Extension:CountingMarker

The CountingMarker extension provides functionality for monetising a wiki with the Verwertungs&shy;gesellschaft Wort (Copyright collective).

Description
Anyone who is a member of the Verwertungs­gesellschaft Wort (Copyright collective) and operates a wiki faces several problems when they want to participate in the METIS programme, i.e. registering their online texts for monetization.

METIS stands for „Meldesystem für Texte auf Internet­seiten“ (“Reporting System for Texts on Internet Pages”). VG Wort requires a minimum length of the texts as well as a minimum number of article views (“hits”), which must be proven by the installation of “counting pixels” on the article page. For the installation of these pixels you can order “counting markers” from VG Wort, each of which consists of a set of public and private keys and a URL to a counting pixel on a VG Wort server.

A snippet of HTML code on how to include this counter in an HTML page is included. For web pages from the 1980s, which consisted of self-made HTML pages, it is a simple matter to insert this HTML code via copy and paste into the HTML code of the page. But how can these counters be integrated into modern content management systems, which in a very complex way assemble the pages finally delivered to the reader from database queries, templates and skins?

This task, as well as the administration of the counter marks, the assignment of the counter marks to the articles and the annual report to VG Wort are part of the functional scope of this enhancement.

Installation
Since MediaWiki 1.25 the extension  should be installed to use the full range of functions. However, there is a basic version in which the HitCounters extension is not required.

Tested
The extension was tested with MediaWiki 1.23, 1.25, 1.27, 1.31, 1.33, 1.35.

Localisation
The extension is provided in "de", "en", "es".

Version history

 * Version 0.2.0
 * MediaWiki v1.23-1.33
 * First public release


 * Version 0.3.x
 * MediaWiki v1.25+
 * Remove compatibility stuff for MediaWiki before v1.25.


 * Version 0.2.2/0.3.2
 * Export function for the annual report added.


 * Version 0.2.3/0.3.3
 * Multi-author support added und user groups with individual rights defined.


 * Version 0.2.4/0.3.4
 * Stuff around lazy loading and the code-snippet of the counting marker.


 * Version 0.2.5/0.3.5
 * Compatibility stuff for MediaWiki v1.35.
 * The entry Number of articles can be corrected in the MediaWiki database.


 * Version 0.2.6/0.3.6
 * MediaWiki v1.25+ (v1.23+)
 * add Hook SkinBuildSidebar


 * Version 0.3.7
 * MediaWiki v1.35+
 * add Hook SkinAddFooterLinks, remove Hook SkinTemplateOutputPageBeforeExec

Other issues
There are minor issues, for example the sum of the hits of all articles in v1.25 and v1.27 is displayed incorrectly. However, since this only affects additional statistical information, which does not affect functionality, this is not a problem.

If you run a <tvar|1></> and manage the extensions centrally (via soft links), you have the problem that the <tvar|2></> of this extension are not found. Currently, to solve this problem, these maintenance scripts can be copy & paste into the <tvar|1> </> folders of the MediaWiki installations.

Backward compatibility
Version <tvar|1>0.2.0+</> is fully backwards compatible with MediaWiki <tvar|2>1.25</>, and with the exception of a helping function even compatible with MediaWiki <tvar|3>1.23</>.