Changes

==SpambotsSVR Unofficial Forum and National Preservation links (March 2018, updated February 2024) == Some of you have noticed the nuisance spambots floating about - they don't seem There are many links to be anything these sources but a nuisance right nowboth have moved, but they do rather clog up viz:*All requests to access the recent edits listforum via https://forum.svra.org. I've been modifying the Captcha questions to try and find what works best, and the number at least seems to uk should automatically be reduced. As an additional measure, I've also enabled blacklisting of known spam sources, as per [httpforwarded onto https://wwwforum.mediawikisvr-online.org/wiki/Manual:Combating_spam#DNSBL this section].uk. However, please update any Bookmarks you may have and have turned on start using the requirement for email addresses to be verified (I noted that none of the bots had emails registered)new address. I note there's a couple of people who haven't got confirmed email addressesEDIT: February 2024, but most people should be fine - if you need to confirm your address, you can find the option under "Preferences" in the top right corner, then by scrolling down to almost the bottom of the page of optionsuse https://web.archive. --[[User:Danny252|Danny252]] ([[User talk:Danny252|talk]]) 16:41, 6 February 2015 (UTC) I've enabled [httporg/web/20230524021410/https://wwwforum.mediawikisvr-online.org.uk/ *<nowiki>http:/wiki/Extension:SpamBlacklist a similar blacklist] as wellrailway.national-preservation.com/threads/svr-photo-[[User:Graham Phillips 110|Graham Phillips 110]] ([[User talkguide.5590/</nowiki> is now https:Graham Phillips 110|talk]]) 22:32, 6 February 2015 (UTC)//www.national-preservation.com/threads/svr-photo-guide.5590/Are there any tools that can be run which at least changes the root? Or any clever ideas?We changed :Maybe the Capcha question to a dynamic one which should have been harder SVR Wiki Bot could hunt for spambots to crack.<br>It wasn't working those links and edit as well as hoped, so I have now reworded the question to see if that's any better.<br>appropriate? One for Dan?--[[User:Robin|Robin]] ([[User talk:Robin|talk]]) 14:48, 4 March 2018 (UTC)::The bot probably is the simplest answer - I believe 'd usually just run a search-and-replace on the text, but it's possible to create different user groups with different posting rights, so we couldall squirreled away in a database, for example move all the proven genuine contributors to a "trusted" group so that they don't have the inconvenience of having to solve which is a little puzzle every time they want more difficult! This also happens to make an edit. be the first I'll look in ve heard of the change, given that the old link is inaccessible for me due to that laterthe security configuration of the old forum address being incorrect.<br>--[[User:Graham Phillips 110Danny252|Graham Phillips 110Danny252]] ([[User talk:Graham Phillips 110Danny252|talk]]) 10:1312, 2 5 March 2015 2018 (UTC) Within an hour of making :::Turns out the above changes, we had bot comes with a load more spam.<br>script for text replacement included - I guess it's not that surprising! It seems to follow a set pattern of creating a new account and then a User Page, so I have disabled 's currently working its way through the ability for the default user group, "wiki. --[[User", to create pages and manually added all the genuine contributors to a new :Danny252|Danny252]] ([[User Group "Trustworthy".<br>talk:Danny252|talk]]) 19:35, 7 March 2018 (UTC)If :::I have missed you out've managed to get the SVRA forum ones, or if you have any other problems, you should still be able to edit but the only match the bot is finding for the NatPres link given is this page, so either reply here, email me, or post on . Could someone link a page where the forum or Facebook page and link is used so I can see what I'll sort it out.<br>ve got wrong? --[[User:Graham Phillips 110Danny252|Graham Phillips 110Danny252]] ([[User talk:Graham Phillips 110Danny252|talk]]) 1219:5159, 2 7 March 2015 2018 (UTC) I've moved all ::::[[The Waterman Railway Heritage Trust]], reference 5 for example. It normally appears in references rather than the known genuine contributors to body text if that makes a "Trustworthy" user group and removed page creation rights from all othersdifference.<br>They're still getting through though somehow--[[User:Robin|Robin]] ([[User talk:Robin|talk]]) 20:06, so I have just disabled the ability to write directly to the API.<br>7 March 2018 (UTC)I'm not too sure what this means myself:::::Aha, but I think itthere's a way to bypass change at the normal page creation method and, as start of the link (railways.national-preservation vs. www.national-preservation) - I can't see any legitimate reason to use it, and there was an option to disable it, that's what d only noticed the addition of the number after the thread name. Hence I've doned been searching for "www.