Hey tropers, we are working hard on making consistent progress with the wiki and being better about updating everyone with what we are doing. Updates are listed under each staff member that worked on them. Expect to see more frequent updates on this thread moving forward. Please comment below if something was not fixed properly.
Note: Use Query Wishlist and Query Bugs for requesting new features and reporting new bugs, thank you!
Updates are also listed here in the actual Changelog.
- The new forum search is now live
- Removed Forums, Discussions, TLP, Reviews, Liveblogs and Queries from the main search.
- Updated New Edits page per Wishlist Request
- Updated Trope Repair Shop thread choices per Wishlist Request
- Updated Image Pickin thread choices per Wishlist Request
- Single word links now properly have {{}} for visual editor
- Main/ removed in links for visual editor
- Made cultist reason mandatory
- Uploading thumbnails for videos fixed
- Renamed "Wishlist" to "Tech Wishlist" everywhere
- Renamed "You Know That Show" to "Media Finder" per crowner on this thread
- Youtube embedded videos fixed
- Added TVTropes visual editor to most edit pages.
- Added Confirm Changes button to source view
- Search by troper with auto-complete and search by content added to article history pages
- (NOTE: auto-complete only pulls last 2 years of tropers)
- Added Show and hide buttons on edits for easy viewing
- Added edit reason hover tooltip for easy reading when collapsed
- Added estimated number for Added, Changed and Deleted text for each edit.
- Page title visible when editing a page
- Edit timer duplicated on bottom of edit pages
- Checkbox system added of common edit reasons that auto populate input field
- Editor character length counter added to edit pages
- Markup help dropdown added to edit pages
- Fixed edit links not properly linking beyond the first 15 edits
- Edit reason box is now expandable
- Fixed PM notifications from blocked tropers still showing up
- Fixed pagination icons showing up when there was no results in your inbox and followed pages
- Added filter options for PMs to sort by sent, received, discussions or pings
- Added checkbox system to select and delete PMs individually or all at once
- Added the ability to preview PMs on hover
- Added search bar with filter to search by troper or by content
- Added mod and engineering icons next to troper names
- Added notification icon next to ping and discussion notifiers
- User queries page is now properly sorted by the latest reply
- Added drop-down menu for each query type
- Added extra "status" column
- Adds status drop-down to Trope Finder, You Know That Show… and Ask The Tropers useable by the original poster and moderators.
- when set to “resolved” it will lock the query automatically.
- Added ability to sort by Open and Resolved queries
- Added a report button for queries and their replies.
- Added a report button for the TLP drafts and comments.
- You can now view others query activity through your own queries page after you've edited the URL. user_queries.php?for=TroperName. This will be made into a button on the troper page in a future update
- Adds the ability to ping other users in Query Forums, Trope Launch Pad, Reviews and Discussions on trope/media pages when you're posting a new comment.
- Added WarJay77 & Amonimus to the new engineer role
- Added Mrph1 as a new moderator
- Removed MacronNotes as a moderator per their request
- Adds separate follow functionality for discussion pages. Wish
- Makes discussion button bold if discussions exist for that page and the user hasn't seen it yet. Wish
- Pulls discussion button outside of the “more” dropdown by increasing buttons by 1
- Sends the author a PM when someone responds to their discussion
- Discussion pages are now sorted by latest reply and then latest discussion posted
- Added mobile menu to recent videos pages
- Adds "mine" and "replies" filters to query pages that work with current filters for extra sorting options.
- Adds the user join date and signature line to query forums, Trope launch pad, Discussions and reviews as well as their replies.
- Adds text option for user join date chosen in your profile. add more options here
- Sets the relationship status to "NULL" for the "-not set" option so it actually stops it from showing in the forums
- You can no longer like your own queries
- Fixed delete button being covered in avatar gallery
- For Edit History, edit reasons on the bottom will only show when the edit is greater than 600 pixels
- Removed duplicate Report Bug button in mobile dropdown
- Fixed unsaved changes warning popping up for TLP, Query and Discussion edit screens.
