Infosphere:Conference Table/Old format

The Conference Table is for discussion of the Infosphere, and proposals for new ideas. For information about upcoming changes to the Infosphere, see Current events.

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Our competition
Our competition, which includes two other wiki's. The community sides in the community portal does work with the same goal. We work to collect all information Futurama, in an objective unbiased (except for the fact that we love the show, so I guess we are biased). But yet, we are the fifth result on Google when searching for futurama wiki. In fact, the best competition we have is Wikipedia, which I am afraid is doing some better jobs on some issues. Also because they have all the delicious extensions. Yum yum. My point is... it has been awfully quiet lately, and also by the spambots. Either we did something efficient, or they are taking a break. But it seems only the regular editors are the one who views this wiki. So uh, we need to spread the word more efficiently.

Also, I'd like permission to edit CSS and Javascript/HTML, please. (you knew this was coming) --SvipTalk 13:52, 14 July 2007 (PDT)
 * Also, if I may add, this wiki does not appear to have an article on The Matt Groening Community Wiki. --SvipTalk 14:03, 14 July 2007 (PDT)
 * I just searched for Futurama wiki on google and now were 4th yeh, not much improvement but still -  Humorbot 0.4  [[Image:Planet_Express_Logo.png|20px]] 13:54, 25 November 2007 (PST)
 * Would it help if the main page name was changed? When you enter "Futurama Wiki" into Google it's displayed as "Main Page - The Infosphere" - what about "The Infosphere - Futurama Wiki" ? Robot Elder 21 March 2008
 * That is the name of our wiki. I remember reading an article about journalists, news sites and what not, simplifying their article or section names simply for the purpose of appearing higher on Google.  The description of our wiki on Google is very clear about who we are;
 * "Welcome to The Infosphere: A Futurama Wiki, the Futurama memory bank that anyone can edit. We currently have 785 articles [...]"
 * Sadly though, the Futurama Wikia still appears above us. I admit that their name is closer to "Futurama" and it does have their name in the title, but I am still a bit unconvinced.  However, I am not denying the importance, I would just like some suggestions from other SysOps of our fine wiki. --SvipTalk 03:19, 22 March 2008 (PDT)
 * I got an alternative idea, how about we add "From The Infosphere - A Futurama Wiki" on every page just below the title? Because that is possible.  --SvipTalk 05:56, 22 March 2008 (PDT)
 * It could work, I was under the impression that the key factor was what a page was linked to as though. So I just created a redirect to the main page at Futurama Wiki. We could try placing a hidden link to there on every page. - Quolnok 06:14, 22 March 2008 (PDT)
 * I tried adding the current tagline as you can see. But I was hoping to make it "The Infosphere - A Futurama Wiki" however, that would also make it appear like that in the title as well.  So opinions on that first. --SvipTalk 07:22, 22 March 2008 (PDT)
 * An alternative appearance could be similar to Wikipedia's; "The Infosphere, a Futurama Wiki". --SvipTalk 07:23, 22 March 2008 (PDT)
 * I just added on the rest of the tagline through CSS. - Quolnok 07:34, 22 March 2008 (PDT)
 * Like I mentioned in the edit summary, that won't do. The sole reason we wanted to do this was to get our position on Google (etc.) higher, but since it is added through CSS, it won't do any good, it has to be content.  And CSS is not regarded as content by search engines.  CSS is merely a layout put over for users of the site with a browser, etc.  --SvipTalk 07:38, 22 March 2008 (PDT)
 * Right, yes, must be time for sleep or something (2am). - Quolnok 07:44, 22 March 2008 (PDT)

Wikia's Futurama wiki
I recently thought only Wikipedia was our enemy, but apparently Wikia's Futurama wiki has been revived. However, while it is obvious that we still have a lot more information (since it appears by the recent changes article that only a single person is making their pages). I am still wondering why they are even bothering. I mean, Wikia might as well go and buy our wiki. However, I have noticed that they don't link to us any more. --SvipTalk 09:53, 7 January 2008 (PST)
 * Proberbly because if anyone follows the link they'll go wiat a second.... this wiki is much better -  Humorbot 0.4  [[Image:Planet_Express_Logo.png|20px]] 14:21, 7 January 2008 (PST)
 * Just an update, this wiki is the third result in Google! Samanathon 22:17, 9 January 2008 (PST)
 * If you search for Futurama alone on Google, we appear on page 3, and I cannot even seen the Wikia wiki by page 12. I say quite good given there are over 13 million results for Futurama on Google.  Hah.  Remember, Google does not base its relevance on links by its titles, but rather by what other sites links to it as.  --SvipTalk 16:19, 25 January 2008 (PST)
 * There are tricks to getting a website higher up on Google's results the interlinking within this wiki could be enough to boost our position, it's what helps other wikis. If there's a wiki for a topic it's almost always on the first few results. The more often we link to Futurama rather than just typing it the better (though adding "Futurama" to articles needlessly is a bad idea). Also, duplicating the Futurama page to Futurama/Futurama and linking between them would help too. That worked for Charlie Todd. - Quolnok 18:26, 25 January 2008 (PST)
 * I've looked at one of the other wikis and it was really hard to navigate - Fryandgarfield
 * Well, we did focus a lot on the navigation lately. We wanted it to become as easy as possible.  We admit though that our system isn't perfect, and still be improved.  Any suggestions are more than welcome.  I have been considering making an Navigation page describing how to use the navigation plus more. --SvipTalk 10:57, 10 March 2008 (PDT)