<br>-national-preservation[[User:Graham Phillips 110|Graham Phillips 110...]] (" and only finding the new, corrected link above. --[[User:Danny252|Danny252]] ([[User talk:Graham Phillips 110Danny252|talk]]) 1712:0715, 3 8 March 2015 2018 (UTC) : I suspect that that is how they were getting through without page creation rights - basically :::::...having actually done it means sending , the command only references to create a railways.national-preservation.com are on this talk page directly without loading up and the "Creating page..." form firstone you linked.I can't find any references to the SVR photo guide forum thread that aren't on this page, and all other nat--[[Userpres links I can find (by directly searching through a text dump of the whole wiki) look like they should work. --[[User:WillSaltDanny252|WillSaltDanny252]] ([[User talk:WillSaltDanny252|talk]]) 2212:1724, 3 8 March 2015 2018 (UTC) :::I note noticed that the bots seem to SVRLive links should also be registeringHTTPS, but not actually making any edits currently - am I right although again they were forwarding automatically. Having decided to think that? The last time that I can see do a spam page *created* is manual search, hopefully all Nat-Pres, SVR-Online forum and SVRLive links in the Wiki are now HTTPS.:February 2024: the 27th history of Feb. I've also fiddled with the settings a bit more, and it definitely should SVR forum can be only allowing users with confirmed emails to editaccessed via the Wayback internet archive at https://web.archive.org/web/20230524021410/https:/create/whatever now (plus the Trustworthy group, of course)forum.svr-online.org.  uk/ --[[User:Danny252Patrick Hearn|Danny252Patrick Hearn]] ([[User talk:Danny252Patrick Hearn|talk]]) 1015:0250, 4 March 2015 (UTC) The pattern has changed slightly. The spammers no longer create their own user page, they create a separate page complete with spam title.<br>I've asked for advice on [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Project:Support_desk#x.24wgGroupPermissions_not_preventing_spammers_creating_new_pages_54546 the Mediawiki support desk] and got some interest, but not a solution yet.<br>It looks like my next step is to work out how to access the access log. I had a quick look earlier, but it's not as simple as I hoped. I'll put a bit more time in to it later.<br>--[[User:Graham Phillips 110|Graham Phillips 110]] ([[User talk:Graham Phillips 110|talk]]) 10:43, 4 March 2015 (UTC) Seems the bots may be smart enough to confirm emails as well, so I've removed that change I did, so it should be back to how it is. Regarding the comment on the helpdesk query about alternate access to the database, I've made sure that the old versions of wikis we had installed are now unable to be used at all. They shouldn't have been at all accessible, but now they won't work even if they are. --[[User:Danny252|Danny252]] ([[User talk:Danny252|talk]]) 11:49, 4 March 2015 (UTC) Would it be an idea to remove the mediawiki files that aren't being used from the server? There seems to be 3 installations of the wiki, 2 of which are from the early days and no longer needed(?) - and it is still possible to view those pages if you know the url to use. [[User:Sharpo|Sharpo]] ([[User talk:Sharpo|talk]]) 14:00, 4 March 2015 (UTC) Just found a way to access logs, could be useful info - once I understand it more!! [[User:Sharpo|Sharpo]] ([[User talk:Sharpo|talk]]) 17:16, 4 March 2015 (UTC) Another thing I did earlier today was to update some of the spam blacklists we've got setup. In some discussion with Sharpo over the access logs just now, I can see that a number of the IP addresses weren't being caught before, but should be with the new settings. --[[User:Danny252|Danny252]] ([[User talk:Danny252|talk]]) 21:55, 4 March 2015 (UTC) As a further update, Sharpo has been keeping an eye on the access log, and has noted that a number of bots were using a security hole which we patched up yesterday (a page which shouldn't have been accessible was). They still seem to be trying quite hard to use it, but no spam has appeared today. --[[User:Danny252|Danny252]] ([[User talk:Danny252|talk]]) 18:48, 5 March 2015 (UTC) I meant to say, if you need help interpreting the logs then feel free to ask, seeing as it's the sort of thing I'm supposed to know about profesionally! --[[User:WillSalt|WillSalt]] ([[User talk:WillSalt|talk]]) 20:05, 5 March 2015 (UTC) I've manually removed a lot of the spam accounts, which whilst blocked and unable to be used, were still in existence and cluttering up various pages (e.g. the user list, which has gone from 300 to 30). This means that their "contributions" will likely have reverted to show just their IP addresses - don't worry, this doesn't mean that unregistered users have been editing the site! --[[User:Danny252|Danny252]] ([[User talk:Danny252|talk]]) 09:28, 6 March 2015 (UTC) Interesting 'feature' is that the Recent Changes now shows your own IP address as the source of the former spam accounts! Gave me a minor heart attack at first! --[[User:Robin|Robin]] ([[User talk:Robin|talk]]) 14:29, 6 March 2015 (UTC) After my last comment on this page, [[User:Danny252|Danny252]] and [[User:Graham Phillips 110|Graham]]gave me FTP and CPanel access to the site, and I had a bit of a chat with Danny about what I found and what I thought could do with tidying up (hang on whilst I pop my Sensible Professional IT Consultant hat on...). The end result is: I have just finished doing a big cleanup and deleted just about everything that wasn't needed to run the current install of MediaWiki (I did leave a huge debug log that was hanging about in case anybody wanted it). I '''did''' take a backup before I did it, so if you're worried that anything has gone missing, don't be. Please let me know if anything now appears to be weirdly broken, but it shouldn't be. The point of the cleanup is: although everyone else has already done sterling work at disabling the configuration of the old installs, making sure that they're not linked anywhere, and so on, getting rid of extraneous stuff