Wiki Caprica:Ideas

custom skin

I've never made a custom skin before

If you let me know what your custom skin idea is i'll see what i can do
I'll try - but i'm not promising anything

-- Chief ^{(talk) (Contribs)} 19:10, February 25, 2010 (UTC)

Like how it looks? –alistic 02:27, March 2, 2010 (UTC)

Yeah, the bland white pages could, imho, use some work. Over on w:c:flashforward:FlashForward Wiki, one of the techs helped me change custom.cs so the was no white background except in edit mode. Of course you don't have to like the colors to get the idea. I think your {{DarkBlue}} would make a good background. We'd have to change the color of links, but the Wikia guys will help. I also just finished and uploaded a concept for a banner image, File:Head.jpg. It's all from caps of the opening segment and it's pretty rough. Doing it right would require softening the transitions (Photoshop? A program and skill I do not have).--Jim in GeorgiaContribs Talk 02:47, March 2, 2010 (UTC)

We should totally have JoePlay work on the skin. He's really good at making them. –alistic 03:06, March 2, 2010 (UTC)

There are willing people. There are so many wikis the look like nuttin'. Did you want to drop him the note?--Jim in GeorgiaContribs Talk 03:14, March 2, 2010 (UTC)

I can try my hand at working on the graphics. Not promising anything, since I tend to get distracted easily (and I can't work on it during the day while at work). I fiddled around with the graphic you have on the link up above, but it's too small, and softening the transitions requires some overlap, so the overall graphic would shrink width-wize. Do you have larger copies?- Bryan 06:52, March 2, 2010 (UTC)

File:Head 1.jpg through File:Head 8.jpg!--Jim in GeorgiaContribs Talk 14:24, March 2, 2010 (UTC)

Cool. I'll take a stab at it tonight, see what you think.- Bryan 19:30, March 2, 2010 (UTC)

Bdore you trying to make a custom skin or are you working on the Head? –alistic 23:23, March 2, 2010 (UTC)

I'll be working on the "Head" graphic. The custom skin is over my paygrade ATM.- Bryan 23:36, March 2, 2010 (UTC)

• Summary: We'll ask JoePlay to work on a custom skin and tell him we are working on a header graphic to fit in. Yes?--Jim in GeorgiaContribs Talk 00:20, March 3, 2010 (UTC)

Yup. –alistic 00:23, March 3, 2010 (UTC)

See File:Head2.jpg. Is this what you had in mind? - Bryan 06:37, March 3, 2010 (UTC)

Cool. I'm jealous. <grin> Is Joe Play on board yet?--Jim in Georgia Contribs Talk 19:30, March 3, 2010 (UTC)

• Hey guys, JoePlay asked me to get in touch with you. He's really bogged down at the moment with work projects for Wikia (he mostly works with gaming), but wanted to make sure you got a custom look for the wiki. I'm going to have one of our other designers User:berniebentablo work to create a custom look. I've linked him to this conversation and shown him a copy of the header you created. I'm sure it'll look great.

Sena 23:05, March 3, 2010 (UTC)

• Thanks. If we can do anything to help, let us know. Is there a "sandbox" for the development?--Jim in Georgia Contribs Talk 23:08, March 3, 2010 (UTC)

• I was wondering if you guys could make the word "Wiki" in the same style Caprica is currently (File:Wiki.png). Thanks! –alistic 04:25, March 5, 2010 (UTC)
  • I could give it a try. Tricky w/out the letters already being in that word, but there's some elements to work with. Assuming you want it in .PNG format w/a transparent background... - Bryan 15:31, March 5, 2010 (UTC)

• OK I uploaded the first draft: File:WikiCapScr.png. It needs the depth and texture, and the "K" needs to be fixed, but I'm tired.- Bryan 07:38, March 8, 2010 (UTC)
  • Sorry about the hold up regarding my assistance. I'm working on the updates, but it will take me some time as I have lots of other projects that I'm working on. If you have any additional suggestions or questions feel free to share. Thanks! Ben 10:43, March 18, 2010 (UTC)

Pages for minor characters

Is this Man at the Mike really necessary? Googuse ^{(talk) (Contribs)} 17:03, March 5, 2010 (UTC)

We provide a page for every credited character, unless the entire community says otherwise. If we don't do that, then we have to come up with some other standard for which characters get a page. That may be a good subject for a policy document. We can see what opinions other have.--Jim in Georgia Contribs Talk 17:13, March 5, 2010 (UTC)

OK, I guess random character pages will do until it gets out of hand. I remember the LOST wiki got way out of control that way a few seasons back. This should at least be renamed as Man at the microphone, as Mike should neither be abbreviated, nor capitalized unless it is a proper name. Googuse ^{(talk) (Contribs)} 20:51, March 5, 2010 (UTC)

You may have a point there. "Man at the Mike" was the credit at the end of the episode. To make it even weirder, another character was credited as "Woman at the Mic!" Consistency is apparently NOT a virtue.--Jim in Georgia Contribs Talk 20:59, March 5, 2010 (UTC)

