Welcome to the Help Desk

Before you ask your question, please consult the FAQ below.

Frequently Asked Questions

Try the steps listed at WikiChatTroubleshooting.

This is a wiki. By all means, do what you want. If one more person asks for permission to do one more thing, our characteristically polite admin, JoeyDay, is going to scream nasty expletives at him/her. If we didn't want you editing/creating documents, we wouldn't give everyone the ability to do so, would we?! If you've done something wrong, we'll let you know. In this community, it's better to ask forgiveness later than permission now.

Yeah, no. These aren't Easter Eggs. It's because the toons are made using Flash Animation. Or you are standing on your head. Whichever.

Please don't send support related questions directly to JoeyDay. Send your support questions to [support@hrwiki.org]. Several people check this address (including JoeyDay), and you're more likely to get a quick response. However, posting your question below is usually the fastest way to get an answer.

We don't know. In fact, we're not sure he's ever really answered that question. Why don't you ask him?

New Questions

Your question wasn't on the FAQ? Ask away by simply adding your question to the bottom. We'll answer as soon as possible.


Yo, I can't get the applet to work...what's with that?? It never connects!
AgentSeethroo

Yeah, the same thing is happening to me!- SBZ22

Have you had any luck yet? We have made some changes. If you can't get it to work with a random irc server, try using a specific one. -Stu

Negative on that, Ghost Rider. No luck as of yet. ~ AgentSeethroo

What are you getting? is the applet loading at all? Is it loading, but you are having trouble connecting to a server? Any info you can toss me, will help. -Stu

The applet loads, but is says connecting: forever, and then it said something like "cannot connect to: null" or something like that.
AgentSeethroo


Hey the new chat thing used to work yesterday but today it asks something and when I try to connect it says
"Unable to connect: null" - Another Fan

Try connecting to a different server. let me know what it says. -Stu

I tried it, but the same thing keeps happening. It won't connect. - AgentSeethroo

I don't have two computers. - Another Fan

That's not what he's talking about. When you first go to the WikiChat link it has a drop down menu where you can pick an EFNet server. Pick one other than the default random EFNet server. - Agent "I can sign all my posts" Seethroo

What is a EFNet server? - Another Fan

That's the name of the server we have our IRC channel on. -- Tom

Which should I pick? - Another Fan

Which ever one is geographicly closest to you. -- JestersOfTheMoon

I got it working by clicking yes in the window that pops up.- Another Fan

Mine dosn't work. It says Unable to Connect: null . What should I do? I've tried all of the EFNet things, but none of them work. - FireBird

Why do you guys use EFNet? Wouldn't a network with NickServ, ChanServ, etc. be better? :E ~ Aero


Okay, two problems.
1) Please, Joeyday, delete every FireBird name on the Forum. I want to start over. Something went wrong.
2) When I try to sign onto the WikiChat, it says "Unable to Connect: null". What should I do about that. I already put in the EFNet location thing and it still dosen't work. Help? - FireBird

Ok, #1 is done you should be able to start over. As for #2, it sounds like you are trying to connect to a server that doesn't exist. (the servers should all exist, at least they did this afternoon). What browser and os are you using? -Stu

Alright, for all you people having problems connecting to the chat, this hasn't been mentioned. Trying to connect from behind a firewall could be the problem. I cannot connect from work due to the firewalls. -Hobo


There should be some other way to be able to get on the forum without having to do all the mailing or fax stuff. Just a suggestion, - FireBird

FireBird, there is a law stating that if we are going to collect and publicly display personal information for children under 13 (which we do on our forum), we must obtain permission from the child's parent(s). There is no way for us to get around this unless we want to do something illegal, and we don't. Sorry for the inconvenience. --JoeyDay


What Wiki software is this site running? Thanks! - JHS

Currently, we use [WikkiTikiTavi] ('Tavi for short). But we will be switching to [TWiki] soon. -- Tom


In the rejects why don't you put strong bad's marker on it? And why are there 2 Nebulons on the rejects -fhq

1: Things only go in rejects when someone feels they should. The general concecus (sp?) on the site is that Rejects section is a waste of time. We do, however, indulge those who feel small things should be mentioned.

2: Nebulon should not be there twice. When you see a mistake, (if you have the time) please feel free to correct it yourself.

