Hello, 

(I posted this on the the Commons Village Pump, apologies for cross-posting)

The Multimedia team at the foundation is getting closer to enabling support for uploading and displaying 3D models on Commons. We have to do some work on the database to get ready for 3D file support. This means we'll need to put Commons in read-only mode for about 30 minutes on Wednesday October, 11th at 6:00 UTC. [0]

You will be able to read, but not edit Commons for a short period of time.

* You will not be able to edit or upload media for approximately 30 minutes on Wednesday, 11 October, starting at 6:00 UTC (07:00 BST, 08:00 CEST, 02:00 EDT, 23:00 PDT).

* If you try to edit or save during these times, you will see an error message. We hope that no edits will be lost during these minutes, but we can't guarantee it. If you see the error message, then please wait until everything is back to normal. Then you should be able to save your edit. But, we recommend that you make a copy of your changes first, just in case.

Why?

The team needs to modify the database primary master so it understands this new file type. This will then allow for the future ability to upload and display 3D models on Commons (and embed in other Wikimedia projects). Want a sneak-peek? Take a look at this programmatically created crystal on Test Wikipedia. [1] It is important to note that the ability to upload 3D files will not be available immediately after the maintenance ends (but at a later date), this only involves the contributor-impacting database work.

How can folks monitor?

You can keep track of the changes by joining #wikimedia-operations on freenode.net

Where do I go with issues?

If you have issues after the database work is completed, please report a ticket on the Wikimedia Bug tracker, Phabricator. [2]

Please help share this with your community.

[0] https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T168661

[1] https://test.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Programmatically_created_crystal.stl

[2] http://phabricator.wikimedia.org