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Battlestar Wiki:Chiefs' noticeboard/Archive7: Difference between revisions

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== Expelled ==
== Expelled ==


At the very best, advertising Ben Stein's film "Expelled" is insulting and tasteless. Do we have to run this ad? --[[User:Peter Farago|Peter Farago]] 18:03, 13 April 2008 (UTC)
At the very best, advertising Ben Stein's film "Expelled" is insulting and tasteless. Do we have to run this ad? --[[User:April Arcus|April Arcus]] 18:03, 13 April 2008 (UTC)
: I can block it. -- [[User:Joe Beaudoin Jr.|Joe Beaudoin]] <sup>[[User talk:Joe Beaudoin Jr.|So say we all]] - [[Battlestar Wiki:Site support|Donate]] - [[bsp:|Battlestar Pegasus]]</sup> 19:02, 13 April 2008 (UTC)
: I can block it. -- [[User:Joe Beaudoin Jr.|Joe Beaudoin]] <sup>[[User talk:Joe Beaudoin Jr.|So say we all]] - [[Battlestar Wiki:Site support|Donate]] - [[bsp:|Battlestar Pegasus]]</sup> 19:02, 13 April 2008 (UTC)
: Ok, I've blocked it. It should take a few hours to go into effect though... If you do happen to see it tomorrow, please let me know what the URL is so that I can block that too. (I've blocked any ad promoting expelledthemovie.com, although the people behind it might have come up with a different url so that it doesn't get blocked. I've seen that before... doesn't happen that often, though.) -- [[User:Joe Beaudoin Jr.|Joe Beaudoin]] <sup>[[User talk:Joe Beaudoin Jr.|So say we all]] - [[Battlestar Wiki:Site support|Donate]] - [[bsp:|Battlestar Pegasus]]</sup> 19:07, 13 April 2008 (UTC)
: Ok, I've blocked it. It should take a few hours to go into effect though... If you do happen to see it tomorrow, please let me know what the URL is so that I can block that too. (I've blocked any ad promoting expelledthemovie.com, although the people behind it might have come up with a different url so that it doesn't get blocked. I've seen that before... doesn't happen that often, though.) -- [[User:Joe Beaudoin Jr.|Joe Beaudoin]] <sup>[[User talk:Joe Beaudoin Jr.|So say we all]] - [[Battlestar Wiki:Site support|Donate]] - [[bsp:|Battlestar Pegasus]]</sup> 19:07, 13 April 2008 (UTC)
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::Interesting out of universe explanation of the callsign in general. [http://www.safetycenter.navy.mil/media/approach/whatsyourcallsign/callsignhistory.htm "Someone with the callsign "Boomer" is either a party hound or else broke some windows with a supersonic low-level fly-by."]
::Interesting out of universe explanation of the callsign in general. [http://www.safetycenter.navy.mil/media/approach/whatsyourcallsign/callsignhistory.htm "Someone with the callsign "Boomer" is either a party hound or else broke some windows with a supersonic low-level fly-by."]
== Trouble with Spanish Templates ==
Hi Chiefs! Following Shane's suggestion, we have started updating a few templates of the Spanish wiki since the ones used until  now had become obsolete. For some reason, deleting the old Episode Data one and replacing it with the Spanish translation of the one you're currently using here has resulted in chaos. Sure I have done something wrong, because for quite some time the system kinda mixed both templates (even if the old one had been deleted) and the translated episodes using the Episode Data template were all frakked up. I am the one doing the translation work but I don't want to mess up with the template's code once again, and Baltar Gaiolas is not confident either so.... would it possible for any of you guys, to give us a helping hand with this template? Thanks a mill. -- [[User:Mouan|Mouan]] 02:20, 13 May 2008 (UTC)
: Shane and I can take a crack at it. :) -- [[User:Joe Beaudoin Jr.|Joe Beaudoin]] <sup>[[User talk:Joe Beaudoin Jr.|So say we all]] - [[Battlestar Wiki:Site support|Donate]] - [[bsp:|Battlestar Pegasus]]</sup> 02:24, 13 May 2008 (UTC)
::Everything should be good to go now. The template {{tl|!}} was not important that is a very big requirement for our complex templates. :) [[User:Shane|Shane]] ([[User_Talk:Shane|talk]]) 02:33, 13 May 2008 (UTC)
:::Thanks a mill, guys! -- [[User:Mouan|Mouan]] 12:19, 13 May 2008 (UTC)
::::Thank Shane, Mouan. He found that pesky issue and fixed it! :D -- [[User:Joe Beaudoin Jr.|Joe Beaudoin]] <sup>[[User talk:Joe Beaudoin Jr.|So say we all]] - [[Battlestar Wiki:Site support|Donate]] - [[bsp:|Battlestar Pegasus]]</sup> 18:58, 13 May 2008 (UTC)
:::::OK, same thing happened again :( I translated a test of the Episode Data template and saved it (Test Plantilla: Datos de Episodio) and it has frakked things up once again. The original template has not been deleted, but it doesn't seem to have made any difference. I have deleted the test template but the episodes still look all messed up :( And now I am at my wit's end. I am more than happy to help with translations and such, but every time I "touch" the code, I frak up. I apologise for bothering you again with this issue, but I don't know what else I can do. Could any of you guys have a look at that template and fix it. Also, if possible, could someome tell me '''exactly''' what lines need to be translated into Spanish? Because I'm afraid that the problem may lay there, that I have translated part of the code :( -- [[User:Mouan|Mouan]] 14:29, 14 May 2008 (UTC)
