Forum:General Discussion of the Fork: Difference between revisions

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== Calling out ==
Okay, I've let this stand far longer than I should of, but I think it's time the real discussion took place now that there's talk of pirating editors and viewers from the Fandom wiki. This independent wiki's doomed to fail! It's underfunded, you can't deny it's got glitches and bugs, there's no advertisement for it so all links and searches head straight to the Fandom wiki, and now you're asking people for cash donations in an age where giving money to unknown parties online is advised against. Why would people pay to keep this wiki up and running when there's a free alternative? And to bring in adverts for revenue just brings in what many are citing as the main beef with Fandom. You'd essentially become what you fought against. Speaking of beef with Fandom, the only reasonable explanation given for this split is the absence of forums and one Fandom staff member not doing anything about it, as highlighted on JDPManjoume R's Twitter thread, even though Forums were replaced with an alternative and most the topics on that Twitter thread (the splitting of the Master page) where resolved with an old fashioned Talk page. It looks like the few made a drastic decision that effected the many over a pitiful, and frankly embarrassing, slight that didn't have much an effect on everyone else.
Now before talks of poaching editors and viewers takes place, I recommended you all take a good look at the situation and consider whether you were all just caught up in an act of passion and revolutionary fervour spurred on by some anti-Fandom statements, which for all we know is just a scam to get our money through PayPal, and stop dismissing the Fandom wiki as it's doing very productive editing when you lot are just adding death dates and birthdates to character templates, which really goes against the templates with holding ambiguous information (even the show pokes fun at its ambiguous dating!).
Think about how independent you'll be when you they ask for your money in order to keep their power going.
[[User:BananaClownMan|BananaClownMan]] [[User talk:BananaClownMan|<span title="Talk to me">☎</span>]] 21:01, 12 March 2024 (UTC)

Revision as of 21:01, 12 March 2024

IndexThe Panopticon → General Discussion of the Fork
Spoilers are strongly policed here.
If this thread's title doesn't specify it's spoilery, don't bring any up.

General discussion

Just wanted to say thank you to everyone who has worked on this fork. A huge achievement. FractalDoctor 20:31, 25 February 2024 (UTC)

I agree. I think if we can just get our SEO in a good place, this is the start to a new golden age of this Wiki. OttselSpy25 23:26, 25 February 2024 (UTC)
I mean I found out about this after seeing an admin's talk page not knowing anything about it so I'm sitting here insanely curious CodeAndGin 23:54, 25 February 2024 (UTC)
It only launched properly today I believe, and has (so far) only really been publicised on social media. I'm not sure if we're allowed to advertise over on the Platform We No Longer Mention. FractalDoctor 23:58, 25 February 2024 (UTC)
Given That Platform's proclivities, yeah that tracks. Also, big in favour of this, I've been privately hoping for an indie fork to happen for ages, because That Platform's usability has always been Not Great (TM) CodeAndGin 00:13, 26 February 2024 (UTC)

We're not supposed to, no. I should bring up here, as I did elsewhere, that IndieWikiBuddy is useless for SEO, afaik. If you click on a fandom link you click on a fandom link, still counts. It does redirect you, but we want to encourage people to go out of their way to click on links to the new wiki and to never ever click on fandom links. Najawin 00:15, 26 February 2024 (UTC)

You can set IndieWikiBuddy to simply *hide* Fandom results from search pages, instead of using them as redirects, so in that sense you can use it to prevent accidentally going to one of their wikis. Hannah GBS 21:45, 27 February 2024 (UTC)

I also want to add that I'm childishly amused by all the talk of forking today. About forking time. FractalDoctor 00:18, 26 February 2024 (UTC)

Why can't we mention this new wiki on the old one? What are Fandom going to do? Delete the old wiki? 172.69.43.208talk to me 02:15, 26 February 2024 (UTC)

