![]() | This page is an archive of past discussions. Do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page. |
Hi, re this edit: please see Talk:Metropolitan Railroad#Switch to electricity. -- Redrose64 🌹 ( talk) 16:51, 3 July 2018 (UTC)
News and updates for administrators from the past month (June 2018).
I was global blocked 6 days ago, I contacted Wikia Saff about lifiting the ban or having a shorter block, that was 4 days ago (96 hours), they haven't contacted me about the block, do you know a Staff member on Community wikia that can unblock me or make my block shorter, I need help please.-- 2601:540:8200:D52E:78B0:F4DB:51C5:6CAA ( talk) 15:55, 29 June 2018 (UTC)Typhuss999
Thank you sir, I have no idea what's going on and I can't leave messages on message walls because that has been blocked as well, anything you can do to help is great.-- 2601:540:8200:D52E:78B0:F4DB:51C5:6CAA ( talk) 16:01, 29 June 2018 (UTC)Typhuss999
When you talk to Wikia Staff, please tell them that I am truly sorry about my actions, that I feel really bad about it and that I will not do it again, I miss editing on my wiki, working on Star Trek stories with my friend, Drangonboy546 and fixing pages on my wiki which I need to do by the way. What do you mean by limiting factor?.-- 2601:540:8200:D52E:78B0:F4DB:51C5:6CAA ( talk) 16:16, 29 June 2018 (UTC)Typhuss999
Reason given: "This username or IP address is prevented from editing across the entire FANDOM network due to vandalism or other disruption. If you believe this is in error, please contact FANDOM.
The blocker also gave this additional reason: Violation of the Terms of Use..
I uploaded Star Trek porn pictures to a wiki called:Slave Samantha Carter Wiki. It was a dumb thing to do in the first place and having that wiki online as well. I am really sorry about it.-- 2601:540:8200:D52E:78B0:F4DB:51C5:6CAA ( talk) 16:29, 29 June 2018 (UTC)Typhuss999
You still could go to Community wikia and leave a message to a staff member about my block on a message wall, help me on my behalf.-- 2601:540:8200:D52E:78B0:F4DB:51C5:6CAA ( talk) 16:36, 29 June 2018 (UTC)Typhuss999
Do you have any friends that are staff members, that could help?.-- 2601:540:8200:D52E:78B0:F4DB:51C5:6CAA ( talk) 16:47, 29 June 2018 (UTC)
Ok, are you still going to leave a message to a staff member about me, could you leave a message now please.-- 2601:540:8200:D52E:78B0:F4DB:51C5:6CAA ( talk) 16:56, 29 June 2018 (UTC)Typhuss999
Thank you, that would help a lot.-- 2601:540:8200:D52E:78B0:F4DB:51C5:6CAA ( talk) 17:01, 29 June 2018 (UTC)Typhuss999
Slambo, can you please leave a message on a staff member's message wall today, I want to be unblocked today.-- 2601:540:8200:D52E:78B0:F4DB:51C5:6CAA ( talk) 23:03, 29 June 2018 (UTC)Typhuss999 Here is a staff member from that wiki: https://community.wikia.com/wiki/Message_Wall:BertH.
Thank you.-- 2601:540:8200:D52E:78B0:F4DB:51C5:6CAA ( talk) 23:21, 29 June 2018 (UTC)Typhuss999
I don't know the name of the administrator who invoked the block, it was just Wikia Staff as far as I know, I don't know what specific administrators who were involved in the block.-- 2601:540:8200:D52E:78B0:F4DB:51C5:6CAA ( talk) 23:56, 29 June 2018 (UTC)Typhuss999
So how are you going to help with this if we don't know the name of the administrator who invoked the block?.-- 2601:540:8200:D52E:78B0:F4DB:51C5:6CAA ( talk) 23:59, 29 June 2018 (UTC)Typhuss999
Why don't you just make an account on community wikia and find out the name of the administrator who blocked me.-- 2601:540:8200:D52E:78B0:F4DB:51C5:6CAA ( talk) 00:07, 30 June 2018 (UTC)Typhuss999
Maybe, the name of the administrator who invoked the block is Rappy 4187, he is the one who deleted some of the Star Trek porn pictures on the Slave Samantha Carter Wiki, does this help Slambo?.-- 2601:540:8200:D52E:78B0:F4DB:51C5:6CAA ( talk) 10:25, 30 June 2018 (UTC)Typhuss999
Yes, it didn't help, I contacted Wikia Staff 5 days ago and they haven't responed yet, your suggestion doesn't help me at all and I can't post messages on message walls on community wikia to stafff members, because that is also blocked.-- 2601:540:8200:D52E:78B0:F4DB:51C5:6CAA ( talk) 11:05, 30 June 2018 (UTC)Typhuss999
If Wikia Staff would contact me and unblock me I wouldn't leave anymore messages here, you wouldn't have to talk to me if they just unblock me. If Wikia Staff doesn't contact me, I have no idea what's going on with my block and that I want the block to be lifted.-- 2601:540:8200:D52E:78B0:F4DB:51C5:6CAA ( talk) 11:20, 30 June 2018 (UTC)Typhuss999
That's it, your advice is to wait a year (365 days), I don't think so.-- 2601:540:8200:D52E:78B0:F4DB:51C5:6CAA ( talk) 16:16, 30 June 2018 (UTC)Typhuss999
What about my wiki, bad users will come and mess up pages, I can't wait a year its too long and who will protect my wiki while I am blocked?.-- 2601:540:8200:D52E:78B0:F4DB:51C5:6CAA ( talk) 16:18, 30 June 2018 (UTC)Typhuss999
If Wikia Staff really cared they would have left me a message on my wall on community wikia about my block, I'm in the dark about my block I can't wait a year or they could make my block a shorter block.-- 2601:540:8200:D52E:78B0:F4DB:51C5:6CAA ( talk) 16:35, 30 June 2018 (UTC)Typhuss999
