Wikisource:Scriptorium/Archives/2024-06

Announcing the first Universal Code of Conduct Coordinating Committee

 * You can find this message translated into additional languages on Meta-wiki. 

Hello,

The scrutineers have finished reviewing the vote results. We are following up with the results of the first Universal Code of Conduct Coordinating Committee (U4C) election.

We are pleased to announce the following individuals as regional members of the U4C, who will fulfill a two-year term:


 * North America (USA and Canada)
 * Northern and Western Europe
 * Ghilt
 * Latin America and Caribbean
 * Central and East Europe (CEE)
 * Sub-Saharan Africa
 * Middle East and North Africa
 * Ibrahim.ID
 * East, South East Asia and Pacific (ESEAP)
 * 0xDeadbeef
 * South Asia
 * Ibrahim.ID
 * East, South East Asia and Pacific (ESEAP)
 * 0xDeadbeef
 * South Asia

The following individuals are elected to be community-at-large members of the U4C, fulfilling a one-year term:


 * Barkeep49
 * Superpes15
 * Civvì
 * Luke081515

Thank you again to everyone who participated in this process and much appreciation to the candidates for your leadership and dedication to the Wikimedia movement and community.

Over the next few weeks, the U4C will begin meeting and planning the 2024-25 year in supporting the implementation and review of the UCoC and Enforcement Guidelines. Follow their work on Meta-wiki.

On behalf of the UCoC project team,

RamzyM (WMF) 08:15, 3 June 2024 (UTC)

Tech News: 2024-23
 Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.

Recent changes
 * It is now possible for local administrators to add new links to the bottom of the site Tools menu without JavaScript. Documentation is available.
 * The message name for the definition of the tracking category of WikiHiero has changed from " " to " ".
 * One new wiki has been created: a in Kadazandusun

Changes later this week
 * Octicons-sync.svg The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from . It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from . It will be on all wikis from (calendar).

Future changes
 * Next week, on wikis with the Vector 2022 skin as the default, logged-out desktop users will be able to choose between different font sizes. The default font size will also be increased for them. This is to make Wikimedia projects easier to read. Learn more.

Tech news prepared by Tech News writers and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe. 

MediaWiki message delivery 22:34, 3 June 2024 (UTC)

Index CSS applying to mediawiki layout
In Index:Eggless recipe book for cakes, cookies, muffins, and desserts.djvu, a table { width:100%; } is causing the index info table to take full width and wrap around.

I think that index CSS should not change the way the site displays, only the content, but is that possible?

For width, it's not that bad, but if someone had something like td { background-color:red; }, it would be a bit more problematic. — Alien333 (what I did &amp; why I did it wrong) 06:39, 8 June 2024 (UTC)


 * This appears to only apply to ProofreadPage layout, not Mediawiki.
 * Also, I guess we could just use classes for that instead of targeting elements. — Alien333 (what I did &amp; why I did it wrong) 10:07, 8 June 2024 (UTC)
 * That's a limitation of the TemplateStyles extension, that the CSS will affect anything in the article (and the index info table is part of the index's article text), which is why one should always give elements one wants to style a class (see guidance at Help:Page styles). Arcorann (talk) 11:53, 8 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Yes, I know. (I didn't do that index, just stumbled on it). — Alien333 (what I did &amp; why I did it wrong) 11:55, 8 June 2024 (UTC)

File:Original recipes of good things to eat.djvu
On Commons File:Original recipes of good things to eat.djvu shows as 2,038 × 3,125, 200 pages (16.89 MB) on Commons, but Wikisource shows as 0 × 0 (16.89 MB). I am wondering what is the issue. Xeverything11 (talk) 18:22, 9 June 2024 (UTC)


 * It's a problem we often have these days, you have to purge it on commons (there's a purge clock gadget to do it).
 * I did it, it should work now.— Alien333 (what I did &amp; why I did it wrong) 18:47, 9 June 2024 (UTC)

Tech News: 2024-24
 Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.

Recent changes
 * The software used to render SVG files has been updated to a new version, fixing many longstanding bugs in SVG rendering.
 * Octicons-tools.svg The HTML used to render all headings is being changed to improve accessibility. It was changed last week in some skins (Vector legacy and Minerva). Please test gadgets on your wiki on these skins and report any related problems so that they can be resolved before this change is made in Vector-2022. The developers are still considering the introduction of a Gadget API for adding buttons to section titles if that would be helpful to tool creators, and would appreciate any input you have on that.
 * Octicons-tools.svg The HTML markup used for citations by Parsoid changed last week. In places where Parsoid previously added the  class, Parsoid now also adds the  class for better compatibility with the legacy parser. More details are available.

Problems
 * There was a bug with the Content Translation interface that caused the tools menus to appear in the wrong location. This has now been fixed.

