User talk:MarkTraceur

Talk! DO IT NOW!

GSoC / OPW IRC AllHands this week
Hi, you are invited to the GSoC / OPW IRC AllHands meeting on Wednesday, June 26, 2013 at 15:00 UTC (8:30pm IST, 8am PDT) at #wikimedia-office. We have done our best finding a time that works decently in as many timezones as possibles. Please confirm at qgil@undefinedwikimedia.org so I can add you to the calendar invitation and I have your preferred email for other occasions. If you can't make it's fine, but let me know as well. We have left a notice to all students, but your help is welcome making sure yours is aware about it. Thank you!--Qgil (talk) 20:29, 24 June 2013 (UTC)

Google Code-in: are you in?
Hi, a year ago you were interested in mentoring at Google Code-In. This week we are working on a proposal to participate this year (the deadline to submit proposals is October 28). We are basically compiling tasks for Code-in students and recruiting mentors for tasks and meta-mentors for areas. If you are interested get involved now. Thank you! --Qgil (talk) 23:09, 21 October 2013 (UTC)

On-wiki chat
Hello, I would like to get your input upon my proposal, that can be implemented standalone, but some time in future would have to be connected to Real-time collaboration project. Please check https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Forum#On-wiki_chat and my post on https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Future/Real-time_collaboration talk page.Tdfdc (talk) 16:35, 9 January 2014 (UTC)

Tech News: 2014-05
 Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please inform other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.

Recent software changes


 * Pages from Wikimedia sites now load faster in your browser thanks to "module storage", a way for your browser to save data like JavaScript and CSS on your computer to avoid downloading them again. See video.
 * The code used to show videos has changed. You should be able to play the video on the page, with the play button on top of the video. If you see the play button on the right of the video, or if clicking on the video leads you to the original file, please file a bug or tell User:Bawolff. [//bugzilla.wikimedia.org/55550]
 * The  page will be removed because it's too slow. [//gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/107988]
 * The latest version of MediaWiki (1.23wmf11) was added to test wikis and MediaWiki.org on January 16. It will be added to non-Wikipedia wikis on January 28, and all Wikipedia wikis on January 30 (calendar).

Problems
 * On January 21, Universal Language Selector was turned off on all Wikimedia sites because it makes pages load slowly. If you want to use web fonts, or write in scripts that aren't on your keyboard, you need to add it as an option in your preferences. It will be turned back on when the issues are resolved. [//bugzilla.wikimedia.org/56433]
 * For about 20 minutes on the same day, there were problems with CSS and JavaScript due to high server load.

Future software changes
 * You can give comments about the new version of "Winter", a proposal to have a fixed toolbar at the top of wiki pages.

Tech news prepared by tech ambassadors and posted by MediaWiki message delivery • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe.  09:46, 27 January 2014 (UTC)

Tech News: 2014-06
 Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please inform other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.

Recent software changes
 * The latest version of MediaWiki (1.23wmf12) was added to test wikis and MediaWiki.org on January 30. It will be added to non-Wikipedia wikis on February 4, and all Wikipedia wikis on February 6 (calendar).
 * Global AbuseFilter rules are now active on all [//noc.wikimedia.org/conf/small.dblist small wikis]. [//bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=60408] [//gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/#/c/109435/]
 * The buttons used in pages like log-in, account creation and search are now using the same colors and styles. [//bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=58297] [//gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/#/c/103494/]
 * You can now link to diffs using  and similar links. [//gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/#/c/63395/]
 * There is no longer an option to hide tables of contents on all pages. [//bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=52813]
 * Searching in the  namespace on Wikimedia Commons is now faster, after a bug was fixed on January 29. [//gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/#/c/110191/]
 * All Wikimedia wikis now have high-resolution favicons. [//bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=45036]

VisualEditor news
 * You can now see a list of keyboard shortcuts by pressing Ctrl +/ inside VisualEditor. [//gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/#/c/107153/]

Future software changes
 * Edits and files hidden with the Oversight tool will be moved to the RevisionDelete system. The Oversight tool will then be removed from Wikimedia wikis. [//bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=60373] [//bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=18598] [//gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/#/c/18229/]
 * For languages where not all sister projects exist, you will be able to link to other language projects using double interwikis (, , etc.). [//gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/#/c/94716/]
 * It will soon be possible to use the GettingStarted tool on other wikis than the English Wikipedia. You can translate it on [//translatewiki.net/w/i.php?title=Special:MessageGroupStats&x=D&group=ext-gettingstarted&suppressempty=1&language= Translatewiki.net].
 * You will soon be able to include the Special:Contributions page into other pages. [//gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/#/c/106320/]
 * You will be able to see where a file is used inside MultimediaViewer, the new tool for viewing media files. [//bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=60087] [//gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/#/c/107993/]
 * It will soon be possible to send MassMessage messages using the API. [//gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/#/c/87311/]
 * You will soon see audio statistics on the Special:TimedMediaHandler page. [//gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/#/c/97998/]

