Talk:Main Page

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{{Main Page Talk}}
{{Main Page Talk}}
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== RC problems, sort of... ==
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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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I would post this on the Recent Changes talk page, but that's nonexistent, so anyways, I run Firefox 2.0.0.5 and if I load the main page and click on Recent Changes, a window pops up saying "You have chosen to open 'Recent Changes'...which is an 'application/octet-stream' What do you want to do with this file?" And I get two options, "Save to Disc" or "Open with..." (which to that I click "Cancel ;). It's really annoying, but is this actually a fixable problem or am I just going to have to deal with it? --{{User:Super Martyo Brother/sig}} 19:49, 29 July 2007 (UTC)
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== sbemail templates ==
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:Oh, I forgot to mention, for people who use Firefox, it's a basic download screen. --{{User:Super Martyo Brother/sig}} 19:52, 29 July 2007 (UTC)
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:''See [[Talk:Strong Bad Email#sbemail templates|Talk:Strong Bad Email → sbemail templates]]''
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:It sounds like for some reason Firefox thinks that the PHP used with MediaWiki is a program (that's what it means when it says application/octet-stream).  My first suggestion would be clear your cache (Preferences -> Advanced -> Network).  If that doesn't solve the problem, you might want to see if the file association is messed up.  Go to the Content tab in Preferences and click on the Manage button under File Types.  If PHP is listed there, delete it.  Last resort would be to locate the cache or preferences and delete them manually; the file might be corrupt and that's why it is giving you the strange result. {{User:Wbwolf/sig}} 00:38, 30 July 2007 (UTC)
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::You know what, that happened to me once.  I uninstalled Firefox and reinstalled it and it seemed to work.  But only do that if Wbwolf's advice doesn't work. --{{User:Theyellowdart/sig}} 04:54, 31 July 2007 (UTC)
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:::Clearing my cache seemed to work, but waiting is definitely the best remedy here. --{{User:Super Martyo Brother/sig}} 05:44, 31 July 2007 (UTC)
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== Protection? ==
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== Trogday decor ==
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I just realized. How do we protect pages from being edited?  Couldn't we stop User Page vandalism if the User could just protect his/her page? --{{User:SantanaHomerunner/sig}} 19:07, 2 August 2007 (UTC)
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:I have [[HRWiki:Da Basement#Limited editability for user pages|already suggested this and been shot down]]. {{User:DeFender1031/sig}} 19:09, 2 August 2007 (UTC)
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::Protecting those pages would be possible, but it wouldn't solve anything. There are several rare but legitimate reasons for a non-sysop to edit someone else's user page, and there's no reason to remove that functionality just because some people can't play nice. Besides, just about all vandalism is detected and removed quickly. If we protected the entire user namespace, then there would just be more vandalism in the other namespaces. — [[User:It's dot com|It's dot com]] 19:58, 2 August 2007 (UTC)
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==Not everyone likes the site==
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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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So could you please change the comment? [[User:124.180.174.141|124.180.174.141]] 11:52, 6 August 2007 (UTC)
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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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:Which site and which comment?{{User:Loafing/sig}} 12:07, 6 August 2007 (UTC)
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<p style="margin: 0 0 1em; text-align:center;">
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We're currently working on [[Special:Statistics|{{NUMBEROFARTICLES}}]] [[Special:Allpages|articles]] about our favorite Internet cartoon.
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</p>
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::(I think that's it...) {{User:Mee/sig}} 12:32, 6 August 2007 (UTC)
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:::"our" refers to the wiki community. If you don't like the site, you're not part of the community and thus the statement doesn't apply to you. {{User:DeFender1031/sig}} 16:14, 6 August 2007 (UTC)
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::::Seriously, if you don't like the site, just don't visit it. It's not that hard. You don't need us to fix something you can easily fix yourself. Like non-Starbucks cafes may carry a "Best coffee in town!" sign. That doesn't mean EVERYONE IN TOWN considers their coffee the best in town. The "our favorite Internet cartoon" is just like that. Everyone on the Internet does not mutually agree that homestarrunner.com is the best site on the Internet. But it is very popular (and a favorite among this site), so we keep this banner.
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::::Also, please do not tell us to fix your problems for you. Instead, refrain from visiting the site you seem to dislike. It's not that hard, we're not extremely popular.
