Developer(s) | Plantaest |
---|---|
Initial release | June 22, 2024 |
Stable release | 0.1.0-alpha.1
|
Repository | feverfew on GitHub |
Written in | Java, TypeScript, Python |
Platform | Toolforge |
Available in | Multi-language |
Type | Link checker tool |
License | AGPL-3.0 |
Website | Feverfew |
Feverfew is a link checker tool deployed on Toolforge, developed by Plantaest.
To start using Feverfew, follow these steps:
First, visit the Feverfew homepage at the address: https://feverfew.toolforge.org/.
Next, once the website interface appears, you can begin using it.
Users need to select a wiki containing the article they want to check, such as English Wikipedia, which has the code enwiki. Then, enter the title of the article and press the Check button for the application to start checking the links in the article.
After waiting for 2–30 seconds, Feverfew should complete the check and return the result.
The result page interface consists of three main sections:
https://feverfew.toolforge.org/check/archive/{check_id}
. This link can be shared on Wikipedia to inform others about the status of the article's links.To enable the review feature, click the eyeglass icon in the bottom right corner. After clicking, a panel will appear. This panel consists of two columns: the left column contains an embedded frame of the linked website, and the right column displays wikitext content with highlighted links.
For navigation, users can use the mouse to click on individual links or use the following keyboard shortcuts:
Sometimes, it might not be possible to open the website in the embedded frame. This could be because the website blocks the iframe
feature of the browser. In such cases, users will need to access the website directly through the browser to view its content.
To view the results list, go to the homepage and click on the Result menu; or directly access the link: https://feverfew.toolforge.org/check.
To view a result, you can browse the results list and select a result from the list; or directly access the URLs in the format: https://feverfew.toolforge.org/check/archive/{check_id}
.
Users can change the interface color scheme, text reading direction, and language using the three buttons in the top right corner.
Feverfew does not aim to replace InternetArchiveBot. Both tools can be used simultaneously to support checking and archiving links in articles. A reasonable usage approach might be:
Since Feverfew uses a machine learning model, errors in evaluation can occur in some cases, meaning it might misclassify active links as broken and vice versa. According to training data, this model achieves an accuracy of 0.82 and an F1 score of 0.80. In general terms, this means the model correctly evaluates 82 out of 100 links, while the remaining 18 links might be hit or miss :)
Users can utilize additional information, such as the HTTP status in the result, to draw their own conclusions about the link's status.
Currently, several issues may arise when using the software:
The idea for Feverfew originated from a software tool that wiki communities used in the past to evaluate links, called Checklinks, created by Dispenser (English Wikipedia). However, this software has become non-functional since the author has been absent since 2020.
Feverfew retains the basic features of Checklinks and is likely not to implement additional features to keep the system simple, especially since InternetArchiveBot currently performs well in supporting link archiving.
The foundation for the Feverfew project came from a discussion in 2021 on Vietnamese Wikipedia: Công cụ check link mới (New link-checking tool).
Currently, the Feverfew project is in the experimental stage, and it may take quite some time to reach the first stable version, 1.0.0. During this period, the project will continue to gather feedback from users across various wikis to improve and fix any potential issues.
Feverfew does not store any personal information, except for a randomly generated UUID ( Universally Unique Identifier) that is hashed using the CRC32 algorithm into a 32-bit integer, with a lifespan of 30 days. This identifier is used to limit the number of checks within the allowed quota and for retrieval purposes if necessary.
The source code is stored on GitHub: https://github.com/plantaest/feverfew. Those interested and with a GitHub account can star the repository to show support. Currently, the project does not have specific guidelines for contributing code, so this will be encouraged at a later appropriate time.
The project architecture includes the following components:
webservice
, configured with 3 CPUs, 6 GB RAM, 2 replicas, and running Debian OS. The Quarkus application on Toolforge runs on the JVM.