Talk:Main Page

Welcome To All Rookies

This is the place to talk/ask about general issues concerning the wiki and hopefully someone will answer/reply to them.

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Some articles have been moved to Talk:Main Page/Archive for later perusal.

Translation?

Hi everybody

I just found this ufopaedia and now I'm spending most of my time at work here :-)

In Uruguay there is a very small X-Com community, and AFAIK, I'm the first one to find this site. I was thinking about translating the articles to spanish (very slowly), since most players around here are not familiar with the advanced "tips and tricks". I could also post about the rather poor game translation. Do you think it could be worth it?

Diegoba 06:38, 15 August 2009 (EDT)

Hi Diegoba. I think those are great ideas. You could even work on an improved SPANISH.DAT. Hobbes posts here frequently and I believe he did the Spanish translation for XcomUtil. If you were translating Wiki pages, I wonder which pages should be translated first? We would need to think about how to structure it. Maybe an /en and an /es path, like Wikipedia does it?

Spike 13:10, 15 August 2009 (EDT)

Having the /en /es path sounds good. I was thinking about leaving the pages with the most basic info (IE, Geoscape / Base screen description) for the last. I believe that anyone already knows this basics, and are not that hard to understand.

But I really don't know how to get it started. Do I just create an article called "pagina principal" (main page) and then link from there? I guess that page can then be mapped to es.ufopaedia.org

Diegoba 07:04, 16 August 2009 (EDT)

I see you already started on a home page, cool. It makes sense to start with "Top Tricks & Tips".We probably need that in English too!

Thinking about the structure, this is a wiki, so maybe name your pages e.g. "Home Page (Espanol)". Then link each Spanish name "{Spanish Name}" as a wiki redirect to each "{English Name} (Espanol)" Spanish page. Or vice-versa.While you only have a small number of Spanish pages, link them from See Also of the English page, as well as from the Spanish Home Page.Just some suggestions. Hopefully Zombie and those other sysop-type guys will express a view.

Spike 09:47, 16 August 2009 (EDT)

I have no idea how this would work out to be honest. An /es path would probably be the best idea, but I think we'd need to be running a second copy of the wiki software to make that possible. (Something I always wanted anyway as UFO2000 isn't really a game in the series but a project - we are just hosting their pages). If anyone knows how the Wikipedia handles the languages internally, please let me know. Doing all those redirects just doesn't make much sense to me because it is a huge amount of work and could tax the system if there are too many queries. --Zombie 22:30, 18 August 2009 (EDT)

What about just creating a link for both languages in the left side menu, and a link to the other language in the main page?. That is simple enough, and most people will be visiting one language or the other, not switching around.

Diegoba 20:18, 24 August 2009 (EDT)

That would work for now and it has the benefit of being simple. Spike 06:31, 25 August 2009 (EDT)

Ok, I added a link to the Spanish main page in the sidebar. Is that good? --Zombie 23:53, 28 August 2009 (EDT)

Juju Dredd 12:00, 30 September 2010 (EDT)

Hi, I'd like translate at least part of this great wiki to French, could somebody tell me how to add Français(french) in the list, or do it if I'm not autorised to do it by myself?

It has to be Gazchap (administrator) to add it to the list on the left methinks. But it is possible to add the link to the main page when the french main page is ready. Hobbes 15:55, 30 September 2010 (EDT)

Ok, so I should start with translating this one. Juju Dredd 17:16, 30 September 2010 (EDT)

Oh, I've just seen how to modify the languages section. Juju Dredd 17:27, 30 September 2010 (EDT)

I can edit the side panel if you want me to add a French section to the wiki. Shall I call it Francais and link it to Page Principale? -NKF 19:02, 30 September 2010 (EDT)

Yes, I was mistaking with the "other languages" sentence at the begining of the main page, I cannot add the link by myself. You guess right, I've begun to write Page Principale as the main page for French. But I think you should call it Français (French) with the cedilla to be consistant with the two others languages links. Juju Dredd 3:16, 1 October 2010 [EDT]

Site TODOS

A general dump of to-dos or maybe not-do's. Add any where appropriate:

