GuildWiki talk:Wikia Move/Technical

To Those Of You Wondering About The Downtime
Once we initiate the move, the time the database won't be writing should only be a couple hours, really. If it ends up that it will take longer, we will delay the move.

Censorship
Will Wikia censor or change any additions that we add?--Gigathrash 21:54, 10 September 2007 (CDT)


 * This will not happen. Wikia's taken over the hosting of a few large communities in the past, such as Memory Alpha and ParagonWiki, and they've shown no inclination towards any kind of censorship. Gravewit 21:55, 10 September 2007 (CDT)

Usernames
Because the DB dump is going into its own servers, does that mean that they will not (at this time) be attempting to merge user accounts from both sites? Potentially, a user with a username on this wiki could find that their username is already taken on that wiki - so I was curious how that is to be handled at this stage (I also realize that this is more of a question for them rather than Gravewit ... but I don't know how to contact those actively working the migration on their side, so I'll ask here). --- Barek (talk • contribs) - 22:01, 10 September 2007 (CDT)


 * We'll be on our own servers and database, for now. Everything will carry over EXACTLY how it is. Gravewit 22:06, 10 September 2007 (CDT)

version
will the site retain it's look and feel, or will it be blended and frappe'd into the wikia style? (hint: you want the first one) --Honorable Sarah 21:49, 10 September 2007 (CDT)
 * (Hint,Hint, You Really want the first one.}--[[Image:Marcopolo47 signature new.jpg]] (Talk) (Contr.) 21:50, 10 September 2007 (CDT)


 * I believe users will be able to choose Wikia's style, but I know the old Gamewikis skin you know and tolerate will remain the default for now. Gravewit 21:51, 10 September 2007 (CDT)
 * Their new crappy skin can be changed back to the default ones on most wikis.--Alari 21:51, 10 September 2007 (CDT)

Ads
So, with the shift to Wikia, will this result in a better ability to censor such things as ads for GW Gold, running services, etc? Or will it be about the same "Ho hum, we are waiting for AdBrite" type deal? I understand it's a convoluted process at best but still, it bugs me. (T/C) 22:04, 10 September 2007 (CDT)
 * Heh - I always forget that many users can still see ads on this (or most any other site for that matter). --- Barek (talk • contribs) - 22:06, 10 September 2007 (CDT)
 * I can't anymore, but you still get popup warnings sometimes from AdBrite and whatnot. So it makes a difference weather you can see them or not. --[[image:GEO-logo.png]] Ĵĩôřũĵĩ Đēŗāķō.> .cнаt^  22:08, 10 September 2007 (CDT)
 * I used to use both Firefox and IE pretty equally ... I recently converted to Firefox almost 100% of the time - with the AdBlock Plus and NoScript add-ons, it's rare to see an ad on ANY site anymore ... not even popup warnings. :-) --- Barek (talk • contribs) - 22:14, 10 September 2007 (CDT)
 * Ads? What's that? :P sad to say.... I haven't contributed to Gravewit's ad income for a loooonnnggg time now. -- Ab.Er.Rant [[Image:User Aberrant80 Sig.png]] (msg Aberrant80) 00:06, 11 September 2007 (CDT)
 * I believe so; when I asked them to remove some ads that violated the Guild Wars Fansite program, they were very quick and thorough about it. They also noted the problem of new violating ads constantly replacing the ones blocked, and offered to experiment with alternative ad programs that would be more effective. Within a week, a new program was set up, with zero problems or maintenance needed since then. --Rezyk 00:25, 11 September 2007 (CDT)


 * We are trying very hard to keep gold ads off Wikia. You can have a look at the RuneScape and Dofus wikis to see how well we're doing at that. We've totally blocked the word "gold" but some advertisers still get around by using weird spellings and other words. If you find a bad ad, just let me know and we'll add it to the blacklist asap. We're also experimenting with ad providers other than google to see if they cope with this better. Also, have a look at the optional new skins called quartzslate and quartzsmoke which users can select in their preferences since those have only one small ad in the corner for logged in users (view example). Angela 12:35, 11 September 2007 (CDT)


