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Lostpedia:Ideas

Lostpedia is always open for new suggestions to better the wiki, so if you have a specific idea or request you would like to be fulfilled, let us know using the talk space below.

Note that if there is no consensus, an idea will not be implemented. Furthermore, the idea has to be both practical as well as creative, in order for it to be effectively enforced. Ideas will be removed from this list when either fulfilled or denied (decided by Administrators).

Contents

Ideas for Lostpedia

Example Idea

  • Nominated by: Marik7772003 01:38, 18 July 2007 (PDT)
  • Initial comments regarding the idea go here. This is where you should make your case regarding the idea.
    • Yes: I think that this is a good idea and should be implemented. --Marik7772003 01:38, 18 July 2007 (PDT)
    • No: This idea should not be implemented. --Marik7772003 01:38, 18 July 2007 (PDT)

Audio player/hosting

  • Nominated by: -- Graft   talk   contributions  04:11, 1 February 2008 (PST)
  • I don't actually know if this is currently possible, or if the wiki already has the proper extension. But I can think of several ways this would be helpful to explain and illustrate subject matter. Specifically, I would like to include short audio examples in musical score for illustration purposes with regard to musical sound effects and leitmotifs. Also there are a lot of Easter egg-type situations where it would be helpful to have an audio player; for instance there was a Find 815 video that when a small portion of audio was reversed, it was revealed to be Talbot from a video that hadn't been released yet. Stuff like that, short bits. Obviously not full length songs which would lead to copyright issues.
1. We have an extension to do this, though its not entirely functional. I would definitely be careful how this is used though... There is a limit to what we can reasonably use, and I could see many many users just uploading huge chunks of the shows audio.  Plkrtn  talk  contribs  email  05:30, 18 March 2008 (PDT)
I agree with Plkrtn, use of this would have to be restricted, to the point that if people wanted to use it in articles, they perhaps should lodge an application of sorts on a specially created article or designated talk page. --Nickb123 (Talk) 04:38, 20 June 2008 (PDT)
  • Yes It's somewhat wierd to embed videos and not sound-clips.--Mc peko 07:40, 7 July 2008 (PDT)
  • Yes However with the issues already raised perhaps it is something only a sysop should be able to upload?--TokyoRose 14:35, 5 August 2008 (PDT)
  • Yes I think the wiki already comes with a built in .ogg media player in the core files. --JPB. T. C. E. 20:29, 25 August 2008 (PDT)
  • Yes again Have someone looked into this? One solution would be to allow uploading of .mp3 files and simply link to them. Another solution could be to use links to another site that already deals with Lost audio, but if so we should ask them for an arrangement. We need limits on file-size, quality and length.--Mc peko 04:23, 31 August 2008 (PDT)

Lostpedia:Vandals

  • Nominated by:    Connor401    talk    contribs    email  
  • During the Finale Spoiler Leaking Crisis, I saw someone mention that there should be a page dedicated solely to reporting vandals. I want to bring this back up. It would be much more efficient because all the SysOps can watch it and then the users don't have to go to each SysOp trying to find one who is online.
    • Yes: Yeah, I mentioned that during the finale spoiler crisis. Fully agree. I unfortunately was spoiled by these spandals (spoiler vandals). It's time to fight back! :) --CTS 14:47, 31 May 2008 (PDT)
    • Yes: Would help in the on going fight against spoilers. --   Dee4leeds  talk  contribs  all  14:50, 31 May 2008 (PDT)
    • Yes: I had specifically to avoid LP, as well as many other sires to avoid spoiler. A vandal alert would be helpful. Malachi 15:05, 31 May 2008 (PDT)
    • Yes: I'd mentioned the idea to Plkrtn or RobertKS. So yeah. I'm all for it. -- Sam  T  C  15:07, 31 May 2008 (PDT)
    • Yes --     c      blacxthornE      t     16:56, 31 May 2008 (PDT)
    • Yes, as long as SysOps regularly maintain it. --Blueeagleislander 22:10, 31 May 2008 (PDT)
    • Yes: We need some sort of system to make banning vandals more efficient.--Baker1000 05:26, 1 June 2008 (PDT)
    • Undecided Trouble is, this doesn't necessarily make things easier. A SysOp will get sent an email when we edit their talk page, but not a regular page. LP can be set to send an email when watched pages are changed, but are we expecting SysOps to have their inboxes filled with notifications about EVERY watched page edit? Really, what we need is what we already had - SysOps regularly patrolling the site and idling in IRC. It worked fine so why can't we just have that again?--TechNic|talk|conts 05:53, 1 June 2008 (PDT)
TechNic as usual is on the money. Its difficult to do, and really our vandal problems aren't too severe at the moment, particularly off-season (touch wood). I think one thing though we were thinking about is, you know on the sidebar with links to "Blog", "Additional Languages", we were considering adding one that says "Report Vandalism" or something. And then if you click that and you're logged in it sends an email to a certain address that all SysOps are signed up to by redirect or however it works. There are issues with this though - could be abused, certain SysOps might not want these emails to their main inbox, etc etc. Regardless, this is the solution I think is best if this kind of idea is taken forward. --Nickb123 (Talk) 04:58, 20 June 2008 (PDT)
With the recent Bob attacks, this page may become more necessary. -- Sam  T  C  10:17, 15 July 2008 (PDT)
I agree, there have been several vandals lately. -- CTS  Talk   Contribs 10:35, 15 July 2008 (PDT)
This doesn't have to be just for vandal reporting. It could be a general administrators' noticeboard. This could be a requests for any available administrator. And not have to choose who to contact. --   Connor401    talk    contribs    email   14:40, 15 July 2008 (PDT)
I believe an administrator needs to make a decision on this sometime soon. -- Sam  T  C  13:04, 7 September 2008 (PDT)
Hi. I've recently added an anti-vandalism bot to Lostpedia's IRC channel. it currently checks the recent changes page every 15 minutes for certain words an expressions that are usually used in vandalistic edits, and automaticaly sends a message to the channel notifying of the vandalism to Sysops. hope this helps. --CharlieReborn 05:10, 8 September 2008 (PDT)