I have been blocked for a week now, I think that is long enough and I can't take it anymore no editing on my wiki, I'm worried that bad users will come to my wiki and mess up pages, Wikia Staff should think about that and there is no reason why I can't be unblocked today. I'm also watching my wiki like a hawk for bad users, I can't stop them if I am blocked and sometimes the other amdins aren't there maybe Dragonboy546 but he goes to work. I am also a content moderator on the Arrowverse Wiki, I have work there that needs to be done.-- 2601:540:8200:D52E:78B0:F4DB:51C5:6CAA ( talk) 16:49, 30 June 2018 (UTC)Typhuss999
Ok, sorry, I just don't like this, being blocked and unable to edit my pages on my wiki and working on Star Trek stories with my friend. Sorry sir.-- 2601:540:8200:D52E:78B0:F4DB:51C5:6CAA ( talk) 16:59, 30 June 2018 (UTC)Typhuss999
Ok, thanks.-- 2601:540:8200:D52E:78B0:F4DB:51C5:6CAA ( talk) 19:37, 30 June 2018 (UTC)Typhuss999
Can you go to Memory Delta wiki and give Dragonboy546 the link to my User talk:2601:540:8200:D52E:78B0:F4DB:51C5:6CAA page, so I can talk to him.-- 2601:540:8200:D52E:78B0:F4DB:51C5:6CAA ( talk) 21:14, 30 June 2018 (UTC)Typhuss999
So, do you know anything about my block yet?.-- 2601:540:8200:D52E:78B0:F4DB:51C5:6CAA ( talk) 11:56, 1 July 2018 (UTC)Typhuss999
I can't take this anymore, I can't edit on my wiki, I want this to be over and to be unblocked so I can work on things.-- 2601:540:8200:D52E:78B0:F4DB:51C5:6CAA ( talk) 15:36, 1 July 2018 (UTC)Typhuss999
I really can't take much more of this, I can't edit on my wiki , work on my stories or make pages, Wikia Staff should just unblock me right now, no more waiting and they should leave me a message. I can't be patient anymore, its been 8 days since I have been blocked and its been 6 days since I contacted Wikia Staff about my block, no reply yet from them.-- 2601:540:8200:D52E:78B0:F4DB:51C5:6CAA ( talk) 21:52, 1 July 2018 (UTC)Typhuss999
Do you have any idea how I feel every day, when I see my account say BLOCKED, all I can do on my wiki is read pages and stories, I can't work on my stories, make pages or go on chat, I feel sad and upset. I feel like that the Wikia Staff don't care.-- 2601:540:8200:D52E:78B0:F4DB:51C5:6CAA ( talk) 23:55, 1 July 2018 (UTC)Typhuss999
So you haven't heard anything new about my block from Wikia Staff.-- 2601:540:8200:D52E:78B0:F4DB:51C5:6CAA ( talk) 13:42, 2 July 2018 (UTC)Typhuss999
So you don't know anything yet.-- 2601:540:8200:D52E:78B0:F4DB:51C5:6CAA ( talk) 19:15, 2 July 2018 (UTC)Typhuss999
I can't do this anymore, I can't be patient any longer, I hate all this waiting and I should get my reply now, I don't like being kept in the dark about my block and Wikia Staff will not contact me, I feel like that they don't care or they would have contacted me by now and stop playing this waiting game with me. Can you find a admin here who does know a member of Wikia Staff, so we can talk about the block.-- 2601:540:8200:D52E:78B0:F4DB:51C5:6CAA ( talk) 19:37, 2 July 2018 (UTC)Typhuss999
I know a Staff member, Brandon Rhea, from the Star Wars fanon wiki, he could help, he could unblock me.-- 2601:540:8200:D52E:1C81:4DC2:CFC6:BC95 ( talk) 11:28, 3 July 2018 (UTC)Typhuss999
Shoretrooper TK-32028, a user from the Star Wars fanon wiki, left me a message on my wall and asked why I was blocked, I would have aswered him but I can't post messages on walls, why did he ask me that and why does he care about my block.-- 2601:540:8200:D52E:1C81:4DC2:CFC6:BC95 ( talk) 15:30, 3 July 2018 (UTC)Typhuss999
Be patient, I have been doing that but this waiting I hate it, Wikia Staff could unblock me today and its a holiday today, they could be nice and do that. I don't want to work on stories on other sites. I have been blocked for 11 days now, that is long and you don't know what it is like to be blocked, I can't work on my stories, all I can do is read and that is not fun, it gets old after awhile.-- 2601:540:8200:D52E:A925:B4D4:90E5:A61C ( talk) 13:38, 4 July 2018 (UTC)Typhuss999
How long do you except me to be patient for, I don't have time to wait a year to edit again on my wiki or other wikis, I have been blocked for 13 days now and I can't wait any longer, you don't have any idea what it is like to be blocked, do nothing but reading pages and stories, no editing at all.-- 2601:540:8200:D52E:78B0:F4DB:51C5:6CAA ( talk) 18:25, 6 July 2018 (UTC)Typhuss999
We now have 97 participants.
Be sure to welcome our newest members, BrantleyIzMe, Coffeeandcrumbs, and Nolan Perry, with warm regards.
Work is proceeding apace. We have 2 major thrusts right now: converting the intro sections of portals, and building the components of the one-page automated model...
We need everybody, except those building software components, to work on converting intros. If you have AWB, definitely use that. If not, then work on them manually. Even one a day, or as often as you can muster, will help a lot. There are only about 1,000 of them left to go, so if everyone chips in, it will go pretty quickly. Remember, there are 97 of us!
The intros for most of the portals starting with A through F have already been converted to use the {{ Transclude lead excerpt}} template.
The standard wikicode for the automated intro that we want to put into place looks like this:
{{/box-header|Introduction|noedit=yes|}}
{{Transclude lead excerpt | {{PAGENAME}} | paragraphs=1-2 | files=1}}
{{Box-footer|[[{{PAGENAME}}|Read more...]]}}
That works for most portals, but not all. For some portals it requires some tweaking, and for others, we may have to use a different or more customized approach. Remember to visually inspect each portal you work on and make sure that it works before moving on to the next one.
