GTA Wiki:Community Noticeboard

Welcome to GTA Wiki's Community noticeboard.

Archives
 * Archive 1
 * Archive 2

Talk page rules apply here.

This noticeboard is for discussion and voting on changes to the wiki, reporting vandalism and wiki rule breaking, and reporting bad or unfair behaviour from GTA Wiki staff.

For requests for promotion, please go to GTA Wiki:Requests for Promotion.

We currently have a lot of staff so there will be no more Patroller requests for a while. Current Patrollers may request to be promoted to Admin status by voting on the Requests for Promotion Page.

Voting Rules

Since voting about a change can cause arguments, here are the rules.
 * Anyone can start a topic for a community vote.
 * Please be civil when voting, and never condemn another users vote.
 * Voting usually lasts 3 to 5 days.

Dealing with Vandals (For Staff and Current/New Users)
When vandalism is going on, isn't it less necessary to confront the such users and tell them off, especially users with no staff ranks and that are patrollers? During the Joshualeverburg Incidents, staffs and non-staff confronted him and in result/retaliation, got their userspages vandalised, such as M.K., Hi-Hi Puffy Bosco, and myself. The average contributors and patrollers should report to an admin/b'crat first rather than acting like an admin or if the admins are active during these incidents, block them immediately. To my sense, if you write to the vandals, telling them to stop, you're more than likely making them say, "What are you going to do about it?", "Ha, Ha" or "I'm going to piss the guy off". I just don't want those vandals coming back attacking the users who told them to stop.

Mr. T. (talk) 01:07, April 1, 2013 (UTC)



I agree. I also think that most admins and bureaucrats should be online as often as possible because if we remember back to the 22 case, there were no admins online and his vandalism went on for hours until Ilan finally came on. VaultBoy Tom (Talk to me this way) 21:01, April 2, 2013 (UTC)

I wasn't active during the Zombie22 Incidents, so I have little knowledge of that. Now that we have five admins, at least one of you guys should check the wiki a couple times a day and always check the Recent WIki Activity page. Mr. T. (talk) 21:10, April 2, 2013 (UTC) 


 * Read GTA Wiki:Vandalism. There is a section on how to deal with vandalism. If you come to the conclusion that you need to block a user for vandalism or any other incident, then read GTA Wiki:Blocking Policy. Messi1983 (talk) 06:10, April 4, 2013 (UTC)

Our Do not feed the trolls policy is important when dealing with vandals.

"Everytime we respond to those tryin to ruin the wiki, we are giving them what they want. The more we do that, the more they will be back for more. It's best to be calm, and limit contact with vandals. The less attention they get, the more likely they are to move on. Don't play games with the vandals as this makes it more fun for them."

See, those are words to live by :) Messi1983 (talk) 06:15, April 4, 2013 (UTC)

Read and understood 'em. The "Do not feed the trolls" should be mentioned by any new/normal users should get that memo when they confront the vandal. Like my mom use to say, "Never care for a person if you have no idea of his or her intentions." The care part means anything that you do to the person good. bad or trying to stop his actions, i.e. vandalism.

Mr. T. (talk) 06:31, April 4, 2013 (UTC)

Background
Since there is new artworks for GTA V, is the GTA Wiki background going to change? Boomer8 (talk) 05:09, February 28, 2013 (UTC)

With regards to Promotion
Hey guys. When someone usually requests a promotion, the same reason keeps popping up time and time again. "I've been on this wiki for such and such time and have such and such edits"

Who agrees with me that this has never been a good reason to request promotion and who agrees that it should be stated on our promotion page? Messi1983 (talk) 20:48, November 22, 2012 (UTC)


 * When I'm promoting someone, I'm most interested in the quality of their contributions, and after that their ability to get along with other users. Linking to work done on another wiki is fine, but saying "I'm a bureaucrat on somesuch wiki" alone doesn't impress me, because Wikia will let anyone found a wiki or adopt an abandoned wiki, and I've met a couple shockingly incompetent bureaucrats. Jeff (talk|stalk) 23:04, November 26, 2012 (UTC)


 * Yeah quality of edits, if they've helped fight vandalism on the wiki, and their ability to get along with others is things I usually look for too. Not how long they have been editing here, how many edits they have, or even their status on another wiki. Messi1983 (talk) 23:14, November 26, 2012 (UTC)
 * Edit count doesn't mean that much really, I know many users that do a full character biography in one edit, something like that is a lot more impressive than 100 seemingly unnecessary edits. But experience on another wiki, so long as that wiki is of a good quality and they have actually contributed significantly to it, does get taken into account in my eyes. The length of time someone has been around on the wiki doesn't matter to me, if there are big gaps in editing or there edits aren't significant that is. So yes, maybe mention these things on the requests for promotion page. Tom Talk 13:30, December 21, 2012 (UTC)

Featured Article section
Featured articles are a common feature on almost most wikis. Does anyone think we should have a feature article section on this wiki? Messi1983 (talk) 06:39, December 14, 2012 (UTC)


 * I would love to see a featured article on the wiki. But I would only want it under the GTA games section; not replaceing it. Were "Rockstar Games Twitter" and "Helping Out" is would be a better place for it. I think a Featured Article would be much better than that. Boomer8 (talk) 07:24, December 14, 2012 (UTC)


