Project talk:Home

Migration from Wikibase Registry

Here is my report on the migration of data from Wikibase Registry to Wikibase World.

First, the reasons why I am doing this to begin with. Wikibase Registry was first set up in 2018, before WBStack or Wikibase.Cloud. It was set up as a one-off Wikibase on a Wikimedia Cloud virtual machine, where it has fallen behind on software updates, including critical security updates. The restrictive approach to editing meant that as Wikibases were created no one was around to update the wiki, causing it to fall behind with reality. And on top of all that, the query service stopped working.

Rather than invest effort in keeping this separate installation of Wikibase online when we have Wikibase.Cloud, I have taken the initiative to move the data to Wikibase.Cloud (under a custom domain name) and update it with present information. I also created a mapping between the wikis that will be used to maintain redirects from the registry to Wikibase World. This means links to entities on the Wikibase Registry will continue to work, provided they have been migrated to the new wiki.

Hopefully this breathes new life into the project. Now that it's easier than ever to create a Wikibase we should also make it easy for people to add theirs to the list.

Harej (talk) 18:40, 15 June 2023 (UTC)

The old domain "wikibase-registry.wmflabs.org" now redirects to this one, with entities mapped between the old and new Wikibases. A copy of the previous Wikibase will be available at https://wikibase-registry-archive.wmcloud.org/wiki/Main_Page until 1 July. Final RDF and XML dumps have been uploaded to the Internet Archive.

Harej (talk) 18:24, 16 June 2023 (UTC)

I published a longer case study on my personal website.

Harej (talk) 00:50, 7 September 2023 (UTC)

The old Wikibase Registry VM has now been permanently deleted, leaving the dumps previously uploaded to the Internet Archive (and whatever may have been grabbed by the Wayback Machine). Harej (talk) 17:29, 9 July 2024 (UTC)

New property: Wikibase tool used

What about creating a new property "Wikibase tool used" which could hold the names of tools like "Query Service", "QuickStatements", or "Cradle" to name some of them? Thoughts, Harej? --Kghbln (talk) 13:46, 6 September 2023 (UTC)

Sounds reasonable to me Kghbln. We could then have URL as a qualifier for specific locations of those tool instances. This could replace Property:P11. Harej (talk) 00:49, 7 September 2023 (UTC)

I believe we have an agreement on a new property. :) --Kghbln (talk) 09:06, 7 September 2023 (UTC)

Kghbln, I generalized from "Wikibase tool used" to wiki tool used, and replaced existing uses of Property:P11 with new P37 statements. Harej (talk) 18:39, 7 September 2023 (UTC)

Cool. Thanks a bunch. --Kghbln (talk) 06:44, 8 September 2023 (UTC)

Wikibase Query Service

When it comes to the Wikibase Query Service I removed the query service UI and query service SPARQL endpoint annotations as statements and added them as qualifiers for the wiki tool. I guess this is better. --Kghbln (talk) 07:49, 8 September 2023 (UTC)

I support designating P7 and P8 as qualifiers to a P37 statement with value of Wikibase Query Service. In that instance you don't need a P1 qualifier. Harej (talk) 15:49, 8 September 2023 (UTC)

Thanks for the feedback. Let's continue like this. --Kghbln (talk) PS I left P! in there for consistency reasons. However, it indeed duplicates information.

Inception date

Discussion relocated from Item talk:Q1.

Even though people celebrate October 29, 2012 as the inception data of Wikidata, I changed the date to October 25, 2012 on this wiki. Why? For consistency reasons: It is impossible to figure out the correct inception dates in retrospect other than checking for the first edit on the wiki. I believe this is the only date that can consistently be determined. Cheers --Kghbln (talk) 09:02, 16 September 2023 (UTC)

I think that is correct so far as we define inception date to be the date the wiki went online for the first time, ever. If revision 1 is dated to October 25 then that would be the inception date, even if the official "opening" was a few days later. Could we have both values as claims on the item, with one value qualified as the "observed" birthday? Harej (talk) 16:22, 17 September 2023 (UTC)

To additionally have an "observed" birthday makes sense. Not sure how to best name it. We will not be able to fill it in most cases, though. --Kghbln (talk) 16:26, 18 September 2023 (UTC)

Hmm, inception day and birthday as a pair could be good enough, I believe. --Kghbln (talk) 16:27, 18 September 2023 (UTC)

I was being bold and created service entry. In the end, I did not like naming this birthday. --Kghbln (talk) 11:12, 21 September 2023 (UTC)

We probably also need a date defining when Wikibase started being used for the wiki. I can imagine a wiki that only added Wikibase and friends sometime after its inception and birthday. In this case, the date should be when they started using the software, i.e., the day the first item or property was created. This date can also be determined for every instance using Wikibase. If not, they installed the software but never used it. Also good to know. --Kghbln (talk) 16:32, 18 September 2023 (UTC) PS Zetawiki Is a good example for the latter case.

Failing query

What is my mistake with this search: https://tinyurl.com/yw88co6y --Olaf Simons (talk) 18:25, 11 October 2023 (UTC)

Hi, I think you tried to retrieve all Wikibase instances recorded on this wiki. Use the first one provided in this section of the homepage.. Cheers --Kghbln (talk) 07:28, 12 October 2023 (UTC) PS I placed your question in a new section since it appeared unrelated.

Wikibase.Cloud discovery

New listing of Wikibases hosted on Wikibase.Cloud. Useful source for new entries. Harej (talk) 19:53, 12 October 2023 (UTC)

The top 24 Wikibase instances on Wikibase Cloud by the number of pages (10,000+) with a minimal set of data (instance of, URL, availability status, and host) are now on wikibase world, except for "pbsandbox." --Kghbln (talk) 14:51, 21 October 2023 (UTC)

System requirements

What are the system requirements for installing Wikibase? Could it run on an Android Oneplus 11 smartphone with 16 GB of RAM? Jkintree2 (talk) 23:57, 8 March 2024 (UTC)

I suggest asking over at the Wikibase talk page on mediawiki.org. Cheers --Kghbln (talk) 13:49, 11 March 2024 (UTC)

Entity resolution

If the same entity has been entered in multiple Wikibases, and has a different QID in each Wikibase, how are the items merged? Jkintree2 (talk) 23:41, 11 March 2024 (UTC)

You can do in using the exact match property.. The best place to get information and to ask such questions is the community portal at Wikidata as the mother of all wikibases. Cheers --Kghbln (talk)

Your answer is appreciated. The exact match property can link items in multiple Wikibases. That's an elegant solution. If the different Wikibases are running on the same cloud hosting service, the performance for the merged Wikibases could be good. Jkintree2 (talk) 19:51, 12 March 2024 (UTC)

Display order of properties on rendered pages

I noticed that there is no hard-defined ranking order of included properties on pages. They are merely listed in order which I add new properties for each item. This is very different to the Wikimedia Wikidata site, which has a rigid and display order for included properties, irrespective of the order each property value was added to said item. Is there any way for Wikibase World to mimic the regimented display order of properties similar to Wikimedia Wikidata? Regards. Hoof Hearted (talk) 20:08, 29 June 2024 (UTC)