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THE FUNNY STAYS. -The Management

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Movie Nav Box
The navigation box we have for Movie pages really needs an overhaul. Especially now that we have four Online games (not counting the Sector 7 Hungry Dragon thing) and the nav box points to Battle for the Allspark as THE online game. What should we do with it? --Rotty 00:59, 7 June 2007 (UTC)

Featured Article for July
What should we start polishing up to be next month's Featured Article? It needs to be something relevant for people finding this site after seeing the movie? How about Bumblebee (G1), as it covers the history behind the film's most prominent robot? --Rotty 21:53, 11 June 2007 (UTC)
 * Sure, works for me. We've got our work cut out for us, though!  --ItsWalky 21:56, 11 June 2007 (UTC)

Is no one up to filling out Bumblebee's Dreamwave, Legends anthology, Dreamwave Transformers/GI Joe, Devil's Due, or Hearts of Steel sections? I'm poking around to see who would be relevant as a featured article for while the movie's out if we're not up to completing Bumblebee... -Rotty 05:55, 22 June 2007 (UTC)
 * We could always just go with G1 Prime or Megatron. Both of those more than qualify, I think. - Dark T Zeratul 07:28, 22 June 2007 (UTC)
 * Megatron's pretty close. I think we just need some filling out of his cartoon exploits.  --ItsWalky 02:36, 23 June 2007 (UTC)


 * He needs TF/G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe vs. TF, and Hearts of Steel filled out too. -Rotty 02:52, 23 June 2007 (UTC)
 * Hearts of Steel writeup: "There was art of him in the supplemental materials!" --ItsWalky 03:04, 23 June 2007 (UTC)
 * ...Two designs for a guy who didn't even show... Dang it.--MCRG 08:05, 23 June 2007 (UTC)

Movie Launch
Hey Guys, Was wondering if you were going to put anything on the home page about the movie launching tonight? I was going to put this wiki in the spotlight starting Friday to promote it, but I think its needs a more recognizable logo so people will click on it. angies (talk) 19:25, 3 July 2007 (UTC)


 * I've put something on the front page now. I had wanted to get this done last week, but I never had the time, and then most of the staff were at the Transformers convention for four or five days.  It needs work, but it's there, at least.  It would be great if we could have a spotlight!  --Steve-o 16:52, 4 July 2007 (UTC)

The Funny
Maybe if the stuff you said was funny, no one would have a problem with it, but most of the jokes on here are pretty lame, it's not about transformers fans being serious, it's about your jokes being bad. When other people try to put there humor in it, you erase it. Sooooo make the jokes funny and you wont have to worry about it. Besides the Real Wikipedia has more information on transformers than the one dedicated to transformers have, what gives. Maybe before you work on your lame jokes you can fill out the information on the article. Sorry just what I think about it, don't take to much offence.


 * Humor is subjective. Pesonally, I consider most of the jokes on this site to be neutral.  They are clearly trying to be silly, but neither funny nor painful.  They merely lighten the tone.  Users who show up here and do nothing but change jokes into different jokes are clearly not accomplishing anything.  The new jokes are never any better -- they are merely different, and often worse.  That is a waste of everybody's time.  I haven't spent a lot of time browsing Transformers material on Wikipedia, but I highly doubt that their information is better, even if there might be a larger quantity of it.  What little I've seen there has been disorganized, mixes fan assertions with canon, and is at times not even reliable.  If they have more information than we do, it is only because people have been adding TF info there for at least twice as long as this specialized wiki has existed.  --Steve-o 15:57, 4 July 2007 (UTC)


 * Yep, this wiki is a far more reliable source of information for Transformers than the Wikipedia shall ever be. I've corrected some of their base assumptions and half-truths upon occassion. If we lack information for something, then feel free to contribute to our wiki or wait for one of us to get around to it. Really, what the Wikipedia offers is rather generalised information and (as steve-o points out) fan-assumed fanon and downright false information. Besides, we provide the Transformers info that the users on the wikipedia either don't know or won't bother with, such as info on the toys, their designers, toy construction materials, obscure series and/or characters and so on.
 * And yes, we think captioning a picture of say, Megatron with 'Art of Megatron' or some such is really patronising. --FFN 17:00, 4 July 2007 (UTC)

Logos for 'By series' column
I was uploading some logos for the franchise pages, and it got me thinking - the By series column on the main page is basically a bunch of text, and for either visual-minded people or those who aren't as familiar with TF, it can be confusing. How about we get brand/franchise logos for all the series so far and put them into the column? The logos would be easier to see and recognisable.

