Wiktionary:Simple talk/Archive 28

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Bot - database report[change]

Hi. I'd like permission to run a bot that will report words that exist on enwiktionary but not here, to help provide users with a place to contribute (i.e. a list of words to create here). Thoughts? Thanks, --DannyS712 (talk) 04:32, 6 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Somewhat related, you may like this script: w:en:User:Koavf/simplife.js. —Justin (koavf)❤T☮C☺M☯ 05:02, 6 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]
I'll try it out, but you should know that using global variables like wgPageName rather than mw.config.get is deprecated (same with using addOnloadHook). --DannyS712 (talk) 05:05, 6 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks. If you have suggestions on how I can rewrite it, that would be appreciated. —Justin (koavf)❤T☮C☺M☯ 05:47, 6 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]
So it’ll be a bot that updates a page regularly? Minorax (talk) 13:31, 6 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Idk if this will help but do check out User:HydrizBot’s page. Minorax (talk) 13:36, 6 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]
@DannyS712: Is it possible to also have a page that includes all pages in Special:WantedPages? Minorax (talk) 05:23, 8 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Sure, https://simple.wiktionary.org/w/api.php?action=query&list=querypage&qppage=Wantedpages retrieves it as a query. --DannyS712 (talk) 06:13, 8 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Is it possible to go beyond 5000? Minorax (talk) 08:03, 8 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Not from that query, but I can recreate the query used (https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/plugins/gitiles/mediawiki/core/+/refs/heads/master/includes/specials/SpecialWantedpages.php) if needed. It'll just be really slow --DannyS712 (talk) 16:14, 8 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Seems good. Minorax (talk) 17:03, 8 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]
I support this proposal. Thoughts @Brett? Minorax (talk) 17:03, 8 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, it seems like a good proposal.--Brett (talk) 19:52, 8 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]
@DannyS712: Kindly create the bot’s userpage and do a trial run. Minorax (talk) 23:32, 8 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]
@DannyS712: Any updates? Minorax (talk) 05:30, 17 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Sorry, forgot about this. I don't remember how I was planning to code this, but when I do I'll be back :( ...--DannyS712 (talk) 06:13, 22 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Wiki Loves Folklore[change]

Hello Folks,

Wiki Loves Love is back again in 2020 iteration as Wiki Loves Folklore from 1 February, 2020 - 29 February, 2020. Join us to celebrate the local cultural heritage of your region with the theme of folklore in the international photography contest at Wikimedia Commons. Images, videos and audios representing different forms of folk cultures and new forms of heritage that haven’t otherwise been documented so far are welcome submissions in Wiki Loves Folklore. Learn more about the contest at Meta-Wiki and Commons.

Kind regards,
Wiki Loves Folklore International Team
— Tulsi Bhagat (contribs | talk)
sent using MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 06:15, 18 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Movement Learning and Leadership Development Project[change]

Hello

The Wikimedia Foundation’s Community Development team is seeking to learn more about the way volunteers learn and develop into the many different roles that exist in the movement. Our goal is to build a movement informed framework that provides shared clarity and outlines accessible pathways on how to grow and develop skills within the movement. To this end, we are looking to speak with you, our community to learn about your journey as a Wikimedia volunteer. Whether you joined yesterday or have been here from the very start, we want to hear about the many ways volunteers join and contribute to our movement.

To learn more about the project, please visit the Meta page. If you are interested in participating in the project, please complete this simple Google form. Although we may not be able to speak to everyone who expresses interest, we encourage you to complete this short form if you are interested in participating!

-- LMiranda (WMF) (talk) 19:01, 22 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Additional interface for edit conflicts on talk pages[change]

Sorry, for writing this text in English. If you could help to translate it, it would be appreciated.

You might know the new interface for edit conflicts (currently a beta feature). Now, Wikimedia Germany is designing an additional interface to solve edit conflicts on talk pages. This interface is shown to you when you write on a discussion page and another person writes a discussion post in the same line and saves it before you do. With this additional editing conflict interface you can adjust the order of the comments and edit your comment. We are inviting everyone to have a look at the planned feature. Let us know what you think on our central feedback page! -- For the Technical Wishes Team: Max Klemm (WMDE) 14:15, 26 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

IPA /ɹ/ vs /r/[change]

In IPA, the ɹ is the voiced alveolar approximant used in most English words like run, while r represents a voiced alveolar trill, which is used in some dialects of English and other languages. In this wiki, these two symbols are mixed indiscriminately. For example we have /r/ in warm, and /ɹ/ in formula, even though they represent identical sounds. I think we should agree on one and replace the other.