Search Suggestions like wikipedia

  • Nominated by: --JPB. T. C. E.
  • I would like to suggest to make our search program more like wikipedia. In wikipeida, when you are typing something in the search box, It gives you search suggestions. Is there anyway we can do that?
This is quite a good idea, though it'd require a certain extension. Worth looking into though. --Nickb123 (Talk) 05:01, 20 June 2008 (PDT)
This would require the Search Suggestions extension. It looks like it works out of the box with Monobook, but needs some tweaking with Lostbook. Admin will need to install it.    Jabberwock    talk    contribs    email   - 18:08, 1 July 2008 (PDT)
I have successfully installed this on my dev wiki and tweaked it for Lostbook. Now we just need Admin to make the changes on Lostpedia.    Jabberwock    talk    contribs    email   - 08:48, 2 July 2008 (PDT)
Thanks. This would be a major technological advancement for this site.--JPB. T. C. E. 19:29, 10 July 2008 (PDT)
I don't know about 1.11.2 but for 1.13 if you paste $wgEnableMWSuggest = true in the local settings file, it works perfectly. --JPB. T. C. E. 14:58, 11 August 2008 (PDT)

iPhone App

So today the new iphone App store is coming out. A lot of websites are creating apps for the iphone and ipod touch. Can We do this? It would be the first wiki app and it would be pretty cool and handy. It does require someone with a mac computer to do it.--JPB. T. C. E. 19:35, 10 July 2008 (PDT)

  • I think this would be a very good idea, I enjoy going on here on the iPhone sometimes when I'm not at home. I think it would be a very good idea if we took away the polls and stuff and just had the index, the navigation bar on the side, and the news on the front page, or something similar to that design.--Jinx 20:02, 14 July 2008 (PDT)
Yes: Fantastic idea. I'd make it if I had a mac. -- Sam  T  C  07:03, 15 July 2008 (PDT)
Actually, you don't need a Mac. I think all you need to do is sign up for the SDK program which is about 100 U.S. dollars. I think that if we can put forth 100$ from the money that is made from this site due to ad's, then we can have a talented user who knows the program to make one. We could even have ads in on it so that we get enough revenue to make up for the 100$'s.--JinxTalk Contribs 17:34, 12 August 2008 (PDT)
Actually you can get the sdk for free. I was downloading it but It was over 2 GB and you need a mac operating system. I checked the specs. Hopefully someone with a mac would volunteer to do this. You wouldn't need that much technical experience since everything is graphical instead of "cody".--JPB. T. C. E. 20:16, 25 August 2008 (PDT)

Random Page

I have recently noticed that most 90% of the time when I click on the random page button it brings either theories, actor pages, or transcripts. The 10% of the time when it brings an actual article, its a really small article. And this is nothing that has been going on just recently, its been going on every time since almost 2 years ago when I first used this site. Am I the only one experiencing this? --JPB. T. C. E. 20:27, 18 July 2008 (PDT)

  • Well, seeing as we have over 2,000 articles and a good percentage of them are stubs or actors etc. What I think your hoping for is something like the index and as you can see, the index doesn't have too many articles...--Jinx 19:03, 19 July 2008 (PDT)
  • I have experienced this as well. It would be nice to see this improve. -Writerstix 10:31, 22 July 2008 (EST)
  • Yes: I think it would be a good idea to remove at the very least Spoiler pages from the Random page button (though I have an inkling this is already in place, then it would be great to extend it to theories, stubs, etc) ~ Phoénix _U_ _T_ _C_
  • No: The link is called "Random page" for a reason.--Halcohol 01:48, 15 September 2008 (PDT)

