Forum:Feature requests

This page contains an alphabetical list of feature requests. Below you see the reaction of one of the developers of the wikia team. Timbo(Talk)



A

 * Allow anons and new users to edit shared help
 * Maybe using mw:Extension:FlaggedRevs? Ω penBSDWiki 18:11, August 2, 2010 (UTC)
 * Latest Accepted Revision
 * Like Wikipedia had that IP revision check thing to make sure it's not vandalism... But who is willing to do so? -- Jeffwang16  (Talk)   (Contributions)   (Email me!)  18:26, August 2, 2010 (UTC)
 * mw:Extension:Approved Revs can be used for larger wikis like WoWWiki. Ω penBSDWiki 18:40, August 2, 2010 (UTC)

B

 * Bots flagged by bureaucrats
 * Allow bureaucrats to flag bots. This could be useful and will reduce load on staff. Ω penBSDWiki 19:01, August 2, 2010 (UTC)
 * On some larger Wikis 'Crats can set the bot flag. —Manyman (talk) 21:08, August 2, 2010 (UTC)
 * I have a feeling the reason why they don't allow this by default is that not every crat is responsible and will probably just use it on any random editor who they don't like. Or flag themselves and Special:Contact would have a flood of "OMG, where are my edits" emails.. -- Lewis Cawte  (Talk - Contact) 22:58, August 2, 2010 (UTC)
 * The flag can be removable. Ω penBSDWiki 23:36, August 2, 2010 (UTC)
 * Is this really a feature request? -- Fandyllic  (talk &middot; contr) 4:40 PM PST 2 Aug 2010
 * Yes. Ω penBSDWiki 00:31, August 3, 2010 (UTC)
 * How about wikis older than one month can do that? It's more secure.  Jeffwang16  (Talk)   (Contributions)   (Email me!)  15:32, August 3, 2010 (UTC)
 * This isnt a feature request. MediaWiki already supports this, and Wikia does do this on some wikis. Each request is reviewed and handled on a case by case basis. --Uberfuzzy 19:37, August 3, 2010 (UTC)

C

 * Categories added by templates
 * Include a list of the categories added in templates. I can think of 3 ways to do this:
 * Include the templated categories in the bottom category display and color their background color (other than grey) and show the templates adding them on mouseover.
 * A simple tree list at the bottom of a previwed page similar to the list showing template on the page. Adding any categories they include under them would be sweet.
 * A list in the editing tools widget, like so:


 * Template 1
 * Category 1
 * Category 2
 * Template 2
 * Category 3
 * Duskey ( talk ) 17:13, August 31, 2010 (UTC)
 * Collapsible galleries
 * The option to let galleries expand/collapse (only show first row when collapsed). -- Light Daxter -  Talk  18:31, July 25, 2010 (UTC)
 * That is a brilliant idea! ☆ The   Solar   Dragon  ☆ 18:43, July 25, 2010 (UTC)
 * Already possible from what I've seen here - requires some CSS and JS. Collapsible tables are the same way - it's not really a feature, just something done with a few tweaks. --daNASCAT (Help Forum) (blog) 21:14, July 26, 2010 (UTC)
 * That requires a template and isn't really optimal though. -- Light Daxter -  Talk  21:24, July 26, 2010 (UTC)
 * Countdown
 * A Countdown extension (such as this one) would be useful for those wikis expecting a major event related to the wiki. Anonymousse 13:37, September 29, 2010 (UTC)
 * A Countdown extension (such as this one) would be useful for those wikis expecting a major event related to the wiki. Anonymousse 13:37, September 29, 2010 (UTC)

D

 * (Proper) Duplicate image finder
 * The current dup image finder is not very helpful and API searches quickly become tedious. The issue has been discussed here Forum:Search for duplicate files where pcj came up with a JS which lists dups. Duskey ( talk ) 13:42, August 27, 2010 (UTC)
 * Duplicate wiki search in Special:CreateWiki
 * I think a by title search should be performed on all "cities" (wikis) by title for the title. Right, it's done by URL, like this:
 * That should be changed. Ω penBSDWiki 04:32, August 22, 2010 (UTC)

E

 * E-mail notification changes
 * On FaceBook, you get notifications if someone does something on your page or others' pages you do have activity on (like watchlists), sends you a message (like talk pages), or adds you as a friend (social profile). However, unlike Facebook's feature, Wikia doesn't provide the option to only receive notifications between X and X am or pm. This would be helpful for users with mobile capability that have their e-mail on their phone to setup timeframes when they'd like to receive watchlist/talk page/etc notifications, which I find extremely helpful to my activity at Wikia as it would be annoying to have to physically navigate to my email in order to see if something is going on, because when I am sleeping I would rather not receive notifications and cannot "silence" or "put my phone on vibrate" due to circumstances with my job. --00:54, August 3, 2010 (UTC)


