MediaWiki talk:Community Portal

2012-06-22T05:43:55Z

108.176.195.222: /* Captions need to go */

__NEWSECTIONLINK__

This is the place for discussion of topics that affect the entire wiki. Some topics that would ordinarily be here have merited their own pages:

{{chapters|title=Specific Discussion Subjects|align=left|content=
<div class="list-header">'''Moving From Wikia:'''</div>
* [[Transformers Wiki talk:Community Portal/Arriving|Arriving]]
* [[Transformers Wiki talk:Community Portal/Leaving|Leaving]]
* [[Transformers Wiki:Community Portal/Complaints|Complaints]]
<br/><div class="list-header">'''New Ad Policy:'''</div>
* [[Transformers Wiki:Ads|Ads]]
<br/><div class="list-header">'''Bookworm Database-Crash:'''</div>
* [[Transformers Wiki talk:Community Portal/Damage Control Central|Damage Control Central]]
* [[Project:Bookworm Crash]]
* [[Transformers Wiki talk:Community Portal/Leaving2|Leaving Take 2]]
<br/><div class="list-header">'''Server Move:'''</div>
* [[Transformers Wiki talk:Community Portal/Arriving2|Arriving Take 2]]
<br/><div class="list-header">'''Relicensing:'''</div>
* [[Transformers Wiki talk:Community Portal/Relicensing|Relicensing]]
<br/><div class="list-header">'''Dealing With Vandalism:'''</div>
* [[Transformers Wiki talk:Community Portal/Vandalism|Vandalism]]
<br/><div class="list-header">'''GoBots Sister Wiki:'''</div>
* [[Transformers Wiki talk:Community Portal/GoBots|Discussion on the place of GoBots in this wiki]]
}}<br/>

{{:{{FULLPAGENAMEE}}/Archive}}


== Captions need to go ==

It seems I am not the only one who finds the caption "humor" annoying and irrelevant to the photo it is placed with. I see in huge bold letters 'THE FUNNY STAYS. -The Management' So it seems this is not the first time someone has brought this up.

It seems " The Management " are the few people who get their kicks from such while the rest of the users are stuck just rolling their eyes. I for one will no longer be visiting this wiki because of such.

The nail in the coffin for me was a caption that I looked up as I wondered why I didn't get the "joke" as I seen tons of Xformer related shows. Heaven forbid the joke had nothing to do with transformers, only the person who wrote the joke and a small selection of people probably will understand it.

Just a little FYI 90% of the captions are unfunny, I would dare say 30% or more have nothing to do with xformers.

(sorry if this is in the wrong place, sort of new to wiki's and I wish the first thing I could have posted here would have been positive. I believe this is really positive and will help the wiki more than any article I could have wrote.)
: Thank you for leaving. --[[User:ItsWalky|ItsWalky]] 02:11, 21 June 2012 (EDT)

:Eh, the majority of the time when I stumble on a discussion on wikis on other sites, people will cite TFWiki and Wookiepedia as the best, and are generally complimentary about the humour, so while we occasionally get complaints about it, it seems like the majority of people like it. --[[User:Abates|abates]] 03:29, 21 June 2012 (EDT)

: I also believe that anything else you would have contributed to the wiki would have been less useful than this. --[[User:M Sipher|M Sipher]] 06:58, 21 June 2012 (EDT)

:....xformers? Is spelling out Transformers properly now "2 kool for skool"? --[[User:Detour|Detour]] 07:32, 21 June 2012 (EDT)

:I'd note that if you want a serious TF wiki, there's an abandoned Wikia wiki that nobody seems to have gotten the bright idea of turning into one yet instead of always trying to convert this one. --[[Special:Contributions/108.176.195.222|108.176.195.222]] 01:43, 22 June 2012 (EDT)

== TF:Prime jump-fight factoid ==

I've just started to watch Prime, and so far every episode I've seen has had someone do a dramatic jump slowed down jump before landing on someone they are fighting, (and sometimes the camera). It's quirky enough that it's stood out, and I was wondering if it's worth adding to the episode guides? I just wanted to know now because I'm going to be watching the whole of season one over the next few days, and it's easier if I know now than if it's added later. Failing that, is there anything else that people desperatly want added to the Prime episode guides that I should be looking out for? [[User:LiamK|LiamK]] 17:31, 23 January 2012 (EST)
:There is a certain level of ridiculous info you can get away with adding if you're a regular contributor doing serious and consistent work on the pages, and you handle it with sufficient comedic value. Ref: [[Enter the Nightbird|Brawn vs. Soundwave]], [[Countdown to Extinction (episode)|What Makes Starscream the Leader?]], etc. This could conceivably qualify as well, but approach with caution. -- [[User:Repowers|Repowers]] 21:22, 23 January 2012 (EST)
::Fair enough. It wasn't just going to be an adding silly jokes because oh ha ha I think I'm hilarious. I was going to add anything missing to the relevent pages as well. It's just that 5 episodes in, we've had at least 4 dramatic jumps into the camera, one dramatic jump away from the camera, and several semi-dramatic jumps off to the side. It's hilarious when characters like Bulkhead are apparently able to jump 500 feet into the air. If Springer ever shows up in this continuity family, he's gonna reach orbit.[[User:LiamK|LiamK]] 19:59, 25 January 2012 (EST)