Be sure to skip user-maintained portals. They are listed at Wikipedia:WikiProject_Portals#Specific_portal_maintainers.
I've started an AWB tips page, for those of you feeling a bit overwhelmed by that power user tool. Feel free to add to it and/or improve it.
We have some very talented Lua programmers, who are pushing the limits of what we can do in gathering data from Wikipedia's various namespaces and presenting it in portals. Due to their efforts, Lua is powering the selective transclusion core of our emerging automated portal design, in the form of selected article sections that rotate content, and slideshows.
To go beyond Lua's limits, to take full advantage of Mediawiki's API, we are in the midst of adding another programming language to the resources we shall be making use of: JavaScript. The ways that JavaScript can help us edit portals to boost the power of our Lua solutions, are being explored, which will likely make the two languages synergistic if not symbiotic. Research is under way on how we can use JavaScript to make some of the portal semi-automated features fully automatically self-updating, in ways that Lua cannot. Like gathering random members from a category and inserting them into a portal's templates as parameters. Once the parameters are in place, Lua does the rest.
If you would like to get involved with design efforts, or just keep up on them, see Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Portals/Design.
Well, not at the present time, because building portals is quite time consuming. The good news is that we are working on a design that will be fully automated, or as close to that as we can get. And the new design is being implemented in the portal department's main portal creation template. This means, that not only will portals update themselves, their creation will be highly automated as well. That's the nature of templates. You put them in place, and they just... work.
What I'm getting at here, is that it would be better to wait to build lots of new portals until after the new design is completed. Because with it, instead of taking hours to create a new portal, it will likely take minutes.
That does not mean we should be idle in the meantime. The main reason most of us are here is because it became apparent that portals were largely unmaintained and had grown out-of-date. This had become so apparent that a proposal was made to delete all the portals and the portal namespace to boot. That makes our main objective in the short term to improve all the existing portals so that the community will want to keep them—forever.
Building lots of new portals comes later. Let's fix up the ones we have first. ;)
And on that note, I bid you adieu. Until next newsletter, see ya 'round the WikiProject. — The Transhumanist 12:32, 10 July 2018 (UTC)
We have 97 participants.
Automation makes things go faster, even portal creation. One of the components Certes made was {{ Transclude list item excerpt}}. I became curious about its possible applications.
So I worked out a portal design using it, the initial prototypes being Portal:Kyoto (without a "Selected pictures" section), and Portal:Dubai (with a "Selected pictures" section). Then I used Portal:Dubai as the basis for further portals of this type...
Why?
To see, and to show, what may become feasible via automation.
It now looks highly feasible that we could get portal construction time down to a few minutes, or maybe even down to a few seconds.
The singularity is just around the corner. :)
When using the {{ Random slideshow}} template to display pictures, be sure to use the plural tense in the section title: "Selected pictures". That's because slideshows don't show up on many mobile devices. Instead the whole set of pictures is shown, hence the section title "Selected pictures", as it fits both situations.
In case you are curious, here is a list of the portals so far that have a slideshow:
|
The intros for most of the portals up through the letter "O" have been converted, using this wikicode:
{{/box-header|Introduction|noedit=yes|}}
{{Transclude lead excerpt | {{PAGENAME}} | paragraphs=1-2 | files=1}}
{{Box-footer|[[{{PAGENAME}}|Read more...]]}}
Where the pagename didn't match the article title for the subject, the title was typed in.
Most of the portals that do not contain {{/intro}}
or {{{{FULLPGENAME}}/Intro}}
have not yet been processed.
About a thousand portals use the method of selective transclusion for the intro section. That's about two-thirds. That means we have one-third of the way to go on the intro section conversions.
So much has been happening with portals that I can't keep up with it. (That's good). Which means, more in the upcoming issue. Until then, see ya 'round the project. Sincerely, — The Transhumanist 08:47, 15 July 2018 (UTC)
I've been working on a wiipedia page for the history of South African railways which can be seen here: /info/en/?search=User:SailingOn/sandbox
I am struggling to find information on large parts of it, do you have any tips how to do so? The page is kind of a mess with notes all over the place for future use, but scouring the internet and academic archives seems to turn up nothing on large parts of the rail network.
Cheers, ( SailingOn ( talk) 16:19, 16 July 2018 (UTC) )
I got overwhelmed IRL (in real life) during the production of issue #12. So, here is a catch-up issue, to help bring you (and me) up to speed on what is happening with portals...
By the way, we still have 97 participants. (Tell all your friends about this WikiProject, and have them join!)
One cool feature of some of the geographical portals is a panoramic picture at the top of the intro section.
Check these out:
The Portals WikiGnome squadron is busy adding panoramas to geographical portals that don't yet have one. Feel free to join in on the fun. See task details at Wikipedia:WikiProject Portals#Add a panorama or skyline to a geographic portal.
Caveat: avoid super-huge pics, as they can cause portal scripts to time-out. Please try to keep picture size down below 2 megabytes. Thank you.
Speaking of pictures...
We now have two slideshow templates. You may be familiar with {{ Random slideshow}}, in which the editor types in (or copies/pastes) a list of pictures he or she wants it to display.
Well, now we have another template, courtesy of Evad37, which accepts one or more page names instead, and displays a random image off of the listed pages. So instead of listing dozens of files by hand, you can include a title or three to be scanned automatically. It even lets you specify particular sections.
The new slideshow template is {{ Transclude files as random slideshow}}.
Here's a sample, that grabs images from a single page:
Speaking of new templates, here's another one!
Also from Evad37, we have a new component for starting section boxes, that is color configurable, and that bypasses the need for box-header subpages altogether. It is {{ Box-header colour}}.
For color support, see Web colors.
For the discussion in which this was inspired, see Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Portals/Tasks#Colour combinations for accessibility.
(In case you didn't notice, the slideshow box above uses this new template).
BTW, don't forget to close your box with {{ Box-footer}}.
The answer to this question is quite involved, and would fill this page to overflowing. Therefore, this subject, including a complete update on where we are at and where we are going with portal design, is covered at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Portals/Design.
