Talk:Main Page

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== Links to toons/pages ==
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{{Main Page Talk}}
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''This has been refactored.'' There was some discussion about whether "External Links" should go at the top or bottom of the page. A few people liked having them at the top for easy access to H*R.com, but it was eventually decided that they should go at the bottom, following Wikipedia's example.
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''It has been [[HRWiki talk:Main page redesign|suggested]] that the Main Page be redesigned. Feel free to use [[HRWiki:Main page redesign|its project page]] for proposed redesigns.''
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== Screenshots ==
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== sbemail templates ==
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''This has been refactored.'' It would be nice if we could figure out how to make the screenshots on toon/email pages into thumbnails. This would get them out of the way so that content isn't pushed too far down the page. We need (read: Joey needs) to talk to our host about getting Image::Magick installed on the server before that will be possible.
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:''See [[Talk:Strong Bad Email#sbemail templates|Talk:Strong Bad Email → sbemail templates]]''
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== Upload file ==
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== Trogday decor ==
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''This has been refactored.'' There is some concern that some members of our community (or outsiders for that matter) will upload unnecessary or innappropriate images. It was decided that they could link to them just as easily as they could download them, and it's better for the images to be hosted here than free sites that may be unstable. Bandwidth is not really an issue, though it probably would spike if we allowed uploads (and consequently a lot of image downloads) from our server. There are a number of special pages we can use to monitor uploads so they will not get out of hand: [[Special:Imagelist]], [[Special:Unusedimages]].
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:Is there any way to make GIF an allowed format? I don't like GIF any more than the next guy, but it's useful sometimes. For example, the 'tear' icon from [[Strong Sad's Lament]] is an animated GIF, and I'd like to upload it for posterity (since the Lydia one fell off the face of the Earth).
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::We can't upload GIF's? I had no idea. I'll look into it. --[[User:JoeyDay|JoeyDay]] 08:54, 26 Aug 2004 (MST)
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Does the '''Featured content of the day (or whenever)''' template automatically switch to different links on certain days? Such as linking to [[dragon]], [[Trogday '08]] and other things when the time comes? Or is that done manually? Because tomorrow is Trogday. - [[User:HoveringSombrero|HoveringSombrero]] ([[User talk:HoveringSombrero|talk]]) [[File:Shoulder shoomps.png|23px]]
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:It's not automatic, but as you can see (at the time of this writing), the decorations were indeed put up to coincide with Trogday. — [[User:It's dot com|It's dot com]] 01:43, 24 January 2023 (UTC)
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== Adding the rest of the stuff ==
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== How many references do you need? ==
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Okay, I did a few tweaks on AgentSeethroo's addition.  We have to figure out a few things:
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#How to list the Characters on the [[Characters]] page.  I know the few characters we have setup now were done with categories.  I don't know how we are going to get them all (secondary etc.) on one page.
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#I indented the 3 Features.  They are under Toons, but I know they deserve a spot on the Main Menu... any other suggestions on how to do that?
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#Rejects/Everything Else - what to call the page.  Or even if we need that page.  Should we just list everything on the Characters page under several headings? And we have to figure out what the categories are going to be.
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Ideas everyone?  --  [[User:Tom|Tom]] 09:10, 11 Aug 2004 (MST)
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:Okay...
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How many references to a thing need to be on a page for the thing the page is about to become a real page? Just curious because my mock-up seinfeld page includes eight references to the titular show. The page on [[The Big Lebowski]] has the same amount of references... so do I just make a [[Seinfeld]] page now? ----[[User:Jeffjman|J∃ffJ]][[User_talk:Jeffjman|Ma]][[Special:Contributions/Jeffjman|n]][[File:jeffjsigchrismas.png|23px]] 20:13, 7 February 2023 (UTC)
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#I'm not a huge fan of the Character page on the old wiki, but we may have to do something similar due to the amount of character "aliases" or whatever...I'll have to think about that for a little bit.
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:done and done ----[[User:Jeffjman|J∃ffJ]][[User_talk:Jeffjman|Ma]][[Special:Contributions/Jeffjman|n]][[File:jeffjsigchrismas.png|23px]] 20:14, 7 February 2023 (UTC)
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#I think the indention is okay, but it's the only thing on the page that's indented. It makes it look kinda wierd. I also thought the [[Features]] link was gonna get ditched from the main page? Maybe I got lost sometime...
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::See our [[HRWiki:Inclusion guidelines|inclusion guidelines]]. — [[User:It's dot com|It's dot com]] 21:02, 7 February 2023 (UTC)
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#This is gonna take some discussion I think. I think it should go byebye, and if anyone makes ANY pages that could be deemed NOT canon or not very important, like ANYTHING in rejects, it goes under the category of Misc.  -- [[User:AgentSeethroo|AgentSeethroo]] 09:55, 11 Aug 2004 (MST)
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::Yeah, we need to get Joey in on this discussion.  I know he had some great ideas that seem to escape me at the moment.  And you are right about the indent.  But maybe we could have other indents?
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== Songs archive ==
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Some of these pages are pretty big.  I know that games page might work as two pages. Then an "Old Games" page could be indented underneath or something. Joey? --  [[User:Tom|Tom]] 11:39, 11 Aug 2004 (MST)
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Would it be OK if I created a subpage to my user page with a complete archive of every existing song in the Homestar universe? [[User:TMBGLOVER|I wanna be the TMBGLOVER too!]] 22:28, 22 February 2023 (UTC)
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:I'm pretty sure we [[Songs|have that covered]]. — [[User:It's dot com|It's dot com]] 23:18, 22 February 2023 (UTC)
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::Well, I was gonna add MP3 files with them, so people could download them and stuff. Is that still OK? [[User:TMBGLOVER|I wanna be the TMBGLOVER too!]] 00:26, 23 February 2023 (UTC)
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:::No, that's not what the user space is for. — [[User:It's dot com|It's dot com]] 00:43, 23 February 2023 (UTC)
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::::I think that characters can be broken down, as well as games. Maybe even places...maybe...
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== dot dot dot ==
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But I don't wanna randomly start indenting and cluttering things up, either... Joey? -- [[User:AgentSeethroo|AgentSeethroo]] 12:14, 11 Aug 2004 (MST)
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:::::Hm. Does ''every'' character have to go on the Characters page? I think rejected characters shouldn't even show up on the Characters page. If they are linked to from the toons/emails they appear in, or if someone references them in comments, then that's fine. The pages for Rejects should be created, but they need to be designated as stubs. Or, perhaps we can have a "Disputed Characters" category (or whatever name was decided on in that poll a while back, and then create a "Disputed Characters" template that says something like, "The validity of this character is in question. If you feel that this character should be considered for placement within the 'Characters' category, discuss it on the talk page." --[[User:JoeyDay|JoeyDay]] 09:01, 23 Aug 2004 (MST)
