User talk:Gboyers/archive9


Latest comment: 3 December 2011 by Crazyman121 in topic Re: Problem?

User talk:Gboyers/archive9/header

Comments on LiquidThread plugin, among others

My two cents on the LiquidThread plugin: It's cumbersome, to me at least. The fact that I was unable to even reply on your talk page (the expanded interfaces never completes loading, and on one occasion it redirects me to your userpage instead), and had to create a new section on it instead, shows it's already a problematic feature to a user.

If you insist on implementing this fully on users' pages, make it an optional thing. I'm already thoroughly annoyed that I can't turn off that infernal overhead edit toolbar (the preferences don't work), and I'm pretty much fine organizing my discussions the old fashion way; it's actually more reliable.

I actually came to discuss something else, but I'll just leave that for later. - ZS (talk) 18:22, 1 December 2011 (UTC)

Combatting spambots

Hi. Do you think there can be an automated way to combat the spam pages from being created in the first place? All the spam pages have linked to the same website. Maybe have an automatic way to prevent users from posting that website link?--spaceeinstein 21:14, 1 December 2011 (UTC)

We have a number of measures in place. I won't discuss them in public. Ask me on the forums. gboyers talk 21:20, 1 December 2011 (UTC)

Hi, not meaning to hijack someone elses discussion but I have a quick question about this. What am I as a normal member supposed or encouraged to do when I spot a spambot? I've noticed there seems to be an increasing amount of them coming here, and if no staff is online it could take a while to get removed and the Recent Edits could be covered up in other legit edits by that time. I don't know what other systems you have here but sometimes I think that a simple Report button would be a simple way to tackle it. Is adding the spam template appropriate or is it just "adding-fuel-to-the-fire" (i.e. adding edits to completely unnecessary pages)? Should I just do nothing and let the staff handle it when they come online? --Andreaz1 (talk) 21:39, 1 December 2011 (UTC)

That's a good question, although actually our spam attacks aren't that common at all. The first thing you should do is notify a staff member calmly and factually, or email webmaster at grandtheftwiki. Please be aware of NSfV, so don't run around saying how good the spammers are, because that's what they want. Then you can help revert the damage silently, without making a fuss. For spam pages, remove all content and add {{delete}}. For spam edits, go to Page History, click on an old/clean version of the page, hit edit and re-save that version. Don't worry too much about a couple of spam edits, just make sure the staff know - everything can be reversed/fixed later. If there's a seriously major attack (which has never happened) then that's when you need to make sure I am contacted so I can stop it, but 100% of the attacks we've had can be fixed. gboyers talk 23:35, 1 December 2011 (UTC)

Vandals

Please continue this discussion on the forum. gboyers talk 23:15, 2 December 2011 (UTC)


Re: Problem?

In reply to Problem?

g'day govna. im here to reply to yor message about the Dillettante page. No problem there is but i just like mking funny edits and stuff that are funny and kinda is true.

Leave me a messsage

--Crazyman121 (talk) 03:25, 3 December 2011 (UTC)Crazyman121Reply[reply]

Just to keep you updated

I stepped down as staff at the "other place". Thought you might like to hear it since you never agreed with my methodology of running that place. The main reason I stepped down was lack of interest in the series as a whole (I didn't like any of the GTA4 games or pre-GTA3 games) and that made me underqualified to deal with content disputes. Also lack of interest in vehicles in general, which made me unable to fix our sloppy and out of control Vehicles in GTAV page.

Anyway I'm completely done editing that wiki, and I guess that means The Tom is the guy to go to if you have any more concerns about it. Jeff (talk this way) / (stalk this way) 22:24, 26 December 2011 (UTC)

Thanks for letting me know. It was never anything personal, just a disagreement in methods - there'll always be someone who disagrees with someone! Good luck in whatever you do next! gboyers talk 22:38, 26 December 2011 (UTC)

Copyright templates

Hi, what exactly does the word "web-resolution" mean, which is in all the copyright screenshot templates? --Andreaz1 (talk) 14:30, 27 December 2011 (UTC)

Plagarism off Wikia

Hey Gboyers, I hate having to bring up this topic again, but I have noticed three articles on this wiki that I believe have been plagarised off Wikia's GTA Wiki. They are: 1412 Hotel, Rascalov Family and Bulgarin Family. I was wondering if you could help me confirm if they have been plagarised or not. Please forgive me if I am wrong.--MrLanceVanceDance (talk) 00:31, 28 December 2011 (UTC)

