User talk:Kelcat



Welcome to my talk page!


 * If you message me here, I will reply here.
 * Don't forget to sign your messages with  ~  or click the signature icon: Button_sig.png.
 * Add a title in the Subject/headline section.
 * You can also contact me at community central.

 Archives:1 2 3 4 5

Major characters and conditional relationships
Have a concensus been reached about the conditional relationships of major characters in the series? E.g. Kieran's conditional fathers and other relatives, Anora's husbands. etc.

Personally I think it looks tidier if we clear it up and put confirmed relations and put the conditional relations in the spoiler boxes in involvement. Some of them such as Kieran is conditionally a step-sister to Anora is almost like having to say that DAO is a game; the fanbase should know this.

And considering how often these kind of pages get changed around maybe we could put a light lock on some of the major ones like we did with Loghain which require an account? Ta-ta. Virrey (talk) 12:47, January 26, 2017 (UTC)


 * Just my two cents, but I don't think all conditional relationships are obvious to all people, some depend on playthroughs or styles of play that some might not see. Also, Kieran is Morrigan's son, so I think you mean that he could be Anora's stepson, not stepsister.  DaBarkspawn (talk) 15:16, January 26, 2017 (UTC)


 * The only policy I'm aware of regarding family in the infobox is that it should only include immediate family (this came up because people kept adding the mage warden to Hawke's page as a second-cousin). Other than that, I can't find anything else in the guidelines about it, and the wiki seems to be fairly inconsistent regarding what to put and when. Kieran's talk page has some discussion about what family should be included but I don't know about other characters. This may be a good discussion to have with the community via the forums as I'd definitely be in favor of some kind of consistency. If you want to start a discussion that'd be great.


 * I went ahead and protected Kieran's page from new and unregistered users because looking at the history of the page there's been a lot of vandalism and nonsense edits to it over the past year. Let me know if there's other pages you think need protecting and I'll take a look at them. -- 00:00, January 27, 2017 (UTC)

Opinion
Mine. Personal. If you didn't like that link, you might want to take a look at the related history. I was following that progress with really mixed feelings. But didn't dare to remove that link by myself, rather thought, someone with more experience and being sort of in charge here would settle with it.

Now it's gone, thanks to you!

Btw., sorry for forgetting the switch from adverb to adjective these days during my rewording. Saw your "grammar" summary and thought, "my, what have I done wrong now again?" CompleCCity (talk) 13:27, January 31, 2017 (UTC)


 * Yeah, I don't know why it took me a month to realize something was off about the infoboxes; luckily it was an easy fix. I did a full scan of the user's history, too, to make sure everything else was copacetic. And no worries about the "grammar", I figured you just forgot to fix the existing word during your edit. -- 20:44, January 31, 2017 (UTC)

Finders Keepers
Hello,

I just wanted to let to let you know that there is a dead link on the page Finders Keepers. It refers to a glitch that happens if you pick "I'll tell you for a price." I was just wanting to let you know so that you could fix it and add a new way that we could access this information.

Thank you! --Kdrama (talk) 22:35, February 2, 2017 (UTC)


 * I looked in the Wayback Machine, but all of the captures of that topic are redirects to the language choice page. :(  DaBarkspawn (talk) 00:31, February 3, 2017 (UTC)


 * Yeah, it looks like this is a casualty of BioWare's forums shutting down; archive.org finally redirected me to a forum topic that's not at all related. The bug should have been detailed in the article in the first place, but since it isn't I'll have to take the note out completely as there's no way to tell what this bug even was. Thanks for pointing it out! -- 03:07, February 3, 2017 (UTC)

Once We Were and Haven Trivia
I noticed that the Haven page had two trivia sections and tried merge the two sections. One has Haven trivia and the other has trivia about the song Once We Were. CompleCCity happen to notice (thanks!) that I managed to delete it from the song page when I merged the two sections together (not sure how that happened). But here's the weird thing: if I restore the edit on the song page, it recreates a new trivia section on the Haven page! I can't see anything in the wiki text of either page that causes this linkage to happen. On some reflection, since the song can be heard outside of Haven, I think the right thing is to have the trivia only appear on the song page. Do you know how to fix this? DaBarkspawn (talk) 17:12, February 4, 2017 (UTC)
 * This happens due to the CodexTransformer template. I'm not that deep into this stuff, that I could explain en detail how it works.
 * I've tried to disable that specific trivia section to appear on transform-pages by moving  above trivia, but that didn't work. Perhaps the transformer-template has to be changed, or   has to be used… --CompleCCity (talk) 19:50, February 4, 2017 (UTC)
 * Thanks for giving it a shot! DaBarkspawn (talk) 20:08, February 4, 2017 (UTC)
 * I moved the trivia on the codex entry article up into the transformer box and moved the above the references section, which seems to have fixed the problem. I removed that trivia tidbit from the Haven article, and I only see one trivia section on that article now. No idea why it went wonky, maybe because of the references section? -- 01:02, February 5, 2017 (UTC)
 * Perfect, thanks! No idea how it got this way.  DaBarkspawn (talk) 02:15, February 5, 2017 (UTC)


 * I won't take a closer look now into the CodexTransformer, but if you call it "transformer box", @Kelcat, rather than InfoBox, then this happened more likely due to the trivia section being part of the main page content, not the box content.
 * Thanks! CompleCCity (talk) 07:57, February 5, 2017 (UTC)

Guard

 * It just struck me that there really is no description for warrior guard on the wiki. It's not even mentioned on Warrior (Inquisition).  I think this is in part because it is sort of a ride along ability, unlike, for example Barrier (Inquisition) which is an activated ability and comes from an ability tree.  I'd like to create a page for this, discuss how it is gained and lost (e.g., unlike barrier, it doesn't go away over time, it goes away when the character travels) and link in all of the guard gaining abilities and anti-guard effects (e.g., from crafted items).  Any dissent?  DaBarkspawn (talk) 03:27, February 6, 2017 (UTC)


