User talk:Captain MacTavish

Starting my first talk page, people. Feel free to ask me stuff. I'll answer your questions, no matter how stupid they are (unless it's vandalism, of course, then I'll just revert it).

Welcome to StrategyWiki!
Hello Drilly Dilly! Welcome to StrategyWiki. Thank you for your contributions. If you have any questions, just contact a sysop through their talk page or post on the staff lounge, and they'd be happy to help. If you need help editing, check the StrategyWiki Guide or ask a sysop, we're usually around. On the other hand, if you have ideas for StrategyWiki, bring them up on the forums. To keep up-to-date with the goings on of the wiki, consider adding the noticeboard to your watchlist.

Please remember to sign your name when leaving comments on talk pages by clicking or using four tildes (    ); this will automatically produce your name and the date. Feel free to delete this message from your talk page if you like, or keep it for reference. Happy editing! — Prod (talk) 13:55, 21 December 2015 (UTC)
 * Thanks for cleaning up after the vandal :). -- Prod (talk) 13:55, 21 December 2015 (UTC)
 * Don't mention it. :) Drilly   the   Elfhog  17:12, 21 December 2015 (UTC)

Pre-load buttons
In order to keep pages on the wiki neat and uniform, we employ certain formatting and templates to help us accomplish this. When creating a new page, please use one of the pre-load buttons located above the edit text box (e.g. click on "Guide page" to add Header Nav to the top and Footer Nav to the bottom), which will insert the needed templates and formatting for you. These templates are very handy because they include the templates that are required for each page type. If you are unsure about how to use them, or what pages to use them on, please let me know. Thanks for keeping the wiki organized! —  Pro cyon  18:58, 21 December 2015 (UTC)
 * Likewise, please do not remove the Continue Nav or ToC templates from front-pages, they are required templates unless a guide is designated as a one-page guide.  Pro  cyon  18:58, 21 December 2015 (UTC)

Bandai Namco
The correct name for the company that develops and produces Tekken 7 is Bandai Namco, regardless of whether or not the original titles in the series were developed exclusively by Namco before they merged with Bandai. Please don't revert the edit back to incorrect information. I know you are new here, and I don't want to discourage you from continuing to contribute, but we value accuracy on this site. Please take a little more time to understand how the site functions before you correct the staff on various matters. And once again, I'd like to remind you about the pre-load buttons; the Main game page button will pre-populate a new guide front page for you with all the necessary templates. We give authors a lot of free reign to construct their guides however they like, but for the purposes of creating a single navigation experience for all users, we do insist on a few templates. They are not optional. You can find more information about all of this in our guide. Thank you.  Pro cyon  02:11, 22 December 2015 (UTC)
 * Now can I understand the name (you can just put it as Bandai Namco since Bandai Namco isn't a real page, only a redirect), but since there's no category named Bandai Namco, what's the point of putting it there instead Category:Namco? Drilly   the   Elfhog  02:17, 22 December 2015 (UTC)
 * Wait, never mind, you did something. Thanks, anyways. Drilly   the   Elfhog  02:24, 22 December 2015 (UTC)
 * a) It turns out there actually was a proper page setup, under the name Bandai Namco Games, and b) this is a wiki; if a necessary page doesn't yet exist, just create it. You're unblocked.   Pro  cyon  02:26, 22 December 2015 (UTC)
 * Thank you. I'll see if there's more I can do. Drilly   the   Elfhog  02:29, 22 December 2015 (UTC)
 * Also, why can't I upload anything at this point? There are several images that are needed to be uploaded, like the ones for Project M, FNAF, etc.. Drilly   the   Elfhog  02:53, 22 December 2015 (UTC)
 * File uploads are temporarily disabled due to a corruption on our file server. Keep your eyes on our Facebook page or Twitter account for updates.   Pro  cyon  02:55, 22 December 2015 (UTC)

(reset) I understand. As soon as the file server goes back to normal, I'll be sure to upload the images ASAP. Drilly  the   Elfhog  02:58, 22 December 2015 (UTC)
 * Uploads have been re-enabled. -- Prod (talk) 12:16, 22 December 2015 (UTC)

Vandalism
Look, I appreciate your genuine attempt to help, particularly with respect to the vandalism, so please don't take this the wrong way when I ask you to stop helping. It's equally as frustrating to see you getting in a rollback war with a vandal as it is discovering the vandalism in the first place. By doing what you did, you're giving them precisely the kind of attention they are craving, and actually encouraging them to continue. We have a strict policy on this matter, we do not communicate with them in any way. We ban them first, and then we clean up the mess. Doing anything else in any other order is counter-productive.

