Talk: Dr ishmael/Archive 10

Archives

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1. Dawn of Time – May 2008
2. May – July 2008
3. July – August 2008
4. August – October 2008
5. October – November 2008
6. November 2008 – February 2009
7. February 2009 – March 2010
8. March – November 2010
9. December 2010 – July 2011
10. August 2011 – December 2012

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This page: 89,079 bytes

*explodes the world* Jink 14:55, 19 July 2011 (UTC)

Got your message via IRC

Just wanted to let you know I got it. I was following the file name a little too literally, on top of rushing through trying to get it done before I had to leave again :P Aloha, Mauirixxx 05:24, 26 July 2011 (UTC)

WoC area dominance

I saw your revert of 132.229.224.57 on the Winds of Change page. I agree with the revert since some of his info was wrong and the rest didn't make much sense. I just thought that it might be relevant to note that while areas affected by WoC are unaffected if there is a pre-WoC character in the party, having the quest to cleanse the area that you're in will cause the WoC enemies to spawn even with a pre-WoC character in the party. I had this happen trying to get to Vizunah Square (Local Quarter) for the first time and bringing a foreign character who had Cleansing the Undercity and wanted access to the local side. -- Kirbman 17:10, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

I can't really tell what you want help with

I won't be spot-checking any further since I don't know what it is you want.

You asked for help spot-checking. I checked and you reverted even though that skill's description displays incorrectly on today's wiki. From this example, I have no way of knowing what you consider a bug, let alone which might be resolved soon. 75.36.183.9 20:02, 7 August 2011 (UTC)

That specific instance is a bug with the pluralization regexes that I corrected on Thursday, but our wonderful Curse staff have been lazy-asses about getting it deployed.

What I want help with is verifying the skill stats - green numbers, energy, cast, recharge, etc. I thought that was pretty clear when I asked for people to "verify that I'm not screwing up the numbers." —Dr Ishmael 20:57, 7 August 2011 (UTC)

Californication

It's an awesome song, but the one thing I don't like about it is that it has no climax. It starts calm, goes heavier, then calmer again in the solo and back to the heavier. It's always pretty much the same intensity throughout the whole song. --El_Nazgir 17:56, 8 August 2011 (UTC)

Scar Tissue is truly a song without a climax, and with an even flatter intensity. At least with Californication you get a mini-climax with every refrain. [addendum] Interestingly, Scar Tissue charted higher than Californication (have to scroll to the Singles section, dunno why Album/Singles aren't actual headers) where they didn't both go to #1. —Dr Ishmael 14:29, 12 August 2011 (UTC)

Eh, then I really prefer californication. Some of my favourite rocks songs ever are Stairway to heaven and Child in time. --El_Nazgir 16:00, 12 August 2011 (UTC)

template changes

Great job you are doing, but shouldn't you be doing this with a bot account, of a bot flag? Arnout aka The Emperors Angel 15:58, 10 August 2011 (UTC)

I've been criticized in the past for using the bot account to "hide" edits from RC, so recently I've tried to avoid using it unless the edits are truly bot-like. That is, the edit is simple, repeatable, and applied consistently to every article - i.e. something that can be done in AWB.

I don't consider these template updates to be simple. I have to paste in the new description/progression information (which I concatenate together in an Excel spreadsheet), type in the progression descriptions, check if my progression numbers differ from the existing numbers, delete the old description/progression information, and finally scan the output for any anomalies after saving the template.

I did use the bot account when I went back through the Assassin/Dervish skills to add the skill id parameter, which I had planned on including in this project from the start but failed to include in Excel's concatenation. That was a simple, repeatable edit.

I know it clogs up RC, but at least you can just exclude the Template namespace. If it's really that much of a bother, though, and "the community" gives me "permission" to use the bot account for this, I'm willing to reconsider my position. —Dr Ishmael 16:26, 10 August 2011 (UTC)

I didn't realize the changes you are making are this compicated. Yes, I was annoyed that you cloged up RC so much. Now I know why. That also means I am not annoyed anymore. (That tip about hiding template space helps too.) You'd have my blessing about using a bot account, cause that makes it easier for the all of us. (exept maybe you?) Arnout aka The Emperors Angel 17:40, 10 August 2011 (UTC)

It would be a tiny complication for me, since I'd have to worry about switching back and forth to make any other edits. Since you're no longer annoyed, I'll just keep on as I have been unless someone else complains. —Dr Ishmael 18:15, 10 August 2011 (UTC)

I find it all fascinating. :-) Do you check to make sure that the ids are correct? Ariyen 15:35, 13 August 2011 (UTC)

I did that a long time ago, using Cheat Engine to go through all 3000+ skill IDs when I first built my spreadsheet. When I did that, I tied each skill ID to the file ID and position of the text string for the skill name, description, and concise description. I've seen nothing to suggest that these IDs ever change, so I haven't bothered to double-check them. —Dr Ishmael 15:41, 13 August 2011 (UTC)

server error on your user page?

Going to your user page I get "HTTP Error 500 (Internal Server Error): An unexpected condition was encountered while the server was attempting to fulfill the request". umm... owch. lol. (using Google Chrome btw) Myth 22:25, 4 October 2011 (UTC)

Looks like Curse borked the widgets again, I'll let Wyn know. —Dr Ishmael 22:38, 4 October 2011 (UTC)

I noticed the "game updates" has been updated since the 16th. looking at the history I see User:Scythe usually does that, but his page appears to have a widget issue as well. I'm guessing the widget issue is related to the game updates not getting auto-sucked in? Myth 01:27, 5 October 2011 (UTC)

No, game updates are not automatic, because we have to put the wikilinks and formatting in manually. I used to do them, but I've slacked off the past few months. —Dr Ishmael 02:00, 5 October 2011 (UTC)

Weapon Icons

Thanks for moving those! I've managed to create a photoshop batch action which converts the texmod-extracted icon bmps into pngs with transparency, but I still have to name the files manually! Since I mostly deal with images on the wiki, is there a way to enable me to move/rename them? might make things a bit easier when I stuff them up, lol. Cheers, → Dark Morelia 09:36, 8 October 2011 (UTC)

That's a special permission only granted to certain user groups. Admins get it by default, and we also have a custom group called 'rollback' that was originally just for the rollback permission, but we later decided to add filemove to it. You'd have to ask one of the bureaucrats to add you to that group. —Dr Ishmael 13:44, 8 October 2011 (UTC)

A question about extracting icons from the GW.dat file: If I understand what you've written here correctly, one can extract the weapon icon from an .ffna file, is that right? Do I need to have an -imaged dat file to do this? and how on earth do you figure out which .ffna file contains which icon? I mainly ask because I'm missing a few separately-saved weapon icons needed to finish the navboxes, probably because my dat file got corrupted a while back and I had to nuke the whole thing and start over. Plus I don't have enough download quota to -image it at the moment, lol. → Dark Morelia 03:23, 23 October 2011 (UTC)

Just do what I said there, pretty much:

1. Run a text search for the string "ATEXDXT3" in the FFNA files
2. Delete everything preceding "ATEXDXT3"
3. Save the remaining file with a .atex extension
4. Use the ATEXReader to convert to .png

WARNING: Don't try to do this manually - there are over 5,000 icons in nearly 100k FFNA files. I wrote a Perl script to do steps 1-3 for me that I can post to Pastebin if you want.

I don't know if anyone has ever figured out what exactly an FFNA file is, so there's no way to know (from the dat file) what item an icon is associated with. (Even if we could read FFNA files, it may not help, since icons that get reused usually only have 1 FFNA file, so I'd guess it doesn't include item names in any case.) Basically I just used my own knowledge (and my wife's) to identify as many as I could, then I cross-referenced against GWW's item icons to get most of the rest. That's why when I find the icons for the new festival hats and post them to the wiki ahead of the actual finale (OMIGAWSH this year's Halloween hats are probably in there! I must finds them!), I can only identify them as "Hat A" or "Hat B". —Dr Ishmael 03:34, 23 October 2011 (UTC)

Ok, I get it now. I'd love that script please. I thought it was bad enough going through the 750-odd icons my dat had saved separately, but this will be a whole new order of "fun". *rolls sleeves up* → Dark Morelia 04:05, 23 October 2011 (UTC)

[1] I put comments in to explain a few of the more obscure things happening in there. —Dr Ishmael 14:56, 23 October 2011 (UTC)

That worked brilliantly, thanks! I came out with 8,323 icons all together, which was pared down to 4,023 after deleting duplicates. Of those, around 920 are weapons. Some useless trivia for you.