Template navigation toolbars for subsections. (Some tests have started)
Strategy by terrain notes?
Mention of bug where unit gets stuck in the corner of the map
Mention of bug where you reload a battlescape mission only to be on an invalid level and how to recover from it (use OHMap, go back down to legal level, click until you find the map again, save the game). Often happens after editting the game, strangely enough. Is it possible the game stores map camera coordinates as a file checksum or somesuch?
Categorizing all pages related to the games. I've finished it already with Apocalypse and TFTD shouldn't be too hard because it has the less pages, but it UFO is going to be a long work. I've already started a few categories for UFO and TFTD (Category: Enemy Unknown/UFO Defense and nowiki>Category: TFTD</nowiki>, along with a few specific ones (Research (TFTD and so on). It could also be possible to have some general categories that emcompass the whole of the series (UFOs/USOs, X-COM craft). Hobbes 16:32, 4 November 2009 (EST)

Discussion/talk page proposed format

See Talk:Main Page/Archive#Discussion/talk page proposed format

British vs. American spelling

Summary: Use which ever convention you want. It does not matter as long as you do not get into petty spelling convention battles.

XCOM Box Art

Someone (NKF? Danial?) once asked if anybody could scan XCOM's box art, so that they might e.g. put a better graphic on the main page. I just uploaded a 300 dpi scan of all four sides as Media:XCOM_UFO_Defense_DOS_US_Box_Art.zip (3.2 MB). The box is not in mint condition (see the ReadMe), but a little tweaking by somebody with skillz (Danial) could easily spruce it up. - MikeTheRed 18:05, 19 October 2007 (PDT)

Was it me? Hmm. Can't remember. I did think to just grab the cover for the PDF version of the X-Com Player's Handbook (US version - with the Mars/Super Avenger cover), but it's black and white. Could've sworn I've seen a copy in colour somewhere. Not that sepia version wouldn't look great though!

Oh hang on, I don't think it was for the front page graphic in particular, but we did want to get various versions of the box art for the various games. - NKF

NKF - or anybody - can we consider replacing the current main page art, with the XCOM box art? Or a portion of it. I loved the game's intro and in-game "cartoon art", but why not use the game's best image, for our primary Main Page image? (Is there somebody with skills that can clean it up quickly? I'm happy to, but I'm no pics wizard.)

One of many possible screencaps

Related to this, I think it would be a nice touch if anyone put a bunch of selected and/or random screen captures (screencaps) onto a page, with a link just "under" (i.e., indented under the Main Page entry for) About X-COM: UFO Defense...

I have a sneaking suspicion that we get a ton of lurkers (someone who is there but never speaks) who once played X-COM and came across our page by chance, and would like to relive it, if even for a few screencaps... yet as it is now, our site is becoming more of an in-depth encyclopedia, instead of a "you were once here" kind of place. All us hard core players gravitate toward the encyclopedia - but even if folks who once played it don't stay, if they say, "wow, I remember doing all that" based on a stack of screenshots, that would be good. I'm thinking of easy sections that are light on text (and no Ufopaedia info), but heavy on thumbnails and click-on screencaps (see the image to the right - I love that financier in the background) like:

My first base - Decisions
The Globe - Radar alert!
First contact! Small farm in Iowa, USA
Managing Research
Terror in Sydney! (include zombies - squad wiped out - see next)
Headline: World Council generally supports X-COM efforts - subheadline - Australia may now be under the control of aliens (funding results for a month)
Headline: X-COM squad impacted by "Blaster bomb" - the world cries (before and after pix)
The tricky depths of a Battleship
Elite squad Mind Controls all aliens
Final showdown: Cydonia

Each of the sections above might have 1-5 images. Something like that.

If no one objects, can I ask that anyone who is willing to do it, make a bunch of screencaps, using .pngs and thumbnails as shown above. Then lurkers can "remember the days" right up front. And a few more lurkers than currently breeze through, might stay.

To put this in context, CNN recently had a number of articles admiring Commodore 64s (one of them here). X-COM is like that, to me... it lives past its "life expectancy" to gamers, because of how well put together it was, especially including how much it hit you in the gut.

In summary, then. I have one question for us XCOM hardcore (can we change the Main Page image) and one for everybody (want to post a lot of screencaps?). I have made a stub page for the screencaps page. I'll retract it if the hardcore object or there's no response in a couple of months' time. - MikeTheRed 21:44, 14 December 2007 (PST)

I'm perfectly fine with getting the main title changed. Get a few more ayes and we'll make it so.