3: Go ahead and type yourself a UserSpace right (fhq|here).
-The Brothers E


Hey, how on earth do you put pictures on your user space? If anybody knows, put it here, or on my user space.-Homsar Runner

All you need to do, Homsar Runner, is put the URL for an image. See an example [here]. -- Tom


Can you underline stuff in the Wiki? --liato

Not currently with the 'Tavi engine. -- Tom


How can I create an animated GIF for my website or forums, etc. out of H*R stuff? DeLoreanz1

You are going to need a program that can create animated gifs. I don't know of any of the top of my head, but you can certainly find them using a search engine such as google. Just type in something like "animated gif creator" or something like that, and start from there.

-Stu

I used to use a free one called [UnFREEz]. It's an extremely simple program. It can't actually do any graphic editing; it just uses pre-made GIFs. You just drag-and-drop your GIF frames into the program, specify how fast you want it to play the frames, hit save, and you're in business. It works like a charm. Hope this helps. --JoeyDay


How do I change a page back to what it was after it has been deleted or changed? Jack Selby

Instructions on how to do this are at the top of the WikiTroll page. -- Tom


Okay, so I wasn't paying attention at some point and I missed Psyco Mike's transformation. What is his new User Name?
-The Brothers E

First off, when he was Psycho Mike, he spelled it "Phyhco Mike". Now, as Gravy Train Captian, his note on the top of his page spells it differently. But it appears he's always had a little trouble spelling his username correctly. -- Tom

Thank you
-The Brothers E


I just registered to the forum, but I put in a different name in the email address and now I can't get in. Can anybody help me?
-DaChazman

Hmm. You didn't put your own email address in? In order to confirm the account, you have to follow a link that will be emailed to you. If you didn't use a workable email, than you can't confirm with that name. You should send an email to JoeyDay explaining what you did. He can delete the incorrect username allowing you to register under that same name. Or you could just do it correctly with a different name. -- Tom


Where are the other bookmarks for rewinding and fastforwarding?

You can find some great bookmarklets [here]. -- Tom


I just lost two hours of work I did this morning on my WikiFanStuff book by pressing backspace. It went back to previous page, and when I went back forwards, it was gone. Is there anyway to retrieve this two-hours of work if I didn't save it? I have a feeling not. - FireBird


Meh, I hate computers. - FireBird


might've been asked before, but how would you post a picture you made - like a screenshot or a pic of yourself? sid_hoffman

Okay sid, all you need to do is put the URL for an image. See an simple example [here]. -- Tom

Yeah, ok, but what if it doesnt have a URL? sid_hoffman

Simply put: then it isn't on the Internet. If you have an image on your personal computer you want to share, you'd have to upload it somewhere. There are several sites out there that offer image hosting. You should be able to [find one]. -- Tom


How do I delete a poll? I think both of mine are done.
-The Brothers E

These are polls over in the old WikiPolls? You could do one of two things: Send me an email about which ones they are, or just move them over to the archives (like somewhere way down the bottom or something). Then I'll add in the little thingy that I do. -- Tom

No, from the Forum. I have to polls running in the forum that I am done with. Will they disappear if I didn't set a time on them when they were created? Do administrators have to delort them?
-The Brothers E

Oh. You know there's a [HelpDesk] over there for questions too. Uh... pretty much the polls will probably just sit there. I'm assuming your talking about the [User Comments] one and the [20X6 Marzipan] one. I'm also assuming you didn't set some kind of time limit on them when you set them up. If you want on of the mods to lock them, we could do that. Just ask. In fact, I'm going to lock both of them now, and if I'm wrong about you wanting them locked, then I can unlock them. Okay? -- Tom


What's this "Add document to category:" noise all about? I've never used it because I have no idea what will happen if I do... Actually, I think ima go play in the sandbox while I wait for an answer. --Hobophobic

It's a part of TikiWiki's functionality that we don't use. Basically you have a category page (StrongBadEmail would be a good candidate) and in its code there's a special tag that lists pages that are a part of that category. The trouble is, it doesn't work terribly well and doesn't actually do very much. All it does is make the pages in the category appear in the BackLinks for the page (the list of pages you get when you click on the big red title at the top of a page). But in TikiWiki the BackLinks are all but useless, because it just does a text search. Which isn't anything like a real BackLinks search. Yet another reason we'll be upgrading to Twiki soon.

