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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Glaisher (talk | contribs) at 09:34, 12 June 2016 (→‎IP editing in spite of global lock?: reply). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

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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. Questions about MediaWiki in general should be posted at the MediaWiki support desk.


BLP problems with pending changes at Amber Heard

This is a weird problem, and also a serious one. It suggests that Google showed its readers the latest version of an article, regardless of whether the pending change had been approved or not. Since the whole point of pending changes is not to show readers edits that have not been automatically accepted, this may need to be looked at to prevent similar things from happening in the future. Amber Heard is now semi-protected.--♦IanMacM♦ (talk to me) 11:40, 4 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]

This rather depends on how Google is getting the data for its Knowledge Graph. It's not difficult to write a program to get the latest unapproved revision, and you don't even need to be logged in to do it. It might be that on the MediaWiki side we could make it easier for them to get the latest approved revision rather than just the latest revision, but mostly I suspect that Google just needs to fix the Knowledge Graph to make it work with pending changes. Until we know how they are getting the data, I don't think there's much we can do except for reporting it to Google. — Mr. Stradivarius ♪ talk ♪ 06:07, 6 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]
If memory serves – and it may not, so perhaps someone who knows more will speak up – Pending Changes is ignored for feeds to Google due to performance problems. Whatamidoing (WMF) (talk) 17:41, 8 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Unable to access "Your alerts"

I have an alert notice (red with "1") and when I click on the icon it fades a bit, but does not show what the alert is about and it does not go away. I tried resetting the notifications in Preferences, but that did not fix it. Would someone please reset it? Thanks. —Ojorojo (talk) 15:07, 4 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Does Special:Notifications work? PrimeHunter (talk) 17:32, 4 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]
I have what seems to be the same problem: clicking on the red alert button (or Special:Notifications) puts me on the Notifications page, but all I get is a box with the rolling diagonal bars. First saw this in the small hours this morning, and still happens. Pinging you (@PrimeHunter:) to see if you get the same thing. ~ J. Johnson (JJ) (talk) 18:21, 4 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]
And instantaneous update: In the course off adding the previous comment I checked, and the situation was unchanged. Immediately after Saving I checked again, and ... it worked. Odd. Coincidental, or did the Save actually do something? ~ J. Johnson (JJ) (talk) 18:25, 4 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]
More oddness: This morning my watchlist started displaying article (main space) names in big text. (I am using the Vector skin.) Coincidentally with alerts now working my watchlist has returned to normal display (all titles highlighted, but all text normal size). ~ J. Johnson (JJ) (talk) 18:34, 4 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]
I have also noticed random updates from 'Your alerts' and have learned to ignore them. I was going to this page to report that Wikipedia:Tools/Navigation popups are working again, as of today. Navpops weren't working for me in the last day or so. --Ancheta Wis   (talk | contribs) 18:55, 4 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Alerts work for me. I have Firefox 46.0.1 and Vector. PrimeHunter (talk) 19:53, 4 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Now I get rolling diagonal bars when clicking on the red alert icon (same with Special: Notifications). —Ojorojo (talk) 13:46, 5 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]
@Ojorojo: Do you mean that it freezes and does not complete loading, after you see the diagonal bars? If so, the freeze in loading sounds like a gadget/userscript is interfering (I see you don't use any userscripts). Next time you experience this, please could you open your webconsole (per browser/OS instructions are in the last point of Wikipedia:Reporting JavaScript errors), then repeat the actions, and paste what appears in the webconsole? It should look something like this screenshot. (Specifically: Open your webconsole, refresh the wikipage you're looking at, then click the notifications badge (button), then copy&paste the text in the webconsole to here, or the WT:Notifications page.) Any additional details, such as the exact links that each error points to (e.g. this screenshot), and other thoughts on what gadget might be involved, and notes on any javascript-blocking browser-extensions you might have installed, would also be useful. Thanks. Quiddity (WMF) (talk) 19:31, 6 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]
@Quiddity: It's now back to the icon just fading a bit when I click on it (nothing else happens). The alerts are for a revert[1] and your recent ping. I haven't changed anything (gadgets, blocks, etc.) and there is nothing special in my set-up. —Ojorojo (talk) 15:06, 7 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Template-protection of TemplateSubster force?

Should User:AnomieBOT/TemplateSubster force be template-protected, rather than fully protected? Full protection was added to the page before templateeditor came about. I believe that most template editors handle templates and substitution fairly often to understand how the page is used, how it relates to {{Subst only}}, etc. (Perhaps I should disclose that I hold the template editor right.) Note that a page like Wikipedia:AutoWikiBrowser/Template redirects affects thousands of AWB editors, and is only semi-protected. Any thoughts? — Andy W. (talk · ctb) 07:28, 5 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]