Project Time Capsule

  • Nominated by --Jinx 18:02, 21 July 2008 (PDT)
  • Many of you know about time capsules, some the goverment or private organizations make them so that future civilizations will remember us, other do it for fun like to see how the dollar looks different, or what their favorite book was. I thought we could bring this idea to Lostpedia. Basically we would create a project page for it and any who wanted to participate could put down popular theories about Lost. Something like, Farday is alive, or Aaron isn't safe with Kate or whatever. We all can put down theories and then we lock the page, archive it, and make it dissappear from the records. So no one can look at it. Then in 1 year we open it back up again and see what we our theories and predictions and compare them to fact. This could also better unite the editors of Lostpedia.--Jinx 18:02, 21 July 2008 (PDT)
  • Comment, 1. All page are already archived, and you can just look through the history to see old theories. 2. How exactly would this "better unite the editors of Lostpedia"? --Blueeagleislander 00:54, 22 July 2008 (PDT)
    • Yes, pages are archived, but instead of looking back at just theories and going through the history pages we could just have a project page for it. 2. It would better unite the users of Lostpedia by encouraging people to get together and put things in the time capsule that are not just theories. Some people could put in a what happened the last time we watched Lost, others could write down what is currently happening at Lostpedia, like...the LLL has been created and the first book has been decided, a new ARG is coming up. It would just be a nice thing to look back at in a year and see how things have changed...--Jinx 08:50, 22 July 2008 (PDT)
    • Agree but only at the Season 5 theories page. It will have to be by some new rules, like theories must be accoprding to the theory policy, so the project might have the espected fun effect (the theories must be based on facts) and need to be wider so we get the chance of having a half-true & half-hoax thory. I think this was the original theory page's purpose.--O r h a n 9 4 13:15, 24 August 2008 (PDT)
  • I was planning on having several different sections so that we can look back at Lostpedia and see how it has changed. We could have a brief paragraph about Lostpedia, what is happening, like the book club is on its second book, we currently have however many articles. Then we have the main part with theories about things that are very important in Lost, like Smokey and what we think about Charlotte, maybe like the top 10 or 15 things that we think to be important. We should also have a section talking about the ARG and where we think it will be going. More comments and suggestions are welcome!:)--JinxTalk Contribs 13:54, 24 August 2008 (PDT)
    • Agree That would be interesting. On most of the wikis I am a user on such as wikipedia, mediawiki, lostpedia, ect. I always consider it interesting to see how the site has changed over time. --JPB. T. C. E. 18:03, 27 August 2008 (PDT)
      • Note: If you're interested to see how the site is changed over time, I would suggest you visit [1]. For example here is the first Jack article, [2]. You can find most of the main articles archived there if you are just interested in looking back. -Mr.Leaf 12:04, 30 August 2008 (PDT)

Lostpedia:Article Ambush

  • Nominated by: CTS
  • Article Ambush would be a great alternative to Article Attack and LP Project Groups. Anyone can lead an “ambush” on any article/section on Lostpedia. Whoever else would like to participate in the “ambush” can sign their name below the nomination. If you sign your name below then you are expected to contribute to the article/section along with whoever nominated it. This would be a great alternative to AA because it doesn’t require SysOps to maintain it. Anyone can nominate anything for “Article Ambush” and anyone can contribute to it. This would be a great way for users to cleanup articles/sections that would normally be in Article Attack. For an example of Article Ambush see here. -- CTS  Talk   Contribs 18:49, 22 July 2008 (PDT)
    • Disagree Sounds too much like the AA, and specific articles/categories could be placed on the upcoming Job List. --Blueeagleislander 00:55, 23 July 2008 (PDT)
  • But it's not like Article Attack because 1) it isn't a competition 2) it doesn't require SysOps to run it 3) it is basically a less comptetive version of AA. I think this is the perfect alternative for AA and LP Project Groups, since people have lost interest in both of those. -- CTS  Talk   Contribs 08:46, 23 July 2008 (PDT)
But surely what you're proposing is the job list expansion we've already kind of agreed on, but with a sign-up sheet? --Nickb123 (Talk) 08:50, 23 July 2008 (PDT)
Exactly, except it has a catchy name :) -- CTS  Talk   Contribs 09:01, 23 July 2008 (PDT)
  • Agree I think this could be a good program, orginization, whatever you want to call it, to make sure that jobs get done on the job list and we have a coordinated group effort which will get them done in a timely manner. I don't think we should launch this until maybe near the start of season 5 only because we would not have as many users now then then. :P Anyways, I am curious to see, what do you mean led by? Is the person that leads it going to basically direct the ambush? What I'm really getting at is how they are going to work together to complete the ambush... I think this is a good idea though because a lot of jobs on there need to be done and if this meanss getting them done, then I'm all for it.--Jinx 09:34, 23 July 2008 (PDT)
  • If you "lead" an ambush it doesn't mean your in charge of everything. It basically means that you hold yourself and the other users who sign up accountable for completing the ambush. If you sign up for an ambush, your expected to contribute to it. Basically the "leader" is the person who nominated the ambush. -- CTS  Talk   Contribs 09:39, 23 July 2008 (PDT)
    • I understand that, but it seems as if it is just another job list to me. I think we would need to have some orginization for the ambush, such as someone that will say, okay we need a group to work on the trivia section and someone to work on the pre-crash section, etc. If we are just having people sign up for something and then just randomly contributing something that is not good. The point of making a team is to work together cooperatively so that the article is cleaned up, rewritten, whatever.--Jinx 13:42, 23 July 2008 (PDT)
  • Whoever leads the ambush can state specific areas of the article/section that needs to be cleaned up. Then whoever leads it can assign people to different sections like you said (trivia, pre-crash, on-Island, etc). This would give a sense of organization, but it doesn't mean that the other contributors are obligated to work on that one particular section. -- CTS  Talk   Contribs 13:47, 23 July 2008 (PDT)
    • Okay, that is what I was getting at...--Jinx 14:05, 23 July 2008 (PDT)