Our pronunciation key is a phonemic transcription, not a phonetic one. This means that phonemes /r/ and /ɹ/ do not represent strictly and only the phones [r] and [ɹ] respectively. Rather, /r/ represents [r] and all its allophones, and the same is true for /ɹ/.

In English [r] and [ɹ] happen to be allophones (see pronunciation of English /r/). In other words, English has no cases where a change from [r] to [ɹ] results in a different word (e.g., [ɹəʊd] & [rəʊd] cannot be anything but both road, whereas [rəʊd] & [ləʊd] are different words). As a result, the choice between /r/ and /ɹ/ has no effect on the meaning of our IPA transcription. Both represent "an English R sound".

Because of this lack of difference, because this is the Simple English wiktionary, and because we should not expect our users to be familiar with /ɹ/, I suggest that we standardize on /r/.--Brett (talk) 14:24, 12 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]

@Brett: Seems fine for me. But would require a bot to do it. 1,852 pages to edit. --Minorax (talk) 14:53, 12 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Agree, it would need a bot, but that's beyond my ken. Shall I make a request a Wikipedia:en:AutoWikiBrowser/Tasks?--Brett (talk) 15:47, 12 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]
@Brett: WP might just reject it as beyond their scope and AWB might not be suitable for this. Maybe @DannyS712: can help? Minorax (talk) 16:08, 12 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Just to ensure I understand correctly, in all IPA templates, replace `ɹ` with `r`? If you can whitelist me for AWB on this wiki, I should be able to do that in the next few days --DannyS712 (talk) 16:50, 12 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Yes that's correct. I've added you to the whitelist.--Brett (talk) 17:14, 12 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Is there a flooder group I can be added to for a few hours? --DannyS712 (talk) 17:40, 12 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]
None that I know of.--Brett (talk) 18:24, 12 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]
@DannyS712: I suppose I could flag you as a bot.--Brett (talk) 18:50, 12 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Since I don't want to flood RC, that might be a good idea - I don't know my schedule for the next bit, but 24 hours should be long enough - I'll ping if I'm done and want it removed early. Would that be okay? --DannyS712 (talk) 22:59, 12 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Sounds good! You're a bot for a week at the moment.--Brett (talk) 23:35, 12 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]
@Brett: @Minorax: I made 5 edits (https://simple.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Contributions/DannyS712&dir=prev&offset=20200612225937&limit=5&target=DannyS712) - can you take a look and ensure that this is what you wanted before I mass-replace? (using an alt account because this shouldn't be hidden from RC) Thanks, --DannyS712 test (talk) 01:29, 13 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]
@DannyS712: Those 5 are all correct. Thank you!--Brett (talk) 01:35, 13 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]
@Brett: okay, running now; let me know if any issues appear. I'll randomly check some as it goes --DannyS712 test (talk) 01:39, 13 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Looks very good so far. Thank you, DannyS712!--Brett (talk) 01:56, 13 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]

All done! Thanks again, @DannyS712:!--Brett (talk) 02:14, 13 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Had to retry 3 that had different characters in the titles, but now done. Should you remove the bot flag? --DannyS712 test (talk) 02:16, 13 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]
@DannyS712: Flag removed. Thanks for your help :) Minorax (talk) 03:54, 13 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Feedback on movement names[change]

Hello. Apologies if you are not reading this message in your native language. Please help translate to your language if necessary. Thank you!

There are a lot of conversations happening about the future of our movement names. We hope that you are part of these discussions and that your community is represented.

Since 16 June, the Foundation Brand Team has been running a survey in 7 languages about 3 naming options. There are also community members sharing concerns about renaming in a Community Open Letter.

Our goal in this call for feedback is to hear from across the community, so we encourage you to participate in the survey, the open letter, or both. The survey will go through 7 July in all timezones. Input from the survey and discussions will be analyzed and published on Meta-Wiki.

Thanks for thinking about the future of the movement, --The Brand Project team, 19:39, 2 July 2020 (UTC)

Note: The survey is conducted via a third-party service, which may subject it to additional terms. For more information on privacy and data-handling, see the survey privacy statement.