I've done a Check User on the culprits, and there wasn't a narrow enough range to do a mass block, so I've done what I can. Hopefully, they'll just run out of steam and give up. But interacting with them is as good as handing them an invitation to continue. I promise you, we take good care of the site; it rarely, if ever, goes more than 24 hours without patrolling. Please just focus on guide content for the time being until you become more familiar with the particulars of this site. Thanks.  Pro cyon  02:55, 24 December 2015 (UTC)
 * With sincere willpower, I completely understand. Also, not to support the vandals, but I don't see how Leeroy Jenkins is an unacceptable username, unless of course, someone else already has that username. Drilly   the   Elfhog  03:31, 24 December 2015 (UTC)
 * It was a pre-emptive block. Same IP as the other guys, I just used the same blanket reason for all three accounts.  I have no problem with the LJ name, just didn't care enough to be creative about the reason I was blocking him.
 * I also want to apologize if I came off sounding harsh. Both Prod and I see a lot of potential in you, and we hope you'll stick around for a while and become a big contributor.  We just want you to get more familiar with the peculiarities of SW before you dive into more administrative tasks.   Pro  cyon  03:42, 24 December 2015 (UTC)
 * Perfect example to above: we don't put welcome messages on anonymous IPs. Please slow down.   Pro  cyon  03:43, 24 December 2015 (UTC)
 * I'm very sorry for what I did, and I promise to avoid doing that again. Speaking of which, which template was the correct one to use? Drilly   the   Elfhog  03:46, 24 December 2015 (UTC)
 * Several reasons:
 * For one, we use the register template, inviting them to register.
 * We only do it when we see frequent changes from a particular IP, and they seem motivated to contribute long term. Some users only want to make a small fix, and don't want to be hassled.
 * Not everyone has a static IP. In the case of those small fix IPs, it would be confusing if a second user got that same IP, came to edit SW for the first time, and saw an invitation to join the site before they contributed anything.  Pro  cyon  03:48, 24 December 2015 (UTC)
 * I see. Now I know that register is the right template to use to greet an IP address. Again, I am very sorry for the inconvenience and hope I didn't cause any trouble. Drilly   the   Elfhog  03:52, 24 December 2015 (UTC)
 * Honestly, it's very little trouble, and your heart is definitely in the right place. All I'm asking is that you just take a little time to observe how we do things before you dive right in.  You have the potential and promise of becoming a good admin, but patience is also a good quality to have ;)   Pro  cyon  03:59, 24 December 2015 (UTC)
 * My goal is to improve and help out wikis that I have interest in in order to make them better, and StrategyWiki just seems to be the kind of wiki that needs other users' help. Drilly   the   Elfhog  06:39, 25 December 2015 (UTC)

Easier editing
The Show preview button (right next to the Save page button) lets you see how your changes will look before saving the page. You can use Show preview as many times as you like until you get the page how you want it. You can also edit the whole page at one time, as opposed to by section, by clicking the Edit tab at the top of the page. Hopefully these little shortcuts will make it easier for you to get the desired result when you're editing, and save you a little time. Thanks for working on the wiki! —  Pro cyon  12:11, 24 December 2015 (UTC)

Image uploads
Please see our policy on image naming and categorization. For consistency and ease of use throughout the wiki, image names should contain the name of the game or its abbreviation and a one or two word description. All images also need the appropriate categories added, as well as the guide-specific image category (e.g.  ). Thanks for helping to keep our images neat! —  Pro cyon  12:11, 24 December 2015 (UTC)
 * Please go back and fix the PM and FNAF files you uploaded.  Pro cyon  12:11, 24 December 2015 (UTC)

Finish your sentences
I notice a lot of edits where you simply end a sentence abruptly without finishing it. It's generally understood that no article is ever truly complete, but to end your editing session with a sentence that reads "On top of that, Ganondorf is also equipped with a" without taking the time to finish it is lazy at best, and irresponsible at worst.  Pro cyon  01:25, 30 December 2015 (UTC)
 * Apologies. John   "Soap"   MacTavish  08:21, 30 December 2015 (UTC)

