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UPDATE: this is happening. See The Big Edit Event (is finished).

Stack Exchange is moving all images from http:// links to https:// links. The ones that can are being done automatically, but there are a lot that are either actually dead or don't have a https:// available. These need to be manually edited.

Here is an SEDE query that finds images that are not from i.stack.imgur. I've been using it on other sites, and have fixed a bunch of broken links, in addition to just switching images to stack.imgur as a precautionary measure, because of linkrot.

There are also tons of questions that need to be retagged. It might be worth waiting until after we decide what to do with our Tolkien tags, but after that, if we're going to mess up the front page to fix images we can retag those too.

Note: Relatively soon, all images linking to a http:// image address will be turned into links.

Rebake remaining posts with HTTP images, so that images linking to HTTP addresses will become links - most of those are dead anyway. This will be a HTML baking change, so no Markdown will be affected, but it'll remove any mixed content even when viewing old revisions.

We should edit before this happens.

What do you think? Should we have a mass editing event?

13
  • Note that there are 239 in total; data.stackexchange.com/scifi/query/430352/…
    – Valorum
    Commented Mar 7, 2017 at 17:37
  • Is this optional, or simply a message from on high that it needs to be done or the links will be killed?
    – Valorum
    Commented Mar 7, 2017 at 17:38
  • @Valorum SE will no longer allow putting up http:// image links. AFAICT, from what happened on Meta, the links won't show images anymore - they'll just be links. Also, we're already seeing linkrot, so... I'm not 100% sure though.
    – Mithical
    Commented Mar 7, 2017 at 17:40
  • @Mithrandir - So, not a case of "should we", but rather a case of "let's get this sorted because it's already happened".
    – Valorum
    Commented Mar 7, 2017 at 17:42
  • @Valorum well, not quite yet. it's a preemptive measure; they haven't rolled anything out yet.
    – Mithical
    Commented Mar 7, 2017 at 17:43
  • Okay, @Valorum, yes. These images are going to die when they roll this out, so we should do this sooner rather than later...
    – Mithical
    Commented Mar 7, 2017 at 19:35
  • Devs talked about being able to fix a bunch of links when some transcript site that users often post went screwy. Why not ask if they can do that here?
    – phantom42
    Commented Mar 8, 2017 at 18:34
  • @phantom42 go ahead, see what they say...
    – Mithical
    Commented Mar 8, 2017 at 18:35
  • As I understand it, not every non-imgur link is going to break. If the image is hosted on a server that supports https:// it will be auto-corrected by SE. So the real number may be smaller.
    – KutuluMike
    Commented Mar 8, 2017 at 20:10
  • @phantom42 This is a network-wide thing, and SE devs aren't doing it automatically this time - they're crowdsourcing it (that page is linked to from this featured main-meta post).
    – Rand al'Thor Mod
    Commented Mar 8, 2017 at 22:20
  • 1
    @Randal'Thor - It's much easier to get someone else to do the work :-)
    – Valorum
    Commented Mar 8, 2017 at 22:25
  • 1
    Well, this question will need lots of work. Lots.
    – Gallifreyan
    Commented Mar 9, 2017 at 20:22
  • All non-https images are now failing to be displayed in posts. Let's do this thing as soon as possible - maybe this weekend?
    – Rand al'Thor Mod
    Commented Mar 11, 2017 at 14:56

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
6

/Sigh. We might as well get on with it.

Image link failure.

Now that the decision has been made by SE that images will only be allowed from HTTPS links, at the very least we're going to have 240(ish) failed images to deal with. We need to get these sorted. Dealing with them organically, or even in small batches will take weeks.

On top of that, a quick look at the answers with "bad" image links suggests that many of the other answers that surround them will also need editing. My guess is that collateral editing will double, if not triple the total number of edits that get done. 240 edits will end up being closer to a thousand by the time people are finished.

Star Trek tags / Tolkien Tags

We have a broad consensus on Star Trek retagging (66-ish remaining) and it's likely we'll have a similar consensus on our Tolkien tags. It makes sense to wait until that's resolved in the next few days, then arrange to include them in the

"BIG EDIT EVENT" (AKA "The "Let's Cock up our front-page" event").

When should we do it?

