Talk:Midnight blockade history

Wikicities Migration

This page migrated from Wikicities (now Wikia) in July, 2005. The following contributors agreed to relicense their material here:

• Barrister
• Blinkoing
• Callistan
• Guppymomma
• VPeric
• Yaten
• 66.92.184.115
• 81.179.241.112
• 141.157.240.38

Ye Olde Date Talke

Can anyone jog my memory and remind me why the April 2005, etc. headers are linked? --Guppymomma 28 July 2005 16:40 (PDT)

This article -- international users get dates to show up in their proper format. – Yaten ^talk 28 July 2005 18:07 (PDT)

Ah. Only the month year doesn't work with that according to that page. "If the date does not contain a day and a month, then date preferences do not work. In such cases, square brackets around dates do not respond to user preferences. So unless there is a special relevance of the date link, there is no need to link it." So in light of that, I suggest removing them as it just makes them show up on the Wanted Pages. --Guppymomma 28 July 2005 18:40 (PDT)

I'm also not sure if it's turned on at all in this wiki because my preferred date format is day month year and even the month day dates on the blockade pages just show up as red month day links. --Guppymomma 29 July 2005 07:19 (PDT)

Do date links make sense? Why would anyone look up "June 25?" Maybe "June 25, 2005" if that was a heavy blockade weekend, I suppose. A category of "2005" could be put on any page describing events that happened this year, and the list would at least be automagically updated. Is it just me? --AtteSmythe 11:03, 3 August 2005 (PDT)

I agree, but Talk:Midnight_blockade_history talks about how dates are corrected for locale in wikis if made into a link. I'm not sure I see the value in it either though. — Callistan ^{(talk/contrib)} 11:27, 3 August 2005 (PDT)

They have date links in wikipedia because they have "on this day" pages. I don't think it makes sense on the YPPedia though. --Nickster | Talk 11:28, 3 August 2005 (PDT)

This is my fault. I copied the format from Wikipedia. Should we just delete the date links? --Barrister 11:41, 3 August 2005 (PDT)

I think they should be zapped. The linking doesn't even format them like it does at wikipedia. --Guppymomma 11:42, 3 August 2005 (PDT)

I'll take care of the blockade histories, then. --Barrister 11:45, 3 August 2005 (PDT)

Ah, thanks for the link to Talk:Midnight blockade history - I'd missed that discussion. --AtteSmythe 11:45, 3 August 2005 (PDT)

Endurance and Gaea

When were they transferred to Heavens Aligned? – Yaten ^talk 29 July 2005 11:05 (PDT)

I should have the exact date soon. --Barrister 29 July 2005 12:12 (PDT)

Event blockades

I'm assuming we plan on keeping track of these (since a handful of others are already here). Should we continue to classify them as regular blockades, or do something else?

Also, under the event blockades of the Ringer held islands, a note says: "Regardless of scoring, Vilya was guaranteed to win." This isn't completely accurate, as if the island changed hands (as Jorvik did for its event), it would simply be taken back. This is also in the plan for the event blockades that are coming. --Thunderbird 13:02, 16 March 2006 (PST)

I'd like to keep track of the event blockades, unless they became extremely frequent. And, yes you're right, the phrase "guaranteed to win" is inaccurate. --Barrister 13:11, 16 March 2006 (PST)

Meke V

First blockade to have all three rounds won for the defender by an unallied faction. <--I'm pretty sure this isn't true. As I recall, Vilya's blockade victory at Guava I was due to unallied defenders (CT primarily, I think). --Thunderbird 16:01, 20 March 2006 (PST)

Good catch. Nuke the comment. --Barrister 16:36, 20 March 2006 (PST)

Before my time, apologies. --Pip^(t|c|p) 22:45, 20 March 2006 (PST)

Winter II

I filled in the scores based on the note, and the fact that Brew Works disbanded before the blockade actually started (I remember wondering what was going to happen to the blockade when that happened). Since Brew Works disbanded before the blockade started, it could not have won any rounds. --Thunderbird 16:41, 22 March 2006 (PST)

