User talk:Jon

Want to leave me a message? Just click edit, and type it in below. At the end of your message, please include the following text as your "signature": --~~~~. It will automatically get converted to your signature, including your name and the date. That's two dashes, followed by four tilde characters. Thanks! --Jon 17:33, 10 July 2009 (MDT)

New spambots

Jon... we seem to have a major spam bot attack Crosley 06:23, 4 May 2011 (MDT)

Thanks, looking into this. --Jon 09:28, 4 May 2011 (MDT)

also.... I now see how to locate this talk page for you. Link was right in front of me... it is rough getting worn out , old and being a tech idiot

No problem, that's an easy one to miss. A user page is for info about the user ("Hi, I'm Jon...", etc.), and the user "Talk" page is for discussions with the user. It's definitely very different from a discussion forum. --Jon 10:10, 5 May 2011 (MDT)

Jon, I have been watching the "who's online page. I see user names that were banned some weeks back. I guess the spam bots can visit , but no posting. Crosley 22:34, 8 August 2011 (MDT)

Interesting, thanks, I'll look into that. I made another adjustment today that should cut down on the spam bots, but we'll see.--Jon 23:01, 8 August 2011 (MDT)

Category tags removed

Jon ... I have noticed on some edits I make to articles, there seems to be some parts of the articles that disappear without me doing it. Recent edit on "Thermostats Explained" as an example. I removed some words in ALL CAPS. A few days later I notice the listing tags at the bottom of the page had disappeared. The tags that would place the article in "good article" list and the "cooling" tag for that list, both had disappeared.

This will happen when I am on the Mac Mini with Safari browser. Crosley 22:49, 30 September 2011 (MDT)

That's strange; if you look under that page's "history" tab, there's this edit, which shows you as having fixed the all caps, and deleting the category tags. Browser glitch maybe?--Jon 22:59, 30 September 2011 (MDT)

Jon... that is the edit that caught my eye on the disappearing category tags. I would not remove the tags from an article unless it was an obvious item that needed attention. I went back later and corrected(I thought) the article till I saw cobalt327 added back another category tag

I edited an article weeks back (I forget which one)... I then recheck my edits and about 3 paragraphs had disappeared below grammar and spelling corrections I had made.

Perhaps a glitch in Mac software I guess. I am a tech idiot. Crosley 07:26, 1 October 2011 (MDT)

Jon, I appreciate your article on keeping your stove bolt in your hotrod! I purchased a 1948 chevy fleetmaster last fall. I drove it home and it is original except the orange paint. It needs some body work but it is not bad at all. I have been strugglin back and forth with keepin the stove bolt 216 or swappin out with a small block. I have wrestled with it because I plan to make this an everyday driver. It was this week infact that I decided I wanted to keep the stove bolt but It needs the babbit bearings replace and I hope to do that this winter. I need advice on how to go about it. I am working out of my garage on my home so this is a shade tree machanic here. No lifts or all the goodies found in a speed shop. I also want to go to double or triple carbs and dual exhaust. I agree this is a cool way to go but my only concern is right now is 55 mph seems to be the max this old girl wants to put out. By the way Dewey here from Iowa

Jon.. Coblat327 did some editing on the main page. The driveshaft link he added does not look correct when I clik on it. I may be incorrect and I am not gonna try any edit myself. Crosley 15:10, 29 January 2012 (MST)

OK, thanks, I fixed it. That link color is for links to pages for which there is no content. When a new category is created, if there's no text on the category page, links to it will show in that color. I added "Driveshaft articles." to that page, so now the link is the correct color.--Jon 15:52, 29 January 2012 (MST)

Jon, I thought when I finished the "Driveshaft measurements" page that it was linking to the new "Driveshaft" category correctly- I added "Category:Driveshaft" inside two brackets to the page to link it to the title page. Did I not do this correctly? I clicked on "Driveshaft" before I logged out and it was showing the "Driveshaft measurements" page then... unless that was due to what you did.

