User talk:Joe Beaudoin Jr./Archive2

International characters[edit]

Hey, Joe, how did you add the international characters 'insert' block at the bottom of the Edit pages? I have another Wiki project I'm working on, and having easy access to those special characters would be extremely nifty...--Uncle Mikey 19:31, 21 March 2006 (CST)

Well, here's what I did:

Download CharInsert.php from the Mediawiki CVS
Copy that into your "includes" diretory of your MediaWiki install
Add the following line to your LocalSettings.php file, near the top:
- require_once( "includes/CharInsert.php" );
Once that's done, save and upload the revised LocalSettings.php file.
After that, go to MediaWiki:Edittools. Copy and paste the code.
On your wiki, create a page with the same name. Paste the content and save.
After that, edit MediaWiki:Copyrightwarning on your wiki and insert:
- {{MediaWiki:Edittools}}

And you should be set. If you need anything more, feel free to contact me. (Also, what's your Wiki?) -- Joe Beaudoin 19:54, 21 March 2006 (CST)

Thank you!

One modification I figurfed out is that {{sitetools}} won't actually work. It needs to be {{MediaWiki:Edittools}}, and that's what it is for you as well (I checked).

I'm starting to put together a wiki for the fantasy series The Prince of Nothing by R. Scott Bakker. No idea if it'll take off, or not, but there seems to be at least a little interest on the Three Seas forum. Special characters abound in the names of people and places, so having a handy way to get those specials inserted for those who don't know how to do it with entities or from their keyboard will be a big win.--Uncle Mikey 14:10, 22 March 2006 (CST)

Ack, sorry about that. Alien bimbos took my brain, since they lost Spock's. (As you can see, it has been returned.) -- Joe Beaudoin 15:58, 22 March 2006 (CST)

Alien bimbo brain thieves happen :-) When the wiki is ready for customers, I'll post the link in my user page :-) Thanks for the help!--Uncle Mikey 16:45, 22 March 2006 (CST)

Shane's Departure[edit]

I received the following in private comunication from Shane this morning:

10:03:38 AM shane.WITHHELD@gmail.com: I have left the wiki because of your comments with merv about the RFC. You knew that was not an approved way, and Joe had already said so. So say we all.

shane.WITHHELD@gmail.com disconnected (10:03:51 AM)

The comments he referred to can be found here. I am unaware of any comments by you to that effect, but felt that I should bring the matter to your attention in the event that I overlooked something. --April Arcus 10:07, 27 March 2006 (CST)

I might have missed something as well... because I don't recall ruling one way or the other. -- Joe Beaudoin 10:20, 27 March 2006 (CST)

You didn't. Shane is overreacting. There's far too much drama on both sides of this particular tiff, but Shane is overreacting badly, here.

Peter, for what it's worth, I don't see anything you've done that would constitute a reason someone should leave. Perhaps Shane was expecting more "protection" from what he saw as an unjust series of personal attacks, but I'm not sure that's a realistic expectation anywhere on the 'Net, let alone in a loosely-moderated universe such as this.--Uncle Mikey 10:25, 27 March 2006 (CST)

You are indeed correct, UncleMikey, when it comes to the drama on both sides of this issue. Both sides are at fault. I believe that it would be best if both sides shed the negativity, take a deep breath, and start anew from the same page, as it were. -- Joe Beaudoin 11:07, 27 March 2006 (CST)

On second thought, I believe he thinks that the RFC process is something that I had apparently not approved of. (Quite contrary, seeing as I imported it from the English Wikipedia to deal with future issues, should they arise.) -- Joe Beaudoin 10:27, 27 March 2006 (CST)

On Gmail[edit]

Need to talk please. --Shane ^{(T - C - E)} 21:20, 31 March 2006 (CST)

Something a bit cool...[edit]

The traffic comparison links you posted are impressive, Joe. Memory Alpha still beats us handily, but we're not THAT far behind. And we're neck and frakin' neck with BattlestarGalactica.com. Amazing. Go us! --Day ^(talk) 00:44, 4 April 2006 (CDT)

To quote Teal'c: Indeed. -- Joe Beaudoin 00:50, 4 April 2006 (CDT)