In my understanding, substitution is actually preferred, unless a template satisfies some of these a template should be transcluded if:
  • The template contains a large amount of text that, if substed, clutters the page.
  • The template produces intricate syntax (template guts, parser function calls, etc) that makes the surrounding text hard to navigate, or, if the syntax is slightly modified on a future edit, could cause major visual damage to the page.
  • The template contains timely information that, if substituted, might be lost or not be updated.
  • The template is very visual (i.e. message boxes, infoboxes, tables, divs). Generally, incremental improvements continue to happen on these, and articles and other pages that transclude these need all the updates.
There's been a discussion on templates like {{ESp}} about whether they should be substed or not. In my understanding, the reason they're substed is that they don't contain absolutely vital information that needs to be kept up with template changes, and its substitution produces not too much code that makes a page much less navigable. Furthermore, these "minimal" templates deserve substitution to lessen the probability of major server churn upon template update. Hence, I think I'm not wrong when I say that the reason this bot service exists is due to the job queue, and performance reasons. I also think that most TEs would understand the extremely negative implications of adding an intricate template to the list. The page in question may benefit from having TEs access for management/housekeeping. Interested in hearing thoughts. — Andy W. (talk · ctb) 08:15, 5 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Notifying Anomie. — JJMC89 (T·C) 08:41, 5 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks. I'm happy to let the community decide what level of protection is appropriate for the page. I've updated the bot to accept template-protection there. Anomie⚔ 11:26, 5 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]
@Anomie: Policy wise - as a bot operator you are ultimately responsible for the edits made under you bot account, so changing your bot's operating parameters isn't really a community decision; you can pick what ever level of protection you deem to be appropriate. You can't transfer your accountability to others. — xaosflux Talk 14:27, 5 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Corollary: You are also responsible for updating your bot to follow changes to community decisions, so this may help you let others guide that path. I've go no objections to whatever level of protection you deem appropriate. — xaosflux Talk 14:30, 5 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]
If I had an objection to reducing the protection level, I'd have objected. Template-protection should serve the purpose adequately, I think we can trust template editors to take sufficient care that they don't instruct the bot to substitute templates in a disruptive manner. Anomie⚔ 20:28, 5 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]
@Xaosflux: There doesn't seem like there's been a resolution to this yet. Any further thoughts? Thanks. — Andy W. (talk · ctb) 17:04, 6 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]
@Andy M. Wang: What part of WP:SUBST states that substitution is actually preferred? --Redrose64 (talk) 15:06, 5 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]
@Redrose64: It doesn't, but I'm generally under the impression that the opposite (large amounts of unnecessary transclusion) can be costly in terms of performance. I'm aware of WP:PERF, but as a TE aware of the job queue, I think perf is something to keep in mind. — Andy W. (talk · ctb) 15:44, 5 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]
WP:SUBST#Benefits, fifth bullet, states that "substituting en masse may ultimately speed up the site, but this is not a reason to prefer substitution over transclusion". Indeed, WP:SUBST#Drawbacks, fourth bullet, reinforces that. --Redrose64 (talk) 18:22, 5 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]
My two cents: since technical competence in the realm of template maintenance is assumed for template editors and they are also well trusted users, I'd see no problem whatsoever with them being able to modify that page, especially if they follow the guidelines that they normally do for editing template protected pages. Further, since the responsibility for the bot ultimately lies with Anomie and he has raised no objections, if no other objections are made I see no reason not to change the protection level. —  crh 23  (Talk) 17:13, 6 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]
I think this entire matter is completely up to @Anomie: , as an admin they can adjust the protection - or can decide they want to approve edits to their own page using the edit request process. — xaosflux Talk 17:26, 6 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]
I basically agree: I am slightly cautious as bot actions are somewhat community controlled by bot approvals, but I think this case is pretty clear: it's up to Anomie. —  crh 23  (Talk) 17:56, 6 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]
  • This would be very useful. As someone who closes and enacts consensus for TfD discussions regularly, it's often useful to convert a template to a wrapper and mass-substitute it. ~ RobTalk 17:39, 7 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia Adventure for blocked users

Tracked in Phabricator
Task T137090

I see that this indefblocked user has been enrolled into The Wikipedia Adventure: [2]. It might be an idea for the Wikipedia Adventure mechanism (which I'm surprised to see can "simulate" edits), to check for account blocking before trying to do this. -- The Anome (talk) 08:40, 6 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Hi The Anome, that's a good idea - did that user have their talk page access revoked? The block log suggests not, otherwise TWA wouldn't have been able to do this edit -- samtar talk or stalk 08:46, 6 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]
No, their talk page access hadn't been revoked, but I don't think we should be inviting blocked users to play a game, regardless. I think this goes for both indefblocked users, and also non-indefblocked users who might be blocked at that particular moment. I'm also a bit perplexed about "simulating" edits, as this makes tracking editor activity more difficult without any practical benefit that I can see: perhaps it might be better for the Wikipedia Adventure bot to edit under a single-purpose account name of its own? -- The Anome (talk) 08:48, 6 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]
The Wikipedia Adventure is a JavaScript script running client side and making edits with limited contribution by the user but it's still user edits and can only edit pages the user is able to edit. Blocked users can usually edit their own talk page. "simulated automatically" is just an edit summary chosen by the script. It should be possible for the script to check whether the user is blocked and refuse to run in that case, but it seems pretty harmless when some blocked users make all sorts of bad edits to their talk page. I strongly oppose users being able to make edits credited to a bot account instead of their own account. Many stages of The Wikipedia Adventure allow the user to add their own content. Even if it can only save in the user's own userspace (not sure that's the case), many important policies also apply there, and pages can also be moved later. PrimeHunter (talk) 12:18, 6 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Working as designed, the only edits were edits that can be made by the blocked user already - and indefinite is not infinite - maybe TWA will help them get over whatever they did to get blocked and could be used as an appeal. — xaosflux Talk 02:16, 7 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Browsing

