What about using a smaller language at Wikipedia as a test case? Instead of having a major language go down because of scalability problems such a problem can be detected up front. I think it could be possible to have a go at no.wp for such a test.
Ie., set up a smaller language for a full scale test after the beta test and before de.wp and en.wp.
John E
Erik Moeller wrote:
User: Reader Password: qareader
Do not pass it on quite yet, but please feel free to make basic edits or layout improvements & do provide feedback here or off-list.
Plan:
- At least two beta sites will be set up using the FlaggedRevs
extension[1] in two different configurations; these will contain some English language and some German language demonstration content. Repeat, DEMONSTRATION CONTENT ONLY. NO REAL WIKIMEDIA PROJECT.
Philipp Birken from WM-DE and I will provide the configuration for these sites to Brion, who is expected to conclude a security review of the extension this week.
The page [[Wikiquality]] on Meta will also describe these configurations, along with some other general info. It is currently non-existent (do not report).
- These FlaggedRevs demo sites will go live probably next week. I
suggest a target date of September 20; Sue will finalize this.
Should there be major security or scalability concerns even for a demo, we can roll back.
- quality.wikimedia.org: The point is to have portals for major
quality initiatives in Wikipedia and other projects, and an associated open mailing list. (The list is currently still closed, as it was used for discussions about FlaggedRevs development.)
These portals should be fairly basic & only point to information elsewhere. I expect that we will give interested people from the community & translators access to editing quality.wikimedia.org. Ironically the site itself would benefit from a FlaggedRevs configuration, which we may very well put into place if it turns out to be useful.
Originally I wanted to co-launch this with the beta, but New Scientist is going to publish a larger piece about Wikimedia quality initiatives on Thursday, so I thought it would be good to have it up by then, since it also very visibly suggests making a donation & we don't know if we might see a bit of a media cascade.
I can quickly fix up some links (link to an off-site demo of FlaggedRevs for now), open the site & list, and announce them to various Wikimedia mailing lists before Thursday. If this is _not_ desired, please let me know, and I'll email New Scientist & ask them to remove the link. But IMHO there is no real risk in going live with it. Even if we don't take the beta live as expected it'll be a useful site to have.
- If there are no remaining security or scalability concerns, after a
declared date, which I suggest to be November 20 (which is also the middle of the fundraiser and hence a good attention-grabbing moment), we'll give Wikimedia project/language communities the _option_ of turning on the extension. To do so, they'll have to point to a consensus or vote that also explains the configuration they would like to use (the extension is very flexible).
I expect that de.wp already has such a consensus so they will probably go live at that date. It may well be possible for en.wp to obtain a consensus during the beta, in which case it would launch at the same time. But IMHO the correct answer for press inquiries of "who will be using the extension" is "this will be determined during the beta, most likely the German Wikipedia will be among the first".
BugZilla will be used to track these site requests, as was done for semi-protection.
Once again, the above date will be finalized by Sue.
Comments?