Robot Wars Wiki talk:Community Portal/Archive 8

Subscript on CO2
I was just wondering what the rest of you thought about the current inconsistencies with the term CO2. What do you guys think is better, CO2 without the 2 subscripted, or CO2 with the subscript. Thoughts?  Helloher    (Death is not my phone number)  15:55, August 16, 2011 (UTC)
 * Most certainly CO2. That is the proper way to represent a compound. Matt (Talk) 16:04, August 16, 2011 (UTC)
 * I think it looks better with the subscript, but it's not a big deal if people forget to use it. I correct it whenever I see it, but it's not a major concern for me that it's not consistent on every page. Christophee (talk) 13:30, August 18, 2011 (UTC)
 * Sometime next week or something I'll go and do them if I have the time.  Helloher    (Death is not my phone number)  22:14, August 18, 2011 (UTC)
 * Scrath that, I just did it. I think I got them all.  Helloher    (Death is not my phone number)  22:41, August 18, 2011 (UTC)

Deletion request
Could someone please delete File:Pussycat MM combat.JPG‎ as my web filter has blocked the page. Thanks.  Helloher    (Death is not my phone number)  13:53, August 23, 2011 (UTC)

Chatbox
Datovidny suggested that the wiki get a chatbox, like the one on Brickipedia. I liked this idea and have come up with this.

  [ Copy this | Start New | Full Size ] For most of us, that would stare at that with a look of uncomprehension and terror, this is the code for a chatbox, made off chatango, a website designed for this. Other wikis have chatboxes built from this company, and have their chatboxes embedded in every page, below the search bar. If we are going to have this chatbox, does anyone have any idea how to code this? Presumably it's an admin-only coding job. Matt (Talk) 18:14, August 25, 2011 (UTC)


 * I really am not good on this sort of stuff. Maybe it might be a good idea to contact a member of the Wikia Staff about it to see what they suggest. Christophee (talk) 16:45, August 27, 2011 (UTC)
 * I've found its even simpler than this. If an admin were to go to Special:WikiaLabs and enable the chat feature, we could have a chatbox in a jiffy. Could someone sort this? Matt (Talk) 18:10, August 27, 2011 (UTC)
 * I'm not sure who actually did it, but the feature has now been enabled. Some of the other features on there look pretty interesting too. Maybe we could have a discussion about which ones may be beneficial to the wiki. Christophee (talk) 15:46, August 28, 2011 (UTC)
 * yes, Helloher did it earlier. Join us on that chat Christophee, and we'll have a talk :) Matt (Talk) 15:53, August 28, 2011 (UTC)
 * Where is the chat feature?  Helloher    (Death is not my phone number)  18:51, August 28, 2011 (UTC)
 * It's just below the search bar on the right hand side. Alternatively, click here. Matt (Talk) 18:57, August 28, 2011 (UTC)

Arenas of Destruction/Extreme Destruction Arenas
I've been planning to do pages on the areans in Arenas of Destruction and Extreme Destruction ever since I made most of the AoD competitor pages, but never got round to doing it. I was planning on making them as stand-alone articles but when Matt did the arena from Metal Mayhem and as he'll do for the arenas in Advanced Destruction, he made them as a subpage for the game that they are in. I personally think that it would be easier for AoD and ED to have them as stand-alone articles because half of the arenas appear in both, so we will end up with two articles for each of them which are very similar. The Samster 14:38, August 26, 2011 (UTC)
 * As said, I am planning to do Arena pages as subpages of the game they appear in. I disagree that they should be standalone pages, because they serve no purpose anywhere else but as part of that game. I also think that most arenas changed enough from Arenas of Destruction to Extreme Destruction to warrent their own articles. Matt (Talk) 14:55, August 26, 2011 (UTC)
 * Not really, Matt. Most of the changes are small and thus only need mentioning instead of having four pairs of near-identical articles. The Samster 15:44, August 26, 2011 (UTC)
 * Japanese Rooftop can be kept to 1 article, please can someone remind me of the other shared arenas?  Helloher    (Death is not my phone number)  17:14, August 26, 2011 (UTC)
 * Sao Paulo Scrapyard and Siberian Military Base and obviously, the main arena (although that one should have separate articles). The reason I say they all should be 1 article is just to keep it all the same way (people may be confused if some are subpages and other stand-alones). Another thing; are the Steelworks from Advanced Destruction and the Steelworks from Arenas of Destruction similar enough to share an article? I have developed an arenas template and before I publish it, I need to know whether we are using my article naming covention or Matt's. The Samster 21:16, August 26, 2011 (UTC)
 * The steelworks in Advanced and the Steelworks in Arenas of Destruction are NOTHING alike. In my opinion, all of the arenas change enough to warrant their own articles. I also think that everything should be kept as subpages, or none should be kept as subpages, otherwise it just looks messy Matt (Talk) 09:31, August 27, 2011 (UTC)
 * They don't really though. On the rooftop the skylight moves and the vents are more powerful. On the Scrapyard, there is a button to move the crane and the car door moves. On the Military Base, the silo door is grey and the mines are less powerful (I think). I don't think any of them are major enough to warrant an entirely new article. But I agree, they should either all be subpages or all stand-alones (with the exception of the Arenas, which should be subpages of the Robot Wars Arena page). The Samster 16:23, August 27, 2011 (UTC)
 * Another thing, many real life robots (which takes priority over fictional arenas) change hugely, but only a few of them change enough to get a separate article, so why should we do it with these? I can understand the Steelworks in Advanced Destruction and the Steelworks in Arenas of Destruction having separate articles if it doesn't appear that the producers were trying to replicate it, but for the arenas that are in both AoD and ED, they clearly were so they should be given one article. The Samster 18:45, August 27, 2011 (UTC)

