User talk:Pling/The failures and misgivings of a Guild Wars Wiki

That...

... was really a nice text wall (probably the best I read in the last weeks :P). Thanks for that, Pling, but I doubt it will change anything (sadly :( ) poke | talk 20:40, 16 May 2008 (UTC)

I actually thought i get disliked from people if i'm going to do my stuff without greatly looking through all this policy stuff. tbh, i wouldn't even have read this entire page if i hadn't casually read my name when browsing your comment. So did i get your point of view right: You wan't less policy reworking, and more contributions directly concerning GW as otherwise the entire policy stuff misses his actual task? —ZerphaThe Improver 20:50, 16 May 2008 (UTC)

Yes; you're an example of how it should be. -- Brains12 21:04, 16 May 2008 (UTC)

I'm glad to hear that. But don't forget that i also spend much time on talk pages, what serves fun and not GW. —ZerphaThe Improver 21:10, 16 May 2008 (UTC)

That's a good thing too -- it's not plausible to be working on the Guild Wars stuff non-stop. Talk pages give you a break from that, while still giving you the fun with the rest of the community. The problems come when the discussions become dramatic - instead of discussion simply giving a break or giving something a little different to do for a while, it becomes the sole reason for editing the wiki. That results in the problems we have now - politics and wastes of time. -- Brains12 21:13, 16 May 2008 (UTC)

It's funny. I thought I remember someones consideration for b'crat not being taken seriously because they were not very onvolved in policy talks and the sort. But I do very much agree with you.
I think as the wiki grows and the Guild Wars world stays the same, you will start seeing this sort of shift away from productivity and into bureaucracy. Lots of people are willing and eager to help when almost every idea they have has yet to be done. But as the wiki grows, there will be less and less to do that would not be described as tedium (such as hunting down all the images in the Category:Image needed or difficult to research or describe (such as landmarks). Editors want to stay involved, but do not have much left that they want or even can to do...so they police the recent changes and write draft upon draft. I believe the major source of this failure you speak of is that the world of Guild Wars is much more finite than this planet earth. Mohnzh say what? 22:14, 16 May 2008 (UTC)

When policy becomes so prominent in daily wiki life, one would expect a bureaucrat would be involved in something to do with it. Sure, it may not be right, but it's one of the things that would/should/could take up some of the time of a prospective bureaucrat.

The problem is that the people who would rather get involved in bureaucracy rather than productivity have been evident since, by the looks of archives and previous discussions, the beginnings of the wiki. I wasn't there during that time, so I don't have first hand experience; however, one can tell rather accurately from references to previous heated discussions and reading the discussions themselves. -- Brains12 22:25, 16 May 2008 (UTC)

I like this, Pling. I really do. Everyone (even you and I are victim) has gravitated away from policy and more towards bitching at each other about minute details recently. It's a shame that this won't accomplish anything in a community such as ours. Reading this, I've realized that all of us could be doing a lot better. Obviously, we all look at the perfect wiki as an anarchy where everyone is looked upon equally and there are no Raptors or Grinshes (see below), and in today's world, in real life and technologically, that simply cannot happen, because everyone is too self-centered and egotistical (again, that includes you and me and everyone else here). Anyways, I've realized super-drama discussions such as those in election time aren't very good things at all. I'm off to filling out stubs... Calor 00:33, 17 May 2008 (UTC)

This is actaully a really nice little page you have here. I realized (or was told rather) that documenting the game was more important than what I was doing, and I know that I have been involved in some of that drama you speak of and I feel now as if I need to stop being so caught up in policy drama and stuff, and more about the content. I am taking this as a sign less policy more content. Now if you will excuse me, there is a collectors project I should be working on atm --Shadowphoenix 01:52, 17 May 2008 (UTC)

This really sums up what I feel is, indeed, bogging down the work that could be getting done. Whenever I chance upon a topic being heavily debated, it is either loaded with edit conflicts or just seems to be pointless bickering. But when a major vein of actual work is found, such as image tagging or general editing, I don't exactly see many people jumping up. It amuses me to see how many Collector and Crafter weapons have so little acquisition work, when it's just a search in the "What links here" section. And now I'm getting tangential. However, this isn't to say that I believe policy is currently a bundle of hogwash; GWW:FORMAT seems to be in a nice state, though since it pertains to Mainspace I dare say it should. However, if we could just wash ourselves of certain pests and trolls, maybe a bit of the drama may be cut. No, I'm not currently glaring at any part of my computer screen, that would smack of oddity. Another tangent. Starting over seems a bit intense, unless all the mainspace would be preserved. Since the extra indent means I am, supposedly, referring to above posts, I would like to say that I wish we could have a wiki a little more perfect, where irony and sheer stupidity didn't mix into one bowl (on which I assume some vandalisms are based). Sure, this would cordone off another section of society onto which it would be unethical to bear my ire, but I guess we should all be prepared for that sacrifice. I just hope that the last message anyone translates from this is "bomb t3h p01isees!1!" Yes, I did just put the one in the second exclamation point.

In a much-needed summary, I'm glad to see another attempting to tear down a tapestry of trollish grime, and I hope this is taken seriously, which I can see above that it is. Not seriously enough, though, to become a bogged-down policy. --Chaiyo Kaldor talk contribs 02:17, 17 May 2008 (UTC)

I agree that it is a very well thought out, well written essay, and it does address many of the issues GWW is currently facing. I would however like to point out that there are thousands of us out here who strike some kind of balance between content and community. I am as guilty as the next guy of getting embroiled in wiki drama on occasion, and would like to see some changes made to some of the policies, but I also contribute to content, content organization, content maintenance, and other things that come to mind to upgrade the usability of the content.-- Wynthyst 02:23, 17 May 2008 (UTC)

Obligatory trolling

trol rawr drama fuel —ǥrɩɳsɧƴɖɩđđɭɘş 22:54, 16 May 2008 (UTC)

trol trol --Cursed Angel 00:51, 17 May 2008 (UTC)