Forum:Blog article feature feedback/archive

Discussion
Starting a topic for the Blog article feature because one doesn't seem to exist yet. Anyways, it would be lovely if blog articles I created via the special page would be added to my watchlist or not according to my regular watchlist preferences (under "articles I created"), just in case an admin comes in and edits it. Also, a separate checkbox to "Watch articles I commented on" would be lovely. -Afker All hail AliceSoft! 19:13, 23 December 2008 (UTC)


 * Thanks for the suggestions :) These two features are indeed planned. 17:35, 29 December 2008 (UTC)


 * The plans have not been implemented, though? -- ◄mendel► 14:27, 30 June 2009 (UTC)


 * I would be interested in testing this extension, or at least being one of the first wikis for implementation. I have a concern about the RSS though. Let's say I use this feature to create news postings, yet I also use it to write an op-ed, while in the meantime someone is using the RSS tracking to monitor the news postings. Is my op-ed going to show up in that RSS? --LordTBT Talk! 22:04, 31 December 2008 (UTC)


 * Bumping. --LordTBT Talk! 00:47, 27 January 2009 (UTC)


 * Unsure about the RSS issue. Which wiki are you proposing it for use on? Should be able to sort that out :) 16:24, 29 January 2009 (UTC)


 * Redwall. -- LordTBT Talk! 04:35, 30 January 2009 (UTC)


 * An explanation of the RSS would help too; would it be possible for example to only track blogs that have "News:" in the title of the postings, etc? It's a big concern. -- LordTBT Talk! 05:20, 30 January 2009 (UTC)


 * RSS update: as far as I recall, it's only for user blog pages - for example, http://swfanon.wikia.com/wiki/User_blog:Kirkburn has an associated feed just for my blog posts. I can put it live whenever, just give me a prod on my user page when you're around and I'll set it up (assuming I'm around too :P ) 15:56, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

And now I have some feedback. :) When previewing a blog posting before submitting, the categories are not all displayed. -- LordTBT Talk! 20:05, 2 February 2009 (UTC)


 * Not sure what you mean by that - categories aren't shown at all, except in the special category box, when previewing a post. 18:27, 3 February 2009 (UTC)


 * At the bottom of the page. Example: I create an Article, add some categories, and press preview. In the preview, the categories are at the bottom of the page. When I preview a blog post the categories are not at the bottom of the page. -- LordTBT Talk! 19:12, 3 February 2009 (UTC)


 * Ah right, I think I see what you mean now. Yup, this is something that is likely to change. 19:26, 3 February 2009 (UTC)


 * And some more feedback (just occurred to me): a "preview comment" button! -- LordTBT Talk! 04:12, 4 February 2009 (UTC)


 * Good idea - I've noted it down for the future. 15:46, 4 February 2009 (UTC)
 * Still in the future, apparently. -- ◄mendel► 14:29, 30 June 2009 (UTC)

Not able to comment
On Marvel, several other Sysops have told me that they are unable to comment on others' blogs. I can, but I have helper rights too. I haven't heard from any non-sysop users about this problem yet.

&mdash; Nathan (Peteparker) (Earth-1218) (talk &bull; contribs &bull; email) 23:23, 4 February 2009 (UTC)


 * Is this issue still occurring? 12:44, 26 March 2009 (UTC)


 * Not that I'm aware of. Even with the inception of blogs as article reviews, people aren't using them that much.  Hopefully it'll pick up over time.


 * We do have a problem where I've tried to edit an old blog post, only removing unnecessary categories and not changing any text, and the page would not save because it 'Looks like spam'. The page is essentially exactly the same and it's spam!  Funny. :)


 * &mdash; Nathan (Peteparker) (Earth-1218) (talk &bull; contribs &bull; email) 14:57, 26 March 2009 (UTC)


 * The "looks like spam" issue should be fixed - has it occurred since Wednesday? 00:13, 27 March 2009 (UTC)
 * This issue is still occurring for me. -- LordTBT Talk! 03:44, 27 March 2009 (UTC)


