Shifti - User contributions [en]

Stitches in Time

2015-11-28T18:53:36Z

ChronoStrike: Created page with "==Prologue== [Editor’s note: The following are excerpts from a blog started in 2006 and an electronic journal begun in 2005. Additional biographical evidence comes from..."

==Prologue==

[Editor’s note: The following are excerpts from a blog started in 2006 and an electronic journal begun in 2005. Additional biographical evidence comes from a series of 2013 interviews, after the Change went public. Both the blog and journal have continued to the time of this writing and as such contain a rich history of the Change from a personal perspective. This compilation contains those entries relevant to the Change and much more personal testimony from the interviews. More blog entries can be found at www.****************.****.net. Credit to original author and biography subject ***** *******, alias TimeStrike.]

Stitches in Time – Intro and Overview – Thursday, January 27, 2006 @3:11 PM

Hello, world! This blog isn’t anything particularly special. It’s mostly going to be a place where I put up my thoughts and musings about anything I find interesting, and maybe experiences about interesting things. But I’ll cross that second bridge when I come to it. For now, I finished my mid-terms earlier (homeschoolers just get done when they get done, no set completion date most of the time) and I need to go look for anything that piques my intrigue.

Signed by way of pseudonym,
- TimeStrike

Stitches in Time – Second Post – Thursday, January 27, 2006 @8:36 PM

This afternoon I located a paw-print near a friend’s house. That may not sound like anything special, but knowing a fair amount about paw-prints I definitely found it interesting. Why? It was larger than most...and honestly, it just seemed a bit off. I haven’t nailed down what it belongs to yet, but I’ll carefully examine the casts I went back and made. Maybe I’ll even write a story about it once I get the chance.

Signed by way of pseudonym,
- TimeStrike

-----------------

Date: Thursday, January 27, 2006

Dear Journal,

Happy first birthday to you (more or less) and happy sixteenth birthday to me. I took time today to start writing ideas and experiences online as well. That way I’ll have them stored here and there. I’m not particularly like those people who want to be remembered forever, but backup copies are nice.
I also visited John earlier today for a while. He’s still recovering from that cancer…it didn’t really help that shortly before it was discovered he got sick from a relative (I think it was called sleeping sickness?) last August, though it’s going better on all counts. While I was there I found a paw-print in the snow and made a cast of it. Funny thing was, John got really edgy when I pointed it out. Hope he’s okay. I think that’s about it for today. I’ll write in some more later if I think of it.

- Jaye

-----------------

Stitches in Time – Vestigia – Saturday, January 29, 2006@12:14 PM

You know that paw-print I mentioned Thursday? I’ve matched it to a type of wolf native to the region. Here’s the problem: the print is way too big to be a normal one. And it’s out of proportion. Looks almost like the creature that made it was planigrade and not digitigrade. Mysterious stuff. Oh, and the title is Latin for ‘paws’. I’m gonna look further into it and post more later unless I get distracted (which is pretty dang likely, actually).

By way of pseudonym,

- TimeStrike

-----------------

Date: Monday, May 29, 2006

Dear Journal,

…so here’s the thing. I was wandering around on forums today. Now, I normally avoid the ‘post a picture of yourself’ threads – don’t even look at others’ pictures. But today I figured, why not, and so before I was entirely awake and aware I went looking. And I didn’t know that this one forum had so many fursuiters. Those people who wear anthro costumes. There are several of them there. At least, I think so. When I went back and checked later, it seemed like there were less. Perception, maybe? But the ones that were still there seemed less vivid than I remembered. Well, I’ll probably let it go, costumes aren’t really my thing…

- Jaye

-----------------

Stitches in Time – Notice – Monday, August 14, 2006@3:00 AM

…hey all…I feel absolutely terrible. Worst flu I’ve ever had. So my demi-daily updates will have to stop for now. Catch you on the flip side.

SBWoP,

- TimeStrike

-----------------

Date: Monday, August 14, 2006

Dear Journal,

Sick today…not like fall allergies or the occasional cold. Sick like influenza except three times worse. Honestly…ugh. Don’t know if I have the strength to write much longer. Probably won’t. ‘Cya tomorrow, journal.

- Jaye

-----------------

Date: Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Dear Journal,

…John called today. He seemed interested in my illness. No, not normal, friendly interested…I don’t even know. Maybe he thinks I got what he did year before last? I guess it’s not unheard of. Hope it’s ending soon…I feel a bit better, that’s why I got on the computer to write this entry in the first place, but…still not really great. I’ll ask him next time. I should probably head back to bed; think that the worse part of the sickness is coming back.

- Jaye

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

==Chapter 1==

Stitches in Time – Delay and Request – Thursday, August 17, 2006@7:17 PM

Hey, everyone…well, I have good news and bad news. The bad news is that I have to stop updating for now. Something came up in my life, but I did want to give warning here. As for what happened…well, this being the internet I won’t go into much detail about reality. Let’s just say there are lots of changes going on. There’s a decent reader base by now, I know, so if you’re a religious type – and maybe even if you aren’t – please send your thoughts and prayers with me.
As for the good news? Well, there’s a lot of hardship in my life right now. But I think it’s something I can use to get a new outlook on life and it’s a chance to start a new adventure. So for now, this is it. If you’ve subscribed, you’ll know when I return to this blog. Feel free to e-mail me, I should still have that. I wish nothing less than peace to all of you. Fare well.

SBWoP,

- TimeStrike (TS)

-----------------

...and with that, the anthro arctic vixen sat back from the desk. She reread the message once after posting it, then closed the browser and buried her face in her paws. “…what am I supposed to do…?” Her parents weren’t home – a vast, vast relief to her – but reality still sucked when it came down to it.

When she stood, after a while, this vixen reached a height of about five and a half feet. Her fur wasn’t quite white or grey, more of a silvery color. She didn’t look quite comfortable in her stance – or, for that matter, in her clothing. Neither her t-shirt not her shorts didn’t fit particularly well – too wide or too narrow, too tight or too loose. Though she self-consciously glanced at herself often, she shuddered when she did and tried not to think about her situation.

Then, the phone rang. Indeed it could be said that she jumped at the noise. Warily, still doubting herself, she picked up the phone. “…hello?”

“Jaye! How are you doing?” John’s voice came over the phone, for the first time since yesterday when he called and asked almost the same thing.

“I’ve…been better.”

“Still sick?”

“Nah, just…tired, and recovering…that kind of stuff.” Did he know, or maybe was he even Changed? From here, it was impossible to tell.

“Anything…unusual come up?”

“…unusual?”

“Like a rapid recovery, and maybe rapid acceleration in hair growth, that sort of thing…”

“…John…what would you know about hair growth?”

“It happened?”

“…”

“Jaye. Jaye! Focus, stay with me. Was there a major Change of some kind?” Even from this end, the capital ‘C’ was unmistakable.

“…yes. And I got a bare-bones briefing from a random internet person who follows my blog. So I assume you’ve been Changed for a year or more?”

“I’m what we call ‘Known’, actually. Still human, but in on the secret. As you maybe heard, ‘sleeping sickness’ is an outright fabrication to make sure that Changed anatomies don’t get messed up by well-meaning medical professionals. As for me…it’s just said that I have it to make the story with my cousin more plausible.”

“…oh. Is your cousin…you know, when I found that paw print back in January…”

“Yeah, it’s hers.”