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Why come whenever I try to link to [[lady…ing]] and [[Cheat Commandos…O's]], the link is broken? Is it because of those ellipses? {{--}} {{User:HoveringSombrero/sig}}
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:Sort of! "…" is different from "...", it's a single character rather than three periods. Try highlighting it and you can see. This is kind of like the difference between “curly quotes” and "straight quotes" - in both cases, the former is typically made via autocorrect in word processors or mobile keyboards, while the latter is preferred by the wiki. So while [[lady…ing]] and [[lady...ing]] may ''look'' the same, they are actually two different typed entries. --{{User:Bleu Ninja/sig}} 22:17, 11 March 2023 (UTC)
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::I've added redirects to fix the issue. {{User:Gfdgsgxgzgdrc/sig}} 23:06, 11 March 2023 (UTC)
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:::Thanks! {{--}} {{User:HoveringSombrero/sig}}
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:::::I agree. Keep them off the Characters page, and create a category for them at most. -- [[User:InterruptorJones|InterruptorJones]] 09:07, 23 Aug 2004 (MST)
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== Navigation sidebar - adding @StrongBadActual? ==
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::::::Yeah, keep them off the Characters page. But okay then, we need to set up a good system of rules to determine what's going to go in that category/on that page, and say... what's an Inside Joke. And I like the template idea. -- [[User:Tom|Tom]] 09:19, 23 Aug 2004 (MST)
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[[Strong Bad Email]] has been in the sidebar for as long as I can remember, presumably because it was the most popular and most actively updated portion of the website. With the Twitter account handily outpacing both sbemails and "H*R.com updates" (not to mention the [[CGI Paper]] directing viewers to tweet rather than email), might it be worth adding it over there? I know I regularly find myself navigating to the [[@StrongBadActual]] page(s) to fill out "Fast Forward" sections of pages or to find dates when an item or project was mentioned. --{{User:Bleu Ninja/sig}} 20:16, 31 March 2023 (UTC)
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:I agree (and I'm not going to do the whole "Don't you think I agree" part, this isn't [[E-mail Birds]], but it is bird season.), and I fully support putting it there. It's a handy page and we've put a lot of work into cataloging every post made by strong bad on twitter, with fun facts to boot! So consider this my '''SUPPORT'''. ----[[User:Jeffjman|J∃ffJ]][[User_talk:Jeffjman|Ma]][[Special:Contributions/Jeffjman|n]][[File:jeffjsigchrismas.png|23px]] 22:52, 31 March 2023 (UTC)
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::I also '''SUPPORT'''. {{--}} {{User:HoveringSombrero/sig}}
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:::, So I '''SUPPORT''' this too, but I like having easy access to the Strong Bad Email page, considering I usually watch the sbemails by clicking on the external links. So, maybe we keep both? [[User:TMBGLOVER|I wanna be the TMBGLOVER too!]] 22:28, 2 April 2023 (UTC)
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::::Maybe we link to it as <code><nowiki>[[@StrongBadActual Tweets 2023|Twitter]]</nowiki></code> and put it above [[Strong Bad Email]] and underneath [[Special:RecentChanges|Recent changes]]? {{--}} {{User:HoveringSombrero/sig}}
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::::: GREAT IDEA! I like it! [[User:TMBGLOVER|I wanna be the TMBGLOVER too!]] 18:00, 10 April 2023 (UTC)
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:::::::And quit asking for my input. I trust you guys. Do what you feel is proper. As for the "features" link, it should go. --[[User:JoeyDay|JoeyDay]] 10:43, 24 Aug 2004 (MST)
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== Editing user pages ==
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== Sketchbook? ==
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Alright, so, I've been thinking. The block log has a lot of "user banned for editing userpages of other users". So, the main page, for example, has a system so only sysops can edit it. What if we add a system to all user pages that basically makes it impossible for anybody but the user to edit it? [[User:TMBGLOVER|I wanna be the TMBGLOVER too!]] 22:52, 18 July 2023 (UTC)
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I just had a thought...should we have the [[Sketchbook]] here on the main page, since it's being updated weekly (or so), or will it only be in the museum?
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:The thing is, I feel sysops / admins / wiki bots should probably still be able to edit user pages. For example, an admin fixing a bug on the page or a bot auto-replacing a link. But I agree that no one else should edit other user pages. Or somehow make a system where users can choose who can edit the page. {{--}} {{User:HoveringSombrero/sig}} 18:10, 19 July 2023 (UTC)
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::We already have [[HRWiki:User space#Ownership and editing of pages in the user space|explicit guidelines]] on who can and should edit user pages.  If a user page is edited for anything other than a legitimate reason, the edit typically gets quickly reverted. No harm done.  Anyone that might be banned in relation to user page edits is most likely doing it in a disruptive manner.  In any case, the block logs mostly include bans for spamming.  There really is no compelling reason to add user page security settings or tools for this.  --[[User:Stux|Stux]] 21:10, 19 July 2023 (UTC)
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:That's a good question.  We were behind a few weeks when they started doing the Weekly Fanstuff, because we didn't know they weren't going to archive it.  I say as long as we have it somewhere and record it for now, we're good either way.  If it becomes as regular as Weekly Fanstuff or the Quote of the Week, then we can add it to a more prominent place. I guess.  --  [[User:Tom|Tom]] 14:13, 11 Aug 2004 (MST)
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== Wiki availability ==
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:: I do'd it anyway! HA! How's it look? Someone was keepin' up with it already, so I just moverized it.-- [[User:AgentSeethroo|AgentSeethroo]] 15:41, 12 Aug 2004 (MST)
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For about the past week, I haven't been able to access the HRWiki, and downforeveryoneorjustme.com consistently confirmed (and still does) that hrwiki.org is down. However, I see that plenty of edits have been made to the wiki in that time, so obviously it wasn't entirely down. Basically, I've been presented with a white screen that occasionally loaded the hills in the background and sometimes the Homestar logo in the top-left corner, and if I moved the mouse around the screen, it would recognize where links and drop-down menus were, but it wouldn't show me any text for the links and all. Any idea what may have happened/be happening? {{User:The Knights Who Say Ni/sig}} 20:32, 22 August 2023 (UTC)
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== Wiki Stuff ==
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:Hey Knights. Usually, when a big update is released, wiki activity jumps exponentially and typically the wiki reaction times can slow down to a crawl.  Pages still load but they take forever and one must be patient. Eventually that goes away as edits taper down. However, for a site like "downforeveryoneorjustme", their timeout is likely far shorter than regular browsers when reporting if a site is down. In your particular case it seems that not all website elements are loading and some may be timing out and not loading at all. I'd typically expect that behavior during peak edit times.  Hope this helps a tiny bit! --[[User:Stux|Stux]] 06:05, 25 August 2023 (UTC)
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Okay, now that that's kinda settled...How are we gonna format the WikiStuff section of the main page? I know not everything will be included in this new wiki, but some stuff needs a place, like HelpDesk and WikiSandbox and whatnot. Do we just follow the same formatting as the old wiki, even though it may be like 5 links and that's it? Is it possible to make a sidebar links thingy that'd show up on every page? That'd be awesome, and it'd set us apart a little more.
