User talk:Austicke

Welcome! Feel free to leave me a message -- Austicke

Archive

Template
Can we make a template like for warnings/pointing them to Sandbox to people that make funny edits? My spelling it not the best at times. -- Pstarky 13:41, 28 Sep 2005 (PDT)

Hehe, I like how you rephrased that. It's not uncommon to get a lot of newbies, so we need to be nice and hopefully help them to be good contributors. I can setup a template. -- Austicke 13:50, 28 Sep 2005 (PDT)

Thanks Alec. I dont want things to go down hill, when they just got off the ground. :) -- Pstarky 13:56, 28 Sep 2005 (PDT)

Vacation
I always have great timing. We get a BioWare Wednesday feature, activity is picking up, and I immediately go on vacation. I'll only be gone through the weekend though, so see you next week. Pstarky is a sysop, so he can help with anything in the meantime. Thanks! -- Austicke 18:52, 28 Sep 2005 (PDT)

I'm back from vacation and very happy to see there's been over 1,500 edits since I left. That's great, but now I want to review them all. Oy! -- Austicke 11:17, 4 Oct 2005 (PDT)

I finally finished reviewing all the edits while I was away. Whew! -- Austicke 23:51, 6 Oct 2005 (PDT)

Article vs Category view

 * Not sure if this is the place to reach you, but have a look at the Damage type vs Category:Damage types section. I think this is the way that we are saying it should be done, with as much information in the article as possible (including it linking to the category) and a simple reference in the category back to the article. Enigmatic 21:22, 4 Oct 2005 (PDT)


 * Perfect! -- Austicke 21:24, 4 Oct 2005 (PDT)

Style Guide
I think we need a Style Guide that is easily accessible and understood. Things like what to do (use the "Move page" button instead of blanking) and what not to do (cramp one mass of text with no formatting), how should tables be presented (avoid embedded tables), etc. This will give the wiki a consistent appearance and ease-of-use. What do you think? --Miborovsky 14:26, 9 Oct 2005 (PDT)

Good idea! I already started NWNWiki:Manual of Style, but there isn't much there yet. -- Austicke 15:04, 9 Oct 2005 (PDT)


 * I just did a partially completed infobox. Tell me if you like it. If so I can go on and make it look nicer. -- ÐœÐ¸Ð±Ð¾Ñ€Ð¾Ð²ÑÐºÐ¸Ð¹ U 15:34, 9 Oct 2005 (PDT)

It looks good, Miborovsky. I don't think we'd want to remove the other details, but it'd be nice to have a common info box like that. Very nice. -- Austicke 18:37, 9 Oct 2005 (PDT)


 * Try it out on one of the more complex classes that have more requirements (ie Weapon Master) and see how it goes. Enigmatic 18:39, 9 Oct 2005 (PDT)
 * Done. Not very presentable, the feats section, but I can do something with it using up-down instead of left-right...


 * Why not try putting the "Lvl 10 Weapon Master" under requirements and allowing the feats etc to go the full length of the border? Enigmatic 23:16, 9 Oct 2005 (PDT)
 * Well, I wanted for the right side to be Epic-specific. But I guess there is no requirements for Epic characters besides being lvl 10 in that class, so I guess we could take it out. But all the epic feats etc need to go somewhere. -- ÐœÐ¸Ð±Ð¾Ñ€Ð¾Ð²ÑÐºÐ¸Ð¹ U 23:36, 9 Oct 2005 (PDT)

Im with Alec, with keeping the information as it is. It still would be good to have that infobox for a quick reference for those that need a small reminder what is required for the class, and the HD/Skill they get. Tring to add all the info into the box/table is just going to look too messy. (sorry Enigmatic) -- Pstarky 02:49, 10 Oct 2005 (PDT)

I just had a look at changing the Weapon Master infobox. What do people think? -- Pstarky 05:11, 10 Oct 2005 (PDT)
 * How about just getting a few vitalstatistix and leaving the rest... somewhere? -- ÐœÐ¸Ð±Ð¾Ñ€Ð¾Ð²ÑÐºÐ¸Ð¹ U 22:46, 10 Oct 2005 (PDT)


 * It might be nice to have extrapolated information there as well. For instance, the Weapon Master box doesn't say that you need to have a Dex of 13 and an Int of 13, yet these are pre-requisites in order to get Expertise and Dodge respectively. Thus if someone was wanting to have a "quick" look to see if they can be a Weapon Master, it isn't immediately obvious from the stat box that they need this. In this sense you are offering a lot more than just the hard facts, and it lets people know what the total feats are they need to choose (ie if a Pre-req feat is listed but those required to get that are not listed, you would list it here so they know they need to take it). I also wonder how it would look for base classes as well. These have a lot less requirements (ie sometimes alignment, some have min stat scores) and we wouldn't want to just use the box for prestige classes only. Enigmatic 01:56, 11 Oct 2005 (PDT)



