User talk:Paks Paladin

Spam

I'm trying a few new things with spam control. I have already implemented all of the things available through Mediawiki. Now I'm planning to try with subnet exclusions, trying to target Russia and China and the places where the spam is originating. Please do not delete the next dozen or so spammers who show up (clean up the page, but don't disable the users) so that I can see their IPs and stuff. I'll clean up after learning about them. Thanks! --Casey Parsons (talk) 11:14, 4 October 2018 (EDT)

• Gotcha. I did notice the sudden dropoff. <crosses fingers> Paks Paladin (talk) 11:17, 4 October 2018 (EDT)
  • Welp I blocked a ton of IPs from Russia and China. Seems to have helped some. Most of the spam still coming in is from random IPs all over the world, including many in the US. I don't think I'll be able to block more without serious risk of accidentally blocking legit traffic. Will have to keep looking for smarter ways through Mediawiki software. Back to the usual of merging to the SPAMMER user.--Casey Parsons (talk) 14:28, 23 October 2018 (EDT)
    • <sigh> Good luck. Paks Paladin (talk) 14:30, 23 October 2018 (EDT)
      • I added in some previously unused protection from a few DNS Blacklists [by enabling this] and then adding some blocklists to the config. Hoping this helps! --Casey Parsons (talk) 10:49, 24 October 2018 (EDT)

links

It looks like many of the contest pages have an external link to the bhs website page that hosts the trivia file. To me, this seems awfully redundant and imprecise to link on EVERY contest page. I'm inclined to remove that link as it comes across as just spamming for traffic. It would be different if it linked straight to info about that specific contest, but it's a "link to a link" that is very general and non-specific. What do you think? --Casey Parsons 14:02, 14 October 2010 (UTC)

I'm trying to link to the original data, just like I have been. I /really/ don't like asking the viewership to just take my word for it. The problem is, that spreadsheet is the only place I can find data for those "lost years". If they were up on Harmonet, I'd link there. If they were on chorus/district/Society sites, I'd link there. BSMDB only goes back to '93. I can't link to the file itself, as its exact name will change with updates. If you have a better idea, I'm all ears. --Paks Paladin 15:32, 14 October 2010 (UTC)

Maybe we start a "references section" like Wikipedia does? It just doesn't seem to belong in the External Links area. As a reference, we could display the file name, tab name, and other identifying info. Or what would be REALLY great is if that "file" became a "website". It would be so much easier for everyone to use and you wouldn't have to worry about version problems.

Administrator

Stu, I'd like to offer you Administrator Privileges because of all the great work you've been doing for so long. Do you accept? --Casey Parsons 18:57, 13 October 2010 (UTC)

Short answer: you betcha. It'll let me help with those occasional spammers, and also look better on my resume than just "primary contributor". (Read: "guy with too much free time") I'm not about to go hog-wild; I'm acutely aware that this remains your wiki. Besides, I've got plenty left to upload from Patrick's treasure trove before I make any more system-wide changes. --Paks Paladin 01:28, 14 October 2010 (UTC)

Great and thanks! I'll make the change today. ... And I'd like the wiki to belong to everyone! --Casey Parsons 13:58, 14 October 2010 (UTC)

About coordination: does HQ ever sift through this for errors, mis-characterizations, bias, copyright violations, or other "bad" things? You've got a link on the Society homepage. What do they ask in return? --Paks Paladin 01:28, 14 October 2010 (UTC)

Nope, the BHS has had no input so far. The error sifting is up to us! They have not asked for anything in return, and I suspect that they recognize any effort to expose barbershop to people is helpful. :-) --Casey Parsons 13:58, 14 October 2010 (UTC)

Harmony, Inc. Area 6 page

Question on the edits you made on the Area 6 page as the notes only say "added See Also, removed empty Int'l Champ sections, restructured Area Champ sections."

I've removed the See Also section as it doesn't relate directly to Harmony, Incoporated. I've also moved the Area section back to the non-indented form as indents are typically used if you have a section broken out. Area 6 doesn't have a long list of area champions (yet), so 5.1 and 5.2 are, I feel, unnecessary. I've also reverted it back for consistency with the rest of the Harmony, Incorporated pages. - Anita Prather Harvell GaGirrl 17:21, 6 July 2010 (UTC)

My thought was to have each District/Region/Area page contain a link to other Barbershop organizations that overlap geographically, to allow for compare/contrast, and so spouses can also get in on the fun. Comments? -- Paks Paladin 19:16, 12 July 2010 (UTC)

Interesting idea and somewhat of a head scratcher. Can see both, but maybe it could be presented so the geographical relevance is more evident. Will invite some of the regular HI contributors to comment - would love to see their comments.. --GaGirrl 21:55, 12 July 2010 (UTC)

Signatures working?

Hiya, I'm trying to change my signature, but am having a little trouble. The code I'm using is:

[[User:Gaidheal|gaidheal]] ([[User talk:Gaidheal|talk]] | [[Special:Contributions/Gaidheal|contribs]])

I wanted to put the stuff in brackets in a smaller font size, but when I try to save the preferences page, it says - "Invalid raw signature. Check HTML tags." I tried placing the tags in several locations, to no avail.

And now, an example of the siggy: gaidheal♪♫ (talk|contribs) 15:32, 15 January 2010 (UTC)

Well, I found a quick fix: add <p style="font-size:90%">, and then </p> at the end. This isn't ideal, as it puts the time- and date-stamp on a new line. I've also been messing around with templates in my sandbox.

gaidheal (talk♫contribs)

16:55, 15 January 2010 (UTC)

You want your regular signature just smaller? Use "span" instead of "p" and it won't separate the lines. <span style="font-size:90%">TEXT GOES HERE</span> --Casey Parsons 17:05, 15 January 2010 (UTC)