:::::Future reference, don't mark it minor as I don't get updates when it does. You should have done it on [[:es:Plantilla:Datos_de_Episodio]] There was no need to create [[:es:Test Plantilla:Datos_de_Episodio]]. I don't see any problems other than it being in the wrong place. You also have to update the episode pages as well to use the new template. If you notice, all the variables are lower-case ([[:es:Plantilla:Datos_de_Episodio]]) so [[:es:33]] template has to be updated to reflect the new varabile names as well. Look @ the output area of [[:es:Plantilla:Datos_de_Episodio]] and look at the code. Very simple to update. Just requires patience. The template also has the rules on what needs to be filed out an way. Look @ my changes to [[:es:33]] and see how it came together. [[User:Shane|Shane]] ([[User_Talk:Shane|talk]]) 14:56, 14 May 2008 (UTC)
::::::Thanks, Shane. So, if I've understood you correctly, I can replace [[:es:Plantilla:Datos_de_Episodio]] with the translated version from the test page I created ([[:es:Test Plantilla:Datos_de_Episodio]]), save it, and once it's done, delete the test page, right? After that, I need to go into every episode page and update the template. -- [[User:Mouan|Mouan]] 16:30, 14 May 2008 (UTC)
:::::::Remember that you don't have to be afraid of breaking stuff beyond repair: you can always undo your edits and revert the template back to a working version. --[[User:Catrope|Catrope]]<sup>([[User talk:Catrope|Talk to me]] or [[Special:Emailuser/Catrope|e-mail me]])</sup> 18:08, 14 May 2008 (UTC)
== new old promo pics ==
Photographer Carole Seagal has released about 175 promo pics of old episodes: http://www.segalpix.com/sections/battleSTAR/index.html
Sometimes they're already available, but there's also lots of new stuff there, and some are from cut scenes. They aren't high-res and only around 500*360, but of good quality. Might be some interesting stuff there for one or the other article. -- [[User:Serenity|Serenity]] 19:02, 27 May 2008 (UTC)
: Golly frakkin' damn... Sweet! :D -- [[User:Joe Beaudoin Jr.|Joe Beaudoin]] <sup>[[User talk:Joe Beaudoin Jr.|So say we all]] - [[Battlestar Wiki:Site support|Donate]] - [[bsp:|Battlestar Pegasus]]</sup> 19:11, 27 May 2008 (UTC)
:: Mass download? :) [[User:Shane|Shane]] ([[User_Talk:Shane|talk]]) 19:15, 27 May 2008 (UTC)
:::There seems to be one available [http://www.box.net/shared/2txx05fggc here], but you need to register. -- [[User:Serenity|Serenity]] 19:17, 27 May 2008 (UTC)
== WYSIWYG editor problems ==
The new WYSIWYG editor is surely very nifty (though slow), but did you notice how it messes up internal links? All by itself changes something like <nowiki>[[Natalie]]</nowiki> to <nowiki>[[Natalie|Natalie]]</nowiki>. And that for ''all ''links within the text whenever you edit a page with it. Functionally, it's the same, but generally we took care to remove such unnecessary piping by hand. I could make understand something like <nowiki>[[Battlestar|battlestar]]</nowiki>, but it changes anything no matter what. That kinda clutters up the text if you read it the old way.
It also didn't take my nowiki-links here for some reason and translated them into html characters. Typing them in text view and then switching to WYSIWYG worked. Moreover, it writes categories in one line instead of one line per category. More seriously, none of the quick links below the edit box works anymore. -- [[User:Serenity|Serenity]] 10:12, 26 May 2008 (UTC)<br>
:What the hell.. those who prefer to read and edit plain wikitext (like I do) can click the "Wikitext" button in the top left corner of the editor. Anyway, according to [http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:FCKeditor_%28by_Mafs%29#Introduction the extension page on MediaWiki.org], it's an "'''expirimental''' approach providing a '''semi'''-WYSIWYG concept". IMO, FCKeditor is not ''nearly'' mature enough to be used here. Also, I was surprised that such a major change was made without discussion or without testing on the Hangar Bay. Shouldn't we at least go through the Think Tank and all that? --[[User:Catrope|Catrope]]<sup>([[User talk:Catrope|Talk to me]] or [[Special:Emailuser/Catrope|e-mail me]])</sup> 10:29, 26 May 2008 (UTC)
::Yes, you can do both, but if someone fraks up the formatting with the editor (and that happens merely by using it), that's also visible in the standard wiki view. -- [[User:Serenity|Serenity]]
:::Guys, you can simply disable the text editor via your [[Special:Preferences|preferences]]. Click "Misc" then click on "Disable rich editor". (Or, if you have the JS toolbar disabled, it'll have the same effect, as Shane and I found out just last night.) Oh, and we've been testing this on BSP.com between [[:bsp:User:pagad|User:pagad]] and myself. Also the piping issue is [http://blog.battlestarwiki.org/2008/05/25/easy-to-use-what-you-see-editor-now-available-on-battlestar-wiki/ known to me] and I'm working with a bot person from WP to get a bot that will nip that problem, until the guys at FCK/MW can get that kink worked out.&nbsp;:) -- [[User:Joe Beaudoin Jr.|Joe Beaudoin]] <sup>[[User talk:Joe Beaudoin Jr.|So say we all]] - [[Battlestar Wiki:Site support|Donate]] - [[:bsp:|Battlestar Pegasus]]</sup> 15:39, 26 May 2008 (UTC)
:::::Ok, ok. Sorry, I said anything&nbsp;:s&nbsp;;) -- [[User:Serenity|Serenity]] 16:37, 26 May 2008 (UTC)
::::::Us 'expert users' will not use this, but hey&nbsp;:) [[User:Shane|Shane]] ([[User talk:Shane|talk]]) 20:31, 26 May 2008 (UTC)
:::::::I'm really getting fed up by FCKeditor behaving as its name suggests, namely fucking up wikitext. One of the most blatant examples is [http://en.battlestarwiki.org/w/index.php?title=Battlestar_Wiki:Translation_Project&curid=4908&diff=161659&oldid=160036&rcid=164977 this diff]. The guy just added himself as a translator for native Turkish, but that's hidden between lots of no-op changes. I say we disable FCKEditor for the time being and look for another WYSIWYG editor (there are others out there) that does not fuck up as severely as FCKEditor does. --[[User:Catrope|Catrope]]<sup>([[User talk:Catrope|Talk to me]] or [[Special:Emailuser/Catrope|e-mail me]])</sup> 21:59, 27 May 2008 (UTC)