I'm having trouble at the moment with clicking links. I'll click a link once and it'll act as if I've double clicked it and the editing window will appear. What's causing the problem?♦ Dr. Blofeld 09:13, 6 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]

It works for me in Firefox and Vector. What is your browser and skin? Does the mouse show signs of unwanted double clicking elsewhere? Try disabling "Edit pages on double click" at Special:Preferences#mw-prefsection-editing. PrimeHunter (talk) 11:58, 6 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]
I had this problem a few months ago, and it turned out to be an issue with a corrupted mouse driver treating single-clicks as double-clicks. Does the same thing happen elsewhere (e.g., single-clicking a desktop icon acting as a double-click and opening it)? ‑ Iridescent 14:54, 6 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]
I've disabled the double click edit article feature in my preference to stop it happening. Yes, may well be a mouse problem, I've not noticed the problem elsewhere though.♦ Dr. Blofeld 12:08, 7 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]

What links here / templates

It would be useful if there were a filter for "What links here" results to exclude the effect of templates in articles. For example, many articles that link to Prohibition should actually link to Prohibition in the United States, typically piped as [[Prohibition in the United States|Prohibition]], i.e. Prohibition, or to the article about prohibition in some other country. Many articles that show up as linking to Prohibition don't contain the link directly, but are pulled in because of templates such as {{Prohibition}}, {{Criminal law}}, {{Social issues in Pakistan}}, or {{Social issues in Nepal}}. As another example, many articles that link to Murder, Inc. don't contain the link directly, but are pulled in because of one of the template {{Organized crime groups in New York City}}, {{Lucchese crime family}}, or {{Genovese crime family}}.

It would be useful to be able to to retrieve an instantaneously-updated list of articles that link to a page directly and not through templates that actually include the wikilink. —Anomalocaris (talk) 21:18, 6 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]

It's a frequently requested feature. Here are some of the requests:

PrimeHunter (talk) 21:50, 6 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]
PrimeHunter: Thanks. —Anomalocaris (talk) 22:31, 6 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]
For that record Search can facilitate such cleanups. Search offers linksto and hastemplate.
@Anomalocaris:
See Link reports at Help:Linking. — Cpiral§Cpiral 19:25, 7 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Bash (probably) script by another editor

 – Jc86035 (talk • contribs) Use {{re|Jc86035}} to reply to me 03:36, 7 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I've been working near WT:RDT recently and I'm trying to run scripts which Pldx1 wrote (to standardise the {{BS}}–{{BS14}} and {{BS-2}}–{{BS14-2}} series of templates and add /safesubst subpages), probably in Bash or another command language. Unfortunately they don't seem to be working, and I don't have any idea what's wrong with them. Could someone help fix (and possibly run) the scripts? Thanks, Jc86035 (talk • contribs) Use {{re|Jc86035}} to reply to me 09:43, 6 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]

For reference, the scripts are here.


nummax=115 # (i.e.  n<15)

##----------------- old ----------------------------------------------------------------------- computing the old BSn

for ((numbo=101; numbo<$nummax; numbo++)) ; do 
  num=$(($numbo-100)) ; vers="tmp_BS${numbo:1:2}-old.txt"
  echo -n "<includeonly>" > $vers
  if test $num -lt 12 ; then prefo="O"; else prefo="O0"; fi

cat <<EOF >> $vers
{{BSrow
|1={{BS-overlap|{{{PX|{{BSpx}}}}}|{{{1|}}}|{{{${prefo}1|}}}|{{{${prefo}12|}}}|{{{${prefo}13|}}}|{{{${prefo}14|}}}|{{{${prefo}15|}}}|link={{{L1|file:}}}|alt={{{alt1|#default}}}}}
EOF

  for ((i=2;i<=$num;i++)); do
    if test $num -lt 12 -o $i -gt 9 ; then prefo="O"; else prefo="O0"; fi
cat <<EOF >> $vers
{{BS-overlap|{{{PX$i|{{#if: {{{PX|}}}|{{{PX}}}|{{BSpx}}}}}}}|{{{$i|}}}|{{{$prefo$i|}}}|{{{$prefo${i}2|}}}|{{{$prefo${i}3|}}}|{{{$prefo${i}4|}}}|{{{$prefo${i}5|}}}|link={{{L${i}|file:}}}|alt={{{alt${i}|#default}}}}}
EOF
  done
  