It's against their forking policy (point #2), possibly maybe. Not entirely sure tbh. Maybe a short announcement can be made, but we also don't want to piss Fandom off. Not worth it. — Fractal Doctor 02:21, 26 February 2024 (UTC)
They'll just remove it and block anyone that tries. There are some subtle ways you can leave breadcrumbs to the new wiki, but any large notification would be impossible. Najawin 02:23, 26 February 2024 (UTC)

I'm impressed, surprised, and slightly annoyed because I was in the middle of a big category editing spree that didn't get carried over, but I'll live. I did want to ask about a few things:

  1. Are the CAPTCHAs going to stay forever? I understand why you have them, but they're driving me nuts.
  2. Can we get a "create page" button somewhere?
  3. Can we get the categories made visible on the pages? Right now there's no way to see what categories a page is in and that's not super helpful for navigation.

Also, congratulations on the work. SilverSunbird 05:01, 26 February 2024 (UTC)

Never mind that last question. I just noticed where the categories are now. SilverSunbird 05:07, 26 February 2024 (UTC)
Another thing: I noticed that if a redlink is created as a page, the link stays red on other pages unless the new page is saved, and that might need a fix. SilverSunbird 05:33, 26 February 2024 (UTC)
Interesting! We'll look into it. And we plan to most likely move categories in desktop back to their more traditional location, on all browser widths.
Welcome to our new home!
× SOTO (//) 06:09, 26 February 2024 (UTC)
Also, when there's time (and I realize this is low on the priorities, don't worry), putting a link to Guides under Community in the sidebar might be nice. Might increase work in that area. I've thought about a guide for new editors, for one. Najawin 07:23, 26 February 2024 (UTC)
Welcome all!
I assume @FractalDoctor's references to "the Platform We No Longer Mention" were in jest, but for the avoidance of doubt, I'd like to note that we're keeping the high ground over Fandom over this one i.e. it's perfectly allowed to discuss or link to the old host directly if relevant.Scrooge MacDuck 10:58, 26 February 2024 (UTC)
Jest confirmed! The new fork is great. — Fractal Doctor 10:59, 26 February 2024 (UTC)
Hi everyone. This has been a long time in the works. Sorry about the lack of prior warning: this was the best way to avoid retaliation from Fandom. Also sorry about the lost week of edits. The plan was to launch with minimal (maybe a few hours) of edit loss, but we had to push back the launch for various reasons.
I've added the guide index to the sidebar. I will look into a create page link, but it won't be as smooth as on Fandom. I will speak with our tech team about the CAPTCHAS.
With Indie Wiki Buddy, I would like to point out that Fandom's SEO is only improved if clicking on a link in a search engine: clicking a link from elsewhere, as far as I know, will not count towards there SEO. On search engine's themselves, if you're using Indie Wiki Buddy, the Fandom results are crossed out and replaced with links to the fork. We definetly want to encourage use of the extension.
Bongo50 16:16, 26 February 2024 (UTC)

I've seen some people question why the homepage is a little outdated. Just wanted to share the ongoing discussion about it here, if anyone wishes to join in. Changes and updates will be along in due course - and hopefully 15/Ncuti/Ruby/etc will be well established on the main page in time for Series 14/Season 1/Season Fnarg II. — Fractal Doctor 20:54, 26 February 2024 (UTC)

Chipping in (a bit late) to send a massive congratulations to the admin team on the fork. Never edited much with this account on the old wiki but as an on-and-off user of the site back when it was still called Wikia I'm painfully aware of the anti-user, ad-revenue-driven antics that have been plaguing the company for far too long. For a wiki as large and as prominent within the FANDOM banner as TARDIS to pull off a successful fork is both a massive undertaking and a tremendous morale boost for other large wikis looking to take the jump. Wookieepedia next? ;) Diplotomodon 02:12, 5 March 2024 (UTC)

Bugs/fixes/etc.

