Guilds of Historica Wiki

[Scubacarrot]

Hello, in separate guild-topics, there has been talk about creating Wikia pages, to make the massive amounts of knowledge related to this project easily accessible. Since I think making separate Wiki's for different guilds is not really necessary, I have gone ahead and started a wikia for the Guilds of Historica as a whole. The link is the following: http://guildsofhistorica.wikia.com/

Anyone can contribute to the Wikia, and the way you do that is just as simple as writing a post here on EB. I encourage people to contribute, as it will make information easily accessible.

Things you can think about adding to the Wiki:

Your character's backstory.

Information about locations, cities, organizations etc.

Information about past challenges

Stories you thought up.

Of course there are many more things you could add to the Wiki, and it is really easy to do! You do need to make an account to add things, but that is not hard to do. If you have any questions, please go ahead and ask.

[Maxim I]

Just wondering: ain't it better to make it possible that only the Eurobrick members can have acces to edit the pages?

Otherwise some people can destroy our work...

[Brickdoctor]

Nice idea. We should do this for Heroica, too. I finally signed up for Wikia, so I'll work on a couple articles.

[Scubacarrot]

Just wondering: ain't it better to make it possible that only the Eurobrick members can have acces to edit the pages?

Otherwise some people can destroy our work...

Changes can be reverted, and I have no idea how to do that...

[Maxim I]

Changes can be reverted, and I have no idea how to do that...

Me neither :p

[Niku]

Me neither :p

[Brickdoctor]

Wikia's WYSIWYG editor seems rather confusing and annoying to me (three apostrophes to denote emboldened text? What's wrong with the <strong> tag?), so I used the source code editor and cleaned up the coding of the Avalonia article. I also added a bunch of pictures to it, and reformatted it to seem more like a Wiki article. (instead of just a copy-paste from the EB topic)

Was this Wiki approved by the EB Staff?

[Basiliscus]

I've added some information on my characters. The Wiki is a good idea!

[NiceMarmot]

Was this Wiki approved by the EB Staff?

No idea, but SI-mocs thought it was a good idea for the Kaliphlin Guild at least.

I'd prefer to use a wiki tool on the EB site itself, but there doesn't appear to be one.

[Jason Cicchini]

Wikia's WYSIWYG editor seems rather confusing and annoying to me (three apostrophes to denote emboldened text? What's wrong with the <strong> tag?), so I used the source code editor and cleaned up the coding of the Avalonia article. I also added a bunch of pictures to it, and reformatted it to seem more like a Wiki article. (instead of just a copy-paste from the EB topic)

Was this Wiki approved by the EB Staff?

Nice work on cleaning/prettying up the article, Brickdoctor (also, thanks for proper credit for the picture!) And thank you to all those whom have taken the time to contribute to this great idea!

I'd like to see an internal Wiki hosted on EB, but alas such a thing does not exist, so we must do what we need to do to keep this great community idea alive and thriving!

I'll be adding any and all info I have on our Guild (with individual permission, of course,) once this gets the "go ahead" from the higher ups.

Edited February 29, 2012 by Jason Cicchini

[Khorne]

I like the idea of a central wiki to contain all of the information. I do think it could use some work on layout. Right now, it looks kind of bland . Maybe someone could write a guide on how to make/edit/whatever an article on the wiki. You know, for the people who aren't that versed in all kinds of codes and internet stuff.

[NiceMarmot]

One thing I've noticed about this wiki -- it doesn't prevent you from modifying a page while someone is also editing it. So there's a chance that two people modify the same page at the same time. Sometimes it seems to catch that, and ask you to resolve the discrepancies between the two edits, but it doesn't provide very easy tools to do this. If you do see that message pop up when saving your changes, it will say something like 'someone else modified this page while you were editing it', please don't just blindly save your version. Try to merge the two edits together and then save it. Otherwise you'll totally overwrite the other person's changes (this has already happened to me once).

[Brickdoctor]

I do notice that people seem to be creating pages for everything. I saw a page that was laws of a non-Historica guild, which (nothing against the creator) would do better as part of the page for that guild. In my opinion, we should have pages for important people and locations, geographic features, and standardized military forces, and that's it. We don't need a page just for all the maps of Kaliphlin. Those could very easily go on the main Kaliphlin page.

[Scubacarrot]

I do notice that people seem to be creating pages for everything. I saw a page that was laws of a non-Historica guild, which (nothing against the creator) would do better as part of the page for that guild. In my opinion, we should have pages for important people and locations, geographic features, and standardized military forces, and that's it. We don't need a page just for all the maps of Kaliphlin. Those could very easily go on the main Kaliphlin page.

