CrossWiki teams

[HavocReaper48]

I agree per everyone who states things are lazy around here. Heck, what I would suggest is putting together a team of experienced editors who come to wiki to wiki and improve the massive needs of improvements. Those who are willing to do some research and upload an image or two. We could have a cool insignia and team name.

While I hate singling wikis out, I must. ...I'll start with W.B., which is in clear need of help.  http://wikibound.info/Mother_%28video_game%29 Wut. The article on the first game in the series barely tells us anything. And you know, I figured the wiki thought once they joined they would come across an editor with more experience with the game. Never happened.

Let's take the DKWiki. http://www.donkeykongwiki.com/Special:WantedPages It's most wanted pages is a five-way tie between Tiki Boing, Tiki Zing, Tiki Tork, Tiki Pop & Tiki Doom, all new characters from DKCR. As of now, 123 red links to them, IT'S OVER 100!!!!!!! WHAT 100 THEREZ NO WAY THAT CAN BE RIGHT, which is pret-ty bad.

http://zeldawiki.org/Main_Page ...someone really needs to get ridda all of that blue.

All in for the NIWA Reform Team? Every wiki needs each other's help.

(yeah we need an insignia)

Regarding my wiki's progress after jumping ship, fantastic. Things really got better with the exception of some minor problems, heck we're even trying to emulate our Oasis skin on Monobook, but with content emphasis and no social network links.

[Tina]

While I hate singling wikis out, I must. ...I'll start with W.B., which is in clear need of help.  http://wikibound.info/Mother_%28video_game%29 Wut. The article on the first game in the series barely tells us anything. And you know, I figured the wiki thought once they joined they would come across an editor with more experience with the game. Never happened.

Yeah, I know. :/ This has pretty much upset me from day one that WB's lacking in dedicated editors that have actually... you know... played the games. I swear to god 90% of the active users have just watched a LP/researched a little bit. It's driving me insane. Unfortunately I have a hard time doing general overviews for games (I usually end up going into way too much detail and it turns tl;dr), so I haven't really touched the game pages all that much. *plays with thumbs nervously*

A reform team would be fantastic in theory, though. I have to wonder if there would be people who would be willing to and would actually set aside time, work hard on a wiki and improve pages. There's also the factor of being interested in the subject, or actually having played the subject games. If it would work out, it'd be great! But it would suck a lot if it didn't.

[Miles of SmashWiki]

Yeah, I know. :/ This has pretty much upset me from day one that WB's lacking in dedicated editors that have actually... you know... played the games. I swear to god 90% of the active users have just watched a LP/researched a little bit.

...which is maybe why I shouldn't be editing there. :/  On the other hand, this is the cost of assembling a wiki on a non-mainstream series.

Unfortunately I have a hard time doing general overviews for games (I usually end up going into way too much detail and it turns tl;dr), so I haven't really touched the game pages all that much. *plays with thumbs nervously*

Try to give the details that make the game unique without being too chunky in your paragraphs, I'd say.



But in any case, a roaming squad of experiecned wiki-editors might be a pretty handy thing.

[Xizor]

A team of editors is just something people have to decide to do.

I cannot stress enough the importance of NIWA's neutrality in the affairs of its members. NIWA is a forum and a hub, a simple venue, for its members to collaborate and improve themselves and each other. We don't need an official team, some NIWA Squadron, to go around doing stuff specifically in the name of NIWA. If such a squad comes to exist, then it functions like any regular group of editors on a Wiki would - they show up, and follow a Wiki's rules. They have no mandate from NIWA itself. They may have a mandate from its members, though. Hopefully that makes sense. I get very uneasy when you guys talking NIWA "doing" things to its members. We do not enforce anything and if I do nothing else as Coordinator, it will be to protect that functionality.

We cannot lose sight of what this thing does. It serves its members as far as they want it to. If a particular Wiki's staff does not care about being involved in NIWA, then that Wiki's userbase has absolutely no right to complain when they get nothing out of NIWA membership. You get back what you put in. If you want help, you have to ask for it. If you need assistance, you need to seek it. It will not seek you. NIWA is a simple link exchange with a pretty forum so long as its MEMBERS act like that's all it is. NIWA can be whatever its members want, but it can still never be more than it is.

