User talk:Solar Dragon/Archive 11

Archives: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,
7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14
15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23
24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30

Logo

Hi, Solar. I was just thinking about the wiki logo and how good it is compared to some. However, it really does need "Wikisimpsons" to appear on the logo somewhere. I would do it myself, but I don't know if I have the right software and skill to do it. Maybe it could be written using the simpsons font, similar to whats been done with the "wikia" logo? And then underneath, maybe, "The Simpsons Wiki" or something like that? Seeing as this wiki seems to be getting more popular and "going up in the world", as it is, I think adding this would help. What do you think? Prehaps somebody else could make the change if you don't have the time etc? Effluvium 20:25, September 23, 2010 (UTC)

The best person to ask would be Smiley12 as he made the spotlight image and is best at that sort of stuff. ☆The Solar Dragon☆ 20:27, September 23, 2010 (UTC)

OK. Will ask him now. Thanks, Solar! Effluvium 20:28, September 23, 2010 (UTC)

New Wiki Skin

Hi, Solar. Have you had a chance to check out the new beta on the Glee, Twilight, Red Dead Redemption, Muppet, and Healthy Living Wikis? What do you think? I saw you signed the petition to stop Wikia going ahead with it - I singed it too. Im not fussed on it, to be honest. Do you think Wikia will listen to us editors, or will they go ahead with it regardless. I'd like to see how Wikisimpsons would look with the new skin, shame it isn't being used in the beta testing... Effluvium 20:54, September 23, 2010 (UTC)

I have been a beta tester and made my views very clear. When they make the switch, I will ask the community whether we want to move to a new Wiki client, possibly ShoutWiki. If not, I just switch to Monobook. ☆The Solar Dragon☆ 20:59, September 23, 2010 (UTC)

Ah, OK. We'll see then.. Effluvium 21:00, September 23, 2010 (UTC)

I just hate this new look so much. ☆The Solar Dragon☆ 21:01, September 23, 2010 (UTC)

Yes, same. It really is quite awful. I really do hope they don't go through with it... Effluvium 21:03, September 23, 2010 (UTC)

They will do. People hated Monaco and they went ahead with it. The difference is, they are removing Monaco too! ☆The Solar Dragon☆ 21:04, September 23, 2010 (UTC)

I hate it too, but we don't know whether it will look horrible here or not. Beta testing wikis like Glee look very good. I'm sure that by customizing the entire skin and background it would look good. However, there's nothing we can do with the logo, it will be just the word "Wikisimpsons" (what's the matter with Wikia?), though we could customize it with Simpson font and a little Homer's head on top. — ^TheHomer ^{(Talk • Contributions)} 22:53, September 23, 2010 (UTC)

Oh, well. We'll just have to sit tight and see what they decide to do. Effluvium 06:44, September 24, 2010 (UTC)

Hang on! This new skin is going to mess up all the "Tab systems" we have running. What are we going to do? Effluvium 06:49, September 24, 2010 (UTC)

Move away from Wikia? Tell everyone to make an account and change to Monobook to see the wiki as it should be before Wikia screwed up? ☆The Solar Dragon☆ 13:16, September 25, 2010 (UTC)

Thats quite a BIG move to make though. And only the dedicated editors will come. There will be no spotlights to attract users and Wikia has a far larger market share of these "Wiki" projects. Im really not sure. Can't believe Wikia are messing up the wikis that users have spent so long to work on. It really annoys me! Effluvium 13:19, September 25, 2010 (UTC)

And me. Maybe we should boycott Wikia or something when the change happens? ☆The Solar Dragon☆ 13:40, September 25, 2010 (UTC)

Im sure other wikis will be outraged by this change, especially the big ones like Wookieepedia, Lostpedia and the Doctor Who Wiki etc. I'd like to see them move to a different wiki provider and see the looks on Wikia's face. Haha! Although, Im not sure if I'd be happy with Wikisimpsons moving somewhere else. Im home here and even if they do mess me around with all this "change", I'll probably just settle back in with the new skin...I dunno. I just hope wikia dont go through with it. With all the negative feedback and comments they're getting, surely they'll change their mind! Effluvium 13:44, September 25, 2010 (UTC)