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::At some point I did see pages seemingly load but remain blank unless I interacted with the tab in some way, though that could have been a browser issue, it never really prevented me from accessing the wiki, and I haven't been experiencing it for a while. I've also had some "unable to connect" errors because sometimes when loading the wiki, it attempts to load an https URL. Most of the time, though, especially after a new release, it's been just slowdowns. {{User:DEIDATVM/sig}} 21:09, 4 September 2023 (UTC)
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Also, half of the pages that we linked on the main page make me wanna barf. I wonder why we never looked these things over periodically? I mean the downloads page, on a scale of 1 to 10 is horrible.5. There's gonna have to be some major overhauling of most those pages to make them look WAY more professional. I'd like to make this a site that TBC can NOT ignore, ya know?
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-- [[User:AgentSeethroo|AgentSeethroo]] 14:58, 11 Aug 2004 (MST)
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:Ah, very good questions.  MediaWiki has these things called "[http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Help:Namespace Namespace]s".  For example the "Category:" part of the link puts the page in the "Category" namespace.  Our Wiki's namespace for pages like the sandbox and stuff would go under "Homestar Runner Wiki:" just like the [[Homestar Runner Wiki:General disclaimer]] and [[Homestar Runner Wiki:FAQ]] pages.  The HelpDesk is in the "Help:" namespace.  See [[Help:Contents]].  Also, a lot of that is under the "Special:" namespace: [[Special:Allpages|Allpages]], [[Special:Listusers|Listusers]], [[Special:Ipblocklist|Ipblocklist]], and so on.  We can put stuff over there on the sidebar too.  And yes, some of those pages are totally "barf" as you say.  I couldn't agree with you more.  Maybe someone else has some suggestions on all this... Joey? -- [[User:Tom|Tom]] 15:29, 11 Aug 2004 (MST)
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=== Still Slow ===
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It seems that the wiki hasn't fully recovered from its slowdowns back in August.  In the last couple of months I've come across the Job Queue and [[MW:Manual:Job queue|this mediawiki page]] detailing what it is and how it's supposed to function.  I get the impression that currently, all jobs on the wiki are running when a page is being requested.  The page outlines a means by which the jobs can be run in the background (either via cron job or background process; I'd recommend the background process) and then the job run rate could be set to zero (so that pages aren't spending time running jobs while loading).  Is this something that is already in place or could this perhaps be implemented in order to improve overall performance even during busy periods? --[[User:Stux|Stux]] 11:41, 16 December 2023 (UTC)
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== Homestar_Runner_Wiki namespace ==
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==glitch on the main pages ==
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The Homestar_Runner_Wiki namespace ''really'' needs to be shortened to just HRWiki. Sewiously. - [[User:furrykef|furrykef]] 01:16, 14 Aug 2004 (MST)
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:Any idea how I do that? --[[User:JoeyDay|JoeyDay]] 09:04, 23 Aug 2004 (MST)
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Noticed a glitch on the main pages, done by holding the cursor on one of the buttons, and then moving away, and then moving your finger off the mouse. to see what this does and what I mean, refer to this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgM-NA0Rja4 [[User:TMBGLOVER|I wanna be the TMBGLOVER too!]] 21:08, 26 August 2023 (UTC)
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:There's a whole page about this. [[Main Page Glitches]] {{User:Gfdgsgxgzgdrc/sig}} 21:21, 26 August 2023 (UTC)
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::Hm. I think I've made the change, but things are still pointing to the wrong places. Check out the "Search" page. The namespace is called the right thing there. However, the "About" and "Disclaimers" pages still point to "Homestar_Runner_Wiki:About" and "Homestar_Runner_Wiki:General_Disclaimer". I'm also looking into changing the name of "Current events" to "H*R.com updates" and making the "Community portal" link a "WikiForum" link instead. On a related note, I found a really useful page for the admins: [[Special:Allmessages]]. This lets us change all of the various system messages. --[[User:JoeyDay|JoeyDay]] 10:38, 23 Aug 2004 (MST)
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== Why does the website still have the Halloween theme? ==
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Halloween ended 18 days ago, and so did October in general, so why does the website still have the Hallow's Eve theme? --{{User:Cy4nIsN0tB1u3/sig}} 04:33, 19 November 2023 (UTC)
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:Because we're still waiting for the annual Fan Costumes toon to close out the season, even if we have to wait [[Decomposing Pumpkins|days after Thanksgiving]]. Also, because the sysops in charge of changing the wiki settings are busy people with lives and tend to wait a while to get around to it. -- [[Special:Contributions/68.37.43.131|68.37.43.131]] 23:56, 19 November 2023 (UTC)
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:::Okay, I'm a confused kid right now. I've edited at least three of the system messages, but they aren't changing. I've changed them from the [[Special:Allmessages]] page and directly in the Languages.php file. What the heck am I doing wrong?? Specifically, I'm talking about the "portal", "portal-url" and "copyrightwarning" pages. Here's where I learned about this: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/MediaWiki_namespace. Help! --[[User:JoeyDay|JoeyDay]] 10:47, 23 Aug 2004 (MST)
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==New Fan Stumes’!==
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::::Okay, our case-change stuff messed up more than I thought it would. Apparently, while I was editing "portal", "portal-url" and "copyrightwarning", I should've been editing "Portal", "Portal-url", and "Copyrightwarning". I wonder if there's some way we can limit our case-change stuff to just the HRWiki namespace. --[[User:JoeyDay|JoeyDay]] 11:01, 23 Aug 2004 (MST)
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The 2023 Fan Stumes has been released! And not only that, but my costume from last year is the very first Strong Bad costume! That counts as a fun fact, right? We should probably note that like how we note when a wikian sent a email. [[User:TMBGLOVER|I wanna be the TMBGLOVER too!]] 17:12, 22 November 2023 (UTC)
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:::::Hmm, now the WikiForum link links to a Wiki page called "http://forum..." Hrm.
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== Permafrosted logo? ==
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== Let's Open 'er Up ==
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The Decemberween themed logo is still up, but December ended 11 days ago. The weirdest part in my opinion is that there's no d'ween themed colors despide icicles and Homestar's hat. Is there something we're waiting for, like a new not-Decemberween toon?
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So, lately I've had this horribly sick feeling that things have gone all wrong. This wiki is a community, and therefore a project like this should be done as a community. What we should do, above anything, is get things ready to be opened up. I'd like to see our community finish moving emails, toons, and characters (maybe I'm just lazy, but I really do feel that this is a matter of principle).
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Yours truly,
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The guy who confused Dobbs for Daubs. {{unsigned|206.110.189.60|11 January 2024 16:34 (UTC)}}
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I know some of you might be freaking out and thinking that we can't trust our users to move stuff the right way, but think about this: This community has worked so far precisely because we have given everyone the freedom to edit any document. This is the wiki way! If we don't trust our community to get things right, why is this even a wiki in the first place? We might as well just have a normal website maintained by the dozen of us that are working on this migration right now.