Small problem. That was back when we had 12-round blockades. If the blockade had run its natural course, it would have lasted 6 rounds. But, I'm nearly certain it was cut short. Possibly around 4. --Barrister 16:43, 22 March 2006 (PST)

Well, the info said the blockade was cut short (it says after 3 rounds). I used that when filling in the data. --Thunderbird 16:45, 22 March 2006 (PST)

Oh, er, yeah. Whoops! Carry on. --Barrister 16:46, 22 March 2006 (PST)

Reorganising Blockade History

Due to the sheer length of this page, would it be a good idea if it was archived up into years? Maybe leaving 2006 on the front main page - as it is the current. This could go for all the blockade history pages. (I volunteer for archiving!)--Sagacious ^(talk) 16:04, 10 June 2006 (PDT)

I'd rather find a more compact way of representing the blockades. Perhaps using tables with a cell for each blockade. --Barrister 23:37, 10 June 2006 (PDT)

Are you thinking new table for each month or just one large table. I'll spend some time later having a play with one. --Sagacious ^(talk) 04:05, 11 June 2006 (PDT)

Haven't thought it through that far. But the current layout wastes a lot of space. I should know since I created it. :-) --Barrister 04:12, 11 June 2006 (PDT)

Yeah nevermind bout what I said before - this layout seems to work. See Mock 1 and Mock 2 for the two table ideas I've come up with. I prefer table 2. --Sagacious ^(talk) 11:45, 11 June 2006 (PDT)

I think it is swaying towards Mock 2 - coz tiz better. Just need some feedback as to how that looks and anything that might need changing. I'm itching to get on with revamping the history pages :-P *pant* --Sagacious ^(talk) 08:46, 12 June 2006 (PDT)

Well, just because you're asking for feedback, I agree that your "Mock 2" table is definitely cleaner and easier to follow than any other existing or proposed layout. Two extremely minor, nit-picky points though: 1) if it's possible, center the island name and roman numeral in the cell rather than left/top-justified. 2) no need to underline the header/title cells (Date, Blockade, Notes, etc.) --Rixation^(t/c) 09:09, 12 June 2006 (PDT)

I thought the underlining of lables added to presentation... it will probably be a pain to wiki code that specific column to be centered. I think it looks ok top left. --Sagacious ^(talk) 10:35, 12 June 2006 (PDT)

So I hate to bring this up, but with the advent of the default values thing, it would be possible to template this using a single template with various options. It could make it easier for folks to add new blockades if you think about it in a long-term future upkeep kinda way. --Guppymomma 13:37, 2 July 2006 (PDT)

Was much easier when converting the old pages to the new format to do it the way it is now. To rewrite it into a single template thing is now possible, but would most likely require much more re-writing. I might have a look and see if I can make a template that won't be too much work to convert. --Sagacious ^(talk) 13:42, 2 July 2006 (PDT)

I have a new template to replace {{blockid}}. It takes up to 9 contenders and 5 notes. It defaults to having no defender (with a zero score). Take a look at User:Barrister/Sandbox. --Barrister 15:38, 3 July 2006 (PDT)

Looks really nice. It combines Sagacious' nice work on readable, compact formatting with the fun new default values templatey goodness for all to easily understand how to use. --Guppymomma 16:35, 3 July 2006 (PDT)

Shiny - but how much re-coding will it take to put that template in use? --Sagacious ^(talk) 16:56, 3 July 2006 (PDT)

It will be tedious, but not that much. I'll be glad to take a stab at it sometime this week unless Barrster tackles it first. This will make it easier for new people to continue upkeep of the blockade history pages. --Guppymomma 17:09, 3 July 2006 (PDT)

New Icons?

