CreationWiki:Announcements
From CreationWiki, the encyclopedia of creation science
MediaWiki Upgrade
On April 28, 2008, the CreationWiki upgraded its MediaWiki software to release 1.12. This version promises better database security and cross-checking. All users should refresh their browser caches the first time they view the CreationWiki (on any page) in order to see the new version properly. Users will notice one change immediately: the main namespace is renamed from "article" to "page."
Server Upgrade
On February 22, 2008 the CreationWiki was moved to a fully Dedicated Server. With a dedicated we do not share computer resources with other websites, which means faster processing, and better reliability and performance. This is another significant upgrade that should help stabilize the CreationWiki website and prevent the periodic connectivity problems users occasionally experience when uploading or saving pages.
Dedicated Server:
- AMD 4200x2 Dual-core CPU
- 1500 GB Premium Bandwidth
- 1 GB Ram Memory
- 2 x 160 GB Sata Drives
Semantic MediaWiki
Semantic MediaWiki is now up to Version 1.0 (stable) and is now installed both here on the English site and on all other international sites of CreationWiki.
The most widespread use of Semantic MediaWiki in this project was the Relations--the properties that set up internal links between articles and made those links searchable and available for RDF feeds. Semantic MediaWiki was, however, always about much more than that.
Today, Relations and Attributes are all one--called Properties. The old "Relation" persists as a Property of Type:page. Many other Types exist. Their Categorization is now in progress, and a complete Help system is now under development.
For now, your Administration invites you to see the Special:Browse page. There you can see every use to which we have put Semantic MediaWiki thus far. I especially invite you to look at the entries on Goliath, Cubit, and Jerusalem. They contain the best demonstrations thus far of semantic allocations that go beyond the old "relations" model.
Detailed guidelines are under review and might soon be added to the CreationWiki:Style guide. For now, please see the annotation guideline and annotation fact sheet on the how and why of annotation.--TemlakosTalk 21:35, 2 December 2007 (EST)
Update: The current version of SMW is 1.1.1. This version introduces more flexible in-line querying and more streamlined management of SMW messages in the various languages. It also introduces support for Arabic and fixes some minor bugs that other users on other wikis have reported to the development team.--TemlakosTalk 10:39, 28 April 2008 (UTC)
If any editor has any issue with SMW, please report it here or to the Coffeehouse. Please cite the article you were trying to edit and share the errant code with us by enclosing it in <nowiki></nowiki> tags. An administrator will investigate and, if necessary, report the problem to the development team.
For now, note the following new features:
- Enabling of "Service Links." Check out the Jerusalem page for an example. In the Fact box, you will see a blue question-mark button next to the Coordinates for Jerusalem. Click on that, and you will see links to three on-line mapping services--any one of which will now present you with a map of the Middle East having its center on Jerusalem.
- Re-enabling of the Boolean type. The administration will document that type very shortly and make specific recommendations for its use.
- N-ary data types that you can use to declare properties having more than one value. The administration is investigating how this works and how editors may use it.
- Better formatting for inline-query tables. Now, property values having tooltip multi-unit displays will show those displays in a table as well as in the original article. See Help:Semantic table format for details.
Further update (17 March 2008): The SMW development team have invented a technique to allow the specification of an inline query with more than one sort key. Installation of this capability here on CreationWiki will await the issuance, by the SMW developers, of an additional stable minor release.--TemlakosTalk 10:32, 17 March 2008 (PDT)
The Historical Date Type
Semantic MediaWiki, or at least its implementation here on CreationWiki, now has a new custom data type: the Historical date type. It uses signed double-precision floats to store Julian Days, a date well-known to astronomers and able to handle dates and times in the full range of recorded history.
Testing of the new Historical date datatype is now complete, and results are satisfactory. The administration can now recommend its widespread use in annotating historical events. In fact, several properties using the new date already exist; you can see these by following the above link to the article on this type.
Separation of Footnotes
PLEASE NOTE: we are now placing footnote References and Related links under different level-2 headings.
