Template talk:Welcome

Archives

• Archive 1 (discussions from January 4 – November 26, 2008) - Old Welcome talk
• Archive 2 (discussions from November 26 – December 4, 2008) - The vote to new Welcome

Welcome

Welcome to Bulbapedia, Welcome! As a new user, you may wish to learn a few things that will be useful in your editing:

Getting started Basic overview of wiki code Style primer Manual of style Link templates Policies and guidelines Signature policy Userspace policy Username policy Image reversion policy Other helpful links Messages from the Editor Talk abuse Dealing with vandalism Wanted Pages

Miscellaneous A list of administrators that you can contact in case of a problem can be found here. On talk pages, please sign your comments with four tildes (~~~~). To upload images, please use the Bulbagarden Archives. To activate your account at the Archives, please login there using the same username and password you use here on Bulbapedia. This may also be used to activate an account at Bulbanews. If you wish to make a page for a character you made up, please do so at User:Welcome/Name.

Thank you, and have a good time editing here! ---- MAGNEDETH 23:07, 4 December 2008 (UTC)

due to an overwhelming vote of 3 - 27 - 5 - 5, Kogoro's Welcome template has been decided as the new official welcome template. and now i presume some of you will complain a bit, and by all means, go right ahead. just be aware that at least 27 people won't agree with you. -- MAGNEDETH 23:09, 4 December 2008 (UTC)

Now that this template is taken into use, I think we should think the problem arising from the fact that somebody may like to hide the box. How do we ensure that this can easily be done by that user, or are we going to force him/her to display this green splash on the top of his/her talk page? UltimateSephiroth ^{(about me · chat · edits)} 23:13, 4 December 2008 (UTC)

One could add class="expandable" to the table to minimize it. — Laoris _(Blah) 23:47, 4 December 2008 (UTC)

That's true. However, we should make that very easy so I think the template could have some kind of instructions to do that for the new users. Or then they can just ask. UltimateSephiroth ^{(about me · chat · edits)} 00:10, 5 December 2008 (UTC)

The only problem in that is that it makes it easy for a newbie to just click and hide it, then ignore it completely. Having it right out there constantly should definitely get them to notice it, and hopefully they will bother to check it out. - Kogoro | Talk to me -

exactly. besides, is it really hurting anything? -- MAGNEDETH 00:30, 5 December 2008 (UTC)

Actually, it seems to be a more efficient way to display ways new users can help out. Nice style choices, as well. Bulbapedian - Talk 00:38, 5 December 2008 (UTC)

Resetting indentI still like the format of the old welcome better (we really don't need a big box), but this one improves the actual content so I can live with it. Congrts, Kogoro! LordArceus 00:40, 5 December 2008 (UTC)

I'll congratulate Kogoro on the effort put in. Still looks all RAWR INDIMIDATING LINKS WITH NO EXPLANATION for me though. Glinn Mgraw 07:08, 5 December 2008 (UTC)

I think that the bottommost row should be a different color. If the users siggy is a lightish color, it ends up looking like crap.--RexRacer -talk 21:57, 6 December 2008 (UTC)

then change your signature color. it shouldnt be changed because one or two users have light signaturesDCM_{((曲奇饼妖怪Spy on My Edits))}

Heh,your sig is too light for it too.--RexRacer -talk 22:07, 6 December 2008 (UTC)

I couldnt care less.DCM_{((曲奇饼妖怪Spy on My Edits))}

(reset indent) I just added a small white background to the signature itself, so people with light or green signatures should show up normally now. -- Jïörüjï Ðērākō.>.cнаt^ 03:43, 11 January 2009 (UTC)

Template needs the CoC

Mention of Bulbaquette somewhere would be good, seeing as it's now official. Of course, this will throw everything majorly off balance... :/ — THE TROM — 07:40, 17 January 2009 (UTC)

Hey, I know. Both the guide to Bulbapedia, and CoC can go into a section above Getting Started. Something like this:

Welcome to Bulbapedia, Welcome! If you are unsure how to edit in the wiki, these article are a great starting block: A guide to Bulbapedia Code of conduct As a new user, you may wish to learn a few things that will be useful in your editing:

Getting started Basic overview of wiki code Style primer Manual of style Link templates Policies and guidelines Signature policy Userspace policy Username policy Image reversion policy Other helpful links Messages from the Editor Talk abuse Dealing with vandalism Wanted Pages

Miscellaneous A list of administrators that you can contact in case of a problem can be found here. On talk pages, please sign your comments with four tildes (~~~~), or by using the "Your signature with a timestamp" () button at the top of the edit window. To upload images, please use the Bulbagarden Archives. To activate your account at the Archives, please login there using the same username and password you use here on Bulbapedia. This may also be used to activate an account at Bulbanews. If you wish to make a page for a character you made up, please do so at User:Welcome/Name.

