Supermanica talk:Community Portal

Community Portal

Images, Screen Size and File Size

Please do not use so many huge pics in such a small entry and try not to upload large images. If it looks too big on my 22 inch monitor then something is wrong. --Super Monkey 23:20, 23 September 2008 (UTC)

I tried to shrink the images down as much as possible w/o losing a good view of her costume(s). Sorry about the issue SM. --Manomight1974

I don't know how big your display is, but other people here have the same issue, for example Mattereaterlad's pics tend to be way too small :) Other post extremely low res pics because they do not have proper editing programs. At least I can work with big pics ;) I still rather I didn't have to. Look at the entry now, I think it looks a lot better now, IMHO.--Super Monkey 23:30, 23 September 2008 (UTC)

It does indeed look good now, but don't go and get a swelled head from the compliment :) This was my first attempt at uploading images, so I'm again sorry for the issues it caused. I'll try not to do that again, but if I do, even though I know you don't like it, I know you'll be there to watch my back.

What did you think of the entry though?--Manomight1974 19:34, 23 September 2008 (EST)

It's good context wise, we always need more Bronze stuff. However you have to go back make all in the present tense rather than the past tense.

For example, instead of: Joining a travelling carnival, her travels soon enough brought her to Smallville, where she first encountered Superboy. You should write: Joining a traveling carnival, her travels soon bring her to Smallville, where she first encounters Superboy.

--Super Monkey 23:45, 23 September 2008 (UTC)

Good point. I'd also like to point out the the articles shouldn't always be in pure present tense, but written from a present POV. See the Zo-Mar article, where events that are in the past relevant to the events of the chronicle remain in the past tense. -- A'dam'mkent 3272 21:11, 24 September 2008 (UTC)

Okay, she is fixed. Thanks for the kick in the pants. I forgot about those couple of instances.--Manomight1974 20:00, 23 September 2008 (EST)

LOL, Super Monkey adds pictures that are way too big, with no consideration for people who have dial-up or use laptops. I use a laptop at home, and while I have a cable connection, I optimize images for faster loading and so not to take up so much server space. Since I don't pay for server strorage, I try to keep it in mind. Another thing to think about is balance, a picture similar in size to the text makes the pages look better. --MatterEaterLad 00:13, 24 September 2008 (UTC)

LOL, MEL you are too much. I'm going to try and keep all the advice you guys are giving in mind when I add something new. I'm trying, but since most of this stuff is still new to me (even though I've been here for three years now, LOL), I'm still going to stumble and fall sometimes. It's good to know, though, that when I do, you guys will be there to help me back up, and maybe slap me upside the head if I need it.--Manomight1974 20:19, 23 September 2008 (EST)

I think you're doing great and we need the Bronze Age stories. I entered a lot of Superman and Supergirl stories from that time, and I don't even like the Bronze Age. ;) --MatterEaterLad 00:24, 24 September 2008 (UTC)

too big? See what I mean, he would had drop dead if he saw the original ones! Anyway, most people live in 2008 and have computers that were release sometime in this century. I can only go the standards set by every other site on-line rather than what was use when the WWW was 1st created. --Super Monkey 10:31, 24 September 2008 (UTC)

I checked the Superman and Green Lantern official Wikipedia entries. Images range from 7 kb to close to 400 kb, most average from 20 to 60 kb in size. I admit, I like under 20 kb...my home PC is a 2006 Mac iBook G4, it's a little younger than the Jurassic Period. But, like most laptops, it doesn't have a 22 inch screen. --MatterEaterLad 10:57, 24 September 2008 (UTC)

The problem with images under 20kb are that they have to be really tiny or really low res, both do not help anyone. I have a G4 Macbook as well, BTW. I still use Photoshop 7 and it's great "save for web" feature. Also only a small fraction of people who live in swamps, deserts, ice caves or mountains still use dial-up, even grand mothers have at least DSL these days.--Super Monkey 16:59, 24 September 2008 (UTC)

Kidding aside, I usually agree. Often, I really only save at less than 20 kb for small images, and I use small images for short entries (see Army of Tomorrow for instance). What happens is that some images are grainy or dark to begin with and there is only so much to work with (Dream Girl, this image is small and shouldn't clock in at 100 kb when the 50s kb version is practically identical). This is often true of images I find on blogs or other comic sites. Also, newprint scans weirdly, leaving "ghosts" sometimes, they can look better when smaller. What I try not to do is lift images of covers from other people's sites as is, we already don't have an image policy and I try to avoid reprinting someone else's work (like the GCD or Who Drew Superman?) exactly without permission. But like all wiki sites, I do feel an obligation to use images 10-100 kb when possible, as a courtesy to anyone visiting a site with static images. Still, some images I've uploaded are too small, sure (Streaky is too small and Sylvia is way too grainy) and I just haven't gotten around to replacing them. But still, loading big files without optimizing is why 9 out of 10 people max out their free Photobucket accounts in a week, LOL. Dial-up internet is still in 10% of American homes, and a is a lot more common in other places in the world, we had one user/contributor from Asia last year who had no other option. --MatterEaterLad 18:12, 24 September 2008 (UTC)

I will see if I can find some better images to replace those. I normally edit most images I find on-line or just scan in my own. I also need to go through the files here to find a good balance. All in time as this will take a while. --Super Monkey 20:50, 24 September 2008 (UTC)

I am not trying to kick off an "I'll swap out your image" campaign. Generally, I like the added images and try not to mess with other people's ideas. I've spent a lot of time finding images and editing them and don't like people deciding to remove them without asking. I've usually only done it myself in the case of some of Telle's really dark and washed out scans. Mainly, I just like to see images that balance the article size-wise (small images with small articles), bigger or more images with longer ones. Otherwise, it just seems like a lot of image switching based on one person's personal preference. --MatterEaterLad 22:11, 24 September 2008 (UTC)

