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Staff Blog in 2012
Hi all,
Part of my role here at Wikia is to help organize and manage the staff blog. As 2012 is upon us, I have been thinking a lot about what new posts we can bring to the blog that will be fun, interesting and enjoyable for the community. One of the great things about the Wikia blog is that you as readers get to comment, join in and have a larger conversation with us. We want to keep this conversation going.
In 2011 we started a number of blog post series, including featured wikian, weekly technical updates and founder & admin advice.
Added by Sarah ManleyYesterday our team got together to brainstorm new and interesting topics. Here are some of the ideas we came up with: more indepth technical posts, interviews with Wikia staff, wiki shortcuts, tips & tricks such as how to use magic words, and much more!
So in keeping with what this blog is about we wanted to ask you, the community, to share with us what you would like to see here.
All ideas are welcome! If you know of great blogs on your wiki that should be resurfaced here or know of other sites that have a great blog - please share those with us as well.
We're going to use your extra feedback to make sure the staff blog is both useful and unique for our readers. So dive in to the comments and let us know what you would like to see!
Want to receive updates on the latest Staff blog posts? Then click here to follow this blog.
- Showing 20 most recent
72 comments
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mmm pizza
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Your comment isn't really appropriate for this blog, please don't be random on blogs. Thanks. :)
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can i be ur friends sarah.>.?
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Of course :)
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Thanks everyone for all of your ideas!
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legos and tekkan and alienvspredator and candy ....
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i want candy
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Candy is nice... Wikia should start giving out candy.
January 18 by Kata89 -
As usual, it would be nice to know what feedback you are actually taking seriously and what you are ignoring. Sometimes leaving a comment feels like doing it only for the sake of writing it down.
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I have recorded all the relevant ideas - and really appreciate everyone for posting them. Hopefully they can result in a better staff blog.
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If only "relevant" wasn't such a slippery word. I guess I'll have to wait and see.
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Idea? How about all updates from this point on goes into a new skin?
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With the old one still intact, I mean.
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Why would they make a new skin? They just released the current default skin a little over a year ago
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It would be expensive to support three at once; that's why Monaco was discontinued once Oasis arrived.
January 16 by TK-999 -
Hey, quit going against me...Its just my idea okay?
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Three?
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Monobook.
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They don't support monobook (although it exits).
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If you are interested in weekly technical updates - you can follow that blog category which we post to each week.
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No, there is monobook. Several people use it.
January 17 by Kata89 -
But none of the new Wikia features (except the Message Wall) are available in Monobook.
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Oh
January 17 by Kata89 -
I've got an idea! Why not have Oasis-only pages in Monobook, like the Wiki Activity and Chat, automatically have
?useskin=wikiaat the end of the URL?---****--- Roads
January 17 by Roads -
Roads: I've suggested that a couple of times now, Wikia don't seem to bite, but for what it's worth, I agree.
Or you know, updated wording on WA that actually is helpful.
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Interesting new community layout. Looks kinda familiar. ;)
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"Featured Wiki" would be a neat feature! It could highlight some great wikis that don't get enough attention.
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Yes, like our wiki, lol
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Just what I was thinking! Good Idea :)
January 17 by TheWWC -
A better interface of the Special:Contact (blog style) can be useful
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Is there something wrong with an e-mail?
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KevMarz: Could you clarify what you mean by a blog-style Special:Contact? Thanks!
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A blog about Wikia specific MediaWiki: pages would be nice. Not necessarily all of them, but the ones that Wikia usually doesn't mind admins customizing.
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A blog about how Wikia manages and updates the help pages on shared Help wiki. This could include a request for which help pages the community would like to see created or updated. That way staff and the community can focus on the ones in greatest demand, rather than a scattershot approach.
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profile skins :D
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Here another idea, making the chats into 1, for e.g if i want to chat on wikia, and the kid vs kat wikia, having tab will allows me to have 1 window open, instead of like 5, it saves me usage on my browser not having so many windows open :)
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That's impossible, and anyway, the browser's are designed like that.
