MediaWiki - User contributions [en]

User:Abates

2009-05-27T02:33:50Z

203.97.2.142: abates, logged out cause I can't edit this page while logged in.

The lobby for [[Sky-Byte|Sky-Byte]] in [[Transformers Animated (cartoon)|Transformers Animated]] begins now!

[[User:abates|abates]] is the mod from New Zealand!

==Handy facts about New Zealand==
* It is [[Australia]]'s eastern-most state.
* It is entirely populated by sheep and hobbits.
* Our Prime Minister is John Key, and his name is pronounced as one word, preferably with a faux Scottish accent so you sound like Shrek.

MediaWiki talk:Community Portal/Damage Control Central

2009-03-18T19:40:20Z

203.97.2.142: /* Wikia links */

Additional discussion on this situation can be found on these Allspark.com threads:
* [http://www.allspark.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=56439 "TFWiki Problems, Any idea what's going on?"]
* [http://www.allspark.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=51208&st=400&p=1155749&#entry1155749 "Major Wiki Work, A thread for additions to Transformers wikis."]

==Hey hey, what can I do==
I think at this point we must begin formulating plans based on the assumption that the site is a total loss. This means damage control first, then restoration, then prevention.

Assuming no good news comes through, it seems to me we need to take the following steps. Bein' that I'm not a tech guy, there may be more options than what I'm seeing, but here's what I figure we gotta do:

#take down the bulk of the site's pages so Google's cache will not overwrite them
#figure out a system to make Derik and Abates' caches of Google-archived pages accessible to editors as they come in (Derik mentioned it'll take over a week to get a complete set off Google.)
#if possible, automate the stripping of HTML tags and other non-Wiki goop from those pages before anyone tries to edit them, including Wikia links.
#find a way to divvy up a restoration workload among our 50 or so regular editors.
#find a new server. We would be idiots to remain here.

I still hope most of this will be unnecessary, but at this point, I'm losing faith. -- '''repowers''' [[Special:Contributions/99.140.167.2|99.140.167.2]] 12:08, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
: Spoke with Bookworm several times this morning. He still has a few more computers to search for backups, but, well, at this point I'm going to assume the worst. He is going to try to at least get our user database working. He wasn't aware that was a problem until I let him know. I think Scout is trying to get all the pages downloaded from Google Caching. I've grabbed a few of my own, but she's got, like, thousands of pages so far.
: As for getting a new server... anybody got any ideas? Hell if I know. Frankly, don't listen to me anyway on that. --Walky

::Take everything down immediately. The longer the site stays up as-is, the greater the risk of contaminating Google's March 9th cache and the more linkbacks we send to Wikia. Then we either beg Google for a mass infodump, or.... 50 editors grab 160 pages each. EDIT: or Scout gets them! Thanks, Scout; good to see at least the words "silver lining" in print, even if I don't see the actual thing itself yet.... '''Thylacine 2000'''--[[Special:Contributions/74.73.131.210|74.73.131.210]] 12:17, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
:::If we take everything down, what are we going to edit back together? WHEN are we going to edit everything back together? Taking it down just delays our ability to fix it. --Walky
::::If we've got our copy of the cache, then site shutdown isn't nearly as important. The main concern is that we'd lose the Google cache. Looking like retards... well, we'll just have to take our lumps there. (I guess we could set permissions for content pages to only logged-in users? Dunno.) -- '''repowers''' [[Special:Contributions/99.140.167.2|99.140.167.2]] 12:30, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
:::::Even if it doesn't overwrite the cache, I see no reason to have the site up given the state that it's in. I say take it down until the head-honchos figure out how to clean up this mess. '''(Undecided)''' [[Special:Contributions/67.185.148.107|67.185.148.107]] 16:13, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
::::::'''Dudes'''. I noticed our front page's google cache has been updated to our current broken wiki page. So it's already begun. That's just great. --'''FFN'''
:::::At the least people shouldn't be editing any single pages right now (aside from very recently created articles, user pages and stuff like that which our cache-trawl won't cover). Once we've got the complete site cache (and converted it to wiki mark up), either the whole thing will be uploaded, which will overwrite their changes anyway, or whoever does upload them will have to go through them all picking out which ones need doing and which need updating, etc., which will only create a shit-ton more work for them. Also, I'm not certain exactly how Google cache works, but I'm pretty sure that keeping the broken pages active isn't doing us any favours. - Magnus Maximus 14:57, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
Well, this is some solid proof that Wikia sucks pretty bad. Look how often this happens over there... ''oh.'' {{unsigned|98.114.160.90}}
:What the fuck are you gibbering about? --[[User:M Sipher|M Sipher]] 18:10, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
::Odds are, it's [http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/transformers-general-discussion/223458-tfwiki-post3408570.html#post3408570 this guy] trying to troll. --[[User:Detour|Detour]] 18:13, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
:::either way, it's a good point - Wikia might still let the community come back. {{unsigned|98.114.160.90}}
::::But we don't ''want to''. [[User:Interrobang|—Interrobang]] 20:25, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
::::No it isn't. Fuck Wikia. We left them for a lot of reasons, and there is ''zero'' reason to crawl back to them. And even if we ''did'' go back we'd have the '''''exact same amount of work to do there as we do now'''''. It's infinitely better to ride this entirely surmountable problem out and stick with our principles and dignity intact. --[[User:M Sipher|M Sipher]] 20:29, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
:::::Amen. We had solid reasons for leaving Wikia. They lied to us perpetually. They stuck huge ridiculous ads in the middle of our content which we had to retool our pages around. Those ads TALKED. And as Siph said, we'd have every bit as much work to do there as we do here. We've learned a hard lesson with this weekend's stupidity, but the lesson's been learned and we can move on. This particular mistake won't happen again.
:::::But there's more to it than that. Right when we were quite openly making our plans to leave Wikia, their boss Jimmy Wales was tone-deaf or ignorant or arrogant enough to cite us as an example of how well his vision of the modern internet was working. Give the users a little space and they'll hand you all the free content you need, no matter how badly you treat them. Our leaving was subsequently covered -- not widely of course, but covered -- in real media. As ridiculous as it sounds, we're one of many test cases for how content creators on the web are going to be handled. If we stop now, we're declaring that Wales was right and digital sharecropping is the most anyone can hope for. If we learn from our mistakes and soldier on, we demonstrate that nobody needs these cretins who can't even show proper respect for the people they're profiting from. We do not need Wikia. [[User:Chip|Chip]] 20:50, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
::::::Yeah but then you'd have a wiki that works again. {{unsigned|32.165.174.59}}
:::::::No, we'd have a wiki broken apart by ads everywhere, talking ads, more ads, ads pushing images down, ads pushing images up, ads here ads there ads everywhere. I'd rather we stick this one out and fix the problem within a few days than crawl back to people that lied to us repeatedly and stuck hidden links back to Wikia in the code prior to the move. --[[User:Detour|Detour]] 21:40, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
:::::::We could have a wiki that works now if we were willing to give up on all our work for the last several months and use Bookworm's backup... which is what we'd also have to accept if we went back to Wikia. Except that then we'd have big talking ads and lying liars to contend with. [[User:Chip|Chip]] 21:42, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
:::::::Wikia would ''routinely'' break our pages with thoughtless coding-boner moves that were, really, just as stupid as what Bookworm did. The difference was that Wikia would eventually fix it, albeit after lying about the existence of the problem, then its origin, then their responsibility for it, then the guarantee that of course it would never happen again. The lesson here is not that Wikia is any less dumb and inhospitable than we already knew they were; the lesson is that we've uncovered other dumb and inhospitable hosting methods elsewhere. You don't pick one breakocracy over another--you pick a place that WORKS. '''Thylacine 2000'''--[[Special:Contributions/74.73.131.210|74.73.131.210]] 21:44, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
but... THIS wiki doesn't work. At least on wikia you have something that can stay online and not blow up. I saw what happened back during the change and it sounds like you guys were being cry babies. improving the UI and getting better ad support site wide doesn't seem like they were breaking your wiki. plus you're talking like they were singling you guys out among all the other wikis they host. Either way. I thought you guys might have actually been able to pull off something good here, but nobody has even stepped up to offer to back the wiki up properly so it doesn't happen again. great "community". well there will be a waaah-mbulance waiting the next time this happens : )

==I am a dumb, stupid man==
Just to get that out of the way. Should have told BK to back off on the database upgrade as soon as I saw his original email, and maybe we shouldn't have been here on this server to begin with. It was my call, after all. I'll do my best to make it up to you. Especially TOOG and McFeely, who did so many pages. When I remembered Google caches stuff at like 7 in the morning and started downloading pages whole-hog, theirs was the work I went after first. BEFORE HOT SHOT. That is how bad I feel. Nobody should have to watch through Energon twice. Or, uh, once. This is a terrible, horrible thing, brought on partially by my own incompetence and unassertiveness. Other people shouldn't have to learn my needed life lessons with me. --Walky
:Has Bookworm given any updates yet? Is he even still working on it?--KrytenKoro[[Special:Contributions/98.223.230.49|98.223.230.49]] 23:01, 17 March 2009 (EDT)

==What we've actually lost==
Okay, I've been trying to assess and give a realistic account of the information we appear to be missing. It's hampered by the lack of a search option, meaing I've been having to hit the random button until I've gotten to a page I can link to, and I may be missing something things, but I believe that we have lost the following sections:
*The work McFeely did on [[Energon (cartoon)|Energon]].
*[[Revelation]]
*[[All Hail Megatron]]
*[[The Reign of Starscream]]
*[[Maximum Dinobots]]
*[[Alliance]]
*[[Defiance]]
*[[Universe (2008)]]
*[[Revenge of the Fallen]] updates.
*Abates screen captures on [[Beast Wars]], [[Beast Machines]], and [[Generation 1]].
*Updated screen captures for [[Transformers Animated]] season 1 and 2.
*Last but not least, all we know of [[Transformers Animated]] season 3.

If I missed anything that stands out, please let me know. If all I've done is seriously depress you, then...I don't really know how to respond to that. -- SFH 13:49, 16 March 2009 (EDT)

:I'm not sure how worthwhile this is. I could add that we've lost almost everything related to the S.T.A.R.S. continuity (including the meta-page with that name), but seriously, we could keep listing pages forever. Not to mention that probably a huge majority of the existing pages have lost a lot of updates. I don't think there's anything we rank-and-file editors can do until either Walky appears brandishing a "routine backup" or Scout et al. get the Google cache sorted out and implemented. At THAT point, maybe taking stock would be a good idea, but until then, let's just go outside and get some fresh air. Toss a Frisbee around. Call up an old friend. - '''Jackpot''' [[Special:Contributions/216.231.37.133|216.231.37.133]] 14:01, 16 March 2009 (EDT)

::Yeah, we need a systemic, all-encompassing, computer-generated list of every page, since pretty much every page has probably been edited since the split. (though for the record, my list includes 15-20 Energon eps and 20-30 rewritten subgroup pages.) Said list needs a checklist option or something. I dunno. I had this written more coherently before the save page thing crashed. Whee, are we having fun yet? -- '''repowers''' [[Special:Contributions/99.140.167.2|99.140.167.2]] 14:28, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
:I still have all those screen captures, so I can reupload them if necessary. Of course, the images are actually still on the server, but the out-of-date database doesn't know they're there. I grabbed a complete set of Beast Machines episode articles and a near-complete set of RID episode articles from various caches last night. Unfortunately the software I wrote for doing the same only grabbed 53 articles before it was throttled. --[[User:Abates|abates]] 14:47, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
::We lost all the Titan collections that Emvee and I did. They weren't cached yet, but oddly the main Titan page had a cached version with the links I made to the individual pages. Wierd. This loss hits me really hard since I didn't start editing until this winter and '''everything''' I've contributed is now potentially gone. Since the tfwiki is one of the few joys I've had lately, it makes me feel a bit useless now. --Bluestreak7 [[Special:Contributions/98.213.132.186|98.213.132.186]] 15:03, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
::''Of course, the images are actually still on the server, but the out-of-date database doesn't know they're there.''
::If that's the case, then perhaps they can be reinstated when/if Bookworm compiles a list of files on the server that are newer than a given date.--Apcog [[Special:Contributions/99.158.0.251|99.158.0.251]] 15:38, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
That'd be Rob's work on Energon, not mine. I've lost around half the Victory cartoon, and ''every single fucking Japanese character article I ever did that's not Shuta.'' I thought we were only back to post-move September status, but we've actually regressed to June. - '''McFeely''' [[Special:Contributions/81.158.171.149|81.158.171.149]] 15:17, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
:I just saved as many of the Masterforce character articles as I could from Yahoo and MSN's cache (Google throttled me again) --[[Special:Contributions/203.97.2.142|203.97.2.142]] 16:15, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
:Can't you grab anything between June and the move from Wikia? - [[User:SanityOrMadness|SanityOrMadness]] 09:18, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
::Well, I... oh! OH! All of that stuff is still ON Wikia! Oh-ho-ho-HO! *scampers off* - [[User:Chris McFeely|Chris McFeely]] 09:20, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
In the event that we can't find a more recent backup (and at this point, if server dude can find one from even as recently as January, I'd be overjoyed), do we at least still have the original dump we exported in September which doesn't have all the wikia links at the bottom? --[[Special:Contributions/203.97.2.142|203.97.2.142]] 16:11, 16 March 2009 (EDT)

Henkei's articles - toys, pack-in manga, and Comic Bun Bun are lost as well. Typing "henkei" in the search redirects back to the old Classics (2006) with it's last mod date May 2008. Cache helps a bit though. --[[User:Lonegamer78|Lonegamer78]] 00:26, 17 March 2009 (EDT)

I'm going to see if I can salvage as much of the coloring book stuff as I can - between Powers and I, we put a fair bit of effort into it. -hx [[Special:Contributions/24.30.97.198|24.30.97.198]] 08:50, 17 March 2009 (EDT)

I am a broken man. I can muster the strength of will to do little more than sign back up. I have recovered my missing Victory episode articles... I would be uploading the Masterforce and Victory character articles now, since I have backups, but they are on another computer that has died recently. I am seriously getting bombarding with shit the last few days. Computer dies, business is turning sour thanks to the economy, and I say to myself, "Buck up, fellow, you've still got new Animated at the weekend to look forward to, and you can write it up for the wiki!" Fuck ''you'', universe. Just... fuck ''you''. - [[User:Chris McFeely|Chris McFeely]] 08:54, 17 March 2009 (EDT)

:Man, I hear ya. This comes at a time when I really can't spare much time or effort to help out with the recovery. Plus seeing that much of my work wiped out... oy. I just can't muster the will (or time) to do much beyond try and help marshal the recovery efforts. Might be best to just step away for a few days. -- [[User:Repowers|Repowers]] 09:32, 17 March 2009 (EDT)

== Anything the rank and file could do? ==

OK, so there's obviously alot of scrambling going on from all who can to recover all the massive chunks of what's been lost, my question: is it at all helpful for the rank and file occasional contributor to be doing any editting at this point? I mean, I'm sure there are a bunch of us who would be willing to edit and add here and there to fix up what small bits and pages we can. Or would such small additions and peicemeal fixes just get in the way of the eventual large scale repairs? --[[Special:Contributions/71.235.138.121|71.235.138.121]] 14:59, 16 March 2009 (EDT)

:We really don't know yet. It depends on what Derik and Scout come back with. I can't imagine there's any harm in restoring pages by hand (it could presumably get lost in whatever mass upgrades we end up doing... or not. I have no idea.) Mostly, just sit tight for the moment. When we get a system figured out, we'll ring the bells to summon the fire brigade. -- '''repowers''' [[Special:Contributions/99.140.167.2|99.140.167.2]] 15:25, 16 March 2009 (EDT)

Pick a page. Stick <nowiki>{{bookworm}}</nowiki> at the top, it'll give you a link to that page's google cache. -[[User:Derik|Derik]] 16:33, 16 March 2009 (EDT)

I've been wiping out those Wikia credits at the bottom of each page. Is this helpful, or should I stop? -- [[User:Semysane|Semysane]] 06:04, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
:Work on saving at least one 100-page set of Google cache pages first... every set we get is that many less we won't lose completely. --[[User:Jeysie|Jeysie]] 06:43, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
::I would if I had any idea what that meant. I'd never even heard of a Google cache before yesterday. -- [[User:Semysane|Semysane]] 06:55, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
:::Just check out [[#Pages .22recovered.22 list|this section]]. --[[User:Jeysie|Jeysie]] 06:59, 17 March 2009 (EDT)

== How do I properly add info to an article's "recover" page? ==

I've done the bookworm tag on some articles and saved the google cache to my harddrive... question is, how do I post this data to the articles' /recover sections? Just copy'n'paste the text, or go nab the source code? Detour --[[Special:Contributions/70.26.248.28|70.26.248.28]] 18:22, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
:I expect source code would be more useful. It will preserve the formatting, and someone can probably write a script to convert it back to wiki code. Plus, if I'm wrong, it's trivial to convert the source code to text, whereas you can't really go the other way. '''Chip''' [[Special:Contributions/69.139.147.179|69.139.147.179]] 19:01, 16 March 2009 (EDT)

:I do both, one after the other.
:The first is easier to re-format, but you'll often need to be able tog et the links out of the source code. -[[User:Derik|Derik]] 19:01, 16 March 2009 (EDT)

== Automated Cache Recovery ==
Will this program I happened upon help any? [http://warrick.cs.odu.edu/warrick.html Warrick]. It's supposed to be something that can automate getting websites from various web caches. I put a job in their queue, but if someone who has web stuff (it needs Perl 5 installed) set up on their comp can run the program themselves right now, that would help. Or is that the sort of thing Derik and Suki are already doing? (Basically, I'd like to help, but I don't even know what "phase" we're on...) --[[Special:Contributions/96.240.212.69|96.240.212.69]] 18:59, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
:It's being run. It'll take some time, and e3ven then... that's just grabbing a copy of the google cache before it vanishes.
:(Personally I'm banking on a localized reversal of [[The Fallen|the second law of thermodynamics]].) -[[User:Derik|Derik]] 19:01, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
::Well, if we're in the midst of saving the Google cache, than what we should do is... 1. Get a copy of as many cached pages as we can. 2. run them all through some sort of preprocessor 3. get a list of editors willing to help, give them each a chunk of the processed pages, and tell them to go to town reposting them. There's no sense in having people running around doing things piecemeal instead of being systematic about it.
::Which is why I was wondering if there was some sort of system already for having people grab cache pages, rather than just doing it randomly. I've been using [http://miscfile.alienharmony.com/transformers/allpages.htm this page] based on Abates' list to grab cache links for the Main namespace, and I have the first 400 links opened so far. Maybe if everyone took so many pages? (Although I have the advantage that I can force change my IP every time I run into Google's annoying throttle wall.)
::Also, I was thinking that we might consider just simply making a fresh install of the wiki software with an empty database, then simply recreating everything, if we're going to have to repost everything by hand anyway... --Jeysie [[Special:Contributions/96.233.179.58|96.233.179.58]] 20:48, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
:::Make that the first 500, which I'm going to work on saving now. Do our various editors want to post here and lay a claim on a set of numbers on the list and work on opening and saving them? (They link straight to the cache page.) Not all of the links converted cleanly, but it's probably easier to just manually fix them as you go instead of me trying to spend time manually cleaning and reposting the list. I figure, once we know we've got the Main namespace pages saved, we can then work on trying to figure out the other namespaces. (Template and Help at the very least.) --Jeysie [[Special:Contributions/72.79.218.239|72.79.218.239]] 21:06, 16 March 2009 (EDT)

== Restoring account status ==

Is it better to recreate an account, possibly messing up the caches for one's User Contributions, Talk Page, etc., so uploading images and such is possible? Or should we just sit tight a bit longer on that aspect until more restoration is done?--Apcog [[Special:Contributions/99.158.0.251|99.158.0.251]] 19:24, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
:Re-create. -[[Special:Contributions/207.224.69.82|207.224.69.82]] 20:02, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
::Feh. Okay, done.--[[User:Apcog|Apcog]] 20:13, 16 March 2009 (EDT)

== Pages "recovered" list ==

In the however likely case we are not able to get a full set of backups from Bookworm, we should probably keep a list of pages somewhere that have been at least partially recovered via Derik's bookworm template and google's cache or other caches. This way any rank-n-file editor who wants to help out can just look at the list to see what's been done so they can go save other pages. Another way is to get that listing of all the pages and have users check them off when they've been partially recovered. Thoughts? --Bluestreak7 [[Special:Contributions/98.213.132.186|98.213.132.186]] 19:53, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
:Well, here's a list of all pages that need to be ''recovered'' from the Main namespace: http://miscfile.alienharmony.com/transformers/allpages.htm with links straight to the cache pages. I've opened the first 500 links so far, and am half done with saving them, then I'll work on the next 500. Anyone else want to pitch in, lay claim to a range of numbers to save, and get on it? (Note: Not all of the links coverted over right, though most of them did. If you get an error, just fix any goofs in the link and try again. And keep a list of any pages where, even after checking the link was correct, it just didn't have a cache to save.) --Jeysie [[Special:Contributions/96.240.208.203|96.240.208.203]] 21:48, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
:I've written a Perl script to convert the HTML back to Wiki markup. It's not perfect, and I need to test it on more cache files, but it's faster than reformatting by hand. It could be provided as an online tool, maybe. --abates not signed in [[Special:Contributions/203.97.2.142|203.97.2.142]] 22:00, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
::Okay, I'm starting on the 7000s. I'll see how far I can get before I need to get to bed. I'm still holding on to hope that all this cache work is for nothing, but not expecting it. [[User:Bluestreak7|Bluestreak7]] 22:28, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
:::I'll start the 6500s. --[[User:ItsWalky|ItsWalky]] 22:30, 16 March 2009 (EDT) I got up to 6600 before it stopped me. --[[User:ItsWalky|ItsWalky]] 22:47, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
::::I'll at least be doing up to the first 1000 myself. And, I've found that if you have any way to change your IP, that will reset Google's throttle stop. (People who have rotating IPs can likely do this simply by disconnecting/reconnecting.) I also went and fixed all the broken links that didn't convert right, so feel free to refresh my list for the latest version. --[[User:Jeysie|Jeysie]] 22:50, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
:::::I have a feeling we shouldn't worry about the early ones. Both Derik and Scout have automated scripts for this, and I'm sure that's where they started. --[[User:ItsWalky|ItsWalky]] 22:54, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
::::::I'll try and do from 6000 to 6499, then. I've also got a bunch of other pages saved already, mostly G1 character pages. --[[User:Detour|Detour]] 22:56, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
:::::::Well, in my epic suckitude coupled with having other engagements I need to get finished... I've only made it to 6050... maybe someone can pick up my slack? --[[User:Detour|Detour]] 23:54, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
::::Starting with 6601. '''Chip''' [[Special:Contributions/69.139.147.179|69.139.147.179]] 23:06, 16 March 2009 (EDT) Ended at 6710. '''Chip'''
:::::I'll start with 5000-5100. Hope I can help. --[[User:G1MarvelBlaster|G1MarvelBlaster]] 08:51, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
[[Special:Contributions/69.139.147.179|69.139.147.179]] 23:55, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
Do we have a simple, automated way to grab this stuff? '''Chip'''
:Not automated, but, efficiencied:
#Open list in a new Opera window.
#Open up the "Links" panel.
#Select 50 links and "Open in Background tab"
#Select another 50 links after those load, and again "Open in Background tab"
#Drag the list tab to the taskbar to create a new window
#Reset my modem (to get a new IP)
#Repeat these steps until I have 5 windows (100 pages each) open, then go through each window saving everything as HTML.
--[[User:Jeysie|Jeysie]] 01:06, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
::If you're using Firefox, you can also use an add-on called "Snap Links" to open multiple links at a time. With it installed you just hold down your right mouse button to drag a selection box over all the links you want to open. - Magnus Maximus 03:24, 17 March 2009 (EDT)

===Status Report===
====Main Article Namespace====
Andrusi: 
Working on: 
Completed: 5801-5900 
Unrecoverable: <s>Rihoko_Yoshida</s>, <s>Rio_Gr fica_Editora</s> 

Tigerpaw28: 
Working on: 
Completed:1839-2839, 3601-3800, 4001-4200 
Unrecoverable:Dirt_Boss_(disambiguation), <s>Dirk_Manus</s>, Do_Over, <s>Doryu-</s>, Dungeons_&_Dinobots,
El_Greco, Empire7, End_of_the_Road_(Titan), Enter,_Lio_Convoy_Typhoon, Esther_Scott, February_19, Fire_&_Ice, Frederic_Doss, Friend_or_Foe!?_The_True_Form_of_the_Monster!!, Fushigi_Yamada, <s>Gairyu</s>, Generation_1_cartoon_timeline_(Japan)/src, Geonosis 
Josh_Nizzi, <s>Jose_Delbo</s>, <S>Jose_Sant'anna</s>, <s>Jose_Santacruz</s>, <s>J rmungandr</s>, <s>Kakuryu</s>, Kazuhiko_Go-do, <S>Kenichiro-_Tanabe</s>, <s>Kenso-_Kato-</s>, <s>Kenyu-_Horiuchi</s> 
Linkage_Part_13, List_of_computers, Live?_Die?!_The_Desperate_Super-God_Combination, Lloyd_Goldfine, Longview, M&M's, Mach_Kick_Voluntarily_Enlists!?, Magna-mike Magno_Sound_&_Video 
*3000 pages is a hell of a lot to do on your own. Why don't you just take one chunk at a time and let someone else help with the rest? - Magnus Maximus 19:53, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
::If you can do a chunk someone else has claimed as "working on", then go ahead. Redundancy is better than not having the pages. --abates 20:44, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
:::I'll go ahead and take 2840-4999 off my list for now. If I get to that point tonight (I plan on working on it until at least 3am EST), I'll pick back up, but for now I'll drop it. Didn't realize how much of a task it was.--[[User:Tigerpaw28|Tigerpaw28]] 21:51, 17 March 2009 (EDT)

Jeysie: 
Working on: 
Completed: 1-1000, 3101-3300, 3401-3600, 3801-3900, 4700-4800, 6400-6499, 6900-7000, 7140-8292 
Unrecoverable: <s>1984 media</s>, <s>2008 media</s>, Akari Hibino, All Fall Down (disambiguation), <s>Alpha Trion (disambiguation)</s>, April 6, <s>April 16</s>, April 19, <s>Autofire</s>, <s>Automatic timer</s>, <s>Banjo-Ginga</s>, <s>Bat-Rob</s>, <s>Binbo-gami</s>, <s>Break Is a Predacon?</s>, <s>The Autobot Warrior, Sixknight?!</s>, The Big Book of Coloring Fun, <s>The Final Battle (RID)</s>, The New Battle Begins!, The Smashing Pumpkins, <s>The Strongest Tag Team?</s>, The Treacherous Attack of the Decepticons, The Victory Warriors Enter!!, Thundercracker (Shattered Glass), Tight Shot

<s>Super Ginrai Gets Blown Away in the Desert!</s>, <s>Susan K. Williams</s>, <s>Swarm (G2)</s>, Tlaloc, <s>Toaster bot</s>, <s>Tow-Line (Energon)</s>, <s>Transcendent: Part 4</s>, <s>Transformers Comic issue 19</s>, TransWarped (Part Two), TransWarped (Part Three), <s>Trevor Hutchison</s>, <s>Trust (Cybertron)</s>, Tsutomu Kashiwakura, <s>Ultra Magnus (Universe Spy Changer)</s>, Vector, Where Is Thy Sting?, <s>Wyatt's Roadsideaganza</s>

Slaves of the Insecticons

High Beam

January 8

Detour 
Working on: 
Completed: 1801-1837, 6000-6050 
Unrecoverable: <s>Ryo- Naito-</s>, <s>Ryo-ichi Tanaka</s>, <s>Ryo-ka Yuzuki</s>, Deep Sea Discovery! Vector Prime

ItsWalky 
Working on: 
Completed: 6500-6600 
Unrecoverable: <s>Small Foot</s>, <s>Sojourner's Passage</s>

Chip 
Working on: 
Completed: 6601-6710 
Unrecoverable: <s>Spark (episode)</s>

Bluestreak7 
Working on: 
Completed: 6051-6151, 6152-6256, 6711-6791, 7000-7140 
Unrecoverable: Staff Sergeant Tracy, <s>Takuro- Kitagawa</s>, <s>Teiyu- Ichiryu-sai</s>, <s>Tessho-Genda</s>, <s>Team Ironhide</s>, Tech-Spec Manual, Tentakil (disambiguation), Terrorcon (disambiguation), <s>Sanryo- Odaka</s>, <s>Seizo- Kato-</s>

abates 
Working on: 
Completed: 1001-1300, 1500-1800, 3301-3400, 3901-4000, 4201-4400, 4501-4550 
Unrecoverable: Crown, Cybertron Redux, Charlie Bodin, Cheyne, Hochu Otsuka, Insecticon Attack!, Matrix Quest (Titan), Matrix_Quest_(disambiguation)

Magnus Maximus 
Working on: 
Completed: 2840-2959, 6257-6399, 6792-6899 
Unrecoverable: Studio 4˚C, Seven, <s>Shinichiro- Miki</s>, <s>Shizuku Amao-</s>, Showdown (disambiguation), <s>Sho-hei Kohara</s>, <s>Sho-ji Kawamori</s>, <s>Sho-ki</s>, <s>Shu-ta Go-</s>, Gods? Devils? The Pretenders

G1MarvelBlaster 
Working on: 5102-5200 
Completed: 5000-5101 
Unrecoverable: Odette Yustman

Tribimat 
Working on: 
Completed: 1301-1499 Classics (disambiguation) to Crossblades (G1) 
Unrecoverable: Command Center

FortMax 
Completed 5201-1400 
Unrecoverable: Gutcruncher_(G1), Hasbro Q&A March 2009 question submissions

====="Unrecoverable" pages=====
Those are actually recoverable. They're just searched for with the wrong characters, since whatever program we're using isn't equipped to handle odd characters like macrons. I'll be working on them. (Interrobang) [[Special:Contributions/69.23.135.79|69.23.135.79]] 00:53, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
:Also, if pages are absent from the Google cache, try Yahoo or MSN. --[[User:Abates|abates]] 01:31, 17 March 2009 (EDT)

::I think I've gotten all of the macrons, circumflexes, accents, et al. [[User:Interrobang|Interrobang]] 01:58, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
:::Unrecoverable: Kazuhiko Gōdo, Yukiyoshi Ōhashi?