Now that, is wonderfully confusing, I mean really really confusing. On initial appearance it says that in order to become RDD u need bard/sorc + lore 8 + RDD lvl 10. If u want to divide the pre-epic from the epic u need to continue the division split down the middle of the table. But personally I don't see the point of defining when a class hits epic (as base hit it all at 21, and prcs at 11, with no other requisites). Basic appearance says "we put this in a table just to have it in a table".--Defunc7 06:58, 11 Oct 2005 (PDT)
 * Yeah I agree, which is why I think we can just include the vital stats and stash the rest somewhere else. -- ÐœÐ¸Ð±Ð¾Ñ€Ð¾Ð²ÑÐºÐ¸Ð¹ U 20:48, 13 Oct 2005 (PDT)

Purpose
Another thing. It would be the most sensible to make the focus of this wiki NOT simply character class descriptions and such, things that would be found with little effort in the manual. The best thing would be to have, for example, on the RDD, a box with a picture, listing it's vital statistics, feats, blahblahblah, with the main feature being user-input and notes and tips and suggestions, and guides from various forumnites if we can get their opinion. Thoughts? -- ÐœÐ¸Ð±Ð¾Ñ€Ð¾Ð²ÑÐºÐ¸Ð¹ U 14:37, 9 Oct 2005 (PDT)

Exactly. It's nice to have the basics, but I'd like see the notes section of articles expand with tips and tricks. -- Austicke 15:05, 9 Oct 2005 (PDT)

Well I am not up for removing any information or reduction the amount of information we have now. Everyone has/is adding notes/tips/hints already, so this purpose has started already. Yes most of this information is in the manuals, but quiet a bit of that information is wrong or misleading in the manuals. We have tried/tring to fix those errors and make that information that was misleading a bit clearer, by changing the information in the classes or decriptions to the correct information or/and add Notes/tips/ints. One of the hopes (well atleast for me) of this wiki was that people wouldnt have to pick up a manual (Sorry BioWare. :) ) and hope the information was correct. They could just come here and get all the information they need and know it is the right information and have some helpful notes/tips/hints. Look Im all for those infoboxes, they are a great idea. They would be great to have at the the beginning of each article as a quick reference or have a Quick Reference article linked from the main article. Sorry if I come out sounding rude here. -- Pstarky 03:26, 10 Oct 2005 (PDT)

I like it the way it is right now, Wiki provides some automation for moving around the article when it becomes large enough & when u've put in sub-divides. Stuffing things into tables when u don't really have a need becomes an additional level of confusion for people unfamiliar with the layout. u want tables for stuff like level progression because alot of info alters for each level, e.g. xp goes up, max skill level goes up etc. u want tables for weapons because each weapon has the same info about it, no more, no less. With classes though there's alot of variation between abilties, pre-reqs, free feats etc.--Defunc7 07:07, 11 Oct 2005 (PDT)

Web Host
Your web host is killer! Followed the link to it that you left in BT's talk. I think I may change my websites over to it when I can save up enough cash to take advantage of the special pricing. [mailto:turbo100110@yahoo.com Email me] so I can make sure you get referral credit (I think they pay like $97 per referral or something like that...]. Thanks for the heads up on this great host! Klingon Mage 17:22, 9 Oct 2005 (PDT)

Thanks, Klingon Mage. Yeah, I've used DreamHost for a few years and have been very happy with them. That link has my referral, so that should do it. My email is [mailto:alec@usticke.org alec@usticke.org] though. -- Austicke 18:36, 9 Oct 2005 (PDT)

I copy Austicke's link to DreamHost with his referral reward here for others. I think I might be using it as well! :) Brick Thrower 02:45, 11 Oct 2005 (PDT)

Thanks, I appreciate it! -- Austicke 15:23, 11 Oct 2005 (PDT)

Cascading Style Sheet

 * Just out of curiosity, I noticed on the Star Wars Wiki that they were using classes, and wondered if we have access to a NWN specific stylesheet for here (ie the skin one)? Reason I ask is that some of the templates we are creating could potentially benefit from using CSS so that we could have a "default" setting for all tables, and possibly even "pretty up" certain things around the place through some prudent use of a style sheet. Enigmatic 17:29, 10 Oct 2005 (PDT)


 * You're speaking greek to me. :) I use the MediaWiki software and have access to all the files on the server. I'm happy to make any improvements, but I'll need you to walk me through it. -- Austicke 17:47, 10 Oct 2005 (PDT)


