NWNWiki talk:Community portal

Feel free to add questions or comments about NWNWiki here. -- Austicke

Archive

Disagreements
NWNWiki is a collaborative community project; and, like any project of its scope, we're bound to have disagreements. I think it's a healthy part of the process, but we need to manage disagreements properly and respect others' opinions. I don't bring this up because I think it's been a problem, but I'd rather state this before someone gets bent out of shape rather than after.

As a community project, the users of NWNWiki are the ultimate authority. If we can't come to consensus about an issue, we vote and majority rules. I host the NWNWiki web site, but I get one vote just like everyone else. If I'm outvoted on something, I'll respect the decision and I hope others will do the same.

Thanks. I just wanted to make that clear. -- Austicke 09:07, 12 Sep 2005 (PDT)

On a related note, if someone adds or changes something you disagree with, please discuss it on the Talk page rather than just changing it again. At other wikis, I've seen two people going back and forth with the same edit over and over and it isn't pretty. If you know it'll lead to a disagreement, open a discussion on the Talk page to decide. The same goes for major edits that you think might cause some controversy. Thanks! -- Austicke 09:29, 12 Sep 2005 (PDT)

Spam

 * We've had the good fortune of attracting our first professional spammer. See here. Please keep an eye out for this type of stuff. Their edits should be reverted immediately and an admin should ban them. -- Austicke 15:08, 29 Nov 2005 (PST)
 * They just hit two more pages, each time with different IP addresses. If this keeps up, we may need to require registration to edit pages. -- Austicke 20:09, 29 Nov 2005 (PST)


 * I added a spam filter to NWNWiki. Hopefully it helps. If you're unable to edit a page due to the filter (i.e., you get a false positive), please let me know. If you'd like to see the links that are being blocked, see here. -- Austicke 21:04, 29 Nov 2005 (PST)


 * We're getting hit with some spam this evening. Please keep an eye out and revert any bad stuff. -- Austicke 19:31, 11 Dec 2005 (PST)


 * Caught & dealt with another block. person's posting general pron/spam links in a bit of div code. It broke the main page by replacing "s with incorrect code. banned all IPs involved (+ a registered 1-post user). Deleted all blank pages involved.--Defunc7 19:52, 12 Dec 2005 (PST)


 * Thanks, Defunc7. I'll add the garbage to the Spam Blacklist. -- Austicke 02:45, 13 Dec 2005 (PST)


 * We got hit again. :( -- Pstarky 06:35, 18 Dec 2005 (PST)


 * Thanks for deleting it, Pstarky. I'll add it to the blacklist. BTW, as an admin, you should use the rollback link when reverting edits. -- Austicke 09:02, 18 Dec 2005 (PST)


 * Thanks for the tips. never work out that one. -- Pstarky 09:30, 18 Dec 2005 (PST)


 * I have moved the blacklist to the page Spam blacklist, so admins can add spam URLs to it without my intervention. (It's protected, so only admins can add to it.) Please add URLs to the top list with an explanation or date. As you can see, the URLs need to be in a particluar format, so follow the other examples. Thanks! -- Austicke 09:45, 18 Dec 2005 (PST)


 * FYI, due to some changes between MediaWiki 1.4 & 1.5, the NWN2Wiki list needs to be in the MediaWiki namespace: NWN2Wiki:MediaWiki:Spam blacklist. -- Austicke 10:04, 18 Dec 2005 (PST)


 * It's actually my fault that the spam got through last night. I had added adult.dynu.net to the Spam blacklist last week when they first visited, but I entered it as  instead of  . Doh! If I had entered it properly, the spam would have been blocked. Sorry about that. -- Austicke 10:09, 18 Dec 2005 (PST)


 * I added another filter that will hopefully block the hidden spam using the div tag. -- Alec Usticke 18:58, 5 January 2006 (PST)


 * I've also blocked open proxies using SORBS DNSBL. This could very well block some regular users, so please let me know if anyone experiences problems. Thanks. -- Alec Usticke 01:06, 6 January 2006 (PST)