cat <<EOF >> $vers
|2={{{$(($num+1))|}}}
|3={{{$(($num+2))|}}}
|4={{{$(($num+3))|}}}
|5={{{$(($num+4))|}}}
|bg={{{bg|}}}
|HI={{{HI|}}}
|km={{{km|}}}
|tw={{{tw|}}}
}}</includeonly><noinclude>{{doc}}</noinclude>
EOF

done

##------------------ safesubst ----------------------------------------------------------------- computing the new BSn

for ((numbo=101; numbo<$nummax; numbo++)) ; do 
  num=$(($numbo-100))
  vers="tmp_BS${numbo:1:2}-safesubst.txt"

  sepsep=""
  echo "<includeonly>" > tmp_vers
  for ((i=1;i<=$num;i++)); do
    if test $num -lt 12 -o $i -gt 9 ; then prefo="O"; else prefo="O0"; fi
    cat <<EOF >> tmp_vers
$sepsep{{{$i|}}}
{{#IF:{{{$prefo${i}|}}}|!~{{{$prefo${i}|}}} }}
{{#IF:{{{$prefo${i}2|}}}|!~{{{$prefo${i}2|}}} }}
{{#IF:{{{$prefo${i}3|}}}|!~{{{$prefo${i}3|}}} }}
{{#IF:{{{$prefo${i}4|}}}|!~{{{$prefo${i}4|}}} }}
{{#IF:{{{$prefo${i}5|}}}|!~{{{$prefo${i}5|}}} }}
EOF
    sepsep='\'
  done
  
cat <<EOF >> tmp_vers
{{#IF:{{{$(($num+1))|}}}{{{km|}}}{{{$(($num+2))|}}}{{{$(($num+3))|}}}{{{$(($num+4))|}}}{{{bg|}}}
|
  {{#IF:{{{$(($num+1))|}}}{{{km|}}}{{{$(($num+3))|}}}{{{$(($num+4))|}}}{{{bg|}}}
  |
    {{#IF:{{{$(($num+2))|}}}
    |
      {{#IF:{{{$(($num+1))|}}}{{{km|}}}
      |~~{{{$(($num+1))|{{{km|}}}}}}~~{{{$(($num+2))|}}}
      |~~ ~~{{{$(($num+2))|}}}
      }}
    |
      {{#IF:{{{$(($num+1))|}}}{{{km|}}}|~~{{{$(($num+1))|{{{km|}}}}}}~|~~ ~}}
      {{#IF:{{{$(($num+3))|}}}
      |~ ~
      |
        {{#IF:{{{$(($num+4))|}}}
        |~ ~~ ~
        |{{#IF:{{{bg|}}}|~ ~~ ~~ ~}}
        }}
      }}
      ~
    }}
    {{#IF:{{{$(($num+3))|}}}
    |
      {{#IF:{{{$(($num+2))|}}}|~~}}
      {{{$(($num+3))|}}}
      {{#IF:{{{$(($num+4))|}}}
        |~~{{{$(($num+4))|}}}{{#IF:{{{bg|}}}|~~bg={{{bg|}}} }}
        |{{#IF:{{{bg|}}}|~~ ~~bg={{{bg|}}} }}
        }}
    |
      {{#IF:{{{$(($num+4))|}}}
      |
        {{#IF:{{{$(($num+2))|}}}|~~ ~~}}
        {{{$(($num+4))|}}}{{#IF:{{{bg|}}}|~~bg={{{bg|}}} }}
      |
        {{#IF:{{{bg|}}}
        |
           {{#IF:{{{$(($num+2))|}}}|~~ ~~ ~~}}
           bg={{{bg|}}}
        }}
      }}
    }}
  |
    ~~{{{$(($num+2))|}}} 
  }} 
}}</includeonly><noinclude>{{doc}}</noinclude>
EOF

  sed tmp_vers -e "s¶^[ ]*¶¶ ; s¶{{#IF:¶{{{{{|safesubst:}}}#if:¶ " | tr -d "\n" | sed -e " s¶}}} }}¶}}}}}¶g; s¶}}} }}¶}}}}}¶g " > $vers
  echo "" >> $vers 

done

##---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 



##------------------ old-2 --------------------------------------------------------------- computing the old BSn-2

function bs-double (){

  if test $num -lt 11 ; then prefo="O" ; else prefo="O0"; fi
  
  cat <<EOF >> $vers
{{BSrow-2
|1={{BS-overlap|{{{PX|{{BSpx}}}}}|{{{1|}}}|{{{${prefo}1|}}}|{{{${prefo}12|}}}|{{{${prefo}13|}}}|{{{${prefo}14|}}}|{{{${prefo}15|}}}|link={{{L1|file:}}}|alt={{{alt1|#default}}}}}
EOF

