Talk:Main Page

May I inquire as to what the point of this wiki is? Is it for articles about characters, places, etc. in Middle Earth? In that case, are we going by the books, the movies, or both?--walrussurlaw


 * It's for all of those. I don't know the best way of splitting information about the books and movies. Perhaps separate namespaces would help where information differs between the two? Angela 16:22, 12 Apr 2005 (EDT)


 * I think a good way to set things up is have the main sections of the articles be based on the relevant information derived from the books. A mixture of book and movie information in a single section of an article is very confusing, not to mention inaccurate. There should be a section after the main article that discusses relevant movie information that is at variance with the book. Things should be more clear-cut. The Aragorn section needs serious revamping, it has a lot of book information, but it's littered with the movie characterization's motives, i.e. the character's extreme self-doubt and reluctance to take the throne, which was a fabrication of the script writers and not accurate to the character written by Tolkien.

There's already a Tolkien Wiki at http://www.thetolkienwiki.org/ would it be very naughty to copy and paste articles from it? There doesn't seem to be much activity there? Jack 20:50, 11 Apr 2005 (EDT)


 * You can not copy anything from there without the prior permission of the person who wrote it. Their front page says:
 * All articles written here, remain property of their authors and must only be used on fair terms and with permission of the persons involved. 


 * Please don't copy anything from any site where the content is not GFDL. See the tolkien forums for details of other Tolkien sites which had to be taken down after copyright issues. Angela 16:22, 12 Apr 2005 (EDT)

New site skin?
You may be interested in copying some aspects of the "Shire-like" skin I developed at RLDSWiki. -- 17:40, 28 August 2006 (UTC)

http://starwars.wikia.com/index.php?title=Special:Search&adv=1

Names
We need a catchy name for this wiki. Somethin' like "Ringkia." Just kiddin'! But we still need a good name... Any suggestions?

Let's get creative
Hello, folks! Not much activity here, despite hundreds of registered members and over 400 views of the homepage.

I've created a couple of pages, and I hope the people who started this can help to tap the interest obviously out there in cyberspace.

As so little has happened, I may create a few more "guidance" pages.

Robin Patterson 02:58, 14 May 2005 (UTC) in Middle-earth


 * This surprised me also. LOTR is so popular (especially nowadays with the movies and all), its surprising we dont have much activity.  A suggestion that could help this wiki grow in numbers would be to advertise, even if its just telling your friends about it.  If everyone started spreading the word, im sure people would get interested.

WhiteRhino 04:45, 18 Sep 2005 (UTC)

I agree with Rhino, this should be very popular. Maybe we should advertise it on sone other Wikias... Any ways I liked this site and will continue to try to help it grow! Hope others will try, too!

Characters
I have created a characters page, so there are loads of empty links. Get writing everyone --Darth Mantus 16:07, 24 May 2005 (UTC)

logo
We need to create a good logo for this wikicity. I was thinking a picture of the 'One Ring' would be good. Any suggestions? --Darth Mantus 12:07, 25 May 2005 (UTC)


 * Here's one I created --GandalfTheBlack 17:31, 16 Jul 2005 (UTC) [[Image:Wiki tmp.png]]


 * That is several thousand percent better than what we have now. Robin Patterson 00:35, 17 Jul 2005 (UTC)


 * I've moved this to Image:Wiki.png so it can be the logo. I'm not very good at making images properly transparent though, so it still doesn't look great on a dark background.


 * Angela (talk) 09:25, 17 Jul 2005 (UTC)

I think it needs the script around it, it would look cooler.

