Wikinews:Water cooler/technical/archives/2010/December

Regarding Wikinews Welcome... something needs doing
Hi. I'm concerned presently about the Wikinews Welcome bot. I understand it's a mediawiki option, but I don't like the fact it just goes round randomly welcoming everyone without waiting. I indef blocked a user about 20 minutes ago called "URAFUCKENNOOB". The account had already been welcomed by Wikinews Welcome, and I think the action of this welcome, followed by an admin basically turning up with a big hammer and hitting the user with it looks very two faced. It's like we're being polite on one hand, and punching them in the happy sack with the other. I'd like to suggest (as suggested to me by lustre on #wikinews, fetchcomms here I think) that we give the bot a cooling off period - wait until the user has at least 1 edit, and if they haven't been blocked within 2 hours from that edit, then and only then, do they get welcomed by the bot.

In my eyes, it makes much more sense and seems a lot nicer to users to have them welcomed after they start contributing sensibly, than a generic welcome from a bot, before we kick them into another postcode for something like an offensive username.

Any thoughts people?

BarkingFish (talk) 02:50, 10 December 2010 (UTC)


 * I feel that a welcome is best reserved to be manually done, but since most of us here are lazy (myself included), having the Wikinews Welcome wait until the user makes an edit is probably for the best, perhaps with a 20-30 minute gap between their first edit, to make sure that account is a vandal account or the like. Generally, we could do without the bot, which did make the Welcommittee practically useless by the way. — Mike moral  ♪♫  05:46, 10 December 2010 (UTC)


 * I've, in the past, done thousands of welcomes. Remember, I by-and-large put the template together. We're not WalMart, the bot is better than wasting human resources. --} (signed by Brian McNeil, error in signature code)


 * The problem I see with waiting before welcoming is that some users are done their first (very crappy) article before that 2 hour period is up. Then when it gets slapped down they go "well, why didn't anyone point me in the direction of policy pages?" In fact, part of the reason we got the welcome bot (and brianmc's new welcome template) was because of some *very* bad feelings that were generated by precisely what I just mentioned.


 * As for vandals and the like, well, they already know they're doing something bad. The fact that they're beaten with a ban hammer right after being welcomed means nothing to them. They're here to vandalize, and that's all they care about. Delaying the welcome template won't hurt or hinder their efforts, but it might hurt legitimate users. Gopher65talk 23:00, 10 December 2010 (UTC)
 * When the message happens immediately on user sign up, I think its clear its an automated message and not some wikinewsie personally welcoming someone with an obscene username. I don't really think anything should be changed. Bawolff ☺☻ 18:50, 11 December 2010 (UTC)

Internal error
Upload file returns the following internal error: ''' Internal error From Wikinews, the free news source you can write! Jump to: navigation, search

key 'q4ity0gtwuqpoh8wldyfq2087s7apxb.' is not in a proper format

Backtrace:

''' Whenever I try to upload this file from Commons:
 * 1) 0 /usr/local/apache/common-local/wmf-deployment/includes/upload/UploadBase.php(557): UploadStash->stashFile('/tmp/phpR4n422', Array, NULL)
 * 2) 1 /usr/local/apache/common-local/wmf-deployment/includes/upload/UploadBase.php(569): UploadBase->stashSessionFile(NULL)
 * 3) 2 /usr/local/apache/common-local/wmf-deployment/includes/specials/SpecialUpload.php(322): UploadBase->stashSession
 * 4) 3 /usr/local/apache/common-local/wmf-deployment/includes/specials/SpecialUpload.php(413): SpecialUpload->showUploadWarning(Array)
 * 5) 4 /usr/local/apache/common-local/wmf-deployment/includes/specials/SpecialUpload.php(167): SpecialUpload->processUpload
 * 6) 5 /usr/local/apache/common-local/wmf-deployment/includes/SpecialPage.php(561): SpecialUpload->execute(NULL)
 * 7) 6 /usr/local/apache/common-local/wmf-deployment/includes/Wiki.php(254): SpecialPage::executePath(Object(Title))
 * 8) 7 /usr/local/apache/common-local/wmf-deployment/includes/Wiki.php(64): MediaWiki->handleSpecialCases(Object(Title), Object(OutputPage), Object(WebRequest))
 * 9) 8 /usr/local/apache/common-local/wmf-deployment/index.php(117): MediaWiki->performRequestForTitle(Object(Title), NULL, Object(OutputPage), Object(User), Object(WebRequest))
 * 10) 9 /usr/local/apache/common-local/live-1.5/index.php(3): require('/usr/local/apac...')
 * 11) 10 {main}

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/archive/b/b9/20091010105023%21Treaty_of_Lisbon_ratification.svg

using http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Special:Upload. I have tried with a summary and without, with a license and without, It is public domain in any case. -84user (talk) 01:14, 20 December 2010 (UTC)


 * There's no point in uploading it here; it's already on Commons. — Mike moral  ♪♫  01:17, 20 December 2010 (UTC)
 * Not so simple, see Talk:Ireland votes 'Yes' to Lisbon Treaty and Commons:Commons talk:File naming. But will this error be looked at? -84user (talk) 01:22, 20 December 2010 (UTC)
 * I'm guessing there is something wrong with the actual file, but I can't say for sure. I tried and got the same error. — Mike moral  ♪♫  01:35, 20 December 2010 (UTC)
 * Thanks for re-trying, Commons upload of that file also gives the same error. I have now reported it at Commons:Commons:Village Pump -84user (talk) 02:07, 20 December 2010 (UTC)
 * Curious, I can workaround the Commons upload error by editing that file in Inkscape to apply Vacuum_Defs and then saving it as a Plain SVG, but when I try the same at Wikinews, I get this different internal error: "key 'sb4j9sqpa6ty9amn3ls9kzvrxpwjcpj.' is not in a proper format". When I try to upload to a different file name I get the same key error: "sb4j9sqpa6ty9amn3ls9kzvrxpwjcpj." But when I re-edit the SVG in Inkscape to save as an Inkscape SVG, the upload works here! I hope some experts are watching and can help resolve this annoying error. -84user (talk) 02:24, 20 December 2010 (UTC)


 * Well spotted on the 'what was known at the time' for images likely to change. You might want to bring this one to 's attention, Commons admin, local 'crat, and estwhile WMF dev. --Brian McNeil / talk 09:31, 20 December 2010 (UTC)
 * 26367. Related to svg format, as a temp measure try to upload the png thumbnail. Note the key is the sha1 sum of the file, and should change when file content (but not name) changes. Bawolff ☺☻ 00:29, 21 December 2010 (UTC)