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== How many references do you need? ==
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::::If you MUST have it removed, I'd suggest getting Firefox and Greasemonkey and programming a simple user script to simply remove that line. [http://diveintogreasemonkey.org/toc/ Here's a good tutorial. It should be enough.]
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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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: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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::See our [[HRWiki:Inclusion guidelines|inclusion guidelines]]. &mdash; [[User:It's dot com|It's dot com]] 21:02, 7 February 2023 (UTC)
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::::Furthermore, if you dislike Homestar Runner, I see no reason as to HOW you found this site. I dunno about you, but I don't go googling fansites of webtoons I hate. {{User:Bluebry/sig}} 18:11, 6 August 2007 (UTC)
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== Songs archive ==
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:::::Bluebry, stop feeding the troll. {{User:DeFender1031/sig}} 18:15, 6 August 2007 (UTC)
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::::::Well, I wouldn't say they are a troll, DeF. {{User:Bluebry/sig}} 18:19, 6 August 2007 (UTC)
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:::::::Just like [[Talk:Main Page 24#20/200|this anonny]] wasn't a troll? {{User:DeFender1031/sig}} 18:21, 6 August 2007 (UTC)
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::::::::No this guy's nicer. {{User:Bluebry/sig}} 18:22, 6 August 2007 (UTC)
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:::::::::I don't think so. {{User:DeFender1031/sig}} 18:25, 6 August 2007 (UTC)
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::::::::::First off: He's said two sentences, and used "please". Second off: Argument over, we're just spamming Talk:Main Page with a useless argument. {{User:Bluebry/sig}} 18:27, 6 August 2007 (UTC)
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== Stupid DNA evi-dence ==
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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]]. &mdash; [[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. &mdash; [[User:It's dot com|It's dot com]] 00:43, 23 February 2023 (UTC)
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Is it necessary for us to note in ''every single'' Email of the [[DNA Evidence (running gag)|DNA evidence running gag]] that its DNA scene is revisited in the [[DNA Evidence]] toon?  To me it's almost like going to each of the first 124-160 Emails and noting that each email is revisited in [[rock opera]] and/or [[160 Seconds]].  I feel like removing that note from every Email that does not receive another notable reference (or contradiction, in the case of [[unnatural#Fast Forward|unnatural]]) in the toon. [[User:Bad Bad Guy|Bad Bad Guy]] 00:09, 9 August 2007 (UTC)
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== dot dot dot ==
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:I disagree. There's a definite, purposeful connection between the DNA scenes and [[DNA Evidence]].{{User:Loafing/sig}} 01:22, 9 August 2007 (UTC)
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::Seconded {{User:Rootbeersoup/sig}} 04:15, 9 August 2007 (UTC)
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:::My problem was before I expanded each note, it felt like they were referring only to the recap at the beginning of the toon as the revisit. [[User:Bad Bad Guy|Bad Bad Guy]] 18:32, 11 August 2007 (UTC)
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::::Is it ''that'' notable that [[Sbemail 169 Deleted Scene]] is referenced in the DNA toon? [[User:Bad Bad Guy|Bad Bad Guy]] 19:26, 1 September 2007 (UTC)
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:::::Eh, I think it is. By the way, why are we discussing this here, and not at [[Talk:DNA Evidence]] or some such page? {{User:Heimstern Läufer/sig}} 20:17, 1 September 2007 (UTC)
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== Redirect? ==
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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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Redirects don't seem to like the alternate-caps auto-redirect, as I discovered with [[No Hands on Deck]]. Thoughts? --{{User:Jay/sig}} 04:25, 9 August 2007 (UTC)
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== Navigation sidebar - adding @StrongBadActual? ==
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:Works fine for me. {{User:DeFender1031/sig}} 04:26, 9 August 2007 (UTC)
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:: Now wait just a durned minute. When I typed that directly, it didn't work!!! --{{User:Jay/sig}} 04:29, 9 August 2007 (UTC)
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:::Typing directly worked for me also. {{User:DeFender1031/sig}} 04:29, 9 August 2007 (UTC)
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::::When I type it in the URL bar (with the lowercase O) it redirects me to a redirect page. I tend to type directly into the URL bar instead of the search bar. Guess it was my own fault then. --{{User:Jay/sig}} 04:46, 9 August 2007 (UTC)
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:::::When you type it directly into the URL, you're actually creating a double redirect, which is why you have to click through. (When you put it on a wiki page or in the search bar, it avoids the double redirect.) It has to be like that so that we can access those pages in case we ever need to turn them into real pages (for example, when we needed to make [[the paper]] after already having [[The Paper]]). &mdash; [[User:It's dot com|It's dot com]] 05:08, 9 August 2007 (UTC)
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:::::: Okay, I get it. Sorry for being out of the loop. --{{User:Jay/sig}} 08:12, 9 August 2007 (UTC)
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== Page Titles ==