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Why is that impossible? The wikis check to see if you're already chatting in another browser, I don't see it as a huge step to check if you're chatting on another wiki, and then to tell the first chat window to open another chat.
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Good point Airhogs777!
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a good idea would be to have that side bar arrow you get on the editor that allows you to hide the tools on the side, on the page itself, meaning users will be allowed to change the page width just giving them more of a view, and also giving them quick access to other stuff, as we don't use them sidebars all the time, i bet most wikians will love that, i sure would =D
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A lot of really large wiki's have modified their wiki's to the extent that the standard Wikia package is long exceeded. I'm thinking about Special:FormEdit, custom Twitter feed modules, graphic wiki-navigation bar, a header in the top Wikia bar or other really cool things like this (cursor on the link). Maybe you can highlight some of the best and give a quick mini course of MediaWiki:Wikia.css or Common.js or something.
And I also support the "Featured Wiki" idea.
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So wiki customizations - I like it! Tips on js & css are on my list :)
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What about an update of the help pages? For instance http://help.wikia.com/wiki/Help:WikiaStats has been outdated for more than a year.
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We have been updating some - but feel free to also help out. I will add that one to our list. Any ideas for blog posts?
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Wikia does a pretty good job with its blog, and I've enjoyed your recent series. As for suggestions, why not have a "Wiki for the Week" or "Featured Wiki" series - you could highlight a particular wiki, pick out a couple of good articles, and interview a founder/admin/active user. You could link your choice where possible to film, video game or television releases, as well.
Oh, forgot to mention it'd be great to have an RSS feed for the blog, as well. :)
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The featured wiki sounds cool.
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great idea - thanks!
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Agreed! Wiki of the Week is a pretty awesome idea!
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Isn't that what spotlights are for?
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Yeah, but spotlights tend to last for quite a while, and don't change as often. Having one for each week would mean that more wikis would have the chance to "shine" for a week
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Wiki of the week sounds terrific!
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Hi! You can find our Staff Blog RSS feed right over here.
If you want to subscribe to a specific Blog category, just change &listing= at the end of the URL to the specific blog category.
Here's a list of RSS feeds for our current Blog categories:
Technical updates
Community news
New features
Contests & Giveaways
Founders & Admins
Tips & Tricks -
Maybe some of the Featured Wikian posts coud coincide with the Featured Wiki blog posts? That or you could interview some of the admin for each one.
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Thank you very much for the RSS feeds!
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I can't think of anything atm, but if I do, I'll let you guys know. :)
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Awesome thanks!
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No problem.
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More in depth technical posts would be very welcomed.
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So would more depth in the snow in my yard.
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Nah, deep snow sux.
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@RB: We rarely get any, so it's welcome here.
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I hate snow anyway.
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@RB: Then go give yours to the poor Puerto Ricans.
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It would melt on the way, and quantities needed to successfully please Puerto Ricans would be larger than anyone could transport. Very impractical.
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Yep - one idea I am working with the technical team on is "caching explained". Are there other specific topics that interest you?
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@RB: Transport it in a freezer and give it to just Jon, then.
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Again, the amounts needed to satisfy a country would take more than the freezers we have in the world.
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That's why we're just supplying Jon.
Puerto Rico isn't a country, it's a small island territory that belongs to the US...
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@Sarah: I am interested in the data caching :) The "Special Pages" are the first thing I work on when it updates :)
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Ok good to know - thanks!
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Some technical topics:
- Order of CSS loading (Wikia core generated and static, skin specific, wiki specific, and custom/personal, etc.).
- Wikia extensions to core MediaWiki wiki.
- How to use pre-loaded templates for new page creation.
- Example uses of
<verbatim>that work well in Wikia wikis.
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Thanks for the suggestions - adding to my list!