 * The additional measures seem to be helping, because I see other wikis being spammed, but we haven't been hit since. I know the spammers have been here, because their bots have registered accounts, but they obviously were unsuccesful at posting their spam links. I'm sure they'll figure a way around it eventually, but hopefully it'll take them a while. *knock on wood* -- Alec Usticke 10:20, 16 January 2006 (PST)


 * The spammers are out in full force today. They're doing a good job defeating the spam blacklist, so I'm going to install a captcha. -- Alec Usticke 14:03, 17 July 2006 (PDT)


 * Well, I added a captcha, but I think it needs a work, since it's case sensitive and probably confusing. Does anyone know PHP by any chance? -- Alec Usticke 15:17, 17 July 2006 (PDT)


 * The captcha is live. It's required whenever a new URL is added to a page and the editor isn't logged in with a confirmed email address (and also required to register a new account). This obviously won't stop a human spammer, but hopefully it will minimize the bot attacks -- with only minimal disruption to editors. -- Alec Usticke 07:22, 18 July 2006 (PDT)

No spam in the four days since the captcha was implemented. It looks like it's working. I'm sure they'll eventually find a way around it but hopefully it'll be a long, long time. -- Alec Usticke 09:26, 21 July 2006 (PDT)

MediaWiki upgrade
I've upgraded NWNWiki & NWN2Wiki to the latest software versions. Please let me know if you see any problems. (I'm sure NWN2Wiki is fine, but I did a lot of hacking on NWNWiki when it started without necessary keeping track of everything, so a customization could have been overwritten.) NWN2Wiki is on the very latest version (1.5.3), but NWNWiki is on version 1.4.12 (all bugs patched, but some features are different). I'll eventually upgrade NWNWiki to the 1.5.* version, but that will require a database conversion, so I'm in no rush. :) -- Austicke 01:05, 17 Dec 2005 (PST)

NWNWiki is now upgraded to MediaWiki version 1.5.4 -- the same version as NWN2Wiki. It seemed to work fine, but please let me know if you notice any strangeness. Thanks! -- Austicke 19:25, 25 December 2005 (PST)

FYI, you might want to go through your NWNWiki preferences again, because it now includes some new features -- such as email notifications. -- Alec Usticke 19:47, 25 December 2005 (PST)

We're now on version 1.5.5. -- Alec Usticke 19:39, 5 January 2006 (PST)

Upgraded to 1.6.7. -- Alec Usticke 13:39, 28 June 2006 (PDT)

Upgraded to MediaWiki 1.7.1 and PHP 5.1.2. -- Alec Usticke 10:07, 13 July 2006 (PDT)


 * Not done yet. Working on fixing some config errors. -- Alec Usticke 10:20, 13 July 2006 (PDT)


 * Should be done now. Please let me know if you find any errors. -- Alec Usticke 11:28, 13 July 2006 (PDT)

Do our NWNWiki logins work for NWN2Wiki, or do we need to create new account? Blacknight 10:07, 2 November 2006 (PST)


 * Unfortunately, NWN2Wiki uses a different database, so you'll need to create another account. You can use the same name/password combination for both though. I wanted to start totally fresh for NWN2Wiki, but I probably should have still linked the accounts. -- Alec Usticke 19:18, 2 November 2006 (PST)

UserScore
I don't want to make this a competition, but here's a list of the top 10 most active NWNWiki editors.


 * 1) Pstarky Philip Starkey (2649 Edits on 794 pages)
 * 2) Austicke Alec Usticke (2167 Edits on 1229 pages)
 * 3) Enigmatic Enigmatic (1061 Edits on 618 pages)
 * 4) Defunc7 (1036 Edits on 464 pages)
 * 5) Syrus Greycloak Karl Nickels (879 Edits on 301 pages)
 * 6) Countess Terra (846 Edits on 613 pages)
 * 7) Brick Thrower Brick Thrower (434 Edits on 167 pages)
 * 8) The Krit (410 Edits on 207 pages)
 * 9) GhostNWN Igor (248 Edits on 163 pages)
 * 10) Llandru Anil PurandarÃ© (241 Edits on 229 pages)

-- Alec Usticke 09:26, 30 June 2006 (PDT)

Before we move to Wikia, I thought I'd post a new tally.