Tech news prepared by tech ambassadors and posted by MediaWiki message delivery • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe.  08:30, 3 February 2014 (UTC)

Note on Commons
Hey there, have you considered opening a staff account so you don't have to prefix your comments with "as a member of the community, not as a staff member of Wikimedia Foundation". I think you've seen a lot of those around here, suffixed with (WMF) and the like. TeleComNasSprVen (talk) 05:05, 10 February 2014 (UTC)
 * Honestly the thought had crossed my mind, but it's so intensely rare that I have to do that that I decided not to. I needed to at the MP4 RFC because there was a specific policy about not voicing staff opinions there, but other RFCs are basically not brought by the WMF very often, so I have decided not to really bother with the complication. You can otherwise assume that I'm acting under the guise of a member of the engineering community. :) --MarkTraceur (talk) 08:53, 10 February 2014 (UTC)

Tech News: 2014-07
 Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please inform other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.

Recent software changes
 * The latest version of MediaWiki (1.23wmf13) was added to test wikis and MediaWiki.org on February 6. It will be added to non-Wikipedia wikis on February 11, and all Wikipedia wikis on February 13 (calendar).
 * The Vector search box was changed to fix old display and accessibility issues; for example, you can now use full-text search even if you have disabled JavaScript. Please report any problems you see. The option to disable the "simplified search bar" on Vector will also be removed. [//bugzilla.wikimedia.org/50660] [//bugzilla.wikimedia.org/25127] [//bugzilla.wikimedia.org/24248] [//gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/#/c/82100/] [//gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/#/c/99422/]
 * You are now notified when someone adds a link to your user page on wikis where it didn't work before (wikis with dates in the year-month-day order, including Hungarian, Japanese, Korean and some variants of Chinese). [//gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/#/c/108329/]

VisualEditor news
 * You can now set media items' alt text and position, and directly set their size, in the media tool. [//bugzilla.wikimedia.org/38129] [//bugzilla.wikimedia.org/51293]
 * The gallery tool was improved and several issues were fixed. [//bugzilla.wikimedia.org/60307] [//bugzilla.wikimedia.org/60502] [//bugzilla.wikimedia.org/60779]

Problems
 * On February 3, all wikis were broken for about an hour due to a traffic balancing issue. [//wikitech.wikimedia.org/wiki/Incident_documentation/20140203-LVS]
 * On February 6, some wikis were broken for about half an hour in total due to a problem with the Math extension.

Future software changes
 * Some methods from Scribunto's mw.message library will be removed after February 18. If you use them in your templates or modules, please check to make sure that things will not break. [//bugzilla.wikimedia.org/60758] [//gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/#/c/110983/]
 * You will soon be able to use GettingStarted on 23 new Wikipedias. It helps new users by listing possible tasks and giving help. The new version was also added to the English Wikipedia on February 7th. [//gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/#/c/111460/]
 * You will soon see results from other wikis when you use the new search tool (CirrusSearch). [//bugzilla.wikimedia.org/44420] [//gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/#/c/105986/]
 * The WikiLove tool was redesigned and should also load faster.
 * Edits made with WikiLove or after a GettingStarted suggestion will be tagged. [//bugzilla.wikimedia.org/60911] [//gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/#/c/110315/]
 * It will soon no longer be possible to hide section editing links in your preferences. [//bugzilla.wikimedia.org/52811]
 * You will soon be able to use the revision deletion feature via the API. [//bugzilla.wikimedia.org/23005]
 * You will soon be able to choose mobile view on non-mobile devices using a Beta Feature option. [//bugzilla.wikimedia.org/36636] [//gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/#/c/102866/]
 * If you have questions about Universal Language Selector, you can join an IRC meeting on February 12 at 17:00 UTC, in the #wikimedia-office channel on Freenode.
 * Developers are preparing for Google Summer of Code 2014. You can propose ideas.
 * bugzilla.wikimedia.org will be updated this week. You won't be able to access it from 22:00 UTC on February 12 until 01:00 UTC on February 13 at the latest.
 * The  tag will be renamed to  . The old tag will still work.

Tech news prepared by tech ambassadors and posted by MediaWiki message delivery • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe.  09:30, 10 February 2014 (UTC)

Tech News: 2014-08
 Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please inform other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.

