Currently, if a normal user wants to propose changes to a protected page (e.g. the MediaWiki: messages) it is not possible for him to use the [Show changes] button to get a diff against the current version of the page.

Besides, if a user open for edition an old revision of a page which is not protected and then click on [Show changes], it will be displayed a diff against the most recent version of the page and not against the version he was editing (sometimes it is this diff which the user wants).

One option to solve both problems would be to provide a new field on [[Special:ComparePages]], on which the user could a dd the new version of the wikitext to compare against the (wanted revision of the) specified page.

Version: unspecified
Severity: enhancement