=====Finish Summary=====
0001-1000 Jeysie <nowiki>[</nowiki>[http://miscfile.alienharmony.com/transformers/tfwiki.zip Uploaded to my webspace]<nowiki>]</nowiki> 
1001-1300 abates [uploaded] 
1301-1499 Tribimat [uploaded] 
1500-1800 abates [uploaded] 
1801-1837 Detour [uploaded] 
1838-2839 Tigerpaw [uploaded] 
2840-2959 Magnus Maximus [uploaded] 
2960-2999 FortMax [uploaded] 
3000-3100 FortMax [uploaded] 
3101-3300 Jeysie [uploaded] 
3301-3400 abates [uploaded] 
3401-3600 Jeysie [uploaded] 
3601-3800 Tigerpaw [uploaded] 
3801-3900 Jeysie [uploaded] 
3901-4000 abates [uploaded] 
4001-4200 Tigerpaw [uploaded] 
4201-4300 abates [uploaded] 
4301-4400 abates [uploaded] 
4401-4500 Interrobang [uploaded] 
4501-4550 abates [uploaded] 
4551-4669 <nowiki>[</nowiki>[http://www.yousendit.com/download/UmNLL0dLUEMwZ2xFQlE9PQ Uploaded to my yousendit]<nowiki>]</nowiki> 
4670-4699 Anon 
4700-4800 Jeysie [uploaded] 
4800-4804 Anon 
4805-4999 Bluestreak7 [uploaded] 
5000-5200 G1MarvelBlaster 
5201-5400 FortMax [uploaded] 
5401-5600 Phil [uploaded] 
5601-5700 Interrobang [uploaded] 
5701-5800 Phil [uploaded] 
5801-5900 Andrusi [uploaded] 
5901-5999 Interrobang [uploaded] 
6000-6050 Detour [uploaded] 
6051-6151 Bluestreak7 [uploaded] 
6152-6256 Bluestreak7 [uploaded] 
6257-6399 Magnus Maximus [uploaded] 
6400-6499 Jeysie [uploaded] 
6500-6600 ItsWalky [uploaded] 
6601-6710 Chip [uploaded] 
6711-6791 Bluestreak7 [uploaded] 
6792-6899 Magnus Maximus [uploaded] 
6900-7000 Jeysie <nowiki>[</nowiki>[http://miscfile.alienharmony.com/transformers/tfwiki.zip Uploaded to my webspace]<nowiki>]</nowiki> 
7000-7140 Bluestreak7 [uploaded] 
7140-8292 Jeysie <nowiki>[</nowiki>[http://miscfile.alienharmony.com/transformers/tfwiki.zip Uploaded to my webspace]<nowiki>]</nowiki>

=====Unrecovered pages=====
{{collist|3|
*Akari Hibino
*All Fall Down (disambiguation)
*April 6
*April 19
*Command Center
*Crown
*Cybertron Redux
*Charlie Bodin
*Cheyne
*Deep Sea Discovery! Vector Prime
*Dirt Boss (disambiguation)
*Do Over
*Dungeons & Dinobots
*El Greco
*Empire7
*End of the Road (Titan)
*Enter, Lio Convoy Typhoon
*Esther Scott
*February 19
*Fire & Ice
*Frederic Doss
*Friend or Foe!? The True Form of the Monster!!
*Fushigi Yamada
*Generation 1 cartoon timeline (Japan)/src
*Geonosis
*Gods? Devils? The Pretenders
*Gutcruncher (G1)
*Hasbro Q&A March 2009 question submissions
*High Beam
*Insecticon Attack!
*January 8
*Josh Nizzi
*Kazuhiko Gōdo
*Kingbolt
*Linkage Part 13
*List of computers
*Live? Die?! The Desperate Super-God Combination
*Lloyd Goldfine
*Longview
*M&M's
*Mach Kick Voluntarily Enlists!?
*Magna-mike
*Magno Sound & Video
*Matrix Quest (Titan)
*Matrix_Quest_(disambiguation)
*May 26
*Maya Klayn
*Mini-Vehicle
*Mirage_(disambiguation)
*Miroslaw_Neinert
*Nightscream (Energon)
*Nokia-bot
*Null ray
*Odette Yustman
*Quick Bow
*Robot Masters (cartoon)
*Robot Masters (pack-in comic)
*Scoop (G1)
*Scoop (Shattered Glass)
*Seven
*Showdown (disambiguation)
*Slaves of the Insecticons
*Staff Sergeant Tracy
*Studio 4˚C
*Tech-Spec Manual
*Tentakil (disambiguation)
*Terrorcon (disambiguation)
*The Big Book of Coloring Fun
*The New Battle Begins!
*The Smashing Pumpkins
*The Treacherous Attack of the Decepticons
*The Victory Warriors Enter!!
*Thundercracker (Shattered Glass)
*Tight Shot
*Tlaloc
*Tsutomu Kashiwakura
*Vector}}

====Template Namespace====

Jeysie - Saved: Everything on [http://miscfile.alienharmony.com/transformers/templates.htm this list] formed by doing a search for "<nowiki>site:http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Template:</nowiki>" on Google. (Dunno how much good it'll do, considering, but I wager it's better than nothing.)

====Help Namespace====

Jeysie - Saved: Everything on [http://miscfile.alienharmony.com/transformers/help.htm this list] formed by doing a search for "<nowiki>site:http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Help:</nowiki>" on Google.

====Transformers Wiki Namespace====

Jeysie - Saved: Everything on [http://miscfile.alienharmony.com/transformers/transformerswiki.htm this list] formed by doing a search for "<nowiki>site:http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Transformers Wiki:</nowiki>" on Google.

====Talk Namespace====

Could we get a list of links in the talk namespace to download, too? That's the other important one-- if you can provide it in the form of just one plain URL per line, you can use my script to go through them. --[[User:Suki Brits|Suki Brits]] 14:39, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
:Sure! I was going to after we finished the main space, and seeing as how I wake up to find that almost done...
:I wasn't sure precisely what you needed from your comment, so, here's an [http://miscfile.alienharmony.com/transformers/alltalkpages.htm HTML file] that's basically like my article list except with "Talk:" stuck in front of everything, and here's a [http://miscfile.alienharmony.com/transformers/alltalkpages.txt TXT file] with just the number and URL written out.
:I should note it's going to have the same problem with the special characters, though, so it might be hard to tell what doesn't have a talk page due to being screwy, and what really doesn't have a talk page. :>
:Edit: In fact, we're going to likely run into a lot of "unrecoverable" pages (since not every article had a talk page to begin with), where it's going to be hard to tell whether they really don't exist, or if we should hunt for them in other caches. How should we handle this? --[[User:Jeysie|Jeysie]] 17:40, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
::I think we should just resign ourselves to the fact that we may end up missing some talk pages. At the end of the day, they're not a huge deal.
::(As a side note, it won't work with the numbers in front of each URL.) --[[User:Suki Brits|Suki Brits]] 18:01, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
:::OK, I stripped the numbers and reuploaded. (I wasn't sure if it would work with the numbers after the URL, and I'm not sure of a good automatic way to do that anyway, so I guess we'll have to do ranges by title.) --[[User:Jeysie|Jeysie]] 18:34, 17 March 2009 (EDT)

<s>Okay, folks, can we start trying to download talk pages? Just delete "pageslist" from the cachecatcher directory, download Jeysie's TXT file, and rename it to pageslist. It's the same process from there; although don't worry about documenting which talk pages don't download, because let's face it... a LOT aren't going to.</s> --[[User:Suki Brits|Suki Brits]] 21:35, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
::I'm trying to work on downloading Talk pages but the script isn't quite working. I swapped the Talk page list in and everything looks like it's working. Except that the pages it says it has downloaded are not showing up in the pages directory. Nor can I find them anywhere else. Ideas? --[[User:Tigerpaw28|Tigerpaw28]] 12:52, 18 March 2009 (EDT)
::I'm having the same problem - I followed the same steps, and everything seems to be working, but nothing seems to have downloaded anywhere. - [[User:Tribimat|Tribimat]] 14:07, 18 March 2009 (EDT)
:::Oh, god dammit, I know what the problem is; it's a Windows thing, it's probably choking on the :s in the names. I'll upload a version of the script that works around that later. --[[User:Suki Brits|Suki Brits]] 15:10, 18 March 2009 (EDT)
::::Of course! That makes perfect sense. But I wonder why it isn't crashing like it was with the articles that had ?s in their names?--[[User:Tigerpaw28|Tigerpaw28]] 15:34, 18 March 2009 (EDT)

0000-0200 Tigerpaw28 (in progress) 
0200-8921 '''Needed'''

== Synchronize watches! ==

Hey techy type folks, I know y'all are busy right now, but there's a few things that need to happen so we aren't wasting people's effort and good will:

* We need a site-wide page-top banner with a short note on what's happened and quick links to the relevant threads, pages, instructions on restoring pages, etc. Also maybe an update on things as required.
* We need to coordinate Google cache pulling, if it isn't happening already behind the scenes. So far it sounds like Scout, Jeysie, Derik, Abates, and maybe some others have been pulling stuff en masse. It suck if like, everyone was pulling the same stuff and missing the same other stuff.
* The cache pull results need to be pooled into one big conglomerated mess somewhere. And auto-stripping/formatting, but y'all already know that.
* We need a temporary tag/template that can be slapped on top of a page when it's restored. Just a small text note would be adequate.

Sorry if I'm nagging and/or telling you stuff you already know, but everyone's efforts seem kind of random at the moment. -- [[User:Repowers|Repowers]] 21:49, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
:Yeah, agreed. Like I said above, I'd prefer to:
#Have everyone right now just work on saving the Google cache before it changes. This is really the important thing right now, IMHO... we can't recover pages unless we have something to recover ''from''.
#''Then'' we can work on divving up the cached pages, sending them through a processor, and having people repost their batch of page code on the pages themselves (or on a clean install, would be my preference), doing any necessary manual cleanup as they go along.
:The current state of people sort of saving and restoring random individual pages on "recover" subpages isn't really all that helpful, IMHO. The wiki's going to look ugly for a while regardless; better to just be patient on making stuff look good and just tackle this in a somewhat organized fashion instead. --[[User:Jeysie|Jeysie]] 22:10, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
::This lack of coordination and general secrecy is hurting efforts. Since I requested help, people on TFW2005 have offered to help out, including people from beyond the board, but they're all asking me what they are supposed to do with their saved browser cache pages/google cache pages. I've been telling them to sit tight until *somebody* tells the people on the wiki what to do. Hopefully, something will be salvaged and this effort won't be needed... but what do I know? I have no idea what the status of things are beyond this page. I do have one suggestion - if and when we get things back to some form of normalcy, we better post a thank you message on the front page for all of those people who offered us help and/or best wishes. --FFN
:::Ask Scout. I think she's trying to organize something. (8000+ pages is kinda a logistical nightmare.) -[[Special:Contributions/207.224.69.82|207.224.69.82]] 06:08, 17 March 2009 (EDT)

== Autoconfirmed ==

Right now, everything that requires "Autoconfirmed" privileges is out of reach to, well, EVERYONE. Maybe move that bar lower for a few days - there are pages like [[Sari Sumdac's Key]] which have been moved in the meantime (in that case, to [[Key]]) that can't be moved into their "proper" places right now, and that impedes trying to get them from caches. - [[User:SanityOrMadness|SanityOrMadness]] 09:52, 17 March 2009 (EDT)

== Downloading script/Part 2 ==

It seems like most of the pages have already been downloaded (holy crap, that was quick), but for the rest, here's a script that will download pages based off abates's list: http://www.scoutshonour.com/files/cachecatcher.zip Just run cachecatcher.exe, and follow the instructions; it'll download the range to the pages folder.

It can also be repurposed to download any list of URLs if you replace the pageslist file. --Suki Brits 12:49, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
::"The application has failed to start because the application configuration is incorrect." Does this need Python or something else to be installed in order to run? - Magnus Maximus 13:20, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
:::Apparently there was a bug in the version of Python I used to build it under; oops. It's fixed now. Anyone should be able to run it. --[[User:Suki Brits|Suki Brits]] 13:56, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
::::Yep, works now. - Magnus Maximus 14:13, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
::I'm getting this: IOError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: 'pages/Classics_(disambiguation)' ... and nothing else seems to be happening. I downloaded and unzipped it, and typed in '1300' and '1499' for the page ranges, based on the list above. What am I doing wrong? - [[User:Tribimat|Tribimat]] 14:35, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
:::It sounds like it can't find the folder "pages" in the program's folder. If it doesn't exist, try making it. (I'm guessing your unzip program ignored it because it's an empty folder.) --[[User:Suki Brits|Suki Brits]] 14:44, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
::::Yes, that's fixed it. Thanks! - [[User:Tribimat|Tribimat]] 14:51, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
:Also, it'd be good if we could start consolidating the downloaded pages. Once we've got them all we can run abates' script on them (abates, if you could send that my way), and I'll figure out what the best way of importing them is. I've set up a temporary FTP account for today, so people can start uploading them. Connect to scoutshonour.com, username is tfwiki@scoutshonour.com, password is cache. --Suki Brits 12:56, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
::Also also: mark it off when you've uploaded a batch of pages, so I can tell what's actually there. --[[User:Suki Brits|Suki Brits]] 15:26, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
:::I was quite haphazard in my file naming. Is that going to matter? (I have things like "david disamb.htm", but I see whoever started uploading first is using pagenames).
:::Also is it OK to upload them in a zip file? --[[Special:Contributions/203.97.2.142|203.97.2.142]] 15:56, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
::::Also also, how come none of the other pages have file extensions? Is that deliberate? Mine all auto-saved as *.htm. Is there a file type (or lack of) that you'd prefer we upload them as? - Magnus Maximus 16:19, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
:::::It doesn't matter what the pages are named or what extensions they have. And sure, zipped is fine. It shouldn't be too hard to script a way to make them all uniform. --[[User:Suki Brits|Suki Brits]] 17:06, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
::::::Cool! My chunks are uploaded as zips. I also uploaded all the Hasbro Q&A articles I could find. I couldn't find March's questions though. :( --abates 19:25, 17 March 2009 (EDT)

Just so everyone knows, there's a one-digit discrepancy between the list [http://miscfile.alienharmony.com/transformers/allpages.htm here] and the numbers you enter on the cachecatcher. I assume this is because the cachecatcher is counting from 0 instead of 1 as the first file. I've used the list's numbering in my table entry, but also added the page ranges in case any get missed out by mistake. It might be a good idea if people indicate the first and last file they've downloaded, as well as the numbers. And Google's locked me out again, which is a shame, because it's not taking me that long to get 100-page chunks. - [[User:Tribimat|Tribimat]] 15:51, 17 March 2009 (EDT)

Here's everything I saved last night: http://miscfile.alienharmony.com/transformers/tfwiki.zip (I kinda already uploaded them to my webspace last night as a backup precaution since I don't trust my own computer stuff farther than I can throw it... but if you want me to reupload into the TF Wiki FTP I can.) It's missing 6400-6499 at the moment since my friend initially saved all the pages by copy and pasting them into Word (oops), but she says she's going to resave them as HTML (she just lives in Australia, so I gotta wait to get them from her). --[[User:Jeysie|Jeysie]] 17:59, 17 March 2009 (EDT)

abates, how's that perl script doing? If it's working properly, can you send it my way? There's a little bit of parsing to do, and we're still a few files away from being ready, but I'd like to be able to wikify the articles tomorrow. --[[User:Suki Brits|Suki Brits]] 21:39, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
:I've emailed it to your scoutshonour.com account. --[[User:Abates|abates]] 02:01, 18 March 2009 (EDT)

I just added a zip file on behalf of [[User:FFN|FFN]]. It contains files from his browser cache, from the same day as the crash. As such, things from TransWarped such as the page itself, Team Charr, Rodimus Prime and Oil Slick, along with probably a few recently-added Japanese theme pages, can be recovered. --[[User:Detour|Detour]] 03:51, 18 March 2009 (EDT)
:Thanks. Unfortunately, I only managed to save a handful of pages before Firefox decided that it was a good time to crash and wipe the cache clean. Fortunately I managed to a small number of pages that had been created in the past few days and ones I had recently edited. Hope it helps. --[[User:FFN|FFN]] 04:01, 18 March 2009 (EDT)

== Admin status ==

I don't have mine back yet. Sounds like Siph doesn't either. (I created a "repowers2" account so I could log in without fear of overwriting anything, and admin status was conferred upon it, but that account can be deleted.) -- [[User:Repowers|Repowers]] 15:58, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
: Both you and Siph have powers again. --[[User:ItsWalky|ItsWalky]] 16:20, 17 March 2009 (EDT)

== Non-Messed-Up Main Page Cache Needed ==

If anyone out there saving the Main namespace pages has the Main Page lurking on their HD, can you please [mailto:jeysie@alienharmony.com e-mail it to me]? I'd rather try just working from the HTML than try to figure out where the code on the recover subpage got screwed up, but Google changed their cache to our current version already. >.< --[[User:Jeysie|Jeysie]] 18:44, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
:OK, FortMax sent it over to me. I'll see what I can get done to it, so we can get that blisteringly ugly layout off the front page, at least. Can someone upload the Wiki logo too while I'm tinkering? I'm presuming Walky at least kept his own copy... --[[User:Jeysie|Jeysie]] 19:05, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
::Yeah, I got copies. --[[User:ItsWalky|ItsWalky]] 19:12, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
:::Almost done here. Got almost everything recreated except the rotating fake disambig messages, but I figure we can come up with new ones later. (Or anyone who needs a coffee break from page saving/restoring can write some.)
:::Question though - anyone know what Derik did to get the logo to resize to fit whatever your screen size is? It's the one thing I'm stumped on. (I suppose I'll just hard-code-fit it to my 1024 screen for the time being...) --[[User:Jeysie|Jeysie]] 21:33, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
::::Aaaand, done, except for the aforementioned random messages and image problem. --[[User:Jeysie|Jeysie]] 22:32, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
:::::Er, the reason I made the main page logo 700px wide is so it doesn't look stupid on a 1024px wide screen... but if I'm the only scrub using a res that low, I guess we can leave it... --[[User:Jeysie|Jeysie]] 23:20, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
::::::Well, we can make it grow with the size of the screen like it did before, but I dunno how to Wikicode that. --[[User:ItsWalky|ItsWalky]] 00:04, 18 March 2009 (EDT)
::::::Yeah, that's actually a CSS issue. I'm gonna take a poke and see if I can find our custom CSS/Javascript after I finish rebuilding the Calendar template from scratch.
::::::Um... is anyone backing up our help/policy pages? -[[User:Derik|Derik]] 01:19, 18 March 2009 (EDT)
:::::::Jeysie's done that. --[[User:Abates|abates]] 01:58, 18 March 2009 (EDT)
::::::::Yeah, it's in the big-ass file on my webspace in the Finish Summary, if you want to download it. It has my initial Main files, Templates, Help, and Transformers Wiki in separate folders in the zip. --[[User:Jeysie|Jeysie]] 02:03, 18 March 2009 (EDT)

== Hours ==

A fun passtime. Keep track of the amount of time spent on crash recovery, and its approximate value.

How much would you charge someone for your time to do something you didn't want to?

{| class="prettytable"
|+Hours spent on recovery
|-
!Name!!Hours!!Value of time in $/hour!!Total

{{hours|[[User:Derik]] |16 |20 | LAST LOGGED 3-18 4AM}}

|}

I had to have spent 20 hours myself on stuff so far, I think. I only ''wish'' I could get paid for this... I'm out of work at the moment and could use the dough. --[[User:Jeysie|Jeysie]] 05:36, 18 March 2009 (EDT)
:We can pay you in TFWiki Funbux! They're like regular money except... fun. '''NOTE:''' 1 TFWiki Funbux equates to 0.0000000000000001 Zimbabwean dollars. --[[User:FFN|FFN]] 06:54, 18 March 2009 (EDT)
:You may ''wish'' you can get paid for this... but the totals you post represent '''actual money-value''' of damages done by parties responsible. Parties which are currently squirming on a hook repeating to themselves "well it's not like anything worth money was lost..." in defense of their own lack of competence.
:Please log your hours. A nice big number could have a salutary effect on negotiations-- given that our host has already clammed up defensively on us once and refused to do things that might lead to a full recovery. Walky seems to have straightened them out on that, but I would like a very '''big''' stick to swing at then, once with a dollar value attached. With lots of commas.
:TFWiki subsists on ad revenue. People have poured thousands-- probably TENS OF THOUSANDS of man-hours into this site in the last 9 months to make our content better than Wikia's, and to slowly crawl up the Search rankings. Bookworm not only destroyed that content-- they installed a "recovery" that has '''half a million links to our primary competition'''-- which once Google notices on ''top'' of the fact our content is now either the same as Wikia's or OLDER-- is going to send US plummeting in the search-engine rankings and push Wikia back up. Our content is used to generate ad revenue, meaning it has ''value''.
:I am perfectly willing to use this fact as a ''Bat of Obedience'' to prevent our fuckhead hosts from holding back in the future-- but make ''no'' mistake, it's ''not'' an idle threat. They could be sued for damages. -[[User:Derik|Derik]] 07:07, 18 March 2009 (EDT)
::Well, I'm willing to log my hours for real if it'll help at all. Was more of an wry observation that, while I like spending productive time using my skills on my hobbies, I can never find a job that puts most of my skills to use in the same way...
::I do think some kind of recompensation is in order, even if we can't manage anything better than just booting the guy from his job on his ass. The sheer amount of incompetence is staggering!
::And I'm incredulous that they're claiming nothing worth money was lost. Even if we didn't get any ad income at all, this site does indeed still represent an ungodly amount of time expenditure, and time is indeed money. --[[User:Jeysie|Jeysie]] 07:32, 18 March 2009 (EDT)
:::I have no idea if they're actually ''saying'' it. But they're almost certainly ''thinking'' "well, they never actually paid us..." (The fact that stems from their inability to send us an invoice nonwithstanding.) I'd really like to disabuse them of any notion that TFWiki's losses could ''possibly'' be covered by our hosting fees.
:::As for no job using as many skills as your hobby... I tend to think that since [[Transformerology]] requires the equivalent of a Bachelor's Degree, most TFWiki contribuitors qualify for an "expert rate." $20/h and up. -[[User:Derik|Derik]] 07:41, 18 March 2009 (EDT)

:Hrm, I'm trying to remember what I charge for sleepless nights. --abates 15:33, 18 March 2009 (EDT)

== Wikia links ==

Is there no way to strip these out other than editing them out? Given that editing leaves them in the history, that doesn't seem desirable. - [[User:SanityOrMadness|SanityOrMadness]] 08:47, 18 March 2009 (EDT)
:The history doesn't matter as much, since the search engines don't index it, and people generally only look at it if they're editing. --[[Special:Contributions/203.97.2.142|203.97.2.142]] 15:40, 18 March 2009 (EDT)

== Secondary to-do list ==

We still have a number of things to do beyond page recovery and purging wikia links, but most of these are lower priority.

*Fix article counting
*restore main page disambuigation
--[[User:FortMax|FortMax]] 13:33, 18 March 2009 (EDT)
:Article counting was effed when we first moved in too. I think it's one of those things that updates passively over time. (I'd check the move-in Talk pages to see if we did anythign to fix it but... well... ) -[[User:Derik|Derik]] 15:15, 18 March 2009 (EDT)

MediaWiki talk:Community Portal/Damage Control Central

2009-03-18T19:33:09Z

203.97.2.142: /* Hours */

Additional discussion on this situation can be found on these Allspark.com threads:
* [http://www.allspark.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=56439 "TFWiki Problems, Any idea what's going on?"]
* [http://www.allspark.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=51208&st=400&p=1155749&#entry1155749 "Major Wiki Work, A thread for additions to Transformers wikis."]

==Hey hey, what can I do==
I think at this point we must begin formulating plans based on the assumption that the site is a total loss. This means damage control first, then restoration, then prevention.

Assuming no good news comes through, it seems to me we need to take the following steps. Bein' that I'm not a tech guy, there may be more options than what I'm seeing, but here's what I figure we gotta do:

#take down the bulk of the site's pages so Google's cache will not overwrite them
#figure out a system to make Derik and Abates' caches of Google-archived pages accessible to editors as they come in (Derik mentioned it'll take over a week to get a complete set off Google.)
#if possible, automate the stripping of HTML tags and other non-Wiki goop from those pages before anyone tries to edit them, including Wikia links.
#find a way to divvy up a restoration workload among our 50 or so regular editors.
#find a new server. We would be idiots to remain here.

I still hope most of this will be unnecessary, but at this point, I'm losing faith. -- '''repowers''' [[Special:Contributions/99.140.167.2|99.140.167.2]] 12:08, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
: Spoke with Bookworm several times this morning. He still has a few more computers to search for backups, but, well, at this point I'm going to assume the worst. He is going to try to at least get our user database working. He wasn't aware that was a problem until I let him know. I think Scout is trying to get all the pages downloaded from Google Caching. I've grabbed a few of my own, but she's got, like, thousands of pages so far.
: As for getting a new server... anybody got any ideas? Hell if I know. Frankly, don't listen to me anyway on that. --Walky

::Take everything down immediately. The longer the site stays up as-is, the greater the risk of contaminating Google's March 9th cache and the more linkbacks we send to Wikia. Then we either beg Google for a mass infodump, or.... 50 editors grab 160 pages each. EDIT: or Scout gets them! Thanks, Scout; good to see at least the words "silver lining" in print, even if I don't see the actual thing itself yet.... '''Thylacine 2000'''--[[Special:Contributions/74.73.131.210|74.73.131.210]] 12:17, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
:::If we take everything down, what are we going to edit back together? WHEN are we going to edit everything back together? Taking it down just delays our ability to fix it. --Walky
::::If we've got our copy of the cache, then site shutdown isn't nearly as important. The main concern is that we'd lose the Google cache. Looking like retards... well, we'll just have to take our lumps there. (I guess we could set permissions for content pages to only logged-in users? Dunno.) -- '''repowers''' [[Special:Contributions/99.140.167.2|99.140.167.2]] 12:30, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
:::::Even if it doesn't overwrite the cache, I see no reason to have the site up given the state that it's in. I say take it down until the head-honchos figure out how to clean up this mess. '''(Undecided)''' [[Special:Contributions/67.185.148.107|67.185.148.107]] 16:13, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
::::::'''Dudes'''. I noticed our front page's google cache has been updated to our current broken wiki page. So it's already begun. That's just great. --'''FFN'''
:::::At the least people shouldn't be editing any single pages right now (aside from very recently created articles, user pages and stuff like that which our cache-trawl won't cover). Once we've got the complete site cache (and converted it to wiki mark up), either the whole thing will be uploaded, which will overwrite their changes anyway, or whoever does upload them will have to go through them all picking out which ones need doing and which need updating, etc., which will only create a shit-ton more work for them. Also, I'm not certain exactly how Google cache works, but I'm pretty sure that keeping the broken pages active isn't doing us any favours. - Magnus Maximus 14:57, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
Well, this is some solid proof that Wikia sucks pretty bad. Look how often this happens over there... ''oh.'' {{unsigned|98.114.160.90}}
:What the fuck are you gibbering about? --[[User:M Sipher|M Sipher]] 18:10, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
::Odds are, it's [http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/transformers-general-discussion/223458-tfwiki-post3408570.html#post3408570 this guy] trying to troll. --[[User:Detour|Detour]] 18:13, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
:::either way, it's a good point - Wikia might still let the community come back. {{unsigned|98.114.160.90}}
::::But we don't ''want to''. [[User:Interrobang|—Interrobang]] 20:25, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
::::No it isn't. Fuck Wikia. We left them for a lot of reasons, and there is ''zero'' reason to crawl back to them. And even if we ''did'' go back we'd have the '''''exact same amount of work to do there as we do now'''''. It's infinitely better to ride this entirely surmountable problem out and stick with our principles and dignity intact. --[[User:M Sipher|M Sipher]] 20:29, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
:::::Amen. We had solid reasons for leaving Wikia. They lied to us perpetually. They stuck huge ridiculous ads in the middle of our content which we had to retool our pages around. Those ads TALKED. And as Siph said, we'd have every bit as much work to do there as we do here. We've learned a hard lesson with this weekend's stupidity, but the lesson's been learned and we can move on. This particular mistake won't happen again.
:::::But there's more to it than that. Right when we were quite openly making our plans to leave Wikia, their boss Jimmy Wales was tone-deaf or ignorant or arrogant enough to cite us as an example of how well his vision of the modern internet was working. Give the users a little space and they'll hand you all the free content you need, no matter how badly you treat them. Our leaving was subsequently covered -- not widely of course, but covered -- in real media. As ridiculous as it sounds, we're one of many test cases for how content creators on the web are going to be handled. If we stop now, we're declaring that Wales was right and digital sharecropping is the most anyone can hope for. If we learn from our mistakes and soldier on, we demonstrate that nobody needs these cretins who can't even show proper respect for the people they're profiting from. We do not need Wikia. [[User:Chip|Chip]] 20:50, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
::::::Yeah but then you'd have a wiki that works again. {{unsigned|32.165.174.59}}
:::::::No, we'd have a wiki broken apart by ads everywhere, talking ads, more ads, ads pushing images down, ads pushing images up, ads here ads there ads everywhere. I'd rather we stick this one out and fix the problem within a few days than crawl back to people that lied to us repeatedly and stuck hidden links back to Wikia in the code prior to the move. --[[User:Detour|Detour]] 21:40, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
:::::::We could have a wiki that works now if we were willing to give up on all our work for the last several months and use Bookworm's backup... which is what we'd also have to accept if we went back to Wikia. Except that then we'd have big talking ads and lying liars to contend with. [[User:Chip|Chip]] 21:42, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
:::::::Wikia would ''routinely'' break our pages with thoughtless coding-boner moves that were, really, just as stupid as what Bookworm did. The difference was that Wikia would eventually fix it, albeit after lying about the existence of the problem, then its origin, then their responsibility for it, then the guarantee that of course it would never happen again. The lesson here is not that Wikia is any less dumb and inhospitable than we already knew they were; the lesson is that we've uncovered other dumb and inhospitable hosting methods elsewhere. You don't pick one breakocracy over another--you pick a place that WORKS. '''Thylacine 2000'''--[[Special:Contributions/74.73.131.210|74.73.131.210]] 21:44, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
but... THIS wiki doesn't work. At least on wikia you have something that can stay online and not blow up. I saw what happened back during the change and it sounds like you guys were being cry babies. improving the UI and getting better ad support site wide doesn't seem like they were breaking your wiki. plus you're talking like they were singling you guys out among all the other wikis they host. Either way. I thought you guys might have actually been able to pull off something good here, but nobody has even stepped up to offer to back the wiki up properly so it doesn't happen again. great "community". well there will be a waaah-mbulance waiting the next time this happens : )

==I am a dumb, stupid man==
Just to get that out of the way. Should have told BK to back off on the database upgrade as soon as I saw his original email, and maybe we shouldn't have been here on this server to begin with. It was my call, after all. I'll do my best to make it up to you. Especially TOOG and McFeely, who did so many pages. When I remembered Google caches stuff at like 7 in the morning and started downloading pages whole-hog, theirs was the work I went after first. BEFORE HOT SHOT. That is how bad I feel. Nobody should have to watch through Energon twice. Or, uh, once. This is a terrible, horrible thing, brought on partially by my own incompetence and unassertiveness. Other people shouldn't have to learn my needed life lessons with me. --Walky
:Has Bookworm given any updates yet? Is he even still working on it?--KrytenKoro[[Special:Contributions/98.223.230.49|98.223.230.49]] 23:01, 17 March 2009 (EDT)

==What we've actually lost==
Okay, I've been trying to assess and give a realistic account of the information we appear to be missing. It's hampered by the lack of a search option, meaing I've been having to hit the random button until I've gotten to a page I can link to, and I may be missing something things, but I believe that we have lost the following sections:
*The work McFeely did on [[Energon (cartoon)|Energon]].
*[[Revelation]]
*[[All Hail Megatron]]
*[[The Reign of Starscream]]
*[[Maximum Dinobots]]
*[[Alliance]]
*[[Defiance]]
*[[Universe (2008)]]
*[[Revenge of the Fallen]] updates.
*Abates screen captures on [[Beast Wars]], [[Beast Machines]], and [[Generation 1]].
*Updated screen captures for [[Transformers Animated]] season 1 and 2.
*Last but not least, all we know of [[Transformers Animated]] season 3.

