Fan wiki

[Martonimos]

One of the best solutions for the user-page fixation which seems inherent to Bulbapedia users that I've seen is the creation of a new, separate fan-wiki. It's been suggested several times, but I think it's time we actually pursued this. A fan wiki would allow users to write up the articles on fanfic characters, G5 prediction, etc, without fear of messing with the server. Assuming, of course, that the wiki is on a separate server.

And therein lies the rub. In order to not strain the server as much as the Bulbapedia userspace used to, the new fan wiki would need to be on a new server; unless I'm mistaken, this means that the wiki could not interact with Bulbapedia as smoothly as it ought to. A lot of userpages link to parts of the main namespace; when moved to an external wiki, this links would have to become external links (unless we could get it to interact with the 'pedia the way the other bulbawikis do, which I imagine would be difficult). Not to mention we'd have to find a new server for the site, as well as a new staff (or else get enough of the old staff to help out; to be fair, a fan wiki probably wouldn't need quite as much maintenance as a canonical one).

I'll admit to being a hypocrite here. I think this is a good idea, but I don't have the time, energy, or know-how to do it myself. But I'm sure there's someone here who does, and who can figure out a way to iron out all the other difficulties I mentioned above. Hopefully, we'll be able to have the (tentatively-titled) Fancruft wiki up and running eventually.

I'm tired, so my writing skill is off. You guys get the gist of it, though, right? What do you think?

ADDITION: The user who brought this up most recently is Strong Intelligent from Bulbapedia. He wanted to know if he'd be credited, so now he is.

 

[Trainer-c]

What I don't get is why these users do not just use the forums, fanfics, predictions, other miscellaneous subjects, that is exactly what the forums exist for.

It would be a waste of resources to build a whole wiki for what can be done on the forums.

 

[paperfairy]

/thread. Thank you Trainer-c.

 

[White Len]

Thing is, a whole new server needs a ton of cash. -points at the donation pile- Anyone have PayPal?

Anyway, Archaic-san doesn't have the fricking time to do much at the moment so all we can do is-

Idiots: WAIT!

 

[The Outrage]

At first when I read "Fan wiki" I did not really know what it meant, since Bulbapedia was already run by the fandom. Then I read "A fan wiki would allow users to write up the articles on fanfic characters, G5 prediction, etc, without fear of messing with the server"

Really, if people complain about disambiguation pages leading them to the Flying Egg group, why would anyone want to read someone's half-baked theories and fanfic characters.

Here's an idea, use the forum, or get your own website if you're that bent on creating profiles for your fanfic characters that 90% of the fandom hasn't even heard of.

 

[Martonimos]

You guys are missing the point. People DON'T use the forums, because they find using the wiki much easier. Or at least, a wiki. Their articles and crap take advantage of wikicoding, linking to Bulbapedia pages, using images from the archives, etc, so there's no way they're going to move them to the forums if they don't have to. And I don't care about who reads the articles; just that the people who write them aren't using Bulbagarden's server space to do so. Archaic doesn't have to be involved; in fact, I doubt that any of the current admins would be very interested in that (although they could join if they wanted to). This project would probably attract an entirely new staff, anyway.

If you still don't understand, please let me know. The userspace has still been prone to rampant editing, and enforcement of the new rules has been lax; Darknesslover5000 recieved something like five or six warnings, when you're supposed to be banned on the fourth. I'm trying to solve the problem here, but I need your help to do it.

 

[White Len]

Okay, so who has the green to support a new server?

 

[Zhen Lin]

A wiki is not really appropriate for creative work. The access controls are not fine-grained enough (as evidenced by the users who keep on asking for their user pages to be made editable by themselves only).

 

[Trainer-c]

You guys are missing the point. People DON'T use the forums, because they find using the wiki much easier.

If they are too lazy to use the forums, then why would they use another wiki?

Their articles and crap take advantage of wikicoding, linking to Bulbapedia pages, using images from the archives, etc, so there's no way they're going to move them to the forums if they don't have to.

This is all stuff that can be done with the forums. These people don't seem to realize that they do have to move the fanstuffs, Bulbapedia is not the place for that, and never has been.

And I don't care about who reads the articles; just that the people who write them aren't using Bulbagarden's server space to do so. Archaic doesn't have to be involved; in fact, I doubt that any of the current admins would be very interested in that (although they could join if they wanted to). This project would probably attract an entirely new staff, anyway.

Then, if is this is a separate wiki, on a separate server, and not affiliated with Bulbagarden, what's the point of posting here?

If you still don't understand, please let me know. The userspace has still been prone to rampant editing, and enforcement of the new rules has been lax; Darknesslover5000 recieved something like five or six warnings, when you're supposed to be banned on the fourth. I'm trying to solve the problem here, but I need your help to do it.

If the enforcement of the rules has been lax, then that is what needs to be worked on.

 

[The Outrage]

So what these guys don't realise the:

[ url=<insert adress here>]Whatever you want to call the link[/url]

Or the image tags:
[ img]<insert url here[/img]

And a combination of both:

[ url=<insert link>][ img]insert link[/img][/url]

for all your linking needs? (just remove the spaces inbetween and don't use <>)

Then, if is this is a separate wiki, on a separate server, and not affiliated with Bulbagarden, what's the point of posting here?

Either they can't set up their own wiki on their own or do not want to fund it themselves

 

[Martonimos]

If the enforcement of the rules has been lax, then that is what needs to be worked on.

That's actually a good point. Like I've said repeatedly, another wiki has the advantage over the forums in that they're already familiar with the code, and it would be easy enough to emulate Bulbapedia to the extent that their code would work there--that way, the process of moving their pages would be relativley painless, and we have a better chance of getting them to do it. But if you're ready to give them the slap in the face they need, and force them to transplant everything to the forums, that would work, too.

I guess it's time to get proactive about this.

 

[White Len]

Another userspace ban? lawl...

But seriously. Since the users caught onto the fact that the user namespace is back, the recent changes have been filled with userspace edits (well, there's one every ten edits...). If we rebanned the userspace, we'd have a riot.

 

[Lilac Hill]

I would like to see that TBH.

Shotgun riot police.

 

[Martonimos]

It's definitely not as bad as before, although it's getting uncomfortable close.

 

[Trainer-c]

What exactly is the Policy regarding userpages? I believe that whatever it is, it needs to be added to the policy page. Furthermore, there needs to be an edict so there is no excuse for a user not knowing what the policy is.

 

[Adrian Malacoda]

(as evidenced by the users who keep on asking for their user pages to be made editable by themselves only)

There's an extension that does this, actually. Not that I'm saying it should be used, just saying that it is possible.

As for the fandom wiki idea, not needed. There's user albums for images, the library (which is apparently down for security reasons) for fanfics, and the forum for everything else. It's technically possible, but extraneous.