Talk:Admins/Archive 5

50k Articles
I say make a special sort of userbox when we hit 50k, plus a news page announcement of course. I'd have the userbox be something like " contributed to EQ2I's first 50,000 articles!" for all those that contributed before that point. Of course that would be done as an honor basis like the Beta tags and such. Mind you I think we're still a good ways off from 50,000, but we do have quite a bit more pages to put in. I know I've been adding a few here and there as I'm going through the Warden spells. --Lordebon 17:44, 29 January 2008 (UTC)
 * how about we think about 30k first, instead of 50k? also theres other issues involved here, which i need to hunt down a kodia and talk with. --Uberfuzzy 18:16, 29 January 2008 (UTC)


 * In theory you wouldn't need the honor system for the 50K userbox if the template was set up to look at the user's contributions list and only display for users with contributions done before whatever the 50K date turns out to be. Just a thought, since the technicalities of templates are still beyond me. --Sigrdrifa 21:28, 23 May 2008 (UTC)

Duplication of effort?
I've been looking over Illusionist spells (quite the mish-mash of styles over time) trying to clean things up / make everything uniform and was wondering: If we create a "spell line", do we need to double the effort to input spells under "Spells by Category"? Is there a way to have Spells by Category and the Spelline templates link so the category list draws content from Spelline Template? I Have an idea on tags to add (and this could clean things up- more linking and drawing on information rather than typing the same thing in multiple locations)

Idea:

(( All class spells would require the spellline tag)) User clicks on class spell lines, they get a dynamic list is formed from all Display=Y spelllines for their class (( Spellline template gets streamlined, no more manual updates, archetype/class spells become easier to list )) (( spells by category list magically starts agreeing with spellines)) Too much? Does this make sense?
 * ALL Spells contain a spellline reference
 * Only display the spelline box if display=Y is set (just a suggested flag name, see below)
 * eg: Phantasmal Shock would display its' spellline box
 * eg: Illusory Mask would NOT display a spellline box
 * Spellline template contains description and a new flag (display=Y/N)
 * eg: Class=Illusionist|includeClass=mage|IncludeClass=Enchanter
 * eg: SpelllineName=Phantasmal Shock|SpelllineDesc=Direct Damage|Display=Y
 * eg: SpelllineName=Illusory Mask|SpelllineDesc=Group Invis|Display=N
 * Spellline template does NOT list the spells, only the *Name, *Desc, and Display= flags
 * PLUS includeClass= listings for Archetype, Class linking. No more "Why can't I see xyz archetype (mage) / Class (enchanter) spell in available spellines?"
 * Category template defines column view:
 * eg: Illusionst column1=Damage|Spellline1=Phantasmal Shock|Spellline2=Headache ..., column2=CC and Power Management|Spellline1=Sleep|Spellline2=Convincing Regalia ...
 * as spells are added to a spellline, the columns will auto update

Tavison 14:42, 4 May 2008 (UTC)
 * The Spells by Category of the Illusionist is the only one that shows every spell of the spell lines.
 * Every other class only has the first spell of the spellline and not all his upgrades listed there.
 * The Spells by Category of the Illusionist is overloaded and should be reduced to the first spell in the spellline by the look of it. -- Chillispike 13:58, 5 May 2008 (UTC)
 * You are correct. I've made the changes as suggested to remove the spell lines from the categorical listing of spell *types*. The lines themselves remain unchanged per the common design to other pages.--Kodia 14:18, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

Edit Date Problem?
The edit date reported at the bottom left of the screen is showing up dates that are way off.

shows 01/17/08 (actual edit date 05/232/08). shows 03/30/08 (actual edit date 05/23/08). shows 01/17/08 (actual edit date 05/22/08).

