Community noticeboard

Revisiting Extension:PdfBook
...now that we're closing in on the MW 1.38 era, and talk of this utility hasn't been touched upon on Miraheze in ages.

This contributor deployed PdfBook in a test run on Saturday, May 21, replacing the promising but much-flawed Display Title in his site's lineup. On-and-off reports of its ineffectiveness elsewhere have diminished its long-term prospects; while preparing this post, rendering with ?action=pdfbook at the end of a wiki URL has led to an error message when trying to view the output. On Android devices with Google Docs (like mine), this reads:


 * Cannot display PDF (Title.pdf is of invalid format)

...thanks to which I'm dropping it for good right after this goes to press. (Alerting developers Aran Dunkley and Igor Absorto, and XPosting this message on the extension's talk page, later on; also paging for any additional word.)

At Phabricator last December, Universal Omega himself remarked on its fate:

"PdfBook is mostly unmaintained, and not on Wikimedia Gerrit, so I don't see any fix happening there. We should consider removal."

A real shame, as something like it would sure come in handy for my future books. Let's hope it actually gets fixed soon enough.... Routhwick (talk) 11:32, 29 May 2022 (UTC) . Please comment if you have other ideas about Babel or want express your support/oppose opinion. (If this change will be approved, i will do necessary related on-wiki work) Thanks,--MrJaroslavik (talk) 18:04, 4 July 2022 (UTC)
 * I would support this change, it's far cleaner and more descriptive than our current setup. — Chrs (talk) 18:10, 4 July 2022 (UTC)
 * I would also agree with changing this as it's quite weird to have it in the way it's currently set up. Reception123 (talk) ( C ) 16:31, 9 July 2022 (UTC)
 * I think we can change it as it's here for week without some concerns? We will change it only for Meta, right?--MrJaroslavik (talk) 20:34, 12 July 2022 (UTC)
 * I, a random reader who doesn't understand your code, approve this change based on the 2 positive comments above. I say go for it. 24.130.46.152 19:30, 22 July 2022 (UTC)

Technical Director elections
Hi everyone, Please note the election period for the Technical Director position is currently taking place. This page provides for more details. Unlike Community Directors who represent the community, the Technical Director represents SRE and Technical Volunteers and as such only they are able to participate and vote. Reception123 (talk) ( C ) 17:55, 9 July 2022 (UTC)
 * Then there was no real reason to post it on the community noticeboard, then :/ Naleksuh (talk) 18:15, 9 July 2022 (UTC)
 * I agree it's definitely not the best place but I wasn't sure where else to put it to get the attention of the users concerned. Reception123 (talk) ( C ) 18:20, 9 July 2022 (UTC)
 * It can be put in the sitenotice for notification if it’s really important. Cheers, Matttest (talk | contribs) 05:22, 10 July 2022 (UTC)
 * A sitenotice would make even less sense as it's very much directed towards a small group of volunteers. If it was a Community Director election then certainly. Reception123 (talk) ( C ) 09:00, 10 July 2022 (UTC)
 * Voting is now open. See Tech:Technical_Director/Election/2022. --Reception123 (talk) ( C ) 19:22, 21 July 2022 (UTC)

Connecting to Wikidata
Hello, How can I connect the pages of my wiki to the Wikidata? Thanks! Lois (talk) 15:11, 13 July 2022 (UTC)


 * Hello, Wikidata is a Wikimedia wiki and you cannot link your wiki's articles to wikidata. --Startus (talk) 16:19, 13 July 2022 (UTC)
 * Hi, Oh, I thought so, but thank you very much. I think Mirahezee could have a Wikidata wiki :D Lois (talk) 19:06, 13 July 2022 (UTC)
 * There have been attempts. I've no idea if a global WikiBase is currently in existence. ~ RhinosF1 - (chat)· acc· c -  07:38, 14 July 2022 (UTC)