An AWB pass to convert intros on the portals has been completed. The pass couldn't convert them all (due to various formatting configurations, etc.).
All but about 170 portals now have introductions selectively transcluded on the base page. Not counting manually maintained portals, that leaves about 70 portals that either need their intros converted, or they need an intro.
Next, we'll be converting the categories sections!
The course of action we have been taking goes something like this, with all steps being pursued simultaeneously...
1) Design a one-page automated portal model
2) Convert existing portals to that design (except those being manually maintained)
3) Remove subpages no longer needed
4) Develop further tools to empower editors working on portals
Later, when the tools are up to the task, filling in the gaps in coverage (with new portals) will also become practical.
Probably not.
Who knows what our programmers and editors have dreamed up while I was writing this.
See ya again soon, — The Transhumanist 11:09, 18 July 2018 (UTC)
Development of design continues, full speed ahead...
Can you say " paradigm shift"?
Now, in addition to picture slideshows, we have slideshows that can display excerpts. Portals are not just for topic tasting anymore. Now they can be made useful for surveying Wikipedia's coverage of entire subjects. This gives a deeper meaning to their name. Hmmm. "Portals"... Doorways to knowledge.
Portal:Lithuania was redesigned using excerpt slideshows. Check it out.
For those of you who cannot wait to test out these new toys...
We have not one, but three excerpt slideshow components to pick from:
{{ Transclude excerpts as random slideshow}}
{{ Transclude list item excerpts as random slideshow}}
{{ Transclude linked excerpts as random slideshow}}
{{ Portal image banner}} displays a panoramic picture the width of the page, and adjusts its size, so it stays that way even if the user changes page view size. And it accepts multiple file names, so that the picture displayed randomizes between them each time the page is visited/purged.
Give resizing the page a try:
Before:
After:
Notice how the box bottoms line up. That readjusts even if you click the slideshow buttons.
The template used for this is {{ Flex columns}}.
By the way, when you include more than one box in a column, any left over whitespace in that column is divided between them.
You may have noticed the new {{ Box-header colour}} template used above. It lets you pick the color locally (right on the same page). Before, this was handled on a subpage somewhere.
Now that we have lots of toys to play with for making cool portals...
Don't forget, that the majority of views of Wikipedia these days are from mobile devices. We need to make certain that portals display well on those. So, remember to check your work on portals in mobile view mode...
To see a portal in mobile view mode, insert a ".m" into a portal's url, after "en", like this:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Reptile
If you discover problems in a portal you can't fix, report them on Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Portals/Design.
Have fun. — The Transhumanist 01:00, 27 July 2018 (UTC)
Now that we have lots of toys to play with, it's play time!
Here are some fun activities to use our new toys on...
Would you like to travel around the world? Well, this may be the next best thing...
Here's another fun toy to play with: {{ Portal image banner}}
To see what it looks like, check out the panoramas at the tops of the following portals:
The task: There are many geography portals that lack panoramas. Please add some. Please keep the file size down below 2 megabytes, and keep in mind that you may find quality banners at commons: at less than 200K (.2 megabytes). Good search terms to include with the place name are "banner", "cityscape", "skyline", "panorama", "landscape", etc.
Related task: There are also lots of geography portals that have panoramas used as gaudy banners (with print or icons splattered across them) or that display them in some random location on the page. In many cases, those pages would be improved by displaying the panorama as a clean picture at the top of the intro section, like on the examples above. This works best with banner-like panoramas. Please fix such pages when you come across them, if you believe it would improve the look of the page.
Taller images might be better suited displayed further down the page, or in the "Selected images" section.
Note that {{ Portal image banner}} supports multiple images, and displays one at random upon the first visit, and each time the page is purged.
That is, image slideshows!
Over 200 have been installed so far. Just 1200 to go. (Be sure not to install them on portals with active maintainers, unless they want you to).
The title "Selected images" reflects the fact that not all images on Wikipedia are pictures, and encompasses maps, graphs, diagrams, sketches, paintings, pictures, and so on.
The toys we have to work with for this are:
{{ Random slideshow}}
and
{{ Transclude files as random slideshow}}
The task: Using one of the above templates directly on a portal's base page, replace static "Selected picture" sections, with a section like one of these:
The one on the left uses {{ Random slideshow}} (which accepts file names), and the one on the right uses {{ Transclude files as random slideshow}} (which accepts source pages from which the filenames are gathered).
The above section formatting is used on many of the pages you will come across, but not all. In those cases, use whatever section formatting matches the rest of the page.
Note that you may come across "Selected picture" sections done with {{ Random portal component}} templates. That template call is the entire section. Replace it with a section that matches the other sections on the page, and put the new slideshow inside that.
For example, in Portal:California, this code:
{{Random portal component|max=21|seed=27|header=Selected picture|subpage=Selected picture}}
was replaced with this code:
{{/box-header|Selected images|noedit=yes}}
{{Transclude files as random slideshow
| {{PAGENAME}}
| Culture of {{PAGENAME}}
}}
{{Box-footer}}
And the new section blended right in with the formatting of the rest of the page. Note the use of the {{PAGENAME}}
magic word. Plain article titles also work. Don't feel limited to one or two page names. But be sure to test each slideshow before installing the next one. (Or if you prefer, in batches - just don't leave them hanging). Report technical problems at the
Portal design talk page.
These sections, where unmaintained, have gone stale. That's because 1) the excerpts are static, having been manually copied and pasted, and 2) because they lack automatic addition of new entries.
They can be upgraded with:
{{ Transclude random excerpt}}
or
{{ Transclude list item excerpt}}
or
{{ Transclude linked excerpt}}
All three of these will provide excerpts that won't go stale. The latter two can provide excerpt collections that won't go stale, by providing new entries over time. The key is to select source pages or source sections that are frequently updated, such as root article sections, mainstream lists, or navigation templates.
When the above tasks are completed for the entire collection of portals (except the ones with specific maintainers), we'll be more than half-way done with the portal system upgrade.