Bootstrapping
I think it would be a good idea to bootstrap this wiki with some of the articles currently found in wikipedia. Some examples that would be useful:

you get the point. Wikipedia is GFDL so that shouldn't be a problem. unless of course you want to do everything from scatch here... 82.93.70.118 04:45, 8 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * Frodo Baggins
 * Sauron
 * Mordor
 * Middle-earth
 * hobbit
 * Gandalf
 * Gollum


 * Good idea indeed. I've taken a few phrases from Wikipedia and summarised paragraphs here and there, while leaving links to WP so that other contributors can easily find more facts. Have to be a bit careful about "attribution" - ask User:Angela. Robin Patterson 09:14, 30 Jun 2005 (UTC)


 * Later: now organised for proper copying procedures. Robin Patterson 22:29, 7 Sep 2005 (UTC)

Movie images missing on various pages
Hello. I've noticed there are quite a few images from the Peter Jackson movies which were uploaded and linked to, but appear to have been deleted (resulting in a missing image link). Is there some concern with copyrights for these images?


 * Hello, "Careax". I'm not aware of any that had images removed, but there may be some. Most of the "missing images" arise from my copying of pages from Wikipedia, where the images were specific to that Wikpedia and will have to be added to this site's image collection unless there's a clever different way to incorporate them. I'm not very competent with images. Robin Patterson 22:29, 7 Sep 2005 (UTC)

Another Tolkien Wiki
Hello folks, I don't want to sound like I'm advertising but, I just wanted to let you know I started a Tolkien wiki using mediawiki a while back over at TolkienGateway.net. Seems kind of pointless to have two mediawikis on the same topic, but more power to you if you guys want to stay here. Let the race to the most edits begin ;)


 * There are indeed a goodly number of sites devoted to the works of that scholarly gentleman, with at least three of them using MediaWiki. This one concentrates on LOTR. Good luck with yours. Robin Patterson 06:10, 12 Sep 2005 (UTC)

Picture of Frodo on front page
Hi, my name is Terry Foote, and I help out on Wikicities with a few things, among them is copyright issues with images. I had to take down the image of Frodo on the front page because it didn't have a photo attribution or copyright tag. Please go to this[|this link] to chose the most appropriate tag. Also, please be sure to do this for all other images on your Wiki. Feel free to contact me on my talk page with any questions, or send me an email at terry@wikia.com. Thanks! Terry Foote 20:22, 8 Nov 2005 (UTC)
 * Are you an admin Terry?--Darth Mantus 13:01, 12 Nov 2005 (UTC)

New pages
Can we have something on the main page so that we can see what new pages have been created (I know there is a recent changes pages but it would be good to have it on the main page as well, like Wookiepedia )--Darth Mantus 16:58, 22 Dec 2005 (UTC)


 * You find it by clicking on "special pages" to the left and then "new pages" Gimli 05:45, 14 Jan 2006 (UTC)

Featured article/picture
Should we have a featured picture/article for the main page like they do on wikipedia and some other wikicities? Maybe there could be voting for featured article status? Gimli 04:25, 10 February 2006 (UTC)
 * Good Idea--Darth Mantus 13:14, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

Format and Tags
Over at Wookieepedia, they have tags to help "Wookieefy" articles, basically make them "in universe". Looking at some articles, such as Thingol, have what appears to be text taken from another wiki: "Elu Thingol is the King of Doriath and High King of the Sindar, a fictional character of Middle-earth, created by J. R. R. Tolkien. " Over at Wookiepedia, they put info like this in a "Background" or "Behind the Scenes" section, and that is where it talks about influences, character development by authors, etc. Should there be something like that for these articles? And should there be tags that can be added to articles, saying "this needs more work"? I've seen the "stub" tag, but are there others? Duke Starhopper 00:43, 28 February 2006 (UTC)


 * There is the tag to add to articles from wikipedia. perhaps you could create other tags you wanted?  The "fictional character of Middle-earth" bit should be removed from articles Gimli 02:02, 28 February 2006 (UTC)


 * That's what I figured. I've been doing my best to fix those I have been seeing.  Duke Starhopper 17:34, 28 February 2006 (UTC)

Tense
I am working under the assumption that we are using the Past Tense, since Tolkien's works take place in ages before our own. Am I correct in this assumption? Duke Starhopper 01:21, 28 February 2006 (UTC)


 * Yes is there a problem?--Darth Mantus 18:58, 1 March 2006 (UTC)


