GTA Wiki talk:Staff Noticeboard/archive1

__NEWSECTIONLINK__Welcome to the Grand Theft Wiki Staff Noticeboard. This is a space for staff to issue notices and invite discussion amongst staff. Here, staff can explain recent events, things to watch out for and potential changes; or request comments, suggestions and ideas on anything on the Wiki.

This page is to be edited by Staff only. If you would like to discuss an issue mentioned here, please use the |talk page.

Please start a new section for every new topic, and don't forget to indent properly and sign your comments.

Task List
I'd like to remind all our Staff of the Task List I created. This outlines the various cleanup and administrative tasks for admins and editors. Pick some tasks that you can regularly check on, and try to keep on top of those. Managers should ensure that all the tasks on that page are looked at periodically, if not regularly. Feel free to add more to the list, comment on the talk page, or discuss here - Gboyers talk 01:44, 4 July 2008 (UTC)

Orphaned pages
Something we need to work on is Orphaned Pages (Lonely Pages). These are 141 pages which nothing links to (excluding categories). Categories are NOT the main way of navigating the Wiki, they're meant to be used to "find more stuff like this". Articles are the main way to find things, and lists can be very effective if used well. So can we start spamming links to some of these orphaned pages? It's pretty much a one-off job, then we can just keep an eye on it. Thanks - Gboyers talk 01:50, 4 July 2008 (UTC)

Potential Candidate Administrators
I'd like to suggest the following users be considered for candidacy for advancement to Administrator status: In my opinion, these editors seem to make very good edits, handle things in a mature manner, and generally work to improve the wiki and the community. EganioTalk 03:05, 4 July 2008 (UTC)
 * MattyDienhoff
 * Elbarto90se
 * MasterChief117
 * Hardrock182


 * We should probably hold a big event to appeal to members to try to become staff. We do need new admins, and it is best for us to have the biggest selection to pick from. We should give everyone the opportunity to become staff, and show them how they can do the right things to be considered. This is not just a ploy to cover the Task List, but a genuine opening with real opportunity. I think this would be a great initiative for the site, the team, and (most importantly) the visitors. Don't offer anyone the jobs yet, we'll fix up all the recruitment pages then start blasting the word out. Gboyers talk 03:17, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

E-mail from Sukhoi-35BM
I would like to post here a copy, word-for-word, of an e-mail I received today from Sukhoi-35BM. I responded to his e-mail on his talk page, since he does not have e-mail activated on his Grand Theft Wiki user account. So...I was banned without warning? Dude, the other admin was a) being a cocksucker and b) abusing his power. He was talking down to me, to I talked to him like I would to any cocksucker. I have nothing against you, but perhaps better selection of admins is necessary... I've been wanting to use that template for a while, now ;) --GuildKnightTalk2me 03:46, 6 July 2008 (UTC)


 * How sweet! I'm surprised he could tell that I'm a "cocksucker" just from my photo!  Must be psychic.  Anyway, I think I'm going to take a hiatus from here for a while...feeling a little exposed and unwelcome. EganioTalk 06:03, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

GK: Spot on again, proving I've made the right choice. Ed: Don't take it personally - of course he's going to be upset if he's suspended. In fact, looking at his comments (and the reason he got banned) he's the type of person that IS going to cause a fuss. We'll let him make a formal complaint, and we'll handle it properly, so you have nothing to worry about. If he kicks up a fuss again, he's out. I remind you both that this page is public, so keep it professional. Gboyers talk 12:37, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

Community Portal
The Community Portal needs a bit of a re-think. At the moment its just news, bulletins and a few basic instructions. It needs to be the first place people go for non-encyclopaedic content, such as help/instructions/tools, discussion/forums/talkpages, userpages/editorials/forums, info/staff/policy. It shouldn't just be a collection or widgets, nor a collection of links. It needs to be well laid out, user-friendly and accessible, without being overcomplicated or useless. I'd appreciate it if someone could sketch up some plans for this in their user space, and then we'll see where we go from there.

This fits into the idea of having portals for each subject, and also the heightened amount of community discussion. Remember that this is a wiki all about information, so proactive discussion is key - we don't want or need loads of fancy widgets or multicoloured fun sections; however we still need to engage our community and provide all the support we can for people to extend & improve our information. Gboyers talk 03:14, 9 July 2008 (UTC)


 * Just wanted to point something out: I think if the Community Portal is intended to be the first place people go for non-encyclopedic content (to use Gboyers' words), then it should be more prominently displayed on the main page. As it stands, it is at the very bottom.  I think in the interest of user-friendliness, it should be at the top with or under the Contents heading.  We've already got many of the principal aspects of the Community Portal (e.g. Help, HowTo, Editing) listed there...maybe we should consolidate/expand on the main page. Thoughts? EganioTalk 07:45, 9 July 2008 (UTC)


 * Also, please see GuildKnight's Sandbox and the concomitant discussion. She's got some great stuff (as usual!). EganioTalk 08:01, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

Yes, the Community Portal needs to be more prominently positioned, more heavily promoted, and more commonly used. However, it would be silly to do that with the Community Portal in its current state. This should happen only after the new portal has been implemented. I've made a couple of edits to GK's sandbox, and it's looking pretty good. I'd like to keep thinking what can (usefully) go on that page, without duplicating the Main Page. Gboyers talk 04:12, 20 July 2008 (UTC)

Swearing
A couple of users have been writing mission pages which include a lot of inappropriate/informal language and swearing. An example of this is here. I deal with this whenever I see it, but keep your eyes peeled for walkthroughs that are worse than just badly-structured. Gboyers talk 02:47, 25 July 2008 (UTC)


 * I wasn't actually aware that the word used there is considered swearing... the ignorant American, again! ;)  --GuildKnightTalk2me 04:02, 25 July 2008 (UTC)

Cleanup
I notice the Cleanup category has been growing recently. Can we make a big effort this week to bring it down to a manageable size? Most of them are simple cases of structuring it like a wiki, but some of them may be a little trickier. If we can get rid of all the easy ones this week that would be awesome - Gboyers talk 02:49, 25 July 2008 (UTC)


 * I've been trying to tackle some of the articles in the cleanup category, but every time I remove one, it seems new ones pop up! So far, we're still around 60 articles...I'll keep it up, but will need some help! EganioTalk 23:09, 4 August 2008 (UTC)