Keep up the great work. — The Transhumanist 19:18, 30 July 2018 (UTC)
![]() | This page is an archive of past discussions. Do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page. |
Hi, re this edit: please see Talk:Metropolitan Railroad#Switch to electricity. -- Redrose64 🌹 ( talk) 16:51, 3 July 2018 (UTC)
News and updates for administrators from the past month (June 2018).
I was global blocked 6 days ago, I contacted Wikia Saff about lifiting the ban or having a shorter block, that was 4 days ago (96 hours), they haven't contacted me about the block, do you know a Staff member on Community wikia that can unblock me or make my block shorter, I need help please.-- 2601:540:8200:D52E:78B0:F4DB:51C5:6CAA ( talk) 15:55, 29 June 2018 (UTC)Typhuss999
Thank you sir, I have no idea what's going on and I can't leave messages on message walls because that has been blocked as well, anything you can do to help is great.-- 2601:540:8200:D52E:78B0:F4DB:51C5:6CAA ( talk) 16:01, 29 June 2018 (UTC)Typhuss999
When you talk to Wikia Staff, please tell them that I am truly sorry about my actions, that I feel really bad about it and that I will not do it again, I miss editing on my wiki, working on Star Trek stories with my friend, Drangonboy546 and fixing pages on my wiki which I need to do by the way. What do you mean by limiting factor?.-- 2601:540:8200:D52E:78B0:F4DB:51C5:6CAA ( talk) 16:16, 29 June 2018 (UTC)Typhuss999
Reason given: "This username or IP address is prevented from editing across the entire FANDOM network due to vandalism or other disruption. If you believe this is in error, please contact FANDOM.
The blocker also gave this additional reason: Violation of the Terms of Use..
I uploaded Star Trek porn pictures to a wiki called:Slave Samantha Carter Wiki. It was a dumb thing to do in the first place and having that wiki online as well. I am really sorry about it.-- 2601:540:8200:D52E:78B0:F4DB:51C5:6CAA ( talk) 16:29, 29 June 2018 (UTC)Typhuss999
You still could go to Community wikia and leave a message to a staff member about my block on a message wall, help me on my behalf.-- 2601:540:8200:D52E:78B0:F4DB:51C5:6CAA ( talk) 16:36, 29 June 2018 (UTC)Typhuss999
Do you have any friends that are staff members, that could help?.-- 2601:540:8200:D52E:78B0:F4DB:51C5:6CAA ( talk) 16:47, 29 June 2018 (UTC)
Ok, are you still going to leave a message to a staff member about me, could you leave a message now please.-- 2601:540:8200:D52E:78B0:F4DB:51C5:6CAA ( talk) 16:56, 29 June 2018 (UTC)Typhuss999
Thank you, that would help a lot.-- 2601:540:8200:D52E:78B0:F4DB:51C5:6CAA ( talk) 17:01, 29 June 2018 (UTC)Typhuss999
Slambo, can you please leave a message on a staff member's message wall today, I want to be unblocked today.-- 2601:540:8200:D52E:78B0:F4DB:51C5:6CAA ( talk) 23:03, 29 June 2018 (UTC)Typhuss999 Here is a staff member from that wiki: https://community.wikia.com/wiki/Message_Wall:BertH.
Thank you.-- 2601:540:8200:D52E:78B0:F4DB:51C5:6CAA ( talk) 23:21, 29 June 2018 (UTC)Typhuss999
I don't know the name of the administrator who invoked the block, it was just Wikia Staff as far as I know, I don't know what specific administrators who were involved in the block.-- 2601:540:8200:D52E:78B0:F4DB:51C5:6CAA ( talk) 23:56, 29 June 2018 (UTC)Typhuss999
So how are you going to help with this if we don't know the name of the administrator who invoked the block?.-- 2601:540:8200:D52E:78B0:F4DB:51C5:6CAA ( talk) 23:59, 29 June 2018 (UTC)Typhuss999
Why don't you just make an account on community wikia and find out the name of the administrator who blocked me.-- 2601:540:8200:D52E:78B0:F4DB:51C5:6CAA ( talk) 00:07, 30 June 2018 (UTC)Typhuss999
Maybe, the name of the administrator who invoked the block is Rappy 4187, he is the one who deleted some of the Star Trek porn pictures on the Slave Samantha Carter Wiki, does this help Slambo?.-- 2601:540:8200:D52E:78B0:F4DB:51C5:6CAA ( talk) 10:25, 30 June 2018 (UTC)Typhuss999
Yes, it didn't help, I contacted Wikia Staff 5 days ago and they haven't responed yet, your suggestion doesn't help me at all and I can't post messages on message walls on community wikia to stafff members, because that is also blocked.-- 2601:540:8200:D52E:78B0:F4DB:51C5:6CAA ( talk) 11:05, 30 June 2018 (UTC)Typhuss999
If Wikia Staff would contact me and unblock me I wouldn't leave anymore messages here, you wouldn't have to talk to me if they just unblock me. If Wikia Staff doesn't contact me, I have no idea what's going on with my block and that I want the block to be lifted.-- 2601:540:8200:D52E:78B0:F4DB:51C5:6CAA ( talk) 11:20, 30 June 2018 (UTC)Typhuss999
That's it, your advice is to wait a year (365 days), I don't think so.-- 2601:540:8200:D52E:78B0:F4DB:51C5:6CAA ( talk) 16:16, 30 June 2018 (UTC)Typhuss999
What about my wiki, bad users will come and mess up pages, I can't wait a year its too long and who will protect my wiki while I am blocked?.-- 2601:540:8200:D52E:78B0:F4DB:51C5:6CAA ( talk) 16:18, 30 June 2018 (UTC)Typhuss999
If Wikia Staff really cared they would have left me a message on my wall on community wikia about my block, I'm in the dark about my block I can't wait a year or they could make my block a shorter block.-- 2601:540:8200:D52E:78B0:F4DB:51C5:6CAA ( talk) 16:35, 30 June 2018 (UTC)Typhuss999