 * Editing Widgets
 * It would be convenient if admins could add widgets to be displayed on the sidebar on the edit page. For example, in addition to the 'Editing Tips' widget, to have another widget which displays a guideline/layout for pages in specific categories.  This would help users to ensure their edits adhere to the wiki-wide guidelines for that type of article.  Since any page can be put into a widget, all the is required is the ability to add a widget to the edit page. --Pagoda 18:27, August 23, 2010 (UTC)
 * I have an update. I have found I can achieve a similar effect by using editnotices, although I do find the documentation regarding them lacking on wikia and mediawiki.  However, it still would be nice to have widgets available on the side of the editing screen. --Pagoda 04:37, August 27, 2010 (UTC)
 * I could see how a list of named references on the page and categories added by templates would be neatly displayed in an editing widget. Duskey ( talk ) 17:24, August 30, 2010 (UTC)

F

 * Facebook Profile Link
 * I'd like to be able to go to other user's Facebook profiles and friend them, if they allowed it. I'm sure some people wouldn't want anyone to find their facebook page through Wikia, but I'm also sure some would want it, and some would be indifferent.  &mdash; Nathan (Peteparker) (Earth-1218) (talk &bull; contribs &bull; email) 04:15, August 3, 2010 (UTC)

G

 * Gallery add image search option
 * Ability to search the full image libary for existing images other than just the last few uploaded that is currently offered. (existing quick upload image function on toolbar has a search box, but not availble in gallery upload) - BulldozerD11 14:46, August 4, 2010 (UTC)
 * Not to mention the ability to add license to uploaded images via the gallery. Duskey ( talk ) 17:23, August 30, 2010 (UTC)


 * Global contributions page
 * I think it'd be nice to let people see their contributions from all over Wikia on one special page, as well as keeping separate contributions pages on each wiki. --† DustKateb  (Talk to Me!)† 14:41, July 23, 2010 (UTC)


 * The code for this pretty much available, but the usage of the tool is restricted due to it apparently being resource heavy. Joey (talk) 05:50, July 25, 2010 (UTC)


 * Agree it would be useful as I cannot remember all wikis I've visited and contributed to. - BulldozerD11 14:46, August 4, 2010 (UTC)


 * GoogleAccount login support
 * GoogleAccounts are very popular, it is also a type of OpenID.
 * Yes, this would be a very good feature. --  Chris  talk   blog
 * Agreed! I think that this would be a very helpful tool. Especially since we use a lot of analytics as well as site email through Google. --M1shawhan 23:49, September 27, 2010 (UTC)

L

 * Alternate Logo for Monobook
 * You really can't make good logos that work for both Monaco and Monobook. It would be nice if you could upload a different logo for Monobook. -- Fandyllic  (talk &middot; contr) 9:56 PM PST 23 Jul 2010
 * Since you can use css to fill it in I don't think this would be very likely to come in soon. Joey (talk) 05:49, July 25, 2010 (UTC)
 * True, but having to edit CSS is an awkward way to do it if they can just reserve a special image name like File:Monobook-Wiki.png or something like that and a script copy it to the right place. Also when using CSS for the URL to the image, you usually get an unreliable location (uploading a new version will be at a different URL). -- Fandyllic  (talk &middot; contr) 5:49 PM PST 26 Jul 2010
 * You can use a URL that will update with the image. For example, a __cb version doesn't change, so it will always be that version, but but a non-__cb version will call on the latest image and updates itself (of course, that causes more load, but __cb magic comes from he magic of Artur.) It may not be optimal, but it's the best you'll probably get for an unsupported skin. Plus, via CSS you then don't have to worry about the image being a .png. Joey (talk) 02:51, July 27, 2010 (UTC)
 * Can you get a non-__cb URL for all images? If so, how? -- Fandyllic  (talk &middot; contr) 11:16 AM PST 28 Jul 2010
 * select, press delete key. --Uberfuzzy 18:21, July 28, 2010 (UTC)
 * Excuse me, but this "solution" lacks context. Select what and how? If I go to File:Neat.png, how do I select it? -- Fandyllic  (talk &middot; contr) 11:28 AM PST 28 Jul 2010
 * It means just select the __cb part of the url and delete it. I.e. for File:Neat.png the __cb url is  and the non-__cb url is  . So all you have to do is select/highlight the __cb part of the url and press delete, and there's your url.  Grunny  ( talk ) 04:24, July 29, 2010 (UTC)
 * Ahh, I see. This is a good tip. It doesn't make me want withdraw my original request, but it is good to know. -- Fandyllic  (talk &middot; contr) 10:56 PM PST 28 Jul 2010

