Wikipedia:Village pump (technical)

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The technical section of the village pump is used to discuss technical issues about Wikipedia. Bug reports and feature requests should be made in Phabricator (see how to report a bug). Bugs with security implications should be reported differently (see how to report security bugs). Newcomers to the technical village pump are encouraged to read these guidelines prior to posting here. If you want to report a JavaScript error, please follow this guideline. Questions about MediaWiki in general should be posted at the MediaWiki support desk. Discussions are automatically archived after remaining inactive for five days.

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Dark theme

Hello Wikipedians :)

Wouldn't it be great to have a dark theme? I quickly tinkered something here as a little foretaste. Could someone tell me if something like this is planned or who is responsible for it? To make a beautiful design, more beautiful than the current "Vector" is really not difficult! If there are people here who like the dark theme more than the current one, they could write code together, or not?

PS: if someone is seriously interested, you can write me an email, as I am not very active here. -Killarnee (C•T•U) 23:03, 8 October 2020 (UTC)

@Killarnee: you may want to follow or contribute at phab:T199634 as well to help build a dark vector theme for everyone. — xaosflux ^Talk 23:23, 8 October 2020 (UTC)

But fair warning: It's really, really hard. Changing a MediaWiki skin is difficult. Creating a good dark-theme skin is like "whole team for a year" hard, not just a few tweaks and we're done. Whatamidoing (WMF) (talk) 00:39, 14 October 2020 (UTC)

Special:Nospecialpage

I don't know how much you know about code, but I am curious about what page has the message "No such special page." For example, I have the mindset tthat everything on English Wikipedia is a "page." A "page" is a page that is in any namespace, so https://www.wikipedia.org is not a page, it's just an HTML page unrelated to the MediaWiki software. The page Talk:Main Page is a page, and Talk: is really just the page Special:Badtitle. That's what page you get directed to when you log out. Any invalid special page name just redirects you to the name of the page you entered. What is the "No such special page" page? Is it Special:Nospecialpage? I would never know, because it would still display the message, telling me that it is not a valid special page. Ok, then I might as well look at the color of the link to know. But I still don't know, because it might be a red link like Special:Badtitle, where it is a red link although it is a valid target page. Is there an answer to this? --Gioguch (talk) 23:23, 11 October 2020 (UTC)

@Gioguch: Not everything is a page, and what you found is an example of something that isn't a page. See https://github.com/wikimedia/mediawiki/blob/6c257c213922017b3ebc6c9192653ec463b56c29/includes/specialpage/SpecialPageFactory.php#L748 for how that error gets displayed. Jackmcbarn (talk) 23:56, 11 October 2020 (UTC)

The appearance of this error message is configured by editing MediaWiki:Nosuchspecialpage (title) and MediaWiki:Nospecialpagetext (content), if that's what you're asking. ―cobaltcigs 13:01, 13 October 2020 (UTC)

"Top edits" oddity

If I try to look at my "Top edits" from this xtools page [1], I get No contributions found. But if try from "my" xtools page [2], things seems to be working. Something is wrong somewhere. Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 14:17, 12 October 2020 (UTC)

This has been fixed and will go live with the next deploy (probably in a week or so). — MusikAnimal ^talk 21:11, 12 October 2020 (UTC)

Thank you very much! Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 16:14, 14 October 2020 (UTC)

Tech News: 2020-42

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

Problems

• Because of the problems with the MediaWiki version two weeks ago last week's updates are also late. [3][4][5]

Changes later this week

• Live previews didn't show the templates used in the preview if you just edited a section. This has now been fixed. You can also test CSS and JavaScript pages even if you have the live preview enabled. Previously this didn't work well. [6][7]
• The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from 13 October. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from 14 October. It will be on all wikis from 15 October (calendar).

Future changes

• A new stable version of Pywikibot is coming soon. [8]

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

15:23, 12 October 2020 (UTC)

Not announced, here, but posting for the record: Short descriptions housed at Wikidata are no longer being displayed on en.WP, as of approximately 13 October. – Jonesey95 (talk) 01:07, 15 October 2020 (UTC)

Excluding redirects from search results

I'd like the link in Wikipedia:Discontinuation of comments subpages#See also to exclude all #REDIRECTs. (In an ideal world, that search will come up with zero results.)

Could someone please:

1. Fix that link for me, and
2. Document that in Help:Searching#Search string syntax so I can look it up next time?

Thanks, WhatamIdoing (talk) 21:44, 12 October 2020 (UTC)

@WhatamIdoing: Per this thread and T204089, this seems to not currently be possible. Sam Walton (talk) 22:06, 12 October 2020 (UTC)

WhatamIdoing, I am also unaware of a way to do that using CirrusSearch. I quickly threw together https://quarry.wmflabs.org/query/48976, which returned 663 results. --AntiCompositeNumber (talk) 22:08, 12 October 2020 (UTC)

Thanks. 662 are zero-length/blanked pages that should probably be redirected to the main talk page. Only one still has content on it. WhatamIdoing (talk) 19:11, 13 October 2020 (UTC)

WhatamIdoing, BRFA filed: Wikipedia:Bots/Requests for approval/AntiCompositeBot 3 --AntiCompositeNumber (talk) 19:15, 15 October 2020 (UTC)

