Terraria Wiki:Admin noticeboard

__NEWSECTIONLINK__ The Admin noticeboard is one way through which users can notify administrators of issues needing administrative attention. While users are welcome to directly contact specific administrators (especially if they are seen to be active), posting here can be an easier and quicker way of ensuring that at least one admin will notice an issue and respond to it promptly. Remember to sign when posting an issue.

Before posting an issue here, consider the following:
 * As this is a noticeboard and not a talk page, please refrain from discussing.
 * Post only issues that require administrative action, i.e. blocking vandals, protecting pages, restoring deleted pages etc.
 * Do not post deletion requests here. Deletion requests should be made by adding  to the top of the target page, which will then automatically mark the page as a candidate for deletion.
 * Do not post issues regarding content disputes. Try making a request for comments instead.
 * Mediation requests between users should only be made if a resolution could not be reached between users.
 * For technical issues that admins can't handle, please see the Curse noticeboard.

In case of vandalism, posting about it here is low priority. Revert it first, anyone can do so. If the vandal created a new page, tag it for deletion. Assume good faith and consider leaving a message on that user's talk page to explain the reason. Post here only if the user has made several disruptive edits and/or persists despite a warning. Always avoid a revert war with the vandal; it is far better to wait until an admin has a chance to intervene.

As a sign of courtesy, also leave a message on the talk page of any involved user.
 * Creating a new request &mdash; vandals
 * 1) Edit the Vandal issues section
 * 2) At the top of the list, use the   template. Provide a short and neutral summary of the issue
 * Creating a new request &mdash; non-vandal cases (e.g. user issues, page protection/undeletion, etc.)
 * 1) Add [ a new section (+)] to the page and enter an appropriate title (without using templates or links) in the subject field.
 * 2) In the edit field, enter a short and neutral summary of the issue. Use the   template to refer to users involved with the case and provide links to important pages or edits.

Vandal issues
Using a bot to add links to some supposedly news site on http://wiki.terrariaonline.com/File:Spelunker_reference.png and http://wiki.terrariaonline.com/Terraria_Wiki/editcopy and likely many other rarely-viewed pages. Somehow these edits don't show up in the pages' edit history, and show up even in the earliest archival copy, making it impossible to tell who's doing this. The spam links are also not showing up in the edit page itself, strangely, and I don't have permission to delete sections anyway, or I'd deal with it myself. --Xolroc Other affected pages (that I can find): I think it's rather alarming that the spam isn't showing up on the edit page or on the edit history--that could indicate a direct connection to the wiki's server, allowing whoever connects to it to edit metadata. This should be dealt with as soon as possible.
 * http://wiki.terrariaonline.com/File:Copper_Pickaxe.png
 * http://wiki.terrariaonline.com/File:Copper_Pickaxe_Front.png
 * http://wiki.terrariaonline.com/File:Green_slime.png
 * http://wiki.terrariaonline.com/File:Green_Slime_Front.png
 * http://wiki.terrariaonline.com/File:Mushroom.png
 * http://wiki.terrariaonline.com/File:Mushroom_lg.png
 * http://wiki.terrariaonline.com/File:Silver_Coin.png
 * Literally every other image page I checked, going through frontpage images then random ones, including http://wiki.terrariaonline.com/File:Glitch_Tree.png which I personally uploaded not six hours ago.

Not sure who did it, though the Eye of Cuthulu images have been replaced with something that does not belong.. -Bullseye55
 * The vandalism was done by StevenWilliams. He edited the templates that were included in those pages. I'll protecting those pages to prevent this from happening again. Also you should be able to revert vandalism like that from now on. --Icke 10:41, 5 August 2012 (UTC)
 * Are you talking to me or Bullseye55? I forgot to sign my notice that the images were being spammed except in the middle of it. --Xolroc

Uploading images that are invalid. --Ragen 00:14, 22 February 2012 (UTC) ITSTHEENDOFTHEGAME is also trying to get me in trouble for doing it when I try to revert it, and he's editing my userpage. Sorry if I'm kind of messing things up with this noticeboard system, I'm kinda new here. -BearzUnlimited
 * bing bong bannu, blocked forever. That's a regular customer. I'd be almost disappointed if he didn't come back. --Lunboks 01:29, 22 February 2012 (UTC)

