Preserved Topic: About editing in the FAQ

I just edited this FAQ page (changed Verdanna to Verdana) and came to think about one thing. Since everyone can edit, what happens if someone just deletes the whole FAQ (some inmate who haven't got their daily dose)?

Only Emps, Tyberius and a couple of other chosen inmates can delete a node. The rest of us can only vote it down to oblivion

_________________________
Anyone who has lost track of time when using a computer knows the propensity to dream, the urge to make dreams come true and the tendency to miss lunch.
- copied from the wall of cell 408 -

[This message has been edited by Veneficuz (edited 10-21-2002).]

Ok, but if someone presses edit and then deletes all the text?



[This message has been edited by HZR (edited 10-21-2002).]

That would probably work. Lets just hope that no one does that...

_________________________
Anyone who has lost track of time when using a computer knows the propensity to dream, the urge to make dreams come true and the tendency to miss lunch.
- copied from the wall of cell 408 -

HZR: Thanks for your attention to details As Veneficuz has said TP, Doc and I can only delete things that have been voted down so that can't happen easily. There are a number of Doomsday Scenarios along the lines you suggest and there are things in place which will stop things from being accidentally destroyed - I suspect if you were determined and destructive enough you could possibly do some harm and waste our time (and guarantee that you'll find me standing on your doorstep within 12 hours) but you shouldn't be worried about simple accidents happening when you are editting things - the important thing to do is let me and/or TP know asap (drop a whoops note in here or, if you are a little embarrassed, use email or ICQ - details in our profiles). Fixing things like that is no problem (the work of moments) but the sooner you let us know the better.

Basically the FAQ is robust enough to survive any kind of mistake an inmate could make so people shouldn't be shy about editting, adding, etc. anything

Thanks for the query though - I suspect it has helped clear up a few things for a number of people

___________________
Emps

FAQs: Emperor

Thanks for the answer
FaqWiki rocks

I have three things stowed away to ensure the FaqWiki's long-term survival:
1. A Baseball Bat
2. A Shovel
3. An Alibi

oh wait... number 4-- Have you seen Pugzly's minuteman arsenal?

I do have one concern... the following:

say I have something deep to contribute to the faq- something that goes in one of the nodes that already exist. The power of my message is such, that, as I slowly type, the building crecendo and magnificence consume an hour's worth of minutes...

...then, before I post it by hitting the 'Submit' button, Slime drops by and adds something VERY IMPORTANT into that node (important enough to, say, warrant caps and bold tags)...

..wouldn't my lame submission overwrite what Slime wrote, since its not included in the original version of the text in the node that I'm editing?

I actually find the thought of this very disturbing... mainly since I type slow as mollases on a cold day (First time I've ever used that expression..hehe)...

drop a line if you don't understand what I mean...


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ICQ: 67751342

[This message has been edited by Petskull (edited 10-22-2002).]

Posts of any length I type in notepad... then cut and paste.
I've had too many cases of my system 'fall down go boom' while in the reply window.

If I'm not mistaken, the administrators of the FAQ can roll it back in a worst-case scenario, so rest easy.

well.... as long as we're bitchin about the FAQ....
The FAQ often gets updated with links to threads that have useful information.
However..... then these threads get archived, their URL does not stay the same, therefore, when you click the link in the FAQ, it brings you absolutely no where.
I'd also like to note.... that especially with the PS image vital threads, the picture will not normally stay on someone's site for more than 4 months or so..... And we end up with a lot of broken images in there.

And last but certainly not least.
i hate the name "wiki". it's sounds fuckin lame.

I've come back to give a brief demonstration...

here is the FAQ for.... "how do i make an image like X" ... http://faq.ozoneasylum.com/FaqWiki/shownode.php?id=164&sortby=rating
bam.... right off the bat, we've got a broken image.

We'll move on, and choose lightsabers as our next avenue.... http://faq.ozoneasylum.com/FaqWiki/shownode.php?id=558&sortby=rating
and here...... of the 6 relevent thread....... 2 are dead links.

I realize that side stepping the deleting of images on people's sites is not something easily done.
And as far as archiving threads, goes....... i don't know what to say.
The FAQ gets updated..... then the mods do their job........ and then you end up using the search feature from the ozone anyway.

edit: ... and btw, I didn't hunt around for an instance of the FAQ that suited my bitching........ those were the first things i looked up, for this demonstration.

[This message has been edited by Michael (edited 10-22-2002).]

So, micheal, did you fix them?
At least the broken link?
That's what the wiki's about. You see something wrong, you fix it.

As for the hypothetical doomsday scenarios:
Two words: Backups and "flood control". You'll need quite a few hours to delete all the faq.

so long,

Tyberius Prime

PS: Good question - I'm not sure if the FAQ gets locked when it is being editted. TP can answer that one better

Michael: Well until we have a PHP forum where we make the FAQ and forum a more integrated this is going to happen. The two options are:

1. We don't link to any threads in the Asylum until they are archived - which isn't an option I'd be happy with.

2. If you find a broken link then dig out the archived thread and edit it so the link points at the archived version so the next person along finds the right resources. As I've said countless times the only way the FAQ will work is everyone pitches in and helps out. Consider TP and I as midwives - we helped bring it into the world but without people nosing through and adding and editting then it will die.

We have created FAQs to help with this link thing:

What do I do about broken links?

Need a thread archived?

Every now and again I will go through a FAQ and archive all the threads in there but you are going to run across broken links to threads unless people fix them.

What I do think is funny is this:

quote:

---

here is the FAQ for.... "how do i make an image like X" ... http://faq.ozoneasylum.com/FaqWiki/shownode.php?id=164&sortby=rating
bam.... right off the bat, we've got a broken image.

