Talk:Creatures Wiki Homepage

Random stuff
I was a fan of the first game years ago because of the concept of artifical life with semi-realistic dna interactions and the like- but I never played any of the later games, they any good in comparison? I can imagine the game creators giving in to less interesting ideas to please the masses, youkno, the way a band's first album is always the best. Kthx.

Perhaps breed pages should be separated by game? bd_ 17:58, 30 Dec 2004 (PST)
 * If you click on the breed list, they are sorted by game in sections. They don't need to be sorted on the front page, and I'm still trying to get people to use categories. --Sgeo 18:02, 30 Dec 2004 (PST)

Where do I report a bug? Searching for "log" at the following url: http://creatures.wikicities.com/index.php/Special:Search?search=log&go=Go Gives:

''A database query syntax error has occurred. This may indicate a bug in the software. The last attempted database query was: ''SELECT cur_id, cur_namespace, cur_title, cur_text FROM `cur`,`searchindex` WHERE cur_id=si_page AND AND cur_namespace IN (0,9,11) LIMIT 0,20 ''from within function "". MySQL returned error "1064: You have an error in your SQL syntax near 'AND cur_namespace IN (0,9,11) LIMIT 0,20 ' at line 1". bd_ 14:29, 31 Dec 2004 (PST)


 * Report it at MediaZilla. Unfortunately, you need to sign up and it requires an e-mail address :-(. --Sgeo 14:34, 31 Dec 2004 (PST)


 * Hmm, might be more prudent to report it to the link from wikicities actually: wikia bugzilla bd_ 14:51, 31 Dec 2004 (PST)


 * And now it has been submitted: bug #57 bd_ 14:55, 31 Dec 2004 (PST)


 * Yes, searching for any three letter word appears to cause that error. --Astro 14:40, 31 Dec 2004 (PST)


 * I'd point out it seems to happen a bit more often than that. I can make it happen on 1 and 2-character strings as well. ElasticMuffin 15:03, 31 Dec 2004 (PST)


 * The search should be working again now, but it does only work with words of at least 4 characters. There ought to be a message explaining that rather than the current error messages though. Angela 23:42, 1 Jan 2005 (PST)

Also, Project:Copyrights needs to be made, or at least the licensing guidelines stated somewhere. I've worked around it for myself by explicitly licensing my content - see my user page. bd_ 14:47, 31 Dec 2004 (PST)


 * Now set to be licensed under the GFDL. GreenReaper 06:42, 2 Jan 2005 (PST)

The left sidebar links to Current Events, though it does not exist - where can this be changed? bd_ 14:55, 31 Dec 2004 (PST)


 * I've removed this for now by adding a dash at MediaWiki:Currentevents. This can be replaced with "current events" if the link is needed in future. Angela 23:42, 1 Jan 2005 (PST)

Advertising
Please see wikicities:talk:advertising for news and problems about the ads which were recently added. If they appear at the top of the page, pressing ctrl and F5 should move them to the right place. Angela 22:00, 14 Jan 2005 (PST)

Suggestion
I suggest you create MediaWiki:Mainpage with only the words "Creatures Wiki:Community Portal" without quotation marks. This will set your main page to the page your main page redirects to. – Jellochuu! 15:16, 27 Jan 2005 (PST)
 * Unfortunately that leads to "Creatures Wiki:Community portal" being in the left hand side, along with "Community portal" on the line below. ;-)
 * What I *really* should do is to move it to Main_Page, which I will do shortly. GreenReaper 16:48, 27 Jan 2005 (PST)
 * I've removed the portal link using MediaWiki:Portal since that page now redirects to the main page which is already in the sidebar. Angela 17:47, 27 Jan 2005 (PST)
 * Good call. I'll talk with Sgeo and see if there's anything better to use that link slot for. GreenReaper 18:14, 27 Jan 2005 (PST)

