User talk:SPLTWikiSysop

Current Threads

Books in multiple series

Is it posasible to add properties to Books so they can have a sub-series (eg. the Bird sub-series of New Spearfish Lake) or a series2 for Down by the Riverside and Hickory Run which are in both the Dawnwalker Cycle and the Reverend Nanci Series?

On the Book page for Hickory Run I tried sub-series and sub-series_number but both are obviously ignored and not displayed. I think I also tried series2 with similar effect.

Ajh (talk) 14:27, 11 May 2019 (UTC)

Tutorial, etc.

Thanks, Mike. Some of the stuff I did is under Spearfish Lake Tales Wiki:Community Portal, New features. I will look into a tutorial thing. Is there one already in existence? I am thinking "how to set up a location, character, book, chapter."--Samuelmichaels (talk) 13:09, 14 October 2012 (EST)

Nothing really - Just the notes at the bottom of the main page and the http://spearfishlaketaleswiki.com/wiki/SPLTstyle notes. Perhaps that would be a good location.

I like your list of topics. Only addition I can think of is a broader 'Where to start adding to this wiki' section encouraging people to fill in a summary or even just adding a character on a chapter page. --SPLTWikiSysop (talk) 01:09, 17 October 2012 (EST)

Now that I looked at it the http://spearfishlaketaleswiki.com/wiki/SPLTstyle page should probably be completely redone!--SPLTWikiSysop (talk) 01:10, 17 October 2012 (EST)

Archived

Discussions that have been resolved

Folder names

Some time ago I changed the folder titles on SLT, so the contents of each chapter are in a numbered chapter -- e.g. 21putp. At that time I said I'd leave the old non-numbered chapter structure up so there would be time to update links. I'm wondering if this has been totally accomplished, and I can now delete the old chapter structure. --Wes 04:00, 16 November 2011 (UTC)

It seems to me someone changed everything right after you changed things. I think the reasonable thing to do is for you to delete the old stuff and we will see if anything breaks and fix those when we find them. If one breaks it should show us the pattern we need to repair. Might start a spot check of a couple of the older stories, too, Thanks - go and delete the old stuff and leave a note here when you have done it! --SPLTWikiSysop 21:02, 16 November 2011 (UTC)

Good enough, but I think I will make an announcement on both the website newsbox and the forum in case readers have old bookmarks. Target deletion date is December 1. --Wes 00:35, 17 November 2011 (UTC)

I remember going through and changing them, I've just checked in Special Pages, on the external links, and it all seems in order. It'll be quicker to delete and see if anything breaks. Steve --steve_h 16:17, 23 November 2011 (UTC)

Deletions have been made. --Wes 02:57, 2 December 2011 (UTC)

Chapter Summaries

I keep thinking that many a chapter needs a section ( or perhaps it should be on the chapter's discussion page) where it is described/commented on the relation between chapters in different books.

Might be a section called Comments or Notes. Any other suggested section name or should it be on the discussion page for each chapter?

For instance Alone Together chapter 8 has "Jennlynn," Jon piped up. "Can I ask just how in the hell you wound up working in a whorehouse?" while in Magic Carpet 22 it comes out "Jennlynn," Jon piped up. "Can I ask just how in the hell you wound up working in a cathouse?"

Whorehouse vs. cathouse - accidental on the part of Wes or deliberate given the different perspectives of whose story it is?

I'm sure there are plenty of other things that people have found. Is the Sam the engineer in Alone Together chapter 8 who seems an ordinary employee the same as Sam Trott?

My thoughts (kilobytemangler) - one section per story, with links from chapter pages as appropriate.

Others may think otherwise; now is the time to contribute your thoughts! After all, this is a wiki!

---

Don't know how that one happened. I thought I copied and pasted it, but maybe an editor got his hands on it ;-)

And yes, same Sam, although not important

-- Wes

Citations

I believe resolved; current convention uses Template:Cite.--Samuelmichaels 06:23, 9 November 2011 (UTC)

Put this note up on Wes' Forum-

I'm quite delighted to see how much information is now available on the Spearfish Lake Tales Wiki!

One thing that I've noticed is that we aren't referencing the source of information in Wes' books that we have collected for a character or location, etc. This follows the Wikipedia convention that it should contain nothing that can't be found somewhere else on the Internet.

Under the page for Jason Bailey I've put one reference as a potential format model.