altogether is the best way of reducing the "attack surface" - the number of places people could get in, possibly using hacks we're not ourselves aware of. --[[User:WillSalt|WillSalt]] ([[User talk:WillSalt|talk]]) 22:28, 8 March 2015 (UTC) ==Stourport and Tenbury branches== Would it be more correct to refer to these as the Stourport Line and Wyre Forest Line on the map and alter the links, page titles and redirects to suit? :My inclination would be not to bother (to the casual SVR visitor, both are branches off the line they are on). The former was simply a continuation of the old SVR rather than a line in itself. The latter seems interchangeable between Wyre Forest Line, Tenbury Line and Tenbury Branch; Google favours the former but I'd be interested to dig out some original sources to see what the commonest usage was at the time. I don't think anyone browsing the wiki will get too confused as it stands.--[[User:Robin|Robin]] ([[User talk:Robin|talk]]) 18:32, 6 February 2015 (UTC) OK, I've changed the link on the map to point to Wyre Forest Line, while keeping "Tenbury Branch" on the map itself. As the Wyre Forest Line article says, most Kidderminster to Bewdley trains continued towards Tenbury, so if anything, the Bridgnorth line was the branch. However, going by the fact that the disused line branches away at 90 degrees from the currently used line, it seems more intuitive to refer to it as the branch in a modern context. ==Logo==Would it be a good idea to have a suitable SVR image or logo on the main page. For a visitor seeing the page for the first time, it would give them some idea what it was all about. Yes, I know it should be obvious, but......  [[User:Sharpo|Sharpo]] ([[User talk:Sharpo|talk]]) 00:09, 13 January 2015 (UTC) I've been thinking the same (I just mentioned it in one of the forum threads). I guess the main question is whether the SVR would be happy with us using its logo - it's starting to sound like we'll need to get in contact with the office at some point on a few of these things. If they decide not, does someone feel suitably arty? --[[User:Danny252|Danny252]] ([[User talk:Danny252|talk]]) 09:23, 13 January 2015 (UTC) Perhaps in the meanwhile we should've adopted the SVR Online logo. Also; starting to add headings here to separate topics. I hope you're all OK with this. [[User:Boldford|Boldford]] ([[User talk:Boldford|talk]]) 09:39, 1 February 2015 (UTC) I emailed marketing@svrlive.com on 16th January to ask permission to use the official SVR logo. I haven't heard back yet, so I've gone and used it anyway. If I get a threatening letter from their solicitors, I'll change it back again. --[[User:Graham Phillips 110|Graham Phillips 110]] ([[User talk:Graham Phillips 110|talk]]) 07:56, 2 February 2015 (UTC) That logo looks much better! [[User:Sharpo|Sharpo]] ([[User talk:Sharpo|talk]]) 08:05, 2 February 2015 (UTC) ==Location==We'll probably spend a lot of time providing info about the SVR, but we also need to show where it is for people who come across this wiki & decide the railway might be worth a visit. So, for those arty people amongst us, how about finding a suitable size image of the UK that can be used, with a highlighted area showing exactly where the Railway is, then showing an enlargement of the area alongside the UK image with the main stations highlighted and the course of the railway. [[User:Sharpo|Sharpo]] ([[User talk:Sharpo|talk]]) 11:39, 13 January 2015 (UTC) On the subject of maps, I've adapted the map at [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Severn_Valley_Railway_map] to only show as much of the SVR as is currently in use. It works OK on [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Graham_Phillips_110/sandbox my sandbox], but not here http://www.svrwiki.com/Map.<br>I gather I need to import the template that the map is based on, but I can't find instructions on how to do that.<br>I was going to duplicate the full GWR/SVR map and create a more detailed map, showing more features as well.<br>Is it worth persevering, or would it just be easier to create the maps some other way?--[[User:Graham Phillips 110|Graham Phillips 110]] ([[User talk:Graham Phillips 110|talk]]) 10:42, 14 January 2015 (UTC) I was looking on the internet yesterday for suitable maps & saw that very same page, then thought I would do a tracing from a map & then create my own simple map from that - then scan & upload it. It was then I realised I was spending time on this instead of doing other things!! In answer to your question, I don't know how to edit that template to how you want it. May be better to draw a new version? [[User:Sharpo|Sharpo]] ([[User talk:Sharpo|talk]]) 11:00, 14 January 2015 (UTC) I think the main issue is that the map requires a standard set of images (about 3000!) that exist on Wikipedia, which you can tile together to show the layout (e.g. plain track, station, disused station, and so on), as well as all the templates it pulls in. It might be possible to copy it over, but I don't know if it would be a good idea to pick and choose the bits we want, or alternatively to copy the whole lot over with a lot of redundant bits, but with the flexibility to make more in future.  --[[User:Danny252|Danny252]] ([[User talk:Danny252|talk]]) 12:15, 14 January 2015 (UTC) I was hoping it would be possible to import the template and just those icons used as it's a handy way of linking directly to stations on the line directly from the map.I was then going to create a more detailed map showing all the bridges etc. with a link to each.Maybe I'm asking too much and it would be best to stick to a normal image file of a map.