Spamming links to Example.jpg, which he uploaded an inappropriate image for, and replacing every 'l', 'm', and 'r' on the Terraria Wiki/editcopy to be a 'w'. Destructorspace 02:54, 7 February 2012 (UTC)

Advertising websites. (Does spam filter detect links without "www"?) --Icke 12:10, 30 January 2012 (UTC)
 * I wish I could give you and answer, but spam filters are most effective when their inner workings are kept secret. Know that they are continuously evolving depending on the type of activity we are seeing though. Thanks for reporting the vandals. happypal (talk &bull; contribs) 17:40, 30 January 2012 (UTC)

Uses a bot that replaces "the" with "huh". --Icke 13:10, 27 January 2012 (UTC)
 * Dropped the hammer --JonTheMon 15:56, 27 January 2012 (UTC)

Was apparently inserting spam links into pages. Does the Abuse Filter pick up on spammers who have registered wiki accounts? --ChroniclerC 10:54, 25 January 2012 (UTC)
 * Blocked, thanks. The abuse filter mostly doesn't care about accounts; even I would get blocked for triggering a spam rule. --Lunboks 17:52, 25 January 2012 (UTC)

Only promoting his own youtube video's (over 500!), even after warning. --Icke 15:34, 19 December 2011 (UTC)
 * Blocked for a month. Can't be bothered to actually consult the policy for each instance, but I think based on on this guy's history we can mostly rule out good faith.
 * Exclusively edits to add videos that are obviously his own
 * YouTube partner
 * Makes no effort to justify his actions, didn't respond to warning on his user talk page
 * Re-visits pages to re-add his video if they've been reverted
 * Blocked before for 24 hours for edit-warring with a bureaucrat (adding one of his videos, natch)
 * --Lunboks 15:56, 19 December 2011 (UTC)

Numsies is 173.89.22.90. Same behavior, same vandalism, same spam links, same misleading edit messages (pretending to make grammar fixes when adding links to irrelevant stuff). --Gez 10:20, 1 January 2012 (UTC)
 * 3 month timeout for both the account and the IP address. --Lunboks 22:53, 1 January 2012 (UTC)

Random Keyboard smashing spam --Moxxy 00:31, 2 January 2012 (UTC)
 * Blocked for 1 week. — iLiaWneK (talk) 14:48, 2 January 2012 (UTC)

Random spam "Porn porn porn" --Moxxy 00:33, 2 January 2012 (UTC)
 * Blocked for 1 week. — iLiaWneK (talk) 14:48, 2 January 2012 (UTC)

=Current Issues=

Protecting the templates
Well, someone noticed that some of the high-use templates aren't protected. I went ahead and [ protected some of them] just now. I guess I didn't really notice, but the potential for site defacement is&hellip; well, definitely there. Semi-protection might be possible for some of them. If we had a proper autoconfirmed status, anyway.

Any reason against keeping some of those frequently-used template locked? Should we extend the protection to the top-25-or-so templates? --Lunboks 18:23, 14 November 2011 (UTC)

New Bureaucrat
Happypal has been absent for a while, and I'm not even sure what Kane does, so I think it's about time for a new bureaucrat (bcrat) to be added to keep things running. To that end, I think Null is a good candidate for a new bcrat. What do the other admins think about this? --JonTheMon 22:15, 7 December 2011 (UTC)
 * Yeah, I suppose it would be handy to have one around. In case there are some user rights that need managing and such. If there will be a new one, I'd either look at, well, you, or Null. Really, the only candidate I'd seriously oppose is myself. --Lunboks 23:00, 7 December 2011 (UTC)
 * I'm fine with whoever you guys pick. I do have one gripe..will someone please archive some of the stuff on this page??? -- Wynthyst [[Image:User Wynthyst sig icon.png ]] talk  00:12, 8 December 2011 (UTC)
 * Definitely need one. I don't mind if I get bureaucrat or not. If we ever need another admin, I feel User:TechpriestMagos should maybe be considered. --Null  Talk  23:22, 8 December 2011 (UTC)
 * I'm fine with anyone but me. I'd personally nominate Null or JonTheMon. — iLiaWneK (talk) 17:37, 12 December 2011 (UTC)
 * Oh wow, I certainly didn't expect to stumble upon my name here. That said, I don't think I have consistent enough activity here to warrant that kind of attention. Thank you for the kind regards though. -- TechpriestMagos 17:11, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

