The <ref> tag does not work

[luc]

There is currently no way to refer to sources or make footnotes, other than linking to external URLs. The issue is, there is not always a URL to link to if it's OC or (in rare cases) offline content.

As a workaround, one might use a service like http://because.a.tweet.doesnt.fit.lucb1e.com, which stores data in the URL and simply echos that upon loading the page (this particular one was meant to squeeze more bytes in a tweet than allowed). This keeps data in the wiki itself but uses an external viewer. Still, it's an extremely ugly workaround and it should just be fixed.

Edit: Alright, "you may not post a link in your first post". Gotta love it when spam protection gets in the way of real users with no alternative (captcha or, hey guys, I bought the game, that would be an extremely expensive spam account...). Editing the link in works, though. Wonder at what point spambots will figure that one out.

[ssilk]

If something doesn't work as expected: Make a bug report?

[luc]

Where? Ctrl+f on the wiki for "report" or "bug" yield nothing. And it's more of a feature request, not a bug (I assume it was deliberately turned off).

[ssilk]

Sorry. I never realized that this is possible.
Of course here:
viewforum.php?f=7

[luc]

Ah, I thought that forum was for game bugs, not requests for the wiki (all the posts are about the game). Do you want to move the topic to avoid duplication or should I create a new post, perhaps more in bug-report style?

[ssilk]

Pffff... now as I read the issue again I must say: Well. It works as expected. See original docu: https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Cite

And this is also wanted!

Cause a wiki should be able to work on it's own. So if you reference to another website, the right way is to create a page for it and you reference that page, instead of the external site. Sorry, looks complicated...

[TheWombatGuru]

You're saying we shouldn't use external sites as references? No info on a wiki is verifiable without external references.

[ssilk]

Oh, my. That took a while. Sorry, minded sometimes simple we are.

What happened? I read this:
https://wiki.factorio.com/index.php?tit ... al:Version
It shows clearly, that the Cite-Plugin is not installed. It didn't know that, cause I never looked for it. I assumed, you mean it has a bug.

Simple test: https://wiki.factorio.com/index.php?tit ... Ssilk/test
If installed, this must look different.

Question: Does this really needs to be installed?

[vadcx]

7.5 year bump! I wanted to use footnotes via Markdown->MediaWiki converter (pandoc) but it turns out Factorio's wiki really doesn't render the ref-tag. I assumed this is a basic MediaWiki formatting. Of course it's most used for actual references, but works well for footnotes too to avoid text clutter, when you need to explain something long.

[Bilka]

We haven't enabled the tag because as a game wiki we don't tend to have many places that link to references. And so far we've been able to make everything work without it, so I'm curious what exactly your usecase is. Could you share what you want to use it for?

[vadcx]

Of course it's most used for actual references, but works well for footnotes too to avoid text clutter, when you need to explain something long.

The only long text I've written on the wiki so far was this: https://wiki.factorio.com/User:Vadcx/Mo ... chitecture
It's either this asterisk or some other paragraph too that I must have rewritten:

The desyncs between players can only happen if you can’t restore (current state) from (persistent save data + script files)*.

* data-lifecycle article, “on_load()” section

[Bilka]

It's either this asterisk or some other paragraph too that I must have rewritten:

I see! I would suggest to make an inline link to the docs here.

Regarding that page, are you looking for feedback on its general content? If yes, I may have a look sometime and leave some notes on the talk page.

[vadcx]

Yes, an inline link would probably be better there. I can't remember what went through my head when I decided to use the Markdown footnotes there (remember, the article went through Pandoc to be converted to Mediawiki syntax). Maybe it was a "just because" I remembered it's a thing. In the end, I get it too. Still, the lack of support was a surprise.

If you have the time, I would appreciate any feedback. I wrote that article to save the knowledge and understanding in the moment as I prepared to refactor BiterBattles code. I had found no other resources other than Gangsir's modding tutorial. But it didn't explain the architecture well enough for my taste. And had I had less Lua and Lua VM integration experience, I'd not have been able to understand the decisions from Factorio's point of view. I think this is fundamental to understand, to effectively get around scripting and modding here.