Fanlore's Journal

Cite Tool

2015-12-14T04:11:10Z

Posted by: morgandawn

One of Fanlore's support team developed a "bookmarklet" tool that allows us to automatically create a citation for any website or other online document that is being cited on Fanlore. By using a standardized cite format, it will be easier to make bulk edits or corrections down the road. The cite tool also runs the URL through archive services like the WayBack Machine, and if the page is already in the Wayback Machine, it will include that backup link. This prevents "link rot" (when web pages disappear).

The bookmarklet runs on Chrome, Firefox and Safari. Below are the instructions for Firefox

1. Right Click on your Bookmark Toolbar and select "New Bookmark" (What is a Toolbar?)

2. When the Bookmark box opens up, copy and paste this text into the Location Field.

javascript:window.location.href='https://tools.wmflabs.org/betacommand-dev/cgi-bin/cite.py?url='%20+%20encodeURIComponent(document.URL);

note the ; at the end of the string

3. Give it a name in the Name box (ex: Cite Tool).

4 Click "Add". The bookmarklet should now appear on your Toolbar.

5. To test, navigate to fanlore.org. Click on the bookmarklet and you will see this automatically generated cite code

{{source| url = http://fanlore.org/wiki/Main_Page | title = Fanlore | archiveurl = http://www.webcitation.org/5vOAfOZBZ | archivedate = 2010-12-31 }}

6. Copy and paste this into your Fanlore page. It will look like this: Fanlore, ^{Archived version}

Notes:

What if the page has not been archived by the WayBack Machine?
You will see an abbreviated cite code: {{source| url = http://fanlore.org/wiki/Main_Page | title = Fanlore }}

What do all the sections mean?
{{source = the beginning of the cite

| url = http://fanlore.org/wiki/Main_Page = The original page you want to cite

| title = Fanlore = the title of the page. This is where you can edit or add text. Many web pages have no "titles" so you may have to add some text such as

| title = Fanlore, a cool fandom wiki

| archiveurl = http://www.webcitation.org/5vOAfOZBZ = the archived page. The cite tool checks two locations - the WayBack Machine and WebCite. If the page has not been archived, the archived link section will be blank. You can always create your own backup link by using WebCite or the WayBack Machine (use the "Save Now" box). These backup services will not work on password protected pages, pages that have age statements or (in the case of the WayBack Machine) pages excluded from crawling.

| archivedate = 2010-12-31 = the date the archived page was created.

}} = the end of the cite code

Can I add text around the cite?
If you want to add more text before or around the cite code, place it outside the brackets {{ }}

Come look at {{source| url = http://fanlore.org/wiki/Main_Page | title = Fanlore | archiveurl = http://www.webcitation.org/5vOAfOZBZ | archivedate = 2010-12-31 }} a fandom wiki.

Come look at Fanlore, ^{Archived version} a fandom wiki.

EDITED: The WayBack Machine also has a bookmarklet you can use to create a backup link: http://searchengineland.com/save-urls-wayback-machine-demand-191150

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Two Current Wiki Editing Tools

2012-08-19T00:26:15Z

Posted by: morgandawn

Two existing WYSIWYG wiki-editing tools that new users can install to help them learn how to use wiki code. One is for Microsoft Office 2007/2010 and the other is for OpenOffice (which Mac and Linux users can use, as well as PC users who don't own a Word license);

The Word add on is discussed here. The Open Office add on is here (with a visual tutorial here for another Wiki).

More handy wiki tools posted in this community here.

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Another Wiki Tool - Fill In User Page (unofficial form)

2012-04-09T18:21:31Z

Posted by: morgandawn

I lost the URL, so I am reposting it here so I can (hopefully) find it again. This is a draft/beta form to help new users create their own User page on Fanlore so they can start editing. It is basically "fill in the box", click "create code" and then copy and paste the code to your new user page. You can find it here: http://tinyURL.com/fanlore-profile

A big thank you to kylara for putting the form together. I've handed it out a few times and have received good feedback from new users.

