Talk: Community portal/Archive 8

This page is an archive of past discussions. Do not edit the contents of this page.

If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page.

New Wiki Features

These new features coming soon, like the videos.. how much more are they going to screw with us? The ad bar on the right is bad enough.. --User:Throex ^TALK|CONT 20:49, 3 November 2011 (UTC)

I agree not only are thous videos badly made, they contain English voice over, something forbidden by wiki rules! My guess is that it was the forums idea without questioning the admins and/or parts of the community, and as much as good will is important, I don't think its good for the wiki.--Yurisho 22:08, 3 November 2011 (UTC)

I think its horrible for the Wiki, its against the rules and useless for other language users out there. They would have to make the same video for each language for it to be effective. And I highly agree that the videos are POORLY made. --User:Throex ^TALK|CONT 00:09, 4 November 2011 (UTC)

Can someone hit me up with a link to the videos in question? The first I've heard.--Kerotan 02:17, 4 November 2011 (UTC)

The videos better not autoload. My bandwidth is being chewed up enough with the advertisements. --HexZyle 03:36, 4 November 2011 (UTC)

What videos? –User:Ultradude25 ^{(User:Ultradude25/t|User:Ultradude25/c)} at 05:48, 4 November 2011 (UTC)

In the minecraft forums they announce they gonna add some videos for the wiki, since then the post was deleted so I believe they understood the idea was sh*t.--Yurisho 06:34, 4 November 2011 (UTC)

Yes the post was deleted, it was in the news section of the forums. Glad they realized... but its not over.. They said that was one of MANY features coming to the wiki soon. --User:Throex ^TALK|CONT 13:13, 4 November 2011 (UTC)

I would like to see a download for this as a .dictionsary file, for the MacBookPro app Dictionary, so it can be put on my computer rather than on this website NINJAS KICK BUTT 16:28, 13 January 2012 (UTC)

IGN/Minecon

This section will cover two topics.

1. IGN, They seem to be helping minecraft out with minecon, I have noticed that they have started their own "wiki" for submitting ideas over on the IGN website.
IGN WIKI

They have also stated that they will be holding contest for users who submit videos to their youtube channel and users who help submit information to their Wiki. Why not hold contest for the users of this wiki and show support for US. We are the ones who edit and change this wiki on a daily basis to keep the information correct and current.
I don't understand why IGN would even host a wiki on their website about minecraft when this amazing wiki already exist.. Can anyone else spread some light in on this?

2. Minecon/IGN
Should there be a section listed on the wiki that includes IGN and the help they have given Mojang in doing their Minecon event?

I am sure some of this news is NOT new to other users, but it is to me. Considering I just found out about it when I discovered (5 minutes ago) that IGN would be helping hold a live stream for users not able to make it to Minecon. Either way, let me know what you think.. The entire wiki thing upsets me.. to know that they will have contest for wiki users there.. and not us. --User:Throex ^TALK|CONT 01:42, 6 November 2011 (UTC)

I'm not sure what the issue is here, IGN has wikis for everything, none of them are particularly successful. Mojang works with many networks, but this is and will remain the "Official" wiki. No, we do NOT highlight work done by our competitors, nor do we link to, or drive traffic to them. Curse's contest was sending 2 people from anywhere in the US to Minecon, and that contest ran for the entire month of October. Curse is going to have a LARGE presence at Minecon, the preparations have been going on for weeks, and there will be regular reports and extensive coverage of the entire event (most likely including video) available on our forums for anyone who isn't able to attend in person. -- Wynthyst Image:User Wynthyst sig icon.png :en:User talk:Wynthyst 14:10, 11 November 2011 (UTC)

Related/funny twitter quotes for each page?

I was wondering if we should perhaps put in a twitter quote from a Mojang employee at the top of each page, that relates to it in some way (humorous, maybe).
The TF2 wiki has something like this, but they're quotes from the in-game characters.

What do you guys think? –User:Ultradude25 ^{(User:Ultradude25/t|User:Ultradude25/c)} at 07:56, 11 November 2011 (UTC)

I fully agree I wanted to add a quote section to the page guildlines project for some time now, but I'm so busy right now all I do in the wiki is just on my watch list...--Yurisho 11:02, 11 November 2011 (UTC)

I agree It would be awesome to have something like that.