Merchandise
Hey, I was thinking we should maybe include info on Futurama merchandise as well as the fiction? Some suggestions: I got this idea from the Transformers wikia, which obviously is much more closely connected with toys than Futurama, but still thought it might be a good idea. Thoughts? SwitChar 07:35, 21 October 2007 (PDT)
 * Sections on action figures, statues and other toys and such in character articles
 * Similar sections on merchandise in articles on objects, products or animals, like sections on merch incarnations of the PE ship, Slurm or Brain slugs.
 * Articles on certain lines of toys or merchandise like shirts/clothing, the retro tin wind-ups, games etc.
 * I don't know about having it in the articles. They're filled with extraneous info as it is, and any more may burst them! But it really depends on how in-depth the info is, I guess. If it's just a quick "There's a toy of this thing" and a screenshot, that could easily be added... But if it's a detailed description and examination and critical review and notes on all points of articulation, then they probably need their own article (or an article for all merch, each thing with its own section). --Buddy 13:23, 21 October 2007 (PDT)
 * Actually many articles Don't have extraneous info, only a select few do. There actually needs to be more with extraneous info. At least, if you want the informational purpose of the wiki to be fulfilled.Anarchy Balsac 18:47, 4 January 2008 (PST)
 * I agree, for the most part, but anything notable enough to have a toy made of it is likely to be something that has tons of info in the article about it. But yes, many things should be expanded. --Buddy 18:26, 3 February 2008 (PST)

i agree i think we should have an article for all that stuff dr zoidberg 14

I think it would be agood idea because where I live you cant get the figures and i want to know about them. I would be happy to give descriptions on some of the figurines. Fryandgarfield.
 * I can provide photos of my own action figures and one bobble head, but we can also provide a direct link to the relevant page of the company who made them. Sadly, you cannot order online. Which is dumb. Why have a web presence if it's essentially useless? --Buddy 16:07, 15 March 2008 (PDT)
 * There are other sites you can buy from. It's a shame Collectorama seems to have disappeared, they were all about merch. The CGEF Merch page still has lots of the old stuff covered, which will help. - Quolnok 17:02, 15 March 2008 (PDT)

The Films
Let's talk about the films. So far, we are getting a release soon of the first one. However, I hate to admit, but yes, it is already leaked and wild on the Internet. While I do not endorse it, I could simply not wait. So yes, I have watched it. While I will reveal as little of the plot as possible before the film is released. I can tell the following "hard data":

The production code for the film is not XACV01, it is 5ACV01, 5ACV02, 5ACV03, 5ACV04, clearly making the production code for the four episodes it is supposed to be cut into.

Yes, the film has a title caption. And most appropriately it is "It just won't stay dead!", which I suggest as a quote on the front page. That is all for now.

P.S. Don't think I am not getting a real copy of the film, I have already preordered it, so there. I am a honest guy, just a very impatient honest guy. --SvipTalk 02:57, 20 November 2007 (PST)
 * That production code does make more sense. I'm holding out for the release date, the Xth of Y, 200Z. - Quolnok 05:16, 20 November 2007 (PST)

where can you watch it (i also preorderd it so dont think im not doing my part) p.s send me an email if you dont want any one else to know at hwrempel@shaw.ca dr zoidberg 14


 * I have already reserved my copy on Amazon. I see no reason not to post advanced details on the Bender's Big Score page--as long as a spoiler alert is included for people like me who are waiting for the movie to arrive in a mailbox near me. Almost every other show-centric wiki posts advance info on upcoming episodes, and I see this as being no different. But I won't read it until after I watch my copy of the movie. And I won't seek out the internet version. Also, while I was on Amazon, I ordered the 2008 calendar. Hooray Futurama. --Buddy 14:04, 22 November 2007 (PST)
 * Well, I understand your reason, and respect them. Obviously, otherwise you probably ban me or something.  But since you say so, I shall write the plot outline.  However, when you have watched it, there are many discussions to be had. --SvipTalk 16:17, 22 November 2007 (PST)
 * I will never ban for watching pirated material. HOwever, this is not the place to discuss how to attain illegal material (pirated Futurama or otherwise). That would be a bannable offense. Not because I have a moral objection to it (you should see my music collection), but because the site could get in real legal trouble and get shut down if stuff like that started going on here. --Buddy 16:21, 22 November 2007 (PST)

sory dr zoidberg 14

how are they going to make it into eps any way will they take an act and make into one ep will they have diferent pepoles difrent perspectives or what dr zoidberg 14
 * We simply do not know. They may even add some scenes not seen in the films.  Our best bet is to sit back and wait.  --SvipTalk 09:57, 23 November 2007 (PST)
 * *Pleased but sticky* Someone put it on a website stream, there's this program I use to meander about the internet and it somewhat randomly got foisted on me. I tried to hold out (indefinitely, I might add) for the release (for a day or so after finding it), but, well, I couldn't resist. I saw it, I will still eventually buy it as soon as it comes out, whenever that is. Also, it's very hot here. - Quolnok 22:17, 27 November 2007 (PST)
 * Sounds a lot like StumbleUpon, which is exactly how I found it. Stumbling blindly around the internet is fun. --Buddy 13:39, 2 December 2007 (PST)

Not big new for everyone else but now I've seen it -  Humorbot 0.4   13:13, 30 November 2007 (PST)
 * As have I, now that it arrived! Commentaries, special features, scripts... awesome! --Buddy 13:39, 2 December 2007 (PST)

on wikepidea and imdb it says the beast with a billion backs is coming out march 18th and theres also a link to tvbloger but i dont have an acount so i dont know if its relible if any one has any info let me know dr zoidberg 14


 * I have for the sake of our viewers added the date as a rumour. Since we cannot access this blog and get confirmation.  We must remain like this.  But as far as I can tell from the URL, the blog was posted back in September, 2007.  And I am not sure we had any sort of information about this film's release back then. --SvipTalk 15:23, 25 January 2008 (PST)

Why was the beast with a million eyes reference removed? It seems plausible this could be a double reference.Anarchy Balsac 17:17, 26 January 2008 (PST)

