User talk:Kevan

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Iwitness typo

Got really bored, and noticed there was a typo.

"What does it mean if a record is PUBLIC or PRIVATE?

Public records are just that- anybody can (if they take the time to look) find them and look at the information they contain. Private records are hidden in directories whose contents are not open to the public view, and the random number string appended to the end of the file name makes it impossible for anybody to find them through luck or accident. "Private" records are in fact so hard to locate that if you don't record their location, you'll never them again. That's OK when you just want to share a quick secret with some friends in a private chat room or secure forum, though- just copy the link and paste it somewhere you and you friends can find it, but others will not see it! User accounts do provide a way to retrieve all of the private records a user creates while logged into that account, so while still quite private, they are not going to vanish. User accounts also potentially allow for other levels of security; all of these are essentially private records that only certain people can see, or which do not display all of the details of the record in order to protect the privacy and safety of "innocent bystanders".

http://www.urbandead.info/iwitness/iwitness_FAQ.php#security

--/\Haliman/\ ^{T | P! | W!} 15:38, 1 September 2008 (BST)

Suicide Repair

Most of the time it isn't easy to let a building reach the higher levels of decay and takes the effort of multiply zombie players. Lately as more buildings reach higher level of decay we see a raise in suicide repairs. Where survivors just spent all their AP and more to repair a long time ruined building and prepare to get eaten and revived. If suicide repairing was not what you where going for with the implemention of decay, please consider changes like:

a)Make it impossible to spent more AP on repairing than are left to this character, and probably setting a cap at 45AP as a maximum for decay.

or b)Repair only removes some part of the decay level and not all at once. Probably like tearing down barricades. --Experiment211 21:15, 13 July 2008 (BST)

Database error on the wiki

I have been getting the following message after making edits:

A database query syntax error has occurred. This may indicate a bug in the software. The last attempted database query was:

    (SQL query hidden)

from within function "SearchMySQL4::update". MySQL returned error "1062: Duplicate entry '20534' for key 1 (localhost)".
Retrieved from "http://wiki.urbandead.com/index.php/Category_talk:Historical_Groups"

The edits seem to be working, however. This bug just took place twice on the Historical Groups Talk/Voting page. --WanYao 11:13, 25 July 2008 (BST)

I just got one on the same page. --  AHLGTG THE END IS NIGH! 15:51, 25 July 2008 (BST)

Ditto. -- . . <== DDR Approved Editor 21:06, 25 July 2008 (BST)

Happened to me too today.--Gamestriker4 21:57, 25 July 2008 (BST)

Database error

A database query syntax error has occurred. This may indicate a bug in the software. The last attempted database query was:
(SQL query hidden)
from within function "". MySQL returned error "1194: Table 'searchindex' is marked as crashed and should be repaired (localhost)".

Is also appearing when searching brain rot in the Suggestions and Talk Suggestions namespaces.--Karek^maps?! 19:02, 26 July 2008 (BST)

Erg. I've had some server trouble lately, I'll take a look at it. --Kevan 12:21, 27 July 2008 (BST)

Yesterday it was still doing this... It's rare as of late, it seems-- it was happening with almost every edit for a bit there -- but it *did* happen yesterday again.... --WanYao

Just hit the same after searching for brain in images. --Rosslessness^{Want a Location Image?} 15:21, 3 August 2008 (BST)

I've repaired the database, it should be okay now. Let me know if any error messages still creep through, though. --Kevan 10:54, 4 August 2008 (BST)

A Little Idea for Group Affiliations

I've had an idea and would like to submit it for your consideration. Would it be possible to add in the option of a URL link added to a player's group affiliation, a la the current system with the 'Real Name' links? This would be very useful for players looking to join a group and for groups looking to recruit players, especially zombie groups who lack the ability to spray-paint places without death-culting. Whilst the RN link is used by some, myself included, for recruitment, more likely than not the majority will simply not bother clicking it after the first few times they have done that on a profile have taken them to YouTube songs or Rick-rolls. A link under the group affiliation would draw more desirable attention.