Also, specifically for Wiki Bound and large articles: write whatever you write. If it ends up too big, whatever. Someone else can come back through and edit it down and remove details that seem irrelevant. You can then go back and add back the ones you know are relevant, and maybe even trim down the ones you found that aren't. It's a long process sometimes to make an article perfect. If Wiki Bound needs NIWA's help, though, Wiki Bound needs to seek that help. NIWA will not clean house for you.

As far as overall assessment goes, NIWA was at first more awesome than what we'd hoped, then it was a dismal failure in my eyes, and then we turned things around and NIWA is more formidable and useful and robust and strong than I ever imagined it would end up being. Of course, this is what we dreamed it would become, but I did not think it would actually happen. I imagine that has very little to do with me and my position, which I feel is serving its purpose well enough.

I'm specifically trying to establish the position more as a position of respect than of power, though the power has been utilized on very rare occasions. I'm trying to use the respect of the position and of me to influence NIWA to go in the direction I feel is best not only for NIWA as a collaborative effort, but for each Wiki individually involved in it. It's very hard. It takes a lot of patience, time, and insight. I am sure I have disappointed a fair share of you at some point, if not most or all of the time. My recent efforts at hearing the voice of regular users was in response to what someone else pointed out to me.

Recently, though, most people here have become fixated on the idea of how to define NIWA in terms relative to something else that already exists and makes sense, and we're politicizing the whole thing and making it too complicated. NIWA is not that complex. It is rather simple. Never lose sight of that simplicity, because that's where we will find the most colossal success.

[HavocReaper48]

...Xizor, I did not say "o letz go barge into wikiz n edit evily kk?", relax. it's entirely in good faith, and what wiki does not want help? No duh we need to follow wiki polices. I'm not enforcing anyone or anything. It's an unofficial thing. Just wandering WikiMercenaries. Too much for you to handle?

If a wiki joined NIWA but did not care to be a part of the community, why join?

I did not ask for all of NIWA to join, just those who are willing. You do know "NIWA" means "Garden", right? As in, "Not seclusive wikis that would burn and be massively affected if some users decided to do something good"? Over dramatizing. Relax. There's no requirement.

[Xizor]

...Xizor, I did not say "o letz go barge into wikiz n edit evily kk?", relax. it's entirely in good faith, and what wiki does not want help? No duh we need to follow wiki polices. I'm not enforcing anyone or anything. It's an unofficial thing. Just wandering WikiMercenaries. Too much for you to handle?

If a wiki joined NIWA but did not care to be a part of the community, why join?

I did not ask for all of NIWA to join, just those who are willing. You do know "NIWA" means "Garden", right? As in, "Not seclusive wikis that would burn and be massively affected if some users decided to do something good"? Over dramatizing. Relax. There's no requirement.

I'm not really sure you read my post. I never said you said you wanted to barge in and smash heads. I understand it's in good faith. I believe, "They may have a mandate from its members, though. Hopefully that makes sense. I get very uneasy when you guys talking NIWA "doing" things to its members. We do not enforce anything and if I do nothing else as Coordinator, it will be to protect that functionality" meant:

- Anything can happen so long as the members of NIWA want it to happen, as in its wikis, not just a few random staffers
- NIWA has no power over its members, which means:
- Such a squad should not be officially "from NIWA" because that implies that the organization itself is taking action in regard to its members, which is not what we are, and that I will make sure that no matter what else I do or don't do, I will make sure that as long as I have the ability to keep things the way they are, that NIWA does not enforce or task anything, because that's critical to our success. Otherwise, we risk just becoming a disconnected Wiki Farm.

I find your rhetorical question "Too much for you to handle?" to be extremely rude and uncalled for, and I'd appreciate an apology, and a genuine effort to keep things civil. This is a discussion, not a riot, and I find it inappropriate to say things like that. I was not rude to you, and yet you responded with undue venom.

There are many reasons to join NIWA outside of the forum community here. In fact, I venture to guess most members of our Member Wikis have never once even visited the hub page, let alone the forums. Imagine how those users would feel if they all of a sudden saw some coordinated group of users doing things that maybe they didn't want, and then find out "Oh, they're from NIWA." What kind of message do you think that might send? You guys can certainly go and do that coordinated effort, but you will not be "from NIWA" - you will be yourselves. That's the key point I'm trying to make.