  for ((i=2;i<=$num;i++)); do
    if test $num -lt 11 -o $i -gt 9 ; then prefo="O" ; else prefo="O0"; fi
  cat <<EOF >> $vers
{{BS-overlap|{{{PX$i|{{#if: {{{PX|}}}|{{{PX}}}|{{BSpx}}}}}}}|{{{$i|}}}|{{{${prefo}$i|}}}|{{{${prefo}${i}2|}}}|{{{${prefo}${i}3|}}}|{{{${prefo}${i}4|}}}|{{{${prefo}${i}5|}}}|link={{{L${i}|file:}}}|alt={{{alt${i}|#default}}}}}
EOF

  done

cat <<EOF >> $vers
|2={{{$(($num+1))|}}}
|3={{{$(($num+2))|}}}
|4={{{$(($num+3))|}}}
|5={{{$(($num+4))|}}}
|6={{{$(($num+5))|}}}
|bg={{{bg|}}}
|HI={{{HI|}}}
|km={{{km|}}}
|tw={{{tw|}}}
|tw-left={{{tw-left|}}}
$closequote</includeonly><noinclude>{{doc}}</noinclude>
EOF
}

for ((numbo=101; numbo<$nummax; numbo++)) ; do 
  num=$(($numbo-100))
  vers="tmp_BS${numbo:1:2}-2-old.txt"
  closequote="}}"
  echo -n "<includeonly>" > $vers
  bs-double
  
  diff -s $vers ../BSn-tmp/$vers

done

##------------------ safesubs-2 --------------------------------------------------------------- computing the new BSn-2

for ((numbo=101; numbo<$nummax; numbo++)) ; do 
  num=$(($numbo-100))
  vers="tmp_BS${numbo:1:2}-2-safesubs.txt"

  cat <<EOF > $tmp_vers
<includeonly>
EOF
  cat <<EOF >> $tmp_vers
{{#IF:{{{$(($num+1))|}}}{{{$(($num+3))|}}}
|
  {{#IF:{{{$(($num+3))|}}}
  |
    {{{$(($num+3))|}}}~
    {{#IF:{{{$(($num+1))|}}}
    |
      ~{{{$(($num+1))|}}}~
    |
      ~ ~
    }}
    ~! !
  |
    {{{$(($num+1))|}}}! !
  }}
}}
EOF
  sepsep=""

  for ((i=1;i<=$num;i++)); do
    if test $num -lt 11 -o $i -gt 9 ; then  prefo="O"; else prefo="O0"; fi
    cat <<EOF >> $tmp_vers
$sepsep{{{$i|}}}
{{#IF:{{{$prefo${i}|}}}|!~{{{$prefo${i}|}}} }}
{{#IF:{{{$prefo${i}2|}}}|!~{{{$prefo${i}2|}}} }}
{{#IF:{{{$prefo${i}3|}}}|!~{{{$prefo${i}3|}}} }}
{{#IF:{{{$prefo${i}4|}}}|!~{{{$prefo${i}4|}}} }}
{{#IF:{{{$prefo${i}5|}}}|!~{{{$prefo${i}5|}}} }}
EOF
  
  sepsep='\'
  done

cat <<EOF >> $tmp_vers
{{#IF:{{{$(($num+2))|}}}{{{$(($num+4))|}}}{{{$(($num+5))|}}}{{{bg|}}}
|
  {{#IF:{{{$(($num+4))|}}}{{{$(($num+5))|}}}{{{bg|}}}
  |
    {{#IF:{{{$(($num+2))|}}}
    |~~ ~~{{{$(($num+2))|}}}
    |
      ~~ ~
      {{#IF:{{{$(($num+4))|}}}
      |~ ~
      |
        {{#IF:{{{$(($num+5))|}}}
        |~ ~~ ~
        |{{#IF:{{{bg|}}}|~ ~~ ~~ ~}}
        }}
      }}
      ~
    }}
    {{#IF:{{{$(($num+4))|}}}
    |
      {{#IF:{{{$(($num+2))|}}}|~~}}
      {{{$(($num+4))|}}}
      {{#IF:{{{$(($num+5))|}}}
        |~~{{{$(($num+5))|}}}{{#IF:{{{bg|}}}|~~bg={{{bg|}}} }}
        |{{#IF:{{{bg|}}}|~~ ~~bg={{{bg|}}}}}
        }}
    |
      {{#IF:{{{$(($num+5))|}}}
      |
        {{#IF:{{{$(($num+2))|}}}|~~ ~~}}
        {{{$(($num+5))|}}}{{#IF:{{{bg|}}}|~~bg={{{bg|}}} }}
      |
        {{#IF:{{{bg|}}}
        |
          {{#IF:{{{$(($num+2))|}}}|~~ ~~ ~~}}
          bg={{{bg|}}}
        }}
      }}
    }}
  |~~{{{$(($num+2))|}}}
  }}
}}</includeonly><noinclude>{{doc}}</noinclude>
EOF

  sed $tmp_vers -e "s¶^[ ]*¶¶ ; s¶{{#IF:¶{{{{{|safesubst:}}}#if:¶g " | tr -d "\n" | sed -e " s¶}}} }}¶}}}}}¶g; s¶}}} }}¶}}}}}¶g " > $vers

done

(Moved comment, seeing as no one responded.) Jc86035 (talk • contribs) Use {{re|Jc86035}} to reply to me 03:36, 7 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]