Related wikis
It may be useful to add a related Wikicities section on this wiki. See Wikicities:Category:Gaming for some which may have a similar theme to this one. Also, see Wikicities:Category:English for other English language Wikicities. Angela 23:43, 27 Jan 2005 (PST)
 * The only moderately related one is Active Worlds. I've put a link to that on the Active Worlds page that we already have. Suggesting any link with Creatures and (say) Pokémon or Neopets is liable to get you toasted in a naven barbecue from regulars of alt.games.creatures. ;-) GreenReaper 09:23, 28 Jan 2005 (PST)
 * Maybe I shouldn't mention that NeoPets have listed Creatures at Neopets:Related then. :) Angela 14:56, 29 Jan 2005 (PST)
 * Sssh!!! You'll disturb the flamemongers! And yes, I know; I contributed the description (on request :-). GreenReaper 14:59, 29 Jan 2005 (PST)

Question...
Just wondering how you got links to JRChat and Administrators in the sidebar? – Jellochuu! 13:27, 28 Jan 2005 (PST)
 * Replacing the things that should have been there. Have a look at this bug - it describes the possibilities. For example, MediaWiki:Portal here has a - because we are not using it and don't want it to be shown, while MediaWiki:Sitesupport-url has been coerced into a link to Creatures Wiki:JRChat Applet named JRChat by MediaWiki:Sitesupport. GreenReaper 13:57, 28 Jan 2005 (PST)
 * Thanks! – Jellochuu! 14:41, 28 Jan 2005 (PST)
 * (note to future readers: MediaWiki:Portal is now used :-) - GreenReaper 15:01, 29 Jan 2005 (PST)
 * I noticed that on the main page the V in Category view is capitalized, but it is not everywhere else... – Jellochuu! 17:17, 29 Jan 2005 (PST)
 * Cache issue. Ctrl+F5 should fix it. GreenReaper 17:35, 29 Jan 2005 (PST)

Sorting
Why aren't the Games sorted by time? You should at least have Creatures Adventures before Creatures Playground .. leaving it alone in case anyone had a reason, but. Plus it'd probably be nice to link to (the nonexistent, but I should write it) Genetics under "Internals". Can you have a little (scripting) explanation next to the CAOS link? It's the only thing which isn't immediately obvious to someone who has only played Creatures, I think.. plus, "Internals" sounds a bit boring, why not "Workings" or similar? --Fuzzie 03:30, 5 Feb 2005 (PST)
 * Done. The games were sorted in rough chronological and interest order, but not perfectly. Don't be afraid to make changes! :-) --GreenReaper 03:42, 5 Feb 2005 (PST)

Featured Wikicity
Congratulations to everyone who has contributed to this Wikicity. It is the first wiki to be featured on the Wikicities home page. Angela 01:07, 22 Feb 2005 (GMT)
 * Woot. Go us! Let's keep it up, guys (and gals!) . . . -- 01:41, 22 Feb 2005 (GMT)

Live Preview
Does anyone appreciate the Live Preview feature that I added (from Live Preview)? My main complaint is that it's slow. (And that it doesn't seem to work too well... -- 01:14, 23 Feb 2005 (GMT)
 * Yes! Thanks! I think a simple modification would make it proper live (Activate the refresh script on modification of the edit box, if I remember correctly you can do that in Javascript). Of course, that would make it even slower, but I could fiddle around with it as a customisation on my user js. Netdroid9([ talk]) (male) 09:52, 23 Feb 2005 (GMT)
 * I've got an idea (This: wiki2html(editform.wpTextbox1.value); and onkeyup), hopefully it'll work Netdroid9([ talk]) (male) 10:54, 23 Feb 2005 (GMT)
 * Hmm... look here, math and nowiki support... Netdroid9([ talk]) (male) 11:07, 23 Feb 2005 (GMT)

Protection
You might find you can make the main page editable and avoid the spam by moving the content to templates. Replace the page with
 * Some images Copyright Gameware Development Ltd 2004-5 and used with permission.
 * Some images Copyright Gameware Development Ltd 2004-5 and used with permission.
 * Some images Copyright Gameware Development Ltd 2004-5 and used with permission.
 * Some images Copyright Gameware Development Ltd 2004-5 and used with permission.