They're ignoring the negative feedback, no matter how much they say they aren't. I haven't seen any of the staff respond to the negative feedback. Maybe they know it is bad too? I actually wonder how many of the staff actually like it? But, there is the option to change to Monobook always. ☆The Solar Dragon☆ 13:46, September 25, 2010 (UTC)

Yes, I was thinking how many Staff users actually liked the look. Surely a few don't?! Well, I gave a ">:(" face on the feedback, and I know alot of have, so maybe, just maybe, they'll listen this time! Hang on, whats monobook? Sorry, I've seen you mention it several times (and other users) and I have no idea what it is! Effluvium 13:49, September 25, 2010 (UTC)

It is the official name for Wikipedia's old skin, the skin Uncyclopedia uses. It is also used on ShoutWiki and many other users prefer it to Monaco. ☆The Solar Dragon☆ 13:53, September 25, 2010 (UTC)

Ah. Yes, I know now. Yeah, that could work. Well, anything is better than this Oasis rubbish! Effluvium 13:56, September 25, 2010 (UTC)

On the same topic, if none of us are happy with the new wikia skin and we don't want to stay with Wikia, we could always just go independant like The Infosphere? And just pay for a domain and ask people to donate money to us via. paypal or something similar. That would be a last resort though... Effluvium 16:28, September 26, 2010 (UTC)

Bart103

Hi Solar, new user Bart103 has been making some changes on character categories which don't seem quite right to me. I reverted some of the changes and left him a note (not a warning) on his talk page, suggesting that he ask someone like yourself about the character categories before making any further category changes. He does not seem to be acting out of malice, which is why I left a note instead of a warning. He may show up on your talk page, another admin's, or even mine with some questions, so I figured I'd leave you a heads-up. Happy Friday! -- Mythigator 13:38, September 24, 2010 (UTC)

OK. Thanks for telling me. ☆The Solar Dragon☆ 17:31, September 24, 2010 (UTC)

On further consideration, would you mind dropping him a line about using redirects? I've already told him a couple of times that using redirects is just fine (to type just [[Homer]] instead of [[Homer Simpson|Homer]], for example) but he seems to be insisting on doing it the long way around, making a bunch of unnecessary edits. I first dropped him a line about it on his talk page, then he replied on mine, and I added some more on his. He said he doesn't like redirects (which I sort of understand ... I've seen wikis that steered away from using them), but since our style is that they're perfectly acceptable, and in fact encouraged, then IMO he should respect the style (and avoid going to a bunch of unnecessary trouble). -- Mythigator 19:25, September 25, 2010 (UTC)

Hello

Hello, Solar, Goodbye. —Preceding unsigned comment added by DonaldoForever (talk • contribs) 16:52, 26 September 2010

Main Page - 5th Birthday Celebration

Hi. How long are you planning on having the main page decorated for its 5th birthday? I wouldn't leave it on for more than a few days... Effluvium 18:13, September 27, 2010 (UTC)

We'll probably remove it tomorrow. ☆The Solar Dragon☆ 18:18, September 27, 2010 (UTC)

ShoutWiki

I posted this on your blog, just making sure you'll see it

Got a reply from ShoutWiki about the current situation:

"Hello there Wikisimpsons administrators,

Firstly I would like to thank you for contacting ShoutWiki and for considering us as an alternative to Wikia. We are aware that many people are rather upset about Wikia's plans to force yet another skin on their wikis, which causes extra work to the administrators of a wiki. A database dump would indeed be an easy way to import all your articles to ShoutWiki. We also have an extension that gives users the ability to import their user account to ShoutWiki; this process is very transparent and users practically won't even notice the difference as they can log in with their Wikia credentials. Attracting contributors to the wiki would be up to you, but if you can get most (maybe even all) of the admins to support a move then most of the community might follow. Do take into account though that when you do move, you will most likely lose your adminship on the Wikia wiki and Wikia will continue maintaining their version of your wiki. That has happened to other wikis that have moved off Wikia in the past. On the subject of blogs, ShoutWiki has no plans or intentions to add blogs to wikis. Though, userpages and user subpages work nicely for that purpose. As a matter of fact, some wikis used them in a way similar to blogs before Wikia introduced the blogs.

