Q: So comment threads won't be deleted when SCPs are deleted? How does that work? Especially when SCPs get reposted?
A: Comments are made towards a specific revision, and yes, they can be automatically hidden in case of a major revision such as a repost.

Mackenzie, feel free to elaborate if I misrepresented.

i'd say right around the time that staff start beta testing it would be a good time?

At what point should we make a public announcement of this? And if it has already been done, please direct me, and I am ashamed.

Conversely, authors may open up sandboxed drafts to voting if they so choose.

Q: What happens to votes already cast on articles when they are kicked back to the sandbox?

Q: Could those unfamiliar with Slashdot's discussion system get a quick summary of how it works so they can understand the context of some of this?
A: Slashdot, which is an extremely popular technical news site, uses moderator points to determine the relevance of any particular thread post. Posts can be upvoted via adjectives such as "informative", "insightful", and so on, while negative adjectives such as "flame", "troll", "inappropriate" and so on are used to downvote it. As most threads easily push into the hundreds of replies, this is critical in filtering useful dialogue; posts that are below +3 get "folded" down, displaying only their titles until you click on them. Posts below 0 are hidden from regular users.

User-specific settings can override the defaults, and our system may not work exactly like this, but this is a general idea. Certain details are still being hashed out.

Q: Will the forums have visible neo-karma posts and avatars?
A: Yes. As mentioned before, users will have a new Karma system based on what senior staff determine to be the best measure of a user's activity and contribution to the Foundation. Avatars will be available as well, though current ones on Wikidot will not be automatically transferred over.

Q: What determines how many posts are on each page of a discussion page?
A: Currently, the number of posts per page is as low as 20 while keeping entire threads on one page. This is hard-coded at the moment, but will eventually be customizable.

Q: How many downvotes would it take to hide a comment?
A: This has not been determined yet, and hinges on who exactly is allowed to vote. On Slashdot, 5 moderator points are given to roughly 200 random people every day, with points expiring in 4 days if you do not use them. My personal suggestion would be to only allow Senior Staff or possibility Contributor level users to vote on comments; this is not a popularity contest, this is a judge of how relevant and useful someone's comments are. The final decision will be up to staff to decide.

To be noted, you cannot vote on posts that are written by you (obviously), and you cannot vote on posts in the discussion of a page that is owned by you.

Q: When you say to look at Slashdot for an idea of what the new forums will be like, you mean the voting functionality, not the aesthetic, right?
Q: Could those unfamiliar with Slashdot's discussion system get a quick summary of how it works so they can understand the context of some of this?
Q: Will the forums have visible neo-karma posts and avatars?
Q: What determines how many posts are on each page of a discussion page?
Q: How many downvotes would it take to hide a comment?

I'd personally want it to be more than one net downvote, to be sure that it actually reflects how useful a comment is rather than just how one person was feeling at the time.

Q: I heard about a user dashboard. How does that work?
A: The Dashboard is a page that gives you the ability to quickly scan for changes in site areas that you care about. While it will eventually be customizable, the plan is for the Dashboard to initially contain a) changes to pages you created, b) comments to pages you created, and c) changes or comments to pages that you have Bookmarked or Favorited.

Q: I hear that an email update system (like Wikidot's) is currently low in priority and may not be implemented. Will there be alternate options for following site activity?
A: See Dashboard above. Also, when we get to the IRC integration phase, there will be IRC notifications for those who hang around there.

Q: How does titling/numbering an SCP work? How would we be able to properly number an SCP without being able to directly assign a number, in the case of such suggested features as a slush pile?
A: When you place a sandbox page into the Submission Queue, you have the option of requesting a specific slot in the submission request comment. Staff may then move the page into the requested slot when the page is approved, or if it is full, they can simply stamp the page with their approval then send the page back to the author with an override allowing them to choose another slot without having to get approval again.

Q: Is it possible to get a "Random Article not Voted On" (or a "Random Article Null Voted On") link? Like how "Random SCP" works now.
A: Certainly. The system also tracks articles that you have never seen before, so you could browse that way as well.

Q: Is it possible to display total downvotes or total upvotes, rather than just the net score?
A: It is planned that when you click on the rating box for an article, it will pop up a detailed analysis of how it obtained that score. This will include total votes as well as a slew of statistical values.

Q: How will PMs work on Project Foundation?
Q: I heard about a user dashboard. How does that work?
Q: I hear that an email update system (like Wikidot's) is currently low in priority and may not be implemented. Will there be alternate options for following site activity?

And more user Qs directed at me inappropriately:

Q: How does titling/numbering an SCP work? How would we be able to properly number an SCP without being able to directly assign a number, in the case of such suggested features as a slush pile?
Q: Is it possible to get a "Random Article not Voted On" (or a "Random Article Null Voted On") link? Like how "Random SCP" works now.
Q: Is it possible to display total downvotes or total upvotes, rather than just the net score?

Q: As well will the member pages simply serve as a catalogue of user creations/revisions/comments/etc if the user does not meet the previously mentioned minimums?
A: Correct.

