Wikipedia

[Skarlath]

How many of you frequent Wikipedia?

I personally find it a fantastic source of information. On the average night I will have opened it once or twice to read up about various things. I don't use it's news though, just its databank. I am well aware that there is a high liklihood there will be factual errors, or even bias present in various articles, but for the most part I find that wikipedia contains a huge amount of knowledge that either suffices my curiosity, or acts as a springboard by providing reference links.

How many of you have ever submitted something to Wikipedia?

I havent ever written anything as large as a simple stub, but I corrected a spelling error once, much to my great excitement. I just can't help but feel excited about Wikipedia - it's the way the internet should be for the most part. Something that is concise, solid information about anything you could possibly wish. With scores of new articles being submitted every day, it is just an explosion of growth.

During a recent theological discussion on the OVF, one poster stated that they wished that information, such as that regarding the discussion at the time, was easier to access as unless you delve deep it's often tough to find real facts and truths. Wikipedia is a vehicle for this pure brand of information sharing.

And I love it.

[Therian]

The wiki's a lot of fun - it will be great to see how it grows and develops, and where people will take it. Because anyone can submit info, it may end up with a whole lot of content which none of us have even thought to record about a MMO before.

[I'm kinda looking forward to seeing what people write on their server pages (http://wiki.silkyvenom.com/index.php/Category:Vanguard_Servers). I'm sure some of them will be contentious, but I really like the idea of an actual history of individual servers being kept.]

[Havelock]

[I'm kinda looking forward to seeing what people write on their server pages (http://wiki.silkyvenom.com/index.php/Category:Vanguard_Servers). I'm sure some of them will be contentious, but I really like the idea of an actual history of individual servers being kept.]

I was unaware we were offering server pages. :p That's a spectacular idea - whatever server we end up on, I'll definitely be doing my part as a historian.

[Therian]

I was unaware we were offering server pages. :p That's a spectacular idea - whatever server we end up on, I'll definitely be doing my part as a historian.

What's an encyclopaedia of all things Vanguard without a history of the servers, after all? The achievements of the players, and the weird things that happen are usually more interesting when looking back than the exact crit rate of such and such a weapon. I'm sure there'll be pages for all sorts of strange stuff, from the equivalent of Fansy the Bard, to details of the interesting GM-run events.

There's also a 'game firsts (http://wiki.silkyvenom.com/index.php/Game_First)' page, which again should prove a hot page to watch.

[Skarlath]

I was actually referring for the most part to THE Wikipedia (http://www.wikipedia.org). :)

Smaller Wikis, such as SV's VG Wiki are just some of the fantastic creative offshoots.

Server pages and Game First pages are great ideas. The sort of thing that really brings a communtiy (or at least community-centric players) together. :)

[Havelock]

I was actually referring for the most part to THE Wikipedia (http://www.wikipedia.org). :)

Smaller Wikis, such as SV's VG Wiki are just some of the fantastic creative offshoots.

Server pages and Game First pages are great ideas. The sort of thing that really brings a communtiy (or at least community-centric players) together. :)

Yeah, but in the grand tradition of the internet (and pretty much the world), I talked about the topic I knew about. :p

THE wikipedia can pretty inconsistent, with some brilliant stuff and some real zaniness. It's an awesome idea, though, one of the most innovative offsprings of the internet. My big gripe is the heavily politicized back-and-forth I've seen there, at least on the issues I really care about.

For non-political issues, the only things I've really looked up there are my alma maters (I found the entry for one once while googling and checked out the others). Those pages are awesome.

[Therian]

As to the original Wikipedia, I find myself using it more and more to locate information on obscure stuff which would never be included in a 'real' encyclopedia (like info about the entire series of Final Fantasy games).

Vanguard has an entry over there!

[Arctic_Slicer]

Wikipedia is overated. The fact that any dumbass can come along and submit information to it hurts in credibility. The now famous wikipedia has many articles that are just plain wrong. I don't use it that much for that purpose.

[Skarlath]

But there is still a lot of good information in there, making it a worthwhile visit if you want to look something up.

Therian is right in that it has such obscure topics in it that you are amazed to come up with a hit when you search for whatever bizzar-ity popped into your head.

If someone messes around with pages, edits are monitored and can be reversed. If someone inputs dud info, or biased material, it can be flagged, edited and such. The information in there isn't always the exact truth, but it will head that way. Each time people add and edit an article it will move closer and closer to being perfect.

Real encyclopedia's can't possibly include information about the Final Fantasy series, but a fan who knows a lot can easily share his knowledge with the world. That's why it's great. :)