There are two ways in which I could see this working: The first is to have the group affiliation act in the same way as the Real Life link, with the player choosing the URL; the second would be to have the GA act as the list of confirmed groups on the stats page does: An automatic link to the wiki page of said confirmed group. My personal belief is that the latter would be the superior option, so as to avoid abuse via unsavoury links which would undermine trust in the system (this is of course going under the assumption that you have a system which makes the links appear automatically on the stats page, rather than having to add them all in yourself of course).

Just my thought for the early morning.

Regards. --Papa Moloch 04:37, 4 August 2008 (BST)

Please make your suggestions here: Category:Current Suggestions. Seriously Moloch, you have been around long enough to know how suggestions are handled. --The Grimch ^{U! E!} 04:40, 4 August 2008 (BST)

FWIW, my personal version of 'ActOnProfile' already modifies the group name to be a link to the wiki page for that group. Its pretty handy, even if just to find out the group has no page. A fancier GM script could easily determine if the page actually exists, and not make it a link if it doesn't, which would be nice. Server side code could likely do the same thing better.  Swiers 05:02, 4 August 2008 (BST)

Copyright question

after playing Urban dead I had an idea making it into a warcraft 3 map and before I release 1: may I release a map made by maps and the same idea of urban dead and with its name/s 2: are there any requires you want? for example I could advertise for the site every 5 mins(I can have the map do that for me)I have all ready given credit to Urban dead and if you want I can give direct credit to you also—The preceding Template:Wikipedia comment was added by Undeadpope (talk • contribs) 23:42, 6 August 2008.

l2english.--xoxo 11:34, 7 August 2008 (BST)

If it's clearly presented as an unofficial fan project, and isn't making any money, then I wouldn't have a problem with it. --Kevan 11:51, 7 August 2008 (BST)

IP hits and construction

If I repair a badly damaged building (15ap etc.) Is that one IP hit or 15? --Rosslessness^{Want a Location Image?} 10:32, 9 August 2008 (BST)

It'd be one. it's a measure of how many times you refresh the map page not ap. The only exception (as far as i'm aware) is syringe manufacture which is 20.--xoxo 03:53, 10 August 2008 (BST)

I thought i was getting more than my regular action. --Rosslessness^{Want a Location Image?} 11:32, 10 August 2008 (BST)

Monroeville and headshot

All the high level survivors I know (about 30) have been holding out for the return of perma-death headshot with the quarantine. I see the quarantine is back, but everything still says that headshot is not permanent. Is this the case? If you're not bringing it back then you might as well close down the server or at least tell us officially. Because as currently constituted only one side can win, and though we could probably prolong things indefinitely I fail to see the point. --Babe's Ghost 03:59, 17 August 2008 (BST)

I couldn't agree more with this post. Staying alive as a member of an organized group in Monroeville is possible but it takes a large amount of coordination and effort. I fail to see the "game" part of current Monroeville on the survivor side, something permanent headshot would bring to the table. If balance is an issue, I'm sure the zombie side would love to have non-curable Infectious Bite. --Calem 10:09, 17 August 2008 (BST)

The evidence of the most recent opening of Monroeville suggests that it takes about 6 weeks for the city to go from totally survivor-dominated to totally destroyed with the survivors on the run and hiding in the wreckage. Therefore, it seems to me that the most fun and interesting way to do it would be to run Monroeville in cycles. Every five to six weeks or so switch the rules to give one side or the other the advantage. So, having now had an extened Zombie Friendly period of time, you allow the Survivors to have their turn for a month and a half with closed borders and "permanent" (until the next cycle) headshot. Then re-open it to new admissions with the usual "Zombies stand back up" rules for a month and a half, then close it again and so on and so forth. That way, both sides always have something to look forward to and there's always something to plan for. Frankly, this solution still favors the Zombies somewhat in that a dead Survivor still never gets a chance to come back to life, but its significantly more fair than the current situation where Survivors can never repair a building for more than a couple of days before getting buried under a tide of zombies. While that may accurately reflect the desperate conditions of the later Dead movies and some of the supporting fiction, its not much fun to be a Survivor under these circumstances, and this is a game. --jng2058 12:54, 17 August 2008 (BST)