--[[User:Graham Phillips 110|Graham Phillips 110]] ([[User talk:Graham Phillips 110|talk]]) 12:55, 14 January 2015 (UTC) I remember years ago using some free software that allowed me to add links from a word or words pasted into an image on my site. There may be something similar for a wiki if you have time to try & search for it. This was the sort of thing I just found after a search, but not within a wiki - http://www.onextrapixel.com/examples/image-map/ Back again, just found an example on a wiki, there is an image where you can click on the different people you can see. http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:ImageMap[[User:Sharpo|Sharpo]] ([[User talk:Sharpo|talk]]) 15:09, 14 January 2015 (UTC) Wow, took me a few hours to understand it, but I have learnt how to create more than one link from within an image within a wiki. My own wiki test included 2 locos in a photo & moving the cursor to either of the locos would give a link for that loco. [[User:Sharpo|Sharpo]] ([[User talk:Sharpo|talk]]) 21:40, 14 January 2015 (UTC) I've been spending far too long on this as well, but I've finally got there.<br>Click on the town names on the [[Map | Map]] .<br>It takes a bit of trial and error to get the box coordinates in the right place, but I think this is a better than the standard route map as it allows linking of nearby features of interest, such as the Engine House. --[[User:Graham Phillips 110|Graham Phillips 110]] ([[User talk:Graham Phillips 110|talk]]) 01:46, 15 January 2015 (UTC) Some good work there. The main thing now is to get a suitable map - the OS maps will presumably somewhat awkward, given that the "Kidderminster" label is nearer to Bewdley Station than Kidder! --[[User:Danny252|Danny252]] ([[User talk:Danny252|talk]]) 10:14, 15 January 2015 (UTC) I like the map on the front page. Would it be worth putting on each of the station pages to show their positioning on the SVR?--[[User:Brick60000|Brick60000]] ([[User talk:Brick60000|talk]]) 16:17, 16 January 2015 (UTC) ==Making changes== Up to now, everyone's been making changes without consulting anyone else. There haven't been any disputes yet, but should we be putting things to a vote first?<br>Minor edits of text should be OK, but what about more conspicuous changes like adding the maps and logo? I just went ahead and did it. Should we have discussed it first? I can easily undo it.<br>Should we have a picture on the front page? How do we pick one?<br>--[[User:Graham Phillips 110|Graham Phillips 110]] ([[User talk:Graham Phillips 110|talk]]) 08:43, 31 January 2015 (UTC) If you decide to have a picture on the front page, keep it interesting by changing it every week. Otherwise, once this wiki nears completion (if that is ever likely to happen) people aren't likely to look at it very often. [[User:Sharpo|Sharpo]] ([[User talk:Sharpo|talk]]) 13:46, 31 January 2015 (UTC) :My 10p worth is so long as you think it is an improvement, carry on and add/edit as necessary which is the idea of a Wiki; stopping for votes just delays things. Worth adding a note in the summary if comment is required, eg if I had a better logo (which I don’t!) I would upload it and say “shall we try this instead?”.--[[User:Robin|Robin]] ([[User talk:Robin|talk]]) 17:32, 31 January 2015 (UTC) I've "protected" the front page, logo and maps to prevent any malicious edits. We haven't had much spam yet, but there was the possibility that someone could alter the front page to something unwanted. If anyone wants to make a genuine edit, they can put it here on the Talk page and one of the administrators can do it.<br>I created the logo in Paint on my PC and thought I'd got a reasonably good match for the chocolate & cream. The cream looks a bit beige now on my chromebook. If anyone's got the correct colour codes, I'll do a new one.<br>I don't know if a picture as well as the two maps would be too much though?<br>There's a random image extension for wikimedia which can be installed.<br>One idea I had was a long thin picture of a full train in profile, taking up the full width of the page, but only a couple of lines worth of depth. The picture could be selected at random from one of each carriage set. Worth a try?<br>--[[User:Graham Phillips 110|Graham Phillips 110]] ([[User talk:Graham Phillips 110|talk]]) 09:27, 1 February 2015 (UTC) I decided to tweak the wording a bit - please revert it if you don't like it! --[[User:Robin|Robin]] ([[User talk:Robin|talk]]) 16:14, 16 December 2016 (UTC) == Image of the month == A couple of thoughts on pictures, following a revisit to Festipedia.:They have a picture of the month on the front page. Would that be a reasonable frequency to adopt, especially as the mods would presumably have to change it?:They also have a lot of historical photos 'from the collection', especially on the loco pages. Does the SVR have a similar collection (Kidderminster Railway Museum?) and if so, is anyone on speaking terms with the owner(s) who could broach the subject of adding some here? Particularly the SVR in GWR days and SVR locos in original service (did any of our current locos definitely work on the original SVR?), and also early days of the SVR in preservation.