StrategyWiki talk:Community Portal/2007/November

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Desperate times call for desperate measures

StrategyWiki has enjoyed a steady increase in popularity and traffic, and we are grateful for every user's support. However, the little server which once adequately met our meager needs is now hobbling along on its knees, trying to keep up with the demand. As this site is run out-of-pocket by essentially one man, the site owner, the time has come to do whatever is necessary to improve the situation and make ends meet. The site administrators (non-contributing staff) have agreed that by hosting pop-up ads for a limited amount of time, it may be possible to drum up the money for new server in a matter of weeks, at which time the ads would immediately cease. As this is a somewhat dire situation, the decision to run these ads will not be put to a discussion so as not to divide the staff in any way, and will only take effect for as long as necessary and not a day longer. The administrators wish to apologize to any users that they will potentially offend or annoy and wish to assure everyone that this would not be taking place unless it was absolutely necessary. With a new server, we will be capable of supporting a larger community, and provide our viewers with enough speed and bandwidth for the foreseeable future. Having said all of this, and with no desire to guilt anyone into using it, I'd like to point out the PayPal donation button to the left. As you may know, StrategyWiki has made it possible for fans of our site to financially support the site on a strictly voluntary basis. Your personal support of StrategyWiki can help lessen the time that we need to run the ads for, but it is in no way necessary for you to contribute unless you absolutely would like to and are able to at this time. The administrators of this site thank you whole-heartedly for your continued support during this period, and anxiously await the day when we can provide you with higher quality performance than you are currently experiencing. Procyon (Talk) 06:11, 14 October 2007 (CDT)

Ok, to me, there are three types of "popup" ads, so could you please clarify which one(s) we would be implementing? The three types (in my perspective) are:

1. The new window type (a la Tribalfusion). I generally find these to be the least effective, as most people I know just close said window without actually looking at the ad/clicking on it, and you can set them to pop up in the background, under the active window.
2. The in-your-face type. These (may) temporarily deactivate the rest of the page unless you click on the close thingy on them. They generally appear right in the middle of the page, hence the in-your-face. I'd judge these to be the most effective of the three, and second-most annoying.
3. The redirect type. These use javascript to redirect the page you are currently visiting to another site. These are by far the most annoying, as hitting back will just load the same javascript again. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do not implement this type.

Procyon, as for your comment about visibility, I'm thinking of making another box high-ish up on the main page explaining the situation and the cause, and telling people that by donating, the ads will get removed sooner once we actually implement these ads. --Safety Skizzerz ^{Talk · Contribs · Spel Chek™ · VFG · RTFM} 10:55, 14 October 2007 (CDT)

Actually, a better idea just came to me. What about MediaWiki:Sitenotice? That's the message that appears on the top of every page, with a [dismiss] link for logged in users. Here's the notice I was thinking of:

Due to increased amount of popularity and traffic, StrategyWiki needs a new server. Therefore, we have implemented pop up ads for a short period of time until enough money for a new server has been raised. If you wish to get rid of the ads quicker, please donate so that funds may be raised even faster! [read more]

Safety Skizzerz ^{Talk · Contribs · Spel Chek™ · VFG · RTFM} 11:19, 14 October 2007 (CDT)

When Nick ran this idea by me I told him hell no. What do you think popup ads will do for the public perception of StrategyWiki? Granted, while we *need* a new server, this can't be the only way to raise approximately $1,500 - $2,500. :( echelon_talk 14:26, 14 October 2007 (CDT)

Perhaps a better option is AuctionAds (Nick also introduced me to this). We could dynamically control the keywords, instead of some lame Google algorithm that gets stuff wrong 75% of the time. example echelon_talk 15:09, 14 October 2007 (CDT)

Wow... I thought that when Procyon wrote this, it was already in agreement with everyone in the higher-upness, guess not :P. Anyway, I still think it would be a good idea to make use of MediaWiki:Sitenotice, with a donate link and one of those progress bars like the WikiMedia foundation has, it might get some more people to donate. As for Auction Ads, it looks good, but we really have three options to consider if we go that route, outlined below

• Use AuctionAds
• Stick with AdSense
• Try out the Amazon referrals

Since we have limited sidebar space, we really can only go with one of the three (unless we make use of the left sidebar as well), so we'll need to decide which one would be best for us. --Safety Skizzerz ^{Talk · Contribs · Spel Chek™ · VFG · RTFM} 20:51, 14 October 2007 (CDT)

