "Preferences" that reads, "Make sure that headers of tables remain in view as long as the table is in view". I have enabled it, yet it does not work on Firefox (my primary browser), but does on Chrome. Is anything being done about this? --Kailash29792 (talk) 11:55, 13 April 2017 (UTC)

I'll add a note that it is only working on Safari/Chrome. Unfortunately other browsers don't handle sticky table elements yet. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 11:59, 13 April 2017 (UTC)

For the record, the option is at the bottom of Special:Preferences#mw-prefsection-gadgets which displays MediaWiki:Gadget-StickyTableHeaders. It uses MediaWiki:Gadget-StickyTableHeaders.js and MediaWiki:Gadget-StickyTableHeaders.css. MediaWiki talk:Gadget-StickyTableHeaders.css has a post about the Firefox issue. PrimeHunter (talk) 12:34, 13 April 2017 (UTC)

The BIG Blue Button

I've mentioned the upcoming BIG Blue Button a few times on this page, and it's finally up on the Beta Cluster so that you can have a look at it: https://en.wikipedia.beta.wmflabs.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Random&action=edit&ooui=1

The minor edit/watchlist boxes and the Save/Preview/Diff buttons are bigger (for better accessibility, e.g., in the case of trying to use the desktop site on a mobile device with what one editor called 'sausage fingers' above). Everything works the same way; it just has a different appearance.

Again, because this change converts the buttons to OOUIjs, it is not possible to completely restore the old appearance by editing your personal CSS. The best comfort I can offer is that most of us experienced editors don't actually look at those buttons anyway, and that people usually get used to a change like this after about two weeks. Whatamidoing (WMF) (talk) 16:20, 13 April 2017 (UTC)

• Looks generally all right, though possibly the increased size might be offputting. Offhand maybe … .editOptions .editButtons .oo-ui-buttonElement button {font-size: smaller !important;} or something like that would be a decent CSS workaround for people who think it's too big. {{Nihiltres |talk |edits}} 16:40, 13 April 2017 (UTC)

Does anyone know what this is?

A notification needs clearing.

— O Fortuna ^{semper crescis, aut decrescis} 08:09, 13 April 2017 (UTC)

I don't recognise it. New feature, perhaps? If it is, it'll have been around for six days or more, since it's not Thursday evening (UTC) yet. So it should be in recent Tech News. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 08:46, 13 April 2017 (UTC)

That's the desktop site on a mobile device judging by the icons at the top of the screen. Do you get it on a desktop desktop? Cabayi (talk) 09:47, 13 April 2017 (UTC)

Nothing recognisable in Tech news 11, 12, 13, 14 or 15... Seems to be exact kind of thing an experienced editor needs to get, a box inviting them to help and offering to start with an "easy" article (you didn't by any chance click that button and remember which article it presented?). Probably some test that pops up once every X edits, but should have been announced here I guess. Fram (talk) 09:50, 13 April 2017 (UTC)

• @Fram, Redrose64, and Cabayi: Thanks for that- no sign of it desktop- and only on that one article either, so seems sparse. Yes I did think it was a bit of a wind up! Particularly as it is SO NICE to get a tiny box apear that can only be cleared with even more tiny buttons on an already tiny screen :) and that's not even counting the sausage-fingers :) — O Fortuna ^{semper crescis, aut decrescis} 10:49, 13 April 2017 (UTC)

That is Wikipedia:GettingStarted. --Malyacko (talk) 10:04, 13 April 2017 (UTC)

@Malyacko: Excellent; so it is. Even so- still a bit 'WTF'- as that page indicates its been around from before my time- 2012!!!- I didn't see it when I was an 'inexperienced user' so why now, i wonder.^Bizarre — O Fortuna ^{semper crescis, aut decrescis} 10:53, 13 April 2017 (UTC)

Yeah it's weird if you were to suddenly be presented with that. Maybe for some reason your setting got lost or something. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 11:03, 13 April 2017 (UTC)

Wikipedia:GettingStarted#Try it out shows how everybody can try it on a given page or Random article. Any chance you clicked a url with gettingStartedReturn=true? A search [17] finds 64 pages. PrimeHunter (talk) 12:44, 13 April 2017 (UTC)

Likely, given that one of the links is at Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/Incidents#Blatant advertising on wikipedia - Violation of T.26C, where O Fortuna was replying. Whatamidoing (WMF) (talk) 16:08, 13 April 2017 (UTC)

Ah- that's how I got there, of course; I was in my way to fillet the spam. Well done, Holmes! — O Fortuna ^{semper crescis, aut decrescis} 16:27, 13 April 2017 (UTC)

The url was posted by a new user who must have copied it from the address bar. I have changed it to a wikilink to avoid confusion.[18] PrimeHunter (talk) 16:58, 13 April 2017 (UTC)

Tempate line gap

Resolved

Does anyone have an explanation—or solution—for the gap between the two templates at List_of_films_considered_the_best#External_links? It looks monstrous but I can't find the cause of it. Betty Logan (talk) 00:56, 13 April 2017 (UTC)

I have a solution, but not an explanation :) I removed a couple blank lines, not sure which edit did the trick.--S Philbrick(Talk) 01:20, 13 April 2017 (UTC)

@Betty Logan: When a template ends with a <noinclude>...</noinclude> portion, there should be no whitespace (spaces, tabs, newlines etc.) between the last part of the template proper (in this case the }} that closes the {{navbox}}), and the <noinclude> tag. This is because the noinclude portion is stripped out after the template is transcluded, so any whitespace that is outside the noinclude portion is preserved. So with the {{Best works}} template as it stood, the two newlines at the bottom made it into the article; and as is well known, two newlines make a paragraph break and so cause a clearly visible gap.

@Sphilbrick: your first edit will have had no effect, since whitespace that precedes or follows the value of a named parameter is stripped by the parser. In your second edit, the first newline that you removed will similarly have been ineffectual, but the second newline went part-way to fixing rhe problem, and I finished the job. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 08:43, 13 April 2017 (UTC)

• Thanks to both of you the page is looking a lot better. It was driving me mad! Betty Logan (talk) 18:53, 13 April 2017 (UTC)

Thanks Redrose. --S Philbrick(Talk) 19:21, 13 April 2017 (UTC)

Clicking on images

Could somebody please help us with this issue? Best regards--Hubon (talk) 22:34, 13 April 2017 (UTC)

Function "upright"

This proposal might also be relevant for the technical department. Thanks a lot in advance for commenting!--Hubon (talk) 22:36, 13 April 2017 (UTC)

Geese

Is there a reason this English Wikipedia and this Spanish Wikipedia page do not link to each other in the language column? I tried to fix it, but got an error message. --Acjelen (talk) 21:52, 13 April 2017 (UTC)

@Acjelen: That sidebar is controlled by Wikidata. wikidata:Q82562 (the one you are trying to add) is for the "Tribe" Anserini. Not for the common name "Goose" which can be found at wikidata:Q16529344. --Majora (talk) 22:09, 13 April 2017 (UTC)

I understand that, but there's no English language wikipedia article for wikidata:Q16529344. And wikidata:Q82562 specifically states to use [[wikidata:Q16529344] for goose. I can fix this myself, but it seems like a much larger problem than one animal and two languages. --Acjelen (talk) 23:12, 13 April 2017 (UTC)

@Acjelen: It looks like that article is more like list of goose breeds which would be wikidata:Q1501489. You can't link one article to two different data sets on wikidata. You have to pick the best one and from Google Translate (not totally reliable but I can't read Spanish) it looks more like a list article than a regular article. --Majora (talk) 23:40, 13 April 2017 (UTC)

Undo button does not work

I tried reverting vandalism on Hungry Jack's using the undo button. For some reason, the text in the edit box was the latest vandalized version of the article, rather than the pre-vandalized version I tried to revert to. User:Fragglet managed to fully revert the vandalism. 47.139.24.80 (talk) 21:34, 13 April 2017 (UTC)

The page history [19] shows 98.113.65.147 made three consecutive edits. You undid the first of these. See Help:Reverting for ways to revert more than one edit. PrimeHunter (talk) 00:40, 14 April 2017 (UTC)

Wikilinks are a lighter blue on WP:AN?

For a week or so now wikilinks at WP:AN are showing as a lighter shade of blue (#2c61b9 instead of #0645ad) for me. The rest of the page's colours seem to be as normal. Any ideas why? Sam Walton (talk) 18:47, 13 April 2017 (UTC)

Does your symptom follow if say you log out and open a private browsing window? — xaosflux ^Talk 21:41, 13 April 2017 (UTC)

@Xaosflux: Doesn't happen when logged out. And I just noticed that they're the right colour briefly, but then turn lighter blue when things like the blocked user strikethrough gadget load. Sam Walton (talk) 00:43, 14 April 2017 (UTC)

Want to learn JavaScript?

I'd like to get a group of editors together who are interested in learning (or improving their skills in) the JavaScript language, to benefit from group synergy, comment on each others' user script projects, share their ideas and experiences, and perhaps improve Wikipedia's coverage of JavaScript topics (and WP's JS support pages) along the way. If this sounds like something you would enjoy, please let me know on the JavaScript WikiProject's talk page. The Transhumanist 01:24, 14 April 2017 (UTC)

Search from Search Wikipedia box points to wrong section

When I search for "Read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest" in the search box, the 4th result (the one I was looking for) points to "Book of Common Prayer (section China and Hong Kong)". This isn't the right section, it's actually at Book of Common Prayer#Literary influence. Is there something wrong with the article code? I removed template:toc limit as a hunch but the error still occurs. Any ideas? Shhhnotsoloud (talk) 09:58, 14 April 2017 (UTC)

It's a feature or bug depending on your point of view. It says "Bookbinding (section Punch and bind)" with "and" bolded to indicate a partial match in the section heading itself. It doesn't mean all the search terms or the displayed blurb were found in that section. The whole article is linked at the start. PrimeHunter (talk) 14:12, 14 April 2017 (UTC)

Template not working

Can anyone tell me why the Billboard templates in Hurricane (Luke Combs song) aren't working right? Luke Combs clearly has a Billboard page for his charts, but for some reason I'm getting an "illegal name entered" error. Ten Pound Hammer • ^{(What did I screw up now?)} 20:14, 14 April 2017 (UTC)

The templates have to be told where to find his Billboard page. I have added him to {{BillboardID/L}}.[20] PrimeHunter (talk) 20:39, 14 April 2017 (UTC)

Strange cite error

There is a cite error in the list defined reference section here. It seems that an editor has used this particular cite news template for The Times okay but it doesn't render correctly when used for The Evening Post. The error message in the footnotes is "A list defined reference has no name" I think this particular template is something specifically for the Times, I haven't come across this one before. The regular cite news template would probably work okay but there doesn't seem to be the possibility to display the newspaper "column E" details. Any thoughts please? regards CV9933 (talk) 16:34, 14 April 2017 (UTC)

{{Cite newspaper The Evening Post}} was created four days ago and doesn't accept any parameters but just cites a specific story. It should either be developed or deleted. The error message was because it added its own <ref>...</ref>. Citation templates aren't supposed to do that so I removed it.[21] PrimeHunter (talk) 17:00, 14 April 2017 (UTC)

This template was clearly created in error. I have fixed the only transclusion of it and marked it for deletion. Notifying Sheppards. – Jonesey95 (talk) 21:19, 14 April 2017 (UTC)

Thanks for your help that really had me scratching my head for a while. regards. CV9933 (talk) 22:30, 14 April 2017 (UTC)

New AutoblockList special page

There is now a new Special:AutoblockList page for listing autoblocks, similar to Special:BlockList. This is mostly of use to admins, but I thought I would mention it here anyway in case other folks were interested. Ryan Kaldari (WMF) (talk) 20:15, 14 April 2017 (UTC)

Thanks for the update. — xaosflux ^Talk 22:30, 14 April 2017 (UTC)

Error 503 while editing

At least twice this week I've gotten an error page ("Our servers are currently under maintenance or experiencing a technical problem") after clicking "Show preview" while editing a page on the English Wikipedia. This error occurred most recently on the Tax Day March page today (02:35:09 GMT). The error details say "Error: 503, Backend fetch failed". After clicking the provided link to "try again", I have been able to continue editing without a problem. I'm only mentioning it because I've been editing Wikipedia for a number of years and don't recall seeing this error page come up at all until recently. I'm on macOS 10.12.4 (Sierra) and using the latest Firefox browser (52.0.2). Funcrunch (talk) 02:54, 15 April 2017 (UTC)

Escape sequence for a newline when using insource: regex search?

Hi. I'm wondering if there's a way to match a newline when searching with the insource: parameter and regular expressions? Template:Regex doesn't have anything useful. ~barakokula31 (talk) 12:55, 15 April 2017 (UTC)

Prods appear but are not editable

A number of prods like this one appear in the Proposed deletion list under "request for X, Y Z etc". What's interesting is that the prod is placed at the end of the page and does not appear in the source code when you click edit. 96.127.244.11 (talk) 22:13, 14 April 2017 (UTC)

It was this edit by Beyond My Ken (talk · contribs). I reverted it. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 22:18, 14 April 2017 (UTC)

Sorry, I saw the "prods cannot be used for templates" notice and thought I had undone my edit -- apparently not. Beyond My Ken (talk) 22:20, 14 April 2017 (UTC)

OK that explains it! Someone tried to prod the template and the template printed the PROD onto all the pages it was used in. thank you wise Wikipedians.96.127.244.11 (talk) 22:52, 14 April 2017 (UTC)

If prods were available for templates, simply put them within <noinclude>...</noinclude> tags to prevent them from appearing in the articles transcluding the template. GeoffreyT2000 (talk) 14:39, 15 April 2017 (UTC)

Unable to Log in

I have been unable to log in. I used the password reset facility, but no e-mail has been sent to the e-mail address I provided. I have checked my Inbox, All Mail and Spam folders. Having failed, I tried to re-send the password again, but I can only do this once per day. Is there a quicker fix? 2.27.137.49 (talk) 10:34, 15 April 2017 (UTC)

If you give a username at Special:PasswordReset then the mail is sent to the address stored in the account and not the Email address field. For privacy reasons it doesn't reveal whether it's the same address. Do you have another mail account you can check? I always receive Wikipedia mails in seconds when I test it. PrimeHunter (talk) 11:17, 15 April 2017 (UTC)

I have not used the wikipedia account for years, and the e-mail address I think it is linked to is dead. 2.27.137.49 (talk) 13:00, 15 April 2017 (UTC)

Email reset is the only option for password recovery, barring an exception situation and a way to positively identify you as the account owner - such as you holding the secret to a previously posted cryptographic problem such as a committed identify or digital signature. — xaosflux ^Talk 14:27, 15 April 2017 (UTC)

So are you suggesting that the only way forward is to create a new account? 2.27.137.49 (talk) 14:50, 15 April 2017 (UTC)

Yes. (There are a few small exceptions, such as a Wikipedia admin having known you personally, but for probably 99% of us, the answer is 'yes'.) WhatamIdoing (talk) 15:37, 15 April 2017 (UTC)

Font size.

Hi. That's me again. Do not worry, I did not break my common.js again. Quick question. How do you manage font's size? I was making a banner for WP:ANEWS and I need to increase the header's size. How do you do this? Thank you. Cheers, FriyMan ^talk 15:36, 14 April 2017 (UTC)

@FriyMan: Where is this banner for WP:ANEWS of which you speak? --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 16:18, 14 April 2017 (UTC)

Here it is, Redrose64. Cheers, FriyMan ^talk 16:58, 14 April 2017 (UTC)

It uses {{mbox}}, which is not intended for direct use: it is the core for {{ambox}}, {{tmbox}} etc. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 17:04, 14 April 2017 (UTC)

So, what do I do, Redrose64? Cheers, FriyMan ^talk 17:50, 14 April 2017 (UTC)

I'm guessing that you have seen a banner in use elsewhere, and want to do something similar at your ANEWS page. Where have you seen such a banner? --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 18:47, 14 April 2017 (UTC)

On this page - Wikipedia:Village pump (technical)#Bots Newsletter, April 2017. I would also like to center it, too. Cheers, FriyMan ^talk 05:20, 15 April 2017 (UTC)

Well, that certainly doesn't use {{mbox}} - it looks like a custom creation. Have you contacted WP:BAG to find out if there's a template that they used? --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 16:31, 15 April 2017 (UTC)

Troll-chasing question.

Moved from ANI:

Has Wiki done any research on which spelling variants are more likely to slip under the reader's radar? I know there is a lot done on this elsewhere for spell checkers, but I suspect deliberate evasion might have some different twists. Anmccaff (talk) 03:59, 15 April 2017 (UTC)

To flesh this out a little, most fake "Bonadea" names with some spellings jumped out at me, while one initially slipped by, it took a double-take to catch it. (I'm not going into details, in case the bastards are taking notes.) I've seen this with other trollery, here at Wiki and elsewhere, and I've noticed, among other things, that which fakes are more prominent varies a good deal with the usual English variant of the reader, for one instance. Anmccaff (talk) 04:32, 15 April 2017 (UTC)

@Anmccaff: All fake "Bonadea" names I have seen here were socks of very proliferous sockmaster Nsmutte, an Indian quack who got so upset after having had his autobiography, and the false claims about having a number of world records he added to multiple articles here, deleted that he for the past two years seems to have spent most of his time on Wikipedia, harassing Bonadea (and to a, in comparison to what Bonadea has had to endure, very minor degree me and a few others here) and trolling noticeboards. Socks that should be blocked on sight. - Tom | Thomas.W ^talk 16:35, 15 April 2017 (UTC)

Yeah, I watched a lot of that happening. What I was asking about above was more to do with perception, and how certain misspellings are more transparent than others, harder to notice, and how that varies from reader to reader. Nsmutte, as annoying as one might find him, is a man with a focused personal grievance, who only attacks those he thinks have wronged him, or those supporting them. Not to say that I approve of what he's doing, "block on sight" is quite correct, but he does seem to have standards. You know who he's going to hit.

On the other hand, we have some persons who, often for wider personal, commercial, or political reasons, like to create socks and throw-aways for later use, often trying to mimic other user names for camouflage or maybe a little false flagging. Some of these jump out as faked, some don't. I suspect that finding out why that is, why "Bonadeia" might look realer than "Bonadae", would lead for useful tools for grepping out (in the wider, non-literal sense) some of the problem children automatically, and I'm curious if anything's been done with that here. Anmccaff (talk) 17:00, 15 April 2017 (UTC)

Missing section editing links

Is anyone else having any problems with intermittently missing [Edit] buttons for section editing? WP:DR and WP:RFC are both showing this behavior for me today. WhatamIdoing (talk) 16:59, 15 April 2017 (UTC)

I have experienced this, just now, at wp:rfc but not yet at wp:dr.--John Cline (talk) 17:43, 15 April 2017 (UTC)

It's usually caused by the magic word __NOEDITSECTION__, often in a transcluded page when it's unexepected. Special:ExpandTemplates can help find the location. WP:RFC transcludes {{RFC list footer}} where Harej added __NOEDITSECTION__ in 2009.[22] Considering how long ago it was, I don't want to boldly remove it. It's probably intentional to discourage people from editing the RFC lists like Wikipedia:Requests for comment/Biographies. They should usually edit the linked RFC's instead. If we want the main WP:RFC page to have section edit links while still transcluding {{RFC list footer}} then there are ways to do that, e.g. an optional parameter to suppress addition of __NOEDITSECTION__, or testing the page name in the template. PrimeHunter (talk) 20:25, 15 April 2017 (UTC)

ORCP redirect

Although Wikipedia:ORCP redirects to Wikipedia:Requests for adminship/Optional RfA candidate poll, it is not listed in Special:WhatLinksHere/Wikipedia:Requests for adminship/Optional RfA candidate poll. Also, the redirect's text contains {{R from shortcut}} but Template:R from shortcut is not listed as a transcluded template in either the "action=edit" page or the "action=info" page. GeoffreyT2000 (talk) 15:59, 15 April 2017 (UTC)

I made a null edit of Wikipedia:ORCP to update link tables and it's now in WhatLinksHere. I don't know why it was missing before but accidents happen. "action=info" and "action=edit" show transclusions currently on the page. It's ambiguous what that means for a redirect. The software apparently ignores what you see if you view the redirect page itself with redirect=no in the url. If you preview the redirect then you see a list of templates used in the preview and that includes Template:R from shortcut. PrimeHunter (talk) 21:24, 15 April 2017 (UTC)

It appears my null edit has also filled out "action=info" and "action=edit" with templates used when the redirect page is rendered. PrimeHunter (talk) 21:30, 15 April 2017 (UTC)

Page move question

When a page is moved, and a redirect is left behind, the redirect is saved with the following preapended text:

#REDIRECT [[Target page name]]

{{R from move}}

My question is: from where is that text derived? Thank you.--John Cline (talk) 16:21, 15 April 2017 (UTC)

@John Cline: The text is derived from MediaWiki:Move-redirect-text. GeoffreyT2000 (talk) 16:29, 15 April 2017 (UTC)

(edit conflict) @John Cline: It is at MediaWiki:Move-redirect-text, see MediaWiki talk:Move-redirect-text for a link to the last discussion that updated it. — xaosflux ^Talk 16:31, 15 April 2017 (UTC)

Thank you both! I am curious, in cases like this, when a page is saved with prepended text, shouldn't the edit summary declare the attribution of that text; mooting questions like mine above?--John Cline (talk) 16:43, 15 April 2017 (UTC)

You're too curious! I don't think this detail is worth a significant extension of the move summary. If we did it then curious people might just ask where the automatic edit summary comes from. And edit summaries have a 255-byte limit. Some edit summaries from moves already cut off the end like [23]. The move log [24] shows the full string entered in the move form but the edit summary in page histories may remove the end. If we really wanted to make it traceable then we could add something like <!-- MediaWiki:Move-redirect-text --> to MediaWiki:Move-redirect-text, but I don't think we should. A search like [25] can find it. Most users probably don't know how to search it but if they really want to know then they can ask like you. PrimeHunter (talk) 21:07, 15 April 2017 (UTC)

Sounds reasonable; thanks.--John Cline (talk) 22:42, 15 April 2017 (UTC)

Problem with Commonist

Hello. Commonist doesn't work anymore. It worked 3 months ago, but it automatically updated today. I tried to make it work, updating my Java as well. It gives nothing. And I refuse to upload my photos 1 by 1. If anybody can help, I would greatly appreciate. Thanks, Jack ma (talk) 07:07, 13 April 2017 (UTC)

 Done I succeeded : execute the .jnlp with jawaws.exe, and manually added a security URL in java configurator (compulsory since 8.0) : http://neonstau.de/commonist/ws/commonist.jnlp. Not simple... Jack ma (talk) 07:26, 13 April 2017 (UTC)

@Jack ma: If commonist isn't working for you, please note that there is a plethora of other tools to chose from. -FASTILY 22:33, 15 April 2017 (UTC)

@Fastily: I don't like the name and the icon neither , but am used to this tool for 5 years, which works now and upload easily many photos. Thanks for this useful link. Jack ma (talk) 05:30, 16 April 2017 (UTC)

automatic detection of lemma respelling

Isn't there a bot that notices when someone changes the spelling of the lemma of an article? It seems that not even repelling of the first mention in bold is detected by a bot since it took more than 2 weeks before i accidentally discovered this in commune. --Espoo (talk) 05:30, 16 April 2017 (UTC)

Rejoice! For we are free

Tracked in Phabricator
Task T162395

Today this Sunday 2017 in the year of our Lord is a special day. For we are finally free. No longer shackled by licensing fees. We can all rejoice as MP3 is patent free. You may take this afternoon to re-transcode your music collection back to MP3. — Dispenser 04:29, 16 April 2017 (UTC)

@Dispenser: An excellent opportunity for downgrading the quality of your music I agree :p — O Fortuna ^{semper crescis, aut decrescis} —Preceding undated comment added 14:01, 16 April 2017 (UTC)

• Finally. And I just discovered that AC-3 lapsed last month (at least decoding). —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 14:04, 16 April 2017 (UTC)

mysterious and inappropriate categorization

The category Category:Pages containing cite templates with deprecated parameters has eight pages that, I think, shouldn't be there:

Help talk:Citation Style 1/Archive 4

Help talk:Citation Style 1/Archive 6

Help talk:Citation Style 1/Archive 8

Module talk:Citation/CS1/Archive 2

Module talk:Citation/CS1/Archive 8

Template talk:Citation/core/Archive 9

User:Jonesey95/sandbox

Wikipedia:CS1/test parameters

cs1|2 citation templates are rendered by Module:Citation/CS1 which uses Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration. In that module, is a table that lists namespaces that are not to be categorized:

local uncategorized_namespaces = { 'User', 'Talk', 'User_talk', 'Wikipedia_talk', 'File_talk', 'Template_talk',
	'Help_talk', 'Category_talk', 'Portal_talk', 'Book_talk', 'Draft', 'Draft_talk', 'Education_Program_talk',
	'Module_talk', 'MediaWiki_talk' };

Of the pages listed above, all but the last are in namespaces specified in the uncategorized table. The module code decides how and when to categorize cs1|2 errors must be working else my sandbox would be included in Category:Pages containing cite templates with deprecated parameters. So, my question: how is it that these pages are listed in this category and how can I remove them? A simple null edit doesn't work.

—Trappist the monk (talk) 12:47, 16 April 2017 (UTC)

@Trappist the monk: I took a look at User:Jonesey95/sandbox, and it is calling Template:Cite compare with |mode=book, which in turn calls Template:Cite book/old. That contains the old wikitext cite template, which doesn't make any namespace checks when it adds the error category. Probably similar things are going on with the other pages. — Mr. Stradivarius ^{♪ talk ♪} 13:45, 16 April 2017 (UTC)

Yep, that's at least part of the problem; |access-date= was classified as deprecated in the /old cs1 templates.

—Trappist the monk (talk) 14:55, 16 April 2017 (UTC)

An insource search shows this category being called by the following templates:

• Template:Citation Style documentation/deprecated
• Template:Citation/lua
• Template:Citation/new
• Template:Citation/old
• Template:Cite AV media notes/old
• Template:Cite AV media/old
• Template:Cite AV media/sandbox
• Template:Cite book/old
• Template:Cite conference/old
• Template:Cite DVD notes/old
• Template:Cite encyclopedia/old
• Template:Cite episode/old
• Template:Cite episode/sandbox
• Template:Cite interview/old
• Template:Cite journal/old
• Template:Cite mailing list/old
• Template:Cite map/old
• Template:Cite map/sandbox
• Template:Cite map/sandbox2
• Template:Cite news/old
• Template:Cite newsgroup/old
• Template:Cite podcast/old
• Template:Cite podcast/sandbox
• Template:Cite press release/old
• Template:Cite report/old
• Template:Cite report/sandbox
• Template:Cite serial/old
• Template:Cite sign/old
• Template:Cite sign/sandbox2
• Template:Cite speech/old
• Template:Cite techreport/old
• Template:Cite thesis/old
• Template:Cite Uboat.net
• Template:Cite web/old
• Template:Cite web/sandbox3
• Template:Cite web/sandbox4
• Template:Gutenberg book/sandbox
• Template:London Gazette/sandbox

Any one of these could be causing the problem. You would have to check "What links here" on each of the templates to see if you get a match with one of the above pages, then track down the problem. I will start that process. – Jonesey95 (talk) 13:51, 16 April 2017 (UTC)

On second thought, maybe it's time for Category:CS1 errors:deprecated parameter. We could then leave the old category behind with templates that are still using it. – Jonesey95 (talk) 14:02, 16 April 2017 (UTC)

I have been wanting to do that but hadn't considered a new category as a solution to this problem. I've removed |access-date= from many of the templates you've listed. Thanks for the list.

—Trappist the monk (talk) 14:55, 16 April 2017 (UTC)

How to edit page description contained within JSON file?

