Talk:Community Central/Archive 4

Interwiki links
How do interwiki links work? Will my_own_wiki:whatever be a link to the wiki hosted at http://wikicities.com/my_own_wiki? Can we have shortcut interwikis as well, so people can link mow:whatever. These shortcuts could be added to a page on the central wiki (this one) and added to the interwiki list by a script each week. Angela 23:05, 17 Oct 2004 (PDT)

User and talk pages
Will people have user pages in each wiki, or can these be combined somehow? I like the thought of people travelling around lots of different wikicities and spreading their experience to new wikis, so preventing too much separation of them would be a good idea. Message notification that carries across wikis would be really useful. Angela 23:05, 17 Oct 2004 (PDT)

At the moment, the single sign-on code does not allow the merging of user pages. This decision was made because, at Wikipedia, it is reasonable to assume that a person will want a language-specific User page on each different site, because each different site is in a different language. Of course this is not the case for wikicities. I think that we should allow both eventually. That is, there should be the local User: pages and a shared GlobalUser: page. --Jasonr 10:04, 21 Oct 2004 (PDT)


 * If cross-wiki transclusion was possible, users could use that to duplicate their user page on any wiki they liked. Angela 09:16, 28 Oct 2004 (PDT)

Similar projects
Tim on #mediawiki told me about your project today. Hi everybody. I'm planning something with mutante on mamalian-wiki-hive that seems somehow compareable. There will be possibilities to collaborate and make things more effective I guess. Mattis Manzel 10:57, 31 Oct 2004 (PST)


 * Hi Mattis. Thanks for the link. Do you have any policies for wiki-creation over there or do you accept a proposals? What sort of rules govern the communities on the mamalian-wiki-hive? Or are the rules up to each separate community? Angela 01:33, 2 Nov 2004 (PST)


 * Hi Angela. The idea for a wiki-hive came when few days ago I dicovered oddwiki (after not having noted it for a half of a year) and when realizing that wiki-hiving technically is possible. I use the term wiki-hive for places to make a new wiki when:


 * making a new wiki is and stays free and open to everybody.
 * no login is necessary to make a new wiki.
 * someone familiar to the engine litterary takes seconds to make a new wiki.

I use the term wiki-farm when there are longer procedures like fill out forms or a confirmation is involved. Your idea in that sense rather is a wiki-farm - as I see in the form discussion. Though it seems pretty close to "hiving" and is very interesting. Important is the hive, the home-meta-community. Those having a wiki for free on it hopefully will maintain it, that is remove spam (or discuss and decide and contribute to anti-spam mechanismns), dicuss and decide about removing + probably banning unwanted wikis on the hive (those - as I see it - who have a serious problem on removing rassistic or sexistic contents for example), removing wikis which are both dead and shallow, etc.

When there is only voluteer contribution (and wiki is the most volunteer thing around) there are no rules. Noone's obliged to anything. Therefore the max possible are recommendations. A community finding a stable existance based on recommendations is superior to a community based on rules. It is so in flexibility, information-flow, I guess in intelligence finally (think of it as of a free and a ruled mind maybe). The community of hive users should make up their reccomendations and learn to discuss and act. I'd like to help on that. And sure I'd like to participate on shapeing it. In the beginning that means a porn- or nazi-wiki will be deleted the minute I see it. When the community has learnt to do that itself or produces a reasonable discussion why such shouldn't be deleted anymore, allright then ... Bit experimental, agree. I like Bitches Brew, Miles Davies.

It's all just few days now, there are no requests for wikis yet. Some more preparations must be taken, loads of techstuff (and on that I completely depend on collaboration). These are very first words on it. -- Mattis Manzel

It looks like you're going for something quite similar to what we're doing here and it'll be interesting to see if we can collaborate in any way. We're certainly that the communities will develop their own rules in time. The major difference is that we do have a form to fill in before a wiki is created. This is because, in my experience, it is far easier to reject a wiki before it is created than to remove it afterwards. It causes a lot less hassle that way I believe. Angela 12:18, 2 Nov 2004 (PST)

I'm so happy to read this. My radical way of "new wiki without login" is an ideal, it is what I strive for. Realizing it on the mammalian-wiki-hive is worth a try, but such a concept is - agree - likely to fail for vandalismn, spam and a lot of other reasons. I do approach things in an idealistic way, but this doesn't mean I'm not eager to lean more about the riscs and am not interested in the experiences others made. I often try to fullfill a "steam-maker function" - Here and now just "think" the impossible for a minute, then go on with your work. Thats already it. I just applied for a "node-wiki for university-wikis" here. I have no objections against the form at all. Wikicities is great. I'm exited about this important improvement to wikilandia. It opens up gates and it's somehow funny that it happens on November third. A day full of important news. I will try to go on for the mammalian-wiki-hive on oddmuse which is superior to mediawiki as far as the features for multilingual use of pages is concerned. You might know http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Multilingual_communication. Let' make it work.