Announcing a new wiki project! Welcome, Abstract Wikipedia[change]

Hi all,

It is my honor to introduce Abstract Wikipedia, a new project that has been unanimously approved by the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees. Abstract Wikipedia proposes a new way to generate baseline encyclopedic content in a multilingual fashion, allowing more contributors and more readers to share more knowledge in more languages. It is an approach that aims to make cross-lingual cooperation easier on our projects, increase the sustainability of our movement through expanding access to participation, improve the user experience for readers of all languages, and innovate in free knowledge by connecting some of the strengths of our movement to create something new.

This is our first new project in over seven years. Abstract Wikipedia was submitted as a project proposal by Denny Vrandečić in May 2020 [1] after years of preparation and research, leading to a detailed plan and lively discussions in the Wikimedia communities. We know that the energy and the creativity of the community often runs up against language barriers, and information that is available in one language may not make it to other language Wikipedias. Abstract Wikipedia intends to look and feel like a Wikipedia, but build on the powerful, language-independent conceptual models of Wikidata, with the goal of letting volunteers create and maintain Wikipedia articles across our polyglot Wikimedia world.

The project will allow volunteers to assemble the fundamentals of an article using words and entities from Wikidata. Because Wikidata uses conceptual models that are meant to be universal across languages, it should be possible to use and extend these building blocks of knowledge to create models for articles that also have universal value. Using code, volunteers will be able to translate these abstract “articles” into their own languages. If successful, this could eventually allow everyone to read about any topic in Wikidata in their own language.

As you can imagine, this work will require a lot of software development, and a lot of cooperation among Wikimedians. In order to make this effort possible, Denny will join the Foundation as a staff member in July and lead this initiative. You may know Denny as the creator of Wikidata, a long-time community member, a former staff member at Wikimedia Deutschland, and a former Trustee at the Wikimedia Foundation [2]. We are very excited that Denny will bring his skills and expertise to work on this project alongside the Foundation’s product, technology, and community liaison teams.

It is important to acknowledge that this is an experimental project, and that every Wikipedia community has different needs. This project may offer some communities great advantages. Other communities may engage less. Every language Wikipedia community will be free to choose and moderate whether or how they would use content from this project.

We are excited that this new wiki-project has the possibility to advance knowledge equity through increased access to knowledge. It also invites us to consider and engage with critical questions about how and by whom knowledge is constructed. We look forward to working in cooperation with the communities to think through these important questions.

There is much to do as we begin designing a plan for Abstract Wikipedia in close collaboration with our communities. I encourage you to get involved by going to the project page and joining the new mailing list [3]. We recognize that Abstract Wikipedia is ambitious, but we also recognize its potential. We invite you all to join us on a new, unexplored path.

Yours,

Katherine Maher (Executive Director, Wikimedia Foundation)

  1. ↑ Abstract Wikipedia
  2. ↑ User:Denny
  3. ↑ Abstract Wikipedia mailing list

Sent by m:User:Elitre (WMF) 20:13, 9 July 2020 (UTC) - m:Special:MyLanguage/Abstract Wikipedia/July 2020 announcement [reply]

Tech News: 2020-30[change]

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

  • A temporary fix helped wikis make their main pages more mobile friendly. This was in 2012. It has not been recommended since 2017. The mobile main page special casing stopped working 14 July. 60 wikis now have main pages that don't work well on mobile. You can see which ones, how to fix it and how to get help in Phabricator. This is the same problem that was reported in Tech News 2020/24 and 2020/26.

Problems

  • There is a problem with the interlanguage links. The interlanguage links are the links that help you find a specific page in a different language. The sorting is broken. The developers are working on a solution. [1]
  • Some users keep getting the notifications for the same event. Some of these are old events. [2]
  • Some users have trouble logging in. This is probably a browser cookie problem. The developers are working on understanding the problem. If you have trouble logging in you can see the details on Phabricator. [3]

Changes later this week

  • Recurrent item The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from 21 July. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from 22 July. It will be on all wikis from 23 July (calendar).

Future changes

  • There is a Page for printing link. This will disappear. That is because web browsers today can create a printable version or show how it will look in print anyway. [4]

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

19:13, 20 July 2020 (UTC)

How do you become a Bureaucrat or admin?[change]

Hello how do you become a Bureaucrat or admin? —This unsigned comment was added by Linxi 1234 (talk • contribs) .