If I missed anything that stands out, please let me know. If all I've done is seriously depress you, then...I don't really know how to respond to that. -- SFH 13:49, 16 March 2009 (EDT)

:I'm not sure how worthwhile this is. I could add that we've lost almost everything related to the S.T.A.R.S. continuity (including the meta-page with that name), but seriously, we could keep listing pages forever. Not to mention that probably a huge majority of the existing pages have lost a lot of updates. I don't think there's anything we rank-and-file editors can do until either Walky appears brandishing a "routine backup" or Scout et al. get the Google cache sorted out and implemented. At THAT point, maybe taking stock would be a good idea, but until then, let's just go outside and get some fresh air. Toss a Frisbee around. Call up an old friend. - '''Jackpot''' [[Special:Contributions/216.231.37.133|216.231.37.133]] 14:01, 16 March 2009 (EDT)

::Yeah, we need a systemic, all-encompassing, computer-generated list of every page, since pretty much every page has probably been edited since the split. (though for the record, my list includes 15-20 Energon eps and 20-30 rewritten subgroup pages.) Said list needs a checklist option or something. I dunno. I had this written more coherently before the save page thing crashed. Whee, are we having fun yet? -- '''repowers''' [[Special:Contributions/99.140.167.2|99.140.167.2]] 14:28, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
:I still have all those screen captures, so I can reupload them if necessary. Of course, the images are actually still on the server, but the out-of-date database doesn't know they're there. I grabbed a complete set of Beast Machines episode articles and a near-complete set of RID episode articles from various caches last night. Unfortunately the software I wrote for doing the same only grabbed 53 articles before it was throttled. --[[User:Abates|abates]] 14:47, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
::We lost all the Titan collections that Emvee and I did. They weren't cached yet, but oddly the main Titan page had a cached version with the links I made to the individual pages. Wierd. This loss hits me really hard since I didn't start editing until this winter and '''everything''' I've contributed is now potentially gone. Since the tfwiki is one of the few joys I've had lately, it makes me feel a bit useless now. --Bluestreak7 [[Special:Contributions/98.213.132.186|98.213.132.186]] 15:03, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
::''Of course, the images are actually still on the server, but the out-of-date database doesn't know they're there.''
::If that's the case, then perhaps they can be reinstated when/if Bookworm compiles a list of files on the server that are newer than a given date.--Apcog [[Special:Contributions/99.158.0.251|99.158.0.251]] 15:38, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
That'd be Rob's work on Energon, not mine. I've lost around half the Victory cartoon, and ''every single fucking Japanese character article I ever did that's not Shuta.'' I thought we were only back to post-move September status, but we've actually regressed to June. - '''McFeely''' [[Special:Contributions/81.158.171.149|81.158.171.149]] 15:17, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
:I just saved as many of the Masterforce character articles as I could from Yahoo and MSN's cache (Google throttled me again) --[[Special:Contributions/203.97.2.142|203.97.2.142]] 16:15, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
:Can't you grab anything between June and the move from Wikia? - [[User:SanityOrMadness|SanityOrMadness]] 09:18, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
::Well, I... oh! OH! All of that stuff is still ON Wikia! Oh-ho-ho-HO! *scampers off* - [[User:Chris McFeely|Chris McFeely]] 09:20, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
In the event that we can't find a more recent backup (and at this point, if server dude can find one from even as recently as January, I'd be overjoyed), do we at least still have the original dump we exported in September which doesn't have all the wikia links at the bottom? --[[Special:Contributions/203.97.2.142|203.97.2.142]] 16:11, 16 March 2009 (EDT)

Henkei's articles - toys, pack-in manga, and Comic Bun Bun are lost as well. Typing "henkei" in the search redirects back to the old Classics (2006) with it's last mod date May 2008. Cache helps a bit though. --[[User:Lonegamer78|Lonegamer78]] 00:26, 17 March 2009 (EDT)

I'm going to see if I can salvage as much of the coloring book stuff as I can - between Powers and I, we put a fair bit of effort into it. -hx [[Special:Contributions/24.30.97.198|24.30.97.198]] 08:50, 17 March 2009 (EDT)

I am a broken man. I can muster the strength of will to do little more than sign back up. I have recovered my missing Victory episode articles... I would be uploading the Masterforce and Victory character articles now, since I have backups, but they are on another computer that has died recently. I am seriously getting bombarding with shit the last few days. Computer dies, business is turning sour thanks to the economy, and I say to myself, "Buck up, fellow, you've still got new Animated at the weekend to look forward to, and you can write it up for the wiki!" Fuck ''you'', universe. Just... fuck ''you''. - [[User:Chris McFeely|Chris McFeely]] 08:54, 17 March 2009 (EDT)

:Man, I hear ya. This comes at a time when I really can't spare much time or effort to help out with the recovery. Plus seeing that much of my work wiped out... oy. I just can't muster the will (or time) to do much beyond try and help marshal the recovery efforts. Might be best to just step away for a few days. -- [[User:Repowers|Repowers]] 09:32, 17 March 2009 (EDT)

== Anything the rank and file could do? ==

OK, so there's obviously alot of scrambling going on from all who can to recover all the massive chunks of what's been lost, my question: is it at all helpful for the rank and file occasional contributor to be doing any editting at this point? I mean, I'm sure there are a bunch of us who would be willing to edit and add here and there to fix up what small bits and pages we can. Or would such small additions and peicemeal fixes just get in the way of the eventual large scale repairs? --[[Special:Contributions/71.235.138.121|71.235.138.121]] 14:59, 16 March 2009 (EDT)

:We really don't know yet. It depends on what Derik and Scout come back with. I can't imagine there's any harm in restoring pages by hand (it could presumably get lost in whatever mass upgrades we end up doing... or not. I have no idea.) Mostly, just sit tight for the moment. When we get a system figured out, we'll ring the bells to summon the fire brigade. -- '''repowers''' [[Special:Contributions/99.140.167.2|99.140.167.2]] 15:25, 16 March 2009 (EDT)

Pick a page. Stick <nowiki>{{bookworm}}</nowiki> at the top, it'll give you a link to that page's google cache. -[[User:Derik|Derik]] 16:33, 16 March 2009 (EDT)

I've been wiping out those Wikia credits at the bottom of each page. Is this helpful, or should I stop? -- [[User:Semysane|Semysane]] 06:04, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
:Work on saving at least one 100-page set of Google cache pages first... every set we get is that many less we won't lose completely. --[[User:Jeysie|Jeysie]] 06:43, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
::I would if I had any idea what that meant. I'd never even heard of a Google cache before yesterday. -- [[User:Semysane|Semysane]] 06:55, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
:::Just check out [[#Pages .22recovered.22 list|this section]]. --[[User:Jeysie|Jeysie]] 06:59, 17 March 2009 (EDT)

== How do I properly add info to an article's "recover" page? ==

I've done the bookworm tag on some articles and saved the google cache to my harddrive... question is, how do I post this data to the articles' /recover sections? Just copy'n'paste the text, or go nab the source code? Detour --[[Special:Contributions/70.26.248.28|70.26.248.28]] 18:22, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
:I expect source code would be more useful. It will preserve the formatting, and someone can probably write a script to convert it back to wiki code. Plus, if I'm wrong, it's trivial to convert the source code to text, whereas you can't really go the other way. '''Chip''' [[Special:Contributions/69.139.147.179|69.139.147.179]] 19:01, 16 March 2009 (EDT)

:I do both, one after the other.
:The first is easier to re-format, but you'll often need to be able tog et the links out of the source code. -[[User:Derik|Derik]] 19:01, 16 March 2009 (EDT)

== Automated Cache Recovery ==
Will this program I happened upon help any? [http://warrick.cs.odu.edu/warrick.html Warrick]. It's supposed to be something that can automate getting websites from various web caches. I put a job in their queue, but if someone who has web stuff (it needs Perl 5 installed) set up on their comp can run the program themselves right now, that would help. Or is that the sort of thing Derik and Suki are already doing? (Basically, I'd like to help, but I don't even know what "phase" we're on...) --[[Special:Contributions/96.240.212.69|96.240.212.69]] 18:59, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
:It's being run. It'll take some time, and e3ven then... that's just grabbing a copy of the google cache before it vanishes.
:(Personally I'm banking on a localized reversal of [[The Fallen|the second law of thermodynamics]].) -[[User:Derik|Derik]] 19:01, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
::Well, if we're in the midst of saving the Google cache, than what we should do is... 1. Get a copy of as many cached pages as we can. 2. run them all through some sort of preprocessor 3. get a list of editors willing to help, give them each a chunk of the processed pages, and tell them to go to town reposting them. There's no sense in having people running around doing things piecemeal instead of being systematic about it.
::Which is why I was wondering if there was some sort of system already for having people grab cache pages, rather than just doing it randomly. I've been using [http://miscfile.alienharmony.com/transformers/allpages.htm this page] based on Abates' list to grab cache links for the Main namespace, and I have the first 400 links opened so far. Maybe if everyone took so many pages? (Although I have the advantage that I can force change my IP every time I run into Google's annoying throttle wall.)
::Also, I was thinking that we might consider just simply making a fresh install of the wiki software with an empty database, then simply recreating everything, if we're going to have to repost everything by hand anyway... --Jeysie [[Special:Contributions/96.233.179.58|96.233.179.58]] 20:48, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
:::Make that the first 500, which I'm going to work on saving now. Do our various editors want to post here and lay a claim on a set of numbers on the list and work on opening and saving them? (They link straight to the cache page.) Not all of the links converted cleanly, but it's probably easier to just manually fix them as you go instead of me trying to spend time manually cleaning and reposting the list. I figure, once we know we've got the Main namespace pages saved, we can then work on trying to figure out the other namespaces. (Template and Help at the very least.) --Jeysie [[Special:Contributions/72.79.218.239|72.79.218.239]] 21:06, 16 March 2009 (EDT)

== Restoring account status ==

Is it better to recreate an account, possibly messing up the caches for one's User Contributions, Talk Page, etc., so uploading images and such is possible? Or should we just sit tight a bit longer on that aspect until more restoration is done?--Apcog [[Special:Contributions/99.158.0.251|99.158.0.251]] 19:24, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
:Re-create. -[[Special:Contributions/207.224.69.82|207.224.69.82]] 20:02, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
::Feh. Okay, done.--[[User:Apcog|Apcog]] 20:13, 16 March 2009 (EDT)

== Pages "recovered" list ==

In the however likely case we are not able to get a full set of backups from Bookworm, we should probably keep a list of pages somewhere that have been at least partially recovered via Derik's bookworm template and google's cache or other caches. This way any rank-n-file editor who wants to help out can just look at the list to see what's been done so they can go save other pages. Another way is to get that listing of all the pages and have users check them off when they've been partially recovered. Thoughts? --Bluestreak7 [[Special:Contributions/98.213.132.186|98.213.132.186]] 19:53, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
:Well, here's a list of all pages that need to be ''recovered'' from the Main namespace: http://miscfile.alienharmony.com/transformers/allpages.htm with links straight to the cache pages. I've opened the first 500 links so far, and am half done with saving them, then I'll work on the next 500. Anyone else want to pitch in, lay claim to a range of numbers to save, and get on it? (Note: Not all of the links coverted over right, though most of them did. If you get an error, just fix any goofs in the link and try again. And keep a list of any pages where, even after checking the link was correct, it just didn't have a cache to save.) --Jeysie [[Special:Contributions/96.240.208.203|96.240.208.203]] 21:48, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
:I've written a Perl script to convert the HTML back to Wiki markup. It's not perfect, and I need to test it on more cache files, but it's faster than reformatting by hand. It could be provided as an online tool, maybe. --abates not signed in [[Special:Contributions/203.97.2.142|203.97.2.142]] 22:00, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
::Okay, I'm starting on the 7000s. I'll see how far I can get before I need to get to bed. I'm still holding on to hope that all this cache work is for nothing, but not expecting it. [[User:Bluestreak7|Bluestreak7]] 22:28, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
:::I'll start the 6500s. --[[User:ItsWalky|ItsWalky]] 22:30, 16 March 2009 (EDT) I got up to 6600 before it stopped me. --[[User:ItsWalky|ItsWalky]] 22:47, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
::::I'll at least be doing up to the first 1000 myself. And, I've found that if you have any way to change your IP, that will reset Google's throttle stop. (People who have rotating IPs can likely do this simply by disconnecting/reconnecting.) I also went and fixed all the broken links that didn't convert right, so feel free to refresh my list for the latest version. --[[User:Jeysie|Jeysie]] 22:50, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
:::::I have a feeling we shouldn't worry about the early ones. Both Derik and Scout have automated scripts for this, and I'm sure that's where they started. --[[User:ItsWalky|ItsWalky]] 22:54, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
::::::I'll try and do from 6000 to 6499, then. I've also got a bunch of other pages saved already, mostly G1 character pages. --[[User:Detour|Detour]] 22:56, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
:::::::Well, in my epic suckitude coupled with having other engagements I need to get finished... I've only made it to 6050... maybe someone can pick up my slack? --[[User:Detour|Detour]] 23:54, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
::::Starting with 6601. '''Chip''' [[Special:Contributions/69.139.147.179|69.139.147.179]] 23:06, 16 March 2009 (EDT) Ended at 6710. '''Chip'''
:::::I'll start with 5000-5100. Hope I can help. --[[User:G1MarvelBlaster|G1MarvelBlaster]] 08:51, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
[[Special:Contributions/69.139.147.179|69.139.147.179]] 23:55, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
Do we have a simple, automated way to grab this stuff? '''Chip'''
:Not automated, but, efficiencied:
#Open list in a new Opera window.
#Open up the "Links" panel.
#Select 50 links and "Open in Background tab"
#Select another 50 links after those load, and again "Open in Background tab"
#Drag the list tab to the taskbar to create a new window
#Reset my modem (to get a new IP)
#Repeat these steps until I have 5 windows (100 pages each) open, then go through each window saving everything as HTML.
--[[User:Jeysie|Jeysie]] 01:06, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
::If you're using Firefox, you can also use an add-on called "Snap Links" to open multiple links at a time. With it installed you just hold down your right mouse button to drag a selection box over all the links you want to open. - Magnus Maximus 03:24, 17 March 2009 (EDT)

===Status Report===
====Main Article Namespace====
Andrusi: 
Working on: 
Completed: 5801-5900 
Unrecoverable: <s>Rihoko_Yoshida</s>, <s>Rio_Gr fica_Editora</s> 

Tigerpaw28: 
Working on: 
Completed:1839-2839, 3601-3800, 4001-4200 
Unrecoverable:Dirt_Boss_(disambiguation), <s>Dirk_Manus</s>, Do_Over, <s>Doryu-</s>, Dungeons_&_Dinobots,
El_Greco, Empire7, End_of_the_Road_(Titan), Enter,_Lio_Convoy_Typhoon, Esther_Scott, February_19, Fire_&_Ice, Frederic_Doss, Friend_or_Foe!?_The_True_Form_of_the_Monster!!, Fushigi_Yamada, <s>Gairyu</s>, Generation_1_cartoon_timeline_(Japan)/src, Geonosis 
Josh_Nizzi, <s>Jose_Delbo</s>, <S>Jose_Sant'anna</s>, <s>Jose_Santacruz</s>, <s>J rmungandr</s>, <s>Kakuryu</s>, Kazuhiko_Go-do, <S>Kenichiro-_Tanabe</s>, <s>Kenso-_Kato-</s>, <s>Kenyu-_Horiuchi</s> 
Linkage_Part_13, List_of_computers, Live?_Die?!_The_Desperate_Super-God_Combination, Lloyd_Goldfine, Longview, M&M's, Mach_Kick_Voluntarily_Enlists!?, Magna-mike Magno_Sound_&_Video 
*3000 pages is a hell of a lot to do on your own. Why don't you just take one chunk at a time and let someone else help with the rest? - Magnus Maximus 19:53, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
::If you can do a chunk someone else has claimed as "working on", then go ahead. Redundancy is better than not having the pages. --abates 20:44, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
:::I'll go ahead and take 2840-4999 off my list for now. If I get to that point tonight (I plan on working on it until at least 3am EST), I'll pick back up, but for now I'll drop it. Didn't realize how much of a task it was.--[[User:Tigerpaw28|Tigerpaw28]] 21:51, 17 March 2009 (EDT)

Jeysie: 
Working on: 
Completed: 1-1000, 3101-3300, 3401-3600, 3801-3900, 4700-4800, 6400-6499, 6900-7000, 7140-8292 
Unrecoverable: <s>1984 media</s>, <s>2008 media</s>, Akari Hibino, All Fall Down (disambiguation), <s>Alpha Trion (disambiguation)</s>, April 6, <s>April 16</s>, April 19, <s>Autofire</s>, <s>Automatic timer</s>, <s>Banjo-Ginga</s>, <s>Bat-Rob</s>, <s>Binbo-gami</s>, <s>Break Is a Predacon?</s>, <s>The Autobot Warrior, Sixknight?!</s>, The Big Book of Coloring Fun, <s>The Final Battle (RID)</s>, The New Battle Begins!, The Smashing Pumpkins, <s>The Strongest Tag Team?</s>, The Treacherous Attack of the Decepticons, The Victory Warriors Enter!!, Thundercracker (Shattered Glass), Tight Shot

<s>Super Ginrai Gets Blown Away in the Desert!</s>, <s>Susan K. Williams</s>, <s>Swarm (G2)</s>, Tlaloc, <s>Toaster bot</s>, <s>Tow-Line (Energon)</s>, <s>Transcendent: Part 4</s>, <s>Transformers Comic issue 19</s>, TransWarped (Part Two), TransWarped (Part Three), <s>Trevor Hutchison</s>, <s>Trust (Cybertron)</s>, Tsutomu Kashiwakura, <s>Ultra Magnus (Universe Spy Changer)</s>, Vector, Where Is Thy Sting?, <s>Wyatt's Roadsideaganza</s>

Slaves of the Insecticons

High Beam

January 8

Detour 
Working on: 
Completed: 1801-1837, 6000-6050 
Unrecoverable: <s>Ryo- Naito-</s>, <s>Ryo-ichi Tanaka</s>, <s>Ryo-ka Yuzuki</s>, Deep Sea Discovery! Vector Prime

ItsWalky 
Working on: 
Completed: 6500-6600 
Unrecoverable: <s>Small Foot</s>, <s>Sojourner's Passage</s>

Chip 
Working on: 
Completed: 6601-6710 
Unrecoverable: <s>Spark (episode)</s>

Bluestreak7 
Working on: 
Completed: 6051-6151, 6152-6256, 6711-6791, 7000-7140 
Unrecoverable: Staff Sergeant Tracy, <s>Takuro- Kitagawa</s>, <s>Teiyu- Ichiryu-sai</s>, <s>Tessho-Genda</s>, <s>Team Ironhide</s>, Tech-Spec Manual, Tentakil (disambiguation), Terrorcon (disambiguation), <s>Sanryo- Odaka</s>, <s>Seizo- Kato-</s>

abates 
Working on: 
Completed: 1001-1300, 1500-1800, 3301-3400, 3901-4000, 4201-4400, 4501-4550 
Unrecoverable: Crown, Cybertron Redux, Charlie Bodin, Cheyne, Hochu Otsuka, Insecticon Attack!, Matrix Quest (Titan), Matrix_Quest_(disambiguation)

Magnus Maximus 
Working on: 
Completed: 2840-2959, 6257-6399, 6792-6899 
Unrecoverable: Studio 4˚C, Seven, <s>Shinichiro- Miki</s>, <s>Shizuku Amao-</s>, Showdown (disambiguation), <s>Sho-hei Kohara</s>, <s>Sho-ji Kawamori</s>, <s>Sho-ki</s>, <s>Shu-ta Go-</s>, Gods? Devils? The Pretenders

G1MarvelBlaster 
Working on: 5102-5200 
Completed: 5000-5101 
Unrecoverable: Odette Yustman

Tribimat 
Working on: 
Completed: 1301-1499 Classics (disambiguation) to Crossblades (G1) 
Unrecoverable: Command Center

FortMax 
Completed 5201-1400 
Unrecoverable: Gutcruncher_(G1), Hasbro Q&A March 2009 question submissions

====="Unrecoverable" pages=====
Those are actually recoverable. They're just searched for with the wrong characters, since whatever program we're using isn't equipped to handle odd characters like macrons. I'll be working on them. (Interrobang) [[Special:Contributions/69.23.135.79|69.23.135.79]] 00:53, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
:Also, if pages are absent from the Google cache, try Yahoo or MSN. --[[User:Abates|abates]] 01:31, 17 March 2009 (EDT)

::I think I've gotten all of the macrons, circumflexes, accents, et al. [[User:Interrobang|Interrobang]] 01:58, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
:::Unrecoverable: Kazuhiko Gōdo, Yukiyoshi Ōhashi?

=====Finish Summary=====
0001-1000 Jeysie <nowiki>[</nowiki>[http://miscfile.alienharmony.com/transformers/tfwiki.zip Uploaded to my webspace]<nowiki>]</nowiki> 
1001-1300 abates [uploaded] 
1301-1499 Tribimat [uploaded] 
1500-1800 abates [uploaded] 
1801-1837 Detour [uploaded] 
1838-2839 Tigerpaw [uploaded] 
2840-2959 Magnus Maximus [uploaded] 
2960-2999 FortMax [uploaded] 
3000-3100 FortMax [uploaded] 
3101-3300 Jeysie [uploaded] 
3301-3400 abates [uploaded] 
3401-3600 Jeysie [uploaded] 
3601-3800 Tigerpaw [uploaded] 
3801-3900 Jeysie [uploaded] 
3901-4000 abates [uploaded] 
4001-4200 Tigerpaw [uploaded] 
4201-4300 abates [uploaded] 
4301-4400 abates [uploaded] 
4401-4500 Interrobang [uploaded] 
4501-4550 abates [uploaded] 
4551-4669 <nowiki>[</nowiki>[http://www.yousendit.com/download/UmNLL0dLUEMwZ2xFQlE9PQ Uploaded to my yousendit]<nowiki>]</nowiki> 
4670-4699 Anon 
4700-4800 Jeysie [uploaded] 
4800-4804 Anon 
4805-4999 Bluestreak7 [uploaded] 
5000-5200 G1MarvelBlaster 
5201-5400 FortMax [uploaded] 
5401-5600 Phil [uploaded] 
5601-5700 Interrobang [uploaded] 
5701-5800 Phil [uploaded] 
5801-5900 Andrusi [uploaded] 
5901-5999 Interrobang [uploaded] 
6000-6050 Detour [uploaded] 
6051-6151 Bluestreak7 [uploaded] 
6152-6256 Bluestreak7 [uploaded] 
6257-6399 Magnus Maximus [uploaded] 
6400-6499 Jeysie [uploaded] 
6500-6600 ItsWalky [uploaded] 
6601-6710 Chip [uploaded] 
6711-6791 Bluestreak7 [uploaded] 
6792-6899 Magnus Maximus [uploaded] 
6900-7000 Jeysie <nowiki>[</nowiki>[http://miscfile.alienharmony.com/transformers/tfwiki.zip Uploaded to my webspace]<nowiki>]</nowiki> 
7000-7140 Bluestreak7 [uploaded] 
7140-8292 Jeysie <nowiki>[</nowiki>[http://miscfile.alienharmony.com/transformers/tfwiki.zip Uploaded to my webspace]<nowiki>]</nowiki>

=====Unrecovered pages=====
{{collist|3|
*Akari Hibino
*All Fall Down (disambiguation)
*April 6
*April 19
*Command Center
*Crown
*Cybertron Redux
*Charlie Bodin
*Cheyne
*Deep Sea Discovery! Vector Prime
*Dirt Boss (disambiguation)
*Do Over
*Dungeons & Dinobots
*El Greco
*Empire7
*End of the Road (Titan)
*Enter, Lio Convoy Typhoon
*Esther Scott
*February 19
*Fire & Ice
*Frederic Doss
*Friend or Foe!? The True Form of the Monster!!
*Fushigi Yamada
*Generation 1 cartoon timeline (Japan)/src
*Geonosis
*Gods? Devils? The Pretenders
*Gutcruncher (G1)
*Hasbro Q&A March 2009 question submissions
*High Beam
*Insecticon Attack!
*January 8
*Josh Nizzi
*Kazuhiko Gōdo
*Kingbolt
*Linkage Part 13
*List of computers
*Live? Die?! The Desperate Super-God Combination
*Lloyd Goldfine
*Longview
*M&M's
*Mach Kick Voluntarily Enlists!?
*Magna-mike
*Magno Sound & Video
*Matrix Quest (Titan)
*Matrix_Quest_(disambiguation)
*May 26
*Maya Klayn
*Mini-Vehicle
*Mirage_(disambiguation)
*Miroslaw_Neinert
*Nightscream (Energon)
*Nokia-bot
*Null ray
*Odette Yustman
*Quick Bow
*Robot Masters (cartoon)
*Robot Masters (pack-in comic)
*Scoop (G1)
*Scoop (Shattered Glass)
*Seven
*Showdown (disambiguation)
*Slaves of the Insecticons
*Staff Sergeant Tracy
*Studio 4˚C
*Tech-Spec Manual
*Tentakil (disambiguation)
*Terrorcon (disambiguation)
*The Big Book of Coloring Fun
*The New Battle Begins!
*The Smashing Pumpkins
*The Treacherous Attack of the Decepticons
*The Victory Warriors Enter!!
*Thundercracker (Shattered Glass)
*Tight Shot
*Tlaloc
*Tsutomu Kashiwakura
*Vector}}

====Template Namespace====

Jeysie - Saved: Everything on [http://miscfile.alienharmony.com/transformers/templates.htm this list] formed by doing a search for "<nowiki>site:http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Template:</nowiki>" on Google. (Dunno how much good it'll do, considering, but I wager it's better than nothing.)

====Help Namespace====

Jeysie - Saved: Everything on [http://miscfile.alienharmony.com/transformers/help.htm this list] formed by doing a search for "<nowiki>site:http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Help:</nowiki>" on Google.

====Transformers Wiki Namespace====

Jeysie - Saved: Everything on [http://miscfile.alienharmony.com/transformers/transformerswiki.htm this list] formed by doing a search for "<nowiki>site:http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Transformers Wiki:</nowiki>" on Google.

