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W I K I B R E A K
Due to real world issues, this user is on an indefinite wikibreak.

NOTICE: I AM NO LONGER ACCEPTING COPY-EDIT REQUESTS.

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Talk page archives

If you have to ask...

If you have to ask what a gold course is, you'll never get one. ;) EVula // talk // // 00:15, 12 June 2007 (UTC)
(I gave up trying to understand what the hell vandals say a long time ago...)

Request

Hi Deckiller, I was wondering if you could help?

A user called User:Gazzer1991 is blatantly uploading fair use content and claiming that he created them, which is pure nonsense. Such things he have upload while claiming creation are album covers, video game screenshots, etc. He even gives some of them graphic names such as Image:Nicoinlondonplayingwithhervagina.jpg, Image:Themotherfuckingjungle.JPG, Image:Anothermotherfuckingjungle.JPG, etc. He got told to refrain from doing this on 3rd June, but uploaded Image:Slayerblood.JPG on 6th June. Every image this user has ever uploaded isn't free content in any way, and is definitely fair use though yet still tagged as though he created them - they need to be deleted. I'm unsure what the course of action is usually in such matters as I've never come across this, so I took it to the ANI board but nobody responded. Can you help? LuciferMorgan 08:31, 12 June 2007 (UTC)

talk out of hand

Deck, Final Fantasy XIII's talk page is being used to discuss about editors' behavior, and none discussed within has any bearing or being helpful to the article whatsoever. As one who has not yet participate in such discussion, I implore your action on this; something that can cease the unrelated discussion - perhaps deletion or locking or archiving, whatever is necessary. Thanks :) — Bluerで す。 10:05, 12 June 2007 (UTC)

Never mind, it was dealt with. — Bluerで す。 06:57, 15 June 2007 (UTC)

Misplaced Pages:Articles for deletion/List of deaths in The Sopranos series

I'd appreciate it if you gave your opinion for the deletion of List of deaths in The Sopranos series at Misplaced Pages:Articles for deletion/List of deaths in The Sopranos series. Thanks. :) The Filmaker 16:00, 12 June 2007 (UTC)

Tags on Races of Zelda

I can understand the tags on the enemies thing, but for the Races page, we're careful to make sure we say "In Majora's Mask" or "according to some characters", like the MOS suggests. Was there a specific section that we forgot to cover, or is there something more that we're missing?KrytenKoro 18:16, 12 June 2007 (UTC)

Wiki Square Enix

I archived the discussion page, take a look! :) Judgesurreal777 03:52, 14 June 2007 (UTC)

Wales's opening sentence

I had a good go at it; let's see how many minutes it lasts! Tony 09:51, 15 June 2007 (UTC)

Notability

Thanks for the link to the rewrite. It's the end of the school year; I'm bogged down in grading exams and other minutiae and haven't yet had time to read it. But I'll make a point to do so this weekend. --EEMeltonIV 13:27, 15 June 2007 (UTC)

Quick question

When typing and using four tildes to sign my posts, it is giving me NicholaiDaedalus instead of —ΔαίδαλοςΣ. So I check my preferences and my signature, and I get a warning that says that my signature is too long and that it needs to be less than 255 characters. The thing is, my signature is only 250 characters including spaces. Is there perhaps an issue that I'm not aware of, or is this just a clerical error? How would I go about correcting this? --NicholaiDaedalus 14:53, 15 June 2007 (UTC)

Mdash? Don't see why it would affect things, nor why it would be a problem now when it wasn't for the last 3 months. Either way, removing the mdash seems to have fixed the issue for now. Thanks for the input. --ΔαίδαλοςΣ 20:43, 15 June 2007 (UTC)

A wikia for the details

I submitted the proposal. You might want to give it a thumbs up. BTW, if it gets approved, do you want to be co-admin ? Seems appropriate since WPFF will be using it a lot ;-) Renmiri 01:57, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

PS:Don't feel bad about me yelling about the merges. It was never personal and I'm still a big fan of you and your work here. And still your friend Renmiri 01:57, 17 June 2007 (UTC)
PPS: Should we add PiccoloNamek to the hall of fame ? I remember his Spira article was excellent! Any other old timers ? Renmiri 01:57, 17 June 2007 (UTC)
Heh, you beat me to it. How could I forget Hibana ? Renmiri 15:20, 20 June 2007 (UTC)
Piccolo helped with FFX and X2 iirc. But my comment was more on the sense of giving pre 2006 people credit. It seems you did that already so never mind ;) Renmiri 23:07, 20 June 2007 (UTC)

