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News #70: Wurmpedia Improvements

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 Hey Everyone!
 
This week we have a special off-schedule News post ahead of upcoming improvements to the Wiki. There's also an impalong on Xanadu in a few week's time - you should check it out!
 
Marni (bwg), as our new Wiki Head, has already started doing a fantastic job of organising the vast Wiki. The end goal will be a cohesive, accurate and highly informative Wiki that lists as much information as possible about the game.
 
As a part of this, we will be reducing the number of player accounts to a more manageable size. Less than 30 players have edited the Wiki since the start of 2015, and the "manageable size" we have in mind is still far larger than that. Players will be able to apply for an account in what will simply be a slightly stricter and more monitored system than before. This will help to ensure that edit standards can be set and that vandalism/security issues can be prevented, while still keeping the Wiki open to all to contribute to.
 
There's a full write-up below!
 
Wiki Improvements
 
How many of you have seen the phrase "read the wiki" typed into CA Chat? Everybody, of course! ... And you've probably checked it yourself too recently. Why? Because with over 2,600 articles it's the go-to resource for anything Wurm Online. We all like structured, informative and relevant information to help us to grow our skills and craft a new tool or decoration.
 
Just as Tamorlane recently said in a City Hall forum thread: “Change is Comingâ€. The changes will include our Wurmpedia; the appearance, the content and how it’s managed.
 
So I'd like to give you some insight into how we are re-structuring, developing and changing the Wurmpedia. The first noticeable change is the creation of our Wurmpedia Team. Our team is here to help keep the information relevant, informative, structured and easy to use for old and new members of our community.
 
The Why
Wurm is growing! In the beginning when the Wurmpedia started to take off the team was too small to have anyone dedicated to it. An overseer was put in place to keep an eye on the editors and weed out the vandalism but the community was let loose to share their findings. As Enki once said, “back then Wurm was ‘intended as a sandbox of discovery’ and this is how the players chose to share their knowledgeâ€. Most of that knowledge was great for the community. However as time went on updates were released, changes were made, and the community started to grow. Some of the knowledge became lacking substance, mis-informed, and did not follow any specific or consistent structure. So now, we have a Wurmpedia that has some fantastic information, but there is still a lot of unverified content. That's why some people in will tell you not to use the Wurmpedia because “most of the information on there is incorrect anywayâ€.

We will change that by providing a strong, secure, and reliable source of knowledge for our community.

We currently have somewhere in the region of 1,400+ editor accounts. This is far too many for one person to manage. Even if over half of those accounts are inactive, that is still a very daunting task. The community has also grown substantially, and with any luck that growth pattern will continue... With that growth (regardless of where we are today) it is not feasible for one person to control the access rights, ensure the data is up-to-date (correct and structured), and to resolve any vandalism, revert wars, or posting issues.
 
Next Steps
We plan to eventually have 3 levels of user on the Wurmpedia team;

  • Wurmpedia Manager (currently Marni)
  • Wurmpedia Assistants
  • Wurmpedia Editors

The primary role of the Wurmpedia Manager is to handle:

  • Development and management of the team projects for the Wurmpedia. They are also to handle recruitment, interviewing, appointing and promotion of the Wurmpedia team applicants and team members. The Wurmpedia manager also oversees the day to day operations and assessments of the scheduled tasks.

The primary role of the Wurmpedia Assistants is to:

  • Assist and execute projects relating to the Wurmpedia content and structure.
  • Monitor and review suggestions and updates posted to Wurmpedia section of the Forum.
  • Assist in the moderation of contributions made by the Wurmpedia Editors to the Wurmpedia.
  • Wurmpedia Assistants will also be the mentors to the Wurmpedia Editors, offering training and support in the day-to-day maintenance of the Wurmpedia.

The primary role of the Wurmpedia Editors is to:

  • The Wurmpedia Editor is a non-staff volunteer position. This position, however, is the team's eyes and ears to the community. Collecting information from the forums, chats, and test server. Helping review, test, and confirm the different page’s game information. They are the foundation of the Wurmpedia, having the most hands on position throughout the whole team, collecting, updating, and delivering the most up to date content to the Wurmpedia. They will help us to bring the Wurmpedia above and beyond the standards we all come to expect.