Thanks. WhatamIdoing (talk) 20:06, 16 October 2020 (UTC)

Nedumudi Venu

Need help removing the director and number columns since they are not recommended at WP: Filmography.TamilMirchi (talk) 23:29, 12 October 2020 (UTC)

 Done DMacks (talk) 23:40, 12 October 2020 (UTC)

Thank you. Remove number column for Renji Panicker.TamilMirchi (talk) 00:03, 13 October 2020 (UTC)

 Done DMacks (talk) 04:18, 13 October 2020 (UTC)

Remove director column for Bharathiraja. Thank you.TamilMirchi (talk) 14:57, 13 October 2020 (UTC)

@TamilMirchi: WP:SOFIXIT. Removing table columns isn't difficult, especially if you use the visual editor. Nardog (talk) 06:08, 14 October 2020 (UTC)

Total thanks received

How do I check the total number of thanks I've ever received? It's weird that I can see the total thanks I've given but not the total received. It could be a nice moral boost (same thing as total edit counts and barnstars). 14.186.12.107 (talk) 04:50, 13 October 2020 (UTC)

Go to the thanks log and put the phrase "User:<your username>" in the title field and nothing in the performer field, like this. Graham87 08:17, 13 October 2020 (UTC)

This method only allows counting by hands. It would be tedious if let's say someone with thousands of thanks. I'm looking for a way that counts it automatically. 14.186.12.107 (talk) 08:22, 13 October 2020 (UTC)

You'd have to request a query ... you can also fiddle with the limit in the URL to go up to 5,000 (warning: huuuuuge page!). My screen reader calculates the number of items in each list; it says I've received 1,755 thanks. Graham87 10:17, 13 October 2020 (UTC)

Go the log as Graham87 mentions, set the limit param in the URL to 5000, then open the browser console and enter the following: $('.mw-logline-thanks').length - this will display the number of thanks received. – SD0001 (talk) 15:28, 13 October 2020 (UTC)

I don't think IP users can be thanked — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 21:30, 13 October 2020 (UTC)

They can't. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 22:10, 13 October 2020 (UTC)

Citing anthologies?

Are there some tools/best practices for citing anthologies? Books that are collections of individual essays, that is. ImTheIP (talk) 12:07, 13 October 2020 (UTC)

@ImTheIP: from a "technical" perspective, you have many choices - "that" you cite your source is more important than "how" you cite it, as it sounds like your source is actually a book {{cite book}} should work for you, and following from the guidance at Wikipedia:Citing_sources#Books it depends on what you are citing - if it is a quote or idea from an individual essay then you could treat that like a "chapter" even if it isn't literally a chapter, if you are incorporating ideas or quotes from the editors of the book then cite them. For more non-technical guidance on this, you can follow up at Wikipedia talk:Citing sources. — xaosflux ^Talk 13:04, 13 October 2020 (UTC)

There's also {{cite encyclopedia}} which which you could treat essays in the anthology like encyclopedia entries. Graham87 13:25, 13 October 2020 (UTC)

Any examples of this somewhere? I want to use the sfn template too, so it seems I have to define one source per essay per book? ImTheIP (talk) 13:32, 13 October 2020 (UTC)

@ImTheIP: this isn't really a technical issue - so you may get better advice at Wikipedia talk:Citing sources - but looking at those templates from a technical perspective - they do support authors, and have guidance on Template:Sfn#Large_numbers_of_authors - but that is likely only useful if you are trying to cite an idea and support it with writings from more than one essay at once - if you are trying to cite actual quotations you will want to attribute each to the appropriate actual author so you should encode each of those separately. It is better to have "too many" citations at least initially as well, and thank you for caring about this topic! — xaosflux ^Talk 14:13, 13 October 2020 (UTC)

Thank you. The article in question is Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions. I've used the "cite journal" template for chapters in anthologies. I'm not sure that is right since the chapters aren't really journal articles... ImTheIP (talk) 11:23, 14 October 2020 (UTC)

Use {{cite journal}} for academic and scholarly journals; use {{cite ssrn}} for SSRN sourced papers; use {{cite magazine}} for magazines and other non-journal periodicals; {{cite web}} for websites; use {{cite book}} to cite a chapter in a book of individually authored chapters. When citing multiple individually authored chapters contained in the same book, consider using {{harvc}}.

—Trappist the monk (talk) 11:34, 14 October 2020 (UTC)

Scripts do not show up

Tracked in Phabricator
Task T265809

WikipediaScripts

Hi folks. I currently have three scripts installed at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Robby.is.on/common.js: MOSNUM dates", "EngvarB", and "Sources". I'm sure I installed them as suggested by the script's author. Until earlier today, I was frequently using the first two of the scripts. But now MOSNUM dates does not show up and I believe Sources doesn't, either. See screenshot to the right.

I've tried to solve the problem:

• used latest stable versions of Safari and Firefox on latest stable macOS,
• removed the scripts from common.js and re-added them,
• logged out of my Wikipedia account and back in.