“Okay. Well…I’m…I’m coping, I guess.”

“At least you don’t have illusions about how the world is any more. What all was in that briefing?”

“Not much…being told that real anthros exist, that humans are becoming them every year around this time, that regular humans can’t tell that it’s happening, and that it’s a global secret expanding exponentially to encompass the globe anyway.”

“That covers the basics. What are you now?”

“A, um, vi-err, fox. I mean...Arctic fox...I think...” Jaye already had enough to deal with. Despite her unusual hesitation in speaking, if the Veil held and John couldn’t see her as ‘her’, so much the better. For now, anyway.

“Jaye…is something up? As in, ‘JG’ up?”

The vixen sighed. Couldn’t get anything past John. “...yeah, John. Yeah, it is. I’m a vixen, okay?! Happy now?”

“Woah, woah! Calm down! I can help. I’m getting my cousin’s contact info for you right now. Her name’s SN.” He emphasized the pronoun, and the initials...but that would mean…

“...like...me?”

“Yes, JG. Like you. ...gah, that seems too weird. I’m still going to call you Jaye, not like anyone will notice a difference. And...for what they’re worth, you have my condolences, though Sam said that after learning to cope she was fine with the change. Just hope I’m not losing her...or you, for that matter. Anyway...can you write yet?”

“I can type.” For the moment, Jaye left out the numerous scratches on her keyboard.

“Good enough. In fact, from what I’ve heard, better than good; apparently it usually takes a few days to start typing with claws. Here’s her contact information for the new-Changed station she helps run in her area.” John relayed the details. “She does live in Missouri, a few states over [Review note by JG: This was in southern Ohio], but she’s going to be here a couple hours Saturday on the way to Pennsylvania to meet with friends.”

“All right...I’ll see about getting in contact with her now, if that’s okay.”

“Sure you’re all right?”

“...” The vixen hesitated for a moment. Sighed. “Yeah, I’m okay. But I should talk to her.”

“All right. It should be fine, only around 7 her time. Take care of yourself. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

“Okay, okay. Talk to you tomorrow, John.” After a quick ‘bye’ her best friend hung up.

Then Jaye looked over the contact information he gave her. She sighed again, then picked the phone back up and started dialing.

-----------------

“Sam’s Changing Service, how can I help you?” The female voice on the other end sounded somewhat tired; perhaps even exhausted.

“Hey…SN, right? I just got your number from your cousin, John, up here in Ohio. He said you’d be around in a couple days but it’s a bit more urgent.”

“Oh? Well, hey, he finally did something helpful for the Changed, got someone in on our radar. But...urgent? What’s the nature of the Change?”

“Arctic vixen.”

“Fox? That doesn’t sound so bad.”

With a dangerously low amount of inflection in her voice, Jaye replied, “My name as of today is JG. That sound ‘so bad’?”

On the other end of the line came a dull ‘thud’. The voice returned momentarily. “Woah! Okay, okay. That explains a lot of things. All right, calm down, girl. You’re on the hotline with someone who has two years practical experience. What do you need to know?”

-----------------

An hour later, Jaye put down the phone. She had some answers, a lot more questions, a plan for part of Saturday, and perhaps most importantly had, for now, come to peace..no, not to peace, but at least to terms with her Change.

Not too shabby a beginning for the first day of the rest of her life.

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

==Chapter 2==

Date: Thursday, August 17, 2006

Dear Journal (or is it Diary now? I have no idea),

Life...Changed today. Since I have no simple means of keeping this document to my paws only, I’ll leave it at that. Being part of the furry community before had nothing on today. Anyway...I’ll be meeting with John’s cousin, SN (Sam would seem to work neutrally, but initials it is) the day after tomorrow. Hopefully after talking with her I can get settled. Hopefully...

-----------------

Though Jaye wrote swiftly, at this point the words stopped coming as easily. However, a more concrete substance than words did start coming more easily...specifically a clear liquid, dripping down from her muzzle and marking damp blots on her clothing. “...dang it...not again...” Despite the she-fox’s quivering and attempts to calm herself...the tears not only continued, but strengthened. Pushing away from the desk, she weakly flopped onto her bed and broke down completely for the second time that day.

-----------------

The next morning brought the vixen back to consciousness, after crying herself to sleep the night before. She sniffled. “...first day of the rest of my life...ugh...” The worst part, she suspected, would be facing her parents, who would have arrived back from their four-day trip sometime last night. With her father being a ranking military aircraft designer and her mother taking the role of his secretary, long trips weren’t that uncommon...though she really wished that she had a bit longer to plan. But...the Veil was supposed to help, right?

Jaye checked the computer. The unfinished journal entry brought her back to the verge of tears, but she hastily blinked them away. “...no...got to be strong...for myself and everybody in on the secret...wait...what if they know what’s going on?” Thinking about the statistics she’d learned, she did some quick calculations. A 1 in 12,500 chance that either of them was Changed and had experience wasn’t great, but it was something. And that went up to 1:6,250 for newly-Changed. Her ears and tail – really, her whole posture – lifted at the slight hope.

Then the vixen heard a knock at the bedroom door. Her mother’s voice sounded. “Jaye...you okay? You did say you weren’t feeling so well...”

*Oh, heck...must have heard me crying and came...* “Erm, yeah. Feeling better.” Well, the Veil should keep her new voice secret. There was whispering on the other side of the door. It wasn’t anything distinct, but in all honesty she probably would have missed it entirely were not her new ears so much more sensitive.

Finally the voice sounded again. “All right. Come down for breakfast soon; it’s almost ten. We stop serving at 10:30!” A laugh. Jaye also managed a brief laugh before she could think about it. Then footsteps sounded, leaving the door; two sets, not just one. Both of her parents were definitely there.

-----------------

Finding the right clothing wasn’t as much a matter of instinct - it may have played a small role – as it was a matter of comfort and practicality. Even when Jaye came to the kitchen from her bedroom, some new physical requirements just couldn’t be satisfied with the clothes she had. As she rounded the wall’s corner to the kitchen, she saw her father sitting at the table, with the sound of sizzling bacon in the background. He gave her a look – though did he look focused, or just tired? She couldn’t tell for sure. The two hugged each other, and Jaye gave her mother a hug afterwards too, careful to keep her tail out of the way...

Over a breakfast of pancakes and bacon, and over some idle conversation, the vixen slowly eased, though she remained vigilant too. When asked about not feeling well, she brushed it off by saying that it must have just been passing. After helping clear up the table, she was about to leave…but before she got back to her room, her father stopped her. “You sure you’re okay?”

The vixen, although a little tense, nodded to him. After a moment, he nodded back and let her go. Jaye returned to her room, still thinking...one lie, probably the first of many, for a cause she didn't even know existed before yesterday.

-----------------

Date: Friday, August 18, 2006

Dear Journal/Diary:

My parents don't seem to know...but should I really be keeping this from them? Can I even keep it from them? According to Sam, perceptive people start to notice signs no matter how carefully I'll clean up, mask odors, or keep mindful of my tail. They're certainly fairly well aware. I guess I'll talk to her more about it and try to keep quiet until then. Can tell them I'm working on the latest school paper, I guess. Speaking of which...I should probably actually do that. 'Cya, journal.

- JG

-----------------

['''''This story is a work in progress. Please let me know how I could improve as I continue it!''''']