 * Sounds like a good idea to me!  05:15, February 6, 2017 (UTC)


 * Okay, my first draft of this is here: Guard. I'm not very expert on templates and info boxes, so suggestions along those lines would be welcome. In particular, I note that there is a template for including a codex entry, but I couldn't figure out how to include just a part of an entry.  Also, while I am at home with equations and programming code (as in one of the references), I realize that these can be intimidating for the casual reader, so I have translated the two equations involved and given examples as a stylistic choice. I'm also open to suggestions for applicable categories.  Some searching did not provide anything applicable and I'd rather not read through all 500 or so categories.   DaBarkspawn (talk) 00:47, February 13, 2017 (UTC)


 * Sure, I'll take a look at it later and see if I can give you some feedback. As far as codex entry excerpts: What you want to do is go to the actual codex entry article, and in the infobox add this:
 * "|excerpt  =" (without the quotation marks) above the "|text   =" line. Then add whatever part of the codex you want to use as the excerpt. Then on the Guard article, instead of using the usual codex entry template like we normally do, use the CodexExcerpt template. Instructions are on that page on how to use it. Basically instead of , you'd use  -- 01:43, February 13, 2017 (UTC)


 * All right, I took a look at it, and it looks pretty good to me! I don't know anything about the Guard mechanic, so I can't give feedback about any of that, but I changed all the abilities and items to icons to conform to other articles (and because it looks less boring in my opinion). Made a few minor style fixes, and added a couple categories. The only other change I can suggest is changing the codex section to an excerpt like I described above. -- 00:41, February 14, 2017 (UTC)

Elfroot
Elfroot is a very commonly found item; but when crafting recipes, or filling requisitions 30+ Elfroot are needed at a time. Where else will you find 17 Elfroot within a 20 square yard area? Please do not edit the image I've placed of this Elfroot Patch, unless you have one better to list--XaeNsTir (talk) 17:51, February 12, 2017 (UTC)?

XaeNsTir~


 * The information's already in the body of the article. Why on earth do we need a map to show the location of a camp that's easy to find on the in-game map? Images should be used to explain points that can't be explained with words, which isn't the case here. -- 20:51, February 12, 2017 (UTC)


 * Given the wide, dense distribution of elfroot which may well be the most common resource node to find, I don't see how a map to a particular location of somewhat greater density is all that useful. Usually I find lots of elfroot just by tripping over it. ;) To answer the rhetorical question, I just happened to find a huge patch of elfroot and rashvine in the snow of Emprise du Lion near where the dead elf with the wedding ring is.  There must have been at least ten elfroot nodes there.  So, should we add that map, too?  And so on?  DaBarkspawn (talk) 21:10, February 12, 2017 (UTC)

The Elfroot Patch I added is not at Sarnia Camp, proper. You need to travel down a road; to a village, through which there is no clear path, to the road outside the village, and then happen to notice the patch on the other side of a wall which runs up the side of the road from there.

Two large patches would make farming even easier; especially if Fast Traveling is required to access each. Again, there is a huge difference between finding 1-2, or even a handful at a time; VS finding 17+ in a wack.

I'm on my 5th play through DAI; and I use this patch regularly, even though I pick single/random plants/resources like elfroot whenever I pass them. I could not image anyone, newbie or Pro, not wanting to pin point this location. This time through I'm on Nightmare difficulty, and have been using more Elfroot than previously to supply my Party with Regeneration potions. Had I set the "Rub a Little Dirt on It" Trial also, where there are no Healing potions, I would have been needing Elfroot even more than lately(like most probably my next run through...)

I just checked the location of the other Elfroot Patch mentioned in the Notes of the page, by DaBarkspawn. That's great, I'd forgot about Calenhad's Foothold. I think it's odd that now one patch is listed in Acquisition and the other is in Notes; but what matters to me is that they are both lited, whichever section they are actually mentioned in would not matter to me.


 * The notes and images you added didn't make clear that this was a harder to find location. The image doesn't really reflect that, since the Sarnia Camp is circled. Is the path in yellow meant to be how to get to that area? A lot of maps we have on the wiki show that line because it can't be turned off, so most people ignore it as irrelevant to the image.


 * Here's what I'd suggest: If you can, maybe edit the image to make the specific area a little more noticeable; either by drawing the line out in a different color, or marking the end-point with a circle, X, etc. Or you could just add a caption to the image stating that that line on the image is the path to follow to get to the area. Then I'd put just a small note in acquisition about elfroot being near Sarnia Camp in Emprise du Lion and then down in the notes section a more detailed note about where exactly it is, how to get to it, and how many elfroot are available-- like you explained it to me above with there being no clear path, etc. That, I think, would make it more clear and would help people find what seems to be a valuable area (I use the castle area all the time). -- 01:31, February 13, 2017 (UTC)

Quarries and Logging stands
I put the note on the crafting materials page because Quarry and Logging stand both link back to that page and no other. I think it is important and interesting to note that you can't find them the way one finds virtually everything else in the game, so if that page isn't suitable, which page would be? I guess we could put the same note twice, once on each page...? DaBarkspawn (talk) 15:15, February 15, 2017 (UTC)


 * Yeah, I think it would be more appropriate and informative to put the notes on those specific pages themselves. Also, any notes like that should be below the lead sentence. -- 19:33, February 15, 2017 (UTC)


 * Got it, done. Thanks!  DaBarkspawn (talk) 20:00, February 15, 2017 (UTC)