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Adding footnote display code to templates

2012-04-04T23:52:47Z

Posted by: morgandawn

I note we're using footnotes more and more (or rather we're preferring to use footnotes more and more). I think it may be helpful to add the "Reference" display code to a few of the templates that seem to generate pages with a lot of footnotes. That way there will need to be fewer key strokes, open tabs and copy and pasting. And if there are no footnotes when the page is set up, then the code just hangs there at the bottom of the page until it is needed. I know I am more likely to add a footnote if I don't have to navigate to the cheatsheet to track down the Reference code first.

Thoughts?

edited: Turns out we can create custom "help" templates. I've created one for FanVids here: http://fanlore.org/wiki/Help:Vid_pages/Template

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Another automatic "convert to wiki code" tool

2011-10-16T22:51:27Z

Posted by: morgandawn

I have a hard time typing and wiki coding makes typing even harder. However, I have been using a wiki plugin that will automatically convert rich text into wiki code. It is a plugin that can be installed on wikis (although Fanlore currently does not use it).

I access the plugin on the main Wiki site, do my editing in their sandbox and then copy and paste the converted text into Fanlore.

Process
1. Make an account on the main Wiki site. http://en.wikipedia.org/ and log in
2. Go to My Preferences and scroll down to Editing and select "wikEd, a full-featured integrated text editor for Firefox, Safari, and Google Chrome."
3. Then go to the Wiki Sandbox (it can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Sandbox&action=edit )

You should see 2 rows of editing tools at the top of the sandbox - far more than the ones you see when you edit a Fanlore Page. If you do not see the 2 rows, you are not logged in.

4. Paste your text into the sandbox, Select All and click on the [W] button. It will turn your text into wiki code with (most) of the formatting. You may need to do some tweaking.
5. Copy and paste the converted wiki code into the Fanlore page and preview and then save.
6. Clear the Wiki Sandbox for the next person.

The expanded toolbox also offers handy shortcuts like creating lists with asterisks or numbers etc, doing a global search and replace, sort alphabetically.

~~I'll see if I can upload a screencap.~~
Screencap (click for larger version)

August 19, 2012 edit: as a reminder, there is a Greasemonkey script that can be installed and be made to work in Fanlore (see comments below). I am not familiar with how the Greasemonkey script works - if you're having problems getting it to work on Fanlore contact one of the people discussing the script in the thread below. I am still using the editor on the the Main Wiki which has installed WikiEd as an Preference option (see the instructions above which say to create a Main Wiki account in order to access the editor). The Preference feature has to be made available by each wiki and it not tied to you adding the Greasemonkey script to your browser. As of today, the Preference option has not been installed on Fanlore. Also, the Main Wiki now allows you to have your own Sandbox (another option under 'Preferences") which makes it easier for you to have a tab open and work on converting test to wiki code and paste it into Fanlore.

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Useful OpenOffice extension

2011-10-16T21:52:47Z

Posted by: lian

!completely unofficial:

I wanted to share this StarOffice/OpenOffice export extension with y'all -- I don't know why I didn't think of it sooner. (Well, because I never use it myself, I guess; I'm fluent in wikicode, so I don't need it, but I had it installed at my workplace, so I know it works.)

You write a document in OpenOffice, then use the newly added "export" option in the menu to, well, import it to the wiki (you only need to enter your Fanlore name&password in the export popup), where it'll create a page named after the document title, and convert the text to wiki-markup for you.

Mind you, pictures and tables don't get converted, and you'll have to insert templates etc; so it doesn't work for anything fancy. But maybe it's a start for the wiki-phobic who just want to get some info on there without dealing with the wiki editing window.

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Forms for Wikicode

2011-10-13T03:21:20Z

Posted by: kylara

I've been thinking about the process of documenting doujinshi on Fanlore. Not about me personally documenting it, but the documentation process in general. Every so often the topic of outreach comes up around Fanlore and the OTW, (which I think about more often then I care to admit,) and ease of use probably factors into that. Wikicode isn't difficult, but it's more work than filling out a simple form; for instance, MangaUpdates.com's "add a series" form looks like this, which is very straight-forward.