I agree, I must say that you can put a lot on one page, and adding pages for everything is not really helping. But thats just my opinion...

[Maxim I]

I do notice that people seem to be creating pages for everything. I saw a page that was laws of a non-Historica guild, which (nothing against the creator) would do better as part of the page for that guild. In my opinion, we should have pages for important people and locations, geographic features, and standardized military forces, and that's it. We don't need a page just for all the maps of Kaliphlin. Those could very easily go on the main Kaliphlin page.

Firstly, Kaliphlin has no standarized military forces...

Secondly the laws are those of Mpya Stedor, which is in Kaliphlin...

Number three: putting too much information on one page is not easy to read for visitors...

Number four: if you take a look to other wikia's, they got also pages for every detail. As long as everything is well connected and organised, I don't see the problem. I for example take care that you always can easily direct to the previous page without clicking on "previous"

Number five: I thought it was the meaning of Wikia to give more info to characters and places. If that isn't supposed be, then we better stop the whole Wikia thing and just put the basic information in the topics in here...

Edit: I also think a Wikia is more for information than a medium to show your moc's again (I am thinking about the note for Avalonia members on the Historica Wikia frontpage)

Edited February 29, 2012 by DaMaximus

[Khorne]

I just wanted to say I really like your additions, BrickDoctor. Your pictures are very crisp and clear, simply beautiful. How do you get them like that? Do you only use daylight?

[Brickdoctor]

Edit: I also think a Wikia is more for information than a medium to show your moc's again (I am thinking about the note for Avalonia members on the Historica Wikia frontpage)

I put that there because most of the MOCs are important buildings. Obviously for less important MOCs, a separate page wouldn't be appropriate. (for example, my Trebuchet Emplacement is instead listed under Imports and Exports on the page for the Archduchy of Brickdocton)

I just wanted to say I really like your additions, BrickDoctor. Your pictures are very crisp and clear, simply beautiful. How do you get them like that? Do you only use daylight?

Yes, only daylight. I like the natural look that comes from having one source of sunlight on only one side. Usually that means a 2-4-second exposure with an aperture of f/13.

On that note, I added a number of pages concerning Docken's predecessors, complete with a bunch of new pictures.

[NiceMarmot]

I do notice that people seem to be creating pages for everything. ... Those could very easily go on the main Kaliphlin page.

I suppose that's more up to people's preferences. Personally, I don't like huge long pages that I have to scroll through. I'd rather see a list of links and click through to get to the exact detail page I want. The main Kaliphlin page is already quite long (mostly due to a large history section); if we put all the maps on that page, it would be even longer. Plus, then it becomes harder to link to just the maps from some other page on the wiki (I'm not sure if you can link directly to a section on a page).

But as I said, it's mostly a preference thing -- do you prefer to click through to detailed information, or would you rather scroll through a really long page?

In any case, I'm not even sure we need pages for individual MOCs; isn't that what the EB posts are for? In Kaliphlin, I've been just linking the MOCs name directly to the EB post for the MOC, and haven't created any MOC pages on the wiki at all.

[Brickdoctor]

In any case, I'm not even sure we need pages for individual MOCs; isn't that what the EB posts are for? In Kaliphlin, I've been just linking the MOCs name directly to the EB post for the MOC, and haven't created any MOC pages on the wiki at all.

Or they could be categorized by city, and added to the page about the location. Any MOCs I make in the future could probably easily be added to the Brickdocton page, with a short description and a link to the EB post.

I changed the word 'MOCs' on the front page to 'locations', which I think is a more accurate representation of how I envision MOCs would be added to the wiki.

[Maxim I]

I suppose that's more up to people's preferences. Personally, I don't like huge long pages that I have to scroll through. I'd rather see a list of links and click through to get to the exact detail page I want. The main Kaliphlin page is already quite long (mostly due to a large history section); if we put all the maps on that page, it would be even longer. Plus, then it becomes harder to link to just the maps from some other page on the wiki (I'm not sure if you can link directly to a section on a page).

But as I said, it's mostly a preference thing -- do you prefer to click through to detailed information, or would you rather scroll through a really long page?

In any case, I'm not even sure we need pages for individual MOCs; isn't that what the EB posts are for? In Kaliphlin, I've been just linking the MOCs name directly to the EB post for the MOC, and haven't created any MOC pages on the wiki at all.

I think that is the best way. Otherwise EB would become unnecessary. As long you see a global picture of the building, it is enough. Like I said in a reaction to Brickdoctor, it's stupid to create pages for every MOC as they already have their own topic here in the forum. For example, if you look to the page of Albion, it looks like they want to link to every building, just like the topic here at EB. In my opinion, just do it like NiceMarmot says and put a small picture of the building and a link to the EB topic of the building.