Who do you think you are?
I'll thank you not to insert yourself into my conversations with other admins, or attempt to speak for me or any of the other staff on this site. I don't care how much wiki experience you have anywhere else, you are new to this site and it's community, and if you have any hopes of becoming anything more than that, it would behoove you take a giant step back and demonstrate that you can be respectful of other people's roles and conversations. Thus far, you've shown very poor judgement in your attempts to assume a more prominent role here and that makes you a nuisance user in my eyes. Focus on generating guide content, and leave running the site and welcoming users to those who have earned that responsibility through hard work and dedication.  Pro cyon  05:00, 4 January 2016 (UTC)
 * I don't see what was so bad about what I did. John   "Soap"   MacTavish  05:08, 4 January 2016 (UTC)
 * I know you don't, and that's precisely the problem. Perhaps you should take some time to think about it and let me know when you've come up with an answer.   Pro  cyon  14:30, 4 January 2016 (UTC)
 * Not to be bossy (I don't ever want to be like that), but all I did was compliment Zaiqukaj for what s/he said about always thinking of this wiki and its many helpful contributors like you, Prod, me, etc.. John   "Soap"   MacTavish  23:33, 4 January 2016 (UTC)
 * You said:
 * "Your devotion and contributions to StrategyWiki is always appreciated by Procyon, Prod, and other users."
 * The tone of that statement implies a lot of things about you which aren't true, including:
 * That you are in a position to judge Zaiqukaj's contributions, who has been a member of this site since 2007, so I'm faily certain you are unfamiliar with the extent of his contributions.
 * That you are in a position to speak for me, for Prod, or for any other member of this site, which is simply not true under any circumstance.
 * That you have any knowledge of the communication that has taken place between Zaiqukaj and I such that you can come on to my talk page and inject yourself, without invitation, into a conversation that had nothing to do with you or anything you were working on at the time.
 * Bottom line, it was rude. You've been with the site for two weeks.  This site has been around for ten years.  Are you even familiar with the process of becoming an administrator on this site?  Are you aware that it's a peer-review process?  All of the admins on this site have earned the trust and respect of myself and several other editors.  They are the people I want greeting users, so that in case a user has a question, they know who they can turn to for an accurate answer.  Someone who has proven to others that they fully understands how the site operates.  You haven't taken the time to learn any of that.  You charged in, made a bunch of assumptions about how things worked, and tried to present yourself as an authority.  I'm not discounting the fact that I know you had good intentions.  But even after I tried to gently ask you to back off, you didn't listen.  Commenting on my talk page was simply the last straw.   Pro  cyon  01:17, 5 January 2016 (UTC)
 * I didn't mean to be rude at all. I'm sorry for that. Truth is, I wasn't aware that I was talking to an experienced user. Don't worry, I've already figured out the answer. Best thing to do now is just forget about that and let bygones be bygones, so water under the bridge. Again, I apologize for any insolence I had caused, and I was never aware of that. Right now, I'll just continue working on stuff that require improvements. John   "Soap"   MacTavish  01:52, 5 January 2016 (UTC)
 * That's all I could ever ask for. And to that end, I will do everything I can to support you.  I accept your apology, thank you.   Pro  cyon  01:55, 5 January 2016 (UTC)
 * Keep in mind that I still think that you're a very nice and trustworthy bureaucrat at best who is very helpful at supporting users on StrategyWiki and encouraging them to resume making good contributions, seeing as how you've already helped me correct and learn from my mistakes a few times, including from just then. Thank you for everything, Procyon. John   "Soap"   MacTavish  00:01, 6 January 2016 (UTC)
 * OK, OK, I got the sentiment the first time, you don't need to continuously tweak it. I'm not looking for any platitudes, I just want our content to grow, that's all.  Do what you can to help grow our content, don't worry about me.   Pro  cyon  02:45, 6 January 2016 (UTC)
 * Not a problem, sir. Again, thank you for everything, and I wish for you the best of luck. John   "Soap"   MacTavish  07:13, 6 January 2016 (UTC)