I also found some interesting things I can't identify, dunno if they're something to do with the latest update or not, since this is the first time I've extracted from the dat. Probably the most interesting one is in 00138757.ffna, but there are a few others. → Dark Morelia 11:18, 24 October 2011 (UTC)

8k, really? That's interesting, I only get 5k. Maybe your dat still has a ton of old, no-longer-used files in it that mine doesn't: I -image mine about every 3 months to keep it clean. (What's your total # of files according to GWUnpacker? I'm just under 176k.) Also, your file numbers won't match mine, because those are assigned by GWUnpacker sequentially as it parses the dat file (if we were to -image at the exact same time, we might have our files ordered exactly the same, but even then it's not guaranteed), so you'd have to actually upload the file for me to know what you're talking about. —Dr Ishmael 14:04, 24 October 2011 (UTC)

Oops, I thought the file names were based off internal IDs, didnt realise they got assigned as they're unpacked. The one I'm talking about looks like a tri-corn pirate hat, and it was lodged in between the latest two costumes, so I think it was a recent addition. I might upload it and see if anyone can identify it, though it might just be a quest item I'd forgotten.

I did image my dat before this unpack, so it should be current. It came out at 203,542 files all up, 6.11GB. → Dark Morelia 02:48, 27 October 2011 (UTC)

6 GB?!? Holy cow, mine's only 3.89 GB. What I meant to say above is that I delete my Gw.dat and then -image a brand-new one every few months, not just that I run gw.exe -image (I do that every time there's an update), and that if we were to both do that at the same time, we might get our files in the same order. (I must've been really distracted at work to leave out that much information.) I'd say it's pretty certain you've got a lot of old stuff in there, which might be interesting to go through. —Dr Ishmael 03:20, 27 October 2011 (UTC)

Oh, and do you mean ? I found it in the same place, but numbered as 00175763 and 00175766. —Dr Ishmael 03:25, 27 October 2011 (UTC)

Yep, that's the one!

Also, you're right about my dat having a lot of old stuff. I remember now that when my dat got corrupted, I did actually manage to find an old version of it on an old hard drive, and I just copied that and -imaged over it. So my current dat probably has stuff in it going back to when I first started playing! → Dark Morelia 03:35, 27 October 2011 (UTC)

I think this may be the other halloween hat, I dunno how we both missed it.

I was organising my icon collection into further sub-categories and this was sitting right next to the pirate one. It does look a lot like the icon for the Wraith costume headgear, probably why it got glossed over. → Dark Morelia 01:40, 29 October 2011 (UTC)

That's exactly what I thought it was - neither me nor Jink have bought the costumes, and I hadn't looked at the GWW icons yet. I did think it strange that the other one (the one that actually is the Wraith headgear) only had 2 copies (which I now know are male/female), while this one had 20 (male/female for all 10 professions, which is how all other festival hats (except facepaint) are done). —Dr Ishmael 01:58, 29 October 2011 (UTC)

Looks like somebody found them too.

I bought the costumes (I keep saying "this is the last one" but then another one catches my eye) but I only have female chars on my main account, and I thought that second hat was just the male Wraith headgear icon. I think I've been thoroughly converted to dat diving, lol. → Dark Morelia 06:58, 29 October 2011 (UTC)

Yeah, both GWW and GW.de have dat divers, and they're usually quicker than me because I have a 6-year-old computer (can't extract as quickly) and they apparently don't work a 40-hour job (can extract immediately after the typical update time of noon Pacific; well, for the .de guy that would be around dinner time, but w/e). —Dr Ishmael 12:37, 29 October 2011 (UTC)

Weapon Galleries

All the pictures in the weapon galleries are missing eg http://www.guildwiki.org/Sword/Gallery sorry if this isnt the right way to highlight this, not experienced with the wiki world of doing stuff, but seems data is missing/corrupted?

I have no clue why it's not working. The query is returning the correct list of pages, but when it goes to format the output, nothing gets generated. I don't know enough about how the DPL backend works to figure it out. —Dr Ishmael 17:48, 9 October 2011 (UTC)

I checked out a few other pages that uses the same/similar output. I think it's missing a few codes, etc. for it to actually work correctly. I might could do some tests over in a sandbox first to see if what I'm thinking would work. However, I'd like other input. Ariyen 01:21, 10 October 2011 (UTC)

It's not "missing" anything, because those galleries worked a couple weeks ago. I'm guessing something got changed on the backend (possibly the same thing that currently has the widgets borked), because nothing at all changed on the wiki. —Dr Ishmael 01:23, 10 October 2011 (UTC)

I see this is still an issue, I will see if it's anything on our end.... What else uses dpl? -- Wynthyst talk 05:53, 3 November 2011 (UTC)

Special:WhatLinksHere/Template:Extension_DPL <-- That is a "fake" template that the DPL extension flags as being used on every page with DPL for specifically this purpose (to easily find all pages that use DPL). —Dr Ishmael 14:41, 3 November 2011 (UTC)

So it's primarily just the galleries that are an issue, and not dpl itself? -- Wynthyst talk 00:20, 4 November 2011 (UTC)

Yep. The problem is using DPL to include a parameter from a template on the source articles. The format looks like:

include={template_name}:parameter_1:parameter_2:...

If you remove the include= and format= parameters from the DPL in the weapon galleries, it will return the correct list of articles, so DPL is getting the correct list of pages. It just can't parse the template parameters out of them for some reason. —Dr Ishmael 00:25, 4 November 2011 (UTC)

do your job

gotta love the way he implies you get paid for editing the wiki A F K When Needed 19:33, 18 October 2011 (UTC)

Eh, "do your job" has become a generic phrase used in reference to any sort of task that might be assigned to a person, whether it be compensated or not.

What I love is that if I were really "doing my job" (as opposed to being the better person and utterly ignoring the personal attacks), I would be banning his ass 100 ways from Monday. FYI: it's Rask. Don't let him know I know that. :P But I've learned my lesson about taking actions like that when I'm personally involved in a situation. Jink and Giga are both aware of the situation and I trust them to take action when appropriate. —Dr Ishmael 19:43, 18 October 2011 (UTC)

You're right that it does not need to be compensated, but (as has been pointed out) the task has not been assigned to you. A F K When Needed 20:02, 18 October 2011 (UTC)

Doh, how could I forget my own standpoint so quickly? Argh! Thanks for setting me straight.

However, it does work from his standpoint, since he (however incorrectly) assumed that it had been assigned to me. —Dr Ishmael 20:07, 18 October 2011 (UTC)

I figured it was Rask, since the last time he was around, he was Ish bashing too. Still, you handled yourself well. Good job! Also thanks to the Gigster, of course. Arnout aka The Emperors Angel 20:31, 18 October 2011 (UTC)

It's always Rask. No exceptions.--Łô√ë îğá†ħŕášħ 17:25, 20 October 2011 (UTC)

Thanks

For fixing up my mistakes in my most ambitious wiki project to date. There will probably be more yet, lol. → Dark Morelia 23:39, 20 October 2011 (UTC)

I'm easily bored.

Have some ponies.

{{#widget:YouTube|id=JiBF1zNZfZE}}

--Łô√ë îğá†ħŕášħ 02:46, 22 October 2011 (UTC)

This header is now the official pony thread. If you see any other pony threads, direct them here.

