PhantomWiki:Bandar Village

Welcome to PhantomWiki's own Bandar Village! Here is the place to have discussions and put up question that are too general to be posted on any talk page. Please note that discussions concerning individual articles are to be hold in that article's talk page.

When starting a new discussion, please add it at the bottom of the page, and use a valid title.

As always when on PhantomWiki, remeber to keep a friendly tone, and to always assume good faith.

Archived discussions
Archive 1 Archive 2

New Phantomwiki

The move and upgrade of Phantomwiki is now completed. From the start the wiki was an integreted part of the Scandinavian Chapter site and shared the database with that site.

Now the wiki is separated from that site and is now a self-contained MediaWiki install. This makes Phantom a real wiki from now on just as for example Wikipedia the most famous wiki using MediaWiki.

Some of the advantages of this includes

• The wiki is now searchable from the outside from now on. People searching for Phantominfo in for example google will now be able to find the wiki.

• The wiki can now have the same features, functions etc that other wikis have.
• When updates and improvement is done to MediaWiki we can now take advantage of those, that was not possible before.

• The log in problem that have plagued the wiki since the start is now solved.

• The wiki con now take advantage of the browsers full width. When it was integrated with the SC site that was not possible.

• The wiki now has a more modern look and feel. I hope all will like this new look. I am however open for improvement suggestions.

Moving the wiki to a new install have been a lot of hard and tedious work. As the Scandinavian Chapter is a ISO-8859 coded site and MediaWiki by default is UTF-8 all post containing international charachters broke. So all post containing for example ø broke and showed a à instead of ø. About 23 000 post have been manually searched for strange signs and replaced with the proper international sign. Here the Firefox add-on FoxReplace have been invaluable. Also all pictures hade to be manually re-uploaded as the move broke all image links. The wiki, at this moment has about 4 500 images, so this took a loot of time.

A big thanks goes to Christian, a technician at our webhotel, who did the database move for us for free. Normally this would have cost a lot of money but as his girlfriend is a big Phantom lover he did this for free for us on his breaks.

If someeone wonders if the wiki could have been moved faster and better without imagelinkes breaking etc. The answer to this is yes. That would however have cost a lot of money. I prefered to donate my time instead.

One minor "problem" with the new wiki, all SC contributors with usernames starting with founder or member have to create a new username. Neither Christian or I could move the SC usernames to the new wiki.

If someone would like to make comparisons with the old wiki, that one can still be found at http://www.schapter.org/component/option,com_tinmw/Itemid,130/

I hope all new and old contributors and visitors will enjoy the new Phantomwiki!!

Best regards Brian (administrator)

First detected problem with the new version

When I am in one article and access a discussion, history or other and then tries to access the article, nothing happens. Karl MAN

I have now checked on another computer. On it, I always comes to main page, when I tries to access the article. By the way, thanks for all the hard work! Karl MAN 12:36, 1 October 2009 (UTC)

Could this be a browser problem? What browsers do you use on the two computers?

This is a different problem but i thought i would mention it here There seems to be some problems with some of the skins and the original skin from the old wiki nor the new one i saw for unregistered users seems to be available to me when i am logged in. Although i have found one that i am happy to use all the links to recent changes and editing seem to be in different places which takes some getting used to. Still i can finally log in so i am not complaining just though i should bring it to your attention --Dark Lord Xander 02:23, 2 October 2009 (UTC)

I agree, and will look into the matter. Is there any particular skin you would like to use? Andreas 06:21, 2 October 2009 (UTC)

Just the default skin either from the original wiki or this one (i.e unregistered users) as i seem to have access to neither also on another note the statistics page no longer comes up saying that there is a database error --Dark Lord Xander 07:19, 2 October 2009 (UTC)

There were a lot of skins to choose from, the reason was that I had downloaded a lot of skins and incorporated the things I liked into the default skin, which is my heavily edited version of a skin called bookjive. I have removed all those skins now and only left those that are included in a normal mediawiki install and included the old MonoBook skin used on the old wiki. The skins you now can choose from should all work with this install. All though I of course must recommend the default one. After all, I have put a lot of work in to that one :-)

The problem with the statistics page is looked into by our friend Christian at our webhotell. Hopefully he will be able to find a solution.