Do we have anywhere currently that we can collectively share any kinks/bugs/things that may need resolving? If no, is it worth at least having this section so people can post anything they feel may need changing? — Fractal Doctor 20:38, 26 February 2024 (UTC)

I believe this is already known to admins/in the pipeline, but figured I'd note it anyway - the tabbed galleries in infoboxes need tweaking so they're either larger or work as a scrollbar, similar to how they were on the other site. And I believe a visual editor is also in the pipeline for release at some stage? — Fractal Doctor 20:40, 26 February 2024 (UTC)

I just encountered a bug while trying to edit that gave me a "you're blocked" message intended for an IP that definitely doesn't belong to me (one of the two that got blocked yesterday I think?). It went away after a couple refreshes. BlueSupergiant 23:22, 26 February 2024 (UTC)

Weirdly, I had that too this morning. I posted on Bongo50's talk page about it. What it did alert me to, however, was the fact that when I was blocked I couldn't even post on an admin's talk page... so if someone gets a block, is there just zero way for them to contact admins now to discuss it? — Fractal Doctor 23:29, 26 February 2024 (UTC)
Every thread in the Panopticon Archives is editable by anyone. This is, incidentally, a chance to solve a small problem we've had for years, where there are ~150 threads that are unsorted in the categories in the existing archives. Doing so is largely just a matter of busy work, and I'm willing to do this tomorrow if admins are fine with letting regular users fiddle with it, check their work, and then lock the threads afterwards. I've spent enough time staring at the archives to have a rough idea of what should go where. Najawin 09:32, 27 February 2024 (UTC)
Tabbed infoboxes will be improved, yes. Visual editor should be coming at some point. That blocking thing should just be a caching issue. Let us know if it happens again. You should be able to edit your own talk page when blocked. It's not ideal, but it'll do while we think of a better solution. In my eyes, feel free to add those categories. Protection settings should have carried across. Odd. I'll run a bot to fix it when you're done. Bongo50 14:39, 27 February 2024 (UTC)

The "View recent changes (for all boards)" link in the forums homepage links back to FANDOM atm - CodeAndGin | 🗨 | 01:35, 28 February 2024 (UTC)

Okay, so, interestingly, some of them were protected, even if most weren't. There are 15 at the bottom, primarily, though, not entirely, from the 2023+ era, that I can't add the categories to. There are another 1-2 that don't really belong in any section. And I would, of course, greatly appreciate anyone to check my work. Not being an admin in some instances this does feel a little too like deciding on consensus for my liking, even if the threads in question have already been closed, sometimes for over a decade. Some of those were really messy to categorize. Najawin 08:05, 28 February 2024 (UTC)
Will there be a way to more easily add categories? On Fandom, it was possible to click "+Cat" in the categories section at the bottom of the page to add them without having to go into the full page editor. I can see we now have a categories box at the side of the page, but there doesn't appear to be a way of adding to these without editing the page. Just wondering if that's something that might be implemented? (Congratulations on the work that's been done with the fork. This new site looks great!) 66 Seconds 16:55, 1 March 2024 (UTC)
Yes, I intend to set something up in the near future. Bongo50 21:31, 1 March 2024 (UTC)

I am also running into the "blocked but on an IP that doesn't belong to me and it goes away after a few refreshes and I can't even edit my own user page or others' talk pages before it goes away" bug - CodeAndGin | 🗨 | 22:44, 5 March 2024 (UTC)

Desktop/mobile view

I really don't like the new desktop look. It just looks like a slightly different version of the mobile view. I'm an old-fashioned weirdo who prefers to do his phone-based edits on what looks like a desktop monitor because he finds the mobile view too constricting. WaltK 14:50, 2 March 2024 (UTC)

