Difference between revisions of "Template:Latest news"

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<h2 style="font-size:105%; font-weight:bold; text-align:left; color:#000; padding:0.2em 0.4em; width:50%;">February 12, 2015:</h2>
[[File:Computer hacking.jpg|left|180px]]<br />'''LIMSwiki suffered an unfortunate web attack''' about two weeks ago. I'm not privy to the exact tech details, but as I understand it no user information (usernames and passwords) was ever compromised. The intent seems to have been to take down the site, possibly using malicious code. I understand the tech team has restored the site, though they had to make necessary upgrades to the MediaWiki install as well as other server-side software. This unfortunately had a side effect: we lost our page view counting data. Well, it's not technically lost; it could still be retrieved I believe from the backup file. However, I'm not sure it could be successfully imported into the current build. The attack aside, it seems MediaWiki [[mediawikiwiki:Extension:HitCounters|unceremoniously ditched its built-in counter functionality]] starting with version 1.25. While an extension was developed to reintroduce that functionality, it apparently involves a very specific upgrade process in order to retain that count data. I'm not going to ask the tech team to go back and redo the upgrade and fix from scratch. We'll begin tracking page views again with the new extension and start anew. However, you can still view the historic Top 30 pages (by page view) from April 2012 to January 2016 on the [http://www.limswiki.org/index.php?title=Template:Most_popular_pages&action=history history page] of the associated template. Simply click on the "prev" link of an edit on that page and scroll down to see the listing as it was for that date.
In the meantime, we carry on with our work, including the addition of some new forensic-related content in the next day or two. Happy wikiing!
[[User:Shawndouglas|Shawn Douglas]] ([[User talk:Shawndouglas|talk]]) 19:44, 12 February 2016 (UTC)
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<h2 style="font-size:105%; font-weight:bold; text-align:left; color:#000; padding:0.2em 0.4em; width:50%;">October 12, 2015:</h2>
<h2 style="font-size:105%; font-weight:bold; text-align:left; color:#000; padding:0.2em 0.4em; width:50%;">October 12, 2015:</h2>
[[File:LIMSforum Large.png|left|180px]]<br />'''The tangentially related [[LIMSforum]]''' — a leading forum on laboratory, medical, and scientific informatics — has moved again due to unfortunate changes by the host LinkedIn. Forum moderator John Jones [http://www.limsforum.com/forum/the-limsforum-group-is-moving-from-linkedin/ explained it this way]:
[[File:LIMSforum Large.png|left|180px]]<br />'''The tangentially related [[LIMSforum]]''' — a leading forum on laboratory, medical, and scientific informatics — has moved again due to unfortunate changes by the host LinkedIn. Forum moderator John Jones [http://www.limsforum.com/forum/the-limsforum-group-is-moving-from-linkedin/ explained it this way]:
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[[User:Shawndouglas|Shawn Douglas]] ([[User talk:Shawndouglas|talk]]) 15:23, 12 October 2015 (UTC)
[[User:Shawndouglas|Shawn Douglas]] ([[User talk:Shawndouglas|talk]]) 15:23, 12 October 2015 (UTC)
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<h2 style="font-size:105%; font-weight:bold; text-align:left; color:#000; padding:0.2em 0.4em; width:50%;">June 15, 2015:</h2>
[[File:Sourceforge logo.png|left|220px]]<br />'''I've been following the antics of open-source hosting site SourceForge''' for several years now, wanting to give them a chance to turn a sinking ship around with better, more community-friendly tactics. However, it's become clear to me within the last week that the people running the site have fully managed to drive the site off the cliff, never to return to respectability. The site has been packing crappy add-ons and bloatware with select popular software packages for quite some time, but lately the site owners have gone too far. While the need to monetize the site to pay for hosting seems reasonable, the owners of the site have gotten out of hand. (Actually, they don't even pay that much for hosting, if anything, depending on the generosity of others to [http://sourceforge.net/p/forge/documentation/Mirrors/ mirror the site].)
Major projects have been leaving SourceForge in droves, but that hasn't stopped the SourceForge team from doing more harm: they resorted to [http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/06/sourceforge-locked-in-projects-of-fleeing-users-cashed-in-on-malvertising/ taking over abandoned accounts] and repackaging software with malware, etc. Calls for [http://www.itworld.com/article/2935377/open-source-tools/the-slow-death-of-sourceforge.html other projects to leave SourceForge] have gotten louder over the past few days, with the team of well-regarded text editor [https://notepad-plus-plus.org/news/notepad-plus-plus-leaves-sf.html Notepad++ being the latest to leave] while encouraging others to do the same.
We've been linking directly to SourceForge pages for most of our [[:Category:Open-source software|open-source software pages]], but that will now end. External links to SourceForge on open-source pages will be removed, though a text comment will remain if the project can ONLY be found on SourceForge. It will then be up to the user to decide to visit SourceForge and search for the project there. We do not wish for LIMSwiki users to fall prey to their unfriendly tactics, thus the changes. (Clarification: SourceForge-based citations used to document history will remain, per wiki policy. Only external stand-alone links are being removed.)
[[User:Shawndouglas|Shawn Douglas]] ([[User talk:Shawndouglas|talk]]) 18:24, 15 June 2015 (UTC)
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Revision as of 19:44, 12 February 2016

February 12, 2015:

Computer hacking.jpg


LIMSwiki suffered an unfortunate web attack about two weeks ago. I'm not privy to the exact tech details, but as I understand it no user information (usernames and passwords) was ever compromised. The intent seems to have been to take down the site, possibly using malicious code. I understand the tech team has restored the site, though they had to make necessary upgrades to the MediaWiki install as well as other server-side software. This unfortunately had a side effect: we lost our page view counting data. Well, it's not technically lost; it could still be retrieved I believe from the backup file. However, I'm not sure it could be successfully imported into the current build. The attack aside, it seems MediaWiki unceremoniously ditched its built-in counter functionality starting with version 1.25. While an extension was developed to reintroduce that functionality, it apparently involves a very specific upgrade process in order to retain that count data. I'm not going to ask the tech team to go back and redo the upgrade and fix from scratch. We'll begin tracking page views again with the new extension and start anew. However, you can still view the historic Top 30 pages (by page view) from April 2012 to January 2016 on the history page of the associated template. Simply click on the "prev" link of an edit on that page and scroll down to see the listing as it was for that date.

In the meantime, we carry on with our work, including the addition of some new forensic-related content in the next day or two. Happy wikiing!

Shawn Douglas (talk) 19:44, 12 February 2016 (UTC)

October 12, 2015:

LIMSforum Large.png


The tangentially related LIMSforum — a leading forum on laboratory, medical, and scientific informatics — has moved again due to unfortunate changes by the host LinkedIn. Forum moderator John Jones explained it this way:

"All, it is with regret that I must make the decision to leave Linkedin as the forum for our group. Linkedin has planned changes that will make this group unworkable. We believe strongly in open information and Linkedin is planning changes that would severely disrupt this. However, there is good news... I have planned for this day and knew that Linkedin would pull some sort of bone head idea like this, so I have been working on a complete new site that will let us all carry on our great discussions and a whole lot more. You will be able to login with your Linkedin account and continue as usual."

The forum is now hosted at http://www.limsforum.com/forum/ and can still be used with your LinkedIn ID.

Shawn Douglas (talk) 15:23, 12 October 2015 (UTC)