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Shout-out to the maintainers of WoW Wiki

For those of you who don't know me, I was one of the first Admins of WoW Wiki back when Rustak started this crazy project.

I've been lurking in the shadows for several years. I want to thank everyone who has contributed to making WoW Wiki the amazing site it has become. The pages are well formatted, the WoW UI API is beyond compare, the content is improved on a regular basis and you're all doing an amazing job. I'm proud to come back and see this website in fantastic shape.

Great job, guys.

-- AlexanderYoshi 09:55, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

Cheers :D User:Adys/Sig 10:47, 6 April 2008 (UTC)
Beatings should be handed out to admins who don't use the "+" to add comments. ;P --Sky (t · c · w) 20:07, 6 April 2008 (UTC)
He actually did, but for some reason put it at the top of the page afterwards. --g0urra[T҂C] 20:12, 6 April 2008 (UTC)
Let us honor his return by not caring about the placement, but to him let it be known that this will be archived before its time.--SWM2448 00:06, 7 April 2008 (UTC)
Hahah, this is the kind of thing that should be quickly seen, with a short life. --AlexanderYoshi 20:22, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

Server pages

Having looked around at a lot of the server pages on WoWWiki, i've noticed that almost every server has a different kind of layout on their page. Some follow a special layout (Server:Garithos US as an example), some are just stubs (Server:Die ewige Wacht Europe), some have lots of info (Server:Moonglade Europe), some barely have any info, just links (Server:Agamaggan US). What I propose is trying to create a standard layout for these pages, with an easy way to add information, like realm history, naming background, major server events and an easy way for not very wiki-experienced user to add guilds to a detailed list (for example something looking like the guild list on Server:Moonglade Europe). Any ideas/comments? -- Ose (c / t) 14:54, 6 February 2008 (UTC)

Don't get complicated. The people who edit the servers don't need a lot of code sticking up and at them in the face. I made Server:Shadowmoon US relatively simplistic. --Sky (t | c | w) 19:10, 6 February 2008 (UTC)
That's a part of my point. Some of these pages have some cool looking, but over-complicated designs. Others have simple designs, but get messy. I want (us) to create something which is user-friendly, but gives a good looking result. -- Ose (c / t) 21:57, 6 February 2008 (UTC)
You didn't state that explicitly, and so I was basically looking for what your stance was. --Sky (t | c | w) 00:22, 7 February 2008 (UTC)
It'd be nice to have a link to the page about the server's namesake at the top of each page. -Cowlinator 20:52, 10 March 2008 (UTC)
People, I want your thoughts! Being bold is one thing, but I don't want to go through with such a big revamp without your opinions and ideas. --OseTalkz / Contribz 18:58, 31 March 2008 (UTC)
Personally, I am very fond of the layouts of Grim Batol, Skullcrusher, and Warsong. They provide a very informative and pleasant experience for viewers, and can be made user-friendly for new editors through included explanations (comments) in the code, as well as additional help pages which further elaborate. Seriously, take a look at the code on those three pages. They're very well made. But in order to mainstream a design such as this across WoWWiki, the templates would need to be slightly rewritten so that they could be controlled by one set of central templates. Perhaps a bit of tweaking to how they handle the Battlegroup template as well. --MaTrIx 04:02, 1 April 2008 (UTC)

I started some work on User:Ose/Sandbox/Server. Everyone, feel free to discuss, change and give advice. --OseTalkz / Contribz 14:03, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

World of Warcraft category proliferation re-think needed

Moved to WoWWiki talk:Policy/Category/Names.

Datamining policy changes

Moved to WoWWiki talk:Policy/DNP#Change to the image DNP policy.

Zone levels

We need to decide if we want the level shown in the zonebox for each zone to reflect the Blizzard recommended level for the zone, or to reflect the mobs in that zone. I just went through a week or so ago and changed them to the official Blizzard levels, but someone just came through today and changed them to "reflect the mob levels" in the zone. I personally think they should they should be the recommended levels, but regardless we need to make a decision so people don't keep changing it back and forth. --Jiyambi t || c 20:05, 23 March 2008 (UTC)

Perhaps have both, the mob levels and recommended levels. That way no one can decide to change them on ya. User:CoobraSssssssssssssssssssssssss User:CoobraFor Pony! {TDon't hiss at me.CIf you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all.) 22:39, 23 March 2008 (UTC)
Meh, looks like the person has changed almost all the zones to mob level range. I don't have the energy to change them again or add another parameter, so unless someone else cares I'm just going to leave it be. --Jiyambi t || c 22:22, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

Laurlybot (Recoded) Npc module

I am in the process of recoding the bot. User:Laurlybot/npc_bot before i start generating pages i thought it might be a good idea to address some of the issues people had with the old bot and get some kind of consensus on how the new one should work.

  1. Npc pages use the {{Zone Map}} to display where the npc is found in a zone. Note: For NPC's found in more then one zone only one map will be shown. More then likely the first.
  2. The bot is still unable to get race and gender for an npc. Human editors will still have to add that.
  3. I am not riping pictures so Humans will have to add them.
    1. I'm going to try and code the bot to check the page if there is a picture there it will use it rather then just clobbering the page.
    2. Humans will have to check that this image is right. (I will probably tag pages like this for bot help)

The dreaded transcluded pages.

  • The old bot had separate pages for drops/teaches/skins/mines .... yes lots of them.
    • The comment i got was: Get rid of the subpages, as it bloats the article count of the wiki.
  • Using templates in these pages. A lot of people didnt like the templates the old bot used due to the fact that
    • A comment i got was:Use wiki-table markup, as opposed to templates. Templates are just adding a (possibly) confusing step

What i would like to do is the following.

  • Only have one subpage. npcname/data This page would contain.
  1. Info on drops, teaches, skins, mines, herbs, pickpocketing...... <and anything else i might be forgetting>
  • There are several reasons for this.
  1. There will be a lot of data there. this could confuse anyone trying to edit the page as to what it was.
  2. I always intended that the bot be run regularly to update the information on this page. If we have it in the main page even if i code a very careful check to only replace the table data there is still a chance that something could go wrong and the main page data would be over writen.
  • Templates would be easer to change on a wide scale. If we leave them on a second page then there really isnt anything confusing as the bot is the only one reading it. But if we don't use templates it shouldn't matter if we need to change the format then i can just rerun the bot and all the pages will be updated.

The parser is mostly written so i have all the data. The only thing i need to know is how we want the pages to look and how we want them to work. So i'm going on vacation for a few days. So i figured i would post this here give you guys time to chat about it and check with you when i get back.  :) Laurly 08:50, 24 March 2008 (UTC)

I wonder if there's anything we can do to keep the subpages out of the article count. Put them in another namespace perhaps? --PcjWowpedia wiki manager (TDrop me a line!C207,729 contributions and counting) 12:46, 24 March 2008 (UTC)
I did some checking, and yes, if the data is outside the main namespace it won't add to article count [1]. Therefore, I propose a new namespace be created, possibly called "Data". This would also provide a namespace for Adys's OpenWDB project. --PcjWowpedia wiki manager (TDrop me a line!C207,729 contributions and counting) 14:14, 24 March 2008 (UTC)
We honestly don't need transcluded pages. Nor do we need templates. To respond to the points:
  1. Yes, there will be a lot of data. However, keeping it all in one place is both easier to edit while simultaneously inviting users to edit it themselves. Requiring them to go the extra step invariably produces bias toward the effect that people aren't going to edit them. And being one of those users which has been not-so-systematically removing the current subpages, I have to say they are quite simply a !@#$% to edit. Consolidation of information in this matter is not a bad thing.
  2. Yes, there is that chance. But that's double standard: people have previously used the bot to overwrite decent-looking pages; while that won't be so easy now with some of the plans you have for the bot, it is still possible. Invariably, the bot will produce errors (unless you release the code to open-source, which, even then...). As to catching them, leave that to the wiki-goers. :) If you catch flak for killed-pages, then send em our way. Even with the occasional error, the net positive to editing the main pages will be higher than any risk of error.
  3. The latter is exactly the point. Who needs templates when you have a bot that can do it? :)
As for Adys's proposal, let's cross that bridge when we come to it. He's had more than a few suggestions, and I'm positive he's wrangling with head-Wikia over it. --Sky (t · c · w) 21:33, 31 March 2008 (UTC)
It really doesn't matter to me how we do it. TBH its a little easer for me to put it all in one page. As for the templates the bot has a template it uses so that matters even less. Make up a template that we can all agree on and the bot can use it. I just want to have some kinda agreement on how we do this this time rather then getting issues with it after the bot processes 1500 NPC's. This is an example of one the bot ran Amani_Crocolisk Laurly talk|contr|bot 21:43, 31 March 2008 (UTC)