====Talk Namespace====

Could we get a list of links in the talk namespace to download, too? That's the other important one-- if you can provide it in the form of just one plain URL per line, you can use my script to go through them. --[[User:Suki Brits|Suki Brits]] 14:39, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
:Sure! I was going to after we finished the main space, and seeing as how I wake up to find that almost done...
:I wasn't sure precisely what you needed from your comment, so, here's an [http://miscfile.alienharmony.com/transformers/alltalkpages.htm HTML file] that's basically like my article list except with "Talk:" stuck in front of everything, and here's a [http://miscfile.alienharmony.com/transformers/alltalkpages.txt TXT file] with just the number and URL written out.
:I should note it's going to have the same problem with the special characters, though, so it might be hard to tell what doesn't have a talk page due to being screwy, and what really doesn't have a talk page. :>
:Edit: In fact, we're going to likely run into a lot of "unrecoverable" pages (since not every article had a talk page to begin with), where it's going to be hard to tell whether they really don't exist, or if we should hunt for them in other caches. How should we handle this? --[[User:Jeysie|Jeysie]] 17:40, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
::I think we should just resign ourselves to the fact that we may end up missing some talk pages. At the end of the day, they're not a huge deal.
::(As a side note, it won't work with the numbers in front of each URL.) --[[User:Suki Brits|Suki Brits]] 18:01, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
:::OK, I stripped the numbers and reuploaded. (I wasn't sure if it would work with the numbers after the URL, and I'm not sure of a good automatic way to do that anyway, so I guess we'll have to do ranges by title.) --[[User:Jeysie|Jeysie]] 18:34, 17 March 2009 (EDT)

<s>Okay, folks, can we start trying to download talk pages? Just delete "pageslist" from the cachecatcher directory, download Jeysie's TXT file, and rename it to pageslist. It's the same process from there; although don't worry about documenting which talk pages don't download, because let's face it... a LOT aren't going to.</s> --[[User:Suki Brits|Suki Brits]] 21:35, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
::I'm trying to work on downloading Talk pages but the script isn't quite working. I swapped the Talk page list in and everything looks like it's working. Except that the pages it says it has downloaded are not showing up in the pages directory. Nor can I find them anywhere else. Ideas? --[[User:Tigerpaw28|Tigerpaw28]] 12:52, 18 March 2009 (EDT)
::I'm having the same problem - I followed the same steps, and everything seems to be working, but nothing seems to have downloaded anywhere. - [[User:Tribimat|Tribimat]] 14:07, 18 March 2009 (EDT)
:::Oh, god dammit, I know what the problem is; it's a Windows thing, it's probably choking on the :s in the names. I'll upload a version of the script that works around that later. --[[User:Suki Brits|Suki Brits]] 15:10, 18 March 2009 (EDT)

0000-0200 Tigerpaw28 (in progress) 
0200-8921 '''Needed'''

== Synchronize watches! ==

Hey techy type folks, I know y'all are busy right now, but there's a few things that need to happen so we aren't wasting people's effort and good will:

* We need a site-wide page-top banner with a short note on what's happened and quick links to the relevant threads, pages, instructions on restoring pages, etc. Also maybe an update on things as required.
* We need to coordinate Google cache pulling, if it isn't happening already behind the scenes. So far it sounds like Scout, Jeysie, Derik, Abates, and maybe some others have been pulling stuff en masse. It suck if like, everyone was pulling the same stuff and missing the same other stuff.
* The cache pull results need to be pooled into one big conglomerated mess somewhere. And auto-stripping/formatting, but y'all already know that.
* We need a temporary tag/template that can be slapped on top of a page when it's restored. Just a small text note would be adequate.

Sorry if I'm nagging and/or telling you stuff you already know, but everyone's efforts seem kind of random at the moment. -- [[User:Repowers|Repowers]] 21:49, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
:Yeah, agreed. Like I said above, I'd prefer to:
#Have everyone right now just work on saving the Google cache before it changes. This is really the important thing right now, IMHO... we can't recover pages unless we have something to recover ''from''.
#''Then'' we can work on divving up the cached pages, sending them through a processor, and having people repost their batch of page code on the pages themselves (or on a clean install, would be my preference), doing any necessary manual cleanup as they go along.
:The current state of people sort of saving and restoring random individual pages on "recover" subpages isn't really all that helpful, IMHO. The wiki's going to look ugly for a while regardless; better to just be patient on making stuff look good and just tackle this in a somewhat organized fashion instead. --[[User:Jeysie|Jeysie]] 22:10, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
::This lack of coordination and general secrecy is hurting efforts. Since I requested help, people on TFW2005 have offered to help out, including people from beyond the board, but they're all asking me what they are supposed to do with their saved browser cache pages/google cache pages. I've been telling them to sit tight until *somebody* tells the people on the wiki what to do. Hopefully, something will be salvaged and this effort won't be needed... but what do I know? I have no idea what the status of things are beyond this page. I do have one suggestion - if and when we get things back to some form of normalcy, we better post a thank you message on the front page for all of those people who offered us help and/or best wishes. --FFN
:::Ask Scout. I think she's trying to organize something. (8000+ pages is kinda a logistical nightmare.) -[[Special:Contributions/207.224.69.82|207.224.69.82]] 06:08, 17 March 2009 (EDT)

== Autoconfirmed ==

Right now, everything that requires "Autoconfirmed" privileges is out of reach to, well, EVERYONE. Maybe move that bar lower for a few days - there are pages like [[Sari Sumdac's Key]] which have been moved in the meantime (in that case, to [[Key]]) that can't be moved into their "proper" places right now, and that impedes trying to get them from caches. - [[User:SanityOrMadness|SanityOrMadness]] 09:52, 17 March 2009 (EDT)

== Downloading script/Part 2 ==

It seems like most of the pages have already been downloaded (holy crap, that was quick), but for the rest, here's a script that will download pages based off abates's list: http://www.scoutshonour.com/files/cachecatcher.zip Just run cachecatcher.exe, and follow the instructions; it'll download the range to the pages folder.

It can also be repurposed to download any list of URLs if you replace the pageslist file. --Suki Brits 12:49, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
::"The application has failed to start because the application configuration is incorrect." Does this need Python or something else to be installed in order to run? - Magnus Maximus 13:20, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
:::Apparently there was a bug in the version of Python I used to build it under; oops. It's fixed now. Anyone should be able to run it. --[[User:Suki Brits|Suki Brits]] 13:56, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
::::Yep, works now. - Magnus Maximus 14:13, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
::I'm getting this: IOError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: 'pages/Classics_(disambiguation)' ... and nothing else seems to be happening. I downloaded and unzipped it, and typed in '1300' and '1499' for the page ranges, based on the list above. What am I doing wrong? - [[User:Tribimat|Tribimat]] 14:35, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
:::It sounds like it can't find the folder "pages" in the program's folder. If it doesn't exist, try making it. (I'm guessing your unzip program ignored it because it's an empty folder.) --[[User:Suki Brits|Suki Brits]] 14:44, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
::::Yes, that's fixed it. Thanks! - [[User:Tribimat|Tribimat]] 14:51, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
:Also, it'd be good if we could start consolidating the downloaded pages. Once we've got them all we can run abates' script on them (abates, if you could send that my way), and I'll figure out what the best way of importing them is. I've set up a temporary FTP account for today, so people can start uploading them. Connect to scoutshonour.com, username is tfwiki@scoutshonour.com, password is cache. --Suki Brits 12:56, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
::Also also: mark it off when you've uploaded a batch of pages, so I can tell what's actually there. --[[User:Suki Brits|Suki Brits]] 15:26, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
:::I was quite haphazard in my file naming. Is that going to matter? (I have things like "david disamb.htm", but I see whoever started uploading first is using pagenames).
:::Also is it OK to upload them in a zip file? --[[Special:Contributions/203.97.2.142|203.97.2.142]] 15:56, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
::::Also also, how come none of the other pages have file extensions? Is that deliberate? Mine all auto-saved as *.htm. Is there a file type (or lack of) that you'd prefer we upload them as? - Magnus Maximus 16:19, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
:::::It doesn't matter what the pages are named or what extensions they have. And sure, zipped is fine. It shouldn't be too hard to script a way to make them all uniform. --[[User:Suki Brits|Suki Brits]] 17:06, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
::::::Cool! My chunks are uploaded as zips. I also uploaded all the Hasbro Q&A articles I could find. I couldn't find March's questions though. :( --abates 19:25, 17 March 2009 (EDT)

Just so everyone knows, there's a one-digit discrepancy between the list [http://miscfile.alienharmony.com/transformers/allpages.htm here] and the numbers you enter on the cachecatcher. I assume this is because the cachecatcher is counting from 0 instead of 1 as the first file. I've used the list's numbering in my table entry, but also added the page ranges in case any get missed out by mistake. It might be a good idea if people indicate the first and last file they've downloaded, as well as the numbers. And Google's locked me out again, which is a shame, because it's not taking me that long to get 100-page chunks. - [[User:Tribimat|Tribimat]] 15:51, 17 March 2009 (EDT)

Here's everything I saved last night: http://miscfile.alienharmony.com/transformers/tfwiki.zip (I kinda already uploaded them to my webspace last night as a backup precaution since I don't trust my own computer stuff farther than I can throw it... but if you want me to reupload into the TF Wiki FTP I can.) It's missing 6400-6499 at the moment since my friend initially saved all the pages by copy and pasting them into Word (oops), but she says she's going to resave them as HTML (she just lives in Australia, so I gotta wait to get them from her). --[[User:Jeysie|Jeysie]] 17:59, 17 March 2009 (EDT)

abates, how's that perl script doing? If it's working properly, can you send it my way? There's a little bit of parsing to do, and we're still a few files away from being ready, but I'd like to be able to wikify the articles tomorrow. --[[User:Suki Brits|Suki Brits]] 21:39, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
:I've emailed it to your scoutshonour.com account. --[[User:Abates|abates]] 02:01, 18 March 2009 (EDT)

I just added a zip file on behalf of [[User:FFN|FFN]]. It contains files from his browser cache, from the same day as the crash. As such, things from TransWarped such as the page itself, Team Charr, Rodimus Prime and Oil Slick, along with probably a few recently-added Japanese theme pages, can be recovered. --[[User:Detour|Detour]] 03:51, 18 March 2009 (EDT)
:Thanks. Unfortunately, I only managed to save a handful of pages before Firefox decided that it was a good time to crash and wipe the cache clean. Fortunately I managed to a small number of pages that had been created in the past few days and ones I had recently edited. Hope it helps. --[[User:FFN|FFN]] 04:01, 18 March 2009 (EDT)

== Admin status ==

I don't have mine back yet. Sounds like Siph doesn't either. (I created a "repowers2" account so I could log in without fear of overwriting anything, and admin status was conferred upon it, but that account can be deleted.) -- [[User:Repowers|Repowers]] 15:58, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
: Both you and Siph have powers again. --[[User:ItsWalky|ItsWalky]] 16:20, 17 March 2009 (EDT)

== Non-Messed-Up Main Page Cache Needed ==

If anyone out there saving the Main namespace pages has the Main Page lurking on their HD, can you please [mailto:jeysie@alienharmony.com e-mail it to me]? I'd rather try just working from the HTML than try to figure out where the code on the recover subpage got screwed up, but Google changed their cache to our current version already. >.< --[[User:Jeysie|Jeysie]] 18:44, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
:OK, FortMax sent it over to me. I'll see what I can get done to it, so we can get that blisteringly ugly layout off the front page, at least. Can someone upload the Wiki logo too while I'm tinkering? I'm presuming Walky at least kept his own copy... --[[User:Jeysie|Jeysie]] 19:05, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
::Yeah, I got copies. --[[User:ItsWalky|ItsWalky]] 19:12, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
:::Almost done here. Got almost everything recreated except the rotating fake disambig messages, but I figure we can come up with new ones later. (Or anyone who needs a coffee break from page saving/restoring can write some.)
:::Question though - anyone know what Derik did to get the logo to resize to fit whatever your screen size is? It's the one thing I'm stumped on. (I suppose I'll just hard-code-fit it to my 1024 screen for the time being...) --[[User:Jeysie|Jeysie]] 21:33, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
::::Aaaand, done, except for the aforementioned random messages and image problem. --[[User:Jeysie|Jeysie]] 22:32, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
:::::Er, the reason I made the main page logo 700px wide is so it doesn't look stupid on a 1024px wide screen... but if I'm the only scrub using a res that low, I guess we can leave it... --[[User:Jeysie|Jeysie]] 23:20, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
::::::Well, we can make it grow with the size of the screen like it did before, but I dunno how to Wikicode that. --[[User:ItsWalky|ItsWalky]] 00:04, 18 March 2009 (EDT)
::::::Yeah, that's actually a CSS issue. I'm gonna take a poke and see if I can find our custom CSS/Javascript after I finish rebuilding the Calendar template from scratch.
::::::Um... is anyone backing up our help/policy pages? -[[User:Derik|Derik]] 01:19, 18 March 2009 (EDT)
:::::::Jeysie's done that. --[[User:Abates|abates]] 01:58, 18 March 2009 (EDT)
::::::::Yeah, it's in the big-ass file on my webspace in the Finish Summary, if you want to download it. It has my initial Main files, Templates, Help, and Transformers Wiki in separate folders in the zip. --[[User:Jeysie|Jeysie]] 02:03, 18 March 2009 (EDT)

== Hours ==

A fun passtime. Keep track of the amount of time spent on crash recovery, and its approximate value.

How much would you charge someone for your time to do something you didn't want to?

{| class="prettytable"
|+Hours spent on recovery
|-
!Name!!Hours!!Value of time in $/hour!!Total

{{hours|[[User:Derik]] |16 |20 | LAST LOGGED 3-18 4AM}}

|}

I had to have spent 20 hours myself on stuff so far, I think. I only ''wish'' I could get paid for this... I'm out of work at the moment and could use the dough. --[[User:Jeysie|Jeysie]] 05:36, 18 March 2009 (EDT)
:We can pay you in TFWiki Funbux! They're like regular money except... fun. '''NOTE:''' 1 TFWiki Funbux equates to 0.0000000000000001 Zimbabwean dollars. --[[User:FFN|FFN]] 06:54, 18 March 2009 (EDT)
:You may ''wish'' you can get paid for this... but the totals you post represent '''actual money-value''' of damages done by parties responsible. Parties which are currently squirming on a hook repeating to themselves "well it's not like anything worth money was lost..." in defense of their own lack of competence.
:Please log your hours. A nice big number could have a salutary effect on negotiations-- given that our host has already clammed up defensively on us once and refused to do things that might lead to a full recovery. Walky seems to have straightened them out on that, but I would like a very '''big''' stick to swing at then, once with a dollar value attached. With lots of commas.
:TFWiki subsists on ad revenue. People have poured thousands-- probably TENS OF THOUSANDS of man-hours into this site in the last 9 months to make our content better than Wikia's, and to slowly crawl up the Search rankings. Bookworm not only destroyed that content-- they installed a "recovery" that has '''half a million links to our primary competition'''-- which once Google notices on ''top'' of the fact our content is now either the same as Wikia's or OLDER-- is going to send US plummeting in the search-engine rankings and push Wikia back up. Our content is used to generate ad revenue, meaning it has ''value''.
:I am perfectly willing to use this fact as a ''Bat of Obedience'' to prevent our fuckhead hosts from holding back in the future-- but make ''no'' mistake, it's ''not'' an idle threat. They could be sued for damages. -[[User:Derik|Derik]] 07:07, 18 March 2009 (EDT)
::Well, I'm willing to log my hours for real if it'll help at all. Was more of an wry observation that, while I like spending productive time using my skills on my hobbies, I can never find a job that puts most of my skills to use in the same way...
::I do think some kind of recompensation is in order, even if we can't manage anything better than just booting the guy from his job on his ass. The sheer amount of incompetence is staggering!
::And I'm incredulous that they're claiming nothing worth money was lost. Even if we didn't get any ad income at all, this site does indeed still represent an ungodly amount of time expenditure, and time is indeed money. --[[User:Jeysie|Jeysie]] 07:32, 18 March 2009 (EDT)
:::I have no idea if they're actually ''saying'' it. But they're almost certainly ''thinking'' "well, they never actually paid us..." (The fact that stems from their inability to send us an invoice nonwithstanding.) I'd really like to disabuse them of any notion that TFWiki's losses could ''possibly'' be covered by our hosting fees.
:::As for no job using as many skills as your hobby... I tend to think that since [[Transformerology]] requires the equivalent of a Bachelor's Degree, most TFWiki contribuitors qualify for an "expert rate." $20/h and up. -[[User:Derik|Derik]] 07:41, 18 March 2009 (EDT)

:Hrm, I'm trying to remember what I charge for sleepless nights. --abates 15:33, 18 March 2009 (EDT)

== Wikia links ==

Is there no way to strip these out other than editing them out? Given that editing leaves them in the history, that doesn't seem desirable. - [[User:SanityOrMadness|SanityOrMadness]] 08:47, 18 March 2009 (EDT)

== Secondary to-do list ==

We still have a number of things to do beyond page recovery and purging wikia links, but most of these are lower priority.

*Fix article counting
*restore main page disambuigation
--[[User:FortMax|FortMax]] 13:33, 18 March 2009 (EDT)
:Article counting was effed when we first moved in too. I think it's one of those things that updates passively over time. (I'd check the move-in Talk pages to see if we did anythign to fix it but... well... ) -[[User:Derik|Derik]] 15:15, 18 March 2009 (EDT)

Koji Onishi

2009-03-18T03:08:13Z

203.97.2.142: Narmed

{{bookworm|0}}
{{picsneeded|Fiction, mom}}
:''Koji is a [[human]] from the [[Robots in Disguise (franchise)|Robots in Disguise]] [[continuity family]].''

[[Image:Kojionishi.jpg|right|thumb|250px|Computers are coming your way!]]

When [[Predacon (RID)|Predacons]] kidnapped '''Koji Onishi''''s [[Doctor Onishi|dad]], a famous scientist, that meant he got to live with the [[Autobot]]s. Though he desperately missed his father, Koji befriended many of the Autobots and was a frequent guest at their headquarters, acting as a sort of cultural ambassador to help them understand [[Earth]]'s societies and history. On several occasions he has had close calls with the Predacons and [[Decepticon]]s, but even among that group he has made a new [[Sky-Byte|friend]].

:''Japanese name'': '''Yūki Ōnishi'''

==Fiction==
===Animated continuity===
:''Voice actor:'' [[Jason Spisak]] (English), [[Akiko Kimura]] (Japanese)

Koji was heartbroken by the abduction of his father, and worried about him frequently throughout the first half of the animated series. They had been very close, with the Doctor often bringing his son with him on archeological digs and fishing trips.
{{charstubfiction}}

{{-}}
==Related characters==
===Mrs. Onishi===
* Koji's relationship with his mother is... ill-defined at best. She was only depicted briefly in the premiere episode, and then never seen, heard, or mentioned again, though Koji still has a normal human home he presumably shares with her.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Onishi, Koji}}
[[Category: Fiction-only characters]]
[[Category: Humans]]
[[Category: Japanese-original characters]]
[[Category: Robots in Disguise characters]]<div id="wikia-credits"> From [http://transformers.wikia.com Teletraan I: The Transformers Wiki], a [http://www.wikia.com Wikia] wiki.</div>

MediaWiki talk:Community Portal/Damage Control Central

2009-03-18T00:44:46Z

203.97.2.142: /* Main Article Namespace */

Additional discussion on this situation can be found on these Allspark.com threads:
* [http://www.allspark.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=56439 "TFWiki Problems, Any idea what's going on?"]
* [http://www.allspark.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=51208&st=400&p=1155749&#entry1155749 "Major Wiki Work, A thread for additions to Transformers wikis."]

==Hey hey, what can I do==
I think at this point we must begin formulating plans based on the assumption that the site is a total loss. This means damage control first, then restoration, then prevention.

Assuming no good news comes through, it seems to me we need to take the following steps. Bein' that I'm not a tech guy, there may be more options than what I'm seeing, but here's what I figure we gotta do:

#take down the bulk of the site's pages so Google's cache will not overwrite them
#figure out a system to make Derik and Abates' caches of Google-archived pages accessible to editors as they come in (Derik mentioned it'll take over a week to get a complete set off Google.)
#if possible, automate the stripping of HTML tags and other non-Wiki goop from those pages before anyone tries to edit them, including Wikia links.
#find a way to divvy up a restoration workload among our 50 or so regular editors.
#find a new server. We would be idiots to remain here.

I still hope most of this will be unnecessary, but at this point, I'm losing faith. -- '''repowers''' [[Special:Contributions/99.140.167.2|99.140.167.2]] 12:08, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
: Spoke with Bookworm several times this morning. He still has a few more computers to search for backups, but, well, at this point I'm going to assume the worst. He is going to try to at least get our user database working. He wasn't aware that was a problem until I let him know. I think Scout is trying to get all the pages downloaded from Google Caching. I've grabbed a few of my own, but she's got, like, thousands of pages so far.
: As for getting a new server... anybody got any ideas? Hell if I know. Frankly, don't listen to me anyway on that. --Walky

::Take everything down immediately. The longer the site stays up as-is, the greater the risk of contaminating Google's March 9th cache and the more linkbacks we send to Wikia. Then we either beg Google for a mass infodump, or.... 50 editors grab 160 pages each. EDIT: or Scout gets them! Thanks, Scout; good to see at least the words "silver lining" in print, even if I don't see the actual thing itself yet.... '''Thylacine 2000'''--[[Special:Contributions/74.73.131.210|74.73.131.210]] 12:17, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
:::If we take everything down, what are we going to edit back together? WHEN are we going to edit everything back together? Taking it down just delays our ability to fix it. --Walky
::::If we've got our copy of the cache, then site shutdown isn't nearly as important. The main concern is that we'd lose the Google cache. Looking like retards... well, we'll just have to take our lumps there. (I guess we could set permissions for content pages to only logged-in users? Dunno.) -- '''repowers''' [[Special:Contributions/99.140.167.2|99.140.167.2]] 12:30, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
:::::Even if it doesn't overwrite the cache, I see no reason to have the site up given the state that it's in. I say take it down until the head-honchos figure out how to clean up this mess. '''(Undecided)''' [[Special:Contributions/67.185.148.107|67.185.148.107]] 16:13, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
::::::'''Dudes'''. I noticed our front page's google cache has been updated to our current broken wiki page. So it's already begun. That's just great. --'''FFN'''
:::::At the least people shouldn't be editing any single pages right now (aside from very recently created articles, user pages and stuff like that which our cache-trawl won't cover). Once we've got the complete site cache (and converted it to wiki mark up), either the whole thing will be uploaded, which will overwrite their changes anyway, or whoever does upload them will have to go through them all picking out which ones need doing and which need updating, etc., which will only create a shit-ton more work for them. Also, I'm not certain exactly how Google cache works, but I'm pretty sure that keeping the broken pages active isn't doing us any favours. - Magnus Maximus 14:57, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
Well, this is some solid proof that Wikia sucks pretty bad. Look how often this happens over there... ''oh.''
:What the fuck are you gibbering about? --[[User:M Sipher|M Sipher]] 18:10, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
::Odds are, it's [http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/transformers-general-discussion/223458-tfwiki-post3408570.html#post3408570 this guy] trying to troll. --[[User:Detour|Detour]] 18:13, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
:::either way, it's a good point - Wikia might still let the community come back.
::::But we don't ''want to''. [[User:Interrobang|—Interrobang]] 20:25, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
::::No it isn't. Fuck Wikia. We left them for a lot of reasons, and there is ''zero'' reason to crawl back to them. And even if we ''did'' go back we'd have the '''''exact same amount of work to do there as we do now'''''. It's infinitely better to ride this entirely surmountable problem out and stick with our principles and dignity intact. --[[User:M Sipher|M Sipher]] 20:29, 17 March 2009 (EDT)

==I am a dumb, stupid man==
Just to get that out of the way. Should have told BK to back off on the database upgrade as soon as I saw his original email, and maybe we shouldn't have been here on this server to begin with. It was my call, after all. I'll do my best to make it up to you. Especially TOOG and McFeely, who did so many pages. When I remembered Google caches stuff at like 7 in the morning and started downloading pages whole-hog, theirs was the work I went after first. BEFORE HOT SHOT. That is how bad I feel. Nobody should have to watch through Energon twice. Or, uh, once. This is a terrible, horrible thing, brought on partially by my own incompetence and unassertiveness. Other people shouldn't have to learn my needed life lessons with me. --Walky

==What we've actually lost==
Okay, I've been trying to assess and give a realistic account of the information we appear to be missing. It's hampered by the lack of a search option, meaing I've been having to hit the random button until I've gotten to a page I can link to, and I may be missing something things, but I believe that we have lost the following sections:
*The work McFeely did on [[Energon (cartoon)|Energon]].
*[[Revelation]]
*[[All Hail Megatron]]
*[[The Reign of Starscream]]
*[[Maximum Dinobots]]
*[[Alliance]]
*[[Defiance]]
*[[Universe (2008)]]
*[[Revenge of the Fallen]] updates.
*Abates screen captures on [[Beast Wars]], [[Beast Machines]], and [[Generation 1]].
*Updated screen captures for [[Transformers Animated]] season 1 and 2.
*Last but not least, all we know of [[Transformers Animated]] season 3.

If I missed anything that stands out, please let me know. If all I've done is seriously depress you, then...I don't really know how to respond to that. -- SFH 13:49, 16 March 2009 (EDT)

:I'm not sure how worthwhile this is. I could add that we've lost almost everything related to the S.T.A.R.S. continuity (including the meta-page with that name), but seriously, we could keep listing pages forever. Not to mention that probably a huge majority of the existing pages have lost a lot of updates. I don't think there's anything we rank-and-file editors can do until either Walky appears brandishing a "routine backup" or Scout et al. get the Google cache sorted out and implemented. At THAT point, maybe taking stock would be a good idea, but until then, let's just go outside and get some fresh air. Toss a Frisbee around. Call up an old friend. - '''Jackpot''' [[Special:Contributions/216.231.37.133|216.231.37.133]] 14:01, 16 March 2009 (EDT)

::Yeah, we need a systemic, all-encompassing, computer-generated list of every page, since pretty much every page has probably been edited since the split. (though for the record, my list includes 15-20 Energon eps and 20-30 rewritten subgroup pages.) Said list needs a checklist option or something. I dunno. I had this written more coherently before the save page thing crashed. Whee, are we having fun yet? -- '''repowers''' [[Special:Contributions/99.140.167.2|99.140.167.2]] 14:28, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
:I still have all those screen captures, so I can reupload them if necessary. Of course, the images are actually still on the server, but the out-of-date database doesn't know they're there. I grabbed a complete set of Beast Machines episode articles and a near-complete set of RID episode articles from various caches last night. Unfortunately the software I wrote for doing the same only grabbed 53 articles before it was throttled. --[[User:Abates|abates]] 14:47, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
::We lost all the Titan collections that Emvee and I did. They weren't cached yet, but oddly the main Titan page had a cached version with the links I made to the individual pages. Wierd. This loss hits me really hard since I didn't start editing until this winter and '''everything''' I've contributed is now potentially gone. Since the tfwiki is one of the few joys I've had lately, it makes me feel a bit useless now. --Bluestreak7 [[Special:Contributions/98.213.132.186|98.213.132.186]] 15:03, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
::''Of course, the images are actually still on the server, but the out-of-date database doesn't know they're there.''
::If that's the case, then perhaps they can be reinstated when/if Bookworm compiles a list of files on the server that are newer than a given date.--Apcog [[Special:Contributions/99.158.0.251|99.158.0.251]] 15:38, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
That'd be Rob's work on Energon, not mine. I've lost around half the Victory cartoon, and ''every single fucking Japanese character article I ever did that's not Shuta.'' I thought we were only back to post-move September status, but we've actually regressed to June. - '''McFeely''' [[Special:Contributions/81.158.171.149|81.158.171.149]] 15:17, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
:I just saved as many of the Masterforce character articles as I could from Yahoo and MSN's cache (Google throttled me again) --[[Special:Contributions/203.97.2.142|203.97.2.142]] 16:15, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
:Can't you grab anything between June and the move from Wikia? - [[User:SanityOrMadness|SanityOrMadness]] 09:18, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
::Well, I... oh! OH! All of that stuff is still ON Wikia! Oh-ho-ho-HO! *scampers off* - [[User:Chris McFeely|Chris McFeely]] 09:20, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
In the event that we can't find a more recent backup (and at this point, if server dude can find one from even as recently as January, I'd be overjoyed), do we at least still have the original dump we exported in September which doesn't have all the wikia links at the bottom? --[[Special:Contributions/203.97.2.142|203.97.2.142]] 16:11, 16 March 2009 (EDT)

Henkei's articles - toys, pack-in manga, and Comic Bun Bun are lost as well. Typing "henkei" in the search redirects back to the old Classics (2006) with it's last mod date May 2008. Cache helps a bit though. --[[User:Lonegamer78|Lonegamer78]] 00:26, 17 March 2009 (EDT)

I'm going to see if I can salvage as much of the coloring book stuff as I can - between Powers and I, we put a fair bit of effort into it. -hx [[Special:Contributions/24.30.97.198|24.30.97.198]] 08:50, 17 March 2009 (EDT)

I am a broken man. I can muster the strength of will to do little more than sign back up. I have recovered my missing Victory episode articles... I would be uploading the Masterforce and Victory character articles now, since I have backups, but they are on another computer that has died recently. I am seriously getting bombarding with shit the last few days. Computer dies, business is turning sour thanks to the economy, and I say to myself, "Buck up, fellow, you've still got new Animated at the weekend to look forward to, and you can write it up for the wiki!" Fuck ''you'', universe. Just... fuck ''you''. - [[User:Chris McFeely|Chris McFeely]] 08:54, 17 March 2009 (EDT)

:Man, I hear ya. This comes at a time when I really can't spare much time or effort to help out with the recovery. Plus seeing that much of my work wiped out... oy. I just can't muster the will (or time) to do much beyond try and help marshal the recovery efforts. Might be best to just step away for a few days. -- [[User:Repowers|Repowers]] 09:32, 17 March 2009 (EDT)

== Anything the rank and file could do? ==

OK, so there's obviously alot of scrambling going on from all who can to recover all the massive chunks of what's been lost, my question: is it at all helpful for the rank and file occasional contributor to be doing any editting at this point? I mean, I'm sure there are a bunch of us who would be willing to edit and add here and there to fix up what small bits and pages we can. Or would such small additions and peicemeal fixes just get in the way of the eventual large scale repairs? --[[Special:Contributions/71.235.138.121|71.235.138.121]] 14:59, 16 March 2009 (EDT)

:We really don't know yet. It depends on what Derik and Scout come back with. I can't imagine there's any harm in restoring pages by hand (it could presumably get lost in whatever mass upgrades we end up doing... or not. I have no idea.) Mostly, just sit tight for the moment. When we get a system figured out, we'll ring the bells to summon the fire brigade. -- '''repowers''' [[Special:Contributions/99.140.167.2|99.140.167.2]] 15:25, 16 March 2009 (EDT)

Pick a page. Stick <nowiki>{{bookworm}}</nowiki> at the top, it'll give you a link to that page's google cache. -[[User:Derik|Derik]] 16:33, 16 March 2009 (EDT)