It's tricky with categories. On the wiki, you can create a link to a page by enclosing a word in double brackets. If the page already exists, the bracketed word gets turned into a link to the page, in blue link color, like this: Rust. If the page does not already exist, the bracketed word gets turned into a link to a blank page, in red color, like this: How to change your blinker fluid. You can click on the red link, and start editing a page from there (some people use this method to start a new article). For example, you can click on your username in red text on this page, and start making your user page. Now, when you start a new category, even if you put pages in the category, the category page itself is blank, so the link shows as red. So, you have to add any text to the category page, like: "Driveshaft articles.", and then links to that category will turn blue. However, the category will still work fine, even if it's a red-link. Here's another example of a page with a bunch of red, undeveloped links: Quadrajet.--Jon 11:10, 30 January 2012 (MST)

Using this talk page

BTW- Would it be better to add new responses to this page at the top so it would be the first seen, or continue to add to the bottom, or does this page get refreshed every so often?

And should I even be using this page or is there a preferred way of messaging you other than this page?--Cobalt327 05:09, 30 January 2012 (MST)

This is the preferred method of messaging me about wiki issues. I get a notification when someone alters my talk page, so it's easy to stay updated.--Jon 11:03, 30 January 2012 (MST)

Uploading photos

Jon Is it possible to upload photos from my gallery at Hotrodders to the 'Upload file' page or does it have to come from my computer?

Is using the 'Upload file' page the best/only way to get a photo into a CC Wiki article? I still struggle w/the formatting...

Kudos to Crosley for dealing w/all the BS that finds its way on to the Wiki. Never knew how much of it there was.

Thanks, --Cobalt327 07:00, 30 January 2012 (MST)

No, you currently can't upload directly from the gallery at Hotrodders.com. Of course, you can always download an image directly from the gallery to your computer (right-click on image, then choose "download file" or something like that), then upload from there. The image formatting is more complex, yes, but much more powerful. After a few dozen images or so, it becomes second nature. Be sure to check out the Image help section for details if you haven't already.--Jon 11:03, 30 January 2012 (MST)

Jon- I created this page- Six cylinder engine parts and sites. I then saw a similar page on Chevy engines exists already (I had even contributed to it): Chevrolet and GMC Inline / Straight 6 Engines: Guides and Resources. The websites linked to are now the same in both, even though several have info on engines other than GM. Up to you if the newest page should remain.

BTW, why do the two links above appear differently? The second link lacks the arrow icon thingy plus has a space after the link before the period that I didn't put there. Odd...--Cobalt327 07:06, 1 February 2012 (MST)

It looks to me like we should scrap Six cylinder engine parts and info sites. Regarding links, the arrow indicates an "external" link, that points to an external website. However, in this case, the "external" website is the wiki itself. The reason is that you can link to any page on the web in a wiki article, just by enclosing the url and the link text in single brackets, like this:

[http://www.google.com Google] becomes: Google.

You can even use this same syntax to link to a wiki page, so this: [http://www.crankshaftcoalition.com/Rust Rust] becomes this: Rust.

However, when linking to articles on the wiki, you can just enclose the article name in double-brackets, like this: [[Rust]], which turns into this: Rust. So, for links within the wiki, use the double brackets. All other links use the single bracket method. See Help:Links for more details.---Jon 11:19, 1 February 2012 (MST)

Sounds OK to me, thanks.--Cobalt327 14:56, 1 February 2012 (MST)

Consolidating similar subjects within a category

Regarding a proposed 'Camshaft' article:

There's already a couple pages pertaining to some part of camshafts (Cam and compression ratio compatibility and Camshaft install tips and tricks) under the 'Engine' category.

I want to do an article with an overview of how the camshaft works, along info on the different types of cams and why they came to be, etc.

My question is, should this be a new category like what was done with 'Quadrajet carburetor', or should it be a page in 'Engine' like the two pages I mentioned above?

