User talk:Echelon

Some Nice Extensions
I've browsed through mediawiki.org's extension matrix the other day and I've found a few extensions that would be nice to have (not all of them now, but in the future perhaps). I've arranged it in a sortable table format with rationales and links to make it easier for you to make a decision on them :)

Also, I've bolded the name on those that I feel would help right now, the rest can be installed whenever (if ever). If a release status is italicized it means that it may not work correctly on our current version of MediaWiki. An underlined release status means that it has dependencies which we may or may not have installed as of yet. An italicized name means that we already have it, it just needs to be updated. These are also marked with "(update)" in the release status.

I'll be giving you messages like this periodically, but I'd appreciate it if you looked over these extensions. -- 16:57, 29 August 2007 (CDT)
 * I would say yes to the bolded ones (Parser is already installed, probably just needs an update) and no to the non bolded (beta, spammable, editcountitis). -- Prod (Talk) 21:28, 29 August 2007 (CDT)
 * Hence the "(update)" part. ;) Anyway, of the non-bolded ones, the only one I feel that we might need in the future is the RandomSelection one, mainly for rotating the featured guides once we get a few. I don't know what kind of caching issues the extension causes however, so I'll need to do a bit more research on that (which is actually why it isn't bolded). As for MultiUpload, I can see what Prod means by 'spammable' (I'm assuming that it was the one he was referring to). You can prevent either some or all of the spam by restricting what rights groups can use it (namely either autoconfirmed or sysop), but I have no idea how to do that, either. :( Oh, and we seem to be missing the description image for imagemap. A quick fix would be copying Wikipedia's and just putting it in the appropriate path (which can be found on InvisiClues). -- 09:41, 30 August 2007 (CDT)
 * Oh, nice job! I really like some of these. As soon as I get back from robotics lab tomorrow I'll be on it. I'll give MediaWiki an upgrade while I'm at it. echelontalk 02:21, 31 August 2007 (CDT)
 * You'll be making a backup to update MediaWiki anyway, so could you look into making it available (except for the user table), or at least supply it to the sysops/bureaucrats? StrategyWiki has boatloads of content now, and having a few backups held by the regulars can't be a bad thing. GarrettTalk 04:20, 31 August 2007 (CDT)
 * Is it worth upgrading MediaWiki at the moment? The next major version will be out soon, so it might be an idea to wait until then. -- 05:29, 31 August 2007 (CDT)
 * Personally, I'm more comfortable with bugfix versions of the branches since they tend to have fewer bugs in the new features. -- Prod (Talk) 19:36, 31 August 2007 (CDT)
 * Let me talk with you guys in IRC tomorrow (today - Saturday afternoon EST) about getting fresh backups distributed this weekend. If you think it's best to wait on the new MediaWiki branch, I trust that assessment as well. I think it should be okay to work with the extensions, though. echelontalk 01:47, 1 September 2007 (CDT)
 * I updated ParserFunctions, added DeletedContributions, MultiUpload, Newuserlog, and UsernameBlacklist. While I liked some of the other extensions, I do not feel comfortable that they are not built by the MediaWiki team. I would like to continue discussion of those extensions before we reach a consensus on whether or not to add them. If you can, test the heck out of the extensions that were added to make sure nothing went awry. echelontalk 02:19, 1 September 2007 (CDT)
 * I'd be wary of the username blacklist, one wrong edit can block all user creation so I think we should update the mediawiki text here Maybe with an email address or something in case that happens .--Rocky http://media.strategywiki.org/images/thumb/7/78/Rally-X_Rock.png/25px-Rally-X_Rock.png (Talk - Contributions) 02:55, 1 September 2007 (CDT)
 * Special:MultipleUpload is a bit messed up atm.--Rocky http://media.strategywiki.org/images/thumb/7/78/Rally-X_Rock.png/25px-Rally-X_Rock.png (Talk - Contributions) 02:57, 1 September 2007 (CDT)

