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This page is under construction.[edit | edit source]

STL Maintenance Instructions[edit | edit source]

Version: 20140930 6:29 PM PDT --CampKohler
Backup: 20140930 --CampKohler

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Layout of the STL Page[edit | edit source]

The Suggestion Tracking List page consists of:

  1. Version Description: The date and time and time zone of the start of the last editing session of the list, updated manually for each version posted, followed by the author's GBO nickname. The object is to obtain a unique date-time group (vs. using the system's calendar and clock); it could be the time starting an edit or finishing one.
  2. Backup Description: The date of the last copying of the wiki source to a .txt file, followed by the editor's GBO nickname. (See file name format at the bottom.)
  3. Jump to Index: Positioned just before the list, the letters of the alphabet, each of which serves as a quick link to a subject group in the list.
  4. The list, consisting of:
    1. Subject Groups - A subject group consists of a list of all the subjects beginning with the same letter (or, "#" if starting with a number). Each group is headed by the starting letter and consists of:
    2. Group Anchor - An anchor at the top of a group in the form of "letter-[x]". It allows linking to the group from one of the subject jump links, above, or from outside the wiki.
    3. Move-up Link - A link that moves the subject group to the top of the browser viewport, followed by the text of this link, a letter, which serves as the label for the group, e.g. A, B, etc.
    4. Subject Lines - Describe the ideas put forth by the suggesting topics. There are two kinds of lines:
      1. Ordinary Subject Lines - Furnish links to forum topics making the suggestion, which is the purpose of the list. The format will be:


      1. Reference Subject Lines - Point to ordinary subject lines elsewhere in the list. For any given ordinary line, there may be several reference lines, each worded in such a way that a reader might think to look for it.
        1. The marker "_ _", which indicates the beginning of subject line.
        2. The subject's title suggesting author's topic title).
        3. A separator " - ".
        4. Links to all forum topics suggesting the topic in chronological order, separated by ".....".
      1. Reference Subject Lines - These refer the reader from any number of possible subjects he might be looking for to the single, most-logical subject under which it is listed. Reference Subject Lines consist of:
        1. The marker "_ _", which indicates the beginning of subject line.

The subject's title (will likely NOT be the same as the suggesting author's topic title).

        1. The subject name under which the the Ordinary Subject Line is listed.
    1. A link to the top of the page.



How to Maintain This Wiki[edit | edit source]

Editing[edit | edit source]

Shoutwiki uses the same wiki engine as Wikipedia, so everything that applies there applies here.




#practiceMove Up

B.2. Practice Area[edit | edit source]

Another wiki, GB-Sandbox.wikispaces.com, has been set up for practice and experimentation. Any sandbox mistakes will be of no importance, so make your mistakes there. The Undo button on the wiki edit toolbar should be used in case of doubt.

#backupMove Up

B.3. Backup and Restore[edit | edit source]

It is not expected that Shoutwiki will lose this wiki. However, backups are wise. To make a backup copy of a page, use two methods:

  1. Backup:
    1. On the page to be backed up, click the Edit button that is adjacent to page title. (Clicking any other Edit button on the page will edit only a portion of the page.) The edit dialog box appears.
    2. In the edit dialog box, select the entire text [Ctrl-A],
    3. Copy the selected text to the Windows clipboard {Ctrl-C],
    4. Paste the clipboard to Notepad or Wordpad [Ctrl-V] and save as a .TXT file (which removes all formatting)
    5. Save the file to a local disk or attach to a E-mail draft.
  1. Restore:
    1. Open the file with Wordpad
    2. Select the entire text {Ctrl-A]
    3. Copy to the Windows clipboard,
    4. Begin editing the page to be restored:
    5. Select all,
    6. Press [Delete] to clear the existing text
    7. Paste the clipboard into the wiki page [Ctrl-V]
    8. Save the page with the reason "Restore"
    9. Inspect the page to make sure it was properly restored.