Of Course! Star Trek, Babylon V, Zelda, the works :) The idea is to help the fiction side, since the non fiction area already has many sites around Renmiri 20:06, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

Zzzz.. A bit late for me so I just glanced at it and came running to tell you the good news. Tomorrow I'm tied up too, my daughter has a dance event :) How about we do some brainstorming Monday ? If you have time, that is, if not, leave it to me, there's a lot of grunt work to do until we can "open up shop". Monday I'll get the logo, sidebar, etc... done, then import all wikipedia templates so it at least looks decent next time we talk Renmiri 05:56, 24 June 2007 (UTC)
That is great! If you have time, it is pretty straight forward: just do this for the Template namespace. If you don't, don't worry, I'll work on that on Monday. Renmiri 19:08, 24 June 2007 (UTC)
Got a logo (meh, just anything for now) and all the protected templates and TOC templates so far. Any other template category jumps to mind ? Renmiri 01:36, 25 June 2007 (UTC)

*cough* Copyedit

I am completely ignoring your bold note at the top to ask for a teeny favour. Warsaw Uprising is one Piotrus'. He does so much good work, but sometimes struggles a little because of language. Do you mind looking to at least evaluate whether the copy has serious problems? I'm currently editing Belgium, which is slow going. Marskell 08:40, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

Rufus Shinra

I have merged Rufus Shinra into the main article and if I may say I think it reads a little better than some other sections as it doesnt confuse the whole FFVII game and the rest of the Compilation...anywhoo, would you please just give it a look and tell me if you like it, if so I will merge the rest. Thanks Gavin Scott 19:25, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

Active user verification

Hello, Deckiller. Due to the high number of inactive users at WP:WPNN, we are asking that you verify that you are still an active contributor of the project. To do so, please add an asterisk (*) after your name on WP:WPNN. Users without one by the next issue in 2 weeks will be removed off the list. If you have any questions, please contact me on my talk page. Thanks. Diez2 03:36, 19 June 2007 (UTC)

Warning templates

Thanks for your support, Deck :). I admit to being irked by that warning template. I've also made a reply on the talk page; prior to that I already pasted a level 2 "assume good faith" template after I got that message, but ever since was deleted (I deleted the warning as well). — Bluerで す。 14:06, 20 June 2007 (UTC)

Just to clarify, you deleted yours first. Kariteh 15:17, 20 June 2007 (UTC)
Your point being? — Bluerで す。 15:51, 20 June 2007 (UTC)
Same as yours, clarification. Kariteh 16:29, 20 June 2007 (UTC)

Hi,

Hi Could you please look at my 3RR Notice I left on the board should be on the very bottom. Thank you. XGustaX 16:27, 20 June 2007 (UTC)


I sincerely do not intend the disruptive, please no misinterpretations

Sir, you objection to my commenting was unjust. I urge you with respect, please focus primary efforts towards real-world. Thank You Wen Hsing 17:00, 20 June 2007 (UTC)

Square Enix hall of fame

Recently two users have done extremely good and labor intensive work on the Kingdom Hearts (series) articles and the Mana (series) articles, and perhaps we should construct a hall of fame, it might help encourage more participation in the project. Judgesurreal777 23:41, 20 June 2007 (UTC)

If it's recent work you want to praise, how about a "Stars of the Month" section on the project page ? The reason I'm saying that is that the Hall of Fame might get pretty crowded ;) Renmiri 05:50, 24 June 2007 (UTC)
Yeah. Users can nominate a star of the month to make it fair. — Deckiller 05:52, 24 June 2007 (UTC)

Thanks Tyler :)

Thanks very much for wishing me happy birthday! I had a great day - well, it could have been better, I spent all day studying for an exam! But let's concentrate on the positives, hmmm? :) My friends got me a great cake, a lot like this one, and since you've been so kind, I saved you a piece. Hope you enjoy it, and the rest of your day :) Riana (talk) 10:09, 21 June 2007 (UTC)