I've been wiping out those Wikia credits at the bottom of each page. Is this helpful, or should I stop? -- [[User:Semysane|Semysane]] 06:04, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
:Work on saving at least one 100-page set of Google cache pages first... every set we get is that many less we won't lose completely. --[[User:Jeysie|Jeysie]] 06:43, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
::I would if I had any idea what that meant. I'd never even heard of a Google cache before yesterday. -- [[User:Semysane|Semysane]] 06:55, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
:::Just check out [[#Pages .22recovered.22 list|this section]]. --[[User:Jeysie|Jeysie]] 06:59, 17 March 2009 (EDT)

== How do I properly add info to an article's "recover" page? ==

I've done the bookworm tag on some articles and saved the google cache to my harddrive... question is, how do I post this data to the articles' /recover sections? Just copy'n'paste the text, or go nab the source code? Detour --[[Special:Contributions/70.26.248.28|70.26.248.28]] 18:22, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
:I expect source code would be more useful. It will preserve the formatting, and someone can probably write a script to convert it back to wiki code. Plus, if I'm wrong, it's trivial to convert the source code to text, whereas you can't really go the other way. '''Chip''' [[Special:Contributions/69.139.147.179|69.139.147.179]] 19:01, 16 March 2009 (EDT)

:I do both, one after the other.
:The first is easier to re-format, but you'll often need to be able tog et the links out of the source code. -[[User:Derik|Derik]] 19:01, 16 March 2009 (EDT)

== Automated Cache Recovery ==
Will this program I happened upon help any? [http://warrick.cs.odu.edu/warrick.html Warrick]. It's supposed to be something that can automate getting websites from various web caches. I put a job in their queue, but if someone who has web stuff (it needs Perl 5 installed) set up on their comp can run the program themselves right now, that would help. Or is that the sort of thing Derik and Suki are already doing? (Basically, I'd like to help, but I don't even know what "phase" we're on...) --[[Special:Contributions/96.240.212.69|96.240.212.69]] 18:59, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
:It's being run. It'll take some time, and e3ven then... that's just grabbing a copy of the google cache before it vanishes.
:(Personally I'm banking on a localized reversal of [[The Fallen|the second law of thermodynamics]].) -[[User:Derik|Derik]] 19:01, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
::Well, if we're in the midst of saving the Google cache, than what we should do is... 1. Get a copy of as many cached pages as we can. 2. run them all through some sort of preprocessor 3. get a list of editors willing to help, give them each a chunk of the processed pages, and tell them to go to town reposting them. There's no sense in having people running around doing things piecemeal instead of being systematic about it.
::Which is why I was wondering if there was some sort of system already for having people grab cache pages, rather than just doing it randomly. I've been using [http://miscfile.alienharmony.com/transformers/allpages.htm this page] based on Abates' list to grab cache links for the Main namespace, and I have the first 400 links opened so far. Maybe if everyone took so many pages? (Although I have the advantage that I can force change my IP every time I run into Google's annoying throttle wall.)
::Also, I was thinking that we might consider just simply making a fresh install of the wiki software with an empty database, then simply recreating everything, if we're going to have to repost everything by hand anyway... --Jeysie [[Special:Contributions/96.233.179.58|96.233.179.58]] 20:48, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
:::Make that the first 500, which I'm going to work on saving now. Do our various editors want to post here and lay a claim on a set of numbers on the list and work on opening and saving them? (They link straight to the cache page.) Not all of the links converted cleanly, but it's probably easier to just manually fix them as you go instead of me trying to spend time manually cleaning and reposting the list. I figure, once we know we've got the Main namespace pages saved, we can then work on trying to figure out the other namespaces. (Template and Help at the very least.) --Jeysie [[Special:Contributions/72.79.218.239|72.79.218.239]] 21:06, 16 March 2009 (EDT)

== Restoring account status ==

Is it better to recreate an account, possibly messing up the caches for one's User Contributions, Talk Page, etc., so uploading images and such is possible? Or should we just sit tight a bit longer on that aspect until more restoration is done?--Apcog [[Special:Contributions/99.158.0.251|99.158.0.251]] 19:24, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
:Re-create. -[[Special:Contributions/207.224.69.82|207.224.69.82]] 20:02, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
::Feh. Okay, done.--[[User:Apcog|Apcog]] 20:13, 16 March 2009 (EDT)

== Pages "recovered" list ==

In the however likely case we are not able to get a full set of backups from Bookworm, we should probably keep a list of pages somewhere that have been at least partially recovered via Derik's bookworm template and google's cache or other caches. This way any rank-n-file editor who wants to help out can just look at the list to see what's been done so they can go save other pages. Another way is to get that listing of all the pages and have users check them off when they've been partially recovered. Thoughts? --Bluestreak7 [[Special:Contributions/98.213.132.186|98.213.132.186]] 19:53, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
:Well, here's a list of all pages that need to be ''recovered'' from the Main namespace: http://miscfile.alienharmony.com/transformers/allpages.htm with links straight to the cache pages. I've opened the first 500 links so far, and am half done with saving them, then I'll work on the next 500. Anyone else want to pitch in, lay claim to a range of numbers to save, and get on it? (Note: Not all of the links coverted over right, though most of them did. If you get an error, just fix any goofs in the link and try again. And keep a list of any pages where, even after checking the link was correct, it just didn't have a cache to save.) --Jeysie [[Special:Contributions/96.240.208.203|96.240.208.203]] 21:48, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
:I've written a Perl script to convert the HTML back to Wiki markup. It's not perfect, and I need to test it on more cache files, but it's faster than reformatting by hand. It could be provided as an online tool, maybe. --abates not signed in [[Special:Contributions/203.97.2.142|203.97.2.142]] 22:00, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
::Okay, I'm starting on the 7000s. I'll see how far I can get before I need to get to bed. I'm still holding on to hope that all this cache work is for nothing, but not expecting it. [[User:Bluestreak7|Bluestreak7]] 22:28, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
:::I'll start the 6500s. --[[User:ItsWalky|ItsWalky]] 22:30, 16 March 2009 (EDT) I got up to 6600 before it stopped me. --[[User:ItsWalky|ItsWalky]] 22:47, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
::::I'll at least be doing up to the first 1000 myself. And, I've found that if you have any way to change your IP, that will reset Google's throttle stop. (People who have rotating IPs can likely do this simply by disconnecting/reconnecting.) I also went and fixed all the broken links that didn't convert right, so feel free to refresh my list for the latest version. --[[User:Jeysie|Jeysie]] 22:50, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
:::::I have a feeling we shouldn't worry about the early ones. Both Derik and Scout have automated scripts for this, and I'm sure that's where they started. --[[User:ItsWalky|ItsWalky]] 22:54, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
::::::I'll try and do from 6000 to 6499, then. I've also got a bunch of other pages saved already, mostly G1 character pages. --[[User:Detour|Detour]] 22:56, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
:::::::Well, in my epic suckitude coupled with having other engagements I need to get finished... I've only made it to 6050... maybe someone can pick up my slack? --[[User:Detour|Detour]] 23:54, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
::::Starting with 6601. '''Chip''' [[Special:Contributions/69.139.147.179|69.139.147.179]] 23:06, 16 March 2009 (EDT) Ended at 6710. '''Chip'''
:::::I'll start with 5000-5100. Hope I can help. --[[User:G1MarvelBlaster|G1MarvelBlaster]] 08:51, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
[[Special:Contributions/69.139.147.179|69.139.147.179]] 23:55, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
Do we have a simple, automated way to grab this stuff? '''Chip'''
:Not automated, but, efficiencied:
#Open list in a new Opera window.
#Open up the "Links" panel.
#Select 50 links and "Open in Background tab"
#Select another 50 links after those load, and again "Open in Background tab"
#Drag the list tab to the taskbar to create a new window
#Reset my modem (to get a new IP)
#Repeat these steps until I have 5 windows (100 pages each) open, then go through each window saving everything as HTML.
--[[User:Jeysie|Jeysie]] 01:06, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
::If you're using Firefox, you can also use an add-on called "Snap Links" to open multiple links at a time. With it installed you just hold down your right mouse button to drag a selection box over all the links you want to open. - Magnus Maximus 03:24, 17 March 2009 (EDT)

===Status Report===
====Main Article Namespace====
Andrusi: 
Working on: 
Completed: 5801-5900 
Unrecoverable: <s>Rihoko_Yoshida</s>, <s>Rio_Gr fica_Editora</s> 

Tigerpaw28: 
Working on: 1839-2839, 2840-4999 
Completed: 
Unrecoverable: 
*3000 pages is a hell of a lot to do on your own. Why don't you just take one chunk at a time and let someone else help with the rest? - Magnus Maximus 19:53, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
::If you can do a chunk someone else has claimed as "working on", then go ahead. Redundancy is better than not having the pages. --abates 20:44, 17 March 2009 (EDT)

Jeysie: 
Working on: 
Completed: 1-1000, 6400-6499, 6900-7000, 7140-8292 
Unrecoverable: <s>1984 media</s>, <s>2008 media</s>, Akari Hibino, All Fall Down (disambiguation), <s>Alpha Trion (disambiguation)</s>, April 6, <s>April 16</s>, April 19, <s>Autofire</s>, <s>Automatic timer</s>, <s>Banjo-Ginga</s>, <s>Bat-Rob</s>, <s>Binbo-gami</s>, <s>Break Is a Predacon?</s>, <s>The Autobot Warrior, Sixknight?!</s>, The Big Book of Coloring Fun, <s>The Final Battle (RID)</s>, The New Battle Begins!, The Smashing Pumpkins, <s>The Strongest Tag Team?</s>, The Treacherous Attack of the Decepticons, The Victory Warriors Enter!!, Thundercracker (Shattered Glass), Tight Shot

<s>Super Ginrai Gets Blown Away in the Desert!</s>, <s>Susan K. Williams</s>, <s>Swarm (G2)</s>, Tlaloc, <s>Toaster bot</s>, <s>Tow-Line (Energon)</s>, <s>Transcendent: Part 4</s>, <s>Transformers Comic issue 19</s>, TransWarped (Part Two), TransWarped (Part Three), <s>Trevor Hutchison</s>, <s>Trust (Cybertron)</s>, Tsutomu Kashiwakura, <s>Ultra Magnus (Universe Spy Changer)</s>, Vector, Where Is Thy Sting?, <s>Wyatt's Roadsideaganza</s>

Slaves of the Insecticons

Detour 
Working on: 
Completed: 1801-1837, 6000-6050 
Unrecoverable: <s>Ryo- Naito-</s>, <s>Ryo-ichi Tanaka</s>, <s>Ryo-ka Yuzuki</s>, Deep Sea Discovery! Vector Prime

ItsWalky 
Working on: 
Completed: 6500-6600 
Unrecoverable: <s>Small Foot</s>, <s>Sojourner's Passage</s>

Chip 
Working on: 
Completed: 6601-6710 
Unrecoverable: <s>Spark (episode)</s>

Bluestreak7 
Working on: 
Completed: 6051-6151, 6152-6256, 6711-6791, 7000-7140 
Unrecoverable: Staff Sergeant Tracy, <s>Takuro- Kitagawa</s>, <s>Teiyu- Ichiryu-sai</s>, <s>Tessho-Genda</s>, <s>Team Ironhide</s>, Tech-Spec Manual, Tentakil (disambiguation), Terrorcon (disambiguation), <s>Sanryo- Odaka</s>, <s>Seizo- Kato-</s>

abates 
Working on: 
Completed: 1001-1300, 1500-1800 
Unrecoverable: Crown, Cybertron Redux, Charlie Bodin, Cheyne

Magnus Maximus 
Working on: 
Completed: 6257-6399, 6792-6899 
Unrecoverable: Studio 4˚C, Seven, <s>Shinichiro- Miki</s>, <s>Shizuku Amao-</s>, Showdown (disambiguation), <s>Sho-hei Kohara</s>, <s>Sho-ji Kawamori</s>, <s>Sho-ki</s>, <s>Shu-ta Go-</s>

G1MarvelBlaster 
Working on: 5102-5200 
Completed: 5000-5101 
Unrecoverable: Odette Yustman

Tribimat 
Working on: 
Completed: 1301-1499 Classics (disambiguation) to Crossblades (G1) 
Unrecoverable: Command Center

FortMax 
Completed 5201-1400 

====="Unrecoverable" pages=====
Those are actually recoverable. They're just searched for with the wrong characters, since whatever program we're using isn't equipped to handle odd characters like macrons. I'll be working on them. (Interrobang) [[Special:Contributions/69.23.135.79|69.23.135.79]] 00:53, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
:Also, if pages are absent from the Google cache, try Yahoo or MSN. --[[User:Abates|abates]] 01:31, 17 March 2009 (EDT)

::I think I've gotten all of the macrons, circumflexes, accents, et al. [[User:Interrobang|Interrobang]] 01:58, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
:::Unrecoverable: Kazuhiko Gōdo, Yukiyoshi Ōhashi?

=====Finish Summary=====
0001-1000 Jeysie <nowiki>[</nowiki>[http://miscfile.alienharmony.com/transformers/tfwiki.zip Uploaded to my webspace]<nowiki>]</nowiki> 
1001-1300 abates [uploaded] 
1301-1499 Tribimat [uploaded] 
1500-1800 abates [uploaded] 
1801-1837 Detour [uploaded] 
1838-4999 Tigerpaw (in progess) 
5000-5200 G1MarvelBlaster 
5201-5400 FortMax [uploaded] 
5401-5600 Phil [uploaded] 
5601-5700 Interrobang [uploaded] 
5701-5800 Phil [uploaded] 
5801-5900 Andrusi [uploaded] 
5901-5999 Interrobang [uploaded] 
6000-6050 Detour [uploaded] 
6051-6256 Bluestreak7 
6257-6399 Magnus Maximus [uploaded] 
6400-6499 Jeysie 
6500-6600 ItsWalky [uploaded] 
6601-6710 Chip [uploaded] 
6711-6791 Bluestreak7 
6792-6899 Magnus Maximus [uploaded] 
6900-7000 Jeysie <nowiki>[</nowiki>[http://miscfile.alienharmony.com/transformers/tfwiki.zip Uploaded to my webspace]<nowiki>]</nowiki> 
7000-7140 Bluestreak7 
7140-8292 Jeysie <nowiki>[</nowiki>[http://miscfile.alienharmony.com/transformers/tfwiki.zip Uploaded to my webspace]<nowiki>]</nowiki>

=====Unrecovered pages=====
{{collist|3|
*Akari Hibino
*All Fall Down (disambiguation)
*April 6
*April 19
*Command Center
*Crown
*Cybertron Redux
*Charlie Bodin
*Cheyne
*Deep Sea Discovery! Vector Prime
*Kazuhiko Gōdo
*Odette Yustman
*Quick Bow
*Robot Masters (cartoon)
*Robot Masters (pack-in comic)
*Seven
*Showdown (disambiguation)
*Slaves of the Insecticons
*Staff Sergeant Tracy
*Studio 4˚C
*Tech-Spec Manual
*Tentakil (disambiguation)
*Terrorcon (disambiguation)
*The Big Book of Coloring Fun
*The New Battle Begins!
*The Smashing Pumpkins
*The Treacherous Attack of the Decepticons
*The Victory Warriors Enter!!
*Thundercracker (Shattered Glass)
*Tight Shot
*Tlaloc
*TransWarped (Part Two) ''[was redirect to TransWarped]''
*TransWarped (Part Three) ''[was redirect to TransWarped]''
*Tsutomu Kashiwakura
*Vector
*Where Is Thy Sting?
*Yukiyoshi Ōhashi (marked for deletion)}}

====Template Namespace====

Jeysie - Saved: Everything on [http://miscfile.alienharmony.com/transformers/templates.htm this list] formed by doing a search for "<nowiki>site:http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Template:</nowiki>" on Google. (Dunno how much good it'll do, considering, but I wager it's better than nothing.)

====Help Namespace====

Jeysie - Saved: Everything on [http://miscfile.alienharmony.com/transformers/help.htm this list] formed by doing a search for "<nowiki>site:http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Help:</nowiki>" on Google.

====Transformers Wiki Namespace====

Jeysie - Saved: Everything on [http://miscfile.alienharmony.com/transformers/transformerswiki.htm this list] formed by doing a search for "<nowiki>site:http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Transformers Wiki:</nowiki>" on Google.

====Talk Namespace====

Could we get a list of links in the talk namespace to download, too? That's the other important one-- if you can provide it in the form of just one plain URL per line, you can use my script to go through them. --[[User:Suki Brits|Suki Brits]] 14:39, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
:Sure! I was going to after we finished the main space, and seeing as how I wake up to find that almost done...
:I wasn't sure precisely what you needed from your comment, so, here's an [http://miscfile.alienharmony.com/transformers/alltalkpages.htm HTML file] that's basically like my article list except with "Talk:" stuck in front of everything, and here's a [http://miscfile.alienharmony.com/transformers/alltalkpages.txt TXT file] with just the number and URL written out.
:I should note it's going to have the same problem with the special characters, though, so it might be hard to tell what doesn't have a talk page due to being screwy, and what really doesn't have a talk page. :>
:Edit: In fact, we're going to likely run into a lot of "unrecoverable" pages (since not every article had a talk page to begin with), where it's going to be hard to tell whether they really don't exist, or if we should hunt for them in other caches. How should we handle this? --[[User:Jeysie|Jeysie]] 17:40, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
::I think we should just resign ourselves to the fact that we may end up missing some talk pages. At the end of the day, they're not a huge deal.
::(As a side note, it won't work with the numbers in front of each URL.) --[[User:Suki Brits|Suki Brits]] 18:01, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
:::OK, I stripped the numbers and reuploaded. (I wasn't sure if it would work with the numbers after the URL, and I'm not sure of a good automatic way to do that anyway, so I guess we'll have to do ranges by title.) --[[User:Jeysie|Jeysie]] 18:34, 17 March 2009 (EDT)

== Synchronize watches! ==

Hey techy type folks, I know y'all are busy right now, but there's a few things that need to happen so we aren't wasting people's effort and good will:

* We need a site-wide page-top banner with a short note on what's happened and quick links to the relevant threads, pages, instructions on restoring pages, etc. Also maybe an update on things as required.
* We need to coordinate Google cache pulling, if it isn't happening already behind the scenes. So far it sounds like Scout, Jeysie, Derik, Abates, and maybe some others have been pulling stuff en masse. It suck if like, everyone was pulling the same stuff and missing the same other stuff.
* The cache pull results need to be pooled into one big conglomerated mess somewhere. And auto-stripping/formatting, but y'all already know that.
* We need a temporary tag/template that can be slapped on top of a page when it's restored. Just a small text note would be adequate.

Sorry if I'm nagging and/or telling you stuff you already know, but everyone's efforts seem kind of random at the moment. -- [[User:Repowers|Repowers]] 21:49, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
:Yeah, agreed. Like I said above, I'd prefer to:
#Have everyone right now just work on saving the Google cache before it changes. This is really the important thing right now, IMHO... we can't recover pages unless we have something to recover ''from''.
#''Then'' we can work on divving up the cached pages, sending them through a processor, and having people repost their batch of page code on the pages themselves (or on a clean install, would be my preference), doing any necessary manual cleanup as they go along.
:The current state of people sort of saving and restoring random individual pages on "recover" subpages isn't really all that helpful, IMHO. The wiki's going to look ugly for a while regardless; better to just be patient on making stuff look good and just tackle this in a somewhat organized fashion instead. --[[User:Jeysie|Jeysie]] 22:10, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
::This lack of coordination and general secrecy is hurting efforts. Since I requested help, people on TFW2005 have offered to help out, including people from beyond the board, but they're all asking me what they are supposed to do with their saved browser cache pages/google cache pages. I've been telling them to sit tight until *somebody* tells the people on the wiki what to do. Hopefully, something will be salvaged and this effort won't be needed... but what do I know? I have no idea what the status of things are beyond this page. I do have one suggestion - if and when we get things back to some form of normalcy, we better post a thank you message on the front page for all of those people who offered us help and/or best wishes. --FFN
:::Ask Scout. I think she's trying to organize something. (8000+ pages is kinda a logistical nightmare.) -[[Special:Contributions/207.224.69.82|207.224.69.82]] 06:08, 17 March 2009 (EDT)

== Autoconfirmed ==

Right now, everything that requires "Autoconfirmed" privileges is out of reach to, well, EVERYONE. Maybe move that bar lower for a few days - there are pages like [[Sari Sumdac's Key]] which have been moved in the meantime (in that case, to [[Key]]) that can't be moved into their "proper" places right now, and that impedes trying to get them from caches. - [[User:SanityOrMadness|SanityOrMadness]] 09:52, 17 March 2009 (EDT)

== Downloading script/Part 2 ==

It seems like most of the pages have already been downloaded (holy crap, that was quick), but for the rest, here's a script that will download pages based off abates's list: http://www.scoutshonour.com/files/cachecatcher.zip Just run cachecatcher.exe, and follow the instructions; it'll download the range to the pages folder.

It can also be repurposed to download any list of URLs if you replace the pageslist file. --Suki Brits 12:49, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
::"The application has failed to start because the application configuration is incorrect." Does this need Python or something else to be installed in order to run? - Magnus Maximus 13:20, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
:::Apparently there was a bug in the version of Python I used to build it under; oops. It's fixed now. Anyone should be able to run it. --[[User:Suki Brits|Suki Brits]] 13:56, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
::::Yep, works now. - Magnus Maximus 14:13, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
::I'm getting this: IOError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: 'pages/Classics_(disambiguation)' ... and nothing else seems to be happening. I downloaded and unzipped it, and typed in '1300' and '1499' for the page ranges, based on the list above. What am I doing wrong? - [[User:Tribimat|Tribimat]] 14:35, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
:::It sounds like it can't find the folder "pages" in the program's folder. If it doesn't exist, try making it. (I'm guessing your unzip program ignored it because it's an empty folder.) --[[User:Suki Brits|Suki Brits]] 14:44, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
::::Yes, that's fixed it. Thanks! - [[User:Tribimat|Tribimat]] 14:51, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
:Also, it'd be good if we could start consolidating the downloaded pages. Once we've got them all we can run abates' script on them (abates, if you could send that my way), and I'll figure out what the best way of importing them is. I've set up a temporary FTP account for today, so people can start uploading them. Connect to scoutshonour.com, username is tfwiki@scoutshonour.com, password is cache. --Suki Brits 12:56, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
::Also also: mark it off when you've uploaded a batch of pages, so I can tell what's actually there. --[[User:Suki Brits|Suki Brits]] 15:26, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
:::I was quite haphazard in my file naming. Is that going to matter? (I have things like "david disamb.htm", but I see whoever started uploading first is using pagenames).
:::Also is it OK to upload them in a zip file? --[[Special:Contributions/203.97.2.142|203.97.2.142]] 15:56, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
::::Also also, how come none of the other pages have file extensions? Is that deliberate? Mine all auto-saved as *.htm. Is there a file type (or lack of) that you'd prefer we upload them as? - Magnus Maximus 16:19, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
:::::It doesn't matter what the pages are named or what extensions they have. And sure, zipped is fine. It shouldn't be too hard to script a way to make them all uniform. --[[User:Suki Brits|Suki Brits]] 17:06, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
::::::Cool! My chunks are uploaded as zips. I also uploaded all the Hasbro Q&A articles I could find. I couldn't find March's questions though. :( --abates 19:25, 17 March 2009 (EDT)

Just so everyone knows, there's a one-digit discrepancy between the list [http://miscfile.alienharmony.com/transformers/allpages.htm here] and the numbers you enter on the cachecatcher. I assume this is because the cachecatcher is counting from 0 instead of 1 as the first file. I've used the list's numbering in my table entry, but also added the page ranges in case any get missed out by mistake. It might be a good idea if people indicate the first and last file they've downloaded, as well as the numbers. And Google's locked me out again, which is a shame, because it's not taking me that long to get 100-page chunks. - [[User:Tribimat|Tribimat]] 15:51, 17 March 2009 (EDT)

Here's everything I saved last night: http://miscfile.alienharmony.com/transformers/tfwiki.zip (I kinda already uploaded them to my webspace last night as a backup precaution since I don't trust my own computer stuff farther than I can throw it... but if you want me to reupload into the TF Wiki FTP I can.) It's missing 6400-6499 at the moment since my friend initially saved all the pages by copy and pasting them into Word (oops), but she says she's going to resave them as HTML (she just lives in Australia, so I gotta wait to get them from her). --[[User:Jeysie|Jeysie]] 17:59, 17 March 2009 (EDT)

== Admin status ==

I don't have mine back yet. Sounds like Siph doesn't either. (I created a "repowers2" account so I could log in without fear of overwriting anything, and admin status was conferred upon it, but that account can be deleted.) -- [[User:Repowers|Repowers]] 15:58, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
: Both you and Siph have powers again. --[[User:ItsWalky|ItsWalky]] 16:20, 17 March 2009 (EDT)

== Non-Messed-Up Main Page Cache Needed ==

If anyone out there saving the Main namespace pages has the Main Page lurking on their HD, can you please [mailto:jeysie@alienharmony.com e-mail it to me]? I'd rather try just working from the HTML than try to figure out where the code on the recover subpage got screwed up, but Google changed their cache to our current version already. >.< --[[User:Jeysie|Jeysie]] 18:44, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
:OK, FortMax sent it over to me. I'll see what I can get done to it, so we can get that blisteringly ugly layout off the front page, at least. Can someone upload the Wiki logo too while I'm tinkering? I'm presuming Walky at least kept his own copy... --[[User:Jeysie|Jeysie]] 19:05, 17 March 2009 (EDT)
: Yeah, I got copies. --[[User:ItsWalky|ItsWalky]] 19:12, 17 March 2009 (EDT)

MediaWiki talk:Community Portal/Damage Control Central

2009-03-17T23:26:10Z

203.97.2.142: /* Finish Summary */

MediaWiki talk:Community Portal/Damage Control Central

2009-03-17T23:25:45Z

203.97.2.142: /* Downloading script/Part 2 */

MediaWiki talk:Community Portal/Damage Control Central

2009-03-17T19:56:15Z

203.97.2.142: /* Downloading script/Part 2 */

Minerva (human)

2009-03-17T02:30:59Z

203.97.2.142:

{{bookworm}}
{{picsneeded}}
:''Minerva is a [[human]] and [[Autobot]] [[Headmaster Junior]] from the [[Masterforce]] portion of the [[Generation 1]] [[continuity family]].''

[[Image:Minerva mf.jpg|thumb|250px|Head Master-Jailbait]]

'''Minerva''' (ミネルバ, mi-ne-ru-ba) is a calm, easy-going and somewhat ''motherly'' young [[Licca Kayama|half-French girl]] who attends the International High School in Tokyo. Not a big fan of fighting, she prefers to aid those in danger, rescuing civilians caught in the crossfire of the Autobot/Decepticon war. Using her [[Masterbrace]]s, she can instantly change into her armored form and transform into a head for her [[transtector]]. She is also a very talented dancer and medic.

:''English-Malay dub name'': '''Nightbeat'''

==Fiction==
===Masterforce cartoon===
:''Voice actress'': [[Yuriko Yamamoto]] (Japan)
[[Image:MinervaRobo1.jpg|thumb|left|Able was I, ere I saw Minelba.]]
{{-}}
{{charstubfiction}}

====Masterforce manga====

===Victory cartoon===
The now-living transtector of Minerva, along with [[Wheeljack (G1)|Wheeljack]] and [[Perceptor (G1)|Perceptor]], aided in the revival of [[Ginrai]] as [[Victory Leo]].

{{-}}
==Toys==
===Masterforce===
*'''Minerva''' (Headmaster Junior, 1988)
**''Japanese ID number'': '''C-303'''
**''Accessories'': "Minerva" Headmaster pilot, seat/helmet, left & right small blasters, handgun

: A [[redeco]] of [[Nightbeat (G1)#Toys|Nightbeat]] (though which character came first in the design phase is up for debate), Minerva's transtector body transforms into a Porsche 959 sports car with a medical rescue services deco. (The hinge on the roof even looks like a light-bar.) The Headmaster pilot transforms from an armored human to the head, which then adds the car-seat as an outer helmet. In car mode, the robot's helmet-guns can mount on the hood, while the large hand-blaster can mount on the roof just behind the "light-bar".

*'''Minerva Night Beat''' (Headmaster Junior, 1988)
**''Accessories'': "Minerva" Headmaster pilot, seat/helmet, left & right small blasters, handgun

: The Minerva toy was released in the [[Hasbro]] Nightbeat's colors as part of a mail order offer in Japan. She cost 1800 yen and four [[robot point]]s. It is unknown if this version of the toy came in a simple mailer box or in [[Hasbro]] packaging.

===Merchandise===
[[Image:Minerva-PVC.jpg|thumb|100px|I will NOT make the Knee Test!]]

* Minerva in robot mode was available in the second "Act" of [[Takara]]'s [[Super Collection Figure]] line, a PVC-plastic mini-figure based on her animation model. Both a full-color and colorless-clear version were made, one of each in a case of twelve blind-packed PVCs.

* A second Minerva SCF came out in Act-5 of the line, this time as an unarmored human in her school uniform. Available in both full-color and pewter-finish versions, she was packed in with the [[Metalhawk]] PVC, again one each per case of twelve. Interestingly enough, this PVC is about the right size to display with the actual Minerva toy.

{{-}}
==Trivia==
* Minerva's color scheme was used for the DVD-exclusive "Minerva Type" [[redeco]] of ''[[Cybertron (franchise)|Cybertron]]'' [[Thunderblast (Decepticon)|Thunderblast]]... who was a [[Decepticon]] boat and nothing like Minerva in any way other than "female". She DID, however, look very much like the normal release of [[Override (Cybertron)|Override]]... who is MALE in Japan. Get it straight, Takara.

* Minerva's name is consistently [[romanization|mis-anglicized]] as "Minelba" on every English instance of the name on Japanese packaging and [[bio]] material. There is essentially no difference between the "L" and "R" sounds in Japanese, and at the time it was standard practice to substitute "ba" for the "va" sound (though this has changed in later years).

