HRWiki:Da Basement

From Homestar Runner Wiki

This is the administrative message board. For the basement featured in Homestar Runner toons, see Basement of the Brothers Strong.

Welcome to Da Basement! This is a messageboard for coordinating and discussing administrative tasks on the Homestar Runner Wiki. Although it is aimed mostly at sysops, any user is welcome to leave a message or join the discussion here.

If you have a question regarding how to become a sysop, please read through the FAQ beforehand.

Current | Archive 1 (1-10) | Archive 2 (11-20)
Archive 3 (21-30) | Archive 4 (31-40) | Archive 5 (41-50)
Archive 6 (51-60) | Archive 7 (Logo discussion) | Archive 8 (61-82)
Archive 9 (83-102) | Archive 10 (103-117)

HRWiki:Projects (Talk) (v)
Unfinished and Ongoing
DVD commentary transcripts Image summary cleanup Toon Descriptions Possible Page Disambiguations Inside Jokes vs Running Gags Yello Dello/KOT Conventions Main page redesign @StrongBadActual Bot Interwiki-style updates Edit link issue Podstar Runner pages SBEmail Infoboxes SBEmail Production History
Completed or overruled
Navigation templates Introducing a new Interwiki link Underscores Nav Template Automation HRWiki:The Stick (Talk) HRWiki:Da Basement (Talk)

Contents 1 Licensing drop-down list 2 MediaWiki system messages 3 Use of id in templates 4 Dropdown Menu Support 5 Personal info of real persons 6 AFJAOBN 7 The Deleteheads Download Blockquote 8 Oldest Downloads Menu Mirror 9 Long-term inactivity 10 Outdated Chat Clients 11 Main Page Redesign Notice 12 @StrongBadActual Bot 13 Interwiki-style updates and maintenance 14 Homestar Runner Updates 20X6 15 Redirect Baleetion 16 Embedded Twitter Timeline: can it work? 17 "General Disclaimer" legal link is broken 18 Fixes needed for "Book sources"

[edit] Licensing drop-down list

Could a sysop or admin kindly populate MediaWiki:Licenses with the image copyright tags that have been created over the past few years? It would aid in choosing the right license when uploading. Please and thanks, Soiled Bargains ^(talk|ctrb) 22:07, 21 January 2011 (UTC)

[edit] MediaWiki system messages

I had a few concerns for the sysops regarding some of the MediaWiki system messages. Please delete/modify or just comment on the following:

Message	Default Current	Concern	Decision / remark
MediaWiki:Anononlyblock	anon. only anonnies only	"anonnies"?	"Hey, anonny, why don't you go... brush up on your knowledge of the Homestar Runner body of work or something and not attribute it to yourself!"
MediaWiki:Autoredircomment	Redirected page to $1 redirect to $1	present tense? lowercase? also, why not just default?	preference
MediaWiki:Autosumm-blank	Blanked the page blanked the page	lowercase? why not just default?
MediaWiki:Autosumm-replace	Replaced content with '$1' replaced the page with '$1'	lowercase?
MediaWiki:Clearyourcache	Note - After saving, you may have to bypass your browser's cache to see the changes. Mozilla / Firefox / Safari: hold Shift while clicking Reload, or press either Ctrl-F5 or Ctrl-R (Command-R on a Macintosh); Konqueror: click Reload or press F5; Opera: clear the cache in Tools → Preferences; Internet Explorer: hold Ctrl while clicking Refresh, or press Ctrl-F5. {{#ifeq:{{FULLPAGENAME}}|Special:Preferences|'''See [[Help:User Preferences]] for help deciphering the options.''' <nowiki>}}</nowiki> Note: After saving, you may have to bypass your browser's cache to see the changes. *Mozilla / Firefox: hold down Shift while clicking Reload, or press Ctrl-Shift-R (Cmd-Shift-R on Apple Mac) *Safari: press Cmd-Option-E *IE: hold Ctrl while clicking Refresh, or press Ctrl-F5 *Konqueror: simply click the Reload button, or press F5 *Opera users may need to completely clear their cache in Tools→Preferences.	I recommend we delete MediaWiki:Clearyourcache and move "See Help:User Preferences for help deciphering the options." onto MediaWiki:Preferences-summary.	The entire preferences page was reworked beginning with the next version. This will need to be reviewed once we upgrade (whenever that is).
MediaWiki:Disambiguationspage	Template:disambig HRWiki:Links_to_disambiguating_pages	supposed to designate which template(s) are used to mark disambiguation pages. non-default setting breaks the functionality of Special:Disambiguations. also, HRWiki:Links to disambiguating pages is possibly pointless.	This was set in the earliest days of the wiki and should be reviewed and probably removed.
MediaWiki:History-title	Revision history of "$1" Revision history of $1	removal of quotes, just different for seemingly no reason - why not just default?	preference; likely inspired by the same change at Wikipedia
MediaWiki:Mailmypassword	E-mail new password Email new password	"Email" generally should be spelled "E-mail" nevermind, but still why not just keep the default?	"Never mind" should be two words. Never_mind, then ;-) -- I guess I figured out why we have non-default on this, anyway -- probably for consistency with the H*R spelling, which is usually (always?) non-hyphenated. LobStoR 20:29, 25 May 2011 (UTC)
MediaWiki:Movenologintext	You must be a registered user and logged in to move a page. You must be a registered user and logged in to move a page, or this page may be protected from page moves.	This message is not even displayed for protected page move attempts. (in that case, it displays MediaWiki:Protectedpagetext, which is defaulted to "This page has been locked to prevent editing.")	This change was probably correct back when it was implemented but after various upgrades is now out of date. It should be reviewed and probably removed.
MediaWiki:Right-edit	Edit pages Edit this page	Incorrect grammar for the list at Special:ListGroupRights edit: also feeds MediaWiki:Permissionserrorstext-withaction "You do not have permission to $2, for the following reasons:"	We need to see where else this is used. Obviously it was changed for some reason, but the change could be out of date and may need to be removed. If it's still current, then the amount of sense made on the group rights page (grammar is not a problem per se) is potentially a secondary concern, not a primary one I think it's $2 in MediaWiki:Permissionserrorstext-withaction -- "You do not have permission to $2, for the following reasons:" LobStoR 20:10, 25 May 2011 (UTC)