I strongly disagree The point of a wiki is to contain useful information, not to be funny. Adding random quotes usually doesn't contribute any informational value, and it looks out of place. There are cases where quotes can contain information, but such information could simply be added to the article instead. JosJuice 12:53, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

On deleting and keeping info

Adding on to what you guys have said regarding the Talk pages, I wish to also mention the content of the articles themselves, and have a reminder from the Wikipedia:Avoiding common mistakes page:

Deleting useful content. A piece of content may be written poorly, yet still have a purpose. Consider what a sentence or paragraph tries to say. Clarify it instead of throwing it away. If the material seems mis-categorized or out of place, consider moving the wayward material to another page, or creating a new page for it. If all else fails, and you can't resist removing a good chunk of content, it's usually best to move it to the article's Talk page, which can be accessed using the "discussion" button at the top of each page. The author of the text once thought it valuable, so it is polite to preserve it for later discussion.
Deleting biased content. Biased content can be useful content (see above). Remove the bias and keep the content.
Deleting without explanation. Deleting anything that isn't trivial requires some justification, or else other users who care about the article's development will be caught unaware, and may think you're being intentionally sneaky. It is best to put a few words in the edit summary, or else you can simply write "See talk:" in the edit summary box and explain on the talk page.
Deleting or removing text from any Talk page without archiving it, except in your user space. Talk pages or any discussion pages are part of the historical record in Wikipedia. Every time the pages are cleaned up, don't forget to store the removed text in its corresponding archive ({{escaped link|/Archive}}) page. (See Wikipedia:How to archive a talk page.)

We shouldn't just delete the info cause it's in the wrong section or is outdated. If we can move it or rewrite it while keeping the info, that should be the only thing we do. Also, I have been trying to add History sections to all the pages because old info that contrasts with new info continue to get overwritten and lost instead of being moved into the history sections to provide readers a view on what the topics used to be, and how they have changed, so that the readers will be able to use this info to do whatever (improve the wiki, improve their gameplay, understand, understand how Minecraft has changed since it was first made by Notch, etc.) Will other editors of MC wiki consider this goal/attitude and try to do this as well? - Asterick6 22:34, 14 November 2011 (UTC)

MC:PE iOS out now.

Minecraft Pocket Edition is out for the iOS iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad users. http://itunes.apple.com/nz/app/id479516143?mt=8 --User:Throex ^TALK|CONT 17:57, 16 November 2011 (UTC)

I've updated the page to reflect the release. Still need some links/citations and more info though. - Asterick6 05:16, 17 November 2011 (UTC)

Tabs

I want to add tabs, and planned to impulsively just add them, as you do. but, I need to ask you guys. so, tabs! would they be good?

for a demonstration, I have 2 options for users, so to demonstrate what I wish to add.

For one, you may choose to see it on the wiki. simply copy : http://www.minecraftwiki.net/wiki/User:Scaler/vector.js to http://www.minecraftwiki.net/wiki/Special:MyPage/vector.js , then look at http://www.minecraftwiki.net/wiki/User:Scaler/test . you're looking for tabs in the infobox.

For a much more leisurely view, have a look at http://mspaintadventures.wikia.com/wiki/Spades_Slick . the infobox tabs showcasing appearance also demonstrate what I'd like.

so, why should we add this?

for one, infoboxes will be more compressed and accessible by making multiple images just tabbed images.

for mojang employees, we'd be able to have both their avatars and RL images in the same infobox. for say, creepers, we could show a multitude of images, from their model, to their skin, to their face alone. for other items, such as steps and stairs, mushroom parts, music discs, aggressive/neutral/tamed wolves, spider eye changes, enderdragon death "skeleton" (though, perhaps not that specific), we'd also have a much better way to show the differences, other than animating with a gif. it gives the user control over what they see, rather than an automated image.

we'd be able to save space in many, many places with this. perhaps even helping with the footer templates. as they dynamically resize to content, it could make footer boxes a LOT smaller, which is very good as well.

basically, if used in just the right places, this would make a lot of space, would look nice, give the user control over the animations we currently have and would be a nice touch to the wiki overall.

thoughts? ^^ --Kizzycocoa 00:09, 18 November 2011 (UTC)

Sure I don't see why not, but they should be easy to find and use. - Asterick6 01:40, 18 November 2011 (UTC)