OpenWDB

Here is an early look to a long-discussed project, OpenWDB. For the TLDR guys, it's the standardization and expansion of WoWWiki's WoW database and the idealistic end to a lot of troubles. It's a draft, still, and if you want to know more about it, you'll have to ask me on IRC. This project itself is hard to maintain as a single person, and since I'm doing other work on the sides I don't always have time to edit the wiki itself. I understand there may be some unhappy people about this, but please understand that I really am doing my best to keep in touch on the wiki. Otherwise, your best shot is my User page. I will, however, update it with more infos as I think them through.

Also, be warned. A lot of people "just dont care" about this, but the modifications involved are absolutely huge. They'll be taken care of, but it means a lot for the wiki "database" pages themselves. User:Adys/Sig 23:23, 24 March 2008 (UTC)

Not liking IRC = unhappy apparently. However, I'm not among the Too Long Didn't Read folks and I think it sounds like a fine idea for the future of WoWWiki (which seems to be unhappy, at the moment). --Gengar orange 22x22 Fandyllic (talk · contr) 9:28 PM PST 24 Mar 2008

Possible violation in Blizzard Downloader article...

Please see Talk:Blizzard_Downloader. --Gengar orange 22x22 Fandyllic (talk · contr) 1:20 PM PST 25 Mar 2008

Kirkburn made the argument that even though some of the stuff on this page mines data, it probably wouldn't be harmful to Blizzard. I cleared the {{violation}} tag, but feel free to comment on Talk:Blizzard_Downloader. --Gengar orange 22x22 Fandyllic (talk · contr) 1:47 PM PST 25 Mar 2008

BG and flight maps needed for Maps article

A lot of the maps in the Maps article were linked from Atlas, and a bunch of them are broken, specifically the ones for battlegrounds and flight paths. If someone could find or otherwise construct some maps to replace these, it'd be a great addition to the article.

// User:Montag/sig1 21:49, 25 March 2008 (UTC)

On my site I have both the ingame map and a minimap export available. For example AV: Normal Map and Minimap Export. Just let me know if your interested and we can work it all out. I hang around on IRC. // User:WyriHaximus 15:2, 1 April 2008 (GMT+1)

Just noticed something funny about some "Starting a XX" pages

Browsing some random articles today, I came across the "Starting a Paladin" page. At the end of the page were two links, none of them I had heard before: http://www.bestlevelingguide.com/paladin_leveling_guide/ and http://www.almostgaming.com/wowguides/paladin-leveling-guide. Basically the first one links to a site that ask you to pay $35 for a mod that helps you to level up faster. The second links to a short so-call leveling guide, but gives you some other links that eventually leads you back to that page of the first links.

I then browsed other "Starting a XX" pages. All of them except druid's are infested by the above two links! Besides, hunter page has one more: http://www.thewowauthority.com/hunter-leveling-guide/, which gives you one page of hunter guide, then again ask you to pay for a full leveling guide. Reading back the history of paladin page, this link was there too, but only replaced by the first link recently.

This is ridiculous! I have never imagine paying real money to buy a mod for leveling or a leveling guide! They are basically using WoWWiki for free advertisement, probably for a long time already. I'm not sure if such act is against the policy of the site. At least, from the point of view of usefulness of those links, they should all be removed.

So, what do you think? -- WakemanCK 03:41, 26 March 2008 (UTC)

Sounds like something that needs to be killed, and if they do it again, banned... --Azaram 10:03, 26 March 2008 (UTC)


Delete the offending links. No links to leveling services and gold selling services User:Sharlin/Sig 11:44, 26 March 2008 (UTC)
Ok, done! Though I'm wondering if there are other pages still have those kind of links. Are there any methods to check? WakemanCK 12:38, 26 March 2008 (UTC)
I did a bit of investigation, and found out that these links were added mainly by
Have a look on their other contributions, and you will find many more page on which they were "active" --Tharbur 16:07, 26 March 2008 (UTC)

MediaWiki 1.12 is live!

WoWWiki is now running on 1.12 :) There may be some teething problems, so please do report anything odd you come across. I currently know of a couple of issues:

  • Monobook skin has a js problem that blanks the page once loaded. Appears to be related to pcj tooltips. I have little js experience and pcj is asleep, so any help is appreciated.
  • Patrollers group may not have their permissions - this is being investigated.
  • Unrelated to 1.12, but some users may have lost the ability to log into their accounts yesterday - if you have been affected, please either drop by the IRC channel, or drop me a mail at <myusername>@gmail.com (replace <myusername>). I'll see what I can do.
  • Special:Brokenredirects is showing old cached data, should be updated within two days.

So, what's new? Well, Special:Version should give a fairly good overview. Also, the new skins are available, though we do not have a Monaco WoWWiki theme yet.

Any feedback? Kirkburn  talk  contr 12:15, 26 March 2008 (UTC)

Patrollers - done. In most cases you'll need to relogin.
There are quite a few extensions which are not listed on Special:Version page because they aren't enabled by default. Stuff like calendars, ogg player, SemanticMediaWiki etc. Look around Wikia for more inspiration. (-; -- Nef (talk) 12:40, 26 March 2008 (UTC)
Rather than correcting the Patroller permissions error, i seem to have simply lost my status as patroller after a relog :/ -- Zeal (T/C)  12:58, 26 March 2008 (UTC)
Should be fixed now. Kirkburn  talk  contr 14:44, 26 March 2008 (UTC)

If you want to see WoWWiki running on the new Monaco skin, see http://www.wowwiki.com/Main_Page?useskin=monaco&usetheme=slate ... no, the WoWWiki colour theme is not done yet. Kirkburn  talk  contr 14:02, 26 March 2008 (UTC)

Oooh. That looks nice. User:Kochira/Sig 16:58, 26 March 2008 (UTC)
I personally do not like the new default layout at all. Many people hate reading on white and I don't foresee all users of the Wiki to get an account just to pick a customized layout. Just a thought. User:Lorekin
And I just said that the WoWWiki colour theme is not ready yet. Kirkburn  talk  contr 19:25, 26 March 2008 (UTC)
Sorry, I assumed the main page was at least a decent example of what is to come. I practically live on this site, I love it here so drastic changes really affect me. On that note, I can't get the search to work at all. No matter what I type in it thinks I'm looking for a "Special Page"... User:Lorekin
Well, the design and layout are what is to come, but the colour scheme will be similar to the current default :) Thanks for the search bug report! Kirkburn  talk  contr 19:45, 26 March 2008 (UTC)
The error is referring to Special:Search being missing, which is apparently the case (and thus makes non-Google searching impossible). Sure would be nice to have it back.  :-) User:DarkRyder/Sig 20:01, 26 March 2008 (UTC)
Correct. It should be back later. Kirkburn  talk  contr 20:04, 26 March 2008 (UTC)

Couple of notices:

  • We just took down Wikia. Ouch.
  • WoWWiki:Server requests is updated for 1.12. Bug reports can go there - please be concise and use your judgement on the priority of the item. Emergency items, bring to IRC or post here.
  • WoWWiki:MediaWiki 1.12 changes is a list of 1.12 changes. If you know of / find more please add them! Note that some of the new extensions are currently disabled for load testing purposes.