There's an inappropriately written page description contained within the following URL that's causing unsourced POV push to display in search results.

https://en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php?action=query&format=json&generator=prefixsearch&prop=pageprops%7Cpageimages%7Cpageterms&redirects=&ppprop=displaytitle&piprop=thumbnail&pithumbsize=80&pilimit=6&wbptterms=description&gpssearch=russian%20in&gpsnamespace=0&gpslimit=6&callback=callbackStack.queue%5B18%5D

I can't seem to figure out how to edit this file. Any assistance greatly appreciated. Factchecker_atyourservice 19:51, 16 April 2017 (UTC)

The description is from Wikidata. Click "Wikidata item" under "Tools" in the left pane of Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections to see Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections (Q28005470). PrimeHunter (talk) 20:51, 16 April 2017 (UTC)

Template:Wikidata list

Anyone knows if Pxxx/Pzzz works? Xaris333 (talk) 21:01, 16 April 2017 (UTC)

Is an infinite loop really possible?

I just realized that when signing talk pages, one can "treat the above as wiki markup" then insert four tildes as their signature. Would this create an infinite loop? UpsandDowns1234 (Talk to me) (My Contribs) 05:43, 17 April 2017 (UTC)

Three or more tildes are removed from the signature field when you save in preferences. Some other things like comments and noinclude are also removed. Things can also be added, like SUBST: to transclusions. PrimeHunter (talk) 10:00, 17 April 2017 (UTC)

Cant not Log in

Hello, I am User:Vvven, I can not connect to my user account, I even wanted to enter placing my email, but this do not recognize the email. I hope you help me. I was given a warning in the recent past, they told me that the next block but was not a next time because I did not contribute until today in anything else. I ask that, try to solve the problem. Thank you--200.35.214.201 (talk) 18:03, 16 April 2017 (UTC)

I know my password and also all my emails, I put them but I can not enter. I can not enter my user for a week--200.35.214.201 (talk) 18:05, 16 April 2017 (UTC)

The account is not blocked or locked. What error message do you receive when you try to login? Ruslik_Zero 19:45, 16 April 2017 (UTC)

User:Vvven has not stored an email address in the account. Special:Contributions/Vvven shows many edits since this post so I guess there is no problem now. PrimeHunter (talk) 10:06, 17 April 2017 (UTC)

What's the best tool these days for autosaving draft articles (without saving them to Wikipedia)?

Usually when I'm writing a new article, I want to make sure it doesn't get deleted, so I have about 20-30 browser tabs open as I'm doing different searches, looking at different sources, etc. I'll write an article that's several paragraphs long, in conformity with WP:BEEF, and then as I'm looking for more sources, I'll open up a huge PDF file or some other page that's resource-intensive, causing my system to lock up, so that I have to do a hard reboot, and lose all my work. (The next time I enter FireFox, it might prompt me to restore a session, but it's usually not the same session, with the same pages, that I was in when I hit the power button; I'm not sure why.)

I could save drafts to the Draft: namespace, or to my own userspace, but that's just asking someone to open up an MfD, and it doesn't solve the problem anyway that until I save it, my work could be lost. I could write an article in Gmail, but then I can't do previews without copying each version into Wikipedia, and then copying it back into Gmail to make sure that my updated versions aren't lost.

I'm using Windows 7 with FireFox. What's the tool these days that people are using to prevent losing their work like that? People used to talk about Lazarus, but I wasn't sure if some better tool had come out yet. Thanks. St. claires fire (talk) 17:35, 16 April 2017 (UTC)

• Why would saving an article to your own userspace be asking someone to open up an MfD, unless the article contains copyvios or BLP violations (for example)? I always just save my work-in-progress to my sandbox, and then overwrite it with the next one once I've finished it and moved it to articlespace. Black Kite (talk) 17:55, 16 April 2017 (UTC)

Sometimes people's sandboxes get MfD'ed because people say, "Aha, he's got this vanispamicruftisement masquerading as a sandbox! Wikipedia is not a free webhost!" You can probably get away with it if the draft article is about some rare subspecies of mollusk, but if it's about a company or a person or some fringe political idea that doesn't yet have 20 cited sources demonstrating notability, forget it.

I have my own private MediaWiki installation on my localhost, so sometimes I use that for drafts, but that has the disadvantage that I can't, for example, make sure that all the wikilinks are blue, since I haven't imported all of Wikipedia's articles. St. claires fire (talk) 14:06, 17 April 2017 (UTC)

St. claires fire: I have made a gadget for this. If you want it on enwiki, you'll have to convince one of the 1263 admins to copy sv:MediaWiki:Gadget-AutoSave.js, sv:MediaWiki:Gadget-AutoSave.css and its entry on sv:MediaWiki:Gadgets-definition, and then translate sv:MediaWiki:Gadget-AutoSave. Once that's done, you'll be able to enable it at Special:Preferences#mw-input-wpgadgets-AutoSave. Oh, and if the Swedish translations in the js file cannot be justified, you can just remove the whole

if ( mw.config.get('wgUserLanguage') === 'sv' ) {
	//wall of translations
}

block. Feel free to ping me if you have any questions. Nirmos (talk) 17:32, 17 April 2017 (UTC)

Request for assistance

I'm wondering if anybody here is able to assist in fixing a table coding problem that's got me completely mystified.

In List of Canadian films, the "year header" bars in the pre-1960 table are extending about half an inch past the ending margin of the content rows, even though the table is coded exactly identically to the subsequent 1960s and 1970s tables where that isn't happening: the number of columns in each table is the same, the column widths are the same, the total table width is the same, and on and so forth, so I can't seem to locate what's causing the pre-1960s table to behave differently than the other two are.

Is anybody skilled enough in template coding to help me sort this out? Thanks. Bearcat (talk) 17:54, 17 April 2017 (UTC)

Eep, never mind, I found it. Somebody had added an extra uncoded column to one film entry in the deep middle of the list that I hadn't noticed in my parade of scrolling up and down the page. Duh. Bearcat (talk) 17:58, 17 April 2017 (UTC)

Wikmedia Research Showcase: Using WikiBrain to visualize Wikipedia's neighborhoods

Hey folks! I figured you'd be interested in this. I've organized the WikiBrain researchers to present at the monthly mw:Wikimedia Research/Showcase. See mw:Wikimedia_Research/Showcase#April_2017 for the details of the talk that Shilad will be giving. He'll be demoing some of the cool spacial visualizations that use semantic relatedness measures to give insights into the shape of Wikipedia content. The talk will be broadcast/recorded on Wednesday 4/19 at 1830 UTC. I'll be taking question and delivering them to the speaker (Shilad) from the #wikimedia-research ^connect chatroom. If you can join us, you'll find me in there as "halfak". Here's the streaming link that'll become active as soon as the talk starts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Prf0Vb-k1I --EpochFail (talk • contribs) 21:01, 17 April 2017 (UTC)

Tech News: 2017-16

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 add ?safemode=1 to the end of the URL on Wikimedia wikis to disable your personal CSS and JavaScript. Example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literature?safemode=1. This means you can test if a problem is because of your user scripts or gadgets without uninstalling them. [26]
• You can now see a list of all autoblocks on Special:AutoblockList. [27]
• The Wikiversity and Wikinews logos are now shown directly from the configuration and not from [[File:Wiki.png]]. If you want to change logo or have an anniversary logo, see how to request a configuration change. This is how it already works for other projects. They can request logo changes the same way. [28]

Problems

• Because of a data centre test you will be able to read but not edit the wikis for 20 to 30 minutes on 19 April. This will start at 14:00 (UTC). You might lose edits if you try to save during this time. You can read more about this. This will also happen on 3 May.

Changes this week

• There is no new Mediawiki version this week. This is because of the data centre test.

Meetings

• You can join the next meeting with the VisualEditor team. During the meeting, you can tell developers which bugs you think are the most important. The meeting will be on 18 April at 19:00 (UTC). See how to join.

Future changes

• stats.wikimedia.org will be replaced. You can see the new prototype. You can leave feedback on this change.
• Page Previews will be turned on for logged-out users on a large number of wikis in May. It could be postponed and happen later. Page Previews shows readers a short part of a linked article when they rest their mouse pointer on the link. This is to help them understand what it is about without leaving the article they are reading. Page Previews used to be called Hovercards. Users who have tested the feature can give feedback. [29]
• From next week, user scripts using very old deprecated wikibits functions will show errors. These functions have not worked since 2013. You should fix or disable broken scripts. You can see examples of how to upgrade scripts. [30][31]

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

19:31, 17 April 2017 (UTC)

User:PrimeHunter/Safe mode.js makes a sidebar link "Safe mode" to add ?safemode=1 (or &safemode=1 when required) to the URL per the first change mentioned above. All it does is spare you from remembering the parameter and adding it manually. Install with this in your common JavaScript:

importScript('User:PrimeHunter/Safe mode.js'); // Linkback: [[User:PrimeHunter/Safe mode.js]]

PrimeHunter (talk) 21:08, 17 April 2017 (UTC)

Text entry box tool bars

For a few days now, the edit tool bars around my text entry box have disappeared so I have been doing it the good old fashioned way by entering the wikicode long-hand. Haven't changed anything at my end. Do I need to update or something? Admittedly, I am using a very old Firefox Browser but it is the latest one that still works on my antique apple laptop (version 10.4.11). Also, my watch list displays in its full expanded form now without those triangles to clink on. This takes me longer to navigate. Any ideas? Aspro (talk) 16:45, 17 April 2017 (UTC)

Support for ES3 has recently been dropped (phab:T128115). Nirmos (talk) 17:05, 17 April 2017 (UTC)

Thanks for the explanation. Oh sh-one-tee. What is the next best option? I'm only half computer literate cause I'm still living in the days of Fortan 77 and this old dog is having trouble learning new tricks. Open to all suggestions however. Aspro (talk) 18:23, 17 April 2017 (UTC)

There is actually an ongoing hardware donation program. If you can't upgrade your web browser on your current computer, and you can't buy a new computer, you could apply for having a used computer given to you by the WMF. Nirmos (talk) 03:03, 18 April 2017 (UTC)

Funds Dissemination Committee message

For me, at least, when I click on the banner message that has been popping up at the top of WP lately about telling the Funds Dissemination Committee how I want them to spend their money, it takes me to the Wikimania website instead. Does anyone else have this problem? Everymorning (talk) 03:18, 18 April 2017 (UTC)

Thanks for flagging this. It'll be corrected shortly if it hasn't been yet, in the meantime, if you want to review the FDC proposals, please visit the proposal page on meta. Delphine (WMF) (talk) 05:52, 18 April 2017 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Top 25 Report

I removed a non-free image showing up in Wikipedia:Top 25 Report and I'm wondering if these entries are added manually or being transcluded by some template. Is it possible to set the page up so that it does not add any entries containing non-free content? -- Marchjuly (talk) 00:54, 18 April 2017 (UTC)

You removed [32] File:Foab blast.jpg which hasn't been edited since 2012 so the license information hasn't changed recently. The file was added by OZOO in [33]. It's not the automatically selected page image at [34] so I assume it was added manually. mw:Extension:PageImages#Image choice avoids non-free images but often selects an image which isn't representative of the article and would be poorly suited for the Top-25 report. I don't know of any automatic way to avoid display of non-free images on a page or in a namespace. You may know Wikipedia:Database reports which lists some reports about problems with non-free files. PrimeHunter (talk) 01:50, 18 April 2017 (UTC)

Thanks for taking a look PrimeHunter. If the files are being added manually, then there's probably no other alternative than to remove them manually when they are noticed. -- Marchjuly (talk) 02:36, 18 April 2017 (UTC)

@Marchjuly: I believe that the table at Wikipedia:Top 25 Report is hand-constructed using User:West.andrew.g/Popular pages as a basis. The latter has no images other than symbolic icons; it might be worth sending a note to the people who build that table (such as Maplestrip (talk · contribs), OZOO (talk · contribs), and Serendipodous (talk · contribs)) about the WP:NFCC rules, in particular criterion 9 which forbids the use of non-free media in the Wikipedia: namespace, even if all the other criteria are met. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 08:18, 18 April 2017 (UTC)

Thank you for the information Redrose64. A freely licensed image was added by OZOO as a replacement for the one I removed, so it seems they are now aware of the issue. -- Marchjuly (talk) 08:21, 18 April 2017 (UTC)

Hi, yep, my mistake, didn't check all the images carefully enough. Will try not to let it happen again. --OZOO 08:28, 18 April 2017 (UTC)

I keep non-free content criteria in mind and have removed non-free images from the list in the past, but mistakes happen. Thank you for fixing our mistakes when we do make them ^_^ ~Mable (chat) 08:43, 18 April 2017 (UTC)

Page views

Hi! I am from Tamil Wikipedia. This link shows the page views of a specific page in Wiki. But it is not working. Is there are any alternative links for seeing the number of page views. Please ping me while repling--Shriheeran (talk) 09:39, 18 April 2017 (UTC)

@Shriheeran: https://tools.wmflabs.org/pageviews/ is more stable. The Tamil Wikipedia uses ta:MediaWiki:Histlegend to link it at the top of page histories if your interface language at ta:Special:Preferences is Tamil. User:PrimeHunter/Pageviews.js is a user script to also add a link in the sidebar of pages. PrimeHunter (talk) 10:01, 18 April 2017 (UTC)

Thank you--Shriheeran (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 10:08, 18 April 2017 (UTC)

Sister projects search results

Hello,

In September of last year the Discovery Search team reached out to this community to discuss early work on showing other Wikimedia projects in the search results. The team will soon be ready to put final code updates on the most recent A/B test and make this change happen in production. This update will only add search result snippets from the Wikimedia sister projects in a sidebar to be displayed on the search results page. The release date is expected to be near the end of April 2017 on all Wikipedias.

Further testing is described at Cross-wiki Search Result Improvements/Testing.

If you want to test these results in advance, directions for self-guided testing are available. Additional information on this work can be found at Cross-wiki Search Result Improvements. We are excited to bring what is one of the more substantial changes to search to Wikipedia and appreciate your feedback.

Thank you, CKoerner (WMF) (talk) 22:02, 6 April 2017 (UTC)

Is there a way that a wiki can decide which sisterprojects they want or don't want to display? E.g. I can imagine people objecting to the too commercial aspect of Wikivoiyage, or the risk of copyright violations from wikisource, or unwanted images from Commons, or... For example, on one of the example images the WMF presents, when people look for rainbows, they get a Wikivoyage snippet about Camping Rainbows in Egestorf[35]. That seems to me to be highly unwanted behaviour. The risk for e.g. BLP violations from Wikinews also seems considerable. In general, looking at the provided examples, the added value from Wikibooks, Wikivoyage, Wikinews, Wikiversity and Wikiquote seems minimal. Commons and Wiktionary are much better candidates for this. Fram (talk) 12:10, 7 April 2017 (UTC)

@CKoerner (WMF):, in case you didn't see this. This seems to me to be one of those WMF changes which go hardly noticed beforehand, and then will get some backlash from the regulars for the reasons I gave above once it gets implemented.

@Fram: You can use CSS to hide each of the blocks if desired, they have distinct classes for each and every type of block. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 09:31, 11 April 2017 (UTC)

Thanks but no thanks. This is about what we will show to each and every reader, not about me. Do we really want to show e.g. the way-too-often purely promotional Wikivoyage results? Or the apparently similar Wikiversity results (this is the Wikiversity result when I look for "beer", this probable copyvio is the one I get when I search "madonna"). When someone looks for spaghetti, do we really want to show them this from Wikibooks? This is the kind of shit our "sister" projects have, but which doesn't belong on wikipedia at all. Fram (talk) 10:13, 11 April 2017 (UTC)

Who said anything about personal CSS ? We could easily hide them from en.wp centralised CSS styling. There would be no performance impact or other limiting factors as far as I can determine. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 16:21, 11 April 2017 (UTC)

I misunderstood, I thought the "you can use CSS" refered to me personally using CSS, not enwiki in general doing this. Thanks for the explanation and the suggestion! Fram (talk) 20:03, 11 April 2017 (UTC)

I have now tested with other search terms, and one blocker is easily found: just like originally happened with "related articles" and a number of other WMF attempts to be modern, you again succeed in showing fair use images in a place where they are not allowed: [36]. As long as this happens, this should not be deployed to enwiki (or anywhere else probably). If and when this is corrected, a good discussion about which sister projects are wanted and which aren't should be had before deploying this (for me, only wiktionary and perhaps non-fair use images actually are a positive addition). Oh, and the layout (for me at least) on a result like this is very bad, with the "not exists" on the left and the results on the right. Fram (talk) 09:06, 11 April 2017 (UTC)

I note that the media search results have always returned fair use images and shown them in the results. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Search&profile=images&search=smurf&fulltext=1 —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 09:31, 11 April 2017 (UTC)

Indeed, that doesn't seem like a blocker to me. I agree though that Fram's second link looks a bit odd, with 'doesnt exist' on the top left, suggested enwiki results on the right, and then results from other projects way at the bottom. Sam Walton (talk) 09:35, 11 April 2017 (UTC)

Maybe people referring to a 'doesnt exist' message are logged out when they search and see:

The page "Ggo" does not exist. You can create a draft and submit it for review or request that a redirect be created, but consider checking the search results below to see whether the topic is already covered.

Logged in I see:

The page "Ggo" does not exist. You can click on "Ggo" to create the page directly, or you may create a draft and submit it for review, but consider checking the search results below to see whether the topic is already covered.

For me in Firefox the layout depends on the zoom level and window width. At 90% to 170% and full screen the layout is OK with Wikipedia results below the italicised message and Sister projects to the right. At 80% I get what others describe with Wikipedia results to the right of the message, and Sister projects below all the Wikipedia results and to the left. PrimeHunter (talk) 10:31, 11 April 2017 (UTC)

I meant the second (logged-in) message. Firefox, full screen, 100%. Whatever the resolution, the results should look the same as in the current search results (and the same as results where a page does exist). Fram (talk) 11:22, 11 April 2017 (UTC)

Hey @Fram:, thanks for the ping. I wanted to respond to some of your concerns quickly before the long weekend.

The current version of the English Wikipedia guideline on non-free content states that Special pages are exempt. Special:Search is a special page. The chosen search queries you have identified are just as bad (or good) as they are on all the projects today. If folks search on the projects directly they see the same order of results - this includes poor results right here on English Wikipedia! :) Search is a fuzzy technology that doesn't always return exact and specific results. There's ongoing work to make it better. If folks have concerns with how other Wikimedia projects work regarding concerns such as BLP, I suggest the community has a discussion around those concerns - including members of said community.

Cross-wiki search is a repeated community request. [37] [38][39] . CKoerner (WMF) (talk) 21:41, 13 April 2017 (UTC)

While I don't agree (philosophically) that special pages should be exempt from the non-free content rules, I acknowledge that it is the rule here and thus isn't a blocker. "The chosen search queries you have identified are just as bad (or good) as they are on all the projects today." is not the problem: some sister projects will very rarely, if ever, present good results, because they are moribund (Wikinews) or used for purposes which are too far removed from what enwiki is (like too many pages on Wikibooks, Wikiquote, Wikiversity, Wikivoyage). "If folks have concerns with how other Wikimedia projects work regarding concerns such as BLP, I suggest the community has a discussion around those concerns - including members of said community." We tried that with Wikidata, and failed completely. As for "repeatedly requested", true, but a) people who don't want something we don't have at the moment will not be registered of course, and b) it's only when you get the actual results, like now, that you can really decide whether results from sister project X or Y are really beneficial or not. Do we really want to send readers of enwiki to pages like this (first wikiversity result when you look for "sheriff"), or the constant "Pinyin" pages one gets from Wikibooks for many searches. Anyway, I'll start an RfC to see which sister projects people want to see in enwiki search results, and which they would rather not have displayed. Fram (talk) 07:24, 14 April 2017 (UTC)

Worth also asking how many pages on English Wikipedia that the search shows are spam, unreferenced or otherwise useless? Jo-Jo Eumerus (talk, contributions) 08:07, 14 April 2017 (UTC)

Too many, but less than on most of the other sites it seems (and note that for the other sites, this is always about the first result returned by this search, not something hidden in the long list of results). And of course, on enwiki we can do something about these problematic pages. Elsewhere, not so much. Fram (talk) 08:53, 14 April 2017 (UTC)

Jo-Jo Eumerus, We can see the 'zero results rate' for search queries. These are searches that returned no result. http://discovery.wmflabs.org/metrics/#failure_langproj shows a breakdown by language and project. CKoerner (WMF) (talk) 16:41, 18 April 2017 (UTC)

RfC started at Wikipedia:Village pump (policy)#RfC: sister projects in search results Fram (talk) 10:21, 14 April 2017 (UTC)

@CKoerner (WMF): and @Fram: Last year I helped write the addition of Special pages into Non-free_content#Exemptions. It doesn't say there's a blanket exemption for Special pages. It says some non-article pages are exempt for some purposes. It provides, as an example, special pages which are used to monitor and clean up potential violations of copyright law.

The Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees Resolution:Licensing policy states that non-free content must be subject to a local Exemption Doctrine Policy (i.e. our policy on Non-free content). It says such exemptions are deliberately to be kept "minimal". Usage of non-free content is deliberately more restricted than Fair Use would allow. The resolution also opens with the following header:

This policy is approved by the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees. It may not be circumvented, eroded, or ignored by Wikimedia Foundation officers or staff nor local policies of any Wikimedia project.

A blanket exemption for special pages would imply the absurd result that the entire encyclopeda could be mirrored/moved under Special, with unlimited insertion of non-free content into the Special version. Special pages aren't magic door to circumvent Exemption Doctrine Policy / Trustee Licencing policy.

It's a tricky balance sorting out where and how non-free content may be used. We allow it where it's directly tied into an article or where it's critically necessary, but non-free content is deliberately handicapped in cases where it would merely be "nice to include". Non-free images were a problem in the RelatedPages feature. I cited that Trustee policy on Phabricator, and the PageImage function was revised to exclude non-free images. Later on, that turned out to exclude non-free images from PagePreviews. I opened a community dicussion affirming that non-free images were fine in PagePreviews. The PageImages feature was enhanced to support retrival of Free-only images or Free+NonFree images, depending upon how it's being used. For a media-search, returning non-free images is essential for the image to represent itself. It's all about how the content is being used, not whether it's in Special namespace. Depending on what you're trying to do, we may happily agree a particular use is within the intended scope of non-free Exemption Doctrine Policy. Alsee (talk) 01:34, 15 April 2017 (UTC)

Template:pagelinks

The {{pagelinks}} is used extensively at WP:RFPP. If the template is used to point to a redirect, like Template:Editnotices (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs), when clicking on the page link it follows the redirect. Is it possible to adjust {{pagelinks}} so that it does not follow the redirect. Either the template never follows the redirect or an optional switch such as "r=n" for "redirect=no". CambridgeBayWeather, Uqaqtuq (talk), Sunasuttuq 18:45, 18 April 2017 (UTC)

Running scripts and tools in Chrome and IE

Hi, I recently asked for some help on my talk page regarding some problems I've been having running scripts and tools in Chrome and IE, and soembody's suggested it might be worth raising the matter here.

I've noticed recently that I'm not always getting the tools when I click on the edit buttons on pages, and that some scripts aren't working. For example, the toolbar with bold, italic, AB, etc, that should appear when a page is in edit mode, sometimes doesn't. On such occasions there are also no 'insert' options below the edit summary box. Things like the fixing dashes tool at the top of the screen are also not often working properly. I usually edit in Chrome, but tried using IE to see if that would circumvent the problem. Although all seemed ok at first, after making one edit to fix dashes, things stopped working again. I've been advised Wikipedia works best in Firefox or Opera, so I've switched to using Firefox whenever I want to do anything technical and that seems to work.

However, I'm wondering if the problems I've experienced with Chrome and IE are ones shared by others, and if there's a way to fix them. I know there are problems with Chrome generally (for example, certain credit card software doesn't work with that particular browser). Any help or advice about this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance, This is Paul (talk) 22:49, 13 April 2017 (UTC)

I think it depends mostly upon the platform (operating system and browser) that a particular script was developed on. I installed a script in order to expand its capabilities, only to find that it didn't work on either of my computers (one with Windows, one with Linux, each with different versions of Firefox, and I tested in IE too). It worked fine for the author, who used Chrome. I had to do extensive debugging in order to get to ground zero where I could begin adding features. This seems typical. The Transhumanist 01:24, 14 April 2017 (UTC)

@This is Paul: when tracing problems like these, first empty out all your user scripts User:This is Paul/common.js, User:This is Paul/vector.js, User:This is Paul/monobook.js. Most of the time, you have some old script included that has since broken and is thus interfering with everything else. Especially your monobook.js seems completely broken atm, so if you use Monobook as your skin, then that is most likely your problem. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 07:59, 14 April 2017 (UTC)

Err...now completely lost. Do you mean I should blank these pages? What needs to be changed in them? Originally I copied a lot of this stuff from other people without any particular technical knowledge (other than knowing that it worked), so don't know what works and what doesn't. This is Paul (talk) 13:33, 14 April 2017 (UTC)

Yes. You can start by blanking one page at a time, and seeing whether that helps. If it does, then you'll know which page contained the problem. WhatamIdoing (talk) 15:38, 15 April 2017 (UTC)

ok thanks, I'll start with monobook.js since I've been told that's completely kaput. This is Paul (talk) 13:39, 16 April 2017 (UTC)

So, using Chrome now that I've blanked the page, I can see both toolbars are back when I go into edit mode. I've lost the tool that fixes dashes from the top of the page, as well as the script that helped fix dates, delink common terms, etc, though I believe that may have been obsolete. I'd like to get back everything if possible, but particularly the tool that enables me to fix dashes. Any thoughts? Are they kept updated? Will they work if I copy them into my monobook again? This is Paul (talk) 13:45, 16 April 2017 (UTC)

If there is a problem or an error with JavaScript it should be printed in the 'console' of the developer tools. For more information see: Firefox; Google Chrome. --Malyacko (talk) 20:04, 17 April 2017 (UTC)

@This is Paul: Looking at this version of User:This is Paul/monobook.js, there are four main parts to this: the first two lines, the last line, and everything else. I would suggest that you add back code one line at a time, omitting the part from function orangeBarOfDoom down to $(document).ready(orangeBarOfDoom); inclusive. If you find that you reach the point where monobook.js looks like this:

importScript('User:Lightmouse/monobook.js/script.js');
importScript('User:Shubinator/DYKcheck.js'); //DYKcheck tool
importScript("User:GregU/dashes.js");

and it's all working OK, stick with that. If there is a problem with one or more of those three lines, contact Lightmouse (talk · contribs), Shubinator (talk · contribs), or GregU (talk · contribs) as appropriate. If all three work OK, the problem is definitely with the orangeBarOfDoom part. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 21:25, 17 April 2017 (UTC)

ok cheers for that, I'll give it a go. This is Paul (talk) 19:01, 18 April 2017 (UTC)

Working fantastic now, so looks like it was the orangeBarOfDoom that was causing the hiatus. Thanks again. This is Paul (talk) 19:06, 18 April 2017 (UTC)

Trying to add wikipedia:// to Open to open the Wikipedia app when clicked

I am trying to add Wikipedia:// to the disambiguation page Open so mobile users can open the app. It is not working. Why? UpsandDowns1234 (Talk to me) (My Contribs) 04:09, 18 April 2017 (UTC)

@UpsandDowns1234: I guess that you refer to this edit. It's not a syntax that I have encountered before - where else have you seen it used? --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 08:23, 18 April 2017 (UTC)

@Redrose64: Cydia website, the iTunes App Store website, the Windows Store website, search engines, and more sites use the name of the app followed by :// to open apps. UpsandDowns1234 (Talk to me) (My Contribs) 16:19, 18 April 2017 (UTC)

Help:Link seems to imply that the wikitext linking syntax supports only http and https for links, so won't recognise a different protocol (or whatever is technically being used there). I'm not sure that there currently exists a workaround for this, I hope someone with more technical knowledge can correct me though, —  crh ₂₃  (Talk) 21:54, 18 April 2017 (UTC)

On further research, the protocols that are allowed in links are set in Manual:$wgUrlProtocols. Allowing these links would be a configuration change for the wiki, and I suspect it would be unpopular (due to low adoption among non-mobile users). —  crh ₂₃  (Talk) 22:21, 18 April 2017 (UTC)

Server switch

m:Tech/Server switch 2017 is on track for a little less than 20 hours from now. There will be NO EDITING for about 30 minutes on both Wednesday, 19 April at 14:00 UTC and Wednesday, 3 May at 14:00 UTC. This will affect ALL of the wikis. You will be able to read the wikis and to log in, but you will not be able to edit.

