ConwayLife.com

I can see a peculiar glitch on Garden of Eden pages on the LifeWiki, which appears to originate from Template:Pattern and places all of the page contents inside the infobox, though I can't see anything at Special:RecentChanges that would relate to this. I see it on all Garden of Eden pages, but not on other types of patterns' pages. The glitch is shown in the attached screenshots (split into two images because as one image it exceeded the 250 KiB limit). (EDIT: added a third image)

These lines in Template:Pattern contain "</td></td>", which is malformed HTML:
Looking at the HTML source of, say, Garden of Eden 1, it looks like that's enough to confuse MediaWiki's built-in HTML sanitizer and cause a bunch of following HTML tags to be auto-escaped. I'm not 100% sure if that's the only issue, but it certainly seems to be an issue.

vyznev wrote:These lines in Template:Pattern contain "</td></td>", which is malformed HTML:

Code: Select all

{{#ifeq: {{{synthesis|}}} | 0 | <tr>
<td colspan="2" style="text-align:center;"> Synthesis is [[:Category:Patterns that can not be constructed with gliders|not possible]].</td></td> | 

Looking at the HTML source of, say, Garden of Eden 1, it looks like that's enough to confuse MediaWiki's built-in HTML sanitizer and cause a bunch of following HTML tags to be auto-escaped. I'm not 100% sure if that's the only issue, but it certainly seems to be an issue.

Ah, and that occurs specifically in the section about patterns not constructible with gliders, so it would affect precisely the Gardens of Eden. Since I haven't seen the glitch on any other type of pattern's page, that is almost certainly what's causing this.

EDIT: I think changing the second </td> to </tr> should solve the bug. Can someone who can edit the wiki try this?

Look, can someone please fix this? It should be a very simple fix, as I wrote in the post above. Or, at least give me the trusted flag on the wiki so I can fix it myself, because without that I can't edit anything on the wiki.

EDIT: Okay, I fixed it, the </td> instead of </tr> was indeed what was causing the problem.

77topaz wrote:Look, can someone please fix this? It should be a very simple fix, as I wrote in the post above. Or, at least give me the trusted flag on the wiki so I can fix it myself, because without that I can't edit anything on the wiki.

EDIT: Okay, I fixed it, the </td> instead of </tr> was indeed what was causing the problem.

As a general -- late -- reply, if you notice problems on the wiki, it's generally best to post about them on the wiki (at the Tiki bar, say), or otherwise in an existing thread that people are likely to be subscribed to (Suggested LifeWiki edits would've been a natural choice). I could've fixed this right away if I'd known about it, but I don't check for new threads all the time.

TL;DR, bug reports should go where people will see them.

Apple Bottom wrote:As a general -- late -- reply, if you notice problems on the wiki, it's generally best to post about them on the wiki (at the Tiki bar, say), or otherwise in an existing thread that people are likely to be subscribed to (Suggested LifeWiki edits would've been a natural choice).

Aha, that does seem like a useful thread. Perhaps it should be pinned?

And is that also the right place to ask for edit access to the wiki? I did create an account to see if I could fix this myself (or at least test it in userspace), but the wiki seems to be locked down so tight that I couldn't even find any place to ask for access. Maybe it would be useful to set up one or two "unlocked" pages on the wiki (like, say, the Tiki bar) that even new users could edit.

vyznev wrote:Aha, that does seem like a useful thread. Perhaps it should be pinned?

Probably. Maybe one of the mods could do so -- dvgrn...?

And is that also the right place to ask for edit access to the wiki? I did create an account to see if I could fix this myself (or at least test it in userspace), but the wiki seems to be locked down so tight that I couldn't even find any place to ask for access. Maybe it would be useful to set up one or two "unlocked" pages on the wiki (like, say, the Tiki bar) that even new users could edit.

Unfortunately, there was a massive spam attack on the wiki a while ago, and it was deemed necessary to lock it down so only manually-approved users could edit. I think it's supposed to link to the right thread when you sign up and tell you to ask for the "trusted" flag there, but I don't know if it does. (Worth investigating, I figure.)

But yes, that thread, or Massive spam attacks on the wiki (and forums?), are good places to ask for that flag. Any wiki sysop can hand it out, so you really just need to make sure your request's seen by the right people.

And yes, having some place that everyone can edit would be good, but that's something I think only Nathaniel can set up.

Can I get trusted access? My username is "suicide2"

Apple Bottom wrote:I think it's supposed to link to the right thread when you sign up and tell you to ask for the "trusted" flag there, but I don't know if it does.

I'm pretty sure I didn't see anything like that when I signed up. It should be possible for an admin to add one by editing MediaWiki:Welcomecreation-msg, though.

It might also be useful to include that information on MediaWiki:Noarticletext-nopermission and MediaWiki:Viewsourcetext too, so that users who click a redlink or the "view source" tab without having edit access can find out what they should do to get it.

vyznev wrote:

Apple Bottom wrote:I think it's supposed to link to the right thread when you sign up and tell you to ask for the "trusted" flag there, but I don't know if it does.

I'm pretty sure I didn't see anything like that when I signed up. It should be possible for an admin to add one by editing MediaWiki:Welcomecreation-msg, though.

It might also be useful to include that information on MediaWiki:Noarticletext-nopermission and MediaWiki:Viewsourcetext too, so that users who click a redlink or the "view source" tab without having edit access can find out what they should do to get it.

Yeah, I didn't see such a message either when I signed up, and with no way to edit even talk pages on the wiki, I had to use the forum to communicate the issue.

Majestas32 wrote:Can I get trusted access? My username is "suicide2"

Done!

vyznev wrote:I'm pretty sure I didn't see anything like that when I signed up. It should be possible for an admin to add one by editing MediaWiki:Welcomecreation-msg, though.

It might also be useful to include that information on MediaWiki:Noarticletext-nopermission and MediaWiki:Viewsourcetext too, so that users who click a redlink or the "view source" tab without having edit access can find out what they should do to get it.

Good ideas all around; done.

77topaz wrote:Yeah, I didn't see such a message either when I signed up, and with no way to edit even talk pages on the wiki, I had to use the forum to communicate the issue.

Looking around, I found the message again on LifeWiki:Editor pages. Probably not the first place that new users turn to to look for that sort of information, and that's assuming they even know it exists. (It is linked in the sidebar as "How to contribute", but still.)