Wikibooks:Reading room/Archives/2018/October

Template:Citation error
I'm trying to follow a mailing list template for a message reference in The Wikibook on OpenSSH's chapter on Multiplexing. However even though I have followed the template, the page is showing a Citation Error. What needs to be fixed, my markup or the instructions? Larsnooden (discuss • contribs) 05:40, 5 October 2018 (UTC)
 * ✅ I've made the error message more explicit. JackPotte (discuss • contribs) 17:22, 5 October 2018 (UTC)
 * Thanks! All set here. Larsnooden (discuss • contribs) 17:27, 5 October 2018 (UTC)

Increasing character limit in edit summary
Currently, only 200 characters can be entered in the edit summary. While this is fine in most cases, there is one instance where fitting info in 200 characters is difficult.

When rejecting changes, the edit summary gets prepopulated with info like (Rejected changes by and restored revision by …). While with an IPv4 address I can fit in (mostly) a comment briefly explaining the rejection, I'm finding it virtually impossible to write anything when the user is an IPv6 address (due to the sheer number of characters in the summary). And I'm that admin who prefers to briefly explain the reason when it is not perfectly obvious.

Is there a way that users can somwhow fit in say 250 characters in the summary - at least sysops?

Leaderboard (discuss • contribs) 08:48, 8 September 2018 (UTC)
 * But it would be better for anyone. JackPotte (discuss • contribs) 12:22, 8 September 2018 (UTC)
 * My impression (formed some time back and not re-tested recently) is that when the wiki platform generates summaries for various mop-and-bucket tasks, it trims the summaries to fit in the available field width. In other words, they've designed the platform on the [adjective omitted] assumption that nobody will want to add anything to their uninsightful summary.  In some cases (with page deletions, iirc) they deliberately pad their edit summary as much as possible, which actively messes with admin additions to the summary.  I've lost irreplaceable bits of my life to manually trimming automatically generated cruft from summaries; lately I've taken to contorting my procedures to use Special:Nuke as often as possible, just to minimize the manual customization.  I wouldn't be surprised if increasing the permitted summary length, if that's possible, merely caused the platform to pad out to the greater length; granting, not all cases are padded this way.  (Hopefully, most such automatic generation can eventually be taken over by community-grown dialog-based assistants.) --Pi zero (discuss • contribs) 13:31, 8 September 2018 (UTC)
 * I would definitely be for that. Current on Wikipedia | edit summaries are 250 characters long. This is defined by the | sql table.  Just to note, | there IS a gadget that can be used to increase edit summaries, however it seems to have problems  with firefox and hasn't been  updated since 2009 so your mileage may vary! Necromonger  Wekeepwhatwekill 15:06, 8 September 2018 (UTC)
 * You can place a link to the page talk to anything that merits more than 200 chars (I doubt that +50 chars will have a huge impact). In fact the more complex the edit that requires the added explanation the more problematic it would be to explain it and to understand reading the description. It may be argued that a small summary in part forces small step changes that are easier to maintain. --Panic (discuss • contribs) 13:20, 6 October 2018 (UTC)

Edit history error
The edit history of Pinyin is wrong. The book is created before 2013, and the creator is not User:Artoria2e5--Efex3 (discuss • contribs) 22:24, 27 October 2018 (UTC)
 * The earliest revision of the book main page is by that user on that date. If there was an earlier version, it appears not to have been history-merged with the current main page of the book.  If there's an error, it would seem to have been an error of procedure in 2013, rather than an error of wiki database integrity. --Pi zero (discuss • contribs) 00:12, 28 October 2018 (UTC)
 * Here is the oldest history. Could you help to fix the problem?--Efex3 (discuss • contribs) 00:43, 28 October 2018 (UTC)
 * I think I've got it fixed. --Pi zero (discuss • contribs) 01:21, 28 October 2018 (UTC)
 * Thank you very much.--Efex3 (discuss • contribs) 01:31, 28 October 2018 (UTC)

The Community Wishlist Survey
The Community Wishlist Survey. .

Hey everyone,

The Community Wishlist Survey is the process when the Wikimedia communities decide what the Wikimedia Foundation Community Tech should work on over the next year.

The Community Tech team is focused on tools for experienced Wikimedia editors. You can post technical proposals from now until 11 November. The communities will vote on the proposals between 16 November and 30 November. You can read more on the wishlist survey page.

/User:Johan (WMF)  11:05, 30 October 2018 (UTC)