The navigation problem reported by Karl MAN I will not try to fix. This could take a lot of time and seems like a rather minor problem. If someone else finds a workable solution to the bug I will be happy to include it.

--administrator 09:57, 2 October 2009 (UTC)

The navigation problem seems to depend on which skin you use. So if Karl Man has changed the PhantomWiki skin, that could be why the problem went away. If not, it could still be a browser problem. Andreas 11:01, 2 October 2009 (UTC)

I first used Mozilla, then I went to the library and used one of their computers, I think it was internet explorer then. The difference between them was that when I used mozilla, nothing happened, with explorer, I came to the main page. I am not sure if this is a browser problem, anyone could check if they have the problem and report the result here. I have also problem with signing here, because the tools that previously always were displayed when I was editing does not show up now and I cannot write any tildes with this computer, instead, I have to find some and copy. But all that is something that I can live with, I am just happy that I can log in now. Karl MAN 10:39, 5 October 2009 (UTC)

I'm using explorer and it works fine though i haven't tried any other browsers --Dark Lord Xander 12:34, 5 October 2009 (UTC)

It must be that I always seems to use computers that make mistakes. The mozilla computer has problems with fantomen.com too when I am not logged in. Karl MAN 13:35, 5 October 2009 (UTC)

Translated stories titles

Many stories have never been published in English (for instance, those from the Italian Fratelli Spada publications) but, in the Wiki articles, their original titles are however always translated in English. In doing that, don’t we wrongly let suggest such stories have also been officially published in English-speaking countries (mainly USA, UK and Australia)? Would it be not preferable to abandon any English translation in that case ? Or, at least, a specific statement - that there is no English version exiting- could be provided ? I don’t know if that matter has already been discussed.Alain03 13:52, 1 October 2009 (UTC)

Since the wiki is written in English it is preferable that the title names are also written in English or at least have and English version so they are accessible to people who do not speak the original language. I Understand your point about people getting confused about where they are published which is why it is usually mentioned on the main Fratelli Spada page that these are merely translations. Also the issues each story appear on is listed on the story's page though i see no harm in having a template or simply including in the text somewhere that they have yet to be published in English. --Dark Lord Xander 02:18, 2 October 2009 (UTC)

I think Fratelli Spada stories is one step in the right direction, since it shows the original titles aswell so we don't remove them completely. Team Fantomen stories uses the symbol ¤ to show that the English title is a translation used on the Wiki, and that the story has not yet been published in English. Maybe we also could do some template thing to insert in story articles for stories that haven't been published in English. Andreas 06:25, 2 October 2009 (UTC)

I Agree with anders about having the original title as well as the translated one perhapse we can do this with all non english series such as Team Fantomen, RGE and Bastei --Dark Lord Xander 07:22, 2 October 2009 (UTC)

Maybe I'm wrong to come back upon this matter but it looks to remain unresolved. When there is a foreign publication of Spada"home-made" material,I would also find it useful (in fact necessary...for meeting the work properly)to quote the original Italian titles and not just an English tranlation which is only indirectly linked with. For example, in books treating of movies history, Italian releases are also listed with their original titles, generally indicated in brackets.Alain03 16:00, 7 December 2010 (UTC)

"Merchandise"

There are some Phantom related "merchandise", should articles for them be created as well? Or perhaps just for some, or for none? Example: Recently, I received a T-shirt from Egmont with the Fantomen 9/2008 cover -- the Best Fantomen cover 2008 -- printed on it. It was a prize for my participation in the voting. The question is, should the T-shirt be mentioned in the Fantomen 9/2008 cover article? Should a photograph be included? Should the T-shirt have its own article? I think that guidelines in these kind of matters are necessary. Karl MAN 12:15, 11 October 2009 (UTC)

I Don't think we should give merchandise its own pages at this stage especially when there is still tons to do on the wiki but i think if a pieace of merchandise is relevant to an existing article it should be mentioned in the notes section of that article Dark Lord Xander 23:54, 11 October 2009 (UTC)