Any unexpected problems should be reported either in Phab (tag with #codfw-rollout) or on WP:IRC at #wikimedia-tech. If RecentChanges takes a while to wake up (like it did last time), then I've written out one process for how to find the 'lost' edits at WP:AN.

When it's over, I'd really like to hear from you all about how it went. Although we've made the more announcements about it (and CentralNotice banners for the two hours right before the read-only change are planned), there's been less informal discussion about this project this time. I'm hoping that this is because people are feeling familiar with and confident about this, and not because it's all a surprise. So I'll be particularly interested in hearing about whether editor are taken by surprise this time. Whatamidoing (WMF) (talk) 18:28, 18 April 2017 (UTC)

Another source of information here: https://blog.wikimedia.org/2017/04/18/codfw-temporary-editing-pause/

Nice timing - I'm working from 13:00 to 17:00 (UTC). --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 22:40, 18 April 2017 (UTC)

Reminder: Server switch 2017 is today.

This is a reminder. The Wikimedia Foundation will be testing its secondary data center in Dallas. This will make sure that Wikipedia and the other Wikimedia wikis can stay online even after a disaster. To make sure everything is working, the Wikimedia Technology department needs to conduct a planned test. This test will show whether they can reliably switch from one data center to the other. It requires many teams to prepare for the test and to be available to fix any unexpected problems.

They will switch all traffic to the secondary data center on Wednesday, 19 April 2017 (it is today for most of you). On Wednesday, 3 May 2017, they will switch back to the primary data center.

Unfortunately, because of some limitations in MediaWiki, all editing must stop during those two switches. We apologize for this disruption, and we are working to minimize it in the future.

You will be able to read, but not edit, all wikis for a short period of time.

• You will not be able to edit for approximately 20 to 30 minutes on Wednesday, 19 April and Wednesday, 3 May. The test will start at 14:00 UTC (15:00 BST, 16:00 CEST, 10:00 EDT, 07:00 PDT, 23:00 JST, and in New Zealand at 02:00 NZST on Thursday 20 April and Thursday 4 May).
• If you try to edit or save during these times, you will see an error message. We hope that no edits will be lost during these minutes, but we can't guarantee it. If you see the error message, then please wait until everything is back to normal. Then you should be able to save your edit. But, we recommend that you make a copy of your changes first, just in case.

Other effects:

• Background jobs will be slower and some may be dropped. Red links might not be updated as quickly as normal. If you create an article that is already linked somewhere else, the link will stay red longer than usual. Some long-running scripts will have to be stopped.
• There is code freezes for the weeks of 17 April 2017 and 1 May 2017. Non-essential code deployments will not happen.

You can read the schedule at wikitech.wikimedia.org and more details on this blog post. Any changes will be announced in the schedule. Please share this information with your community.

Thanks, Trizek (WMF) (talk) 08:25, 19 April 2017 (UTC)

Transclusions

I created Module:Preview warning several weeks ago. Somehow, it currently has 144,000 transclusions, most of which have nothing to do with me (I only added it to {{Infobox route diagram}} (1,258 transclusions) and didn't even add categories or documentation). Has anyone recently added this to something by accident? Jc86035 (talk) Use {{re|Jc86035}}
to reply to me 09:11, 19 April 2017 (UTC)

@Jc86035: I think this is what you're looking for, though it seems to me that Primefac removed it this week, but I could be mis-reading. Sam Walton (talk) 09:17, 19 April 2017 (UTC)

@Sam Walton: So that's (partially?) why. Thanks Jc86035 (talk) Use {{re|Jc86035}}
to reply to me 09:43, 19 April 2017 (UTC)

I guess the job queue not updating all link tables after the 15 April removal [40] from {{This is a redirect}} is the full explanation. Everything I examined at Special:WhatLinksHere/Module:Preview warning was either redirects or about railways, and the redirects don't actually use the module currently. {{This is a redirect}} has 258320 transclusions. PrimeHunter (talk) 10:31, 19 April 2017 (UTC)

I went through a number of entries in Special:WhatLinksHere/Module:Preview warning, skipping past the first 1,500 in order to find the non-railway ones - and found that most, if not all, were redirects that contain {{redr|from move}}. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 10:51, 19 April 2017 (UTC)

There are others. e.g. {{redr|from modification|...}} in Template:1929-30 in European football (UEFA). {{redr|from move}} may be a common use of {{redr}} because it was added automatically to moves for a month in 2015.[41] Most redirects have no redirect templates or use them directly like {{R from move}} and not via {{redr}}. PrimeHunter (talk) 11:26, 19 April 2017 (UTC)

There are 250k transclusions of {{this is a redirect}}. Given that I only removed the preview warning a couple of days ago, I'm not overly surprised there are still a lot of links. Should clear out in a few days (I notice that the transclusion count is already down to 139k). Primefac (talk) 11:58, 19 April 2017 (UTC)

Login problems

Today, I experience constant login - logout problems. I'm editing, saving something, and on the next save I get "session expired" (after just a few minutes into my session). I am given as "not logged in" but with a popup that says I'm centrally logged in as Fram. When trying to login again, I get the login screen but when I start to fill it in, I suddenly go back to the page I last was at and am suddenly logged in again, without providing my password. I have logged out and logged in again, closed and restarted my browser session, but it doesn't help. I have already had one admin action aborted by the system because they were afraid I wasn't me (sorry, I didn't copy the exact words). Am I the only one with these problems or is something wrong at WMF level? Fram (talk) 07:50, 19 April 2017 (UTC)

When saving the above, I got "session expired", but pressing "save" again saved the page with my name on it anyway. But at the same time, I was logged out. Going to the login screen and waiting a few seconds automatically sent me back here, but logged in again. This sounds as if the WMF has cookie problems, and a potentially srious security bug (I log out, but someone else gets automatically logged in as me without knowing my password). Fram (talk) 07:52, 19 April 2017 (UTC)

Deleting all my cookies seems to have done the trick, so it was supposedly indeed a cookie gone wrong. Very annoying... Fram (talk) 09:10, 19 April 2017 (UTC)

@Fram: Wikimedia has several servers, and it's pot-luck which one you get served by. If one of them is out of synch with the others (let's assume that one of them has a corrupt table of valid login cookies), simply trying again (which will pick a different server at random) may produce a different result. If you explicitly log out, this should invalidate your login cookies on all servers, and if you then log in again a fresh cookie will be set, and hopefully all the servers will have that new cookie on record. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 10:36, 19 April 2017 (UTC)

If Firefox is used the problem might be the web browser. Unfortunately no browser and version info was provided. --Malyacko (talk) 13:31, 19 April 2017 (UTC)

Statistics tools

I don't why I get much different results using these two tools ([42], [43]). --Mhhossein ^talk 14:37, 19 April 2017 (UTC)

@Mhhossein: stats.grok.se and PageViews are not comparable. If you want true-views of an article, use PageViews. stats.grok.se is also not guaranteed to be accurate. --Izno (talk) 14:47, 19 April 2017 (UTC)

Thank you Izno. --Mhhossein ^talk 19:11, 19 April 2017 (UTC)

Spare blank lines

Could we somehow make sure for all projects that tag edits like this one or that one in future won't be necessary anymore to prevent such templates from creating ugly spare blank lines when embedded? Has there recently been a corresponding Phabricator task yet? Thanks in advance for commenting and Happy Easter from Germany!--Hubon (talk) 17:38, 15 April 2017 (UTC)

It was only necessary because {{Verse translation}} starts with a newline when it's transcluded. Two consecutive newlines cause extra whitespace. The newline should probably be removed from the template but I haven't examined whether it affects layout on other pages which currently expect a newline. Removing the newline would mean the template code starts with <includeonly>{| but that's not a problem. A table start only has to be at the start of a line after some things like inludeonly are processed. It's not an issue for Phabricator. The MediaWiki software has no way to determine whether a blank line is intentional or accidental. Automatically removing all newlines from the start of templates seems far too drastic. PrimeHunter (talk) 19:52, 15 April 2017 (UTC)

I commented on your first diff above. The second has the same basic issue: Automatically removing whitespace from some places in templates would seem unnatural and mean you lose the ability to intentionally make whitespace in those places unless you do something to circumvent an unexpected feature. Template coders, like article writers and others, just have to make newlines in the right places. PrimeHunter (talk) 19:59, 15 April 2017 (UTC)

The second one (de:Vorlage:Navigationsleiste Ratspensionäre) is closely related to Tempate line gap above. It has been the case for a long time (perhaps always) that when a template is transcluded, the <noinclude>...</noinclude> sections are stripped out after transclusion, and that no further whitespace trimming occurs. Changing this behaviour will require a phab: request, and will almost certainly be controversial since some templates may have been written to depend upon this effect. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 20:50, 16 April 2017 (UTC)

@PrimeHunter:@Redrose64: Thanks to both of you! Since I admittedly don't know my way around at Phabricator, would one of you, still, find the issue worth venturing a corresponding proposal there? They might find a way to optimize relevant template functions... Hoping for your help--Hubon (talk) 21:10, 18 April 2017 (UTC)

I don't know what to propose when I don't want MediaWiki to arbitrarily remove newlines when it thinks it knows better than the template coder. Maybe it could add a tracking category like "Pages with possibly unwanted newlines"? There would probably be many false positives so there should be a way to avoid the category without removing the newline. PrimeHunter (talk) 10:14, 19 April 2017 (UTC)

@PrimeHunter: There would probably be many false positives so there should be a way to avoid the category without removing the newline. — And how could that be achieved? And shouldn't the rule in general be that newlines are only to be created if the programer says so???--Hubon (talk) 20:31, 19 April 2017 (UTC)

The current rule is "newlines are only to be created if the programer says so". You want it changed to something like "newlines are only to be created if the programer says so and it looks sensible". If there was a tracking category for possibly unwanted newlines then a wanted newline could for example be marked by placing <nowiki /> right before it. But it would all seem a bit strange to me. Some pages with an unwanted blank line doesn't seem like a serious problem requiring strange countermeasures. PrimeHunter (talk) 20:53, 19 April 2017 (UTC)

ProveIt sometimes shows up completely open on the top left

Normally, ProveIt is hidden as a small black bar at the bottom right of the page. However, for the past few days, I've occassionally encountered a glitch where the whole ProveIt window is open when I open the edit page, and it's stuck on the top left. Clicking any of the buttons doesn't work, and the only way to get rid of the problem is to reload the page, which normally fixes the problem. The issue is more of an annoyance than a major bug, but it happens enough that I feel that it needs to be reported. Narutolovehinata5 ^tccsdnew 08:21, 20 April 2017 (UTC)

Sounds like it's made from two or more JavaScript files. If one of these doesn't make it through to your browser, or cannot be run, there may be unintended effects. Reloading the page also reloads and reruns the JavaScript, hence why it works as expected after a reload. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 09:14, 20 April 2017 (UTC)

Corrupt archive

What has happened at Wikipedia:Village pump (technical)/Archive 154#Math parse problem in PNG-mode with .5Cbegin.7Baligned.7D and .5Cend.7Baligned.7D? Several posts have been mashed together, much of it is now in big red letters and has also become monospaced. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 09:11, 20 April 2017 (UTC)

not sure what changed, but that should have been nowiki'd and wasn't. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 09:43, 20 April 2017 (UTC)

There was an unclosed <math> which didn't originally cause problems before or right after archiving. But later a section with a closed <math>...</math> was added. math tags don't nest so the closing </math> was paired with the first open <math> much earlier on the page. TheDJ fixed it with nowiki. PrimeHunter (talk) 10:16, 20 April 2017 (UTC)

Autonumbering in tables

Tracked in Phabricator
Task T42618

Example

Rank	Animal	Cuteness level
#	Hamster	10
#	Bunny	8
#	Hairless cat	-23

As you know, lists can use # to autonumber. Is there a way to get that to work in tables? Oftentimes the first col is manually numbered. When an item is removed from an alphasorted or numerically sorted table, the first col numbering needs to be fixed manually. Anna Frodesiak (talk) 00:59, 19 April 2017 (UTC)

@Anna Frodesiak: No. There is a phabricator task for it. --Izno (talk) 01:46, 19 April 2017 (UTC)

Thank kindly you, Izno. Do you have any idea when that was submitted? Best, Anna Frodesiak (talk) 03:27, 19 April 2017 (UTC)

@Anna Frodesiak: September 29, 2012, according to the task. --Izno (talk) 03:28, 19 April 2017 (UTC)

Hi Izno. Well then, it should be near the top of the pile by now. I'll check back in a few hours. :) Cheers. Anna Frodesiak (talk) 03:43, 19 April 2017 (UTC)

@Anna Frodesiak: *giggle* --Izno (talk) 03:47, 19 April 2017 (UTC)

@Anna Frodesiak: I have solved your issue by creating an module that autonumbers tables. Just wrap the table in {{#invoke:Autonumber|main| table here }} and you are set. The module does however not support any other html styling other than class. For example: } --Snaevar (talk) 13:00, 20 April 2017 (UTC)

Hi Snaevar. Nice! A tad kludgy, but nice! I don't know how you clever bunnies figure this stuff out. It is all terribly magical to me. Many thanks! Anna Frodesiak (talk) 18:33, 20 April 2017 (UTC)

Created disambiguation page after move, "what links here" won't give me just what articles have their own links

WHLZ has numerous links from articles that have a template. I changed that template, but "what links here" won't change. That was yesterday.

In case anyone questions a disambiguation page having two entries, it's not really clear which one is more important and a hatnote just seems strange in either place.— Vchimpanzee • talk • contributions • 18:25, 20 April 2017 (UTC)

Help:Job queue. In other words, wait on... --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 20:01, 20 April 2017 (UTC)

Word "bi*ch" not allowed in references?

Not an issue for Village pump (technical). Referred elsewhere

 – WP:EF/N or WP:EF/FP

An automated filter (likely designed in the 1950s) prevented me from adding this good reference (with "bitch" in the URL) to an article. Pity. (then it tried to prevent me from posting this!) http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/art-and-design/visual-art-paradie-bi*ch-best-yet-at-white-rabbit-gallery-20151020-gkdi6m.html You will have to put the "t" into the word "bi*ch" to follow the URL. 96.127.244.11 (talk) 04:23, 20 April 2017 (UTC)

I would take it to WP:EF/N or WP:EF/FP. — JJMC89 (T·C) 05:10, 20 April 2017 (UTC)

The filter stopped you because terms like "bitch" are often added as vandalism by unregistered and new users. Here it was valid so I have completed your edit.[44] The url with "bi*ch" surprisingly works, probably due to "gkdi6m" at the end of the url being a code for the article. It redirects to a canonical url with "bitch" so this is preferred, e.g. to make it easier to replace the link if it dies. PrimeHunter (talk) 10:42, 20 April 2017 (UTC)

Thanks. I understood the reasoning behind its inclusion but think it's a bit dated. If the Sydney Morning Herald has no problem with :"bitch" in a title, we should not either. Bitch has many non-pejorative uses. I took it to EF/N. My apologies for bitching so much about this.96.127.244.11 (talk) 21:02, 20 April 2017 (UTC)

Table of Contents Whitespace dilemma

The whitespace occurring throughout Wikipedia because of current format of the table of contents should be fixed. Infoboxes manage to have some textwrap, but the far more ubiquitous TOC doesn't. I am not talking about stubs, but complete articles. Each link that I have referenced has white space between the TOC and the Infobox. This image also includes it in case you do not see the whitespace. Thanks in advance for your help. Houdinipeter (talk) 13:48, 20 April 2017 (UTC)

This can only be fixed (in the current skin) by using a floating TOC, which has accessibility implications. In other words, it's not in the cards. --Izno (talk) 14:07, 20 April 2017 (UTC)

You can float it to the left for yourself with this in your CSS:

.toc {
  float:left;
  margin-right:10px;
  margin-bottom:5px;
}

PrimeHunter (talk) 15:22, 20 April 2017 (UTC)

@Izno: How does it affect accessibility? Can you give me an example? and @PrimeHunter: could there be a simple template? I think this is a rampant issue across articles. Houdinipeter (talk) 20:40, 20 April 2017 (UTC)

There already is a template and we could also use site-wide CSS to float the TOC to the left in all articles, but you are the only user I have seen oppose whitespace next to the TOC. I tested the above code and strongly dislike the result. See Help:Section#Floating the TOC for the guideline and templates. PrimeHunter (talk) 21:30, 20 April 2017 (UTC)

New Filters for Edit Review available as a Beta feature on your wiki on April 24

Hello English Wikipedia!

TL;DR: The Collaboration team is going to launch a new Beta feature on your wiki, ⧼eri-rcfilters-beta-label⧽. This deployment would happen on Monday, April 24 (hour to be determined). This Beta feature is an improvement of the current ORES Beta feature, which will be turn as a default feature.

What is this new feature?

This feature improves Special:RecentChanges and Special:RecentChangesLinked by adding new useful features that will ease vandalism tracking and support of newcomers:

• Filtering – filter recent changes with easy-to-use and powerful filter combinations.
• Highlighting – add a colored background to the different changes you are monitoring, to quickly identify the ones that matter to you.
• Quality and Intent Filters – use ORES predictions to identify real vandalism or good-faith contributions that need assistance.

What will happen?

At the moment, the ORES beta feature is available in your Beta preferences. We the deployment will be done:

• ORES will be turned on by default: Once the New Filters for Edit Review beta is released, ORES will be turned on by default on that wiki (and the old ORES beta will disappear). That in itself shouldn't change much, and the new preferences, described below, will help you manage any impacts.
• On Recent Changes, the 'New Filters for Edit Review' beta replaces ORES shading for users who opt-in: user-defined highlighting and a suite of new ORES filters will replace automatic ORES shading on Recent Changes. To get these new features—along with a simpler and more powerful filtering interface and many other improvements—you must turn on the New Filters for Edit Review beta feature once it is released (on April 24).
• On Watchlist and Contributions, ORES shading will be a preference: ORES shading of probably damaging edits on Watchlist and Contributions will be controlled via a Watchlist preference , "Highlight likely problem edits with colors and an "r" for "needs review." All current ORES beta users will be automatically opted in to this preference. As the name suggests, this option also controls the little "r" signifying "needs review" (which, at users' request, will now be displayed in black instead of red).
• On Recent Changes, a new preference controls the "r": New Filters for Edit Review arguably makes the "r" for "needs review" redundant on Recent Changes. However, this marker will still be available as a preference. It will be turned on by default for existing ORES users. To turn if off, uncheck the new preference, "Mark likely problem edits with an 'r' for 'needs review.'"
• Newly standardized ORES levels: ORES shading on Watchlist will shift somewhat to match newly standardized ORES filter levels. These have been optimized for usability and to account for differences among wikis in ORES performance. For example, ORES performs particularly well on Polish Wikipedia and Wikidata. For this reason, fewer colors of shading are required on these wikis.

How to prepare for this change

You can discover the purpose of this project by visiting the quick tour help page. Also, please check the documentation (and help to translate it in other languages if you can).

For an early trial, New Filters for Edit Review are available on Polish, Portuguese, Farsi, Russian and Turkish Wikipedia as a Beta feature and also on mediawiki.org and French Wikipedia (as a Beta feature as well, but both without ORES predictions).

Please ping me if you have questions. You can also check the FAQ.

All the best, Trizek (WMF) (talk) 09:47, 19 April 2017 (UTC)

The deployment will happen at 14:00 UTC, Monday April 24th. Trizek (WMF) (talk) 12:28, 21 April 2017 (UTC)

Database problem affecting ContentTranslation, Flow, and Notifications

Tracked in Phabricator
Task T163344

Just a note for anyone who's curious about what happened: during the m:Tech/Server switch 2017 work, a database problem temporarily prevented edits to Flow boards and caused the loss of all Notifications (Echo) for 42 minutes (from 15:36 and 16:18 UTC). Everything should be fine again with Flow and Echo, but if you're still seeing weird things, then please {{ping}} me, or file a Phab task and tag it with codfw-rollout. Whatamidoing (WMF) (talk) 17:42, 19 April 2017 (UTC)

@Whatamidoing (WMF):, I am endo999 and I don't have the Content Translation system submenu item from the Contributions menu. I also don't have any beta Content Translation notice in beta tools of preferences. Hadrien B. is having the same issue.

Endo999 (talk) 00:47, 20 April 2017 (UTC)

@Endo999: Your ping to Whatamidoing didn't work; I've done another one for you. Graham87 09:11, 20 April 2017 (UTC)

ContentTranslation is still disabled (last I heard, which was two hours ago). Whatamidoing (WMF) (talk) 18:49, 20 April 2017 (UTC)

@Whatamidoing (WMF): what is the phab: task for the content translation system being down? — xaosflux ^Talk 12:12, 21 April 2017 (UTC)

It's the one linked in the gray box at the start of this thread. This situation is also included in m:Tech/News/2017/17 for Monday.

The complete list of open tasks related to the server switch is on the Phab workboard. Whatamidoing (WMF) (talk) 15:55, 21 April 2017 (UTC)

Module documentations on sr.wiki

Could someone help on how to make module documentations on sr.wiki editable? We have recently translated "/doc" into "/док" on Translatewiki and now "You cannot edit this revision because its content model is wikitext, which differs from the current content model of the page Scribunto" error message gets displayed (example)...

Also, there is text "Module" and untranslated hover text on module pages. Will this automatically get updated (it is translated on Translatewiki) about a week ago? Thank you. --Obsuser (talk) 20:56, 21 April 2017 (UTC)

Sysops on sr.wikipedia can visit sr:Special:ChangeContentModel and change the content model that way. This content model issue seems to only happen with imported pages, so it is probably related to bug T61194.

I do not understand what "Module" text you are talking about, but generally speaking translations should be updated soonish (due to mw:Extension:LocalisationUpdate), but if that fails, they are updated according to this schedule.--Snaevar (talk) 12:34, 22 April 2017 (UTC)

@Obsuser: - Go to sr:MediaWiki:Scribunto-doc-page-name and temporary translate Модул back to Module (module namespace name on that message should not be translated especially when changing the subpage name), once translated on Translatewiki and merged you can go ahead and delete sr:MediaWiki:Scribunto-doc-page-name. --Lam-ang (talk) 15:41, 22 April 2017 (UTC)

Also the unstranslated messages are sr:MediaWiki:Nstab-module and sr:MediaWiki:Tooltip-ca-nstab-module. --Lam-ang (talk) 16:03, 22 April 2017 (UTC)

Reported lack of whitespace in infobox at Christiaan Barnard

FriendlyRiverOtter, a major contributor to the Christiaan Barnard article, has been trying to fix an issue on that page: there is apparently not enough whitespace before the "Medical career" header at Template:Infobox medical person. I don't think their fix (linked above) of adding line breaks to the relevant field is the best way of going about this. Should this issue be fixed for all articles using that template, and if so, how? Graham87 07:47, 21 April 2017 (UTC)

In that case it needs fixing for all of Template:Infobox person. I agree that it could use a bit more visual separation. I presume in the past we had coloured backgrounds on those titles, as most infoboxes used to employ, and that those have been removed at some point. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 08:32, 21 April 2017 (UTC)

I don't think that it's anything to do with {{Infobox person}}. The heading "Medical career" is generated by {{Infobox medical details}}, which is used by {{Infobox medical person}} as a child infobox. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 10:22, 21 April 2017 (UTC)

To my eye, it completely runs together. "Medical career" follows "Marius Barnard" almost as if it's another relative being listed! Yes, I think a break of white space would be a very good idea. Now, at this point, I'm not currently tech savvy enough to change a template. If someone else wants to jump in, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks. FriendlyRiverOtter (talk) 17:25, 21 April 2017 (UTC)

In some infoboxes, a heading like that is given some kind of styling, such as a darker background (see for example Roger Bannister) or a line is drawn above (see for example Oxford). --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 23:12, 22 April 2017 (UTC)

New toolbar

Anyone else being shown a vertical grey toolbar with seven icons on List of terrorist incidents in April 2017? --NeilN ^{talk to me} 16:14, 22 April 2017 (UTC)

@NeilN: Nope, where are you seeing it? If it's on the right hand side it sounds like the patrolling toolbar. Sam Walton (talk) 16:18, 22 April 2017 (UTC)

@Samwalton9: That's it. I'm suddenly getting shown that just because I went to Special:NewPagesFeed a bit earlier? --NeilN ^{talk to me} 16:24, 22 April 2017 (UTC)

@NeilN: Try closing that browser tab/window and replacing it with a new one. If you view a page via that new page patrol feature-thing, that bar can get stuck on future browsing in the same tab (but I think also goes away if you use the browser's history to go backwards to before that page visit). Murph9000 (talk) 20:29, 22 April 2017 (UTC)

@NeilN: See Wikipedia:Village pump (technical)/Archive 154#What is this sidebar? --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 23:08, 22 April 2017 (UTC)

Thanks. Showing a user a new UI widget without explaining why or what triggered the display is not particularly good design. --NeilN ^{talk to me} 02:21, 23 April 2017 (UTC)

Bell Gardens, California

At Bell Gardens, California#Latino community, the full citation for the source appears at the bottom of the template. Is there a way to have the citation appear in the reference section instead? Thank you! Magnolia677 (talk) 12:27, 21 April 2017 (UTC)

@Magnolia677: Yes, take the reflist out of Template:10 Latino neighborhoods in Los Angeles County. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 23:14, 22 April 2017 (UTC)

@Redrose64: Will the source then show up in the reference list at the bottom of the article? Thank you. Magnolia677 (talk) 23:45, 22 April 2017 (UTC)

You would need to ensure that the main article includes a reflist with the appropriate group parameter, in this case {{reflist|group=§}} --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 23:57, 22 April 2017 (UTC)

Would you be kind enough to make this edit? I'm probably going to mess it up. Thank you again. Magnolia677 (talk) 00:00, 23 April 2017 (UTC)

We'd have to do the same at all these articles if an error message is to be avoided. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 08:10, 23 April 2017 (UTC)

What problems occur by not closing bold or italic markup?

We seem to have several editors working on tennis articles who 100% refuse to include closing bold and italic markup. Tennis Project has been asked by some outside the project why we allow this to go on against wikipedia protocol. Our answer is we try to fix it but thousands of articles in the past were done this way and there appears to be no bot around that can handle it. Plus no matter how many warnings we give editors to stop creating new articles that are against protocol, pages like 1985 NCAA Division I Men's Tennis Championships keep getting created left and right. My two questions here are 1) is there any quick fix that can be done to add the closing markup since right now it's either remove it all or add 50–100 closings per article manually. And 2) I know unclosed markup seems to mess up the syntax highlighting provided by Remember the dot's Syntax highlighter gadget. Are there other gadgets/bots/apps that get butchered because of this sloppy coding? Something tangible I can use as an argument against non-closed bold/italic quote markup? Thanks. Fyunck(click) (talk) 23:43, 21 April 2017 (UTC)

When bold/italic markup is not closed, the syntax highlighter marks the rest of the article (usually; sometimes other strange things happen) as bold or italic. This makes it difficult or impossible to locate other syntax problems. – Jonesey95 (talk) 04:24, 22 April 2017 (UTC)

That approach may break when mw:Parsing/Replacing Tidy happens (probably later this year). Parsoid (and therefore VisualEditor) may have difficulty processing those pages. I can check with the Parsing team if you'd like to know whether they're certain about whether this kind of correction will become absolutely necessary (as opposed to merely a good idea, which it already is).

