WikiIndex:2013-2014 bugs and upgrades: Difference between revisions

{{for|earlier upgrading discussions from 2006|WikiIndex:2006 upgrade discussion}}

{{for|discussions from 2011|WikiIndex:Spring 2011 Upgrade Path}}

'''WikiIndex:2013-2014 bugs and upgrades''' — this page is to be used for raising suggestions and discussing strategies for upgrading our [[:Category:MediaWiki|MediaWiki]] software used by {{tag|WikiIndex}}.  It can typically include any of the published, and stable, [[mw:Manual:Extensions|MediaWiki Extensions]]; or any other applicable and workable strategies.  Please add any suggestions or offerings in any of the subheadings below (or create a new subheading), and discuss.

# [[mw:Extension:NoBogusUserpages]] — ''Pro:'' - would obviate the need to police User: (IP address) pages since they cannot be created by anyone except the legitimate user of the IP - ''Con'' - would not stop spammer from posting spam on the User IP page if that is their actual IP.

# [[mw:Extension:User Merge and Delete]] — ''Pro:'' Rename changes the name of one account, whereas this can merge or combine two accounts into one, and deletes the account not needed.  – ''Con:'' Very dangerous, can permanently delete user accounts'' (but this can be set for 'crat permission only)

#####: Might need a bot. But pywikipedia don't seem to have a library for [[mw:Extension:User Merge and Delete]], so if we have to do that,

#:::Indeed so. I'm inclined to believe that a properly configured [[mw:Extension:QuestyCaptcha]] with multiple questions that are simple enough (i.e. "What is the first name of Mr. Wales, the co-founder of Wikipedia?" or the classic, "What is this site's name?") is far more effective than reCAPTCHA. Just because it says "by Google" on the box doesn't mean that it's automatically good, you know.<br />True enough, QuestyCaptcha has some flaws too (such as the lack of an admin panel of any kind, but I'm hoping we could eventually work around that), but the core concept is far more fascinating and harder for spambot operators to crack, I believe. Cracking a (re)CAPTCHA doesn't require any real thinking whatsoever, whereas topic-specific questions might be really obvious for humans trying to register but not so much for spambots and their automated spamming software.<br />Naturally it should be remembered that no matter what, some will always slip past the automated mechanisms, and that's why we have administrators &mdash; to clean up after these spambots and block the associated accounts, IP addresses, etc. --[[User:Jack Phoenix|Jack Phoenix]] ([[User talk:Jack Phoenix|talk]]) 07:26, 27 August 2013 (UTC)

reCAPTCHA , as I remember it, was developed by [[wikipedia:ReCAPTCHA|others]] - so my want of it has nothing to do with Google.  I am simply trying to figure out what would be the best for this community to have.  Looks like Benjamin is saying similar things above (thanks YiFei for pasting that) - I would be willing to try a simple question - it seems to take someone on the backend to create / maintain it.  'What is this index of?' answer wiki, Wiki, wikis, Wikis to complete. Best, [[MarkDilley]]  (in fact Jack, I pretty much [http://web.archive.org/web/20100713161518/http://blog.aboutus.org/2008/03/04/google-to-earth-site-is-the-word-du-jour/ despise Google] :-)

#<s>[[mw:Extension:ConfirmEdit]] as MathCaptcha (needs [[mw:Extension:Math]] installed, which is easy with shell access on Linux (@Emufarmers: ask me if you have problems with [[mw:Extension:Math]])) --[[YiFei]] | <small>[[User talk:Zhuyifei1999|talk]]</small> 16:06, 21 August 2013 (UTC)</s>

# [[mw:Extension:WikiEditor]] — ''Pro'' - More user friendly editing interface, simpler to understand and has many features to assist inexperienced editors [[User:Arcane|Arcane]] ([[User talk:Arcane|talk]]) 15:17, 21 January 2013 (PST)Arcane

# [[mw:Extension:Maps]] — ''Pro:'' this would be really good for our City-Wiki entries, uses maps from more than one source (Google, Yahoo, OpenStreetMaps, etc)

# [[mw:Extension:LastUserLogin]] — ''Pro:'' would let us know a person's activity and it helps people to see who is building WikiIndex.  - ''Con:'' Why?????  Either use [[Special:RecentChanges]], or if you want to watch a specific user, add them to your watchlist :/  [[User:Hoof Hearted|Sean, aka <small>Hoof Hearted</small>]] • _{[[:Category:Active administrators of this wiki|Admin]]} • <small>[[User talk:Hoof Hearted|talk2HH]]</small> 02:39, 22 April 2013 (PDT)  <!--''Con:'' Any?--> [[Special:WhosOnline]] can be a replacement, but records within a day. --[[YiFei]] | <small>[[User talk:Zhuyifei1999|talk]]</small>  02:38, 4 May 2013 (PDT)

# [[mw:Extension:DismissableSiteNotice]] — ''Pro:'' would let us hide the Site Notice.  - ''Con:''

#Disable redirects to special pages and interwiki redirects, which use a 302 and have no "redirected from" link. ([[mw:Manual:$wgDisableHardRedirects]]) --[[YiFei]] | <small>[[User talk:Zhuyifei1999|talk]]</small>  06:57, 25 May 2013 (UTC)

# [[mw:Extension:Replace Text]] seem to be removed a while ago, and I think it would be a good idea to restore it — ''Pro:'' mass editing  - ''Con:'' not sure. --[[YiFei]] | <small>[[User talk:Zhuyifei1999|talk]]</small> 13:48, 30 October 2013 (UTC)

# <s>[[mw:Extension:MassEditRegex]]</s> — ''Pro:'' can be used by Sysops for 'bot'-like edits, without the need for creating bot scripts - ''Con:'' still in beta phase

I recommend installing [[mw:Extension:Cite]]; it would enable citations to be done in what's become the standard format across the wikisphere. Thanks. [[User:Leucosticte|Leucosticte]] ([[User talk:Leucosticte|talk]]) 12:29, 6 January 2014 (UTC)

Another advantage to using Cite rather than inline URLs is that it would look nicer when the pages are printed. Then we could [[mw:Manual:FAQ#How do I disable external links from showing in the printable version of a page.3F|disable external links from showing in the printable version of a page]]. [[Template:Wiki]] in particular tends not to print well; the lengthy URLs often cause the text to intrude into the wiki logo. [[User:Leucosticte|Leucosticte]] ([[User talk:Leucosticte|talk]]) 09:35, 30 January 2014 (UTC)

:Not sure what he is saying, but you may need to install this [[mw:Extension:RecentChangesLogFilter|Extension]] which hides new user log as well as blocks, deletions and protections (we need to only focus on new user, deletions and blocks)....--[[User:Comets|Comets]] ([[User talk:Comets|talk]]) 07:02, 7 February 2014 (UTC)