Then put the content at the linked templates (template:main page intro, template:main page news and template:main page main section) where they can be edited by anyone with some knowledge of how MediaWiki works, whilst making the spam bots think the page is protected. Angela 14:59, 16 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * That's an idea, although hopefully the index page is finished, if you can call a Wiki page finished, as all the main categories are linked to and people seem to find it easy to use - Don 18:19, 16 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * I don't think it's finished. Look how many edits are still made to the main page of Wikipedia, even after 4 years. :) Angela 01:38, 26 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * I have separated things off into templates. Hope this works. :-) -- 01:58, 26 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Categorys
I noticed that we have a Tips, Cheats and Easter Eggs category and an Easter Eggs category. Since it's a bit redundant to have both, should we break off the T,C&EE category into three separate categories or merge the Easter Eggs entries into the T,C&EE?--CompExpert 00:43, 9 May 2005 (UTC)


 * I'd say the latter - easier to find, and we can always split it later if it grows too big. -- 06:51, 9 May 2005 (UTC)

Languages
At present the Creatures Wiki is English and yet that only represents a portion of our community. Might there be a way to either ask for volenteers to translate some of the pages or even to use translation tool to make the Creatures Wiki more accessible for others? - Don 18:04, 6 Jun 2005 (UTC)


 * Separate languages have been considered before, and would be possible, but our most prolific non-english contributor didn't think it was such a good idea, basically because a non-english would always be a second-class relative due to the lower numbers . . . see Talk:Creaturesfrance. A link to a translation tool might be a good idea, though. -- 22:42, 6 Jun 2005 (UTC)


 * But is being a second-class relative better than not being at all? And in any case I'm certain it would end up having some unique content. We could country-tags to different language articles in the wiki, instead of putting it all in one article or creating a new wiki. For example: "Creatures (FR)" or "Creatures (DE)" for French/German articles on "Creatures". That would be the best way to do it, IMO. The tags would also only be required for articles with same name as English ones, articles which have the title in their language shouldn't need the tag. The pages also shouldn't have to be necessarily translated versions of their English counterparts, they could have different style and perhaps even information. If no one opposes, can I start translating some articles under that tag-system I suggested? --Andrettin 18:39, 16 April 2006 (UTC)


 * Well, obviously one person decided it was worth it given Creatures Wiki France. :-) --GreenReaper(talk) 18:44, 16 April 2006 (UTC)

Vocabulary and categorizing it
Right now I'm creating an entry for Vocabulary and I'd like to put it in a category named Vocabulary. (I'd like it to be a subcategory of Internals) I'd then like to make subcategories on the words for each game. There would be All Games, words introduced in C1 and used in subsequent games, and each game would get its own section for words were used in that game but not all. (Like how "eat" was not used in C1 but it was in the other games.) Then each game would be divided into the kinds of words, noun, verb, adjective.

Some of these terms have been entered already. (Of particular note, "push" and "sleep.") The problem is, they're in a category with a different title. (Actions) I would like to implement my idea of categorizing the vocabulary but I'm unable to move/rename categories.

Does anyone support my idea or should I adapt to a different one?--CompExpert 07:11, 6 Jul 2005 (UTC)

What would the Vocabulary category contain? We have a Category:Terms, which is under the Community category, I believe. We also have a Category:Genus, which is under internals. If we just found a place to categorise the Category:Actions (Internals would suit it best, I think), I think we'd just about have everything that you've just proposed. - Malkin 07:47, 6 Jul 2005 (UTC)


 * Thank you for pointing out the categories already in place. I will try to adapt what I've been thinking of to work with what's already here.


 * > What would the Vocabulary category contain?


 * If you don't mind me rambling on about it, I'll explain.