Comments, suggested alternative formats are welcomed - either in this forum or on a Talk page on SPLTWiki. --SPLTWikiSysop 02:16, 27 January 2010 (UTC)

In the example you give you've used ^{[http://www.spearfishlaketales.com/cf/cf22.htm CF22]} However, where I have put references I've been using <sup>[[Canyon Fires Chapter 22|CF22]]<sup>, that is, instead of linking to the chapter ob Wes's site, I've linked to the chapter entry in this Wiki. I think Dang Fool has been doing the same.. I plead guilty to not putting in references when I started, though I am putting more in, though It does mean that a lot of the pages will have to be gone over to identify where links & references need to be made. --steve_h 13:25, 27 January 2010 (UTC)

I'd really prefer to use Wikipedia style referencing, but I can't get #if to work in templates. One shortcoming with the method I use is should a reference need repeating on a page, there's no easy ibid. I think I'll go ahead and make some template though.

I've really tried to include refs. I don't know why I didn't when I last updated Jason. Dang Fool 13:59, 27 January 2010 (UTC)

Hmm- Interesting points! I had just thought of direct to the chapter references but wiki chapter references (where there people have been putting the direct link at the top of each wiki chapter page) are a reasonable alternative. The people who are doing the work should decide - which hasn't been me for characters, locations, etc.! Please update the SPLT style page with whatever you agree to. Thanks --SPLTWikiSysop 16:04, 27 January 2010 (UTC)

Spam Control 2010-12– 2011-02

I believe it's under control with confirmation of new accounts 2011-07-19.--Samuelmichaels

06:23, 9 November 2011 (UTC) QUERY >>> Not sure where to put a general point/ question, here seems as good as any (and yes I have read the guide), but is there a way to put a 'Captcha' device on the account creation system as while it is more work in the long run to do that it may stop the spammers. Also is there a way you would like to be informed when I notice these annoying individuals? (I didnt put anything on the users discussion page as I guessed that would mean another page you had to delete?) --Mallory 23:52, 19 December 2010 (UTC)

CAPTCHAs don't really help as the spammer is a real person- the CAPTCHA is only to defeat robotic user creation!

Here is a good a place as any to leave me a note. I usually sign in to update the main page M-W_F after Wes loads a new chapter. I'm a little late tonight since I was on a plane returning from the Caribbean to the cold NE US!

Thanks! --SPLTWikiSysop 02:35, 20 December 2010 (UTC)

EDIT - So the spammers are getting worse... Suggestion - is it possible to disable all account creation for a month or so (in the hope they go away)/ or at least have moderated account creation i.e you have to approve them. Would this help, or would it instead create more hassle for you? (trying to be proactive...) Afraid I have no magic bullet...--Mallory 01:06, 27 December 2010 (UTC)

A SOLUTION or partial solution seems to be available - I think I can set new user login to require email confirmation which should at least give a handle on the source. Perhaps I can even moderate - i.e., require new logins to be be approved. Am checking into both in the next couple of days.--SPLTWikiSysop 02:43, 27 December 2010 (UTC)

What would be most useful would be to put new users on moderation - i.e. any edits need to be approved. --Kilobytemangler 22:34, 27 December 2010 (UTC)

Or should we require moderator approval before a new user can sign up? --Kilobytemangler 23:02, 28 December 2010 (UTC)

Which is what I'd really like if I can figure out how to do it! Or at worst a delay before a new user can post. --SPLTWikiSysop 23:56, 28 December 2010 (UTC)

Any progress on this front? We seem to be deluged with a bunch of new ones; there are 3 very suspicious new users (as yet not blocked) who should be watched closely. --Kilobytemangler 18:14, 7 July 2011 (UTC)

Yes, got notified of the first ones last night and I just deleted these three. Figure if the are good guys they will contact someone asking why the have been blocked. --SPLTWikiSysop 20:00, 7 July 2011 (UTC)

I'm afraid you missed one Kilobytemangler - The Phentermine one still exists I'm afraid and needs deleting. I was going to post a link but it kills this page :-(--Mallory 00:22, 29 December 2010 (UTC)

Got it - thanks. --Kilobytemangler 01:50, 29 December 2010 (UTC)

These spammers mostly seem to create new pages for their dross. Is there an option to block the ability to create new pages in main space until you've made a certain number of edits? --steve_h 16:17, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

