Screen freezes for new editors if no or few references are added
Closed, ResolvedPublicBUG REPORT
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Assigned To

Authored By

	Theklan
	Oct 20 2025, 1:33 PM

Description

Steps to replicate the issue (include links if applicable):

Register a new user.
Try to add content to an existing article, without including many references.
Publish the content

What happens?: The screen freezes, a bar appears in the top saying "Before you publish". All the existing text goes to grey, and the new text remains black, but it can't be selected, and no other option appears. The back button is disbled. There's a kind of over-screen blocking every possible interaction. There's no way to go forward or backwards, and if closed, the work is lost.

IMG_20251020_123120.jpg (914×1 px, 394 KB)

What should have happened instead?: I think it is supposed to show some kind of message, but I don't know the exact thing that should happen.

Software version (on Special:Version page; skip for WMF-hosted wikis like Wikipedia):

Other information (browser name/version, screenshots, etc.):

Details

Related Changes in Gerrit:

	Subject	Repo	Branch	Lines +/-
	Edit check: fix some eslint warnings	mediawiki/extensions/VisualEditor	wmf/1.45.0-wmf.23	+1 -1

Customize query in gerrit

Event Timeline

Theklan created this task.Oct 20 2025, 1:33 PM

Restricted Application added a project: Growth-Team. · View Herald TranscriptOct 20 2025, 1:33 PM

Restricted Application added a subscriber: Aklapper. · View Herald Transcript

It's probably not related to Growth, but to the Edit check feature of Visual editor. Adding those tags. Revert if I'm wrong.

I've just noticed this task now, and I haven't experienced it myself, but it sounds like a high priority issue.

Nemoralis added a project: Editing-team.Oct 20 2025, 2:59 PM

As an interim workaround, reloading the page should preserve the edit via VE's autosave. (Which, obviously, won't help if it turns out to be reproducible for a given edit, but...)

Anyway, agreed that it looks like an EditCheck issue. Given the exact state shown, it looks like some sort of error when showing the sidebar-dialog. The back button isn't technically disabled (you can tell from how it looks), but it acts by requesting that the sidebar close itself and so if the sidebar is broken it'd fail.

It'd be incredibly helpful if someone who experienced this could check for any JS errors in the browser console.

In T407747#11290273, @DLynch wrote:

As an interim workaround, reloading the page should preserve the edit via VE's autosave. (Which, obviously, won't help if it turns out to be reproducible for a given edit, but...)

As far as I have checked, it doesn't.

It'd be incredibly helpful if someone who experienced this could check for any JS errors in the browser console.

No need, I can reproduce it.

jQuery.Deferred exception: Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'then') TypeError: Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'then')
    at https://es.wikipedia.org/w/load.php?lang=es&modules=ext.visualEditor.articleTarget%2Cbase%2Ccore%2CdesktopArticleTarget%2CdesktopTarget%2Cdiffing%2CeditCheck%2Cicons%2Cmediawiki%2Cmwalienextension%2Cmwcore%2Cmwextensions%2Cmwformatting%2Cmwgallery%2Cmwimage%2Cmwlanguage%2Cmwlink%2Cmwmeta%2Cmwsave%2Cmwsignature%2Cmwtransclusion%2Csanitize%7Cext.visualEditor.core.desktop%2Cutils%7Cext.visualEditor.mwextensions.desktop%7Cext.visualEditor.mwimage.core&skin=vector-2022&version=1t1u4:1269:684
    at mightThrow (https://es.wikipedia.org/w/load.php?lang=es&modules=ext.CodeMirror%2CTemplateWizard%2Ccharinsert%2Cdisambiguator%7Cext.CodeMirror.WikiEditor%7Cext.cite.wikiEditor%7Cext.templateData.templateDiscovery%7Cext.wikiEditor.images%2Crealtimepreview%7Cjquery%2Cmoment%2Coojs-ui-core%2Coojs-ui-toolbars%7Cjquery.lengthLimit%2Cui%7Cjquery.makeCollapsible.styles%7Cmediawiki.action.edit%7Cmediawiki.action.edit.collapsibleFooter%2CeditWarning%7Cmediawiki.confirmCloseWindow%2Cdiff%2Cpulsatingdot%2Ctemplate%2Cwidgets%7Cmediawiki.diff.styles%7Cmediawiki.language.specialCharacters%7Cmediawiki.page.preview%7Cmediawiki.widgets.DateInputWidget%2CUserInputWidget%2CvisibleLengthLimit%7Cmediawiki.widgets.DateInputWidget.styles%7Coojs-ui-toolbars.icons%7Coojs-ui.styles.icons-content%2Cicons-editing-advanced%2Cicons-editing-citation%2Cicons-editing-list%2Cicons-editing-styling%2Cicons-media%2Cicons-moderation%2Cicons-movement%7Cwikibase.client.action.edit.collapsibleFooter&skin=vector-2022&version=qwxbg:160:983)
    at process (https://es.wikipedia.org/w/load.php?lang=es&modules=ext.CodeMirror%2CTemplateWizard%2Ccharinsert%2Cdisambiguator%7Cext.CodeMirror.WikiEditor%7Cext.cite.wikiEditor%7Cext.templateData.templateDiscovery%7Cext.wikiEditor.images%2Crealtimepreview%7Cjquery%2Cmoment%2Coojs-ui-core%2Coojs-ui-toolbars%7Cjquery.lengthLimit%2Cui%7Cjquery.makeCollapsible.styles%7Cmediawiki.action.edit%7Cmediawiki.action.edit.collapsibleFooter%2CeditWarning%7Cmediawiki.confirmCloseWindow%2Cdiff%2Cpulsatingdot%2Ctemplate%2Cwidgets%7Cmediawiki.diff.styles%7Cmediawiki.language.specialCharacters%7Cmediawiki.page.preview%7Cmediawiki.widgets.DateInputWidget%2CUserInputWidget%2CvisibleLengthLimit%7Cmediawiki.widgets.DateInputWidget.styles%7Coojs-ui-toolbars.icons%7Coojs-ui.styles.icons-content%2Cicons-editing-advanced%2Cicons-editing-citation%2Cicons-editing-list%2Cicons-editing-styling%2Cicons-media%2Cicons-moderation%2Cicons-movement%7Cwikibase.client.action.edit.collapsibleFooter&skin=vector-2022&version=qwxbg:161:643)

