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Requesting wiki configuration changes

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Overview

Often, wikis want particular configuration changes for their project. In order to manage these requests, a task tracker is used by the Wikimedia system administrators.

Some common requests include:

  • Creation or removal of additional namespaces (e.g. Portal:, WikiProject:, Appendix:, Author:)
  • Creation or removal of user groups with additional rights (e.g. rollbacker, filemover)
  • Changing user rights
  • Enabling or disabling local uploads
  • Changing the project logo
  • Translation of namespaces
  • …

How to request a change

In order to get a configuration variable or setting changed on your project:

  1. Figure out what you want changed;
  2. Gather local on-wiki community consensus for the change;
    1. Start a discussion at the community portal, village pump, or other major discussion venue, and give time for a consensus to develop.
    2. Make sure everything necessary to make the change is decided upon. For example, new user groups will usually need to be addable/removable by certain groups of local users (not just global Stewards ) – usually this could be granted to either admins or bureaucrats. (If your wiki does not have any local admins or bureaucrats, any user rights changes need to be done via a steward; see permission requests.)
      1. Wikis that do not have any local admins/bureaucrats are probably too small for a new user group, see Limits to configuration changes, section "Special groups on small wikis".
    3. In the case of a very small and low-activity community, it should be enough to show that you have tried to gain consensus, and that you have given an opportunity for objections.
  3. File a ticket (preferably in English) in Wikimedia's bug tracker, under the "Wikimedia-Site-requests" project tag. (See Phabricator help for more information about Wikimedia's task tracker.)
    1. Set the project tag "Wikimedia-Site-requests" for the project.
    2. Be sure that the ticket includes a URL to the local on-wiki consensus, preferably using a permanent link (click the "Permanent link" link in the toolbox, which should make the URL end in &oldid=...); the URL should go in the main "description" box;
  4. Be patient; site configuration requests are only read by a few of the system administrators; on average, they take a few weeks to process; if the request is urgent or has been sitting around for a long time, join #wikimedia-techconnect and ask about the request.

Gaining on-wiki consensus and filing a task does not guarantee that the request will be fulfilled. Ultimate authority lies with the system administrators, and site configuration requests may be declined for any reason, including but not limited to the following: to protect the Wikimedia founding principles and core values, to protect the integrity of a project, because performance, security, or architecture issues, or because fulfilling the request would include deploying an extension that was discontinued.

If you want to try fixing such a request yourself, please follow the manual and give it a try!

In addition to all of the above, there is specific guidance and a better workflow if you want to change your wiki's logo, whether temporarily or permanently.

  1. Upload your logo to Wikimedia Commons in SVG format. In most cases it should be a square (see documentation on mediawiki.org for exact sizing details).
  2. Use the logo-test tool to check that it displays as expected.
  3. File a request in the "Wikimedia-Site-Requests" Phabricator project using this form, with the following information:
    • Wiki this request is for
    • Link to new logo on Wikimedia Commons in SVG format
    • Link to view logo using https://logo-test.toolforge.org/
    • When logo should be enabled
    • When logo should be changed back (if temporary)
    • Link to community discussion
  4. Sysadmins will process your request, converting the logo into the proper formats in Gerrit. It is recommended you file a request at least a week in advance of wanting to change logos. Even if you don't know exactly when it should be enabled (e.g. waiting for the millionth article to be created), giving sysadmins a heads-up to prepare will help speed up your request when it is time.

See also

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