Once I figure out how to update, there are extensions/changes that I can do. I think I know a workaround for our hosting company Network Solutions, not providing terminal access which is needed for the update. Might have to make the site unavailable for a day or two. If this is needed, will attempt to have an under maintenance or something like it page up. --SPLTWikiSysop 16:33, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

SPAMMERS. I noted the urls from the latest web page (all the webpages have the same layout with only the text changing depending on what drug is being pushed):

• drugaddictionstorerx.ru
• drugmarketworld.ru
• capsulewellbeing.ru

Google searching for these suggests that the spammer is hitting a lot of wikis and similar sites. whois shows that all three domains were registered 2010.11.18 - all three registrations have the same phone number +7 812 3274547 and the same registrar NAUNET-REG-RIPN (which appears in spamtrackers.eu/wiki/ as a bad guy). Looks like a single operation, probably Russian mob.

All 3 have the same IP address - 188.229.89.232. (forgot to sign the previous...:-( --Kilobytemangler 21:00, 6 January 2011 (UTC)

EDIT

Sorry about this but when you blocked ASSACOM you didnt delete the page as well. --Mallory 22:27, 21 February 2011 (UTC)

Site Problems 2011-08

I've not experienced these errors recently (but a new issue with memory and/or RecentChanges showed up).--Samuelmichaels 06:23, 9 November 2011 (UTC)

Not sure where to put this, but just a heads up - In the last two days I have received 404 Site not found errors and once a site under construction page. It seems intermittent and I have had it from no other site I have visited. Is it just me or do we have a problem? (I have run my anti virus software in case I have something which has randomly decided to only interfere with this site - nothing found so far) --Mallory 18:07, 16 August 2011 (UTC)

Hmm- Any more information you can supply? What page were you trying to reach? Do you have a link to the under construction page? Thanks! --SPLTWikiSysop 18:15, 16 August 2011 (UTC)

About all I can say is that it seems to be the first time(s) I access the site (and today it happened on first 'Recent changes' and then the homepage - it was the latter that I got the site under construction from. I tried again five or so minutes later and no problem . I recall yesterday (i think) I tried to go to Recent chages three or so times before I got on. I didnt stay around long then, but today I have had no problem since. As to more info on the site under construction page - it was from a web hosting company I think and I cant remember the name - sorry. If I see it again I will let you know. (I'm currently doing another virus sweep as a new virus definition update has become available - so far nothing)--Mallory 18:24, 16 August 2011 (UTC)

I added a heading for this thread -- hope you don't mind. I've had occasional problems accessing the wiki, although not recently, and usually just timeouts. There is a tool I use in cases like that: http://www.downforeveryoneorjustme.com/ -- they check a url and tell you if it's down. --Samuelmichaels 20:07, 16 August 2011 (UTC)

The timeout problem while editing is something that I have been suffering with for months. It seems if you edit the smallest subsection there isn't a problem but the moment you edit something that has a subsection within it, even many repeated 'save page' attempts time out. Given that it is independent of browser, computer and ISP used and other users of mediawiki haven't reported a similar problem, my thought is that it is a Network Solutions server problem that won't be resolved until we change hosting company.

Anyone else have any thoughts or test results? Note that I expect to finally do a MediaWiki version upgrade over Labor Day weekend. --SPLTWikiSysop 20:47, 16 August 2011 (UTC)

As soon as you wrote the words 'Network Solutions' I recall thats who had the site under construction page! (See above) And yes very occasionally I have had the timeout issue. Not recently though.--Mallory 20:55, 16 August 2011 (UTC)

Of course since then I have had no problems so I guesss if there was a problem it is fixed (I hope). Anyway because it happened on more than one day I wanted to bring it to your attention... Now I feel silly :-) Sorry

To SPLTWikiSysop's question regarding "any thoughts or test results": there are several free web site monitoring services out there. I have not tested any of them, but there has to be at least a couple that would show whether the host has an availability problem (as opposed to something more subtle, like MediaWiki database errors). What do you think about setting that up? I could try one if you don't want to bother.--Samuelmichaels 19:49, 18 August 2011 (UTC)

I've set up a network monitor for the site. So far, no outages in the last couple of week. By the way, how the wiki upgrade plan?--Samuelmichaels 01:06, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

Upgrade is delayed for a few weeks - want to check out that a backup works! --SPLTWikiSysop 23:39, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

That would be a good thing to find out!--Samuelmichaels 00:25, 7 September 2011 (UTC)