Maybe categorized as "Insignificant Characters" or somesuch?- Bryan 23:10, March 5, 2010 (UTC)

Checking Lostpedia, they just use Characters for everything and have subcats. Lostpedia's character page. I use that as an example because I was involved in the early organization efforts at about the same stage the this wiki is at now. That one has turned out pretty good. Googuse ^{(talk) (Contribs)} 23:30, March 5, 2010 (UTC)

I'm thinking that very minor/insignificant characters, such as Ideas, shouldn't be documented. It really just depends on how important the character is. –alistic 00:45, March 6, 2010 (UTC)

• Proposed Rule: "A character who appears in only one episode and who does not engage in a conversation will be shown in the credits, but neither the character nor the actor will have links or a page." This would wipe out "Man at the Mike," "Woman at the Mic," "Angry Crowd No 1" and "Angry Crowd No 2;" "Natalie Stark" would remain. We need to develop a documentation policy page, imo.--Jim in Georgia Contribs Talk 01:24, March 6, 2010 (UTC)

Aye! That way, if they are in the credits, then show up later as a regular player, they can be easily added. Googuse ^{(talk) (Contribs)} 03:46, March 6, 2010 (UTC)

Another idea - dump all the minor characters on a single reference page that gets redirected to. That way they remain linked and active and their actor page can be retained. Googuse ^{(talk) (Contribs)} 04:00, March 6, 2010 (UTC)

• I tried that on another wiki. Apparently the software only liked one {{DEFAULTSORT:}} per page; it complained when I sorted character A, then tried to sort character B.--Jim in Georgia Contribs Talk 13:22, March 6, 2010 (UTC)

• • At this point, I feel like there's not much harm in retaining pages. I purpose of specialized wikis is to document minutia, and it's not like Wikia is running out of server space. Either way, though, it's not like I'm investing much effort in those characters anyway... - Bryan 14:44, March 6, 2010 (UTC)

Inference vs Speculation

This is a continuation of the conversation started on Talk:Officer Mendez.

I suggest there be a little room, at this time anyway, for a little inference based on character's words, appearances, inflections, etc. For me, there's a difference between informed inference (based on the Officer's actions and language, it appears he's familiar with Sam) and wild speculation (Officer Mendez is part of the Ha'la'tha). Pure facts, at this point, make the pages a bit boring (Officer Mendez wears the uniform of a law enforcement officer. Period.).- Bryan 14:41, March 6, 2010 (UTC)

Agreed, but I think there should be a factual leading paragraph, with any other info in a subcat. There really needs to be some sort of character template or guideline Googuse ^{(talk) (Contribs)} 17:34, March 6, 2010 (UTC)

Use of Tense

What's the deal with character pages being started in past tense? If you are going to speak about the show in an active present tense, you cannot logically speak of characters in the past tense, unless they are dead on the show. Shannon Adama was; Zoe Graystone was; Zoe (Cylon) is; Barnabas is. This doesn't really come down to a "style choice", it's basic grammar. Googuse ^{(talk) (Contribs)} 21:25, March 6, 2010 (UTC)

• Most wikis I'm familiar with, including Grandpa Lostpedia, use past tense in the non-episode articles. The LP even has a Manual of Style and an Episode Manual of Style.--Jim in Georgia Contribs Talk 23:40, March 6, 2010 (UTC)
• I agree that "Daniel is the CEO..." But, I think that "Daniel interrupted Joe as he tried to contact his daughter..." makes a lot more sense than putting a character's entire biography in present tense, or modifying the tense every episode.- Bryan 05:34, March 7, 2010 (UTC)
• We need to distinguish between conditionals and events.
  • As above, Daniel is the CEO his company.
  • Tomas is the CEO of his company.
  • Amanda was a doctor at Caprica General.
  • William is the son...
  • Tamara was the daughter...

--Jim in Georgia Contribs Talk 14:12, March 7, 2010 (UTC)

In Universe?

Hello! I was wondering: if this an in-universe wiki? The reason I ask is, a number of character articles start off by citing the actor (e.g. "Daniel Graystone is the character portrayed by Eric Stoltz."). What do you think of leaving actor names to the infox, and keeping the intro more in-universe? So the article might start something like this: "Daniel Graystone is the CEO and founder of Graystone Industries."

Please let me know what you think - thanks! --Kanamekun ^{(talk) (Contribs)} 13:25, March 15, 2010 (UTC)

• Feel free to change them. A lot of what you've read is left over from start-ups. And, imo, this should be in-universe. And, more particularly, our universe; BSG doesn't necessarily exist.--Jim in Georgia Contribs Talk 13:51, March 15, 2010 (UTC)
• I like that idea. I started a lot of the articles in that manner, so that there's something there. But I agree that characters, events, places, etc., should be isolated from the cast, crew, channels, etc. pages. - Bryan 17:27, March 15, 2010 (UTC)