Database error
Every time I attempt to edit Rothwell Wiki I get a database error (I tried to upload a picture but it was flagged as "harmful"). Would anyone be able to help me figure out how to fix the database error? Rothwell (talk) 20:59, 13 July 2022 (UTC)


 * Hi there! I’ve forwarded this to our SRE team on IRC at . Please feel free to join the channel, or I can notify you when the issue is resolved on-wiki (this may take a while though). Thanks - BrandonWM (talk • contribs • global • rights) 02:27, 14 July 2022 (UTC)
 * As a note: Please don't screenshot errors. It's much easier if you just copy and paste it. Database errors are best reported on Phabricator and make sure to include the full message including at least 1 example of the letters & numbers at the start inside square brackets. ~ RhinosF1 - (chat)· acc· c -  07:38, 14 July 2022 (UTC)

CSS sanitization
I need to sanitize this page [this page]'s CSS content model to sanitized CSS? SecretSpyer (talk) 00:30, 14 July 2022 (UTC)


 * Hi, you can change content model of a page via Special:ChangeContentModel on your wiki. Let us know if you have any further questions. Cheers, Matttest (talk | contribs) 07:08, 14 July 2022 (UTC)
 * I have made multiple attempts to change the content model to sanitized CSS instead of CSS but failed. Apparently, it doesn't support sanitized CSS conversion; however, I remembered someone had managed to do so in the past. SecretSpyer (talk) 20:19, 16 July 2022 (UTC)
 * Hi, after I checked the Special:Version of your wiki, it seems that you haven’t installed the the templatestyles extension. This extension is required for the Sanitized CSS content model to be available. Please enable it first at Special:ManageWiki/extensions on your wiki, then attempt Special:ChangeContentModel again. Cheers, Matttest (talk | contribs) 06:24, 18 July 2022 (UTC)

Question about indexing wikis in search engines
Hello. I have a wiki that was abandoned for several months, but recently I started working on it, though it's still in early development. One thing that bothers me is that it doesn't show up in search engines. I know, it would be silly to think that such a small wiki will get a top results, but even with quoting of the wiki name ("Реальная Жизнь: The Game) and adding additional words like "Miraheze" I cannot find it, with the closest result being some site that lists all Miraheze wikis, including mine. Is there a way it could be improved, or do I just need to continue developing wiki until it get big enough? I know about WikiSEO, Auto-sitemap and HTML tags extensions that supposed to improve it, but, I'd be honest, I don't really understand what they all do. Mr. Fataled (talk) 14:35, 14 July 2022 (UTC)


 * Search engines have to learn that a website exists before they index it. Your wiki probably isn't on any search engine because no one has alerted it that it exists. Sitemaps are crucial to wikis as they help search engines know that: 1) a website exists at X domain and 2) where every page is. The most helpful thing you can do is signing up for the Google Search Console/Bing Webmaster Tools/<insert your preferred search engines search console) and submitting a sitemap. WikiSEO is an extension which helps you improve your SEO (how 'nice' your wiki looks before search engines) so reading it's documentation may prove helpful. Agent Isai  Talk to me! 00:46, 15 July 2022 (UTC)


 * Hello again! Thanks for your reply. Regarding the sitemap, shouldn't I first verify my site before submittng it? Because as far as I can understand, verifying a site without DNS provider, which for obvious reasons I don't have, isn't possible. Mr. Fataled (talk) 01:46, 15 July 2022 (UTC)

EDIT: Finally figured out how to verify my wiki. Already submitted a sitemap. Thanks for help! I hope it will improve my SEO.

Possible vandal on Drawn Feet Wiki
I am taking this issue to the community noticeboard because I am blocked on the wiki and cannot edit my own talk page there.

