diff --git a/thesis/4-Edit-Filters.tex b/thesis/4-Edit-Filters.tex
index d1e8e0528865855aad7a190a330d4d2cd6042c7b..9950ea02ed5a3ab9e8117a84dc846731ce169816 100644
--- a/thesis/4-Edit-Filters.tex
+++ b/thesis/4-Edit-Filters.tex
@@ -89,10 +89,10 @@ and actions to take when the filter is triggered.
At the end, from a technical perspective, Wikipedia's edit filters are a MediaWiki plugin that allows every edit (and some other editor's actions) to be checked against a speficied regular expression pattern before it is published.
-The extension introduces following database tables where all data generated by it is stored: \emph{abuse\_filter}, \emph{abuse\_filter\_log}, \emph{abuse\_filter\_action} and \emph{abuse\_filter\_history}~\cite{gerrit-abusefilter}.
+The extension introduces following database tables where all data generated by it is stored: \emph{abuse\_filter}, \emph{abuse\_filter\_log}, \emph{abuse\_filter\_action} and \emph{abuse\_filter\_history}~\cite{gerrit-abusefilter-tables}.
\emph{abuse\_filter} contains detailed information about every filter.
\emph{abuse\_filter\_action} ... %TODO: Find out what this table is for!
-Every filter update is recorded in \emph{abuse\_filter\_history}.
+Every update of a filter action, pattern, comments or other flags (whether the filter is enabled, hidden, deleted), etc. is recorded in \emph{abuse\_filter\_history}.
And every time a filter is triggered, the action that triggered it as well as further data such as the user who triggered the filter, their IP address, and a diff of the edit (if it was an edit), a timestamp, the title of the page the user was looking at, etc. are logged in \emph{abuse\_filter\_log}.
Most frequently, edit filters are triggered upon new edits, there are however further editor's actions that can trip an edit filter.
@@ -101,72 +101,51 @@ As of June 30th 2019, these include: \emph{edit}, \emph{move}, \emph{delete}, \e
Historically, further editor's actions such as \emph{feedback}, \emph{gatheredit} and \emph{moodbar} could trigger an edit filter.
These are in the meantime deprecated. %TODO explain why? I have the guess that these are not available in the software anymore (generally, not only for the edit filters)
-When a filter is triggered, beside logging the event in the \emph{abuse\_filter\_log} table, a further filter action may be invoked as well.
+When a filter is triggered, beside logging the event in the \emph{abuse\_filter\_log} table (the only filter action which cannot be switched off), a further filter action may be invoked as well.
The plugin defines following possible filter actions:
-`tag', `throttle', `warn', `blockautopromote', `block', `degroup', `rangeblock', `disallow'. (l.2808 in \url{https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/plugins/gitiles/mediawiki/extensions/AbuseFilter/+/refs/heads/master/includes/AbuseFilter.php})
+\emph{tag}, \emph{throttle}, \emph{warn}, \emph{blockautopromote}, \emph{block}, \emph{degroup}, \emph{rangeblock}, \emph{disallow}\footnote{See line 2808 in \url{https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/plugins/gitiles/mediawiki/extensions/AbuseFilter/+/refs/heads/master/includes/AbuseFilter.php}}.
%TODO verify that none of the actions are deprecated; I have my doubts that for instance `revoking auto-promoted groups' may not be available anymore
-The documentation of the AbuseFilter extension provides us a complete list of the possible edit filter actions~\cite{Mediawiki:AbuseFilterActions}:
+The documentation of the AbuseFilter extension provides us comprehensive definitions for these~\cite{Mediawiki:AbuseFilterActions}:
\begin{itemize}
- \item Logging: ``All filter matches are logged in the abuse log. This cannot be turned off.''
- \item Warning: ``The user is warned that their edit may not be appreciated, and is given the opportunity to submit it again. You may specify a specific system message containing the warning to display.'' A link to the false positives page~\cite{Wikipedia:EditFilterFalsePositives} is also provided. The editor who tripped the filter is provided with the opportunity to revise their edit and re-submit it.
- \item Throttling: ``The filter will only match if a rate limit is tripped. You can specify the number of actions to allow, the period of time in which these actions must occur, and how those actions are grouped.