LP Latin Project

I recently suggested to Admin a new language: Latin. It would make a great new project to work on and there are a lot of legitimate refrences to Latin on Lost. Admin said that we need a couple more people up to this challenge. So far me and another sysop have volunteered to work on this. Now I want to see comments about what you guys think about it. I have already started working on the main page. You can view it HERE. Thanks, --JPB. T. C. E. 19:00, 22 July 2008 (PDT)

  • Agree: As long as there are people willing to work on the site. --   Dee4leeds  talk  contribs  all  01:00, 23 July 2008 (PDT)
  • Agree: But I didn't actually volunteer lol! I will certainly try and help with coding some templates - but the fact I know zero Latin means I couldn't be a proper contributor (which I think is what Admin meant - he wanted a few who would really be committed to it). --Nickb123 (Talk) 03:30, 23 July 2008 (PDT)
Well yes thats what I meant. I only need help on the advanced wiki stuff. I can probably translate the whole thing by myself but Admin said we need a couple of more people.--JPB. T. C. E. 07:34, 23 July 2008 (PDT)

*Agree: While I don't speak a word of Latin, I'd be more than happy to upload images and help format. -- Sam  T  C  13:37, 7 August 2008 (PDT)

  • Disagree - We won't just make a new language LP because "there are a lot of legitimate references to Latin on Lost." There are languages that are far more deserving that Latin and would be much more widely used. Latin is not a commonly spoken language at all and in order for a Latin LP to be done we need a large number of people who can speak it, read it, write it and who watch Lost. We also need the potential for growth. For me Latin does not best offer these things when compared to other languages so i don't think this idea will work personally. -Mr.Leaf 16:01, 20 August 2008 (PDT)
  • Disagree - As per Mr.Leaf. Also, Latin is not very popular in concerns to a mother tongue (sp?). People that know Latin also usually know other langaues (sp? :P) so that would render the wiki obsolete. We could dedicate the time to another more important langaue (sp).--JinxTalk Contribs 16:50, 20 August 2008 (PDT)
  • Disagree - Upon consideration, Russian, Japanese, Korean, Hungarian, and Czech need wikis more than Latin. -- Sam  T  C  17:35, 20 August 2008 (PDT)
  • Disagree - Latin is a dead language,many other languges need their own LP, such as a Serbian or Croatian Lostpedia, since it could help users from more countries in the Balcans get to know Lostpedia. Also, Norwegian, Swedish and Hebrew need their own Lostpedias. Even though this idea isn't very good, it opened disscussion for few new languages on LP.--O r h a n 9 4 05:58, 21 August 2008 (PDT)
  • Disagree - Latin is a dead language. Although I can't remember anything enjoyable about high school Latin, I can imagine that bulldogdispatch is enjoying himself. That, in itself, is not a criticism.
    • I can see the potential for a lot of made-up Latin (airplane, rifle, computer).
    • Except, possibly, Vatican Television, I can't imagine anyplace that Lost is broadcast in Latin. As such, Lostpedia in Latuin would not serve a community.

--Jim in Georgia Talk Contribs 06:42, 21 August 2008 (PDT)

  • Comment I can perfectly understand why its a bad idea to put a dead language on a wiki thats based on a subject like this. There are a couple of people here and on the forum though who do think its a good idea including admin and are willing to contribute. And when the actual wiki gets up and running, more people would see it and therefore there will be more contributers. A lot of people will go on the latin LP probably more than some of the other languages here because it is unique. And per Jim in Georgia, believe me I am not enjoying myself (Latin in high school was hell). We would be the second ever big wiki to offer latin as a language option aside from latin wikipedia but this would attract more people to lostpedia itself. This would have no negative effect on the wiki and basically is a win win situation. You all are right that we should contribute our time to some other important language but I really don't see a negative effect. For example, wikipedia's latin site is one of the top 30 most visited language pages out of over 300 languages on wikipedia even though no one speaks latin these days. I forgot to post the link for the forum. Here it is: [3]. And plus if the project for any reason whatsoever fails, we can always cancel it. Oh and BTW I have moved the page to an external site so you can view it in a more Latiny enviorment. Click Here. Though it still lacks some things, I am working on it and this is an EXAMPLE. All the pages on that site I left unprotected anyone can help and then when it is finished, we will transfer the code here. That site will act like the beta testing ground for the lostpedia latin version. Trust me, the finished product will be much much better. You can still see the original by Clicking Here. Cheers, --JPB. T. C. E. 20:09, 25 August 2008 (PDT)
    • Comment Good points. But the same things go for every other language that is a wikipedia language, but not lostpedia language. We have 11 languages on LP, you say that Latin is the 30 on the list for most visited. What about the other (at least) 19 languages that are more visited on WP than Latin, in which we found Chinese (spoken by over half a billion people if not a billion) and Serbian (spoken in Serbia (pop. 7,495,000), Croatia (pop. 4,453,500), Montenegro (pop. 678,000), Bosnia (pop. 3,981,239)) --O r h a n 9 4 23:57, 25 August 2008 (PDT)
      • Comment I think those languages are also to be launched soon. When this wiki is upgraded to the latest version, admin said he will be launching numerous other languages as well. --JPB. T. C. E. 11:51, 26 August 2008 (PDT)