 * 1) Pstarky Philip Starkey (2657 Edits on 796 pages)
 * 2) Austicke Alec Usticke (2447 Edits on 1374 pages)
 * 3) Enigmatic Enigmatic (1061 Edits on 618 pages)
 * 4) The Krit (1046 Edits on 580 pages)
 * 5) Defunc7 (1036 Edits on 464 pages)
 * 6) Alaisiagae (911 Edits on 557 pages)
 * 7) Syrus Greycloak Karl Nickels (893 Edits on 301 pages)
 * 8) Countess Terra (847 Edits on 613 pages)
 * 9) Brick Thrower Brick Thrower (429 Edits on 164 pages)
 * 10) WynterArwynRose Angel (280 Edits on 190 pages)

Not a huge change from a year ago. -- Alec Usticke 15:10, 31 July 2007 (PDT)

Player Pages
I have recently come across some pages that have led me to the conclusion that NWNWiki should not host pages that describe particular players. NWNWiki users can, of course, describe themselves on their user pages; what I am now objecting to is a page like Chokra Broodslayer, which is an actual wiki entry about a player.

So what is so bad about a few pages like that? The problem comes when the pages start to contain negative information, as is the case in Demon X and Evil Ufo. Pages like these can quickly lead to unfounded denouncements, which I believe would seriously undermine the integrity of NWNWiki. To avoid having to make subjective decisions as to what is acceptable and what is not, I propose that no wiki articles about particular individuals be allowed. This might be seen as drastic, but it is a simple and objective criterion, and I do not see a general benefit coming from even the positive player articles.

For completeness: the players article itself would also be deleted under this proposal.

This would be a big step that should only be taken if the community agrees to it. So this is my request for other opinions. How do others feel about this? Does anyone know of a benefit of keeping some articles about particular players? Does anyone think we should keep all articles about particular players despite the potential for abusive attacks? Does anyone have an alternate proposal? --The Krit 02:24, 1 May 2007 (PDT)


 * Makes sense to me. I would be two those two "negative" pages were written by the players themselves though. -- Alec Usticke 16:31, 1 May 2007 (PDT)

Are we talking about Community Profile pages or some type of Player Character (from a given PW) page? I would think that if a PW has a page on here, it would be acceptable to list which players are part of that world. I would hate to see us nerf the site over a few bad apples. I've read those pages and frowned. I also didn't like the fact that some people were using this site as a message board between friends. (Posting on each others Character Page.) But what can you do with people like that? They'll do it anyways and get banned for it later. This is truly a coin flip in my mind. On one hand I'd hate to see us nerf a site. On the other... what gain is there to show a page of a particular player on a particular, for a game where player characters come and go at the drop of a hat? I would not be heart broken to see those pages go. Bromium 07:26, 2 May 2007 (PDT)


 * Someone just removed the deletion request for Demon X. Is there an agreement on whether we get rid of those player account pages with mainly negative comments? GhostNWN 21:22, 13 July 2007 (PDT)


 * There hasn't been much said about this. I think we should leave the deletion notices up for a while, and eventually, if there are no objections, those pages can get deleted. I don't know how long, but it should be at least a few months. In the meantime, anyone who objects should explain why (either here or on the talk pages for the player pages) instead of merely removing the deletion tag. --The Krit 21:31, 16 July 2007 (PDT)


 * One other thing -- the deletion notice reads "do not remove this notice from articles that you have created yourself." When an anonymous user removes the deletion tag (as was done in this case), it looks a bit like an attempt to circumvent this restriction. --The Krit 21:34, 16 July 2007 (PDT)


 * I restored the deletion tag when I posted the report here. I'm tempted to get rid of the pages by August really since the deletion reqs have been up for about a year now already with no objections it seems. GhostNWN 22:48, 16 July 2007 (PDT)


 * It's been much less than a year. In fact, it's been less than a month. --The Krit 22:23, 19 July 2007 (PDT)

Downtime
Sorry for the downtime today. My web host had a technical problem. We're back up now (obviously). -- Alec Usticke 12:27, 29 June 2007 (PDT)

Moving to Wikia
After much deliberation, I have decided to move NWNWiki & NWN2Wiki to Wikia. For those that don't know, Wikia was founded by Jimmy Wales (who started Wikipedia) and Angela Beesley and hosts over 3,000 wiki communities -- including many game wikis like WoWWiki (35,000+ articles). They even host a Forgotten Realms wiki, which is germane to NWN.

