[edit] Visual editors - new bugs filed

I have filed 3 reports, reporting about 5 bugs today. Check here.

By the way visual editors can do much more than just a newbie editor. Advanced users can benefit from it too. Table is a god example. It's easier to type information on a particular cell in a visual editor than when you are in source mode. It's difficult to locate to that particular cell in a quick way in source mode. Even if you are familiar with wikitable, the visual editor makes your job easier. If you want to delete a column or change the formatting of a column or row, visual editor does it much faster than doing it yourself via source mode. They are some reasons why visual editors don't need to limit themselves to newbies only.

I don't turn off the visual editor when I'm blogging. The blogging editor allows me to quickly insert some codes, which I would spend more time otherwise if I type myself. I don't need to toggle just to type some codes which are not available on the toolbar. The interface is still nicer to work with because the effect will be rendered immediately. --MyBrute Resource Center@Ronga 17:41, 18 June 2009 (UTC)

Thanks very much, both for the bug reports and the general feedback :) Kirkburn  talk  contr    13:07, 19 June 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Declarin War

Hi I am new at playing Galactic Civ 2 Dread Lords ... and I am trying to find out about how to declare war if you could please send me a hint I would gladly Appreciate it Tonyknight 23:50, 19 June 2009 (UTC)

Unfortunately, I do not know - I have yet to play that game! Kirkburn  talk  contr    13:21, 22 June 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Catselect- again

You are aware of the issue with a newline prior to the noinclude block that the new editor introduces to protect category declarations at the end of the article (aka Categoryselect). Is this a nofix? If so, how about a workaround feature such as hinting categoryselect that it is ok to omit the newline?[5].

I have no idea how the arcanery of wikia bugzilla process works, or I would do it myself. Thanks. -~ Phlox 18:20, 27 June 2009 (UTC)

Disregard inquiry. But for your info- if someone else asks about this, tell them to stick the category declaration(s) in a template so the new editor won't muck with them. This workaround may be suitable in many cases. It was in familypedia's case. -~ Phlox 22:23, 28 June 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Default interface language and bug

Well, whlie EVCHK updates to MediaWiki 1.14, there are a few problems.

The "language" of links had been changed to simplified Chinese, such as changing Special:Preferences to Special:参数设置. Even changed Language setting in my preferences, the "language" still stucks on S.Chinese. How to change it back to English, for easy input in pages?

EVCHK is just a traditional Chinese site introducing web culture of Hong Kong. Also, there is no any plan to make it inherently multilingual. But, it is too diffical to force the default interface language for all users or made interfaces synchronization with zh- perfix languages. Are there any ways for that?

Bug:The links of Unused categories and Unused templates are both directed to Unused templates Special pages on EVCHK. Please fix that.

--疾風綾希 15:18, 28 June 2009 (UTC)

Have you tried Special:Contact? As for the bug you mention, they both appear to the right places here. Kirkburn  talk  contr    16:04, 2 July 2009 (UTC)

[edit] New editor- load times high for templates with large numbers of parameters

Genealogy has very fine grained information that we are using semantic forms to encode. For example, a contributor could specify the month and day of the departure date of a migration of an individual, including geographic coordinates, notes, sources, people associated with the relocation etc.

Problem- for its form capability, the new WYSIWYG editor appears to scan templates to identify parameters to offer to the user for editing. Our pages typically use templates that can have many hundreds of unique parameters. This is a simpler article that uses templates that have maybe 80 or so unique parameters. After pressing "edit", it requires 15-20 seconds for this article to be loaded into the new editor. Other articles using new generation templates with more comprehensive lists predictably take much longer. This article requires 30 to 45 seconds to load into the new editor. The ironic thing is that the effort is totally wasted because we advise our users to employ semantic forms rather than the new editor's forms because our forms have data entry controls, support for specific data types like dates, are more compact/ logically layed out/ quicker to edit with hideable sections etc.

Question/feature request: Is there some sort of magic word to abort this time consuming operation? If not, how long do you estimate before there would be some sort of fix/ workaround for this issue? For example, I am wondering if the editor recognized a magic word in the templates so that it would halt its scan for parameters. This will address the severe performance issue, but any other remedy would be welcome (even a site wide abort of template scanning). Until then, we have a blocking issue with the new editor, and we really really need the new editor because we expect that many of our prospective contributors will be those uncomfortable with wikitext.

I realize I don't make simple requests and thank you in advance for your assistance.

BTW- The workaround I described about newlines being introduced prior to noincludes protecting category declarations works just fine for our wikia. I have an awb bot run converted the several thousand pages affected, so nothing needs to be done on our account.