== Expandible voice actor lists ==

There's been some noise about some of the voice actor lists getting too long and the need for a way to have them hidden unless the user expands them. I've done some test code which is [http://www.aldenbates.com/vatest.html currently hosted externally] but is easily converted into something that will work on the wiki. Currently tested on Firefox 9 and 10, Internet Explorer 6 and 8, Chrome 16, and Opera 11. Feedback, anyone? --[[User:Abates|abates]] 23:41, 31 January 2012 (EST)
:Although I was expecting a show/hide like how Wikipedia does its navigation templates, I don't mind this. Still needs a "hide" option, if that's possible. [[User:Interrobang|—Interrobang]] 23:46, 31 January 2012 (EST)
::I've added in a hide option. --[[User:Abates|abates]] 00:21, 1 February 2012 (EST)
:::If you set up a <nowiki>{{voiceactors}}</nowiki> template it'd be easy to hide the 'extended' cast names and have them show up automatically if you mouse over. '''<tt><nowiki>{{voiceactors|DEFAULT-TO-VISIBLE|DEFAULT-TO-INVISIBLE}}</nowiki></tt>'''
:::It wouldn't even require Javascript, it could be pure CSS. Simpler is better, IMO. -[[User:Derik|Derik]] 00:26, 1 February 2012 (EST)
::::I kinda dislike the idea of it opening on mouse-over, because it can have unexpected effects on the layout of the rest of the page if you're not paying attention to where you're moving your mouse pointer. --[[User:Abates|abates]] 18:32, 7 February 2012 (EST)
:::::I dislike mouse-over anything. Hide/show is a better interface. [[User:Interrobang|—Interrobang]] 18:48, 7 February 2012 (EST)
::::::Add a third dislike vote for mouse-over. If we do this which (if any) voice actors should be visible without clicking? Only the primary English performer? All English performers? All English and Japanese? None? I vote for none. --[[User:Khajidha|Khajidha]] 19:40, 7 February 2012 (EST)
:::::::I vote for whatever hides the German voice actors. I'd put the English and Japanese actors on a higher tier of importance, but I'm not opposed to hiding them. [[User:Interrobang|—Interrobang]] 19:48, 7 February 2012 (EST)
:::::::I think English and Japanese should always be shown, as they are the two biggest uh... markets? Whatever. Hide everything else, and DEFINITELY make the reveal a deliberate CLICK, not a mouseover. --[[User:M Sipher|M Sipher]] 19:56, 7 February 2012 (EST)
Can we have this template now? I think everybody agrees that the extraneous VAs should be hidden. If people want to hide English and Japanese VAs, then that can be further discussed. [[User:Interrobang|—Interrobang]] 10:48, 14 February 2012 (EST)

:[[Template:va]] (Should it be vas?)
:CSS entties which need to be added to the master file are as follows:
.tt1-voiceactorlist .tt1-extraneousFuckers{
display:none;
}
.tt1-voiceactorlist:hover .tt1-extraneousFuckers{
display:inline;
font-size:smaller;
}
.tt1-voiceactorlist.tt1-more:after{
content: "more";
padding-left:.5em;
font-size:smaller;
color:#999999;
}
.tt1-voiceactorlist:hover.tt1-more:after{
content: none;
}

:Styles are visible now if you've got [[User:Derik/kired tools|Kired Tools]] installed. Alternately you can paste the above into [[Special:Mypage/monacobook.css|your css file]] to get a look at it in action.

