The AC2 Wiki

[ete]

Replying by PM then.

[ete]

For things which are clearly free to use (like Vel's guide, which he explicitly released into the public domain), edit history style crediting seems most appropriate. If things are less clearly marked, but probably okay, then different forms of attribution may work.

Also, I will be on low activity over the weekend. If Parser Functions (for templates and formulas) and/or Data Transfer (for datalinks) are up by the time I'm back, I'll get to work on those projects. Particularly looking forward to trying to make the faction rating formula sane.

[Green1]

Yeah.. let me actually get in the system over there.

Templates are good. I think content is what we need. But the only way to do that is to start typing away.....

Do not worry about low activity. It takes a lot of time to develop content. The main thing is not to appear like a dead wiki. I would not expect the traffic of even, say, STW that got maybe a few thousand hits a day which is nothing compared to say, encyclopedia dramatica. We would pop open champagne at 50 because the subject matter we would cover is such a small niche.

[Green1]

Thanks... that will save AC2 some headaches. No need for BU or sisko to have to go through what some of us went through.

[Green1]

Oh yeah... sisko.. we need a link from the forums to the wiki so if someone wants to help, they will not have to dig through old threads to know about this.

[Green1]

Also, wiki will not let you upload files. Unless there is some setting I am missing.

Usually in wikimedia, it is supposed to be located under "toolbox".

[Green1]

A bit more research, sisko. In order to do that, you have to set $wgEnableUploads to true. Unfortunately, even if you give someone admin powers on a wiki, some things can only be done by the website admin

However, after that, we will not have to bother you unless we start getting hit by wiki spammers.

[ete]

However, after that, we will not have to bother you unless we start getting hit by wiki spammers.

There's actually quite a few setupy things for the wiki, some of which are essential. I've layed them out in the tech to do list. Uploads falls under general configuration of LocalSettings.php, which is pretty simple if you're vaguely familiar with it. I could send him a version with a load of tweaks, but it makes sense to configure it once extensions are in since most of them want some configuring.

I'm pretty experienced with mediawiki, created, ran and did a lot of other setting up for the Pokemon Online wiki (with plenty of help from the community of course) until I left for various reasons I won't go into here. It's a 43000 member community and the wiki's got some pretty decent statistics, though activity dropped after I left.

sisko, I would like to work on this place, but I need the tools. If the required extensions are added (adding extensions is pretty simple), then I can do stuff. If you're willing to trust me with FTP access (you have my word that I will not touch anything outside the wiki unless you ask me to, and you should be able to give me FTP to only the wiki anyway) then I can implement all the extensions I need to make it useful and configure it. Right now it's missing the bundled extensions required for standard functionality, so most of the interesting things I want to do are impossible. Unlike a forum most of the settings are not accessible without LocalSettings.php and the extension files. If you or someone else is going to focus on setting this up that's fine, but it needs attention from someone able to configure and extend it technically, and I'm offering.

[testdummy653]

I would be willing to help out, just tell me what you need.

[ete]

More help is always appreciated! How familiar are you with wikis or HTML? The main initial areas of work will be data entry for adding custom factions, writing descriptions and strategies, and improving the datalinks (either mechanics testing or just fixing minor mistakes/issues with the import). Until we've got the two key extensions which enable those projects it'll be annoying to work on factions and the infobox will just display a bunch of error messages, and data transfer for datalinks, there's not that much to do, but once we're moving it'd be great to have another editor.

[Green1]

Yeah... without those tools, it is kind of annoying to work on.

That is the reason I have not done much with it yet except put up an "under construction" page.

Wiki editing is not that hard as long as you can put together words into sentences that make sense. The HTML and formatting is a bit to get used to, but once you press edit and see how it is put together it is not too hard. The biggest trouble I had when learning was tables and image placement. But, right now, image uploads still need to be enabled.

One thing that helped me was to go to a big wiki like wikipedia, encyclopedia dramatica, or rational wiki and look at an article whose layout you like. Press edit, but do not make changes. That way you can see the arcans code they use. I would even copy/paste table code when I started then put in my own information.

Be glad this is a small wiki and will not need strict sources/ footnotes. That is a pain in the butt on the strict wikis.

[ete]

Okay, while we're waiting for the extensions to be added or access to add them, I've set up a free wiki here: http://ac2.referata.com/wiki/Main_Page

We can work on custom factions there since it has parser functions and other cool extensions, and I will move all the pages made there with edit history to our wiki with XML export/import when our wiki is ready. I'll make some example pages then you guys can help out once the format is standardized.

[Green1]

Okay, while we're waiting for the extensions to be added or access to add them, I've set up a free wiki here: http://ac2.referata.com/wiki/Main_Page

We can work on custom factions there since it has parser functions and other cool extensions, and I will move all the pages made there with edit history to our wiki with XML export/import when our wiki is ready. I'll make some example pages then you guys can help out once the format is standardized.

Yeah... thanks.

Wikis are doomed a cobweb infested death if at least some of the folks that edit do not have the keys to do some of the things only a web admin can do. I have been there and have that tee shirt. Fortunately, once sisko has those things set up, we would not have to bug him again barring a persistant wiki spam attack where all he would have to do is plug in a new captcha or adjust permissions.

I will go over there and play around. I have some junk to do today, so it will be a bit. When we are ready, we can migrate over here.

[sisko]

@ete: i'm swamped with RL issues and deadlines at the moment. we'll give you FTP access to the wiki folder. thank you for being patient with me. 

[ete]

Excellent and fair about real life, does tend to get in the way of all these fun projects.

Edit: I'll hold off adding factions to the other wiki and focus on getting our wiki set up (and do a little templating in the meantime), let me know when the account is set up