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Why the Wiki is failing and how to fix it ... (hopefully)

wiki fail

6 replies to this topic

#1
Scientia

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Ok so this won't be a rage driven hate speech right now, i just want to inform everyone (and mainly the admins) about some serious issues wich lower the quality of the wiki extremely..

Because I don't want to make it more complicate than it is, I'll just write down my thoughts as simple as I can (e.g. problem, why it's a problem, solution.)

Buttons AND Links for Modpack Selection:
It is confusing and has a bad overview, you should rely on one style only (Maybe if the user clicks on Direwolf Pack, than the different versions of the modpack become visible and he can choose which version he wants 1.7.10, 1.6.4 etc. but make the latest Version of the Pack somehow VISIBLE)

Kicking out the "outdated" Versions:
We are currently familiar with 1.7.10 modpacks, one step back would be the 1.6.4 modpacks, don't wipe them completely from the frontpage. Give the potential visitor the chance to select at least the second latest version of his favorite modpack.

Tutorial Section:
Make this collection of tutorials an eyecatcher ! Currently it hides itself in the top right section. It's important for totally new players because they get a very basic first start tutorial, this was very useful for me too when i started playing FTB.


Full List of Mods:

Create a single link for the "Full List of Mods" e.g. right below the Modpack Icons, and name the link something like: "Not enough ?, here is a complete overview of all modpacks." This will reduce pulling requests from the frontpage and thus will increase performance. Make the overview a little nice btw.


"Things to do": Highlight this as well, as it may help to find visitors to contribute to the wiki (not that important).

Style Guide: If someone wants to edit or create a new page, always remember them to stick to the style guide. Just add a little attention sign right above the editor or something.


Sample articles: Don't hide the sample articles at the bottom of the style guide. They are very important to keep the unique style and if everyone sticks to them, it's easier to read and browse the wiki !
Also, notify the potential contributor that they exist. 

Don't mix up tutorial and templates, thats what you did there, it's half explanational and half template (the modpack template).
Separate them, so one can easily copy paste it to the new article and overwrite the sample text.

(Or add them to the templates already present in the editor)

Make the sample pages a little nicer and maybe clean them up.

Mod Versioning:
Remove the version numbers of the single mods listed at the modpacks main article. It's not very helpful at all and one can easily get to the modpakcs atlassian by clicking the link provided in the article.

Just write down the modpack name and author, they won't change that often.

It's easy to change the modpack version number, as it's fast but nobody wants to write down all changes made with an update.


(optional) Contribution score:
Maybe you should add a little "knowledge" score which is a score that consist of the number and length of contributions, just to have something that makes accounts somehow more "valuable".

 

 

 

 

Thank you for taking your time and reading this. I hope it wakes the one or other admin up to do something about the current state of the wiki.

Again, this is not meant to be offending, if it sounds like this sometimes I apologize for it, it's just my interpretation of the current circumstances.

Oh, there is one last thing which comes to my mind ;).

Create a matrix or something for things that need fixing, like adding the suggestions, tagging them with "useful, unuseful, not realizable etc.), because you don't want the same content suggest over and over again. (Which I bet,did too)

Greetings
 



#2
dgelessus

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The wiki is failing? That's news to me... Feedback is of course always welcome, but there's no need to go into "the end is nigh" mode just yet. ;)

 

Buttons AND Links for Modpack Selection:
It is confusing and has a bad overview, you should rely on one style only (Maybe if the user clicks on Direwolf Pack, than the different versions of the modpack become visible and he can choose which version he wants 1.7.10, 1.6.4 etc. but make the latest Version of the Pack somehow VISIBLE)

Not quite sure what you mean here... The buttons are meant for quick access to the current "popular" modpacks (admittedly it isn't updated very often, and we have no way to tell which modpacks are actually the most popular) and the section below also serves as a compact overview of the current versions and mods of packs that are somewhat recent.