:If you want to make it Javascript that's beyond my remit, talk to one of the tech-guys. (Also I think it's a bad idea, but I'm against modifying the DOP for presentational purposes when there's already a markup language intended to control presentation: CSS. The wiki is currently Javascript 'light', I prefer to keep it that way.) -[[User:Derik|Derik]] 13:21, 14 February 2012 (EST)
::Why does it say "hiding the non English/Japanese voiceactors unless the user chooses to mouse over the list", I thought we had decided to make it use a click? --[[User:Khajidha|Khajidha]] 14:19, 14 February 2012 (EST)
::# I don't have the authority or access to implement that.
::# I think it's a terrible idea.
:::By all means, feel free to install the CSS styles (some CSS styles will be required regardless) and see what you think of this implementation.
:::The underlying HTML will be the same for a Javascript implementation anyway. -[[User:Derik|Derik]] 15:13, 14 February 2012 (EST)
So, er, did we come to a decision on either of these methods? I have to admit I kinda forgot about it until now. --[[User:Abates|abates]] 02:13, 5 March 2012 (EST)
:I think consensus is to use clicks, not mouse-over, despite Derik's protests. [[User:Interrobang|—Interrobang]] 04:13, 13 March 2012 (EDT)

== Facebook chat ==

Did the wiki have anyone at the TF Prime Facebook chat? -[[User:Derik|Derik]] 22:38, 6 February 2012 (EST)

==Moving (Prime)/(WFC)/(RB)/(FOC) to (Aligned)==
Considering that characters are part of the Aligned continuity family, like how [[Megatron (Animated)]] belong to the Animated continuity family and [[Megatron (G1)]] belongs to the Generation 1 continuity family.
:No, that's not how we do things. Disambiguations are made by franchise of origin, hence why it's [[Megatron (G1)]], but [[Terrorsaur (BW)]] rather than Terrorsaur (G1), or why it's [[Ironhide (Energon)]] rather than Ironhide (UT). This has been discussed ad infinitum but the consensus remains the same. The only exception has been that characters who debuted in WFC but also appear in Prime get (Prime) because of the slight iffyness of the Aligned family. --[[User:Detour|Detour]] 10:26, 8 April 2012 (EDT)
::(Edit conflict'd by Detour) I don't think we have an especially good, logical reason for why we do that with Aligned characters, other than that it simply feels very "wrong" to label a character with a prominent, regular fictional appearance in the ''Prime'' cartoon with a disambig based on their cameo appearance in a video game tie-in novel. Honestly, given that odd nature of the whole "Aligned" idea and the fact we're already breaking our standard with this continuity family's characters ''anyway'', I'm not entirely opposed to just using (Aligned) as a much handier, self-explanatory disambig, but I don't know if anyone would agree. It ''would'' feel odd, for instance, to label the Rescue Bots with that tag. And Bot Shots are a tremendous pain in the arse - it's so annoying when we have to create articles for Aligned Roadbuster and Topspin and whoever when the Bot Shots are just clearly the movieverse characters. The whole Aligned thing can sometimes be a real wiki-headache. - [[User:Chris McFeely|Chris McFeely]] 10:32, 8 April 2012 (EDT)
:::Why DON'T they just get inserted into the Movie characters sections, then? [This thing applies to a lot of Hasbro's "fuzzier" lines of late, really - stuff's matched up with what other characters in the line are part of rather than just including them in an existing article for the version they're designed after]. - [[User:Mammalian Verisimilitude|Mammalian Verisimilitude]] 10:41, 8 April 2012 (EDT)
::::I think treating Bot Shots as part of Aligned is somewhat dubious. Is there a reason it can't be viewed as using characters from multiple continuity families? --[[User:KilMichaelMcC|KilMichaelMcC]] 11:00, 8 April 2012 (EDT)
:::::We already discussed this [[Talk:Bot Shots|here]]. --[[User:Abates|abates]] 18:59, 8 April 2012 (EDT)
::::::We do that so we don't have to pick nits over where the characters belong. Bot Shots Optimus Prime could fit many of his various incarnations. I disagree with renaming them to (Aligned), somewhat because all of the (WFC) guys will eventually be moved to (Prime), anyway. [[User:Interrobang|—Interrobang]] 05:48, 10 April 2012 (EDT)
But should (Prime)/(WFC)/(RB)/(FOC) be renamed (Aligned) or not?--[[User:Finister2|Finister2]] 05:43, 10 April 2012 (EDT)
:No. --[[User:Detour|Detour]] 11:29, 10 April 2012 (EDT)
::Why?--[[User:Finister2|Finister2]] 13:55, 10 April 2012 (EDT)
:::It's already been explained why. --[[User:Detour|Detour]] 14:40, 10 April 2012 (EDT)

== Universal, properly-translated names of the Japanese Beast Wars/Beast Machines episodes ==

