User:NotAracham/Interwiki administration guide

While Interwiki Adminstration may not be the most complex volunteer role at Miraheze, there are enough oddities to the role's function that formal documentation is to everyone's benefit.

The following is an attempt to document the process as it exists today, others in the Global Interwiki Administrator role should feel free to amend this document with anything I may have missed.

--NotAracham (talk • contribs • global) 03:56, 7 March 2023 (UTC)

What is an interwiki link?
Interwiki links are a method by which pages from one place (Miraheze or a completely different wiki/non-wiki site) can be referenced efficiently on a repeat basis without using an external link.

For example, instead of typing out to link the Wikipedia page for bread, one can use the interwiki shorthand of Bread instead. Much simpler!

If enabled, you can also use transclusion to pull templates and/or articles from the interwiki destination into your wiki, by formatting the link as instead to pull the contents of the wikipedia page for bread onto your article.

Several common interwiki prefixes are available by default on all wikis. To view default prefixes, visit the Special:Interwiki page on any wiki.

In addition, any wiki on Miraheze can automatically be referenced as an interwiki in the format mh::. For an in-depth explanation, please review the Interwiki documentation page.

Components of a Request
Interwiki requests are received either through a forum-style channel (interwiki-requests) on Discord as well as the Community Noticeboard on Meta.

Global Interwiki Administrators should ideally be present on both platforms to best perform their duties.

Exact request format varies by platform, but well-formed requests should generally contain the following:


 * Requester: Who is making the request?
 * Wiki Name or URL: Where to add the interwiki prefix
 * Prefix: a short prefix used when creating an interwiki link (e.g. prefix:pagename )
 * Destination URL/link: Where the interwiki prefix should redirect to
 * Forwarding?: Yes/No, whether or not a URL pointing at your wiki but using an interwiki destination as the page name will forward through to the destination site.
 * Transcluding?: Yes/No, Whether page contents can be 'borrowed' from the destination wiki directly into your wiki through use of.

Assessing Requests
Before taking action on a request, a Global Interwiki Administrator should review the following:


 * Is the requester authorized to make the request? Eligible individuals include:
 * You, if you're a Bureaucrat on the wiki you're requesting a prefix for
 * A Bureaucrat on the wiki (confirm on the local Special:ListAdmins page)
 * An individual with publicly-documented permission to make the request issued by a Bureacurat on the wiki
 * On wikis with no active Bureacrats, a request by a community member is sufficient IF there is a clear community consensus to make the request. A public discussion should exist in this instance.


 * Does the requested prefix overlap with a global prefix?
 * This is common for alternate-language wikis that would prefer w: direct to their native language for instance
 * Given their unique uses, prefixes m: and meta: should never be overridden


 * Does the requested prefix overlap with an existing local prefix?
 * If so, get clarification from the requester if this should replace the existing prefix or if a different prefix is preferred.


 * Is the requested prefix inappropriate?
 * It should go without saying but inappropriate prefixes (sexual content, profanity, racism, etc.) will not be approved


 * Is the destination URL safe, live and well-formatted?
 * URLs should be tested to ensure they do not resolve into malicious links.
 * URL TESTING MUST BE DONE BEFORE ADDING THE INTERWIKI ENTRY.
 * FAILURE TO DO SO AND ADDING A MALICIOUS LINK WILL RESULT IN LOSS OF PERMISSIONS.
 * Free reputable tools for this include URLVoid, VirusTotal, Google Transparency Report
 * URLs should point to a live website. After confirming the site is safe, it's worth confirming that the site is live.
 * URLs should contain a dynamic variable for the destination page name, formatted like $1
 * e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/$1
 * URLs should not include trailing spaces -- ensure that you are not copying any extra spaces when adding the IW prefix.


 * Is there a preference stated for both Forward and Transclude settings?
 * If not, ask the requester to update with their preferences.
 * Link them to the relevant section of the Interwiki documentation if they don't understand what these options mean.

Adding/Modifying Interwiki entries
Once a request has been assessed and is ready to proceed, the administrator should:


 * Navigate to the wiki's Special:Interwiki page and review the current state of their interwiki table.
 * A section should be present at the bottom of the page for local Interwiki (and potentially Interlanguage) entries if any exist, along with the option to edit or delete each of these entries.
 * Options should appear at the top of the page to [[m:Special:Log/interwiki|View Log (of former interwiki additions and removals) and Add a local interwiki or language prefix
 * Click the link to add or navigate to Special:Interwiki/add
 * Fill in the information as provided on the request, copying in the URL and ensuring there are no trailing spaces
 * The API field should be left blank, a member of the SRE volunteer team should be consulted if this field is requested.
 * Add a reason for the change, blank changes are not recommended and may cause alarm for local administrators
 * Example Language: (Global Interwiki administrator action)
 * Once everything has been entered correctly, click 'Add' and return to the interwiki table to confirm that the entry shows up correctly.
 * If the entry is showing up under interlanguage and is not intended as such, the user will need to select a different prefix.

After the entry (or entries) have been added successfully, return to the request and let the user know it has been completed by marking it as ✅ and leaving a message to that effect.

On Discord, be sure to mark the original message with a ✅ emoji as well to let the other IW administrators know it has been handled.

''ADDITIONAL NOTE: While custom Interwiki entries added by GIWA volunteers can override the defaults from the global interwiki table, Global Interwiki Administrators are unable to add, edit or remove entries from the global interwiki table that is present on all wikis. This right is reserved for Meta Administrators only.''

Additional Resources

 * Interwiki Administrators (role description)
 * Interwiki (description of the Interwiki concept)
 * List of Global Interwiki Administrators