Please check these out, and leave comments regarding any decisions on any of these. Thanks, LobStoR 18:43, 25 May 2011 (UTC)

I replied to your, ahem, concerns. Thanks, Chaps, for not burdening us with more pressing matters, like toons, so we can take care of stuff like this. — It's dot com 19:28, 25 May 2011 (UTC)

Yeah, really helps us... err... refine our wiki :-) LobStoR 19:56, 25 May 2011 (UTC)

I set the table row color by status -- green=pending, grey=no action. LobStoR 20:29, 25 May 2011 (UTC)

[edit] Use of id in templates

As work was being done on sightings pages, I noticed that {{sightingslanguagewarning}} makes use of the id attribute for its box. Its value, which references another template that has the same thing, is "inprogress". The id attribute is, in part, the replacement for the name attribute, which creates an anchor: a "link" to a specific part of the page.

Two ids can never be the same on a page, as stated in this sentence from section C.8 of the XHTML 1.0 specification:

The values of these attributes must be unique within the document, valid, and any references to these fragment identifiers (both internal and external) must be updated should the values be changed during conversion.

If a value for id is used more than once, it will invalidate the page, as demonstrated in this link (here's the code). Three errors are from multiple occurrences of the same id value. The remaining five demonstrate that there is a format to be followed, and an invalid format throw an error. In this example, headings that start with a number or special character generate invalid id values (see C.8). This is something MediaWiki does and it's practically out of our control. Note that headings with the same name are handled by MediaWiki to an extent.

Looking through MediaWiki:Common.css and MediaWiki:Monobook.css, the only selection by id that's of concern is #navbox. However, those style rules are also applied to the class navbox, and I believe that most if not all navigation templates get their styles from using the class attribute.

Lastly, if this rant seems familiar, I did go on about the use of this attribute on table rows a year and so ago.

In summary, I wish to recommend that users be cautious as to add id attributes to templates, or anything that may be used more than once on a page, and, likewise, using this attribute to apply styles. In addition, I wish to recommend that users who see an id attribute causing a ruckus resolve it in some manner or remove it. —Soiled Bargains ^(talk|ctrb) 21:09, 15 June 2012 (UTC)

[edit] Dropdown Menu Support

Will the HRWiki be compatible with dropdown menus sometime? Purple Wrench has a great idea for a restyling of the @StrongBadActual page, but a dropdown menu that would allow him to compact all the transcripts would benefit the page greatly. - Catjaz63 03:54, 14 September 2015 (UTC)

To generalize, having any sort of hide/show functionality for a section of text would help. In addition, the page (both as it appears now and if my redesign is used instead) will appear broken unless the issues regarding automatic resizing of gifs are sorted out. I am aware that both of these tasks are not trivial, but they would be necessary for a page that has the potential to grow very quickly and be populated with gifs. -- ■■   PURPLE  WRENCH   ■■ 12:28, 14 September 2015 (UTC)

Sometime? Yes! Soon? Well... no promises, but I do intend to get back into active development for this site, and creating a better user experience for this day and age is tops on my list. — It's dot com 22:58, 14 September 2015 (UTC)

If you just configured the server to resize twitter sillysoolnds.gif correctly, I thank you for doing so. There are a few more gifs I uploaded in August for @StrongBadActual that don't resize yet (this and this). -- ■■   PURPLE  WRENCH   ■■ 12:27, 1 October 2015 (UTC)