I made this - the logos there are at 250px, but I later reduced that to 150px and they still seem fine (unless you've a super-high resolution on a less than super-large monitor). Its quite rough there, series logos are missing (and I've not actually changed the page itself), but what do you guys think? --FFN 18:01, 4 July 2007 (UTC)


 * I like the idea. I think the execution needs xome more work of course but having the logos there definately makes the page nicer looking.--ZacWilliam 19:21, 4 July 2007 (UTC)
 * The logos need to be much, much smaller. That looks not so visually appealing.  --ItsWalky 21:19, 4 July 2007 (UTC)


 * If the logos were reduced a little more, I think it would be alright to remove the text and go with just logos. (And giving them TITLE/ALT attributes, of course.)  --Steve-o 03:26, 5 July 2007 (UTC)
 * They need to not have backgrounds, and it's going to be a real hassle to get rid of the Classics one. I think the idea could be doable, although the mockup does not look good at all. It could potentially be very ugly and I think we need to be careful. --Suki Brits 03:30, 5 July 2007 (UTC)
 * So we're doing this for every series title? Awesome!  And it's gonna have no text?  Awesome!  And what are we doing for Japanese series?
 * (I saw this done with all the Japanese titles on Cyberbon a few years back. Turns out that bereft of some visual cue to tell you what series you're talking about- every TF logo after Masterforce looks the same.) -Derik 03:46, 5 July 2007 (UTC)
 * I suspect that may not be a problem, given that we do not actually have any Japanese titles on the main page. --Suki Brits 03:54, 5 July 2007 (UTC)
 * Yeah I'll need your help, anyway since I am shithouse at photoshop now and I can't get rid of the backgrounds myself. Also we're still missing logos for Beast Machines, RID and king of hard to track down, G2. We have so few images on the first page that I think, if done right, this could look very nice. --FFN 08:30, 5 July 2007 (UTC)
 * Yeah I'll need your help, anyway since I am shithouse at photoshop now and I can't get rid of the backgrounds myself. Also we're still missing logos for Beast Machines, RID and king of hard to track down, G2. We have so few images on the first page that I think, if done right, this could look very nice. --FFN 08:30, 5 July 2007 (UTC)


 * Logos so far, and I guess they'll all need to be converted, except for the movie logo:


 * [[Image:G1logo.jpg|left|100px]]
 * [[Image:G2Logo.jpg|left|100px]]
 * [[Image:BWlogo.jpg|left|90px]]
 * [[Image:RIDlogo.png|left|100px]]
 * [[Image:Armadalogo.jpg|left|100px]]
 * [[Image:Energonlogo.jpg|left|100px]]
 * [[Image:Universelogo.jpg|left|100px]]
 * [[Image:Cybertron-Logo.jpg|left|100px]]
 * [[Image:Classicslogo.jpg|left|100px]]
 * [[Image:Transformers2007logomodified.png|left|150px]]
 * [[Image:Transformersanimated franchise logo.png|left|100px]]


