Latest *tech news https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Tech/News* from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Tech/News/2026/11 are available.
*Weekly highlight*
- All wikis will be read-only https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Tech/Server_switch for a few minutes on Wednesday, 25 March 2026 at 15:00 UTC https://zonestamp.toolforge.org/1774450800. This is for the datacenter server switchover backup tests, which happen twice a year https://wikitech.wikimedia.org/wiki/Deployments/Yearly_calendar. During the switchover, all Wikimedia website traffic is shifted from one primary data center to the backup data center to test availability and prevent service disruption even in emergencies. - Last week, all wikis had 2 hours of read-only time, and extended unavailability for user-scripts and gadgets. This was due to a security incident which has since been resolved. Work is ongoing to prevent re-occurrences. For current information please see the post on the Stewards' noticeboard https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Steward%27s_noticeboard#Statement_on_Meta_about_today's_user_script_security_incident (translations https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Wikimedia_Foundation/Product_and_Technology/Product_Safety_and_Integrity/March_2026_User_Script_Incident ).
*Updates for editors*
- Users facing multiple blocks on mobile will now see the reasons for each block separately, instead of a generic message. This helps them understand why they are blocked and what steps they can take to resolve the issue. For example, users affected for using common VPNs (such as iCloud Private Relay https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Apple_iCloud_Private_Relay) will receive clearer guidance on what they need to do to start editing again. [1] https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T357118 - Later this week, Suggestion Mode https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/VisualEditor/Suggestion_Mode will become available as a beta feature within the visual editor at all Wikipedias. This feature proactively suggests various types of actions that people can consider taking to improve Wikipedia articles, and learn about related guidelines. The feature is locally configurable, and can also be locally expanded with custom Suggestions. Current settings can be seen at Special:EditChecks https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:EditChecks and there are instructions for how administrators can customize https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Help:Suggestion_mode#For_administrators_%E2%80%93_local_customization the links to point to local guidelines. The feature is connected to Edit check https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Help:Edit_check which suggests improvements while someone is writing new content. In the future, the Editing team plans to evaluate the feature's impact with newcomers through a controlled experiment. [2] https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T404600 - View all 23 community-submitted tasks that were resolved last week https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Tech/News/Recently_resolved_community_tasks. For example, the issue where the cursor became misaligned during the use of CodeMirror’s syntax highlighting, which makes wikitext and code easier to read, has now been fixed. This problem specifically affected users who defined a font rule in a custom stylesheet while creating a new topic with DiscussionTools. [3] https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T418793
*Updates for technical contributors*
- API rate limiting update: To help ensure fair use of infrastructure https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/MediaWiki_Product_Insights/Responsible_Reuse, global API rate limits will be applied this week to requests without a compliant User-Agent that originate from outside Toolforge/WMCS and to unauthenticated requests made from web browsers. Higher limits will be applied to identified traffic in April. Bots running in Toolforge/WMCS or with the bot user right on any wiki should not be affected for now. However, all developers are advised to follow updated best practices. For more information, see Wikimedia APIs/Rate limits https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Wikimedia_APIs/Rate_limits . - The new GraphQL API has been released. The API was developed as a flexible alternative to select features of the Wikidata Query Service (WDQS), to improve developer experience and foster adaptability, and efficient data access. Try it out and give feedback https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:Wikibase_GraphQL#Feedback_and_development. You