MediaWiki talk:Community Portal/Archive33

[[{{#sub:MediaWiki_talk:Community_Portal/Archive33|0|-0}}|«]]	Community Portal / Archive33   e	[[{{#sub:MediaWiki_talk:Community_Portal/Archive33|0|-0}}|»]]
from~? to~? notes:

So what now?

This discussion has been moved to Transformers Wiki talk:Community Portal/Leaving2#So what now?.

Image aspect ratios

I notice a lot of Animated screencaps, like Image:SariLayingDown1.jpg, are out-of-aspect ratio, which is kinda annoying - neither NTSC (480i, typically 720x480, US/Japan) nor PAL (576i, typically 720x576, UK/Europe/Australia) use square pixels, while computers do. A screencap from a 4:3 NTSC source should really be resized to 640px wide for uploading here, while a screencap from a 4:3 PAL source should be resized to 768px wide. - SanityOrMadness 21:39, 26 March 2009 (EDT)

Since screen caps usually have to be trimmed of black borders, I'm not going to bugger about trying to get the aspect ratio correct. I just upload whatever my DVD software gives me. --FFN 03:05, 29 March 2009 (EDT)

News from Wookieepedia

A while back, one of the users here suggested a partnership between Wookieepedia and this wiki. In case you're wondering what happened with that, the ongoing nomination process is here. Silly Dan 22:44, 26 March 2009 (EDT)

Awesome! Now, settle this argument - could Death Star transformed as Darth Vader beat Unicron? --FFN 07:13, 27 March 2009 (EDT)

Cool. I think I made a vague overture there at one point specifically about the coverage of Attacktix and that weird Star Wars vs. TF packaging - I understand there have been some direct and less-direct TF references in SW (which I imagine will only continue to crop up, given that the current and incoming generations of SW official content creators are likely to be of the age where they're at least casually aware of TF, if not fans in their own right), so this is probably a pretty reasonable networking opportunity. We can explain to you guys why the Optimus Prime that fought Darth Vader doesn't look like the one you had as a kid, and you can explain to us how the entire thing was totally non-canonical anyway. Heh heh. Hooper_X 07:54, 27 March 2009 (EDT)

hahahaha

Page load issues

For further information, see: Transformers Wiki talk:Community Portal/Leaving2

Wikia credits in redirects

I just discovered this... it looks liek all of our redirects have wikia credits in the code. They don't show up normally, but hit the edit button, and there they all are. --M Sipher 01:33, 30 March 2009 (EDT)

I noticed this as well, and pointed it out over on the Damage Control Central section.... What I'm curious about is, is there any way for a bot to seek and destroy these? Because there's no way to see them unless you hit the edit button... --Detour 01:42, 30 March 2009 (EDT)

I'm wondering if, when we move servers, we can run the same script we used when moving here in order to purge all Wikia links. --abates 01:47, 30 March 2009 (EDT)

I think we're gonna run a SQL database import when we move servers- so probably not.

I (finally) have a complete list of all wiki pages (as of about a week ago) including redirects. I'll rig my de-wikia-er script over the redirects tonight as soon as Big Sweep 2.0 is done-- at least on the 4000-odd redirects in the name namespace. (2.0 does about 1/3 of what I'd hoped it would... the regex's were just breaking my fucking balls, so I resigned myself to taking baby steps. Right now it's fixing one sort of in-page template and fixing all the escaped HTML-- so stuff will at least start looking more right, even if it's not properly template'd.) -Derik 01:21, 5 April 2009 (EDT)

Icons on external links

Derik is experimenting with sticking icons on the external links for common external link sites (both for branding, and because it lets you visually scan the links without reading them-- "I want the profile-- NTFA!") These icons require CSS3, and I THINK they work on all modern browsers... but I really dont' care because they fail silently (creating no problems) if they don't. These icons should only show up in the External Link section-- I'm worried they might screw up layouts elsewhere.

If you hate it, think it could be improved, or just want a site added- let me know. The community can feel free to vote to toss it out if it's annoying... I just thought it was worth trying. -Derik 01:12, 5 April 2009 (EDT)

Epnav working?