<br>--[[User:Robin|Robin]] ([[User talk:Robin|talk]]) 12:52, 2 February 2015 (UTC)::I'm planning to go down to the KRM this weekend for their signalling exhibition, and I'll have a go at mentioning this. I don't know whether they've got any plan to digitise their collection, but if so it would likely be a good source of images. --[[User:Danny252|Danny252]] ([[User talk:Danny252|talk]]) 12:57, 11 June 2015 (UTC) == Using images with unknown copyright == I've avoided doing so until now, but uncredited photos keep turning up on Facebook and it seems a shame it miss out on them, so I've added two to the [[Dowles Bridge]] page with what I hope is a suitable "Get out of jail free" disclaimer. Even with an 1868 photo, there's no guarantee that the copyright has expired under the 70 year rule. Any thoughts on the legality of this ?--[[User:Graham Phillips 110|Graham Phillips 110]] ([[User talk:Graham Phillips 110|talk]]) 07:27, 30 January 2016 (UTC) : What I've not yet worked out is whether the copyright is (or at least can be) "extended" if the work is sold to someone else - if I buy a collection of old photos, do I get any rights, or is it still all linked to the original author (unless they specifically give some permission/waiver)? Equally, I'm not sure if digitising a piece of work is ever able to extend copyright (e.g. if I scan an old photo, do I get rights over the scan of somebody else's work?). If neither of those apply, then it's 70 years from the production of the work ''if the author is not known'', or 70 years after their death if it is (so for an 1868 photo, the author would have had to survive until 1946). --[[User:Danny252|Danny252]] ([[User talk:Danny252|talk]]) 16:30, 30 January 2016 (UTC) ::Regarding whether you can extend copyright by digitising a piece of work, the Ordnance Survey relinquishes crown copyright after 50 years as per the link I posted [[Tips for contributing to the SVR Wiki#Ordnance Survey Maps / Crown Copyright | here]]. However the National Library of Scotland claims copyright over their scans of OS maps which are older than that, hence it appears you can do so (and I have updated all the OS extracts accordingly).--[[User:Robin|Robin]] ([[User talk:Robin|talk]]) 17:32, 12 July 2016 (UTC) ==Changes needed please==A section to note any amendments needed on this page for the attention of the administrators. Suggest we delete items when done to keep the list current. == Article/page count == I've removed the line in the introduction that gave the current number of articles/images on the wiki. I had recently noticed the main page was taking much longer to access than any other page, and that other pages would not load until the main page was loaded, implying it was somehow locking up a large number of resources. Removing the page/image counts, which were probably re-counted each time the page was opened, appears to have significantly improved the speed! I suspect this is a combination of the actual article counting process being slow for some reason, as well as the main page having to be generated from scratch each time it was viewed (in case the counts had changed) which is quite a slow process... --[[User:Danny252|Danny252]] ([[User talk:Danny252|talk]]) 08:47, 12 July 2016 (UTC):Does seem quicker - no great loss not having the information. --[[User:Robin|Robin]] ([[User talk:Robin|talk]]) 17:32, 12 July 2016 (UTC) == Wiki content license == It was realised earlier today that it was never made clear what license was applied to content on the Wiki, with the exception of uploaded files (where a license is picked on uploading). I've applied the [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 license], the same as is used on Wikipedia - this license does not apply if a different license is specified (e.g. uploaded images). If you have any complaints, speak now, or forever hold your peace! --[[User:Danny252|Danny252]] ([[User talk:Danny252|talk]]) 22:34, 19 November 2016 (UTC) :No complaints, but could you tweak the site settings to include the CC icon in the button at the foot of the page where currently is just shows 'Creative'. Found [https://creativecommons.org/choose/results-one?license_code=by-sa&amp;jurisdiction=&amp;version=3.0&amp;lang=en this page of instructions] which may help. --[[User:Robin|Robin]] ([[User talk:Robin|talk]]) 16:45, 24 November 2016 (UTC) ::Like so? --[[User:Danny252|Danny252]] ([[User talk:Danny252|talk]]) 21:04, 24 November 2016 (UTC) :::That looks better, thanks!--[[User:Robin|Robin]] ([[User talk:Robin|talk]]) 21:11, 24 November 2016 27 February 2024 (UTC)

This comes up periodically. There is no published guide of publicly available photo locations. There is an old thread at http://railwayswww.national-preservation.com/threads/svr-photo-guide.5590/page-2 with quite a lot of info and a thread around Pacific Power. I'm not a photographer but a guide would be useful. It would need some thought though, so as initial suggestions what it might include:

