Admin Forum:Wiki reset

How do you reset a wiki? As in revert to the fresh state of when you've just created it, (pages, histories and all).Pilotjj1 (talk) 01:47, September 24, 2012 (UTC)
 * Doesn't seem possible. Why don't you just create a new wiki? 05:31, September 24, 2012 (UTC)
 * Wow! Hold on a sec UltimateSupreme. What's wrong with your wiki, Pilotjj1? It may be possible to fix your issue without resorting to creating another wiki. :) Starfleet Academy (Messages) 06:29, September 24, 2012 (UTC)
 * Not my intention to create a new wiki. I've created my current wiki to experiment on things first before starting out proper. Perhaps my bad for using the same domain on where I intend the final wiki to reside. Now, I just want to reset everything to the beginning... without the hundreds of useless templates imported for experimentation and erasing the meaningless edit records (meaningless because they are sandbox-style, experimental edits).Pilotjj1 (talk) 08:35, September 24, 2012 (UTC)
 * I suggest you use Special:Contact, and ask the staff if it's possible to reset a wiki. However if they say it isn't possible, which I'd expect, you won't be able to use same domain. Btw, it isn't possible to erase editing history from a wiki... well, utility staff have the power, but would only do that for abusive edit summaries(?) :) Starfleet Academy (Messages) 10:24, September 24, 2012 (UTC)
 * Also, it should be pointed out that deleting a page and starting that page over as new (rather than restoring it) keeps the original version pretty well hidden — even to other admin. You can't see the original version at all in the revision history, and the old version doesn't appear in the "this page has been deleted" message unless the page is currently deleted.


 * Let's say you have a file called tardis:Testy. You make Testy v.1, then delete it.  Then you make Testy v.2, but you don't restore Testy v.1 to do so.  You just go to Special:CreatePage and start it again.  If you do it this way, you won't even get a notification in the editing area that you were attempting to recreate a page that had been previously deleted.  (Dunno why this is; you used to get a notification in this circumstance. But you don't now.)


 * When Testy v.2 is "live" on your site, both regular and sysopped users have no evidence whatsoever that Testy v.1 ever existed by any evidence on that page. The only record left behind, provided that v.2 exists, is to go to Special:Log, go to the deletion logs, and look for the name "Testy".  They you would see a message that a blue-linked page named Testy had been deleted.


 * Of course,if you deleted v.1 and v.2, then the "this page has been deleted" message would come up, showing all the times the page had been deleted, even those times when it was v.1. If you click on restore, you would end up at http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Special:Undelete?target=Testy. This page would then give you the ability to restore specific revisions of v.1.  As far as I know, this really rather obscure page is the only page where v.1 revisions exist.


 * So basically, deleting pages and starting completely new revisions of them does effectively make those earlier revisions "go away for good". It's a far better solution to bothering Staff or starting a new wiki altogether.   18:19: Mon 24 Sep 2012
 * Well, yeah... you're right, Czech. But it is still possible to get any revision back again (except images or individual revisions deleted by util Staff.) :) Starfleet Academy (Messages) 03:25, September 25, 2012 (UTC)
 * Oh, I'll readily grant the possibility. It's the plausibility that actually matter, though. If v.2 is active, the only way to get v.1 revisions back is to delete v.2.  Which is hardly intuitive.  I'm sure that most admin don't really know about this little trick.  Indeed, I'm sure most people who stopped by a page that had been previously deleted wouldn't even know it had been deleted.  And if you're on a v.2 page, you have to have pre-exising knowledge that a v.1 existed to even begin to question whether the v.1 revisions can be resurrected.  Given that the original poster has intimated that this is a "do-over", it's probably fair to say that he or she is the only one who will ever know about this first version of the wiki.  Resurrection of v.1 revisions seems very unlikely to me.  04:39: Tue 25 Sep 2012
 * There is also a tool which can hide (lock) revisions. The staff have it and is also given to others (admins). But I don't know what are the requirements for that and how it exactly works.... 18:11, September 25, 2012 (UTC)