Bulbapedia:Technical Update Changelog

This page serves as a changelog and documentation for Bulbapedia's technical update to MediaWiki 1.35, which took place in April 2021. This page will also be used to document any future changes or updates to Bulbapedia's MediaWiki software.

June 21, 2021

Updates

Corrected issues

• Issue involving broken functions related to user emails have been resolved.
• Issue involving Encyclopædiæ Pokémonis desktop links being broken for logged out users has been resolved.

Known issues

If you notice any bugs (aka surprise features) please don't hesitate to let us know so we can fix them as soon as possible. That being said, here is a list of currently identified issues tech is working to address:

• Log-in/account lockouts - Some users experiencing log-in issues/account lockouts following the update
• Skin issues
  • Logged out skin - Missing link to login to Bulbapedia Archives. Dropdowns with links to EP members have disappeared as well and we're working on this.
  • Logged in skin - The mobile desktop version of the site is a bit broken at the moment, and we are aware of the ad issues on mobile still getting through despite logged-in users shouldn't be getting ads. On archives as well, we've noted the RC is missing the staff icons in the recent changes.
• Mobile app - Categories aren't populating with their contents.
• Archives searching - Search is currently not returning results and doesn't have the file namespace selected by default.
• CentralAuth functionality affecting users and their ability to globally log into/link accounts
• A known issue of the newly formatted RecentChanges design being completely broken. The old version has been set as default and users are encouraged to disable the new design in their preferences until we can fix it.

April 21, 2021

New features

New features you may notice:

• Two-factor authentication (2FA) for logging in has been enabled to keep your account secure.
• Toolbars - The edit box now has an updated toolbar. To reenable the old version, you will have to go under "Gadgets" under "Preferences" and select the legacy bar.
• An overall smoother site experience
• Extension:Math - Yes, we can finally display equations properly!
• Default edit rate enhanced - Those of you that like to watch BulbaBot do its work may notice that they start to move a little faster now, you will too if you can edit that fast!
• Enhanced diff pages - Allows for some more action options when viewing page diffs.
• Password issues - You will be notified and be suggested that your password be changed if it is in the list of 100,000 commonly used passwords provided by MediaWiki that are considered bad passwords. Also, your username can no longer be included in your password (e.g., if your username is "Spriteit" your password can not be "SpriteitsPassword").
• Partial blocking - Staff now has the ability to apply partial blocks on user accounts. Users may now be blocked from specific pages or namespaces. We will be updating our blocking policy in accordance to account for these new powers.

Features being tested

These features are currently disabled because we may need to validate or debug them before we put them to wider use.

• Extension:CategoryTree - Users will now be able to dig through categories to see subcategories within the upper-level categories.
• Global user account renames - Allows staff to globally rename user accounts across all Bulbawikis.
• Top Contributors List - Allows for the generation of Bulbapedia's Top Contributor list once again
• Recent changes and Watchlist changes - These are now powered with JavaScript and introduce some lovely new features that improve their usability, including filters and even live updates. This initially launched with some issues with menus appearing behind the actual content, we're troubleshooting this till it is good to go live. But you can turn it on in your preferences to play around with it.
• VisualEditor - We know we said this would be available, but it was giving us a bit of a major headache, so since it wasn't essential, we've temporarily delayed this going live.
• Universal auto-confirmed status - We're still working so that auto-confirmed status carries over from Bulbapedia to the Archives and you can more easily upload files.

Known issues

If you notice any bugs (aka surprise features) please don't hesitate to let us know so we can fix them as soon as possible. That being said, here is a list of currently identified issues tech is working to address:

• Log-in/account lockouts - Some users experiencing log-in issues/account lockouts following the update
• Email - Some features requiring user email, such as account confirmation, are currently not functional
• Skin issues
  • Logged out skin - Missing link to login to Bulbapedia Archives. Dropdowns with links to EP members have disappeared as well and we're working on this.
  • Logged in skin - The mobile desktop version of the site is a bit broken at the moment, and we are aware of the ad issues on mobile still getting through despite logged-in users shouldn't be getting ads. On archives as well, we've noted the RC is missing the staff icons in the recent changes.
• Mobile app - Categories aren't populating with their contents.
• Archives searching - Search is currently not returning results and doesn't have the file namespace selected by default.

Changelog

April 21, 2021

• MediaWiki 1.35.2 now live for Bulbapedia users.