I think we can support all three, to an extent. ActionAds at the bottom of each page, Adsense where it currently is, and Amazon links in the infoboxes/HNs. Popup blockers would probably render those mostly useless, those flash ones which cover your screen are extremely annoying, and the redirect ones just take people away from our content. Also, would it be possible to move that PayPal button down a bit, so that it doesn't overlap that line? Seems somewhat out of place to me. -- Prod (Talk) 21:13, 14 October 2007 (CDT)

Yeah I agree with site notice, and was going to suggest it earlier (but I had to work). The potential drawback to ads are the hardasses (most of us) that will be repelled from the site (Ech's concern). From my standpoint, I like ads because I know what they do and good ads are actually beneficial to me (for instance an ad about five years ago helped my love of metal grow even more). Therefore, I'm definitely for this (I know this topic isn't about this) and I believe it won't be detrimental in the long run (especially after getting a new server). I don't know about BlueCloud, but I assume for CrimsonNight the paypal button is located just below the line underneath Help in the left nav. From the looks of it, the button should fit between that line and the image below it... --Notmyhandle (talk • contribs) 21:16, 14 October 2007 (CDT)

Sorry about the confusion guys. When Nick ran it past me, he made it seem that either a) echelon had signed off on the idea or b) he had echelon's approval to implement any idea with full support. So my impression was the same as Skizzerz's (Skizzerz'z?) I asked what could I do, should I make an announcement? He said go for it, so I did. Apologies all around. Procyon (Talk) 21:26, 14 October 2007 (CDT)

Oh good lord... possessive + my nick = downright impossible >_< (to pronounce, spell it Skizzerz's I guess, so just stick w/ Ryan's or something). Anyway, I totally forgot about the donate button since I have css that hides it, but IIRC it could stand to be moved from its current position. And Procyon, don't worry about it. Tricksey little Nickses can be deceptive sometimes ;). --Safety Skizzerz ^{Talk · Contribs · Spel Chek™ · VFG · RTFM} 22:18, 14 October 2007 (CDT)

When this goes into effect, I think we should throw this up on the PayPal page so that people can see how far along we are and be more interested in how their money is contributing to the goal:

$0
$0.00	Fundraiser 2007 http://media.strategywiki.org/images/2/2e/Paypal_Donate_button.gif	$5,000

--Notmyhandle (talk • contribs) 18:58, 15 October 2007 (CDT)

I am objected to the usage of any sort of pop-up advertisement. That would quickly get on my nerves (And I'm sure everyone else's.) As for any of the other ad options, where exactly would they go? Lunar Knight ^{(Talk to me + Contribs)} 19:12, 15 October 2007 (CDT)

Maybe we could sacrifice the content in one of the four cells on the main page (such as "most promising guide") in order to stick a non-popup ad on the main page. Then once we get the new server we can put it back. - Koweja 22:46, 15 October 2007 (CDT)

I never see ads/pop-ups 'cause I have Firefox...so I don't care :/. I do hope we can raise the money though. --Myth (talk) 23:12, 15 October 2007 (CDT)

Woah woah woahhh. I just saw/skimmed over this thread. Procy I told you that Brandon said no to the pop-up ads. I was joking about it too. I'm sorry about the confusion. When I talked to you I was talking in a more general "We need money, we need to test some things out" way. I don't know if you guys have discussed it but trying Auction Ads for a while to see how it would turn out or at least adjusting the Google Ads to a better placement. I'd be against Amazon stuff because it pays out so very little and they only pay out ever quarter which is ungodly slow. The fact of the matter is A. Google Ads aren't going to get clicks because they aren't targetted at all (why would I buy *gamename* walkthrough when I'm at this site?) and it's so far to the side. B. They pay out VERY little (see .01-.05) a click since the ads are so random and gaming isn't a high paying niche.