My idea for the cover articles was to include every instance where the same illustration had been used. So yes, I was hoping to include the t-shirts aswell (with photo, please upload if you can). In the long run, it would also be of interest to add articles (with photos) about all Phantom memorabilia, since there are lots of fans who love collecting them and would like to know what is available out there. We have a few items in the Memorabilia category, but it is a part of the Wiki that we haven't spent much time on. Any suggestions for appropriate articles (for exampler, perhaps only one article for all Best Cover t-shirts? or for all t-shirts released in each country?) are of course appreciated. Andreas 07:00, 12 October 2009 (UTC)

I can also add that I've discussed with Admin whether merchandise/memorabilia should be included at all in the Wiki. I am for including it, since many times there is a connection between the memorabilia and story/cover art (like the t-shirts Karl MAN refers to), and because I think it would be good to have everything regarding the Phantom included in the same Wiki. Andreas 07:33, 12 October 2009 (UTC)

I am not necessarily against memorabilia on the wiki and have nothing against things that tie into other articles such as the t-shirts. However in my experience with wiki's memorabilia is usually avoided unless it adds something to the wiki such as comics, books, films, games ect because these wiki's focus on being "in-universe" ie they have a number of articles about characters and events told as if it were about people and events on wikipedia. However as i said i am not necessarily against it and i people want to contribute and add info about memorabilia i see no real problem.--Dark Lord Xander 07:59, 12 October 2009 (UTC)

Story identification

In order to easier identify stories, I have received an e-mail suggestion that we include the first pages of every reprint in the story articles. I have had similar thoughts myself, after seeing a similar system on Inducks. What do you others feel? And how could this be done so it looks good, especially for stories that have been reprinted lots of time? A table instead of the current reprint section? Feel free to make a test here or any other appropriate place. Andreas 20:11, 20 October 2009 (UTC)

After Looking at the example Anders provided i have to say that i prefer the way we have it at the moment as just a list for each country and as more of the issue articles get created it will be easier to determine which story are in which articles. My main problem with the suggested system is it looks untidy. I can see why you would want pictures from the story but i think there are better ways of doing it rather than have a copy of the first page of each issue.

I think the best way would be to provide a number of images from comic cells spread throughout the article provided that they are long enough however thats just my opinion --Dark Lord Xander 22:45, 20 October 2009 (UTC)

Partial reprints and study articles

Such magazines like "Comics Revue", "TV Tornado", "Nostalgia Comics"...and so on... have only a few reprints pages devoted to the Phantom (sometimes just two or four pages, sometimes more). In this case, it could be a useful addition if the exact number of Phantom pages was indicated. What is your advice ? A similar subject : some comics collectors' fanzines or books about comics' history include written articles about the Phantom. Can't we create articles for them (for instance, with the first page of the article pictured as an image)? But if so, how name the Wiki article (under the same name used in the original written article)? Alain03 11:11, 4 November 2009 (UTC)

My opinion is that all issues containing Phantom comics should be included, even if it is only a few pages of Phantom-related material. The only exception where we will not include each individual issue are newspapers that published dailies/Sundays. Maybe the number of pages can be included in an easy way, but it seems like something we should include in all issues, not just the ones with few Phantom pages. Reference publications with no comics are listed last in the country articles, for example The Comic Reader #134. So far, those that have been listed include Phantom covers or focus mainly on the Phantom, but I suggest that the category Reference publications is open for other appearances aswell. I would prefer that the article is named after the issue, but we will see what works best once we start adding more of these. Andreas 13:56, 19 November 2009 (UTC)

Images that have not been re-uploaded

I took a look at Den vandrande vålnaden 1/1996 together with some other issues of Den vandrande vålnaden, and saw that the cover had not been re-uploaded as the other images. The only reason that I could find was that the images that we earlier had, had stickers attached to the covers, thereby obscuring the view of the cover. I would like to point out the need of new images for these articles. Karl MAN 13:15, 19 November 2009 (UTC)

Fixed, reuploaded with underscores in filename Administrator 13:23, 21 November 2009 (UTC)

I have now come across File:En odödlig legend Cover.gif, it appears that it too was never uploaded. Karl MAN 10:08, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

