Wikipedia blackout page | Hacker News Reader

Wikipedia blackout page

en.wikipedia.org

507 pointspitdesi113 comments

From the wikipedia blackout page:

  > They [the bills] put the onus on website owners to police user-contributed
  > material and call for the blocking of entire sites, even if the links are
  > not to infringing material. Small sites will not have the sufficient
  > resources to mount a legal challenge.

This is beautiful. It succinctly puts forth the problem that SOPA/PIPA and similar legislation will create: chilling innovation.

The black-out page did its job in my case. Here's what I sent to my representatives:

As one of your constituents, I want to make you aware of my strong opposition to SOPA, PIPA, and any bill that threatens to restrict or encumber the free flow of information on the Internet.

The monopoly rights that we extend to the owners of intellectual property are intended to provide an incentive to create and disperse knowledge and culture for the benefit of society at large. Legislation that imposes potentially enormous costs on society in order to protect IP rights is antithetical to that very idea.

I encourage you to do what you can to ensure that these bills do not become law.

Well, that's interesting. All the content is still there, but then an overlay is placed on the page using JS once the page loads. How long until someone puts up a greasemonkey script to unblackout WP?

The mobile site is also still available, by design.

"Is it still possible to access Wikipedia in any way?

The Wikipedia community, as part of their request to the Wikimedia Foundation to carry out this protest, asked us to ensure that we make English Wikipedia accessible in some way during an emergency. The English Wikipedia will be accessible on mobile devices and smart phones. Because the protest message is powered by JavaScript, it's also possible to view Wikipedia by completely disabling JavaScript in your browser."

Well that's a silver lining from my perspective: a lot of people will learn how to disable Javascript in their browsers.

and then forget to re-enable it and be baffled as to why their browser is utterly deprecated.

and wonder what makes the few well-designed websites that don't need javascript to be read that special

... or so I can dream.

The internet isn't a static thing, these days. You can get by without js, but you can't do much in the way of interesting dynamic content

Well with the direction CSS is taking, Javascript isn't only for 'cool and moving things' anymore. I use Cufon for fonts, since it's better and cleaner than font-face.

A lot of sites these days seem to be skipping right over the "interesting" part and going straight to the static/dynamic distinction.

Not people that are targeted by this blackout.

Using AdBlockPlus I've just added the rule to block everything from meta.wikimedia.org which is the domain that loads the script to blackout the site.

||meta.wikimedia.org

Seems to be working so far.

Blocking http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:BannerCont...

is a better match

It's pretty smart, actually. They don't want to ruin their SEO.

um, im sure that Google had no idea about Wikipedia's plans and let their spider autocrawl the domain without manually overwriting its settings.

I would rather find it in Google's best interest to keep Wiki pages high up in results, btw.

Further, Google spider can "apply" CSS and "see" which elements of the page cover other content with divs.

Quite simple to toggle it with NoScript.

Here goes a "small" bookmarklet:

javascript:(function(){document.getElementById("mw-page-base").style.display="block"; document.getElementById("mw-head-base").style.display="block"; document.getElementById("content").style.display="block"; document.getElementById("mw-head").style.display="block"; document.getElementById("mw-panel").style.display="block"; document.getElementById("footer").style.display="block"; document.getElementById("mw-sopaOverlay").style.display="none";})()

I somehow feel bad about being able to access it now :).

I voted for the blackout, so I feel obliged to let myself be inconvenienced by it. 3 times already in the first 40 minutes.

I think Wikipedia still gets to make its point if you have to pepper in some JavaScript or CSS to get back to it. Much more work than your standard interstitial.

This is the best point to make: the SOPA will only stop people who don't know how to get around it, just like the Wiki blackout. That is precisely to point to be made here.

Tell people that this is what it will be like to access information online if anything like SOPA passes.

I wonder if a lot of people are going to be searching for "how to access wikipedia" now? Pity it will be too late by tomorrow, or you could inform them yet again. Oh well.

Wikipedia loads jQuery, so doing this works: https://gist.github.com/1631148

Truly concise and elegant. I'm not sure a code-golf could make that much shorter!