Language sidebar

I know that LP has a language sidebar which links to the respective wiki, but I think we should copy Wikipedia and make it possible to go to that article in another language with a single click (ie Link the sidebar to the same article in another wiki). --Blueeagleislander 02:12, 1 August 2008 (PDT)

  • No I really think that if someone wants to go to something in a different language then they can just hit the respective language and enter it in manually. It would just make us do more work when we could be focusing on other more important things instead. Three clicks away is not too many clicks. :P--Jinx 20:37, 1 August 2008 (PDT)
  • Agree.: I was actually thinking the same thing myself a while back. -- Sam  T  C  18:26, 9 August 2008 (PDT)


Accepting actor statements as canon

Nominated by: User:gaarmyvet

A "spirited debate" erupted recently over the name of the woman to whom Dr. Pierre Chang spoke during the DHARMA booth video. For that matter, the debate smouldered earlier over whether the scientist's name was "Chang" or "Cheng."

User:Jinx's position, if I'm quoting him correctly, is that he accepted the answers but felt we should generally not accept the content of interviews as canon and should not amend a page because and actor has told us something. (I hope Jinx will correct me if I've erred.)

All of us -- I think -- accepted the two statements to User:Sam McPherson. My case follows:

  • We must distinguish between an interview and being allowed to ask an actor or any other member of the production team a specific question.
  • Interviews are those drawn out exchanges where, often, little concrete information is acquired. ("Do you like working with X?" "Yes, X is a really great guy.")
  • Specific questions clear up misunderstandings. The following are theoretical synopses of the conversations with Mr. Chau:
  • ("Did the piece of paper read 'Cheng' or 'Chang'?" "Chang." "Thank you.")
  • (What was the offscreen character's name?" "Lara." "Thank you.")
  • The member of the production team may be constrained:
  • The producers may not want us to Lara's name yet and intentionally distorted the sound. (Not true)
  • The producers may not want us to know the name of the camerman. (True)
  • I think it's very gracious of Francois Chau, and others who I am unaware of, to tell Sam McPherson he could ask a question any time. It speaks well of the people who built Lostpedia long before I showed up.

I recommend we change the policy on canonicity to accept answers from members of the Lost production team to direct questions.

--Jim in Georgia Talk Contribs 11:37, 4 August 2008 (PDT)

Isn't that basically what our policy is currently? We accept writers' comments as canon. As for actors, we don't accept what they say as canon, but will surely mention what they say. Also if in the case of Lara/Jennifer there is no definitive, its fine to take the actor's word for it. --Nickb123 (Talk) 11:51, 4 August 2008 (PDT)
I believe that you are kind of contradicting yourself Nick. So, basically what I think you are trying to say is, we will mention what an actors says, but if we aren't sure on it we will go ahead and accept what an actor says as cannon. That is very confusing for me, I think that if that is the policy we have now, then we have a serious issue. When it is not convient for us, we decide to ignore policy and just go with whatever will put up more information. If that is the policy we have now, then I am even more pushing for a change because that is simply confusing and will result in nothing, but endless debate on whether something is definite or not, etc. Jim, you pretty much correctly quoted me, but I may change my position depending on how this debate progresses, I also believe that it would be again confusing if we tried to distingushed an interview and just a question. For the future of Lostpedia we need to address this issue so we can ensure that we have a better future in sight, one that will not toil on endless and petty debate.--Jinx 22:05, 9 August 2008 (PDT)
I think it's fairly simple. If an actor states "My character is gay," or something major like this, it goes into trivia. But if a statement is being debated, and the actor clears up a line for us, it is the most canon we have, and should be considered fact until and if another clarification, such as from the show or Damon. -- Sam  T  C  06:07, 10 August 2008 (PDT)
I think this is being blown slightly out of proportion. We wouldn't get caught up in endless debate, and it depends purely on the example so its a very subjective thing, as Sam points out. I don't think policy needs to change, its not a big deal. --Nickb123 (Talk) 08:02, 10 August 2008 (PDT)
Agreed. All that really needs to be done is more use of common sense. -- Sam  T  C  08:08, 10 August 2008 (PDT)
Okay, well, I really doubt that the way this discussion is going that we are going to be able to change policy. I do however think that in the future an issue like this will arise and we will again have a debate about it, because the policy is not clear enough. Oh well, when that day comes, I will push again for a more clear policy regarding interviews...--Jinx 12:52, 10 August 2008 (PDT)


Graphical Sandbox Link

I've created a portal template to access one's (or anyone's) sandboxes. I basically ripped the code out of one of the character portals. The image is a GNU item I found in Google.