I don't really know why someone would want to use ambiguous markup. Excuses along the lines of "saving disk space" are incorrect (Claimed savings: maybe 500 bytes each in six revisions [for the article I checked]. Cost: 18,000 bytes when a corrected revision was created. Net loss in disk space caused by this strategy: 15,000 bytes). Even if it were true that this strategy saved disk space, WP:PERF is not something that editors need to worry about – especially with hard drives running somewhere around two cents per gigabyte. We're talking about potentially saving US $0.000006 worth of hard drive space for that article. Ops' budget can handle that. Whatamidoing (WMF) (talk) 07:56, 22 April 2017 (UTC)

@Whatamidoing (WMF): Well it certainly is easier to write out '''jumpingjackflash than '''jumpingjackflash''', especially when you do it 50x in a single article and it works. That's the excuse along with the fact that countless articles were done that way in the past and they often copy the coding for new articles. It's low priority for us to fix those with our minimal manpower and no bot or 2–3 clicks to fix 50 errors. Maybe if from this moment every single article was fixed we'd be able to get a handle on new creations. But with that not likely to happen I thought maybe someone here would know of some tangible reasons (like multiple broken bots) so I could give good reasons why they shouldn't do it rather than "it's a good idea." So if you could please check with the parsing team. Fyunck(click) (talk) 08:14, 22 April 2017 (UTC)

The HTML spec has a number of closing tags that are treated as optional; as far as I am aware, all of these are for certain of the block-level elements (such as <li>, <p> and <td>), whereas the closing tag is mandatory for many block-level elements and all of the inline elements. However, an omitted closing tag of an inline element is often without serious consequence (unlike an omitted </table>, for instance) - but omitting the closing markup does depend on a feature found in most web browsers: that when a block-level element is closed (explicitly or implicitly), any open inline elements will be implicitly closed if they were opened within that block-level element but not explicitly closed. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 08:46, 22 April 2017 (UTC)

Wikipedia's HTML parser automatically converts <br> and similar to <br />. I would be surprised if it didn't also add </b> and </i> where necessary. Daß Wölf 20:12, 22 April 2017 (UTC)

That's Tidy, and as noted above, Tidy is not going to be around much longer. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 23:06, 22 April 2017 (UTC)

I see, thanks for the heads up. Sadly, I've done this myself on occasion to spare my fingers before I learned to use regex :( Daß Wölf 00:34, 23 April 2017 (UTC)

The problem is that you may end up making the whole article text bold or italic. A bigger problem is that someone else may end up adding more markup somewhere else in the page that may possibly make it render incorrectly. As far as the problem is concerned, short of adding abuse filter, changing wikitext design or the developers adding some tool to forcibly make such editors only use visual editor, there is nothing else that can be done. This is because while the markup may seem incorrect the preview shows something sensible due to behind the scene cleanup. This is a bit like asking someone to write an equation that sums up to two, someone could easily write -987654321 + 987654323 = 2. They may also write it in a infinite number of ways that may potentially annoy people who read it, but is quite correct. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 197.218.81.162 (talk) 08:42, 23 April 2017 (UTC)

wikipedia.ramselehof.de’s server DNS address could not be found.

Anyone else getting this message? I was trying to use Wikiblame. Doug Weller talk 10:18, 23 April 2017 (UTC)

Working now. Doug Weller talk 11:08, 23 April 2017 (UTC)

An (impossible??) reuse of user identity seems to have occurred.

I'm not sure that this is the right place to put this notice. However, I'm not suspecting any misbehaviour from any user, only an inconsistency either in how our software worked, or in documentation. If this is not the correct place for reporting this, please suggest a better place!

Something seems to have happened that I believed was impossible: A new user seems to have registered under an old former username, without administrator's assistance.

Seemingly, a user registered on enwp as User:Quantumleap in 2006, but had this switched to User:Laminitania in 2014. That indeed Quantumleap was the old name can be seen e. g. from the user page redir and the user page history, and from signatures in and references to the old name e. g. here, but not from the enwp user logs. However, the change is documented in the global user name changes log. This user seems to be primarily active in eswp, and has not edited in enwp since 2012.

Seemingly, another user registered in enwp as User:Quantumleap in February 2017. This seems to be a different person (mainly editing about quantum computer technology issues and similar stuff). I found no corresponding item in the archives of WP:USURP. This leads to confusing entries in article history items, as e. g. here. Note, that clicking on the user name or "talk" by means of redirs leads to Laminitania, while clicking the "contrib" leads to these of the present user Quantumleap.

I would like to alert the present user Quantumleap on article changes I plan to do; but this state of matter makes this hard to do on their talk page. (Besides, the new user received no Welcome message.) JoergenB (talk) 19:48, 22 April 2017 (UTC)

Why impossible? As no user Quantumleap existed after the rename anybody could create an account Quantumleap. Ruslik_Zero 20:11, 22 April 2017 (UTC)

We've had previous cases of new accounts "hijacking" old user names - including a specific troll who got 2 olds user names of the account now called Certified Gangsta. There is nothing technically problematic here - you get your account renamed, the old name can be reused by anyone. עוד מישהו Od Mishehu 21:13, 22 April 2017 (UTC) עוד מישהו Od Mishehu 21:13, 22 April 2017 (UTC)

OK, I see that I have misunderstood what I have seen. Probably, in the cases I saw, the users have followed the WP:RENAME advice, and re-created a "sockpuppet" user under the old user name. (I however think that this is badly and inconsistently documented. WP:RENAME contains a link guard against impersonation to WP:Sock puppetry#Legitimate uses, but that section seems not to contain anything indicating that this indeed would be a legitimate use of sock puppetry.)

So, what should I do with the redir User talk:Quantumleap? Moreover, if I ping the user, will Quantumleap or Laminitania be notified? JoergenB (talk) 05:25, 23 April 2017 (UTC)

@JoergenB: The userpage redirect shouldn't have any effect on pinging Quantumleap. You should probably replace the talk page redirect (edit the page) with

{{for|the talk page of the user formerly named Quantumleap|User talk:Laminitania}}

and then add a section with whatever. You could add {{talk header}} after the hatnote as well. Jc86035 (talk) Use {{re|Jc86035}}
to reply to me 07:37, 23 April 2017 (UTC)

OK. Thanks! JoergenB (talk) 11:20, 23 April 2017 (UTC)

Parameter default

Suppose these three pages contain the following:

Contents of Article1

{{template1|sprache=English}}

Contents of Template:Template1

{{template2|language={{{language|{{{sprache|}}}}}}}}

Contents of Template:Template2

'''{{{language}}}'''

How can these templates be reworked into a module? Iceblock (talk) 13:10, 23 April 2017 (UTC)

Why? That template code is so simple that converting it to a module seems rather overkill. Perhaps it is better to merge the content of Template2 into Template1? Or perhaps there is more here that you are not saying? How about a real-life example of what you want to do?

—Trappist the monk (talk) 14:06, 23 April 2017 (UTC)

The task is to make a navbox that can accept both English and Norwegian parameter names for use on the Norwegian Wikipedia. Example:

Template:Navboks

{{navboks/core
|gruppe1={{{gruppe1|{{{group1|}}}}}}
|gruppe2={{{gruppe2|{{{group2|}}}}}}
|gruppe3={{{gruppe3|{{{group3|}}}}}}
and so on
}}

Iceblock (talk) 14:20, 23 April 2017 (UTC)

You know that no.wiki has no:Modul:Navbox? Can't you use that?

—Trappist the monk (talk) 14:47, 23 April 2017 (UTC)

Currently, no:Template:Navbox does not use no:Modul:Navbox. Norwegian parameter names are not supported by the current no:Modul:Navbox. The template uses a core template, as indicated above, to accept English and Norwegian parameter names. There exist navigational templates with Norwegian parameter names on no.wiki, and also templates with English parameter names. Iceblock (talk) 15:49, 23 April 2017 (UTC)

Perhaps it should. no:Modul:Navbox uses no:Modul:Arguments which has some sort of support for translation, though that may have been superseded by support in MediaWiki. It would seem to me that it is better to use a translation mechanism that has support MediaWiki-wide (if it is or soon will be available – documentation is sorely lacking) than to hack a fix to the old-form template. See Module talk:Arguments#Document argument translation system for editors who appear to be working on translation support.

—Trappist the monk (talk) 16:29, 23 April 2017 (UTC)

Thanks a lot! Iceblock (talk) 16:56, 23 April 2017 (UTC)

Listeria bot again

Listeria bot adding non-free files to pages in the Wikipedia namespace was previously discussed at Wikipedia:Village pump (technical)/Archive 154#ListeriaBot adding non-free images to Wikipedia namespace page. For some reason the bot is adding File:Lyla.jpg (non-free cover art for an Oasis album) to entries for Lyla Lin in Wikipedia:WikiProject Women in Red/Missing articles by nationality/Taiwan and Wikipedia:WikiProject Women in Red/Missing articles by occupation/Models. The edit sum left each time was "Wikidata list update". Perhaps the bot is actually doing what it's supposed to do and the problem is with the Wikidata? -- Marchjuly (talk) 04:55, 21 April 2017 (UTC)

There is a non-free file Lyla.jpg on enwiki, and a (completely different) free file Lyla.jpg on commons. Wikidata links to the latter, but on enwiki the local file automatically gets precedence. Solutions may include renaming either of the files, having Listeriabot use the full url for the image, or changing listeriabot to check whether a local file with that name exists, and in that case not including the file. Fram (talk) 07:02, 21 April 2017 (UTC)

Thanks for that bit of info Fram. File:Lyla.jpg appears to have been uploaded more than 10 years before c:File:Lyla.jpg, so I'm not sure if that matters when it comes to requesting a file name change. - Marchjuly (talk) 07:33, 21 April 2017 (UTC)

I will have fixed the issue shortly--the Commons file is likely to be a copy-vio. Only upload, used UploadWizard, and professional quality, so it should be deleted shortly. In the meantime, perhaps the en.WP version of the file should have a longer name. --Izno (talk) 12:36, 21 April 2017 (UTC)

Same thing is happening with File:Olga Tufnell.jpg and User:Stinglehammer/Born in Edinburgh working in the field of science. -- Marchjuly (talk) 09:49, 21 April 2017 (UTC)

This looks like a case of someone using a non-free file locally without an appropriate rationale given that the Commons file appears to be free. Regardless, one or both images should be moved, which will take care of the problem in the short term. --Izno (talk) 12:40, 21 April 2017 (UTC)

Thanks for that info Izno. c:File:Olga Tufnell.jpg and File:Olga Tufnell.jpg are named the same, but are different images. If the Commons licensing is correct and it is an image of the same Olga Tufnell, the non-free should be deleted as replaceable fair use per WP:NFCC#1, unless it can be converted to PD or a free license for some reason. -- Marchjuly (talk) 14:54, 21 April 2017 (UTC)

The easy fix for such problems is to follow the steps on Template:ShadowsCommons and resolving them, seems like. Jo-Jo Eumerus (talk, contributions) 22:59, 21 April 2017 (UTC)

Thanks for that info Jo-Jo Eumerus. -- Marchjuly (talk) 08:20, 22 April 2017 (UTC)

I've marked the local Olga file for deletion as replaceable non-free, unless URAA issues come up. The album cover has been renamed due to the vague name, the Commons file is up for deletion. Jo-Jo Eumerus (talk, contributions) 12:15, 24 April 2017 (UTC)

Ombox-like formatting

Hey guys, could you please take a quick look of the template in my sandbox] and fix the formatting so that a border or a box appears that the text should be in (if you can)? Just like template:ombox. Thanks!—‎Lost Whispers _talk 17:46, 22 April 2017 (UTC)

Can your explain what the problem is? Ruslik_Zero 20:13, 22 April 2017 (UTC)

@Lost Whispers: On my talk page you pointed me to a page on the Arabic Wikipedia. Can you clarify which project you are writing the template for? -- John of Reading (talk) 20:20, 22 April 2017 (UTC)

Ruslik0 the template you see on my sandbox should appear like this one here, but it lost the borders and the box in general. What can we do to make the box reappear again? And @John of Reading:, we are trying to use the template to address that an article is featured providing the date in which it was featured on and the version (ID) which made it featured. Currently we are using this format to make that box-shape which the template could provide much more easily:

<div class="plainlinks" style="
background-color: {{{bgcolor|#f9f9f9}}};
{{#if:{{{extra-style|}}}|{{{extra-style}}};}}
{{#if:{{{width|}}}|width:1000px {{{width}}};}}
border: 1px solid #a4a4a4;
{{#if:{{{border-color|}}}|border-color: {{{border-color}}};}}
{{#if:{{{color|}}}|color: {{{color}}};}}
font-weight: ; 
{{#if:{{{margin|}}}  | margin:  {{{margin}}};  | margin: 1.1em 0 1em;}}
{{#if:{{{padding|}}} | padding: {{{padding}}}; | padding: .2em 1em;}}
vertical-align: middle; 
clear: both;
{{#if:{{{text-align|}}} | text-align: {{{text-align}}}; | text-align: center;}}
">    [[Image:Symbol star gold.svg|25px]] ئەم وتارە بووە بە [[ویکیپیدیا:وتارە ھەڵبژێردراوەکان|وتارێکی ھەڵبژێردراو]] لەسەر [{{fullurl:{{FULLPAGENAME}}|oldid={{{وەشان|}}} }} وەشانی {{{ڕێکەوت|}}}] ([{{SERVER}}{{localurl:{{NAMESPACE}}:{{PAGENAME}}|oldid={{{وەشان}}}&diff=cur}} بەراوردی بکە بە ئێستا]). بۆ زیاتر سەیری {{#ifexist:{{TALKPAGENAME}}|[[{{TALKPAGENAME}}|پەڕەی لێدوان]] و}} [[ویکیپیدیا:پاڵاوتنی وتاری ھەڵبژێردراو/{{PAGENAME}}|پاڵاوتنەکەی]] بکە.{{نیشانەی وتاری ھەڵبژێردراو}}</span></div><noinclude>

But as you can see in the end of this article for example you can see that it's not even with the other templates, because the current format is not omboxed like, so it kind of messes up the page. (I hope I'm making my point)—‎Lost Whispers _talk 20:42, 22 April 2017 (UTC)

Our ombox styling is specific to tables, and your template uses a div (and none of the other structure required by the mbox-family). Your template in it's current form can thus not use ombox-styling on English Wikipedia. BTW. I do see some problems with navboxes on ar.wp in the page you link to. It seems ar.wp navboxes apply larger border areas, without accounting for the fact that those will be 'outside' of the reserved area of 100%. This is also why on the left side of the page, elements do not line up. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 12:24, 24 April 2017 (UTC)

Watchlist screwy

Tracked in Phabricator
Task T163337

Since the DB maintenance just a moment ago, my watchlist is very screwy. I'm seeing entries repeated 3 times, and in one instance an entry made 8 times for the same edit. What's going on?—CYBERPOWER (Chat) 14:59, 19 April 2017 (UTC)

This was already reported on IRC, although I don't know whether there's already a task about it, but I do know Ops are aware. While the servers are back up, there's still work to do. Watch this space for updates. Thank you. Elitre (WMF) (talk) 15:04, 19 April 2017 (UTC)

It would be helpful if you were to list what watchlist-related settings you have set and whether turning any of them on/off makes a difference. BJorsch (WMF) (talk) 15:05, 19 April 2017 (UTC)

Same thing for contrib lists. --NeilN ^{talk to me} 15:09, 19 April 2017 (UTC)

Now at https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T163337. If anyone can reproduce, please say what your config is? Elitre (WMF) (talk) 15:10, 19 April 2017 (UTC)

See my contrib list here for edits made before today's test. --NeilN ^{talk to me} 15:16, 19 April 2017 (UTC)

In triplicate sounds like the issues reported when ORES was initially deployed as a beta feature. --Izno (talk) 15:23, 19 April 2017 (UTC)

Yep, turning ORES off did the trick for me — MusikAnimal ^talk 15:27, 19 April 2017 (UTC)

What is ORES?—CYBERPOWER (Chat) 15:29, 19 April 2017 (UTC)

@Cyberpower678: Last option in "beta features" --NeilN ^{talk to me} 15:33, 19 April 2017 (UTC)

Same here for contrib list. --NeilN ^{talk to me} 15:31, 19 April 2017 (UTC)

m:ORES. It's a Beta Feature here ATM. Turning it on allowed me to reproduce, and people involved in that project are on this already. Thanks all. Elitre (WMF) (talk) 15:33, 19 April 2017 (UTC)

I refer the hon. member to the answer that I was given some weeks ago. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 20:19, 19 April 2017 (UTC)

As can be seen a few sections above this, ORES will ceaes to be a beta and become enabled by default on 24 April. I suppose this won't happen if the above watchlist problem with ORES is somewhat common? Fram (talk) 09:00, 20 April 2017 (UTC)

Ops is sorting out the problem, and as it's both temporary, partial (only four wikis were affected), and specific to something about how the m:Tech/Server switch 2017 was performed, I believe that there will be no long-term effect on the Ores project. In the short-term, the team will presumably make their decision after Ops has decided what caused the problem and how likely their solutions are to prevent this from happening again during the switch back to the primary servers on 3 May. Whatamidoing (WMF) (talk) 18:42, 20 April 2017 (UTC)

Duplicates have been removed. The ORES deployment by default is happening today. The code has been reviewed and we don't expect duplicates on the watchlists. Trizek (WMF) (talk) 13:41, 24 April 2017 (UTC)

Populating Category:Infobox templates with sandbox pages of certain infobox templates

Hi, There are a number of infobox template sandbox pages that are populating Category:Infobox templates. For example, Template:Infobox GB station/sandbox and Template:Infobox factory/sandbox. I tried this edit on the /doc page of Infobox factory, adding Template:sandbox other, but it did not solve the problem. Could someone check if there were any changes to a template that these infobox templates are calling on? Thanks, Funandtrvl (talk) 18:57, 23 April 2017 (UTC)

It's been added from Template:UF-hcard-geo, so you'll need to make the change in there. -- WOSlinker (talk) 14:58, 24 April 2017 (UTC)

Is there a move cache?

Or else, how is something like this possible? – Train2104 (t • c) 11:58, 24 April 2017 (UTC)

It was two different moves to two different names. The second move must have moved the redirect left by the first move. PrimeHunter (talk) 12:13, 24 April 2017 (UTC)

 Self-trout D'oh! This is what happens when you look at non-standard issues first thing in the morning. – Train2104 (t • c) 12:18, 24 April 2017 (UTC)

The first move was probably an error, and the second move was probably an attempt to correct that. It's quite easily done: you move the page, and having done so, you realise that you moved it to the wrong title. So, since the "move" feature hasn't reloaded the page, you use your browser's "back" button to return to the page that you had moved (*), and move it again to the intended title. The error comes at the point marked (*): it is in not refreshing or reloading the page, so the move is being applied to the previous page name, not the current one. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 15:01, 24 April 2017 (UTC)

Tech News: 2017-17

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

• New filters for recent changes are now available as a beta feature on most wikis. You can turn it on in your preferences. Remaining wikis will have the new filters on 9 May. [45]
• When administrators, bureaucrats and stewards make a user a member of a user group they can now set an expiry date. A user group is for example "administrators" or "bots". This means that they can give someone user rights for a limited time. This is similar to how blocks and page protections can be limited in time. Special:UserRights will have new options for this. You can read more about user groups. [46]

Problems

• Since the data centre test last week the content translation tool has been disabled. This is because of a database problem. It will be back as soon as the problem has been solved. [47]

Changes this week

• The GuidedTour extension will be enabled on all wikis. This is a tool to explain to new users how to edit. [48]
• Wiktionary will handle interlanguage links in a new way. The Cognate extension will automatically link pages with the same title between Wiktionaries. For this to work all old interlanguage links have to be removed. You can read more about this. [49]
• The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from 25 April. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from 26 April. It will be on all wikis from 27 April (calendar).

Meetings

• You can join the next meeting with the VisualEditor team. During the meeting, you can tell developers which bugs you think are the most important. The meeting will be on 25 April at 19:00 (UTC). See how to join.

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

16:40, 24 April 2017 (UTC)

Gallery Issue

Tracked in Phabricator
Task T163727

For some odd reason, while editing Connecticut, and inserting a gallery, the images kept increasing in size while using the image search mode. I'm currently using Google Chrome v. 58. —JJBers 17:29, 21 April 2017 (UTC)

Which editing environment were you using? There's been some work done on VisualEditor's gallery tool recently, but I don't know if any of it has been deployed yet. Whatamidoing (WMF) (talk) 07:34, 22 April 2017 (UTC)

@Whatamidoing (WMF): I was using the VisualEditor at the time. —JJBers 15:21, 22 April 2017 (UTC)

That looks like fun. Please read phab: T163727 and make sure that the bug I found is the one that you found. Whatamidoing (WMF) (talk) 18:39, 24 April 2017 (UTC)

Teahouse Ask a Question

Carrying on conversation from my talkpage, it appears the Ask a question function isn't working. If you use it, it isn't saving the question. Does anyone know why this is? I'm using Windows 10 & Chrome latest version in case it matters. Joseph2302 (talk) 18:12, 24 April 2017 (UTC)

@Joseph2302: Thank you for reporting, there indeed was a problem. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 20:10, 24 April 2017 (UTC)

MTC! v1.0.0

I just released a new version of my move to Commons tool, MTC!. I'm looking for a few willing volunteers to try it out and provide some feedback :) Thanks, FASTILY 03:40, 23 April 2017 (UTC)

@Fastily: It works quite well, especially the filtering of non-free images. It would be nice if categories and renames could be added in the UI though. Jc86035 (talk) Use {{re|Jc86035}}
to reply to me 09:48, 23 April 2017 (UTC)

Also, is there a way to move files from wikis other than enwiki? Jc86035 (talk) Use {{re|Jc86035}}
to reply to me 09:59, 23 April 2017 (UTC)

Hi Jc86035, thanks for the feedback! I'm currently exploring a sane way to add categories to transferred files, if you have any suggestions, please feel free to share them :) No immediate plans to expand the tool beyond enwp just yet. I want to make the tool as stable and feature-complete as possible before adding other Wikis. Best, FASTILY 22:53, 24 April 2017 (UTC)

I'm not really too interested in maintaining WP:FTCG anymore, so if you'd like to steal ideas or code (the code is in C#, which is similar enough to Java, and in the public domain) you are most welcome. (To be clear, I don't intend to abandon FtCG, but nor do I plan to add new features, particularly since Fastily's new tool seems to have gained a lot more traction than FtCG.) — This, that and the other (talk) 08:50, 24 April 2017 (UTC)

Hi TTO, thanks for the offer! I'll have a look. Cheers, FASTILY 22:53, 24 April 2017 (UTC)

"Unknown parameter" message displayed in non-preview mode in Wikipedia app

Tracked in Phabricator
Task T141403

In the Einstein family article, the infobox for Maria "Maja" Einstein contains an unsupported parameter (ethnicity). Accordingly, when I preview the page in my browser, I see the following message:

Warning: Page using Template:Infobox person with unknown parameter "ethnicity" (this message is shown only in preview).

However, I also see the message when I view the article (i.e. in "non-preview mode") in the Android Wikipedia app (rev 2.5.191-r-2017-03-31) on my mobile device. I don't see the message if I view the article in my browser on my mobile device, just in the app. Is this known behaviour? DH85868993 (talk) 23:48, 24 April 2017 (UTC)

That's because some editors decided to abuse a parser function / magic word to break the preview and change the way it appears when there is a perceived error in the page. The app picks up the page in a different way from the desktop view and so those errors go with it. It is funny considering that there was a whole discussion claiming that preview should be identical to "read pages", and yet such editors are allowed to abuse it. The fix needs to be made in the templates that generate those errors or the mediawiki developers need to remove the tool that allows such misuse. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 197.218.90.227 (talk) 08:32, 25 April 2017 (UTC)

https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T141403 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 197.218.90.227 (talk) 08:48, 25 April 2017 (UTC)

Thanks for the reply. DH85868993 (talk) 09:28, 25 April 2017 (UTC)

No.of Articles

Hi! In Tamil Wikipedia, We have 99,700+ Articles. But, [50] and [51], In these two links the no of articles in Tamil Wikipedia varies. Why is this?--Shriheeran (talk) 08:56, 25 April 2017 (UTC)

Because one number is update 'live', and the other only once per day ? —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 09:39, 25 April 2017 (UTC)

Got it--Shriheeran (talk) 10:23, 25 April 2017 (UTC)

Admin stats not displaying

Example here; it seems that admin stats are not appearing on administrator user pages, and instead, a message is displayed stating that the user is not an administrator when they actually are. Would anybody here be able to fix this problem? Thank you in advance. Patient Zero^talk 12:18, 25 April 2017 (UTC)

See User talk:Cyberpower678#Adminstats error. Anomie⚔ 12:37, 25 April 2017 (UTC)

How can I edit the subtitle used in the official (Android) mobile app?

For many articles, there is a subtitle used in the official Wikipedia app that serves as a summary/disambiguation, and shows up in search results and under the title on the article itself. For example, searching for "Test" shows (with the subtitle indicated in brackets here) "Test [Wikipedia disambiguation page]", "Testosterone [Chemical compound]", "Test (assessment) [Procedure for measuring a subject's ability; assessment intended to measure a test-taker's knowledge, skill, aptitude, physical fitness, or classification in many other topuics (e.g., beliefs)]", and "Test-driven development []", among others.

Where do these subtitles (for lack of a better term) come from? They don't seem to be pulled directly from anywhere in the page itself, I couldn't find a way to edit them in the app, and I've tried to read up on the mobile app pages to no avail. I ask because the subtitle for Nichijou is awkwardly phrased and seems to be missing a word or two, as seen in my screenshot to the right.