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:I'm not an admin, but I'm assuming the style is simply for the winter season. Even though the Christmas lights have been taken down, it's still a chilly and snowy time of year for {{w|March equinox|at least another month and a half}}. (P.S. Even if you don't have an account, please sign your posts with four tildes: <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki>) --{{User:Bleu Ninja/sig}} 17:34, 11 January 2024 (UTC)
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So, what we really need to do is all the stuff that's necessary for this place to be operational. We need to build the documentation, make sure all the namespaces and options are set up the way we want them, etc. What do you guys think of this? --[[User:JoeyDay|JoeyDay]] 09:31, 23 Aug 2004 (MST)
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== Load times and potential solutions ==
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:Okay, this is a little scary. I think for the mostpart, you're right, but we still have to issue of page load. If we open up both the old wiki and the new wiki to everybody, things are going to slow to a crawl again. Can you think of any solution to this? Also, I'm afraid we'll have tons of collision problems with lots of people working on the same documents at the same time. And a lot of people are going to try to copy-and-past things the lazy way, without taking the time to fix links, etc. I agree that this should be a community effort, but I think we have to resolve those issues first. -- [[User:InterruptorJones|InterruptorJones]] 09:37, 23 Aug 2004 (MST)
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The wiki's been crawling along like something funny that crawls along for about a year now. This hasn't been much more than a minor inconvenience on my end, but it comes up pretty frequently on [https://www.reddit.com/r/HomestarRunner/ the Homestar subreddit], with a concerning number saying they haven't been able to access it at all. [https://downforeveryoneorjustme.com/hrwiki.org downforeveryoneorjustme.com] consistently insists that the system is down. I don't know what the hosting situation is like, nor am I anything close to an expert on such things, so unfortunately I can't diagnose the issue... But, [[DNA Evidence|after <s>extensive</s> investigation]], I'm ready to release my findings.
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*[[Talk:Main Page#Still Slow]] {{--}} A few months ago, [[User:Stux|Stux]] proposed a solution involving MediaWiki's [[mw:Manual:Job queue|job queue]]. Seems like something worth looking into.
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*[https://www.linode.com/docs/guides/host-a-website-with-high-availability/ Host a Website with High Availability] {{--}} The wiki's web host Linode features a guide on how to host a website with high availability. I can understand at most seven words of this, and I'm not sure how well it applies to wikis, but it might be helpful to someone. (They also have guides for [https://www.linode.com/docs/guides/security/ssl/ enabling HTTPS], which improves security... Maybe performance too, but I've heard mixed things about that.)
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*[[Special:Version]] {{--}} The wiki is currently powered by MediaWiki 1.15, which released in 2011. Later versions have added collapsible elements, citation features, slideshow galleries, an optional visual editor interface, the ability to rename categories, and most relevant to this particular discussion, [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/ResourceLoader improved performance]. The current stable release is 1.41.
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*[[HRWiki:Donations]] {{--}} I just discovered that [[HRWiki:2011 Server Move|the wiki moved servers in 2011]] to cut back on expenses, which [[HRWiki talk:2011 Server Move#Slowness|apparently resulted in slower load times]] (at least initially, while settings were still being optimized). According to [[Special:Ledger]], there haven't been any donations since then (additionally, it still lists FellowSites hosting dues instead of the new host). I've seen multiple people offering to donate if they could, so if the more recent slowness is once again a financial issue, it might help to [https://www.paypal.com/us/cshelp/article/ts2067 get the donation links working again].
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*{{p|l=http://hrwiki.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3AListUsers&group=developer Special:ListUsers&group=developer}} {{--}} I have no way of knowing how actively people have been working on maintaining backend stuff, but I can see that of the six developers, only [[User:It's dot com|It's dot com]] and [[User:Tom|Tom]] have been editing consistently since 2016. I realize I'm asking quite a lot of two people at most, and I really don't want to be too demanding... so I can't help but wonder if my suggestions might seem more reasonable if there were more people responsible for backend maintenance. I'm not qualified for that sort of thing, but I wouldn't be surprised if there were active users with MediaWiki and/or web development experience. As much as I want this wiki to be accessible to more people, I really don't want anyone losing sleep over it.
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Anyway, sorry I can't offer more help than this, but I hope someone finds this stuff useful (and that I didn't get anything terribly wrong)! {{User:Gfdgsgxgzgdrc/sig}} 01:06, 11 April 2024 (UTC)
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:Out of curiosity, I decided to use [[Special:Statistics]] and the WayBack Machine to calculate roughly how many people have been affected by the slow load times. After comparing the last seven months (from around the start of the slowdowns to now) to the seven months prior, I found that the average number of edits per day has decreased from 22 to 14, and the average number of active users has dropped from 27 to 17. That's a 37% decrease in ''both'' areas, leading me to believe they are linked by a common cause...
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:Unfortunately I couldn't figure out if that percentage corresponded to anything specific, like "37% of people use this certain type of Internet connection"... That information would tell me which people are having problems accessing the wiki, and from there I might be able to research a potential solution, assuming any of that works the way I think it does. Maybe I'll do an off-site poll somewhere, but I'd need to know what information would be most pertinent to ask... Would that be helpful at all? {{User:Gfdgsgxgzgdrc/sig}} 05:18, 18 April 2024 (UTC)
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::I know you guys know I'm against opening it up.  We don't even have any of our help page written yet.  Or have the copyrights worked out: we have one place that says GNU and one place that says CC.  And Jones is right about that page load. and the everyone doing everything at once thing.  Just some more stuff to think about.
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== Availability of the wiki over https ==
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::As to the problem Joey's dealing with: our not giving everyone the freedom to edit... I think that would create more problems.  Joey's right, giving everyone editing rights makes the wiki better, but that happens over a longer period of time.  Right now we have to think on the short term.  --  [[User:Tom|Tom]] 10:25, 23 Aug 2004 (MST)
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:::I agree with the Tom and Jones. This place is still a wiki, people will still be able to edit it when it opens up. Lettin' everyone on right now, even to help, would be kinda like lettin' a bunch of kids into an amusement park before it's finished and saying "You have to help us finish, though." There. My two cents. -- [[User:AgentSeethroo|AgentSeethroo]] 08:34, 31 Aug 2004 (MST)
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Are there any plans to upgrade the wiki from http to https?
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--{{User:UN_TACO/sig}} 00:36, 22 May 2024 (UTC)
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== CSS Tweaks ==
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Joey, could you increase the paragraph (P tags) spacing in the CSS? It's a little difficult to make out paragraph boundaries right now. -- [[User:InterruptorJones|InterruptorJones]] 09:37, 23 Aug 2004 (MST)
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:Working on it... --[[User:JoeyDay|JoeyDay]] 10:38, 23 Aug 2004 (MST)
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::Done. Sorry it took me so long. --[[User:JoeyDay|JoeyDay]] 10:13, 24 Aug 2004 (MST)
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== Case issues ==