::::::::I am in agreement here. I think we should remove it or disable it by default. [[User:Shane|Shane]] ([[User talk:Shane|talk]]) 22:15, 27 May 2008 (UTC)
::::::::At the least it should be disabled by default, so that not everyone messes up the layout of the pages by using it because it just happens to be on. -- [[User:Serenity|Serenity]] 22:59, 27 May 2008 (UTC)
:::::::::It's not really so much of a frakup as you make it sound Catrope. It's merely piping links... something that can be corrected with a bot. I'm doing some exploratory code work to see why it pipes links, but I'm fine with disabling as default for now. :) -- [[User:Joe Beaudoin Jr.|Joe Beaudoin]] <sup>[[User talk:Joe Beaudoin Jr.|So say we all]] - [[Battlestar Wiki:Site support|Donate]] - [[bsp:|Battlestar Pegasus]]</sup> 23:19, 27 May 2008 (UTC)
::::::::::I think it makes the texts far less readable in the editor. It also makes comparing differences all but useless when someone edits a whole page. -- [[User:Serenity|Serenity]] 06:01, 28 May 2008 (UTC)
I've gone ahead and disabled it, since it stripped image captions that used wiki markup, like it did on a recent Cylon related page. -- [[User:Joe Beaudoin Jr.|Joe Beaudoin]] <sup>[[User talk:Joe Beaudoin Jr.|So say we all]] - [[Battlestar Wiki:Site support|Donate]] - [[bsp:|Battlestar Pegasus]]</sup> 00:10, 28 May 2008 (UTC)
== SUL ==
Single User Login was enabled for everybody at Wikipedia today. This feature has been planned since 2005, and enables users to log in with the same name at all Wikipedia wikis. The idea is basically that you first unify your accounts. I, for example, had accounts called "Catrope", all with the same password, at mediawiki.org, enwiki and nlwiki. After unifying them, SUL registers that you now have a global account called "Catrope". This means that as soon as I visit, say, dewiki, SUL will automatically create an account for me and log me in.
Maybe we could use this so we won't have to create accounts at all wikis (en, de, ..., zh, media) anymore? The extension that does all this is [http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:CentralAuth here], and of course it requires MediaWiki 1.13 unless we're willing to settle for the stripped-down and probably buggy version that is compatible with 1.12. --[[User:Catrope|Catrope]]<sup>([[User talk:Catrope|Talk to me]] or [[Special:Emailuser/Catrope|e-mail me]])</sup> 21:21, 27 May 2008 (UTC)
:A neat plan. I like unification so long as security is maintained since it's an all-eggs-in-one-basket situation. (Wow, this editor is funky to use). Thoughts? --[[User:Spencerian|Spencerian]] 21:46, 27 May 2008 (UTC)
::Security is maintained, or they wouldn't enable it at Wikipedia :P There are procedures in place for when someone else has already created an account with your name on another wiki (not likely to happen on our modest wiki farm), and group membership (such as sysop-ship) isn't site-wide. This means it's possible for e.g. [[User:Baltar Gaiolas]] to be a sysop at [[:es:]] but not at [[:en:]]. --[[User:Catrope|Catrope]]<sup>([[User talk:Catrope|Talk to me]] or [[Special:Emailuser/Catrope|e-mail me]])</sup> 21:50, 27 May 2008 (UTC)
:::I been waiting for something to come along. We will implement as soon as it's Saturday Night. I think this is a good idea. We should test it with the HB. How does it work with bots, edit counts, etc? [[User:Shane|Shane]] ([[User_Talk:Shane|talk]]) 22:11, 27 May 2008 (UTC)
::::Well bots are just users who just happen not to be human. To use SUL for a bot, you'll have to login as the bot and go to [[Special:MergeAccount]] to merge its account (i.e. enable SUL), then let the bot just try to login at any wiki (whether through the UI or the API), and an account will automatically be created for it if it doesn't exist yet on that particular wiki. Edit counts are separated per-wiki, as are permissions, contributions and pretty much everything else. As to the HB testing part: we'll probably have to create a second HB so we can test the SUL feature. Just one wiki isn't enough ;) --[[User:Catrope|Catrope]]<sup>([[User talk:Catrope|Talk to me]] or [[Special:Emailuser/Catrope|e-mail me]])</sup> 22:15, 27 May 2008 (UTC)
:::::Aye. I see that you can do a dry run before we do it. I think it would be good once we upgrade to do that. I will have to create a user account database for SUL. That's not really that big of a deal. [[User:Shane|Shane]] ([[User_Talk:Shane|talk]]) 22:16, 27 May 2008 (UTC)
::::::You don't necessarily have to create a new database for that. You can also use one of the existing ones. I also changed the extension today so you can add the tables through the familiar <code>php maintenance/update.php</code>, rather than having to import an SQL file. --[[User:Catrope|Catrope]]<sup>([[User talk:Catrope|Talk to me]] or [[Special:Emailuser/Catrope|e-mail me]])</sup> 22:20, 27 May 2008 (UTC)
:::::::I rather it be on it's own database. That way I can use it for other things. <code>php maintenance/update.php --importsql</code>? [[User:Shane|Shane]] ([[User_Talk:Shane|talk]]) 22:22, 27 May 2008 (UTC)
::::::::No, that won't work. You have to either import the <code>central-auth.sql</code> file manually (through e.g. phpMyAdmin) or change AdminSettings.php to point to another database (and change it back afterwards... kind of sucks). --[[User:Catrope|Catrope]]<sup>([[User talk:Catrope|Talk to me]] or [[Special:Emailuser/Catrope|e-mail me]])</sup> 08:35, 28 May 2008 (UTC)
::::::::::I have phpMyadmin on another "URL". I'll just use the sql file to create the tables. :D [[User:Shane|Shane]] ([[User_Talk:Shane|talk]]) 10:15, 28 May 2008 (UTC)