[[:Category:Story|Stories]] [[:Category:Paradise]] [[Category:WIP]]

User:ChronoStrike

2015-11-28T18:01:59Z

ChronoStrike:

What's next? Whatever is listed at the bottom of this page. Oh, and maybe Project Narrator too (unifying an RP by 2+ authors into a single work). Author procrastination syndrome may set in. You've ben warned.

They call me Strike. I call myself Strike too. Do some reading, some writing, some arithmetic. But especially the writing. If anything interests me enough I'll write about it; I'm not likely to change my mind about what interests me (even if I do procrastinate). Great thanks go to the authors who have been here before me.

Enough about me, here's more about me! Wait, what?

Favorites/Choices/Biographical List:

Race: Fox, or Kitsune when applicable.

Second Language of Choice: Latin. "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet..." ..okay, that's just a typeset, but Latin is still cool!

Alignment: Neutral Good. Good is permanent; neutral wavers between Order and Chaos (more towards Chaos) pretty frequently.

Associated Classical Element: Air.

Associated Chaos-System Element (see Talk page): Used to be certain about Time...now it's more towards Light.

Been writing since: 2007.

Favorite Colors: Silver, purple, gold-orange, cobalt blue, bright red.

Favorite Punctuation: The comma, followed by the colon.

Favorite Greek Letter: All of them! (Α Β Γ Δ Ε Ζ Η Θ Ι Κ Λ Μ Ν Ξ Ο Π Ρ Σ Τ Υ Φ Χ Ψ Ω)

Favorite Weather Condition: Light snow.

Preferred Role in an RP: Narrator/leader.

Author Weaknesses: Primarily conflict. As much as I'd like the world I write to be easier than the one I live in, I've found that having it so seems to cap how interesting and relatable it gets. ...except then I get concerned. What if the path that seems best for the story involves something I dislike? I want what I write to resemble reality (to a point)...but reality is pretty darn complicated.

Author Strengths: Perseverance, imagination...although sometimes I forget to persevere, sometimes I get lost in the realm of possibility.

Favorite Board Games: Clue and Risk.

Favorite Video Game Series/Character: Sonic series, Miles 'Tails' Prower. Stemming from this interest, I have a few friends to thank for nowadays being a writer, RPer, and fur.

Favorite Game Type: Puzzle.

Favorite Genre: (TF aside) Adventure.

...if you have any suggestions for list items, let me know.

''Finished Stories'':

I wish.

''Stuff in Progress'':

[[Stitches in Time]] - The experience of a young Changed in Paradise as pieced together years later through her blog, diary, and own recollections.

[[The Fifth Team]] - A story of three friends' (mis)adventures past as their leader struggles with returning to her own past.

[[Compendium of Arcane History - Kitsune]] - One particular history of the species. By no means comprehensive or expert, but an attempt to describe the timeline I generally go by...and yes, I'm aware it's somewhat less directly related to transformation.

User:ChronoStrike

2015-11-28T17:34:45Z

ChronoStrike:

User:ChronoStrike

2013-09-08T03:45:34Z

ChronoStrike:

What's next? A Paradise-setting story is in the works, and a new setting in an of itself is in the works. Author procrastination syndrome may set in, though. You've ben warned.

They call me Strike. I call myself Strike too. Do some reading, some writing, some arithmetic. But especially the writing. If anything interests me enough I'll write about it; and I'm not likely to change my mind about what interests me (even if I do procrastinate). I'll start putting up links here once I've put the stories on the site. Great thanks go to the authors on this site: I've seen to a few RPs in the WoC, Paradise, and FreeRIDErs settings.

Enough about me, here's more about me! Wait, what?

Favorites/Choices/Biographical List:

Race: Fox, or Kitsune when applicable.

Second Language of Choice: Latin.

Alignment: Neutral Good, with an unwavering tilt on Good and a swaying change between Order and Chaos that leans towards Chaos.

Associated Classical Element: Air.

Associated Chaos-System Element (see Talk page): Usually all of them. If picking one, Time.

Been writing since: 2007.

Favorite Colors: Silver, purple, gold-orange, cobalt blue, bright red.

Favorite Punctuation: The comma, followed by the colon.

Favorite Greek Letter: All of them! (Α Β Γ Δ Ε Ζ Η Θ Ι Κ Λ Μ Ν Ξ Ο Π Ρ Σ Τ Υ Φ Χ Ψ Ω)

Favorite Weather Condition: Snow.

Preferred Role in an RP: GM.

Author Weaknesses: Humor, middles, and conflict. Basically everything that brings the story from point Α (alpha) to point Ω (omega).

Author Strengths: Irony for its own sake (being unexpected in order to appear random), imagination, and stubbornness (in a good, persevering way).

Favorite Board Game: Clue.

Favorite Video Game Series/Character: Sonic series, Miles 'Tails' Prower. You want to know why I'm so slanted towards foxes and kitsune, look no farther.

Favorite Game Type: Puzzle.

...if you have any suggestions for list items, let me know.

User talk:ChronoStrike

2013-06-09T17:58:15Z

ChronoStrike: Completing part.

=What Are the Chaos-System Elements?=

I'm glad you asked! Yes, you. I'll name each of the seventeen Elements in usual order and talk about it briefly, including associated color and reach of dominion. (These reaches tend to overlap.)

Fire (bright red), one of the four classical Elements. Opposed to Water. Governs all processes of combustion, natural or not, as well as most plasma-type substances. Hot and dry.

Water (dark blue), one of the four classical Elements. Opposed to Fire. Calm but flowing, governs water in all states and all liquid matter to some extent. Cold and wet.

Earth, a.k.a. Ground or Rock (brown), one of the four classical Elements. Opposed to Air. Firm and strong, governs most solid matter and to an extent all that relies on it. Cold and dry.

Air (sky blue), one of the four classical Elements. Opposed to Earth. Free and spirited, governs most gaseous matter and most forms of transportation. Hot and wet.

Space (aqua-green), one of the three Universal elements. Opposed to Time. Governs all motion, creation, and destruction in the first four dimensions (0D, 1D, 2D, and 3D). These are thus called the spatial dimensions.

Time (sandy gold), one of the three Universal Elements. Oversees all motion, creation, and destruction in the second set of dimensions (4D, 5D, and 6D), which influence the perception of time and the possibilities of future and futures past. These are thus called the temporal dimensions.

Gravity (orange), one of the six Quantum elements. Opposed to Entropy. Governs momentum and the Universe's physical laws (where not more applicable a to Sound and Speed). Also governs the principles of ontological inertia, that is, the tendency of existing things to keep existing.

Entropy, a.k.a. Chance or Randomness (hot pink), one of the six Quantum elements. Opposed to Gravity. Governs the dissolution of fundamental particles on an atomic scale. On an everyday scale governs chance, 'luck', probability, and the constant fight of matter against ontological intertia.

Life (emerald green), one of the four Balance elements. Opposed to Death. Governs the instinct and will (as well as intellect if applicable) of all living organisms. Also amorally governs the sating of any type of pleasure, mental or physical. Co-governs most emotions and the end of life with Death and co-governs the initiation of motion with Gravity when applicable.

Death (dark purple), one of the four Balance elements. Opposed to Life. Amorally governs pain, whether unnecessary or suffering for a cause. Governs also most weapons and other objects meant to harm. Co-governs most emotions and the end of life with Life, as well as co-governing decay and decomposition with Entropy where applicable.