Or is there a way to use a bullet list in the different categories, i.e.:

(Engine category, under "C")

• Camshaft page (either as a page containing the info I mentioned above like 'How the cam works', 'Types of cams', etc., or just used as a title with the actual pages below this not-linked title)
  • Cam and compression ratio compatibility page
  • Camshaft install tips and tricks page
  • Et cetera?

There are other instances where this could put pages on a similar subject together under a heading- like :

• RPO codes (containing an overview and possibly other info)
  • GM RPO build codes
  • General Motors build codes
  • More GM RPO codes

There are actually many subjects that could be done this way, like firing orders of various engines that are listed separately, valve train components that are listed separately, reciprocating assembly components that are listed separately, etc.

I would have tried this out on one subject to see what it looked like and how it performed, but I seem to be unable to edit the list of pages in the individual categories like 'Engine', etc. --Cobalt327 20:45, 18 February 2012 (MST)

I would just do it with subcategories. A category can be placed in a category, just like a page. If we have 3 camshaft articles, then that's enough to start a subcategory under Engine. Keep in mind that it's not carved in stone; we can easily adjust and re-categorize as necessary, and as the article base grows. The list of pages in individual categories is created automatically, and isn't normally editable. If you add a page to a category, it will appear in that list. If you add a category to a category, it will appear as a subcategory in that category. So, in this case, just add [[Category:Camshaft]] at the bottom of one of the camshaft articles. Then, click on the category link for Camshaft at the bottom of the resulting saved page. On that page, add [[Category:Engine]] at the bottom.--Jon 21:00, 18 February 2012 (MST)

Will the pages still remain visible in [[Category:Engine]] even if they are also used in a subcategory?--Cobalt327 22:50, 18 February 2012 (MST)

OK, I see now what happens, and good that the pages are still visible under the Engine category as well as being contained in the subcategory. Thanks for your time.--Cobalt327 22:59, 18 February 2012 (MST)

Editing Article categories on Main page

I was thinking about editing the categories to be seen as an alphabetized list instead of listed in a sentence as seen here.

What are your thoughts on this?

Ideally if this were to be done, there would be two or more columns so the entire list could be seen w/o scrolling. I have been unsuccessful finding a way to format it in this fashion- and I spent some considerable time and effort looking into it.

Is there an easy way to have multiple columns on a page? Is there a way to alphabetize a list other than to do it "long hand", i.e.

==B==

*Body and exterior

*Brakes

et cetera?--Cobalt327 19:19, 24 February 2012 (MST)

I imagine this is possible; but not sure exactly how we'd best accomplish it on this wiki. I'll think about this.--Jon 19:58, 25 February 2012 (MST)

Wanting to list a PDF file or a link in a Wiki?

Jon, Went brain dead, I want to add a PDF file link to an article but can't remember how to do it. I know you sent it to me before but can't find out how to do it. Would you mind refreshing my brain and give me a how-to? Thanks, ED.

First, upload it. Then, you can link to it like this: [[Media:Filenamehere.pdf]]. If you're not sure of the copyright status of the pdf file, you can always just link to it like normal, without having to upload it to the wiki server.--Jon 22:18, 25 February 2012 (MST)

Redirect

I tried (unsuccessfully) to redirect an unwanted article title (or to be rid of it by whatever means) in the Brakes category. The article title I'd like gone (if this is possible) is Pressure brake bleeder set-up. I'd appreciate any help w/this.--Cobalt327 22:17, 28 February 2012 (MST)

OK, I deleted it.--Jon 22:43, 28 February 2012 (MST)

Incorrect listing

Noticed the article Building a 340 Buick engine is listed under “I”, not “B” in the Engines category.--Cobalt327 14:22, 4 March 2012 (MST)

Very weird. Looks like a bug relating to the fact that the article's original title did begin with an "I". Anyway, I deleted it; there was no content there.--Jon 15:09, 4 March 2012 (MST)

Templates

Is there a need for a template, "Needs confirmation", or is it better to add it (without it being a template) in parentheses or brackets at the end of the passage or item in question like has been the practice in the past? I'm talking about a template that would be added right after the sentence or paragraph in question rather than a template that was like {{needspics}} that flags an entire article. I'm sure you've seen this used in the Wikipedia before, like seen here, under Examples]. Also, I saw the page 'Most linked-to templates' that has quite a few templates, but is there a complete list available?--Cobalt327 05:30, 5 March 2012 (MST)

Recent changes tracking options

I'm unable to see changes made longer than 13 days ago. This is with having selected "Show last 500 changes in last 30 days", as well as hiding minor changes and hiding my own changes. Do you see the same thing?

