CreationWiki:Announcements

Semantic Date Annotation
The Semantic Date datatype is now ready for use. This replaces Type:Historical date and is the type of choice for creating any new properties that track dates and times. Extensive re-annotation is required in many cases, because a non-standard formula for annotating a year and a season is obsolete. From now on, we will annotate years and months. We ask you to bear with us and not to mind the "error triangles." Also, see CreationWiki:Help wanted for further details.--TemlakosTalk 03:05, 16 August 2009 (UTC)

UPDATE: The reannotation of all dates is now complete, and SMW 1.4.3 is now in place with the new version of the Date type. We also have updated the Semantic Result Formats extension, which allows interactive timelines. See Planet, Dwarf planet, Sun, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune for examples of interactive timelines.--TemlakosTalk 11:49, 23 August 2009 (UTC)

Semantic MediaWiki upgrade: success!
Semantic MediaWiki has now been upgraded. We are now running version 1.5bSVN, which we "checked out" from the MediaWiki Release 1.14 branch of the MediaWiki Subversion directory. The most important procedure required for the upgrade was a modification of the custom "Historical Date" data type to be compatible with the new code. All editors will find that all pages load the way they always did.

This upgrade now makes feasible the installation of extensions designed to allow more query results. That installation will await further development of the "Historical Date" data type so that it can replace completely the SMW "native" date datatype and process in all query results, including timelines and eventlines.--TemlakosTalk 15:09, 2 March 2009 (UTC)

Semantic extensions
Semantic MediaWiki has a number of extensions that depend upon it and extend its functions. We have installed one of them today: Semantic Compound Queries. This extension allows the specification of a query with multiple disjunctive (Boolean OR) filters, instead of the exclusively conjunctive (Boolean AND) filters of the basic query syntax. To see an example of a table built with a compound query, see the article Sun. The administration will investigate other semantic extensions and will install those of them that we deem appropriate and likely to enhance the quality of our articles.--TemlakosTalk 22:57, 28 February 2009 (UTC)

MediaWiki 1.14
Our MediaWiki software base is now upgraded to MediaWiki 1.14 as of 28 February 2009 at about 1600 hours UTC. This latest stable release came out less than a week ago. The new version now incorporates the New User Log and contains a new Special Pages display that sorts pages by type and function. It also adds some badly-needed special pages that template developers will certainly appreciate (specifically, a page to tell you what templates are wanted, as separate and apart from what articles are wanted).

Our attempt to upgrade to a beta version of SemanticMediaWiki ended in failure; we have rolled that back to SMW 1.3, the last known good version. We suspect that a wholesale revision of the SMW code is now incompatible with Type:Historical date. We shall, of course, notify the SMW developers and ask for assistance.

We apologize for any hiccups that might have occurred in CreationWiki access. A quick review of Recent Changes shows that only one edit was placed after the upgrade commenced (1332 hours UTC; 0832 EST; 0532 PST) until this present announcement.--TemlakosTalk 16:24, 28 February 2009 (UTC)

Collapsible navboxes
Attention all editors! Navboxes now automatically collapse when stacked.

Two or more navboxes in a single article, especially if you declare them one below the other, make a stack. And by default, navboxes automatically collapse to a single bar when stacked.

Credit for this new feature goes to Wikipedia:User:Ruud Koot, the developer of navboxes. A brief consultation with him revealed the last part of the secret of collapsible navboxes.

Your administration encourages all creators of navigational aids to convert them to a format that has its basis in Template:Navbox. If you require any assistance, please contact me and I'll be glad to help.--TemlakosTalk 18:54, 17 November 2008 (UTC)

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   tags. An administrator will investigate and, if necessary, report the problem to the development team.

For now, note the following new features:


 * 1) 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.
 * 2) Re-enabling of the Boolean type. The administration will document that type very shortly and make specific recommendations for its use.
 * 3) 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.
 * 4) 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 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 (  or   ) 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  subdomain and can be found at the following address.


 * CreationWiki Espanol
 * http://es.creationwiki.net/

--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.

http://www.creationwiki.net/

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)