Introducing the PF Library

[tiny-tim]

First entry in an edit log is now shown as the item creator.

Hi Greg!

I've noticed that Physicsissuef has gone to the trouble of creating three Library entries in the last few days, but none of them has the creator shown in the edit log.

Has this facility been cancelled?

Can I ask you why there isn't any edit button? I urgently need it. Thanks.

(It's so that everything is seen by a moderator before it becomes official.)

You can click the REPORT button.

(That button is for nice reports, as well as nasty ones!)

Then someone will see it much sooner than if you post it as a comment, and you can include the amended text in the report.

 

[cristo]

This is a screenshot of the comments section on the 'Momentum (non-relativistic)' article:

Thanks; in future if you see spam please use the "report" button, in the same way that you would report a thread containing spam.

 

[mtfmorsh]

Thanks, working on it.

 

[tiny-tim]

Auto-linking

i] I've noticed several words auto-linked to Wikipedia (Light, Photons, event horizon, General Relativity, Gravitational lensing) … see https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=239070
Is this a general policy?

ii] Auto-linking is not working on the Lorentz Gauge entry, neither "in" nor "out".
Does that mean it can be selectively turned off?

iii] I'm contemplating an entry on "joule".
It should of course be spelt with a small "j" (when not at the start of a sentence), but the auto-linking will capitalise it every time. Can the capitalisation be selectively turned off?
(Could be avoided by tilting it "The joule" … but then it wouldn't auto-link at all. )

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

i] I've noticed several words auto-linked to Wikipedia (Light, Photons, event horizon, General Relativity, Gravitational lensing) … see https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=239070
Is this a general policy?

ii] Auto-linking is not working on the Lorentz Gauge entry, neither "in" nor "out".
Does that mean it can be selectively turned off?

iii] I'm contemplating an entry on "joule".
It should of course be spelt with a small "j" (when not at the start of a sentence), but the auto-linking will capitalise it every time. Can the capitalisation be selectively turned off?
(Could be avoided by tilting it "The joule" … but then it wouldn't auto-link at all. )

1. Those aren't autolinked, the author put those in
2. Lorentz Gauge is linking for me
3. Autolinking does not capitolize, it depends on how it is written in the library

 

[tiny-tim]

1. Those aren't autolinked, the author put those in
2. Lorentz Gauge is linking for me
3. Autolinking does not capitolize, it depends on how it is written in the library

hi greg!

i] you're right … i should have checked the code …

never occurred to me that anyone would go to all that effort!

ii] hmm … it's certainly working in this thread … but not in posts #1 or 3 in https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=238727, for example, … and there's no entries in the Recent forum threads field

iii] aah! thanks, greg!


Just testing … will remove on edit …
Lorentz Gauge
Lorentz gauge
lorentz gauge
lorentz Gauge
Lorentz Gauge
Lorentz gauge
lorentz gauge
lorentz Gauge

hmm … that's odd … ​

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

hmm … that's odd … ​

Only linked once per post

 

[ehrenfest]

I don't know if this has been posted before but I think auto-linking is a horrible idea. I have never seen that done anywhere else and think there is good reason. It causes things to be linked completely out of context. For example, I work at hospital. Also, I just think in principle there is something wrong with PF forcibly altering what I type. I should have "creative license" to decide whether I want things to be linked or not. You should not just impose your PF Library on everyone since that undermines my control over my posts. Its not like the PF library is the god-given definition of every term that it contains.

 

[tiny-tim]

… It causes things to be linked completely out of context. For example, I work at hospital. …

I like the autolinking … it's a useful idea … does it matter that it's not perfect?

Though perhaps autolinking could be turned off in the lounge (also mobile phones, personal stereos, hand-held games, and lava lamps)?

 

[matt grime]

I agree with ehrenfest - in fact I came here independently to mention this unfortunate side effect owing to having the word work autolinked in a post of mine.

I'd imagine a simple tag system could be written into the software, like a \ref or \cite tag in LaTeX.

Perhaps this has been mentioned too: why the menu only access to articles? This makes it very fiddly to see what the articles are, and their current status - 3 mouse clicks to find out that 'maths -> algebra -> homologic' is an empty article is annoying. Not least because there is no such thing as 'homologic' in English. Prseumably it was supposed to be homology, or homological algebra.

 

[Kurdt]

I think that a tag system would not be beneficial since people would have to know exactly what was in the library to use it. Perhaps a checkbox system like disabling smilies or automatically parsing links would be better.

Matt: There is a text search below the three drop downs one can use and you don't have to choose a category in all three drop downs to search.