I have two things: First, what day was BSWiki originally created? Because the thing there lists when the new location was moved to, but not the original creation date. Second, Joe, not a lot of people use BattlestarGalactica.com, relatively speaking. On the various dozen fansites and messageboards I'm always checking, most rely on GalacticaStation.com.--The Merovingian ^{(C - E)} 15:16, 4 April 2006 (CDT)

Admittedly the numbers on GS aren't as high, but it's a lot better organized and updated on a daily basis, while BS.com has never been my first pic for up to date news. --The Merovingian ^{(C - E)} 15:20, 4 April 2006 (CDT)

My best guess would fall somewhere around "22:48, 17 November 2004" based on this diff, which is the oldest diff under Joe's account. That's not really definitive proof, but given the content of the edit (and other edits around that time) it seems like that's when things were first getting off the ground. --Steelviper 15:26, 4 April 2006 (CDT)

In reply to Merv: I launched the site early November 2004; it didn't really hit the ground running until February 2005 in my mind. As for GS, we blow GS out of the water from the look of things. I did want to compare us to Wookieepedia, but it only compares the whole domain (wikia.org), not the individual folder's under theat domain. It would be interesting how we spar with the Star Wars wiki though. ;-) -- Joe Beaudoin ^{So say we all - Donate} 21:28, 4 April 2006 (CDT)

Well Star Wars simply has a greater amount of material. I mean it's not just six movies it's an ever expanding book series. I guarantee it's bigger than anything Star Trek could ever make on an encyclopedia; not a matter of quality, simply in terms of numbers of names, places, events and so forth that make up an encyclopedia. --The Merovingian ^{(C - E)}

I'm not too sure about that. 3+7+7+7+3 = 27 seasons of television + 10 movies + a whole bunch of novels? Star Trek has a lot of material too, although less of it is "canon". Philwelch 21:50, 4 April 2006 (CDT)

Over 700 episodes. But there's a LOAD of information in the EU books. I don't even read the Star Trek books, but the Star Wars books are a really good continuation of the universe.--The Merovingian ^{(C - E)} 21:51, 4 April 2006 (CDT)

My understanding is that the "Expanded Universe" series of Star Wars books aren't exactly canon themselves. -- Joe Beaudoin ^{So say we all - Donate} 21:52, 4 April 2006 (CDT)

It's complicated and involves code letters, holocrons, and a madman; anyway, the novels are canon, just 2nd tier.

I'm sorry. That just makes my teeth itch. If George Lucas would feel free to ignore it if he wrote any more Star Wars stories -- which I'm pretty sure he would, given that he ignores his own continuity on occasion -- then it's not canon. It doesn't matter how authors, publishers, and fanboys dress it up they can make themselves feel better about it, it's still not canon.--Uncle Mikey 11:42, 5 April 2006 (CDT)

Possible Bug[edit]

"A database query syntax error has occurred. This may indicate a bug in the software. The last attempted database query was: (SQL query hidden) from within function "WatchedItem::addWatch". MySQL returned error "1048: Column 'wl_notificationtimestamp' cannot be null (localhost)"." at http://www.battlestarwiki.org/en/index.php?title=Deck_Crew_5&action=submit on an attempt to enter "At the time of the [[Cylon Attack]], Deck Crew 5 consisted of: * CPO [[Galen Tyrol]] * Deckhand [[Socinus]] * Deckhand [[Prosna]] * Deckhand [[Cally]] This deck crew was attached to ''[[Battlestar]] [[Galactica]]'', formerly a part of [[BSG 75|Battlestar Group 75]], and responsible for maintenance of the battlestar's crafts, such as [[Viper (RDM)|Vipers]] and [[Raptors]]. [[Category: A to Z]] [[Category: RDM]]" as the content. While I'm on the subject, the bottom of the edit pages are sort of a mess. (The "Insert: ... Syntax: ..." box appears twice, once with {{spoiler}} substituted in, I think.) --CalculatinAvatar 16:51, 5 April 2006 (CDT)

I got the same thing submitting that; it seems the changes go through anyway. --CalculatinAvatar

It's a watchlist thing... I'm attempting to fix it now. -- Joe Beaudoin ^{So say we all - Donate} 16:58, 5 April 2006 (CDT)