Changes later this week
 * Octicons-sync.svg The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from . It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from . It will be on all wikis from (calendar).
 * Octicons-tools.svg The new version of MediaWiki includes another change to the HTML markup used for citations: Parsoid will now generate a  wrapper for both named and unnamed references for better compatibility with the legacy parser. Interface administrators should verify that gadgets that interact with citations are compatible with the new markup. More details are available.
 * On multilingual wikis that use the  system, there is a feature that shows potentially-outdated translations with a pink background until they are updated or confirmed. From this week, confirming translations will be logged, and there is a new user-right that can be required for confirming translations if the community requests it.

Tech news prepared by Tech News writers and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe. 

MediaWiki message delivery 20:20, 10 June 2024 (UTC)

The final text of the Wikimedia Movement Charter is now on Meta

 * You can find this message translated into additional languages on Meta-wiki. 

Hi everyone,

The final text of the Wikimedia Movement Charter is now up on Meta in more than 20 languages for your reading.

What is the Wikimedia Movement Charter?

The Wikimedia Movement Charter is a proposed document to define roles and responsibilities for all the members and entities of the Wikimedia movement, including the creation of a new body – the Global Council – for movement governance.

Join the Wikimedia Movement Charter “Launch Party”

Join the “Launch Party” on June 20, 2024 at 14.00-15.00 UTC (your local time). During this call, we will celebrate the release of the final Charter and present the content of the Charter. Join and learn about the Charter before casting your vote.

Movement Charter ratification vote

Voting will commence on SecurePoll on June 25, 2024 at 00:01 UTC and will conclude on July 9, 2024 at 23:59 UTC. You can read more about the voting process, eligibility criteria, and other details on Meta.

If you have any questions, please leave a comment on the Meta talk page or email the MCDC at [mailto:mcdc@wikimedia.org mcdc@wikimedia.org].

On behalf of the MCDC,

RamzyM (WMF) 08:45, 11 June 2024 (UTC)

Page status selection fails on change
If I need to change the page status without saving it fails as follows:

Changing Non-proofread to Proofread and then to Problematic or, vice versa, cannot be a simple change. I have to save, close and retry again.

I tried the same steps in fr.Wikisource where it works as it should. I am using Firefox only for such tests.&#32;— ineuw (talk) 21:59, 12 June 2024 (UTC)


 * I'm not sure I understand what your problem is, can you detail, please? — Alien333 (what I did &amp; why I did it wrong) 11:32, 16 June 2024 (UTC)


 * On changing the page status to Proofread, I preview the results. On seeing an error, I want it to problematic, but the change is not accepted. I must save it as is (Proofread), then reopen it and change it to Problematic.&#32;— ineuw (talk) 02:49, 17 June 2024 (UTC)


 * I am almost sure this is a Firefox browser issue. Don't waste your time on it. I know what to look for it happens again. &#32;— ineuw (talk) 04:53, 17 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Also on Firefox, not having this issue. What OS are you on? — Alien333 (what I did &amp; why I did it wrong) 08:04, 17 June 2024 (UTC)
 * I am using Linux Mint, but I know the reason. I emptied the formhistory.sqlite and the problem was solved. &#32;— ineuw (talk) 08:20, 17 June 2024 (UTC)

Policy on adding illustrations?
I think I know the answer to this, but since I've had trouble finding an explicit statement anywhere, I thought I might ask. Is it acceptable to add one or more pictures representing a topic to an otherwise unillustrated text? Many texts, especially short ones such as stand-alone poems or newspaper articles, look like they would benefit from an illustration or two, but have none. For instance, an article about an event, or a prominent person who has just died, or some noteworthy achievement. If an appropriate picture or even a range of pictures depicting the person or thing exists on Wikimedia Commons, is it ever appropriate to add such pictures to transcriptions here? Would it make any difference if the caption or alternate text clearly indicated that the illustration was not part of the original text?

I suspect that the answer is probably "no, we don't do that here", although I certainly think it would be desirable for there to be some circumstance in which adding pictures would be acceptable. Obviously this practice is typical in Wikipedia, but also sometimes on Wiktionary, and usually on Wikiquote; author listings on Wikisource usually take a portrait from Wikidata, and there would probably be no objection to additional pictures in long entries, since author listings are understood not to be transcribed texts themselves. So, is my first impression correct, or is there a firm policy on this issue? P Aculeius (talk) 11:01, 17 June 2024 (UTC)


 * As you suspect, adding illustrations to texts is not permitted. Specifically, the policy WS:ANN states: "The following are currently banned on Wikisource: [...] Purely decorative illustrations and images. (Known as grangerisation or extra-illustration)".
 * What I would recommend, where possible and if you are willing, is to try and find an illustrated published edition of the text you are interested in, which you can then upload along with the illustrations that were originally published with it. This would be especially helpful for texts that are not currently backed by a scan. —Beleg Tâl (talk) 13:21, 17 June 2024 (UTC)
 * I also want to add that this applies to transcribed works themselves. As you have noted, images are routinely added to Author and Portal pages. I also personally like to add images to Versions and Translations pages where applicable. —Beleg Tâl (talk) 13:24, 17 June 2024 (UTC)

Tech News: 2024-25
 Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.

