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Request for Comments: Structured Data, Forms and Strategic Decisions
In the process of adding structure to our data and neater input for our edits, a few challenges arose and some questions need to be answered.
We would appreciate it if you could comment on ModEnc:Migration to structured data and forms.
No Spam
I'm probably jinxing it by posting this, but just as a follow-up: The combination of a CAPTCHA rotating daily and requiring the CAPTCHA for the first stretch of editing regardless of user account state seems to have worked well.
I'm not aware we've had spam at all since May, and there don't seem to be any automatic spambot registrations, either.
This is why we can't have nice things.
Looking into the latest spam page, which happened after the CAPTCHA changes, it turns out the arms race continues: The spammers now have confirmed e-mail addresses.
I have altered the permissions to require a minimum degree of editing and time to have passed before users with confirmed e-mail-addresses can bypass the CAPTCHA.
The exact parameters will not be disclosed.
If you think you're very special and you should be allowed to edit CAPTCHAless despite having only just registered your account, feel free to contact me and state your case.
I have also added an additional restriction on username patterns and even more automated blocklists to keep SkyNet and the traitors working with it at bay.
Should there be a significant amount of non-regular, non-spamming users extremely inconvenienced by this, we can talk about further options and alterations.
It has to be clear that ultimately, we cannot prevent spam completely.
The system cannot distinguish actual humans editing pages from actual humans editing pages.
If an account is created and run exactly like any regular account, we will not know it is a spam account until after it posted spam.
That's just the way it is.
Inline Previews activated
I have activated inline-previews, as on Wikipedia, so you can quickly check what a linked page is about without having to open it.
This also works on footnotes, provided they have been properly entered into the page.
If you are an existing registered user and want to use this feature, you have to activate it under Preferences → Appearance → Reading preferences → Enable page previews.
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Preview in flag header -
Preview in page body -
Preview of a footnote
Automatic daily CAPTCHA change
Since SkyNet is apparently working with human traitors, breaking the CAPTCHA-questions relatively quickly, I have written a server script to rotate the CAPTCHA daily.
This will not stop a human spammer from breaking it, but it will hopefully prevent both long-term automation of CAPTCHA bypass and automatic answering of the questions using something like Chat-GPT.
Upgrade completed / new Construction Options
If you've been on the page in the past six hours, it may have seemed a bit wonky.
This was because of a number of updates:
- Updated the software. This included some underlying structural changes, which caused the most "noise".
- Changes to the e-mail integration: If you confirm your e-mail address (in your Preferences), the CAPTCHA should leave you alone. If the spammers figure this out, we'll have to disable that again.
- As part of the aforementioned structural changes, some other MediaWiki default skins ended up in the installation. I've enabled those to be chosen, in case you yearn for good ol' Monobook. The other two new ones are Minerva Neue und Timeless, which are a bit more mobile-friendly than the default Vector skin.
- Speaking of mobile: I've added the extension for a mobile display of the site. It defaults to the aforementioned Minerva skin. It's a lot lighter on features than the desktop site, but far more usable/readable on a mobile phone. We may have to edit the main page to provide more direct access options or portals for mobile users. Please provide feedback on that if you are a mobile user.
- For all of these optical adjustments, please be aware that, just like with Vector 2022 in general and in dark mode in particular, ModEnc's design and templates are currently not tested to work with those adjustments. For example, the Main Page primary links overlap on mobile and the Maintenance Mode warning loses its text in dark mode.
I will not consider visual inconsistencies in alternative viewing modes bugs or site issues.
If you would like to spearhead design changes to accommodate alternative viewing options, go right ahead. Just play nice with the others. - I have enabled the wikitext editor. If the buttons don't show up over the source editor, clear your cache. This includes live preview, too.
- I have enabled the visual editor. This is an entirely different editing experience, so I have disabled it for all users by default. You can enable it by checking "Enable the visual editor" in your editing preferences.
If you did enable the visual editor and you get lost, you can switch back to source editing in the top right of the editor controls.
Since those are a lot of moving parts, it is possible issues arise.
This seems to have been unclear after my upgrade notice in November, so let me emphasize it: I cannot read minds. Especially not of anonymous people over the Internet.
If there is an issue, report it. If you don't report it, it's not going to get fixed.
I will not listen to complaints about issues from people who have not ascertained that I actually know about them.
Would you younglings please get your poo together?
I can't believe after literal decades I actually have to start moderating this place again.
I'm putting a few of you in timeout until Monday.
Talk it out on talk pages. Show up on Matrix or in the forums.
I don't care how you settle your disputes, but not by wrecking the content or the structure of the site.
Upgrade completed
We marched through a number of versions and apparently we suffer from at least one known MediaWiki bug.
Somebody who's not an administrator, please report on Matrix whether the CAPTCHA works as expected.
Thank you!
Upgrade completed
Today's fixing of the URLs completes the upgrades to the latest version of MediaWiki. Among the changes are autocompletion for the search box and a new diff view for changes.
All links should work normally now. If there are any issues left, let me know.
Part of this upgrade cycle was a complete overhaul of the actual way the software is maintained on the server, this included completely removing the software once. Should this action have led to issues with uploads and or be preventing new uploads from happening, do tell.
ModEnc remains in Maintenance Mode, and there are a lot more changes left to apply. Heed the warnings in the header.