We should test by putting an adsense square or maybe a leaderboard up someplaces instead of on the side. If only for a little bit to see how it does. We should also test Auction Ads. I'm very confused as to why we aren't testing right now. It just seems like a bunch of procrastination when this could be the thing that saves this site. Otherwise it's going to keep going slow until eventually it can't handle the traffic and it will get shut down. I think the site randomly being DOWN for hours and days is a lot worse of an image than some ads that are more towards the middle of the screen. --ConfusedSoul 14:53, 16 October 2007 (CDT)

It says 10% and paid monthly. I dunno about you, but games are NOT a niche market. Ads aren't what make money, sales are (same with AuctionAds I'd assume, their site is info-lite). -- Prod (Talk) 15:45, 16 October 2007 (CDT)

The profit margin definitely sounds good. With a bit of prettying, my Amazon template is probably good to go. Many games are multi-platform, so Amazon's automated equivalent might take up too much space. Garrett^Talk 16:48, 16 October 2007 (CDT)

The KEY word there is UP to 10%. A more realistic estimate is 5%. So then someone would have to come to strategywiki. Look up a guide for a game. REALIZE they don't have that game. Click the amazon link. Have an amazon account or get one. Buy game. After all that we make $1-2. We can test it, it just doesn't seem like a realistic income stream to me. But again we need to be testing this stuff to see how well it works. We can talk and talk and talk about what will or won't work, but we have NO idea until we try it. And I'm kind of getting disenchanted by how we aren't doing anything. --ConfusedSoul 23:22, 16 October 2007 (CDT)

Complaining doesn't solve anything. Until echelon registers and sets up the accounts, there nothing we can do. After that, anyone with server access can set up the page to display the ads. What we need to decide on is layout, so do you agree with my suggestions above, or have a better idea? -- Prod (Talk) 23:42, 16 October 2007 (CDT)

I think it'd make more sense for the actual game or any game related paraphenelia to show up instead of a generic banner on the side. I don't know the way Amazon has its system setup but I know there's a relatively easy way to set that up. --ConfusedSoul 01:47, 17 October 2007 (CDT)

The best part about those amazon links (I want them permanant now) is that I can shop on amazon and give SW money at the same time xD --Notmyhandle (talk • contribs) 02:36, 17 October 2007 (CDT)

Here's the nice thing about Amazon... It doesn't hurt us to have it. In fact, the template that Garrett created looked pretty good and wasn't obtrusive or anything. While it would probably not bring enough money to buy a new server, it might be worth it to try out anyway. Plus, does it have to be games they buy? Why not books and stuff... There are a few books out there for Starcraft, Diablo, Warcraft, Halo, etc. Maybe we can say, "Hey, if you are looking at buying a book (any book) from Amazon, do it through us! You'll be supporting your favorite place for guides!"--DukeRuckley^{Talk | Contribs} 07:50, 17 October 2007 (CDT)

If they click on it they'll get our cookie and so whatever they buy within some time (or unless they get someone else's cookie which overdubs ours) will give SW some commission. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by ConfusedSoul (talk • contribs) .

So it sounds like a good idea, but is it legal? Are we "taking advantage" of it? Otherwise, when can we get started? Ech? --Notmyhandle (talk • contribs) 01:31, 18 October 2007 (CDT)

Um...yes. There's no reason why it wouldn't be legal. Echelon doesn't care he's too busy learning how to manipulate images with programming words. --ConfusedSoul 21:57, 21 October 2007 (CDT)

That was completely unnecessary CS. Echelon does care. Unfortunately he, like many of us, have more pressing problems to deal with in real life. Procyon (Talk) 09:18, 22 October 2007 (CDT)

Cut the bickering before it begins. Anyways, if you haven't read the agreement that we would be making with Amazon, then you have no certainty that they are making any rules that would affect how we deal with the links and such. I should go find that document... --Notmyhandle (talk • contribs) 13:04, 22 October 2007 (CDT)

Ads - Section 1

I just added AuctionAds and WidgetBucks per the suggestion of Nick. THIS IS A TEST ONLY. IT WILL BE TEMPORARY. Nick says WidgetBucks will net us 10 - 30x what AdSense does, and he also suggested testing AuctionAds. We'll see how this goes for a day. Also, let me know your thoughts about how intrusive you think these are... echelon_talk 23:52, 23 October 2007 (CDT)

I don't like the way auctionads looks and they don't really preform well based on my personal tests. They may fare better on here. I KNOW widgetbucks will do better than adsense. We'll have to see. There's no reason to not test. If these work anywhere close to what I've gotten on my sites then we could put SW on a top of the line server that would last us a VERY long time. --ConfusedSoul 00:37, 24 October 2007 (CDT)