Recent software changes
 * The latest version of MediaWiki (1.23wmf14) was added to test wikis and MediaWiki.org on February 13. It will be added to non-Wikipedia wikis on February 18, and all Wikipedia wikis on February 20 (calendar).
 * You can now use the list of active users again. [//bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=41078] [//gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/#/c/111258/]
 * The new search tool (CirrusSearch) now gives more importance to content namespaces if you search in several namespaces. [//bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=61053]
 * You can now directly link to files viewed with MultimediaViewer, the new tool for viewing media files. [//bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=56469]
 * You can read the summary of the Wikimedia technical report for January 2014.

Problems
 * On February 9, Wikimedia Labs was broken for about 2 hours due to an XFS file system problem.
 * On February 11, there were problems with VisualEditor for about 20 minutes due to a server logging issue.
 * On the same day, for about 20 minutes there were issues with page loading due to database problems.
 * There were issues with page loading between 21:00 UTC on February 13 and 11:00 UTC on February 14 for users in Europe. It was due to a cache server problem.
 * On February 14, all sites were broken for about 15 minutes for users in Southeast Asia, Oceania and the western part of North America. It was due to problems with cache servers.

VisualEditor news
 * The link tool now tells you when you're linking to a disambiguation or redirect page. [//bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=50240]
 * You can now change image display (like thumbnail, frame and frameless) with VisualEditor. [//bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=38129]
 * Wikitext warnings will now hide when you remove wikitext from paragraphs you are editing. [//bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=51701]
 * You will soon be able to create and edit redirect pages with VisualEditor. [//bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=50878] [//bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=47328] [//bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=57173]

Tech news prepared by tech ambassadors and posted by MediaWiki message delivery • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe.  08:38, 17 February 2014 (UTC)

Tech News: 2014-09
 Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please inform other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.

Recent software changes
 * The latest version of MediaWiki (1.23wmf15) was added to test wikis and MediaWiki.org on February 20. It will be added to non-Wikipedia wikis on February 25, and all Wikipedia wikis on February 27 (calendar).
 * The new search tool (CirrusSearch) was added to the Italian Wikiquote and all Wikiversity projects. Users can now enable it in their Beta options. [//gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/#/c/114156/] [//gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/#/c/114169/]
 * The Universal Language Selector was enabled on all Wikimedia wikis again. You can enable web fonts in your ULS options (see how).

VisualEditor news
 * You will soon be able to add and edit, and in the page settings menu. [//bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=57173] [//bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=57167] [//bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=57168]
 * You will soon be able to use the Ctrl +Alt +S or ⌘ +Opt +<kbd class="keyboard-key nowrap" style="border:1px solid #AAA;background:#F9F9F9;padding:1px 3px">S shortcuts to open the save window in VisualEditor. [//bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=50897] [//gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/#/c/110434/]
 * You will soon be able to preview your edit summary when checking your changes in the save window. [//bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=42139] [//gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/#/c/112490/]

Future software changes
 * You will soon be able to use the tag again. [//bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=59798]
 * You will soon be able to post messages with the MassMessage tool in all talk namespaces. [//bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=60132] [//gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/#/c/94698/]
 * Notifications will soon work in all namespaces. [//bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=55491][//bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=56311][//gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/#/c/93508/]

Tech news prepared by tech ambassadors and posted by MediaWiki message delivery • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe. <section end="technews-2014-W09"/> 10:18, 24 February 2014 (UTC)

Tech News: 2014-10
<section begin="technews-2014-W10"/> Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please inform other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available. <section begin="tech-newsletter-software-news"/> Recent software changes


 * The latest version of MediaWiki (1.23wmf16) was added to test wikis and MediaWiki.org on February 27. It will be added to non-Wikipedia wikis on March 4, and all Wikipedia wikis on March 6 (calendar).
 * When users enable web fonts by default, Universal Language Selector will now log if they don't have fonts to display pages correctly. This information will be used by developers to improve font support in the future. Read more about missing fonts. [//gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/#/c/113876/]
 * You can now use Guided tours on the Czech and Japanese Wikipedia. If you want this tool on your wiki, you need to [//translatewiki.net/w/i.php?title=Special:Translate&group=ext-guidedtour&filter=&language=&action=translate translate it] and ask in [//bugzilla.wikimedia.org Bugzilla]. [//gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/#/c/115824/]
 * You can now use information from Wikidata in all Wikisource wikis. [//gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/#/c/115393/]
 * The multimedia team is now posting weekly updates on their mailing list.

