SNAZpedia Updates

(This is a page for all updates to the SNAZpedia website and back-end. Newer updates are listed first here, older changes are lower down the page.)

November 28, 2023 -

Updated Mediawiki to 1.39.5
Updated the site's skin

October 15, 2023 -

Heads up, our Privacy policy has been changing due to multiple incidents involving both a possible pedophile and scammer running attacks on our service. We are introducing changes in order to protect the users of our website, both adults and minors alike.

We'd like to remind you of policies that have always been around:

Promoters of scams will have personally identifying information on themselves released to the public.
Those committing criminal activities will have personally identifying information on themselves released to the public and to law enforcement.

Here's some changes we're implementing:

We now hold analytical information about ALL users, not just editors, on our servers indefinitely.
We now regularly make archives of user/visitor activity on our site that law enforcement can ask for without needing to display a warrant.

More changes outside of our Privacy Policy have also been implemented:

You MUST make an account on our servers in order to edit and create pages.

June 1, 2023 -

The Umbral Coalition is lying to you. Do not trust the intel that comes from their agents. Normalcy will be recovered shortly.

Hello! This is your site admin here! I just want you all to know that we here at the SNAZverse teams are fully aware about Google's new and ridiculous introduction of the .zip and .mov domain extensions. I hear you and I agree, it's quite an idiotic move on their part since now all browsers and websites are registering these as legitimate web domains, enabling the exploit on a global scale. As of such, site moderators and I have agreed that adding these links and exploit links of the widely-abused domains on our domains and servers, including the SNAZ OS Hub Discord server, no matter if it leads to the harmless rickroll or not, will result in permanent bans and reports to legal authorities. We strive to make the internet a secure place, and while this situation's source is completely out of our ability to control, we are seeking every option possible to patch these security vulnerabilities as quickly as possible.

This Pride Month, we strive to create a safe space for our users. We are on higher levels of alertness for any trolls, real-world political tampering, real-world religious presence, vandals, and bigotry since this is the one month they are most active. Nothing else has really changed outside of the raised surveillance of articles.

May 23, 2023 -

Patched a few security vulnerabilities
Updated MediaWiki to 1.39.3
Added the SocialProfile extension
- Currently WIP, you can still switch between wiki userpages and social userpages
Updated the site's skin
Added Multimedia Viewer
Major navigation & sidebar improvements for enhanced UX
- Credit to the SNAZpedia Improvement Project!

December 30, 2022 -

Disabled caching for logged in users
- This is to potentially fix Mobile Detect not working on mobile devices.

December 23 & 24, 2022 -

This update was performed by and for the SNAZpedia Improvement Project & the site admin. Results can be found here.

Started using ImageMagick for image compression instead of GD
- Upptime and users are already reporting extremely fast response times consistent over a 3-hour period since Imagick was introduced.
File cache is now in effect
- Pageloads are nearly instant.
Using Database caching now
- Pageloads for content have reduced parsing time!

December 19, 2022 -

This update was performed by and for the SNAZpedia Improvement Project.

Added MobileDetect extension
- Documentation
Server storage space increased to 2 GB

December 18, 2022 -

This update was performed by and for the SNAZpedia Improvement Project.

Fixed favicon
Added TabberNeue
- Documentation

December 17, 2022 -

To address MANY issues reported since the v1.39.0 Mediawiki update, the admin has updated the Citizen theme and re-configured it.
- Many issues with visual and code editors were fixed, including finicky linking, misplaced buttons, etc.
- Visual editor layout was updated
Removed all unsupported skins
Added OATHAuth
Added citation features
Added InputBox
HTTPS is now better enforced
- Accidentally going to HTTP should happen much less now
- Secure Link Fixer added to make sure all HTTP links now direct users to HTTPS addresses

December 10, 2022 -

Updated MediaWiki to v1.39.0
- Shift + F5 to clear cache, do this before reporting issues.

November 12, 2022-

Updated MediaWiki to v1.38.4
- This features new security patches and updates to ensure your data is safe. Please remember that if something breaks, immediately contact an admin or go to the GitHub issues page.

September 22, 2022-

Added Disambiguator
- Usage guide can be found here.
Added Syntax Highlighter
Added Discord Notifications
- Check #wiki-activity to see this running live
Fixed issue #4, direct links to File: and direct images work. Hotlink Protection (HLP) systems are still in place.

September 7, 2022-

Updated MediaWiki to v1.38.2

August 20, 2022-

Improvements to the code editor
- Makes finding special characters and putting in wiki code, templates, and images a lot easier.
- Please test this on mobile plz thnx
Added the Popups extension.
- Users can opt out of this feature under "Reading preferences".

August 18, 2022-

Privacy Policy was updated.
- We have begun a deal with Digital Dream Designs to place an ad on the wiki's footer. Please read the updated document if you have any concerns.
  - This is a good thing; it'll help financially support us and this wiki for a long time!
  - Our site admin is now attending college, the extra income here will allow for a lesser negative impact on site moderation, updating, and activity.
  - Your data and privacy will still be protected as usual, we do not have third parties handle site ads.
- Changes included first-party advertising services and and how they will be implemented.
- Improved wording to make the document less vague and more human-understandable.

June 18, 2022-

New extensions:
- InputBox
- ParserFunctions
- PortableInfobox
- TemplateStyles
- TemplateData
Animated GIF limits increased
vetpetmon.com optimization changed
- Limits are shrunk down to what realistically works for the web server.
You don't know what kind of pain I just went through to get these stupid infoboxes to work -Admin

June 11, 2022 -

SNAZpedia has updated to Mediawiki v1.38.1
Site monthly bandwidth increased to ~4 GB, thanks dad <3

June 9, 2022 -

The Privacy Policy has been updated to show IP-censored examples of data collected.
Lazy Loading enabled for pages; this reduces initial page loading time and saves some bandwidth (which we are already pretty low on) when users don't view the whole page.
JPEG quality is butchered by 5 (80% to 75%)
HTTP request timeouts are now applied after 1 minute of loading; if you experience a request timeout for any reason, check with the following resources before reporting a site slowdown/outage:
- https://fast.com
- https://www.isitdownrightnow.com
- https://downforeveryoneorjustme.com
- Your ISP (Internet Service Provider)
- Your VPN (if applicable)

June 7, 2022 -

Infobox background color is now darker, should make it easier on the eyes to read
The web server now has a higher priority on the list, this should make pages load faster, images upload faster, all that fancy jazz.
Infobox titles are now centered.

June 1, 2022 -

Official open beta of the SNAZpedia is open! Please take these points in consideration:
- Our web server data limits is starting off small here, ~1 GB monthly.
  - Please keep image sizes under 0.5 MB where possible.
  - Vector image formats are very optimized, and we'll be seeing a lot of SVG usage here.
  - We've got 4 themes to chose from for logged in users; we prefer you stick with the default, as it looks a lot nicer than the literal Wikipedia themes.
- Our password recovery system is untested, and the emails seem dodgy at best.
  - PLEASE don't lose your passwords.
  - We can not recover your passwords, should you lose them. This is a double-blind database setup.
  - You should try account recovery emails and send feedback on them, like if they work or not.
  - Emails may take some time to process. This is 100% normal, so long as it's under a 30-minute delay.
- Vetpetmon.com has historically been a slow website, and has had no reason to upgrade with transfer speeds.
- Traffic and data usage is monitored and logged 24/7. This data will never be sold, only shown to our server provider at Digital Dream Designs when we request for more data/storage.