As the saying goes, If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well. It were done quickly - We should get on with it before the links fail, not after. Some time over the next couple of weeks.

How much time should we set aside?

We should set aside about two to three days for this (dates and times TBC). The goal should be to have most of it done by the end of the event. As soon as we have a consensus opinion, we should begin coordinating efforts, checking diaries and collating volunteers (e.g. who's doing what to what).

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  • The only problem is that I'm generally not available for a long amount of time on Friday/Saturday...
    – Mithical
    Commented Mar 8, 2017 at 16:34
  • @Mithrandir - At this point, I think we just need to get a consensus that it should be done. We can always play with diaries later.
    – Valorum
    Commented Mar 8, 2017 at 16:40
  • 3
    Grumbling is optional. ;-) On a more serious note, may I suggest that you remove the complaining from this post? If you're proposing a course of action, why not just go ahead and propose it and people can vote on it accordingly. I suspect people who support having an editing event may be downvoting this answer just for the "grumble" and "cock up" bits, which is a bit counter-productive.
    – Rand al'Thor Mod
    Commented Mar 8, 2017 at 22:18
  • 2
    There's more than enough editing here for everyone, but I volunteer to take a major part in the Tolkien tag edits. Sorting out the Tolkien tags will be much less work with the help of mod tools: specifically, it'll be quicker to merge tolkien and middle-earth into the new tolkien-legendarium and then retag the author-specific or geographical questions by hand than to retag everything tolkien-legendarium by hand. OTOH, the Star Trek and image edits can be done just as easily by any 2k-rep user; mod tools won't help speed up the process there.
    – Rand al'Thor Mod
    Commented Mar 8, 2017 at 23:18
  • @Randal'Thor I can help with Star Trek and some occasional pictures - I've been chipping off some Star Trek tags in the past week anyway. I live in GMT+3, so I guess my daytime overlaps with not-so-active time with "most" users, assuming they're American. Win/win.
    – Gallifreyan
    Commented Mar 9, 2017 at 13:24
  • Hey we might as well fix the Harry Potter tags, too, right? :D
    – user31178
    Commented Mar 9, 2017 at 15:21
  • 1
    @CreationEdge - Oh lord. This "event" is turning into a circus.
    – Valorum
    Commented Mar 9, 2017 at 15:24
  • So that's probably a no to story id and media tag fixes, too. Fine!
    – user31178
    Commented Mar 9, 2017 at 15:25
  • @CreationEdge - we'll figure out the extent of the edits later.
    – Mithical
    Commented Mar 9, 2017 at 16:38
  • 1
    @Mithrandir I'm being facetious, because that would consist of some 12,000 edits, give or take a couple thousand.
    – user31178
    Commented Mar 9, 2017 at 16:48
  • 1
    @CreationEdge - You can't get rid of "Movie" when I'm so close to having a gold tag badge in it.
    – Valorum
    Commented Mar 9, 2017 at 17:03
  • All non-https images are now failing to be displayed in posts. Let's do this thing as soon as possible - maybe this weekend? (cc @Gallifreyan)
    – Rand al'Thor Mod
    Commented Mar 11, 2017 at 14:56
  • @Randal'Thor yes, I just noticed. I suggest we just begin this evening and be done with it by Monday. You 10k users can fix the tags, and us plebs will start with the images.
    – Gallifreyan
    Commented Mar 11, 2017 at 15:02
  • @Gallifreyan You mean spread it out over a 24+ hour period? I was thinking of a short intense edit spree over just an hour or two, but maybe that's unrealistic.
    – Rand al'Thor Mod
    Commented Mar 11, 2017 at 15:03
  • @Randal'Thor Well, there are 240+ images; say, some 100 tags. Maybe you're right, but I meant it more like "limit it to this weekend". WE also need a way to coordinate the effort, i.e. when 2 folks edit the same post and one's effort goes to waste.
    – Gallifreyan
    Commented Mar 11, 2017 at 15:05
5

Let's just do it without complaining

And if you're concerned about new content not getting proper attention you can use the handy New Questions tab and latest answers search to edit new questions/answers afterwards, to bump new content back up to the top.

