lcrocker(a)nupedia.com accidentally selected reply instead of group
reply. Here is his message.
----- Forwarded message from lcrocker(a)nupedia.com -----
To: Tomasz Wegrzanowski <taw(a)users.sourceforge.net>
Subject: Re: [Wikitech-l] Serious problems with new software
From: lcrocker(a)nupedia.com
>Minor issue 1:
>I had to jump many times before software would give me an url.
>URL should be given as soon as possible.
That's a reasonable idea.
>Minor issue 2:
>There was a warning that image sizes should be kept below 100k.
>100k is not very big value for maps. I don't like this warning.
I plan to supplement that with a client-side check, but I think
100k is about right. We shouldn't be using images that big
except in rare cases, and it's not a hard limit, just a strong
suggestion. Any JPG or PNG larger than that is probably either
encoded incorrectly or is too large for an article.
>Minor issue 3:
>Why the hell server changed case in file name
>from africa.jpg to Africa.jpg ?
This won't change. In the new software, article titles, user
names, and uploaded files all have the same naming rules, mainly
because each user and file also creates an article. But just
like links to articles, the link [[image:africa.jpg]] will find
the image "Africa.jpg" (and again just like articles, the other
letters are case-sensitive). One consistent set of rules.
>Very serious problem:
>Software didn't tell me that file africa.jpg was already uploaded,
>so I overwrited it.
>(Well, it wasn't really africa.jpg what was uploaded but Africa.jpg)
>Anyway article Africa on English Wikipedia has wrong image now.
Two things: (1) there's a bug that's making it not show the old
version correctly; otherwise you'd be able to reupload with a new
name and restore the old one. The old version is still here--it
didn't get deleted or anything, it's just that the bug is hiding it.
I plan to fix this right away. (2) This is a problem inherent in
the nature of HTTP. I can't do anything at all with an image until
after it's all been uploaded. I don't even get to know the name
before it's already here. So I really have little choice but to put
it where it goes, saving any existing ones as previous versions.
If, after the upload, it is found that it doesn't follow some rule,
I give a warning and give the user the option to back out or to
ignore the warning. "Overwrote and earlier version" isn't one of the
warning rules, because that's a normal function. But maybe it should
be, and those who know what they are doing can choose to ignore the
warning an go ahead.
----- End forwarded message -----