Let's think about the logo. It seems Manhattan on 9/11 dust crawling up the streets. Aren't there any ideal mythological cities? A nice city of diversity where everybody likes like to live in. MattisManzel 02:35, 3 Nov 2004 (PST)


 * I shan't comment on whether oddmuse is superior to MediaWiki. ;) My biases lie firmly in the MediaWiki camp for now, but it is interesting to see how you try to combine languages on one page. I think the aim here is to allow language subdomains in the same way that sites like Wikipedia do, though it will be interesting if anyone does try to combine them without having subdomains. Perhaps it might lead to some improvements in MediaWiki in this area. Thanks for adding us to the OtherWikiHives page. Looking around at the alternative sites doing this really highlights the need for Wiki Markup Standard so that people can easily move between such sites without learning a syntax all over again. Angela 05:24, 3 Nov 2004 (PST)

Actually the separation in different domains is another concept. We do try on both on community-wiki. I would be very interested in getting the multilingual features of oddmuse (the colored background, the language filters) ported to Mediawiki and then start working on both: a multilingual Mediawiki fork (I propose MMediawiki ;) - elaborate the filters also in edit mode, automatic pretranslation in a new translate-mode, etc.) and "one big multilingual wikipedia". Kinda getting people into the fun of translating. Where is the best place to propose it? The wikimedia mailing list? -- MattisManzel 06:08, 3 Nov 2004 (PST)


 * The Wikipedia mailing list might be better. That one gets a lot more traffic. If it's about the technical issues of doing such a thing, then wikitech would be better. You won't get a very good reception if you're proposing a fork though. Angela 08:12, 3 Nov 2004 (PST)

Mailed 'em. Thx fo the encouragement. :) Wouldn`t it be nice if all applications for a wiki on wikicities with all the information filled in the form would automatically come up on a new applications for wikis on wikicities page here? Like that the community get's involved from the very beginning and that's the essential thing I guess. MattisManzel 10:36, 3 Nov 2004 (PST)

Math markup
While playing in the sandbox I noted that the $$ \LaTeX $$ for writing formulae like in Wikipedia is not supported here. Is it going to be?


 * Full WikiTex will be enabled sometime soon. Angela 13:23, 12 Nov 2004 (PST)

it seems to work now at THIS site. ie $$ W_n(x)=\sqrt{\frac{2\varepsilon_0\varepsilon_r(\Psi-V_{gc}(x))}{qN_d}} $$

however it does not at Peace Wikicities. Is there a administrative setting? -ts- 10:13, 12 Dec 2004 (PST)


 * It seems broken again. I've filed a new bug report. Angela 19:19, 22 Dec 2004 (PST)

WikiCities stability and longevity
What are WikiCities' prospects for long term survival - 3 months, 1 year 5 years? I'd hate to build a wiki here only to find that it was gone in a few months. Who is currently paying for the resources seeing that there doesn't seem to be any advertising? 67.128.152.248 21:42, 22 Nov 2004 (PST)


 * We will have advertising very soon. A new company, Wikia, Inc. has just been formed this week which now owns both Wikicities and the Wikia search engine, so the site certainly has a stable future. Angela 19:19, 22 Dec 2004 (PST)

Other wiki-hives/farms and where to talk about them all
started on a node-wiki for wiki-hives MattisManzel 09:24, 25 Nov 2004 (PST)

Help:Contents
Have edited the Help:Contents page here ... simply mirroring the one we are developing at http://peace.wikicities.com/index.php/Main_Page

Please feel free to "lift" this and use it for your own Wikicities Help page. Hopefully, people will find this to be of use and add their own ideas. -ts- 07:24, 12 Dec 2004 (PST)


 * It looks great. Thanks for adding it here. Angela

Formatting problems
If you are seeing the formatting of Wikicities messed up today, please force the page to reload. Ctrl and F5 might do it, else see Wikipedia:Wikipedia:Bypass your cache for instructions. Once you refresh the stylesheet, everything should return to normal.