Large Category browsing problem
When I try to view a category with more than 200 entries (for instance "Category:Entities introduced in 1.1"), a link exists for "next 200" but when I click it, the URL updates and the content stays the same; I cannot see any entry not in the first 200. I've tried Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer. -- ArykAran 02:10, 8 December 2011 (UTC)
 * This is an issue we are finding on multiple wikis. I will add Terraria to the list :D -- Wynthyst [[Image:User Wynthyst sig icon.png ]] talk  07:48, 10 December 2011 (UTC)
 * I believe this issue has now been fixed. -- Wynthyst [[Image:User Wynthyst sig icon.png ]] talk  19:04, 12 December 2011 (UTC)
 * Works great now; thanks! -- ArykAran 03:53, 15 December 2011 (UTC)

"1" glitch
There is a glitch on russian wiki - you can't "save page" if your article constains number "1".
 * I believe this issue has now been fixed. -- Wynthyst [[Image:User Wynthyst sig icon.png ]] talk  19:04, 12 December 2011 (UTC)
 * Yes, that's it, thanks. - Kel9290.

Disallow creating other user's pages?
Just a thought: Should we block users from creating (not editing) other users' pages in general, via the abuse filter? There seems to be no legit use to this. All I've seen it used for is:

--Lunboks 11:14, 25 December 2011 (UTC)
 * Personal attacks (see my user page)
 * Spam (spam bots who follow a random red link, or try to create an account, fail due to their obvious username, and create the user page anyway)
 * Are these events done by users (spam or otherwise) or IPs? --JonTheMon 15:46, 25 December 2011 (UTC)
 * The spam mostly comes from anonymous users. There seem to be 2 types of bot that create user pages: The one that follows random links and replaces the page content with something like "thnaks for this excellent infromation" (obviously auto-blocked if the page exists), and ones that get caught by the "Spam accounts" filter, but don't detect this and post their spam to what would have been their user page anyway. --Lunboks 13:01, 26 December 2011 (UTC)

Collector's Edition bypass
All right, I'm a bit torn on this. Should we allow the "workaround" that allows anyone to "upgrade" to the Collector's Edition to be posted or not?

Technically it's somewhat similar to discussing the piracy of Terraria or posting cracked download links, especially if more content is added in the future (to be honest, I hope not). I'm not a big fan of exclusive content, and the information will no doubt spread elsewhere. Should we revert it or turn a blind eye? Is there an official statement along the lines of "we don't care"? --Lunboks 20:50, 18 January 2012 (UTC)
 * It sounds to me like this is an activity that would be counter to the EULA, if that is the case, no, it has no place on the wiki. If it isn't prohibited by the EULA, and you do choose to add it to the wiki, please do so with a disclaimer that it is not something supported by Re-Logic, or endorsed by Terraria Online/Curse. -- Wynthyst [[Image:User Wynthyst sig icon.png ]] talk  21:55, 18 January 2012 (UTC)

Protected files
A while back the images on the homepage changed, but those images aren't protected like the old images where. To prevent vandalism I think it would be a good idea to protect those images: Terraria tree2, copper pickaxe, green slime and NPC2. --Icke 19:49, 30 January 2012 (UTC)
 * Done --JonTheMon 20:05, 30 January 2012 (UTC)
 * Thanks, I went ahead and actually create duplicate front-page only protected images. Internally, Green Slime and Copper Pickaxe have no reason to be protected, and users periodically update the sprite. happypal (talk &bull; contribs) 08:15, 3 February 2012 (UTC)

Terraria's development has been discontinued.
Just an FYI: It seems like 1.1.2 will be the final version of Terraria. I've removed everything about future content. Now you know why, and if you encounter anything I've missed &mdash; slash and burn.

