If Debian doesn't feel they should keep supported versions in their repos, maybe they shouldn't distribute MediaWiki.
That is, seriously, an absurd attitude for a Mediawiki Developer to have. It reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of the meaning of Debian's "stable version" system.
Note that Debian stood up to Mozilla corp. when Mozilla attempted to stop Debian uploading security patches to stable versions [1]. Surely Mediawiki would have much less persuasive power telling them to stop.
I'm exiting of this discussion at this point. I've made the point I wanted to make, compelling or not, and I'm afraid I'm drifting off topic.
I'm not saying we should tell them to stop. They can distribute whatever they want. I'm simply saying their "stable" version is likely doing more harm than good, and that just because they can distribute something in their somewhat insane way, doesn't mean they should.
Respectfully,
Ryan Lane