- The groupings are which sets of people should have aggregate (shared) throttles. That is, if you type "user", then the same user must match the filter a certain number of times in a certain period of time. You may also combine groups with commas to specify that throttle matches sharing all criteria will be aggregated. For example, using "ip,page", X filter matches in Y seconds from the same IP address to the same page will be required to trip the remainder of the actions.''
- (So this is something like, do this and that if a user edits a particular page X times for a Y period of time. In this sense: throttling always has to be paired with another action?)
- \item Disallowing: ``Actions matching the filter will be prevented, and a descriptive error message will be shown.'' The editor is provided the opportunity to report a false positive
- \item Revoking auto-promoted groups: ``Actions matching the filter will cause the user in question to be barred from receiving any extra groups from \$wgAutopromote for a period ranging from 3 to 7 days (random). This can be restored at the debug tools page.''
- \item Blocking: ``Users matching the filter will be blocked indefinitely, with a descriptive block summary indicating the rule that was triggered.''
- \item Removing from privileged groups: ``Users matching the filter will be removed from all privileged groups (sysop, bureaucrat, etc). A descriptive summary will be used, detailing the rule that was triggered.''
- \item Range-blocking: ``Somewhat of a "nuclear option", the entire /16 range from which the rule was triggered will be blocked for 1 week.''
- \item Tagging: ``The edit or change can be 'tagged' with a particular tag, which will be shown on Recent Changes, contributions, logs, new pages, history, and everywhere else. These tags are styleable, so you can have items with a certain tag appear in a different colour or similar.''
+ \item \emph{tag}: The contribution is tagged with a specific tag (which can be defined and styled by the edit filter manager) which then appears on Recent Changes, contributions, logs, history pages, etc. and allows aggregations of lists for dashboards and similar.
+ \item \emph{throttle}: The filter is activated upon the tripping of a rate limit. Configurable parameters are the allowed number of actions, the period of time in which these actions must occur, and how those actions are grouped. Actions can be grouped by user, IP address, /16 IP range, creation date of the user account, page, site, the edit count of the user or a combination thereof. (So trottling is something like ``do this if page X is edited more than Y times in Z seconds''.) %TODO do we need the explanation? is somewhat informal; also: does throttle do something on its own? or does it need an additional action?
+ \item \emph{warn}: A warning is displayed that the edit may not be appreciated. (The warning message is configurable by the edit filter manager.) The editor who tripped the filter is provided with the opportunity to revise their edit and re-submit it. A link to the false positives page~\cite{Wikipedia:EditFilterFalsePositives} is also provided.
+ \item \emph{blockautopromote}: The user who triggered the filter is banned from receiving extra groups from \$wgAutopromote for a random period of 3 to 7 days.
+ \item \emph{block}: The user who triggered the filter is blocked indefinitely. An error message is displayed to inform the user of this action.
+ \item \emph{degroup}: The user who triggered the filter is removed from all privileged groups (sysop, bureaucrat, etc). An error message is displayed to inform them of this action.
+ \item \emph{rangeblock}: The entire /16 IP range from which the filter was triggered is blocked for a week.
+ \item \emph{disallow}: An error message is shown to the editor informing them their edit was considered unconstructive and will not be saved. They are provided the opportunity to report a false positive.
\end{itemize}
-Range-blocking, blocking, removing from priviledged groups and revoking autopromoted groups haven't been used on the EN Wikipedia in recent years. %TODO: why? look for talk page archives around the last time they were used. Maybe there was a particular incident; nothing concerning autopromote in the EdiFilter talk page around 2012
-To be more precise, the last time a filter action other than ``log only'', ``tag'', ``warn'' or ``disallow'' was triggered on the EN Wikipedia was in 2012. %TODO Refer to data analysis
-There are two distinct filter actions in the \emph{abuse\_filter\_log} table: ``blockautopromote'' and ``aftv5flagabuse''.
+\emph{rangeblock}, \emph{block}, \emph{degroup} and \emph{blockautopromote} haven't been used on the EN Wikipedia in recent years. %TODO: why? look for talk page archives around the last time they were used. Maybe there was a particular incident; nothing concerning autopromote in the EdiFilter talk page around 2012
+% Isn't it rather that rangeblock, degroup and block have never been used on EN Wikipedia, at least according to the logs?
