Zelda Wiki:News 2008

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 * header= Quarter 1 (January-March)
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Introducing Four New Community Projects
Adam and I have been working on adding a new section to the site, modeled loosely (or not so loosely) on the system at StrategyWiki, a fine affiliate of ours. We're proud to present four new sections: Castle Town, Hyrule Castle, The Heart Container, and Pieces of Heart. Each special page has its own unique function, though in general they are all community interaction and discussion pages.

Castle Town is the community portal. Although normal users cannot tamper with it, it is the place to go to for all announcements community-related. We expect there to be quite a few! The page is currently under construction you can see we've moved the To Do list and the Announcements blocks over there.

Hyrule Castle is the place to discuss bugs and give feedback about the wiki. This will prevent users from having to go to any specific sysop's talk page directly, as all sysops will now read this page and help people out directly from Hyrule Castle. We live there, after all. ;)

The Heart Container is the coolest place to hang out in Castle Town. This is really where people can gather and have discussions, but one of its major purposes is a community-wide discussion forum for issues regarding the wiki that can be solved by the community itself - i.e. you would like to see some information added on something, but it's not there. You can ask or have a discussion about this missing information in The Heart Container.

Pieces of Heart are helpful in the Zelda universe, and they're helpful at Zelda Wiki.org. Pieces of Heart is the archive of problems addressed in The Heart Container and in Hyrule Castle.

As a result of these four sections (and increased traffic + edits), we're also taking more preventative measures against spam. This means that all users must be registered and logged in to edit from now on. (Obviously, if we receive an overabundance of complaints about this, we will allow anonymous edits once again.) --Jase 16:26, 20 January 2008 (EST)

Upgraded, and working on some things
I've upgraded MediaWiki. I've been hesitant to do this because there is a very well-known bug regarding URL rewriting (read: it doesn't work) in the newest versions that require manual fixing. I'm lazy, so I don't like to reapply the fix. However, for you guys, I got over it and upgraded the wiki - then fixed the URL problems.

I do have some announcements to make, of course, the first being the most pertinent: Brawl is coming out at midnight! Anybody who didn't pre-order the game was stupid! :P Nah, I don't really mean that, of course, but it feels good knowing that you'll get the game on launch day - especially with all the hype surrounding it. And because Gamestop, finally doing something right, is holding Brawl tournaments at 2500 stores starting at 10pm tonight, the game's release is sure to be a great success (HUGE SUCCESS for all you Portal nuts).

Meanwhile, we (meaning the ZW.org current staff) are looking to expand ZW.org's staff and clear out those sysops who aren't so active anymore. This means that nominations for sysops will be open soon. We have not yet determined how many sysops we will need, but they will be community nominated and elected. If you happen to be nominated for the job, please be sure that you are willing to undertake the responsibility of moderating the wiki. It is my personal experience that those who pledge to do a job and suddenly disappear after one month don't usually get to keep that job.

Why are we doing this? The wiki is growing - incredibly fast. Actually, I don't think I've seen a site grow as fast as ZW.org in quite a while. I'm very happy, but we need to be able to handle such a burst of popularity! Ah, well - that's all for now - so tah tah, and happy editing ;) --Jase 08:34, 8 March 2008 (EST) }}

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 * header= Quarter 2 (April-June)
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Upcoming Projects and Copyright Issues
There are always things to do on ZW.org, and right now the owners are gathering together (or attempting to ;) ) to discuss how to better the wiki. Along the way we ran into some trouble with old friends, and we realized that we weren't properly attributing the sources of our images or the Copyright holders of those images. In light of this, I and Adam have set up three Image Templates that everyone should begin using immediately. These three templates can do the following:


 * Attribute the source of the image,
 * Attribute Nintendo as the Copyright holder of the image,
 * Or state that the source of the image is unknown.

If the image depicts anything from Nintendo or The Legend of Zelda, then obviously Nintendo is the rightful copyright owner. However, we must credit the person whose site originally hosted the image. For example, ZW.org has the benefit of using many images now known to be from Zelda Elements. They're wonderful images, but because nobody seemed to know that they were from Zelda Elements, the images got tossed around and ended up under the GNU Free Doc license (which meant that nobody really owned them, which was false). The problem there? The images weren't actually under the GNU.

By putting these image templates onto images, you help support the hard working webmasters that edited Nintendo's original imagery, and you help identify Nintendo as the true owner of everything Zelda. In the long run, this saves ZW.org a lot of trouble in justifying its extensive image gallery, and will prevent people from using imagery from other websites not part of the Zelda Wiki.org collaboration. Naturally, if the image comes from one of the seven sites listed on the left navigation menu, all the images from those sites are open and available for everybody under the GNU.

That said, we're doing several things. First, we're looking into a way to bring back the Zelda news by linking the Wiki's main page with RSS feeds on each of our respective websites. That way, all of you guys get an aggregated feed of Zelda news right on the front of the wiki without having to visit all seven of our websites.