can also sign up for usability tests https://greatquestion.co/wikimediadeutschland/GraphQLAPI/apply. - The PTAC Unsupported Tools Working Group https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Product_and_Technology_Advisory_Council/Unsupported_Tools_Working_Group continued improvements to Video2Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Commons:Video2commons in February, with fixes addressing authentication errors, large-file handling, task queue visibility, and clearer upload behavior. Work is still ongoing in some areas, including changes related to deprecated server-side uploads. Read this update https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Product_and_Technology_Advisory_Council/Unsupported_Tools_Working_Group#February_2026 to learn more. - Detailed code updates later this week: MediaWiki https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki_1.46/wmf.19
*In depth*
- The Article Guidance team invites experienced Wikipedia editors from selected pilot wikis https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Article_guidance/Pilot_wikis_and_collaborators#Collaborators and interested contributors from other Wikipedias to fill out this questionnaire which is available in English https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfmLeVWnxmsCbPoI_UF2jyRcn73WRGWCVPHzerXb4Cz97X_Ag/viewform , Arabic https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd6rzr4XXQw8r4024fE3geTPFe13M_6w7Mitj-YJi0sOlWTAw/viewform?usp=header , Bengali https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdok3-RfB18lcugYTUMGkpwmqG_8p760Wv4dCXitOXOszjUDw/viewform?usp=header , Japanese https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfjTfYp4jEo0akA4B1e-Nfg3QZPCudUjhJzHzzDi6AHyAaMGA/viewform?usp=header , Portuguese https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScteVoI29Aue4xc72dekk-6RYtvmMgQxzMI900UOawrFrSTWg/viewform?usp=header , Persian https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSetdxnYwL3ub2vqA7awCg5hJZPMIYcDPaiTe12rY9h0GYnVlw/viewform?usp=header, and Turkish https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScNvfJF-Ot-4pzA4qAN771_0QDJ4Li19YcUsaTgSKW8Nc7U_Q/viewform?usp=header. Your answers will help the team customize guidance for less experienced editors and help them learn community policies and practices while creating an article. Learn more on the project page https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Article_guidance.
*Tech news https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Tech/News prepared by Tech News writers https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Tech/News/Writers and posted by bot https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/User:MediaWiki_message_delivery • Contribute https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Tech/News#contribute • Translate https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Tech/News/2026/11 • Get help https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Tech • Give feedback https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Tech/News • Subscribe or unsubscribe https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Global_message_delivery/Targets/Tech_ambassadors.*
Okay thank you
On Mon, 9 Mar 2026, 20:53 Sandister Tei via Wikitech-ambassadors, < wikitech-ambassadors@lists.wikimedia.org> wrote:
Latest *tech news https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Tech/News* from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Tech/News/2026/11 are available.
*Weekly highlight*
- All wikis will be read-only
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Tech/Server_switch for a few minutes on Wednesday, 25 March 2026 at 15:00 UTC https://zonestamp.toolforge.org/1774450800. This is for the datacenter server switchover backup tests, which happen twice a year https://wikitech.wikimedia.org/wiki/Deployments/Yearly_calendar. During the switchover, all Wikimedia website traffic is shifted from one primary data center to the backup data center to test availability and prevent service disruption even in emergencies.
- Last week, all wikis had 2 hours of read-only time, and extended
unavailability for user-scripts and gadgets. This was due to a security incident which has since been resolved. Work is ongoing to prevent re-occurrences. For current information please see the post on the Stewards' noticeboard https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Steward%27s_noticeboard#Statement_on_Meta_about_today's_user_script_security_incident (translations https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Wikimedia_Foundation/Product_and_Technology/Product_Safety_and_Integrity/March_2026_User_Script_Incident ).
