Wiki discussion

[JoB]

Question: Would we like to have the maps (sort of a Google maps lookalike, but with the ability to put markers etc. atop a basic map image you uploaded yourself) enabled on the SSSS wiki, or shall we rather make do with the (enabled by default) ImageMap extension (single image, no zooming, no visible markers)?

[JoB]

I'ld be interested in doing some experimentation with hotlinked "external" images (still residing on the wiki itself, but to be referenced by mechanisms that do not support an equivalent of the "internal links" you can put into a page). Could an admin please include a line reading
img[0-9]*\.wikia\.nocookie\.net
into the wiki's external image sites whitelist?

(See here for a more extensive example.)

[JoB]

[dusts off topic's microphone]

OK, I'm done with the tests and fixes around the "article management" and "category" templates I snarfed from the Wikia Templates Wiki. (The lists of "missing pages" etc. etc. being cached and recreated (only) daily slowed down the debugging considerably.) Anyone seeing some similar functionality/purpose that we should add?

A word on the use of the terms "wiki" and "wikia": The people of Wikia (the company) encourage the various communities they host to call the things "wikias" (note lowercase) instead of "wikis". The obvious reasoning behind that is a marketing ploy to make their "Wikia" trademark more known - which means that they will very likely not be OK with communities wanting to switch providers and take the name of "Something-Something Wikia" with them. Personally, I'll take that as a reason to stop calling ours the "SSSS Wikia"; YMMV.

[Fimbulvarg]

Is there a way to hide redirects from the special:allpages page? They inflate the index somewhat.

[Solovei]

Is there a way to hide redirects from the special:allpages page? They inflate the index somewhat.

If you mean the number of pages that's displayed on the front page, I'm pretty sure redirects aren't counted in that.

[Fimbulvarg]

If you mean the number of pages that's displayed on the front page, I'm pretty sure redirects aren't counted in that.

No, I mean the number of links on the all-pages index. Some are redundant because they are redirects (e.g. there's one link for Dalahasten and one for Dalahästen).

[Solovei]

No, I mean the number of links on the all-pages index. Some are redundant because they are redirects (e.g. there's one link for Dalahasten and one for Dalahästen).

Ah, right. Sadly there's no way that I know of to hide those, since all pages does mean ALL PAGES. there's some in there that are default ones installed by Wikia. There is a list of JUST redirects, but I don't think there's one for non-redirect pages.

Unless JoB can shed some light on this?

[JoB]

There is a list of JUST redirects, but I don't think there's one for non-redirect pages.
Unless JoB can shed some light on this?

I'm afraid that I haven't found a list of non-redirect pages so far, either. Redirects only, no problemo.

The number stated on the Main Page ("84 pages on this wiki") is correct; AllPages has 111 entries, including 27 redirects.

The actual redirect named ("Dalahasten" redirecting to "Dalahästen") is, however, not quite redundant; since we want to only write the name properly, with the special char, in the visible content, a reader who doesn't have said special character on his keyboard would be unable to do a successful search for the term. And since one form of "doing a search" for an entire page on a wiki is to enter the search term in the URL, providing the ASCII-only version as a (redirecting) page is IMHO the proper method. (And the redirect from "Main Page" to the actual homepage, generated in the course of Wikia initializing the wiki, is downright sacrosanct IIUC.)

There are other redirections in the SSSS wiki that we might want to remove due to lack of usefulness, though, starting with the ones created by KenoSarawa from scratch ("Tuuri" -> "Tuuri Hotakainen", "Giant" -> "Giants" etc.) or by means of a page rename ("The Paddlewheeler" -> "Paddlewheeler" and "The Timbercruiser" -> "Timbercruiser"; we might want to discuss which form to keep, though), and I might have found a method to obviate the "RedirectionToCategory ..." redirects I created, too.

[JoB]

Oh, that. It was the only SSSS-themed name I could come up with, but I wanted to make every badge SSSS-themed. I DID ask for more suggestions, but no one ever gave me any! So if you have more suggestions, go ahead!

Hmmmm, I have a bit of a problem there because, as a run-of-the-mill user, Wikia doesn't show me a list of what badges already are in existence ...

Found instructions and a a list of the default badges, will start pondering it.

May I suggest, though, that we shouldn't go quite as far as Encyclopedia SpongeBobia ... ?

[JoB]

Found instructions and a a list of the default badges, will start pondering it.

... well, can't say that I got flooded with inspiration, or stuck to the existing icon imagery in any way, but here goes ...

The Edit Track reminded me of the lowly skalds typing away as a scriptorium slave, so:
1- Pen to Parchment, 5 - Wrote a Paragraph, 10 - Filled a Page, 25 - Turned a Sheet, 50 - Completed a Chapter, 100 - Bound a Book, 250 - Completed a Series, 500 - Filled a Shelf, [next] - Made his own Library.

