Wiki Issues

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rasselas
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Post by rasselas »

Hi guys, my problem concerns this last note of Fletchers (directly above)...

I try to create an account on the bessler-forum Wiki page, and it won't allow me. I've tried both on Opera and Safari web browsers. I go to this page:

http://www.besslerwheel.com/wiki/index. ... =Main_Page

which was linked to by the text "log in or create account" in the upper right corner of the site. But from here there is no way to create an account that I personally can find. I type in my username and a password and it says, "no user by that name, try creating an account"... HOW? I've had this problem for the last month... any help would be greatly appreciated. I'd love to contribute to the wiki.

(for example, if you can paste a link to a "create account" page, or such)(the current log-in/create-account page just has facilities to log-in, ymmv)
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rasselas
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Post by rasselas »

=============== ADMIN NOTE ==================

This post is incorrect. Please read below. Sorry for the confusion.
-Scott

==========================================

How to create an account for the wiki:

1) Scroll to the top of this page
2) Click "Groups" icon
3) Select "wiki" from the drop-down menu (pertaining to "join a group")
4) you'll have to be approved first
5) after a few months of waiting, you'll be allowed to post (ha! just joking... only takes a day)

At least I believe this is correct, as I haven't got confirmed yet, and so still unable to edit the wiki. Dear Moderator (who is reviewing my request at this very moment), please post a link to: http://www.besslerwheel.com/forum/groupcp.php on the "log-in" page here: http://www.besslerwheel.com/wiki/index. ... =Main_Page

Such will facilitate the solution of future problems.
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re: Wiki clues

Post by Ed »

The wiki is functionality connected to this forum. The 'wiki' group is not the same thing. You will be waiting a long time. :-)

The functionality to create an account much have become broken at some point. I can't get access to the wiki either.

Hey Scott, wassup? ;-)
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re: Wiki clues

Post by Fletcher »

The editing function was disabled some time ago by Scott due huge amounts of spam - he was trying to find a work around IIRC.
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re: Wiki clues

Post by rlortie »

I just clicked on the 'Wiki' at the top of this page and it opened expediently without any trouble. I use the same password used to log into the forum. It did not ask for my password as I was already logged in.

I then clicked on the 'Wiki Group' information. The member page came up to find that there is no members registered. I hit the 'join' button and was moved to [Your membership in this group is pending].. At present it appears Scott and his Testuser are the only members.

Fletcher Wrote;
Go to it Ralph - anyone can edit the wiki page, & Preston should be acknowledged as you say.
I like others am apprehensive about adding or editing as I have never learned how to navigate the system.

Ralph
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scott
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Post by scott »

Sorry guys, Ed is right, the "wiki" group here on the forum is unrelated to the real wiki, just an artifact from when I originally set it up. I have deleted that group.

Fletcher is also right that I disabled editing (or thought I did) to stop the spam inundation. In the meantime now when I try to edit it I get a table crashed error that I am not currently able to fix. For an example of the spam problem, just take a look at the list of pages: http://www.besslerwheel.com/wiki/index. ... l:Allpages

Sorry for all the trouble. In the meantime you should be able to read the wiki without any problems, just not edit it.

Thanks,
Scott

============ UPDATE ============

"Table crashed error" fixed.

==============================
Last edited by scott on Fri Dec 10, 2010 12:48 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by jim_mich »

Scott,

I was just now able to log into the Bessler Wiki. I was also able to edit one of my Wiki entries. And I was able to create a new (test) Wiki entry.

Now, if I just knew how to delete spam entries I would work on cleaning up the Bessler Wiki. An alternate method might be to go through the Wiki and copy all the legitimate entries either to a new Wiki or to some memory storage place and then start over new and add the entries back in. The history might be lost but the data would be clean again.


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Post by scott »

Jim, you are right. I tried to disable editing but apparently I did not. I just edited a page with my testuser account.

To delete a spam page just view it and there should be a tab at the top named "Delete." If that works, have at it! The list of orphaned pages should contain only spam pages: http://www.besslerwheel.com/wiki/index. ... onelypages

I know that will work but there has to be a better way than deleting them one at a time. There are 607 of them. I am working on figuring out a way to delete them all at once but so far have not found a way.

And beyond that, before I open it up I need to come up with a way to avoid getting into this predicament again. I'm probably going to have to use a system where I validate each new user manually before allowing them to edit. Sounds like a pain.

Thanks,
Scott


== Update 1 ==
OK I am starting to get a handle on things. When I realized that the wiki was being inundated with spam, I tried 2 things at the same time: 1.) disable editing and 2.) disable creation of new accounts.

Apparently I was only successful at the second one. If you had already created an account, you can still log in and edit. Otherwise the wiki is read only and you cannot create an account.

I am working on this tonight and will hopefully make some progress, but the wikimedia software is pretty difficult to use, no admin interface to speak of, just editing php files. Please bear with me.

== Update 2 ==
Here's the main problem and why I disabled creating new accounts in the first place: there are 3172 user accounts, 99.9 percent of which are spammers.

http://www.besslerwheel.com/wiki/index. ... :Listusers

So even more important than deleting all the spam is figuring out how to delete all the spammers.
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Post by jim_mich »

I cannot find any 'Delete' tab. Do I need some special privilege to delete, or need to set some specific flag somewhere in my profile?


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Post by scott »

What's your wiki username? It says: There is no user by the name "Jim_Mich"
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Post by jim_mich »

User name is Jim mich

The underscore is a space.

Edit: I found the delete key!


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Last edited by jim_mich on Fri Dec 10, 2010 1:45 am, edited 1 time in total.
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scott
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Post by scott »

OK I upgraded your privileges as much as I can through the UI. Can you delete a page now? Even if you can, I don't want anyone to have to slog through and delete all the spam by hand. There is a better way out there and we can find it. It is hard to find though.
Last edited by scott on Fri Dec 10, 2010 1:50 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Post by jim_mich »

Yes, I can delete now.

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scott
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Post by scott »

OK fine, but please don't spend time manually deleting all the spam. No one deserves that torture :-)

This also reminds me: the very first criterion of the new system will be your wiki username and your forum username must match.
Last edited by scott on Fri Dec 10, 2010 2:13 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Post by jim_mich »

Many times I'm at my computer watching the stock market, killing time while waiting for the market to either turn in my favor or turn against me. I can spend time deleting Wiki spam, if it is OK with you?


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