Characters in Sidebar

Why can't I get Square One (I added Danny as a character) to show up in the Characters Story list? --Kilobytemangler 02:01, 7 February 2010 (UTC)

After some hunting around, I think I figured it out! On the Characters page, only the first part of the alphabetic listings appear for both the listing of subcategories and characters -through 'M'! The rest of the alphabet's subcategories and characters appear on the next page which you get to by clicking on 'next 200'! Please confirm that you see what I see. thanks --SPLTWikiSysop 02:44, 7 February 2010 (UTC)

Confirmed; is there any hack that would get them all on the first page? --Kilobytemangler 21:11, 7 February 2010 (UTC)

I don't mind having Chapters added to the sidebar, but you dropped Characters, which I think is important. Can you put it back in? --Dang Fool 15:15, 10 February 2010 (UTC)

UGH! Mistake! Fixed!--SPLTWikiSysop 15:30, 10 February 2010 (UTC)

Character Articles vs. Redirects

Jim (GCR). In doing RR38, I disovered that he does indeed have a last name - Jim Griffin. I made a redirect page for that name; should it be the other way around? --Kilobytemangler 01:50, 29 December 2010 (UTC)

Personal opinion only, but I would have thought Jim (GCR) should redirect to Jim Griffin rather than the other way round as the site seems to be going for the full name where possible.--Mallory 23:29, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

I would say it should go to Griffin. Incidentally, KBM, on the two you just put up -- Dan's last name is Plemmons, and Jerry's last name is Palmer. This does not get revealed until a later book, but I suppose we can put up with this mild a spoiler for the sake of this issue not coming up again. -- Wes

Well, Michelle Rawson used to be Michelle (Boatman) before her surname was revealed, and we moved her to the page with the surname, so I'd say that the surname should take precedence. --steve_h 16:12, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

Chapters

This doesn't work! Need to have a two level structure, with the top being by book and the lower levels by book showing the individual chapters.

(imho) --Kilobytemangler 03:25, 11 February 2010 (UTC)

I don't think it is very useful either since it essentially duplicates the links that there are for each book on the book's page. However I saw that was done so that I just added the navigation. Those who have / are doing the work on each chapter should decide. --SPLTWikiSysop 13:24, 11 February 2010 (UTC)

New Server

This is the new server. Looks good so far.--Samuelmichaels (talk) 14:18, 5 May 2012 (EST)

I would like to move (copy, actually) the content to a new server, since the existing one is still problematic. Any objections or other thoughts?--Samuelmichaels 02:38, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

Cannot Save or Preview Certain Pages 2012-02

New server has no problem with "echo". Yay!--Samuelmichaels (talk) 14:18, 5 May 2012 (EST)

I ran into an annoying problem editing Pete Chladek. I could not save or even preview the page (without changes!) until my playing around convinced me that the wiki did not like the characters echo on the page. Any operation would time out and give an error. I finally worked around breaking up those characters: e.g. Czech<code></code>oslovakia ⇒ Czechoslovakia.--Samuelmichaels 18:34, 26 February 2012 (UTC)

Changes Not Showing in RecentChanges 2011-10

Looks all better now with the new server/MediaWiki.--Samuelmichaels (talk) 14:18, 5 May 2012 (EST)

Not sure where to put this but various changes I have made have now not shown up in 'Recent Changes' - any idea why? (I note this because it is obvious that this is the case for others too) - Example Cattail, Chapter 16

I don't know what cases that, but I can see the changes in the page-specific history. Perhaps the answer is to upgrade Mediawiki -- I see Wikipedia is on 1.18.--Samuelmichaels 18:04, 18 October 2011 (UTC)

Difinitely A Good Idea to upgrade! I won't get to it for a couple of weeks, but if anyone else wants to do it, let's talk! (I'm a little wary of having a valid database backup that I could use to restore.)--SPLTWikiSysop 18:25, 18 October 2011 (UTC)

I've been getting errors like this:

Fatal error: Allowed memory size of 20971520 bytes exhausted (tried to allocate 30720 bytes) in /data/12/1/25/151/1188314/user/1264929/htdocs/wesdocs/includes/LinkBatch.php on line 110

It happened on Cattail Chapter 16 and on a subsequent retry, the edit went through, but that there was a change didn't show up on "Recent Changes". I wondered if it was related. The error has been happening a bit more frequently lately. -Dang Fool 18:41, 18 October 2011 (UTC)

I've also been getting that fatal Error occasionally recently, but I had a few occasions when changes didnt show up before then - I dont think the two are linked (could be wrong of course :-)) --Mallory 18:50, 18 October 2011 (UTC)

It happened twice in the last hour, both times with a slightly different error.