Not much going out with friends until next week, unfortunately... exams still ongoing :(

reWarsaw

OK, good luck with your exams. We keep pushing the closing time back at FAR, anyhow (just closed Belgium after eight weeks). If you get a chance, you might drop a note to Sandy—mid-year blues. Marskell 12:27, 21 June 2007 (UTC)

email

My reply to you from a while ago bounced back yesterday. Cache full? Tony 02:12, 24 June 2007 (UTC)

pop

Perhaps, then, you can help me to define more closely what I dislike about pop and rock—the particular types, styles, or elements. Tony 15:30, 24 June 2007 (UTC)

Notability (fiction)

Wow, it's an excellent policy proposal - I deliberately interpret it as such, rather than as an essay because I endorse it on the strongest possible terms, as you can imagine. I recently had a run-in with regard to spin-of articles here, but I couldn't effectively convey my point of view which I now found concisely summarised in your draft. When are you going to move it to WP space for approval discussion? —AldeBaer (c) 17:02, 24 June 2007 (UTC)

You see, the in-universe balance problem has been bugging me for some time, but I couldn't pin-point it for all the various involved aspects (like spin-offs etc). For a while, I patiently reworded introductions to make mention of the basic fact that this character and that planet are fictional, but I now know that this is really becoming a major problem on Misplaced Pages, for all the reasons you named, like project- and reader-oriented organisation etc. It's just not enough to approach this on an per article basis (like merge/AfD), because no policy is effectively managing this, so far. I honestly hope your proposal will become an official guideline. —AldeBaer (c) 17:18, 24 June 2007 (UTC)

:WP:FICT Too book oriented, unfair to new media

Wikibooks has a very specific charter and will not allow content pertaining to Video Games, TV Series or other media that has not been published or is too new to warrant a University program about it. Which means that a sizable part of fiction will not be covered by this guideline, re: working with the sister projects. I liked that you added Wikia as an alternative in your original draft, Deck, but I think you should expand it a bit, i.e. mention what kind of fiction goes where. Renmiri 00:03, 25 June 2007 (UTC)

Aye, both a blessing and a curse ;) Renmiri 00:17, 25 June 2007 (UTC)

Transwiking and minor wikis

Sigh. Was hoping to look into the tag mountain of fair use images needing tags; hopefully your proposal for WP:FICT won't completely distract from that. I have some issues with that, but I suppose I'll keep those to the main discussion thread.

The reason I'm dropping off a message here has to do with transwiking, especially the Xenosaga wiki example in your draft. On the general issue of transwiking... let me first state that if good content is inappropriate for Misplaced Pages, transwiking the material then linking to it is a good thing, as it respects that content may be good even if Misplaced Pages isn't the place for it. And an emphasis on "be sure to transwiki the article first!" before redirecting without merging quality articles is absolutely a good thing. Nevertheless... I remain unimpressed with Wikia. The better Misplaced Pages articles on fictional topics have stayed clear of speculation and kept a fine factual account, even if it's mostly in-universe. Sure, not all of them are up to that standard, but a lot of the FF project of 6 months ago seemed pretty good on that count, for example. Wikia seems closer to the horrible fanboy swamps. So I can't help but feel that this is a "ninth best" option or the like. It's better than nothing, but I'd normally much rather see the Misplaced Pages treatment of the topic (and I suppose this ties into the "where should the notability line be drawn?" issue with fiction).

As for the Xeno wiki in particular... I'm not sure it's a good example for the guideline. It doesn't seem to have caught on at all, with no recent changes in the last 10 days. A lightly trafficked Wiki is vulnerable to uncaught passerby vandalism, or, in some ways even worse, a psychotic major editor who sculpts the place into their own personal shrine. Moreover, it seems that the various articles were de-merged to individual articles. What's the point? I'm a mergist largely because that's a better presentation of information, and the lists that were re-split upon moving to the XS wikia are much worse. A quick check of the Final Fantasy wikia shows some similar splits (like the list of FF9 locations) which are meh. Wikis need a critical mass of contributors to work right; perhaps the Xeno wiki should be disbanded with the content moved to a general gaming wiki? I know there are several, but ideally just one should be picked across Misplaced Pages to be favored, with the goal of having it actually be decent. SnowFire 00:41, 25 June 2007 (UTC)