- Removed 3 bulletin limit
- increases upload image size to 5mb and max-width to 1000px
- Edit reason on edit history duplicated on the top for convenience. I will make only one edit reason appear for smaller edits in a future update. Wish, Wish, Wish
- Fixes missing buttons on mobile dropdown. Buttons that were in the "more" dropdown weren't being pushed to mobile dropdowns. Wish, Wish
- Adds “Mod tools” “page type tool” and “bulletins” from sidebar to bottom of page in mobile view. Wish
- Adds post number back to just the main forums. Wish
- Changes the TLP flag icon to a bookmark + adds tooltips of "Show bookmarks" and "bookmark”. Wish
- Adds unsaved changes warning to various input fields when leaving the page (editing a page, sending pm, new discussions, new trope drafts, forum posts, editing a trope draft, posting a to do list, editing a to do, posting a new query and their replies).
- adds "back to profile" button on avatar page.
- adds title tooltips to the upload image and view avatar gallery buttons on your profile.
- Adds link to directory thread on Ask The Tropers.
- Removes synopsis page type. Wish
- Added all “moments” as options in “Create New" dropdown. Wish
- Fixes wording mistake in wishlist header.
- Adds link to Reviews to mobile menu.
- Put Administrivia and FAQ links on side bar under “tips” dropdown.
- Put “tips” drop-down from sidebar under main mobile drop-down menu.
- Fixes CSS for "posts" on the main forums. the 's' and 'ts' were being pushed to a separate line when you shrank the page and sometimes even when full screen. Wish
- Moves changelog link in side bar and adds it to mobile menu.
- Minor changes to Changelog page.
- Inserts previous updates from Wiki Talk thread into changelog.
- Fixes duplicate rows in the troper table + adds default creation date to prevent further “0000-00-00” creation dates.
- Fixed wishlist and bugs pages not showing results when their statuses are set to "working" or "closed"
- Added Link to wiki tools in sidebar under "tools" dropdown
- Changed flagging icon of thumbs up back to flag for TLP and made button highlight when you click on it.
- Adds wishlist to sidebar
- Added link to your troper page through the dropdown menu.
- The descriptions for "on the rocks" and "on the tropes" in the community showcase were swapped.
- For IP threads that start with the Just A Face And A Caption, Suggestion, Does Not Illustrate, Duplicate Image, Changed w/o discussion, and NSFW/Image Macro thread reasons, the "save draft" button now works.
- Allowed PM banned users to view their PM
- The issue helper now displays previews of the notifier messages properly.
- Added transparent backgrounds to the
![[tup]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/thumbs_up_emote.png "[thumb up]")
and ![[tdown]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/thumbs_down_emote.png "[thumb down]")
forum icons.
- Allowed multiple cut requests to be accepted/declined at once.
- For regular users, now the launch button on a draft appears only when it has five MORE hats than bombs (before it showed up when a draft had five or more hats).
- Prevented edit-banned users from launching TLP drafts.
- Wicks for disambig pages now have green text.
- Content Violations will prompt non-logged-in users to do so.
- CV and FAQ forums now have morgues, and locked non-stickied threads are now morgued.
- Deleted button has been removed from crowners.
- Disambig redirects fixed and also made green.
- Folders in the forums that wouldn't open/close properly now fixed.
- We recently discovered that a non-US IP address was hitting us with thousands of SQL injection attempts, none of which succeeded. They did, however, put additional load on the database. This wasn't intended as a DDoS attack per se but rather an attempt to take control of the site.
- The administrators activated additional security measures on our Cloudflare firewall that have had the unintended side-effect of causing frequent ReCAPTCHA prompts for users. We are aware of this problem and working on a resolution.
- Improvements to new user registrations and the user experience when suspended or banned. See this post for details.