Background Jokes
I was thinking, both the simpsons and Futurama are known for their background jokes. Should there be a list for the background jokes on every episode? I think if we're to be a collective hub of Futurama info it would be important to do so.Anarchy Balsac 18:35, 7 January 2008 (PST)

do you mean a master list or for each episode dr zoidberg 14

Yeah, something like a trivia list except it says "background jokes" as its title.Anarchy Balsac 07:01, 11 January 2008 (PST)

great idea i say yes dr zoidberg 14


 * Would they need time-indices? --Buddy 18:36, 3 February 2008 (PST)
 * Wouldn't hurt, though it would make the task more tedious.Anarchy Balsac 21:21, 15 February 2008 (PST)

You could also make an article containing all the jokes from season 1, one for season 2, one for season 3, one for season 4 and onefor the upcoming movies.It would be easier than going through all the episodes and adding a new section. Fryandgarfield
 * Hmm... *searches* reminds me of this group of articles List of computer science references, which aren't linked from anything except each other and are far from complete. - Quolnok 18:26, 25 March 2008 (PDT)

Reopen IP edits
We have been running on required registration for a while now, and while it appears to be working just fine, I still feel it would be better if we allowed unregistered people to edit articles. But to avoid spambots we can use one of the following extensions; ConfirmEdit or ReCAPTCHA, I personal suggest the former one. This extension will require users unregistered to enter a CAPTCHA every time they edit. Are you logged in, you are not required to do so. It allows unregistered people to edit small things. E.g. a random bystander who spots an error in article, and just wants to fix it briefly, but has no intention of becoming a full member. Opinions? --SvipTalk 09:23, 12 January 2008 (PST)


 * Sounds good I think its been long enough and the CAPTCHA isea is great -  Humorbot 0.4  [[Image:Planet_Express_Logo.png|20px]] 12:52, 12 January 2008 (PST)
 * Certainly worth trying it. - Quolnok 18:55, 12 January 2008 (PST)

People who want to seriously contribute will have no trouble signing up. If you aren't too lazy to put in major contributions, you shouldn't be too lazy to sign up. Given how easy it is to DOS wikis, keeping the spam out by preventing the unregistered people from editing is a great idea.Anarchy Balsac 04:42, 13 January 2008 (PST)
 * While I somewhat agree with your statement, I also somewhat disagree. The problem is that a lot of viewers who come here for the purpose of the wiki (delivering information to the public) can at times spot errors in the things we have written and perhaps think that they could just fix that for us (as a gesture), but not for the idea of being a complete member.  But (some of) these people aren't really gonna do that when they are blocked by the "registration required" page.  Which means we can have a good deal of typos left in the wild.  I still think we should try it.  If it is a failure, then we will close it again. --SvipTalk 06:19, 13 January 2008 (PST)


 * Both good arguments, and I cannot decide. And so...

On the matter of re-opening the editing:

dr zoidberg 14
 * SvipTalk
 * Quolnok


 * Anarchy Balsac 01:03, 4 February 2008 (PST)

If "Accept" wins, I'll install that extension as a precaution. And, as was stated, if it works, we can always change it back. --Buddy 18:39, 3 February 2008 (PST)

Looks like "accept" wins. So we'll be re-opening open editing. But I'm in the mood for a break from the technical side of this site for a while, so unless Svip wants to do it (I think he can do it now), it'll be a few weeks. --Buddy 13:28, 4 March 2008 (PST)

IP Edits Open!... and closed ... and reopened!
I have now installed the ReCAPTCHA extension. And now non-logged in users can edit. The CAPTCHA are trigged on the following situations: We will keep it like this for a month, if it goes wrong again, it will be removed. I have kept the old settings in LocalSettings.php, just commented out. --SvipTalk 07:46, 7 March 2008 (PST)
 * Guests creating account.
 * Guests making edit.
 * Guests creating a new page.
 * There will be an extra CAPTCHA for users posting a lot of external links.
 * And so I closed it again, apparently that caused more trouble I had hoped for. Seemed we got a huge amount of 500's all of the sudden.  Maybe it was bad scripted.  I am not sure what exactly did it, but now that it is gone, everything seems to be working again.  However, I still think that the DreamHost servers are a bit too unstable for a site such as this.  I'll look into some other hosts. --SvipTalk 09:12, 7 March 2008 (PST)

Okay, I opened them again, this time I used ConfirmEdit, which is the same extension that Wikipedia uses, it is not as "sophisticated" but also requires less of the system. It will currently only kick in in the following situations: For more information see here. It is possible to make sure it will always put on the CAPTCHA when an unregistered user edits a page. But so far, that is disabled. If you want that, just say so. --SvipTalk 15:39, 19 March 2008 (PDT)
 * Adding of external URLs
 * Creating of account
 * Bad login
 * Okay, so here's the plan. We are going to keep this in place until the end of the month.  That is like ten days.  By 1 April, we will discuss how it works.  We can expect some vandalism, however, people could even register an account to do that if they were willing enough.  But at least we will not be targeted as much by bots now rather than real users.  To sum up, keep it in place, let's evaluate on 1 April, unless something terribly goes wrong! --SvipTalk 06:02, 20 March 2008 (PDT)
 * Sounds like a plan, so we have captcha? - Quolnok 06:08, 20 March 2008 (PDT)
 * Edit: guess not - Quolnok 06:10, 20 March 2008 (PDT)
 * We do, but it only kicks in when the user adds External URLs. However, that probably won't protect against such vandalism as word replacing, page blanking among other stuff.  You want me to enable it for any edit by an unregistered user?  --SvipTalk 08:12, 20 March 2008 (PDT)
 * No,no this is fine I just missed the first of those two posts. We'll see what happens like this. - Quolnok 17:26, 20 March 2008 (PDT)