Anyone with an idea how I can fix this? Kind regards, Robby.is.on (talk) 22:14, 13 October 2020 (UTC)

I refuse to follow a URL-shortened link. Please observe WP:WPSHOT. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 22:24, 13 October 2020 (UTC)

Fair enough, @Redrose64:. Thanks for the link with instructions. I've followed them. Robby.is.on (talk) 22:50, 13 October 2020 (UTC)

uBlock Origin had a bad filter over the weekend that blocked all Javascript; perhaps you are affected. If you are, lookup how to reset and redownload your filters. --Izno (talk) 00:05, 14 October 2020 (UTC)

That's interesting, thanks, @Izno:. I actually use it on this computer but, as I forgot to mention, I did try deactivating it. I also encountered the problem on a newer computer with latest versions of Safari and Firefox without that particular plugin. Since I posted here, another user reported the problem at User talk:Ohconfucius/script/MOSNUM dates ([9]) so perhaps it's related to changes to the script… Robby.is.on (talk) 00:17, 14 October 2020 (UTC)

I do not think that it is related to the script itself as I used an old version and got the same problem. Keith D (talk) 00:35, 14 October 2020 (UTC)

Yes, I noticed this last night, but it's down as of 9am UK time here. Thanks. Lugnuts ^{Fire Walk with Me} 08:13, 14 October 2020 (UTC)

+1 - Definitely been down since 9:30 UK time, I disabled UBlock but it had no effect, Thanks, –Davey2010^Talk 14:21, 14 October 2020 (UTC)

5pm UK time and it's still not working. It was working fine yesterday so doubt it's to do with whatever happened over the weekend... GiantSnowman 16:17, 14 October 2020 (UTC)

Davey2010, mw.util becomes null at some point. I suspect that this is due to the incorrect function aliasing var add = mw.util.addPortletLink; by the userscript. To alias a function, you use something like:

var add = function() {
  return mw.util.addPortletLink.apply(mw.util, arguments);
};

—TheDJ (talk • contribs) 16:30, 14 October 2020 (UTC)

TheDJ, Thanks it works now! ~~ CAPTAIN MEDUSA^talk 17:57, 14 October 2020 (UTC)

TheDJ - where do you add that script? I've tried my common.js page, but that didn't work. I don't know what UBlock is - has this an impact on it? It was about this time last night that the scripts seem to vanish from the toolbox, if that's any further help. Thanks. Lugnuts ^{Fire Walk with Me} 19:37, 14 October 2020 (UTC)

@Lugnuts: it appears your common.js is loading another one of your scripts, that contains this sort of problematic var: User:Lugnuts/script/MOSNUM dates.js. — xaosflux ^Talk 19:45, 14 October 2020 (UTC)

I've tried importing Lugnutss one but to no avail, I no longer have any brain capacity to figure this out as literally 98% tired. –Davey2010^Talk 20:42, 14 October 2020 (UTC)

@Lugnuts and Davey2010: I've just done this to uninstall the broken script and then this to install the fix, as per @CAPTAIN MEDUSA:, and it seems to have worked! GiantSnowman 21:07, 14 October 2020 (UTC)

It worked!, Hallelujah!, Many thanks GiantSnowman for your help (and thanks to everyone else above too). –Davey2010^Talk 21:17, 14 October 2020 (UTC)

Davey2010, Rather than copying the whole code add this

importScript('User:CAPTAIN MEDUSA/Testing.js'); //Linkback: [[User:CAPTAIN MEDUSA/Testing.js]]

~~ CAPTAIN MEDUSA^talk 22:11, 14 October 2020 (UTC)

• I have not made any changes to my scripts since July/August. As the problem seems to be recent, I suspect that it may be due to conflict with one or more other scripts that have been loaded alongside them. Known conflicts are known to have existed with AutoEd, for example, or it may be another that I'm not aware of. Best, -- Ohc ^¡digame! 05:05, 15 October 2020 (UTC)

  Ohconfucius, yes, this is due to a change in core, but that change simply exposed this bug in your script. You cannot alias a function like that without opening up the potential for running into this problem. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 07:29, 15 October 2020 (UTC)

• I need a little pointer here. Where's the bug? -- Ohc ^¡digame! 14:56, 15 October 2020 (UTC)

@Ohconfucius: Did you see the mention of an "incorrect function" further up? Robby.is.on (talk) 15:00, 15 October 2020 (UTC)

Snowed under now. I'll try and fix it at the weekend. -- Ohc ^¡digame! 15:08, 15 October 2020 (UTC)

👍 Robby.is.on (talk) 15:54, 15 October 2020 (UTC)

That last bit from Captain M does the trick - thank you! And thanks to all the replies & suggestions since last night. Lugnuts ^{Fire Walk with Me} 06:51, 15 October 2020 (UTC)

Hello all- I am apparently too dim to parse all this. Can anyone tell this French major if there is some simple addition or alteration I can make at User:Eric/common.js to restore the functionality of OhC's script? I throw myself on the mercy of The Pump. Thanks in advance. Eric ^talk 13:29, 15 October 2020 (UTC)

@Eric: Try commenting out (or removing) the broken script and replace it by a fixed version on your common.js page – like this: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:Robby.is.on/common.js&diff=983566148&oldid=983365654 Kind, regards, Robby.is.on (talk) 13:32, 15 October 2020 (UTC)

Thanks for the idea, Robby. But I must be missing something, unless the Captain's Testing.js has changed. My common.js edit. Eric ^talk 16:41, 15 October 2020 (UTC)

I posted a suggestion to your Talk page. Robby.is.on (talk) 17:23, 15 October 2020 (UTC)