War Table Table
Now that the guard page is done, the next project I want to do is a summary table of war table operations. I've put a proof of concept example here User_talk:DaBarkspawn. Before I encode about three hundred operations into the table, let me know what you think of the idea and also the best place to put it. Being so large it might deserve its own page and linked from rather than on the War Table category page. DaBarkspawn (talk) 20:09, February 20, 2017 (UTC)


 * Might be because it's late here, but I don't quite see how this differs a lot from the existing table on the war table page. Except for the "unlocks" section--am I missing something? (wouldn't surprise me ) 09:25, February 25, 2017 (UTC)


 * by the way, if you want to play around with this without clogging your own talk page, you can always create a sandbox for it. Just create a new page and title it something like User:DaBarkspawn/Sandbox. 09:28, February 25, 2017 (UTC)


 * Oh, hey, I totally missed that page. Ignore this, thanks!  DaBarkspawn (talk) 15:52, February 25, 2017 (UTC)


 * You don't by chance play Heroes of Dragon Age, do you? We're missing a bunch of stuff from the game but there don't seem to be many contributors who still play it. -- 03:14, February 26, 2017 (UTC)


 * That's the phone app, right? No, I've not played it.  I'm not big on the genre - I have big thumbs and a tiny keyboard. ;)  DaBarkspawn (talk) 05:01, February 26, 2017 (UTC)

User block(s)
Just saw you have blocked TheDarckner, and Darckner is blocked as well. Look at this one – or better: keep an eye on this one : --CompleCCity (talk) 13:38, March 3, 2017 (UTC)
 * 23:08:12 . . Darktrick (Talk | contribs) created a user account


 * Thanks for the heads-up! This guy is a menace -- 19:57, March 3, 2017 (UTC)

Congratulations
Hey when did you get promoted beaurecrat? Congratulations! - 14:02, March 3, 2017 (UTC)


 * Lol, thanks! It was awhile ago, when Tierrie and Loleil were both super busy with real world stuff so I offered to be a backup 'crat in case anything went down while the others weren't available. -- 19:57, March 3, 2017 (UTC)

Corypheus
You may need to lock down the page, getting a lot of vandalism. DaBarkspawn (talk) 21:58, March 13, 2017 (UTC)


 * Thanks for the heads up, I put a temporary protection on it and blocked the users. -- 22:17, March 13, 2017 (UTC)

Modernization Video Tests
Hey Kelcat,

a while ago I reached out to Tierrie but since he is not very active at the moment I would like to open the dialogue also with you and ask you to join the tests around the Modernization project with Dragon Age wiki. Maybe you also saw the blog post on Community Central and find the video helpful.

That is what we want to do:

We'd like to run tests around video placement and modernized article styles on Dragon Age wiki so we can gather data and user feedback. This will help us create the best product possible and provide a much more modernized and overall better user experience.

Here is how you can help us with that test:


 * We would like your permission to run video tests on 10 article pages, using placement options like the one on Harry Potter Wiki's List of spells page. Those pages are:
 * http://dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/Wicked_Eyes_and_Wicked_Hearts
 * http://dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/Sit_in_Judgment
 * http://dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/Dragon_Age:_Inquisition
 * http://dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/War_table
 * http://dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/Here_Lies_the_Abyss
 * http://dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Dragon_Age:_Inquisition_multiplayer_armor
 * http://dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/Romance_(Inquisition)
 * http://dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/Divine_election
 * http://dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/Trespasser
 * http://dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/What_Pride_Had_Wrought
 * We would like your permission to run tests around changed article styles, like the navigation menu, across the whole wiki.
 * Tests will change throughout the process and adjust as we learn more.
 * Give us feedback any time in the process!
 * We have an FAQ page where we address more information about these tests.

Can we run the test on your wiki? It would be great to have you on board!

Feel free to reach out to me with any questions. Thanks! Springteufel (talk) 14:24, March 15, 2017 (UTC)

Well, we have a pretty strict video policy right now, and I can see a need for us to discuss possible changes to it as a community once this new feature becomes mandatory. And I'll admit I'm one of the guilty who uses adblocker because dynamic video ads make it nearly impossible for me to edit articles on my less than stellar laptop, so I'm skeptical of how this will affect us in the long run. Personally, I'd feel more comfortable exploring this at a later time when it's in the final stages, rather than be a test subject. -- 01:45, March 17, 2017 (UTC)


 * Hey Kelcat, thanks for your feedback! Let me explain a little bit more in detail how the test will look like: Differently to former tests we don't want to have clear borders between the test period and the improvement of the feature to be able to change and improve the product every time we got new data and insights.
 * The Modernization Project is a topic that touches several areas in the communities. Videos are one part and so are the article and page header. Maybe you read the blog post about it. We want to have a new and modern look and feeling for the communities.
 * A clear definition of the end of a test phase is not really necessary -- we want to improve the placement of the videos, the video content and the player ongoing in the following time. And therefore we need your help. On the one hand your direct feedback (from you and all the Admins and users) is super helpful, on the other hand the Dragon Age wiki is a strong community that could help us to gather data about how user think about the video: Do they watch them? Do they end them in the middle? Do they continue to read the article while listening to the video? Possibly we also include a way to rate the videos. Coming to the point where you said, you would like to explore the final result: Participating the test at this early stage gives you the possibility to see the feature grow and the chance to improve it with your experience.
 * Did you see the example on Mass Effect or Harry Potter wiki? Those are two examples where video content underlines the text content on the page.
 * Does that make sense for you? Can you imagine to participate in the tests and give us feedback? Is there maybe something I should clarify more? Springteufel (talk) 14:53, March 22, 2017 (UTC)
 * To be really honest and blunt, the videos on the Mass Effect and Harry Potter wikis you point to strike me as a triumph of form over over function, that they add nothing to the content of the page, just flashy special effects. On the other hand, I would like to revisit DA:Video at some point because I believe there are times when videos do help.  An example is the Gears in the Deep Roads walkthrough where a video showing the spots where the gears are is much more effective as a tutorial than the descriptions there.  But even then, I think a simple link to the video is sufficient.  It doesn't need to be embedded at the top with one of those annoying floater things that forces the video to follow the page as I scroll.  DaBarkspawn (talk) 15:18, March 22, 2017 (UTC)