Interwiki link!
I have a week suggested to add infosphere: in the general Interwiki map, this means that on wikis like Wikipedia, writing Main Page will link them here. You can read the discussion here;. While there is no decision yet, the user Lar says that if no one objects, it will be included in next round they add interwikis. We can only hope. --SvipTalk 14:12, 16 January 2008 (PST)
 * If all goes as planned, it will be listed here. --SvipTalk 14:15, 16 January 2008 (PST)
 * That's awesome Svip! Great idea!! Samanathon 11:06, 18 January 2008 (PST)
 * I suggetsted that a while back, I guess we were still to young then... - Quolnok 20:16, 18 January 2008 (PST)
 * \o/ It has been added, you can see it on the list here. And see the discussion here.  Note, that the update of the interwiki database is updated every few months, last time was in September, so it can only be soon. --SvipTalk 06:03, 30 January 2008 (PST)
 * Awesome, awesome to the max. - Quolnok 16:44, 30 January 2008 (PST)
 * Freakin' sweet! So now, on Wikipedia articles, they just have to type Philip J. Fry to link to our article? That's mega-awesome. --Buddy 18:40, 3 February 2008 (PST)
 * They just recently had a database update, so I tested it on Wikipedia and other WikiMedia Foundation sites, and it works. Sadly though, it still points to the old URL.  I requested an update to that though. --SvipTalk 16:39, 29 February 2008 (PST)
 * But now we've fixed the problem, thanks to you guys. So even the old URL will link them to the correct location. We can add it to be updated next time, but for now it'll work just fine. You guys are awesome! --Buddy 13:26, 4 March 2008 (PST)

Ah, good news, everyone, they have just updated our interwiki link (check out the map and the discussion). I have also done some research, the list on the database is included when new people install MediaWiki, which means that on future created independent Wikis (using the MediaWiki software of course) would have our interwiki link. Not that it means that much for them, but it is fun to consider. Heh. Last database update was 10 February, 2008. But I checked some discussion talking about updating it once a month. --SvipTalk 15:01, 10 March 2008 (PDT)

theinfosphere.org
Done! I've registered "theinfosphere.org" as our new address. Don't change your bookmarks just yet, as things have yet to DNS-ify, as well as the fact that I'll need to migrate the site over once that is complete. I'll still mirror things at futurama.overt-ops.com, since there are lots of links out there on the web (in fact, see if you can get them to change the interwiki link thingy for our new address). But yes, the transaction is final and the domain is ours. http://theinfosphere.org hooray.
 * Aha! Nice, you know, you can just do a symlink (if hosted on the same machine) to this directory (which is futurama.overt-ops.com) and then put it where the new domain is (which is theinfosphere.org):
 * ln -s futurama.overt-ops.com theinfosphere.org
 * If it is as on usual Dreamhost servers. At least though, in the futurama.overt-ops.com, change the server to "theinfosphere.org" in the LocalSettings.php file, it will make sure that all links will point to the new server, so old links will get people the right place. :) --SvipTalk 08:51, 15 February 2008 (PST)
 * I'm definitely thinking of doing this thingy. It may solve the problems we're having. The mirroring seems to have kicked in overnight, but now you're saying mirroring is bad. So I may need to try this method you've outlined here. --Buddy 11:17, 16 February 2008 (PST)
 * Just make sure you do it right. I hope you are aware how symlinks work!  Also, if possible, can you not check the error log?  It may tell us why the images are denied.  Because I can tell that it is denied when the browser sends a reference to the image, without it works.  I am not sure where this "hotlinking" block is.  Alternative, you could write to Dreamhost to ask how to get rid of it or whitelist the images. --SvipTalk 12:06, 16 February 2008 (PST)

What happened
The total outage was caused by the fact that I attempted to put things back the way they were: I moved the files back to futurama.etcetera and disabled the mirroring. However, after the mirroring was fully disabled, it still didn't load up the files that were there. I was thinking that if I could move everything back, I could start from scratch and actually get some advice from knowledgeable people before doing stupid sh*t like I seem to do. Anyway, I let that sit for around forty-eight hours, and when it didn't fix itself, I moved the files back to theinfosphere.org, which is still working fine. So, all the files are now at this new address, and the mirroring is still disabled (hence the no-workingness of the other url). As for the images, yes. If disabling referring url's clears up the problem, then it obviously really is the whitelist/hotlink block. I have viewed the .htaccess file and can see no references. However, the original hotlink block was set up via dreamhost's panel. But now, when attempting to view the hotlink settings, it says none are set up. So the move retained the settings, but made dreamhost's panel not recognize them anymore somehow. I would be glad to hear any advice you may have on how to solve this problem, as I am apparently very, very dumb. --Buddy 16:14, 21 February 2008 (PST)
 * Well, I know sometimes when settings are lost you can just set them again and it over rights the old stuff. Not that I've even done it on a web server. Is it possible the settings are somehow still on the old location (probably not if you moved all the data). Dreamhost is probably doing things in a non standard way if there's nothing in the htaccess. - Quolnok 17:44, 21 February 2008 (PST)
 * Also, when this is sorted again we might as well leave a notice, redirect and/or mirror at the old address. - Quolnok 19:03, 21 February 2008 (PST)
 * Well, my first suggestion would be to give DreamHost a call on how to remove the mirroring. Alternatively look for similarities of this in the .htaccess files, I know you said there weren't any in it right now, so it is plausible that the information DreamHost keeps for such is done another place.  So instead, try an enable the blocking and then disable it.  That may overwrite it like Quolnok said.  But write a mail to DreamHost while you're at it... couldn't hurt! --SvipTalk 03:28, 22 February 2008 (PST)

Happy Anniversary
I'm a bit late, but as of 20080130, the wiki is two years old. Congrats to all, and may we continue on, ad infinitum. --Buddy 18:31, 3 February 2008 (PST)
 * Till the end of time, or more likely the real Infosphere returns and fulfil its task. Perhaps in an alternative reality.  Congratulations. --SvipTalk 05:50, 4 February 2008 (PST)
 * Huzzah! I'm a little surprised I found this place so early in it's life. - Quolnok 06:08, 4 February 2008 (PST)
 * I understand why I found it like a year and a month into its age (or so). Cause I first got into Futurama in the last weekend of January, 2007.  Where I watched all episodes in three days due to a tip from a friend.  Ever since then, I have been hooked! --SvipTalk 06:13, 4 February 2008 (PST)

what day is today its the infosphers birthday what day for a birthday lets all have some cake dr zoidberg 14