Tutorials section not noticeable enough

I think the link to the Tutorials section should be more obvious, so that newcomers don't just create a wiki page in the main article space that's for non-official game content. I already noticed the problem before, but this incident and this one just raised the issue. The authors didn't know that there was a Tutorials section. I really think the Tutorials section should be made more obvious/noticeable otherwise these things will just continue to happen, and perfectly fine guide/tutorial pages will get deleted for no reason. - Asterick6 01:00, 18 November 2011 (UTC)

New crafting convention based on Xbox demo

As seen here: Minecraft on Xbox 360 (HD) by Chimnyswift11 one can clearly see that all crafting recipes are aliened to the top left, unlike the wiki which is aliened to the bottom left/ bottom middle. So I think we need to change the convention to fit the Xbox version.--Yurisho 06:31, 25 November 2011 (UTC)
EDIT:We can also use the crafting menus as a basis for Template:Items/Template:Blocks.--Yurisho 06:36, 25 November 2011 (UTC)

Agree Yes, I agree with that User:FracqGrenade | User talk:FracqGrenade Special:Contributions/FracqGrenade 18:44, 25 November 2011 (UTC)

Agree The crafting positioning was previously based on personal preference, I think it is a lot better to have a proper standard. –User:Ultradude25 ^{(User:Ultradude25/t|User:Ultradude25/c)} at 09:35, 24 December 2011 (UTC)

Older Versions and Features

It's very confusing to try and figure out how something works when reading various sections for example:

On the Minecart page:

After Friday July 30's Minecart update(need specification), creating Minecart trains became a much simpler solution to transporting goods. To create a train, start with a fairly short length of straight track with an open ending on one side. Put a Powered Minecart on the side nearest the open end, and then add Storage Minecarts or ridable Minecarts along the rest of the track. Then, turn on your Powered Minecart. It will push the other Minecarts as if it were a Minecart Train. Placing an additional Powered Minecart on the other end will allow you to make a two-way train, as minecarts currently only push other carts, not pull. From Beta 1.6 to Beta 1.7.3, in single player mode, Powered Minecarts would not push carts on East/West facing tracks. In SMP, the powered cart will not push other carts at all, and will simply overlap the other cart and stop (the behavior seen in single player mode when trying to push a cart on an east/west facing track). However, this bug has been fixed in the Beta 1.9 Pre-releases and since then, the powered minecart works as intended.

Specifically the section that reads:

From Beta 1.6 to Beta 1.7.3, in single player mode, Powered Minecarts would not push carts on East/West facing tracks. In SMP, the powered cart will not push other carts at all, and will simply overlap the other cart and stop (the behavior seen in single player mode when trying to push a cart on an east/west facing track). However, this bug has been fixed in the Beta 1.9 Pre-releases and since then, the powered minecart works as intended.

Does every section on "How to" requires a full history write up as to when a bug was there, when it was fixed, oops it showed up again in this version and then was fixed again in this one. It bloats the article and fills it with confusing information.

Perhaps a better solution would be a "How to" section with the most current information and existing bugs with a trailing section that includes bug history.

The wikipedia should be used for gameplay and historic information, but not mixed together as such.

--Mystara 23:35, 27 November 2011 (UTC)

Which is why the old info needs to be moved into the History sections of each article. The article then needs to be reorganized and rewritten. Maybe we can post here the articles that need to be cleaned up or have a list somewhere else? Btw there are the {{Outdated}} and {{Cleanup}} templates that can probably be used. - Asterick6 01:26, 29 November 2011 (UTC)

Would it be inappropriate to flag an article as both outdated and needing cleanup. There are some pretty vague statements on a few pages that don't really provide the reader with information.

--Mystara 04:10, 2 December 2011 (UTC)

Separate pages for each potion item

There seems to be a lot of debate about whether each potion should have its own page, or whether it should all be on the brewing page. Right now specific potion names redirect to the potions page, which has no information on specific potions at all besides a very incomplete damage value list.