I remember someone complaining that our episode navigation was broken when we first did crash recovery. Is that still the case?

(Let's pretend that this inquiry is NOT related to me going through goggle analytics and realizing, to my horror, what % of page traffic passes through those previous/next links.) -Derik 04:06, 6 April 2009 (EDT)

I have no idea about the previous possible issues, but I'll point out here that some articles with epnavs converted so they look right, but when you edit them you'll see the epnav sectiosn were just converted to HTML equivalents of our epnav templates. I don't know if this is a problem, but I've placed a bookworm 2 on pages where I have found them regardless. --FFN 07:40, 6 April 2009 (EDT)

Interrobang fixed any issues with that a couple of days ago, I think. --abates 08:14, 6 April 2009 (EDT)

Project:

For whatever reason, links to "Project: Transtector" (see Japanese Self Defense Core and Minerva) are automagically translated into links to "Transformers Wiki:Transtector". I'm thinking that's probably not the intended result. --abates 08:44, 6 April 2009 (EDT)

Seems to be a kludge to redirect links to wikiprojects.--Rosicrucian^Talk 13:51, 7 April 2009 (EDT)

Blue boxes

Not sure where else to ask this question: Is there a reason the blue boxes (stub, coming soon, etc) don't have right hand borders? Or is this just something wonky with my computer? This has bothered me for some time, just thought it would be a good time to fix this (if it isn't just me) while all the other corrections are being made post-disaster.Khajidha 13:44, 7 April 2009 (EDT)

Better suited for the community portal. The main page discussion is specifically for the main page itself. I've moved your question over.--Rosicrucian^Talk 13:50, 7 April 2009 (EDT)

Are you using IE 7? I lose the right-hand side of the stub box in that too. --abates 16:04, 7 April 2009 (EDT)

Orphaned pages

Now that things are starting to get in order, I've started my work on the orphaned page list again. I've noticed something odd. It seems there are a bunch of pages with special characters on the orphaned pages listing that are obviously not orphaned. It mostly seems to be Japanese voice actors and such. If you go to the pages and click the "What links here" button, there are pages linking to it.

At first I thought maybe it was an old list, but since then I have integrated in other orphaned pages and the list does continue update. The question is can we even do anything about this due to the automation? I really would like to get that list down at least to one page. Orphaned pages annoy me.--Bluestreak7 17:12, 7 April 2009 (EDT)

While I have no idea how to fix this, it seems like these special character pages have acquired some weird kind of duplicates. For example, type "rmun" into the search box, and the dropdown menu gives you two different "Jörmungandr" articles, apparently with the same name but using different URLs for the special characters: "Jo%CC%88rmungandr" and "J%C3%B6rmungandr". Wiki considers the former URL to be an orphaned article and the latter one to be "correct", but both lead to the same article, no Wiki redirects or nothing. --Apoc 17:38, 7 April 2009 (EDT)

I have some ideas about fixing the problem, but I'd rather set up a test server to try them on before doing them on the main site. --abates 17:41, 7 April 2009 (EDT)

FYI: Professor Gō has two entries in Category sections. One is real (and filed under "G") and one is messed up (and filed under "P"). It isn't a redirect, it is some kind of ghost. - Starfield 16:51, 13 April 2009 (EDT)

I've also noticed that our page count on the Main Page seems to be in a state of flux. It gets up higher and then lowers. I wonder if this is due to these "duplicate" pages sometimes getting counted and other times not. --Bluestreak7 10:42, 15 April 2009 (EDT)

I think I am the fault of that. I'm not sure if it goes for all instances, but at least when I put the delete template on a redirect, it suddenly counts as a "page". Wait until someone has removed those pages marked for deletion - the count will lower again. Then wait for me to mark a few more and the page count will go up again. Geewunling 11:02, 15 April 2009 (EDT)

Comics copyright

Right now, the comiccover template states that:

This image is the cover of a single issue of a comic book, the copyright for which is owned by either the publisher or the artist who produced this cover.

...and similarly, the comicinterior template says:

This image is a panel or sequence of panels of a comic book, the copyright for which is owned by either the publisher or the artist and/or writer who produced this issue.