Came up with almost exactly that

    javascript:$('#mw-page-base, #mw-head-base, #content, #mw-head, #mw-panel, #footer').css('display','block'); $('#mw-sopaOverlay').css('display','none');

You beat me to it. :)

Since you're using jQuery, you might as well just use show() and hide() or remove().

Also chaining: https://gist.github.com/1631368

I think that looks and scans worse. I didn't count characters, but it also seems like more characters. I bet it performs worse too (not that performance matters in this case).

And execute the first command just on $('div')

or even better, use toggle():

    jQuery("#mw-sopaOverlay, .noprint, #footer, #content").toggle();

Or just press Esc very quickly so it stops loading the page before rendering the protest message overlay.

this is too long, try this

var d=document;d.body.removeChild(d.getElementById('mw-sopaOverlay'));d.getElementById('content').setAttribute('style','display:block')

fits in a tweet

$('body > div').toggle();

Came up with this when I got the blackout page:

javascript:$('*:hidden').show();$('#mw-sopaOverlay').hide();

or even shorter:

javascript:($('body').children().toggle())

Have fun!

I think the easiest way is to add ?banner=none at the end of the page.

https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/English_Wikipedia_SOPA_black...

Just disable JavaScript. An extension is overkill! ;)

I was sitting here trying to figure out if it started yet because all the pages kept loading. This is good though, almost anyone who has javascript disabled is probably aware of the issue and against it.

It still shows "The English Wikipedia is currently locked for the SOPA/PIPA blackout" on the main page.

You can also just, you know, disable Javascript.

103 characters with native js:

d=document;f='getElementById';d[f]('mw-sopaOverlay').innerHTML='';d[f]('content').style.display='block'

In 42 characters!

l=location;l.href=l.href.replace("en","m")

In 35 characters! location.hostname="m.wikipedia.org"

I documented a ton of ways here to get around it: https://gist.github.com/1631355

Or just hit Escape key before the page has finished loading.

I think the idea is to draw attention of the non-technical crowd. Those who can "put up a greasemonkey script" are probably well aware of SOPA already.

Amusingly, at first the "Learn More" was a link to a wikipedia page .. which was blacked out. Fixed now :)

Seems like it worked: SOPA got mainstream coverage for the first time in Norway today.

Here's a chart showing mentions of SOPA in Norwegian newspapers: http://was.id.ly/storing/files/sopa_in_newspapers_opoint.png

Same here in Portugal[1]. It says "The great protest on the Internet against piracy laws has started" and it mentions the arguments of the opposition.

And it already has a comment saying how to disable the block :P

I just saw it on MSNBC. This is the first coverage I've seen.

The time delay in implementation of the black-out on my system (via JavaScript) probably helps make the point more. I went to the main page (the link here) not by following the link from this thread, but from my browser history. I saw a brief glimpse of today's main page, and then the screen image changed to Wikipedia's black-out page. I went to the information page, and there it still shows all the headings a Wikipedian will see when logged in: the user's own user page, and user talk page, and so on. So I followed the link to my user page, and it too displayed for the briefest tantalizing moment before showing the black-out page. Slick. I tried some other stored URLs from my browser history, and they all briefly displayed the appropriate Wikipedia page before being overwritten with the black-out notice. This will get attention.

The black-out information page

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:SOPA_initiative/Learn...

says "The Wikipedia community has blacked out the English version of Wikipedia for 24 hours on January 18th to raise awareness about legislation being proposed by the U.S. Congress," but I see it also includes advice for residents of other countries about what to do about the legislation.

The information page even includes a response to the question "In carrying out this protest, is Wikipedia abandoning neutrality? Can I still trust Wikipedia?" The response is "We are staging this blackout because, although Wikipedia’s articles are neutral, its existence actually is not. Wikipedia depends on its existence for a free and open, uncensored Internet." This immediately suggests some other countries that it might be important to draw more attention to on Wikipedia. I wonder if that will happen. If it doesn't, I may indeed start doubting the neutrality of Wikipedia even more than I already do.

Mobile devices are exempted from the black-out, according to the information page, and anyone can turn off the black-out by disabling JavaScript. (I enable JavaScript on Wikipedia to take advantage of various Wikipedia editing tools.) I'll have to experiment with viewing the site some more, and I'll be curious to see what the worldwide reaction is. Again, I wonder what users will suggest what other countries to protest about with regard to Internet censorship.