I proposed a new Wikia exactly to avoid that,. It has just been accepted and Deck is co-admin check it out Renmiri 00:50, 25 June 2007 (UTC)
Well, I saw that before, but you seem to be selling it as a "temporary waystation" before moving a topic to its own wiki. I think that most topics don't deserve their own personal wiki, and ideally there'd be something like only three or four general wikias gone to (one for literature, one for games, one for television, etc. And I know that some already exist.). If I misunderstood the nature of that project, then feel free to correct me, but if residence at the annex is temporary, then it's probably not an appropriate link to toss at the end of a main article should a subtopic be moved. By the way, does the annex have access to en's image files? That would get rid of a major barrier in proper transwiking- the moving of all the images. SnowFire 01:05, 25 June 2007 (UTC)
It is a waystation in a way, but the original version still stays. It can still be edited, but there will probably be the restrictions of Misplaced Pages policy. We should have most of the details worked out in a few days. — Deckiller 01:08, 25 June 2007 (UTC)
What he said ;) Also, literature seems to be well covered in Wikibooks and Wikisource so I see no reason for us to duplicate it in the Annex. Games, TV and other kinds of new media (Anime ?) don't have a home though, unless they get a big enough following, and even then when they get their own Wiki the editing policy and focus changes a lot, as you noticed with Xenosaga. The Annex would be a good place to keep them, as close to Misplaced Pages as possible. Of course we would add links to the specific wikis if available. Renmiri 17:37, 25 June 2007 (UTC)
Deck, for books and stuff that would be more at home on Wikibooks I was thinking we would accept them for a little while but suggest people to move them to the proper place ASAP. The reason for this "tolerance" is to make Annex n00b friendly, i.e. if someone ends up there we help them find a home for the content. What are your thoughts on this ? Renmiri 17:37, 25 June 2007 (UTC)
Sounds like a good idea (sorry I'm not responding on your talkpage, but I'm anticipating a flood of comments/suggestions/ideas, so it'll be easier to keep it organized in one place). — Deckiller 17:53, 25 June 2007 (UTC)

Fiction (notability)

I have two minor ideas regarding the proposal: Do you think it'd possible to establish when article spinout are justified and when not? I'm asking with special regard to "XYZ in fiction"-type articles as spinouts of non-fiction subjects. Obviously, some are very well justified and are fully developed, like e.g. Earth in fiction, but many are not (edit: and I'm afraid most feature only primary sources, which may be yet another issue to mention).

The second idea concerns specialised wikis like, first and foremost, Wookiepedia. Is there any way to establish a rule of thumb as to when an article is more suitable there? It may e.g. help reduce the impact of ILIKEIT votes in AfDs if a guideline (preferably this one) offered some general advice on the issue.

Well, just my 2 cents. Best regards, —AldeBaer (c) 17:11, 25 June 2007 (UTC)

