Generally, it is possible to make a copy of a text passage using drag and drop and pressing the CTRL key while moving the mouse. In this case, a + appears next to the mouse pointer. In the 2017 wikitext editor the + also appears next to the mouse pointer, but the text is moved, not copied (it is deleted from the old position).
Topic on 2017 wikitext editor/Feedback
Interesting, never knew about that shortcut. I doubt the average user even knows it exists, and even then, Ctrl + C , Ctrl + V is generally way faster than a combo of keyboard and mouse.
Personally, I prefer Linux's approach to copy paste, simply select and middle mouse click to paste. Either way, it seems reasonable to add that functionality, assuming that it isn't complex do to so.
Ctrl + C , Ctrl + V is also a combo of keyboard and mouse, even more keyboard, and mouse to the same extend (i.e. moving from the start position to the target position)
I normally select text with no mouse/pointer at all. At least on my Mac, you hold down the shift key while pressing the arrow keys to select text. I find it to be faster and easier than using a mouse, but other people might prefer other options.
One can actually copy and paste without a mouse since ancient times when Windows / Mac OS and the mouse / trackpad, et al didn't even exist. Heck one can operate any good application or operating system without any mouse at all, in fact, one can even copy and paste without even the mouse or keyboard or similar device.
Anyway, this thread makes the incorrect assumption that this actually works in all operating systems.
It doesn't...
But that is no reason to inhibit it in operating systems in which it actually works and can be used with the old source editor of Wikipedia. By the way, is there any statistics in which operating systems Wikipedia is edited most?
That depends on what you mean by "editing", and where "Wikipedia" is. At the German Wikipedia, I would expect most edits that are not made in a flagged bot account to be done on Windows computers. For some small Wikipedias in developing countries, the most common OS for "fully manual" edits (i.e., not using AWB or similar scripts) might be Android.
And I thought everybody knows this.
What web browser and operating system are you using?
Windows 7 (home) and 8 (office), Mozilla Firefox 59.0.2