Wiktionary:Simple talk/Archive 18

Announcing Wikipedia 1.19 beta

Wikimedia Foundation is getting ready to push out 1.19 to all the WMF-hosted wikis. As we finish wrapping up our code review, you can test the new version right now on beta.wmflabs.org. For more information, please read the release notes or the start of the final announcement.

The following are the areas that you will probably be most interested in:

Faster loading of javascript files makes dependency tracking more important.
New common*.css files usable by skins instead of having to copy piles of generic styles from MonoBook or Vector's css.
The default user signature now contains a talk link in addition to the user link.
Searching blocked usernames in block log is now clearer.
Better timezone recognition in user preferences.
Improved diff readability for colorblind people.
The interwiki links table can now be accessed also when the interwiki cache is used (used in the API and the Interwiki extension).
More gender support (for instance in logs and user lists).
Language converter improved, e.g. it now works depending on the page content language.
Time and number-formatting magic words also now depend on the page content language.
Bidirectional support further improved after 1.18.

Report any problems on the labs beta wiki and we'll work to address them before they software is released to the production wikis.

Note that this cluster does have SUL but it is not integrated with SUL in production, so you'll need to create another account. You should avoid using the same password as you use here. — Global message delivery 16:33, 15 January 2012 (UTC)

MediaWiki 1.19

(Apologies if this message isn't in your language.) The Wikimedia Foundation is planning to upgrade MediaWiki (the software powering this wiki) to its latest version this month. You can help to test it before it is enabled, to avoid disruption and breakage. More information is available in the full announcement. Thank you for your understanding.

Guillaume Paumier, via the Global message delivery system (wrong page? You can fix it.). 15:18, 12 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Survey invitation

The Wikimedia Foundation would like to invite you to take part in a brief survey.

With this survey, the Foundation hopes to figure out which resources Wikimedians want and need (some may require funding), and how to prioritize them. Not all Foundation programs will be on here (core operations are specifically excluded) – just resources that individual contributors or Wikimedia-affiliated organizations such as chapters might ask for.

The goal here is to identify what YOU (or groups, such as chapters or clubs) might be interested in, ranking the options by preference. We have not included on this list things like “keep the servers running”, because they’re not a responsibility of individual contributors or volunteer organizations. This survey is intended to tell us what funding priorities contributors agree and disagree on.

To read more about the survey, and to take part, please visit the survey page. You may select the language in which to take the survey with the pull-down menu at the top.

This invitation is being sent only to those projects where the survey has been translated in full or in majority into your language. It is, however, open to any contributor from any project. Please feel free to share the link with other Wikimedians and to invite their participation.

If you have any questions for me, please address them to my talk page, since I won’t be able to keep an eye at every point where I place the notice.

Thank you! Slaporte (WMF) (talk) 22:11, 5 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Our tools are broken

Hey, I think what happened is Soxred withdrew sponsership of his bots that track edit count pies, article creations, etc. At English Wikipedia, they've solved this by having someone else sponser the tools. Should we do the same here? Purplebackpack89 (talk) 19:25, 9 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Just change the part of the URL which says "~soxred93" (or whatever) to "~tparis" since he has taken them over. The Toolserver is for all wikis, nothing has to be changed locally except the URL. -Orashmatash (talk) 19:27, 9 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

If you've any specific pages that need updating, which you can't edit, just let me know and I get this changed. -Barras talk 21:36, 9 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Anchors

There's a discussion on w:Talk:Streptococcal pharyngitis about the benefits of having anchors to specific definitions on a single page. The template w:Template:Anchor can be used for this purpose, or alternatively the actual Html <span id=NAME></span> as I've done on irritate (though the template is less messy). Would this be particularly problematic? Osiris (talk) 07:38, 21 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

anywayS

Is anyways an actual word?

fall through the cracks

Please look at the verb template at fall through the cracks.

I don't know how to handle this better. --Horeki (talk) 20:33, 30 April 2012 (UTC)[reply]

bicep / biceps

The entries for bicep and biceps are incorrect. Both the singular and plural is biceps. The form bicep is a recent incorrect innovation by people who assume the final "-s" is for the plural. It isn't. The word comes from a Latin adjective that ends in "-s" in the singular. --EncycloPetey (talk) 02:14, 12 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Fixed now hopefully. Pmlineditor (t · c · l) 17:42, 12 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Update on IPv6

(Apologies if this message isn't in your language. Please consider translating it, as well as the full version of this announcement on Meta)

The Wikimedia Foundation is planning to do limited testing of IPv6 on June 2-3. If there are not too many problems, we may fully enable IPv6 on World IPv6 day (June 6), and keep it enabled.

What this means for your project:

At least on June 2-3, 2012, you may see a small number of edits from IPv6 addresses, which are in the form "2001:0db8:85a3:0000:0000:8a2e:0370:7334". See e.g. w:en:IPv6 address. These addresses should behave like any other IP address: You can leave messages on their talk pages; you can track their contributions; you can block them. (See the full version of this announcement for notes on range blocks.)

In the mid term, some user scripts and tools will need to be adapted for IPv6.

We suspect that IPv6 usage is going to be very low initially, meaning that abuse should be manageable, and we will assist in the monitoring of the situation.

Read the full version of this announcement on how to test the behavior of IPv6 with various tools and how to leave bug reports, and to find a fuller analysis of the implications of the IPv6 migration.

--Erik Möller, VP of Engineering and Product Development, Wikimedia Foundation 01:22, 2 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Distributed via Global message delivery. (Wrong page? Fix here.)

2011 Picture of the Year competition

македонски • norsk • polski

Dear Wikimedians,

Wikimedia Commons is happy to announce that the 2011 Picture of the Year competition is now open. We are interested in your opinion as to which images qualify to be the Picture of the Year 2011. Any user registered at Commons or a Wikimedia wiki SUL-related to Commons with more than 75 edits before 1 April 2012 (UTC) is welcome to vote and, of course everyone is welcome to view!

Detailed information about the contest can be found at the introductory page.

About 600 of the best of Wikimedia Common's photos, animations, movies and graphics were chosen –by the international Wikimedia Commons community– out of 12 million files during 2011 and are now called Featured Pictures.

From professional animal and plant shots to breathtaking panoramas and skylines, restorations of historically relevant images, images portraying the world's best architecture, maps, emblems, diagrams created with the most modern technology, and impressive human portraits, Commons Features Pictures of all flavors.

For your convenience, we have sorted the images into topic categories.

We regret that you receive this message in English; we intended to use banners to notify you in your native language but there was both, human and technical resistance.

See you on Commons! --Picture of the Year 2011 Committee 18:38, 5 June 2012 (UTC)

Distributed via Global message delivery. (Wrong page? Fix here.)

tag for uncommon meaning

There are a bunch of fairly common words that also have obscure meanings. It would be nice to mark these obscure meanings somehow so that an english-learner would know not to worry about them. Is there a standard for this? Should I use (uncommon) or (rare) or something like that? --Gyroidben (talk) 05:44, 12 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]