Working on the OS FAQ [Mega-Tokyo Wiki]

[bubach]

nice change! btw df are you low on bandwidth, and what became of the forum and or wiki server move?

[df]

I think i have unlimited (as much as you can have it) since i got my 'hosting plan' a looooong time ago, ive never hit my 'cap' if i have one, so i'm not too worried really.

i still have some thoughts on moving the wiki/forum... just waiting to see what happens. so busy, new job, trying to get a mortgage, waiting to find out if there is a baby or not on the way... (i dont think so on the last one)

[Guest]

@df: If bandwidth and storage aren't a problem, then why move the forum and wiki? You have great moderators which are willing to undertake any necessary administration here. It'd be sad to see the Mega-Tokyo community transpire into nothing, like is common with many moves.

[Solar]

If I may be so bold and answer for df - we're just the moderators. He is still the admin, which means any touches to the software (like spam blacklisting, wiki / forum software updates, configuration changes etc.) have to be done by him.

[Guest]

If I may be so bold and answer for df - we're just the moderators. He is still the admin, which means any touches to the software (like spam blacklisting, wiki / forum software updates, configuration changes etc.) have to be done by him.

I thought Chris Cromer was also an administrator which could perform those actions?

[Pype.Clicker]

just one wish: a slightly different style for "verbatim" blocks wouldn't be bad. i liked how the previous version had monospaced, bordered and pale-background for the code blocks.

[df]

yeah. i'll work on it tonight and make the code blocks more readable.

hows that look?

[Pype.Clicker]

much better ! ;D

[Kemp]

It'd also be nice to the the old text Diff links in the recent changes/edits pages rather than the new images. I like how the text becomes a different colour after you've visited the link, that way I can see at a glance if there's new edits without having to remember what the last one I saw was.

[Crazed123]

Solar: true. However, with an interpreted language you probably *also* need to provide a virtual machine or interpreter (I don't think you can use whatever comes with that language). So that adds to the burden.

It really depends what kind of interpreted language, and how much OS support that language needs. I'd recommend not a Wiki page on how to write a language interpreter/compiler but on what a language should look/act like in order to be run on bare metal.

[?]

I have noticed some grammatical errors, spelling errors, and also stylistic inconsistencies in the FAQ. While it is understandable, after all we are only human, I just thought it should be noted (perhaps there is a quick way to run the FAQ through a grammar and spelling checker?). As for the stylistic inconsistencies (sometimes between source-code excerpts, sometimes between normal text; - perhaps some wouldn't classify them as inconsistencies, but I am a little strange in regards to this), maybe a "stylistic guide" should be created which would set a standard for the manner in which excerpted source-code is written (i.e. how comments are made, the manner in which functions are named, etc.) and for the manner in which normal text is written.

Anyway, they're just suggestions.

[Pype]

the OSFAQ and the Internet as a whole is under massive Spam attack in benefit of p*rn site at kth.i24 ...

Here are the address blocks used by the spammers:
209.8.40.*
206.161.192.*
205.252.23.*
206.161.205.*
209.8.22.*

I guess they should go to the black list ASAP.
Df, we're discussing that on osdever forum. We need you there.

[Solar]

Summary of the "nuclear spam attack" (to clean up the thread a bit):

• df was able to remove the spam by direct SQL, removing all edits after the last "known good" edit. While this solved the immediate problem, it might lead to inconsistencies in the database, so we're looking into script-driven rollback functionality which keeps reference consistency.
• The Wiki software has been updated; the newer version apparently supports all kinds of authorization "tricks", from not allowing edits without giving a nick first over "type the word" schemes to full user / password authentication. Some of them are a bit too strict for a "free" Wiki, some I didn't get to work yet, but I'm at it.
• The new version also supports bulk page removal for admins. We're looking into bulk reverting of edits, which should make mass spammings easy to clean up.
• Yes, there is an extensive IP blacklist employed, which however requires SSH access to the server - which both df and myself can do from home only, so we cannot react immediately.
• Yes, it is planned to move the OS FAQ Wiki to osdever.net in the long run, too.
• One way to find dangling references in the Wiki are the pages WantedPages (pages linked but not existing) and OrphanedPages (pages existing but not linked). This is for general use, not only in regard to despammings.

If the software update on the Wiki results in any problems, please report them, preferably on the page WikiIssues, or in this thread.

[Solar]

(perhaps there is a quick way to run the FAQ through a grammar and spelling checker?)

Yes there is, for admins at least (who can text-dump the Wiki pages and re-upload them after edit). But "quick" is relative, you'd still have to go through all the pages... I might do that in an hour of leisure.

...maybe a "stylistic guide" should be created...

Same as with coding style-guides or the "quick linkz - read this before you post" threads: Usually those you really want to reach don't read them. And for some it's a matter of foreign language - they really might want to, but they're doing as good as they can already.

If you find something that's "off", be bold and edit it. For regular visitors of the Wiki, seeing what other people edited in their work is valuable feedback already, and the others won't bother with some "style guides" anyway.

[Solar]

http://www.mega-tokyo.com/osfaq/HomePage does now work.

Both old-style osfaq2/index.php/... and new-style osfaq/... URLs will remain valid, but you will notice that all WikiLinks point to the new URL style.

I like PhpWiki hacking. ;D