Okay, this has been bothering me for a while. On each page of the [[Beast Wars: Transformers (cartoon)#Episodes|Beast Wars]] and [[Beast Machines: Transformers (cartoon)#Episodes|Beast Machines]] episode, the Japanese title of each episode is given an English translation in each page's Foreign Localization section. And on the [[Geneon Universal Entertainment|Geneon]] page, under the sections of its Beast Wars, Beast Wars Metals, and Beast wars Returns releases, the Japanese episode titles are also translated into English. What's bothering me is that certain episodes are given slightly differently-translated English names when comparing those given on the actual episode pages to those given on the Geneon page. Here's a list of each differing episode title. The episode page names are on the left, and the Geneon page names are on the right:
:"The Solitary Warrior Tigatron" vs. "Lonely Warrior Tigatron"
:"Goodbye, Rattle!?" vs. "Goodbye Rattle!?"
:"The Falcon Warrior Airrazor" vs. "Falcon Warrior Airazor"
:"Floating Island Death Match Part 1" vs. "Floating Island Deathmatch Part 1"
:"Floating Island Death Match Part 2" vs. "Floating Island Deathmatch Part 2"
:"The Destrons' Dramatic Finish" vs. "The Destrons Make Drama"
:"Two Dinobots?" vs. "There are 2 Dinobots?"
:"The Ant Warrior from Hell, Inferno" vs. "Inferno, the Ant Warrior from Hell"
:"Revive, Beast Power!" vs. "Resurrected Beast Power"
:"The Immortal Starscream" vs. "Starscream's Invulnerability"
:"Fare Thee Well, Tigatron" vs. "Farewell Tigatron"
:"The Great King of Terror Arrives!" vs. "The King of Terror Arrives!"
:"You're Under Arrest, Meow" vs. "Meyow're Under Arrest"
:"Gro~w Bigger" vs. "Groooww Bigger"
:"I Am Resurrected, Dā" vs. "I am Resurrected!"
:"Blaze, Dragon" vs. "Blazing Dragon"
:"I Hath Returned" vs. "We Have Returned"
:"Resurrection of the Legend" vs. "Rebirth of the Legend"
:"The Dearly Wished Transformation" vs. "The Transformation of a Dear Wish"
:"The Memory of a Friend" vs. "Memory of a Friend"
:"Mission of the Stars" vs. "Message of the Stars"
:"The Moment of Truth" vs. "The End"
:"Captured Souls" vs. "Capture of the Spirits"
:"The Hellish All-out Attack" vs. "The General Offensive of Hell"
:"The Course of the Future" vs. "The Fate of the Future"
Could someone who's more adept at Japanese please clarify which titles should be universally used on this Wiki, and help in an attempt to create a greater sense of unity between the individual episode pages and the Geneon page (and with any other such pages on this Wiki as well)? --[[User:Sabrblade|Sabrblade]] 01:29, 10 April 2012 (EDT)
:The titles on the episode pages are more refined. Not to mention it would be easier to change the titles on a single page. [[User:Interrobang|—Interrobang]] 05:58, 10 April 2012 (EDT)
::"I Hath Returned"? That's incorrect English. "Hath" was third person singular, not first person ("he hath" not "I hath"). --[[User:Khajidha|Khajidha]] 08:10, 10 April 2012 (EDT)
:::[[User:Apcog|Apcog]] translated that. I recall the intention was to capture the old-timey connotation of the original Japanese. [[User:Interrobang|—Interrobang]] 08:21, 10 April 2012 (EDT)
:Something else that has me pondering are the specific choices made in spelling and grammar of a few of these titles. Like, the inclusion of a "The" where it may not need be (like in "The Solitary Warrior Tigatron" instead of just "Solitary Warrior Tigatron", or "The Falcon Warrior Airrazor" vs. "Falcon Warrior Airazor") or the use a comma (like in "Goodbye, Rattle!?" as opposed to "Goodbye Rattle!?") or a space between two words instead of making them a compound word ("Death Match" vs. "Deathmatch"), and the synonymous use of "Resurrect(ion)", "Rebirth", and "Revive". In these cases, are the titles on the episode pages truly the more precise titles, or could they also use some amending? --[[User:Sabrblade|Sabrblade]] 11:20, 10 April 2012 (EDT)
::Most of those details are up to the translator's discretion. But, like I said, it's easier to just edit the Genon page rather than across multiple articles. [[User:Interrobang|—Interrobang]] 11:33, 10 April 2012 (EDT)

== Category:Deceased ==
Sub-categories
*Category:Deceased (Generation 1 cartoon)
**Category:Deceased (Marvel comics)
**Category:Deceased (BW)
*Category:Deceased (Armada)
*Category:Deceased (Energon)
*Category:Deceased (Movie)
**Category:Deceased (ROTF)
**Category:Deceased (DOTM)
*Category:Deceased (SG)
*Category:Deceased (Animated)
*Category:Deceased (Aligned)