==External links==
*[http://www.tfu.info/1988/Cybertron/Minerva/minerva.htm Minerva at TFU.info]

*[http://terrania.us/minerva/ Chris Meadows' Minerva Shrine]

[[Category: Autobots]]
[[Category: Female Transformers]]
[[Category: Headmasters]]
[[Category: Humans]]
[[Category: Mail order exclusives]]
[[Category: Masterforce characters]]
[[Category: Victory characters]]<div id="wikia-credits"> From [http://transformers.wikia.com Teletraan I: The Transformers Wiki], a [http://www.wikia.com Wikia] wiki.</div>

Giga

2009-03-17T02:30:43Z

203.97.2.142:

{{bookworm}}
:''Giga is a [[human]] and [[Decepticon]] [[Godmaster]] in the [[Masterforce]] portion of the [[Generation 1]] [[continuity family]].''

[[Image:Giga mf.jpg|thumb|250px|He has a killer swing.]]

==Fiction==
===''Masterforce'' cartoon===
''Voice actor:'' [[Keiichi Noda]] (Japan) 

===''Masterforce'' manga===

==Toys==
===Masterforce===
*'''Overlord''' (1988, Japan)
: ''Japanese ID number:'' '''D-307'''

==External links==
*[http://www.tfu.info/1988/Destron/Overlord/overlord.htm Giga (as part of Overlord) at TFU.info]

{{charstub}}
[[Category: Decepticons]]
[[Category: Godmasters]]
[[Category: Humans]]<div id="wikia-credits"> From [http://transformers.wikia.com Teletraan I: The Transformers Wiki], a [http://www.wikia.com Wikia] wiki.</div>

Mega

2009-03-17T02:30:25Z

203.97.2.142:

{{Template:Disambig2|the Godmaster from Masterforce|the toy size class|Mega (size class)}}
{{bookworm}}
:''Mega is a [[human]] and [[Decepticon]] [[Godmaster]] in the [[Masterforce]] portion of [[Generation 1]] [[continuity family]]. She wears a silly hat.''

[[Image:Mega human.jpg|thumb|250px|Warm-hearted bitch.]]

'''Mega''' is a witch, and eagerly awaits the day her retro-kitsch ship comes in like it has for pirates and ninjas. Until then, she dotes on her surrogate son [[Cancer]] and she sits in a corner, glaring at the [[Wikipedia:Wicca|Wicca]]ns.

In spite of appearances, she is not [[Wikipedia:Annie Lennox|Annie Lennox]].

==Fiction==
===Animated Continuity===
''Voice Actress:'' [[Rihoko Yoshida]] (Japan)



==Toys==

==External links==

{{charstub}}

[[Category: Decepticons]]
[[Category: Godmasters]]
[[Category: Humans]]<div id="wikia-credits"> From [http://transformers.wikia.com Teletraan I: The Transformers Wiki], a [http://www.wikia.com Wikia] wiki.</div>

MediaWiki talk:Community Portal/Damage Control Central

2009-03-17T02:00:49Z

203.97.2.142: /* Pages "recovered" list */

MediaWiki talk:Community Portal/Damage Control Central

2009-03-16T20:15:51Z

203.97.2.142: /* What we've actually lost */

==Hey hey, what can I do==
I think at this point we must begin formulating plans based on the assumption that the site is a total loss. This means damage control first, then restoration, then prevention.

Assuming no good news comes through, it seems to me we need to take the following steps. Bein' that I'm not a tech guy, there may be more options than what I'm seeing, but here's what I figure we gotta do:

#take down the bulk of the site's pages so Google's cache will not overwrite them
#figure out a system to make Derik and Abates' caches of Google-archived pages accessible to editors as they come in (Derik mentioned it'll take over a week to get a complete set off Google.)
#if possible, automate the stripping of HTML tags and other non-Wiki goop from those pages before anyone tries to edit them, including Wikia links.
#find a way to divvy up a restoration workload among our 50 or so regular editors.
#find a new server. We would be idiots to remain here.

I still hope most of this will be unnecessary, but at this point, I'm losing faith. -- '''repowers''' [[Special:Contributions/99.140.167.2|99.140.167.2]] 12:08, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
: Spoke with Bookworm several times this morning. He still has a few more computers to search for backups, but, well, at this point I'm going to assume the worst. He is going to try to at least get our user database working. He wasn't aware that was a problem until I let him know. I think Scout is trying to get all the pages downloaded from Google Caching. I've grabbed a few of my own, but she's got, like, thousands of pages so far.
: As for getting a new server... anybody got any ideas? Hell if I know. Frankly, don't listen to me anyway on that. --Walky

::Take everything down immediately. The longer the site stays up as-is, the greater the risk of contaminating Google's March 9th cache and the more linkbacks we send to Wikia. Then we either beg Google for a mass infodump, or.... 50 editors grab 160 pages each. EDIT: or Scout gets them! Thanks, Scout; good to see at least the words "silver lining" in print, even if I don't see the actual thing itself yet.... '''Thylacine 2000'''--[[Special:Contributions/74.73.131.210|74.73.131.210]] 12:17, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
:::If we take everything down, what are we going to edit back together? WHEN are we going to edit everything back together? Taking it down just delays our ability to fix it. --Walky
::::If we've got our copy of the cache, then site shutdown isn't nearly as important. The main concern is that we'd lose the Google cache. Looking like retards... well, we'll just have to take our lumps there. (I guess we could set permissions for content pages to only logged-in users? Dunno.) -- '''repowers''' [[Special:Contributions/99.140.167.2|99.140.167.2]] 12:30, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
:::::Even if it doesn't overwrite the cache, I see no reason to have the site up given the state that it's in. I say take it down until the head-honchos figure out how to clean up this mess. '''(Undecided)''' [[Special:Contributions/67.185.148.107|67.185.148.107]] 16:13, 16 March 2009 (EDT)

==I am a dumb, stupid man==
Just to get that out of the way. Should have told BK to back off on the database upgrade as soon as I saw his original email, and maybe we shouldn't have been here on this server to begin with. It was my call, after all. I'll do my best to make it up to you. Especially TOOG and McFeely, who did so many pages. When I remembered Google caches stuff at like 7 in the morning and started downloading pages whole-hog, theirs was the work I went after first. BEFORE HOT SHOT. That is how bad I feel. Nobody should have to watch through Energon twice. Or, uh, once. This is a terrible, horrible thing, brought on partially by my own incompetence and unassertiveness. Other people shouldn't have to learn my needed life lessons with me. --Walky

==What we've actually lost==
Okay, I've been trying to assess and give a realistic account of the information we appear to be missing. It's hampered by the lack of a search option, meaing I've been having to hit the random button until I've gotten to a page I can link to, and I may be missing something things, but I believe that we have lost the following sections:
*The work McFeely did on [[Energon (cartoon)|Energon]].
*[[Revelation]]
*[[All Hail Megatron]]
*[[The Reign of Starscream]]
*[[Maximum Dinobots]]
*[[Alliance]]
*[[Defiance]]
*[[Universe (2008)]]
*[[Revenge of the Fallen]] updates.
*Abates screen captures on [[Beast Wars]], [[Beast Machines]], and [[Generation 1]].
*Updated screen captures for [[Transformers Animated]] season 1 and 2.
*Last but not least, all we know of [[Transformers Animated]] season 3.

If I missed anything that stands out, please let me know. If all I've done is seriously depress you, then...I don't really know how to respond to that. -- SFH 13:49, 16 March 2009 (EDT)

:I'm not sure how worthwhile this is. I could add that we've lost almost everything related to the S.T.A.R.S. continuity (including the meta-page with that name), but seriously, we could keep listing pages forever. Not to mention that probably a huge majority of the existing pages have lost a lot of updates. I don't think there's anything we rank-and-file editors can do until either Walky appears brandishing a "routine backup" or Scout et al. get the Google cache sorted out and implemented. At THAT point, maybe taking stock would be a good idea, but until then, let's just go outside and get some fresh air. Toss a Frisbee around. Call up an old friend. - '''Jackpot''' [[Special:Contributions/216.231.37.133|216.231.37.133]] 14:01, 16 March 2009 (EDT)

::Yeah, we need a systemic, all-encompassing, computer-generated list of every page, since pretty much every page has probably been edited since the split. (though for the record, my list includes 15-20 Energon eps and 20-30 rewritten subgroup pages.) Said list needs a checklist option or something. I dunno. I had this written more coherently before the save page thing crashed. Whee, are we having fun yet? -- '''repowers''' [[Special:Contributions/99.140.167.2|99.140.167.2]] 14:28, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
:I still have all those screen captures, so I can reupload them if necessary. Of course, the images are actually still on the server, but the out-of-date database doesn't know they're there. I grabbed a complete set of Beast Machines episode articles and a near-complete set of RID episode articles from various caches last night. Unfortunately the software I wrote for doing the same only grabbed 53 articles before it was throttled. --[[User:Abates|abates]] 14:47, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
::We lost all the Titan collections that Emvee and I did. They weren't cached yet, but oddly the main Titan page had a cached version with the links I made to the individual pages. Wierd. This loss hits me really hard since I didn't start editing until this winter and '''everything''' I've contributed is now potentially gone. Since the tfwiki is one of the few joys I've had lately, it makes me feel a bit useless now. --Bluestreak7 [[Special:Contributions/98.213.132.186|98.213.132.186]] 15:03, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
::''Of course, the images are actually still on the server, but the out-of-date database doesn't know they're there.''
::If that's the case, then perhaps they can be reinstated when/if Bookworm compiles a list of files on the server that are newer than a given date.--Apcog [[Special:Contributions/99.158.0.251|99.158.0.251]] 15:38, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
That'd be Rob's work on Energon, not mine. I've lost around half the Victory cartoon, and ''every single fucking Japanese character article I ever did that's not Shuta.'' I thought we were only back to post-move September status, but we've actually regressed to June. - '''McFeely''' [[Special:Contributions/81.158.171.149|81.158.171.149]] 15:17, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
:I just saved as many of the Masterforce character articles as I could from Yahoo and MSN's cache (Google throttled me again) --[[Special:Contributions/203.97.2.142|203.97.2.142]] 16:15, 16 March 2009 (EDT)

In the event that we can't find a more recent backup (and at this point, if server dude can find one from even as recently as January, I'd be overjoyed), do we at least still have the original dump we exported in September which doesn't have all the wikia links at the bottom? --[[Special:Contributions/203.97.2.142|203.97.2.142]] 16:11, 16 March 2009 (EDT)

== Anything the rank and file could do? ==

OK, so there's obviously alot of scrambling going on from all who can to recover all the massive chunks of what's been lost, my question: is it at all helpful for the rank and file occasional contributor to be doing any editting at this point? I mean, I'm sure there are a bunch of us who would be willing to edit and add here and there to fix up what small bits and pages we can. Or would such small additions and peicemeal fixes just get in the way of the eventual large scale repairs? --[[Special:Contributions/71.235.138.121|71.235.138.121]] 14:59, 16 March 2009 (EDT)

:We really don't know yet. It depends on what Derik and Scout come back with. I can't imagine there's any harm in restoring pages by hand (it could presumably get lost in whatever mass upgrades we end up doing... or not. I have no idea.) Mostly, just sit tight for the moment. When we get a system figured out, we'll ring the bells to summon the fire brigade. -- '''repowers''' [[Special:Contributions/99.140.167.2|99.140.167.2]] 15:25, 16 March 2009 (EDT)

MediaWiki talk:Community Portal/Damage Control Central

2009-03-16T20:11:02Z

203.97.2.142: /* What we've actually lost */

==Hey hey, what can I do==
I think at this point we must begin formulating plans based on the assumption that the site is a total loss. This means damage control first, then restoration, then prevention.

Assuming no good news comes through, it seems to me we need to take the following steps. Bein' that I'm not a tech guy, there may be more options than what I'm seeing, but here's what I figure we gotta do:

#take down the bulk of the site's pages so Google's cache will not overwrite them
#figure out a system to make Derik and Abates' caches of Google-archived pages accessible to editors as they come in (Derik mentioned it'll take over a week to get a complete set off Google.)
#if possible, automate the stripping of HTML tags and other non-Wiki goop from those pages before anyone tries to edit them, including Wikia links.
#find a way to divvy up a restoration workload among our 50 or so regular editors.
#find a new server. We would be idiots to remain here.

I still hope most of this will be unnecessary, but at this point, I'm losing faith. -- '''repowers''' [[Special:Contributions/99.140.167.2|99.140.167.2]] 12:08, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
: Spoke with Bookworm several times this morning. He still has a few more computers to search for backups, but, well, at this point I'm going to assume the worst. He is going to try to at least get our user database working. He wasn't aware that was a problem until I let him know. I think Scout is trying to get all the pages downloaded from Google Caching. I've grabbed a few of my own, but she's got, like, thousands of pages so far.
: As for getting a new server... anybody got any ideas? Hell if I know. Frankly, don't listen to me anyway on that. --Walky

::Take everything down immediately. The longer the site stays up as-is, the greater the risk of contaminating Google's March 9th cache and the more linkbacks we send to Wikia. Then we either beg Google for a mass infodump, or.... 50 editors grab 160 pages each. EDIT: or Scout gets them! Thanks, Scout; good to see at least the words "silver lining" in print, even if I don't see the actual thing itself yet.... '''Thylacine 2000'''--[[Special:Contributions/74.73.131.210|74.73.131.210]] 12:17, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
:::If we take everything down, what are we going to edit back together? WHEN are we going to edit everything back together? Taking it down just delays our ability to fix it. --Walky
::::If we've got our copy of the cache, then site shutdown isn't nearly as important. The main concern is that we'd lose the Google cache. Looking like retards... well, we'll just have to take our lumps there. (I guess we could set permissions for content pages to only logged-in users? Dunno.) -- '''repowers''' [[Special:Contributions/99.140.167.2|99.140.167.2]] 12:30, 16 March 2009 (EDT)

==I am a dumb, stupid man==
Just to get that out of the way. Should have told BK to back off on the database upgrade as soon as I saw his original email, and maybe we shouldn't have been here on this server to begin with. It was my call, after all. I'll do my best to make it up to you. Especially TOOG and McFeely, who did so many pages. When I remembered Google caches stuff at like 7 in the morning and started downloading pages whole-hog, theirs was the work I went after first. BEFORE HOT SHOT. That is how bad I feel. Nobody should have to watch through Energon twice. Or, uh, once. This is a terrible, horrible thing, brought on partially by my own incompetence and unassertiveness. Other people shouldn't have to learn my needed life lessons with me. --Walky

==What we've actually lost==
Okay, I've been trying to assess and give a realistic account of the information we appear to be missing. It's hampered by the lack of a search option, meaing I've been having to hit the random button until I've gotten to a page I can link to, and I may be missing something things, but I believe that we have lost the following sections:
*The work McFeely did on [[Energon (cartoon)|Energon]].
*[[Revelation]]
*[[All Hail Megatron]]
*[[The Reign of Starscream]]
*[[Maximum Dinobots]]
*[[Alliance]]
*[[Defiance]]
*[[Universe (2008)]]
*[[Revenge of the Fallen]] updates.
*Abates screen captures on [[Beast Wars]], [[Beast Machines]], and [[Generation 1]].
*Updated screen captures for [[Transformers Animated]] season 1 and 2.
*Last but not least, all we know of [[Transformers Animated]] season 3.

If I missed anything that stands out, please let me know. If all I've done is seriously depress you, then...I don't really know how to respond to that. -- SFH 13:49, 16 March 2009 (EDT)

:I'm not sure how worthwhile this is. I could add that we've lost almost everything related to the S.T.A.R.S. continuity (including the meta-page with that name), but seriously, we could keep listing pages forever. Not to mention that probably a huge majority of the existing pages have lost a lot of updates. I don't think there's anything we rank-and-file editors can do until either Walky appears brandishing a "routine backup" or Scout et al. get the Google cache sorted out and implemented. At THAT point, maybe taking stock would be a good idea, but until then, let's just go outside and get some fresh air. Toss a Frisbee around. Call up an old friend. - '''Jackpot''' [[Special:Contributions/216.231.37.133|216.231.37.133]] 14:01, 16 March 2009 (EDT)

::Yeah, we need a systemic, all-encompassing, computer-generated list of every page, since pretty much every page has probably been edited since the split. (though for the record, my list includes 15-20 Energon eps and 20-30 rewritten subgroup pages.) Said list needs a checklist option or something. I dunno. I had this written more coherently before the save page thing crashed. Whee, are we having fun yet? -- '''repowers''' [[Special:Contributions/99.140.167.2|99.140.167.2]] 14:28, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
:I still have all those screen captures, so I can reupload them if necessary. Of course, the images are actually still on the server, but the out-of-date database doesn't know they're there. I grabbed a complete set of Beast Machines episode articles and a near-complete set of RID episode articles from various caches last night. Unfortunately the software I wrote for doing the same only grabbed 53 articles before it was throttled. --[[User:Abates|abates]] 14:47, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
::We lost all the Titan collections that Emvee and I did. They weren't cached yet, but oddly the main Titan page had a cached version with the links I made to the individual pages. Wierd. This loss hits me really hard since I didn't start editing until this winter and '''everything''' I've contributed is now potentially gone. Since the tfwiki is one of the few joys I've had lately, it makes me feel a bit useless now. --Bluestreak7 [[Special:Contributions/98.213.132.186|98.213.132.186]] 15:03, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
::''Of course, the images are actually still on the server, but the out-of-date database doesn't know they're there.''
::If that's the case, then perhaps they can be reinstated when/if Bookworm compiles a list of files on the server that are newer than a given date.--Apcog [[Special:Contributions/99.158.0.251|99.158.0.251]] 15:38, 16 March 2009 (EDT)
That'd be Rob's work on Energon, not mine. I've lost around half the Victory cartoon, and ''every single fucking Japanese character article I ever did that's not Shuta.'' I thought we were only back to post-move September status, but we've actually regressed to June. - '''McFeely''' [[Special:Contributions/81.158.171.149|81.158.171.149]] 15:17, 16 March 2009 (EDT)

In the event that we can't find a more recent backup (and at this point, if server dude can find one from even as recently as January, I'd be overjoyed), do we at least still have the original dump we exported in September which doesn't have all the wikia links at the bottom? --[[Special:Contributions/203.97.2.142|203.97.2.142]] 16:11, 16 March 2009 (EDT)

== Anything the rank and file could do? ==

OK, so there's obviously alot of scrambling going on from all who can to recover all the massive chunks of what's been lost, my question: is it at all helpful for the rank and file occasional contributor to be doing any editting at this point? I mean, I'm sure there are a bunch of us who would be willing to edit and add here and there to fix up what small bits and pages we can. Or would such small additions and peicemeal fixes just get in the way of the eventual large scale repairs? --[[Special:Contributions/71.235.138.121|71.235.138.121]] 14:59, 16 March 2009 (EDT)

:We really don't know yet. It depends on what Derik and Scout come back with. I can't imagine there's any harm in restoring pages by hand (it could presumably get lost in whatever mass upgrades we end up doing... or not. I have no idea.) Mostly, just sit tight for the moment. When we get a system figured out, we'll ring the bells to summon the fire brigade. -- '''repowers''' [[Special:Contributions/99.140.167.2|99.140.167.2]] 15:25, 16 March 2009 (EDT)

Talk:Main Page

2009-03-16T03:09:05Z

203.97.2.142: /* What happen? */

THE FUNNY STAYS.
-The Management

__TOC__

Please use this talk page for discussion about the [[Main Page]].

To discuss site-wide policies, please visit [[Transformers Wiki Talk:Community Portal|the Community Portal talk page]].

==Archives==
*[[Talk:Main_Page/Archive1|Archive1]]
*[[Talk:Main_Page/Archive2|Archive2]]
*[[Talk:Main_Page/Archive3|Archive3]]

==What happen?==

So...what on Earth has happened to the TFWiki? Also, for some reason the old Wikia seems to have gained all of the articles that are now missing from here. (Such as the Season 3 animated stuff)
:Seems to me that we've reverted to a June 2008 version of the database which could be really bad news. Some of my articles [[Macabre]] for example are at the old site but not here, which would make sense since I wrote it in September 2008 before we moved here. I don't even have a login here anymore - Emvee :( [[Special:Contributions/77.102.92.218|77.102.92.218]] 19:31, 15 March 2009 (EDT)
::Looks like our brain-damaged friend is back again.
:::There's some more info on the [http://www.allspark.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=51208&view=findpost&p=1155749 wiki thread in the Allspark forums]. Looks like an upgrade handled very very sloppily. I'm hoping once they restore the old database it'll overwrite the changes made in the interim, seeing as how our favorite Idiot Vandal With No Life is on a rampage. (Sigh.) Wiping out his stupid crap in one go would be priceless. (This is Jeysie, BTW.) --[[Special:Contributions/72.79.219.120|72.79.219.120]] 19:41, 15 March 2009 (EDT)
::::Thank Primus. I was worried someone had hacked in and deleted the database. The thought of 6 months work lost filled me with dread. --abates 19:46, 15 March 2009 (EDT)
:::::Ditto. Dread all round here too. Good to know it's in hand. --Emvee [[Special:Contributions/77.102.92.218|77.102.92.218]] 19:48, 15 March 2009 (EDT)
::::::You know... assuming it does get overwritten so we don't have to worry about undoing it, watching our pet vandal complain about how the wiki malfunctioning prevents him from vandalizing properly is one of the most morbidly hilarious things I've seen in a while. -Jeysie --[[Special:Contributions/72.79.219.120|72.79.219.120]] 20:07, 15 March 2009 (EDT)
:::::::Don't I know it, I was just having a laugh at that with the other half :) --Emvee [[Special:Contributions/77.102.92.218|77.102.92.218]] 20:16, 15 March 2009 (EDT)
:::::You know, there are some benefits about this. On the one hand, people don't have to worry about being spoiled about TransWarped. On the other, we get to see Assaulthead self-destruct in rage as he can't vandalize the wiki. However, there is one concern: What if they can't retrieve the lost information? -- (SFH) [[Special:Contributions/67.164.210.225|67.164.210.225]] 20:11, 15 March 2009 (EDT)
::::::I'm assuming that Bookworm made a database backup before he started work. Should be fairly simple to upload it again. Which means this conversation never happened. --Emvee [[Special:Contributions/77.102.92.218|77.102.92.218]] 20:16, 15 March 2009 (EDT)
::::::I've decided I don't want to think about what happens if he didn't. (Realistically about all we could do is a crapload of trawling through Google's cache, but even then we'd pretty much be seriously hosed.) --Jeysie [[Special:Contributions/72.79.219.120|72.79.219.120]] 20:18, 15 March 2009 (EDT)
::::::I didn't spot this thread until right after emailing Suki and Walky (one knows the code well, the other is right by the servers) about the situation (though I figure they already know), as I thought it might have been Assaulthead showing a heretofore hidden hacking genius. (Hey, if Bulkhead can be a space bridge genius...) I hope to heck we don't lose all those months of work. Someone really needs to work on that update process... --Apcog [[Special:Contributions/99.158.0.251|99.158.0.251]] 20:21, 15 March 2009 (EDT)
:::::It would be a real pain if all that work was lost. I hope it's not. How long would it take to get everything back up again? --Tribor

Guys, stop worrying and check out the community portal talk page. That's been restored and its last post was only a couple of days ago. Unless that's the ''only'' page on the enitire wiki that was backed-up, the most that could maybe have been lost is a couple of days' worth. (Okay, as soon as I wrote this, that page got fucked up, too.) The main thing to think about is first-time visitors seeing the site like this. - Magnus Maximus
:I just find it sad that the only person who can log in (with multiple usernames, it seems) is the guy with the (so imaginative) gift for profanity. --Emvee [[Special:Contributions/77.102.92.218|77.102.92.218]] 20:49, 15 March 2009 (EDT)

What worries me, is... why is the database even that far back? Even if we somehow lost everything, we should at least be stuck in how the wiki looked when we first arrived, but we've been rolled almost three months before that. (The last edits in the histories all seem to be mid-June 2008, but didn't we move here in mid-September 2008?) --Jeysie [[Special:Contributions/72.79.219.120|72.79.219.120]] 21:02, 15 March 2009 (EDT)
: Yeah, but IIRC we moved in with an older backup and ended up losing a little bit of stuff? -hx [[Special:Contributions/24.30.97.198|24.30.97.198]] 21:14, 15 March 2009 (EDT)
::Only a few weeks at most, though, IIRC, not three months' worth. (Not that it really matters if we did lose everything, it just makes me even more worried that this backup/upgrade wasn't done right.) --Jeysie [[Special:Contributions/72.79.219.120|72.79.219.120]] 21:24, 15 March 2009 (EDT)

:::I just don't uderstand why there wasn't a working failsafe in case something like this happened. I mean come on have you ever heard of an SD card or floppy disk? --E-Bot
Somebody set up us the bomb. --Interrobang 21:26, 15 March 2009 (EDT)

Straight up! I agree, it dosesn't make any sense Dawg. Yo but you know i'm still concerned if something like this could happen again, and if the damage could much more worse than it is now. --The Man 21:19, 15 March 2009 (EDT)
::::There had been discussion for several months about creating a proper back-up system.
::::No one really thought it was important. *eyeroll* -[[Special:Contributions/207.224.69.82|207.224.69.82]] 23:00, 15 March 2009 (EDT)
:::::I had a look at the page for exporting the database a week or so ago but couldn't work out how to make it give me any data. I kinda wish I'd stuck at it now. Oh well, I'm just hanging out for some sort of official word on what's happening now... --abates 23:09, 15 March 2009 (EDT)

== Featured article ==

We have had the same thing there for like 50 years{{unsigned|Human in Disguise|02:22, 7 April 2008}}
:Not really. Jhiaxus was only made a Featured Article on March 2, 2008.--[[User:Rosicrucian|Rosicrucian]][[User Talk:Rosicrucian|Talk]] 06:05, 7 April 2008 (UTC)
::With 6k articles, maybe we could switch the featured article every month?[[User:Spriteless|Spriteless]] 05:45, 9 April 2008 (UTC)
:::We try to when we can, but usually that involves a big push to improve the given article to featured article standards.--[[User:Rosicrucian|Rosicrucian]][[User Talk:Rosicrucian|Talk]] 06:30, 9 April 2008 (UTC)
:::: If someone was just going through the Wikia wikis they might assume that this wiki is a bit quiet. What about just chosing some of the bigger articles every now and again? The larger ones tend to the most highly polished, researched and moderated articles. [[User:Drmick|Drmick]] 19:20, 26 May 2008 (UTC)
:::::Some of the big articles need work because alot of the stuff in them was written in 2006 before we established standards. For instance, G1 Ratchet's article was featured last year I believe, but it was really unevenly written in terms of quality. I mean, for some reason half of the article eschewed storylinks in favour of references. --[[User:FFN|FFN]] 20:26, 26 May 2008 (UTC)
:We probably should set up some ground rules on what makes a featured article. Right now, it's pretty much what ever Walky wants. -- [[User:SFH|SFH]] 20:34, 26 May 2008 (UTC)
Thunderwing, Nice. --[[User:Human in Disguise|Human in disguise]]

Out of curiosity, how often does it change, or is it just on a whim? [[User:Jeep!|Jeep!]] 14:30, 31 May 2008 (UTC)

== front tf page ==

i hate april fool pranks on my fave tf front page -dr
:What? [[User:Interrobang|—Interrobang]] 23:11, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

== Funny ==
I think we should remove the funny nes on the page, If it stays, It will sound like a child has being messing up this place and Other people will think it doesn't make sense. [[User:Black rhino ranger|Black rhino ranger]] 09:01, 12 April 2008 (UTC)
:You're going to find yourself in the minority regarding this opinion.--[[User:Suzyprime|Suzyprime]] 13:02, 12 April 2008 (UTC)

:Actually, Ranger, people are more likely to think this wiki "doesn't make sense" if it's edited by people who can't spell, conjugate, or use capital letters correctly. [[User:JW|JW]] 18:37, 12 April 2008 (UTC)

Who made this again. [[User:Black rhino ranger|Black rhino ranger]] 19:55, 12 April 2008 (UTC)
:If that's a question, I don't understand it. [[User:JW|JW]] 20:33, 12 April 2008 (UTC)

But we should Make the images Info not funny, Transformers is ment to be serious, not funny. [[Special:Contributions/82.17.140.55|82.17.140.55]] 15:47, 15 May 2008 (UTC)
:Bullshit. --[[User:M Sipher|M Sipher]] 17:46, 15 May 2008 (UTC)
::Transformers be [[Bee in the City|'''''serious business''''']] yo. --[[User:Detour|Detour]] 18:00, 15 May 2008 (UTC)
:Sir, your erudite argument has at last shown me the light. I have been in error all this time, and you have turned the glare of knowledge against the darkness of my ignorance. Verily, we must all change our ways, and treat the stories about outer space robots that turn into cars as Serious Business. -- [[User:Repowers|Repowers]] 18:20, 15 May 2008 (UTC)

But it is unencyclopediac. It looks like a two year old vandalism. [[Special:Contributions/82.17.140.55|82.17.140.55]] 11:33, 18 May 2008 (UTC)

:Thanks for sharing your viewpoint, but, you are very much in the minority. If you object that strongly, start your own Transformers wiki and make it boring. --[[User:Steve-o|Steve-o]] 21:41, 18 May 2008 (UTC)

:: Or just read the transformers entries on wikipedia. I'm also guessing most people don't like it when you call our writing "like a two year old vandalism". [[User:(Undecided)|(Undecided)]] 03:10, 25 May 2008 (UTC)

Face it! Not Everyone likes funny wikis. [[Special:Contributions/82.17.140.55|82.17.140.55]] 15:25, 13 June 2008 (UTC)
:Since we're one of the largest, highest-traffic wikis on Wikia, I don't think the people who object to "the funny" are a significant enough constituency to force us to change.--[[User:Rosicrucian|Rosicrucian]][[User Talk:Rosicrucian|Talk]] 15:27, 13 June 2008 (UTC)
:Not everyone likes peanut butter! Therefore they should stop making peanut butter. --[[User:M Sipher|M Sipher]] 19:31, 13 June 2008 (UTC)