 * Yeah, same here! I would love having a Featured Article section. -- ILan ( XD &bull; Edits &bull; Home ) 16:20, December 14, 2012 (UTC)


 * Anyone else have any opinions or comments on this? I wonder what Tom and Jeff think. Messi1983 (talk) 19:25, December 20, 2012 (UTC)


 * I'm fine with that idea. But if we're going to do something like that we should to have stricter and clearer standards for articles. Official layouts and policies and the like. People usually don't like it when I try to make rules though, I get complaints that I'm making the wiki no fun. Jeff (talk|stalk) 21:10, December 20, 2012 (UTC)


 * I think a Manual of Style is needed on this wiki. Messi1983 (talk) 21:33, December 20, 2012 (UTC)


 * I agree with Jeff and Dan, it's a good idea but we could do with a Manual of Style, like Dan said. Tom Talk 13:30, December 21, 2012 (UTC)


 * Okay well us three crats all agree on the Manual of Style, so we'll have to start discussing that soon. Does anyone else have any comments on featured articles? Messi1983 (talk) 16:47, December 21, 2012 (UTC)


 * Yes, will the Featured article be marked with a template, like that, or an 'Era' template (small icons at the top of the page, indicating games/groups/etc related to the page), like that? -- ILan ( XD &bull; Edits &bull; Home ) 16:58, December 21, 2012 (UTC)


 * Just an aside, I'm going away for about a week (give or take a couple days) for Christmas so I'll likely not be responding to this for a while... on the other hand I might end up with hours per day on my hands and put in some actual work on this place. But if I do go quiet that's why. Jeff (talk|stalk) 03:34, December 22, 2012 (UTC)


 * I say we leave the discussion until after Christmas as I'll be busy over the holiday period aswell. Messi1983 (talk) 04:26, December 23, 2012 (UTC)


 * I think this discussion should begin again. The featured articles are also on the Red dead Wiki and they seem good on there, so I also think it's a good idea. VaultBoy Tom (Talk to me this way) 20:09, March 28, 2013 (UTC)


 * We have the featured articles section, but it's been sticky on the ambulance for a long time. It would be nice if it changed only a weekly or bi-weekly rotor. JBanton (Talk | Contribs) 08:54, March 29, 2013 (UTC)


 * We can delete this section and make a new one. Also, a weekly rotor is such an annoying thing, as it would eventually repeat itslef too much. I prefer promoting articles to a "featured status" and then just show them 'randomly' each time when a user views the main page, like this one. -- ILan ( XD &bull; Edits &bull; Home ) 09:23, March 29, 2013 (UTC)


 * I like the sound of that. JBanton (Talk | Contribs) 10:01, March 29, 2013 (UTC)

Wiki Reconstruction
I say we should bring to the wiki back to life a little bit. We are one of the best wikis, but we lack of new users (50 a month isn't that good). Here are my ideeas:
 * Adding a new background (GTA V themed).
 * Based on the color of the background, we should change the wiki skin color.
 * Re-writing the main article and making it more friendly for new users.
 * Adding "featured articles" and polls.

Of course, this shouldn't happen that fast, but with GTA V on the way, we might catch some new users. We want them to stay, no?  Dodo8  Talk


 * I do agree with you on most things but GTA isn't really the most brightest game so, I don't think changing the Wikis skin colour will do much but the other ideas are good. VaultBoy Tom (Talk to me this way) 20:23, March 28, 2013 (UTC)
 * All those things sound good, espesially "featured articles". The only thing I don't agree with is changing the wiki's background. Great ideas!  Boomer8 (talk) 05:03, March 29, 2013 (UTC)
 * What this wiki needs is a GTA V background image. Messi1983 (talk) 05:54, March 29, 2013 (UTC)
 * We should definetely change the Main Page. It looks "old". Dodo8_logo.png Dodo8  Talk


 * Something with all the three protagonist or a view of Los Santos would be nice. -- ILan ( XD &bull; Edits &bull; Home ) 09:23, March 29, 2013 (UTC)
 * Yeah, that'd be nice. VaultBoy Tom (Talk to me this way) 09:51, March 29, 2013 (UTC)
 * The main page is fine as it is. It's the background image that needs changing. Messi1983 (talk) 11:40, March 29, 2013 (UTC)


 * Ok, Messi. I thought I could help, but I can't test backgrounds since I'm not an Admin. We might have to wait for someone with experience in making backgrounds. Any ideeas who could be? Maybe a Community Wikia staff? Dodo8_logo.png Dodo8  Tal
 * Sasquatch101 (talk) 03:33, April 1, 2013 (UTC)


 * Changing the backround to a backdrop of Los Santos would be a great face lift for the wiki. The wiki skin should stay dark though.


 * If the wiki is going to have a new background it should be the new protagonists. Like how the wiki currently has the IV Era protags. Not Los Santos.  Boomer8 (talk) 02:16, April 3, 2013 (UTC)


 * Agreed. Well if someone can make a background image, then I'll change it. Messi1983 (talk) 02:42, April 5, 2013 (UTC)
 * I have photoshop, but I'm not used to it. I think we will have to ask someone from the Community Wiki? Dodo8 Talk


 * Well, who made the current background? VaultBoy Tom (Talk to me this way) 08:57, April 5, 2013 (UTC)