AFTER EDIT: In another experiment, I posted a Wikipedia link to Facebook to tell friends about the background to my new favorite pop song. The link

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Why_This_Kolaveri_Di

still shows correct summary text when embedded in a Facebook comment. That the links are still pasteable and still have usability when submitted to discussion forums is an especially nice aspect of how Wikipedia implemented its blackout. (P.S. The direct link to the official video for the new song, which is rapidly going viral around the world, is

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YR12Z8f1Dh8

from Sony Music India hosted on YouTube.)

"Wikipedia depends on its existence for a free and open, uncensored Internet."

Gah... that should be "Wikipedia depends, for its existence, on a free and open, uncensored Internet.", but of course editing that page is disabled! :)

Yeah, I wanted to edit it too: in "the Wikipedia community has chosen to blackout the English version of Wikipedia" it should be "black out". Curses!

The moral of the story: don't let engineers write copy, and don't make them write copy on a deadline while trying to fix bugs.

(I'm in the IRC channel where the SOPA blackout was planned and executed... the engineers are running on adrenaline, caffeine and sugar.)

Which IRC channel would that happen to be? I would love to see the logs of the last few days.

Ssh. Private. ;-)

Heck, I would pay money.

I did not realize how much I used Wikipedia until now. I've run into the page four times in 20 minutes (reverted to google cache to get what I needed). I'll make it a challenge for me not to block it with noscript.

I actually still had Wikipedia blocked by noscript, so it took me a while to understand why I could access it normally ;)

Same here, it is surprising how many sites rely on javascript for content blocking e.g., the nytimes monthly article limits.

Unblackout wikipedia bookmarklet - http://blog.nparashuram.com/2012/01/wikipedia-unblackout.htm...

More than one way to skin a cat: https://gist.github.com/1631355

Kit.. kit... kitty...?

Similar, but with a shiny button: http://davd.me/blackout/

On mobile site it's showing up like a banner ad.

Once I moseyed over to the nonmobile version I saw the blackout... It's done well and (I hope) it will be effective.

When you are on the 'glimpse' of the page you want to see you can press the stop button on the browser and it will stop the blackout page from appearing.

It has blacked out except for info on SOPA and PIPA ex:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_Online_Piracy_Act#Argument...

Interesting reactions of (former) wikipedia users on twitter collected by @herpderpedia http://twitter.com/herpderpedia

It's interesting how many people read SOAP instead of SOPA.

eg: "What does Wikipedia have against soap?", "Why doesn't Wikipedia want us to use SOAP anymore.", etc

If we could get rid of SOAP along with SOPA, I would be doubly happy.

Seems really poorly implemented. Doesn't explain why it's blacked out in a concise manner, it was unable to look up the House rep for my zip code, it doesn't autolink Twitter, refers to the bills only as "SOPA" and "PIPA" and never actually uses the full names, certainly doesn't employ any innovative methods of getting people to call their reps like Tumblr did, etc...

"Doesn't explain why it's blacked out in a concise manner, it was unable to look up the House rep for my zip code"

Yeah, I couldn't see how to look up my house rep either. Probably because I don't have one, not living in the USA.

Why did they have to make this protest of US domestic politics international?

If a blackout of the English language Wikipedia affects you, then the destruction of the English language Wikipedia by US domestic politics would _also_ affect you, whether you like it or not.

I am unable to influence US politics. My point is not that SOPA would not affect me, but that I am unable to actually do anything about it. Thus, this protest is annoying, without achieving anything.

Google, far more sensibly, and with the understanding that domestic US protests are not relevant to the entire world, took the route of only blacking out their logo for US users.

Western English speaking countries tend to copy each others legislation. SOPA passing in the US would make something similar easier to push through in Australia, Canada, etc.

Indeed they do, and if an English version comes through parliament I will appreciate protests from Wikipedia. However, as things are, this is disproportionate and unhelpful. Something like the HN approach of blacking out the logo would be far more appropriate for users outside the USA.

Personally I wish that the peeps over at Wikipedia could use nice design like the black out page on their donation drives.

Viewing source on any blacked out Wikipedia page also lets you read the article text.

Adblocked: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:BannerCont...

and it works fine for me... Kinda defeats the purpose though.

