User talk:BlueOtter/General1

People versus characters
I am not sure which would fit where. Some people would rather be called by their avatar names. For example, at AC I know that many people there are referred by their avatar names rather than their real names, even if the avatar is a fictional character in stories where applicable. I myself started my avatar off as an RPG and a story character, but since it is who I most connect to at least (hard to explain), I prefer being called by my avatar name while online. My shortfall is that I can get absent minded at large gatherings and someone would have to use my real name to call me or at least give me a few taps if I seem to be zoned out or not responding. Although it should be carefully filtered that the Fictional video game and comic characters be seperate from real peopl's avatars and real names. People going by their avatar name should be mentioned as such for example.. --Markus 21:24, 23 Aug 2005 (UTC)

Fixing ambiguous links
Thanks for fixing quite a few of the ambiguous links in the wiki -- much appreciated. How did you find all of them? Do you have a strategy? -- DeVandalizer 05:53, 27 April 2006 (UTC)


 * Sure thing! I'm working down the list here Disambiguations... some can't be fixed, but a lot can.  I'll clear out the list as much as possible this week.  BlueOtter

Featured Article frequency?
Hey GreenReaper :)

I'm curious how often the Featured Articles are updated? It seems like the current one on the Nephilim has been there for quite some time.

BlueOtter 16:58, 16 March 2011 (UTC)


 * The front page is setup to rotate them weekly, and a process for updating them is at Featured articles/Featured article candidates. However, no one editor has taken a lead in doing so, and so they remain un-updated (this has been a problem since 2007, as I've been increasingly involved with work and WikiFur News/Flayrah). A replacement involving dynamic selection of articles from a collection is on my list for after our server move, but if you're interested in helping out right now, it looks like Oklacon has support. There's no rule to say you can't promote one you nominated! --GreenReaper(talk) 17:09, 16 March 2011 (UTC)

File:OklaconAFramesAtNight.jpg
Hello! You used the template on this media file, but left out necessary information. Please insert the name of the artist/author, the license, and the specific terms into the template reference (i.e., ). Alternatively, you can review the list of license templates at Templates/Image_Page_Templates and select a more appropriate one. Thanks! --GingerM (Leave me a message) 03:45, 20 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Thanks for the tip! I found the  template to be quite difficult to figure out, as to what pieces the template really expected to see in the "License" vs. the "specific limitations" section.  I filled it out to the best of my knowledge and then annotated the description of the image for clarity.  I have since simply moved it to a press pack license, which is fine for our needs and had much clearer usage.  I would suggest someone with more knowledge of the licensing templates provide a better example usage of Limited License so people like me can figure it out in the future. ;] Thanks for your comment!  BlueOtter 18:46, 21 March 2011 (UTC)

Username Change
GreenReaper, is it possible for you to rename my username to BlueOtter, merging my user paging into the existing BlueOtter article? Thanks in advance! BlueOtter 22:36, 24 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Done. --GreenReaper(talk) 22:40, 24 March 2011 (UTC)
 * There seems to be some confusion, however. User pages are intended for information about the user on WikiFur. They are not intended to separate people from their characters. The main-space page is a third-person account intended to be edited by all, while the user page is typically written by the editor in first person, who may give background to their editing activities or provide details of a non-encyclopedic nature (e.g. contact info). Compare my user page and GreenReaper. --GreenReaper(talk) 22:48, 24 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Thanks for the clarification. I believe I understand, but how do you suggest then separating real-life people who are referred to by their character names as a pseudonym (who only give such a name), but also have distinct eponymous characters?  For instance, my year of birth or occupation don't have any baring on these attributes for my characters, and applying for instance, the Programming category to my real-person make sense, but not BlueOtter, the character and online persona.  Would you suggest a disambiguation page in this case for person vs. character?  I just want to make sure I do things right and consistent with the patterns you and others have established. :) BlueOtter 14:47, 25 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Because most furs use their character names to represent themselves, articles under their names are assumed to be primarily about the person ("People" is invariably the first category). Their character is either treated as if it were "part of the person" and integrated throughout ("RandomFurry is a grey wolf and software developer who lives in Newark") or described in a separate "Character" section of the same article, depending on the attitude that the subject has to their primary character. In your case, a section might be most appropriate - you can restate any differing information such as age or personal characteristics in that area. The categories are combined at the end, unless the character has a different name. (In that case - often used by fursuiters - we normally make a separate section for the characters, then make the character name a redirect to that section and put the character-specific categories on the redirect page so that the character name shows up in those categories - e.g. YellowOtter == #REDIRECT RandomFurry .) --GreenReaper(talk) 15:16, 25 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Another approach to take if your life outside fandom is not a major factor in your activities is to treat the character as the primary topic and have a separate section labelled something like "Real life". The order of categories would remain the same, however. --GreenReaper(talk) 15:23, 25 March 2011 (UTC)