 * No, just making sure, I came across a present tense article and fixed it, just wanted to make sure I was doing the right thing... Duke Starhopper 00:46, 2 March 2006 (UTC)

redesign
I have redesigned the main page based on wookiepedia's, hope its ok. I also thought we should start having some community things like Featured pictures, Featured article, Collaboration of the Month, Articles for Deletion and a DidYouKnow template for the main page. The featured article/pic and collaboration will be democratically chosen, I just thought I should get the ball rolling and start off by choosing a couple Gimli 23:37, 5 March 2006 (UTC)
 * I like the idea, but I think the pictures being stacked like that take up a lot more room than if they were side-by-side. Also, the Featured Article should have a link to said article, so you can click it from there.  Duke Starhopper 22:41, 8 March 2006 (UTC)
 * Ok Ive fixed the featured article. Perhaps you would like to change Template: Featured pictures to how you want them orgainised? There is also a thing they do on wikipedia portals to have the page marked with 27 so that you can have 31 pictures automatically rotate each month which might be an idea. Gimli 08:13, 9 March 2006 (UTC)
 * Ive now organised the featured articles the way they do at some wikiportals so they rotate each day, if youre wondering what the new templates such as Template:F/8 etc is. Some might still need some editing and adding thumbnail images to Gimli 14:30, 10 March 2006 (UTC)
 * I have no idea how to design layouts. I can try to learn, but mainly I'm an editor (language, not design :) )  I was thinking something like a 2 x 2, or 3 x 2, so they're mainly side by side, rather than a vertical row of many.  Duke Starhopper 22:56, 22 March 2006 (UTC)

Deletion
How do you bring up a deletion vote for an article? I don't know that much about Wikipolicy. Duke Starhopper 22:57, 22 March 2006 (UTC)


 * Add to the article and mention it at LOTR:Articles for deletion. Gimli 02:41, 25 March 2006 (UTC)

Redirect
How do you make one "article" redirect to another (as in a search)? For example, make Grima and Wormtongue redirect to Grima Wormtongue. We don't need 3 pages for one character. Duke Starhopper 23:53, 22 March 2006 (UTC)


 * Figured it out. Duke Starhopper 19:27, 24 March 2006 (UTC)

Article Titles
Who can change those? I've come across a few that are mis-spelled (shirriff) or mis-capitalized (Tobias hornblower), which hinders linking and searching. Also, shouldn't knicknames (such as that for Lotho Sackville-Baggins) be left out of titles? Duke Starhopper 02:03, 23 March 2006 (UTC)


 * You can move articles by clicking on the "move" tag above. But Shirriff is actually the correct spelling - it was spelt that way in the books. Yes nicknames should be left out - I moved it to the right title Gimli 01:19, 25 March 2006 (UTC)

25 march
Today is the anniversary of the fall of Sauron :) Gimli 02:39, 25 March 2006 (UTC)

Time Span between Party and Gandalf's return portrayed in the Films
See Talk:The Fellowship of the Ring (movie) - I'd like your opinions on this. Duke Starhopper 01:00, 5 April 2006 (UTC)

tour
what happened to the LOTR:Wikicities tour which used to be there? I think something was messed up when the name was changed from wikicities to wikia but I dont know how to fix it Gimli 04:11, 6 April 2006 (PDT)


 * The Wikicities tour is broken on every Wikia. The Wikia staff tried to move everything from "Wikicities" to "Wikia", but somehow the categories and interwiki templates were too complex and everything failed.