"Pinkie Pie, you're a genius!" - "No I'm not, I'm a chicken, SQUAAAAK!" --El_Nazgir 16:45, 23 October 2011 (UTC)

{{#widget:YouTube|id=9FGmgVu9Nz0}}

Eurobeat is one of my secret pleasures (that + Initial D + m.o.v.e + Mazda RX-7/8 all tied together), and this guy has created some aMAZing Eurobeat remixes of the pony songs. —Dr Ishmael 17:56, 23 October 2011 (UTC)

{{#widget:YouTube|id=viTkj0eu-fk}}

So far my complete favourite of all the pony-related music I've heard so far. --El_Nazgir 18:15, 23 October 2011 (UTC)

Woot, I like PPS's remixes too, but I hadn't heard that one yet. Awesome. —Dr Ishmael 18:22, 23 October 2011 (UTC)

{{#widget:YouTube|id=IeOYJO-jFGs}}

MLP FIM as sung by the United States Marine Corps.--Łô√ë îğá†ħŕášħ 18:24, 23 October 2011 (UTC)

Ugh, I can't stand those. It was funny the first time I heard one (think it was Cupcakes), but now it's just irritating. —Dr Ishmael 18:36, 23 October 2011 (UTC)

{ri}[2]. The WORLD agrees with me! Arnout aka The Emperors Angel 18:59, 23 October 2011 (UTC)

"I agree, your life sucks (1396) - you deserved it (4563)" No it doesn't. Btw, did you ever even just sit down and watch an episode without prejudice? Do that, and come back to us. Only then are you allowed to say MLP isn't good. --El_Nazgir 19:34, 23 October 2011 (UTC)

I watched the first episode of the original show (I'm a hipster) without prejudice, it bored me. ∵Scythe∵ 19:32, 24 October 2011 (UTC)

By "original" you refer to one of the various '80s incarnations, right? Yeah... that stuff was crap. —Dr Ishmael 19:48, 24 October 2011 (UTC)

Indeed, there's a reason the hype is now, and not back then (aside from the internet not actually existing yet). The old cartoons are bland, the characters have no personality, etc. The show you have to see is "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic", and no other. And btw, the first 2-4 episodes are not quite as hilarious as the rest due to them being introduction to the characters. They still got some epic moments in there though. --El_Nazgir 19:52, 24 October 2011 (UTC)

• irritated* I know what MLP:FIM is. You realize 75% of the regular population of my TF2 server is either a furry or a brony, right :P ∵Scythe∵ 00:36, 25 October 2011 (UTC)

Well, if you start talking about "original", one would think you saw the first MLP series ever made... --El_Nazgir 06:36, 25 October 2011 (UTC)

FIM was almost painful to watch. ∵Scythe∵ 22:31, 25 October 2011 (UTC)

Bahahahaha! That said, I doubt there's any one thing that everyone likes. Jink 22:54, 25 October 2011 (UTC)

that and this is epic. 72.148.31.114 07:03, 25 October 2011 (UTC)

WoodenToaster is my personal favorite, I also have Pinkie's Lie on my main.--Łô√ë îğá†ħŕášħ 22:54, 25 October 2011 (UTC)

I commented: "The lyrics to this song are a sexual innuendo between a toothless alligator and a marshmallow pony from a young girls' cartoon show. So what does it say about me that I can't stop clicking Replay? Wait... don't answer that. >.>" —Dr Ishmael 23:08, 25 October 2011 (UTC)

How the bloody hell did you do that? --Łô√ë îğá†ħŕášħ 23:17, 25 October 2011 (UTC)

Jink says because I'm 20% cooler. —Dr Ishmael 23:26, 25 October 2011 (UTC)

Interesting shows. I must show my alliance. There's many pony fans there. ;-) Sides my sweet little girl(yay!). 72.148.31.114 03:03, 26 October 2011 (UTC)

Because awesome.--Łô√ë îğá†ħŕášħ 20:37, 1 November 2011 (UTC)

--Łô√ë îğá†ħŕášħ 17:29, 2 November 2011 (UTC)

(Reset indent) STOP BREAKING MY GLORIOUS HEADER, GIGA!One!1. Thank you politly. Arnout aka The Emperors Angel 17:45, 2 November 2011 (UTC)

*politely nearly-6-month-late frivolous typo correction, GO! —Dr Ishmael 15:48, 26 April 2012 (UTC)

Season 2

Season 2 had awesome songs, and the finale had the best! Originals: This Day Aria and Love is in Bloom. —Dr Ishmael 15:48, 26 April 2012 (UTC)

I loved the This Day Aria, although the very ending was a bit weak. Could have benefited from a real villain laugh from Chrysalis. Random aside: Why does everypony insist on referring to her as Princess Chrysalis? SHE'S A QUEEN.--Łô√ë îğá†ħŕášħ 14:27, 27 April 2012 (UTC)

I'd guess because people are used to calling Celestia and Luna princesses that it's hard to accept the presence of any sort of queen? I dunno, I don't have a problem with it. —Dr Ishmael 18:00, 27 April 2012 (UTC)

O, this is just too good to be true! I get to catch the pony men (yes, plural) off guard. Yeah, I know that I really should be studying, but then again, pestering pony men > organic chemistry anytime.

So, CONGRATULATIONS!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! And give a big kiss and hugg to the Zillas running (or crawling) around your house. Arnout aka The Emperors Angel 07:54, 26 October 2011 (UTC)

Yay, I got an Arnout header! Best. Present. Ever. :P

Crawling? No, the kid is definitely running... and hopping... and skipping... and very very VERY addicted to ponies. —Dr Ishmael 14:06, 26 October 2011 (UTC)

Congaturatsu Doctoru Ishumaelu! --El_Nazgir 16:45, 26 October 2011 (UTC)

Happy birthday, Dr. Ishmapony. --Vipermagi 17:03, 26 October 2011 (UTC)

Free ubercharges for everpony!--Łô√ë îğá†ħŕášħ 17:09, 26 October 2011 (UTC)

Template:Interesting happy birthday message

Hope you've a good day. :) A F K When Needed 18:52, 26 October 2011 (UTC)

WHOOPS I was almost late to the party, good thing I brought cookies. Who doesn't like cookies? Seriously, they'll forget I was almost late in no time. Did I mention the cookies were in the shape of flutershy? ∵Scythe∵ 01:54, 27 October 2011 (UTC)

I'm probably late, but Happy Birthday! Hope you had a good one. → Dark Morelia 02:48, 27 October 2011 (UTC)

Happy B-day. Hope they don't get into too much trouble. Mine loves boxes and other items more than toys... I have no more markers or pens to write with... or even mark my dvds with.... Magic eraser (mr. clean one) works wonders with that... Anyway, enjoy loads of cake! 72.148.31.114 02:57, 27 October 2011 (UTC)

Happy birthday, ish! 06:55, 27 October 2011 (UTC)

Sheez, my header didn't even break your ToC! I'm highly dissapointed. I had no clue how old the former babyzilla was. She sounds just like my nieces, exept for the fact they don't like MLP, for wich I thank the heavens. I have to baby (not really) sit them, occasionaly. And yes, I am going to keep whining about it, Naz. Arnout aka The Emperors Angel 16:24, 27 October 2011 (UTC)

Feedback

Hello! I want to thank you for everything you have done for the Guild Wiki. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Tesla, a wiki manager for Curse. The reason I am posting on your talk page is for some feedback. I was hoping you could tell me if there was something you would like to see on the wiki or if you think there is something we could do to help improve the quality of our service to the community. If you have any ideas at all, please feel free to stop by on my talk page and leave me your thoughts. Thank you! Tesla 03:36, 28 October 2011 (UTC)

I've had more than one account, what do?

I tried really hard, and eventually I thought of something. My head hurts.

Will the userspace clean-up lead to relevant members of the community ditching their former identities? I'm wondering if my first two talk page archives will be wiped - in which case I'd go ahead and remove the links to them (...in my userspace).