Looks like they're both working now too. Thanks! -- ■■   PURPLE  WRENCH   ■■ 19:39, 6 October 2015 (UTC)

[edit] Personal info of real persons

I did a little digging and couldn't find anything on this subject (if anyone knows where we've talked about it before, please link to it here). Lately there's been an uptick of personal information on articles about real people that seems a little... over the line. I can't say for sure because to my knowledge we've never actually defined a line (other than limiting certain information about minors). So what should the line be? Obviously anything mentioned directly on the official site is fair game, but thus far we haven't limited ourselves to that. We include information from interviews and the like. That said, just because a scrap of data can be found on an obscure website somewhere doesn't automatically mean it should be here. This is a bit unfocused, so I think I'll stop talking and open the floor for others' thoughts and concerns. — It's dot com 17:03, 14 March 2017 (UTC)

There's all sorts of information about practically everyone in the world which really ought to be private information, which most people would probably prefer if it would remain private information, but which, because of the age we live is, is now easily accessible to anyone on the internet. I think that the natural cutoff point here is probably that anything which has been deliberately publicized in relation to The Family Chaps's creative endeavors is fine, but that out of respect to their privacy, information from any other source which is not directly linked to their public lives as writers/producers should be off-limits. Practically, that would mean that we should avoid making use of things like phonebook databases, people search services, background check engines, etc. On the other hand, any information from the toons, DVD commentaries, interviews, press releases, Strong Bad's social network accounts, TBC's other projects, and even databases like IMDB which are specifically geared toward the video entertainment industry ought to be fair game. I think it's only common decency to say that we don't publish any information that TBC themselves haven't already indicated is intended to be in the public eye. — Defender1031*Talk 17:43, 14 March 2017 (UTC)

Please excuse my brevity, but I wholly agree with Defender's definition of "the line". Just because information can be found doesn't mean it should all be published. In addition to that, I believe that a new Policy page be created to specifically explain what the line is and why we've drawn it. --Stux 13:31, 15 March 2017 (UTC)

I agree with DeFender and Stux. Gfdgsgxgzgdrc 18:16, 15 March 2017 (UTC)

[edit] AFJAOBN

I think that HRWiki:April Fools' Jokes and Other Baleeted Nonsense has run its course. The wiki hasn't done a proper gag in years, and every single "prank" done by users is lame. No offense, but changing your sig and your user page has been done. I get the strong feeling some people come back once a year just so that they can do something that gets posted on that page. I'd really like to lock it, and unless somebody can make an extremely good case for why it needs to stay open, I plan do to so. — It's dot com 02:16, 3 April 2017 (UTC)

Well, I think some people enjoy it and it isn't harming anyone or anything soooo... I feel like that's a pretty good reason? TheThingé 02:18, 3 April 2017 (UTC)

For about five years running you did exactly what I was talking about. The harm is that it's disruption not to be clever or funny but for its own sake. — It's dot com 02:32, 3 April 2017 (UTC)

Much as it pains me to do so, I have to agree with Dot com. It was total loads of fun back in the wiki's heyday when we had a lot of active users who would do April Fools' stuff, and then would continue to interact with each other in ways relating to their joke. Now that the wiki is pretty much dead save for a handful of people, that isn't really how it happens anymore. We're basically left with a few edited userpages that no one would even be looking at were it not for the edits being made to them, along with some other disruptive behaviors such as adding nonsense that no one cares about to talk pages that no one has looked at in years. At this point, it's all just become stale. Sadly, there's not enough of a userbase for it not to be stale. We had a good run, but until and unless TBC start updating weekly again and we get a huge influx of users which causes the wiki to return to its former glory, we need to put Apro Foo Day out to pasture. — Defender1031*Talk 11:33, 3 April 2017 (UTC)

I'm here in support of DC's and DeFender's position. These days some users just simply want to one-up the previous year's or another user's randomness. I'm fine with just keeping this page locked for historical purposes. --Stux 12:31, 3 April 2017 (UTC)

Oppose. This particular April Fools' Day has had more participants than any of the previous four years - without coinciding with a H*R update, no less. RickTommy (edits) 13:02, 3 April 2017 (UTC)

To be clear, I'm not suggesting a wholesale ban on users changing their sigs or whatever they've been doing; I just don't think we should keep a record of it anymore. (If we ever do a wiki-wide prank again, that can still be noted.) — It's dot com 14:26, 3 April 2017 (UTC)

The April Fools’ Day page has brought so many people joy.
And by “so many”, I mean those few it did not annoy.
And if it’s locked forever, never to be changed again,
Then April’s reemergence of those old users will end.
No more rare appearances of people lost to time,
Like wind caressing crystals in forgotten caves and mines.
The truth is if the page gets its abilities revoked,
That marks the end of The_thing’s twelve year streak of stupid jokes.
And yes I know that certain men would love to see me sad,
I purposely have vexed you for a decade, is that bad?
So, if you must, protect the page and ruin all those dreams
Left gazing into voids of empty memories unseen.

