UDWiki:Administration/Policy Discussion/Update the Wiki Software

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Green check.png Guidelines — Policy Document
This page is a statement of official UDWiki Policies and Rules. See Policy Discussion for policy additions and changes.
Padlock.png Administration Services — Protection.
This page has been protected against editing. See the archive of recent actions or the Protections log.

The version of the software that powers the Urban Dead Wiki -- MediaWiki -- is sadly out of date, to the detriment of the wiki and its users. Leaving the wiki software un-upgraded increases the burden on moderators, keeps users from contributing as fully as they otherwise might, and leaves the wiki open to additional security vulnerabilities. Short of any serious compelling reason not to upgrade the software, I can see no reason why we need to run an old version.

A brief amount of investigation at Special:Version reveals that we are currently running MediaWiki 1.5.6, while the latest version of the software is 1.6.7 (although there is also a 1.7 branch in development, but it is unstable and not preferred). The number of changes since our version of the software is significant. Among other things, just a small number of the advantages to upgrading to the latest version would be, based upon these three pages:

  • XSS HTML injection attack and HTML/JS injection attack bugs fixed
  • Numerous user interface and language support fixes
  • Upgraded registration/login page and page protection/un-protection pages
  • Huge fixes to templates, including templates in category/what links here pages, new support for default values for template variables, and the ability for templates to contain other templates
  • Support for a large number of useful extensions
  • Many new wiki features
  • Many other bug fixes

In addition, upgrading the software would allow us to use the following extensions (although this policy would not ask that these be installed, it would be extremely useful if they were):

  • Username Blacklist -- useful for banning repeat vandals such as PQN or 3page before they strike again
  • CheckUser -- useful for allowing moderators to establish IP bans on repeat vandals who use different usernames
  • PageProtection -- useful for allowing protection of only some pages or parts of pages, to, e.g., only allow the owner of a user page (or moderators/bureaucrats) to edit that page

I have tried asking Kevan directly to upgrade the wiki software, but he has been unresponsive. I think the time has come to get the opinion of the majority of the wiki, so that we can hopefully motivate the necessary changes. If this policy passes, it would serve as a formal request by the wiki community for Kevan to update the wiki software.

Bob Hammero ModB'cratTA 23:44, 5 July 2006 (BST)

Voting Section

For

  1. Bob Hammero 09:51, 9 July 2006 (BST)
  2. Jedaz 09:58, 9 July 2006 (BST)
  3. Quingawaga 14:53, 9 July 2006 (BST)
  4. Cyberbob240 15:01, 9 July 2006 (BST)
  5. J2DaGangsta 16:18, 9 July 2006 (EST)
  6. Jimbo Bob ASSU! 17:27, 9 July 2006 (BST)
  7. McArrowni 22:32, 9 July 2006 (BST)
  8. Matthew Fahrenheit 22:42, 9 July 2006 (BST)
  9. Ornithopter 05:05, 10 July 2006 (BST)
  10. 343 U! 06:51, 10 July 2006 (BST)
  11. Pillsy 10:19, 10 July 2006 (BST)
  12. Sig.PNGtalk 16:18, 10 July 2006 (BST)
  13. Darth Sensitive 23:09, 10 July 2006 (BST)
  14. CaptainM 07:56, 11 July 2006 (BST)
  15. The General T Sys U! P! F! 13:00, 11 July 2006 (BST)
  16. Swmono talk - W! - P! - SGP 13:16, 11 July 2006 (BST)
  17. Mookiemookie 15:35, 11 July 2006 (BST)
  18. Brendoshi 19:36, 11 July 2006 (BST)
  19. Xoid 20:27, 11 July 2006 (BST)
  20. Max Grivas JG,T,P! 20:50, 11 July 2006 (BST)
  21. Bulgakov 00:29, 12 July 2006 (BST)
  22. Ralphwiggum Talk-To-Me! 20:07, 11 July, 2006 (EST)
  23. Chameleon47 13:11, 12 July, 2006 (EST)
  24. DarkStar2374383 14:04, 12 July 2006 (BST)
  25. CaptainScarlet 22:48, 12 July 2006 (BST)
  26. Krew13 09:17, 13 July 2006 (BST)
  27. Cody Dano 12:40, 13 July 2006 (BST)
  28. Zementh 15:20, 13 July 2006 (BST)
  29. Technerd 20:46, 13 July 2006 (BST)
  30. ErynSMA 20:59, 13 July 2006 (BST)
  31. Paradox244 01:09, 14 July 2006 (BST)
  32. Abi79 AB 11:16, 14 July 2006 (BST)
  33. Catriona McM 11:52, 14 July 2006 (BST)
  34. Saithis 13:25, 14 July 2006 (BST)
  35. flowerpower4life 21:26, 14 July 2006 (EST)
  36. RAF Private Spudd Talk RAF 01:51, 15 July 2006 (BST)
  37. Goron40 06:41, 15 July 2006 (EST)
  38. sffh 03:19, 16 July 2006 (CET)
  39. Mnbvcx 12:58, 16 July 2006
  40. Smary 2:17, 16 July 2006
  41. Cwissball 23:04, 16 July 2006 (BST)
  42. Tauron 01:09, 17 July 2006 (BST)
  43. SirensT RR 03:15, 17 July 2006 (BST)
  44. Attentater 12:41 17 July 2006 (GMT)
  45. Jonny12 W! 20:38, 17 July 2006 (BST)
  46. DAvoid 14:44, 18 July 2006 (BST)
  47. GoNINzo 19:25, 18 July 2006 (BST)
  48. Axe Hack 12:32, 19 July 2006 (EST)
  49. Evl kitty 20:04, 19 July 2006 (BST)
  50. Lucidious 1:26pm, 19 July 2006 (BST)
  51. ERNesbitt 01:23, 20 July 2006 (BST)
  52. Redcoat-Mic 16:57 20 July 2006 (GMT)
  53. SS 21:03, 20 July 2006 (BST)
  54. Thari 21:32, 20 July 2006 (BST)
  55. Tico 3:45, 21 July 2006 (BST)
  56. Stinger9 9:26, 21 July 2006 (BST)
  57. Ptangzoot 08:42, 21 July 2006 (EST)
  58. Nob666 16:34, 21 July 2006 (BST)
  59. Akule 19:24, 21 July 2006 (BST)
  60. Lt Potter 18:24, July 21, 2006 (EST)
  61. Spiffulous 04:37, 22 July 2006 (BST)
  62. Aramcobrat
    Please sign your votes properly. –Bob Hammero ModB'cratTA 17:38, 22 July 2006 (BST)
  63. Tryce of Thunder 01:55, 23 July 2006 (BST)
  64. Dreadnaught 12:36, 23 July 2006 (EST)
  65. OmegaPaladin 05:46, 23 July 2006 (BST)
  66. THrip 12:42, 23 July 2006 (BST) Voting has already ended. Cyberbob  Talk  12:46, 23 July 2006 (BST)

Against

  1. Scinfaxi 15:58, 15 July 2006 (BST)
  2. Jjames 08:04, 18 July 2006 (BST)
  3. Nuke Texas 18:03 22nd July 2006 (BST)