I do apologize for the confusion and the shock.
Once a standard format is decided upon by the editors there should be much less confusion, I think. I've thrown an idea out to the others and am waiting now for them to either approve it or suggest an alternative. Hopefully that won't be long and everything will get sorted out soon.
-IG
Keep in mind, the pages of the Wiki have a discussion tab at the top that can be used to talk about whats being done to the page...That migh tbe a good way to throw down ideas so they're easy to move from discussion to active.
All Hail FlappyMap! Long Live MapFeed!
Robbie Powell - Site Admin
I have been thinking a bit more whilst at work... what do you think about having a scratch page per major topic - like a tile region - where anyone can throw in loose data, facts and snippets onto the page which has no structure or narrative and then the editors can cut and paste or form text based on all of that data. When some of that scratch data makes it into proper formatted text then the editor can delete it from the scratch area. Like a fact purgatory. In that way the main page does not get edited quite so much and by so many different people giving it a more consistent feel. I don't think that there would be as much overlap of work or toe treading.
I was also going to comment in the same way that Arcana has about the discussion tab and that might be the best way to deal with required factual, continuity or basic changes derived or fed back from the main page.
There was another minor point in that somebody was making a page of pages. WikiMedia will do that for you with the special pages on the left menu. Theres lots in there about orphaned pages, uncategorized stuff etc so again, less need to duplicate work when unnecessary. A better way to do that index is through the use of categories too - they are particularly useful since you can have multiple indexes based on different criteria. One obvious category would be Ansium or whatever we decide upon. Then I would expect each tile area to have its own category too. Pages can have multiple categories so the Lesser Wyvern might be in Ansium, Thrub, and Monsters all at the same time.
Originally Posted by Redrobes
I think a scratch area is an excellent idea. Were you thinking of something else other than the discussion page for that?
Yeah, what I was thinking was if I just shovel information onto a wiki page without any kind of formatting or making much attempt at writing it up or linking it or whatever and then you or anyone can write what you want with it. So I could say that in the Fens that Thrub is the capital and it is a stone castle with a palisade around it and that it has about 200 guards. The guards might have a particular duty rotation and then go on to say the hierarchy and where they might live. Then I could go on and say about the garrison might be a big two story building with a turf roof. And then add some roofs might be thatch or felt and pitch etc. Y'know like really unrelated stuff and just have lots of that but it needs to be ordered and formatted up into sections and pages. I just started chucking that sort of style at the main page but I can see now that it wasn't going to look any good until there is enough to group it all up into something that can be read much easier. You need it on a page that can be edited so that I can add to it and editors can remove what they want to take from it. It would be a sort of step away from the current final cut which would hopefully be more readable than my chaotic ramblings.
Its like the reverse of reading a fantasy book where you read text and make up the visuals in your head. I have all the visuals from thinking about the place and mapping it but I cant get the text out fast enough or in any sensible shape to make anyone else read it back and get the similar visuals again.
Most of the roads, places and towns have a distinct purpose and a lot of these kinds of threads are already in the map but it wont make sense yet. I have lots to say about Crazy Krull, and the ruins of Mere, the Arcanspikes and so on. I just need to mentally go spllleeeuuugh over a page and get it out. It will probably generate a whole lot more by that point but at least the framework will be in place. Of course I am doing all of this thinking with scant regard to whats happening in the whole world and my neighbors so I can see the need to get the story straight there too. But I don't think that what I have in mind will make much difference.
Ravs Centaurs fits in really well and hopefully there will be some trading up north beyond Roebuck Castle - furs or something like that and I need some place off my square where grain grows well otherwise all the Thrublanders starve.
I think that is a most excellent idea. Can't wait to see what it all looks like when it's finished.
Hey Redrobes, since I have a passel of budding artists on my hands for a month (otherwise known as technologically advanced carpet orcs, with their own Vaio laptop), we have decided to make a map of a town in Thrub. I read through the named locations and they chose Snapgallows,,,,so we genned up a small town, and they are now plopping buildings down on the outlines in Sketchup, with a variety of roofs even, it may take a bit, as the ages go from 3 to 13, but even the youngest has a good idea of how to draw shapes and extrude. As the roofs are done via ruby script they all do that quite well.
I will start posting images once they get to the texturing and photoshopping. SeerBlue
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