I added in some defender/contender icons to try out. Do they look good? --Sagacious ^(talk) 07:07, 2 July 2006 (PDT)

I didn't reply in time to weigh in on the looks, but I think they work really well. Would some visual indication of the side that won the blockade (red or green), such as a thin inner border or very faint cell background be too gaudy? I find my eye skipping over the bolding because it's part of a blue link. That may just be me, though. --AtteSmythe 22:20, 3 July 2006 (PDT)

The flag names aren't in individual cells, so we'd need another way of emphasizing them. Suggestions beyond font color? --Barrister 22:30, 3 July 2006 (PDT)

Crude, 1:30AM thoughts: The table could probably use some color, but this is likely way too much. --AtteSmythe 22:44, 3 July 2006 (PDT)

Less cell padding, shorter article, less wasted space. Aside from that - Oooo colours. --Sagacious ^(talk) 03:35, 4 July 2006 (PDT)

Didn't look like that last night. Looks like Barrister is in the middle of format tweaking, and since the example below uses the blockade templates, it'll be affected by that. --AtteSmythe 12:48, 4 July 2006 (PDT)

Maybe lighten up the color and remove the border and just do it for the winner. --Guppymomma 12:54, 4 July 2006 (PDT)

At the risk of conversation-spamming, but because I don't plan on checking this page for a while after this, I agree that it needs lighter, more pastel colors. I'm just not an artist. --AtteSmythe 13:06, 4 July 2006 (PDT)

I like the red and blue! --AtteSmythe 21:34, 9 July 2006 (PDT)

Took a while, but I worked out some suitable template code to make it happen eventually. The fact we now have default values for templates made it alot simpler to put in use. --Sagacious ^(talk) 01:47, 10 July 2006 (PDT)

FYI, I intend to remove the "Sinking blockade" notes, but only after more folks have weighed in on the colors. I'd like to make sure that the colors are color-blind friendly. --Barrister 22:45, 9 July 2006 (PDT)

There's a site that gives the view of specific pages from a colorblind person's perspective, but I forget where it is. It was brought up in one of the might ring threads. --Thunderbird 23:05, 9 July 2006 (PDT)

I found Vischeck as a colour-blind friendly tester. The site also converts whole webpages directly, but it didn't change some parts. So, I screenshot some sections of the Midnight history and ran the Vischeck on the screenshots, and the colours are fine. The pink/red colour looked a beige/light brown colour - the same with the icons. Seems we're ok from that side of things. --Sagacious ^(talk) 02:03, 10 July 2006 (PDT)

April 2004

Date	Blockade	Flags & Scores	Notes
April 29	Emperor I	0 - - none 7 - - The Jolly Company	First island to be blockaded.
	Byrne I	1 - - none 7 - - Tyr's Own
April 29	Emperor I	0 - - none 7 - - The Jolly Company	First island to be blockaded.

Order

Does reverse chrono make more sense here? I tried reverse year, forward months within the year, and found that to be perhaps more navigable. Releases are listed reverse chrono, but they don't have the weekly regularity of blockades... --AtteSmythe 22:18, 3 July 2006 (PDT)

Small Visual Issue

The small size of the April 2004 blockade section at the top makes it so the content list drags down white space to the next header in May. It's a small issue, but does anyone know how to fix it? If it can't be done, the April blockades could also be condensed into the May section. It's not a big deal at all, but visually it's sort of a bother, as it seems to suggest there is some specific reason that April 2004 is somehow different from the rest of the months. -- HolyApoc 10:58, 12 March 2007 (PDT)

I think it's fixed now, could anyone comment on whether or not using width tags and such are an acceptable way to do it? I'm not sure how well it's turning out on all types of monitor resolutions, browsers, text sizes, and so on...so if anyone happens to find a setting that makes the page look absolutely abysmal, the settings could obviously be changed around a bit. -- HolyApoc 16:37, 12 March 2007 (PDT)

Orange for BK blockades

I like it. Anyone else? --Parrrdner 09:23, 3 July 2007 (PDT)

I'm a fan, but mostly cause I picked out that color. Pastel orange just screams BK to me. --Muffynz 09:42, 3 July 2007 (PDT)

Loved it!. --Yukkon 10:38, 8 July 2007 (PDT)

Template/Strength

I'm not real familiar with the template but the strength modifier places the icon beneath both the defender and contender(s). Until now the BK has been the contender and the placement of the strength icon wasn't a problem. Now that the BK was the defender of Jorvik, it appeares that the ship strength is reflecting the contender, Broadsiders. This could be confusing and a workaround could be to put the strength of the BK in the notes portion of the table instead. -- Haywoodx^(t/c) 13:52, 8 July 2007 (PDT)