 

[matt grime]

That supposes I know what text to search for.

Suppose I was feeling like adding to the entries wanted to create some topics, or check the current topics to see what there was to extend/rewrite. It would take 3 clicks (menus reset to empty fields on my laptop) to get to any single entry. Well, my wish to add to the knowledge there just evaporated. (And that was exactly what happened when I looked at it yesterday with the intention of either creating some entries, or refereeing ones that already existed.)

 

[Kurdt]

That will be a problem when the library gets a greater population of entries. For now one could just select mathematics in the first box and see all the entries under that category which is not very many at the moment.

https://www.physicsforums.com/library.php?do=navigate&topicid=1&stopicid=-1&sstopicid=-1

I think its similar to something like wolfram mathworld where you'd have to click at least 3 submenus to get to where you want to be.

What type of menu system would you suggest matt?

 

[matt grime]

Your wolfram analogy is slightly misplaced - their system does not use drop down menus. It is hierarchical with the ability to do simple depth first search - i.e. it allows you to use the back button to get back to the list in the algebra section, say.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Your wolfram analogy is slightly misplaced - their system does not use drop down menus. It is hierarchical with the ability to do simple depth first search - i.e. it allows you to use the back button to get back to the list in the algebra section, say.

As Kurdt has pointed you don't need to select all three drop downs. Disabling the autolink in some forums will be a future feature.

 

[matt grime]

Ah-ha. I didn't understand that. Then can we alter the labels on the drop down menus from

"Then select"

to

"optionally select"?

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Library guidelines changed.

Item Titles:
"Also please use all lowercase letters in the word/phrase."

 

[tiny-tim]

autolinking

Why hasn't "List of Standard Integrals" in https://www.physicsforums.com/showpost.php?p=1763925&postcount=17" of the same name?

 

[Kurdt]

I think it must be turned off at the minute while Greg is trying some new things.

 

[tiny-tim]

ooh … I think you're right …

… he's very industrious, isn't he? ​

 

[tiny-tim]

autolinking

Library guidelines changed.

Item Titles:
"Also please use all lowercase letters in the word/phrase."

Hi Greg!

May I suggest that there be an exception when a word is a person's name?

For example, the autolinking is changing "Newton's second law" in posts to "Newton's second law" (eg, in https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=135559") …

which presumably is doing exactly what the guideline change was intended to avoid?

 

[tiny-tim]

editing Comments

I've just amended a Comment on a Library entry over 60 hours after I first made it.

Shouldn't there be a much shorter time limit on editing Comments?

 

[tiny-tim]

autolinking

Why is the autolinking not working for "electric units" https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?p=1814928#post1814928"?

 

[Kurdt]

Why is the autolinking not working for "electric units" https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?p=1814928#post1814928"?

Have you got your autolinks disabled?

Test: electric units

 

[radou]

Just popped into the library for the first time, and it seems like a great idea. Will try to contribute soon. Thumbs up!

 

[tiny-tim]

mmm … coffee!

Have you got your autolinks disabled?

Test: electric units

Hi Kurdt!

That's weird …

I see "electric units" underlined in your post, but not in mine.

How can that happen?

Just popped into the library for the first time, and it seems like a great idea. Will try to contribute soon. Thumbs up!

I love the idea of people "popping in" to the Library!

Perhaps we could have a coffee lounge by the entrance, to entice people in, and maybe a gym and a shopping mall and a surf beach round the corner? Graphics, anyone?

 

[Hootenanny]

Hi Kurdt!

That's weird …

I see "electric units" underlined in your post, but not in mine.

How can that happen?

Goto My PF > Edit Options and ensure that the "Disable Auto-Linking" check-box is cleared.

 

[tiny-tim]

Goto My PF > Edit Options and ensure that the "Disable Auto-Linking" check-box is cleared.

Done that … it's always been cleared.

But I'm seeing autolinking in one post (#144), but not the other (#143).

Do you see autolinking in my post #143?

 

[Hootenanny]

Done that … it's always been cleared.

But I'm seeing autolinking in one post (#144), but not the other (#143).

Do you see autolinking in my post #143?

No, perhaps it has something to do with the quotation marks:

"electric units" vs. electric units

 

[tiny-tim]

No, perhaps it has something to do with the quotation marks:

"electric units" vs. electric units

hmm … possible …

but I don't see underlining in either case in your post …

if the quotation marks stop it the first time, surely the second time becomes the first time, and … ?

(and it's still not showing in the thread I referred to)