To : There seems to be a problem user by the name of, who is uploading images of characters wearing shoes with no feet showing. I do not recall anything about "bare legs" meriting inclusion on the wiki. ThisWas (talk) 21:37, 14 July 2022 (UTC)

Lang prefix request for dkpedia.com
Requesting the addition of dkwiki.org, aka dkpt.miraheze.org, as Portuguese Brazilian (pt-br) langauge prefix on dkpedia. Essentially:

Site: dkpedia.com (donkeykong.miraheze.org)

Prefix pt-br (link: dkpt.miraheze.org, or dkwiki.org to be specific)

Can this be done? Portuguese DK Wiki's founder attempted to add his wiki as a language prefix, so I figured I'd ask here. Bawitdaba (talk) 21:40, 14 July 2022 (UTC)


 * @Bawitdaba Hi, this is now done. Sorry for the delay :) --  Joseph  TB  CT  CA   22:01, 26 July 2022 (UTC)


 * Thank you! Bawitdaba (talk) 00:40, 27 July 2022 (UTC)

New Domain
Hello, the new domain name wiki.ieg123.com of worldboxwiki is ready, please migrate the old content together. Isutan (talk) 12:44, 16 July 2022 (UTC)


 * If you want a custom domain set for your wiki, please see that page for more information. Agent Isai  Talk to me! 17:27, 16 July 2022 (UTC)

Problems I don't understand - request for help.
Hello! I am having 2 problems with my wiki that I do not understand. They both have to do with this page.

First, as you can see, this page is automatically flagged as a page that uses duplicate arguments in template calls. I understand what this means and have fixed this problem in the past, but cannot figure out why this is happening in this specific case. I have meticulously analyzed the content on all templates called on this page, and am not finding any duplicates. I even created another page that has all the same template calls, but is not being flagged as having duplicate arguments. I believe that this means that the flagging is happening because of something I must be doing with pageforms, as that is the only major difference between these two pages. But honestly, I don't really know.

Second, and even more confusing to me, the only thing that is updated on my Testing page when I edit with form is the Description at the top. I can fill out any combination of things on the form, and none of them are displayed on the page. The infobox doesn't update, and the content being pulled from the templates are not showing when selected in the form. I don't have any clue why this is happening, as it has worked in the past. My only idea is that it has something to do with how I set up my form.

Feel free to edit my Testing page and/or create a new page using that form.

Thanks so much in advance for any help figuring this out. ParentRatings (talk) 19:15, 16 July 2022 (UTC)

Install a slideshow?
Hello, I would like to know how to install a "slideshow". To clarify, I would like to create a slideshow at the right size and located on the sides of my text. I tried several techniques; first create my own slideshow, without success because the slideshow was covering the text, which was not acceptable : https://fiction.miraheze.org/w/index.php?title=Blaze_the_Cat&oldid=44924#Pouvoirs_et_capacit%C3%A9s Then I tried the "slideshow" mode of the gallery, but without success because the images are way too big (and on top of the text, which was rather incidental but what the hell): https://fiction.miraheze.org/wiki/Blaze_the_Cat#Pouvoirs You know the details, so, thanks in advance for your help. Darkrai18 (talk) 17:19, 17 July 2022 (UTC)


 * Try to wrap  with slideshow mode into   block like this:
 * Instead of  can be any width you want. KatozzKita (talk) 18:12, 17 July 2022 (UTC)
 * It's good, it works well, but would you know how to put the slideshow a little higher? Here, it's a bit too low: https://fiction.miraheze.org/wiki/Blaze_the_Cat#Pouvoirs and it's more obvious here: https://fiction.miraheze.org/w/index.php?title=Korra#Pouvoirs_et_capacit%C3%A9s Darkrai18 (talk) 12:16, 18 July 2022 (UTC)
 * There are huge top and bottom margins in slideshow mode itself. To remove them, you'll have to modify its styling by adding the following code in MediaWiki:Common.css page:
 * Additionally - if you put this div construction to the right side, you need to change padding value a little: ; the order of number is: top, right, bottom, left.
 * And another thing - you can create classes for divs in that Common.css page, so instead of whole  thing, you'll need to do just   KatozzKita (talk) 20:40, 18 July 2022 (UTC)
 * Additionally - if you put this div construction to the right side, you need to change padding value a little: ; the order of number is: top, right, bottom, left.
 * And another thing - you can create classes for divs in that Common.css page, so instead of whole  thing, you'll need to do just   KatozzKita (talk) 20:40, 18 July 2022 (UTC)