Recent changes
 * People who attempt to add an external link in the visual editor will now receive immediate feedback if they attempt to link to a domain that a project has decided to block. Please see Edit check for more details.
 * The new Community Configuration extension is available on Test Wikipedia. This extension allows communities to customize specific features to meet their local needs. Currently only Growth features are configurable, but the extension will support other Community Configuration use cases in the future.
 * The dark mode beta feature is now available on category and help pages, as well as more special pages. There may be contrast issues. Please report bugs on the project talk page.

Problems
 * Octicons-tools.svg Cloud Services tools were not available for 25 minutes last week. This was caused by a faulty hardware cable in the data center.
 * Last week, styling updates were made to the Vector 2022 skin. This caused unforeseen issues with templates, hatnotes, and images. Changes to templates and hatnotes were reverted. Most issues with images were fixed. If you still see any, report them here.

Changes later this week
 * Octicons-sync.svg The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from . It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from . It will be on all wikis from (calendar).
 * Starting June 18, the Reference Edit Check will be deployed to a new set of Wikipedias. This feature is intended to help newcomers and to assist edit-patrollers by inviting people who are adding new content to a Wikipedia article to add a citation when they do not do so themselves. During a test at 11 wikis, the number of citations added more than doubled when Reference Check was shown to people. Reference Check is community configurable.
 * Mailing lists will be unavailable for roughly two hours on Tuesday 10:00–12:00 UTC. This is to enable migration to a new server and upgrade its software.

Tech news prepared by Tech News writers and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe. 

MediaWiki message delivery 23:48, 17 June 2024 (UTC)

What images of the original text should be uploaded for a newspaper article?
So I'd like to transcribe some old articles from newspapers—say the New York Times. I see a variety of different methods being employed, from whole issues apparently being available to transcriptions not backed up with any images. Suppose I just want to transcribe one article appearing on one page, or perhaps across two pages. What is the best procedure to follow? Should I: A) upload the entire issue of the Times (234 pages) to Commons, B) upload just the section in which the article occurs (12 pages), C) upload just the page(s) containing the article, D) upload just images of the article text, cropped from the rest of the items, or E) something else?

I note that the full issue is available at Internet Archive, but our help page on Internet Archive speaks of uploading .djvu files, which it also says are no longer being produced by IA—I don't see a clear explanation of what to do for materials for which there is no djvu file. And lastly, the images are from a microfilm, in negative. I know how to process images myself to create a positive, but I don't want to download a high resolution scan of 234 newspaper pages just to transcribe one article! For text it may not matter that the image is a negative, but when pictures are included a positive would be greatly preferable. P Aculeius (talk) 15:48, 17 June 2024 (UTC)