 * Thank you for going into more detail, and I do understand where you're coming from. I also understand that this is a feature that will eventually be implemented on all wikias, regardless of user opinion (which I'm fine with, ad revenue is what keeps you going). However, I don't feel that it would be beneficial to our community to be a part of this particular testing right now, and the Harry Potter examples you mentioned reinforced my opinion on that. This wiki has always been super light on video content, so this is going to be a major change for us. That's why I would rather we not be a test subject, and I'm hoping you'll respect that.

I saw the info about header modernization and am really excited about that, though! -- 17:56, March 22, 2017 (UTC)


 * Hey DaBarkspawn, hey Kelcat, first of all for you helpful answer. I understand your concerns and I talked to several communities in the last days and weeks that have a similar history with their wiki.
 * Wikis developed over a long time but still many of them are based on the idea to focus on text- and picture-information. That makes sense very often and can be highly structured and helpful. But apart from media evolution, also the behavior of users in the internet changed: Video and audio formats are available everywhere and you can often decide on how you want to consume content: Do I want to listen to a podcast? Do I want to read an extensive article? Do I want to see a short video? And all of these media are valuable on their own -- it really depends on the user, the moment and the need. The videos on the wikis could also sum up the article in a short and entertaining way. That could make the community also attractive for people who never where a fan of wikis and get curious through the short video introduction. Also, and I am also talking about myself here ;) sometimes users from outside a wiki, that enjoy your great content, have a different view on media than we editors do. I think there could be a way to make both sides happy.
 * Ok let me come back to wiki videos after this trip in the "History Media evolution" ;) What I can read from your comments is that you understand our need to improve on the one hand our ad system and that we need to make changes on the other hand, also not all communities agree on that in every detail. I really appreciate that stance and of course I will accept your opinion.
 * But I would really like to figure out a way to find a solution for the both of us. I got something in mind like:
 * We have the chance to share the first vide we create for the wiki with you ahead so you can check it.
 * Since you are not really convinced of the videos I showed to you yet, would you maybe be interested in writing a video script for us that we can turn into a video and use to understand your idea of a good video?
 * Do you maybe have a good idea how we can come together? Because I think especially because you have a critical stance to videos in your wiki it is important to find a well working solution for the future.
 * Thank you!Springteufel (talk) 10:09, March 23, 2017 (UTC)
 * PS.: Happy to hear you like the header! :) I also think they are great!

Missing Picture category
Hello,

Im looking for category for pages that have template in the article. Im currently back playing my old game dragon age 2 and maybe I can help adding pictures that needed in the article. Can you help show me the category page? Wiryawan310 (talk) 06:28, May 1, 2017 (UTC)


 * We can always use help with images! The category you're looking for is here. -- 17:54, May 1, 2017 (UTC)

Spoiler Template
Hello, I have some questions regarding the Spoiler Template I am wondering sho I shoudl talk to.


 * I might be able to help you out. What do you want to know? -- 17:54, May 1, 2017 (UTC)

Another spoiler template problem
I also have problem with spoiler template when trying to fix Victoria page with no success, I remove the spoiler template, putting the codex icon like another article, and want to put the spoiler template back but when i see in preview it not working.

the result spoiler template is like this:

so there is no "click here to reveal" option, the template show the content immediately when i open the page. can you help to fix it? Wiryawan310 (talk) 04:19, May 8, 2017 (UTC)


 * Sometimes it does that when you look at it in the preview screen. The wikia is set up to "remember" when you've clicked on a spoiler tag to reveal the hidden info, so that when you visit that page in the future the info behind the spoiler tag is automatically revealed so you don't have to click on the tag again (not sure if that made sense). Anyway, that might be what is happening. Since you already clicked on the spoiler tag on that article, when you make a change to it it is still going to reveal the info. Try clicking on the tag again and it should revert back to hiding the info and displaying that "click here to reveal" option.
 * The page looks like it's working now, so either you or someone else did manage to get it fixed already, yay! -- 22:44, May 9, 2017 (UTC)

Category Definition Problem
I think http://dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Animals has a issue around defining what an animal is. I'm willing accept that things that have no earth analog, like nugs and fennec are animals, less so with things like phoenix and quillbacks and I have no idea why things like deep stalkers and ghasts are in the category at all. Thoughts? DaBarkspawn (talk) 19:05, June 21, 2017 (UTC)


 * Yeah, I've never liked that category and think it's fairly useless. There aren't any articles in that category that wouldn't fit under other creature type categories. I'm going to propose deleting it as it seems redundant and just keeps getting added to irrelevant articles. -- 03:35, June 23, 2017 (UTC)


 * Deleting works for me. DaBarkspawn (talk) 04:43, June 23, 2017 (UTC)


 * I am thinking of doing this deletion (along with the work on the other pages as required) within the next week. Someone should speak up if the believe this shouldn't happen.  DaBarkspawn (talk) 17:44, July 8, 2017 (UTC)

Just saw this. I'll go ahead and use my bot to speed up the process. I think the nomination has been there long enough that we don't need to give it any more time. 18:19, July 8, 2017 (UTC)


 * Thanks, Loleil. I'd been planning on taking care of it this weekend so having your bot do it would be much appreciated! -- 18:21, July 8, 2017 (UTC)


 * Thanks! Happy not to have to do the work manually. DaBarkspawn (talk) 18:25, July 8, 2017 (UTC)


 * Done! Bots are a real life saver for tasks like this.  18:30, July 8, 2017 (UTC)

Hm…
Sometimes I don't get your decisions …

What was the harm? And why not only archive it, instead of sysop-protection?