Hopalong Cassidy

Hopalong Cassidy is a comic that ran in Fantomen. What I am concened with is who it is to be credited, after checking Seriewikin it seems as if William Boyd, the only one who have been given credit at Phantomwiki was the actor that portrayed Hopalong on stage. Hopalong is originally a character from a book. In 1942 the comics started, in 1949 another started according to Boyd's vision. which version is published? both? Karl MAN 10:12, 8 December 2009 (UTC)

Double covers of Fantomen Krönika

Issues #31 to #64 of Fantomen Krönika have two different files with cover scans. Most of the covers are have names like Fantomen Krönika 31.jpg, but then there are those with names like Fantomen Krönika no. 31.jpg. When I stored the covers in a category, I was unaware of this and stored the "no." covers (i.e. the latter version) in the category Category:Fantomen Krönika covers. Now, one of the versions must have to go, I have begun to nominate the other covers for deletion, but then I have thought that the "no." versions should be deleted so that the same version of names could be used for the covers. Since the "no." versions lie in a category, they should be quite easy to find and delete. Afterwords, someone must put the other versions in the category and fix so that those versions are the only ones that are linked to, but I can do that if I have the green light from others.

If someone with deletion rights could begin to delete so could I begin fixing up the mess. Karl MAN 10:06, 8 January 2010 (UTC)

Since no one has started delete them, I have decided to nominate them for deletion and put the other versions in their place. Karl MAN 17:40, 25 January 2010 (UTC)

Done! There were only 3 covers with a "no." that were not duplicates, though 46 did not register as a duplicate. Everyone are in the deletion nomination category now, so anyone with authority could now delete them. Karl MAN 18:25, 25 January 2010 (UTC)

Art template?

There are art that are not any covers, nor any comicpanels. Examples includes publishing schedules and other things. I suggests that a separate template will be created for this kind of art. It should then be used when the art is not a cover and not a comic panel and should be similar to the templates Template:Cover and Template:Comicpanel. Karl MAN 21:48, 18 January 2010 (UTC)

Short URL's

I have managed to shorten the wiki URL's, from for example http://www.schapter.org/wiki/index.php?title=Fantomen_1/1950 to http://www.schapter.org/wiki/Fantomen_1/1950

This will make it easier to link to articles in the wiki and - if I have the right information - Google really likes short URL's.

If there are webpages out there who have linked to a article with the old long URL those links still works.

— [[User:Administrator]] ([[User talk:Username|<font size="1">talk</font>]]) 09:03, 9 February 2010 (UTC)

Moves to prevent spamming

If I remember correctly, at the ordinary wikipedia, there is a function so that whenever you are posting a link without being logged in, you have to enter a confirmation word that is write at a pic. This si done to prevent spamming. After the recent experience with excessive spamming, I think it might be a good idea to do the same at phantomwiki, if it is possible. So what do you men who founded this place think of the idea? Karl MAN 14:50, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

This is an excellent idea. I have installed an extension to the wiki that does just exactly that. More info here ReCapthca Thanks for the suggestion. — [[User:Administrator]] ([[User talk:Username|<font size="1">talk</font>]]) 14:07, 1 June 2010 (UTC)

Donate

A donation has started at schapter.org The goal is to reach enough money to cover the cost of this wiki and the site of the sponsors Scandinavian Chapter. Up until now the schapter have been able to cover all costs but now would be a good time to help. — [[User:Administrator]] ([[User talk:Username|<font size="1">talk</font>]]) 13:09, 1 June 2010 (UTC)

Fantomen subscription poster

I am unsure of where to post this discussion topic, so I play it safe and go for the Bandar Village.

The thing is that I have seen an ad in a Fantomen 1978 issue that said that if you began subscribing, you would get a poster. This poster should, in my opinion have its own article, however, I don't know what to name such an article. Fantomen 1978 subscription poster? My memory informs me that I saw the ad at the last page of Fantomen 14/1978, but I am sure that it must have been featured in more issues.