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I just noticed something that might be an issue. Since we made case matter (for the emails), we now have the issue of [[Ballad of the Sneak]] and [[Ballad of The Sneak]] (and every other case variation) being two completely distinct pages. Is this going to be a problem? -- [[User:InterruptorJones|InterruptorJones]] 09:39, 23 Aug 2004 (MST)
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:This is already a problem on Wikipedia for any word after the first word. For instance, try looking up "George bush". We'll (and when I say we, I'm talking about the whole community, not just us admins) just have to pay close attention and create redirects where necessary -- at least until all the links can be fixed. --[[User:JoeyDay|JoeyDay]] 09:56, 23 Aug 2004 (MST)
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::Okay, "George bush" is a bad example because there's already a redirect. Try "Greek orthodox". --[[User:JoeyDay|JoeyDay]] 09:57, 23 Aug 2004 (MST)
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:::Okay, no probalo. -- [[User:InterruptorJones|InterruptorJones]]
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::::Yeah, we have this issue with [[The Paper]] and [[The paper]].  I think Joey did the redirect for that.  --  [[User:Tom|Tom]] 10:25, 23 Aug 2004 (MST)
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== Flash file links ==
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Okay, so this has kinda been buggin' me for a while. Whoever first called it "watch this video in fullscreen" obviously had no idea they were linking to the actual raw flash file. Since then, we've continued to call it "watch this video in fullscreen". Can we change it to "download the flash file of this video", or something more meaningful? What do you think? --[[User:JoeyDay|JoeyDay]] 10:34, 24 Aug 2004 (MST)
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:Hm, I guess you're right. Though I wish you'd mentioned it before I did all the toons. :D Anyway, "download" isn't quite the right term, since it'll just play in most people's browsers. -- [[User:InterruptorJones|InterruptorJones]] 10:52, 24 Aug 2004 (MST)
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::Hm. It downloads in Firefox, but I guess that's probably a preference setting. "view the flash file"? "watch the flash file"? --[[User:JoeyDay|JoeyDay]] 11:13, 24 Aug 2004 (MST)
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:::"view the Flash file" seems good to me. -- [[User:InterruptorJones|InterruptorJones]] 11:32, 24 Aug 2004 (MST)
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::We could use a template, like: <nowiki>[http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail50.swf Download the Flash file] {{swf}}</nowiki>, and the <nowiki>{{swf}}</nowiki> prints a small boilerplate saying it may download the Flash file or it may instead view it in "fullscreen". - [[User:furrykef|furrykef]] 13:48, 24 Aug 2004 (MST)
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== Convertulator suggestions ==
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StrongBadEmail should be automagically changed to [[Strong Bad Email]]. Anyplace where StrongBadEmail/ appears, it should be removed, so [[StrongBadEmail/flashback]] automagically becomes [[flashback]]. Only problem would be links like this: [[StrongBadEmail/flashback|flashback]]. They would turn out like this: [[flashback|flashback]], which I suppose isn't a big deal, but it's unnecessary bloat. We'll just have to watch for those. --[[User:JoeyDay|JoeyDay]] 11:39, 24 Aug 2004 (MST)
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:I've implemented your suggestions. However, I did find one small bug. If you have a (()) Wiki link that itself is in parentheses, e.g. "(((Some Page)) here)", the Convertulator will convert the first pair of parentheses, yielding <nowiki>[[(Some Page]] here)</nowiki>. There's no easy fix for this, so unfortunately we'll just have to just be on the lookout for it. -- [[User:InterruptorJones|InterruptorJones]] 14:17, 24 Aug 2004 (MST)
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== Characters featured ==
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While adding Filmography categories, I noticed something. The featured characters lists don't seem to be in any particular order. I've been alphabetizing for the filmography categories, but I think the "Featured:" list should be in order of appearance. Maybe it should say...
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'''Cast (in order of appearance): [[Homestar Runner]], [[Strong Bad]], [[Homsar (character)|Homsar]]'''
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What do you guys think? --[[User:JoeyDay|JoeyDay]] 09:53, 27 Aug 2004 (MST)
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:I've always tried to do them in order of appearance. Seems like a good standard to me. -- [[User:InterruptorJones|InterruptorJones]] 10:54, 27 Aug 2004 (MST)
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== Navigation links on left ==
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Two, maybe three of the nav links on the left have odd tooltips.
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*'''Main Page''' - Visit the main page [alt-z]
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**This is fine.
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*'''Strong Bad Email''' - About the project, what you can do, where to find things
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**Obviously this isn't what it is at all.
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*'''H*R.com updates''' - Find background information on current events
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**And nor is this ''really''.
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*'''Recent changes''' - The list of recent changes in the wiki. [alt-r]
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**Also fine.
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*'''Random page''' - Load a random page. [alt-x]
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**Also fine.
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*'''Help''' - The place to find out.
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**Slightly odd?
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Also, we probably ought to have shortcuts for everything or nothing.
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:Very good catch.  I didn't even notice that the alt text was still set for the default links that used to be there.  We also need to get the external links to the WikiForum and the WikiChat there as well.  Thanks for the heads up, "84.9.23.83".  --  [[User:Tom|Tom]] 10:34, 25 Sep 2004 (MST)
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:You're welcome! I've got myself a proper account now. - [[User:Mithent|Mithent]] 11:00, 25 Sep 2004 (MST)
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== Inside jokes ==
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Why are [[Inside Jokes]] classified as "wiki stuff"? They are part of the content of H*R, and do not refer to the workings of the wiki. - [[User:Drhaggis|Drhaggis]] 00:31, 17 Nov 2004 (MST)
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I guess [[Rejects]] are in that same catagory. Plus things like the glossary just kind of float somewhere in between. I think some reformatting of the section definitions are in order, as long as the Main Page is recieving an overhaul. Any additional design suggestions? -- [[User:Thunderbird L17|Thunderbird]] 01:35, 17 Nov 2004 (MST)
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I was just doing some more thinking, and what about having the Knowledge Base contain ONLY the things listed on the H*R main page(s), and put everything left over into Wiki Stuff. Basically it would look something like this, and would have the added bonus of evening the two sections out, leaving External Links on the bottom...
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* [[Toons]]
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** [[Strong Bad Email]]
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** [[Marzipan's Answering Machine]]
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** [[Teen Girl Squad]]
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** [[Powered By The Cheat]]
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** [[Puppet Stuff]]
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** [[Holiday Toons]]
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* [[Games]]
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* [[Characters]]
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* [[Downloads]]
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* [[Store]]
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* [[Email]]
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* [[Legal]]