Unauthorized edit
You had no permission to make this change. If you do something like this again, you will be temporarily banned for a short period of time. Repeated infractions will result in longer and longer bans until you are blocked editing the site permanently. I hope I have made myself clear.  Pro cyon  14:59, 6 January 2016 (UTC)
 * Don't worry, you did. Sir, I understand what you mean, and again, I apologize for my recent action, and I want to thank you again for correcting my mistake... again, albeit I would appreciate it if you started off with a reminder about the mistake I made, and then go for a warning the next time I repeat that same mistake, rather than immediately going for a warning after the first time, because that's only going to slightly discourage me from contributing; nonetheless, I will continue my efforts to improve StrategyWiki without any insolence at all, and thank you very much for your dedication.


 * Also, aside from me being new to this wiki, I'm also very young, being at the age of 15, so forgive me if my naiveness/inexperience causes any trouble. I've decided that I should only be editing mainspace pages, unless an emergency arises. Thank you for understanding. John   "Soap"   MacTavish  21:02, 6 January 2016 (UTC)
 * I've already said to you multiple times in less than three weeks:
 * "Please just focus on guide content for the time being until you become more familiar with the particulars of this site."
 * "All I'm asking is that you just take a little time to observe how we do things before you dive right in."
 * "But even after I tried to gently ask you to back off, you didn't listen."
 * "Do what you can to help grow our content, don't worry about me."
 * Precisely how many reminders do you need before a warning is appropriate?  Pro  cyon  21:58, 6 January 2016 (UTC)
 * I'm good for now. Don't worry, kind sir. I'll just resume focusing on editing articles and game guides on this wiki rather than stuff I am not yet experienced with. Once again, I am very sorry for all the trouble I have put you through in the past, and I hope you can forgive me, and I promise that I will never be making these mistakes again. Again, I have faith in you and still believe that you are a very trustworthy bureaucrat who is very good at helping out inexperienced users, like me. I'll be dropping out of this discussion at this point. John   "Soap"   MacTavish  22:57, 6 January 2016 (UTC)
 * This is what makes me worry that you are missing the point. I don't care what you say to me, I care about what you do on the site.  You can call me an asshat, and I won't even ban you for it if that's how you honestly feel about me.  So stop adjusting and tweaking your remarks, I'm not so thin skinned that you have to worry about phrasing things just right, or risk my wrath.  That's not who I am.  All I'm asking you to do is use common sense when you edit.


 * Before each edit, ask yourself the following question: is this something that the average user should do, or is this something that only an admin should be doing. If the answer to that question is average user, then go for it.  If the answer is admin, stop doing it.  It's that simple.  And try to limit your response to this to one, maybe two edits at the most.   Pro  cyon  23:24, 6 January 2016 (UTC)
 * OK, there is clearly something wrong with you. I don't know what it is, but it's increasingly apparent that you have some sort of self-control issue, or some other behavioral deficit.  I've tried to be patient and tolerant with you, but I get increasingly aggravated by your behavior.  It's one thing to see you carry out tasks that are better left to administrators when I've asked you repeatedly to stop doing it.  But for you to go to an admin's talk page and leave instructions for what they should and should not be doing is entirely unacceptable.


 * I'm not going to give you a "reminder" before I warn you: If I ever see you leave that kind of message on an admin's page again, you will be banned from the site. I don't care how much you claim to love the site, you have overstepped your bounds repeatedly, and requests for you to change your behavior have pretty much been ignored.  I have zero tolerance for that.  We will handle bans the way that we see fit, and you are to stay out of the matter entirely.  I'm not going to repeat myself any longer.   Pro  cyon  05:46, 9 January 2016 (UTC)
 * I'll stop. Really, I will. I promise that I'll never do that again. John   "Soap"   MacTavish  07:52, 9 January 2016 (UTC)

Other admins
There's no one simple answer to your question. The most basic answer is: people's priorities change. Every admin is a volunteer, and like many volunteers, people's ability to commit decreases over time, whether its because of other responsibilities, or a decline in interest. People used to be a lot more interested when the site was new and a lot of problems needed to be figured out. As the problems decreased, and people set about writing guides, a few people moved on to new sites with new problems to solve. And I accept some of the blame, as I set a good portion of the tone for the site. I've tried to make sure each and every admin knows how appreciated they are, but the truth is, it's a thankless job. Over time, people burn out. They pop back up every now and then, and I'm grateful to see them, but I know that it's temporary.  Pro cyon  15:13, 8 January 2016 (UTC)

