Spearfish Lake Tales Wiki:Community Portal

From Spearfish Lake Tales Wiki

Current revision as of 00:58, 3 February 2012

Changing URL's

As Wes has posted this on the forum There will be another change that will be transparent to most readers -- I will be changing and renaming the directory structure for each book. I have some reasons for doing this, but if I just go ahead and delete or rename the current directories it would really louse up all the links on the wiki page, and perhaps elsewhere. For that reason I will be leaving up the old directories for some time, to give the wiki maintainers plenty of time to update the pages to the new structure. Eventually the old directories will go away, but not any time soon.

I've started changing the links on the chapter pages to use Templates, so that:- [http://spearfishtales.com/sq/sq01.htm Square One] becomes [{{WSQ}}01.htm {{SQ}}]. This assumes that Wes will keep the chapters naming the same, but should mean that the change in directory only has to be made in one place rather than many. --steve_h 13:32, 5 June 2010 (UTC)

So far I've done SQ,AT,AC,AF --steve_h 14:08, 5 June 2010 (UTC)

Dang -- I didn't know you could do that! There will be no name changes for files, just for directories. Sorry to put you to so much work.

-- Wes

It'll take a little while, due to Real Life (TM) getting in the way, but mostly just a bit tedious rather than a huge amount of work. --steve_h 15:12, 6 June 2010 (UTC)

I've finally got round to creating all the templates, including ones for River Rat (which I keep typing as River Rate for some reason!). I'll start on substituting them in the book pages later. --steve_h 14:46, 26 August 2010 (UTC)

I've finally got round to doing more on this. I've done BB,BAR,CF,DW,FtS,MC,RM. HT & RR are OK anyway. That leaves ROC,SX and TNG. I'm currently doing TNG but I'm adding some summary drafts as well to clear that up. --steve_h 10:33, 22 September 2010 (UTC)

TNG now done --steve_h 16:44, 24 September 2010 (UTC) ROC & SX now done. I think that means that all links to SLT have now been fixed. --steve_h 12:37, 9 October 2010 (UTC)

--Elegant job Steve h! --SPLTWikiSysop 22:31, 10 October 2010 (UTC)

Major things that need to be done

There is always a need to add new information on characters, books, places, etc.!

Remember that red links are to pages that do not exist, so are a good place to consider creating. There should be a page for each chapter of every book. Most of these currently do not exist, and most of those that do lack summaries. Also look at the special pages (link at left hand side) as some of these indicate where work is required. In particular, Special:WantedPages lists pages that need to be created and Orphaned pages list pages that are not linked to.

These are in a rough priority order.

Summaries for the following chapters (NB existing summaries may need review, and there are over 500 chapters!):

Community Chat

September 2011

There seem to be a number of school articles lately, from high schools to colleges to specialized academies such as OLTA. Do we want a Category:School?--Samuelmichaels 18:25, 21 September 2011 (UTC)

July 2011

Is there a plan to upgrade MediaWiki here? Or, more to the point, install a few extensions, such as parser functions? ConfirmEdit might also be useful.--Samuelmichaels 04:46, 8 July 2011 (UTC)

You are absolutely right as to the need to upgrade MediawWiki. Unfortunately the host, Network Solutions, does not allow telnet or other online editing which is needed to upgrade.

The workaround that I have thought of is to upload the data files to my machine, download to another server where the current MediaWiki version in use has been installed; do the upgrade there; upload the upgraded data files to my machine, install the latest version of MediaWiki on the Network Solutions host and the download the upgraded data files to the Network Solutions server.

Want to try this using some other servers first so that I see that everything works before I shoot myself in the foot.

I don't remember what the problem with installing ConfirmEdit is (or was) but with the latest spamming over the past 48 hours I'm going to look at it again! Thanks ---SPLTWikiSysop 13:16, 8 July 2011 (UTC)

At the urging of Samuelmichaels, I have looked again at the upgrade problem and adding extensions. It is easier than I thought and doesn't require either telnet or online editing!

This week I have added two extensions ConfirmUserAccounts which solves the spamming problems that have periodically occurred by requiring email confirmation of new accounts and ParserFunctions which has been requested for better template development.

I expect to tackle the BIG ONE - upgrading from MediaWiki 1.14 to the latest version 1.17.0 over the Labor Day weekend. Will need to make sure I have backed up the database so everything can be restored if there is a software disaster! --SPLTWikiSysop 12:41, 22 July 2011 (UTC)

May 2011

I've done some cleanup on some of the category pages for recent stories that were missing the category: Characters (or Locations) at the bottom, and made any that were missing.

