User talk:ToBeFree

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Tech News: 2026-33

Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.

Updates for editors

• A new ChartWizard is now available on Wikimedia Commons for users interested in creating charts from their own data. The wizard makes the Chart extension more beginner-friendly by allowing editors to create charts, such as bar and pie charts, without needing to use JSON. Users can still switch to the JSON editor if they prefer. Feedback on the new tool is welcome on the wish talk page.
• View all 19 community-submitted tasks that were resolved last week. For example, an issue where the Wikipedia iOS app’s Picture of the Day widget displayed the same image every day instead of updating daily, has now been fixed.

Updates for technical contributors

• Math formula SVG images will soon be generated in the browser instead of on the server. MathML continues to be generated on the server and renders in the browser without JavaScript. Wikibooks will see this change on 12 August, Wikisource on 19 August and Wikipedia from 20-27 August. You can try this by selecting "MathML with SVG image (client side MathJax rendering)" in your preferences. This change is part of deprecating RESTBase and deprecating Mathoid.
• Category pages will soon support sorting entries by the time they are added to a category. This will make it easier to find recently or long-standing categorized pages. It will also improve workflows for maintenance categories such as deletion backlogs and other time-based review tasks. You can use cldsort=timestamp URL argument in category view to sort the entries.
• Gadgets and user scripts on Wikimedia wikis may now use ES2018 features and ES2019 features in JavaScript code. Previously, the platform only allowed up to ES2017. MediaWiki validates the source code to protect functionality from syntax errors and to ensure scripts are valid in all supported browsers.
• Detailed code updates later this week: MediaWiki

Tech news prepared by Tech News writers and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe.

MediaWiki message delivery 20:43, 10 August 2026 (UTC)

~2026-42053-58 et al

I saw you blocked ~2026-42053-58 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · nuke contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log), I'm assuming based on the same edit at Paul Biya (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views) that ~2026-44413-76 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · nuke contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) is the same? FDW777 (talk) 17:30, 13 August 2026 (UTC)

Of course, given this it doesn't really matter whether they were blocked before or not any more... FDW777 (talk) 19:53, 13 August 2026 (UTC)

Oh my.

Hello FDW777, I don't know for sure. The revision history of the article about Paul Biya seems to link them somehow. Looking at their user talk page messages, I probably don't need to investigate this further. ~ ToBeFree (talk) 22:21, 13 August 2026 (UTC)

Yes, while attempting to demonstrate their innocence they decided to make it a rather moot point as to whether they were correct in their assertion. Thanks anyway. FDW777 (talk) 22:26, 13 August 2026 (UTC)

VPN

I occasionally need to keep a VPN enabled for work-related access to certain services that are unavailable on my normal connection. Because I often have the VPN enabled while using Wikipedia, I may encounter blocked VPN exit IPs and be unable to edit. I would like to continue making legitimate contributions from my normal Wikipedia account without using the VPN to circumvent any Wikipedia block or restriction. Is there an appropriate solution, such as IP block exemption, that would allow me to edit when my VPN is enabled 𝔇𝔥𝔦𝔯𝔞𝔧 𝔗𝔞𝔩𝔨 22:14, 14 August 2026 (UTC)

Hello DHIRAJDHONA, would you be comfortable with sharing which VPN software you use? You may be able to use "split tunneling", "policy-based routing", be able to configure manual routes/exemptions for specific IP addresses or similar measures that would send Wikipedia traffic to Wikimedia's servers directly. The described scenario does not strictly require you to use your work connection for the Wikipedia edits. ~ ToBeFree (talk) 22:48, 14 August 2026 (UTC)

Thanks for the suggestion. I’ll check whether my VPN supports split tunneling or custom routing and whether i can exclude Wikipedia..Wikimedia traffic from the VPN. My main concern is being able to continue editing normally without accidentally editing through a blocked VPN IP. 𝔇𝔥𝔦𝔯𝔞𝔧 𝔗𝔞𝔩𝔨 06:07, 15 August 2026 (UTC)