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Add interface editor user group on pswiki
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Description

Hi, please add new usergroup "interface editor" on Pashto Wikipedia.
These users would be able to edit in mediawiki: namespace.
And any sysop grant/revoke this right.

Here is Community consensus link

Event Timeline

Urbanecm subscribed.

I think that with 45 active users support from two users isn't enough. And the discussion started yesterday so I think that we should wait until bigger consensus will exist.

these 45 active users includes new accounts and people that have at least 1 edit in last 30 days but actually there are only 4 or 5 users who work in Pashto Wikipedia so I think these 4 votes (of 2 local administrators and 2 other users) are enough.

Urbanecm triaged this task as Medium priority.

If that's right, consensus is probably ok. I'll prepare a patch and schedule it for April 27 15:00-16:00 UTC. Is it ok for you?

We don't usually allow sysops to add to interface editor group as they have the right to potentially add malicious code which will be executed for all users using the site. Past requests like this have been declined (see T85713 for example). It'd be okay if this was assigned by bureaucrats but this wiki doesn't seem to have bureaucrats so stewards have to be asked to assign users to the group. That also makes me wonder whether there is value in adding a new group solely for this purpose considering that the community is quite small. Unless frequent changes are needed to mediawiki ns pages, I'd say you could just ask for help from stewards and/or global sysops.

This comment was removed by UsmanKhan.

We don't usually allow sysops to add to interface editor group as they have the right to potentially add malicious code which will be executed for all users using the site. Past requests like this have been declined (see T85713 for example). It'd be okay if this was assigned by bureaucrats but this wiki doesn't seem to have bureaucrats so stewards have to be asked to assign users to the group. That also makes me wonder whether there is value in adding a new group solely for this purpose considering that the community is quite small. Unless frequent changes are needed to mediawiki ns pages, I'd say you could just ask for help from stewards and/or global sysops.

there are frequent changes needed for example Many local gadgets and other pages needs to be updated and many pages needs to be created. We may ask global interface editor for help but the problem is that in many pages local translation is also needed so I think only a local interface editor can handle all these issues that's why we started a local discussion to add this user group.

@UsmanKhan If you need to translate something on your wiki, you can use translatewiki.net. Through this site you can translate a message on all wikis that runs with your language. Unless you need project-specific translation you don't need to insert it into local mediawiki pages.

@Glaisher Sysops are able to insert malware or other unneeded code if this group will be created or not simply because they are able to edit user css/js and of course mediawiki pages (with global css/js) so they doesn't need to add editinterface right to themself and add malware but they could do it right now if they want. I think that every sysop should be able to consider if an user is able to edit these pages correctly or not. So I think this won't be problem (see T120348 for example of passed request like this, https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/#/c/258453/ on Gerrit).

So, as this MediaWiki: namespace edit capability is one of the roles a sysop must be the most trusted for, there is no real need for an editor interface right: if one is trusted to edit interface, there is already an high level of trust from the community, level of trust high enough for an administrator nomination.

I've found some similar requests (T120348, T109755, T54866, T109408 and T41905) so we can proceed this like the previous. In these requests this right is usualy granted/removed by 'crats. I think that we could ask pswiki if this is ok (if no 'crats now, I think that they can elect some or ask a steward for granting/removing the right) and then make patch. Is it ok @Dereckson and @Glaisher?

@Dereckson You said that if one is trusted to edit interface, he can be a sysop. I think that's right but someone maybe don't want to be sysop (maybe because he doesn't want to do usual sysop work) but he is able to help with CSS/JS or something like this.

My concern is sysops being able to add users to a group that has the potential to add malicious CSS/JS. I'd be fine if stewards (instead of local sysops) are allowed to assign users to the group as they are more experienced with these sort of things. I've seen cases where there have been privacy violations/technical issues breaking the site because of users adding code without a full understanding of the issues involved. This happens on larger wikis as well but in the case of small wikis, there is less oversight by the other community members. But the more fundamental question to ask here is, why does a small wiki need a group like this? If users are trusted enough to hold sysop tools, then why not assign them to the group who are assigned by stewards. They can simply not use the tools which they are not comfortable with. Looking at RC for MediaWiki namespace changes, I don't see a single edit in the last 30 days by a local sysop to handle a request by a user. So I'd still recommend to take requests to edit MediaWiki pages to SRM, where there is more visibility and such requests are regularly handled there for small wikis.
@Urbanecm Except for urwiki (which seems to have been approved because no one noticed it), all other wikis have bureaucrats assign users to this group.

Fortunately, ur.wikipedia has bureaucrats, so we can fix that easily, I'm opening a new task for that.

Or not, as Billinghurst killed the 'easily' misinterpreting what we tried to fix and answering to another issue instead.

Because @Dereckson and @Glaisher thinks that this is not good idea in current state, I declined this request.

Recapitulation from discussion above

  • If someone has trust from community for editing interface pages, he can be a sysop instead of interface editor
  • Small wikis don't usually need editinterface right, if pswiki do, why?
  • Sysops usually aren't experienced with this technical stuff as much they need to grant/revoke this right so 'crat (or steward which will be better) should be allowed to grant/revoke this right
  • With this right there is easy way to make the site crash or infect viewer's computers with inserting malware to global css/js
  • So the one who will grant/revoke this right should be able to consider if someone is able to edit this kind of pages correctly with no abusing

There is no way to make this group grantable to sysops, if your wiki really do need it, please elect some 'crats (or accept granting by stewards), explain why do you need this group and fill new task with these details. Thanks.

@Urbanecm its ok let Allow bureaucrats (or steward if there is no crat) instead of sysops to add/remove users to/from interface editor group on ps.wikipedia , We need this group because we have two local admins but unfortunately they do not know very well about mediawiki pages thats why we started a local discussion for this group, because there are some people who don't want to be admin but want to be interface editor to help with CSS/JS or something like this. So its ok if crats (or steward if there is no crat) grant/remove user from this goup.

I have no idea why he doesn't want to be a sysop, but granting/removing by crat will be fine. I'll set it at home (19:00 UTC). It'll be deployed at Monday 15:00 - 16:00 UTC.

Change 286285 had a related patch set uploaded (by Urbanecm):
Add interface editor user group on pswiki

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/286285

Change 286285 merged by jenkins-bot:
Add interface editor user group on pswiki

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/286285

Urbanecm moved this task from To deploy to Done on the Wikimedia-Site-requests board.

Deployed.