I vote that each item should have its own page, like every other item in the game, since that would make it a lot faster and easier to find the recipe and effects for a specific potion. I don't see what it would hurt to have the extra pages. Thoughts? Lunakki 01:07, 2 December 2011 (UTC)

The issue is, just how much information can you put for each potion? I'd think it'd be one or two lines at best, which means we'd just end up with a bunch of stub pages. –User:Ultradude25 ^{(User:Ultradude25/t|User:Ultradude25/c)} at 09:55, 24 December 2011 (UTC)

One could for example describe all the different ways of brewing that potion how it is derived of different bases and so on. Then one can describe the different power levels and duration times, have an in detail description of the effect, it's throwable variant and so on. I think it's fully justified to have a page per potion type (NB: not one for "Fire Resistance 8:00" but "Fire Resistance"). In any case, there's much more to say about each individual potion than there is for example about Brick (Item), which has got it's own little article, too! --84.165.47.114 11:28, 4 January 2012 (UTC)

I agree with 84.165.47.114 Officerpup 18:59, 12 February 2012 (UTC)

Potions should each have their own page (as explained above), but they should still be included on the potions page the way the are with links as their names. Pianolover1234 19:19, 13 February 2013 (UTC)

New feature videos from Curse

Greetings and salutations! The Curse video team has been working hard to produce some high quality videos for use on the wiki. The first one is ready to go, but I'd like it to be previewed by as many of you as possible and then I'd like your input on how best to incorporate them on the pages. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gan18L4Eg5E Please watch it, and then tell me what you think. -- Wynthyst Image:User Wynthyst sig icon.png :en:User talk:Wynthyst 21:26, 9 December 2011 (UTC)

Great explanation and speed, I love the straight-forward approach. The only issue would be the use of a custom texturepack, as the wiki doesn't allow the use of those on articles. (as was wholly agreed upon here)--Quatroking - MCWiki Administrator 21:34, 9 December 2011 (UTC)

Ok, if we can get the rest of the videos done without the texture pack, can we let this one slide for now? It will be redone eventually. -- Wynthyst Image:User Wynthyst sig icon.png :en:User talk:Wynthyst 21:42, 9 December 2011 (UTC)

Of course :)--Quatroking - MCWiki Administrator 22:11, 9 December 2011 (UTC)

I like it, but it REALLY needs subtitles. I hardly understand spoken english. Calinou - talk × contribs » 21:56, 9 December 2011 (UTC)

As it was already said, using vanilla texture pack and adding subs will make thoses nearly perfect ;p – Scaler (t) 22:09, 9 December 2011 (UTC)

This works for all youtube vids; Click the CC button and have it transcribe the audio. Then you can have the subtitles translated to any language of choice! It's experimental and not 100% accurate, but it works.--Quatroking - MCWiki Administrator 22:11, 9 December 2011 (UTC)

The problem I have with the videos is the player isn't widescreen, but the video is. Can we get the player to be the correct size for widescreen video? –User:Ultradude25 ^{(User:Ultradude25/t|User:Ultradude25/c)} at 09:32, 24 December 2011 (UTC)

Unfortunately we have no choice in the youtube player, it is what youtube gives us. The only option we have is how wide. I have just been leaving them the default size. -- Wynthyst Image:User Wynthyst sig icon.png :en:User talk:Wynthyst 15:04, 24 December 2011 (UTC)

I didn't mean it was anything wrong with YouTube's player, I meant that we are embedding the player at a non-widescreen size, which is obviously a strange thing to do when the videos made to be embedded here are widescreen.

The extension only allows you to change the width, so the default sizing needs to be changed from 425x350, to 578x350 in the extension's settings. –User:Ultradude25 ^{(User:Ultradude25/t|User:Ultradude25/c)} at 04:52, 26 December 2011 (UTC)

It doesn't work that way Ultra, if we specify a width, it alters the height to match. there is no way to make it "widescreen" it is what it is. -- Wynthyst Image:User Wynthyst sig icon.png :en:User talk:Wynthyst 09:33, 26 December 2011 (UTC)

Not the embed code, if it was changeable there, I would've just fixed it myself. You need to change the $ratio in EmbedVideo.hooks.php. –User:Ultradude25 ^{(User:Ultradude25/t|User:Ultradude25/c)} at 03:40, 30 December 2011 (UTC)

I fully disagree Just like the last time, when the forums tried to add videos - I fully reject the idea, and this time I'm going to explain more problems then last time.

A. The videos are in English, enough said. Not subs will change the fact that for the video to be fully effective it needs to be made in all the languages - a mission impossible, because cruse don't know all the languages in the wiki so others will have to make thous videos, and they won't be at the same quality and level of polish, making the wiki inconsistent - a big no no.