 * You might have my help... if I thought it was a good idea. Remember you need to do Headmasters, Masterforce, Victory, Zone, Battlestars, Return of Convoy, JG2, BW2, BWN, Robotmasters, Binaltech, Kiss-Player, etc. And they somehow have to communicate what series they refer to despite lacking any English text.
 * Also-also, I assuem that clicking on these logos is supposed to take you to their respective franchise pages? Clicking on an image takes you to the info page for that image.  It's a wikipedia fundamental.  You need to find a way around that.  Have fun!-Derik 08:37, 5 July 2007 (UTC)
 * Don't all those Japanese series fall under the umbrella of G1 or BW anyway? And, as it has been so repeatedly stated, this predominantly an American TF wiki, so I don't think we need to list EVERY TF cartoon ever made, for even with just text links it would be very, very long. --FFN 08:56, 5 July 2007 (UTC)
 * If you're just linking to the continuity-families, you shouldn't have 3 images for the UT then. Clearly that threw me off.  Of course, if this is by Continuity family, we don't need Classics either- it's part of G1.
 * Franchise or continuity family, pick a standard. (and if i'm coming off as Difficult, it's because I think this is a bad idea- but like a lot of bad ideas I'm over-ruled on, if it's goign to be done I'd like to see it done well, or at least consistently.) -Derik 09:01, 5 July 2007 (UTC)
 * There's no logo for UT, unless we make one up, which would be fanart. And those three series are far more well known and arguably more important to American Transformers than the entire Japanese TF continuity. But, if you can come up with the brand/franchise logos for Headmasters, Masterforce, Victory, Zone, Battlestars, BW The Second, BW Neo and on, then we'll do it your way. Not sure how big the 'By series' list will end up being, however. We may have to end up redesigning the main page. --FFN 09:59, 5 July 2007 (UTC)
 * No love for the BM "clawed-winged gear" logo? --Thylacine 2000 14:07, 5 July 2007 (UTC)
 * I couldn't find an appropriate image to use, and I didn't have time to edit one out of something. --FFN 16:39, 5 July 2007 (UTC)
 * Looking at that tall list of images leaves me highly skeptical. This list is going to be huge. It's going to completely dominate the main page and throw everything off entirely. Don't get me wrong, I'm not particularly fond of the way the main page is laid out right now, it was very much something thrown together in twenty minutes; but without an actual redesign (or even with one, it takes up a whole screen on my computer), I don't see that huge-ass list working out. --Suki Brits 14:23, 5 July 2007 (UTC)
 * Yes, now that I see the images on top of each other, I also think this isn't a great idea anymore. --Steve-o 15:01, 5 July 2007 (UTC)
 * And that's without Machine Wars, Beast Machines, Dinobots and Timelines. And then throw in Animorphs, SWTF and Titanium (not to mention the new Universe and other future lines). That column would be taller than almost all monitors can display. --FortMax 16:25, 5 July 2007 (UTC)
 * I get it. Which is why I only wanted to do it for the series we have at the moment. I wonder, why are you guys suggesting, all of a sudden, series that weren't even there before? If they weren't important enough for inclusion in the column in the first place, why bother to list every TF series ever made now, if only to use them as a means to derail my (evidently) poorly thought out idea? --FFN 16:55, 5 July 2007 (UTC)

Yeah, less appealing than I thought it might be. I DO definately believe the Main page could use some redesign and more pictures/visual interest. This just may not be the best way to add that.--ZacWilliam 15:22, 5 July 2007 (UTC)


 * I made them smaller, but I see FFN has failed! :O Is there any way to allow the images to link to the articles in question? It would free up clutter if we had the American logos and do away with the text saying what it is. As for placement, I think IF the By series column were to have logos, it would work better if we swapped its location with the 'Top level categories' column. --FFN 16:39, 5 July 2007 (UTC)
 * It could work... if we reformatted the main page so instead of the vertical list there was a box, with the logos filling up rows and columns. G1 at the top-left and then so on.  Just a thought.  If it eats up the whole screen, nevermind.  --209.101.152.114 17:25, 5 July 2007 (UTC)

I'll take a look at the image placement markup later. I don't THINK you can make clicking on them take you someplace else... but maybe it'll surprise me. -Derik 20:37, 5 July 2007 (UTC)
 * I checked, it can't be done. Sorry.  I think you can make the pic info page re-direct you... but there are several well-founded reasons why you wouldn't want to do that. -Derik 21:01, 7 July 2007 (UTC)