Thank you, and have a good time editing here!   ~~~~

Just prettier and more useful. --Clarky13 08:21, 17 January 2009 (UTC)

Clarky... I really hate to say but, that modification isn't all that pretty. The logo is way oversized now. And the bullets really look off in the header. - Kogoro | Talk to me - 08:25, 17 January 2009 (UTC)

Oooooowwwwwwwwwww, I know. I'm horrible. --Clarky13 08:33, 17 January 2009 (UTC)

No, you're not...... but your template is. Put the guide under "getting started" and the CoC under "policies and guidelines". Then find something important-ish to go under the third column, to even it out. — THE TROM — 08:44, 17 January 2009 (UTC)

Like the update that has just been done perhaps? ;) - Kogoro | Talk to me - 08:45, 17 January 2009 (UTC)

Yeah, maybe.... ;) — THE TROM — 08:50, 17 January 2009 (UTC)

Sounds like a great idea. --Clarky13 09:25, 17 January 2009 (UTC)

An unimportant edit request

Move the noinclude tag to the end of the template, to prevent huge whitespace underneath when substing the template and adding additional comments underneath. Please. — THE TROM — 07:03, 19 February 2009 (UTC)

I know no one ever reads their green blob, but....

Could be productive to mention the userspace thing in brief without making them click the link. No one ever clicks the links, and it is more likely that they read the blurb below. I'm thinking a sentence like "if you want to create a userpage, feel free, but don't edit too many times or you may be blocked from editing it." ... or stuff. Anyhoo..... — THE TROM — 09:58, 28 February 2009 (UTC)

Could we do something like this:

Welcome

---

Welcome to Bulbapedia, Welcome! As a new user, you may wish to learn a few things that will be useful in your editing:

Getting started Basic overview of wiki code Style primer Manual of style Link templates Guide to Bulbapedia Policies and guidelines Code of Conduct Signature policy Userspace policy Username policy Image reversion policy Other helpful links Messages from the Editor Talk abuse Dealing with vandalism Wanted Pages Projects

Miscellaneous A list of administrators that you can contact in case of a problem can be found here. On talk pages, please sign your comments with four tildes (~~~~), or by using the "Your signature with a timestamp" () button at the top of the edit window. To upload images, please use the Bulbagarden Archives. To activate your account at the Archives, please login there using the same username and password you use here on Bulbapedia. This may also be used to activate an account at Bulbanews. If you wish to make a page for a character you made up, please do so at User:Welcome/Name. Why don't you create a Userpage, do so at User:Welcome

Thank you, and have a good time editing here!   ~~~~

It tells them about their userpage so that 1.they know where they can express themselves so that they don't do it on other pages e.g: No "Oooh cute" on Clefairy's page. 2. I hate typing User:... and coming up with a redlink and I don't think I'm the only one.--Pokémon lovers Any questions 02:50, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

No one has to make a userpage if they don't want to. If you're searching for someone, search for their talk page, as every un-permablocked user has a talk page. The problem is that some people edit their userpage more than anything else. Two months down the track, this really isn't a concern any more, although minimalistic editing is encouraged. — THE TROM — 03:13, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

I'm amused that despite the largest implication of this welcome template lying on how the new users receive it, most of the decisions put forth into the template are put forth by more or less seasoned wiki-ers that simply cannot view the template from a newbie point of view, and yet you fail to recognize the significance of the idea (or any!) put forth by this fairly new user. Totallynotnova 02:46, 14 October 2009 (UTC)

Under "signatures"

I think it should be noted that images are not allowed in signatures. What do you think? Alpha CuboneKing 03:48, 7 November 2009 (UTC)

Eh, it links to the policy, and we're trying to keep it super duper simple. A big list of all the pointers was the old ineffective welcome that we got rid of. Thanks for the suggestion, though.--RexRacer 03:52, 7 November 2009 (UTC)

talk page comments

Should it be noted on here that talk page comments are not allowed to be removed? Turtwig A (talk | contribs) 15:34, 25 December 2009 (UTC)

The template used to be a lot bigger - but we made it shorter because people don't really bother reading a huge wall of text. It has links to the welcome portal, which has links to all our policies. --electAbuzzzz 16:06, 25 December 2009 (UTC)