M

 * Multiple redirect creation
 * Similar to the way MultipleUpload works, but you would instead have a MultipleRedirect that would turn multiple uncreated pages into redirects to a single target page. See Forum:Special group-redirect page (development idea). -- Fandyllic  (talk &middot; contr) 1:11 PM PST 2 Aug 2010
 * I like. I have needed to do this so many times in the past.  --  Chris   talk   blog  13:11, August 3, 2010 (UTC)
 * It also reduces the risk of users duplicating articles if all the potential synonyms are already created as redirects because it will flag that the article title is already use, then they should find the existing article when investigating why.OllieMartin 14:21, August 4, 2010 (UTC)
 * Signed, this would be nice. Take game titles for example: Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines, this one would need several redirects from Bloodlines to VTMB. Duskey ( talk ) 06:29, August 23, 2010 (UTC)
 * It could be possible to use AJAX and put it as a personal script since it could be abused. —Manyman (talk) 08:13, August 24, 2010 (UTC)
 * Use AWB. On the left, where it says "make list", type in the names of the redirect pages, click "+" for each one. On the tab "More...", enable prepend text, enter the "#redirect page" code. On the tab "skip", set it so it skips if the page exists (default is to skip if it doesn't, that won't work obviously). Choose a summary and start editing. For another redirect, make a new list and change the "prepend" text. -- ◄mendel► 13:36, August 24, 2010 (UTC)

O

 * OpenID login support
 * I know that Facebook being used for logging in has already been added, but what about a way to sign in with numerous other types of accounts? (Like in the log in window, it would say Log in with your Wikia account then OR: Log in with OpenID and have many options for logging in that way. http://openid.net/ --† DustKateb  (Talk to Me!)† 04:32, July 23, 2010 (UTC)
 * OpenID is a lot more privacy friendly than Facebook and multiple social sites including google supports it -- 05:10, July 23, 2010 (UTC)

R

 * Extension:RandomArea
 * Getting RandomArea over RandomSelection would mean we can choose any number of outputs from a list instead of being limited to only one output. Duskey ( talk ) 01:17, July 28, 2010 (UTC) Edit: Very useful for "Did you know"'s and other random selections of thingies. Duskey ( talk ) 03:29, August 24, 2010 (UTC)
 * References in articles
 * Display a list of named references in the article with the ability to jump between them and go to the "parent" named reference. Duskey ( talk ) 17:13, August 31, 2010 (UTC)

S

 * Sitenotice support in answers skin:
 * Currently MediaWiki:Sitenotice doesn't work in the answers skin and according to a Special:Contact reply, there are no near term plans to support it. -- Fandyllic  (talk &middot; contr) 3:29 PM PST 22 Jul 2010
 * That's a feature not a bug. Use  in MediaWiki:Common.css to get it back. Joey (talk) 22:51, July 22, 2010 (UTC)
 * Thanks. Funny how they couldn't tell me that in my Special:Contact reply and instead gave me some BS answer. -- Fandyllic  (talk &middot; contr) 10:13 AM PST 23 Jul 2010
 * Search in other languages:
 * When I type in 'SAP' in Wikia Search, I only see search results for the English Language. Is it possible to add search for different languages? Timbo 19:53, February 4, 2010 (UTC)
 * Interesting.
 * I was thinking of asking for this yesterday but rejected my own idea shortly after.
 * I also think there should be a language checkbox on the global search page, but i dont know if Wikia tech can do this easy. — TulipVorlax 00:13, February 5, 2010 (UTC)
 * Statistics: wikia provides statistics (special pages > statistics or wikia statistics; this functionality is rather limited; tried to set up Google Analytics, but wikia doesn't allow to use scripts on pages; the request is to either improve the wikia statistics or allow scripts on pages. --Timbo 14:32, July 23, 2010 (UTC)
 * It would be good if Wikia could provide graphs on activity, articles made per month etc. ☆ The   Solar   Dragon  ☆ 11:01, July 23, 2010 (UTC)
 * To use Google Analytics, you need to have Wikia install mediawikiwiki:Extension:Google Analytics Integration -- 18:34, July 23, 2010 (UTC)
 * I just wish I could see what country or part of the world visitors were from and what screen resolution they're using. That would help with so many site layout discussions. Duskey ( talk ) 19:05, July 23, 2010 (UTC)
 * Shared skin:
 * It would be nice if there was an option for localized versions of wikis to "inherit" the skin of the "mother" wiki, similar to "shared uploads" but applying to Common.css/Monaco.css/Monobook.css. Localized wikis tend to generally have less contributors (in most cases) than the "mother" wiki, and consequently there are less editors who are CSS-savvy. Having a "shared skin" would allow the