Second, we're looking for more websites to join the Zelda Wiki.org movement and keep the momentum of the site going strong. While the site continues to grow more popular, the number of sites sharing in the collaborative spirit has not - and we implore all Zelda fan sites that deeply enjoy the free and open spirit of the wiki to request ownership and join the seven current sites in what's been a great collaboration that's only now starting to get even better. If you're a webmaster of a Zelda site, all you need to do is drop me an e-mail at jason [at] zeldauniverse.net requesting to be a part of the project.

As a closing note, I'd like to formally congratulate Ando, our newest sysop! --Jase 12:36, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

Introducing the Zelda Wiki Chat Room
A handful of you have seen it already, but now we're introducing this to everybody: The Zelda Wiki chat room!

If you'll point yourself towards the "Chatroom" link on the side menu, you will be taken to a web applet for our new IRC room. This is integrated with the Wiki: If you head over to your preferences, you can set whatever name you'd like to use in there in the "IRC Nick" field. The default is your registered username on ZW.org. Otherwise, just type in "/nick yourname" to choose a name upon joining.

If you'd prefer to use another chat client, such as mIRC or X-Chat, then just point it towards #zeldawiki on irc.gnug.org.

A handful of rooms also exist on this very same IRC server already, some of which are even connected to sites on this wiki. For more information, read up on the Gnug-IRC article.

Happy chatting! '' --Captain Cornflake 01:49, 25 April 2008 (UTC)

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 * header= Quarter 3 (July-September)
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Picture Editing Reminder
A reminder and a clarification for the image sourcing seems to be needed. A few months back we added new templates that properly sourced where images came from. These include the Zelda Wiki.org Found Image Template and the Non Zelda Wiki.org Found Image Template. In addition to those two templates there is also the Self Contributed Template and the Copyright Nintendo Template.

Any new image that is added must have one of the templates listed above, except with a few exceptions of fan artwork, Wikimedia images, and images from other companies such as Sega, Capcom, and Konami. The No Source Template should not be used whatsoever for any NEW image that is added to Zelda Wiki.org. When we first implemented the new system of image crediting, there were plenty of images that were already on the Wiki but the source was unknown, and that was why we have the No Source Template. The purpose of the image crediting system that is now implemented is to avoid these types of images and make certain that all images are properly credited.

Thus, every single new image that is added to the Wiki must be properly sourced and simply having the No Source Template is not permitted. Every image is either found at a particular site, made by a user, or copyrighted by another company. There is no other type of image. In some cases there are multiple sources of where an image game from. An example would be a simple official artwork image that is found at a website, but is then rendered by a specific user. In that case, the self contributed template should be used but the original site should be sourced in text. Shad.png is an example of this done properly. Let's all work together to make sure all images are properly credited. If there are instances where there is a current image on the Wiki that is not credited but there is a close replica elsewhere on the internet. It is best to replace the current image with the replica image and source it to the proper site. It is always better to have a sourced image than a non-sourced image. --Mases 23:01, 5 July 2008 (UTC)

Now Supporting OpenID
 I am incredibly proud to announce that after something like a year and a half of not being able to do this, Zelda Wiki.org is now 100% fully OpenID enabled. Many of you, however, probably don't know what this means. It's a big deal - a really big deal - and it's only going to get bigger as time goes by. Please read this news update, because it's very important!

OpenID is a movement across the internet to destroy the traditional site login by replacing it with one single login that you can use with every site on the internet, called an OpenID. But they don't work like traditional usernames and passwords - actually, they're pretty different. They're much easier. An OpenID is a URL; any site that wants to can turn a URL into an OpenID for its users. For instance, now that Zelda Wiki.org supports OpenID, the URL to your profile page is an OpenID. I'll explain what that means.

You'll now see a link next to "Login with Username/Password" that says "Login with OpenID". You'll notice that in the OpenID login page, there is no spot for a password. That is because you don't need it - initially. After you enter your OpenID URL, you will be prompted for your password. Let's take me, for instance. I now want to login to the wiki with my OpenID. My profile page URL is http://zeldawiki.org/User:Jason. In the OpenID login box, which has the OpenID logo in it, I'd just enter that link and hit go. On a separate page, it'll ask me for my password. And then I'm logged in!

But that's not the beauty of OpenID. You can now use your Zelda Wiki.org OpenID ANYWHERE on the internet. You can log in to any other OpenID enabled site. For example, WikiHow also supports OpenID, so you could use your ZW.org OpenID to login there instead of registering for a new WikiHow account. And there are hundreds and hundreds of sites beyond WikiHow that support OpenID - so you've basically got an all-access pass to a huge amount of sites on the internet just by having an account here!