 * Darn, I'll get it looked at again. Same circumstances, and happening as often as before? Also, do you get an error code? 08:35, 27 March 2009 (UTC)
 * Update: we've rolled out another fix - how about now? I tested before and after and it appears to help. 09:27, 27 March 2009 (UTC)


 * Looks all fixed on Marvel. Thanks!
 * &mdash; Nathan (Peteparker) (Earth-1218) (talk &bull; contribs &bull; email) 15:35, 27 March 2009 (UTC)


 * Seems to be working now! Finally! -- <font color="Green">LordTBT <font color="Green" size="2">Talk! 16:39, 27 March 2009 (UTC)
 * *cheer* 08:46, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

Another thing...
Is it possible to change which categories appear in the 'selectable' categories when creating a new blog post? The issue I'm having is some users are selecting categories that blog posts should not go in, and then of course I can't edit the post to remove them because it thinks I'm spamming. -- <font color="Green">LordTBT <font color="Green" size="2">Talk! 23:47, 4 February 2009 (UTC)


 * Yeah, I can imagine that's a pain: We're planning on replacing that category chooser fairly soon, and hopefully that "spam" bug won't be around much longer. 16:04, 5 February 2009 (UTC)

Some more feedback
When blog articles are in categories, they don't seem to be counted. E.g., you don't know how many there are. Example: --<font color="Green">LordTBT  <font color="Green" size="2">Talk! 05:01, 9 February 2009 (UTC)


 * Reporting it, thanks. 15:51, 9 February 2009 (UTC)
 * I've noticed this seems to be fixed now too! Great! However I am getting this error:
 * "PHP fatal error in /usr/wikia/source/releases_200903.4/extensions/wikia/Blogs/BlogArticle.php line 432:
 * Using $this when not in object context"
 * here -- <font color="Green">LordTBT  <font color="Green" size="2">Talk! 17:22, 27 March 2009 (UTC)
 * Just from viewing the page? It looks to be fine here. 08:46, 30 March 2009 (UTC)
 * Yes, just from viewing the page. However it appears as if all is well now. -- <font color="Green">LordTBT <font color="Green" size="2">Talk! 18:43, 30 March 2009 (UTC)
 * I found out this was fixed over the weekend :) 09:59, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

Any Updates?
Just wondering what the status was... -- <font color="Green">LordTBT <font color="Green" size="2">Talk! 04:41, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

Hunting for an update again... -- <font color="Green">LordTBT <font color="Green" size="2">Talk! 23:06, 23 February 2009 (UTC)

Looking for an update, maybe the 3rd time's the charm. --<font color="Green">LordTBT <font color="Green" size="2">Talk! 23:19, 2 March 2009 (UTC)


 * Still working on some bugs, and the future rollout plan. May have more to tell later this week :) 00:47, 5 March 2009 (UTC)


 * All right. I'd like to re-emphasize the inability for administrators to edit blogs is very annoying. -- <font color="Green">LordTBT <font color="Green" size="2">Talk! 18:52, 10 March 2009 (UTC)


 * This should now be fixed. 12:45, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

New Bug: "False"
When commenting on a blog article, the comment is not appearing, and I am greeted with the word "false". When I reload the article, my comment is there like I posted. -- <font color="Green">LordTBT <font color="Green" size="2">Talk! 21:11, 18 March 2009 (UTC)
 * Users have cited this is happened to them too. -- <font color="Green">LordTBT <font color="Green" size="2">Talk! 03:26, 20 March 2009 (UTC)


 * A fix was made yesterday - it should be live in a few days. Thanks for the report! 18:01, 20 March 2009 (UTC)


 * When will it be going live? And is there any news for these other bugs?! -- <font color="Green">LordTBT <font color="Green" size="2">Talk! 23:11, 23 March 2009 (UTC)


 * This fix should be live now. 11:53, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

Blog about:
The Admins on the Comic wikis would like to have a link on every article page that links to creating a blog about that article. (Essentially to 'review' comics). Is there a way to auto-populate the fields?