Kirkburn  talk  contr 19:25, 26 March 2008 (UTC)

Where do we put problems with skins? I'm gonna try to live with the Monaco - Gaming skin for awhile just to see how it works, but I want to know where i can complain... Winky --Gengar orange 22x22 Fandyllic (talk · contr) 11:48 AM PST 26 Mar 2008
Ignore problems with it loading the light (monobook) skin colour scheme for templates and other stuff for now, that'll be worked on. General skin issues should come to me. If they're WoWWiki specific, WoWWiki:Server requests. I wouldn't call the Gaming skin representative, fortunately. Kirkburn  talk  contr 19:53, 26 March 2008 (UTC)
I personally am browsing the site with Monaco slate, and enjoying it :) Kirkburn  talk  contr 20:04, 26 March 2008 (UTC)
I picked the Monaco gaming because it is a dark skin more similar to the old WoWWiki skin. Perhaps we should make some subpages under WoWWiki:Server requests for particular areas like skins and templates. Also, do widgets work? They were working in the beta awhile ago, but not now (for me at least). --Gengar orange 22x22 Fandyllic (talk · contr) 12:07 PM PST 26 Mar 2008
Widgets should indeed be working - they're fine for me atm. Anything specific? I don't really want to put too much stuff on WW:SR as the techs need a clear list of what they need to deal with. Skins and template issues aren't their domain. Kirkburn  talk  contr 20:12, 26 March 2008 (UTC)
Widgets are working for me now. I upgraded to FireFox 2.0.0.13, but I don't know why that would make a difference. --Gengar orange 22x22 Fandyllic (talk · contr) 12:41 PM PST 26 Mar 2008
AJAX was turned off for a short while, likely caused. Kirkburn  talk  contr 22:52, 26 March 2008 (UTC)

Cool, from Washington DC =). --Sky (t · c · w) 12:11, 27 March 2008 (UTC)

Did the maximum page size change? The bottom of the BC Caster DPS cloth isn't being transcluded or expanded any more. Before the upgrade, I had to split the page into 3 pieces. I'm suprised it could get too large again, this quickly, if the maximum page size hasn't decreased. Also, previous to the upgrade, it actually told me what the maximum size was in the error message (2 mb). Tbannister 18:16, 1 April 2008 (UTC)

"Coming Soon" and "Future Zones" on 2.4 Patch Content

I hope I'm using the village pump correctly...I just wanted to ask someone to review what I had done, considering it's probably the most I've done so far, and I wanted to make sure what I did was right. In a few pages related to the 2.4 patch content (Isle of Quel'Danas, Magister's Terrace, Sunwell Plateau, etc), the categories "Future Zones" and "Coming Soon" were still present. I removed them. Was this done correctly? Thanks! --Lywellyn 22:16, 26 March 2008 (UTC)

Yup, you did the right thing. --Gengar orange 22x22 Fandyllic (talk · contr) 2:20 PM PST 26 Mar 2008
I'd say so long as the article is converted from future tense to present tense (if it was created in future tense), then its safe to remove the upcoming Categories and stubs. User:CoobraSssssssssssssssssssssssss User:CoobraFor Pony! {TDon't hiss at me.CIf you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all.) 04:28, 27 March 2008 (UTC)

Where do we report skin problems and who fixes skins?

According to an earlier comment, skin problems shouldn't be put under WoWWiki:Server requests. So, where do they go? If we report skin problems, who fixes them? --Gengar orange 22x22 Fandyllic (talk · contr) 2:34 PM PST 26 Mar 2008

To me. I am the skin contact. :) I collate and pass them on to the designer guy. Kirkburn  talk  contr 22:41, 26 March 2008 (UTC)

Learning some more

Two questions: One, is there a way to view all subpages of a user page (say, my own)? And secondly, is there a reason this page is marked 'stub/mob'? Thanks again! :) --User:Lywellyn/Sig 02:38, 27 March 2008 (UTC)

Special:Prefixindex, type in your username in the box, choose "User" from the dropdown. So, for you: [2]. This page is marked {{Stub/Mob}} as an example... Take a look at the text near the message box at #Stubs and reasons. --k_d3 02:43, 27 March 2008 (UTC)
Oh wow, I searched everywhere and couldn't find that. Thanks! --User:Lywellyn/Sig 03:46, 27 March 2008 (UTC)

Image locator sadness

Special:Imagelist no longer has a search bar to find images, which I loved. Made finding images very easy for possible needs. Is it possible to put one up there again? Or is there a different way to find images? User:CoobraSssssssssssssssssssssssss User:CoobraFor Pony! {TDon't hiss at me.CIf you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all.) 05:32, 27 March 2008 (UTC)

Trying my hand at being helpful. Special:Search has a checkbox for images, maybe that's how you can search for images now? Hope that's helpful... --User:Lywellyn/Sig 05:58, 27 March 2008 (UTC)
It's not as good as the image search bar that was on the page. Try searching "elf" under that, with only image checkmarked, you get no results, where as the old way you'd get a few pages of results. User:CoobraSssssssssssssssssssssssss User:CoobraFor Pony! {TDon't hiss at me.CIf you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all.) 06:25, 27 March 2008 (UTC)

Item floats incorrect

I'm having trouble with the item tooltips floating on the wrong side of the page, as you can see here. It can be corrected by adding a |disambigpage={{SUBST:PAGENAME}}, but since I've seen it affects pages with a ' symbol it should be a general Wiki problem. Compare this and this.--g0urra[T҂C] 06:46, 27 March 2008 (UTC)

Looking at the code on those two pages, the Fury page had one bit of code that the Field Marshal's Plate Helm did not. When added, as you can now see, it fixed it. The code? Simply |float=right. :) --User:Lywellyn/Sig 07:00, 27 March 2008 (UTC)
*sigh* No that's not the problem - the thing is that items with a ' in it floats incorrectly (at least for me). It's not only that one item that is wrong, take for example Inv misc tabardpvp 02 [Scout's Tabard] and Inv misc cape 07 [Sergeant's Heavy Cloak], compared to Medallion of the Horde. Using a |float=right doesn't fix the problem, see here.--g0urra[T҂C] 15:04, 27 March 2008 (UTC)
This may be a new bug introduced by the MediaWiki 1.12 upgrade. I did a search for "Scout's" and all the item tooltips have this float problem. It could be a bug in the {{tooltip}}, though. Looking at the tooltip float code, maybe the way {{FULLPAGENAME}} works changed. Usign disambigpage= with a &#39; instead of an ' seems to work as a workaround. --Gengar orange 22x22 Fandyllic (talk · contr) 9:53 AM PST 27 Mar 2008
I found an easier workaround is to just use &#39; instead of an ' in the actual item name=. --Gengar orange 22x22 Fandyllic (talk · contr) 9:54 AM PST 27 Mar 2008
I added this problem to WoWWiki:Server requests. Maybe we can get a bot to implement the simplest workaround until it gets fixed. --Gengar orange 22x22 Fandyllic (talk · contr) 10:06 AM PST 27 Mar 2008
Thank you Fandyllic.--g0urra[T҂C] 20:17, 27 March 2008 (UTC)

OpenWDB again

And I need some testers. I released there the first XML. If you don't know what OpenWDB is, please check this page. User:Adys/Sig 07:01, 27 March 2008 (UTC)

Uber n00b Question

How do i make the funky Signiture things? like everyone else -- KingStoph 11:24, 27 March 2008 (UTC)

See WW:SIG :) Kirkburn  talk  contr 13:55, 27 March 2008 (UTC)

Firefox search plugin

I just reinstalled my Firefox, and I tried to get the search engine installed automatically again in my Firefox search box, but only got errors when trying to do so. -- Cipri 15:24, 27 March 2008 (UTC)

Odd timing! I just added this to the tech team's todo list :) Kirkburn  talk  contr 15:51, 27 March 2008 (UTC)

Guild site issue

First time posting here, so if I screw up let me know. I tried to update a website link for a guild today and each time the page wouldn't save because of other guilds websites getting caught in the spam filter of the Wiki. I maintain the guild info here and on our Official WoW forums so I know the infomation is correct. This wasn't an issue last week. Is there a work around or are certain guild websites not postable anymore?--Seth 15:31, 27 March 2008 (UTC) Saltydog 17 (working on my sig shortly.)

