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
Chronopia and Stargirl are making ghost wicks to TheMessiah.
Edited by Malady on Sep 23rd 2023 at 3:15:44 AM
Disambig Needed: Help with those issues! tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=13324299140A37493800&page=24#comment-576
The Gamer is making a ghost wick to LevelUp.
Red Riding is making a ghost wick to Catchphrase
CSP Cleanup Thread | All that I ask for ... is diamonds and dance floors
Andersen Monogatari is making a ghost wick to Cinderella.
He/Him
OK, so this isn't in Main/ but it is a locked page so...
NoRealLife.Tropes A To C is creating a ghost wick. I suggest maybe, create the page, change the page type and turn off "indexing", and then cut. To stop it appearing at the bottom of tropes.
Art Museum Curator and frequent helper of the Web Original deprecation project
He/Him
Stuck In The Middle is making a ghost wick to Cool Loser (now renamed and redefined to Unconvincingly Unpopular Character).
Gyerfry is also making a ghost wick to Cool Loser.
Art Museum Curator and frequent helper of the Web Original deprecation project
Reposting as it still seems to be present:
Andersen Monogatari is making a ghost wick to Cinderella.
done to here
I'm not sure if this pertains to this thread, but the related page for the VideoGame.Gotham Knights 2022 redirect VideoGame.Gotham Knights shows the page Laconic.Gotham Knights, which doesn't exist. This is a ghost wick, right?
Also, the page YMMV.The Twilight Zone S 2 E 54 The Odyssey Of Flight 33 is a subpage of Recap.The Twilight Zone S 2 E 54 The Odyssey Of Flight 33, which now redirects to Recap.The Twilight Zone 1959 S 2 E 18 The Odyssey Of Flight 33, and Trivia.The Twilight Zone S 3 E 91 Little Girl Lost is a subpage of Recap.The Twilight Zone S 3 E 91 Little Girl Lost, which now redirects to The Twilight Zone (1959) S3E26: "Little Girl Lost".
Edited by ClancyGardener on Nov 13th 2023 at 10:55:31 AM
Trimming the hedges, one trope at a time.
Did Laconic.Gotham Knights, but I have no idea what the matter of these redirects is.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
The Twilight Zone Recap pages were moved, so now there's Trivia/YMMV/Fridge etc. subpages to the old pages that don't technically exist anymore except as redirects. I've been recreating those subpages for the new Recap pages, which means there's now YMMV pages both for The Twilight Zone S 2 E 54 The Odyssey Of Flight 33 (the old page, now a redirect) and The Twilight Zone (1959) S2E18: "The Odyssey of Flight 33" (the new page). That's why I was putting those pages on the Cut List.
Are they not ghost wicks since the subpages themselves still exist, even if the main Recap page for them doesn't?
Trimming the hedges, one trope at a time.
Correct.
The header of this thread contains an explanation of what ghost wicks are, and which ones are in the scope of this thread.
Then I was correct in putting such pages on the Cut List instead?
Trimming the hedges, one trope at a time.
He/Him
Dead At 21 Is making a ghost wick to Main.Dangerous Sixteenth Birthday
Edited by AudioSpeaks2 on Nov 27th 2023 at 11:03:27 PM
Art Museum Curator and frequent helper of the Web Original deprecation project
Your Local Editor
Oh dear. i didn't realize that my (new) username will be causing trouble to everyone here. Is there anything i do?
The only way is to make a new account. For that you need to tell us which one, however.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Sounds good on paper (he/him)
I exorcised it.
Fridge/Victoria and The Sandman are both making ghost wicks to Incredibly Lame Pun.
Only the Victoria might be Locked. But it's not. Doing them manually.
Do we need to resort info order in the banner to state thread purpose first (and in bold?)
Edited by Malady on Dec 10th 2023 at 2:17:36 AM
Disambig Needed: Help with those issues! tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=13324299140A37493800&page=24#comment-576
They've been edited, but they're still being linked to. They either need to be cut or add at least one link to remove the ghost link. Do I need to request them to be cut? Because we're usually not supposed to cut pages ourselves.
They should be in the Cut List now. We can cut them for this reason.
Disambig Needed: Help with those issues! tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=13324299140A37493800&page=24#comment-576
They should be gone, now.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman