In response to one of the many suggestions we received during our [[BW:SURVEY|survey a few months back]], we’ve made inroads into making editor easier on Battlestar Wiki. With the integration of the FCKEditor for MediaWiki for the Wikis, people will be able to edit the wiki in a style that is reminiscent of writing up documents in OpenOffice Writer or Microsoft Word. (Otherwise known as “What You See Is What You Get”, or WYSIWYG.)

Should you be an advanced user and wish to disable it, simply go to “[[Special:Preferences|My Preferences]]”. Then click on the “Misc” tab and check off the “Disable rich editor” checkbox.

A few notes for lovers of that weasely technobabble:

• The “edit tools” at the bottom of the editing page do not function when using the FCK Editor, even in “Wikitext” mode. Editing tools will still work if you disable the rich text editor. (This bug has been reported here.)
• When saving content using the text editor, links that do not need to be piped are piped, like: [[William Adama|William Adama]]. This bug doesn’t affect the functionality of the link, but may annoy some people who know that such linking is unnecessary. It has been reported here.

So anyway, for those of you that missed the fun last night, you can download the MP3 of the show from here (or listen to it stream from the site).

Anyway, I thought it went fairly well. Except the point where I had a brain freeze during the portion where I tried to verbalize why I feel Battlestar Galactica Original Series (TOS) fans and New Series (TNS) fans who hate the “opposing show” so much that they have to negatively comment on it ad nauseum need to get a life. Of course, it didn’t help that I couldn’t use some profanities, since the whole “TOS vs. TNS” thing ranks up there with the absurd “Star Trek vs. Star Wars” arguments, and the whole “Old Trek vs. New Trek” arguments that have shown the scummy side of the online fandoms over the decades.

Here’s the thing, if you don’t like a show… do yourself a favor and don’t watch it. Hell, even ignore it, if you must. (Original BSG fans did this with Galactica 1980, so why not take a page from that book!?)

That’s the point I was getting at.

Nor did it help that I was on various flu medications, which didn’t help with the whole mental concentration bit. Still, people could hear me (and apparently it didn’t sound like I have the flu, from what Shane said anyway) and it seemed to go well.

However, I was a bit rushed. Particularly at the end when Rudy called in and threw fifty different questions at my direction that jumped all over the frakking place.

Oh well… Listen and feel free to rip me a new one, at your discretion, of course.

Now, for the bad news, Mike has invited me on the show sometime in the summer. (He has a thing about not repeating the same guest in the same quarter, which is understandable, and keeps the show fresh.) So, hopefully, I’ll be more in the game in my next appearance. And hopefully we won’t have discussions about that horrendously overrated “Last Supper” promotional shtick.

As far as first outings go — and having never participated in a live radio interview before — it went well. Can’t expect a perfect game, though.

So… before I ramble on any further, I want to thank everyone who came out for the live airing, phoned in (Shane and Rudy), and jumped into the chat room. According to Mike Hinman, it was the show with the most listeners they’ve had yet. I guess I’m a draw.

Or it may be because the phones were working. Who knows.

Ladies and Gentlemen

Tonight our very own Joe B. was a special guest on SyFy Radio. The show started at 10pm EST and you can click here to listen to the show. You can call into future shows by dialing (646) 200-3642.

You can also catch the archives via iTunes (search for “SyFy Radio”) and via BlogTalkRadio’s own archives!

Then head over to Joe on SyFy Radio April 23rd! on Battlestar Forum to discuss Joe’s appearance.

Folks,

I’ll be on SyFy Radio tonight. I should be there starting around 10:25 P.M. Eastern time (for those of you that want to or can listen live).

So remember: tonight at 10 P.M., click here, and listen to the show. Call into the show by dialing (646) 200-3642.

You can also catch the archives via iTunes (search for “SyFy Radio”) and via BlogTalkRadio’s own archives!

Be hearing you!

In reaction to Assistant Professor Bob Rehak’s blog post on his website regarding J.K. Rowling’s lawsuit against Vander Ark and the publisher of the book version of the “Harry Potter Lexicon”, I wrote the following reply. As of this writing, you will not see it up on his website, since it has yet to be approved from its moderation queue, despite the fact that he responded to another post that supports his own position… which is visible on his website… Anyway, I want to post what I wrote here, in the hopes of discussing my thoughts on this issue and getting people’s thoughts on this.