Besides the fact that it's free, Wikia will offer us better support and tools -- including improved spam and vandalism protection. They'll also be faster to update the MediaWiki software and offer more extensions than I have.

I considered a number of options, and I think Wikia is the best fit for us. I hope you'll agree.

The transition will occur in a few days and should be pretty seamless. When we're ready, I will lock the wikis to disallow new edits, so that I can send the database and other files to Wikia to bring up on their servers. The nwnwiki.org & nwn2wiki.org domains will then be redirected to their servers and we're back in business. User accounts and everything will still be in place. The transition should only take a day or two, but even when it's locked, the wikis will be accessible for reading.

For most users, I bet they won't even notice the change (besides some improved performance). We'll still have full control over the wiki content.

Thank you to all the editors and admins who have made our wikis such a valuable resource for the NWN & NWN2 communities. I'm sure this partnership with Wikia will be a success. With less headaches for me regarding software and technical issues and -- for everyone -- less time spent fighting spammers, we should all have more time to do the real important work: improving and expanding our database!

Thanks again. -- Alec Usticke 20:06, 19 July 2007 (PDT)


 * I am the founder of the Neverwinter Nights Wikia. The content there has been little and so I am glad that this merge is taking place.  I will be happy to assist in the merge and the running of the wiki.  Thank you for choosing to come to Wikia and bringing the  articles with you.  --Leon2323 20:15, 20 July 2007 (UTC)  P.S. I was unable to create an account on this wiki or add any links as the CAPTCHA doesn't seem to work.


 * Thanks for the note, Leon. I look forward to working with you.
 * Sorry the CAPTCHA blocked you, but I just tested it and confirmed it's working. It is a bit confusing though, because you need to get the capitalization exact with no spaces. For example, it will be something like "WizardDwarf"; "Wizard Dwarf" or "wizarddwarf" will fail. I could have used something easier, but I stubbornly insisted on using a system with NWN words and (the hard to read) font. It has meant a big improvement in blocking spammers, but it's a pain for new users. I'm glad I soon won't have to worry about such technical issues with Wikia hosting. :) -- Alec Usticke 13:27, 20 July 2007 (PDT)

Hopefully we'll be able to make the move this week. The URLs will change to nwn.wikia.com and nwn2.wikia.com, but the old URLs will redirect to the proper article (www.nwnwiki.org/Wizard --> nwn.wikia.com/wiki/Wizard). -- Alec Usticke 16:08, 30 July 2007 (PDT)

Sorry for the false start with the Wikia move. We began it last week, but some unexpected delays pushed the transition back. We'll try again shortly. Article editing has been re-enabled in the meantime. Sorry about that! -- Alec Usticke 17:54, 7 August 2007 (PDT)


 * Ok, I've now got an account! Anyway, the latest with the move.  From what I can gather, all of the pages from this wiki has been moved to Wikia.  The content is being merged and a few things are being updated.  Wikia's wikis normally use a skin called QuartzSmoke.  However, it looks like this one is going to be using MonoBook, the same as on this wiki.  Probably because it will make users less confused.  Now, I must say that I did a lot of hacking with the system messages so there are a lot of changes.  The first thing you'll realise is that I've changed the MonoBook skin a bit.  Now, you might decide to get rid of it so go ahead if you feel that's best.  There are also a few other things I meddled around with.  Let's just say that I made the wiki a mess.  A lot needs sorting out but I hope that we can create a free open-source NWN resource.  Thanks everyone for contributing!  --Leon2323 12:15, 13 August 2007 (PDT)


 * Yeah, TOR started the transition, but he fell ill before finishing and now I'm on vacation until next week. (I'll be at Gen Con in Indianapolis.) Hopefully we can resume the transition and finish it quickly when I return. I see the customizations you did; we'll need to sort that out. I'd appreciate your help, Leon. -- Alec Usticke 13:49, 13 August 2007 (PDT)


 * Ok, nothing much seems to have happened and I'm not really sure what's going on... I'll try and help with the merge when I can though.  Happy editing!  --Leon2323 12:24, 20 August 2007 (PDT)