Here's a first cut at a checklist for setting up a new book:

• Add announcement about book to Home page; can be done even before current book finishes; then move current book down and older ones below
  • Fix up Home page with first chapter posting and create link to new book's page
• Create Book and URL location templates first using models from Templates Page
  • Life is easier if you wait for first chapter of book to be posted so you can use initials for templates that Wes used
• Book page itself don't forget Category: Book at bottom. Use existing book page as model for chapter boxes
• Template for book
  • Get image - import small image from Wes' page to your machine and then use file upload wiki page. Watch for upload to capitalize first letter of file name - just make it consistent on book page with file
• Chapter pages as they evolve - don't forget Category: Chapters and Category: Book and Chapters links at bottom. Use existing chapter pages or Templates for ChapterLink, LastChapterLink or FirstChapterLink as models for sections.
• Locations page - don't forget Category: Locations at bottom
• Characters page - don't forget Category: Characters at bottom

What else?? --Kilobytemangler 22:08, 16 May 2011 (UTC)

Great idea! Added some of the steps that I have been using to create new books --SPLTWikiSysop 00:05, 18 May 2011 (UTC) http://spearfishlaketaleswiki.com/index.php?title=Templates_Page Took up challenge from January 2011 to create a FirstChapter template; only have used it in Cattail as a test. Unless someone else does it, I'll eventually fix all the first chapter pages for all books. (Had not known about LastChapter template until I saw reference below; added link to it on Template page. --SPLTWikiSysop 00:56, 18 May 2011 (UTC)

All books now have FirstChapterLink templates. --SPLTWikiSysop 19:31, 18 May 2011 (UTC)

January 2011

I created a new template LastChapter to handle the case of the final chapter of a book when we don't really want a ref to the 'next chapter', and applied it to all the books.

Someone else can do one for FirstChapter!

I've also added a few Canyon Tours characters, and linked them to other stories as appropriate, and started some character pages for The Girl in the Mirror.--Kilobytemangler 22:55, 25 January 2011 (UTC)

December 2010

Back here after real life got in the way for a while - is there a problem with recent changes? I can't seem to go back more than a few days. --Kilobytemangler 2011 EST 2 Dec 2010

No, it is a feature of Mediawiki! Only 30 days are visible via the recent changes page. Sure would like to make it longer.

New people are doing a nice job cleaning up nits! I can figure out how to communicate with them directly so that we could show them some of the neat templates that make things easy. The name swapping one, Template:SwName is really neat. --SPLTWikiSysop 03:26, 3 December 2010 (UTC)

Are you saying that there are no changes from Nov 3 to Nov 26? --Kilobytemangler 1520 EST 3 Dec 2010

September 2010

Wes gave me a new logo that I installed today 9/16/2010. It is 125x125 pixels just under the recommended 135 x 135 size.

The wiki is growing nicely with more people contributing.

I keep thinking that on each chapter page there should be an optional section titled something like 'Comments' where we could insert commentary about where the scene in this chapter appears in other books (including a link to the appropriate wiki page). The comments could include the new information that wasn't in the previous books along with any conflicting dialog, scene, etc.

--SPLTWikiSysop 01:55, 17 September 2010 (UTC)

Sounds like a good idea to me. It would help if there were a few more people contributing, a different peerspective on the chapter summaries would improve them. Any ideas on encoraging more contributers? --steve_h 16:24, 12 October 2010 (UTC)

Perhaps 'Notes' might be better a title than 'Comments' as it is a little more neutral. Another other ideas on this? Including a reference to this on the main page or style page might serve as an incentive! --SPLTWikiSysop 23:34, 14 October 2010 (UTC)

March 2010

Wow! People are doing great stuff here! I'm very impressed with all the things people are adding. The templates are very neat - now I have to learn to use them.

Great to see people putting in references to which book and chapter information on characters comes from.

--SPLTWikiSysop 01:32, 5 March 2010 (UTC)

Had not seen the request for a Templates Page navigation link until it got pointed out to me last night. The standard editing of the MediaWiki:Sidebar page did not get it placed into the toolbox box - since I couldn't figure out how to get it there I put it into the editing this wiki box.--SPLTWikiSysop 00:17, 8 March 2010 (UTC)

February 2010

I don't know if this is the perfect place, but other Wikis do something like this: a place to communicate. I want to say how much I appreciate the work others do. We seem to have a nice teamwork going on, yet little direct talk.