&mdash; Nathan (Peteparker) (Earth-1218) (talk &bull; contribs &bull; email) 23:45, 20 March 2009 (UTC)


 * Not that I know of, but it sounds like an interesting idea. 12:46, 26 March 2009 (UTC)


 * Accomplished with js, had pages link to Special:CreatBlog/PAGENAME, since the sub-part doesn't affect the page reference, and then populated the title field with the sub part of the URL. Works great!


 * &mdash; Nathan (Peteparker) (Earth-1218) (talk &bull; contribs &bull; email) 14:54, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

Share on Facebook icon
This icon is not appearing on blog posts. -- <font color="Green">LordTBT <font color="Green" size="2">Talk! 22:50, 25 March 2009 (UTC)


 * Good spot, I shall pass it on. Keep those reports coming! :) 12:49, 26 March 2009 (UTC)
 * Link/example? --Uberfuzzy 15:28, 26 March 2009 (UTC)
 * A normal page with the Share on Facebook icon . A blog post without it. 2 -- <font color="Green">LordTBT <font color="Green" size="2">Talk! 16:45, 26 March 2009 (UTC)
 * Fixed for next release. 09:59, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

Category Tagging
Just noticed Category Tagging does not seem to be functional with blog posts either. -- <font color="Green">LordTBT <font color="Green" size="2">Talk! 08:54, 26 March 2009 (UTC)


 * This is true, and is actually part of the reason we developed CategorySelect. We'll being working on it. 12:59, 26 March 2009 (UTC)


 * Given that category tagging is now the main way of categorizing, should it be functional with blog posts? Also, whatever happened to being able to choose what categories appear in CategorySelect? -- <font color="Green">LordTBT <font color="Green" size="2">Talk! 03:46, 30 June 2009 (UTC)

Search Results
I've noticed that blog posts are not indexed for Google. Is this intentional? -- <font color="Green">LordTBT <font color="Green" size="2">Talk! 22:41, 12 May 2009 (UTC)


 * It's not intentional - do you have any specific examples I can check on? 14:19, 13 May 2009 (UTC)


 * It now seems results are popping up...maybe it was me. If anything else occurs I'll let you know. -- <font color="Green">LordTBT <font color="Green" size="2">Talk! 20:42, 13 May 2009 (UTC)


 * Cool, and thanks. 14:00, 14 May 2009 (UTC)

Blog Error
Currently (over at Redwall anyway) blog posts aren't being displayed, and instead the following message is: "Internal error: Set $wgShowExceptionDetails = true; at the bottom of LocalSettings.php to show detailed debugging information." -- <font color="Green">LordTBT <font color="Green" size="2">Talk! 16:45, 15 May 2009 (UTC)


 * Apologies about that - this issue appears to have been resolved. (MediaWiki's error messages are so useful, aren't they ;) 09:59, 18 May 2009 (UTC)

WikiStats
Are blog edits applied to the statistics in WikiStats, and if not, should they? -- <font color="Green">LordTBT <font color="Green" size="2">Talk! 02:37, 27 May 2009 (UTC)


 * I don't know of any reason why they wouldn't be - are you referring to any specific type of stats? 16:49, 27 May 2009 (UTC)

Blog listing
I made a small blog list for inclusion in main page but i think it show too much text. Is there a way to tell it to show less ? — TulipVorlax 17:26, 1 July 2009 (UTC)


 * Got answered on the help wiki ; add "summarylength=xx" in the bloglist tag. — TulipVorlax 12:37, 3 July 2009 (UTC)

Monobook
Once again, I'm guessing monobook was left out. &mdash; 22:05, 1 July 2009 (UTC)


 * When the first change of skin occured, they said they'll leave Monobook as is. If they would add things to it would soon become as "bloated" as Monaco. (I use bloated because that's what people who prefer Monobook seems to think of Monaco.) — TulipVorlax 00:34, 2 July 2009 (UTC)


 * Monobook needs to be made to load Blogs.css and maybe star_rating.css; I copied Blogs.css to our MediaWiki:Monobook.css but the cache is not updating :-( . -- ◄mendel► 06:41, 2 July 2009 (UTC)