Fatal error: Allowed memory size of 20971520 bytes exhausted (tried to allocate 1966080 bytes) in /data/12/1/25/151/1188314/user/1264929/htdocs/wesdocs/extensions/ConfirmAccount/ConfirmAccount.i18n.php on line 5785

When I get this error, the change doesn't go through and I could lose my edit. I try again and it works, but the change doesn't show up. I think with the LinkBatch error, the change goes through. They obviously error in different parts of the edit process and both due to memory exhaustion. All my other edits today that didn't error show up fine. -Dang Fool 18:10, 20 October 2011 (UTC)

Searching around, I found this section on Mediawiki Manual on PHP Errors.--Samuelmichaels 20:15, 20 October 2011 (UTC)

Kirby Lambert who hosts the wiki under his account at NS, has contacted them and has been able to set the site default to 180mb from 20mb and also did another adjustment which should make speed of access improvements. Please post here for positive and negative results! thanks! --SPLTWikiSysop 21:41, 20 October 2011 (UTC)

Alas, I just got another one of these: Fatal error: Allowed memory size of 20971520 bytes exhausted (tried to allocate 491520 bytes) in /data/12/1/25/151/1188314/user/1264929/htdocs/wesdocs/extensions/ConfirmAccount/ConfirmAccount.i18n.php on line 1513. To be clear, when I retry, the change goes through and is visible in Recent Changes--Samuelmichaels 03:14, 21 October 2011 (UTC)

Investigation with Network Solutions by Kirby confirms that it is a NS server problem effecting other sites besides ours. Problem is under investigation and estimated repair time is 24-48 hours. will put up another note when solution is confirmed. Meanwhile RAM memory upgrade seems to have decreased time to display some pages by apparently several seconds. --SPLTWikiSysop 17:39, 21 October 2011 (UTC)

As of this morning, the problem still persists and Kirby is going to follow up with Network Solutions. --SPLTWikiSysop 14:53, 24 October 2011 (UTC)

FYI - Still happening and this time it was definitely in conjunction with a 'Fatal Error'. This time in relation to the page 'Mike'. --Mallory 20:50, 28 October 2011 (UTC) (This edit is suffering from the same!)

I could not access page Mike at all while not logged in. Once I logged in, I could see and edit it, but edits required two save attempts: the first one fails with an error message, the second works.--Samuelmichaels 05:07, 29 October 2011 (UTC)

Any news on the PHP memory change? I am still getting a lot of these errors.--Samuelmichaels 23:48, 2 November 2011 (UTC)

No change. it looks like we will need to move to another hosting company. Stay tuned. --SPLTWikiSysop 02:44, 3 November 2011 (UTC)

If we end up doing that, I might recommend Wikkii.com, which is free. I've used their farmer wiki hosting, and recently started using their "advanced hosting" which gives you Cpanel+FTP interface. So far, I've had pretty good experience with them. Ad-supported, but the ads are not displayed for signed-in users, and even for casual visitors not nearly as intrusive as on Wikia. And the price is right :-) --Samuelmichaels 22:04, 8 November 2011 (UTC)

Can anybody edit Runner's Moon? I am getting nothing but memory errors, even if all I do is open the page for edit and "preview" it (before any changes).--Samuelmichaels 13:13, 22 November 2011 (UTC)

Three trys -NO! but was able to here. This has gone beyond annoying! --SPLTWikiSysop 13:55, 22 November 2011 (UTC)

For me its pretty much All the Chapter pages (characters, locations etc are far less likely to cause the problem I find). Is it because of the multiple secions - thats my uneducated guess. --Mallory 16:36, 22 November 2011 (UTC)

There is another issue, probably related. If I am not logged in, I cannot see some pages at all. For instance, Picking Up the Pieces Chapter 33.--Samuelmichaels 21:16, 28 November 2011 (UTC)

Do we have an ETA n a server move? Just wondering. --Mallory 16:41, 25 January 2012 (UTC)

Just wondering if there's any news on this - not trying to be a pain but the site is pretty much unusable as it is--Mallory 20:51, 27 March 2012 (UTC)