• I'm still getting used to the new templates and stuff. Thanks! Maybe this would be a good place to mention how you use them or what's new.

• There are a few needed pages. I plan on tackling Warsaw Run next. Should Square One give detail on someone like Tammy, we should try to keep up. Still, I'm amazed at how many new folk from Magic Carpet and Canyon Fires slipped through!

• Many of our older pages need expansion and footnoting. It's haphazard for now. I'm open to suggestions on organizing this.

• Ditto on older books and chapter summaries.

• Many thanks on the kind corrections. Too often I miss things when doing an expansion and y'all have been very good at cleaning up my messes.

Cheers! --Dang Fool 21:38, 15 February 2010 (UTC)

Well, I've tried creating a few templates, still a work in prgress. I've written one for the 14 titles, so that {{ROC}} becomes Rocinante . {{SwName|Wes|Boyd}} would become [[Boyd, Wes|Wes Boyd]]. If you use {{substSwName|Wes|Boyd}} then will be put in it's place after the next page save. There's a template ChapterLink that creates the Previous, Up and Next links at the bottom of the chapter pages, and a template called Chpater to create a new Chapter page. This needs to be called as:
{{subst:Chapter|Book=Square One|Link=http://www.spearfishlaketales.com/sq/sq02.htm|Prev=1|Next=3}}
for the second chapter of the current book. You have to save the page before you can then edit the sections to fill the page out. I think this one needs more work. --steve_h 16:01, 16 February 2010 (UTC)

I usually copy the previous chapter page and update the refs, replacing the summary, for a new chapter page.--Kilobytemangler 15:43, 24 February 2010 (UTC)

Well, I've mostly done that as well, I think the Chapter Template is best when a new book is started. --steve_h 16:52, 24 February 2010 (UTC)

Have I mentioned how much I love lists to check things off! Thanks for the direction. I'm using SwName and ChapterLink despite concentrating on the summary. --Dang Fool 14:52, 24 February 2010 (UTC)

Minor - could we get an entry for a Templates page in the toolbox on the left? --Kilobytemangler 15:58, 24 February 2010 (UTC)

Note that Templates Page does exist --steve_h 16:52, 24 February 2010 (UTC)

I see that now; I had looked for Templates. Still, a link in the toolbox would be nice....--Kilobytemangler 21:29, 24 February 2010 (UTC)

Agreed --steve_h 13:15, 25 February 2010 (UTC)

In terms of usefulness for the most frequent users (i.e., us), yes, but we don't want to make it too easy and possibly confusing to new or casual visitors. I'm guessing down in "toolbox" would be best. I, too, was looking for the list of Templates. Thanks! --Dang Fool 14:20, 25 February 2010 (UTC)

Toolbox would be excellent! --Kilobytemangler 16:23, 25 February 2010 (UTC)

September 2009

Needed is a template to be used for each chapter in a book. We now have a number of books with at least a page outline for each chapter but don't have a style/template for new books. Perhaps Andromeda_Chained_Chapter_12 is good example with both a link directly to the chapter on Wes' site and the previous/next feature .

The only section that might be added would be something like a Commentary/Cross-Links section where things like conflicts with other books could be pointed out.--SPLTWikiSysop 02:01, 21 September 2009 (UTC)

I've been whittling away at both Orphans and Wanted pages, but then I was responsible for some of those pages. I've been working on some businesses that are reflected in, such as Spearfish Lake Record-Herald and Clark Plywood. I think we need a common name for the C&SL RR. As a location, it's important in Snowplow, but it's also the employer for many, including Josh Archer. What the best name for the link? C&SL Railroad?

I'm sorry about the brainfart on Griswold's religion. Too much time in Lake Woebegone, probably.

I finally got a rough draft for Henry Toivo. It was surprisingly intimidating to even get as little as I did. -df

[not to worry about the religion brainfart; I've done worse - kbm]

Someone - and we will need help from Wes - needs to add a mark on the map for Trey and Myleigh's house on Hannegan Cove. -kbm [Wes told us where, and passed it on to the mapmaker] - KBM

October 2009

Airplanes

Not a big thing, but should we need to create pages for the airplanes - we have Rocinante, Magic Carpet, and Jennlynn's two planes (in Alone Together) - maybe with a bit of type-related information and/or a link to websites with more info on the types?

