Submissions/Roundtable: Admin tools development

This is an accepted submission for Wikimania 2014.

Submission no. 8506

Title of the submission: Roundtable: Admin tools development

Type of submission (discussion, hot seat, panel, presentation, tutorial, workshop): Discussion

Author of the submission: Dan Garry, Rob Lanphier

E-mail address: Special:EmailUser/DGarry (WMF), Special:EmailUser/RobLa-WMF

Username: User:DGarry (WMF) / User:Deskana, User:RobLa-WMF

Country of origin: I originate from the United Kingdom. This submission originates from my country of residence, which is the United States.

Affiliation, if any (organisation, company etc.): MediaWiki Core / Product Development, Wikimedia Foundation

Personal homepage or blog: http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/User:DGarry_(WMF)

Abstract (at least 300 words to describe your proposal): The MediaWiki software contains several tools which help maintain the quality of Wikimedia sites, by preventing widespread vandalism and other abuses to the sites. Many of these tools are restricted to a certain set of users who have earned elevated privileges by having a good track record of positive contributions. These tools perform functions such as deleting articles, blocking users, and viewing the IP information of users. We refer to the tools collectively as "admin tools", a name which is a slight misnomer, since these tools are used by many different user groups, including rollbackers, checkusers, stewards, and of course, administrators. The MediaWiki Core Team at the Wikimedia Foundation has an ongoing responsibility to maintain and sometimes extend these tools. We typically divide our work up into three month chunks (i.e. quarters), and as these tools affect all users of all Wikimedia sites and a large number of third-party users of MediaWiki, we have an interest in spending at least one quarter developing the tools, either by fixing bugs or adding additional functionality.

As of this writing, we are currently focused on infrastructural work (Single User Login finalization) which is an important prerequisite to many other potential features, such as global renaming and global CheckUser. Upon completion of that work, we have many options in front of us as to what to focus on next.

In this roundtable, we'd like to collaborate with the users of the wikis on what they'd like to see fixed, improved, or added. We'd like everyone (Wikimedia volunteers and Wikimedia Foundation employees, and Wikimedia chapter employees alike) to show up ready to be an equal participant in the session, so that we can all get a collective understanding of everyone's needs and requirements, and discuss the best way to proceed with the work. Together, we can come up with a clearer and more cohesive plan for the proposed site modifications, which will allow the MediaWiki Core team to work more effectively and, consequently, finish the work faster.

Track: Technology, Interface & Infrastructure

Length of session (if other than 30 minutes, specify how long): 1 hour

Will you attend Wikimania if your submission is not accepted?: Yes

Slides or further information (optional)

There will be no slides. This is intended to be a discussion.

Etherpad: http://etherpad.wikimedia.org/p/AdminToolsRoundtable (Copied to /Notes)

Special requests: A room conducive to running a roundtable would be nice, such as a room with a big round table (it's in the name, after all) so that all the participants are on equal footing. Failing that, something that's not laid out like a lecture theatre; a flat room with lots of chairs that can be moved into a large circle.

Interested attendees

If you are interested in attending this session, please sign with your username below. This will help reviewers to decide which sessions are of high interest. Sign with a hash and four tildes. (# ~~~~).

Hope to be able to attend, have made some suggestions on the talkpage. WereSpielChequers (talk) 15:28, 29 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]
Rillke (talk) 16:15, 29 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]
--MF-Warburg (talk) 21:29, 29 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]
Quiddity (talk) 20:26, 12 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]
the wub "?!" 00:14, 14 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]
Xelgen (talk) 11:44, 23 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]
— Scott • talk 20:40, 6 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]
Kudpung (talk) --Kudpung (talk) 12:54, 22 June 2014 (UTC)[reply]
I'll pop in if I'm not busy. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 21:15, 19 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]
I have lots of terrible ideas. Legoktm (talk) 04:40, 24 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]
Thehelpfulone 08:54, 24 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]
Mervat Salman (talk) 21:17, 24 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]
Add your username here.