Why not?--[[User:Finister2|Finister2]] 05:52, 10 April 2012 (EDT)

:"Deceased" is a stupid idea on a wiki that focuses on fiction with multiple continuities, time periods, vague "deaths", and resurrections. All characters will inevitably die at one point. This is not a warranted category. [[User:Interrobang|—Interrobang]] 05:55, 10 April 2012 (EDT)

::Vote for "No".
::A character may get killed in a sub-continuity but alive in another. Not to mention if the character will be resurrected or not. (So, we don't need Category:Resurrected characters, either.) --'''[[User:TX55|<span style= "color:#00FA9A">TX55</span>]]'''<small><SUP>''[[User talk:TX55|<span style= "color:#0000CD">TALK</span>]]''</SUP></small> 10:11, 10 April 2012 (EDT)
:::It is an appealing idea, to have categories for characters that are deceased "now." If they are patched up, they get removed from the category. I would have changed the categories to "Deceased (Movieverse)" and "Deceased (UT cartoon)" since they are supposed to be all one continuity. The only problem I see is vague deaths and continuity inconsistencies. People would probably disagree with me that [[Brawn (G1)]] obviously survived that shot to the shoulder. So, unfortunately, I can't fully endorse the idea. - [[User:Starfield|Starﬁeld]] 11:08, 10 April 2012 (EDT)
::::If we go by continuity, we are going to have a ''lot'' of "Deceased" categories. And you could only do it by continuity, which goes against our current methods to have categories by franchise. --[[User:Abates|abates]] 16:46, 10 April 2012 (EDT)
::I agree with you guys in regards to characters. but, what about a category for ''real'' people who have been involved with the Transformers franchise (like voice actors, designers, writers, etc.) who are deceased? --[[User:Sabrblade|Sabrblade]] 11:11, 10 April 2012 (EDT)

== Scheduled downtime. ==

Our hoster is moving servers around tomorrow. One of ours is gonna be moved starting between "Thu Apr 12 23:00:00 UTC 2012 and Fri Apr 13 05:00:00 UTC 2012." So that'll happen. --[[User:ItsWalky|ItsWalky]] 21:52, 11 April 2012 (EDT)
:I presume all the necessary backups have been made? --[[User:Thylacine 2000|Thylacine 2000]] 22:37, 11 April 2012 (EDT)
::Regularly, like clockwork. --[[User:ItsWalky|ItsWalky]] 00:51, 12 April 2012 (EDT)

==Category: Cats==
Presumably we have some kind of unwritten "We don't categorise by altmode" rule in play here, so I apologise if my adding a bunch of characters to this category seemed heavy-handed but in my defence the distinction between ''Shattered Glass'' Steeljaw and G1 Ravage is, eh, pretty much non-existent, Cheetor himself says "I'm a cat", it's a subset of Characters by species and we have K-9 under Dogs, so it's hardly black and white. But my main reason for doing it was that in SEO terms, having the word "Cats" repeatedly linked a bunch of times throughout the wiki is really quite useful, as in the wider internet cats are kind of a big deal. Real effing kitten calendars and all that. Isn't that something to consider? --[[User:Emvee|Emvee]] 03:47, 26 April 2012 (EDT)
:Categorizing by alternate mode has been brought up several times, but nobody has bothered to hammer out the details and do it. I don't particularly care for it one way or another, but putting Transformers in plain categories like "Cats" and "Watercraft" based on alternate mode makes them useless to those who only want to know about actual cats or watercraft in ''Transformers''. That said, I completely fail to see the relevance of Internet memes to our categorization system. [[User:Interrobang|—Interrobang]] 03:59, 26 April 2012 (EDT)
::Well, just that keywords are good for search engines, keywords that link to relevant pages even better and lots of people search for cats on the internet. I know that my girlfriend does and at a time like this (when my birthday is coming up) it's not impossible that she might search for "Transformers cats". If that led her to, say, SG Ravage's page (which is quite accessible to an internet-savvy non-fan with its twitter references and Walky's cartoons) then she may well stick around to find out more, and maybe look for more Transformers cats through the category links at the bottom of the page. At the moment our first link in a Google search is Snow Cat, who's kinda cool but you'd probably have to be a GI Joe fan to really get it. I dunno, I'm just spitballing here, but part of my job is SEO so I hope I at least know something like what I'm talking about. Anyway, that was my line of thinking. If it's problematic then that's fine, but I'm not really convinced by the "people looking for actual cats or watercraft in ''Transformers''" argument either - on a TF wiki I think they'd assume Transformers that turn into either of those things would be included by default. They are robots in disguise, after all. --[[User:Emvee|Emvee]] 14:36, 26 April 2012 (EDT)