 * I was making an article called Vocabulary which would define the term. I was also thinking of also putting in the number of slots for words as well, just to make it a little more useful. The article Vocabulary would be part of the category Vocabulary. The category would contain a subcategory for each game, DS Vocabulary, C1 Vocabulary and so on, and one marked All Games Vocabulary. Each of those categories would have subcategories for each kind of word. Noun, verb, and adjective, so we would have C1 Nouns, All Games Verbs, C2 Adjectives and etcetera. In each word-type category would be the words that go with it. ("Push" and "hit" for Verb, "seed" and "bigtoy" for Noun and so on.) (I'd like to point out that I don't know if the C3 and DS vocabularies are exactly the same or not so if they were, I would have lumped them together as C3/DS Vocabulary as well as their subsequent subcategories.)


 * If a word was used in all the games, it would appear in All Games exclusively. If it appeared in less than all the games, the article for the word would have been placed in all the appropriate categories. For example: "Eat" wasn't in C1 but it was in C2 (I think) and later, so the Eat article would have the C2 Noun and the C3/DS Noun categories. (Did Village also have talking? They would have gotten their related categories as well.)


 * Again, thanks to Malkin for pointing out what we already had.--CompExpert 08:42, 6 Jul 2005 (UTC)

Search engine optimization
It has been pointed out that "Main Page" is not the ideal title for the home page with respect to search engines, as it doesn't reference Creatures in any way. I am therefore moving this page to Creatures Wiki Homepage to better reflect this. Old links should still work, they'll just go to the new page. -- 01:41, 18 Sep 2005 (UTC)

Logo
Where did our Creatures logo go? Pirateopedia isn't very nornish... ;) - Don 19:13, 27 Sep 2005 (UTC)
 * This is a known issue on wikicities right now, due in part to the addition of several new servers. Hopefully they'll have it completely fixed soon. :) ElasticMuffin 02:46, 28 Sep 2005 (UTC)

Some Suggestions for Improvement of the Creatures Wiki

 * First of all, I must say I think categories aren't exactly the best thing to use - their design is quite bad, list articles are much better IMO.


 * I agree that lists are often useful, but why do you think they would be better, and for what particular purpose? The benefit of categories are that they effecively self-updating. The benefit of lists is that they can say more. Both may have a place here.


 * In the (most probable) case we keep the categories, we should add one category for each game for official breeds. And another thing, the 'Official Ecology' category seems more like a 'C3/DS Official Ecology' thing, so do we change the category name or include in it all the official ecology articles from the other games?


 * I think it was C3 because Gryph had C3. It could go either way. You could make subcategories for each game, say.


 * Third: In the wiki, there is no clear definition between what is official and what isn't, and frequently categories group indiscriminately official with third party. and although I love many of the agents/cobs and breeds that were third-party developed, there MUST be clear delineation between those two grounds.


 * Must there? What makes it hugely important that something was made by Cyberlife/Creature Labs/Entraline/Gameware and another thing was not? Often the fans did stuff that was actually better! The only real reason I separated the breeds to start with is that people had to pay for the official ones. *grins*


 * Fourth: The creatures wiki should be more supportive of BamZooki. I know it is a 'Creatures' wiki, but what is 'Creatures'? Only the titles with 'Creatures' in their name? No! 'Creatures' is (or should be) a title given to all A-Life experiments made by Cyberlife/Creature Labs/Gameware. Sea Monkeys would enter this category. And so would Yeren (Beasts). Creatures experimented with A-Life genetics, behavior and ecology. BamZooki experiments with A-Life locomotion and physics, and quite frankly, I see BamZooki as some kind of spin-off of Creatures, just like Sea Monkeys and Yeren were. It is not the 'main' 'Creatures' series, but it is still part of the whole of 'Creatures'.


 * We have articles about all the games CL/GW made, but that doesn't mean we have detailed articles on them all. Many of them were less than notable. None of them developed anywhere near the fan base.


 * BAMZOOKi is, of course, closer to the topic than many of those, and also rather popular now. Perhaps it should be covered more. But when you say "supportive", what do you intend for us to do? We all know about Creatures, not BAMZOOKi. If you want to write articles about it, that's cool. If you want us to, that's a different matter, because we don't know the topic.