Mar 21th:
- The adblocker bug (popup message) will now appear for logged-in users after a certain threshold of page views has occurred while blocking ads.
- You may snooze the bug for up to 7 days at a time if you have contributed to the wiki (by editing articles) recently.
- There is now a subscription option to use TV Tropes ad-free for certain periods (monthly, yearly).
- You can use this link to access the subscription system.
- Subscriptions use a third-party payment facilitator called Stripe. TV Tropes does not collect or store any of your payment information. You will be rebilled at the indicated interval unless you cancel.
- Subscriptions are linked to your account. If you change accounts, or are banned, you will lose your subscription.
- Additional subscription options are being considered or are in development.
- The badge advertised as a reward for subscribing appears not to be working currently.
- To unsubscribe, send a message to "The Staff" via our contact form. Additional cancellation options are forthcoming.
- You can use this link
- Users who received one year of ad-free usage as a perk for contributing to the Kickstarter campaign at the 25 USD tier or higher will no longer have that perk. (The 95+ USD lifetime perk is not affected.)
Jan 25th:
- Fix Podcast query so newest episode appear on home page
- Add save option for users to select which search users want (ours or google’s)
- Remove backslashes from crowner descriptions
- Change account confirmation process so users get verification email right away then can wait for mod approval if needed
- Fix bomb message bug
- Speed up javascript even more (cuts size of code in half, adds http/2 headers to load asynchronously)
- If a guest hits login-protected page redirect to login form instead of giving an error
- Further improve new search results for articles and forum posts
Jan 10th:
- Forum crowner styles and layouts should be back to normal, mostly.
- Crowner voting doesn't change the icon to a weird swirly-eyed face when you click on the arrows.
- Moderators can edit locked articles again.
- The edit lock icon now appears and performs correctly on all views of an article, not just the primary one.
- namespace_index.php pagination now works as expected.
- [Moderation] Moderators can now view substantially more accounts queued for approval, so we shouldn't lose them any more.
Jan 8th:
- Added pagination to all namespaces.
- Bug fixes and messaging around editing locked pages.
- Title link edit bug fix in TRS/IP threads fixed.
- Crowner bug fixes (partial fixes deployed, additional fixes in progress)
- GDPR Integration.
- Image Pickin' typos
- Links at bottom of mobile page for "back" and "top"
== KLINT ==
1. Fixed article image max-widths for good this time, hopefully (350px max width)
2. Passwords are no longer displayed in plain text, after successfully being changed from profile page
3. Fixed username links on Cut Requests page
4. Users can now delete liveblog comments
5. Starting a new forum thread will now apply forum markup correctly
6. Fixed word-wrapping for long text links (no longer break to a new line)
7. Fixed edit functionality for posts in discussion threads
8. Fixed double posting issue on query pages for certain tropers (shoutout to instanityprelude)
9. Fixed “save draft” functionality in forums (now saves the whole post, instead of up to the first line-break) (also will now delete the saved post after successfully posting)
10. Fixed spacing around featured trope images on homepage
11. Tuned up WMG Headings style
== END: KLINT ==
== KLAYTEN ==
1. The "Alternate Title(s)" section on the individual trope page no longer touches the ad on mobile.
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SeanConneryIsAboutToShootYou
2. The infinite scroll feature on the browse page is active again.
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/browse.php
3. There is now a space between "On Topic Conversations." and "You".
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/createconversation.php?topic=85yve01xv34d73ppv15ghva4
4. Small typo of "Ineligable" instead of "Ineligible".
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/mods.php?a=Main.YesPrettyCure5
5. "Television" link under "Media" tab on side bar now links to "https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/UsefulNotes/Television" instead of "https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Television".
https://tvtropes.org/
6. Font size for "Latest Trope Edits", "Latest Forum Activity", and "Launch Pad Activity" is now larger on the home page for mobile.
https://tvtropes.org/
7. We hid the comic viewer on the main page until we finish the replacement.
https://tvtropes.org/
8. Now only Tropes will appear on the home page under "Newest Trope".
https://tvtropes.org/
9. For Google Analytics, we split the categories for guests versus members so we can track who visits our site the most.
No Link.