This new policy styleguide is being implemented to strengthen our emphasis on including supporting references for article content.
It is important to isolate the references actually used in the article from other "related" links.
Also, the new <references> tag extension is incompatible with the method we have been using.
Please begin separating the links currently found under the heading titled "Related References" into different sections titled References and Related links.
--Mr. Ashcraft - (talk) 09:07, 28 October 2007 (EDT)
Server Upgrade
On December 22, 2006 the CreationWiki was moved to a Semi-Dedicated Server. A semi-dedicated server has a restricted number of users, which means more CPU resources, reliability, and performance. Perhaps more importantly, more memory means our database will operate faster. This is a significant upgrade that should help stabilize the CreationWiki website and prevent the periodic connectivity problems users occasionally experience when uploading or saving pages.
Semi-Dedicated Server:
Storage Space - 25,000 MBDisk
Data Transfer (Bandwidth) - 300 Gig per mo. (10 Gigs Per Day!)
Users per server - Restricted to less than 5% of a shared server
We hope this upgrade will have lasting benefits for our editors and users alike.
Comment Entry Boxes
We have designed comment entry boxes for standard talk pages and usertalk pages. To install a comment entry box like the one at right place the following code ( {{talk}} or {{usertalk}} ) in the desired talk page or usertalk page respectively.
Shared Images
When uploading an image - all files are now placed in a shared databased and can be used across the international CreationWikis.
CreationWiki Pool http://creationwiki.org/pool/Main_Page
This will greatly improve our move toward international translations, but will cause some complications regarding files that were previously uploaded to the English version.
- NOTE: Images previously uploaded to the English version:
- Can not be used on the other CreationWiki sites until uploaded to the Pool.
- Can not be resized ('i.e. 150px') until uploaded to the Pool and the English version of the image is deleted.
Contact an admin for assistance.
Upcoming MediaWiki Upgrade
We are preparing to upgrade the MediaWiki software to the lastest version. This usually takes some time to complete, and the site will need to be locked while the new version is being customized to our specific settings.
--Chris Ashcraft 18:32, 4 September 2006 (CDT)
creationwiki.org
We have secured the domain name creationwiki.org, which will become the default URL of the CreationWiki website. Creationwiki.net will also be retained indefinately, and setup as a "Parked" domain, which will continue to function as it has before.
--Chris Ashcraft 12:01, 3 September 2006 (CDT)
International Menu
To further promote the development of CreationWiki sites in other languages, we are considering utilizing an "International Menu" that would be placed as the default page. Preview the menu at the link below.
International CreationWiki Menu http://www.creationwiki.net/menu.html
--Chris Ashcraft 22:48, 23 July 2006 (CDT)
Spanish Translations
The Spanish translations of the CreationWiki are now underway. The project is under the supervision of a creationist organization known as Investigaciones Creacionistas.
The administration decided it would make the job of translating easier to simply duplicate the existing CreationWiki database onto the new Spanish server. Therefore, all previous CreationWiki registrants are already registered editors of the Spanish site by default.
The new site was setup on a <es> subdomain and can be found at the following address.
--Chris Ashcraft 19:43, 16 June 2006 (CDT)
New Server
We will be moving the CreationWiki to a new server soon that will better meet our present and future needs. The new domain will then become active.
In order to move the site, we will need to shut it down for a couple of days while the transition is happening. This is largely due to technical difficulties we are experiencing regarding backing-up the database. The only solution currently available to us will make the job much more time consuming. --Chris Ashcraft 18:24, 7 May 2006 (GMT)
Spanish Translations
A fellow creationist organization will soon begin working on a spanish version of the creationwiki. We will assign them an appropriate subdomain (i.e. esp.creationwiki.net) once we have completed the move to the new server.
--Chris Ashcraft 20:36, 9 April 2006 (GMT)
New Domain
We are in the process of setting up a new CreationWiki server, and will then be moving the CreationWiki to creationwiki.net. The old address will remain good, and will transfer users automatically to the new location.
--Chris Ashcraft 05:07, 5 April 2006 (GMT)