{{SandboxLink|user_sandbox_name=User:Username/SandboxName}}

So far, it's enjoyed a 100% acceptance rate, which means both the one guy I showed it to and I liked it <smile>.

It's there for all.

--Jim in Georgia Talk Contribs 09:02, 12 August 2008 (PDT)

  • It's a good thing, but I'm not sure it belongs in ideas. -- Sam  T  C  17:41, 12 August 2008 (PDT)
I just use Special:Prefixindex and then enter the parameter like "User:Nickb123" or "User:Nickb123/sandbox" to see my pages. If you want some code to show it on your userpage, great, but it isn't an idea unless you think all users should have it as part of a policy. --Nickb123 (Talk) 05:23, 13 August 2008 (PDT)

Yes, I think everyone should have it; it's a graphical world.--Jim in Georgia Talk Contribs 05:43, 13 August 2008 (PDT)

I don't think we should be forced to use it as part of policy. It should be offered as an option, but on some pages (like my own), the link will not work aesthetically. We should be able to link to our sandboxes the way we want, or not at all. -- Sam  T  C  10:43, 23 August 2008 (PDT)
I agree with Sam completely, we shouldn't be forced, but this is a good option to have.--JinxTalk Contribs 10:46, 23 August 2008 (PDT)
Yeah, optional only. -- CTS  Talk   Contribs 10:54, 23 August 2008 (PDT)

Okay, we all ought to have it available. It's not necessarily the best tool or the even the best designed, but it works. What we need is a "user tools" section, maybe under help.--Jim in Georgia Talk Contribs 16:18, 23 August 2008 (PDT)

That would be a great idea to have a user tools section. We could have that and links to the edit badges and country badges.--JinxTalk Contribs 20:00, 23 August 2008 (PDT)
Sorta Agree I guess it will be a good addition if it is optional... --JPB. T. C. E. 12:03, 26 August 2008 (PDT)


Debunking

Submitted by: Jim in Georgia Talk Contribs

We need (one of two):

  • A procedure to recommend theories for debunking
  • A procedure for putting questionable theories in the queue to be presented to TPTB.

The case in point is the theory on the vile vortices. It appears in various places in Lostpedia, cited as though it has merit. However, following the link to Vile Vortices takes one to a page flagged as Fanon. Following the link from the Fanon page to the Wikipedia takes one to a page that has been flagged for an absence of citations and footnotes and for weaselwording. It's obvious that with each step away from the original "research," the concept gains credibility.

If a theory were put into the debunking queue, its placement would -- and should --be argued. That's fine.

--Jim in Georgia Talk Contribs 12:22, 25 August 2008 (PDT)

  • CommentI don't think we need a policy for debunking theories, rather on the articles where the Vile Vortices theory is in, then we should put something like, "...the Vile Vortices Theory which is fanon, proves this correct..." or whatever.--JinxTalk Contribs 12:32, 25 August 2008 (PDT)
  • Comment: I don't know that a policy, per se, would rectify the problem, but the problem exists, and persists, as described by Jim in GA. Canon, fanon and the like - the lines are being blurred... so instead of a 'policy', how about a deliberate and blantantly obvious PROCESS to get information back into appropriate areas? @DocH 13:31, 25 August 2008 (PDT)

Just a guide I made...