Outdated

Hey, Gboyers, I noticed that the Grand Theft Wiki: Staff page actually seems to be outdated. Back on Wikia, Inspectors (called moderators at the time) could protect talk pages, that right was never given to Inspectors after the move, yet the page still says that Inspectors can protect talk pages. Also, the Grand Theft Wiki: Move from Wikia page says that thre is only one single adbox, when there are now two adboxes (one on the left and one at the bottom of the page. Can you please help me update those two pages? As an Inspector, I cannot edit those pages.--MrLanceVanceDance (talk) 10:14, 28 December 2011 (UTC)

Hi Gerard, I would just like to point you back to the original discussion. I could have updated the staff page, but the reason that I directed him to you was for the option of having the right restored for inspectors. JFletcherTalk (formerly User:Biggest gta fan ever) 10:24, 28 December 2011 (UTC)

Thanks for letting me know. We have changed the rights of Moderators/Inspectors a lot over the years - but we never have more than one staff member in that rank at a time. Looking at the protection log, not many pages are ever protected, so I'm not sure that Inspectors need this right. It's not an issue of trust, but we always follow the principle of least privilege, which means giving people the tools they need to do their job, and not giving everyone every possible permission/right (means less damage if accounts get compromised). If it would be useful, I'm happy to give it out, but I don't see any particular benefit? I'll re-evaluate this, but I'd like your comments on what rights you think inspectors should have, and why. gboyers talk 16:35, 28 December 2011 (UTC)

To be honest, that right actually never did make much sense to me. It's very rare for a talk page to be protected, and unnecessarily protecting a talk page has the potential to cause more problems than unnecessarily protecting an article. I'm pretty happy with the Inspector rights as they are. JFletcherTalk (formerly User:Biggest gta fan ever) 03:31, 29 December 2011 (UTC)

Re-Assignment

Hey Gboyers, why have I been demoted as Grand Theft Wiki staff?--MrLanceVanceDance (talk) 00:45, 3 January 2012 (UTC)

We're currently in the process of reorganising the staff & non-staff groups on this wiki. To start with, we've removed the Inspector rank completely, and given Trusted Users the ability to patrol. You've followed this change rather than be promoted to Administrator, as the original intention of you being an Inspector was for you to inspect (patrol) the wiki and help keep it clean, rather than to be an administrator.
The reason for this change is that Inspectors were never meant to be staff - they were just trusted users who were meant to patrol the wiki, and were trusted with a couple of extra tools along the way. However, it became too much of a staff rank, and that was completely against the reason we had them. What's the point of having a member with admin tools who doesn't have the power to make the decisions to use them? There was no way to restrict their use to 'obvious' or spam situations, so I've removed the tools entirely from that level of member. Instead, Trusted Users now have the patrol right amongst a few others.
The main difference now is that trusted users are definitely not staff, are not listed on the staff page, and do not have a badge/colour to distinguish them as staff. This is because we need to make sure users can easily identify staff (administrators) who can sort problems out and tell them what to do. It's now very clear that all staff are full administrators, which is better than the confusion we had before. Over time, we will decide whether Trusted Users should have some additional tools, or whether we need an additional rank in between. We will also be adding other features and groups into the system. One idea is a group of helpers who volunteer to help out new users.
Additionally, I was not happy with the way you kept acting like a full staff member, and in some cases almost seeming to be an administrator. Your comment of: "I'll monitor his behaviour and take action against him at the moment he starts causing trouble" is not in-line what an Inspector/Patroller/Moderator should be doing. As I have explained to you before: "The role of an Inspector is to inspect wiki content, make sure the wiki is up-to scratch. The role does NOT include any 'power' or 'authority' over users." Whilst I appreciated your recent contribution to the staff forum, the staff and I still have our concerns, and I have not seen you performing much patrolling or contributing to any Community:Projects which is what I'd need to see before a promotion to administrator.
I hope you will embrace the redefined patrolling & helping role of a Trusted User, and not be upset just because it's no longer listed on the staff page. If you genuinely believe you are right to be an administrator on this wiki, that you want that role for the right reasons, that you know the inner workings of the wiki well enough, and that I can trust you with the huge power our administrators have, then I can start the promotion discussion. Let me know if you have any questions. gboyers talk 01:27, 3 January 2012 (UTC)

So Gboyers, how come I am not listed on the "former staff members" section of the Grand Theft Wiki: Staff page, considering that I am a former staff member now and other inspectors (called patrollers at that time) are listed.--MrLanceVanceDance (talk) 04:53, 3 January 2012 (UTC)