~ Phlox 18:12, 3 July 2009 (UTC)

You can use to prevent the new editor being used on certain pages. I asked about speed increases, and unfortunately it appears unlikely that large ones that affect this area will occur in the near future. This could change, but at the moment the magic word may be your best option. Kirkburn  talk  contr    14:03, 6 July 2009 (UTC)

There is another option. It is imperative we offer the new editor, so blocking it is a non starter. BTW- I'm not sure they really can make it faster. I just want an "Off-switch" for the prescan/ template form feature. If they can't/won't provide, then I shall be forced to split the articles so that the semantic forms templates that the new editor takes so much time on are on a different page. This is really an ugly solution but it is better than your solution of no WYSIWYG at all. It will be especially ugly if we are forced to do automated uploads of tens of thousands of articles into this split format.

I need a definitive answer on this as it shall involve a LOT of work. You are staff, right? So is the final word? Or should I send an inquiry via the contact staff thing?

Oh- one other question. If I got the source for this WYSIWYG thing and hacked it for our use, then could I get the custom version enabled for just our wiki? ~ Phlox 17:25, 6 July 2009 (UTC)

OK good news. Disregard the inquiry. Mendel on IRC suggested something that works. The time was getting sucked up in rendering the troublesome templates. When I defeat this render of them by checking for revisionid (returns null at edit time), the RTE load time goes down to 5 seconds. Even better, it hides the templates I don't want contributors editing through the RTE template editor. Where would I document such a technical workaround like this? -~ Phlox 18:45, 6 July 2009 (UTC)

http://help.wikia.com/wiki/Help_talk:Rich_text_editor is probably the best place for now? Kirkburn  talk  contr    14:24, 7 July 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Enabling blogging on URS

Could you please re-enable the blogging features at the UnRuneScape wiki? We had no consensus on disabling it and no one has explained why the disability was requested. Pig house ^talk 15:14, 10 July 2009 (UTC)

It appears to have been requested on Forum:Blog article feature feedback/opt-out by Spencemac724, a bureaucrat of the wiki. Kirkburn  talk  contr    17:00, 10 July 2009 (UTC)

I've talked to him about it, and he agrees it wouldn't do any harm to have it on; he says he only asked it be de-activated because he thought it wouldn't be utilized much. Could you reactivate it please?Pig house ^talk 19:02, 11 July 2009 (UTC)

Ah, I see the reply on your UnRuneScape talk page ... thanks. Done :) Kirkburn  talk  contr    14:28, 13 July 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Thanks

Kirkburn, it was most kind of you to leave the greeting message. You have my gratitude for doing so. If I could at all advise or help you in any way, please feel free to contact me. By the way, as you seem to be experienced on Wikia, could you answer this one question: Do you think I could become an administrator on a small, mostly inactive wiki, if I have contributed to it many, many times and welcomed many people? (I don't think the wiki has an administrator anymore). Thank you! :) Ralnon 23:39, 12 July 2009 (UTC)

I like your sig can I have a link to it so I can use that idea! -Joeman200

Hello! To adopt a wiki, please see Wikia:Adoption requests. For my signature, the method is a little unusual: I use this, with this code. Kirkburn  talk  contr    14:35, 13 July 2009 (UTC)

[edit] WalMart ad

Get rid of the talking wal mart spam advertisement on the main page 67.183.93.64 01:47, 13 July 2009 (UTC)Milambers

Please see Help:Bad advertisements. Kirkburn  talk  contr    14:35, 13 July 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Hi

Hi I'm Joeman200 and I need a sig I was wondering how you do yours can I see the page and copy the template? ( but then make it Joeman200 and stuff) please! User:Joeman200

See #Thanks, just above this section. Kirkburn  talk  contr    19:01, 14 July 2009 (UTC)

[edit] thx

Thanks Joeman200

[edit] FFWiki Rich Text Editor Disable

Hi Kirkburn, this is 8bit from the Final Fantasy Wiki. We've decided that we would like to remove the Rich Text Editor from our wiki, but I can't find a list on wikia that would let me sign up the FFWiki for RTE disabling. Could you remove the Rich Text Editor from the FFWiki? Thanks. 8bit 00:53, 29 July 2009 (UTC)

Heya - I suggest sending a message via Special:Contact for this kind of request :) That way it can go straight to the right people. Kirkburn  talk  contr    13:56, 29 July 2009 (UTC)

Alright, thanks for the pointer - I'll contact them now. 8bit 21:05, 29 July 2009 (UTC)

[edit] SNK Wiki main page title

Hi. I hope I'm addressing someone that can help with this matter - you introduced youself at http://snk.wikia.com/wiki/Talk:Main_Page , so I'm directing the issue this way... As mentioned by the bottom of that talk page, when the wiki was created, the title that shows up in the borwser bar displays such nonsense as "SNK vs. Capcom 2", a game that does not even exist, and since that nonsense cannot be edited like any other wiki feature, the very introduction to the wiki starts out wrong (not to mention referencing Capcom riht there just feels wrong, although it certainly has a place in some articles). If there something you or some other Wikia staff can do about it? It might be a good idea to bring the discussion to the talk page I mentioned. IkariLoona 09:27, 11 August 2009 (UTC)