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* [[Main Pages]]
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** [[Weekly Fanstuff]]
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** [[Quote of the Week]]
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** [[Sketchbook]]
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* [[Museum]]
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* [[Secret Pages]]
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Then this to the right of it: (Perhaps the first part in an additional section)
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* [[Places]]
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* [[Items]]
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* [[Songs]]
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* [[Quotes]]
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* [[Glossary]]
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* [[Inside Jokes]]
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* [[Rejects]]
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(Perhaps another section here?)
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* [[Special:Listusers|List of registered wiki users]]
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* [[Links]]
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* [[Sightings]]
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* [[HRWiki:Standards|Standards]]
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* [[HRWiki:Ledger|Ledger]]
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* [[HRWiki:Projects|Projects]]
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* [[HRWiki:Sandbox|Sandbox]]
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* [[WikiTroll]]
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* [[HRWiki:Welcoming committee|Welcoming committee]]
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Then the external links in another catergory. Does anyone like this idea? I think it draws a clearer distinction between things organized by the site, and additional Knowledge sorted by the Wiki. I think a clearer illustration would be that the Knowlege base is simply the 10 vegetables, and the Wiki Stuff is all the different salads they can be made into. Does anyone understand this very abstract illustration? As of now there is no clear line drawn, and many pages float in between. At the very least pages like [[Inside Jokes]] and [[Songs]] seem to be in the same catergory and in my opinion should be sorted accordingly. -- [[User:Thunderbird L17|Thunderbird]] 01:48, 17 Nov 2004 (MST)
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The Wiki Stuff should be for all the internal housekeeping pages like help pages, list of Trolls, ongoing projects and the like. The material that branches out from the core H*R content like [[Sightings]] can be grouped together, but they are not Wiki specific things. -[[User:Drhaggis|Drhaggis]] 12:44, 17 Nov 2004 (MST)
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Then what about renaming the section, or even adding a seperate section? Perhaps name that one something like... 'Base Knowledge', and the other one like 'Secondary Knowledge', or something like that. Then have Wiki Troll, Ledger, Ect. under 'Wiki Stuff'. Or move EVERYTHING H*R related to Knowlege base, including Inside Jokes, ect, but that would make the menu look very offset... -- [[User:Thunderbird L17|Thunderbird]] 12:58, 17 Nov 2004 (MST)
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:Does anybody have an opinion about my idea? I think it's a good layout... -- [[User:Thunderbird L17|Thunderbird]] 22:56, 18 Nov 2004 (MST)
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== New Format = <strike>Banners</strike>? ==
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I like the new format, it does make the title screen smaller, and more... colorful, I guess, but what happened to those cool banners? Any way to incorporate them into the design at the tops of the boxes? They really gave the main page a distinct look, and I would like to see them live again. If they don't fit, could whoever made them maybe remake one or two for a custom fit? I dunno, just a suggestion. -- [[User:Thunderbird L17|Thunderbird]] 01:28, 17 Nov 2004 (MST)
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Also as long as we're on the topic of the new format, what about moving the External Links to below the Wiki Stuff section? There's alot of unused space there. Might even get the page to one screen, without scrolling. Plus should anyone put the explanations of the links back? There seems to be a lack of explanations, only half the links have them. -- [[User:Thunderbird L17|Thunderbird]] 01:32, 17 Nov 2004 (MST)
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:Ah ha. I uploaded the banners to [[:Image:officialsite-banner.png]], [[:Image:wikipages-banner.png]], and [[:Image:externallinks-banner.png]].  I'm hoping that someone will come up with something similar that will work with this format.  I'm thinking the width should be limited to around 100px.[[User:Tom|<nowiki></nowiki>]]  --  [[User:Tom|Tom]] 13:16, 17 Nov 2004 (MST)
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I don't see what was wrong with a lil' scrolling. I'm taking this very harshly. It was my only reminder of the old wiki. --[[User:Lunar Jesters|Lunar Jesters]] 14:08, 17 Nov 2004 (MST)
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:It reminds me a lot of Wikipedia. Maybe to much. I'm thinkin' we need something to "liven" the page up a bit, maybe like an official "Homestar Runner Wiki" banner across the top of the page. -- <small>[[User:FireBird|FireBird]]</small>|<sub>[[User Talk:FireBird|Talk]]</sub>
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== Other New Format comments ==<!--previously "New Format????????"-->
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Oh, god, I looked at the new format and I almost lost my lunch. It's so ugly! I really think the old banners should be back! Is there a way we can get them back?
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[[User:Homsar999|Homsar999]] 17:04, 17 Nov 2004
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I agree, the Banners are needed. Any way to put them along the tops of the colored boxes, even custom stretching them to fit? I think that would look rather good. -- [[User:Thunderbird L17|Thunderbird]] 16:33, 17 Nov 2004 (
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:It's not that big of a deal. If you puked over this, I'd hate to ride a Tilt-A-Whirl with you. Get over it. -- <small>[[User:FireBird|FireBird]]</small>|<sub>[[User Talk:FireBird|Talk]]</sub>
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::I'm starting to notice a pattern of people percieving improvements as being evil here, first with the switchover from Tavi to this, then the reformatting of the front page. --[[User:TheNintenGenius|TheNintenGenius]] 02:53, 18 Nov 2004 (MST)
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::If there's one thing that never changes, it's that people are afraid of change, no matter how much it improves their lives. Never try to give your grandma a new TV. Anyway, the banners aren't gone for good. The ones we were using just don't fit in the new layout. And just so we're clear: messing about with the front page just because you "liked it better before" is trolling and will be handled as such. [[User:InterruptorJones|<nowiki></nowiki>]]<small>&mdash;&nbsp;[[User:InterruptorJones|InterruptorJones]]</small>[[<nowiki></nowiki>]]
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::uh, how does this change improve my life? I guess the layout is more functional, but as for improvement, I don't think it really adds anything to the site.
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::: I agree. It looks more crowded and ugly. Needs more color, like the homestar runner website. Keeping the new layout is fine, we just need smaller banners. (Btw, why is keeping the old layout trolling, yet putting up a worse layout not? I agree with your point, I just find that statement a very harsh thing that goes agenst the wiki spirit.) Also, this layout looks like crap at 800x600 --[[User:James|James]] 13:52, 19 Nov 2004 (MST)
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::Can't we settle this with a vote? --[[User:Lunar Jesters|Lunar Jesters]] 18:17, 18 Nov 2004 (MST)
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:::I don't know. Whichever wins, a whole mess of people would be mad. -- <small>[[User:FireBird|FireBird]]</small>|<sub>[[User Talk:FireBird|Talk]]</sub>
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::Afraid of change, no. Liked the banners, yes. :( --[[User:Southpaw018|Southpaw018]] 21:47, 18 Nov 2004 (MST)
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Current revision as of 12:46, 25 May 2024