This is quite a tricky issue. For the most part, I agree that these articles serve no purpose outside of the game they appear in, so the ones that have already been created are set up fine. But I also agree that the changes from game to game for certain arenas is probably not major enough to warrant separate pages. I suppose if we want consistency across the board we should do it the way Matt suggests, but maybe somebody could come up with a compromise. Christophee (talk) 14:59, August 29, 2011 (UTC)
 * Or we could just rename the existing pages into stand-alones. The Samster 15:05, August 29, 2011 (UTC)
 * I don't think that helps anyone, for the reasons Christophee just stated. Is there any way to manipulate wiki markup to make the pages subpages of 2 pages? Matt (Talk) 15:07, August 29, 2011 (UTC)
 * Probably not. Maybe you could have redirects? The Samster 15:38, August 29, 2011 (UTC)
 * I think it would make sense, something like: Robot Wars: Arenas of Destruction/Japanese Rooftop to redirect to Japanese Rooftop Matt (Talk) 15:56, August 29, 2011 (UTC)
 * Yeah, but that would still mean counting Japanese Rooftop as stand-alone, thus making some stand-alones and others subpages.The Samster 16:25, August 29, 2011 (UTC)
 * I think that's a compromise we have to make. Matt (Talk) 16:59, August 29, 2011 (UTC)
 * Not really. No-one had a problem with the competitor robots, so why should there be a problem with the arenas? The Samster 15:00, August 30, 2011 (UTC)
 * Have I got the green light on this? The Samster 11:32, September 3, 2011 (UTC)
 * Another thing, for the AoD and ED arenas, are we going to name them after the city that they are in or the country (i.e. Brazillian Scrapyard or Sao Paulo Scrapyard)The Samster 12:24, September 3, 2011 (UTC)
 * As long as the subpages that aren't used redirect to the standalones, I'm happy to give the go-ahead. Regarding the names, ensure we use the name given in the game (e.g. Sao Paulo Rooftop (I think anyway) rather than Brazillian Scrapyard).  Helloher    (Death is not my phone number)  13:34, September 3, 2011 (UTC)
 * I'm pretty sure they use the city names in the game, so that is what you should use for the articles. Christophee (talk) 13:55, September 3, 2011 (UTC)
 * Just stumbled across this again, did I get the green light to do this? The Samster (talk) 16:40, January 6, 2012 (UTC)

Episode articles
I'm planning to go through all the episode articles and change all the titles in the introductions to make them consistent. The format will be, for example, Heat A of Robot Wars: The First Wars, so that the article starts with a proper flowing sentence.

Anyway, the reason I mention this here is I'm wondering whether there is anything else people might want me to add/change while I'm going through them all. I know that TG suggested a while back that we list the house robots to take part in each battle, but that was never done, so maybe we might want to finally do that. There's also the episode infobox which has been suggested a few times and never done. Any suggestions, just leave them here. Christophee (talk) 13:12, October 11, 2011 (UTC)
 * For me, just the infobox, a mock up of which can be seen over at my sandbox- User:Obi-Have/Sandbox. If possible Christophee, could you hold off until the end of next week, as my break starts then and I could help out with this. Matt (Talk) 15:21, October 11, 2011 (UTC)
 * Okay. I'll give you the go-ahead to create the episode infobox, unless there is anything you want to discuss before publishing it. Then we can start going through the episodes when you're ready to go. Christophee (talk) 14:03, October 12, 2011 (UTC)


 * I staunchly oppose that new title. The reason I changed it to how it is now was because each episode became a subpage of the main article on the War itself. Your new method does not achieve this.  Toon Ganondorf    (t    c)  03:48, October 13, 2011 (UTC)
 * TG, I don't think he means renaming the pages, just changing the first sentence. For example, at the moment, The First Wars/Heat A reads:

"The First Wars - Heat A was one of six heats which determined the Grand Finalists of Robot Wars: The First Wars."

- The First Wars/Heat A

I think Christophee proposes changing that to: "Heat A of Robot Wars: The First Wars was one of six heats which determined the Grand Finalists of Robot Wars: The First Wars."

- Proposed change to The First Wars/Heat A

Matt (Talk) 06:43, October 13, 2011 (UTC)


 * Oh ok, thats fine then.  Toon Ganondorf    (t    c)  07:15, October 13, 2011 (UTC)


 * Yeah, Matt is right. I apologise if my intention wasn't very clear. Christophee (talk) 18:07, October 13, 2011 (UTC)

I'm going to make a start on this now. I'll just do the First Wars heats for now to show how I want the first sentence to read, then if anyone wants to help we can do the rest in the next few days. Christophee (talk) 13:56, October 23, 2011 (UTC)
 * OK, I'll create the episode template now, and then implement them as a similar beta test. Matt (Talk) 15:58, October 23, 2011 (UTC)
 * Good work with the template, but I still think the episode date and channel should be stated in the episode intro rather than just the infobox. We still list the presenters etc. on series articles even though they appear in the infobox, and I think it's good to have it written there. Also, I think we need to decide which image should be used for the infobox as I don't think the general Robot Wars logo is really appropriate. Christophee (talk) 16:19, October 23, 2011 (UTC)
 * I'll discuss it tomorrow, as I'd like to try this out properly on a computer that actually works :( For the moment I've reverted the edits. Matt (Talk) 16:21, October 23, 2011 (UTC)
 * I've added the infoboxes, but I haven't yet removed any information. I personally advocate removing the heat winner picture and the sentence with the date and channel as both of those are already in the infobox. Thoughts and opinions? Matt (Talk) 13:28, October 24, 2011 (UTC)
 * As I've said, I like having the date and channel in the intro, but I'm willing to go with the majority (assuming anyone else contributes to the discussion). We could add the heat winner picture and caption to the infobox, although maybe that should be an image more related to the episode itself. Either way, I don't really like using the main logo for every single episode page. We could use the series-specific logos that CrashBash uploaded instead, and the special episode-specific logos for episodes that have them. Christophee (talk) 13:39, October 24, 2011 (UTC)
 * I certainly agree on having the logos where they are special. If anyone has any ideas for the pictures for the generic episodes, I'd love to hear them. Matt (Talk) 13:48, October 24, 2011 (UTC)
 * For the moment, I am changing the image to the series specific logo, and I'm not going to remove the heat winner picture nor the sentence including date and broadcast. Whilst we await further suggestions, we'll leave it at that and consider the project a work in progress. Matt (Talk) 14:15, October 27, 2011 (UTC)
 * Are you happy continuing with the infoboxes while I do the opening sentences, or do you want to combine the two into one job and split the episodes between us? Christophee (talk) 18:56, October 29, 2011 (UTC)
 * I'm fine doing what we're doing. I'll also do the new competitor tables, unless of course Snowdog wants to contribute to this project. Sorry to be a nuscience Christophee but is my admin run going to be processed soon? I was assuming it would have been finished by now. Matt (Talk) 19:18, October 29, 2011 (UTC)
 * I was wondering that myself actually. You'll have to ask TG as he is the only bureaucrat, at least until the election is sorted out. Christophee (talk) 19:21, October 29, 2011 (UTC)