Okay, I ran into this spam filter thing editing Guild:Legion of Chaos (Shattered Halls US) (their guild URL was caught by spam filter). I will investigate. --Gengar orange 22x22 Fandyllic (talk · contr) 12:26 PM PST 27 Mar 2008
It looks like the MediaWiki 1.12 upgrade brought with it a spam filtering mechanism. The "black list" appears to live at w:Spam_Blacklist (Wikia Central). WoWWiki may have a local one, but it sounds like Kirburn or one of the Wikia folks could explain the mechanism in more detail. The Guild:Legion of Chaos (Shattered Halls US) URL is from the cjb.net domain which is on the black list. --Gengar orange 22x22 Fandyllic (talk · contr) 12:34 PM PST 27 Mar 2008
I can, it was on our guild page that wowwiki was broke.
See, many users won't and that is the point
It is obviously more important to act like you know humor while completely missing the point, a real April Fool's prank would speculate about all sorts of WOTLK features as if they were real
Please put a disclaimer link AT TOP User:Sharlin/Sig 15:38, 1 April 2008 (UTC)
Sharlin, please take your rants elsewhere, especially if they aren't conducive to the discussion. Spam filter problems noted. cjb.net should now be unblocked. Kirkburn  talk  contr 17:26, 1 April 2008 (UTC)

Counter-vandalism IRC channel

WoWWiki has a counter-vandalism IRC channel! It picks up recent changes that are may be vandalism and posts them on the channel.

Join the channel at chat.freenode.net, #cvn-wikia-wowwiki!

It is fairly low traffic. Which is a good sign. Kirkburn  talk  contr 22:12, 27 March 2008 (UTC)

Slightly related to this, we have a strengthened spam blocker now - http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:SpamBlacklist
However, it /may/ block valid urls - if you see this occur, we can whitelist them via MediaWiki:Spam-whitelist.
Tell an admin if you see it happen, and we'll come to the rescue :) Kirkburn  talk  contr 12:28, 29 March 2008 (UTC)
Does the spam blocker use http://www.wikia.com/wiki/Spam_Blacklist to determine what to block? --Gengar orange 22x22 Fandyllic (talk · contr) 5:28 PM PST 29 Mar 2008
Tbh, I'm not sure, but I will try to find out. Kirkburn  talk  contr 02:29, 30 March 2008 (UTC)

Firefox Problems? (Mac)

Just out of curiosity, is anyone else having problems with WoWWiki on Firefox on their Macs? My PC seems to be fine, and Safari on my Mac seems to access it fine. But Firefox keeps trying and trying and trying to load the page and never makes it. Blank page. =( Any ideas? --User:Innocentlysassy/Sig 21:55, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

I use Firefox on my MacBook Pro and am having no problems... What skin are you using? --Gengar orange 22x22 Fandyllic (talk · contr) 5:30 PM PST 29 Mar 2008
No clue, I'll look at that when I'm back on the Mac. --User:Innocentlysassy/Sig 03:21, 30 March 2008 (UTC)
Well, apparently my Firefox got updated and is working fine. Not sure if that'll help, but for now I'll take it. =) --User:Innocentlysassy/Sig 22:02, 30 March 2008 (UTC)
On rare occasions I've seen corrupted files in the cache do this kind of thing. Emptying your browser cache, or sometimes just hitting the reload button while holding the shift key, can fix it. No idea if that was causing your issue, though. -W.woods 12:40, 1 April 2008 (UTC)

Stubs 2.4?

I remember someone mentioning in an earlier post that they were removing the stubs from patch 2.4. Category:Stubs/Upcoming_Patch There's still a lot of stuff in there. Can we go through them and remove them (and if they're still stubs, make them non-2.4's)? Or is there a process that needs to be done, like, check to see if they actually made the live release? --User:Innocentlysassy/Sig 22:02, 30 March 2008 (UTC)

Well some of the stubbed ones are for the midsummer festival as well. Since it's technically not live for those yet, I'd say keep the stubs how they are. And only remove the stubs on pages that are complete with all necessary info... otherwise it will just get lost in the normal stubs that are rarely looked at (unless on the page itself). User:CoobraSssssssssssssssssssssssss User:CoobraFor Pony! {TDon't hiss at me.CIf you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all.) 02:27, 31 March 2008 (UTC)
if you can figure out a way to decide which ones to remove and which ones to leave i can have the replace bot go remove the tags. Laurly talk|contr|bot 17:54, 31 March 2008 (UTC)
I think you can remove the stub/2.4, if the information seems relatively complete and does not apply to holiday events that haven't happened (like Midsummer Fire Festival). Make sure to replace the stub/2.4 with a regular stub (stub/Item, stub/NPC, stub/Quest, etc.) if the info is not complete (i.e. no source, no tooltip, no external links). --Gengar orange 22x22 Fandyllic (talk · contr) 2:05 PM PST 31 Mar 2008
Or NYI, for items like Midsummer. --Sky (t · c · w) 22:13, 31 March 2008 (UTC)

It's that time of year again....

Main Page ... we do love to mess with people's heads. Kirkburn  talk  contr 01:32, 1 April 2008 (UTC)

Nedz moar kittehs. It is still funny.--SWM2448 01:35, 1 April 2008 (UTC)
Meowwiki was better ;) -- Zeal (T/C)  01:40, 1 April 2008 (UTC)
I thought it was another vandalism again and was about to revert it, then realised that it was Kirkburn's work..... Ban Kirkburn!!!  ;) WakemanCK 01:42, 1 April 2008 (UTC)
MeoWWiki only affected one site ... visited GuildWiki yet? :) Kirkburn  talk  contr 01:45, 1 April 2008 (UTC)

Their pages URL has the words April Fools 2008 in it though so it won't fool them as well :p Leviathon 02:56, 1 April 2008 (UTC)

