Wikinews:Water cooler/miscellaneous/archives/2014/November

Style guide
I've produced a typeset version of the style guide using LaTeX with the idea that a nice printable version would be useful to somebody. See File:Wikinews Style Guide 2.pdf. While making it, I corrected a few typos/grammar errors on wiki I spotted, or clarified some wording. The text of the document is nearly verbatim, with some minor typographical differences (punctuation inside quotation marks; consistently italicize Wikinews) and few wording differences (since this is more a "book" format). I did add somewhat of a preface, but it is mostly information about the document itself and the introductory sections of the guide. If you have any suggestions/comments, feel free to let me know. Admittedly, it's not exactly the most useful thing, but I was partly doing this as a way to teach myself a bit more LaTex. — Mike moral  ♪♫  08:31, 3 November 2014 (UTC)


 * I copyedited the SG a bit following your copyedits. It particularly caught my eye, when looking over the things you'd been neatifying, that dateline is currently strongly discouraged because the review gadget doesn't handle it correctly.  --Pi zero (talk) 12:57, 3 November 2014 (UTC)
 * This is great: I know it will help me as I plan on getting into citizen journalism here. Thanks. —Justin ( koavf ) ❤T☮C☺M☯ 17:55, 3 November 2014 (UTC)


 * I like, but note that the George Orwell quote in the first section is slightly mangled. It needs each of the elipsis bracketed (thus: "[...]") because they're representing omitted parts of the longer text (my selective editing there).
 * The essay it's culled from predates 1984 by a couple of years, the idea that control of language could be an incredibly powerful tool of oppression goes on to become the Ministry of Truth. Imagine an oppressive regime capable of removing, altering the definition of, or otherwise corrupting, the key terms required to discuss a specific idea; the oppressed lose the ability to discuss, or even think about, concepts which might threaten the regime.
 * The idea that choice of words can direct how people think long-predates Orwell. Journalists are supposed to have sufficient mastery of language to, at the very least, be able to nudge people towards a chosen conclusion. Saying: "The pen is mightier than the sword" simply doesn't do justice to the underlying concept. The point of the selective quote? To encourage those who read it to realise they do have some control over language, but that it is a power which the Forth Estate does not have exclusive control over. To give an example, I'd point people to elements within the First Estate (the clergy/church) who have manipulated the public perception of the word "theory" into a derogatory anti-science term. --Brian McNeil / talk 21:37, 3 November 2014 (UTC)
 * I've made a couple of changes to the document. I've changed it to include Pi zero's new changes and Brian's suggestion about the ellipses. I've posted the code on GitHub for anyone to review/edit. The code is a bit messy since making it produce a PDF was more important than neat code, but I'll get around to making it neater. I'll also try to put the PDF output on GitHub so it won't be necessary to upload to Wikinews/Commons every time I (or someone else) make a change. I put it in using the website interface rather than using git, and as far as I can tell, you can only add text-based documents via the website.
 * Thanks! I was hoping it would be useful to somebody. :) — Mike moral  ♪♫  09:11, 4 November 2014 (UTC)

Tech News: 2014-45
 Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.

Recent software changes
 * The "Special:Cite" page is now called "Special:CiteThisPage". That way, you know it's to cite the page, not to add a reference.
 * You can no longer use the  keyword for text searches. It caused issues with the new search tool. It will come back later.

Problems
 * There was a bug in VisualEditor with Internet Explorer. It hid tools like the link editor when you opened them. The bug was fixed on Monday.
 * Issues with the new search tool caused geo data code to show up on pages on Monday and Friday. The mobile "nearby" tool was also broken. The problem is now fixed.
 * HHVM caused server issues on Thursday. They are now fixed.

Software changes this week
 * The new version of MediaWiki ( 1.25wmf5 ) has been on test wikis and MediaWiki.org since October 29. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis from November 4, and on all Wikipedias from November 5 (calendar).
 * Some wikis have icons at the top of a page to show if it is protected or featured. Icons show up using CSS. You can now use the  tag in these templates instead to add the icons. [//www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Skinning#Page_status_indicators]
 * VisualEditor now tells you if you're editing a re-used reference. This helps you avoid changing it if you just want to add a new one.
 * The icons in VisualEditor's template editor tool for adding more fields are back, along with other fixes.
 * After November 6, all wikis will have the tool to edit TemplateData. [//www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Help:TemplateData]

Future changes
 * The new search tool will come to the last wikis in the coming weeks. This includes Wikipedia in French, Chinese, German and English.