I noticed that you have not given infoboxes to the international championships from Series 3. Are you not planning to give them to special episodes? What about Extreme episodes? I assumed they would all get an infobox. Christophee (talk) 21:35, October 30, 2011 (UTC)
 * I wasn't sure whether to give special episodes boxes, but I think that I will, for the moment at least. Matt (Talk) 18:08, October 31, 2011 (UTC)

Unique weapons
An IP suggested inserting Cronos into the list, because it had a flipper and a crusher. Both were mounted on the same arm, so personally I think it should belong there. However, I am not going to make any changes until we reach a consensus, because it might prove controversial (familiar to me, at least). I am posting this here because I am more likely to receive a discussion here than on the list's talk page, because this page is monitored by many users, I think a consensus may be reached here. And yes, I am speaking on behalf of the wiki. Hopefully, something will come out of this.-- STORM  II   16:36, October 23, 2011 (UTC)


 * From the Unique weapons page: A unique weapon is designated by the fact that it does not fit one exclusive category of weapon. This means that weapons with two functions fit into this category, and there are a few examples of that on the page, so in theory Cronos would belong there. I don't really understand how the weapon works as a flipper though, as to me it just looks like a regular crusher. Christophee (talk) 16:48, October 23, 2011 (UTC)
 * You have a question, I have an answer. When the crusher descends, the rear wedge lifts up. In theory it can lift a double-decker bus, which I find highly amusing, since nothing that heavy was actually placed in the arena.-- STORM  II   17:10, October 23, 2011 (UTC)
 * To be honest, I have no idea which way I would go on this. I have no objection to Cronos being moved to the unique weapons page, but other people might, so wait to see whether anyone else comments before making any changes. Christophee (talk) 13:25, October 24, 2011 (UTC)
 * I dont see why Cronos shouldnt be unique, it was the only crusher to utilise that leverage into a secondary weapon. Tiberius and Razer both reduced the leverage to a tiny spike so Cronos should get acknowledgement.  Toon Ganondorf    (t    c)  20:50, October 31, 2011 (UTC)

No one else appears to be interested in participating in the discussion, so I will add it anyway. Anyone can remove it if they see fit. If someone does remove it then we can use the talk page, to prevent the recent conflict on the Judges article.  STORM  II   22:28, March 8, 2012 (UTC)

Judges
As neither Helloher and Llamaman are exactly active on the arena, I have made the decision to open up the floor to people who would like to replace them. The only critereon is that the applicant is an active and eligable arena contributer. There aren't many I'll grant so I'm specifically calling out CrashBash, MiddleEye, The Samster and Christophee here. Can any willing applicants drop me a line. Matt (Talk) 14:20, October 27, 2011 (UTC)
 * I'll fill in if there are no other applicants, but please only consider me if nobody else want the job. Christophee (talk) 14:39, October 27, 2011 (UTC)
 * Well, I don't see why not. If you'd like my assistance, I'll happily assist. CrashBash 16:35, October 27, 2011 (UTC)
 * Ah, what the hell. I'll give it a go.  /Middle_Eye\  (talk)    17:40, October 27, 2011 (UTC)
 * Well then, that's sorted nice and quickly, CrashBash and MiddleEye are the new arena judges. Feel free to place this special judge userbox on your userpage. Matt (Talk) 20:28, October 27, 2011 (UTC)

Talkback
I created a talkback template here. Is there anything that we could add?-- STORM  II   19:54, November 26, 2011 (UTC)
 * Sorry if I'm being an idiot, I don't understand what it's for. Could you please explain? Matt (Talk) 21:20, November 26, 2011 (UTC)
 * I'll post the know-how on the template page, then I'll summarise.-- STORM  II   21:33, November 26, 2011 (UTC)
 * It's up on the template, except I'm running some fantasy thing at the moment, so I've given you the link, so use it. NOTE: Don't use the "substitution", we ain't that advanced :P. BTW, Obi-Have, you're not an idiot, hope it was nice in Spain.-- STORM  II   21:40, November 26, 2011 (UTC)
 * I see, except for the fact that if user X can be bothered to post the template of Y's talkpage, he can just post the message. Matt (Talk) 22:00, November 26, 2011 (UTC)

Good News Everyone...
I feel very stupid. After Mark Joerger deleted my formal apology from his talk page, I thought that would mean that he had not accepted my apology; however upon checking my own talk page (moron that I am, I didn't check it), I realise the following message has been on my page since early September:

"Thank you VERY MUCH! I will accept this as an apology from the Robot Wars Wikia community. If the page remains down and I am not inundated by hate mail, I will reciprocate and remove my blocks from Wikia links. This has gone on too long."