I fixed it. Apparently there was a bug in the update.php syntax, which reorganized the database. I also fixed the issue with the Edittools... mostly. The box itself is fine, sans the two spoiler warning messages. -- Joe Beaudoin ^{So say we all - Donate} 18:07, 5 April 2006 (CDT)

Thanks. That was downright freakishly fast. --CalculatinAvatar 20:23, 5 April 2006 (CDT)

It's what I do. -- Joe Beaudoin ^{So say we all - Donate} 20:28, 5 April 2006 (CDT)

The last </div> is being outputed in HTML. In your spam filter might be the problem. This is why right now the portals boxs don't encase the text. --Shane ^{(T - C - E)} 01:41, 6 April 2006 (CDT)

1.6 Upgrade[edit]

Can we install the cite extension now? --April Arcus 09:13, 6 April 2006 (CDT)

We sure can. Any other extensions come to mind? -- Joe Beaudoin ^{So say we all - Donate} 09:16, 6 April 2006 (CDT)

Timeline!!! --Shane ^{(T - C - E)} 09:40, 6 April 2006 (CDT)

No objection, but where do you see this being useful? --April Arcus 11:03, 6 April 2006 (CDT)

The timeline area. Heck.. if's good for something I use it, even if where for just one thing. --Shane ^{(T - C - E)} 15:16, 6 April 2006 (CDT)

I suppose we can have that discussion there, if necessary. --April Arcus 17:43, 6 April 2006 (CDT)

Perhaps you could try to experiment with getting Checkuser up and running? It might be helpful in the event of another Spam Blizzard (for doing an ip range block). --Steelviper 11:28, 7 April 2006 (CDT)

The checkuser function works. It began working when the database itself was restructured. (I guess it was meant to work with 1.6 rather than 1.5...) -- Joe Beaudoin ^{So say we all - Donate} 12:08, 7 April 2006 (CDT)

Battlestar Wiki subpages needed to be active. :) --Shane ^{(T - C - E)} 15:53, 7 April 2006 (CDT)

they have released 1.6.2 which fixes the </taghere> problem. --Shane ^{(T - C - E)} 01:49, 9 April 2006 (CDT)

Portals[edit]

Has the Portrals system been activated since the upgrade? I can't find it linked off of anything, and can only find it through "recent changes". If it is being used, I'd like to help fix it up to quality content standards (not code, but BSG info). --The Merovingian ^{(C - E)} 13:32, 6 April 2006 (CDT)

The portals are still works in progress. They still don't work quite the way they're expected to, in terms of being able to use the templates to handle most of the formatting. Battlestar Wiki:Portals has a list of all the portals that are in progress. Also, at your suggestion I started User:Steelviper/MemoryAlpha as a test at fitting the BSG wiki content into a Memory-alpha style main page.

I'd propose that we not get too caught up in the implementation details of the portals, and focus more on form, function, and content. The average user probably doesn't care if we have to use html under the covers, as long as the information they want to get to and edit is easy to do so. I'd like to be able to use wiki-code to accomplish everything, but I'd rather move forward in the meantime, with the knowledge that we can always patch back the formatting to wikicode as soon as we figure out how to do so. The top box in Portal:Cylons is currently hardcoded with html, and provides a better example of how the portal boxes should look. --Steelviper 13:46, 6 April 2006 (CDT)

(I'm saying this in bold not because I'm mad, just as a highlighting tool): When the Portals are officially "open for business", post a message giving the official go ahead, here or on my user talk page. Until then, I'm considering them a work in progress, and I don't want to mess with them. I don't understand wiki code very well. When the time comes that it is officially "ready", please tell me so I can start connecting all the links and writing it up, etc. Thanks. --The Merovingian ^{(C - E)} 13:52, 6 April 2006 (CDT)

Will do. I understand that you are primarily a content editor/contributor, and currently most of the issues with the portals are more of a technical nature. I look forward to the portals "going live" so that they can be under your Vigilant scrutiny. I may ask your input (from a content/layout/design perspective) on my memory-alpha ripoff, but I'll drop you a note on your talk when it's ready for such scrutiny. --Steelviper 13:59, 6 April 2006 (CDT)

HTML[edit]

Ok here are the reasons they think why we have extra and tags over the site.