==Search==
So, uh, what happened to the ability to type something into the text box, click "search," and not have it take me directly to a page, but give me a list of pages the term appears in instead? There is no search button on the front page! --[[User:ItsWalky|ItsWalky]] 11:37, 15 April 2008 (UTC)
:For as long as I've used the wiki, the Search function has only done that for me if what I've typed didn't match the title of any article exactly. As for the front page, I still see the Search box. I don't know if it makes a difference, but I'm using the Monaco skin.--[[User:Apcog|Apcog]] 14:12, 15 April 2008 (UTC)
::That doesn't match my experiences. I could type in "Megatron," click Search, and then it'd give me a list of pages that mention "Megatron" in the body of the text. It was very useful. --[[User:ItsWalky|ItsWalky]] 14:54, 15 April 2008 (UTC)
::On the topic of the Monaco skin, can we get some admin feedback on the Monaco skin discussion, please? --[[User:FFN|FFN]] 14:32, 15 April 2008 (UTC)
::To be sure, yes, that would be useful. As it is, now you'd have to type something like "Megatron's" or "Megatron" and another word to get similar results. And yeah, I've seen notices for the admins from [[User:Toughpigs|Toughpigs]] asking for feedback and wondered when that was going to be resolved.--[[User:Apcog|Apcog]] 15:13, 15 April 2008 (UTC)
:Regarding the search box - typing something into the box and hitting "enter," or clicking "go," is the option that takes you directly to the page with the title you've typed. Typing something into the box and actually clicking the button marked "search" is the option that brings up a list of stuff containing the term, and that's the button we appear to have lost here (although on my screen at least, it's coming and going intermittently, but that's probably a browser cache thing). I've not got the Monaco skin on, but regarding that, I rather like it, and I'd like to see it implimented. There's something very "bare bones" about our set up here, and of course, I know that we kinda have that as a show of "not taking everything too seriously," but I'd personally like to see the Monaco skin in use. - [[User:Chris McFeely|Chris McFeely]] 15:30, 15 April 2008 (UTC)
::The same function is in the "Advanced Search" link. Am I the only one who sees it or something? [[User:Interrobang|—Interrobang]] 18:17, 15 April 2008 (UTC)
:::Cripes, I can't insert a comment before three more jump in before me. No, there's definitely no Search button visible in the Monaco skin as I'm using it, just an arrow with a magnifying glass icon in it (the equivalent of the "Go" button, obviously). I see the "Advanced search" link too, but it doesn't offer quite the same function, in that it doesn't default to the "all text occurrences" option. Rather, you have to choose settings to get that. Not a terrible extra step, but still...--[[User:Apcog|Apcog]] 18:32, 15 April 2008 (UTC)
:::I see the advanced search link. I also ''REALLY LIKE'' the new 'random page image link' above the search box. Who do I have to thank for that? --[[User:FFN|FFN]] 18:28, 15 April 2008 (UTC)
::::I put it in, but it was Siph's idea. Breaking the "Search" button under non-Monaco themes was also my doing, I'm afraid; I was a little zealous with putting in a more useful search and it didn't quite work. It should be back in a day or two. I somehow totally missed any discussion on Monaco coming up; I'll get to commenting on that. --[[User:Suki Brits|Suki Brits]] 19:50, 15 April 2008 (UTC)
:::::Primarily Wookieepedia for the idea, Blitz for the implementation, and I suppose me for harraunging her about it. --[[User:M Sipher|M Sipher]] 19:48, 15 April 2008 (UTC)
::::::A random page on search function is really a good idea because that would make us know about more characters. By the way, I think there still need a normal ''search button'' in the original place . :D --[[User:TX55|TX55]] 01:37, 16 April 2008 (UTC)
:::::::Then I thank you guys for it. '''IF''' we switch to Monaco, is there any way to do a similar function with that skin? I think the function is very helpful for newcomers to the wiki (and Transformers in general) for they don't have to look through lists of names or randomly search for things. --[[User:FFN|FFN]] 05:17, 16 April 2008 (UTC)
::::::::I don't think it'd be too hard. If we ''do'' switch to Monaco, there'd need to be some changes done to the search box anyway, since under that, there's no "search" button. --[[User:Suki Brits|Suki Brits]] 05:56, 16 April 2008 (UTC)
: Is there a way to make the search image load earlier? Right now it's the very last thing to load; even the flash ads come up earlier. --[[User:FortMax|FortMax]] 02:24, 16 April 2008 (UTC)
:: The short answer is no, unfortunately. --[[User:Suki Brits|Suki Brits]] 05:56, 16 April 2008 (UTC)
Why does the bar show pictures of random characters, but when you go to their pages they have no visual representation? [[User:90.198.228.42|90.198.228.42]] 20:28, 16 April 2008 (UTC)
:Because... I don't know really. I don't know why the powers-at-be chose to create these little search pictures for characters that have no pictures. One would think if they had a reasonably sized image to create the search button picture, they could have uploaded the full size image for the page itself. And/or create searchbox pic-links for characters that DO have decent visual representation AND largely completed articles. --[[User:FFN|FFN]] 22:39, 16 April 2008 (UTC)
==Familial relationships==

Should we put something up, relating to the idea of siblings or such[[User:GWolfv2]]
:See [[Relatives]].--[[User:Rosicrucian|Rosicrucian]][[User Talk:Rosicrucian|Talk]] 15:07, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

== Redesigning the front page ==

Now that the Monaco skin is the default, and Toughpigs is around to help us out, I suggest we figure out a way to redesign the front page so it isn't just a columns of text. Is there any reasonable way for us to have the franchises in the By Series (or anywhere else, really) represented by the franchise logos? The logos can be as recognisable as the names alone, and given we're getting more and more visitors every day, it would be helpful to make the place more visually pleasing and more user-friendly. --[[User:FFN|FFN]] 20:30, 27 April 2008 (UTC)
:I think that's still a [[Talk:Main_Page/Archive2#Logos_for_.27By_series.27_column|bad idea]]. The logos were never designed to look good together, and some (like the 2007 movie) are anti-informative. If you can present a design that somehow makes it work, please do. But I don't see how the new skin changes the basic problems. - [[User:Jackpot|Jackpot]] 20:56, 27 April 2008 (UTC)
::I tend to think the Main Page and its columns of text are just fine as is. --[[User:KilMichaelMcC|KilMichaelMcC]] 21:04, 27 April 2008 (UTC)
::Also, wouldn't it perhaps be best to wait a few days for everyone to get home from BotCon before starting a discussion on more major changes like this? --[[User:KilMichaelMcC|KilMichaelMcC]] 21:08, 27 April 2008 (UTC)
:::Didn't stop Toughpigs redesigning the whole Wiki... - [[User:SanityOrMadness|SanityOrMadness]] 21:18, 27 April 2008 (UTC)
::::Toughpigs has been touting the switch to Monaco for quite some time, and he only finally got the nod from an admin just before BotCon.--[[User:Rosicrucian|Rosicrucian]][[User Talk:Rosicrucian|Talk]] 23:22, 30 April 2008 (UTC)
Just wanted to say I love the new look.

===Ad bar issues with Monaco?===
I don't know if it's just me, but trying to load the Wiki in Firefox results in it loading everything up to the adserver stuff, and then Firefox proceeds to hang the fuck up, completely use up all available memory, and force me to kill it through Task Manager. It's kind of a pain in the ass.(I'm using explorer right now) [[User:Hooper X|-hx]] 00:22, 3 May 2008 (UTC)
:I've had no troubles with Firefox 2, nor Firefox 3 beta 5.--[[User:Rosicrucian|Rosicrucian]][[User Talk:Rosicrucian|Talk]] 00:37, 3 May 2008 (UTC)

== Improvement Drive ==
I have no idea how long the "Improvement Drive" column has been there, but it's a great idea, content-wise. However, IMO the links it contains should really be a permanent part of the Help/Start Here column. It's the kind of thing I was talking about [http://transformers.wikia.com/wiki/Transformers_Wiki_talk:Community_Portal#.22First_go_here.21__Next_go_here..22 a while ago]. -- [[User:Repowers|Repowers]] 22:56, 1 May 2008 (UTC)
:Giving this a bump. Input, anyone? Anyone? If nobody protests, I'd like to merge the contents of the "Improvement drive" section with the "Start here" section. Perhaps a blurb on a more specialized improvement drive -- say, our long-dormant BW improvement drive -- could take the place of the current one. -- [[User:Repowers|Repowers]] 20:20, 15 May 2008 (UTC)
::Giving this one last bump. If nobody objects, I'm making the changes. -- [[User:Repowers|Repowers]] 00:37, 21 May 2008 (UTC)
:One of the reasons the Improvement Drive was disbanded on Wookieepedia was because we instead formed projects such as "Tales of the Jedi project" "The New Essential Chronology project". This allowed us to focus on groups of articles which were in need of updating instead of simply one article. -- [[User:SFH|SFH]] 00:42, 21 May 2008 (UTC)
:::I fully support a "Project" initiative. (Cough cough prose stories cough.) --[[User:M Sipher|M Sipher]] 01:07, 21 May 2008 (UTC)
::::I can definitely live with that - it looks like one of the new users is actually working on RiD stuff, which is an area that I've felt could use more coverage - it's not my area of knowledge, tho. [[User:Hooper X|-hx]] 01:43, 21 May 2008 (UTC)
:::::Yeah. I know a lot about the fiction in GENERAL, but when it comes to what happened in what specific episodes and issues? Not so much. Toys are more my forte... --[[User:M Sipher|M Sipher]] 01:49, 21 May 2008 (UTC)
::::::It doesn't help that most of us would need to import the DVDs to write about the fiction. I've been thinking of doing that, but I've already bought a couple of hundred dollars worth of TF DVDs I don't really need soley for writing and screen capping articles for the wiki, which upon reflection is a little insane. --[[User:FFN|FFN]] 05:03, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

Please see [[User:Repowers/Sandbox]] for a test page. Feel free to tweak and/or comment. -- [[User:Repowers|Repowers]] 04:52, 22 May 2008 (UTC)
:I weaked the disclaimer, added a countdown to TF2 clock (the page de-caches a couple times a day, so it should remain accurate without having to re-edit, I did a sandbox text to verify) and I got rid of the clickable Animated logo, sicne that template still isn't working right and I haven't figured out how to make it work right.
:Re:Improvement Drive... How about we have a 'goals' list for the month? Like, 20 or 30 articles we want to get up to snuff, chosen for balance. A lot of piddling pages, a few episodes or comics no one's gonna get around to on their own, and one or two major character pages. We can track 'em at the end of the month and see how successful we were. -[[User:Derik|Derik]] 20:47, 30 May 2008 (UTC)
::Giving this a bump.
::About the list of "ways to help"... thing is, those up-front lists should be geared toward attracting new editors -- new editors who by definition aren't going to know all the million little persnickety formatting things you have to know to set up a new page. Stuff like "fill in a stub" or "add storylinks" is a lot less intimidating, and a lot easier to slide into, than "here, make this page from scratch." I think an expanded list, akin to what's on my sample sandbox, should be near the top of the page, rather than a bunch of red links. -- [[User:Repowers|Repowers]] 22:33, 11 June 2008 (UTC)

== Main "Transformers Animated" image ==

It really ought to be clickable. Unfortunately, [[:Template:Click]] currently doesn't actually let you center an image-- it probably needs to be rewritten at some point. Unless someone else volunteers, this is mostly just a reminder to myself. --[[User:Suki Brits|Suki Brits]] 18:53, 8 May 2008 (UTC)
:Someone just did that and now the link messes up the main page by covering the links to "Comics", "Generation 1", "(toyline/cartoon/comic)", "Generation 2", and "Help contents". Ugh, it was better off the way it was before. Besides, there was a link to the Animated franchise below the giant logo. --[[User:Sabrblade|Sabrblade]] 23:27, 8 May 2008 (UTC)
::What poor excuse for a browser are you using? The TFA logo is ''above'' all that stuff. --[[User:FortMax|FortMax]] 23:35, 8 May 2008 (UTC)
:::The image is, but the link is stretching down over the ones below it. --[[User:Sabrblade|Sabrblade]] 23:59, 8 May 2008 (UTC)
::::I'm using Firefox, and the link ends WAY before that. I have no troubles whatsoever. - [[User:Semysane|Semysane]] 00:20, 9 May 2008 (UTC)
::::Sabrblade, to repeat- "What browser are you using?" -[[Special:Contributions/75.168.112.43|75.168.112.43]] 01:35, 9 May 2008 (UTC)
:::::Internet Explorer 7 is my browser on this particular computer (I use at least three different ones). --[[User:Sabrblade|Sabrblade]] 20:31, 9 May 2008 (UTC)
::::::Well ''there's'' your problem. IE doesn't follow correct HTML protocol, and each version has a different way of not following it. --[[User:FortMax|FortMax]] 21:19, 9 May 2008 (UTC)
:::::::Just realized I'm having the same problem, using Firefox. The link to [[Transformers Animated (franchise)]] from the image is like, bleeding down or something, covering up some of the links below it. --[[User:KilMichaelMcC|KilMichaelMcC]] 18:43, 11 May 2008 (UTC)
::::::::Well, is there any other browser besides Internet Explorer and Firefox that doesn't have the problem? --[[User:Sabrblade|Sabrblade]] 01:31, 12 May 2008 (UTC)
:::::::::I just went and had a look at [[:Template:Click]] and tried a few things, but it's beyond me. Can we not just do it in html? It would be a hell of a lot simpler...[[User:Emvee|Emvee]] 12:51, 19 May 2008 (UTC)
::::::::::Well, with the "no TF:A Dubai spoilers" text written by Chris McFeely, the image no longer covers the G1 and G2 links. It still bleeds down, but only over the link-free text. So until that text gets erased, the image bleeding isn't much of a problem (but it will be again once that text is gone).[[User:Sabrblade|Sabrblade]] 01:02, 20 May 2008 (UTC)
:::::::::::Still covers them for me, and I'm using the latest Firefox. I'm going to edit this until someone can come up with a better solution - removing the Dubai text will just make it bleed lower down the page, surely... [[User:Emvee|Emvee]] 16:37, 20 May 2008 (UTC)
::::::::::::If any one isn't getting the problem [http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h278/Undecided_tmn/Mainpage_error.jpg here is what it looks like] to me. It's the blue highlighted box. [http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h278/Undecided_tmn/Mainpage_error_IE-1.jpg Here is what it looks like in Internet Explorer]. Screen resolution is 1280x1024. [[User:(Undecided)|(Undecided)]] 22:15, 21 May 2008 (UTC)
:I replaced it with an imagemap so it links directly to [[Transformers Animated (franchise)]]. Given that the same image is at the top of that page, I don't think we need the main page to link to the Image page if the only way of doing so messes up the rest of the page. --[[User:FortMax|FortMax]] 21:50, 30 May 2008 (UTC)
::Imagemap is working on wikia now? Yay! IIRC it wasn't 18 months ago when you originally took a stab at <nowiki>{{click}}</nowiki> -[[User:Derik|Derik]] 22:10, 30 May 2008 (UTC)
:::Just to check, can imagemap be set to pave part of the image link to the Image page, or is Click the only thing that can do that. (You'd think a template specificly created for use on the Wikia wiki wouldn't have these issues) --[[User:FortMax|FortMax]] 22:14, 30 May 2008 (UTC)
::::Wikipedia has a template like this that puts a little blue 'i' in the corner of an image- you click on that to get info about it. In this case it's moot-- a single click takes you to the TFA page that lets you access the image info. -[[User:Derik|Derik]] 22:18, 30 May 2008 (UTC)

=="TF dates"?==
Something else Wookiepedia does on its frontpage we... might want to look at stealing... Putting up a "__/__/__: _____ was released" history box. I dunno. It would only be for like comic books, DVDs, TV episodes, street-release-date toys, etc. Though I dunno if TF really has enough... stuff to do that with. I dunno. Idle thought. --[[User:M Sipher|M Sipher]] 01:47, 9 May 2008 (UTC)
:On paper, that's a cool idea. In execution, yeah, I don't think there's quite enough stuff to do it with. We know original episode air dates, and roughly know the street dates of the various comic issues, but we generally have no idea when various and sundry toys hit shelves before, what, '94? If we had enough stuff that there was something to put up at least twice a week (as a "This Week in TF History" thing) I'd say go for it. I guess we could stretch it and add birth dates of TF professionals and that sort of thing, but even then, we're a little sparse, I'd imagine. [[User:Hooper X|-hx]] 10:42, 19 May 2008 (UTC)

==Front page weirdness==
When clicking on the link for the Generation 1 (comic) or Generation 2 (comic) on the front page, I get taken to Animated (franchise)...but looking at the code the links appear to be correct, else I'd edit them. I've tried refreshing several times but the link is still wrong...anyone else seeing this? [[User:Emvee|Emvee]] 12:11, 19 May 2008 (UTC)
[edit] aha, just seen the discussion above about the link "bleeding down"...that would explain it [[User:Emvee|Emvee]] 12:15, 19 May 2008 (UTC)

==Search==
The current search bar only has a "Go" button,we can't look for articles by using keywords now. How are we supposed to look for things we don't know the name of now?[[Special:Contributions/86.87.28.191|86.87.28.191]] 20:54, 21 May 2008 (UTC)
:Isn't there a "Search" button right next to the "Go" button? -- [[User:SFH|SFH]] 20:57, 21 May 2008 (UTC)
::I don't think there is a search button on the new skin but if you log in and set the wiki back to monobook in your preferences then you'll have a search button [[User:Donutter|Donut]] 21:02, 21 May 2008 (UTC)
: Are we talking Monaco skin, the one with the little arrow with the magnifying glass in it at the very top-left? Or the Monobook skin? I just put "thunder" in the former, clicked the arrow, and boom (ha ha), search results. --[[User:M Sipher|M Sipher]] 21:23, 21 May 2008 (UTC)
::But "Thunder" isn't the name of an article. If it were, it would just give you the article without any other search results, even if you clicked on the magnifying-glass arrow. I can't tell if that's what the anthropomorphic IP address above was asking, but I do know I dislike the reduced functionality of Monaco's search box. As far as I can tell, typing a word and hitting Enter is the same as clicking the arrow. You CAN still search for all occurrences of a word by going to the "Search" link underneath the sidebar. But that's annoying for the need to go to a whole 'nother page. - [[User:Jackpot|Jackpot]] 04:46, 22 May 2008 (UTC)
Nevermind,i figured it out now. Just type "Search:" and then the keywoard before pressing enter. for example,to search for Optimus Prime without annoyingly being redirected,type Search:Optimus Prime .[[Special:Contributions/86.87.28.191|86.87.28.191]] 18:33, 22 May 2008 (UTC)
==Disambig pages==

I've seen three formats. The general, more common one like the Screamer one, the Prime style one and the BB one. Shouldn't we just stick with the one?[[User:GWolfv2]] 21.34 May 23rd
:The Prime page has to be like it is because there are so many things with "Prime" in their name that they need to be split. And why would we have a disambuig page for [[BB]]? If you're talking about Bumblebee, I don't think that page should be like that. Pictures do not help when the differences between one character's different bodies is about the same as the difference between his body and one belonging to another guy with the same name. --[[User:FortMax|FortMax]] 22:00, 23 May 2008 (UTC)

==Prime Image==
Should an image Animated Prime be added to the front page? maybe replace Movie Prime in the picture if it needs to be a particular size? i think it should be updated to reflect the most modern incarnation of the character [[Special:Contributions/78.32.44.57|78.32.44.57]] 16:34, 27 May 2008 (UTC)
:Problem is, the front page's image is all from Takara's World Of Transformers page. We tried to add AniPrime in there but he didn't fit one bit, so until something better comes along, I do believe this image is going to stay as is. --[[User:Detour|Detour]] 16:47, 27 May 2008 (UTC)

==Universe 2008==
I think you should ad a Universe 2008 link in the "by Series" section.
[[User:Starfield|Starfield]] 16:46, 29 May 2008 (UTC)
:Never mind, I got it. I didn't know I could edit the main page.[[User:Starfield|Starfield]] 17:07, 29 May 2008 (UTC)

== The Irony ==

:In a wiki about transformers their alt modes aren't even mentioned ANYWHERE! I find this odd... {{SUBST::User:Crystal lucario/Sig}} 21:06, 4 June 2008 (UTC)
::There's two articles on popular vehicle and animal modes, transformation article etc. You can't list alt with every character when some don't stick with the one [[User:GWolfv2]] 22.11 June 4th
:::You can find the altmodes for characters, usually, on the Toys section of their articles. --[[User:Detour|Detour]] 21:57, 4 June 2008 (UTC)
::::Ok, thanks. {{SUBST::User:Crystal lucario/Sig}} 11:19, 5 June 2008 (UTC)
:::::psst- subst has to be lowercase. Also- too many colons. -[[User:Derik|Derik]] 11:24, 5 June 2008 (UTC)
Just as an example, G1 Optimus is often a semi-cab, but he's also officially transformed into...
* Cybertronic Mobile artillery (Marvel comics, pre-Earth)
* Sportscar (G2)
* Organic bat (super-early BW)
* Cybertronic truck-thing (War Within)
* HISS tank (Devil's Due G.I. Joe)
* Cybertronic pickup (e-hobby Orion Pax toy)
* Some kind of prehistoric animal (Hearts of Steel)
Plus, there was a canceled dump truck Optimus in G2, and plans to make him into a train for Hearts of Steel as well. I don't remember what he turned into for DW's Joe crossover. --[[User:M Sipher|M Sipher]] 14:52, 5 June 2008 (UTC)
:Psst- I come from another wikia so it thought I had a sig. And to M Sipher thank you. I still think that should be somewhere in the artical. Maybe under Forms... {{SUBST::User:Crystal lucario/Sig}} 23:08, 5 June 2008 (UTC)

Y'know, it just recently occurred to me that when we scan characters' profile art, we should probably include more than their robot mode. For instance, it seemed like [[:Image:Primal_FPUnivBio.jpg|this pic]] was served by including the gorilla mode because it emphasized the fact that it wasn't his original beast form. Then I uploaded [[:Image:SoundwaveCyb_FPbio.jpg|this image]] and included the jet because it was a particularly well-drawn alt mode. And now that I've done that... I'm going to make a point of including alt-modes whenever I can. - [[User:Jackpot|Jackpot]] 02:39, 10 June 2008 (UTC)
:To save on space (tall images are the BANE of the wiki), I placed the smaller images (such as the alt mode) over part of the large images in a picture, such as [[:Image:G1Bomb-Burst_MTMTE1.jpg|what I did for Bomb Burst]]. Of course, I also mostly did it so the uploaded pics would look similar to the original Pretender boxart arrangement (shell behind, robot in the middle, vehicle in the foreground).
:Little Iron's Soundwave looks GREAT, btw. --[[User:FFN|FFN]] 03:17, 10 June 2008 (UTC)

== 'Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen' countdown ==
There's 381 days (as of June 9th, 2008) until 'TF2:ROTF' comes out and already there's a countdown box? I know it's too late to remove it, but don't you think it's a ''little'' too soon to put one up? It's like this one 'Garfield' comic strip that was printed on December 26th with Garfield shutting off his alarm clock and declaring "365 days until Christmas!". Well, atleast the box isn't counting down the hours, minutes, and seconds. -[[User:Zadok Rox|Zadok Rox]] 12:47, 10 June 2008 (UTC)
:I started counting down the days in my head as soon as I learned the release date. I think it's all in good fun, no reason to remove it. [[User:(Undecided)|(Undecided)]] 01:13, 13 June 2008 (UTC)

== Since no one said anything... ==

The last discussion of a 'goals' list for the month... somewhere... petered out, so I just threw some on the front page. (Mostly nonexistant wanted articles.) They have a 'star' rating to show how complete they are which you can easily edit. Hopefully we can get these to 5 stars by the end of June! -[[User:Derik|Derik]] 02:56, 12 June 2008 (UTC)
:Stubbed two of them already, hopefully with enough info that people can pick up easily.--[[User:Rosicrucian|Rosicrucian]][[User Talk:Rosicrucian|Talk]] 04:09, 12 June 2008 (UTC)

:As I said above -
:About the list of "ways to help"... thing is, those up-front lists should be geared toward attracting new editors -- new editors who by definition aren't going to know all the million little persnickety formatting things you have to know to set up a new page. Stuff like "fill in a stub" or "add storylinks" is a lot less intimidating, and a lot easier to slide into, than "here, make this page from scratch." I think an expanded list, akin to what's on my sample sandbox, should be near the top of the page, rather than a bunch of red links. -- [[User:Repowers|Repowers]] 22:33, 11 June 2008 (UTC)
::I would be for that. I wanted a lost of articles that needed to be brought to completion that were already clocked in. I just didn't know which to pick! Sub some out!
::I just-- I like the list because it gives a visible sense of progress (at the end of the month) on articles that no one would be inclined to work on on their own. -[[User:Derik|Derik]] 04:59, 12 June 2008 (UTC)

==Should we have info boxes==
{{Transformers character|
name =Blitzwing
|image =blitzwing-animated.jpg
|caption =
|affiliation =Decepticon
|subgroup =Voyagers [[Triple Changer]]
|function =Berserker
|partner =
|motto =''"Whoooo, I'm freaking out!"'' <ref>[http://www.hasbro.com/transformers/animated/default.cfm?page=Bio&character=blitzwing Character bios for Transformers Animated characters]</ref>
|alternatemodes = Dual-Barreled Assault Tank/Fighter Jet
|series =[[Transformers: Animated]]
|engvoice = [[Bumper Robinson]]
|japanvoice =
}}

It is to include some detail like this for example

:It was decided against long ago for many logistical nightmare reasons, the primary ones being that so many characters have very different bodies, affiliations, functions, mottos, jump continuities... --[[User:M Sipher|M Sipher]] 19:29, 13 June 2008 (UTC)
:It would be a nightmare. --[[User:ItsWalky|ItsWalky]] 19:32, 13 June 2008 (UTC)

Hmmmmm, I see. [[Special:Contributions/82.17.140.55|82.17.140.55]] 09:26, 14 June 2008 (UTC)
:What is Optimsu Prime (G1)'s altmode? He's has close to 50. Even if 50% of them are trucks... the other 25 aren't. Character abilities, weapons and allegiance have shifted over ltierally millions of years, as have their bodies, catchphrases, names- and even genders.
:We've taken a serious look at character boxes at least 3 times, and every proposal, no matter comprehensive, it's easy to find a character for which the box simply... ''breaks'', being unable to accommodate the diversity of experience the character has had.
:Character boxes are a good idea, they provide a quick thumbnail overview of a character's history... but we don't want thumbnail overviews, we want in-depth infromation. If you wanted a thumbnail overview, go to Wikipedia, which deletes and trims articles containing 'unnecessarily in-depth information.' -[[User:Derik|Derik]] 09:43, 14 June 2008 (UTC)<div id="wikia-credits"> From [http://transformers.wikia.com Teletraan I: The Transformers Wiki], a [http://www.wikia.com Wikia] wiki.</div>

Talk:Main Page

2009-03-15T23:46:18Z

203.97.2.142: /* What happened? */

THE FUNNY STAYS.
-The Management

__TOC__

Please use this talk page for discussion about the [[Main Page]].

To discuss site-wide policies, please visit [[Transformers Wiki Talk:Community Portal|the Community Portal talk page]].