What precisely happens when you try to run the scripts? "They don't seem to be working" is unhelpful.
In both scripts, try replacing all occurrences of with / in the sed line. In the second script, add nummax=115 at the top to match the first script, and replace $tmp_vers with tmp_vers. With those changes, they work for me (or seem to; I'm not sure what they're supposed to do). -- BenRG (talk) 04:21, 9 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]
@BenRG: Sorry for the lack of detail. Based on the behaviour of the first script, the scripts are supposed to create files ("tmp_BSn-old.txt" and "tmp_BSn-safesubst.txt" for script 1; "tmp_BSn-old-2.txt" and "tmp_BSn-2-safesubst.txt" for script 2) in the user's home folder, which should contain MediaWiki template markup similar to the text of Template:BS11 and Template:BS11/safesubst. Adding your changes, the problem for the first script becomes that the "-safesubst" files are empty (and a file called "tmp-vers" containing what should be in "tmp_BS14-safesubst.txt", but with all the newlines and spaces intact, is created). With the second script… nothing happens, like before. Not sure why. Jc86035 (talk • contribs) Use {{re|Jc86035}} to reply to me 14:10, 9 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Just... no. --MZMcBride (talk) 15:07, 9 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]
@MZMcBride: well, I could always do all 56 of them manually. :/ Jc86035 (talk • contribs) Use {{re|Jc86035}} to reply to me 10:59, 10 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Special:Search question about why option to create new page does not exist

Just curious since this is probably a technical issue: I recently tried to search for an all-caps shortcut in the "Wikipedia:" namespace using Special:Search. However, usually when the search function realizes that the page doesn't exist, it provides a red linked option to create the page, but for this page, the option did not exist. However, through trial and error, I found out that this issue only happened with searches/nonexistent pages that started with "Wikipedia:" or "WP:" and the inclusion of the all-caps string of "REPORT" anywhere in the title. Is there some sort of setting causing this purposely, or is this an error of some sort? (I'm guessing that it's the former, but if it is the former, I'm curious where the page is [probably "MediaWiki:"] that is causing this to happen.) Steel1943 (talk) 15:03, 8 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]

"OR" between search terms is one of the Help:Searching#Search engine features so the software thinks it's search syntax and not a potential page to be created. OR doesn't work as search syntax in the middle of a word like REPORT but the software apparently isn't smart enough to figure that out. It's not set at Wikipedia. The same applies to other wikis with the same search software. Before this feature we got some silly page creations like page names containing prefix: or intitle:. PrimeHunter (talk) 17:32, 8 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]
See also phab:T23102: "Don't propose to create a page under a title with prefix:, intitle:, incategory: or other search operators". PrimeHunter (talk) 17:36, 8 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Interesting. Looks as though I will have to use one of the more complicated ways to make the referenced page(s). Makes sense though about "OR", though I was thinking there was something blacklisted instead. Anyways, thanks for the explanation. Steel1943 (talk) 18:47, 8 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, such page names can still be created, for example via a red link WP:REPORT. Or search a similar name like WP:REPRT, click the red link in the search page and then add 'O' to the url. PrimeHunter (talk) 19:46, 8 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]


Email throttle

I'm emailing people on m:Wiki Project Med#People interested, telling them the membership list is open and inviting them to fill in the form. I've just received a message, after 10 or so emails, saying "Action throttled: As an anti-abuse measure, you are limited from performing this action too many times in a short space of time, and you have exceeded this limit. Please try again in a few minutes." Is there any way I can get un-throttled? --Anthonyhcole (talk · contribs · email) 05:42, 9 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]

If you are doing that on meta: about the only way to get noratelimit would be to become a member of the accountcreator group over there (same here on enwiki) - this is not normally issued just so you can send lots of email, but you can ask at WP:PERM. If you want to notify a lot of people here on the English Wikipedia the best way is with talk page messages. Your message can be mass delivered by requesting at WT:MMS. — xaosflux Talk 00:23, 10 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Resolved
Closed out via WP:PERM. — xaosflux Talk 15:20, 10 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Template:birth_date

Hello all,

I've a suggestion that will allow the specific code {{Birth date|YYYY|MM|DD}} to be used to display nothing. This is useful to be able to silently include it in {{Infobox person}} (and profession-specific variants of it such as {{Infobox scientist}}) examples. For new users inserting {{Infobox person}}, I've found it common that they don't understand the significance of the birthdate being commented out (<!-- {{Birth date|YYYY|MM|DD}} -->). When they insert the dates into the {{birth date}} template within the infobox, it is still commented out and doesn't display (examples below). I've put the code at Template:Birth date/sandbox. (ping Jonesey95, Izno). 

