UESPWiki:Archive/CP References

This is an archive of past UESPWiki:Community Portal discussions. Do not edit the contents of this page, except for maintenance such as updating links.

References

I might be doing something wrong here, but I can't get <ref> lists working on here. I've just discovered what a fantastic resource the Tamriel namespace is and was flicking through when I came across Black Marsh with its reference list. I noticed that several of the footnotes weren't used and was going to clean up the page when I remembered how Wikipedia does it, with auto-generated lists. When I tried that, however, I just got the tags appearing on the page with no links. So two questions:

• Does UESP support these lists and just how stupid am I if it does and I'm doing it wrong (extra credit may be given for describing just how stupid I am anyway)
• Does the community think this is a route we want to take? I don't want to try to turn this into Wikipedia but given that the Tamriel namespace is such a detailed resource, some form of reference linking would seem to be a good idea.

Rpeh 05:51, 15 June 2007 (EDT)

It's not a bad idea, but you'll have to do it manually for now - Wikipedia-style auto-generated reference-lists do not work on this site as of this time. I think a plug-in would need to be installed in order to make that possible, and only Daveh can do that. There hasn't been much demand for it, so I don't know if it's likely to be implemented at this point - especially since it would require a good deal of page-reworking to incorporate that in in some cases. --TheRealLurlock ^Talk 07:35, 15 June 2007 (EDT)

I'll have to add the Cite extension to get this to work, which is easily done if needed. I just don't want to add it unnecessarily. -- Daveh 10:41, 15 June 2007 (EDT)

Well, I have done a manual cite list for Lore:Sheogorath, so I wouldn't mind having one for future expansions of that section. I've also recently commented that the Oblivion:PS3 article may need some sources, since the information there has been subject to some debate. --Ratwar 13:15, 15 June 2007 (EDT)

The other thing to keep in mind is that Wikipedia is a huge site, covering every topic you can think of, and drawing from millions of diverse sources for its information. UESP deals with a narrow range of topics, and our source for information is almost always the games themselves (or their Construction Sets), so references aren't really that big a deal, since it's usually pretty obvious where the info comes from. Some Tamriel articles might have more diverse sources, but usually the info comes from in-game books. If we could have in-site references, pointing to the books where the info originated, that'd make sense. There's only a few places where off-site references would be needed, and most of those are already done manually. --TheRealLurlock ^Talk 08:42, 16 June 2007 (EDT)

I agree that lists can be done manually, but they also need maintaining manually and that hadn't happened on the first one I found. I don't want to create unnecessary work for Daveh but if it's not too much trouble, I'd suggest the extension be added, then those pages that would benefit can do so and the rest of the world can ignore it. Rpeh 09:09, 16 June 2007 (EDT)

For loreists, the plugin would be very useful. It's definitely worth adding. --Wrye 16:04, 16 June 2007 (EDT)

I think having some tools to make it easier to add and maintain references would be very useful. I'm a bit concerned, though, about the Criticisms mentioned with the Cite extension. It doesn't seem like it's necessarily the easiest tool to use, nor is it the only one available. Perhaps it's worth spending a bit more time doing research on what extensions are available for references and figuring out which one is the best match for UESP? --Nephele^Talk 22:47, 19 June 2007 (EDT)

I'll agree it's not the world's easiest system to use, but it's not that difficult! Given especially that the pages where it'd be used most are the Tamriel ones and that not too many people edit those, I don't think it's a huge problem. --Rpeh^Talk 03:18, 25 June 2007 (EDT)

I, for one, would love it. Then it would be much easier to dump content from here, or potentially here, to [http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Tamriel:Black_Marsh here! And I could take the lovely stuff from here and put it in its dreadfully limp-looking counterpart here! I'd been so long in porting over the content to the BM page because of the lack of cite.php here. Now, only days after I finally decided to implement the current article, with its ghetto ref style, I get a complaint. :P Anyways, the lack of a cite mechanism has always discouraged me from editing here: I'm just so used to swaddling myself in citations, that it seems frigid and lonesome without them.. With the cite.php mechanism, I'd be glad to contribute to the Tamriel namespace. (Don't worry about the Wikipedia-style pecadilloes of NPOV and WAF and such. The freedom of an in-world perspective should offer the chance for a more fluent and less distractingly skeptical style.) We also shouldn't have to worry about the copyright issues, as we did the last time, as I've written 996/1000s of these articles myself (and I can just as easily return to a previous version). With the cite.php, I see UESP becoming a great annex for infinitestimal fictional detail, which the W seems to like less and less these days. Thanks for your time! SulfurousDesign 23:55, 26 June 2007 (EDT)

Well, if the people who want to do the work think that cite.php is the right tool to get the job done, then that's what really matters :) And there's more than enough support here to say that adding the extension won't be a waste of Daveh's time. I think the main obstacle at this point is just waiting until Daveh has some time to install it. --Nephele^Talk 00:43, 27 June 2007 (EDT)

Copyright issues: Don't gloss these over -- copyright is something we need to take seriously. If you're posting material that you originally posted at Wikipedia please clarify in the history comment just what you're doing and that you're the original author. Also, do be careful to not include anything but trivial edits from others (e.g., spelling, grammar corrections). Which will not doubt be a pain in the butt, but is doable. --Wrye 20:03, 27 June 2007 (EDT)

Is cite.php in yet? I don't like turning out pages which look like this: Lore:Hist. (Btw, you guys didn't have a page on this? For shame!) SulfurousDesign 01:01, 8 July 2007 (EDT)

Not yet. Daveh is away, I believe. --Rpeh^Talk 05:00, 9 July 2007 (EDT)

To confirm, Daveh is on vacation right now, so it will be at least a couple weeks before any new extensions can be added (and perhaps even longer if he has to immediately rush off on a work trip when he gets back). But I did warn him before he disappeared that we'd probably have a stack of extensions that need to be installed when he gets back, so he knows what's waiting for him :) --Nephele^Talk 11:02, 10 July 2007 (EDT)

Good to know. Thank you all for your willingness to help. ^_^ SulfurousDesign 03:30, 12 July 2007 (EDT)

I only just noticed, but the extension is now in place. My original test page now works. Thanks, Daveh! Let the great reference-fest commence! --Rpeh^Talk 08:28, 7 August 2007 (EDT)