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

Recognition of Prior Learning
Some may have noted that – from the end of July this year – I have started study at the University of the Sunshine Coast. I have requested what us known as Recognition of Prior Learning from the university for two units based off of Wikinews articles I have written. I'll keep everyone posted. --RockerballAustralia contribs 09:24, 3 October 2014 (UTC)
 * Still waiting. Granted Monday was a public holiday. --RockerballAustralia contribs 08:29, 8 October 2014 (UTC)
 * Fingers crossed for you on that one, I see no reason why peer-reviewed contributions to Wikinews should not be considered a valid learning experience and be credited. --Brian McNeil / talk 12:25, 8 October 2014 (UTC)
 * For reference, the units for which credit was request are Online Journalism (CMN237) and News Writing and Reporting (CMN235). Intro to Journalism (CMN130) could also have been added to that list but I figured I had to start actually studying somewhere. (That and the networking) --RockerballAustralia contribs 02:21, 10 October 2014 (UTC)
 * What I submitted for RPL (this and this) was "not at the level required or meet the requirements of the courses requested." (Email at 12:33pm my time, 2:33am UTC)
 * I didn't receive any feedback from that. So, I'll pitch for feedback here. Thoughts, anyone? --RockerballAustralia contribs 06:27, 14 October 2014 (UTC)

Tech News: 2014-41
 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
 * You can use the  and   interwikis to link to https://phabricator.wikimedia.org.
 * Some wikis have a template to track bugs in Bugzilla. You should update it to work with Phabricator. You can look at the one on mediawiki.org to see how.
 * You can look at Special:MediaStatistics to see what kind of files are on your wiki.
 * A new tool can now create thumbnails of large TIFF images. This concerns files larger than 50 megapixels. These thumbnails are also sharpened. You can comment on Commons.
 * The Media Viewer tool has a clearer link to the file page. It also has buttons to download, share and embed the file. You can enlarge images by clicking on them. [//www.mediawiki.org/w/index.php?oldid=1203037#2014-09-monthly]

Changes this week
 * The new version of MediaWiki ( 1.25wmf2 ) has been on test wikis and MediaWiki.org since 2 October. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis from 7 October, and on all Wikipedias from 9 October (calendar).
 * If you make a code mistake when editing a Lua script, you won't be able to save your edit.
 * We fixed some more Internet Explorer bugs. If you use Internet Explorer 10, you will be able to use VisualEditor next week. Support for earlier versions is coming next.
 * On Thursday, the tool to edit TemplateData will come to 30 more wikis. [//www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Help:TemplateData]
 * You can help sort bugs in the Book and PDF export tool on October 8.
 * 1% of logged-out readers are getting pages from servers that run the HHVM tool. HHVM should make pages load faster.

Future changes
 * You can look at the plan of the Mobile team for their future work.
 * More changes to Media Viewer are coming. It will be easier to disable it, and you will see the caption below the image. [//www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Multimedia/Media_Viewer/Improvements] [//www.mediawiki.org/w/index.php?oldid=1203037#2014-09-monthly]

Tech news prepared by tech ambassadors and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe.  06:10, 6 October 2014 (UTC)

Wikinewsie Group
Anyone seen this? Thoughts?--RockerballAustralia contribs 02:14, 10 October 2014 (UTC)


 * I heard some pretty dark things about what was going on in the early months of this year. Like, word from On High that the way to get along with the Powers That Be was to throw en.wn under the bus.  Which, as I've remarked to Laura on multiple occasions, is a guaranteed way to not end up with a Wikinewsie Group that stands for journalism with integrity; you literally can't establish a precedent for integrity by allowing people with divergent goals from yours to coerce you into repudiating your principles at the outset.  The last time I recall we talked with Laura about any of that, brianmc was more diplomatic with her than I was, and BRS did .  There was some serious question whether Laura had any legitimacy for her actions by that point; as best I could tell, she seemed to be simultaneously using her putative role as chair of the interim board of TWG, and claiming she didn't have to consult with the interim board because TWG no longer existed.