@Linxi 1234: This is a small project, so you can probably message the admins listed at Wiktionary:Administrators to ask directly but the process is the same on most every wiki: make quality edits and show that you are willing to do some menial tasks. Note that being an admin is a much lower bar than being a bureaucrat. —Justin (koavf)❤T☮C☺M☯ 09:59, 25 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Tech News: 2020-31[change]

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 Starter kit is now available for wiki communities. This page lists technical resources, tools, and recommendations. These are essential to operate a wiki project. This is mostly useful for smaller wikis where the community has limited experience with this. [5]
  • The first features of the Desktop Improvements project are available for logged-in users on all wikis. In order to use them, uncheck Use Legacy Vector in your local or global preferences in section Skin preferences. More improvements are planned. Feedback is welcome.
  • Advanced item On multiple wikis, a UTCLiveClock gadget is available. For wikis that import the gadget directly from mediawiki.org, end users can now choose a different timezone to show instead of UTC.

Problems

  • Advanced item The deployment train for MediaWiki has been blocked this week. [6][7]
  • Translation Notification Bot was sending the same message multiple times to every translator. This has been fixed. [8]
  • Some users were receiving the same notification multiple times. This has been fixed. [9]

Changes later this week

  • Recurrent item The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from July 28. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from July 29. It will be on all wikis from JUly 30 (calendar).

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

13:51, 27 July 2020 (UTC)

Tech News: 2020-32[change]

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

Problems

  • All queries to the Wikidata Query Service failed between 17:50 and 17:59 UTC on Thursday 23 July. Some queries failed during a longer period. [10]
  • Interlanguage links were ordered incorrectly for the past few weeks. This problem was also mentioned in Tech News two weeks ago. The problem is now fixed. [11]
  • There is a problem with the global preferences for the "Use Legacy Vector" option. Developers are working on fixing it. [12]
  • A bug in the Wikibase extension had disabled the "move" and "create" types of protection in the main (Gallery) namespace on Wikimedia Commons. New protections could not be added, and existing protections were not enforced, allowing some page moves and page creations that should not have been possible. This has now been fixed. [13]

Changes later this week

  • The video player will change to be simpler and more modern. This week, the current beta feature will become the video player for everyone on most non-Wikipedia wikis. The old player will be removed. [14]
  • Users' global.js and global.css pages will now also be loaded on the mobile site. You can read documentation for how to avoid applying styles to the mobile skin. [15]
  • Advanced item In the MonoBook skin, the searchGoButton identifier is now searchButton. This may affect CSS and JS gadgets. Migration instructions can be found in T255953. This was previously mentioned in issue 27.
  • Advanced item Bot operators can use Pywikibot to regularly archive discussions. The behavior when the bot uses counter to prevent large archives was changed. [16]
  • Recurrent item The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from August 4. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from August 5. It will be on all wikis from August 6 (calendar).

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

15:43, 3 August 2020 (UTC)

Technical Wishes: FileExporter and FileImporter become default features on all Wikis[change]

The FileExporter and FileImporter will become a default features on all wikis until August 7, 2020. They are planned to help you to move files from your local wiki to Wikimedia Commons easier while keeping all original file information (Description, Source, Date, Author, View History) intact. Additionally, the move is documented in the files view history. How does it work?

Step 1: If you are an auto-confirmed user, you will see a link "Move file to Wikimedia Commons" on the local file page.

Step 2: When you click on this link, the FileImporter checks if the file can in fact be moved to Wikimedia Commons. These checks are performed based on the wiki's configuration file which is created and maintained by each local wiki community.

Step 3: If the file is compatible with Wikimedia Commons, you will be taken to an import page, at which you can update or add information regarding the file, such as the description. You can also add the 'Now Commons' template to the file on the local wiki by clicking the corresponding check box in the import form. Admins can delete the file from the local wiki by enabling the corresponding checkbox. By clicking on the 'Import' button at the end of the page, the file is imported to Wikimedia Commons.

If you want to know more about the FileImporter extension or the Technical Wishes Project, follow the links. --For the Technical Wishes Team:

Max Klemm (WMDE) 09:14, 6 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Tech News: 2020-33[change]

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

  • FileImporter and FileExporter became standard features on all Wikis during the first week of August. They help you transfer files from local wikis to Wikimedia Commons with the original file information and history intact. [17]

Problems

  • The mobile skin displays a message at the bottom of the page about who edited last. This message showed raw wikitext. This has now been fixed. Some messages in Structured Discussions and content translation may still appear as raw wikitext. Developers are working on it. [18]

Changes later this week

  • Recurrent item The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from August 11. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from August 12. It will be on all wikis from August 13 (calendar).