How can I edit this subtitle, or request it be edited? --The Human Spellchecker (talk) 19:04, 23 April 2017 (UTC)

@Spellcheck: it is coming from Wikidata, in this case from wikidata:Q483120 where you may edit it. — xaosflux ^Talk 19:07, 23 April 2017 (UTC)

You can only edit it on what's rapidly becoming my least favorite website, Wikidata; the app pulls the data direct from there so edits made on Wikipedia can't affect it and changes made to the wording don't show up in Wikipedia watchlists. ‑ Iridescent 19:08, 23 April 2017 (UTC)

@Iridescent: You should be able to see these type of changes on your watchlist, check if you have "Hide Wikidata" selected. — xaosflux ^Talk 19:33, 23 April 2017 (UTC)

That absolutely floods your watchlist with unhelpful cruft like D University Hospital Lewisham (Q14956783); 11:53 . . Wittylama (talk contribs) (‎Created claim: Property:P3794: organisation/lewisham_hospital, #mix'n'match) and D TeachText (Q7691157); 01:15 . . Infovarius (talk contribs) (‎Removed claim: Property:P31: Q7397, #petscan). It's not realistically feasible to have it enabled if you have more than a few pages on your watchlist, and since nobody on WD appears to grasp the concept of "meaningful edit summary" you need to be willing to manually check every change you see for it to be worthwhile enabling it. ‑ Iridescent 19:38, 23 April 2017 (UTC)

Yes that is a mess, please note - I don't think the "meaningful edit summary" problem from wikidata is an editor problem, the interface does not provide an opportunity to use edit summaries for (main) data items. — xaosflux ^Talk 19:42, 23 April 2017 (UTC)

phab:T43490 discussed this, but apparently it was closed without being actually completed. Jo-Jo Eumerus (talk, contributions) 11:27, 24 April 2017 (UTC)

• See also Wikipedia:Village_pump_(proposals)/Archive_138#Rfc:_Remove_description_taken_from_Wikidata_from_mobile_view_of_en-WP, and the note from @Quiddity (WMF):. Quiddity, in regards to the removal: what is the phab ticket number that can be used to track this? — xaosflux ^Talk 19:12, 23 April 2017 (UTC)

  Perhaps @OVasileva (WMF): knows? — xaosflux ^Talk 19:17, 23 April 2017 (UTC)

  When I look at Nichijou in mobile view, I do not see a subtitle. When I type "Nichijou" in the mobile search box at the top of a page and do not click search or press Return, I still see the summary. Type "William" in the search box to see a variety of summaries. This is true for a half a dozen pages I looked at in mobile view, so for me, at least, the summary is turned off on the mobile page view, but it is still displayed in search results. I will leave it to the community to decide if the spirit of the RFC is being complied with by those results. – Jonesey95 (talk) 23:22, 23 April 2017 (UTC)

• Hey @Spellcheck: @Xaosflux:, I work with OVasileva at the Wikimedia Foundation. This is opportune timing, as we are actually in the process of rolling out a pilot of wikidata description editing on the Wikipedia Android app. More info here: [52] The wikidata descriptions have been live on Android for 2 years, but we recognize that, long-term, not being able to edit them where they are shown is an issue. There are definitely still other issues, but this particular solution is currently live in 3 languages and will be going to everywhere but the top 10 in our next release (this week or next). English should be done in a few months. We're moving conservatively, tracking revert rate and things of that nature as we roll them out so that we ensure this new editing model works. Let me know if you have other questions or concerns about this. Jkatz (WMF) (talk) 23:26, 24 April 2017 (UTC)

  @Jkatz (WMF): From the discussion above, it appears this is not just a problem when viewing a page (which the English Wikipedia community has expressed concerns with) but that this non-enwiki data is also being shown on English Wikipedia search results. Is this being addressed? — xaosflux ^Talk 00:15, 25 April 2017 (UTC)

  @Xaosflux: That particular issue will be addressed by editing from the page itself (similar to the page title showing in search). Wikidata description editing currently being piloted in Android should apply equally well here. If we want to improve this further, beyond making it editable in the article, I think the approach we have to take is with tracking, specifically making it easier to track this in your watchlist, which is currently possible but not ideal, and having it show up in page histories (which has not seen as much contributor interest. Here are some tasks we have in our backlog (not yet scheduled) to make this easier: Watchlist ((https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T46874, https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T90436, https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T108688) and history (https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T42358). In the meantime, the potential risks of having the description show in search should be weighed carefully against the massive benefits to searchers who are able to better choose the page they are looking, avoiding multiple searches and unnecessary page loads on mobile devices, for which data is both slower and more expensive. Jkatz (WMF) (talk) 18:42, 25 April 2017 (UTC)

• @Spellcheck: Just wanted to note that I have removed the example image you have used from this section and tagged it for deletion. Please don't create derivative works of copyrighted material that are here under fair use and upload them under a free license. It doesn't release the copyright and is considered copyright infringement. --Majora (talk) 23:41, 23 April 2017 (UTC)

  While technically correct, a "better" solution would be to recrop that screenshot, removing the image - as the point was to demonstrate the text problem. — xaosflux ^Talk 01:05, 24 April 2017 (UTC)

  I could have done that but it still would have required administrator action since the image would have still been in the history. I'm just not one to be cleaning up other people's copyright infringement. Never have been, never will. If you want to undelete the image, crop it, and rev'del the copyvio you are welcome to do so. If Spellcheck wants to fix it themselves and reupload it, they are welcome to do so. Copyvios deserve to be deleted on sight, not fixed, in my opinion. I've found through trial and error here and on Commons that trying to teach rarely works but a deletion notice gets people's attention. There are just too many copyvios in the file namespace to be spending too much time on any specific example. --Majora (talk) 20:37, 24 April 2017 (UTC)

  I'm not faulting you Majora - you executed the policy appropriately; just making sure it was clear to Spellcheck why it was a problem (i.e. not that it was a wikipedia screenshot, but that the screen shot included an included image that was not allowed). — xaosflux ^Talk 20:52, 24 April 2017 (UTC)

Visual Editor causing weird changes to infoboxes

It appears that under some circumstances, Visual Editor causes an undesirable rearrangement of parameters in {{infobox station}}. A typical example occurs in this edit; the problem dates back to at least February. I don't know what to make of it. Pi.1415926535 (talk) 17:37, 24 April 2017 (UTC)

@Pi.1415926535: This behaviour goes back much earlier than February. VE reorders template params to match whatever order is laid down in the TemplateData (if you edit the page source, it's given by the "paramOrder" array). If a parameter is not mentioned in the TemplateData (such as |image_caption=), it's moved to the end. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 19:06, 24 April 2017 (UTC)

Doesn't seem unreasonable, though |other_name=| style=Amtrak on one line isn't ideal. Sam Walton (talk) 19:09, 24 April 2017 (UTC)

See T133874, declined as "not a bug". – Jonesey95 (talk) 21:45, 24 April 2017 (UTC)

Thank you all for the explanations. Since |image_caption= is a very common alias for |caption=, is there any way to add it to the TemplateData so that it doesn't get moved to the bottom? Similarly, is there any way to prevent the |other_name=| style=Amtrak bug by modifying the template? Thanks, Pi.1415926535 (talk) 02:45, 25 April 2017 (UTC)

@Pi.1415926535: I've modified the TemplateData so the parameters should be rearranged properly (the "Block" option in "Template preferred format"), but it seems to be taking some time for the change to propagate to VE. Jc86035 (talk) Use {{re|Jc86035}}
to reply to me 14:21, 25 April 2017 (UTC)

Thanks! Pi.1415926535 (talk) 19:35, 25 April 2017 (UTC)

Inconsistent line spacing between list levels

I've noticed that spacing between lines in multi-level lists is inconsistent across browsers/devices. For example, let's take the following list:

Markup	Renders as
* coffee * tea ** oolong ** matcha * eau de vie	coffee tea oolong matcha eau de vie

When I view this on Windows PCs using either Chrome or Edge as the browser, the line spacing between 'tea' and 'oolong' is noticeably greater than the spacing between any other lines. When I view this on Android mobile devices using either Chrome or Silk as the browser, the line spacing between 'tea' and 'oolong' is noticeably less than the spacing between other lines. I tested this issue using raw HTML markup in place of the * wiki markup, and there was no change. Is this something that could be fixed on Wikipedia's end, or would this need to be solved by OS and/or browser developers? —jameslucas (" " / +) 03:12, 23 April 2017 (UTC)

Is this strictly about sublists, or is it about the start of any list vs the preceding content? For example, how does this look:

Markup	Renders as
Drinks: * coffee * tea	Drinks: coffee tea

for spacing between "Drinks:" and the first list item vs spacing between the two list items? DMacks (talk) 03:37, 23 April 2017 (UTC)

In the case of a list item following a non-list item, the line spacing is greater both on PC and on Android mobile (although not by the same ratios). I'd say that's roughly as it should be. —jameslucas (" " / +) 03:50, 23 April 2017 (UTC)

The relevant CSS rule seems to be

.mw-content-ltr ul,
.mw-content-rtl .mw-content-ltr ul {
  margin: 0.3em 0 0 1.6em;
  padding: 0;
}

with the gap in question being that 0.3em. I don't know where it's set: it's not in our local MediaWiki:Common.css. We can't simply remove that declaration, since the rule above supersedes this rule:

ul {
  list-style-type: square;
  margin: 0.3em 0 0 1.6em;
  padding: 0;
}

which is set at an earlier stage - again, origin unknown. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 08:32, 23 April 2017 (UTC)

I'm not knowledgable enough to speculate on where that CSS is coming from, but I was able override it, and that improved things greatly when viewed on PC. For anyone wishing to do the same, vist your CSS and paste the following code [updated to reflect Redrose64's suggestions below —16:39, 24 April 2017 (UTC)]:

.mw-content-ltr ul,
.mw-content-rtl .mw-content-ltr ul {
  margin-top: 0;
}

Thanks, Red! —jameslucas (" " / +) 13:05, 23 April 2017 (UTC)

You don't need to re-specify any declaration where the value is unchanged, so you can omit padding: 0; - and you can also replace the declaration margin: 0 0 0 1.6em; with margin-top: 0; --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 22:52, 23 April 2017 (UTC)

Good call. (I didn't know about the margin-top property.) Is it technically possible to apply this universally to the standard CSS for Wikipedia? And would that be a good idea? I'm having trouble imagining why the 1.6 0.3 em margin would be good in any instance. It strikes me as an accident, a bad choice, or a really dirty hack to address some ancient browser. —jameslucas (" " / +) 16:39, 24 April 2017 (UTC)

margin-top is one of the original CSS 1 properties; and so was automatically carried over into CSS 2 and the working draft for CSS 3 (which hasn't seen any progress in almost ten years). All modern browsers support CSS 2 in its entirety; many also support one or more of the CSS 3 modules as well. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 18:25, 24 April 2017 (UTC)

I guess that shows how shaky my CSS knowledge is. But my question was more about Wikipedia than the specific formatting of the code: Is there a reason not to change this attribute for the entire site (as opposed to me fixing it only for myself)? Is there any justification (technical or otherwise) not to eradicate that 1.6 0.3 em margin for everyone? —jameslucas (" " / +) 18:54, 24 April 2017 (UTC)

The 1.6em margin is the left one, we'll want to keep that. ;) The 0.3em top margin seems to date back to the beginning of the Monobook skin if not earlier, I have no idea why it's there. Anomie⚔ 12:08, 25 April 2017 (UTC)

Right you are: the 0.3 margin is the one I meant (amended above). Is there any process we/I can initiate to have it removed (or considered for removal)? —jameslucas (" " / +) 13:20, 25 April 2017 (UTC)

Consensus here is a good start. Then MediaWiki talk:Common.css to override it locally and/or file a task in Phabricator to request it be changed in MediaWiki. Anomie⚔ 18:45, 26 April 2017 (UTC)

It looks like there's a decade of archived conversations at MediaWiki talk:Common.css; I'll do a little skimming to see how this topic has been discussed in the past. In the meantime, I appreciate the guidance and welcome further ideas, comments, and suggestions. I realize that none of this addresses the appearance in mobile browsers, but it'd be great to at least solve this for desktops. —jameslucas (" " / +) 22:04, 26 April 2017 (UTC)

Editing tools for GNU/Linux

Are there any maintained editing tools for GNU/Linux? AutoWikiBrowser was the only cross-platformed editor I could found but its dead. --David Hedlund ^SWE (Talk) 15:10, 25 April 2017 (UTC)

@David Hedlund: I think the Windows version of AWB can be used on Linux through Wine, but I'm not sure how well it works on different distros. You could also try the in-browser version, but it also has some problems like not supporting regex find/replace. Jc86035 (talk) Use {{re|Jc86035}}
to reply to me 14:41, 26 April 2017 (UTC)

This is what I do. The demon scripts at the bottom of method 2 need to be updated, if you use them let me know, they give a general idea what is being done. The Cygwin method is good unless you're doing complex scripting, suggest start there if you're not sure. Keep in mind AWB when it writes out the I/O file keeps a file handle open so deleting it causes unusual behavior. The solution is the unix script either overwrites or zero-length it. -- GreenC 15:08, 26 April 2017 (UTC)

Thanks but I don't want to run GNU/Linux from another OS. Are there no such solution? --David Hedlund ^SWE (Talk) 16:01, 26 April 2017 (UTC)

Method 2 links them via a shared directory, which can be done over a network directory share or however. Last time I tried to run via Wine it worked but I didn't do much testing. -- GreenC 16:38, 26 April 2017 (UTC)

Here we are perilously close to undermining one of Wikipedia first principles- an encyclopedia that anyone can edit if they are rich enough. I always view any code that is generated using proprietory software as potentially un-free- which violates our strict observance of copyright. We insist on ogg, we use .odt not .doc so saying we advise users to Microsoft or upload a filter to throttle back their computer is not just a technical issue but a moral issue as well. Picture the scenario where you have a class of Raspberry Pi user, running Raspian or Ubuntu to bring computers to a poor community working on solar- you are saying they can enjoy the fruits of Wikipedia but are not allowed to contribute.

We wonder why the age-profile of editors is changing, we acknowledge that youngster are more likely to access the WP through a phone app and are beginning to make the connection. We don't ask the question 'Are there any maintained editing tools for Android?

So instead of patronising, or evading the questions lets put it another way 'Which edit tools need to be rewritten to make them cross platform?'. 'What is the time scale for rewriting them?' and 'When notified what resources does the foundation need to deploy to expedite the process?'. ClemRutter (talk) 17:08, 26 April 2017 (UTC)

@ClemRutter: Please participate in https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T163935 if you want. You may want to copy your text to that issue, I liked it. --David Hedlund ^SWE (Talk) 19:33, 26 April 2017 (UTC)

Please cross-post for me. I haven't a phabricator account and I suspect I am spreading myself too thinly as it is- I will have a look later, I am mystified by how intellectual resources are being used, and how the absolute basics are ignored. Actually I am not, working with volunteers is like herding cats, and that is used by staffers to prioritise their passions rather than tackle the fundamentals where they could be really effective. ClemRutter (talk) 23:41, 26 April 2017 (UTC)

There is JavaScript Wiki Browser, which is similar to AWB but runs in your browser. It worked well for me the couple of times I used it, but I haven't used it for anything complicated. — Mr. Stradivarius ^{♪ talk ♪} 04:35, 27 April 2017 (UTC)

LoginNotify coming soon to a wiki near you!

Failed login attempt notification on Echo

Login attempt notification as seen on a different wiki

Here’s what you would see in Special:Notifications, or in the panel, after you mark the bundle as Read. Since the above notification is a bundle of 6 individual notifications, they disperse after you mark the bundle as "Read" and you see a generic message for each of them.

Hi all. The Community Tech team has almost wrapped up work on wish #7 on the 2016 Community Wishlist Survey -- Warning on unsuccessful login attempts. We want to give you a preview of how the new feature will work, and get your feedback.

The project aims to improve security on Wikimedia sites by notifying users when there are unsuccessful attempts to login with their username from both known and unknown IPs and devices. This project builds on the LoginNotify extension which was created by Brian Wolff in 2016.

How does it work? The extension keeps track of known devices (browsers really) by placing a cookie in the browser. This cookie automatically expires in 180 days. If a failed login attempt happens from a new browser, it generates an Echo notification alerting the user about the login attempt. The other way that we identify known devices is by checking the current IP address subnet against the IP addresses that have been used recently (as stored in a temporary server cache). None of the information is stored in a database and at no point is any private information revealed publicly, including the attacker’s IP address/location. The WMF Legal and Security teams have reviewed the implementation for both compliance with our Privacy Policy and security considerations.

For known devices/IPs, we allow up to 5 login attempts before alerting the user about the login attempt, since it's fairly common to mistype or forget a password. If there are 5 or more failed attempts, the notification will say: "There have been 5 failed attempts to log in to your account since the last time you logged in. If this wasn't you, please make sure your account has a strong password." There would be another notification at 10 attempts, 15 attempts and so on.

For unknown devices/IPs, we alert on every failed attempt. The extension bundles these notifications to avoid spamming users with too many notifications. For example, if there are 3 failed attempts from an unknown device, there will be a single notification, which says: "There have been 3 failed attempts to log in to your account from a new device since the last time you logged in. If this wasn't you, please make sure your account has a strong password." On further attempts, that notification would update to say "4 failed attempts," "5 failed attempts", and so on.

How does it look? The first picture on the right is what the notification looks like if the attack happened on the wiki that you're currently on; the second picture is what it would look like if you view it on a different wiki. The notification is issued from the wiki where the attack happened.

There are two ways for the user to get these notifications - either by web Echo notifications or by email. By default, the web notifications are on for everyone and email ones are turned off. This is configurable in the notification preferences.

The text for the notifications as well as the threshold for when you get the notifications is subject to changes, based on your feedback.

This extension does not give you notifications when somebody successfully logs into your account from an unknown device or IP. It is technically possible to generate those, but if somebody else has logged in, they could just as easily see those notifications and do a password reset (which the notification encourages you to do). The ideal way to handle this is to issue email notifications for this case, but since most Wikipedia accounts do not have emails associated with them, this wouldn't be useful to majority of the users. So for the time being, we have settled for not issuing these notifications.

We'd love to hear what you think of this so far, and what you think we should change, if anything. We expect to deploy this within the coming weeks. Thanks for your time! -- NKohli (WMF) (talk) 19:52, 26 April 2017 (UTC)

• For accounts with 2FA - will this fire from bad passwords alone, or will they also have to enter a bad token value? — xaosflux ^Talk 19:57, 26 April 2017 (UTC)

It'll fire from bad passwords alone. There's a ticket at T158379 to discuss the possibility of generating notifications when somebody is attempting to guess the token value repeatedly (given they know the password to the account). -- NKohli (WMF) (talk) 20:15, 26 April 2017 (UTC)

• I like this idea, but would there be an opt-out or a way to disable these? Not to get too beans-y, but constantly pinging or thanking people is a common form of mild harassment, and triggering password-reset emails is less common but tends to be more worrying to the recipients, especially if they're not very technically inclined. Opabinia regalis (talk) 21:10, 26 April 2017 (UTC)

Yep, you can opt in/out from your Notification preferences. Email alerts are off by default and Echo alerts are on by default to minimize spamming. The notifications will be bundled into one, so hopefully it won't be too spammy. :) -- NKohli (WMF) (talk) 21:15, 26 April 2017 (UTC)

Thanks! (Heh, I clicked "thank" before realizing the irony... ;) Opabinia regalis (talk) 21:34, 26 April 2017 (UTC)

Thanks, this looks good. But can "bundle" be spelled out? If the relevant server is under a light load, and an attacker enters one bad password per 20 seconds for one hour (180 failures—very possible with some harassers), what would happen? Re notification preferences, are you saying that there will be a new entry under "Notify me about these events", and that one entry could be set to off to stop LoginNotify while allowing any other wanted events? Johnuniq (talk) 00:54, 27 April 2017 (UTC)

If those 180 attempts happened from an unknown device/IP, you'd get one notification saying there were "180 failed login attempts". If it was a known device/IP, you'd see multiple notifications, for every 5 tries (so at 5, 10, 15... attempts). But I'd like to point out that such a scenario is quite difficult to achieve, because Wikipedia requires you to enter a captcha for every attempt after 3 failed attempts and after 6, you're blocked from login attempts for 5 minutes. Regarding preferences, yes, you will have an option for "Notify me about failed login attempts" followed by two checkboxes, one for Web notifications and one for email. You can turn them on/off as you like without affecting any other notifications. -- NKohli (WMF) (talk) 04:44, 27 April 2017 (UTC)

• The way I understand it, if I try to log in from an unknown device and fail the first time but succeed the second time on the same device, I'll see a notification once I make it in. Is this correct, or will that notification be removed automatically? As someone who clears their cookies on a nightly basis, every morning will be an unknown device. – Train2104 (t • c) 02:30, 27 April 2017 (UTC)

That's right. You will see the notification on login. If you login everyday, chances are pretty high that you don't mess up your password often, so you won't likely see many unwanted notifications. -- NKohli (WMF) (talk) 04:44, 27 April 2017 (UTC)

Javascript and Module editors

When it came to the editors for Javascript scripts and Lua modules, I used to have some form of code editor for the inputs that would allow me to insert tabs, highlight brackets, etc. Now I'm getting the standard input that is used for templates and regular articles. Was the code-editor-input deprecated/removed, or is a preference or something similar? -- Alex^TW 22:46, 26 April 2017 (UTC)

Upper left corner of the editing window for a lua page has <> icon? Click that. For me, that toggles between normal wikitext editor and code editor.

—Trappist the monk (talk) 23:17, 26 April 2017 (UTC)

@Trappist the monk: Bingo. Thanks! -- Alex^TW 10:51, 27 April 2017 (UTC)

Watchlist not updating

I just tried to add a page to my watchlist (currently I have 4 in right now ), rather than getting the prompt that says the page was added into my watchlist, I'm going aroiund in a loop. When I try to edit the raw watchlist, pretty much the same thing happens. Anyone else having this issue ?  Ҝ Ø Ƽ Ħ  13:05, 27 April 2017 (UTC)

Quick update -- it just started working again!  Ҝ Ø Ƽ Ħ  13:08, 27 April 2017 (UTC)

Reporting: my Login is no longer working

Greetings, When I attempt my usual English WP login (user name is JoeHebda), it loads page at

login.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:CentralLogin/start?token=

with this message

Central user log in

The provided authentication token is either expired or invalid.

So far, I have closed out my browser & started over, attemped Login at WikiMedia. Don't know what to try next. Please help. Regards, JoeHebda

I get the same problem. DuncanHill (talk) 13:00, 27 April 2017 (UTC) I kept getting the "loss of session data" message, so followed the instructions to log out and in again, then got the "Central user log in" message referred to above. I closed browser, switched my internet connexion off and on again, and seem to be logged back in. Very worrying to me as I couldn't edit from IP - I use mobile internet (3 Mobile in the UK) and someone has put a school block on the IP address. Using Edge on Win 10, with mobile hotspot via 3 Mobile to connect to internet. DuncanHill (talk) 13:03, 27 April 2017 (UTC)

Me too. I can't log in from any Wikimedia site or from another browser. My user name is Epicgenius. 198.179.73.106 (talk) 13:04, 27 April 2017 (UTC)

Had the same problem - I was sent to login.wikipedia.org, I logged in there and was able to login and then go to en.wikipedia.org. See my post below for another problem I just noticed today  Ҝ Ø Ƽ Ħ  13:05, 27 April 2017 (UTC)

Same problem here, but it is working now. Odd. Patient Zero^talk 13:08, 27 April 2017 (UTC)

Working too once I tried KoshVorlon's method. epicgenius (talk) 13:09, 27 April 2017 (UTC)

I just carried on trying to log in and it eventually worked! Patient Zero^talk 13:09, 27 April 2017 (UTC)

Working now the normal way. When the problem occurred I was actually force logged out. – Train2104 (t • c) 13:10, 27 April 2017 (UTC)

My JoeHebda login is now working. I did a complete power-Off of my laptop & re-boot. Now all is OK. Cheers! — JoeHebda • (talk) 13:10, 27 April 2017 (UTC)

URL going to wrong article

This should link to British Israelism, but links to th Oxford Universoty Conservarive Association. Doug Weller talk 04:52, 26 April 2017 (UTC)

I think you meant this. You were missing a final "6" from the oldid. The revision ID you linked to was the same as this. It looks like the title is ignored if the oldid is valid. That could be used for mischief, I suppose, but let's just stay away from the WP:BEANS instead. – Jonesey95 (talk) 05:42, 26 April 2017 (UTC)

title= is always ignored if oldid= (or certain other parameters) is present. Your oldid was an edit to Oxford University Conservative Association (you mistyped the title above). PrimeHunter (talk) 20:53, 27 April 2017 (UTC)

E-Mail Rate Limit

Hello! I'm a volunteer account coordinator for The Wikipedia Library and often when I'm processing accounts I run into the issue of the e-mail rate limit. Which usually means I have to go over to Meta and sometimes Commons to send the remainder of the e-mails. Is there a local technical solution I'm perhaps missing? Thanks for the advice. --Cameron₁₁₅₉₈ ^(Talk) 17:53, 24 April 2017 (UTC)

@Cameron11598: Why are you sending emails instead of using the mass message feature? --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 19:14, 24 April 2017 (UTC)

@Redrose64: I'm emailing links to a google form, the link allows anyone to enter their information for us to pass on to the partner. We only want to share the link with users who's account's are approved for access. --Cameron₁₁₅₉₈ ^(Talk) 19:27, 24 April 2017 (UTC)

@Cameron11598: the local solution would be account creators as it allows access to what you are looking for: (noratelimit) - apply at WP:PERM. — xaosflux ^Talk 21:27, 24 April 2017 (UTC)

@Xaosflux: Thanks! --Cameron₁₁₅₉₈ ^(Talk) 00:54, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

Country wikilinks in sports articles

I would like to change the inappropriate wikilinks (for example in this article) from France to  France. Is here any easy template for doing it?
Maiō T. (talk) 16:41, 26 April 2017 (UTC)

@Maiō T.: Sport in France has no mention of table tennis so I don't think it's a better link than France for the national table tennis team of France. We never link "Sport in X" for national sports teams of country X. If there are national team articles for a specific sport then we may link them like {{fb|France}} producing France, linking France national football team. A quick search only found two countries, China and Portugal, with an article about their national table tennis team. If you want to change the practice then you could try Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Table tennis (low activity) or Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Sports. Many editors can make the required template edits if there is consensus. PrimeHunter (talk) 09:42, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

extra fixes coming in to manual edits

Anyone noticed that nbsps are being added to edits? Is this some new bug or a feature of Firefox under Ubuntu? ϢereSpielChequers 08:49, 24 April 2017 (UTC)

Are you using wikEd? It automatically converts nbsp characters to their character entities. – Train2104 (t • c) 12:13, 24 April 2017 (UTC)

I wonder if we could get Special:Tags added to WP:WikEd edits, so that we didn't have to ask.

This has come up several times, and so far, every person who's seen this behavior has been using wikEd. I believe that it does this on the grounds that the MOS prefers (or used to prefer?) visible HTML codes instead of actual non-breaking spaces (which some editors don't know how to create, and most editors don't know how to identify). WhatamIdoing (talk) 18:06, 24 April 2017 (UTC)

@WhatamIdoing: I've made the suggestion to Cacycle. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 16:08, 25 April 2017 (UTC)

Yes I'd opted into wikEd. Is this an acceptable feature of WikEd? It reminds me of the arguments about the minor fixes that AWB editors can opt into. I use AWB without said fixes and I'm not really comfortable with changes I didn't know I was making and am not sure I want responsibility for. ϢereSpielChequers 09:53, 25 April 2017 (UTC)

MOS:NBSP says: "Always insert hard/thin spaces symbolically ({{nbsp}}, {{thinsp}},  ,  ), never by entering them as literal Unicode characters entered directly from the keyboard." PrimeHunter (talk) 09:47, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

SVG rendering problem?

This image File:Areas of insect wing.svg as used in this Good Article Insect_wing has a black artifact in the middle of it. The Original image does not, which suggests it may be a problem with the rendering software. Is this something that is known and if known is there a solution or does this require a "ahem" bug report?--S Philbrick(Talk) 12:17, 26 April 2017 (UTC)

Looks like phab:T43424, rsvg doesn't support <flowroot> and related tags, so it winds up rendering the unstyled path that's supposed to contain the text as a black object instead. But that image doesn't actually put any text in the <flowroot>, so it's useless and can be removed. Along with at least 90% of the other markup in the file. Anomie⚔ 19:19, 26 April 2017 (UTC)

@Sphilbrick: This is c:Help:SVG#flowed text. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 05:50, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

Thanks to both of you @Anomie: and @Redrose64:, I'll see if someone at the Graphics lab can help.--S Philbrick(Talk) 11:50, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

Watchlist not loading

I've been having a weird watchlist issue since yesterday (April 26). When I try to load it, I just get an empty document. Same result in Firefox and Chrome (I'm on a Mac). I just created a test account to see if it was my browsers, but that account's watchlist worked fine, so I guess it's something specific to my account.