== END: KLAYTEN ==
== RICHARD ==
1. Fixed last modified date that was previously showing much longer times than there actually was since the last time an article was modified. Previously said, "11 years ago" as the last modified date : https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OutOfFocus
2. Got rid of bloated 3rd party adblock message and created our own to alert non-members when their adblock is on. To test, visit any two pages, while not logged in with your adblocker on.
== END: RICHARD ==
== CHRIS ==
1. Enable caching system for server - If you are NOT logged-in you'll receive a cached page from the server which can be as old as 3 minutes old. Unless you submit a form then it will bypass the caching system. This should greatly reduce the server load so it doesn't have to dynamically build the page for every pageview millions of times per day. The future versions should cache trope/forum pages for everyone and then rebuild it only when something changes.
2. Remove unused pixels (ie: comscore, retargeting, etc.)
== END: CHRIS ==
== TOM ==
1. Fixed 'Avatar sharing bug' where users were able to share avatars with other users that did not have the 'avatar sharing' feature enabled in their account.
2. Re-enabled the 'Main' namespace in https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/namespace_index.php and paginated the results.
3. Redirect pages can now be edited without an error being displayed.
4. Protection against cross-site scripting like this: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/WesternAnimation/%22%3E%3Cbody_____onload_=___alert%28%27xss%27%29%3E
5. Setup new email account to contact Moderators and made changes to the 'Contact Us' form to support it.
6. Cutting a page no longer deletes links to it's related pages.
7. Fixed errors in the error log and slow query log.
8. removal of all anti-vandalism page-locking code.
== END TOM ==
Complete (awaiting review)
- Added the Preview button, image upload button, Markup Help and emoji bar to the TLP, Discussion pages, Query forums, and Reviews. Also fixed the folders not opening in previews. Wish 1, Wish 2, Wish 3, Wish 4
- Badge shop redesign and making all badges except awards free to add. Wish
- Your Badges, signature line and account join date will appear on all comments in the TLP, Query forums, Discussion pages and Reviews. Signatures will be able to use markup and emojis.
- Revamped the Troper page to show your badges, avatar, title, signature, site usage stats and adding an activity drop-down with links from wiki tools.
Edited by kory on Apr 15th 2024 at 4:28:02 AM
Is the badge really that important long as the ads are gone?
NaNo 4328 / 50,000
While I don't approve of the aggressive tone that I'm reading from ![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
post, they are correct that this past week's updates are on the skeevy side. I'd guess a judge would award them a civil case, but I also think the judge would make them pay the court fees instead of the losing party paying.
I'm grateful that the Isaac Asimov and TRS projects that I do mean I can have an ad-free browsing experience, but I still think the developers have dropped the ball on a professional rollout of the changes. Link to TRS threads in project mode here.
Maybe the badge isn't important in the grand scheme of things but it was promised as part of the transaction the same as the removal of ads. If you're essentially paying for two features and only getting one, even if the one you're missing isn't the main thing you wanted, you've still paid for both things and you ought to get both. But in any case, the mods have said that that issue is being dealt with and I'll trust them on that. Personally, I'm still ever so slightly concerned that the paywall is going to become non-optional at some point in the not too distant future.
Edited by HyperactiveSquirrel on Mar 29th 2019 at 10:40:23 AM
These are the voyages...
Hard-paywalling the site would likely be the kiss of death. It would certainly spell the end of my visits here.
Berserk Button: misusing Nightmare Fuel
I have to admit that I'm not very happy about not receiving the badge.
I don't even really care about badges, it's more about the principle of truth in advertising. If you say "subscribe and get a badge!", subscribers should get a badge. If you don't have a badge ready, you could at least have worded it as "special subscriber badge coming soon!". Doing otherwise IS a pretty sketchy thing to do.
