User talk:Echelon

BlueCloud Template Code
I've been working on setting up a private site for a Community/Newsletter I've been working on and have been looking for a good skin that would look nice for it. Then i remembered your BlueCloud Template. Could i get the a copy of the Code and the Files ETC? I wont use the same coloration as SW and such because i wouldn't want to steal your Image. :) WillSWC 20:06, 4 January 2007 (CST)
 * Any thoughts on this? WillSWC 22:28, 6 March 2007 (CST)
 * Will, I don't want to sound completely arrogant about this, but BlueCloud is one of the key things that really distinguishes StrategyWiki and sets it apart from all other MediaWiki projects. Most MediaWiki sites use Monobook or a simple extension of it, and while there's nothing wrong in that, BlueCloud is a stark and vivid contrast to that theme. The reason for the unique BlueCloud theme was so that viewers and new contributors would feel an initial sense of awe towards our project--a unique and worthwhile project--not something established on a whim with little or no effort involved. When new visitors see that we're not just implementing Monobook, they know we put effort into our project. Not just the content, but the image as well. If we simply give away the layout of StrategyWiki, in a sense that uniqueness disappears. If I give it to you, I'll have to give it to everyone. And not everyone will take the time to recolor the theme--they'll just use it as is. Then BlueCloud will just be known as "just a skin"--emphasis on the word just. While I can't stop you or anyone else from copying BlueCloud, nor would I have the energy or the patience to fight someone on the issue, I hope people will respect our image enough not to simply copy it. Do you understand my angle? Sorry if this disappoints you. Even on Wikipedia, while the content is free, the distinguishing traits (name and logo) are protected. In a closing note, I'll be open to the comments of others should they be of a differing opinion, though it will be hard to convince me to change my opinion on this.  ech elon  02:58, 7 March 2007 (CST)
 * (I really don't want to see two dozen other wikis using BlueCloud... blech... then I'd want to change our layout again. And if they wanted to copy that, again and again ad absurdum.  ech elon  03:02, 7 March 2007 (CST) )
 * If you want to use one of the old DSmeet skins (or even the current one), feel free.  ech elon  03:02, 7 March 2007 (CST)
 * I'd do more then just recolor the skin of course. But i love the idea of a sidebar but I of course understand why you wouldnt want to let anyone have a copy. WillSWC 03:19, 7 March 2007 (CST)

Random test pages
Isn't it about time you deleted all these random test pages of yours? :-P --DrBob (Talk) 06:23, 12 February 2007 (CST)


 * Whoops, I forgot about all that cruft. I've gotten rid of them now. :P  ech elon  10:33, 12 February 2007 (CST)

Link Colors
Hey, I know this is somewhat of a weird (and random) question, but could you tell me what the color of the interwiki links is (or the hexadecimal code if there is no HTML color defined for it)? Thanks. --Ryan SchmidtTalk - Contribs 19:16, 12 February 2007 (CST)
 * I believe the color is the same as internal links, or #520. Hope this helps.  ech elon  14:20, 13 February 2007 (CST)
 * Actually, it might be #4987b4, according to Firefox's Webdeveloper plugin.  ech elon  14:22, 13 February 2007 (CST)

Google ads and IGE
Greetings Echolon, and thank you for your reply at http://strategywiki.org/wiki/StrategyWiki_talk:Community_Portal/16#Thoughts_on_Google_Adsense.3F . there you ask, if we do have a balacklist. Hm, would a blacklist be supported anyway? respectively, what other options do we have to filter out unwanted ads (like i.e. bad word filter, company names)?--Kajolus 04:34, 14 February 2007 (CST)
 * Our only filtering option is for URLs, unfortunately. There's really no way to filter based on words or names. If we had a list of IGE's domains, I'd block them.  ech elon  22:35, 14 February 2007 (CST)
 * thank you! :) should I simply post the URL's here, or do you prefer if I send you an email ("send this user an email")? btw, am currently toying around with "McAfee site advisor". neat tool imho, as you can see the "Online affiliations" for the web site you currently visit. like power4game.com links to thsale.com i.e. --Kajolus 10:28, 16 February 2007 (CST)
 * Posting the urls here is fine--it might be good information to share with others. Thanks!  ech elon  00:31, 18 February 2007 (CST)
 * Right so... finally found a bit spare time to do some work. http://editthis.info/mmo_ad_blockers/Main_Page - this is a wiki, setup to provide input for admins, in case they want to ban those sites. as every wiki, work is in progress. next step is, to manually check the links. --Kajolus 04:54, 5 March 2007 (CST)