 * I did receive a comment from SJ last month on meta, in defense of the board's position, and I replied, too, with a critique of some of the points claimed, but unsurprisingly didn't hear back again. This was after the superprotect thing hit the fan, in which, essentially, the Foundation treated Wikipedia with a similar level of contempt to the way they've treated Wikinews for many years.  (And, gasp, Wikipedia didn't like it.)  I don't think the board has any credibility at this point to support a claim that they mean well.  --Pi zero (talk) 03:22, 10 October 2014 (UTC)


 * Seen, yes. Thoughts? Well, ... yes, a few. Not many of them bear repeating.
 * Apparently, sitting back and letting Laura spearhead the push on this allowed them to assume TWG didn't have widespread support from those active here longer-term. That seemed to suit the board quite well; because, they not only declined to recognise TWG (per AffComm recommendation) it allowed them to suggest we set up anyway &mdash; do what they imagine we're supposed to be doing &mdash; and, maybe get a pat on the head 12 months down the line. Wikinews' independence relies on contributors being independent of the Board's opinions on pretty-much everything. ;) I agreed with Laura that a user group was inappropriate; it smacks of "small geographic coverage", which isn't in-line with the user population here. As and when, it suits I intend to keep working with WM-UK and/or WM-DE.
 * Whither TWG? Gawd only knows. --Brian McNeil / talk 06:35, 10 October 2014 (UTC)

Tech News: 2014-42
 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 can now log into Phabricator, the new tool to track bugs. Create your account and add your Bugzilla email address. We are copying the bugs from Bugzilla. Bugzilla is still open.
 * You will now get the VisualEditor newsletter in your language if someone has translated it. You can add translations. You can know about the next translations by joining the translators list or asking Elitre (WMF).

Problems
 * 10% of Tool Labs was down on October 7.
 * Tool Labs was also broken on October 11.

Software changes this week
 * The new version of MediaWiki ( 1.25wmf3 ) has been on test wikis and MediaWiki.org since 9 October. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis from 14 October, and on all Wikipedias from 16 October (calendar).
 * 5% of logged-out readers are getting pages from servers that run the HHVM tool. HHVM should make pages load faster. You can also test it as a Beta Feature.

Meetings
 * You can join a meeting with Language developers on October 15, 2014 at 17:00 (UTC).
 * There is a proposal to organize file pages better. It would use the same tools as Wikidata. You can join a meeting about it on October 16, 2014 at 18:00 (UTC).
 * You can join a meeting about VisualEditor on October 18, 2014 at 18:00 (UTC).

Tech news prepared by tech ambassadors and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe.  08:53, 13 October 2014 (UTC)

Tech News: 2014-43
 Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. You can read translations.

Recent changes
 * You can test a new system to see math using MathML. Go to your display options and choose "".
 * You can add badges in Wikidata for quality articles and featured lists.

File information cleanup
 * You can join a wiki project to help tools read file information. It will help people reuse files.
 * See how to fix metadata. You can fix it by adding markers to templates and adding templates to files.
 * You can see a list of files missing machine-readable information on your wiki.
 * The files missing readable data are also in these categories: no license, no description, no author or no source.

Problems
 * Developers fixed a security problem. If you use Internet Explorer 6, you won't be able to log in any more. You should use a newer browser.

Changes this week
 * The new version of MediaWiki ( 1.25wmf4 ) has been on test wikis and MediaWiki.org since October 16. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis from October 21, and on all Wikipedias from October 23 (calendar).
 * 10% of logged-out readers are getting pages from servers that run the HHVM tool. HHVM should make pages load faster. You can also test it as a Beta Feature.
 * If you add the same parameter twice in a template, it now puts the page in a tracking category.

Tech news prepared by tech ambassadors and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe.  13:47, 20 October 2014 (UTC)

Tech News: 2014-44
 Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.

Problems
 * There was an issue with files from Commons on October 21. You could only see those with names between 140 and 159 characters by visiting Commons itself.
 * There was a problem with cut and paste in VisualEditor in Firefox. It was fixed quickly.
 * There was a problem with editing math in VisualEditor. It was fixed quickly.

Software changes this week
 * The new version of MediaWiki will now come to Wikipedia sites every Wednesday, instead of every Thursday.
 * The new version of MediaWiki ( 1.25wmf5 ) has been on test wikis and MediaWiki.org since October 23. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis from October 28, and on all Wikipedias from October 29 (calendar).
 * VisualEditor now uses autovalues for templates if they are in TemplateData.
 * VisualEditor's menu items now show their shortcuts beside them.
 * VisualEditor now opens faster when you click "edit".
 * The rules for plurals in translations changed in some languages. Interface translations are currently not being updated from translatewiki.net; this process will start again on November 6.  

Tech news prepared by tech ambassadors and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe.  05:20, 27 October 2014 (UTC)

In A Lot of Ways...

 * http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/attytood/UberX-Spotify-Facebook-and-Americas-slow-devaluation-of-work.html#hGfJd1oWVke7fG7e.01

...this applies to us! But, make sure you read the WHOLE article. --Bddpaux (talk) 19:08, 30 October 2014 (UTC)


 * It's certainly relevant. Seems like we're neither fish nor fowl; we're trying to provide &mdash;without charge and without pay&mdash; a service to society that is vanishing as the old economy drops out from under it.   --Pi zero (talk) 21:16, 30 October 2014 (UTC)