Thing is, that's inaccurate in significant part - AIUI, Hasbro Transformers comic licencees have to surrender the copyrights on material published in a TF comic to Hasbro... with certain exceptions - primarily for our purposes, the publisher logos and publisher-owned characters. That's why Marvel went to the trouble of debuting Circuit Breaker and Death's Head (and others? Not counting issue 3 of the Marvel US series with long-established Spider-Man, Nick Fury, etc; of course) outside of their TF comics, so that they would retain the rights; and why Titan & IDW can reprint Marvel issues (although IDW seem to have a *lot* more trouble getting the rights to reprint the Marvel-owned stuff than Titan did).

Does anyone know enough of the details to write up versions of the templates suitable for Marvel US, Marvel UK, IDW, etc? [DW is more complicated, since their G1 ongoing and WW v3 fell into the black hole of their bankruptcy, when their earlier, nominally completed, stuff didn't] - SanityOrMadness 11:53, 12 April 2009 (EDT)

Moved talk pages

There should really be an option to delete the old talk page after it is moved instead of creating a redirect. - Starfield 12:20, 17 April 2009 (EDT)

DEFAULSORT problem?

Several of the entries in the voice actors category are listed both under their surname and their first name. These appear to be the actors with some accent in their name: Ireneusz Załóg, Márcio Seixas, Maurício Berger and Willi Röbke. Having accents, but not having this problem are Fátima Noya (but that's not DEFAULTSORTed), José Santacruz and José Sant'anna. Apparently, there's some problem DEFAULTSORT has with some of the accented vowels ([é] does work, [á], [ó], [í] and [ö] don't). Can this problem be solved? -- Tupka86 09:06, 18 April 2009 (EDT)

It's related to the Macron issue mentioned here. Once we fix that, the listing under their first name will disappear. --abates 21:07, 18 April 2009 (EDT)

Alt Mode Header Pictures?

So, this is a pretty big suggestion, but it struck me that a nice addition to the vast majority of character pages would be, at the top of the page just below the character image, another image of them in their alt mode. I realize that some of the character images already have both representations in them, but plenty of pages (I was at Shrapnel when the idea hit me) don't even have a single visual representation of a Transformer's altmode!

I realize (or at least suspect) that this would be quite the undertaking, given that it would mean a change of the site's format standard, but it's something that I think would genuinely contribute to the overall quality of this wiki. An altmode is just as much a part of who a Transformer is, after all, and a lot of character intros don't reflect that enough. Hell, I've also wondered why we don't have a section right before "Fiction" called "Altmode(s)."

Please consider and respond, because I really think this is a good idea (and sort of an obvious one, too), but it's also a very big idea, and very big ideas tend to be retarded ideas incognito (especially if said ideas seem obvious). Tell other people to weigh in on this too! Preferably the people in charge.

Keegman 16:32, 22 April 2009 (EDT)

Usually, we try to include their (fiction-specific) alternate modes in relevant fiction sections. We don't normally include them as part of the main image because some of the more popular characters have had too many vehicle modes, and often, the main pictures we use up top never had an accompanying vehicle mode image. Personally, I prefer consistency in images so I would rather have, say, an image of Optimus Prime and his vehicle mode having been drawn by the same artist in the same style for the same project, rather than from two entirely different pieces of art. --FFN 07:26, 23 April 2009 (EDT)

Whenever I make a mainpic image, I include the altmode if there is one. (See Galvatron II, Soundwave (Cybertron), Fastlane, Flame (UK comic), and Cog (G1). I even did one for a subsection, Optimus Primal#Cybertron comic.) That's the way I personally prefer to see the idea executed, and it certainly doesn't require a change to the format of the wiki. You're not the first person to bring the idea up, so I'm kind of surprised I've never seen anyone but myself actually do it. I don't think it should ever be considered a requirement for a page, but I do consider it a preferred addition. - Jackpot 16:18, 23 April 2009 (EDT)

I think it'd be nice for a lot of characters... but in many cases it simply doesn't exist, or it'd look awkward. Look at the main image on Optimus Prime, there simply is no vehicle mode art to match that beautiful body shot. And how do you present it? Verrtically? That'd push the dfirst section way down in most cases (it's already pushed down on most articles) whereas horizontally is unworkable for a bunch of other reasons.