The funny is awesome.Learn to laugh.

featured wiki
go vote for us, bitches. (if not for us, for the spanking art wiki, 'cause seriously.  spanking art.)  -hx 19:10, 7 July 2007 (UTC)

New Prime Image
I have replaced the crappy and blurred Prime image on the main page with a much better version. Hope there are no objections. OptimusPrime 18:08, 11 July 2007 (UTC)
 * I strongly object. That image is huge and it completely breaks the layout of the front page. --Suki Brits 18:02, 11 July 2007 (UTC)

Perhaps you are right. But I still suggest that the image be replaced or removed entirely. Many images exist on the site that are far better, and could be put to use in its place. Also, the presence of the image on the page causes the Welcome sign to be askew, and makes it look like a bit of a botch job. OptimusPrime 18:08, 11 July 2007 (UTC)
 * What do you mean, askew? It's not *supposed* to be in the center of the page... is that all you mean?  --Steve-o 18:18, 11 July 2007 (UTC)
 * How about a size-reduced pic of that close up of Prime's head from the international posters? --FFN 18:21, 11 July 2007 (UTC)

I dislike the current main image, a blurry (imo) close-up of Movie Prime's face. I suggest this image from Takara's Tf site instead. -Derik 01:07, 6 September 2007 (UTC)
 * That's gonna look pretty awful when small, since that image is gonna go in that little feature-box on the right-hand side of the screen. Any way to get a pic from the bit just before that with those three in close-up without the "WORLD OF TRANSFORMERS" on it? That should shrink down way better while still being legible. --M Sipher 01:16, 6 September 2007 (UTC)
 * That's actually 3 seperate pieces of close-up art. I can scrape those and re-create it though.  Do you want the starfield behind it, or a transparent background? -Derik 01:25, 6 September 2007 (UTC)
 * Hm. Yyyyyeah, starfield, I think. --M Sipher 01:29, 6 September 2007 (UTC)
 * Okie, Starfield is up at the previously-linked location. Transparent is here, and I think it looks better.  (Thought his gamma might be too agressive.)  If we made it the main image it'd probably be nice to round and fade the edges a bit.  -Derik 01:53, 6 September 2007 (UTC)

It's seriously not a good picture. (The only reason I objected to the first guy's replacement was because it was like a whole screen tall.) I was really wondering when someone was going to replace it with something better. --Suki Brits 01:35, 6 September 2007 (UTC)
 * How about that close up of Prime's movie CG head from the international movie posters? --FFN 03:39, 6 September 2007 (UTC)

Teletraan 1 has been recomended on Dunepedia
Hi there, sice I thought your site was sogreat, I decided to add a linkto it on my website home page. It's a wiki about Dune, and your site has been added in the Other Recommended Spin-Off Encyclopedias section. The site can be found here: Dunepedia the Dune Encyclopedia

Popular Culture?
Maybe it's just me, but I think it might be a good idea to include a page that features the various references made to the Transformers franchise in different forms of media and popular culture, i.e. Optimus Prime's cameo in The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy; Prime and Soundwave on Family Guy; the "Rad Rad Robotank" that's appeared every once in a while in Homestar Runner, etc. Anyone else think so?


 * Hell yeah, seconded! One of my favorite bits of Wookieepedia is checking out all the different star wars references they catch and list. Seeing a list of real-world transformer references, cameos and sightings would be sweet. Hell, I think it would be fascinating just to see TF sightings. "Oh, so the toy that kid was playing with in this obscure movie was just a  that the prop department repainted. Neat."