I really, in fact, am realizing your entire post was actually a gross overreaction to an egregious misinterpretation of just about everything I said. At no point was I agitated, angry, or even mildly excited. I was simply blunt. That's what NIWA needs from me: candid honesty of the wisdom I can impart. Hopefully now you understand what I meant with the things I said that have you so angry, and hopefully you also understand how I personally expect staff members to conduct themselves when using these boards, and that doesn't really just go for you. Everybody can stand to be a little more civil from time to time, myself included.

Otherwise, Nintendoguy basically hit the nail perfectly right on the head.

[Nintendoguy1]

I definitely did not expect these responses...

[HavocReaper48]

...all I suggested was a group of people come together to help other wikis. That's all. Would it really do so much harm? So much damage? The NIWA is a GARDEN, where people should help each other freely, without asking. It's called, "being affiliated".

[Nintendoguy1]

Keywords being "help eachother freely", or "of their own will". Not being forced to by some "NIWA Team". If you want to go to the forums and put out a topic. "Who wants to help the DK Wiki?", I'm sure you'll get tons of responses and make a delightful team! But asking us to force members into doing this would be making NIWA into more than it is. We're like a telephone. You can call people, you can talk, you can agree to help eachother out on something. But when you try to get the telephone to do it itself, it doesn't work. Similarly, NIWA will let you talk with users and ask them to help but if you try to get NIWA to it itself, it won't work.

[HavocReaper48]

What I had in thought was this:

-A bunch of members under the same group name
-Each member can go to whatever wikis they want
-They can edit the wiki however they want
-They can make one edit and leave if they want, or make 100 or 1000+, however many they feel.
-No standards to join and drop out freely

That's what I meant by "edit freely". If it bothers you all so much, I'll drop it. I'm beginning to give up anyway. I'm not the argumentative type who is willing to keep this thing up for 5 pages. Really. For me, a war won after a lengthy battle is a war lost for both sides. I see I'm just harming myself. I'd be willing to ask for help. I understand that. And wikis should be asking. But they're not, which is the problem (unless I missed it).

[spoiler=@Xizor]
Xizor, I feel retarded, I apologize... it happens, usually when I speak up when I would rather just let a thought die and move on, as stated above, I'm not the argumentative type, and as you can I'm inexperienced.
[/spoiler]
[spoiler=@NintendoGuy]
P.S. This wasn't aimed to just help DK Wiki, Nintendoguy. Even though 1/7 of its articles are stubs, how about helping WiKirby recover from the big server problem?
[/spoiler]

[Nintendoguy1]

What I mean is, we could make such a team - you could even propose that you give them a rank on the wiki (or just an official name)! But I don't think we should send in people holding the name of NIWA behind them as some sort of "passport" - we should send in a bunch of willing editors who are just like any other user and have no ad/disadvantages because of the name they carry.

[HavocReaper48]

...sure. I see (should of said that before =\) Then, what would be the team name?

[Miles of SmashWiki]

Go go NIWA RANGERS!



...why do I post?

[HavocReaper48]

That would be awesome, but he said no "NIWA" in the name

[Miles of SmashWiki]

WISH: Wiki Improvement Squad Helpers?

Random idea generation; I can come up with more if you want

[Nintendoguy1]

The DK Wilds

(who gets the reference?)

[HavocReaper48]

RWHA (pronounced "are-wah") - Random Wiki Helpers Alliance.

NES - Nintendo Editor Squad (or NIWA Editor Squad)

Eh, it's all I got.

I don't get the reference Nintendoguy.

@Miles: Good name, I like "WISH". But what do you think of my suggestions?

[Miles of SmashWiki]

I dunno, I just came up with something on the spot.

[Nintendoguy1]

Search it on MW

Anyways, they don't exactly need a special name. What SMW does is have a PipeProject, I think BP does this as well, and the people who sign up for that project work hard on its goals. You could advertise a project on these forums and then people would sign up and begin editing.

[Xizor]

Perhaps a better way to approach it is to not utilize the squad unless a Wiki comes and says, "I want the help of [insert final name here] please!" If it's a known option, perhaps they will utilize it. Similarly, the squad can look around wikis and if they think a Wiki needs their help, they can just ask.

Havoc, I appreciate your apology, but please don't get discouraged. Keep posting your ideas, even if they piss me off. I'll try and help you to refine your thoughts better in the future.