 * localized wikis to profit from the more regular updates to the "mother" wiki's CSS files automatically.
 * For example, if you take the localized versions of w:c:fallout you'll notice that almost all of them (try to) mirror the custom skin of en.fallout - but depending on when an admin last copied en.fallout's CSS files, more or less skin elements look out of place (mostly new features which were added by Wikia after the last "sync", and were subsequently never adapted to the site's custom skin). Having a "shared skin" would eliminate that problem. -- Porter21 (talk) 12:18, July 27, 2010 (UTC)
 * Have you tried telling them to call the entire CSS style sheet, opposed to copy + pasting the current one? The former of course would be much more dynamic in the long run and easier to maintain. However, I can sympathize with you about this: I had to get staff to give me local sysop/crat on a handful of non-en Avatar Wikis so I could just do styling... Something new would be nice, but I can understand if they didn't want to spend resources doing this as well. Joey (talk) 07:16, July 28, 2010 (UTC)
 * I tried a solution using  but either it doesn't work or I was simply too impatient when waiting for the cache update. Then there's the issue of some of them not having any active admins and myself not having sysop rights at most of them, as you experienced yourself. It's not something I'd consider high priority, but I thought bringing it up couldn't hurt :) -- Porter21 (talk) 08:01, July 28, 2010 (UTC)
 * import method works, number of wikis do this already --Uberfuzzy 18:26, July 28, 2010 (UTC)
 * @import WON'T work if it isn't the first thing in a css document. Usually that's easy to do (you put it in the top of the skin file), but one of Wikia's (new) ways to improve page loads is to put all your local css documents in a combined file. Therefore, your @import won't work if the combined file doesn't put the file your @import is in at the top. Luckily, one of your local css pages does go to the top (common.css), but that means monaco.css isn't at the top. What this means is you can't @import from your monaco.css if your common.css has anything in it besides comments. Obviously you can work around that, but it is annoying and note worthy as it may cause you problems. 174.7.79.252 10:33, August 23, 2010 (UTC)
 * Well, you'd have to put an @import in your common.css as well (i.e. put everything that you currently have in MediaWiki:common.css into MediaWiki:common2.css and @import that into common.css. Of course the speed and size gain of having it all in one file goes away then. -- ◄mendel► 17:05, August 23, 2010 (UTC)


 * Signatures:
 * Wouldn't it be nice it this was done automatically on relevant pages, it's a pain for new users to remember, and regular users to have to 'remind' users (read warn in many cases). Piandao   and  Scooby! 21:21, August 23, 2010 (UTC)
 * I believe WP has a Bot which only add's the unsigned templated to unsigned edits on talk pages. Duskey ( talk ) 03:26, August 24, 2010 (UTC)
 * I beleive it's nt the hardest string of code for wiki to add Piandao   and  Scooby! 16:34, August 24, 2010 (UTC)
 * So, it autosigns my signature when I merely fix the indents on some talkpage, and when I try to delete my signature, it signs it again? No thank you, I'd rather take the opportunity to interact with my new readers and find out how they react to a bit of friendly advice before they get into things that matter. -- ◄mendel► 16:56, August 24, 2010 (UTC)


 * You're talking about User:Sinebot - a bot for wikipedia (IIRC, it does a good job at making sure it doesn't sign users who just fix indents, and you can opt out by adding a hidden category your userpage. It also warns users who are unsigned often. I think signing comments is something users need to learn, not accept a bot to do it for you, and as mendel says - it gives editors a chance to introduce and advise newer editors. It's use on WP is because not every edit can be seen (due to the large number of edits) and therefore there will be posts that go unsigned. -- <font color="Orange">Random <font color="Black">Time  17:36, August 24, 2010 (UTC)


 * Strangely/sadly we auto-welcome users, and that seems to be 'ok'. We used to be told we should not use calculators in exams (I go back 40 years), "learn the proper way", now it's perfectly acceptable to use them. Is it actually useful to see people cutting their teeth on wiki nuances. I found it frustrating, and the "get with the programme" on some wikis, to be somewhat elite v inferior over something that imo should be unnecessary, especially for guys like me that came from a forum to wiki, to find I had to sign, sign, sign every time i had something to say. It can make new users feel inadequate and that who you are and not what you have to say is more important. Well that's my 2 cents for free as usual. I would like the choice/optioon button, simple as that. Unsigned   and  all alone! some time today UTC :)


