On Wed, 13 Mar 2024 at 13:16, Tim Moody <tim@timmoody.com> wrote:
>
> If I access
>
> https://en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php?action=visualeditor&…

Hi Tim,

If you go to https://en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php?action=help&modules=visualeditor you'll see that this API is labelled as an internal, do-not-call API.

The page you're requesting is too big for the timeout, and you get an error. In particular, you're calling an expensive API on a very expensive page.

[Snip]

> I'm not sure how to proceed. After a number of hours it has not yet resolved.

Please don't repeatedly call an API that's telling you your call has caused too much server load, especially an internal one.

By the URL you've given, you probably want https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/mobile-html/Timeline_of_the_COVID-19_pandemic_in_Canada instead; sadly, that is an experimental API, but it is at least designed to be used by the public.

You can read about this API, and a bunch of others, at https://api.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page, and the direct API-generated documentation at https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/#/Page%20content/getContent-mobile-html

Hope this helps!

Yours,
--
James D. Forrester (he/him or they/themself)
Wikimedia Foundation