This isn't something I have a problem with (I'd actually rather like it), but I just wanted to ask since my wandering around the wiki has yet to yield a definitive answer. Or any answer. A F K When Needed 03:44, 11 November 2011 (UTC)

dpl

I noticed this dpl error in Main_Page/editcopy... it says, "'Extension DPL (warning): current configuration allows execution of DPL code from protected pages only.'" for login announcments. Ariyen 19:04, 26 November 2011 (UTC)

Main Page

Can we update it with the Edit copy to include the flux? Ariyen 21:15, 1 December 2011 (UTC)

Fellow travelers

What happens if ANet hasn't done the easiest thing and randomized the original cycle? While that's likely (and makes updating the this-week's-location-template as simple as renaming 137 files), I am willing to bet that it's going to be more complicated:

1. Some locations were bugged, mostly due to WiK. It's not clear whether ANet fixed the root cause or kludged things.
2. Some appearances had other issues (Nick's orientation or nearby foes).
3. Some farms were probably more grinding than ANet anticipated (e.g. most of the djinn-related drops).
4. In the one situation in which Nick appeared twice (Arbor Bay), he was moved (for reasons that are unclear; there didn't appear to be an issue with the original location, aside from it happening two years two soon).

So, it might be worth some thought into how the automagic widgets can be ready for a new location/placement/request, while at the same time re-using the original cycle's data (for when the only thing changing is the rotation). I'm worried what happens if there is a change and you're not around; regular contributors would have to kludge the map names or other data.

Traveler template

What was wrong with how it displayed before? Having something ask if you want to update even when the info is already there looks like a mess.

PS Nice work moving all the maps in such a short time. -- Kirbman 04:17, 13 December 2011 (UTC)

The problem is that the old version of the template was based on the Property:Traveler index (calculated based on the original date that Nick visited each area) and assumed that Nick would repeat in order, just like the Zquests and everything else. Unfortunately, he appears to have been randomized, so we can't use any sort of prediction/cycle template.

On the other hand, we already know all the items he collects and where he will collect them, so I just switched the template to be keyed off of Nick's current location instead of a date-based cyclical index. (Now that I think of it, using item name would've made the SMW code a bit simpler, but this works too.)

So now we just have to update Nick's location every Monday. I didn't have time to write out complicated date-parsing code to make that link only appear on Mondays or something like that, but if you want to, go ahead. —Dr Ishmael 04:52, 13 December 2011 (UTC)

can you help me fix my traveler information on User:Ariyen/Schedule please? 72.148.31.114 01:33, 14 December 2011 (UTC)

Armor Galleries Guidelines

The our style guidelines recommends using 95% compression. This resulted in a very blocky 9K image file (158 x 211 pixels). 5% compression results in a 25K file that looks pretty good. Please let me know if I am interpreting the guide incorrectly, I probably won't get the Festive Winter Hood Gallery up until later this morning. Separ 06:56, 2 January 2012 (UTC)

That's because someone wrote the word "compression" when they meant "quality", lemme go fix that. —Dr Ishmael 15:24, 2 January 2012 (UTC)

Mainpage - current events new format

I have long supported and continue to support Guildwiki. The new format for current events ==> I HATE it. I have the wiki set as my home browser page (for the last 4 years or so) primarily because of the usefulness of the current events. I preferred it even more when the page had more upcoming history then just the one day. Without the information that was previously on the page at load, the wiki is useless as my homepage. Please consider a revert to the older format, and add the flux if you like too, but it was superior information to the way it currently reads for the current events, and was definitely superior to the thieving official wiki too.--ShmEk 00:50, 11 January 2012 (UTC)

If you want upcoming events, use Daily forecast (linked from the "Daily" subheader), which shows stuff up to 7 days ahead, instead of only the 1 day that was on the Main Page. —Dr Ishmael 01:02, 11 January 2012 (UTC)

GW - prefix

I reckon it may be worth removing that notification. It's still mentioned when you incorrectly type your password.

What d'ya think? :) A F K When Needed 16:41, 13 January 2012 (UTC)

Probably. It was already outdated before we left Wikia. —Dr Ishmael 17:02, 13 January 2012 (UTC)

User:Gregory7

I didn't want to step it up, and place a ban template on his user and talk page. Did he trigger any filters, or was one look at the page enough to ban him? If that is the case, I won't hesitate the next time...

Just curious ;-)

Arnout aka The Emperors Angel 19:05, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

When an account is created and the first and only thing it does (over a span of 5 hours) is to create a spam article, I tend to treat it as a cut-and-dry matter. —Dr Ishmael 20:13, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

Okies. Thanks! Arnout aka The Emperors Angel 23:10, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

AGF!

Whatever happened to that policy, you seem to ignore it often. 75.139.200.145 00:21, 6 February 2012 (UTC)

I already explained my reasoning above. How could anyone assume good faith on that? —Dr Ishmael 00:53, 6 February 2012 (UTC)

I think Ish did the appropriate thing on that user. I don't get what he did "wrong", if it was me (thankfully not) I'd done the same. A user who edits, showing or doing any type of "vandalism" like spamming external sites, etc. . Should be dealt with accordingly. :-) Ariyen 06:59, 6 February 2012 (UTC)

He's talking about these edits. First, both 75.139 and Ariyen technically broke 1RV, but whatever. Secondly, I just did the quest too and he just passed through other mobs without an aggression towards them. --El_Nazgir 13:27, 6 February 2012 (UTC)

After doing the quests on many a character yesterday, I didn't see Lispy attack the other naga. It was likely a glitch if it did happen. Jink 14:25, 6 February 2012 (UTC)

Oh, I see. I thought the anon was referring to the issue discussed above. It's hard to know what you're talking about when you fail to make it clear what you are referring to.

In that case, AGF does not apply. AGF only applies if the intent of the edit is unclear. In this case, the intent was clear - the user thought they were adding useful information to the page. I didn't have a problem with that. The problem is that the information is factually wrong, and has now been confirmed to be wrong by Ariyen, Naz, and Jink.

Ariyen - don't break 1RV just because someone else broke 1RV. Reverting a revert doesn't make it right. —Dr Ishmael 14:42, 6 February 2012 (UTC)

Wha, cant revert someone, when more than one are not seeing him attack? (Well, who would of removed it?) :-( how's that 1rv?... applied to page? or person? thought it'd be for person... I'm soooo confused... kinda wanna cry out of not getting it/understanding. *sigh* Ariyen 19:02, 6 February 2012 (UTC)

"The revert rule applies to the article, not the person." Any attempt to "fix" a page after someone breaks 1RV is simply breaking 1RV again and is the easiest way to start a revert war. Instead, the matter should be referred to an admin/bcrat to resolve in their "official" capacity, at which point they would warn the 1RV-breaker(s) that any further reverts will result in a block.

Granted, we don't often enforce 1RV to the letter, precisely due to the "I was just trying to help!" defense that you used here. Your intentions may be good, but that doesn't mean they won't lead to even more trouble in the end ("the road to hell..." and all that). —Dr Ishmael 19:14, 6 February 2012 (UTC)

Oh, okay. then on that note, yes I unintentionally broke it. I did respond to the ip on my talk what I'd do, which is consult support or anet on the forums. Kinda feel it might be a bug for that one, though dunno how either. Ty for explaining this to me. Ariyen 19:37, 6 February 2012 (UTC)

There, I left a note on the other anon's page about it. Will that mollify you? —Dr Ishmael 14:46, 6 February 2012 (UTC)

My name isn't Molly, it's Rask. hahaha 75.139.200.145 07:54, 7 February 2012 (UTC)

I knew that, and I've been trying to treat you with respect this time. But as always, you're making it extremely difficult for yourself. —Dr Ishmael 14:54, 7 February 2012 (UTC)

Not really, I went out and tested it myself, couldn't get him to attack any other naga. As for frostmaws, you don't need the quest to get through the first floor, you don't even need the quest to get the quest reward at the end of the dungeon, it automatically gets put in your log when you kill frostmaw marked as "completed". Also if you DON'T take the quest then there are no snowballs in the final floor. 75.139.200.145 19:18, 7 February 2012 (UTC)

Then could you please explain how that works? —Dr Ishmael 19:29, 7 February 2012 (UTC)

Rask, if you just said that you couldn't get him to attack any other naga... Then why are you posting this? "*This creature appears to be hostile to the nearby naga mobs." ? *confused* 72.148.31.114 19:33, 7 February 2012 (UTC)

I tried not taking the quest and I couldn't get past the first floor. The door was shut. Were you partied with other players at the time who may have had the quest? Jink 21:46, 7 February 2012 (UTC)

It was another anon that actually added that. Rask did the frostmaws edit though. --El_Nazgir 23:03, 7 February 2012 (UTC)

I didn't say the door was open. I simply said the quest is not required to finish the first floor. It's possible to walk through the door with certain tactics, as we don't post exploits/bugs on the wiki I simply added a note that it wasn't possible by legitimate means but in no way is it impossible. As for the snake boss, I reverted it and then tested it later and couldn't reproduce the issue. 75.139.200.145 23:35, 7 February 2012 (UTC)

Since we're back to talking about the Frostmaw issue directly, I've detoured this discussion back over there. —Dr Ishmael 00:22, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

Don't hate me because I'm funny.