 * You need at least one contributor before you get the content; it doesn't work the other way around because the contributors don't know the content. I would suggest that if you want such content, you should start it yourself, and then get others from the BAMZOOKi community to help you fill it in. :-)


 * I did actually talk to Ian Saunter about this topic. He thought that it would be nice to have more of a community for those interested in artificial life. He also said that he wasn't necessarily expecting the Creatures Wiki to fulfil that need.

Just sharing my ideas, and I hope some of them will be appreciated. --Andrettin 13:58, 27 January 2006 (UTC)


 * Ideas are good. It is also good to have a renewed focus for the future as well as memories for the past. But be aware that on a wiki, actions speak louder than words. If you want people to do something, be bold and start do it yourself. :-) -- 05:45, 28 January 2006 (UTC)

help wiki?
In regards to the recent influx of people using the wiki as a forum-substitute/help desk-thingy, I can understand why they'd be confused - after all, most of the Mac articles are help-oriented, and the Autokill and QCM articles have extensive help sections. I guess the question is, what should we do? Should we add in help topics for the really really common things, or move the help stuff off-wiki somehow? -Malkin 00:43, 4 February 2006 (UTC)


 * Has there been a recent influx? I'd only really noticed the one person.. Anyway, I think the best solution, if one is really necessary, would be to push people towards the popular forums somehow. Not sure how customisable mediawiki is in this regard, but a generic "If you have a question about X rather than this article, you should probably discuss it on (link to forums here) instead." on the top of talk (or edit?) pages might be useful? - Fuzzie 12:42, 4 February 2006 (UTC)


 * It's mainly been that one person, although the Mac people do it too (which is understandable, given the holes in the official documentation). Maybe a reminder that people are likely to get a quicker, more accurate answer from the forums than the wiki.  Also, that talk pages are generally for questions about the article itself, and not about the subject of the article... (although some of our younger members might find that concept confusing in itself).  Oh well. - Malkin 22:05, 4 February 2006 (UTC)


 * Kutoka do offer good, English support for the Mac Creatures games via email as well - Don 21:35, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

About Troll goal
This guy is clearly derranged. He was going around systematically trashing a large part of the wiki. I have repaired all the damage (it may not seem so on Recent Changes, but I used a bot flag for some of them) and banned him permanently. So before you worry, don't. It's all good unless he comes back, in which case we will ban him again. Whatever. :P ElasticMuffin 02:37, 13 February 2006 (UTC)


 * You did a a good job, EM. Thanks.  :) - Malkin 23:21, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Gah, CSS help!
I have to go to bed now, but the modifications I've made to the templates on the front page look merely good in firefox and downright poor in IE. Can someone who knows a fair bit about CSS help me out here? ElasticMuffin 08:37, 5 March 2006 (UTC)
 * Nevermind, GR rocks. What do you think, though?  Does it look better now? ElasticMuffin 15:22, 5 March 2006 (UTC)
 * Hmmms... I think it is a bit too colourful, personally, but, that's just me... --KaelisRa 17:44, 5 March 2006 (UTC)
 * The bottom two boxes need sizing to the same height as its more noticeable in colour when they differ slightly, but overall its pretty cool! - Don 17:58, 5 March 2006 (UTC)
 * Fixed. :) Also created a new footer template for the stuff on the bottom. ElasticMuffin 18:18, 5 March 2006 (UTC)
 * Perfect! It looks amazing - Don 22:02, 5 March 2006 (UTC)

April fools cleanup
As of 11:58, everything seems to be done. Except the llama wiki picture. Someone might want to fix that. 71.3.6.165 04:59, 2 April 2006 (UTC) (Shaons in disguise!)
 * I'm sure it will get there. It's still April Fool's Day here for another 3 hours. ;) MonaLS

Need for a page.
Called Hibernation Mutation, i think if it deserves a 3 page count on the Gameware forums, it deserves a wikipage, -- Jetamo