Since Terraria is, as it were, no longer subject to change, will there be a content archival of some description, or do we just carry on as usual? --Lunboks 20:24, 21 February 2012 (UTC)

I don't think it's valid to state 1.1.2 is the final version. The dev blog you posted states, "However, we are still planning at least one more bug fix for Terraria." I'm referring specifically to the "Final" reference on the homepage. --Sinister Stairs 21:00, 21 February 2012 (UTC)
 * Fair enough. --Lunboks 21:07, 21 February 2012 (UTC)

There is also the possibility that the game can be picked up by someone else, though for the purpose of the wiki it would not work to advertise the possibility. Would it be better to simply archive the data for later, or just make new pages if it happens?--Ragen 00:02, 22 February 2012 (UTC)

Since hardly anyone uses this page (that i know of.) should we delete this section or save it, so in about a year or two, we can say that we BELIEVE that Terraria development has been discontinued. I believe that that fact is highly unlikely, just look here All those updates prove that development is still going on. Also, when did the game come out? 2011? 2010? That is recent for a game, thus, Re-Logic (if it wants to stay in business) will not stop a huge game like this from being patched and/or updated. -Brass.Dragon 13:12, 2/23/2012
 * I'm not sure what page you are referring to... that hardly anyone uses. This page is for communication with the wiki admins, and is used by the entire community. -- Wynthyst [[Image:User Wynthyst sig icon.png ]] talk  21:25, 23 February 2012 (UTC)
 * Did you read the developer post I linked? Red's saying Terraria is done, and I hope he's not throwing that around lightly because that did not go over well with a lot of people. People pointing to the upcoming features page as a blame list or proof that this is indeed not the end is part of the reason why I removed it. It's back now, and I'm not sure why, but yeah. That article is speculation based on developer posts &mdash; definitely not proof of anything. Obviously, if the developer calls it quits, then they're not going to happen. Unless someone else picks it up, which personally I don't think will happen. --Lunboks 22:41, 23 February 2012 (UTC)
 * I hear there will be a mod pack coming, as well as they are also planning to release a final bugfix version. Finally, they would also be planning to publish their programming API, in which case, content would be created by the users faster than ever.
 * I think it would be a mistake to make any conclusions at this point, we and simply wait and see. happypal (talk &bull; contribs) 09:45, 24 February 2012 (UTC)

Admin nomination
With activity levels being down, I think it might be useful to have another user become an admin. I nominate Icke since he's demonstrated that he's active and willing to keep the wiki clean. --JonTheMon 13:24, 16 March 2012 (UTC)
 * He has my vote. happypal (talk &bull; contribs) 13:49, 16 March 2012 (UTC)
 * I can vouch for Icke as well as JonTheMon. They have both have been extremely dedicated and helpful users of the wiki. They are both the rare breed of user that makes large amount of edits AND keeps them consistently constructive. --Moxxy 01:29, 30 March 2012 (UTC)
 * Ok, i think that enough time has passed and with good support, let's promote him. --JonTheMon 14:51, 8 April 2012 (UTC)

Requiring constructive edits before removing sections should be removed
I say this primarily because there are only so many different ways to be constructive. If you can't be considered constructive by removing content, you can only be constructive by adding it, and there's only so much content that can be added to a wiki about a game that isn't updating anymore. Besides, this is a wiki, it's not like malicious edits can't just automatically be undone instead of having the software globally ban anything that matches vague heuristics before it can even be executed.

I bring this up because I am not allowed to do this. --24.220.133.35 06:21, 30 May 2012 (UTC)
 * Actually you can't automatically undo edits, because there is no way to determine whether someone removes something useful or something useless. Hence every undo have to be done manually, which would take way too much time. Also there are more enough articles that could use more content. Also, I'm not going to tell how the filter works, but that edit would be allowed even for new users, so apparently you wanted to make a different edit than the one you're showing me. --Icke 10:23, 31 May 2012 (UTC)


 * This rule is preventing me from mass-reverting spam by this 'user' -24.5.242.38 07:14, 5 August 2012 (UTC)
 * I've slightly changed the rule to allow you to undo vandalism. --Icke 10:50, 5 August 2012 (UTC)

Mods
I recently got a request about whether or not it was allowed to add mod info to the wiki. I won't mind if this will be added to the wiki, but I don't want to make this decision alone. Furthermore I think the best way to do this is by making a new namespace. What do you guys think about adding mod and what way of doing so would you find preferable? --Icke 08:37, 3 July 2012 (UTC)