I'm not sure why they show up strange - the dates are right in my watchlist. --Sigrdrifa 17:38, 23 May 2008 (UTC)
 * Hmm. Good question about this. I've not seen it before. We'll try to get someone on it from Wikia and find out if there's a setting that went astray recently.--Kodia 17:47, 23 May 2008 (UTC)
 * i poked, they said cache. they were having some low level database/network problems the last couple days, so the job queue and cache update stuff hadnt been run in a couple days. the dates looks ok now. sometimes these things just take a couple days to work out. thanks for letting us know. --Uberfuzzy 14:39, 25 May 2008 (UTC)

Adding spell stats
I started editing spell stats for the Monk based on my spells in game. My DH mentioned to me that my stats in game might be different than another toon since my int line has been increased.

First, is this true? (Say for Cobra Circle where my AppII looks similar to the Adept III stats already on on the page).

Second, how do we know which stats to include if this is true?

Raevenn 23:41, 29 June 2008 (UTC)Raevenn
 * this has been an issue forever. atleast weapons no longer display different stats from person to person when examined, but spells still do. when you examine a spell, either from your k-book, or from a scroll (like from the broker) the numbers will adjust based on YOUR current stats/gear/buffs AT THAT MOMENT. its a pain for us. the simple answer is, put what it shows for you. if you happen to know which stat that would affect that spell (varies per class, usually int, but some are str or wis) put your current stat value in the summary when you edit it. /shrug --Uberfuzzy 01:34, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

Disambigs...
I know this would be a sort of fundamental change to the way we do things... but my proposition is this: Instead of using the base name (i.e. "Barx") as the disambig and then split everything to parenthetically annotated names (i.e. "Barx (Player)"), for simple disambigs that are generally Quest and Item (or Quest and one other page) use the base name for the quest, adding a "If you're looking for X (Item), see here" kind of note at the top and remove the disambig entirely. I say this because, in my opinion EQ2i is used more for quest lookups than for looking up an item, and this would allow quest lookups from in-game and searches to go directly to the page instead of a disambig landing page. Thoughts? ((Oh, and I know the template for the "See also" thing is out there somewhere, but God help me, I can't remember what its called)). --Lordebon 23:18, 27 July 2008 (UTC)
 * we've been starting to do that incases where one of the items is far more likely to be what the user is searching for (see some of the prophets, where the pagename is what they exist as now, but a disambiged name still exists for the one that was around) i call them "weighted disambigs", but i think theres a more technical term.
 * i think the template is called Template:Also or SeeAlso or something like that. i dont know if we have one. --Uberfuzzy 23:36, 27 July 2008 (UTC)

Another thought...
With all the EQ2-related ads on the main page now (and the "questionable" ones), perhaps a small link right under the box ad linking to a EverQuest_2_Wiki namespace article detailing how to report "questionable" ads and explaining EQ2i's lack of direct control over them would be prudent / useful? --Lordebon 23:22, 27 July 2008 (UTC)
 * thats a very good idea, i'll write something up right now. --Uberfuzzy 23:39, 27 July 2008 (UTC)

adornment stat changes
I an trying to create some adornments and the change from (ie.) STA to increased health is not found. Is it more benificial for health points to put a STA or a health adornment on the equipment? Is there a formula for finding out what each adornment means? Will the adornment change the ammount added for the class or subclass, based o primary abilities? Like if I add a STR adornment my damage per hit will go up by (?) or a WIS adornment will increase (which resists) by (?). There are caps and formulas to figure out what they are, but are they soft caps and what is the rate of diminishing returns? Bruf 15:58, 29 July 2008 (UTC)brufBruf 15:58, 29 July 2008 (UTC) Leander Berg berg@dteenergy.com
 * See my comment on Kodia's talk page. It's a diminishing returns curve for which the formula is not known. In my experience however, given the choice of a + sta or a + health adorn of the same tier, the + health has always been more for me. --Lordebon 20:26, 29 July 2008 (UTC)

