User talk:The Rooster

Home Talk Bots Contribs Sandpit . . .

Use the '+' tab at the top in order to create a new talk section at the bottom. If I've come to you, let's keep the conversation there, if you're coming to me, I'll be replying here. The archive can be found here. Adding Suburb pages to Mobile Phone Mast bot? Hi Rooster, I was looking into ways to add the current status of a suburb's Phone Mast to that suburb's information box. I started work on a template to provide a nice text description of the current status after the mast listing, but then ran up against the difficulty of extracting the current status from your list of masts by just having the suburb name, without availability of the parser functions. What I'm wondering is if you might be willing to add functionality to your bot to update the suburb pages in the same way your Necrotech building bot does. The result could either be a human-friendly text status (my original idea) eg: Phone Mast: Smith Towers [55, 16] Unpowered My existing templates of Template:MalTelMastStatusText_active, Template:MalTelMastStatusText_inactive etc. could help with that. However, coloring it in the same way you do the Necrotech buildings might work too. For suburbs where the building name isn't linked, perhaps it could be added. All of this would just use the existing mast_coordinates line in the infobox. What do you think? :) --Zhani 19:18, 29 August 2008 (BST) I must re-learn wiki markup. Will attempt to consider awesomeness of your idea in the future, where I will almost certainly ask somebody with more skill to have a go at it anyway. --  RoosterDragon  21:42, 23 January 2009 (UTC) External Military Report Bot working? Is the external military report bot being ran? If so it could make it a lot easier for me to update the reports page, but it says that it hasen't been ran in over a month. Kevyn Wu 06:45, 2 September 2008 (BST) Will resurrect bot soon, providing it will still run without destroying anything. --  RoosterDragon  21:42, 23 January 2009 (UTC) Ackland Mall in the MIC From what I can tell, someone tried to combine a phone mast template with the MallStatus template (because Ackland has Havercroft's phone mast). Whatever they tried didn't work, but I don't know enough about templates to fix it. Can you provide assistance? The page in question is here. --Pedentic 21:51, 29 October 2008 (UTC) I'm not even going to look at the page, it's probably been fixed/worked around. If for some bizarre it hasn't, maybe then I'll have a peek. --  RoosterDragon  21:42, 23 January 2009 (UTC) It seems to have been fixed/worked around, like you've assumed. Cheers! --Pedentic 17:58, 27 January 2009 (UTC) Ninja Mode? Still alive in your box? If you're done with Urbandead and the bots, I wouldn't mind running them.. ■■ 22:15, 27 December 2008 (UTC) Am back from a webcomic binge to instead do some wiki-binging. Will attempt to fix/update and distribute the bots to some extent. --  RoosterDragon  21:42, 23 January 2009 (UTC) I take it I'd need to create separate accounts for them, If I were to run them? Also, what about having bots edit a page when run to let other instances of the same bot know not to interfere? ■■ 04:46, 24 January 2009 (UTC) My initial thoughts were keeping the current bots accounts, and logging the related wiki-user's account somewhere. (EG: The Update Record page that I currently used would also contain the signature of whoever ran it last) I was also thinking of a page that dealt with 'interference' by having a variable along the lines of 'InstanceRunning=True/False' and probably another page for the version of the bot (so older versions don't destroy things), whether it's allowed to run at all (for when I find the wiki-destroying error) and the last time of it's running (no need to run most of these more than once a day, really) --  RoosterDragon  12:29, 24 January 2009 (UTC) Welcome Back Good to see you! --RosslessnessWant a Location Image? 21:36, 23 January 2009 (UTC) Ah! The edit-conflict was unexpected! You're WAY too fast on the ball. Thanks for the welcome though :) --  RoosterDragon  21:42, 23 January 2009 (UTC) Thats us sysops for you! --RosslessnessWant a Location Image? 21:56, 23 January 2009 (UTC) Sysop? Oooo, congrats!. --  RoosterDragon  21:59, 23 January 2009 (UTC) Have you not heard about the failed coup? --RosslessnessWant a Location Image? 22:08, 23 January 2009 (UTC) I have been back a grand total of 20 minutes, I'm still working on determining if anybody has changed anything that might make my bots explode the wiki. I have had a chance to catch up on the latest over-dramatic nonsense this site spews out. So, explain away! --  RoosterDragon  22:12, 23 January 2009 (UTC) Mod Conspiracy --RosslessnessWant a Location Image? 