Question
What happened to callipedia.miraheze.org? Iron Sword 23 (talk) 15:17, 18 July 2022 (UTC)


 * The wiki is deleted as a Wikipedia clone which have severe violation of the Content Policy and probably the Terms of Use. For clarification, as you noted in the wiki deletion log, inquires about this should be directed to stewards via email. However, shouldn’t these inquires regarding copyright violations be directed to Trust and Safety? Cheers, Matttest (talk | contribs) 06:52, 19 July 2022 (UTC)
 * Copyright violations are a violation of the Content Policy's "Miraheze does not host any content that is illegal in the United Kingdom" clause and thus Stewards are within their jurisdiction to delete these wikis. Because this was a Steward action, enquiries should be sent to Stewards. If T&S had done it per the Terms of Use (which only they can enforce, not Stewards) then I would have left a Trust and Safety member take down the wiki and would've directed all enquiries to that department. Agent Isai  Talk to me! 07:24, 19 July 2022 (UTC)
 * Thank you for the reply. Cheers, Matttest (talk | contribs) 07:50, 19 July 2022 (UTC)

Why are my #if parser functions not working?
All items on this template are displayed on the page, when I want only those whose checkboxes are checked to be displayed. What is wrong with my #if parser functions?

Template: https://parentratings.miraheze.org/wiki/Template:Mature_Topics_Tags

Page Example: https://parentratings.miraheze.org/wiki/Mature_Topics_Page_Test1

Form Definition: https://parentratings.miraheze.org/wiki/Form:Mature_Topics ParentRatings (talk) 04:15, 19 July 2022 (UTC)


 * Looks like the first comment (.
 * To avoid such issues in the future I'd suggest to turn on syntax highlighting in the source editor, which can be enabled in ManageWiki.  Xena  (talk)  17:49, 22 July 2022 (UTC)

Changing skin style of the wiki
This thread is moved from Stewards' noticeboard to here.

Is it possible to make my wiki (link) to use the same skin as this one or this one? Cornelia (talk) 20:18, 18 July 2022 (UTC)
 * You can enable the skin, Cosmos, then enable it as the default wiki skin. LetraSeca (talk) 20:29, 18 July 2022 (UTC)
 * I don't know how to do it. Cornelia (talk) 05:22, 19 July 2022 (UTC)
 * Please read ManageWiki, it's a very useful article. You can enable skins at  ->   and then enable it as the default skin at   ->   ->  .  Agent Isai  Talk to me! 06:24, 19 July 2022 (UTC)
 * As this is supposed to be a question from a technical aspect of your wiki, which doesn’t require Stewards assistance, I have procedurally moved the thread to here. Cheers, Matttest (talk | contribs) 06:33, 19 July 2022 (UTC)

Thank you, I managed to set it. I also have a few questions: can I enable tabber? It doesn't seem to be working. How can I make  to work on the Main Page (to make it into two columns like here)? Cornelia (talk) 15:45, 19 July 2022 (UTC)


 * Tabber can be enabled at Special:ManageWiki/extensions. The main page also uses  to make two columns. ZeusDeeGoose (talk) 04:27, 31 July 2022 (UTC)

How to get a Skin?
I want to get the "Cosmos" skin, but it's not on my wiki. Can you tell me how to get the skin? Spanish Fan (talk) 11:57, 20 July 2022 (UTC)
 * I believe the thread above has already answered this question. LetraSeca (talk) 16:03, 20 July 2022 (UTC)

How can I help?
So, I want to become a Volunteer. How do I go about applying/contacting? Quantum2005 (talk) 07:17, 21 July 2022 (UTC)