*Updates for editors*
- Users facing multiple blocks on mobile will now see the reasons for
each block separately, instead of a generic message. This helps them understand why they are blocked and what steps they can take to resolve the issue. For example, users affected for using common VPNs (such as iCloud Private Relay https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Apple_iCloud_Private_Relay) will receive clearer guidance on what they need to do to start editing again. [1] https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T357118
- Later this week, Suggestion Mode
https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/VisualEditor/Suggestion_Mode will become available as a beta feature within the visual editor at all Wikipedias. This feature proactively suggests various types of actions that people can consider taking to improve Wikipedia articles, and learn about related guidelines. The feature is locally configurable, and can also be locally expanded with custom Suggestions. Current settings can be seen at Special:EditChecks https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:EditChecks and there are instructions for how administrators can customize https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Help:Suggestion_mode#For_administrators_%E2%80%93_local_customization the links to point to local guidelines. The feature is connected to Edit check https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Help:Edit_check which suggests improvements while someone is writing new content. In the future, the Editing team plans to evaluate the feature's impact with newcomers through a controlled experiment. [2] https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T404600
- View all 23 community-submitted tasks that were resolved last week
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Tech/News/Recently_resolved_community_tasks. For example, the issue where the cursor became misaligned during the use of CodeMirror’s syntax highlighting, which makes wikitext and code easier to read, has now been fixed. This problem specifically affected users who defined a font rule in a custom stylesheet while creating a new topic with DiscussionTools. [3] https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T418793
*Updates for technical contributors*
- API rate limiting update: To help ensure fair use of infrastructure
https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/MediaWiki_Product_Insights/Responsible_Reuse, global API rate limits will be applied this week to requests without a compliant User-Agent that originate from outside Toolforge/WMCS and to unauthenticated requests made from web browsers. Higher limits will be applied to identified traffic in April. Bots running in Toolforge/WMCS or with the bot user right on any wiki should not be affected for now. However, all developers are advised to follow updated best practices. For more information, see Wikimedia APIs/Rate limits https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Wikimedia_APIs/Rate_limits .
- The new GraphQL API has been released. The API was developed as a
flexible alternative to select features of the Wikidata Query Service (WDQS), to improve developer experience and foster adaptability, and efficient data access. Try it out and give feedback https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:Wikibase_GraphQL#Feedback_and_development. You can also sign up for usability tests https://greatquestion.co/wikimediadeutschland/GraphQLAPI/apply.
- The PTAC Unsupported Tools Working Group
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Product_and_Technology_Advisory_Council/Unsupported_Tools_Working_Group continued improvements to Video2Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Commons:Video2commons in February, with fixes addressing authentication errors, large-file handling, task queue visibility, and clearer upload behavior. Work is still ongoing in some areas, including changes related to deprecated server-side uploads. Read this update https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Product_and_Technology_Advisory_Council/Unsupported_Tools_Working_Group#February_2026 to learn more.
- Detailed code updates later this week: MediaWiki
https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki_1.46/wmf.19
*In depth*
- The Article Guidance team invites experienced Wikipedia editors from
selected pilot wikis https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Article_guidance/Pilot_wikis_and_collaborators#Collaborators and interested contributors from other Wikipedias to fill out this questionnaire which is available in English https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfmLeVWnxmsCbPoI_UF2jyRcn73WRGWCVPHzerXb4Cz97X_Ag/viewform , Arabic https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd6rzr4XXQw8r4024fE3geTPFe13M_6w7Mitj-YJi0sOlWTAw/viewform?usp=header , Bengali https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdok3-RfB18lcugYTUMGkpwmqG_8p760Wv4dCXitOXOszjUDw/viewform?usp=header , Japanese https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfjTfYp4jEo0akA4B1e-Nfg3QZPCudUjhJzHzzDi6AHyAaMGA/viewform?usp=header , Portuguese https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScteVoI29Aue4xc72dekk-6RYtvmMgQxzMI900UOawrFrSTWg/viewform?usp=header , Persian https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSetdxnYwL3ub2vqA7awCg5hJZPMIYcDPaiTe12rY9h0GYnVlw/viewform?usp=header, and Turkish https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScNvfJF-Ot-4pzA4qAN771_0QDJ4Li19YcUsaTgSKW8Nc7U_Q/viewform?usp=header. Your answers will help the team customize guidance for less experienced editors and help them learn community policies and practices while creating an article. Learn more on the project page https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Article_guidance.
*Tech news https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Tech/News prepared by Tech News writers https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Tech/News/Writers and posted by bot https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/User:MediaWiki_message_delivery • Contribute https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Tech/News#contribute • Translate https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Tech/News/2026/11 • Get help https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Tech • Give feedback https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Tech/News • Subscribe or unsubscribe https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Global_message_delivery/Targets/Tech_ambassadors.* _______________________________________________ Wikitech-ambassadors mailing list -- wikitech-ambassadors@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe send an email to wikitech-ambassadors-leave@lists.wikimedia.org
wikitech-ambassadors@lists.wikimedia.org