Wikibooks:Reading room/Archives/2014/January

MediaWiki markup to show prerequisites
The book "Advanced Data Structures and Algorithms" lists "Algorithms" as a prerequisite. And so I expected the Algorithms page, in the section that says "The following books list Algorithms as a prerequisite:", to mention the "Advanced Data Structures and Algorithms" book.

But it doesn't list anything, only showing blank space.

There appears to be some kind of magic MediaWiki markup in that section that is intended to automagically list every book that lists "Algorithms" as a prerequisite using the prerequisite template.

How can I fix things so it, you know, does the right thing? I can't even tell if the bug is on the "Algorithms" page, or in the prerequisite template, or somewhere deep in the guts of MediaWiki. --DavidCary (discuss • contribs) 17:33, 6 January 2014 (UTC)

Request for comment on Commons: Should Wikimedia support MP4 video?
''I apologize for this message being only in English. Please translate it if needed to help your community.''

The Wikimedia Foundation's multimedia team seeks community guidance on a proposal to support the MP4 video format. This digital video standard is used widely around the world to record, edit and watch videos on mobile phones, desktop computers and home video devices. It is also known as H.264/MPEG-4 or AVC.

Supporting the MP4 format would make it much easier for our users to view and contribute video on Wikipedia and Wikimedia projects -- and video files could be offered in dual formats on our sites, so we could continue to support current open formats (WebM and Ogg Theora).

However, MP4 is a patent-encumbered format, and using a proprietary format would be a departure from our current practice of only supporting open formats on our sites -- even though the licenses appear to have acceptable legal terms, with only a small fee required.

We would appreciate your guidance on whether or not to support MP4. Our Request for Comments presents views both in favor and against MP4 support, based on opinions we’ve heard in our discussions with community and team members.

Please join this RfC -- and share your advice.

All users are welcome to participate, whether you are active on Commons, Wikipedia, other Wikimedia project -- or any site that uses content from our free media repository.

You are also welcome to join tomorrow's Office hours chat on IRC, this Thursday, January 16, at 19:00 UTC, if you would like to discuss this project with our team and other community members.

We look forward to a constructive discussion with you, so we can make a more informed decision together on this important topic. Keegan (WMF) (talk) 06:47, 16 January 2014 (UTC)

Games
I have started a book about Games and would like some help since it is such a big topic. StudiesWorld (discuss • contribs) 21:53, 22 January 2014 (UTC)


 * This book needs a more specific title. I've remarked further on this on the talk page of the main page of the book.
 * Administrators can help you with moving all the pages of the book to a new title, once one is chosen. --Pi zero (discuss • contribs) 01:09, 23 January 2014 (UTC)

Twinkle
Hello. My account is autoconfirmed but I cannot welcome users or revert vandalism/AGF edits. Does anyone know how I can fix this?--Mr Wiki Pro (discuss • contribs) 17:00, 18 January 2014 (UTC)
 * Twinkle hasn't worked for me since the last (or last but one, I forget) MediaWiki upgrade. We'll need to look at what's failing. QuiteUnusual (discuss • contribs) 11:45, 31 January 2014 (UTC)