List of Admins link

Bulbapedia:Administrators is no longer a complete list of users with powers. May I suggest a page called "Bulbapedia:List of staff members"? It'd have everybody with at least the Jr. Admin (or maybe just Admin) power, and that's what the welcome would link to... CuboneKing 23:43, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

I want to update the entire welcome again. This will just be a quickfix. —darklordtrom 10:44, 3 May 2010 (UTC)

How to round borders in other browsers

Hey, guys! I notice you only have the -moz-border-radius coding on there. Well, I got a secret for ya! You may want to use this on other templates/pages, too. There's other border-rounding HTML codes for various browsers. Here's a list:

• -moz-border-radius
• border-radius
• webkit-border-radius
• khtml-border-radius

Those four are the only ones I know, at the moment. I haven't found any others. I'll make it into a template like we did at WK so that you can use it to your heart's content! Anyways, use those like you would with -moz-border-radius code. Good day!^__Neo^(T)(Home) 01:37, 16 May 2010 (UTC)

Template made! See Template:round for information!^__Neo^(T)(Home) 01:47, 16 May 2010 (UTC)

Two steps ahead of you, we've had a template that roundies corners in every browser (?) except IE... for a couple of months, actually. We just need to template-ize all the templates... ▫▫ティナ^♫★ 01:48, 16 May 2010 (UTC)

ROUNDY!!!!! TTEchidna 01:50, 16 May 2010 (UTC)

XD Oops! My bad! Well, I guess you can delete the template I made, then :P^__Neo^(T)(Home) 01:51, 16 May 2010 (UTC)

Done. —darklordtrom 01:55, 16 May 2010 (UTC)

Bot

Has it been explained why there isn't a bot for this? Malake256 17:06, 1 August 2010 (UTC)

If you look to the first subsection on the first Archive, TTE says it can be done, but it's easy to see the new accounts and do it manually. I seem to have been doing the majority of it lately, and yeah, it's pretty easy to just go to the User Creation Log, open up new tabs for all of 'em, and then paste the template in. A bot would be helpful, but I don't think we get enough new people everyday to need it. Plus, it might be nice to have an actual person do it in case the newbie needs some help or something. BulbaBot won't be answering many questions. ~~ Scyther Be Awesome! _Talk! 17:17, 1 August 2010 (UTC)

Not to mention that the local bot of bulbapedia is considered evil according to the administrator page. But anyways, yeah, a bot can't just help a newbie, and users can explain in more ways, so if said n00b doesn't understand, they can reword it. Turtwig's A-B-Cs (talk | contribs) 17:23, 1 August 2010 (UTC)

it might be nice to have an actual person do it This. The personal touch. Also, messages left by bots don't give you the green messagebar. And we want everyone to read their welcome. —darklordtrom 05:12, 5 August 2010 (UTC)

Expandable

I wonder if it could get expandable class added to current one? Like this:

Welcome to Bulbapedia, Welcome! Here are a few links to help you get started:

Manual of Style The Manual of Style, or MoS, outlines the format of all pages on Bulbapedia. Need a hand? Our friendly team of staff are here to help! Talk to them if you have any questions or problems with Bulbapedia.

Signatures On talk pages, please sign your comments with four tildes (~~~~), or by using the "Your signature with a timestamp" () button at the top of the edit window. Userspace Policy On Bulbapedia, the ability to edit personal userpages is a privilege. Per our userpage policy, this must be earned by first making constructive edits to the mainspace. Once you can, remember to keep userspace edits (edits to User:Welcome) to a minimum. For a complete list of policies and editing advice, please see the Welcome Portal.  Thank you, and have a good time editing here!   ~~~~

- unsigned comment from TakeruDavis (talk • contribs)

Then no one would read it. Like they ever do anyway, though. TTEchidna 02:58, 14 August 2010 (UTC)

Or make it opposite, expanded, but with hide button --^Takeru_Davis^[1] 03:09, 14 August 2010 (UTC)

If people want to get the welcome template off their talk page, all they have to do is archive the page. I don't see any reason for it to be collapsible. Phantom♫Junkie 03:19, 14 August 2010 (UTC)

I like what we have now (it needs to have the basics visible by default) however it would seem that hide/show section could also contain the numerous links that were cut when we went to the streamlined version. These don't have to be visible by default but are generally useful links for new users. (I know they can find them by clicking the four links that are there, but we should be trying to make things as easy as possible for new users.) My two cents, refunds available.--Beligaronia (talk) 03:47, 14 August 2010 (UTC)

I like this one. —darklordtrom 05:12, 14 August 2010 (UTC)

Valid point, Phantom --^Takeru_Davis^[1] 13:15, 14 August 2010 (UTC)