Also, the reason I said" I'll monitor his behaviour" means to check his edits closely on the "recent edits" page to check if they are vandalism and not, and then revert them as soon as I see what appears to be vandalism. Also, what I mean by "take action" is to revert any vandalism he causes (if he has caused any), and, in certain cases, inform higher ranking staff members about his vandalism and/or spamming if he did cause any. So basically, I was still sticking to my job while at the same time, showing the other users of this wiki that I had a low tolerance towards vandalism and spamming, and I would take action as soon as it happened.--MrLanceVanceDance (talk) 04:58, 3 January 2012 (UTC)

Plagiarizer

A user who got banned from GTA Wikia has made his own grand theft auto wiki (http://gtw.wikia.com) and is not only plagiarizing your content but has stated that he will freely plagiarize your content because he is allowed to. See this The user is an out-and-out troll although much more subtle about his trolling than most, and Wikia Staff is being even less help than usual. I have four requests for help in with them from 2 days ago and no response. Jeff (talk this way) / (stalk this way) 15:39, 3 January 2012 (UTC)

Alumni

This actually seems like a very good idea. First of all let me do what I always do and apologies my inactivity, I will freely admit I've not been paying as much attention to this wiki as I should, mainly because I've noticed that, with the move from Wikia and the decreased activity, there's nothing that I can particularly do that the active staff aren't already doing :/. Nevertheless, I hope to become fully active again as soon as GTA V comes out, or even sooner as we get information.

I'm in favor of this "Alumni" group (pardon for asking, but what does that word even mean?). My main concern over the last few months was becoming an "Inactive" staff member, however this group makes it so that we can still edit when we please and keep some administrative power.

May I just ask, as I can't seem to find it, what are the differences between the new Alumni group and Administrators? (apart from the color changes and not being on the staff pages).

By the way, just asking, whats the latest news around the place? And is there any particular task you need assistance with? I'm still here to help after all :). Chimpso (Talk) 11:11, 4 January 2012 (UTC)

To be honest with you, I kind of liked the Moderator/Inspector rank. When I put in a request for promotion to Moderator I considered the role to be one where you can show your competence as a staff member and prove that you can successfully work as part of the team and handle the new responsibilities that you're given. To me, it would have been something along the lines of "Training" to be an administrator, so you can develop the maturity and skills to be finally given the position, while still contributing to the wiki at the same time.

Of course, I've never been a moderator, so I can't really speak from experience. But I think we've seen how it can train users to become administrators while keeping their interest in the role (Yay! I'm a staff member!), instead of them having to be on for years before receiving official recognition for their work.

Just my 2 cents there, while I never looked at moderators having a big a role in the wiki's day-to-day activity, I always noted it as a way for them to experience the staff position and gain the maturity to become admins (Masterpogihaha for example). Personally, I think there's no huge harm in having a Moderator/Inspector role, It gives users something they can work towards that is more easily obtainable that Administrator, but that's just IMO really.Chimpso (Talk)

I agree it's good for users to have some responsibility, but they can do this as a regular user (fixing problems & helping users) and as a Trusted User (by Patrolling). That's a better step-up than us giving them a badge and some fancy powerful tools, but without trusting them enough to use them as an admin. It's much more natural this way - we pick the best users who we trust, rather than giving lots of people a chance to be half a staff member for a while. We'll see how this goes! gboyers talk 00:45, 8 January 2012 (UTC)

Uploading images

I'm wondering if, to follow up with the new categories for images, the new screenshot templates should be added to the drop down box of choices when you upload a new image? A-Dust 18:14, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

Patrolling

Thanks for giving me the ability to Patrol edits, I appreciate it and I'm absolutely going to keep an eye on that. :) However, I do have a few questions:

  1. Here it says that red exclamation marks will appear on not-yet-patrolled edits however there are none of those appearing for me. I'm looking at edits that Jmbond007 made less than a minute ago so I doubt anyone has been able to patrol them already?
  2. There is also no "Mark as Patrolled" button when clicking diff like there is in your picture?
  3. Maybe just a forgotten permission but Staff still show up on Special:Patrol

Maybe you're still in the process of fixing things, but thanks for your help. --Andreaz1 (talk) 12:44, 8 January 2012 (UTC)

Yes, it all works great now, thanks for your help! :) --Andreaz1 (talk) 15:08, 8 January 2012 (UTC)

Re:Nomination for Promotion

Thanks for the nomination, I'm flattered! I've filled out answers to all the questions, let me know if there's anything else I need to do. :) It makes sense if you don't think about it... 03:18, 15 January 2012 (UTC)