The AuctionAds box is ugly and doesn't have anything relevant to the page being looked at; Google AdSense targeting improves once the pages have been indexed by the GoogleBot, but from what I've seen of AuctionAds in the past I'm not too convinced that they have a comparable system. WidgetBucks, however, is very nice. It's nicely presented, only subtly animated, and has a nice selection of (predetermined?) deals rather than the random tripe that AuctionAds throws at visitors. $3-$6 CPM is a very good rate, too. Garrett^Talk 01:39, 24 October 2007 (CDT)

Wow I didn't even notice AuctionAds until I was looking for it. I probably looked at three or four pages without even noticing it; however the right nav is like BAM. I suggested to Garrett that we move it down by like 20-50px because on pages like the watchlist, there's no toolbox items yet the toolbox header is still there; thus I thought that the ads were part of the toolbox and it just kind of confused me (considering it says stuff like Nintendo 64, etc.). --Notmyhandle (talk • contribs) 02:04, 24 October 2007 (CDT)

I'm not certain I understand the point of having WidgetBucks advertise gaming systems to visitors to this site who, quite presumably, already have consoles and aren't on the market for one. Are we really going to end up selling an Xbox 360 to a visitor? Or a Dreamcast, N64, or GBA for that matter? Isn't there a way to make it more software oriented? Procyon (Talk) 09:23, 24 October 2007 (CDT)

I agree with the above people, I like the Widget one better (although I don't think the AuctionAds is that ugly). By the way, I don't know if this was just me, but for some reason when I first saw the main page I didn't see the AuctionAds box, just a white space at the top. I can see it fine now that I've went to a different page and came back. Baejung92 13:49, 24 October 2007 (CDT)

I like the Widgetbucks one better than auctionads. Not only does it present itself better with basic animation and nice, rounded corners, but the auctionads one messes up the top on top of looking absolutely ugly. --Safety Skizzerz ^{Talk · Contribs · Spel Chek™ · VFG · RTFM} 15:52, 24 October 2007 (CDT)

I'm cool with the Widgetbucks, but can't stand the auctionads. Either remove the auction ads from the top, or remove them altogether because, for some reason, they are so ugly up there they piss me off. Lunar Knight ^{(Talk to me + Contribs)} 16:04, 24 October 2007 (CDT)

I think the auctionads one looks pretty awful but the one on the right seems fine - you don't really notice it tucked away over there. --RamonSalazar 18:44, 24 October 2007 (CDT)

Um, is the right end of the AuctionAds thing supposed to be cut off by the toolbox, or is it just me again? Baejung92 21:34, 24 October 2007 (CDT)

The results are in! After one day of running both AuctionAds and WidgetBucks, we have a clear winner. WidgetBucks estimates that we made $18.00 in ONE DAY. This is over three times what we make with AdSense. AuctionAds, on the other hand, requires someone actually make a purchase to earn any money--not surprisingly, we made $0.00. I think we'll put AdSense in place of AuctionAds and see how much we make with AdSense and WidgetBucks together. (Perhaps $25.00/day?) This is certainly positive... echelon_talk 00:01, 25 October 2007 (CDT)

I'm on IE right now and the adsense is too big and it's making a scrollbar on the bottom appear. Also it'd look a lot better without a border. --—The preceding unsigned comment was added by ConfusedSoul (talk • contribs) .

Ok, the AdSense either needs to be shrunk down a bit, or moved elsewhere other than the top. Even though it looks better than the auctionads box, it's still taking up too much horizontal space (thus overflowing into the toolbox). --Safety Skizzerz ^{Talk · Contribs · Spel Chek™ · VFG · RTFM} 10:02, 25 October 2007 (CDT)

Well, by the time I finally turned off my Adblock Plus ad-on and saw what the ads looked like, I've gotta say the one on the right looks really good. --Myth (talk) 13:45, 5 November 2007 (CST)

November Collab/Promising guides of the month

We need them assigned. I have some questions though, first how do we decide which collab gets assigned? Why one over the other? Date nominated? Second, how do we nominate promising guides? Or do we (sysops) just assign them on a case by case basis or is there a page to do so? I nominate Drift City for promising. --Notmyhandle (talk • contribs) 18:26, 1 November 2007 (CDT)

