Table:Server news!

Discussion
Hello. I apologise for not having been more available lately, but I have now decided to do *stuff*.

First of all, I am going to upgrade our MediaWiki installation. It has been running a stable version of MediaWiki 1.23alpha since January 2014. Extension upgrades will follow suit. I am considering upgrading to either 1.23.11 (because it is a long term support version), 1.25.3 (because it's newer) or 1.26 (because it's newest, but may contain bugs yet undiscovered). It will probably be 1.25.3, unless any of you have any interjections in the next 12 hours.

Secondly, I am going to arrange a CloudFlare proxy around this site. This has several advantages:


 * It will lessen the load on the server itself, as CloudFlare will cache the content.
 * Similarly, it will obscure the web server to the outside, preventing possible DoS attacks (or even just heavy traffic).
 * It will allow us to use HTTPS for the website, allowing us to log in without our passwords being sent in plain text.

Generally speaking, a CloudFlare proxy or CDN will protect our website and make it appear more stable. So even if my server is down, the content will remain up! CloudFlare has a free plan, which I believe is good enough for us.

These changes should happen around midday CET 29 November (today). --Sviptalk 03:02, 29 November 2015 (CET)


 * Update! I have now upgraded the Wiki to 1.23.11, because it's a LTS.  This doesn't mean any new features I'm afraid, but it should mean a bit more stability.
 * Secondly, I am waiting for Buddy13 to prepare the domain for CloudFlare, as he owns the domain. I wonder how often he comes around here. --Sviptalk 16:54, 29 November 2015 (CET)
 * I do not like 1.25's recent changes format. Please use 1.24 or older. 73.164.199.19 18:42, 29 November 2015 (CET)
 * No, don't listen to Nalexa. Sanfazer: [ talk] 22:04, 29 November 2015 (CET).


 * Looking at the new Recent Changes, I don't really see the major difference. Is Wikipedia using it?  Me confused.  Besides, I'd rather not limit ourselves to an old version for too long. --Sviptalk 22:20, 29 November 2015 (CET)


 * Agree, I do. Sanfazer: [ talk] 22:02, 30 November 2015 (CET).

We are now on CloudFlare. It may take up to 24 hours for your local ISP to spot it, but soon things should be more snappy. And moreover; should the site itself be down, CloudFlare keeps a cache to show to end users.

I also turned off the old analytics systems that used to be on the site, because CloudFlare provides its own. This means *less* JavaScript on the site and that just makes it snappier for the end user. It does mean there is sort of a hole in our analytics around now, but that's OK. --Sviptalk 10:55, 19 December 2015 (CET)


 * [Sanfazer likes this.]
 * But we don't have the button for likes yet. Sanfazer: [ talk] 22:07, 19 December 2015 (CET).