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Bob Rehak, assistant professor of film and media studies at Swarthmore College, recently wrote an article on the J.K. Rowling vs. the Harry Potter Lexicon legal proceedings, discussing transmedia storytelling and subcreation, in an interesting article that notes the effort of Battlestar Wiki, Lostpedia and the Lexicon to “keep track of sprawling storylines and giant mobs of dramatis personae, cross-referencing and codifying the rules of seriality’s endless play of meaning”.

Rehak discusses this more on his blog entry here. It’s an interesting read, since people have been e-mailing me to ask about what the Rowling/Lexicon case means for Battlestar Wiki.

Right now, I want to assure people that we’re not in danger of being taken down. It is clearly apparent that the Lexicon and its owner are clearly attempting to profit off another established universe by selling the online resource in book form for some $30 USD.

However, the case is interesting to watch, nonetheless, as are the factions that are coming to rise because of it: pro-Rowling vs. the pro-fandom creativity/creationists.

The survey, which ran from Monday, 18 February 2008 to Monday, 7 April 2008, has now ended.

We are currently running through the results and will be contacting the contest winners by the end of Friday, 11 April 2008.

To recap, the prizes that will be drawn are as follows:

• One (1) copy of Battlestar Galactica Season 3 on DVD, or one gift certificate to an online retailer of your choice for $40.00 USD. (Grand Prize, only 1 possible winner)
• One (1) copy of the Battlestar Galactica Season 3 soundtrack, or one gift certificate to an online retailer of your choice for $10.00 USD. (Second Prize, only 1 possible winner)
• A one-year membership to Battlestar Forum/Battlestar Wiki. (Third Prize, 3 possible winners.)

Winners will be picked randomly. Results will be posted as soon as we have confirmation that the random winners have chosen their prizes (product vs. gift certificate), and that the recipient’s contact information is validated.

Please direct any questions to Joe Beaudoin Jr. here. Thank you for your participation and for helping us immensely with your feedback!

Also, you don’t have to wait for surveys like this to send us your feedback… Check out our contact page and find out how you can send us your thoughts, suggestions, questions, and even help us point our issues or opportunities with our content.

So say we all!

So there’s a geeky, fun time killer on TechRepublic.com, where geeks can vote on their favorite (and fantastic) presidential ticket. Options are [[Laura Roslin|Roslin]]/[[Airlock]], Roslin/[[William Adama|Adama]], Kirk/Spock, Frodo/Sam and others…

Check it out here.

Quantcast updated its statics for yesterday, and they are located here.

If you’d note the two spikes on the page, you’ll see that the first spike in November was due to “[[Razor]]”. The second spike is due to “[[He That Believeth In Me]]”, which is larger.

And this is the first time that we’ve ever been in the 25,000s in terms of site ranking on Quantcast. Awesome

In reaction to what I have been posting earlier regarding our (now deleted) entry on Wikipedia and attempts by Wikia to buy us out, I’ve been notified by our accounting department that we have an Quiznos expense account. The notification came in a hilarious card made by several of the hard working fans who help make Battlestar Wiki possible.

The culprits were [[User:Steelviper|Steelviper]], [[User:Spencerian|Spencerian]] and [[User:Shane|Shane]]!

Pictures are available of the hilarious card in question are in the gallery… but here’s a teaser of the card that made my day! Thanks guys!

Over the last week, a small band people who contribute to Wikipedia, the self-billed “free online encyclopedia that anyone can edit”, elected to nominate the article on Battlestar Wiki for deletion. (Link)

Now, previous attempts on creating an article there have been met, twice previously, with deletion. (Deletion #1 in 2005, Deletion #2 in 2006.)

Both deletions were previously understandable. We were a small website — hardly the success we are now — and we did not meet their “notability” guidelines. Hell, even I had endorsed the deletion back in 2006, since I feel it didn’t meet those guidelines myself.

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Wow. Myself and Joe are really impressed. If you find any problems with the blog, please report it here. 2.5 has a bundle of changes that might not work well with this theme — which we might update soon!  Props to the WordPress Team. The admin pages is where it really counts, and it’s just fantastic!