+To be more precise, the last time filter actions other than \emph{log}, \emph{tag}, \emph{warn} or \emph{disallow} were triggered on the EN Wikipedia was in 2012 and these were \emph{blockautopromote} and \emph{aftv5flagabuse}. %TODO Refer to data analysis or make a quarry to back this
% Following 4 filters have blockautopromote as an action (note that this could have changed since 2012!): 115, 267, 334, 21;
-No idea what exactly they mean.
+\emph{aftv5flagabuse} is a deprecated action related to the now deprecated Article Feedback MediaWiki extension (or Article Feedback Tool, Version 5) which purpose was to involve readers more actively in article quality assessment\footnote{\url{https://www.mediawiki.org/w/index.php?title=Extension:ArticleFeedbackv5&oldid=3136840}}.
+(However, during the testing phase, reader feedback was found mostly not particularly helpful and hence the extension was discontinued.)
-\begin{comment}
-https://www.mediawiki.org/w/index.php?title=Extension:ArticleFeedbackv5&oldid=3136840
-
-"The Article Feedback extension (aka Article Feedback Tool, Version 5) was a Wikimedia Foundation project designed to engage Wikimedia readers in the assessment of article quality, one of the five priorities defined in the strategic plan."
-
-==============================================
-https://www.mediawiki.org/w/index.php?title=Article_feedback/Version_5&oldid=2589150
-
-"AFT5 was developed from November 2011 to June 2013, and tested in three pilots on the English, French and German Wikipedias. The goal of AFT5 was to engage readers to participate on Wikipedia -- and to help editors improve articles based on reader feedback. After careful review of pilot results, this project was discontinued in March 2014, as outlined below and in this report. "
-
-"However, a majority of editors did not find reader comments useful enough to warrant the extra work of moderating this feedback"
-
-//This would explain why all feedback filters were deleted
-\end{comment}
-
-Guidelines specifically call for careful use of ``disallow''.
+Guidelines specifically call for careful use of \emph{disallow}.
Only severe cases for which ``substantially all good-faith editors would agree are undesirable'' or specific cases for which consensus has been reached should be disallowed~\cite{Wikipedia:EditFilter}.
-The documentation page of the extension is here: \url{https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:AbuseFilter} \\
-and the code is hosted on gerrit, Wikimedia's git repository hosting service of choice:\\
-\url{https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/plugins/gitiles/mediawiki/extensions/AbuseFilter/+/refs/heads/master}.
-
-The rules format can be viewed under \url{https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:AbuseFilter/Rules_format}.
-
-Following new user permissions are introduced by the abuse filter plugin:
+Following new user permissions are introduced by the AbuseFilter plugin: %TODO quote \url{https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:AbuseFilter} in a sensible manner, once it's decided on refs vs inline urls
\begin{itemize}
- \item `abusefilter-modify': Modify abuse filters
- \item `abusefilter-view': View abuse filters
- \item `abusefilter-log': View the abuse log
- \item `abusefilter-log-detail': View detailed abuse log entries
- \item `abusefilter-private': View private data in the abuse log
- \item `abusefilter-modify-restricted': Modify abuse filters with restricted actions
- \item `abusefilter-modify-global': Create or modify global abuse filters
- \item `abusefilter-revert': Revert all changes by a given abuse filter
- \item `abusefilter-view-private': View abuse filters marked as private
- \item `abusefilter-log-private': View log entries of abuse filters marked as private
- \item `abusefilter-hide-log': Hide entries in the abuse log
- \item `abusefilter-hidden-log': View hidden abuse log entries
- \item `abusefilter-private-log': View the AbuseFilter private details access log
+ \item \emph{abusefilter-modify}: ``Modify abuse filters''
+ \item \emph{abusefilter-view}: ``View abuse filters''
+ \item \emph{abusefilter-log}: ``View the abuse log''
+ \item \emph{abusefilter-log-detail}: ``View detailed abuse log entries''
+ \item \emph{abusefilter-private}: ``View private data in the abuse log''
+ \item \emph{abusefilter-modify-restricted}: ``Modify abuse filters with restricted actions''
+ \item \emph{abusefilter-modify-global}: ``Create or modify global abuse filters''
+ \item \emph{abusefilter-revert}: ``Revert all changes by a given abuse filter''
+ \item \emph{abusefilter-view-private}: ``View abuse filters marked as private''
+ \item \emph{abusefilter-log-private}: ``View log entries of abuse filters marked as private''
+ \item \emph{abusefilter-hide-log}: ``Hide entries in the abuse log''
+ \item \emph{abusefilter-hidden-log}: ``View hidden abuse log entries''
+ \item \emph{abusefilter-private-log}: ``View the AbuseFilter private details access log''
\end{itemize}
+For additional reference, the format for the regex rules~\cite{Mediawiki:AbuseFilterRules}, the general documentation of the extension~\cite{Mediawiki:AbuseFilterExtension} as well as its source code~\cite{gerrit-abusefilter-source} can be consulted.