Those are good ideas. For the last one, though, we're emphasizing no AfDs unless the info can't go anywhere or be merged. In general, though, the idea is that articles/lists that can never evolve beyond in-universe summaries should be transwikied/merged. It might need to be clarified. — Deckiller 17:57, 25 June 2007 (UTC)
Please disregard my AfD comment, you said what I actually wanted to say. I'd absolutely welcome that clarification. —AldeBaer (c) 18:19, 25 June 2007 (UTC)
Unfortunately, people are "discussing" philosophical tangents on the mailing list instead of the rewrite proposal. Sigh. — Deckiller 18:46, 25 June 2007 (UTC)
Took a glance and I see what you mean. But Phil Sandifer has a point, in my opinion. Maybe the essential necessary changes could be better implemented via a WP:WAF rewrite. —AldeBaer (c) 19:15, 25 June 2007 (UTC)
I would prefer a single, consolidated rule as well, but it might be impossible. With so many notability guidelines out there, it would be taken the wrong way (people would think dozens of in-universe articles are okay). If others bring it up, though, then something should probably be discussed. — Deckiller 19:19, 25 June 2007 (UTC)
Hmm.. isn't the most important point to emphasise the out-universe perspective as sort of a prerequisite to justify the article in the first place? The rest would then automatically follow from the attribution policy. —AldeBaer (c) 19:23, 25 June 2007 (UTC)
Generally, yes, but the guideline rewrite combines the relevant points and also explains how to handle notable/non-notable topics in fiction. — Deckiller 19:45, 25 June 2007 (UTC)
(edit conflict) What I mean is: Combining NOR/ATT with the drive for an out-universe perspective (which in turn means: real world notability) could do the job. —AldeBaer (c) 19:47, 25 June 2007 (UTC)
Indeed. But people will need this written on a clear guideline page like Notability (fiction) for clarity and consistency's sake. Putting all our rules about fiction in one place could cause those problems like users unsure of what's "notable" or not (since WAF would have a lot more text on it). Separate guidelines (notability and a subarticle, the WAF manual of style) probably help clarify things. — Deckiller 20:04, 25 June 2007 (UTC)
Agreed, I think I properly evaluated the respective purposes of FICT and WAF only now. As I understand it, the notability guideline should serve as a guide to establish whether a subject is in itself sufficiently notable for its own article in the first place, ideally explaining when and when not spinouts are justified, e.g. by emphasizing article size. I.e. the rule of thumb I'd prefer would be not to split when in doubt. I don't know how this could be coded into FICT, but page size may be one aspect of it.
Regarding the emphasis on out-of-universe perspective necessary for articles that do have a notable fictional subject, I'm preparing a rewrite of the first few paragraphs of WAF and see where it goes. Your input would be most welcome (my sandbox). —AldeBaer (c) 15:24, 26 June 2007 (UTC)
So in a nutshell, the WP:FICT rewrite will still establish that notability involves having out-of-universe information (aka reliable secondary sources for fiction) and good organization, and WP:WAF will be tweaked so that it is more linked with the rewrite? — Deckiller 15:40, 26 June 2007 (UTC)
The rewrite basically says that info should only be split (1) if the main page gets to long and (2) if there is sufficient out-of-universe content in the subarticle/split article to show notability. Like you said, perhaps a specific length might help lessen shades of grey. — Deckiller 15:41, 26 June 2007 (UTC)
Ok, I finished my somewhat bold proposal. I also incorporated your edit to warn against stuffing articles with too much minor trivia. —AldeBaer (c) 17:44, 26 June 2007 (UTC)
Cool. I made a small tweak to the lead to clarify notability. — Deckiller 17:53, 26 June 2007 (UTC)
Good thing. One minor issue, though: Isn't notability technically speaking the availability of reliable sources rather than their inclusion? Not entirely sure, but I remember some AfD debates where this came up as an argument to keep completely unreferenced articles. —AldeBaer (c) 18:01, 26 June 2007 (UTC)
Technically, yeah; if users can prove that such sources exist, then the topic is notable (and should be kept for a period of time), but it's good to encourage users to add them from the start. It can probably be reworded on WAF to just say "availability" since it's outlined in FICT. — Deckiller 18:04, 26 June 2007 (UTC)
How about this? —AldeBaer (c) 18:06, 26 June 2007 (UTC)
Looks good. — Deckiller 18:23, 26 June 2007 (UTC)

Ok, what's next? Post it to WikiEN-l? —AldeBaer (c) 18:33, 26 June 2007 (UTC)

Honestly, I'm done with the mailing list. They never actually read the proposals; instead, they make assumptions and force people into redundant answers. — Deckiller 18:40, 26 June 2007 (UTC)
It's probably more fun to shoot down others' work with a sniper rifle. However, how about VP? Or we could wait for BrianSmithson's input and call it consensus .-) —AldeBaer (c) 18:56, 26 June 2007 (UTC)
Btw: So may mail did get through... it gave me that waiting for approval bounce at first. —AldeBaer (c) 18:57, 26 June 2007 (UTC)
Most of the established editors of fiction are generally on the same page. If Smithson approves, then we can probably implement the changes without much flak. WP:FICT, on the other hand, will take much more time. — Deckiller 19:16, 26 June 2007 (UTC)
Weird, seeing as it makes much more sense and the current guideline is not prepared to lead to better organisation (which is how I interpret the primary purpose of your rewriting efforts). —AldeBaer (c) 19:24, 26 June 2007 (UTC)
That, and the current guideline basically allows things that are not notable (lists of minor characters). With the rewrite, it becomes clear that it's all about true notability and organization, like you said. — Deckiller 19:45, 26 June 2007 (UTC)

Please take a look at my second round draft. —AldeBaer (c) 14:55, 27 June 2007 (UTC)

My dear Tyler

Thank you for all that you have done!
How much love resides therein!
All one's gifts are never gone:
Not seen, perhaps, but stored within.
Kindness is an inner sun.

