@2010-12-28 22:22, MZMcBride:
Alex Brollo wrote:
I too don't understand precisely why string functions are so discouraged. I saw extremely complex templates built just to do (with a high server load I suppose in my ignorance...) what could be obtained with an extremely simple string function.
https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=6455#c92 (and subsequent comments)
I would say en wiki admins simply need to remove such abuse form things like: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Template:Asbox/templatepage&ac... This is just a quick example I found - maybe the category was needed at some point, but you can do the same working on a dump or with a bot and just get it done once.