Any ideas as to what would be causing this? Thanks! Trivialist (talk) 18:31, 27 April 2017 (UTC)

Does this link work? Max Semenik (talk) 19:48, 27 April 2017 (UTC)

Disregard, it's working now. @MaxSem: Wasn't able to try your link when my watchlist was broken, but trying it now produces the same effect I was getting before (empty document). What does "safemode=true" do? Trivialist (talk) 20:46, 27 April 2017 (UTC)

"safemode=1" (the value suggested at Wikipedia:Village pump (technical)/Archive 154#Tech News: 2017-16) prevents personal CSS, JavaScript and gadgets from running. It shouldn't make an empty document, and doesn't for me. Maybe you still have the problem but only at random times. How many pages do you have on your watchlist? PrimeHunter (talk) 21:01, 27 April 2017 (UTC)

Hmm. Was broken again (safemode didn't work either). Checking the number of pages on my watchlist (1,930), I removed them all, added only the Main Page, and now it works fine. What's the maximum number of pages you can watch without breaking things? Trivialist (talk) 21:15, 27 April 2017 (UTC)

Adding and removing pages from Special:EditWatchlist breaks somewhere around 3-5k watched pages; otherwise, watchlists have no programmatic limit. --Izno (talk) 21:17, 27 April 2017 (UTC)

I watch 8,347 pages and have no problems viewing Special:Watchlist or removing pages from Special:EditWatchlist. PrimeHunter (talk) 21:46, 27 April 2017 (UTC)

21,192 pages (probably about 21,191 too many for sanity) - at this level, the watchlist editors are very slow, but still usable. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 22:00, 27 April 2017 (UTC)

I re-added everything, and it's working fine now. *shrug* Thanks to all for your assistance. Trivialist (talk) 22:06, 27 April 2017 (UTC)

@MaxSem: To note that I was having a similar issue at English Wikisource console said The character encoding of the HTML document was not declared. ... (full detail at enWS) and it occurred following the code rollout for us on Tuesday (I made no changes to Watchlist for that to be the issue). In the end I identified as one specific category that was problematicin association with setting to "not hide categories". [Process. I remove everything (it worked), added back groups of links until it broke; removed group then added individual links, until it broke again. Refreshed whole list minus the one category, worked. Hid category watch, put the full list back in and it worked; unhide categories, full list, it breaks. ] Someone else added the same category, and was unable to replicate it, though I can add and remove category repeatedly reproduce the killer. Also to note that safemode had no effect, it wasn't a js/css issue. — billinghurst sDrewth 08:13, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

@Billinghurst: what browser are you using ? I assume a very old Safari or Chrome or other WebKit based browser ? These freeze on some webkit-isolate CSS statements, and I suspect that the particular content you had on that page uses this CSS statement. Hmm, though googling indicates that this might be a Firefox warning.. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 12:07, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

Latest Firefox for that. Noting that the problem was confirmed in latest Chrome, though I didn't grab that error message. The FF console gave no error message beyond that, all that there is to see. The broken category page is a maintenance category, and is/was empty. — billinghurst sDrewth 12:48, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

@TheDJ:When I fire it into Chrome, it initially throws the std wiki error mesage Error
Our servers are currently under maintenance or experiencing a technical problem. Please try again in a few minutes.
See the error message at the bottom of this page for more information. When reloaded it gives a blank page, and non-expert me doesn't see anything via the console, it just looks like a blank page, and what looks like elements of a nascent style sheet. — billinghurst sDrewth 12:54, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

@Billinghurst: I had the same issue on fr.wikt, see phab:T164059. Darkdadaah (talk) 15:35, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

Project of a TeaHouse-specific archival bot

We are currently discussing here a special archival bot for the Teahouse (a place for new editors) that posts to the user talk pages of those who asked a question when the thread gets archived. Any input from people familiar with archival bots or the bot policy in general is welcome (but please post at WT:TH to keep it in one place). Tigraan^{Click here to contact me} 15:52, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

Mobile: browser previous page then previous page does not work after clicking edit section

Let me know if you cannot reproduce this bug.,111.241.208.22 (talk) 19:08, 26 April 2017 (UTC)

which mobile browser. which operating system. which versions of those ? —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 19:20, 26 April 2017 (UTC)

This happens on Android chrome latest version and windows chrome latest version under developer tools mobile mode.118.160.128.174 (talk) 02:13, 27 April 2017 (UTC)

Let us know here when you can provide a list of steps to reproduce, step by step, and exact version information ("latest" can mean many things). Thanks! --Malyacko (talk) 11:09, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

I made an image description and post it on Phabricator here.Golopotw (talk) 19:05, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

Articles with broken section links.

Is there a list somewhere of articles containing broken links to sections of other articles, or broken links to section redirects? If not, can such a list be created? Cheers! bd2412 T 02:11, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Database reports shows Wikipedia:Database reports/Broken section anchors by Bamyers99. It's only for redirects. PrimeHunter (talk) 09:26, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

This is definitely a task to dive into, but I was actually thinking of broken anchors from links being used in other articles; for example, where a disambiguation page lists an incorrect link to a page section. bd2412 T 19:21, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

Problem with "User contributions" page

On my user contributions page, one of the checkable options is written in what appears to be Finnish! It reads as follows:

• Only show edits that are latest revisions
• Only show edits that are page creations
• Hide minor edits
• Piilota mahdollisesti hyvät muutokset

Is this a known issue? --Rob Sinden (talk) 14:31, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

@Robsinden: Very strange. Could you add ?uselang=qqx to the end of the URL on that page, and paste what shows up in place of that text here please? For example, I see (ores-hide-nondamaging-filter) (which means the text comes from MediaWiki:Ores-hide-nondamaging-filter). I assume there's some issue with detecting your language, so that might show the same thing. Sam Walton (talk) 14:34, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

@Samwalton9: You get this Finnish text if you select "en-GB" in your preferences. -- John of Reading (talk) 14:42, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

@Samwalton9:, reading across as follows: (sp-contributions-toponly) (sp-contributions-newonly) (sp-contributions-hideminor) (ores-hide-nondamaging-filter) --Rob Sinden (talk) 14:44, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

I've created the British English element on translate wiki, please review it. But why is Finished used as a translation backup for British English? Trizek (WMF) (talk) 15:23, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

The log [53] says a version in the wrong language was deleted two hours before your creation. So you didn't have to create an English message, we just had to wait for the en fallback to be propagated. PrimeHunter (talk) 16:49, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

translatewiki:Special:Log/Amire80 shows seven other ORES-related en-gb messages in the wrong language have been deleted. The author has been informed and all their non-deleted edits are to fi messages so the cleanup should be complete next time messages are imported from Translatewiki. Until then en-gb users may see several of the current Finnish messages at [54]. There was a similar problem at Wikipedia:Village pump (technical)/Archive 152#Protection tab where a Translatewiki editor wrote a bunch of messages in Sindhi instead of English. It would be nice if messages using the wrong alphabet were detected automatically. PrimeHunter (talk) 19:47, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

Vibiana/Cathedral of Saint Vibiana mix-up

I have a client who's name is Vibiana. It's a venue located in downtown LA. It used to be a catholic cathedral but hasn't been for years. It now houses weddings, runway shows, tv shows, etc.

Starting Monday, no one has been able to geo tag Vibiana anywhere. When it's googled, the Cathedral of Saint Vibiana shows up. Vibiana doesn't at all. I was told this may be because of a connection to the Wikipedia page that geo locates the Cathedral.

Cathedral_of_Saint_Vibiana

Is there a way to fix this?

71.93.209.113 (talk) 17:36, 28 April 2017 (UTC)Vanessa

— Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.93.209.113 (talk) 17:34, 28 April 2017 (UTC) 

I'm not sure what the problem is supposed to be here. When I do a Google search for Vibiana, the whole first page of results points to the commercial web site or to reviews of the venue, with the exception of the Wikipedia page, which mentions that the site is an event venue. When I search for "Vibiana" on my phone's mapping app, the first hit is the venue. – Jonesey95 (talk) 18:11, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

When Googled via desktop, the page that comes up to the right is Cathedral at Saint Vibiana - yet the links to the left are all of the venue. The Cathedral at Saint Vibiana Wikipedia page may mention it's now a venue but the problem is the geo tag that I'm assuming comes from Wikipedia. The name doesn't match the business brand which is a problem for the client - suggesting the venue is a church. If you attempt to geo tag a social media post, all that comes up is the cathedral, not the venue. People have always been able to geo tag simply "Vibiana" but now it's "Cathedral of Saint Vibiana."

71.93.209.113 (talk) 19:05, 28 April 2017 (UTC)Vanessa

Hi Vanessa,

Do you know when this started? There was a change to how geo coordinates were handled in this article in January 2017. JJMC89 might know what the effects could be.

When I go to maps.google.com and search for "Vibiana", the map marker says (only) "Vibiana". I don't have a Facebook account or anything like that, but I'm sure that lots of people here do; could you give exact directions for how to see the problem? WhatamIdoing (talk) 19:54, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

The edit should have had no impact on the coordinates. |display= still includes title, so the coordinates are still primary. Also, the coordinates and the rest of the provided GeoData information are the same. — JJMC89 (T·C) 20:19, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

It started on Monday (maybe late last week). If you have Instagram or Facebook and attempt to post a picture (or edit a current picture to include a location) and attempt to geo tag "Vibiana," the tag will only come up as "Cathedral of Saint Vibiana." I was told the problem originated in but it's looking more like a Google problem.

It's a branding problem for the client as they're no longer the church, just the venue. I google the venue and it does come up but the geo tag for social media is the issue. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.93.209.113 (talk) 20:27, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

I can understand why that would be confusing for potential customers or event attendees.

For anyone else who's looking into this, Wikidata has had the same coordinates since 2013, so that looks like an unlikely source. WhatamIdoing (talk) 20:37, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

To me this just looks like something/someone at google has merged the two entities on the Google side. Nothing we can do about that. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 20:49, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

Well, nothing we want to do. Google likes Wikipedia and it's possible Google used our article Cathedral of Saint Vibiana to associate that name with "Vibiana" alone or with the coordinates in the article. But we shouldn't remove correct information just because external websites may use it in an unfortunate way for somebody. PrimeHunter (talk) 21:04, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

Thank you, everyone, for being so accommodating. I don't know why my colleague directed me here or why I followed the trail but here I was. Off to find out the real source. Again, thank you. 71.93.209.113 (talk) 20:59, 28 April 2017 (UTC)Vanessa

I think this is a Google or Facebook issue. – Jonesey95 (talk) 21:04, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

One of the categories added to the article relatively recently is "Catholic cathedrals in California". Since this is not technically a cathedral anymore, that would be incorrect, no? — Ƶ§œš¹ _{[lɛts b̥iː pʰəˈlaɪˀt]} 21:09, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

Categories usually don't distinguish between current and former entities, except categories exclusively for former entities like Category:Former cathedrals in the United States. There is no Category:Former catholic cathedrals in California so I see no reason to remove it from Category:Cathedrals in California and lose the category connection to cathedrals in the state. PrimeHunter (talk) 21:26, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

What about "Former Roman Catholic church buildings in California"? — Ƶ§œš¹ _{[lɛts b̥iː pʰəˈlaɪˀt]} 21:33, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

That's not a subcategory of Category:Cathedrals in California. We want the most specific categories on articles. PrimeHunter (talk) 21:46, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

Other than the specific wording, I'm not seeing a difference between the extant "Former Roman Catholic church buildings in California" and the hypothetical "Former catholic cathedrals in California". How are they different? — Ƶ§œš¹ _{[lɛts b̥iː pʰəˈlaɪˀt]} 23:48, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

I gather from Cathedral that all cathedrals are church buildings, but not all church buildings are cathedrals. So we should presumably have both the "Cathedrals in California" and "Former church buildings" cats on this page. WhatamIdoing (talk) 06:06, 29 April 2017 (UTC)

Template help please

Will someone knowledgeable of template coding please help me with Template:Redirect category? The documentation shows |same line= as a parameter for use but does not describe its action. Furthermore, when I look at the template coding itself, I do not see anything parsed by such a parameter. What is its purpose please? Thank you.--John Cline (talk) 04:50, 29 April 2017 (UTC)

@John Cline: |same_line= was removed on 31 October 2014 by Paine Ellsworth. — JJMC89 (T·C) 05:31, 29 April 2017 (UTC)

To editors John Cline and JJMC89: I should be whipped, kicked and fish-slapped for missing that documentation update! (Sincerely hope there aren't any more like that out there!) Best to you!  Paine Ellsworth  ^put'r there  07:27, 29 April 2017 (UTC)

@Paine Ellsworth: Here, have a traditional whack: —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 08:04, 29 April 2017 (UTC)

Whack! You've been whacked with a wet trout. Don't take this too seriously. Someone just wants to let you know you did something silly.

That din't hurt! <cringe> That's a whole lot better'n being smashed 'n squished by a whale.  Paine Ellsworth  ^put'r there  09:14, 29 April 2017 (UTC)

template:FIAV

Hello, Some state flags have a text or motto, like the flag of Brazil. In such flags, the reverse side is congruent to the obverse side and according to Glossary of vexillology this symbol () must be shown for these flags. The problem is that despite the symbol (), there is no tooltip for the "IFIS equal" symbol. This symbol is not in Template:FIAV. Could you please add this symbol to the FIAV template. Shfarshid (talk) 10:25, 29 April 2017 (UTC)

@Shfarshid: {{IFIS|Equal}} gives . Do you have a source saying it's also a FIAV symbol? Do you want {{IFIS}} to behave as {{FIAV}} and display the description as a tooltip instead of alt text? To compare a parameter supported by both templates, {{IFIS|Normal}} gives , while {{FIAV|normal}} gives . PrimeHunter (talk) 14:31, 29 April 2017 (UTC)

No I don't have any source. Thank you for introduce me the template IFIS. I just need a template which shows the description. IFIS templates are appropriate ones. Shfarshid (talk) 15:03, 29 April 2017 (UTC)

I have changed {{IFIS}} to use the description as mouseover instead of alt text.[55] PrimeHunter (talk) 21:02, 29 April 2017 (UTC)

Line up boxes

How can I line up the two boxes in Michelin_Guide#References on the same line? Debresser (talk) 21:11, 29 April 2017 (UTC)

You could place the second in <div style="float:right;">...</div>. I don't know how stable it is but it works for me. PrimeHunter (talk) 21:38, 29 April 2017 (UTC)

That worked.[56] Thanks. Debresser (talk) 21:53, 29 April 2017 (UTC)

Gallery problem

There appears to be a problem when using the <gallery></gallery> tags as it appears to cut the {{cite news}} template short used against one of the captions. An example of this can be seen in Shamakhi. Keith D (talk) 21:42, 29 April 2017 (UTC)

Fixed by removing linebreaks from the gallery caption.[57] Help:Gallery tag#Usage notes says: "Every line specifies an image file". PrimeHunter (talk) 22:54, 29 April 2017 (UTC)

Thanks for the quick response, I thought it may be something to do with the linefeeds but it did not appear to work for me in preview, probably missed one of the linefeeds. Keith D (talk) 23:00, 29 April 2017 (UTC)

Edit Count

When I click edit count on my user page it leads to this broken link instead of the working link. CTF83! 19:29, 27 April 2017 (UTC)

@CTF83!: your userpage is a bit busy, can you be more specific where this link is located? It may be a template, or a system message that needs updating. — xaosflux ^Talk 19:41, 27 April 2017 (UTC)

Neither the string "edit count" nor the posted link occur on your user page for me. If you see it there then you must have some script or other feature adding it. Anyway, the xTools are notoriously unstable. Both url's currently give the same mostly but not completely broken result for me. I guess they are both supposed to work and you just hit one of them at a lucky time where the tool responded. The one you call broken is linked on "Edit count" at the bottom of Special:Contributions/CTF83! for users with the default en language in preferences. The link is made by MediaWiki:Sp-contributions-footer. PrimeHunter (talk) 20:32, 27 April 2017 (UTC)

That link in the footer doesn't work for either the user in question or myself, it loads but there are no edits. The template to be edited for repair is {{Sp-contributions-footer}}. – Train2104 (t • c) 23:59, 27 April 2017 (UTC)

Both links currently work for me. xTools are unstable as mentioned. We could discuss whether the link should be removed, or replaced with another tool at Wikipedia:WikiProject edit counters, but I see no reason to change the url to the other xTools form unless we have data indicating that form is more likely to work. My guess: It makes no difference. PrimeHunter (talk) 00:36, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

Oh, ok, I thought it was a default Wikipedia feature. Thanks, CTF83! 05:32, 30 April 2017 (UTC)

@Xaosflux: It's at the bottom of the "user contributions" link, not the user page. CTF83! 05:34, 30 April 2017 (UTC)

Alerts for watchlist

• What you want is something that alerts you when you are not on WP to when something on, say, your watchlist changes. — O Fortuna ^{semper crescis, aut decrescis} 10:08, 29 April 2017 (UTC)

@Xaosflux: Actually, I intended this as a standalone request to the board  :) but I can see how it looked like a comment on Pyxis' problem. Incidentally, do you kow of such a thing? — O Fortuna ^{semper crescis, aut decrescis} 13:13, 29 April 2017 (UTC)

Apologies, moved it back out, feel free to reformat anyway you want! — xaosflux ^Talk 15:03, 29 April 2017 (UTC)

Pyxis Solitary, Is the Atom RSS feed (linked in the left hand column on the Watchlist) more reliable? Many email programs also work as RSS readers. Cabayi (talk) 13:43, 29 April 2017 (UTC)

To use the Atom RSS feed I would need to subscribe to it. I don't subscribe to any RSS feeds. I really shouldn't have to take any extra measure to receive the watchlist notifications I'm supposed to receive via email. Pyxis Solitary (talk) 09:36, 30 April 2017 (UTC)

I think the RSS feed may be better if you want to get updates all the time, but I'm also a big fan of RSS in general. Some email clients let you load an RSS feed or you could use something like Feedly. My watchlist is way to busy for RSS on enwiki, but I've used it on meta: and other sites with good results. — xaosflux ^Talk 15:03, 29 April 2017 (UTC)

The only thing that appears in my Atom RSS feed is changes made on April 29. Based on this, I don't think the feed is useful at all. (I prefer my activities on Wikipedia to be as easy as possible to navigate.) Pyxis Solitary (talk) 09:36, 30 April 2017 (UTC)

Alert on-wiki

I had a theoretically similar idea. I for example am at work or doing some non-wiki stuff and have Wikipedia open in one of tabs (that's not "active"). I would like to have a "notification" at tab title (so it would require to put it in <title> tag, I assume), that I have a new notification. It could be Echo notification, new entry in my watchlist, something special in recent changes etc. that triggers such notification. Thoughts on how easy/hard it would be? --Edgars2007 (talk/contribs) 16:54, 29 April 2017 (UTC)

Yes Edgars2007, that's exactly the kind of thing I was thinking! — O Fortuna ^{semper crescis, aut decrescis} 07:40, 30 April 2017 (UTC)

Secure connection failed

I'm hoping I'll be able to post this. Trying to edit (windows 10 / Firefox 53.0) and I keep getting an error message.

Secure Connection Failed

The connection to en.wikipedia.org was interrupted while the page was loading.

• The page you are trying to view cannot be shown because the authenticity of the received data could not be verified.
• Please contact the website owners to inform them of this problem.

Any ideas why? Was working OK earlier. Can view pages without problem. Mjroots (talk) 10:52, 30 April 2017 (UTC)

Hmmm, so why can't I edit the List of shipwrecks in 1837 then? Mjroots (talk) 10:53, 30 April 2017 (UTC)

I did a purge, then a section edit (rather than a whole page edit), and it's worked. Still mystified as to why it wouldn't load with a whole page edit. Mjroots (talk) 10:56, 30 April 2017 (UTC)

Nav box and mobile... Is someone in here really good at editing Wikipedia?

Look at my sandbox. I'm trying to make the nav box on the right either look minimally decent on mobile (i.e. not all messed up), or not appear at all on mobile. Either one would be fine with me. Is it really impossible? Karlpoppery (talk) 05:23, 26 April 2017 (UTC)

If someone answers, please email me, otherwise I won't see it. Thanks. Karlpoppery (talk) 05:04, 27 April 2017 (UTC)

@Karlpoppery: You can hide something in mobile by wrapping it in <div class="nomobile">...</div>. PrimeHunter (talk) 08:43, 30 April 2017 (UTC)

Thanks so much, I looked for this everywhere!Karlpoppery (talk) 14:34, 30 April 2017 (UTC)

Somebody with database access willing to make few queries?

So somebody is out there? I would need to run some queries for all Wikipedias, so there would be need for a script that loops trough them. If it's Python, I could write the script myself (the most parts of it). Theoretically the maximum number of needed queries is somewhere 50,000 (approx. 200 queries for each language), I assume, that's not very much. Queries for small languages would be fast and some of them probably won't return any result. But those 50,000 may be lowered down. And to person who is willing to help - no, there are no time-limits and yes, it is a one-time request (with possible rerun in a lot, lot smaller portions). --Edgars2007 (talk/contribs) 17:08, 29 April 2017 (UTC)

Its technically possible with a Stored Procedure in Quarry. Something simple in bash:

#!/usr/bin/env bash
WIKIS=$(mysql -h meta.labsdb -BN -e '
SELECT dbname FROM meta_p.wiki
WHERE family="wikipedia" AND is_closed = 0
')

QUERY="
SELECT CONCAT('This is datebase: ', DATABASE()) AS Tell_me_something;
"
for DBNAME in $WIKIS; do
  mysql -h "$DBNAME.labsdb" "${DBNAME}_p" -B -e "$QUERY";
  # mysql switches
  # -N No column headers
  # -B Bare formatted / -t Table formatted / -H HTML output / -X XML output
done

If you need me to help you, contact me on IRC. — Dispenser 17:52, 29 April 2017 (UTC)

OK, this is  Resolved. --Edgars2007 (talk/contribs) 20:50, 29 April 2017 (UTC)

Other existing resources from the Toolserver days: tswiki:Database access and tswiki:Iterating over wikis. — Dispenser 16:26, 30 April 2017 (UTC)

Wikimedia datacentre switchover to Eqiad

Hello, as you may or may not already know there will be a datacentre switch back to Eqiad, WMF's main data centre, on May 3rd at approximately 14:00 UTC. For approximately 20-30 minutes you will NOT be able to save edits to any WMF project. If you have any questions feel free to reply back to me here, or ask on IRC #wikimedia-tech ^connect. If there any major issues that occur during this time please report them to #wikimedia-tech on freenode! Ⓩⓟⓟⓘⓧ _Talk 18:29, 30 April 2017 (UTC)

I want to change my page tabs colors

Hello, I came to drop by because I'd like Module:Page tabs to allow alternate colors. However, I do not know Lua. Can you please make that edit so I can change the page tabs to white? Thanks, --UpsandDowns1234 (🗨) (My Contribs) 02:34, 30 April 2017 (UTC)

Maybe you would prefer Template:Start_tab? —░]PaleoNeonate█ ⏎ ?ERROR░ 22:34, 30 April 2017 (UTC)

Note that {{Page tabs}} has a parameter | This = to make a white background for the tab you are on. You don't currently use the parameter and that makes it a little harder to navigate your pages. PrimeHunter (talk) 22:44, 30 April 2017 (UTC)

Edit screen instability

Here's one that keeps driving me up a wall:

Many times when I edit a page, and sometimes when I just read a page, things get really squirrelly. For example, I've set prefs to have the purge clock at the top of the page. Sometimes it's there, sometimes it isn't. When I edit a page, sometimes the symbols below the edit screen are "clickable", and sometimes not. If I click Show preview, then the clickables appear, yet sometimes I have to preview two or three times before the "unclickables" are replaced by clickables. Getting my purge clock back sometimes means reloading the page several times.

I thought this might have something to do with the common.js scripts described in an above discussion, but even after emptying my common.js, I continue to have this problem. I use IE11 on W10 64-bit, and please no IE bashing, as I also use FF and Chrome (this problem exists in all three browsers), and I find IE far superior to either. I would be thankful for any and all helpful suggestions to remedy this problem.  Paine Ellsworth  ^put'r there  11:03, 30 April 2017 (UTC)

@Paine Ellsworth: The only immediate problem I could find was in MusikAnimal's script. But I think the real problem, is in User:Pathoschild's TemplateScript, which you have installed in your global.js. I have created an issue in his bugtracker. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 12:09, 30 April 2017 (UTC)

Thank you TheDJ! I wondered about that because another symptom is that all my scripts on the list in the left margin disappear along with the purge clock and the clickable symbols.  Paine Ellsworth  ^put'r there  12:30, 30 April 2017 (UTC)

The problem is in a part that is not editable for you, since it runs on tool labs. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 15:57, 30 April 2017 (UTC)

Ah, I see. So even though I can edit my global.js, I can't touch the //tools-static.wmflabs.org/meta/scripts/pathoschild.templatescript.js. That's cool.  Paine Ellsworth  ^put'r there  16:41, 30 April 2017 (UTC)

Indeed. If you want to get rid of the problems, then you can just blank your global.js of course and then watch the github issue for an update and reinstate afterwards. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 16:59, 30 April 2017 (UTC)

@Paine Ellsworth and TheDJ: I updated all my scripts to declare their RL dependencies. Let me know if any of them still have issues. :) —Pathoschild 04:49, 01 May 2017 (UTC)

To editors Pathoschild and TheDJ: yes, everything is working correctly again. Thank you both very much for your help!  Paine Ellsworth  ^put'r there  17:55, 1 May 2017 (UTC)

TheDJ, I don't know enough about the script, so I wonder if I add the same code you added to MusikAnimal's script, if that would fix the global.js, or should it be added differently since it's at meta?  Paine Ellsworth  ^put'r there  14:02, 30 April 2017 (UTC)

• I'm having the same problem—sometimes the javascript add-ons work, sometimes they don't, and not just in the edit window. This has started in the last few days and I haven't made any changes to my .js pages recently, and I don't use either of the scripts mentioned above. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 15:50, 30 April 2017 (UTC)
  • I waded through this discussion, which made me suspicious.  Paine Ellsworth  ^put'r there  15:54, 30 April 2017 (UTC)
    • @HJ Mitchell: Better now ? I made some changes to a few scripts, disable a few etc.
      1. User:HelloAnnyong/sockblock.js by User:HelloAnnyong (fixed)‎
      2. User:Amalthea/MakeAutopatroller.js by User:Amalthea (blanked for everyone for now)
      3. User:Mr.Z-man/moverevert2.js by User:Mr.Z-man (blanked for everyone)
      4. User:Haza-w/cactions.js by User:Haza-w (disabled for you)
    • If anyone knows newer versions of these scripts that should be preferred btw, then I can redirect some of that stuff perhaps. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 16:57, 30 April 2017 (UTC)

Media Viewer now disabled by default?

When I reset my preferences to default WP:Media Viewer is disabled. What's going on here? What's the skinny? Mark Schierbecker (talk) 17:44, 1 May 2017 (UTC)

@Mark Schierbecker: I think this is related to the bug at phab:T158346. I've added a comment there, plus some notes from testing to reproduce. Thanks for the report. Quiddity (WMF) (talk) 18:01, 1 May 2017 (UTC)

@Quiddity (WMF): Thanks. I created a clean alt account just now and Media Viewer was disabled before I touched any settings. You noted you were able to reproduce this by toggling reset a few times, but this appears to be default. Google Chrome, Windows 10. Mark Schierbecker (talk) 18:10, 1 May 2017 (UTC)

About time this was made opt-in. It's annoying that I had to opt-out individually on all 300 or so Wikimedia sites. It's also a pain when people who haven't altered their prefs post full URLs to images via both MediaViewer and whatever article they saw it on, because they believe that it's the only way of doing it. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 18:59, 1 May 2017 (UTC)

Getting to user talk or contributions pages in mobile view when no user page present

In mobile view, in Chrome on Android, when I'm viewing an edit diff, the name of the editor is linked to the editor's user page. Sometimes I want to use that link to get to the user's talk page or a list of the user's contributions. If the user has no user page, a screen appears showing a link to the talk page and a link to the contributions. However, that screen flashes by in an instant, replaced by a screen for creating the user page. If I tap the Back link, it doesn't return me to the view with the talk page and contribution list links, but to the edit diff page. If my timing and aim are good, I can sometimes successfully tap the link to the page I'm trying to get to before the new page editing screen replaces it, but that's unreliable and is quite a nuisance. Can this be fixed? Largoplazo (talk) 18:19, 1 May 2017 (UTC)

Example diffs: NFLisAwesome blue link, IcelandicFootball red link. I agree it's annoying. A workaround if you can edit url's is to remove the end of the url after clicking the red link, e.g. changing https://en.m.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:IcelandicFootball&redlink=1#/editor/0 to https://en.m.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:IcelandicFootball&redlink=1#/editor/. PrimeHunter (talk) 19:17, 1 May 2017 (UTC)

Tech News: 2017-18

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

• The content translation tool works again. It was turned off because of a database problem. [58]
• Scripts using very old deprecated wikibits functions show errors. These functions have not worked since 2013. You should fix or disable broken scripts. You can see examples of how to upgrade scripts. This is the same thing as Tech News wrote about in issue 2017/16. You need to add mw.loader.using( 'mediawiki.util' ) block for your scripts also, or add mediawiki.util dependency in gadget ResourceLoader section in MediaWiki:Gadgets-definition. [59][60]

Problems

• Because of a data centre test you will be able to read but not edit the wikis for 20 to 30 minutes on 3 May. This will start at 14:00 (UTC). You might lose edits if you try to save during this time. You can read more about this.