  • Nominated By: Bulldogdispatch
  • Proposal: Hey guys I wrote this guide for the Mediawiki software Newbies. Its for those users on this site who want to know how the technical things "Roll" on this site. I am requesting that it be added to the help page. You can view it here: User:Bulldogdispatch/howwikiworks Cheers, --JPB. T. C. E. 00:28, 26 August 2008 (PDT)
    • Unsure: I don't think people need help on this. If you're just a regular user, its not necessarily relevant to you how the software is designed. Anyone who did care that much could consult more comprehensive and professional guides elsewhere. --Nickb123 (Talk) 08:11, 27 August 2008 (PDT)
    • Agree. I like it. I'm a retired database developer and have wondered about the internal structure. I'll go so far to suggest that you list the table schema; I think it would be interesting.--Jim in Georgia Talk Contribs 10:49, 27 August 2008 (PDT)
Reply to Jim Working on that ASAP. Sorry about the layout of the page though. I wrote the whole thing in an hour and a half on my iphone. I will try to touch it up when I am finished putting all the required info.
Reply to Nick That is true. But there are some users here who are curious about the internal structure of the mediawiki software. So its not intended to be a help page, but simply a guide. It is very interesting to the eyes of a user with no knowledge of wikis ;) --JPB. T. C. E. 16:07, 27 August 2008 (PDT)
  • No: Sure, it's interesting and informative. But an article on plenty of other things would be interesting to. Unfortunately, I don't think a run-down of wikimedia is necessary on Lostpedia. -- Sam  T  C  16:28, 27 August 2008 (PDT)
  • No: As per Sam. I think that you should more of submit that idea to Wikipedia, we don't need something that shows the internal structure of the wiki because most users won't need that information.--JinxTalk Contribs 17:18, 27 August 2008 (PDT)
  • Its not intended to be an actual wiki page. As I said above, Its intended to be a simple, interesting, and informative guide on a page like Lostpedia:MWGuide or the page its on right now with a link to it from another official Lostpedia page. As long as its not going to be an actual article here, I don't see no harm. --JPB. T. C. E. 17:22, 27 August 2008 (PDT)
Just to nitpick, the double negative you used means that you do see harm. But anyways, just because you don't see the harm in something is no reason to do it. The same excuse was used whenever some silly article was about to be deleted, and everyone cried out, "but it's not hurting anybody," even though it was an irrelevant article. -- Sam  T  C  17:24, 27 August 2008 (PDT)
Also, I remember reading it and thinking, "Wow this is out of place." I mean that in the most respectful way, because I see that this article is clearly very informative, but we really have no need. Unless it has something that is vital for users to know, I really don't think we should keep it.--JinxTalk Contribs 17:35, 27 August 2008 (PDT)
The only point of it is to be an interesting and informatic guide. To a lot of users on lostpedia, a page like this would be enjoyable. Anyway I will keep updating whist seeing other lostpedian's feedback on this. Just as a off-note, what do you all think about the actual guide anyway? --JPB. T. C. E. 17:47, 27 August 2008 (PDT)
The guide's fine. Just doesn't belong on LP. A Fringe page would be interesting to a lot of users. But it doesn't belong. -- Sam  T  C  18:06, 27 August 2008 (PDT)
Speaking of Fringe, I hope its going to be a good show. After all, the creator is the same as Lost's. --JPB. T. C. E. 18:15, 27 August 2008 (PDT)
  • Bulldog, I have never met a bunch of people with less curiosity than the good folks responding to your idea.--Jim in Georgia Talk Contribs 18:43, 27 August 2008 (PDT)
Don't misunderstand my position, Jim. It's not that us "good folks" have less curiousity. We just don't think it has a place on the wiki. -- Sam  T  C  18:46, 27 August 2008 (PDT)
Well hopefully the final decision to this will be in favor of. If not, it will be on my user page where everyone can go on. --JPB. T. C. E. 19:10, 27 August 2008 (PDT)
Ditto what Sam said, I find it an interesting guide, but the place for it is not on Lostpedia. I found the guide itself very informative, but this would be better for Wikipedia. Just as Sam said, finding a Fringe article here would be off base, cool, but off base. You can keep whatever you want on your user page, but we don't need an "actual" article on it.--JinxTalk Contribs 23:07, 31 August 2008 (PDT)

Characters played by multiple actors

I have a proposition that we add Actor3 and Actor4 to the Template: Infobox character, beacuse characters like Locke and Ben are played by 4 and 3 actors respectivly, Locke- Terry O'Quinn, Caleb Steinmeyer, Charles Henry Wyson and a unknown infant; and Ben Michael Emerson, Sterling Beaumon and a unkown infant. Also we should add the children that play characters on Lost as Actor2 (on the articles about Jack, Sun, Hurley, Marc, Locke, Ben, Eko, Yemi, Kate, Charlie etc.).--O r h a n 9 4 15:27, 31 August 2008 (PDT)


  • Agree Yes.--Mc peko 18:01, 31 August 2008 (PDT)
  • Agree --Ryan76el 01:46, 1 September 2008 (PDT)
  • Disagree sign here:

Lostpedia Interviewee Banner

  • Nominated by Sam McPherson
    • I feel that the interviews need to be publicized more, both internally and externally. I was thinking, many articles of people we have interviewed do not even link to the interview. So that got me to thinking: what if, instead of adding a lengthy nav on the bottom or something, just putting a banner on top, a sample of which you can see here, and leaving it at that. Thoughts, or other ideas? -- Sam  T  C  16:46, 31 August 2008 (PDT)
    • Agree I like the idea, it would be very effective I think. Also, we should have a banner that says, such and such is accepting questions here, or the interview will be posted on blank.--JinxTalk Contribs 23:11, 31 August 2008 (PDT)
    • Agree I think this idea is great. --Ryan76el 01:46, 1 September 2008 (PDT)
    • Agree but I don't think the banner needs to be that big. --Blueeagleislander 02:14, 1 September 2008 (PDT)
    • Agree, and could we have a banner for interviews to come.--O r h a n 9 4 08:44, 1 September 2008 (PDT)
    • Agree, Great idea and I like the idea of also having one to say the person is taking questions. --   Dee4leeds  talk  contribs  all  10:18, 1 September 2008 (PDT)
    • I kind of sized-down the banner;it was just an example. -- Sam  T  C  13:22, 1 September 2008 (PDT)
    • Agree, but turn the banner into a box, similar to Template:PandoraDIRP in style.--  Lost Soul   talk  contribs  13:32, 1 September 2008 (PDT)
      • Eh, I think it should be the new style that Sam made, I really think that boxes that big should go at the bottom, and I think it is nessecary to put the banner at the top so the first thing the people see is the banner.--JinxTalk Contribs 14:19, 1 September 2008 (PDT)
    • Well, I'm going to start adding the banners, but if there are any objections, please put them here. -- Sam  T  C  14:29, 1 September 2008 (PDT)