obsolete item stats
Since 15000 existing items were improved in LU47 today, I think we had better flag every item page on EQ2i as being potentially out-of-date, so that we can remove the flag after the item page is updated. I don't know how these bots work that Uberfuzzy, uses, but could we use a bot to do this? Sassinak 17:59, 31 July 2008 (UTC)
 * That seems a bit extreme. To me, the "last edit" date at the bottom should serve to indicate how accurate the information should be considered. Also, out of curiousity -- where in the world did you get that 15,000 item figure? That'd be most every item in the game, or close enough, I'd think... --Lordebon 20:26, 31 July 2008 (UTC)
 * Quoted from Fyreflyte on July 17, when discussing the level 1-59 gear revamp: "Mind you I had to update somewhere close to 15,000 items, so I couldn't go through and do it by hand." So the vast majority of items in the game have changed overnight, and most of them significantly changed. Sassinak 23:22, 31 July 2008 (UTC)

Bonus Experience Weekend
I haven't seen anything on the EQ2 Home page or any in game announcement, but if you hover you mouse cursor over the adventure experience bar, it shows that the server is currently awarding 20% bonus experience. Maybe this is supposed to last all Labor Day weekend? Ace531 13:38, 30 August 2008 (UTC)Ace531
 * Hmm. That's a good point and a good new feature. It had completely slipped my mind. I'll see if I can get something about it up on the front page news.--Kodia 01:38, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

Case Sensitivity Problem
Well, I don't think it's completely fixed. I just entered (welcome to the jungle) in the search box as it is shown without the paranthesis and it came up No Page Found. However further down in the listings that it showed was the page Welcome to the Jungle (with the capital letters). Back to the drawing boards I guess. Ace531 02:20, 3 September 2008 (UTC)Ace531
 * Fooey. And I had such high hopes.--Kodia 02:54, 3 September 2008 (UTC)

eq2i domain
FYI: http://www.eq2i.com/ gives an error.

Olgie 03:25, 31 October 2008 (UTC)
 * Works fine for me. --Lordebon 11:42, 31 October 2008 (UTC)
 * Works for me also. Wikia has had some troubles with domains recently, even *.wikia.com ones were affected (lots of 403 errors), might be aftershocks from that. I'll pass it on to tech people, see if there was and lasting effects, likely just old dns caching by your isp. --Uberfuzzy 09:16, 1 November 2008 (UTC)

Templated Image back-links
I could be wrong, but in the past didn't images that were linked by certain templates (my guess, ones that link based on a param, instead of just including a certain picture) show every page that had them in the "What Links Here" part of the image page? Now, looking at them it seems that they're not showing up as having any links if they're included via a template. --Lordebon 23:25, 1 November 2008 (UTC)
 * Hmm. We're looking into it. Thanks for pointing it out. We'll see what we come up with. (I'm betting Uberfuzzy has some ideas or will at least comment.)--Kodia 15:22, 2 November 2008 (UTC)
 * /em grumble at wikia. the stuff that updates images backlinks doesnt run the same way anymore. it might be fixed once we get onto the new parser (which should be very very soon, only have a few things left to fix/recode), but i'm not sure. --Uberfuzzy 02:19, 3 November 2008 (UTC)

More oddness: non-red redlink factions
See In Honor and Service. The wiki is IDing the faction as a redlink and spewing a metric tonne of those "help us" boxes (did you guys know how much I really hate those boxes, yet? I swear, they cause more trouble than they're worth at times...). The odd thing is it doesn't seem to be doing it on other quests with that faction, so my guess is it's because it was edited today, and that box-making template is being wonky today (but isn't updating unless edited). So maybe a mix of wikia having issues again combined with template/page caching? Who knows... just reporting it. --Lordebon 21:44, 7 November 2008 (UTC)
 * yeah, we know. we its a cache thing+code not working the way it used to. I've got one last round of tests to check on some templates, then i'm getting the wiki switched to the new preproccessor, that should fix those. --Uberfuzzy 23:05, 7 November 2008 (UTC)

Ranger/Assassin vandalism, or ?
Not sure why 71.3.24.26 was doing it, but they were switching most of the things on the Assassin page with those on the Ranger page, and vice versa. Looked like vandalism to me, so I reverted it. Feel free to delete this message when ya get it -- they just might be a warning/ban candidate to me. --Lordebon 00:25, 11 November 2008 (UTC)
 * I suspect personally that it was just a matter of confusion. The edits were too precise to be vandalism in that regard. Let's keep an eye on it.--Kodia 13:56, 11 November 2008 (UTC)

