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Maniphest T425410

Edit check proposal: Detect when a multi-word link is fragmented
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Assigned To
Esanders
Authored By
Esanders
May 5 2026, 11:51 AM
Project Tags
Referenced Files
F97089783: image.png
Aug 3 2026, 11:17 PM
F97090231: mergetoduplicate.mov
Aug 3 2026, 11:17 PM
F97088003: image.png
Aug 3 2026, 11:17 PM
F97087809: image.png
Aug 3 2026, 11:17 PM
F81173202: image.png
May 12 2026, 8:05 PM
Subscribers
Aklapper
EAkinloose
Esanders
Quiddity
Wellverywell

Description

It is possible in the course of visual editing to accidentally create two separate links that are identical.

Example: "Birmingham Moor Street" in the lede section: https://simple.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Birmingham_Snow_Hill_railway_station&oldid=10844969&veaction=edit

This also triggers the "duplicate link check" which can be confusing for editors, as it isn't clear there are two links there. See this bug report: https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Talk:VisualEditor/Suggestion_Mode/Feedback#c-Crazywork-20260504123100-duplicateLink_on_Birmingham_Snow_Hill_railway_station_at_simplewiki

Details

Related Changes in Gerrit:
SubjectAuthorRepoBranchLines +/-
DuplicateLinkEditCheck: Suggest merging links when adjacentEsandersmediawiki/extensions/VisualEditormaster+97 -42
Customize query in gerrit

Event Timeline

Esanders created this task.May 5 2026, 11:51 AM
Restricted Application added a subscriber: Aklapper. · View Herald TranscriptMay 5 2026, 11:51 AM
gerritbot added a comment.May 6 2026, 10:22 AM

Change #1283699 had a related patch set uploaded (by Esanders; author: Esanders):

[mediawiki/extensions/VisualEditor@master] DuplicateLinkEditCheck: Suggest merging links when adjacent

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/1283699

gerritbot added a project: Patch-For-Review.May 6 2026, 10:22 AM
ppelberg added projects: VisualEditor Suggestion Mode, Editing-team (Editing-Q4-11May-22May-2026).May 6 2026, 5:19 PM
Quiddity awarded a token.May 11 2026, 9:25 PM
Quiddity subscribed.
Esanders claimed this task.May 12 2026, 10:50 AM
Esanders moved this task from Decision to be made to Code review on the Editing-team (Editing-Q4-11May-22May-2026) board.
PatchDemoBot added a comment.May 12 2026, 8:03 PM

Test wiki created on Patch demo by ESanders (WMF) using patch(es) linked to this task:
https://88afa116fb.catalyst.wmcloud.org/wiki/Regent's Park?veaction=edit&ecenable=experimental,suggestions

Esanders added a comment.May 12 2026, 8:05 PM

The above patch adds a special case to the duplicate link check that shows if the dupicate links are adjacent or separated by only whitespace. The messages change and the 'delete' action becomes 'merge':

image.png (315×258 px, 22 KB)

gerritbot added a comment.May 20 2026, 12:41 AM

Change #1283699 merged by jenkins-bot:

[mediawiki/extensions/VisualEditor@master] DuplicateLinkEditCheck: Suggest merging links when adjacent

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/1283699

ReleaseTaggerBot added a project: MW-1.47-notes (1.47.0-wmf.4; 2026-05-26).May 20 2026, 1:00 AM
Maintenance_bot removed a project: Patch-For-Review.May 20 2026, 1:31 AM
Esanders edited projects, added: Editing-team (Editing-Q4-8Jun-19Jun-2026); removed: Editing-team (Editing-Q4-11May-22May-2026).Jun 9 2026, 10:12 AM
Esanders moved this task from Decision to be made to QA on the Editing-team (Editing-Q4-8Jun-19Jun-2026) board.Jun 9 2026, 10:16 AM
Esanders added a project: Editing QA.
Wellverywell subscribed.Jun 9 2026, 10:20 AM

It is possible in the course of visual editing to accidentally create two separate links that are identical.

BTW, is there a ticket for automatically merging such links in VisualEditor? It feels like something VE should fix by itself.

VPuffetMichel edited projects, added: Editing-team (Editing-Q4-22Jun-3Jul-2026); removed: Editing-team (Editing-Q4-8Jun-19Jun-2026).Jun 23 2026, 8:56 PM
VPuffetMichel moved this task from Decision to be made to QA on the Editing-team (Editing-Q4-22Jun-3Jul-2026) board.
VPuffetMichel edited projects, added: Editing-team (FY2026-27 Q1 sprint 1); removed: Editing-team (Editing-Q4-22Jun-3Jul-2026).Jul 3 2026, 8:19 PM
VPuffetMichel moved this task from Decision to be made to QA on the Editing-team (FY2026-27 Q1 sprint 1) board.
PatchDemoBot added a comment.Jul 9 2026, 12:22 PM

Test wiki on Patch demo by ESanders (WMF) using patch(es) linked to this task was deleted:

https://88afa116fb.catalyst.wmcloud.org/wiki/Regent's Park?veaction=edit&ecenable=experimental,suggestions

EAkinloose subscribed.Aug 3 2026, 11:17 PM

image.png (1,640×584 px, 646 KB)

image.png (938×480 px, 177 KB)

mergetoduplicate.mov2 MBDownload

Switches between duplicate and merge, depending on whether distance between links satisfies adjacency

image.png (3,424×502 px, 199 KB)

EAkinloose edited projects, added: Verified; removed: Editing QA.Aug 3 2026, 11:17 PM
EAkinloose moved this task from QA to Ready for Sign off on the Editing-team (FY2026-27 Q1 sprint 1) board.
VPuffetMichel closed this task as Resolved.Mon, Sep 21, 6:17 PM
VPuffetMichel edited projects, added: OKR-Work; removed: Verified, Editing-team (FY2026-27 Q1 sprint 1), MW-1.47-notes (1.47.0-wmf.4; 2026-05-26), VisualEditor Suggestion Mode, VisualEditor, EditCheck.Mon, Oct 5, 2:56 PM
VPuffetMichel added projects: Verified, Editing-team (FY2026-27 Q1 sprint 1), MW-1.47-notes (1.47.0-wmf.4; 2026-05-26), VisualEditor Suggestion Mode, VisualEditor, EditCheck.Tue, Oct 6, 4:07 PM
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