- Mark Joerger

A dark chapter of the wikia closes. Matt (Talk) 10:50, November 30, 2011 (UTC)
 * Here's the link btw. Matt (Talk) 10:56, November 30, 2011 (UTC)
 * That is very good news indeed. Congrats on ending the feud. Christophee (talk) 18:53, November 30, 2011 (UTC)
 * It also proves that anything Obi-Have touches turns to gold :)-- STORM  II   17:53, December 5, 2011 (UTC)
 * Thank you Christophee, and thank you also Storm. I believe it was you (TheMasterOfMayhem) that mediated in my (stupid) absence, so I don't feel I can claim full responsibility. Matt (Talk) 18:47, December 5, 2011 (UTC)
 * What happened with Joerger??--92.22.211.136 18:54, December 5, 2011 (UTC)
 * There was a long running feud over a misunderstanding with the Combat Robot Hall of Fame page. When we deleted the page, we settled our differences. Matt (Talk) 19:02, December 5, 2011 (UTC)
 * Ah, i wondered where that page had gone, thanks for clearing things up, Matt--Shayfan 19:14, December 5, 2011 (UTC)
 * Yep, that was me, but I since lost interest in Wikipedia. I'll probably be back at some stage though.-- STORM  II   21:49, December 5, 2011 (UTC)

...followed by bad news
I'm afraid things have taken a turn for the worse. BBCRobotwarsUK has announced that he might have to take down the first video of Series 5. God forbid that anymore get taken down, but if you want to see the video before it possibly goes then I ask you to download the video at your nearest convenience. I only found this recently and thought that I'd alert the community to this impending disaster.

Rust in Pieces :P -- STORM  II   23:22, December 12, 2011 (UTC)

Meeting
In order to decide as a community how to best move forward on the wiki, I intend to schedule a meeting for the Robot Wars chat during January. Details are very tentative at the moment, but I would much appreciate people to let me know when they are available. Everyone is welcome, but it is important that as many admins as is possible attend. Could all users please post here what dates and what times (GMT if possible) they are available and we'll try to suit as many as possible. Also please add to the agenda subsection to add issues to discuss. Thank you. Matt (Talk) 17:53, December 22, 2011 (UTC)

Agenda

 * Revisions to the arena policy


 * Revisions to the badge awarding process


 * Revisions to the fantasy series process


 * Where next for the wiki.


 * Updating the Job List
 * If we can hold this sooner than Januray, that would be better for me.  6am to noon GMT is when I'm generally sleeping, but pretty much anything else is good. R A 2 ; aka Resetti's Replicas.  ( My Talk ) 19:13, December 22, 2011 (UTC)
 * The issues for me is when before January? Sadly I'm pretty much packed until new year. We'll see what others have to say. Matt (Talk) 19:17, December 22, 2011 (UTC)
 * My sleeping patterns are very varied, but as a rule of thumb 00:00-09:00 GMT is a good estimate as to when I sleep, so anything other than those hours should be fine. I have a fairly hectic late December, even though I'm on my Christmas break, so January should be fine. Try not to have the meeting after the 9th as it's back to norm for me then until mid-February, but other than that then I should be freely available.-- STORM  II   19:22, December 22, 2011 (UTC)
 * OK, how would people think about a provisional date of Sun 8th Jan, starting at maybe 3pm? Matt (Talk) 19:51, December 22, 2011 (UTC)
 * That might be difficult for me, as I volunteer down at my local zoo on that day. But don't worry if I can't make it...I almost certainly wouldn't be able to contribute much. CrashBash(talk) 20:04, December 22, 2011 (UTC)
 * I can't guarantee that I'll join at that time, but I'll be able to come regardless that day-- STORM  II   20:08, December 22, 2011 (UTC)
 * I work from 8-5 on a Sunday so I'd be unavailable, however I'm not sure how important my input would be so I'm happy just to catch up when I get in. Snowdog140 22:27, December 22, 2011 (UTC)
 * I'm available most of the time so that date and time should be fine for me. Christophee (talk) 01:07, December 23, 2011 (UTC)

Attendances
Could all users please sign under the appropriate subsection, I'd like to get a rough idea of numbers.

Attending

 * 1) Matt (Talk) 11:33, January 3, 2012 (UTC)
 * 2) Madlooney6 (talk) 11:47, January 3, 2012 (UTC)
 * 3)  STORM  II   11:57, January 3, 2012 (UTC)
 * 4) The Samster (talk) 14:30, January 3, 2012 (UTC)
 * 5) Datovidny (talk) 15:22, January 3, 2012 (UTC)

Unsure

 * There's a good chance I'll be here at that time, but I can't guarantee anything at this moment. Christophee (talk) 13:54, January 3, 2012 (UTC)
 * If I remember, as I'm back at University now. Llamaman201 (talk) 19:51, January 3, 2012 (UTC)
 * I'm not sure, but if I'm free I'll attend. Shayfan (talk)

Unable to Attend

 * 1) If we're having it on that Sunday I'll be unavailable due to work commitments. Snowdog140 12:49, January 3, 2012 (UTC)
 * 2) Sorry. R A 2 ; aka Resetti's Replicas. ( My Talk ) 01:56, January 4, 2012 (UTC)

Happy New Year
Have a very happy 2012.-- STORM  II   00:16, January 1, 2012 (UTC)
 * No, I don't see why this should be deleted, happy 2012 everyone :) Matt (Talk) 00:41, January 1, 2012 (UTC)
 * What a... funny way to start the year ^ :P -- STORM  II   00:43, January 1, 2012 (UTC)