 * Then click the link above and make it! :-) --GreenReaper(talk) 19:10, 16 April 2006 (UTC)
 * Okay GreenReaper. i'll try doing one :) --Jetamo 17:22, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

Where's the Navbar?
I would like to know the location of the navigation bar template on the left side so that I can update the help link. Anyone know? ElasticMuffin 13:44, 28 April 2006 (UTC)


 * I tweaked it now, but looking through Special:Allmessages is the trick, I think. Not entirely sure how it works. :) Fuzzie 14:08, 28 April 2006 (UTC)

Map and Classifier Assignment Pages
Does anyone think it would be a good idea to begin a section for the classifier range assignments here on the wiki, instead of continuing to use Bibble world? It seems that Bibbleworld isn't updated much and I've heard of people requesting ranges and not having their names appear on the list. I was also thinking that we might try to have the Map page here instead of at the norngarden site. There have been map clashes because no one knows what space is open anymore. Clohse
 * I think it's safe for the classifiers to stay on Bibbleworld - Bibble has in my experience been ready and willing to make changes with all possible speed. However I believe you're right about the map assignment - the page at norngarden hasn't been updated for a long time and it doesn't surprise me to hear of clashes. If there are enough people in favour I certainly think it's viable to use the wiki for such a purpose: abuses should be easy to spot, and there's really no incentive for them. Possible problem is people reserving large areas prior to project completion and then never finishing.. but this is a problem for any reservation system. --Alexwatson 21:20, 26 June 2006 (UTC)
 * Well, I'd be happy to help but I'm fairly "wiki-ignorant." I'm a wiz at cutting-and-pasting, though. The list of rooms and coordinates shouldn't be a problem to put in, but what about the big graphic showing the location of the rooms. Will it be possible to include that as well? Clohse
 * Possible (see Help), but high maintenance. The point of using the wiki, I suppose, would be that anyone could edit in the details of their metaroom. If that involved editing the map too it would be too hard (or at least too much effort) for most people. Still the map is quite useful. Shrug. --Alexwatson 20:37, 27 June 2006 (UTC)

Should we move this?
This is the only page currently being spammed on here. Should we make this a redirect to somewhere else, a subpage perhaps, and then make this protected? A bit of a jury-rigged solution but I think it'd work... Any opinions? ElasticMuffin 02:43, 28 July 2006 (UTC)
 * Do you think the spambots are being aimed at this particular URL? I haven't the foggiest how the scripts work, but I know everyone (especially the admins) must be getting tired of reverting the same thing over and over, so I say try and do whatever it takes to keep those nasties at bay! >:o Maybe a soft redirect, like this (inspired by Wikipedia)?

This soft redirect exists to keep nasty llama-shavers away.

The llama (Lama glama) is a large camelid that originated in North America and then later on moved on to South America. The term llama is sometimes used more broadly, to indicate any of the four closely related animals that make up the South American branch of the family Camelidae: the true llama, the vicuña, alpaca, and guanaco. They were used as a system of transportation for the Incas.


 * [[Image:Editnorn.png]] More about the llama, courtesy of the Llama Wiki.


 * >:D --Anduin (Talk) 07:01, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

Fonts?
Lisa once said that the fonts used for Docking Station was "World of Water" (from here: http://www.larabiefonts.com/) and for the recompilations by Fusion Labs, Kutoka, they used the "Neuropolitical" style font. It's only a piece of trivia, but it would be useful for putting an 'official look' on releases, etc. For example, Liam and Don seem to be using Neuropolitical on the CCSF releases a bit. Any idea as to how to fit this into an article somewhere? - Malkin 06:02, 5 August 2006 (UTC)

Wikia Gaming footer
Would it be acceptable to add the following footer to the Main Page?