== Google + ==
I've made a Google + for the wiki. I just need someone to link it to the main page because I don't know how. This is the link: https://plus.google.com/106006102124340784739 -- [[User:Spydersix|Spydersix]] 19:00, 30 April 2012 (EDT)

== Alt-mode listings ==

I've seen several things here discussing listing alt-modes by ''category'', but I'm looking for something a bit less complicated. I would really appreciate having each character's page at least openly list their alt-mode in the beginning; as it stands, some pages do not make it clear what that character turns into, generally only mentioning it in passing or in screenshots. I think some kind of fill-in-the-blanks template would work well, the kind they use on Wikipedia for comic book superheroes that have sections for code names, secret identities, a brief list of abilities, etc. It doesn't even have to be that thorough, just a small piece under the page's main picture that has "name, alt-mode, faction" would be a nice change of pace. [[User:Deusoma|Deusoma]] 15:15, 2 May 2012 (EDT)
:Your idea is impractical because many characters have had numerous altmodes. Listing all of them would be ridiculously long while trying to generalize them down to a single listing would be useless. For example, [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]]. The casual fan might assume that you could just list his altmode as "semi truck" and be done with it. But he has also been a bat, a Lambourghini Diablo and a shoe. And that doesn't even get into what kind of "semi truck" he is: cab over engine like the original or long nose like the Generation 2 version. And does it have a sleeper. With or without trailer. And you still haven't covered his non-Earth modes. None of the Cybertronian forms we have seen looks anything like any of the others. --[[User:Khajidha|Khajidha]] 15:29, 2 May 2012 (EDT)
::I don't care one way or the other, but we could hide the minor alternate modes, the same as we do with voice actors. [[User:Interrobang|—Interrobang]] 15:40, 2 May 2012 (EDT)
:While I agree that we should do our best to list alt-modes, at the beginning of the article doesn't seem like the most efficient place to do it. Rather, we should continue listing the alt-mode in the description of the various toys and work on filling in those that are lacking. - [[User:Shellspark|Shellspark]] 16:26, 2 May 2012 (EDT)
: Well, there are a lot of fiction-only altmodes going on. I could see this working as a Notes subsection, possibly as a gallery. --[[User:M Sipher|M Sipher]] 17:27, 2 May 2012 (EDT)
:: Yeah, that's why I always attempt to get an image of each altmode in the fiction section as they appear. --[[User:ItsWalky|ItsWalky]] 17:56, 2 May 2012 (EDT)

==Redundant foreign names==
According to Interrobang:
:"''So? It's been the standard for a long time and exactly how do you expect readers to know that Japan uses the same name without noting it?''"
1) No, it has NOT been "the standard for a long time". In fact, we didn't do this for YEARS. You're the one who seems to have decided, fairly recently, to pull this crap. Like with "mammoth".<br>
2) Well. Why don't we just list every country in the world that also uses that name? After all, how exactly are we to know if the Canadians don't not call her Airachnid, or the Germans, or the Zimbabweans (holy shit "Zimbabweans" is ''correct''?), or the other 190-odd nations across the globe? Oh wait, because we can use some incredibly base deductive reasoning and assume that unless a ''different'' name is listed for a country, ''it's the same name and we don't need to fucking list it there just so you can get a katakana-boner''. --[[User:M Sipher|M Sipher]] 06:45, 3 May 2012 (EDT)
:There is the argument to be made that not including a foreign name leaves the reader unable to know if the character either has the same name in that country, or if that information is just ''missing'' from the article. Not that I disagree that it ''really'' seems to have got out of control, to the point that the Japanese words for "doctor" or "scientist" or "coach" or "mammoth" are being added to nameless characters' articles. I enjoyed our older attitude that basically amounted to "fuck katanana unless necessary to explain something". - [[User:Chris McFeely|Chris McFeely]] 07:05, 3 May 2012 (EDT)
::The counter-argument was already made above. ''Transformers'' is a global brand now, and it's basically a waste of space to list every country where Optimus Prime is called "Optimus Prime" (or as close as they can get phonetically), and better to assume that it is "Optimus Prime" unless otherwise noted. The ''probability'' that the name is the same is pretty damn good nowadays, especially in Japan. --[[User:M Sipher|M Sipher]] 07:34, 3 May 2012 (EDT)
:::I'm sympathetic. If somebody actually does go through the trouble to track down what Airachnid is called in Zimbabwean and it ends up being "Airachnid" then if they put the information down, then nobody else will have to go through the trouble of looking it up. What if redundant foreign names are left <nowiki></nowiki> - [[User:Starfield|Starfield]] 10:04, 3 May 2012 (EDT)
::::I hate seeing redundant names, but I agree that a certain degree of "is this already known?" may exist in a vacuum. I'm not opposed to leaving them in the code but commented out to keep them out of the page itself. -[[User:LV|LV]] 00:00, 4 May 2012 (EDT)
:::::Would it be acceptable to have a template that displays the foreign names, but hides or combines entries if the names are not unique? The template might also be able to auto-categorize by "characters missing ''language'' names", too.[[Special:Contributions/192.249.47.177|192.249.47.177]] 18:49, 29 May 2012 (EDT)

