User talk:Sans Deity

Comments/Requests
Is there a way to fix the dates when looking at the recent changes/history of things? The server seems to be several days off (close to two weeks). I suspect the server that this wiki is on might have the date and time wrong. Im not sure who hosts the server or whos in charge of stuff like that. gizmoiscariot 13:15, 10 September 2008 (PDT)

Image/text alignment problem
As noted in the edit summary, I took the liberty of inserting a newline in your user page to fix an image/text alignment problem. When a right-aligned Image link is followed on the same line by text, some browsers (I.E. 5.0, at least) align the text to the right, too. Besides looking wrong, this makes the text easy to miss, especially when it's at the very top of the page. I think I've seen this problem in some articles, as well. Something to keep in mind.... - dcljr 12:24, 13 February 2007 (CST)

Cite.php for ref's
In Wikipedia and other Wikimedia wikis, the Cite.php extension allows for easy creation and maintenance of footnotes in articles using &lt;ref>&lt;/ref> and &lt;reference/> tags. I've encountered a few cases were this would be really helpful to have here. According to documentation at the first link above, the extension requires at least MediaWiki 1.6x, so it should work for us. I would suggest we upgrade to a newer MediaWiki version anyway, but moving to 1.7x would also require an upgrade to PhP 5. Maybe a task for this summer? &lt;g> - dcljr 19:59, 30 March 2007 (CDT)


 * I'd like to second this.
 * Also, I'm a Unix sysadmin in Real Life&trade;. If I can help, let me know.
 * --Arensb 21:17, 30 March 2007 (CDT)


 * When I last looked, it wasn't possible to add these due to limitations of my hosting service. I'll try to dig into this issue again, but (as I'm sure everyone has noticed) I really haven't had the time to focus on the wiki. I'll need to set aside a block of time to do this, but I'm not only spread to thin, I now have to start looking for a new job (Sept. 1 is my last day). I'll try to make time before then. Sans Deity 17:22, 27 June 2007 (CDT)
 * "limitations of my hosting service" &mdash; Because of their version of PHP? I'd say, if that's the reason, you need to start complaining to your hosting service. (The current stable release of MediaWiki doesn't even support PHP4 anymore.) - dcljr 15:10, 28 June 2007 (CDT)

Sandbox
I noticed someone created Project:Sandbox back in Feb. Since we probably should have such a page, I've gone ahead and created a template-header for it, Template:Sandbox header, explaining what the Sandbox is for, along with a "testing" template called Template:Sandbox (not "Template:Testing" or similar) for use on the Sandbox page to test template behavior. Then, of course, the template itself needed a template-header, Template:Sandbox template header, to explain it.... Anyway, I hope everything is basically self-explanatory on the pages Project:Sandbox and Template:Sandbox. Just figured I'd give you a heads-up so you can "watch" the two "header" templates, if you want. (I would suggest protecting them, but that probably would be overkill. Sufficient to "watch" them for now.) - dcljr 17:52, 10 April 2007 (CDT)

Utility templates?
I've been going through categorizing and describing our various templates (with mixed results). Since you created Category:Utility templates, I guess I should ask you what your definition of a "utility template" is. Based on the single template that was in the category at the time I came across it (Template:If), I guessed it was for templates that are primarily for use in other templates, to make their "code" simpler (like subroutines in computer programming). But now I don't know what to do with templates like Template:Quote-source and Template:Comment-box1. Do you think either of those should be called "Utility templates" and the definition expanded? - dcljr 15:53, 17 April 2007 (CDT)


 * I'm not User:Sans Deity, but I think you're right, that utility templates are ones used for building or simplifying other templates; infrastructure, not content.
 * Since Template:Quote-source and Template:Comment-box1 are directly used in various pages, I wouldn't call them utility templates. I think if there were a template that said, "This &lt;topic&gt;-related article is a stub", that could be included in other templates that specified a topic, then that generic template would be a utility template. But that's just my opinion. --Arensb 16:09, 17 April 2007 (CDT)


 * I created the Category:Utility templates category to hold templates used in other templates. Arensb's assessment is pretty much on the money. Sans Deity 09:35, 18 April 2007 (CDT)