Tech news prepared by tech ambassadors and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe.  17:28, 3 November 2014 (UTC)

Tech News: 2014-46
 Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.

Recent software changes
 * You may see a new tool on the mobile site of the English Wikipedia. It asks simple questions to make the article better. In the future, your answers will go to Wikidata.
 * The MediaWiki API now shows information in a nice format. You can translate it in translatewiki.net.

File information cleanup
 * Reminder: You can help fix file information on your wiki. It will help robots understand the information. After that, it will be easier for you to search files and re-use them.
 * You can join two IRC chats this week to learn more about the file cleanup project. One will be on Wednesday at 18:00 (UTC) and the other on Thursday at 04:00 (UTC). You can ask questions during the chat if you need help to fix files on your wiki.
 * You can see a list of files to fix on the Labs tool. You can report bugs and ask questions on the talk page.

Problems
 * Wikimedia Labs was broken for a few hours on Thursday. It was due to a hardware problem.

Software changes this week
 * The new version of MediaWiki ( 1.25wmf7 ) has been on test wikis and MediaWiki.org since November 5. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis from November 11, and on all Wikipedias from November 12 (calendar).
 * You can now use more editing tools for tables in VisualEditor. You can add rows and columns, merge cells, and edit table captions.
 * The style and insert menus in the toolbar of VisualEditor now show fewer tools. This helps you see the most common tasks. You can see all items by clicking "More".
 * The way windows inside VisualEditor work has changed. VisualEditor should be faster and have fewer bugs.

Tech news prepared by tech ambassadors and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe.  15:00, 10 November 2014 (UTC)

Captain Dopey
As we approach the holidays (speaking as a 'Yank)....I often get kind of nostalgic and feel kinda lame and dopey....but this year, I've decided to channel my energies toward expressing thanks and gratitude! So, while it's still a wee bit early I just wanted to say THANKS! too all my fellow Wikinewsies here! Admins, reviewers and certainly any and all who report on all sorts of stuff happening around the world, what you do and what the project does is sincerely, a good thing! I heard this recently and I liked it: 'On the internet, everyone yells at the same volume!' Given that, I like that we adhere to solid editorial standards and don't just crank out 'churnalism' (God, I love that word!) Keep up the good work....each and every one of you! --Bddpaux (talk) 16:51, 17 November 2014 (UTC)

Content is Lacking
I find that the content is very lacking, and the news s often outdated. I feel that this feels more like a beta or test then a true site. I ask that all users do as I will attempt to do; write as many article as possible. AKA Casey Rollins (talk)Casey Talk with Casey 18th November, 2014. 11:26 AM EST

Tech News: 2014-47
 Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.

Software changes this week
 * The new version of MediaWiki ( 1.25wmf8 ) has been on test wikis and MediaWiki.org since November 12. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis from November 18, and on all Wikipedias from November 19 (calendar).
 * The new search tool ("CirrusSearch") will be on the English Wikipedia from November 19.

Move from Bugzilla to Phabricator
 * The tool to track bugs will change on November 21.
 * You won't be able to add or edit bugs between November 21 and November 24.
 * You can make the change easier for you by creating your account.
 * Bugzilla will be frozen after the change. You will see, edit and report bugs in Phabricator.
 * You can join two IRC chats to learn more about the change. The chats will be on Tuesday, November 18 at 16:00 (UTC) and 23:00 UTC.

Tech news prepared by tech ambassadors and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe.  18:28, 17 November 2014 (UTC)

Tech News: 2014-48
 Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.

Recent changes
 * The move from Bugzilla to Phabricator is done. You can now report bugs in Phabricator.

Problems
 * There was a problem when editing tables in VisualEditor. VisualEditor was trying to fix bad values for the  or   option. VisualEditor now leaves the bad values to avoid making things worse. This was fixed on November 17.

Software changes this week
 * The new version of MediaWiki ( 1.25wmf9 ) has been on test wikis and MediaWiki.org since November 19. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis from November 25, and on all Wikipedias from November 26 (calendar).
 * You will be able to try VisualEditor on many new wikis for the first time. After November 26, VisualEditor will become available on Wikidata, Wikiquote, Wikibooks, Wikiversity, Wikivoyage, and Wikinews wikis. You can find it in your Beta options.
 * VisualEditor now tells you if your edit needs to be approved.
 * You can now use VisualEditor's tools directly when you resume editing after closing the save window.
 * VisualEditor's table editing tools now work better in right-to-left languages.

Tech news prepared by tech ambassadors and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe.  19:31, 24 November 2014 (UTC)