Nominating? You mean this? Baejung92 20:11, 1 November 2007 (CDT)

I'll write up some guidelines over the weekend. For now, the PGotM is Command & Conquer: Generals and the CotM is Halo 2. If someone is able to do the writeups tonight that would be great. Otherwise, I'll take care of it tomorrow afternoon. -- Prod (Talk) 21:49, 1 November 2007 (CDT)

Category Intersection

I ran into a problem while creating my Gamecube portal page mockup. There's no way to list all pages that are in Category:Gamecube and Category:Stubs, or any other category intersection. The problem has been discussed in Wikipedia. They deal with it for their portal pages by making categories which are essentially category intersections, like Category:Chemistry stubs (intersection Category:Chemistry and Category:Stubs). However, manual category intersection isn't the only way. Somehow, Dynamic Page List has support to list pages that are in two or more specific categories. If we could custom make a category page to have just a DPL of two or more categories, we could have a working category intersection page, albeit a hacked together one. Does anyone else have any ideas on how to implement this in StrategyWiki? -- [[ blendmaster | talk ]] 12:11, 3 November 2007 (CDT)

The advertisements!

The ads seem to slow the site down quite a lot--Firefox lags for me every time I load a page on SW. The status bar says "Waiting for images.widgetbucks.com..." for about six or seven seconds and then everything is alright again.

This is incredibly frustrating: I came to a page to do something or read something, not wait for an ad to load. Although I recognize that we needs ads to stay alive, I feel that maybe we could do better and get something that doesn't bog users down a ton or at least try to optimize them so I can click around while they load. My connection is pretty fast, so I can only imagine (with fear) what it does to slower people. I'd utilize adblock, but that only stops them from displaying, not loading.

Does anyone else have this issue, or is it just me? -- towers http://media.strategywiki.org/images/a/a8/Towers_trex.gif 00:36, 17 November 2007 (CST)

The other thing I forgot to say was that on especially long pages (such as this one) the strain is so intense that I am asked if I want to stop the script from running--though I think that is a different problem. -- towers http://media.strategywiki.org/images/a/a8/Towers_trex.gif 00:38, 17 November 2007 (CST)

Try using NoScript instead of AdBlock, it actually prevents the script tags from running to begin with. Of course, you have to re-enable the js for strategywiki.org for it to work, but you won't have the ads. As for changing the widget one, that's probably not going to happen as that's the one that seems to be generating the most amount of money. --Safety Skizzerz ^{Talk · Contribs · Spel Chek™ · VFG · RTFM} 12:10, 17 November 2007 (CST)

The only pages I really have a problem with are this one (took more than a minute to load) and the main page. But I don't think the ads have to do with it much for me, because shorter pages like Staff Lounge load only in a few seconds. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Baejung92 (talk • contribs) .

The reason the Main Page takes forever to load is because of the two DynamicPageLists on it, notsomuch the advertisements. Also, the server has fast spots and slow spots, so I guess luck has a bit in this as well. --Safety Skizzerz ^{Talk · Contribs · Spel Chek™ · VFG · RTFM} 12:26, 17 November 2007 (CST)

Alright, I had hoped this wasn't the case (both the ads being awesome and also not really their fault) so I'll just look into NoScript and see what I can do. Thanks guys. -- towers http://media.strategywiki.org/images/a/a8/Towers_trex.gif 12:31, 17 November 2007 (CST)

Yeah I get the same problem, but only in IE7, not FireFox. --Notmyhandle (talk • contribs) 20:17, 17 November 2007 (CST)

NoScript stops it, but it does pop a bar up into my browser every damned time I load a page. I am still figuring out if it is actually worth it. -- towers http://media.strategywiki.org/images/a/a8/Towers_trex.gif 00:09, 18 November 2007 (CST)

You can turn off that bar in options. --Safety Skizzerz ^{Talk · Contribs · Spel Chek™ · VFG · RTFM} 15:58, 20 November 2007 (CST)

That's what I ended up doing. This works pretty well, if anyone was wondering--I'd recommend it if someone has the same issue that I did. -- towers http://media.strategywiki.org/images/a/a8/Towers_trex.gif 20:40, 21 November 2007 (CST)

Achievement lists

I've just created {{Achievements Header}} for use in standardising the appearance of achievement lists. It's closely modelled on {{Moves Header}}, and should be flexible enough for use across all three types of achievement list. An example of the new template in action is Gears of War/Achievements. The header bar colour can be changed if people don't like the colour I copied from existing achievement lists; it's just there to differentiate achievement lists from other boring tables. :-) Any thoughts? If people don't mind it, it can be rolled out to the other achievement lists. --DrBob (talk) 15:23, 19 November 2007 (CST)

Looks good to me!--DukeRuckley^{Talk | Contribs} 10:09, 20 November 2007 (CST)

How do you nominate a guide to move to a higher completion stage?