Which I think was caused by https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/c/mediawiki/extensions/VisualEditor/+/1193064 adding

Controller.prototype.closeDialog = function ( action ) {
	if ( !this.focusedAction ) {
		return;
	}

So, good news, I'm pretty sure that this is already fixed by https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/c/mediawiki/extensions/VisualEditor/+/1196708 -- but I'll backport that.

Change #1197295 had a related patch set uploaded (by DLynch; author: DLynch):

[mediawiki/extensions/VisualEditor@wmf/1.45.0-wmf.23] Edit check: fix some eslint warnings

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/1197295

gerritbot added a project: Patch-For-Review.Oct 20 2025, 3:52 PM

Change #1197295 merged by jenkins-bot:

[mediawiki/extensions/VisualEditor@wmf/1.45.0-wmf.23] Edit check: fix some eslint warnings

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/1197295

Mentioned in SAL (#wikimedia-operations) [2025-10-20T18:52:44Z] <kemayo@deploy2002> Started scap sync-world: Backport for [[gerrit:1197295|Edit check: fix some eslint warnings (T407747)]]

DLynch claimed this task.Oct 20 2025, 6:53 PM

DLynch edited projects, added Editing-team (Kanban Board), Editing QA; removed Editing-team.

DLynch moved this task from Inbox to QA on the Editing-team (Kanban Board) board.

Mentioned in SAL (#wikimedia-operations) [2025-10-20T18:56:43Z] <kemayo@deploy2002> kemayo: Backport for [[gerrit:1197295|Edit check: fix some eslint warnings (T407747)]] synced to the testservers (see https://wikitech.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mwdebug). Changes can now be verified there.

ReleaseTaggerBot added a project: MW-1.45-notes (1.45.0-wmf.23; 2025-10-14).Oct 20 2025, 7:00 PM

Mentioned in SAL (#wikimedia-operations) [2025-10-20T19:01:31Z] <kemayo@deploy2002> Finished scap sync-world: Backport for [[gerrit:1197295|Edit check: fix some eslint warnings (T407747)]] (duration: 08m 46s)

Maintenance_bot removed a project: Patch-For-Review.Oct 20 2025, 7:31 PM

Tentatively removing our tags. Please add them back if this turns out to be related to us after all!

EAkinloose closed this task as Resolved.Oct 23 2025, 12:42 PM

EAkinloose edited projects, added Verified; removed Editing QA.

VPuffetMichel added a project: Essential-Work.Dec 8 2025, 10:22 PM

VPuffetMichel edited projects, added OKR-Work; removed Essential-Work.Dec 8 2025, 11:24 PM

Screen freezes for new editors if no or few references are addedClosed, ResolvedPublicBUG REPORTActions

Description

Details

Event Timeline

Screen freezes for new editors if no or few references are added
Closed, ResolvedPublicBUG REPORT
Actions