User blog:Inept Wiki User/STOP Notes (07/12/2020)

Series Three Overhaul Project - Loose Notes (07/12/2020)

These are some loose notes concerning the Series Three Overhaul Project (STOP), as of December 7th 2020.

Notices
At the moment, my current focus is trying to get the new GT3 (arc name for which is being finalized soon) and Agnese SS info processed and implemented at least at the TSP level, along with reorganization, sorting, cleaning up and restarting of existing plans (including the follow-up phase for the Image Information Survey and Interim), which is hampered by the muddle that the 'paperwork' is currently in.

A number of the core contributors also have ongoing plans of their own, but for most of them, their time has been significantly reduced to external circumstances and impediments. I've also had time taken in a similar manner, and my mood has been somewhat due to external circumstances (both personal and otherwise) and a few user actions (the trouble from which not necessarily intentional), which have left me a bit down and fed up.

We're still on the look out for teething problems connected to the switch-over to the Unified Community Platform last month, and getting used/adapting to some of the changes.

Given overall circumstances, both recent and at present, I'm going to be assembling a number of rough notes (e.g. brief explanations, reminders regarding procedures and protocols, plans and ideas being considered etc) connected to various things on the wiki at the moment, both in the section below (incomplete at time of initial writing/posting) and in subsequent posts.

Assorted Rough Notes

 * Terminology
 * TSP - Temporary Summary Placeholder: One thing I thought I should make a note of first is a term I often use in my notes (including above), and sometimes during conversation and edit work, which some people might not be aware of. TSP means Temporary Summary Placeholder, and as its name suggests, it is a piece of text which is meant to act as temporary placeholder for a summary or similar item in a section, until the summary or whatever can be written properly. The size, detail and quality of a TSP may vary (their quality should as least be sufficient to act as a decent placeholder (and not sloppy or inaccurate) - some are very close to that of a proper summary).
 * Shared Drafts: The Shared Draft templates are effectively joint-sandboxes which the core contributors use to collectively assemble and develop notes and drafts to support their work in improving the wiki. There are currently two hundred active Shared Drafts, as well as a basic and overview template.
 * Tracking Tags: The TrackTag templates are hidden tags which are used to locate and mark certain targets on pages, allowing them to be monitored via Special:WhatLinksHere, in order to support various tasks and work.
 * Front Page: There are a number of matters relating to the front page which may need addressing in the near-future.
 * Column Imbalance: Following the removal of the two last poll results from the Polls and Results template (with the old-style polls having been rendered non-functional by the UCP switch-over), the columns on the front page became considerably unbalanced, with the right side much less than the left side. A slight rearrange was done (with Polls and Results moved lower down) and the Toaru Project official Twitter added to the Twitter feed to temporarily even things up a bit. This hasn't completely resolved the problem and possibilities are being considered to replace Polls and Results (such as a Current Focus mini-tasklist or link-list).
 * Minor Note: An 'On this day...' template has been considered as a possibility, though according to OH&S the coding required would need some working out - the idea is on the backburner for now.
 * Blogs: I had previously been considering a modification to pin certain posts (such as the UCP switch-over troubleshooting thread and the GT3 plan thread), so they did not become buried ahead of time. However, another problem arose where several minor blog posts from quite a long way back, whose images have been renamed as part of post-I2S work, were unintentional brought to the top - the cause is currently uncertain, but part of this post's purpose is to see if new submissions can temporarily resolve it. Either way, a few tweaks will be needed.
 * Minor Note: I was considering the idea of a post as a Christmas present, such as an Exploring Bases entry connecting to Christmas and Santa Claus - though I doubt I'd be able to get such a thing done on time the way things are at the moment.
 * Minor Note (08/12/2020): Partial resolution to the problem, though another problem has been spotted - the extract is sometimes being taken from a different part of the post.
 * Next Featured Article: This is not too urgent, but I have been considering possible candidates for articles to be featured in the future. The most recent one is the Total Human Cyborg Replacement Project, chosen to match the end of Railgun T. With no anime for the time being, what is currently airing is no longer an influencing factor for now. There are certain articles which about subjects which might be good for featuring, but the articles themselves are not up to the level required for featuring yet.
 * Minor Note: Although Christmas is coming up, I doubt Christmas or Coin of Nicholas would be up to scratch in time to be considered for featuring as a festive article.
 * Did You Know?: The selection was updated over a year-and-a-half ago, but given circumstances, it might be an idea to consider potential additions from the more recent works.


 * UCP-related
 * Pre-UCP Message Wall and Forum Threads:
 * Content Loss/Return: There was a problem where many message wall threads were only partially transferred over and only had their initial post. This has now been resolved, but it seems a side-effect may have resulted in certain threads being duplicated. Further tweaks in this area have been put on the backburner until the returned content is fully backed up, so it isn't lost again.
 * Old Links: There are a large number of old-style links to message wall or forum threads which no longer function following the UCP switch-over and need updating to the new format.
 * Post-UCP Thumbnail Selection: Following the UCP switch-over, some of the images formerly selected for a number of articles on 'Popular Pages', categories, and the feed at the bottom, have been replaced in the automatic selection by other images on the articles which are not quite as up to the task. Still investigating this.
 * Discuss: Having not been using in following the switch from the old Forums, I'm currently trying to familiarize myself with them, running a few test polls to that end.


 * Other
 * Comments: Having previously been putting comment-related issues on the backburner in order to focus on article work and other stuff, I have been wondering about doing a large-scale cleanup operation for the comments ('Operation Dentist' perhaps?).
 * Top-Nav Space: One idea on the backburner is a reorganization of the Top-Navigation and perhaps making use of the spare space on the bar.
 * Protocol Records: One task currently being considered is (given current circumstances and time-constraints) to make a separate record of certain procedures, protocols and plans, for reference/reminder purposes and to prevent "carry-forward" errors (though those errors also complicate composition). In certain cases, they might act to tide things over until a proper, full guide overhaul (which cannot be carried out in the necessary time frame).
 * Referencing: Certain new user and anon edits have been quite lacking in referencing, so perhaps a reminder and refresher is needed.
 * Editor Usage: One minor observation reminded of while recording RecentChanges for the log (which still needs a lot of work), with the editor usage tags being more prominent in the newer version, is that core contributors and older users tend to primarily use Source, while newer ones and anons typically use Visual.

Current Links

 * Joint Discussion (04/11/2020-) (Current)
 * UCP Switch-Over
 * GT3 Plans
 * Exploring Bases: Rose Cross Lamen
 * Shared Draft Overview
 * TrackTag Overview

Previous Links

 * Reminders: Images and References (11/07/2020)
 * Repeated Reminders
 * STOP Notes (August 28th)
 * STOP Notes (November 28th)
 * Image Information Survey Restart (Results)
 * STOP Notes (September 25th)
 * Joint Discussion (05/2020-) (Previous)