Changes this week

• There is no new MediaWiki version this week. This is because of the data centre test.

Meetings

• You can join the next meeting with the VisualEditor team. During the meeting, you can tell developers which bugs you think are the most important. The meeting will be on 2 May at 19:00 (UTC). See how to join.

Future changes

• All Wikimedia wikis will have cookie blocks from May 8. This is an extension to the autoblock system so when a user is blocked, the next time they visit the wiki a cookie will be set. This means that even if the user switches accounts and to a new IP address the cookie will block them again. [61]
• The Publish changes, Show preview and Show changes buttons will look slightly different. This is to fit with the OOUI look. Users can test scripts, gadgets and so on to see if they work with the new interface by adding &ooui=1 to the URL. [62]

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

19:50, 1 May 2017 (UTC)

Chronological order of archive entries

Why aren't archive entries sorted chronologically? Shouldn't that be improved?--Hubon (talk) 20:59, 19 April 2017 (UTC)

Please clarify with an example what you refer to. PrimeHunter (talk) 21:07, 19 April 2017 (UTC)

TO the best of my knowledge, they are sorted chronologically based on archive time. עוד מישהו Od Mishehu 03:20, 20 April 2017 (UTC)

@Hubon: Assuming that you refer to archives created by bots such as ClueBot III (talk · contribs) and lowercase sigmabot III (talk · contribs), the bot goes through all of the threads that are on the original talk page, selects those which meet the criteria for archiving (such as time elapsed since last post), copies those threads to the bottom of the archive page in the same order, and then deletes them from the original.

Let's assume that a talk page has an archive with three threads (A B D) and the original talk page still has seven threads (C E F G H I J). Of those, three of them (C E H) are eligible for archiving, so after the bot has visited, the archive will end up with six threads (A B D C E H in that order), and the original page will have four (F G I J). Later on, thread K is created on the original talk page and thread F becomes eligible for archiving; so after the bot has again visited, we now have the the archive with seven threads (A B D C E H F), and the original page with four (G I J K). It might be that thread C was created before thread D, and that that thread F was created before thread H, but archiving bots always add at the bottom, they don't insert into chronological order. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 11:31, 20 April 2017 (UTC)

עוד מישהו, User:Redrose64: Excuse me, I was [very] imprecise: Of course, I only meant the order of search results when using the seach box!!! Sorry once again for this confusion! Greetings--Hubon (talk) 19:45, 23 April 2017 (UTC)

PS: @עוד מישהו, User:Redrose64: Thus, I would still like to repeat my question with reference to this clarification. Best--Hubon (talk) 00:25, 25 April 2017 (UTC)

Given archives are (approximately:) in chronological order and their pagenames tell the order, a more general feature (and more widely useful) that would solve it is "have search results be sortable by name". DMacks (talk) 01:29, 25 April 2017 (UTC)

There was a discussion about the modified question which could probably be found by searching the archives for "prefer-recent". An example of searching the ANI archives for "Jimbo" with most-recent first is:

Jimbo prefer-recent:1,1 prefix:Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/IncidentArchive

That does not work in an ideal manner as no data is stored regarding when a particular mention of Jimbo occurred. The "when" might be inferred from a signature timestamp, but there is no indexed database entry with the information. However, it worked pretty well the once or twice I've tried it. Johnuniq (talk) 10:33, 25 April 2017 (UTC)

@DMacks & Johnuniq: Hm, I still do not quite get why it is not possible to create a feature that makes the search function arrange search results by the page name of the respective archive page. I guess, that would be basically more reasonable and feasible than having them sorted by timestamps etc.--Hubon (talk) 14:04, 26 April 2017 (UTC)

Are there any other ideas, comments, questions... on this issue?--Hubon (talk) 20:48, 1 May 2017 (UTC)

Purge confirmation clicker redux

The helpful script snippet provided in the archive is no longer working for me after the latest code update. I get stuck on the page with the new blue "Yes" button that does not match my operating system's standard UI. Sigh.

Does someone have an updated version of that snippet? Save me a click, somebody! – Jonesey95 (talk) 05:39, 1 May 2017 (UTC)

Jonesey95: You can replace

$('form.mw-htmlform').submit();

with

$( '#ooui-3' ).find( 'button' ).click();

Nirmos (talk) 12:41, 1 May 2017 (UTC)

That doesn't seem right. A fragment like that should just work. Most likely User:Jonesey95 has other scripts installed which are failing. I'll take a look. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 14:20, 1 May 2017 (UTC)

@Jonesey95: Right, made the following changes:

• Disabled User:Zhaofeng Li/Reflinks.js by User:Zhaofeng Li for now (can probably soon be re-enable, he usually maintains his scripts.
• Disabled your autoed scripts, which are likely all broken
• Disabled User:Frietjes/masspurge.js by User:Frietjes for now. It's rather old, not sure if Frietjes plans on updating it
• Fixed User:Frietjes/addcheckforunknownparameters.js 
• Fixed User:Frietjes/findargdups.js
• Cleaned up the logic for your purge action, and for adding the portal link. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 14:46, 1 May 2017 (UTC)

Thanks for your assistance. All of the scripts that you commented out are working for me, but I was seeing some "deprecated parameter" messages in my browser's developer log. I will re-enable them one at a time to see which ones were causing the errors. – Jonesey95 (talk) 23:25, 1 May 2017 (UTC)

Indexing Issue

Hello Wikipedians,

I have what I think is a technical issue regarding a page I created not too long ago. I created the page Peace Revolution about a month ago and after some experimenting found that its not search engine indexed and i cant seem to figure out why. According to this page [63] pages older than 30 days or have been reviewed should be indexed. The discussion here [64] also seems to imply that the page should be indexed after it has been reviewed.

But at this point this page is already over 30 days old and has been reviewed according to the page curation log [65]. So what i dont understand is why isnt the Peace Revolution page indexed to search engines yet? Is there some other policy page i am missing that would explain it or is this just some kind of technical glitch that needs to be resolved? Advice would be appreciated. Wikiman5676 (talk) 01:32, 2 May 2017 (UTC)

It does not have noindex in the html so it allows indexing. It varies how long it takes search engines to index a given page. Bing and Yahoo have indexed it but not Google. PrimeHunter (talk) 09:12, 2 May 2017 (UTC)

Is it patrolled yet? See WP:NPP#The purpose of reviewing new pages. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 09:13, 2 May 2017 (UTC)

according to the page curation log mentioned earlier yes.Wikiman5676 (talk) 13:49, 2 May 2017 (UTC)

But yes I see it is indexed on yahoo. Thank you very much. I was worried I did something wrong. Wikiman5676 (talk) 13:52, 2 May 2017 (UTC)

Map won't render at a specific resolution

Extended content
Default size; no pixel setting specified Map at 250px Map at 260px Map at 270px Map at 300px Error generating thumbnail/There have been too many recent failed attempts (4 or more) to render this thumbnail. Please try again later.

Why won't this image render at 260px? It's not just me; when I added it to another Wikipedia, my addition got reverted with a message that seems to say "I can't see this map", and when I put it back a moment later (not realising that I'd been reverted), the size was modified with a reference to the 260px resolution causing problems. Nyttend (talk) 00:43, 1 May 2017 (UTC)

See T159242 and T151202 and this unsatisfying discussion from two months ago. – Jonesey95 (talk) 04:13, 1 May 2017 (UTC)

While the the renderer does have its problems, in this case the main issue is with the file itself, it causes segfault when attempts are made to open the original in something like gimp (although some other applications do load it), it also has a lot of issues according to a validator:

• https://validator.nu/?doc=https%3A%2F%2Fupload.wikimedia.org%2Fwikipedia%2Fcommons%2Ff%2Ff0%2FMap_of_Virginia_highlighting_Richmond_City.svg

It is a good idea to always validate files (especially SVG) ... — Preceding unsigned comment added by 197.218.91.97 (talk) 06:29, 1 May 2017 (UTC)

That's not the problem here. I've never encountered this problem with other files in this series of maps, but the validator is raising the same errors with other files, e.g. File:Map of Virginia highlighting Richmond County.svg. Nyttend (talk) 12:08, 1 May 2017 (UTC)

Absense of evidence is not evidence of absence. It is faulty logic. It is like saying that someone isn't infected with AIDS or smoking doesn't cause cancer because people haven't started exhibiting the symptoms. It is clear that those files have problems, for example, the original file doesn't even display properly on an android (chrome) device, or firefox 47. It also causes a segfault (on gimp) and makes the default file manager software in fedora core to die because of the same segfault when it tries to thumbnail the file, this also happens with the newer file. The fact that files uploaded a long time with problems were tolerated by older versions of software doesn't mean that they will indefinitely work. This is likely the case here. Something was probably changed or updated in the software stack and it exposed the broken files, or maybe attempting to render at that resolution exposes the issue.197.218.81.51 (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 14:01, 1 May 2017 (UTC)

Yes, that is a relevant matter. If the validation issues you raise were responsible for this file having display problems, files with identical validation issues should experience the same problems, but they're not. Nyttend (talk) 21:58, 1 May 2017 (UTC)

Seems like blind faith, perhaps seeing is believing (the nature of the validation error affects its ability to render):

14:02, 2 May 2017 (UTC)

suppressredirect being used without suppressredirect permissions

Hello all, trying to find where we may have a write up for this: for certain moves users without the suppressredirect are still able (in some cases are FORCED) to suppress the creation of a redirect when moving pages. I found a related, non-resovled, phab ticket phab:T71162 - but not documentation of which namespace->namespaces are having this behavior forced now. — xaosflux ^Talk 19:04, 23 April 2017 (UTC)

A I know redirects are automatically suppressed for moves of js and css pages - as it makes no sense. Ruslik_Zero 20:35, 23 April 2017 (UTC)

@Ruslik0: Here is an example. — xaosflux ^Talk 20:46, 23 April 2017 (UTC)

example 2. — xaosflux ^Talk 21:01, 23 April 2017 (UTC)

The second example shows a module being moved to a new name. I think that has always not left a redirect because #REDIRECT cannot work on a module page where only valid Lua can be used (example from March 2013 is here). Johnuniq (talk) 00:44, 24 April 2017 (UTC)

At one time, moving .css and .js pages certainly left a "bad" #REDIRECT [[]] directive; it's relatively recently (two years ago maybe?) that redir suppression became the default for .css and .js pages. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 00:54, 24 April 2017 (UTC)

• After thinking, these anomalies are all likely due to special situations: one was an non-wikitext content type page; and the module: namespace is somewhat special as well. — xaosflux ^Talk 01:02, 24 April 2017 (UTC)
• FYI, suppressredirect was disabled some time ago for user's JS/CSS subpages. Requested re-enabling: phab:T115947. XXN, 20:34, 28 April 2017 (UTC)
  • That summary seems to be inaccurate. The suppressredirect right works fine on user JS and CSS subpages. Your complaint there seems to be that you want to be able to suppress redirects *without* having the right. Anomie⚔ 15:23, 29 April 2017 (UTC)
• Moving JS and CSS pages can leave redirects behind since mid-2015. The relevant changes were phab:T73200 and phab:T73201 respectively. GeoffreyT2000 (talk) 16:26, 2 May 2017 (UTC)

Introducing the Community health initiative on Wikipedia

Hello! Today we'd like to introduce the new Community health initiative, the people who will be working on it, and most importantly how you can get involved. See the post at Village pump (miscellaneous) Caroline, Sydney, & Trevor of the Anti-Harassment Tools team. (delivered by SPoore (WMF) (talk) , Community Advocate, Community health initiative (talk) 03:18, 3 May 2017 (UTC)) 23:50, 2 May 2017 (UTC)

Where did this image come from?

Commons lists it as File:HeLa Cells Image 3709-PH.jpg, Wikipedia also lists it as File:HeLa Cells Image 3709-PH.jpg but the issue is that its origins are claimed to be US Gov/Public Domain but its information parameters are incomplete:

Title: HeLa cells dividing under electron microscopy

Image ID: 3709

Photographer: Unknown

Restrictions: Public Domain

The origin URL is listed as http://fmp.cit.nih.gov/hi/ (which I can't figure out) The image was uploaded in 2005. I've tried to find this image somewhere on the NIH website, have done WHOIS on the URL, done searches on it, etc., but am hoping some of the image mavens around here can figure out where this image originated from. The George Otto Gey article captions it as "First image of HeLa cells taken by Dr. Gey 1951" but has no proof of that claim. The image had been used at HeLa but was removed because the sourcing was incomplete. Thanks, Shearonink (talk) 01:06, 3 May 2017 (UTC)

Judging from the deleted file history, the full source URL is actually [66]. It was uploaded by User:SeanMack, who still seems to be active, maybe he can help. But it is not unusual for a database from 10 years ago to go missing. Perhaps if you know enough about NIH websites, someone will be able to guess if it was merged into another database. If it was taken from a 'blog' or something on that website, then it's probably gone for good. De photo id of 3709 is probably the most important hint to find it back. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 10:13, 3 May 2017 (UTC)

You copied a cut off url. The full url was http://fmp.cit.nih.gov/hi/FMPro?-db=HI_images.fp5&-Token.8=34318&-format=detailsimg.html&accNbrShort=3709&-Lay=working&-Max=All&-find. SeanMack changed it to http://fmp.cit.nih.gov/hi/ 92 minutes later (admin only link). PrimeHunter (talk) 10:32, 3 May 2017 (UTC)

Twinkle not working

I opened up my watchlist this morning and was surprised to discover that the Twinkle tab did not load. I have it enabled as a gadget. Wikipedia:Twinkle/Preferences shows nothing. My other tools stopped working last night. Is anyone else having this problem?--Auric talk 11:35, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

@Auric: Likely it's one of the user scripts that you have installed. which skin are you using ? I get errors when i load your monobook.js file, so if you are using monobook, then that is likely your problem. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 12:01, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

It's not just Auric. It loads very erratically today for me. Yesterday it was fine. I'm also finding that some diffs don't load at all. And that there seems to be a slowdown in most pages loading. 12:04, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

My scripts load fine. As for watchlist, what reason do you have to believe it should load on the watchlist page? --Izno (talk) 12:16, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

No, something has changed. I suspect mediawiki.util module is not loaded extremely early anymore as it was before, and that now several user scripts etc are breaking because they refer to mediawiki.util, but are not wrapping there code in a mw.loader.using to enforce that dependency. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 12:22, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

Twinkle is not working for me as well, neither the userscript nor the gadget version. Regards SoWhy 16:37, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

@SoWhy: which skin are you using ? You are likely being affected by the below mentioned script-pocalypse 2017 edition, where we have dumped some old crap that people didn't clean up yet. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 16:46, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

Monobook. I thought the problem only affects scripts in my monobook.js? Regards SoWhy 16:49, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

I had to clear the scripts in my vector.js as well, before anything would work.--Auric talk 20:31, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

Once you find the script that causes the problem (see below), all others should work again. TW works for me again for sure. Regards SoWhy 20:33, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

In my case, removing LiveClock from my common.js appears to have re-enabled Twinkle. --David Biddulph (talk) 07:03, 1 May 2017 (UTC)

Those types of Twinkle-powered links are missing for me now as well. — xaosflux ^Talk 11:34, 1 May 2017 (UTC)

Thanks TheDJ for the mw.loader.using fix for my personal scripts page. — xaosflux ^Talk 13:31, 1 May 2017 (UTC)

"restore this version" is gone from diffs?

In the diffs ("Difference between revisions"), the left (older) version used to have a "restore this version" clickable label toward the top. It disappeared about a week or so ago... at least for me. (actually it seems to come up on random rare occassions). I miss it. I didn't change any preferences, and I can't find anything about in preferences. Any ideas? Herostratus (talk) 06:30, 1 May 2017 (UTC)

It's made by Twinkle at Special:Preferences#mw-prefsection-gadgets. See #Twinkle not working and #Old script-pocalypse for recent discussions with tips on how to get scripts working. PrimeHunter (talk) 09:31, 1 May 2017 (UTC)

@Herostratus: I fixed for you: User:Lourdes/PageCuration.js by User:Lourdes

• Removed a copy of Twinkle, which you should enable as a gadget in your preferences
• Disabled broken User:Dycedarg/easyprod.js by User:Dycedarg
• Disabled Wikipedia:WikiProject User scripts/Scripts/Easy db
• Disabled Wikipedia:WikiProject User scripts/Scripts/AutoAFD.js
• Disabled Wikipedia:WikiProject User scripts/Scripts/CloseAFD.js
• Disabled User:Digitalme/aiv.js by User:Digitalme

This should stabilise things for you. If anyone has alternatives for these scripts, wants to fix them, please do. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 13:50, 1 May 2017 (UTC)

Woo! Thank you! All fixed. I'm so used to Twinkle that I forget its not part of the default interface. Thanks again, lots! Herostratus (talk) 15:10, 1 May 2017 (UTC)

Pages not completely rendering, the last few days

I'm a Twinkle user. During just the last few days, regardless of whether I'm on my home computer, my work computer, or my phone (in Desktop view), at least half of the time I open an article, the Twinkle tab fails to appear next to the Move tab. In addition, about half the time I browse to Special:NewPagesFeed, under the page's main heading I see "Please wait ..." and then nothing happens. The other half of the time, the page displays normally. Largoplazo (talk) 18:13, 1 May 2017 (UTC)

I just did some debugging with my Chrome inspector window open and found that on occasions where the TW tab doesn't appear, the page is getting hung up on a script at User:Quarl/wikipage.js. In the console, it stops at

//the "retrieved from" text contains the canonical article URL (even if we're looking at an edit or history page)
function getCanonPageURL0() {
    return getElementsByClass("printfooter", null, 'div')[0].getElementsByTagName('a')[0].href;
}

and gives me the error message "Uncaught ReferenceError: getElementsByClass is not defined". On occasions where the TW tab does get displayed, this error message doesn't appear. I am loading this script in my Vector.js but I don't remember why. Any ideas what's going on here? Largoplazo (talk) 02:11, 3 May 2017 (UTC)

Largoplazo: getElementsByClass used to be available as a global variable. This was made by wikibits, which is now removed. You will have to use document.getElementsByClassName or jQuery instead. Nirmos (talk) 02:47, 3 May 2017 (UTC)

Sadly, I can't do anything of the sort, since it isn't my code! And User:Quarl doesn't seem to be active, at least not as a contributor. I've removed my call to his/her code. Maybe I'll figure out now why I was using it, since I don't remember. Largoplazo (talk) 09:03, 3 May 2017 (UTC)

Maybe I can change it, as I see a couple of other users made fixes in connection with the switch from http to https back in August 2013. Meanwhile, I'm wondering why I was hitting this error only some of the time instead on every page load of an article. The timing of the various things being executed must have something to do with it, but I'd expect the error to show in the console every time even if sometimes it happened after the visible part of the page had been rendered successfully. Largoplazo (talk) 09:24, 3 May 2017 (UTC)

@Largoplazo: You were likely always hitting it (or at least always in certain namespaces), just sometimes earlier than at other times, causing variance in your experience. All those scripts being referenced are part of User:John_Vandenberg/Deletion_sorting_tool, which apparently has been broken since 2011 or something. You might want to look at User:Enterprisey/delsort instead. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 14:51, 3 May 2017 (UTC)

Error after planned outage

Trying to revdel content gives me: A database query error has occurred. This may indicate a bug in the software. [WQnrpgpAADsAAj14qxoAAABF] 2017-05-03 14:39:35: Fatal exception of type "Wikimedia\Rdbms\DBQueryError" --NeilN ^{talk to me} 14:42, 3 May 2017 (UTC)

Told Ops about it, stay tuned. Thanks, Elitre (WMF) (talk) 14:47, 3 May 2017 (UTC)

@NeilN: This should be fixed now, could you try again and confirm that it works for you now? (I tested revdel on test.wikipedia.org, but I'd like to confirm it works on a real wiki too.) --Roan Kattouw (WMF) (talk) 15:15, 3 May 2017 (UTC)

@Roan Kattouw (WMF): Works, thanks. --NeilN ^{talk to me} 15:19, 3 May 2017 (UTC)

I will generate an outage report at about why this happened and link it from here. --jynus (talk) 15:43, 3 May 2017 (UTC)

I forgot to link it here, sorry https://wikitech.wikimedia.org/wiki/Incident_documentation/20170503-missing_index --jynus (talk) 14:36, 9 July 2017 (UTC)

Article Creation through bots

Hello! I got bot status on Ta wiki. And I created this Bot account to create some articles, on a specific topic. See here, like this I want to do. I explored on mediawiki manuals on how to create articles using bot. But I didn't find anything. I have tested through paws. But I don't know how to create many articles through Paws or any other else. As like this article creation me too like to do this. Can you plaese tell me how to do this step by step.--ShriheeranBOT (talk) 11:44, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

Have you considered using mw:Extension:ArticlePlaceholder instead? Whatamidoing (WMF) (talk) 17:40, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

This was also posted to two user talk pages, contrary to WP:MULTI. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 19:57, 29 April 2017 (UTC)

I'm copying my previous reply here, to avoid fragmentation (this is where it is best and will be archived):

@ShriheeranBOT: I have never written a Wikimedia bot yet, although it is among the things I may eventually do someday. However, of interest may be: [67] and [68], [69] (the server-side part which can be useful if client-side parts are not completely documented), [70] (the code for the edit part of the server-side of the API), [71] (the documentation for the traditional index.php API, which is older and simpler than api.php, and was originally primarily for browsers). There also are various open source bots which can serve as example, as well as some libraries they use which exist for various scripting languages (i.e. those at [72]). Here are a few other links which I have accumulated on the topic when I started looking around a few weeks ago: [73], [74], [75], [76] (PHP, includes wikibot framework), [77], [78] (semi-bots), [79] (shell bot). As for creating pages, my impression is that it is the same operation as editing. The edit request obtains a form and/or token, which can be used to HTTP POST the content (providing the necessary cookies and token form var). If the page did not exist, it is created at the first edit, if I understand. The proposal you received at the Village Pump to use a Mediawiki extension ([80]) as an alternative may be a great idea if the goal is to provide default stubs with minimal autogenerated content for many unexisting articles at real time (rather than needing them to be pre-created, these import data from Wikidata to a readable format). Hopefully this helps a bit, —░]PaleoNeonate█ ⏎ ?ERROR░ 01:00, 30 April 2017 (UTC)

PaleoNeonate So, how to install the ArticlePlaceHolder--ShriheeranBOT (talk) 05:50, 30 April 2017 (UTC)

@ShriheeranBOT: I think that someone who has the necessary sysadmin access to [81] would have to add an entry for tawiki. It's possible that Project:WikiProject SysAdmins or Project:Support_desk be the proper places to request this, but I'm not familiar yet with those areas myself. Hopefully someone can correct me or also assist. —░]PaleoNeonate█ ⏎ ?ERROR░ 07:13, 30 April 2017 (UTC)

If you want ArticlePlaceholder, then I think you want to follow the example of https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T136282 (a request to have it turned on at another wiki). Whatamidoing (WMF) (talk) 17:07, 3 May 2017 (UTC)

Old script-pocalypse

Hi, if you are having problems, where elements are not appearing on the page all of a sudden, then this is probably because your userscripts are broken. The tech team has dropped some things that have been deprecated for about 6 years. However since most people don't know anything about JS, other than to copy paste into their common.js or vector.js page, some of you might have missed the 6 years of warnings :) If you have a problem. just report here, volunteers will help you along. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 13:16, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

@TheDJ: is there a list of functions that have been removed? From what I've seen so far, the only one erroring out is addPortletLink. What else? Writ Keeper ⚇♔ 14:07, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

Indeed. I was like "what the..." and poked around awhile, thinking the scripts I use were broken, until I realized my common.js was what was broken. I was able to patch common.js by using the replacements shown here. Stevie is the man! ^{Talk • Work} 14:11, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

The wikibits Javascript module is no longer load by default. Code using wikibits should be refactored to use modern replacements.

wikibits identifiers

clientPC is_gecko is_safari is_safari_win is_chrome is_chrome_mac is_ff2 is_ff2_win is_ff2_x11 webkit_match ff2_bugs ie6_bugs doneOnloadHook onloadFuncts addOnloadHook runOnloadHook killEvt loadedScripts importScript importStylesheet importScriptURI importStylesheetURI appendCSS addHandler addClickHandler removeHandler hookEvent mwEditButtons mwCustomEditButtons tooltipAccessKeyPrefix tooltipAccessKeyRegexp updateTooltipAccessKeys ta akeytt checkboxes lastCheckbox setupCheckboxShiftClick addCheckboxClickHandlers checkboxClickHandler showTocToggle toggleToc ts_image_path ts_image_up ts_image_down ts_image_none ts_europeandate ts_alternate_row_colors ts_number_transform_table ts_number_regex sortables_init ts_makeSortable ts_getInnerText ts_resortTable ts_initTransformTable ts_toLowerCase ts_dateToSortKey ts_parseFloat ts_currencyToSortKey ts_sort_generic ts_alternate changeText getInnerText escapeQuotes escapeQuotesHTML addPortletLink jsMsg injectSpinner removeSpinner getElementsByClassName redirectToFragment

— JJMC89 (T·C) 14:21, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

That is what I linked to. Stevie is the man! ^{Talk • Work} 14:24, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

That can't be a 100% accurate list of functions that have been removed, because importScript still works. Those are all deprecated, yes, but not all of them were removed today. Writ Keeper ⚇♔ 14:29, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

The list of actually removed function can be seen here. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 14:40, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

Great, thanks. Writ Keeper ⚇♔ 16:50, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

Another problem you might encounter is that you use mw.util.something, and that this is failing. This is because a script is not ensuring that mediawiki.util is loaded (before the above mentioned legacy script loaded this for you). This can be fixed by wrapping such a call: For this problem, you will need to change something like this:

mw.util.addPortletLink( args );

$.when( mw.loader.using( [ 'mediawiki.util' ] ), $.ready ).then( function() {
    mw.util.addPortletLink( args );
} );

—TheDJ (talk • contribs) 14:33, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

• @TheDJ: Thanks for the heads-up. I was wondering why most of my scripts are no longer working. Apart from Twinkle (see section above), the following scripts I have been using have stopped working (although I cannot swear that all worked until now):
  • User:Mr.Z-man/rollbackSummary.js
  • User:Animum/easyblock.js
  • Wikipedia:WikiProject User scripts/Scripts/qSig
  • Wikipedia:WikiProject User scripts/Scripts/Six tabs (sometimes)
  • User:Ais523/highlightmyname2.js
  • User:Anomie/util.js
  • User:Anomie/useridentifier.js
  • User:Fran Rogers/CH2 en.js
  • User:Ale_jrb/Scripts/csdhelper.js
  • User:Ale_jrb/Scripts/unblock.js
  • UTC Clock gadget

Can you or someone else skilled in JS fix them please? Regards SoWhy 16:48, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

@SoWhy: Hmm, I don't feel comfortable modifying other people's scripts, but I can make copies of them in my own userspace and fix them there, if the original script author is inactive. Writ Keeper ⚇♔ 16:52, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

I doubt anyone minds if you just fix the script without making any changes but if you feel uncomfortable, maybe you can tell me which of those are actually broken and which are just not working because others are broken, then I can ask the authors to fix them. Regards SoWhy 16:54, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

