Talk:Miraheze/Archive 2

Can you add a qualifier to the don't accept advertising claim?
My wikis periodically get a banner ad asking for donations.

Is there a way to pay to not have these appear on my wikis?

Can you remove the claim that Miraheze is ad free?

Thanks, Rsterbal (talk) 18:12, 30 January 2021 (UTC)


 * Rsterbal I'm going to mark this as ❌, principally because this isn't advertising. It's a fundraising banner that is usually only run annually for a month or two, until our fundraising requirements are met. The banner should appear for only a few more weeks, but please do feel free to make a donation, if you haven't already, to help accelerate the meeting of our fundraising requirements. Dmehus (talk) 18:25, 30 January 2021 (UTC)
 * I don't want to get technical, but advertising usually concerns commercial products or services. I'm sure you understand that since Miraheze does not have any actual ads, the only way to stay up is via donations, and we do need to organize fundraisers once in a while. Wikipedia, Internet Archive and most donation-based websites do the same. We do however give you the option to dismiss the sitenotice, so you can do that. While I understand that it may be inconvenient to see this banner for so long, it is necessary to allow us to get enough funds to be able to stay up and provide a quality service. Reception123 (talk) ( C ) 21:18, 30 January 2021 (UTC)
 * I'm completely confused.
 * This is advertising. Can I pay to have it removed from my wiki?
 * Rsterbal (talk) 21:08, 3 February 2021 (UTC)
 * Rsterbal Unfortunately, we don't have a paid, premium tier, though I wouldn't mind that as a source of recurring revenue to fund our infrastructure. In any case, the central notice is due to expire in less than a week, which probably will not likely be renewed as we're coming close to meeting our goal for the year (within a few hundred GBP anyway, with or without the estimated 2020 tax liability). So, until it expires, you can just click "dismiss" and not see it on your wiki. But, I still agree with Reception123 above that this is not advertising. Dmehus (talk) 21:13, 3 February 2021 (UTC)
 * @Rsterbal Does enabling "Opt out of global Miraheze notices" in Special:ManageWiki/settings work? K599 (talk) 22:17, 3 February 2021 (UTC)
 * I'm willing to pay to have the adverting removed.
 * I'm not sure why you don't want to call it advertising. You are advertising for donations. That is a legitimate activity. Rsterbal (talk) 19:32, 4 February 2021 (UTC)
 * Perhaps. I'd call it fundraising, though. Dmehus (talk) 20:02, 4 February 2021 (UTC)
 * I think the correct language is that Miraheze doesn't sell ads  Rsterbal (talk) 16:55, 5 February 2021 (UTC)

On a related note, if that message is a returning one, can that be translated through translatewiki, or are there any plans to enable that in the future? --Sabelöga (talk) 18:30, 5 February 2021 (UTC)