It's not even the 1st here yet, you bums! I was so confused >_< --Jiyambi t || c 03:24, 1 April 2008 (UTC)
Gah, dammit Adys! Nearly had a freaking heart attack after refreshing RC and seeing a page full of redlinks. --k_d3 03:49, 1 April 2008 (UTC)
Me too XD I saw a page full of red links, figured it was because they temporarily disabled those pages for GuildWiki. Then I saw that my own talk page is a blue link. I think to myself "Who said something in my talk page?" and it's still empty...that's when I realized the colors were switched. Very nice. :p --User:Lywellyn/Sig 04:39, 1 April 2008 (UTC)
I think by affecting the sidebar and functional tab links also, it spoils the prank too early )-: I mean, if a link to Special:Recentchanges on the sidebar is red, that's a big clue. (of course I'm just being picky d-: ) -Pan Sola 05:14, 1 April 2008 (UTC)
I still misclick the links by accident, while I already know that it is just a fake. On the April Fool's subject... Shouldn't we add the bard and Molten Core jokes from the WoW webpage? (or maybe even the Tauren Marine from the Starcraft II webpage) --Kulsprutejojjo 11:26, 1 April 2008 (UTC)
Its stupid. User:Sharlin/Sig 12:27, 1 April 2008 (UTC)
Follow up, it is very stupid. Put a link at the top that very obviously goes to the real main page otherwise just shut the site down. I don't mind April Fools jokes but only a fool thinks this one is funny, its annoying and will put people off because face it, a lot of people will be more annoyed than anything User:Sharlin/Sig 12:37, 1 April 2008 (UTC)
Or you could scroll to the bottom of said page, and see the link ... Kirkburn  talk  contr 13:15, 1 April 2008 (UTC)
I've been going through a lot of websites, and it's disgusting to see all those people loathing April's fools' 24 hours jokes. If we lose millions of users today because of the main page being different, big deal, but heck, just skip it if you don't like it honestly. I personally preferred meowwiki aswell, just like I preferred the two-headed ogre april's fools to the tinfoil hat one. Do I pop and whine about it? No. User:Adys/Sig 13:21, 1 April 2008 (UTC)
There may be an important difference: some jokes are non-disruptive (not affecting user experience with non-April 1st content; see all of Blizzard's April's Fools). Most of what's going on around here this year is, however, in-your-face annoying :( -- foxlit 16:58, 1 April 2008 (UTC)
OK I GET IT - IT'S APRIL 1ST. Now PLEASE fix the damned site. I am an add-on developer and I am sick of not being able to tell which links are not complete and sick of being sent to that stupid home page when I click the WoWWiki home link. Please, don't disrupt the work of others with these stupid attempts at humor. If you want to prank your friends, fine but don't force this shit on everyone else.

Looks like some people need to take a chill pill, lighten up and walk away from the computer if they cannot take jokes and are so uptight that they cannot take a single ounce of humor. Leviathon 17:07, 1 April 2008 (UTC)

Oh, I see. I don't get to use the computer today on my day off, because website owners feel that they have to force their annoyance on everyone else. Great. Why don't you tell me where you will be spending your day today, and I will come and disrupt you all day so that you can't accomplish anything that you wanted to accomplish today. How's that sound? Not fun? I see.
First sign your posts with 4 tildes and second I am spending my day today looking at sites while between my classes then later on heading home and playing WoW once the servers are back up. Trust me you can't disrupt my day or life more than it already has been between work, class and other life problems. So what if you can't work on your little addon today its not the end of the world and maybe you try doing something else if you can't handle little harmless jokes. Leviathon 17:23, 1 April 2008 (UTC)
>> So what if you can't work on your little addon today << Well thanks for your condescending tone and dismissiveness. Just what I expect from most people. Yarko 17:34, 1 April 2008 (UTC)
Portal:World of Warcraft, and probably even better Portal:Interface customization. The red links switch won't go on for much longer. Kirkburn  talk  contr 17:25, 1 April 2008 (UTC)
Thank you, K. As someone mentioned above, there is funny, and there is disruptive. I don't find the solution of "take a chill pill and just go do something else with your time" at all satisfactory. Not knowing which links are busted is frustrating. Sorry, I forgot to sign. Yarko 17:34, 1 April 2008 (UTC)
rofl, took me a while to get it that it was just switched colors. Actually it's brilliant - only now you notice how you adjust to one particular design :)  INV Misc PunchCards White Armagon (<imagelink>http://www.wowwiki.com/images/c/cb/GossipGossipIcon.png%7CUser_talk:Armagon</imagelink> <imagelink>http://www.wowwiki.com/images/5/51/BinderGossipIcon.png|Special:Contributions/Armagon</imagelink>)  17:29, 1 April 2008 (UTC)
Some people do indeed need to take chill pills here. Sharlin, talking to you - but also stands to anyone in the same position. Yes, the red links are annoying, even I say that and I've been the one to put them up. Yes, the main page is ugly at the moment, yet I still supported the idea. Hey guys, look at WoWinsider, they haven't posted a single news item yet today and are getting cried and yelled at since hours. Look at YouTube, and all the whiners saying they are "losing so much revenue" because they are pissed that they've been rickrolled by the company. Look at all those websites, I can't even think of how many are getting spat on because they are pissing off their users.
You people who can't take a joke correctly, who can't bear having one disrupted day in the year, should try preparing April 2009 right now, because it's going to be the same. Websites will be disrupted, and you'll probably whine the same way if you don't take action now.
Getting a sense of humor is the first step into being less of a disruption to the others - the others will soon be less disruptive towards you. User:Adys/Sig 17:43, 1 April 2008 (UTC)
=D Linked a page to someone earlier this morning and it didn't even occur to me that the colors were switched. I just thought, my god the Lockpicking page needs to be worked on some.  ;) Cute! Wish I had been awake enough to appreciate it! --User:Innocentlysassy/Sig 20:21, 1 April 2008 (UTC)
Anyone who complains about the switch in link colours being in any way disruptive or having lost functionality of the site from needs to remove themselves from the gene pool. They're switched, not all changed to the same. It was amusing, and complete undisruptive to the site, and if you couldn't see that or have no tolerance for april fools, then that's you're own problem you'll just have to learn to deal with. -- Zeal (T/C)  07:15, 2 April 2008 (UTC)
Seriously. A moment of confusion, a moment of thought, and all the 'disruption' goes away. Just for one day notice that good links are red and blank links are blue. Reminds me of when I worked for AOhelL and we'd have people call in screaming because they couldn't get to Ebay and were 'losing thousands of dollars'. --Azaram 14:53, 2 April 2008 (UTC)
Sorry Zeal, but this site represents itself of a place of information, not for some twits to get their jollies. I don't give a jack what other sites did. But if you do, then ask yourself - what did wikipedia do? It wasn't the links colors that were disruptive; though the choice to reverse them was ignorant too; it was the fact that visitors could not even get the real main page by clicking the navigation frame on the side.
Next time ya'll want to be cute go make your own web site, if anything wiki's belong to no one and everyone so don't go messing with the functionality or usability. If it had been humorous I am and many others would have laughed, the whole event was disruptive User:Sharlin/Sig 15:22, 3 April 2008 (UTC)
No offense but, seriously, cry us a river. Azaram summed it up pretty well, if you can't get past the fact the wiki has been less functional for a day we'll miss you. User:Adys/Sig 18:14, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

Collapsed objects without autoloaded data?

If I had a page with an object that was initially collapsed (say, a hidden table), and which contained transcluded data, is there any way I could contrive it so that the transcluded data weren't downloaded until the containing object was un-collapsed?

The application I was thinking of was for pages that contain multiple large tables of data, such as a craft recipes page. Some users may not want to view all the tables, and so they'd pull an enormous amount of data for no reason. But other users may find it very useful to have all the tables on the one page, as they are currently, rather than chaotically split across a bunch of pages. Splitting the data into several hidden / collapsed tables that weren't downloaded until the user chooses to reveal them seems to me to be a solution. But then, I have no idea if this is possible.