An older friend of mine created this, and as a parent who enjoys the show, I was wondering your opinion on it.--Łô√ë îğá†ħŕášħ 17:50, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

Connection: (my favorite remix of it, anyway)

{{#widget:YouTube|id=sSVmarT_JEw|height=40}}

I'll read that after lunch. —Dr Ishmael 17:58, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

You win a muffin. Congratulations. It's double chocolate.--Łô√ë îğá†ħŕášħ 18:06, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

Yay, double chocolate muffin! *nomnom* *diabetes* Awww....

Looks good. The only thing I'd change is to say that most of the episodes end with a letter to the princess, but that may be unnecessary nitpicking given the intended audience.

Also, I would add Dragonshy to the list of recommended episodes. Similar to Ticket Master, it features the full Mane 6 and does a good job of demonstrating their personalities and interactions. And it has a dragon. Admittedly, it's one of the less-common "adventure" episodes, so it might give a false impression of what the rest of the show is like. But it has a dragon.

And I probably wouldn't recommend Applebuck Season. For some reason, Applejack is usually brilliant as a supporting character (Sisterhooves Social), but when an episode focuses on her, she turns into Stubbornjack, and I wouldn't want people to have that as their first impression of the character. (For the same reason, I wouldn't use Party of One, Lesson Zero, etc. to introduce people. They'd definitely be top of the list for people who want to see more after their "first taste," but said taste should be well-rounded with plenty of umami, rather than excessively sour or peppery.) —Dr Ishmael 19:01, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

My personal favourite will always remain "Bridle Gossip", plus I think it's also appropriate for this document. It shows all of the mane six, the great humour and the (strong) moral lesson. And I kind of agree with AJ turning into a stubborn mule when an episode is centred around her, which is a shame because she's my favourite. --El_Nazgir 11:40, 9 February 2012 (UTC)

I think one would need to be somewhat familiar with the characters to fully appreciate the Poison Joke gags in Bridle Gossip, but that's not a huge problem. Maybe as a second episode after Ticket Master/Dragonshy. —Dr Ishmael 15:46, 9 February 2012 (UTC)

Bridle gossip was the one that originally got me hooked on the series, with the prefect delivery of the "I don't wanna talk about it" (still gets me every time :D ). I suppose you do have a point, you should know a bit more about the characters to fully appreciate the poison joke's effects. --El_Nazgir 17:11, 9 February 2012 (UTC)

Beyond

I've added Imperial Guard Lockbox as a Winds of Change package b/c that's how I think of it. Royal Gift is a better exemplar of why using some sort of Beyond designation is appropriate:

• RGs aren't Core because owning factions doesn't give you access to get your own.
• They aren't Prophecies because you must own EotN (and vice-versa).
• Therefore, they are Beyond...more specifically, they are War in Kryta items (since you must get far enough through that campaign to get your own).

However, as you know, I don't really contribute here anymore so I don't want you to give too much weight to my views in deciding how this wiki should treat items from Beyond.  — Tennessee Ernie Ford (TEF) 20:31, 14 February 2012 (UTC)

Yeah, Beyond is better. —Dr Ishmael 20:36, 14 February 2012 (UTC)

I'm in favor of specifying which part of Beyond things belong to rather than just saying "Beyond", which isn't very helpful to players who only have access to certain parts of GWB. Also, whatever we decide, please make sure that Property:Campaign reflects that. -- Kirbman 03:53, 21 February 2012 (UTC)

PS Off topic, thanks for fixing my date typo earlier today. -- Kirbman 03:56, 21 February 2012 (UTC)

Come to a dissicion quick, I might start editing a few WoC pages soon. As soon as I finish my ele on NM, and get on with it on my warrior. Arnout aka The Emperors Angel 11:57, 21 February 2012 (UTC)

For categories, yes, we should definitely distinguish between War in Kryta and Winds of Change. For navboxes, if there are multiple items from each, then do it like Template:RewardTrophiesNavBox (with Beyond as a rowspanned super-header). If there's only 1 or 2, spreading them over multiple rows would leave too much blank space, I'd think. I seem to remember seeing something like this on Wikipedia:

For the property, I don't know. I guess there's really no harm in splitting up Beyond, but on the other hand, taking it into too fine detail could limit the usefulness and dilute the meaning of "campaign." Meh, I think I'll let you guys decide on that one. —Dr Ishmael 16:50, 21 February 2012 (UTC)

I'll just use what ever I see fit then ;-) Arnout aka The Emperors Angel 18:37, 21 February 2012 (UTC)

Thank you

Thank you very much for the addition to the site notice. So many seem to want to only include themselves and their friends, to not really include others. I noticed this not just in game, but abroad and I applaud those, including you, for taking the time out to share the "announcement" and news with all of those that are interested in Guild Wars 2. Be it a fan of Guild Wars, a new person, etc. Anyone that has an interest to check it out, would and should have a chance - or at least an attempt of a chance. I have been grateful for the betas of some games, even those that so many wanted to join, but didn't get to. Some were mad, but I was like and told them that it'd better to be grateful to those that got lucky and got in to try the beta and to wait for their turn and hope they get in for the beta, before things change. I know with Perfect World and a few of their games, they did 4 stages of closed beta with different groups, before they did open beta. Then it was open to the public within a week or two of the open beta. I am curious as to how ArenaNet would do their closed beta, considering they are planning in adding more to what I call the third phase. Again, thank you for your kindness. It does mean a lot to people. Ariyen 08:45, 23 February 2012 (UTC)

"So many seem to want to only include themselves and their friends, to not really include others" Excuse me, was that a stab at me? I was in the middle of an adrenaline rush/nerdgasm, I barely remembered to put anything here, and I simply forgot about the sitenotice, so my talk page seemed like the best place to me at the time.--El_Nazgir 10:10, 23 February 2012 (UTC)

Uh. Yeah, sure. —Dr Ishmael 13:51, 23 February 2012 (UTC)

No, it wasn't a stab at you El Nazgir. There's no names and I refer to some that are "closed minded" to not include more of a "variety" of areas of people, like I named. There are many that's looking for this, even non-gw players and gw players alike. Hope you understand :-) Ariyen 18:03, 23 February 2012 (UTC)

Ok, sorry then. It seemed a bit related to the talk of the fact that I didn't put it in the site notice.--El_Nazgir 19:37, 23 February 2012 (UTC)

I just saw your edit summary for the first time.

Well played, Sir. A F K When Needed 21:13, 23 February 2012 (UTC)

Inquiry

I have an Aegis of Clarity given to me by husband, whom had this dropped by an Elite ministry Captain in WoC. Though, I haven't even finished any of Chapter one, nor gotten that far. I don't know how to add this to a page. :-S I can upload two pictures of it. One with the stats and the other of the picture to use. I am quite unsure how to add this one to the wiki, hence posting here for advice. I'm clueless to WoC and this being a WoC green drop item... I just thought I'd post what I do know and see the results, being unsure about something is why I've not done anything. (And yes thankfully that rc spam of elites is now complete and I do apologize for any inconvenience it may have caused.) Ariyen 05:44, 3 March 2012 (UTC)

Just make an article for it like a normal green(?) item. Categories or whatever can be adjusted later. —Dr Ishmael 06:30, 3 March 2012 (UTC)

Template broken

Hi, I can't find the error in this template: Template:Zaishen forecast/Bounty/next. Maybe you gonna take a look at it? Kaede (talk) 22:09, 12 March 2012 (UTC)

No clue what changed, but I had to tweak both the offset and the substring length that you pull. Does it work for you? --JonTheMon 01:40, 13 March 2012 (UTC)

Now it's fine again! Thanks! Kaede (talk) 02:06, 13 March 2012 (UTC)

Need help

I am trying to delete Editing User:Suplyndmnd, this is me. My account was hacked and i'm having to tighten up security which means, not having my characters names out in the open. THank you.