But if you really want to learn about it, I recommend checking out the TikiWiki documentation. -- InterruptorJones

I suggest having a look at the latest versions of TikiWiki - 1.7.x and 1.8.x definitely are using categories in a much more useful way. BackLinks implementation also seems to have been improved quite a bit. -- Frankieboy

I'm not really sure what either of you are talking about. The engine we're currently using isn't called TikiWiki, it's called WikkiTikkiTavi, or 'Tavi for short. It's currently in version 0.25, and the category stuff in that version isn't much different from what we've got now (we're currently using version 0.24). --JoeyDay


Can you PLEASE activate my screen name for the fourms already? -Nelson339

Nelson339, you are the one who activates your screen name. An email was sent to whatever email address you registered under. This email contained a link that you need to click on in order to activate your forum account. -- Tom

Nelson339, I've manually activated your account. Happy posting. --JoeyDay


KevinDuBrow has been here since February but not done anything on this wiki. Should we do anything about this? -Shopiom

No, you don't need to do anything about it. And what do you mean by "not done anything"? And furthermore, what would you want to about it anyway? -- Tom

The only places he has appeared are on his userspace and on the Wikiusers page. He hasn't done anthing else, and the best thing I could come up with is telling him that if he doesn't do at least 5 other things by July, he will be banned. Anyone else have any bright ideas? -Shopiom

That, my friend, is a horrible idea. Just because he hasn't done anything doesn't mean he should be banned. Technically, he hasn't done anything wrong to be banned for. - FireBird

I just want him to do stuff. Maybe we could suspend him if he doesn't do at least 3 other things by July. You can't say that it wasn't the least bit stupid to join if he had no intentions of doing anything. -Shopi"Notice I changed it to three instead of five"om

I don't understand your idea at all, Shopiom. If someone doesn't contribute, you don't want to allow them to contribute? That's just plain mean. I can think of a couple hundred people on the WikiUsers list that don't contribute daily. Or even monthly. And that is perfectly alright. -- Tom

I guess I'm the only person in the world who cares. Oh, well! I'll live with people not doing anything. But, for some reason, I think Kevin has real potential and he could do a lot here. Just don't listen to me. Or read it. Or whatever. -Shopiom

Shopiom, I'm glad you care. I certainly hope you're not the only one. Here's the big picture, though: (1) We've got oodles of space, therefore KevinDuBrow's userspace is not burdening us in any way; and (2) Kevin hasn't done anything against universally accepted wiki civic policy -- on what grounds should/could we ban him? If you really want to do something about this, I suppose you could simply delete his userspace. But what if he does decide to start contributing someday? I would hate for him to come back only to find that we've deleted what little he did contribute before. We want everyone to feel welcome here, so my vote is that we make his bed and keep the sheets turned down! His userspace isn't causing anyone any problems, so my vot is to leave it alone -- maybe even clean it up for him and make it look nice. I do want to thank you for your enthusiasm, Shopiom. I hope that I haven't offended you by disagreeing with you. I like having people on the wiki who look out for stuff like this, so please don't hesitate to bring stuff like this to our attention in the future. --JoeyDay


I would like to know why I keep getting banned. What have I done? Is it you [JoeyDay] who has been banning me, or someone else? If it was you, please, if your going to do it again, at least answer this first. -CE5

You've been banned in connection with numerous violations of universally accepted wiki civic policy. It's all there. - FireBird

CE5, if you'd like to discuss this privately, feel free to email me at [hrwiki@joeyday.com]. I'll be happy to explain what the ban is all about and what you can do to get unbanned. Thanks. --JoeyDay


When will we be switching to Twiki? - FireBird

That's a good question. It's going to be a bigger project than I had originally hoped. I hate to say this, but maybe never. 'Tavi is meeting our needs for the time being, so there's no pressing reason to switch. I'd like to do it someday, but we would need to figure out a good way to migrate the data. Unfortunately, I don't know enough about mySQL to do it by myself. If anybody has suggestions, I'm open. Keep your pants on, for real. --JoeyDay


um can we make links to characters we made? --duders307

Links to characters you made? What do you mean, duders307? -- Tom

i mean made up characters like homestar runner see? i made a link what i mean is new section -duders307

Uh... you going to have to explain yourself much better than that if you expect me to understand what you are talking about, duders307. Is blood a character you made up? -- Tom

Do you mean characters you made up? If so, make sure it's a sub-page from the WikiFanStuff page. (You can create a sub-page by preceding your link with a forward slash; you can find examples over at WikiGettingStarted). --JoeyDay


oh and why CE5banned? i have got a message for him from my friend blood --duders307