 * Yeah, it cuts both ways -- when I first come to a wiki, the first couple interactions with people who try to tell me something usually decide whether I'm going to like it there or not. (Tip: being greeted by a bot usually means I don't care for you.) Piandao, you must really like article comments and blogs and blog comments: there's no need to sign those, and you even get an avatar! Voila, what used to be a wiki is now a wikiforum! -- ◄mendel► 21:59, August 24, 2010 (UTC)


 * I think Auto sign has a use on places like the central forum. but individual wikis should be able to have it as an option. As was said above if it responded to minot changes (i.e fixing it when newbies post above the header (RTE problem ?)) would be a nusciance. I also find some of the sigs in use very annoying Were the user is called on name and the sig say something totally different. e.g User:Tedjuh10/Mark. IMO the Wikipedia version of signing that has a link to the users talk page is better than wikias standard sig as well as 9 time out of 10 it is there talk page you want not the users 'Home page' anyway. - BulldozerD11 22:36, August 24, 2010 (UTC) (without a fancy sig that clutters the page up with code)

U

 * User rollback button
 * Some vandal users make no useful edits at all. There should be a way to undo all of their edits in one. ☆ The   Solar   Dragon  ☆ 11:07, July 29, 2010 (UTC)
 * That's a little bit of a weird request because you don't know if the person had made no good edits unless you review each individual edit, and if you are doing so, you can easily hit the rollback button on your way. If you're not checking each edit, then you can't be sure they made only negative edits, so rollbacking these good edits is counterproductive and against the system of a wiki. That said, there are many options to do a rollback all function via javascript; I know of many pre-written scripts for this available, and I use one myself. I wouldn't think Wikia would go and make this a core feature, that would be a bad move on their end, but user js is a good way to do it for yourself. Joey (talk) 07:01, July 30, 2010 (UTC)
 * Its called Special:Nuke, and no. --Uberfuzzy 00:35, August 3, 2010 (UTC)
 * You can't always undo all edits because other eidtors may have been faster. What you do is open the vandal's contributions page, and then open the "rollback" link in a new tab with a middle mouse button click for every edit where he's still (top). -- ◄mendel► 19:43, August 22, 2010 (UTC)


 * User Namespace Edit Restrictions
 * It seems odd to allow any user, including unregistered ones, to edit a userpage of someone other than their own freely. In most cases where a non-administrative user wishes to edit another user's userpage, it involves some form of vandalism. Even an anonymous, IP user can edit a registered user's userpage. In my personal experience as of recently, a user who was previously banned back in July returned. After several seemingly hostile messages, I came to BioShock Wikia one day to find he had removed the content of my userpage twice. Odder was that an anonymous user had added some advertisement into the content of my code test page. I've noticed that a feature to prevent editing of a user's content by someone other than the user is already in place for subpages of userpages, such as monaco.css, and I'm curious to know if this prevention could be given to administrators as an option to prevent vandalism of specific users. ~ <span style="border-bottom:2px dotted green; border-left:4px double green; border-right:4px double green; border-top:2px dotted green"><font color="#008800">Ṃ<font color="#009900">ᶒ<font color="#00aa00">ɠ<font color="#00bb00">ą<font color="#00cc00">§<font color="#00dd00">ɔ î é ɳ č ę <font color="#ff0000">{ <font color="#ff4400">t<font color="#ff8800">al k }  04:05, September 30, 2010 (UTC)


 * Just like your personal CSS/JS, I must agree! Let only admins and the respective edit it though. -- <font color="white" size="4">.. <span style="color:blue; border-bottom:1px dotted; font-family:Malgun Gothic; cursor:help;" title="Hello!! I was probably helping at the forums, or I was just translating st00f!">Jeff   (Talk!)   (Contribs!)   (Email!)   (Blog!) <font color="white" size="3">..  22:44, September 30, 2010 (UTC)

W

 * Watch All Pages - option(s)
 * A preference button to automatically add all new pages to your watch (Following) list. Probably only useful to sysops/admins, But would save having to click watch (follow) on all new pages as they appear in the new pages list. Maybe make sub options for name spaces to watch as well. - BulldozerD11 21:56, August 24, 2010 (UTC)
 * I want a way to remove ALL my watch'd/follow'd pages globally actually. Joey (talk) 23:58, September 28, 2010 (UTC)

Forum thread discussion
Would it be awful to add level 3 headers? Duskey ( talk ) 17:26, August 30, 2010 (UTC)
 * I'd like that-. -- ◄mendel► 20:32, August 30, 2010 (UTC)