I'm glad others are getting things to work, but my scripts still don't show up. I commented out all importScript code, my common.js is nothing but a comment, and I have no scripts that use "var add". I just want my simple scripts at User:Chris the speller/script/ScriptA.js to show up. Any other ideas? Chris the speller ^yack 14:40, 16 October 2020 (UTC)

@Chris the speller: for a userscript to execute, is has to be in a location that is executed - for example your /common.js file or a skin-specific .js file. If it isn't called from there, it will never load. — xaosflux ^Talk 15:20, 16 October 2020 (UTC)

Thanks, but adding an importScript to /common.js did not help. I have been using /script/ScriptA.js for many years without having to import it via the /common.js file. Something else is going on here. Those two are my only Javascript files. Chris the speller ^yack 16:26, 16 October 2020 (UTC)

{{re|Chris the speller} you have been importing User:Chris the speller/script/ScriptA.js via User:Chris the speller/vector.js for at least 5 years (unless you are not actually using Vector?). — xaosflux ^Talk 16:57, 16 October 2020 (UTC)

Yes, /vector.js was the answer, thanks for that. It had an importScript for "Ohconfucius/script/MOSNUM dates.js", which I have now commented out. But still my own scripts do not show up. The only difference now is that the recently introduced oversized "Scripts" heading no longer appears in the sidebar. But there is still something wrong. Chris the speller ^yack 17:32, 16 October 2020 (UTC)

Well, never mind, I got it working, mostly by prefixing "mw.util." to "addPortletLink", which I never needed before. By now you all have probably noticed that I'm not a real strong JavaScript programmer. Good luck to all. Chris the speller ^yack 20:28, 16 October 2020 (UTC)

My scripts are now fixed. I hope. Thanks to User:TheDJ and User:CAPTAIN MEDUSA. Thanks to all for your forbearance. -- Ohc ^¡digame! 20:07, 17 October 2020 (UTC)

I know I probably missed the memo...

I used to have a link to my personal notepad - I called it "Notes" (as in User:Shearonink/note) at the top of Wikipedia...you know, on that line that has your user-name - Alerts icon - Notices icon - User talk - Sandbox etc. Though the content still exists it has disappeared from being on that line and I have no idea why. And I don't know who to ask other than you FABulous Village Pump:Technical experts. Anyone know what happened to it being there and how I can bring it back to being on that line? It was very handy to jot things down in. Thanks in advance, Shearonink (talk) 04:39, 17 October 2020 (UTC)

On your vector.js page, try changing addPortletLink to mw.util.addPortletLink. You may also want to adjust some of the other parameters (see docs). Something like this might be better:

mw.util.addPortletLink( 'p-personal', "/w/index.php?title=User:Shearonink/note&action=edit", 'Note', 'pt-note', 'Make a note', null, '#pt-preferences' );

―cobaltcigs 05:05, 17 October 2020 (UTC)

Thank you. You explained it very well to a non-coder and now I know where to look if something like this pops up in the future. I will be able to fix it but any idea why it would have disappeared within the past few days? Was something changed that I missed?... Shearonink (talk) 06:38, 17 October 2020 (UTC)

I don't know. I thought the breakage would have occurred several years ago. mw:Topic:Q29ezrv453a4klb1. ―cobaltcigs 06:55, 17 October 2020 (UTC)

cobaltcigs, there is a mapping in our Javascript at MediaWiki:Common.js. I do not understand why, but the thread regarding OhC's scripts is probably related in some way. @TheDJ and Krinkle: Is that mapping there still good? --Izno (talk) 21:13, 17 October 2020 (UTC)

Diffs on Mobile Watchlist now loads the full page instead of the diff

Tracked in Phabricator
Task T265402

I'm using the "advance mode" on my mobile device. Clicking the "diff" button previously resulted in page showing the diff, but now it just loads the full page. The "prev" button on the history page still works correctly and displays the actual "diff", though. Is this problem being tracked or fixed somewhere? Regards, TryKid ^{[dubious – discuss]} 22:35, 13 October 2020 (UTC)

@TryKid: Yes, being tracked at phab:T265402. the wub "?!" 12:38, 14 October 2020 (UTC)

Special:RecentChanges diff links not working on mobile

Ever since yesterday, the Recent Changes diff links stopped working on mobile. The diff link goes to the page instead of the diff, e.g. (diff|hist) Main Page's diff link would go to Main Page instead of a diff. This is on both advanced mode and normal mode. Anyone know how to fix this problem? Thanks in advance ―Sportzpikachu _{my talkcontribs} 09:01, 16 October 2020 (UTC)

Sportzpikachu, this is tracked on Phabricator as phab:T265402. I've merged this section with previous one about the same topic. —⁠andrybak (talk) 09:24, 16 October 2020 (UTC)

Mobile website watchlist glitch?

Hello,

I understand that bugs are to be reported on the Phabricator page but I’ve never used it before and the page with the how-to indicated I should ask here first if in doubt.