22:12, 23 January 2009 (UTC) Or UDWiki talk:Administration/Misconduct/Archive/Grim s/200809 I don't think anythings been done to the danger reports since you've left. --RosslessnessWant a Location Image? 22:14, 23 January 2009 (UTC) I'll have to sift through it when I have a proper chunk of free time. Anyway, while it's nice the danger reports haven't changed, I expected progress! Oh well, in keeping with the lack of progress theme, the first error I found was a case of a deleted user line. That piece of poor design plagues everything! I'll risk a manual run once I've fixed that and also the MPM page a bit. --  RoosterDragon  22:20, 23 January 2009 (UTC) disambig You're stuffing up the links on the locations blocks (at least the towers ones) -- boxy talk • teh rulz 01:04 25 January 2009 (BST) Yeah, I caught it after bout 10 seconds into that grouping, working on manual fixes now. Odd circumstances I wasn't expecting with the links linking to a disambig page, to the tower's location on that disambig page (which the bot was locking onto) which in turn linked to the actual building's page! What was the point in setting it up like that? Weird. --  RoosterDragon  01:09, 25 January 2009 (UTC) I did it. It's so that if you click on the link on the 9block template, you get taken to the actual location you want on the grouped location page (when all the locations info was on the Tollyton Towers page) -- boxy talk • teh rulz 01:15 25 January 2009 (BST) Yes, I've encountered that before, though usually they're not marked as disambiguation pages thus allowing me to not care. I'll keep an eye out for any others, thanks for the heads up. --  RoosterDragon  01:17, 25 January 2009 (UTC) BTW, it would probably be an idea to register a wiki account dedicated to your bot. If something goes wrong, it makes it easier to deal with, in that it can be temporarily banned by any sysop that notices, and it's edits are all on the one contributions page for easy rollback (rather than mixed in with your other edits) -- boxy talk • teh rulz 01:22 25 January 2009 (BST) Would've done had I thought this was going to be such a job at the time, I was rather expecting to make a few hundred edits tops and have finished. Currently I've got less than 1900 pages left to check, of which maybe 20% (based on average so far) will need changing. In comparison to the far-too-many edits I've made with it so far, I'll just let these 400 run out and end there. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. --  RoosterDragon  02:02, 25 January 2009 (UTC) The bot doesn't actually unmerge any of the locations does it? So, that means we still have to go back and do that anyway, right? If we still have to go back over what the bot has done it seems pointless to run the bot.--– Nubis NWO 17:10, 25 January 2009 (UTC) It's very useful for cleaning up after they've been unmerged! -- boxy talk • teh rulz 10:34 27 January 2009 (BST) No, it won't unmerge the collection pages, but it wasn't designed to. It will disambiguate any locationblock template (Most of the edits have been from pages dedicated to single locations) and that was my original goal. (On course to reduce links to disambiguation pages to around 1700 from whatever ungodly number it was) The mass unmerging can be done with another bot (shouldn't be too difficult either), one thing at a time. :) --  RoosterDragon  17:33, 25 January 2009 (UTC) I wouldn't count on grouped locations pages being predictable enough -- boxy talk • teh rulz 10:34 27 January 2009 (BST) Ok, I'm lost, why should the order of disambiguation and unmerging matter? Do you mean if the unmerging then creates an ambiguous link? I can have the bot do a quick lookup on the Locations List for that. I also don't see that the collection pages should be that much of a problem, it can just rip the location template from the page and stick a copy on a new page. Minor nuisances like descriptive text (what little there usually is) is just a quick copy paste job between two textboxes before I hit the 'Save Page' button. The bot does the tedious work, cuts down on page calls and saves time. I don't get bored, and could turn those pages around in probably ten seconds each. Sure, there's the overhead time of setting this up, but the number of pages means that it probably works out in my favour timewise to do it that way, and certainly works out in my favour in terms of not making me terminally bored. But if you still rather I didn't, just say. I wouldn't want to make things worse, the manual changing of those pages would occur in due course, after all. Anyway, I'll probably set up a generic bot account for any mass edits from now on, tis a good idea Boxy. --  RoosterDragon  18:38, 27 January 2009 (UTC) Mall Status Map The only real problem with your updated version is it's