 * I am... a bit wary of such a thing. A centralized list of pop culture refs would be enormous and very hard to manage, and probably boring.  I could see maybe having shorter lists in relevant individual articles -- like, on G1 Soundwave's page, a list of refs to him in particular -- but that would remove some of the usefulness of listing them in the first place, because there wouldn't be an easy way to find them all.   How does Wookiepedia do it?  --Steve-o 19:06, 8 August 2007 (UTC)


 * I'm also wary for the same reasons I don't want us to handle unofficial stuff like fan-conventions and books... at what point does something become not noteworthy enough to mention? Are we going to list every last damn insignificant webcomic or unfunny comedian who says HEY REMEMBER TRANSFORMERS?! --M Sipher 21:21, 8 August 2007 (UTC)


 * We see this sort of thing pop up often enough in forums. And frankly, the Wookieepedia's listing of SW references in pop culture is (and I apologise to the people who compiled them) rather boring. And personally, I never want to see Family Guy referenced on this wiki. --FFN 03:59, 9 August 2007 (UTC)


 * I'm torn. I agree in principle with everything the naysayers have naysaid.  And yet, I want somewhere I can document that Spaceballs: The Lunchbox was a TF lunchbox with the Spaceballs logo slapped on it, and there was an Insecticon among the pile of toys the kid in Flight of the Navigator gets. - Jackpot 05:27, 9 August 2007 (UTC)


 * I never want to see Family Guy referenced on this wiki
 * I just feel this bears repeating. --M Sipher 08:49, 9 August 2007 (UTC)
 * Looks like you have some caption-editing to do then. -Derik 16:47, 9 August 2007 (UTC)


 * COULD IT BE? Somebody on the internet who doesn't like Family Guy? *shocked* I could swear I was the only one! --FFN 05:08, 14 August 2007 (UTC)

I told you guys, I NEVER WANT TO SEE FAMILY GUY REFERENCED ON THIS WIKI. I hate that show and the fact that if you're our age you 'have' to be a fan of it and its limited sense of humour. I think we should discourage people from adding more references beyond the ones we have right now, and just delete ones made by random, unregistered users. We don't reference every time Transformers have appeared on television that isn't a Transformers show so we don't have to reference every instance time they appear on Family Guy. *SHAKES FIST* --FFN 05:59, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
 * Okaaaaay...-- SFH 06:01, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
 * Don't force me to resort to fisticuffs! --FFN 06:05, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

I think, in the interest of fairness and with awareness of the "slippery-slope", that pop-culture references should generally be stricken outside of certain special circumstances where there's some kind of "official" link... like, say, the Megatron/Jetfire cameo in the old Marvel G.I. Joe comic. Thanks to the web and eighty billion cable channels, allowing any "unofficial" pop-culture would mean we'd be looking at a very Wikipedia-esque "notability" (read: "well, I'VE never heard of it!") kind of judgment call being taken every time someone puts up a vanity link because they made a Transformers joke in their little flash animation on Newgrounds. I'm not adverse to having an article ON the fact that TFs is now a popular callback for the nostalgia remoras out there, noting the timing of the "surges" of things transforming into robots as a reference/parody/imitation... but not some list of 'em all. It's the same stance we should have on any other unofficial work, yes? --M Sipher 06:59, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
 * Some of our articles reference or link Walky's Shortpacked and Don Murphy's article uses a panel from the old 'Don Murphy knees Ethan in the chest' comic as its main pic. Should those be edited in line with this policy? --FFN 07:12, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
 * I'd say yes. --M Sipher 07:49, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
 * I'd say, "it depends". It shoundn't be linked to just for the hell of it, but if a case arises where a Shortpacked! strip -- like any other external page -- provides a cogent illustration of something, I think it should be fine to link to that.  --Steve-o 21:56, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

Some anonymous, nameless editor at the top raises a good question; how does Wookieepedia deal with this? I mean, I'm guessing that they have to deal with a whole friggin' lot more than we do, so if they handle it well, they might have an already established set of standards we can modify.

I don't like the idea of having a giant, unmaintainable mess of pointless cruft and I don't think I would ever be interested in any modern pop culture appearances of Transformers; but that doesn't mean that there aren't other people who would be interested in a list like that.