For some reason, in the last four or five days, when I view my watchlist on mobile (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?hidepreviousrevisions=1&hidecategorization=1&hideWikibase=1&limit=250&days=7&title=Special:Watchlist&watchlistview=feed&filter=all&urlversion=2), when I go to click “diff” to see the difference in edits, it simply takes me to the article’s main page. Meaning at this part-

17 October 2020

(diff | hist) Robert D. Bullard

I select “diff” and then it takes me to the Robert D. Bullard main page, when previously it would take me to the difference in revisions between the two articles. The ‘hist’ option still works as normal. If I go to the history page and manually select to view the differences, it works, so it’s happening with the watchlist link specifically.

I have tried clearing my safari app data and haven’t seen a change. I guess my question is, is this a problem happening only to me, or should I take the steps to report it? Thank you for your patience.

Apathyash (talk) 14:23, 17 October 2020 (UTC)

@Apathyash: your report seems to be the same as these others, already being worked on if so. — xaosflux ^Talk 15:22, 17 October 2020 (UTC)

Gadget to highlight own talkpage comments

I've found how to format talkpage comments based on the their indentation

• Templatestyles css template
• Example page

I'm looking to highlight comments based on the specific user who posted them (e.g. highlight my own comments as green). The idea would be to basically:

1. look through a <dl> section and find the last [[user:username\|.*?]] link (assume that's the user's signature)
2. if it matches a given string (e.g. own username) apply a custom formatting to that section

I get the feeling that it should be possible via some .js gadget but that's way byond my current abilities. Anybody here with the technical knowhow to get me started? T.Shafee(Evo&Evo)^talk 09:54, 14 October 2020 (UTC)

A user script can highlight a specific set of comments by adding a class that is then formatted in the CSS. User:GhostInTheMachine/TalkHelper2 does this for comments from yesterday, today and by the current user. Take a look at User:GhostInTheMachine/TalkHelper2.js and note the final line that adds the talkHelperMe class. — GhostInTheMachine ^{talk to me} 18:49, 14 October 2020 (UTC)

It doesn't need to be a script; it should be possible to highlight a signature using CSS - here's how. All signatures contain links, and all links comprise an <a>...</a> element, the opening tag for which might be: <a href="/wiki/User:Evolution_and_evolvability" title="User:Evolution and evolvability"> - those two attributes, href= and title=, are distinctive for each user. So an attribute selector can be used, something like this:

a[title="User:Evolution and evolvability"] {
  /* add declarations here */
}

Unfortunately there is no means in CSS to expand the scope of a selector to an ancestor element. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 22:31, 14 October 2020 (UTC)

@GhostInTheMachine and Redrose64: Very useful - thank you! That ability to add additional class based on :contained text seems like what I'm thinking of. The full situation that I'm looking to implement is replace wgUserName with some way to pull a username from wikidata to format comments based on roles for a particular page. The main usecase in the WikiJournals (example review page and its wikidata item), to format comments based on whether they are from the submitting authors, handling editors and peer reviewers, or others. Currently we have to do this all manually via templates ({{Review}}, {{Response}}, and {{Editor's comments}}) which is pretty suboptimal! It's definitely beyond my abilities at the to write the js currently, but I'm looking for assistance from more tech-savvy users. T.Shafee(Evo&Evo)^talk 00:36, 15 October 2020 (UTC)

Watchlist timeout

Trying to edit my watch list, I get: [11f1d5a8-83d1-4f2a-addf-8ad5f524b7f6] 2020-10-14 10:22:05: Fatal exception of type "WMFTimeoutException". My watchlist has over 34,000 entries and used to be the central central motor of the work I did on Wikipedia. However, I am now retired and I would like to edit it down to just a dozen or so pages or delete it completely and start over. Kudpung กุดผึ้ง (talk) 10:30, 14 October 2020 (UTC)

Can you access Special:EditWatchlist/clear? – Majavah ^{talk · edits} 10:33, 14 October 2020 (UTC)

@Kudpung: You may want to attempt Special:EditWatchlist/raw first. — xaosflux ^Talk 17:05, 14 October 2020 (UTC)

@Majavah and Xaosflux: thank you both. Deleted and just 126 restored. Kudpung กุดผึ้ง (talk) 20:55, 14 October 2020 (UTC)

34,000? Mine is 23,000 and throws a similar error. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 22:33, 14 October 2020 (UTC)

Cluebot III down

Looks like Cluebot III has been down for almost 10 days, so lots of pages have not been archived. The bot's talkpage and the bot owner have been notified, but it's still an issue. Is this something anyone else could help with? Joseph2302 (talk) 17:03, 14 October 2020 (UTC)

• Reply - Do you know when Clue Bot III should be fixed? --Jax 0677 (talk) 17:25, 14 October 2020 (UTC)

  Jax 0677, Cluebot III is working now. ~~ CAPTAIN MEDUSA^talk 18:25, 14 October 2020 (UTC)

  Reply - @CAPTAIN MEDUSA:, are you sure Clue Bot III is working? Talk:Killing of George Floyd did not archive this morning. --Jax 0677 (talk) 17:16, 15 October 2020 (UTC)

  @Jax 0677: well it is editing: Special:Contributions/ClueBot_III, are you only seeing a potential issue on one page? — xaosflux ^Talk 13:40, 16 October 2020 (UTC)

  It's not run on my talkpage either. I guess it's just running through a massive backlog at the moment. Joseph2302 (talk) 13:48, 16 October 2020 (UTC)

• Reply - Thank you, I forgot about the potential backlog. --Jax 0677 (talk) 14:37, 16 October 2020 (UTC)