A screencap section would be nice. I'm quite partial to creating screencap mini-comics (no, not real comics. Just sequential before/during/after images), although I never use them and they just get deleted in the end.

One benefit is that some of the shots can also be recycled throughout the rest of the site to illustrate certain things. Or for an article that's no more than a solid block of text, something to break up the monotony. I'm also always for a few well placed humorous shots.

-NKF 01:02, 15 December 2007 (PST)

Sounds good, NKF. There could easily be a "comics" page link several ways:

1) The new Main Page entry indented under About X-COM: UFO Defense could also have a link to a comics page, but on the screenshot page itself,

2) That same new entry on the Main Page could read something like "Screenshots - and Comics!" The concept of the screenshots page is to help folks relive the past. And something just as good as screenshots - or better - is screenshots with humor.

3) Or, make a link for it, all by itself, somewhere obvious on the Main Page.

I think it's a great idea!

As for the other idea - you said you're fine re: changing the main title. But it's the graphic at the top of the Main Page that I'm talking about. Just to make sure we're clear on that. - MikeTheRed 17:21, 21 December 2007 (PST)

Request

I have noticed that there is no pictures of TFTD, Apoc, or Int on the main welcome page. Any ordinary joe browsing to here from the four wiki (which I just added the links to point to here in "External links" on each page) is going to leave if they see just the first game picture (and not scroll down to see the other games covered).

SO, my request: have a collage of all four (five incl. email? ) on the front page which easily shows each game box-front. If copywrite issue, then someone could get creative with their own personal artiste skills.

Further up this page there actually has been discussion of using the box art for the various games. Real life, as is often the case, intervenes. But it's not a bad idea mind you. A change is as good as a vacation. -NKF 18:20, 18 September 2009 (EDT)

I was just thinking about this the other day in fact. Anyway, there is a nice collage of all the game boxes on the side of the X-COM Collection box. I could probably scan that and stick it up here for you guys to check out if you want. --Zombie 23:30, 18 September 2009 (EDT)

Zombie, have you had a chance to scan the collage? Just spotted this as I was responding to a different matter. -NKF 22:05, 28 February 2010 (EST)

Favicon

Does the UFOpaedia have a favicon? -- NinthRank 17:51, 6 November 2007 (PST)

We did have it at one time but I think it disappeared after an upgrade to the wiki software. If you have an idea for a favicon, submit it here. --Zombie 18:21, 6 November 2007 (PST)

Okay, I don't know where that logo in the upper left came from, but after a quick GIMP edit, I came up with this: Media:favicon.zip. I'm not quite sure how The GIMP works with icons, so I also included the .png's. What do you think? -- NinthRank 18:51, 6 November 2007 (PST)

Not too shabby. Next time I talk to GazChap, I'll run it past him. Any more ideas for a favicon? I'd like to get a few (at least 3) and run it through a vote here. --Zombie 20:28, 6 November 2007 (PST)

NinthRank and Z, my two cents are something like this. My pics are incredibly crude - I'm a total graphics n00b - and would need somebody like you, Ninth, to turn it into the "burnished gold and navy" (or is that black?), like you did with yours. I couldn't even get my damn background to change for me using simple MS Word art ... what do you use? (See how n00b I am?)

I think you have some great ideas there, but my favicons show as 16x16 pixels. (Is this because I use small icons? I had never heard the the word until you said it, Ninth, at which point I read the wiki entry, and it made immediate sense.) At 16², you have to keep it incredibly simply... having the COM on a big X does that, because it doesn't "waste a repetitive 'X-' across the center", if that makes sense. Another idea is be careful with the X ... I didn't like the X in your 16x16 and 32x32 because it was "narrow" (more vertical than horizontal). I definitely like your 48x48. (I can't tell what's going on with your animated 16x16 .ico, my friend - a 16x16 pic on a 1280x1024 screen (or higher) needs to be real simple. It looks like a tiny pulsing thing, with an X sort of there, overall.) I think the X should be, if not symmetric, then, more wide than high - to me, this implies something "ominous". A true X would have to be "cut off" at the corners to be "wide and fat" at 16x16. This shows more in my second try than the first.

You can make things bigger than 16², a real plus and you get much more flexibility, but for me, only 16x16 exists.

