From Poetry Wiki

Hi Swannie - Just getting your message, sure, I'll take a look around. I've been rather busy lately with music as well, but I have you on my talk page now and I will get back to you soon. To Be Honest, its been so long since I logged in I'm glad I remembered my password.

Safe Travels,

ChrisBradley 02:55, 22 July 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for the logo. I will have to ask a wiki sysop exactly how to upload again. I think I just replace wiki.png. I've forgotten, its been a while. Thanks for the input!

--ChrisBradley 01:30, 23 July 2008 (UTC)

Swannie - I think its great that you are enthusiastic about making changes to what's here, and I would like to complement you on your redesign of the site, and I do think we should use it. I would like to offer a compromise on your redesign. I do believe that the circle concept is valid and viable, and I think it should be added to your redesign. Even just a link to the circle page from the main would be fine. I think you would make a great addition to the admin team, as I have many things on my plate, but I will ask that you never revoke my admin privilages on this Wikia as I have contributed a lot up to this point. That is all. You are welcome to make changes as anyone should be . With that said, I think we can make a great team, and I am glad to have you aboard. Thank you for your time and effort, and thank you for helping a project that I see as vitally necessary to the wikia community.

--ChrisBradley 04:39, 26 July 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for the welcome. I hope this wiki gets more support. Wikia's creative efforts have not been supported too heavily, well excluding uncyclopedia. Happy editing! Bonko24 00:06, 13 August 2008 (UTC)

Contents 1 Ghost Town 2 Talk to you Later 3 Updates 4 Back 5 A Few Updates and Questions 6 Clean-Up Project 7 well... 8 Updates 9 Don't Mention It 10 Question 11 "Poetry Wikia" 12 Ideas

[edit] Ghost Town

• It doesn't look like there's been any major activity on this Wikia in a long time. That's a real shame because I love poetry, and I would love having a community of poets with which to share and discuss my work and the works of other poets. I have basic knowledge of computer coding, and how a Wiki functions, but I must admit to being an amateur when it comes to more advanced Wikitext. I would like to apply my knowledge to helping to grow this Wiki into a larger community where people can go to talk about poetry and whatever appeals to them about poetry. I am eighteen, graduating on the 22nd, and facing a long summer doing nothing. With the permission of the PoetryWikia staff, I would like to help improve this Wikia as best I can.

One of my ideas is to create a more prominent Forum section. Forums are places where anyone can jump in and share their thoughts with a community. I believe that it is essential for a Poetry community to include a place where people can share ideas and post their work easily. With your permission, I would like to start building a basic forum section with some of the included topics (subject to change):

• A place to share poems by common Wikia members.
• A place to share (non-copyrighted) favorite poems by favorite authors (I'm still undecided about this one)
• A place to play word games (Example: post a word that rhymes with the above poster's word)
• whatever else you wish to suggest, and whatever other ideas I come up with later, on my own, or with others.

I am eager to help, and eager to participate. I have already built a functioning forum area for another wikia, (dlgyugioh.wikia.com) for my hometown of Dillingham Alaska, and I believe this is a project I can complete with satisfactory results. I am eager to help, and eager to participate in the future of this Wikia. I know that I have access to nonprotected pages on the Wikia, and could probably start on my proposed project already, but I thought it polite to ask an Administrator first.

I will be out of town for the next few days, because I am participating in a music competition for the State of Alaska Music Festival. I'm singing "Ave Maria", and have already qualified at the Regional Festival for my region. I regret that I will not return until Sunday night, but I think hopefully that will give you time to reply. Thank you for listening, and happy editing.

~Specter (cow_pi) 01:42, 6 May 2009 (UTC)

• thank you so much for your prompt reply. I don't believe age has any bearing on one's understanding of poetry, but I think I enjoy it well enough to help out :) for someone who's fifteen, you sure do know a lot about how a Wikia functions. I'm impressed :D Administrative access would be a big help, but I do not know if you are a Bureaucrat; I believe only Bureaucrats can bestow Administrative access. but if you can, that would be a great help. I am an Administrator on my local hometown Wiki, about trading card games, and a lot of the behind-the-scenes work requires administrative access. but I will try to do all I can even without it. once again, thank you for the prompt reply, and I'll try to get some things started between packing and preparing to leave tomorrow. I do not anticipate being able to do much until I return on Sunday, but perhaps I can get started. thanks again,

~Specter (cow_pi) 01:58, 6 May 2009 (UTC)

• My browser lists you as an Administrator, but not a Bureaucrat. I don't think anyone can instate new Administrators except for Bureaucrats. Right now there only appears to be one Bureaucrat on this Wikia, and I haven't yet gotten a reply from him. I do enjoy talking to you though, and I would love to start helping out immediately :) if you do have access to make someone an Administrator, it would be under "Special Pages" in the Navigation menu at left.
  • click "Special Pages"
  • Click "User Rights Management" under the section "Users and Rights" (it should be boldtext)
  • enter "cow_pi" in the textbox that says "enter a username" and my file should pop up.
  • bestow whatever rights you wish, and there you go :D