Thanks :)

-- W.woods 12:34, 1 April 2008 (UTC)

Not possible without use of JavaScript, which is unavailable to you on the wiki. --PcjWowpedia wiki manager (TDrop me a line!C207,729 contributions and counting) 13:17, 1 April 2008 (UTC)
Wait, don't all our tooltips use Javascript? I thought the tooltip contents only download when you mouse over. --Gengar orange 22x22 Fandyllic (talk · contr) 10:27 AM PST 1 Apr 2008
They do, but then someone has to write and maintain the JavaScript and it has to be called from Common.js to run for everyone. --PcjWowpedia wiki manager (TDrop me a line!C207,729 contributions and counting) 00:57, 2 April 2008 (UTC)
Thanks :) I'll just forget about it, then. I can definitely see places where it could help with reducing downloads and taxing the server, without having to split up pages. But it sounds like it can't happen any time soon. --W.woods 03:00, 2 April 2008 (UTC)
Oh it could, you just need to find someone willing to write it and get support for admins to include it. PCJ could, but i'm going to assume he doesn't want to. Not that i'm trying to say in anyway he should have to either. I'd like to see it as a expansion of the existing hide/show script we have already, i'd imagine Sky might be interested in it too. I do question however it's usage with the (imo) uneccessary proliferation of the hide/show on tables (give support for divs while you're at it). -- Zeal (T/C)  07:05, 2 April 2008 (UTC)
Delaying download of data would require splitting the data off into another page anyway, which is apparently not what you want. --PcjWowpedia wiki manager (TDrop me a line!C207,729 contributions and counting) 21:14, 2 April 2008 (UTC)
Actually, splitting the data into separate files would be fine. It was more the option of effectively transcluding the data into an aggregate page (like a recipes page) without burdening the size of the main page when it first loads. So you'd still set up separate pages for Journeyman, Artisan, Master etc. recipes, but transclude them into the main page in such a way that the tables remain collapsed and the data unloaded until the viewer decides they want to see them. But I'm not experienced enough to judge whether that would be worthwhile enough to be implemented on a site-wide scale. (Sorry to go off-topic, but another table-related script that occurred to me as useful when I was working on the LW recipes page was one that automatically zebra-striped tables if a "striped" or "zebra" class was set on the table. I've seen such scripts on the web. If you think that's a worthwhile topic to discuss, I'll start a new topic for it!) --W.woods 04:19, 3 April 2008 (UTC)
Well, I'll think about it, then. --PcjWowpedia wiki manager (TDrop me a line!C207,729 contributions and counting) 05:13, 3 April 2008 (UTC)
Can you give an example of the type of table you're talking about? --PcjWowpedia wiki manager (TDrop me a line!C207,729 contributions and counting) 05:39, 3 April 2008 (UTC)
Tables such as those in Leatherworking patterns. Of course those ones are all written directly into that page at the moment, but they could easily be split into separate pages. The page could be reduced in size by simply making the tables collapsed, if it was possible to delay the loading of their data --W.woods 14:22, 3 April 2008 (UTC)
OK, got a test case working; perform a cache refresh, then see User:Pcj/AJAX test, which includes User:Pcj/AJAX test include. I may yet create a template to help creation of such tables and maybe in the future support DIV and SPAN AJAX retrieval. But let me know what you think. --PcjWowpedia wiki manager (TDrop me a line!C207,729 contributions and counting) 16:46, 3 April 2008 (UTC)
Created {{ajax}} to aid in AJAX table generation. --PcjWowpedia wiki manager (TDrop me a line!C207,729 contributions and counting) 16:54, 3 April 2008 (UTC)
On the target page, be sure to wrap the table cells in <table></table> or {| |} (with no parameters - do all your table formatting on the calling page) so that the wiki parser doesn't screw the code up majorly. --PcjWowpedia wiki manager (TDrop me a line!C207,729 contributions and counting) 16:56, 3 April 2008 (UTC)
This is not working for IE atm, trying to debug it. --PcjWowpedia wiki manager (TDrop me a line!C207,729 contributions and counting) 17:07, 3 April 2008 (UTC)
Should now be working (hopefully) with IE. --PcjWowpedia wiki manager (TDrop me a line!C207,729 contributions and counting) 18:51, 3 April 2008 (UTC)
Added option for auto-load text and fixed various bugs. --PcjWowpedia wiki manager (TDrop me a line!C207,729 contributions and counting) 19:20, 3 April 2008 (UTC)
Correct me if i'm wrong, or if somethings screwing up just for me, but isn't the data link merely a link the data, no ajax loading in the current page going on? :S -- Zeal (T/C)  07:49, 4 April 2008 (UTC)
Ah, probably because you have my tooltips turned off. You'd have to enable them to see it. --PcjWowpedia wiki manager (TDrop me a line!C207,729 contributions and counting) 12:06, 4 April 2008 (UTC)
Made the tables deprecate to non-script versions with more explanation. --PcjWowpedia wiki manager (TDrop me a line!C207,729 contributions and counting) 22:49, 4 April 2008 (UTC)
Thanks Pcj, that's quite impressive! It worked well for me. The only thing that occurs to me immediately is that users will probably anticipate that they can hide the table body again, much like a normal collapsible table. But I suppose that could be achievable with the current code if the table was simply set as hidden (I haven't had a chance to play with it yet).
That feature is now added. --PcjWowpedia wiki manager (TDrop me a line!C207,729 contributions and counting) 01:23, 5 April 2008 (UTC)
Nice depreciation. Any chance you could not make it dependent on the core of your tooltips and having to enable it? ;p -- Zeal (T/C)  11:12, 5 April 2008 (UTC)

The recent historical figure Mother Theresa is ....

The recent historical figure Mother Theresa is a possible archetypical image for WoW's Holy specialised Priest.

Sorry, but I couldn't help and LOLed when I read this line on the Choosing a class page. Checking back the history, the same guy added this line also added a lot of funny "archetypical image" for several more classes. Another guy already questioned the appropriateness of such examples on its discussion page. What do you guys think? I prefer to cross those silly sentences out all together.

WakemanCK 02:52, 2 April 2008 (UTC)

Remove them. Make sure to leave an edit summary saying something like "inappropriate class flavor text/image." --Gengar orange 22x22 Fandyllic (talk · contr) 9:47 PM PST 1 Apr 2008
Indeed. Even if we were creating a specific guide to all the inspirations the designers had when creating a class; we'd never, ever even come close to finishing it. Why should this out-of-context reference (or two) make the exception? Melaisis 22:12, 5 April 2008 (UTC)

WoWWiki:RC broken?

Last update was 2008-03-25. --Gengar orange 22x22 Fandyllic (talk · contr) 9:47 PM PST 1 Apr 2008

Mikk has been notified on his talk page. Kirkburn  talk  contr 01:16, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

Addition to Reagentbox

Ok, I am not any kind of a programmers, so I have no idea how difficult this would be. I like to see the raw materials for an item as well as the 'finished' ones... like Inv gizmo newgoggles [Surestrike Goggles v2.0] needs two Hardened Adamantite Tubes, which equals three Hardened Adamantite Bars, which equals 30 Adamantite Bars, which is 60 Inv ore adamantium [Adamantite Ore]. It would be nice to have a link in the box that would switch it from just the one line to frex:

  • 2 Hardened Adamantite Tube
    • 3 Hardened Adamantite Bar
      • 30 Admantite Bar

for each item. I know this could get a bit unwieldy, but it makes it a lot easier to plan farming / shopping to know what exactly you're going to have to chase up. --Azaram 14:59, 2 April 2008 (UTC)