Layout of the List[edit | edit source]

  • **Subject:** The list is divided into subjects, which are the ideas of the listed suggestions. They are expressed in two ways:
  • **Ordinary Subject Lines:** The primary function of the list is served by these lines consisting of:
    1. A brief description written in modified-noun style and expressing the idea of the suggestion.
    2. A topic list consisting of one or more links to the promulgating suggestions (forum topics), separated by periods and in order of the date-time of the topics' original post (OP). The layout of an ordinary subject line, each topic being a link:

code Subject Description - Latest Topic.....Older Topic.....Older Still Topic.....First Topic

  • **Reference Subject Lines:** Where a subject could be expressed in different ways, one or more supplemental subject lines, called reference subject lines, may be added to the list as necessary to guide users to the single most-logical ordinary subject line. Here are three examples that would be distributed in the list alphabetically by the first word:

D _ _Dead People (see Zombies)

E _ _Extremely Slow-moving People (see Zombies)

P _ _People, Dead, But Still Moving (see Zombies) code

  • **Alphabetical Subject Groups:** All of the subject lines beginning with the same letter are grouped together in alphabetical order and headed by that letter. For example:

code Z _ _Zombies, Inviting to Parties, Inadvisability of - _ _Zombies, Putting on Christmas Card List - _ _Zombies, Shooing Away, Force Required - code

#formatMove Up

D. Format of the List[edit | edit source]

The list is made up of, and formats are provided below for, two elements:

  1. Ordinary Subject Lines - These lines are lists of all of the topics that contain suggestions associated with a subject. The lines begin with a modified-noun description of the subject, followed by one or more topic entries. The topic entries are shown as Author (GB handle) and the time of the original post. The topic entry serves as the link text for a link to the topic's location in the forum at gasbuddy.com (not the home site of the topic author). At some future time (a year later?), when GB chooses to delete a topic, the link is broken and cannot be repaired.
  1. Reference Subject Lines - These lines list the subject expressed with different words that a list user might choose to look for, followed by the words chosen by those who maintain the list. It leads the user to where the desired ordinary subject line lies.

#format_ordMove Up

D.1. Description of the Format of Ordinary Subject Lines in the List[edit | edit source]

Each ordinary subject line consists of these elements in line:

  1. **Beginning Spacer Pattern:** An underscore (_), followed by a space ( ), followed by an underscore (_) to provide visual spacing from the left margin for the first displayed line of the subject when a line wraps (especially when a smaller browser window is used). This pattern may be searched to find formatting errors wherein the line does not begin at the left margin; the spacer pattern should ALWAYS start at the left margin, so any pattern observed elsewhere is a formatting error, which should be corrected.
  2. **Subject Title:** The significant words of the suggested idea in modified noun format, e.g. “Moderators, Chastising, Method of, Add”.
  3. **A Space** ( )
  4. **Optional Reference:** An optional parenthetical words, serving the same purpose as a reference subject line (see below) may be included following the Subject Title to guide the list user to an additional subject line if topics on the subject matter could be found there also. For example (here shown in bold text):

_ _Potatoes, Baked **(also see Potatoes, Fried)** - __HeadChef23 July 2, 2011 6:22 PM__

  1. **Hyphen Separator:** A hyphen (-) separates the list of topics from the title.
  2. Topic Entries: In order of the date and time of the original post, all the topics expressing the subject idea(s) are listed in line, each comprising a link as follows:
    1. **Periods Separator:** Used before each topic except the first topic in the line, 5 periods (.....) as a separator between topics
    2. **Opening Link Tag:** Two required left square brackets ([), which begins the link to the topic in the GB forum.
    3. **Topic URL:**The modified URL of the topic in the forum as copied from a browser address field while viewing the topic and then edited: The copied "http:/ /podunkgasprices.com/Forum_MSG.aspx?master=1&category=1237&topic=500266&page_no=1&FAV=N", is edited as follows:
      1. Change the domain name to the national site (podunkgasprices.com becomes gasbuddy.com), which prevents logging in to the topic at the local site, since you cannot log in to gasbuddy.com.
      2. Remove the page number parameter (&page_no=1)
      3. Remove any favorite parameter (&FAV=N) or any parameter beyond the page number
    4. **Bar Separator:** A required vertical bar character (|), which separates the URL from the link text
    5. Topic Entry: Notation describing a pertinent forum topic as follows:
      1. **Author's handle:**, e.g. “PigglyWiggly99"
      2. **Space Separator:** A space ( ) to separate the date-time group from the handle
      3. **Date-Time Group:** The date and time of the topic’s OP as it appears in the forum, e.g. “Apr 18, 2012 10:35:35 PM”, which may copied from the topic and pasted into the list without reformatting).
    6. **Closing Link Tag:** Two required right square brackets (]), which ends the link