Scroll up a bit and you'll see the same question from CE5 himself. The explanation FireBird gives above is fairly well-worded. If you'd like me to spell it out in detail, [send me an email]. --JoeyDay


Umm.. even with the < code > and </ code >, i still see the ascii's and stuff in a bad way (characters not in same size). i'm using Win98, IE 6. Can anyone help? - lue of sky

Odd. It looks like someone just fixed up the WikiFanStuff/AsciiArt page, if that's where you were having problems. I do know that if you are viewing pages from a document history page, the <code> </code> tags don't work. Was that the case? It could just be your browser, and if it is, I'm at a loss for ideas... other than switching to [FireFox]. -- Tom


Whenever I make a page and type in a link, when I edit the page from that link and save it, it doesn't save. It just comes up with a blank screen with nothing on. And when I attempt to save again it comes up with a message telling me to tell the editor or something. Please help?
Da Bee

When you say "type in a link" do you mean to another page on the Wiki or a URL to another website altogether? Could you copy and paste the error message here? I'm not really sure what is going on. -- Tom

I mean a link to a Wiki page. The message is:

Error executing database query.
Please contact the administrator for assistance.
INSERT INTO hr_pages (title, version, time, supercede, mutable, username, author, comment, body) VALUES('WikiFanStuff/Homestar? Adventures/Marzipan!/ask Strong Sad/Bubs\'/confront Strong Bad', 1, NULL, NULL, 'on', 'Da Bee', '80.44.193.25', , )

Da Bee

That happened to me once in my Text Adventure. I thought the title was to long. For example, using Marzipan!/ask Strong Sad, it would be better to put /1|Marzipan! and then /1|ask Strong Sad. And if you have two choices on a page, you should make your second choice /2|whatever the title is . See what I mean? Then again, that may not even be the problem. -- FireBird

I don't think that's the problem. Once before I had that come up after only one link. - Da Bee


How do I get Hand Drawn pictures onto my userspace - Da Bee

Scan em' in your 'puter, then get some place to host them. Someone probably has a better explanation... -- FireBird


Someone messed with a page on my userspace! What do I do? -Nelson339

You revert it and report them as a WikiTroll. -- InterruptorJones

This is correct. However, if you are having an argument with someone about a page, it's best not to keep reverting pages. I suggest you check out the page on how to [work towards agreement] in the [Wikiquette page] of the [WikiCivics] section of [WikiPedia]. Though etiquette suggests that you should not edit someone else's UserSpace except to leave comments or questions for that user. So it's really a judgement call on your part, Nelson. -- Tom


How do I make a homestarrunner.com picture into a buddy icon? All I can do is use default icons. Maybe I can't do it with AOL. -CountDiMera

I already asked this. You need a GIF creator. See question above. Someone who's been helping with your dreams


Mr. Shmallow is both a toon and a character. How do we separate them? Same concept with Marshmallow's Last Stand. It's both a toon and a place. How do we separate them? -Shopiom

Shopiom, did you look at the respective pages first? There's a Mr.Shmallow page for the toon and a Mr. Shmallow page for the character. Then there's Marshmallow's Last Stand for the toon and Marshmallows Last Stand for the place. Don't ask me how they got that way, it just kind of worked out. They seem to all be properly linked to on other pages, so why do you ask? -- Tom


Can this site be one of [my website]'s sponsors? -Nelson339

No. Never. We don't sponsor anything. What-so-ever. This site is entirely non-commercial, as you can read in our disclaimer on the main page. And my ears will never forgive you for that sound that just blared through my headphones. -- Tom

There's another guy on the wiki called The Cheat Is Not Dead, and my username is TheCheatIsNotDead. Should he change this username or is this OK?
TheCheatIsNotDead

He probably should change it. -- Mr. Strong Bad


How do you edit your User Space, how do you get to it and what will its address be? -- DragonDoom5

Your UserSpace is linked to when ever you sign your name like you just did. Also, if you have it set in your preferences, it will show up in the document history for every edit you make. Simply click on the question mark after your name, and that will allow you to edit your UserSpace. You can find out how to properly edit pages over at WikiGettingStarted. -- Tom

Thank-you! -- DragonDoom?5


Nelson339 is copying my pages and not asking me first. I am very mad at him for copying my ideas and giving me any credit! So is it okay to put "Rip-Off of My Userspace!" on the bottom of the page? And this is the second time he's done this. - CE1

Try taking a look at the definition of a UserSpace. And I suggest you check out the page on how to [work towards agreement] in the [Wikiquette page] of the [WikiCivics] section of [WikiPedia]. Though etiquette suggests that you should not edit someone else's UserSpace except to leave comments or questions for that user. -- Tom


Speaking of Wikipedia, the HSR pages there could use a bit of updating.
The [Homestar Runner] page isn't quite worthy
of its glorious subject, though the individual character pages look pretty good.