I've got an idea on how to fix that but it'll have to wait until later. Basically I think a "defense_strength" variable could be used for when the BK is the defender. If somebody else wants to implement it before I get home be my guest. --Fiddler 14:03, 8 July 2007 (PDT)

I did it like this actually. Two options both under the {{ifdef}} ^(Usage) template. strength_attacker and strength_defender. Just use the proper one and it will put the icons under the correct flag name. --Muffynz 15:54, 8 July 2007 (PDT)

Your rework did corre3ct the placement of the BK strength indication but somehow the contenders score attaches to the end of it instead of its usual spot. I have tried to make sense of the ((1|))@34{543))%)|))^(/sarcasm), but alas; I cannot.-- Haywoodx^(t/c) 18:26, 8 July 2007 (PDT)

I have loaded the page in both IE and FFox and it seems its another spacing issue with IE. I wish them boys over there at Microsloth could get bullcannon right. The page is fine and the template works (even though I still cannot follow the paths just yet.-- Haywoodx^(t/c) 18:37, 8 July 2007 (PDT)

Not an IE thing really. It was missing a break that I just added. I also shrank the bkpower things a bit as they will look better in the wiki slightly smaller. --Guppymomma 18:57, 8 July 2007 (PDT)

Not to be picky or anything, but there still appears to be some alignment issues with the BK strength icons. I'm running Firefox if that makes any difference, but from the comment above me, can I assume that it appears this way for everyone? I also have a suggestion for the appearance if the BK is the defender. Why not change the ship icons to green to match the defender icon? I think it would be more aesthetically pleasing this way, as well as contrasting defender/attacker more clearly at first glance. --Majortom 23:30, 10 July 2007 (PDT)

Win/loss Records

Assuming someone is keeping up this table at the bottom of the page, I'd like to propose that the "rankings" of flags be sorted by blockade wins (an interesting statistic) instead of by win percentage (not interesting). Flags that are 1-0 should not be listed above wildly successful flags that are 13-12. And I don't think anyone would object to the 11-24 flag being listed near the top, since I don't think there is any implication of "best" here. Unless I see objections, I'll be trying it out next time I'm bored. :) --Parrrdner 04:49, 11 September 2007 (PDT)

I'd tend to agree that victory percentage is probably the least interesting. Blockade wins, blockade participation, or even using wins-losses as an equation (so that a 5-4 flag and a 1-0 flag would both be '+1 win') would all be better. Be nice to have a year-by-year breakdown, too, though at that point you're almost wanting a separate page for accumulated statistics. --Varthlokkur 08:54, 27 November 2007 (PST)

Orca XIV

I have no idea why I can't get Riot to show up as a 2nd contender. Help :/ Tarajayne 12:08, 19 September 2007 (PDT)

It needed a contender_count=2. :P --Parrrdner 17:34, 19 September 2007 (PDT)

Also -- the tmeplate does not put the widow queen's strength measuremment in the right place when there are two contenders :( --Parrrdner 17:34, 19 September 2007 (PDT)

It needed to be strength_defender, not strength_attacker. --Fiddler 19:55, 19 September 2007 (PDT)

New navigation thingy

As per request in a thread in Midnight Parley, I made a neater-looking table of contents for Midnight Blockade History. I was wondering what the general opinion on implementing it is, though, before I actually do that. You can see my current idea here. Comments would be appreciated :) -- Thefirstdude ^(t/c) 20:11, 16 December 2007 (PST)

Oops I broke it, sorry

I broke the Blockade win/loss record table . Sorry \= We should be at 6 and 6 though.

I've unbroken it, but I haven't fixed the scoring to reflect 6 and 6. --Barrister 02:08, 20 January 2008 (PST)

Blockades notes

Why are the 2 blockade notes I placed for the 19th gone Parrrdner? I have them placed there after being in both blocks and talking to the ppl who ran the blocks even from your flag so I would know if they pulled out or not. --Mr_Swagger 05:31, 21 January 2008 (PST)

Apparently you wouldn't, since both notes were incorrect. I was driving at Frond then went jobbing at Angelfish and Pandemonium and Riot entered both round threes. ~ Sweetiepiepi