Vandalism and Conflict Webinar
As you probably have seen, there is a Wikia is hosting a webinar about helping with vandalism and resolving conflicts in the community and I was just wondering whether anyone was attending and if not whether it would be worth seeing if anyone was available. If anyone's interested, it's on Friday, January 13th from 3:30 to 4:30 pm PST (11:30 pm - 12:30 am GMT). The Samster (talk) 17:47, January 5, 2012 (UTC)
 * I'm not intending to, and I don't see the relevance to our wiki. As we are a smaller wiki, our issues with vandalism and user conflicts are correspondingly smaller. Matt (Talk) 18:11, January 5, 2012 (UTC)
 * I agree with Matt. We don't get a great deal of vandalism here and we deal with it pretty quickly and efficiently in most cases. There wouldn't be any harm if people wanted to attend, but I don't think we need to make sure somebody does. Christophee (talk) 18:14, January 5, 2012 (UTC)
 * Exactly. It's on at a really awkward time, plus I don't have my microphone fitted. Any vandalism that does occur is usually eradicated pretty quickly anyway, so is pointless. BTW Obi-Have, thanks for moving the S.M.I.D.S.Y. image.-- STORM  II   21:06, January 5, 2012 (UTC)
 * I agree with everybody else, so I won't bother trying to justify my opinions, they've all sumed it up above. Datovidny (talk) 16:20, January 7, 2012 (UTC)

Meeting minutes
Thanks a load to everyone who attended

Attending

 * Obi-Have
 * The Samster
 * Datovidny
 * Middle Eye
 * Storm2
 * Madlooney6
 * Christophee

1. Job List
1.1 Project Article Summary- It was agreed by Matt, The Samster and Madlooney that the quality of most articles was high enough to discount this from the job list.

1.2 Project Heat Restructure- In present form is complete, but is to be amended to include the competitors table, which still needs doing for International series, and UK Finals and Specials

1.3 Project Team Condensation / Results Table Links / Pun – Universally agreed complete

1.4 Project Article Quotes- It agreed that although good progress had been made, this project was not fully complete

1.5 Project Weapons- Finished, but to be amended into a new project for the creation and improvement of Terminology articles
 * 1.5.1. New terminology articles- see 2.4

1.6 Important Tasks- New Pages and Heat Expansions complete, it was agreed that the other two items should remain on the list

2. New Articles
2.1 The page Special:WantedPages shows that a vast number of redlinks are relating to video games, especially the fictional robots from Extreme Destruction and their arenas
 * 2.1.1 Last time it was discussed, no consensus was reached on the naming convention of video game arenas. It was agreed that they would not be subpages, but articles in their own right, with the exception of the Robot Wars Arena in various games, which would be a subpage of the real Arena.

2.2 It was resolved to consider creating pages for certain notable teams. Users are encouraged to suggest ideas at Talk:UK Series Teams

2.3 RC Toys- Three articles left to be made

2.4 Terminology- It was discussed that the wiki's covering of Robotic combat terminology should be expanded. The list offered is as follows: Tracked robots, malfunctions, hazard immobilisations, the pits, failsafe, qualifiers. Users are encouraged to suggest further ideas.

3. Policy
3.1 Anonymous Users- Some of the wording is out of date, and has been modified

3.2 Arena policy- No changes were put forward, as it would make little difference to participation levels.

3.3 Awards- It was suggested that there be a Challenge Belt award for User of the Month, but this idea was rejected due to a lack of active users

3.4 Badges- Was mentioned that the policy article needed changing to reflect

3.5 Fantasy competitions- The policy was amended to give users more freedom, providing they don't abuse the system

4. Wiki Features
4.1 Top 10 lists- Was received negatively, and it was decided not to use it.

4.2 Achievements- Was very quickly thrown out, as it has turned other wikis into a point grabbing competition

4.3 Layout Builder- Considered a good idea, but unnecessary for this wiki

4.4 Comments- It was decided that talk pages function better

4.5 Category Exhibition- Disliked, and thrown out

4.6 Wiki Navigation- It was resolved to enable this feature on a trial basis

Cybernet Apocalypse
If you read this, please read it carefully. As you may know, there are two bills being passed through the Senate, the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the IP Protection Act (IPPA). Details are a bit hazy at the moment but Barrack Obama opposes both bills, but if they happen to pass in the future then it's the complete destruction for us all. These bills are to prevent piracy online but numerous people, myself included, staunchly oppose these actions, citing them as "useful as an eleventh toe". Some wikis are blacking out at 05:00 UTC for 12 hours to show the general public who proposed the idea what damage these bills would do. If anyone online between now and 5am wants the wiki blanked for IPs can go to http://stopsopa.com and fill out the relevant details, and together, we stand united to keep the internet free from mollycoddlers.-- STORM  II   00:13, January 18, 2012 (UTC)
 * I also heartily dislike SOPA and PIPA, but we're too small a wiki to make any difference, I certainly comment the actions of Wikipedia and others. Matt Robot Wars.jpg Talk to me  07:40, January 18, 2012 (UTC)
 * Is this why Wikipedia won't load for me? I thought it was just being slow. Anyway, I agree with the stand taken by Wikia but I don't think we get that many visitors, so Matt's probably right that it wouldn't make much difference if we did it. I wouldn't be opposed if somebody wanted to do it though. Christophee (talk) 15:42, January 18, 2012 (UTC)
 * You might tell me to stay out of this but; "They can take our lives but they'll never take our freedom". I think than is appropiate as they want wrap everyone up in cotton wool and protect them from the horrors of the world, but there will be people who want to see the supposed horrors of the world and it can influence change in a good way (also bad as we see now with the flipping SOPA/PIPA). If they do this, it will affect websites like Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, Daily Motion, e-Bay and Metacafe to name a few. Madlooney6 (talk) 17:53, January 18, 2012 (UTC)
 * I agree with everything that everyone has said, I oppose SOPA and PIPA, but I don't believe that the 7 or 8 of us that regularly come on the wiki will make much of a difference. But if we all follow the link and express how we feel about the matter, every little helps. Datovidny (talk) 20:44, January 18, 2012 (UTC)
 * My mistake, Wikipedia won't reopen until 5am, it's a 24hour blackout.-- STORM  II   23:49, January 18, 2012 (UTC)
 * Will there be any other wikis blacking-out? Datovidny (talk) 08:06, January 19, 2012 (UTC)
 * I think the protests are over, but that doesn't mean we're out of the woods yet.-- STORM  II   08:09, January 19, 2012 (UTC)
 * You're right, I've heard rumours that the same is going to be happening next month. Datovidny (talk) 16:21, January 19, 2012 (UTC)
 * PIPA (or Pippa Middleton as I call it) has yet to be debated. SOPA (or STOPA) has been delayed for a month. *sharpens knife*.-- STORM  II   16:45, January 19, 2012 (UTC)