And... what's your question for the help desk? Wikipedia is a wiki too. Anyone can edit pages. So go ahead and improve them if they need improving. -- Tom


Hello.
I added my commet in the [Sketchbook] on Tue, 20 Jul 2004 09:21:09 (212.199.140.69.forward.012.net.il [Mr. T. costume]), but someone with 129.237.116.104 IP deleted it on Wed, 21 Jul 2004 21:05:01. Is he a troll? can I add my commet again?

Thank you, E.L. Cool

By all means, restore your comment. I had noticed that, but wasn't sure at the time if it was you or not. It's up to you whether it's a WikiTroll offense or not. I'm not sure of the person's state of mind on that one. It may have been a mistake, but it does seem odd that only your comment was removed. Perhaps you could add your comment with a note asking the person to clarify why they removed it? -- Tom

Thank you! I will do just that. E.L. Cool

Hey!
For some reason, i cannot type in my full username on the wiki chat. Then when i use something like heheH*R or hehomestar, it says im invalad.

Please respond
hehehomestar

The IRC server we use limits nicknames to nine characters. Also, asterisks cannot be used. However, you should be able to connect if you just typed in "hehomestar". The "r" would just get removed. For other problems, please see the WikiChatTroubleshooting page. -- Tom

Uhhhh thanks

P.S. u can say it as many times you want, in the stupidist person alive
hehehomestar

HELP! Joey (or any other forum admin) please delteat [this] thread! I accidentaly made 2! Please don't get mad, my slow connection is prone to errors. -Kupo
I just added my nickname to the WikiUsers list. Everyone elses name shows up as a link, even though all they have are (()), but mine is just plain text with a ? link instead. What am I doing wrong? -SenoraCardgage

You aren't doing anything wrong, Senora. Your username is a WikiWord, so it links auto-magically. You don't have to put the parens around it if you don't want to. -- Tom
Okay, I keep emailing but I no longer get any replies. For some reason, I'm blocked from many pages on the Wiki but I didn't do anything. Can someone explain why this is?-One ticked off yellow mouse

Hi there. Okay, I really don't like to do this kind of thing out in the open, but since you opened the door, I'll go ahead. I have personally replied to each and every one of your emails. Are you the one that keeps sending them from different addresses? I have gotten similar emails from three different @aol.com addresses. Most have no name and some even contain harsh language. I have no idea how AOL's spam filters work, but you might need to add "@hrwiki.org" to some sort of accept list. -- Tom
I still don't understand the appearance of the little blue question mark. It seems to be showing up randomly. Specifically, note my recent revision to Marshie's Malloween Mix-Up/EasterEggs. I said something about the Nintendo GameCube and I think the Wiki system assumes it's a link of some sort, but it's not. And look, there it is again, magically. I couldn't find anything about this phenomenon in the Getting Started section, and the only other place I've seen it mentioned is SenoraCardgage's question, two above mine.

So I guess what I'm asking is: what's going on, and how can it be stopped? -- agnamaracs

The wiki system treats words with two or more of its letters capitalized as WikiWords, and automatically links them to the appropriate page. For example, typing HomestarRunnerWiki automatically links to the front page. Since there isn't a GameCube page on the site, it puts the question mark there because it can't find the page to link to. Putting an exclamation point in front of the word while editing will disable this feature for that particular word (example: HomestarRunnerWiki is not linked here).

I hope everything I said helps. - Mr. Strong Bad

Yes, that's right. And this is in WikiGettingStarted. It's number 11 on the [FormalFormattingRules] page and in the third section of [FormattingRules]. -- Tom
Um, I can't log in on the forum! Can someone helpe me? -Ingiald

Ingiald, you already [posted about this in the forum helpdesk]. It is being discussed there. There's no need to bring it to this HelpDesk as well. -- Tom
What is going on? everything is.. Weird.. Kupo