 * From what I observed, several pages require moves. Their names contain "Wikicities" instead of "Wikia". I might eventually try to program a bot to move the pages. --Kernigh 05:31, 5 May 2006 (UTC)

Redirects
I'm trying to make redirects, and for some reason, the original articles show up, but when you hit Edit, all that is there is the redirect text. Ringwraiths, Black Riders Duke Starhopper 21:50, 22 April 2006 (UTC)


 * you mean you're trying to edit a redirect thats already there? I think the only way to do it is to enter it into the adress bar: http://lotr.wikia.com/index.php?title=******&action=edit    ,where *** is the article title Gimli 17:43, 23 April 2006 (UTC)


 * Or click the "(Redirected from ...)" link underneath the title of the page you were redirected to. --Hyarion 20:19, 23 April 2006 (UTC)


 * No, I was the one who did the redirects, and they're working for me now, but the day I did them, the actual article would show up, and when I hit edit, you would see the redirect code. Probably a computer error or something, I dunno...  Duke Starhopper 17:05, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

The inputbox code on the main page
I'm wondering how Gimli knew to use this code. Where did you get the idea, and if you know of any other similar code, I'd like you to let me know. I'll be watching this page, so you can respond to me here. Schmidt 05:24, 29 April 2006 (UTC)


 * oh, I took it from another wikia, cant remember which one it was, as Ive added it to all the wikias that I look at, its an excellent thing to have on the main page Gimli 14:05, 29 April 2006 (UTC)


 * The main reason I ask is that a wiki I'm the sysop of doesn't have a proper search box. It had been broken because we were using something like 1.3 up until just a month ago or so. !!! So the admin decided to pick up a Google search box, which is really lame. I wanted to know if I could use a search box (not create-article box). Schmidt 15:53, 29 April 2006 (UTC)


 * Hello Schmidt, your welcome to copy the search box from Tolkien Gateway but pretty much any form who's action is set to the Special:Search page would be sufficient. If you're wishing to insert an inputbox into an article and not via the skin then you'll need the inputbox extension. --Hyarion 17:17, 29 April 2006 (UTC)


 * How can I copy the search box from Tolkien Gateway? I mean, what's the source code, as MediaWiki goes? Ultimately, though, I'm basically wondering how to get the same box as you have on the side bar here. I don't have access to all the environment variables and so on. All I can do is modify MediaWiki:Sidebar (to my knowledge). I know how I can link the search page, but I wonder if I can put the internal search box back. Anyone know how to do that? Schmidt 18:40, 29 April 2006 (UTC)


 * MW does not allow that kind of HTML to be embedded into an article which is why you need to install the inputbox extension or fix whatever got screwed up during your upgrade. If you don't have access to do that then you're out of luck :( it's not something that can be done with Sidebar. --Hyarion 23:14, 29 April 2006 (UTC)


 * Oh, rats. Oh well. But by the way, someone else before me (the real owner of the wiki) had disabled the search box (because it had been messed up a long time ago, but I guess I already mentioned that). But now it works, but is still disabled as an item in the sidebar. It works, though, if you go through the special pages. I guess we just need to coax him to put it back on! Thanks for the help. Oh, and by the way, that box doesn't work on my other wiki. :( Schmidt 02:38, 3 May 2006 (UTC)

User Contributions
How do you check what contributions a user has made? Duke Starhopper 18:43, 4 May 2006 (UTC)
 * Click the user and on the left side click User Contributions. Or go to Special:Contributions/UsernameHere . --Hyarion 00:00, 5 May 2006 (UTC)

Nevermind... sorry.

Quotes
Hey, In the Star Wars and Simpsons wikis, they use quotes to describe the article. Like, for the Balrog, it would be: "A demon of the ancheint world. This foe is beyond any of you." -Gandalf. Stuff like that. Can we start doing this? -Lord vader1414 16:33, 17 July 2006 (UTC)

Vandalism
In case anyone noticed, some retard vandalised the main page, quoting "The Lord of the rings is gay" everywhere. I reverted it, and I suggest someone ban the IP responsible.

Thank you. -- PirateOfTheCarribean 14:46, 20 July 2006 (UTC)


 * Thanks for reporting it. I've banned that IP now. Angela (talk) 06:44, 21 July 2006 (UTC)

user:203.45.55.109 has been inserting duplicate images and comments like "I AM YOUR GOD". Please block, or watch contribs and rv. -- I am Jack's username, 2006-08-13t05:32z

plz
how do i fix home page its asplode how plz