Wikia Labs- Message Wall
I have added a new feature from Wikia Labs, the Message Wall. It makes talk pages into a social networking style wall and makes it easier to follow certain things to avoid missing messages. I hope you will agree it will be beneficial for the wiki, but if people do not like it, I will disable it. Matt Talk to me  16:22, February 2, 2012 (UTC)
 * Saw this earlier and thought it would be a good feature, should be of great benefit. Snowdog140 16:23, February 2, 2012 (UTC)
 * Well, every feature needs some storm to do the criticising :). Personally, this won't work because no-one is online 24/7 and there was nothing wrong with the previous notification system. Also when I wanted to get rid of something on my talk page I couldn't edit it. Don't believe what Wikia say about a feature, they're saying "good" things about them just to get you to turn them on (remember the meeting?). This is too tacky for my liking and appears to have been made on a budget of €5, after the 23% VAT was taken away from that €5. Also, a user's signature tells me straight away who left me a message, I don't need to see their avatars cluttering the page as well. This was the reason I disabled it on my small wiki after about five minutes. Knowing my luck, this crude feature will stay. Oh joy. Not.-- STORM  II   18:58, February 2, 2012 (UTC)
 * This is one of the reasons why I lost interest in Facebook. Also, if you only use Wikia when you have time to spare, it does kinda defeat the object of spending your free time editing stuff. It just basically an under budget Facebook. StormProof 21:29, February 2, 2012 (UTC)
 * Hey hey, two like it (so far) and three hate it (again, so far). Matt, if I were you, I'd discuss the feature and gain a consensus, to prevent things like this happening.-- STORM  II   16:47, February 3, 2012 (UTC)
 * Three against? As far as I can see, it's only you and StormProof, who was the third? Could people please post their thoughts on this, and if I am outvoted, I will disable it. Matt Robot Wars.jpg Talk to me  07:51, February 4, 2012 (UTC)
 * MadLooney6 was the other who decided to vent his anger on it. Even though you can edit your own posts, he doesn't seem to be impressed with it, particularly since there was "nothing wrong with talk pages". Ugh, I really hate it, and I will no longer bother with complaining about it. -- STORM  II   10:35, February 4, 2012 (UTC)
 * I'm voting for the new format because I haven't heard one solid reason why you hate it. The reasons "It's like Facebook" and "it's different" are as solid as Shapeshifter's armour. We're going to be forced into it eventually, why act all defiant?  It's a tie now, I'm tempted to say that the tiebreaker should be the solidity of arguments, but I will allow for the democratic process. R A 2 ; aka Resetti's Replicas.  ( My Talk ) 14:50, February 4, 2012 (UTC)
 * Do we? All I heard was a somewhat vague chance of it coming for good everywhere. I don't suppose anyone knows when Message Wall replaces our talk pages?-- STORM  II   15:03, February 4, 2012 (UTC)
 * It's been disabled now, so my comments probably won't mean much, but never mind. I don't have any big problems with the message wall function, but I think I still prefer the old talk pages. If Wikia is going to switch permanently to the new feature, then maybe it's not such a bad idea to use it and get used to it, but if we continue to have a choice then I would vote for the talk pages. I don't have any solid reasons why, I just prefer the look of the old pages. Christophee (talk) 15:08, February 4, 2012 (UTC)

Just out of curiosity, is there any way to read the message walls that have now been removed after the feature was disabled? I'm curious to see exactly what was said on Storm2's wall before it disappeared. Christophee (talk) 15:37, February 4, 2012 (UTC)
 * Only by re-enabling the function. But if you go through the recent activity section, parts of it are still intact, enough to give you the gist. R A 2 ; aka Resetti's Replicas.  ( My Talk ) 15:40, February 4, 2012 (UTC)
 * Gulp...-- STORM  II   15:52, February 4, 2012 (UTC)

Found this on the official wikia site: Q: Will this feature be optional? A: Message Wall is scheduled to be in Labs in January. We will make more feature changes based on usage statistics and feedback before determining its next phase.  So it may or may not become a permanent addition, we'll see how things run. The feedback they have received so far seems to indicate members want it to be an optional feature, so it looks like we may get the choice. Snowdog140 19:31, February 4, 2012 (UTC)

Tom Gutteridge
As many of you may have seen, Tom Gutteridge will be joining us for an hour on Sunday. Many will be unable to attend, so I suggest we come up with a list of pre-prepared questions to ask him, for the benefit of those unable to be with us. Feel free to add more to the list. Matt Talk to me  17:30, February 13, 2012 (UTC)

Questions

 * 1) Could you explain how you got involved with Robot Wars, bringing it over from America
 * 2) What exactly did the role of executive producer entail
 * 3) How much influence did you have over the direction of the show?
 * 4) What were the circumstances behind, and what happened in, the unseen 1995 pilot of Robot Wars, the UK Open Championship.
 * 5) Did you follow the show?
 * 6) If so what were some of your favourite moments/robots?