(There was also someone else, elsewhere, who raised a good point: what about references to Transformers that aren't from the last few years? I mean, I don't give a damn about Soundwave on Family Guy and I don't think anyone else here does, either, but what about the more obscure references from Beast Wars and earlier? Those are interesting just because they can potentially illustrate Transformers in pop culture in earlier periods of time, to contrast with now; which certainly seems to ME like it has value.) --Suki Brits 07:31, 7 September 2007 (UTC)


 * I'd mentioned stuff along that line in #wiigii!... I do think, say, that Razorbeast was on Fresh Prince of Bel Aire (which I never cared for in all honesty, and I had Fresh Prince albums on steady play growing up) or that The Powerpuff Girls had an extended CGI tribute/parody of Beast Machines are WAYYYYY more significant than any TF reference made in the past five years because the HEY LOOK THING YOU REMEMBER wasn't a popular comedy substitute then. At that point, who gave a fuck about Transformers... or about the Eighties, for that matter? Aside from VH1? But it's the ol' slippery-slope again if it goes outside of a "centralized" article that mentions such occurrences within the context of time and doens't try to be a comprehensive list of references. --M Sipher 07:49, 7 September 2007 (UTC)


 * Wookipedia lists EVERYTHING oh my GOD the pages are huge. They divide it by medium. Every single refence, from American Dad to Webcomics. It's... it's a giant monument to how you don't want to spend your time.


 * Yep, like I said, the wookipedia's list is really, really huge, and really, really boring, no offense to the people who took the time to compile it. --FFN 08:19, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
 * Lord, and I can barely work up the drive to make articles on actual official TF episodes. And my career, which I enjoy a lot, is basically "make giant lists of boring minutae". The idea that we'd have a complete list of every unfunny TF gag puked out by Adult Swim shows but not, say, a completed series of Beast Wars episode articles is fucking depressing. --M Sipher 09:12, 7 September 2007 (UTC)


 * Still, it would keep that crap out of the articles proper, and it might be a nice harmless magnet for the people who want to come in and just write one or two lines, aside from just changing captions. Being so unimportant, it's not the sort of thing you'd feel COMPELLED to work on. --Anonymous Prime 09:17, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

I've come to think that the centralized list of refs is the best solution. That way we don't have to worry about lists of totally stupid stuff interfering with the articles we care about. (Well, except for that highly-annoying list of quotes from Transformers (2007).) It also means we don't have to make any decisions about a notability policy because the pop culture refs page is obviously going to be an unsaveable ghetto anyway, so why bother. For the record, I want to emphasize that I doubt it's possible to like Family Guy less than I do. I simply couldn't bear to the see the Family Guy mentions exacerbated by being written badly. --Steve-o 21:40, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

Image upload
I assume this is a wiki software thing, but does anybody know why the upload button you can use when you edit something no longer allows you to fill out details on the file being uploaded? I've trained myself to keep an open 'Upload File' page, but its abit annoying. --FFN 16:56, 8 August 2007 (UTC)
 * I'm not sure what you mean. I still see the same ol' page!  --ItsWalky 05:27, 9 August 2007 (UTC)
 * When I click the upload popup button (not the Upload file link on the side of the page), in the popup the appears, there's only File: (Browse button) and the "All images uploaded are subject to Wikia's GNU Free Documentation License. Do not upload copyrighted images." warning among some minor things. No space for one to type out file details.
 * It has been this way since Wikia updated its software a few weeks back, so to fill out details by editing the image's page afterwards. Before the software upgrade, the upload popup also allowed you to fill out file details, just like the Upload file page. This is part of the reason why lately there have been quite a number of images uploaded with no information whatsoever - most non-registered users or newcomers use the upload button instead of the Upload file link on the side of the page. I believe Zodberg has mentioned this when somebody here asked him to fill out image details. --FFN 05:43, 9 August 2007 (UTC)

Animated GIFs
If there isn't already, can we put a ban on these things? -- Hunter-113 00:42, 14 August 2007 (UTC)


