Forum:Edits to Common.js
As someone using ancient PCs and paying per megabyte, I am always anxious to simplify the process of loading Uncyclopedia pages, even though most files are cached on users' machines and do not flow over the wire every time a new page is loaded.
I removed massive code in MediaWiki:Common.js that reported every page load to statcounter.com. Presumably, someone (presumably no longer here) created a "Free!" account at this website to review the level of activity. I don't know of anyone here who relies on this report. Wikia counts page views and photo uploads and makes the counts available on the Admin Dashboard.
The possibility that Wikia keeps track of which IPs read which pages is an obvious privacy issue with nearly no commercial value, as reading Ford can't be interpreted as being ready to buy a Ford. However, the fact that some former Admin arranged for clicks to be reported to a separate website for the Admin's (and the website's) private use is an unnecessary privacy issue with absolutely no value to us or to Wikia.
Separately, I have removed code that tried to reinstall the "Discussion" tab on Forum pages, written by someone who didn't realize that system CSS hid the tab. The Forum is itself a discussion, and the only people who edit Forum talk: are spambots and are banned by the Abuse Filter.
Common.js also contains code to force certain pages to be rendered in special ways on everyone's screen, such as to muck with the sidebar for the sake of comedy. Obvious uses are the website-wide reskins, such as for holidays and our SOPA protest. But there is also code to do this favor for (no-longer-here) users' private pages. This is cleverness that no one is entitled to at the expense of bogging down everyone's loads of unrelated pages. Spıke Ѧ 13:20 14-May-14
- Since I am no techie, this sounds like a sensible amendment. The website has had 4 million people pass by and a few stayed long enough to tinker around with the coding for good or ill. Since Unc is the 'John Snow' of Wikia (see Game of Thrones for that explanation), I welcome this change. Winter is Coming! --
RomArtus*Imperator ITRA (Orate) ® 19:26, May 14, 2014 (UTC)
Proposed new rule
Hearing no objection to the above, and if there is no new objection by 1-Jun, I will remove all the code from Common.js that loads code into everyone's computer to give special rendering to pages in userspace, whether to make the Categories not display, make the Sidebars go away, or load a completely different set of rules. This includes the complicated JavaScript that makes one photograph's eyes follow the cursor when called by one page in one (fallen-away) user's private space. Spıke Ѧ 17:14 23-May-14
- Should this done with a show of paws? --RomArtus*Imperator ITRA (Orate) ® 20:51, May 23, 2014 (UTC)
Last call Spıke Ѧ 00:04 30-May-14
This is done.
There is another problem that is harder to address because there is no way of knowing what user stuff would break. The expandable nature of JavaScript lets people write libraries, such as jQuery, which lets us transform web pages in an elegant way. Lots of coders have relied on jQuery — but others are using comparable code from Yahoo! or Google. For example, jQuery, Yahoo!, and MediaWiki all have ways to start mucking with a page even before it is displayed. If you're writing a page that is to have an alternative for the Uncyclopedia logo, it's nice if you don't see the old logo for an instant before the JavaScript code goes to work! The problem is that we load into everyone's computer three different libraries to do the same things. The problem gets worse as new versions come out — in the case of Yahoo! and Google, probably bulking up and incorporating secret new privacy violations — or someone writes a new package that an Uncyclopedian wants to use (and force all other users to load), rather than use the package already in use. Spıke Ѧ 12:06 1-Jun-14
Could you simplify this?-- (Chatter) 
20:01, June 4, 2014 (UTC)