a bit 'busy' on the eyes, it not as easy to read at a casual glance as the old one, although it does contain much needed extra information. I did have the idea of combining the suburb feature from the Omnimap into the Mall Status Map, allowing people to see the current status of the suburbs using the colour code and being able to see the names of the suburbs with a roll over. -- . . <== DDR Approved Editor 14:36, 31 January 2009 (UTC) Yeah, it works better without the names and images. I was hesitant to remove them since it was more of an established page. The rollover provides you with the mall name anyway. We'll see whether other people think it could do with de-cluttering too. I'm inclined to agree with you on that point. As far as the Omnimap bit goes, the whole reason for the suburb system there (as opposed to using the danger map underneath, like the StatusMap system) was because it needed to show SIM data too. It was just a clever workaround, and probably not needed on things like the MSM or NT Status Map etc, unless you mean something else? --  RoosterDragon  15:05, 31 January 2009 (UTC) I've just had a go at this, but my coding fails me. I'm thinking a map similar to the old MSM, using Image:Mall-status-map.png and the old status system, but with the addition of a SIM suburb border overlay. This will allow the MSM to display the relative danger levels as well (though I think the colouring will need to be tweaked to make it easier to read). This also means that rolling over a suburb on the MSM will give you its name and a clickable link to its page and thereby reduce the visual clutter on the current MSM. Am making sense? -- . . <== DDR Approved Editor 18:47, 2 February 2009 (UTC) (Deindented)Uh, not really. When you say a 'SIM suburb border overlay' do you mean: The Omnimap's suburb border's, the transparent gif's? The SIM-grid map's suburb grid overlay? Actual SIM data? Something else? I get what you mean by the rollover, the same thing as you currently get for the Omnimap. Am you wishing to use this to replace the current underlay that looks a bit like the suburb danger map? Resulting in, from the bottom-up: Old map image you linked on the bottom Layer of suburb status borders, like the current Omnimap. (If you mean that) Invisible layer of clickable suburb links Old status system (Mall name and status image) on top Have I got that right? --  RoosterDragon  19:59, 2 February 2009 (UTC) This level of complexity is why I can't code maps. You seem to have got what I'm after in your 'resulting in' section. However looking at that image I've linked it's got the malls on the image (I thought it was just a grid), and the coloured blocks representing the current status, like the NT Status Map, seem to make an easier instant reference. Following your list, what I think I'm trying to say is: Grid image (I find an underlying grid to be especially helpful for working out routes without having to use another map) Layer of suburb borders (like the current Omnimap, so it auto updates) Invisible layer of clickable links to suburb pages (again like the current Omnimap) New status system (changed my mind due to the ease of the colour references) Is all that even possible? Viable? And will it actually make it better do you think? -- . . <== DDR Approved Editor 20:14, 2 February 2009 (UTC) Possible, very. The various parts listed are all work separately on their own, so you can just mix and match as you want, making some adjustments for size and so on. Making it better is another argument. I would suggest first the mall name and status image get ditched (from the old system) and just leave the auto updating colours on what's left (basically, it would be exactly like the NT Status Map and MPM Status Map, just for malls). I personally don't think the suburb links are that distracting. I can see the suburb's in the back being confusing though, it is a lot of colours. Do you find it a problem on the other two maps I just mentioned? --  RoosterDragon  20:53, 2 February 2009 (UTC) On the other maps (NT and MPM maps) the individual location names aren't needed and the suburb names are, however I feel the opposite is the case for malls, it is the mall name (and therefore links to individual mall pages) that is more important. Saying that, what I found limiting for the old system was the fact I had to click the mall name and then go to the suburb page if I needed a general update. I'd like to see whether it'd be viable to have both mall and suburb links, but it's the suburb name links that seem to clutter the map compared to the old one, but I can see how the inverse would be true given your work on the other status maps. I'll have another go at a mock-up, my last attempt ended in disaster, but I'll see if I can code up something