On ShoutWiki, you can choose the skin from many options, with the classical Monobook being the most popular skin. There are two themes available for Monobook: Dark and Pink. You can test these out on ShoutWiki Hub, for example (see http://www.shoutwiki.com/wiki/Main_Page?useskin=monobook&usetheme=dark and http://www.shoutwiki.com/wiki/Main_Page?useskin=monobook&usetheme=pink). Other available skins are the older Cologne Blue and the newer Modern skin. After we have upgraded our version of the MediaWiki software to 1.16, the Vector skin will also be available. In the future we will also have more skins available as premium (paid) features; including the ever-popular Monaco skin! If you're interested in these, feel free to check out our Premium Examples Wiki at http://premium.shoutwiki.com/wiki/Special:Preferences.

Thank you for your interest in ShoutWiki and we hope to see you editing in the future!"

Regards, -- --Jack Phoenix Customer Support Team, ShoutWiki http://www.shoutwiki.com"

--Smiley 12 was here at 01:23, September 29, 2010 (UTC)

Wow. That seems really good. Like the Vector and Monaco skins coming. That feature to allow users to move as well is good. Just, Wow. ☆The Solar Dragon☆ 05:19, September 29, 2010 (UTC)

Deor

You should probably take a look at new user Deor. S/he seems to be making a bunch of useless edits, presumably for the sole purpose of getting badges. When you look at the history of articles where Deor has done edits, no changes at all show up in the wording, but it shows Deor adding a paragraph that already existed, which seems like a useless edit to me. Thanks. -- Mythigator 19:27, September 29, 2010 (UTC)

Also, U.C. 65.34.149.110

The above U.C. has done nothing but vandalize, in spite of being warned. IMO a suspension is warranted, but that's an admin call. Thanks again. -- Mythigator 19:36, September 29, 2010 (UTC)

I would have noticed these sooner except I have been a bit busy ranting on the Wikia staff blog... :D ☆The Solar Dragon☆ 19:40, September 29, 2010 (UTC)

Certainly understandable under the circumstances. And apologies if I came off as a little testy .. I was on my lunch at work, figured I'd make a quick check on the Wiki, and got annoyed to see two vandals making a mess. -- Mythigator 19:43, September 29, 2010 (UTC)

No problem. I'm getting a bit bored of saying the same things anyway. :D ☆The Solar Dragon☆ 19:44, September 29, 2010 (UTC)

AWA

Hey, I created an Anti-Wikia Alliance. --Smiley 12 was here at 00:40, September 30, 2010 (UTC)

WoWwiki is on the list!!! ☆The Solar Dragon☆ 05:18, September 30, 2010 (UTC)

Theme designer link color

Hi -- I was checking out the theme colors you chose in Theme designer. The yellow colors look cool and really Simpsons-ish, but I think the light blue links are kind of hard to read against the yellow. I understand that you're taking that from the blue sky, but it makes your site pretty hard to look at.

I've been working on the Theme designer for a while now, and playing a lot with different colors. I went into the designer to take a screenshot with a slightly darker blue -- I think it's easier to read that text.

Anyway, it's your theme to play with -- just wanted to offer a suggestion, for what it's worth. Let me know if I can help with anything! -- Danny<staff /> (talk) 05:40, October 1, 2010 (UTC)

Okay, sorry to hear that. So if you don't mind, I'm going to change the link color to the more readable one. Let me know if there's anything else I can do. -- Danny<staff /> (talk) 05:59, October 1, 2010 (UTC)

Introducing Wikia's new look:

Greetings! As many of you have already seen, Wikia is undergoing some major changes to their site layout. As of Wednesday, October 6th, the change will affect both the appearance and how things are done on several wikis, and come October 20th these changes will effect all Wikia sites. These changes are mandatory as this is not simply a new skin option, it’s actually an upgraded version of the core Mediawiki platform itself. Check out "Experience the new Wikia" for a look at some wikis using the new look, FAQ and the Transition guide.

Transitioning to the New Look

We know you’ve put a lot of work into making your wikis look great in Monaco, so we’ve worked on our end to minimize the amount of effort needed for you to move to the new look. Still, there are some things you’ll want to do in order for your wiki to look its best in the new skin. We strongly encourage you to use our Wiki Transition Guide to make this process as smooth and seamless as possible.

Our new theme designer tool will be available to everyone during the first stage of sitewide roll-out on October 6th. This gives you time to experiment with different themes and chat with your community about what looks best before all visitors see your wiki in the new look.