Possible Questions
I thought it would be good to have a list of ones we're on the fence about whether or not we should ask. Matt I'm hoping you can give an opinion since you'e the only one who's talked to him so far. '''R A 2 ; aka Resetti's Replicas. ( My Talk )''' 17:37, February 13, 2012 (UTC)
 * Tom seems a pretty OK guy, so I don't think we'll have any issues with asking him questions up to a point, obviously not being deliberately abrasive Matt Robot Wars.jpg Talk to me  17:50, February 13, 2012 (UTC)


 * 1) Do you have the tapes? (MTV Pilot included)
 * 2) What was your perspective on the way the producers edited the show (ie. Joke robots getting selected over better constructed but less interesting ones)

Very general questions
Not even a question as such, but can we ask him if he has anything to share that would benefit the wiki in any way, such as images, video, even just behind the scenes anecdotes. I know it sounds almost as though I want to use him just for information, but this is a great opportunity for us to get some information that may not have been obvious on screen. Snowdog140 12:35, February 16, 2012 (UTC)

Hazard Immobilisations/Malfunctions
I'd be fine with creating these two pages if someone would help me compile a list of the different occurrences. It's an awfully big job to do alone. Matt Talk to me  12:02, February 16, 2012 (UTC)
 * Are we talking full on immobilisation or just impairment, Mortis Series 2 springs to mind, as well as Tornado beating Gemini through the use of a side spike. Snowdog140 12:11, February 16, 2012 (UTC)
 * Any defeat where a robot becomes immobilised and and thus loses the battle due to being considered immobilised. All pittings, immobilisations by the grills (S1) and Fire. I can't think of many more... Matt Robot Wars.jpg Talk to me  13:26, February 16, 2012 (UTC)
 * Behemoth on the Series 3 spikes? Snowdog140 13:59, February 16, 2012 (UTC)
 * Ah yes, the spikes as well. Matt Robot Wars.jpg Talk to me  14:07, February 16, 2012 (UTC)
 * Is it necessary to have a long list? I mean, we didn't have a long list for the number of times when a failsafe came out, but there were just a few examples briefly mentioned on the article. Datovidny (talk) 18:20, February 16, 2012 (UTC)

Happy Birthday!
Happy fourth birthday Robot Wars Wiki! Matt Talk to me  10:10, February 18, 2012 (UTC)
 * Good luck for Year 5 everyone! Datovidny (talk) 00:15, February 19, 2012 (UTC)

Slideshows?
TG and I were talking and we thought, why not make the main box of each robot's page feature every incarnation in a slideshow? I have a prototype here, please tell me what you think (Scroll down past the qualifier stuff) '''R A 2 ; aka Resetti's Replicas. ( My Talk )''' 02:02, February 20, 2012 (UTC)


 * I love it. Exactly what I was hoping to get.  Toon Ganondorf    (t    c)  02:18, February 20, 2012 (UTC)
 * I got confused by "main box", but yeah, I like that idea very much.  STORM  II   08:01, February 20, 2012 (UTC)
 * The idea is good, but in that example the infobox looks much too wide in my opinion. Can it be narrowed back to its old width and still have a slideshow that looks clear? Christophee (talk) 13:50, February 20, 2012 (UTC)
 * Oh, why not? I'll fiddle around with it and if it works then I might roll it out across the wiki.-- STORM  II   16:39, February 20, 2012 (UTC)
 * I managed to get it working properly, see here. It's centered too far to the right, but other than that, it works. If you guys like it, I'll roll it out on the wiki.
 * How did I get it down to 200px? See that "Add Slideshow" button? Click that, specify 200px (incidentally as small as it'll go) and I chose smart cropping on it to eliminate white spaces. That should give me plenty to do. STORM  II   17:05, February 20, 2012 (UTC)
 * The idea is sound, but I don't think it'll work. Okay, so Storm2's managed to scale it down to an appropriate size, but I think it makes the images too small, because of the excess space taken up by the arrows, the slide show numbers etc. So I think that defeats the object, as it makes the images less clear. Datovidny (talk) 17:14, February 20, 2012 (UTC)
 * I'm also not so hot on the whole idea. I don't think it adds anything to the pages, and I suppose that adding these slideshows would involve removing images from many pages already image starved. I think that if we were to do this, it would require a real renovation of most pages. Matt Robot Wars.jpg Talk to me  20:27, February 20, 2012 (UTC)
 * My point was that: the image in the infobox for each robot is chosen for the infobox because it is the best image on the wiki that shows off that robot's visual features. However, this will be made redundant if the main image has been down-sized due to making space for arrows, slide show numbers etc. and its time on screen will be shared with other images that wouldn't be of an equal quality. Datovidny (talk) 21:07, February 20, 2012 (UTC)


 * Personally I'm not sure whats wrong with RA2's version. I don't think it is too wide at all. Secondly, the purpose of this is to cut down on images that take up space in the Robot History section. Those images should be replaced by images of the Robot actually doing battle, so yes Matt, there would be a renovation of the whole page. I don't like Razer and Panic Attack's articles, significant robots with long exciting histories, but we can't include battle images because there are about ten pictures of what the robot looked like at different times.


 * Even if this idea is voted down, I am going to insist that we put a slideshow elsewhere on the document. I tried working with Galleries a few years ago and gave up on it. It is quite necessary to cut down on these images, and replace them with images that are useful to the article.  Toon Ganondorf    (t    c)  21:51, February 20, 2012 (UTC)


 * @Datovidny, I of course can't change anyone's taste but I don't agree that the arrows detract that much from the image, and besides you can always just click on the image to get the full sized version with no arrows (And a "Stop slideshow button). If I'm being honest it's just splitting hairs to fret over 200px vs whatever it was before for the small image in the box.   And the "shared time" I also disagree with, you're not forced to wait for each slide to pass; if we stick them in a chronologically-correct loop, it will not be difficult to find the one you want. I agree with TG's sentiment that having a battle and an incarantion image in every series section is too much - an encyclopedia is about conveying information in the best way possible, not cramming as much stuff as humanly possible into a small space. I would like to hear from others because I'm not convinced by the arguments of the opposers. R A 2 ; aka Resetti's Replicas.  ( My Talk ) 01:00, February 21, 2012 (UTC)