Can you elaborate on what you don't like? Mobile and desktop should look quite different, so it's possible you're getting served the mobile skin on desktop by mistake. Bongo50 15:28, 2 March 2024 (UTC)
Hi WaltK, I accidentally clicked on to mobile view while I was on desktop and it puzzled me for a minute. You can scroll to the very bottom of the page where, on the right, it should simply say "Desktop". You can click this to revert it back to the desktop theme. It's a toggle. Desktop: https://tardis.wiki/w/index.php?title=Doctor_Who_Wiki&mobileaction=toggle_view_desktop / mobile view: https://tardis.wiki/w/index.php?title=Doctor_Who_Wiki&mobileaction=toggle_view_mobileFractal Doctor 19:27, 2 March 2024 (UTC)
Desktopviewusingmobile.png
Just to add to the above, Bongo, maybe it would be helpful if the "Desktop" link in the bottom right of desktop was made a little clearer by saying "Desktop view" or "Toggle: Desktop version" if this can be edited? Or maybe even two extra links on the left hand sidebar that say "Desktop view" and "Mobile view" under an "Accessibility" heading? Just a thought. — Fractal Doctor 19:29, 2 March 2024 (UTC)
Changing that text is easy. The link now says "Mobile view" on desktop and "Desktop view" on mobile. Bongo50 19:37, 2 March 2024 (UTC)
So it turns out, in order to get the new desktop view to more closely resemble the old one, I just have to turn my phone to landscape. Which is… not ideal (I'm very much used to doing everything in portrait), and even this new iteration isn't perfect; the contents box now takes up the entire space between the pages intro and first section. WaltK 20:22, 2 March 2024 (UTC)
Assuming I've read you correct, WaltK, you're using your phone but using "desktop view"? If this is the case, I've attached a screenshot (right) of what I see. Is this not what you're seeing? / Is this not what you're wanting? — Fractal Doctor 20:30, 2 March 2024 (UTC)
Have some images:

Oh! I see what you're saying, WaltK. In order to get it to look like it does in my screenshot above, I had to change my browser setting on my phone itself to "desktop site", rather than just hitting "desktop view" on this Wiki, if that makes sense. Does your phone browser have that option, as it may work better for you? — Fractal Doctor 20:36, 2 March 2024 (UTC)

Is anyone else having it that cite links are going haywire at the bottom of the pages? Like on the Second Doctor page after the "Habits and quirks" subheading. BananaClownMan 20:35, 2 March 2024 (UTC)
I think I get what you mean, Fractal. But alas, it just doesn't want to play ball. WaltK 20:47, 2 March 2024 (UTC)
To BananaClownMan: yes, I'm aware of this issue. I fear that there may be no good fix other than to either:
  • spend more money to upgrade our hardware
  • split these longer pages and enforce harsh page-length limits on any page using {{cite source}}
To WaltK: I can probably make an option to not have the desktop version adapt to smaller screens. I will see what I can do in the next few days. Bongo50 20:48, 2 March 2024 (UTC)
Hey, switching off "Enable responsive mode" in Special Preferences > Appearance already does this. Only thing is, it applies to mobile and desktop, with no distinction made.
× SOTO (//) 12:05, 4 March 2024 (UTC)

Cite links

Haywirelinks.png

Is anyone else having it that cite links are going haywire at the bottom of the pages? Like on the Second Doctor page after the "Habits and quirks" subheading. BananaClownMan 20:35, 2 March 2024 (UTC)

Ah yes, me too. Just a small screenshot, but it's throughout more of the page/s. — Fractal Doctor 20:52, 2 March 2024 (UTC)
Yes, I'm aware of this issue. I fear that there may be no good fix other than to either:
  • spend more money to upgrade our hardware
  • split these longer pages and enforce harsh page-length limits on any page using {{cite source}}
Bongo50 21:57, 2 March 2024 (UTC)
Is this an issue of page length, or of number of instances of using {{cite source}}? If the former, we can try to do the biography subpage trim sooner rather than later. If the latter, we can enforce strict policies on number of sources to be cited for each statement. Najawin 22:21, 2 March 2024 (UTC)
Just tested on Forum:Rule 4 by Proxy and its ramifications: considered in the light of the forum archives, one of the longest editable pages I know of that doesn't have a substantial number of instances of {{cite source}}. It worked fine, so it seems that the issue comes from number of calls to {{cite source}}. My suggestion: If a page has a substantial number of citations on it, when citing a statement that has multiple sources that could be listed, use one of each prefix type at most for that particular statement, then say ("et al" or "etc", depending on Forum:Etc. vs et al.). The exception to this rule being when it requires two sources together to imply the statement we've written, so neither source in isolation actually shows the thing we're saying. Call this policy "T:CLEAN CITE" or something, and whenever we trim things down use that as the edit summary, so if we ever get better servers people can go back through the history and put back in the info by just looking for that policy. Najawin 03:02, 3 March 2024 (UTC)
Yes, the problem is very much the number of {{cite source}} uses. That solution would probably do the job. Other solutions would be to trim the main page biography so that some sources are excluded (controversial, I know), or to split other sections that use citations into their own subpages. We could also consider combining multiple of these solutions if none remove enough uses by themselves. No solution is ideal. Bongo50 13:56, 3 March 2024 (UTC)