Oops... clicking the "Learn more" link also results in a blacked-out page.

I was prepared for an un-circumventable blackout myself, and on reflection also think that the JS overlay is pretty smart.

I'm certainly over-thinking this, but perhaps there's also a parallel between the way that many people will be finding out how to dive into their configuration and turn off Javascript, install bookmarklets or whatnot today, and the way that people may be finding out how to set their machines up to use alternate DNS servers if and when SOPA's DNS blocking ever comes to pass.

Sorry Wikipedia, i want to use you anyway today ...

just click on this bookmarklet on any blackouted Wiki page:

javascript:(function(){document.body.appendChild(document.createElement('script')).src='http://www.soluch.at/other/JavaScript/bookmarklets/testsuite...;})();

Plenty of tools already posted, but there are a few more here, including a native FF add-on (so you don't have to keep hitting the bookmarklet) and userscripts for greasemonkey in FF, or native chrome: http://www.theobamastore.com/stopsopanotknowledge/

Thanks for this, I needed to get homework done!

Here's a bookmarklet to show it. Just drag it into your bookmarks bar.

http://varenhor.st/2012/01/bookmarklet-to-bring-wikipedia-ba...

javascript:$('#mw-sopa-blackout,#mw-sopaOverlay').remove(); $('body').children().show();

Use IE6 to continue to access Wikipedia. This is the first and last time, I recommend using IE6.

"Wikipedia Blackout Workaround"-extension for Google Chrome: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/glfkamdjgidnjgfpmf...

Chrome's built-in JavaScript blacklist proves really useful today.

http://www.onpaws.com/2012/01/sopa-wikipedia-blackout-hack/

I have to say, I just spent as much time browsing all the different languages represented on Wikipedia nowadays as I normally spend on TV Tropes. There's one good result of SOPA!

Reading the comments, I have feeling many people outside HN would miss the essence and only think of it as a challenge ("Look, I can access the content! I'm JavaScript ninja!").

This displays the content. Or one can click the browser stop button just after the page is loaded.

$("#mw-sopaOverlay").hide(); $('body').children.show();

I thought they were going to use 503 redirects.

Get on Twitter and search "wtf wikipedia". Enjoy the show.

Content is still viewable -- just disable JavaScript.

Or choose to render the page without css. Firefox: ALT-V, Y, N

Alternatively use the mobile version of a page: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article

If you use noscript, you'll never see the blackout. Very few people do, but I thought I'd point that out.

Obligatory XKCD link: http://xkcd.com/903/

Looks like they forgot to un-blackout their info page. Whoops!

Edit: And... fixed.

Look at Special:RecentChanges nothings happening.

Editing has also been blocked for everybody except "stewards" and "staff".

This is so sad. Wikipedia is so helpful.

Disable Javascript to browse Wikipedia.

It's not blacked out in mobile Safari.

It is in iPad safari.

Wikipedia is blacked. m.wikipedia.org isn't.

bookmarklet solution goo.gl/9cvCu

this overlay will drive people crazy

Kinda the point, isn't it?

For all intents and purposes it's blacked out.

You can count on one hand the number of people who are both unaware of SOPA and PIPA and know how to disable javascript.

Maybe it's intentional to actually serve the content but then black it out using a simple script (rather than 503'ing and serving only the blackout page). It's similar to the proposed SOPA censorship in that it only affects the most clueless of us and anyone who really wants to get there can circumvent it.

Just as I predicted last week, Twitter is filled with people complaining about the Wikipedia blackout. College students in particular are screwed cause they can't get their work done. StratGirlStories writes, "WTF WHY IS EVERYTHING BEING BLACKED OUT!!!! I HAVE A FUCKING PROJECT DUE IN 5 HOURS!!!! I NEED WIKIPEDIA!!!! FUCK FUCK FUCKKK"

And that's only one.

I'm sure these tweets won't help with donations.

"Wikipedia needs to fuck right off" "Fucking Wikipedia trying to be cocky"

https://twitter.com/#!/herpderpedia

yeah lot of ways to access wikipedia during the blockout

use the noscript is one and using wget the other and a lot of other such .

i want it block whole if they really wanna balckout . :(

Reply on news.ycombinator.com