I tried fixing Special:MultipleUpload, but even CSS didn't hide the edittools at the bottom for me, so I just reverted my changes to let you (or someone else) have a go at another method. As for the blacklist, you may want to set a few people with the "uboverride" right so they can create blacklisted accounts upon request if there is a good reason for it. As for blocking everybody... yeah, that might be a problem. You could put in a comment (a line starting with #) of regexs NOT to use. -- 11:04, 1 September 2007 (CDT)
 * Oh, and Special:DeletedContributions is broken (not just the interface showing up correctly, but it gives db errors when you actually try to look them up). -- 11:16, 1 September 2007 (CDT)
 * We need an new welcome message now, and new user log only works for a day.--Rocky http://media.strategywiki.org/images/thumb/7/78/Rally-X_Rock.png/25px-Rally-X_Rock.png (Talk - Contributions) 11:54, 1 September 2007 (CDT)
 * For the moment, you can subst User:Rocky/Welcome.--Rocky http://media.strategywiki.org/images/thumb/7/78/Rally-X_Rock.png/25px-Rally-X_Rock.png (Talk - Contributions) 11:59, 1 September 2007 (CDT)

New User Log
While the new user log is kinda neat, it doesn't seem to be of much use to us. Because we aren't welcoming new users until they've actually made a contribution, the log doesn't serve much purpose that I can see. It just clutters up the recent changes list. Is there a setting where I can turn that off?-- Duke Ruckley  21:43, 2 September 2007 (CDT)
 * For the moment, enhanced recent changes hides the logs, but I really would like another way.--Rocky http://media.strategywiki.org/images/thumb/7/78/Rally-X_Rock.png/25px-Rally-X_Rock.png (Talk - Contributions) 02:54, 3 September 2007 (CDT)
 * It does get a bit messy, doesn't it? I wonder if there's a way around showing it all in Recent Changes... echelontalk 15:41, 3 September 2007 (CDT)
 * I do like to see all these strange, unused accounts and the socks that get created by some of them. Only thing better would be IP's. -- 16:26, 3 September 2007 (CDT)

Donation
No, it's ok. Just the name is fine. -- 08:58, 4 September 2007 (CDT)


 * Same here Ech. BTW, we tried to replace the "Donate" text with the Paypal icon that Skizzerz put on the Donation page, but it didn't work.  That nav bar obviously needs some tweaking to allow images to appear in there, but I think it would be worthwhile if it's possible.  If it can be done, it should be positioned below "Help".  As for attracting new traffic, Duke and I came up with a funny campaign slogan: "What the FAQ? www.strategywiki.org" :) Procyon (Talk) 09:19, 4 September 2007 (CDT)
 * I had a go on my user page, is this what you want?--Rocky http://media.strategywiki.org/images/thumb/7/78/Rally-X_Rock.png/25px-Rally-X_Rock.png (Talk - Contributions) 09:54, 4 September 2007 (CDT)
 * Err... kind of. I assume you got it as close to what I meant as you could, but yeah, the image would literally replace the text, not live along side of it.  Procyon (Talk) 13:27, 4 September 2007 (CDT)
 * It's an issue with different screen sizes and browsers I think, on mine it replaces the donation text. Anyways, could you externally link to the image in the mediawiki sidebar?--Rocky http://media.strategywiki.org/images/thumb/7/78/Rally-X_Rock.png/25px-Rally-X_Rock.png (Talk - Contributions) 14:39, 4 September 2007 (CDT)
 * That was a no-go. I tried it out, didn't work.  Someone needs to fiddle with the MediaWiki:Sidebar settings to allow it.  Procyon (Talk) 16:30, 4 September 2007 (CDT)

Yo Ech, keep my (real) name private aight? =) You can list me as my username.  -- 21:00, 4 September 2007 (CDT)
 * Sure thing. I promise not to tell anyone your real name is Georg Fredrick Claget von Dusseldorf. I totally promise. :P echelontalk 22:21, 4 September 2007 (CDT)