My two cents. I love your overall idea, and using navy (or black?) with gold trim. Thanks for signing in and helping out, NinthRank! -MikeTheRed 19:40, 14 December 2007 (PST)

Technical Commentaries

I just thought of adding a specific section concerning commentaries regarding the game, i.e., trying to explain how the weapons/diplomacy/funding/etc. would work in real life. The idea here is not to expand on the canon X-COM material but to describe/explain in a rational way. I've come with this idea after reading Spike's section (on his User talk:Spike page) explaining the economics of X-COM and starting my own section regarding the Council of Funding Nations. I think there is plenty of material available on the Data canisters that could be used/adapted to this. Also, the discussion regarding Elerium (with all those formulas) on the Talk Page is exactly the sort of thing I was thinking of.

- Hobbes 22:59, 10 March 2008 (PDT)

I don't see any problem with it. Go for it. We've started with a magnificent wealth of knowledge about the game itself (and a bit beyond, with the binary file diving). Theories and explanations of the X-Com world wouldn't be out of place. They'd certainly add a bit of literary colour and interest for those that wish to look beyond the game. There are lots of interesting bits and pieces scattered throughout the articles (like real world equivalents of weapon or tanks, just to name one example) that would probably fit better in a section like that than in the articles. Perhaps a an expanded data-canister like section would be in order. - NKF 01:13, 11 March 2008 (PDT)

Regarding image file formats

See Talk:Main Page/Archive#Regarding image file formats

Proposed top level links

I've written some pages which I'd like to be proposed be linked to the main page, unless anyone can suggest where to put them (careful now!).

I'd like to link Fictional Equivalents to the main page.

I'd like to link Wish List (TFTD) to the TFTD page. It would also be good to start a Known Bugs (TFTD) page, for TFTD-specific bugs.

However as some tricky template work is involved, I'd rather not make these links myself for fear of screwing up the main page(s). Thoughts? Spike 11:20, 14 November 2008 (CST)

Feel free to edit the templates - as long as the tables look okay when you preview them, they shouldn't break the page. The templates are standard pages but with a fancy prefix to their file name to categorize them as templates. This was needed so that any updates to them would show up on the main page right away without forcing the viewers to force-refresh the page. - NKF 12:46, 14 November 2008 (CST)

It should be noted that the TRTBAG more or less covers the "Known Bugs for TFTD" segment. Arrow Quivershaft 16:08, 14 November 2008 (CST)

Well it covers the Research Tree bugs but not any of the other TFTD-specific bugs as far as I can see. Still that's a good starting point, thanks AQ! And thanks Zombie for adding the links. Spike 17:34, 14 November 2008 (CST)

Maybe TRTBAG should just BECOME the "Known Bugs(TFTD)" page. Arrow Quivershaft 17:36, 14 November 2008 (CST)

Because TRTBAG is such an excellent self contained guide, and well written, and quite long, I think it should be separate. I will link to it under the Known Bugs (TFTD) page. I suggest the main page link to TRTBAG be remained "Research Bug Avoidance Guide". Probably the TFTD Alien Glitches page can be gotten rid of. It only mentions one bug, which is not a bug at all. Spike 06:16, 15 November 2008 (CST)

Terminology

X-COM/XCOM/XCom/Etc.

I remember reading about this discussion before and if something concrete comes out I think it should be added to the Guidelines to writing articles. Do we have set a proper spelling to refer to the organization? IIRC the game uses X-COM/XCOM/X-Com/etc. Should we set a standard for the Wiki? Hobbes 07:52, 21 November 2008 (CST)

It's a good idea to agree on a single standard spelling for the Wiki, if only to keep links consistent and prdictable. But it's a shame if there is no clear canonical spelling though. Spike 12:28, 21 November 2008 (CST)

From what I recall there isn't a standard followed on UFO Defense, where you have X-COM/XCOM/XCom/etc. Apocalypse might be more consistent and I have no idea for the other games. I try to use X-COM and I've done some edits to follow this standard spelling but I'd like to read more opinions Hobbes 17:43, 22 November 2008 (CST)

I've had a check through the in-game strings and most if not all of them say "Xcom", which is my least favourite spelling. :( I think X-COM has the best flavour. Spike 19:41, 22 November 2008 (CST)

If any of you folks here have been following what I've been up to lately at the StrategyCore forums, you'll see I have been amassing a collection of most of the game versions in the series. Checking my UFO Game Versions site page, you'll see that the original European release used XCom while the budget releases used X-Com. Other than that, those spellings quickly fell by the wayside as MicroProse decided on X-COM which quickly gained approval and remained the standard spelling throughout the series. (You can't really go by in-game text as those were not checked for consistency). Anyhow, I'd opt for the same route MicroProse took: X-COM. --Zombie 20:33, 22 November 2008 (CST)

Capitalization guidelines/rules for the wiki

Another thing that crossed my mind are guidelines/rules tossed in to prevent overcapitalization.