Light (pure white), one of the four Balance elements. Opposed to Darkness. Governs almost the entire electromagnetic spectrum of wavelengths, of course including visible light. Co-governs with Fire any of these wavelengths that produce heat, and with Air the variances of light through different materials. Co-governs relativity with Gravity and dilation with Tme.

Darkness (pitch black), one of the four Balance elements. Opposed to Light. Governs much of the electromagnetic spectrum with Light, with the notable exception of visible light. Governs ignorance (defined as the deficiency as compared to all possible knowledge, as opposed to Life governing the lack of deficiency thereof) in sentient and/or sapient beings. Co-governs shadows and shading with Water and colors and textures with Earth, respectively. Co-governs dark matter with Space.

Sound (dark red), one of the six Quantum elements. Opposed to Speed. One of the more difficult Elements to pin down to a definition, apparently governs all noise of any type. Thought to co-govern certain aspects of motion with Gravity and to co-govern most action of any description insofar as the production of sound (and any other sense impact) goes. As far as we know, it is opposed to Speed because the latter is about actions while the former is about results.

Speed (neon green), one of the six Quantum elements. Opposed to Sound. Also difficult to pin down to a definition. Seems to governs all motion and acceleration, as well as any effects directly associated with the propagation of motion. Co-governs air resistance with Air, liquid resistance with Water, and solid resistance with Earth. Apparently also co-governs any action with concern as to the propagation of motion, but not the results - distinguishing it from Sound and the other Elements.

Reality (approximately the color of steel), one of the six Quantum elements. Opposed to Energy. As with Speed and Sound, difficult to pin to a definition. Governs (to our knowledge) the physical and mental Universe with regard to the status quo, pulling together parts of Water, Earth, Space, Gravity, Death, Darkness, and Sound as the Element that deals with what is solid and relatively certain. Cannot be manipulated without a careful and opposite manipulation of Energy.

Energy (silver), one of the six Quantum elements. Opposed to Reality. As with the preceding three Quantum elements, difficult to define. So far as we know, governs the physical and mental Universe with regard to potential, bringing together parts of Fire, Air, Time, Entropy, Life, Light, and Speed as the Element that deals not with what is, but what could be. Cannot be manipulated without a careful and opposite manipulation of Reality.

...and then there's the last Element. It has no single name or color. It has been called each one of the preceding sixteen and then some. Drawing from certain localities, we call it Chaos. We know very little about this Element beyond that it exists and that it is the capstone - the summit - maybe even the combination - of all the rest. It just...is. And as far as we know, it 'is' all.

Stay tuned for more.

User talk:ChronoStrike

2013-06-09T04:48:49Z

ChronoStrike:

User talk:ChronoStrike

2013-06-09T04:28:23Z

ChronoStrike: Created page with "=What Are the Chaos-System Elements?= I'm glad you asked! Yes, you. I'll name each of the seventeen Elements in usual order and talk about it briefly, including associated ..."

User:ChronoStrike

2013-06-09T04:03:33Z

ChronoStrike:

They call me Strike. I call myself Strike too. Do some reading, some writing, some arithmetic. But especially the writing. If anything interests me enough I'll write about it; and I'm not likely to change my mind about what interests me (even if I do procrastinate). I'll start putting up links here once I've put the stories on the site. Great thanks go to the authors on this site: I've seen to a few RPs in the WoC, Paradise, and FreeRIDErs settings.

Enough about me, here's more about me! Wait, what?

Favorites/Choices/Biographical List:

Race: Fox, or Kitsune when applicable.

Second Language of Choice: Latin.

Alignment: Neutral Good, with an unwavering tilt on Good and a swaying change between Order and Chaos that leans towards Chaos.

Associated Classical Element: Air.

Associated Chaos-System Element (see Talk page): Usually all of them. If picking one, Time.

Been writing since: 2007.

Favorite Colors: Silver, purple, gold-orange, cobalt blue, bright red.

Favorite Punctuation: The comma, followed by the colon.

Favorite Greek Letter: All of them! (Α Β Γ Δ Ε Ζ Η Θ Ι Κ Λ Μ Ν Ξ Ο Π Ρ Σ Τ Υ Φ Χ Ψ Ω)

Favorite Weather Condition: Snow.

Preferred Role in an RP: GM.

Author Weaknesses: Humor, middles, and conflict. Basically everything that brings the story from point Α (alpha) to point Ω (omega).

Author Strengths: Irony for its own sake (being unexpected in order to appear random), imagination, and stubbornness (in a good, persevering way).

Favorite Board Game: Clue.

Favorite Video Game Series/Character: Sonic series, Miles 'Tails' Prower. You want to know why I'm so slanted towards foxes and kitsune, look no farther.

Favorite Game Type: Puzzle.

...if you have any suggestions for list items, let me know.

User:ChronoStrike

2013-06-09T03:05:50Z

ChronoStrike: Created page with "They call me Strike. I call myself Strike too. I'll fill this in soon, at this moment of editing I'm a bit pressed for time."

They call me Strike. I call myself Strike too.

I'll fill this in soon, at this moment of editing I'm a bit pressed for time.

User talk:ShadowWolf

2013-06-09T03:05:06Z

ChronoStrike:

how do you delete a page that has no content? I've had to modify a title of a story page and removed it's content, but the title still appears on my author page.
:Please sign with the <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki> - but generally you have to remove all content and then kill any links to it you've made. That'll "orphan" it and then an admin can go and do the actual delete. [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 15:43, 3 October 2007 (EDT)
:Page deleted, Oberon. (Recent Edits is a wonderful tool!) - in the future, though, please sign all entries on a talk page using the <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki> specifier - it's what gives the nifty user link and timestamp. (and in requests for deletion, could you please include the page name ?) [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 15:48, 3 October 2007 (EDT)

==Sitenotice text==

Where did you put the text for the donation sitenotice? Normally it'd be at [[MediaWiki:Sitenotice]], but I'm assuming since it's not there you've inserted it into the source code somewhere. [[User:Bryan|Bryan]] 20:46, 3 January 2008 (EST)

Never mind, I found it - MonoBook.php, right? I should move it out of that and into sitenotice, it won't appear for anyone who's using a different skin otherwise. [[User:Bryan|Bryan]] 21:01, 3 January 2008 (EST)

:Didn't know about the Sitenotice bit, so yeah, I did a bit of hacking and dumped it straight into the code from the primary skin. I actually had thought about dumping it directly into the Skin driver, but decided not to. — [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 21:08, 3 January 2008 (EST)

:There, fixed up. I pulled the code from the source and added a version to the [[Mediawiki:Sitenotice]]. "A Version" because I had to use the same custom tag I created for [[Shifti:Site support]] to do the button. (PayPal kinda requires it be a form with a crapload of hidden fields) — [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 21:16, 3 January 2008 (EST)

::Heh. I was just working on that myself. Good to know I was on the right track. :) [[User:Bryan|Bryan]] 21:20, 3 January 2008 (EST)
::This is odd. It appears that integral.org is in the spam protection filter, I can't save [[Main Page]] now. [[User:Bryan|Bryan]] 21:37, 3 January 2008 (EST)