I mean, my view on the first option is very well known. But that was on Fandom, this is here. Different restrictions for different hardware. If it's necessary to do that, and the other options don't work, you'll have no complaint from me. But I'd like to try the other options first. (Note:I feel the same way about image storage. We increased size limits on images b/c of Fandom's ability to handle them. If we need to decrease it again, I think that's fine.) Najawin 04:01, 4 March 2024 (UTC)

If the problem is the number rather than the length, that won't fix it for articles that require listing stories, liker List of appearances or timeline theory pages. Sure, subpaging is an option, but it's a rather short term solution. I think the best two ways to solve this particular conundrum would be to either A) Pay up for upgraded hardware and accept the cost as the price of independence, or B) go back to the old citing and cease using {{cite source}}, which continuous to course more problems than it fixes, despite the advantages it has. BananaClownMan 09:46, 4 March 2024 (UTC)
Appearance lists don't use {{Cite source}}, though. Aquanafrahudy 📢 🖊️ 09:51, 4 March 2024 (UTC)
Also, let's just note here, Peri Brown has most of its citations converted (331) and it's working fine. Second Doctor has 941 calls to the template. There are only a handful of timeline pages that are on that level, and they really can be dealt with on a case by case basis. Najawin 11:14, 4 March 2024 (UTC)
Is it within policy to split off the "Psychological profile" and/or "Appearance" sections into their own subpages, cause I reckon that would really help. Aquanafrahudy 📢 🖊️ 11:40, 4 March 2024 (UTC)
"Physical appearance" certainly is — see Tenth Doctor/Physical appearance. I don't recall "Psychological profile" being covered in that thread but seems of apiece, so I'm not opposed to making a small addendum to cover it as well. --Scrooge MacDuck 12:01, 4 March 2024 (UTC)
With image file sizes, we're actually fine, for now at least. We massively overestimated how much we'd need and we have plenty of storage. This may change in the future but, by then, hopefully we'll be able to afford better hardware. (For the record, all of our hardware is currently being payed for by 1 person out of her own pocket. Donations will offset that, but it feels unfair to push for further hardware upgrades unless we can support those with donations, or potentially small numbers of ads in the future). Bongo50 19:17, 4 March 2024 (UTC)
(I quite agree, and think a limited number of ads are the way to go when we can set that up. Give it a few months to a year to be more established, maybe run some randomized surveys about purchasing habits of people coming to the site - if they've bought audios / books / DWM, if they've even heard of them, etc, then use those to pitch to people in the space.) Najawin 21:55, 4 March 2024 (UTC)

I already love the separate subpage tabs created on the Second and Tenth Doctor pages. Helps fix the bug, and also makes the incarnation pages much less of a beast to wade through. × Fractal 21:07, 7 March 2024 (UTC)