This poster is also interesting in that it has all the years for the past Phantoms, thereby giving information that their years were set by that time. Karl MAN 13:14, 18 October 2010 (UTC)

Two different ads where published in 13, 14 and 24, 25, 26/1978. I don't have the poster, but should I scan the ads? --MiGi 13:38, 18 October 2010 (UTC)

I think that ads should be scanned only if they contain art, not just features a foto of an object with art, such as a poster. If they contain art, I think they should be scanned, but if they only contain an image of the poster, I don't think they should be scanned. Karl MAN 09:12, 19 October 2010 (UTC)

Edit of external link inside an article

For the article Ringerikes Blad, I wanted to put inside the text the internet direct link of the "RingeriksAvisa" Fantomet page. When trying to save the page there was an mention telling “ Your edit includes new external links. To help protect against automated spam, please type the two words you see in the box below: “. Unfortunately the so-indicated “box below” does not appear at all… Maybe something can be done to resolve this bug? Alain03 13:32, 17 November 2010 (UTC)

I added an external link and got no message. Maybe it solved itself? Andreas 15:07, 17 November 2010 (UTC)

No change,it's remains impossible. Or I did something wrong... In fact, after the title ""RingeriksAvisa" (fourth line/and before the words "strips released within approximately..."), I'd like to add this ending sentence: at the following address ttp://www.ringeriksporten.no/fantomet.html (of course "http" needs a beginning "h" but if I wrote correctly the correct whole link, even in the present text, there is still the bug and I could not send this reply...). Maybe some brackets missing? Please could you put the wanted link for me at the above said place? Alain03 16:11, 17 November 2010 (UTC)

Some minor mistakes I've made

I was adding some new issue articles and made som minor mistakes, for som reason, I was not able to correct them, I think it is something with my computer; thumbnails are not created for the covers and sometimes, nothing seems to happen when I presses "Save page".

Anyway, in Fantomen 1/1986, the publishing schedule should have the measures 300px, I think, the current thing is wrong, also it was published in January 7, 1986, nothing others.

Fantomen 25/1988 should have 68 pages and Fantomen 26/1988 should have 100 pages.

Anyone is welcome to fix these mistakes, I will do it otherwise when I can come across a computer that works. Karl MAN 17:06, 12 December 2010 (UTC)

We have had problems with the server that hosts PhantomWiki. That's most likely the reason for your problems - I have not been able to correct your mistakes either. Andreas 20:00, 12 December 2010 (UTC)

I have managed to fix the mentioned mistakes in 1/86 an 25/88, but not in 26/88, by using another computer. I hope that it is the server and that the problem could be fixed, otherwise I will have a lot of problem with editing. The editing problems seems to arise sometimes when an image is involved. Karl MAN 16:02, 13 December 2010 (UTC)

More specifically, the problem begins when a thumbnail of an image needs to be created. We have forwarded the error message to the server's support staff. Old images which alreday have thumbnails don't seem to be affected. Andreas 16:23, 13 December 2010 (UTC)

I have fixed the last mistake in 26/88 now, but apparently the problem with the server has still not been fixed, because there was not proper image. Karl MAN 14:13, 21 December 2010 (UTC)

Countries Template

I believe necessary to delete the name Martinique from the list of countries mentioned in the “Phantom publications by country” template, this island being not an independent country but a French overseas department located in the Caribbean Sea. Furthermore, at least to the best of my knowledge, any native Phantom comic-book has been published there. Alain03 12:57, 14 December 2010 (UTC)

There was something in newspapers. Delboj4 13:17, 14 December 2010 (UTC)

I have also thought of that, but I'm still unable to identify such local newspapers. Somebody could help ? More largely, it however remains a logical matter: if the list ought to be devoted to countries, Martinique has not the same status as the other names...I suggest to omit it, at least until some concrete publishing information might be found. If so, and only then, we would have to cite namely Martinique, either in the French global list with a mention of "special local publication", either under its actual list location.Alain03 05:45, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

There is definitely a problem mentioned here; should only independent countries be listed here? There are several territories around the world that is under ther rule of som country, but have a little kind of independence. I know that the USA has several such territories, as have France and the UK and probably a few other countries. One example that I know of is Puerto Rico, which has a couple of millions of inabitants and has independent internal rule, but otherwise is part of the USA (they voted in 1993 to remain in their current status and not become the 51st State of America). Should such "countries" (or "territories") have a page of their own if they have published "The Phantom"? or should any publication be listed under the country to which it "belong"? Karl MAN 14:05, 21 December 2010 (UTC)