near what I'm trying to convey. -- . . <== DDR Approved Editor 21:10, 2 February 2009 (UTC) Again my attempt ended in disaster.If the image will go to the background, so the links work, and it all lines up of course, that's pretty much what I'm getting at. I'm thinking a change in the background image colour to a dark grey grid will make the border colouring show up better. -- . . <== DDR Approved Editor 21:30, 2 February 2009 (UTC) You're basically there actually. Heh. You're gonna struggle lining it all up without some size changes, because both maps operate on very different scales, but no major worries on that. You're right about the background, the Omnimap relies quiet a bit on the fact SIM data is mostly black. If you set up the main table as a gray (not black, or the gridlines won't show) background, and just shift the div containing the image above the code for the suburb links, you're mostly set. Items are pasted on one at a time, so something at the top will get buried by what is pasted on later. --  RoosterDragon  21:40, 2 February 2009 (UTC) I have had a small brainwave, either that or some sort of seizure from too much time editing the Imbalance page today. Anyway, it might be possible to make the little block representing the building clickable, and take you to that building! You already get a nice report on mouseover which tells you the building's name, so would clickability solve the problem with linking to the mall? (Could always add a note on top of page explaining how to navigate the map for such a purpose) Regardless, I might just try that at some point anyway, it would be handy. --  RoosterDragon  22:20, 2 February 2009 (UTC) I'm having a hell of a time trying to resize those layers, time to call the Gnome methinks. Your idea about making the blocks clickable could be workable, the mall have would be displayed on mouseover and might work visually with the page not being over saturated. Depending on how it works it might be an idea to add the other large buildings, cathedrals, mansions and forts to the map for an overall view of Malton. -- . . <== DDR Approved Editor 22:39, 2 February 2009 (UTC) Resizing wise, you'll probably want to rip open a word processor for some find/replace of size code. I'd suggest scaling up the suburb links and suburb borders to the size of the metatac grid. I'll have a look at it if it's still troubling you. As far as a view of Malton goes, I had a similar idea swishing around in my head, for 'Important' buildings in Malton. Basically, Malls, NTs and Forts. Other stuff isn't that important really. --  RoosterDragon  22:45, 2 February 2009 (UTC) I'm trying both Rev and Gnome to see if they can fix the resizing problem, if you've got time, feel free to have a go, after that I'll see about tweaking the aesthetics to make it legible and then we'll see how it compares to the other designs. The reason I suggested the large buildings is because they tend to be indicative of the general health of a suburb, more so that NTs which can generally be suicide striked by a few survivors to get up and running again. -- . . <== DDR Approved Editor 22:52, 2 February 2009 (UTC) No reason we can't have both! Big buildings and important buildings on two maps. The BIC would match up with the big ones perfectly. Anyway, I've determined that the suburb links line up just fine (set the table to a colourful background, you can see it, I used that trick to check it lined up on the SIMgrid and Omnimap when I set it up way back when. The suburb borders just need a new template, that formats said images to the correct width (79px) and a small edit to the table for the inclusion of a 1px cellspacing. You're literally done after that. --  RoosterDragon  23:01, 2 February 2009 (UTC) BIC Status Updater Bot Hey Rooster, just wondering how progress is coming on the design for this bot. It would certainly do wonders for the wiki, and save me from changing old BIC statuses to unknown manually. You've made some great bots already, and I'm really looking forward to this one as well. --Maverick Talk - OBR 404 16:18, 7 February 2009 (UTC) It has not progressed since my return, most of my bot related time has been to fixing error after error I've suddenly found with the EMR bot. I think a moron possessed me while I was typing up that code or something. Hopefully the BIC bot will be on the cards soon. --  RoosterDragon  22:09, 8 February 2009 (UTC) Right on. If there's anything I can do to help in the meantime let me know. Otherwise I'll just keep manually updating as many of the BIC reports in the Rose District as I can. --Maverick Talk - OBR 404 22:15, 8 February 2009 (UTC) Testing Dulton Any chance you could run up a similar section for vinetown? --RosslessnessWant a Location Image? 20:46, 9 February 2009 (UTC)