None Vaild XHTML - Would meaning updating this site code so that the wikicode (main page included) ''''text'''' and '''text''' would format out the correct tags <strong> and <em>
Y~~our site header message is not Wikified.~~ - Done by Steel
any non-vaild XHTML would auto-break it.
Doctype - this can be changed to HTML regular instead.

--Shane ^{(T - C - E)} 14:35, 11 April 2006 (CDT)

Wikipedia Arts Portal Page --- Vaild XHTML.

Ok, we got the Portal:Cylon page vaild XHTML (I think). With that not working they want to make sure:

 4:41p    (Duesentrieb) $wgUseTidy = false;
  4:41p    (Duesentrieb) in LocalSettings.php (like all settings)

So that's the story so far in the quest to get Portal's working. --Shane ^{(T - C - E)} 15:40, 11 April 2006 (CDT)

I added the appropriate line in LocalSettings.php. Let me know what else needs to be done. Thanks. -- Joe Beaudoin ^{So say we all - Donate} 21:07, 11 April 2006 (CDT)

I need a gun because this thing is so werid!@!@!@!@!@!@!@!@!@!@ I think I almost done everything that they say. Right now it's set to false? Cause I just retested Portal:Cylons and no joy. If it's set to false, change it to true and tell me. Then I will test it again, unless it was already set to true before, then you do not need to. Back to IRC I go... --Shane ^{(T - C - E)} 21:34, 11 April 2006 (CDT)

On GTalk right now, if you can get on real quick that would be great. --Shane ^{(T - C - E)} 23:14, 14 April 2006 (CDT)

Sysop Privs on Battlewiki-Deutsch[edit]

I think that I currently lack sysop privs over at the German-language version of the site. I was pondering helping in the import/export effort to get completed pages moved over there. --Steelviper 08:02, 17 April 2006 (CDT)

You're now an admin over at Battlestar Wiki-Deutsch. -- Joe Beaudoin ^{So say we all - Donate} 22:04, 18 April 2006 (CDT)

System Clock[edit]

The clock appears to be over an hour slow. --Grafix 03:23, 18 April 2006 (CDT)

It's a minor issue that I cannot change at server level (I've already tried a month or so ago). I was going to contact the host and note this, but never got around to it. It's minor, so it's not priority right now (but it's on my to-do list nonetheless). -- Joe Beaudoin ^{So say we all - Donate} 22:06, 18 April 2006 (CDT)

All Projects Link[edit]

Could that be ponited to Battlestar Wiki:Project List? --Shane ^{(T - C - E)} 12:37, 20 April 2006 (CDT)

Done. Great idea Shane! -- Joe Beaudoin ^{So say we all - Donate} 12:42, 20 April 2006 (CDT)

For discussions previously on User talk: Joe.Beaudoin, please click here.

Archive from March 6, 2006

Archive from April 20, 2006

Design Improvements[edit]

Just a few minor design improvements.

~~1. On the image pages the mime/type text is white font on white background. The text of this or background box colour should be changed in the css to be black.~~ http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/4151/bsgdesignimprovements11xv.png
- Done. -- Joe Beaudoin ^{So say we all - Donate} 12:49, 20 April 2006 (CDT)
2. The tiny little logon man perhaps changed to something more relevant, bgs logo or viper insignia http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/2377/bsgdesignimprovements27up.png
~~3. Redirect image should be inverted, this is how it look right now~~ http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/1546/bsgdesignimprovements30lv.png
- Done. -- Joe Beaudoin ^{So say we all - Donate} 12:49, 20 April 2006 (CDT)
Mercifull 08:13, 29 March 2006 (CST)

When considering design changes, please keep in mind that not everyone reads the site using the default theme. I, for one, find the black background with bright text extraordinarily hard -- downright painful -- on the eyes, particularly in contrast with just about every other program and web site I use. I'm using the straight Monobook theme in my preferences. As a result, there are already some boxes that are all but unreadable unless I highlight the text in them.