 * For the record, the sitenotice will soon expire and no longer show. Reception123 (talk) ( C ) 15:45, 6 February 2021 (UTC)
 * To add to what Reception123 said, we've decided to extend the fundraiser by only ten days, as we're not yet close enough to our annual fundraising target. We're getting there, but we'd rather prefer to be as close as possible to the 4,000 GBP goal, so we only have to account for obtaining an additional 400 GBP (our estimated UK tax liability for the 2020 fiscal year) throughout the entire rest of 2021, which would mean we may not even need to do a midyear fundraiser. In short, 10 extra days is a small sacrifice to another 30+ day central notice in July or August.
 * Rsterbal, Reception123 and I would be happy to hide the central notice banner on your wiki for you. Dmehus (talk) 18:57, 6 February 2021 (UTC)
 * There is currently an opt out setting in Special:ManageWiki/settings (as per the comment by K599). If this isn't working, or is not desirable, please let us know so we can work out a better solution. -- Void  Whispers 19:03, 6 February 2021 (UTC)
 * Just to clarify, is "us" supposed to mean the Board? Thank you. 19:22, 6 February 2021 (UTC)
 * The message already is translatable here on Meta. I cannot remember what page I used to translate it though. 19:24, 6 February 2021 (UTC)
 * Yeah, I thought it was already translateable. Dmehus (talk) 19:25, 6 February 2021 (UTC)
 * should be available at https://meta.miraheze.org/wiki/Special:Translate?group=Centralnotice-tgroup-Fundraiser2021 -- Void  Whispers 20:13, 6 February 2021 (UTC)
 * Thank you! Though, what does that void translation in the middle really do? I can't fill it with nothing, so should I ignore it or should you remove it? Sabelöga (talk) 21:26, 6 February 2021 (UTC)
 * Currently nothing, from the looks of it. I have a plan to revamp the CentralNotice system to make translation stuff a lot easier and more convenient for users. But we'll see if I actually get the chance to do so. -- Void  Whispers 19:19, 8 February 2021 (UTC)
 * Okay Sabelöga (talk) 02:09, 9 February 2021 (UTC)
 * I believe us/we in this context refers to Miraheze community members involved with helping with the annual fundraiser for Miraheze. The board doesn't plan its own fundraisers directly. Dmehus (talk) 19:25, 6 February 2021 (UTC)
 * I'm not looking for special treatment for just my wikis. I'm looking for a site option for all wikis to hide the box on the top of their wiki pages. I think it is disruptive, and would pay for the removal. Rsterbal (talk) 17:44, 8 February 2021 (UTC)
 * @Rsterbal Did you try using the setting in Special:ManageWiki/settings I mentioned earlier? K599 (talk) 18:34, 8 February 2021 (UTC)
 * I just took a look:
 * Opt out of global Miraheze notices ($wmgSiteNoticeOptOut)
 * Opts your wiki out of global Miraheze notices, only showing important notices.
 * I would assume funding the site is considered important!
 * Rsterbal (talk) 17:40, 11 February 2021 (UTC)
 * Rsterbal Funding the site is important, yes, but for this year, we opted not to make the central notice a mandatory one. So, if you opt out, you will not see it any further. That being said, the central notice will disappear globally in seven (7) calendar days or less from now. Hope that helps. Dmehus (talk) 18:01, 11 February 2021 (UTC)
 * I turned it off and it still showed up.
 * Again, I asked a reasonable question and don't have a clear reason why I'm getting workarounds instead of answers. Rsterbal (talk) 16:46, 13 February 2021 (UTC)
 * Rsterbal Well, for one thing, Reception123 and I, as well as others, have provided reasonable answers and workarounds. You contend that the central notices are advertising, but they aren't; they're fundraising banners for Miraheze's business model which relies 100% on customer/user donations. With regard to your question, you've not specified which wiki you opted out of optional central notices, so I assumed you meant  In that case, you've not selected   in Special:ManageWiki/settings#mw-section-notifications. Hope this helps. Thanks. Dmehus (talk) 16:58, 13 February 2021 (UTC)
 * I mentioned before that I didn't want to really get into the semantics of the word but I feel like it's nonetheless important to argue the point regarding the specific word 'advertising'. The Oxford definition of advertising is the following: "the activity or profession of producing advertisements for commercial products or services." We, Miraheze, provide a free donation-based service and hence not a "commercial" service. But as Dmehus said, you are free to opt out via ManageWiki from the banner. Reception123 (talk) ( C ) 17:20, 13 February 2021 (UTC)
 * 100.6.94.93 19:46, 14 February 2021 (UTC)
 * November 2019: Miraheze is now a not-for-profit in the UK. See Incorporation for more information. Rsterbal (talk) 19:47, 14 February 2021 (UTC)
 * Here are some guidelines for fundraising in England:
 * https://www.fundraisingregulator.org.uk/code/specific-fundraising-methods/fundraising-communications-and-advertisements
 * 9.1.9.
 * You must be able to justify how often you contact people, balancing the need to communicate with not overwhelming or bombarding people. Rsterbal (talk) 17:44, 22 February 2021 (UTC)
 * The article you link seems to be referring to charities from a quick glance. Unfortunately, Miraheze was not able to register as a charity, which is why it is called a not for profit and not a non-profit. As much as we'd love not to have a banner for so long asking people to donate, we don't have many other choices, we need these funds in order to continue to properly provide our services. If you have any better ideas that you think could work for our next fundraiser, please feel free to raise them. I would also like to remind that the Wikimedia Foundation also uses the same type of banners for their fundraiser, and they're one of the largest websites on the Internet. Reception123 (talk) ( C ) 17:49, 22 February 2021 (UTC)
 * I have repeatedly offered to pay to have that message suppressed.
 * THAT IS ANOTHER OPTION Rsterbal (talk) 18:19, 22 February 2021 (UTC)
 * It means you've ignored Dmehus' message above, where he offered without paying for you to remove the banner from your wiki. Please read his message which tells you how to (easily) opt-out of the banner. Reception123 (talk) ( C ) 18:22, 22 February 2021 (UTC)