I've written quite alot of content for the Disgaea: Hour of Darkness strategy guide. I wrote the entire walkthrough, the Getting Started section, and a few misc pages. It is my understanding that guides with complete walkthroughs are at least at stage two, yet the Disgaea guide is still at stage one. Is there a way to increase it, or nominate it to be increased? DeathWeasel 15:47, 20 November 2007 (CST)

The completion stage is based on the |num parameter in the Header Nav on the main page. If you feel it's ready for a higher stage, simply increase the value of num. No nomination required :) -- Prod (Talk) 16:00, 20 November 2007 (CST)

Yeah, looking through, you could probably bump that up to 2 using the method Prod stated above. --Safety Skizzerz ^{Talk · Contribs · Spel Chek™ · VFG · RTFM} 16:06, 20 November 2007 (CST)

Staff meeting December 1st

Due to the holiday weekend in the United States, and the relatively short notice for next weekend, the Staff Meeting will be held on December 1st. We will continue with the start time of 2PM EST / 7PM GMT since that seems to work for most of our members. Please let us know, however, if you can't make it. Please place any concerns you would like to address in the Agenda below. Thanks. Procyon (Talk) 10:06, 21 November 2007 (CST)

I'll try and go to bed early so I don't sleep through this one... --Notmyhandle (talk • contribs) 23:01, 21 November 2007 (CST)

So-ooo... Did any uber-important decisions get made? I wanted to attend and all that, just that the abyx irc java server (for those of us who can't/don't want to download an IRC running programme) hasn't been working for the past 2 weeks or so... and is there any news on when it'll come back up? BTW, is there a log of proceedings?--Froglet 05:19, 1 December 2007 (CST)

Hey, I just wanted to let you guys know I’m in the middle of moving so my home PC isn’t online yet. Sorry for not mentioning this earlier. --Zaiqukaj 07:34, 1 December 2007 (CST)

REMINDER: The meeting is today. I should be logging on just around 2pm, but I will be there. Hope to see you all. Procyon (Talk) 08:09, 1 December 2007 (CST)

IRC's down for me--The preceding signed comment was added by Rocky (talk • contribs). 12:15, 1 December 2007 (CST)

Teddy should have it back up momentarily. --Safety Skizzerz ^{Talk · Contribs · Spel Chek™ · VFG · RTFM} 12:29, 1 December 2007 (CST)

Ok, here is the PJIRC client, all ready to use :) --Safety Skizzerz ^{Talk · Contribs · Spel Chek™ · VFG · RTFM} 12:44, 1 December 2007 (CST)

Agenda

1. Further discussion about ads and fund raising

Performance issues

I'm sure everyone has noticed how our server hasn't felt as "snappy" as it used to in the past. Dan and I did a bit of research and we have made a change to the backend that we hope will help improve the performance noticeably. Speed increases are somewhat hard to remember, and highly subjective (especially based on the page), but please browse a bit and pay attention to the load times. Let us know if the site feels faster or slower. -- Prod (Talk) 22:18, 22 November 2007 (CST)

It appears to load smaller pages a lot faster, but as for larger pages (such as this one), it doesn't make a noticeable difference for me. However, even pages that use DPL (like Main Page) load a lot faster, so that's good :) --Safety Skizzerz ^{Talk · Contribs · Spel Chek™ · VFG · RTFM} 11:25, 23 November 2007 (CST)

It seems to do the opposite to me. This page (which used to take up to a minute to load) just came up in like 20 seconds. However, I didn't really see much difference with: Staff Lounge, Main Page, and Recent Changes. Baejung92 13:00, 23 November 2007 (CST)