Gradient

Not sure if you guys knew, but a gradient is possible, and we wouldn't need to have a somewhat low-quality gradient on the template, it's located in here, on Wikipedia. Just thought you should know, I'm using it. Masatoshi: Gen. II>All. ^Discuss. 19:28, 26 November 2010 (UTC)

Back when I first coded that up, CSS3 was still only just coming about. There's still the issue that IE users and older browsers don't have support for gradients, but I think for the most part that can be worked around at this point. Thanks for the heads-up, I'll see about getting this one updated. -- Jïörüjï Ðērākō.> 05:11, 27 November 2010 (UTC)

Suggestion

I think this would look a little better (see the little gradient thing near the signature):

Welcome to Bulbapedia, Welcome!

By creating your account you are now able to edit pages, join discussions, and expand the community-driven Pokémon encyclopedia. Before you jump in, here are some ground rules: Be nice to everyone. It's in the code of conduct. Make good edits. Preview them before you save to make sure they're perfect the first time around. Use wikicode and link templates when adding content to a page. Use proper grammar and spelling, and read the manual of style. You can't create a userpage until you've added to the encyclopedia. It's a privilege. See the userspace policy. Use talk pages to resolve editing disputes. Don't "edit war," or constantly re-edit/undo the same thing on a page. If you have a question about something, be proactive. Ask for help. The staff won't bite. Sign all talk page posts with four tildes (~~~~). This will turn into your name and the time you wrote the comment. For more handy links, see the welcome portal.

Thank you, and have a good time editing here!   ~~~~

Just a little suggestion! →ΑΧΧΟΝΝ_fire 22:27, 3 December 2010 (UTC)

Unless you like the original style, of course. →ΑΧΧΟΝΝ_fire 22:30, 3 December 2010 (UTC)

How do I get this to be noticed? →ΑΧΧΟΝΝ_fire 23:27, 5 December 2010 (UTC)

I don't believe it's practical to use this. It adds in a whole bunch of unnecessary lines and generally increases the size of the template. —♥ Jello^talk 23:53, 5 December 2010 (UTC)

Oh okay that's fine. →ΑΧΧΟΝΝ_fire 00:28, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

"Bulbapedia isn't Facebook"

I find it very unfair for new users who join to not know that Bulbapedia isn't for Social Networking and doing whatever you want. I mean, literally, nearly every user who joins at first thinks that at Bulbapedia, you can have a big userspace with games and fun stuff, chat with other fans of the series, ask a bunch of Pokémon related questions, and add a bunch of theories and speculation to articles, when in reality, when you join Bulbapedia it's not supposed to be about fun and games but rather about working toward making Bulbapedia the most complete source of all Pokémon related information as it can be. I believe there needs to be a way to get the message across before they make 15 bad edits to Pokémon pages (just to get userspace priveleges) and a bunch of fandom junk on talk pages. I'm sure there is several ways we can do that. We could put it on the sign-up page, or in this template, or something, but honestly these users expecting this to be Pokémon Facebook take up a bunch of waisted space in Bulbapedia's data, and the users usually leave and never come back after discovering that Bulbapedia isn't at all what they expected or wanted. Obviously the closest you can get to Pokémon Facebook is the forums and that isn't even linked to or mentioned in the welcome template, whereas in my opinion it should be stated in the welcome template that the forums is a great place to go for all the useless fandom junk. Now, I don't want this to be another talk page discussion I start that everyone ignores, I seriously want someone to help me out here because I can't stand to see another 100 users expecting PokéFacebook and leaving after they learn it isn't. :/ I would have posted this to the forums but I decided it may be more appropriate to post here since this is the welcome template that no one ever seems to read. --Landfish7 02:25, 28 January 2011 (UTC)

Thank you for your feedback. This information is already on the user signup page (and I believe the confirmation of account creation page as well). If we can streamline this in a more efficient way, please let me know. —darklordtrom 10:25, 10 February 2011 (UTC)

New point

I think we should add one more point to the template that is -> Use the preview button before saving your edit. Editing the same article multiple times in a row stresses the server. There are hundreds of users who don't use the preview button before saving their edits.
(example)

Welcome to Bulbapedia, Welcome!