 * There should be a file on the server called /skins/monobook/main.css. Its whats known as a Cascading Style Sheet. You can effectively re-skin the page by simply changing the features that each style (called a class) has. So if I were to add  {| class="weapon"  to a table, then it would look up a style in this stylesheet called "weapon" and apply that style. What it means is we can then make our own styles for things which are specific to NWN. We could come up with a specific set of colours/borders etc for when we display the class box that is being developed, can re-format the weapons template, etc, etc. Have a look at the character template that they use in the Star Wars site, see how it is nicely layed out and has specific fonts/colours. That all comes from the style sheet. It makes rendering easier and allows us to remove ALL wiki text that relates to how something should look (by moving it to the stylesheet) Enigmatic 18:56, 10 Oct 2005 (PDT)


 * Yeah, here's the file: . I'm open to customizing it; but, as I said, I'm going to need to rely on others' expertise. -- Austicke 15:30, 11 Oct 2005 (PDT)

HCR documentation ???
Hi Austicke, Great site! This is going to take off. I think I need a ruling from you. You have on the front page a warning about using copyrighted material. We are going to start documenting work on the HCR (Hard Core Rules) project. This project has a declared (c) copyright notice here. Can we document it here on your website? Now, along that same line, the scripting can also be used as documentation. Please take a look at some of my comments on HCR on my talk page for more information about what I am proposing. I guess I am asking for more clarification on what you will and will not allow on NWNWiki. I intend to clearly declare any work as public domain, and because it's wiki-ized, it truly will be public domain! Not even I, nor you, have real control over but what small parts we modify. Brick Thrower 01:05, 11 Oct 2005 (PDT)

Any copyright warnings came default with the MediaWiki software. I have no desire to violate copyrights, but I can't imagine anyone would object to documenting custom content here. Besides, I'm not sure the EULA allows people to claim ownership of anything made with the toolset. I'm no lawyer though. Bottom line, I welcome any NWN-related documentation here. -- Austicke 15:37, 11 Oct 2005 (PDT)

Lame excuses why I haven't been active
Been busy. -- Austicke 04:06, 26 Oct 2005 (PDT)

u'r right, that is lame :p --Defunc7 15:17, 26 Oct 2005 (PDT)

Spelling errors
Is the spelling errors function of NWNWiki working correctly? I'm fixing every instance of coupe de grÃ¢ce I can find, but it does not become removed from the list. myztikgohan 09:50, 4 Nov 2005 (PST)

Well, if you fixed them all, it must not be working properly. -- Austicke 12:16, 4 Nov 2005 (PST)

Dont forget the Wanted list also seems to be malfunctioning. -- Chrominium 13:25, 4 Nov 2005 (PST)

Oh? It's the first I'm hearing of it. Something is wrong with Special:Wantedpages? Can you explain further please? -- Austicke 16:57, 4 Nov 2005 (PST)

The second most wanted pages is the Arcane Spell Failure at #2 on the list. But if you go to the list of links, the links listed all now points to a valid page as they now point to Spell failure. I've made a note here Talk:Spell_failure. -- Chrominium 03:00, 5 Nov 2005 (PST)

Ah, I see what you mean. -- Austicke 16:03, 5 Nov 2005 (PST)

So is there any way to make it work properly? Were you aware it was malfunctioning? 70.181.76.25 01:59, 6 Nov 2005 (PST)

It's apparently caching some earlier results. I'll have to look into it. -- Austicke 09:02, 6 Nov 2005 (PST)

Wikipedia has a message to that effect "The following data is cached and may not be completely up to date." on their Wanted Page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Wantedpages --Brick Thrower 12:36, 6 Nov 2005 (PST)

That's funny. :) I guess we need one too although its been like this for a *long* time. Does the cache get updated once a month? -- Chrominium 02:02, 7 Nov 2005 (PST)


 * Spelling errors? --Shuder-- While my native tonge is english I an an engineer by trade.  Thus my spelling and grammer are terriable.  Thanks for cleaning it up and sorry for the extra work.  DaBear 06:14, 17 Nov 2005 (PST)


 * just created both "Epic warding" and "Epic Warding" redirects... not sure if this is correct. is this stuff case sensitive? please correct if necessary. thanks :) -- Jjjhhhlll 20:02, 21 Nov 2005 (PST)


 * It is case sensitive. -- Austicke 08:20, 22 Nov 2005 (PST)

So how is the "looking into" going? The list still does not function properly. -- 209.232.148.109

A Google search found this. It's a known bug; you need to do a dummy edit of each page to update the table. I'll take care of the armor ones. -- Austicke 10:40, 28 Nov 2005 (PST)