TheThingé 17:38, 3 April 2017 (UTC)

Did you even read my comment above? We have no current plans to stop people from doing the stupid stuff they do on April 1. The only difference is we're not going to record what they do in a centralized place. If that's a dealbreaker—in other words, if someone is doing something only so they can be listed on that page—then they're doing it for the wrong reasons. That's precisely what locking the page aims to curb. — It's dot com 19:34, 3 April 2017 (UTC)

Personally I liked having all of the stuff in one place, so a user could look through all of them at once on any given day of the year. That said, I definitely see both sides of the issue here. If the page is locked... okay, it's still there for posterity. Then I'd just take the list of stuff I did and stick it on a page in my own userspace, and in that case I'd recommend other users do the same. -- ■■   PURPLE  WRENCH   ■■ 23:50, 3 April 2017 (UTC)

You're free to list your own stuff, I guess, but we're not going to move a centralized list to the user space. — It's dot com 23:53, 3 April 2017 (UTC)

[edit] The Deleteheads Download Blockquote

I made a blockquote-type thing for the page The Deleteheads Download, but I can't add it because I can't edit MediaWiki:Common.css. Can a sysop add this? Feel free to make any changes!

 .DeleteheadsDownload<!--you can change the title to whatever you want--> {
    background: url(/images/c/c8/DeleteheadsDownloadBackground.png) repeat-y;
    padding: .5em 1em 1em;
    width: 600px
 }

Gfdgsgxgzgdrc 00:27, 25 January 2018 (UTC)

Done. I went with just .deleteheads and made some small adjustments to the padding and width. — It's dot com 00:41, 26 January 2018 (UTC)

[edit] Oldest Downloads Menu Mirror

Dear Sysops:
I CoachZiscool1978 request that you create a mirror for the Oldest Downloads Menu. It may take as much time as it needs but, I have overwhelming support... (by overwhelming I mean one Gfdgsgxgzgdrc.) Still! I hope you do it for me, in your eyes, I'm a wiki user, In my family's eyes, I'm a son, or grandson, or even nephew but in my heart I'm a Homestar Runner fan and I'm a historical preserver...
Anxiously awaiting a reply: CoachZiscool1978

I've changed it to a local mirror. -- Tom 01:28, 29 August 2018 (UTC)

[edit] Long-term inactivity

Wikipedia (and if I'm not mistaken, every other Wiki in existence) has recently taken to desysopping admins who have not edited in a long time. Any chance we could do the same thing? RickTommy (edits) 10:05, 20 September 2018 (UTC)

And the reason to do this would be...? --Jay (Gobble) 10:06, 20 September 2018 (UTC)

I slightly agree. After all, what's the point of an administrator who hasn't edited in a decade? By my calculations, about 1/5 admins haven't edited in eight or more years. Gfdgsgxgzgdrc 20:10, 5 October 2018 (UTC)

Here's a full list of admins' most recent edits:

2019 x5 2018 x2 2017 2016 x2 2015

2014 x2 2013 x2 2011 x3 2010

2009 x2 2008 x2 2006 x2 2005

We have five active admins (those who have edited this year), eight inactive admins (those who have edited since 2014), and thirteen admins with practically no chance of ever editing again (those who haven't edited since 2014). That means exactly half of the admins haven't edited since April Fool 2014. Seven of them haven't even edited this decade. And the decade is practically over! Gfdgsgxgzgdrc 19:46, 25 May 2019 (UTC)

Speaking of inactive sysops, there should probably be a few more sysops to replace the old ones. The last time someone was promoted was in 2007, and that user hasn't edited in over eight years. There are a lot of helpful active users nowadays who could do a lot of good with admin priv-a-le-ges... I guess. The wiki might run more smoothly and effectively when there aren't a select few people doing all the important stuff. Things might get done faster this way. Gfdgsgxgzgdrc 02:43, 29 May 2019 (UTC)

What things do you think are not getting done? -174.62.238.201 13:07, 30 May 2019 (UTC)

I think that things like deleting pages, blocking vandals, discussions (like the ones on this very page), getting approval for important decisions (like this one), and so forth — even smaller, less important things, like changing the CSS for holidays or updating the featured content — might be done more quickly with more people involved. Also, the wiki runs on an outdated and unsupported version of MediaWiki from ten years ago, which is a bit dangerous for our security, and more active sysops might help fix that. In short, I think more help would be helpful. Gfdgsgxgzgdrc 22:55, 30 May 2019 (UTC)