By creating your account you are now able to edit pages, join discussions, and expand the community-driven Pokémon encyclopedia. Before you jump in, here are some ground rules: Be nice to everyone. It's in the code of conduct. Make good edits. Preview them before you save to make sure they're perfect the first time around. Use wikicode and link templates when adding content to a page. Use proper grammar and spelling, and read the manual of style. Use the preview button before saving your edit. Editing the same article multiple times in a row stresses the server You can't create a userpage until you've added to the encyclopedia. It's a privilege. See the userspace policy. Use talk pages to resolve editing disputes. Don't "edit war," or constantly re-edit/undo the same thing on a page. If you have a question about something, be proactive. Ask for help. The staff won't bite. Sign all talk page posts with four tildes (~~~~). This will turn into your name and the time you wrote the comment. For more handy links, see the welcome portal.

Thank you, and have a good time editing here!   ~~~~

-- ✔Poke.geek™✔ 21:45, 26 November 2011 (UTC)

Doesn't this line " Make good edits. Preview them before you save to make sure they're perfect the first time around" already cover the preview button? Maybe you could add " Make good edits. Preview them (With the preview button) before you save to make sure they're perfect the first time around" to it, but it is mentioned. People just don't read it. --Pokemaster97 21:55, 26 November 2011 (UTC)

Oh, I think I'm one of them! I forgot to read that line. Sorry for that! -- ✔Poke.geek™✔ 22:04, 26 November 2011 (UTC)

Substing in less 'code' stuff

I´ve just clicked the 'edit' button on Talkpage and noticed that everything, including the whole cellpadding and other table stuff things is substed into it when you use {{subst:Welcome}}. I don´t think it is really necessary to do so; you can simply create another template, like Template:Welcome/Source (be creative with the naming), and have this one read something like

{{Welcome/Source|<noinclude><nowiki></noinclude>{{subst:PAGENAME}}<noinclude>|</noinclude>--~~~~<noinclude>}}</nowiki>

which would make the source-code of that thing much less confusing, especially for the real 'newcomers' (I´ve been editing round Wikis for some time already, so I have some Wiki knowledge), because as of now, this is a real mess of code being substed in.

However, changes made to the Source-page would be retroactive, then, so a change to the variables might break things, but this is still being preferred over the 'subst in ALL THE code!', from what I´ve seen on several other wikis.

Just sayin´, FTLK, Talk!, 11:17, 5 December 2011 (UTC)

I don't see a problem with having all the code there. For a start, it's actually rather simple code. Esspecially compared to what it was before it was changed a year ago, which was twice the size. Secondly, I think it's actually good for new users to be exposed to code. A lot of pages have it anyway, and the best way for them to learn is to see code and output.

Also. Any templates not subst:ed in the welcome must be templates that will never change. Otherwise it would crash the wiki when it was updated, and the servers try to update thousands of pages. The welcome template is something that not just 'may' be changed, but must be changed. That's the whole reason the welcome template is subst:ed. The code you have suggested would defeat that purpose, as it we would instead have to update the template Welcome/Source, which is not subst:ed.Werdnae (talk) 02:07, 6 December 2011 (UTC)

A question

Excuse me, could you please tell me if only the staff can post this template on the new users' talk page? Or do I fail on finding non-staff signatures just because the staff is more aware? Also, in case that's true, can a normal user post this template on his/her own talk page? TheOriginalOne 15:10, 13 August 2012 (UTC)

Non-admins are allowed to post the talk page template. But, welcoming yourself kind of defeats the point, tbh. ☆The Solar Dragon☆ 15:15, 13 August 2012 (UTC)

But I've seen admins welcoming themselves. is that a privilege exclusive to them? TheOriginalOne 17:23, 17 August 2012 (UTC)

I haven't really noticed that, but some admins registered their accounts before the welcome template was made, so they may want one for reference. It's better for others to welcome you, because ideally if you have a question you'd go to the user who welcomed you for help. --Pokemaster97 17:36, 17 August 2012 (UTC)

what do you type to get the welcome template

See title TeamPlasmaN1212 02:48, 13 January 2013 (UTC)

{{subst:welcome}}. --It's Funktastic~! (talk) 02:50, 13 January 2013 (UTC)

Header?

Could we include ==Welcome== into the top of the template? This way when a Table of Contents magically appears, the welcome message is within its own section like any other message and appears below the ToC, not above. ChiefbozX (talk) 02:33, 22 February 2013 (UTC)

Such a section header was present prior to the current incarnation of the welcome template. It was removed specifically so the welcome template would not get pushed down by the table of contents as to remain as an easy to reach reference to the policies and guidelines. If a user prefers for the welcome to be in a section below the table of contents on their own talk page, however, they're more than free to add a section header to accomplish such. - Kogoro - Talk to me - 03:18, 22 February 2013 (UTC)

Ok, thanks. ChiefbozX (talk) 03:19, 22 February 2013 (UTC)