Future of MediaWiki's bad image list (MZMcBride)
Hi.
In the context of <https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=14281>
("Suggestion: Rename "Bad image list" to better title"), it occurred
to
me
that a bad image list is a specialized (and hackish)
feature that
probably
wouldn't be accepted into MediaWiki core today.
I'm wondering if it makes sense to split this feature (a bad image list)
out
into a MediaWiki extension.
If splitting this feature out of MediaWiki core makes sense, I'm
wondering
whether it should be put in its own extension, be part
of another
existing
extension (such as Phalanx), or be part of a more
generalized behavior
control extension.
An alternate approach suggested on the bug would be to use an
AbuseFilter
filter instead of a bad image list (thereby
deprecating "MediaWiki:Bad
image
list"). This gets slightly more complicated if
you want to also
replicate
the MediaWiki page's exceptions functionality (you
can block inline
usage of
an image except on specified approved pages). This
exceptions
functionality
may make an _exact_ replica of the bad image list in
an AbuseFilter
filter
impossible. That said, the AbuseFilter extension was
seemingly designed
for
exactly this type of behavior control and includes
handy features such
as
disallowing the edits altogether and logging attempted
edits.
Thoughts?
MZMcBride
I would like to see some simplicity to be available to be retained, and
not the never-ending complexity of trying to write complex abuse filters.
Keeping simple files like "Mediawiki:Bad file list" enables those admins
not hacking-literate to be able to add an image and have it locally
blocked. That said, I can see value in having a more sophisticated
approach to both bad and good lists that we can store in a protected
environment like Mediawiki: namespace AND to have both portability and the
ability to develop new features.
Is it possible to write AbuseFilter so that it is able to make use of both
bad and good lists stored within the MW namespace? I especially like that
if we are able to utilise that in the global space. We have had global
vandals come along and start spamming or vandalising by the addition of an
image, or a singular image with coding. To be able to slow down that
process with a global filter, would be excellent.
I would see that a simple AbuseFilter that says inhibit (in whichever
flavour) 'this' edit based on finding a filename found in 'Mediawiki:Bad
image list' as a base feature would be the simplest response. Default the
behaviour to on (for WMF) and it replicates the present case. If wikis
wish to then further develop these filters, excellent. I also see that
such filter behaviour could allow wikis to battle other forms of vandalism,
and one that I know that I have put into bugzilla previously. We had a
vandal who was putting sexually explicit pictures on contributors' user and
user talk pages. If this wiki was then able to write a filter that
basically said block the addition of images to such and such local
namespace, from such a such category at Commons, and/or matching such and
such keywords from a filelist, rather than have to try and write an
abusefilter that had all the series of swear words and references to sexual
appendages, BRILLIANT!
Billinghurst