:::Not in any of the spamfilters I installed. It's not in the central MediaWiki list or in the site-specific list. I'll look deeper. — [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 22:00, 3 January 2008 (EST)
:::[[Special:Version]] doesn't have any spam-blockers besides [http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:SpamBlacklist SpamBlacklist] and none of its lists have "integral" anywhere in them. So I don't know what the problem could be... Everything I've installed is hacked to not bug people that are in the Admin group about '''''ANYTHING''''', so I'm at a loss as to what the problem could be. — [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 22:04, 3 January 2008 (EST)

::::Well, whatever the problem was, it seems to have passed. I should have saved a copy of the error message but I suppose it's moot if it doesn't come back. BTW, I hope you don't mind the little tweaks I made to the sitenotice banner. [[User:Bryan|Bryan]] 23:38, 3 January 2008 (EST)

:::::Nah, it works. And I've reverted the changes I made, since it wasn't the cause of Felix's problem. He saw the Captcha, but apparently either 1) Didn't know what it was or 2) Couldn't read it. So I've just gone and given the "Author" permissions group a Captcha exception. — [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 23:49, 3 January 2008 (EST)

What do you think of the notion of putting a progress bar in the donation request, as demonstrated in [[Shifti:Sandbox]]? Wikipedia does it that way, and it might give people more incentive to donate in order to get rid of the banner. :) [[User:Bryan|Bryan]] 01:23, 4 January 2008 (EST)

:That's pretty nifty. Maybe have the bar in red, though :) [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 01:30, 4 January 2008 (EST)

::There, added a color parameter. Red's a bit garish, though, maybe something a bit more pastel? [[User:Bryan|Bryan]] 01:43, 4 January 2008 (EST)

:I hate that banner!! It offends me, I must destroy it by donating! *snicker* :)

--[[User:Devin|Devin]] 23:59, 4 January 2008 (EST)

:Wolfy, how do I become an author? I already have a story written.
[[User:ClydesdaleTF|ClydesdaleTF]]--[[User:ClydesdaleTF|ClydesdaleTF]] 20:27, 27 October 2011 (UTC)
::Easy, you wait for an admin to notice the story insert and hit the button :) -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 21:44, 27 October 2011 (UTC)

:Thanks! I'll be sure to write more soon! How'd you like my first one? [[User:ClydesdaleTF|ClydesdaleTF]] 01:30, 28 October 2011 (UTC)

== Broken Discussion pages and Captcha errors ==

Not sure what's going on. When I click on the Discussion link on a page that doesn't have a discussion, it takes me direct to that page's edit frame (NOT the Discussion page), and I seem to have full edit rights on it. Something seems to have gone wonky along the way.

Pre-existing Talk pages seem to work fine (as evidenced here), though when I was trying to post it gave me an "out of captcha" error (When I tried to post it on the Current Events page that is.).

Oh and for the TF Types, you may want to add "Plant" (for TF's that are not animal based, but not quite Dryad based for the mythical category), and "Inanimate" (and maybe even Robotization or however you want to classify it).

I'm not quite sure if inanimate would be good enough as a catchall for a "living material' type TF (think X-Men's Colossus, and Ice Man, who turn into living steel and living ice respectively), or if we might want another type for that as well.

--[[User:Jetfire|Jetfire]] 13:33, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

:I'm working on this, but apparently the 'title' parameter isn't being properly set. When it's a red-link PHP is getting a URL that looks like 'index.php?title=XXX?title=XXX_talk&action=edit&redlink=1' and it's seeing that first 'title=' and not the second one. I'm trying to figure out how to solve that.
:--[[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 15:26, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

::Turned out to have several causes, all related to various problems with a code upgrade and several other problems that cropped up. Since I have yet to see this problem re-occur, I'm going to call it 'fixed'. -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 20:38, 28 May 2009 (UTC)

== Story submission captcha? ==

I just went to post a new story and after I hit the 'save page' button, it took me to an edit screen that had:
Your edit includes new external links. To help protect against automated spam, please enter the words that appear below in the box
at the top. I looked and looked again and couldn't find any external links in my story. In fact there was no markup at all once I removed all the tab-indention on the paragraphs.

I'm all for automated systems blocking automated systems, but this sort of struck me as odd. -- [[User:Leasara|Leasara]] 08:01, 20 March 2009 (UTC)

:The regular expressions might have triggered on a non-link URL. But I cannot be certain, as this is the first report I've seen of it. (and sorry for the lag in the response) -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 20:33, 28 May 2009 (UTC)

Also, as long as I'm bugging you guys, any chance of getting an inverted color scheme skin? Dark text on a light background seems to be more difficult for me to read for any length of time than light text on a dark background. -- [[User:Leasara|Leasara]] 08:10, 20 March 2009 (UTC)

:The new 'shiftimin' skin took a while to get fully functional, but you could, likely, use "user CSS" to get the same result. Give me a bit of time and I'll see if I can get a "map" together for the CSS behind the "monobook" skin so you can override it easily. Alternatively you could poke at the CSS yourself, but...
:There is a page giving a minimal explanation of CSS at [[Help:Custom css]] and we have a page open to user additions about CSS hacks at [[Custom CSS Hacks]]. I've been planning to do up a page explaining the various classes of the primary 'MonoBook' skin for a while. Guess it's about time to actually get to work on that. (and again, sorry for the lag in the response) -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 20:33, 28 May 2009 (UTC)

== Question ==
...from a nubcake guy. Just asking, is a story allowed to be set in a video game universe ([http://halo.wikia.com/The_Halo_Universe Halo]: w00t!)? 'Cos I wanna write a TF story set in there, but I'm not too sure if this is allowed on Shifti. Hope it's yes, 'cos it's already in progress. Thanks! --[[User:WolfyDrake95|Drake]]
:We have no restrictions on fan-fiction, but if we receive a take-down notice it will be removed. (I run the server and would be the one facing the legal actions - so I will not fight a DMCA notice unless I am certain it is invalid) -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 13:54, 28 May 2009 (UTC)
::Great! Well, I'm pretty sure Bungie, the copyright holder, encourages fan fic, so I think it's ok...Note "I think". I'm not sure how they'd react to TF fan fic. Thanks for confirming (and once again for the fave I can't tell you how much that means to me)! :) --[[User:WolfyDrake95|Drake]]
:::Most companies are open to fan-fic, because it helps with the popularity of their product. And you got the "fav" because I saw real promise in the original and in your willingness to take constructive criticism. Every other author in my "new authors to watch" section has shown the same promise, though they haven't all been available to take the constructive criticism that could be offered. -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 20:24, 28 May 2009 (UTC)

Hi there! This is the noob writer, Drake, again, here for a fresh wave of bother-the-administrator. Sorry to bother you, but here I am. Bothering you. Anyway, I was hoping you could help critique my new story, [[User:WolfyDrake95/Finding Himself|Finding Himself]], which I uploaded a couple of days ago. I got comments from Guvnor of Space and Concerned Reader, but I thought I'd ask for your opinion since you were the only one who seemed actually care about my first, and admittedly not-so-good, story. I do hope you can drop a critique and a comment to help me improve.

The above was an email that I sent to you but received no reply for. And also, about the fanfic that this section was initially about: can I upload screenshots? Halo features a Theatre mode in which one can take screenshots of players or NPCs, so I think I could use screenshots to illustrate characters, etc. Anyway, thanks for reading so far! :) --[[User:WolfyDrake95|Drake]], 23:43, 27 June 2009

:Hey there, ShadowWolf, it's Drake again. Hope you could look through my [[User:WolfyDrake95/Letting Go|new story]], in case you haven't noticed. Yea, it's not very good, and it took a strange direction halfway through writing (becoming all wierd and sappy), but I hope it would merit, at least, a critic. Of course, if you're too busy, it's okay, I'm fine with that. I'm pretty sure critiqueing new writers isn't exactly the only thing you do ;).

