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Linkify plain external links in revision editsummary and log reason
Open, LowPublic

Description

Author: TheEvilSpartan

Description:
Sometimes an edit summary or block log will contain a link to a diff or other Wikimedia page that cannot be accessed through a wikilink. Wikimedia software does not allow external links; presumably for spam reasons; however, if the link is internal, it should be allowed (just as wikilinks are allowed). An example of where this would have been useful is http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Log&type=block&page=User:Light%20current (search for "http").

I imagine that for sites not affiliated with Wikimedia, one might allow internal sites or other sites, with an option to allow or disallow. Perhaps an "opt-in" list for legal sites? Second part optional to first part.

See Also:

Event Timeline

bzimport raised the priority of this task from to Low.Nov 21 2014, 10:12 PM
bzimport set Reference to bz14892.
bzimport added a subscriber: Unknown Object (MLST).

Changed summary from "Allow hyperlinks in edit summary/block log when it's to a Wikimedia page" to "Allow whitelisted external hyperlinks in edit summary/block log".

mike.lifeguard+bugs wrote:

(In reply to comment #0)

Sometimes an edit summary or block log will contain a link to a diff or other
Wikimedia page that cannot be accessed through a wikilink. Wikimedia software
does not allow external links; presumably for spam reasons; however, if the
link is internal, it should be allowed (just as wikilinks are allowed). An
example of where this would have been useful is
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Log&type=block&page=User:Light%20current
(search for "http").

I imagine that for sites not affiliated with Wikimedia, one might allow
internal sites or other sites, with an option to allow or disallow. Perhaps an
"opt-in" list for legal sites? Second part optional to first part.

I'm pretty sure you can use links in log entries and edit summaries. They are not actual links though. Is that what you're requesting? If so, all links should be actual links (and blacklisted domains will not be permitted of course).

I'm also interested in having the links in summaries as "actual links". This is usefull when we are linking to a diff or to a specific revision of a page in the same project (or in other Wikimedia projects). For example, the summary of the following revisions should be an actual link:
http://pt.wikibooks.org/w/index.php?title=MediaWiki:Edittools&curid=18840&diff=131023&oldid=130996
(note: I've used the wiki code
http://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=[[commons:MediaWiki:Edittools|MediaWiki%3AEdittools]]&diff=23178727&oldid=22539783
but this is not a link to what I wanted [the specific revision])
and
http://pt.wikibooks.org/w/index.php?title=Wikilivros:Caixa_de_areia&diff=prev&oldid=130117

So, I think at least links to Wikimedia projects could be actual links.

mike.lifeguard+bugs wrote:

There's no reason this should be only whitelisted domains. Unless blacklisted, any domain should be allowed.

TheEvilSpartan wrote:

(In reply to comment #4)

There's no reason this should be only whitelisted domains. Unless blacklisted,
any domain should be allowed.

My worries would be spam; this could not be undone. I guarantee you you'd rather not see the consequences once the Hagger vandal started linking to http://test.on.nimp.org (hint: absolutely DO NOT visit that link unless you have an easy stomach and have javascript disabled or the ctrl-alt-del button ready). Just saying about blacklisted sites... might want to have a chat with community about this first.

Again, though, there's no reason to exclude whitelisted sites.

mike.lifeguard+bugs wrote:

That domain is blacklisted and has been for a very long time. Though, I do see your point - with pages we can edit to remove links we don't want - not so for edit summaries and log reasons. Perhaps I was hasty on that point.

matthew.britton wrote:

I don't see the value in external links. I do see the value in *internal* links to things that currently can only be linked to "externally" because there is no syntax for linking to them internally. But I consider that an issue that should be fixed by adding such a syntax, and then allowing *that* in summaries, not by permitting external links in summaries.

matthew.britton wrote:

(In reply to comment #6)

with pages we can edit to remove links we don't want - not so for
edit summaries and log reasons.

Well, it is so, but only for the powers that be.

I think the rest of us prefer our edit histories without every other summary censored for our protection, though, which is why I'm opposed to allowing external links there.

(In reply to comment #7)

I don't see the value in external links. I do see the value in *internal* links
to things that currently can only be linked to "externally" because there is no
syntax for linking to them internally. But I consider that an issue that should
be fixed by adding such a syntax, and then allowing *that* in summaries, not by
permitting external links in summaries.

I agree.