Your unspent heart a message sends
Of grace and sacrifice hard-won
Upon which happiness depends!

For your warm words any time I need them
and for more than a year of wonderful friendship
Thank you so much, dear Tyler! :)

Love,
Phaedriel
19:00, 25 June 2007 (UTC)

Hey

Saw your note on Sharon's page, hope you're not feeling too stressed out. We need you around here... the sane version of you! :) Take care. Riana (talk) 22:36, 25 June 2007 (UTC)
Put the mailing list in the junk! The real Misplaced Pages is much more fun :) Riana (talk) 23:28, 25 June 2007 (UTC)
Heh. Well, it's good for some stuff... asking other people's opinions... but the mudslinging rate is often high and people are less likely to control their tempers in real time, which is when it gets stressful. Riana (talk) 23:35, 25 June 2007 (UTC)
Interesting, I read the proposal, looks good... we'll be in for some interesting conversations, I think :) Riana (talk) 00:00, 26 June 2007 (UTC)
This Defender of the Wiki Barnstar is presented to

Deckiller
for his hard work,
his courage to stand for the best interests of Misplaced Pages and his integrity.
You are a model and an inspiration to us all.
We love you, Tyler!
Phaedriel
23:09, 25 June 2007 (UTC)

Tyler, baby, I see you're going through a rough moment yourself, and tho I haven't read the mailing list lately, I can figure it out from your explanation. I just read your guideline, and it strikes me as an excellent proposal; with your permission, I'll gladly chime in at the discussion. But please, know that many, many of us who value your excellent and hard work stand by your side; you're not, in any way, facing this alone. I know I speak for many people when I say you're one of the greatest assets our community can boast of counting on today, and no amount of silly discussion will make us change our mind. Please, if you feel like venting it all out, my emaila ddy is just a click away from here, and I promise my shoulder is just waiting for you to lean on, and my ears are ready to hear your worries and your concerns. We love you, Tyler! Phaedriel - 23:09, 25 June 2007 (UTC)

copy-edit

Can it wait a few days? RL work frenzy. Tony 01:26, 26 June 2007 (UTC)

Can we swap weather?

Noting the warmth is giving you stress - I'd be happy to actually get some, you know, sunshine in Summer. To use the vernacular, over here, it's fucking pissing it down. Seriously, half of Yorkshire (where I live) is flooded. Will 01:36, 26 June 2007 (UTC)

95 degrees is about 33 Celsius, right? While I agree it would be torture, it'd still be nice to get warmth. Luckily, I'm not flooded. Being halfway up a river valley has its advantages :) Will 01:42, 26 June 2007 (UTC)

Telecommunication

Hi,

I am planning to submit the telecommunication article for featured article status in a few day's time. I welcome any thoughts you have on the article before I do this.

Thanks, Cedars 00:41, 27 June 2007 (UTC)

BTW

I want you to know I think your goals with the whole fiction notability thing are in earnest. Please don't take my counterarguments personally -- I trust that your intentions are well placed.

However, I believe you are looking at the problem of improving Misplaced Pages the wrong way. One question to consider is this: Assume that Misplaced Pages will be around 20 years from now. How many articles will it contain if it continues to grow at current rates? What percentage will today's Misplaced Pages take up? What percentage of the edits and contributions will have been done by the editors of the first 6 years?

(For a hint, see Misplaced Pages:Modelling Misplaced Pages's growth.)

As I've written before, my take is that you can define the quality of Misplaced Pages to be a function of both the depth of coverage (using that as shorthand for the whole specific/accurate/verifiable/sourced class of concepts) and the breadth of coverage ( i.e. not missing information).

In fact, I would think that one *should* define the quality of Misplaced Pages as a function of both.

Then the "quality" of Misplaced Pages doesn't necessarily go down when you add more material -- though the average "depth" will go down. Similarly quality doesn't necessarily go up when you make content rules more restrictive, since every day the amount of potential information to be included in Misplaced Pages increases by some completely unreasonable amount (thus the average breadth goes down).