From a comment on my talk page at The Vault by Porter21: "everything looks screwed up if you use the Monobook skin since blogs & user masthead weren't added for that skin. The "submit" button is missing from the comments page, i.e. you can't post any. You can create blogs but only if you find your way to the page manually (due to the masthead not being there). Basically excludes Monobook users from posting comments and partially from posting news." Ausir 19:09, 2 July 2009 (UTC)
 * Well, my comment was a bit premature. There is a way to submit the comment, it's just not a button but a plain link (which is why I missed it initially). However, the bloglist view (have only checked with plain, but issue probably also exists with the other one) still looks screwed up due to the missing CSS for the comments/rating "list". -- Porter21 (talk) 19:31, 2 July 2009 (UTC)
 * Add the following to your MediaWiki:Sidebar to make up for the missing Blog link in the masthead:


 * -- ◄mendel► 21:02, 2 July 2009 (UTC)


 * I corrected the above code because it did not work on sub/subpages. -- ◄mendel► 00:15, 8 July 2009 (UTC)

As mentioned, we intentionally do not make many of the changes to the monobook skin. However, we will fix the CSS issues as they can directly impact usability. 14:05, 7 July 2009 (UTC)
 * That's good to hear. -- ◄mendel► 00:15, 8 July 2009 (UTC)

Wikicode mutates to HTML
The monobook edit box gets text that is formatted for the rich text editor on blog pages. -- ◄mendel► 07:46, 2 July 2009 (UTC)


 * Confirmed - we're looking into it. 19:05, 6 July 2009 (UTC)

Category Tagging
Just noticed Category Tagging does not seem to be functional with blog posts either. -- <font color="Green">LordTBT <font color="Green" size="2">Talk! 08:54, 26 March 2009 (UTC)


 * This is true, and is actually part of the reason we developed CategorySelect. We'll being working on it. 12:59, 26 March 2009 (UTC)


 * Given that category tagging is now the main way of categorizing, should it be functional with blog posts? Also, whatever happened to being able to choose what categories appear in CategorySelect? -- <font color="Green">LordTBT <font color="Green" size="2">Talk! 03:46, 30 June 2009 (UTC)


 * That ability is something we still want to work on, but we're fairly happy with the "link suggest" style that CategorySelect currently uses. 13:59, 7 July 2009 (UTC)

No comment
-- ◄mendel► 11:46, 2 July 2009 (UTC)


 * The following seen with IE8 is not bad either. It get okay if i click the compatibility button.
 * [[File:French Post comment with IE8.jpg]] — TulipVorlax 19:16, 2 July 2009 (UTC)


 * I've seen the same thing on WoWWiki's buttons - okay in IE7 mode, looks odd in IE8 mode. We'll check it out. 16:17, 3 July 2009 (UTC)

Useless category cloud
On fr.guildwars many categories should not appear in the category cloud. Why would images categories be needed in this ? They're only there to know uder wich licenses are images. The group of categories that show the biggest are categories for knowing wich articles are missing interlanguage links. Not usefull in the cloud.

Could it be that thoses categories should be hidden categories instead ? Or is there another way to make them no appear in the cloud ?

If there's no solution, i think i'll have to remove it from the UI using CSS. — TulipVorlax 21:30, 2 July 2009 (UTC)
 * I think only categories that already contain blog posts should be visible by default. Ausir 00:07, 3 July 2009 (UTC)


 * I was thinking the same. Then i feared it would be seen as to... drastical ? — TulipVorlax 04:12, 3 July 2009 (UTC)
 * Not if they'll be able to add other categories manually. If an existing category doesn't have any blog posts yet, chances are it shouldn't have any at all. Ausir 00:06, 4 July 2009 (UTC)


 * I asked about this before (see the archive). It's "being worked on". -- <font color="Green">LordTBT <font color="Green" size="2">Talk! 04:20, 3 July 2009 (UTC)