 * Judging by that, the wiki will keep having advertisements around. The question I need to ask is, will Wikia be making a profit out of these page hits? I understand that there's costs involved with servers and maintenance and whatnot, I'm fine with that aspect; the issue is whether you guys will be making a profit out of this wiki? If the answer is yes, (genuinely asking here) wouldn't that violate our CC by-nc-sa 2.0 license, if you use this content for a commercial purpose? If the answer is no, how can us users be sure of that? Will server costs and ad revenue and all that kind of info made available somewhere, or do we need to trust you blindly? You see, Gravewit has had quite a few clashes with the community here over the years, due to a chronic lack of transparency and communication; will this change with Wikia? --Dirigible 16:51, 11 September 2007 (CDT)
 * My god, that skin is butt ugly D:.--Gigathrash 16:54, 11 September 2007 (CDT)

username cross-over
Because the DB dump is going into its own servers, does that mean that they will not (at this time) be attempting to merge user accounts from both sites? Potentially, a user with a username on this wiki could find that their username is already taken on that wiki - so I was curious how that is to be handled at this stage (I also realize that this is more of a question for them rather than Gravewit ... but I don't know how to contact those actively working the migration on their side, so I'll ask here). --- Barek (talk • contribs) - 22:01, 10 September 2007 (CDT)
 * How 'bout are user contributions, I know skuld is widely known for his 10,000 or so contributions.--[[Image:Marcopolo47 signature new.jpg]] (Talk) (Contr.) 22:03, 10 September 2007 (CDT)
 * Wikia's GW Wiki is pretty small compared to GWiki, so I doubt this would be a big problem even if the answer was "Yes"... [[Image:Entropy Sig.jpg]] (T/C) 22:04, 10 September 2007 (CDT)


 * The funny thing, to me, is that according to Special:Mostlinked, there are more links to Skuld's user page than there are to the Warrior article (because every time he signed a talk page with a link to the user page)! LOL --- Barek (talk • contribs) - 22:08, 10 September 2007 (CDT)


 * I recently beat out Shiro and Mallix here, hehe. Users have an unfair advantage in the regard; chances are, Skuld is linked from the Warrior article's talk page as it is. --[[image:GEO-logo.png]] Ĵĩôřũĵĩ Đēŗāķō.> .cнаt^  22:11, 10 September 2007 (CDT)


 * We'll be on our own servers and database, for now. Everything will carry over EXACTLY how it is. Gravewit 22:06, 10 September 2007 (CDT)

Wikia?!
Wikia's wikis are as slow as heck, you'd think you are on dialup they are so slow. -- Hawk Skeer  10:28, 11 September 2007 (CDT)
 * Very much agreed. -- Ab.Er.Rant [[Image:User Aberrant80 Sig.png]] (msg Aberrant80) 20:58, 11 September 2007 (CDT)
 * Holy crud, I thought that you were exaggerating, but that has to be the slowest site I've ever been to (aside from GWG :p ). I suspect that people will just go to the official GW wiki if the new guildwiki is that slow. 141.233.30.23 21:26, 11 September 2007 (CDT)
 * I agree. To me, it's even more important than the copyright and money issues. If the 'new' GuildWiki is going to be that slow, I'll move to GWW. --Toxik 08:20, 12 September 2007 (CDT)
 * They have said multiple times that GWiki will be hosted on its own servers, meaning it won't be sharing any resources with the rest of Wikia. Theoretically, that means it should run just as fast as it does now. &mdash;Dr Ishmael [[Image:Diablo_the_chicken.gif]] 14:10, 12 September 2007 (CDT)
 * That will be proved when its done getting moved. Till then I'm not too happy about this, and I'll probably go to the Official wiki just for a speed boost. Btw I AM on dialup, I was speaking from previous Wikia experience on my DSL. If you think that site is slow on your fast connections, just think how it does on dialup lol. -- Hawk Skeer [[Image:Hawkicon.png]] 21:09, 12 September 2007 (CDT)

URL?
I'd assume the URL will change to some queer wikia one instead of the current one (a somewhat dumb question i knowPheNaxKian 13:36, 11 September 2007 (CDT)
 * Gravewit already mentioned this; we keep our URLs and everything, it works just as if we got a new server. So URL stays the same, Wikia just owns the server now, from what I understand. --[[image:GEO-logo.png]] Ĵĩôřũĵĩ Đēŗāķō.> .cнаt^  14:02, 11 September 2007 (CDT)
 * ahhh ok-must have missed it-as long as i know i won't have to fath about finding it again =)PheNaxKian 15:39, 11 September 2007 (CDT)