So on Monday, I got tired of bemoaning to myself the lack of a simple process for documenting doujinshi, and I made one that works for Fanlore:

Check it out!

Basically, it takes all the information in the form and converts it into basic wikicode using the Doujinshi template. It includes a descriptive first sentence and categories. I'll write a breakdown of what happens with all the info if anyone would like to see.

This is just for doujinshi. Is there any interest in things like this?

( Updates )

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Firefox add on and a look at spam on Fanlore

2011-08-18T17:41:09Z

Posted by: facetofcathy

Two things that might be of interest to Fanlore editors today:

( Firefox add on for caching text you're editing )

( A graphical look at Spam on Fanlore )

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New WayBack Machine Link

2011-02-10T04:03:14Z

Posted by: morgandawn

http://waybackmachine.org/

"The classic Wayback Machine will remain in concurrent operation for a period, for comparing functionality, but may not receive any further index updates. (It received its last major update in 2008, with only small piecemeal updates since.) So, please use the new site for accessing material from recent years."

More here.

Since the new link is still in beta testing, I plan to use them side by side since the new website goes offline for updates from time to time.

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Fanzines - Headings or 'Dividers" for fanzines with multiple issues

2010-12-14T22:37:38Z

Posted by: morgandawn

I received a request that, where possible, we start creating table of contents dividers for fanzines with more than a few issues. It helps with editing, navigation and internal citations, so my plan is to add them whenever I come across a page with more than 3 issues. I wanted to encourage others to do the same since we certainly have enough fanzines to warrant the effort.

I call them table of contents dividers, but the actual term is 'Headers" and they're created by doing:
== Issue 1 ==

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Dealing With Those Pesky Dead Links & Cites

2010-06-28T15:57:18Z

Posted by: morgandawn

A lot of time, we link to a website or an ongoing discussion rather than copying and pasting info over onto to Fanlore. But once a website or a link is dead, that data is lost and your Fanlore entry may lack context or key info.

Your best shot is to head over to the Internet Archive (Wayback Machine) and see if the website has been archived. But since the Wayback Machine crawls and archives randomly, you won't know if your citation can be resurrected until it is too late.

Enter: WebCite. A service designed for scholars to create a static snapshot of a website so that you can cite it (and the page contents) for longer periods. It is user driven - you have to submit the website link before the website goes down (when you're creating your Fanlore entry). It comes with a few caveats: it won't create a snapshot of pages that have the 'no robots' code. It won't grab locked content and if you're grabbing a page from an adult Livejournal community, all you may see is the 'Adults only' warning. And it is intended to be used in addition to the direct link to the website, not in place.

I've tested WebCite on the Professionals Fandom Timeline which pulls the bulk of its content from a few key LJ threads. We have already laboriously copied the data over to Fanlore (with permission), but it seemed like a good test candidate.

I also used WebCite to create links to a Stargate Award website that is not currently in the WayBack Machine.

If you have used this service before, or know anything more about it, please drop a note. I think it will be particularly useful for blogs and forum posts which are prone to vanish quickly. It comes with an easy to use Bookmarklet that will allow you to cite a webpage with one click.

edited: I had a brief discussion with someone about WebCite in which they expressed discomfort with the use of this tool (and about whether aspects of the Fanlore project in general could be seen as a breach of fannish community mores/trust). So I'll toss out this narrower question: How does using Webcite differ from our using the WayBack Machine/Internet Archive or Google as our citation sources? Both Webcite and the Wayback Machine are using the same caching process and both store the website snapshot on their servers. What I like about WebCite is that it is much more limited - it cites only the one page and does not scrape and archive the entire website (like the WayBack Machine). This offers us a better level of control over what we're citing to, makes certain we give proper credit to the source of info and grabs the smallest portion of material. In other words, it seems (to me) to be a better form of 'fair use'.