 * There are a couple that I sort of like, as on Spark and Oracle (G1). Those ones are, IMO, considerably less obnoxious than the movie GIFs that people keep uploading.  They are smaller in terms of pixels, and file size, and are far less flashy.  So... I wouldn't go for a straight ban, but, certainly we could discourage them unless they are tasteful.  --Steve-o 01:47, 14 August 2007 (UTC)
 * I'd be sad if we deleted the Ramjet one. Interrobang 02:58, 14 August 2007 (UTC)
 * Yeah, those three should stay. -- SFH 03:00, 14 August 2007 (UTC)


 * The one on Ginrai would be a damned shame to lose.--Rosicrucian 03:24, 14 August 2007 (UTC)


 * Generally speaking, I never think outright bans are the correct response when what you really want is for people to exercise restraint.
 * (Of course, I made 3 of the 4 examples people cited of animated gifs that don't suck, so I'm biased.) -Derik 04:14, 14 August 2007 (UTC)
 * You know what we should do? Make an animated gif warning people against using them!
 * Seriously, what confuses is that Chosen40k uploading not only an animated gif, but a *redundant* animated gif. I mean, my collage of screencaps for that very scene is right there... I blame the Wikipedia. --FFN 05:03, 14 August 2007 (UTC)

Red Links on Main Page
So, we have two red links on the main page, "TV and movies" and "Toys". Were those links always red, or did something get moved? JW 20:32, 15 August 2007 (UTC)


 * The pages were deleted for being lists. I've added redirects to prevent these broken links. You can view the old content in the page history. Angela (talk) 23:57, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

Proposed LocalSettings change
Tweaking the e-Hobby page this morning got me thinking about iPods. Specifically Wikipedia's iPod article which, as you can see, has a lowercase first character. (That's new BTW, it didn't until a few months ago.)

The iPod page uses a magic word called to let you change how the page title displays. (You can't go nuts and call it 'Greg,' you can just set an alternate capitalization. You can't break anything with it.) But enabling DisplayTitle is a LocalSettings change (requires a wiki tech to do it) so before making a request I did a quick check for any other Hot-and-Sexy LocalSettings options we might wan to consider. Out of ~200 settables, here's my short list:

 wgAllowDisplayTitle enable the aforementioned flag wgFileExtensions Allowed file types on "Upload file." (I haven't noticed anyone grousing about not being able to upload X, but I thought I'd throw it out in case someone had a really good idea.) wgRateLimits Limit to number of page edits allowed in a time period. e.g. 4 edits per minute, or 50 edits in 20 minutes... etc. (I'd probably be against this one because of linkfixes, and because we haven't had to deal with mass-edit-spam yet... and you shouldn't restrict users without a pressing need.) wgLocaltimezone Set the local timezone (used in the recent edits page, among others) to something other than UTC. It bugs me to see the wiki's time off by 5 hours, and it's unamerican, where's our english bias when we need it most? wgBlockAllowsUTEdit Allow blocked users to edit their own user talk page. I strongly favor this one, letting the condemned have his say keeps us from coming off as totalitarian jackboots. On a purely functional level- now in order to protest/request clarification/bitch about being banned, a blocked user must first figure out how to evade our ban. Given a choice between disgruntled users venting by howling on their own talk pages and disgruntled users evading bans to (feeling silenced) howl on other pages, I'd prefer the former. 

(There's lots of other setables- but most of them just aren't useful for a wiki at our level of traffic.) I'm in favor of DisplayTitle, BannedUserTalk and maybe Timezone (Set to Portland Oregon?  Rhode Island?)

I'd need to hear what others think- I'm not going to pursue a tech request unless there's favoring consensus. -Derik 07:56, 12 September 2007 (UTC)


 * Sounds good to me. Also, you should have posted this to the community portal instead of the main page.  --Steve-o 14:08, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

Semi-Protection
It seems to me it would be in our best interests to semi-protect the main page against anonymous IP edits. Because, y'know, it's the frigging main page, and it's not going to have much editing done on it by anonymous users other than to replace it with "LOL UR GAY." --Rosicrucian 16:56, 12 September 2007 (UTC)
 * I agree entirely. It's done. --Suki Brits 18:59, 12 September 2007 (UTC)