Pending Changes enwiki trial/Reversion collapsing

Solution

Note that the two revisions in the diff example above (diff=378780503&oldid=378261233) are identical, which could be easily verified with an MD5 checksum of the text.

One general improvement we could make the history is to optionally collapse long stretches of reversions.  So, in the case of The Beatles article above, instead of seeing this:

• (cur | prev) 14:37, 16 August 2010 Mclay1 (talk | contribs) m (135,528 bytes) (→External links) (undo)
• (cur | prev) 17:55, 14 August 2010 Yousou (talk | contribs) (135,560 bytes) (Undid revision 378906775 by 75.28.163.61 (talk)) (undo)
• (cur | prev) 17:52, 14 August 2010 75.28.163.61 (talk) (135,899 bytes) (→Events leading up to final tour) (undo)
• (cur | prev)  04:15, 14 August 2010 Nofoolz (talk | contribs) (135,560 bytes) (undo)
• (cur | prev)  04:09, 14 August 2010 174.115.162.100 (talk) (135,582 bytes) (undo)
• (cur | prev)  04:07, 14 August 2010 125.60.248.136 (talk) (135,560 bytes) (→Events leading up to final tour) (undo)
• (cur | prev)  21:49, 13 August 2010 Rodhullandemu (talk | contribs) m (135,537 bytes) (Reverted edits by Foofinshoe (talk) to last version by Rodhullandemu) (undo)
• (cur | prev)  21:48, 13 August 2010 Foofinshoe (talk | contribs) (135,540 bytes) (undo)
• (cur | prev)  17:57, 13 August 2010 Rodhullandemu (talk | contribs) m (135,537 bytes) (Reverted edits by 220.255.54.79 (talk) to last version by PiRSquared17) (undo)
• (cur | prev)  17:56, 13 August 2010 220.255.54.79 (talk) (135,542 bytes) (undo)
• (cur | prev)  17:54, 13 August 2010 PiRSquared17 (talk | contribs) m (135,537 bytes) (Reverted edits by 220.255.54.79 (talk) to last version by Skysmith) (undo)
• (cur | prev)  17:53, 13 August 2010 220.255.54.79 (talk) (135,535 bytes) (undo)
• (cur | prev)  15:18, 13 August 2010 Skysmith (talk | contribs) (135,537 bytes) (discuss this in the talk page first.) (undo)
• (cur | prev)  15:09, 13 August 2010 67.84.9.155 (talk) (135,637 bytes) (undo)
• (cur | prev)  15:08, 13 August 2010 67.84.9.155 (talk) (135,634 bytes) (undo)
• (cur | prev)  06:01, 13 August 2010 PL290 (talk | contribs) (135,537 bytes) (Undid revision 378639914 by Fsuseminole17 (talk)) (undo)
• (cur | prev)  01:46, 13 August 2010 Fsuseminole17 (talk | contribs) (135,572 bytes) (→Magical Mystery Tour, White Album and Yellow Submarine) (undo)
• (cur | prev)  13:54, 12 August 2010 DC (talk | contribs) m (135,537 bytes) (Reverted edits by 124.168.232.189 (talk) to last version by SieBot) (undo)
• (cur | prev)  13:53, 12 August 2010 124.168.232.189 (talk) (135,540 bytes) (Fixed Spelling.) (undo)
• (cur | prev)  22:45, 10 August 2010 SieBot (talk | contribs) m (135,537 bytes) (robot Adding: zu:The beatles) (undo)

...one would see this:

• (cur | prev) 14:37, 16 August 2010 Mclay1 (talk | contribs) m (135,528 bytes) (→External links) (undo)

  (4 revisions not shown)

• (cur | prev)  04:07, 14 August 2010 125.60.248.136 (talk) (135,560 bytes) (→Events leading up to final tour) (undo)

  (13 revisions not shown)

• (cur | prev)  22:45, 10 August 2010 SieBot (talk | contribs) m (135,537 bytes) (robot Adding: zu:The beatles) (undo)

The text "4 revisions not shown" would be a hyperlink that would expose the collapsed revisions. The revisions would still be available for everyone to view; they just wouldn't be given the same level of visibility as revisions that had a more lasting effect on the current article.