AH.COM Wiki Testing Part 2

[Ian the Admin]

Previous thread here: http://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=37123

So, the saga of the AH.COM Wiki continues. There have been some annoying bugs with the Wiki, and they're probably caused by an extension I installed to make the Wiki look more like Wikipedia, with Wikipedia-style discussion pages for every page and so on.

So I'm going to keep the Wiki in a "testing" state (not advertised except in chat), and probably construct my own menu system for it. When that's done the visual appearance of the Wiki will change, but all of the actual page content will stay the same.

http://wiki.alternatehistory.com

[Floid]

Ian, is it possible to change the 'old revisions' tab to function more like Wikipedia's 'history' tab?

At the moment if you want to see an old revision, it only compares it to the current revision - In Wikipedia you can compare any two selected revisions.

[Ian the Admin]

Ian, is it possible to change the 'old revisions' tab to function more like Wikipedia's 'history' tab?

Yes, but I won't be adding that until after I fix the existing bugs.

[Kidblast]

Will there be any way to make category pages like they have on Wikipedia. Those are very helpful if you doing an involved timeline.

[Michael]

Will there be any way to make category pages like they have on Wikipedia. Those are very helpful if you doing an involved timeline.

Damn that'd be good, rather then having 8 pages all on the one timeline on the timelines page, you'd have "contents" page for it.

[G.Bone]

posting the link so that it doesn't get lost....

http://wiki.alternatehistory.com

[Ian the Admin]

Um, putting an article in a Wikipedia category just makes it show up in a fairly un-informative alphabetical order list.

If you want to organize timelines better, make your own main page and then link other pages from there.

Also, if you use at least three large headings within an article, like "===== heading1 =====", then a table of contents for that page will automatically show at the top.

[Akiyama]

One thing I don't like about the wiki is the space it leaves after apostrophes and inverted commas.

Apart from that it's fantastic! Thank you, Ian.

[Michael]

If anyone encounters a page that's not formatting correctly, try adding an = both sides of the heading, I think the problem is people aren't putting in enough or something.

[Akiyama]

Regarding the POD pages in the wiki.

I don't see the point in having a list of PODs on the Wiki, with no content attached to them. Anyone can come up with PODs - there are potentially an infinite number. I think the correct thing to do with interesting PODs is to post them in the discussion board, preferably with some discussion or the beginning of a timeline attached.

Would anyone mind if I deleted these pages?

[Akiyama]

While I'm in a mood of complaining about the wiki, why do people put in links that don't go anywhere, and disambiguation pages when there's nothing to disambiguate?

Content, people! Content! Not empty links!

I have a feeling that sooner or later there's also going to be a rash of pages duplicating entries in wikipedia, which would be pointless when you can just link straight to the appropriate wikipedia page (or anywhere else on the internet) from an AH.com wiki page.

[Michael]

I think it was 47 who did them, I agree, keep the stuff that needs it's own page on the wiki to stuff related to ah.com, anything else can be a hyperlink, right?

[fortyseven]

While I'm in a mood of complaining about the wiki, why do people put in links that don't go anywhere, and disambiguation pages when there's nothing to disambiguate?

Content, people! Content! Not empty links!

I have a feeling that sooner or later there's also going to be a rash of pages duplicating entries in wikipedia, which would be pointless when you can just link straight to the appropriate wikipedia page (or anywhere else on the internet) from an AH.com wiki page.

what do you mean links that don't go anywhere? I only created some general pages as they relate to ah.com and the Series. I suppose we don't need a page for Sol though.

[Akiyama]

Links that don't go anywhere are the ones that show up as red text on the wiki.

[fortyseven]

Links that don't go anywhere are the ones that show up as red text on the wiki.


The person who posted them hasn't made the page yet or is letting someone else make that page. What's the problem?

[Akiyama]

The person who posted them hasn't made the page yet or is letting someone else make that page. What's the problem?

It's the wiki equivalent of all that junk in old people's cupboards that is "bound to come in useful one day".

[Straha]

I wonder how long till someone puts the current election event in the wiki

[Max Sinister]

Feel free to do it...

@Akiyama: Wait till I wiki my complete Chaos TL...

[Highlander]

I want to add more to my page, but not sure what - anyone got any ideas?

[Floid]

If anyone encounters a page that's not formatting correctly, try adding an = both sides of the heading, I think the problem is people aren't putting in enough or something.The problem is that there are too many; if you go over 4 '=', it won't format properly.

[Akiyama]

The problem is that there are too many; if you go over 4 '=', it won't format properly.

That's not true, I use ====== for the main header and ===== for sub-headers and it always works.

I think it's just a random glitch.

[Floid]

That's not true, I use ====== for the main header and ===== for sub-headers and it always works.

I think it's just a random glitch.Strange. I edited a number of articles and they all started formatting properly when I only used 4 '=' or less. Perhaps Ian knows what the problem is.

[Akiyama]

Looking at the articles whose headers you reacently edited down to ====, the previous versions all look fine to me.

I suspect the problem is with the way the wiki is being displayed on *your* computer, with other people seeing it the way it's supposed to be.