Rsterbal So, you could make a voluntary donation of whatever amount you can afford, then opt out of the central notice? Wouldn't that functionally accomplish the same aims of your proposed premium subscription model? That being said, I do like your premium subscription model idea. Dmehus (talk) 18:22, 22 February 2021 (UTC)


 * You cannot "opt-out" of the fundraiser banner using the mentioned setting. That only applies to notices sent or made using the configuration in the  repository.  18:27, 22 February 2021 (UTC)
 * R4356th Oh, interesting, I assumed that php variable applied to central notices, but I guess it just applies to the manual MediaWiki default sitenotices then? It's just weird because I thought only the central notices had an opt-out mechanism, not sitenotices. Dmehus (talk) 18:29, 22 February 2021 (UTC)
 * There is actually an opt-out option for banners and I can confirm it was unselected in Special:CentralNotice (which means if someone opts out the notice wouldn't show) Reception123 (talk) ( C ) 19:02, 22 February 2021 (UTC)
 * Reception123 Oh I definitely know there's an opt-out feature in Special:CentralNotice. The confusion was that I thought that wasn't necessary as the ManageWiki/settings wording suggested that the opt out selection you, I, and others have described above applied to both central notices and standard sitenotices. Dmehus (talk) 19:05, 22 February 2021 (UTC)
 * I'm not looking for the technical details of how to opt out. I'm trying to find out what it would cost to suppress the fund raising appeals on my wiki. Rsterbal (talk) 03:55, 24 February 2021 (UTC)
 * Nothing. If the software works as it should be, any wiki owner can disable it on that wiki at any point. Globally, the functionality doesn't exist but you can simply cross it off and it'll disappear on that wiki while you're logged in. ~ RhinosF1 - (chat)· acc· c -  07:56, 24 February 2021 (UTC)
 * I'm asking that the banner doesn't show up for any visitors to my sub domain. I don't want to turn anything off, I want the administrators of the site to offer an exchange: Money in exchange for turning it off on my subdomain.
 * It seems like there are 2 distinct strategies in not responding to my request:
 * 1) There is an easy way to turn off the fundraising banners, which I don't think is true.
 * 2) We don't want to enter in the exchange of funds for removing fundraising banners.
 * Am I understanding that correctly? Rsterbal (talk) 14:11, 24 February 2021 (UTC)
 * While in theory and in practice, it costs you nothing to opt out of the fundraising banners, you can always, and are strongly encouraged to, make a voluntary monetary annual donation to Miraheze Limited if you opt out of the fundraising banners. If the ManageWiki setting does not apply to central notices, then next time we run the banner (i.e., next December), then you can just request a Steward opt your wiki out of the central notice fundraising banner. Once that's done, you're most welcome to make a donation, which has the same practical effect of "paying" for a premium subscription plan that you describe. Dmehus (talk) 14:40, 24 February 2021 (UTC)
 * Point 1 is absolutely true, I'm unsure why you're able to conclude 'I don't think this is true' when you've been told, not one, not twice, but actually three times that you can disable this, without payment via a setting on Special:ManageWiki/settings, that affects everyone on your wiki. John (talk) 17:14, 24 February 2021 (UTC)
 * I tried. I couldn't get rid of it.
 * are the instructions posted somewhere? Rsterbal (talk) 19:58, 14 March 2021 (UTC)
 * They have been posted above numerous time, but I shall repeat them once more for you. Go to Special:ManageWiki/settings then go to the 'Notifications' tab, and the select the 'Opt out of global Miraheze notices ($wmgSiteNoticeOptOut)' checkbox and then save the form. I have looked at the wikis where you have 'bureaucrat' rights and I haven't seen you do this yet. John (talk) 20:19, 14 March 2021 (UTC)
 * Can this be posted to its own page? Rsterbal (talk) 20:12, 21 March 2021 (UTC)
 * I made the change to this wiki:
 * https://sterbalfamilyrecipes.miraheze.org/wiki/Special:ManageWiki/settings
 * to the 'Notifications' tab/button
 * 'Opt out of global Miraheze notices ($wmgSiteNoticeOptOut)' checkbox
 * I'll try to remember which notices I actually see. Rsterbal (talk) 20:18, 21 March 2021 (UTC)