Responded on local page. Kirkburn  talk  contr    16:29, 11 August 2009 (UTC)

I hope it's OK to reply here, since the issue's still the same... Anyway, it's been a month, and the title's the same, so since you said I could contact you with a suggestion, here goes something: "SNK Wiki - King of Fighters, Samurai Shodown, Neo-Geo and other SNK works". As for the admin thing, noone applied yet, yet I'd feel uncomfortable doing it, considering for how long others have been contributing there, namely Sake-neko (who refuses to apply for admin...). IkariLoona 22:16, September 10, 2009 (UTC)

Switched it per your suggestion. D'oh at the admin issues - well, it doesn't have to be described as (or feel like) a position of "power", if that helps, it's just good to have someone around who's able to deal with deletion, etc. Kirkburn  talk  contr    10:38, September 11, 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Halopedia Hide Feature Error

Hello! Halopedia has been suffering severe problems ever since we've received the skin update (Monaco Test Beta before it was released to all wikis). Though most of them have been fixed (Ratings template error, Blog Design error, etc) by KyleH after numerous requests, we are still unable to utilise the Hide Feature in templates. I was wondering if you could try to fix it. Toodles! - 5əb'7aŋk^(7alk) 07:42, 22 August 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Making a page top content

Hi Kirkburn. Im coming from the Monster Hunter Wiki. Can you please redirect me to a guide on how to make a page a "favorite"? As in adding content to the headers of specific pages? File:Pitchblacksig.jpg (talk) 14:55, 25 August 2009 (UTC)

I'm not sure what you mean exactly, unfortunately - can you give me an example? Kirkburn  talk  contr    23:29, 25 August 2009 (UTC)

[edit] I need help!

Hi Kirkburn, I'm a bureaucrat at the Atlanta Wiki, and I was just wondering how you format the size of the main pages to look like the ones here and here. --Schoolbus13 - You're Connected! - Works of Art 18:30, September 6, 2009 (UTC)

Answered on Angela's talk page. ~Joey~ ^Talk^ 17:55, September 7, 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Promotion to Bureaucrat

Hi from the Gears of War Fanon Wikia (I know you're groaning right now, but don't worry - there's no drama today :P ). I'm requesting a promotion to Bureaucrat because our two current Bureaucrats are inactive. I've heard nothing from Jawsredfield, and ODST Joshie has announced to myself and a fellow Administrator that he plans to leave Wikia completely. After some discussion, it has been decided that of our remaining admins, I should be the new Bureaucrat simply because of my high levels of activity.

Hope to hear back from you soon! Screennameless^(Talk) 16:37, September 7, 2009 (UTC)

Have you got a link to the discussion I can check over? Kirkburn  talk  contr    14:40, September 8, 2009 (UTC)

It's in my cbox. You can also talk to Admin SuicidalSkydiver, who can confirm that Josh said he's leaving. Screennameless^(Talk) 22:25, September 8, 2009 (UTC)

Thanks, I've made the change :) Good luck! (My housemate keeps trying to get me to play GoW ... one day, maybe). Kirkburn  talk  contr    10:06, September 9, 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Need help immediatly

This user called Everyayjoe45 is threatening to delete my Wikia my Wikia is http://thelegendofzelda2.wikia.com he posted a threatening comment on my talk page I don't know what to do. Here is where the comment is http://thelegendofzelda2.wikia.com/wiki/User_talk:Ironknuckle1 please help me. Sincerely, --Ironknuckle1 00:01, September 11, 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Admin

Also, I am admin of Band of brothers Wiki. - Lisle202 01:45, October 14, 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Request

Hey Kirkburn,

I got a request from the admin on The Coldcase Wiki to turn off unregistered edits. I've directed T smitts here, since I couldn't find the right page to request this on...

Thanks!

— Nathan (Peteparker) (Earth-1218) (talk • contribs • email) 23:21, October 18, 2009 (UTC)

I have the same response as Joeyaa really :) It's best to pass these kinds of requests on to Special:Contact. Kirkburn  talk  contr    16:00, October 19, 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Have tips on making an own signature?

Do you have tips on making an own signature? Alex-Sixand ^{Talk • Contribs} 28 October 2009 12:27PM (CPU Time)

[edit] Got a welcome on SarahTestWiki, although I've never been there

Do you have any idea why I got a welcome message on w:c:sarahtestwiki? It looks like my w:c:help user page got copied over there somehow.-- Fandyllic (talk · contr) 8:53 PM PST 6 Nov 2009