Rules

I recently blocked a user for 24 hours because I could not get them to respond to talk pages (on entry pages or their own page). I feel badly about this, the user is not adding spam but I have found no way to get the person to stop and respond to feedback. I think with only 4 or 5 of us looking after this project that there has to be some way to get people to talk about things if someone has an issue. A few entries are easy to handle, seems fine, but in many cases, multiple entries are being made at extreme speed, and if the talk feature is ignored, I don't know what else to do. I'm sorry if I went too far. --MatterEaterLad 00:27, 21 September 2008 (UTC)

Can we please have a rule that no one but editors can add redirects or new categories WITHOUT a discussion. It can be very tedious to have one person make unilateral changes to hundreds of entries and have to change them back!--MatterEaterLad 13:45, 16 September 2008 (UTC)

I'm certainly open to this. I don't know if there's a way to actually implement such a rule within the Wiki itself but I'll look into it. In Wiki parlance, an "editor" is anyone who has an account so I assume you mean some other level of editor? A'dam'mkent 3272 16:52, 16 September 2008 (UTC)

Well, I assumed the "Council of Wisdom" has the power to delete pages outright (and as far as the Council, Telle is a VERY rare visitor and Nightwing hasn't been adding or editing in at least three years). In the past, many categories were created and implemented to entries without agreement. It took Super Monkey and I a long time to change them all back. The last couple of days, many new article names were created and re-directs added to them. I can't delete a redirect page. In many cases, these new pages aren't appropriate (they created names of characters that don't exist in the comics , for example "Superboy III" and"Mighty Boy II". It took me over two hours to change all these things back, but the new redirect pages are still there. I'm OK with visitors typing new entries, correcting typos, adding info, etc. But when new ideas on names or categories are implemented in the tens or hundreds without discussion, it takes a LONG time to change the pages back. And we don't have a lot of members here to share the load. For now, a warning not to create categories or redirects would at least be something to point to. --MatterEaterLad 19:14, 16 September 2008 (UTC)

New Community Message Board

The old STTA message board might be gone forever, but a new is has risen from the ashes to take its place: http://www.supermanfan.net/forum/

STTA: No More?

Even though I am the forum moderator, it is not my website and I have no say or control over it, that would be The Great Rao aka Macduff. I also do not know what happen and I am completely in the dark here, I just came back home today to find the site gone. So I guess we can use this page to find out and discuss the fate of STTA and this site as well. I would really, really hate to see both sites go as I and many others have put in countless hours building up both sites and have meet many great people and on-line friends there.--Super Monkey 21:57, 11 November 2007 (EST)

I'm with you, Beppo.-- Klar Ken T5477 10:45 PM, 111107

I'm really sad about it too. I think that Rao was really disturbed by something, but he announced the end of STTA and dismantled it in 7 hours, without even giving people any time to check in and say so long. Who knows what happens here? I know Rao put in lots of time and money on STTA but I and many others spent a lot of time on hundreds of entries here, and posts over there and it just feels weird not having an anchor site to refer to. I asked about Supermanica but Rao didn't answer it before STTA was gone. It was a very abrupt and sad end. --MatterEaterLad 00:27, 12 November 2007 (EST)

A thread has been created here: http://dcboards.warnerbros.com/web/thread.jspa?messageID=2004156880 I will create an account and post there.--Super Monkey 06:58, 12 November 2007 (EST)

Well, once again we have hundreds of entries to on-line comics that no longer exist on the web. Is Super Monkey willing to e-mail what happened to the site to long time members? --MatterEaterLad 17:39, 12 November 2007 (EST)

May STTA rest in peace.--DrJohnnyDiablo 17:29, 14 November 2007 (CST)

STTA down/welcome to Portal

Hello and welcome to the Supermanica Community Portal! The superman.ws domain name currently has some major technical glitches which I am attempting to resolve, but STTA may end up moving to a new domain name. I figured this gives us an opportunity to start exploring the full functions of this wiki - like having discussion about the wiki, on the wiki itself! --Macduff 09:58, 17 July 2007 (EDT)

2. I hope the domain doesn't have to switch again. I like the wiki format here, I even like the lack of footnotes stuck way on the bottom and prefer the citations in the text. The major thing that bothers me a bit is mixing of direct copies of TGSB with original material in the same entry. - MatterEaterLad

I think you misunderstood. The Superman.ws domain is down, not this Wiki site or you wouldn't be able to see it and post here right now.--Super Monkey 13:39, 17 July 2007 (EDT)

Nah, I was just mixing two thoughts in one entry. I know that the superman.ws is the domain that's down. ;) Then I went on to talk about the wiki. - MatterEaterLad

This is great but doesn't quite satisfy my jones (neurotic need?) for a meaty STTA-type discussion about things like Shazam, Jack Kirby, and whether or not current DC writers really understand Jimmy Olsen. That being said, and to address MEL's point, I don't see how the mixing, if done with respect and scholarly "professionalism," shouldn't come off as seamless for the general reader. Isn't this part of our mandate, to continue TGSB past 1970 and add new info to the entries (and create new entries where needed)? --telle 04:26, 18 July 2007 (EDT)

Its not always that seemless to my mind. Sometimes things are repeated on long entries, other times, non TGSB edits are made inside TGSB paragraphs, and the credit for the book is not always consistent. Maybe at some date, TGSB passages can be made a different font. - MatterEaterLad

going back to STTA.. I am starting to get withdrawls...--Super Monkey 19:34, 18 July 2007 (EDT)

I think Matter Eater Lad had the right idea lo those many months ago. --Klar Ken T5477