The Pictures Track got associated with the visions of mages:
1 - One-Vision Wonder, 5 - Promising Pupil, 10 - Starting Student, 25 - Accomplished Apprentice, 50 - Visionary in Formation, 100 - Midlife Mantic, 250 - Senior Seer, 500 - Pythia of the Nordics, [next] - Prophet of the Old Gods

The Category Track seems to correspond well to the more academic skalds doing analytic work:
1 - Fledgling Filer, 5 - Tabulator of Content, 10 - Figures Lister, 25 - Subsection Sorter, 50 - Flow of Thought, 100 - Topic Teller, 250 - Library System Designer, [next] - Polymath

I drew a blank on the Blog and Blog Comment tracks. We don't quite use the blogging features in the first place, though ...

The Wiki Love Track's requirement to keep working every single day made me associate farm work, where you go on for years without a single day of vacation, too. Hence:
5 - Office Hours Worker, 14 - Fortnight Farmhand, 30 - Harvest Helper, 60 - Sheep Shearer, 100 - Pig-Washer, 200 - Cattle Wrangler, 365 - Right-Hand Man, [next] - Farmer, [next] - Squire

The specials:
"Welcome to the Wiki" -> "Out of Decon", "Introduction" -> "Wrote his CV", "Stopping By to Say Hi" -> "Calling Mora" (where there's telephones), "The Creator" -> "Patient Zero", "Pounce!" -> "Lightning Strike Kitty", "Caffeinated" -> "Terror of the Typewriters", "Lucky Edit" -> "Smile of the Gods".

It's possible to rename the "achievement points" to some other unit, like Enc. SpongeBobia did to count "Patties". However, I don't have a good idea for now (let's see what our heroes will like once they got to do some lootin'), and it's apparently quite some work to get it all correct ...

[JoB]

and I might have found a method to obviate the "RedirectionToCategory ..." redirects I created, too.

Deployed, and it works. These redirects can be deleted.

Somewhat related topic: I made a "Books" disambiguation page, partly to get the hang of that feature. It promptly shows up in Special:LonelyPages, which is irritating; however, articles are supposed not to link to dab pages (but directly to the correct page). Wikipedia seems to avoid that effect by, for every dab page "XYZ", creating a redirect "XYZ (disambiguation)" to it - redirects do not get listed on Special:LonelyPages. However, that'ld inflate the number of redirects again. Thoughts ... ?

[JoB]

Seeing that the SSSS Wiki is one of the "darker colored communities", should we (an admin) switch it to "version 3"?

http://community.wikia.com/wiki/User_blog:Rupert_Giles/Global_Navigation_Update
(http://community.wikia.com/wiki/Thread:764753)

[Solovei]

Seeing that the SSSS Wiki is one of the "darker colored communities", should we (an admin) switch it to "version 3"?

http://community.wikia.com/wiki/User_blog:Rupert_Giles/Global_Navigation_Update
(http://community.wikia.com/wiki/Thread:764753)

First of all, my apologies for the radio silence - I was travelling last week and trying to post on a forum using a tablet is a little difficult. But I am back now! Looking forward to the new chapter full of content that we can put into the wiki~

Regarding the new nav bar: this is the ugliest thing I've ever seen. Ugh!!! I wish there was some way to make it go away. I do agree that "Version 3" seems the least distracting but I'm not sure if they actually let you CHANGE which one you get... seems like everyone is stuck with the same annoying bar. I tried looking through all the admin settings to see how to change it but it doesn't show up anywhere

[JoB]

Regarding the new nav bar: this is the ugliest thing I've ever seen. Ugh!!!

I have to say that I have seen worse. Not from people with any hope to hold on to a job title anywhere close to "designer", though.

The thing that does irk me, however, is their insistence that all wikis shall forcefully participate in this. We have eight active users (including two administrators) and the one who most likely has the most Wiki experience is, for crying out loud, KenoSarawa. What do they expect to happen to wikis with such limited know-how and manpower when they keep putting the onus of after"sales" support for the ever-shifting soft(ware) ground under their feet on them? They'll earn a reputation of "don't host your wiki on their farm before you have a couple hundred active users" IMHO.

I do agree that "Version 3" seems the least distracting but I'm not sure if they actually let you CHANGE which one you get [...] I tried looking through all the admin settings to see how to change it but it doesn't show up anywhere

Yeah, it seems that I misunderstood the (few) replies of Wikia staff in the comments that they're considering handing a bit of control back to the wiki admins as saying that a 1/2/3 switch is there right now. (And the more I read about how Wikia has acted in past instances of "forced changes nobody ever asked for", the likelier it seems to me that that'll never happen ... )

[Solovei]

Yeah, it seems that I misunderstood the (few) replies of Wikia staff in the comments that they're considering handing a bit of control back to the wiki admins as saying that a 1/2/3 switch is there right now. (And the more I read about how Wikia has acted in past instances of "forced changes nobody ever asked for", the likelier it seems to me that that'll never happen ... )

Could we change the colors, at least? Is that an option?