Using User: namespace for characters?
Lately I've been seeing some folks using the user namespace for their characters. By that I mean creating new User: pages for user accounts that don't exist, but instead are the name of their characters. While unlikely to result in a conflict, it strikes me as something that might want to nip in the bud... --lordebon 16:30, 15 November 2008 (UTC)
 * If you see these, could you point them out to us please? This goes against our page creation policies. We typically move character pages into the user namespace as a sub-page of the user account in general (for example, my alt, Jaddari is under User:Kodia/Jaddari). --Kodia 14:04, 17 November 2008 (UTC)
 * That was my understanding, thus the comment. User:Deadnlovinit and User:Icemaiden were both by User:Igotyourcoinage that I saw and prompted the question. --lordebon 23:40, 17 November 2008 (UTC)

New related example. User:Pyremius being used by (and is set up as a redirect of) User:Eq2rc, with Eq2rc being the account actually used for edits (and Pyremius not being an account at all). --lordebon 18:25, 11 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Corrected. Thankyou for the headsup.--Kodia 16:12, 13 January 2009 (UTC)

I think i found the next example User:Taubin User and User:Satu Alt. -- Chillispike 16:57, 13 January 2009 (UTC)

TSO AA Tree's
Hiya I started to work on the Coercer Shadows AA. In the end it's just copy/paste for the other classes and Subtrees like General effect every class so a template is the best way to keep them uptodate, without editing 23 other sides. -- Chillispike 17:33, 16 November 2008 (UTC)
 * Step 1 adding the base information is done.
 * Step 2: creating Templates for the linking of General, Mage and enchanter will start soon.
 * Step 2 doesn't work - I created a template but when i replace the line with the template i get an error.
 * Maybe a own template for all classes could work, Basic information would be just the subclass name. From there just add links to all the AA and the Skill name.
 * Pro and Con:
 * Pro: 1 Side with all information could be easy to maintain
 * Con: Will need some work, but no problem
 * Con: Unsure about page load side but i think it will be ok.
 * I think i play in one of my sandboxes with that and try to get the name of all AA Spells in one way or the other *sign*.
 * -- Chillispike 12:10, 17 November 2008 (UTC)
 *   doesn't support so that is sadly not possible :( -- Chillispike 13:34, 17 November 2008 (UTC)
 * Yeah, i know, neither does the version of Imagemap we have :( --Uberfuzzy 13:37, 17 November 2008 (UTC)
 * there is hope though chilli, there is hope :) --Uberfuzzy 14:16, 17 November 2008 (UTC)

From 1.14 notes: "Added "link" parameter to image links, to allow images to link to an arbitrary title or URL. This should replace inaccessible and incomplete solutions such as CSS-based overlays and ImageMap."

TSO Armor set templates
I think i will work on drop/obtain template for the tso armor set's :) -- Chillispike 17:34, 16 November 2008 (UTC)
 * Okay, thankyou.--Kodia 14:08, 17 November 2008 (UTC)
 * TSO Fabled Sets started 18 of 24 sets listed there.
 * 4*7 Patterns added 2*7 Patterns missing, then i know th other sets too and can start working on the other templates
 * The patterns that got added use a template for Pattern name, drop and price atm.
 * -- Chillispike 14:38, 24 November 2008 (UTC)
 * Looks good to me. I tweaked the template a bit just for cosmetics (tell me what you think), but out of curiosity, what's the purpose of the named arguments (i.e. Shadow=y, etc.)? I don't see them used anywhere in the template itself. --lordebon 00:02, 25 November 2008 (UTC)
 * I needed it in Rok for the stones and kept it since i wasn't sure if all patterns need the same amount of void shards.
 * I would like to keep that not needed line atm for the set pages incase i have to adjust the price of the items and shards for diff patterns. Rather edit 1 side instead of 24 :)
 * Basically i used the same look like on my Template:80RokFabledSet, didn't thinked about centering the stuff but doesn't make a big diff really so np.
 * Hmm on the second look the Rawspan is not that good, i like the  more to sperate it. Helps a little with the look of it kinda.
 * The next template i will make will be for obtain of the items and to link to set pieces+sets for the patterns them self.
 * Since i got the 2 missing patterns and 6 sets now i can update that and start working on the that template.
 * -- Chillispike 00:37, 25 November 2008 (UTC)
 * By rawspawn, I assume you mean where I split it into two rows (but merged the first two cells)? IMHO that looks better than just a linebreak, since it positively joins mob to zone. --lordebon 13:25, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