We're trying to get Wikia's gaming wikis more linked with each other. It's not mandatory, but it would be appreciated :). You can change the links to point to any other gaming wikias you like or cooperate with. Ausir 02:11, 28 August 2007 (UTC)


 * Well, the trouble is that Creatures is perhaps really more of a "toy" than a game, and there don't seem to really be many similar/relevant other gaming Wikias around - and linking to a bunch of random games doesn't seem like it's a good idea. 89.220.9.175 12:27, 28 August 2007 (UTC)


 * Is Spore similar? What about some of the Virtual Pets wikis? Angela (talk) 13:12, 28 August 2007 (UTC)

Spore is probably similar enough. I tried picking the relevant-looking sites out (does Neopets count as a game? I'm not really sure what it is, just that it seems popular with Creatures players), but it still looks kinda too short to me. Perhaps we could include some other more generic links, but I don't really know which might be a good idea. - User:Fuzzie


 * Tamagotchi, maybe? Ausir 16:41, 28 August 2007 (UTC)

Here's an updated version:

Would you feel okay adding that? Kirkburn (talk) 13:05, 20 February 2008 (UTC)


 * Not really feeling it, to be honest. The other wikis linked do not have this banner either except for Neopets, and they, I notice, are not linking to us.  I really do not see the benefit of driving traffic to other wikis unless it is likely to be reciprocated, which seems very unlikely since few outside the community we have are likely to find most of the information that useful.  ElasticMuffin 21:02, 20 February 2008 (UTC)


 * The idea is for communities to link back to each other on related subjects. I'm sure Neopets wouldn't have a problem with you adding a link to here on there. Kirkburn (talk) 17:29, 10 April 2008 (UTC)

Protection
I strongly suggest unprotecting the homepage, especially as it goes against Wikia suggested policy. Only protect pages if they are actively targeted by vandals, otherwise you risk doing more damage by preventing change and possibly causing neglect (especially if the wiki admins aren't always around). Kirkburn (talk) 22:09, 30 January 2008 (UTC)


 * As the main page is formed from templates and said templates are *not* protected, there is no reason to unprotect the main page. If someone needs to move the templates around, which is unlikely, they can contact one of the admins directly by the many means available to them. ElasticMuffin 00:44, 31 January 2008 (UTC)


 * My bad, I lied. I had not actually allowed editing of the templates.  They're also set to registered-only editing now. ElasticMuffin 01:05, 31 January 2008 (UTC)


 * Full unprotection is inadvisable considering the history of spam anonymous edits to this page. However, I'm willing to give registered-user-only protection a go (an option which I think was not available at the time of initial protection). --GreenReaper(talk) 00:50, 31 January 2008 (UTC)

Wikia Gaming IRC channel
Hullo! I am Kirkburn, your friendly local Wikia Gaming Helper!

You may be interested to know there is a Wikia gaming IRC channel, #wikia-gaming on chat.freenode.net, where you can hop on, ask for help from users of other gaming wikis, or offer your own experiences. If you are not familiar with IRC clients, you can access it from http://irc.wikia.com/gaming.

Different people may be on sporadically, but we organize weekly chats at a fixed time so we can get the most number of people online at the same time to ask and answer questions, or just to hang out. The admins of some of Wikia's biggest gaming wikis (e.g. WoW, Halo) often attend them. You can find the time for the next chat by following this link.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask me! Kirkburn (talk) 14:16, 25 February 2008 (UTC)


 * I would like to request that you please refrain from posting things here that are not directly related to the wiki or its content. This is pretty much spam and not the appropriate wiki to advertise such things on. ElasticMuffin 20:51, 26 February 2008 (UTC)


 * I should add that I am not trying to be annoying here, I am simply pointing out that we are a well-established and longstanding Wikia and not really in need of suddenly being a "Gaming Wiki" and all the trappings that seem to come with it. We primarily wish to maintain the status quo, as a source of information for Community members and those interested about Creatures.  We do not expect to pull in Halo or Warcraft players on a regular basis, and nor do we intend to.  We're about Creatures, and don't pretend to be something else. :) ElasticMuffin 21:09, 26 February 2008 (UTC)

The IRC channel is a service we provide for you, it's not about altering the site. Kirkburn (talk) 17:22, 10 April 2008 (UTC)

Monaco skin
Hullo! I am Kirkburn, your friendly local Wikia Gaming Helper!