• Jax 0677 Looks like it's archived that talkpage now. Joseph2302 (talk) 12:49, 17 October 2020 (UTC)

Mouseover preview for wikilink is broken

I don't think this has come up and been resolved before, but happy to be corrected! I'm working on a recently moved page, and nearly finished, but I notice that the wikilink preview shows this message on mouseover: "There was an issue displaying this preview". Is there an obvious solution I have missed? Link here: UK Web Archive. Timeousbeastie (talk) 17:11, 14 October 2020 (UTC)

@Timeousbeastie: Page previews usually show content from the lead section, so perhaps once you add one to your article that will fix it. the wub "?!" 18:29, 14 October 2020 (UTC)

That was the issue, Thanks! Timeousbeastie (talk) 22:02, 14 October 2020 (UTC)

A way to view drafts created

I know that my question is probably beyond the scope of VPT, but looking at this WMF tool that can be accessed by clicking "Articles created" at the bottom of a user's contribution history, I think it would be really useful to see drafts that an editor has created. Is there an easy way to do that? Context: The linked editor is a suspected sock and is likely engaging in UPE. I'd like to see all the drafts they've created so I can add them to my watchlist and spot future socks easier. Thanks. Cyphoidbomb (talk) 19:11, 14 October 2020 (UTC)

@Cyphoidbomb: you can use Special:Contributions to filter by both creations, and namespace - for example here are YOUR created drafts. — xaosflux ^Talk 19:48, 14 October 2020 (UTC)

@Xaosflux: Ah, OK, good work-around, thank you! Cyphoidbomb (talk) 19:51, 14 October 2020 (UTC)

Wikidata short descriptions no longer showing up

see Mitsubishi Mirage and Yoko_Ono as examples I am unable to import the short description from Wikidata either also see Wikipedia_talk:Shortdesc_helper#Shortdesc_helper_no_longer_showing_Wikidata_SD for more details 🌸 1.Ayana 🌸 (talk) 19:54, 14 October 2020 (UTC)

You can manually import the description if you click on "Wikidata item" in the left toolbar, then copy and paste. The shortdesc helper gadget should be fixed soon; the change came as an unannounced but long-awaited surprise from WMF developers (assuming that they did it on purpose). – Jonesey95 (talk) 01:05, 15 October 2020 (UTC)

It shows on some pages, but not others. Hitting F5 does the trick. Lugnuts ^{Fire Walk with Me} 12:32, 17 October 2020 (UTC)

Parameter usage tool

Being inspire by WP:JCW, which is a compilation of the |journal= found in various {{cite xxx}} templates, I was wondering if it would be possible to scale something like this to any parameter found in template. Taking a simpler example of {{Marriage}}, what I'm thinking of is a tool that summarizes its parameter usage.

Something like

• Step 1: User tells the tool what template they are interested in (e.g. {{Marriage}})
• Step 2: Tool dynamically finds all |foobar= names used with the template, tool presents the user with a summary of parameter usage
• Step 3: User tells the tool which parameter(s) to compile (e.g. |end=
• Step 4: Tool dynamically compiles all usage those parameters
• Step 5: Use tells the tool which specific parameter value they are interested in (e.g. divoce), to find which article use it.

---

Template: {{Marriage}} x 13560 [A]
Parameters found: Select which parameter to compile [B]

• ☐ |1= x 13505
  
• ☐ |2= x 13705
  
• ☐ |3= x 13503
  
• ☒ |end= x 7837
  
• ☐ |rason= x 2 [This isn't an 'official' parameter, being a typo of |reason=, but the tool would still find it]
  
• ☐ |reason= x 6543

|end= usage

• ☐ d × 135
• ☐ d. × 535
• ☐ died × 235
• ☐ div × 185
• ☐ div. × 635
• ☒ divoce × 2
  • Example, Foobar
• ☐ divorce × 155
• ☐ divorced × 142
• ☐ her death × 685
• ☐ his death × 893
• ☐ w × 134
• ☐ w. × 935
• ☐ wid × 564
• ☐ wid. × 465
• ☐ widow × 181
• ☐ widowed × 1953
• ☒ window × 3
  • Example, Foobar, Barfoo

---

Headbomb {t · c · p · b} 20:09, 14 October 2020 (UTC)

See the monthly parameter usage report for Template:Marriage. * Pppery * _{it has begun...} 20:17, 14 October 2020 (UTC)

Seems to handle most of what I want. Not pretty, seems very functional. Headbomb {t · c · p · b} 20:22, 14 October 2020 (UTC)

Actually, it doesn't seem to want to list anything meaningful when you click on 'page links'... is the tool broken? Headbomb {t · c · p · b} 20:23, 14 October 2020 (UTC)

Nevermind, it just takes a lot of time to show usage. Headbomb {t · c · p · b} 20:25, 14 October 2020 (UTC)

Archive search box at Talk:Jaden Smith

Ugh, this is embarassing, but I'm having trouble figuring out why there's no searchable archive box like wot you'd find at the top of Talk:Doctor Who. Archives do exist, see Talk:Jaden Smith/Archive 3. Isn't {{Talk header}} the template that invokes this? It's there, but I don't see the search box. And there is no fancy parameter formatting of this template at Talk:Doctor Who, yet it works. Thanks, and I hope it's something stupid so whomever figures it out can laugh at me. Cyphoidbomb (talk) 13:13, 15 October 2020 (UTC)