VisualEditor news
 * You can now change image size to default for your wiki. If you add new images to pages, they will also be default size. [//bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=47804] [//bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=50379] [//gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/#/c/114420/]
 * If you switch from VisualEditor to wikitext editing, your edit will now be tagged. [//bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=56465]
 * Template parameters now have a bigger, auto-sizing input box for easier editing. [//bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=61289]
 * VisualEditor now has Arabic, Finnish and Kölsch icons for text styling. If you want icons for your language, ask in Bugzilla. [//gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/#/c/115636/] [//gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/#/c/115512/] [//gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/#/c/115424/]

Future software changes <section end="tech-newsletter-software-news"/> Problems
 * The new tool for viewing media files will soon show a progress bar and a thumbnail while loading full images. [//gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/#/c/113963/] [//wikimedia.mingle.thoughtworks.com/projects/multimedia/cards/146]
 * You will soon be able to make user contributions show only page creations. [//bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=42026] [//gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/#/c/115189/]
 * Article Feedback Tool will be removed from the English and French Wikipedias on March 3. It will also no longer be possible to add this tool to any Wikimedia wiki. [//bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=61163]
 * Wikis using the new search tool will come back to the old tool for a few hours starting at 00:00 UTC on March 6. [//bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=61879]
 * For about an hour on February 23, there were problems with page loading due to a MediaWiki bug. [//gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/#/c/114994/]

Tech news prepared by tech ambassadors and posted by MediaWiki message delivery • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe. <section end="technews-2014-W10"/> 09:30, 3 March 2014 (UTC)

Tech News: 2014-11
<section begin="technews-2014-W11"/> Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please inform other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available. <section begin="tech-newsletter-software-news"/> Recent software changes
 * The latest version of MediaWiki (1.23wmf17) was added to test wikis and MediaWiki.org on March 6. It will be added to non-Wikipedia wikis on March 11, and all Wikipedia wikis on March 13 (calendar).
 * You can now use the new search tool (CirrusSearch) on all Wikiquote projects. You can now enable it in your Beta options. [//gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/#/c/116919/] [//gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/#/c/116992/]

VisualEditor news
 * It is now easier to edit templates. Complex tools are now in the "advanced" mode. [//bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=61822] [//bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=55434]
 * It is also easier to edit images. You now have more options and they are explained better. [//bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=61059]
 * VisualEditor adds fake blank lines so you can put your cursor there. They are now smaller and animated to be different from actual blank lines. [//bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=47790]
 * We have improved the tool to add special characters. The buttons are now larger. More changes are coming. [//gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/116661/]
 * You can now use new keyboard shortcuts to undo the last action, clear formatting, and show the shortcut help window. [//bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=53356] [//bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=52140] [//bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=56453]

Future software changes <section end="tech-newsletter-software-news"/> Tech news prepared by tech ambassadors and posted by MediaWiki message delivery • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe. <section end="technews-2014-W11"/> 09:10, 10 March 2014 (UTC)
 * You will soon be able to use a Beta option to show a shorter list of language links. That way, Universal Language Selector will only show languages that are relevant to you. You will still be able to search for other languages. [//gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/#/c/116726/]
 * CirrusSearch will soon automatically index newly imported pages. [//bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=60053] [//gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/#/c/116896/]
 * It will soon be possible to use CSS to style buttons in templates on all Wikimedia wikis, without needing JavaScript. [//gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/#/c/114085/]
 * An IRC discussion with the Wikimedia Foundation Language Engineering team will take place on March 12 at 17:00 UTC on the channel #wikimedia-office on Freenode (time conversion).

Tech News: 2014-12
<section begin="technews-2014-W12"/> Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please inform other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available. <section begin="tech-newsletter-software-news"/> Recent software changes
 * The latest version of MediaWiki (1.23wmf18) was added to test wikis and MediaWiki.org on March 13. It will be added to non-Wikipedia wikis on March 18, and all Wikipedia wikis on March 20 (calendar).
 * You can now view smaller versions of PNG images bigger than 20 megapixels. [//gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/#/c/117809/]
 * You can now use the new search tool (CirrusSearch) on all [//noc.wikimedia.org/conf/highlight.php?file=small.dblist small] wikis. You can now enable it in your Beta options. [//gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/#/c/118482/] [//gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/#/c/118638/]
 * You can read a summary of the Wikimedia technical report for February 2014.

VisualEditor news
 * Searching for template parameters in now case-insensitive. [//bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=51673] [//gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/#/c/117305/]
 * Required template parameters now have an asterisk (*) next to their edit boxes. [//gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/117327/]
 * Several template dialogs are now smaller, and their insert buttons have changed wording. [//bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=50998]

Future software changes <section end="tech-newsletter-software-news"/> Problems
 * You will soon see an error message if you try to log-in or register with an invalid or taken username. [//gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/#/c/117437/]
 * You can now test first version of a tool that includes OpenStreetMap maps inside the UploadWizard. Comments are welcome.
 * You will soon be able to use the Hovercards tool as a beta feature.
 * VisualEditor was slow to load on March 13 because of an API issue.

Tech news prepared by tech ambassadors and posted by MediaWiki message delivery • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe. <section end="technews-2014-W12"/> 07:14, 17 March 2014 (UTC)