Is there an update to homestarrunner.com?
If so, please add it to the updates page. If you're not sure how to do that, then just post a note on this page, and we'll take care of the rest. Thanks!
Main Page Talk
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It has been suggested that the Main Page be redesigned. Feel free to use its project page for proposed redesigns.

Contents

[edit] sbemail templates

See Talk:Strong Bad Email → sbemail templates

[edit] Trogday decor

Does the Featured content of the day (or whenever) template automatically switch to different links on certain days? Such as linking to dragon, Trogday '08 and other things when the time comes? Or is that done manually? Because tomorrow is Trogday. - HoveringSombrero (talk)

It's not automatic, but as you can see (at the time of this writing), the decorations were indeed put up to coincide with Trogday. — It's dot com 01:43, 24 January 2023 (UTC)

[edit] How many references do you need?

How many references to a thing need to be on a page for the thing the page is about to become a real page? Just curious because my mock-up seinfeld page includes eight references to the titular show. The page on The Big Lebowski has the same amount of references... so do I just make a Seinfeld page now? ----J∃ffJMan 20:13, 7 February 2023 (UTC)

done and done ----J∃ffJMan 20:14, 7 February 2023 (UTC)
See our inclusion guidelines. — It's dot com 21:02, 7 February 2023 (UTC)

[edit] Songs archive

Would it be OK if I created a subpage to my user page with a complete archive of every existing song in the Homestar universe? I wanna be the TMBGLOVER too! 22:28, 22 February 2023 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure we have that covered. — It's dot com 23:18, 22 February 2023 (UTC)
Well, I was gonna add MP3 files with them, so people could download them and stuff. Is that still OK? I wanna be the TMBGLOVER too! 00:26, 23 February 2023 (UTC)
No, that's not what the user space is for. — It's dot com 00:43, 23 February 2023 (UTC)

[edit] dot dot dot

Why come whenever I try to link to lady…ing and Cheat Commandos…O's, the link is broken? Is it because of those ellipses? — HoveringSombrero (talk)

Sort of! "…" is different from "...", it's a single character rather than three periods. Try highlighting it and you can see. This is kind of like the difference between “curly quotes” and "straight quotes" - in both cases, the former is typically made via autocorrect in word processors or mobile keyboards, while the latter is preferred by the wiki. So while lady…ing and lady...ing may look the same, they are actually two different typed entries. -- Bleu Ninja 22:17, 11 March 2023 (UTC)
I've added redirects to fix the issue. Gfdgsgxgzgdrc 23:06, 11 March 2023 (UTC)
Thanks! — HoveringSombrero (talk)

[edit] Navigation sidebar - adding @StrongBadActual?

Strong Bad Email has been in the sidebar for as long as I can remember, presumably because it was the most popular and most actively updated portion of the website. With the Twitter account handily outpacing both sbemails and "H*R.com updates" (not to mention the CGI Paper directing viewers to tweet rather than email), might it be worth adding it over there? I know I regularly find myself navigating to the @StrongBadActual page(s) to fill out "Fast Forward" sections of pages or to find dates when an item or project was mentioned. -- Bleu Ninja 20:16, 31 March 2023 (UTC)

I agree (and I'm not going to do the whole "Don't you think I agree" part, this isn't E-mail Birds, but it is bird season.), and I fully support putting it there. It's a handy page and we've put a lot of work into cataloging every post made by strong bad on twitter, with fun facts to boot! So consider this my SUPPORT. ----J∃ffJMan 22:52, 31 March 2023 (UTC)
I also SUPPORT. — HoveringSombrero (talk)
, So I SUPPORT this too, but I like having easy access to the Strong Bad Email page, considering I usually watch the sbemails by clicking on the external links. So, maybe we keep both? I wanna be the TMBGLOVER too! 22:28, 2 April 2023 (UTC)
Maybe we link to it as [[@StrongBadActual Tweets 2023|Twitter]] and put it above Strong Bad Email and underneath Recent changes? — HoveringSombrero (talk)
GREAT IDEA! I like it! I wanna be the TMBGLOVER too! 18:00, 10 April 2023 (UTC)

[edit] Editing user pages

Alright, so, I've been thinking. The block log has a lot of "user banned for editing userpages of other users". So, the main page, for example, has a system so only sysops can edit it. What if we add a system to all user pages that basically makes it impossible for anybody but the user to edit it? I wanna be the TMBGLOVER too! 22:52, 18 July 2023 (UTC)

The thing is, I feel sysops / admins / wiki bots should probably still be able to edit user pages. For example, an admin fixing a bug on the page or a bot auto-replacing a link. But I agree that no one else should edit other user pages. Or somehow make a system where users can choose who can edit the page. — HoveringSombrero (talk) 18:10, 19 July 2023 (UTC)
We already have explicit guidelines on who can and should edit user pages. If a user page is edited for anything other than a legitimate reason, the edit typically gets quickly reverted. No harm done. Anyone that might be banned in relation to user page edits is most likely doing it in a disruptive manner. In any case, the block logs mostly include bans for spamming. There really is no compelling reason to add user page security settings or tools for this. --Stux 21:10, 19 July 2023 (UTC)

[edit] Wiki availability

For about the past week, I haven't been able to access the HRWiki, and downforeveryoneorjustme.com consistently confirmed (and still does) that hrwiki.org is down. However, I see that plenty of edits have been made to the wiki in that time, so obviously it wasn't entirely down. Basically, I've been presented with a white screen that occasionally loaded the hills in the background and sometimes the Homestar logo in the top-left corner, and if I moved the mouse around the screen, it would recognize where links and drop-down menus were, but it wouldn't show me any text for the links and all. Any idea what may have happened/be happening? The Knights Who Say Ni 20:32, 22 August 2023 (UTC)