[edit conflict]
The recent edits to Tenth Doctor have solved that page nicely (I found the limit that the CS usage has been violating. It's "Lua time usage" which is limited to 7 seconds. Tenth Doctor is now down to 4.120 seconds). Doug86 tried fixing Last Great Time War by splitting half of the page into a template. This didn't work as there is a limit to how much text on a page can come from a template and having half of the page's text come from one was way over the limit. I think the solution here might be to create more pages like Origins of the Last Great Time War. I don't know what these pages would be called, but I do think it would be the most effective way to solve this issue on that page. Other pages with this issue (along with some other, unrelated, issues) are collected at Category:Pages with script errors. Some potential solutions:
  • Eleventh Doctor could probably be solved in a similar way to Tenth Doctor (and it's probably worth doing this for all other incarnations as well, regardless of whether it's needed immediately).
  • The Doctor could probably be solved by shortening the biography. Perhaps we could {{main}} out to the incarnation page's #Biography sections? Alternatively, and this is a little more out-there, we could move it all into a new page called something like Biography of the Doctor and {{main}} to that? Either way, I don't think that section serves much purpose being that long when each incarnation has their own biography.
  • World War II could probably receive some of the same treatment as Last Great Time War, perhaps with pages like Origins of the World War II? We could also probably shorten sections that already have their own, {{main}}ed, pages.
They are it, for now. Bongo50 21:14, 7 March 2024 (UTC)

(whispers in hushed tones) We could just use it selectively, instead on every link ever. I'd hate for the Wiki to lose its sense of fun and instead just resemble a college essay littered with clunky eyesore-ish "+" signs akin to an essay trying to meet reference requirements. Also, IMO, some of them just provide extra information that seems unnecessary and would be easily gained anyway by clicking on the link to begin with (eg. those that cite writer/network/year, etc.) But anyway. Just throwing that into the ether, and I suspect I'll be in a minority here. (vanishes into the void) × Fractal 21:44, 7 March 2024 (UTC)

I feel strongly we should make a sibling policy to T:OVER-WIKIFY, which states that you should only {{cs}} a particular story once per section.
I'm also opposed to simply removing the Doctor's general biography section from the wiki. Given how in-depth each Doctor's biography is, and the unique possibilities from describing the Doctor's timeline from this POV.
Looking at it now, it does seem more bloated than when we originally created it, though. The Fifth and Sixth Doctors have far too much content, I think.
We could always trim it down, seeing as the reason behind it is only to follow details which inform the Doctor's overall arc/growth or to highlight unique periods in the Doctor's life, like their time with UNIT (as well as giving a broad summary to help readers understand how different periods fit together).
A subpage could work, so long as the overview section isn't shunted off into it.
× SOTO (//) 02:56, 8 March 2024 (UTC)
I've wondered ever since I first came to this wiki if maybe the citation policy shouldn't be completely overhauled. If we shifted to using ref tags with a reference list at the bottom, then we wouldn't need to use {{cs}} more than once per page for every story referenced. SilverSunbird 03:08, 8 March 2024 (UTC)

Faded infobox fields

Faded Infobox fields.jpg

Hopefully just a minor one that can be easily fixed; infobox fields are now really faded and hard to see, at least on my end. WaltK 09:37, 4 March 2024 (UTC)

This was a temporary issue which is now resolved.
× SOTO (//) 12:10, 4 March 2024 (UTC)
I've found something similar on Big Ben, where some of the text (next to text with a link in it) is displaying as grey in the infobox. Cookieboy 2005 14:37, 4 March 2024 (UTC)

I've found another instance of pale text on a white background, after clicking an image on an article. (For which I have again used Big Ben as my example page) Cookieboy 2005 01:12, 5 March 2024 (UTC)

I'm aware of this issue and will be fixing it soon. Bongo50 20:56, 5 March 2024 (UTC)

Some broken videos?