I have been blocked for a week now, I think that is long enough and I can't take it anymore no editing on my wiki, I'm worried that bad users will come to my wiki and mess up pages, Wikia Staff should think about that and there is no reason why I can't be unblocked today. I'm also watching my wiki like a hawk for bad users, I can't stop them if I am blocked and sometimes the other amdins aren't there maybe Dragonboy546 but he goes to work. I am also a content moderator on the Arrowverse Wiki, I have work there that needs to be done.-- 2601:540:8200:D52E:78B0:F4DB:51C5:6CAA ( talk) 16:49, 30 June 2018 (UTC)Typhuss999
Ok, sorry, I just don't like this, being blocked and unable to edit my pages on my wiki and working on Star Trek stories with my friend. Sorry sir.-- 2601:540:8200:D52E:78B0:F4DB:51C5:6CAA ( talk) 16:59, 30 June 2018 (UTC)Typhuss999
Ok, thanks.-- 2601:540:8200:D52E:78B0:F4DB:51C5:6CAA ( talk) 19:37, 30 June 2018 (UTC)Typhuss999
Can you go to Memory Delta wiki and give Dragonboy546 the link to my User talk:2601:540:8200:D52E:78B0:F4DB:51C5:6CAA page, so I can talk to him.-- 2601:540:8200:D52E:78B0:F4DB:51C5:6CAA ( talk) 21:14, 30 June 2018 (UTC)Typhuss999
So, do you know anything about my block yet?.-- 2601:540:8200:D52E:78B0:F4DB:51C5:6CAA ( talk) 11:56, 1 July 2018 (UTC)Typhuss999
I can't take this anymore, I can't edit on my wiki, I want this to be over and to be unblocked so I can work on things.-- 2601:540:8200:D52E:78B0:F4DB:51C5:6CAA ( talk) 15:36, 1 July 2018 (UTC)Typhuss999
I really can't take much more of this, I can't edit on my wiki , work on my stories or make pages, Wikia Staff should just unblock me right now, no more waiting and they should leave me a message. I can't be patient anymore, its been 8 days since I have been blocked and its been 6 days since I contacted Wikia Staff about my block, no reply yet from them.-- 2601:540:8200:D52E:78B0:F4DB:51C5:6CAA ( talk) 21:52, 1 July 2018 (UTC)Typhuss999
Do you have any idea how I feel every day, when I see my account say BLOCKED, all I can do on my wiki is read pages and stories, I can't work on my stories, make pages or go on chat, I feel sad and upset. I feel like that the Wikia Staff don't care.-- 2601:540:8200:D52E:78B0:F4DB:51C5:6CAA ( talk) 23:55, 1 July 2018 (UTC)Typhuss999
So you haven't heard anything new about my block from Wikia Staff.-- 2601:540:8200:D52E:78B0:F4DB:51C5:6CAA ( talk) 13:42, 2 July 2018 (UTC)Typhuss999
So you don't know anything yet.-- 2601:540:8200:D52E:78B0:F4DB:51C5:6CAA ( talk) 19:15, 2 July 2018 (UTC)Typhuss999
I can't do this anymore, I can't be patient any longer, I hate all this waiting and I should get my reply now, I don't like being kept in the dark about my block and Wikia Staff will not contact me, I feel like that they don't care or they would have contacted me by now and stop playing this waiting game with me. Can you find a admin here who does know a member of Wikia Staff, so we can talk about the block.-- 2601:540:8200:D52E:78B0:F4DB:51C5:6CAA ( talk) 19:37, 2 July 2018 (UTC)Typhuss999
I know a Staff member, Brandon Rhea, from the Star Wars fanon wiki, he could help, he could unblock me.-- 2601:540:8200:D52E:1C81:4DC2:CFC6:BC95 ( talk) 11:28, 3 July 2018 (UTC)Typhuss999
Shoretrooper TK-32028, a user from the Star Wars fanon wiki, left me a message on my wall and asked why I was blocked, I would have aswered him but I can't post messages on walls, why did he ask me that and why does he care about my block.-- 2601:540:8200:D52E:1C81:4DC2:CFC6:BC95 ( talk) 15:30, 3 July 2018 (UTC)Typhuss999
Be patient, I have been doing that but this waiting I hate it, Wikia Staff could unblock me today and its a holiday today, they could be nice and do that. I don't want to work on stories on other sites. I have been blocked for 11 days now, that is long and you don't know what it is like to be blocked, I can't work on my stories, all I can do is read and that is not fun, it gets old after awhile.-- 2601:540:8200:D52E:A925:B4D4:90E5:A61C ( talk) 13:38, 4 July 2018 (UTC)Typhuss999
How long do you except me to be patient for, I don't have time to wait a year to edit again on my wiki or other wikis, I have been blocked for 13 days now and I can't wait any longer, you don't have any idea what it is like to be blocked, do nothing but reading pages and stories, no editing at all.-- 2601:540:8200:D52E:78B0:F4DB:51C5:6CAA ( talk) 18:25, 6 July 2018 (UTC)Typhuss999
We now have 97 participants.
Be sure to welcome our newest members, BrantleyIzMe, Coffeeandcrumbs, and Nolan Perry, with warm regards.
Work is proceeding apace. We have 2 major thrusts right now: converting the intro sections of portals, and building the components of the one-page automated model...
We need everybody, except those building software components, to work on converting intros. If you have AWB, definitely use that. If not, then work on them manually. Even one a day, or as often as you can muster, will help a lot. There are only about 1,000 of them left to go, so if everyone chips in, it will go pretty quickly. Remember, there are 97 of us!
The intros for most of the portals starting with A through F have already been converted to use the {{ Transclude lead excerpt}} template.
The standard wikicode for the automated intro that we want to put into place looks like this:
{{/box-header|Introduction|noedit=yes|}}
{{Transclude lead excerpt | {{PAGENAME}} | paragraphs=1-2 | files=1}}
{{Box-footer|[[{{PAGENAME}}|Read more...]]}}
That works for most portals, but not all. For some portals it requires some tweaking, and for others, we may have to use a different or more customized approach. Remember to visually inspect each portal you work on and make sure that it works before moving on to the next one.
