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You guys have some big problems[]
Recent vandalism aside, I believe this Wikia has a number of pressing concerns that will impair it in the long run. You may be over 7,000 articles strong, but this means jack. Your organisation is erratic, and the state of your actual card articles varies wildly between contributors.
Problem #1: Individual Maintenance[]
By placing a seal of ownership on a card grants the card immunity to being worked upon by someone else, for fear of harming "their" work. This is in direct conflict with the GNU Free Documentation License, which states that articles can only be uploaded with the express allowance that it can be modified and shaped according to the rules of the Wiki is is posted at, and allows the content to be freely modified as long as credit is granted to every contributor, which is achieved by using edit histories rather than direct citations.
Because of this, there is no will to form a "standard" for how wikitext in articles using templates is presented across multiple articles. This may sound trivial, but is crucial to the introduction of new members, and the cementing for how articles are written and maintained.
Problem #2: Lack of maintenance for Infrastructure[]
This applies to the CardTable template. It is up to the leading SysOps to set an example, and read up on how to implement different functions in the CT template. YGO Wikia managed to implement a Semantic-based searching system, and even before that, we figured out ways to implement ways to store more data for cards, yet still keep the page concise. You should be doing the same.
Problem #3: Lack of continuity[]
Since this is an English Wikia, it should be striving to stay concurrent with the rules as laid down by Konami and Upper Deck Entertainment, with some fair creative license thrown in. Using "Demon" goes against the whole idea of creating a card you wished was in the game, it should be using "Archfiend". This is just one example, but points to a problem where only the top of a very large iceberg can be seen. If this was created for "Fans of the TCG", as the Main Page claims, these discrepancies serve only to say that this is for "Fans of the OCG and TCG", which is different.
Problem #4: Purpose?[]
Wikis should have a clear and community-driven focus in order to be successful; churning out article after article isn't enough. All this site seems to be is a repository for people using the Card Maker Website, as opposed to a site that serves as a functional fictitious catalogue of fan-made cards.
Conclusion[]
The potential is there for a Wiki that is more than it is. It just needs a kick up the backside, and some motivation and co-ordination from one and all to showcase what a community can create.--TwoTailedFox (My Talk Page) 00:36, 5 January 2009 (UTC)
- These are all certainly valid points. I agree that this wiki's present state lacks structure. A wiki is a community-driven effort, so the best starting point it pulling together loose ends. By that, I mean give the community more access to the community. You can't look up a card you don't know exists. So most everyone here is in their own little sphere. There are many small steps we can take towards better networking this community.
- The one thing I seem focused most on is links. If a single card provides easy access to other cards, I believe the rest will be well set into motion. I think the only way we can do this is major improvement to the Template:CardTable which is of course present on most every page. The next best thing that I think will help improve our situation is improve our traffic flow. More users (in theory) means more active people around to make changes. This wiki and the Yu-Gi-Oh! Wikia have many users in common, as users of both sites have a common interest. I'm already working on a rather simple solution for increasing traffic between the two (rather it's already complete as I envisioned it, just need to see some support for the idea). Those two major steps I'd think will get everything set in motion for a better direction. --TerraGamerX 03:59, 7 January 2009 (UTC)