Rarely is there a new post that doesn't have some improvement that can be made to it, from fixing typos, improving word choice/sentence clarity, fixing tags, adding examples or better formatting, etc.

We shouldn't flood the review queues with low-quality edits, but there's no reason to not improve the content of the site. I'm sure that if it really matters to keep the new content on the front page (if it truly deserves it), that worthwhile edits can be made to deservedly restore their spots post HTTPS-edits.

10
  • 1
    Don't look at my edit history because I think I had a quintuple negative or something in one of those sentences. YIKES.
    – user31178
    Commented Mar 8, 2017 at 18:30
  • 1
    The complaining is an essential part of the process.
    – Valorum
    Commented Mar 8, 2017 at 18:42
  • 2
    @Valorum I'm complaining about your complaining, so I think it qualifies, ergo this deserves all the upvotes
    – user31178
    Commented Mar 8, 2017 at 18:47
  • Since you're complaining about my complaining, you've invalidated your own argument.
    – Valorum
    Commented Mar 8, 2017 at 18:59
  • @Valorum It's a suggestion, not an argument, but technically, I already did it to my own posts, so... >_>
    – user31178
    Commented Mar 8, 2017 at 19:22
  • All non-https images are now failing to be displayed in posts. Let's do this thing as soon as possible - maybe this weekend?
    – Rand al'Thor Mod
    Commented Mar 11, 2017 at 14:56
  • @Randal'Thor - +6 for the top-voted answer suggesting we do it ASAP versus a -6 for an answer suggesting we do it organically. It's not quite the consensus I'd hoped for, but what the heck.
    – Valorum
    Commented Mar 11, 2017 at 15:00
  • @Randal'Thor If the queries for broken links is valid, you point and I'll shoot, and I'll assist and also make an effort to focus on bumping new questions and answers when I can. I can help out pretty much whenever, just need a ping.
    – user31178
    Commented Mar 11, 2017 at 17:31
  • @CreationEdge In case you didn't see the new meta post, this is happening right now. Valorum, Gallifreyan, and I have been going at it for the last hour or two; any help will be appreciated! (The query is valid but of course slightly out of date, and there must be a lot of stepping on each other's toes as there's no clear order to those posts. I'm keeping out of that and focusing on Tolkien tags for the moment.)
    – Rand al'Thor Mod
    Commented Mar 11, 2017 at 17:34
  • I did it but I don't remember if I complained or not. It's all a blur.
    – user31178
    Commented Mar 13, 2017 at 14:52
-5

Yes, but slowly

When we decide to make edits in order to standardise something, we usually try to avoid flooding the front page with questions that have been edited. The inconvenience of that has to be weighed against the benefit of the standardisation that is being proposed.

I think the best measure of the inconvenience is the number of questions per day that are bumped to the top of the front page.

If I understand this question correctly, the benefit of changing these links is that without the change, the posts involved will soon become less clear without the proposed change. I believe the change is justified but not urgent. We just need to spread it over enough days that the front page isn't swamped.

As for waiting on a decision on the Tolkien tags, I think that is only relevant if there is a significant overlap between the questions that need links to be updated and the Tolkien questions that need to be re-tagged.

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  • 5
    The whole point is that I want to do this all at once, quickly, before all of those images die.
    – Mithical
    Commented Mar 8, 2017 at 4:51
  • @Mithrandir If you are saying that it will be impossible to fix the links once the policy goes into place, then I will withdraw the statement that the change is not urgent (and I would appreciate it if you explicitly make that point in the question). Otherwise, I think we can live with some broken links for a few weeks while they are being fixed.
    – Blackwood
    Commented Mar 8, 2017 at 14:26
  • No, it won't be impossible to fix them after, but do you really want hundreds of images being turned from an image into a link just sitting there?
    – Mithical
    Commented Mar 8, 2017 at 14:28
  • @Mithrandir No, I agree that they need to be fixed, I'm just saying it should be done it slow enough that the front page isn't flooded.
    – Blackwood
    Commented Mar 8, 2017 at 15:18
  • @Mithrandir Now, if the plan was to turn all the images on this site into links, an improvement of that magnitude would be worth disrupting the front page for as long as it takes.
    – user14111
    Commented Mar 12, 2017 at 8:12

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