Latest revision as of 01:54, 11 April 2020

Archive
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Forum slowness

The Battlestar Forum is displaying some very weird (and most of all, slow). I can view the main page and the forums all right, but threads load extremely slowly. The wiki, however, is not slow. Very weird... --Catrope(Talk to me or e-mail me) 20:45, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

No kidding. I am talking with the CIO of Woopra to solve the problem. If not, I will disable it from loading. Shane (talk) 22:21, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

Expelled

At the very best, advertising Ben Stein's film "Expelled" is insulting and tasteless. Do we have to run this ad? --April Arcus 18:03, 13 April 2008 (UTC)

I can block it. -- Joe Beaudoin So say we all - Donate - Battlestar Pegasus 19:02, 13 April 2008 (UTC)
Ok, I've blocked it. It should take a few hours to go into effect though... If you do happen to see it tomorrow, please let me know what the URL is so that I can block that too. (I've blocked any ad promoting expelledthemovie.com, although the people behind it might have come up with a different url so that it doesn't get blocked. I've seen that before... doesn't happen that often, though.) -- Joe Beaudoin So say we all - Donate - Battlestar Pegasus 19:07, 13 April 2008 (UTC)
I guess that this means "Expelled" is expelled ;-) -- FrankieG 20:13, 14 April 2008 (UTC)

Malay Wiki

Given Starkiller's steadfast and dedicated work, I think it's time to get a malay wiki off the ground. Thoughts? -- Joe Beaudoin So say we all - Donate - Battlestar Pegasus 16:58, 14 April 2008 (UTC)

He's been translating a lot of stuff lately, so provided he's got the necessities (like BW:SAC and friends) covered, I support creating a Malay wiki. On a technical note: the translated wikis we currently have use English names for the Portal and Quotes namespaces. It's possible (and actually quite easy) to translate those namespaces names as well. For the Malay wiki, we could do this right from the start, whereas for the other wikis, we could create aliases from "Quotes" to e.g. "Zitaten". --Catrope(Talk to me or e-mail me) 17:51, 14 April 2008 (UTC)
No objections here. :) Shane (talk) 19:03, 14 April 2008 (UTC)
Fully Integrated even with the InterWiki bot. Shane (talk) 18:02, 15 April 2008 (UTC)
You didn't do the namespace thing (yet), though. --Catrope(Talk to me or e-mail me) 18:16, 15 April 2008 (UTC)
I am waiting for translations. Will there be a way to mass move all the namespaces on the other wikis so I don't have to do manual moves?  :) Shane (talk) 19:21, 15 April 2008 (UTC)
There's no moving involved at all. The namespace of a page is stored as a number in the database(0 though 15 for the standard namespaces, 100 and above for custom ones), and you're just changing the text associated to that number. It would be good to set up a namespace alias so de:Quotes:Foo would automatically go to de:Zitaten:Foo. --Catrope(Talk to me or e-mail me) 20:11, 15 April 2008 (UTC)

And so the Daddy Tomato said...

The current podcast situation leaves us playing catch up (whenever the first three are released). Thankfully, I've located a potential volunteer for transcribing the third episode, and I'm definitely interested in doing "Six of One". Would anybody like to step up and take on "He That Believeth in Me"? That way we'd have the first three episodes going in parallel, which ought to get us caught up in short order. Speaking of ketchup, if anybody has a chance, there are an inordinate amount of acts that need to be verified over at BW:POD. Verifying the acts is a far less painful act than the transcription process, and any help on that is appreciated. I'd step up myself, but as the transcriber of most of the acts I'm not really eligible. --Steelviper 00:28, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Count me in for transcribing HTBIM. I'll have no school for the next three weeks, so I'll have the time. BTW, does this Darthrazorback guy have an account here? --Catrope(Talk to me or e-mail me) 11:27, 23 April 2008 (UTC)
Awesome! And, not as far as I could tell, though I'm not picky as to how he gets the transcript in, whether it's by creating an account or sending it via other means (email, etc) and me posting it for him. Hopefully he'll create an account, though, and we'll have a new Galactipedian in the fold. I'll cross that bridge once the podcasts are posted. --Steelviper 11:59, 23 April 2008 (UTC)
I'm not saying he must have an account here, just that it'd be more useful if he transcribed directly to the wiki. That way, parts of the podcast can be verified shortly after completion, and he can preview wiki markup rightaway. --Catrope(Talk to me or e-mail me) 12:01, 23 April 2008 (UTC)
I'll definitely encourage him to do so. I'm just happy to have an extra hand either way. Also, if you get a chance, if you could verify some of my old acts, I'll try to verify the few acts that I'm eligible to. --Steelviper 12:03, 23 April 2008 (UTC)
If I can't transcribe, I will try to verify a few when life slows down just a wee for me. --Spencerian 14:07, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Woopra slowness... AGAIN

