Last modified: 2011-03-13 18:05:22 UTC
Sometimes I accidentally add links to things like [[Java programming language]] in articles. But that link points to a redirect page. I actually meant to link to [[Java (programming language)]]. When I add links to a page I create, and one of them is a link (e.g. [[Java programming language]]) to a redirect page, MediaWiki should change the text of the link to [[Java (programming language) | Java programming language]] for me.
Sorry for OT, but this gives me a cool related idea. Tools like AutoWikiBrowser do a lot of changes almost-automatically. Wouldn't it be cool if MediaWiki could do make some of those changes to your page fully automatically whenever you create a new page?
There is no problem with linking to redirects, and it makes the article source clearer and shorter. What kind of changes that AWB makes would you like MediaWiki to make?
(In reply to comment #2) > There is no problem with linking to redirects, and it > makes the article source clearer and shorter. Ah, didn't know that. > What kind of changes that AWB makes would you like > MediaWiki to make? Dunno. I'll post on the AWB talk page and ask others what they think. Capitalization / typo fixes maybe? Would that be possible?
I posted the question at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:AutoWikiBrowser#Could_MediaWiki_do_some_of_what_AWB_does.3F
As AWB dev I have following thoughts: 1) Automatic bypassing of redirects is a bad thing, that's why AWB restricts this feature to admins only, as they are expected to know what they're doing. For reasoning, see http:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:AutoWikiBrowser/Archive_13#Bypass_redirects 2) You can never make complicated HTML interface as good as client-side software can. 3) Of course, direct database access can drastically simplify many things, but it'll inevitably put heavy strain on servers.
Compare bug 4410. Links to redirects don't need "fixing", that's what redirects are there for. For specific AWB features you'd like in MW, please file new bugs, one per feature desired.
