Forum:A reskin for the US government shutdown
Attempted to look at NASA website today and was instead confronted with an apology message from the US Government about inadequate funding to run website. Suddenly an idea hit me. Why don't we make a cover main page to put up for a while that is a spoof apology message from the US Government or Wikia about how there is inadequate funding to provide this web service? I have heard that the main page has been changed before to parody events like this so what about this idea?
Eg. Thanks to a recent US Federal Government shut down, Uncyclopedia has inadequate funding to continue to run as a website etc. Sir ScottPat (talk) 
VFH UnS NotM WotM WotY 20:10, October 4, 2013 (UTC)
- Brilliant idea! Uncyclopedia:MainPage for the 2013 US government shutdown is a mostly direct spork of the NASA page. I toyed with but rejected inserting some satire of finger-pointing, or a joke that discloses that we could have kept running but just decided not to out of spite, but that would blur the message.
- The thing to do now is temporarily make this the default page so that it comes between the reader and the real Main Page, requiring a click on the link in either language to see the real Uncyclopedia. I don't know how to do this, though, and am not about to rename the Main Page. It is disruptive when people rename pages. Spıke Ѧ 13:24 5-Oct-13
- Thanks Spike. It looks great. Do you know who would know? (I'll ask Puppy cos he seems like the guy who'd know) I think it is worth it and would create some publicity for the site. Sir ScottPat (talk)
VFH UnS NotM WotM WotY 15:49, October 5, 2013 (UTC) - Oh I see you are experimenting on your user page so I shall refain from asking Puppy now. Thanks. Sir ScottPat (talk) VFH UnS NotM WotM WotY 15:54, October 5, 2013 (UTC)
- Thanks Spike. It looks great. Do you know who would know? (I'll ask Puppy cos he seems like the guy who'd know) I think it is worth it and would create some publicity for the site. Sir ScottPat (talk)
- Puppy would be the most knowledgeable about this. The business on my talk page is not known as "experimentation" but as "humping" one's own creation; that is, to get someone to look at it. I'll undo this so people can actually talk to me. Spıke Ѧ 16:06 5-Oct-13
- But it is now bedtime for Puppy and you might not get a response until the end of your day. However, to your other point, it looks from here as though there are box-springs in the foxholes and everyone is getting comfortable for a long shutdown, a unique Mexican Stand-off we are doing without benefit of Mexicans. We definitely should not insist that this little prank remain in effect until they work things out in Washington. Spıke Ѧ 16:14 5-Oct-13
- Easy option is a main page reskin. This means replacing the main page entirely. This ha been done in the past for a single day - like April Fools, or when Microsoft Knowledge Base was a feature.
- What you're talking about though is more along the lines of when we did the SOPA prank. As far as I can recall that was done by using a JavaScript and CSS combination to get the desired result. I'm not aware of the intricacies of how that was achieved, but looking at the history of the site CSS and JS you should be able to reproduce that outcome. (In other words, I don't know.) • Puppy's talk page • 06:57 05 Oct 2013
- Why am I awake at this ungodly hour? • Puppy's talk page • 06:58 05 Oct 2013
- There are two separate issues: (1) How to install the shutdown notice, without naming it Main Page, so the user sees it once on his way to the Main Page, but all the other Uncyclopedia places that direct you to the Main Page don't send you back to the shutdown notice, yawn. (2) CSS/JS changes would perfect the prank by getting the shutdown notice to display without the sidebar, buttons, and so on. It would suffice if, on Monday morning, Sannse could temporarily re-enable the Content Warning and use the shutdown notice. Again, I don't think Obama and Boehner will reconcile by then. But even if they did, there would be a separate, delicious lunacy (and would not spoil the joke) if Uncyclopedia commemorated the shutdown after it ended. D'oh!!! Spıke Ѧ 22:27 5-Oct-13
How about inserting an idea that Uncyclopedia was financed by the US government, so it cannot run anymore now? Anton (talk) 12:44, October 6, 2013 (UTC)
- Ummm...perhaps you ought to read the forum before commenting: "Why don't we make a cover main page to put up for a while that is a spoof apology message from the US Government or Wikia about how there is inadequate funding to provide this web service?" (Quote from intro to this forum). We've moved on from it just being an idea now, we are now trying to get our reskin page on the main page. Sir ScottPat (talk) VFH UnS NotM WotM WotY 13:02, October 6, 2013 (UTC)
- Yup, Anton, your suggestion is the entire point of this effort. The joke requires the user to have a little background information, but spelling it out more clearly would mostly spoil it. Email is now in to Sannse, cc Simsie and the Chief Justice; she sometimes reads email on the weekend but probably wouldn't act on it until Monday. Spıke Ѧ 13:27 6-Oct-13
- PS--To be clear, ScottPat, my email proposes to install it as the Content Warning for a couple days; in the large paragraph above I note the problem with putting it "on the main page"--It is a prank that should assault readers once, as the Content Warning used to, not every time they return to the main page. Spıke Ѧ 13:30 6-Oct-13
Sannse indicates she will switch it on and asks when to switch it off. I said a couple of days, "as I'm thinking the shutdown will drag on, but a joke should not." I will be on-site for the duration of Boston @ Tampa Bay in case something needs adjustment, or just to confirm that you are seeing it, as I rarely saw the Content Warning. (I am drinking Labatt's Blue, in pre-emptive celebration for the Red Sox, but any ill-advised bans can be undone tomorrow morning, or afternoon.) Spıke Ѧ 22:58 7-Oct-13
A small screw-up
I see the Content Warning!!! Ahhhh! Not the spoof Government message but the original content warning. Please change to the spoof government message. Sir ScottPat (talk) VFH UnS NotM WotM WotY 20:33, October 8, 2013 (UTC)
- This should be fixed now.... Spıke Ѧ 20:51 8-Oct-13
- I logged out and saw it (on the way out, oddly). I got one thing wrong, as of course the link to the Main Page won't work inside the Content Warning. The Accept/Reject buttons I can't do anything about if we do this within the framework of the Content Warning, but that seems okay. Spıke Ѧ 20:55 8-Oct-13
- Due to my limited access, I don't have the opportunity to see it. I seem to recall though that the only way to dismiss the content warning is via the accept/reject buttons. The text on those buttons, however, I think we can amend, somewhere in the MediaWiki space. • Puppy's talk page • 09:17 08 Oct 2013
- Found it! This. • Puppy's talk page • 09:28 08 Oct 2013
- I see it; I would want code to confine its behavior to the Content Warning itself; I don't see where in MediaWiki:Common.js I would put it, and even the lure of a follow-on joke ("It's the other party's fault" is the right answer to enter the site; "It is my party's fault" sends you elsewhere), what we've got is close enough. Spıke Ѧ 21:48 8-Oct-13
Thanks
Thank you to everyone who made this idea work. Thanks to SPIKE for making the spoof page, Sansee for putting it up there and Puppy for whatever Puppy did at the end. Great work guys! Sir ScottPat (talk) VFH UnS NotM WotM WotY 21:43, October 8, 2013 (UTC)
- Whatever they say I did, I'm not guilty! • Puppy's talk page • 09:47 08 Oct 2013