State of the wiki

[Joshuamonkey]

So we need them to add information, how easily can they do that?

[Sho]

What "them"? I don't understand what you mean.

[Jos Elkink]

First of all, the search is broken.

Why did you not tell me? I mean, you did, but then I said I repaired it, and you said it now looks ok. And now you're saying that it is still broken?

[Lord_Igor]

The search seems to work as long as you don't search for anything that's not in the wiki, like "stew", "carrot" (notice not carrots) or "wes0usejr3". Then it gives an error:

Database error
From Cantr II Wiki
For query "stew"
A database query syntax error has occurred. This may indicate a bug in the software. The last attempted database query was:

(SQL query hidden)

from within function "". MySQL returned error "145: Table './cantr_wiki/cw_searchindex' is marked as crashed and should be repaired (localhost)".

[Hellzon]

The search seems to work as long as you don't search for anything that's not in the wiki, like "stew", "carrot" (notice not carrots) or "wes0usejr3". Then it gives an error:

It gives the same error if you try to search, as in pressing the search button. So you can't do a search for every article that mentions iron, for example.

[Sho]

First of all, the search is broken.

Why did you not tell me? I mean, you did, but then I said I repaired it, and you said it now looks ok. And now you're saying that it is still broken?

It worked when I e-mailed you. Since then it has relapsed, and I was getting around to e-mailing you.

[Jos Elkink]

It worked when I e-mailed you. Since then it has relapsed, and I was getting around to e-mailing you.

Ok, thanks ... I'll look into it asap.

[Sho]

The quantity of spam edits to the wiki has gone up dramatically in the last week, from one every week or so to over 20 a day. I have decided to, putting it bluntly, give up on reverting them - it has become a Sisyphean task that takes up too much of my time.
Suggestions have been made through Flyspray that, if implemented, should solve this problem once and for all, but until then I will be doing no more work (meaning RD data entry and reformatting) on the wiki. As usual, anyone who wants to work on the wiki is welcome to do so - it's just that I won't be around.

[N-Aldwitch]

Sho, it's sad to hear there's a lot of spam going up. There are some irritating people out there who try to make our lives harder, you've done an excellent job so far. I've seen your name here and there in the Wiki, and I really do commend you.

[Chris Johnson]

I have added some spam filtering which seems to trap most of the spam experienced to date. Unfortunately spammers adapt but should be quieter for awhile

[N-Aldwitch]

Ah, really? Awesome... How does that work? How does it determine what is spam and what is not? Does it sense when the same user is continually making small changes or deleting the entire thing constantly??

[Sho]

It uses a regular expression - basically, if the content of an edit contains certain words the edit will be blocked (see http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Anti-spam_Features#Example_.24wgSpamRegex_setting). Simple but (so far) effective.

[N-Aldwitch]

Ah, nice, I see. And obviously more words can be added, making it more powerful...?

[Sho]

At the moment the block works perfectly because it targets elements in the syntax that the spammers need to use. But if the spammers realize what is going on and change their methods, it is unlikely that the current system will be of any further use - they can change their spam faster than we can keep up with adding things to the regex.