No harm to you, just some … wondering … -- -- You talkin' to me? -- cCContributions -- 07:32, June 26, 2017 (UTC)


 * The thread was 6 years old. There was no need to revive it, which is why there's a banner at the top of old forums saying "the discussion is over. Do not continue it unless it really needs a response." The vast majority of the time that old threads are revived it's by trolls, either continuing the thread or just adding nonsense words for some reason, so I've just made it a habit of sysop protecting all needlessly necro'd threads to keep others from mistakenly thinking it's a new forum and also replying. There's no way to archive a forum manually, it's something that automatically happens when the forum gets old enough (not sure of the number of days). -- 07:57, June 26, 2017 (UTC)


 * Okay, understood. And, as said – no offense, absolutely not. (Not against you, never!)
 * So it's more a community guideline thing, than a personal … What's the harm in adding some comment on a really, really old forum topic? In this case it wasn't nonsense. Yeah, sig missing, but else? And I don't believe this leading to a flood of spam on that topic.
 * You don't have to reply to this, just musing … -- UserCCCSig.png -- You talkin' to me? -- cCContributions -- 08:50, June 26, 2017 (UTC)


 * Not offended at all, promise! And it's more to do with trying to be consistent with maintaining the guidelines than whatever was actually written. I figure people can make new forums for new discussions. -- 20:39, June 26, 2017 (UTC)

Spam
I consider these last article comments (and only contributions by that user) spam.


 * 13:28:02
 * 16:03:54
 * 16:07:56

Unfortunately there's no "report" feature for these posts … -- -- You talkin' to me? -- cCContributions -- 16:07, June 28, 2017 (UTC)


 * Deleted and blocked, thanks for letting me know! -- 18:12, June 28, 2017 (UTC)

Category for Images
Hey whats the category tag for developer statements? - 02:43, June 29, 2017 (UTC)


 * I don't know that we even have one; I think I've seen most classified under User Images. It may not be a bad idea to create a separate category, though. -- 03:03, June 29, 2017 (UTC)


 * That is what I was thinking. We've probably got enough of these clarification statements now that it would be actually useful.

- 03:43, June 30, 2017 (UTC)

Diverting Soldiers in the Frostbacks
An anonymous user keeps trying to change the mission time of Diverting Soldiers in the Frostbacks to something other than the policy of base time before any reductions. You may need to lock the page. DaBarkspawn (talk) 21:21, July 2, 2017 (UTC)


 * I'll keep an eye on it, thanks. -- 22:53, July 2, 2017 (UTC)

I like your style …
… of responses. -- -- You talkin' to me? -- cCContributions -- 00:43, July 10, 2017 (UTC)

What is an abomination?
I know we've gone back and forth a lot on this with regards to Anders, but the more I think about it, the more I wonder. On Abomination, the definition is:

An abomination is a creature created when a demon possesses a living being with magical abilities.

and Anders is listed on that page under Notable abominations.

So, Anders is definitely a living being with magical abilities. Is the issue whether or not Justice/Vengeance is a demon? In terms of actions, Anders certainly does awful things that he himself says he wouldn't have done if it wasn't for the malevolent presence inside of him. That sounds like a demon to me.

Let me know where the gap in this thinking is. DaBarkspawn (talk) 02:30, July 13, 2017 (UTC)


 * Anders is one of those special cases that aren't black and white, in my thinking. He was originally possessed by Justice, who is definitely a spirit. Which would definitely make Anders not an abomination. The grey area starts when Justice turns into Vengeance who is a demon, which is (if I remember right, I haven't read all the books) a unique situation. Anders still retains his humanity which abominations definitely do not. And it's been said by the developers before that it would be possible for Anders to be separated from Justice/Vengeance, which is also something that can't be done with abominations. So he's a special snowflake . I'm up to opening it to a wider debate with others, but he just doesn't fit the classical definition of abomination, so I don't think it should be in his infobox. The article does a clear enough job explaining the situation. -- 02:40, July 13, 2017 (UTC)~


 * There are two that Anders reminds me of: Connor Guerrin and Kelder Vanard. Both possessed by demons, both in normal human form and both still possessing their humanities.  And as with the developer comments on Anders, it is possible for the Warden to remove the desire demon from Connor without killing him even though both Jowan and Teagan refer to Connor as an abomination. What seems to me to really be the case (and to jump into the meta) is that the developers themselves have not had a consistent definition of what an abomination is, one that moves around depending on what the plot demands: Connor can live free of the demon, Anders and Kelder can live possessed or be slain.  So, yeah, I think leaving it in the article is the right thing to do.  DaBarkspawn (talk) 03:08, July 13, 2017 (UTC)


 * How the hell did I forget about Connor? Origins just became backwards compatible on the XOne so I definitely need to replay it to refresh my memory on all things Dragon Age. -- 04:20, July 13, 2017 (UTC)


 * I'm not sure that Kelder Vanard was an abomination or simply a crazy man that acusse the demons to simply justify his madness, his "demons" can simply be schizophrenia. Otherwise, most of the descriptions of abominations was Chantry's source. For them, even Wynne and Sigrid Guldsdotten are abomination and both are hosts of spirits. I remember when The Augur explain Sigrid Guldsdotten's situation and Cassandra's first reaction is acusse her of being an abomination. --Virrac (talk) 04:30, July 13, 2017 (UTC)
 * Sorry for remove a comment. It was accidental. --Virrac (talk) 04:41, July 13, 2017 (UTC)

>> It was the consensus and a few members of the old administration had also posted threads on the old BSN forums asking for confirmation to the devs - D-Day and KingCousland specifically - I am not sure if they received any, but it seemed to resonate within the community that Anders is indeed an abomination and that Justice is a demon - also Anders specifically states that Justice and Vengeance are one after Tranquility, which seems to me that your general crusading against my revisions seems borne out of whimsy rather than of facts, especially given that I posted sources on it - Anders himself admits he is an abomination, and that Justice is a demon - now you're telling me that you are a better authority than Anders to describe what he is? Seems rather irrational, if not outright pathological to me. --Loub (talk) 02:42, July 13, 2017 (UTC)


 * Please watch your tone. I'm willing to have discussions, but not if you hurl insults. Calling my actions and comments "pathological" is not appropriate.