We know that many of you are Wikia experts, and have a ton of experience to share with newer users, who may need more help with the transition. To tap all your knowledge, we will soon be setting up a page where users can request and provide help on the transition.

Timeline

The next step is to slowly but surely move all wikis over to the new skin. While there may be some tweaks, the projected schedule is below so that you know what to expect over the coming weeks.

October 6, 2010	The new look will continue to be default for logged-out users on the beta wikis All logged in users will be able to “switch on” the new look for themselves on any wiki they visit. All new wikis created will automatically use the new look. Every wiki in the Wikia Lifestyle Hub will showcase the new look.
October 20, 2010	All users will see the new look on every wiki. Logged in users will have the temporary option of viewing and editing wikis in Monaco.
November 3, 2010	The option to use Monaco will be removed.

Discontinued features

The widget dashboard and all widgets are to be discontinued as they were deemed to be underused.
"Report a Problem" links will also be discontinued with the new skin as they were not used as intended.
"Email a user" link is gone.
Page ratings are gone.

New features

New, customizable toolbar that is anchored at the bottom of the screen (Watch the demo video to see how it works.) You will need to learn to use this. (requires JavaScript)
New tool for customizing the colour scheme/theme, including default themes.

Other changes

The new look uses a fixed width layout, we are not permitted to change, which might influence the layout of articles quite a bit.
Wiki logo is replaced with "Wordmark", which admins can customize by adjusting the text & color, or by uploading an image in the theme designer.
Site notice is no longer on every page. It is now located in the Community Corner and users will receive a notification bubble each time it is updated.
The wiki navigation that is now on the left sidebar, is moving to the top of the screen. It will have 4 drop down menus, with 7 links each. This is substantially less than we currently have. (requires JavaScript)
"My Home" becomes "Wiki Activity" and contains a link to recent changes
There is a new sidebar area on the right that takes about 1/3 of each page's width, where the recent activity and other "modules" will sit. More "modules" are being developed for it, but there are currently no plans for user-developed modules.
Moved the most recent editor’s name from the bottom of the page to the top, added an avatar, and a new mini-history dropdown menu, which contains the link to the full history. (Supposed to make it more obvious to new users that anyone can edit a wiki.) (requires JavaScript)
Two of the categories are listed at top as well the full list at the bottom. Apparently the two chosen will be the categories containing the most pages. There is a blacklist to keep out typical maintenance categories, but it is not wiki specific (atm).
Edit and talk buttons will be used instead of written links.
The name of the user who uploaded a picture will be listed underneath the image caption on articles.
The "Terms of Use" are changed so that we will only have very limited options on what we may change on the new layout that is visible to all users.

Terms of Use

In keeping with the goals of the new look, our Terms of Use have been updated as well. Admins will no longer be able to completely remove core features for all users by using custom CSS or JavaScript. This is to protect the universal layout and functionality of every wiki on Wikia and ensure that users have access to all of the features available in the new design. Remember, these new terms only apply to the CSS of the wiki as a whole -- they don’t apply to your personal pages.

To give a few practical examples of what this means: It’s not permitted to remove the right sidebar modules, blogs, and image attribution or add a banner that shifts the entire content area down the page, or alter the fixed width. You can still personalize your wiki with different colors and themes, add large, standout images to the wiki background, create styled templates and tables within the content area. There are plenty of ways to be creative! While these terms will limit what you can do to the overall layout, creativity is still an essential part of Wikia.

Helpful References

Transition guide
FAQ
Important Updates on Wikia’s New Look
Experience the new Wikia (Wikia blog)
Sneak Peek at the New Look - Themes (Wikia blog)
Sneak Peek at the New Look - Your Personal Toolbar (Wikia blog)
Sneak Peek at the New Look - Community Activity (Wikia blog)
Your First Look at the New Wikia (Wikia blog)
My Tools demo video

If you need any help, or if you have any questions or issues - please feel free to contact me on my talk page and I'll get an answer back to you A.S.A.P.
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o297/SCOTIMUS76/VA3.png^† 15:41, October 5, 2010 (UTC)

Unnecessary

I'm just doing my job, by the time i received a message, I had already sent the messages out. It's not for everyone, just admins.
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o297/SCOTIMUS76/VA3.png^† 16:23, October 5, 2010 (UTC)