Wiki activated notice
How do I know when my wiki is created? --Plastacikec (talk) 09:51, 11 April 2021 (UTC)


 * A notification will appear via the little bell at the top of your screen. You should also get an email when a wiki is created. ~ RhinosF1 - (chat)· acc· c -  09:54, 11 April 2021 (UTC)

Changing the wiki sidebar icon
How do I change the image on my wiki's sidebar? --Plastacikec (talk) 10:11, 11 April 2021 (UTC)


 * Are you talking about the logo? If so, please follow this. Otherwise, you can change your wiki's sidebar by going to . Thank you.  10:50, 11 April 2021 (UTC)
 * Thank you :) Plastacikec (talk) 13:33, 11 April 2021 (UTC)

Skin importing
How can I import a custom skin to my wiki? --Plastacikec (talk) 14:12, 11 April 2021 (UTC)


 * Plastacikec If the skin is not available in the "Skins" tab of Special:ManageWiki/extensions or a global skin that is not enabled on all Miraheze wikis, you will need to request this on Phabricator, and the skin will need to pass a security review. Hope that helps. Dmehus (talk) 14:16, 11 April 2021 (UTC)

Another wiki
So, I created a wiki, and I requested another one, but I have not received the notification that my wiki has been created, can you please tell me why? --Plastacikec (talk) 14:35, 11 April 2021 (UTC)


 * Plastacikec That's strange. The Echo notification may just not have been delivered yet, or you may need to enable notifications in the "Notifications" tab of Special:Preferences. In any case, you can view all your approved and declined wiki requests here, or in Special:RequestWikiQueue, searching by your username and selecting the status as "all". Do be sure to read through the decline reason and comments, address the concerns or questions posted, follow any instructions, then update the existing request as described. Hope that helps. Dmehus (talk) 14:44, 11 April 2021 (UTC)
 * Well, I have enabled the option to notify me when it is created, so maybe the echo notification was not delivered. Plastacikec (talk) 14:47, 11 April 2021 (UTC)

Adding more languages to articles
How can I add more languages to one article on my wiki? For example, I want to create a Spanish version of an article on my wiki. How can I do it? --Plastacikec (talk) 15:35, 11 April 2021 (UTC)


 * You can use the Translate extension or request new wikis and use interlanguage links to connect them. 15:48, 11 April 2021 (UTC)
 * @R4356th Okay, I installed it. Now, how do I add the language selection bar to the bottom of the article? Plastacikec (talk) 19:08, 11 April 2021 (UTC)
 * Plastacikec You will need to add  to the top of any translated source pages. This is generally done by preparing each source page using Special:PagePreparation. Once prepared, you can use Special:PageTranslation to mark prepared pages for translation. To move the language bar to the bottom of the page, you would just move the   code from the top of the page to the bottom of the page, then re-mark the page for translation. Dmehus (talk) 19:11, 11 April 2021 (UTC)

Is there a way to view LocalSettings.php on my wiki? If yes then how?
Hello, so I wanted to check what extensions are in the load options, these are listed on the LocalSettings.php. Is it possible to view the LocalSettings.php file on my wiki? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Plastacikec (talk • contribs) 12:49, 13 April 2021 (UTC)


 * Plastacikec Each wiki does not have a unique  file as we are are wiki farm. Rather, we have MediaWiki installations on several MediaWiki servers, and the configuration for wiki-specific settings is done within the one file. You can view the configuration file, and even propose edits to the file for your wiki. Note that most configuration settings can be done in ManageWiki, though, which, essentially, is stored in a separate database table, as I understand it. In terms of which extensions are loaded on wikis, some are core extensions (cannot be disabled), some are default (some are enabled by default, but can be disabled), and most are opt-in. You should be able to see the configuration of each extension at Extensions. Hope that helps. Dmehus (talk) 14:00, 13 April 2021 (UTC)

Custom wikifarm
Hi, is it possible to create my own wiki farm similar to Miraheze? If yes then how? --Plastacikec (talk) 18:45, 14 April 2021 (UTC)


