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there's another question: Which CMS and template do you use?

The niwa homepage doesn't use a CMS. It is a hand coded, custom website. It's slightly technical since it isn't one file per page you see, but it isn't a full blown CMS either. Also, There is a (eventual) plan to change the NIWA website forums to another software, but we are still waiting for that.

Every Wiki is up and functioning again. Thanks for the patience everyone!

Current Status update:
Zelda Santuary's core website (WP, Wiki, Forums), and Zelda Resource are up. Other sub-sites are not currently up from various questions that we need answered and such.

Wikirby, Fire Emblem Wiki, SEW, and Wikibound are all online and functioning, but they have not been cleaned up. The databases for these websites have been cleaned, but extensions and local settings need to be cleaned.

Lylat Wiki is a WIP. We are cleaning it before putting it up, and Moydow and I have mostly got it figured out. It is just a matter of uploading the latest extensions still enabled to the wiki.

Today we did get quite a few things done.

Tales of Lanschilandia is completely working now.
The Wiki websites we are just starting to work on, trying to start them off clean.
Zelda Sanctuary Network is pretty close to being ready to go once again.

Within the next few day, expect to see the wikis slowly coming back up.

What exactly are you asking for help with? Just with contributing to the wiki?

It has been unveiled!
Welcome, Hard Drop Tetris Wiki! 

We are still looking for any backups that we have to see what we can piece together. On top of that, A new backup script is being implemented to ensure that data loss isn't as widespread should things like this happen.

Now back to the character discussion. Should we cover characters? Or should Mario's article be deleted?

That discussion is finished. It had a conclusion.

Oh god... Sega...


Alright. I think if Nintendo ever published a game on the console, then the article can be kept. Otherwise though, I don't think it should. (Sega is going to be one of those Grey areas on N-Wiki...)

Competing companies get articles? Why would Sony and Microsoft get articles on a Nintendo Wiki?

As an overview article on the company and it's interactions with Nintendo.

For Infoboxes
- Name (dur)
- Image (also dur)
- Codename
- Release Date
- Storage Media
- Internet Capable
- Technical Specs (CPU, GPU, RAM)
- Input Devices

and probably many more

To this end, I think I may borrow an idea I got from Bulbapedia: I recommend make a personal sandbox. And in the sandbox, gather resouces, make paragraphs and sections, and see if you can make an article based on a Character, anyone of your choosing.

It seems then, that Taco is suggesting Characters are done on a case by case basis, with the wiki deciding as a whole about a character when a thorough presentation is given. In accordance with that, I feel like the Character discussion is now finished as far as the scope of this particular thread.


Regarding the other topics Taco addressed.
Articles on individual games are beginning to seem inevitable to me. Though There are definitely certain topics that just absolutely must be present in any proper article on a video game that n-wiki has. This includes release information and Sales data. N-wiki's coverage is the company, not the franchise, so covering the plot of a game in depth shouldn't happen on any game. It should be much more about the real world effects of the game, not the in-game universe. It is agreed that coverage of any game or series should not extend beyond an article for each game in the series though.

So. Does this actually clear up any final bits about the coverage scope of N-Wiki?

The rules clearly say certain characters like Bulbasaur and Meta Knight don't get articles, but what about the ones almost as popular as Mario?

It's those rules that we are debating here. lol.  (though I agree that those examples aren't notable enough for sure) I'm in favor of select Nintendo Mascots having an article, but we need a criteria for selecting them. There was a related Wikipedia article that had a list of Nintendo mascots... (also, I hate bbcode) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_video_game_mascots

[Definite Topics:]

In attempt to summarize the discussion thus far, and to set in stone what we all agree upon... Here we go!~
(Please note, I am not injecting my opinions into this particular post)

Definite Topics:
*Full coverage of hardware.
*Full coverage of history.
*Full coverage of Events.
*Full coverage of Nintendo Employees.
*Single article for competing companies.
*At least one article for every series.

The rest of what has been discussed still seems up in the air to me.  We have agreed that full coverage of any game series should not happen (Ex: Ice Climbers), but not the extent to which said series should be covered in comparison to other series. Related to that, We haven't come to any definitive consensus regarding coverage of Individual games. Some people are saying N-wiki shouldn't cover them, some are saying they should cover all of them, and some are saying they should only cover those without another member wiki. Another topic that doesn't have a clear decision is coverage of select Nintendo "mascots" The issue here would be determining who those mascots are.

I believe that is a thorough synopsis of the thread so far. Can we get those bottom things ironed out, please?

Any articles about a specific game on N-wiki will almost certainly be inferior (at least, for the sake of the member wikis, I would hope they are.) Obviously N-wiki shouldn't focus on the plot of any game they create an article on, but member wikis, in my opinion, shouldn't solely focus on the plot of a game either. They should cover the other sections about a game like the development process. I guess that's up to the wiki, but I think that should be part of any in depth coverage of a game.