In progress
It seems you've tagged a couple of articles as works in progress and not found the time to return to them for further expansion. Understandable... but maybe we should have a policy about that template staying on articles for too long. For example, if there's no edits by the original "tagging" author in a month, say, editors are free to remove the template or replace it with another (e.g., stub) template, as appropriate. In particular, we should try to avoid situations where the template stays on an article for many months with no edits or is placed on a stubby article where "progress" hasn't really even begun. Not meaning to be overly critical, but these two cases seemed somewhat "suboptimal"... - dcljr 17:58, 24 April 2007 (CDT)
 * Good catch. The mormon page was someone else's work...I just tagged it for them as an example of what they should do until they were done. The prophecy page was one I wanted to do, but never got to. They're both cleared. I think a month is probably more than enough. Any work in progress that's seen no activity for a month should be fair game to anyone - regardless of who tagged it. Sans Deity 23:08, 24 April 2007 (CDT)
 * Will note this guideline on relevant pages. - dcljr 12:52, 25 April 2007 (CDT)

Wiki spam galore
Obviously you've noticed how this spam is getting ridiculously out of hand. Have you seen this page? It's full of useful suggestions for keeping the spam under control.

Do we currently prevent the page histories from showing up in search engines? If not, we definitely should, as the spammers may be benefiting from product placement even after we roll back their crap.

Also, how many people currently have the authority to block accounts? I wouldn't mind giving that permission to a few others. However, since they keep autogenerating random IDs, I'm not sure if there's even a point to blocking the accounts. Perhaps we should do something to prevent the types of accounts they're making, something like this:
 * if ((username has six letters)
 * and (username has at least one lowercase letter)
 * and (username has an uppercase letter not in the first character)
 * then deny account creation

Is that possible to do? --Kazim 09:37, 12 June 2007 (CDT)

I was looking into solutions earlier. I think, considering the small community here, that I may either disable account creation (and let sysops manually add new editors) or try to create some custom user groups (bureaucrats, sysops, editors, n00b) so that no one can edit until their account has been flagged for it.

Unfortunately, this hasn't been easy. Most of the solutions are very slap-dash, as the software was originally designed to be open to edits from everyone. I'm hoping to have this solved by the end of the week. I should have some time this afternoon to investigate solutions. Sans Deity 10:32, 12 June 2007 (CDT)

Killing the vandals
I've made it a bit more difficult on the vandals. I've added a new requirement for any new users - they must verify an e-mail address.

It's an extra hoop that may kill the vandals, especially if they are bots. If it doesn't work, I'll take additional steps. Sans Deity 12:26, 12 June 2007 (CDT)

That seems to have done the trick for now. Good job, Matt! --Kazim 11:13, 13 June 2007 (CDT)


 * I've also tried to start using the "Mark as patrolled" feature a bit more. When you select a "diff" from the Recent changes page (not from a page's history, though), you can mark the edit as "patrolled" (if it hasn't already been done), meaning it was a legitimate edit. Unpatrolled edits are marked with a red exclamation point ( ! ) on the Recent changes page. Only admins can mark edits as patrolled. - dcljr 14:01, 14 June 2007 (CDT)
 * Interestingly, admins can even patrol their own edits. I guess if you're an admin you can be trusted not to abuse this feature.... - dcljr 16:49, 20 June 2007 (CDT)

Another extension
In addition to the Cite.php extension I requested above, I've come across another extension it would be nice to have: ParserFunctions (which requires >= MediaWiki 1.6.8). This would make it possible to simply copy over any Wikipedia (for example) templates that use #if and the like, without needing to translate them to use our Template:If. For example, this one, which a user has already tried to use in an article here. - dcljr 13:31, 27 June 2007 (CDT)

Interwiki requests
Please see Iron Chariots Wiki:Interwiki map (requests) — the request list is getting kind of long (full disclosure: most are my requests :). - dcljr 05:05, 26 March 2009 (CDT)

Translating to portuguese
Hello,

dcljr has adviced me to talk to you about allowing this wiki to be translated to (brazilian) portuguese. I don't know exactly how to do this and think the admins have to enable the translated wikis here. As dcljr suggested me, I started to translation some topics at my user page and am sure I can bring more people to help.

Regards,

BrightMan 15:26, 22 April 2009 (CDT)

User Falseprophet
I just wanted to make sure you had read what the changes were by Falseprophet and weren't going by my change summary alone. He seems to have been doing legitimate updates, so a permaban I'm not sure is the way to go. The change he made was "Capitalism is the basis for the U.S. economy." to "Corporatism is the basis for the U.S. economy." Just want to make sure this isn't due entirely to half-second though summary write-up and that you had already gone over this.