New preprocessor bug, or old bug? Centered imagemaps
Not sure if this bug is related to the new preprocessor or not, but it seems that imagemaps that are 'd are not having the little blue "i" imagelink placed properly. It's being placed on the page where it WOULD be if the image was left-aligned, which is causing it to be somewhere in the middle (depending on your resolution). I.e, as I expand the browser window it remains stationary while the image properly moves. The link circles on the imagemap work fine. Certainly not a high-priority bug or anything, especially with TSO launch, but still maybe something to report to wikia. --lordebon 00:16, 19 November 2008 (UTC)
 * sadly no, this is NOT a parser thing, its an ancient known (and fixed) bug in the ancient version of image map wikia has installed. one option for now is to use the option to disable the link to the image. please use Special:Contact to write to wikia staff and request that the newer version of the image map extension be installed. if more people write in about it, there will be more pressure to get it upgraded sooner. --Uberfuzzy 02:44, 19 November 2008 (UTC)
 * Category:Conjuror_AAs :) have fun --Uberfuzzy 02:46, 3 December 2008 (UTC)
 * Hooray, progress! =) --lordebon 17:37, 3 December 2008 (UTC)

Two new templates
I put together two new templates for image categorization. First is Template:TaggedImage, to be put on images that have user credits and should be replaced. Next, to get rid of an old redlink is Template:None selected which categorizes all images that have been uploaded with a licensing of "None selected". --lordebon 18:56, 29 December 2008 (UTC)
 * Thanks.--Kodia 22:38, 29 December 2008 (UTC) PS: Category:Images needing updated was where I added the templates, in case you hadn't seen.--Kodia 23:17, 29 December 2008 (UTC) PPS: Blame Uberfuzzy for the name.--Kodia 23:17, 29 December 2008 (UTC)
 * Aye, I saw. And not a big issue, since it's more of a poweruser/backend-type category than a normal content category. --lordebon 23:20, 29 December 2008 (UTC)

All (Class) Equipment
Do y'all think it would be a decent idea to make the All (Subclass, Class, or Archetype) Equipment categories into hidden cats? They really clutter up the categories on some equipment, and I honestly doubt people really need to see them there (since a link to All (Subclass) Equipment is present both in the link in the item template itself and on the class pages and the categories are purely alphabetically arranged). --lordebon 22:11, 1 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Poke. --lordebon 18:49, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
 * I'd rather keep the hidden categories limited to wiki maintenance things that the average non-wiki user does not need to see. How about we lessen how many of those spit out? --Uberfuzzy (talk) 20:25, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Lessening them would work, since as I said personally a list of all the items for a given class arranged alphabetically isn't that useful. How about if we restricted them to how it appears in game (and thus how they are called)... ie if it says All, then it's All Class equipment. If it says Mage, Priest then it only links to Mage equipment and Priest equipment. Then just reverse-subcategorize the categories... Priest equipment would be in the warden, fury, etc. equipment categories. --lordebon 23:25, 27 January 2009 (UTC)