:And by the way, if creating new info tags were possible, a "Critique Requested" one might be more effective in garnering critiques than the "Comment" tag that's provided. And in regards to my Halo-fanfic, is it okay if I put screenshots from in-game to illustrate? It'd be useful for people to understand what I'm saying, since Halo isn't as well known as Star Wars. —[[User:WolfyDrake95|Drake]] 12:48, 3 August 2009 (UTC)

::Sadly I'm going to have to decline a critique on that story. I have tried reading it and found that it did not interest me, sorry.

::As to the images... I am unsure about this, as there is content in the texture-maps and such that will wind up as part of the image that are copyright MS/Bungie. However... This would appear to be a case covered by the "Fair Use" exceptions, so unless a lawyer that uses Shifti can answer otherwise, go ahead and upload.

::The 'critique requested' template itself should be easy. I'll have to see about that at some point today. -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 16:35, 3 August 2009 (UTC)

:::All right, I understand if you don't want to critique. I do know that this isn't exactly my best story...I suppose every writer has times when he writes bad. Just that I get these times more often. I sorta knew it was already bad, but I guess I needed someone to tell me that it was lousy, right to my face. Ah well.

:::As for the pictures, thanks! And for the template, another thanks. You're one hell of an admin! --[[User:WolfyDrake95|Drake]] 04:10, 4 August 2009 (UTC)

::::It's not that it isn't a good story, Drake. The problem is that when I tried reading it I was not able to get more than a few paragraphs in before I said "this is depressing"—I do not read anything that I can say that about because I suffer from bipolar disorder. -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 11:41, 4 August 2009 (UTC)

::::Um...then I guess I'm sorry for the misunderstanding. And yeah, I guess I shouldn't write so many depressing stories; it certainly gets a little boring after a while, and I suppose you're right in that when people read stories, they probably won't like those that make them all depressed. I should put a warning on that story one of these days! Anyway, I think I should start on my more normal stories soon.
::::I don't know what to say about that last bit of what you said because I'm just a kid, and I'm not very smart and I'm terrified that I'll say something insensitive or insulting or whatever. I do that a lot of times, and the people on the receiving end tend to take offense. Sorry.
::::On the upside, I'm thinking of writing a PaW story soon. It's a cool story setting, the Pig and Whistle. Looks like a good setting for assassinations!
::::Still, thanks for taking the time to clarify the issue. I suddenly feel happy. :) —[[User:WolfyDrake95|Drake]] 13:02, 4 August 2009 (UTC)

:::::I don't offend easily—and if you ever do, you'll know it. Depressing stories can be good, too, but I stay away from them for medical reasons—bipolar disorder means I have massive mood swings and reading depressing stuff just feeds into that. There have been several times when I've read something really depressing and it had a very bad impact on me.
:::::On another note… You are a lot more intelligent and mature than most of the "kids" these days (IMNSHO). Most "kids" these days have almost no idea how to put a sentence together and you are one of the few that I have run into that can take criticism.
:::::As to a PaW story… The setting was created, as it says in the description and rules, as a "reboot" of the "Tales from the Blind Pig" setting. Within the last couple of years the "Blind Pig" setting has had numerous arguments over what is and is not "canon" between authors who have seen the setting grow and contributed and people just finding the setting. Because the creator has left it behind it has become something of a "lawless waste" with no real controls and people changing it from what the creator said is actually the reality of the setting. To solve this and make the setting much more internally consistent I asked around and a small group formed to generate the new setting. There is a lot more to the setting than has been revealed or is likely to be openly revealed to anyone anytime soon.
:::::And we tried to define only what was needed to give the setting its own identity so that the people actually interested in writing a story set there could create the setting itself. We only ask that you not set the story outside of the NAR/RoT/Quebec area unless you are actually from that other area. The reason for that is simply that we wish to allow people from those other regions to have control over what, exactly, happened to their regions after the collapse. -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 13:45, 4 August 2009 (UTC)

{{Green|Well Wolfy is from Singapore, so he could open up that side of the world. On a side note, all 14-19 year olds I know on the internet have trouble with basic grammar and spelling when talking normally, so I wouldn't quite call your writing juvenile.}} --[[User:Concerned Reader|Concerned Reader]] 14:29, 4 August 2009 (UTC)

:Well, actually Singapore is pretty boring. Nothing's really cool or fun here (maybe I'm just used to it?), and society feels very...suppressed. There's no space for individuality. If you try to be yourself, you get mocked and stuff (like when my friends discovered that I was on Shifti). Bad story material. And as for deciding what happens to my region...I dunno. Best I don't, I have terrible imagination and my mind only circles around video games that I play.
:If I might refer you to the [[User_talk:WolfyDrake95/Letting Go|talk page]] of Letting Go, you'll find the rough plan of this PaW story.
:As for my writing, I won't deny that I'm very, very proud of it (my downfall), which is why I hurt a lot sometimes when criticized without knowing why (thus why I seemed so upset when I replied to ShadowWolf's declination). I also have a somewhat existant superiority complex (I got really jealous when ShadowWolf commented that Rabbit was impressed by CR's Rebuilding. Puberty? I dunno.)
:Even though I know I'm not that good a writer, I like to think that I write depressing stories because of my "painful experiences in life". Actually, it's because I read a lot of Michael Bard's work (both the sad ones and the happy ones). Both of which are awesome, by the way. I'll admit that I'm a fan of his. <3
:Oh, and thanks for the compliments, you two. I can feel my ego swelling already. :) —[[User:WolfyDrake95|Drake]] 14:54, 4 August 2009 (UTC)

I hope I'm doing this right and putting it in the right place. If not, please accept my apology. If you have the time, I would like for you to take a look at the stories I've posted and offer some criticism. I've read enough of your material to trust your judgement. Also could you suggest others who might be able to help me to improve my work?
Thank you
Alveric

Just a quick question. I'm thinking about posting my stories on TSAT. Do you know where I can find some detailed instuctions on how to do that? I'm afraid my tech-savvy is on the low side.
Thanks
Alveric

With TSAT being a defunct e-zine, I'm assuming you're referring to the TSA-Talk mailing list. For that, well... First sign up for the mailing list, then the following advice will help:
# Make sure that your post is plain-text - copy to Notepad first and check for any characters that have disappeared. A number of us do not use Windows and the UTF-16 that windows uses for things like "smart quotes" becomes mojibake for us.
# If it contains adult material or things not safe for work, make sure to include the NSFW tag
# Don't expect comments and don't be so attached to your work that negative comments or criticism of any kind causes an adverse reaction
# Check spelling and grammar - the list is populated by quite a number of authors - some of which have been published. We do like to see people actually making an effort towards making their writings legible and understandable to others.
--[[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 19:04, 29 March 2011 (UTC)

Thanks, I'm been on the mailing list for a couple of months. I'll procede cautiously.

Alveric

Just made my first attempts to send a story to TSATalk. I sent it as an attachment, then thought attachments might not work, so I sent it the second time in the body of the message. I hope I didn't screw it up too bad.