Just like it did to the forum last week, the Woopra script is making the wiki load extremely slow. I had to AdBlock *.woopra.com just to be able to post this here. --Catrope(Talk to me or e-mail me) 20:04, 25 April 2008 (UTC)

I've went in to LocalSettings and commented out the extension, so that it doesn't load. I'll probably have to do the same thing over at Battlestar Forum RFN. -- Joe Beaudoin So say we all - Donate - Battlestar Pegasus 20:45, 25 April 2008 (UTC)
On that note... I think we should disable Woopra permanently, at least until they get their act together... if they can't handle the traffic or technical issues on their side, and it brings down our traffic, then it's not worth having. Period. After all, I don't find it that important to have "real time" statistics on things, and our audience cares not for such things either. -- Joe Beaudoin So say we all - Donate - Battlestar Pegasus 21:03, 25 April 2008 (UTC)
So that's what the trouble was. I like the stats, but not the delays, especially during live-time. Down with da Man! --Spencerian 21:19, 25 April 2008 (UTC)

Double redirects

When I discovered Special:Doubleredirects and started checking it regularly and fixing double redirects, I noticed nobody really cares or knows about them. Now that Season 4 is airing, multiple pages are being moved every week, creating more double redirects than ever before. I changed the message you see after moving a page so it mentioned double redirects and pages linking to the old name, but nobody seems to have noticed that either. I've just fixed another batch of double redirects, so I'd like to draw attention to this: whenever you move a page, all redirects to that page will become double redirects (which are invalid and don't work). So please, people, after moving a page, check whether you've created any and see if you have to change a name on pages linking to the old title. --Catrope(Talk to me or e-mail me) 13:32, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for this, Catrope! And you're right, we do need to keep an attentive eye on this issue. -- Joe Beaudoin So say we all - Donate - Battlestar Pegasus 15:21, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
It doesn't help that the special pages overview was removed from the admin sidebar. I have a link to it in my bookmarks, but I was nice to have that shorthand. -- Serenity 15:31, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
The link's on the bottom of the page, just underneath the bottom editing toolbar on each page. ;-) Although we could definitely slip it back into the sidebar, at least for the chiefs. -- Joe Beaudoin So say we all - Donate - Battlestar Pegasus 15:47, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

Volunteering Translator in need of help

Hi

Apologies in advance if this is not the right place to post my request for help. but I'm at my wits' end and utterly lost after navigating this site over and over. I am a frequent user of wikis, but truth is this is the first time a take a peek behind the curtain. I would like to "serve" as a translator for the Spanish site (I'm a bilingual philologist with time to spare) but I don't know the correct procedure as to where to submit my request to join the translation team. I have already translated some articles on some of the main characters that look fine when previewed, but I really don't know what the next step is. So, could someone point me in the right direction? Thanks (and again apologies if I have posted this on the wrong place)

Hi! Get in touch with Usuario:Baltar Gaiolas ont he Spanish wiki. He's our main contact over there and he can direct you around. You can also check out the BW:i18n project page for more information. Shane (talk) 14:01, 28 April 2008 (UTC)

Coincidence?

--DrWho42 14:22, 1 May 2008 (UTC)

I think not. They also copied this image from us, claiming it's GFDL (which it isn't, it's Copyright Universal). A glance at the history shows that the article was created at once at Feb 3, 2008 and only got a few minor edits since. --Catrope(Talk to me or e-mail me) 14:47, 1 May 2008 (UTC)
Not the first time that happened. Last time, the English BS Wikia copied some templates. But that was dealt with after Joe sent them an email about it. -- Serenity 15:11, 1 May 2008 (UTC)
This is basically all the doing of one user (that same one as before) who clearly doesn't understand the concept of copyright or licenses. We could ask wikia, but I think considering the lack of activity there we might just want to correct it ourselves. Either blank/delete the infringing content (with a note indicating where it came from originally), or put whatever attribution and licensing that would satisfy the CC-NC (if that's possible at wikia). I don't think anybody will pitch a fit. (If a copyright violating tree falls in a forest...) --Steelviper 15:14, 1 May 2008 (UTC)
Ditto SV. We should just go through this ourselves and correct the errors: if a copyright violating tree falls in a forest and all that... With regard to the one user we're referring to here: it is WikiSoft*, who Shane banned because he simply refused to understand the policies surrounding copyright. -- Joe Beaudoin So say we all - Donate - Battlestar Pegasus 16:15, 1 May 2008 (UTC)

Spanish titles

Hi there Chief(s)!
I have recently come across a series of discrepancies in the Spanish translation of the Episode list. Some episodes appear to be direct translations of the original title in English, but do not match the official title they were released with on Sci-Fi in Spain, or the ones listed on the Spanish-language DVD sets. I have been surfing the net searching for information on the different versions, if any exists, of the TV show in Latin America, but I have not found any, apart from the fact that TNT LA broadcasts the Latin version, subtitled, and obviously keeping the original titles in English.
Since we cannot have 3 different titles for the same episode, which is, in your opinion, the best way to proceed? Have you got any additional information on this topic? For the time being I have suggested to use Sci-Fi Spain as reference, since that is, imho, the only official source and I assume it complies with the wiki's policy. Anyway, any piece of advice?
-- Mouan 13:01, 2 May 2008 (UTC)