Plus, the badge system is already implemented. How hard can it be to add one more?
Speaking purely for myself, I came remember if I even knew about the badge. I paid for a year ad-free, so far that's what I've gotten.
Perpetually Confused
I don't even really care about badges, it's more about the principle of truth in advertising. If you say "subscribe and get a badge!", subscribers should get a badge. If you don't have a badge ready, you could at least have worded it as "special subscriber badge coming soon!". Doing otherwise IS a pretty sketchy thing to do.
Plus, the badge system is already implemented. How hard can it be to add one more?
Truth right there. I don't care about the specific of the badge. I care that my transaction hasn't been honored. And I care about that because I care about being treated fairly and not being scammed. And if the wiki expect to get money out of people, then I think the bare minimum is to expect them to deliver a 20 pixel by 20 pixel icon they promised.
I really hate how we are being punished because we don't want Flash ads that slow down the page and don't want to be bombarded by ads that are clearly scams.
I wouldn't see it as "being punished" as such. Clearly the site deserves to make its money somehow, it just went about getting it in a not-very-consumer-friendly way. A pay-for-reward scheme or Patreon would have worked much better than what we were given, but at least the popup has been modified enough so that it's no longer as intrusive as it was. Now, if the paywall were to become non-optional, then you might have an argument for being punished...
Lost in Space
Here's the thing. While it is absolutely true that no website, including ours, should present advertisements to users that cause harm to their computer or hijack their browsing experience, the fact remains that we get the majority of our operating revenue from ad views, and without that revenue we could not keep the site running.
It is completely understandable that users who wish to protect themselves against malicious ads would run ad blockers. However, doing so starves us of the money we need, and so the ultimate victims of this situation are not the users or the ad providers, but the websites that depend on the ads to survive.
The owners are very aware of this problem from all angles, and indeed one of the core products that they offer is an improved ad experience with tools to block some of the worst offenders. This is a constant battle and one that is often lost, so we appreciate it when users report misbehaving ads.
The important takeaway from all this is that ad blocking is not a "right". Websites need revenue to operate, and that can come from the following main sources:
- Ad views
- User subscriptions
- Merchandise
- Sponsorships
- Grants
We've tried merch before and it just doesn't do enough. If there are wealthy patrons out there who are interested in funding TV Tropes, we have yet to hear about it. So, do the math. If one hundred percent of users block our ads and nobody gives us money, there's no more TV Tropes. It's as simple as that.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
I can only say that the history of the Internet to date points to one single conclusion: the faith of a Web site looking to survive by monetizing the value of its offerings might be touchingly misplaced—but is misplaced all the same. If a site simply can't exist without ad revenue ... well, it was nice knowing that site. But the site hasn't yet been launched that was worth putting up with what the Internet has to offer in the way of ads.
The content of the ads are the problem, not ads themselves. The internet, as a whole, is going to need to shape up on all the problematic ads, but that's way beyond our scope. All we can do is report bad ads when we find them.
If you have another solution I am sure that everyone here would love to hear it. But they've pretty much all been tried. They've been tried a lot.
Yeah, the odds of me whitelisting TVT are pretty damn low. I've had numerous instances on my phone with ads that hijacked the browser that redirected me to those 'you're a winner'! claptrap style ads that are nearly impossible to back out of. Unless you can guarantee with 100% certainty we will never get those sort of malicious ads, I'm not in any hurry to whitelist the site.
Pestering me about the fact that I've got an adblocker on is just grating on my nerves.
Edited by Zaydin on Mar 31st 2019 at 1:06:54 PM
No offense, but reading the responses to the critical posts makes me want to shoot myself. Sure, the snooze button is a step in the right direction, but the moderators' tone-deaf replies make it abundantly clear that you guys don't understand the problem. They aren't considering any proposed solutions to the monetization issue (especially given that advertising is slowly but surely becoming an outdated source of revenue) and they're sweeping people who DID pay for the ad-free pass (and to an extent the accusations of fraud) under the rug.
