Talk:Community Central/Archive 4


 * See Archive 1 for discussion between October 2004 and April 2005.

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)

Best place on the net to send folks for an intro to all that is Wiki?
Should it not be "http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Wiki"? Regardless how much that one page may come to breaking with its True Wiki Nature as a result of such an onerous burden being place upon it, should it not be The Spot for such? -:)Ozzyslovechild 04:39, 9 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * I generally send people to Wiki. -- JamesTeterenko 05:17, 9 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * So do I. The Wikipedia articles tells people what a wiki actually is, rather than just what the word means. However, I'd prefer to keep internal links on the main page, which is why I linked to wiki, not wiki. I have just added a link to Wikipedia from that though. Angela (talk) 13:54, 11 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Searching box
it is confusing to users in scum.wikicities to use the search function - because above the search box it is written "Wikicities" - and the users think that will search wikicities, not scum.wikicities. it is very misleading to the unknowing user, and it should be changed to read WikiSCUM.

i realize the wikicities "button" links to wikicities, but that is much less important to the scum.wikicities users than seeing where to do a scum.wikicities seach - in fact, it is very confusing users. Kingturtle 19:29, 30 Jun 2005 (UTC)


 * You can replace the Google logo by uploading a file called "Search_logo.png". Angela (talk) 05:38, 10 Jul 2005 (UTC)

Creating a new page.
For some reason, creating a new page here doesn't work the same way it does on wikipedia.

On wikipedia, you can create a new page by "searching" for a page of the name you want, and when it is not found, it gives you the option of creating that page.

Here, it only lets you search, not create a new page. Does anyone know how to create a new page here?

PsiSeveredHead 22:34, 2 Jul 2005 (UTC)


 * Try editing your user page and place there a link to your new page. Or use Sandbox. Other way is to point your browser to http://wikicities.com/wiki/Sample_article_title . --DCLXVI 22:44, 2 Jul 2005 (UTC)


 * It isn't a default in MediaWiki, but you can change this to allow creation from the search box. See Help:Searching for instructions. Angela (talk) 05:38, 10 Jul 2005 (UTC)

Need your help for a workers' portal
Hi,

I wish to set up a workers' rights and struggles devoted portal in italian. My idea is to make it in a similar way to Wikicities. Is it the Wikimedia customization running Wikicities available for download? What are the mods applied to MediaWiki software? Using the Wikicities' Wikimedia customization is there a way to have an automated creation of wiki field, related subdomain and mailing list?

Thanks. magius


 * Already discussed on Skype. For anyone else interested in doing this, the relevant links are mediawiki.org to download the software, wikidev.net for instructions on making a wiki farm, and wikimedia.org/conf for Wikimedia's config files which should be similar to the Wikicities ones. Angela (talk) 00:03, 26 Jul 2005 (UTC)

Elevator pitch
Many people arrive at this page and have no idea what it is all about. I suggest that the first line somebody reads here is a short description of what it is all about. Like "It's geocities for wikis" or something along this lines. Comments? Gödel 13:41, 22 Jul 2005 (UTC)


 * It is so not geocities. If there's a good intro, that could be included, but we're about communities, not random personal websites. Angela (talk) 00:17, 26 Jul 2005 (UTC)

Language and CSS
If the user interface langauge is set to a language other than English, the monobook stylesheet returns a blank, which causes BabelBox to not display properly.&mdash;Danielwang 00:50, 4 Aug 2005 (UTC)

Electoral Reform -Logo
Please could someone help me make the image on this page the logo for the Electoral Reform City? I don't know how to create a PNG image.

Thanks,

John Cross 14:38, 18 Sep 2005 (UTC)

...Pirateopedia?
o.0 The logo has changed on every page...
 * I noticed that too. If you clear your cache (or switch browsers to one that doesn't have the real wiki cached), your whole wiki is replaced by this Pirateopedia.--Lowland Boxman 16:38, 19 Sep 2005 (EDT)
 * Sorry - this was a caching problem that occured when three new servers were installed this week. Please see Community portal for details. Angela (talk) 00:27, 25 Sep 2005 (UTC)

Wikicities first birthday this month
http://www.wikicities.com/index.php?title=Wikicities&oldid=1

Many happy returns! Robin Patterson 02:42, 5 Oct 2005 (UTC)


 * Singing, "Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you.  Happy birthday, dear Wikiciiities.  Happy birthday to you."  (I sing so much better in the wiki.)  --RJ 02:50, 18 Oct 2005 (UTC)


 * I didn't notice this comment until now. I'd say the birthday is really November 2 since that's when the first real wiki (answers) was made. The old search wiki that existed before that was just the remnants of an older project. Feel free to celebrate the bithday at First birthday. :) Angela (talk) 23:33, 2 Nov 2005 (UTC)