:I thought it had been working fine, but today it is linking to June 20 when not logged in, even though a page exists for June 25. Not sure if it is a coincidence, but the home page was last edited on June 20. Has anything changed in the back end, apart from switching Lingo back on? --[[User:Robin|Robin]] ([[User talk:Robin|talk]]) 19:58, 25 June 2017 (UTC) ::Another oddity with 'On this day in history'. When logged out, the next and previous page links on 'August 4' and other days works fine. When I log in they stop working, replaced by a grey box with a dash in. Not sure how long it has been happening - anyone else getting the same and if so, any idea why? --[[User:Robin|Robin]] ([[User talk:Robin|talk]]) 14:37, 4 August 2017 (UTC) :::It took a bit of trial and error, but I've finally got the Previous & Next links working. It turns out it needs spaces either side of the + & - signs when searching for Pagename + 1 day etc. I've got no idea why it worked when logged out, but not when logged in, or why it used to work and then stopped working, but it works now. I'm still stuck on the out of date On This Day link though. It looks like we need a bot to automatically edit the page at 00:01 every day, but creating a bot is beyond me at the moment.--[[User:Graham Phillips 110|Graham Phillips 110]] ([[User talk:Graham Phillips 110|talk]]) 09:44, 6 August 2017 (UTC) ::::Thanks - I'll keep manually updating if I remember and nobody else beats me to it.--[[User:Robin|Robin]] ([[User talk:Robin|talk]]) 05:51, 7 August 2017 (UTC) : For completeness, this issue has been "solved" through the use of the Svrwikibot, per Graham's suggestion --[[User:Danny252|Danny252]] ([[User talk:Danny252|talk]]) 14:07, 30 October 2017 (UTC) As of today it's bringing up the page for February 28th, in error --[[User:Patrick Hearn|Patrick Hearn]] ([[User talk:Patrick Hearn|talk]]) 15:24, 7 March 2022 (UTC):It's been broken for a while now. Danny's Wikibot seems to stop working after about 6 months, and once it does then the 'on this day' link only refreshes (as far as logged out users are concerned) when there is a change saved on the home page (ie usually every Monday when I update the article of the week link!) I don't know to restart the Wikibot - it needs someone with access to the back end and a bit of knowledge. Maybe Graham or Will could have a look at some point? --[[User:Robin|Robin]] ([[User talk:Robin|talk]]) 15:37, 7 March 2022 (UTC) ===Display error using referencesPages loading incorrectly when logged out===There appears I'm finding a few pages which aren't loading correctly when not logged in, for example [[GWR 80684 Ballast Wagon]]. It reports part of the content being not secure and is referring to something in version 1241 which was the version before the https upgrade. Happens in both Chrome and IE. It loads fine when logged in, so I assume it may be another caching issue. Did we have a display error in our implementation back end utility for refreshing all the pages and if so, could one of Wikimediathe admins run it? --[[User:Robin|Robin]] ([[User talk:Robin|talk]]) 17:53, as per 15 December 2017 (UTC) : I wasn't getting a secure content warning, but the testing page wasn't loading correctly for me either. I can't say I understand where these odd little issues come from! I've fixed that page manually, and I think I found a script I can set to run every so often to clear the whole cache - did you identify any other pages, and if so, can you check them now? --[[User:Danny252|Danny252]] ([[User talk:Danny252|talk]]) 16:27, 16 December 2017 (UTC) ::I selected about 10 other Wagons pages at random and found these - [[BR General Goods Containers]] / [[BR 993898 'Shark' Ballast Plough Brake]] / [[GWR 125059 Covered Goods Van (body only)]]. There may be others, although I've not noticed any other than wagons pages thus far. Not a lot I can add on the diagnostices, except:::*IE shows a text only page, and it includes a line saying for example ''<nowiki>Retrieved from ‘http://www.svrwiki.com/version1241/index.php?title=BR_General_Goods_Containers&oldid=8055’</nowiki>''. Clicking the link takes you to the old page on the non-secure site. It also shows a box at the bottom "Only secure content displayed." ::*Chrome does the same but without the pop up box. ::--[[User:Robin|Robin]] ([[User talk:Robin|talk]]) 22:00, 16 December 2017 (UTC) :::I get the same text-only page displayed as you get with IE. The fact they're still showing like that at least means that my user attempted fixes so far didn't work! The "retrieved from" is apparently not the error itself - the text is usually hidden by the page style, and the fact the pageisn't loading the style (or any pictures) is why that occurs. I've reset some more of the cache settings, which seems to have fixed it. I don't understand some of this dark voodoo... --[[User:Danny252|Danny252]]([[User talk:Danny252|talk]]) 18:24, 18 December 2017 (UTC) ===Loss of session data===In the last few weeks I've noticed that from time to time the Wiki is logging me off in mid-edit. With a normal log in, my status is changed to logged out (ie the top right button reverts to 'Log in') and of course I can't save the page. Normal Wikipedia practice If I have selected "stay logged in" when logging in, the top right button is still showing 'Log out' but I get the message ''Sorry! We could not process your edit due to a loss of session data. You might have been logged out.'' Abandoning the edit and restarting it then works fine without actually needing to log out and in again. Is there anything unusual happening at the server back end?