Specific ingame terms/names should be always capitalized:

Weapons (Boomeroid, Elerium, Entropy Launcher
Alien Races (Sectoid, Lobsterman, Skeletoid, etc.)
Organizations (MarSec, General Dynamics, Council of Funding Nations)
X-COM Crafts (Skyranger, Manta, Dimension Probe)

Generic ingame terms/names (that already exist in English) should be capitalized the first time they are mentioned on a wiki entry. Some examples:

Weapons (Plasma Rifle, Torpedo Launcher, Vortex Mine, etc.)
UFO types (Large Scout, Dreadnaught, Alien Mothership, etc.)
Soldier Attributes/Agent Stats (Stamina, Psi-defense, etc.)
Base Facilities

Wiki terms should be capitalized the first time they are mentioned on a wiki entry:

Tactics
Economics
Game Mechanics
Etc.

A few other rules to prevent overcapitalization and make a smooth reading:

After the 1st mention, generic ingame terms are not required to be capitalized. As an example, after the first mention of a Laser Pistol, any additional mention(s) to them can simply use the term pistol(s).
When refering to similar names/terms, it is advisable to capitalize both when they are mentioned. Eg. "Auto Cannon, unlike Heavy Cannon, allows for automatic fire" "Large Scouts are more dangerous than Medium Scouts".
The same applies to wiki terms.

Hobbes 16:54, 23 November 2008 (CST)

Humor and Flavour Text

See Talk:Main Page/Archive#Humor and Flavour Text

Stats & Purchasing Options

Two wildly different subjects here, but worth mentioning:

1) Are any of the Wiki overlords interested in gathering Wiki usage statistics using something like Google Analytics? I just fished about in the server logs and it may interest you to know that the Wiki gets 6,000-8,000 unique visitors a month with anywhere from 13,000-25,000 visits a month from those visitors. With Analytics plugged in (which would take about five minutes from me) then interested parties could keep an eye on what's getting the most attention and, possibly, what people are searching for most (as in things that they're looking for that may not be covered). I'm new to MediaWiki though so I have no idea whether it's got some level of reporting built in?

2) Is it worth putting a link in the menu to the left to a page with more details on buying options and what's in the "complete" collections (as they're not totally complete technically, and people may not be aware that they can buy just one of the games if they want)? I would imagine it's something that quite a few people would be looking for, though admittedly without the detailed stats it's hard to say. Just pretend I don't have an interest in affiliate linking with this question too - I'd thought about it before putting my business hat on, honest! --Pete 17:58, 23 June 2009 (EDT)

1 - MediaWiki doesn't have much in terms of stats so it would be great if you could install that for us. Would be a handy tool for all sorts of things.

2 - Good idea. If someone creates such a page I'll add it to the left menu. :) --Zombie 20:11, 23 June 2009 (EDT)

I like both ideas as well Hobbes 20:30, 23 June 2009 (EDT)

That is a decent number of UVs and well worth monetising just to defray the costs a bit, which is all it would do. I guess you are talking about some Adwords and affiliate links to Steam? Fair enough. I don't pay for the site and it has to be paid for somehow.

Interesting stats though. So there are 6 to 8,000 people viewing and what, at most 10-20 people posting regularly? That's a pretty high "lurker ratio". :) Spike 21:18, 23 June 2009 (EDT)

Copyrighted Materials from Official Sources

See Talk:Main Page/Archive#Copyrighted Materials from Official Sources

UFO Classes

Hi all!

I recently finished a mod for X-COM UFO: Enemy Unknown that automatically assigns class and level to soldiers based solely on their stats, called "UFO Classes". It would have been nearly impossible if not for all the reseach into game mechanics i gleaned off this site.

