Board Thread:News and Announcements/@comment-5645428-20181102131326

Well what do you know, announcements are still a thing.

For starters
So what's the go then? Sure, why not flood you with information, I mean, it's been that long, heheh. So here are a couple great threads from our boy Sonar which you ought to check out if you haven't in a while. Yes, editing is also still a thing. Fortunately, you have a legitimate excuse not to. Our wiki is in a very solid state and there are just a few articles that really need edits. Most are only in need of polishing. It might seem somewhat contrary to the spirit of contributing on a wiki. However, I don't believe many wikis ever come close to a state where you could say that they are even somewhat near completion. I'm proud to say that ours is. There's still a bunch of higher tier stuff to do. Casual editing, though? Not really. ...Or maybe there is. Feedback, as usual, is always welcome!
 * Editing - Moving Forward
 * Collective Article Improvement! (WIP)

(Level jumps and completion times are also on the agenda, make no mistake, those of you who have been wondering whether it's still happening. It is!)

Discussions?
Indeed, this announcement is hitting the forum instead of Discussions, despite the fact that the latter somewhat recently received an announcement feature. I guess I'd like to take a moment to apologise for trying to coordinate an overly swift transition to Discussions prematurely a couple of years back (has it already been that long since then? Man...). I was not anticipating for Wikia Fandom FANDOM to bludge for as long as they have in introducing even basic features to the platform. If I had known that, I might not have even directed people to even consider using it whatsoever until a transition date was set.

While on the maintenance end the forum has been a tough one to work with, it has definitely served you guys well, something I don't take for granted since it's where many of you only hang out on the wiki these days.

Will we ever have to fully shift to Discussions? Not sure I can even say we will at this rate. But by then, I personally expect that there is basic text formatting, and a way to enable the wiki background in addition to other stylings. Guess the main wiki's elite aesthetics severely alienates the platform with its raw and sterile feel of white on white. I feel it, or rather don't feel the wiki vibe so much there as well. Fandom have stated that an updated Theme Designer is on the cards. When it arrives, perhaps Discussions might be able to receive a proper facelift. Until then, well, I think that if there's ever going to be a transition, there has to be a wider consensus to switch. You're the ones who'll be using it after all.

Images
Tchatow and Coo Haa, if you're reading this, get busy.

After an eternity, I can only really say that the task of fully uploading and updating icon images and level / coin location has been failed. I will not be making any further requests to anyone to carry out these things, and do not expect them to ever be finished. This is the last call for someone to step up and finish the Update 2.1 robots and spiders, and someone else to volunteer to complete the level / coin location image lineup. As is always the case, quality and consistency are paramount.

Videos
Muzik Bike / Awesoman3000, who has been responsible for the wiki's videos, has also seemed to have dropped off before finishing them all. It's been pointed out that the videos could be of a higher quality in widescreen. Anyone who wants their YouTube channel to receive greater exposure and views is welcome to volunteer to host the wiki's gameplay videos. They will need to be able to complete all levels in one attempt with all three coins, if you couldn't already guess. ;)

Userboxes
I randomly decided to give the userboxes a big meaty update. A hefty work in progress, I've created a whole bunch of exciting new ones for things like diamonds, chests, buying stuff at the shops and more. Gauntlet and map pack userboxes are also slated to be introduced soon. Colours, understandable documentation and even the syntax are undergoing significant changes, so it might be a bit before they're all available to use properly as well as look good. One thing to note is that this new iteration is also seeing the existing stat userboxes for things like stars and demon levels change so that there are no longer separate userboxes for each 'milestone', but rather a change of parameter required for just the one type. Don't get it? I haven't figured it all out either myself. Well, at least you can see the progress so far and which userboxes you can pick up here.

Site styling
Now I've got something unlike what's ever been posted before. If you were around in our earlier days, you might recall things like the wiki leaderboard prior to GD itself having an account system, an Imgur gallery for user-created custom GD icons that were transferred out of our file list, and the short-lived level showcasing feature. Now, over the years, I've accidentally missed the delete and backspace key a good many times and instead pressed the Print Screen button, shooting a screenshot of my browser into my Dropbox. It turns out that I now have a sizable collection of images documenting how far both the wiki's aesthetic and even the features of the wiki have come, changed and gone since I've been working on it from 2014. It's an absolute time-warp. Those who have been around the longest will definitely be reminded of times they thought they've long forgotten. Not only that, but I've provided commentary for each image, providing some insight into what's going and some of the stuff I'm doing. So, we're heading back to the wiki's Imgur gallery, back in time...

Status: Inactive

(Thought my images would have all uploaded by the time I finished writing this. Sadly not because my computer and Internet both hate me. Will be working to get them done shortly, bear with me...)

Fatigue
If there was more I was going to add, I'll have to remember it later and add it then. Kudos to the staff for keeping things running smoothly during my relative absence from things while I've been busy. Oh, I did remember that as Prime recently has and others before him have done, I might do a Q&A myself. Eh, maybe, if I get around to it. This has been plenty enough typing for now. Anyway, thanks to all who have stuck around as long as you have. 