DuneWiki thread

[Dunenewt]

I've just noticed that practically every hour the DuneWiki is being vandalised.  Does anyone know of any possible way of having new members the Wiki have to be vetted by a Wiki Admin before they can edit or create?

[Andrew]

There should be a way to have members have to be allowed to edit.

I know miranda wiki used to have it where you would sign up, and then an admin would allow your account to do stuff (once they knew who you were they would allow to edit/create articles)

[Dunenewt]

I've tried every link on the DuneWiki, and I can't find a way of editing user group privileges.

[Dunenewt]

It is getting beyond a joke now, does anyone have any idea how to change privileges or even putting one of those images when you sign up, where you have to read the numbers?

[Andrew]

Simple solution: you have to sign up to make edits.

Make it so!

EDIT:

Looked at one of the recent spam you got rid of dunenewt and it almost froze/crashed web browser. Something needs to be done.

EDIT:

oops looks like bots are signing up and spamming.

[Dunenewt]

That's the problem, people are signing up, rather, spambots are signing up, and I have no way of stopping them.

[Gobalopper]

It may be easiest to just turn off public user registration... but I don't know if that is possible.

[SandChigger]

Found this online:

How to disable registration for MediaWiki?

If you want to disable the option for your MediaWiki visitors to register accounts at your MediaWiki website you will have to add the following line in the LocalSettings.php file:

$wgGroupPermissions['*']['createaccount'] = false;

[snip stuff pertinent only to the provider concerned]

6. [Download a copy of your] LocalSettings.php file [for editing.]

7. Look for a line that starts with $wgGroupPermissions. If there is no such line you should add it yourself and if there already is such a line you should edit it to look this way

$wgGroupPermissions['*']['createaccount'] = false;

8. Save the edited LocalSettings.php file and [upload it to the server and] the new users account creation will be disabled.

I've hacked (=the good meaning, not as in "cracking") MediaWiki for various installations over the last few years. I've got a really old version running on the website for my students and a new one on my Hairy Ticks website for the Dune Concordance project some of us are working on. Both have additional login code I've added to keep out the riffraff. ;)

Since your wiki, unlike mine, is accessible to the public, probably the easiest thing for you to do would be to disable unregistered edits and new registrations and set up some way for people to contact you to let you know they want to apply for an account. (A special form page? A guestbook like set-up?) A bit more work for the admin(s), but much less hassle for everyone with spammers in the long run.

I'm no super wikiGAWD power user, but feel free to contact me with questions. :)

[Dunenewt]

I don't know how to edit the LocalSettings.php though.  I saw something on the MediaWiki manual, like what you've posted, but as I don't seem to have access to the LocalSettings.php there's nothing I can do.

[Gobalopper]

Ok, I've added that line. It should help with the spam considerably.

[Dunenewt]

Thanks! It will take a while removing all the spam pages, but there wont be any more hopefully. How do people sign up for the Wiki now? Is there any way to link the user database of the forums with the Wiki?

Edit - I think I've discovered a way that I can add users myself.

[MrFlibble]

I've had a an account, but I think I lost my password :( Anyhoo, I don't have time to contribute to the Wiki right now, but there is some interesting discussions going on in the forum, e.g. in the Dune Editing there are a few threads concerning Dune 2 modding/ EXE editing - could make some interesting material for the Wiki (e.g. fun facts about Dune 2), provided somebody bothered collecting them and converting into more readable format :)

[Dunenewt]

I've been taking information from the site and adding it to the DuneWiki, in an effort to integrate the Wiki into the site more.  Gob, would there be any chance to change the links on the Fed2k homepage to link to the Wiki more often, when I have finished, eg, the Site History (did you want me to update that as well?), and the Duniverse sections.