This was a temporary problem caused by the removal of some of the adverts. Not all pages will display Google ads now. However, it hasn't yet been possible to expand the wdith of the page so that it can be wider when there is no ad, so you'll see a white gap on the right instead. Angela 06:33, 29 Jan 2005 (PST)

IE problems
I used IE to see if TPE worked properly in it today (which it doesn't) and I noticed, while editing a page such as Home (my main page) the edit box stretched too far to the right of the screen to even see the the verticle scroll of the box, yet there was no horizontal scroll for the browser. Is it just me? – Jello 13:21, 30 Jan 2005 (PST)


 * Same here, but it works if you resize the window and then maximise it again. This is bug 66. Angela 14:08, 30 Jan 2005 (PST)
 * This work around appears to be very temporary. Once I type one character, the edit box resizes to be very wide.  -- JamesTeterenko 11:39, 1 Feb 2005 (PST)
 * Ah. I hadn't noticed it was quite that temporary. I've just mentioned it to Jason on IRC, so hopefully it will be fixed today. Angela 12:06, 1 Feb 2005 (PST)
 * This should be fixed now. Angela 13:56, 1 Feb 2005 (PST)
 * This edit seems fine. JamesTeterenko 16:34, 1 Feb 2005 (PST)

Main Page Layout
I like the new look of the main page! --CocoaZen 08:23, 4 Feb 2005 (PST)
 * Thanks. :) Angela 09:38, 4 Feb 2005 (PST)

Beta 6
Wikicities has just upgraded to the latest version of MediaWiki. If you notice any problems associated with this, please state them here. Angela 23:05, 4 Feb 2005 (PST)


 * Database errors on log pages
 * Database errors when uploading images
 * Database errors when (un)deleting
 * Weird CSS errors (eg. Although MediaWiki:monobook.css contains, round edges are only rendered on mouseover
 * same problem with buttons, which seem to have been changed to IE-style)
 * "That's not a bug, that's a feature". This was added purposefully by Tom who feels it's more inline with usability guidelines to have default browser buttons, not nicely designed one. Personally, I think it looks awful. Angela 17:51, 5 Feb 2005 (PST)
 * Hmm, so how can I remove it? – Jello 18:07, 5 Feb 2005 (PST)
 * The buttons can be changed using the following. Angela 18:43, 5 Feb 2005 (PST)

input.searchButton, #wpSave, #wpPreview { padding: 0 0.4em !important; background-color: White; border: 1px solid #2f6fab; }

font-weight: normal; }
 * 1) searchGoButton {


 * Use the following to affect all buttons on every page, i.e. buttons on the Preferences page or Live Preview button. --LouCypher 19:48, 9 Feb 2005 (GMT)

input[type="button"], input[type="submit"] { padding: 0 0.4em !important; background-color: White; border: 1px solid #2f6fab; }


 * Aha, so that is why I cannot see any buttons . . . guys, you have to set the foreground colour if you set the background colour, or those of us with custom system foreground colours end up with unreadable buttons! Please add this to your CSS:


 * color: black;


 * (or set the color to whatever you prefer, but you must set it :-) --GreenReaper([ talk]) 19:16, 13 Feb 2005 (GMT)


 * Section Edits on "Main Page" gone again like when ads were 1st introduced. All other Pages are normal. Rman Jack212.202.105.82 16:44, 11 Feb 2005 (GMT)
 * It's not a bug. It's because there is tag in the content. --LouCypher 18:56, 11 Feb 2005 (GMT)
 * I did that on purpose. I don't think [edit] links look nice when you're using tables for the layout. Angela 11:48, 12 Feb 2005 (GMT)

Suggestion: Wikicity of the Week
Since many Wikicities are relatively inactive, and could use some more exposure, I suggest featuring one Wikicity every week on the Main Page. What do you think? This could be done by community vote, or simply by the Wikicities staff based on what wikis are in need of attention.--Eloquence 07:00, 14 Feb 2005 (GMT)


 * Somehow "hey, check out that blank wiki, it's the award winning wiki of the week!" just doesn't sound like a good idea to me. I think the best idea is to link to wikis that have a good base built (or at least, almost built) and some content.  A starting point and a bit of a "standard" would help stop shyness and encourage editing.  Perhaps a "Wikicity of the week" as well as a "Babywiki of the Week", where the babywiki would be the one needing a base and some nurturing.  --Me at work 07:08, 14 Feb 2005 (GMT)


 * I like the idea of distinguishing between wikis featured for their content, and those featured because they have no content.--Eloquence


 * We already feature the newest on the main page, and the most active + few newest on recent changes. The blog highlights the more active wikis as well. If a wiki is completely empty, I'd rather just close it than encourage people not really interested in it to go there. Angela 14:26, 14 Feb 2005 (GMT)


 * Sometimes we may need to just let a wiki die a natural death. If the founders and users can't get participation, maybe it's just not an idea whose time has come.  Or maybe they need to figure out other ways to advertise to the target audience.  On the other hand, "featured wikis" sounds like a good idea.  It might be too much work, but maybe "awards" for a variety of things - best support for newbies, fastest membership growth, most creative use of categories, best new templates, best use of... An explanation of what a particular wiki did well could help the rest of use incorporate good ideas into other wikis.  --CocoaZen 19:09, 14 Feb 2005 (GMT)


