User talk:Bleu Ninja

From Homestar Runner Wiki

Contents 1 Thanks 2 Ripped Game Files 3 add ruffle? 4 Thumbnail images for gifs 5 Some rambles about one of your rambles 6 The King of Town 7 Multiple Instagram images 8 Homestar Quiz 9 SBE Statistical Charts

[edit] Thanks

Hey Bleu Ninja, thanks for bringing all those older wiki pages back up to date! Many of them needed more TLC than we realized! It is very much appreciated! --Stux 21:16, 4 August 2021 (UTC)

You're very welcome! I appreciate the acknowledgement. -- Bleu Ninja 21:53, 4 August 2021 (UTC)

[edit] Ripped Game Files

I see that you've updated images related to SBCG4AP by "ripping" the graphics directly from the game instead of relying on low-quality screenshots.

Some years ago I was working on completing the dialogue response pages for SBCG4AP. I did this by playing the game as atrociously as possible waiting for Strong Bad to drop hints or trigger unique error messages for unusual combinations, multiple times to see if he reacted differently if events were done in a different order. I'd like to ask if you have access to the game's source files, is it possible to rip out and examine all the dialogue recorded for the game, or can you only rip the graphics files? -- 68.37.43.131 00:27, 14 September 2022 (UTC)

It's possible to rip out and examine the audio files, yes, but unfortunately for that purpose the dialogue's audio files are named undescriptively (e.g. "92273664.aud") and conversations are split into different files whenever a new character starts speaking. I use the Telltale Explorer to navigate the games' data packs. While you could extract all the dialogue files and listen to them one-by-one to verify our transcripts, I don't know how (or if it's even possible) to access the code that actually shows how any of these lines are implemented. Not to mention there are unused sounds in the game files, too. -- Bleu Ninja 00:46, 14 September 2022 (UTC)

[edit] add ruffle?

Hey, the mirrors don’t have Ruffle on them so now they can’t be viewed. Maybe you could add Ruffle to them? TMBGLOVER 21:26, 24 October 2022 (UTC)

I'm not in charge of the HRWiki's mirrors and I'm not sure who is. -- Bleu Ninja 21:44, 24 October 2022 (UTC)

[edit] Thumbnail images for gifs

For the .gif file format, the image doesn't load in a thumbnail of a different size. In the case of Homsar Main Page right now, the thumbnail would have to be indicated at 360px for the image to show, which (I checked on Show Preview) is huge on the page. Do you think you could re-upload that gif image in a smaller frame? If not, that's okay too; the image still serves the intended purpose. The Knights Who Say Ni 01:45, 4 July 2023 (UTC)

Just checked it and (at least on my end) the thumbnail is showing at 180px. If it would be better to be smaller, I can certainly reupload it at a different scale. -- Bleu Ninja 05:19, 4 July 2023 (UTC)

Shows for me too -126.156.157.132 06:45, 4 July 2023 (UTC)

Yes, now it's working for me at 180px. I'm glad; I guess that means you don't have to do anything else. But it still doesn't work at nearby values like 200px, 175px, or 90px which I also tried in preview. But as long as 180px works, I think we're good. The Knights Who Say Ni 17:25, 4 July 2023 (UTC)

[edit] Some rambles about one of your rambles

I actually partially agree with your take on "Sightings". Partially. On one hand, I think it's pretty fun to note when, say, a Trogdor knockoff appears in Amphibia or Disgaea turns a baseball bat weapon into a Strong Bad/Eh! Steve reference, to name two cases off the top of my head. On the other... I have long thought that the Web sightings pages in particular have suffered from a notability issue. We don't exist to advertise people's obscure blogs or YouTube videos just because they mention Coach Z or something. --Jay (Gobble) 07:57, 30 August 2023 (UTC)

Agree, good point - "Web" (and other user-generated ones) were what I generally had mind there. When "Sightings" was created, sites like YouTube/Reddit/Twitter/Tumblr were a year or less old; nowadays if anyone's looking for H*R fan creations (or sightings!) they're gonna just search those platforms, which are also more conducive to sharing links or images! The reason I put it on my userpage rather than any of their relevant talk pages is... frankly any updates to the Sightings network of pages would be a ton of work and I don't feel interested enough to contribute, even in offering suggestions. Many of the sightings that are notable are vaguely or poorly written, so you start to get into discussing and developing standards for cleanup... after pitching in one brief suggestion, even if the pages' shagginess does bother me I'm fine with just walking away and letting other intrepid editors get involved there. -- Bleu Ninja 16:44, 30 August 2023 (UTC)

This is more about what you wrote on the HRWIKI: Standards#Fan 'Stumes part. A few years back when I wrote 2019 transcript, I used the word "fan" to describe the costume wearers and got yelled at for it, even though "fan" is in the title. Also, while I am a lifelong fan of Carmen Sandiego games (mostly from the Lynne Thigpen and Chase Devineaux CD-ROM era, and the cartoon with Rita Moreno) and a Zoombini logic master, I am willing to concede that "pizza troll" can be used generically. -- 68.37.43.131 18:49, 30 August 2023 (UTC)