--[[User:Robin|Robin]] ([[User talk:Robin|talk]]) 16:20, 9 September 2018 (UTC) ===Missing Signature button===Prompted by Patrick's comments "''(can't find the date stamp)''" in several posts in [[Query Corner#Santa services|Query Corner]], it appears that recent versions of MediaWiki have removed the signature button that used to be shown when editing 'normal' pages; it still appears when editing Discussion pages. There is a reference should follow punctuation marks (and '''[https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:$wgExtraSignatureNamespaces configuration variable available here]''' which allows the button to be added back in specific pages. Could one of the admins see if you do otherwise it will is possible to add this configuration variable so the button can be corrected by put back in Query Corner? --[[User:Robin|Robin]] ([[User talk:Robin|talk]]) 20:58, 29 November 2018 (UTC):Done. --[[User:Graham Phillips 110|Graham Phillips 110]] ([[User talk:Graham Phillips 110|talk]]) 10:00, 30 November 2018 (UTC)::Thanks. --[[User:Robin|Robin]] ([[User talk:Robin|talk]]) 17:53, 30 November 2018 (UTC) ===Service Unavailable message===While I'm in the Bug reports page, I'm seeing a patrolling Bot!)message from time to time as follows:  Service Unavailable<br> The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to maintenance downtime or capacity problems. Please try again later. <br> However with Additionally, a 503 Service Unavailable error was encountered while trying to use an indented paragraph ErrorDocument to handle the request. It is usually when requesting a special page like 'recent changes' but occasionally when accessing a normal page. Been happening for a couple of months now. Another one for Graham or Will to have a look at if possible? --[[User:Robin|Robin]] ([[User talk:Robin|talk]]) 15:41, 7 March 2022 (UTC) == User permissions == I've modified the user permissions so that new users can create articles and talk pages without being marked "trustworthy". I think also found it a bit odd that having created a new user, I couldn't edit my own user page... Given that spambots are a bulleted onenon-issue now, hopefully we'll be ok. --[[User:Danny252|Danny252]] ([[User talk:Danny252|talk]])09:25, 9 October 2017 (UTC) == Wiki bot == I'm playing around with making an "svrwikibot", mainly to do the next line front page update that Robin currently does not display correctly when you save . I've gone with the [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Pywikibot Pywikibot] framework, because a) I can code Python and b) it works. If anyone has other ideas for things we could get the page unless bot to do, let me know. --[[User:Danny252|Danny252]] ([[User talk:Danny252|talk]]) 09:27, 9 October 2017 (UTC): Alright, hold your breath - if it's working, the punctuation follows bot will now update the reference main page comment at 5am BST (4am GMT) daily... --[[User:Danny252|Danny252]] ([[User talk:Danny252|talk]]) 10:01, 9 October 2017 (UTC) ::If there was a 'like' button on here, I'd press it is fine ! I'm not sure about other functions for it to carry out. Most of the bot edits I come across on Wikipedia tend to be formatting and housekeeping, things like stripping leading and trailing spaces in tables, changing links and references separated by <nowiki><br></nowiki> to bullet format and so on. Not a particular priority here in preview mode my view. One of them moves references after closing punctuation, which is would cause a right pain!problem on here because of our formatting issue (see my [[User:Robin|user page]]). As a work round , which I think is caused by the conflict with the terminology add-on (whose name I will therefore do this only where necessaryforget).Presumably we haven't got anywhere with resolving that one? --[[User:Robin|Robin]] ([[User talk:Robin|talk]]) 1614:4510, 6 June 10 October 2017 (UTC)

: In short, :: The addon in question is "Lingo". I have no clue as to remember hoping/expecting the cause..software update earlier this year would fix it. However, it didn't, and at the time I've thrown it over to did put in a report about the [https://wwwissue still being present.mediawiki.org/w/index.php?title=Topic:Tryxv06h0bhav25b&topic_showPostId=tryxv0la6g50mv1b#flow-post-tryxv0la6g50mv1b Mediawiki support desk]Looking back at the bug report, there's been no response or fix yet. --[[User:Danny252|Danny252]] ([[User talk:Danny252|talk]]) 2008:2238, 6 June 12 October 2017 (UTC)

:: The smart people over there identified this as being caused by ::Thanks, I thought it was a conflict with another extensionshort name like that. A bit of trial-and-error reveals itIt's the Lingo extension, which is what we use to show the glossary info (the little explanations for BRnot a showstopper, GWR, etc.). I've disabled that extension for ll just keep putting references inside punctuation at the time being. As for a full solution with both enabled, I think the only option is to finally upgrade from version 1.24, as updated versions end of Lingo require higher versions of Mediawiki..formatted paragraphs pending developments. --[[User:Danny252Robin|Danny252Robin]] ([[User talk:Danny252Robin|talk]]) 13:3453, 7 June 12 October 2017 (UTC)

:::Since A small update to say that the Lingo extension was disabledbot seems to be working away quite happily, and on the few occasions I'm finding a lot of pages with ve checked, the glossary text rendered as per my earlier note below, such as 'OW&WOxford Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway' on [[The Severn Valley Railway under GWR/BR ownership]] page for example"On this day" link has been correct. I can reset individual pages by adding <nowiki>?action=purge</nowiki> to the URL, but is there a way to refresh all pages? --[[User:RobinDanny252|RobinDanny252]] ([[User talk:RobinDanny252|talk]]) 2114:2204, 7 June 30 October 2017 (UTC)

::::Yes, there's a function in Page history suggests the back end to invalidate all cached pages - hopefully they should all reset when next viewed. bot last updated on 7 April? --[[User:Danny252Robin|Danny252Robin]] ([[User talk:Danny252Robin|talk]]) 1123:1834, 8 June 2017 11 April 2018 (UTC)