 * I like the idea, but I'm worried the same few wikis would win it every week, unless we choose to not re-feature a wiki that had already won. See Featured Wikicity for a page with some of the above ideas on. Angela


 * Suggestion to that: no Wikicity can pick up that award for more than once in a six-month/one-year period. --DavidFeng 12:39, 15 Feb 2005 (GMT)


 * I agree. If a Wikicity has already been featured then they will remain in the Featured Wikicities list for others to see. As long as you direct people to that list for further guidance (perhaps with a short summary of why they were featured?) then there is no real need to feature them again. GreenReaper([ talk]) 12:49, 15 Feb 2005 (GMT)

Wikicity Public Announcements
Another suggestion I might consider sharing with others:

WikiMac has written up all articles on all versions of Mac OS X, and we've done a few accomplishments as well. I'm sure Doom and Creatures and other wikis, no matter how big or small, have plenty of announcements to make as well -- how many users, the how many-ieth article being created, etc... I propose a public space somewhere on this page or the site where each active Wikicity can post its announcement on achievements. The blog might be a good idea but it's not a wiki as far as I can tell. ;(

--DavidFeng 16:13, 15 Feb 2005 (GMT)


 * I suggest Community portal be used for all cross-projects announcements. I'll add this to the sidebar as well. Angela 23:36, 15 Feb 2005 (GMT)

Need your help with cancer research and information portal
Hi,

Inspired by my immediate family situation I would like to start a Semantic Web Portal for Cancer Research.

As a first step I would like to bring together the audience (Cancer researchers, doctors, patients, observers) and give them the access to a non-semantic, but highly structured and collaborative space such as wiki based portal. I would like for the people to publish articles, announce the latest research results, post survivor stories, support each other, comment on alternative methods.

I want to make this a big deal, and as important resource as it should be because it really is. I am concerned that wiki sub-space such as wikicite would not have enough clout. I am afraid that serious researchers would brush the portal off if it listed along the pokemon stuff.

Does anyone have a suggestion about some bigger, but not very costly wiki hosting for a non-profit, benevolent project like this.

Please help. This is a big deal, and with getting this done we may be able to help great deal of people.

If you have any good information or suggestion please forward it to me. So far I have a blog where I am describing the progress on the project. You can contact me there.

http://blogs.ittoolbox.com/eai/software/

Best regards, Edmon Begoli

''Excellent idea. Rather than waiting until you have some other wiki set up, perhaps you could start with http://biowiki.org/ now. --DavidCary 20:15, 13 Apr 2005 (EDT)''


 * There is already a Cancer Wikicity set up. Angela 23:54, 13 Apr 2005 (EDT)

Unused syntax on some pages
Special:Log/protect seems to be suffering from unused syntax around links. 23:08, 21 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * Aftering reviewing this, I have discovered the problem to have most likely arised from MediaWiki:Protectedarticle and MediaWiki:Unprotectedarticle. There should not be wikisyntax around $1. 23:11, 21 Apr 2005 (UTC)


 * Fixed, I think. Thanks for mentioning it. -- 00:50, 22 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Protecting the Main Page
Someone, identified by IP only, suggested, "I recommend that the front page should be locked from anyone editing it " on the main page. I removed that comment and am putting it here on the discussion page for further consideration. --CocoaZen 17:42, 2 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * It is probably getting to the point where we should be protecting the front page. It seems to be one of the most vandalized pages.  Also, as the entry point for most users, we should do what we can to keep it clean.  Looking at the edit history, it is rare that a non-admin has contributed other than to vandalize or revert vandalism.  -- JamesTeterenko 18:54, 2 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * Protection goes against the wikiway, though... Then again, petty vandalism on the main page could detract newbies (still, being able to edit the first page you see is an encouragement). 19:28, 2 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * Templating it and then protecting it (but not protecting the templates) seems to have halted significant vandalism at Creatures Wiki. -- 21:52, 2 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * Protection of the main page of new Wikicities is one of the most annoying mistakes that keeps happening over and over again despite there being no need for it and no history of vandalism in the vast majority of cases. The Central Wikicity should be setting an example by not protecting this, despite some vandalism. The vandalism is not yet major, and is reverted quickly enough. The template solution is ok once we get to the stage where the vandalism is so bad that we'd prefer new users' first experience of Wikicities is an uneditable page rather than a damaged one, but I don't think we're at that stage yet. Protecting this would just give out all the wrong signals about how wikis should work. People requesting new wikis should be aware of the dangers of vandalism, not shielded from it by protecting this page. Angela (talk) 23:54, 7 Jun 2005 (UTC)