User blog comment:TimmyQuivy/On the Importance of Upgrading MediaWiki/@comment-24258073-20200509133445/@comment-24258073-20200517081309

Yes but that pretty much defies the ultimate goal. To have many of the relevant system messages reviewed and made editable to Administrators. You may not agree, but general system message editing is an important part of being an Administrator on a wiki with a higher need for system message editing.

Administrators were able to edit every system message prior to August 2015. And they are still able to edit every system message on all the sites outside Fandom that I'm aware of. Several communities have forked over the past few years, citing the lack of progress in expanding the whitelist or not being able to edit every message as one of the main reasons for doing so. Personally I can see their points, though I don't feel that it is enough of an issue to warrant forking.

While I do feel that the system messages that affect areas of the wiki that would break the customisation policy, or system messages affecting pages that aren't accessible to Administrators shouldn't be whitelisted, I do feel that most of the other system messages that affect parts of the wiki that are relevant to Administrators should be. Administrators shouldn't need an invitation to edit general system messages, because it isn't something that they are naturally expected to have to do.