Btw, I think we should put some subtitles in the history of Kaliphlin as it is really boring to read it like this (even it is me who put it at the Kaliphlin page )

Or they could be categorized by city, and added to the page about the location. Any MOCs I make in the future could probably easily be added to the Brickdocton page.

I changed the word 'MOCs' on the front page to 'locations', which I think is a more accurate representation of how I envision MOCs would be added to the wiki.

That's what I do more or less. For example, the MOC of my Palace, University, ... will be seen in the Mpya Stedor Inner City-page so it gives a nice total view of that part of the city.

You got plenty of space to tell something more about the building itself without the need of creating another page for every specific MOC

[Khorne]

I also think it would be best to limit the amount of MOCs on the wiki. Of course, there need to be some Lego creations to give the wiki the right Historia feel, but overall the stress should be on collecting the backgrounds, IMO. Just link to the MOCs here on EB. The wiki should be secondary to the Guilds of Historia threads and MOCs here on EB .

[Brickdoctor]

That's what I do more or less. For example, the MOC of my Palace, University, ... will be seen in the Mpya Stedor Inner City-page so it gives a nice total view of that part of the city.

You got plenty of space to tell something more about the building itself without the need of creating another page for every specific MOC

I also think it would be best to limit the amount of MOCs on the wiki. Of course, there need to be some Lego creations to give the wiki the right Historia feel, but overall the stress should be on collecting the backgrounds, IMO. Just link to the MOCs here on EB. The wiki should be secondary to the Guilds of Historia threads and MOCs here on EB .

Agreed. I removed the list of locations from the Albion page and added a short description and photo of the Brickdocton Outpost to the Brickdocton page, with a link to the topic on EB.

[SkaForHire]

I am SkaForHire, Creator of Wikis, Destroyer of Forums!

What have I done bringing this here?

Ok, so kidding aside. Let's just leave it up to the individual guild to decide what is on their portion of the Wiki. If you are not part of one guild, don't monkey around too much with another guilds pages. That will keep the infighting down a bit.

A few of us should volunteer to be "cleaners" that try and clean everything up when we have a chance, and keep checking periodically.

Please always use a related links section - it makes navigation easier.

The way Wikipedia works is there are usually general pages and specific pages, for example, on the Kaliphlin page we have the long history of the fall of Kaligem. This should be its own page and Kaliphlin history should be paraphrased on the main page with a link to Detailed history of Kaliphlin.

Also, NM, I think all of your maps have a place in a section called Cartography of Kaliphlin - if the rest of the guilds do not want to have a general cartography section that is alright, they don't have to have one. Your maps are an invaluable part of our guild's stories.

Finally, for now, We could agree on a no more than three pictures limit on MOC displayed in the Wiki. Also, I think that all MOC pages, or pages displaying a MOC need a direct link back to the forum topic. That way we keep the two systems integrated.

What it comes down to is that there is a lot of information that people want to add to the project, more than can go on a Guild's first post. It is counter productive to limit the amount and type of content that goes on the wiki. People just have to be aware of creating new pages and linking correctly to keep it organized. Which may mean that some of us will have to divide pages frequently to keep things clean.

[Brickdoctor]

Please always use a related links section - it makes navigation easier.

Do you mean categories? Because I do think we could do with more of those. I've made two, 'Guilds' (to which I added Kaliphlin, if you're wondering what I edited that page for) and 'Cities'. I'm adding 'Avalonian Locations' as I post this.

[SkaForHire]

Do you mean categories? Because I do think we could do with more of those. I've made two, 'Guilds' (to which I added Kaliphlin, if you're wondering what I edited that page for) and 'Cities'. I'm adding 'Avalonian Locations' as I post this.

I meant at the bottom of the page related links, but yes having a categories section at the top definitely makes it easier to navigate.

With related links or "further reading" section, navigation throughout the Wiki is not necessarily dependent on backtracking to the main page. For example, on the Kaliphlin cities page there would be a related link to Avalonian cities page - so you can laterally move pages instead of only move up and down the hierarchy.

Also, I think it is fine that people edit other guilds from time to time, especially to clean it up - what I said may have come out wrong. I meant people from one guild just adding and changing the structure, content, and links of another guild. Or actually, more importantly deleting sections completely. I think everything you are doing is to clean up the site and make it look professional - I commend you for that.

EDIT: I just saw your Archduchy page - I really like the look of it. I will probably try to emulate it with Eastgate's page at some point.

Edited February 29, 2012 by SkaForHire