I:Message for Graham in Dan've added s absence. Just noticed the Bot stopped working again on 9 October 2018 so if you are not logged in, the extension suggested On this day link goes to me on my talk the last day the page to add much better support for mobilewas updated rather than the current day. At It may be a quick glance coincidence but both times it appears seems to workhave stopped after 6 months. Could you have a look please? TIA. --[[User:Robin|Robin]] ([[User talk:Robin|talk]]) 10:42, but keep an eye out for anything which doesn't behave. 1 April 2020 (UTC)

I've not touched the extra features===Railway Heritage Register links update===The Railway Heritage Register Carriage Survey and Wagon Survey have historically been hosted on vintagecarriagestrust. Perhaps someone wants org, but are permanently moving to investigate a new host on 9 April. From a quick test today, the features like record numbers within URLs are the "Nearby" location functionalitysame on the old and new host, so therefore all that they can pull up is needed in the links is to update the Arley page when sat at Arley - it sounds like host address. There is a second problem in that the text within the link normally takes the sort form of thing Graham '... on vintagecarriagestrust.org' which also needs updating (for simplicity and Robin clarity I suggest using '... on Railway Heritage Register On-Line' for both Carriages and Wagons). It would enjoy messing around with! [httpsbe a great help if these changes could be done by the bot. The 'search and replace' involved is:*Step 1: replace '''cs.vintagecarriagestrust.org''' by '''cs.rhrp.org.uk'''*Step 2://wwwreplace '''ws.mediawikivintagecarriagestrust.org/wiki/Extension''' by '''ws.rhrp.org.uk'''*Step 3:MobileFrontend#Configuration_settings Link to documentation]replace '''on vintagecarriagestrust.org''' by '''on Railway Heritage Register On-Line'''Steps 1 and 2 should fix the relevant URLs, and step 3 the link wording for at least the majority of links. There are links in a number of different areas including current and former carriages and wagons etc.Hope that is possible. --[[User:Danny252Robin|Danny252Robin]] ([[User talk:Danny252Robin|talk]]) 2217:0223, 6 June 2017 27 February 2019 (UTC)

== Mobile view ==:I looked at the mobile home page briefly don't think this morning on my android tablethas cropped up before. One obvious error was I have just noticed that it was rendering the glossary info within the textNavboxes do not appear in Mobile view. This is apparently deliberate, so SVR appeared as SVRSevern detailed in [https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T124168 this article]. In most cases they are probably a 'nice to have' rather than essential to navigation, but in [[The Severn Valley Railway for examplein preservation]] they are currently the only method of navigating to other history pages. Maybe It should be possible to create the same version conflict you mention on the reference error above? Also the map links in a table instead of a Navbox which may be the line had 'breaks' answer in that instance. Something to bear in itmind as we create future pages, particularly as mobile devices are increasingly used for browsing. Any thoughts or suggestions welcome. --[[User:Robin|Robin]] ([[User talk:Robin|talk]]) 16:03, but 13 April 2018 (UTC)::Update; I've seen duly added a table rather than a Navbox which works OK in Mobile view. We just have to remember to update that on table at the same time as updating the mobile version of Wikipedia tooTemplate:TimelineNavbox.--[[User:Robin|Robin]] ([[User talk:Robin|talk]]) 22:35, 31 December 2019 (UTC)

:Any pages Something else I linked found that appears not to were still work in Mobile view. The [[Unsuccessful proposals for railways in the Desktop layout, so only Severn Valley]] page has a statement <nowiki><div class="toclimit-2">__TOC__</div></nowiki> to limit the number of items in the home page was table of contents. The level 3 headings should be suppressed but appear in mobile modeMobile view. Is Not a major issue, but annoying!--[[User:Robin|Robin]] ([[User talk:Robin|talk]]) 22:35, 31 December 2019 (UTC)::Problem solved, thanks to help from the intention Mediawiki Project:Suport Desk --[[User:Graham Phillips 110|Graham Phillips 110]] ([[User talk:Graham Phillips 110|talk]]) 22:37, 2 January 2020 (UTC):::Thanks. I see in their response that all pages should be mobile enabled? we're due a MediaWiki version update - good luck! --[[User:Robin|Robin]] ([[User talk:Robin|talk]]) 1523:4217, 7 June 2017 2 January 2020 (UTC)

:: I'll be busy for much of the next few weeks with moving, a honeymoon, and whatever else I've noticed that linked pages are showing as nonforgotten -mobileif someone else wants to have a go at doing featured articles for a few weeks, but I'd had no luck working out why. Howeverfeel free! --[[User:Danny252|Danny252]] ([[User talk:Danny252|talk]]) 10:43, the act 29 May 2018 (UTC):Best of invalidating the cache and forcing pages luck with everything! An open invitation at any time for anyone to be regenerated pick an article they would like to fix feature, either by adding it themselves or by letting me know and I'll add it. There is a [[:Category:Featured articles|Category page]] which lists the glossary problem also seems articles already featured. If nobody else does choose an article, I'll try to have fixed that! keep updating them on a weekly basis. --[[User:Danny252Robin|Danny252Robin]] ([[User talk:Danny252Robin|talk]]) 1115:2213, 8 June 2017 29 May 2018 (UTC)