B. They pass through the video on some points, but not all. Where are the block simple universal properties that appear in the wiki at the right for every block(opacity, physics, etc.), where is the technical knowledge(number of stages of growth, chance of growth, etc.) and many more. I fill this video consists only of practical knowledge and nothing more - a big no no in a wiki. A wiki does not present only the practical - If there is a video I expect it to show me, in an easy way to understand, the math that is talked about in the wiki, I expect it to explain to me why this why is efficient and others aren't.(this is impossible with out talking, that is part of the problem too)

C. And talking about efficiency - I love how they just show a farm and say:"here is an efficient way" when it clearly isn't the only one and the idea of the efficient melon farm(or any farm for that matter) is being debated on by so many people and they just go with one way and use it - again, practical knowledge only.

D. The video is meant for a beginner player, not an expert(that may explain the practical knowledge), so much so that they just say:"it can be automated" and I come to think:"Oh and how do you do that?" and they continue:"To learn more about..." ...IF YOU SAY SOMETHING THEN DEMONSTRATE IT YOU...

I'm sorry, but I can't agree less about adding thous videos.--Yurisho 07:23, 26 December 2011 (UTC)

Why does no one replay to my post? The simple answer will be that all the points I said here are correct, and in that case - why are thous videos still being made? No, the real answer is that this post had been thrown aside and never though of again. Why did you ask for feedback if you ignore criticism?--Yurisho 17:28, 8 January 2012 (UTC)

I disagree First, I concede that these videos are easy to understand; however, I do not believe they belong in main frame articles, and I will include some citations from the Video policy page as part of my argument

First, they do not translate in any way whatever to other languages. I love the fact that this wiki supports many different languages with more projects on the way. I think we should continue to do so without adding stuff that is not translatable. It is folly to have a wiki that allows for many translations, and yet include videos that are not translatable. This argument is formed from the "Video Contents" section of the video policy

  Embedded videos should be completely neutral, entirely for illustrative
  purposes, preferably without voiced (or written) comments, and re-usable on
  the alternative-language Wikis.

Second, these videos are not supportable. I have only seen a few of them, and I noticed that some don't have new release information, others have weird techniques that used to be bugs before they were fixed (I am talking about the 'place doors this way' reference in the Skeleton video). With upcoming release and bug fixes these videos will no longer match the actual world of Minecraft.

Third, before Minecraft's big release in November, I saw a user put up a bunch of videos for Mobs. These videos where silent and demonstrated the A.I. of the mobs that where displayed. These videos, like all others before now, where removed because of the 'Video Policy.' Now, these new videos do show behaviors of Mobs, but they do so in a non-translational way, because they are done in the English language. If those videos before where removed, when they displayed Mob behavior, then why are these videos allowed when they violate more than one policy?

Fourth, I don't like to watch these videos because of the references to 'Hi, I am such-and-such for such-and-such and you should do such-and-such because it is cool' type of feel. I think this is another direct violation of "Blatant self-promotion is not allowed."

To sum it all up, I don't think they belong in mainstream articles. At the same time I think they are well made, and I think they should be in a tutorial like section for beginners, or those who do not want to experiment. Leave the main articles language independent, and more supportable with new releases and bug fixes. Jsi7iv 14:00, 24 January 2012 (MST)

Minicraft page?

Do you guys think Minicraft can have a page of it's own, I mean Minecraft 4k has, and it is connected to minecraft just as much as Minicraft.--Yurisho 06:23, 19 December 2011 (UTC)

Minecraft 4k IS Minecraft, just a small version of it. Minicraft however, is just BASED on Minecraft. I feel it only warrants a mention on Notch's page. –User:Ultradude25 ^{(User:Ultradude25/t|User:Ultradude25/c)} at 10:01, 24 December 2011 (UTC)

Remove forced preview

I would like to get rid of the forced preview that non-autoconfirmed users have.

The main reason I want it gone is because it doesn't work properly. For one, it gets reset when you press show changes (which I think is far better at allowing you to check your edit than show preview is); two, it interferes with the abuse filter's warn feature, causing an infinite loop until the problem that is setting off the filter is resolved; and three, makes the captcha completely unusable, causing an infinite loop that is only solvable if you remove whatever is giving you a captcha.

The other reason is, when I had to use it I found it didn't make me check my edits any more than if it wasn't there, and really I think all it does is be a nuisance and make you edit a little slower.

What are your thoughts on getting this removed? I don't think it'll cause any more vandalism, as we could counter new editors being able to edit a bit quicker by using the abuse filter to throttle them. –User:Ultradude25 ^{(User:Ultradude25/t|User:Ultradude25/c)} at 04:11, 26 December 2011 (UTC)