The videos in the right hand sidebar appear to be broken on the Regeneration page. Not sure if this is an isolated case, but thought it was worth mentioning. × Fractal 20:32, 5 March 2024 (UTC)

That's because that page uses an infobox not used by any other page, User:OncomingStorm12th/Sandbox 3, so I forgot about it when setting up the new video system. I'll fix it now. Bongo50 20:57, 5 March 2024 (UTC)

Excessive sources / neatening up

Excessivesources.png

Was reading through a couple of the notable pages and this in particular stood out to me as being potentially user-unfriendly (see screenshot on the right). I recognise that we like to source things but this seems very excessive. Combined with the new feature which allows you to hit the "+" symbol, this at first glance not only looks like an impenetrable wall of text but is also just plain hard to read. It's more source than actual text. Is there a way to neaten things like this up, so it's easier on the eyes and less intrusive when it comes to multiple/excessive sourcing? × Fractal 20:36, 5 March 2024 (UTC)

Oh, that's just outside policy as it stands. It's very much Wiki policy that you shouldn't have more than three or four sources in a single citation at most — hence the "etc." or "et alt." thing.) --Scrooge MacDuck 23:21, 5 March 2024 (UTC)

Infobox header font styles

Is there a reason for different font styles in some episode infobox titles?

The_Mind_Robber_(TV_story) has its title in italics and underlined.
The_Mind_Robber_(TotT_TV_story) has its title standard with no underline.
Earthshock_(TotT_TV_story) has its title in italics with no underline. × Fractal 10:45, 8 March 2024 (UTC)

I believe the difference there is that the OG Mind Robber is simply using the automated function that turns a "X (TV story)" page-name into the title of the infobox, while the others, due to the non-standard "(TotT TV story)" dab term, make use of the |name= variable. The automated thing automatically italicises and underlines, while |name= gives neutral formatting by default and you have to actually write ''Earthshock'' to get it italicised. This was done at Earthshock but forgotten at TotT!Mind Robber. That much can be fixed manually. The issue remains that the automated title is automatically underlined, which the manual titles won't replicate, though… but then do we want infobox titles underlined? Hmm. --Scrooge MacDuck 19:27, 12 March 2024 (UTC)

General questions about the Tardis Wiki fork

Adding this section for any questions about the fork/the new version of Tardis Wiki that people may have.

I was curious - is the "topical pages" on the sidebar hand picked by admins? Or is it like the old host whereby it'll update with regularly visited pages, etc? (I'd also like to note that I think it might be worth adding "Cybermen" to "Other useful pages", so the "big three" of Daleks/Master/Cybermen are together. Maybe even "TARDIS" too?) — Fractal Doctor 20:38, 26 February 2024 (UTC)

The entire sidebar is handpicked and can be updated by admins at MediaWiki:Sidebar. I'm very open to suggestions. I will add Cybermen now. Bongo50 14:40, 27 February 2024 (UTC)
Good to know. I like that it's completely customisable - especially the topical pages. — Fractal Doctor 18:36, 27 February 2024 (UTC)

What does this mean for swear words? I know Fandom was quite strict and censored articles like f*ck and f*ck buddy where they had previously been uncensored. Now that this wiki is independent, will these articles be uncensored? Other words like shit remain so afterall. 172.70.85.26talk to me 04:21, 28 February 2024 (UTC)

Are we still planning on doing the whole Rassilon/Visionary/Atropos archives split on the forums? I spent like 20 minutes trying to find an archive forum thread (that I didn't 100% remember the exact name of) that ended up being in the "Atropos archives", which aren't set up / the category was never created, so I can't get to it without using search. Najawin 23:05, 1 March 2024 (UTC)
I believe that SOTO is going to go back to working on forum archives soon. Bongo50 09:57, 2 March 2024 (UTC)
Sure, I just meant that categorization scheme/split. Just curious! Najawin 10:05, 2 March 2024 (UTC)

It seems you can now only add categories to pages via the source editor, as opposed to just adding them directly into the category bar at the bottom… WaltK 14:57, 4 March 2024 (UTC)

That's correct. A replacement for that feature is planned. Bongo50 19:18, 4 March 2024 (UTC)

The JS Wiki was working a few days ago, but isn't anymore. Did something happen to it, and what can we do to fix it? Doug86 23:00, 9 March 2024 (UTC)