I see the same thing. My guess is that we're hitting a limit of 500 changes, and that the page refuses to display more.--Jon 10:10, 5 March 2012 (MST)

Templates II

Is there a list of templates available, like are used in articles that are "works in progress" (like {{Youcanedit}}, etc.)?--Cobalt327 20:13, 8 March 2012 (MST)

All template names are preceded by Template:. So you can search for Template: and they'll all come up. You can also make a template if you like. Just start a new article, whose title begins with Template:. So, if you start a new article titled Template:whatever, and save it, then you can insert that template into an article by typing {{whatever}}--Jon 21:48, 8 March 2012 (MST)

Articles to feature in newsletter and carousels

Not as easy as I had first thought. Here are two that might work, but I'll keep looking into this. In the meantime, the first two are relatively recent:

• 1940 Ford Pickup recessed tail lights
• Adjusting hydraulic lifters

The second pair are good articles IMHO, not that new though:

• Choosing a trailer and
• Chrysler Hemi engine--Cobalt327 08:08, 14 March 2012 (MDT)

Category lists

On the left side of all wiki pages there is no listing for Quadrajet carburetors under categories , the listing for it only appears on the Main Page. Can you correct this?--Cobalt327 09:20, 15 March 2012 (MDT)

Yes, I can correct that easily, that's set manually. Are we sure that we want that category listed there? Those are generally our main categories. If Quadrajet goes there, then there's justification to put various other categories there too--Jon 10:22, 15 March 2012 (MDT)

If I had it to do over, I'd have subcategorized Q-jet carbs within the Engine category. Or I'd have used Carburetors as the category instead of Quadrajet carburetors. If possible, remove Rochester carburetors from the Main Page categories, and I'll just subcategorize it (could I just remove the Quadrajet carburetors category from the Main Page, along w/the directs to it from the Q-jet pages?).--Cobalt327 10:35, 15 March 2012 (MDT)

You should be able to alter the category structure to your liking (and then easily re-alter in the future). I'm not seeing the Quadrajet carburetors category on the main page. Of course there's no perfect categorization paradigm; we'll probably alter and tweak the categories forever. Also, the lower images on the homepage look weird. Almost as if they're smaller images, enlarged.--Jon 11:24, 15 March 2012 (MDT)

I had probably already removed Quadrajet carburetors from the categories on the Main Page by the time you looked for it- it was there. I subcategorized Carburetors in the Engine category, then subbed Quadrajet carburetors to Carburetors. Looks OK like that to me. All the carb articles are still in the Engine category excepting the Q-jet articles. If need be I can easily return them all to the Engine category along w/having them subbed, but my thoughts were to keep it as-is for now and see what it "feels" like after a few days.--Cobalt327 12:16, 15 March 2012 (MDT)

Sounds good. The category structure on a very active wiki will be constantly in flux.--Jon 14:42, 15 March 2012 (MDT)

Images on Main Page

As for the lower row of images, strange they look distorted to you. Looks fine on my end, but I'll put them back as they were before. Are the top row of images OK?--Cobalt327 14:22, 15 March 2012 (MDT)

Alright, I think I know what happened. I had made those images a while back specifically for the homepage (not exactly sure why; possibly some formatting issue), and they're only ~112px tall: http://www.crankshaftcoalition.com/wiki/images/4/49/Homethumb2.jpg . When they get stretched beyond that, they start to look strange. Yes, top row looks fine.--Jon 14:40, 15 March 2012 (MDT)