Alveric

I noticed that on the 'All Authors' page, I'm listed as User:Alveric rather than just Alveric. Is there some way I could correct that? Thanks --[[User:Alveric|Alveric]] 17:09, 17 May 2011 (UTC)

:Fixed. Seems you just had the category set and the actual template we use for setting the stuff wasn't. -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 17:16, 17 May 2011 (UTC)

Thanks! --[[User:Alveric|Alveric]] 18:02, 17 May 2011 (UTC)

== RSS Feed? ==

Not sure if there's much you can do about this or if I'm using it wrong or expecting the wrong things. But I've signed up for the RSS feed on Shifti, and I'm not only getting the new changes soon after they occur, but I also get a bunch of changes that were already reported to me, often multiple times.
--[[User:Jetfire|Jetfire]] 11:46, 29 May 2009 (UTC)

:That's the way the RSS feed works. It works similar to how the 'Recent Changes' page works by default. -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 16:25, 29 May 2009 (UTC)

:: True but it seems to be picking up changes it has already reported that haven't had any actual new changes done. For example, when Bryan was adding/updating the separator graphics, the RSS feed repeated it twice for each change he did, and that seems to happen a lot.
::--[[User:Jetfire|Jetfire]] 17:54, 29 May 2009 (UTC)

:::I'd look closer - there were, in most cases, two files uploaded/updated - and yes, there is a bug somewhere in the system that is double-logging some events. I haven't been able to track that one down, though. It's about time to take a look and see if there is a new version of the code available, however, so I can see if an upgrade fixes the problem. (Most notably it is the new-user stuff that gets double-logged, but I have no idea how this is impacting the RSS feed) -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 18:37, 29 May 2009 (UTC)

:::: I meant that as a general example thouhg; not that in particular.

:::: Another example, I just got an RSS update now. I've been watching the feeds and had no recent updates from Shifti since this morning whence I'd gotten Jon's latest update and a few hours. The update I JUST got says there are 8 new changes, including Jon's After Hours addition again, Wolfy's New world addition and 4 entries for the RSS Feed discussion. (Despite this being the 4th entry now). All of the entries have a time of 4:03PM ADT. --[[User:Jetfire|Jetfire]] 19:21, 29 May 2009 (UTC)

::::: Odd... And I'm not really that knowledgeable about the MediaWiki code-base (yes, I can hack on it, but...) I have a feeling that the problem lies in how the system works. I think that it might be compiling a list of all changes within a certain period and sending it out. And if it isn't keeping a proper time-stamp on the items, that is a violation of the RSS spec, IIRC - since it is then pushing out duplicates without a way for readers to determine that with any degree of certainty. I'll sign up to the RSS feed myself and see if I can track the problem. -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 19:39, 29 May 2009 (UTC)
::::: Okay - I've got my client signed up to the RSS feed for the [[Special:RecentChanges|Recent changes]] page. Let's see what this edit does... -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 22:33, 29 May 2009 (UTC)
::::: Now I've seen the problem and it sucks. That one previous edit led to a major flood of '31 new edits' in my feed reader. Looks like I was right - it isn't properly date-tagging the entries. -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 22:35, 29 May 2009 (UTC)
::::: Looked at the raw XML of the feed and it doesn't look like there is an error in it - though there might be. Let me go take a look at the RSS specs to see if I can figure out what is missing and/or not being set properly. -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 22:39, 29 May 2009 (UTC)
::::: Ooooh... I think I just found the cause. Apparently the feed is claiming to be RSS 2.0 but it isn't putting a stable <guid/> tag on any of the entries. This tag is the method by which most RSS readers decide whether an item is new or not. The feed here does not have them. This is probably an oversight on the part of the person that wrote the code, but I cannot say. I'm going to go check Wikipedia to see if they have it there - because if they don't then the only reason that feeds of Wikipedia aren't getting overwhelmed is because of the volume of edits there. -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 22:48, 29 May 2009 (UTC)
::::: Changed it to include the link-url as a guid - it should be genuinely unique to a specific page revision. Lets see if this fixes the problem... -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 23:16, 29 May 2009 (UTC)
::::: Okay - I give up (for now) - because that last edit showed up with a massive number of others and the added <guid> tag doesn't seem to have helped any. Unless, of course, those <guid/> tags need a bit to start showing up... I really don't know. Might be time for me to look into cleaning out the cache table of the database. -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 23:20, 29 May 2009 (UTC)
::::: And that looks like it did do it after all. Bug report being marked CLOSED/RESOLVED. -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 23:22, 29 May 2009 (UTC)
::::: Bug not completely resolved. On restart my RSS client has shown a singularly massive flood of repeated messages. This does not make sense to me, as it was not doing this during the testing yesterday - and I am willing to bet it will not show such action today. However it might be that the text I am using to generate the data for the GUID tag is not as stable as I once thought - this bothers me and makes me think I might have to go much deeper into the code for changes. Perhaps as deep as altering the 'feed item' class so that it requires the actual ID of the revision so that said ID can be used for the GUID. --[[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 14:39, 30 May 2009 (UTC)
::::: Sadly... It looks like utilizing the Date of the edit might be the only way to uniquely identify them - in combination with the page title, that is. However, I shall not be making those changes at this time. What I shall be doing is finding a way to interact with another developer so that I can be certain this will permanently and fully squash this bug. -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 14:48, 30 May 2009 (UTC)

: Not sure what's going on, but the problem seems to be cropping up again. I've gotten RSS feeds telling me of changes that I've already gotten before (and before and before)... --[[User:Jetfire|Jetfire]] 17:52, 12 June 2009 (UTC)

::Has to do with how the URL's are generated. Since I'm using the URL as the GUID, it looks like there is a periodic shift in them. I have zero clue how to fix it, because I'd have to come up with something that is genuinely unique as an identifier, and I can't think of anything that would work there. (at least, nothing that is actually available to the feed generator) -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 18:15, 12 June 2009 (UTC)

== ShiftiMin-related stuff ==

I expect to be poking at the new theme with sharp sticks during the [[TSA-Bash]] anyways, but in the meantime I discovered (largely by happenstance) that if you're not logged in, there's no "log in / create account" link in ShiftiMin! I'd say that's a bug - unless we want to become a really exclusive club. ;) 
Looking pretty decent otherwise; we just need to figure out how to handle the menu organization. (Plus about eleventy billion other pet peeves with which I intend to drive you TOTALLY BATS**T INSANE. Mua ha ha.) --[[User:Viqsi|Viqsi]] 15:30, 9 June 2009 (UTC)

:I thought I'd gotten that bug (GAH! Must be related to me changing the user-options bits to a drop-down from the long list it was)
:Since Shiftimin does not work on versions of IE prior to 8 without a massive javascript hack it is not meant to be used as the primary skin for Shifti. This means that the 'missing login/create link' is a very low priority bug.
:I am currently poking at ideas for another design that is as (or more) minimalistic but is also designed to take full advantage of modern browsers CSS3 support and HTML5. That redesign is not public yet, since it is currently little more than an image in the GIMP.
:Oh, and I already am 'TOTALLY BATS**T INSANE' - I just hide it well. So driving me there is a very short trip... And... If you have any ideas at all for changes, just dump them here. I'll get on top of the ones that are fast/easy to implement immediately.
:And if you have Fx3.5 available, look at Shifti using the Shiftimin skin. All kinds of nifty little hacks I've added that target it. (Okay, so they could probably target Safari/WebKit and Konqueror/KHTML as well... but I'm not going to try and support all the alternative browsers until they agree on the format for the CSS. And Opera '''STILL''' does not support even the 'border-radius' property or the 'box-shadow' or 'text-shadow' properties)
:--[[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 16:02, 9 June 2009 (UTC)