Oh, odd. I'll look into this. Bongo50 17:30, 10 March 2024 (UTC)
I think I have found the cause of the issue and I've raised it to our volunteeer sysadmins. I'll let you know when I hear back. Bongo50 18:57, 10 March 2024 (UTC)

Is the Fandom site going to be shut down at some point? There's still quite a bit of activity going on there from people who have no idea that their contributions are basically worthless now. WaltK 19:15, 12 March 2024 (UTC)

I don't think it can be. Fandom don't allow sites to be removed, I don't think? Best to just let it gather dust and sadly leave any editors who choose to stay thee just remain. × Fractal 19:37, 12 March 2024 (UTC)
Won't that just cause some serious brand confusion? "Come to the TARDIS Wiki! No not the Fandom one that's way more likely to come up first in search results". WaltK 20:08, 12 March 2024 (UTC)
It's just a case of time. We can try and persuade people to come to this one, readers and former/new editors alike, but Fandom won't take down their Wiki because, hey, it still gets them clicks. We just have to hope that this, eventually, becomes the go-to one, the more dominant one, and the most updated one. × Fractal 20:13, 12 March 2024 (UTC)

March 12 updates

Block bug

I've also started being randomly blocked when I edit. WaltK 16:17, 12 March 2024 (UTC)

I've had this multiple times and reported it previously. Today, I've battled with it multiple times, to the point where I've given up trying to make a couple of edits because I had to refresh so many times. Is this a fixable bug on each users' end, or is it something server-side? × Fractal 20:29, 12 March 2024 (UTC)

Design glitches

The Navigation and Wiki Tool icons have, at least on my end, suddenly shifted to the bottom of the page and look all glitchy. WaltK 15:53, 12 March 2024 (UTC)

Now it's glitched out differently. LOL. WaltK 16:11, 12 March 2024 (UTC)
I'm also seeing a very glitchy "Categories" section (see screenshot on the right hand side, down a little), unless this is all a bit of a design work in progress? (Plus the whole site seems to scroll slower than usual unless that's an issue on my end?) × Fractal 19:40, 12 March 2024 (UTC)

(Thought I'd add a new section because it's getting a little messy above.) There are a few bugs and glitches that have come with the March 12 design update. I assume these can and will be ironed out. I've also shifted WaltK's comments into this section so all the newer bugs/glitches are together for ease. A small gallery of weird issues: × Fractal 19:52, 12 March 2024 (UTC)

Calling out

Okay, I've let this stand far longer than I should of, but I think it's time the real discussion took place now that there's talk of pirating editors and viewers from the Fandom wiki. This independent wiki's doomed to fail! It's underfunded, you can't deny it's got glitches and bugs, there's no advertisement for it so all links and searches head straight to the Fandom wiki, and now you're asking people for cash donations in an age where giving money to unknown parties online is advised against. Why would people pay to keep this wiki up and running when there's a free alternative? And to bring in adverts for revenue just brings in what many are citing as the main beef with Fandom. You'd essentially become what you fought against. Speaking of beef with Fandom, the only reasonable explanation given for this split is the absence of forums and one Fandom staff member not doing anything about it, as highlighted on JDPManjoume R's Twitter thread, even though Forums were replaced with an alternative and most the topics on that Twitter thread (the splitting of the Master page) where resolved with an old fashioned Talk page. It looks like the few made a drastic decision that effected the many over a pitiful, and frankly embarrassing, slight that didn't have much an effect on everyone else.

Now before talks of poaching editors and viewers takes place, I recommended you all take a good look at the situation and consider whether you were all just caught up in an act of passion and revolutionary fervour spurred on by some anti-Fandom statements, which for all we know is just a scam to get our money through PayPal, and stop dismissing the Fandom wiki as it's doing very productive editing when you lot are just adding death dates and birthdates to character templates, which really goes against the templates with holding ambiguous information (even the show pokes fun at its ambiguous dating!).

Think about how independent you'll be when you they ask for your money in order to keep their power going. BananaClownMan 21:01, 12 March 2024 (UTC)