Hey there
Since you asked earlier I'm an admin that really just focuses on cleanup and boring chores a lot of people tend to avoid. Unfortunately I've recently been on and off of a hiatus. I made a lot of mistakes starting out too so just focus on learning from them and doing your best. If you ever need any tips let me know. We are all here to work together and that's what's important. :3 --Zaiqukaj (talk) 05:16, 9 January 2016 (UTC)
 * Understood. John   "Soap"   MacTavish  05:24, 9 January 2016 (UTC)

Rollback
I'm sure your aware of Requests_for_permissions/Rollback. It's a democratic process. Voters typically take your actions into account more than your words. We are grateful for the vandalism reverts that you have done, but despite your vigilance, your other actions have not filled me with a lot of confidence, and as such I would not be inclined to support your nomination at this time. I would need to see a marked increase in responsible behavior from you over the next couple of months to change my mind. That being said, I am just one vote.  Pro cyon  15:06, 11 January 2016 (UTC)
 * Meh, go figure. Nonetheless, I will still try my best to prove that I'm trustworthy for this power. John   "Soap"   MacTavish  07:22, 14 January 2016 (UTC)
 * Oh yeah, and I'll also spend some time consulting to the wiki rules and regulations. John   "Soap"   MacTavish  07:24, 14 January 2016 (UTC)
 * One problem: where can I find the pages for said regulations? John   "Soap"   MacTavish  07:26, 14 January 2016 (UTC)
 * There's an entire section in the Table of Contents of the StrategyWiki Guide which references policies. It may not be 100% complete, but it's the most comprehensive collection that we have.  Look, I'm going to level with you.  All of our admins became admins through hard work and dedication to the site.  They were judged on the merits of their contributions; complete guides for games which contributed significantly to the knowledge base of the site.  While Project M is interesting, it's a niche game played by a small segment of the population.  Furthermore, peppering in one or two descriptive paragraphs about characters is not exactly what we consider a quality contribution.  You want to show us that you're worthy?  Write a guide for a game.  It doesn't matter which game, pick your favorite, and really write a guide.  A good guide.  There are several examples of that throughout the site.  You can't expect anyone to trust you to administrate the site if you can't demonstrate that you understand what the site really needs.   Pro  cyon  15:29, 14 January 2016 (UTC)
 * Understood. That said, I should also work on Smash 4. John   "Soap"   MacTavish  20:50, 14 January 2016 (UTC)

Completion stages and apologies vs. action
Did you read this section of the StrategyWiki Guide, which details the meaning of every completion stage?

There's no need to apologize for making Prod or I do work around the site, it's what we do, and we do it because we love taking care of the site. That work is more important and meaningful than dealing with or chasing away bad users. Apologies are nice, but they're meaningless unless you back them up with actions that make the effort we put into the site worthwhile. You can apologize all day long; if you don't actually get that Project M guide in good shape, then your apology means nothing. You are the subject matter expert on this site, as far as Project M is concerned, we can't help you with content, we can only help you with guide construction and formatting. So if you really want to apologize, make the guide a valuable resource on this site. Otherwise, don't even bother typing "I'm sorry" because it doesn't help anything.  Pro cyon  12:07, 18 January 2016 (UTC)


 * Also, would you please get into the habit of using Show Preview instead of saving every little chip-edit? It's really aggrevating seeing edit summaries like "Fudge," "wtf," "lulz," and "meh" when all you had to do was use Show Preview, spot the mistake, and save the page once when you're finished.  Frequent micro-edits don't help us, they make the job harder.   Pro  cyon  12:13, 18 January 2016 (UTC)

Skins
I use the Dolphin skin exclusively, since it was developed specifically with StrategyWiki in mind, and supports the Table of Contents of each guide in the side bar, something which we developed especially for StrategyWiki. It's important to make sure that all guide content shows up properly in the Dolphin skin because that is the default skin, and the one that all non-logged-in users see.  Pro cyon  00:35, 20 January 2016 (UTC)