[CR] Cataclysm Wiki Changes, automatic updates, Dwarf fortress like versioning system.

[Soyweiser]

Hi everybody, as most people know, the wiki is very out of date, and each page is not up to date, and might even apply to different versions.

I have a few suggestions to change it.

Versioning System
The first one, is to implement a system like Dwarf fortress uses. See this page for example: http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2014:Farming . In the top it lists the different releases of the game. And when there is a new release, the old pages get copied over, and the new version is up automatically.

I asked around, and this is based on some open source tools people have written for the wiki. And I think it could be implemented for our wiki as well. (I have a list of links to various github pages with all the extensions that are needed. And I can set up a local mediawiki and try how they all work locally (Have not done so yet). That way I can test how the different extensions and versions interact. (See here: http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/Special:Version and here http://www.wiki.cataclysmdda.com/index.php?title=Special:Version for the different versions and extensions installed by the wiki.).

So adding this will probably require some adminwork on the mediawiki itself.

I already did minor work with the versioning of the wiki. People in the past used to reference 'experimental' a lot. Which has no value. I edited http://www.wiki.cataclysmdda.com/index.php?title=Template:Ver to accept future values and it is listed as 'experimental'. And wrote a small guide for it. (If im not around during a release).

Automatic updater
A lot of content on the wiki should be automatically uploaded from the json files. And was done so in the past. By the bot http://www.wiki.cataclysmdda.com/index.php?title=User:BMacZeroBOT BMacZeroBot. (for 0.8 at least). But this bot and user seems to have disappeared. Does anybody have the source of this bot? Or know where BMacZero can be reached (Found brianamacintosh (gmail). ) have send him/her an email.) ? This bot will need to be edited before it gets run again. (And then tested on a copy of the wiki, before it is used of course). If this bot can be found it could be combined pretty well with the DF like system.

Wiki stability
The wiki is pretty unstable, and can be down for some periods with a 500 error. Does anybody know why? Any way I could fix this? (I have access to a server which can be used to host stuff if that would help).

Wiki outdated anti spam system
Currently the anti spam system is pretty annoying. If you insert external links you get a 'lore' based question. Some of these questions are pretty strange and outdated. And it has annoyed some people enough to stop editing the wiki. Imho some external sites need to be whitelisted, some users need to be whitelisted, and some of the questions need to be changed. (The RMCC question, and the second fish image question).

The system is pretty smart, and even asks a question, if a template somewhere adds an external link. With some of the templates changed (by me) to point to the item/monster browser. This adds a major editing annoyance.

Wiki Admins
Think we could also use some additional admins/bureaucrats most seem busy enough with other things, or kinda dropped out of working on cata/the wiki.
http://www.wiki.cataclysmdda.com/index.php?title=Special:ListUsers&group=bureaucrat
http://www.wiki.cataclysmdda.com/index.php?title=Special:ListUsers&group=sysop

Edit, moah issues!:
Images hosted on the wiki
Currently you cannot add images to the wiki. Only external ones, as mentioned here http://smf.cataclysmdda.com/index.php?topic=6244.0 Personally I'm not a fan of hosting files only on external sites. I would prefer it to be able to upload images. (And try to suggest people also host it offsite, so we have backups).

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[karlnp]

👍

[drbig]

Wiki stability
The wiki is pretty unstable, and can be down for some periods with a 500 error. Does anybody know why? Any way I could fix this? (I have access to a server which can be used to host stuff if that would help).

@GlyphGryph Would you like to pass on wiki hosting forward?

[Coolthulhu]

One thing: rather than having a version system like DF, our rarely edited wiki would work better with a system that would detect the version of the game at the time of editing and added a note on top: "article was last edited when version 0.C xxxx was out".

[drbig]

One thing: rather than having a version system like DF, our rarely edited wiki would work better with a system that would detect the version of the game at the time of editing and added a note on top: "article was last edited when version 0.C xxxx was out".

I believe that was suggested, and I'd say it not mutually exclusive with article versioning. You'll always be in position of 'current release' and 'current experimental' when editing, and at least one rel pre current should be in the wiki (imho).

[Soyweiser]

Coolthulhu, ideally the DF wiki system and an autoupdate system would be combined.

[GlyphGryph]

I'd be happy to pass it forward if someone else would like to take over wiki hosting duties. Although the current team should have full access to that already, Dreamhost is apparently not the most stable of platforms. (The regular site is hosted on Heroku and seems to be pretty stable)

[drbig]

Aye. That's tentatively on the todo list then.

[DavidKeaton]

+100

[tyrael93]

Is this really necessary?

[Soyweiser]

I got a reply from BMacZero, and have the source of his old bot. Still need to look at it.

[DavidKeaton]

Wiki updates I am fully behind. There is the automated recipe site, perhaps we could automate monsters and the like as well? all json data anywho.

[chaosvolt]

Seems like several good ways to improve things, yes. And apologies for my early work on wiki updates to 0.C stable standards getting a tad derailed. @_@

[illi-kun]

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