Since this was for security reasons, I decided to trust you rather than waiting on you to verify your identity. However, you may now want to do the same thing for your user page on GW@Wikia, and if you could do that while logged in to Wikia, I would count that as verification for this site as well. —Dr Ishmael 14:05, 18 March 2012 (UTC)

Mainpage flux icon help

Hi Ishmael, I cannot revert on the mainpage. The only edit I made was the size of the icon for flux to set it to 25px, but somehow my editor or page is affecting the entire table. After (undo) for my edit, the mainpage forecast section is retaining the table sizes being moved around. Very sorry, and I'll keep my hands out of there.--ShmEk 17:00, 31 March 2012 (UTC)

Must have been my browser? I just went back to the mainpage and it looks okay after my undo now. I was freaking out there at messing something up. I'm not touching that icon again, but think it would be nice to have them all the same size and found that 25px seems to work good on that one.--ShmEk 17:02, 31 March 2012 (UTC)

The main page itself is protected from editing by non-admins. The edit links take you to Main Page/editcopy, where people can make proposals for changes. —Dr Ishmael 17:37, 31 March 2012 (UTC)

Amazon Embed coding question

I was just wondering if you knew of a way to stop embedded amazon videos from autoplaying. The autostart parameter in both the object and embed codes are set to false, but it is still playing automagically.--Łô√ë îğá†ħŕášħ 14:59, 26 April 2012 (UTC)

I don't know much about embeds, sorry. I assume it would be a parameter set in the source URI for the object, but it sounds like you've already tried that. —Dr Ishmael 15:02, 26 April 2012 (UTC)

I've been working on this for five days. I finally got it to work. The parameter was in the url. THE PARAMETER WAS IN THE URL. If I wasn't in my cubicle right now and my boss was having a quite conversation with a coworker I would throw something across the room.--Łô√ë îğá†ħŕášħ 15:38, 1 May 2012 (UTC)

So, I was right? Wow, that was just a guess. And if you must throw anything, throw a party. With confetti. And cake. And games. And booze. And games with booze. ...What were we talking about? —Dr Ishmael 15:44, 1 May 2012 (UTC)

SMW

Do you recall where the discussions about SMW were here? Also, if you have some neat examples of how you replaced DPL with SMW, that might also help with getting it on GW2W. --JonTheMon 18:40, 1 May 2012 (UTC)

Er, i found the "discussions" which were a lot of PanSola talking and not much response back.

Hah, that was the very first time anyone tried doing something with SMW here. Yeah, it kinda flopped because no one was interested and Pan didn't feel like doing it if no one wanted it.

This was the spark that resurrected the idea, unfortunately the discussion is heavily colored by my "feud" with mendel so my comments probably don't make a good impression. ^^; DPL just wasn't able to do what we needed with Nick, so I came up with an SMW scheme to store the metadata on the item pages (date, quantity, location) by adding semantics to the item infobox, and then use semantic queries to get the current week's collection (used on Nick's page and the Main Page) and Nick's historical table.

As a direct result of that, I completely overhauled the item infobox, and we had some good discussions about how to set up and manage semantic properties of items. I had wanted to continue overhauling all the infoboxes, but the only one I actually finished was Template:LocationInfo before the lack of activity here started to drain my enthusiasm. —Dr Ishmael 20:38, 1 May 2012 (UTC)

I like smw over dpl, it seems like less work to me. Ariyen 01:36, 2 May 2012 (UTC)

Is there anything you know of where DPL can do something that SMW can't? --JonTheMon 21:23, 3 May 2012 (UTC)

DPL is more flexible for category queries. Unless the newer versions of SMW have changed this, pages in subcategories of a queried are included by default and there is no syntax to disable that, and you can't apply a not condition to a category query in SMW. DPL can also query information about a page's revisions too. A quick-and-dirty explanation I've used before for the different strengths and weaknesses of each is that SMW works best for querying information from pages, while DPL is far better at querying information about pages (or to put it another way, it's better whene you need to query metadata.) — Eyes 21:42, 3 May 2012 (UTC)

I think Eyes nailed it. DPL can access all sorts of wiki-level data about a page, like number of revisions, size, original/last contributor, creation time, what pages it links to (and inverse), what templates it uses, etc. This makes it useful for generating lists like "pages in namespace X with the oldest current revisions." (SMW can also access some of this information - creation date, last modification date, and last editor.) —Dr Ishmael 22:02, 3 May 2012 (UTC)

Ban

Would it be appropriate to slap ban templates on the two spambots of today? I would have apreciated a more friendly tone, as all I'm doing is trying to help, and make your life easier. Arnout aka The Emperors Angel 07:28, 7 May 2012 (UTC)

I'm sorry for my tone, I don't tend to worry about that very much outside of making sure I'm not outright hostile - my standard tone is blunt and professional. Honestly, it isn't all that much work to delete the userpage after you do that, but it is unnecessary. I think the only reason a ban template would be necessary is if the wiki were extremely active and the user's actions had gotten buried in RC, you would post the template to make sure an admin noticed. Currently on GuildWiki, I don't think it's necessary at all.

The spambot last night (Myfaarthers) hit right after I went to bed, so unfortunately I couldn't do anything about it until I woke up, and it would appear we don't have any RC-hawk admins in Europe anymore. The other one (Janbray) looks like its bot script got confused somehow. If it strikes again and it actually works, then we'll ban it, but I have a feeling these are one-shot, throwaway accounts in any case. —Dr Ishmael 12:55, 7 May 2012 (UTC)

Okay, that that is how I will proceed. Thank you for your time. I would have banned the second one too, but atleast I was right in reverting it. Arnout aka The Emperors Angel 13:16, 7 May 2012 (UTC)

I am kind of an RC hawk, Ish (though I don't really do much edits, I know), but after you go to bed I wake up and go to school for the day :P I do check RC regularly when not in a game, and it's usually one of the first things I do when I quit a game. And still someone always manages to beat me to bans and reverts. Not sure how you guys do it, but are you psychic or something? --El_Nazgir 15:09, 7 May 2012 (UTC)

By "RC-hawk" I meant watching RC constantly all day long. You're more of an RC-... um... my bird analogies are failing me. >.> Anyway, I keep it pinned in my browser both at work and at home (along with STOWiki and, since last week, GW2W), and I check it regularly, usually at least once per hour. I always check while eating breakfast to see if anything bad happened during the night, so that's where I'm catching stuff before you get home from school. There's not much need for constant wiki patrolling anymore, I know, but it's an old habit that I probably won't be breaking anytime soon. —Dr Ishmael 15:19, 7 May 2012 (UTC)

Haha, yeah, I'm not that zealous, never been really. And how about falcon? I fly around a bit, and have some periods where I'm highly focussed (on prey)? :P --El_Nazgir 18:00, 7 May 2012 (UTC)

More like a house sparrow, Naz. Arnout aka The Emperors Angel 21:57, 7 May 2012 (UTC)

(Reset indent) Should I stop doing what I just did and just make use of the summery? Arnout aka The Emperors Angel 11:02, 8 May 2012 (UTC)

Nah, that was fine. Removing the spam links is the goal, so even though you can't completely delete the page, you can at least blank it like that. —Dr Ishmael 12:31, 8 May 2012 (UTC)

You age I age everybody ages!