---

Did you read what it says?:

quote:

---

[edit: Trigger : you can make a graphic that looks like x like this

---

and then there is a broken image - that was the whole point. The image URL is:
http://faq.ozoneasylum.com/FaqWiki/blahblah.gif



Nearly all the graphics in the FAQ are actually stored there specifcally to avoid the problem of linkrot that does affect old threads (another good reason for the FAQ).

And the name well it is a Wiki - granted it is a silly name but take that up with the people who thought the idea up

___________________
Emps

FAQs: Emperor

I've got an idea.. (Hey Doc, listen up!) ....

if SOMEONE were to let me near the search script of the 'sylum- I was thinking the following:
(say the name of the thread we want is "Hello from Mars")

if you were to type www.ozoneasylum.com/legacy/Hello%20from%20Mars you would get-

a. after searching the entire asylum, if only one thread with that name is found- you get a redirection to that thread.

b. after searching the entire asylum, if more than one thread is found, then you are given all the info and the choice of which thread to select.

c. after searching the entire asylum, if no matching threads are found, then you'd get a message saying that the thread you're looking for has probably been deleted.

simple as pie- none of this would be any more difficult than
(1)adding a value- to the list of passed vars in the URL- for the thread name [just a default value for the 'SearchTerms' INPUT box]
(2) adding a value- in the URL- to indicate a threadname search only, and
(3) a flag for an auto submit..

....then maybe adding in the script that the dirname we typed in contained 'legacy' to specially format the output..

the .htaccess file would take care of the proper url formatting (thanks, Pugz)...

whaddaya say? can I have a go?


Code - CGI - links - DHTML - Javascript - Perl - programming - Magic - http://www.twistedport.com
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after carefull research, I realized that you could just do the following
http://www.OzoneAsylum.com/cgi-bin/search.cgi?
SearchTerms=Hello%20from%20Mars
&BooleanAND=YES&ForumChoice=ALL
&SearchIn=SUBJECT&SearchDate=ALL&SearchUser=
&ExactName=no&action=simplesearch

<EDIT>Just copy and paste the son of a bitch...</EDIT>

just replace Hello%20from%20Mars with the thread name you were looking for...

...granted it won't take you directly to it, but it'll have to do for now...


Code - CGI - links - DHTML - Javascript - Perl - programming - Magic - http://www.twistedport.com
ICQ: 67751342

[This message has been edited by Petskull (edited 10-22-2002).]

PS: Good idea - although the searching would be a little slow. I'm still convinced that the best thing would be if used a PHP forum where each thread had a unique ID. Trying to guess the archived ID at the moment is an awful problem as it adds in the date it was archived on.

Anyone got any other good ideas for solving this?

___________________
Emps

FAQs: Emperor

I think it's too late for that unless we empty the forums...

and I thought Doc could hook up a toy to entretain us while it searches.... it wouldn't have to be a ~secret~ that it's searching...


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PS: Not really - have a look at the GN forum:
http://development.gurusnetwork.com/discussion/

That was all imported from UBB6.

I like the idea of a toy though

___________________
Emps

FAQs: Emperor

hehehe.... hey doc... make a new toy! we're...um... gonna need one....


heheh


Code - CGI - links - DHTML - Javascript - Perl - programming - Magic - http://www.twistedport.com
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I agree witjh what's said, and have given this bunches of thought. (no developing time, but thinking is important too!) I've done like nothing but publishing systems these last 3 years it seems, and the concept of "each item of content (posts possibly, more likely threads) has a UID associated with it" is the only way to go. If every thread had its own UID then we could do all sorts of fun things, custom link lists to useful things, each of which could be ported over to the FAQ as completed. I'm less sure what to do about bad or missing images, I'd hate to have to try trolling through the archives finding and downloading all images linked, that could turn into one heckuva lot of data to store.

ANYway, we don't have that yet. We will, however, be moving to a PHP/MySQL version of this board, and all the data will be ported over, there are tools. I might have done this last month, but the tools are not there to go from this older UBB board to a current PHP board, I may have to upgrade twice! And, I'm really busy, so it has to wait.

It'll probably migrate here: http://www.ozoneasylum.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1 <= lotsa customizing work needed!

Play with my newest "nausea" toy: http://ozoniclabs.com/gravlabs/ <= more fun than searching the archives?

So! I have not forgotten this iussue, and I realize the gravity (heh) and need we have here for something better and more easily integrated with other new tools. I'll of course coordinate with TP and all of the FAQ crew when I'm ready to do this, we'll get everything sorted out.

Your pal, -doc-

Doc's word is bond..... I still say PHP is evil...


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[This message has been edited by Petskull (edited 10-23-2002).]

Ew, it's table tags again. How customizeable is this? I say if we're going to switch to new software and remake everything, we should do it with CSS. Tables are ok, of course, because forums are sort of tabular data, especially the thread listings. But it could be *so* much simpler if it were CSS based beyond the basic structure of the page. Heck, we could even make our own style sheets for it then. We could have print style sheets that cut out the extra garbage like buttons and such. Lots could be done. But that might be a huge task.

Slime: Although I'm no fan of tables they do seem the right choice for this kind of layout still - although I'd be interested to see what designs people might come up with to do a forum in CSS Also most big forum scripts come with some kind of personalisation features - what are phpBB2's?

Doc: Great point - persistent URLs are definitely something we all should be aiming for:
http://www.w3.org/Provider/Style/URI
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/990321.html

I'm not sure there is anything we can do to store all the images from a thread (I'm not sure we should try ) but for important things (finished images, PSDs) there should be a way to attach certain files to the thread.

PS: PHP evil?

___________________
Emps

FAQs: Emperor