That would require an extensive and unnecessary amount of programming, just go to the respective item pages and look up the mats. Shouldn't be that hard to calculate the amounts of raw materials needed.--g0urra[T҂C] 15:04, 2 April 2008 (UTC)
I could see how it would be very useful to see the raw materials needed, but I don't think this kind of reprogramming is necessary. Rather, under the normal materials box, just include a second one that lists only raw materials needed. Would this solve the problem satisfactorily? --Jiyambi t || c 21:10, 2 April 2008 (UTC)
I made this. It's not a template, but is it sort of what you had in mind? I don't know if there is a way to hide the raw materials without using the show/hide tables, but I might try doing that as well. --Jiyambi t || c 00:36, 3 April 2008 (UTC)
UPDATE: I now made it function as a template, but it's rather bulky and unwieldy. However, if you like to use it or move it to the main namespace (or improve it!) feel free. --Jiyambi t || c 01:17, 3 April 2008 (UTC)
Cool! I don't currently make any pages that would need said template, but it certainly does look useful. =) Good job. --User:Innocentlysassy/Sig 08:35, 3 April 2008 (UTC)
I'm perfectly happy to have just a list of the raw materials on the page a la Inv misc bag 24 netherweave imbued [Imbued Netherweave Bag], but someone went to the trouble to code the box, so rather than clutter the page with loose text (which doesn't bother me) I figured I'd ask. (looks at Jiyambi's page) That would work but looks a little busy... I'd prefer one show link to show all the materials at once. That would be kind of hard tho, I guess.. Thanks for trying tho. :-). --Azaram 10:04, 3 April 2008 (UTC)
Apparently not thinking incredibly clearly, either; not surprising since I was at work. :-p Would it be possible to just extend the box to add a 'raw materials' section? Would still have to be filled out manually, but if it was there, it'd be easier. --Azaram 12:22, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

So you're looking for something like this?--g0urra[T҂C] 15:40, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

I like that much better, Gourra! Much less busy than mine, and simpler too. --Jiyambi t || c 21:20, 3 April 2008 (UTC)
I actually liked yours, Jiy. I agree that the other one is simpler, but I liked the fact that you could tell on yours which raw mats went to what. So say I gathered all those raw mats, now I have to do an additional look up to see which ones pertained to what. Know what I mean? --User:Innocentlysassy/Sig 00:41, 4 April 2008 (UTC)
I guess that is true. I will leave mine where it is, and people can feel free to change it around as they wish and use it as they wish. --Jiyambi t || c 05:09, 4 April 2008 (UTC)
Gourra, please don't use T:Item in such a case. :X --Sky (t · c · w) 05:26, 4 April 2008 (UTC)
I have to use T:Item to make the icon show automatically, unlike {{reagentbox}} where you have to specify it. Unless there's a way to show the icon in some other magical way, of course, without having to look it up (it becomes very time-consuming if you have, say, 8 items).--g0urra[T҂C] 14:20, 4 April 2008 (UTC)
Not much of a reason not to; the section isn't likely to be transcluded, and isn't likely to be repeated a lot of times on the same page; might as well use {{item}}. -- foxlit 21:30, 4 April 2008 (UTC)
The transclusion nightmare: the list of templates used becomes ineffective if browsing what's on the page, for one reason. There's absolutely no reason to use them, other than we like automatic pictures (man, which I could cite "ILIKEIT" from WP...). Using the argument "Not much of a reason not to" is a strawman. --Sky (t · c · w) 22:20, 4 April 2008 (UTC)
I believe the reason for it was mentioned by Gourra above: if {{item}} is not used, it is simply not time/labor efficient to use the reagentbox to make icons. In this case "not much of a reason not to" combined with "it's a complete pain in the butt not to" = (imo) a good reason to use it. --Jiyambi t || c 22:30, 4 April 2008 (UTC)
Gourra's is what I had in mind for what I last mentioned... I didn't think of the which goes to what; I use a mod called Advanced Tradeskill Window that automatically queues things... like if I want to make a Foo, and the materials are a Bar, Bel and Qux, I hit 'queue Foo' and Bar, Bel, Qux and Foo appear in the list. The pictures I don't care much about, but it doesn't hurt (me) to have them there... Thanks for the work, Jiyambi and Gourra...--Azaram 00:58, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

Talent Points

If I unlearn my talent points will I have to earn them again or can I keep the talent points I have and reassign them? -- Jsigman79 20:58, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

You gain talent points as you level up. You can only level up once, so there would be no way to re-earn them. To answer your question, you reassign them. For future reference questions involving the game itself should be asked in the Warcraft pump User:CoobraSssssssssssssssssssssssss User:CoobraFor Pony! {TDon't hiss at me.CIf you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all.) 21:10, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

Beta test the new skin!

For anyone who wants to test the upcoming new skin for WoWWiki, please visit User talk:Kirkburn#Monaco skin preview. I want to check there are no issues with it before it goes live. Any issues you do find, please leave them on my talk page under that topic :) Kirkburn  talk  contr 22:26, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

  • Uh, is the new skin supposed to be live now? When I'm not logged in, I'm seeing a white-background skin, I presume it's the new one? Majromax 20:14, 4 April 2008 (UTC)
  • Right, my [Special:Preferences] page is saying that "The admins for this wiki have chosen: Monaco Sapphire as the default skin." I don't think this is supposed to be live yet, correct? The 'Monaco Sapphire' skin without your custom changes looks rather... bad, what with a white background. Majromax 20:27, 4 April 2008 (UTC)
You need to go to the page Kirkburn linked above and follow the instructions there to set up the custom skin. The skin he is talking about is not live just yet, hence the extra steps to see it. Once we have done the beta testing, it will be edited to become the default skin. --Jiyambi t || c 23:00, 4 April 2008 (UTC)
The skin accidentally got set as Monaco Sapphire (blue and white) earlier today for about 2-3 hours, which has since been reverted. When the final skin goes live - likely on Monday, it will be the fully WoWWiki-themed version. Kirkburn  talk  contr 00:05, 5 April 2008 (UTC)

Note that whilst testing the skin, please check Portal:World of Warcraft and the other portals, as I plan for them to go live with the skin. Kirkburn  talk  contr 00:14, 5 April 2008 (UTC)

Portal namespace redux

Since I have had questions over the new namespace, previously discussed here and elsewhere, I shall make a post on the subject:

Why have a portal namespace?
As contents articles do not belong in the article namespace (something Main Page rather violates), they should go elsewhere. I do not believe WoWWiki: is the place for this, because it is for articles primarily related to the running of the wiki. To put articles primarily intended for viewers of the wiki in there makes little sense to me. Contents pages are essentially a third type of content.
It also made it easier to create Portal:Warcraft universe, something WoWWiki has rather neglected so far.
I expect portals to be a page people bookmark in their browser. People who don't play WoW would probably bookmark Portal:Warcraft universe, for example.
But it only has four portals!
This is true, but the intention is to expand this over time. I want users to come with their own portals for the different subjects on the wiki. One for Warcraft, one for Warlocks (which could tie in well with the projects), whatever deserves one. It's all about organising content and making it accessible.
I see little downside to having a small namespace (which has precedent, see memory-alpha.org for example). Apart from creating two more options on drop downs, it adds no load or particular complexity.
What does this mean for the Main Page
The intention is, on Monday (assuming the skin goes live), for Portal:World of Warcraft to become the main page of the wiki. This is easily done by one code tweak and a redirect. It is almost identical to the current main page (since that is already WoW-centric), but has a different name to be consistent with the other portals.
Why now?
With the new skin comes new opportunities. The sidebar can list many more items and can be organised much better by type. It also allows listing several different portals. I wanted to get this done early so we don't have more trouble at a later time when we decide we do need a portal namespace - e.g. mass page moving, breaking people's bookmarks. By starting it now, we set a precedent and a clear sense of purpose for articles in that namespace. Create something there, and you're making a contents page for the wiki. It can run on different rules to WoWWiki type pages which are normally static (and something normal users shouldn't really normally touch).
The current portals, with the exception of the WoW one due to its primary position, are open to be edited by anyone. For this to work properly, the design will probably have to be reworked a bit, but the philosophy I want is that it's a more open way of users organising content, and not relying on an admin to "fix it".
So why do I think this is important going into the future and what next?
The change is so we don't have to deal with it later, especially at the inevitable point that WoW becomes less of a focus in the Warcraft series. Assuming portals are created one change to come later (much later, probably) is that the WoW portal stops being the main page and instead that becomes Portal:Main which links to all the different portals. I'm not advocating that we go that far in moving away from a WoW focus at the moment, but it will probably become an issue in the future.
Now, having written this, I have had a thought - should Portal:Main be the main page to switch to on Monday (with the WoW portal moved there), or does it make sense as it stands? The current way around it will mean probably changing the main page again at some point in the future, whereas this way means moving the WoW content off it at some point.
Benefits of Portal:WoW - more accurate name, better search ranking
Disadvantages - not a "main page" style name, won't always be the main page.
Benefits of Portal:Main - more forward looking, permanent name
Disadvantages - will probably mean WoW content moves to a different location in the future, could confuse.