~Specter (cow_pi) 02:08, 6 May 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Talk to you Later

Right now I need to pack for my trip to State, but I'll talk to you later. I hope to get started on my proposed project before I go, and finish sometime after I get back. Thanks for talking to me, and happy editing :D

~Specter (cow_pi) 02:10, 6 May 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Updates

Just wanted to let you know I got the Forum Index up and running. I've already ironed out any bugs that I've noticed, and I'll work with it more closely when I get back. The next step is getting people to the community. You might alert any poetry fans that you know of to check out the site and the Forum:Index section. I've tried to make the Forums as easy to navigate as possible. You can create a new thread straight from the appropriate section, and the newly created page will automatically sort itself under the correct category, and show up as a link from that section of the Forum. you should give it a try. For example, if I were a passerby and I wanted to create a new thread under "User Poetry", all I would have to do is type the name of the page I want to create into the box, and click the "add topic" button. The page I create will automatically sort itself under the User Poetry Forum and will immediately show up as a link on the main User Poetry Page. I think the layout is fairly intuitive, and I hope that the community will find it easy to use. The next step is advertising. I live in a small community in rural Alaska, and I am the only poet I know. So I encourage you to introduce your friends to the community and the new Forum's section. I'll let you put a link to the Forum Index on the main page yourself, since you're more familiar with the layout. I think it would also be a good idea to put a link to the Forums on the sidebar at left, but since I am not an Administrator, I'll have to ask you to do that for me. Just go to MediaWiki:Monaco-sidebar and edit the text as follows:

Change this:

*mainpage|{{SITENAME}}
*mainpage|Top Content
**#popular#|most_popular
**#visited#|most_visited
**#voted#|highest_ratings
**#newlychanged#|newly_changed
*portal-url|Community
**#topusers#|top_users
**portal-url|portal
**forum-url|forum
*#category1#
*#category2#

to this:

*mainpage|{{SITENAME}}
*mainpage|Top Content
**#popular#|most_popular
**#visited#|most_visited
**#voted#|highest_ratings
**#newlychanged#|newly_changed
*portal-url|Community
**#topusers#|top_users
**portal-url|portal
**forum-url|forum
*forum-url|forum
*#category1#
*#category2#

I know there is already a link to the Forum under the "Community Tab", but I think putting another link on the main bar will attract more attention. Please let me know how else we can attract attention to this Wikia, as I am running out of ideas. Thanks for listening, and for your assistance, and I hope you like the new section. I will be out of town this afternoon, but I will be home again Monday morning. Thank you, and happy editing,

~Specter (cow_pi) 19:33, 6 May 2009 (UTC)

• Okay, I polished the forums a little bit, including adding a navigation bar. I think it looks good, but I'll polish it more and match colors when I get back. here's the forumnav:

Help Desk

~

Discussion Board

~

User Poetry

~

Activities

that's what shows up on each forum. I've already set it all up, so you needn't mess with it. please don't severely alter anything in the forum; I've set it up, and only I know right now how much little changes will affect the rest of the section. Please submit requests for changes to me, and I'll try to put them in. just check things out and make sure I've done everything okay. I'm out the door, so I'll talk to you later.

happy editing ~Specter (cow_pi) 22:07, 6 May 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Back

• Just wanted to let you know I'm back in town :D I had fun at state, and got a "superior" rating on my solo, which is the highest rating possible.  :D this week is finals week at my school, so I don't know how often I'll be on, but I'll do my best to resume work wherever I can. Talk to you later

~Specter (cow_pi) 20:23, 11 May 2009 (UTC)

[edit] A Few Updates and Questions

• May I request a spotlight of this Wikia? I am perfectly willing to do so, but I thought it polite to ask you first.
• May I request someone on Wikia staff to make you a Bureaucrat? There is only one Bureaucrat on this Wikia, and he appears to be inactive. Making you a Bureaucrat would give you the ability to create new Administrators (including myself, if you wish) and still give you final say in what goes on with the Wikia.

Please let me know what you think.

~Specter (cow_pi) 22:19, 11 May 2009 (UTC)

Hi, Swannie! At Specter's request, I've given you bureaucrat rights. You may now use Special:UserRights to give admin rights to others. Please see Help:User access levels and Help:Administrators' how-to guide to help others understand the various rights. Good luck on promoting this wiki -- I like what I'm seeing here! — Catherine (talk) 01:23, 12 May 2009 (UTC)

• Thank you, and you're welcome xD I have a question: are all the poems in the Poetry Circle by the same author (Chris Bradley)? if so, should we consider moving the circle to a branch of his userpage (Like My notebook) and create a catalog or table of contents linking to every poem? I'm planning on adding every poem on the site as a link to the User Poetry Forum Page, but that's a little advanced for me. I've already asked a Wiki Staff Member for assistance, but while they're getting back to me I thought it would be nice to have a place to put all of the poetry in one place for people to easily access and put a link on the main page. I'm asking because I don't know if this is what the circle is for, and if that already exists as a grand table of contents or catalog. so far it appears to be mostly work by one author.