Of the things you listed, the only thing that really even applies to sysops is blocking vandals, which is generally a matter of luck as to whether there will be an active sysop when vandalism happens. True more sysops meaans more likelihood of there being one on when a vandal hits, but we don't get all that much vandalism and it's usually taken care of relatively quickly. As for the rest, let me explain why they don't apply to sysops:

• Deleting pages - Most of the undeleted pages are due to lack of consensus on deletion discussions rather than lack of sysops to perform the deletions.
• Discussions - Anyone on the wiki can participate in discussions. You don't need to be a sysop to do that. Again, this is more a matter of a lack of general inactivity than it is lack of sysops. Having more sysops is not going to encourage more activity.
• Getting approval for important decisions (like this one) - Only site admins can approve new sysops. Anything else that needs approval is done by consensus, not by sysop authority. There may be actions that only a sysop can take to make something happen once consensus has been reached, but as with deletion, it's a matter of having enough activity to get consensus.
• And so forth - And so forth.
• Changing the CSS for holidays or updating the featured content - I believe that there are elements of both of these that can only be done by a site admin rather than a sysop, and at least the former tends to be done on a pretty reasonable timeframe.
• The wiki runs on an outdated and unsupported version of MediaWiki - This one is definitely something that can only be done by a site admin. I'm certain they are aware of it and have plans to deal with it.

In short, I doubt there's much need for more sysops, and the issues you raise mostly have more to do with general inactivity anyway. One last thing I'd point out is that the wiki's general sysop nomination policy is "don't call us, we'll call you", that suggestions to add more sysops have historically been met with suspicion and resentment from regular users, and that generally only the site admin team decides whether and when more sysops are necessary. — Defender1031*Talk 23:51, 30 May 2019 (UTC)

Oh, okay. That makes sense. Nevermind then! Gfdgsgxgzgdrc 02:08, 31 May 2019 (UTC)

[edit] Outdated Chat Clients

Moved from HRWiki talk:FAQ

I know for sure that there's still plenty of buzz going around about Homestar and the gang (Especially with the new sbemail released), but my concern is that not a whole lot of people use IRC anymore, I propose that the Admins make an Official Homestar Runner Wiki Discord Server. This way we can do get together and make editing and sharing thoughts a lot easier (If this already exists, Great! Let's try to make it more known) — DonPianta (Talk | contribs) 19:43, 17 August 2017 (left unsigned)

I agree. IRC Channels are horribly outdated and this would be a great improvement for Wiki discussion. - Catjaz63 22:31, 3 September 2017 (UTC)

I agree as well. Gfdgsgxgzgdrc 02:18, 30 January 2018 (UTC)

Now that the topic has been brought up again by an anonny, I still think this is a good idea. I've been on the IRC channel a few times, and it is very inactive. Plus, you can only see messages posted when you are online, whereas with Discord, you can view all messages, making discussions more convenient. This way, you don't have to be online 24/7, and if you exit, you can go back and read messages you've missed. Discord is less outdated and more useful in nearly every way. Gfdgsgxgzgdrc 18:51, 3 September 2018 (UTC)

Also, this is an especially good idea considering how inactive the forum has been. Discord is a good alternative way to discuss toons and updates, and is practically guaranteed to be more active than the forum, considering how many people use Discord. Gfdgsgxgzgdrc 23:37, 14 September 2018 (UTC)

Guess what else is inactive? The Wiki. And as I've said numerous times, there's no point in making a significant change to a Wiki that has lost most of its userbase. RickTommy (edits) 02:16, 15 September 2018 (UTC)

You use that as your excuse for everything. Yes, the wiki is less active than it used to be. So what? Why should that keep us from making changes to improve it, and maybe even make it more active? And who's to say this wiki won't become more active over the years? We may not have that many users right now, but the users we do have would surely appreciate a more convenient way to communicate. Inactivity shouldn't stop us from making a better wiki. Gfdgsgxgzgdrc 06:25, 15 September 2018 (UTC)

How is making a discord channel a “significant change to the wiki” even? -174.62.238.201 15:49, 15 September 2018 (UTC)

Um, what is this... "Discord" you speak of? Is a... food? Shoehorned referencing aside, I know I'm only an anonymous contributor that only shows up for small things. I have to admit I haven't logged on to a forum for ten years (ugly memories) and have no social media accounts (I believe they are places of evil that consume their user's brains). So I'm a a lot behind the times and I prefer it that way. So I guess having a dedicated chatroom doesn't really apply to me that much. Guess I'll probably go back to expressing myself in edit summaries and hope I'm understood. 68.37.43.131 13:16, 15 September 2018 (UTC)

Right now, we have three users in favor, and one opposed. Anyone else? I see many reasons to do it, and no reasons not to. I think it'll make everything more convenient, and the wiki more active. Gfdgsgxgzgdrc 19:46, 25 May 2019 (UTC)

In order to revive this proposal, here is a list of advantages Discord has over IRC.