In hope that my work improves the best game of all time, for all the people who made this possible, I proudly present: UFO Classes

--Necuno 15:20, 9 December 2009 (EST)

NPOV-ing of TFTD Equipment

Deleted old discussion for brevity. NPOV-ing of articles in general still in progress.

OpenXcom

Hello,

I thought you may be interested in this new project - it's open source reimplementation of original X-com engine (it uses data from original game). Besides fixing bugs, adding new features and support for new platforms, aim of this project is to create clean open source cross-platform code, which will be useful for future tweaking/modding etc. It's in early development phase. You can find more information about that project on official site http://openxcom.ninex.info/ --Michal 11:43, 29 June 2010 (EDT)

Duplicate watch

Just as an attempt to streamline the wiki, if anyone spots an article that appears to contain duplicate information that is clearly covered in detail in another article, can we have them mentioned here. It occurs to me that since the wiki is quite large, there is bound to be some duplicated information floating out there, or even stand-alone pages that are probably not necessary. The problem is that there could be some disparity in information when one or either article is updated independently of the other. Again, if you spot any, please feel free to bring up the issue here. -NKF 03:00, 17 August 2010 (EDT)

Main Page reorganisation

Just throwing up an idea for everyone to consider. The wiki's a great resource, but I've often found the main page to be a bit cluttered since it has the main menus for all three major games that are being covered and they're restricted to tight columned tables. Also sometimes finding specific information isn't always that easy as some of the relevant documents are buried several articles deep.

I'm no organisational expert, but one thing I thought that might help reduce the clutter is to simplify the main page and have it mainly link to the various submenus for each different game. The submenus can be broken out of their tables and rearranged in a format that would make it easier to access all the relevant articles.

The earlier suggestion of using actual game box art would be a great idea for the main page as well.

Thoughts, suggestions, etc? -NKF 06:45, 14 October 2010 (EDT)

?. More book like. A simple, from a information point of view, and short, to make it in fit(in general) into a singe browser window, main page. And link it up to a general main index page. Could be a full index page. But having a special short-type of index page seems better to me. --MvGulik 09:20, 16 October 2010 (EDT)

I agree with NKF. The main page is cluttered. I agree the solution is to reduce the main page to pretty much a menu option for each game and some other links that are not game-specific. Then fill up unused space with some nice box art. :) Spike 14:41, 17 October 2010 (EDT)

I resurrected and cleared most of the Mock main page to make a space to be able to draft a concept new main page. Haven't really got a handle of how it should look at the moment, but got to start somewhere.

The excellent work Zombie's done scanning the various game boxes from his collection will be a good resource for the box art images. How big should they be though? More specifically, what dimensions?

I've got an idea how we could re-organize main page, but also I've got a lack of time to draw a sketch of it. And some questions: does wiki allow to use an image as a background for template and how to do this? And where can I get these Zombie's scans?

I am not entirely sure about the backgrounds, but as the wiki does allow some CSS code in the HTML and wiki markup code, I imagine you could put some background images into some page elements like the tables and some blocks of text.

As for Zombie's scans, they can be found on Strategycore's game data bank. Look under the individual games in the series and check the 'game versions' to see scans of various releases of the game. For example: UFO's game versions. What i was thinking was perhaps an image that contains bot the European and American styled box art in one image for UFO. And the same for TFTD and Apocalypse. -NKF 08:53, 22 October 2010 (BST)

Also regarding the news box. There's not a lot of news, but I was thinking that it could be template-ized and we simply include it on the main page. We don't get enough news, but the template markup that includes/excludes part of the template could be useful to keep only the new items visible on the main page while the old news is hidden except when you view the actual news page. We could even go without it too. Any thoughts on that? -NKF 07:44, 22 October 2010 (BST)

I would be happy to assist with a new layout in terms of box art as I've got all the files to hand (as pointed out in the databank link above). I think maybe the way MediaWiki does news on their site is possibly the way to do it: http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/News - if you look on their homepage it pulls in that latest news block (though I don't know how) so we could have latest and older news similar to that. Alternatively there does appear to be a few extensions for handling news but people seem to be having some difficulty with them. --Pete 10:32, 23 October 2010 (BST)

Looking at the source, there is a bit of code there, but otherwise looks like it mostly manually updated. Or only the items under the recent news heading may be included. Still, I think I think we could bash together something similar by hand easily enough to not need an extension for it.