Lost in Space
If you want to express your concerns about the pass, you are welcome to send messages to the staff directly via the contact form. Make sure to pick the "staff" option. We have also passed along the concerns and share them.
Edit: None of this changes the basic facts of the situation, which is that allowing users to block ads indefinitely is not a sustainable option.
Edited by Fighteer on Apr 1st 2019 at 9:47:11 AM
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
Perpetually Confused
So any plan to actually deliver what people paid for or is it at this point "Lets bury our heads in the sand and laugh all the way to the bank while staff and mods give themselves high five over the fraud they are committing"?
Edited by Ghilz on Apr 1st 2019 at 1:26:00 PM
Ok. That's going a bit too far.
These items need to be fixed. It is hardly intentional.
Perpetually Confused
Intentional or not it's still fraud when you don't deliver the goods you are willingly taking people's money for. And proceed to not answer any query on the issue.
And I don't see how you can even "unintentionally" not deliver a badge. You either know you have it to deliver when you put up the store, or you know you don't. There's nothing "unintentional".
You mean the contact form that no one answer? Coz I've used this and never gotten a reply from anyone. Which makes its use as the main point which people can manage their subscription renewal all the more of a fucking joke.
Edited by Ghilz on Apr 1st 2019 at 1:38:41 PM
Lost in Space
Ghilz, calm down before we have to remove you from the conversation. There is no case for civil fraud because there are no damages. There is no monetary value attached to an icon beneath your avatar on a forum post.*
We expect that the devs will deliver on that promise at some point, but I cannot tell you when. Until then, either you will maintain civility in this conversation or we will.
*I am not a lawyer and this is not a legal opinion, nor do I speak on behalf of the wiki staff.
Edited by Fighteer on Apr 1st 2019 at 2:52:40 PM
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
NaNo 4328 / 50,000
Lost in Space
To be clear, "snoozing" is a function of the reminder message that occurs if you are blocking ads. You can tell it to go away for a short while if you've been contributing to the wiki. It is not to be taken as an excuse to turn on an ad blocker, but obviously we have no way to prevent you from doing that, any more than we could before we enabled the message for logged-in users.
Users who have not edited recently will be bugged for every page view unless they contribute an edit, subscribe, or turn off their ad blocker.
Edited by Fighteer on Apr 1st 2019 at 3:24:44 PM
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
NaNo 4328 / 50,000
I had misunderstood, then. [Disappointment]
Link to TRS threads in project mode here.
Lost in Space
You do always have the opportunity to subscribe for ad-free browsing, using the direct link. We could make that more prominent, I suppose.
Edited by Fighteer on Apr 1st 2019 at 4:17:26 AM
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
Perpetually Confused
That means nothing though. Especially considering the kickstarter's history. (Remember the Database update and how that happened?). I get you say it Fighteer, you might even believe it, but you can see how a promise with no date attached means little considering the wiki's history.
And that's without even going that devs are not answering mails.
Are you genuinely telling me the Mods don't know when they will deliver?
Then why do you guys keep advertising for a badge that doesn't exist and whom you have no idea when it'll happen?
Can we at least know why it was rolled out incomplete?
I merely, politely, would like to know why it was rolled out this way?
I disagree, There very much is since A) you sold those before. and B) you took 20$ for it.
Edited by Ghilz on Apr 1st 2019 at 7:05:36 AM
You take the money, and don't deliver the full goods promised. Where is that NOT fraud?
Coz I still ain't got my badge.
(And I'll remind you, there's nothing in the purchase that lists the badge as a pre-order or something that'll be someday available).
You take the cash, you don't deliver the full promised goods. That's fraud.
Edited by Ghilz on Mar 29th 2019 at 12:40:07 PM