Maybe we could use the same sintax of the magic words 'fullurl' and 'filepath'
http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:Magic_words#URL_data

because codes like
{{fullurl:w:pt:Wikipedia:A enciclopédia livre|action=edit&oldid=15930217}}
are shorter than the "external link" form
http://pt.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:A_enciclop%C3%A9dia_livre&action=edit&oldid=15930217

mike.lifeguard+bugs wrote:

(In reply to comment #7)

I do see the value in *internal* links
to things that currently can only be linked to "externally" because there is no
syntax for linking to them internally.

Agreed - I think there is an open bug report for that, but I can't immediately find it.

(In reply to comment #8)

(In reply to comment #6)

with pages we can edit to remove links we don't want - not so for
edit summaries and log reasons.

Well, it is so, but only for the powers that be.

Unless you're talking about sysadmins manually editing the database, that's not true. There's no way to do it from inside the software.

  • Bug 13205 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
  • Bug 8321 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

TheEvilIPaddress wrote:

Suggestion: While I wouldn't want external links in the edit summary, but I think it would be great if links with {{fullurl:}} could work in the edit summary. This would allow to easily link stuff within the own wiki and some of the interwikis, but not make it possible to link spam in the edit summary.

a.d.bergi wrote:

I also think this feature would be great. It is requested frequently by the German Wikipedia community.
In my opinion the usual link form with http:// should be supported as well as the {{fullurl:, because it easier works with c&p. I dont think the length of the link matters, as far as you dont type it manually :-)

Another question would be whether the feature should work with already existing log entries. Is that possible?

(In reply to comment #13)

Suggestion: While I wouldn't want external links in the edit summary, but I
think it would be great if links with {{fullurl:}} could work in the edit
summary. This would allow to easily link stuff within the own wiki and some of
the interwikis, but not make it possible to link spam in the edit summary.

That would most likely require running all core parsers. Not sure if using parser functions like {{fullurl:}} should be parsed. I would vote "No", since they are often used in summaries to perhaps explain things.
The last thing we want is having to use <nowiki> in an edit summary.

(In reply to comment #6)

That domain is blacklisted and has been for a very long time. Though, I do see
your point - with pages we can edit to remove links we don't want - not so for
edit summaries and log reasons. Perhaps I was hasty on that point.

True, the edit summary can't be edited. So perhaps we should only allow external links in log entries (which limites the exposure) and not in edit summaries.

On the other hand, now that RevisionDelete is well-integrated. This would be a great usecase for the sysop version of revisiondelete (hiding an edit summary that contains spam).

So parsing plain external links (ie. not [http://link linktext] but just plain simple external links) in all edit summaries and external links is a good idea imho. (Just like normal [[links]] are parsed as well)

Related URL: https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/63395 (Gerrit Change I77fdaf8e04375caa1d67ca4a3ec3bd93920c3309)

wikimedia wrote:

You can use Special:PermanentLink/revisionId. It even looks prettier than the hole url. But complete urls are required in some cases and making them active links (only whitelisted) can be useful.

Change 172017 had a related patch set uploaded by MZMcBride:
Make free-form external links clickable in edit summaries

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/172017

Note, the summary's is a parsing level used in many other places, including extensions.

(In reply to Tim Weyer from comment #17)

making them
active links (only whitelisted) can be useful.

What whitelists could one use? The current site? Interwiki map? $wgNoFollowDomainExceptions?

He7d3r set Security to None.

I added this in the 2017 Community Wishlist survery and the page was archived because the archiver said that this could lead to spam. I'm thus going to decline this.

Original author of this request explicitly stated that "Wikimedia software does not allow external links; presumably for spam reasons; however, if the link is internal, it should be allowed (just as wikilinks are allowed)".

Spam links are not an issue if you only make links form white-listed domains. Starting with *.wikipedia.org and wikimedia.org. So I thinks your reasons for declining this are invalid.

Aa147852 updated the task description. (Show Details)

The SpamBlacklist already blocks spam links in edit summaries, so I don't think spam is really an issue (or at least this isn't going to make it that much bigger of an issue).

Links are actually more of an issue in enotif, because they usually get linkified by email clients for plain text emails.

Change 808097 had a related patch set uploaded (by MZMcBride; author: MZMcBride):

[mediawiki/core@master] Make free-form external links clickable in edit summaries

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/808097

Change #808097 abandoned by Thiemo Kreuz (WMDE):

[mediawiki/core@master] Make free-form external links clickable in edit summaries

Reason:

According to the discussion this doesn't appear to have any chance of ever being merged. It can still be found via the ticket in case it is needed for inspiration.

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/808097