==Archives==
*[[Talk:Main_Page/Archive1|Archive1]]
*[[Talk:Main_Page/Archive2|Archive2]]
*[[Talk:Main_Page/Archive3|Archive3]]

==What happened?==

So...what on Earth has happened to the TFWiki? Also, for some reason the old Wikia seems to have gained all of the articles that are now missing from here. (Such as the Season 3 animated stuff)
:Seems to me that we've reverted to a June 2008 version of the database which could be really bad news. Some of my articles [[Macabre]] for example are at the old site but not here, which would make sense since I wrote it in September 2008 before we moved here. I don't even have a login here anymore - Emvee :( [[Special:Contributions/77.102.92.218|77.102.92.218]] 19:31, 15 March 2009 (EDT)
::Looks like our brain-damaged friend is back again.
:::There's some more info on the [http://www.allspark.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=51208&view=findpost&p=1155749 wiki thread in the Allspark forums]. Looks like an upgrade handled very very sloppily. I'm hoping once they restore the old database it'll overwrite the changes made in the interim, seeing as how our favorite Idiot Vandal With No Life is on a rampage. (Sigh.) Wiping out his stupid crap in one go would be priceless. (This is Jeysie, BTW.) --[[Special:Contributions/72.79.219.120|72.79.219.120]] 19:41, 15 March 2009 (EDT)
::::Thank Primus. I was worried someone had hacked in and deleted the database. The thought of 6 months work lost filled me with dread. --abates 19:46, 15 March 2009 (EDT)

== Featured article ==

We have had the same thing there for like 50 years{{unsigned|Human in Disguise|02:22, 7 April 2008}}
:Not really. Jhiaxus was only made a Featured Article on March 2, 2008.--[[User:Rosicrucian|Rosicrucian]][[User Talk:Rosicrucian|Talk]] 06:05, 7 April 2008 (UTC)
::With 6k articles, maybe we could switch the featured article every month?[[User:Spriteless|Spriteless]] 05:45, 9 April 2008 (UTC)
:::We try to when we can, but usually that involves a big push to improve the given article to featured article standards.--[[User:Rosicrucian|Rosicrucian]][[User Talk:Rosicrucian|Talk]] 06:30, 9 April 2008 (UTC)
:::: If someone was just going through the Wikia wikis they might assume that this wiki is a bit quiet. What about just chosing some of the bigger articles every now and again? The larger ones tend to the most highly polished, researched and moderated articles. [[User:Drmick|Drmick]] 19:20, 26 May 2008 (UTC)
:::::Some of the big articles need work because alot of the stuff in them was written in 2006 before we established standards. For instance, G1 Ratchet's article was featured last year I believe, but it was really unevenly written in terms of quality. I mean, for some reason half of the article eschewed storylinks in favour of references. --[[User:FFN|FFN]] 20:26, 26 May 2008 (UTC)
:We probably should set up some ground rules on what makes a featured article. Right now, it's pretty much what ever Walky wants. -- [[User:SFH|SFH]] 20:34, 26 May 2008 (UTC)
Thunderwing, Nice. --[[User:Human in Disguise|Human in disguise]]

Out of curiosity, how often does it change, or is it just on a whim? [[User:Jeep!|Jeep!]] 14:30, 31 May 2008 (UTC)

== front tf page ==

i hate april fool pranks on my fave tf front page -dr
:What? [[User:Interrobang|—Interrobang]] 23:11, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

== Funny ==
I think we should remove the funny nes on the page, If it stays, It will sound like a child has being messing up this place and Other people will think it doesn't make sense. [[User:Black rhino ranger|Black rhino ranger]] 09:01, 12 April 2008 (UTC)
:You're going to find yourself in the minority regarding this opinion.--[[User:Suzyprime|Suzyprime]] 13:02, 12 April 2008 (UTC)

:Actually, Ranger, people are more likely to think this wiki "doesn't make sense" if it's edited by people who can't spell, conjugate, or use capital letters correctly. [[User:JW|JW]] 18:37, 12 April 2008 (UTC)

Who made this again. [[User:Black rhino ranger|Black rhino ranger]] 19:55, 12 April 2008 (UTC)
:If that's a question, I don't understand it. [[User:JW|JW]] 20:33, 12 April 2008 (UTC)

But we should Make the images Info not funny, Transformers is ment to be serious, not funny. [[Special:Contributions/82.17.140.55|82.17.140.55]] 15:47, 15 May 2008 (UTC)
:Bullshit. --[[User:M Sipher|M Sipher]] 17:46, 15 May 2008 (UTC)
::Transformers be [[Bee in the City|'''''serious business''''']] yo. --[[User:Detour|Detour]] 18:00, 15 May 2008 (UTC)
:Sir, your erudite argument has at last shown me the light. I have been in error all this time, and you have turned the glare of knowledge against the darkness of my ignorance. Verily, we must all change our ways, and treat the stories about outer space robots that turn into cars as Serious Business. -- [[User:Repowers|Repowers]] 18:20, 15 May 2008 (UTC)

But it is unencyclopediac. It looks like a two year old vandalism. [[Special:Contributions/82.17.140.55|82.17.140.55]] 11:33, 18 May 2008 (UTC)

:Thanks for sharing your viewpoint, but, you are very much in the minority. If you object that strongly, start your own Transformers wiki and make it boring. --[[User:Steve-o|Steve-o]] 21:41, 18 May 2008 (UTC)

:: Or just read the transformers entries on wikipedia. I'm also guessing most people don't like it when you call our writing "like a two year old vandalism". [[User:(Undecided)|(Undecided)]] 03:10, 25 May 2008 (UTC)

Face it! Not Everyone likes funny wikis. [[Special:Contributions/82.17.140.55|82.17.140.55]] 15:25, 13 June 2008 (UTC)
:Since we're one of the largest, highest-traffic wikis on Wikia, I don't think the people who object to "the funny" are a significant enough constituency to force us to change.--[[User:Rosicrucian|Rosicrucian]][[User Talk:Rosicrucian|Talk]] 15:27, 13 June 2008 (UTC)
:Not everyone likes peanut butter! Therefore they should stop making peanut butter. --[[User:M Sipher|M Sipher]] 19:31, 13 June 2008 (UTC)

==Search==
So, uh, what happened to the ability to type something into the text box, click "search," and not have it take me directly to a page, but give me a list of pages the term appears in instead? There is no search button on the front page! --[[User:ItsWalky|ItsWalky]] 11:37, 15 April 2008 (UTC)
:For as long as I've used the wiki, the Search function has only done that for me if what I've typed didn't match the title of any article exactly. As for the front page, I still see the Search box. I don't know if it makes a difference, but I'm using the Monaco skin.--[[User:Apcog|Apcog]] 14:12, 15 April 2008 (UTC)
::That doesn't match my experiences. I could type in "Megatron," click Search, and then it'd give me a list of pages that mention "Megatron" in the body of the text. It was very useful. --[[User:ItsWalky|ItsWalky]] 14:54, 15 April 2008 (UTC)
::On the topic of the Monaco skin, can we get some admin feedback on the Monaco skin discussion, please? --[[User:FFN|FFN]] 14:32, 15 April 2008 (UTC)
::To be sure, yes, that would be useful. As it is, now you'd have to type something like "Megatron's" or "Megatron" and another word to get similar results. And yeah, I've seen notices for the admins from [[User:Toughpigs|Toughpigs]] asking for feedback and wondered when that was going to be resolved.--[[User:Apcog|Apcog]] 15:13, 15 April 2008 (UTC)
:Regarding the search box - typing something into the box and hitting "enter," or clicking "go," is the option that takes you directly to the page with the title you've typed. Typing something into the box and actually clicking the button marked "search" is the option that brings up a list of stuff containing the term, and that's the button we appear to have lost here (although on my screen at least, it's coming and going intermittently, but that's probably a browser cache thing). I've not got the Monaco skin on, but regarding that, I rather like it, and I'd like to see it implimented. There's something very "bare bones" about our set up here, and of course, I know that we kinda have that as a show of "not taking everything too seriously," but I'd personally like to see the Monaco skin in use. - [[User:Chris McFeely|Chris McFeely]] 15:30, 15 April 2008 (UTC)
::The same function is in the "Advanced Search" link. Am I the only one who sees it or something? [[User:Interrobang|—Interrobang]] 18:17, 15 April 2008 (UTC)
:::Cripes, I can't insert a comment before three more jump in before me. No, there's definitely no Search button visible in the Monaco skin as I'm using it, just an arrow with a magnifying glass icon in it (the equivalent of the "Go" button, obviously). I see the "Advanced search" link too, but it doesn't offer quite the same function, in that it doesn't default to the "all text occurrences" option. Rather, you have to choose settings to get that. Not a terrible extra step, but still...--[[User:Apcog|Apcog]] 18:32, 15 April 2008 (UTC)
:::I see the advanced search link. I also ''REALLY LIKE'' the new 'random page image link' above the search box. Who do I have to thank for that? --[[User:FFN|FFN]] 18:28, 15 April 2008 (UTC)
::::I put it in, but it was Siph's idea. Breaking the "Search" button under non-Monaco themes was also my doing, I'm afraid; I was a little zealous with putting in a more useful search and it didn't quite work. It should be back in a day or two. I somehow totally missed any discussion on Monaco coming up; I'll get to commenting on that. --[[User:Suki Brits|Suki Brits]] 19:50, 15 April 2008 (UTC)
:::::Primarily Wookieepedia for the idea, Blitz for the implementation, and I suppose me for harraunging her about it. --[[User:M Sipher|M Sipher]] 19:48, 15 April 2008 (UTC)
::::::A random page on search function is really a good idea because that would make us know about more characters. By the way, I think there still need a normal ''search button'' in the original place . :D --[[User:TX55|TX55]] 01:37, 16 April 2008 (UTC)
:::::::Then I thank you guys for it. '''IF''' we switch to Monaco, is there any way to do a similar function with that skin? I think the function is very helpful for newcomers to the wiki (and Transformers in general) for they don't have to look through lists of names or randomly search for things. --[[User:FFN|FFN]] 05:17, 16 April 2008 (UTC)
::::::::I don't think it'd be too hard. If we ''do'' switch to Monaco, there'd need to be some changes done to the search box anyway, since under that, there's no "search" button. --[[User:Suki Brits|Suki Brits]] 05:56, 16 April 2008 (UTC)
: Is there a way to make the search image load earlier? Right now it's the very last thing to load; even the flash ads come up earlier. --[[User:FortMax|FortMax]] 02:24, 16 April 2008 (UTC)
:: The short answer is no, unfortunately. --[[User:Suki Brits|Suki Brits]] 05:56, 16 April 2008 (UTC)
Why does the bar show pictures of random characters, but when you go to their pages they have no visual representation? [[User:90.198.228.42|90.198.228.42]] 20:28, 16 April 2008 (UTC)
:Because... I don't know really. I don't know why the powers-at-be chose to create these little search pictures for characters that have no pictures. One would think if they had a reasonably sized image to create the search button picture, they could have uploaded the full size image for the page itself. And/or create searchbox pic-links for characters that DO have decent visual representation AND largely completed articles. --[[User:FFN|FFN]] 22:39, 16 April 2008 (UTC)
==Familial relationships==

Should we put something up, relating to the idea of siblings or such[[User:GWolfv2]]
:See [[Relatives]].--[[User:Rosicrucian|Rosicrucian]][[User Talk:Rosicrucian|Talk]] 15:07, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

== Redesigning the front page ==

Now that the Monaco skin is the default, and Toughpigs is around to help us out, I suggest we figure out a way to redesign the front page so it isn't just a columns of text. Is there any reasonable way for us to have the franchises in the By Series (or anywhere else, really) represented by the franchise logos? The logos can be as recognisable as the names alone, and given we're getting more and more visitors every day, it would be helpful to make the place more visually pleasing and more user-friendly. --[[User:FFN|FFN]] 20:30, 27 April 2008 (UTC)
:I think that's still a [[Talk:Main_Page/Archive2#Logos_for_.27By_series.27_column|bad idea]]. The logos were never designed to look good together, and some (like the 2007 movie) are anti-informative. If you can present a design that somehow makes it work, please do. But I don't see how the new skin changes the basic problems. - [[User:Jackpot|Jackpot]] 20:56, 27 April 2008 (UTC)
::I tend to think the Main Page and its columns of text are just fine as is. --[[User:KilMichaelMcC|KilMichaelMcC]] 21:04, 27 April 2008 (UTC)
::Also, wouldn't it perhaps be best to wait a few days for everyone to get home from BotCon before starting a discussion on more major changes like this? --[[User:KilMichaelMcC|KilMichaelMcC]] 21:08, 27 April 2008 (UTC)
:::Didn't stop Toughpigs redesigning the whole Wiki... - [[User:SanityOrMadness|SanityOrMadness]] 21:18, 27 April 2008 (UTC)
::::Toughpigs has been touting the switch to Monaco for quite some time, and he only finally got the nod from an admin just before BotCon.--[[User:Rosicrucian|Rosicrucian]][[User Talk:Rosicrucian|Talk]] 23:22, 30 April 2008 (UTC)
Just wanted to say I love the new look.

===Ad bar issues with Monaco?===
I don't know if it's just me, but trying to load the Wiki in Firefox results in it loading everything up to the adserver stuff, and then Firefox proceeds to hang the fuck up, completely use up all available memory, and force me to kill it through Task Manager. It's kind of a pain in the ass.(I'm using explorer right now) [[User:Hooper X|-hx]] 00:22, 3 May 2008 (UTC)
:I've had no troubles with Firefox 2, nor Firefox 3 beta 5.--[[User:Rosicrucian|Rosicrucian]][[User Talk:Rosicrucian|Talk]] 00:37, 3 May 2008 (UTC)

== Improvement Drive ==
I have no idea how long the "Improvement Drive" column has been there, but it's a great idea, content-wise. However, IMO the links it contains should really be a permanent part of the Help/Start Here column. It's the kind of thing I was talking about [http://transformers.wikia.com/wiki/Transformers_Wiki_talk:Community_Portal#.22First_go_here.21__Next_go_here..22 a while ago]. -- [[User:Repowers|Repowers]] 22:56, 1 May 2008 (UTC)
:Giving this a bump. Input, anyone? Anyone? If nobody protests, I'd like to merge the contents of the "Improvement drive" section with the "Start here" section. Perhaps a blurb on a more specialized improvement drive -- say, our long-dormant BW improvement drive -- could take the place of the current one. -- [[User:Repowers|Repowers]] 20:20, 15 May 2008 (UTC)
::Giving this one last bump. If nobody objects, I'm making the changes. -- [[User:Repowers|Repowers]] 00:37, 21 May 2008 (UTC)
:One of the reasons the Improvement Drive was disbanded on Wookieepedia was because we instead formed projects such as "Tales of the Jedi project" "The New Essential Chronology project". This allowed us to focus on groups of articles which were in need of updating instead of simply one article. -- [[User:SFH|SFH]] 00:42, 21 May 2008 (UTC)
:::I fully support a "Project" initiative. (Cough cough prose stories cough.) --[[User:M Sipher|M Sipher]] 01:07, 21 May 2008 (UTC)
::::I can definitely live with that - it looks like one of the new users is actually working on RiD stuff, which is an area that I've felt could use more coverage - it's not my area of knowledge, tho. [[User:Hooper X|-hx]] 01:43, 21 May 2008 (UTC)
:::::Yeah. I know a lot about the fiction in GENERAL, but when it comes to what happened in what specific episodes and issues? Not so much. Toys are more my forte... --[[User:M Sipher|M Sipher]] 01:49, 21 May 2008 (UTC)
::::::It doesn't help that most of us would need to import the DVDs to write about the fiction. I've been thinking of doing that, but I've already bought a couple of hundred dollars worth of TF DVDs I don't really need soley for writing and screen capping articles for the wiki, which upon reflection is a little insane. --[[User:FFN|FFN]] 05:03, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

Please see [[User:Repowers/Sandbox]] for a test page. Feel free to tweak and/or comment. -- [[User:Repowers|Repowers]] 04:52, 22 May 2008 (UTC)
:I weaked the disclaimer, added a countdown to TF2 clock (the page de-caches a couple times a day, so it should remain accurate without having to re-edit, I did a sandbox text to verify) and I got rid of the clickable Animated logo, sicne that template still isn't working right and I haven't figured out how to make it work right.
:Re:Improvement Drive... How about we have a 'goals' list for the month? Like, 20 or 30 articles we want to get up to snuff, chosen for balance. A lot of piddling pages, a few episodes or comics no one's gonna get around to on their own, and one or two major character pages. We can track 'em at the end of the month and see how successful we were. -[[User:Derik|Derik]] 20:47, 30 May 2008 (UTC)
::Giving this a bump.
::About the list of "ways to help"... thing is, those up-front lists should be geared toward attracting new editors -- new editors who by definition aren't going to know all the million little persnickety formatting things you have to know to set up a new page. Stuff like "fill in a stub" or "add storylinks" is a lot less intimidating, and a lot easier to slide into, than "here, make this page from scratch." I think an expanded list, akin to what's on my sample sandbox, should be near the top of the page, rather than a bunch of red links. -- [[User:Repowers|Repowers]] 22:33, 11 June 2008 (UTC)

== Main "Transformers Animated" image ==

It really ought to be clickable. Unfortunately, [[:Template:Click]] currently doesn't actually let you center an image-- it probably needs to be rewritten at some point. Unless someone else volunteers, this is mostly just a reminder to myself. --[[User:Suki Brits|Suki Brits]] 18:53, 8 May 2008 (UTC)
:Someone just did that and now the link messes up the main page by covering the links to "Comics", "Generation 1", "(toyline/cartoon/comic)", "Generation 2", and "Help contents". Ugh, it was better off the way it was before. Besides, there was a link to the Animated franchise below the giant logo. --[[User:Sabrblade|Sabrblade]] 23:27, 8 May 2008 (UTC)
::What poor excuse for a browser are you using? The TFA logo is ''above'' all that stuff. --[[User:FortMax|FortMax]] 23:35, 8 May 2008 (UTC)
:::The image is, but the link is stretching down over the ones below it. --[[User:Sabrblade|Sabrblade]] 23:59, 8 May 2008 (UTC)
::::I'm using Firefox, and the link ends WAY before that. I have no troubles whatsoever. - [[User:Semysane|Semysane]] 00:20, 9 May 2008 (UTC)
::::Sabrblade, to repeat- "What browser are you using?" -[[Special:Contributions/75.168.112.43|75.168.112.43]] 01:35, 9 May 2008 (UTC)
:::::Internet Explorer 7 is my browser on this particular computer (I use at least three different ones). --[[User:Sabrblade|Sabrblade]] 20:31, 9 May 2008 (UTC)
::::::Well ''there's'' your problem. IE doesn't follow correct HTML protocol, and each version has a different way of not following it. --[[User:FortMax|FortMax]] 21:19, 9 May 2008 (UTC)
:::::::Just realized I'm having the same problem, using Firefox. The link to [[Transformers Animated (franchise)]] from the image is like, bleeding down or something, covering up some of the links below it. --[[User:KilMichaelMcC|KilMichaelMcC]] 18:43, 11 May 2008 (UTC)
::::::::Well, is there any other browser besides Internet Explorer and Firefox that doesn't have the problem? --[[User:Sabrblade|Sabrblade]] 01:31, 12 May 2008 (UTC)
:::::::::I just went and had a look at [[:Template:Click]] and tried a few things, but it's beyond me. Can we not just do it in html? It would be a hell of a lot simpler...[[User:Emvee|Emvee]] 12:51, 19 May 2008 (UTC)
::::::::::Well, with the "no TF:A Dubai spoilers" text written by Chris McFeely, the image no longer covers the G1 and G2 links. It still bleeds down, but only over the link-free text. So until that text gets erased, the image bleeding isn't much of a problem (but it will be again once that text is gone).[[User:Sabrblade|Sabrblade]] 01:02, 20 May 2008 (UTC)
:::::::::::Still covers them for me, and I'm using the latest Firefox. I'm going to edit this until someone can come up with a better solution - removing the Dubai text will just make it bleed lower down the page, surely... [[User:Emvee|Emvee]] 16:37, 20 May 2008 (UTC)
::::::::::::If any one isn't getting the problem [http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h278/Undecided_tmn/Mainpage_error.jpg here is what it looks like] to me. It's the blue highlighted box. [http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h278/Undecided_tmn/Mainpage_error_IE-1.jpg Here is what it looks like in Internet Explorer]. Screen resolution is 1280x1024. [[User:(Undecided)|(Undecided)]] 22:15, 21 May 2008 (UTC)
:I replaced it with an imagemap so it links directly to [[Transformers Animated (franchise)]]. Given that the same image is at the top of that page, I don't think we need the main page to link to the Image page if the only way of doing so messes up the rest of the page. --[[User:FortMax|FortMax]] 21:50, 30 May 2008 (UTC)
::Imagemap is working on wikia now? Yay! IIRC it wasn't 18 months ago when you originally took a stab at <nowiki>{{click}}</nowiki> -[[User:Derik|Derik]] 22:10, 30 May 2008 (UTC)
:::Just to check, can imagemap be set to pave part of the image link to the Image page, or is Click the only thing that can do that. (You'd think a template specificly created for use on the Wikia wiki wouldn't have these issues) --[[User:FortMax|FortMax]] 22:14, 30 May 2008 (UTC)
::::Wikipedia has a template like this that puts a little blue 'i' in the corner of an image- you click on that to get info about it. In this case it's moot-- a single click takes you to the TFA page that lets you access the image info. -[[User:Derik|Derik]] 22:18, 30 May 2008 (UTC)

=="TF dates"?==
Something else Wookiepedia does on its frontpage we... might want to look at stealing... Putting up a "__/__/__: _____ was released" history box. I dunno. It would only be for like comic books, DVDs, TV episodes, street-release-date toys, etc. Though I dunno if TF really has enough... stuff to do that with. I dunno. Idle thought. --[[User:M Sipher|M Sipher]] 01:47, 9 May 2008 (UTC)
:On paper, that's a cool idea. In execution, yeah, I don't think there's quite enough stuff to do it with. We know original episode air dates, and roughly know the street dates of the various comic issues, but we generally have no idea when various and sundry toys hit shelves before, what, '94? If we had enough stuff that there was something to put up at least twice a week (as a "This Week in TF History" thing) I'd say go for it. I guess we could stretch it and add birth dates of TF professionals and that sort of thing, but even then, we're a little sparse, I'd imagine. [[User:Hooper X|-hx]] 10:42, 19 May 2008 (UTC)

==Front page weirdness==
When clicking on the link for the Generation 1 (comic) or Generation 2 (comic) on the front page, I get taken to Animated (franchise)...but looking at the code the links appear to be correct, else I'd edit them. I've tried refreshing several times but the link is still wrong...anyone else seeing this? [[User:Emvee|Emvee]] 12:11, 19 May 2008 (UTC)
[edit] aha, just seen the discussion above about the link "bleeding down"...that would explain it [[User:Emvee|Emvee]] 12:15, 19 May 2008 (UTC)

==Search==
The current search bar only has a "Go" button,we can't look for articles by using keywords now. How are we supposed to look for things we don't know the name of now?[[Special:Contributions/86.87.28.191|86.87.28.191]] 20:54, 21 May 2008 (UTC)
:Isn't there a "Search" button right next to the "Go" button? -- [[User:SFH|SFH]] 20:57, 21 May 2008 (UTC)
::I don't think there is a search button on the new skin but if you log in and set the wiki back to monobook in your preferences then you'll have a search button [[User:Donutter|Donut]] 21:02, 21 May 2008 (UTC)
: Are we talking Monaco skin, the one with the little arrow with the magnifying glass in it at the very top-left? Or the Monobook skin? I just put "thunder" in the former, clicked the arrow, and boom (ha ha), search results. --[[User:M Sipher|M Sipher]] 21:23, 21 May 2008 (UTC)
::But "Thunder" isn't the name of an article. If it were, it would just give you the article without any other search results, even if you clicked on the magnifying-glass arrow. I can't tell if that's what the anthropomorphic IP address above was asking, but I do know I dislike the reduced functionality of Monaco's search box. As far as I can tell, typing a word and hitting Enter is the same as clicking the arrow. You CAN still search for all occurrences of a word by going to the "Search" link underneath the sidebar. But that's annoying for the need to go to a whole 'nother page. - [[User:Jackpot|Jackpot]] 04:46, 22 May 2008 (UTC)
Nevermind,i figured it out now. Just type "Search:" and then the keywoard before pressing enter. for example,to search for Optimus Prime without annoyingly being redirected,type Search:Optimus Prime .[[Special:Contributions/86.87.28.191|86.87.28.191]] 18:33, 22 May 2008 (UTC)
==Disambig pages==

I've seen three formats. The general, more common one like the Screamer one, the Prime style one and the BB one. Shouldn't we just stick with the one?[[User:GWolfv2]] 21.34 May 23rd
:The Prime page has to be like it is because there are so many things with "Prime" in their name that they need to be split. And why would we have a disambuig page for [[BB]]? If you're talking about Bumblebee, I don't think that page should be like that. Pictures do not help when the differences between one character's different bodies is about the same as the difference between his body and one belonging to another guy with the same name. --[[User:FortMax|FortMax]] 22:00, 23 May 2008 (UTC)

==Prime Image==
Should an image Animated Prime be added to the front page? maybe replace Movie Prime in the picture if it needs to be a particular size? i think it should be updated to reflect the most modern incarnation of the character [[Special:Contributions/78.32.44.57|78.32.44.57]] 16:34, 27 May 2008 (UTC)
:Problem is, the front page's image is all from Takara's World Of Transformers page. We tried to add AniPrime in there but he didn't fit one bit, so until something better comes along, I do believe this image is going to stay as is. --[[User:Detour|Detour]] 16:47, 27 May 2008 (UTC)

==Universe 2008==
I think you should ad a Universe 2008 link in the "by Series" section.
[[User:Starfield|Starfield]] 16:46, 29 May 2008 (UTC)
:Never mind, I got it. I didn't know I could edit the main page.[[User:Starfield|Starfield]] 17:07, 29 May 2008 (UTC)

== The Irony ==

:In a wiki about transformers their alt modes aren't even mentioned ANYWHERE! I find this odd... {{SUBST::User:Crystal lucario/Sig}} 21:06, 4 June 2008 (UTC)
::There's two articles on popular vehicle and animal modes, transformation article etc. You can't list alt with every character when some don't stick with the one [[User:GWolfv2]] 22.11 June 4th
:::You can find the altmodes for characters, usually, on the Toys section of their articles. --[[User:Detour|Detour]] 21:57, 4 June 2008 (UTC)
::::Ok, thanks. {{SUBST::User:Crystal lucario/Sig}} 11:19, 5 June 2008 (UTC)
:::::psst- subst has to be lowercase. Also- too many colons. -[[User:Derik|Derik]] 11:24, 5 June 2008 (UTC)
Just as an example, G1 Optimus is often a semi-cab, but he's also officially transformed into...
* Cybertronic Mobile artillery (Marvel comics, pre-Earth)
* Sportscar (G2)
* Organic bat (super-early BW)
* Cybertronic truck-thing (War Within)
* HISS tank (Devil's Due G.I. Joe)
* Cybertronic pickup (e-hobby Orion Pax toy)
* Some kind of prehistoric animal (Hearts of Steel)
Plus, there was a canceled dump truck Optimus in G2, and plans to make him into a train for Hearts of Steel as well. I don't remember what he turned into for DW's Joe crossover. --[[User:M Sipher|M Sipher]] 14:52, 5 June 2008 (UTC)
:Psst- I come from another wikia so it thought I had a sig. And to M Sipher thank you. I still think that should be somewhere in the artical. Maybe under Forms... {{SUBST::User:Crystal lucario/Sig}} 23:08, 5 June 2008 (UTC)

Y'know, it just recently occurred to me that when we scan characters' profile art, we should probably include more than their robot mode. For instance, it seemed like [[:Image:Primal_FPUnivBio.jpg|this pic]] was served by including the gorilla mode because it emphasized the fact that it wasn't his original beast form. Then I uploaded [[:Image:SoundwaveCyb_FPbio.jpg|this image]] and included the jet because it was a particularly well-drawn alt mode. And now that I've done that... I'm going to make a point of including alt-modes whenever I can. - [[User:Jackpot|Jackpot]] 02:39, 10 June 2008 (UTC)
:To save on space (tall images are the BANE of the wiki), I placed the smaller images (such as the alt mode) over part of the large images in a picture, such as [[:Image:G1Bomb-Burst_MTMTE1.jpg|what I did for Bomb Burst]]. Of course, I also mostly did it so the uploaded pics would look similar to the original Pretender boxart arrangement (shell behind, robot in the middle, vehicle in the foreground).
:Little Iron's Soundwave looks GREAT, btw. --[[User:FFN|FFN]] 03:17, 10 June 2008 (UTC)

== 'Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen' countdown ==
There's 381 days (as of June 9th, 2008) until 'TF2:ROTF' comes out and already there's a countdown box? I know it's too late to remove it, but don't you think it's a ''little'' too soon to put one up? It's like this one 'Garfield' comic strip that was printed on December 26th with Garfield shutting off his alarm clock and declaring "365 days until Christmas!". Well, atleast the box isn't counting down the hours, minutes, and seconds. -[[User:Zadok Rox|Zadok Rox]] 12:47, 10 June 2008 (UTC)
:I started counting down the days in my head as soon as I learned the release date. I think it's all in good fun, no reason to remove it. [[User:(Undecided)|(Undecided)]] 01:13, 13 June 2008 (UTC)

== Since no one said anything... ==

The last discussion of a 'goals' list for the month... somewhere... petered out, so I just threw some on the front page. (Mostly nonexistant wanted articles.) They have a 'star' rating to show how complete they are which you can easily edit. Hopefully we can get these to 5 stars by the end of June! -[[User:Derik|Derik]] 02:56, 12 June 2008 (UTC)
:Stubbed two of them already, hopefully with enough info that people can pick up easily.--[[User:Rosicrucian|Rosicrucian]][[User Talk:Rosicrucian|Talk]] 04:09, 12 June 2008 (UTC)

:As I said above -
:About the list of "ways to help"... thing is, those up-front lists should be geared toward attracting new editors -- new editors who by definition aren't going to know all the million little persnickety formatting things you have to know to set up a new page. Stuff like "fill in a stub" or "add storylinks" is a lot less intimidating, and a lot easier to slide into, than "here, make this page from scratch." I think an expanded list, akin to what's on my sample sandbox, should be near the top of the page, rather than a bunch of red links. -- [[User:Repowers|Repowers]] 22:33, 11 June 2008 (UTC)
::I would be for that. I wanted a lost of articles that needed to be brought to completion that were already clocked in. I just didn't know which to pick! Sub some out!
::I just-- I like the list because it gives a visible sense of progress (at the end of the month) on articles that no one would be inclined to work on on their own. -[[User:Derik|Derik]] 04:59, 12 June 2008 (UTC)

==Should we have info boxes==
{{Transformers character|
name =Blitzwing
|image =blitzwing-animated.jpg
|caption =
|affiliation =Decepticon
|subgroup =Voyagers [[Triple Changer]]
|function =Berserker
|partner =
|motto =''"Whoooo, I'm freaking out!"'' <ref>[http://www.hasbro.com/transformers/animated/default.cfm?page=Bio&character=blitzwing Character bios for Transformers Animated characters]</ref>
|alternatemodes = Dual-Barreled Assault Tank/Fighter Jet
|series =[[Transformers: Animated]]
|engvoice = [[Bumper Robinson]]
|japanvoice =
}}

It is to include some detail like this for example

:It was decided against long ago for many logistical nightmare reasons, the primary ones being that so many characters have very different bodies, affiliations, functions, mottos, jump continuities... --[[User:M Sipher|M Sipher]] 19:29, 13 June 2008 (UTC)
:It would be a nightmare. --[[User:ItsWalky|ItsWalky]] 19:32, 13 June 2008 (UTC)

Hmmmmm, I see. [[Special:Contributions/82.17.140.55|82.17.140.55]] 09:26, 14 June 2008 (UTC)
:What is Optimsu Prime (G1)'s altmode? He's has close to 50. Even if 50% of them are trucks... the other 25 aren't. Character abilities, weapons and allegiance have shifted over ltierally millions of years, as have their bodies, catchphrases, names- and even genders.
:We've taken a serious look at character boxes at least 3 times, and every proposal, no matter comprehensive, it's easy to find a character for which the box simply... ''breaks'', being unable to accommodate the diversity of experience the character has had.
:Character boxes are a good idea, they provide a quick thumbnail overview of a character's history... but we don't want thumbnail overviews, we want in-depth infromation. If you wanted a thumbnail overview, go to Wikipedia, which deletes and trims articles containing 'unnecessarily in-depth information.' -[[User:Derik|Derik]] 09:43, 14 June 2008 (UTC)<div id="wikia-credits"> From [http://transformers.wikia.com Teletraan I: The Transformers Wiki], a [http://www.wikia.com Wikia] wiki.</div>