N-wiki should not be treated as the pet project of NIWA, that isn't fair to it, and honestly, it suffers because of it. To this extent, I fully understand it covering games that any NIWA wiki covers. (reminds me of some approval thing that Mario wiki apparently had to do to allow donkey kong wiki in? which seems so silly to me) We as the members of NIWA need to all realize that nintendo wiki is going to cover that topic, and accept that point blank. It is entirely unfair to say they can't, or shouldn't. It is the discretion of the wiki community, not niwa, to link to member wikis.

*Full coverage of hardware.
*Full coverage of history and people.
*Articles on all series. 
*Game articles only when there is no member wiki to link to.
*Keep current coverage of NIWA.

This.

Though when we do link to a member wiki's article on a game, that link needs to be made special, so that the user realizes they are leaving Nintendo wiki.

I would like to propose the idea of articles on select Nintendo characters. The primary ones that are known world wide as being Nintendo. (Ex: Mario, Pikachu, Samus, Link, a few others)

I also like the idea of having articles on companies who have competed with, or worked with Nintendo. Coverage of these companies wouldn't expand beyond that article however.

I'm expecting this topic will become controversial. lol
Here's my thoughts, and some topics I'm going to bring up. (I apologize for the length)

First bit is the (historical) discussion of "Nintendo Wiki" versus "NIWA Wiki". There has always been some level of debate about whether the wiki should focus more on acting a wiki hub for NIWA, or should focus more on Nintendo content. I feel like this topic has become more settled, with Nintendo coming out the priority of the two, but there is probably still some to discuss here. Much of this stems from the fact that N-Wiki tends not to have it's own staff, and instead they are all just members from other NIWA wikis.  The hope is of course that N-wiki will gain it's own dedicated staff, but doing so has been an issue. I also would like to question some of the depth that N-wiki goes into about NIWA, since Nintendo is it's topic, not NIWA. I do not believe that NIWA content should be discussed on the wiki. That is my opinion. The depth at which it covers member wikis and the organization itself seems a bit excessive to me under this purpose, but not altogether unhelpful.

Now, there was recently a discussion in the skype chat about whether or not individual games should be covered as their own page.  The reasoning behind not covering them is that the coverage that Nintendo wiki would have is nothing that the page on the respective member wiki wouldn't have, so it would just be a weaker analysis of the game and would detract from the member wiki. Instead, the wiki would cover the series as a whole, and link to the member wiki for the respective games. I tend to favor this approach.

There is also the topic of smaller game franchises, which wouldn't merit their own wiki (Ex: Ice Climber). I was told that full coverage of these series was part of the reason behind creating Nintendo wiki. I do not agree with this approach. It creates unnecessary clutter on the wiki and would just make the wiki confusing. I feel they should be covered to the same extent as any other franchise that n-wiki covers.

Both Nookipedia and Wars Wiki are a part of a larger fansite. (even if Wars Wiki is abandoned) Which is why I didn't include them in my above suggestions. and Bulbapedia and Zelda Wiki are obviously out just due to sheer volume of traffic (Bulba is hosted on one of the most powerful options there is, and it needs it. lol) Also, GSU is situated well, so we are good as we are. lol.

However, another thing to be aware of, is that a Linode server does not include cpanel. You will need to buy a license to use cpanel, if you so desire, in addition to the host its self. (Pricing may vary)

There is in many ways already a bandwagon server for NIWA wikis. Well, multiple really.

Fire Emblem Wiki, Wikirby, Lylat Wiki, and Wikibound are all hosted in conjunction. 
Metroid Wiki and Strategy Wiki are hosted together.
Nintendo Wiki and F-Zero Wiki are hosted together.
Donkey Kong Wki, Super Mario Wiki, Smash Wiki, and Pikipedia/Pikmin Fanon are also hosted together.

lol, As you see a whole lot of NIWA are hosted on a server where another wiki is as well.

The only NIWA wikis that I think might consider this kind of a deal would be Starfy Wiki and Icaruspedia. Everyone else is pretty well situated.

Also, to answer your question, I would probably stick 3 wikis on a 1GB Linode, to be safe (Mediawiki recommends 256 mb per install)

Hello all!

What are some tips that we should all be aware of in order to optimize our wikis for search engines? (aka Search Engine Optimization). I know this type of topic will be very useful for those wikis who are smaller, and those who moved from Wikia. (I'm honestly surprised this topic never appeared before now)

Some tips that I have:

• Create a Google Analytics account for your wiki
• Create a Google Webmaster Tools account for your wiki
• Use Short URLs
• Inbound links to your site from other websites (one of the primary purposes of NIWA)