Hey Knights. Usually, when a big update is released, wiki activity jumps exponentially and typically the wiki reaction times can slow down to a crawl. Pages still load but they take forever and one must be patient. Eventually that goes away as edits taper down. However, for a site like "downforeveryoneorjustme", their timeout is likely far shorter than regular browsers when reporting if a site is down. In your particular case it seems that not all website elements are loading and some may be timing out and not loading at all. I'd typically expect that behavior during peak edit times. Hope this helps a tiny bit! --Stux 06:05, 25 August 2023 (UTC)
At some point I did see pages seemingly load but remain blank unless I interacted with the tab in some way, though that could have been a browser issue, it never really prevented me from accessing the wiki, and I haven't been experiencing it for a while. I've also had some "unable to connect" errors because sometimes when loading the wiki, it attempts to load an https URL. Most of the time, though, especially after a new release, it's been just slowdowns. DEI DAT VM┌datvm center\super contra┘ 21:09, 4 September 2023 (UTC)

[edit] Still Slow

It seems that the wiki hasn't fully recovered from its slowdowns back in August. In the last couple of months I've come across the Job Queue and this mediawiki page detailing what it is and how it's supposed to function. I get the impression that currently, all jobs on the wiki are running when a page is being requested. The page outlines a means by which the jobs can be run in the background (either via cron job or background process; I'd recommend the background process) and then the job run rate could be set to zero (so that pages aren't spending time running jobs while loading). Is this something that is already in place or could this perhaps be implemented in order to improve overall performance even during busy periods? --Stux 11:41, 16 December 2023 (UTC)

[edit] glitch on the main pages

Noticed a glitch on the main pages, done by holding the cursor on one of the buttons, and then moving away, and then moving your finger off the mouse. to see what this does and what I mean, refer to this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgM-NA0Rja4 I wanna be the TMBGLOVER too! 21:08, 26 August 2023 (UTC)

There's a whole page about this. Main Page Glitches Gfdgsgxgzgdrc 21:21, 26 August 2023 (UTC)

[edit] Why does the website still have the Halloween theme?

Halloween ended 18 days ago, and so did October in general, so why does the website still have the Hallow's Eve theme? --Cy4nIsN0tB1u3 04:33, 19 November 2023 (UTC)

Because we're still waiting for the annual Fan Costumes toon to close out the season, even if we have to wait days after Thanksgiving. Also, because the sysops in charge of changing the wiki settings are busy people with lives and tend to wait a while to get around to it. -- 68.37.43.131 23:56, 19 November 2023 (UTC)

[edit] New Fan Stumes’!

The 2023 Fan Stumes has been released! And not only that, but my costume from last year is the very first Strong Bad costume! That counts as a fun fact, right? We should probably note that like how we note when a wikian sent a email. I wanna be the TMBGLOVER too! 17:12, 22 November 2023 (UTC)

[edit] Permafrosted logo?

The Decemberween themed logo is still up, but December ended 11 days ago. The weirdest part in my opinion is that there's no d'ween themed colors despide icicles and Homestar's hat. Is there something we're waiting for, like a new not-Decemberween toon? Yours truly, The guy who confused Dobbs for Daubs. — 206.110.189.60 (Talk | contribs) 11 January 2024 16:34 (UTC) (left unsigned)

I'm not an admin, but I'm assuming the style is simply for the winter season. Even though the Christmas lights have been taken down, it's still a chilly and snowy time of year for at least another month and a half. (P.S. Even if you don't have an account, please sign your posts with four tildes: ~~~~) -- Bleu Ninja 17:34, 11 January 2024 (UTC)

[edit] Load times and potential solutions

The wiki's been crawling along like something funny that crawls along for about a year now. This hasn't been much more than a minor inconvenience on my end, but it comes up pretty frequently on the Homestar subreddit, with a concerning number saying they haven't been able to access it at all. downforeveryoneorjustme.com consistently insists that the system is down. I don't know what the hosting situation is like, nor am I anything close to an expert on such things, so unfortunately I can't diagnose the issue... But, after extensive investigation, I'm ready to release my findings.

  • Talk:Main Page#Still Slow — A few months ago, Stux proposed a solution involving MediaWiki's job queue. Seems like something worth looking into.
  • Host a Website with High Availability — The wiki's web host Linode features a guide on how to host a website with high availability. I can understand at most seven words of this, and I'm not sure how well it applies to wikis, but it might be helpful to someone. (They also have guides for enabling HTTPS, which improves security... Maybe performance too, but I've heard mixed things about that.)
  • Special:Version — The wiki is currently powered by MediaWiki 1.15, which released in 2011. Later versions have added collapsible elements, citation features, slideshow galleries, an optional visual editor interface, the ability to rename categories, and most relevant to this particular discussion, improved performance. The current stable release is 1.41.
  • HRWiki:Donations — I just discovered that the wiki moved servers in 2011 to cut back on expenses, which apparently resulted in slower load times (at least initially, while settings were still being optimized). According to Special:Ledger, there haven't been any donations since then (additionally, it still lists FellowSites hosting dues instead of the new host). I've seen multiple people offering to donate if they could, so if the more recent slowness is once again a financial issue, it might help to get the donation links working again.
  • Special:ListUsers&group=developer — I have no way of knowing how actively people have been working on maintaining backend stuff, but I can see that of the six developers, only It's dot com and Tom have been editing consistently since 2016. I realize I'm asking quite a lot of two people at most, and I really don't want to be too demanding... so I can't help but wonder if my suggestions might seem more reasonable if there were more people responsible for backend maintenance. I'm not qualified for that sort of thing, but I wouldn't be surprised if there were active users with MediaWiki and/or web development experience. As much as I want this wiki to be accessible to more people, I really don't want anyone losing sleep over it.

Anyway, sorry I can't offer more help than this, but I hope someone finds this stuff useful (and that I didn't get anything terribly wrong)! Gfdgsgxgzgdrc 01:06, 11 April 2024 (UTC)

Out of curiosity, I decided to use Special:Statistics and the WayBack Machine to calculate roughly how many people have been affected by the slow load times. After comparing the last seven months (from around the start of the slowdowns to now) to the seven months prior, I found that the average number of edits per day has decreased from 22 to 14, and the average number of active users has dropped from 27 to 17. That's a 37% decrease in both areas, leading me to believe they are linked by a common cause...
Unfortunately I couldn't figure out if that percentage corresponded to anything specific, like "37% of people use this certain type of Internet connection"... That information would tell me which people are having problems accessing the wiki, and from there I might be able to research a potential solution, assuming any of that works the way I think it does. Maybe I'll do an off-site poll somewhere, but I'd need to know what information would be most pertinent to ask... Would that be helpful at all? Gfdgsgxgzgdrc 05:18, 18 April 2024 (UTC)

[edit] Availability of the wiki over https

Are there any plans to upgrade the wiki from http to https? --UN TACO 00:36, 22 May 2024 (UTC)

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