Any suggestions on how the box art should be displayed? -NKF 23:16, 24 October 2010 (BST)

It's a tricky one to be sure. If the box art is given too much prominence then you might not realise they're clickable (assuming you want to use them to click through to the relevant game, which would make sense). It maybe needs to be box art, with an obvious link to go to that game and perhaps a short sentence about each game. Not sure whether that's wasted space though as most people will know what each game is, but maybe that's just an assumption on my part as there's a new generation who are starting from scratch so a short sentence overview could be really useful.

I would say maybe just do it with two or three games per row perhaps and lay them out like that with a link to each section and an intro. The issue with this site is how silly it would look on wider screen resolutions as it stretches, but I can pull off some stats for the most commonly used resolution and work it out so it looks good on that. What I'll probably do is take a screenshot of the current homepage and whip something up later on quickly in Photoshop as a rough example for discussion. It is best to keep it basic though obviously so the layout easily survives future software upgrades (the exact opposite of what happens on StrategyCore ;)). --Pete 13:48, 25 October 2010 (BST)

Check the Mock main page - is something like that what you had in mind? Just imagine the icons filled with pretty box art. The box art would be links to the pages as well. The end size of the boxart will have to be something that would work well both for wide screens as well as tiny devices like cellphones. -NKF 06:57, 26 October 2010 (BST)

Wiki software upgrade - 15/10/10

Hi all. After discussion with NKF regarding adding some new extensions to the wiki in an attempt to help out with the spamming issue, I've been working on an upgrade routine to update the software from the current version (1.11) to the latest (1.16) as well as installing these helpful extentions.

Using a development version of the site, I've worked out any kinks in the upgrade path and as such will be going ahead with the upgrade betwen 3-4pm GMT today (see note on the homepage - I figured a nice, obvious message was called for on this occasion).

The upgrade itself should only take 15-20 minutes - it's a case of uploading the new files and running the upgrade script, so it hopefully shouldn't take even that long. Extensions can be added once it's back up and running as they don't cause any interference, however I'll be looking to do all of this within that window. Please see the link in the message at the top of the homepage for an idewa of the time difference between where you are and where I am.

Fingers crossed this should close several security holes in the system (according to the software developers), maybe reduce the amount of spam and certainly give sysops more tools to combat it. --Pete 04:00, 15 October 2010 (EDT)

This has now been completed as of 4.05pm (slightly later than scheduled due to going for a walk this mornig that turned into a long one!). All upgraded and new extensions installed which can be seen on the Special Pages:Version page, and I took the upgrade message down off the homepage. I've had a good look around and everyhting seems in order, however you can contact me easily via PM at www.strategycore.co.uk/forums if you do spot any issues. Thanks! --Pete 11:09, 15 October 2010 (EDT)

Hosting Move - 20th October 2010

We're having and issue with the current hosting is that all sites on our server (including UFOPaedia and StrategyCore) are going down at random intervals several times a week for anywhere between 15-30 minutes. Unfortunately the hosting company are unable to track down the issue, and their best suggestion is for us to upgrade to a package with more resources, ie. try a different server as they're baffled. Now, if we're facing a server move one way or the other I'd rather be in control of it than leaving it to web hosts to do it when I'm not around to monitor it.

Firstly, before anyone gets flashbacks of the less-than-perfect way this was handled last time, I'll re-assure you all that this is a necessary evil and that I've done my best to test an exact copy of this site on the new server with the help of NKF and Bomb Bloke in order to work out any potential issues and minimise any downtime.

Whilst I've been researching the best way to do this as seamlessly as possible over the last few weeks, I found another host that was able to provide us with more resources for a cheaper price whilst providing a higher level of up-time - this sounds like the new server is cheap, but in reality I was paying over the odds for the current hosting - we're talking a few hundred dollars more than necessary here. I use this host for UK sites and they also do US hosting for the same prices, which is good as both sites in question are on US hosting currently but I then also get the benefit of the pricing being in Pounds Sterling for my accounting purposes (I live in the UK in case you were wondering).