I seem to have causes some additional edits with my single-digit change :P --El_Nazgir 00:18, 17 May 2012 (UTC)

Yes indeed. Jink saw it first (I rarely look at details of userspace edits) and updated her age, which I noticed and realized I need to update mine. Then I decided that since it's pretty unlikely that I'll be very active here by the time my next birthday comes up, I'll just make it automatic. Then Jink said "Do that for me!" and I said "Do it yourself!" and then she made puppy eyes and I did it anyway. ..... Yeah. —Dr Ishmael 03:40, 17 May 2012 (UTC)

I love my husband. Jink 03:57, 17 May 2012 (UTC)

It's nice when things become "auto". Less work needed in the long run. Ariyen 06:00, 17 May 2012 (UTC)

Would my puppy eyes work too? 0_0 --El_Nazgir 11:56, 17 May 2012 (UTC)

Not completely, but here's the code template:

{{#expr:{{#time:Y}}-[year after you were born]+{{#ifexpr:{{#time:n}}>[month you were born, or month before]|1|0}}}}

It'll be off by up to a couple weeks since it only calculates by year and month, but I didn't want to have my full birthdate present in one place (even though the hard-coded year is off by 1). —Dr Ishmael 12:23, 17 May 2012 (UTC)

Age only counts if you update the page!--67.2.45.99 15:42, 18 May 2012 (UTC)

A page inquiry

Em, why do we need things like Amber weapons/Gallery ?? when they don't link anywhere?

Those galleries are generated by a template that uses DPL, and it looks like the categories were renamed without updating the template calls. —Dr Ishmael 21:10, 19 May 2012 (UTC)

Ah, okay. Thanks! Ariyen 21:22, 19 May 2012 (UTC)

One "issue" and wondering if could be fixed. This Tormented_weapons/Gallery doesn't show the bows listed at Tormented_Bow... :-S Ariyen 21:26, 19 May 2012 (UTC)

It's because the image(s) aren't named the same as the article. It's been too long since I've done anything with DPL that I don't know how to fix it, or even if it can be fixed. —Dr Ishmael 21:30, 19 May 2012 (UTC)

what about Plagueborn_weapons/Gallery on those bows? Ariyen 21:31, 19 May 2012 (UTC)

Same thing. —Dr Ishmael 21:32, 19 May 2012 (UTC)

Whelp, I gave it a try, but apparently there's something with surrogate templates that i can't figure out. --JonTheMon 13:52, 21 May 2012 (UTC)

Surrogate templates have to be subtemplates of templates listed in the uses= parameter.

| uses = Template:X
 | include = {X}.subtemplate

I don't think you can use any sort of conditional logic in there, but maybe you could do:

| uses = Template:X¦Template:Y
 | include = {X}.subtemplate,{Y}.subtemplate

so that you select any pages that uses {X} or {Y}, and then include both their surrogate templates. No idea if that's valid, though.

Frankly, we don't really need that DPL template anymore - we could just make those gallery pages static. —Dr Ishmael 14:05, 21 May 2012 (UTC)

With the possibility of no changes to things like that in the game, I don't see why the gallery pages aren't static, to be honest. Ariyen 06:05, 22 May 2012 (UTC)

Feel free to update them, I won't have time to do anything today. —Dr Ishmael 15:31, 22 May 2012 (UTC)

Well, according to the dpl manual, they don't have to be named the same at all, or even be in the same namespace. It might not be something our version supports, but it's there in the manual. --JonTheMon 21:07, 22 May 2012 (UTC)

You wanted it.

You got it.--Łô√ë îğá†ħŕášħ 22:52, 30 May 2012 (UTC)

Ooooooh, I like. An extremely well-done homage to Lovecraft. Unfortunately, I was interrupted by the kidzilla right before the last entry, which I'm pretty sure dampened the overall impact. —Dr Ishmael 01:14, 31 May 2012 (UTC)

Abuse filter

Interesting filter. It makes sense and I recall a few times that happened, but it wouldn't have occurred to me to make it. Also, damn, dem bots are hitting the filter hard. --JonTheMon 14:47, 11 June 2012 (UTC)

I've seen it quite a bit in the past couple months - it stuck with me because of having to delete two pages and then block the user. —Dr Ishmael 14:51, 11 June 2012 (UTC)

Wow, someone has a hard-on for your page: [3] --JonTheMon 13:59, 19 June 2012 (UTC)

I saw that yesterday. XD I don't know whether to feel flattered that they chose my page as a worthwhile spam target, proud that our AbuseFilter settings are blocking it all, or horrified at what might happen without AbuseFilter. —Dr Ishmael 14:01, 19 June 2012 (UTC)

Well, most of the entries in the filter are from the 96.47.225.0/24 ip, but yeah, not having the abusefilter would have been painful (and has been painful in the past!). Also, it's nice to have the Big Red Button for those situations when all hope is lost. --JonTheMon 14:05, 19 June 2012 (UTC)

(Reset indent) So, apart from Talk:Shield of Absorption, it looks like most IP edits are being caught by the abuse filter. Think letting IPs back in would be fine? --JonTheMon 18:26, 2 July 2012 (UTC)

If it looks good to you, go ahead - I trust your judgment on AbuseFilter stuff a bit better than my own, actually. —Dr Ishmael 18:50, 2 July 2012 (UTC)

If he frustrates you

he wins. With mtew, that's the best measurement for how discussions with him go. Of course, the next best measurement is how much ink is spilled b/c of him. --JonTheMon 14:28, 12 July 2012 (UTC)

I know, I'm not bothered by that. Whether or not he gets a sense of satisfaction from finally breaking my spirit, I'll take my own satisfaction from how he's acting like a complete asshole to the majority of the admins.

I didn't write that post in anger, either - I discarded the angry one I wrote during breakfast and waited until I got to work to try again. In the first one I called him a "total gobshite," and even though I really wanted to use that word, I forced myself to take it out. :P —Dr Ishmael 14:44, 12 July 2012 (UTC)

Anger is different from frustration. And I don't even know that word. --JonTheMon 14:46, 12 July 2012 (UTC)

gobshite: "A word of irish origin, meaning a person who blabbers on about incredibly senseless things" ... "- as in shite coming out of their gob" (I've been reading The War of the Flowers by Tad Williams, where the "sidekick" character is a foul-mouthed female sprite with an Irish accent named Applecore.)

I wasn't equating anger with frustration, sorry if that was vague. I was emphasizing that I made that post with a calm (if slightly frustrated) state of mind. —Dr Ishmael 15:02, 12 July 2012 (UTC)

Ah, makes sense. I suppose even if i'm a little frustrated, I try not to let it show in discussions. Also, that kind of sidekick fairy would have been much more amusing in Zelda than Navi. --JonTheMon 15:05, 12 July 2012 (UTC)

I don't mind letting it show a little bit after a long drama-fest where I've otherwise done my best to be civil. That's just who I am - I'm not perfect, but I know when to remove myself from a situation: right after I start thinking of using words like "gobshite." :)

HA! I can see it now - an M-rated Zelda game developed by Rockstar. Hm... on second thought, maybe that's not such a great idea... —Dr Ishmael 15:14, 12 July 2012 (UTC)

(Reset indent) Jon: why haven't you already given him a timeout? He's doing exactly what he's been banned for before: breaking an existing consensus by an edit and then yelling and screaming because someone reverted it, wikia-laywering about the issue, and accusing people of being out to get him. He also uses the same arguments: that even if everyone posting disagrees with him, it does not count as an overwhelming consensus because there are thousands of people who have not posted yet. He also is performing the same actions as before: adding a parameter to a template that does not make use of it, arguing that it is not used, so it does no harm. He further makes the same argument that some day, there will be a use for it, although no one shares in this belief.

