Wikipedia talk:WikiBlame

Need time to expand before bot gets it
It would be nice if I might be left a few days to expand on this article before a bot deletes it. WikiBlame is an extremely useful tool which I feel merits reference on wikipedia. Rjwilmsi 17:00, 2 June 2009 (UTC)

Uh-oh, what's up?
Went to http://wikipedia.ramselehof.de/wikiblame.php for the first time in a week or two, got
 * Forbidden


 * You don't have permission to access /wikiblame.php on this server.


 * Apache/2.2 Server at wikipedia.ramselehof.de Port 80

--CliffC (talk) 03:26, 15 August 2009 (UTC)

Security vulnerability http://sourceforge.net/users/flominator for details. Rich Farmbrough, 07:06, 18 August 2009 (UTC).


 * Aha, thanks. Looks like it's back now.  Would hate to lose this valuable tool!  --CliffC (talk) 12:53, 18 August 2009 (UTC)

Mainspace?
Why is this written like an article but kept in WP: space instead of mainspace? Seems odd, there's no discussion of how it can be used and what the concerns are for wikipedia specifically. Seems like it should be userfied to a sub-page. WLU (t) (c) Wikipedia's rules: simple/complex 14:37, 14 October 2009 (UTC)

Sourceforge
The source files seem not to be available on Sourceforge any more (http://sourceforge.net/projects/wikiblame/files/). Is there any other location from where one can get the source? - Subh83 (talk &#124; contribs) 20:57, 20 May 2011 (UTC)
 * Never mind... got the SVN repo. - Subh83 (talk &#124; contribs) 21:00, 20 May 2011 (UTC)
 * Try there. --SGlad (talk) 14:38, 26 June 2013 (UTC)

vs xtools blame
xtools blame is great, but sometimes it doesn't work. (result, after a while: "Fatal error: Allowed memory size of 268435456 bytes exhausted (tried to allocate 5167874 bytes) in /data/project/xtools/Peachy/Includes/Wiki.php on line 671 ) --Elvey (talk) 03:30, 31 December 2013 (UTC)


 * I've took the peacock out of the xtools [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:WikiBlame&diff=prev&oldid=591262249]; on the last search wikiblame was slow but worked, xtools failed to find the desired text. NE Ent 12:30, 18 January 2014 (UTC)


 * Good. Now neither tool is working for me.  --Elvey(t•c) 18:19, 13 June 2015 (UTC)

It doesn't work It's not user-friendly
So I configured the start date of the search to be April 2014, nevertheless it searches from 2011 onwards. Here's a screenshot of it: https://i.imgur.com/xOY9fvs.jpg --Fixuture (talk) 12:56, 14 June 2015 (UTC)


 * Looking at that screenshot, it looks to me like it's doing what you asked it to, Fixuture - a binary search - from April 2014 back 500 edits.--Elvey(t•c) 10:05, 16 June 2015 (UTC)


 * Ok...not sure why I didn't get that. I think it would be a good idea to place the Order directly beneath the date (and maybe also to put a border around both boxes) - that would make the whole thing a lot clearer - especially as the date is called "Start date".
 * So I guess it basically comes down to simply making it a bit more user-friendly. For example I wouldn't assume that people using it know the difference between linear & binary search - it would probably be better to explain the practical outcome of each choice in layman terms in some hovertext.
 * And I'm also not sure what green bubbles and red crosses are supposed to say.
 * --Fixuture (talk) 19:57, 16 June 2015 (UTC)

Macro
I wrote a little AutoHotkey macro to run WikiBlame under Firefox. As a keyboard shortcut, I chose Shift-Alt-B since Shift-Alt- is used for other Wikipedia shortcuts, and B isn't taken yet.