Agreed. Right now Monroeville is only a game of attrition with an inevitable (tedious) end. Maybe that's in keeping with Romero's cannon, but it puts survivors in an unwinnable position and leaves the zombies without enough challenge to stave off boredom. If the game's going to be left open, then since zombies are in the advantage right now (by 4:1) why not restore headshot and see what happens? CoopVancer 21:34, 17 August 2008 (BST)

Actually Coop- if you think about it- zombie take over isn't necessary canon in the zombie/post-apoc genre nor Romero canon, but merely an outcome of the core theme. What destroys the humans isn't the zombies, which are fairly weak, but their failure to overcome their individual self interest and cooperate. Restoring headshot would work now consistent with the canon. Headshot is something survivors learn with experience. At present, most of the survivors, don't have the XP to have headshot.

So I guess this is down to a test of wills then? Of humanity? How long can humans survive before break down, succumb to anarchy, or make a mistake and get eaten? We will not. Survivors will not descend into madness. We will survive under these horrible conditions! We will be ever vigilant! (until an emergency comes up in real life, then we're pretty much zombie-food) Bystander 22:30, 20 August 2008 (BST)

Bystander, I recommend the buddy system. Give someone in your group your PW so they can move you in an emergency.--Babe's Ghost 00:01, 21 August 2008 (BST)

Yes, your reading is correct that perma-headshot isn't returning.--Kevan 16:59, 18 August 2008 (BST)

Will there be any type of reward for x number of survivors remaining?

I'm just going to say the only reason to ask this is because what the point of trying to survive if the hoard of zombies will eventually take over all? All i want to know is there anything that actually would give hope to the survivors?

Yeah, it would be nice if the last 100 survivors were transported to Malton with text like "NAME survived the second Monroeville quarantine." or "NAME was one of the last 100 to die in Monroeville." on their profile page. --BetterLuck 23:23, 18 August 2008 (BST)

I hope something happens that's good at least for survivors, now they outnumber us way too much now--Kazypoo1 15:44, 19 August 2008 (BST)

Monroeville Characters

I was just wondering if you had any plans for allowing players to have their Monroeville character's account moved to Malton. I just want to know because I happen to really like my MV character from an RP perspective and would like to play as him in a city that isn't completely ruined and dead... or at least use his name for a character in Malton.--William Told 03:08, 21 August 2008 (BST)

No - you can transfer donation flags, but not characters. If you want to roleplay the same character in Malton, just create a new account with a slightly different name. --Kevan 09:33, 21 August 2008 (BST)

How do you transfer donation flags from a Monroeville character to a Malton one? Thanks. --Alias81 13:10, 1 September 2008 (BST)

Don't fucking jimmy me, jules.

1. (diff) (hist) . . User:Vigeous/Group Pages‎; 18:25 . . (-2) . . Vigeous (Talk | contribs) (→Folie à Famille - )
2. (diff) (hist) . . Category talk:Historical Groups‎; 17:01 . . (+319) . . WanYao (Talk | contribs) (→Drunken Dead - )

I swear that 84 minutes almost pushed me over the brink...--xoxo 09:34, 21 August 2008 (BST)

Yeah, it looks like the wiki backups are pushing the server over the brink as well, from sheer weight of data, to the point of actually overheating the machine. I'm going to have to do another archive-history purge, as it's been a long time since the last one. --Kevan 10:24, 21 August 2008 (BST)

NOOOOOO! Not the memories! Take anything but the memories! --xoxo 10:30, 21 August 2008 (BST)

What about all teh lulz?!?!?!?!? Jed! ACTIVATE LULZ PRESERVATION PROCEDURES. CODE RED!--Nallan (Talk) 10:44, 21 August 2008 (BST)

OMG DID YOU SAY CODE RED?!?!?!?!--xoxo 10:47, 21 August 2008 (BST)

Good man. You'll do me proud yet. btw Kevan we just bought UD shirts so hopefully that means you don't have to go ahead with this "purging" business...--Nallan (Talk) 10:48, 21 August 2008 (BST)