NVM, I figured it out myself. By disabling those scipts that displayed errors in the JS Debugger of Firefox the rest started working again. Struck out those above. Regards SoWhy 17:08, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

@SoWhy: *I'd* mind it. But it's not a big deal, really. I take it the scripts that still have errors are those that haven't been struck through in your list? The rollbackSummary script definitely would've caused a problem. I've created a new, working version of it here: User:Writ_Keeper/rollbackSummary.js. Writ Keeper ⚇♔ 17:12, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

Great, thanks. I posted what I did below, hopefully someone will find it useful. Regards SoWhy 17:18, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

Sysop highlighter script

I'm running a script , it was called adminrights.js which got changed over to Amalthea's userhighlighter.js. that highlights sysops names in a blue background. Amalthea's version depends on her bot which collects sysops's names. That page show all names minus 1, the format appears to be exactly the same in both diffs and the js code hasn't been changed in a long time (meaning at least a month !) It stopped working as of today. Anyone else having the same issue with this script?  Ҝ Ø Ƽ Ħ  12:48, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

@KoshVorlon: Moved your section to the current "help everyone make it through another Friday morning post-deployment". --Izno (talk) 13:02, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

@KoshVorlon: Your vector.js had an deletion request on it, so i deleted it. I note however that it seems that it was working (how, I have no idea....), because it seemed to be the only place where you had that script included. If you want me to recover some of those scripts, give me a ping... —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 13:40, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

TheDJ Actually, I use monobook.js for my daily needs. I did read up and saw that we were supposed to stop asking for scripts via ImportScript (at least that was my understanding of it ) so I changed the request over (as you'll see in my monobook). It looked like it was working but has reverted back. I double check my monobook to make sure I have the call correct.  Ҝ Ø Ƽ Ħ  13:45, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

Script's working now, Amalthea saw my note on her talk page and made the change on her script.  Ҝ Ø Ƽ Ħ  13:56, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

And I've cleaned up some more things in your monobook.js file. While importScript is deprecated, you don't have to worry that much about it right now. importScript is so prevalent throughout all the pages, that we will likely take special considerations at some point to clean that up. That's better than you using mw.loader incorrectly. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 14:05, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

TheDJ I saw your edits, thank you. It's curious that you're saying this mw loader is incorrect. I got that syntax directly from this page . It seems to match up with that page, specifically the section labeled ImportScriptURI. I'm not arguing, because you know Javascript better than I do, more like, I'm just curious, since I matched the call and made only a change to what was being called, what was incorrect ?  Ҝ Ø Ƽ Ħ  15:41, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

You started it with the username, but that's not a valid start. It either needs to be a full url, or server relative url (so start with /wiki/ or /w/index.php) —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 15:44, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

Thank you ! I understand exactly what you're saying!  Ҝ Ø Ƽ Ħ  18:34, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

Guide: How to find which scripts are actually broken

For those less able to understand JavaScript, here is a handy guide to find out which scripts are broken and prevent others from loading:

Firefox

1. Open any Wikipedia page
2. Open the Developer Tools by pressing F12 or under Tools => Web Developer => Toggle Tools
3. Select "Debugger"
4. In the lower pane, select "JS"
5. Now it should display some lines with orange bullets. Open those by clicking on them, then click on the entry on the right ("load.php")
6. The userscript generating the error will appear above
7. Disable all scripts that appear above in your <skin>.js file until no more errors are displayed.
8. The rest should work again

Video of the steps

Chrome

1. Open any Wikipedia page
2. Open the Developer Tools by pressing F12 or under Menu => More tools => Developer tools
3. Select "Console"
4. Now the failing scripts should be displayed with a red background and a small red X symbol
5. Click any of the lines to find out the script which is causing the problems
6. Disable all scripts that appear above in your <skin>.js file until no more errors are displayed.
7. The rest should work again

Video of the steps

Hope that helps at least some people. Regards SoWhy 17:16, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

@SoWhy: I'm struggling with finding the lower pane and JS. What browser are you using? I've tried FF and Chrome. Thanks. Doug Weller talk 17:57, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

@Doug Weller: Sorry, forgot that the split view is not enabled by default. Hit "Esc" while on the Debugger tab to open the lower pane. Regards SoWhy 18:14, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

Here is a quick video I made (sorry, VirtualBox does not record mouse pointers but it should be clear from the highlighting): [82] Regards SoWhy 18:28, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

I'm using Chrome, so my steps were a bit different, but I was able to find what you were pointing at. Thank you ! (You need to sticky that, if it's possible , I'm sure more questions will pop up about scripts )  Ҝ Ø Ƽ Ħ  18:45, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

The video is great. Only one thing in red, "JavaScript parse error: Parse error: Illegal token in file 'User:Doug_Weller/common.js' on line 28 (anonymous)" which looks like it's in a rollback script. Also a load of "this is deprecated messages" which I don't understand. Doug Weller talk 14:10, 29 April 2017 (UTC)

Help? Doug Weller talk 11:22, 30 April 2017 (UTC)

My main problem is User:Apoc2400/refToolbarPlus.js, which has stopped working. The developer pane shows the main problem as "Uncaught ReferenceError: mwCustomEditButtons is not defined at HTMLDocument.refbuttons". --Auric talk 20:17, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

@Auric: Why do you need that script ? It seems like another version of reftoolbar, which is already enabled by default. This will clash with that default, and has also not been kept up to date apparently. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 20:40, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

I have informed the original author of that script. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 20:44, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

Thanks. It help(ed) in citing references and looking for errors in references.--Auric talk 20:52, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

Still not getting it

I've tried working through the steps for Firefox and I'm just not getting it. Enough of of the steps and what the video shows are different enough that I'm just not getting it. Is there any other way for me to fix this? - SummerPhD^v2.0 04:17, 29 April 2017 (UTC)

@SummerPhDv2.0: I've removed some old stuff from you script file, that was really broken. Hope it's better for you now. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 08:29, 29 April 2017 (UTC)

Awesome! Looks like my beloved Twinkle is back. Thanks! - SummerPhD^v2.0 14:47, 29 April 2017 (UTC)

I'm stuck as well

I'm afraid I'm not managing to follow it either. :-( I have tried following the instructions and watching the video a few times but my screen is not showing the same as the video. I have the most up to date version of Firefox on an iMac and have encountered loading problems for a while. I did remove some scripts the other day but it didn't fix it. Help, please? SagaciousPhil - Chat 08:38, 29 April 2017 (UTC)

Fixed some things for you too. If you have any remaining issues, can you see if you can get a more accurate description of what sometimes fails on which page ? —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 09:15, 29 April 2017 (UTC)

CharInsert not working for me

I rely on CharInsert for editing, and use the standard-issue source editor. For the last day or so, CharInsert has operated only very intermittently; most of the time I have the copy-paste toolbar with tiny symbols, which is nearly unusable. I'm using the latest version of Firefox (53.0), and tried to debug my vector.js page according to the instructions above but couldn't figure out which scripts were problematic (I ground to a halt on step 6, since I couldn't reconcile "the userscript above" with what was on my .js page). Any help much appreciated. All the best, Miniapolis 14:27, 29 April 2017 (UTC)

@Miniapolis: I have disabled the following of your scripts for you, which were not up to date with coding standards.

• User:Ohconfucius/script/Sources.js by User:Ohconfucius
• User:Dr pda/articlehistory.js by User:Dr pda
• User:Rjd0060/OTRS-Text.js by User:Rjd0060
• User:Timotheus Canens/massedit.js by User:Timotheus Canens
• ru:MediaWiki:Gadget-markblocked.js

Hope it is better now. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 16:57, 29 April 2017 (UTC)

Yes it is, TheDJ, and I really appreciate the de-cruft; I don't install scripts willy-nilly, but over time they can accumulate :-). I noticed that the mark-blocked gadget is now a checkbox in preferences. Many thanks and all the best, Miniapolis 19:42, 29 April 2017 (UTC)

Help please

Can someone help me fix whatever I need to fix. Twinkle works only after re-loading/clearing my cache multiple times, as above charinsert is also not working, markedblocked, linkclassifier and so on. Thanx in advance, - Mlpearc (open channel) 14:42, 30 April 2017 (UTC)

@Mlpearc: This should fix the remaining problems. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 16:22, 30 April 2017 (UTC)

@TheDJ: The symptoms have not changed. - Mlpearc (open channel) 00:17, 1 May 2017 (UTC)

@Mlpearc: I totally missed that you also have a gigantic global.js file. I don't have time to help until later today in the european evening. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 07:29, 1 May 2017 (UTC)

@TheDJ: :P I also forgot about that page, I have cleared it as it's not really needed, however the page you adjusted for me User:Mlpearc/common.js has many script calls at the top, which are all edited out, I am used to using these. I edited them out the other day in an attempt to fix the issue, can you check that these are correct considering the new format. Thank you very much for your help, I have built and maintained my own wiki farm but .js is just beyond me. Thanx again, - Mlpearc (open channel) 13:31, 1 May 2017 (UTC)

Reminder about the next thing to break some scripts

Tracked in Phabricator
Task T162849

The BIG blue button is coming soon to editing tools near you – well, maybe not in the next few weeks, but probably this calendar year. Buttons under the edit summary will get converted to OOUI. This should affect relatively few scripts and tools, but if you're looking at your scripts now, then please consider whether yours will be affected by this, too. Whatamidoing (WMF) (talk) 06:09, 29 April 2017 (UTC)

Update: You can check your scripts against this upcoming change (or just see what it looks like) by clicking on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random?action=edit&ooui=1

This may happen during the month of May, so please check now while you're thinking about it. Whatamidoing (WMF) (talk) 17:14, 3 May 2017 (UTC)

Sorry but I don't get it

Twinkle is definitely not working unless I reload on every page but I'm blowed if I can follow the instructions above. I've no idea whether any other installed scripts are affected - time will tell but, alas, what a mess this is. - Sitush (talk) 17:06, 30 April 2017 (UTC)

Sorted. Thanks, TheDJ. - Sitush (talk) 17:50, 30 April 2017 (UTC)

@Sitush: this was your biggest problem. I also disable a link in your vector.js for an AfC script that no longer is in use. Instead, you can enable the AfC script as a gadget in your preferences. I do note however, that it seems that this particular gadget itself is affected by the above noted problems. I'll try and poke someone about that. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 17:52, 30 April 2017 (UTC)

I think I fixed AfC helper as well now. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 18:04, 30 April 2017 (UTC)

I don't get it either?

This stuff is way past my understanding. If someone would mind checking User:Huntster/monobook.js for obvious nonsense, and perhaps User:Huntster/monobook.js/formatcitations.js and User:Huntster/monobook.js/highlightmyname.js (some customised copypasta), It would be appreciated. I think I got most of the basic stuff with this edit, but I don't really know. — Huntster (t @ c) 23:43, 30 April 2017 (UTC)

@Huntster: Is it better now ? I'm not sure if I found all the problems, but definitely most of them —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 16:00, 1 May 2017 (UTC)

@TheDJ: I fixed the two things you noted as inactive (removed language checker and changed link to pageview tool). I think everything else is working correct, except that you noted "most of the ohc scripts currently now working" but commented them out. Was that "not working", and if so, any idea on whether there are replacements? They are incredibly valuable tools. Thanks for looking at the page and fixing stuff! — Huntster (t @ c) 19:22, 1 May 2017 (UTC)

Yeah, meant not. He'll likely be able to fix them within a couple of days, or i might, but no more time for that today. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 20:05, 1 May 2017 (UTC)

Regardless, thanks again for your efforts. Ohconfucius, by chance are you aware of this issue? — Huntster (t @ c) 00:39, 3 May 2017 (UTC)

Article previews

I had a feature activated that would show me a preview of a page when I moused over a link, but that seems to have become rather sporadic over the last few days, along with a few other features. Not sure why this would be, or why it would be causing my notifications and messages buttons to be taking me to separate pages instead of simply opening a popup like before, but I'd quite like to work out why this is happening. Any ideas? – PeeJay 23:37, 1 May 2017 (UTC)

Pee: You have a lot of old Javascript in User:PeeJay2K3/vector.js. You need to:

1. Replace addPortletLink with mw.util.addPortletLink
2. Wrap any code that uses mediawiki.util like this:

   mw.loader.using( 'mediawiki.util', function() {
   	//Code that uses mw.util
   } );
   

3. Replace all the wgFoo with mw.config.get( 'wgFoo' ). Example: wgAction → mw.config.get( 'wgAction' )

Nirmos (talk) 01:36, 2 May 2017 (UTC)

I couldn't see any code that matched points 2 and 3, but I've changed the addPortletLink text, which seems to have worked. Thanks. – PeeJay 13:24, 2 May 2017 (UTC)

@PeeJay2K3: that whole script seems to be just a version of User:Dr pda/prosesize.js. I've replaced it with, since that script is at least widely used, so if it breaks again, you'll have a higher change that it will be fixed ASAP. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 20:31, 3 May 2017 (UTC)

Italics in categorytree

In Lists of concert tours, the first entry is in roman and all other entries are in italic. I believe this is a bug. The help for template #tag and for categorytree doesn't explain what's going on. In particular, on Help:Category#Categorizing redirect pages it says, "Redirect pages can be categorized. The category tag must be placed after the redirect link. On a category page, redirects are listed in italics." However, at least some of the categories listed in italics at Lists of concert tours are not redirects. —Anomalocaris (talk) 15:08, 3 May 2017 (UTC)

Subcategories are not in italics but other pages are. It's not mentioned at mw:Extension:CategoryTree but I assume it's a deliberate feature. It seems useful to me that you can distinguish between them. Category:Lists of concert tours only has one subcategory and it has no further subcategories so you only get one entry without italics at Lists of concert tours. See President of the United States#Presidential administrations for a more mixed example. PrimeHunter (talk) 17:04, 3 May 2017 (UTC)

PrimeHunter: At President of the United States#Presidential administrations, the "Presidential administrations" italics and the "Lists relating to the United States presidency" italics are entirely unhelpful. They do not inform the reader of anything; there is no indication anywhere why some entries are in italic. These italics serve no useful purpose and should be removed. What is the correct talk page for that discussion? —Anomalocaris (talk) 20:48, 3 May 2017 (UTC)

The meaning is not explained to the reader but some readers will already know or quickly realize that non-italics are categories and italics are member pages of those categories. I have added it to Help:Category.[83] The class CategoryTreeLabelPage is assigned to member pages so you can remove the italics for yourself with this in your CSS:

.CategoryTreeLabelPage { font-style: normal; }

If you want to remove it for everybody then you could try to get consensus for adding it to MediaWiki:Common.css. I would not support the addition. PrimeHunter (talk) 22:08, 3 May 2017 (UTC)

PrimeHunter: Thank you for the explanation. I don't agree with the current standard, but I don't want to fight for changing it. —Anomalocaris (talk) 01:09, 4 May 2017 (UTC)

The script "getUnpatrolledOfAlexNewArtBotResultsPages.js" by "User:Fred_Gandt" cannot function without the user having the "patroller" group right.

I'm getting this script error in every page I enter. "The script "getUnpatrolledOfAlexNewArtBotResultsPages.js" by "User:Fred_Gandt" cannot function without the user having the "patroller" group right." Literally, every page, this appears since yesterday. I've searched but apparently, no one has complained, so it must be only me. Here's a print screen--Threeohsix (talk) 10:01, 4 May 2017 (UTC)

The test wad added yesterday.[84] You can just remove the script from User:Threeohsix/common.js. PrimeHunter (talk) 10:11, 4 May 2017 (UTC)

Weird coding error at mt:Kategorija:Kannabis?

Forgive my asking here, but Maltese Wikipedia is really tiny with few regulars. The cat page has an error saying <a name="Pages_in_category" id="Pages_in_category"></a>Paġni fil-kategorija "Kannabis" at the top. Is there some way to fix this? Goonsquad LCpl Mulvaney (talk) 13:52, 3 May 2017 (UTC)

Delete mt:MediaWiki:Category header. PrimeHunter (talk) 14:39, 3 May 2017 (UTC)

 Not done Hmmm, tried editing it but I appear to lack permissions somehow. Does that template serve some vital function, or should it be modified or deleted entirely? Goonsquad LCpl Mulvaney (talk) 14:42, 3 May 2017 (UTC)

Pages in the MediaWiki namespace can only be edited by administrators. I don't know Maltese but here is a list of the four current administrators. The only function of mt:MediaWiki:Category header is to replace the default message on category headers which can be seen at mt:MediaWiki:Category header/qqx. It hasn't been translated to Maltese so if the Maltese Wikipedia want a Maltese message then they must either edit mt:MediaWiki:Category header to be similar to mt:MediaWiki:Category header/qqx, or better: Translate this (and other) messages at translatewiki.net so all MediaWiki wikis in Maltese will get the translation. See meta:Translatewiki.net. It takes time before changes at translatewiki.net are imported. You don't have to be a Maltese administrator to contribute there. Changes to the MediaWiki namespace like mt:MediaWiki:Category header have immediate effect or within minutes in my experience. PrimeHunter (talk) 17:22, 3 May 2017 (UTC)

This looks like the same problem I notified at Wikipedia:Village pump (technical)/Archive 134#Visible markup on category pages. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 20:39, 3 May 2017 (UTC)

This stuff is over my head, just wanted to call attention to it! I'll stick with the writing and sourcing, coding is beyond my meager skills. Goonsquad LCpl Mulvaney (talk) 21:49, 3 May 2017 (UTC)

All you have to do is alert an active Maltese administrator to this discussion. Heck, let me alert the entire Maltese administrator corps for you: Chrisportelli, Joelemaltais, Leli Forte, Srl. PrimeHunter (talk) 22:23, 3 May 2017 (UTC)

Curiously, the problem that I linked above occurred soon after an outage (on 5 February 2015) - and we had an "outage", of sorts, today. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 22:45, 3 May 2017 (UTC)

Cached category pages at archive.org indicate the Maltese Wikipedia has had this problem since 2015. PrimeHunter (talk) 23:02, 3 May 2017 (UTC)

I fixed it as the administrators are mostly inactive. In future you can also ask at m:SRM. Ruslik_Zero 08:14, 4 May 2017 (UTC)

Thanks, Ruslik0! Goonsquad LCpl Mulvaney (talk) 13:59, 4 May 2017 (UTC)

Remove page from watchlist confirmation

Why am I asked to confirm removal of pages from watchlist nowadays? It is annoying having to do this every time. It is doubly annoying that you are not taken back to the original page after confirming and then have to back up through two pages to get there. Is there any way of turning this off and going back to the old way that didn't require these extra clicks? SpinningSpark 09:24, 29 April 2017 (UTC)

If JavaScript is enabled (and is finished loading on the page), the removal should be done by a script without requiring a confirmation. If you have JS disabled or blocked somehow, then no, there's no way of turning it off. Otherwise you might check that you don't have any scripts installed that are affected by the issue discussed above in #Old script-pocalypse. Anomie⚔ 15:30, 29 April 2017 (UTC)

Yeah, that looks like my problem. JS is enabled but it takes forever to load, I get the raw page for several seconds before the JS kicks in. Twinkle frequently gets missed and I have to reload the page to get the Twinkle links. Is there a way to identify the problem scripts or is it just going to be trial and error? SpinningSpark 17:41, 29 April 2017 (UTC)

@Spinningspark: I went through your monobook.js file and cleaned up and fixed a few things. You have some pretty old links in there btw.. i mean bugzilla... toolserver. You might wanna do some more cleaning. I disabled your afchelper usage, you can better enable that as a gadget in your preferences. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 20:47, 1 May 2017 (UTC)

@TheDJ: thanks for doing that. As you have probably seen, I tried updating one line myself from the information on the Legacy Javascript page, but that resulted in breaking the js altogether. I gave up after that as the task was obviously going to take me more time than I had available. SpinningSpark 10:28, 3 May 2017 (UTC)

And why has the button changed? How do I get a proper button back? --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 23:05, 29 April 2017 (UTC)

Which button? Whatamidoing (WMF) (talk) 17:18, 3 May 2017 (UTC)

?? There's only one. It says "Yes" inside. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 22:10, 3 May 2017 (UTC)

The blue one? You can't. It's been switched to mw:OOjs UI, and while the appearance can be tweaked, it can't be completely returned to the old style (because it's not the old button). Whatamidoing (WMF) (talk) 18:41, 4 May 2017 (UTC)

Reference Tooltips

I've resolved my own issue, but posting here in case it's happened to someone else. Reference Tooltips was checked on my Preference gadgets. As of a few hours ago, that tool disabled the function that jumps to the reference when you click on the inline citation. The tooltip popped up, but it wouldn't let me go to the reference. I unclicked this option under Preferences/Gadgets. Fixed the problem. Since then, I shut down my computer and came back online later. The issue is still there. If I enable Tooltips, it doesn't let me click an inline citation and jump to the reference. I figure I don't need those tooltips, so they'll stay unchecked under Preferences. — Maile (talk) 16:46, 4 May 2017 (UTC)

@Maile66: interesting. Can you check if you have Navigation popups (gadget) or Page Preview (Beta feature) enabled by chance ? —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 19:29, 4 May 2017 (UTC)

@TheDJ: I have Navigation popups checked. I don't have any Beta features checked. — Maile (talk) 19:33, 4 May 2017 (UTC)

Hmm, i can't find an obvious cause just yet. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 19:59, 4 May 2017 (UTC)

I just did a test by unchecking Navigation popups and checking the Reference Tooltips. Same result, the Tooltips won't let me click down to the inline citation's reference at the bottom. Now, this may be a browser issue (Firefox 53.0), because I just tried on both the Edge browser and IE. This just started happening this morning, but Firefox did update about a week ago. I'm not logged in on Edge or IE, but I get the Reference Tooltips automatically, and it lets me click down to the reference at the bottom of the page. I'm not going to try it by logging in on Edge or IE, because that automatically logs me out on Firefox, and I just don't want to go through the logging in, logging out, logging in stuff. — Maile (talk) 20:21, 4 May 2017 (UTC)

atop box displaced by navbox

The box generated by the {{atop}} at Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/IncidentArchive953#Bbb23 renders below the adjacent navbox generated by {{Administrators' noticeboard navbox all}}. Firefox and IE. Experimentation shows that it appears in the correct location when the navbox is removed. Known issue? Any solution? ―Mandruss ☎ 10:58, 4 May 2017 (UTC)

It's caused by clear: right; in {{Quote box}}. PrimeHunter (talk) 11:23, 4 May 2017 (UTC)

To clarify, you mean the {{Quote box}} invoked by {{atop}}. Thanks for the diagnosis; is the illness treatable? ―Mandruss ☎ 11:37, 4 May 2017 (UTC)

In general or in that particular case ? A general 'fix' will have side effects for other situations, so i'm not sure if that is worth it. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 19:32, 4 May 2017 (UTC)

Removing clear: right; from {{Quote box}} in general has side effects but how about only omitting it when its' called by {{atop}}? I don't know a compelling reason to disallow floating content to the right of the result box in {{atop}}. It could for example add this to the {{Quote box}} call: |align=none |style=float: right; margin: 0.5em 0 0.8em 1.4em;. First |align=none tells {{Quote box}} to make no alignment code, and then style=... adds the same alignment code as {{Quote box}} except clear: right;, so the net result is to omit that. The same could be achieved with an extra optional {{Quote box}} parameter to omit the clear. PrimeHunter (talk) 20:27, 4 May 2017 (UTC)

Pages not loading completely or very slowly

This could be a problem because I was using Vector. Switching to Mono seems to have sped thing up but I hate the font. I may have some dodgy scripts, see my post above. Doug Weller talk 18:29, 2 May 2017 (UTC)

Doug Weller: You need to remove

input#wpSummary {
    /* This was added near the end of February */
    padding:0.625em 0.546875em 0.546875em;
}
/* Which has a higher CSS specificity than: */
.wikEdSummaryText {
    padding: 0px;
    box-sizing: border-box;
}

from User:Doug Weller/common.js because that's CSS and you've put it in your JavaScript file. You can put CSS in User:Doug Weller/common.css instead. Nirmos (talk) 02:27, 3 May 2017 (UTC)

@Nirmos: Thanks. I've realised that I'm no longer sure what does what! Anyway, that seemed to help. Doug Weller talk 08:14, 3 May 2017 (UTC)

Responded too soon. I just tried to undo an edit and the page stuck with about 20 lines of the page visible. Still stuck after 4 minutes. Doug Weller talk 08:41, 3 May 2017 (UTC)

@Doug Weller: I made some more fixes. Any better now ? —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 11:29, 3 May 2017 (UTC)

@TheDJ: Thanks. I waited to see if I had any more problems. They're erratic, but I still occasionally have the same problem, an article sticks while loading and I have to reload. Doug Weller talk 10:49, 5 May 2017 (UTC)

Tried to edit here just now and it stuck. Doug Weller talk 10:52, 5 May 2017 (UTC)

Doug Weller: If you can say what the error in the console is when it happens, that would help. You should be able to open the console by pressing F12 in most browsers. Nirmos (talk) 11:01, 5 May 2017 (UTC)

@Nirmos: Thanks, will try to remember. Of course it's all working fine now! Doug Weller talk 11:08, 5 May 2017 (UTC)

JavaScript RegExp problem

I've run into a problem writing a userscript, and need the help of someone more knowledgeable about JavaScript than myself.

Please see my post at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject JavaScript#Nested RegExp.

Thank you. The Transhumanist 11:19, 5 May 2017 (UTC)

Rollback workflow?

When completing a rollback operation - did the workflow just change- seems like I'm seeing diff pages when not expecting them? — xaosflux ^Talk 03:57, 5 May 2017 (UTC)

Possibly an unexpected change in (just my?) "Don't show diff after performing a rollback" preference? — xaosflux ^Talk 03:59, 5 May 2017 (UTC)

Upon using WP:ROLLBACK, the very next page displayed has been a diff since at least 2010, which is when i was given rollback. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 09:14, 5 May 2017 (UTC)

Looks like I had a personal settings/browser/etc issue, thanks for confirming things are OK. — xaosflux ^Talk 11:31, 5 May 2017 (UTC)

Twinkle and swappage options not showing up

I have both Twinkle and pageswap activated, but occasionally, when I go to a page/go to revert an edit, neither option shows up. Sometimes it does, but other times it doesn't. I started experiencing this yesterday after coming back from a two month break; this issue arises in both Chrome and Edge.

Please help. Thanks. SkyWarrior 02:59, 4 May 2017 (UTC)

SkyWarrior: It would be helpful if you could check the browser console (by pressing F12) and say what the error is, but in the meantime:

1. addPortletLink need to be changed to mw.util.addPortletLink in User:SkyWarrior/common.js and User:Fox Wilson/delsort.js
2. Any code that uses mw.util in User:SkyWarrior/common.js, User:Fox Wilson/delsort.js and User:Andy M. Wang/pageswap.js needs to be wrapped like this:

   mw.loader.using( 'mediawiki.util', function() {
   	//Code that uses mw.util
   } );
   

Nirmos (talk) 03:24, 4 May 2017 (UTC)

It appears to be fixed. Thanks. SkyWarrior 00:16, 6 May 2017 (UTC)

I've run into some weird regex problems in JavaScript

And I could sure use your advice. See Wikipedia talk:WikiProject JavaScript#The whole regex. The Transhumanist 12:27, 6 May 2017 (UTC)

Like how to check if a list item has more asterisks (in the edit page) than the list item directly above it. So you can tell whether it is a child node or not. $1\* doesn't work for some reason. See a more detailed description of the problem at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject JavaScript#What the script is supposed to do. Thank you. The Transhumanist 01:41, 7 May 2017 (UTC)

Characters and Size Counting tool

Like This, Is there are any tools in English Wikipedia! The above mentioned tool shows the size and the No.of Characters in the Edit Page of Any Page. But My wish is to have tool that shows the size and the No.of Characters in the top any Page in The Reading Page. Not in Editing Page. What should I do to change that? Or Is there any alternative ways or Tools. (Screenshot of that tool)--Shriheeran (talk) 01:50, 7 May 2017 (UTC)