Remember, launch of the skin (and portal system) should be Monday. I did not intend to post this so late, but .. well, I didn't realise I needed to post this stuff. Kirkburn  talk  contr 02:41, 5 April 2008 (UTC)

Unless you're running into a double redirect with how you're planning to make the main page switch, i makes most sense to me for Portal:Main to be setup as the main page, but redirect to Portal:WoW for now. Failing that, a transclude into Portal:Main? *shrug*. You know i'm all for this namespace and it's expansion anyway. Now you're thinking with portals ;) -- Zeal (T/C)  11:09, 5 April 2008 (UTC)
That's pretty sensible. Transclude P:WoW into P:Main. That way P:Main can stay locked, but we can unlock P:WoW, even though it'll still be the primary page. Kirkburn  talk  contr 15:34, 5 April 2008 (UTC)
Done. Kirkburn  talk  contr 15:45, 5 April 2008 (UTC)

I suggest you create WoWWiki:Portal project or something to organize the creation of new portals and stuff. Also, how about a "tab tree"? Clicking on the wow tab would reveal a new row of tabs with classes, quests, instances and so on. And when youy clicked the classes tab, another row of tabs would appear with each of the classes. May sound a bit complicated, but I think it could work if it was done in a clever way. --OseTalkz / Contribz 20:07, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

The point of policy

Would like someone who makes policy for this wiki to review the page Talk:Your_mom please. I've made my views clear on the bottom of that page, but it boils down to people trying to enforce the letter of the law to conclude an outcome to a deletion vote (wether you think the article should be deleted or not is irrelevant), while my view is that the deletion policy is there to set a framework people must follow to avoid abuse and random opinionated delete markers, that is the principle of the policy, and the policy shouldn't be used to 'selectively ignore' certain votes to favour an outcome (the voting score is clearly 4 keep 3 delete before the "vote in progress" tags were removed and a delete rule was applied). Thanks

Nuts looks like the page got removed in the last 5 minutes while i was writing this :P is there any way to view the history for a deleted page or are they actually truely deleted from the wiki db rather than just marked as such? :| See i'd say since the 3 votes were in before the vote was closed they still count, the policy just says you can move from a vote to deletion tag within X days, not that you can historically discount votes based on this policy?

Iprice 14:31, 5 April 2008 (UTC)

Can you give a summary of what was on that page? Based on the title, it doesn't sound good. --Piu (?!) 17:20, 5 April 2008 (UTC)
It was a silly page, that mainly delt with Barrens chat. Do not deletion votes need to win by three? --SWM2448 18:53, 5 April 2008 (UTC)
It's merely for consensus, not binding. I think the implication here is someone changed it to a deletion vote (which seems to be the correct choice) but removed the previous voting (wrong afaik, but there could be cause to remove defunct votes). Since then, it seems like an admin just deleted it anyways for w/e reason they believed to be valid. -- Zeal (T/C)  19:03, 5 April 2008 (UTC)
Aye the page wasn't particularly important or necessary, the vote centered around wether there was a place on the wiki for an explanation of what "Your mom" stuff is about, regardless I am not here to defend or attack the relevance of the page, mearly the way the person set up the vote used the policy to selectively ignore vote that were outside the "5 day" time frame but were still in before the vote was actually closed. The page history made that very clear. At the point in the history log at which the vote was changed to closed there was not a sufficient majority to warrent a delete result (4-3 in favour of delete). Iprice 16:32, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

SVG icons

See Category:SVG icons - the goal is to replace the current png icons in Category:WoWWiki Icons - does not include the third party website icons ofc. The ones I've uploaded now are from the Tango iconset, and of course I'm not done. Thoughts? User:Adys/Sig 21:00, 5 April 2008 (UTC)

Looking good to me!--g0urra[T҂C] 21:03, 5 April 2008 (UTC)
All hail SVG! --k_d3 21:03, 5 April 2008 (UTC)
Great looking stuff! Kirkburn  talk  contr 17:08, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

Article of the Day?

Just a small comment, but does anyone else agree that the "Featured Article" on the main page is very repetitive and hardly ever shows different content between common articles? -- TheAdamant 03:05, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

That's because all we're using is a small rotation. WW:FA. Chime in for articles you want to see in the list. It could use an updating. --k_d3 04:59, 6 April 2008 (UTC)
Indeed, it needs new articles, I've just been caught up with site upgrade stuff at the moment. Kirkburn  talk  contr 17:09, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

Skin and portals are live!

The new skin and main page portals are live! Check WoWWiki:Upgrade early 2008 for more info. Kirkburn  talk  contr 09:04, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

Since this new skin going live, all the monaco skins on ww are causing problems for me. I get wgPrivateTracker undefined when trying to use the user link drop down, and in ie7 (and my avant which i use) the cpu usage constantly sits around 20% per open wowwiki tab, and climbs up when moving the mouse around or doing things in a tab. As a side issue, heavy full cpu like this causes known problems with logitech drivers, so middle mouse stops working as intended and "Ctrl+Shift" becomes locked on until pressed again, ultimately making the site unusable.
I've dsiabled all js that i run on my browser, i've also diabled my user js. So the problem lies outside my control. Monaco works perfectly fine on other wikia wikis, so i'm inclineded to beleive it's an error caused by a modifaction on ww, or the javascript we're running conflicting. -- Zeal (T/C)  09:39, 7 April 2008 (UTC)
Possibly it's some conflict, I've not run across any problems on Fx2, Fx3 or IE7. I'll report the missing vars. Kirkburn  talk  contr 09:54, 7 April 2008 (UTC)
I use the "wowwiki" skin listed under Old Skins. This won't be removed will it?--Rockfang 23:38, 7 April 2008 (UTC)
Nope. It won't be actively supported, but then, it isn't disappearing. --Sky (t · c · w) 23:42, 7 April 2008 (UTC)
Complaint! The "Wiki page in widget" seems to put it's pages in the Mediawiki namespace... since these are going to be per-use things, would it not be better to use the user's namespace? Also, there is no edit link in the widget, which could make this hard for people to change around. I think the most common use is going to be bookmarks, so fast editing is a must. User:Tekkub/Sig 02:01, 8 April 2008 (UTC)
I can't even figure out how to USE the "Wiki page in widget". I can change the title of that widget just fine, but no matter what page I put in, it always comes back "Special:Mypage/bookmarks". What gives? -User:Lywellyn/Sig 09:15, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

The 16x16 icons

Maybe I'm missing something obvious here but... how do I make the 16x16 kind of icons? I mean, look at [Gauntlets of the Ancient Frostwolf] for example - in the "Vendor" section of the tooltip there are two small icons for the items needed to obtain them.
Now when I tried to do the same with [Felstrength Legplates] I saw that the smallest kind of INV_Pants_Plate_24 icon is missing - there are only the 64x64 and the 32x32 ones. How to fix that? -- Vysogota T / C

Don't forget the extension. [3] --k_d3 03:48, 8 April 2008 (UTC)
Nah, stupid me... I knew I was missing something obvious, but I didn't suspect it could be that trivial. Thanks. -- Vysogota T / C
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