Uploading Files

 * Hi Austicke! I tried to upload a non-graphic image file today and was refused.  I can't locate further information on this issue and was hoping that you could clear up my file issue.  I would like to eventually upload files of type ERF, NSS, PDF, and other non-general file formats; that is, files other than txt, png, gif, jpg, etc.  Is this possible?  Thanks.  //Brick Thrower 02:17, 7 Dec 2005 (PST)
 * Yeah, I think I need to enable it. I'll look into it. -- Austicke 09:50, 7 Dec 2005 (PST)
 * Done. The following file types are allowed: 'png', 'gif', 'jpg', 'jpeg', 'ogg', 'pdf', 'doc', 'xls', 'ppt', 'mp3', 'zip', 'rar', 'mod', 'erf', 'nss', 'ncs' - Did I miss anything? -- Austicke 19:29, 7 Dec 2005 (PST)
 * Yes. Add .hak and .tlk for custom content peeps, pls.  Klingon Mage 08:11, 13 Dec 2005 (PST)
 * I think I had assumed those file types would be included in zip or rar compressed files, but I can add 'em anyway. Will do. -- Austicke 13:03, 13 Dec 2005 (PST)
 * Done. Here's the current list: 'png', 'gif', 'jpg', 'jpeg', 'ogg', 'txt', 'pdf', 'doc', 'xls', 'ppt', 'mp3', 'zip', 'rar', 'mod', 'erf', 'nss', 'ncs', 'hak', 'tlk' -- Austicke 21:03, 13 Dec 2005 (PST)

Spam Outbreak
Good lord at the spammers yesterday! Not just posting pron links but actually hacking the wiki code to make it not work right ( &quot etc.). It's certainly starting to look as if you're going to have to make it so you have to register to edit. A move you aren't in favor of I know, and one I support, as all know all too well ;) Just thought I would throw the idea out on the table again to see how people feel about it now.  Klingon Mage 08:09, 13 Dec 2005 (PST)
 * When the spammers start posting more than the Users is when I say yes. There are probably 7 posts from anonymous users to every 3 posts from logged in users, says the eyeball search of Recent changes. Ride out the storm; they come in waves, and when they see the steadfast diligence of the sysops, they usually find better hunting grounds elsewhere.  I think that there are many who will not post just because they have to hurdle the login account entry.  Don't you think that there are many good posts from those listed just by IP? // Brick Thrower 09:42, 13 Dec 2005 (PST)
 * It usually hits around midnight GMT. Give it a couple of days and it might clear up. Maybe even make registration needed for a couple of days & then remove to see if that doesn't deter. If I was being silly, I'd suspect that "rival" NWN2wiwi. --Defunc7 09:57, 13 Dec 2005 (PST)
 * I'm sure you're just being silly, Defunc7. They certainly don't have anything to do with the massive DDOS attack on my web host. :) Seriously, I'm amazed I haven't noticed any web site issues with what someone threw at DreamHost. -- Austicke 22:50, 13 Dec 2005 (PST)
 * Brick Thrower is right that we get a lot of edits from unregistered people. The Spam Blacklist will stop a good bit of it, but the spammers are always working out new ways to get around it. I've reported all the recent hits to blacklist. We just need to be diligent and keep on top of it. If Wikipedia (with 862,000 articles) can allow anonymous contributions, we can too. (But they've actually been in the news lately about this issue believe it or not .) -- Austicke 13:12, 13 Dec 2005 (PST)
 * I think the wikipedia stuff was more to do with people writing lies in (e.g. Bill Clinton is black) than spammers.--Defunc7 14:17, 13 Dec 2005 (PST)
 * Yeah, the recent news about Wikipedia doesn't have anything to do with spam, but it does have to do with allowing anonymous users to edit pages. On Wikipedia, someone anonymously added some defamatory things about a person, and the person wrote a USA Today op ed piece criticizing Wikipedia. However, they've now tracked the anonymous editor down via the IP address, and it turns out they were a family friend just playing a lame joke. Many people were saying Wikipedia should require registration though. It's a never-ending debate on wikis. -- Austicke 15:28, 13 Dec 2005 (PST)

Flushing/purging/archiving talk pages

 * What's your feel on purging or archiving some of the discussion on talk pages? In particular, now that all the HcR BS has passed, I for one would like to see all that discussion done away with.  In addition, some talk pages (and I hope you recognize your own here ;)) have become so cluttered with old discussion that it can often be hard to find the desired information or figure out where to post your own question or comment.  Just a thought.  Klingon Mage 06:59, 19 Dec 2005 (PST)
 * Discussions shouldn't be deleted; but, if it's no longer relevant, it can be archived. I created an archive page for NWNWiki talk:Community Portal and also for my own page here. Others are welcome to do the same. The HCR stuff on the community portal is archived; what else is there? I think Talk:Hardcore Ruleset is still relevant, because I don't want people altering that page without first discussing it. -- Austicke 07:12, 19 Dec 2005 (PST)
 * I archived some messages from here and Talk:Main Page. Anything else you want me to take care of? -- Austicke 07:24, 19 Dec 2005 (PST)