#format_refMove Up

D.2. Description of the Format of a Reference Subject Line in the List[edit | edit source]

Each reference subject line consists of these elements in line with no topics listed:

  1. **Beginning Spacer Pattern:** An underscore (_), followed by a space ( ), followed by an underscore (_) to provide visual spacing from the left margin for the first displayed line of the subject when a line wraps (especially when a smaller browser window is used). This pattern may be searched to find missformatting errors wherein the line does not begin at the left margin.
  2. **A Space** ( )
  3. **Subject Title:** Significant words of the suggested idea expressed in an alternative wording that a list user is likely to look for.
  4. **References:**The words of an ordinary subject line(s) where the subject matter may be found.
    1. Refers only to one other subject line: //(See [subject].)//
    2. Refers to two other subject lines: //(See both [subject] and [subject].)//
    3. Refers to many other subject lines: //(See all [first subject] and [middle subject] and [last subject].)//

#ex_sub_editMove Up

E. Example of a Subject Line While Being Edited as Viewed Using the Wikitext Editor[edit | edit source]

//Note: For the purposes of this example, wiki markup tags have been prevented from executing by breaking up the tags; a space has inserted between the square brackets, e.g. "[ [", and also between the forward slashes, e.g. "http:/ /". These spaces would be removed in practice for the tags to operate.//

> _ _Zombies, Exclusion from Membership – [ [http:/ /gasbuddy.com/Forum_MSG.aspx?master=1&category=1237&topic=999108|JustHateThem Apr 24, 2012 09:22:21 AM] ].....[ [http:/ /gasbuddy.com/Forum_MSG.aspx?master=1&category=1237&topic=899133|CantStandZombies Feb 12, 2012 10:15:12 AM] ].....[ [http:/ /gasbuddy.com/Forum_MSG.aspx?master=1&category=1237&topic=500266|DontAskDontTell Jan 3, 2012 4:18:29 PM]]

#ex_sub_userhome

F. Example of a Subject Line of the Finished List as Viewed by a User[edit | edit source]

//Note: The following example is shown with operating wiki tags, but the links are fake, so don't bother to click them.//

> _ _Zombies, Exclusion from Membership – [Apr 24, 2012 09:22:21 AM].....[Feb 12, 2012 10:15:12 AM].....[Jan 3, 2012 4:18:29 PM]

#ex_part_listMove Up

G. Partial Example of the List[edit | edit source]

//Temporary Notice: Working links to topics in the following example may not be included until a later date.//

> ===#=== > _ _30-Day Rank Report, Provide Documentation for Operation - davegood Mar 29, 2012 11:54:52 AM > ===A=== > _ _Ads, Option to Eliminate by Paying, Add - RichWLIN Nov 26, 2011 7:33:56 AM > _ _Ads, Bothersome, Eliminate – crash24now Mar 30, 2012 9:36:51 AM > ===B=== > _ _Business Networking Forum, Add to Forum - FlyingTigersPC Apr 14, 2012 5:26:57 AM > ===C=== > _ _Cash/Credit Button, Add to Mobile App - Logjam11 Feb 7, 2012 6:57:01 PM > _ _Cash vs. Credit Pricing - Snardly Apr 22, 2012 4:59:22 AM.....Norm1947 Apr 19, 2012 10:24:10 AM.....KathyWess Oct 9, 2011 2:11:49 AM

H. Changes to the List and These Instructions[edit | edit source]

  1. When the latest version of the list is saved, it //must// include all qualified suggestions posted in the Suggest a GasBuddy Improvement category since the previous version. It //may// also include any suggestions posted in the past that have not yet been added to the list until the time that all qualified suggestions have been included (the list is caught up).
  2. Suggestions will necessarily be incorporated in the list in one of three forms:
    1. A new subject not in the previous version of the list, taking the form of a new line integrated alphabetically in the list.
    2. An old subject not in the previous version of the list taking the form of a new line integrated alphabetically in the list (until all old subjects are included).
    3. A new topic not in the previous version of the list, taking the form of a new item integrated in an existing subject line by date and time.

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