 * Resolved per this reply in the Help Center. Turtle84375 (talk) 20:38, 24 April 2021 (UTC)

Suggestions to improve 'Contact us' section
I feel that the 'Contact us' section could be made a little more inviting: I suggest that the tech@miraheze.org email address should be added right after the IRC (recommended) line. Plenty of folk will barely have heard of IRC, but everyone has email. The Help centre has this markup which could be tweaked and dropped in:

The Help centre's "On-Wiki" section is also superior, viz:

Perhaps that markup could be worked-in by someone cleverer than I? Also, on the Help centre page itself, I personally would move the email address up to follow IRC, for the above reason. What do you think, ? -Skivvy Ftwm (talk) 10:33, 25 April 2021 (UTC)


 * It's sre@ now canonically instead of tech@ ~ RhinosF1 - (chat)· acc· c -  10:49, 25 April 2021 (UTC)


 * Hi so 'sre' for 'site reliability engineering', presumably? That just sounds worse to my ear: wouldn't any of 'help@', 'contact@', 'info@', 'query@', or (God forbid) 'hello@' strike a more welcoming note? -Skivvy Ftwm (talk) 13:32, 25 April 2021 (UTC)
 * None of them work, it shouldn't really be used for anything other than private requests to SRE which once the board finish the ToU work will be very limited in all honesty and discussion among SRE. ~ RhinosF1 - (chat)· acc· c -  13:46, 25 April 2021 (UTC)
 * Ftwm We could probably update that e-mail address, but  should still forward to , which, in turn, acts as a group e-mail alias to deliver messages to all SRE mail recipients. Dmehus (talk) 13:47, 25 April 2021 (UTC)
 * Well 'tech@' is better than 'sre@', no question. -S Ftwm (talk) 13:53, 25 April 2021 (UTC)

Why hasn't my wiki been accepted?.
I wanted to make a new wiki because my first one was not working well, but no one has accepted it. --ILove2Type801 (talk) 14:18, 18 May 2021 (UTC)


 * Hi, you have to wait. Wikis are not created instantly and the request must be reviewed by Wiki creator. It has not yet been approved, but neither has it been rejected. --Anton (talk) 14:25, 18 May 2021 (UTC)
 * ILove2Type801 Please click the red bell and go back into your wiki request, addressing all questions and concerns from wiki creators. If you can't find your request, you can access it from this pagee, scrolling down to "wiki requests." Thanks. Dmehus (talk) 14:43, 18 May 2021 (UTC)
 * but my wiki hasn't been accepted yet @Dmehus ILove2Type801 (talk) 16:04, 18 May 2021 (UTC)

Error
What was up with the internal server error last night?--Iron Sword 23 (talk) 14:04, 24 May 2021 (UTC)


 * I assume you mean this task and not this task, but nevertheless, system administrators are investigating the former, and you can follow along at #T7352 on Phabricator. Thank you. Dmehus (talk) 14:11, 24 May 2021 (UTC)

6-Year News
Please Update the News box with Miraheze-6-year Ugochimobi (talk) 16:43, 22 July 2021 (UTC)
 * ✅. MacFan4000 (Talk Contribs) 19:13, 22 July 2021 (UTC)

[//ahmencyclopedia.miraheze.org A wiki that I made and I want it to be famous]
There should be a link following [//ahmencyclopedia.miraheze.org Ahmencyclopedia ]. أحمد (talk) 11:08, 24 July 2021 (UTC)
 * Hello, will you please be more clearer. So you mean there should be a link to your wiki (Ahmencyclopedia) on the main page? ~ Mazzaz (talk) 12:08, 24 July 2021 (UTC)
 * Hi there, Your Miraheze cannot make your wiki famous, rather you do so yourself. But there's a way Miraheze could help you; By adding your wiki to the Gazetteer of wikis where anyone interested in writing your wiki or developing it will find it there.
 * Hope that helps. Ugochimobi (talk) 12:56, 24 July 2021 (UTC)
 * So I can add my wiki, La nciclupidìa dà mùsica, on gazetteer of wikis? Angelo Pisani (talk) 10:29, 3 August 2021 (UTC)
 * Sorry for the late reply, Yes you can add your wiki to the Gazetteer of wikis as long as it is a Miraheze wiki. Hope that helps. Ugochimobi (talk) 11:21, 3 August 2021 (UTC)