SetTitleMatchMode, 2


 * Get selection via clipboard - thanks to der3k at http://www.autohotkey.com/board/topic/9350-get-the-current-path-of-a-window-explorer/page-2.

getSelection {	SavedClipboard := ClipboardAll Clipboard = SendInput ^c ClipWait 0.3 Clip = %Clipboard% Clipboard := SavedClipboard return %Clip% }

+!B:: ; Simply take selection as text to search for: needle := GetSelection ; Get article name from address bar: Send !d addr := GetSelection article := RegExReplace(addr, "^.*\/wiki\/(.+)(\#.*)?$","$1") ; Open new tab for WikiBlame: Send ^t Sleep 100 Send !d Send http://www.wikipedia.ramselehof.de/wikiblame.php?user_lang=en&lang=en&project=wikipedia&article=%article%&needle=%needle% Send {Enter} Return &mdash; Sebastian 17:24, 11 April 2016 (UTC)

Parameters that create bug
This search causes it to go on forever. The options were:
 * Language: en
 * Project: wikipedia
 * Page: Cassper Nyovest
 * Search for: announced that she and Cassper Nyovest ended their relationship in December 2015.
 * Always skip x versions: 0
 * Ignore first x versions: 0
 * Versions to check: 500
 * Start date: April 23, 2016
 * Search method: binary
 * Order: latest first
 * Look for removal of text (binary only):   Yes/checked
 * Ignore minor changes (experimental):   No/unchecked
 * Force searching for wikitext: No/unchecked

The result says:
 * 2 versions found
 * Comparing differences in 05:31, 12 April 2016 between 1 and 2 while coming from 2:X 0
 * Insertion found between and 05:31, 12 April 2016:
 * Deleting 1 earlier revisions, since removal must have been performed later


 * 2 versions found
 * Comparing differences in 05:31, 12 April 2016 between 1 and 2 while coming from 2:X 0
 * Insertion found between and 05:31, 12 April 2016:
 * Deleting 1 earlier revisions, since removal must have been performed later

It does this ad infinitum in an endless loop. So, it appears there is a bug unless I put in data that is inappropriate somehow. --David Tornheim (talk) 04:00, 23 April 2019 (UTC)

What I was trying to do
What I was trying to do was this: Can anyone explain what parameters I should have put in the machine to find the answer? It's not exactly clear to me how the machine works when text is added and then removed, possibly added again. It seems to me there should be a start date and end date for a binary search, but there is only one date, the "start date", so I don't know what to do in my case where I want it to ONLY look for events between 21:08, 23 March 2016 and today, or say between 1/1/2016 and 1/1/2017. It often treats the "start date" more like the end date, so I just try clicking different box and trying different dates hoping it finds what I am looking for. --David Tornheim (talk) 04:02, 23 April 2019 (UTC)
 * I found the text in question (" announced that she and Cassper Nyovest ended their relationship in December 2015.") inserted here on Revision as of 21:08, 23 March 2016.
 * I wanted to find the diff where it got deleted.

wikipedia.ramselehof.de/wikiblame.php is too slow
why does the mediawiki not simply offer a download article,v link in the GNU Project's Revision Control System revert differences file format or less computer-friendly color by age and see stricken text links? IM Serious (talk) 20:29, 3 May 2020 (UTC)

Search options
How do I search for a specific string of text? like searching for "foo bar" will only return the occurrences where the word foo /white_space bar are found not foo or bar. Bonus: how to find the first occurrence of a search. Simbioz (talk) 01:33, 7 May 2021 (UTC)

Thank you, thank you, thank you!
This is a wonderful tool. It saved me at least an hour of manually going through diffs to discover who inserted a spam citation.—Finell 03:48, 18 November 2021 (UTC)

Template:WikiBlame
FYI, has been nominated for deletion -- 65.92.246.43 (talk) 04:41, 10 December 2021 (UTC)

Templates for discussion/Log/2021_December 8 --PBS (talk) 14:43, 28 May 2022 (UTC)

504 Gateway Time-out
I see a "504 Gateway Time-out" error message when I try to use WikiBlame. Is it no longer functioning? Jarble (talk) 16:19, 14 March 2024 (UTC)


 * Looks like it's down again. -- Mikeblas (talk) 01:21, 17 May 2024 (UTC)