Q: As I now understand it, drafts/revisions of new SCPs can be made in the Sandbox, then promoted to "real" SCP status, then bounced back to the Sandbox in the event of deletion. But how does this system handle rewrites of stable SCPs? Specific example: if Gears was working on yet another version of 106's containment procs, would he be able to create revision #n+1 in his sandbox while revision #n was still visible on the main list?
A: Yes, this is a distinct possibility with Project Foundation. You could just as easily have a previous revision remain the "Published Revision" while you make new revisions behind the curtains.

Q: The votes-apply-to-revisions-not-articles feature: will that apply to minor edits (eg spelling correction, or tag alteration if applicable)? Or will votes from previous revisions roll over in these cases?
A: To clarify, once you vote on a page, your vote stays there until you change it. Your vote will never "disappear". However, the system keeps note that at one point you had voted differently, and uses that data to build a histogram. Users can, however, pull "Rating since last Major Revision", though this is not the default view.

Q: While we're at it, do tags belong to an article or a specific revision?
A: Tags are integrated into the main page editor. They are part of a specific revision, but are automatically carried from revision to revision unless explicitly changed.

An automatic profile page is merely a page created off a template. Authors may edit this default template in order to customize it, and it is up to staff as to the terms under which authors may edit their own SCPs. (At this time, the requirement is 3 SCPs with 10+ rating or 5 Tales with 10+ rating.)

Q: Can we implement "neutral votes"? As in, let a user choose to neutral vote instead of vote up or down (leaving a record that they did so in the vote history)?
A: The short answer is yes.

The long answer is that the voting system works radically different from that of Wikidot, and votes are actually made towards a specific revision, not the page as a whole. The reason this is done is so that there is a historical record of when and how you voted towards a page, and if and when you removed or reversed that vote. When all is said and done, an author will be able to pull up a histogram of their article and see what changes caused immediate swings upwards or downwards. As part of this system, the concept of a null vote already exists, so users can cancel out an up- or down-vote. It would be trivial to allow a user to give a null-vote to begin with, and I highly support this ability.

Q: Can we see vote history on article per revision?
A: Yes. As mentioned above, you will have exact historical rating information on every page. The revision history list will show the last rating attained by each revision before a new one was put up, and you can pull up a histogram to show changes in an article's rating over time.

Q: When a page is deleted, can an author still see the comments?
A: Yes. In fact, as mentioned in the main FAQ, pages are never fully deleted, and an author may pull back a deleted page into their sandbox at any time, with all comments intact. An author and their creations will be together 'til death do them part.

Q: Will user bans by authorized users require comments as well?
A: Yes. All moderator actions (including user bans) will require a comment and be logged in the main staff activity log.

Q: Will author pages be automatic creations on Project Foundation? Will every author have an author page? If so, how will customization work? Can staff still control whether a user may customize their author page?
Q: Can we implement "neutral votes"? As in, let a user choose to neutral vote instead of vote up or down (leaving a record that they did so in the vote history)?
Q: Can we see vote history on article per revision?

[The following I didn't ask in chat.]

Q: When a page is deleted, can an author still see the comments?
Q: Will user bans by authorized users require comments as well?

EDIT: And because I spaced on saying so last night: All this sounds awesome, and Mack, you are awesome. Thanks!

I particularly love the ownership stuff. And the entry specific rating system for open collaborative logs - fuck yes. Now staff can edit them based on something other than (A) a million loud complaints or (B) the mood we were in that morning. And comment voting fuck yes.

I will limit myself to commenting on just those things so that I do not gush embarrassingly, but all of it sounds awesome so far.

Q: Will the new site have a Karma system similar to Wikidot? Or some way of determining users who contribute a lot to the site, whether by articles or comments?
A: Yes, the plan at this time is to implement a Karma-like system. Though the details have not been hashed out, the system will likely incorporate net page upvotes and net post upvotes as a primary measure of how relevant and helpful a user is.

The software is currently not designed for large-scale clustering, if that's what you mean. However, as the infrastructure has been built with clean MVC separation, it would not be hard to modify it for multi-server operation.

How about future hardware upgrades? Would it be relatively easy to increase storage space or server processing power if the extrapolated statistics show that we'll need it?

You both have done some amazing work, Mack and Murphy. I can't wait to see what you have planned as we get closer to a final product.

What is the current plan for stuff being visible to non-writers/people without accounts?

Q: Will there be external notification capabilities similar to the "watching" in WikiDot?
A: This is a low-priority feature due to a perceived preference for a "dashboard" type interface where you can get quick-look updates on pages you have interest in. In conjunction with the Favorites system, I do not see a huge amount of value in the Wikidot-style watch system, so this will likely be one of the last things to be done.

Q: Will there be an available API for external projects (iPhone interface came up in a random thread)?
A: Eventually, there will be a formal read-only API. However, my personal preference is to develop "official" mobile applications for viewing Project Foundation, and very few people use Wikidot's external API other than myself, this is also a low-priority feature.

The limits to file size are whatever staff deem to be reasonable. For now, I suggest having a maximum cap of 500kb on image files and 5mb on audio/video files. Anything over that size is easily compressed, so there should be no reason for people uploading massive WAV files.

As for an absolute storage limit, the limit is whatever our leased hardware can hold. For reference, the footprint of the entire database as it stands right now is just over 350mb, including file assets. Even assuming an average of 12 revisions per page, that's still less than 5gb, a tiny fraction of any modern hard drive capacity.

Other than that, this is pretty awesome. Thanks Mack.

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.