 * Thank you for your interest! Check out Contributing for ways to help and let us know if you need anything. Agent Isai  Talk to me! 06:06, 23 July 2022 (UTC)

Where do I announce my wiki for others to join?
Hi all, I created my work-in-progress wiki but I do not know where to post my announcement in this website as I want to attract users in joining and helping with my project of mine. Capybread (talk) 14:20, 23 July 2022 (UTC)


 * Hi, commenting here as a volunteer. There are 2 ways if you want to promote your wiki to users here on Meta. (i) ask users to contribute to your wiki, with brief descriptions about your wiki in here, the community noticeboard; (ii) this is an indirect method, but putting your wiki’s name and brief description into Gazetteer of wikis may also be a good method. This is the page which users who are interested in joining different wiki communities will usually check. Hope that helps. Cheers, Matttest (talk | contribs) 04:27, 24 July 2022 (UTC)
 * Thanks! Capybread (talk) 14:41, 24 July 2022 (UTC)

Please delete a file on Scruffy Wiki
When I try to delete https://scruffy.miraheze.org/wiki/File:Foobar.svg (private wiki) I get Error deleting file: An unknown error occurred in storage backend "local-backend". Please could a sysop delete this file? Rob Kam (talk) 15:26, 23 July 2022 (UTC)


 * Now posted to T9578 Rob Kam (talk) 09:39, 25 July 2022 (UTC)

Problem with deleting a category
I can't edit nor delete this category on my wiki. When I try to delete it I get this: [c47366c47193b43e4362b5b6] 2022-07-23 17:14:55: Fatal exception of type "LogicException" Cornelia (talk) 17:18, 23 July 2022 (UTC)


 * Please report this on Phabricator, thanks. Agent Isai  Talk to me! 21:39, 24 July 2022 (UTC)

User group
Hello ! Why can't I check the following user groups: user checkers, bureaucrat, interwiki administrator, edit masker and stewards in the user rights management menu?TYURZ (talk) 14:14, 24 July 2022 (UTC)


 * In my wiki TYURZ (talk) 14:14, 24 July 2022 (UTC)
 * Please read User groups. "User checker" (CheckUser), "Edit masker" (Oversight) and Steward are restricted to only Stewards, users who were elected by the global communities to use those tools and do many other things. Interwiki administrator is granted to users only following a successful local election for it. Agent Isai  Talk to me! 14:48, 24 July 2022 (UTC)

Hey folks, is anyone interested in helping out my wiki?
https://athenaeumspaces.miraheze.org/wiki/Main_Page

Let me introduce my little project of mine! If you hadn't guessed, my wiki will be based on the concept of the backrooms while being similar to the backrooms fandom wiki. Although it is currently private as I am still working on it, I am in need of help finishing it. If you are interested, reply and comment to this post. I just need atleast three members to get this project going!

Moreover, I will wait for few days or so for this post to get more attraction. Depending on what day I will be active, you will get message and instructions from me, so don't forget about that to.

Have nice day everyone! Capybread (talk) 14:55, 24 July 2022 (UTC)


 * Anyone? 😭 Capybread (talk) 23:41, 25 July 2022 (UTC)
 * Frankly speaking, this isn't a good place to get attention for specialized creative writing projects. People who check Meta tend to have their own projects, have specific goals or otherwise aren't interested in long term commitments and tend to only raise a hand when there is a specific question/issue. You'll have better luck appealing to the communities that are already involved in the subject, without coming across as spam of course. --Raidarr (talk) 10:44, 26 July 2022 (UTC)
 * Oh.. so uh, would it better to advertise my wiki in the discord or fandom? 🤔 Capybread (talk) 12:25, 26 July 2022 (UTC)
 * I doubt you will be appreciated advertising a wiki for a competing platform, but if there is an appropriate discord server and place within it to post, that could work. --Raidarr (talk) 23:34, 26 July 2022 (UTC)
 * Oh, alright! Thanks for the advice!! Hope it works, haha 😅 Capybread (talk) 01:35, 27 July 2022 (UTC)

How often does Miraheze review new wiki requests?
How often does Miraheze review new wiki requests?