Future changes

  • All wikis will be read-only for a few minutes on September 1. This is planned between 13:30 and 15:30 UTC. More information will be published in Tech News and will also be posted on individual wikis in the coming weeks. [19][20]

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

16:06, 10 August 2020 (UTC)

Tech News: 2020-34[change]

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

  • If you revert an edit using the undo link your edit is marked with an undo tag. This will now only happen if you don't change anything in the edit window before publishing the undo. This is to keep users from marking edits as undos when they actually do something else. [21]
  • The new OOUI version will not work with Internet Explorer 8. This means the wikis will look strange and not work well in Internet Explorer 8. This was reported in Tech/News/2020/17. This is because keeping the wikis working with very old browsers creates other problems. [22]

Changes later this week

  • Recurrent item The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from 18 August. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from 19 August. It will be on all wikis from 20 August (calendar).

Future changes

  • All wikis will be read-only for a few minutes on September 1. This is planned between 13:30 and 15:30 UTC. More information will be published in Tech News and will also be posted on individual wikis next week. This is a reminder. You can help by translating the announcement message. [23][24]

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

20:41, 17 August 2020 (UTC)

A question about the copyright status[change]

I wonder these days where such many new articles has been coming from. Are they made completely from personal compositions without any dictionaries? If so, I will feel relieved. But if not, we had better care about "copyright". I think all we know that coping whole contents of a dictionary raises doubts against copyrights of an original dictionary. --Green (talk) 03:21, 18 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

If you're talking about example sentences, some of them are copied from en.wikt and some are created by the editors. --Minorax (talk) 09:46, 18 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Occasionally, somebody copies and pastes a definition from another dictionary, but those are quickly removed. I have no concens about copyright, but if @Green: has specific examples, we would take those seriously.--Brett (talk) 12:25, 18 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you, Minorax and Brett. Generally speaking, dictionaries are reliable to everyone, because definitions are written by professionals in Language. You wrote you delete a definition from another dictionary that maybe reliable. Then readers can not rely on Wiktionary written by an anonymous whose knowledge is uncertain.
For example, I looked up "pronoun" today at the Oxford Learners' Dictionary. It said: "a word that is used instead of a noun or noun phrase, for example he, it, hers, me, them, etc." On the other hand, I could not get the meaning as here is "Pronoun is a closed class of nouns that usually refers to another noun." in Wiktionary. This is a typical case which fails explanation of a word. but you can not change the definition, because you said you delete a definition from another dictionary. It is contradictory. If you are going to resemble a definition by the OLD, you need a citation as OLD has copyrights for it. This is my general view. --Green (talk) 11:33, 19 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

P.S. - I found information how this Wikitionary has been developed from the begening. it is based on the definitions from Webster’s New International Dictionary of the English Language, 1913, have been imported into Wiktionary.[1] Webster’s New International Dictionary of the English Language, 1909, is a public domain dictionary, as is also the revised 1913 edition. These dictionaries have been used to expand Wiktionary with more definitions. These dictionaries were published by the G. & C. Merriam Company of Springfield, Massachusetts.[2]

I would like to suggest that we are recommend or rather we had better let all readers know that this project came originally from works done by the Project Gutenberg. This surely increase reliability of the wiktionary, as long as we add such citations. --Green (talk) 15:38, 19 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

In simpler terms, it would be to add citations/references for our entries? --Minorax (talk) 12:49, 21 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]
By that logic, no wiki is useful at all. We can reword definitions without having to use the exact wording of Oxford or others in order to be reliable, in the same way Wikipedians write articles without using the exact wording of their sources. --IWI (talk) 18:12, 24 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Tech News: 2020-35[change]

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

Changes later this week

  • Recurrent item The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from 25 August. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from 26 August. It will be on all wikis from 27 August (calendar).

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

17:59, 24 August 2020 (UTC)

Important: maintenance operation on September 1st[change]

Read this message in another language • Please help translate to your language

The Wikimedia Foundation will be testing its secondary data centre. 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 do a planned test. This test will show if they can reliably switch from one data centre 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 centre on Tuesday, September 1st 2020.