 * What an appropriate day to re-evaluate the Wikicities life cycle! Happy Birthday!  --CocoaZen 03:16, 3 Nov 2005 (UTC)

Language Name
Tagalog or Filipino? If it should say Tagalog as a recent change made it, then it should be re-alphabetized. --RJ 02:50, 18 Oct 2005 (UTC)

The Save button is repeating Preview again
I've spent 20 minutes improving Angela's lifecycle and can't get it to save. Robin Patterson 10:00, 3 Nov 2005 (UTC)

Now it has worked. Maybe my threat to expose it here chased the bug away. Robin Patterson 10:02, 3 Nov 2005 (UTC)

Oh good, I thought I was going crazy! Getting this same issue on w:c:wot. nae'blis (talk) 20:44, 3 Nov 2005 (UTC)

Yes, this was quite common for me on Wikipedia. Be VERY careful though! When this happens while section-editing it will replace the whole page with the section you were editing when it finaly does save! Because of this disastrous side-effect whenever it doesn't save the first time I re-open the section I was editing and paste it in. It seems to happen after using the preview button a large number of times, but it isn't MediaWiki 1.4-specific; it still happens on Wikipedia (which last I heard is running 1.6 alpha) so unfortunately a solution seems unlikely. Garrett 23:05, 3 Nov 2005 (UTC)

Active wikicities / Implied inactive wikicities
Hi, I've just noticed on the front page that only the top 20 wikicities are described as active. This seems a very small proportion (around 3%?). Didn't it use to be the top 70 or something? 70 is around ten percent, (a more reasonable proportion?) and wouldn't seem to take up too much space, and surely helps give better impression of more active wikis and helps more wikis by directing more visitors / potential visitors to them? The wiki I've been working on most days over nearly all of the last year may not have conquered the world, but I certainly wouldn't consider it inactive, even by (even slight) implication. Philralph 11:05, 4 Nov 2005 (UTC)


 * Do we really want to imply that 97% of wikicities are in some way inactive or not active enough? The listing of the top 20 doesn't cover any society type / slightly more serious type (not sure best way of saying this) categories and so may contribute to the whole of wikicities just attracting mainly sci fi, computing and gaming type people - so is it as balanced as it could be? Isn't there a way of being a bit more generous here? and at relatively little cost? e.g. as well as the top 20 - title most active wikis, include also the next 50 most active wikis? (surely wouldn't take up too much space, either here or on a fairly up-front other page). (Thought I saw somewhere something more about new wikis but can't refind it) As well as helping new wikis wouldn't it be good if there was a more obvious way of helping those at risk as first enthusiasm of founder wanes - using gardening analogy - not just helping newly germinated seedlings, but also caring for those 'growing on' on some sort of 'nursery' page? Going back to the orginal point - is it encouraging enough (bio)diversity if some sort of law of the jungle just celebrates the top 3 (Massive oaks/redwoods/whatever) and doesn't care enough for the other 97 (trees in the forest)? Philralph 16:19, 4 Nov 2005 (UTC)

I'm drafting some ideas for a page to explore / do some of the stuff I'm hinting at here. Anyone interested in collaborating, if any of this intelligible enough yet, that'd be great. Cause this page getting long, more via my user talk page Philralph 11:27, 5 Nov 2005 (UTC) which now also links to actual Proposal for a Civil Society Quarter page

Main page should give more prominence to the directions for starting a wikicity or miniwiki
Then maybe we would have fewer creations that needed template:placement - Robin Patterson 00:10, 9 Nov 2005 (UTC)

How to edit the navigation
I want to edit the navigation at the left side in N. How to do that? (I have sysop rights.) -- Your friendly sysop Lord of Destiny. Contact me: talk and webpage. 16:10, 20 Nov 2005 (UTC)
 * Hi. Could you clarify which part of the navigation you'd like to edit? :)
 * It seems you already figured out how to change links around and replace the Wikicities image, so there's probably not much else you can do to change it other than playing around with MediaWiki:Monobook.css (without developer help, at least).
 * Your interwiki doesn't seem to be working either -- weird. 21:10, 20 Nov 2005 (UTC)

Language pages?
Hi,

I was wondering what it takes to get the extra language domains enabled for a given Wikicity? Couldn't/Shouldn't this be enabled by default? I was trying to start one (English) for the phpBB Wikicity, but using the language codes in links on its main page didn't work (I copied the same code as used in another Wikicity whose language codes did work). Thanks in advance... 59.40.223.15 04:05, 11 Dec 2005 (UTC)