 * A). We prefer having whole works than only parts of them (and regarding not backed up texts, we tend to not avoid these nowadays).
 * You'll rarely, if ever, find a djvu file on IA, but there is nearly always a PDF, and there are many tools, of which I think this is the best, to convert PDF files to DjVu. — Alien333 (what I did &amp; why I did it wrong) 15:56, 17 June 2024 (UTC)
 * The main page for The New York Times says, "Most of the work on The is on individual articles", and I can see why.  Formatting and transcribing the column I wanted to make available took around half an hour.  Downloading the whole issue from Internet Archive took an hour and fifteen minutes, and the resulting PDF file was 872.9 MB, far larger than any file I would have chosen to download.  Uploading the file to PDF2DJVU only took thirty-six minutes, and it began converting automatically.  But nearly five hours later, it's still not done, and I've never received any update on its progress, or whether it's actually doing anything.  I'm afraid to do anything that might interrupt it, in case it ever finishes.
 * If it does, then the best result I can hope for will still be a negative. I was unable to invert the pdf file before uploading to PDF2DJVU, though inverting individual pages might have worked if they'd been separate.  But I don't want to spend all evening inverting 234 pages and then trying to combine them back into a single document—something I doubt I would be able to do easily.  And if I successfully uploaded the finished document, it'd be suboptimal in appearance, noticeably different from all other media of its kind, and virtually none of it would ever be transcribed—most other issues that have been partly uploaded have only a handful of articles transcribed, and nothing else.  Few have index pages, and those that do show almost nothing proofread or validated.
 * I considered trying to upload the PDF to Wikimedia Commons, on the understanding that files bigger than 1 GB are hosted, though it says that at 1 GB PDF's can start to cause issues. 872.9 MB might have squeezed in under the limit.  But all of the other issues uploaded were on the order of 1/10 that size; some of that might be the .djvu format, but at the same time almost all of them are from 1900, and state in the masthead that the issue is "sixteen pages" (plus magazine, in some instances).  At this point it seems unrealistic to upload the issue in question, at 234 pages, even if I can ever get a finished djvu from PDF2DJVU, which seems unlikely.  The time and effort involved just for the sake of transcribing a single column probably explains why we have relatively little content from The New York Times.  P Aculeius (talk) 01:15, 18 June 2024 (UTC)
 * P Aculeius: Our general practice is to have an entire published unit—a whole book, or a volume or an issue of a periodical—for various reasons which generally relate to cataloging and copyright principles. Newspapers, however, are a major problem in this regard, as there is often a great amount of content unrelated to the actually valuable portion. As an example, I have been working recently on scan-backing a collection of the works of Louisa May Alcott which were recently discovered. Several of these were from newspapers; in all cases I have obtained the entire issue. For just one issue of a magazine—eight pages only—and ignoring most of the advertisements—it took me four months of on-and-off work to finish. Of the different options you listed above, (A) is technically correct, though rarely actually employed (e.g. here and others listed therein, and another of my works here), but (D) is the most common (e.g., here) and (E) is common historically (although now officially disfavored) (e.g., here). Another practice, of which I do not personally approve, is to upload a scan with each column as a separate page—although this is also usually done at the issue level (e.g., here). As for conversions, it is probably best to either use the PDF without DJVU conversion or to download DjVuLibre and run the conversions locally. TE(æ)A,ea. (talk) 02:22, 18 June 2024 (UTC)
 * It looks as though the size of the file was the issue. Most other sites promising the conversion of PDF to djvu indicated that files should be smaller than 50, 100, or 200 MB; some suggested that larger files could be converted with a paid subscription.  PDF2DJVU did not mention a size limit, but it did not seem to be able to finish the process on a second attempt either.  Finally I found this site, and was encouraged by the presence of a "donate" button, suggesting that it was non-commercial, and no size limit was mentioned.  It worked!  I just had to wade through a couple of dozen others before finding it.  So the issue is now uploaded to Commons, though I don't think I'll be adding any more Sunday editions in the near future...
 * I should probably make an index page, though the prospect of naming the pages of the different sections of a newspaper seems daunting. Before I was able to produce a djvu, I did upload and add a positive scan of the specific article from a different source (where I could not have obtained the full issue as a single document), though I didn't create an index page for it, as I thought the whole issue might still be possible (and it was).  Should it also have an index page?  P Aculeius (talk) 14:06, 18 June 2024 (UTC)
 * P Aculeius: You should probably have the old file deleted, now that you have the entire issue available. TE(æ)A,ea. (talk) 14:57, 18 June 2024 (UTC)

"Invalid interval" error on creating page index; unable to create pagelist for the source file
I've tried to create indexes for two works, carefully following all of the instructions, but I keep getting these errors that prevent me from working on either of them. I did find the explanation on the help page that said that the "invalid interval" error has been happening since earlier this year. It mentions a workaround: purging the caches for the source files on Wikimedia Commons. But I've done that multiple times, and nothing has changed. The index pages I created also show a prominent warning about the need to creating a pagelist, but despite following the instructions to the best of my ability, and following the examples in other, working index pages, nothing changes. I can see a list of other works that have the same problem, at least one of which has been in index purgatory since February. I can't see anything wrong with its pagelist, either. What am I doing wrong? Is there a solution? I can't express how frustrating it is to have to abandon projects almost as soon as they're begun. P Aculeius (talk) 03:10, 19 June 2024 (UTC)


 * You need to purge the file at commons (simplest way is with one of the gadgets that do that, such as the purge clock).
 * Sometimes, you may also need to purge the index here after purging the file.
 * Since the server switch a few months ago, it happens sometimes.
 * Note that we're not sure that purging the file works, it did in most cases but maybe not always.
 * I purged the two files you worked on most recently, they work now.
 * As for the "need to create a pagelist" warnings, you need to remove them manually by changing in the index page to "to be proofread" once you've got a pagelist. — Alien333 (what I did &amp; why I did it wrong) 07:14, 19 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Thank you for fixing the two "invalid interval" errors for me. Purging the files here or on Wikimedia Commons did not work for me.  Could that indicate that the method of purging is involved?  I have an older computer with an older browser that can no longer be updated.  In any case, I was able to fix the pagelist issue thanks to your explanation.  Thank you again!  P Aculeius (talk) 12:42, 19 June 2024 (UTC)
 * For purging (the cache), you can either go to https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=(filename)&action=purge, or use one of the gadgets that provide a quick link to that from the file page. If it did not work for you, it might have been because you did not purge the index after, as it needs to be updated too. — Alien333 (what I did &amp; why I did it wrong) 13:43, 19 June 2024 (UTC)