Forum:Bug report: dpl + reflist

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I noticed while working on the Blake's 7 article that when the <dpl> tags are used to list a category, as in that article's "Behind the scenes connections with Doctor Who" section, it prevents the page's reflist from appearing.

I've tested this out in my own sandbox, check out the appropriate edits here: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]

I've checked the page in the latest Firefox, Chrome, Opera, and Lynx browsers with the same result: the footnote in the reflist tag disappears when the dpl tags are used. — Rob T Firefly - Δ∇ - 22:31, November 23, 2011 (UTC)

You needn't have gone through all the testing. This is a long-known issue. You may now safely delete your testing examples. Basic deal is this: Wikia have disclaimed responsibility, as they say it's up of the makers of the dpl extension; dpl people claim Wikia could change a setting in MediaWiki that would make it work. The dpl people appear to be in the right, but since everyone's pointing fingers, nothing will get done. Suggest using sectional footnotes on pages where you need to both footnote and use dpl. Alternately, you can choose to write the article in such a way that all your footnotes are beneath the dpl usage.

There's a way around this using Semantic MediaWiki instead, but with all that needs to be done around here, I haven't gotten around to implementing it. Frankly, the issue affects such a small number of pages that it's not high on my to-do list either, especially since Wikia have no interest in fixing what is actually their fault. However, for what it's worth, tickets have been filed with both parties who could actually correct this problem.
czechout<staff /> ☎ ✍ 16:44: Fri 25 Nov 2011 

Thanks for the info. I guess the best way to deal for now is to use simple inline hyperlink citations rather than the ref tags on pages with dpls. — Rob T Firefly - Δ∇ - 17:51, November 25, 2011 (UTC)

I'd urge you to strongly reconsider this workaround. A dynamic listing is almost always preferable to manual hyperlinks, especially when it comes to cast listing things like your Blake's 7 example. People start manual link lists with the best of intentions, but they always forget to come back and update it. DPL continues to update the list as new pages are added to categories, and thus the B7 article as a whole will be more correct, which is surely the primary goal.

This makes the reflink error quite a minor inconvenience, easily worked around.

Think of it this way: there's no rule which requires footnotes to appear at the very bottom of an article. But the main goal of every article on the wiki is completeness and accuracy.
czechout<staff /> ☎ ✍ 05:02: Sat 26 Nov 2011 

I was referring to using inline hyperlinks to cite references in place of the ref tags, not getting rid of the dpls. I like the dpls, they are handy. — Rob T Firefly - Δ∇ - 01:12, November 27, 2011 (UTC)

SMW is a better solution for this problem, and there are several templates now available to make listings like these easier and more accurate. SMW lists and tables in no way interfere with the operation of <ref> tags.
czechout<staff /> ☎ ✍ 16:29: Tue 14 Aug 2012