• On IRC, you can only see messages sent during your session, which means if you want to see all messages, you have to be online 24/7. On Discord, you can see every message at any time, so you don't always have to be online. It's less of a commitment.
• It's far more convenient. You can have multiple channels per server, so we can dedicate one to announcements, another for serious discussions, one for welcoming new users and explaining the rules, one for discussing site updates, and so forth.
• No one uses IRC. I don't just mean it's outdated (even though yes, it's definitely outdated, and usage has been declining steadily since 2003), but no one on the wiki is ever online. Discord, on the other hand, is used by many. I usually keep it open in a tab in the background, so if I want to drop in, I'd just have to click the HRWiki server icon. The Fanstuff Wiki 2 server is quite active, and used by a few HRWiki users, and it's not even official.
• In order to research these examples, I tried going on IRC, but it wouldn't let me answer the security question (it just showed a blank white screen), so I couldn't enter. That's a sign that we severely need a new method of chat.
• Wikimedia has its own Discord server. Why shouldn't we do the same?

Just think of the possibilities. With an active chat, discussions can be resolved faster, proposals can be implemented quicker, ongoing discussions can be grouped together in one central area, more users would be encouraged to participate, and the live nature of it makes it easier to communicate. We would usher in a new era of the wiki, free of stagnant proposals like this one. That's a bit of an exaggeration, but still, I can see no reason not to do this. So far, the only reason against it has been "it's not worth it", but setting up a server would take all of one minute. I would go ahead and make a dedicated HRWiki server myself, but then it wouldn't be deemed official. So, do the admins have an opinion on this? Gfdgsgxgzgdrc 00:03, 19 April 2020 (UTC)

I'll throw my vote in for Discord. Guybrush20X6 00:30, 19 April 2020 (UTC)

I've also occasionally suggested setting up a Discord server to my fellow sysops, so I'm highly in favour of an official wiki one. For those who do still use IRC, I know bridge bots exist to link the IRC and Discord chat together (I'm in a server that uses one, so I have direct help if we want/need to set one up). I'm also told it would also be remarkably easy to set up a Discord bot that imitates the functions of our RCBot that keeps track of the recent changes. I'll be honest, that's actually what I use the IRC for most often, and largely the reason I'm still active on the wiki. I'd love to move to Discord and even be able to keep track of the wiki on my phone. Let's bring wiki chats into the 21st century~ --DorianGray 01:51, 19 April 2020 (UTC)

As one of the few Luddite holdouts on IRC, I'd like to see the technology not be fully abandoned in favor of shiny walled gardens with fancy bells and whistles. If an official Discord channel is created I would definitely like to see a bridge bot implemented so those of us "on the fringe" can still stay in touch. I'd hate to see something like Mozilla where they completely abandoned IRC and moved everything to Matrix. Matrix is probably one of the more open options out there, but to me this always means having to install and try out new software just to try and get connected. I'd rather not have to try new software for every project out there. And several of the concerns above aren't necessarily valid (IRC does let you have multiple channels, bouncers help with the 24/7 problem, and the hrwiki IRC client doesn't work because it ran on Java, which was killed faster than Flash was.) Most of the issues with using IRC are technical, which gives most people a hard time and dissuade them from trying out the technology, so I can understand the decline in interest. So, again, I would prefer to have options where everyone can use their favourite technology and still remain in touch. (There was also a comment above I'd like to echo: current IRC usage reflects current wiki usage. Discord usage might face similar trends.) Okay, enough ranting. Have a good night everyone! --Stux 03:35, 19 April 2020 (UTC)

Just a point of order, even if we did set up a Discord server, all wiki content and policy discussions would still have to take place—or at least be duplicated—on wiki talk pages, so I don't know that anything would necessarily be resolved any faster. — It's dot com 02:50, 20 April 2020 (UTC)

Exactly, I'm not saying we should abandon IRC entirely, but it shouldn't be our sole method of real-time, off-wiki communication. The best option is to be able to have, well, options. As for "Discord usage may reflect wiki usage", that is a likely possibility, but not an inevitability. As I've said, I already keep Discord open in a tab on my computer, and I'm sure many others do the same, so making a comment there will probably be easier than doing the same on the wiki. The Homestar Fanstuff Wiki 2 Discord, for instance, is more active than the wiki it's based on, because Discord is just that popular. I am aware that these discussions would have to be duplicated on the wiki, but that's better than stagnant discussions that go nowhere. Sure, a Discord server probably won't change much, but on the other hand, maybe it will, so why not?