-It's still a perma-ban. I have no way of knowing if the account was compromised or if they were trying to build a reputation before vandalizing or if they were just having a bad day. Vandalism = perma-ban. They can contact me to have it restored, or make another one. Sans Deity 18:17, 18 November 2009 (CST


 * Yup, I understand; just figured I'd follow up to be sure.--Zurahn 20:06, 18 November 2009 (CST)

Wissam. Clearing the air
//You're about two comments from being blocked and I'd really rather not do that, so let's clear a few things up.//

We obviously started on the wrong foot. I don't think blocking me is necessary; the reason I almost started ranting was that I felt underappreciated and you kind of killed my motivation in editing this site although I have alot to offer. _Wissam

Also, thank you for the advice and I realize you are busy. Yes, you are right. The kalam argument for atheists is not very impressive but it should be mentioned and i didn't mean it to be necessary- it's a counter-argument at least. _wissam

Forum?
Is anyone approving new users on the forum? Been a week since my request... Jwissick 22:52, 9 April 2010 (CDT)

Delete my account
I want my account deleted as soon as possible. Thank you.


 * Please note that a user's account cannot be completely removed because of licensing issues (all contributions by the user would have to be removed at the same time, which is impractical). Since all contributions to this wiki are submitted under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 Generic (CC BY-SA 2.5) license, the user has already granted permission "to copy, distribute and transmit" and "to adapt" all of his contributions, presumably in perpetuity. See Wikipedia:Wikipedia:Revocation of our licensing is not permitted for a discussion of the issues. - dcljr 16:51, 15 January 2011 (CST)

How To Win Every Argument
Hi,

All very well and fine your deleting my comment, but what's wrong with the actual article? And how does it get fixed? -- BronzeDome 23:50, 30 December 2010 (CST)

CAPTCHA
I note that you have a serious problem with spam, a similar problem at Palaeos was solved with a CAPTCHA. Proxima Centauri 09:01, 18 August 2011 (CDT)

If you make me a sysop I will be happy to help delete spam, I will check the wiki daily. Proxima Centauri 05:16, 6 September 2011 (CDT) - Done. Thanks!

Pages are still listed in Category:Pages for deletion after I delete them. Proxima Centauri 11:43, 7 September 2011 (CDT)

Coding Logical Symbols
I have been trying to code in formal logic, and haven't been able to make any of that work. Any recommendations for how to code a style of formal notation? - JStein (7:56, 9/13/2011)

Atheist groups in ...
I suggest merging all those Atheist groups in some-country-or-state pages into one List of atheist groups page, organised, naturally, by continent, country and state. The current state of myriad miniature "articles" seems... silly.

May I? BronzeDome 11:58, 18 October 2011 (CDT)
 * I'm cool with it. --Kazim 12:05, 18 October 2011 (CDT)

Ray Comfort
I feel I should draw your attention to yet another problem with our article on Ray Comfort and the RationalWiki article. Basically on both wikis intellectuals have taken over the article. What Feredir28 wrote, despite criticisms had popular appeal. It could get to people like, high school students, college students, university undergraduates or even uneducated people who might otherwise fall for Ray Comfort’s line of arguing. What we’re now getting is material that intellectuals think is an improvement but intellectuals aren’t at risk from Ray Comfort to anything like the same extent as uneducated people. Have you any suggestions? Proxima Centauri 11:56, 19 October 2011 (CDT)
 * I second what GodotNot has been saying to you in the talk page at RationalWiki. The version of the article you've been trying to change to is shoddy, unprofessional, and unreadable -- Google rankings notwithstanding.  (Also, please bear in mind that Google uses a sophisticated page search algorithm that is tailored to the user who is currently logged in.  The fact that you see it appearing as number one when you visit the page frequently, does not mean everyone sees it there.)
 * You've been receiving essentially the same criticism in both places, and yet you think that the problem is with the management and not a generally true problem with the writing style. Again, if it's that important to you to write the article that you clearly want to about Ray Comfort, please create your own wiki or start a blog. --Kazim 13:21, 19 October 2011 (CDT)
 * I can't write that stuff that gets to the top of Google but Feredir can, my IP adress changes every time I switch off my router so Google can't tailor its search to me. Proxima Centauri 01:27, 20 October 2011 (CDT)
 * I've checked again today and our article and the RationalWiki article are still rising so changing the articles has certainly not done harm. Proxima Centauri 01:31, 20 October 2011 (CDT)
 * Please stop. I really, really don't care about the page's Google rank; and I do not agree with your assumption that there is any clear correlation between the momentary rank and the quality of the writing at the same moment.  It is at best a lagging indicator. --Kazim 13:06, 20 October 2011 (CDT)