Yeah i've thrown my best days into UD and my best money too. The least you could do is buy more server space so that a purge need never happen again. What if we need to check back over to see who made an edit? Or find long lost lulz? I mean 2 Cool have a variety of quality projects using that space. ALiM, ELiM, Great Fire of 1912, Sir Dick Longman, Suburb Nicknames, Colloquialisms and Malton Girl on Girl Parade all spring to mind. Of course there are many many more worthy pages created in the name of Kevan, this is just a tasty sampling.--xoxo 10:53, 21 August 2008 (BST)

Stop blatantly spamming your endless vomit pile of useless wiki projects.--CyberRead240 11:02, 21 August 2008 (BST)

Quality projects using the page history space? If there's something good in there that's been deleted for wiki policy reasons, can't you host it somewhere else where people will actually find it? --Kevan 11:07, 21 August 2008 (BST)

Well if there is that's what we'll do. By the way - whilst I'm here, can I get your thoughts on this page. Totally just out of interest and not fishing for an endorsement to stick in the first sentence of the article... And did you purposely give some of the locations amusing names or was it all the result of some cosmic event?--Nallan (Talk) 11:22, 21 August 2008 (BST)

Also thanks for the recognition that they are in fact quality. And yes page history contains lols and should be kept for this reason. For example this particular work would never have been possible if page histories weren't kept. Save Page Histories, i think i smell a 2C wikiproject coming on...--xoxo 11:32, 21 August 2008 (BST)

Ah that smell. I know her well.--Nallan (Talk) 11:33, 21 August 2008 (BST)

Just wondering if there's a time-frame for this, there's an administrative Archive of Two we need to finish up before it happens, shouldn't take more than a few hours each.--Karek^maps?! 16:59, 21 August 2008 (BST)

Turns out that it might just be the A/VB talk archives.--Karek^maps?! 17:03, 21 August 2008 (BST)

What in the name of all things holy is an archive history purge? Do i need to be in the brace position? --Rosslessness^{Want a Location Image?} 17:11, 21 August 2008 (BST)

Look at the contribs of an older member, like myself. Ive ben around and posting since october 2005. you will see pretty much nothingb that old. A history purge is just that, a deletion of all revisions older than a certain age from the database. Its one of the reasons we make archive pages. Histories can get seriously huge, especially on larger, more active pages. For examples of the biggest, try A/VB and Talk:Suggestions --The Grimch ^{U! E!} 18:02, 21 August 2008 (BST)

Cheers Grimbo. --Rosslessness^{Want a Location Image?} 18:06, 21 August 2008 (BST)

Couldn't Kev just get rid of the bigs one then? Talk suggestions is a particularly useless page...--xoxo 07:08, 22 August 2008 (BST)

It'll be some time during September, and it'll be clearing out to a specific date (probably everything over a year old). If you need me to hold off while some admin archives are made, let me know. --Kevan 17:37, 27 August 2008 (BST)

Is barricading affected in dark buildings?

Would you be able to resolve this question, please? (i.e. is there an effect in dark buildings on barricading success?) --WanYao 12:05, 27 August 2008 (BST)

As Midi said, you should try doing your own research on this inquiry first. It seems like you haven't even checked by yourself. --Aeon17x 14:21, 27 August 2008 (BST)

It's based on chance - sorta hard to get solid evidence when it could just be called "bad luck". Sometimes you have to go to the source to find out if you're just having a shitty day or if it's some game mechanic that's actually stopping you from hitting all those zeds at the local RP... I mean... er...--Nallan (Talk) 14:53, 27 August 2008 (BST)

Aeon, I did "check for myself"... As in. I've experienced it numerous times in-game... Then I went to Brainstock, asked around for a second opinion, and got one... But that wasn't good enough for you people... So I decided to ask Kevan, himself -- especially since Nallan kind of has a point, and since it's not easy to find the conditions to conduct the experiment... In any event, I managed to find a place to try it: I posted the results on the Darkness talk page. However, a quick word, yea or nay, from the designer really would be appreciated... Now... none of this "discussion" was necessary, not here, stop spamming this page, sheeesh. --WanYao 23:14, 27 August 2008 (BST)