{{Infobox scientist
| name        = 
| birth_date  = <!--{{birth date |1987|02|11}}-->
}}

This "unfilled" {{birth date/sandbox}} template can be included uncommented out (({{Birth date/sandbox|YYYY|MM|DD}})), such that it works normally as soon as dates are filled in without having to remove the commenting: 

{{Infobox scientist
| name        = 
| birth_date  = {{birth date |1987|02|11}}
}}
Example 1a
Example 1b
Example 2a
Born(YYYY-Expression error: Unrecognized word "mm".-DD)Expression error: Unrecognized word "dd"., Expression error: Unrecognized word "yyyy".Expression error: Unrecognized word "yyyy".Expression error: Unrecognized word "mm".Expression error: Unrecognized word "dd".
Example 2b
Born(1987-02-11)February 11, 1987
<!-- {{birth date |YYYY|MM|DD}} --> → Example 1a (used in blank {{Infobox person}} template)
<!-- {{birth date |1987|02|11}} --> → Example 1b (incorrectly filled in {{Infobox person}} template if <!-- --> not removed). Example 1b should show "February 11, 1987", but doesn't because user didn't remove <!-- -->
{{birth date/sandbox |YYYY|MM|DD}} → Example 2a (for use in blank {{Infobox person}} template and doesn't need <!-- -->)
{{birth date/sandbox |1987|02|11}} → Example 2b (filled in {{Infobox person}} template without need to remove <!-- -->)

Hopefully the examples make sense. Opinions and suggestions welcomed. T.Shafee(Evo﹠Evo)talk 12:01, 9 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Personally, I would change the code in {{infobox person}} to accept any arbitrary date format, e.g. YYYY-MM-DD, DD Month YYYY, or Month DD, YYYY. Then I would add the microformat <span class="bday">...</span> tags to that unless they were already present. That way new users can put any date format they like in the infobox field, and we don't have to treat {{birth date|YYYY|MM|DD}} as a special case. However, your proposal is better than the status quo, and I wouldn't oppose it. — Mr. Stradivarius ♪ talk ♪ 12:14, 9 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]
The {{birth date}} template is not the only one used in that infobox parameter, for living people the {{birth date and age}} template is normally used. But both of those templates are unsuitable for non-Gregorian dates; and the full birth date is not always available, for which {{birth year}} etc. are preferable. I'm sure the idea of moving the metadata classes into {{infobox person}} has come up before, and rejected as impractical. --Redrose64 (talk) 12:43, 9 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]
I see some legitimate concerns for the specific implementation, but I like the general concept of a template which, when the parameter is a placeholder simply doesn't display, but when the parameter is replaced with a valid entry then displays.--S Philbrick(Talk) 15:44, 9 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia is running slowly

I have been trying to edit pages, and whenever I try to access pages on English Wikipedia, it is taking close to 15-30 seconds to load, or is giving me an error. Please {{ping}} me when you reply. --Jax 0677 (talk) 18:29, 9 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]

@Jax 0677: There is not any information in your request that we can use to troubleshoot. Is the delay/error only occurring when you try to edit, or any access at all? What is the error message? Mamyles (talk) 21:06, 9 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Reply - It is now back to normal. --Jax 0677 (talk) 21:15, 9 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]

[Edit] links MIA on user talk page

Hi. Corinne is missing [Edit] links on all but the last six threads on her User talk:Corinne page. Where's Waldo? Cheers! {{u|Checkingfax}} {Talk} 22:41, 9 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]

And they're back. --Redrose64 (talk) 22:59, 9 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Arbitration clerk call for script writer [cross-post]

The Clerks of the Arbitration Committee are looking for a script writer who will work with the clerk team to automate portions of the clerks' procedures. If you are a skilled script writer and are interested in working with us, please email the clerk team at clerks-l@lists.wikimedia.org.

For the Clerks of the Arbitration Committee, Kevin (aka L235 · t · c) 05:31, 10 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Discuss this at: Wikipedia talk:Arbitration Committee/Noticeboard#Arbitration clerk call for script writer

Ogg video subtitles will not activate on the Wikipedia

Tracked in Phabricator
Task T122737

Hi, I was referred here from the help desk. I checked this video with English subtitles here in the WP article. Before, they did come up, but now the subtitles are not activating. I thought it may be related to some language preferences of mine, but my search engine and Windows is English based, so why do not they activate, even when tapping on the "English subtitles" option. On the other hand, subtitles do activate on Wikimedia commons. Any hints welcome! Iñaki LL (talk) 07:33, 10 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]

This is related to phab:T122737. I've been reworking some parts of the subtitle support, to make it closer to HTML5 video support, but it's not completely finished yet. I've been a bit busy at work, but hope to return to this soon and get this problem fixed. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 09:55, 10 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Appreciated TheDJ. Iñaki LL (talk) 10:04, 10 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Claude Billard

Hi
I've just created this article but I unfortunately linked it with the same title to the French article of which it is a translation whereas the link should have directed to fr:Claude Billard (écrivain). Can someone please correct my mistake and tell me how to undo such errors? Thanks in advance, LouisAlain (talk) 13:30, 10 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]

