Occasionally, a wick will appear on a page's "Related to" subpage, but the page in question doesn't actually contain the link listed. In fact, sometimes nonexistent pages will appear to have this nonexistent link. This is called a "ghost wick": it is a ghost haunting pages past. There are a couple of ways these wicks could've surfaced, which are related to administrative/mod deletions and reversions
. The details aren't important.
Elimination of a ghost wick depends on where the wick is occuring.
On an existing page:
- If the page is a redirect, make a null edit. It might force earlier changes to the page to register. Please leave an edit reason so others know what's going on. If that doesn't work...
- If the page has content but no internal links at all, create one. Wicks only update if there's at least one wick on the page, so adding one will make the ghost wick disappear. If you feel there's nowhere to place an appropriate link, add a link arbitrarily (such as to the page itself), save the edit, and delete it after. Please leave an edit reason so others know what's going on.
- If the page is ghost-indexing (creating index bars on other pages even though it's not an index), do a null edit to its page type (under Page Info; in the sidebar on desktop, bottom of the page on mobile). If it's a redirect, you'll first have to break the redirect so you can access the page type in the first place. After you're done, restore the redirect.
On a nonexistent page:
Requesting removal of ghost wicks from ghost pages is the purpose of this thread.- Post the page where the ghost wick is supposed to exist.
- Alternatively, if the page is not in the Main namespace, you can recreate the page with "Ghost Wick" and a wick to the page, then add it to the Cut List where a moderator will delete it.note
Edited by Twiddler on Jul 8th 2023 at 1:55:52 AM
Sandbox.Courtroom Antics is creating a ghost wick to WesternAnimation.Battle Tech.
Edited by ClancyGardener on Feb 25th 2024 at 3:20:13 AM
Trimming the hedges, one trope at a time.
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
, Ghost wicks in namespaces outside of the main namespace can be recreated and cut manually with mod intervention.
Philistein is making a ghostwick for IPs
Tyrannoraptoran Reptiliomorph
Sandbox.ROYN is ghost-indexing the following tropes (I just put it on the cutlist):
- The Chosen One
- Death of the Old Gods
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep"
- Generation Xerox
- Genocide Backfire
- Good Is Not Nice
- Heavenly Blue
- Hopeless Boss Fight
- Lovable Rogue
- The Magocracy
- Medieval European Fantasy
- Not Quite Dead
- Pirate
- Player Party
- Playing Sick
- Red and Black and Evil All Over
- Retraux
- Team Pet
- War Hero
Edited by Lymantria on Mar 8th 2024 at 5:48:27 PM
Join the Five-Man Band cleanup project!
Can't figure out the Gundamjack wick.
Done to here otherwise.
- My bet: It's coming from that Tropers page I said, but since Tropers pages don't generate wicks anymore, even editing it doesn't cause the records to refresh. If you wanna cut and restore it, well, it's not my Tropers page.
Edited by Malady on Mar 27th 2024 at 4:27:19 AM
Disambig Needed: Help with those issues! tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=13324299140A37493800&page=24#comment-576
Or from inaccessible pages like:
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/folderizer.php?target=.iceheart
Radar Men From The Moon is creating a ghost wick on SciFiWritersHave.No Sense Of Velocity, SciFiWritersHave.No Sense Of Time and SciFiWritersHave.No Sense Of Distance.
Edited by StFan on Apr 3rd 2024 at 3:06:50 AM
Animu
Main.Oldmanofthemountain is creating a ghost wick to Main.Canada Eh.
Edited by animuacid on Apr 5th 2024 at 10:13:40 AM
Doing...
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Tyrannoraptoran Reptiliomorph
On the related to page for G La DOS, it says that there are two non-archive wicks left (Portal 2 Prologue and
The Courtesy Call), but both have been removed as their histories show.
Edited by Lymantria on Apr 6th 2024 at 10:19:54 AM
Join the Five-Man Band cleanup project!
If you want to remove the wicks, then those pages must have wicks elsewhere. Unless you've put them in the Cut List?
Sleeping now, goodnight.
Disambig Needed: Help with those issues! tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=13324299140A37493800&page=24#comment-576
Tyrannoraptoran Reptiliomorph
I’m still not quite sure what to do about , since those pages don’t seem to be cut-worthy.
Edit: Fixed. The pages had content but no wicks on them, so I followed the instructions in the OP for those cases, and the ghost wicks disappeared. Sorry I didn’t notice that earlier.
Edited by Lymantria on Apr 7th 2024 at 6:11:08 AM
Join the Five-Man Band cleanup project!
One-Track Mind (he/him)
Main.Project X is creating a ghost wick to Main.Silly Simian
This is Idol Tap. (My Troper Wall)
Just needed to edit the page. Seems fixed?
Disambig Needed: Help with those issues! tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=13324299140A37493800&page=24#comment-576
One-Track Mind (he/him)
Nope, not fixed.
Edited by JHD0919 on Apr 10th 2024 at 12:56:39 PM
This is Idol Tap. (My Troper Wall)
Oh, you mean Silly Simian's making a ghost wick to Project X. And that's because I made a redirect.
You didn't do the wick correctly is why. https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/article_history.php?article=Main.SillySimian&page=3
One-Track Mind (he/him)
OK, thank you for fixing it. It's all good now.
Hound is making a ghost wick to The Creeper.
Edited by costanton11 on Apr 10th 2024 at 6:56:29 AM
Tyrannoraptoran Reptiliomorph
[nvm, it was a redirect, I somehow didn’t think of that before posting]
Edited by Lymantria on Apr 10th 2024 at 8:37:32 AM
Join the Five-Man Band cleanup project!
Waffle Cat (she/her)
Laconic.Authority Equals Asskicking is creating a ghost wick to Authority Grants Asskicking, which I'm cleaning up. Please remove.
Here there be cats.
That's not in main. I'm remaking and cutlisting
Disambig Needed: Help with those issues! tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=13324299140A37493800&page=24#comment-576Trivia.Commando is making a ghost wick to ComicBook.Commando and Film.Commando.
EDIT: Wait, it's not a main namespace — I can fix this myself. Never mind.
EDIT: Never mind that, I can't seem to put it on the Cut List.
Edited by ClancyGardener on Apr 20th 2024 at 2:23:43 AM
Trimming the hedges, one trope at a time.
the Retromancer
What have you tried? You first create a page with any wick, then cutlist it.
TroperWall / WikiMagic Cleanup
Laconic.Bleached Underpants is creating a ghost wick to Main.Self Censored Release.