Theoretically I can migrate the site with no downtime and minimum interruption to service. The process involves putting up a message on the homepage with the date and time of the move (which I'll do in a few minutes) followed by another message 15 minutes before the move reminding people not to add to or edit the WIKI until they see a message saying they're viewing the new site. Then I copy the site across, which takes 10-15 minutes and point the domain to the new server, which takes a further 5 minutes or so. I've reduced the amount of time that the domain name should be cached by DNS servers to 15 minutes - in laymans terms this is the amount of time browsers and DNS servers cache the IP address that relates to a domain name - and this will take effect in 23 hours (I changed it about an hour ago). At that point, your browsers should be checking the IP address associated with the domain every 15 minutes, so once you see the message saying the site is being moves, wait 15-30 minutes and refresh your page - you should then see the new site.

An additional failsafe will be in place in that I can tell the current server to forward all HTTP (web) traffic directly to the new server at the same time, so even if your browser is caching the old IP for longer for some reason, the current server should forward you on to the new server instantaneously.

All that said, this is the first time I will have attempted all of these "tricks of the transfer" at the same time, as last time I was unaware of the reduced DNS refresh trick and the domain IP forwarding. There is a lot going on and I'll be going through it very carefully to ensure it's done right this time, so please be patient with me.

Assuming all goes to plan, you will know you're on the new server and can begin adding to/editing the site once again as I will replace the red "server move on 20/10/10 at 9AM" message on the homepage with a green "server move complete" message (but with a more descriptive message) so there will be a clear indicator as to which server you are viewing.

Just a final note that I will only be moving UFOPaedia.org on the 20th, not StrategyCore as well. Last time I moved both at once and it was a nightmare to track down issues across two sites, especially since StrategyCore has 3 pieces of software to troubleshoot and UFOPedia has just the one. My aim is to focus on one site at a time this time around to keep potential disruption to an absolute minimum.

New Sysop appointments

Just letting everyone know that Pete has let me appoint a few new Sysops to the administration team to assist with dealing any spambots, spammers, vandals and general troublemakers. Spike, Bomb Bloke and ufo.mesh have been appointed to the roles. Thanks everyone. -NKF 00:55, 19 October 2010 (EDT)

Be afraid, be very afraid... >:] - Bomb Bloke 03:00, 19 October 2010 (EDT)

I appreciate your confidence and will serve loyally for the growth and prosperity of the unique Ufopaedia! --ufo.mesh 07:06, 19 October 2010 (EDT)

Carry on the good work guys! --Pete 07:44, 19 October 2010 (EDT)

Сongratulations to all! :) ---=Troll=- 07:50, 19 October 2010 (EDT)

New registrations temporarily disabled

Just a heads up to everyone and potential wiki contributors: Due in part to the recent vandalism, new user registration has been temporarily disabled. Apologies for any inconveniences caused, but don't worry as this situation is only temporary. -NKF 06:34, 14 October 2010 (EDT)

Something must be done to prevent vandalism in the future. Temporarily disabling registration you'll only delay future attacks. Open it and new attacks will follow. I noticed that every wave of vandals was after the moment when I published update news at Russian forums. After that in a day or two new trolls appeared here. I think they visit forums regularly and track down changes at wiki from there but I can still be mistaken with that.--ufo.mesh 17:35, 14 October 2010 (EDT)

Just a quick one to say that registrations were re-opened "the other day" (Friday 15th or Saturday 16th - can't remember exactly). I'm not sure whether the vandalism we've been seeing was potentially automated or due to real-life people signing in and wrecking stuff, but if it was partially automated then the updated software should hopefuly curb the level of vandalism. either way, just to let you all know that registrations are re-open to test this out. I'm also keeping my eye out for other software extensions that may help with this ongoing battle. --Pete 15:46, 18 October 2010 (EDT)

There have been some pretty dubious user registrations over the last 2 days. Names that look to be generated by an algorithm. Views on what to do about these accounts? At what point do new accounts become eligible to post? Spike 22:00, 5 November 2010 (UTC)

I think the new accounts are allowed to post right away, but these ones look very suspicious indeed. Having a bunch of them sign up at the same time and with the same format with random numbers and letter after the name - and not one of them's posted (yet). Might be sleeper bots waiting for a certain time/date before they become active. I'd like to take action, but don't want to be jumping the gun either. -NKF 23:41, 5 November 2010 (UTC)

Could be that the new Wiki software blocked whatever the presumed Bots tried to do. I think we should block these accounts, and any like them that appear in future. But, what's the recourse if one of these accounts is a genuine user? How would they be able to let us know the mistake? Spike 18:51, 6 November 2010 (UTC)