If our goal is to consistently have the overall quality of Misplaced Pages to go up (or at least stay stable) then that allows us to recognize that we should have standards for new material, but not to the degree that they overly restrict the inflow of new material. Where that inflection point exists is of course a matter of debate, but we can break down the relevant factors:

  • what is the average initial depth of included material
  • what percentage of the current universe of outside knowledge is represented on Misplaced Pages
  • at what rate does the depth of included material increase over time (i.e. how fast does unsourced material get sourced, grammar improved, copyright of images checked, specificity increase, etc.)
  • at what rate does the universe of outside knowledge increase over time (how much news is there every day?)

Again, these are all pretty damn subjective but it gives us a guide for understanding how to consider policies or the wisdom of spending energy and time deleting Dark Jedi from Misplaced Pages or merging franked mail into franking or concept mining into taxonomic classification or Captaincy General of the Philippines into Spanish East Indies. --The Cunctator 05:21, 27 June 2007 (UTC)

Basically, you are saying that dealing with a guideline for fiction is not worth the time and effort, because it will not necessarily increase the overall quality? This guideline doesn't really overly restrict the inflow of new material, because it's not merged or transwikied on sight; it is given time to establish itself as noted in outside sources per the main WP:N guideline and WP:V. The topics, such as the games or movies themselves, can almost certainly establish notability; the point is to prevent the coverage from going out of balance. With this rewrite, it's more about the subarticles, not the actual works. Most non-notable works are speedied by administrators anyway; it's the subarticles that are the main target of interest (and hopefully encouraging new users to put more effort into their work by establishing notability right away). — Deckiller 05:32, 27 June 2007 (UTC)
With respect to the subarticles themselves, the rewrite will still allow newcomers to drop in and edit the information. In the end, the rewrite won't even restrict a ton of these subarticles; it will just require research to show availability for reliable secondary sources, and better organization to prevent excessive details. For all we know, it might get more people active, since a well written fiction article can be enjoyable to write and provide good experience on Misplaced Pages article editing on the whole. And the rewrite is very positive about "non-notable" articles/details, and it highly encourages the information moved to a more appropriate place, and that users enjoy helping the balanced articles at Misplaced Pages and the in-universe databases at Wikia or wherever. — Deckiller 05:41, 27 June 2007 (UTC)
Also, it hadn't occurred to me before, but nothing prevents getting an article BACK into Misplaced Pages from a Wikia (particularly the Annex which we intend to keep close to Misplaced Pages standards). This means articles that were not given time will also be retrievable easily. Or the giving an article time might mean keeping it at Annex for a while while we dig for more references. Renmiri 18:02, 27 June 2007 (UTC)

A reversion of one of your comments

Look, I kept running into edit conflicts when I recently tried to reply to you, and in the end I got fed up with it and just cut and pasted a prior version of your comment back in as it was getting too hard to reply. It's not a nice thing to do, and I apologise. I appreciate it's hard to make arguments on Misplaced Pages at times, however, you might want to look at WP:TALK#Own_comments. It's better to strike through than to revise your edits. Anyway, I did what I did, and that's why, and I apologise for doing it. Steve block Talk 18:23, 28 June 2007 (UTC)

  • I don't fully agree. Characters of Final Fantasy VIII seems to me to be full of what A man in black just told me was original research, looking at the references and the amount of times manuals are cited as sources. For me, if an article is in bad shape, just fix it or ignore it. I've given up on writing rules. Every time you write a rule, in a months time it has become something so far removed from what you meant it's worthless. I'd rather just write articles the best I can. I don't deny you have good intentions, I just think that about two months after your proposal is accepted that vast numbers of articles will be deleted for failing it, rather than sitting here, doing nobody any harm until they get polished into meeting your standard sometime in the future. For me, there is no deadline. Steve block Talk 18:42, 28 June 2007 (UTC)
    • Look, if you believe in it and think it can make a difference then keep on with it. Keep pushing it and working out where to go with it. You can certainly point to a consensus on the talk page, and my comments aside, I don't stand in the way of a consensus. You can't ever come to a decent compromise, you just have to hold your breath, jump in and hope for the best. Steve block Talk 20:00, 28 June 2007 (UTC)

wikibreak

Hey, I hope everything turns out well. —AldeBaer (c) 19:09, 29 June 2007 (UTC)

Hopefully, yes. It seemed so abrupt and since you wrote indefinite, I decided to send a sincere albeit generic message of good wishes. —AldeBaer (c) 19:18, 29 June 2007 (UTC)