If we do this, where should they go? [kbm]

Whoever wants to take a swing at this one should be aware that there are some other airplanes that should be involved. Mark first takes Jackie flying in Rocinante in a Stinson 108-1 in additon to Rocinante, a Cessna 140. JennLynn will also be flying a Mooney Mark 21, (named Soiled Dove) and briefly, a Cessna 182, in addition to the Cessna 150 (Magic Carpet), Cessna 310 (Songbird) and Learjet 24A (Skyhook). Toward the end of the book there will also be discussion of a Cessna 207. I would imagine there would be wikipedia links for all of those types; none are uncommon. (Wes)

Thanks - Mooney - nice! (I flew one once, no TO or landings, for a few hours; never got past solo XC before the $$ ran out:-( (kbm)

I'll take this on once I hear from Mike and others as to how it should be incorporated into the wiki. I'm somewhat reluctant to create a page for each type, but will if that's the consensus.

Rocinante and Magic Carpet (plane) are significant enough to deserve their own page. There probably should be a general airplane page with the above paragraph and maybe a little flesh. Something like Soiled Dove should be a redirect to the general page until sufficient info is available to grant its own page. Actually, maybe they could redirect to Jennlynn's page assuming she has a solid subsection detailing her aircraft. -df

The Aircraft page has been doing its job, but I still think some significant planes need their own page. The two most obvious, however, would need disambiguation from their eponymous novels. Any preference between Magic Carpet (plane) and Magic Carpet (airplane)?

How about (aircraft)? I note the following links from Wikipedia: Lady Be Good (aircraft), Full House (aircraft) and The Pink Lady (aircraft).--Samuelmichaels 20:06, 22 July 2011 (UTC)

Don't depend on me for guidance from on high! If you have a plan, go for it! --SPLTWikiSysop 21:41, 24 July 2011 (UTC)

Done!

Please add initials and date when items are moved to this section. Latest changes should be added to the top of the list.

• Chapter summaries for Magic Carpet. --Dang Fool 18:30, 25 November 2009 (UTC)

• Images for each book. Include in template. Use general logo as placeholder if book logo not available. Use special page Special:NewFiles to find appropriate image files for each book. See Rocinante for proper use of template. --SPLTWikiSysop 21:55, 13 May 2009 (UTC)

• add to navigation sidebar at least books and characters. Probably activities, etc. as these categories are created. 5/13/09 mls

• Get logo picture - installed resized at 150x150 mls 5/13/09

• Set major sections - was done ~5/9/09 mls

• Establish 'Sysops' - For now these will be set at 'Administrator' rather than 'Bureaucrat' level. mls 5/3/09

• Edit Main Page at least with an Introduction Added greeting kjl 5/3/09 / Under Construction message . At least a start with reorganization and Prototype notice. mls 5/3/09

• Move and organize Google document information to this page so that use of Google document can become obsolete. Was done ~ mls

• GE and Google Maps links kjl 2009-05-08

• Establish a Templates Page with template list for pages/items such as Books, Characters, Locations, etc. mls 5/5/09

Outdated changes will be rolled off the page.

Background Information for Maintainers

• Configuration settings list
• MediaWiki FAQ
• MediaWiki release mailing list

Categories

Shoul;d we add character categories to redirects? For instance, I've created a redirect for Denis Riley to Eve McClellan, but only put the categories in for Eve. Should the categories go in for Denis as well, so that the name appears in the character lists? --steve_h 12:36, 24 January 2011 (UTC)

I don't have any strong feelings on this! Either way some people are going to think we have it wrong. I have been leaning toward whichever characters' name is most used and depend on Wes to tell us.

But my current thought is to have the early chapters point to Denis when Eve is Denis and then have the appropriate chapters point to Eve when Denis is Eve which cross pointing links within the Denis and Eve descriptions, i.e. cross linking not redirecting. Of course, this requires some chapters to possibly list both!

Other ideas? --SPLTWikiSysop 22:30, 24 January 2011 (UTC)

For much of the book they will be switching back and forth, sometimes several times a chapter. My suggestion would be to have Denis redirect to Eve, and then write a detailed enough discription of Eve that it can go both ways. -- Wes

OK, so I've added categories to Riley, Denis, so that an entry appears here Category:The Girl in the Mirror Characters , but the link redirects to Eve. Please revert if you disagree. --steve_h 12:44, 26 January 2011 (UTC)