We are back online!
After a few days of downtime, we are finally back up and running. The images are working, the new domain is working, but the old domain isn't, however, I have informed Buddy on how to fix it. I welcome you all to the new domain. :) --SvipTalk 05:35, 28 February 2008 (PST)
 * Hooray, we're back, I'll check the owl traps. - Quolnok 05:42, 28 February 2008 (PST)
 * Yall should have redirected it, I went searching on google and everything and only found dead links to the old URL.Anarchy Balsac 19:45, 4 March 2008 (PST)
 * Try again. I just checked the google links and they all work fine. And they've already registered the new domain, so searches for "Futurama WIki" lead to the new domain, but we've dropped below the wikia wiki. I really don't know how to fix that, but maybe the Interwiki linking will help, since we can put links in Wikipedia on Futurama-related pages and such. --Buddy 18:58, 5 March 2008 (PST)
 * Yeah, the old URL finally redirected me here(albiet, with a typo) which is how I found this place. I seriously thought the place went over it's size limit(which is not uncommon with wikis).Anarchy Balsac 21:09, 6 March 2008 (PST)

were back baby dr zoidberg 14

And we owe it all to Svip. After being retarded for two or three weeks (surely it wasn't a month? (refuses to check dates)), I just gave svip some good ole FTP access, and he had it fixed in what I can assume was three seconds. Let us all give Svip a round of applause! --Buddy 14:59, 3 March 2008 (PST)
 * Redirect at old domain seems faulty; this http://futurama.overt-ops.com/Fry/o takes you to theinfosphere.orgfry/o probably redirecting from futurama.overt-ops.com/ (with slash) to theinfosphere.org (without slash) or similar.- Quolnok 16:38, 3 March 2008 (PST)
 * Yes, I know. I have no idea what the dilly-yo. Oddness indeed. --Buddy 17:34, 3 March 2008 (PST)
 * If on the actual redirect itself only futurama.overt-ops has a slash; Put a slash on the other. If neither do, add them in. If both do remove them. Or if redirects are set up in a way where you can only see one link, remove or add the slash. Those are my guesses. - Quolnok 17:53, 3 March 2008 (PST)
 * Quolnok is right, Buddy, you have to add a slash at the end of the redirect. It is important, you might have to delete the domain once more and "recreate" it.  Remember domain: futurama.overt-ops.com redirect: http://theinfosphere.org/ .  Do it like that and it should work.  I have tried it myself using DreamHost's systems.  But the slash is important. --SvipTalk 04:07, 4 March 2008 (PST)
 * Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Well, I'll get to that as soon as Dreamhost is accessible again. They seem to be offline...--Buddy 13:21, 4 March 2008 (PST) [update]: Done and done. Thanks all for the assistance. Hopefully it'll be a while before I have to do anything else technical, since apparently I'm really bad at it. And right now my emails won't send (yet oddly I can receive), so I have that problem to try to fix as well... --Buddy 13:24, 4 March 2008 (PST)

Special:Allmessages
Have some of you have probably noticed, I have deleted a whole lot of pages (154) in recent changes (as of right now (note: This link will take you to the time where the entire log of deleted pages is shown for future references)). These pages are part of Special:Allmessages, which keeps a list of all messages. I noticed that several of them were out of date, and I presumed they must have stayed with the upgrade of the wiki, since they all had the same user as contributor: "MediaWiki default". So I deleted those out of date, those with spelling errors and those that simply looked too much like the default one anyway. But I kept some (you can see that from the list by hitting the "show modified only" button (note: it first appears when the page is fully loaded, it takes a while as it is very big)).

Of course, only sysops can edits these messages, but if Buddy feels it would be cool if it said "timeline" rather than "history" on each page, this is where he should go. I am only writing this to inform you why there is this huge amount of deleted pages in the recent changes page right now. --SvipTalk 08:33, 9 March 2008 (PDT)

New extensions!
I took the liberty of installing some interesting extensions to our wiki. Namely ImageMap and SyntaxHighlight GeSHi. The first provides the possibility to create image maps, where specific parts of an image is clickable, perfect for family tress, etc. The second provides us with syntax highlighting. Both of them comes with two new tags: and. Check out their pages for more information on usage. --SvipTalk 16:06, 10 March 2008 (PDT)
 * Ugh, apparently the SyntaxHighlight extension requires a hook added in MediaWiki 1.11.0, and we are using 1.10.0. If Buddy upgrades the Wiki via the DreamHost panel, I will let him upgrade it.  If not, I can upgrade it manually.  As a result, I have disabled this extension for now.  If you got any other extensions you'd like to see added to the Wiki, just say so.  Check Wikipedia's Special:Version to see what extensions they use. --SvipTalk 16:14, 10 March 2008 (PDT)
 * As a treat, I installed two other extensions instead. Namely EasyTimeline and Poem.  The first one allows you to create a timeline using some syntax as apparent from its article.  The second one is poem, which is super simple, it just adds the tag, which allows you to have "poem" like formatting inside.  This is especially useful for our quotes, song lyrics, transcripts and what not.  --SvipTalk 16:40, 10 March 2008 (PDT)
 * Because of the move, Dreamhost no longer recognizes the install. From now on, you can upgrade whenever you want. :D I look forward to seeing what kind of fun stuff people do with the new extensions. --Buddy 17:19, 10 March 2008 (PDT)
 * Since I just upgraded, I have added some extensions that can work with the current version, such as an extension that allows you to dismiss the sitenotice, neat, eh? I also installed the syntax highlighter again, which you can see highlights our sources: MediaWiki:Common.js. :) --SvipTalk 17:52, 10 March 2008 (PDT)