Unfortunately, because of some limitations in MediaWiki, all editing must stop while the switch is made. 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 up to an hour on Tuesday, September 1st. The test will start at 14:00 UTC (15:00 BST, 16:00 CEST, 10:00 EDT, 19:30 IST, 07:00 PDT, 23:00 JST, and in New Zealand at 02:00 NZST on Wednesday September 2).
  • 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 will be code freezes for the week of September 1st, 2020. Non-essential code deployments will not happen.

This project may be postponed if necessary. You can read the schedule at wikitech.wikimedia.org. Any changes will be announced in the schedule. There will be more notifications about this. Please share this information with your community.

Trizek (WMF) (talk) 13:49, 26 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Tech News: 2020-36[change]

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

Problems

  • This is a reminder. All wikis will be read-only for a few minutes on September 1. This is planned between 14:00 and 15:00 UTC. Please check on the details on the announcement message. [25][26]

Changes later this week

  • There is no new MediaWiki version this week.

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

20:12, 31 August 2020 (UTC)

Tech News: 2020-37[change]

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

Changes later this week

  • Normally pages can be moved to a title that has no existing page yet or to a page that has only one revision, which is a redirect to the page to be moved. A new user right allows editors to move pages over one-revision pages that redirect to anywhere. [27]
  • Recurrent item The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from 8 September. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from 9 September. It will be on all wikis from 10 September (calendar).
  • Advanced item All MediaWiki API modules will now use watchlist instead of watch. This was inconsistent before. [28]

Future changes

  • The Wikipedia Android app team might work on patrolling tools in the future. You can let them know what tools would be useful for you or for less experienced patrollers. See the page on mediawiki.org.
  • OTRS will be updated to a new version. This will probably take around two days. OTRS agents will not have access to the system during these days. Emails that come in during the update will be delivered when the update is done. The plan is to start around 08:00 UTC on 14 September. This could change. [29]
  • The Wikipedia Android app will send push notifications if users want them. This could help you see for example when someone wrote on your talk page or your edit was reverted. This will need Google Play Services to work. It will also be possible to get the app without Google Play Services but push notifications will not work. Google Play Services is also used to make the app work for Android 4.4 users. [30][31]
  • Advanced item Wikimedia code review could move to GitLab. It would be hosted on Wikimedia servers. You can take part in the consultation.
  • Advanced item Dropdown menus in the Vector skin use a .menu class. This will not work in the future. Scripts can use nav ul instead. .vectorTabs and .vectorMenu will also not work. Some scripts need to be updated. You can read more in Phabricator.

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

15:59, 7 September 2020 (UTC)

Invitation to participate in the conversation[change]

Hello. Apologies for cross-posting, and that you may not be reading this message in your native language: translations of the following announcement may be available on Meta. Please help translate to your language. Thank you!

We are excited to share a draft of the Universal Code of Conduct, which the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees called for earlier this year, for your review and feedback. The discussion will be open until October 6, 2020.

The UCoC Drafting Committee wants to learn which parts of the draft would present challenges for you or your work. What is missing from this draft? What do you like, and what could be improved?

Please join the conversation and share this invitation with others who may be interested to join, too.

To reduce language barriers during the process, you are welcomed to translate this message and the Universal Code of Conduct/Draft review. You and your community may choose to provide your opinions/feedback using your local languages.

To learn more about the UCoC project, see the Universal Code of Conduct page, and the FAQ, on Meta.

Thanks in advance for your attention and contributions, The Trust and Safety team at Wikimedia Foundation, 17:55, 10 September 2020 (UTC) 

Wiktionary sitelinks dashboard: URL update[change]

Hello all, and sorry for writing in English. Feel free to translate this message below.

The Wiktionary Cognate Dashboard presents interesting data about the extension powering your sitelinks. I just wanted to let you know that the URL of this tool changed: it is now accessible at https://wiktionary-analytics.wmcloud.org/Wiktionary_CognateDashboard/ . The former URLs, https://wmdeanalytics.wmflabs.org/Wiktionary_CognateDashboard/ and https://wdcm.wmflabs.org/Wiktionary_CognateDashboard/ , will be disabled on September 25th. Don't forget to update your documentation pages accordingly.

If you have questions about the tool or the URL switch, feel free to ping me. Cheers, Lea Lacroix (WMDE) 11:46, 14 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]

  1. ↑ https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Wiktionary:Public_domain_sources
  2. ↑ https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Wiktionary:Webster%27s_Dictionary,_1913
Retrieved from "https://simple.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=Wiktionary:Simple_talk/Archive_28&oldid=467869"