The mainpics seem to represent a sort of compromise... even if the character has has multiple incarnations, they all presumably look more-or-less like their original robot mode-- even if the vehicle changes wildly.

And fundamentally-- I think you'd have people throwing fits if you squeezed an irrelevant Cheetah into Cheetor (BW)'s top section instead of his other robot modes. The beast mode is so... secondary. If we were gonna wedge more visuals into the main pics, vehicle modes would not be out first pic in many cases. -Derik 16:47, 23 April 2009 (EDT)

Cover artists

Anyone got a list of cover artists, especially for the Marvel US G1 series? I'm trying to fill our the image description pages for those right now, and I'm being hampered by the lack of info on that score. - SanityOrMadness 21:19, 22 April 2009 (EDT)

I don't know of any pre-existing list. Some I can tell by the style, some I only can guess at due to the signature, and the rest who knows. They didn't credit those things back then beyond the signature, so... --ItsWalky 21:26, 22 April 2009 (EDT)

Well, most of the issue pages appear to have the artists listed (albeit buried at the bottom of the page...), and I've just found this page, so I've been filling them in.

One slightly problematic one though - Marvel US #62. There's two signatures, but the only intelligible one is "Rod Ramos" (Rodney Ramos, who as far as I'm aware works mostly as an inker), and he's given as the artist on the issue page. The current image-page description lists Geoff Senior as the artist, and I can believe it - but I'm not 100% sure, and he inked himself on the interiors. Can anyone confirm? - SanityOrMadness 19:02, 23 April 2009 (EDT)

Anti-troll

After another you-know-who rampage earlier, whatever happened to blacklisting "Detour" and "Fuck" from being used in page & user names, and requiring autoconfirmed priviliges to upload files? Was that a casualty of the Big Crash? - SanityOrMadness 18:38, 23 April 2009 (EDT)

I think plans to upgrade/add plugins to the software have been put on hold while the cleanup too place and we got ready for moving to a new host (how far away are we from setting a date for that anyway?). Perhaps it's time to revisit installing the title blacklist plugin? --abates 19:47, 23 April 2009 (EDT)

Advertising Idea

So, I came up with a fun idea for advertising the wiki IRL. I decided to make an Autobot propaganda poster with the TFWiki.net watermark that people could print out and post in the colleges or whatever nerdy hangouts they use. I've uploaded it to my Photobucket account, so have a look and let me know what you think of it: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v168/Semysane/TFWiki%20Ads/OptimusPropaganda01-Beta.png This is just a test to see if I could make it not look like crap; it's still a work in progress (ie: still crap). If a more talented person wants to have a go at making a better one, go at it. BTW, the Ancient Autobot text there says "Till All Are One" -- Semysane 22:20, 23 April 2009 (EDT)

I think it looks pretty good. Certainly in very eye-catching colours. :) --abates 06:30, 24 April 2009 (EDT)

Thank you! I'm thinking of making a Decepticon one as well. Any ideas on a slogan for that one? The Cons don't have many awesome ones like Till All Are One. "Transform and Rise Up" maybe? -- Semysane 04:56, 25 April 2009 (EDT)

{{mainpic}}

I've made an alteration to {{mainpic}} that's going to start tracking how long (in months) these articles have lacked main pictures for. In theory this'll (eventually) give us a way to triage these neglected articles. In practice, the dates are starting from now, so there's gonna be a whole mess of articles with '0' months. It'll sort itself out over time.

This depends on me running a maintenece program every couple of weeks FYI, that replaces all instances of {{mainpic}} with {{mainpic|date}}. We'll see how that works.  ;) -Derik 09:58, 24 April 2009 (EDT)

Marvel G2 issues

The G2 comic pages are listed under story titles (e.g., Dark Shadows! from G2 #11), but backup stories (in the case of G2 #11, "Tales of Earth Part Eight") are listed on the same pages.

Shouldn't the pages either be moved to a page named after the issue, the way the current UK Titan series appears to be treated, or else split along story lines? - SanityOrMadness 21:05, 24 April 2009 (EDT)