Be sure to skip user-maintained portals. They are listed at Wikipedia:WikiProject_Portals#Specific_portal_maintainers.
I've started an AWB tips page, for those of you feeling a bit overwhelmed by that power user tool. Feel free to add to it and/or improve it.
We have some very talented Lua programmers, who are pushing the limits of what we can do in gathering data from Wikipedia's various namespaces and presenting it in portals. Due to their efforts, Lua is powering the selective transclusion core of our emerging automated portal design, in the form of selected article sections that rotate content, and slideshows.
To go beyond Lua's limits, to take full advantage of Mediawiki's API, we are in the midst of adding another programming language to the resources we shall be making use of: JavaScript. The ways that JavaScript can help us edit portals to boost the power of our Lua solutions, are being explored, which will likely make the two languages synergistic if not symbiotic. Research is under way on how we can use JavaScript to make some of the portal semi-automated features fully automatically self-updating, in ways that Lua cannot. Like gathering random members from a category and inserting them into a portal's templates as parameters. Once the parameters are in place, Lua does the rest.
If you would like to get involved with design efforts, or just keep up on them, see Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Portals/Design.
Well, not at the present time, because building portals is quite time consuming. The good news is that we are working on a design that will be fully automated, or as close to that as we can get. And the new design is being implemented in the portal department's main portal creation template. This means, that not only will portals update themselves, their creation will be highly automated as well. That's the nature of templates. You put them in place, and they just... work.
What I'm getting at here, is that it would be better to wait to build lots of new portals until after the new design is completed. Because with it, instead of taking hours to create a new portal, it will likely take minutes.
That does not mean we should be idle in the meantime. The main reason most of us are here is because it became apparent that portals were largely unmaintained and had grown out-of-date. This had become so apparent that a proposal was made to delete all the portals and the portal namespace to boot. That makes our main objective in the short term to improve all the existing portals so that the community will want to keep them—forever.
Building lots of new portals comes later. Let's fix up the ones we have first. ;)
And on that note, I bid you adieu. Until next newsletter, see ya 'round the WikiProject. — The Transhumanist 12:32, 10 July 2018 (UTC)
We have 97 participants.
Automation makes things go faster, even portal creation. One of the components Certes made was {{ Transclude list item excerpt}}. I became curious about its possible applications.
So I worked out a portal design using it, the initial prototypes being Portal:Kyoto (without a "Selected pictures" section), and Portal:Dubai (with a "Selected pictures" section). Then I used Portal:Dubai as the basis for further portals of this type...
Why?
To see, and to show, what may become feasible via automation.
It now looks highly feasible that we could get portal construction time down to a few minutes, or maybe even down to a few seconds.
The singularity is just around the corner. :)
When using the {{ Random slideshow}} template to display pictures, be sure to use the plural tense in the section title: "Selected pictures". That's because slideshows don't show up on many mobile devices. Instead the whole set of pictures is shown, hence the section title "Selected pictures", as it fits both situations.
In case you are curious, here is a list of the portals so far that have a slideshow:
|
The intros for most of the portals up through the letter "O" have been converted, using this wikicode:
{{/box-header|Introduction|noedit=yes|}}
{{Transclude lead excerpt | {{PAGENAME}} | paragraphs=1-2 | files=1}}
{{Box-footer|[[{{PAGENAME}}|Read more...]]}}
Where the pagename didn't match the article title for the subject, the title was typed in.
Most of the portals that do not contain {{/intro}}
or {{{{FULLPGENAME}}/Intro}}
have not yet been processed.
About a thousand portals use the method of selective transclusion for the intro section. That's about two-thirds. That means we have one-third of the way to go on the intro section conversions.
So much has been happening with portals that I can't keep up with it. (That's good). Which means, more in the upcoming issue. Until then, see ya 'round the project. Sincerely, — The Transhumanist 08:47, 15 July 2018 (UTC)
I've been working on a wiipedia page for the history of South African railways which can be seen here: /info/en/?search=User:SailingOn/sandbox
I am struggling to find information on large parts of it, do you have any tips how to do so? The page is kind of a mess with notes all over the place for future use, but scouring the internet and academic archives seems to turn up nothing on large parts of the rail network.
Cheers, ( SailingOn ( talk) 16:19, 16 July 2018 (UTC) )
I got overwhelmed IRL (in real life) during the production of issue #12. So, here is a catch-up issue, to help bring you (and me) up to speed on what is happening with portals...
By the way, we still have 97 participants. (Tell all your friends about this WikiProject, and have them join!)
One cool feature of some of the geographical portals is a panoramic picture at the top of the intro section.
Check these out:
The Portals WikiGnome squadron is busy adding panoramas to geographical portals that don't yet have one. Feel free to join in on the fun. See task details at Wikipedia:WikiProject Portals#Add a panorama or skyline to a geographic portal.
Caveat: avoid super-huge pics, as they can cause portal scripts to time-out. Please try to keep picture size down below 2 megabytes. Thank you.
Speaking of pictures...
We now have two slideshow templates. You may be familiar with {{ Random slideshow}}, in which the editor types in (or copies/pastes) a list of pictures he or she wants it to display.
Well, now we have another template, courtesy of Evad37, which accepts one or more page names instead, and displays a random image off of the listed pages. So instead of listing dozens of files by hand, you can include a title or three to be scanned automatically. It even lets you specify particular sections.
The new slideshow template is {{ Transclude files as random slideshow}}.
Here's a sample, that grabs images from a single page:
Speaking of new templates, here's another one!
Also from Evad37, we have a new component for starting section boxes, that is color configurable, and that bypasses the need for box-header subpages altogether. It is {{ Box-header colour}}.
For color support, see Web colors.
For the discussion in which this was inspired, see Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Portals/Tasks#Colour combinations for accessibility.
(In case you didn't notice, the slideshow box above uses this new template).
BTW, don't forget to close your box with {{ Box-footer}}.
The answer to this question is quite involved, and would fill this page to overflowing. Therefore, this subject, including a complete update on where we are at and where we are going with portal design, is covered at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Portals/Design.