I'll have to open a conversation about those, then! Shout out to the Zoombinis, a real computer-lab classic. -- Bleu Ninja 19:13, 30 August 2023 (UTC)

[edit] The King of Town

I don't mean to push, but I wasn't sure if you saw what I wrote here (admittedly, after you moved the pages). Right now, your edits are suggesting that a link that looks like The King of Town would be readily understood to be about the toon instead of the character, when I would believe that the opposite is much more likely to be true. The Knights Who Say Ni 02:05, 31 July 2024 (UTC)

Yeah, shortly after getting started I recalled that the name-change wasn't quite settled, which is why I stopped after a few edits. I think I mostly stuck to The King of Town in places where contextually you can tell that it's talking about a toon — that is, either 1. as a bulleted entry in the "appearances" subsection of a character page or 2. in a parenthetical preceded by "from", in the "summary" subsection of an image description — but if you feel that edits were premature or added unnecessary ambiguity feel free to revert until there's greater consensus. -- Bleu Ninja 16:32, 31 July 2024 (UTC)

[edit] Multiple Instagram images

Hey @Bleu Ninja,

To answer your question regarding multiple images on instagram: yes! The {{post}} template used in the instagram page (and the @ronginal page) is the very same! They all have the same parameters and functions. What differs mainly is how they call they call their items as "tweets" or "posts". And there's probably some details I've forgotten, but overall the functionality is the same!

Also, thanks for all your excellent edits and hard work! --Stux 14:25, 25 September 2024 (UTC)

Good to know, thanks! Since Instagram is (relatively) less active, edits there feel more impactful. Plus I always like seeing behind-the-scenes stuff. -- Bleu Ninja 19:12, 26 September 2024 (UTC)

[edit] Homestar Quiz

In response to your edit summary from this diff: there used to be a trivia bot a long time ago: User:JoeyDay/TriviaTime. — Stux (Talk | contribs) 13:03, June 29, 2025 (UTC) (left unsigned)

Oh, interesting! A lot of these are pretty granular (I doubt anyone is able to name sbemail 134 off the dome) but it's cool to know this sort of thing has already been explored to some degree. I wonder if that data could be re-used to set up some sort of Discord bot... Bleu Ninja 22:08, 30 June 2025 (UTC)

[edit] SBE Statistical Charts

Thank you very much for updating statistics and updating the charts! I'm wondering where you're keeping track of all this information? Do you have an Excel Spreadsheet that you're using or similar? Would it be possible to upload that to the wiki and have the files link to that in their description? I think it would ensure that anyone with access to the file would be able to update statistics.

Thanks, --Stux 22:47, 25 November 2025 (UTC)

You're welcome! I do use Excel to dress 'em up Dan, though ultimately all the tables are directly copied from the wiki's articles so in theory the charts can be re-created by any other editor (the graphs would stylistically look different but that's not that important — I mean, I certainly didn't feel beholden to the Paper/ACupOfCoffee designs when updating File:bar graph by length.PNG).

As for the file itself — rather obviously, the wiki does not support upload of .XLSX files (or .SVG files, though that's a bugbear for another day). Though I use various cloud file hosts in my personal file management, I generally would not like my email address or real name publicly connected to my HRWiki account and it seems some of my contact info is always shown when sharing a link. I also don't want to be responsible for maintaining a public file — adjusting permissions, reverting vandalism, handling versioning, ensuring accessibility... like, if the bureaucrats were to set up an admin@hrwiki.org account on some cloud storage site I'd happily send over the file, but I don't want to deal with managing it. And, again, ultimately any other editor can just copy the Strong Bad Email By Length table into Excel and build an updated version of the charts if I'm taking too long.

Hope none of this comes off as rude, possessive, or accusatory — certainly not my intention. If there's a quick "can you email it to me [here]" or "send me a link on [temporary site]" short-term solution, happy to look into it. Planning to get to the rest of the re-calculations this holiday weekend, for what it's worth. -- Bleu Ninja 02:42, 26 November 2025 (UTC)

Oh, that's a bummer :(. I vaguely remember hearing about the limitations on the kinds of files that could be uploaded. And I totally understand the need to maintain privacy online and avoid exposure of your personal information. Nothing of what you said came off as rude or anything along those lines.

I'll have to think of a viable alternative. I feel like we've had this discussion before, especially the part where you said you've copied this directly from the wiki. Even if it's copied straight from the wiki, there's some setup involved, and it's easier to work from an existing base than to start from scratch. Well, that's my perspective anyway. If I find a good way to allow the file to be shared anonymously, I will let you know.

On a somewhat unrelated note: I wonder if there's a way to turn a zip file into a valid encoded PNG and then upload that to the wiki instead? Kinda like steganography but without the "hiding" component. --Stux 03:09, 27 November 2025 (UTC)