Also... both the StarCraft and Call of Duty 2 pages (and all of COD2's guide pages, as far as I can tell) took even longer than CI used to take to load. Baejung92 13:00, 23 November 2007 (CST)

After browsing with FireFox, the site seems SO FAST. It's friggen awesome. Internet Explorer 7 takes like 10 times longer to load (because of the flash application I believe, which also causes fatal crashes as well). --Notmyhandle (talk • contribs) 03:02, 28 November 2007 (CST)

Super Mario and Supreme Commander wikis

I've been meaning to suggest a partnership with Super Mario Wiki for a while. It's a good wiki, and has detailed information on quite a lot of Mario stuff, laid out in a nice way. Does anyone who knows more about Mario (etc.) want to approach them, or shall I?

Additionally, I stumbled across Supreme Commander Wiki the other day, and I think it's got just about the right amount of information to make a decent level 4 guide if we merged it in. They average about 3 edits a day, so I think we might have a chance of an agreed merger if we approached them. Any takers?

I realise by looking through Wikia's list of gaming wikis there's a lot of wikis to look at as regards merging, so we might also want to take a good look through it sometime and see if we can pick up the stragglers. --DrBob (talk) 14:30, 17 November 2007 (CST)

In regards to the Super Mario Wiki, go for it! I failed at offering mergers last time, so I probably won't do it (unless I really need to), but I do know quite a bit about Mario and friends, so if you need help with that sorta stuff, I'm on IRC fairly regularly :). As for the wikia wikis, I'd say go for those too. Of course, knowing Wikia, the "merger" would involve importing the content here, but leaving the content there as well (you might be able to get away with a text link to us on the sitenotice, but I know Wikia likes to try to keep everything there). However, if you can influence them that it's a good idea (more contributors, etc.), then go for it. --Safety Skizzerz ^{Talk · Contribs · Spel Chek™ · VFG · RTFM} 15:26, 17 November 2007 (CST)

I've already started using content from the Mythos Wiki but yeah a full "merger" would be nice. There's also http://www.mythoswiki.com but they aren't even licensed so I'll only be using that for raw data. The Wikia Mythos wiki is funny because rather than gathering their own screenshots (only possible by using third party software) they have used ones from the Mythos site and just used brushes in photoshop to make them ugly xD --Notmyhandle (talk • contribs) 20:29, 17 November 2007 (CST)

I've just e-mailed one of the Supreme Commander Wiki admins, and I'll see if he replies sometime tonight. --DrBob (talk) 01:26, 20 November 2007 (CST)

members have concerns about scope of proposed Lunar Boom Town guide

http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Lunar_Boom_Town/stragywiki.org Mirwin 01:13, 27 November 2007 (CST)

Back in a bit with specific members proposing deletion. Mirwin 01:13, 27 November 2007 (CST)

Mirwin, I like your style. The only way this game is going to be accepted is if the mods vote for it (since all of the reasons you gave as arguments of our scope don't seem truly valid, even if they are logical). Is there a member list we can see? I mean, you say you have a player base, but how can it be proven? It looks like a guide would be useful, considering how confusing it is on that main page. I don't even understand where to start ahahaha. Good luck. --Notmyhandle (talk • contribs) 05:16, 27 November 2007 (CST)

I can find no evidence that this game is a video game of any kind, be it PC, browser, flash, etc. If the game cannot meet even that single criteria, I would support the nomination of deletion unless Mirwin can prove otherwise by the end of the week. Procyon (Talk) 09:46, 27 November 2007 (CST)

Agreed with Procyon. --DrBob (talk) 11:22, 27 November 2007 (CST)

Agree with Procyon and DrBob. Also, try condensing your reasons to only a sentence or two each. Right now, after reading it over about 3 times, it seems like you're just dancing around each point in the scope instead of answering them directly (aka don't be a politician... I hate politicians for exactly that reason). Secondly, while we do somewhat support guides for games still under development (which is what yours sounds like), it is still a pretty unpopular point among us. Also, if you can make your guide actually look like a guide instead of a description of the game, it would be a big plus in my book. Also, speculative data is not considered, so saying "it should" or "by definition" really doesn't help you much. Just cold, hard, facts, mmk? --Safety Skizzerz ^{Talk · Contribs · Spel Chek™ · VFG · RTFM} 15:55, 27 November 2007 (CST)