From what is rightly pointed out by Karl, I finally think that the concept of countries is not primordial and that territories having their own powers of autonomy might be listed too, at least when some local Phantom publication is identified. So, in a first time, only “real” countries would be cited within the global list, and in another time, this one could be completed with more "distant territories" when something specific is known to be published there. However, even in the latter case, would not it be useful to name the territories into some kind of brackets in order to distinguish them more clearly and show that we knew they are not similar than “ordinary countries”… ? What seems important is to not adding a flow of territories names when any local Phantom publication is really linked.Alain03 13:06, 3 January 2011 (UTC)

We could put the territories after the real countries in a smaller text like I have done here below with Martinique as a test. Karl MAN 16:34, 6 January 2011 (UTC)

On my PC the difference is hardly visible. I have added another way of showing 'dependencies' (if this is the way we want to categorize them). --MiGi 08:40, 8 January 2011 (UTC)

Update January 2011

To all: we tried to do an update of the MediaWiki software this weekend but ran into some trouble. We always have a backup of the wiki database stored, so we could restore the Wiki today. However, the last few updates were missing from the back up. This means that the historical 10,000th article is gone with other articles that need to be rewritten. Sorry for that, and a big thanks to all contributors who helped us actually reach 10,000 articles and hopefully will help us do it again (and this time for good!) /Andreas 14:21, 17 January 2011 (UTC) and Brian (administrator)

I have to say I need more details. Are these articles now permanently lost? And if so, is it possible to have a list of which articles are concerned, that in case some of them might be however re-written or at least might received a new version? I am surprised that nobody has responded to this information… but maybe I don’t quite understand what the situation is, and that because of my only basic English? Thanks in advance for your reply Alain03 16:09, 25 January 2011 (UTC)

Edited stories

In Italia and Brazil some newspaper stories were edited and completely redrawn with new panels added by their local artists. In Italia Nebrini stories (some of them, I am not sure for all) were later redrawn with new panels by Fratelli Spada artists. One or two newspaper stories were remade in L'Avventuroso. However, do we need create separate list for these remake stories? Delboj4 12:59, 19 January 2011 (UTC)

King Comics redrew some stories and those stories have their own articles. Example: Sunday story "Treasure of the Skull Cave" and King Comics story "The Treasure of the Skull Cave". Also, Team Fantomen has made remakes of old stories drawn by Moore and McCoy, they also have their separate articles. If what you are describing is of the magnitude of any of what I have described, then I believe that they should be given their own articles without hesitation, if this is a milder case, then perhaps further discussion is necessary. Karl MAN 17:17, 19 January 2011 (UTC)

Hispano Americana

I've started add Spanish Hispano Americana issues http://www.schapter.org/wiki/Category:El_Hombre_Enmascarado_%28Hispano_Americana%29_issues

But I am not sure how we will add links for their other editions http://www.tebeosfera.com/buscador/el%20hombre%20enmascarado/

Maybe year publishing could be difference in links? Delboj4 12:59, 19 January 2011 (UTC)

Creating a template for art that does not fit anywhere

There are some art that is neither a panel, nor is it a cover, at least not used as a cover at the image in question. Since it is some form of art, someone should be credited as people are credited in the panel and cover templates. A couple of examples:
,, , .
These images does NOT portray panels nor covers. I therefore propose that a new template should be created for such items. I might add that I at some of the images which might meet my criteria already have used one of the existing template, that is then needed to be corrected if you agree. Is there anyone against or for my proposal? Karl MAN 19:54, 19 January 2011 (UTC)

I too think that there should be a category for 'odd' images like the ones you presented, e.g. 'Miscellaneous art' or 'Other art'.
Should we do a distinction between 'paper printed' (scanned) objects like your first three examples and 'non paper printed' (photographed) ones like your last example? --MiGi 11:14, 22 January 2011 (UTC)

New Special page

Have you ever wondered how many contributions your friends have made?
Who have made the most, the last seven days or the last thirty?
Now you have an answer to these questions on the new special page located under "Wiki data and tools" the Contribution scores
— [[User:Administrator]] ([[User talk:Username|<font size="1">talk</font>]]) 15:20, 25 January 2011 (UTC)