All existing Wurmpedia accounts will be disabled soon, but not removed. This is to allow us to set up a new permission system, security measures, and adaptations for the Wurmpedia. The application process will be very similar to how it was previously, but just a bit more rigorous and with more resources to help new player editors. For the time being, we are setting a soft limit on the number of editors that will give us time to teach and train those editors on our new globalised structure and templates for the Wurmpedia. Then shortly after, if everything goes as planned, we will open applications again to give more players the opportunity to join our awesome and dedicated team. More details on when the second round of applications will be available once the first Wurmpedia Editors have been properly introduced.
 
Also of note are player and settlement pages. They will stay as they are but won't be edited from now onwards - In the long run, we'd like to look into a new and exciting dedicated platform for recording Wurm history.
 
You can now apply to be an assistant or an editor. This post is a summary of a longer write-up that Marni did here.
 
Xanadu Impalong
 
There is an upcoming summer impalong on Xanadu. The impalong will run from the 24th-27th July at the Misty Dragon deed, and is being organised by a number of local residents.
 
So-called "Impalongs" are events organised solely by the community, where players can go to get tools, weapons and armour improved. They're fun, one-of-a-kind community gatherings that bring players together from across huge distances to socialise and share.
 
North Indy Academy Playground, Independence
 
In addition to larger bridge projects, some Wurmians have been building their deed complexes with smaller, more numerous bridges. Such is the case with the "playground" effect that has been achieved at the North Indy Academy by Journeya. The rope bridges connecting the buildings certainly do conjure memories of a children's play area. Their deed is recruiting too, so you can join up and see them firsthand for yourself! Find out more about the North Indy Academy: http://forum.wurmonl...-is-recruiting/
 
Bridge.jpg?dl=1
 
Screenshot of the Week
 
This week's Screenshot of the Week by Alyeska depicts a party on horseback readying for the Treasure Hunt on Independence! It was taken at the Howl in front of a multi-coloured display originally made by Headhunter. It's a good example of the different armor, mounts and even dyes that can be used in the game... all in one screenshot! Looks like a GM photobombed the pic too!
 
Screenshot.jpg?dl=1
 
That's it for this week's News! We'll probably speak again soon in a few weeks' time. But don't fret if you feel lost and hopeless without us! Just make a campfire and use /weather to check the wind direction, and that will make you an easy smoke-based compass.
 
Happy Wurming!

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Nice to see the structure i proposed inmmy wurmpedia application has been used.

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Nice to see that the wiki will be improved and such, good news :)


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So how is the personal side of the wiki going to be handled like village and player pages are they going to be a request only or eliminated all together and the ones there now taken down? 


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Kinda bummed the Crystal Canal screen didn't make it. Here's hoping for next time. A huge highly useful bridge seems more than qualified to me. ;)

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So how is the personal side of the wiki going to be handled like village and player pages are they going to be a request only or eliminated all together and the ones there now taken down?

Also of note are player and settlement pages. They will stay as they are but won't be edited from now onwards - In the long run, we'd like to look into a new and exciting dedicated platform for recording Wurm history.

In case you missed it. I know it was a small line after the rest of that text. (Meaning I missed it too. ;) )

Edited by Keenan

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Thanks for mentioning our lovely impalong thats coming up :).


 


Also really love the screens.


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Nice to see that the wiki will be improved and such, good news :)

 

Nice to see that screenshot making the weekly screenshot!

Nice to see the structure i proposed inmmy wurmpedia application has been used.

The first three replies to this thread all start with "Nice to see..."

Coincidence? I think not.

Wurminati.png

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So how is the personal side of the wiki going to be handled like village and player pages are they going to be a request only or eliminated all together and the ones there now taken down?

Although we can't promise anything, a few really positive ideas about an editable factbook style history thing have been thrown around. It'd ideally be better than the existing wiki system for history, and would try to do justice to the amount of change over time that any one area, deed, alliance, player, kingdom, etc might undergo.

Edited by Docterchese

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Over 20g worth of armor in that picture...some nice helms too!

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The end goal will be a cohesive, accurate and highly informative Wiki that lists as much information as possible about the game.

 

Does this mean that the dev team will start releasing actual information about game mechanics, or will the information continue to be based on community guess-work?

