Last modified: 2013-12-03 20:50:21 UTC
The installer should set $wgNoFollowLinks to false in LocalSettings.php if the "Authorized editors only" or "Private wiki" user rights profile is selected. These wikis cannot be attacked by spambots because editing is only by registered users and registration is by invitation only. Therefore, there is no need to use nofollow to deter spam. Nofollow would in fact likely be counterproductive to the wiki owner's purposes, since it would hinder him from raising the pagerank of sites he and his small circle of approved editors link to, and which he therefore presumably wants to attract traffic to. We should act under the assumption that he would prefer to have nofollow switched off.
Actually, scratch that part about the "private wiki" -- those wouldn't be accessible to the general public even to read.
Makes sense, though it would need a comment inviting the sysadmin to revisit the config if they later change access (can the installer control in what order configs are?). Just in case someone chooses the profile temporarily and then changes LocalSettings.php.
Okay, so it will need to be explained in a clear and succinct way in a LocalSettings.php comment. How about: "Set $wgNoFollowLinks to true if you open up your wiki to editing by the general public and wish to apply nofollow to external links as a deterrent to spammers."
Change 95755 had a related patch set uploaded by leucosticte: Set $wgNoFollowLinks to false if "Authorized editors only" selected https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/95755
(In reply to comment #2) > Makes sense, though it would need a comment inviting the sysadmin to revisit > the config if they later change access (can the installer control in what > order > configs are?). Just in case someone chooses the profile temporarily and then > changes LocalSettings.php. LocalSettingsGenerator.php controls the order of the configs. The group permissions are right before the "End of automatically generated settings." This patch will put $wgNoFollowLinks and its explanatory comment right after the group rights, so that if/when the system administrator goes to change those to open up the wiki to edits by the general public, hopefully he'll see that too. Unless the "*" (anon) read right is set to true and the "*" edit right is set to false, $wgNoFollowLinks and its explanatory comment won't appear at all in LocalSettings.php, as it currently doesn't.
Change 95755 merged by jenkins-bot: Set $wgNoFollowLinks to false iff "Authorized editors only" selected https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/95755