==Toy Fair/Pre-Toy Fair Catalogues==
Collectively we went all out on getting hold of the 86 PTF catalogue when it popped up on eBay and have a nice page with full scans of it (I say "we" I completely missed that fund-raising drive). Going forward, is it a feasible aim for other Toy Fair and Pre-Toy Fair cats to be collected for the Wiki or is 86 known to be the only one of significant interest? I ask because I just stumbled upon an eBay seller with the 88 TF cat (which I'd hoped to procure for use on my Visionaries wiki) and some early 90s ones, all of which are beyond my means, but at relatively reasonable prices. Can't link to them on my phone, but I thought I'd mention it in case they are of significant interest like the 86 one was. [[User:Danja|Danja]] 03:45, 6 May 2012 (EDT)

== Google Chrome ==
Does anybody else experience a ''really'' slow connection to only this site while using Google Chrome? -- [[User:Spydersix|spyder]] 21:42, 17 May 2012 (EDT)

FYI: <nowiki>{{bigquote}}</nowiki> overlaps images in Google Chrome, like on [[Morocco]]. I don't know when that started. - [[User:Starfield|Starfield]] 16:03, 22 May 2012 (EDT)

Now, the <nowiki>{{picsneeded}}</nowiki> tag overlaps the top of the episode template. It might just be my computer, but I don't know. -- [[User:Spydersix|spyder]] 18:28, 29 May 2012 (EDT)

:These layout problems are apparently an issue with the latest version of Chrome. I guess they'll get fixed in the next release or something. --[[User:Abates|abates]] 18:10, 31 May 2012 (EDT)
::There's been two new versions of Chrome since you said that, [[User:Abates|abates]], and it hasn't been fixed, so I'm reporting it to Google. Like that's gonna work. -- [[User:Spydersix|spyder]] 10:09, 19 June 2012 (EDT)

== Transformers 4 ==
Does anyone mind if I take a stab at creating a page for it? I'm not some idiot who's gonna create a crappy page with no effort. Or is it ''way'' to early to do that? -- [[User:Spydersix|spyder]] 19:03, 6 June 2012 (EDT)

== Prime game ==
What do people think about putting [[Transformers Prime: The Game]] in the nav bar? -- [[User:Spydersix|spyder]] 09:47, 10 June 2012 (EDT)
:Or we can replace the link to the Prime cartoon page with a link to the Prime franchise page, that way it avoids overcluttering the navbar. --[[User:Detour|Detour]] 14:15, 10 June 2012 (EDT)
::Yeah, that also might work. -- [[User:Spydersix|spyder]] 09:23, 11 June 2012 (EDT)
:::At least 95% of the people who click on that are likely to be looking for info on the cartoon, and I feel like if we have Rescue Bots and Dark of the Moon pointing to the cartoon/film rather than the franchises, we should aim to be consistent with our navigation. We'll presumably have to add [[Transformers Universe]] there eventually anyway. --[[User:Abates|abates]] 16:46, 11 June 2012 (EDT)
::::Yeah, I forgot about that. We probably can take Dark of the Moon to declutter it. -- [[User:Spydersix|spyder]] 16:50, 11 June 2012 (EDT)
:::::We could divide things up with subheaders or just by putting darker lines in to split up the links. Man, I wish there was a way to easily add in more links without cluttering up the menu too much. It feels like we should have links to current toylines as well, and maybe the current IDW comics. --[[User:Abates|abates]] 17:21, 11 June 2012 (EDT)
::::::Yeah probably, but what can you do, right? And I like that subheader idea. And on a different note, "Transformers Prime: The Game" is a mouthful. How can we abbreviate that? -- [[User:Spydersix|spyder]] 17:36, 11 June 2012 (EDT)
::::::: TF Prime: The Game??? [[User:Bumblebee2000|Bumblebee2000]] 08:19, 12 June 2012 (EDT)
::::::::Probably the best we can do. -- [[User:Spydersix|spyder]] 13:37, 12 June 2012 (EDT)
:::::::::So what are we going to do about this nav bar? -- [[User:Spydersix|spyder]] 18:17, 12 June 2012 (EDT)
::::::::::Are we using the <nowiki>{{Primecap}}</nowiki> template for images from it? -- [[User:Spydersix|spyder]] 10:07, 13 June 2012 (EDT)

