Occasionally, a wick will appear on a page's "Related to" subpage, but the page in question doesn't actually contain the link listed. In fact, sometimes nonexistent pages will appear to have this nonexistent link. This is called a "ghost wick": it is a ghost haunting pages past. There are a couple of ways these wicks could've surfaced, which are related to administrative/mod deletions and reversions
. The details aren't important.
Elimination of a ghost wick depends on where the wick is occuring.
On an existing page:
- If the page is a redirect, make a null edit. It might force earlier changes to the page to register. Please leave an edit reason so others know what's going on. If that doesn't work...
- If the page has content but no internal links at all, create one. Wicks only update if there's at least one wick on the page, so adding one will make the ghost wick disappear. If you feel there's nowhere to place an appropriate link, add a link arbitrarily (such as to the page itself), save the edit, and delete it after. Please leave an edit reason so others know what's going on.
- If the page is ghost-indexing (creating index bars on other pages even though it's not an index), do a null edit to its page type (under Page Info; in the sidebar on desktop, bottom of the page on mobile). If it's a redirect, you'll first have to break the redirect so you can access the page type in the first place. After you're done, restore the redirect.
On a nonexistent page:
Requesting removal of ghost wicks from ghost pages is the purpose of this thread.- Post the page where the ghost wick is supposed to exist.
- Alternatively, if the page is not in the Main namespace, you can recreate the page with "Ghost Wick" and a wick to the page, then add it to the Cut List where a moderator will delete it.note
Edited by Twiddler on Jul 8th 2023 at 1:55:52 AM
"Can you see what I see?"
Now a lurker. Thanks for everything. | he/him
Characters.Mitsudomoe Honki Sentai Gachiranger hasn't been cut, but for some reason is making a wick to Names The Same.
(Sorry if this isn't the right place to go.)
TRS Queue | Works That Require Cleanup of Complaining | Troper Wall
NaNo 4328 / 50,000
I figured it out; when we did a moderator restoration earlier, it didn't update the wicks since then. A null edit should've fixed it.
Link to TRS threads in project mode here.
Now a lurker. Thanks for everything. | he/him
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
Got it. Thanks crazysamaritan!
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/namespace_index.php?ns=WebAnimation&page=2
Super Mario Långben is a page we "have".
Disambig Needed: Help with those issues! tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=13324299140A37493800&page=24#comment-576
Calls For Cthulhu has a wick for Everythings Better With Plushies which is weird, because the page doesn't exist.
CSP Cleanup Thread | All that I ask for ... is diamonds and dance floors
Last Hope is ghost wicking to The Chick
TRS Wick Cleaning
Doing the last two.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Slayer of YMMV complaining magnets
Trivia.Mortal Kombat 2 has a ghost wick to Names The Same.
EDIT. I removed an actual wick to Names The Same on Trivia.Our Avatars Are In A Room Together but there's still a ghost one.
Edited by PhantomDusclops92 on Jan 5th 2023 at 5:10:31 PM
Number one fan of characters that appear only once and ultimately were a recurring character either in disguise or trying a new image.
Both of these are done.
The issue with the second page was that if you remove all links from a page, the website fails to record this removal.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Slayer of YMMV complaining magnets
Saku is also ghost-wicking to The Chick.
TRS Wick Cleaning
Slayer of YMMV complaining magnets
Ghost indexing, but whatever. Villain Song is indexed under NightmareFuel.The Silverscale Arena, even though the page is not an index.
I'd like to apologize for all this.
Toggle the page type's indexing flag, and / or remove indexing tags in the code.
Disambig Needed: Help with those issues! tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=13324299140A37493800&page=24#comment-576I null edited the page type, seems to have fixed it. Thanks.
Edited by FernandoLemon on Jan 9th 2023 at 10:46:11 AM
I'd like to apologize for all this.
I'm Sad Frogerson.
Not So Different has a ghost wick to Lobo
The Likeness is also ghost-wicking to The Chick.
TRS Wick Cleaning
, : took care of those
Slayer of YMMV complaining magnets
(she/her)
^ That's done
Macron's notes
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/namespace_index.php?ns=Recap&page=5
Battle For Dream Island S5b E 3 Getting Puffball To Think About Rollercoaste is a page that was "made".
Oh, wait, it's not in Main, so I can do this myself.
Edited by Malady on Feb 6th 2023 at 5:14:42 AM
Disambig Needed: Help with those issues! tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=13324299140A37493800&page=24#comment-576
Angel Of Death, this Darth Wiki page is weird, but it's made by a Troper that only made one recorded edit.
Can we just cut the Darth Wiki and see if that fixes the auto-disambig, without having to save it?
I guess unfound ghost pages are the ones making ghost Music.Arrival wicks seen on Main and stuff.
Edited by Malady on Feb 7th 2023 at 5:13:55 AM
Disambig Needed: Help with those issues! tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=13324299140A37493800&page=24#comment-576
My ghost wicks might be one of the ghost pages made by trying to save a page with too-long a title.
I've never checked if those wicks false register like that.
Does anyone know a way to get a list of every page name or something?
...
Recap.Back To The Future The Animated Series S 2 E 2 Put On Your Thinking Caps Kids Its was one of those ghost pages. And Folderizer didn't reveal contents, so maybe I'm wrong.
Edited by Malady on Feb 8th 2023 at 9:11:25 AM
Disambig Needed: Help with those issues! tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=13324299140A37493800&page=24#comment-576
FanficRecs.Forever has a ghost wick for Better Than Canon.
Edited by badtothebaritone on Dec 4th 2022 at 6:27:19 AM