 

Kicking out the "outdated" Versions:
We are currently familiar with 1.7.10 modpacks, one step back would be the 1.6.4 modpacks, don't wipe them completely from the frontpage. Give the potential visitor the chance to select at least the second latest version of his favorite modpack.

What modpacks are listed on the main page depends on whether they are still being updated. That is no longer the case for the 1.6 packs (at least FTB's official ones) so they are no longer listed. (btw I suggested the same thing as you a while ago, but never got any response.)

 

Tutorial Section:
Make this collection of tutorials an eyecatcher ! Currently it hides itself in the top right section. It's important for totally new players because they get a very basic first start tutorial, this was very useful for me too when i started playing FTB.

The tutorials have never been really updated since MC 1.5 or maybe 1.6, frankly they're not very useful to anyone playing newer modpacks.

 

Full List of Mods:

Create a single link for the "Full List of Mods" e.g. right below the Modpack Icons, and name the link something like: "Not enough ?, here is a complete overview of all modpacks." This will reduce pulling requests from the frontpage and thus will increase performance. Make the overview a little nice btw.

Possibly. That would make sense if the "mod list boxes" were on that page instead of the main page.

 

"Things to do": Highlight this as well, as it may help to find visitors to contribute to the wiki (not that important).

There are far more people who read the wiki than those who edit it, and there are only so many things that fit at the top of the main page. I'm also not sure that there are many people who would start contributing based on that to-do list, most constructive edits are small sporadic fixes and additions to single pages, which people do because they notice something is wrong or missing.

 

Style Guide: If someone wants to edit or create a new page, always remember them to stick to the style guide. Just add a little attention sign right above the editor or something.

That would probably be a good idea. There are of course many people who can't be bothered to even look at the style guide, but a notice above the edit box would still be more prominent than a button in the toolbar.

 

Sample articles: Don't hide the sample articles at the bottom of the style guide. They are very important to keep the unique style and if everyone sticks to them, it's easier to read and browse the wiki !
Also, notify the potential contributor that they exist. 

Don't mix up tutorial and templates, thats what you did there, it's half explanational and half template (the modpack template).
Separate them, so one can easily copy paste it to the new article and overwrite the sample text.

(Or add them to the templates already present in the editor)

Make the sample pages a little nicer and maybe clean them up.

The sample articles are important, but basic knowledge of the main style guide is still required. Again, I'm not sure what would be a better place to put them.

 

Mod Versioning:
Remove the version numbers of the single mods listed at the modpacks main article. It's not very helpful at all and one can easily get to the modpakcs atlassian by clicking the link provided in the article.

Just write down the modpack name and author, they won't change that often.

It's easy to change the modpack version number, as it's fast but nobody wants to write down all changes made with an update.

No - by that logic we should not list the mods at all, because the Atlassian page already does. The author of the mod is completely irrelevant to the modpack, that information does not belong on the modpack pages, it goes into the mod articles' infoboxes. The mod list should show the "contents" of the modpack, i. e. which version of which mod is included, as well as other relevant details (e. g. optional mods).

 

(optional) Contribution score:
Maybe you should add a little "knowledge" score which is a score that consist of the number and length of contributions, just to have something that makes accounts somehow more "valuable".

Like, ya know, Special:ContributionScores? (Which RZR0 still dominates with his constant item image uploads. :P)

 

Thank you for taking your time and reading this. I hope it wakes the one or other admin up to do something about the current state of the wiki.

In this case I like to say "if you see something wrong, fix it", but most of the things you listed are not something that could or should be changed without discussion. The point still stands though - if you think the modpack list could use some work, by all means, go ahead and improve it. :)

 

> Again, this is not meant to be offending, if it sounds like this sometimes I apologize for it, it's just my interpretation of the current circumstances.

 

Same goes for my post, none of my answers are meant to be rude or offensive. I'd also like to note that these are my personal opinions, I haven't discussed this with any other admins and cannot speak for them.

 

PS: The forum software just told me that my post contains too many quote blocks, hence the odd formatting of the last quote.


--dgelessus (pm · user page · user talk · contribs · bot · fsck · mcf · mcwiki · SHUT UP)

#3
felinoel

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The wiki is failing? That's news to me... 


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We need to make default article pages! Discuss their designs here!

#4
ostPavel

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"Failing" is probably a strong verb, plus it automatically makes us look like we're being defensive. Maybe a neutral title, like "How to improve the wiki" is more suitable. But don't worry, we aren't being defensive, I (we?) am glad to see feedback, both positive and negative, considering the fact that we get almost none. 

 

Most users who come to the wiki are just reading. We get approx. 2 mln visitors a month (RZR0 has the exact numbers, I am just using a website evaluation tool, which might be incorrect). Only a tiny bit of those 2 mln users actually contribute new content. That's why it is important for us admins to listen to everyone's opinion.

 

Dgelessus addressed most of the issues in your post, so I won't cover them one by one, but I'd like to say a few things.

 

First of all, the wiki is made by users for users. Don't mind our admin titles. We started as simple users, then got promoted to contributors, then we received an admin title. In fact, the only noticeable difference between a contributor and an admin is the ability of the latter to ban IPs and delete multiple pages at once.

 

Our wiki is (at least trying to be) very open. Most pages can be edited by anyone, even an anonymous user. (Sadly, some pages are constantly targeted by vandals so they are "protected" - only registered users can edit those). Tutorials, templates, talk pages - you can edit anything. Our admin team isn't a closed club - any active contributor has a great chance to become an admin one day if their edits are persistent (I think that in fact the chance is 100% - nobody was ever rejected). If you did check out the "All time" section of Special:Contribution Scores, don't worry, you don't need a few thousands of edits to become an admin - it's just because most of us are here since 2013 :P

 

So, to conclude this,

 

 

I hope it wakes the one or other admin up to do something about the current state of the wiki.

 You have as much power to change/improve things as we do. Don't worry about your edits. If we don't like something and change it, it's not because the admin team is displeased. We are acting as (and we in fact are) common users, too.

 

PS 

Spoiler

My contributions || Herp derp || Out of order


#5
felinoel

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First of all, the wiki is made by users for users. Don't mind our admin titles. We started as simple users, then got promoted to contributors, then we received an admin title. In fact, the only noticeable difference between a contributor and an admin is the ability of the latter to ban IPs and delete multiple pages at once.

Well... some of us are from around before the Contributor rank existed...
 

Our wiki is (at least trying to be) very open. Most pages can be edited by anyone, even an anonymous user. (Sadly, some pages are constantly targeted by vandals so they are "protected" - only registered users can edit those). Tutorials, templates, talk pages - you can edit anything. Our admin team isn't a closed club - any active contributor has a great chance to become an admin one day if their edits are persistent (I think that in fact the chance is 100% - nobody was ever rejected). If you did check out the "All time" section of Special:Contribution Scores, don't worry, you don't need a few thousands of edits to become an admin - it's just because most of us are here since 2013 :P
 
So, to conclude this,
 You have as much power to change/improve things as we do. Don't worry about your edits. If we don't like something and change it, it's not because the admin team is displeased. We are acting as (and we in fact are) common users, too.

True, as I always say, "If you see something wrong, fix it."
Also to work off of what ost is saying, if an admin edits your edit or any other edit that you disagree with, don't feel like you can't say anything. We (I?) are always open to listen if you think something should be done in a particular matter.
 

most of us are here since 2013 :P

2012.


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#6
ZL123

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2012.

Did those scores carry over from the old wikia site? If so, then sure. If not, 2013.


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Hope I helped!

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#7
RZR0

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Did those scores carry over from the old wikia site? If so, then sure. If not, 2013.

I think so, for people who retained their old username.


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