::::::::::Be patient. This stuff never happens overnight. --[[User:Detour|Detour]] 18:50, 12 June 2012 (EDT)
:On abbreviating the name, as everything on the wiki is Transformers, you can say "Prime: The Game" instead of "TF Prime: The Game". The "TF" is assumed. [[User:JohnnyMrNinja|JohnnyMrNinja]] 15:30, 13 June 2012 (EDT)

== Rare/Unkown vintage G1 Walkie Talkie toys? ==

Hi guys. I was just browsing ebay and came across 3 old G1 Walkie Talkies that don't appear to be mentioned on the wiki anywhere.
#1- [http://www.ebay.com/itm/Transformers-Walkie-Talkie-ROBOT-1987-Hasbro-Inc/270982316728/ This] one appears to be an Argentinian Transformer with the mold licensed from Commando Toys.
#2 [http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Transformers-G1-Walkie-Talkies-Boxed-/300654034838?pt=US_Action_Figures&hash=item4600607f96/ These] guys appear to be unnamed generics.
#3 [http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/REAL-VTG-80s-TRANSFORMERS-INTERCOM-TELEPHONE-SYSTEM-WIRED-WALKIE-TALKIE-NIB-MIB-/360458042129?pt=US_Action_Figures&hash=item53ecf93b11 This] one features two Optimus Primes as an "Electronic Intercom Telephone System" (which seems to basically be two walkie talkies connected via a wire). Box says made by Nasta in lager photos and check out that goofy looking transformation sequence.

I'm not entirely sure if any of these are legit as I've never seen them mentioned anywhere else before. Anyone else know more info about these? Should they be added to wiki? [[User:RavenG|RavenG]] 02:27, 16 June 2012 (EDT)

== Technical Contact (and passwords) ==

Hi, guys. It's Botch the Crab... though I can't sign in as my account. I lost my password. I don't know what email address is associated with the account, but whichever one it is, when I did the "forgot password" thing and was told a new password was emailed to me, I never received any emails.

So my first question is: who can help me re-claim my account?

My second question is: who are the technical administrators of the wiki, and is that information posted somewhere that I couldn't find? I tried contacting Chris McFeely and David Willis, but neither of them were able to help, nor did they know who
would. So! Suggestions?

:I tried emailing your username, but it didn't work... It said that I need to be logged in with a valid email set, but I had done both of those things. Can any other user successfully send an email to [[User:Botch the Crab]]? Because it might be the email module that isn't working and that's why you can't reset your password. I don't think the MediaWiki framework has been updated since 2008 (we're running [http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Release_notes/1.12#MediaWiki_1.12.0 MediWiki 1.12.0]), and if David Willis doesn't know who's running the tech (seeing as how [http://www.networksolutions.com/whois-search/tfwiki.net he registered this site), it makes me think that there are not any people doing that. I could be mistaken, but I think there are only admins that are affecting change within the MW software.
:As far as I know, once a password to a MW site is lost there is no recovery outside of email, at least that is the case for WP. [[User:JohnnyMrNinja|JohnnyMrNinja]] 17:49, 16 June 2012 (EDT)

::I just tried sending an email to Botch and it worked, though the copy I sent myself ended up in my gmail spam folder. --[[User:Abates|abates]] 18:48, 16 June 2012 (EDT)

:::You're right, I had to confirm my email address and now I can email, although emails from this site were marked as spam for me as well. Botch, I can only hope that you haven't checked your spam folder. [[User:JohnnyMrNinja|JohnnyMrNinja]] 00:54, 17 June 2012 (EDT)

:Thanks for all the help, guys. Unfortunately, I haven't received any of the "new password" emails. (Yes, I keep checking the spam folder.) The frustrating part is that without being able to sign in, I cannot confirm ''which'' email address these are being sent to. All my emails are forwarded to my gmail account, so I have no idea why I wouldn't receive them. It's a mystery. It's weird to think it's possible that none of the administrators have the access or ability to solve this.--[[User:Botch|Botch]] 23:18, 18 June 2012 (EDT)
::I thought Scout and/or McFly were doing our technical stuff. --[[User:Abates|abates]] 23:27, 18 June 2012 (EDT)

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