New quote style.
As apparent from the discussion above, I added an extension that gives use the, this is useful for our quotes, so I have written the following template (Template:Q) to create a new system, you can check out the template page on how to use it. Opinions? --SvipTalk 16:59, 10 March 2008 (PDT)
 * I have tried it on Miscellany of Bender's Big Score for a real world example! --SvipTalk 17:07, 10 March 2008 (PDT)
 * At first I didn't see much of a change there, but it gets rid of the need to use  tags so it'll probably help the casual editors. - Quolnok 19:28, 10 March 2008 (PDT)

Upgrade completed.
As you can see on the Special:Version page, we are now on version 1.11.3. So far it appears the upgrade went without a hitch. However, if you do discover an issue, please report it here. I suggest you do some tests. Now I can activate some of those extensions I wanted to do before. --SvipTalk 17:46, 10 March 2008 (PDT)
 * Woah, here is an upgrade twist, apparently the newer version has a lessen (or better) way to judge whether articles are actually "content" worthy. So now we have Special:Statistics articles.  Woah.  That is an increase of over 100 from before and after the upgrade.  And it really makes it clear that we have more articles than that Wikia wiki, because they are probably on the newest MediaWiki, and theirs says 500 something articles.  Eat it, everyone who hasn't won a Nobel Prize!  And that includes you, Amy. --SvipTalk 17:59, 10 March 2008 (PDT)
 * Actually they seem to be running an outdated alpha version, higher number than ours but not as good as 'kipedia's alpha. Otherwise, woohoo we win by even more! - Quolnok 19:35, 10 March 2008 (PDT)
 * Another thing that makes me more confident in this version, is that the statistics page now say we have over 1300 files uploaded, the previous version said about 300. And browsing the file list, it is clear that we have above a thousand files uploaded.  I mean, think of all the screen caps of title captions, opening cartoons, and what not?!  I also feel the newer version is slightly faster than the previous one. --SvipTalk 04:34, 11 March 2008 (PDT)

Google Analytics
I was thinking that this wiki have grown up, it is time for getting some analytics about our wiki. I can highly recommend Google Analytics. I have been using for several sites, and it is super easy to set up. All I need is your opinion, and I shall set it up and share the analytics with the SysOps who wish to see them (e-mail me your Google Account (you don't need a gmail account to have a Google Account) and I shall invite you). --SvipTalk 07:37, 11 March 2008 (PDT)
 * Well, I went ahead and did it anyway! If you do not approve, I can always get it removed again.  It did require me to change the /skins/MonoBook.php file to insert the code, so it appears at the bottom of every page.  But since it is at the bottom, it is the last thing that is executed, and thus it will not slow down the site.  If any SysOps want to see the analytics as well, just e-mail me or something with your Google Account e-mail and I shall add you. :) --SvipTalk 08:03, 11 March 2008 (PDT)
 * Well, ever since the last upgrade, the Dreamhost stats page is gone anyway (the mediawiki treats it as a normal page request and then says it doesn't exist anymore), so I'm glad we'll have something. It was always fun to see what search terms got people here ("sexlexia" was always popular), and what sites linked to us. So yeah, sounds snazzy. I see no links at the bottom of the pages, though. And I have no google account that I'm aware of, so let me know what I need to do to get in on this. :D --Buddy 13:25, 11 March 2008 (PDT)
 * Apply for any of Google's services, e.g. Google Calendar, Google Reader, Google Mail or whatnot. Any of these will allow you to get a Google account.  The easiest way is to sign up for Gmail. --SvipTalk 15:19, 11 March 2008 (PDT)
 * For more information, I suggest you see this. --SvipTalk 16:17, 11 March 2008 (PDT)
 * I'm guessing you mean to email through the wiki's email system. I might as well take a look. - Quolnok 19:04, 11 March 2008 (PDT)
 * And you, sir, would have guessed correctly. --SvipTalk 19:24, 11 March 2008 (PDT)
 * Not to be an annoyance, but I do prefer to get some sort of confirmation that you actually got the ability to see the reports. So... well... did you? --SvipTalk 09:44, 12 March 2008 (PDT)
 * Whoops, yes I can see it. - Quolnok 18:24, 12 March 2008 (PDT)

I accidentally signed up for a google account (long story), so what information do you need from me to get me the information I need from you in order to see the information I'd like to see from google? --Buddy 19:38, 22 March 2008 (PDT)
 * The email your account is attached to. Remember you have to log in with an email address, and that is the one I need for the account.  So send me that information (the email address) and I'll add you.  Sorry for the redundancy. --SvipTalk 05:00, 23 March 2008 (PDT)
 * You can, if you want, send me an email with your email, if you don't it shown on this page for all to see. --SvipTalk 09:57, 23 March 2008 (PDT)
 * Sweet. It's just jcrogers@overt-ops.com --Buddy 12:02, 23 March 2008 (PDT)
 * Okay, invited you, please to confirm it. --SvipTalk 09:28, 24 March 2008 (PDT)
 * Would that I could. I cannot see such an invite anywhere. Would it come to my email, or would I find it somewhere in my google account? Neither of which can I see. If it's an email, it's possible it got flagged as junk, so I might have to go through there... not a pleasing thought... ;) --Buddy 08:49, 26 March 2008 (PDT)
 * Interesting side note, Alexa have us listed. Accordingly, 0.00007% of all Internet users visits our site.  Huh!  What you think of that?!  --SvipTalk 04:09, 25 March 2008 (PDT)