Or perhaps you already have an OpenID and want to login with it. You have an OpenID if you're registered with Wordpress, Livejournal, Vox, and many other big-name sites. Check out the OpenID login page and find out if you have an OpenID already. If you do have one and would rather login to the Wiki with your Wordpress, Livejournal, Vox, AOL, etc etc account, you can actually merge your wiki account with your OpenID - that way, your ZW.org account is linked to your OpenID and you never have to worry about remembering your ZW.org username and password again.

I'll be implementing OpenID onto the Zelda Universe Forums as soon as possible as well, so if you've never visited ZU because you didn't want to register... you'll be able to simply enter your OpenID and login! And that's the beauty of OpenID. And now we have it. --Jase 16:37, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

Zelda Legends Joins ZW.org
Hi, this is Davogones from Zelda Legends. I am proud to announce that Zelda Legends has officially joined up with Zelda Wiki.org. I have always been impressed by the amount of community involvement in the project, the collaboration between different Zelda web sites, and the enthusiasm and dedication displayed by everyone involved.

As most of you probably know, Zelda Legends is as an exhaustive resource for Zelda timeline theorists. Such resources include storyline articles, a storyline FAQ, continuity theories, text dumps, quote FAQs, translation comparisons, a lexicon, and a bestiary. My staff and I will be working to bring these resources up-to-date, and to improve ZW.org's timeline resources in the process.

Many of us dream of a complete, exhaustive resource for Zelda terms. My most ambitious project, the Zelda Legends Wiki (originally the Encyclopedia) was intended to do this, but has been neglected. I have decided to retire the Zelda Legends Wiki and join ZW.org. ZW.org, since it has the backing of much of the Zelda fan community, has a better chance of making our dream come true!

I'm excited to be aboard and am looking forward to working with all of you! --Davogones 05:13, 21 September 2008 (UTC)

Super Experimental News Dashboard
Today myself and the other webmasters with RSS feeds (with the temporary exception of ZeldaInformer) are setting up the beginnings of a nifty RSS dashboard on the front page of ZW.org. This'll allow everybody who visits the place quick access to all of our sites' news and updates, as our little gift to you for helping to build the most incredible Zelda wiki online. I know it's not very pretty right now, but just wait a little while - it'll improve as I figure out how to work it. For now, enjoy it as it is and watch it evolve in the future. Feel free to comment on this newspost and let us know what you'd like to see in the News Dashboard, or what you think should be added to the front page in general.

I know that the front page has always been rearranging itself since basically the day the Wiki was founded, but there's good reason - it's never quite what we all want it to be, and MediaWiki consistently lacks the functionality for it to be so. This is a step in the right direction. After the News Dashboard is prettified, I think it'll be safe to say that the front page will remain standard for quite some time to come. Of course, any suggestions you submit will be considered and could easily influence the changing and bettering of the front page! --Jase 01:21, 25 September 2008 (UTC) }} {{Hide {{clear}}
 * header= Quarter 4 (October-December)
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Zelda in My Pocket Needs Content Writers
''' REQUIRED! Four volunteer Content Writers '''

Do you think you have what it takes to write interesting and enticing articles about The Legend of Zelda series? If so, look no further. A new hand-held based, Zelda fan site is looking for dedicated and hard working content writers to join our team and deliver vital game information about the series to the public. If you think you are up to the job, and want to have your work read by like minded people, then read on for more details.

 A brief introduction 

My name is Duncan, (or Hylie, as a few of you might know me) and I, like many others, had a vision of creating a Zelda fan site. Previously, and currently actually, I have been working as a content writer for Zelda Universe, writing for sections such as Phantom Hourglass and Adventure of Link, while also posting the odd news report. In the short time that I've been there, I discovered exactly how much I love my job and the people I work with, but there has always been this burning urge to have a site I can call my own. Something that I can project my own interests onto. But I didn't want to join the growing number of sites already out there, I wanted something a little different.

I decided to create the only hand-held based Zelda fan site on the internet. I searched high and low, but there was not another site matching the criteria anywhere to be seen. I gathered my thoughts and started building the site from the ground up. I guess I just decided to aim it at the hand-held titles because they remind me so much of the good old days, the "retro" days, if you like. Even the newest titles retain that old school feeling.

So basically, that's my story in a nut shell. I'm looking for co-workers to help me write everything up and get my site launched as soon as possible.

 Requirements 


 * Must have a good grasp of the English language and grammar
 * Must have a genuine interest in writing
 * Must be passionate about The Legend of Zelda series
 * Must be of a mature age. 14yrs plus please

If all of the above requirements describe you, then please drop me an email at webmaster@zeldainmypocket.co.uk with a few paragraphs explaining why you are best suited to this position. You can write as much as you like, don't hold back. I promise that I will personally review and reply to all emails, but the four successful candidates will receive all of the relevant details.

We will be taking applications until Monday the 27th October, so get those applications in. I look forward to hearing from you.

Thanks --Hylie 22:25, 21 October 2008 (UTC) }}