 * Yep, I confirm we're going to replace that old category cloud. 16:12, 3 July 2009 (UTC)

can the summaries on a user's root blog page be refreshed?
I saved a blog article and got a corrupted file (see image below). I deleted the blog article and re-created it, taking care not to use the editor at all. The corrupted summary version of the article remained visible at the root blog page. Maybe this is a cache delay and this will be updated, but the corrupted file can be seen in the image, below. Note that the first image in the article was deleted and the text at the start of the article ("I've been collaborating on There are other minor") shows where there was a deletion between the words "on" and "There". Today I cannot select a category from the "category cloud", but I know that feature was working a few days ago. The buttons on the wikitext edit toolbar are not doing anything. When I try to edit the root blog page all I see is a blank edit window. Is there no way to correct errors in the automatically generated article summaries? ....maybe it will update eventually to show a valid article summary...... --JWSchmidt 17:54, 4 July 2009 (UTC)<BR> <BR>
 * also: I don't like how the "Read full post" links go to the bottom of the full article. Why not show the top of the article when people click on "Read full post"? --JWSchmidt 17:59, 4 July 2009 (UTC)


 * If you dont see last version of any page on a wiki, simply add ?action=purge at the end of the URL. The following is what i see :

http://img248.imageshack.us/img248/3875/04072009151853.jpg
 * — TulipVorlax 19:20, 4 July 2009 (UTC)


 * Oh ! It's the same as you !
 * Sorry. — TulipVorlax 19:22, 4 July 2009 (UTC)

The cache should be refreshed - I'll ask what's up. As for "Read full post" linking to the comments, we'll get that fixed, thanks. 15:16, 6 July 2009 (UTC)
 * update: Today the "save" button also does not work. However, I can once more select categories from the category cloud. I tried deleting my root blog page in an effort to get rid of the corrupted blog post summary. Even after deleting the page, the corrupted blog post summary was still there. --JWSchmidt 14:46, 9 July 2009 (UTC)


 * I believe the corrupted summaries may be a different issue to the cache - we're looking into it.
 * Regarding the save button, where are you seeing this? If on fiction.wikia, it happens if you click save on a new blog post? All blog posts, or specific text? Also, what browser please - thanks! :) 15:43, 9 July 2009 (UTC)
 * Sorry...user error! I failed to enter a title for my new blog post and then I failed to notice the red "Title required" warning above the red "Blog post title". I fully admit that I'm not very observant, but in this case I would have been aided by something like a dismissible popup window saying "Title required". --JWSchmidt 19:26, 9 July 2009 (UTC)

RTE + Blog = Fail
Apparently now, besides the already reported problems that arise from allowing the RTE to work with the blogs, the RTE likes to remove portions of blogs that are wrapped in tags (same goes for several tags, see the ones I tested here). All you have to do, is create a blog with some content and a pair of tags surrounding some more content, open up the editor, switch to Wikitext view, and voila, it magically disappears. This is one instance and here's another. Looks like fail to me :) <font color="Green">~Joey~  <font color="Green">^Talk^  20:13, 4 July 2009 (UTC)


 * Thanks for the report - we'll look into it. 13:48, 7 July 2009 (UTC)

Overcrowded pagebar


The page bar can get a bit crowded with the blog extension entries, causing it to be two lines in height at a resolution of 1280*1024. Image above was taken on w:c:fallout:Blog: Recent posts. -- Porter21 (talk) 11:00, 7 July 2009 (UTC)
 * Happily, only admins will have some of the tabs that you display, so it's not a problem for most of your readers. You can change the text that is displayed in those tabs by editing MediaWiki:Blog-create-listing-label and MediaWiki:Blog-create-post-label on your wiki, I changed them to "New post" and "New listing". (I hope they're not reused outside of a blog context.) -- ◄mendel► 11:41, 7 July 2009 (UTC)

This is something we've been working on a solution for - we'll have more details soon. 13:43, 7 July 2009 (UTC)


 * On french wikis, this is a really old. I mean, french text is already longer. And there's no way to set it shorter or we'll loose the meaning. — TulipVorlax 17:18, 7 July 2009 (UTC)


 * Yeah, it's been an issue for some time, mainly because we didn't have anywhere else to put the links - but next week should see that dealt with. 14:32, 9 July 2009 (UTC)