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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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Now that we have a page for every toon's [[page title]] (see the link I just gave), should we start linking where every toon says
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== Editing user pages ==
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<blockquote>
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'''Page title:''' ''{toon's page title}''
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</blockquote>
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to that page? I don't mind taking the time to link many of them, though it would take a while. What does anyone else think? {{User:Homestar-winner/sig}} 02:18, 12 August 2007 (UTC)
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:If we want to link them (and I'm not sure we should), we should have [[User:The Cheatbot]] do it. &mdash; [[User:It's dot com|It's dot com]] 15:24, 13 August 2007 (UTC)
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::Wouldn't work anyway, a lot of the sbemails have the same title. {{User:DeFender1031/sig}} 15:26, 13 August 2007 (UTC)
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== Filmography Pages ==
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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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: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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I'm just asking, in [[mini-golf]], a lot of characters made appearances, and most of those characters don't have their own filmography pages. The filmographies on their character pages have 5 to 6 appearances listed. I agreed that the [[Drive-Thru Whale|Drive-Thru Whale's]] two appearances don't warrant their own page yet, but the question is, how many appearances ''does'' a character need to have their own filmography page? &mdash; {{User:SamFisher1022/sig}} 12:15, 13 August 2007 (UTC)
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== Wiki availability ==
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:''See [[HRWiki talk:Standards#Filmography Pages]]''
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== Redirect Problem ==
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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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I'm seriously not trying to insult anybody, but despite the consensus reached to turn [[Coach Z's Gender Confusion]] into a redirect to [[Coach Z#Coach Z's "more than two problems"]], the page was instead turned into a redirect to [[Cross-dressing]] with no visible explanationDoes anyone mind if I try to fix it? Once again, I am not trying to insult anybody. [[User:Bad Bad Guy|Bad Bad Guy]] 16:29, 1 September 2007 (UTC)
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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 downIn 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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:[[Talk:Cross-dressing#Coach Z's Gender Confusion|Said consencus]]. [[User:Bad Bad Guy|Bad Bad Guy]] 16:46, 1 September 2007 (UTC)
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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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:It's not completely clear what some people wanted, since some just put a vague "Redirect for reasons above". Naturally, someone must have got confused. Furthermore, at least 3 people wanted to redirect to Coach Z, opposed to at least 1 wanting to redirect to Cross Dressing. So, sure, go ahead and fix it. {{User:The Chort/sig}} 16:49, 1 September 2007 (UTC)
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== Server problems? ==
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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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I've been having trouble accesing the HRWiki for a while. It's really slow. Are there problems with the server? And please, PLEASE don't answer my question with "This is not the place to ask that" or something, because I don't have anywhere else to go. --[[User:Jnelson09|Jnelson09]] 20:51, 3 September 2007 (UTC)
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==glitch on the main pages ==
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:It happens from time to time, especially on Mondays. &mdash; [[User:It's dot com|It's dot com]] 20:57, 3 September 2007 (UTC)
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::Oh, thanks. Why Mondays? --[[User:Jnelson09|Jnelson09]] 20:58, 3 September 2007 (UTC)
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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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== 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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==New Fan Stumes’!==
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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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== Permafrosted logo? ==
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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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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'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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== Load times and potential solutions ==
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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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Wait a minute, it seems fine now. What happened? {{unsigned|71.195.40.33|08:25, November 15, 2024 (UTC)}}
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== Availability of the wiki over https ==
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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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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 VMdatvm 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)

Wait a minute, it seems fine now. What happened? — 71.195.40.33 (Talk | contribs) 08:25, November 15, 2024 (UTC) (left unsigned)

[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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