I would go with Sci-Fi Spain as a reference. Use their title. As for the other titles for that episode, simply make those titles redirect to the main page. Do you know how to make redirects at all? It's not that hard -- it's actually mind-numbingly easy -- but let us know! :D -- Joe Beaudoin So say we all - Donate - Battlestar Pegasus 14:40, 2 May 2008 (UTC)
Thanks for the info, Chief! I've changed the titles according to the official source, Sci-Fi Spain. The problem is that I am so frakkin' lost most all the time (yes, I'm *that* Viper pilot with a map and the "help-me-I-am-lost" face), and afraid of changing what I shouldn't, that it takes me ages getting anything done around there *grumble, grumble, grumble* —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Mouan (talk • contribs).
Don't sweat it. Any changes that are made can be undone, so if there's something that doesn't work, it can be easily fixed. :) -- Joe Beaudoin So say we all - Donate - Battlestar Pegasus 19:49, 2 May 2008 (UTC)
One thing. Imagine someone created a page and the title of the page is wrong. How do you edit it so when it's listed on the corresponding category is listed correctly? I have been correcting episodes and I have changed the titles according to Sci-Fi throughout the thext (Episode Data, and every time the episode title is listed). I have changed the titles on the Episode List and Guide, but it's still listed wrong, and editing the page itself does not offer me the posibility to edit the page's title :(-- Mouan 20:22, 2 May 2008 (UTC)
You gotta click the "Move" tab above the page (or "trasladar" in Spanish), which will allow you to change the page's name. Also, when moving Foo to Bar, Foo will automatically become a redirect to Bar. --Catrope(Talk to me or e-mail me) 20:41, 2 May 2008 (UTC)
Ok, I haven't got any "move" or "trasladar" tab above any page - could this be an Admin privilege? Because if that's so, it would explain why I cannot change/edit page titles.-- Mouan 21:18, 2 May 2008 (UTC)
I've changed your privileges so as to allow you to move pages. You should now see the tab. If you don't, do a hard refresh. -- Joe Beaudoin So say we all - Donate - Battlestar Pegasus 00:18, 3 May 2008 (UTC)
Cheers Chief! Yes, I do see the tab now :D-- Mouan 12:35, 3 May 2008 (UTC)

Image Use Policy - question

Hiya. I was wondering whether the use of screenshots taken from an episode is allowed or not.-- Mouan 12:39, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

Depends on how you're using them. If you're using them to illustrate your user page, then, technically, that doesn't fall under fair use. However, if you use them to illustrate articles on characters or episodes, then it's acceptable. -- Joe Beaudoin So say we all - Donate - Battlestar Pegasus 14:42, 5 May 2008 (UTC)
I meant its use in articles on characters/episodes. Thanks :) -- Mouan 14:47, 5 May 2008 (UTC)
Well look around a bit, we do it all the time. --Catrope(Talk to me or e-mail me) 21:03, 6 May 2008 (UTC)

Idea to reduce page clutter...

Is there any way we can implement this so we can clean up the Main Page a bit more? -- Joe Beaudoin So say we all - Donate - Battlestar Pegasus 00:30, 7 May 2008 (UTC)

There's probably a way, but:
  • it won't work for people who have JavaScript disabled;
  • I don't think it's necessary: there are some sections that we can compress or move off the main page:
    • The language bar could be replaced with a link to the BSWiki portal which could be put in another, existing box;
    • The Airdates section could be a two-column table; it causes a lot of empty space right now;
    • The QotD box doesn't need to be full-width. It could be half-width and go underneath the Airdates box.
    • Same for all the other boxes underneath the QotD box.
--Catrope(Talk to me or e-mail me) 17:43, 7 May 2008 (UTC)
True about people having JS disabled... -- Joe Beaudoin So say we all - Donate - Battlestar Pegasus 17:56, 7 May 2008 (UTC)

Sharon's callsign (Boomer)

I didn't imply the callsign was self-given. The other pilots would no doubt have found out about Troy and in classic harsh military humor (I'm in the Army; I know) they decided to call her Boomer. And unless RDM has stated differently in a blog or podcast, it makes more sense than getting the nickname from her loud, crashing landings.

Also, when Baltar asked about her callsign, she referenced Troy, not, "I make rough landings."

It just makes more sense to have the reference in the notes than hidden in the bio. The whole reason I put it in the notes was because I had been looking for the reference and couldn't find it. And it is more relevant than Head-Six's snarky sexual reference.

Just asking you to reconsider. I'm not factually wrong, and isn't that the point of user-modified fact pages?

"The best excuse for bad manners is quick reflexes."


Original Message ----

From: WikiAdmin <administrators@battlestarwiki.org> To: Pjamese3 <pjamese3@yahoo.com> Sent: Sunday, May 11, 2008 1:33:48 PM Subject: Battlestar Wiki page Sharon Valerii has been changed by Joe Beaudoin Jr.

Dear Pjamese3,

The Battlestar Wiki page Sharon Valerii has been changed on 14:33, 11 May 2008 by Joe Beaudoin Jr., see http://en.battlestarwiki.org/wiki/Sharon_Valerii for the current version.

See http://en.battlestarwiki.org/w/index.php?title=Sharon_Valerii&diff=0&oldid=159855 for all changes since your last visit.

Editor's summary: revert: as Serenity pointed out, Troy blowing up has no bearing (not to mention the fact that we've already noted this here). Also callsigns are given out by other pilots, not self-given. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Pjamese3 (talk • contribs).