An AWB pass to convert intros on the portals has been completed. The pass couldn't convert them all (due to various formatting configurations, etc.).
All but about 170 portals now have introductions selectively transcluded on the base page. Not counting manually maintained portals, that leaves about 70 portals that either need their intros converted, or they need an intro.
Next, we'll be converting the categories sections!
The course of action we have been taking goes something like this, with all steps being pursued simultaeneously...
1) Design a one-page automated portal model
2) Convert existing portals to that design (except those being manually maintained)
3) Remove subpages no longer needed
4) Develop further tools to empower editors working on portals
Later, when the tools are up to the task, filling in the gaps in coverage (with new portals) will also become practical.
Probably not.
Who knows what our programmers and editors have dreamed up while I was writing this.
See ya again soon, — The Transhumanist 11:09, 18 July 2018 (UTC)
Development of design continues, full speed ahead...
Can you say " paradigm shift"?
Now, in addition to picture slideshows, we have slideshows that can display excerpts. Portals are not just for topic tasting anymore. Now they can be made useful for surveying Wikipedia's coverage of entire subjects. This gives a deeper meaning to their name. Hmmm. "Portals"... Doorways to knowledge.
Portal:Lithuania was redesigned using excerpt slideshows. Check it out.
For those of you who cannot wait to test out these new toys...
We have not one, but three excerpt slideshow components to pick from:
{{ Transclude excerpts as random slideshow}}
{{ Transclude list item excerpts as random slideshow}}
{{ Transclude linked excerpts as random slideshow}}
{{ Portal image banner}} displays a panoramic picture the width of the page, and adjusts its size, so it stays that way even if the user changes page view size. And it accepts multiple file names, so that the picture displayed randomizes between them each time the page is visited/purged.
Give resizing the page a try:
Before:
After:
Notice how the box bottoms line up. That readjusts even if you click the slideshow buttons.
The template used for this is {{ Flex columns}}.
By the way, when you include more than one box in a column, any left over whitespace in that column is divided between them.
You may have noticed the new {{ Box-header colour}} template used above. It lets you pick the color locally (right on the same page). Before, this was handled on a subpage somewhere.
Now that we have lots of toys to play with for making cool portals...
Don't forget, that the majority of views of Wikipedia these days are from mobile devices. We need to make certain that portals display well on those. So, remember to check your work on portals in mobile view mode...
To see a portal in mobile view mode, insert a ".m" into a portal's url, after "en", like this:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Reptile
If you discover problems in a portal you can't fix, report them on Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Portals/Design.
Have fun. — The Transhumanist 01:00, 27 July 2018 (UTC)
Now that we have lots of toys to play with, it's play time!
Here are some fun activities to use our new toys on...
Would you like to travel around the world? Well, this may be the next best thing...
Here's another fun toy to play with: {{ Portal image banner}}
To see what it looks like, check out the panoramas at the tops of the following portals:
The task: There are many geography portals that lack panoramas. Please add some. Please keep the file size down below 2 megabytes, and keep in mind that you may find quality banners at commons: at less than 200K (.2 megabytes). Good search terms to include with the place name are "banner", "cityscape", "skyline", "panorama", "landscape", etc.
Related task: There are also lots of geography portals that have panoramas used as gaudy banners (with print or icons splattered across them) or that display them in some random location on the page. In many cases, those pages would be improved by displaying the panorama as a clean picture at the top of the intro section, like on the examples above. This works best with banner-like panoramas. Please fix such pages when you come across them, if you believe it would improve the look of the page.
Taller images might be better suited displayed further down the page, or in the "Selected images" section.
Note that {{ Portal image banner}} supports multiple images, and displays one at random upon the first visit, and each time the page is purged.
That is, image slideshows!
Over 200 have been installed so far. Just 1200 to go. (Be sure not to install them on portals with active maintainers, unless they want you to).
The title "Selected images" reflects the fact that not all images on Wikipedia are pictures, and encompasses maps, graphs, diagrams, sketches, paintings, pictures, and so on.
The toys we have to work with for this are:
{{ Random slideshow}}
and
{{ Transclude files as random slideshow}}
The task: Using one of the above templates directly on a portal's base page, replace static "Selected picture" sections, with a section like one of these:
The one on the left uses {{ Random slideshow}} (which accepts file names), and the one on the right uses {{ Transclude files as random slideshow}} (which accepts source pages from which the filenames are gathered).
The above section formatting is used on many of the pages you will come across, but not all. In those cases, use whatever section formatting matches the rest of the page.
Note that you may come across "Selected picture" sections done with {{ Random portal component}} templates. That template call is the entire section. Replace it with a section that matches the other sections on the page, and put the new slideshow inside that.
For example, in Portal:California, this code:
{{Random portal component|max=21|seed=27|header=Selected picture|subpage=Selected picture}}
was replaced with this code:
{{/box-header|Selected images|noedit=yes}}
{{Transclude files as random slideshow
| {{PAGENAME}}
| Culture of {{PAGENAME}}
}}
{{Box-footer}}
And the new section blended right in with the formatting of the rest of the page. Note the use of the {{PAGENAME}}
magic word. Plain article titles also work. Don't feel limited to one or two page names. But be sure to test each slideshow before installing the next one. (Or if you prefer, in batches - just don't leave them hanging). Report technical problems at the
Portal design talk page.
These sections, where unmaintained, have gone stale. That's because 1) the excerpts are static, having been manually copied and pasted, and 2) because they lack automatic addition of new entries.
They can be upgraded with:
{{ Transclude random excerpt}}
or
{{ Transclude list item excerpt}}
or
{{ Transclude linked excerpt}}
All three of these will provide excerpts that won't go stale. The latter two can provide excerpt collections that won't go stale, by providing new entries over time. The key is to select source pages or source sections that are frequently updated, such as root article sections, mainstream lists, or navigation templates.
When the above tasks are completed for the entire collection of portals (except the ones with specific maintainers), we'll be more than half-way done with the portal system upgrade.
Keep up the great work. — The Transhumanist 19:18, 30 July 2018 (UTC)