You typed more than the first three comments combined. And you complain about spamming? --Aeon17x 01:31, 28 August 2008 (BST)

theres 98 survivors in monroeville what now?

what is going to happen now? is there anything left for the survivors other than to just run or make a last stand? is there anything for staying alive till the end. --Kazypoo1 19:13, 27 August 2008 (BST)

Stay alive I guess. --Federationtrooper 22:49, 27 August 2008 (BST)

umm the count jumped UP TO 100, what just happened? --Kazypoo1 03:50, 28 August 2008 (BST)

And it's 101 now. --Aeon17x 05:44, 28 August 2008 (BST)

Idled characters standing up, most likely. Hellooooo. --WanYao 06:11, 28 August 2008 (BST)

Yes, idlers. So, will all characters be deleted completely? Should we make a last stand? What will happen to the accounts? Will there be permaneny links to the diaries, that can still be obtained after the accounts are deleted? Knowing the basic plan will help us figure out what we should be doing.--Kolechovski 20:37, 28 August 2008 (BST)

If I recall correctly, at some point the game will be shut down. I mean shut down. At which point Kevan has said that any donations on MV alts will be transferable to Malton. He has hinted that he might allow MV alts to be moved to Malton once it's shut right down -- although I haven't noticed anything like this in a while, maybe he's changed his mind? I dunno... My advice, personally is to wait and see... Possibly Kevan doesn't even know yet how he'll wrap it up. --WanYao 22:44, 28 August 2008 (BST)

I'm pretty sure that MV characters won't be transferable to Malton.--William Told 01:49, 31 August 2008 (BST)

FAQs addition?

I don't know why you haven't gotten around to it, but here you can even find a pretyped one to add. It's a quick, simple addition...

http://wiki.urbandead.com/index.php/Talk:Suggestions#Add_encumbrance_section_to_the_FAQs

Also, I'm not trying to bother you, but could you check the bugs page and try to deal with some of those issues? I noticed my moved-outside reports already in the known bugs section, and that sounds like a creepy one that's been happening to a number of people. I also see a number of other bugs commonly happening, with no hint of what's going on. Thanks. --Kolechovski 20:44, 28 August 2008 (BST)

Once again...dupe. --•▬ ▬••▬ • •••• •▬ ▬•▬• ▬•▬ ^{#nerftemplatedsigs} 19:28, 30 August 2008 (BST)

Enough is enough

I know you don't want to deal with this kind of stuff... yeah yeah yeah... But please just look at this post. Just quickly...

Enough is enough, already. Please ban open proxies from accessing Urban Dead, because this is just too common -- and if anything is going to kill this game and the community it's zerging. There is a massive level of frustration over zerging, though honestly it's not brought up because people are fatalistic, figuring you're not going to do anything about it. But there are people willing and able to assist with the coding, with helping to set this up, you just need to say "Yes" to getting the ball rolling. Please consider it, consider something... Because it's a serious problem ((that is, the use of proxies). And, unfortunately -- unless there is something huge we are all missing -- it's a problem that your abuse detection algorithms just can't deal with... --WanYao 12:55, 31 August 2008 (BST)

Just to add... This guy in the post I linked to likely had his alts banned, and just kept making more and more to replace them... which, if true, shows that algorithm works against "normal" multi-abusers. But when you're dealing with proxies, you can completely circumvent those algorithms. And that's the problem... Active players usually encounter at least a couple obvious "zerg teams" every week... And a lot more less obvious but suspicious ones... It's very frustrating for those who try to play "by the book"... And while we generally just "shrug and bear it", still... I'm not going to bother you with this anymore now, but I really felt it was high time to bring this your attention, and to speak out for the many people who are so frustrated by the prevalence of zerging in Urban Dead. Thanks for your attention. --WanYao 13:17, 31 August 2008 (BST)

I'm going to take the liberty of seconding the above on behalf of both the Ridleybank Resistance Front and Columbine Kids, two fair-playing teams that I lead who encounter zerg teams weekly. Whether something comes of this or not, I just want to add our voices. --Papa Moloch 18:38, 1 September 2008 (BST)