 * Concur completely. Sorry to have invoked this accidentally. DaBarkspawn (talk) 03:09, July 13, 2017 (UTC)
 * No worries -- 04:20, July 13, 2017 (UTC)


 * As I said, it's not a black and white situation and therefore it's more appropriate to keep the information in the body of the article (where it's all highly detailed) rather than add an absolute to the infobox. It's also a large and rather unnecessary spoiler. Can you point me to where a consensus was reached on this wiki that Anders is an abomination? That would be helpful. -- 02:50, July 13, 2017 (UTC)
 * I am sorry for that particular outburst, ma'am.
 * Most of the info for Dragon Age 2, as well as all of my contributions were made on 2011, time in which the Wikia had recently added a chat function - we, as a community, made a decision, perhaps an unwise one, to take all discussions and request into the chat, which I am still banned from because one member accused me of, presumably sexual, harassment, which is a laughable notion given that 1. I was 16 at the time 2. I am very, very flamboyantly gay and 3. The particular conversations I had with this particular member involved cognitive psychology, which apparently she took as 'Bizarre' given my fascination with the subject, mostly because a book title 'The Man who Mistook his Wife for a Hat' had come into my possession at the time. Also I repeatedly called Alain 'the hottest piece of ass in Kirkwall' and she told me that he looked like OJ Simpson and later that someone who resembled him had raped her I refused to press the matter further but then she PMed some very disturbing messages with info contradictory to what she publicly alleged to.


 * I also added texture scans from the game which showed that Isabela had fully modeled and detailed genitals included in the official HD texture DLC, which I put in the trivia tab of her article as well as links to the files which I personally and directly extracted from the game - they involved approximately 4 inch long pubic hairs and about 4 dozen genital warts of indeterminate origin between her crotch, inner thighs and buttock areas. The then admin D-Day who had an image of a red-haired woman with hazel eyes, a cup of indeterminate liquid of dark aspect with the saying "How about a nice cup of 'Shut the Fuck Up'" then asked me to remove them, which I obliged.


 * Back to the chat - the entire community was on there, I have no idea if there are logs or if contact with the former admins is possible, but it was a repository of information pertaining to the game, mostly coupled with the fact that the BSN was incredibly active at the time and that we were all members, which reduced the amount of academic incest usually displayed by specific websites.
 * I have no idea what I meant to say but as you can see I am an incredibly odd individual with photographic memory, too much knowledge, too little social graces and incredible obsession with particular topics.
 * Again, I am deeply sorry if I came across as rude or arrogant, I did not mean to, it is just that it is staggeringly difficult to convey emotion in text and trying to make sense of such esoteric social nuances is not only cumbersome but ultimately boring
 * I should probably make a prper introduction, but I can't do such under the cold dead constraints of a dark-colored and polluted webpage layout which makes me feel as if I am not only being watched but also tickled by goat tongues to the point of torture --Loub (talk) 03:16, July 13, 2017 (UTC)


 * Yeah, chat has definitely fallen off and we don't have logs of it. I'd highly encourage you to create a discussion on Anders' talk page if you feel it's important to have him listed as an abomination in his infobox and in the categories. If consensus is that he should indeed be classified as such, I'll go with it (though I may grumble to myself a bit). -- 04:20, July 13, 2017 (UTC)

Solas and Flemeth edits
In the course of this here – could please somebody check these edits: I don't want to get spoilered too much before getting to certain plot points, thus I can't do it. -- -- You talkin' to me? -- cCContributions -- 03:06, July 13, 2017 (UTC)
 * Solas
 * Flemeth


 * The second one is under a spoiler tag. As for the first one, there is no way to put a category tag in a spoiler that I know of.  DaBarkspawn (talk) 03:11, July 13, 2017 (UTC)


 * For the first one: I was a little shocked as I saw the edit; I'm not through the game – I know something evident will be with Solas at the end (perhaps of Trespasser). Just wanted someone knowledgable check the fact. No, you can't spoiler a category.
 * The second: Spoiler, sure, but for Origins? That's not enough. That paragraph should be splitted or something like that. What I understood by glimpsing to the related page, is that this part would need SpoilerTSG, but I'm not sure.
 * Due to the inserted comments further above, I've given this a separate heading. -- UserCCCSig.png -- You talkin' to me? -- cCContributions -- 03:39, July 13, 2017 (UTC)
 * I have since rectified this, I am sorry for any inconvenience caused - as a side-note I was the one to put the info found under the origins spoilers header in place 7 years ago, which is also likely why the grammar was so umbecomingly poor.
 * That particular excerpt has also been improved about twenty-sevenfold in terms of flow and syntax, which should be a plus for fellow linguists --Loub (talk) 04:03, July 13, 2017 (UTC)