The {{Talk header}} template provides a search box if it finds an archive. The actual test is .. #ifexist:.../Archive 1. In the case of Talk:Jaden Smith, the only archive page is number 3, the test fails, the template assumes that there is no archive and there is no search box. Maybe rename Talk:Jaden Smith/Archive 3 to Archive 1 and adjust User:MiszaBot/config ... counter = 3 to match? — GhostInTheMachine ^{talk to me} 15:03, 15 October 2020 (UTC)

 Done: Special:Diff/983667643 & Special:Diff/983667728. —⁠andrybak (talk) 15:12, 15 October 2020 (UTC)

Thanks all. I didn't even think to check for Archive 1. Cyphoidbomb (talk) 15:59, 15 October 2020 (UTC)

Cantonese Wikipedia subdomain

Tracked in Phabricator
Task T202602

Hey there! I noted that the subdomain for Cantonese Wikipedia is zh-yue. Personally, I believe that the subdomain should instead be switched to something different, as this current subdomain, although it's existed for years, seems quite out of place and is not fun to type. Perhaps hk. for Hong Kong? I just wanted to pitch this out there to see what others think. Ventrixs (talk) 16:20, 15 October 2020 (UTC)

Also I should've stated my rationale haha. zh usually represents pages in Chinese whereas something completely different is used to represent Cantonese pages. I believe that this should be influenced here, a different two letter indicator entirely. Ventrixs (talk) 16:23, 15 October 2020 (UTC)

Ventrixs, here isn't the right place to discuss this. This page is meant for technical matters about primarily the English Wikipedia. I suggest starting a discussion in that project or at meta. Dreamy Jazz ^{talk to me | my contributions} 16:33, 15 October 2020 (UTC)

You'll have to take that up with MediaWiki (and perhaps the users of zh-yue.wikipedia.org). IANA lists the IETF language tag zh-yue as redundant with a preferred value of yue (see the language-subtag-registry file). Since we are talking about a specific language edition of Wikipedia, the second level domain name ought (in my opinion) be a legitimate language code. MW apparently disagrees.

—Trappist the monk (talk) 16:30, 15 October 2020 (UTC)

Note, yuewiki is a redirect to zh-yuewiki - this is discussed further at phab:T202602. Those interested in follow up on that may want to comment there; there is nothing for the English Wikipedia to do about this though. — xaosflux ^Talk 16:41, 15 October 2020 (UTC)

That is very true, I didn't even think of simply yue. I will be sure to push for these changes to be made elsewhere, where they are probably actually supposed to be pushed for, as I think MW would be more likely to do 'yue' as it simply just makes more sense than using 'zh-yue'. Their current subdomain just makes Cantonese seem like some sort of sublanguage of Mandarin, which it's not haha Ventrixs (talk) 13:31, 16 October 2020 (UTC)

Wmcz

On Help:Interwiki linking, it says that wm followed by two letters link to individual chapters of WMF. Are those local or non-local prefixes? --Gioguch (talk) 16:54, 15 October 2020 (UTC)

What do you mean by "local or non-local"? Ruslik_Zero 17:24, 15 October 2020 (UTC)

The full list of interwiki prefixes understood by this WP is at Special:Interwiki. I assume that the list is intended to be the same on the other wikis. — GhostInTheMachine ^{talk to me} 17:44, 15 October 2020 (UTC)

Multiple prefixes are resolved from left to right, according to rules "local" to each step, if that's what you mean. If you link to something wacky like cs:q:fr:de:commons:w:it:wikt:es:sv:w:ca:en:wp:vpt you'll end up right back here, because cs is defined here to mean "goto Czech Wikipedia", q is defined on the Czech Wikipedia to mean "goto Czech Wikiquote", fr is defined on Czech Wikiquote to mean "goto French Wikiquote", and so on. While q:fr: and fr:q: have identical results, it's because we're on a well-configured grid of wikis, and not due to any general rule. You could, at your own risk, also jump through a series of non-WMF wikis, if suitable prefixes exist on each. ―cobaltcigs 00:43, 16 October 2020 (UTC)

Wait, you mean you can make one of these out of Wikilink prefixes? Who knew? davidwr/(talk)/(contribs) 18:48, 17 October 2020 (UTC)

What is the process for using the login api?

I am using Node.Js to create a bot however, I'm very confused as to why I get the NeedToken error even after getting a login token through 'action=query&meta=tokens&type=login'. I don't see what's going on because a token is getting returned and sent to the login.

I need some help with this.