New Pictures

There are new pictures showing up that are allegedly of characters which appear, to me, to be publicity pictures of the actors. Locke and Claire are two examples. It would be fine to put those pictures on the actors' pages; I don't think they belong on the character pages. Is there any consensus here?--Jim in Georgia Talk Contribs 12:26, 2 September 2008 (PDT)

No, they are promotional photos of the characters from season four. See here for all the season four promo photos. -- Sam  T  C  14:59, 2 September 2008 (PDT)
Thats true, as far as it goes. However, none of the photos at DarkUFO are captioned. There are pictures of John Locke and there are [pictures of Terry O'Quinn. When in Season four did John Locke appear dressed as he's dressed in the current photo?--Jim in Georgia Talk Contribs 17:13, 4 September 2008 (PDT)
No, for the show, the promos are all pictures of the characters, not the actors. There is no reason for abc to promote the actors solely. -- Sam  T  C  20:10, 4 September 2008 (PDT)
I think the pictures should be replaced with pictures that represent the characters better. an offical picture of the character made by ABC isn't necessarily the best choice. For example, I've never seen Desmond wear desginer clothes on the island, Jin walking around in a with a suit on the island, or Locke teaching math on the island (; --CharlieReborn 04:56, 8 September 2008 (PDT)

Need some smileys here...

  • I think the Lostpedia could need some emoticons, to use them on discussion pages. Emoticons like ";-)" or "^^" don't look that good with the Wiki-font. I'd propose (some of) these, we're using in DE - Lostpedia quite a while. To use them easily, a couple of templates are necessary, like {{Smile}} or {{Wink}}. I didn't wanna create them before discussing this topic.
    --       19:35, 6 September 2008 (PDT) Image:Smiley emoticons wink.gif
  • Agree but only for talk pages. --Blueeagleislander 19:52, 6 September 2008 (PDT)
  • Agree per Bleag. -- Sam  T  C  20:17, 6 September 2008 (PDT)
  • Agree -- CTS  Talk   Contribs 21:03, 6 September 2008 (PDT)
  • Agree: but only basic emoticons like smile, wink, sad face - the gif ones with dracula and stuff would just annoy me after a while. And anyway, we're a wiki not a forum. --Nickb123 (Talk) 04:32, 7 September 2008 (PDT)
  • Yeah, I must admit, that the dracula thing is a bit weird --       09:18, 7 September 2008 (PDT)
  • Okay, I created four templates now: {{Smile}} Image:Smiley emoticons smile.gif, {{Sad face}} Image:Smiley emoticons nosmile.gif, {{Wink}} Image:Smiley emoticons wink.gif and {{Tongue}} Image:Smiley emoticons razz.gif. --       10:35, 16 September 2008 (PDT)

Releasing Lostpedia on Blu-ray in 2011

I'm worried that lostpedia.com someday is gone. Do we have a backup? Someone should / could / would code an app. that saves complete sites and make links work locally. Maybe it's been done? Is there any way I can download the whole site? I would certainly be willing to limit the download speed. What is the current size of the site?--Mc peko 10:27, 17 September 2008 (PDT)

  • Already taken care of There are several individuals, web sites, and companies that would be willing to host Lostpedia after Lost is no longer on television. That is pretty far in the future, but we do have a plan (sort of). There was a topic like this on the main page discussion, you might want to look there for further answers.--JinxTalk Contribs 13:26, 7 September 2008 (PDT)

Great! Thanks. I still want a solution for downloading the whole site. And I'm still curious about the total weight.--Mc peko 10:27, 17 September 2008 (PDT)

"Jump to editing window"

  • There is a possibility to do jump direct to the editing window, after clicking on Show preview. This can be helpful in long articles, where you usually have to scroll down the whole page. It's pretty difficult for me to explain that, just take a look at this article about Lost in German Wikipedia (it doesn't exist in the English Wikipedia - yet). It is a long article with a size of 119 KB. Now, click on Preview ("Vorschau zeigen") and then "→ Zum Bearbeitungsfenster" on the very top of the article and you switch to the editing window at the bottom. Your recent changes will be saved! Here's the code: <span class="plainlinks">[{{SERVER}}{{localurl:{{NAMESPACE