Extreme Reformatting and trivia required for DAI abilities
It has come to my attention after the 6 year ban that was imposed on me has been lifted that the skills section of this wiki have become absolutely dreadful in my absence - mostly because apparently no one here is a minmaxer anymore - I would like to ask for permission to do a major, if not outright ground-up, revision and linking to discussion threads on multiple strategy sites and forums, as well as modder's resources, so that this wiki may be a better source of info on the quirks and glitches that make the Inquisition metagame the paradoxical entity it is nowadays --Loub (talk) 02:48, July 13, 2017 (UTC)


 * Do you just mean the Skills article, or are you talking about other articles as well? A major rehaul would likely require a community consensus--it's not up to an admin to give permission or denial for that sort of thing. I'd suggest creating a sandbox showing exactly what you have in mind, and then creating a forum to see what others think. -- 02:53, July 13, 2017 (UTC)


 * Maybe DAI Abilities? DaBarkspawn (talk) 02:59, July 13, 2017 (UTC)

Deeply Sorry
I must say I am not really at my best today. I feel as if I owe you an apology, which frankly I do - I got a bit carried away by my own anger at the fact I had an allergic reaction to the pasty I ate today - it had shrimp which I'm allergic to so I had to take an adrenaline shot to the inner thigh which may have muddled my perception. I am not very good with words I am afraid, and I really don't know how to make an apology without going roundaboutedly waxing about how I like staring at cracks in the ceiling and wondering that someone should really fix them. So about me - I used to be part of this community before I got into disagreements with the administration due to the fact I fabricated info about myself when they pressed me for it, which would probably be a criminal offense on their part but like I said, there is not much a 16-year old college student can do. Oh well, I am making a mess of it - I am not usually this rude or erratic, like I said - Adrenaline shot, which is also why I am erratic. I have Asperger's, which is usually used as an excuse to be a dick by people who do not have Asperger's so I maybe should not have used it, but I really do have it and all of us legit Aspies have this bizarre insinstence on being precise which makes us seem bizarre. Also the adrenaline makes me forget what line of thought I was following which makes me even stranger. Be safe, I forgot why I waas posting this but I think it was important. Bye I really need to pee

Lucas Loub Polhmann-Teles, 00244854@ufrgs.br - DEE, setor de Educação Especial, FACED-UFRGS.


 * Hey, no worries, really. Everyone has days and I've had more than my own share, believe me. I'm Bipolar and have acute social anxiety so I can empathize about misunderstandings Though I have to say it must suck to be allergic to shrimp--it's one of my favorite foods! I'm sorry if you had a bad past experience with admins here, but I hope you'll stick around and help with editing, because we can definitely use the extra hands. -- 04:20, July 13, 2017 (UTC)

Knight Errant new spoiler image
Hello.

I found this nice image in issue 3 of the comic book.

http://i.imgur.com/WVZlTmI.jpg

I think it would look nice as a spoiler tag, definitely a lot better that the current one.

Let me know if you want me to shape it into a tag. xxoo  henioo     (da talk page)  23:08, July 13, 2017 (UTC)


 * Ooh, I like that! Fix it up and I'll replace the old one -- 00:13, July 14, 2017 (UTC)


 * Right, here's what it looks like:

http://i.imgur.com/0NamyZJ.png


 * And how it would appear on the spoilertag:

http://i.imgur.com/8FsChfL.jpg


 * I'm not sure about the long hairs sticking out, so here's a version with a haircut:

http://i.imgur.com/DAVHlq1.jpg


 * Lemme know what's what. User signature henioo.png  henioo    (da talk page)  20:29, July 14, 2017 (UTC)


 * I've an opinion, too. First, without haircut. And I could imagine, that the spoiler looks better with her (is this a she?) facing left, like in the original. That more appears as someone behind her back would try to reveal the spoiler and she's suddenly turning around … er … I hope you understand what I'm meaning. -- UserCCCSig.png -- You talkin' to me? -- cCContributions -- 20:45, July 14, 2017 (UTC)


 * All of the spoiler tags have either the image to the left or centered. User signature henioo.png  henioo    (da talk page)  20:59, July 14, 2017 (UTC)


 * Good golly, I forgot about this as usual. I like the image with the strands of hair, and I think reversing the image was a good choice as it matches the other spoiler images, I'll replace the image posthaste.

Stacking Question
Hello. i was trying to figure out if ability rings stack. I was looking at a Dragon Age wiki and noticed that it reccommend stacking rings (http://dragoninquisition.com/best-armor-accessories/). Most other topic sites like reddit and gamefaqs people say rings DO NOT stack. I don't know if this is true on multiplayer but would like to see some proof to the contrary. I am currently Running Templar and have two Critical Chance rings. I hope i'm not wasting my abilities--Benzo13 (talk) 01:34, August 6, 2017 (UTC)

Magistrate's Orders
There seems to be a fair bit of thrashing around on Magistrate's Orders - rewriting and reorganizing with more or less equivalent text and not really moving forward. Just a heads-up. DaBarkspawn (talk) 03:30, August 10, 2017 (UTC)

Mods Policy
Does this wiki have a policy on mods versus official 'vanilla' versions? I know that on the Skyrim wiki, which I also edit on, there is a strict rule against references to anything that isn't part of a Bethesda release because mods there are endless and can create all kinds of weird situations. I ask because of this edit: http://dragonage.wikia.com/index.php?title=Magi_Origin&diff=798508&oldid=798415 which produces the line "All bugs listed on this page can be solved for pcusers by downloading and installing Qwinn's Fixpack mod." which in addition to being a mod reference also feels like advertising to me. Thoughts? DaBarkspawn (talk) 00:44, September 8, 2017 (UTC)


 * We do have a policy, which you can read here. You can also read about a discussion with Loleil about this particular mod (http://dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/User_talk:Loleil#DAO_Ultimate_Fixpack). Personally, I agree with you about this feeling too much like advertising, especially since the creator solicits donations on their website, but it does technically fit within our guidelines. -- 00:59, September 8, 2017 (UTC)


