Hey gang!

This is a new sort of Tech Update that I'm calling Release Highlights. It will focus on each noteworthy release for the UCP. Edited new to noteworthy, due to expected release cadence later in the process.

This is the first one, meaning that new wikis can be created on the UCP now! Existing wikis will remain on the legacy Fandom and Gamepedia platforms until UCP is ready for them.

We are considering this first release basically an "open beta" version of the platform. It is for very simple wikis and serves to help us understand how the new codebase performs under normal load. The greater the editor count, the better the data we collect.

Let me reiterate that. This is NOT the feature complete release. We will continue to have releases which add new functionality until Phase 1 is complete and obviously continue to fix bugs throughout Phase 1 (next several months) and beyond. Release cadence will be swift.

Here are some benefits from the MediaWiki 1.33 upgrade that Eva picked out for highlighting:

• User rights can expire. You just want to make someone admin while you’re out for a 1-month vacation? No problem: On MediaWiki 1.33, when you promote a user, you have the option to enter an expiry date. Once that date is reached, the user will automatically lose that right again.
• RecentChanges is much improved. For example, it offers live updates that communities previously had to add via custom script. You can also save your filters, so you don’t have to reset them every time.
• Better Visual Editor that we’ve improved further with some Fandom styling and UX improvements. Details can be found in my blog.
• You can choose your gender preference. You can decide in your user preferences which pronouns you want to use, and whether you want the male or female version of “user” applied to you (for languages where there is such a difference).
• Additional watchlist options in your user preferences. For instance, you can edit your watchlist (called followed pages on old Fandom) directly from Special:Preferences.

There are some known issues we'd like to lay out:

• The admin setting to choose User Talk pages over the new Message Wall has not fully been implemented, due to an issue. A fix is coming soon, but in the meantime, staff can make the switch for you.
• Adding a video to an article from the editor is not implemented, with a fix for that coming very soon as well.
• The full range of copyright scenarios for image uploads does not display, making "This is my own work" the only option, despite the veracity of that statement.
• Localization strings have changed from custom Fandom translations built up over years on the forked 1.19 platform to the standard MediaWiki translations on 1.33, so some of the terms which non-EN users see will have changed.

And, as promised, here is the wiki you can treat as a fun sandbox for playing around with the new editor . Community Connect attendees will remember that I promised to name it Wreck-It Woodhouse and so I did.

If you encounter bugs, please continue to report them appropriately.

Welcome to the UCP. Welcome to the future of Fandom.