Whatever the in-universe reason for her callsign, obviously the out of universe reason is that they had to fill the Boomer (TOS) slot. That might be a good question for Mr. Thomson over at BW:OC, though. --Steelviper 00:19, 12 May 2008 (UTC)
Her explanation about Troy isn't in any way related to Six's comments (which she can't even hear). Baltar says that he hears a trace of an Aerelon accent in her voice and asks where she comes from. The callsign thing is actually a scene earlier when she first visits Baltar's lab. When Baltar asks about it, she doesn't react to it and asks about the Cylon detector. And I'd say it makes more sense to base the callsign on her flying skills than a catastrophe that killed her whole family. -- Serenity 00:27, 12 May 2008 (UTC)
Interesting out of universe explanation of the callsign in general. "Someone with the callsign "Boomer" is either a party hound or else broke some windows with a supersonic low-level fly-by."

Trouble with Spanish Templates

Hi Chiefs! Following Shane's suggestion, we have started updating a few templates of the Spanish wiki since the ones used until now had become obsolete. For some reason, deleting the old Episode Data one and replacing it with the Spanish translation of the one you're currently using here has resulted in chaos. Sure I have done something wrong, because for quite some time the system kinda mixed both templates (even if the old one had been deleted) and the translated episodes using the Episode Data template were all frakked up. I am the one doing the translation work but I don't want to mess up with the template's code once again, and Baltar Gaiolas is not confident either so.... would it possible for any of you guys, to give us a helping hand with this template? Thanks a mill. -- Mouan 02:20, 13 May 2008 (UTC)

Shane and I can take a crack at it. :) -- Joe Beaudoin So say we all - Donate - Battlestar Pegasus 02:24, 13 May 2008 (UTC)
Everything should be good to go now. The template {{!}} was not important that is a very big requirement for our complex templates. :) Shane (talk) 02:33, 13 May 2008 (UTC)
Thanks a mill, guys! -- Mouan 12:19, 13 May 2008 (UTC)
Thank Shane, Mouan. He found that pesky issue and fixed it! :D -- Joe Beaudoin So say we all - Donate - Battlestar Pegasus 18:58, 13 May 2008 (UTC)
OK, same thing happened again :( I translated a test of the Episode Data template and saved it (Test Plantilla: Datos de Episodio) and it has frakked things up once again. The original template has not been deleted, but it doesn't seem to have made any difference. I have deleted the test template but the episodes still look all messed up :( And now I am at my wit's end. I am more than happy to help with translations and such, but every time I "touch" the code, I frak up. I apologise for bothering you again with this issue, but I don't know what else I can do. Could any of you guys have a look at that template and fix it. Also, if possible, could someome tell me exactly what lines need to be translated into Spanish? Because I'm afraid that the problem may lay there, that I have translated part of the code :( -- Mouan 14:29, 14 May 2008 (UTC)
Future reference, don't mark it minor as I don't get updates when it does. You should have done it on es:Plantilla:Datos_de_Episodio There was no need to create es:Test Plantilla:Datos_de_Episodio. I don't see any problems other than it being in the wrong place. You also have to update the episode pages as well to use the new template. If you notice, all the variables are lower-case (es:Plantilla:Datos_de_Episodio) so es:33 template has to be updated to reflect the new varabile names as well. Look @ the output area of es:Plantilla:Datos_de_Episodio and look at the code. Very simple to update. Just requires patience. The template also has the rules on what needs to be filed out an way. Look @ my changes to es:33 and see how it came together. Shane (talk) 14:56, 14 May 2008 (UTC)
Thanks, Shane. So, if I've understood you correctly, I can replace es:Plantilla:Datos_de_Episodio with the translated version from the test page I created (es:Test Plantilla:Datos_de_Episodio), save it, and once it's done, delete the test page, right? After that, I need to go into every episode page and update the template. -- Mouan 16:30, 14 May 2008 (UTC)
Remember that you don't have to be afraid of breaking stuff beyond repair: you can always undo your edits and revert the template back to a working version. --Catrope(Talk to me or e-mail me) 18:08, 14 May 2008 (UTC)

new old promo pics

Photographer Carole Seagal has released about 175 promo pics of old episodes: http://www.segalpix.com/sections/battleSTAR/index.html

Sometimes they're already available, but there's also lots of new stuff there, and some are from cut scenes. They aren't high-res and only around 500*360, but of good quality. Might be some interesting stuff there for one or the other article. -- Serenity 19:02, 27 May 2008 (UTC)

Golly frakkin' damn... Sweet! :D -- Joe Beaudoin So say we all - Donate - Battlestar Pegasus 19:11, 27 May 2008 (UTC)
Mass download? :) Shane (talk) 19:15, 27 May 2008 (UTC)
There seems to be one available here, but you need to register. -- Serenity 19:17, 27 May 2008 (UTC)

WYSIWYG editor problems

The new WYSIWYG editor is surely very nifty (though slow), but did you notice how it messes up internal links? All by itself changes something like [[Natalie]] to [[Natalie|Natalie]]. And that for all links within the text whenever you edit a page with it. Functionally, it's the same, but generally we took care to remove such unnecessary piping by hand. I could make understand something like [[Battlestar|battlestar]], but it changes anything no matter what. That kinda clutters up the text if you read it the old way.

