Forum:Problems with info templates

Template:info and Template:Showinfo person haven't been working today for /info subpages added today, although they do still work for /info subpages added prior to today. DennisDoty 16:42, 18 March 2009 (UTC)


 * There is an extra new-line at the bottom: delete the new line before the last


 * I can't see where this change has come from.


 * Thurstan 22:14, 18 March 2009 (UTC)

I do not see an extra line before the at the bottom of newly created /info pages. The info and showinfo person templates are still not working. I have left a message for User:Phlox who seems to be in charge of this template, but no response. Apparently someone changed these vital and protected templates last night and did not bother to make sure the new version works. It's frustrating that because the templates are protected one can't even see who made the fatal change. Doesn't a supervisor keep an eye on this help desk? DennisDoty 23:44, 18 March 2009 (UTC)


 * User:Phlox introduced the info page system but is now trying to spend a decent amount of time with his four children. There are no supervisors routinely keeping an eye on the help desk, but some of us look at the "Recent changes" once or twice a day and will be likely to notice and respond if a forum page has been created or edited. For an urgent question, a good solution may be to look at "Recent changes" and address a question to the most active recent contributor. Thurstan may have fixed the above problem (and has left a detailed explanation on my talk page), but I'm going to have a look at what has happened. I'm not aware of any reason why you can't see the history of any page. I've just looked at a wiki where I'm not an admin (AFAIK), and had no trouble seeing a history:
 * http://recipes.wikia.com/index.php?title=Recipes_Wiki:Merge/Main_Page&action=history.
 * — Robin Patterson (Talk) 05:22, 19 March 2009 (UTC)


 * (next two comments copied from Robin's talk page)

I see the death dates for Nehemiah Baglin (1730-1818) has been corrected, thanks. But you seem to have the same problem as me e.g. if you look at the page, the links for father, mother and spouse in the info box are no longer working?

Nathanville 10:34, 19 March 2009 (UTC)


 * I just fixed Nehemiah Baglin (1730-1818): the other trap that people may be falling into is that if you change the /info page, and go back to the main page, it occasionally does not update. You have to check by going into "edit" for the main page, and look at "preview". If that is now fixed, then you have to purge the cache. I thought of all this because that's what I just had to do with Nehemiah Baglin (1730-1818).


 * Thurstan 11:04, 19 March 2009 (UTC)

There appear to be two problems:
 * 1. Relating to the new contributors section at the bottom of the new person page layout. I have not experienced this problem, perhaps because I have always put only three tildas after the -->, no spaces of carriage returns.


 * 2. Relating to the info template on the /info page. Thurstan and Robin Patterson have been looking at the problem using Samuel Doty (1679-aft1746) and Samuel Doty (1679-aft1746)/info as examples. On the info page, the template that assembles Date of birth from month, day, and year drops the birth year.  The info page as edited looks okay, but the info page as displayed using Template:info shows this problem.  The puzzle is that info pages added prior to yesterday don't display this problem.

To demonstrate that the two problems are unrelated, I have added an info page William Davison (-1723)/info without adding the corresponding person page. DennisDoty 15:13, 19 March 2009 (UTC)

I suspect Template:info contains a template that combines birth month, birth day, and birth year, into date of birth. Since Template:info hasn't been changed since Phlox locked it up, it appears that our problem results from a recent change in the date-combining template. I don't have the authority to look at Template:info to determine the name of that template. DennisDoty 16:14, 19 March 2009 (UTC)

Further thought: Template:info and Template:Showinfo person must substitute the date combining template, which explains why info pages added before yesterday are okay. Once the problem is fixed it will probably require re-saving person and info pages entered since the problem began. I hope it won't involve more than that. Maybe we should warn people not to enter info pages until the problem is fixed. DennisDoty 16:51, 19 March 2009 (UTC)


 * You are still creating pages with in the wrong place. When you fix that, your problem will go away.


 * Thurstan 20:56, 19 March 2009 (UTC)

Thurstan, I don't understand. William Davison (-1723)/info, for example, does not contain at all. I don't believe any info page does. Are you confusing problem 1 in the discussion above with problem 2? Or perhaps confusing Template:Info categories with Category:Info pages?

DennisDoty 21:25, 19 March 2009 (UTC)


 * No, you seem to be confused: edit William Davison (-1723)/info and scroll down and look at the last 5-6 lines of test. You will see that it looks like the first quotes box in User_talk:Robin_Patterson. Change it to match the second box will fix your problem (making double-sure there isn't a "newline" at the end).

Otherwise, go to John Burgess (c1789-1844)/info which I fixed this morning, look at the "history" and "compare" my version with your last version.


 * 21:35, 19 March 2009 (UTC)

Thurstan, I was confused. I'm new at this and I hadn't discovered the code view button at the bottom of the edit screen. The was in the code view box. So your fix does indeed work, thank you very much. But, the create info page button on Help:Alternative types of page for individual is still creating these bad pages. It is urgent that we get this fixed so we don't have to keep applying your fix to these pages

DennisDoty 23:11, 19 March 2009 (UTC)


 * It should not be doing that. This is how it ended when I checked it a minute ago:

|Familysearch afn    = }}
 * Genealogics pid     =


 * Incidentally, that code/category thingy at the bottom of the edit box is new to us all. Wikia introduced it yesterday. I think it could be more trouble than it's worth for this site.
 * — Robin Patterson (Talk) 01:46, 20 March 2009 (UTC)


 * Now I am the one that is confused: I don't see a code/category thingy at the bottom of the edit box (I just checked): is this the thing that is breaking the /info pages by fiddling with how the categories are declared?
 * Thurstan 02:05, 20 March 2009 (UTC)


 * The button that may say "code view" is the second of the new rollouts, described in a message that may have reached your talk page and at http://www.wikia.com/wiki/Forum:New_features_coming_on_Wednesday#Category_Select - and it possibly appears only on articles. — Robin Patterson (Talk) 05:24, 20 March 2009 (UTC)

Yes, I remember the message, but did not pay it enough attention. Thanks for the link. I have only been able to see this "feature" once, and it went away again before I had a chance to test it. I think it is very likely to be what is breaking our /info pages. Perhaps someone who is having the problem should disable the feature in their preferences (instructions in Help:CategorySelect), and see if that fixes things. Note that technically speaking, the /info pages are actually templates, even though they are not in the "Template:" namespace.

Thurstan 06:12, 20 March 2009 (UTC)


 * See Forum:CategorySelect for brief intro and link to Help. It does add categories at the end of a page if you use its normal function. But that would presumably not affect an info (sub)page unless someone was careless. It could normally be used on the Basepage (the matching individual's article) with impunity, I imagine. — Robin Patterson (Talk) 10:06, 20 March 2009 (UTC)

I disabled category tagging in my preferences and the problem went away. DennisDoty 10:30, 20 March 2009 (UTC)