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great, except test server is still extremely unfriendly to player testing (can't spawn most items, can't set skills / stats / priesthood / med paths properly, pvp is disabled aside from sparring which is buggy and useless, can't see health pool, stam pool, CR, creature stats, etc.)


 


would be great if we could actually get patch notes instead of now having a volunteer team test all this, seems like yet another band aid instead of a real fix


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"We will change that by providing a strong, secure, and reliable source of knowledge for our community."


 


 


...


 


 


So... Mechanics will be explained, Mathematics examined and Intended Functions revealed of all of Wurms wonders? Nah I dont see that happening, it will still be the community to discover what THEY THINK it is you ARE doing behind the scenes... now with increased censorship :)


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 But don't fret if you feel lost and hopeless without us! Just make a campfire and use /weather to check the wind direction, and that will make you an easy smoke-based compass.

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Aw, i almost thought we were going to have actual dev input to verify the data on the wiki.


Close, but no cigar.


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A copy of something Marni wrote elsewhere:

 

"What are the criteria for becoming an Editor?

There is no criteria as such, although some tenure is expected. I'd like to keep away from brand new players picking up an editor account and making changes within days of registering, however anyone who's played the game for at least 3-6 months is more than welcome to apply. We have the Wurmpedia section of the forum where players without accounts may mention changes that could be made and the editors will update accordingly. This has worked extremely well to date.

 

It means anyone with recent or repetitive warns ingame or on the forum would not be welcomed."

 

Which imo doesn't constitute censorship, getting a Wiki account will only be "slightly" more rigourous. Although some people might feel that it's unfair if they've recently had a warning anywhere, there have been serious vandalism/inaccuracy/edit war issues in the past that we'd like to keep to a minimum from now on. In addition, Marni is a human, and if you're able to persuade him to trust you even if e.g. you have a forum warning point then I'm sure he'd tentatively still give you an account. And even then, there's the Wiki section of the forums people without accounts can use to report inaccuracies/request edits, which has worked well since its inauguration.

 

when forums warning are not based on what you say but on who you are,how can you say that it isnt censorship,what hapens if for example someone that had a wiki account for years and always contributed gets repeated warnings in the forums for saying thing that when other said be other people with the exact same words are not even deleted,much less warned?

 

now that the old wiki bullies finally quitted a few months,you completely censor everybody.

 

does this also mean everybody that got an account before this and has no interest in becoming a wikibully will lose the account?

Edited by Brynden
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Played for years and I had no idea.  Can't wait to check that out.

 

Credit goes to Covenant for pointing out that one :3

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Glad the wiki changes are shaping up. A stronger team at least increases the likelihood of developer input.


 


After fumbling through another game's wikia-hosted official wiki (grrrr) I appreciate Wurmpedia's ad-free minimalism all the more.


 


PLEASE DON'T SELL ADS


Edited by Tipper
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I'm very disappointed in the Wurmpedia Team for taking these further steps toward turning the wiki into its own little fiefdom. All of the goals set out by the team could be accomplished without further restricting who can edit the wiki itself. My disappointment could not be any greater, honestly.


 


Now, excuse me while I go finish my boat mine so I can take a much needed break.


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The Wurmpedia run by the immune-from-discipline inner circle too....nice.


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Reading through the Wurmpedia forum and how things appear to function make it seem like a very slow, very painful process with a lot of checks and balances in place. Normally this is a good thing, but Wiki's thrive on decentralization. Unless you're the main content provider - staff should only be there to fact check and make corrections when necessary. In that regards, I suppose we have the hierarchy to blame for the convoluted, displaced and often incorrect information that remains even to this day. (Look up the Demise spells for an example, or how sermons, praying, priests, sacrificing and more all have information that aren't localized/connected, and can be extremely hard to find, when they should all be put on a single easy to read page.)


 


I really like Marni. I think hes a swell guy, but I'm one of those people who would never join a project like that unless I was given absolute free reign to create, edit and rewrite at will without having to go through a process.


 


This thread kind of made me nostalgic. I kind of miss my old TAOWiki for Fallen Earth... and... I actually found it on the wayback machine! The design is a little gibbled now, but every link still functions perfectly!!!


 


Main Page


Sector 3 AP Mission List.


Empathetic Spells List


Armor Use Skill List


 


Man this brings back memories.


Edited by Dairuka
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