Author: wellman

Description:
I have a problem, apparently a bug, which has brought my Wikipedia editing to a near halt. Intermittantly, but recurrently, when I edit, there is an uwanted and unobservable (at the time) stripping away of dates and numbers thoughout a Wikipedia article. As an example is woth 1K words, see what happened on Nov 7 when I edited Ann Dunham (Barack Obama's mother, fwiw). Fortunately, User:Tvoz was also watching this article and re-inserted the deleted dates. It also happened again at Ann Dunham on 23 Nov. But it is not happened only on Dunham, but on other articles I have edited.

This has happened several times before, over a month+. Please also see two sections above:

Missing numbers

Here is some discussion from my Talk page (Bellagio99), earlier in November:

Hello. I must point out that in many of your recent edits long strings of numerals have been deleted, for some reason.

As a result, many web addresses have been broken and become useless. For instance, in this edit (diff), the original (valid) weblink http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/01/AR2008100103169.html became a broken link http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/01/AR.html because the string of numerals in AR2008100103169.html was deleted.

Additionally, in that same edit, the string "accessdate=2008-10-09" was also changed to "accessdate=" (that is, the date was deleted). Access dates are essential information and should be preserved especially when websites are used as sources of reference, because the same website accessed in different dates may yield different information.

Here are some other of your recent edits that truncated strings of numerals: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] --many of which I have already fixed.

Since I don't think such changes were intentional (since they don't make sense), I'll leave it to you to figure out what kind of (software?) glitch have caused those problems. Until then, I'd suggest you double check your edits after they are done. Thanks for your attention on this matter. --76.202.61.72 (talk) 11:33, 1 November 2008 (UTC)

Thanks. I had thought the problem was fixed. I may have to get another username/account.Bellagio99 (talk) 14:50, 1 November 2008 (UTC)

    Yours is a very unusual bug, but I don't think that using another account would solve the problem if it originates in your browser setting or add-ons (or even malware?). It has just happened again in one of your latest edits today,[9] which I already fixed again.

    I would suggest you to do some tests to identify where the problems come from by editing this paragraph and see if the following numbers would disappear: like id=1142862090121 or date 2008-11-01 and Pi=3.1415926 etc.

    May I suggest you test with (1) different browsers (Firefox, Safari, Opera, or Google Chrome, to see whether the problem resides in your browser, or (2) logging in and out of your Wikipedia account, to eliminate the possibility that it is the setting of your account, or (3) use some other computer, to see if it is caused by your Operating system. Hope this may help you zero in your problem. --76.202.61.72 (talk) 20:44, 1 November 2008 (UTC)

        Thanks for your help and tips. It's strange because I checked the Giulani edit after I did it, and I didn't see any problem. I've used Firefox with XP for years, now at 3.0, but will try with another browser. It might be the computer. I have run Spybot and Zonealarm for Malwear, but didn't find anything. This has happened once before, and I assumed it was a OTO gremlin. Obviously not. Bellagio99 (talk) 21:09, 1 November 2008 (UTC)

            I am restoring the missing numbers caused by your last edit on this section. In any case, the test was "successful" in that it showed that your edit did truncate all the long numbers three paragraphs above (except for the number "3" before the dot). It also showed that the paragraph is an adequate model to duplicate and test your bug.

            I also wonder if you can write and post long numbers such as those, to create similar tests for yourself. But if not, you can always restore your own edits as you did here -- in which the long numbers came back after you reverted yourself. A sandbox page could be of help if you don't want to clog your history with too many tests, though. Good luck. --76.202.61.72 (talk) 23:09, 1 November 2008 (UTC)

* Perhaps you should put this question to developer User:Brion VIBBER. He knows all there is to know about the wiki code and he may have an idea what causes it. Be sure to mention the test above. - Mgm|(talk) 01:01, 2 November 2008 (UTC)

You could also try clearing User:Bellagio99/monobook.js and posting to Wikipedia:Village pump (technical). PrimeHunter (talk) 02:48, 2 November 2008 (UTC)

It apparently affected my talk page too after you edited there - makes no sense. Thanks to the IP for fixing. Tvoz/talk 08:34, 2 November 2008 (UTC)

Happened again on your last two edits to Ann Dunham, Bellagio - I reinstated the stripped dates from the references but can you figure out why this is happening? Something seems very wrong with your settings or software. Thanks Tvoz/talk 18:30, 8 November 2008 (UTC)

/End of pasted discussion/

When I preview, I don't see the problem.

You are welcome to go prowling on my Preferences page, including Gadgets and Monobook page. I deleted HotCat on 8 November 2008 -- the only gadget that I have added in a long time, but it didn't help. I posted a while back on Village Pump:Technical, and no one answered. I also, on advice, asked, VIBBER, and didn't get a reply.

Should I abandon my User name, and re-log in? Would this be specific to one of the two computers I edit from?

Version: 1.14.x
Severity: critical
OS: Windows XP
Platform: PC
URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Bellagio99&oldid=253798539#Missing_numbers