The Infosphere in other languages?
While editing the dubbing article (which I personally am very proud of right now), I was thinking about the possibility for having this Wiki in other languages, similar to Wikipedia. Personally, I would love to be able to contribute with a Danish version. And I personally wouldn't mind accessing da.infosphere.org/ ;) But the question really is; is there a need for it?  Or are we unable to handle more as it is? --SvipTalk 09:48, 17 March 2008 (PDT)
 * Actually, it'd be da.theinfosphere.org infosphere.org has another owner. There's been a discussion about this before, I beleive the only reason this didn't pan out was that none of the sysops spoke other languages at the time, clearly you now are and do so something could happen. Also I just discovered the German wiki - futuramapedia, which seems to have died. - Quolnok 19:58, 17 March 2008 (PDT)
 * You know... there also was a Spanish Futurama wiki, which died out as well. But with our Wiki's activeness (which is quite spectacular), we could easily invite people of other languages to get their own wiki on this site.  I did attempt to contact the people on that German wiki, but apparently they have restricted registration and the ability to contact people to ... no one.  So well, that wasn't possible.  And my German isn't that good.  Also, the last activity there was 18 January, 2008.  Also, I simply forgot the the in the link.  :( Sorry.  However, if we do that, would it not be advisable to have en.theinfosphere.org as well?  And simply redirect every link from theinfosphere.org/ to en.theinfosphere.org/?  Anyway, we need some foreign language contributors that's for sure.  Wiki articles doesn't write themselves!  But I am really only any good with Danish.  But I think maybe foreigners would like the idea of being able to contribute in their own language. --SvipTalk 03:51, 18 March 2008 (PDT)
 * Also, if we decide to do it, we could put a notice on the Main Page to inform about the new localisations we have. Of course, we would then also recommend any willing contributors for another localisation to sign up.  Of course, each new localisation would have to go through a progress.  Cause, let's face it, here I can claim to speak Danish, but you will never really know if I can, will you?  Not unless you got another Danish speaking fellow to verify it for you.  I am not lying about my ability to speak Danish, I am using it as an example.  I was thinking of a notice similar to that on the English Wikipedia's Main Page. --SvipTalk 04:37, 18 March 2008 (PDT)
 * I know, I know, but I thought Buddy would make some sort of statement on this now that he made one on the date format, but alas! Anyway, while I do admit that Danish isn't one of the major languages of the world, it is the only one (other than English) any of us (real contributors) can speak, write, etc.  Well... since it is my mother tongue.  But I think we can use it as a message to people who wants a Futurama wiki in their language.  Cause when they see there is a Danish Infosphere, they will think; "maybe I can get it in my language as well."  Of course, I will write on the Danish Infosphere, but I think it needs to be sort of a "sales message," if you catch my drift. --SvipTalk 16:02, 18 March 2008 (PDT)
 * No comment from me. I'm not sure logistically how something like that works. The trouble is with getting translators and making sure the content is consistent throughout. --Buddy 17:08, 18 March 2008 (PDT)

Well, if you don't like that, you can always have Archduke Chocula... eh... sorry, was in Futurama mode. Anyway, what I meant, is that we could make a "search" for foreign contributors, then make a guide (e.g. Other Language Version or something) which described how to suggest a foreign language, some rules of engagement, and of course that every suggestion needed to be discussed. For instance, we must be sure that the contributor will be a real contributor, and not someone would will vanish as soon as it has been created. There we will require their e-mail and we will do a test if it is working. Stuff like that. Then we will discuss the suggestion. Sort of like when I suggested our Interwiki link for MediaWiki, eh? Cause to be honest, there are some serious Futurama fan sites in other languages than English. And encouraging them to help on in their own language and perhaps also then the English version our popularity would only go one way. And that way is up! Never underestimate the importance of non-English sites. I am just thinking that a Danish Infosphere (which would be maintained) would be a good encouragement for speakers of other languages. And Buddy you do need to make a comment, cause you're the one who is going to make the subdomain at the DreamHost panel! I'll do the rest. --SvipTalk 15:10, 19 March 2008 (PDT)
 * I didn't mean I'd ignore the subject, I just meant that I had no opinion. If we decide to go forward, I'll gladly create the appropriate sub-domains. And it seems it is going forward, so let me know which ones we need to start with (en, de, and whatever Danish is?) :D --Buddy 19:39, 22 March 2008 (PDT)

i could contribute a german version dr zoidberg 14

Standardised date format?

 * Conclusion: New standard date format:  DD Month, YYYY .

I have noticed that around this Wiki we have several versions of writing dates and I was thinking it might be high time for a standardisation on that issue. Personally I prefer the format ,  (e.g. "17 March, 2008"), most people in the world use it, and it doesn't require you to end the date part in st/nd/rd/th, and it allows people to interpret it the way they like. Mainly because writing it that way is hardly like you pronounce it in English (you do pronounce it this way in most other languages though, English is just weird when it comes to date formats), it will allow people to adopt their own pronunciation of it. I mean people are quite aware what "17 March, 2008" means. Point is, I am just wondering if we should keep the unorganised format of the dates as it is right now or make a standard. --SvipTalk 13:50, 17 March 2008 (PDT)
 * If we don't officially have a standard (I can't remember) I prefer that format too. Most of our traffic does come from Americaland though and they almost all use March 17, 2008. One thing for sure is that we can't use a format with a numerical month because that leads to confusion when the day is less than 13. - Quolnok 20:04, 17 March 2008 (PDT)
 * Yes, months should be spelt, rather than numerically represented. Even if it's just the first three letters, like "Aug" or whatever. THough that makes "Jun" and "Jul" look dumb. As for the format...
 * I believe this falls under the category of UK vs US English (sort of). Do people outside the US actually say "Seventeen March, two thousand eight"? I mean, I know they write it that way, but I've never heard it spoken that way. Most British people I'm exposed to are actually speaking for American-made shows (like Discovery Channel shows), so they're probably made to Americanize it. And the few non-Americanized Brits I've heard never say the date (Why doesn't Red Dwarf have a calendar?!). Anyway, since Futurama is an American show, we could make an argument for the American method, but since the rest of the world is bigger, we could also make an argument for the other way. My personal method is completely different from both (now is: 20080318-1618), but it's not an easily-readable format. And yes, this question has come up before. Before archiving, if I remember, so I can't point to the previous discussion (nor can I remember what was decided...) But perhaps we should vote, though I'm sure I can predict the outcome. Personally, I have no problem with the non-US method of writing it, so whatever you guys decide. :D (All that text, and what did I really say? Nuttin', that's what.) --Buddy 15:24, 18 March 2008 (PDT)
 * No, they don't pronounce it that way, no one does (in English), but all other European languages (well almost I suppose, I haven't really checked them ALL) write dates in that format. Which is the standard format of writing dates in the EU now.  It is also widely accepted elsewhere in the world, even in North America in more "official" thingies.  I mean, even the MediaWiki system makes the dates like that when we sign our posts! --SvipTalk 15:27, 18 March 2008 (PDT)
 * I'm pretty sure most of Australia pronounces it in that order, shoving in a "th", "rd" or "st" and an "of" after the day but before the month, I sure do. - Quolnok 17:54, 18 March 2008 (PDT)
 * Well, yeah. Of course. In the US, the common(er) way of saying the date is "March eighteenth, two thousand eight". You'll also hear "The eighteenth of March", but it's less common, and rarely do people write it this way. Personally, I'm all for the "DD Month, (YY)YY" method. Those are standard date annotations, BTW. Spelling out the word "Month" indicates that the month should be spelled out (duh). Anyway, yeah. All in favour? (signature follows, including Wiki-format date...) [edit]: See this for some interesting info on the subject. --Buddy 18:47, 18 March 2008 (PDT)
 * Then it's settled. --SvipTalk 03:46, 22 March 2008 (PDT)