~Specter (cow_pi) 02:45, 12 May 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Clean-Up Project

Crawling through the Circle pages, it looks like they do predominately showcase one author. I think that this page would be best moved under the author's user page, as this may be otherwise seen as self-promotion on the Wikia. I suggest we move the Circle to a subcategory of the author's userpage, take down most of the links to it from around the Wikia, and replace it with a Table of Contents or Poetry Catalog that includes links to all the poetry submitted on this site. Again, I'll try to get all of these articles under the User Poetry Forum Section (because the forum is already set up so that new poems automatically categorize themselves), but having a static Table of Contents in the mean time might be enough to get us a Spotlight. I know you are busy, and I can tackle this project by myself. I just wanted to ask your input and permission before I begin. What do you think?

~Specter (cow_pi) 03:02, 12 May 2009 (UTC)

[edit] well...

• It took half the night, but I finally finished Cataloging all the poems on the Wikia. I added a few things to the main page, and added a link to the Catalog on the navigation bar. I cleaned up all around the site a little bit, and I plan on resuming work tomorrow.

~Specter (cow_pi) 06:00, 12 May 2009 (UTC)

• There are now two categories: Category:Catalog and Category:User Poetry. The Catalog holds every poem on the Wikia, while the User Poetry category holds only poems submitted through the User Poetry Forum. Any poem submitted through the User Poetry Forum will automatically add itself to both categories, and I figure the Admin can patrol any pages created independently of the Forum and add the Catalog Category Tag themselves (although I encourage poets to add the tag themselves). Anyway, I'm exhausted, so I'm going to bed xD goodnight

~Specter (cow_pi) 07:47, 12 May 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Updates

• I've finished messing with the Catalog, and I've cleaned up the Circle pages and included all poetry in the Catalog. I updated the Main Page a little bit, and created a new page: Template:Featured Poem. The Main Page's "Featured Poem" section now draws from this page, so all you have to do to change the Featured Poem is edit Template:Featured Poem. Poets can post suggestions for Featured Poems on the Talk Page for that page. Anyway, I just wanted to check in to let you know what I'm up to.

~Specter (cow_pi) 19:11, 12 May 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Don't Mention It

• Don't mention it :) I really like Poetry, and I would love to see this Wikia take off.

~Specter (cow_pi) 20:09, 12 May 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Question

• Would you mind making me a Bureaucrat? I just don't want a repeat of what happened last time, where there we no active Bureaucrats on the site. I think it's better if we have two active or semi-active Bureaucrats on the Wikia.

~Specter (cow_pi) 20:16, 12 May 2009 (UTC)

• Thanks :) I think the last thing I've done today is move the main page to "Main Page" instead of "Poetry Wiki". I just think it's a more specific way to refer to the main page and avoid confusion. I'm fixing all the redirects now. I've also added your signature to the featured poem, to reflect the changes you made there. I have requested a Spotlight of this Wikia, and I've yet to hear back from them. Anyway, let me know if you need anything else of me.

~Specter (cow_pi) 20:40, 12 May 2009 (UTC)

[edit] "Poetry Wikia"

Can do, will do, done. I would still prefer "Main Page", since that's what I'm used to in my other Wikis, but I'll concede you your points and I'll go with your idea. With your point in mind, I've changed the page to "Poetry Wikia" (it was originally "Poetry Wiki") because I would consider that to be the actual name of the site. What do you think?

~Specter (cow_pi) 22:21, 12 May 2009 (UTC)

• P.S. In the process of all the Main Page renaming, I managed to clean up all the redirects. Now searches like "Main Page", "Poetry", and "Poetry Wiki" should all redirect straight to "Poetry Wikia", with no double redirects.
• aha! I was wondering how the Main Page moved itself xD thanks for helping me :) I took care of the redirects and the MediaWiki myself, but I was baffled as to why half my job was done for me already xD thanks :)

~Specter (cow_pi) 22:24, 12 May 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Ideas

Hi Swannie, I am new to the poetry wiki, I have posted a few poems, I just wanted to inform you of a couple ideas I have.

• I've noticed that typing in a line from my poetry into a search engine doesn't bring up the page with my poem on it. Typing in a line from Wikipedia will bring up the page with that line of text in it. I think we should figure out how to make this wiki work with search engines, so if someone types in a line of text that is in one of our poems, the poem will show up in the search results.

• I think we should have a view counter on the bottom of each poem so we can see how many people have viewed our poetry.

I am not familiar with working on wiki design, so I don't have the slightest idea on how to actually do this.

~Mastr Shake 04:34, 13 May 2009 (UTC)