Hey there, ShadowWolf. Just poking in here to point out what seems to be a bug. The SiteSearch function isn't working; I believe it has something to do with the server crash and tech replacement the other day. If I click the Search button it shows

:A database query syntax error has occurred. This may indicate a bug in the software. The last attempted database query was:
::SELECT page_id, page_namespace, page_title FROM `shifti_page`,`shifti_searchindex` WHERE page_id=si_page AND MATCH(si_title) AGAINST('' IN BOOLEAN MODE) AND page_is_redirect=0 AND page_namespace IN ('0','1','2','3','4','5','6','7','12','13','14','15') LIMIT 20
:from within function "". MySQL returned error "145: Table './shifti/shifti_searchindex' is marked as crashed and should be repaired (malfoy)".
I guess this isn't normal, but I'm also guessing that you might have already noticed. Anyway, sorry that I can't donate. I don't have PayPal or MasterCard or anything. —[[User:WolfyDrake95|Drake]] 13:15, 17 August 2009 (UTC)

::Thought I'd run the "check and repair" before bringing the new server live. Guess it didn't actually do the repair... It's fixed now - sorry for not spotting it myself :) -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 15:03, 17 August 2009 (UTC)

== Redirects ==

Just a heads-up, I noticed that [[PAW General TimeLine]] was linked to from [[Talk:Rebuilding]]. I didn't check all the redirects so there might be others. In general I think it's best not to delete redirects left behind by page moves, especially not when the redirect's name still accurately reflects the content it's redirecting to - even if you fix all the internal links there's still the possibility that other pages out on the web point there. [[User:Bryan|Bryan]] 06:01, 20 July 2009 (UTC)

== Links on archived pages ==

Hi ShadowWolf! Thanks for the welcome. :-)

I made the edits to the archived page because, well . . . posterity is nice, but if you don't actually get to the site intended, that's not very useful to readers! At WikiFur we either update outdated links, replace them with a link to archive.org, or remove them altogether; leaving them broken tends to results in linking to spam sites sooner or later. And WikiFur's old site is going down imminently. [[User:GreenReaper|GreenReaper]] 01:58, 28 August 2009 (UTC)

:Ah, well... I've added a new section to the front-page. For that set of archived pages we really should keep the links up-to-date. We have a larger problem right now that is in the process of being worked out - I'm sure you've seen the site-notice banner... -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 02:21, 28 August 2009 (UTC)

== Spam Flood ==

What can we do about this? --[[User:JonBuck|Buck]] 04:44, 9 February 2011 (UTC)

:So far there's only about a half dozen spam postings showing up per day, which is IMO quite manageable in terms of manual deletion. I'd recommend avoiding anything that might slow down legitimate posting. Maybe tweak the account creation captcha, if that's easy to do (I'd bet that spending more than a few hours working on it will probably be more time than is taken doing manual cleanup for the next month :) [[User:Bryan|Bryan]] 06:13, 9 February 2011 (UTC)

:Right now I have a lot to do - including fixing the donation button. But a better captcha system than what we have is a good idea and I've been wondering if maybe using ReCaptcha would be a good idea. Very few spam-bots have cracked that one so far. -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 13:18, 9 February 2011 (UTC)

Seems to be coming in just brief surges. After that page of spam last night I went to bed expecting to have dozens more to delete in the morning, but no more came in. This one, too, may pass. [[User:Bryan|Bryan]] 15:35, 9 February 2011 (UTC)

I'm moderating another Wiki, and it's been hit as hard, if not harder. It's annoying to say the least, and we're trying to figure out better options ourselves, but there isn't much that can be done. Damn spammers. --[[User:Jetfire|Jetfire]] 12:07, 10 February 2011 (UTC)

:I'm not going to try and fight the losing battle of who can outwit who. The only winner in that game is the spammers and everyone else loses big. The trick here is going to be finding a better way to secure the account creation and, at this point, file uploads. I have thought about an oversight system for monitoring uploads/page creation by new accounts, but it seems too draconian to me. -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 13:24, 10 February 2011 (UTC)

This is getting worse than it was before. Looking at the Recent Changes page is very discouraging. --[[User:JonBuck|Buck]] 08:18, 12 March 2011 (UTC)

:Looks like we'll have to change Captcha systems (there might be a way to use ReCaptcha, which is a "proven hard to break" system) and I am going to change the upload permissions so that you need to have "author" status. Give me a bit to look at things - the problem is that any system we go with has to be both easy on humans and tough on bots... -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 11:42, 12 March 2011 (UTC)

::Sounds like a reasonable step to me, Shifti is not very image-oriented anyway and only a few stories have them. Shouldn't be any need for non-authors to upload them. [[User:Bryan|Bryan]] 23:20, 12 March 2011 (UTC)

:::Uploads locked to Authors and above and it turns out the Captcha system was disabled entirely for some reason. I've re-enabled it and told it to use a question/response type of Captcha instead of the images. I'd have gone with ReCaptcha, but that is not part of the modern code, apparently. -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 00:38, 13 March 2011 (UTC)

==2012 Flood==

Would disabling account creation for a while make any difference? I suppose they'd just come back the second it was re-enabled.--[[User:JonBuck|Buck]] 18:02, 27 February 2012 (UTC)

:I've thought about this, but would have to discuss disabling account creation with BD first. Sometime today I am going to be instituting email validation for accounts. I just need to look into that :) -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 18:29, 27 February 2012 (UTC)

To deal with the spam try changing the reCaptcha to a questyCaptcha. The bots have learned to be able to read the reCaptcha words. --[[User:ZProteus|ZProteus]] ([[User talk:ZProteus|talk]]) 07:45, 16 July 2012 (UTC)

:We're using an HTML-spam blacklist system that has massively cut down on the amount of spam we get. -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] ([[User talk:ShadowWolf|talk]]) 01:19, 18 July 2012 (UTC)

Argh! Here they go again! Can you tweak the account creation security? --[[User:JonBuck|Buck]] ([[User talk:JonBuck|talk]]) 03:20, 19 October 2012 (UTC)

:Apparently I'm getting "could not connect to fSpamlist server" at the top of the screen. --[[User:JonBuck|Buck]] ([[User talk:JonBuck|talk]]) 03:25, 19 October 2012 (UTC)

:Okay, we need to shut down new account registration, like, '''now'''. --[[User:JonBuck|Buck]] ([[User talk:JonBuck|talk]]) 22:48, 19 October 2012 (UTC)

:Turned off the createaccount permission - this should lock the site against new registrations. I'll look into different captcha methods, since ReCaptcha has been broken quite badly now. -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] ([[User talk:ShadowWolf|talk]]) 23:09, 19 October 2012 (UTC)

==Just a Note==

Heartfelt thanks from a follower and long-term fan of the site. Glad to be here (and glad to finally be able to edit pages). Thanks for all you're doing! [[User:ChronoStrike|ChronoStrike]] ([[User talk:ChronoStrike|talk]])