We are switching over all the default skins (for anon users) to our new skin "Monaco" this week. Most of the big wikis have already switched (i.e WoWWiki, Wookieepedia Dofus and FFXIclopedia.

It is now the main actively developed Wikia platform. As a successor to Quartz, it comes with even more customizability - you can find out more on w:c:inside:Monaco Skin Customization, where you can also find out info about the new features and widgets available. The team has taken the liberty of already creating your MediaWiki:Monaco-sidebar, but you can customize it much further with more links.

An admin can set the default site skin via the skin section on Special:Preferences, or by editing MediaWiki:AdminSkin. If users wish to see another skin than the default, they can untick "See custom wiki skins (recommended)" on the same page.

We really want wikis to move on to Monaco partly because it's more awesome than Quartz and Monobook and partly as it is where the bulk of our resources are currently aimed :) Please report any problems or questions with Monaco here

Thanks for listening! Kirkburn (talk) 15:22, 10 April 2008 (UTC)


 * Without regard to the suitability of this particular skin, I rather think this is a decision that the current administration (Don, ElasticMuffin and Malkin) should be making, not someone who parachutes in to make wholesale style changes without prior on-wiki discussion. I have deleted the above page. --GreenReaper(talk) 16:00, 10 April 2008 (UTC)


 * I understand you aren't happy with the change. Corrected the text above, sorry. Kirkburn (talk) 17:21, 10 April 2008 (UTC)


 * If there are major objections to the change, it is okay to change it back, but you must be forewarned that Monaco is "Wikia's default skin", and you may miss out on future developments. My apologies for being hasty with the change. Kirkburn (talk) 18:40, 10 April 2008 (UTC)


 * Well, at a glance, it's certainly not ready to be activated here - for a start, it loses all of our custom CSS/etc, and we need a better Monaco-suitable logo. Fuzzie 19:06, 10 April 2008 (UTC)
 * I should note that personally I think were someone to edit it to be as appropriate as our current customisations it'd probably be a good move, even if it does seem to be a bit more "spammy" than our Monobook setup. Fuzzie 19:08, 10 April 2008 (UTC)


 * My main issue with the skins Wikia has been pushing (apart from that they are being pushed so very aggressively) has always been that they detract from the content. A comparison of the front page, in 1024x786 (our main user resolution): monobook - quartz - monaco (prior to trimming front page text: monobook - quartz - monaco). Notice the whole section less that you get with monaco. Wikia's designers seem to think that large amounts of white space that appear on every page above the content are a good idea. Yes, you may get that back with decreased width, eventually, if your pages are long - History was the same here, 19 pages. Most of ours are not that long. The end result will be that readers have to scroll more than they did before. And why is the Wikia logo so prominent? We're the Creatures Wiki, not Wikia (Creatures edition). --GreenReaper(talk) 19:36, 10 April 2008 (UTC)


 * I really dislike the new themes and will strongly resist any attempts to switch us to them on this wiki without some truly major reworking. They're ugly and cluttered, they have the ads placed in a really annoying spot, and as GR said, they distract from the content.  Please, please, please leave us alone with our outdated theme.  There is no need to "fix" what has been working just fine for 4 years now. ElasticMuffin 04:17, 11 April 2008 (UTC)


 * Monobook appears to have been removed from the list of wikis that can be set as the Wiki default in the settings- hence when I saved my settings earlier it edited MediaWiki:AdminSkin to monaco again. This is really sort of pathetic.  ElasticMuffin 06:30, 17 April 2008 (UTC)


 * This is an issue in the skin picker. Monobook was not an option in there, so it left it at the first item, Sapphire, as opposed to Default, which is (now again) monobook for this wiki. I've deleted MediaWiki:AdminSkin. Personally I'm not sure why default isn't the first option, but eh . . . --GreenReaper(talk) 17:39, 17 April 2008 (UTC)