+
%************************************************************************
diff --git a/thesis/5-Overview-EN-Wiki.tex b/thesis/5-Overview-EN-Wiki.tex
index 0ef22cf69125d124de4f6c370bc0a4311ba6ecc8..7f1bcac60142eb0d1babebedc2e5455e16756fb3 100644
--- a/thesis/5-Overview-EN-Wiki.tex
+++ b/thesis/5-Overview-EN-Wiki.tex
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ question"
The \emph{abuse\_filter} and \emph{abuse\_filter\_action} tables from \emph{enwiki\_p} were downloaded on 6.01.2019 via quarry~\footnote{\url{https://quarry.wmflabs.org/}}.
The complete dataset can be found in the repository for the present paper~\cite{github}. % TODO add a more specific link
-These tables, along with \emph{abuse\_filter\_log} and \emph{abuse\_filter\_history}, are created and used by the AbuseFilter MediaWiki extension~\cite{gerrit-abusefilter}.
+These tables, along with \emph{abuse\_filter\_log} and \emph{abuse\_filter\_history}, are created and used by the AbuseFilter MediaWiki extension~\cite{gerrit-abusefilter-tables}.
Selected queries have been run against the \emph{abuse\_filter\_log} table as well.
Unfortunately, currently the \emph{abuse\_filter\_history} table is not exposed to the public due to security/privacy concerns~\cite{phabricator}.
We hope to be shortly able to access a view of this table in order to conduct historic inquirements.
diff --git a/thesis/references.bib b/thesis/references.bib
index fb694bd06fb9fb8c4fe8b92ef0dc152d8a1d7776..6a8a35e91e6192423a71a7958c154d781ac1ec9f 100644
--- a/thesis/references.bib
+++ b/thesis/references.bib
@@ -99,7 +99,16 @@
note = {\url{http://www.stuartgeiger.com/trace-ethnography-hicss-geiger-ribes.pdf}}
}
-@misc{gerrit-abusefilter,
+@misc{gerrit-abusefilter-source,
+ key = "Gerrit Repository",
+ author = {Andrew Garret},
+ title = {AbuseFilter Extension Source Code},
+ year = 2019,
+ note = {Retreived July 3, 2019 from
+ \url{https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/plugins/gitiles/mediawiki/extensions/AbuseFilter/+/refs/heads/master}}
+}
+
+@misc{gerrit-abusefilter-tables,
key = "Gerrit Repository",
author = {Andrew Garret},
title = {AbuseFilter Extension Tables},
@@ -208,6 +217,24 @@
\url{https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:AbuseFilter/Actions}}
}
+@misc{Mediawiki:AbuseFilterExtension,
+ key = "Mediawiki",
+ author = {},
+ title = {Abuse Filter Extension Documentation},
+ year = 2019,
+ note = {Retreived July 3, 2019 from
+ \url{https://www.mediawiki.org/w/index.php?title=Extension:AbuseFilter&oldid=3270512}}
+}
+
+@misc{Mediawiki:AbuseFilterRules,
+ key = "Mediawiki",
+ author = {},
+ title = {Abuse Filter Extension Rules Format},
+ year = 2019,
+ note = {Retreived July 3, 2019 from
+ \url{https://www.mediawiki.org/w/index.php?title=Extension:AbuseFilter/Rules_format&oldid=3240087}}
+}
+
@inproceedings{MueDoHer2013,
title = {Work-to-rule: the emergence of algorithmic governance in Wikipedia},
author = {M{\"u}ller-Birn, Claudia and Dobusch, Leonhard and Herbsleb, James D},