Thoughts? Input? Other ways of looking at the 'what to link, what to quote, what to cite' question? Is any use of any tool that caches a website (ex. Google, WayBack Machine, LJ Seek etc) something to avoid? I realize there may not be a single or uniform opinion, but like Fanlore, I think that plural POVs are good.

edited to add: I have to keep in mind that Fandom - and Fanlore - is not operating in isolation. Scholars, other Wikis, libraries, and historians are running into the same questions and looking at and evaluating the same tools. In fact Wired had a recent article about the US and UK digital archives and their reliance on the Oakland Archive Policy of 2001. More here.

And...a recent Library Science article discussing yet another 'caching' service: Memento Web

And...: links to legal articles on digital preservation and caching below.

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accessing the sandbox

2010-04-20T01:34:41Z

Posted by: aethel

I've added two more links to the sidebar on the wiki: one to the Help Tutorial that brownbetty posted about last year and one to Fanlore's Sandbox.

The Sandbox is just an empty page that anyone can use to experiment with wiki markup or page formatting ideas. Although you can always make a change on any page in the main namespace and then immediately undo it (provided no one else has edited the page in the meantime), the Sandbox is intended as a low-pressure space where you can play around without worrying about messing up another page.

It's easy to wipe clean after you're done (hence the name): either go to the history tab and click "undo" next to your edit or just click to edit the page and delete all the content.

Individual versions of the page history can always be accessed later. For example, I can look at the story tropes draft by going to the history tab, clicking "last" next to the edit version I want, and then clicking "permanent link" under the Toolbox menu on the sidebar.

Wikipedia also has a page explaining the uses of their sandbox.

ETA: this brief notice turned into a help page accidentally, so I'll add it to the wiki help pages. Let me know if you want anything else about sandboxes explained.

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I wish tedious things were more automated in the wiki

2010-01-13T21:30:32Z

Posted by: ratcreature

There must be a way to have some kind of bot to do routine maintenance tasks that don't take any thought at all. Like when you make a new fan profile, and the fan is not consistently wikilinked, and the fan is prolific, manually inserting wikilinks to connect the article properly just sucks. Really sucks. I've inserted the same four brackets in dozens and dozens of pages just checking a few names. It took hours and is a task that requires no thought at all. (I'm not talking about difficult things like spotting variances or such just wikilinks that match exactly.) You run a search on the title of the article, go to the result list, check the first article for "is the first instance of this string in double brackets?" if yes, do nothing, if no add the brackets and go to the next result, and do the same over and over and over again. Couldn't there be some kind of maintenance bot checking this for all newly created articles and maybe the old ones in batches or something?

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finding things in the wiki?

2009-08-24T18:32:55Z

Posted by: ratcreature

I have a question about searches in the wiki via the the "what links here" function.

As I mentioned in my last post, right now I'm putting fanzines that are being added or have been added in lists so that people using the wiki might have a chance to find them. The problem is that finding the fanzines that have pages is not always easy for me. The search engine is less than helpful, and I was trying to find a way around the lack of the fandom category. So I figured out (fanlore is really the first wiki I'm using a lot) that clicking on the "what links here" link in not too large fandoms works as a decent substitute as most pages that link to a fandom are related to it, because the zines usually link to all fandoms they belong to. However in large fandoms there are naturally a lot of pages that aren't fanzines, so what would be really awesome would be if you could somehow combine queries.

What I mean is that the wiki can tell me what pages link to say "The Sentinel" and it can tell me what pages are in the "Category:Zine", so is there some way I can get the wiki to tell me the overlap, i.e. what pages both link to "The Sentinel" AND belong to "Category:Zines"? I mean, surely the wiki must be able to tell me that somehow?

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Helpful Wiki Conversion Tools

2009-07-29T19:31:46Z

Posted by: morgandawn

Fanlore is based on the MediaWiki syntax? dialect? Anyhow,lists of tools that will covert spreadsheets, word, and websites to wiki formatting. Here

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