It also didn't take my nowiki-links here for some reason and translated them into html characters. Typing them in text view and then switching to WYSIWYG worked. Moreover, it writes categories in one line instead of one line per category. More seriously, none of the quick links below the edit box works anymore. -- Serenity 10:12, 26 May 2008 (UTC)

What the hell.. those who prefer to read and edit plain wikitext (like I do) can click the "Wikitext" button in the top left corner of the editor. Anyway, according to the extension page on MediaWiki.org, it's an "expirimental approach providing a semi-WYSIWYG concept". IMO, FCKeditor is not nearly mature enough to be used here. Also, I was surprised that such a major change was made without discussion or without testing on the Hangar Bay. Shouldn't we at least go through the Think Tank and all that? --Catrope(Talk to me or e-mail me) 10:29, 26 May 2008 (UTC)
Yes, you can do both, but if someone fraks up the formatting with the editor (and that happens merely by using it), that's also visible in the standard wiki view. -- Serenity
Guys, you can simply disable the text editor via your preferences. Click "Misc" then click on "Disable rich editor". (Or, if you have the JS toolbar disabled, it'll have the same effect, as Shane and I found out just last night.) Oh, and we've been testing this on BSP.com between User:pagad and myself. Also the piping issue is known to me and I'm working with a bot person from WP to get a bot that will nip that problem, until the guys at FCK/MW can get that kink worked out. :) -- Joe Beaudoin So say we all - Donate - Battlestar Pegasus 15:39, 26 May 2008 (UTC)
Ok, ok. Sorry, I said anything :s ;) -- Serenity 16:37, 26 May 2008 (UTC)
Us 'expert users' will not use this, but hey :) Shane (talk) 20:31, 26 May 2008 (UTC)
I'm really getting fed up by FCKeditor behaving as its name suggests, namely fucking up wikitext. One of the most blatant examples is this diff. The guy just added himself as a translator for native Turkish, but that's hidden between lots of no-op changes. I say we disable FCKEditor for the time being and look for another WYSIWYG editor (there are others out there) that does not fuck up as severely as FCKEditor does. --Catrope(Talk to me or e-mail me) 21:59, 27 May 2008 (UTC)
I am in agreement here. I think we should remove it or disable it by default. Shane (talk) 22:15, 27 May 2008 (UTC)
At the least it should be disabled by default, so that not everyone messes up the layout of the pages by using it because it just happens to be on. -- Serenity 22:59, 27 May 2008 (UTC)
It's not really so much of a frakup as you make it sound Catrope. It's merely piping links... something that can be corrected with a bot. I'm doing some exploratory code work to see why it pipes links, but I'm fine with disabling as default for now. :) -- Joe Beaudoin So say we all - Donate - Battlestar Pegasus 23:19, 27 May 2008 (UTC)
I think it makes the texts far less readable in the editor. It also makes comparing differences all but useless when someone edits a whole page. -- Serenity 06:01, 28 May 2008 (UTC)

I've gone ahead and disabled it, since it stripped image captions that used wiki markup, like it did on a recent Cylon related page. -- Joe Beaudoin So say we all - Donate - Battlestar Pegasus 00:10, 28 May 2008 (UTC)

SUL

Single User Login was enabled for everybody at Wikipedia today. This feature has been planned since 2005, and enables users to log in with the same name at all Wikipedia wikis. The idea is basically that you first unify your accounts. I, for example, had accounts called "Catrope", all with the same password, at mediawiki.org, enwiki and nlwiki. After unifying them, SUL registers that you now have a global account called "Catrope". This means that as soon as I visit, say, dewiki, SUL will automatically create an account for me and log me in.

Maybe we could use this so we won't have to create accounts at all wikis (en, de, ..., zh, media) anymore? The extension that does all this is here, and of course it requires MediaWiki 1.13 unless we're willing to settle for the stripped-down and probably buggy version that is compatible with 1.12. --Catrope(Talk to me or e-mail me) 21:21, 27 May 2008 (UTC)

A neat plan. I like unification so long as security is maintained since it's an all-eggs-in-one-basket situation. (Wow, this editor is funky to use). Thoughts? --Spencerian 21:46, 27 May 2008 (UTC)
Security is maintained, or they wouldn't enable it at Wikipedia :P There are procedures in place for when someone else has already created an account with your name on another wiki (not likely to happen on our modest wiki farm), and group membership (such as sysop-ship) isn't site-wide. This means it's possible for e.g. User:Baltar Gaiolas to be a sysop at es: but not at en:. --Catrope(Talk to me or e-mail me) 21:50, 27 May 2008 (UTC)
I been waiting for something to come along. We will implement as soon as it's Saturday Night. I think this is a good idea. We should test it with the HB. How does it work with bots, edit counts, etc? Shane (talk) 22:11, 27 May 2008 (UTC)
Well bots are just users who just happen not to be human. To use SUL for a bot, you'll have to login as the bot and go to Special:MergeAccount to merge its account (i.e. enable SUL), then let the bot just try to login at any wiki (whether through the UI or the API), and an account will automatically be created for it if it doesn't exist yet on that particular wiki. Edit counts are separated per-wiki, as are permissions, contributions and pretty much everything else. As to the HB testing part: we'll probably have to create a second HB so we can test the SUL feature. Just one wiki isn't enough ;) --Catrope(Talk to me or e-mail me) 22:15, 27 May 2008 (UTC)
Aye. I see that you can do a dry run before we do it. I think it would be good once we upgrade to do that. I will have to create a user account database for SUL. That's not really that big of a deal. Shane (talk) 22:16, 27 May 2008 (UTC)
You don't necessarily have to create a new database for that. You can also use one of the existing ones. I also changed the extension today so you can add the tables through the familiar php maintenance/update.php, rather than having to import an SQL file. --Catrope(Talk to me or e-mail me) 22:20, 27 May 2008 (UTC)
I rather it be on it's own database. That way I can use it for other things. php maintenance/update.php --importsql? Shane (talk) 22:22, 27 May 2008 (UTC)
No, that won't work. You have to either import the central-auth.sql file manually (through e.g. phpMyAdmin) or change AdminSettings.php to point to another database (and change it back afterwards... kind of sucks). --Catrope(Talk to me or e-mail me) 08:35, 28 May 2008 (UTC)
I have phpMyadmin on another "URL". I'll just use the sql file to create the tables. :D Shane (talk) 10:15, 28 May 2008 (UTC)