(Ironically, I used to feel just the opposite, but the predominance of white-background websites and GUIs has shifted my preferences. It's easier to go with the flow than to find ways to change every single GUI system I use). --Uncle Mikey 10:20, 29 March 2006 (CST)

Would it help on the boxes if we specified the white foreground? Granted, this would go against the rest of the text on the page, but I'd think that it'd make it look closer to how it is intended. However, you still have the blue links (unless that can be specified as well). --Steelviper 16:12, 29 March 2006 (CST)

Might help. It seems to me that there ought to be some way to make sure that template boxes &c integrate with the theme (using style-sheet names for things, &c), but I haven't messed enough with Mediawiki themes to know exactly how you'd do it portably.--Uncle Mikey 16:16, 29 March 2006 (CST)

You're absolutely right. That would be the correct way to do it. I too, however, lack that [[1]], and so I end up reaching for the quick/easy/ugly hack. Day has mentioned looking into such things in the past. --Steelviper 16:25, 29 March 2006 (CST)

I'm pretty good with CSS. I'll look into this, but I don't want to commit to a project I won't have time to see through properly. --April Arcus 20:52, 29 March 2006 (CST)

I would feel comfortable commiting to this project, time-wise. I feel confident enough in my CSS skills that I either know or know how to find out anything that would be needed to be done... I just need to remember to email Joe about which files do what and that kind of thing. Then... Do we put the CSS labels in spans and divs in the Wikicode, then? Or somehow mesh it into the XHTML generated by MediaWiki? --Day ^(talk) 01:34, 30 March 2006 (CST)

I'm not too pro in the likes of CSS but perhaps in the meantime something like the redirect image could be made as a red arrow with a transparent png background then it would ok on both a white and a black background? --Mercifull 03:38, 30 March 2006 (CST)

Sysop Privs on Battlewiki-Deutsch[edit]

I think that I currently lack sysop privs over at the German-language version of the site. I was pondering helping in the import/export effort to get completed pages moved over there. --Steelviper 08:02, 17 April 2006 (CDT)

You're now an admin over at Battlestar Wiki-Deutsch. -- Joe Beaudoin ^{So say we all - Donate} 22:04, 18 April 2006 (CDT)

System Clock[edit]

The clock appears to be over an hour slow. --Grafix 03:23, 18 April 2006 (CDT)

It's a minor issue that I cannot change at server level (I've already tried a month or so ago). I was going to contact the host and note this, but never got around to it. It's minor, so it's not priority right now (but it's on my to-do list nonetheless). -- Joe Beaudoin ^{So say we all - Donate} 22:06, 18 April 2006 (CDT)

All Projects Link[edit]

Could that be ponited to Battlestar Wiki:Project List? --Shane ^{(T - C - E)} 12:37, 20 April 2006 (CDT)

Done. Great idea Shane! -- Joe Beaudoin ^{So say we all - Donate} 12:42, 20 April 2006 (CDT)

Weird. It works point to that page when I view your User page, but when I goto the main page and hover over the link, it goes stright back to catgoery listing. --Shane ^{(T - C - E)} 12:49, 20 April 2006 (CDT)

Did you try a hard-refresh? -- Joe Beaudoin ^{So say we all - Donate} 12:52, 20 April 2006 (CDT)

I just purged the server-files. It works now :-) --Shane ^{(T - C - E)} 12:53, 20 April 2006 (CDT)

Email validation[edit]

It has come to my attention that my email address is "not yet authenticated". I have clicked the "Confirm your e-mail address" button but i dont get anyhitng sent to me. I have checked my emails and spam box but nothing from BSWiki? --Mercifull 12:17, 23 April 2006 (CDT)

Have you checked to ensure that the e-mail address you provided in your preferences is the correct one? Even if it looks right, try re-entering it again from scracth, then apply the changes. If not, I'll confirm it from my end (which means going into the DB itself). -- Joe Beaudoin ^{So say we all - Donate} 12:26, 23 April 2006 (CDT)

Just checked email address and its all correct. Tried submitting again but wont be able to know if its worked until i get home from work tonight. --Mercifull 04:21, 24 April 2006 (CDT)

Nope, still no activation link. :( --Mercifull 12:24, 24 April 2006 (CDT)

SVG Images[edit]

