This is, as the title suggests, a collected list of frequently asked questions regarding the functionality of Project Foundation. Please feel free to ask questions in this thread as well, and I will collect them into this main post as necessary.
General Site Questions
Q: Will I have to create a new account? If so, how I retain credit over what I've written?
A: Yes. However, you will also be able to migrate your account from Wikidot, which will automatically attribute all imported works by you to your new account. Anyone who has ever written a scp, supplement, guide, or tale, posted a comment to any such page or voted on the above has already had their name reserved on Project Foundation. If you are one of these people, then migrating your Wikidot account to Project Foundation is a simple process that will simply require you to create a specific page on Wikidot in order to prove that you are who you say you are. This process will be clearly documented and can be done in just a few minutes.
Q: Where is Project Foundation?
A: Project Foundation is currently hosted at http://foundation.eorbit.net by murphy_slaw for testing. The current plan is to lease a dedicated server when the migration is ready, and assign the http://scpfoundation.org domain (and the http://scpfoundation.com redirect) to the new server. The test site is currently locked down with a registration key; this key will be given to all staff upon the conclusion of Phase One and the start of beta testing.
Q: Why exactly are we moving to a new site again, and why all this fanciness?
A: Wikidot has proven to be seriously unstable, resulting in periods with loss of service, extreme lag, and multiple posts. To exacerbate this, Wikidots' terms of service allow them to moderate any of their hosted sites without consulting or warning Foundation staff. This has been exercised in the past, and effectively means that Foundation staff do not have full control over the site's contents.
Project Foundation, despite being a huge project, is significantly more efficient than trying to mold an existing Content Management System (CMS) or Wiki into shape for our needs. Not only would it take just as long to compile or modify all the plugins or addons necessary to make something like Wikimedia work exactly how we need it to, constant maintenance would be required to keep up to date with new releases of software outside of our control. As someone who has had to customize a Wikimedia solution before, this is not a fun process, and there are people in the field who literally make a living off of doing work of this complexity. Project Foundation has the further advantage of being exactly what we need. Staff are able to dictate the exact feature list and determine the precise way in which each site module works; in the end, PF will fit like a glove for what the Foundation does.
Page Questions
Q: Will I have to learn a new type of wikicode?
A: For the most part, no. Project Foundation's wikicode is 99% the same as Wikidot's, with only minor changes to better suit the way in which the Foundation uses it. While it is inevitable that a handful of pages might have to be manually fixed after migration, the vast majority of existing articles will be automatically exported from Wikidot, translated, and imported into Project Foundation by Nala.
Q: (My page) is broken, can you fix it?
A: Please be patient, as Project Foundation and Nala are in constant development. Make note of it, and I will get around to fixing specific glitches as soon as possible.
Q: Will I get to keep the votes on my pages?
A: Yes. murphy_slaw has created a script that imports all vote data from Wikidot. However, at this time only votes from active users are tallied. This means that until a user migrates their account, their vote data will not be compiled into page ratings.
Q: Why are the hub pages locked?
A: Project Foundation stores the title and description of any page with the page itself. Hub pages such as SCP Series I and II will automatically collate this data and display it; as such, there is no need for anyone to ever edit the hub pages as they will update themselves as pages are created or deleted.
Q: I can't find the Add a New Page feature, where is it?
A: Project Foundation has a somewhat different page creation process than our old wiki; as all user-submitted content in Project Foundation must have a parent page, you can only create pages using creation links and page creation forms from existing hub pages. Only staff have the ability to create orphaned pages.
Q: Will the new site have better support for page author attribution?
A: Yes. Currently, Project Foundation has support for both Page Creator and Page Owner; the owner of a page has all the privileges and rights that the author on Wikidot has, including the ability to transfer ownership, rename, or delete a page. Page Owners can also assign Co-Owners, to support non-open collaborative works.
Q: What will happen to all the pages that were imported from the old EditThis wiki?
A: Project Foundation has a dummy user called (Unknown) that all works for whom an original author is unknown will be attributed to. Staff may then choose to give ownership of such pages to other users upon request.
Q: Will there be better support for collaborative works on the new site?
A: Yes. In addition to official support for co-authors on non-open collaborative works, there will be a specific feature for open collaborative logs with its own entry-specific rating system. This will be documented once it is ready.
Q: How do I make a sandbox on the new site?
A: Sandboxes will be integrated into Project Foundation, and there will be one-click capability for publishing a sandbox page to the main site, as well as returning deleted pages to your sandbox for revision.
Q: Mommy, mommy, do dead pages go to heaven?
A: No, pages on Project Foundation are never truly deleted. Even "hard-deleted" pages that have no trace left on main lists will be kept in an archive where they are still accessible by staff. Staff may undelete a page at any time, and the original author may reclaim deleted pages to their sandbox.
Forum Questions
Q: Will page discussion threads be migrated?
A: Yes, they already have. You can see them by hitting the Discuss button on the right side of any imported page.
Q: Will forum threads be migrated?
A: Due to the limitations of Wikidot's API and crippling bugs with the system that they have chosen to not address, it is not possible at this time to retain any forum threads at this time.
Q: What sort of improvements have been made to the post system?
A: The short list is:
- There will be a Slashdot-style post voting system where posts with negative scores get "folded away" and hidden, leaving only the most relevant and helpful posts at first glance.
- Posts from the page creator, page owner(s), and/or original poster are highlighted, as are posts that you (the current user) have made.
- The rank or position of each post's author is displayed next to their name; users will know at a glance what posts are from staff members and senior contributors.
- Staff members have the option of making an Official Post. If checked on the submission form, such posts will be distinctly highlighted and say "STAFF POST", "MODERATOR POST", or "ADMINISTRATOR POST" at the top, separating official actions from regular posts.
- Staff may choose to lock down branches of a thread, to stop an argument from spiraling out of control or dominating an otherwise productive thread.
Administrative, Moderator, and Staff Questions
Q: What will happen to the O5 site?
A: Staff will have the ability to create staff-only pages, subsections, and forums on Project Foundation, which can either be public or private. These pages will be outside of the standard changes list and will effectively integrate O5 Command into the regular site.
Q: Will there be increased accountability for moderator activity?
A: Yes. All activity in Project Foundation is logged, and comments are required for actions from moderators against pages that are not theirs.
Miscellaneous
Q: What if my question isn't answered here?
A: Feel free to reply in this forum thread, or contact Mackenzie/Aelanna on IRC at any time.