BJackJS talk 17:28, 15 October 2020 (UTC)

@BJackJS, not a specific answer for your question, but you might want to try https://github.com/macbre/nodemw - it's used on some other bots and has all the API set out for you and will cut out a lot of extra work, just install it through npm Ed talk! 17:48, 15 October 2020 (UTC)

@Ed6767 The limitations of the nodemw library isn't compatible with what I need. I already have a base framework, it's just the login that I have problems with. I'm not sure of why it's constantly giving me a NeedToken error even though I sent the token. BJackJS talk 20:43, 15 October 2020 (UTC)

@BJackJS: API login procedures have changed with MediaWiki versions. For the latest version of MW used on wikimedia, check the source code of mwn's login method. For the older MediaWiki versions, check the source of mwbot's login method. SInce you talk of the "limitations of nodemw", you might to check out mwn, which I wrote and use, and is a lot more powerful (the caveat is that there's no documentation). – SD0001 (talk) 04:45, 16 October 2020 (UTC)

The API documentation notes are available here: mw:API:Login. — xaosflux ^Talk 19:03, 15 October 2020 (UTC)

Sidebar shows up in a larger font than usual

It seems that the sidebar on the left hand side randomly shows up in a larger font than usual (with the 100% zoom level). I have tested this in several different browsers (IE, Chromium Edge, Chrome, and Firefox) and got the same result. This has happened only momentarily, and it has since been fixed. So, is there any reason why this happened? GeoffreyT2000 (talk) 19:42, 15 October 2020 (UTC)

It's Thursday? – Jonesey95 (talk) 20:04, 15 October 2020 (UTC)

Repeated Wikimedia errors

Keep getting an error "Error: 503, Backend fetch failed at Fri, 16 Oct 2020 13:20:32 GMT". DuncanHill (talk) 13:21, 16 October 2020 (UTC)

PROPOSAL: Allow whitelisted pages to exceed Wikipedia's technical limits

There are good reasons for particular pages to exceed Wikipedia:Template limits and other limits.

Recent examples include administrative and administrative-archive pages that use {{revisions}} extensively or which use {{backlog status}}, and some list-type pages that use {{ill}}, {{cfb link}}, or {{football kit}} extensively hit the expensive parser function call limit. Some very long, heavily-referenced articles hit the post expansion include size limit (several COVID- and US-2020-election-related pages are over the limit now).

Sometimes, as with sports lists that used {{flag}} extensively, the PEIS limit can be fixed by creating modules, like Module:Flagg. That doesn't always get a page below the limit though.

I recommend that the Wikimedia software be changed to allow whitelisted pages to have double the usual limits. I'm flexible on the "double" but it should be at least 1.5x but probably less than 3x. This whitelist would of course need to be on a fully- or perhaps template-editor-protected page. Note that pages that are above the normal limits should still be put in maintenance categories so they can be reduced where feasible (see Special:TrackingCategories). Pages should only be on the whitelist if there is no other good option. davidwr/(talk)/(contribs) 16:36, 17 October 2020 (UTC)

Support - Allow whitelisted pages to exceed Wikipedia's technical limits

1. Support as the initial proponent. davidwr/(talk)/(contribs) 16:36, 17 October 2020 (UTC)

Oppose - Allow whitelisted pages to exceed Wikipedia's technical limits

1. Not worth the additional complexity. This is one of those ideas that maybe should not be all votey. --Izno (talk) 21:14, 17 October 2020 (UTC)

Neutral - Allow whitelisted pages to exceed Wikipedia's technical limits

1. Support in principle, this would be useful on a handful of pages. In practice, do we really want to devote WMF resources to handle a handful of pages? Headbomb {t · c · p · b} 21:35, 17 October 2020 (UTC)

Comments - Allow whitelisted pages to exceed Wikipedia's technical limits

• A major consideration would be "how easy is this to abuse"? Is it likely that someone would cherry-pick pages with "larger limits" and use that to launch a denial-of-service attack? If the "higher limits" are reasonable, I don't think this will be a major issue. davidwr/(talk)/(contribs) 16:36, 17 October 2020 (UTC)

  @Davidwr: Please open a phab ticket. It's pointless to discuss this here if MediaWiki developers are unwilling to implement it (see WP:CONEXCEPT). – SD0001 (talk) 18:51, 17 October 2020 (UTC)

  That will ultimately have to happen, but I want to get a sense of whether it's wanted by the community or not before I bother to open a ticket. davidwr/(talk)/(contribs) 19:16, 17 October 2020 (UTC)

  @Davidwr: in this case - it needs to be wanted by the developer community or its not going to happen, we didn't ask for it to be in place it was foisted upon us. — xaosflux ^Talk 20:05, 17 October 2020 (UTC)

"WikiLove", no longer an icon

Tracked in Phabricator
Task T265570

I see the WikiLove button at the top on user talks is no longer a heart icon but the text "WikiLove". I personally don't like this change because now the button is wider, causing buttons to collapse on smaller screens/windows. How did this happen, and what was the motivation? Nardog (talk) 18:05, 17 October 2020 (UTC)

@Nardog: It's a bug caused by some changes in the Vector skin, and should be fixed soon. the wub "?!" 18:25, 17 October 2020 (UTC)

Oh it didn't even occur to me it was unintentional, thanks for the link. Nardog (talk) 18:30, 17 October 2020 (UTC)

Special:GlobalRenameRequest

Sorry if this is a dumb question even for me, but where is the documentation for Special:GlobalRenameRequest? I can't see that it is even fleetingly mentioned in Help:Special page. Among the things I think I ought to know, but don't, are: how does it work? where do the requests go? and how can a request be cancelled? Thanks in advance, Justlettersandnumbers (talk) 18:57, 17 October 2020 (UTC)

You get some information on mw:Help:Extension:CentralAuth/Global_rename. Ruslik_Zero 19:02, 17 October 2020 (UTC)