 Done: I removed the link you added to wikidata:Q2977009 and moved it to wikidata:Q2977011. —  crh 23  (Talk) 13:37, 10 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks a lot, LouisAlain (talk) 14:31, 10 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia to the Moon: voting has begun

Hello, after six weeks of community discussion about Wikipedia to the Moon, there are now 10 different proposals for content for the mission. Starting today, you can vote for them on Meta-Wiki, and decide what we will work on: a Wikipedia canon, different lists, the Moon in 300 languages, an astronomy editathon, featured articles, articles about technology, endangered things, or DNA-related topics. You can even vote against community involvement. Voting is open until 24 June. Sorry that this message is again in English only, but we are using village pumps to reach as many communities as possible, so that everyone knows they can vote. Best, Moon team at Wikimedia Deutschland 15:31, 10 June 2016 (UTC)

Strange error

A screen-shot of Wikipedia showing a strange error.

Here is a strange, perhaps one off, error.

All the best: Rich Farmbrough, 18:27, 10 June 2016 (UTC).[reply]

This is from Dizzy Sal in monobook. It looks like MediaWiki:Sidebar was displayed to you in a faulty raw way due to missing data. Just ignore it if it's a one off. It works for me. PrimeHunter (talk) 18:51, 10 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Do you need to have the image this big in a discussion thread? ---Steve Quinn (talk) 04:28, 11 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Made it smaller, but maybe it can be made smaller. --Edgars2007 (talk/contribs) 04:47, 11 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]
It's a thumbnail, which means people can click on it for the full-size view. I made it smaller, and replaced px with upright for scaling proportionate to the user size pref. ―Mandruss ☎ 04:51, 11 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]

New formulas layout

Question Remark
Who and why have changed layout of formulas? Now I can't see formulas in my browser Opera 9.27 [3] https://s.sender.mobi/u/image/2016/6/11/bvB7Yijef/-.JPG . Yes, it's old but my computer has not enough resources for newer browser. Please explain what gain gives new layout and what was purpose.

Also W3 validator shows errors. I think , the simplier interface is the better for community. And blocking some browsers is equivalent to denying access to wikipedia for some people. It's much worse than any gains from optimisation, server load, etc.

Please, restore old layout.

https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Help_desk&diff=724748758&oldid=724736878

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Help_desk#Wikipedia.27s_new_formulas_layout

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Displaying_a_formula

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Displaying_a_formula

By default SVG images with non-visible MathML are generated. The older PNG images can be set via user preferences.[b]

But I don't want to register and login (I haven't e-mail , time and desire to do it).

37.53.235.112 (talk) 11:07, 11 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Just so you know, an email address is not required to make a Wikipedia account - you need nothing more than a username and password. As well as being able to edit your preferences, there are various other benefits. —  crh 23  (Talk) 13:21, 11 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]
If you can chooose a username and password quickly then it takes less than a minute to create an account. I don't know which Opera versions have problems with formulas but Opera 9 and older have less than 0.1% of our traffic. Opera is free and version 10 is from 2009. There comes a point where old browsers are not worth supporting 100% if it limits what a website can do or forces it to spend considerable time on browser support. PrimeHunter (talk) 14:28, 11 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Where did the color on "Collapse top" template go?

Why is the Template:Collapse top template colorless all of a sudden, and how can I put the green color back in? For one thing, I have my Barnstars collapsed on my userpage, so they won't hog the page like a giant advertisement. But I do want people to notice that the collapsed section is there -- and for that it needs color, otherwise nobody sees a collapsed section. Why did the color get removed, and how can I make it green again? Softlavender (talk) 05:02, 12 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]

@Softlavender: Answer to question "why?" can be found here. --Edgars2007 (talk/contribs) 05:12, 12 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]
The default color was changed (with precious little participation in the decision, but whatever), and it looks like not all of the doc was updated to reflect the change. Try adding |bg=#cfc and see if that's the color you wanted. ―Mandruss ☎ 05:22, 12 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]
@Softlavender: I restored the color on your page for you. — xaosflux Talk 05:24, 12 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]
OK thanks for now. Softlavender (talk) 05:28, 12 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]
  • There should at least be instructions on the Template page on how to add color. This is an extremely drastic change to something that has been standard, and standard practice, for many many years. The color was there for a reason. Softlavender (talk) 05:28, 12 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]
The background color is specified using the |bg= parameter, which is documented. ―Mandruss ☎ 05:34, 12 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]

IP editing in spite of global lock?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/188.29.164.102 shows two edits made on the 10th and 12th June 2016, in spite of an apparent global lock on the 188.29.164.0/23 IP address range covering it that has been in force from April 2016. What's going on? Does this represent a failure of the global lock mechanism? -- The Anome (talk) 09:31, 12 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]

If you look at the message more closely you'll notice that the global block is locally disabled here at English Wikipedia: "locally disabled by Mike V: IP does not appear to be a mobile provider, not a colocation service, anonymous only" --Glaisher (talk) 09:34, 12 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]
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