Parser-function using templates...
I've noticed that on some large pages, the existance-checking templates like Quest and NPC are causing the page to exceed the expensive parser-function limit. Once the quest exists, what is the value in having this, and how much server-utilization do these functions cause by having the links checked once every (whenever they're rechecked)? I can see using it when we know the quest, npc, etc. is going to be a redlink for the time being, but is there any reason why we should not remove them and just put in  once its present? --lordebon 01:28, 18 January 2009 (UTC)
 * And poke. --lordebon 18:49, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
 * I raised the limit from 100 to 200, and that cleared out most of Category:Pages with too many expensive parser function calls. Category:Pages with too many ifexist calls is another story. But either case, yeah, if we know the page is going to be LONG, feel free to remove some uses of those {{item, {{monster, {{equip, {{zone| templates, those are really only so we could mass detect needed links of a certain type, which doesnt scale well on big/long pages --Uberfuzzy (talk) 22:03, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Yeah, I thought they were really only useful for redlink detection/categorization. I figured for long pages, why not save a few miliseconds of server time =) --lordebon 23:25, 27 January 2009 (UTC)

Change to summary/save/preview bar?
Was the summary bar recently changed (as in, today)? I've noticed the textarea for the summary has been drastically reduced in size. While it doesn't seem to be affecting the actual number of characters permitted in summaries, it's rather annoying (and to me wholly unnecessary). Any way to undo this or at least make it bigger? --lordebon 18:39, 21 January 2009 (UTC)


 * To the best of our knowledge, no. Much to our dismay, the release of this feature is wikia-wide and not settable at the user level, only at the wiki level. I'll double check to be sure about the setting of the characters that the comments accepts but I'm fairly certain it's either on or off, not specific.--Kodia 18:49, 21 January 2009 (UTC)
 * It's not then number of characters that the field accepts that I'm talking about... the actual on-page size of the HTML textarea has been reduced so that it shows less (IE starts scrolling earlier). Will provide a screenshot later on. --lordebon 18:56, 21 January 2009 (UTC)

Hmm. It doesn't behave that way on my Firefox screen. In point of fact, I believe there's more room than before. It could be a browser-related issue and again, wouldn't be something we could change.--Kodia 19:06, 21 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Interesting. Did something recently get released/changed on the backend? As I recall, it used to look something like this (taken from another wiki) with minor edit and the watch checkbox on a separate line. For me, it now looks like this which means the Summary: box is horizontally smaller. I could be remembering incorrectly about some parts, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't that small before. --lordebon 22:19, 21 January 2009 (UTC)


 * OH! Okay, I see what you mean. No, I meant the actual editing area for the article, not the little box where the summary line goes. My apologies. I misread your original comment. Yes, that box is smaller. Also it's nothing we can change. We're kvetching to the people in charge at present but I'm not sure how it will go. We'll keep people updated.--Kodia 22:26, 21 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Sorry for not being clear, thats why I was going to post screenies but had to wait until I got home (had ~10 mins on the batteries left ;) ). Yeah, the article area is the same as ever, but that box is smaller. Thanks for escalating it to wikia... when it comes to say a revert it fills the entire summary box, which I would rather have be big (and put the buttons and such back below). It's after the main content area, so vertical space is 'cheap' there compared to at the top of the page, and all of those buttons would fit next to "Show Changes" allowing the summary line to be big again. Thanks again =) --lordebon 22:34, 21 January 2009 (UTC)

try now, i upped it +50% --Uberfuzzy 19:06, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
 * I saw, love it. BTW, is Common.css one of the things that can be personalized via userspace (ie User:Lordebon/Common.css or something similar)?
 * kinda, no local personal common (yet, theres an ancient ticket to do this). you can do User:Lordebon/monaco.css but that will only affect Monaco skins (all themes though, not just the custom on), or you can put something in www.wikia.com/wiki/User:Lordebon/global.css to affect all skins in all sites

Ah perfect, monaco.css will work well. 450px textarea here I come (well, already went ;)). --lordebon 23:25, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Better yet, as of yesterday's code update, it autosizes now --Uberfuzzy (talk) 01:37, 29 January 2009 (UTC)

Perfect! --lordebon 03:42, 29 January 2009 (UTC)