 * Gotcha, thanks. DaBarkspawn (talk) 01:49, September 8, 2017 (UTC)

Deletion & permission request
Hey-O, HacktasticToken833 has requested that two of his comments be deleted in Discussions, could you please do so for him? Secondly; I am a Global Discussions Moderator, but as I am not assigned to this community I am not permitted to moderate your Discussions area in any fashion, nor would I presume to do so without your permission. I would like to request that, should situations like this arise with users asking for help, or if conversations got out of hand without a moderator present, that I be given permission to use my rights to help out on the Discussions area here. I would be happy to follow any guidelines or restrictions you set forth, or to wait for community approval, but I would like to be of help if you would allow me. If not, then I will of course respect your decision & act as any normal user on the Wiki & exercise none of my rights. Thanks for your consideration,


 * Thanks for the heads-up on the deletion requests, I've taken care of them (though unfortunately I have to block anyone who admits to being underage).


 * As far as having mod rights, I appreciate the offer but I'd prefer not to just because I don't want the Discussions to become "top heavy". We've got two dedicated moderators and an admin who checks in semi-frequently and I feel like that's more than enough to handle the light amount of traffic we have. If things pick up, I'd definitely approach you before anyone else though, as I think you mesh well with our community -- 04:05, September 10, 2017 (UTC)


 * You are welcome, & thank you.

Antivan Crow Surname
Hey, I was thinking, given that House Aranai is a family house of the antivan crows and zevran, an elf, has aranai as his surname, can we safely presume that everyone in the house takes the surname and should we then update the articles to reflect that? - 07:29, September 25, 2017 (UTC)


 * It's certainly a possibility that they share his surname now, but I think it's too big of an assumption to make without dev confirmation. Maybe you could work some of your twitter magic?  09:24, September 26, 2017 (UTC)

Belated Congratulations
Also Belated Congratulations on getting promoted to bureaucrat! You've earned it kelcat! - 07:32, September 25, 2017 (UTC)


 * Thanks!! It makes me super happy to be part of such an awesome and friendly wiki! 09:24, September 26, 2017 (UTC)

Building a Sandbox
Hey, not sure why I didn't think to do this sooner, but I'd like to make a sandbox. Is it the same procedure as on any other wiki (I've made them on others), i.e. just make a new blank page User:RShepard227/Sandbox, or is there an extra step or rule to follow here?

03:32, October 3, 2017 (UTC)


 * Nope, there aren't any additional rules; just create it exactly like you said.  06:44, October 3, 2017 (UTC)

Proposed Style Changes
I would like to propose the following changes to styles for quest pages, amending Editing Guidelines and Manual of Style.


 * 1) Amend What Tone to Use and Protagonist to say that for quest walkthroughs, the writing should always be in the third person referencing the main character, "When The Warden arrives in Redcliffe..." not "When you arrive in Redcliffe...", or the implied person "Head east down the path to the second camp." not "You then go east down the path to the second camp."  Currently, only first person is excluded.
 * 2) Amend Writing to exclude non-quest specific combat strategies from quest walkthroughs.  For example, if a dragon appears in a quest, the combat strategy is on one of these pages Strategies.  I would also like to see those strategies refactored to account for different playstyles, builds, difficulty levels and so on, but that's a different project.

Thoughts? DaBarkspawn (talk) 19:43, October 5, 2017 (UTC)


 * These sound like great ideas, the first one especially. I’d suggest making a forum post about it to see if you can get feedback and consensus from other users. 03:14, October 10, 2017 (UTC)


 * I am definitely in support of the first proposal. I would support the second as well with a couple of clarifications. In this new model would a link to the standardized strategy be included as standard practice? Also would strategy pages for unique enemies be merged into the quest and/enemy articles?

- 07:43, October 10, 2017 (UTC)


 * Thanks! For the first question, yes, I think that is a good idea.  For unique opponents, I don't think of them as "non-quest specific", so the rule doesn't strictly apply.  I think the page flows better if the strategy is on a different page, but the main problem that I see and want to fix is that of nearly duplicated yet slightly different strategies for the same opponent in different places and that doesn't occur with uniques.  DaBarkspawn (talk) 14:25, October 10, 2017 (UTC)


 * Forum post here: Proposed Style Changes DaBarkspawn (talk) 22:11, October 13, 2017 (UTC)

I've added my 2 cents -- 21:21, October 14, 2017 (UTC)


 * Thanks! DaBarkspawn (talk) 21:39, October 14, 2017 (UTC)

Discussions Scripts followup
In this post you recommended I make a Forum post about script installments designed to increase Discussions visibility, so that a community vote of some sorts could occur. I have done so, & I asked if I did anything improperly, but I think perhaps you did not get the notification & the Forum itself went overlooked. Does this mean the idea shall be abandoned, or is there anything I or you could do to jumpstart that discussion?


 * I think the main issue is that people who contribute to the wiki don't participate in discussions, so they may be ambivalent to any proposals to do with it. And people who use discussions may not even know the forums exist. Your best bet would be to make a new post in discussions pointing people to the forum post and asking them to comment there if they have opinions about it. Personally, I just don't feel strongly enough about it either way to wade into the discussion. But if you don't get any support for the proposals, then yes, we wouldn't make the changes. 21:21, October 14, 2017 (UTC)


 * Aye, it is true, but the point of those scripts would be to help bridge the gap you accurately pointed out & encourage greater integration & overlap; it’s often easier to get Discussion users to develop into editors if there are editors present to give them information, & if editors can actually see the conversations taking place they can often become inclined to toss a few cents in, maybe more. Nevertheless I shall take your advice.