FWIW, I think Ish has been extremely restrained in his posts, but I think he's wasting his time trying to be reasonable..or sarcastic...or helpful. Mtew has some great ideas (some incredibly great), but are they really worth putting up with his monthly tantrums when his other ideas aren't accepted? 75.36.183.120 05:10, 13 July 2012 (UTC)

Well, that's a bit of a moot point right now, since he's been blocked. And for longer than i'd expect. I'm guessing that since we went out of our way to try to correct him that he got a higher block. Personally, I wasn't involved in the discussion as much as i started since it felt like it wasn't going anywhere or i didn't find the right time to interject. And since there were some more neutral voices involved, i wanted the block to be even more above board. --JonTheMon 13:16, 13 July 2012 (UTC)

I know I was wasting my time, I just can't resist the temptation. I suppose it's trolling, of a sort, but I kinda feel like I'm trolling myself with the futility of it just as much as I am the other person. Still doesn't make it right, and I'll try to fight the temptation harder in the future. —Dr Ishmael 14:50, 13 July 2012 (UTC)

Here's my two cents: "Don't let people like that bother you. You can give help only so much, until they get defensive and still claim they're in the right." I honestly am glad Tanetris stepped in, but to be honest I really feel that Auron just fueled the fire, instead of helping any. I do think many can go too far in being helpful and many can go the other way. For people like him, it's best to explain the facts and that is one thing that I still feel was missed to him. I don't think that he understood "why" his ideas weren't in use nor did he "feel" that they were "explained" as to why they "wouldn't" work. In my opinion, if he was told that at this time (wyn style ;-) (is what I call this )) that it's not a good idea or considered useful to the public (Yea, kind of reminds me of something Wyn said to me a few years ago.)... one could suggest sandbox. That is one thing that I noticed never was suggested... Sand-boxing his ideas... I do feel in a way that a year was too long, but I honestly think that if people learn to work with each other... Learn what's missing and how to "really" communicate, even to let or help others feel respected, would be nice. Assuming good faith goes more than one way... In my opinion, it goes to all editors, whether they be sysops or general users. No one is special and this seems to get lost on the official wikis... I do wish people could communicate better, but that's the general of any wiki... it's almost impossible without conflicts and hard to find those that can view without taking anything personal or understand others... Thank you for reading. Ariyen 09:19, 16 July 2012 (UTC)

If you look at his history on both GW2 wiki and the official GW1 wiki, he has already had a precedent of bad attitudes and multiple bans. If he hasn't gotten the point yet, I doubt he ever will, no matter how many times or in how many different ways they're explained to him. Jink 17:16, 16 July 2012 (UTC)

I saw those, but I can't trust that history, because I know of how some of those sysops are. They're unfair and biased. I believe only in half of it being right. I have had my fair bans, but I also have had my unfair bans on gww and gw2w. This being due to miss communcation mostly and people not understanding and assuming. A bad thing is assumption on things on wikis and it's been far worse on those. Most times, it takes an outsider to settle some things... Hence, I think things can be "overly" done when it's not the case and I like the times when tanetris stepped in and asked people to cool down. In retrospect, I'd rather see this done more. If there is going to be a heated argument, a disagreement with no end, etc. Block the pages after leaving a "nice" and "non-biased" note. There can be a limit on the time. It'd be for everyone's benefits and people can go back to it civilly and with more reasonable responses and to consider what they say. I do disagree with perminate bans, especially when the game has not come out and people have not been able to "contribute" that haven't bought the game or participated in the beta... I think all opinions should be respected and to be honest, I've yet to see this from some users. 72.148.31.114 21:06, 16 July 2012 (UTC)

I spent most of an evening parsing his history on GWW, and his behavior is exactly the same now as it was 3 years ago: he disrupts the wiki with his muleheadedness and his victimization complex whenever he gets reverted, no matter how many people have tried to beat AGF into his head. If there is any misunderstanding going on, it's on his part.

Honestly, it's not worth discussing him anymore, so I'm declaring this discussion closed. —Dr Ishmael 21:14, 16 July 2012 (UTC)

OBJECTION! I agree with your assessments above; his behavior is exactly the same as it was years ago. If he had remained active in 2010, he'd have been blocked just the same, but for whatever reason he took a self-imposed vacation... and came back doing the same shit all over again.

Tane and I took the same route in discussion; left alone, the wiki at large would be unable to deal with the situation. The best they could do is talk in circles with him, and I didn't want a repeat of... earlier scenarios with other problem users. We focused his attention on us and his arguments, and when he was unable to form any sensible ones, we laid down the hammer. I was in favor of a perma (because he's not going to change; mentally ill people need clinical help, not wiki breaks), but a year is a pretty solid compromise. If he comes back and starts it up again, it'll be a total nonissue to axe him for good.

If anything, I apologize for waiting that long to get involved in the situation. If he was that deep under your skin, I should have stepped in sooner to deal with it. My bad :< -Auron 04:13, 20 July 2012 (UTC)

You don't have a degree in medical to determine that Auron. I know people that know you to know what you do in Hawaii. It's not a big islands down there. Sides, we all are different. It's sad no one knows how to deal with them, unlike other groups and other wikis. At least they can deal with people like that better, than being biased over bans, and realizing when to step away, etc. Sides, I blame both sides. It's not civil communication on either side. You've got your offense and defense, but what's missing is what Mendel was good at - bringing the balance of the two into understanding. It was sad no one could do that with him and Ish or help him, when he needed it. 72.148.31.114 13:52, 20 July 2012 (UTC)

lol'd, you will never cease to amuse me -Auron 03:01, 21 July 2012 (UTC)

You'd never cease to amuse yourself as you bore me with your tactics. :-) 72.148.31.114 04:08, 21 July 2012 (UTC)

You know what....

I <3 you. Jink 14:51, 13 July 2012 (UTC)

picture deletion request

Can I get Erulis.png and Aahtan.png deleted please? After I uploaded Aahton I saw I was supposed to use jpeg instead of png ... doh, sorry :( Aloha, Mauirixxx 08:04, 22 October 2012 (UTC)

Done. In the future, don't worry about it - it's only a problem when we want to show both an icon and a screenshot of the same thing, so it doesn't really apply to NPCs. —Dr Ishmael 14:02, 22 October 2012 (UTC)

Roger. I assumed it was due to file sizes since the jpegs are about 1/5th the size of the png's. You rock sir. Aloha, Mauirixxx 18:09, 22 October 2012 (UTC)

Yeah, there's that too, but it's not as important anymore except on very large images. The difference between 100 and 500 kB isn't very noticeable with modern internet speeds. —Dr Ishmael 18:57, 22 October 2012 (UTC)

But think of the mobile users! :P Aloha, Mauirixxx 19:37, 22 October 2012 (UTC)

Thank you!

Curse would like to recognize the work and dedication of the wiki community administrators with a token of our thanks. To do that, we need mailing information. If you would like to participate, and receive our thank you gift email me at wynthyst@gmail.com with your username, and real world mailing information. -- Wynthyst talk 06:23, 23 October 2012 (UTC)

I apologize for being skeptical (blame the high security at my job), but if this is an official Curse thing, why are you using your Gmail address? —Dr Ishmael 12:48, 23 October 2012 (UTC)

Rollback

I thought that rollback could revert all the edits of a single user/IP. Take a look at RC, and tell me what I did wrong, cause that didn't happen. Arnout aka The Emperors Angel 19:47, 4 December 2012 (UTC)

Rollback only affects a single page, if a vandal has repeated edited a page it will undo all edits by that user by reverting to the last version that was by a different user. Since this spambot edited from different IP addresses, they circumvented rollback. —Dr Ishmael 19:49, 4 December 2012 (UTC)

That was worded wrong. I thought it could revert all the edits of a single IP to a single page. But in this case, a IP made four new headers on a single page, and all I rolled back was one header. O wait, I see it now. It wasn't a single IP. Wow, that's clever. I'll be more carefull next time, and delete it by hand, unless you have a better solution. Arnout aka The Emperors Angel 19:54, 4 December 2012 (UTC)

Yeah, it caught me at first, too. And all you can do in that case is a manual revert. The same spambot hit GW2W recently, but I think I can write a filter to block it. —Dr Ishmael 19:56, 4 December 2012 (UTC)

Cleaned it up. Sheez, that bot got me to mess up RC good! Arnout aka The Emperors Angel 20:40, 4 December 2012 (UTC)