The tagline
"From the Infosphere, a Futurama Wiki" -- Personally, I've always written it as "The" Futurama wiki. It makes us sound more important. --Buddy 19:53, 22 March 2008 (PDT)
 * Sure, but why not also add it to the front page? --SvipTalk 05:07, 23 March 2008 (PDT)

im for it dr zoidberg 14
 * Buddy, do a search for "futurama wiki" on Google, most likely Wikipedia will come on first. Notice its name "Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia" (though it should be spelt "encyclopaedia"), I was thinking do the same thing, just "The Infosphere, the Futurama Wiki".  I know it would appear on ever page in every title (that is the tag).  But I still think it would boost our position on Google. --SvipTalk 16:27, 24 March 2008 (PDT)
 * First, a point. Just because US English is different from UK English does not make one right and the other wrong. Encyclopedia is a perfectly fine way to spell it. Especially a US-based site like Wikipedia. And on the other note, yes. I'll change the title of the wiki. If'n I can remember how. --Buddy 08:55, 26 March 2008 (PDT)
 * Hey, don't mind my thoughts about encyclopaedia :P It was in a brackets for a reason (i.e. just ignore it).  Seriously though, I can change it.  But have we decided on "The Infosphere, the Futurama Wiki"?  (which btw is similar in format to Wikipedia's). --SvipTalk 09:01, 26 March 2008 (PDT)
 * I assume by your silence that it is okay. So as you can see, I've done it.  Happy?  Good. --SvipTalk 10:42, 26 March 2008 (PDT)

Internal Errors
Every few days now I've been hitting internal errors while trying to use the site. usually in the form of a non existent article rather than the error page. When I've actually seen error pages it tends to be one of these:

Internal Server Error

The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request.

Please contact the server administrator, webmaster@theinfosphere.org and inform them of the time the error occurred, and anything you might have done that may have caused the error.

More information about this error may be available in the server error log.

Additionally, a 500 Internal Server Error error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.

Internal error

Redirect loop detected!

This means the wiki got confused about what page was requested; this sometimes happens when moving a wiki to a new server or changing the server configuration.

Your web server was detected as possibly not supporting URL path components (PATH_INFO) correctly; check your LocalSettings.php for a customized $wgArticlePath setting and/or toggle $wgUsePathInfo to true.

[infosphereLogoHere] The Infosphere has a problem

Sorry! This site is experiencing technical difficulties.

Try waiting a few minutes and reloading.

(Can't contact the database server: User buddy13 has already more than 'max_user_connections' active connections (abreig.overt-ops.com))

- Quolnok 19:05, 23 March 2008 (PDT)
 * Well, the first one refers to heavy load on the site. The second one... I haven't seen myself.  The last one refers directly to a heavy load on the database.  Since we share our wiki with other sites, we can only make that many connections to the database at once.  The best solution for a fix would be getting our own dedicated server.  But I believe we should first do that when we expect a serious heavy load on our site. --SvipTalk 09:06, 26 March 2008 (PDT)

Character types
I think we can all safely agree on what is a Primary character, but when it comes to Secondary characters and Tertiary characters, it becomes a bit more debatable. According to the current definitions, it goes like this: But here is where the problem is. Some characters will be labelled as tertiary, even though they have a much larger importance than a secondary character. Example, Steve Castle, the man takes over the company, he is one of the main characters in that episode, and that is an undeniable fact. Since he dies in the same episode he appears in, he was (I edited it myself, because I didn't agree) labelled as a tertiary character. But for instance, since 21st Century girl appears in both episode Love's Labours Lost in Space and The Sting, she is labelled as a secondary character, despite the fact that she have no major importance on the plot of any episode.
 * Primary: Appears in most or all episodes, films and comics.
 * Secondary: Appearing in more than one episode, film or comic.
 * Tertiary: Only appearing in one episode, film or comic.

Instead, I think we should label our types of characters upon plot importance. I am not going to argue for the primary characters, they are set, and are interchangeable. But for secondary and tertiary, it could be like so; I'd especially like to hear Qoulnok's opinion. --SvipTalk 03:43, 25 March 2008 (PDT)
 * Secondary: Characters with some or more plot changing purpose in one or more episodes, films or comics.
 * Tertiary: Characters without any plot changing purpose in one or more episodes, films or comics.
 * Sounds more accurate, but it still leaves some characters questionable. Petunia, for instance is in a number of episodes but doesn't quite meet that definition and I think she should be secondary. - Quolnok 06:50, 25 March 2008 (PDT)
 * I agree. But perhaps add more to the definition for secondary then.  E.g. "Characters with some or more plot changing purpose in one or more episodes, films or comics and/or large reuse of character with interaction with main characters."  And thanks for not pointing out my misspelling of your nick. --SvipTalk 07:12, 25 March 2008 (PDT)