Potential significant change, could use input and later assistance.
I started a discussion on making a pretty substantial change to infobox and I thought I'd let you know about the discussion in case you were interested or wanted to help with the change if it was supported. link. Oh, and if you know someone who would want to help out/discuss this who's talk page I didn't leave it on, if you could let them know, that'd be useful, thanks. -- Mason11987 (Talk - Contributions) 09:01, 16 February 2007 (CST)
 * I'll check it out, thanks.  ech elon  00:32, 18 February 2007 (CST)

Monobook suggestions
See my comments in two discussions on the community portal talk. . About the toolbox and adsense announcment (the toolbox would be great if you could do that). -- Mason11987 (Talk - Contributions) 01:50, 19 February 2007 (CST)

Adminship criteria and policy
Could you tell me what the criteria is for becoming a SysOp and what the policy is for requesting it (or nominating others)? Thanks. --Ryan SchmidtTalk - Contribs 15:29, 27 February 2007 (CST)
 * Sorry for the intrusion, but I started a broader discussion on this here. -- Mason11987 (Talk - Contributions) 17:03, 27 February 2007 (CST)

CharInsert
I was wondering if you could add the charinsert extension so that I can add something like this although most likely not as extensive to the edit window. It would be quite useful for doing redirects, and I'm sure we can add the AGN to that as well. -- Mason11987 (Talk - Contributions) 17:09, 27 February 2007 (CST)
 * Would definately be useful, though it might be better to set up as commons does. Though they both have benefits. -- Prod (Talk) 17:27, 27 February 2007 (CST)
 * I like the commons one, but we don't need all those char sets. -- Mason11987 (Talk - Contributions) 18:03, 27 February 2007 (CST)
 * There's no Japanese, yet there's Welsh! Haha! Anyway, I'll set this up when I get home.  ech elon  16:21, 28 February 2007 (CST)
 * Many thanks. -- Mason11987 (Talk - Contributions) 20:53, 28 February 2007 (CST)
 * Done! :)  ech elon  22:30, 28 February 2007 (CST)
 * So how do we use it? And what characters were you looking for anyways?  Normal ascii chars?  --Notmyhandle 22:37, 28 February 2007 (CST)
 * I think you edit the MediaWiki: namespace, specifically the MediaWiki:Edittools template. This would require an admin to do.  ech elon  22:43, 28 February 2007 (CST)
 * I thought you just said you did it... what did you mean by "Done!"? --Notmyhandle 22:52, 28 February 2007 (CST)
 * I mean done by the fact that the parser is installed. I have *no* idea what everyone wants to use for the toolbox itself--that's up to a community consensus. We can actually make it whatever the heck we want, not just copy MediaWiki. In fact, I assumed that we wanted to put something custom there. Perhaps we should make some demos and then put them up for vote?  ech elon  23:14, 28 February 2007 (CST)
 * I've added all the stuff to MediaWiki:Edittools. I tried with the commons version, but we need some css or js (too lazy to search right now).  I changed it to the wp version, though you'll notice there's the big #ifeq: parser thing there.  I think it would be best to mix and match the two versions (if someone figures out where those styles are coming from, just preview the original posting).  Keep the most important ones always visible, and put the rest into a dropdown.  The bottom section also needs cleaning up since it's really long now.  -- Prod (Talk) 00:50, 1 March 2007 (CST)
 * Awww only admins can edit? ='( --Notmyhandle 00:59, 1 March 2007 (CST)

Hosting

 * Note: I moved the conversation into Community Issues.  ech elon  16:52, 28 February 2007 (CST)

Requests for adminship/Ryan Schmidt
Wanna give this a look? Thanks. -- Mason11987 (Talk - Contributions) 09:15, 6 March 2007 (CST)
 * I've just made him a sysop, although I've got no idea if I left my message in the right place on the page. --DrBob (Talk) 11:47, 6 March 2007 (CST)

abxy
I tried to create an account but there were errors and strange things. Now when I try to sign in, it says the account hasn't been e-mail validated yet, but I haven't received an e-mail. Is this some problem on my end (such as myself being impatient) or did something go wrong? Haven't visited abxy before so I thought it'd be an interesting thing to check out as I'm a part of strategywiki, so let me know, thanks. -- Mason11987 (Talk - Contributions) 17:52, 8 March 2007 (CST)
 * Same thing for me too. I have never got an email yet. How long does that usually take? --Ryan SchmidtTalk - Contribs 21:26, 8 March 2007 (CST)
 * There's currently a problem with our email system (instead of using the mail function of php, we use a more complicated means that should probably be rethought). I've asked Dan about the problem, but he claims our mail daemon is online. Either way, we're working on a new and improved software package entirely for sometime around this Summer. I'll manually email you the verification key.  ech elon  21:27, 8 March 2007 (CST)
 * May I recommend not requiring e-mail validation until it is working? If I didn't know better means of contacting you (and probably <1% of those signing up do) I would have just never visited abxy again to be honest. -- Mason11987 (Talk - Contributions) 09:56, 9 March 2007 (CST)