Could we support SVG images? The timeline image I am working on has SVG capabilities and it is a growing file format. --Shane ^{(T - C - E)} 13:23, 23 April 2006 (CDT)

Its still not supported by many browsers. I say stick with PNG for now. --Mercifull 04:19, 24 April 2006 (CDT)

Mediawiki will fall back to PNG rendering if SVG isn't supported on the browser. I don't see a problem. --April Arcus 10:08, 24 April 2006 (CDT)

I learned something today :) --Mercifull 10:25, 24 April 2006 (CDT)

'"In browsers such as Internet Explorer and Safari, a plugin is needed to view SVG content. ...Internet Explorer users must separately download it." -Wikipedia:SVG As fun as using new, better things is, it's not practical to exclude large portions of your user base. Content negotiation is at best a bad solution, at worst not a solution. --CalculatinAvatar 13:39, 29 March 2006 (CST)' -Image talk:ColonialColors9.png

Given Wikipedia:Common criticisms_of_Internet_Explorer#HTTP_and_MIME, I still don't see content negotiation as a strong solution, barring Mediawiki behaving in a disturbing manner by giving IE the image as PNG regardless of what it requests. --CalculatinAvatar 22:04, 24 April 2006 (CDT)

SVG should be enabled now. -- Joe Beaudoin ^{So say we all - Donate} 12:19, 25 April 2006 (CDT)

New Extension[edit]

Mind if ya give it a testing? http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Calendar_extension It would be cool if you could setup like a private wiki so I do some code work on it. You know I'm worth it! :-) --Shane ^{(T - C - E)} 14:09, 24 April 2006 (CDT)

I set up the Hangar Bay for testing. Did you need FTP access as well? -- Joe Beaudoin ^{So say we all - Donate} 12:19, 25 April 2006 (CDT)

Yeah. You can find me on Gtalk. Need to be able to edit that Localsetting.php file. --Shane ^{(T - C - E)} 12:22, 25 April 2006 (CDT)

When you get the chance, you can disable the Calendar ext. Right now it's not working. Shane ^{(T - C - E)} 08:19, 12 July 2006 (CDT)

Pointer[edit]

Just in case you missed it, something new appeared here. --CalculatinAvatar 21:37, 24 April 2006 (CDT)

Thanks for the keen eye! -- Joe Beaudoin ^{So say we all - Donate} 12:20, 25 April 2006 (CDT)

Main Page Redesign (part 2) and other[edit]

I think we are ready to submit the current design at Battlestar Wiki:Main page for depolyment on the front page. IF you think it's a go, we just have to create the backend pages on the same "Battlestar Wiki:Main page" (subpages that would be sysop locked) so we can use those as for the places to edit the information and that is controled.) The only thing that we would have to work on as a community is the Featured Picture and Article process as of the data used right now is jsut a mockup.

The "News" front, even for site news has a new home at Battlestar Wiki:News so the "Current Events" link would need to be changed.

We wouls still be workong on Battlestar Wiki:Main page to make the design use CSS so people can switch skinjs between the default and the monobook skins. That is the next step, but since most people use this skin, right now the hardcoded values are fine. (we do this at the Hanger Bay site, which is werid. jsut tried looking at the preferences, and it fails. (I'll work on this.)).

With that in mind, I pretty much got he Calender ext. working and possiable could get cite.php to work on the Hanger bay so we know the setup. That's about it. --Shane ^{(T - C - E)} 12:57, 29 April 2006 (CDT)

Calendar extension enabled. I'll begin implementing the new main page at present. -- Joe Beaudoin ^{So say we all - Donate} 10:54, 1 May 2006 (CDT)

Cite.php[edit]

I just noticed something when working on the Hangerbay...u need...

require_once( "extensions/Cite.php" );
require_once( "includes/DefaultSettings.php" );

in the LocalSettings.php file. --Shane ^{(T - C - E)} 12:11, 30 April 2006 (CDT)

That's odd, seeing as this is included by default... I'll try it anyway. --Joe Beaudoin ^{So say we all - Donate} 09:36, 1 May 2006 (CDT)

I just included it (and made a note on http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Cite/Cite.php) the alternative method. So Cite now works. -- Joe Beaudoin ^{So say we all - Donate} 10:53, 1 May 2006 (CDT)