Also, I apologize for speaking so harshly against IRC earlier. I wasn't aware that my concerns were invalid, and should have done more research before discussing the features IRC was seemingly lacking. But still, even if these features are present on IRC, they are more streamlined on Discord. Gfdgsgxgzgdrc 21:20, 25 August 2020 (UTC)

I'd love to see an official HRWiki Discord server happen as well :) I'd join it in a heartbeat. It would be a great way to help energize the H*R community and provide another place to get people talking about H*R again. — Kilroy / talk 19:10, 29 October 2020 (UTC)

Anyone up to taking up the glove and setting up a discord channel? I'm all for it. — Elcool ^(talk)_(contribs) 09:52, 23 November 2020 (UTC)

Tom created HRWiki:Discord server. Gfdgsgxgzgdrc 22:07, 19 June 2021 (UTC)

[edit] Main Page Redesign Notice

In just over a week, it will be the two year anniversary of the suggestion to redesign the Main Page. The discussion hasn't been very active, and hardly anyone is contributing, despite the fact that this could be one of the largest, most important wiki edits in years. I suggest putting a header over the Main Page, recent changes, or even the entire wiki. After all, we did it when we were redesigning the logo. Something like this, perhaps:

The Homestar Runner Wiki is considering redesigning the Main Page. Your votes would be greatly appreciated.

Gfdgsgxgzgdrc 20:29, 5 October 2018 (UTC)

The main page is still outdated, and not much is being done about it. I think this notice would be a good way to inform users of the update, and get more peoples' opinions. Gfdgsgxgzgdrc 05:30, 25 January 2019 (UTC)

One somewhat related thing I'd like to point out: the new page design includes twitter updates, however tweets have not been regularly updated since around october. I think that activating the new design (in whatever form it may have) requires a concerted effort to regularly update these tweets. (And I, personally, do not have the time to help out with said task.) --Stux 13:37, 25 January 2019 (UTC)

It doesn't need to be updated regularly just yet, but when it replaces the main page, I'll make sure it stays updated. Gfdgsgxgzgdrc 20:05, 25 January 2019 (UTC)

Anyone else have an opinion on this? This is a good way to get more users into the discussion and finally get a consensus on possibly the most important wiki decision of recent times. Gfdgsgxgzgdrc 19:46, 25 May 2019 (UTC)

It has been over three years since the update was suggested, and I think it's at least as important as changing the logo, which had a notice above the recent changes. There is so much empty space and outdated information on the current main page, and the new one is much more informative and aesthetically pleasing in my opinion, and yet nothing is being done about it. Gfdgsgxgzgdrc 21:35, 1 January 2020 (UTC)

Adding this notice is another obvious decision that I would make myself if I had the rights. The Main Page is undergoing a major necessary change, but nothing's changing without involvement. And what better way to get involvement than from a technique we've used before? It seemed to work fine when we did it for the new logo. Gfdgsgxgzgdrc 00:03, 19 April 2020 (UTC)

I generally try not to "bump" discussions with nothing more to add than "This still hasn't happened", but... yeah, this still hasn't happened. And not only that, but no one has commented on the suggestion. I find the new main page so much better in so many ways, and each day it pains me to know that it is merely rotting away in the HRWiki namespace, for I know not when its beauty may be unleashed unto the world for all wiki-goers to gaze upon in awe and profound admiration for years to come. So, bump. Gfdgsgxgzgdrc 21:20, 25 August 2020 (UTC)

Count in my vote for a redesign notice. It seems like one of the best ways to get this www dot main page redesign on the road dot com, and that seems like a thing that should happen. Lira (talk) 09:03, 27 September 2020 (UTC)

Most users probably aren't even aware of the redesign, as it only shows up on recent changes occasionally. This would be a way to raise awareness of the project, since we need much more involvement if we want to have consensus. Now that there's a voting page for users to easily give their input, now's a better time than ever. Gfdgsgxgzgdrc 22:59, 17 March 2021 (UTC)

I agree with a main page header, I only noticed it because I crawl around Recent Changes and other talk/project pages. The most-voted-on one only has five votes and there are more active users than that. -- Bleu Ninja 17:34, 21 September 2021 (UTC)

[edit] @StrongBadActual Bot

See HRWiki:Projects/@StrongBadActual Bot

[edit] Interwiki-style updates and maintenance

See HRWiki:Projects/Interwiki-style updates and maintenance

[edit] Homestar Runner Updates 20X6

The main page redesign is planned to get rid of the "h*r.com" abbreviation in favor of a more general "updates" link, and I think the pages themselves should follow suit. Right now, H*R.com updates 2020 is full of updates... and yet, not a single one is a H*R.com update, as the name implies. I think these pages are due for a rename. Even disregarding the inaccuracy of the title, I've always found these page titles to be kind of ugly. Look at that link. Doesn't it look unprofessional to you? There's the "H*R.com" abbreviation, and the capitalization is all over the place. So not only is it wrong, but it's mildly unpleasant to read, at least in my opinion. I realize that renaming all of these pages would be a daunting task, but I think it would be worth it for all the reasons I mentioned. (Also, the opening sentence for each page, as well as the link on the sidebar, would have to be changed as well.) Gfdgsgxgzgdrc 20:41, 25 August 2020 (UTC)

The 2020 pages is full of updates... of Strong Bad (and Matt Chapman) making cameo appearances in other people's livestreams, and re-releasing some archival material onto YouTube. The page wasn't updated to reflect that until very recently because there might have been confusion as to whether or not those things counted.