I remember a year or two ago, as long as a request was made, it would be answered within a few hours and all issues resolved.

However, Miraheze is now conducting centralized reviews on a 24-hour cycle, but each review does not resolve all issues - and it is those new requests (rather than old requests that may require further action) that cannot be reviewed at once, Just have to wait until the next day.

Is there something wrong with Miraheze recently, or is it just me being delusional? Creeper19472 (talk) 11:18, 26 July 2022 (UTC)
 * You are not crazy. I see on the wiki request list, someone has been waiting six days for their request to be processed. When I submitted my request to create my wiki, it was taken care of in a few hours. Darkrai18 (talk) 17:00, 26 July 2022 (UTC)
 * RequestWikiQueue is misleading. The date shown on there is the date of when the request was originally submitted. If a request is declined and later resubmitted, it'll still show the date of the original request, not the date that it was resubmitted so requests that were declined a year ago but resubmitted an hour ago will show up on the top as having been requested last year despite having been resubmitted just an hour ago. Agent Isai  Talk to me! 00:03, 27 July 2022 (UTC)
 * It depends on who is reviewing and when. It could take within a few hours or the latter part of the mentioned '24 hour cycle', sometimes more since most wiki creators are not on daily and those who are still have days they don't look. It does take more thought to parse wiki requests than in the past as we are more stringent in some areas than even a year ago and it's possible we're in a slower spell for volunteers available to review right now, but aside from a couple instances lately I haven't seen an intolerable backlog.
 * I would imagine the 'waiting for six days' person was not a request that was literally waiting 6 days without response, I would want to know which request if so. The numbers can be misleading since sometimes a back and forth is required and it can take multiple passes for someone to make an acceptable request and some users find it hard to provide adequate detail for what they want. But that seems to be a different matter to what the OP is discussing. --Raidarr (talk) 23:50, 26 July 2022 (UTC)
 * It was the  request that had been first started over 6 days ago but just recently got edited and resubmitted. RequestWikiQueue shows the original date of when the request was first submitted, not when it was last edited and resubmitted which may be misleading.  Agent Isai  Talk to me! 23:56, 26 July 2022 (UTC)

July 2022 Directors Meeting
Hello all, please see the latest agenda for the July 2022 Board of Director's meeting for Miraheze Limited. Any additional points people would like to raise, please let me know. Thank you, Owen (talk) 19:52, 27 July 2022 (UTC)

Speed
Is it just me or does miraheze wikis is little slower than fandom wikis when loading to another page? Capybread (talk) 01:11, 29 July 2022 (UTC)
 * Fandom, being a multimillion dollar company, has thousands of servers ready to serve users so you probably don't see too much lag with them. Miraheze however relies on donations and has a smaller set of servers as we're not so big so during times of peak demand, services may slow down a tiny bit. With the addition of new servers soon, we hope that may alleviate the issues we're seeing. Agent Isai  Talk to me! 01:17, 29 July 2022 (UTC)

Wiki appearance problem
Good afternoon I currently have two wikis https://departmentofstarfleet.miraheze.org/wiki/Federation Department of Starfleet and this new one https://tennislibrary.miraheze.org/wiki/Main Page when I requested the last one I asked if it could be the same appearence as the starfleet wiki. When I edit on both they appear the same, but when I log out and look at the tennis wiki the layout is incorrect and is causing tables Ive created to bunch up. Can you take a look at both to see where Im coming from rectify the problem, much appreciated. Admiral Marcus (talk) 06:59, 29 July 2022 (UTC)
 * Have managed to correct it myself.Admiral Marcus (talk) 07:23, 29 July 2022 (UTC)