[Ian the Admin]

It's a random glitch. Sometimes, for some reason, a document is stored incorrectly in the Wiki database. The problem usually fixes itself the next time automatic maintenance is run.

I'm working on fixing the problem but it may take a couple of weeks. Sorry for the inconvenience.

[jolo]

I'm trying to use the Wiki for a shared-worlds rpg - should actually be more convenient than the forum. If anyone cares to take part in the experiment, he's hereby invited to join.

Linky: http://www.alternatehistory.com/wiki/doku.php/shared_worlds/all_board_members_get_moved_to_a_moon_station

[Superdude]

Yeah, I have trouble accessing the wiki for some reason, but that is more likely to do with my computer than anything else.

[Burton K Wheeler]

Two ideas to improve the wiki:

1. Appoint a wiki moderator, preferably someone experienced with DokuWiki. Have him/her set templates for certain types of wiki pages (member profiles, scenario portals, etc) and flag pages that need formatting like Wikipedia does. If we have an idea of what a wiki page is supposed to look like, it will help a lot in formatting.

2. Better integration of the wiki software with VBulletin. I don't know how possible it is, but, for example, include a link to our wiki profile by default in our vBulletin profile. If the wiki is more visible, more people will edit it. As is, I bet a lot of users don't even know we have one.

[EvolvedSaurian]

Seem like good ideas.

[Ian the Admin]

When the Wiki is "finished" I'll put a link to it on the main page, either like the "forum" link to the old board or at the very top. It'll be easy to see.

The problem right now is that the program I use to make it look Wikipedia-style (as opposed to the default DokuWiki which doesn't even have discussion pages), is apparently kind of buggy. For one thing, sometimes when you edit a page it will become screwed up and not display properly. I may need to sit down and create a new user interface of my own, which will probably take a couple of days of free time.

Also, the documentation sucks, and I need to write up a better introduction before I advertise it to the world.

As for Wikipedia-style templates... no can do, sorry. Making articles with a standard appearance would require doing a copy-and-paste from a similar page and then replacing the text.

[Diamond]

Did something happen to the Wiki? I can't seem to access it...

[Ian the Admin]

Works for me (and if you can't get wiki.alternatehistory.com, try http://www.alternatehistory.com/wiki/). Lately there have been some problems with the site's name because the main name service I use is suffering a massive attack.

[Haggis]

I'm wondering, every time I try to log on to the Wiki it lets me but then if I have navigate to another page while logged in it immediately logs me out, as such I am thoroughly unable to edit any pages.

Does anyone have any idea what may or may not be going on?

[Ian the Admin]

I'm wondering, every time I try to log on to the Wiki it lets me but then if I have navigate to another page while logged in it immediately logs me out, as such I am thoroughly unable to edit any pages.

Does anyone have any idea what may or may not be going on?

Try the suggestions in this thread:

http://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=30626

[oberdada]

I, somehow have the feeling, that the AH.com wiki will never leave this testing part 2.Anybody done any work in there recently?

[Max Sinister]

Just go there and click on "Recent changes". I regularly update my pages, Hendryk does so, and Xen just updated a whole lot of pages...

[Thande]

I've just done a lot of updates in Offtopic.

[oberdada]

I somehow missed the recent changes button.But I found it now, thanks.I'll look through that stuff :-)

[Diamond]

Hmm. It won't seem to let me edit anything. I'm logged in, but every time I hit the 'edit' button, it says I must log in... which I already am. :confused:

[kilngirl]

Hmm. It won't seem to let me edit anything. I'm logged in, but every time I hit the 'edit' button, it says I must log in... which I already am. :confused:

:D That's because you weren't wearing your pants.:p There is a strict must be dressed code there.:D

[oberdada]

By the way: is it immoral or just arrogant to create a offtopic wiki page for yourself?

[fortyseven]

By the way: is it immoral or just arrogant to create a offtopic wiki page for yourself?

No. A few of us have.

[oberdada]

No. A few of us have.

including, since tonight, myself

[Ian the Admin]

I, somehow have the feeling, that the AH.com wiki will never leave this testing part 2.Anybody done any work in there recently?

It's still in testing because I still need to do some fixes and enhancements to the software. I've been slowly moving along with that, and when it's done I'll put a link to the wiki at the top of the front page.

[oberdada]

It's still in testing because I still need to do some fixes and enhancements to the software. I've been slowly moving along with that, and when it's done I'll put a link to the wiki at the top of the front page.

I understand that.

I just wanted to talk about content.

[oberdada]

Talking about content, I have started a Ressources section for the Wiki, basicly by collecting links from the forum.

I'd be happy about some feedback.

[Max Sinister]

Very good! The little pictures of the editor work now. But I also have a minor complaint: Why can't I enter the title of a page and click "go", and be delivered there? Instead, I always get a "search results" page.

[Susano]

Woot, I have an article. Damn, I didnt even remember the Church of the Google Spider anymore :D

[fortyseven]

Very good! The little pictures of the editor work now. But I also have a minor complaint: Why can't I enter the title of a page and click "go", and be delivered there? Instead, I always get a "search results" page.

I concur Max