That aside, how much work would updating the name of the pages entail? First, begin by moving all the actual H*R update pages to their new destination with the new title. There's only about twenty of those, right? Then maybe worry about updating "what links here" links on other pages? Can the Wiki call on The Cheatbot to get that done if it was told where to redirect everything? -- 68.37.43.131 21:58, 25 August 2020 (UTC)

Regardless of the substantiality of the updates, they're still Homestar Runner content. I think they count, hence why I'm making this suggestion. As for "daunting", I was mainly referring to changing links and redirects for twenty pages (and the act of renaming them, to a lesser extent). The Cheatbot would definitely help, but even without it, it should be pretty manageable. I'm mainly asking because of the importance of these pages. Gfdgsgxgzgdrc 21:47, 28 August 2020 (UTC)

I agree with this. "Homestar Runner updates" (or "Homestar Runner Updates", if we're committed to the Title Case thing) is a better name. The inaccuracy of the current title doesn't apply only to recent years; many older update pages also contain references to updates outside of homestarrunner dot com. Lira (talk) 09:03, 27 September 2020 (UTC)

[edit] Redirect Baleetion

These two requests have already been made on their respective talk pages and through the {{delete}} template, but not officially, so I thought I'd make note of them here. The Pinecones redirect needs to be deleted so Pine Cones can be moved there (see talk page), and It's Like It Was Meant To Be needs to be deleted so It's like it was meant to be can be moved there. (And while you're at it, there are around fifty other unnecessary redirects that can be deleted, but that's not as important since they aren't obstructing page movement.) Gfdgsgxgzgdrc 21:53, 23 September 2020 (UTC)

I deleted those two redirects and moved the pages. Note that the redirect for the second one actually had a lowercase "to": It's Like It Was Meant to Be. — It's dot com 23:48, 23 September 2020 (UTC)

Thanks a lot! And sorry about the miscapitalization! Gfdgsgxgzgdrc 01:25, 24 September 2020 (UTC)

[edit] Embedded Twitter Timeline: can it work?

It's been suggested that the main page redesign should include an embedded timeline of @StrongBadActual Tweets like the one on the index page or fanstuff wiki (as opposed to the {{recentposts}} template, which is largely devoid of context and must be manually updated). On some wikis this is possible through a widget or a MediaWiki extension. Would it be possible to implement this feature? Gfdgsgxgzgdrc 00:34, 30 August 2021 (UTC)

Pretty much everything regarding the new main page has already been decided (the votes are all unanimous for now), so this is the last thing that still needs to be done. Unfortunately I can't fiddle with widgets or extensions, so if someone could let us know if it would be possible to embed a Twitter timeline on a wiki page, that would be greatly appreciated. Gfdgsgxgzgdrc 21:18, 8 October 2021 (UTC)

[edit] "General Disclaimer" legal link is broken

HRWiki:General disclaimer refers to "the legal stuff page on the official Homestar Runner website"; however, that links to https://homestarrunner.com/legal.html which is currently a 404. The old site version does not render properly, either. The best solution is probably https://old.homestarrunner.com/legal.txt instead; in any event this should probably be addressed as the disclaimer boilerplate appears constantly throughout the wiki. -- Bleu Ninja 17:44, 21 September 2021 (UTC)

Fixed to the link to the text file. — It's dot com 20:35, 22 October 2022 (UTC)

[edit] Fixes needed for "Book sources"

Special:BookSources has issues with three of its ISBN-search functions:

• AddALL currently links to "http://www.addall.com/New/Partner.cgi?query=number&type=ISBN", the site structure has been adjusted so such links redirect to the main page. It should link to "https://www.addall.com/New/isbn-lookup.cgi?isbn=number"
• PriceSCAN has not had a search or price-comparison function since April of 2011, making its inclusion here obsolete.
• Barnes & Noble currently links to "http://search.barnesandnoble.com/bookSearch/isbnInquiry.asp?isbn=number", the site structure has been adjusted so such links redirect to the main page. It should link to "https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/number"
• Amazon.com still functions as expected.

I don't think this is particularly high priority as this functionality isn't used much, but wanted to raise the issue. -- Bleu Ninja 00:16, 12 May 2023 (UTC)