 * I'd like to add that the workload really won't be that much. There aren't many teams who entered multiple variations of the machine. The big projects will be Bulldog Breed, Panic Attack, Firestorm, Chaos 2, Plunderbird, Morgue, Razer, Tornado, Pussycat and a few other semi-finalists. I'm happy to do my share in the week I have left. I'll create a demonstration of what I'd like later and show you.  Toon Ganondorf    (t    c)  01:12, February 21, 2012 (UTC)
 * I'm not sure how it looks on Monobook, but on the standard Wikia skin RA2's original version of the new infobox is wider than the text beside it, which looks awful in my opinion. Storm2's version of the infobox looks much better though, and I don't think the arrows on the side detract from the image very much at all. If we can get it perfected so that it looks as good as possible, then I have no objection to the idea being used. Christophee (talk) 02:19, February 21, 2012 (UTC)


 * I'm not using Monobook anymore FYI, they worked out the bugs that made me dislike the new Wikia Look. Anyway, the only thing that I object to is that the caption is maybe imposing if its more than one line. I have no problem with it being slightly bigger - granted that it doesn't pixilate the images.  Toon Ganondorf    (t    c)  02:54, February 21, 2012 (UTC)

Copyright Webinar
I've signed up to this mainly for my own benefit, but if I come across anything that may be of us for the wiki I shall let you know. Charlie  M  09:07, March 8, 2012 (UTC)

Robot wars models wiki
I've just found this wiki,, it's for people who create models of robots from robots wars and personally designed robots.  Mad looney 6
 * So I could make an article about my Storm 2 or Mortis or Thor? Sorry, not for me.  STORM  II   16:46, March 8, 2012 (UTC)
 * I'm not sure if either of my crafts qualify as "Fan Made Robot Wars" in one of them, the bots are confined to the virtual world, and in the other, the models don't move (and I've grown too fond of them to have them get smashed up). The wiki looks like it's just getting started, I can't tell who's in charge and there's barely any content.  R A 2 ; aka Resetti's Replicas.  ( My Talk ) 16:52, March 8, 2012 (UTC)

Teams with walkers
Would it be worth creating a catergory called Teams with walkers? I think it would as some teams made walkers and didn't enter them in Robot Wars.  Mad looney 6
 * I really don't see any point in that. Christophee (talk) 13:01, March 9, 2012 (UTC)

Ok.  Mad looney 6

Trivia Quiz
For those of you that aren't aware, I am planning on organising a Trivia Quiz on the chat feature of the wiki, please look on my blog for more details. I intend to host it at 3pm GMT on 31st March. If this is going to cause problems for people, or you wish to participate, please contact me by posting a comment on my blog or by sending me a message on my talk page. Thanks. Datovidny (talk) 22:12, March 10, 2012 (UTC)

Thorak
I've found a team member of team thorak on facebook, there failed to qualify for series 7. If I can't find a image of Thorak on the internet, I'll ask him.  Mad looney 6 14:23, March 28, 2012 (UTC)
 * Found one.  Mad looney 6 14:25, March 28, 2012 (UTC)

File Moving
One thing I've noticed is that only admins are able to rename images and files. Autoconfirmed users can move the names of regular articles, but not files. This is a bit strange, as articles are probably less important than articles, and if you spot a typo in the title of a file, you'd have to make an admin change the name, rather than simply doing it yourself (speaking from the perspective of a non-admin). There is a way to allow regular users to move/rename files, so if that could be implemented, it would be appreciated. Toast Ultimatum  18:04, April 6, 2012 (UTC)
 * I would have no objection to regular users being allowed to move files, if somebody can find out exactly how it's done. Christophee (talk) 19:38, April 6, 2012 (UTC)

Malfunctions
I've begun work on the malfunctions page, which can be seen on my sandbox, and I would like to ask you all to help me in compiling a list similar to the one on Self-inflicted immobilisation. I've done Series 1, and would be grateful to anyone that would help me finish this list, so we can get the page on to mainspace ASAP Matt  Talk to me  19:49, April 6, 2012 (UTC)

MediaWiki:Common.css
I apologise for the high amount of active topics currently on the Community Portal, but I have another proposal. Lots of Wikis have a feature called MediaWiki:Common.css, which will change the colour of links to admin userpages on RecentChanges. For example, if Christophee made an edit, the link to his userpage on Special:RecentChanges could be gold.

If you take a tour around some Wikis, you should see that it's quite popular, and I myself am rather fond of it.

Independant Wiki Example: Wikia example:

I've made a draft for the MediaWiki:Common.css page here, so if you all feel it would be a positive thing to implement, you can just copy/paste that in.

If you don't want this, I can fully understand, but I myself recommend it. Toast Ultimatum  00:18, April 9, 2012 (UTC)
 * I've seen it on other wikis too, and I like it. I'll wait to see what the other admins say about it. Christophee (talk) 14:14, April 9, 2012 (UTC)

Robogeddon
I was wondering if a lot of you might find this quite interesting.

http://www.engadget.com/2012/04/11/james-cameron-to-create-robogeddon/

Datovidny (talk) 15:53, April 11, 2012 (UTC)


 * That looks cool and it briliant that a fighting robot program is coming back to TV.  Mad looney 6 15:01, April 11, 2012 (UTC)
 * Huzzah! The Battlebots revivals in '09 and '10 all fell through, but I've always felt that a good cash injection could get the sport going again.  I'm confident Mark Burentt's influence promises a good presentation, I mean he's the man behind The Apprentice, and that show makes Reality TV seem classy. R A 2 ; aka Resetti's Replicas.  ( My Talk ) 15:17, April 11, 2012 (UTC)